Lea's Liberation

What Came Before

What Came Before

Despite the pain and exhaustion that was weighing her down, Lea still tried to run. As her enemies cut down the last of the soldiers that struggled to defend her, she desperately struggled to get away. She was hampered by the combined effects of the new weakness weighing her down after surrendering her stolen abilities and strength to another, the numbing fatigue that had been gradually worsening over the long weeks she had been sacrificing sleep, and the dizziness that spun her head from blood loss thanks to the gaping wound on her arm. It was still bleeding and didn't appear to be stopping any time soon.

Though Lea would never hesitate to give her life for her country, a sacrifice here would gain her nothing. As the last of her soldiers fell, there was no one left to save. Her enemies continued to stream in through the broken gate, threatening to overwhelm the inner ring of the city of Jorives, but Lea had already done everything she could to stop them. She would simply have to trust the new paladin prospect, Amorette, to fight them off.

The only thing she could do now was run. Attempt to save herself. Maybe, if she succeeded, she could keep fighting for Jorives. For Vasconia.

Her attempt was short lived.

She only managed to take a few, shambling steps, before she was overrun. Harsh hands grabbed her injured arm, digging into the exposed meat of her flesh. She cried out, the pain of it dropping her to her knees, leaving her helpless as another man grabbed her other arm.

Lea didn't think about using her power. It just happened. As instinctive as blinking when something approached her eye. The man who had grabbed her injured arm – the one of the two not wearing gloves – sucked in a rattling breath as his eyes rolled into the back of his head. A second later, he collapsed to the ground, seizing as foam flecked his lips.

Through the touch of her skin on another, Lea could steal something intangible from them. Skills or abilities or, more terrifyingly, something undefinable and unnamed that, when she took it, made her feel more alive but left her victims a shell.

Even as that man was still seizing, another man took his place, grabbing Lea's arm again. He was wearing gloves, preventing her from doing more than weakly thrashing as they began dragging her away from the battlefield. She heard them yelling to each other, calling out that they had captured a paladin.

She was more valuable alive than dead.

The last Lea saw of Jorives before she was pulled aboard their airship, was a once beautiful city surrounded by burning fields as one of their enemy's ships was pulled from the sky. The sight of which made her smile.

Jorives was in good hands. She would trust Amorette to take care of them.

Her own future was far less certain.

Her captors quickly learned that touching her was practically a death sentence. While the men who seized and fell didn't precisely die, they weren't the same afterwards either and they never recovered. It only took two more men losing themselves for them to realize she couldn't be touched with their bare hands. They gave her gruel and water to keep her alive as they quickly retreated from the battle, from the country.

No one attempted to tend to her arm, forcing her to do so herself. The gaping wound took days to stop bleeding and the loss left her weakened despite what she had taken from the men. The large gash that traveled from the back of her right hand all the way up her forearm would no doubt leave an equally massive scar.

If she ever got a chance to heal from it.

She was under no delusions. She was being captured so she could be tortured for information. Lea was a paladin and therefore highly ranked in her country, a leader in this war. They were going to force as much information from her as possible. Her end was going to be slow and agonizing.