False kings and jealous gods

Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

I've walked the distance,

I paid my dues and tried to have a go at what I thought

I knew was real, held no appeal

I've been to places, I've seen the tidings,

I bought a book of rules for every coin that I could steal

And so I came to gaze up on the stars, when they were yet unborn

And consequently, tear at my old scars, and the mask I had outworn

(Poets of the fall - Roses)

Sybil sat on the stone throne in a cave lit by smoky torch light. The priests in the hooded capes gathered around her ready for a ritual. Sybil knew, that she was supposed to be sacrificed, more precisely, the goddess Nhali in whose body she existed, but she was not scared. She knew, that she would resurrect and live again and it meant that the cycle wouldn't be broken, - the ring Emblue on her finger eloquently spoke about it. That is why she willingly got up from her place, when the priest approached her, holding one of the main goddess' artifacts - the sword. Her bodyguard wanted to cover her with his shield, but the priest talking about false kings and jealous gods, broke it with his sword. And then everyone cast their hoods aside and with a surprise she saw, that her bodyguard has a face of Eoll-Aurinko...

- Sybil, wake up! - with an effort she unglued her eyelids and tried to close them again at once, because in reality Eoll was looking at her again and his clear eyes were full of anxiety. - How are you? What did they do to you?

What did they do to her in an empire prison? Perhaps, at this very moment she was more interested in what the man with the sword was going to do to her...

Sybil shook her head, trying to free herself from delusion caused by her dream. But what happened in reality? Well, let's begin with the fact that she had never been caught by police before and that is why she was angry like fury with everybody - with herself, because she did her job so negligently, with that nice guitar player, who all the evening long attracted her attention, with Ayla, who, firstly turned out to be a daughter of a woman, she was going to rob, and secondly, such a sweet girl, she wanted to be friends with. When she did her job without looking aside, everything went just smoothly. But now she for some reasons relaxed too much...

So, she was dragged at the police station, where she was undressed (Sybil was struggling to break loose and kicking and finally got several very painful punches and bruises) and put into a standard prison overall. Then she was placed in a solitary confinement, because she was supposed to be a very dangerous criminal. Getting herself comfortable on a thin mattress, Sybil suffered a little, thinking about her unenviable destiny and even shed a tear, and then she fell asleep.

But she was not going to tell about this to Eoll, who waited for an answer to his question, looking at her with such a sincere anxiety, that she felt embarrassed.

- Aurinko? - she asked, still being slow in understanding after sleep and trying to get why her bodyguard had Eoll's face. - What are you doing here?

- Came to save you, little silly thing, - he replied. - Get up, we are getting out of here.

- What? - she was way too surprised. - But how did you ever penetrate here? And how are we gonna get out? This is a super-guarded territory...

- Trust me, - Eoll said, holding out his hand and helping the girl to get up. - Throw this on you, - he nodded at a baggy empire prison uniform. Only then Sybil did notice that the guy wore the same uniform, too. This might had been the way to penetrate to this super-guarded territory.