Witness

(Posting to RoyalRoad) For Karsa Mardas, life in Astera has always been a matter of breathing through the cracks and surviving the oppression of her people. Navigating a world where even speaking her native tongue carries a penalty means keeping her head down and her presence as hidden as possible. For her sister Endeis, the situation is intolerable, so she fights against it using her voice, despite the personal risk.

Nothing can last forever, however. When tensions boil over, Karsa is brought face to face with the demons of her people and intense personal cost. Flight or fight are the only real options and Karsa is no coward. As the fires burn hotter and the storm rages louder, she finds herself on a path that is darker with every step. The choices along the way are sometimes easy, some more difficult than a person could stand, but she promises herself she will endure. Who she is when the fires die is more complicated than good or evil.

For Thaïs Samaras, the world has always been grey. A woman mired in crime and vice whose life has always been cold cash and violence, controlled by the powerful around her. The burning dream of revolution offers even the madame of a brothel a new opportunity to find purpose and freedom. In Karsa, she finds everything she could have wished for and more than enough to rip her apart. The only problem is the war. In it are the seeds of destruction of everything she learns to love.

Or as Karsa would say, "Hell found us."