The Nausea

  “Does anyone even work here?”

  A heavy-eyed tactician with her palm covering half her face stood beside her chemist, desperate to get this part of her mission complete so she could finally get some sleep.

  “Good thing I asked to come in here with you; you look like you’re gonna pass out. Thought you got like, at least a few hours of sleep.”

  Ty covered a yawn with her hand before shooting her classmate a weary look. “It’s okay, someone will come.”

  There was not much to see from where they stood. In a small bookstore down a narrow alleyway in the Township of Eslah, where they had met up with Alex and Elias, the only thing that illuminated their surroundings was a single spell-candle sitting at the counter of a desk in the back. It burned a deep, unwavering and unnatural orange, a singular beacon of familiarity in the cloak of night.

  “I think you’re right. I hear someone.”

  In fact, Ty had heard them for minutes now. They were no doubt getting their equipment ready for the escort. She just wished they would hurry up.

  “D’ya think Theo would be upset with me if I had to carry you back?”

  “Forget Theo, Sel would get mad.”

  “She’ll forgive me.”

  “Best not poke the beast.”

  “Eh, you’re probably right. She’s kinda fallin’ back into her old ways.”

  “I noticed.”

  “What was that about killin’ people, anyway?”

  Ty finally gave in and leaned her head on Kor’s arm. The rustling in the back had stopped—hopefully that meant they were coming out soon. She had the rest of her class scattered in groups around the city, and though it should not have been an issue, doing all this in the darkness worried her. “The Earth Mother wants me the destroy the world She created.”

  “And you’re the only one who can?”

  She closed her eyes and breathed in, letting the words sink in. “How do you do it, Kor?”

  “Do what?”

  “Be so genuine.”

  “I have no reason to hide who I am. My intentions. I don’t care what people think, if they don’t like me or whatever.”

  “And what would you say…if I said yes? That I’m the only one who can?”

  Ty’s makeshift pillow slowly wrapped around her instead, holding the tactician firmly against their side. “I’d say…I wouldn’t be surprised, after seeing you out there today. You’ve always…you’ve always had a certain grace about you. When I see you walking around campus, when I see you reading a book, or talking to me. When you were out there, killing those soldiers. Like you’re not one of us. Something…something greater.”

  “Do you think I’ll destroy the world?”

  “No, I don’t think you will.” An unwavering truth.

  “What if I told you I was going to?”

  Silence.

  “Kor, I’m going to destroy the world she created.”

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  “And then what, tactician?” A passive, emotionless answer.

  “Do you think you could help me do it?”

  A chuckle reverberated throughout her warm wall. “Maybe. That’s a tall order, tact. Gonna have to give me a good reason first. I’m not like Theo; I don’t have a vendetta against the world.”

  Fwoosh.

  Darkness. Both girls straightened up and stared at the slowly opening door behind the counter, where a hunched shadow was now standing. There was an aura around them—faint, but discernible. Deep green, like decaying grass.

  “Sl’em ni yunna’toss.”

  Ty did not make a sound.

  “You,” the rough voice said simply, almost accusingly, as they walked out from behind the counter and pushed past Kor and Ty. “Come.”

  Slowly shuffling out of the bookstore and into the open air of the dark town, Ty whispered orders under her breath as she followed the darkly clad Ancient.

  All was silent as they left the alley and stepped onto the main road, the cold somewhat waking Ty up; even though the sun had already set and many shops had closed their doors and turned off their lights, dark figures could still be seen strolling around.

  Kill them.

  They’ll see you.

  Don’t leave anyone behind.

  Running her hands through her hair anxiously, the sleep deprivation finally getting to her, Ty’s eyes darted from shadow to shadow, looking to her side and behind her and then back to the front where the aura was, until—

  A hand gripped tightly onto her right arm, digging their nails through her cloak and into her skin.

  Ty closed her eyes, steadying herself with Kor’s help as she focused on walking. Left, right, left, right. Focused on stifling the nausea she hid so well nowadays.

  One, two, I’m going crazy.

  She could still see the Ancient’s aura even when her eyes were closed, a murky green twisting into a red darkness. How many lives had this Ancient consumed? How many cycles of the moon had they lived through? Why weren’t they dead yet?

  One, two, I’m not sick.

  When her feet finally met soft ground, she stumbled a little and opened her eyes for a moment only to see an unfamiliar shadow. Grasping onto her from the left, as if trying to pull her away from Kor’s steel grip, a shadow she had seen often—the hooded figure from that one night. The one with the beady red eyes. The one that had given her everything and then stolen it back.

  The shadow from the right leaned in close to her and whispered something into her ear she couldn’t quite make out.

  We’re almost there.

  To the end of your story.

  How does it feel?

  She closed her eyes again. Fighting to stay closer to her classmate, follow the aura in front of her, the muddy-green trickling into her, hugging her hungering sword.

  One, two, I’m scared.

  And then, an indeterminable amount of time later—at least thirty minutes to reach the edge of the woods to the camp where they were supposed to meet up with their adjudicators before venturing deeper into the forest—everything suddenly stopped.

  The aura disappeared. The steel grip on her right arm disappeared, and the pressure on her left ceased fighting back.

  She opened her eyes to a starry sky, two figures standing over her. One of them, she recognized. The other, who was holding a dimly lit spell-candle, barely.

  “Do you need me to intervene?” spoke the familiar figure.

  “We’re not intervening. It’s against the rules,” the spell-candle man retorted.

  “The rules won’t matter if she dies.”

  Another figure she hadn’t noticed proceeded to apply their weight on her legs, ignoring the bickering adults as they raised a vial up to her mouth. “Okay, I found it,” they whispered through clenched teeth. “Come on…come on…”

  All it took was the first drop to wake her up. The rest of it set ablaze her insides—her mouth, her throat, her stomach, and her blood felt like it was going to burst out of every orifice. She sat up and used both hands to clutch the hand covering the cloth against her mouth, eyes welling up as she took in the panicked expression of her classmate.

  “It’s okay, Ty, it’s okay,” they choked through clenched teeth, close enough so she could see how blue her eyes were, how dark and big her pupils were. “You said you wouldn’t fight me if I gave you this, remember? Come on, it’s okay. You’re okay.”

  After a few more moments of trying to understand what was happening, she could feel her heartbeat slow down and the burning become a soothing fire that enveloped her. Consuming the nausea, chasing away the cold and omnipotent Mother who would not let her go so easily.

  She blinked slowly, her head bobbing slightly as she took in her surroundings. With so many people around, she must have already been at the MATS camp. Her friends were in the distance, and the professors were in front. She counted them. Two were missing.

  One. One was holding her down behind her.

  “We’re leaving,” announced Head Physician Lundkis, turning back without waiting for an answer.

  Professor Moriya took a moment to stare at the tactician, his expression as impassive as ever, and then followed in his colleague’s footsteps.

  When the class was finally alone, and she was about to pull down the hand to thank her savior for correctly following her instructions, the owner of the golden glow that had been illuminating her surroundings all this time from behind her spoke.

  “Rest, now.”

  That was all it took for her to black out.