A terrible smell, one that’s sharp and sinks through any sort of cloth you could pull over your nose, has been following me the entire walk down these stairs. As well as a knight, well two counting the one in front of me, or at least someone men in armor. It’s dark and damp, with not a mana lamp in sight on the stone walls. And I feel taller for some reason, the ground, what I think is the ground since I’m stepping on it, is further away than it usually is. Why am I here? Where is “here”?

 

I’m scared. I want to go home.

 

At some point, the stairs stop and there’s simply uneven flooring under my feet. It’s somewhat slick with something, but now there’s light coming in from small, barred windows that you could barely fit a hand through. There are rooms here, but their doors are made of thick bars as well, with locks and rust and dark silhouettes within them that cower away into corners as we pass or don’t move at all. The smell gets worse.

 

“Lauressier, got a visitor for ya!” The man in front of me shouts and bangs his hand against the bars of one of the cells near the end of the hall. His voice is scratchy and booming like a record player when it gets angry, but that’s not what makes me jump. “I can give ya ten minutes, ma’am, but not much more.”

 

Lauressier? That can’t be right. Not here at least. In the barred room there’s movement, a thin shadow that makes a shuffling sound as it gets closer to where I’m standing and stops a good few hops away. It’s less of a shadow now, but not more of a person. Its hair, which could’ve been a pretty honey blonde, is matted with dirt and something darker in various spots, and it’s bony like it hasn’t eaten a meal in years. Their eyes though, barely peeking through overgrown hair, grab me by the heart. There’s no light in them anymore, but I know them. I’d know those eyes anywhere.

 

“Sida? Sida, is that you?” I move to reach through the bars of the door, to touch her and make sure she’s real but the guard, I can guess that he’s a guard now, puts out his arm to stop me.

 

“No touchin’ prisoners, ma’am.”

 

“Prisoner?”

 

“That’s what the dungeon holds, ma’am.”

 

Dungeon? What’s happening? I don’t understand and I can feel my breathing getting lighter, which might be a good thing considering how bad it smells here. The world feels like it’s spinning. “... Ada?...” And Cressida finally speaks, her voice hoarse and barely above a whisper. “... You’re… back…”

 

“Sida? Sida, what happened? What’s going on?”

 

“Ada… I did something… bad…”

 

“Something bad? I’m sure something can be done to fix it, we can figure something out!”

 

“... No.”

 

“No?”

 

“Can’t… I… I…”

 

“Sida, please tell me what’s going on, you're scaring me!”

 

“... I’m sorry, Ada. I’m so sorry.”

 

“There’s nothing to say sorry for, Sida. Just tell me how I can help you.”

 

“I… I wanted to take you… ocean… when you… back…”

 

“Ocean? What are you talking about I-”

 

“Time’s up, ma’am.” The guard stops me from saying more. “Say your peace, she goes up at noon.”

 

I stare at him, not fully understanding what he’s saying. “Goes up? Up where?”

 

The guard looks at me like you would a turtle stuck on its back, avoiding making eye contact with me before taking up his arms like a rope and then hiking up his neck. I look over at the other guard because I still don’t get what he’s trying to say. And he tenses up before coughing.

 

“She’s going to the gallows, ma’am. To be hanged.”

 

And it feels like the ground comes out from under me. Like magic, I’m not in the dungeons anymore but I'm somewhere familiar. The town square of Swindon, but it’s not filled with stands and lights for the winter market, instead there’s this large stage-looking thing surrounded by hundreds of people swarming and flowing. I felt like I could be crushed at any time by the harsh movements when three people walked up, one of them being Cressida, a man in a suit, and the third one covered entirely in black apart from their eyes.

 

The man in the suit unrolled a sort of paper and raised his hand to get silence from the crowd before speaking. “This afternoon of May, Cressida Lauressier is to be hanged for attempted murder against Miriam Sulon. Along with her execution, she shall be erased from the Lauressier family Archive, stripped of all titles, and left unburied for 3 years.” And with that said, he removed himself from the platform and the person in black started moving about as the crowd went wild again, pushing and yelling and even laughing. I was still in shock, being pushed around by everyone else in the square. Even if I could yell out to Cressida, she wouldn’t be able to hear me, especially as I got pushed further and further away from the platform until I couldn’t see or hear anything. But I did hear a particularly sharp cheer all of a sudden. Something had happened, I just couldn’t see what.

 

It felt like the air had become thick like syrup, I couldn’t breathe, and I couldn’t move. Not that anyone else was at this point either. It was like everything had been coated over that made it go so, so slow, like a snail. Then, there was a voice. Not loud, but not at all soft either. Coming from everywhere and nowhere all at once.

 

“Adalira Polachade.”

 

“Y… Yes?”

 

“What you have seen today is the future of your dear friend, Cressida Lauressier. A future that will end in disgrace and disdain.”

 

“Sida’s future? But that doesn’t make any sense, Sida would never hurt anyone on purpose! She wouldn’t try to kill someone! There… There has to have been some kind of mistake.”

 

“There was no mistake. Perhaps a lapse in judgment, but no mistakes. Simply human nature working in its worst form.”

 

My legs finally came out from under me, and I fell to the ground shaking. This couldn’t be real. There was no way that this could have happened, not to Cressida. It just wasn’t possible. It couldn’t be. I don’t even know when it happened, but I was crying. This had to be a dream. No, not a dream. A terrible, terrible nightmare. 

 

“This is a dream. It’s the easiest way to communicate with you humans after all. I’ve come to learn that your kind doesn’t respond to omens like they used to.” The voice piped up again, still level and without any emotion behind it. “You can write this off as a dream if you’d like, but it will not change anything if you do. She’ll simply die for sure.”

 

“I don’t want Sida to die…” I sniffled and shook still.

 

“Perfect. We are comrades in that right.”

 

“Comrades?”

 

“I suppose the more understandable word for you will be friend or partner.”

 

“...”

 

“You see, I cannot directly interfere in the matters of small ones, so I cannot change the fate of Cressida Lauressier, lest I be punished. And you cannot change the fate of Cressida Lauressier without knowing what must be changed. We need each other to reach the same goal, understand?”

 

“Yes…”

 

“Good. You may address me as Ebele. I will be relying on you from here on out and I hope you will do the same, Adalira Polachade.”

 

“Y… Yes. Ebele, what are you?”

 

“... You will know in due time, child.”

 

And all of a sudden I woke up in bed crying as a hand rubbed through my hair.

 

“Ada? Why are you crying, was it a bad dream?” There was Cressida, whispering to me with worry in her pretty yellow eyes and a soft hand still rubbing my head. I cried harder.

 

“Sidaaaaaa.” I couldn’t resist tugging her into a tight hug and burying my head into her shoulder, tears soaking through her nightgown. It was still dark outside, it wasn’t time for our sleepover to be done. I didn’t want to let go of her.

 

I think I fell back asleep like that, holding onto Cressida like a teddy bear.