Warm, warmth. It was so nice, so very underrated. Why didn’t everyone simply stay warm all the time? Adriana felt like she just discovered the smartest thing ever: Be warm all the time. Why do people go to work and suffer through silly emotions when all they can do is be warm? Silly, she thought, so silly and pointless. She mulled over such important thoughts, confident in her assertion that warmth was in fact, great. When a kind of odd sensation tugged at her. It was as if she was lashed to a wagon, sent galloping along a far too bright lane. Incandescence washed over her, a groan rose up from her throat and she tried to roll away from the source of it.
That tactic proved unsuccessful as she was met with a cold, hard floor. “Fuck!” Came her eloquent response to the stimuli. Realization dawned on Adriana, creeping frozen fingers up her back: She was naked. Adriana scrambled up into the bed and under the covers faster than she’s moved in her entire life. Now that she was actually awake, she could see the source of the blaring light; the sun, the bastard. Many-a-time it made her life hell by reminding her she did something innocent like ‘stay up all night reading’. The bed was indeed warm, but not hers.
A quick scan of the room confirmed her suspicions that this was not her familiar apartment. Dingy walls gave way to clean wallpaper, and decent-looking paneling. This was an apartment in the upper district, most likely. She sat up, holding the burgundy blanket up over her chest. Both to protect from the chill of morning and to hide herself. Yet again, Mia was sitting in a chair; this time not awake and prowling on her. She was fast asleep, her sword laid across her lap—a blanket draped over her shoulders. She looked as if she’d been guarding her ;but that was impossible. Now, this would arguably be the best time to put Mia’s hand in warm water or simply squirt mustard in her face; but, Adriana knew that these actions would only lead to a potentially severed limb. Seeing as she was clearly keeping watch before slipping off, it was fair to assume she would still be in a ready state if startled from sleep.
The more logical course of action would be to let her sleep. After a few moments indulging in petty revenge fantasies, Adriana decided that reason would overtake emotion in this case. She looked around, finding a bathrobe draped over a nearby chair. Had Mia left that for her!? That was far too considerate for the knife bitch to display. However, Adriana did save her life. Perhaps this was her way of paying back the debt. Regardless of intent, she slipped out of the covers and into the robe. The search for her clothes didn’t take long, seeing their state was alarming to say the least.
Sitting on a table, her gear was laid out with little care. To Mia’s credit, she probably had more to worry about than making sure her things were arranged neatly. Her beloved jacket was marked and frayed, a large slash along the back alerted Adriana to how close she had come to oblivion. The pockets of various components and needed instruments were intact, thank the gods. She noted her staff was in its collapsed state, sitting with her folded up pants, shirt and vest. Everything was grimy, and a bit worse for wear, but intact. While Adriana didn’t like the idea of using spells for frivolous things, this was not exactly frivolous. Clothing was a necessity after all. With a little wave of her hand, the clothing all started to repair itself. As if time was wound backwards, dirt vanished—ripped seams mended and frayed cloth rebuilt itself.
Pleased with her work, Adriana with great care, picked up her clothes and walked into the bathroom. She needed a nice long shower, nay, she deserved one. Hells, because of her, both of them were alive right now. This was certainly a fancier apartment, far nicer than Adriana was used to. Aside from the incredibly-decent looking bedroom she woke up in, the bathroom was a different world compared to her home.
She stepped onto the smooth teal tiles, noting there were no mats. But, as her bare foot met the floor, she realized it wasn’t cold. Adriana hummed; heated tiles, wow that is fancy. Most likely an eternal flame enchantment on the base of the floor, that was how it was done most of the time. Though, older buildings had steam systems that got the job done as well. As was typical for her, Adriana stood there and mused over the solution. She liked to take the time to work things out with her mind, even if it was the mystery of heated tiles. Also, her toes were loving the warmth, so there was no loss.
There was actually a counter in this bathroom too. It looked like some kind of expensive stone, maybe marble. She wasn’t much of an interior designer, so she had no idea. Setting the bundle of clothes away from the sink, Adriana peered at herself in the mirror: She had a cut across the lip, a light red mark on her left cheek, and darkening bruises on her neck the shape of a hand. Still only one eye though, shame. She thought it might have grown back overnight. Hells, enough impossible things have happened in the last eighteen hours (Mia helping her, being one of them) it was entirely plausible in her mind.
Her robe was discarded, along with her eyepatch as Adriana stepped into the quickly streaming shower. Her muscles let her know exactly how much of an exertion yesterday was. And as she turned in the hot stream of water, she discovered scrapes and bumps here and there. The aftermath of that little battle they had. She wasn’t even too involved physically, and yet she felt like hell. A part of her; a small, highly irritating part of her, thought of Mia and how much worse off she might be.
The idea of doing something nice for the knife harpy nearly made Adriana laugh out loud. Still...Mia was a comrade, she hoped she’d be in fighting shape sooner rather than later. At least for the sake of practicality. Adriana was shocked when she started to think of Mia in the shower, washing off and checking over her many bruises across her perfectly sculpted body...
Adriana’s scoff was so loud she startled herself with it. She needed to find some way to eradicate these foolish thoughts permanently. She turned around to let her face be blasted with water for a few seconds. She looked down to note that soot and grim was streaming from her hair. A few scrubs of soap and liberal elbow grease took care of the problem quickly. Satisfied with her cleanliness, Adriana stepped out of the shower, her head still felt groggy and tangled, but clearer.
The only downside to waking up, and getting ready for the day is that you have to actually face the day. This is the horror that greeted Adriana as she stepped out of the bathroom, adjusting her tie and neatening her hair. While it was nice that she felt better enough to face things. Well, she didn’t want to. There were too many weird occurrences, too many disruptions to her life. She wanted to be home, in her shitty apartment, reading on her day off and trying to regain some semblance of a mind after that horrendous night.
Questions nagged and picked at her brain; too many for her to let this go: Who the hells was Eislia? Why did she know who Adriana was? Most of all, what the fuck was with her cryptic comments? Adriana was an orphan, like many other children in the city of Forthiron. It wasn’t like that was some special trait she possessed. Aside from her arcane skills, there was nothing odd about Adriana. She looked weird, that was certainly something she already knew. She’d been told enough times that she looked odd: Too perfect, in a sense. The kind of unnerving oddness one feels when they gaze too long at a statue. Perfect features: Sharp and defined, but also there is an unsettling element to it. Adriana’s gaze was a bit too much, her features just a bit too sculpted. So much so they make one disturbed, not attracted. Suffice it to say; it’s had a negative impact on her dating life.
Adriana’s dead-pale skin and ashen hair didn’t help things; due to this, she never felt normal. So, when this mysterious woman suddenly yanked her into her mindscape, then talked about her as if she was some…special person, it upset her. Was Adriana supposed to have belonged to some grand cause, then she fell to a life of crime? But how can a baby discarded in the streets have any kind of fate other than squalor and struggle?
Her thoughts of course were going a mile a minute, so much so she didn’t even notice Mia had stirred from her guard station. The feeling of eyes on her caused her to wheel around and face her. Mia was still in the chair, having shed her aviator's jacket and draped it over the back of the chair, her scarf joined it sometime during the night. She was just in her cream blouse and dark tight pants. The sword was sheathed and leaned against the chair. “What the hell was all that last night?” She said as she crossed her legs and rested her chin against her knuckles. The examining gaze was at the same time infuriating and annoying.
“I have no idea.” Adriana said, trying to summon bravado by leaning against the nearby wall. “You were right: This was a very unusual case.” Mia glared at her, Adriana relished the small chance she had to get under her skin. “But seriously, I have no clue what’s going on Mia. Who is this woman? How did she come here I mean...you saw that crater right!?”
Mia grinned and pointed at Adriana. “Yes, I got a pretty good look at it when I was pulling your ass out of danger; as usual, I might add.” Adriana wanted to counter that, but she had nothing.
“Fine, yes...what I mean is that…'' She hesitated. “It seemed as if she impacted the ground and...caused that crater.” Adriana scoffed. “But that’s impossible.”
“Yeah…I mean when I was told it landed in our territory I wasn’t expecting that to be uh…literal.” Mia shrugged and rose from her seat. She looked perfectly composed and Adriana noted her chestnut-brown hair was perfectly coiffed.
Wait.
Math not add up.
She cleared her throat, but was cut off by her ‘friend’. “Look, we dwell in a lot of grounded kinds of work: Finding moles, plugging leaks, managing waste.” She grinned. “As it were. So, you’d think eventually we’re going to find some weird shit” Adriana shook her head.
“Hold on, what’s going on here!? You spent the night cleaning up whatever happened to us, took a beating, and stayed up watching over this place.” Adrian gestured to Mia as she approached her. “How are you not passing for a zombie freshly risen!?” To Adriana’s surprise, Mia actually looked taken aback, she kept approaching though, stopping about a foot from Adriana, still wearing that Cheshire grin. (By the gods above and below, Adriana wanted to smack it right off her face. She knew it’d end up with her spitting out her teeth though.)
“Well, rejuvenation potions, a three o’clock washup; nothing special. I have no idea why you are focusing on this, Adriana. You might think you know everything about me.” She reached out to poke Adriana on the chest, running her finger up the silken trail of her tie. “But, you really know nothing about me if you don’t already know: I am always prepared, girl.” Adriana had to fight her urge to snarl.
Instead, she calmed herself down, blinking and looking down at the hand, then to Mia. “Fine, fine...as long as you are still useful to me. I don't care for the details. So, can we actually discuss our next steps? What happened? Where are we? Where is….she?” Mia scoffed and walked away, she looked over Adriana’s jacket, as if examining some piece of evidence.
“Oh, you mean the giant hulking, weird, unkillable berserker!?” She snorted. “She’s in the other room, I made sure to take all precautions.” She idly rubbed her chin. “Especially after feeling what kind of punch she packs. I figured we need answers, and hells, I couldn’t kill her if I tried…”
“Eislia.” Adriana said firmly. “She has a name.” That actually got Mia off guard. She turned back to face Adriana, eye twitching. Gods, that felt good; to see her frazzled like this. However, the feeling of victory quickly faded under the light of Mia’s anger.
“What!? How!? Wait...what!?” She stammered; stomping back over to Adriana, who held her hands up in defense. “What...you did that energy thing!? I saw it while I was trying to get my legs under me. You gripped her and she started to weaken. I thought it was just a simple thing, then you crumpled like a cheap can.” She narrowed her eyes on Adriana. “What happened!?” Mia’s voice felt sharper on Adriana’s ears than any blade she had drawn on her.
“That I am unsure of...I’ve used my enervation spell many times before, it…” Adrina paused. “Well, you know how it works. I simply decided that Eislia had some kind of...inner energy reserved that was empowering her. We drain that, you stab her, we win? Yes?” Mia simply nodded along, gods, it really did feel as if she was moments from gutting Adriana. The idea that she had something on Mia was delicious; but it wasn’t a good idea to push her too much. “Well, when I drained her it was much different than I thought, she was...massive. I mean the energy she had in her was impossible. I remember being overwhelmed. “Adriana shook her head. “And when I came to, I was in this odd...place. Eislia was there, she spoke with me. Told me her name and said something about how...she said something about ‘taking the edge off’. I had no idea what she was babbling about.” She artfully omitted the more intimate parts of their conversation.
Mia looked like she was thoughtfully mulling over a piece of meat. Analyzing the texture and taste. She mumbled to herself. “Ok, so...she somehow pulled you into her mindscape!? But why, what the hells are we missing!?” Adriana had nothing to offer but a shake of her head, she cut in after a moment: “Look, maybe that’s a mystery for another day.” Adriana licked her lips while she tried to jog her mind into some semblance of activity. “We need to ask ourselves what the next actual step is: What were the parameters of our mission in this case?” Mia had crossed her arms over her chest and shrugged.
“Um, find the source of the disruption, investigate it….see if it’s a threat. I suppose that’s what it is...” She trailed off, then raised a brow at Adriana. “Why? What’s going on in your stupid head there!?”
“Founders, can you not be a bitch for one second!?” Adriana retorted. “I’m merely saying that the status of our...friend is not something that needs to be known.”
“Friend!” Mia snorted again. “You horny fucker, she tried to kill us last night and you’re already making plans to jump her bones!?” She sighed though, letting that little barb rest in Adriana’s chest. She tried not to clutch it, nor show aggravation at the comment. But Adriana felt heat rise from her arms and chest. Founders, Mia knew how to anger her.
“I think...” Adriana said as she reigned in her anger. “We simply inspect her and draw a conclusion then?” Adriana’s voice felt like blades in her mouth. Seemingly eager to get this over with, Mia nodded in agreement: “Good, then we can report in and I can hopefully go a whole week without having to look at you.” She sniped; a knife bitch to the end, it seemed.
It turns out the other room was a smaller, much more cramped one. It appeared to be a storage space or something, maybe a sewing room. The idea of Mia sewing brought Adriana great amusement. Mia: the angry tailor, bitch of the stitches. Speaking of the devil, Mia walked in ahead to click on the lights. Framed perfectly in the warm overhead lamp, was Eislia. She was bound to a small wooden chair, sitting with her arms tied behind her back as if she was sitting in the most relaxing seat ever invented. Gods, how could she do that? Adirana had been a witness to many interrogations. Hells, she’d done a fair few herself. Simple deprivation worked more often than not. A hard chair, some tight rope and being left in the dark was enough to unravel most constitutions. However, here is our vexing virtuoso of vorpality, sitting as if nothing was wrong.
Now that they were not fighting for their lives, Adriana took in her exact details. Eislia’s hair was long and wild, black as the night, tumbling over her shoulders and back. Her features were sculpted and handsome. Familiar in some odd way. As if she’d seen her face before. But of course, she’d never met a woman like her. In a slight way, she reminded her of Lord Eversei, her boss. Perhaps it was simply the air which the two women held themselves.
She leveled her gaze at Adriana, who felt as if she was the one bound; even if for a brief moment. She washed the feeling away with a curtain of cold resolve. Not unless a certain other individual was pissed at her, had she ever felt so on her backfoot. “You’re the one that defeated me? Hmph…A bit scrawny for that, aren’t you?” her voice was just like in the dream scape, soft and low. Muted somewhat by the room’s walls. It was odd that she seemed to not know her. However, a glance to Mia clued her in: Eislia was playing dumb. Fine, she wanted to see how this played out.
“Yes, that is me, or rather us. We, as they say in more crude circles, kicked your ass.” The larger (and it must be stated, much larger) woman chuckled, as if this was some casual book club. “It was very clever, and you also managed to get me back to my senses. So, for that I thank you. Now…” She looked at Mia, then back to Adriana. Adriana could not help but note those vermilion eyes did not lack any of the intensity from last night. Neither the isolation, nor defeat had tamed them. Adriana felt her heart jump into her throat. Palpitations skittered across her chest on insect stick legs. “What are you going to do with me? I can already assume you are not normal citizens of this city? Which one is it anyway? Terostav? Hmm, no…”
Mia’s jaw worked; she was not loving this. Mia never liked to not be in the know: She was a handler, her job was to know things. She wanted to know the where/what/why at all times. This kind of guessing game irritated her. In that way they were total opposites; Adriana relished a mystery. In fact it was her love of mysteries that pushed her through so many aspects of her life. The unsavory elements of what she did, and who she did it to, were things that she could ignore when all she was doing was getting answers and finding clues. Before Adriana could register what was going on, Mia stepped closer to their capture.
“What are we going to do with you!? Well...find out who the fuck you are, and how the hells you did...all of that!?” She gestured, vaguely, as if a puppet having a seizure. “I’ve never had anyone face me down and not end up meat! So, now that you’ve had a nice rest…maybe we all three of us can get better acquainted hmm?” there was no hint of fear in Eislia as she looked up at Mia. She didn’t have to look up far, Founders, even sitting down she somehow towered over both of them.
“I’m sure you haven’t faced anything like me; I’m not just anyone.” She looked away from Mia, likely to piss her off (Ok, Adriana had fallen in love with Eislia now), her eyes settled onto Adriana. Not a word was spoken, but she could almost hear the words: ‘like you’ instead, Eislia shifted a bit, glancing back at Mia. “I am...an escapee; a refugee to your fine city. All I want is to lead a normal life, and hide.” Her sincerity was hard to ignore, her words spoken with such clear conviction that no lie could dwell in them. This was added to the fact that she was not bothered by anything going on in the slightest.
Before Mia could add something, Adriana spoke up: “Wait...what are you talking about? Refugee? From where?” She felt her voice break a bit, this was all too much. Eislia didn’t answer, her eyes simply flicked up to the ceiling. Mia was the first to break the silence, she scoffed and paced away, shaking her head. “Great, she’s insane. You’re seriously telling us that you’re from…” She pointed up. “The Ultimacy!? I...no one has ever gone there, and no one has ever come from there. At least, not since the founding.” She scoffed again. “This is bullshit.”
“Given what she did last night…” Adriana said, her voice trying to be calm. ”And what she was capable of?” Adriana leaned over to Mia.
“This is not...outside of the realm of possibility.” Mia glared at her, but seemed to relent.
“Well fuck, what the hells to we do with her then!?”
“I suggest letting me go free.” Eislia piped up. That nearly got Mia to snap at her, but she relented.
“You know what!? Fuck it: Mission successful.” Mia announced with a flick of her hand. ”She’s not a threat to the family, aside from going berserk (which is a problem), but she’s not our business….And honestly. I’m more interested in staying out of the affairs of the fucking Founders.”
“That shall not be a problem. When I came down here, I was...knocked off balance. The impact sort of triggered my..survival state.” Eislia explained. “Until your good magical friend here sapped my anger away well...that simply undid it.” She bowed her head. “I swear, I won’t be a problem for either of you.”
Mia glanced at Adriana. She’d been watching all this, sliding it through her mind, trying to scan for any semblance of reason. The facts added up, and as preposterous as it looked like on the surface; Eislia’s story added up alongside them. “I’m not the one in charge here, Mia, I just collect, compile and collate evidence.”
“Yes, well I’m kind of implying you do that!” She hissed. “That was the whole…look, look I’m giving you the look, see? That’s when you do the thinky thing!” Mia accentuated this point by jabbing a finger at her own eye.
“Fine. Then given the evidence we’ve seen...while I cannot definitively say what she is, I can certainly say that her story holds water. All of the facts align, as...odd as they may be.” Mia sighed at Adriana’s words. There was a nice little spark of satisfaction she felt that Mia would have to admit she was right.
“That’s...about what I thought. OK, let her go, but there’s a catch: Adriana.” She turned and clapped her on the shoulder. “She’s your responsibility.” It surprised Adriana that Mia could use lightning magic, because at this very moment it felt like she’d been struck by it. Her breath came back after a few beats.
“Wait...what?”
“You heard me.” Mia said, glaring at Adriana. “I’m too busy and active in the family. I don’t have the time. But you…” She grinned and tapped her chest. “You can easily help our little um...friend out with adjusting to city life.” her voice was cloyingly sweet, and the finality of the tone was a dreadbell for Adriana. She sighed.
“Understood.” Adriana knew when she was defeated, which was often with Mia. She had learned a long time ago to pick her battles; and learned very quickly alongside that other lesson to never pick them with Mia. Mia never backed down—she had a constitution that could make a boulder flinch. It was always better to simply get out of her way and let her do what she wanted. Adriana rubbed her temples to try and ease the throbbing ache that had been introducing itself over the conversation.
Mia walked behind the chair producing a dagger from nowhere, and cut the giant loose. “Please know that this whole mix-up was in no way a reflection of the Nummari family. We hold no responsibility for your bodily safety and are in no way holding you to any of our standards and practices.” She recited the odd little speech as if she’d given it a hundred times, Adriana could believe she had.
Eislia stood, stretching her massive limbs, but aside from that looking totally comfortable. “Well then...” Mia added. “Welcome to Forthiron city.” She grinned. “Now, if you’ll excuse me. I have to report back home to check in and let them know what happened. And...I’ll be omitting your um...oddities. Don’t worry, I want to keep the family as far from the founders as possible...and that means keeping them out of the loop.” She looked over to Adriana, a flash of concern in her eyes. Before she could analyze its reality, it was gone.
“Spare key is on the front table, leave it under the mat, use the invisibility spell or I’ll kill you.” She said in a sing-song voice.
“Die in a fire, Mia!”
Mia only flashed Adriana that shit-eating grin she often wore and turned to leave. Somehow, Adriana had no doubt she was totally ready to face a new day. Adriana herself felt like she ran a marathon; she wanted to crawl back under a blanket and never come out. All Adriana wanted was to disappear. As she spent a little time fuming and fussing over her feelings, she felt a large hand on her shoulder. Glancing up, Adriana was surprised to see Eislia looking down at her, she had kind eyes; oddly enough. Seeing her from this angle, one could easily have fear eat away at their heart. To have a giant warrior this close, and you in a vulnerable position could spell death. However, Adriana felt oddly calm. “You seem to have quite a queer relationship with her.”
“Not queer enough.” She mumbled. “Regardless!” Adriana sighed and stepped back. “I will honor the agreement we all came to agree upon; as long as you fulfill your end.” She tried to assert a shred of dominance here. Eislia simply shrugged.
“There was much talk between you two, but not exactly much agreed on. Is that how you always converse?” Adriana tried to respond, but she felt her words stumble in her throat. Heat radiating from her cheeks, how the hell is she saying all this!?
“Talk time over, we go now!” She sputtered out, turning to storm from the room.
“Where are my things?” The soft, baratone voice seemed to pierce right into her back, even if it was so quiet. Adriana groaned, turned on her heel, and faced her.
“I….don’t know. Fuck.” She rubbed her face. More problems. One after the other, all she had to do was keep going and solving them. Founders, yesterday her biggest worry was being horny over a barista. “Mia didn’t bother telling me. Look, let’s just...search around here, she can’t have left them in the street or something.” The larger woman simply bowed her head in agreement.
“That is satisfactory to me.” She motioned for Adriana to exit the room first. Ah, that must be a constant concern for her: Getting through doorways without getting stuck with another person. As she stepped into the hallway, Adriana could not help but chuckle at the thought of Eislia stuck in some doorway. She sighed and stepped aside, her eyes tracing over the patterned wallpaper. Yet again, very fancy. This had to be one of Mia’s safe houses. It was absolutely not her actual home, Adriana knew this. Mia was far too cautious. It often made her wonder why Adriana was not herself. Perhaps she was less ambitious. Perhaps she didn’t care enough about living. That was an odd thought to dwell on, so Adriana decided not to.
It turned out that it wasn’t too big a job to find Eislia’s things. In fact, it looked like Mia had dropped them in the entrance hallway. It made Adriana puzzle over how the hells she hauled both her and a giant woman all the way from the warehouse to here; Elves were known for greater strength and speed than humans, but still this was quite a bit. On top of that, Mia was also carrying all of Eislia’s gear: A large sword in its scabbard, some tattered looking black cloak, and a small box of dark forest tones that Eislia snatched out of Adriana’s hands apologetically. Regardless, once they were gathered and ready, the two of them stepped out of the room and secured the lock. With a flick of her hand, Adriana cast the invisibility spell on the key, then she grinned and hid it in one of the lamps hanging along the corridor’s walls.
With a merry whistle she set off with her new ‘friend’ to return home and hopefully sleep forever. It was only then, as they got on the elevator and headed for the ground floor, that Adriana had no idea where this apartment building was located in the city.
