[Cursed Crone] Discovery and Despair

For the first time in her life, Arianwyn felt well and truly alone. She had always been the loner type, the better-off-alone kind. She preferred to have full control over herself and her fate, without needing to negotiate her way with others in a group. Working alone meant responsibility, self-sufficiency. It was her against the world, without the bother of any outside opinion. Upon graduation from her apprenticeship, she had begged for a solo assignment. She was capable enough, she pleaded. She had something to prove. She could handle it. Sure, she couldn't run more than a minute without gasping for air and risking passing out, and her magic made her feel like she might faint, but of course she could take on an important assignment!

Yet even being alone in the woods was enough to send a shiver down her spine. Though the path she followed through the Sunless Jungle was, ironically enough, decently lit and well-worn by past travelers, she felt as though she might as well be in the middle of nowhere. She was not sure she had ever been in a place so quiet. Out here, in the southwestern portion of the dense forests, the wind hardly even rustled the leaves. The sounds of animal life in the woods were uncomfortably loud; the occasional snap of a twig setting the Silverweaver on edge every time. Though she tried to tell herself she was safe, she swore she saw figures in the corner of her eye. She had never been so far from Namarast, and she was only now realizing the relative safety of the place where she was raised.

To think how much she had begged to leave the safety of Namarat's walls. She should have been excited. This was her first solo assignment, her first time venturing far away on behalf of the Order. Despite her physical limitations, she had been trusted to travel to the Sunless Jungle to survey the more distant villages. It was a covert mission, of sorts—this region had never fully been under the Order's control, and the official knowledge of the area was slim. A large brigade of Order Mages visiting in full regalia would surely set off the local people, but a lone mage was unlikely to put anyone on edge. Her duty was to visit and report; that was all. A simple time of travel. Visit a few of the towns, stay long enough to get a feel for the local politics, and report home by the next full moon. It was a job so simple, even a short-of-breath, silver-blooded apprentice could handle it. Arianwyn had been nothing short of honored by their trust.

Was she starting to regret it? Perhaps, but she would never dare to speak her doubt out loud. She was far too stubborn to admit defeat. She would succeed at this mission; the scary forest be damned. Never one to give in, she was not going to lose to some damned trees.

Peering ahead, the mare squinted her orange eyes. Was that a break in the tree line? Her pace picked up slightly, tripping slightly over exposed tree roots in her hurry but hardly noticing in her desperation. Surely she was just imagining it. There was no way she'd actually get some respite from these godforsaken woods, right? No, the path was changing. Arianwyn noted a subtle shift in the flora of the area; a switch from dense, shade-resistant trees to forest edge shrubs and grasses. At the same time, she noticed a new noise in the air, sounding through the din of forest noise. Flowing water. She had studied the map intensely before setting off on her journey, and she knew the route well. The path would eventually converge on a river valley, freeing her of the wretched jungle. She was almost there. Though her lungs burned even at her current pace, she found herself speeding to a trot, then a lope. Anything to escape this place!

Finally, at the crest of the hill, she was free. Arianwyn paused, panting for breath, to take in the view before her. Before her, a wide valley sat open to the sunny sky, all lush and bright and green. From here, she could see villages in the distance, dotting the picturesque valley. For a city mare like herself, it was truly a sight to behold. A freedom from all the crap she had been forced to endure up to this point. A huge weight lifted from her shoulders.

That was, until Arianwyn blinked away her shock at the dazzling burst of sunset. At first, she thought she was seeing things. She had spent so long in the creepy, inhospitable woods, certain she was seeing monsters in the corner of her eye—certainly the darkened sky to her west was just her paranoia, right? It wasn't uncommon for her to get spots in her vision when she exerted herself, so what was another dark patch? Only, when she paused to catch her breath, all the other blurs faded away, but this one only seemed to darken. It looked like night. Like the very sky had been torn apart. Like the shadow was invading the night. It terrified her to her core. She could hardly imaging a magic so great that it could tear open the sky. It was as if the world was ending.

At the same time, a weight settled on Arianwyn's chest; one she could not ascribe to her poor physical state. It felt like tendrils had wrapped around her heart, pinning it to her ribcage and suffocating her. She already had a difficult time getting enough oxygen to her body, but now she was standing still and felt as though she could not breathe. Before her, she saw the valley which was bright a mere moment ago enveloped in shadow; if it weren't for the distant silhouettes of folks leaving their homes to peer up at the sky, she would have thought she were hallucinating. But no, she only wished she was hallucinating.

When the gut-wrenching, soul-crushing cry hit her, Arianwyn almost collapsed to the ground. It sounded like all of the sadness in Ivras, distilled and concentrated into one cry of absolute despair. If her legs were not so shaky, Arianwyn would have turned and run back into the terrifying embrace of the Sunless Jungle. She would have run all the way back to Namarast, back to her room, and collapsed in the relative safety of her home. There was nothing she wouldn't have traded to be anywhere but here, nothing she wouldn't have given to escape whatever horrors had befallen whatever pour soul had made that awful cry.

In the strange shadow of the valley, she spotted it: a form so twisted and unnatural that she knew immediately what it was. A corrupt mage. A monster. At the same moment, Arianwyn settled on a conviction. She was going to fight this monster. Her assignment be damned, she was going to take down this beast. She would fight it, and she would win. She had to. Opportunities like this were not common, and she could not let this one pass her by. She could not sit home and watch another monster attack from the safety of Namarast. It was her time to shine.