Right of the Victor

When I eventually woke up, it wasn’t as pleasant as I’d hoped. I was still dizzy, my vision swam, and I felt as if I hadn’t eaten in months. My memory was just as foggy as my eyes; I couldn’t recall what I’d been doing last. Greater issues were at hand, though.

Glancing in a circle around me, I found that I didn’t really recognize where I was. There were a few candles around the room lighting it, showing a small space with a bed that I was on and a stout wooden table at my side. It had a few unnamed bottles on it, but they were too dark to discern the contents. My sword as also missing

With confusion and some worry, I got out of the bed and onto my feet, feeling exhausted instantly. Nothing could make me go down again until I found that sword, though. It had been my father’s, and I’d used it nearly every day since he passed away. I couldn’t lose that weapon, or I would lose my mind with it.

After less than five minutes of frantically checking the room and finding nothing aside from the fact that the door was locked, I heard a turn of a handle and braced myself for the incoming person, only to realize that it was Audent. I backed away, glaring questioningly at her. She seemed different. Tense and sad, somehow.

“What the hell is happening?” I asked angrily. What it seemed like to me was that I’d been imprisoned, although I really had no idea.

“You passed out, Lengin. That’s not on me.” Audent said slowly while Allazo stepped in behind her. That made sense for some of the things I felt now, but not others. If it had simply been a lack of consciousness, why was I struggling to even move? And why did I feel as if I was starving?

“How long was it, then?” If I had passed out, it must have been for at least a few hours. I needed to know how much time I’d lost and if anything had happened in that time. The unsure pause told me enough as I expectantly waited for an answer.

“It has been nearly two and a half days,” Allazo took the role of delivering the hard news. Words may not have any physical impact, but those almost made me fall back to my seat on the bed. Over two days I had been in here, doing absolutely nothing. The world didn’t wait for me, and that scared me more than it likely should have. Literally anything could have been happening while I was asleep, and I could do nothing about it.

“You should sit down, little man. And before you ask, your sword is right here.” Audent revealed the weapon in one of her hands, still in its simple black sheath. I had no idea where she’d gotten it from, or if she’d brought it in from outside the room.

“Don’t call me that,” I gave my default response while reaching out to grab my sword from her, only to grab empty air when she pulled it back.

“Not yet, Lengin. If you haven’t noticed, you’re still not at all in a good condition.”

For once, I couldn’t argue with Audent. I didn’t even know what had gone on while I was passed out, and I was starkly aware that my very life may have been at risk. It might still be. Unmoving, I just stared for a few seconds, continuing to work through the implications of it all until I found and worded a question.

“Did I miss anything?” I knew already that I had, and the question was more of what exactly I had missed. Two days was quite a long time when one considered the things that had been going on prior to my accident. When Allazo answered, I could already tell something was wrong by the strange tilt in his voice-along with the knowledge that it was always him to give the worst news. Audent couldn’t be expected to do it; she was almost certainly still grieving the loss of Vargos.

“You did. You missed-” his voice sharply cut off as I blinked. When I looked again, Allazo wasn’t there. Due to his reputation for disappearing easily and blending in to his surroundings, I just waited, then glanced at Audent. Except she wasn’t there either.

Confused and in shambles, I went to the door and tried for the second time to open it, but my hand went straight through the handle as if it didn’t exist.

“What the hell…?” I tentatively tried again, getting the same result. Maybe I did need to sit down after all. Returning to the bed and leaning over with my hands pressed against my eyes, I kept them shut for several painstakingly long seconds before I let myself look at anything again. At last I felt ready to see, so I stood and let my vision return. What I saw was something I was never going to be ready for.

The walls of the room were gone. Before me was a ruin of dancing flames, stretching out in all directions with me in the center. Eyes gazing left and right, more and more charred corpses made themselves clear on the floor. Even unable to distinguish who they had belonged to, I could barely hold back tears at the smoke and stench that assailed my nostrils and eyes. The worst part was still to come.

It took several seconds, or possibly close to a minute to realize that I recognized what remained of this place. Those tables I had cleaned once, the pillars that held blackened and crisped cloths that used to be hammocks. This was my home. I could feel my limbs shaking, unable to support me at the horrid sight. On my knees amidst the flame and ash, one thought ruled my despairing mind. Death comes for us all, and I was next.