MARIN DRASWIST IS CLOSE. Her goal has never been within her reach. The island is already divided into two warring sides, and Cardovia, the organization she serves, grows more powerful by the second with her help. But when a war against an extinct bu...
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2412, Strilaxis 8, Daleth
Marin shuffled behind the group, drawing her oversized cloak around herself. At least thirteen other people marched with her, following a tall woman with an oversized turban around her head. The stringent tapping sounds of the end of her cane against the grass were the only thing keeping Marin on her toes, as well as telling her how many steps has it been since they emerged into the other side of the malleable marker.
Now that's a surreal experience, something Marin hasn't seen in all her life. Cardina did little to prepare her for the vastness of the things she had yet to encounter. It was also the last thing she expected to happen after the flow of things from the past few days.
It started innocently enough. Marin left the Temple of Magic with a heaviness in her heart—something she couldn't replace in a million years. With only the guidance of the moons during the cold nights and the sheets of white clouds during the scorching days, she eventually made it to a clearing with three diverging paths, each leading elsewhere. Upon siddling close to the brightly-dressed merchants lounging under the shades of the canopies, she learned the paths went to three different cities in different territories, all known to be populated by fairies.
Daunting, Marin thought before, but she didn't have any other choice. The only fairy she ever met was Xanthy, and that woman got Marin's father killed. If she has to brave into a territory full of them, she'd brave it, if it's to get her father back.
She hadn't really thought about it before she left, and as she trudged through the shady forests at the outskirts of the Royalty region, she plotted her steps and came up with nothing. That time, the plan was to wander around until she hit something, preferably with favorable chances of her realizing her goal.
The merchant back then advised her to go to Helinfirth, particularly Rabante. With it being a livelihood city, she'd be more fortunate to land a paying job there. "It's not easy for people like us," the merchant said, eyes trained on the silver ring around her finger. "Most of the time, we need to do more than anyone else just to get somewhere."
Marin had been through numerous purges and always managed to survive it, thanks to her father's wits. She knew every corner of what the merchant said. As a half-blood, all she had going for her in Cardina was delivering messages across the Commons as soon as she could walk and follow instructions. Her brother, Malin, was treated the same way.
She used to ask why her father let himself and his children be treated that way, but her father never gave her a straight answer. Now, she knew. It's because he's fulfilling another oath to a faraway concept, and whatever that was, it involved Xanthy and her strange magic. Virtakios, was it? Marin couldn't care less. It's what got her into this mess and took everything from her.
And what did Xanthy ever say to Marin? Sorry—as if that could undo everything they have been through and solve all their problems. It wouldn't, and Marin couldn't bear seeing Xanthy triumph here and there without acknowledging the fact that it was Marin's father who had to die to get her there.
