Calm and Calamity

Chapter 22

Corinna swallowed. "Yes, I had heard a bit about that."

"And you're not scared? Are you not frightened to be around her? Or did she threaten you to-"

"It's not like that at all!" Corinna bit down on her lip, calming herself. "I've heard stories of what she was like in the past, but Harmony isn't like that anymore, she's changed. She admits that what she did was wrong."

"I doubt that is much solace to the people that she hurt." The man paused, then sucked in some air. "A lot of her victims fled this sector, that's why this place has so few prisoners. Only Kai, Wendy, and I remained- oh and that amphibian too."

"Calixte," said Corinna.

The man nodded. "He's one of your allies, right?"

"Yes, I share a house with him and Harmony."

"And he's... okay with her?"

"They get along great," replied Corinna. "They hang out with each other a lot."

"Hmm..." The man paused in thought. "If he can be alright around her..." His voice trailed away, then he straightened his back and stopped leaning against the cave. "Klei, my name's Klei."

"Klei? As in..."

"Clay golem," the man groaned.

"Which came first?"

"Klei is my actual name; then someone thought they were funny with that pun and made a mask around it."

"I'm Corinna Warren." The young woman extended her hand, and Klei shook it. "It's nice to meet you officially, and again I truly am sorry about our first encounter."

"Forget about it." Klei shrugged. "To be honest, I thought it was pretty clever how you managed to defeat me, and impressive too considering you didn't have a mask at the time." He paused. "Speaking of which... where is your mask?"

Corinna hesitated. "I still haven't received one."

"Oh, right. You not been here long then?"

"I've been here a year."

"A year and no mask?" Klei's eyes widened. "Someone clearly doesn't like you to delay your mask for that long. Did you perhaps murder some noble's kid?"

"No, I'm here for treason." Corinna showed him the brand of the back of her neck, hoping that she could gain more of his trust this way.

"Same here," said Klei as he showed his. He then motioned to Corinna's left wrist. "Is that why you've got that binding spell?"

"Ah, yeah!" Corinna glanced down at her wrist, almost forgetting that she even had that magical contract just for a moment. "It makes it so I can't talk about the reason for my sentence, can't even write it down." She looked back up at Klei. "So, you're a mage?"
Klei nodded. "I specialise in healing spells. Was forcibly conscripted alongside every other mage by my country in a war but I refused to fight. So, instead, I set up a secret campsite where I healed soldiers and any civilian casualties from either side. However, more people started showing up, and a full-scale peace protest against the war started. It was quickly put a stop to and I was accused of being the instigator and leader of it all." Klei motioned around to his surroundings. "And here I am."

"Wow..." Corinna mumbled under her breath.

Klei shrugged. "But that's only if any of it is true."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I don't remember any of it, all of my memories are gone. All I've got to trust is what I wrote down and who knows? It could all be a lie I told myself. Other prisoners have done so where they lied to themselves about why they're imprisoned here. They would be none the wiser once their memories are all gone. They can believe that they did something good instead of the horrible truth."