Hayward's Reach

NaShoStoMo #7 - Aethermancer

              She was a vision in black, her black hair braided in tiny rows, held close to her scalp and then plaited together ran down her back to her waist. She was of the clan Modru, the Sundwellers, so she was of a  dark brown hue, her skin, smooth like fine ironwood, with full lips, slightly parted as she look down into her hands at a small glowing device. When she looks up, her brow furrowed, she appears serious, focused, a woman with a mission. Her cloak, long and flowing covered her wide and strong shoulders, and she wore a right proper lady's full dress, it too, in full black with only the tiniest traces of silver running down the bodice. I did not see it at first but she also bore a sword beneath her cloak at her hip but it moved nearly imperceptibly as part of her.

              She turned down the brightly lit streets as the galaxy's core had risen about an hour ago and rose brilliantly into the night sky. There were still a few people about, but this late, most were returning to their homes to be locking their doors against the night. I would be too, if I had a home from which to return. Many of us had been displaced after the wars with the Clockwork King of Lantu and even with his defeat, our suffering was still great.

              As I huddled in the darkness, I could see she was concerned about something, appeared to be looking for something, first left, then right. I would have passed it off as a noble lady looking for a trinket but there was something about her that seemed out of place. Then she turned toward me and I could feel the fire of her stare. Even in the complete darkness, she could see me, I knew this. Something told me to flee, but her gaze held me in place and as she approached, I could feel no malice from her. So I waited.

              "Good sir, if I may have a moment of your time?"

              Her manners, so deferential, to me, little more than a forgotten veteran of a dozen forgotten wars, I loved her in that second. "Yes, miss, how can I help you this evening? 

              "Have you seen anything passing strange or untoward this evening, near this corner? Anything that would make you wary or fearful? I know it seems a unusual question, but I ask your forbearance while you think."

              "I had seen something amiss but for the life of me I cannot seem to remember it. It was..." As I struggled to remember, I struggled for breath. My chest felt as if it were in a vice, the very air reft from my lungs.

              The lady looked into her hand again as the air above the tiny device began to glow strongly as she proffered it in my direction. "Touch it. Now." Her tone brooked no refusal and as I could not draw breath I was hardly in a state to refuse. Once I touched it, I could see a shape on my chest akin to a snake wrapped around me squeezing me tight. She took the strange device and pressed it to my chest and I could feel her will around me, solidifying and then the pressure was gone. As she withdrew the device I could see a silvern thread pulled into it and fade after a few moments.

              "What I seek is here, tell me quickly goodman and then get as far away as your legs will carry you."

              Now that the creature was gone, the horror returned to me of the unspeakable things I had seen. I scrambled backward until I struck the wall and cowered, senseless for a few seconds. Then my words returned. "It was a Dsur covered in brass armor, floating with three of its windkin slaves. It was fiery red and lightning flashed between its fingertips. It had been riding a soldier who had come into town, sick with what looked like the flu. I tried to convince him to share with an old vet, but he was lost in his visions. He asked which way to a chirurgeon and I pointed him down Lacksmir Way. He passed me a penny and as I thanked him, I saw it, I saw the Dsur and it saw me. The penny was infected with the creature and I could see it take me but could not resist.