Day: 3122
Days Left: 2358
Lives Saved: 17
The raven swooped over the campestral forest of emerald, spotting more travellers arriving at the camps surrounding the city, and then made a mental note for their report later. As it approached darkness, the entire flock of ravens swirled in the sky and headed back to the safety behind the walls of The Warren, converging on the head of security and defences building. The flock of ravens dove to one of the open windows on the top floor of the building, merging into one being as they landed on the windowsill and turned back into their human form: Talon, whose jet black hair was scruffy and sticking upright from the transformation. They lifted the raven mask from their face, then brushed off a few remaining raven feathers from their clothes, the metal bracelets on their wrist clinking together as they did so.
"You left it a bit too late," said Captain of the Guard, Lili Abedayo, from her seat at the office desk, a pile of admin and reports on the table in neat piles. "You're overworking yourself."
"That's quite hypocritical of you to say so, Captain," replied Talon, remaining to sit on the windowsill, legs hanging and gently swaying and kicking.
Lili chuckled slightly. "Perhaps," she said. "But I do not risk being unable to transform back with my line of work. Do you want to stay as a bird forever?"
Talon shrugged. "Doesn't sound so bad, actually."
"Well, I suggest staying human for a few days; we have the blood moon coming up and need you awake for the whole day, ideally, especially if there's going to be another planned attack."
With a groan, Talon got up and headed over to the desk, taking a piece of paper and changing a few numbers. "Some latecomers, all with masks; overheard most of them seeking asylum and citizenship, but who knows if it is just a cover."
Lili frowned, looking at the numbers. "Yes, definitely another attack."
"And I recognised some faces, despite their attempts at disguise."
"Any sign of the ringleader?"
Talon shook their head. "Nope. No clear leader."
"Someone must be if they are always this organised. I want a report on all the new arrivals and their masks, what they could possibly be, and anyone acting suspicious."
"You got it." Talon saluted.
"Good work, rest up, Sergeant, you deserve it," said Lili, not looking up from scribbling more notes on preparations for the blood moon.
"I think you deserve it too, Captain." Talon headed back to the window. "Say hi to the missus for me."
Lili smiled slightly. "Will do."
Talon climbed onto the windowsill, and made another casual salute before donning their mask and transforming into a singular raven and flying off.
Roughly 19 Years Ago
Corinna Warren visited Princess Corinna regularly, the two bonding over the book series. Once Corinna had eventually finished reading all of it, she kept her promise and reenacted scenes with Princess Cori, 'acting' not 'playing' which the princess stressed constantly. They acted in the nearby forest, library, and royal gardens and got lost in the hedge maze until they were rescued by the gardener Ernest.
A couple of days a week, Corinna would go straight to the castle after school and complete her homework alongside the princess, who would work on her own assignments, aiding one another. Corinna commented that it was nice to have a quiet workspace as it was a constant loud din of voices at home with how large her household was.
The days passed quickly, the two Coirnna's developing a strong friendship, and their 12th birthday soon arrived. The day itself, Cori celebrated with the usual parades and live music, but what she looked forward to the most was the day after, where she celebrated her birthday with Corinna. Whilst her dream of sitting down with her family and eating cake would never be a reality, Rhea organised to have the chefs bake a cake for her with little models of the characters from her favourite book series. They sat outside in the royal gardens, eating cake alongside Corinna and her great-grandfather Ernest, who had designed a special part of the garden just for Cori's use, and had also set up a bouncy castle.
Princess Cori's new friend eventually gained some attention from her family, interested for never before had Cori spent so much time with anyone other than her servant Rhea. However, it was not good attention, Cori realised, as Alfreda made mocking jests at how freckled Corinna was, asking if she was part frog, and then Osmond kept on wondering how much Corinna was being paid to be Cori's friend. While Cori tried to ignore them, Osmond's words stuck in her mind. Was Corinna being paid?
Could Rhea have persuaded Corinna to be her friend and visit her in exchange for money? She did seem quite rehearsed when they had first met, so polite and always smiling and bowing. Cori wondered if the friendship they had built over the past year had all been but an act, none of it real. The more Cori thought about it, the more she started to believe it. There were times when she saw Corinna Warren with no expression on her face, blank and emotionless like a doll, then in a flash a bright smile would appear on her lips when she noticed that she was seen.
No, could it be true?
Could she just be pretending?
The princess was used to adults pretending and faking their smiles and compliments, but she had found that children were often honest, too honest sometimes, blurting out whatever they thought. Or was Corinna just an excellent actress?
It was a school day, and Corinna Warren had visited as usual to complete some more homework when the royal guards entered the princess' wing.
"His Majesty, King Casimir!" announced one of the guards.
Princess Cori and Corinna Warren both jolted to their feet, Corinna then kneeling on one knee, head bowed as the king walked into the library.
"There's my little girl," said King Casimir. "How are your studies?"
"Very well, Your Majesty!" replied Princess Cori.
"And who is this?" The king turned to the kneeling Corinna. "I had heard you had a new friend, Cori. Is this her?"
Cori nodded. "Her name is also Corinna, and we have the same birthday!"
The king chuckled. "My, what a coincidence. You may rise, Miss Corinna."
Corinna obeyed, but her eyes dared not leave the floor, her hands remaining firmly behind her back.
"Correct me if I am wrong, Miss Corinna," King Casimir began. "But are you part of the Warren-Earl-Best family?"
Corinna nodded, then hesitantly answered, "I am Corinna Warren."
"Well, Corinna Warren." Casimir knelt to her level. "Thank you very much for keeping my daughter company."
Corinna nodded, then bowed, her lips quivering as if she was too scared to talk.
"If you are a Warren, then perhaps you would like to work here when you are older just as the rest of your family have? Its a tradition that has lasted several generations in your family that I assume you will follow. What would you like to do? Would you like to be one of Cori's servants?"
"I would like to be an architect when I'm older, Your Majesty," replied Corinna,
"Oh, how ambitious," said King Casimir. "Perhaps you would like to redesign the castle? The head gardener is one of your family, and he designed the whole garden; not many people get to design a place such as ours, but if that is your ambition, we will gladly find some proper teachers to help you. I am eternally grateful for your family service to the Crown."
Corinna Warren shook her head. "Thank you, Your Majesty, but I would just like to build houses."
"Well, we do have our summer home that's, and we are looking to build more."
Corinna shook her head once again. "Thank you, Your Majesty, but I am sorry I just want to build ordinary people's houses and homes for families."
The King rose to his feet and was silent for a moment as if studying the little girl. "Well you can be whatever you set your mind to Miss Warren." The king's voice changed, more flat, and the princess could not hear the genuine sincerity from before. Her father then turned his attention to her and asked for her to show him her past assignments and grades to see how well she was doing in school; in the meantime, Corinna returned to her own studies, before quickly packing up and saying farewell.
After Corinna had left the room, King Casimir looked to his daughter, and said, "her family has been loyal to the Crown for several generations. Their loyalty will never waver, be sure to keep them close for they are the most trusted allies and servants you will ever have."
"Yes, Your Majesty," replied Cori.
"She will be a wonderful servant to you, Cori." Casimir patted Cori's head. "I am glad that she is with you."
Once King Casimir had gone, Cori continued her studies, at least she tried to, but what Osmond had joked about from before consumed her mind- that Corinna Warren had been paid to be her friend. After all, why would anyone want to be Cori's friend?
Roughly 174 Years Ago
It took only a few more food drop-offs until Salim and Sky were deemed too dangerous, too fearsome for anyone to dare challenge them, especially as they now had masks. Everyone waited as all the food packets dropped, watching as Salim and Sky took as many packets as they could stuff inside of their bags and left without having a scratch on them. And then the chaos would commence, the other prisoners and monsters battling it out for scraps.
Salim and Sky would return home with their winnings, organising them and debating on who got what; Sky determined to get every stew packet there was.
The bungalow they had stayed in had almost become like a home, with furniture they had scavenged from the Land of the Lost. Both Salim and Sky had differing opinions on how the place should be decorated, the idea of decorating was absurd at first to Sky, mostly because decorating somewhere suggested that you were planning on staying there, investing in it, and she wasn't going to stay in the Eternal Abyss for too long if she could help it. However, decorating seemed to pass the time, and made their situation less bleak, so they divided the house into two, each a designated area to decorate how they pleased. Salim seemed to be trying to mimic his previous lifestyle as a desired rich concubine with the hanging scarves and numerous plump cushions, the elderly man needing comfort, whereas Sky found anything cute or she liked and dumped it anywhere, or at least from Salim's perspective as there appeared to be no logic to her positioning and layout, a chaotic mess of pointless tchotchkes which only Sky could navigate through just to reach a book from the shelves. And of course, everything was green on Sky's side; it did not start off this way, to begin with, she had no real colour scheme, however, it was only when she asked about Salim's outfits did the obsession grew. Every day, Salim wore an entirely different colour, his whole outfit monochromatic, which Sky questioned, laughing at it, when Salim answered what was wrong with wearing the same colour, and what Sky's favourite colour was.
Sky answered green: she knew it immediately even though she had not thought about it before. Why was green her favourite colour? She stared out of the window, seeing the grey and lifeless grass, and the bleak sky. Green, was always linked with life, with nature and growth, the opposite of this world where everything and everyone was just stuck in the process of dying but denied relief.
And so Sky experimented with how she dressed, before it was only out of practicality, but now everything had to be green; it was like a symbol of her goal, a reminder. She looked down at her green jacket and imagined the green grass and trees, but she wanted the real thing. How desperately she wanted to see a forest again, a park, the beach, a sunset, the sky...
But to do so, she had to escape. She had to get stronger.
She stood outside of their house, facing Salim, brandishing a small wooden stick as a practice weapon.
"Now," Salim began, his posture as disciplined as ever, his chin up, suggesting his high-ranking status of the past. "Give a count down, and we shall begin."
Sky nodded and rolled back her shoulders. "Three-"
Before she could even finish, a blur of red rushed at her, knocking out the training weapon in her hand, and forcing her to the ground in a single move. Sky winced, tearing up almost from how much her hand stung, and her backside from the way she had landed. "What was that!" she yelled at him. "I hadn't finished counting down! You cheated!" she spat.
Salim chuckled, pointing the sharpened stick at her throat, before withdrawing it with a fancy flourish. "Dear child, do you think anyone plays by the rules down here?" He crouched down, his eyes darkening as he continued in a low and growled voice, "down here, everyone is a monster, do not let your guard down, even with those who do not wear masks. And then up there..." He rose again, staring up at the sky. "We are just criminals to them; they will not show us mercy; they think us monsters too." Salim looked down at Sky again. "If we are to escape, forget anything about honour and fairness; that is not how the world works."
Sky flexed her hand, getting used to the sting, her skin reddening. She expected Salim to help her up, but he didn't and instead watched patiently as she stumbled up on her own feet without aid.
"In the Eternal Abyss, we cannot gain muscle or become stronger," explained Salim.
"So all of this is just pointless then," Sky huffed.
"No." Salim straightened. "It is all about technique. You can be an adonis will all the muscles in the world, but if you do not know how to use them, you will not achieve anything. You may not be able to grow physically stronger, but I will build up your instincts and your fighting knowledge, and even with a malnourished body, you can defeat any opponent. We need you at your best in your human form once we reach the other side of the portal. Now..." Salim handed Sky her weapon back. "Let's try that again, feel free to start another countdown-"
Sky struck at the man, almost striking him, but his quick reflexes saved him.
He grinned. "Much better."
*
"And after I trained you for some time, once I believed that we were ready, we tried escaping through a portal," Salim explained.
The woman with the green eyes stared at him, then looked back down to the book at the first section: Sky, seeing a drawing of a woman that looked exactly like her. "What happened?" she asked. "You said that I have escaped many times, but what about you? You were trying too with Sky."
Salim swallowed, and hesitantly answered, "yes, we tried so many times, Sky and I."
*
"We were so close!" Sky sobbed, collapsing to her hands and knees. "So close!"
"Come, child," ushered Salim. "You must stand. We need to-"
"How many more times!" Sky screamed out into the open void of wasteland. "How many more times are we going to try! It's useless, Salim!" She fully collapsed onto the ground, unable to utter another word as she fell into despair, into a fit of cries of anger.
"Sky..." Salim crouched down, wanting to help the woman up so they could go somewhere safer, but the woman instead clutched onto him, like a child who had fallen over and hurt themselves, seeking comfort from their parent.
Startled, Salim froze up, not knowing what to do at first. He had numerous children and grandchildren, but he had never interacted with any of them, unless it was in the later years to train their magic. As a concubine, he was like a stud who sold himself to nobles and royalty wanting heirs with his potent magical bloodline, so he was never expected to see or care for any of his offspring. There was never any affection, no consoling, only discipline and strictness despite the blood they shared.
Hesitantly, Salim reached out a hand, and patted Sky on the back, hoping that it would be of some comfort. She held on tighter to him as she continued to weep uncontrollably. Salim wrapped his arms completely around Sky, and watched around for any monsters or prisoners, protecting Sky as she had this vulnerable moment.
*
"And one time we succeeded," Salim continued, then cleared his throat and corrected himself, "Sky succeeded, but I did not, unfortunately. I was only a fraction away from escape, and the portal closed on me with Sky on the other side." He bowed his head in silence for a moment.
The woman bit her lip, not knowing what to say, so she glanced down at the book again, at Salim's handwriting, and then flipped over the page to the next chapter: June.
"After a few months of travelling the Abyss alone," Salim began, noticing the woman now on the next chapter. "I found you again, only all of your memories had been wiped. That's what happens if you somehow manage to escape through the portal. They capture you, imprison you, and take away your memories of your escape, and send you back down a blank slate." He swallowed. "You did not remember me," his voice cracked. "I did my best to explain the situation, it took a long time for you to believe me, but eventually, we returned to working together to escape."
The woman skim-read the pages, seeing her own handwriting of events that did not remember.
"I convinced you to start writing your memories down in case it happened again, as did I," said Salim. "In case we got separated again and did not escape together, we could keep the other alive." He patted the largest volume of books in his pile, which had his name on the cover.
"But you never escaped?" the woman asked slowly. "Only... only I ever did?"
Salim nodded slowly. "I realised that it was no accident that I did not escape the first time with you."
*
"They did it on purpose!" Salim tried to yell through the storm. "Please, listen to me!"
June continued walking, her arm out, protecting herself from the assaulting wind that pushed her back.
"We can never escape from here!" Salim continued. "Please! Stop!" He tried reaching out to June and grabbed her wrist, but she slapped her away. "They shut the portal in time to make sure that I can never leave! Because they know that once I have my magic back, they cannot defeat me!"
"Sounds like it's only you who cannot escape!" June snapped, finally turning around, her hair flying wild in the wind. "What! Just because you can't escape doesn't mean I can't! I've done it before!"
"They let you!" Salim shouted. "You haven't tricked them, they purposefully let you escape, and they are ready for you on the other side-"
"And I'll be ready for them!" June turned back around and continued fighting against the wind, the open portal in her sights.
"You need me, June! You cannot fight them without me!" Salim rushed forward, trying to grab her again.
"You're the one who needs me!" she screamed back, kicking him to the ground, the man too exhausted from the storm to evade it. He stared up at her as she towered over him. "You're just too scared to be alone! I'm escaping. I'm going to leave this place finally! I'm not staying here for all eternity!"
*
"No matter how many times I tried to convince you to stop, you did not listen," said Salim. "You kept on escaping, and I would meet a new version of you, with no memories, but who still strived to escape. Every single time."