The Dymensionverse

A story set on the world of Kaalum, about Jade: a character who will appear in a later saga.

SPOILER FREE for the main Thread of Prophecy.

Trigger warning: Violence and very mild suggested SA

Last Updated: 15/08/2026

CHAPTER LIST:

Prologue

Year 953, 4th day of the third rotation of Quariss.

Okay, so how do I start this…

Dear diary? No that doesn’t sound right. Too… blergh, teenage and… the opposite of what I am supposed to be doing here,

So Dear Journal? I guess?

Anyway, I suppose I will just start from the beginning.

My name is, Jade Sherri Zephyr.

I guess it is important to mention that I am 18. 19 in a couple of months.

I am an only child, and I live with my father; Aeon ‘Ignis’ Sanjulo. Though everyone else just knows him as ‘Ignis.’

Yes ‘that’ Ignis. The legendary Aether knight, and hero of Zephyirius.

I will tell you that it is not easy being the daughter of a legend. Nor is it easy being one of very few, and I mean very few, female knights.

I am expected to live up to my father’s legacy, and the legacy of the other great female knights before me. Though living up to some legacy is not the reason why I signed up to be a knight in the first place… nor to walk in my father’s footsteps, as the saying goes.

But anyway I am getting off track. I am still only an acolyte, or knight in training as it were. I am currently living at the Knight’s Academy barracks, in my own cozy little quarters, thanks to my genetic disposition of being female.

I am not quite sure who’s benefit that is for, whether mine for the sake of privacy. Or for the other students. Because the last guy I caught trying to sneak into my room for… whatever it is he wanted to see, ended up in the medicary getting one of the bones in his arm reset.

I’ve also broken a few noses since I have been here. Mostly from people who make snide remarks about my appearance.

I guess I do have some anger issues to work out. But that is a part of the reason I am going to be writing this journal. Or at least I think that is what is expected of me. It had been suggested a few times over the last couple of years that I write down my thoughts in a journal. But after what happened over the last week, Teya practically ordered me to.

That’s doctor Teya Destra by the way. The one woman in this barracks that I can really trust. And also technically my psychiatrist, as well as my doctor.

Not that I blame her. After the shape I was in when I got back…

I was reckless really, stupid even, for underestimating those men. I should have taken more time to figure them out before trying to stop them. Everyone reprimanded me for my actions, and I understand most of the points they tried to make. Telling me I was reckless. That it was not my place to take on that mission. That I should have let the senior knights take care of it.

And yes, I do regret sneaking out to take care of it on my own. Even if it is not the first time I have done so.

But one thing I do not regret was my choice to try and defend those people.

That town had been in fear for far too long, and when I saw that woman stop at our barracks for help, I knew that it would take too long for that help to arrive.

Anyways.

I was supposed to only be there for one night. In and out. But by the time I returned… I had been there for almost a week, and was in pretty bad shape when I returned.

I will be punished for the next few weeks, but that is fine. I already work harder than all of the other students anyway, what can they really do to me?

I guess I will leave this here. I am dead tired and still sore from recovery.

I think I will sleep all day after this.

I will write more soon.

-Jade.

1. The Wayward Knight

Tauren was a small town that sat towards the eastern side of the continent, just far enough that for most of the day, it was outside of the shadow of the colossal mountain range known as the dragon’s teeth. Tauren’s opposite side was nestled up against a lush forest, and the rest was surrounded by lush tilled farmland and rolling grassy hills almost as far as the eye could see. A lazy river flowing by was the only thing that split the lazy countryside.

It was an older town, still surrounded by high outer walls of a bygone age, with its brick buildings clustered within and lacking any proper planning beyond available space. Despite this, it was a charming little place, with friendly locals and always filled with a lingering smell of deliciously baked bread from its many bakeries. Although not close enough to the capital cities to be a tourist destination, it was well known across the kingdom for its export of baked goods and farm supplies.

It was, unfortunately, well known for one other reason. It was a regular hotspot for thieves and bandits.

Also, unfortunately for the residents of Tauren, tonight was no exception.

Down the main street, the depository sat with its doors hanging off their hinges, while voices rang out from within.

“C’mon, hurry! Before the militia catch on!”

“I-i I’m getting there, hang on!”

“Leave that! Grab those instead, they’re worth more!”

“Hurry up, the explosives are set!”

“Let’s move!”

Across the main street, on the rooftop of the opposite building, stood a solitary figure. Jade cut a small silhouette against the moonlight, clad in a thick leather jacket and jeans to hide her figure. Her very long, deep red hair floated in the breeze, a pair of heavy flight goggles atop her head the only thing keeping it from her face. Jade watched the depository opposite intently, one hand upon her thigh as she leant one foot upon the rooftop railing, her other hand upon the sword hilt over her shoulder. She was waiting, tensed and listening, getting a count of how many men were inside the building, and waiting for her chance to reveal herself to them. She counted three voices, all male. Two strong of character and one unsure of himself.

Two and a half against one, those were good odds, and well within her training. Taking a deep calming breath, Jade lowered her goggles over her eyes and adjusted them to a comfortable position. With a flick of her wrist, she untangled her hair, letting it flow out behind her, just as an explosion rang out, the force of the blast throwing the depository doors off of their hinges. Using a meditative technique to focus herself, Jade drew her sword just as the three bandits ran into the street.

The moonlight reflected off of the blade, getting their attention. “What the fuck is that!?” One of the men yelled out, pointing toward the roof.

Making a show of her agility, Jade leapt forward off the rooftop ledge, flipped once in the air, before landing crouched on the street before the bandits.

She held her sword perfectly to the side, and one of the bandits seemed to recognise its design. “Shit!” He cursed, shrinking back slightly. “That’s a knight!”

Jade stood slowly, looking the men over, her grip remaining tight on the hilt of her sword. One of them was her height, rough and wild-looking, but stocky. He bore the ears of a predator race, specifically a Lupine atop his head, the tail to match. He was small for a wolf, the race typically known for their large warriors, but his face was hidden behind a bandanna, his grey eyes still with the focus of someone who knew what they were doing. The other two men were taller than Jade. One tall and wiry with the markings of a grazer upon him, possibly a deer or ram, but with his messy hair, it was hard to tell which. He was the one who lacked the strength in his voice. The last man would be the problem. He was clearly built stronger than the others, and had the look of a Leonin about him. He was also the only one who had drawn his weapon already, a short curved blade which he held before him.

“Wait!” The Lupine said looking Jade over. “That’s a woman!”

Jade grit her teeth, no matter how she dressed there was just no way to disguise her figure. Even in the dark they could tell at their distance. She knew what their inevitable train of thought would be.

The wiry bandit, the Grazer stepped back hesitantly, “You don’t think it’s… Sonja?” His voice had a twinge of fear in it, his eyes gaze darting to the other two men with him.

The biggest one, the Leonin shook his shaggy head. “No, she would be wearing her armour.” He smiled, becoming more sure that the famous Sonja wasn’t the one standing before him. “Not to mention she wouldn’t bother with a hole like this place.”

“That means she’s nobody,” the Lupine pointed out, stepping forward menacingly. “And that means we can have some fun with her.” There was a smug grin on his face that sent a shiver down Jade’s spine. His eyes flicked downward, looking her over, and Jade felt the familiar heat of anger building in her chest.

Gritting her teeth, she flicked her sword to one side, then entered a ready stance, point of the sword forward, level with her eyeline. It was a basic Onest stance, one designed for taking on multiple opponents. “I would like to see you try,” she growled.

The lupine bandit relaxed somewhat, then smiled. “Oh I don’t think that will be a problem,” he said languidly.

The initial shock of someone underestimating her quickly vanished with a cold chill, as Jade realised the three bandits had not only begun to relax, but they kept flicking glances behind her. Jade had just enough time to realise that she had fucked up, to realise that she had been so focused on the men before her, that her anger had blinded her to the approach of another.

She had miscounted the number of bandits, and before she could react, she was yanked backward by someone grabbing a fistful of her hair at the scalp. Jade cried out in shock, and had just enough time to take in the angry man with a nose ring above her, bringing a club down over her head.

***

Jade floated back to consciousness some time later, a strained groan exploding from her lungs in a way that suggested her body knew what was coming before she was fully aware of it, she groaned again, then cursed shakily.

The agony followed. Her headed pounded with a sharp consuming migraine and she could feel the place where she had been struck as a seperate ache, even through the haze of anguish. Her lungs were burned, and every shallow breath she took brought fresh waves of pain with it. The second most notable pain came from her sides, meaning her ribs were badly bruised, most likely broken from being kicked if she had to guess. The rest of her felt sore and bruised to match and she could only imagine the beating she must have received while she was unconscious. Squeezing her eyes shut, she focused on breathing shallowly through the pain for a moment. Then there was something else. She realised her shoulders and arms ached due to her arms being held at an awkward angle. Her hands had been bound, spread above her head, her whole weight practically hanging from her wrists. The rattling of chains confirmed her fears. Trying not to panic, mostly because of the pain breathing brought with it, she focused on what she could do. First she tried to open her eyes, but found she still could not see, and to confirm her suspicion, the scent of blood stained through a bit of fabric bit sharp against her nostrils. With her hands bound, she tried her legs, which she tested by trying to get her feet under her. With a trembling effort, she managed to stand for a second, until pain shot through her, causing her to buckle and fall back the length of the chains. The sudden jarring stop against her shoulders and torso made her cry out in agony before she blacked out.

***

A splash of water across her face and torso woke her again and she gasped in a lung full of air before instinctively pulling her body back in on itself against the chains painfully.

“Wakey wakey,” came a man’s voice from somewhere in front of Jade. This was followed by snide laughter from at least two other people.

Jade just grit her teeth, deciding it was better to keep her mouth shut until she knew what was going on. The cold water began to soak through her clothes, making her shiver slightly. Worse she realised, there were quite a few places where she could feel water directly upon her skin where her clothes must have been torn. She suddenly felt very exposed.

There was the shuffling of feet on the floor, before someone spoke from further away. “Come on little wanna be knight, we know you’re still alive. We didn’t beat you that badly.” More laughter, followed by someone running their fingers across Jade’s face. She snapped her head back instinctively.

Whoever had touched her chuckled. “See, I knew you were aware of us,” he said fingers against her face again. “No pretending now.”

Jade attempted to move away again, only for the man to laugh and keep brushing his fingers over her cheek. “What do you want!?” She snapped angrily.

The man’s tone of voice changed, feigning disappointment. “Now now, there’s no need for that.” More laughter from the others. “We just want to chat luv, get to know you a little.”

Another man somewhere off to the side chuckled, “you’re going to be here a while girl, you might as well act civilized.” There was something in his voice that sounded a little too much like a threat.

“Let’s get a look at you,” the man in front of her said a little too close.

Jade flinched as the man pulled on her blindfold. It took her a moment to adjust, but before her were four men, dimly lit by a single hanging light bulb. She didn’t bother to take in their details, her focus remaining on the man directly before her. Her anger must have shown on her features for the moment she got a good look at him, the man flinched backward.

A man behind him, the Leonin from their encounter in the street, laughed awkwardly. “Wow Grenn, if looks could kill… I’d say you were dead three times over.”

The other men laughed, but Grenn, the man in front of Jade was looking into her eyes. She glared at him, staring him down until he had to look away. He turned to the two men behind him, the leonin and the grazer from their encounter in Tauren earlier. “Have you ever seen eyes like those?”

The man with Leonin markings, his sandy coloured ears beneath a brown length of shaggy hair, leant forward for a bit of a closer look. “They are a strange colour…” He said slowly, before chuckling awkwardly. “And of course she’s angry. You would be too if you were tied up.”

The grazer, who Jade now realised was some sort of Cervine judging by his markings, took a step backward. “T-There’s s-something about those eyes…”

“Enough of this!” growled a deep voice from somewhere to Jade’s right. This was followed by heavy foot steps, before her head was unceremoniously yanked back by her hair again, forcing her to look up at another man. It was the man with the nose ring. He was huge, easily head and shoulders taller than Jade was, with twice the bulk to match. Narrowing his small eyes down at Jade, he growled at her.

“You will answer our questions, or I break you, right here, and right now.” Jade did not doubt that he could do it too. He had the horns and ears of a Bovine, a bull, and the dense muscles to match. But he did not seem the brightest, which meant Jade had to be careful.

Narrowing her gaze at him, she growled back. “What do you want then?”

The huge bandit let her hair go with a rough shove, causing Jade to wince as her body readjusted painfully. “Answer their questions,” he spat, disappearing from her range of vision again. She heard him yell at the others. “Get on with it!”

“Err, right,” Grenn said awkwardly. “Thanks, Kroll…”

Jade would have found their behavior weird, or even amusing, were she not tied up against her will.

Grenn, the man before her, who she now noticed had the look about him of some kind of weasel, faltered under Jade’s glare. “Umm, Leeroy… you handle this one.”

The Leonin stepped forward, pushing Grenn out of the way to get right up in Jade’s face. Grabbing her chin he forced her to look up at him. “Alright bitch,” he snapped, with the kind of confidence of someone who knows they’re in charge, “tell us who you are! Who knows you’re here!”

That was a mistake, for two reasons. One, Jade now knew why she was still alive, and why they needed her to talk. And two, he had forgotten her anger and had got in nice and close. Jade put her foot on the ground, then pushed forward, smashing his nose with her forehead, cartilage immediately splintering in a spray of blood beneath her headbutt.

The bandit collapsed to the ground, screaming in pain, shouting about his broken nose.

Jade spat over his writhing form, before something struck the side of her head.

Everything went blank…

***

This time Jade awoke slowly, her senses coming back to her one at a time. It started as just noise, random information. A strange smell, a sense of cold air upon her skin, a slight sound of rustling somewhere nearby. Then it was vision, slowly turning from black into the knowledge that there was a light shining into her eyes from somewhere.

Then was touch, and it was at that moment that her senses rushed back to her fully.

“AH!!” There was someone behind her, touching her legs, their hands groping at her thighs and moving higher. “SHIT!!” She kicked out behind her, but in her current state there was no strength in her attack, and it was easily blocked. She swore and tried to keep kicking in their direction but she quickly ran out of energy.

The man she recognized as Leeroy appeared next to her. He looked horrible, his nose was bandaged and his face was bruised, but he nevertheless looked at Jade with a crooked smirk. There was something different in his eyes that was not there before, and it made her sick to her stomach just looking at him. “Now now that’s not very nice,” he said with a twisted smile.

Jade didn’t like where this was going and she felt her pulse quicken. “Fuck off!” She snapped.

Leeroy’s face suddenly fell, before he slapped Jade backhanded without warning. She cried out, the blow landing right against her already bruised cheekbone.

She swore as she felt blood welling up in her mouth, the taste of copper suddenly strong on her lips.

“You belong to us now!” Leeroy growled. “The only reason you are here is because we aren’t sure if any of your fellows are coming for you.” He smiled again, leaning closer. Though this time he was smart enough to stay out of her reach. “Once we are sure you aren’t going to be rescued… Well…” He trailed off, pausing to leer down at Jade’s body in a lecherous fashion. “I’ll take my time with you then, and you can put up as much of a fight as you-” To shut him up Jade spat in his face, her blood covering his eyes.

The man roared in anger, then raised his fist to hit her. Jade braced herself, but the blow never came. The bandit Grenn, had caught Leeroy’s arm.

“let go of me!” Leeroy shouted, “This bitch is…!”

The other man yanked his arm back to shut him up. “Cool off Leeroy!” He ordered. “We told you not to come down here on your own.”

Leeroy pulled his arm free, “Whatever.” Giving Jade one last glance over, the Leonin turned and stormed away.

Grenn walked up to Jade instead. “You aren’t getting out of here,” he said plainly. “So if I were you I would just accept that. All you’re doing is making it harder on yourself.” Jade just glared at him. The man shook his head. “If I were you I’d lose that attitude.” He glanced down, “Who knows, you might even enjoy yourself…”

A cold chill ran down Jade’s spine. Of course, there was always an ulterior motive. She jerked forward, rattling her chains. “When I get out of here-“

The man chuckled at her, cutting her off. “You mean if you-“

Jade cut him off in turn, levelling him with an icy stare. “When, I get out of here. I am going to kill all of you.“

Grenn faltered for a moment under her gaze. “tch,” he uttered finally. Not knowing how to respond, he turned and left.

Jade listened to his receding footsteps, then once she was sure she was alone, allowed herself to fall. She fell slack against her chains, all of her strength leaving her.

Sleep took her soon after.

***

The sound of a door closing woke Jade with a start. She jerked awkwardly, causing a shooting pain to lance through her ribs, and only by hissing through her teeth did she manage to keep herself from yelling out. Taking a moment to control her breathing, she glanced around. She must have been underground, for there was no natural light of any kind, and the air was cool and stiff. This unfortunately meant that there was no way to tell what time of day it was, or for that matter, how long she had been there. Was it over night? Had it been a couple of days? As if to confirm the passage of time, Jade’s stomach growled loudly. She realised that not only did she feel hungry, but she felt physically fatigued from lack of nourishment. Gritting her teeth, she tried to focus on something else, something she could actually do something about. So she returned to looking at her surroundings. Aside from a few supports going to the roof, and a few shelves with random junk upon them, the room was pretty much empty. Even the floor was bare pressed dirt, mostly featureless except for the new blood stains on its surface. Jade shuddered, unsure who’s blood it was. It could have been hers for all she could remember. Dwelling upon it would not help, she had to focus on how she was going to get out of this situation. While she could think clearly, before fear set in.

Taking as deep a breath as she could, she looked around critically assessing her options. For the first time since she had woken up here, she was alone. The room was large, but it was easy to see from one end of the room to the other, with nothing to hide behind. There was only one entrance, a set of stairs that led up from the only gap in the wall, disappearing to the side where Jade could not see. That did not leave many options. But first, before she could even think of what lay beyond those stairs, there was one major problem. With a sigh, Jade got her feet under herself, then leant backward. Her arms were shackled to two separate lengths of chain, bolted to the ceiling by a pair of metal rings. Feeling light headed from the position and thee pain, Jade fell back to her previous position. After a moment she allowed herself a small smile. The bandits had clearly thrown everything together when they had arrived. They had not been expecting a prisoner, which meant that the chains had been hastily attached to the ceiling. The chains were not meant to hold for long, nor would they if the right force was applied.

The sound of a door opening above her, followed by heavy foot steps on the stairs quickly quashed her moment of excitement. The large bandit, Kroll, stepped into the room from the staircase. He stopped upon seeing Jade, watching her carefully for a moment. Then with a grunt, he took the fold up chair he had been carrying from his shoulder, then set it up next to the entryway. Sitting facing Jade, he folded his arms and watched her with disinterest.

Jade hung her head and tried to ignore him, taking a couple of deep calming breaths, wincing only once. If she was going to escape, she would need to get some of her strength back, and that meant biding her time.

***

Hours passed. Then hours more.

It could have been days for all Jade could tell in the unchanging light of the basement, and at times it felt like it. All she could do was wait. Wait, and use the time to recover her strength. Which at times felt impossible, due to her injuries and lack of food and water. But rather than succumb to hopelessness, Jade focused her attention on the bandits, what they had done and said to her. Her fury did the rest, making her more and more determined to escape. At first the giant Kroll had kept watch on her, always silent and watching, with a look in his eye that unnerved Jade somewhat. It was something she could not quite put her finger on, an anger of some sort, or hunger or something. Whenever he was around, Jade would hang her head and keep her attention elsewhere.

Then it had been Grenn and Leeroy. Those two kept each other from doing anything stupid, but they would always try and engage Jade in conversation. Trying to ask her the same questions in differing ways. Trying to get her to tell them about the Knights, or what she knew about them. She had no idea what they were trying to achieve, but the only thing they succeeded in doing was angering everyone in the room more and more. Jade got assaulted more than a couple of times whenever she did not answer. They also made the occasional advance on her, which always ended poorly for them, and with Jade unconscious more than once.

Lastly there was the mysterious wolf bandit, and the grazer. They were the only ones who treated her like a prisoner, rather than a thing. They kept watch, only occasionally asking her questions that consisted mostly of them guessing things about her, and seeing if she would answer yes or no. Jade liked to let them guess, amused by how wrong they usually were. But the lupine seemed to be getting closer to asking the right questions, and on one of their turns watching her, he mentioned her father. Jade tried to keep a straight face, but she was not sure if he noticed or not. If he did, he showed no sign. The grazer remained oblivious. That was how most of the time passed, with the hours dragging on. With every moment Jade had focused on trying to recover her energy, or sleep whenever she could.

Then finally something changed.

Jade woke up to find Grenn standing before her, and as she recognised him she instinctively leant back, he smiled. The stench of alcohol on his breath hit her a moment later.

“Hello there,” the weasel drawled. “I wass hoping you would wake up.”

“What the hell…” Jade breathed, catching her breath from the surprise.

The bandit ignored her, taking a drink from a tankard he held in his hand. “You know, you’ve been… here for a while now,” he said matter of factly. “If the Knightsh were coming for you, they’d.. have found ush by now.” Jade swore at herself in her head. She did not like where this was going. Grenn smiled again, “they… really don’t know you’re here… do they.” He waved his tankard of foul smelling alcohol under Jade’s nose mockingly. “You’re all alone…” The man’s eyes drifted down, stopping on Jade’s body for a moment, before looking back up again. “Which means we don’t have to worry about anyone coming to your rescue.”

Jade glared at him with all of the fury she could muster, but the man must have been too drunk to notice, or care.

“The otherss, think you’re too dangeroush, to let live,” Grenn continued thoughtfully. “Because… you’ve seen our fashes, and know some of our names.” He waved the statement off. “But we were really only worried about… retribution from the Knightsh…”

“They aren’t the ones you need to worry about,” Jade growled threateningly.

The man laughed, “you know… I think that killing you would be a… terrible washte anyway.” He looked her over again, this time not bothering to hide the lecherous smirk on his face, “esspecially with a body like yours…”

As he looked back at Jade’s face, she spat at his eyes. The Weasley bandit growled in anger, then threw his half full tankard across the room. “Listen here you bitch!” He yelled as he slapped Jade across the face. “You’re our prisoner now, and there’s nothing you can do about it!”

Wrapping his hands around Jade’s throat, he began to strangle her.

Jade panicked.

She couldn’t move, couldn’t fight back, and very quickly couldn’t breathe. With her pulse hammering in her ears, and just as her vision was going spotty, her attacker slacked his grip. He took one hand away, letting go just enough so she could breathe.

Jade gasped painfully, trying to fill her lungs with air.

Grenn pulled her close to his face. “I am going to enjoy this… if you like it or not,” he growled.

Without warning, he grabbed her breast and began to grope her.

At that moment Jade’s blood boiled, and everything went into a razor sharp focus.

Unfortunately, Grenn took his eyes away from hers at the wrong time. “You know, I never congratulated you on how… full your-“

There was a loud snapping sound that interrupted him, then his eyes bulged in agony before he gave a blood curdling scream of pain.

Jade had gotten her feet under herself, leaned back just enough, then snap kicked at his left knee. Her heel connected and the joint broke instantly with a horrifying sound. Grenn fell to his knees, crying out in agony as he fell on his broken leg again.

Gripping the chains above her with her hands, Jade lifted herself up, and wrapped her legs again round the man’s head. This time it was his time to panic, as she began crushing the sides of his head with her thighs. She might have been in a weakened state, but if there was one thing she was proud of from her training, it was that she had a lot of strength in her thighs, and with her adrenaline burning with her rage there was no way she was letting go now.

Grenn tried to pull her legs apart to no avail, panicking more as she pulled him toward her.

“I told you that the knights weren’t what you had to worry about,” she said in icy fury.

Grenn began to scream.

Then, with a wrenching sound, silence.

His lifeless body slumped to the floor.

Jade spat over him. Then after a beat yelled out in anger, no words, just noise. She cried out until her throat hurt, her heart pounding in her ears the entire time. By the time she stopped, she was shaking. She took several deep breaths to try and regain some of her focus, then turned to the chains above her. This was not the time to let her anger get the better of her, she needed to escape now before someone found her, while the adrenaline was still pushing through her system. That was if they somehow had not heard all of the noise and were not already on their way.

Lifting herself up for a moment and wrapping the chains around her forearms to get a better grip, Jade pulled down with all of her weight. The metal chains shook violently, causing dust to fall from the roof, but not much else.

Gritting her teeth she tried it again.

Then again.

And again.

Each time hurt her already aching body, and jarred her shoulders horribly. Her lungs hurt and her muscles burned, but she kept at it, each time pulling harder, as more and more dust and bits of ceiling fell from the metal rings above her. Until finally they ripped from the ceiling completely. Jade fell with a startled cry as she landed sprawled across the floor and the dead man beneath her. The impact blew the wind from her lungs and she cried out in agony, then struggled to breathe for a few seconds. Everything hurt, and for a moment she could see stars in the corner of her vision.

That was until there was the sound of heavy footsteps, heading toward the door above her. She scrambled to her feet as quickly as she could, snapped up the chains that were still attached to her wrists and bolted toward the stairs, just as the door above slammed open. Jade was halfway across the room when the massive form of Kroll stepped into the doorway. The large bull took one look at the scene, before charging forward with a bellow of rage. Jade leapt forward in an attempt to throw her weight into a kick, but Kroll barreled into her without even breaking stride. Slamming into the man’s muscled mass felt like running into a wall and Jade was thrown aside, rolling awkwardly to a stop a metre to her right. Scrambling to her feet once more, she turned to see the man change direction and charge at her again. Jade met him halfway, this time running and jumping toward him with both feet first in a double drop kick. Her boots crashed into his shoulder, sending the bull reeling to one side, before they both cashed to the ground. Recovering quickly, Jade scrambled towards the man on all fours, before leaping forward and throwing her weight into a punch. Her fist slammed into his jaw, throwing his head back. But the large man recovered quickly. Before Jade could get out of the way, Kroll hooked his arm under her, then stood and threw her over him in one action. With a crash of splintering wood, Jade smashed through one of the bookshelves and landed hard upon the ground. For a few seconds she could not breathe, and in the time it took her to force air back into her lungs, Kroll strode over to her.

The large bandit reached down, wrapped one hand around her throat and lifted her into the air. Already choking for breath, it did not take much for the man to strangle her. She was dangling from his arm, her feet flailing off of the ground, her attempts to claw his hand away from her throat practically useless. Kroll leaned forward and looked as though he was going to say something to her, but Jade was having none of it. Pulling herself up, she wrapped one leg around his arm, then pulled her other leg back and snap kicked her heel directly into the man’s face. The force of her kick broke bone. Kroll howled in pain as he let her go, trying to cover his face with his hands. Jade fell to the ground, crashing into the broken bookshelf. She screamed as she felt something sharp piece her side, stabbing into her just above her right hip. She rolled painfully over, struggling to breathe, and cry out in pain at the same time. Taking a couple of quick deep breaths, ignoring the burning pain, Jade got onto her hands and knees. She had just managed a full breath, when a boot suddenly collided with her side, kicking her across the room. The mad bandit chased after her. Jade rolled to a stop a few metres away, coiling up into a ball of pure hurt. She had to mentally scream at herself to get moving again. Just as Kroll reached her, he lifted his giant foot to stomp on the smaller woman, and reacting on instinct, Jade rolled to the side just as his foot crashed down where her head had been. The bandit lifted his foot again, but in a moment of desperation, rolled forward into his other leg. While the bandit was off balance, Jade got a good grip on the piece of wood shelving sticking out of her side and ripped it free. Roaring in both pain and anger, she plunged the shard of wood into the large man’s ankle, severing his Achilles tendon. Kroll toppled backwards with a cry, his leg no longer able to support his weight. Jade scrambled over his body, brandishing the shard of wood like a knife. Lifting it over her head, she aimed for his neck this time. Bellowing in anger the man punched her first, throwing her off of him, the makeshift weapon thrown from her hands.

They were both crawling then, Jade trying to reach some sort of weapon, and Kroll trying to get a hold of her. Kroll reached her first, grabbing a hold of her leg and pulling her to a stop before she could reach the shard of wood. Clawing at the ground Jade tried to get a grip, only to be pulled backward. She turned onto her back and began kicking at the much larger man. Kroll just shrugged her attacks off, a look of murder all over his blood stained face. As Jade struggled to wrest herself free, the stronger bandit pulled her down by her ankle, then her thigh, then her hip. Yelling at him, Jade back handed him with her chained wrist. The chains wrapped around her arm slammed into his broken face, stunning him for a moment. She took the chance to lay into him with a series of punches, wrecking his face more and more. Yelling out in her frustration, a noise of pure animalistic rage, Jade kept going and going, hitting harder and harder until she could feel blood and gore splashing her face with every repeated punch.

Slowly she stopped.

The mangled bandit fell slack over her legs, making horrible wet breathing sounds. Shoving him off, Jade stood shakily. She was practically shivering, both in pain and anger. She glared down at him for a few moments, taking deep breaths. Then she calmly reached down and wrapped the now loose chain around his neck, got a good grip, and pulled. With a resounding ‘crick,’ a last breath rattled from the body.

Jade stumbled almost immediately, then fell to the side, collapsing in a heap from exhaustion.

***

It was several long heartbeats before Jade moved again.

She had to will herself to keep moving, force her body to get up. She groaned with the effort, but stood shakily. If she wanted to survive, she could not afford to stop until she was free. Stumbling forward, Jade headed for the staircase at the back of the room, wrapping the loose chain back around her wrist as she went. Pausing at the foot of the stairs, she listened for any sound while simultaneously giving herself a few moments to catch her breath. Other than the sound of the occasional floorboard groaning from movement, it was quiet. There was no way to tell how many people were above until she went up there to find out. Jade re-organised the chains on her wrists, wrapping a length of the metal around her hands so that it covered her knuckles. Then, with a deep breath, she climbed the stairs to the door. With her heart pounding in her ears and some trepidation, Jade slowly opened the door and looked into the room beyond. Bright light greeted her, and it took a few moments for her eyes to adjust. The space opened up into a long hallway with several connecting doorways down its length. Seeing that the coast was clear, she stepped through before shutting the door quietly behind her. She took two steps forward, only to stop instantly as someone stepped out of one of the connecting doorways. She instantly recognised the shaggy-headed bandit, Leeroy. The Leonin stared at her with a look of shock, before his face hardened as he must have realised what her standing there actually meant. The fact that she was free and covered in blood that was not hers drove the point home.
Leeroy yelled out and charged forward. Jade felt her anger burn, and she let out a threatening growl as she fell into a loose fighter’s stance. The Leonin, unperturbed, reached her at a full sprint, throwing his arm forward as he approached in a straight punch, aiming for Jade’s head. At the last moment, Jade leant back and deflected his hand with her own. Not being able to stop due to his own momentum, the bandit could not avoid her counterattack. After deflecting his overly aggressive attack with her left hand, Jade twisted and threw a right hook into his face, using the bandit’s own forward momentum against him. Leeroy crumbled under the impact, giving Jade enough time to grab the back of his head before he fell. With a cry of fury, Jade threw him forward into a wall with all her strength. There was a resounding crack, and the lifeless body of Leeroy fell to the floor, his face a bloodied mess.
Jade did not have the time to dwell on what had happened because the noise they had caused brought the attention of two more bandits. Two men that she had not seen before stepped out of a door at the end of the hallway. One shared a similar appearance to the dead Leonin at her feet and looked to also share his disposition toward anger. While the other was armed with a large curved axe and had the lizard-like features about him of a Serrixan.
Not wanting to waste time studying them further, Jade bolted forward, then dove into a room to her right. As the men in the hall shouted and began running, Jade found herself at the feet of another bandit. A sword came down from above her, missing her by mere centimetres. Falling to her side, she kicked out at the flat of the blade, kicking it across the room and out of the stunned bandit’s hands. She then twisted on the spot and kicked the man’s legs out from under him, causing a shooting pain to lance up her side from her damaged hip. As the bandit hit the ground, Jade was already scrambling forward, fighting through the pain in her side and further into the room and away from the door. Reaching a table at the back of the room, Jade pulled herself to her feet just as the other two bandits squeezed into the room from the hallway. Jade stood with her back to the table, facing in toward the middle of the sparsely decorated room, with nothing between her and the trio of bandits but a couch to one side. The three men took their time advancing toward her, cautiously but confidently. Wanting something to distract them with, Jade felt around on the table behind her. Grasping hold of the first thing she found, she flung it forward at the nearest threat. A piece of fabric flew between them, as Jade rushed forward to make use of the distraction.
She stopped after two steps, having suddenly realised that the thing she had thrown was her own jacket. Turning on her heel, Jade had just enough time to take in the other contents of the table, to realise that it was her gear strewn upon its surface, before someone tackled her from behind. They crashed to the ground awkwardly, slamming into the desk on the way past. Jade hit the table at chest height, the air exploding from her lungs as they fell.
Whoever had tackled her was not so lucky. He hit the table at head and shoulder height, stunning himself as they fell. The bandit still tried to maintain a grip on Jade, even as he struggled not to pass out. Reaching the leg of the table, Jade got a grip and pulled herself forward. It gave her just enough leverage to get one of her legs free, which she then pulled up to her body, before kicking out at the stunned bandit. The man’s head snapped back as her heel connected with the side of his head, before his entire body went limp. Just as Jade freed herself from under the man’s lifeless grip, the second bandit with the sword stepped forward. Roaring angrily, the bandit, who she now saw was another Cervine, swung his sword vertically overhead. Jade reacted quickly by kicking out at his leg, snapping the man’s knee backward. With a shriek of pain, he fell forward, embedding his sword in the table instead. Jade rolled the man off of her, then scrambled to her feet as the third bandit approached her. Preparing to fight him one-on-one, Jade was surprised when he lunged for the table instead. Ripping the sword free, and now armed with two weapons, the lizard-like bandit swung them in wide arcs, aiming for Jade’s head. As a reflex, Jade threw her arms up and deflected the axe on an angle, with the blade scraping against the chains on her wrist instead. The impact pushed her off balance, and she found herself backpedalling away from the bandit, as he followed with more aggressive horizontal swipes. He was fast, but uncoordinated, clearly not trained in dual weapon fighting. Rather than waste time trying to get back into a decent position, Jade jumped to the side, rolling across the arm of the couch. Trying to follow her with an attack, the bandit managed to get his axe stuck in the back of the couch. By the time he managed to tear it free again and follow Jade over the couch, she had regained her footing and attacked. The lizard tried to jump over the couch directly, placing one hand on the back of it and leaping over. But Jade met him halfway, leaping forward and kicking both legs into him. Jade rolled off the couch as the bandit slammed into the table behind him. Scooping up the weapon he had dropped, Jade hurled the axe forward, embedding it into the Serrixan’s chest and shoulder. A look of surprise was permanently etched onto his features as he dropped the sword and collapsed from shock.

Breathing heavily, her senses still on edge from the adrenaline hammering through her system, Jade approached the table. The bandit whose knee she had snapped backward was rolling on the ground and groaning loudly. Ignoring him for a moment, Jade took stock of her gear. Remarkably, it all appeared to be there. Her sword and its sheath and baldric, her belt and pouches, and most importantly, her goggles. Like with her, these bandits clearly had no idea what to do with her belongings. With a sense of relief, she put the goggles on first, pulling them down to cover her eyes. As she straightened her hair and settled the band in place, she instantly felt more like herself. She then threw on the rest of her equipment and went to recover her jacket.
The bandit on the floor grabbed her ankle to stop her, growling something menacing at her through clenched teeth. Jade glared down at him. She was going to leave him alive, seeing the pitiful state he had been in. But now, as he clawed at her leg, she remembered her fury at the situation this man and the other bandits had put her in. Drawing her sword, she swung the blade downward and removed the bandit’s arm. As the man began to scream out in fresh pain, she flicked her blade downward again, cutting through the back of the man’s neck, silencing him forever. Snatching her jacket from the floor where she had thrown it, Jade stalked from the room without looking back. As she entered back into the hallway, she paused to throw on her leather jacket.
In somewhat of a hurry, and wanting to recover some of the modesty that was lost to the holes in the suit she was wearing, she threw it on without bothering to remove her baldric first. The jacket she wore was large enough that it still sat comfortably around her shoulders without being awkward, but she would not be able to do it up to cover herself fully. Taking a deep breath and wincing at the pain of her injuries catching up to her, she examined the hallway before her. Other than the room she had come from and the door that led back to the basement, there were four other doors leading to the hall. One on the same side as her, two on the other side, and one at the opposite end. Behind one of the doors came a steady rhythmic thrumming of loud music, which Jade figured she could thank for the small groups of bandits she had dealt with at once.
Tapping her foot, she weighed her options. She could head toward the front room, which she guessed would be the way out, then try to make a break for it. Or she could see what was in the other rooms. Both were risky, especially in her current state. If she stayed to check each room, she ran the risk of getting herself into a situation she could not get out of, but if she fled, she might not get far enough away before someone pursued her. Deciding that her best option was to use the element of surprise to her advantage while she still had it, she made for the nearest room. The room beyond was a sleeping barracks of some variety, mostly empty but for one unfortunate bandit who died in his sleep, before Jade moved on to the next room. The first room on the opposite side of the hall was empty, having been the room that two bandits had exited to attack her earlier. Which left the last room, the one where the loud music was coming from. Jade opened the door a crack to see two men sitting at a table playing cards.
One of the bandits had their back to her, and as she burst into the room, he died from a sword through the back before he even knew what was happening. The other man tried to rise to face Jade, only for the table he had been sitting at to be kicked into his chest. As he fell back toward the table, Jade’s sword flashed out, carving a horizontal line between his temples. A third bandit who had been out of sight of the door grappled Jade suddenly from behind. She tried to bring her sword to bear, but the man had her arms pinned. A heavy impact slammed into Jade’s side, causing her to scream out as agony tore through her. The bandit had knees into her side, right where the shard of wood had cut her. Another blow almost caused her to pass out, her vision going blurry from the shock. Gritting her teeth, Jade twisted and threw herself at the table, smashing it as they collided with it. The impact was enough to loosen the man’s hold on her, and as they tumbled away from each other, lost a hold of her sword. The man attempted to pin her again, and the next few seconds were a blur of grabs and punches as they wrestled with each other, both trying to subdue the other. Neither of them seemed to be getting the upper hand, but Jade’s strength was waning, and she knew she would be in trouble soon. Throwing her knee into the man, she tried to scramble for her sword, but he recovered too quickly and managed to get a hold of her legs and pull her back. Desperate, Jade looked around for anything she could use to her advantage. She spotted a knife strapped to the leg of one of the bandits she had cut down at the table. She lunged for it, barely wrapping her fingers around the weapon’s handle when the bandit pulled her back again. The knife came free, but she nearly dropped it when she felt fingers digging into the wound in her side. Screaming out, Jade twisted and lashed out with the knife. She was lacking the strength for a proper blow, with most of her energy drained and pain shooting through her as the man attacked her, but she kept going, cutting and thrusting until finally she caught the bandit with a solid blow. He roared in pain, the edge of the knife having caught one of his eyes. With his grip finally released, Jade twisted and plunged the knife home into the man’s chest. The bandit collapsed onto her, pinning her to the ground and for a moment, Jade did not have the strength to move him.
She groaned pitifully as she lay there on her back for a moment. Then, with a growl of effort, she rolled the body off to the side. As much as it hurt her to breathe, she had to take a moment to catch her breath.
Movement out of the corner of her eye made her freeze. Another bandit entered the room, swore at the scene before him, then cautiously approached. He didn’t seem to react to Jade, which she hoped meant that he thought she had been killed in the struggle. She squeezed her eyes shut and held her breath. The loud music coming from somewhere in the room made it impossible to tell how close the bandit was, or if he was approaching or not. With her heart beating in her ears, Jade waited, and just as she was beginning to feel lightheaded, the bandit prodded her with his foot. Jade exploded into action, twisting and kicking the bandit’s feet out from under him, then rolling to the side and grabbing the dagger that was still sticking out of the bandit next to her. Before the man could recover from his fall, Jade had lunged out with the dagger and lodged it through the bottom of his jaw. Breathing heavily, Jade watched the life bleed from the man before she struggled back to her feet.
Her head was spinning, and her breaths were coming shallower, probably through blood loss, she realised bitterly. She had to get out and as far away as she could, and soon.
Picking up her sword once more, she shakily stumbled back into the hallway and through the last door that was now open, waiting for her. She almost fell through the doorway as she entered the space beyond, and had to lean on the door frame to stay upright. The room was a large front lounge, filled with couches and chairs, but it was the front room, and she could finally see the front door.
With a groan, she realised that there was one more bandit between her and the doorway. From the looks of him, he was another Leonin, with the same shaggy hair as the other, though he looked much more capable, his stance and lack of reaction showing some form of discipline or training at least. He took a step back upon seeing Jade, and by the look on his face, she knew she must have looked like she had crawled through hell to get there. Once the shock had receded, he gave her a nod of respect and drew his sword. It was a one-handed blade, and by the way he was holding it, Jade knew he was a duelist.
She grit her teeth; just because he was showing her some sliver of respect did not mean she would forgive him, nor did it change the fact that one of them was most likely going to kill the other. The bandit raised his sword before him, then fell into a disciplined fighting stance. Jade straightened painfully, then, in a method her father had taught her, she slammed her fist against the wound in her side a couple of times, the shock to her system pulling her senses back into focus.
Finally, she spat a mouthful of her blood to one side, then fell into a loose stance of her own. “Come on then,” she growled.
The man straightened, then charged forward and lunged with his blade. If he had thought that Jade was going to be easy to defeat, he was wrong.
If he thought she was going to duel him fairly, he was going to be disappointed.
Jade deflected his attack with a broad sweep of her sword, then punched him squarely in the face with the chains wrapped around her fist. The man’s nose shattered in a spray of blood, and he stumbled backward, cursing.
Figuring that he was a duelist and having fought enough of them while training, Jade taunted him with a cocky smile. “Is that all you’ve got?”
The man glared at her through his watering eyes, then, with a growl, attacked. He didn’t rush in this time, instead making quick, accurate attacks.
Jade deflected them one by one, feeling the impact on her blade drawing away her energy each time. The man was angry, but not angry enough to make a mistake yet. Being that Jade was no stranger to making mistakes while angry herself, and having lost many of her training duels that way, she knew that he would need a more solid push.
He would already be frustrated at having been wounded so easily, and would have been annoyed that he could not easily take care of a young woman who was already wounded. Once there was a moment between attacks, she drove the point home. “Do you always struggle against women?” She sneered, hating to use the tactic. “Is it an age thing? Or a performance thing?”
“Shut up!” The man snapped, and Jade knew she had him.
She had seen the tactic used against her in training so often that she knew what would happen next. The bandit swung back with a snarl, then went for a broad swipe with all of his strength, only to find he had none. The moment he had moved his arms back, Jade had lunged forward, the point of her sword piercing straight through the centre of his chest.
Stunned, all of his strength left him, and he stumbled back. Reaching out with a bloodied hand, he touched Jade’s face for a moment, then collapsed to the floor.
Triumphant, but feeling on the verge of collapse herself, Jade headed for the front door.
Two last bandits stood guarding the door, facing down the road beyond the compound they had turned into a base.
The first one fell dead before he even knew what had happened, and the other turned in time to see a sword flash across the space where his eyes had been before he too fell dead.
Finally free, Jade stumbled down the path.
She was aware of the trees surrounding the walkway growing thinner, and then, the thought that she had forgotten her sword somewhere.
Then, as she reached a main connecting road, the thought that she might actually die from her wounds crossed her mind.
Then everything fell sideways as she collapsed to the ground.

Unconsciousness took her moments later.

Dear Journal.

I am sorry to point out that it has been a few days since my first entry, but it has been a very busy few days.

I have been run ragged and have been far too tired to write anything down at the end of the day. I am not even sure how often I should be writing this, but I will leave that thought for later.

I mentioned last time, wrote last time? That I would probably be punished for the stunt I had pulled with sneaking off to face those bandits. I had thought there was not much more they could do to punish me, was I ever wrong.

I spent the first morning in recovery, and though it was much needed, a full day or two of being practically forced to stay in bed by Teya was practically a nightmare. A very boring nightmare enforced by a stern woman.
She means well, and she is my doctor I guess, but I have survived worse injuries, and I really needed to get back to my training. Especially with some of the fully fledged knights coming sometime over the next couple of days to look for new apprentices. I really do not want to get passed over again or I will never hear the end of it from the other acolytes.

Speaking of knights visiting, I forgot to mention last time that Sonja stopped in to visit me. I think she was here on some business for the Order, but she stopped in to see me while I was in recovery.

I am still not quite sure what to make of her. She seems pleasant enough, but I know her reputation. I am not sure of she is just being polite to me because of who I am? Because she knows my father? Or if she is making an attempt to be friendly with me because we are both women? Is it expected of us? I do not know, I did not exactly make an attempt to be hospitable though and I do regret that. I should make more of an effort. After all she is doing the same.

After her visit I managed to convince Teya to let me go and I returned to my trainers. There was no such thing as easing back into my training. It was straight into the drills, picking up where I left off with all of my extra sets. Normally this would not bother me too much, but damn if it was not twice as hard as normal because of my injuries. I think they wanted to see if I would quit this time with the added strain, but there is no way I was going to give them the satisfaction. Yes, I struggled, almost passing out a couple of times, but I did it, much to everyone else’s disappointment. It will get easier again with enough time. It always does.

But seeing that my usual punishment did not stop me, they decided to stick me with cleaning duties for the next month, on top of my extra training. So that is how most of the last few days went.

But today was different. I have kind of been putting off writing about this bit, but I have been thinking about it all day and it is the main thing that reminded me to write my thoughts down.

My father came to visit me last night.

He was in a strange mood from the moment he arrived, well… stranger than usual. But with his permission I was allowed to leave the grounds and head to the Keep. When we left the Keep we flew north. I think. He changed direction a few times like we were avoiding being followed, but it was a general north or north east direction.

He took me to a strange place in the mountains and…. I am not even sure if I should be talking about it, but it felt like a shrine. Or a funeral marker.

The whole thing was weird and it has been all I can think about since we returned this morning.

I do not know what to make of it.

Well I guess I will leave this here, I am yawning almost constantly now and I am in definite need of sleep.

Good night, I guess?

-Jade.

2. Forced Recovery

A bright light and a white ceiling greeted Jade when she returned to consciousness.
As everything returned to focus, all of her senses felt dulled and fuzzy, like they were buried under cotton wool, and it took her a few seconds to realise that she recognised the ceiling. It was the sterile infirmary room back at the Academy, a place which she had spent many nights in. Almost as many as she had at her own private dorm room, and it was only comforting, in the fact that it was familiar. The only problem was, she had no idea how she had gotten there.

“You’re awake I see,” came a female voice in a perfectly monotone statement. It dripped with sarcasm yet still held no room for doubt. “Despite your best efforts, yet again.”

Jade turned her head to see her doctor, Teya Destra, sitting on a chair beside her bed, writing notes down upon a clipboard.

The older woman brushed an errant strand of long chestnut coloured hair from her face, but did not even look up from her page when she spoke. “You almost outdid yourself this time, Zephyr.” The older woman sounded callous, cold even. But Jade had known her long enough to know that was just her way of dealing with her job for so many years.

“How did…?” Jade began to ask, but her throat was so dry it felt like she was talking through a pile of gravel.

“How did you get back here?” Teya asked, filling in the question. Jade nodded. “Almost by sheer luck,” the older woman said sternly, looking up from her clip board for just a moment. “A local from Tauren found you, literally, half dead by the side of the road. He was going to take you to the local doctor, but apparently you wouldn’t let him take you to anyone but me.”

Jade blinked. “I don’t remember that…”

“No you wouldn’t,” Teya said firmly, finally looking over her clipboard, her tired silver eyes flashing beneath her glasses.”You were delirious at the time, but conscious enough to keep saying my name and demanding to be brought here.” She paused as if she was going to give Jade a minute to respond, then thought better of it, her annoyance getting the better of her. “That man even has the bruises to prove it.”

Jade attempted to clear her throat, but was finding it difficult, especially under Teya’s suddenly stern gaze. “I don’t really trust other-“

“No you don’t!” Teya snapped, leaning forward and gripping her clipboard tightly. “And this lack of trust in doctors because of this stupid phobia of yours…” she paused, twisting her grip on the clipboard so hard for a moment that Jade feared it may snap. Teya took a breath and continued quieter. “These issues you have with yourself, are going to get you killed one day.” For her to be this angry, Jade had really pushed her luck this time. She had only seen this side of her a handful of times. “Look,” the woman continued, taking a deep breath. “One day you are going to be too far out, or I will be gone and you are going to let yourself die over something so petty.”

Jade frowned, “I will deal with that when it happens.”

Teya leant back in her seat. “Sure you will.” She sighed, then massaged her temples. When she spoke again, she was quieter, more distant. “Did you know about the woman who came to the Academy? Begging us to help her when she couldn’t reach the Order for their aid?”

Jade nodded. She had been breaking curfew and sneaking out of her quarters that night and had seen the woman arrive. The woman had been spoken to just outside of the main courtyard, so Jade didn’t hear much of the conversation, but she understood enough to know why she was there. A few overheard words between the trainers who had spoken to the woman later had given Jade the location and what to look for. Though she wasn’t supposed to know about it herself.

Teya adjusted her white doctor’s coat absent-mindedly. “Did you know that Tauren had already been scheduled for assistance by the Order? But had been repeatedly pushed back due to lack of resources?”

Jade had guessed that much. It was a common occurrence in the furthest outlying towns. There weren’t as many Knights of the Order left as there used to be, and they were usually sent to places that were faced with much bigger threats first. It was one of the reasons that the Academy was so important.

“Did you also know,” Teya continued, finally giving eye contact again as she adjusted her glasses, “that the reason she came to us for help now, was that she had a daughter who was taken by those bandits?”

“No,” Jade admitted. She had missed that part of the conversation. Thinking about it now, she hadn’t even been aware of anyone else being held at that base, other than bandits. Not that she probably would have noticed in her adrenaline and rage-fuelled escape.

“Apparently,” Teya continued again, “every so often the bandits would take someone young from the nearby towns, then break them down, then sell them as slaves on the black market.” Jade’s stomach did a small uncomfortable flip. The thought of being sold into slavery made her sick to even think about. “It is one of the reasons why the town was higher up on the list of priorities for the Order, but it still would have taken weeks for anyone to intervene. So she came here for aid. Obviously, getting you involved.”

“Why are you telling me this?” Jade asked. She already felt bad about everything that had happened, but if she were to make the same choice again, she probably would make the decision to go in a heartbeat.

“I am telling you because, five days afterwards, the woman’s husband had decided to forgo waiting, and went to find his daughter on his own. He was willing to do whatever it took to save her before she was sold away never to be found again.” Teya leant forward, her grey eyes serious. “Even if that meant getting himself killed in the process.”

The timing clicked in Jade’s head. “That was when-“

“That was when he found you, yes.” Teya said firmly, before leaning back again. She sighed. “The point I am trying to make is that it was pure luck you were found when you were. No one ever travels the road you were found on, unless they are a bandit. If it wasn’t for the exact timing of you leaving, and escaping when you did, you wouldn’t have been found. Too early and you would have bled out before anyone found you. And too late and that man who found you would have likely already been dead too.”

Jade looked up at the ceiling, absorbing what she had heard. She had known it was reckless, but it was sobering to hear how close she was to dying out there. She shook her head, thinking like that would make it harder to do anything dangerous next time she would need to.

There was one thing she needed to know. “The man… his daughter… did she?”

Teya gave half a smile, but tried to hide it. “His daughter made it out of there okay. She was lucky. It was also a part of the reason why Mister Feltun agreed to bring you all the way here instead of back to Tauren.”

“Thank the Goddess,” Jade sighed, relieved.

“Indeed,” Teya said simply. “I take it this means you have no regrets?” When Jade shook her head, she made a derisive noise. “Of course you don’t…” She sighed, defeated. “Just, be more careful.”

“Of course,” Jade said with a nod.

“You always say that,” Teya said with a glare, brandishing a pen towards her. “I want you to mean it this time!”

“Of course,” Jade said more firmly.

The older woman leaned forward and poked Jade sharply in the side with her pen, causing her to hiss painfully as it hit her wounded hip. “I am serious, Zephyr. I’m sick of seeing you like this.”

“Ow! Okay!” Jade exclaimed. “I mean it, I promise I’ll be more careful.”

Teya sat back down, apparently satisfied. She took a sharp breath then exhaled. They both knew it was a promise that they had made more than a few times before, and that every time they still ended up in the same position. Teya was, deep down, a very caring person, and it was her way of looking out for someone by telling them to improve themselves. It was one of the reasons why Jade liked her, but she wondered how many times they could have the conversation before the older woman gave up on her.

“So, tell me,” Teya said returning to her clipboard and adjusting her glasses. “In your words, why did you do it? What was going through your head?”

This time Jade sighed, loudly. Teya was going to psychologically examine her now, while she was in no condition to get out of it. Like always. “I wanted to help,” she said flatly.

Teya hummed thoughtfully, then scribbled something on her clipboard. “Admirable,” she said flatly. “But why? What made you so determined to help that you would break the rules to do it?”

Jade always hated this line of questioning. She didn’t always overthink everything, sometimes she just went by instinct. “The Order is short-handed, so I figured I would be the first person able to help. I wanted to see them get the help they needed.”

“And why did it have to be you?” Teya asked, her voice giving nothing away about her line of thought. “Why you alone?”

The first answer that came to mind was probably not the best one to answer with, so Jade thought about it. “I would have told someone, if I thought it would…” she paused to think of the right word. “Expedite things. But since most of the Knights already knew, I figured that would still take some time.”

“You hesitated,” Teya said flatly, scribbling on her clipboard again. Jade hated to know what she was writing. “Why did you go alone?”

Jade sighed, then winced at a twinge in her side. “Honestly? I didn’t think I needed any help.”

“Because you are too good?” Came Teyas quick response.

“No, no,” Jade said, frowning. “Nothing like that. I just… didn’t think anyone here could… help.”

Looking up from her clipboard, Teya raised an eyebrow. “So they aren’t good enough?”

That didn’t sound right. “No, I mean yes, some of the other acolytes are pretty good. I just…”

“Yes?” Teya prompted. “Keep going.”

“I just didn’t want them to get in my way… I didn’t want them to try and stop me.” Even as she said it she felt guilty. They would have been following the rules if they had been,but it was possible some of the other acolytes would also have done it just to spite her. She wasn’t exactly popular.

“So you feel you couldn’t trust them? Teya asked, putting Jade’s thoughts into words. Eerily accurate and specific words.

Jade frowned, “yes.”

Leaning forward, Teya looked her over. “Or do you not trust yourself around them?”

“I…” Jade hesitated. How did she answer that? “I don’t know.”

“I see.” Teya said, leaning back and writing a note. “Something to think about then.”

Jade nodded, that was definitely something she would think about.

When she looked back up, Teya was looking directly at her. “Have you started keeping a journal? Like I suggested?”

Jade shook her head slowly. She had been a bit uncomfortable with the idea at first, then simply hadn’t made time. “No, I haven’t, yet.”

Teya gave a nod, that seemed like she understood why she hadn’t. “I would suggest you start. It is a good way to put your… thoughts, down on paper.”

“I don’t even have a notebook,” Jade admitted with a frown.

“I will pick one up for you,” Teya said making a note. “I think it would be good for you.”

Jade wasn’t exactly sure about that, she had a lot of thoughts that she thought might be better kept in her head. Teya watched her for a moment, “I am not ordering you to keep a journal, but you should.” she gave that a moment to sink in, before moving on. “Now,” she announced suddenly, putting her clipboard down. “Thanks to the Voryn gel you are mostly healed. But, I am ordering you to stay here.” She paused and turned serious. “In, bed, miss Zephyr.”

Jade groaned, she hated being under forced bed rest. Being stuck still always drove her crazy.

“You will have a couple of new scars, but a couple more sessions with the Voryn, will get rid of most of that.” She looked down at Jade’s body for a moment, “that scar in your side from where something went through you… might take a few more sessions.”

Jade knew she had been pierced in the side by a piece of that broken bookshelf, but she didn’t know it had gone through her. Lifting her head for the first time since waking up, she tried to take a look at her side, but flat on her side, her vision was blocked by a mass of bandages that had been wrapped around her chest. She sighed in annoyance, realising that she wouldn’t be able to see anything past her breasts. “How bad is it?” She asked instead.

Teya, who had been trying to hide what must have been an amused expression, took a moment to answer. “Whatever you had been stuck with, pierced your lower back, just high enough to scrape your hip. Any higher, or to the side, and you could have lost something important.” She sighed. “I do wish you had left it in, you might have lost less blood, and probably done less damage to yourself.”

Jade gave her best ‘oops, it was an accident,’ face. “Sorry doc, but I desperately needed a weapon at the time. I was fighting a bull, and needed to bring him down to my level…” She trailed off seeing her doctor’s horrified expression.

Teya gasped, then she placed a palm to her forehead. “Of course you did.” She sighed, a very unprofessional sound of disappointment. “Look, Jade… I… I just can’t… just, be more careful from now on.” She took her glasses off and rubbed her eyes, before putting them back on.

The woman seemed rather… sad. Jade was not sure why, but whatever was bugging the older woman was beginning to make her feel guilty. “Doc, I…” she trailed off, not sure what she could say.

Teya cleared her throat, then waved her off. “Don’t worry about it. Now,” she said standing up. “We can continue this conversation later, but right now you need rest. I am ordering you to strict bed rest tonight,” she prodded Jade right where one of her bruises were for emphasis making her twist painfully away from the contact. “I mean it miss Zephyr,” she said firmly. “Stay, in, bed. Tonight, and tomorrow.” Jade groaned at that one. Teya just rolled her eyes. “You will have one more Voryn session tomorrow, then, and only then, will I allow you to at least move about.”

Jade sighed. “Yes Doc, if you say so.”

“I do say so!” Teya snapped, surprising her. “I know what you are like, I don’t want to see you hurting yourself further.”

“Okay, I get it.” A sudden yawn came over Jade. “Luckily I’m tired anyway.”

Teya nodded. “Get some sleep.”

Feeling incredibly drained already, Jade was practically asleep before the older woman had left the room.
***

Written and Archived by: Daryl J. Jenkinson