It’s not a matter of faith, it's a matter of reality, it’s a matter of logic. When I think about it, all those times I could have been evil, and I thought of your words and I did good instead. You saved me. Now it’s my responsibility to save others too. Thank you for forgiving me. Imperfection I may be but through you there is a better goal I can see, strive to be… better.

—————————-

“I am of nobility! You have no right to confine me!” Nora Demands.

“Oh she’s nobility huh? Holy shit it’s worse than we thought.” The guy chuckles. He’s a larger specimen of these humans as is his cohort. Him being built thicker and the other slim. Slime black hair back slick. Brown eyes the both of them. They have some sort of material in their lips that has an ember at the end. They seem to be inhaling from it. Smoking it out their noses.

“Young Lady, where ya from? What’s your name?” The larger of the two men asks her.

“…” Nora remains silent and stoic. She doesn’t understand what’s going on but she understands she shouldn’t say anything to these men if can help it.

“Not a talker anymore huh? Interesting…” The larger man states. The man grabs her by the mouth, squishing her cheeks to look at her face and into her eyes. Her eyes are the color brown. The veil the humans have cast on her presents her as a young ethnic girl. They cast it on her while she was confined by the government. That’s what they called themselves. The rulers of this world no doubt. Nora was informed by them to state her name as Nora only and that she should lose the nobility while here. She’s already messed up once. She was angry. She had just been in a confrontation with her summons.

She had felt true fear. She wasn’t clear what direction she would end up going let alone knowing how her feelings were developing. She really wanted to just fight the demon and save her tribe now they’re here in another world. The tables have turned and she’s in shackles in a place that smells of fish and piss and other things she can’t understand. The smells of this world were odd enough to begin with in the desert but now they’re in this swamped city district her senses were overwhelming her. She has to think back to her times and teachings with the Matriarch and Puliaus….

“A summoner has power even when confined. Even blind she can see. Hear. Feel. Think. It’s opportunity that will break this curse…” Nora can hear Palius teachings in her head. As she shifts in her seat.

“Release me.” She states.

“Sorry young lady, not an option at the moment.” The man replies as he saunters around her to investigate her. Bring her in.

“Bark!” The man yells suddenly into her face. Then laughs and walks away.

“They’re working on your friends simultaneously. It’s kinda’ amazing how industrious Money can be. Scary that you got on this side of things.” He states walking towards the slim one.

“Hey man, do I really gotta’ do this? She’s like a teenager.” He complains.

“He said get information and then make her disappear.” The slim guy replies.

“Like, disappear, disappear or like ya know?” He does a sudden thrusting motion with his hand to the other guy's gut.

“Information first. Then the kid. Then we’ll see.” The slim guy says as he jabs at his own eyes.

“Yikes! That’s right, the kids are loosing their eyes tonight. More than one. How did that happen?” The bigger guy asks.

“Don’t know, don’t wanna know. Just fuckin do the job and let’s get fucked up after words and forget about it.” The slim guy replies eyeing Nora.

They both move towards her in unison. Hover over her inspecting her. Smoking cigarettes as they huff and puff smoke into the young summoner’s face.

“It’s weird, I feel like I’m being lied to and you're not even really talkin. You are who you say you are right? I bet you're actually like twenty.” The larger man states. “My name is…”

“Hey, no names. Remember we haven’t made a decision yet.” The slim guy reprimands.

“Oh, no, we’ve made a decision already Johnny…” the man states.

“Oh no. We have, haven’t we then Lester?” Johnny states.

Nora flinches. They’ve given up their first names voluntarily. She only needs another part to start her song. She can make rudimentary spells with just a name but they might not work; they're not as strong a roll of the dice. She needs more information too. So giving her their first names means they don’t intend for her to leave here… alive…

Nora’s heart races. She can feel it kicking into overdrive as her mind begins scream in calculations. Resistance. She can feel the tears forming along the sides of her eyes.

“Oh good, I was worried we’re weren’t understood. Looks like this foreigner knows perfect English. How strange?” Lester observes as widens her eyes with his fingers. Breaths into her right eye and then coughs. “Oh sorry, my manners have left me.”

“Ya know you’re fucked right? So why not talk so we don’t gotta’ do anything real bad to you before the end?” Johnny asks.

Nora’s heart sinks suddenly with a realization she just can’t stomach. Her pride is too strong not to react. “You’re gonna torture me no matter what.”

“Not a question.” Lester states.

“More like fact.” Johnny finishes.

“Hey what are these things?” Lester reaches for the beangals on Nora’s wrists. The ones suppressing her magic powers. “Interesting fashion choice. I think I could run some electricity through it if I wanted to. Make you into a Frankenstein.”

“She’s too pretty for a Frankenstein. I don’t wanna do that. We should do something else.” Johnny complains.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m not into Frankenstein either. At least, not right now…” Lester states as he saunters off and comes back with a device that’s hinged and looks like scissors. He roughly puts them against the iron Bengals on her wrist.

“I want you to watch this. Imagine what it’s like when it’s you my little darling. When we get started.” Lester states as he cuts into the iron with the steel shears. “Would you look at that it slides right through that metal as if it were magic. Imagine if it were your bones and flesh. Well you ain’t gonna have to imagine for long I promise”

Nora is shaking in fear but also excitement. If the Bengals come off there isn’t anything restraining her from her magic. She can defend herself. These humans keep saying magic but they don’t seem to understand it. It’s like they don’t have it here. Her brain is running full gear wondering the possibilities. With each chomp of the shears the Bengal comes closer to being removed. She is sweating, her eyes are darting and her heart is racing.

“Oh, would you look at that! I found the lock on it.” The slim guy says on her left. Pushing a button with a needle that was sure to be used on her soon. The Bengal wristband clicks and falls off her left hand.

Nora’s eyes turn a hue of purple. They glow as she can feel the swell of Aether in this world. It’s not that it isn’t here, it's that nobody is using it. She’s drowning. In an ocean of it. It’s almost suffocating. If she’s not careful she could ignite it all. Maybe the entire world would explode. It feels so deep and heavy. Intoxicating.

“Interesting, these wrist bands she had on her… they’re like pure iron. Like would you look at that?”

Fools… she thinks to herself as she closes her eyes and reaches out to the minds of her summons. The first one to connect is Corin. She twitches.

————________________________


I don’t know how this got to this but I’m pretty sure we’re in a precarious position at the moment. If this fish smell doesn’t come off by tomorrow everyone will think I work at the docks at university… I can’t be the fish girl. Wait, I mean guy. Wait. I mean. I don’t even know anymore….

Corin is in the chair with her head hanging as one Mr Larkin and his best friend Roman come walking in. You see Roman isn’t dead and Larkin didn’t kill him. Strange as it sounds you’ll understand later. Here they are standing before young Corin handcuffed to a chair in the grimy cell of their “fish factory” under the bridge.

Well they’re actually under the factory at the moment. It’s in the basement. Secret entrance through the upstairs second story manager's closet. Don’t let the feds know they check for bugs every day before breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Too bad they can’t stop them from sitting outside in those vans with glass on them. They ain’t fooling anyone. Nobody’s got to get new windows in round here.