STRATEGIC TRAUMA

Aleister's POV

After the melee aptitude test, the days bled into the weeks, soon the weeks became months. For the first year and a half Sibyl devoted herself to her studies, primarily that on the basics of mana and aether, and did so as if it was like any class she wanted to do well in. Over the months Aleister pulled from her the indignation she felt at being kept a prisoner when she knew that an entire world was out there.

Humans often played off their greatest desires as if they were to help someone else, but that was very rarely the case. Sibyl never directly tried to claim to desire to be humanity's savior, but she drudged on about The Sanctuary's lies to "everyone" when in fact, deep down, Aleister could feel her rage pointed more on the fact that it was her directly who was being placed in captivity. She was filled with an endless wanderlust, a scholar with the desire to learn for the sake of learning.

Aleister knew these reasons would never be enough for what she and he truly wanted. She needed to more deeply understand the world she was up against. She needed to be willing to devote her entire being to her own cause, which at the end of the day would always align with his own as long as she never suddenly decided to align herself with those who forcibly eat her kind.

He prattled around these thoughts as he read through the report while sitting at the large ornate desk inside what he declared as his war room.

"She would never accept the grafting by herself," he thought to himself, "but if she's shown her own inadequacy…"

"Dominic!" He yelled to Dominic who was standing on the other side of the closed door to the room, "Fetch Merle, Yifa, and Sibyl! There will be some manumission this evening!"

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Sibyl's POV

The mountains rising around their enclave had always seemed familiar but strange at the same time. After their briefing, she was able to recognize them as the Sierra Nevada mountains. She'd seen them once in a geography textbook, covered in snow, and some valley's filled with green and life. Now, after the destruction and reformation of the earth, massive trees jutted high into the sky, no snow to be found. The valley Aleister's mansion resided in was even lusher than it had been in photos, but lushness always begot danger.

"Sibyl!" Merle hissed, causing Sibly's head to snap towards them, "We've only just departed, pay attention or lose your life."

Merle's honeyed eyes caught Sibyl's as she spoke, "You are naught but a weakness currently. Do not make me regret allowing Aleister to be so senseless."

Sibyl replied with a simple curt nod as she got back into focus. The group continued on. They were currently about fifteen minutes out by foot from the enclave, and were moving towards the base of the nearest mountain. There were verified reports from their sentry's that a group of chattel were being moved through an area close to the enclave that had never experienced movement before. Aleister, in all his wisdom, advocated for Sibyl to be included in the mission to release them and find any clues as to why they were moving through this particular area.

It was twilight and they only had about an hour to get into their positions. Chattel operations stopped moving after dark due to human's inability to see in the dark and most sovrans avoided moving in large groups with lights on when going through the wilds. Demons and fae weren't the only things to evolve or move into this world with the introduction of the astral rift.

Eight of them moved in silence, Merle at the front and Sibyl in the very center. She concentrated on the person directly in front of her, a fae man known as Cahal. His dark green hair and soft green skin occasionally melted into the world around him, the dark wooden bow the only thing keeping its constant form. Sibyl had worked with him over the last few months trying to see if archery was a path for her, but it only ever ended in disaster. He never reassured her, but occasionally shook his head and said, "I have no desire to wield a blade," as if maybe she should let go of the desire to wield a bow.

The more she focused on him, trying to relieve her anxiety, the more she could feel the eyes burying themselves into her back. Nora, Sibyl thought, I don't want to be a burden just as much as you don't fucking want me here.

Nora was another human woman. She had lived with the Menagerie for over twenty years and was reaching her 46th birthday. She had gorgeous strawberry blonde hair that she always kept in a braid and was missing an eye she did not feel the need to cover or fill the space in for. They never talked about it, but from what Sibyl had gleaned from Aleister's healing capabilities she must have lost it through ethereal means, something that he was incapable of fixing. She only ever wielded a large shield and was pragmatic to a fault, though that seemed to be a common theme for many Sibyl met.

Nora was the one who most passionately advocated for Sibyl to not participate in tonight's "manumission". She didn't want to have to have her life tied to someone she barely knew, let alone trusted. On top of it all, she didn't want to die for someone who didn't even know what they were getting themselves into. All Aleister responded to her was that Sibyl would never learn if she never went.

Sibyl huffed as they climbed up the incline that was beginning to sharply rise. The darkness was slowly encroaching on them and Sibyl could see Merle begin to change their path. Soon, they reached what looked to be the edge of a dropped off mountain, as if a giant had come and taken a bite from the earth. As Merle gathered the group around her, Cahal noticed Sibyl's confused face at the abrupt drop off.

"An artifact of war," he said and motioned his head to the drop off, "humans are capable of terrifying things, even without mana."

Sibyl nodded slowly, trying to imagine what artillery had to have caused that, before Merle began speaking.

"I'm reading about twenty humans, five others. This is closely in line with what our reports say," Merle motioned to a man across from her with long dark blue hair, "Felix, would you?"

He nodded, a dark purple gem in the middle of his forehead glowing as he put his hands to the ground, his fingers digging into the earth. His eyes rolled back and moved rapidly. This only lasted about thirty seconds before he ripped his hands out of the dirt and returned to normal.

"Four demons, one fae. Two lesser demons, two greater, the fae looks like the healer. 'M seein' a single cage, all humans inside, bastards have it against a tree and are taking camp in front of it. Ain't seein' a way to make this simple," he dragged a hand through his hair and huffed a bit, "Honest, think the best bet is to gank 'em."

Merle sighed and scanned the group, "Any better ideas?"

A hand shot up, pink skin stark against the night. Svetlana, but everyone called her Svet, was a childish fae master of illusion, often known for playing "pranks" on the people nearest to her.

"I think I have an idea…" she mused aloud, and consequently Merle sighed again.

Sibyl was beginning to think that perhaps danger not only lied with her enemies, but those she called her teammate as well.