The End of the Beginning

Moving through this strange cave system was as nerve-wracking as any experience could be, but Rin tried to keep herself calm throughout this. Every subtle noise, whether it was water dripping in the distance, or a faint clicking, made Rin stop and stare until she was sure it was nothing.

At one point, she heard footsteps coming from ahead, and looked around, finding only a bookshelf she could hide behind, which had been placed beside a random table under a torch. She pulled the bookshelf a little and then slipped behind it, hoping whoever was coming wouldn't think anything was wrong.

As they approached, she heard them speaking to one another.

"If our Lord wants more sacrifices from Libera, he should send more aid. Otherwise, we should cease our operations here immediately," a man said.

"Our Lord's will is not debatable. You know that," a woman replied. "If he wishes for us to conduct more attacks on Libera's roads, then that is what we will do."

"Do you not think it strange, sister?" The man asked. "That our only assistance should come in the form of those weak, incompetent kobolds?"

"They make for good lackeys. And, they may be incompetent, but if we do not share that trait, then we should be fine. Please, put more faith in our Lord," she replied as the two of them walked past the bookshelf. "Has he ever led you astray?"

"No, of course, not," the man muttered.

"Then if this is his plan it means it is a good one."

That was the last thing Rin heard before they were gone.

Whatever it was that they were talking about, Rin wasn't concerned with it right now. No, she simply wanted to get the hell out of here. She continued down this hall, hoping it would lead to an exit of some sort.

Instead, it led her to a wide, open room, with multiple paths branching out from it. She could see kobolds asleep on the left, and one robed man reading a book at the right, his face turned away from Rin.

A door swung open then, from one of the paths ahead.

And light poured into the cave. Rin's eyes widened as she saw it. The exit was right there, in front of her. All this aimless walking around had paid off, and now, all she needed to do was run towards it, and she'd be out of this mess.

However, multiple robed figures came down from that same path, before they closed the door behind them. They muttered something to each other, all while Rin waited, crouched behind some barrels.

[One moment,] she thought, [that's all I need just... Just turn around and walk somewhere else for a second!]

And, right at that moment, she heard something.

A sort of snarling to her right.

...

Rin slowly turned towards it and found a kobold, growling at her, standing right there.

"No..." She muttered and then the kobold began screeching. "Shit!" Rin got up but the robed figure who'd been reading nearby snapped his head up and quickly shouted at the others.

"A sacrifice is escaping!" He called out and Rin turned around, about to head back where she'd come from, but as soon as he'd yelled this, other robed figures were coming from that direction as well now.

[I need to get out,] she realized turning toward the exit. [I have to try!]

So, she ran forward.

And got exactly two steps in before someone bashed her over the head, and the world went white.

And Rin fell to the ground, unconscious.

---

[Ugh, what?]

Rin woke up in a desolate room. The sound of fire crackling reached her ears but she couldn't see it. There was no one there except for her. A few empty chairs, some banners that Rin had never seen before on the walls. [Where the hell...?]

She tried to move but found that her hands were tied behind her. [Ropes?] She tried to speak to scream for help, but there was some form of a gag in her mouth. The events that led to this moment made their way to the front of her mind and Rin's heart sunk. She remembered running for the exit, and then she remembered the sharp, brief pain before she was unconscious.

[Shit.] She realized. [This is bad. This is really bad.]

The bodies she'd seen in the other rooms came to mind. She pictured herself there, being devoured by kobolds like a murdered deer. She began struggling against the material. [Maybe I can loosen this or something.] But, to no avail. The empty chairs in the room almost felt like they were taunting her. Like spirits were sitting just a few feet away, watching her struggle.

[This isn't going anywhere.] She thought, pausing. [Maybe I can find something to cut this stuff off with.] She looked around. At first, she didn't find anything. No swords on tables or sharp edges. All she found was a furnace behind her.

[What do I do? What do I...? Wait!]

An idea then came to her. All she felt she could do was try to burn the ropes off with it. It was all she could think of right now.

And then, the door to the room opened. Rin halted instantly, watching several of those robed people walk in. They filled the previously empty chairs. One of them entered with a different hood that was lined with gold.

Wordlessly, they all got into different positions around the room, ignoring Rin until the one with the golden hood stood beside her.

"Long have we waited." He said.

"And still we persist." The others replied simultaneously.

"Another moment of payment has been granted to us, brothers and sisters." The man in the golden hood said. "For this world has burned us, tortured us, maimed us for too long!"

Mutters of agreement spread in front of him. Rin watched this unfold as confused as she could be.

"But fear not! For the pain that we suffer, the treatment we have received, we will give back tenfold! As our ancestors did before us, as the Unrepentant did to the treacherous so-called Divine Spirit. And tonight, one small step will be taken with this woman."

He grabbed her by the chin and aimed her face at them.

"Mm!" She couldn't yell at him to back off no matter how hard she tried.

"Look! Look, brethren. A representative of the exact system that orphaned us. That murdered us. That raped, plundered, and stole from us! In front of you sits, not a person, but a representation of the scourge of society. That which made us Scorned," he said, letting go of her.

Rin looked back and forth.

"So, join me in appreciation as we burn one of their scars away."

Rin's eyes widened with shock and terror. The furnace behind her was that much more noticeable. The man with the golden robes looked at her and Rin knew.

Rin knew that she had precious seconds to burn those bindings off.

So, she let her hands enter the furnace as the people in front of her all began chanting something, in prayer, with their eyes closed.

As her wrists burned behind her, Rin would have screamed had it not been for that gag. Instead, all she gave were muffled moans of pain.

[Just a little, just a little,] she told herself as she then began the next part of this improvised idea.

Essence.

Feeling that familiar warmth, she led it from her core down to her hands. All of it, every bit in her body, she made sure was gathered there. She made an upwards arrow, and then, as the ropes binding her arms caught fire, she started pushing.

The man's hand reached closer.

Rin pushed.

The hand touched her shoulder. That furnace behind her almost burned hotter.

Rin tried harder, as the ropes burned on her skin.

"Burn and serve as payment." The man muttered in her ear and Rin nearly cried.

Then, the ropes broke.

Her arms sprang up and she grabbed the man's hand, pulling him back. He nearly fell into the furnace, but Rin didn't care to make that happen. Instead, she got up and sprinted for the door.

The others, slow to react, were unable to stop her as she blew by them.

[Exit, exit, where the fuck do I go?]

She wasn't thinking. She wasn't thinking about the possibility of sprinting into the waiting arms of a group of kobolds. She wasn't thinking about the corpses she started tripping over and the chance that they were once adventurers too. All she cared about was finding an exit.

Eventually, though, she found some halls she recognized. The ones she'd run through earlier. And, hoping muscle memory would win her the day, she started running even faster. The Essence running through her body gave her a speed and strength she didn't know she was capable of, but she managed to outrun her pursuers.

Or, so she thought.

Behind her, a few of those people were running just as fast. They brought out swords and Rin knew that if she was too slow, even for a single second, she would get stabbed to death. [Fuck.] And, it was safe to assume they also had Essence in their bodies right now.

One of them drew a spellsign and RIn ducked, narrowly avoiding a spike of ice aimed at her head. Then, she saw it. That same exit she'd tried to take earlier. Putting as much strength into herself as she thought possible, she ran for it. [I need to make this count.] She thought as she strode towards that light. [As soon as the Essence is gone, I'm going to be hurting. But, if they're using Essence too, so will they.]

She took as many running steps as she could, and finally...

She emerged outside.

The fresh air burned her lungs as she tripped and fell onto the grass, but she didn't stop. She knew they wouldn't either. However, here, she could use the trees and the darkness as cover. Looking back, their swords glinted in the nighttime, letting Rin know where they were.

[Three. Two to my right, one right behind me.] With that information in her mind, Rin went left.

Another factor quickly entered her mind as she hopped over branch and stone alike. These people had certainly trained for longer than she had, and thus, they would inevitably outrun her.

One lesson from her years in Dren resurfaced then. A simple one, one that she'd taken for granted, but one that she would put to the test now. That being, that hiding in plain sight was easier than most thought it to be.

[One big tree, that's all I need, one big...] As soon as she saw one, Rin pushed herself to her absolute limits. She knew the others behind her wouldn't as their confidence would lead them to believe they wouldn't have to.

So, she sprinted, putting everything she could into her movement. And then, as soon as she was out of their vision for one second, hidden by that tree, she stopped and jumped to the left, falling into a bush.

Her heart was beating so hard she thought it would break through her chest, but Rin willed herself to hold her breath just for a second, as their footsteps ran past her.

Eventually, their footsteps faded, and Rin coughed into her gag, knowing she'd made it out.

After that, she ran as far as she could in the opposite direction, moving between trees and bushes, without stopping until she couldn't hear them behind her anymore. When she realized she was finally alone, she collapsed to her knees.

She took off the gag that had been put on her and coughed.

[Oh, fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck!] She thought, looking down and seeing her wrists with bloody marks around them.

Tears then followed.

As her body burned from using Essence, Rin remembered everything she saw in there. It hit her all at that moment, instantly, and her body shook as she cried.

"I need to, I need to go." She said aloud. It was hard to believe that all of this had been real. She half-expected to wake up any moment now.

Instead, the sun over her burned just as harshly as her insides right now.

Before the images of the dead bodies could come back, she tried to focus on something else. [I need to find a safe place. I have to get away from here.]

Despite the feeling of her muscles burning, she tried her best to stumble and crawl away. Aimlessly, she moved through the strange place she'd ended up in. She had no idea where she could go. All she knew was that the farther away, the better. Nothing else was a factor, right now. All she could think of was the bodies, the filth that still covered her, the way those kobolds grinned as they devoured the dead family, the way those robed figures talked about her like she wasn't even human.

By the time she actually stopped, the day had already turned into night.

Rin's legs gave out from under her. She could only run so much. Hyperventilating, she fell on her back and gazed up at the stars, surrounded by strange vegetation and the possibility of danger.

Her chest heaved up and down as the adrenaline faded.

And Rin curled up on the ground, and once again, started sobbing. She cried, her tears dripping onto the leaves underneath her, her wrists red and damaged.

How long was she in that position, she had no idea. The time was spent thinking and trying not to think about everything that happened.

But it was a bird's song that made her pause. A strange, slightly deeper song than she thought was normal. It reminded her of where she was. As cold and painful as it was now that the Essence had left her, she understood that there was a very good chance some kind of monster was already nearby. She needed to set up some kind of camp, quickly.

She had no food, no water. She was still in a very dangerous situation.

So, wiping the tears away, once she was able to, she stood and slowly walked around.

And that was how this adventurer's journey began.