#the fall of vervania

[exiliumsfools]

The Fall of Vervainia Part 1

“Whatever it was, it blew a hole straight through the middle of the continent all the way out to the coast. Mom and Dad were swept up by it, right alongside the capital and the royal court. Thankfully, Luven is still safe in Wisteria, it didn’t reach that far north. We’re leaderless though, and it’s just chaos. I’ve already seen things I won’t repeat here. I wouldn’t wish that pain on my worst enemies. Though I fear that may change in the coming days.”

-Riella Cobble’s Diary, The 6th of Trainusam, 2100

My phone rang. It was Luven. He had grown tired of texting me about what had happened.

“Ri! What are you going to do?” His shrill voice greeted. We were the same age, but he was a late bloomer, and puberty hadn’t been kind.

“Well first, I’m going to get this rubble off of me. And then I’m going to make my way to Wisteria and meet you there.”

“Alright, stay safe and keep me updated.” He waited a second. “Please?”

“I will, but I need to keep my phone charged so I’ll only text you when I have to, alright?”

“Alright.”

“You stay safe too. With the King gone, and the Prince nowhere to be found, its going to get weird.”

He didn’t answer.

“Loo. I can’t hear when you nod.”

“Oh. Yea, I’ll stay here and keep safe.”

There was a long silence between us, then we spoke simultaneously. Twin things.

“I love you” We laughed as we spoke as one, then I hung up. It was a sufficient goodbye.

A rather large piece of stone lay across my stomach and legs, pinning me to the floor. My back was leaned against the wall, in the corner of what was previously a small shop that grilled seafood just the way I liked it. I couldn’t tell if the owner was dead, but she never answered my calls and her leg was bleeding pretty bad under a large wooden shelf not too far from me. I couldn't see the rest of her body. The stone keeping me trapped against the floor was too heavy for me to move by myself. I needed to be patient and take my inches as I could get them, wiggling my legs as best as I could. From where I was situated, I could see outside to the street. It was the only source of light in here aside from my phone. It was hard to watch what was happening out there, so I focused on what I could do in here.

I could hear people screaming outside while I lifted the rock a millimeter and moved my legs even less. I recognized some of them. Merchants, neighbors, people I went to school with. It scared me to no end that I felt I couldn’t trust any of them. Not because they wouldn’t help, but because not all of their screams were of pain or sorrow. Some were aggressors with victims. Were they defending themselves or…. Worse? I couldn’t tell from my little window to the outside.

The sun set, and while the screams died down, a tense silence filled the air. There was still light in the room, though it wasn’t as bright. There were fires outside. The owner still hadn’t answered my calls for help. It was getting harder to breathe. Soon, it seemed more and more that my efforts were in vain. I had peeked the tips of my toes out, but I didn’t have enough time. The smoke would choke me out before I could make it. I managed to eek out my shoe when black rings circled the edges of my vision. One of them seemed to move like a person, like a shadow given a soul, given form. It moved towards me. The smoke took me to sleep when it touched me. I dreamt of the screams of my classmates.

[exiliumsfools]

The Fall of Vervainia Part 3

“I can’t talk about what’s happened next in this book. Secrets. But I think I might be safe where I am. Hopefully this will all blow over.”

-Riella Cobble’s Diary, The 7th of Trainusam, 2100

  We had walked almost all through the night before we found anything of interest. Many people had had the same idea we did. Every store was closed, or broken in to. Cars were wrecked along the roads, and buildings were locked up tight. The guards, or what was left of them, seem to have made their way back to the castle. There were few places left to check out, much less that had anything worth taking.

He was teaching me the whole time though. He was teaching me how to step quietest, how to recognize the signs of thieves and what they meant. How to set up distractions to make stealing easier. What to do if we were caught. He taught me quite a lot, though I had only a few hours to train. I got a lot of practice sneaking around, but little else. He was in the middle of teaching when it happened.

“So, in fact, it is not always better to run if you get caught. If you can see who’s caught you, it might be better to--”

His ears perked up and his head swiveled to the side. We were in the back of an empty shop after running from someone Aiden deemed dangerous. He motioned for me to be quiet. I followed his gaze. Several of the wooden floor boards were moving. Some dust and dirt shifted, and then a trap door lifted from the floor. There were a pair of eyes peeking out. They were a bright yellow. I couldn’t see anything else, but I met their gaze, and the trap door immediately slammed shut.

Aiden rushed over and lifted the door up, revealing a ladder leading down into some sort of underground passageway. Without hesitation, he jumped down and motioned for me to follow. I jumped, moreso fell, down into the tunnel and landed on my butt, yelping in pain. Aiden was already 10 steps ahead of me, in a half-crouch, keeping his hurried footsteps quiet. I tried to keep up with him, but I knew being quiet was a must right now, and I didn’t trust myself to run as quietly as he did, so I followed from a distance.

We had run a good distance, and made several twisty turns at Aiden’s discretion. I couldn’t tell where we were going or why, but after what seemed like forever, Aiden motioned for me to follow him. I did, and I peeked around the corner to see what was up ahead.

There was a half-elf girl in a deep black cloak being scorned by an older half-elf woman.

“You need to be more careful, Gina. We cannot be making mistakes. And you shouldn’t have run straight to me after you got caught, you could’ve lead them-- Oh Gods damnit, Gina!” The older woman had spotted us.

Aiden turned to me and smirked a little before he stepped out, clasping his hands together. I followed him, lost as to what to do.

The older woman pinched the bridge of her nose as Gina profusely apologized.

“Night, ladies! How are you gals doin? Because me and my friend here are in an awful lot of trouble, I’m sure you know that though. Can you see the grime on our faces? We’ve actually been out and about since the explosion.” He sniffed the air. “You two bathe recently?”

The older woman turned to him. “This is none of your business. You don’t have the skill to rob either of us. Keep your pride in tact and head somewhere else.”

Aiden feined insult and looked to me then back to her. “Oh, we weren’t going to rob you ma’am, not at all! I just figured you two had somewhere safe to stay, somewhere that might have something to eat.”

“And why would you think that?”

“Well, like I said earlier, seems to me you’ve taken a bath recently. There's not many places left in the city that have running water AND were not destroyed enough to cover the both of you in ash and dirt. Oh, and by my estimate,” He licked his finger and it to the air, smugly. “We aren’t far from the castle.”

“I’m not going to entertain you any longer, thief. Be on your way.”

Aiden wagged his finger. “Nuh-uh-uh, you don’t have a bluff to call, but I do. Lets say you two are agents of the crown. How quickly do you think I could start a riot over the castle trying to sneak out and steal from the very people they swore to protect?”

“What proof would you even have?”

Aiden outstretched his arms and turned in a circle. “Well, this isn’t a sewer, is it?”

The older woman sighed and prayed. “You wouldn’t. The people need the crown right now. Law must triumph over this chaos.”

“We’re awfully hungry, aren’t we, Riella?”

I nodded, then hugged my stomach and grimaced dramatically.

“And you two won’t kill us, will you? After all, Law must triumph over chaos?”

“Gods damnit, Gina.”

“Sorry, Nilus.”

Nilus shook her head, and the two of them took us in. We learned they were called Foxes of Vervainia.

[exiliumsfools]

The Fall of Vervainia Part 2

“This country is all about unlawful men becoming royalty. Its weird, I know. My teachers would probably curse at me for saying that, but its true. They say a ghost once roamed the streets of Wexinly, and they called him The Apparition. He was a legend to the poor and a nightmare to the rich. One day, he died. Guards got a good look at his face. Later that same night, the Baron showed up dead at his own party, and a chest full of gold flew out the third story window of his manor, straight into the hands of the masses. The Apparition was never seen there, but after, he was always in three places at once. A few months later, when King Tris and his party came through, kicking Adonis out, he gave the Barony to a nobody that just happened to fit The Apparition’s description. Funny thing, that. Tris was a pirate before he was a king. I hope the spirit of my country will keep me safe through my journeys, and that The Apparition is watching me in the streets he called home. I need food, and I’ve never had to steal before.”

  -Riella Cobble's Diary, The 7th of Trainusam, 2100

I sat straight up when I awoke, and immediately slammed my head against something hard. I cried out in pain, my hands flying to my forehead.

“SHHHHHH!” A harsh voice closeby said.

“Hey fuck you! Why’d you hit me?! What are you doing to a young lady, huh? You animal!” I charged forward, ready to attack. Then I realized it was incredibly dark and I couldn’t see anything. I slammed into something a little larger than myself that fell when I shoved. It was a man.

“Fuck me? Fuck you!” He pushed me, and I fell on my back. I noticed my clothes were soaking wet for some reason.

He continued. “I pulled you out of all that heavy ass rubble and hauled your fatass all the way here just to be treated like this?”

“Fatass?!” I scoffed. “You deserved it!”

“For what?!”

“You hit me, right when I woke up, right on my head!” I pointed to where it hurt.

“You slammed your head against mine, dumbass!” 

“Oh.” I sat back up, then saw a discarded bucket he must have used to wake me up with water. “No, I’m pretty sure it was your fault.”

He threw his hands up in disbelief. He was a half-elf like me. Shaggy black hair, darker eyes, dark skin. Dark clothes, a mask, a hood.

“Who are you?” I finally asked.

“I could ask the same of you!”

“Why’d you pull me out then?”

“I’m asking myself the same thing.” He crossed his arms and huffed.

“This is stupid.” I sighed. “I’m Riella.”

“Yea, it really is.”

“Come on, I just gave you my name, give me yours.”

“Sorry, old habits. Guess it doesn’t matter much more now though. I’m Aiden.”

“Are you a thief?”

He scoffed, then looked a little bashful. “I can do a lot more than a petty pockpick, but thats nothing to be proud of.”

I leaned forward. “You’ve killed people.”

He shrugged.

I shrugged. “If you were a murderer, you wouldn’t have saved me.” I was more uneasy than I let on.

He smiled a little. “I’m not a killer, no.” His smile faded. “But I’ve had to defend myself before.”

“And you’d do it again.”

He nodded. Then looked up. We were in some dank, damp passageway in a sewer. Moonlight found its way through a grate above us. Some shadows roamed past.

“You might have to do it more.”

“No doubt about that.” He rolled his shoulders. “Look. Are you alright?”

“Yea, my legs ache, and I’ve got some scrapes, but I should be able to hold my own just fine. What’s going on up there? Why did you save me?”

“With people disappearing and the King gone, people went crazy. Everyone started accusing someone of something. Some were acting like the world was ending. Some were trying to prepare for it. The Baron didn’t help. She tried to use the guards to quell some of the riots and looting but, half of them were just… gone. The others were either too concerned about their own family to report in or… Let’s not talk about the other guards.”

“Wow. You get around, huh?”

He shrugged. “I try to keep on top of things.”

“And, why did you save me?”

“I figured someone I saved wouldn’t try to stab me in the back.”

“Oh. So its a selfish thing.”

He threw his hands up again, taken aback. “What?! No! I-I’m a good person, I swear!”

“Nah.” I crossed my arms. “You hit me the second I woke up. Pretty dirty of you.”

He groaned. “That’s it, I’ve decided. You’re going back. Its worth all the pain of lifting that stone.”

I smiled, then stood up. I offered him my hand. He took it, and I pulled him up. He was a little taller than me, even though he seemed to be a few years older. His stature made him a good thief.

“What do we do?” I asked, more seriously.

He sighed, looking around nervously. “Well, we need food, and people probably won’t want to give us any.” He met my eyes. “You any good on your toes?”

I laughed nervously. “Yil, I hope so.”