Theme 05: Kristofa - Week 4

My friends, what a week. As it comes to a close, I am left to reflect and ponder whether the choices I have made were the right ones, and what damage they might have inflicted.

On the other hand, I am clearly seeing the benefits for myself, and discovering what damage a different choice might have meant for me.

The one big thing I noticed yesterday is that the feeling someone was going to die next year, is gone. I still think it'll be a sad year, but the impact is far lessened. So, I can but assume that feeling had either something to do with future me, or that I was unconsciously already feeling so dead inside that it was an expression of this ill feeling.

Fact is: things happened that made the burn-out win, point blank. I am currently no longer employed. With this, I'm putting my ex-colleagues in deep shit for the summer, yet somehow they all seemed to comprehend my decision... because, as I discovered, they are all as fed up as me. Physically, mentally, I couldn't keep going. I still feel like I'm supposed to be there for my colleagues - but whenever I but linger on the thought of working there again, my head fills with screaming and mental wall-bashing. I can't do it anymore. I panic. I want to scream. I die inside a little more. And I didn't get a chance to explain anything to my manager, as he took things extremely personally (can I blame him? Nope. From his viewpoint, I'd have betrayed him). All I can hope for is that communication will have been set in motion. Without it, they're done.

So what are my plans? For now, dealing with the exhaustion. And, y'know... be creative. The rest will sort itself out in time.

And so here is the last week of Kristofa. As I've settled on next week's new theme, I've decided to share a piece of story that will initiate the transition.

Evil comes in many forms; even in the form of goodness.

The moment he set foot inside Talinor's Inn, Kristofa had the strange sensation he'd made the right choice – and also the wrong one. His ears quivered to the sound of voices, two young girls by the vibration of them, who discussed in hushed undertones a situation that scared them, yet for which they felt pity. Kristofa invited himself into the inn's kitchen and surprised the two black-haired girls while they were washing the dishes. Both of them screamed, and one of them dropped the plate she was drying off.

"Uncle will be furious!" the girl gasped, her fingers pressed against her mouth. The other girl glared at Kristofa and said, "This isn't a place for customers!"

"I'm sorry," Kristofa replied, "I heard you talking… I'm looking for an Elven boy and his mother."

The two girls shrieked in unison, their fingers at their mouths, synchronized. It was such a peculiar sight that Kristofa never realized until now that the girls were twins.

"You mustn't!"

"You shouldn't!"

"Bad idea," they said in unison, which was a very odd, rather unpleasant sound in his ears, like an echo within an echo.

"Could… just one of you speak, please?"

The girl who'd dropped the plate earlier nodded, and returned to her duties. The other leaned against the kitchen table and rested her hands on its edge.

The girl stated, "You're not from around here."

Kristofa nodded. "I've come from Farren," he said, "Christopher."

"Mageli," the girl leaning against the table said, "and that's my twin sister, Aureli. So you've come here searching for the auren boy? It's a really, really bad idea, you know."

"So I'm starting to discover," Kristofa replied with a fake smile, "please tell me what you know."

"Well," Mageli said, and she glanced over at her sister, who glanced back at her at the exact same moment, a shard of porcelain in her hand, "I suppose it's okay. If you're not here to hurt him."

"I'm not," Kristofa replied, unsure whether he was lying or not, "please."

As Mageli was about to speak, Aureli let out a sob. Mageli walked over to her sister and hugged her tight, and Aureli returned the hug just as tightly. Kristofa was embarrassed by his own thoughts: twins… what he wouldn't give for twins…

Mageli kissed her sister's forehead and whispered reassuring words to her, then let her slowly go. Aureli resumed her duties, and Mageli nodded to Kristofa to follow her.

At this hour, the small tavern side was still empty, and they sat at a table farthest away from the kitchen, and from the rooms.

"Aureli was attacked by the woman," Mageli suddenly whispered, "She'd taken pity on the boy, and brought him something to eat – we haven't seen him eat since he's been here, and it's been over a week. Then that woman returned, and she got so mad at my sister. Aureli said the boy tried to stop her, and that she distinctly heard him call her 'mom' – can you imagine, that poor boy having such a mother ? Anyway, we think she's actually, well,…

“A Vampire," Mageli whispered in a barely audible tone, glancing about her as she spoke further, "you don't understand, that woman, those eyes… They say even the Denumbra aren't as terrifying. And they're the emissaries of Tenumbra, so I don't know what that makes her. Anyway, Aureli said she tried to bite her, that she made inhuman sounds, and that the boy interceded. And then she ran, and that's when I heard it all, too."

Mageli's resolve to speak further faltered. The shock of the situation was still fresh, still visible on her face, upon which Kristofa briefly placed a kind hand.

He tried to sound reassuring. "It's important that you tell me."

Mageli closed her eyes for a moment. She took a deep breath.

"I thought the whole inn was going to collapse. Aureli came running to me. We heard the woman scream, the sounds she made – the things she said. We heard every word. 'I hate you', and 'you should never have been born', and 'I'll kill you', and then shuffling and then I think the boy fell. I don't see her falling, anyway. And… and, by Airin, that scream… like blades grinding against each other. There was an explosion at some point, and, silence, and, I don't remember in which order… and… I'm sorry… It's too much to remember…"

"You did well," Kristofa replied, trying to still sound reassuring – even if he could only think about the dangerous situation Seliana had sent him into. Had she known of the risks? Had she known that the boy was not alone? That he, Kristofa, would have refused to come had she divulged the true danger of this task?

He offered Mageli a kind smile. "Are they still here?"

"Well, yeah," she replied, concerned, "We haven't gone up there since it happened. The woman hasn't been here, either. We haven't had any customers. You're the first one in a week's time."

"I see. Would you mind if I go up there, myself? I really need to see that boy."

Mageli's head cocked, and she shook it. "No, I'd prefer you don't. It's just too dangerous."

"I'll be careful."

"No, really, uncle Talinor won't be pleased if anything else happens. He thinks the woman won't be paying for the repairs. By Airin, no, if something else gets destroyed…"

"All right then," Kristofa said, hiding his frustration well, "how about renting me a room?"

Mageli smiled, "You really don't know when to quit, do you."