[Ridge]
"Oh, so now you wanna wake up? But not when I was dragging your dead weight through the forest, nooooo!" A familiar whiny voice fills my ears.
The pain hits all over before I can even open my eyes. When I finally do pry them open, they throb so much that I almost snap them back shut immediately.
The only thing that stops me is the slightly blurry image that enters my line of sight as soon as my vision clears up. A mop of dark auburn hair and a worried grin framed by very punchable dimples hovers over me. I swear if this is a dream I'm finally gonna do it. I'm gonna sock him right in that stupid face of his.
Yet, when I try to lift my fist, the only thing that happens is a strange noise wrenching itself out of my sore throat. Then suddenly, I'm sobbing like someone just killed my cat. Except, I don't even like cats, and I'm crying because my best friend's okay and sitting right in front of me.
I want so badly to wrap my arms around his neck and strangl- ahem, hug the life out of him. Which I would do, if I could physically move my body. Everything hurts.
"Relax, Ridge. Take it easy, you're not in a great state right now." I manage to tilt my head to look over at him some, "Just focus on getting some rest for now."
We're in the woods, but I can't identify any important landmarks. I'm sitting propped up on a tree, while the heir to the Riddotha Duchy crouches next to me in the dirt. Besides the fancy silk imports adorning his body, anyone could mistake him for just another country bumpkin.
Except he isn't. He's a Riddotha. So why is he out here, in the woods, this early in the day?
Why am I?
Kadeeth must've noticed the confused look on my face, because he finally gave up trying to get me to fall back asleep. Eventually, he opted for explaining our situation instead.
"You look confused, so I might as well just catch you up now while you're awake." He sighs and rubs the back of his neck, "There was a fire at the Manor, do you at least recall the fire?"
I try to speak, but it feels like someone's feeding me needles while making me recite the Imperial family tree. So I nod instead.
I do remember a fire. I woke up choking on smoke. Then I escaped my room, and...
Holy. SHIT.
Nymour soldiers took over the Riddotha Duchy. The Empire has been invaded. This is fucking crazy!
I remember everything, the unknown Knight, the unconscious woman, the explosion, the Nymour troops rescuing me, the death ritual-.
What the hell. A Nymour death ritual is performed for all kinds of reasons. Among those reasons includes hunting animals, saying goodbye to a dying relative, and even killing enemy soldiers in battle. It's an age-old custom of the Nymour people to show their victims the highest form of respect. Of course, it's only used by the military. Nymour citizens reciting the death ritual those soldiers used would be considered murder.
Kadeeth watches calmly as the events of last night creep back into my memory one by one. He makes no move to interrupt my processing. When I've re-lived every detail at least twice I look up at him again. Suddenly, the pain of my ankle hits me full force. OUCH.
"Ridge... the estate is gone. In the midst of the chaos, the Riddotha Duchy fell," His voice is flat, "and the rest of the country is soon to follow."