I was untangling the vines in my head when I heard a deep feminine chuckle. I looked up to see the woman observing me.
" You must be Liz," the woman began, finally finding her bearings and I nodded.
She looked through a stack of papers From who knows where. Before, letting the paper fly and giving me some. She said, " read this".
Then. Then, she buzzed nonstop: " This is Enderwaul, you will live here , someone ....."
Wait, what? I...
"Hey!", she screamed at me, noting my unfocused eyes.
She sighed in frustration.
" YOU! ", she exclaimed. " listen here! I'm only saying this once , just once, you hear!" She suddenly appeared. Floating infront of me. That's right . Floating and from 7 meters away. She snapped a finger to point at my forehead.
" Look here, this is Enderwaul. Your spawn point would be, somwhere between here or here." She said, pointing at 2 places at once. From a map that also appeared, OUT OF NOWHERE.
she gave me the map. Demonstrating to the two, worm like words.
Honestly, her terms were hard to understand.
"Ze- ra- thorne", she spelled out for me. " Grim- vald", at the place close to it. I was too speechless to understand, so I followed her looking at the stack of papers before me.
The rest was readable, it said:
...
It was such an amazing map,
there were information popping up from places, when you point at it. The guide was easy enough to understand, too.
Okay, from the map it's Northern Volderhelm, Southern East Drakenfells, Central Elderspire, Eastern Grimvald and Western Zerathorne.
But, from what I can see, A cult in the east, next to a country with guinea pigs and slavery from the left. The only good prospects is 6 months of no sun and then, Grimvald. Yey.
More importantly, whats this go to do with me?
I looked bewildered at the woman, who probably noticed my confusion.
The woman spoke again behind me.
"Oh yeah, Good luck kid, its your coming of age ceremony, yeah? 12 , right?."
She grinned at me. Trying some small talk or like an elder asking her junior ; what's up?
" yes",
I answered, hestitant to even give one, confused.
Talking to her for a few minutes, already gave me the gist of how of an eccentric she was. I thought, rolling an invisible eye in my head. It was the most tiring in contrast to my father's affiliations.
To which, she looked at me, all giddy.
She said: " Then this is great, this task is easy for you."
With the same tone for :
" it's alright, just few more step."
People use to a toddler
She passed me another paper.
Scribbled there, an information about a girl.
" You see this. She's Zinga. She's your target..."
"WAIT!", I exclaimed, I crossed my arms, interrupting her.
"What is this? Is this some hit or kill?"
I asked, ready to hit and run.
"No..", in a long confused tone, her gait obviously paused and she looked at me from head to toe.
" What kind of education do you recieve?"
She questioned, her tone bad and inquiring.
Like, an investigator and I'm a convicted felon. Not that I'm not.
It's just, this is too much!
I sleepwalked through the affidavit or confessions. Couldn't even plead guilty and be vindicated. Something that nailed the last nail on my coffin. What's more, who doesn't read a few questionable books for entertainment. But, before I could explain.
She rolled her eyes at me, looked to the side, all haughty and said,
" we don't give such hard tasks on newcomers."
My lips twitched in disbelief. So, you do kill.
" Did you lose a part of your soul?",
I heard her ask another question.
Its relevance baffling me. So, I simply curled my tongue and decide to stay quiet.
Watching her continue to chatteraway. Hands resting on her hips, while she floated around muttering if she forgot anything. Explaining common knowledge inbetween.
Then, she pulled something out again .
Still, can't get used to it.
" This is a storage ring , It's got everything you need. After you go there remember to find the girl, she is crucial for your tasks. If you fail", she paused, giving an ultimatum.
"That must not happen",
in the shadow of a mother, who in her worry packed a months' luggage for a weeks trip when asked, to pack lightly.
She handed me the ring which I lifted under the light. It looked so elegant and simple. I loved it so much, I wanted to thank her but I swallowed it back as she shook her head worriedly, her eyes on mine in pity,
"this is bad".
She looked like she's sending her first kid to her first day to school.
My lips twitched in at the thought.
I'm 12, for God's grace. I'm old enough to get married in my world.
Exasperated but, also a feeling of dread settling in me.
But, before I could think, why?
A portal opened behind me and I felt a push as a burning sensation enveloped me. My vision blurred and, then-- darkness.