(Music Recommendation: The Battle At Bel Tine - By Lorne Balfe)
Isadora
The night was calm and the wind was still.
The fire at the center of the traveling crew was doused unbeknownst to them, the cold taking over and the lingering aura began to make its play.
The swamp came alive, corrupted and swarthy, speaking to Isadora, but it wasn't the whispers she was familiar with usually saying her name.
This was different, it was disrupted and in Faetong.
A frown carved upon her features, the words sending an unease to her body and mind. She turned to her back with her head thrashing back and forth as it got louder.
Eventually, Isadora staggered awake, sitting up and glancing around.
The fire keeping the cold away was gone and the fog was everywhere, blocking anything else in view and leaving her unable to see a thing.
In fright, she stood and searched everywhere but remained alone and possibly lost. The last thing she remembered was after dinner she fell asleep, the rest was nothing, or did something happen? How did she end up here? What's going on?
"Isadora"
A chill plugged up her spine, she could hear the voice so close to her ear and the breath of someone down her neck.
"Isadora Skaldwood"
She inhaled and turned around, and her eyes went wide, there was a glow but just not any glow, it looked like a phantom was passing through, the area got colder and dread seeped deeper into Isadora's bones.
"Poor girl"
"Trapped"
"Lost and alone"
Isadora's breaths grew raspier and the phantom came closer.
It had no face nor form, just a glow dancing along with the mist. It was ethereal but menacing.
"Let me save you"
"Come to the water"
Isadora shook her head slowly and took a step back. There was no way in gods name she would follow a phantom, the stories told about dark creatures in the Abyss, desperate for a soul.
She'll not be a victim.
But her steeled resolve caused the phantom to be angry.
"Come!"
Isadora shrieked when an invisible force pulled her closer and dropped her to hands and knees, her amber eyes on the water but it wasn't her reflection she saw but a distorted face.
"You should be grateful, I offer you freedom, isn't that what you want?"
Isadora couldn't move, she was bound to the ground by a force, her body quivered and tears leaked from her eyes down to the water. A desperate plea for help, she couldn't scream and everything was made silent.
"Into the water!"
'No!'
But it was too late, the force pulled Isadora into the swamp. She screamed but only restricted her airflow, even if she tried to hold her breath she could not.
The water was fouled, making the depths look like a murk of ashes inside. Isadora tried to swim up but got dragged down faster, water got to her lungs harder.
Isadora flashed her eyes open. The water was gone and the phantoms were nowhere to be seen.
"I know this place," she said as her eyes took in the familiar view, she twirled around.
It was just as she remembered down to the last detail. The particular tree she always prayed to the gods.
At cue, Isadora saw a younger version of herself.
Six winters old Isadora, kneeling in front of the tree.
"Please make mamma nice and make my brothers not hate me anymore" little Isadora voiced her desires. "Except for Rune, he's always nice to me and gives me extra food and makes the chores easier"
A soft meow broke her focus and her eyes wandered around for the source of the sound. She rose to her feet and walked closer to a tree, just behind it, she found a small feline creature.
Isadora's breath caught when the realization struck her. This memory... it was that day!
"ISA!"
She gasped and twirled at the call of her name but that wasn't what startled her.
"Rune,"
It was his voice.
Her brother.
Isadora eyes widened when she found him running toward her but it wasn't her he was after but her younger self, cuddling the feline creature.
"No" she mouthed devastated. Not this again, she can't relive this day. "Please"
"The very day that shaped your fate"
"No" she broke as the phantoms spoke to her, fueling her anguish. "Stop please!"
"I want to show you something, will you keep it a secret?" little Isadora asked of Rune.
"No" she panicked. "Don't show him!"
But it was already set in stone. Little Isadora with trust in her heart, showed Rune her weaving abilities.
"What could be more devastating than that moment, to be ruined by the only person you ever loved"
Isadora fell to her knees. "STOP IT!"
Her screams turned muffled as she was suddenly back to drowning, the process was slow and painful, phantom hands pulling her deeper and deeper and when she thought all was lost...
A sudden pulse shook the water, blasting the phantoms away.
The voice came again but didn't belong to the phantom but the one who called her name in her sleep, soft and gentle.
"Beware of the shadows"
~♧~
Isadora coughed, vomiting the rest of the foul water.
Her throat burned from the taste, causing more nausea to overwhelm her stomach and what she had for dinner came out too.
After minutes of draining her stomach, her body registered the cold within her bones, compelling her to shiver and her teeth to rattle. There was no wind, just a chilly cold erupting from the inside out.
Isadora thought she had hallucinated the whole thing, but her wet clothes were clear evidence it was real. Something or someone saved her, but she doesn't know what.
Forcing her body to stand, her legs attempted to give out but she held onto a tree for support.
The fog cleared a bit making the area accessible but she remained lost, unable to figure out how she got so deep in the Abyss.
Isadora sniffled, forcing her legs to move, and rubbing her arms to keep the cold away.
Suddenly she heard a twig snap and she glanced toward the area but nothing was there, her eyes surveyed the area hastily until she found a dark figure.
Her legs moved before she could stop them, eager to find out what it was, for it didn't give the same eerily chill as the phantoms.
Isadora halted the moment she realized the dark figure was a man, a very familiar man.
"Kraven?" she voiced. It'd to be him, the same tall frame and muscular build, the leather and the sword on his back.
She never thought she would be relieved to see her kidnapper, she would take anything over what haunts the Abyss.
A hasty croak sound caused Isadora to jerk in surprise. A raven bird was on top of a tree bark, cawing loudly.
'A raven?' Isadora thought. She had never seen one before, it was a rare bird because it was the symbol of Daudi, the god of death.
With a flap of its black wing, it flew away leaving behind a trail of feathers in its wake.
Isadora suddenly heard murmurs, in Faetong. She couldn't quite place it, so she got closer and it appeared Kraven was speaking to himself.
His broad shoulders were tense and his breathing was uneven, his hands placed on the bark, gripping tightly, his head fidgeting as he growled and murmured.
"Stop it!"
Isadora gasped and stopped, but stepped on a twig that announced her presence. With raspy breaths she watched as his actions ceased, strengthening his position but making no attempts to face her.
There was something wrong, Isadora could feel it in her bones, was this Kraven or a phantom who posed as him?
The answer to her question was revealed when he turned abruptly.