Not A World We Know || Part 2

Part 1....

I let out a groan and rubbed my eyes as I was blinded by the light that filtered in from the window. I didn’t remember opening the curtains last night, so who did? Fighting the ferocious pounding in my head, I blinked my eyes open.

“Morning darling,” came a voice from across the room. I widened my eyes as I took in the beady-eyed man leaning on the wall. What the hell had happened last night?

“You know,” he continued. “I wondered why a pretty girl like you was living in the forest. Everywhere was so dark that I even had to make a few....tweaks.”

“Who...are you?” I muttered quietly.

The strange man made a face and clutched a hand to his heart like someone hurt. “You wound me dear. And after how amazing last night was.”

I stifled a gasp as I finally took in my state under the bedsheets. Recollections of yesterday’s excesses filtered through my mind. My exuberant dancing and drinking at the village fair to mark my 24th birthday, the voice of a man as he danced behind me and then...nothing else. How had I been so careless to let bring this man home? My eyes darted frantically towards the side of my bed and saw the locker that laid my carefully laid out plans. It didn’t look like it had been disturbed. Either way, this man had to go. And maybe not just from the house.

“Well,” I started, wrapping the bedsheet around myself and making my way to the door to let him out. “This has been fun. You can take your leave now.” Maybe, I thought to myself, I just might spare him. He let out a chuckle and shook his head at me like I’d just made a really cute joke.

“What’s so funny?”

“You know, I did want to start so early but I did find something rather interesting,” He started, dragging out a paper from behind him that instantly made me go pale. “And if I didn’t know any better, I’d say it’s plans to commit....treason.”

I didn’t think as I swung the hairpin I had discreetly dragged from under the bed and watched with satisfaction as it hit the side of his neck with deadly accuracy. The stunned look on the man’s face as he went silently to the ground with a thud was invigorating. Not like I’d have just let him walk out the house after a possible discovery of my fifteen-year-long plan but there were prices to pay for a loose tongue and that price had just been paid.

I winced at the expanse of blood pooling on the floor. That was going to need a lot of cleaning. Why did the aftermath of killing have to be such a messy task? I shrugged and walked into the bathroom, shutting the door behind me. I’ll take care of it later. Whistling a merry tune, I opened the cabinets and let out an expletive. The damned man had rearranged the entire cabinet. Suddenly wishing that I had prolonged his death, I opened the water faucet, and began to wash my face.

The bustle of the village grated my nerves like it always did so I draped the scarf more firmly around my ears. I tried not to make eye contact as I walked around aimlessly but briskly like I had a destination. Every single one of the hypocritically smiling people in the city of Zyra had their faces permanently crystallized in my brain. How could they even smile in the face of the grave injustice of fifteen years ago? An injustice everyone kept mum about till this day like it never happened. Like the city hadn’t been wiped clean of every single Xittite in a single night. I sighed. The need to get into that Castle was getting more pressing than ever.

Suddenly I noticed a chariot halting a distance away and watched the messenger that brought news from the Palace hop down and make his way to the notice board. Another aspect that befuddled me. How could a city more developed than any other, mandate its people to wear medieval clothes that had already been extinct at least 200 years ago? But then it was okay to live in modern, lavish houses. The hypocrisy disgusted me. It was all going to end soon though.

Focusing back on the task at hand, I ambled towards the board and my eyes immediately caught one. Intellectually sound Zyrites were needed at the Castle for a test. It didn’t say why though. I made my way back to my little cottage in the forest as discreetly as I came.

“Karla the Xittite,” I chuckled to myself. “Looks like the time has come to finally meet the bane of your existence.”

Jhymi🖤

_{Thumbnail created using NightCafe Studio.}