Today’s piece is set in the world that my NaNoWriMo Novel is set in. In this world an ex-paladin heads an inquisition into certain types of magic considered to be evil and classified as having ties to demonic or death realms. As the inquisition grows in power, suddenly a witch hunt ensues where any Necromancers, Leapers and those suspected are persecuted and executed. This particular story follows a young leaper who is suddenly very aware that the inquisition is looking for him.
Leapers are people who are born with two different eye colors. This is a mark of people who can see both the demon realm of Tartarus and the Human realm. Their mind is linked between the two and focusing solely on one will allow the leaper to “leap” into that realm. While in the demon realm, time passes far faster than in the human realm giving the impressing of teleportation as a leaper can exit the human realm and leap back in while having travelled through Tartarus.
My lungs heaved with a burning fear, while my heart pounded like a war drum. That was one of those… inquisitors. I looked up and down the alley, as my potential fate began choking me. It couldn’t be! I’d been so careful! No leaping in daylight, never leaping around others… none of this made sense. As my breath eased a moment, I heard the metal of the inquisitor’s armor clinking as he ran through the busy streets. The Thieves’s Guild told me to get out of the capitol, head south. I ignored them.
Now it might cost me my life.
I stared through the flames into Tartarus as I blurred the lines between the two realms. I was standing on similar ground in both, and lucky for me, not a demon in sight. It was risky, but I had to do it. As my mind fully focused on the flames of Tartarus I could feel the heat licking at my skin. The smell of sulphur and ash stung at the nostrils while I gathered my bearings. I peered back into the human realm as I walked into position on the street. The inquisitor seemed frozen in time, as well as all the humans in the street. It was such an eerie calm from the normal chaos.
I breathed a sigh of relief. Glancing around I noticed a rock wall not far from me that lead to a small path. In the human realm that would be towards the outer city walls, and that was exactly where I wanted to go. I made my way across the cinders and ash to the narrow path. It seemed wider from further back, and now I felt as though I might not fit. I stared at the gap for a moment, sizing up my stomach as if to try and squeeze through.
A sudden low half-growl, half-hiss sent chills up my spine. Using my peripheral vision, I noticed what I feared it might have been. An illucario stalked me, its emerald eyes fixated on what could soon be its meal. Its black slimy fur seemed out of place in a dry place such as this, but the tentacle like protrusions from its back and its open maw made me worry less about my surroundings and more about surviving. Illucarios were a stalker predator and they could see across into the human realm, and would frequently stalk those who could see them. It was as if they wanted their prey to focus on them, thus luring unsuspecting leapers into the maw of the beast.
I jumped head long into the path and felt the illucario’s tentacles slide off my leg. I spun to see the beast clawing with its mighty paws against the walls of the path and its tentacles flailing about, searching for their prey. Deeper into the path I pushed, in hopes the illucario wouldn’t follow, but it was persistent. As pieces of rock and debris fell to the path floor, the beast pushed further in, its eyes wide and unblinking as if to never let me out of its sight. Illucarios were also dangerous in the fact that if attached or followed closely behind a leaper, they could be carried into the human realm.
Slimy tentacles brushed my legs as I forced myself through the path. I could feel rocks breaking skin and tearing at cloth. The pain was sharp, but survival was a tad more pressing. I peered back into the human world looking for an out, only to find I could still see the Inquisitor in a slightly different position from his earlier one. A tentacle jarred me from the other realm as I hopped and kicked the tentacle away. It didn’t matter anymore. This thing would kill me given the time. I had to. There were no other options.
I immediately focused back into the human realm and leapt from the flames and into a large man carrying a stack of glass plates. He immediately toppled over, and the plates were sent crashing to the stony path below. I tumbled over him and onto some rough shards. My mind immediately looked to the inquisitor whose attention had turned to the commotion I’d just caused.
“One thousand gold pieces for whoever stops that man!” The inquisitor yelled over the crowd. The man below me glanced at me with rage in his eyes. Without a hesitation, I planted a hand firmly on his face and pushed off, rushing into the crowd again. In my peripheral I could see city guards were joining in the hunt and even some citizens were rushing after me. A bounty gets things done, everyone has a price apparently.
I rushed through the crowd, weaving in and out of people as if they were standing still. I glanced back into the demon realm and noticed I was beyond the path and into a clearing, I also noticed the illucario stalking me from atop the wall running alongside my left. Was nowhere safe?
Glancing back at my pursuers, I turned the corner and found myself flipping head first over the rounded metal knee of the inquisitor who had started this whole ordeal. My stomach writhed inside my body, while I writhed in agony on the outside. He grabbed me by the throat and lifted me to my feet. I glanced into the flames, if I was to die… he’d go too. As the inquisitor mumbled something, I watched as the flames along with Tartarus disappeared from my view.
“What have you done to me?” I asked angrily.
“It’s a gift from my gods. A spell to keep you from leaping.” He stated, his every word dripping with arrogance. “And now… you sleep.” A deep darkness took me and the world itself faded from view.
***
“…A traitor to the crown, an assassin, a thief and a murderer. This man had his chance at life, and now we have sentenced him to death by fire!” The inquisitor’s voice was terrifying, and the crowd’s cheers were even more so. “Let these three leapers be the beginning of a purge, leapers are dangerous and we will find them! We will send them back to whence they came!” The sack over my head made it hard to see anything aside from the darkness and the gag in my mouth made it hard to protest. As the sack was removed, the light stung my eyes with the fury of the sun. I stood attached to an iron post where many stood before, as fear gripped me. I wanted to see Tartarus just one last time, in hopes it could offer an escape plan; I could see nothing.
I glanced back and forth between the pair on either side of me. One was a woman who I had known, she had two different colored eyes, but never had the ability to leap. It seemed she was a simple innocent bystander who simply had the same markings as a leaper. The man on the other side simple looked straight down at his feet, as if praying for it all to be over soon.
The inquisitor brought the flaming torch close, and for a moment I was reminded of the licking flames of the demon realm. He held the stick just below the man’s pile of kindling, and it went up in flames in a matter of seconds. Despite the gag in his mouth, his screams were haunting as the flames tore at his flesh and his skin crackled beneath the intense heat. With the man’s death rattle being overshadowed by the roar of the crowd, I watched as the inquisitor walked straight past me and held the torch beneath the woman’s pile of kindling. Much to the crowd’s dismay, she did not scream. I watched as the tears streamed down her face as she clenched her teeth tightly around the gag in her mouth.
The lump in my throat might as well have been a diamond. The inquisitor walked to my pile and grinned. With a final act, he lobbed the torch into the kindling at my feet. First came the smoke, choking me. Then I felt the flames, the searing heat licking its way up my legs. The smell was overwhelming As the nerves began to ignite, I felt my body thrashing in agony. I had no idea how the woman beside me hadn’t erupted into death wails. My eyes began to roll into my head as the pain became overwhelming. I had committed no murders. I’d never been an assassin. I’d never stolen a thing. I’d only been a deliverer of packages.
My only true crime? I was born a leaper.
And for that? The punishment was death.
Hope you enjoyed and I’d love any feedback! Also to note, I haven’t edited this and am now exceptionally tired, so hopefully I’ve done well at keeping the writing quality! Take care! And congrats to one of my internet writing comrades who just recently wrote twenty one thousand words to hit their fifty thousand. Lorie is insane, but I must tip my hat in respect!