A girl sat in her carriage, her legs crossed as her arm rest on the window. She was wearing black high heels, her foot seemingly tapping nothing on the air with the movement of the carriage.
She sighs as she stares off into the distant planes of grass and fields, the afternoon sun about to reach evening.
Her hair was a dark red color, reaching down to the crest of her back. Long, straight, and certainly defined.
She was wearing some formal attire, a dress that allowed for easy movement, but not something she would wear to a banquet.
Her green eyes sharpened as she turned her attention forward.
"When will we be there?" She asks the coachman. Her voice is measured, articulate, smooth.
"Within the next few minutes, Lady Ayra." A scruff voice responds back to her from the front of the carriage.
"Hmph."
She nods and turns back to the window. Her hair moves a bit with her and reveals a silver mark on her shoulder.
A silver eye that holds wings. The mark is quite bright, as if it were a small light on her shoulder.
A few moments pass, before the coachman in front began to pant a minor amount. The carriage slows to a stop.
"Is something the matter, Chand-"
Ayra also pauses, one of her eyebrows raising at the sight.
Two boys were on the trail before them. One was carrying the other.
Though, the one being carried looked unharmed, the one carrying the other…
He looked atrocious, to say the least.
The sight made her head fill with questions.
His clothes were tattered, and pieces of broken armor plates were on his forearms and shoulders. Holes that looked like claws had torn through his shirt were making it hang loose on his torso.
But that wasn't the worst part of his appearance, no.
He was absolutely soaked in what seemed to be dried blood turning a bit brown as it oxidized. His hair was grimy. To top it off, his hair is a strange color as well.
'Black… and white?' It made her glance at her coachman with hesitation.
"Uhm…"
He had a pitch black cloth covering his left eye, more dried blood cresting on that side of his face. He looked famished, and like he hadn't bathed in weeks.
'What in the world…?'
"Lady Ayra… should we greet them?" The coachman, Chandler, turns to her with a nervous look upon his somewhat wrinkled face. His brown hair was slicked back with barely any bangs coming loose.
"Well… it is what we were sent for. Lynel requested that someone with an information-gathering infusion go… but this…"
She glances at the boy, who seems to also be nervous about their appearance.
It made her blink.
'I didn't see him in any vision of the town… who is he?'
"Let's step out of the carriage, he seems terribly wounded."
Chandler nods, "A-alright…"
So, he immediately moves to open the door, a soft click echoes through the inside of the carriage as he drops out of the side. The elderly man then moves to open Ayra's door and assists her stepping down and outside, onto the grass.
She got a better look at the boy, he seems to be her age, perhaps a bit older now that she has a clearer view of his face.
He has quite pale skin, a small hint of a bag under his one visible eye.
'Fourteen or… fifteen?'
He had more smudged dirt and what seems to be… ash, covering bits of his cheekbone underneath his unblocked eye.
What caught her attention the most currently was the cloth covering his other eye. It was certainly quite long. She could see it fluttering slightly to the side in the soft gust of wind just behind him.
She opens her mouth, "State your business." She speaks calmly, attempting to establish some sense of authority to him.
"Uhm…" His voice was a bit raspy, like he hadn't had water in at least a couple of days.
"Could you look after my friend here…?" He speaks with a bit of a shy tone, slightly unsteady. He carefully nudges the other boy's sleeping head resting on his shoulder/
'He's certainly not nobility…'
Ayra glances at Chandler and nods, to which he moves toward the two boys.
"Here, allow me…" He speaks softly.
The one-eyed boy smiles faintly, "O-oh, thank you…"
She keeps an eye on Chandler as he takes the taller, blonde-haired boy into his arms. He walks back to the carriage and opens up the secondary passenger seat, easing him in.
"Now," Ayra turns back to the dirty one, "I'll ask you once more. What is your name, and what are you doing out here?"
*****
I felt relief wash over my chest as the tall man took Hale from me, but…
…this girl seems to be a bit pretentious.
"Er…" I scratch the side of my cheek, careful not to budge the silk covering my eye.
"I'm Fault."
She stares at me for a moment.
"'Fault?'" She repeats.
I nod back.
"Your name is 'Fault'?"
I feel a tinge of annoyance grow, but bite it back.
'She looks like nobility, based on her dress…'
Even worse if she was royalty.
"Yes, Fault."
She continues to stare at me skeptically.
"Any last name?"
The question made me pause.
I open my mouth carefully, "C-..."
"No. None." I stop myself.
Her expression doesn't change.
'Can't really blame her for that.'
With that, she only sighs and turns to the carriage.
"You seem quite disheveled, Fault, here, enter."
She opens the secondary passenger door to the carriage.
Her offer made me blink in surprise, "O-okay…"
I carefully step toward her and the open door, which she steps away from to allow me in.
"Uh, so… what's your name…?" I give her a nervous smile as I step in front of her. We're about the same height, and her hair…
Her hair looks like the same dark red shade of blood. It's quite pretty, actually.
She only nods her head toward the passenger seat. I sigh and nod slowly as I step inside.
After I get in, she keeps the door open behind me and gets in as well.
The carriage inside is really fancy. A little window to communicate with the driver, and two rows of seats inside. The red-haired girl sat herself in the seat just in front of me, keeping an eye on me as she faces me.
Hale is still out cold to my right, snoring softly on the cushion of the seat on our side.
"Ayra Astor." She says with a flat tone.
"Ayra… Astor?" Her last name made my eye widen a bit.
'Astor…? The royal family with the largest territory?'
I stared at her for a moment.
She nods and continues, "I was sent here on a little run for Duke Lynel, as my family owed him a favor."
Lynel. That name rang a bell in my head. At least I think it did.
"Mind explaining yourself a bit more…?" She tilts her head.
"That's…" I turn my head back from where I came.
I swallow and look back at her, "Tenna's gone."
Her eyes widen a bit, then she nods slowly.
"As expected… Duke Lynel hadn't received anything back from Grant in half a week…" Her fingers move to her chin as she begins to think to herself.
'Is she… thinking out loud?'
I look at the middle-aged man who came with her. He pays me no mind, staying seated in the box up front.
"Where has Tenna gone? Was it destroyed? Was it a daemon attack? Did stray beasts finally overrun the city?"
I blink at her rapid questions.
I slowly gather my thoughts and take a deep breath, "It was destroyed."
"By?" She interjects me, making my tongue tie on itself for a moment.
I continue, swallowing nervously, "The Devourer. It killed everyone in Tenna… and something set off dozens of explosions to completely destroy the town…"
I feel a bit melancholic as I continue, "My friend, Hale, and I were the only survivors… a god challenged us to a game, and we accepted."
She stares at me for a while, I could feel her emerald eyes searching me for the truth. It felt like she was staring into my brain, for some reason…
She blinks a few times as she tries to register what I had told her.
I open my mouth to explain a bit more, "I bought my friend some time, he got out of town, and those were the win conditions for the game. I'm not too sure what happened next…"
I decided to keep some things secret.
"..."
Her silent stare continues.
Her head tilts a bit to the side.
She asks, "Sorry, but what is the 'Devourer'?"