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Rhianna

The stairway felt interminably long, but Rhianna was determined not to stop. Being a Loki meant that she did not tire quickly. Still, her legs had begun to ache by the time she reached a landing and a door. Heart pounding with anticipation, Rhianna flung open the door and found herself blinking in bright sunlight. As her vision adjusted, she looked out on the familiar rooftop of the castle back in Firneth.

“Come on,” she complained aloud. “The dream was just getting interesting.” The tang of smoke hit her then, and she stepped up to the parapet, her brow furrowed in confusion. What she saw caused her to stop in her tracks.

Gone was the verdant farmland and the colorful city. The mountains in the distance were obscured by the smoke rising from a wasteland that stretched as far as the eye could see. All was silence, there was neither bird nor beast nor even wind to break the awful stillness.

“What happened?” She breathed, feeling Eagle’s presence at her side.

“The Nim,” Eagle replied, his voice gruff and familiar as always.

“Then this is my fault,” Rhianna said.

“You did wake the Nim,” Eagle admitted. “Yes, I suppose it is.”

There was a brief pause as the two watched the burning landscape.

“Where were the Dragons?” Rhianna demanded. “Why didn’t they stop this? Why don’t they fix it?”

Eagle shrugged. “There was nothing they could do. Destruction caused by an Otherworldly Being is not easily dealt with.”

“How can you be so calm?” Rhianna whirled on the older man. “Our world is dying!”

Eagle’s eyes were fiery blue in his wrinkled face. “There is nothing that can be done. What will be, will be.”

“I will fix it,” Rhianna promised. “I will make things right.”

The old man’s eyes seemed to swallow her whole, and his voice echoed in her ears. “No, Rhianna. Even you cannot fix this.”

The world spun around her, and Rhianna was standing once more in the shadows on the landing, staring at the door. Waiting for her heart to stop its wild racing, she read the plaque the door now bore.

CASTLE’S ROOM.

Tentatively, Rhianna reached out and tried the handle.

 

Denari

“Hi, I’m Ari,” Denari said shyly. “What are your names?”

“Cahira,” one snapped. “We already met.”

Ari was about to die of mortification when the pink haired woman came to his rescue.

“Mara Gobey-Hanad.” She stuck out a hand. Ari gingerly shook her fingertips and she laughed.

Just then Rhianna burst in, her face pink with excitement. “I found it!” she shouted.

“How’d you get back so fast?” Mara demanded, seemingly not at all pleased to see the Loki.

“Found what?” Cahira asked skeptically.

“Not right now,” Mara added. “I don’t think the fashion show is over yet.”

“I found a room that Lord Castle doesn’t control!” Rhianna exclaimed. “The key to our rebellion! The answers to our very existence!”

 

That top bit was Rhianna’s worst fear, by the way. The end of the world and it’s all her fault . . .