Gasping in air, Vel cried, her voice sounding high pitched and foreign to her ears. Her eyes were closed tight, and she gasped in air, writhing as she did so. Opening her eyes, she found the light to be assaulting, so much that she almost couldn’t see a thing.

  Then a notification.

  [Class: Sacrifice]

  [The sacrifice has been born]

  No . . . No, no! I failed! she thought, her voice still leaving her involuntarily, so crude upon her own ears. Her body writhed until a thick cloth wrapped around it, trapping her in as she was placed in someone else’s arms. The woman’s face soon came into view.

  “Sh, sh, sh,” she said, smiling down at Vel with blue eyes and fair features. Her hair was platinum, the brightest Vel had ever seen. “You’re very special,” she said, eyes loving. She leaned over, and Vel closed her eyes, feeling the woman’s kiss upon her head.

  Do I live through this with awareness every time? she wondered, the pain of losing her friends bleeding through in more baby sobs. Oh, how she hated this! She couldn’t control herself, couldn’t communicate, couldn’t do a damn thing!

  “Sh, sh,” the woman shushed her again, and for some reason, Vel found it oddly soothing. The pain she felt slowly eroded with each shushing. “Hey, don’t worry you,” she said, poking Vel’s little nose tenderly, “The priestesses are going to take very good care of you, but in the meantime, you get to stay with me here.”

  Please don’t let them take me, Vel asked, sobbing some more. Humiliating. How humiliating! At what point did she forget about her past life? And . . . and did she want to?

  No . . . she thought, desperately holding onto those memories.

  “Sh, sh, Velmira.”

  Wait. Vel opened her eyes, looking up at the woman, the one she supposed was probably her mother in this life. Did she just call me by name?

  The woman’s lips moved, and out came, “Velmira! Please!”

  It didn’t fit, the voice . . . distorting. It grew deeper, thought not by much. It cracked even as she said Vel’s name again.

  “Please! Vel, please wake up! I can’t, I can’t━!” she gasped, wheezing. “Can’t lose anymore folks, Vel. I’m just . . .”

  Aden? Vel asked.

  “Just an orphan boy. Nobody wants me, but you did, even if it was by accident. Velmira, please. I can’t lose no more sisters, not that you were one, but . . .”

  Vel felt arms around her, and she blinked. The scene before her slowly faded, replaced by stony ruin walls dappled by sunlight. Dust fell from her eyes and head. Stone dust. Vel looked down, seeing Aden hugging her tight. She moved her stiff arms, more stone dust falling from them, as if she was breaking free from stone. The stiffness faded as she wrapped her arms around Aden, holding his head close to her chest.

  Aden’s form shook as he sobbed, and Velmira, well she cried tears of joy just seeing him here. “I’ll be your sister,” she offered quietly. “I’m here now, and I’m not going anywhere.”

  Aden nodded, dirt falling from his ragged sandy hair. “The others, they’re . . . they’re . . .” he tried, and Vel looked from him to where Sigurd and Amalia stood. There were turned to stone, starting with the hands and feet. Sigurd’s arms and legs were completely stony, and Amalia, she was worse, the stone creeping over her midsection.

  Urgency struck Vel. Right now, they were both breathing, but soon, Amalia would stop, constricted by the stone. Then, moving her head in the other direction, she felt Aden’s hand shoot up and hold her cheek.

  “Don’t!” he warned. “If you look at it, you’ll get lost again. It’s turning you guys to stone, and . . . and . . . Just don’t look at it!”

  Velmira nodded. Taking a deep breath, she grabbed Aden’s hand and pulled him along as she moved to Amalia. Standing before the woman, Vel furrowed her brow. Amalia’s eyes were open, but smokey, as if she too were in a dream.

  They were just dreams. Nightmares, she thought. “Aden, how did you wake me?” Vel asked.

  “I screamed, I . . . I don’t know, I just screamed and cried.”

  Vel snapped in front of Amalia’s eyes. Nothing. The stone kept creeping, and she shook her head. “Amalia. Amalia!” she barked. “Come on, wake up. We need you,” she said, patting at Amalia’s cheek.

  What was it for me? she thought. Aden’s voice had broken through to her dream. No, not his voice, something more specific. Her name. He’d said her name, completely, fully, in a place where Vel shouldn’t have heard or even known of her own name. So what was Amalia dreaming of, and what would be unnatural in that place? What would her nightmare be?

  She didn’t want to be a priestess, ran away from it as much as I ran away from my own sacrifice, Vel thought. She wanted to sing. That’s all she wanted to do.

  Velmira, regardless of an untrained voice and ear, began to sing. Her mouth was open, and notes, whether good or bad, fell from it. Aden joined in in a disharmonic discourse, but a song nonetheless, terrible though it was. He sang a shanty, and at least he had some measure of music compared to Vel, so she instead quieted to let the teenager run away with his song. Instead, she hugged Amalia, holding her smaller form tenderly.

  “Amalia,” she said right into her ear, “We need your voice. Please. Wake up.”

  Vel heard cracks, almost jolting at the sound as she recalled what that had meant in her nightmare. Then, she felt dust fall.

  “Velmira?” Amalia’s voice said, more melodic than any sound Vel and Aden could ever hope to produce. “By the gods, Vel, there . . . I . . . by the gods!” she exclaimed, and stepped away. As Vel saw her moving her gaze in the direction of the chicken, Vel shot a hand out, placing it against her cheek.

  “Don’t look,” Vel said, looking between Amalia’s brown eyes. “It turns people to stone.”

  Amalia nodded. “Sigurd?” she asked.

  Vel shifted her gaze slowly, and moved until she was standing in front of the hunter. He was turning to stone quicker than Amalia had been now. His breathing was shallow, and Vel felt a pang in her heart. She. Would not! Lose him!

  “Sigurd, you avenging arse,” she started, scolding him, “wake, up.”

  Nothing. The stone continued to creep, and Vel heard a crow from the chicken in the center of the room. Then a pitter patter. It was moving, likely coming to prevent them from waking Sigurd up.

  I have to fight it, don’t I? she thought. How could she fight something she couldn’t look at? I couldn’t pass skills through the shadow realm earlier. Maybe . . .

  “Amalia, Aden, wake him up, I need to stop this thing,” she said, dropping into the shadow realm as the pitter patter grew louder.

  [Feather Foot level 12]

  Vel looked at the ground. The chicken was closing in on the others. She leapt towards the pillar of light that was the chicken, allowing it to suck her back into the physical realm, using a touch of [feather fall] as she landed behind the chicken.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  [Spry Jump level 7]

  [Shadow Sneak level 28]

  Where was I planning to go after this? she thought, drawing a secondary dagger from her belt, having lost the first somewhere. Leaping backwards, she heard a squawk and felt fire burn her backside as she landed on the chicken. She stabbed at whatever she could briefly, gasping and rolling away.

  [Iridescent Hide level 17]

  [Tough Hide level 66]

  [Dagger Stab level 28]

  That meant she hit something, right? Pushing herself up to her feet, she could hear the pitter pattering of the chicken behind her, its claws scraping like metal against the stone. Vel cringed, running forward for a spot without any light filtering in from the sliver windows. She fell back into the shadow realm, and when she landed on her knees, she gasped, barely keeping hold of her dagger as she bent over.

  [Iridescent Hide level 18]

  [Feather Foot level 13]

  [Shadow Sneak level 29]

  Looking over her shoulder, she patted out a bit of red flames out on her shoulder, wincing at the sting her own touch produced. As she looked over her shoulder, she saw the pillar of light approaching her spot.

  Come on, move! she urged herself, picking her feet up and staggering away, careful to move aside from other pillars.

  “Okay,” she breathed out, wincing as she straightened up. Touching it burned. Badly. Looking at it turned her to stone. So how was she supposed to kill this little bastard?

  The widest pillar━the chicken━moved in a circle. Can I risk one glance at it if I land a killing blow? Velmira thought. She glanced towards where the others were, Sigurd still turning to stone. Both Amalia and Aden were trying everything, hugging him, yelling, talking, and Amalia even slapped the man and said something about his dead wife. It was a good angle, Vel considered, yet he didn’t move. Would killing this thing even save him, or should she have asked someone else to try to kill it?

  Amalia needs to see what she’s singing at, and Aden heals, Vel thought. There was no one else. So, she needed a plan, something that would allow her both kill the chicken and not look at it. [Radial Search], duh, she thought. It was a good plan. She could sense where the obstacle was all while doing . . . something to it. Fire, she decided, wasn’t likely to kill it, and she didn’t trust herself enough to aim blindly with a throwing dagger. Getting close meant burning.

  I need to use a new skill, she decided, looking between [water beam] and [ice spike] while she watched the wide pillar of light now charge the others. Vel closed her eyes and dropped from the shadow realm, reaching out to search her immediate area for obstacles. The chicken was still moving, charging the others.

  [Radial Search Level 7]

  Opening her eyes and looking strictly at the ground, Vel leapt for it, her dagger poised and her other hand attempting . . . a water something. She didn’t exactly know the cost of water spells. Yet, she imagined pouring free from her hand. It did so. Pitifully. Vel’s mouth and lips slowly grew dry.

  [Water Beam level 2]

  Vel saw the glow of the chicken and heard the water steam off it before she saw the metal talon on the stone in her vision. She gasped, jumping away, and the chicken squawked. It apparently didn’t like the water.

  “Sigurd!” Amalia screamed, and Vel spared a glance to look over. He was almost entirely consumed by stone. He . . . he wasn’t breathing.

  She heard flapping and without thinking, looked directly at the chicken. It flew at her, its metal claws outstretched. Vel stumbled back, throwing up her arm. She yelped as the chicken’s claws sunk into the flesh of her arm, and cried out as her blood boiled and sizzled, fire touching her.

  [Iridescent Hide level 19]

  Taking several steps back, she kept her footing. If she was going to look at this thing again, she was going to ensure it didn’t live! Meeting its voidless eyes, Vel thrust her dagger into the chicken’s belly.

  [Dagger Stab level 29]

  Darkness crept in at the edge of her vision, and Vel stabbed at it again, hearing it squawk. Again!

  [Dagger Stab level 30]

  And the darkness from her vision receded. Again! Its eyes brightened, viscous darkness falling from its eyes like a jelly.

  Vel thrust her dagger into the creature for a final time, stabbing deep into its gut and twisting.

  [Dagger Stab level 31]

  It screeched its last squawk, and fell limp, Vel hissing as it took her arm with it. She collapsed to the ground, the chicken no longer burning, and neither was her blood.

  Her body shook, and looking at the scorched wounds was an obvious reason as to why. But more importantly . . .

  Vel turned her gaze to Sigurd, heaving a sigh of relief as stone dust fell from his form, as if the stone was falling away. He gasped in, collapsing into Amalia and Aden, the both of them falling to their knees in an attempt to hold the hunter up.

  There was a look on Sigurd’s face, one that Vel had never seen before on him━horror. While he was slow to come back to the present, Velmira turned her attention to her arm, having forgotten the pain in her moment of respite. Looking at the gruesome wound again, she grimaced. Claws stuck in her arm, massive enough that she half expected to see them poking out the other end, and yet, somehow, they didn’t. They did, however, make her skin bulge.

  Reaching over with her other hand, she whimpered at the slightest movement.

  [Iridescent Hide level 20]

  [Tough Hide level 67]

  Grunting and closing her eyes, she waited for even that small amount of pain to pass, yet it was sharp enough to distract from the dull ache in her back or hands. When she heard a light pair of footsteps, Velmira opened her eyes, looking up at Aden, her head only tilting so far with the stiffness she felt in the skin on her shoulders.

  “You’re lam . . .” he started, his face growing a bit red, and Vel could see an insult in his eyes. He had, momentarily, reverted to the name calling she was used to hearing him say when they first met, but seeing him withhold it would have brought a small smile to Vel’s face if it weren’t for the damn chicken claw in her arm.

  Aden knelt down beside her, looking at the wound. Past him, Amalia still held Sigurd, and he her, his shoulders trembling. What had he seen? Vel worried, then felt a sharpness in her arm, screeching.

  [Iridescent Hide level 21]

  She shot her gaze to what Aden was doing, grimacing as he finished pulling the first claw free from her arm. Blood spilled, drizzling until Aden’s soothing magic stopp it.

  Vel took in a deep breath, her own body shaking now. And another, sweat dripping from her brow. Really, how much water did she have left in her to sweat? Especially after her pitiful attempt at [water beam]?

  The first set of claw wounds sealed shut, Aden wasting no time and moving to pulling out the next claw. Vel groaned, clenching her teeth and closing her eyes until the pain was completely gone. As an added bonus, he healed her burnt hands too.

  “Turn until ya’re back is to me,” Aden said, and Vel did, turning slowly.

  “How bad is it?” Vel asked.

  The ache in her back crept away, bit by bit, from one shoulder to the next, then down towards her right side, which seemed to have taken the most damage.

  “Looks perfect,” Aden said.

  Velmira smiled, and turned to him. Looking over him, it was clear to see that he was fatigued. “Thank you, Aden,” she said. She glanced at the others, Amalia and Sigurd still holding to each other, then looked back at Sandy. “You . . . lost a sister before?” she asked.

  “I . . .” Aden looked away, and if Vel didn’t know better, she would have said that he could have toppled over in that moment. “I never had no sister, Vel. Not a real one, like, from the same parents. Never had no parents neither,” he added, looking back at her, some of his nervousness masked by false confidence.

  “But you did have a family?” Vel asked.

  The false confidence all but shattered, Aden looking down at his hands. “They’re gone,” he said. “Bunch of orphans like me, ya know. Most of us don’t make it on the isles.”

  Velmira nodded. “I suppose that’s something we have in common. I didn’t grow up with a family either.”

  “Yeah,” Aden nodded, then sniffled. He rubbed his nose with his arm, and stood up, wobbling on his feet. “But now you do, and ya gotta save him.”

  Standing, Vel reached out, pulling Aden into a hug. “You’re part of my family too now, you know,” she said before relinquishing him.

  Looking at Sigurd and Amalia stand, she straightened up. Sigurd’s eyes were read, as if he’d held back his tears. He nodded to Vel, letting go of Amalia, then pointed towards his right. Following his finger, Vel found a set of stairs through a broken part in the wall. Finally.

  “Can you walk?” she asked Aden.

  “Yeah.”

  Velmira took his hand anyway, and pulled him along as she met back up with Sigurd before heading towards the stairs. Before they started the climb up, Sigurd placed a hand on Vel’s shoulder. “Velmira,” he said, “whatever happens, just know that we’re here for you.”

  Looking up in his eyes, she furrowed her brow, then took a deep breath. “Thank you, all. I don’t know what I would have done without you,” she said, then took that first step.

  It was a long staircase, leading up into a small alcove then opened up into a giant square room, partially lit by the dimming sun in the windows around the room. In the center of the room was an altar. Something . . . someone was lying upon it.

  Vel’s muscles tightened, and she felt Sigurd’s hand upon her shoulder again. Stepping forward, she felt the tears well up in her eyes.

  “Oh . . .” she sobbed out, covering her mouth, “Edard.”