Remember

If I ever get out of here, Dante and I are going to have a serious talk. Kai whispered to herself when she looked around her and noticed the tint of the energy shield, ever present around her camp.

It had taken her a while to train her eyes to see it. The first few days, she’d singed her arms and hand when walking around, forgetting it was there. Each time it happened, she sent a curse to Dante, knowing it wouldn’t reach them. She’d never had strong proficiency in magic. But she was a damn good ranger.

She glanced up at the sky, she could barely make out what the weather was outside the shield. It was more opaque in the sky than closer to the ground. It clouded her vision. It was about time.

In the distance, she heard the familiar rustle. She drew her short bow, making sure the string was taut and ready to go. She took a few passes to make sure the bow and her arms were limber. She pulled at the hilts of her daggers to make sure they wouldn’t get stuck if she ended up needing them. And she began to run the circuit of the energy shield.

As she ran, she remembered.

It was night, it felt like it was always night. She rolled over in bed as she listened to the house creak around her. She’d returned home from another successful tracking earlier that evening. Her guild was proud, she’d done well on her own. But Dante had just shaken his head.

Surely he couldn’t know, could he? No one knew what happened on the mission. She’d been sent to figure out, and remove, what was causing the outermost village problems. And she’d done just that, well. They thought she’d done just that.

Kai shook her head and listened to her surroundings. She had to pay attention, not get lost in old memories. Memories that didn’t matter anymore. It had been years since that mission. In the time since then, she’d become one of the most requested rangers in the adventures’ guild. Why did this place want her to re-live it?

Snap. There, to her left. She kept running, but made sure to note where the sound was coming from. Each day, it felt like something was tracking her. She couldn’t explain it, but something wasn’t right in this area. After the first couple of days, she had attempted to chart just how large the area was, but it never seemed to end. Once she reached one side of the shield and went to walk the other direction, she got lost. And Kai never got lost.

Her mind would get fuzzy, she’d look around, and then, inevitably, she’d run into the side of the shield and have to pull her arm back before the sting did any real damage.

“Kai, come out to play,” someone whispered. “You left me behind, Kai.”

She shuddered. This had started yesterday. She never found the source of the voice. But it followed her. And it was familiar. But she’d never left anyone behind.

She continued to jog, there should be a stream coming up soon if she kept straight. She needed to fill up her water skin. She kept her focus on listening to her surroundings, there, a little farther in front of her, was the light trickle of the stream.

The outskirts were quieter than she’d expected. Not that Taiki was a busy town in the slightest, but it bustled. The people filled the streets. This outskirts town, so far that she hadn’t even been told the name, made her pull up her collar and show the hilts of her daggers. She sauntered into town, settling into a walk that she hoped made her look like someone that shouldn’t be messed with.

Kai stopped running and shook her head again. She wouldn’t go back there.

She stooped over next to the stream and filled her water skin. She’d used the little magic she could use yesterday to learn more about the land around her. It wasn’t her usual range, but it had at least shown her that the water was safe to drink. Dante had always chuckled at her attempts with the arcane. But she’d always done well enough without it.

Snap. There it was again.

“You know, you’re always welcome to just walk up and say hey. You don’t have to chase me around this area,” She called out, not turning around. She knew it wouldn’t show itself.

She started down into the water as it settled from her disrupting it. The ripples slowly cleared. Her reflection smiled back at her. Eyes red, and winked.

Kai stumbled backwards. Pulling out her daggers, letting her bow clatter to the ground. She shook as something rose out of the water.

“Well that’s new,” she muttered to herself.

The thing shuddered as it formed a vaguely humanoid body. Water held its shape as it took a step towards her. Kai stepped back, hoping that she wouldn’t trip on any stray twigs. That’d be such a terrible way to go. But then maybe Dante would at least feel bad about it.

It reached a hand out to her and smiled again. It was shaping itself to match her. She could see something solidifying inside of it. Its red eyes flashed again. A challenge as much as a warning.

Kai remembered herself. She wasn’t helpless. Without breaking sight of the creature. Sheathing one of her daggers, she crouched down to find where her short bow landed. The creature didn’t move, but cocked its head and stared. It was the same feeling of being watched from earlier in the day. Something about those eyes threatened to catch her if she looked too long. There! Her fingers wrapped around her bow. Standing, she sheathed her second dagger, and drew an arrow. Taking a deep breath, she took aim at the water being. As her breath released, she fired. Before the arrow hit, Kai ran.

She streaked through the tall grass, glad that most of the area was made of dry flatlands. It didn’t offer any real cover, but it did mean that she didn’t have to worry about tripping on tree branches like she did closer to home.

“You’ll never really be a true Ranger, Kai,” the voice whispered in the wind.

But… wait… that voice. Kai thought to herself.

A few moments later, she found herself at what was serving as the town hall. A small, inauspicious structure. She entered and looked around the room. Like other outskirts towns, this center doubled as the tavern. Thankfully, it was mostly empty. She looked around for the person who matched the description the guild had given her. Sitting at the end of the bar, Tiem.

“I heard you called for a Ranger,” Kai said, walking up to them.

The half-elf looked down at her, frowning slightly. But they quickly recovered and smiled down at Kai. “Ah, the guild did answer our calls. I was worried I’d have to send another messenger to remind Dante of his responsibility to the outskirts.”

Kai just smiled slightly. She’d always let Dante or someone else handle the conversations.

“Well, might as well just get into it. I need you to go, find, and remove a creature that’s been terrorizing the craftsmen. For weeks, we’ve been accosted by missing supplies, broken looms, and broken doors. No people have been harmed, but we’re sure that’s soon to happen. I leave you to your work. Head out to the east,” Tiem said. They stood without another word and left without giving Kai the chance to ask a question.

“No,” Kai yelled into the valley.

She yanked herself out of the memory again, sweating with the effort. She walked up to this cursed, ever-burning, energy shield and slammed her fists against it. She yelped as she collected more burns. And sat down hard in frustration.

“Kai, you’re a failure,” The voice whispered. This time, she did nothing to fight the words. She fell into herself. Into her memory.

She began to relive the moment of her darkest lie and her greatest secret. Time had skipped ahead.

Kai faced the creature. She was a small thing. Barely old enough to be on her own. Kai looked down at what she guessed was a young half demon. And she sighed.

“I suppose that you are here to ‘remove’ me,” the girl said, looking up into Kai’s eyes.

Kai shuddered, there was something behind the half demon’s eyes. A yellow glow reflected in them.

“I’m really not into killing,” Kai muttered. She shook herself. That was something she’d never told anyone. It was a ranger’s duty to do what it took to protect the people.

“You’ll let me go?” The girl looked up at her, the glow faded.

Kai realized that her hands were shaking. “Why are you stealing from this town?”

“I want to,” the girl responded.

Kai stood straighter. She remembered her training. “You must stop. Or I will have to treat you as a threat.”

“As you just said, you’re not into killing. So that seems to put us at an impasse. You are a strange one, Kai. I did not expect you,” the girl said, sitting.

But this was a lie. And Kai knew it. And she knew that Dante knew.

There was never a girl. Kai had been raised by a bard. She knew how to spin a tale. The story of the half demon that Kai scared away was just that, a story. A man had been shunted by his lover. The craftsmen whose stores had been stolen from and vandalized had made fun of him for being left behind. He wanted to pay them back for it. So for weeks, he stole small things, broke their looms, and wedged open their doors so that thieves would have an easier way to break in. Kai found the man.

It was Tiem.

Tiem begged for her to not turn him in. He swore that he would end his campaign against the town if she would only spare his reputation. He grabbed her hands and something in him convinced her to allow it. She crafted a story about a young half demon girl, a people that the outskirts already mistrusted off of rumors and stereotypes. And she fed into it. She told them that she tracked the girl down and forced her to leave the area. That she couldn’t recover the trinkets that the girl had taken, because they’d already been sold. Fed into their mistrust of a race that they rarely encountered.

As she did, she felt her soul darken. Tiem never spoke another word to her. She returned to the guild, story mastered.

But she always felt like Dante knew something else. She knew she’d done something that she could never forgive herself for. Should never forgive herself for. She’d promised to seek justice. Instead, a guilty man walked free and a village thought even less of the half demons. And yet, she’d lived the lie.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, a tear falling.

She felt a hand on her shoulder. She sighed.

She looked straight ahead, not ready to face what stood behind her. The slight crackle she’d been hearing for days was gone. The energy shield had dissipated.

“You should not have done this, Kai.” Dante stated, no emotion leaking into his voice.

“No,” Kai responded.

“There is no resolution yet. You have done a thing that has stained your soul and the trust I have in you as a Ranger,” Dante said.

“Why wait. It has been years, Dante,” Kai asked quietly.

“I was hoping that you would right the wrong. While you have done many good things and saved many people. You have avoided the people you have harmed,” Dante explained. “What Tiem has done is in the past. Your mercy there was your call to make. But your crafting a story to save your reputation was unacceptable.”

Kai shifted so that Dante’s hand fell away from her shoulder. She knew. But. She fell back into the memory, and felt Dante follow the course of her thoughts.

As Tiem took her hand, her mind felt strange. His eyes flashed with a yellow glow, his words dripped, and her eyelids fluttered shut. She’d forgotten to ward herself against persuasion magic.

“I’d truly hoped the guild would never send anyone,” Tiem muttered to himself. “Now what to do?”

Kai just stood. Eyes opened back up, but they were glazed over. She tried to push through whatever was happening, but the weight was too heavy.

“That would work. The half demons have never done anything to help me. Girl, you’ll craft a story. Tell them you found a half demon child who wanted to sow destruction. That you scared her off to go and return home to her filthy people,” Tiem walked over to her again. He wiped his hands on his shirt, and grabbed her hand. “You’ll never tell people it was me. You won’t even remember what I look like, nor will you remember that I constructed this idea.”

Tiem’s face blurred. Kai felt like she was beginning to wake up. Remembering that she’d just gotten back to tell the people of the half demon girl who was terrorizing them for fun. She needed to return to Dante to report on her successful tracking.

Kai flushed with rage. She felt Dante stiffen behind her. But there was something else.

She’d carried the memory of her lie for years. Carried the shame of doing something she never thought she would fall into. She’d never cause harm in the way that she thought she had by lying about the half demon girl.

And she was right.

She whirled around to face Dante, standing as she did so, “You sent me to a charmcaster. You didn’t warn me.”

“I… I didn’t know,” and she saw the shame line Dante’s face. Perhaps he was telling the truth.

Kai walked away from her mentor. She may not remember his face, but Tiem would answer for stealing her mind and memories from her. She set off towards the outskirts. That was where she would start.