Lenore
Lydia was definitely older, judging by the lines on her face, and the gray in her hair, but it was undeniably her. She looked as dumbfounded to see me as I was to see her.
I stumbled, and she rushed forward to catch me, and I was forced to lie still while she used a healing spell on me.
“That was you in there?” She looked back and forth between me and the seal.There was something comfortingly familiar about the way the healing burned uncomfortably, and how it seemed to take forever while I breathed through the discomfort. Lydia closed the wound, but I could feel the newly grown skin stretch uncomfortably when I moved.
“What do you mean, you didn’t know? Where are we, then? How long has it been? Do you know who stabbed me?”
Lydia waved her hand to stop my stream of questions.
“We’re still in the temple. Your mother never told us where she put you, so when we found you like that we assumed you must have been an enemy of hers. You know, considering the sword and all. We figured she would have used a gentler method to seal you. Sorry about that.” she explained sheepishly.
She continued, “It’s been fourty years, almost exactly. A lot has happened since then...” she trailed off. I caught a flash of movement in the doorway, and saw a monster standing there. I felt my mouth flop open at the surreality of seeing a monster indoors, like it lived there. It was a ghoul, and was wearing clothes as well, a plain woolen robe, for some reason.
The sword was too far for me to reach easily, so I yelled, “Monster!” I grabbed Lydia’s arm urgently, and she turned her head slowly, not sharing in my alarm.
“Sst! Hey you! Get away!” Lydia hissed, and the ghoul stared directly at me for a moment longer with its big, baleful eyes, before it ran off.
“Why didn’t you kill it?”
“She’s the one who brought me over here in the first place. Like I said, a lot has happened since you’ve been gone. Let’s get you some clothes, and I’ll try and explain on the way.” Lydia helped me up, and gave me her stole so I could cover up my most vulnerable bits.
“Is she your pet, or something?” The ghoul had been wearing a collar. I craned my neck, trying to see where the ghoul had gone.
“We can tame lesser monsters now. They’re not that smart, but they’re great for simple tasks, and hard labor. It’s quite convenient.”
“Seems dangerous.” I said skeptically.
As we left the cursed room, I saw the ghoul again, standing at the end of the narrow dungeon hallway. She saw me looking and scampered around the corner, and out of sight.
“No, watch this: Come back.” Lydia ordered the beast. Her voice became sharp and demanding in a way I hadn’t heard before.
The ghoul reappeared from around the corner, walking slowly with her head hung like a chastised child.
I had only seen a ghoul up close when I was fighting them. This ghoul seemed different, and not just because she was wearing clothing. She was much smaller, at least compared to the ghouls I’d fought. She was around my height, and almost as thin, which was saying something, considering how I’d been sealed away. Most oddly, her fur looked like it had been brushed. I guess because she was “tame.” I didn’t think such a thing was possible.
The ghoul looked down at the floor. Her face was incredibly feline, and it was difficult to tell her expression. Lydia grabbed her by her collar, rough with carelessness, and dragged her entire head and neck towards me. The ghoul tolerated this treatment with a resigned air.
“Look,” she said. Up close I could properly see the metal collar clamped around her neck. It was so tall it kept her from turning her head comfortably.
“Oh. It’s magic.” I squinted harder and the runes engraved on its surface swam into view in my mind’s eye, rather like accessing my tome. But of course, I had forgotten all my magic, so I couldn’t read them anymore.
“It keeps her under control. If she even thinks about disobeys, it’ll hurt her. If she tries to hurt or kill, that pain will rebound on her twice as hard.”
“That’s horrible.”
“You said it yourself. They’re monsters. They’d slaughter us all if they could.” Lydia practically rolled her eyes at me, like she’d done when we were teenagers, many years ago. “Once we learned how to engrave magic into metal, it made the abandonment of the gods much easier to handle.” She released the ghoul and pushed her away roughly, and the ghoul seemed visibly relieved as she ran back to whatever she had been doing before.
“The gods abandonment?” I repeat, and Lydia cringed visibly. “Where did they go?”
“I don’t know. They’re just gone. Your mother vanished with the rest of them, I suppose. Your people, the Divinites? They’re gone too. Extinct, not absent.” she blurted out. “I’m sorry, we’re not really supposed to talk about it. I was bringing you to Matron. I was hoping she’d explain. better than I could.” Lydia explained, talking too fast.
“No, it’s all right.” I said, but I was even more confused now. It wasn’t as though my mother had given me much information about what would happen to me now. Lydia stared ahead, her face settling into a frown that was now her natural expression.
“I can’t believe Matron is still alive. She must be, like, a hundred years old by now.” I said, trying to lighten the mood.
Lydia’s brows knitted together and she looked at me with distress for a moment. I smiled hesitantly, showing that I’d only been joking and she broke into a nervous laugh that didn’t erase the strain in her eyes.
We ascended into a more familiar part of the temple. All my life, the temple it had been bursting with light and activity, and that was how I thought of it. Now everything looked empty and tired. The tile mosaics on the walls were chipped and dirty with what appeared to be smoke damage, and someone had torn down the banners that had hung from the high ceilings, adding to the sense of emptiness that permeated the room.
And we only saw one other person, the whole time, a young priestess that I didn’t know, who stared at me openly as we walked past. I remembered that I was dressed in nothing but Lydia’s stole, which barely covered anything.
“Where is everyone?” I asked, already dreading the answer.
“The lucky ones died. The unlucky ones became monsters.” Lydia told me flatly.
“They became monsters?”
“It happened after you were sealed-- and, well, Matron will explain.” Lydia said sharply, cutting herself off. “Ask her your questions.”
“Wait, then who was the one we saw earlier? Was it someone we knew?” I asked. I felt like I couldn’t breathe.
“I don’t know, and it doesn’t matter.” she told me bitterly. “I know what you’re thinking, and you can’t reason with them.”
“But--”
“Just keep your questions for Matron, please.” Lydia interrupted me so snappishly that it made me shut up immediately. She’d never spoken to me like that before. I kept my head down until we reached Matron’s door.
Funnily enough, she was living in the same small room as she had when I’d been sealed away. I had been brought before her often enough when I had gotten in trouble as a girl, and I felt oddly anxious now, even though I had done nothing wrong, except become unsealed too early.
It wasn’t that surprising to me that Matron was still alive. She was a high priestess, and an excellent healer as well. Also, she was probably just too spiteful to die.
Maybe my memories of Matron had faded during the long years of my sealing, but the silver-haired woman who came to the door looked like she hadn’t aged a day. Of course, she had already been old when I’d known her, but even in her nightgown, she cut an imposing figure. Despite her advanced age she still stood up straight and tall, and her eyes were familiarly ice-blue and clear. She pressed her lips together disapprovingly as soon as she saw me.
“You’re supposed to be sealed.” she said, not even bothering to use my more formal Divinite name.
“I was, but then someone stuck a sword through me.” I answered back, immediately annoyed that she would still treat me so dismissively even after so many years.
“Perhaps this was your mother’s intention, then. You may leave.” Matron told Lydia, before indicating that I should sit. I marveled at the fact that she was still using the moldy old chairs she’d used when I was a child. “I suppose you have questions.”
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