Chapter Three

Chapter Three
The Dream Life of Adia Silverblade

I

The laughter of the little boy echoed in the air. He skipped across the lush green grass chasing a dark winged butterfly. His dark hair seemed to float in the air as he played. His green eyes sparkled brightly with each laugh.

A young woman stood at the door to a small cottage watching as the boy ran through the fields. She had her arms wrapped tightly around her. The wind carried a slight chill that her linen gown failed to keep out.

She shivered slightly and called for her son. He looked at her and waved. She could not keep the smile from her face when she looked at him. So pure. So innocent. She felt a warmth in her heart that defeated the wind’s cool chill.

The boy darted through the tall grass and disappeared for a moment. The woman felt her heart beat faster. It calmed when the boy appeared again. She did not understand the apprehension she felt whenever her son disappeared from site. No matter the duration, she always worried.

“You are too protective.” A deep voice spoke from behind her. She felt strong arms wrap around her and pull her against a hard torso. She turned her head and looked into the soft blue eyes of her husband. She sighed and leaned her head back on his shoulder.

“I do not know why I am so anxious when he leaves my sight. It is perfectly safe here.”

She felt her husband’s lips brush against her neck.

“My dear Adia, you are simply a mother. A mother worries.” He smiled at her, his face free of lines and barely looking his age of twenty-nine.

“I worry too much. You said it yourself.”

“I said you are too protective. Let the boy wander and explore. It is in his nature.”

“I fear he has too much of your nature, Damian. I’ll not wake up one morning to find him vanished on some adventure or another.”

“Those days are over now. My place is here with you, wife, and with Tiko. I’ll not leave you alone again.”
Adia turned to face him. She looked up into his eyes.

“Do you swear it?” She asked, “Do you swear it to be so?”

Damian kissed her softly on the lips. He brushed her hair away from her face.

“Upon my life and my honor I swear it to be.”

They embraced. Adia held him tightly for fear if she let go she would lose him forever. She felt his arms tighten around her, almost as if he had the same fears. She smiled and was content in the safety of his arms. Even for that short while, she was content.

II

Adia stirred the thick stew that simmered on the fire. She had her hair pulled back into a pony-tail and was dressed in a soft blue wool dress with a grey apron tied tightly around her waist. She hummed quietly while she cooked so as to not awaken Tiko who was napping on the floor in his room off the kitchen.

Aside from her sleeping son, Adia was alone in the house. Damian had taken the horse and wagon into the nearby town to get some feed and supplies. She felt a pang of fear when she saw him take his sword. Bandits had been striking wagons near to town and she believed it only a matter of time before they struck Damian. Despite his past before they met and his reputation, she still worried about him when he was away.

She smiled at the memory of the start of their courtship. He had taken one look into her eyes and vowed to lay down arms if she only gives him her heart. Of course she did, and true to his word, he did the same. It may have taken a while for him to do so, but upon the knowledge of the coming of a son, Damian had kept his word.

They had settled down together on this land that her father had purchased for them and it was here she gave birth to her son. It had been a peaceful, happiness filled eight years since.

Adia started at a knock on the door. She was so jumpy lately. She often found herself leaping at her own reflection. Adia rested the ladle against the side of the pot and walked to the door. She lifted the board securing the door and opened it.

An older woman with a smooth olive complexion stood before Adia. She had soft caramel hair that rested on her shoulders. Her face lit up when Adia opened the door.

“Mother!” Adia rushed forward and hugged her mother tightly.

“My darling girl.” She said and held Adia in her arms.

“This is most unexpected. Please come inside.” Adia stepped aside and let her mother enter. She closed the door and placed the board back in its place, “It is nearly half a day’s ride to get here Mother, is everything all right?”

Her mother sat on the edge of a bench at the dining table, “Everything is just fine, I…I just felt as if I needed to come see you and Tiko.”

Adia sat next to her mother and took her hand. It was soft, the skin felt wispy as if it would scatter to the winds if held to roughly.

“We are pleased to have you here. Damian shall return soon and we will eat. I insist you stay till the morn. It will be dangerous to travel at night.”

“Oh child.” Her mother seemed on the verge of saying more but Tiko had emerged from his room. He ran into his grandmothers arms with a giggle.

Adia smiled and returned to her stew. She began stirring again. Her eyes drifted to the amber flames burning beneath the pot.

“Wish for good dreams my Aya.”

The flames darkened and Adia could see dark black shapes among them. She could hear the thundering of horses in the distance.

“Wish for good dreams…”

“Adia?”

The flames turned a deep amber and Adia could swear she saw a pair of eyes staring out at her.

“Adia!”

She felt hands grab her and yank her away from the fire. The soup ladle clattered against the stone floor.

Adia spun around and looked at her mother. For a moment she appeared to be severely charred and burned. Adia could see the white of her skull peaking through the blackened flesh. She opened her mouth to scream but her mother slapped her hard across the cheek. Instantly, her vision blurred and she blinked away tears. She looked up at her mother again. She looked as she had before with no sign of burns.

“I’m sorry I had to hit you, you…you looked as if you might be going mad. You almost fell into the fire.”

Adia sat down in a chair. She was covered in sweat and her heart was pounding.
“I do not…I…” Adia struggled to put words to what she had seen. She looked up at her mother and the vision of her burnt face flashed across her vision again. She covered her face in her hands and fought the tears that were threatening to break forth. It wasn’t until she heard Tiko begin to cry that she was able to pull herself together. She quickly got to her feet and went to him.

“I’m sorry I scared you.” She took him into her arms. He sniffed and nodded softly.

“I wasn’t ascared for you. I saw daddy.”

Adia looked towards the door.

“I saw him here.” Tiko touched his head.

“I don’t understand.” Adia said, glancing at her mother.

“There were mean men with swords and fire. Daddy was fighting them.”

Adia stood and turned to her mother.

“Where is Father?” She asked.

Her mother reddened and looked away.

“Has he gone after the bandits?”

Her mother did not answer.

“Is Damian with him?”

“You father begged him, Adia. You must understand there was no other way.”

“Did I do bad Mommy?”

Adia turned away from her mother and picked scooped Tiko from the floor.

“You did nothing wrong, Love. Nothing at all.” She shot an angry look at her mother and carried Tiko into his room. She set him on the floor, “Tiko, I need to go out for a little while. I’ll be back soon. Grandma will be with you. Dinner will be ready soon.” She kissed him on his forehead, “I love you.”

“Be careful,” he said softly, “I don’t wanna see you here too.” He touched his head again and looked down at his toys.

Adia smiled at him and left the room. She walked over to the door and grabbed her cloak from the hook by the door. It was long and black. She looked at it for a moment unsure of where it came from. It seemed familiar to her but she did not recall ever having it before.

“Adia, you mustn’t.”

“I must!” She shouted, “I must and do not think for a moment you will stop me.” Adia flung the cloak over her shoulders.

It’s all coming apart…

“What did you say?” Adia asked.

“I spoke not. But please, I beg you. Stay with Tiko, stay with me. Damian and your Father will be home any moment.”

“They may already be…it may already be too late. If it is, if he is dead, if he is lost to me…” She said no more and snatched open the door. She felt something heavy on her hip and found a large sword sheathed there. A deep azure stone gleamed from its hilt. Adia turned back and looked at her house. Her mother sat looking at the fireplace. Adia could see the firelight flickering on the tear tracks running down her cheeks. Adia rested her hand on the hilt of the sword. She was not sure where it came from but she was suddenly very glad to have it.

She rushed to the stable and saddled her horse. She mounted and rode off toward the village. She rode as if hell itself was on her tail and gaining ground. In a way it was. Even as she rode she saw the orange glow in the darkening sky. She saw the black smoke swirling into the sky. She noticed the thick smell of burning wood with a hint of something sour just beneath it. Adia did not wish to think of what that was.

She leaned forward and screamed at her horse to go faster. She kicked her heals against the beast again and again. She had never ridden this fast before. The horse’s hooves blasted into the ground like rapid fire thunder. Her cloak slipped off her head and her brown hair sprang free. It fluttered in the wind in waves as the cold wind rushed through it. Her vision blurred for a moment and she realized she was crying now.

You must be strong. You must be ready.

That voice again. It was so familiar to her.

Look out!

Adia glanced ahead and saw a large man riding towards her. He was swinging a large axe. She had no further hesitation. She ripped her sword from its sheath and with strength she did not know she had, threw it at the approaching bandit.
The blade pierced his chest and he swayed in his saddle. As she rode past him, Adia reached out and ripped her sword free. The man tumbled to the ground and was dead before he hit the dirt.

Adia rode on.

III

It wasn’t long before she saw the flames. The village was ablaze. She saw small huddles of people together sobbing and screaming as their homes burned away. Bodies were everywhere. The street flowed crimson with spilt blood.

“Gods…” she whispered.

“NO! Please I beg you!”

Adia turned and saw a bandit scooping a young girl into his arms. The girl’s mother pounded his chest; her tiny fists did nothing to stop him. The man guffawed and backhanded her, sending her sprawling to the ground, her nose a rose of blood.

Adia kicked her horse and galloped towards them. She held her sword tightly.

“Hey!” She screamed.

The bandit looked at her and saw the sword arching towards him. The little girl fell from his arms as he struggled for his weapon. The sword cleaved through his neck easily and his head flew from his body in an arch. A stream of blood trailed it’s decent.

Adia did not wait for gratitude. She saw the woman rush to her daughter. That was enough.

She rode on.

She was almost to the town square. She jerked the reins of the horse and barely avoided trampling a man rushing across the street way. He was engulfed in flames and screaming for the gods to save him.

Just ahead she saw a large group fighting violently. Bandits and villagers were raging against each other. At its center was Damian.

He seemed to be fighting everyone. His speed was inhuman. His blades were sparking off sword after sword. Each swing coating it in blood. He glanced up and saw her causing a moment’s hesitation.

One moment was enough. One of the bandits slammed the hilt of his sword against Damian’s head. Damian stumbled forward.

“DAMIAN!” Adia screamed. She kicked the horse again and rode into the mass of bandits. Her horse trampled three of them and reared onto its back legs. It kicked its hooves smashing in the faces of two others. One of the bandits rushed forward with a large steal spear. Adia barely had time to avoid the spear that burst through the beast’s neck. It tangled into her hair. Adia swiped her blade and severed the tangled hair. She leapt from the horse as it fell to the ground.

The men were on her immediately. She did her best to fight them off. Slicing and kicking away at them. She felt power in her that she had never before experienced. Her muscles were tight with rage and strength as she plowed her way through the bandits. Someone grabbed her by the hair and yanked her backwards. She swung her sword back over her head and split the man’s crown in two. They fell back together. Adia used the momentum to roll backwards over the man’s body. She sprang back to her feet, sword in hand.

Damian lay a few feet away from her. She rushed forward and rolled him onto his back.

“Wake up damn you.” She whispered.

Several villagers fell dead to the bandits blades.

Adia slapped Damian across the face and his eyes sprang open. He looked up at her.

“I’m sorry…” He said.

“Apologize later.” Adia helped him to his feet. He grabbed his sword from the ground and rushed back into the fight.

Adia looked down at her hands. They were covered in thick dark blood. The battle around her seemed to freeze. She looked from her hands, through the warring bandits, past the villagers to the dagger wedged in Damian’s side. It was in to the hilt just beneath his armpit. Adia moved forward. She felt like she was mired in quicksand, barely able to move. She swung her sword and clanged away blow after blow. Her eyes remained fixed on the blade that was lodged inside her husband.

She shoved her sword inside another bandit. Pushing it in to the handle so that the blade burst through the other side. The man fell to his knees. Adia placed her foot against his face and shoved him off her sword. It was then she saw Damian stagger. The wound in his side finally weakening him. Adia rushed forward but found herself caught up in a group of bandits. One of them wore a heavy red cape.

“Your husband is a brave fighter.” He said. His breath was hot and rank, “In death his honor will remain. This is our town now bitch. Take your dead lover and go. Perhaps you will make it before my men do.”
The bandit leader’s eyes widened as a sword blade burst through his chest. Adia saw a hand snake around the leaders head and yank him back.

“Not…dead…yet…” Damian said and shoved his blade further in. The bandit leader’s eyes dimmed.

The other bandits scattered upon seeing their leader slain.

Damian fell to the ground with the dead leader on top of him. Adia pulled the heavy body away and grabbed for Damian.

“Too late. You…” Damian coughed, “You need to go. Get Tiko. Your father went to you… They’re…they’re going to burn…”

“No, you bastard, get up. You promised me the fighting was over. We’ll get to Tiko together.”

Damian smiled. His teeth were red, his eyes darkening.

“I love you.” He said, “I love you forever.” He said.

“Damian. Get up. Get up we have to go we have to go. You son of a bitch you can’t leave me!”

Adia shook him; tears were flooding down her face. Damian’s eyes widened.

“Valantine…” He whispered. Damian coughed and a fine mist of blood covered Adia’s face.

Then he was gone.

Adia stood up stone faced. She stood in the town square as the village burned around her. She gripped her sword in her hand as she stood among the ruins and smoke. Her husband lay dead at her feet, his blood on her face.

GO!

Adia saw a horse running among the flames. She ran over to it and climbed into the saddle. She cast one last look at Damian.

“I love you.” She said softly.

And she rode on.

IV

The ride home seemed to last an eternity. She pushed that horse to its last limits. At one point she nearly rode up on a large group of bandits gathering together to attack the village again. She had to go into the forest and ride towards her home from the back to avoid them. She kept looking up at the sky. It was still glowing orange despite night fall.

“Please…please no.”

Her life had been perfect only hours ago now everything was coming apart. Her husband dead. Her father missing. Now she was racing the fates to get home before the bandits took their revenge. If they got there first...

No. She couldn’t think of that. She wouldn’t. Her heart could not sustain that loss.

Finally she broke through the trees and was in the field behind her house. She saw no one around and the house was quiet. She rode across the field. She saw something attached to the front door. From where she was she could not tell what it was.

It wasn’t until she was closer that she noticed realized.

It was her Father. He was impaled on the door.

It was then the flames erupted over the roof of the house. She heard maniacal laughing and saw the group of bandits riding away.

“NO!” Adia unleashed such a roar of agony that she felt her throat rip with the force. By the time she made it to the house it was fully engulfed.

She tried to open the door but it was jammed shut with a large iron bar. She heard her mother screaming and scratching the door. The window shutters were closed and bared as well. Adia swung her sword and tried to chop through but the heat grew too much. Her face was baking and blisters broke out on her skin.

“TIKO!” She rushed forward again despite the flames, despite the pain. She slammed her fist into the shutter and broke through. She howled in agony as her hand shattered. The fire was eating away at her arm. It was then she felt Tiko’s small hand grab hers. He squeezed her fingers.

She could not hear his cries through the roar of the fire. She could not see his face through the shutter and she dared not pull her arm out. She wanted to hold his hand and let the flames devour her as they were devouring him.

“Let him go.”

That voice. It was right behind her now.

“Don’t let go of me Tiko. Mommy is here. Mommy is here for you!”
Adia felt something grab her and yank her away from the window. Her burning arm flew free of the shutter and she fell back away from the house.

She tried to run back. She had to get to Tiko but felt a blow to her stomach and a kick to her face.

“Enough!” The voice screamed again and shoved Adia back.

She looked up at the person attacking her and felt her mind stretch to its limits. She had gone mad. She was mad from the grief. Insane from the tragedies she was experience. Surely, she was not seeing this.

“You’re burning.” The figure said.

Adia looked at her arm and the pain came flooding back. Her vision blurred as she saw the fire chewing away at her flesh. She suddenly had no strength.

“Idiot.” The voice said again. The figure ripped the cloak from Adia’s shoulders and smothered the flames on her arm. Adia looked up into the soft brown eyes.

“I’ve gone mad.” She whispered.

The woman smirked and stood up.

“Not exactly.”

She was dressed in leather armor. A brown leather corset tied tightly around her chest. She had brown boots and a dark cloak around her shoulders. Her brown hair hung around her shoulders. At her side hung a silver blade with a blue gem in its hilt.

Adia made an attempt to rush to the house again. The woman grabbed her and shook her.

“Look at me!” She screamed.

Adia looked into her eyes. They were hard angry eyes but Adia could see the softness just below that, struggling to be free.

“None of this is real.” The woman said, “You, me, the both of us are trapped here. This is not real.”

Adia looked again towards the burning house but again the woman shook her violently.

“Stop looking over there. You need to wake up.”

“Let me go. I have to get to Tiko. I have to save him.”

“You have to wake up. You know this is not right you must wake up.”

“Stop this!” Adia screamed. “Let me go!”

The woman slapped Adia hard.

“Wake up.”

“Tiko! TIKO!!”

“Wake up!”

The world fell into darkness.

Her home was gone. The fire was gone. Tiko was gone.

Adia opened her eyes and sat up slowly. She looked around and saw nothing but stone and the dim glow of burning torches.

She looked at her arm there were no burns, yet she still felt a dim tingling pain. Her heart ached and she could hardly stand it. She burst into tears and unleashed the emotion that had pent up inside her for so long.

V

It is known as the badlands. A ruined city but a city unlike anything seen in this land. Large glass towers with windows of glass, mostly shattered now, blot out the sunlight. The buildings tilt as if they were pulled towards some large vacuum. It is a city of ruins. A city of a lost world.

On the top floor of the center tower, now devoid of any defining characteristics sat a man. He had long grey hair pulled tightly into a pony tail and tied with a black leather string. He sat in a simple chair. Facing out the cracked window he watched as the sun fell beneath the horizon. He only watched. He ran his hands over his goatee and settled against the back of the chair. Far in the distance he was a small orange glow. His face scowled. He heard the rapid footsteps moving towards him.

“Lord Volt.”

The man shifted in his chair. His armor creaking as he turned.

“They’re coming my lord. They will be here in the morning.”

Krenin Volt turned his back to the small man who had served him for so long. As loyal as a dog.

“Leave.” He said. The dwarf man bowed so deep his head nearly hit the ground. He quickly spun and hurried away.

Krenin watched the small orange dot with intense interest. He was less concerned of how they would arrive then he was on how they’d leave.

He rested his hand on the large black rail gun that rested at his side. He moved his hand down to a lever and yanked it. The loud click that locked the long string of bullets into place left him feeling incredibly satisfied.

“Dead.” He whispered and grinned.