ORIGIN

She got the smallest relief in Vargas's aloofness towards the chrysalis and she allowed herself the tiniest of sighs. Of course, he could be lying to her again, and she wasn't exactly keen to trust him, but something told her that for this, at least, he was honest. Why would he let her go and then turn and kill Lilith, who, for now, was safely encased in obsidian? It wouldn't make sense so she trusted that she would be safe here, for now. "I understand," she rasped in response, unable to keep the tremble from her voice. Whether from fear or the Master or sheer relief that her love was safe, it was unclear.

She was confused, though. Practicality? There was a moment, as Vargas looked up up and down, that she had a strike of realization. Does he think I'm human? She wouldn't blame him - witches and humans were, after all, identical save for the stones. And hers was deep in her gut, out of sight. But she didn't want to assume - if she was wrong, she didn't want to offend, so she kept her silence right now. If he brought it up, she'd demonstrate that she was not, in fact, human herself.

But power in her? No, she'd never grasped magic or trained in the sword or bow or other weapon. It was a stinging realization that she had little to no means to defend herself if push came to shove. She would have to work on that, probably.

She shook her head in response. "No, I'm no weapon. I can weave and build and fix things, but I was never a hunter or a fighter and I could never grasp magic." She caught just the smallest note of...sympathy? For a moment, she wondered if her judgement of Vargas had been wrong. He carried out the orders of his higher-ups, yes, but maybe he did not fully understand them. Still, it was no different then the soliders of the Empire, hunting innocent witches, burning them, killing them, without questioning why.

As for Tamulus, she remained stubbornly optimistic about his health. "He's not dead," she insisted, boldly. "I didn't see him too long ago - I only just woke up here and he said it wouldn't even take a month for me to recover from the journey." Vargas must be wrong, or Tamulus just healed himself. She didn't know much about him, but she knew he had incredible power. Why not one of them be coming back from the dead?

She continued nodding, heart still pounding in her chest but she no longer felt the flames of anger. They were slowly dying, to be overtaken by a sense of respect and fear. Vargas was a strange one. He threatened her, yes, but he also advised her. She wasn't sure if she should count him as an ally or an enemy, or perhaps simply a neutral party. Although she had to remind herself, once again, that things were not the same down here as they were in the village. She could not afford the luxury of such black and white thinking.

She shuddered at the thought of this "Order" that he described. She thought she could remember Tamulus warning her about something like that. A white fungus that took over the mind. "I'll stay far away from it." She had no intention of letting some foreign body take over her and use her for their own gain. She'd come too far, sacrificed too much, to lose it all to mushrooms.

She thought for a moment, but for this master, at least, she didn't think it would be wise to question him further. At least for now, while she knew so little about this place. "No I think...I think that's all. I will go now, if that's alright, and keep my head down. I will return when I feel Lilith awaken." She forced herself to give the smallest of bows, lowering her head in respect. "And thank you for your mercy."

She flinched hard at the growl, a feeling of dread in her heart. Had she said the wrong thing? Shit, things were so complicated down here, so much different then her life on the surface which, compared to this, was completely carefree. She nodded, not daring to say anything else that might put her in further trouble.

As soon as Vargas bade her to leave, she did so, with a last, fleeting glance at Lilith's chrysalis, feeling a crack in her heart at leaving her again, and a last touch against the obsidian surface, before she was running towards the exit. She had to remind herself that this was, at least, not the end. She'd return for her in time, when her crystal finally broke. Hopefully Master Vargas had not received any orders for her death at that time. How cruel it would be to be murdered just as they were to be reunited.

She cached this cave away as a "Do Not Enter" area. It wouldn't be hard, at least. If she had the choice, she'd never step in this wretched place again.

She cast one last glance back to see Master Vargas stalking away, so obviously irritated even she could tell, before she ran through the Aperture and didn't look back again.

*exit