Vox/At the Door

In-universe date: Era Nova, August-September, Year 4

Real-world date: 2026-09-16
Author: Vox

I woke up screaming, or, well, maybe not screaming, since I do not think I actually made a sound, but I certainly woke up feeling as though I had been screaming. For a few moments, I could not move : I stared into the darkness above me, breathing far too quickly, my claws tangled in the blankets. I could still see it : fire, smoke, bloodshed, well, my home! Again. I rubbed my eyes and forced myself to sit up. It was only a dream : The Guild was still here, the walls were still standing, there was no smoke, no screaming, no raiders breaking through the door : I was safe, I think? I looked down at my hands, I suppose I am still trying to understand what I am meant to do with them now. For most of my life, someone else always knew what I was supposed to be, what I was supposed to do, where I was supposed to go, they would know everything. Even when I hated it, there was always a direction. Now there is nothing : nobody tells me anything, more-or-less, of course, but nobody tells me what I am worth. It is frightening ; it is rather wonderful. So I suppose I will find my way somehow. Maybe I will stumble, maybe I will get lost, maybe I will cry along the way, but that is alright! In my palms, tears fall and tear their way home : I would like to think I am beginning to understand that I do not need to know where that home is yet.

The Guild has been... good to me so far, I guess. I have met both Guildmasters : there is the Fool, who I am still not entirely certain I trust. There is something about them that makes my ears twitch and I have learned that when my ears twitch like that, I should probably listen for once. Hayami, though, I enjoy Hayami. I do not know why, perhaps I will figure that out too! I have even managed to design a massive three-dimensional maze : it is going to be magnificent, or hell, most probably. I have not finished all the details yet, like the end and all that, but I have the important parts ready. I have been here only a little while and somehow I already have things to look forward to. For once, things seemed almost peaceful. ‎

And... then I heard the door : the door to the staff-only area. I froze. Someone was coming through it : I did not recognise the footsteps... I waited, then I heard the wind charge : my ears flattened. Oh, no. I ran. I do not recall deciding to run. One moment I was standing there and the next I was tearing through the tunnels, my claws scraping against the stone as I tried to put as much distance between myself and whatever had just entered as possible. Another blast of wind tore through the passage behind me. It was following me : it was following me! I ran faster. Left, right, left, left, down another passage, another turn, then another. I was beginning to think I might actually get away when I turned the corner and found myself staring at a wall : my dead end. The storage room : wonderful! At least my body would not be hard to hide! I slowly turned around, it was there. A man : armoured, towering over me like some horrible monument to my death. He simply stood there : looking down at me. I could not move ; he did not move either. I waited for him to attack : he did not. I waited longer : still nothing. Then he began removing his armour. My heart stopped. Why was he even removing his armour? What was I even supposed to do? Run? There was nowhere to run. Fight? ME?! Scream? I am not entirely convinced that would help, not that I could have. Piece by piece, he removed the armour. I stood completely still, trembling more than an earthquake. His mouth opened and gesticulated : I could barely hear anything over the sound of my own heart. He crouched down towards me : he is going to eat me! He put something on the floor : a totem. I stared at both of them. The man stood back up, looked at me and then he left : he just left! I remained pressed against the wall, slowly drilling it with my terror. I did not move. I counted to ten : nothing happened. I counted to twenty : still nothing. I slowly looked at the totem again, then at the door, then back at the totem?

What in the name of Driisar was that?? I still have no idea why he put the totem here. I was rather busy preparing for my imminent and extremely unfair death : a totem of undying, would killing me only once not be enough? I am going to leave the totem where it is and go cry in my room for the rest of the day.