Brink

The sound of a soft wind rustling the trees is what first stirs me to awareness. At first, I’m sure that I’m only dreaming because there is only the stark sound of emptiness and hollow echoes in the underground settlement. It’s a nice dream and my senses are enveloped in a soft scent of what I think is damp soil and fresh leaves. I draw a breath, relishing the clean air filling my lungs to capacity before a sharp pain in my ribs makes me flinch. I grunt in discomfort and that’s when I realize that I’m not dreaming.

My eyes shoot open and I’m staring up at a canvas roof spotted with sunlight. I can’t remember where I am, but I gradually recollect my scattered thoughts as I take in another breath. The pain shoots through my torso and my hand moves up to placate it. My fingers brush over the clean, tightly fastened bandage, and I lift my hands to the air to scrutinize the dressings on my arms.

Someone tended to me while I was out, I realize, dropping my arms down and I roll slowly in order to push myself up. I can see my gear and my jacket gathered neatly beside the bedroll, but I’m more concerned with where I am. I groan as I pull my legs under me, pushing past the aches and pains to rise onto my own two feet after who knows long. At first, I sway and nearly fall face first into the ground, but I reach out blindly and catch myself on one of the wooden poles holding the small tent upright.

My legs feel like jelly, but I will them to move and stagger slowly towards the unfastened entrance. I can hear soft voices talking amidst the low hum of insects scattered throughout the forest and I hesitate before gently pulling back the flap. Carefully, I hunch forward to peek outside, but I can only see a few figures crouched around a smoldering mound of embers emitting faint black smoke. I don’t recognize any of them and I don’t think they’re from the scavenging team.

Suddenly a violet eye pops up mere inches from mine and I jerk back, startled as I lose my balance and stumble backwards with a surprised yelp. I land hard on my bottom and wince as the impact jars my entire body, sending renewed pains echoing to the ends of each limb.

The flap flies open and a girl with long, blonde hair jumps in with anxious apologies spilling from her mouth.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," she says, coming to my side and helping me back to my feet. "Are you alright?"

I nod my head, trying not to rely too much on her slight frame as I regained my footing and straightened my back. When I happen to glance up, the flaps of the tent are pulled back and an assortment of strangers are peering at me with similar expressions of curiosity. From the healthy tan of their faces, I can immediately tell they aren't from any settlement. I'd always heard that there were gypsies that still roamed the surface world, but after the vicious battle I'd barely survived, it was hard to believe that anyone could find such peace.

"Where am I?" I ask.

"We're settled up just outside the border of old Rimmel," she says and I find that the words have no meaning to me. "The guys were doing a bit of fishing when you floated down the river."

"Yeah, you gave Linos quite a scare," a young man with curly brown hair grins.

"He screamed like a girl," a girl with short dirty blonde hair snickers.

"Shut the hell up, Felix," the boy with tousled black hair snarls. "You too, Io."

"What's your name?" The girl whose name is Io blatantly ignores him and instead looks to me with expressive hazel eyes.

"Mnemosyne," I say.

There is a long span of bewildered silence and I think to offer the name Maya and Ward often call me instead, but the blonde girl speaks before I can open my mouth.

"My name is Caelena," she offers. "I guess you know Io. That's Felix and the rude one is Linos."

"I'm not rude," Linos says, indignant.

"Excuse me, but who's the one popping their head into the girl's tent without permission?" Caelena snips.

"Felix is doing it too," he points out.

"We should get going anyway," Felix says. "She looks like she needs more rest before anything else. Come on, Linos."

Linos and Felix step back and go off on their own business and Io steps in. I can see now that she's a tall girl who has to duck her head slightly to fit under the low canopy of the tent. I let them help me back onto the bedroll and they sit along the side like a pair of proper nurses. I'm not sure what to say, but I decide to go with the questions floating in my head.

"How long have I been out?" I ask first.

"About two weeks," Io replies. "We thought you were dead. The demon hound's venom can kill you within hours, but you were barely hanging on. You're lucky you stayed alive long enough for us to get you the antivenin. It might have been the water drawing most of the poison out of your body."

"Two weeks?" I echo, shocked that so much time has passed without being aware of it. I must have paled because they were watching me with concern. I can't help but wonder if Ward made it back to the settlement with the rest of the company. I wonder if he told Maya that I was dead. I wonder if she was still thinking I might come back alive. Instinctively, I lift my wrist and frown when I see that it is bare. It was probably lost in the chaos of two weeks ago, but Calena reaches down to my pile of things to pull it out of the jacket pocket.

"Are you looking for this?" She asks.

I reach out and take it, eying the ribbon that used to be golden yellow. Now it was stained a muddy reddish brown from what I assumed was blood. I'm sure that Maya is over the grief and cursing my name by now.

"Do you guys live out here?" I ask now, not wanting to linger these troubling thoughts.

"Yeah, we travel around every few days or few weeks," Io explains. "It depends on the activities of the demons and colossi, of course."

I'm silent, fingering the cardium sculpture with my taped fingers before asking another question, "How far are we from where you found me?"

"It's a good three days walk from here," Io says, eyes squinting in thought. "But you can't go back there now. There's a spike of movement in that area."

"You can travel with us in the meantime," Caelena offers. "It's pretty dangerous out there and we can protect you. But you're a fighter too, right?"

I look up and she's motioning to the sword lying next to my things. Miraculously, it wasn't lost. I reach over and pick it up, pulling it from its sheath just enough to check its blade. The silver steel is bright and smooth, so much so that someone must have cleaned and polished it while I slept. I don't say anything, but Io offers an explanation almost immediately.

"Linos took care of it for you the nights he stayed back in camp," she says. "He acts tough, but he's actually really nice when no one's looking."

I nod my head, making a note to thank him whenever I get the chance. I set the sword aside and looked down at my hands, unsure of what to do now. I'm not necessarily in a rush to get back to the settlement. I'd probably been declared dead for a while, so another few weeks wouldn't even matter. Still, I worried about Ward going back out on another mission without me.

"Where I come from, they just call me Nem," I offer out of the blue, as soon as I think of it. "What kind of company are you guys, anyway?"

The two girls exchange a look and smile at me with such pride that I'm growingly more curious about this band of nomads that I've come to be associated with. It is in this moment that suddenly I realize that Caelena's eyes make me nostalgic of a home I haven't seen the likes of in more than a decade. I don't know why, but the sight of them makes my chest ache forlornly and my mouth wants to frown.

"We're just a pack of strays, really. We travel around, slaying the colossi," Caelena tells me, an eager spark coming alive in her voice. "Our company isn't much, but we have some great fighters on our team."

My posture straightens. I never even realized I was sitting in such a deep slouch, but my interest is piqued when she mentions the colossi. I've never seen one in the entirety of my life, but the stories I had heard in the settlement were always exaggerated and meant to convey the terror of the Catastrophe. I can't help but wonder how close to the truth the legends were, even more I'm curious about how tiny, fragile beings like us could possibly slay a mammoth colossus.

"We don't know much of anything about the surface world, except there is nothing left for us here," I say, hoping they will tell me more. "Why kill the colossi? Is it just out of spite and a drive for revenge?"

"Nem, kill the colossi and you vanquish all the demons borne of them," Io replies, awe and wonder resounding through her tone. She sounds so optimistic that it all seems impossibly simple. I have no doubt that it actually is both impossible and simple a task to accomplish.

"You're saying that if you destroy all the colossi, the demons will die with them," I can hear the skepticism in my own voice. "You're saying the surface would be ours again."

"The concept is as simple as that, but slaying one colossi isn't easy," Caelena explains, a flash of pain crossing her face for a split moment. "We've only managed to defeat two, but the casualties we suffered were…" She shook her head.

"We lost more than half our company," the other girl inserted, mirroring the blonde's sorrow. "We were too inexperienced, too reckless. We've managed to work out good strategies now, but there isn't much of us left."

"How many?" I ask, the intrigue ushering my heart into a lively rhythm. This might be the key to taking back the surface world and I could show Maya why I was driven to do what I did. "How many of you are left?"

"Twenty-one," Io says without delay. "Fifteen guys and six gorgeous girls."

The surface dwellers are different from us in more ways than one. It's like they absorb the light of sun and it shines through their eyes so brightly that I'm almost hypnotized by it. These girls are smiling, unafraid, they radiate with capability and hope. Those from the underground wallow endlessly in the mines, always digging deeper into the Earth's crust and never thinking of defying fate.

But these people, these strays, they thrive, soar, and stand tall.

"And how many colossi are there?"

"That's something we're still looking into," Caelena murmurs. "We can't afford to divide the group any further, so we really just rely on the gypsies we run into for information."

I want to ask more about the surface dwellers, but there is a commotion outside that draws our attentions instead. Caelena appears panicked, but Io gently tells her to go check things out while she stays behind with me. The blonde still offers me a smile as she excuses herself to slip out through the tent flap and I peer at Io's face with unspoken questions.

"Maybe you should go out and help them," I murmur quietly. "I'll be fine here."

Io looks conflicted, but again I encourage her to go outside and join her comrades. Whatever it is thats happening doesn't sound good because the voices are rising in urgency and apprehension. It's the kind of clamor that unsettles and inclines a person to worry. She leaves shortly after and I remain sitting upright, listening although I don't really want to. The frantic shouting and agitated barking of orders gradually cease; soft, desperate whispers take their place until finally there is silence. Distressed wails rise into the air soon afterwards, followed by furious swearing amidst a muted shock.

Slowly, I lay back down on the bedroll and listen to the mixture of voices blending together in a low cacophony. A few of them are discussing the events of what happened while others are whispering gentle words of consolation over the soft cries of a woman. The orange sunlight shining through the canopy is beginning to fade and I absentmindedly let the hushed conversation lull me back into a dreamless sleep.

"The setting sun is orange," I whisper, wondering if my words can reach Maya from here.