Witch of Gadia

A flurry of embers whorled behind Finn as he swept through the alley. The edges of his Traveller's cloak were singed from the fire pits of Lavia. Usually Finn would have thrown the burning cloak away, as it drew attention to him, but on Chareton most people would simply assume he was a fire mage, or had been in a fight with one.

The darkened streets of Chareton Capital City had become a familiar sight for him. Lit against the backdrop of a red moon, the cityscape was a mix of castle-like spires and tall, thin buildings. Finn scowled at the silhouette of the Capital Prison in the distance, a constant reminder of his failure.

He leant against the side of a brick building on the corner of a crossroads, eyes on the prison ahead as though Luciana would suddenly jump from one of the windows. At midnight, he would leave, and get some rest at his apartment in the centre of the City. But for now, he watched the prison with disdain. Most of the City's inhabitants were grateful for the giant prison, despite its' lax security measures, because it was enough to keep Chareton's usually dim-witted criminals off the streets. Finn hadn't thought too much about the prison before now, but for the past two nights it had become his own personal hell, despite never setting foot inside.

Rubbing his hands together in the cool night, he Travelled across the streets until he was at the front gates. The journey took him less than a second and was as effortless as breathing. Travelling had always come easily to him. Now came the hard part.

He set his forehead against the bars of the gate and closed his eyes, breathing deeply and reaching down within himself. The smell of burning flesh began permeating the air. As usual, he could feel the entire galaxy in his mind. He could travel anywhere he wanted. He focused on a lake on Gadia that he liked to visit. The sweet waters washed over his mind, but he held back, trying to keep a hold of the burning gate as long as he could. For a few more seconds he forced himself to hold on, but then the pain grew too much and in a rush he was gone. Warm water surrounded him, lifting him off the ground and relaxing his tensed muscles. Light spread unfiltered through the clear waters of the lake. He felt his long Traveller's cloak lift up behind him, and he leant back and stopped thinking entirely.

After just floating for a few minutes, he pulled himself up to the surface and swam to the shore, stripping down to his pants to let his clothes dry in the warmth of the sun. A quick trip to the fire pits on Lavia would dry his clothes up in seconds, but Finn didn't like to rely on his ability for everything. He believed in keeping in shape and being capable of looking after himself like a normal person.

There were burns on his hands and face now, fresh from the prison gate, that were starting to hurt now that he was out of the water. The lake had helped some; like most on Gadia, Finn believed the water on Gadia to have healing properties.

It was just past midnight on Chareton when Finn returned, so he went straight to his apartment and looked over the floor plans of the prison. His place on Chareton was nicer than most, but it was certainly not the nicest. Most of the money he made from Travelling was hidden on a mountain on Gadia, in a place only Finn could get to.

The floor plans outlined a wide, five-story, square building with a large courtyard in the centre. The front of the building was made up of rooms for processing prisoners and temporary holding cells. On the left side every level was divided up into small cells for the prisoners, allowing the prison to hold up to 500 people. Luciana could be in any one of them. To the back was the kitchens, more cells, the showers for the prisoners, and what looked like a recreational room, though it was the only room unmarked on the map. The right side of the building was made up of interrogation rooms, guard's quarters and more holding cells. On no level, section or room of the giant facility did it mark a back entrance or other exit. Every prisoner was brought through the front and so were the guards. There was a side door for kitchen supplies and other necessities, but that led straight into a guard-filled room. The courtyard was a 20 metre drop from the top, so Finn didn't dare try and Travel into the air above.

Usually, Finn could have Travelled inside Luciana's cell and helped her escape in seconds. It had worked in every practice run Finn had ever been through. But what no-one in the Council had conceived was that Chareton had found a way to block Travellers from getting inside. Not only couldn't Finn Travel into the facility, but it caused him physical pain if he even tried to enter on foot. The burns on his hands and head from the prison gate throbbed as if to remind him so.

"Thought you would be resting up."

Finn started as a woman spoke behind him. Before he could turn, she was in front of him.

"Kulia, what are you doing here?"

The female Traveller wore a similar Traveller's cloak to Finn's, although hers had several tears down the back. Her dark hair was in a messy ponytail, with wisps of hair falling out. She looked like she had just run a marathon - and knowing her preferred planet, she probably had. The Fae were not known for their civility.

"Just checking up on you. How's things with the wicked witch?"

"Don't call her that." Finn scowled at her. "She's only doing what she's told."

Kulia raised her eyebrows. She gave off a rogue, mysterious sort of vibe to Finn. The two had grown as close as siblings over the years, having been training partners from an early age. Now, while Finn was assigned to assist the witches, Kulia had chosen to become one of the few brave correspondents to Geithora, planet of the Fae. "Relax, it's not like she has feelings."

Like a large portion of the population on Gadia, Kulia disagreed with the Council's decision to raise the young witch, their supposed 'saviour', to be a ruthless killer. Her public displays of brutality hadn't appeased the people like the Council had hoped, but rather had been met with an onslaught of protests against using violence to get what they needed.

"Yes she does, she's just a girl. Just because she's capable of violence doesn't make her a bad person."

Kulia responded with a look that said 'seriously?'.

"And for your information, Luciana is not fine at all." He indicated to the floor plans of the prison. "She's been held captive here."

"That's rough." Kulia responded with sympathy, as though they were discussing something trivial rather than the fate of Gadia. Finn would have been offended if he hadn't known Kulia well. She treated everything like this. "How did she get captured in the first place? You two only just started your mission two days ago."

"Someone tipped off the Guard, they were waiting for us when we arrived." The frightened, innocent look on Luciana's face flashed before Finn. He hadn't been enough to save her. "She was trained for stealth, not to face an army. They knocked me out first and left me on the street. When I tried to follow her into the prison…" he raised his burnt hands.

Kulia tilted your head. "So that's how you burnt your face."

"I didn't realise you noticed."

"I thought you had done it on purpose. I would too if I had a face like that."

Finn scoffed. "That was terrible."

"I'm out of practice, there's no-one to insult on Geithora. They take everything so seriously."

"I would have thought that made it more fun."

Kulia raised an eyebrow. "Not when I'm running for my life. I have to do enough of that as it is."

"Why did you choose to go there then?" The decision had seemed natural to Finn - Kulia was always the adventure seeker - but they both knew how dangerous Geithora was. Many other Travellers had never returned from there, or had returned cursed in some cruel way by one of the Fae.

"Because it was a job no-one else was brave enough to do." She grinned and winked. "Makes me look better."

Finn caught her wink and chuckled. "Fair enough."

Kulia took a step closer, closing the gap between them, her grin remaining. There was something between them, Finn could tell, but he couldn't be distracted by anything right now. He gave her a punch on the shoulder and scanned the room for the remote. It was on the other side of the room, so he Travelled there, took the remote and threw it to Kulia, and Travelled back just as she caught it. "Go and see what's on TV, if you want to stay. I have work to do."

She blew out air from her cheeks, clearly a little annoyed, but she left him to his plans without a word, plonking on the couch and turning on the TV.

Finn continued to scan the blueprints, trying to come up with something that could work. His thoughts kept straying to where Luciana was right now and what kinds of punishments she would be going through for illegally Travelling. Everyone was supposed to announce their interplanetary Travels so that the planets could monitor who came and left, and prevent anyone who might be a threat to Travel to their planet.

If Gadia had announced that Luciana was Travelling to Chareton, however, they would have been asked why. This was a question Gadia had been avoiding for hundreds of years now. Travelling to their planet had almost been completely cut off to prevent outsiders from discovering their secret. They had worked hard to come up with a solution, and it seemed as though time was running out, so Luciana's mission was crucial. The magic in Gadia was almost completely gone, and she was the one who had been trained to restore it, whatever it took.

And Finn was the one who was supposed to look after her.

Instead, he had gotten them caught seconds after the mission had begun. Finn hadn't even known Luciana for five minutes before she had been arrested and taken away. The girl had been raised almost completely cut off from the rest of Gadia, only communicating with the Council, who was training her, and occasionally seeing the public when the Council wanted to demonstrate her power.

Finn was like most of the others - he disagreed with the Council's violent approach to the problem. It seemed as though they didn't even know what had caused the magic to slowly vanish in the first place, so most of the Gadians, Travellers and Witches alike, failed to see how letting loose a witch like Luciana would help in the slightest. Finn had guessed that the Council wanted Luciana to steal a source of magic from the other planets, but he had no idea how she was supposed to do that. She didn't seem to know either, but Finn was only going off first impressions.

When they had met, it was immediately after Finn's graduation. There, he had officially been announced as the Traveller who would accompany the Witch to save Gadia. Up until he had met Luciana, Finn hadn't thought anything of her. He had only witnessed her violence. So he was taken aback when, upon their first meeting, she had appeared beautiful and delicate, shy and polite. It was like she was two different people. Or, Finn was seeing the face behind the mask. He wouldn't know for sure unless he could find her again.

He shook his head, quelling down his anger at his own stupid mistake, and focussed on the blueprints in front of him again. If he could maybe get someone who wasn't a Traveller to get Luciana out for him, that would solve the issue. But Finn knew no-one else in the city who could help. He frowned as he realised what he would have to do - find someone on Chareton who could get Luciana out.

"Finn, look at this," Kulia called from the other room.

Finn groaned, losing his patience. "Kulia, seriously, I have to do this."

She Travelled next to him, arms folded and eyebrow raised. "Seriously, Finn, I think this could help."

He sighed, but followed her into the living area. He instantly froze as the TV display was lit up with a picture of Luciana, clearly taken during her processing at the prison. She looked annoyed, Finn thought with amusement. Perhaps she was surviving in there after all.

"Any information regarding this fugitive will be well rewarded," the TV announcer said in a pleasant tone.

Wait - Luciana was free. Finn couldn't believe his luck. "Told you," Kulia said in a teasing tone, "Where do you think she - "

Finn was gone, Travelling to the prison. He had appeared a distance back, knowing that security would be heightened now. Sure enough a patrol of guards was running the perimeter, and Finn could hear shouting in the distance. He immediately Travelled in that direction, ending up on some side street. But Luciana wasn't there, it was just a guard shouting at other guards to "Find that bitch at all costs!"

Disappointed, Finn sunk down to the ground, ignoring all of the smells and sounds around him and focussing on tracking Luciana. He had only Travelled with her once, but that was all it took to give Luciana the trace. Granted, the trace wasn't strong enough for Finn to instantly find her now that she was free, but if he concentrated, Finn could Travel in the general direction of her.

He found a light trace somewhere in the city, but it was so vague it almost wasn’t there. He Travelled again, this time ending up on a roof nearby. He stood on the edge and scanned the streets below. When he found nothing, he Travelled to another nearby rooftop. Still no luck. But Finn knew he couldn't give up. He would find Luciana, whatever it took.