Requiem Run

I awoke to the banging of my door opening, and several women ushering me out of bed. Most of the women’s faces were covered in scarves, but one of them wasn’t, a pale women with pointed ears and dark red hair.

“Good morning, ma’am.” the woman said as she and the others started ushering me towards the bathroom, just barely giving me enough time to grab my jacket before it was out of reach, “We’ve been sent to prepare you for your meeting with your first Runner.”

“My what with my what now?” I asked, still trying to fully wake up.

“It is tradition for each Maiden to meet with a Runner in the days leading up to the Requiem Run,” said the woman, “That way each can pick their own favorite.”

“Ok, wow.” I said, “I’m guessing I don’t have a choice in the matter.”

“No, no you do not.” the woman said, almost like she was sighing. The women pushed a table into the room, like the kind that was used for medical examinations. I was put on it by the women, and my nightgown was pushed up to reveal my legs.

“What are you do-AUGHHHHHH!”

I was interrupted when two of the women held me down, one placed a wax paper on my right leg, then ripped it off. I hadn’t bothered to shave my legs during my first semester of college, so there was a lot of hair that had to go. I screamed and thrashed, but the women in headscarves held me tight while the pointy-eared woman oversaw the whole thing. Every time they took hair off my leg, they also cleaned my legs with sponges.

I was making plans on how to kill every single person in the room all at once in the most painful ways possible by the time they had finished, leaving me plucked like a fresh chicken. It took all my reserve to not start throwing punches when the women let me go and presented what I guessed I was supposed to wear; a light blue calf-length dress with matching ballet flats.

“You may style your hair how you please,” said the pointy-eared woman as she motioned to a tray on the sink with a glass, bowl and spoon on it, “I will be waiting to take the nightgown and transfer you to a guard. Your breakfast is over there on the table.”

She started going for the door.

“Hey, hold on!” I said. The woman stopped, but didn’t turn back to me.

“I didn’t get your name.”

“My name is Tarja,” said the woman, “But since we will only know each other for the next four days, it is okay if you don’t remember it.”

“Wow, thanks.” I said grumbly, but the woman made no indication that she had heard me as she closed the door, leaving me alone in the bathroom. It still kind of stung to move, but I managed to get the dress and shoes on, combed my hair, and put on my dad’s jacket. I liked how the form-fitting dress shape on me was completely ruined by the jacket, which was slightly too large for me and unshapely leather.

When I stepped over to check what was in the bowl, I nearly gagged at the oatmeal-like substance inside. I was never a fan of oatmeal, but this stuff smelled worse than any oatmeal I’d ever smelled before. I resolved not to eat it, but I did down the glass of water that had come with it.

Before I left the bathroom, I took the necklace out of my pocket and put it around my neck, tucking the jewel into the dress. It matched the dress, and just felt right. With that, I stepped out of the bathroom, where Tarja was waiting.

“Are you ready?” Tarja asked. Her mildly unpleasant stare at my leather jacket just made me want to smile, but I settled for an amused, “Lead the way.”

“I won’t be bringing you to your first Runner,” said Tarja, “A guard will be doing that. I just need to make sure you are prepared.”

“Last I checked I’m a person, not cooked meat.” I said. Tarja seemed to completely ignore me as she led me out the door to a scowling guard, who roughly took my arm.

“Ow, get off!” I yelled, “I’m coming, you don’t have to pull me along, asshole!”

The man pushed me in front of him and shoved me along, motioning where I needed to go. I just went along with where he was directing me. I tried to keep up with where exactly we were going so I could keep an eye on the layout of the castle, but we were winding around, going up and down stairs so much that I lost track and gave up just as we stopped in front of a big wooden door.

“The first Runner you will be meeting is Kydro Crollet,” said the guard, “Get in, he’s waiting for you in there.”

“Good to know.” I said. I tried to saunter my way through the door like I didn’t care, though in reality I was, of course, crapping myself.

The door slammed close behind me, and I was alone. On the other side of the room, sitting at a small table, was the pink-skinned ‘rose elf’ man, apparently Kydro, sitting and staring at me as I walked over and stood in front of the table.

“You appear to be in good health,” said the man, “That is good.”

I said nothing, crossed my arms and tried to look intimidating. When he stood up in front of me, I realized that the man was quite taller than me, possibly almost seven feet. Suddenly, I didn’t feel as intimidating.

“My name is Kydro Crollet.” said the rose elf. His voice was deep, but with no sense of malice, shockingly, “What about you?”

“Don’t you already know my name?” I said.

“Well, yes,” said Kydro, “But still, it would be nice to know if there’s a nickname or anything you would prefer I call you?”

“No, just Riley.” I said.

“Well, you can call me Kydro,” said the pink-skinned man, “I’m not the biggest fan of formalities.”

“Hey, same.” I said in the most deadpan way I possibly could. When Kydro smiled at me, I realized he must have mistook it as me breaking the ice, and I silently groaned.

“Well, since we are spending the day together,” said Kydro, “I’m sure you’d rather not spend the day cooped up in these small rooms.”

“Well, you got that right at least.” I mumbled. I wasn’t sure if Kydro heard or not, since he knelt down under the table and came back up with a large wicker basket.

“I was thinking a picnic in my favorite spot,” Kydro said, “What do you say?”

“Do I have a choice?” I asked.

“Well, yes,” said Kydro, much to my shock, “I can tell you that I am one of the few Runners who will give you an option. Xelsa and Killian would be much less polite than me.”

“Then I guess I’ll take it.” I said, “Lead the way.”

Kydro smiled at me, surprisingly warm, and hooked my right arm with his left. Before I could even try to pull away, Kydro said, “The guards would prefer to see me dragging, so just go with it. But please, for your sake, don’t try to run away.”

“Why, I would never!” I said, even fluttering my eyes for good measure. Kydro sighed, but I could see a small smile in the corner of his lips. It was odd, just holding a snarky conversation with this guy like he was just one of my other friends, like Max.

I hated thinking of Max, and wondering what he was doing right at that moment. I couldn’t imagine what he was going through when he woke up and they all realized I was gone. Then I started wondering what my mom and sister were thinking.

“Riley, are you okay?”

Kydro’s words brought me back to reality as I wiped my eyes and said, l’m fine.”

Kydro squinted at me for a moment, then he said, “I won’t push it then.”

I was honestly a bit shocked that Kydro was being so nice to me, but my guard was still fully up, naturally, especially when we walked past guards in armor that gave me really hostile looks.

“Ignore them,” said Kydro when he noticed me glaring back at the guards, “They’re supposed to intimidate you.”

“They’re failing… miserably.” I said.

Kydro smiled and nodded as he said, “As long as I’ve been here, I’ve never been truly intimidated by them. I imagined the same would be for all the other girls.”

“I’m surprised you could even remember them.” I said. Kydro’s grin was immediately replaced with a grimace, while I gave him a smug grin in return. I felt a slight pang of guilt for upsetting him a little, but it quickly disappeared when I remembered that this guy was still going to try and kill me.

Eventually, the rose elf managed to get me out of the castle, across the moat that had gotten me into the building to begin with, and the two of us were on a dirt path walking through woods.

“Where are we going?” I asked, “Are we even allowed to leave the castle grounds?”

“As long as you stay by me,” said Kydro, “If you attempt to run away, then I will be forced to stop you and cut our day short. Of course, the Emperor wouldn’t be happy if that happened.”

“So what?” I said, “It’s not like he could kill me or anything, isn’t that your job?”

“You are absolutely correct,” said Kydro, “The guards would not be allowed to kill you. They could, however, do anything else to you. Anything.”

“I get it.” I said as a chill ran up my spine. I knew exactly what he was implying. “So… where are going then for this picnic of yours?”

“It’s better seen then to be believed.” said Kydro, “Trust me, it’s a beautiful sight.”

“I’ll have to take your word for it.” I said as the forest we were walking through came through to a small village. In keeping with the old-fashioned Medieval Times themes that were ongoing in this world, everyone I could see about the town was wearing suits, simple shirts, pants, and boots, or dresses and skirts if they were women. Hell, there was even a well in the middle of the village that was made entirely out of stone.

As soon as Kydro and I started moving through some village, I noticed that people were staring at us.

“What’s with the googly eyes?” I asked.

“Everyone in this little place does this when I bring a maiden through,” said Kydro, “Don’t try to be put off by them.”

Just when he said that, a little girl carrying a small white flower ran over to us, and we stopped right in front of her. The girl took a deep breath, like she was working herself up to something, then she presented the flower to Kydro.

“This is for you, sir!” said the girl, “For luck!”

“Why thank you, girl.” said Kydro as he took the small flower and planted it behind his ear. The girl seemed to blush for a second, then her eyes turned to me.

“You look tough. I think you’ll last a bit longer than the others.” the girl said coldly. I resisted the urge to flip her off or yell at her as she turned and walked away. As soon as she stepped back, people who had been watching us started calling out questions, as if that girl had opened up a floodgate.

“Kydro, is that your favorite maiden?!”

“Has she been crying?!”

“Is she annoying?!”

“What are you going to do to her?!”

I could feel my rage boiling as I desperately tried to keep my stoic expression, while at the same time trying to figure out how to kill a large group of people all at once without a bomb.

Kydro must have been capable of sensing my growing urge to kill, since he took my arm and pushed his way through the crowd, gently but firmly, and people got out of his way. Eventually, we had pushed through the crowd and found ourselves on the outskirts of the village.

“You must excuse the locals,” said Kydro, “I personally do not often bring maidens through the village, so they must have been incredibly curious.”

“Screw all of them.” I said, “They can all go straight to hell.”

Kydro said nothing, he just pulled me along an uphill dirt path. I was already going into shutdown mode, so I was barely paying attention to where we were going until Kydro gently nudged me.

“Check it out,” he said, “Look at the view!”

I did so. To Kydro’s credit, the view he was talking about was amazing at the top of the cliff we were standing on top of. From there, I could see the whole kingdom, from the castle, a giant stone eyesore, to the villages that were around the area.

“It’s…”

“Amazing, isn’t it?” Kydro immediately finished the sentence for me. I nodded, taking in the whole view. For some reason, I felt something that I couldn’t entirely place, like a feeling or emotion that wasn’t my own.

“I believe that, during the peak of the Ambergrasp, this view is at its most lovely, wouldn’t you agree?” I said.

“Ah yes,” said Kydro, “The Empress and I used to come up here a long time ago and watch it together, with… wait a moment.”

When I glanced over at Kydro, he looked shocked for some reason.

“What?” I asked.

“How are you familiar with the Ambergrasp?” Kydro asked, “The peak period of summer when the lights of the sky become golden. How would you know about that if you’ve only been here for a day?”

“I… I’m not sure.” I said. My mind was drawing a blank when it came to what I had just said, other than the facts associated with it. I wasn’t sure what just happened to me, but I didn’t like it in the slightest.

“Well… in the meantime…” said Kydro as he placed the wicker basket on the ground, “Why don’t we have our picnic?”