Prae slumped over the bed, her arms burying deep underneath the soft blankets. Her kneecaps rubbed against the coarse wooden floorboards as she shut her eyelids, a myriad of emotions flooding her mind. They clamped down on her windpipe, suffocating her like a cover threatening to snuff out a candle. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. It was all she could do to preserve her consciousness.
She grabbed the pillow and pulled it over her head, releasing a muffled, visceral scream from the depths of her lungs. The events of the last twenty-four hours played back religiously in her mind on repeat. Why is all this happening!?
Then it hit her.
"Wait," she said, slowly opening her eyes and pushing her upper body away from the sheets. Timing aside, doesn't this mean I've been chosen by the Goddess? She paused for a moment, staring into the shadows of the bedframe as a smile crept its way up her face. "Ha…haha…I knew it, at least she recognizes me!" Prae bit her lip excitedly at the thought. Fits of laughter continued to escape her shaky lips as her pupils dilated.
The sound of knocking wedged its way into Prae's thoughts, her father's gruff voice coming from behind the door. "Prae? Get up. Did I not say the inspection was this morning?"
Without hesitation, the handle turned with a click. Even with her back turned, she still felt the ever judging gaze of her father boring holes into the back of her skull. Prae placed her thumb and index fingers at the corners of her mouth, still frozen in its freakishly wide grin and squeezed. It seemed silly at the moment, but her stretched lips managed to return to their resting state. Swallowing, she cleared her throat.
"I'll be down in a bit," Prae mumbled under her breath as she awkwardly turned towards her father, carefully holding her head at an angle so her ear was hidden from view. She pushed her slightly damp, messy hair obscuring her vision to the side and felt something bubbling inside her the longer she stared at him. The images from last night were seared into her retinas as they kept overlapping with his figure in the doorway.
Her father glared at her, narrowing his eyes. "Do what you need to do, but I expect you at the town square later."
The second the swinging door returned to its frame, Prae positioned herself squarely in front of the mirror, scanning herself from top to bottom, thoroughly checking for other signs of Decay. No more speckles of dirt. Nothing. "I'm going to miss this life, but I guess it's time for a new family," she said, her gaze still glued to her reflection.
The sun's rays beat down on her face and shoulders, the unwelcome wall of heat crashing into her body as she stepped outside. Beads of sweat rapidly formed on her neck, swiftly disappearing into the girl's poor, drenched hooded cloak that had clearly had enough. Prae threw the hood of her robe up, her headband vanishing from view.
The dragging of sandals across the sandy landscape was a rare sight, only seen on the occasional inspection days, happening only once every thirty days. A family of five walked briskly down the road with an old woman in tow. Her status as a Decaying was reflected in her blue wristband, shining in the sunlight as she hobbled forward with a wooden cane. Prae looked to the other side, seeing similar Decaying and their host families. Her uneasy breaths grew more and more ragged as her eyes constantly swept from left to right. She ducked into a side alley between a few houses and pressed her back against the brick wall. Why…why am I hiding?
A voice came from behind. "What's gotcha all worked up?"
Prae spun around, losing her balance. She landed backwards on her rear, slowly tilting her head up towards the source of the voice. Allaver's smiling face crossed her vision, extending a hand towards her.
"Allaver! You will not believe what–"
His smile faded as his squinted eyes locked onto the side of her head. "Pretty sure yer not the type to roll around in the dirt, yeah?" Allaver looked back at her and tapped his ear with his left, pulling Prae up with the other hand.
"It's…exactly what you think it is."
"This early!? It's always a buncha grandmas and grandpas gettin' it though," said Allaver, peering down the alleyway. "Anyhow, keep that hood up, will ya? There's no going back once yer wrist has one of those bracelets on 'em!"
He reached past her shoulder at the hood, but Prae shook her head, swatting his arm to the side. "If this is Mother Nature's will, then so be it."
For a moment, the boy stared at Prae in disbelief, his mouth agape. Then he grabbed her shoulders and locked eyes with her. "If ya actually think that, then why are ya shakin'?"
"I…I-I'm not!"
"Thought so," Allaver said, releasing a stream of air through his pursed lips with a long hiss. "Deep down, ya don't really wanna get adopted by some family and get thrown on the choppin' block, yeah? Then how 'bout all three of us: You, me and Tess leave D'vuspei for the city? They'll have a hard time finding us there."
Prae gulped. It was a tempting offer, to just get away from it all. But…
"No, I-I can't just run away from my divine duty like this! If I do that I'll be the same as my Soul Family back then! I have to…I have to be a good example for the others, that way I can maybe restore our faith in Mother Nature– "
Allaver thrust his palm into the wall behind her, almost brushing against her face. "Prae. Let's say ya go through with this, alright? Ya might not even be in D'vuspei anymore! You'll live every day like it's yer last, until some priestess friend of yers comes in the door one day and says 'it's time to go, Prae' and that's it! Ya" –He paused for a moment, catching his breath– "Ya really think that's a good idea?"
"What if…what if I said yes?" She cast her gaze to the side, inching away from the boy's arm. "You're not really of the same faith, so I don't expect you to understand."
His arm slithered across the bricks in response, once again meeting the girl's short, ashen locks enveloping her face. "Yer a fool, Prae. But ya deserve better. A whole life's out there waiting for ya! So what if ya can't succeed yer mom? It's–"
"Thanks Allaver, but no thanks." Prae ducked under his arm and dug her heels into the sand, dashing further into the alley.
The boy gritted his teeth and aimed his palm at Prae as sparks began to circle his fingertips. Prae's eyes widened as she realized what her friend was about to do. No way, is he actually going to use Sedaqui!?
"What's going on here?" A guard, who hurried over glanced at the pair suspiciously. "Everyone is waiting at the village square!"
Allaver sighed, and the light faded as he lowered his hand."Alright alright, we'll head over, that good enough for ya?" he said in an exasperated tone.
The village square wasn't new to being full of people, but the usual vendor stalls and laid-out rugs that lined the perimeter of the area were absent. In their place were a couple of rather large, makeshift tents, their ivory-colored walls billowing in the desert breeze. The familiar faces of the neighbors and farmers gawked at the entrance of the fashionably late pair. They were lined up military-like in a rectangular formation, with three armor-clad individuals at the front. Prae meekly shuffled her sandals along the clear, turquoise-blue stream that curved through the village center, keeping her head down as she was led to the others. Some were tapping their fingers on their elbows, staring daggers at them as the guard motioned to the only open spots left in the crowd.
Standing one row in front of them, Tesserta turned around and gave Prae a concerned look. "I…know you're going through a lot right now, but being late isn't like you, Prae."
Prae's amber irises jittered back and forth as the gears in her weary mind creaked. She opened her mouth but no words could come out.
Her father, standing next to the knights in the very front, shot her a quick look of disapproval and closed his eyes while subtly moving his head left and right.
Allaver seemed to notice this, keeping his head held high but lowering his voice to a whisper. "Let's all…talk later, yeah?" he said, without looking at them.
The two armored knights at the sides held their polearms in front of their bodies at arm's length, the butt ends of the weapons digging into the sandy ground as their rigid but quick motions ended with their feet together. The lady in the middle snarled and leisurely stepped forward, her bronze breastplate shining in the sunlight. Her carefree gait animated the skirt across her waist, rippling and swaying like a pendulum as her hips rose and fell. The rich shade of purple fluttered about in the wind in the form of a shorter cape draped diagonally across her shoulders, a reflection of her prestige or rank, perhaps. After all, Prae had only heard tales of the knights from her father, a former knight commander himself.
"Looks like you've forgotten something," the lady said, her lips breaking into a wide grin as she approached a Decaying standing in the front most row. "Let me help you remember."
Ting ting, ting ting. She rhythmically tapped the pommel of the military sabre at her hip with the tip of her middle finger. Her eyes glanced downwards at the old woman, who was still hunched over her cane.
The crowd flinched on instinct as two, dull thwacking sounds rang out accompanied by a flickering flash of steel. The old woman crumpled to the ground, clutching her head in agony in a series of muffled whimpers as drops of crimson were slowly absorbed into the grains of sand in front of her. Prae's fingers leapt to her decaying ear, shaking. Were…were the inspectors always like this?
"That's more like it. The ground is where you livestock belong, after all," She laughed, twirling the long slender blade of her sabre in small circles with her wrist. "Don't worry, it's just the flat side…souls are at such a premium nowadays. So, care to enlighten me as to why you don't have your bracelet on?"
Only a few coherent words were uttered in between the whimperings of the old woman. "... fell…off…"
"Fell off? Can't have that, can we? You know it's against the law to remove it at any time, no matter the circumstances." Bending over, she pulled out a thin, blue metallic bracelet from behind and deftly slipped it over the dirt-covered stump of the old woman's forearm still wrapped around her head. "Aren't I just so kind? And just so you don't lose it again…"
The old woman yelped in pain as the lady gleefully stepped on the forearm and yanked the cord at the end. The bracelet's loop tightened in one go, digging into the bandaged stump as a mixture of dirt and blood fell between the gauze wrappings. Prae's eyelids twitched as something stirred inside her.
"Now, where were we?" Returning to her full height, the armored lady sheathed her blade and casually dusted off the dirt from her fingerless leather gloves. "Ah yes, I suppose you lot will need a way to address me. I am your new overseer, Inspector Saespir, and you will call me as such."