The Branded

“The time is now, brothers, to make a stand for the downtrodden amongst us, for the ones who are subjected to this cruelty. The guild has twisted the bodies of too many. It doesn’t matter how much they pay. We should not allow them to use people, yes even people we hate, the dreamers, as experiments. We should not let them use them, even if they are criminals! What they do is inhumane! It’s evil! It’s―,” Suddenly his voice stops, and you squint at the man in the center of the square, clutching his throat, like something is caught in it. He gets off his soapbox and runs into the closest store, or tries to, as he bumps into a guard, who promptly shoves him to the ground.

You look across the way for the source of the magic. You scan the moving crowd. There are a lot of people in the throng, no one is paying attention to the now sprawled man on the ground, whose mouth is opening and closing, but can manage no words. You look frantically, surely the person who did this must be close. 

That’s when you spot him. Wearing a cloak with the insignia of the guild, staring at the man. No other gesture is required, whatever magic he was using only required his undivided attention. Attention that you break as you run into him. He’s startled, and before he can retort you interrupt him with an apology as you pass by him, stealing a glance at the man now rising to his feet, coughing.

Good, you thought, as you continued on your way. You hated dreamers but you hated the guild more. 

“Hey!” you hear behind you. You feel a hand grip your shoulder. Strong. You turn around and come face to face with the guild member. 

“Yeah? I said I was sorry,” you push his arm off you and turn back around. Or try to. You notice his arm has grown hard as stone, his grip on your shoulder so painful you are brought to your knees. You look up at him, grimacing.

“I see you, Darius Emrakul. You have been a thorn in the guilds side for a long time, know that I have seen your face, seen your heart, and know that you have been branded by my touch.”

Shaken, you look around and notice no one seems to be paying any mind to the scene in the middle of the street. They simply moved around the two of you like you were just a signpost. You turn to look at the man, and notice he’s gone. But the pain in your shoulder remains.   

Chapter 2

    The pain in your shoulder had not abated. In fact, the pain has only expanded to include the left side of your face and upper hip. You’ve lost control of your left arm, and your shoulder is mostly stone now. You hobble about the thoroughfare, throwing your shoulder forward with each step. Your shambling gait attracts unwelcome eyes, but upon seeing your face quickly turn away. 

    You always kept tabs on who was coming in with members of the guild. You had written down each person that had come into the town with a guild member leading. More than ten people had come into town this way. You assumed they were all dreamers. Then one day you saw a blue haired woman and another man being led into town, but they were talking to each other, laughing. 

    You remembered her, you surely knew her face but you forgot her name. While the crisis at the lake house was ended, the guild still operated as though nothing had befallen them. The endless train of dreamers into their halls never stopped, only slowed in recent months. People from out of town arrived with supplies for reconstruction. They were rebuilding, the college was still in operation, new graduates would replace those who were lost, and the guild would be as strong as ever. 

    You approached the outskirts of town, a single pack over the shoulder. You had hoped to be rid of this cursed place. Perhaps it was time to give Del another visit. 

    “Darius Emrakul. A little late to be sneaking off in the night, is it not?” You set down your pack and regard the woman speaking from a tree branch up ahead, her legs kicking the air. Her blue hair was almost gone, it was mostly brown now, only the tips remained that pearlescent blue. 

    “Yes well, I decided to journey,”

    “Huh. Where to?”

    “Far away from here, as far as my legs will take me,”

    She laughs. “You’re not going to get far with your affliction. Just give up, you only have what, another year before it takes you?”

    You grunt and pick up your pack. “If you’re here to berate me, save your breath. This course...you’ll not shake me from it,”

    She falls from the branch and lands on the hard dirt below, it looked easy. “Then I am going with you. I grow tired of this job. Are you headed to Del? I hear there is a temple near it that can cure your ailment.”

    You shrug. “I was headed there anyway, it’s worth a shot.”

    She smiles widely. “Good, then let's go,”

    “Wait, what was your name again? I had forgotten it, I’m sorry,”

    “Rebecca, pleasure to meet you,” she holds out a hand, and you grab it. You were surprised by its warmth.