In the Shadow of Ribbons: Part 1-02: Erian: Finding Marnie

Scene 2 of 'In the Shadow of Ribbons', set Within Thalenra. As his brother's unit investigates the house of a renegade mage, Erian begins a search for the single life he can feel is there.

Follows on from my last post.

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Investigating the Basement

Erian separated off as planned, and looked for the way down to the basement. He could hear the Empathic energy slowly wending its way from below, from a single source of life. It was faint, hidden, but a persistent note. He could see the frayed threads of the wards Meliath had broken, so he was pretty sure he’d be safe on his own, and his brother knew it would be easier to Read both Empathic and Thaumic energy, without the flows of extra people being added to them. He reached out to the broken ends of the Thaumic threads, and picked one that had traces of obfuscation, of hidden ways, and found a staircase that would have normally been hidden. Activating a small light gem to float behind him, he quietly started down it, letting his senses drift out in front of him to build an image of what was down here.

It was difficult to gather the energy. Meliath’s breaking of the Wards and other workings should have meant most of the trapped energy down here had escaped, like steam released from a pot, leaving only remnants of the stronger spells for Erian to examine. Instead, it had condensed, attracted by something stronger, maybe. For Erian it meant the ephemeral ribbons of energy that floated around him were heavy and sluggish. Something he associated with strong supressed emotions built over a significant time. Just like it had been at the camp they had raided last week. He had to go slower than he wanted, the thin wisp of lifeforce buried under the layers of ribbon.

He checked each room he came across, collecting the signatures behind any Thaumic threads and the auras of the Empathic ribbons, building a mental record of recent events to analyse later. A couple of the rooms were nicely done up, and seemingly well used. The dark low ribbons in these were interwoven with thin vibrant ones, suggesting contentment and acceptance, but it was unnatural, those thinner ribbons pulling and pushing the others aggressively.

The furniture seemed to be child size, but there were robes hanging by the door, and several books on a desk, it didn't feel like a child's room. The room next to it was a bedroom, again with child-size furniture, but spartan in style. Not too dissimilar to the room Erian had in his academy days. It again reminded Erian of the camp, and the children there forced to grow up too fast.

The rooms that followed were what you'd expect in a typical house, just in the basement. It felt like it was set up to allow someone to have the pretence of freedom. The first locked door he found confirmed that freedom was a lie. Inside was a small stone chamber with a ritual circle in the centre, just big enough to hold a single person. Not unusual in a mage's house, but the combination of runes suggested containment and control, rather than focus or seeking. Erian was sure Mental Manipulation was employed here. He could see the warped empathic energy was concentrated here. The discordant tones of thick dark ribbons wrapped in vibrant strands was nauseating. Multiple people had been forced to feel, despair, pain, fear. Forced to accept truth and certainty against their will.

Knowing he’d regret it, Erian put his hand to the floor, and focused on the images caught in the Thaumic energy of the ritual working, searching for who had been in this circle last. Images flickered through his mind of what looked like a very young girl curled in a ball in the centre, crying, and calling out, while the silhouette of the caster looked on at the edges. He was repeating the same phrases, but Erian could only get the vaguest sense of them in the moment. The man’s aura flowed from calm, on to impatience then anger, sometimes glee through the images. Erian at first thought it was a loop of memory, but there were too many changes for that, and the girl seemed to get smaller the longer he watched.

Overwhelmed by the blanket of emotions thickening with each loop, he wrenched his hand from the floor and stood, facing away from the circle, eyes closed and breathing heavily. He'd just wanted confirmation and instead got a deep dive. He could tell that was only a small portion of what this room had held. That it hadn't been used in the last year. He recognised the Thaumic signature of the circle, and could tell Meliath with confidence the same person was responsible for the training camp as well.

He left the ritual chamber to continue searching for the lifeforce wisp he could sense down here. After reading the circle, he knew it was the girl in the ritual, and it was likely she was in the same state as the boy who attacked him at the camp. But after being that deep in her pain, he couldn’t bring himself to see her as anything other than someone in need of his help.

Across from the ritual room was a door locked with a heavy bolt, and a small, barred window set into it, clearly a cell. There was a chair outside, and a plate of half-eaten food placed on to it, as if the occupant had stepped away for a moment. It looked like it had been there about 3 days. Erian looked through the window, and saw a small bed, a little smaller than the one in the bedroom. It looked like it had been vacated recently. There were chains on the pillow. Child-size chains.

On seeing those, Erian instantly threw the bolt back and pulled the door open, eyes darting around to find the child he was now certain was in here. The room looked empty. There was a candle in the corner but not much else. Erian's senses were kicking off big time. Why was there a candle in here if it was empty? And now he was in the room, the feel of someone being here was stronger than ever. He took in all the energy he could feel, strengthening it with the vision of the girl he'd seen in the ritual room, and newly revealed Thaumic threads drew his eyes to the candle. And then away. Something was pushing him away.

“Oho!” He said quietly, “There you are. You don't need to be afraid. I'm here to help you.” There was no response. Erian gently ran his fingers along the Thaumic threads, feeling the edge of the camouflage he now knew was there, and gently plucked at it, trying not to frighten her. Behind it was the girl, looking not much different from the first vision he saw. She looked like someone who had been left alone for at least 3 days, if she'd been in here since that food was left, but he could feel exhaustion going deeper than that, while the empathic ribbons coming from her seemed to be ever so slightly brighter than the rest of the basement, with no sign of the false vibrancy, as if she’d recently broke free of them.

The candlelight was flickering, picking up the purple tint to her hair, and her eyes were closed, her legs crossed. He could sense she was using power even with the camouflage gone, and by the movements of the threads she was in a trance. “You need to learn how to monitor your surroundings.” He muttered. “What are you looking for?”

His curiosity getting the better of him, he gently wound a Thaumic thread around his finger and focused it on her forehead. Not wanting to startle her, and not really expecting to get through, he followed her Thaumic threads into her Mindscape.

To his surprise he found himself pulled in. Normally getting into any Mindscape was a battle for him, including his own, but this was as easy as walking into a room. He panicked for a moment that he wouldn’t be able to get out, but he could feel his own connections flowing strongly. This girl had no defences. Putting his concerns aside for the moment, he focused in on her threads, and flowed towards her in the Spiritual Realm.

He could see she was looking through to the Real, watching events upstairs. He caught his brother's instruction to the guard to come find him and immediately tensed up. He didn't want Meliath finding this child until he could prove she needed help. He didn't want any more kids getting hurt because of him. He pulled his thoughts back, and hers with him, flicking her head to wake her up.

Interviewing a ‘prisoner’

Deciding to be as friendly as possible, he smiled, and said, “You should really put up better defences before you go sightseeing. I could have done anything to you while you were like that.”

Instantly the little candle bounced up between their faces and exploded, catching Erian completely by surprise. He fell back, dazzled for a moment, but could sense her heading towards the door. “This is why Meliath said restrain them first. Think Erian.” He said to himself, as he tugged on the Thaumic Thread attached to the thin rope on his belt and sent it after her, relying on it to bind and bring her back. In moments it reappeared, wrapped around the girl’s legs, and her dangling underneath. She was yelling and screaming “No! No, no! Not again, not anymore.”

Erian was growing more uncomfortable by the second, and would have untied her immediately if not for that boy last time. That time he’d sensed nothing but fear and distress, then relief at being rescued. Right up until he’d been stabbed in the side. Then he’d felt nothing from him. From the first strike until the others pulled the boy away, Erian had felt nothing from him, and that had been more terrifying than the pain from several stab wounds that he had been too shocked to avoid. He couldn’t risk that again.

He took a deep breath, and continued as if this was all perfectly normal. He moved the rope upwards, so the girl was level with him. “I apologise for startling you. I may have been a little close, and I guess that might not have been the best greeting for someone locked in a cell to hear on waking up.” Needing to keep moving, he began pacing, as if lecturing one of his old students, hoping she might calm down if he kept a little distance.

“But that is no excuse for rudeness. Setting off lights in someone's face can cause blindness, and at the very least you should introduce yourself first. Furthermore…” He stopped pacing, she was watching him now, and seemed to be listening. Time to see if he could get her to speak. “You had an illusion up, while coated in camouflage, and trancing. You don't look more than five, but you are clearly not. And that deserves some respect.” He had the rope place her gently on the bed in a seated position with only her arms bound, and fetched the chair from the hallway so he could sit opposite her. He took the chains off the bed and moved them into a bag on the floor, both so she wouldn’t have to see them, and he wouldn’t forget to take them. There were some strong Thaumic Threads running through them that needed analysing. Setting firmly at the front of his mind that his goal was to get intelligence, and a plan, before the guard Meliath sent arrived, Erian sat in the chair and looked the girl in the eyes.

“Now,” he crossed his arms. “Let's start again. My name is Erian, a member of the force sent to search the renegade’s house, detain anyone we find here, and determine if they are to be punished with him or treated as innocent.” He leaned forward. “I found you in a locked room, clearly in bad shape, so my instinct says innocent, but I must do due diligence, or my brother will never let me hear the end of it. If you agree to sit quietly and answer my questions, I'll see what help I can give you; assuming you don't turn out to be a child assassin. That was a painful mistake last time.”

Curiously, she seemed to believe him. The tension she had been showing began to fade, and the fear and panic he'd been feeling from her was changing into calm, and a little bit of hope. It was slightly unsettling to see, considering how he must have come across, appearing so suddenly and tying her up.

She nodded and leaned back against the wall. “What do you want to know?” her voice was calm as well, and surprisingly mature even while tired. The visions he'd seen before flickered through his head for a moment. They must have covered a longer time than her small size would suggest.

“First off what's your name?” She winced a little at this, a bit of the resignation & despair surfacing for a moment before disappearing.

“I don't have one, not anymore. It belongs to Him.” She closed her eyes for a moment, while Erian narrows his, confused. “I used to be called Marnie by some; Nab by others. I suppose you could use one of those. He just called me girl. Unless it was an order. Or sometimes a lesson.” She clamped her mouth suddenly, opening her eyes wide, clearly having said more than she meant to.

Erian wanted to ask for more detail, but he could feel her distress, and he didn't have long. “I'll call you Marnie then for now, until you choose something yourself. Is that alright?” She hesitated, then nodded. he could sense surprise, as if she was expecting a more aggressive response from him.

“So, Marnie, can you tell me anything about Telvor Belaine?”

She looked at him blankly. “Who?”

“The man who owns this house.”

“Oh! Oh right. He never told me his name…” She went quiet as if realising something and began muttering. “Why didn't I know it? I should have, surely? Wait… what was the servant called? The men? Why don't…”

Erian could see her emotions flowing faster, beginning to spiral, and clapped, speaking sharply. “Never mind what you don't know, focus on what you do.”

She looked at him, and focused, taking a breath. “Right. I know he is powerful. Good at rituals and wards. I think at illusions, but he left me to learn that myself, so maybe not. He forbade me to learn Mental magic, but he knew a lot on that. I know he was in a group. Other mages, I think. A few came to the house, but less so in recent years. Or at least he stopped showing me to them. They talked often, but it went over my head early on. And he'd forbid me from remembering later.”

She was grimacing a little, and Erian could see that even with the calm she was still feeling, there was a growing uneasiness coming from her with these memories. She didn't seem to want to stop though. Almost eager to get it all out before someone stopped her. He gestured for her to continue.

“I know there were camps he ran. One of the first things he said to me was he'd expected ‘fodder for the camp’, not me. I think he had children here a few times. I would hear some cries on days after an alarm sounded, and He would be gone for a couple of days soon after. He was always cheerful when he got back, more motivated.”

“I know he had to attend meetings. He always complained about them, so I don't think he chose to go, so I guess someone was above him? Maybe one of the mages he brought here once.”

She thought for a moment, searching for more to say. “It's not much is it? I'm sorry. I should know more. I thought I knew more, but…”

Erian stopped her. “It's alright. You have good information we can use. I need a bit more though, if you can. Know anywhere in the house we can search? Somewhere sealed off he may have hid documents or objects?”

She shook her head, but then looked up, clapping her hands together. Erian realised that the rope that had been binding her was neatly coiled on the bed beside her. He inwardly cursed himself for not noticing that his 'prisoner' had freed herself, but held off on doing anything about it for the moment, and quietly returned the rope to his side.

“I do know a couple of places! In his workshop there is a hidden door. The dummy switch to reveal it was the bookshelf that blew up, but if you tell the man in robes to check the wall about 3 feet from it opposite the boy portrait, He should find the actual switch, but he'll need to watch for another trap.”

Erian stared as she casually revealed she had seen his brother on the other side of the building, where most kept what happened in Mindscapes close to their chest. ‘This kid is either too trusting or too used to using her power. What did Belaine have her doing?’

She continued. “I'm not sure what's in there, but he was always cautious about using it. He only opened it in front of me once, when he thought I…” Her uneasiness was growing again, and she looked around, as if remembering where she was. “Is that enough? Can I leave now? I can tell you more I'm sure, but I've really had enough of this room.” Her eyes focused on the bag containing the chains for a moment before she forced her gaze back to Erian's face. “I need to know it's actually over.”

Erian hesitated before responding. He wanted nothing more than to take her out of the house immediately, due diligence be damned. But if he didn't clear up one thing first, Meliath would have her carted off with the other children. And with her level of power, it was almost certain she'd be treated as a danger. “We can leave in a moment, I promise. I just need to ask one more question. What were you to Belaine?”

Marnie grimaced at this, clearly not wanting to respond. “I tell you and we leave?” Erian nodded. “Alright. Not sure I can really say it clearly though. It's… it wasn't one thing. Out there…” She gestured at the door. “I was the willing grateful apprentice and ward of a kindly master; a stern but fair teacher, who taught me magic and how to read and write. He expected obedience, but it was his due. After all he'd saved me from… something. I was to serve him well and I'd be awarded in due time. Eventually. Just as the others were. He never said any of that, but I knew those things. Most of the time.

“In here… This is where… I wasn't any of those things. I was his prisoner. His specimen. His puppet being forced to forget who I was and accept his reality. This is where he took my name. Over and over again.” She looked at Erian, pulling her knees up to her chest, and rocking slightly.

“I tried to fight it. I… I really did. For so long. I came so close to breaking free more than once. I think I did. Did I? I'd begin to wake up, resist. I could hide it for a while. But he'd know. I was back down here.”

Erian wanted to hold her, his hand reaching out, but he felt to move would be to scare her. Even while her eyes held his, she wasn't seeing him anymore, and her words tumbled out. “The last time… I was going to be free, get away. He said he was taking me with him, to the meeting. I could get away I thought along the way. He thought he had me. I'd tricked him. I was so sure. How did he know? What did I do wrong? Did he know? Did he guess? Please, I don't want to. Not again. If it's again I don't think…”

Her words became jumbled, and her Empathic energy began enveloping the room, catching him up in its ribbons. He was moving before he knew it pulling her on to his lap and holding her close as she spiralled, caught in memory after memory. He tried to take control of her Empathic energy, to calm it. It was something he avoided, as it rarely brought him anything good, but he could feel the strength of what she felt pulling in the ribbons from across the basement.

An Energy Storm

The moment he took conscious action on them, his own power flowed out of him of its own accord, intertwining with hers, but where he’d expected the emotions in the room to change, instead images began to fill it. Marnie's memories combined with Erian's Reading and were pulled out of the Spiritual Realm, into the Real. They played out one after the other.

Marnie lying on the bed with the chains on.

Marnie being fed with a glassy look to her eyes.

Marnie screaming in pain, while Belaine stood by the door.

Marnie carried out looking almost dead.

They looped just like it had in the ritual room, seemingly bringing older and older memories out. Erian tried to stop it, pushing his power down, but the emotions were too intense, needing to be felt and experienced.

The images began to change, and Marnie was no longer the one on the bed. Other children began to appear. Some clearly almost an adult when they first appeared, aging backwards to a young child. But most were only children, and Erian instantly knew they had died here. Seeing that, feeling that, he could finally regain control over the Empathic energy, and separate their strands, lessening the pressure.

He began to speak to Marnie, to pull her out of her storm, his voice almost breathless. “Marnie, it's okay. I'm going to take you out of here. You will never come here again. You will never see that man again. I'm going to take you somewhere safe. I will get your name back. You will be free.” He repeated that while he struggled to his feet, lifting her up to his chest, holding her tight. She was so light. He grabbed the bag with the chains, and pushed through the illusions still playing out to the doorway.

When they entered the hallway, the swirling power died as the link broke. Erian took several deep breaths, and looked down at Marnie. He could see she was in a bad way. She was no longer caught in the storm, but her inner calm was gone. She was focused inside, almost unaware of him. She clutched at Erian's robes for dear life, but there was no strength to it.

“Marnie” he said quietly, his will behind it, and she looked up startled. “It's going to be alright. I promise. I'm going to take you outside now. Go to sleep, and when you wake up you will be in a safe space.”

She shook her head weakly, whispering. “I can't sleep… it always ends… with sleep… the darkness…”

Erian closed his eyes, pushing down his anger at Belaine as much as he could, and focused on feelings of warmth and safety to envelope Marnie with. “It won't this time. I promise. I will keep you safe.”

Marnie, looked at his chest, saying something to herself that sounded like 'thread' maybe? And then back up at him. “Alright… I feel… I can trust the light…” Her eyes closed and Erian could feel her breathing become quiet.

He took a deep breath and steadied himself. He had so many questions about this adult-like child, but they would have to wait. He needed to first get her out of this house and to his home where he could protect her. And to do that, he needed to convince Meliath that she would be an asset, she could lead them to Belaine. And, most importantly, that Marnie needed to be Erian's charge for as long as she needed him.

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Thank you for reading! That was much longer than I intended, so I appreciate you sticking with it. This post represents the rabbit hole that sprung out of my previous post. When I first wrote that one I had a brief spree of creativity, including a rough version of the above, followed by nothing for almost a year. When I began writing again a few weeks back, it was Erian, rather than Marnie, that caught my attention, and I revisited the scene here with a clearer vision of the characters and their world. Much of what I’ve been working on recently has focused around Erian, so he’ll likely become my protagonist, although I’m not sure he’s going to enjoy it.

Many of the scenes I’ve been writing occur much later, and my ridiculous need to do this chronologically won’t let me post them until I properly write what happens in between. That means my next post will probably be some world-building for Marnie and Erian, a session from one of my solo-plays, or something for one of the other worlds I write for. I’ll see what shouts out at me most.

Other Within Thalenra content can be found here, or go directly to the next scene.

Meliath: Renegade Investigation

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