behind the cellar door

She eyed him briefly from her peripheral vision as his curiosity brimmed to the surface. Taking a final bite of the food, she pushed the rest of what was on the plate toward him and finished her drink with a light nod. “It’s this huge black building. An eyesore if you ask me.” She said, attempting to joke about it though the danger remained in the back of her mind. As he mentioned he hadn’t seen it yet, she tilted her head in confusion. She had thought everyone had seen it. But of course, he was new. Perhaps he hadn’t spent enough time outside just yet. But then he was moving, shifting from the bar and she scrambled to scrounge for coins for their drinks and food, leaving them in a small pile on the wood bar. She moved after him, reaching out to grab his arm and keep him from running straight to the door of the Spire. There’s a small amount of panic growing in her eyes and her heartbeat thunders in her chest and ears as she looks at him. “We can go outside and look… Just don’t go to it.” She warned, her voice taking on a sharp edge. “It’s a dangerous place. Someone died to the creature that lives within it.” She added, as if to explain the urgency in her rushing to prevent him from losing his life so carelessly. Of course, she could have overreacted – he might have just meant to go outside and look rather than approach the Spire itself. But he was new, and she didn’t know him despite this strange familiarity, and she didn’t trust that he wouldn’t go try and accidently kill himself in the process. She made her way to the door, stepping out into the snow and tightening the bundle of furs around her as she stood in the middle of the street and squinted up into the sky toward where the Spire sat. It was hard, if not impossible to see here, and she moved down the street hoping that Seiji would follow her to a better vantage point. The clouds had cleared enough to see the giant black building that protruded ominously over the land and she pointed at it with a gloved finger. “That is the Spire. And it’s the key to getting out of this bubble I think.” She explained in a way that might have sounded like a mother chiding their child, but the information was there. She had been at the meeting when Rory had gathered everyone to tell them about Wessex and the plan to attack the Spire in the Spring. KiadA and here you come, with a shield for a heart, and a sword for a tongue.

coding