^ < V Game~

"Cut out my heart.", my love had said.
It made sense, but I was not prepared for that resolution. The soldiers were supposed to win the war against the tall, bearded, steel-clothed, bright-eyed, newcomers riding the strange beasts and bring back many prisoners. We were expecting thousands of them, to be used in one sacrifice per day in honor of the sun god. So that the dawn would keep coming for years to come.
The warriors lost though. My love was the sole survivor of a skirmish near the beach. He lost his arm in that fight and would never have been a warrior again. I was still a high priestess then and the sun was required to make war in the next day.
So I took his heart.
Many days have passed and I watched, in sorrow, as more battles were lost. The enemies are in the city, stealing, killing and raping. The say they will drain the lake to steal all the hidden gold that lays at the bottom.
All is lost. There are no more slaves or prisoners, so I surrender and will sacrifice no more. I am no longer a high priestess. The only thing the newcomers have gained though, is a world in perpetual night. I lay down and wait in the dark for the terrible wrath of a spurned sun god who eats hearts.
The dawn comes. The sun rises as it did every day since I am able to remember. I cry.

Melrys gazed into the emerald scrying globe, intent upon the image of her apprentice's face. "What do you have to report, Quellan?"

"The village has been destroyed, Mistress," the boy forced himself to focus on her mental connection. She resolved to work on improving his mental discipline. Images of the burnt out cottages, and a fire-ravaged main gate, came to her mind through the link.

One thing was missing. "Where are the villagers? I see no bodies, Quellan," she interrogated, sternly.

"Forgive me, Mistress," her apprentice projected, "but the village is as I found it. There is no sign of either the inhabitants, or those who attacked them. It's as if they were simply taken from this place and the town burned afterward."

"Continue to investigate, and return here tomorrow," she instructed. "I will send Natrina to continue the search for any sign of the villager's fate. Her tracking and hunting skills will be most useful. Use your powers to detect any trace of hostile magic, and search the remains of the merchant's shop for any trace of my lost grimoire."

Fighting to maintain the link, Quellan replied, "I will obey, Mistress, and return tomorrow."

Without any acknowledgement, she severed the link and let the image of her apprentice fade from the crystal. A dark suspicion rose to her mind, but the missing villagers confused her.

A simple summoning spell followed by a simple utterance of, "Natrina," brought the quick appearance of her favored tracker.

"You need my services, Lady Melrys?" The feline shapeshifter asked.

"Yes, Natrina," Melrys confirmed. "I wish you to go to the village of Yaris, find out who destroyed it. Discover the fate of the villagers and determine if any still survive. An ancient tome was taken from me, and I want it returned to me as quickly as possible."

"My payment?" Natrina asked, raising a delicate eyebrow over an amber colored, cat-like eye.

Melrys reached into a discrete pocket of her robe, and pulled out a small pouch and tossed it into Natrina's clawed hand. "Twenty high-quality gems for the search, and I promise one hundred more if you retrieve my book."

"Agreed," the shapeshifter nodded, examining the gems within the pouch.

"Then go, and return when you have completed the task," Melrys dismissed. Natrina waved her hand, and the cat woman disappeared back from where she had been summoned.

Cuz she couldn't get any lighter.