TRASH - Act 1: The Spinner

Sariel tossed a small branch into the crackling fire, watching it hop with sharp snaps as the sap combusted in the presence of the licking flames. A smile stretched across her face as she imagined the burning sticks to be small children, so incapable of concealing their lies in the burning gaze of their parents that they typically broke down into tears.

After smiling to herself for far too long she started to wonder if her comparison was appropriate, grabbing another small stick and tossing it into the inferno..

Cody cleared his throat, catching Sariel's attention as he held out a freshly roasted bird. The head had been twisted off by Hord'anne, while Cody had stripped its feathers and innards, rubbing it with a strange pack of bright red spices. They had been taunted by a small flock that was bullying Crow, and the bird had a smug air about him after Cody had launched a few fireballs to rescue him and secure supper. Sariel had wanted to try the lizards and snakes they had collected, but Cody was convinced that the paper in his hands deserved them more.

Now the plump bird was giving off a sweet and savoury aroma as Sariel waved the kebab in the air to cool the crispy flesh. Hord'anne had already gobbled his three whole without even waiting to cook them through, and was eyeing the last two birds Cody and Sariel had respectively claimed as he rubbed his tummy.

Cody gave his meal a couple tiny waves, turning back to the one thing that had fixated his attention for the past hour. Sariel did not understand his fixation with the paper in his hands. It was not as fancy as Corian's, nor as busy as the pages in his book, but he would stare at it with so much focus she could almost believe that he was somehow hunting the ink on it.

Cody lifted his gaze to the town, rubbing the small gemmed pendant between his fingers.

He bit at his cheek as he felt the magic clinging to the quest. It was soft and deliberate, an artistic air tying it to the grains of ink. The magic was probably in the ink, it couldn't have gone as deep as the pulp itself. Regardless, Cody would have liked to meet the sorcerer under better circumstances, they likely had a slip or two of valuable wisdom up their experienced sleeves, and with the extensive purges from the Heroguard, stuff like that was hard to come by.

He lifted his gaze, feeling a flush of embarrassment as he noticed Sariel staring right at him.

"Sorry."

"Ahh don't worry bout it Cody. I like to drift into a state of partial existence sometimes too, happens when ya think too hard." Sariel mused, welcoming herself to get up and move right beside Cody. She eyed his necklace before he tucked it back into his robes, reaching into her bag to remove a similar piece of jewelry. "They were similar in the way that they were threaded to fine chains, and boasting a gemmed pendant. Where Sariel's was a smaller, blue gem cut to a teardrop, Cody's was a little clunkier, and a soft mix of translucent gold and red.

He eyed the pendant, surprised that Sariel was willing to simply drop it in his open palm. "Is this your patron's? Medila was it?"

Sariel shook her head. "She let me keep it though, that's why I know it's not worth much. You seem to like yours, you can have that one too as thanks for walkin me to Bervolt."

Cody shook his head, offering the necklace back. "If this is a boon from a god or other powerful creature that may grant them, it's terrible luck to take one that does not belong to you. And if it is a normal necklace, I have no need for unenchanted trinkets." He waited for Sariel to grab it back, her lips dipped to a pout as she stared at the small blue gem. "Have you tried talking to it?"

Sariel stared at Cody like he'd pulled a cat out of his ear. "The necklace?"

Cody nodded, lifting his delicate gem so the campfire's light danced through its flawless cut. "This is my boon from Alina. I can hear her voice through it... sometimes. She made a deal with me, that if I listened to her, I'd be destined for greatness. Gods like to give out necklaces like this, but a boon can look like many things."

Sariel squinted at the gem, leaning so close to it her nose nearly poked Cody's hand. "Don't hear anythin Cody." She gave him a worried look, sizing up the small gem with a sigh. "Not a great thing to be hearin voices. In my village that was an automatic ticket to bein abandoned in the dead of winter to freeze to death. That, and writin with yer left hand." She flexed her fingers with a proud smile. "Good thing I never learned how to write."

Cody stared at Sariel with a hint of sorrow, leaning down a little to stare into her emerald eyes. Flecks of gold and purple were shining through the dim lighting and nearly washing out the brilliant green he was so used to by now, distracting him from his thoughts for longer than he'd liked as he shot straight up and cleared his throat. "You don't know how to write? Can you read?"

Sariel shook her head with an unexpected smile. "Didn't need to know. Medila told me knowledge was a powerful thing that stupid people shouldn't have, and I'll be darned if she's ever been wrong with what she's said."

"Wow... this Medila sounds rough." Cody grimaced, pulling a smaller leather bound book out of his bag. He flipped the the blank leather front over, revealing a mound of yellowed pages littered with strings of runic symbols. "This is my favourite fairytale. I stole it from the library when I was sixteen." He traced his finger along the texts, allowing Sariel to focus on how soft and untarnished his hands were.

They were kind of like Corian's, thin, nimble, and alien to even a day's worth of rough handiwork. She gave her hands a couple flexes, staring at the faint lines of scarring along her fingers, and the permanent film of dirt nestled into microscopic crevices of her skin. Cody's hands were just as ugly as Corian's.

He eyed Sariel, pointing at the first rune on the page. "How about I teach you a little bit?"

"Well... I suppose I can keep it from Medila when I find her again," Sariel replied, her gaze turning playful as she gave Cody's arm a little smack. "Think you might be crazy Cody, but don't worry, I won't tell no one. Not sure how a necklace is gonna make you destined and all though."

"What?" Cody squinted in confusion. "for greatness?"

Sariel did an overdone nod.

"Well... I guess it depends on how Alina would define it..." Cody said, his stomach squeezing as he recalled Alina's preference to violence.

Sariel nodded in understanding. "Then what's Alina think about that?"

Cody shrugged. "It could mean a lot of things... power, money, recognition... If I had to take a guess, Alina wouldn't care much for something so straightforwards. We're pretty similar."

Sariel hummed, her eyes squinting as she stared right into Cody. "Well, then what's it to you?"

Cody smiled. "I think it depends on how much you're willing to sacrifice." He rolled the necklace in his palm again, a deep memory rising through his lips with a heartfelt smile. "I used to read all kinds of fairytales back home."

"Fairy tails?" Her face squished together into a confused squint. "Them fairies we met didn't have tails."

Cody snorted, shaking his head as he fell backwards to lie on the grass. "It's another word for fake stories."

"Well what's the point of a fake story? There's hundreds of real ones you could use!" Sariel folded her arms as Cody burst into laughter, looking up at Hord'anne when the beast started snorting. "What?" She bit her lip in frustration as she stared at the curly strands of grass at her feet. "I'm always missing something when people laugh..."

"People like to write fake stories for an escape from the reality around them. Running off into worlds where there's points to actions, and unrealistic heroes save the day." His lips were still curved, but the smile that once played upon his features hardened. "Where you don't have to be yourself, or care for the choices you carry with you."

He glanced at Sariel, frowning in disappointment when her expression didn't falter to understanding.

"The thing about all these stories is there's always a seed of truth. A base of reality the writer built from. It doesn't matter how absurd the story might be, everything has a taste of reality to it." His gaze was drawn to the sturdy village walls as a fire of excitement lit his eyes. "I think it'd be great to be a part of that single grain of truth. To have someone write a story about you that could withstand the test of time, to a point where every account, every meaningless scene, has been blown up to legendary proportions."

Cody sighed, staring at the glistening necklace with a sad flash of hopelessness. He lifted it to stare at the shattered refractions of the town peeking through the gems many distorting faces, admiring how fake it made everything look.

"That's what I think greatness is. It doesn't matter what you really did. All that matters is how you're remembered, even after you die."