Sylvia's eyes snapped open.
She was lying in bed, staring at the ceiling of their inn room. Morning light filtered through the window, and she could hear the distant sounds of the town waking up merchants calling out their wares, cart wheels on cobblestone, the general bustle of a new day beginning.
She sat up slowly, her head feeling oddly foggy, like she'd had too much to drink the night before. But she hadn't been drinking. They'd just registered at the guild yesterday, and then…
And then what?
Sylvia rubbed her eyes, trying to organize her thoughts. They'd registered. Talked to the receptionist. Made plans to take their first mission today. That's why she'd been so excited to wake Rudeus up this morning
She looked over at Rudeus's bed. He was still asleep, his breathing slow and even.
Sylvia swung her legs out of bed and stood up. Something felt off about everything, but she couldn't quite put her finger on what.
"Rudy," she called out, walking over to his bed. "Wake up. We should—"
She reached out to shake his shoulder and stopped.
Rudeus didn't move. His breathing continued at the exact same pace, unchanging. She shook him harder.
She was about to shake him again to wake up but she stopped and furrowed her brows. "What." She muttered and then Rudeus woke up " What." He said while looking around attentively.
She shook her head "it's nothing too important but we have to get up and get breakfast I'm hungry." Rudeus just shook his head. "Why didn't you just go and you never changed clothes?" He asked confused.
"Well it hadn't crossed my mind last night." She said truthfully. She had very so excited she had forgotten to change clothes since these clothes were very dirty since she had traveled in them in the snow for a while."
She waited for him to fully get up and leave he looked back before fully leaving to the guild. "Are you coming?" He asked.
"Yeah I'll be there just go don't wait for me." She smiled and waved a little.
He shrugged his shoulders and turned around.
The second he left her smile faded. Something about this is weird, she had always knew that rudeus was a light sleeper even appearing over him would startle him awake and she had pushed him and not until she realized this inconsistency he woke up. This only meant one possibility.
"This isn't real," she whispered.
The moment the words left her mouth, everything shifted.
The room rippled like water, and suddenly she was somewhere else entirely. Not the inn. She was standing in the middle of the guild hall, surrounded by adventurers who were all staring at her with blank expressions.
"No," she said firmly. "This isn't real either."
Another shift. Now she was in a forest, trees stretching endlessly in all directions. The smell of pine and earth filled her nostrils. She also seen a small little girl crying.
"Stop it!" she screamed at the sky, at whoever was doing this. "I know this isn't real! Show yourself!"
The forest began to dissolve, melting away like ice in the sun, and then
Sylvia jolted awake, her heart pounding.
She was in a carriage. A moving carriage, from the feel of the wheels beneath her. Her hands were bound behind her back with rough rope, and there was a gag in her mouth. The interior was dark except for thin slivers of light coming through gaps in the wooden walls.
She wasn't alone. There were two other figures in the carriage with her guards, from the look of their armor. Both were armed with short swords, and neither seemed particularly alert. One was actually dozing, his head lolling against the wall.
This felt real. The discomfort of the ropes, the taste of the gag, the way her muscles ached from being in an awkward position for who knew how long.
Sylvia's mind raced, piecing together what must have happened. Someone had trapped her in some kind of dream or mental prison. Made her think she was still at the inn with Rudeus, probably to keep her complacent while they… what? Kidnapped her? Why?
And where was Rudeus?
She pushed the panic down. Panic wouldn't help. She needed to think, needed to get out of this situation first before she could find him.
Her eyes adjusted to the dim light, and she scanned the carriage interior. The guards, the wooden walls, the floor there. A piece of metal wire, probably fallen off from some repair work on the carriage itself. It was thin and bent, lying in the corner about two feet from her.
Sylvia shifted her weight carefully, moving inch by inch toward the wire. The guard who was awake glanced at her but didn't seem concerned. Why would he be? She was bound, gagged, and appeared completely helpless.
Good. Let him think that.
She reached the wire and carefully maneuvered it with her fingers until she could grip it properly. Then she began working on the ropes around her wrists. It was awkward, painful work the wire kept slipping, and she had to contort her hands at uncomfortable angles. But she had to do it because if she didn't she wouldn't know what these guys would do to her.
Thank god I kept up with my training, Sylvia thought as she felt the first strand of rope begin to loosen.
"Oi, what's she doing back there?" the awake guard said suddenly, leaning forward.
Sylvia immediately went still, slumping against the wall like she'd just been shifting for comfort. The guard stared at her suspiciously for a moment, then settled back.
She waited thirty seconds, then resumed her work. Slowly, carefully, never making obvious movements.
The rope finally gave way.
Her hands were free, but she kept them behind her back, maintaining the illusion of being bound. Now she just needed an opening. The carriage was still moving, which meant there was probably a driver up front. Two guards in here, possibly one or more outside. Not great odds, but she'd faced worse.
Well, actually, she hadn't faced worse. But she'd trained for worse.
The carriage hit a bump, and both guards lurched slightly. The dozing one almost woke up but settled back into sleep.
That's when Sylvia made her move.
She pulled the gag from her mouth and lunged forward in one fluid motion. The awake guard barely had time to register surprise before her fist connected with his throat. Not a killing blow Sylvia didn't kill unless absolutely necessary but hard enough to crush his windpipe and leave him gasping for air.
The sleeping guard's eyes snapped open just as Sylvia's elbow crashed into his temple. He slumped back, unconscious.
The first guard was still struggling to breathe, his hands clutching at his throat. Sylvia grabbed his sword from its sheath and used the pommel to knock him out with a precise strike to the head.
Both guards down in less than five seconds.
Sylvia allowed herself one breath to steady her nerves, she cut the ropes on her legs then moved to the carriage door. She could hear the driver up front, whistling some tune, completely unaware of what had just happened.
She eased the door open and jumped out while the carriage was still moving.
The landing was rough she hit the ground hard and rolled, the impact jarring her bones. But she came up in a crouch, already scanning her surroundings.
She was on a road outside of town, heading east based on the sun's position. The carriage continued forward for a moment before the driver noticed something was wrong and began to slow down.
Sylvia didn't wait to see if there were more guards. She ran into the tree line beside the road and kept running, putting distance between herself and whoever had taken her.
After about ten minutes of hard running, she finally stopped to catch her breath. Her heart was pounding, her muscles burning from the exertion. But she was free now.
Now she needed answers.
Sylvia made her way back to town carefully, staying off the main roads and keeping to the forest. It took longer, but she couldn't risk running into whoever had kidnapped her.
As she walked, she thought back over everything that had happened, trying to separate reality from illusion.
The guild registration that had been real, she was fairly certain. But after that… when had the illusion started? When had she been taken?
The memories were fuzzy, like trying to remember a dream. She recalled being at the inn, recalled talking to Rudeus, but the details kept shifting every time she tried to focus on them. And Rudeus had been acting strange, she remembered that much.
But if she'd been trapped in an illusion, what about Rudeus? Was he still trapped? Or had they taken him somewhere else?
Sylvia's jaw clenched. She needed to find him. But first, she needed to understand what was really going on in this town.
By the time she reached the town's outskirts, the sun was beginning to set. She entered through a side street, keeping her head down and avoiding eye contact with anyone. She probably looked like hell dirty, disheveled, with rope burns on her wrists but no one seemed to pay her much attention.
The first thing she needed was information. She made her way to the guild, staying in the shadows and observing from a distance.
The place looked normal. Adventurers coming and going, taking missions, turning in completed jobs. But Sylvia noticed something a group of men in the corner who didn't look like typical adventurers. And they were watching everyone who entered, their eyes sharp and assessing.
Guards? Or something else?
She couldn't risk going inside. If whoever had kidnapped her was connected to the guild, they'd be watching for her there.
Sylvia pulled back and began moving through the town systematically. She needed to find where they'd taken Rudeus, and to do that, she needed to understand what was happening here.
She spent hours investigating, using every skill her father had taught her. She watched guard patrols, noting their routes and patterns. She observed which buildings seemed to have more security than others. She listened to conversations in taverns and shops, picking up fragments of information.
Her father had been a missionary and he had to have really good survival skills and instincts to make a living that way. And he had taught her that and gave her incite on his way of thinking.
Slowly, a picture began to emerge.
There was something wrong with this town. Something hidden beneath the surface.
As the moon rose, Sylvia found herself in the northern part of town. The buildings here were older, more worn. The streets were darker, with fewer lanterns. And there, at the end of a narrow street, was a large warehouse that seemed to radiate wrongness.
The building had guards posted at the entrance, but they were trying to look casual, like they were just workers taking a break. But Sylvia could see the way they watched the street, the way their hands never strayed far from their weapons.
This was it. Whatever was happening in this town, this building was at the center of it.
She was circling around to get a better view when someone spoke behind her.
"Interesting building, isn't it?"
Sylvia spun around, her hand going to her sword which she realized she'd lost when she was captured. She'd been so focused on the warehouse she'd let someone sneak up on her.
A young man stood there, lanky with brown hair that stuck up in odd directions. He had a friendly smile and was holding a leather satchel. He looked completely non-threatening.
"Who are you?" she demanded, keeping her voice low.
"Name's Glen," he said, extending his hand. When she didn't take it, he lowered it with a slightly awkward laugh. "Sorry, didn't mean to startle you. It's just… you've been watching that warehouse for the past ten minutes, and I've been watching the same building for the past three weeks. Thought maybe we had similar interests."