Young Writers Society

Evaline sighed, looking out into the night with tiredness seeping out of her eyes. This was going to be a long night, and there was still so much they didn't know. Why were they here, who sent the presents, and where were they supposed to go?

She didn't want to talk to Jerica. Not really. But she also didn't want to repeat what happened with the wolves, and she would rather take her chances staying up talking to her.

"Seems that we're both insomniacs, huh?" she mused.

"Something like that," Jerica agreed.

She was silent for a moment. If only it was that simple. But it didn't seem like it could properly be classified as insomnia. She could fall asleep, almost instantly, almost anywhere that she tried. Curled up in the corner of a barn, a few times in the dungeon before Biryn caught on to her ploy, in the tops of trees.

It was more just a matter of being scared to fall asleep rather than being unable to. Her dreams were vicious. And she'd been dragged out of bed countless times by some nastiness Biryn had thought up while she was sleeping. She was safer from him, and others, and her own brain if she was awake and in control of the situation.

Unfortunately, sleep was a biological necessity. Otherwise, she would have sworn it off entirely. Its sole value laid in its ability to help her function. "Sleep is an asset, same as food and weapons." She sighed and rubbed her face tiredly. "Seems the gods don't deem us worthy of any assets tonight."

Evaline let out a small scoff as she tilted her head back against the tree trunk.

"If gods existed, they left a long time ago," she said wearily. "Although I'm not fully convinced we haven't died and are actually in hell right now. It seems that nothing has played in our favor today."

Jerica smirked grimly. She also wasn't so sure whether she believed in the existence of gods or not. It was more just a habit of social customs she'd fallen into, though when she'd started, she couldn't say.

"Nah, if we were in hell, Biryn would be here." As soon as she said it, Jerica realized she shouldn't have. Eve wouldn't know who Biryn was, and she didn't feel like explaining all of that just then. So she continued quickly, "And more cats. Wolves I can deal with, but cats? Blech."

Evaline knew deflection when she saw it, because she deflected a lot herself.

Biryn. She stored the name in her memory, deciding to not ask about it now, but later.

"Cats aren't too bad," she said after a weak, breathy laugh through her nose. "At least they don't want to kill you, unlike wolves."

"I think we'll have to disagree there." Jerica took a deep breath, then let it out, deciding there was no harm in sharing this secret. It's not like Eve could very well leverage this one against her. "The little nasties try make your throat swell shut... and the mountain cats can climb trees, so, I suppose we got lucky that wolves don't know how to climb."

If Jerica were within her line of sight, Evaline would have looked at her with a raised brow.

"So you're a killer assassin, but your biggest weakness is cats who want to cuddle," she said in a blank voice, trying to repress a smirk.

Jerica glanced upward but couldn't see Eve to see if there was any emotion behind the deadpan. No, her biggest weakness was her loved ones -- as was anyone's loved ones. And, numbers made life far, far harder than cats did. But the longer Eve's words sat in her ears, the more ridiculous they seemed.

Jerica snorted loudly, the noise ending in a gruff laugh. "Yeah, guess I couldn't out-train the little death machines."

Maybe she was sleep-deprived, or maybe she was a bit delirious because of the entire situation they were in, and the fact that she saw Jerica get mauled by her very own eyes before she undid it. Whatever the case, Evaline couldn't help but let out a giddy, mirthless laugh

"Shame," she said. "You can train soldiers but not cats, and that will the death of you."

Eve seemed to be rather eager to plan out Jerica's death.

"I mean... I'm fairly certain I'm going to get taken out by a sword or an arrow." Or myself. That was the likeliest option if they were being honest. "But, who knows. Maybe there's a whole swarm of cats waiting for me at the end of the dragon's path... or maybe one of the puppies down there will get to it first."

She smirked, looking down at the wolves. If only she'd be so lucky to end this hell.

Evaline didn't know what was coming over her. Casually talking about death at the end of this ridiculous quest to find the dragon's quest sent her into a fit of frenzy. She laughed again, and although it drew out, it sounded hollow and empty.

"Yeah," she said as the laughter died down. "Maybe. That would be just fitting, wouldn't it? We leave this godforsaken world with the army of cats on the other side. And then we'll never leave."

Jerica hesitated a moment, not quite sure what to make of Eve's response. The laughter felt out of place. Was she scared? Jerica supposed that would make sense. Maybe she should put a collar on the dark humor, for Eve's sake. "Ah, well, with how quickly this day went to shit, perhaps things will take a turn for the better soon."

She didn't want to say things couldn't get worse. Things could always get worse. And she certainly wasn't going to issue that challenge to the gods. But, still.... it'd be impressive if things got worse.

"Doubtful," Evaline said quickly and flatly, the laugh in her throat completely subsided and leaving no traces of evidence on her face.

Was she being pessimistic? Yes, but how could she not? Where was she, and what was she doing here? What were they supposed to do? She felt like she was losing her mind. Maybe this was all a hallucination. For some reason, that felt less believable than her "I died and went to hell" theory.

"In one day, we managed to almost die from a stampede and wolves. We're only given cryptic maps and bizarre gifts that make no sense or serve any utility. When we try to leave, we are toyed with using magic-like powers of isolated heavy rain and hail," she said, spilling rapidly with each sentence sounding more and more anxious. "What are we even doing here? I didn't even know different worlds existed until now. Why me? Why us? Who's toying with us, and what's the point? What the point of the map? Is it just for us to leave? Or is this truly hell? Because I'm convinced this is truly hell."

Jerica was silent for a long moment. At first, she'd been planning on more sarcasm and a 'What, you mean Earth's not like that?' -- but the longer Eve rambled, the more upset she sounded. Jerica rubbed the particularly painful bruise on her shoulder at the mention of the hail, noting that the mark was already starting to fade. At least she still healed quickly, in whatever realm this was supposed to be.

"The only way out of hell is to walk straight through," Jerica said softly. At least, that's what she'd been told. But she'd been walking seventeen years now, and only seemed to be getting deeper. She tipped her head backward, a fresh wave of tiredness hitting her. "Although I've been reliably informed that I'm Evil Incarnate. So maybe you're on to something and this is your punishment for something."

Evaline rubbed the bridge of her nose, feeling a stress headache coming in. It always did whenever she was starting to get more and more anxious.

"I don't even know what that means," she said flatly. "But this is probably some kind of punishment, yes. I seem to deserve this hell, and it's only the first day."