Highroad

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by NocturnalComic

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Oneoffs

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  A young girl sits in the shade of the barn, her fur matted with the sweat of tiresome labour. This wasn’t a graceful look, she thought, but her life was far from graceful… The bat-like Ecca was small, even for her age; perhaps a little frail, though not from lack of care. She wore a homemade neckerchief embroidered with her initials, NH for Nes Haven around her neck. Nes looked around, down the endless rows of trees she still needed to pick, and back towards the other endless rows she’s already harvested.
  “Doubt Pa would even notice if I slacked off for a while,” she muttered as she went around to the barn’s doors, opening them just enough for her to get inside.

  The barn used to house animals years ago, but now the only company it held was large sacs of fruit.
  Nes climbed up to the barn’s loft and did what she’s done countless times; stare at the Highroad from the tiny window. She had seen tons of things this way, rich folk in covered carriages who never stop. People hauling lord-knows-what to places she’s probably never heard of. And her favourite, adventuring parties.
  She loved adventurers. Seeing their shiny armour or staves covered in arcane runes. If she was lucky she could even see the loot they carried home. She let herself be taken away for a moment by the fantasy of adventure, even though she knew that was all it’d ever be for her; a fantasy she could never experience for herself. Her father would never let her do anything so dangerous, and even if he did they couldn’t afford armour or a weapon anyway.

  Nes snapped back to attention, realizing she had just been staring at an empty road the entire time. She rubbed her eyes, feeling dumb for rushing up here just to daydream out the window.
  Finally taking in her environment, she noticed something she hadn’t before, something that made her heart sink. Fresh drops of blood had stained parts of the loft. Not a lot, but enough that she was ashamed she didn’t notice sooner.
  “I should get Pa, looks like there was someone here…” she whispered to herself before thinking for a moment “There might still be someone here!” she silently muttered to herself. She was certainly scared but… she found a strange excitement in that realisation as well. Against her best judgment, Nes investigated on her own, and followed the trail of blood deeper into the loft. As she followed the trail towards a corner filled with sacs of apples she called out, “Is anyone there?” and the response was immediate.
  An explosion of apples from sacs being tipped over as SOMETHING rapidly rose out of them before scurrying up towards the rafters. This made Nes jump. She wanted to turn heel and run, but also recognised that movement as fearful. Looking up for a moment at the creature, she didn’t understand what she saw. It was darker than anything she’s ever seen, yet it cowered behind a rafter trying to make itself small.
  “M-my name is Nes, I’m sorry I scared you, I just wanted to talk.” Nes didn’t know what she was doing, it just felt exciting to interact with whatever this thing was. This feeling was so much stronger than any fear she had.
  What happened next she couldn’t have expected. The thing slipped down in a long stand from the ceiling; it was like a living shadow. It pooled on the ground, taking shape, and before she knew it there was a person in front of her. It was a boy around her age; he was an Ecca like her but pale white with no eyes and a long cut down his right leg. It was a little scary, but he was mostly just a normal cute boy.

  “I’m sorry I broke into your barn, I can leave if you want” the boy said with his head down. She just looked at him for a while. He seemed to sit uncomfortably, trying to keep pressure off his cut leg.
  “You’re not going anywhere until your leg is better,” Nes says as she approaches, inspecting the boy’s wound.
  “What are you doing, aren’t you afraid of me?” the boy asks.
  “Now why would I be afraid of you?” Nes smiles as she sits down to be on the same level as the boy.
  “I just needed a place to hide, uhh!” the boy stammered “Not for anything bad, just well…” he seemed lost in his own head for a moment “I guess some people think it’s bad...”
  “Tell me what happened,” Nes questioned, curious and hopeful.
  “There was a jealous baron who took a dowry in secret, to stop a wedding from happening…” the boy recounts “I stole it back and exposed the baron and uhh...” He gestures toward his wounded leg “He sent his men after me”
  “Wait, that sounds like a quest! Are you an adventurer?!” She puts her hands on the boy’s shoulders in her excitement. “You don’t even have armour, or a weapon!”
  The boy is caught off guard by her excitement, and stumbles through his reply “I mean, I just try to uhh… do good and uh, I wouldn’t say I’m one, but if you say, that’s nice… Nes...” he manages to compose himself a little. “I put my dagger in one of the apple bags,” he gestures broadly at the mess of tipped over bags, “and I wouldn’t be able to wear armour in my Afflicted form.”
  “You’re Afflicted? Was that what that shadow stuff was?” the boy nods in reply “Man, you're so interesting, I wanna know more abou-”

  Her sentence is cut short by a shrill yell outside. “NEESSSSS!”
  “That’s my Ma, I’m sorry I need to go” she says as she rapidly descends the ladder and heads for the barn door. The moment she gets outside she sees her mother approaching with a stranger in dark armour. She slyly closes the barn door as she turns to her mother.

  “Nes, were you slacking off again?” her mother scolded.
  “Sorry ma, who is this?” she says pointing at the strange man.
  “I’m from the local guard, we’re just looking for a little thief…” Nes’s expression drops as the man continues “Pale white Ecca with no eyes, they’re a kid like you, and I have a report that they’re Shadow Afflicted too”
  “Can never trust those Afflicted, they’re all liars and cheats,” Nes’s mother adds on.
  “What are you gonna do with him, are you gonna hurt them?” Nes asks worryingly.
  “Where did you get an idea like that? The kid is probably just a stray, we’ll make sure they get what they need… If you know anything about this, just be a good girl and tell us,” the man stares at Nes, expecting a response.
  Nes opens her mouth to tell the man about the boy but stops. She felt like she didn’t have a reason to lie, after all; the boy in the barn did need help for his leg. But something in this moment made her think. She thought of the Highroad, of the rich carriages where you could never see the passengers. She thought of the adventuring parties, loud and laughing. She thought about the man in front of her too, his dark showy armour and the long thin blade at his side.
  “I’ve never seen anyone like that, but I’ll keep my eye out,” Nes says letting out a deep breath as she does so.
  “Glad that’s sorted, now get back to the harvest Nes, and don’t let me see you slacking again!” Mother scolded as she saw the man out of the farm.

  It was a while before Nes was able to return to the barn, well after the rest of her family had gone to bed.
  “Thanks for not selling me out back there,” the boy says, relieved as Nes nears him.
  “It was a hard decision, honestly, but I guess those are the kind of decisions I’ll have to make when I’m an adventurer!” Nes says with a smirk.
  “You wanna be an adventurer?” The boy asked.
  “I’ve dreamt about running away to do that so many times,” Nes replied
  “Do you wanna leave with me when I’m healed?!” the boy asks, very excited.
  Nes laughs in retort, “I don’t even know your name!”
  “S-sorry my name is Ren, I should have told you earlier,” Ren stammers embarrassed.
  “Well Ren, I don’t have a weapon or armour, and I’m not a shadow power guy like you…”
  “It’s Shadow Afflicted...” Ren corrects sheepishly.
  “But I’ll figure it out, and be an adventurer… Some day,” Nes stares longingly out the tiny window as she speaks. Out towards the Highroad...

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