The sun had dipped below the horizon hours ago. Carmilla was alone in her home, her family not yet returning from an important district meeting. It wouldn't conclude until midnight.
Carmilla was invited to attend as a reminder of her responsibility, as per usual. Unfortunately for the counselors, she found a way to cheat the system by means of inducing sickness. It took weeks of meticulous planning and careful research to convince her mother's all-seeing eye that she was sick rather than faking it.
Her mother was right to be suspicious. She was faking it, just not in the way it seemed. While it was true she had the flu, the way she got it—and her reason for staying behind—were anything but accidental.
For all of her life, her family had always been a pioneer in community building and innovation. That responsibility began when her father rose to power at an early age. Later, after marrying her mother, their combined influence became an unstoppable force that led her district to live through the dozens of disasters that plagued Itov.
However, not all stories had a happy ending. Carmilla knew better than to believe the whispers in the streets. There was only so much her family could do before they broke under the mounting pressure.
They were no ordinary family, after all. They were among the rare few who made it their life's mission to pass down knowledge from humanity's time on Earth—knowledge that could help restore its former glory.
It was more of a burden than it was a blessing.
Yes, they helped re-create architecture and technologies from Earth, but there was only so much they could do without the resources that Earth had as well as the security.
The knowledge brought frequent attempts on their lives. To build, to destroy, to do whatever those that sought it wanted. Carmilla hated it.
Awakening magic didn't help her situation either. The focus that was mainly aimed toward her parents' experienced hands were now magnified at her.
People now looked at her like she was the future. The one that would save them from their worries. Some worshipped her like they would a God.
Carmilla truly hated it.
She knew very well what kind of person she was. From a young age, she was well-aware of how she wouldn't be able to stand next to her parents. She wasn't as strong as they were. Not in the way that they wanted her to be. Attending dozens of meetings would not fix that part of her.
Feeling as useless as she was, she decided to divert her attention to the next best thing: The powerful beasts that lurked near the district's territory.
The main reason why they didn't have that many attacks and pillages that any other district would experience was because of the beastly territories that surrounded their camp.
They lived in the middle of an incredibly dense forest with trees that touched the clouds and trunks that were the width of a large house. It was hard to navigate if you didn't know your way around, even harder when you're unaware of its dangers.
The beasts were successfully pushed to the borders of the forest by their previous leaders, their sacrifices memorialized in the district center.
For a long time, the beasts stayed where they were due to the influx of attacks from outside forces. That was not the case now. Their scouts reported that it had been months since another soul attempted to enter the forest. Now the beasts were looking to take back what their district took from them.
The meeting tonight was to discuss precautionary measures for when the time that those beasts will appear.
Carmilla had a plan. An incredibly stupid plan.
It involved drawing the beasts away from the district, saving thousands of lives even if it meant tearing open their borders.
Carmilla wanted to say that that was the main reason for the plan to have existed, but that would be a lie. As much as she loved her family and the citizens that lived there, there wasn't a single corner that she didn't suffocate in.
All of her father's doting, her mother's discipline and her brother's steady presence meant nothing in the face of her own selfishness.
She wanted to leave, and if leaving meant that she could directly kill the monsters that threatened the safety of her birthplace. If it worked, it would solve more than one problem.
Carmilla shuffled around her room, nose clogged and full of snot. Her sickness was waning but she was still in no condition to actually be moving around. It was an unfortunate situation that couldn't be helped if it meant avoiding her mother's questioning.
Tonight was her only chance. She couldn't induce another wave of sickness if she were to fail to leave. However, if she were to get caught, she would never get another chance knowing the paranoia of the council and the district's citizens.
So tonight was really her only chance without having to pull her hair out trying to create a new one. Or worse.
Carmilla pushed her bed out of the way to pry open the floorboards. Underneath the wood lay her bag filled with rations and gear that she might need in her journey.
She changed into her battlesuit that was fit for long travel, metal armor pieces covering her vital organs. It was minimal but she was confident that it was more than enough.
Carmilla sneezed, the force of the action had her standing straight to steady her vision. Her eyes naturally looked around her room. A sudden wave of emotion came over her as she took it in for what was probably the last time.
She lied earlier. This was the only place in the entire district that she felt somewhat free without that suffocation that threatened to kill her if she so much as let her worries slip in. It welcomed her since the day she was born, held her when she lost herself and now its humid, warm atmosphere hugged her like dead skin.
So caught up in her internal strife that she didn't notice the light chime of the seashells that curtained her door. A large shadow loomed over her, the rich scent of oak engulfing the room.
"Carmilla."
Carmilla jumped in place, she wiped her dry eyes while turning to face the exasperated expression on her older brother's face. "Kristoff?! What are you doing here? The meeting's not supposed to end until midnight!"
For a split second, she thought of knocking him unconscious and booking it.
"I'm here because Father was worried that you might have fallen asleep without taking your medicine." His silver eyes scanned the protective gear and light bag on her person. "Although now, my reason has changed."
She cursed her father's doting nature. It took weeks to be excused for a single meeting but her brother was permitted to leave—in the middle of the meeting—just so he could make sure that Carmilla took her medicine. If she knew it could have been done so easily, then she wouldn't have gone through all those hoops.
Kristoff sighed. Her silence was enough to answer whatever question he wanted to ask. "They were right."
Her eyes darted to the movement of his hand. Kristoff reached for his weapon.
Carmilla pulled the spool of rope hanging from her belt. She expertly drew a knot, looped the rope around his torso and yanked it tight.
Kristoff exclaimed in pain when Carmilla's feet met the hand he held his weapon with in a powerful kick. The metal clanged loudly against the wooden floor.
Carmilla saw the tears springing in her brother's eyes. She didn't know if it was from the pain or something else. She was afraid to know.
Kristoff tried to shimmy from the rope. For some reason, the movement felt... familiar. She let the thought hang in the air as she continued restraining him, looping the rope around him multiple times before hauling his much larger frame over her shoulder and tying him to the wooden board in the ceiling.
It should prevent him from running away or untying the ropes. She double-checked and made sure that he wouldn't be able to get out of that.
Her head throbbed from the fast action. She knew that she should save her strength to recover from her flu. She also knew that if she let her brother do what he wanted, her plans would have been all for nothing.
"You can't just leave, Carmilla!" Kristoff screamed as he struggled to balance himself while trying to break free. "Our parents spent three years fighting for that stability! If you leave, they lose their power—everything! People could die!"
Carmilla felt her headache grow stronger just from listening to him. She already made up her mind a long time ago. "If I don't do this, our people won't have a future to look forward to."
He rolled his eyes, "Yeah, like you of all people would be leaving for the sake of our people!"
"Kristoff!" Carmilla shrilled. Her chest tightened. Her headache throbbed and stung behind her ears.
Her sudden increase in volume surprised him. The quiet was enough to allow her to get her bearings together.
With a sigh, the tension left her body. She grabbed an extra spool of rope from beneath the floorboards and fixed the remaining items that she was bringing.
Kristoff wasn't sent here to simply check on her. They probably had an idea of what she was planning. If Kristoff wasn't back within a specific time, the council will send reinforcements. All of that noise will not allow her to leave without incident.
If she left now, she should still be able to make it.
She looked at her older brother for one last time. With a solemn tone, she said, "Maybe things would be much better for our family and this district if I wasn't here." She paused to tie her brother's mouth shut. "I'll make sure those beasts won't even have the chance to see the gates of our district. You know what that means, right?"
With that, she left. Her movement was sluggish but she made do with what she had and kept to the dark parts of the district. The full moon and its stars greeted her.