From Mars' Journal - Aethon's 24th Cycle - Year 387

  Camilla is gone, and she’s not coming back. Grandma says not to worry. She says she just needs some time to think. She says when things cool off, Camilla will be back, and things can go back to normal. It's a kind lie, but I don't need it. Not after what she did. I don't need her to come back, and I don't want her to come back. I never want to see her face again. There is no chance anyone in this city will forget. Leaving was the best thing she ever did for any of us.

  I'm surprised Grandma is even able to talk about her return like it's a good thing. She knows what this city holds for my sister if she’s ever stupid enough to come back. Besides, Camilla hurt her worse than anyone. We were a happy family. Grandma was raising both of us as equal apprentices. She poured her heart and soul into us after we lost our parents. We had all lost our entire worlds in an instant, but we pulled together. We stayed together. Until... my sister decided it wasn't enough for her. Our grandmother, one of the most powerful and respected mages in the city, tried to give us a better life than she’d had as a child, and it wasn’t enough.

  She worked so hard and gave us so much more energy than a woman her age should have. She was tireless and she adored us. And Camilla still turned her back on us. She betrayed us. Embarrassed us. She lied and she slandered and she hurt. I don't understand why. Why weren't we good enough? Did she really think setting us up like that would do her any good?

  Even now—after everything she did has come to light–Grandma still forgives her. She would welcome Camilla back. I don’t understand why Camilla put so much effort into ruining us. Into betraying us. I'll probably never understand. But it doesn’t matter. Because Camilla is never coming back, and it's better that way. I don't care where she went. It would just hurt to see her again. I can't take any more of that pain, and she's not worth risking the sun in my eyes while looking in her direction. If her back is all she has for us, it's all I have for her.

  Before The Loop - Aethon's 24th Cycle - Year 398

  It was a dreary morning. Tired and already exhausted with its duties. But it was my last morning of peace. Before I found the first corpse. Before I watched the city die and collapse around me. Before I came face to face with desperation like I had never seen and agonized crying from so many faces. It was the last morning I'd have before the blood, and the tears, and the bodies. I should have appreciated the quiet of the calm it carried on its back. Instead, I examined my reflection in a weary bucket of water. The filthy, unkempt hair. The dark circles under my eyes. The wrinkles of a much older woman adorning my face. Anxiety and misery had painted me with frown lines before I was ever a proper adult, and they had only deepened in the years since. The last year before the loop had been even worse.

  A full year of wandering from town to town. Doing odd jobs just to survive and pay for my arduous walk to the next village. It felt like it was all for nothing. No one remembered my sister passing through. No one knew who she was or where she went. When I first left, I had hope. Hope was all I had, in fact. Camilla had fiery red hair that was uncommon in our part of the country. She had amazing flora magic. And she still had so much joy left. I liked to think so, anyway. But maybe that was just another lie I told myself. It's been so long now.

  I waited to look for her. I waited and waited, and convinced myself there was no point. It was no wonder no one remembered her. A nineteen-year-old redhead that may have passed through ten years ago? It was hopeless. Any impression she’d left on these cities had long since faded. And if no one remembered my brilliant, energetic sister and her sharp beauty... Well, the mousy, dishwater blonde with the skin of a woman fifteen years her senior? I knew I would be forgotten.

  I had mastered magic with Grandma. Not just any magic either. I was the world's first master time mage. A field of magic no one knew was possible before me. It was everything I had ever dreamed of but... the dream was a fae tale. There would never be any glory for me. It never did me any good at all. I could do impressive things, sure. I could save a dead man if I got there soon enough—a feat that should have put me in history books. It didn’t, of course. All that offered me was hate and rejection. And even control over time itself couldn't take me back far enough.

  I could turn back time on a single person—a little. An hour, maybe. But I couldn't turn back the clock on the world. I couldn't go back and stop Camilla from leaving. I couldn't tell her that... well, I couldn't talk to her at all. For all I knew, she was dead and the only thing I would ever find was an unmarked grave. Rumors of a red head who could speak with the earth. But she was all I had left. If I never found her, I could never atone. And I would be forgotten. The tired woman who shambled into town for a week and left after faking a few miracles for the money. That’s all I was in every other town. That’s all I would be in all the towns to come.

  My magic was never fake. But that was all anyone would ever believe anymore. I still don’t understand why, but even the kindest souls I’d met would call me a liar whenever I used my aura. So I had to find Camilla. I had to find my sister and make things right. Because I couldn't be the great mage of legend and fae tales. That dream was just a grotesque memory. A lie that would never be true. What I could have—was a family. Someone else in the world that would love me, and someone I could love. But maybe that was a lie too. Maybe it was too late to have that, even if I found Camilla. Maybe, all I could do was tell her I was sorry. That I was wrong. That I was every bit the monster she likely remembered me as. Maybe the only thing I could contribute to this world was closure for my sister.

  It wouldn't be much. It wouldn't be enough. But... it would be something. So I looked at the haggard woman reflected in the filthy water. I wondered what would happen if I just dipped my head inside. If I just slowly lowered it in and left it there. Let the world fade. The memories and regret could have just... washed away. As I considered it, I realized my head had started to lower and my face was closer to the water. I was so close that my breath was leaving ripples in the reflection and obscuring my face. I bit the inside of my cheek until I tasted blood. The pain brought me back to reality. Camilla deserved better. It wouldn't be much, but if I could find her, she deserved my apology. And whatever else she wanted out of me. And if I didn't, and just spent the rest of my life wandering like this? Well, maybe I deserved worse.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  With only a couple of breaths between my face and the peace the water offered, I instead picked up the bucket and doused my fire. I then went about the work of packing up my feeble camp. There was another small town near me. It only had a few thousand residents and it sat by the sea. Beddenmor, it was called. Camilla would have had no reason to go there. But she had gone east, and Beddenmor was as far east as the land reached. If she wasn't there, I would have to move north and start making my way west again.

  I sighed as I put my pack on and began the weary trudge to town. As I walked, I began to pass a few other groups of travelers. For once, they seemed no happier than I did. Each of them passed in the opposite direction and each one looked ill-prepared for a journey. After several hours, I passed a frantic mother, practically dragging five scared children down the road. I stopped and watched her with dull eyes. The eyes that returned my examination were far more frantic. We were both exhausted, but her weariness had life to it.

  She was colored with indecision for a moment—until her eyes softened and she spoke to me. "Don't. Don't go there. Please. I don't know why you are traveling to Beddenmor, but you'd be best served by turning around now. You won't find anything worth looking for there," she pled. I examined her for a moment. She looked so sincere... and so heartbroken.

  I gave her a trembling smile. "Thank you," I replied in a quiet voice. "I appreciate the warning." We were paralyzed by awkward silence for a moment, until she realized I wasn't going to take her advice. She gave me her own forced smile. We both knew it was a lie, and neither of us really needed to explain why. Then the urgency of her children and her flight from the town forced her to resume her journey. She shook her head and turned her back.

  "A few hours down the road, I left a camp with good shelter and a firepit. If you turn right off the road after the tree that looks like a hare, you'll find it," I called after her, and she looked back at me, her smile a little more genuine. Then we parted ways, and I never saw her again. I returned to my journey and eventually arrived at the quiet little fishing town by the sea. There were two guards at the gate, which threw me off a bit. I had been to many towns like this, and they rarely felt the need for any security at all.

  As I approached the woman of the pair stopped me. "What's your business here, ma'am?" she asked.

  "I'm looking for someone," I answered, only to be met with a scoff.

  "Well you ain't gonna find them here, I promise you that," she replied with a hollow laugh. "What's your name?"

  Just as I was going to answer the other guard smacked a fly against his leather armor, making me jump. I looked at him awkwardly for a moment before returning my attention to his partner. "Mars," I answered and she held her hand out to accept my papers.

  Before I could offer them, the male guard spoke up. "What does it fucking matter, Sabina?" he growled, "nothing matters. We're all in Luna's hands now. Just let her in." Sabina, the woman on guard, clicked her tongue in dismissal and accepted the papers. She gave them a cursory glance before returning them.

  "There's only one inn in town. Walk north once you reach the main square, and you can't miss it. I doubt it'll cost you much. And don't worry about that idiot. Aethon's eyes are still on this city. All the panic's over nothin'. Enjoy your visit," she explained before apparently forgetting I existed and looking away from me.

  "Um, I don't suppose you have seen-" I began awkwardly before she cut me off.

  "We haven't seen your friend. Move along now, we are busy today," she dismissed and I lowered my head, chastised.

  "S-sorry," I replied. I excused myself from the awkward dismissal and walked through the ill-maintained gate, heading into town to look for the inn she mentioned. The inside of the city wasn't so bad, and I wondered if Sabina had been right. Children played happily in the streets. Vendors peddled their goods. It was just like any other little city I had been to. Except... something wasn't right. An empty stall no one wanted to look at. Conversations that ended too abruptly when certain names were mentioned. There were too many people in too many quiet corners.

  At a glance, it felt normal. But when I looked closer in any direction, it was more like a wake. Every look on every face sent chills down my spine. Eventually, I found the inn in question. It was more of a tavern with rooms than an inn. I was likely the only visitor it had gotten in months with anything but alcohol on my mind. When I walked in, I was a little taken aback by the atmosphere. People laughed and joked. They drank and they told stories. From this room alone, I could nearly forget that entire families had abandoned their homes and fled the town. People were drunk, barely past midday.

  This city was wrong. Something told me to get out as fast as I could but... I hadn't even asked anyone about Camilla yet. I walked up to the bar and took a seat.

  "What'll it be," the bartender asked, not looking up from the counter she was cleaning.

  "If there's a room available, I'd like one," I responded. She laughed, loud, genuine, and clear, like a church bell.

  "I didn’t think I’d have another guest here for at least six months. Yeah they’re all available. Take your pick," she offered, shaking her head as she scrubbed.

  "O-oh, alright," I answered. "How much for a week?"

  "Rooms free. Like I said, no one else is using them. Pay for your meals and drinks, clean up after yourself and we're square," she offered. I looked at her, confusion and fatigue warring for control over my response.

  "What's going on here?" I finally asked, confusion winning a quick but costly battle. She snorted.

  "Well, that explains that," she chuckled. "No one wants to talk about it, I suppose it's no surprise no one explained it to you."

  "Explained what?" I dug, even more curious than before.

  "The thing killing this town, or so some people say. It's all bullshit if you ask me. A mystery that explains itself. People running from their own damn shadows," she answered before finally looking up at me.

  "What is? I don't understand," I asked again.

  She only responded with two words. "The Quiet."