Treya
Treya paced.
Over the last...decade? Century? She wasn’t sure how long she’d been trapped in this cell. Locked away for eternity. It made her want to punch something. Unfortunately, there was nothing to punch. Not this deep in the Duat. Treya half wished she could just end it, but her stubbornness didn’t allow that thought very much purchase in her mind. She still wanted her revenge.
So she did what she had done whenever these moods came upon her; she paced. Walking kept her moving, even if she was only moving in place. And moving kept her momentum, momentum she’d maintained ever since her exile. Momentum meant she wouldn’t break down. Momentum meant she could contain her power. Momentum meant that when she finally found a way to drag herself back to the mortal world, she could find the bastards that had done this to her. She wouldn’t allow herself to cry, or scream, or even sit down. No matter how desperate she was on the inside, she kept moving and bided her time.
Time. Time was tricky in the Duat. It didn’t move at the same rate, especially so far in. Treya could’ve been here for weeks, months, even… No, stop. This was the kind of thinking that led in circles, from despair to anger to regret to desperation to-
She gave herself a mental slap. No way was she going to let this happen. She wasn’t some meek maiden from her mother’s stories. She was strong and fierce. She imagined building a shining set of armor around herself, so thick and protective that nothing could get through, not even these weak thoughts.
And so she paced.
**
Finally, it happened. Treya was pacing, as always, when she felt something brush up against her cage. It was the slightest of touches, which might have been overlooked by anyone else. But after all this time with no senses, it was like a knife dragging along her spine. Treya stopped her pacing and reached out, squashing down her hope in the event that it was just the isolation getting to her. But sure enough, she felt a presence - one she’d come to love as much as she loved anyone.
Hello there, my darling. It greeted her with the same warmth. She smiled slightly, surprising herself with a tear that slipped down her cheek. Before she understood what was happening, she was sobbing, her entire body shaking with emotion she’d refused to show. It infuriated her, and at the same time, she was relieved.
The presence soothed her, enveloping her in its embrace. I cannot stay long, but I can give you this gift. I have used all my strength to find you. You understand what you must do now. With one last calming breath, it was gone. As it left, it tore a rift in her cell, leaving it open to the wide expanse of the Duat.
Treya sat for a moment, wiping her tears away and gathering herself. Once she was back in the mortal world, she had to keep it together. She would not have people discounting her.
She took one last breath and flew to the surface.
Immediately, she noticed something wrong. It was loud - too loud, and full of strange noises. Beeping noises and shouting and a sound she couldn’t even describe, like a dull roaring. She looked up and gaped at her surroundings.
The empty lot she’d been banished in was gone. An enormous warehouse stood in front of her, seemingly abandoned. She turned toward the roaring noises and wished she hadn’t. Funny-shaped boxes on wheels raced along the roads, making horribly loud noise. The buildings had doubled in size and were full of steady bright light. The same light streamed from the boxes, and from the mansion on top of the warehouse.
Treya blinked. The mansion? She looked again. Sure enough, a five-story manor sat perched on top of the factory, gleaming and beautiful.
Treya closed her eyes against the pounding in her head. How long had she been trapped in the Duat? The world had changed completely. She thought back to the time she’d left - it seemed calm and welcoming compared to this new hellscape.
“Hey, you okay there?” Her eyes blinked open at the voice in front of her. The speaker was a boy, a bit older than she was, with coffee-tone skin and dark, curly hair. He was looking at her with concern and something she couldn’t put her finger on.
“You just appeared out of nowhere, so…”
“I’m alright.” Treya chased all the doubt and confusion from her face, even as her head reeled from all the input rushing her senses. It was better not to let mortals know you were off. “And I didn’t appear out of nowhere. You must be confused.” She made to walk past the boy, but he held out an arm to block her.
“Look, you can’t fool me, and not just because you talk like a Shakespeare character. I think I can help.”
She silenced him with a glare. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I certainly don’t need your assistance. Now, if you’ll just step aside, I’ll be on my way.”
He looked like he was about to give in when the building behind him made a loud crashing sound, and half the windows facing us shattered. He raced off toward it, yelling “stay put!” as he went.
Treya considered the opportunity. On the one hand, she could now figure out where she was and where to go next on her own. On the other hand, that boy was definitely a magician, and where there were magicians, there were usually demons to fight…
She flexed her fingers, muttering the commands she had repeated over and over again during her confinement. Ha-di. Hi-nehm. She smiled as she got to the last one, taking off toward the mansion in front of her, every pound of her feet against the ground jarring. Lifting off of the ground, she flew through a window, the jagged glass scraping against her clothes and dragging against her skin. She embraced how shocking it was, letting her nerves warm up. It felt so good to move beyond the same tight circle, to breathe the magic she’d been without for so long. She ducked into a roll as she hit the ground, remaining crouched against the floor as she took in the state of the fight.
The room would’ve been vast and impressive if it wasn’t being torn apart by the battle taking place. A huge statue of a man with a bird’s head stood at one end. Otherwise, it looked like a giant training room, with sturdy wood floors and all sorts of equipment laying about. At the moment, there were a good number of people summoning various forms of offense against the cloud of flying snakes that swarmed just below the ceiling. She guessed there were around 20 of them, as long as her arm, with enormous hawk-like wings. Treya couldn’t recall the creatures’ name at the moment and didn’t particularly care. What she did care about was that the people were losing. A younger boy, maybe 12, was directing a herd of penguins but, penguins being, well, penguins, it wasn’t having much effect. A fifteen-foot tall shimmering avatar of a falcon-headed man slashed with a ten-foot sword, but it flickered and disappeared as Treya watched, leaving an older boy defenseless on the ground. A flash of brown flew in front of him as a girl twirled her arms this way and that, summoning earth out of thin air to keep the snake demons back. Treya could see the concentration in the girl’s eyes as she fought to keep the shield in between the fallen and the snakes.
Sensing that she needed to act now, Treya rose to her feet. “A’max,” she whispered to herself, grinning as her hands were engulfed in bright red flame. It tickled her palms like an old friend, setting her fingers tingling. As the entire room turned towards her fire, she lifted her head and grinned even wider. Then she launched herself into action.
The first snake that dived at her was met with a swift blast of her flame. She ducked as another flew over her head. Turning around with deadly speed, she sent it reeling against the wall with a well-aimed kick. She let her fire circle her, creating a deadly storm of heat. It was overkill, and she knew it, but she couldn’t bring herself to rein it in. Serpent after serpent fell to the ground, either from her flame or her fists. She twisted and struck and rolled, the moves coming back to her all at once. She laughed as she burned through her enemies until the floor was littered with broken snake bodies. Only then did she make herself step back. She released her hold on the fire, and it dispersed. Her arms lowered to her sides as she turned to face the people she’d….well, the people she’d saved, she thought with no small amount of pride.
They had wisely vacated the center of the room during her rampage, and she noted that everyone had a look of shock on their face. Considering the ash surrounding her, and the insane look of joy on her face, she couldn’t blame them.
“Uhm...Walt, take the other initiates upstairs. Jaz, check everyone. Sadie…” The boy from outside motioned to the people he was talking to. Treya noted the curved sword he held in his right hand. Slowly, the crowd started moving out of the room. The boy and girl - Sadie, she assumed - who remained stepped forward. The boy seemed uncertain, but Sadie was merely curious. Her blonde hair was streaked with a bright blue, which went well with her dark shirt and combat boots. She raised an eyebrow at Treya.
“So. You storm in here and blow everything to pieces with magic far beyond your age. You scare our initiates half to death, take all the fun out of our fight, and on top of that, you barely have a scratch.” She crossed her arms. “Explain.”
Treya tilted her head. “You’re with the House of Life?”
Sadie frowned. “That’s no answer. But how did you know?”
“The glamor on your manor, the Egyptian demons, you’re training initiates, and that boy has a khopesh,” Treya said. “The real question is, why has the Chief Lector not sent a proper adult to oversee this facility?”
The boy cleared his throat. “Look, there’s a lot to explain. I don’t know where you’re from, or how you’ve not been noticed before, but we can talk about that later. For now, I’m Carter Kane. This is my sister, Sadie. We run the Brooklyn House, the headquarters for the 21st Nome.” He gestured at the house around them. “But right now, I’m curious about you. Are you from another nome? Or a new arrival? You seem to know magic, but I’ve never heard of you.” He casually dropped his sword, which vanished. Probably into the Duat.
Treya had to close her eyes. The adrenaline from the battle was fading, and her mind was reeling. First the city around her, now the House… she couldn’t believe how much everything had changed. How long was I trapped?
“What… what year is it?”
“What? Uh, 2019. Why?”
Treya felt the world spin. Opening her eyes, she called on long-unused knowledge to do the math. Over 150 years? I spent a century and a half locked in that goddamn prison. She forced herself to look at Carter. He was studying her with a look that Treya couldn’t quite decipher. Sadie was frowning.
“Why do you need to know the year? Where did you come from? Carter?” Sadie turned to her brother intensely. Carter looked taken aback. “Where did you find this girl? What in the world is going on?”
Treya’s hands were shaking. She sank to the ground, reaching for some of the warmth she’d had only moments ago, but it was gone. The sounds around her blurred together. She squeezed her eyes shut, which turned out to be a mistake, because once she’d done that she couldn’t find the energy to open them again. Eventually, she gave in, and was thrown back into the darkness she’d become so used to.