Astoundingly Outcasted

Chapter #1; Leila’s Little Loss

Did she manage to burn glitter again?

Smoke filled her lungs as she frantically got up from her bed, her deep slumber interrupted. She surveyed her blazing apartment, mildly surprised by the extent of the chaos, then her sister’s bed.

Adawna had just turned 12 that day. (Happy Birthday!)

Leila, seeing that she was neither in her bed nor anywhere else in the tiny flat, scurried out the door, only grabbing her dull bronze Arabic sword.

It was her greatest possession; she and her best friend Aibek had both gotten theirs together. Though he always won every sword duel, no matter how hard she attempted to beat him.

Eh... they were never serious about those.

Her flat was on the fourth floor, #786, so she had quite a way to make it down the stairs. Strange she didn’t encounter Adawna on the way down...

When she was on the last step to the outside world, she heard a piercing scream. It wasn’t anyone’s piercing scream—oh no—but her dear sister Adawna’s.

Rushing to the source of the sound, she saw, standing there in all his might, a cobren, her dear friend, Aibek, holding a sword adjacent to Adawna’s back.

It would be an understatement to say she couldn’t believe her eyes.

AIBEK?

What was he doing?

“What—”

She cleared her throat, ready to feign every ounce of confidence she could.

“What are you doing?”

She stared into his eyes, begging for an explanation.

“Oh...Raat. It’s simple, really.”

He started.

“I’m tired of this. I’m sick of living in a fire’s shadow and I’m disgusted by these powers…”

He went on and on, rambling about his silly excuses.

“There’s actually a way to rid yourself of your powers, Leila.”

A shudder down her spine loosened her grip on the double-helix, making it slip with both anxious sweat, and sweat caused by the ambient fire Aibek had sparked. Contrary to her, Aibek himself grabbed a tighter hold of his double-edged sword, the pattern from the wonky cross-guard embedding itself into the tip of his thumb.

“I know you’re tired of them, Leila.”

There it was again.

His British accent was ringing loudly in her pointy ears.

“Maybe, we could finally be not half-snakes.”

Okay, but then why set himself up for witnessed murder?

And that too of a could-be ally’s sibling?

“She hasn’t gotten her powers yet, and maybe, maybe, mortality intervention could do the trick.”

Leila couldn’t believe the nonsense coming from the bloke: both because she couldn’t believe how far he had strayed from societal morals and because of his confusing choice of words.

Was this really the reason for his corrupted morals?

She glared at him, unsure if his thought processing was alright; it could’ve been diminished at this point. Nonetheless, she tried to reason with his stupid self, pleading for Adawna’s life, no matter how much easier it would be with her out of the way.

Sadly though, as she uttered words of beckoning, a malicious smile grew across his face.

Words of desperation escaping her lips, tears filled her eyes as she realised it was already too late. A harsh blow from a certain sword pierced through Adawna’s back.

She lay there, stone-cold, her own hand-painted heart on her shirt destroyed by the point of the sword and a pool of flowing blood.

Standing there, in disbelief, she realised that this may be just a dream, but the feeling of cold tears rolling down her cheeks and the growing fire heating up the pavement refused to let her hallucinate.

The sibling bond and bickering were too great.

Standing there she unsheathes her own sword, grieving, dropping the sheath to gather ashes, and soon enough, the grin on Aibek’s face was soon covered with blood as she struck her weapon to an unsuspecting bloke, who thought she’d be paralyzed by the grief.

Loss can change a person in an instant, and grief soon had her messing up his left eye. Enraged, he lit a matchstick sourced from his pocket and pulled the blaze hastily, sending it hurling Leila’s way. She tried her best to block it using her sword, but nonetheless, it hit her face and the blade’s edge was forced into her cheekbone.

It burned. The blood oozing from her face added to the searing pain and worsened it to a nauseating extent.

She frantically started waving her sword in pain and managed to somehow chop one of his elf ears half off. Aibek, antagonised by the second open wound inflicted within a matter of seconds, slashed his weapon upwards from his left, the first clanging toll of swords crashing reverberated throughout the block, causing a wave of lights to flicker on one after the other as people crowded out, the more irresponsible of which now chanting.

“Phaddha! Phaddha! Phaddha! Doe rupay ka…”

The chorus fading in her ears, parry after strike after a parry, this throw of arms went on for quite a bit as both she and her now-rival sustained injury.

The commotion was heard throughout the neighbourhood, the responsible Sulars’ intervened and soon enough Leila’s focus was now primarily on her burning residency.

Smoke was pouring out the window and the scene illuminated the horizon.

She pathetically tried to break open one of the water pipes running on the base of the building with her sword, striking it several times with brute force, before a sweet local girl pointed out the tap right on the other side. Leila aggressively twisted it open and, like Aibek with the blaze, manoeuvred a wave big enough to put out the fire.

Much of the water boiled off, while the rest dampened the remains.

Leila soon found herself pacing around her burnt flat, trembling, tears dampening her slit-high neck, still unable to process what just happened and still trying to numb the prickling pain on her face.

She didn’t even have any real friends at this point to comfort her, which added to the crippling feeling of loneliness and existential dread. Gloom consumed her as she let her feelings pour out into the void she had now slipped into.

Meanwhile in Kaputt (the realm of the deceased)...

“Where am I?”

Her vision hauntingly clear, tears rolled down Adawna’s cheeks as a hand was placed on her shoulder and a soothing voice comforted her. She held her breath a little as the voice questioned her presence.

“You’re so... young.”

Sure, some die young, but why her?

Isn’t she Melanie’s best friend?

Melanie’s going to be devastated.

The voice was none other than Odin’s: The mamber, the greeter of death itself. It was his job to comfort people after they died.

“Where is here? Take me back to Leila! Please…”

Adawna was still uneasy.

Odin was trying his best to comfort her, doing all he could do, but all in vain.

She was still on edge.

He was hoping it wouldn’t have to come to this, but alas. He had to fetch a loved one to do the consoling.

At this point, he had a vague idea of where she lived her life due to recent reports about the fire & fight flooding his notifications, but also a vague clue about who she was. She was, after all, his sister’s best friend.

At least his younger sister’s. To the older both she and her sister were students.

Leila. Adawna’s older sister and parental figure.

She was in his class at Comradery High. He was never able to talk to her—apart from fleeting greetings in hallways—though. She was always preoccupied with something else alongside Aibek. The two were as thick as thieves.

He grabbed his pouch of onyx, compressing one to summon his scythe, and let Adawna be while he sourced a new way to complete his goal.

Pulling his dark cloak on, he drew a glowing circle around himself using his scythe, which would serve as his gateway to the living realm of Flourise as the warm aurora illuminated his pale features.

Back in Flourise...

Odin had arrived. He may have had a crucial job, albeit unpaid, but he was still alive. Naturally, this was where he was from, where his own siblings lived. It was obvious to him that people would see him as shady if he kept his scythe. He had it disintegrate into ashes in his nimble hand.

He knew the neighbourhood Leila lived in when he saw it, though it had a bit of a burnt accent by then. It was close to his school, and before this, he had only seen Leila as a bombastic classmate.

At least, before.

Standing in front of Leila’s door, he took a deep breath, rethinking his decision to come here. Things were a little awkward between the two; the silent kind.

Alas, he had come too far to turn back and had to proceed.

Odin bust the door open, breaking into the flat.

Standing right there was Leila, who had started to freak out at this point due to everything that had been happening.

Odin took one good look at her clothes, commenting that the plum-purple shirt was too bleak and unsightly against the ochre yellow knife pleats, before Leila herself pulled out her blade, only for the exhaustion and panic to finally take its toll on her.

Odin stood there, muddled, unsure of what to do, as Leila crumpled onto the floor.

.

.

.

“Oh good. You’re up. But don’t stand though. You’re still pretty tired.”

Leila opened her eyes to find herself in her mattress-on-the-floor, unsure how she had gotten there, and Odin in front of her rummaging through her box of a closet.

Enraged, Leila questions the break-in and everything that he’s doing, but he brushes it off and questions her instead.

“If I asked you to change into something more colourful, would you?”

This confused the girl even more before Odin dropped the bombshell.

“I’m going to cut your neck.”

Leila sat there in disbelief, the room illuminated by the single small lava lamp Adawna adored, unsure of what she just heard.

“You’re going to what?”

“Don’t worry. It’s only going to be a small scratch. You’re going to thank me later.”

As if that was going to make her freak out less. She got up and grabbed the dagger beside Adawna’s mattress, only for it to be taken by Odin and dusted with a cloud of grey dust from a pouch he had, and glared at her.

“You know, I pity your state. Both physical and mental.”

Leila had seen enough at this point, all the nonsense coming from both the British backstabbing bloke and Odin, but before she could do anything,

“Night.”

She felt a gust of cool air hit the exposed flesh of her neck before dropping to the ground.

.

.

.

She soon found herself in a dark area with Odin.

“Who the—”

Odin had covered her mouth with his hand, fully aware of what she was about to say. She was clearly infuriated. Nonetheless, he grabbed her by the arm and dragged her somewhere.

“Leila!”

The word caught her attention as someone threw herself into her arms. Her heart skipped a beat, and an anxious voice questioned.

“What happened to your face?”

Her eyes filling with tears, she replies,

“Let’s just say, I gave Aibek a piece of my mind.”

“Why are you crying?”

Leila, elated, could only mutter a slurry of incoherent words as she came to the realisation & hurried to dry her tears, looking brave for her ward.

“I’m really going to miss you.”

“Don’t miss me. You are the best sister in all the realms.”

Leila closed her eyes, cherishing this moment. She heard a whisper in her ear;

اراك قريبا يا اختي

She opened her eyes to find herself back in her tiny apartment. It all felt impossible, like a dream once again, but when she saw Odin standing there, complacent, she knew it wasn’t one.

She hugged Odin, tight, making it hard for him to breathe, and thanked him from the depths of the feels. His heart gave a flutter, but even in the spur of the moment, managed to stutter out a reply.

“No problem. It’s my job after all.”

That was all one could say in such a moment, when one was as unsure as he was.

25th March 2021, Thursday.

Leila;

It was... supposed to be Dawn’s 12th birthday today. But it ended up being a day for grievances. She died in the fire last night. Murdered, because of me. Because I put my trust in one person and in the wrong person. I’d rather have been killed than see her be killed. At least dead I wouldn’t be stuck in this void. Dark, empty, alone.

I thought he was my best friend, that he would fight with me, no matter what.

Not against me.

Someone broke in today. He looked familiar, like a face from school. He might have broken in, but he did it to help. He was obviously a mamber since no one else has the ability to let the living say their goodbyes. That’s what he did. He took me to Dawn and we managed to spend the moment without bickering. But I never knew a mamber was in my own school. No one can spot one since their ears are human, unlike the other types of natheren.

Odin;

Today was just a normal day. Or at least, I thought it’d be. I had to go to fetch some loved one. Not too common, but not too rare either. Besides, a final goodbye eases the pain a little. Right when I first saw the sick girl, she fainted. I never had to deal with a sick girl, so the experience was quite strange. But when she woke up, I went along with the rest of the plan like normal. Even tried to offer her some fashion advice. But when she hugged me after everything was over, it felt quite alien. Sure, this wasn’t the first time someone hugged me in gratitude, but it wasn’t the same.

Even though I hate this job, maybe, just maybe it’s not as bad as I thought.