Unbound

Three Days Prior

Gabby sat with her head cradled by silken sheets and impossibly soft pillows. She stared at a ceiling painted to resemble the evening sky, wondering how she had gotten into this mess. Before she’d regained her Mind. Before Imara.

Her memories of that time were hazy. What stood out was a great deal of training interspersed with exceptional violence that curdled her blood to think on. Recent events were easier. She recalled her brother, the man who now went by Felix Nevarre.

She swallowed. Gabby found it hard to reconcile her dorky older brother with the…terrifying man she’d fought.

The man Imara had fought. Gabby wasn't her, not anymore.

She sat up, letting the cool silk sheets pool around her knees as she looked around for the hundredth time. It was the same chamber she’d been given, back when she hadn’t a thought in her head except whatever the Pathless shoved in there. It was wide and circular, covered in gilded details that curled like feathers from the corners of the room. Sconces set with Mana crystals, all gold, filled the place with a dim light that fit the theme of her evening sky ceiling. It was a dome, picked out with silver stars that formed constellations she didn’t recognize.

Imara couldn’t have cared less about the room. She had trained and hunted; she hadn’t had the time for soft mattresses, thick rugs, and deep, cozy fireplaces. Gabby, on the other hand, appreciated it all: the wealth, the comfort…and the threat they represented. The Hierophant had given her the room, and the Hierophant could take it away.

Stop that, she chided herself. She doesn't know you're you. Not fully, at least.

Since making her deal with the gods, Gabby had been keeping up the act. It wasn't a complex task. Imara had been more of a robot than a human being.