Eva stumbled over the cobbled flooring of Baskta town’s railway station. People looked fearfully startled and worried. They whispered and avoided the grim looking figure whose grip on a stone pillar gave away; she fell leaning against it, now hunched over and panting harshly. She inhaled a whiff of burning coal and smoke that made her cough badly against her battered ribs. Simply trying to stand up was painful and she was completely dazed over on top of it. There was just one objective in her mind and that was to take a train to Magnolia now that she was finally free.

Free…yes, she was free now.

They had taken everything they could from her.

The steam engine train blared loudly as if to drown out all the whispering and she immediately picked herself up to go find herself a seat. It was easier to get in through a crowd that automatically parted for her and having a seat just for herself was good, too. Lesser people to bother with. She didn’t want to deal with any if possible –she had no confidence that she could even talk coherently- until Magnolia. She prayed desperately that no one recognized her.

No, they possibly can’t.

Eva had changed drastically over the months of her being captive somewhere deep in the woods of Baska town. She was fettered to a pillar in some dark fortress, given only just enough to keep her alive, with nothing to keep her from the biting cold winds that crept through the cracks and creaks. How was it that she stayed sane for so long? Was it thanks to a fickle, barely visiting, sun beam that sometimes got imprisoned with her?

No, she was not sane.

Her eyes darted across the compartment. She was still alone. People gathered outside but none dared to approach her, not even the train master. They only took note of a shaking train ticket clasped tightly in her hands and left either with a shrug or with a concerned face. There may have been a couple or two mages from magic guilds but they apart from watching her, they did nothing while the train slowly slipped over the railway track.

Why Magnolia and not Era?

Eva didn’t know the answer to that either. Perhaps it was because Era would remind her of the life she lived before the kidnapping; a life where she was proud of herself and confident and beautiful. Comparing that to what she now became was difficult to even think of. It hurt her head badly and made her want to weep again.

Magnolia was just a familiar town that made her feel safe. There was no particular reason to it, but just some memories. She would have to sleep in the streets again, under the moon and comforted by cold winds. She was as bare as a person she would have scoffed at only a few months ago. Then she would have shoved her own self-righteous words of hard work and results on to them. Now, she couldn’t even remember it.

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