into middle earth — psl

[ourladytrees]

aragorn & julia

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[ourladytrees]

and the weight of the world's getting harder to hold up (♫)

Magic was back. Those words echo through the universe as every being connected to it rejoiced at finally feeling whole again — a celebration that was cut tragically short as the Wellspring was siphoned off for control by the Library. It was a bitter ending to a quest that cost them so much — that would cost them even more in the hours ahead.

Julia managed to get away once they returned to the Neitherlands, no one paying much attention to the woman who could barely stand when there were a half-dozen much more problematic magicians to worry about. They were at the Library's main branch, and with the wards not yet restored to full strength, she slipped out to the plaza above. Down the row, through an archway, another two paths over. Moving as fast as she could, she stumbled, bracing a hand against rough walls of stone and rows of hedges to keep from falling. She was quickly lost among the fountains, not recognizing a single statue in this part of the plaza, but she kept going, hoping that her pursuers would be just as lost. If she could just get back to Earth; that's the thought that propelled her forward, past one fountain and then another, on and on until— 

The bolt of battle magic struck the stone at her feet, sending her tumbling forward against the edge of yet another fountain. Another bolt arced over her head, taking out some of the branches of the great white tree carved to represent wherever the portal led to. Julia's head whipped around to take in the strangers chasing her, the ones she had no doubt would kill her, so she made the only choice she had left. Pitching forward, into the water she went, down and down, until she landed on the ground of another world. 

The hours that immediately followed her arrival are a blur of agony that she didn't remember much of when night finally gave way to dawn. Everything hurt. Her veins were on fire, her soul burning from having her divine magic so suddenly ripped out, and she felt... nothing. No longer connected to the universe, but instead cut off and left bleeding out from her very core.

That was days ago and she hadn't yet stopped to think about what it all really meant. Her focus had been on getting to safety. Getting somewhere, anywhere, where she'd be safe in her present state. When Prometheus gave his power to create the keys, he knew he'd become vulnerable; his enemies had taken advantage of that vulnerability and killed him. She couldn't risk the McAllistairs or the Library trying that if they followed her here. So even though she wanted nothing more than to plop onto the ground and lament about how shitty her life had become yet again, she didn't have the time for that. 

So, she started walking, choosing a random direction and just going. She ignored the chill in the air and the way her heeled boots tried to sink into the earth. She ignored the way hunger and exhaustion clawed at her. All that mattered putting space between herself and whatever might follow after her. Everything else, she could figure out later.

Later came pretty quickly when she finally stumbled into a little town hugging the coastline. A kind old woman took pity on her and gave her a threadbare cloak to help against the chill and what food she could spare to help Julia stay upright, and then the former goddess stole enough coin from some drunken idiot to pay for passage on a ship. She didn't make it far, though, before too many people began noticing how odd she was. The way she dressed and spoke and how weak she looked — it was trouble waiting to happen. So she disembarked at the next stop, clutching close the small pack of supplies she'd purchased with the last of those stolen coins, and did her best to disappear.

Hiding among ruins is as good a place as any. There aren't many people around to become collateral damage if the Library's lackeys find her, at least. That's something, right? It has to be something.