Eleasara Balgrave

Walcher opened a heavy metal blast door. Behind it was a room lit solely by a single flickering lightbulb on the ceiling, likely giving off its last glimmers before dying. The room was lined with thick metal panels on the walls, floor, and ceiling. In the center of the room sat a woman in a wheelchair behind a metal table covered with glass bottles. Each bottle was uniquely shaped and had a runic number etched deeply into the glass. A clock chimed to signal the start of grade 1 of shift 4.

The woman had long, straight blonde hair and wore ink-dyed augur’s robes like Walcher’s. Her hands rested on her lap, and she rubbed the soles of her bare feet back and forth on the chamber’s metal floor. Around her neck, she wore a rune crystal suspended by multiple gold chains, the weight of the crystal bending her head and neck slightly forward. She wore an ink-dyed blindfold, matching her robes, tied around her head, obscuring her apparently empty eyes from the world.

“Mister Vrain.” The woman gave Vaster a toothy grin. “You’re right on time. Please, come in.”

Vaster stepped through the threshold and entered the chamber. Walcher stood next to the blast door, just outside the room.

“You’re here to ask me a question.”

Vaster nodded, but then realized that Eleasara couldn’t see him. “Yeah, yeah. That’s what Walcher told me, but I’m not sure what he meant.”

“You want to know what happened to your sister.”

Vaster’s heart flopped in his chest. “Yeah, yeah, that’s right.”

“Go ahead.” Eleasara smiled, showing her teeth again. “Ask me.”

Vaster coughed as he felt another palpitation. “What happened to her?”

“To who?”

“My sister.”

“What is your sister’s name?”

Another palpitation. Vaster realized he hadn’t said her name out loud in starcycles. He felt his throat close up and his chest tighten as he tried to spit out the word.