MYRIA

Zemra

Maius

Myria knew something was wrong when she looked outside the next morning and saw the sun shining down on Zemra for the first time in days. A clear azure sky smiled above the valley. Birds were chirping, and children were laughing in the distance.

But something felt off; Myria just wasn't sure what. Even as she walked through town, she thought she was dreaming. Suddenly, Zemra's downtown was filled with blooming flowers and color and camaraderie rather than mud and gloom and glowers.

Myria approached the Goat's Crown and stopped in her tracks upon seeing the tavern. Standing outside were two of the Eye's writers, Liljana and Antony, huddled into conversation. Despite the sun and the flowers and the warmth, they were the only things normal about Zemra today.

"Why do you both look like you've seen a ghost?" Myria asked, stepping towards them.

Liljana glanced over her shoulder, her long braid of blonde hair snapping like a whip. "Oh, Myria! Don't sneak up on us like that. It's rude."

Myria quirked a brow in contempt but decided not to fire back. "Seriously, what's going on?"

Antony's dark eyes scanned the premises and locked on something just beyond Myria's frame of vision. His eyes narrowed as he muttered, "Incoming."

Myria's face fell into confusion but she turned around to see what Antony had pointed out. Walking towards them was a boy who walked like he had somewhere to be and he was rather late. His hair and part of his face was covered by a dark hood but Myria's stomach twisted when he shucked the hood off his head.

"Gods in Heaven..." Myria breathed. "This can't be happening."

The red-headed boy from her visions seemed to hear her, and he turned to meet her incredulous gaze. He was close enough that Myria could see he had cerulean irises, clearer than the sea. He smiled sheepishly as he approached, and Myria wondered if she was still breathing.

"Um, hi there," the boy nodded to Myria. "I was wondering if, er, there was a place that I could grab a cup of coffee?"

Myria was still gaping.

The boy shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "Miss?"

Myria blinked, shaking herself out of her reverie. "Right, um, well, the Goat's Crown has the best coffee in town."

The boy smiled, as if he knew that already. "Thank you! Would you mind telling me where to find it?"

In unison, Myria, Liljana, and Antony pointed to the Crown, only a few feet away from then. The boy's cheeks turned red at this and he ducked a nod, mumbled a thank you, and hurried inside. Myria watched him go until the door shut behind him, and even then, didn't cease her gaze until her friends forced her out of it.

"We get it, he's cute. Can we focus please?" Antony spoke, venom laced like barbs in his sarcastic tone.

Myria whirled to face him. "I wasn't staring at him because he was cute!"

Liljana, quizzically, arched a brow. "You're saying he wasn't cute? Because he was."

"I'm not saying that!" Myria countered. She shut her eyes in exasperation, huffing a sigh. "What is the problem here?"

Antony chewed on his lip. "Lili and I were on our way here this morning when we saw...we saw..." He sighed dramatically. "It's too awful, I can't say it!"

Liljana rolled her eyes, averting her gaze to Myria. "We saw General Rexha with a copy of the Eye."

Myria's heart stopped. "What?"

"You heard me," Liljana nodded. "He didn't look very happy either."

Myria exhaled shakily. She looked around, running a hand through her brown hair. "T-that's not a bad thing, right? A lot of the people the Eye writes about know that they've been featured. They don't know where to find the base."

"That's what we were saying," Antony agreed, nodding so hard Myria thought his head was about to pop off. "Until we saw some of the police go into the Crown. They still haven't come out."

Myria's eyes widened. She looked wildly at the tavern, which seemed to be unusually...silent for a day like this. Even when it opened, the Crown was bustling with business and chatter. Now it seemed like a ghost of its past self, and Myria's stomach dropped at that.

"They could be there for a drink," Liljana offered weakly.

Myria chewed on her lip. That was indeed a possibility but given the fact that the centurion had clearly been looking for something the day before didn't sit well with this new information.

"I'm going in there," she decided.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Antony countered, stepping into her line of sight. "Do you want a death sentence?"

"Do you?" Myria rebuffed. "If they find the Eye, we'll all be punished for treason against the Empire! And do you know what the penalty is for treason?"

Antony nodded, his lips pressed together in a thin line as the weight of the situation hung over him. Of course, the penalty for treason against the Empire was death.

"Exactly," Myria exhaled. "Now, I'm going to go in there and see what's happening. If something goes wrong, you all run the other way and warn the others."

"How will we know?" Liljana asked.

Myria started to speak, but a deeper, more masculine voice hung in the air, filling Myria to the brim with dread. It was a voice she knew, a voice every villager in Zemra knew, and it was one they feared to encounter. Myria whirled around to see General Rexha emerging from the Goat's Crown, two legionnaires flanking him on either side. Myria recognized one as the centurion from the day before, the one Alo Klea had feared was surveying the tavern.

"There won't be any need for that, girl," General Rexha spoke, his voice like unrelenting thunder.

Antony chuckled nervously. "Oh, really? Well, good then."

General Rexha gave Myria a serpentine smile. Then, from behind his back, he brandished a copy of the Eye, and even from where she stood, Myria could see the heading of her last story that revolved around the man standing before her.

"Recognize this?" the general pressed.

Myria tilted her head, eyeing the paper with pursed lips. "I'd be shocked if you didn't, General. The Eye is everywhere in Zemra."

The General scowled. "I hereby charge you, Myria Xani, with subterfuge of the Perian Empire."

Myria's eyes widened fractionally, but she held her ground. "On what grounds? You can't tie me to that newspaper." She nodded at the crumpled copy in his beefy hands.

"You don't ask anything of me, girl," the General barked. "Now come quietly or face further punishment. Although where you're going, you'll have enough of it."

"No!" Liljana and Antony cried. Myria heard the door open and out of the corner of her eye, she saw the red-headed boy from her visions poke his head out of the door. There was another boy with him, with darker hair and eyes. Behind them both, Alo Klea watched in dread.

The legionnaires marched for Myria, and just as they approached, the familiar wave of unease slammed into Myria like a storm. Except now, she only felt stronger. One of the legionnaires grabbed for her, but Myria swung her fist up and into his nose. A loud crack was heard as he stumbled away, blood staining his fingers as he grasped his face.

General Rexha was furious. "Seize the girl!"

Myria wanted to stay, she wanted to fight. She wanted to beat and punch and kick her way out of this mess. Only there was another legionnaire left standing and as she swung for him, he reached out with his baton and a shock ran through Myria. She cried out and crumbled to the ground; since when did the police have electric batons?

Through her pain-induced haze, Myria felt the legionnaires drag her away. She saw Antony and Liljana standing in horror, screaming for them to let her go. She saw Alo Klea with her hands to her mouth, tears running down her face. And last of all, she saw the red-haired boy watching her like he knew exactly who she was and what he was doing in her visions. And that's when the world went black.