Chapter 4, Journal of Runi Gavril
Runi is bent over the table, head on her hands, staring at a candle. It doesn’t flicker, the wax doesn’t drip, but she swears she used to feel heat off it. She passes her finger slowly over it unconsciously.
“96 days, 6 hours, 13 minutes.” Runi quietly mumbles to no one in particular.
“Hmm? Since when?” Her husband Anaru asks, continuing to fiddle with the contraption on the table.
“Since the world stopped…” Runi says quietly, sounding deflated. Passing her finger over it again. No one had realized it at first. Sand fell, people bled, the sun rose and set. Then they noticed it. The water pumps stopped working, the wind stopped blowing, the plants, never bloomed or ripened. Nobody seemed to panic though. It even seemed really exciting. Runi smiles remembering it. Everyone seemed so eager to figure out the cause, Runi couldn’t go out though, Runi had her own jobs to do. Besides, no one liked working around Runi. They said Runi was too weird, they said that Runi should stop talking in the third-person. Anaru loved her though, and Runi loved him back, but he would always seem so absorbed by his silly contraptions. “Aaand… aw.” Anaru suddenly says as his little contraption fails for the fiftieth time.
Lifting her head up a little at the sound, Runi numbly chimes in, passing her finger over the flame once more. “Honey, we already know motion doesn’t carry right now, so why are you still trying that?” It’s not like we have much time left anyway…
Before the world stopped these sorts of morbid thoughts would have startled her, but they had been growing frighteningly more common as the days dragged on. Picking up her dagger she pushes away from the table to begin her walks once again. Since the crisis they had been growing longer causing her to walk from dusk to day. It helped ease her mind though. At the end of the walk she would be so tired she could almost forget about all the problems the nation had. That’s what Runi told herself anyway, that’s what she told Anaru. As Runi stepped into the dusk light she mumbled another goodbye into the tent, and even though the goodbye sounded deflated Runi could feel the tension building once again. She followed a path she was now familiar with, leading her from the science district into the poorer side of the military district. She may have been the co-representative of the science district, she may have been the lead scientist in most of the projects undertaken, but like all citizens she had undergone the same extensive military training as everyone else. Unlike most people though she had relished the life and death duels fought over rank during her time in the military. In truth the point of these “walks” was to try and relive the thrill she had felt during the duels. Lucky for her the crisis, had caused there to be many more willing participants looking to escape the endless cycle. Contacted through the message district message board they would meet up with her for a duel to first blood. Little did the next participant know today was different. This wasn’t a harmless spar, the next one was to the death. That was when he appeared, the man cloaked in rags the color of the sand wielding a saber and sheath. Dwarfing Runi by nearly a foot, he stood at ten paces. Runi drew her dagger, smiling in anticipation, Runi has only one thought going through her mind. This is gonna be is much fun!
Back at the tent, a small contraption begins to spin.
“So… why is everyone…” Runi begins as she notices that the rest of the council is sat opposite of her.
“Runi… you killed-” Su begins.
“And ate-” Rafael cuts in.
“I didn’t eat anybody!” Runi cuts him off.
“So you did kill him?” Yahundi looks at her questioningly.
“M-maybe… but there was a lot going on! It’s not like I meant to kill him!” Liar liar Runi can’t help but to think it as she states her innocence.
“What were you doing out sparring anyway? You’re on the council as representative of the science district. I mean I could see Rafael doing it-” Su is cut off in the middle of her bullet like speech.
“It was one time!” Rafael cuts in almost angry. Su continuing as if uninterrupted.
"-but you Runi? Also how do you explain the half eaten body!"
“I already proved it wasn’t from any elf, the bite marks were WAY to large!” Jaylen says trying to defend her.
By this point it’s devolved into a shouting match.
“Welcome back everyone…” Runi says this quietly knowing full well no one will remember this in a week.