[ATMOS.2] Xayah: Cursed

CURSED

Dialogue markers:  Xayah;  Parent;

 

The train ride was quiet for everyone except for Xayah. The young draken sat rigidly on one of the wooden benches, and as her parent said, her wrists still bound together by the glowing mana rope. She occasionally pulled against it out of sheer stubbornness, earning herself nothing but sore wrists and annoyed glances from other passengers. The faint blue strands of mana remained firmly wrapped around her arms, occasionally crackling whenever she strained too hard. Xayah looked towards the window and her reflection stared back. Frost occasionally escaped her nostrils whenever she exhaled too sharply, looking very angry.

Her parent was sat beside her, silent and visibly exhausted, their long ears drooped slightly from fatigue and dark circles rested beneath their eyes. Their travel cloak concealed most of their body, but the mana rope binding their daughters wrists originated from their paw and remained connected by a thread of glowing energy. Maintaining it for hours was clearly taking a toll on them, yet they never released it.

The train rattled through valleys and forests for some hours and neither of them spoke, except for the occasional attempts by Xayah to provoke an argument that were met with complete silence from her parent. Eventually the conductor's voice echoed through the wagon, announcing they're passing through the atmos shrine's region and the nyulop slowly stood. "We get off here"

"Wonderful" Xayah rolled her eyes.

The train gradually slowed until the screeching wheels finally came to a halt. At the sight of some of the passengers lining up to the exit, the nyulop grabbed their backpack and guided Xayah there. She considered resisting but she wasn't in the mood for another slapping, not in front of everyone else. For the first time in her life, she wasn't entirely sure how far her parent was willing to go.

When looking directly at the forest, the air felt different immediately and the smell of fresh leaves filled the wind.

"We still have several hours of walking ahead" The nyulop adjusted their backpack and let out a sigh.

"Yeah, sure." She rolled her eyes and also let out a sigh. Just thinking about all the walking made her tired.

The path wound deeper into the forest. At first Xayah remained focused solely on her irritation, every root she stumbled over suddenly became the forest's fault and every minute felt like an eternity. After some hours, Xayah eventually stopped talking and complaining about everything. Something about the place made shouting feel wrong.

Small spirits occasionally darted between branches, vanishing before Xayah could get a proper look at them.

"Behave, they're watching you" The nyulop noticed her staring.

"I don't really give a damn" Xayah felt a shiver down the spine, what? 

"You should" The nyulop simply continued walking.

The forest gradually opened around them and they could finally see the temple with some delicate ornaments and offerings to Atmos. Xayah was nervous looking at it, it was so calm and simple, it made her feel strange. She definitely didn't wanted to be there and this strange feeling was starting to piss her off. When the nyulop was walking towards the shrine, pulling their daughter by the mana rope around her wrists and a hint of relief appeared on their face. "We made it"

Xayah stared at the shrine and remained silent. The nyulop kneeled down and started their prays, asking kindly for atmos to show up. "Oh great Atmos, I beg you, please touch the heart of my daughter so she can understand and learn about respect. Teach her to respect the world, I failed in this task, you're my last resouce..." Xaya's parent grabbed their bag and pulled out an offering to the spirit.

The nyulop's paw trembled slightly as they put the offering delicately on the shrine, their head still bowed, and for a few moments nothing happened. Xayah shifted her weight impatiently and rolled her eyes. "See? Waste of time."

The nyulop remained kneeling, "Please" they whispered.

The air above the shrine began to swirl gently, then the soft breeze stirred the leaves overhead. The cloud looking spirit appeared descending from the sky and touching the ground with surprising gentleness. The spirit tilted his head slightly and one antenna twitched.

"Great Atmos..." The nyulop immediately lowered their head.

His attention settled upon the exhausted parent first, then upon Xayah. Atmos remained completely still, studying and observing both finley in front of him.

"What you looking at?" Xayah immediately felt uncomfortable.

Atmos blinked, one of his antennae perked upward and he slowly stepped closer to her, the ground barely made a sound beneath his feet while he approached. The spirit circled slightly around her, seeing from another angle, trying to undestand the whole situation with his eyes. The antennae twitched again.

The nyulop looked up hopefully, and finally let the mana rope around their daughter fade away, letting out a sigh of relief. Atmos took another careful step forward and Xayah immediately leaned away. "Back off". The spirit remained there looking and expecting her to calm down, he lowered himself slightly, trying to appear less imposing despite his size, his eyes fixed on her.

"What? Xayah frowned, then a strange sensation brushed against her mind... the spirit was trying to understand her, showing some kind of concern and maybe a hint of pity. The draken immediately hated it and the anger started to burn in her core.

Atmos continued watching her with the same calm expression and endless patience. He slowly lowered himself even further until his eyes were a level below with hers, and the movement felt oddly respecful even though he were deliberately meeting her where she stood rather than expecting her to come to him.

Xayah's jaw tightened. Why was she angry? The draken could see this simple question in his eyes and she silence stretched. The spirit just waited for her to process her feelings not demanding any action from her... For the first time in the entire journey someone seemed genuinely interested in hearing and understanding her rather than correcting her. Yet somehow that only made her even more uncomfortable, she doesn't know why. The draken looked away and felt the heat rise more and more in her chest. If there's one thing she hates in the world is anyone trying to unravel her feelings, and Atmos was looking at her as if he could see every embarrassing thought she had.

In this exact moment something inside Xayah snapped, every feeling she had in this long journey exploded at once and the teen let out a shout "WON'T YOU STOP LOOKING AT ME LIKE THAT?!"

Before anyone could react, she lunged forward and shoulder slammed into the spirit's face. One clawed hand struck the side of his head and the other hand followed immediately after. In reality, the attack carried very little force compared to Atmos's willpower and didn't hurt him much. The true harm was this reaction, the lack of respect and the violence towards him. The intent behind it was unmistakable, pure hostility.

Atmos took some steps back and froze in place because of shock, with his eyes widened, For a brief moment he simply stared at her, disbelieving what just happened, as though he genuinely could not understand why someone would respond that way to a respectful and comforting approach.

"Xayah..." The nyulop's face drained of color, and their voice was barely heard.

With a sorrow that seemed far heavier than any rage could ever be, atmos looked at Xayah for several long seconds and accepted he could not do anything to help this finley. The guardian closed his eyes and silently cursed the draken and a sensation like cold water flowed through her mind with a dull ache somewhere deep inside her.. The hidden little spirits watched in silence.

"I'm terribly sorry, great Atmos, thank you for trying to help her." The nyulop vaguely regained their strength to get up, and bowed to the spirit in respect "Now about you..." they looked at their daughter one more time before leaving "I don't want to see you ever again, you're a disgrace, Xayah. You're not welcome home anymore, go find your own path". Atmos took flight, and the nyulop walked back to the train station, leaving Xayah alone in the forest pondering what had just happened and what would happen next.