[WATCHERS] PROMPT 2

Garmr wanted to complain, he was tired of being down here, tired of being forced into a role that wasn’t for him. He desperately wanted to spit venom at the happy-go-lucky empyrian beside him. However, his partner had had enough of his vile words and chose to muzzle him instead. Herja ignored the glares she was receiving and maintained eye contact with the expanse before her. 

“This is going to be a long night,” Alowyn whispered to herself. She was ignoring the grumpy vayron and was glad it could be done so easily thanks to Herja’s magic. 

“If you want to nap,” Herja said, “I’ll keep watch.”

Alowyn was going to protest but yawned instead as if her body was telling her not to deny what she needed. Alowyn thanked Herja and curled into a ball to sleep. As her vision faded she heard Garmr’s chains coming off. 

“Quit catering to her,” Garmr growled when the chains muzzling him vanished. 

“She isn’t like us,” Herja shot back, “There’s no use trying to make her fit with us.”

“Oh, so instead we have to fit with her,” Garmr sneered. 

“Let’s just get through this adventure and then we never have to see her again,” Herja sighed, her eyes trained on the many openings in the walls waiting for some danger to appear. Garmr grumbled to himself but turned his attention to the task at hand. He watched the section of the territory that wasn’t in Herja’s view. The task was easily handled between the two of them, but it was maddening that Alowyn was fast asleep behind them. 

An hour or two later, Alowyn was abruptly pulled from her sleep by a sharp pain in her tail. She yelped and instinctively used her magic to protect herself before even opening her eyes. When her eyes finally adjusted to the dark tunnels she, unsurprisingly, found Garmr trying to step on her tail. 

“I was waking you up,” Garmr grunted from the vine cage Alowyn had him in, “it’s my turn to sleep, we’re doing shifts.”

Alowyn yawned, nodded, and then released her magic. She chose not to address his aggressive methods because she found it punishment enough to see him strung up in her vines like a puppet. She could tell he found it demeaning, too. The vines around Garmr weaved back into the ground. Garmr shot her a glare before settling down into a ball to sleep. Alowyn dragged her attention away from the vayron as she stretched and she noticed Herja was still awake.

“You can sleep too,” Alowyn mentioned, stepping closer to the stoic female. 

“It’s alright,” Herja replied with a glance at Alowyn. 

Herja turned her attention back to the landscape before her. In the dark, it was hard to see much, and she grew increasingly frustrated by her lack of vision. Suddenly, it hit her that they were going about this all wrong. Three of them in one lookout spot was very inefficient. Herja roughly woke Garmr. 

“What the hell,” Garmr growled and tried to complain that he hadn’t even fallen asleep yet, but Herja wouldn’t hear him as she cut him off. 

“New plan,” Herja stated, “We separate and each watch a section.”

Herja pointed out into the darkness. She eyes two other places where one of them could watch, covering areas the other couldn’t see. Garmr grumbled about his lack of sleep, but Herja and Alowyn ignored him. 

“Sounds good,” Alowyn adjusted her body towards the edge before taking off into the tunnel. She landed gracefully on one of the platforms Herja had indicated. 

When Alowyn looked around to get her bearings she realized how right Herja was. There was a whole area behind the rock face she couldn’t see before. Rejuvenated from her nap, Alowyn settled in for a long lookout. Every so often she would look around to check in on her companions, but otherwise, it was a quiet night. 

Herja watched the empyrian go about the task, pleased with her obedience but turned to Garmr and knew he would be unhappy. 

“Stay here, I’ll go to the other platform,” Herja instructed, letting her fire envelope her feet. She didn’t wait for Garmr’s response and took off into the tunnels to the floating rock opposite of the one Alowyn was sitting on. 

Garmr watched Herja float away, he was unhappy to be awake, but equally thrilled that he was alone for one of the first times during this exhausting journey. His excitement for this adventure quickly faded the longer he had spent with the cheery empyrian and now all he wanted was for it to be over. Garmr let his thoughts wander as he kept watch over his portion. 

With everyone in their places, watching, waiting, they found the space to be eerily quiet. The odd branch, far below them, would shake and make Alowyn jump every once in a while. 

[818]