Sable's Experiences

[Toaster]

//No longer canon.

May 28, 828 A.S.

A distorted, terrified scream. Olivia, running, stumbling, tripping through a ceaseless, green mist. An enormous, grotesque claw reaching out for her, grasping at her. A flash of light and horrible, incomprehensible pain.

Olivia woke with a start, bolting upright. Sweat ran down her skin, her soaked clothes clinging to her body. Terrible pain seared behind her eyes, as though someone had stabbed a knife through her temples. Confused, dazed, she looked around her dim surroundings, but a blue haze blurred her vision. Where the hell was she? Blindly, she reached out around her, searching, until her hands found a small box. She grasped it, clawed at its lid, and pulled out a small pill. Swallowing it, the relief was almost instant.

The stinging agony in her skull subsided and the mist that seemed to surround her lifted from her vision. Olivia panted, taking deep breaths to calm her nerves. She glanced around her dark surroundings, the only source of light being the nighttime cityscape outside the great windows. Her apartment. The mercenary sighed. She must have fallen asleep on the couch again. Breathing in deeply, she reached up and wiped the sweat from her forehead.

It had been the same nightmare again. The same, awful recollection of what had happened that dreadful day two months ago. Olivia was beginning to fear that it might never stop haunting her dreams, that she would be doomed to spend every night waking up, frightened and soaked in sweat.

Exhausted, she got to her feet and walked across the dark living room to the bedroom door. She stepped through, glancing around the smaller space in the dim city light shining through the windows. One wall was lined in floor-to-ceiling closets, most of which were, of course, empty. Her modest collection of attire filled only a few drawers, shelves, and hangers. Her bare footsteps muffled by the room's soft carpet, she approached the farthest wardrobe and swung open its tall door. It stood empty, save for a black crate nestled on its floor. Bulletproof, explosion-resistant, and sealed by a biometric lock, it had once been used to transport Bretonian high-yield explosives, then to smuggle cardamine, then to store a mercenary's personal weapons. Now, it housed only one object.

Olivia crouched down before the box, reaching out for its lock. For a moment, she hesitated, her hand hovering an inch from the small scanner attached to its side. Then, a sudden impatience overcame her, and she pressed her thumb to the device. With satisfying clunks, a set of latches came loose and the crate's lid unsealed with a quiet hiss. Greedily, Olivia grabbed the top and threw it open. A cold, blue light lit up the room from within the box, casting Olivia's long shadow across the far wall. She leaned over it, gazing at the glowing orb within.

A sudden calm washed over her, casting away the scared, confused thoughts that coursed through her mind, replacing them instead with peace and idyll. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, as though she could inhale the light emitting from the crystalline sphere. Her body relaxed, the last vestiges of the night's migraine receding into faint memory.

Olivia still had no idea what the orb was, nor whether it was safe to keep around. But something about it intrigued her, drew her to it, kept her from disposing of it. She knew she had to find out what it was sooner or later - but the simple fact that it helped calm her weary mind was enough for her to keep it around for the time being. Something told her, however, that it would be for the best to keep it a secret, that no one else should know it was in her possession.

Carefully, she grabbed the crate and hoisted it out of the closet onto her bed, before crawling onto it herself. She curled up around it, like a cat around a warm body. Tomorrow, she would find a safer place to store the mysterious object. But now, she would let its reassuring presence help her fall back into a more peaceful sleep.

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Olivia Sable