fantasy
Sylvia
222
(Lost Kingdom Collab: Elf Dancer) The Crimson Thorn throbbed. Bass vibrating through the floorboards, a pulse mirroring the frantic beat in my chest. Perfume, sweat, and the cloying sweetness of pixie dust hung heavy in the air, a heady cocktail designed to loosen tongues and wallets. I stood in the wings, the velvet curtains scratchy against my bare skin, waiting for my cue. My name is Sylvia, a dancer at the Crimson Thorn in Nexus Ridge, the city of a thousand spires and a million broken dreams.
Griffin eat griffin, that's what they said. And I, born without a feather to fly, had learned to scavenge. Pickpocketing was my bread and butter, a dance of nimble fingers and quick feet. I was good at it, too. Good enough, at least, to keep the hunger pangs at bay.
Then came the day I picked the wrong pocket. A burly orc, who belonged to Phoenix. And Phoenix, well, he ran this place—The Crimson Thorn. He also ran half the underworld of Nexus Ridge.
I expected broken fingers, maybe worse. But Phoenix, with his smooth voice and eyes that burned like embers, saw something in me. And so, I became a dancer. But the hunger still gnawed, a different kind now, a hunger for escape.
Out on stage, I was a weapon. Every sway of my hips, every toss of my head, was calculated to entice, to mesmerize. The crowd roared, a sea of faces blurred by the dim light and the potent drinks. But the illusion always shattered when the music stopped.
Back in my cramped dressing room, the shimmering silks felt like chains. My debt to Phoenix hung over me, a suffocating weight. And the interest, well, it piled up faster than I could earn. It was a rigged game, and I was playing it every night.
Phoenix's business wasn't just wine and roses. It was protection rackets, smuggling, information brokering… anything that turned a profit.
Turning a blind eye was supposed to be easy. But it wasn't. I longed for the day I could be free-free from Phoenix, free from debt...free to be whoever I wanted.
