When bad luck just isn't enough. (Closed to Eidolic)

[Unlucky]

It was nearly midnight, and Sylvia couldn't get to sleep. Her many days of unluckiness were catching up to her. Feelings of of paranoia were with her everywhere she went. It wasn't a matter of will something bad happen today that caused this deep feeling of fear, like it was with a lot of people, nor was it a matter of when it was going to happen. For her, Everytime she tried to do something, something would go wrong.

It was this fact alone that caused her feeling of paranoia. But recently, strange events had occured which had made her fear all too real. Some people seemed to be following her ever since she had left the town she had been in about three days back.

She had seen them two days ago at midnite, when one opened his mouth to say something, then tripped over a garbage can. Yesterday, she saw them at around the same time, this time, some stray dogs chased him and his buddies away. Sylvia had thought at the time that the figures that she recognized as townsfolk from whatever-the-hell town she had been in three days ago were out to get her right from the get-go. It wouldn't be the first time.

At the stroke of midnight, her deepest fears were confirmed as a knife grazed her arm. Engraved on it were the letters A.W.S.

Somehow, it had managed to spill some of her blood. Nothing bad had happened to the group following her that night. She had come to rely on the fact that her bad luck protected her up until this point. Her curse of bad luck just wouldn't let her die without living a full lifetime. She had always thought this, but now she wasn't too sure.

Sylvia snatched up the dagger and ran as fast as she could. Fearing for her life, Sylvia ran away to ask the guards for help, the guards, though, had already been knocked unconcious by the time she reached them. Not knowing where else to go, she headed just outside whatever-the-fuck town she was in right now.

She never bothered reading the name of a town if she could help it. She only stayed in each town for one night anyway. Any more than that and her curse might cause the whole town to catch on fire, she didn't know this for a fact, but it seemed like a good bet, but that was neither here nor there as Sylvia ran to a forest just outside of the town and cried herself to sleep, wondering why so many people had to be hurt because of her curse.

When she woke up the next day, she found the forest on fire and a brick from the town on her leg. This definately wasn't her curse at work this time. If it had been a fallen tree on her leg, then maybe, but the object on her leg was definately placed there by someone to keep her from moving, and the fire was likely manmade this time too, because, what other reason did they have to keep her pinned down.

"Help!" Sylvia screamed out despite herself. What did she think she was doing anyway? Anybody that tried to help her would likely get injured or killed in the process.

[Eidolic]

I'd been on my way to Justintown when I heard it.

The thing about this road was that I was the only person on the way to Justintown. At the last metropolis we'd been in, some strange place that tried it's best to be elvish even when we were farther from cursed Raiaera than a dragon's brain was from it's ass, I had heard a rumor. The gossip mill was strong amongst the women of town, and before I could sleep and go from that place, I had heard at least ten times about the strange curse circling the towns further south. There were too many versions of the story to really tell what the curse was all about. Some said it was because someone'd spit at the sound of a god's name, someone said it was premarital sex. The biggest consensus was that someone had refused to pay a sacrifice. There, of course, the rumors split again. Offerings of grain, corn, birds, beasts and women were all the rage in different regions of the country, apparently. I had heard that it was human sacrifice that was being demanded by an old weaver woman, sitting hunched over her loom. The patterns she made with thread was amazing, despite the filmy blue that covered her pupils. Of all the gossiping tongues, it was this quiet, sure voice that I was most apt to believe.

Human sacrifice? Now that was more like it. My pouch rattled as I walked, each clacking bead reminding me that I had a hundred deaths to die. I hated each bead for it, and the quicker I could quiet those beads, end my suffering, the happier I would be for it. Human sacrifice was right up my alley. What else could be for the greater good of others than dying willingly to ensure a good harvest or fat cows or whatever other mumbo jumbo the people believed would happen when innocent blood was spilled in the name of a diety. Each step to Justintown was going to take me closer to happiness and freedom, when I heard the scream.

I'd been smelling smoke for a while now, thinking it was some campfire. When that sharp, pitiful voice shattered my peaceful journey, I knew that it was far less innocent. At first I kept to the trail. My first instinct was to keep my nose out of places it didn't belong, and but I kept remembering why I was here, why I wasn't in heaven. I was supposed to be doing selfless things. By now, I could see the dark smoke billowing upwards from the treetops. I'd never wanted to die by being burned alive before, but death was death.

"Where are you!?" as I ran into the forest, yelling out questions in hope that the person who had screamed would call back, I guessed I couldn't have really done anything else but try and help. After all, I had the sound of a hundred wooden beads slapping together to lead me on.

[Unlucky]

It was a miracle that anyone heard her call for help at all. Come to think of it, she had the knife on her when she had gone to sleep, why didn't they take it off her and stab her with it? She would have to ask about that when she got the chance. Wait-a-minute... That would just be stupid.

Sylvia sat silent. She didn't want anybody to die because of her bad luck. She decided she would just sit there and die quietly to avoid involving anyone else.

Leaning back against the tree, her hand suddenly touched the metal of the AWS blade. The scalding hot metal burned her so badly that let out a loud yell.

So much for keeping silent. Why did her luck insist on her living this dreadful life? She couldn't figure it out.

"Please. I don't know who you are, but get out while you still can! It's too dangerous! I know I said I needed help, but not if it means your life!" Sylvia yelled out in a last ditch effort to avoid putting other people's lives at stake.

As if to prove her point, a tree began to fall towards her. Finally, the death she deserved, finally an end to her miserable existance. Finally...

Sylvia looked around confused. Why was she still alive? Why was the tree trunk burning horizontally in front of her? The answer came to her eyes rather quickly. The branches of the tree that had fallen were still intact and holding the rest of the tree up.

*SNAP*

The branches broke off the tree and it fell onto the huge brick holding her leg to the floor, only fell a quarter inch after the branches broke, though. That was nowhere near high enough to do anything other than put more weight on her leg. Still, it looked promising. Nobody would be stupid enough to attempt to free her now that her leg was caught under two objects. Especially since it would be too risky for even the strongest man.

"DAMNIT!" Sylvia yelled as the tree rolled off her leg again. looked like lady luck was pulling pranks on her today, but at least nobody was going to die do to her anymore. After all, she was still trapped in the fire.