Jinn’s eyes slowly opened and adjusted to the little bit of light in the room. It wasn’t bright but she was used to keeping things as dark as possible. It shot up an immediate red-flag. The grogginess quickly faded as her survival instincts kicked in. This room felt familiar, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. It was just a simple bedroom. For granted, she hadn’t remembered laying down there, but that had become par for the course. Getting the most up to date information didn’t come with glamorous actions.

Once her brain had fully caught up, Jinn made her way out of bed. The room wasn’t as tall as she had personally preferred, but most human-built areas were never meant for someone like her. Jinn saw a mirror and took a good look at herself. Nothing seemed off in how she looked. Her face had always been weighted towards her human side. She had a well defined jawline and somewhat sharp facial features. Her skin was akin to wolfsbane. That purple made her further distanced from her orc ancestry while also intimidating the humans she ran into.

She was nothing but an abnormality to both sides of what she was and she couldn’t care less. In fact, she knew it came in handy more often than not for her line of work. People kept their distance and didn’t ask questions. It gave her more opportunities to find openings to sneak through and get the information she actually needed. Anyone could write pieces about what people told them, but sometimes journalism needed a little more seeing and snooping involved.

Upon standing up, Jinn recognized the dull ache in her muscles. Had she gotten into a fight? Or even worse, lost one? It was like she had spent the night running, but the memories just wouldn’t click for her. She couldn’t help but- Her thoughts were interrupted by someone making their way in the door. It was a pretty tall man in full plate armor. His helmet was off revealing a slightly rounded off face. Jinn stood relaxed but was preparing herself for whatever might happen next.

“Listen, Zael, It’s not looking too great out there. The enemy approaches and we still haven’t found what we’re looking for. Have you found a way to break the ward that’s sealing you into this room yet?”

Jinn gave a look of confusion. Her brain was still waking up from whatever had gotten her here. The ingrained reporter side of her kicked in and she went back to a neutral, almost stoic, expression.

“No not yet. It seems that something with this room has affected my memory.”

“Damn it. Now is not the time. Here, we only have a couple more hours before they get to the gate.”

The mysterious human grabbed Jinn by the arm and started dragging her to the doorframe. He walked through just fine, but when her arm crossed the threshold, an excruciating pain shot up it. It caused her to immediately yank her wrist out of his grip. Folded over gripping her arm, the pain slowly faded. She worked to suppress the rage that came out when she was hurt.

“I see. I’m guessing the window does the same thing?”

“From what I’ve seen you try, that sounds about right. You told me last night you had an idea but didn’t share the details. However, I am going to assume that it was more of a setback than a leap forward.”

Jinn shrugged in response.

“Very well. Either we get you out of here or we all go down together. I’d much rather the former but if this is how it ends, so be it. Good luck Zael.”

Gone as quickly as he appeared, Jinn was alone again. It was weird to her that she clearly had been mistaken for someone else. Given how she had never met anyone else like her, it felt like some weird trick, but she knew that she had to find a way out. At the very least to get some answers. If someone else not only was like her, but looked identical to her, she wanted to know. Her inquisitive nature would never let her live it down.

Jinn approached one of the walls and felt that suppressed rage coming back. She harnessed it into her fist and threw it straight through the wall. Unsurprisingly, as soon as it broke through, the same pain burned through her arm again. Brute force wasn’t going to get her out of this one. She’d have to clear her head and figure out something.

Magic had never been Jinn’s strong suit. She could fight and sneak with the best of them, but the wonders of the arcane eluded her. That’s when it hit her. There had to be notes or something she could find that would give her some sort of idea or clue. The mirror she was looking into earlier sat above a desk. On it was an open book with freshly written notes. It read:

I am sure this must be jarring, waking up somewhere you’re not supposed to be, being unsure how you got there. I am sorry for putting you in my place, but there is limited time. I hope you’ll understand Jinn. I promise I will answer any questions you might have when I get you out. And I will get you out.

Jinn could feel the irritation rise up in the back of her head. Waiting on other people to solve things never suited her. She knew it would lead to disappointment more often than not. In spite of what she read, she went back further in the book to read if anything else would help. She found a note detailing the effects of the ward and it seemed that pain was the only thing Zael found.

Another note went on to mention that if Zael could find a proper substitute to swap with, then they could leave while the other remained. They had also found some weaknesses in the ward that they were hoping to exploit, but they didn’t have the resources available. Slowly it was starting to make sense to her what Zael’s plan had been. She just hoped he could actually follow through with it.

She spent the little time she had left searching all corners of the room. It turned out to be very boring, the only thing of note was the notebook belonging to Zael. Outside of that, it was a fairly standard room found in any inn. A simple single bed sat centered to the back wall. A little past the foot of the bed was the desk and mirror. There was a small closet in the corner and then a bathroom was located in a room near the front entrance. It was unremarkable and Jinn thought for a moment that these would be the last things she saw.

Noises of battle had finally begun to make way to the inn. Whatever enemy was close and it seemed they were rapidly approaching. Jinn realized she didn’t even know much about what conflict she found herself in. All she had was a dagger at her hip. Removing it from its sheath, the weight felt comfortable in her hands. If nothing else, she would be going down with a fight, although she wished she had something a little more substantial to fight with. Footsteps made their way down the hall.

“Zael, have you figured anything else out? They’re almost here.”

“Yes, but we have to buy some time.”

He sighed but nodded in acknowledgement. Without another word, he made his way outside the room and began giving orders. The way he carried himself gave an implication he was used to ordering armies. Whatever had brought them to this point of crossing paths, she was grateful. Her frustration began to grow at being trapped in this room. She hated not being able to directly fight. The only saving grace was that it would inevitably make its way to her door.

Jinn was pacing back and forth until someone in armor went flying backwards past the door. In an instant, she was in a fighting stance, dagger in her hand, ready for whatever was next. Someone dashed through the door at inhuman speeds, tackling Jinn to the ground. Her dagger stayed glued to her hand and she brought it to an opening in the attacker’s armor. It flinched in pain and she kicked it back. It was much stronger than she expected it to be. Feeling the soreness from its tackle brought back the bloodlust deep within her heart.

As her opponent came charging back, she was prepared this time and used its momentum against it. It crashed to the floor and the dagger was smashed deeper in. This time the creature moved much slower as it tried to rise. Jinn didn’t give it an opportunity to keep going and instead threw their body weight down in a slam. This third hit seemed to do the trick and the attacker stopped moving. She was disappointed to see that this one didn’t have a weapon she could take, so she grabbed her dagger back.

Two more appeared and her companion from earlier was fending them off. She could see from the doorframe but couldn’t go to help.

“Bring them in here. Let me help.” She shouted.

He took a sturdy footing. When one attacker approached he slid past and deflected a blow from the other attacker. In a quick motion, he redirected his momentum and practically jumped through the door. The two attackers followed suit and pushed the attack. Despite never having worked together, Jinn and the human had good chemistry. He used the reach she lacked to open up space for her to get in close with the dagger. The two attackers held their own but weren’t able to match the movements. She couldn’t tell the nature of the enemy, but she knew that it would only be a matter of time before they were overwhelmed.

Luckily this time, one had a sword she could steal. It wasn’t ideal for her normal fighting stance, however, she could brute force it to hopefully buy some more time. In ever growing groups, enemies came flooding through the door. No matter how good they were, the duo was slowly losing the energy to fight. She had lost count of how many enemies lay dead before them. Her breathing was labored. The weapons in her hands felt heavy.

“Listen. I’m not Zael. I don’t know who that is or how I got here. They’re supposed to have figured a way out. If they’re not back in time, just know you fight well, friend.”

“You picked a hell of a time to drop that on me, but thanks. Zael hasn’t let me down yet, so save the death talk for another day.”

Finally, one giant attacker didn't step through the door as much as walked through the frame. Even as tall as Jinn had been, she felt small compared to whatever thing was now standing before them. Jinn’s companion approached first but he was quickly knocked off his feet. Before he could get up, the thing came charging at Jinn. As that survival instinct kicked in, she began to charge, all signs of fatigue gone. It felt like hitting a brick wall, but both powers stood at odds with each other.

It wasn’t long before Jinn felt her strength start to give out. Something slipped. Next thing she knew, she was on the floor, pushing back at the massive arm bearing down on her. Then, out of nowhere, the attacker stood up. It was struggling with something on its back. Jinn recognized the purple hue on the arm that was striking the giant’s neck. She took the opportunity to launch her blade into the thing’s stomach.

Their attacks were working. It was still angry but it was slowing down. Her human friend joined back in the battle. The three of them worked together, slicing over and over again until it finally collapsed to the ground.

“Quick, we don’t have much time. Jinn, give me your hand,” Without a thought she reached out to Zael and she cut into her hand. Jinn’s blood was collected into a vial with a couple other components already inside. “Now quickly, drink it.”

She obeyed and downed the vial. It tasted more pleasant than she had expected. The after effects, however, she could do without. Her whole body began to feel like it was burning for a few moments. Luckily for her, it passed pretty quickly. Though, she wouldn’t forget the feeling anytime soon.

“Does this mean we can leave?” Jinn asked.

“Here’s hoping.”

The trio made their way through the door. Jinn walked through last and was relieved at the lack of stinging pain for once. Outside, the afternoon light felt a touch overwhelming. Golden rays complimented a sky full of pinks and purples. If there hadn’t been smoke crowding the sky and flames consuming nearby buildings, it would have been beautiful.

“Folson, gather everyone you can and get them out of here. We can finally leave this forsaken place.”

“I thought the order would never come.”

The human companion, who Jinn now knew by the name of Folson, began rushing around and ordering anyone left to retreat with her and Zael. It wasn’t long before he was back in line with them as the whole group of survivors hurriedly moved away from the battlezone. Whoever had attacked them wasn’t pursuing. Zal wasn’t really sure why but she was grateful to catch a break from the fighting. She, and the others, needed some real time to rest. Plus, she wanted to get her answers.

Night had fallen over the traveling group. Jinn had no real way of knowing how many people were lost fighting. However, she intended to honor them with some classic whiskey to numb whatever the fuck had happened to her today. It seemed as though Folson and Zael had the same idea. She sat down to join them by the freshly lit fire.

“I’m sure you’ve got plenty of questions Jinn. But first I wanted to say thank you for fighting as hard as you did with Folson. You protected each other and I am grateful for that.”

Jinn nodded in acknowledgement. She still couldn’t get over the fact that this Zael looked not only like her, but sounded like her too. She had been through a lot over the years and yet this had cleared anything else she could think of.

“Thanks. Just did what I thought was right. Besides, I would never have died without figuring out just what’s going on.”

Zael smiled at that comment. She was clearly thinking about where to begin. She took a nice long sip of her ale, “It is a very long story. But it turns out that you and I are cut from the same cloth, if you will. Close enough so that the ward locking me in that room allowed me to use you as a substitute meaning I could leave to find what I needed to break the ward. I don’t know how the ward got there or how our enemies knew where to find us. So even I have a lot of unanswered questions to figure out.”

“That sounds about right. Find the answer to one question, unlock a thousand more to ask.” She swirled her drink before finishing the rest of it, “I guess now is where you ask me to come along?”

“I see you’re right to the heart of the matter.” She studied Jinn’s face for a moment. “Are you up for it?”

“Yes, on the promise you’ll explain every single detail of what’s going on.”

“You’ve got yourself a deal. Welcome aboard Jinn.”