Barovia.<br/><br/>The word had haunted<a class="link link--external" href="https://i.pinimg.com/564x/66/02/30/6602308d0a3b3aae8049f0c80d36c5c8.jpg" rel="nofollow ugc noopener" target="_blank">Esperanza Sergovia</a>dreams –nightmares, really. Every scrap of her past, of where she’d come from, had been lost, burned with the orphanage she’d long been rescued from. Only that name remained, that one, solitary clue.<br/><br/>Not much was known about Barovia. Most of what she could track down was just as like to be myth as fact. Few who ventured to Barovia made it, and fewer still ever returned. Taking this job was supposed to be her chance for answers, but Katya compounded her questions instead. Who was this young woman whose face reflected her own?<br/><br/>Katya held those answers to her to chest; who ever she was, and why she was traveling to Barovia, Esperanza would have to figure out. She wasn’t the trusting type, and hadn’t spoken up much since agreeing to hire them on. There was a deep ache in Esperanza’s soul, however, hoping –wishing– that she’d finally come upon blood kin, some relative who could provide the answers she sought.<br/><br/>Xavier was her rock, a comforting and familiar presence as she plunged into the unknown. Typically, she thirsted for adventure, for the freedom to go about as she pleased. But as much as she wanted to travel to Barovia, everything about this job rubbed her the wrong way, and she didn’t have it in her to argue when Xavier insisted on coming with her.<br/><br/>The path wound through dense woods, the thick canopy above blocking out the sun. At first, it had been nice to travel with the heat bearing down upon them, but as the hours stretched on, the shade of the trees seemed to darken into the shadow of the moon. She’d lost all sense of time, plodding along, hoping to see the village materialize around the next bend. She noted Katya glancing at the map once more, and dared herself to speak up. “Can you tell if we are close yet?”