It took a whisper of his name to bring him back. He was floating in an endless black sea, his mind splitting and dissolving with every second as he truly became a part of all that was around him. "Ishar..." The female voice sounded all around him, startling him and sending awareness flooding back into him.

Ishar was his name. Ishar is his name.

Ishar opened his eyes to find himself staring up at almond shaped eyes. A soft smile touched on Niada's full lips and he did his best to mirror it. His head rested on her lap and her slender fingers run through his dark hair, stroking his scalp as one would a pet. I would love that. Ishar realized. I would love to be her pet.

Ishar broke eye contact with Niada, turning his head to survey what he realized was the King's tent that was empty save for Niada and himself. There was a large green gauntlet on the ground and a pool of blood a few feet away, signs of a skirmish displayed itself the longer his eyes wandered. "Where is everybody?" He whispered.

"An alarm sounded a few hours ago, something has happened at the Red priests' main tent. Everybody has left to check it out but I volunteered to stay with you until you wake." Niada's last words sent butterflies fluttering in his stomach.

"What happened here?" Ishar asked, his eyes fixed on the pool of blood.

"You'd stood with your hand on King Gans's chest, your eyes glowing amber and meeting those of the King's. Neither of you blinked, it was like you were both lost in a trance and the King's bodyguards were unsure of whether or not breaking whatever it was you were doing was wise. The armored guards, however, did not share the same thoughts of caution. They attempted to attack you but Rehny and Edda held them off from killing you, engaging all of them in combat. They eventually lost but right before harm came to you and them, the King... King Gans... He woke up right when you collapsed." Ishar turned his eyes to Niada, seeing how her piercing green eyes scanned his face, searching for something. "What did you do to him?" She asked, her voice riddled with fear.

Ishar raised a hand and cupped her left cheek. "Don't be afraid of me, I can never hurt you."

"I don't know whether I can believe you." Niada whispered. She met his eyes defiantly despite her obvious fear of what lay behind them.

Ishar felt something within him begin to crumble at her words. Panic wrapped its spindly fingers around him and its grasp caged his ability to think. His heart beat fast as he realized the weight of what her opinion of him carried. Mastering all the courage he had, Ishar spoke from the heart.

"I used to spy on you at the water well. Creepy, I know. In my defense I'd never seen the likes of you before, a beauty so divine it rivaled the very supposition of the Gods' marvelous appearance." Ishar tilted his head higher within her lap. Niada maintained her steady gaze upon him. "At first I thought it was your beauty that held me in place at the water well, but it wasn't. Your beauty drew me in but who you are, what you are beneath the flesh and bones is what held me in place upon that hill." "What am I beneath the flesh and bones?" Niada inquired. Her voice a lilting melody.

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"I don't know." Ishar replied and Niada frowned. "I often fantasized about who you are and what you entailed beneath all that was visible. My fantasies were numerous and each imagination as complex as the last, yet, within me was a faith, a belief rather, that whatever lies beneath you far surpasses all that I expect you to be."

"And does it? Does it surpass?" Niada asked. She gasped as she saw tears welling within Ishar's eyes. He blinked and the tears trickled down his face. Ishar knew what he had to reveal so as to ward off her fear of him, he wondered though, whether doing so will heighten said fear.

"I met a God." Ishar said. "He showed me our future, he said you were going to die, taken at the gift giving by the Binorians and placed in a whore house where some Binorian would strangle you to death as you attended him." Ishar turned his face away from Niada, letting his hand fall off her cheek. He could not make sense of her facial expression. He did not know whether it was disbelief he saw on her face or whether she just thought him mad.

Niada cupped Ishar's face in both hands and turned his face to hers. "Go on." She said.

"The God told me of what needed to be done to save your life, what needed to be given." Ishar said. He felt pain within him as he spoke, tearing at his insides and forcing him to come to terms with the sacrifice he'd made beneath the fool moon all those days ago. "He asked for my sanity." He said and shut his eyes, tears streaming down his face. He could not bare to look at her. "And I gave it to him."

The inner beauty of Niada, the thing that held him to her was something he may never know let alone understand. He felt himself teetering on the edge of madness, drawing ever closer. Ishar knew not what would occur when he fell off the edge but every passing day had pieces of him drifting off and in their place sprouted shoots of madness, ready to bloom and bare fruits of chaos. There was no way he could be with her. Who would want to be with a man descending into madness? Losing himself everyday? What good would come of his presence within her life? Where he went chaos reigned. It was the truth of the matter and distance between him and Niada was the only way she would have order within her life. A life he'd gifted her with the sacrifice that ensured he would never be a part of it.

The irony. Ishar thought with his eyes shut. He fought off the sudden urge to giggle at the thought, the brief grasp of lucidity he'd gained from his connection to King Gans was already unclenching. He knew Niada's eyes were on him but he could not meet them for fear of what they held. Perhaps in an hour or two, when his mind fully settled to what it had become, maybe then would he have the courage to...

Soft lips met his own. A tongue gently pushed against his own lips, he parted his lips and met the tongue with his own. A groan escaped him as he felt her tongue prod deeper into his mouth. Her silky white hair brushed the frame of his face. His breath was in harmony with hers, heavy and riddled with passion. Niada's fingers gripped at the hair at the back of his head, pulling him to her. Her other hand was on his chest, clutching and tagging at his golden shirt.

Ishar's train of thought vanished, all his fear, his shame, all of it disintegrated beneath the full weight of the kiss. Nothing existed. Nothing other than her. He open his eyes as their lips slowly parted, Niada's face hovered an inch away from his own with her eyes closed. Ishar wished he'd been a painter so he could capture her as she was eternally beneath the stroke of a brush. Niada opened her eyes. Ishar's breath caught in his throat. Her eyes, they... They glowed amber.