Awaking to the sight of immense beauty was bittersweet, not healed by the tinge of mourning on Mei’s pampered face. Other than awkward greetings, and her caressing his hand, they didn’t speak. Avoiding each other’s eyes as they wandered around his spacious room with their attention. She knew what it was, and he did too. All that mattered was to address it.
She is here, is she not? That is the best of signs. Mazin told himself, searching for courage as the silence turned excruciating.
Mei smelled of sweet fire and perfumed clay. A woman revitalised after their gruelling journey. She kept her darkened complexion and favoured it by painting her lips, nails and eyes black. Her cascading silky blackness remained loose and flowed down customarily over her scars. He made out the subtle hollowness in her cheeks, however, a lingering reminder of the recent past.
“I suppose,” Mazin began, and her full attention fell upon him again. “I suppose we are equal now.”
Her caressing thumb on his knuckles paused for a moment.
“I mean… I didn’t tell you, and you didn’t tell me. It was a fair exchange in a manner of speaking.”
Mei’s grey eyes were unyielding. Despite her passive expression, he sensed the caution on her, rather he imagined it amongst her perfume.
“I’m sorry.”
They said it together, then laughed at each other. Mazin squeezed her fingers gently, and she followed suit.
“I thought… I thought, oh I don’t know what I thought.” Mei sniffed, blinking away the hints of sadness from her eyes.
“I do not blame you, though I admit you hid it far better than I ever could.”
“That is because you didn’t question me as vigorously as I did.”
He smiled, dropping his eyes towards her manicured fingers intertwined with his battered ones. Mei leant closer, then tapped the side of his bed and he nodded his welcome. She took her hand away for a moment, adjusting her wine-red silk dress, which was rather sheer, now that she stood, and folded it as she sank into his soft mattress beside him. Her perfume frequenting his nose.
“I have another reason to be grateful to you,” Mei said, lowering herself. She hesitated before his lips, then chose his cheek instead, warming his face.
She wiped the black print off his cheek, but sat up again with a curious pout.
“Something wrong?”
“I do not know if it is something I should confess to,” she chuckled.
“What could be more surprising than me discovering you are a princess?”
“It’s a silly thing, really. I’ve grown accustomed to your stench, to not smell it is an odd discomfort.”
“What?” Mazin snorted.
“Don’t do that,” Mei slapped his chest with trying to bite her laughter back. “I told you it was silly.”
“I have no words,” Mazin smirked. “I could send away the bath water for to… ow!”
His laughter ended abruptly when a third presence neared the doors. Mei took a moment to realise his change and frowned at him until the doors opened.
Mazin glimpsed the pair who allowed an encumbered Nu in. Tall Tigers, with black painted lips. Identical, save for how they wore their brown tinted dark hair, and one was broad shouldered. But the door closed behind Nu before he learned more.
“Prince, Princess,” Nu began, with red instead of black on her face.
Her friendly facade weakened as she carried a tray of appetisingly scented food, with three jugs, two perspiring beside the smaller one radiating warmth.
Nu placed the tray on his lap as Mazin sat up, walking around towards the other side of his vast bed. Mei remained at his side, though she tensed.
“Unfortunately, I come with ill tidings. Masters Galel and Kamaria have departed.”
“Where, south? What happened when you found us?”
“I cannot say.” Mazin turned towards Mei, whose eyes remained low.
“There was a bit of a clash, I’m sure you can imagine. Our sudden darkness and their protectiveness over you were difficult to overcome. They thought to harm the princess, once they discovered who she was, but that is all in the past now.”
Mazin glanced at Mei again, but she focused on his hand. His mind turned to mush, unable to grasp how quickly things were changing.
“You should eat quickly, Prince,” Nu continued without a scent. “Your bonding awaits, and the Tamer’s Council wishes to speak with both of you.”
“Why?”
“The capital is under siege.”
Mei grimaced beside him, still avoiding his eyes when she drew his attention. Mazin forgot about his food, wishing to sink into his bed forever.
Mazin strode through the warm, dark stone passageways of the Dead Palace. In a cosy, baggy cream shirt. He tugged at his breeches, which strangled his thighs after every stride. Only his own boots felt right.
Nu guided him, donning a thin cloak. The walls pulsed, thanks to volcanic heated water flowing within the stone. It was a vast space, rivalling the palace at the capital, though instead of Sanctuary’s gardens, vines wrapped around the stonework. Burned daisies fed off the warmth, standing out in bright red in the darkness.
He had never seen so many beasts strutting about in the passageways, or lounging beside their relaxing Tamers. Beside benches and tables, snoring while their Tamers chatted, studied or slept themselves. It was a strange comfort to see the harmony at play. Even servants strode by Tamed and Tamer without so much as a second glance. Nearly all the beasts were dark.
They rushed down a flight of stairs, and the warmth faded. The Lynx guards wearing cloaks over their fur lined armour were an ominous sight.
It was white outside, icy cold and worsened by a whispering breeze. He shivered, wrapping his arms around himself. They were high against the Mahn’Parvat, yet mist still shrouded the icy peaks. The air was fresh, but lingering in the cold was another issue.
Mazin loitered anyway, admiring the white sprinkled volcanic rock buildings splayed out. Streets bustled with activity; Lynxes strode upon black stone roads beside doused lanterns encased in glass upon towering poles. Noisy marketplaces drowned the various bursts of hammering, sawing and carving industries scattered around the city.
The lynx district failed to do Bana’Parvat justice. There was much shared between the capital and Bana’Parvat, or perhaps borrowed by Bil’Faridh. The dark stones had an age about them.
He scurried after Nu as the vine encrusted face of the Dead Palace changed into a ruin. Riddled with cracks, chipped window edges and the solitary entrance was more a gaping hole into a cave rather than a doorway.
“Your khopesh, Prince,” Nu bowed at the door, presenting his blade.
A chill came over him as he strapped the blade onto his waist.
“The other end has a torch. Your bonding will take place below.”
Mazin nodded, while anxiety stormed his chest.
What if I fail?
How could he return home after that? If his home remained.
He silenced his mind when his boots echoed within the Root Hall. It appeared one strong breeze away from crumbling. Grand bronze doors towered to his left, with an eight-limbed tree carved into the face of both. Two guards stood before it, another pair seated on stools nearby.
The twins who followed Mei around. One with her brown tinted dark hair wrapped in a bun, the other with hers in one long and loose braid. They watched him walk towards the torches. He nodded at their small waves.
Mei muttered their names, but he already forgot them. Nothing stayed in his mind after he was told of the siege, neither Mei nor Nu’s words. He was still in a daze, wracked by guilt and anger at himself. All that time wasted, getting captured, resting when he was far from fatigued. Forgetting himself with Mei, he could have been home by now, fighting to save the city.
I will go back home with an army. He half believed it.
He snatched the torch and descended the narrow stairs. It was pitch black despite the fire. The walls were close to his shoulders, and he found it difficult to not bump into them as the stairs spiralled. His free hand floated ahead, feeling the stone turn rough and sharp. Even the stairs changed. They roughened. Some steps were longer than others, or higher, and he almost lost his footing when his heel slipped off the edge.
Relief filled him when he reached the bottom. Tight but fresh air filled his lungs within the hall. It was a stony cave without a single smooth surface. The darkness prevented him from seeing much. The torch wasn’t any help.
The darkness did not stop Mazin from stepping forward. He jumped when the torches sparked to life on their own. Burning the jagged columns into his view, barely piercing the void like darkness all around.
Eyes pierced through him from ahead, and he placed his torch on the ground when he stopped moving. Two pairs of red eyes blinked, towering above him. He strained his eyes to make out their hulking silhouettes, but saw nothing more.
“And so, the second arrives.”
Mazin flinched when their combined voices barraged their way into his mind.
“The Sinha will not break the pact.”
“The Sinha welcome a new cub.”
Another pair of scarlet eyes, from a higher vantage, blinked at him from the darkness between the elders.
“I fought for the honour to bond,” Its voice was rough like Pride’s, and when it stepped forward into the light, Mazin was sure it was larger.
His eyes never left the towering dark Sinha before him. Its pristine blackness was like silk, from the red ends of its mane to the blacker than black fur on its underbelly.
“Name yourself.”
“Mazin Atum Ra.”
A minute bubble formed in the furthest reaches of his mind.
“Name me.”
It felt like a pearl, smooth and pristine, only to expand so quickly he gasped as if thrust into an ice bath.
Mazin gasped again, blinking awake in the darkness once more. The pearl in his mind expanded, caressing his head as it encompassed it. Shadow’s pride came over him, swelling their bond.
The first memories came to him, scaring Ma from the darkened corner of his room in the night. Shadow was there with his glowing, scarlet eyes. When he frightened Farah on the roof, after his eyepatch slipped off and she broke her arm. Shadow watched from a dark alleyway across the street.
Every waking moment of his life, he saw Shadow. He couldn’t imagine any time in his life without the Sinha.
Shadow snorted his warmth into Mazin’s face, but the prince’s knees buckled. His Tamed lowered himself before his knees cracked on the rough stone below.
“Mount me, your strength will return.”
His voice was a caress, a comfort, a strengthening salve, beastly yet not harsh through their bond.
Is this how Pride should sound?
“Perhaps. Come, there is no time to waste.”
Mazin obeyed, scaling Shadow’s torso while taken aback by Shadow answering his thought. His humour wafted through their bond and Mazin smiled outwardly.
Once comfortable atop Shadow, a surge of energy rushed up his spine. His body awoke from a week’s long slumber, with the strength to match.
Shadow lowered himself, readying to pounce as the torches darkened. There was a strange pull ahead, and a cloud of darkness swirled before them. His Tamed leaped forward, and he grimaced at the sudden appearance of light after passing through a warm, silky embrace.
The Root Hall surrounded him again. His eyes studied the aged, crumbling stonework as Shadow sauntered towards the twins yawning close to the guarded bronze door.
“A jump?”
Shadow grunted his confirmation.
He dismounted and ruffled Shadow’s mane, earning a loud purr as he approached the twins.
“Prince,” they greeted in unison.
They were a head and a half taller than himself. The slimmer of the two watched him while the broad shouldered one nodded at the giant bronze doors.
“The Tamer’s Council await.”
Mazin grunted. Shadow’s amusement wafted through his bond, furrowing the prince’s brow.
“What?”
The pale faced Lynxes standing guard nodded before parting the doors. A long passageway stretched out, with bright snowy crystals on the wall. Shadow was close behind him after the doors shut. It was quiet within the passageway. There were no open windows, no light beyond the glowing crystals, and yet his ears heard distant thumping. Growing louder as they approached the other end.
There were changes on the tree carved into the bronze doors ahead. The left limbs were red, while the right limbs were topaz gold. In the centre was a strange shape, split between both doors equally, of dark magenta. A heart Mazin decided, the distant thumping fuelling his decision.
The doors opened before he arrived, revealing a lavender coloured room. His ears enjoyed the rhythm of the heartbeat, yet it sounded further away.
If the Root Hall seemed old, this one appeared ancient, though sturdy. It was the stale air, even with the low hum of vents pumping in freshness, that gave away its age. Faded carvings depicted many stories on the grand wall to his right, but his attention snapped towards the long table in the centre of the cosy hall.
Icy fire sliced through his nostrils as he approached the table, beneath the enormous shadow of another long table of rigid black stone. Raised upon a wide stage with nine open seats.
Mei sat in the centre, with a thick cloak over her sheer dress, and her head bowed. Her raven black hair wrapped in a floral bun, with scarlet pins crisscrossed to keep it in place.
Across from her stood a peculiar woman, masked with an expressionless and milk white visage. Her faded azure blue cloak, with white accents, made it difficult to gage her size. She was tall, yet hunched over and clutching a cane.
“Prince Mazin Atum Ra,” she began, wheezing her words through her strange mask. “An honour to meet you.”
Mei rose when he stood beside her, but his eyes met the deep blue gaze of the masked woman across from him. She had pink and ruined flesh on her neck and eyes. Dark scars mingled as well.
“I am Nau’Van Astrid of the Lynx Clan,” she bowed as low as her cane allowed. Every word sounded painful, yet she spoke without struggling, beyond the grating noise in her throat. “Please, sit.”
Mazin and Mei sat down together, and he caught the princess hiding her red eyes and nose.
“A long and arduous tale. One we do not have time to waste on.” The Nau’Van read his curiosity about her appearance. “First, the reason for our hunt. Nameless was adamant we send search parties for you. He rushed for Bana’Parvat for our numbers.”
“They are safe, his family?” Mazin asked.
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“Indeed, across the Mahn’Parvat.”
She lifted a minor load from his shoulders.
“It gladdens me to soften your heart,” Nau’Van Astrid’s words chilled him. Even Shadow tickled their bond with his own unease, lounging behind his seat.
“For I must add fresh troubles to harden it. I’m sure you have heard by now that Bil’Faridh faces the emperor and his allies. Myself and the rest of the Council spoke with Kun Mei while you bonded, educating, and reminding her of her duties as princess of the Tiger Clan.”
That irked Mazin. He saw through the Nau’Van’s euphemisms. It explained Mei’s tears as well.
“The Lynxes have remained in the shadows for too long with the affairs of Ko’Eri. Not since we removed the vile Cylla like a plague from this ancient city, have we joined a fight. Ever the solace of the displaced, we seek to emerge. But more hands in the fight can yield more broken fingers.”
“In the absence of our frankly rather occupied might, we would aid through you two. The children of warring clans can break the siege of Bil'Faridh.”
Mazin’s chest tightened when Mei sniffed.
“The two of us are going to break the siege?”
“Hundreds of Lions who fled your clan will join you. Loyal Tigers will number the second most. Along with a scattering of others who, I’ve been told, are from all clans wishing for a part of history.”
This was a game. Though Nau’Van Astrid’s voice remained haggard to his ears, there was too much joy in her words. Considering what they spoke of, Mazin found it difficult to remain still. Her blue eyes fixed on him when his clenched fist rested on the table.
“A thousand dark Tamers can’t break the siege,” Astrid said. “There are only hundreds under her future command. It would take a long time to muster the full strength of the Lynx Clan, let alone march south. Dark Tamers will speed your return. More violence won’t end this war. Princess Kun Mei is the key, and with you by her side I’m sure,”
Mazin stopped listening. His eyes remained glued on Nau’Van as she spoke, her words passing through his empty head. Anger took hold, though Astrid made no note of it. She spoke of rumours and the goings on of the emperor’s camp, the ruin of Ko’Eri and other details waxed lyrically with a gravelled voice. All he thought about was his own stupidity. It was not Mei’s fault, though he couldn’t shake his doubts.
Mazin departed the strange hall in a daze behind Mei. Shadow his hulking tail. They said little to each other, muted greetings and weak smiles. He lingered in the Root Hall after the twins marched her away. His hand scratched Shadow’s mane beside him.
He had no desire for anything. Shadow dragged him out of the Root Hall, into the softer cold outside. A sun blazed in the patchy sky. Snowfall ceased but still coated the city below. The whispering breeze kept it chilly, but he managed. Mazin kicked and brushed aside the damp snow from the top step and sat, gazing at the southern horizon.
It was all clear before the smog in the distance, barring his own eyes from seeing beyond the glistening grasslands. The ancient walls of Bana’Parvat glittered under heatless sunlight. Ice and snow turned into crystals in the light, before weeping down the aged volcanic stone.
The steep stairs leading into the city numbered greater than the hundred before the palace in Bil’Faridh. Slick like every other white capped structure in the city. Did the Unblessed dare to walk these precarious steps?
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”
Mazin jumped when Nu asked from behind. He smelled nothing, heard nothing prior to her words. She strode out of the Root Hall with a cloak. “I have spent many an hour admiring it from the same vantage.”
“How did you do that?”
“I shadow jumped, Prince. Didn’t you feel it?”
“No.” Mazin accepted the furred cloak with muted thanks. Her equally beefy Tamed dark Sinha, with a trimmed mane, approached. Its red eyes blinked, then bowed at him.
“Ah, well, it is a thing unnoticed by dark Tamers sometimes. Also difficult during the day. May I?”
Mazin nodded, and she sat down beside him, adjusting her own cloak and gloves.
“Shouldn’t we prepare, gather supplies and muster the Tamers?”
“It is being done, Prince. New armour awaits you in your quarters. Nothing fitting for your station, of course, but we don’t want you riding towards the enemy with little more than fancy linens and silk.”
Mazin grunted, suppressing a pang of guilt growing in him again. He spent his time on things other than the imminent danger.
“I don't blame you, Prince; you had a troubling journey north. To leave so soon after finding peace would sour even the most patient person.”
“At least I have my life. Others weren’t as lucky.”
“Indeed.”
A phantom itch irritated his right eye. He caught himself before he scratched.
“What was that poison?”
“It comes from the venom of a Bishku'a, darkness of the void, and other unknown ingredients. Deadly at the best of times to Unblessed, though it’s hardly used on them, so I cannot claim that to be the truth. In us, it causes temporary paralysis. Higher doses can cause eternal slumber on a Tamer. Death follows through starvation.”
“You’ve studied it extensively, have you?”
“Trial and error,” Mazin sniffed her mournful scent. “Perhaps if I chose a physician’s duty in my youth, I could do more.”
“I wish the same.”
Shadow’s sympathy clouded their bond, as warm as an embrace.
“Why do you say that?”
“If only I could heal. Restore what I…”
“If you were any different, you wouldn't have discovered the princess. I should clarify, it is not healing. Killing the poison is a better explanation. Something you did with the princess rather impressively. Was that your first time?”
Mazin’s palms itched when the memory of those rats returned. So long ago it felt. He clenched his fists, suppressing the rising bitterness.
“Speak it, there is no harm,” Shadow advised.
“Your abilities are not an evil, though they occur in ways that shame us,” Nu noticed. “In times of desperation, our bodies react in self-defence, or out of frustration and our lack of knowledge often causes the calamities.”
“Power is earned, I’ve been told often.”
“It is Prince; indeed, it is. Yet ignorance is far more dangerous.”
Mazin sighed. What did Nu gain by saying this? Ammon said many things himself and won his trust. She might be a Lion in exile, but he didn’t know her motives.
“Did masters take you and your brother under their wings when abilities arose?”
“Mostly Zaki.” Mazin was wary of divulging too much now. “I’m sure you know there aren’t any dark Tamers in the capital, at least beyond the palace guard.”
“And yet your abilities,”
“There was a dark Bagha who guided me in the capital. It aided in my escape from the Bannerless as well, before disappearing. Do you know which Tiger sent it? I wish to thank them.”
“A dark Bagha guided you from Bil’Faridh?” Nu frowned at him.
“It visited me in the void a few times before,” Mazin muttered, suffering Nu’s frowning gaze.
After turning away, there was a pause. Her eyes travelled far into the horizon beyond Bana’Parvat’s walls.
“I have never seen wild beasts take an interest in young Tamers. I’ve only heard rumours of the Order suggesting such.”
“A wild beast and the Order of the Nine Lives?”
Nu’s attention turned towards the residential side of the palace, and Mazin followed suit. A Tiger clothed in baggy linens and a loose braid sped towards them atop her slender dark Bagha.
“Prince Mazin,” she nodded after dismounting. It was a twin. “Princess Kun Mei wishes to know if you will see her?”
Mazin rushed to his feet, along with Nu and their Sinha. He dusted the snow off his hems. Nu voiced no complaint. She bowed and watched him depart with the Tiger. Shadow in tow.
The Tiger strode with her hands hidden within large sleeves. Her perfume smelled like fresh rain upon a garden of roses, and belied her hardened exterior. They said nothing to each other on the exterior of the palace, as they came up towards the livelier side of it.
A pair of Lynxes nodded at them when they entered the relative warmth of the interior of the palace. Mazin took off his cloak while ascending a flight of stairs, unable to keep the silence.
“You’re a twin, yes?”
“Li Ju, Prince,” she bowed at the top step. “This way, please.”
It was final, not cold, but awkward. Though he couldn’t imagine why. He certainly would not press her on her sister, regardless of Shadow’s chuckling through their bond.
The silence made the remaining journey, which was no great distance, agonising. He hoped his scent didn’t give away his discomfort, though Shadow’s chuckles turning into the raucous laughter did not inspire confidence. Still, he smiled.
Ju’s sister waited outside Mei’s doors, face passive, braid in a tight bun. She nodded towards Mazin and rushed past to join her sister’s departure. Her Tamed eyed him as it passed until he was free to enter Mei’s room. He lingered outside her door, enjoying the sweet aroma wafting through the gaps before knocking.
“Come.”
He shut the doors as quickly as he opened them, keeping the warmth from the crackling fireplace within. There were more thickened mats than stone, decorated with floral stitching in many hues of red. Mazin kicked off his boots and hung his cloak, approaching Mei at the other end of her room.
Her back was towards him and her loose silks draped her body with a gentle caress. A grand maroon gown lay on the ground behind. He sat beside her on the open cushion before the hearth, placing his sheathed khopesh down at his left. Eager to be rid of the discomfort.
“I was half afraid you wouldn’t show,” she looked at him with her half-covered face. Her grey eyes kept their mourning, but the sadness was gone. They searched around her room, “Where is your Tamed?”
“Tell the girl I want in,” Shadow said through their bond.
“He’s asking if he can come in?”
“He?” she mused, smirking at herself. “It’s a shame you assumed I wouldn’t want him around.”
“I like her even more.”
“I didn’t, it was just,” Mazin sighed when she laughed at him.
The back of his neck tingled, his fine hairs stood upright, and a pull came over him. He twisted around and watched as Shadow emerged from a cloud of darkness at the foot of her raised bed. Mei exclaimed her awe at his monstrous sight.
“May I?”
Mazin made to answer, but stopped himself when Mei’s gaze lingered on Shadow. His Tamed Sinha grunted his approval, and she knelt beside him to tickle beneath his maw.
“He likes scratches on his mane.”
Shadow was purring to her touch, kicking his hind paw in enjoyment.
“I wish the sisters’ beasts weren’t so shy,” Mei said. “I envy you your ears. It troubles me to treat your Tamed Sinha like this without being able to hear if he likes it or not.”
Shadow snorted aloud when she rose.
“Is there no way for me to hear you, noble beast?”
She lingered over him for a moment before returning to her cushion beside Mazin with a pout. They sat together in silence while Shadow snored behind them. Mei rested her head on his shoulder as they watched the fire crackle and pop.
“I am sorry Mei,” Mazin broke the peace. “For bringing you to this… forcing this duty on you, had I known this would be the outcome,”
“You could not have known, and you are the last person who should be apologising. It should be me who begs your forgiveness for putting your family in danger. I wasted your time.”
“No,” Mazin muttered, fighting to keep his eyes from welling up. The bitter guilt tasted like bile in the back of his throat, and it threatened to burst free. “I did not want it to end.”
Mei glanced at him.
“Do you know how I felt when the Nau’Van told us of her plans to break the siege? She annoyed me, annoyed! What kind of Lion am I? What happened to my sense of duty?”
Mei’s arms wrapped around him as fresh streams salted his cheeks.
“The idea of my family’s lives at risk, and I think it a nuisance to return to their aid? One taste of freedom beyond the vast confines of Bil’Faridh and I have forgotten everything I owe to the clan, let alone my blood.”
Her embrace continued as he sobbed, her hands caressed his back and his neck while he trembled after his confession. The weight oozed off of him and her warmth took its place. His cheeks dried. Mei seemed to know everything he needed, letting him go when he calmed.
She wiped his cheeks with a smile before he pulled away to use his own sleeves. When his hand was free again, she edged closer to it, until her dainty fingers clenched his.
Another pregnant silence followed while they watched the fire turn the logs it sprouted from to ash. An amalgamation of amber red, ochre yellow, and orange.
“We could run away, cross the Parvat and disappear into the far north.”
“A journey you wouldn’t enjoy on my Tamed’s back.”
“Free from any duty, do what we wish, live a quiet life together.”
“I could learn to build a home. Maybe farming will be a suitable duty?”
“Or we become nomads, never staying in one place, exploring places beyond even your wildest imagination.”
“Crossing oceans, discovering new lands, and new people.”
Mei swooned playfully.
“May I stay with you tonight?”
“I was just about to ask the same of you,” Mei yawned as their fingers intertwined together.
Mazin blinked awake in Mei’s lush bed. Bright and dull at the same time. Her leg rested on him. She was a shadow. Warm and in her shape. Her presence was unmistakable, though far away. He thought against reaching out and touching her. His hand hovered over her, then he jumped out of bed.
Her room was still and lifeless. Colour drained from the world, save for hints of its truth. He still wore the clothes he slept in, with streaks of their colour if he strained his eyes. Despite the soundlessness, the lack of scent and strange sight, it was comforting. The hearth fire was low, yet frozen during its flickering warmth.
Is this the void? He spoke, but the words never left his mind.
“You recognised it quickly.” Shadow’s voice bounced off the wispy walls as he appeared before him from a darkened corner. His scarlet eyes were the brightest colour amongst the drabness.
“This is the void once bonded.”
“What was I experiencing before?” Mazin asked, tearing open his brow.
“The void, on your own.”
Mazin spun around again, noticing the darkness clinging to the edges of Mei’s room. The eternal darkness beyond the borders of the room leaked through.
“Why do I feel her presence here?” Mazin nodded towards the Mei’s shadow.
“She was touching you. That is all I can say. I have not thought it possible to bring one without sufficient strength in the Essence into the void. Then again, you have shown the void is a talent of yours.”
“What now?”
“That is for you to decide.”
Mazin raised his hands to his eyes. Streaked by his umber colour. After their words faded into the void, he frowned at the silence.
No whispering wind of incoherent voices.
His bare feet floated over the lush mats, hardly making out the gentle caress of the rich fabrics. The door was nowhere near as solid now, half an arm’s reach away. There was darkness beyond it, unending yet familiar.
“Could I find my family?”
“Why not?”
Shadow encouraged, but there was caution in his words, lingering in the echoes.
“Had I known the void was this after bonding, I might have resisted my early curiosity,” Mazin smiled.
“Talent is a difficult thing to deny. Detrimental to resist.”
The darkness seeped further into Mei’s room, coinciding with the beginnings of the throbbing in his head. Mazin stepped away, returning to the foot of the bed beside Shadow. He massaged his temples to no avail, shutting his eyes.
End!
His eyes opened to the surrounding darkness. Then he blinked again.
Prince Mazin awoke again after the jolt snapped him out of the void. Mei’s leg was still on him, freed from her silks. He blinked away his fatigue and enjoyed the wine red, stitched canopy above. A lone candle flickered on Mei’s bedside table, drowned out by the low hearth fire still burning.
Mei moaned when he shifted, sliding his numb arm from under her head. She snatched at him from behind, and he allowed her to grab his wrist. The princess muttered something incoherent before dragging his arm and himself around her.
“A little longer,” she whispered, lifting his hand up to her chest and never letting go.
Mazin sighed with a smirk before giving in and enjoying her warmth.
He awoke again, this time with Mei burying her face into his chest, with bright morning light seeping into her room. She stirred in his embrace, smirking.
“Your chest is growing foliage. I like it.”
“Good morning to you, too. Did you sleep well?”
Mei shushed him, caressing his chest.
“Don’t, otherwise this will end.”
“Duty calls.”
Mazin kissed her brow before departing.
The morning passed by in a blur. As soon as he left Mei’s room behind, the Li twins replaced him, greeting him with nods. He inhaled his breakfast while eyeing the fresh clothes and boots. Supplies for the road and his new armour. Which was plain beyond the ruby eyed dark Sinha carved into the centre of the breastplate.
Strengthening script littered the black scale armour, save for the under layer of leather. Every piece hugged his clothed body, yielding to every movement his limbs made. His helm felt tight on his head. When Nu suggested he shorten his hair, the discomfort didn’t seem too bad.
Not a roaring Sinha helm but one with a halo of dark fur, with its edges holding a dark red hue. Shadow’s own mane of hair, so his Tamed Sinha boasted. The helm was out of place in terms of quality. The craftsmanship outshone all the other pieces, with small rubies lining the edges.
Lunch passed and with it came an overcast gloom that rumbled, threatening rain that wasn’t coming. Soon over a dozen dark Tamers gathered on the steps before the Root Hall, mounting up on their Tamed.
“You forgot this,” Mei said, struggling to carry his khopesh with both her hands.
He took it with quiet thanks and strangled his torso with its straps. Shadow shared his concern through their bond, but said nothing.
Mei’s pink lips smelled sweet, her hair wrapped into a plain bun atop her head, with hints of darkness around her eyes again. The cloak she wore was furred and warm, though she shivered. She smiled nervously at him before joining one of the Li’s and climbing up her dark Tamed Bagha with a helping hand. Nu’s voice filled his mind as he watched with muted envy.
‘The princess is safer to shadow jump with an experienced Tamer.’
He worried about what it might do to her, for Nu’s description of shadow jumping for the first time was not pleasant, though his first time was nothing like that. Torn apart, if only for an instant, before being forced back together again. Mei didn’t deserve that. She didn’t deserve any of this.
The call came and soon his attention turned to the horizon ahead, riding through Bana’Parvat, swarmed by volcanic stone buildings, until the army of darkness awaited them at the gate courtyard. Where a giant statue of Cylla’s Bane stood in polished black marble. Her open palm facing outwards, barring any who would do harm to dark Tamers within. Mazin focused on her magnificence right until a grand cloud of darkness engulfed the hundreds of dark Tamers all around.