It snatched every fibre of his being. Not just his limbs and facial features. His nails popped out of his fingers and toes. It plucked the fine hairs from his flesh with his eyebrows and eyelashes. The long thick strands of his curls atop his head lifted. His sandy umber skin unravelled from his muscles, and his muscles turned to string off of his bones.
He floated bodiless within the endless darkness of the void. Free and ready to float away into the nothingness. Only for his body to form again. The darkness gave way to snowy grasslands with damp trees.
That was Mazin’s memory of their first shadow jump. Far removed from the fears he held of it. Coming apart in the void was a joy he never considered. A freedom unthought of, and ineffable after it occurred. He was born anew, conscious during the change in existence.
It was short-lived. His joy in the absorbing darkness faded quickly when he took in much of the agonised struggles of the dark Tamers around him. Many were on their knees. Almost all he saw in the night’s darkness wore distressed expressions. The whites of their eyes matched the surrounding snow. There were even scattered scents of fear trickling into his nostrils.
“I must admit, I expected you to find it rather easy, but to see you so unaffected,” Nu began with her arms crossed, as unbothered, though perhaps without his awe. “I’m impressed.”
“It should have been easier for others.” His chest tightened when he couldn’t find Mei and the Li twins watching over her.
“She is fine, Prince, everyone is. A group jump is new for many.”
Mazin shivered and wrapped himself tightly in his furred cloak, which was feeling rather flimsy beneath the soft whiteness falling from above. They jumped far off any road or path. He didn’t know any villages in the Bar Province, none worth documenting on maps. He couldn't see any sign of Bana'Parvat towards the north.
“When do we jump again?”
“We'll have another large jump into the west after a few minutes’ rest.”
“Impatient, are we?” Shadow teased through their bond. He lay behind the tree Nu leant against, baring his knife length fangs with a yawn.
He wondered if this was how Zaki felt, having his visits with the healers to discover new abilities. Expand his potential, to learn of them beyond the texts in the archives. Until meeting other dark Tamers beyond the palace guards, knowing there was more to him than inspiring fear in others, was a lift.
“It’s something, isn’t it?”
Mazin frowned at Nu.
“Bad omens do not define us.”
“Do you read minds as well?”
“How I wish, an ability for the lighter Tamers, I believe. I merely see it on your face. An expression many Lions have shown upon arriving in Bana’Parvat. It’s what kept us there mostly, with the comfort.”
A ball of confused emotion swirled within him. To hear such an open breaking of their duties bothered him, but he couldn’t deny the truth as well. The desire he held himself to be free of the judgement within the palace, let alone the many districts of Bil’Faridh. His family hardly deserved the idea of desertion that swirled in his mind.
“Your battles within are a harsh torture, needless if I may say so,” Shadow grumbled through their bond. “There are enemies in reality. Do not concoct more threats within you as well.”
It was difficult to ignore his Tamed, for obvious reasons, but he was not in the mood to hear such things he was sick of hearing.
“That is the bond.”
“Power is earned, is it not?” Mazin rounded on Nu, flicking off the snow that gathered on him.
“A common phrase. I am sure you are sick of hearing it.”
“Untrue?”
“No, of course not.” There was a cautiousness about her.
“I believe we misuse it, however.”
“In what way?”
“Do you know why we remind ourselves of that phrase?”
“To prevent harming others in a misguided pursuit of power.”
Nu smiled at him, swiping the pile of snow gathered on her shoulder.
“That is my meaning when I say we misuse it. You speak a truth and not the whole truth.”
The rest of the dark Tamers were ready for the jump.
“It was a phrase born during the height of the Age of Heresy. Halfway through the first millennium, my guess would be between 750U and 999U. To combat the dangerous egos growing under the fanatic worship of Atum Ra, the God Emperors, the divine right of Kings and Queens, Thixo and uNkulunkulu.”
“I don’t understand.”
“What is the reason for such worship?”
“Their abilities?”
Nu snapped her fingers.
“‘Power is earned,’ began the end for the darkest years in our history. It was not an ignorant time, despite the horror. More than a warning. It’s a call to appreciate the power that was known, and respect it.”
“You paint a sympathetic picture of a bloody time.”
Nu smiled.
“Indeed, the violence, no the crimes that occurred for centuries most likely played a part in the ignorance that followed. Nor do I blame the trajectory of all the clans. To put an end to the foul worship, they took drastic measures, necessary I might add, but ‘Power is earned’ remained the same.”
“We forgot.”
“You are… I admire your mind, Prince.”
Mazin warmed despite the snow.
“That is the misuse. Now we are all Tamers fumbling in this stifling ignorance, dying because we fear what we should know. ‘Power is earned’ is now a shadow of what it achieved. It harms us now.”
Ice took hold of him once more. She made him uneasy. He thought she was wrong, but he had no explanation.
“What if we returned to the Age of Heresy without it?”
He thought it was a way to ease the discomfort within himself. Instead, her following silence worsened it. Mazin waited and watched Nu for more, but nothing came. He nearly wished for disappointment, anger, even mockery. Yet she remained passive.
A whistle sounded in the distance and the Tamers mustered, Shadow rose from his lazy lounging and Nu’s Tamed dark Sinha emerged from a cloud of darkness nearby. The smile Nu fed him was a weak one, and plunged the icy knife deeper, freezing the little warmth that remained.
The next jump was another large one. His body came apart, unravelling pleasurably, until he floated with entire freedom within the blackness. Surrounded by endless lights. Orbs of life glowing like pale globe crystals. He floated amongst the stars in the night sky. Until his freedom ended and his body came back together, snapping in place and caging his consciousness into its shell.
Prince Mazin gasped for air. It filled his chest with icy sharpness. Shadow’s pristine black fur between his legs was a cushion of comfort. The night appeared unchanged, despite the vinewoods mingling with groves of darkwoods. All snow-capped, with the browning grass below drowning in more icy whiteness. It was fresh. A blustering wind ruffled his furred cloak as he dismounted. His knees buckled, and Shadow lowered to keep him up.
“I am fine.” Mazin rushed to push him away, then eyed the rest of the camp of darkness. He spied many on their knees, panting, some huddled around the unconscious.
“We might have pushed too far.”
Nu said, as she emerged from the shadows behind him. Out of breath, herself. Mazin caught the script in blank ink darken her brow once again. She seemed restored as quickly as it appeared, and it vanished from her brow in another blink.
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“Perhaps we should take shorter jumps while the night remains.”
He watched as she dusted strange ashes off her palms. Her eyes wandered around them, while he focused on the dust swirled away by the wind.
“These are strange lands, contested lands.”
“The emperor and the king have claimed disputed lands?”
“A figure of speech, my prince. Forgive me. This is where the borders of the Dhaar and Boor Provinces meet. The contest is between the vegetation, I’m sure you’ve noticed, beneath the earth, amongst the roots.”
“I take it these lands are uninhabitable.”
“What makes you say that?”
“War ruins the land, from what I’ve seen at least.”
Nu had a twinkle in her eye.
No one around their camp made any move to sink their own roots and erect tents. Save for one in the distance. In the middle of darkness and red eyes. Where the silver stripes congregated. He had an urge to rush through the crowd. The last thing Mei needed was more faces swarming around her.
Rest.
“May I ask something, Prince?”
“There is no need for such formality. Only my brother deserves that much.”
“Your brother is not yet pharaoh, my prince,” Nu smiled.
“Then I will refer to you as Master Nu.”
“You tease me, my prince.”
“Ask your ask.”
“Did you discover anything else?”
Mazin’s palms itched within his thick gloves, and he turned towards the smirking Nu. The brown grass dried beneath the solitary darkwood. She crossed her legs and sat down against the trunk. He sat across from her, and it seemed inevitable now.
“During my capture, in a moment of weakness, I… uh, absorbed a pair of rats in the bowels of the Bannerless town.”
Nu’s gaze dropped to his hands, then she narrowed them at him again. Regret overflowed within him already.
“What followed?”
“Energy, I guess, the after-effects of the poison and their battering were gone in an instant. It wasn’t something I really thought of, I just wanted them… I wanted their noise gone.”
Nu’s silence was excruciating. Her eyes were on him, but her working mind made them easier to suffer. Still, the longer it went on, he squirmed under her thoughtful stare.
“If you wish to scare me, it is working.”
“Forgive me, Prince, I just… I never considered that a sentient being was also an option. Whenever I use my absorption, plants are my preference. Not that I believe there is anything wrong with your choice, Prince,” Nu scrambled when he grimaced. “Flowers offer more. A swift restoration of my strength, with a hint of sweetness and moisture to sate my appetite if needed.”
Her hesitation still troubled him. There was no deceit in her scent, a hint of surprise perhaps. That didn’t stop his mind from assuming the worst, however.
“Often keeping a well-preserved collection of flowers with me in the few times I dared to walk the Mr’Bhoom alone saved me from an excruciating demise.”
“You’ve explored the deadlands?”
“I would hardly call it exploring. I've seen nothingness there, and have little desire to return.”
It was an enjoyable change in conversation. He didn’t wish to know more about absorption, as she called it. The silence that resumed afterwards filled him with hope, but her gaze lingered on him. Her thoughts on ignorance and its dangers were the final push.
“How do I control it?”
Lest I harm someone, he kept his thought to himself.
“A deep desire to consume, to make the plant, in my case, one with myself. I’ve learned that your first experience with it is the habit you need to follow.”
“How do I stop?”
“You don’t. Once you begin, it ends when whatever you absorb dies. Desire is the key. You wanted to get rid of the poison. So, you did, and nothing more.”
Mazin grunted, feeling his palms tingle again at the thought of his desperation during the first time.
“Anger, it was anger.” Shadow sent through their bond.
“What about objects? Have you ever attempted to absorb steel, or wood?”
The camp of dark Tamers stirred again, and her eyes darted over his shoulder. In no time there was determined movement and Shadow rose from his lounging.
“A question for later,” said Nu.
The joy of short jumps removed the freeing pleasure of before. His body hadn’t the time to unravel and float in the pure nothingness. A half open fist, before being squeezed back together again. He blinked and awoke in the darkness. Another blink later and he awoke in their new destination. There was no telling how far they travelled.
This method was more cumbersome. Without the joy of his unravelling body, the toll of the journey hammered. His eyes felt heavy after the third. He was faint by the seventh. At the ninth and final one, he wished to slide off Shadow’s back and sleep the morning away.
Mazin knelt when he dismounted and crawled towards Nu. She prepared his bedroll beneath a tree with sprawling limbs.
“A droplet of borrowed strength. Take it.” Shadow said before a jolt of energy sparked through him. It got him to his feet. Though he was still hollow, a sunken thing with no desire beyond collapsing.
He mumbled his thanks to Nu, though his lips barely shifted and his ears picked up nothing beyond a grunt. In no time, the borrowed energy from his Tamed Sinha vanished and he fell into the cushioned ground. Mazin shut his eyes and warmed under a blanket before he drifted.
It was a blink, a dreamless slumber. He awoke with a gaping hole in his stomach. His limbs tingled with endless pinpricks. Every movement drained him further, but sleeping recovered enough for him to sit up against the trunk. Mazin blinked his eyes against the blur.
A biting breeze spattered his face with cool rain. A distant sunset in the far west barely shone its colourful fire through the strengthening rainfall. Nu arrived with a trio of hooded Lions. They muttered their greetings and bowed when he turned to face them. Nu knelt beside him while the trio erected a tent, clutching a handful of roses and loosened his shirt to place her bare hand on his chest. He was too weak to notice they took his armour off.
His fine hairs perked up as his flesh sprouted goose pimples. The life she absorbed from the roses decayed in her hand. Warmth passed through him from her palm, coursing into him like nourishing veins and spreading to all corners of his body. Moisture returned to his mouth, wetting the endless desert.
The weakness faded, and his stomach filled. Not enough, however, leaving behind hunger, but something manageable. Nu sighed when the ashes of the roses floated away in the breeze.
Mazin dragged his bag with his supplies and enjoyed the largest stick of dried meat he found.
“Thank you,” He muttered after a mouthful. “I didn’t expect the shorter jumps to drain as much as they did.”
“We pushed too much. There are many who needed similar help. Five were unlucky not to hang on.”
“Five?”
“Two Lynxes and three Lions. We already buried them.”
“How could we… who leads us? Surely, we can slow our pace?”
“There is no leader, why I considered them unlucky. Shadow jumping in such a large group carries these risks. If we continued, more would have fallen. Draining us one by one until the sole jumper remained, strengthened by all those who fell before. Something to consider.”
“What did we buy with these Tamers’ lives?”
“One large jump away from the northern border of the Sank’Ta Province. From there we will ride. We do not wish to provoke the emperor into violence.”
The last morsels went down bitterly. Robbed of any enjoyment beyond filling his stomach.
Mazin stood as the rain dried. A biting wind billowed the flaps of his cramped tent while he washed himself. The wind was better than the ice. He didn’t suffer snow long, but it left a lasting scar on him.
Nu departed, attending to the other Tamers she saved. Night fell and torches flickered outside. The plain yet sturdy script strengthened, scale armour caught his attention. He hoped it would remain unmarked, as planned.
His mind shifted onto Mei, and a yearning blossomed within him. Before he made his way towards her grand tent, which was in the centre of their camp, someone rushed towards his own. A hint of blackberry wafted into his nose as the tall and broad-shouldered figure approached. Her grey silks danced to the will of the wind beneath her cloak, and her loose braid rested over her shoulder. Gripped by a caressing left hand.
“Prince Mazin,” she greeted with a small nod. “I am Ju.”
“Something wrong with Mei?”
“Not at all. I have come as a messenger on her behalf. She was worried about what would happen if she faced you.”
Mazin narrowed his eyes up at the tall, black lipped Tiger.
“Princess Kun Mei does not wish you to be by her side when she confronts the emperor.”
“The plan hinges on us.”
“She fears the reaction if she stands before the emperor and his loyalists with the Lion Prince at her side. Your presence, no matter how comforting, would undermine her words.”
“And she couldn’t tell me this herself?”
“She fears what might come over her, if she were to face you.”
Mazin fought the rumbling in his chest, clenching his fists and wrapping them behind his back.
“She cares for you Prince, do not allow this strangeness to harbour doubts against this truth.”
Ju bowed and departed, leaving him angrier than he should have been. The lack of deceit in her scent only worsened his mood. Mazin grumbled as he turned away from the entrance, fighting the urge to kick the armour nearby.