{382, Year of Korintus (Zurenlov’s Reign)}

A lone, hooded female figure stood on a hill, one hand on the hilt of her gleaming silver shortsword, and the other gripping the mane of a horse-like creature with ice-white pelt and eyes that glowed like fire. Overhead, storm clouds gathered as thunder rumbled, breaking the silence around her. The female bent and whispered something into the creature’s ear, before releasing the mane and giving its rump a good smack. The creature snorted and took off, racing the storm for a few minutes before vanishing in a swirl of snow flurries. The female took a step back and reached up to push back the hood, revealing long, white-blonde hair and ice-blue eyes ringed in silver. From the hair color and the silver ringing her irises, she was a nairue. They were a race of ruthless predators, skilled in both hunting and killing. “Status?” she asked the empty air in front of her. In reply, a stream of images and words slid into her mind, and she smiled as she released her grip on the sword. “Excellent, I will be there as soon as I can.” No replies came to her, but she didn’t really need a response. She knew what was to be expected of her people, and they knew what to expect from her in return. No communication was needed for such trivial things. She looked around at all the green grass and trees, and she shuddered as she made her way down the hill. The realm of Mirinia was warm, wet, and somewhat humid. She missed the cold and equally wet climate of her Rislyn realm, and she wasn’t sure if she could remain in the endahli dimension for another nine moons. The endahli race were known as healers. If they had the mind to cause harm of any kind to another, there were consequences. They ranged from a minor jolt of pain, to a headache, a nosebleed, fainting, and passing out, to name a few. If they were not careful or didn’t care, it could even go as far as death. Stopping someone’s heart or giving someone an aneurism, expect to die alongside them. To put it simply, they were the empaths of the supernatural world. She had no idea what crawled up Chancellor Zero Zurenlov’s ass in the past fifty some odd years, but she had no doubt that he was god damn insane. Okay, insanity ran in the blood of her people, but still. The female let out a dejected sigh as grass turned into cobblestone under her feet. She tuned out the sound of thunder and breathed in deeply, taking in the scents of nearby creatures. She sifted through them, narrowing them down until she found the one that she was looking for. They weren’t allowed the information for various locations of their marks, oh no, they were to find everything by scent alone. ‘Scent training’ he called it. The female let out a disgusted snort and began to follow the scent trail to… wherever it led her.

A few minutes later, she found herself standing before a massive, wrought iron gate. It had to be more than thirty feet high, and the walls on either side of it were spiked. She wouldn’t be surprised if the entire thing were electrified, as well as warded. She ducked her head and let out a soft groan of exasperation. With a deep sigh, she made her sword vanish into the ether and into her air pocket. Behind her, her silver wings fluttered with irritation. She slowly approached the gate and stopped before any parts of her could come in contact with it. Her skin crawled with warning, and she was right. God fucking damn it. She sometimes hated when she was right. She looked around for a call button, and when she didn’t find one, she growled under her breath. So, it was going to be like that, was it? She stood up straighter and took one last look around. She was surprise that there were no guards manning the gate. The only things she saw were trees and impressions of wheels in the dirt. She thought about unraveling the wards, but in the end, she decided against it. Instead, she sent out a pulse of her power and waited. She didn’t have to wait long, because a couple of minutes later, a male endahli came into view and walked toward her. He reached the gate and paused to open it. The high-pitched squeal grated against her nerves, and she gritted her teeth as she resisted the urge to acquaint his skull with the smooth bricks he was standing on. “State your name and your business,” the pale-blue-eyed bastard said, sounding very bored as he barred her way. The female nairue pursed her lips in thought as she looked him up and down. He scowled at her, and she smiled as his eyes narrowed suspiciously. “You are not to pass until you state your business here, female.” She sighed and looked him in the eye.

“My name is not important,” she said with restrained patience. “I have a missive for your… boss. Is he available?”

“Name?” Okay, she thought and growled at him. She arched an eyebrow at the dagger that he suddenly had in his hand; a dagger that was coated in liquid light. The golden tip shimmered under the bluish-purple sky, and she smiled as she resisted the urge to pull out her own dagger. Except, her dagger would be coated in fog, turning the tip grey. “I will not ask again.”

“You would not dare.”

“Who sent you?” he asked, and she dodged as the dagger came at her with lightning speed.

“Make up your fucking mind,” she snapped and dodged his second attempt to stab her. “Why do you not go and ask him? I am sure that he is expecting me.”

“Doubtful,” he hissed and did his best to impale her. The nairue moved gracefully, dancing and twirling just out of his reach. “I can do this all day,” he growled.

“So can I,” she hissed and bared her teeth.

“This is ridiculous.”

“Oh, I agree.” One of her hands shot out, and he cursed as she caught his wrist. She squeezed, until he was forced to drop the dagger. She caught it and brought it up in time to parry his next attack. With a snarl, she knocked away his weapon hand and grabbed him around the throat, slamming him headfirst into the gate. She yanked his second dagger from him and drove both weapons deep into his gut. Hot blood splattered on her, and she glared at him as he screamed. She yanked the daggers free and took several steps back. “You will live,” she said coolly. “Now, are you going to let me through, or do I have to get really violent?” He glared at her, one hand going to his stomach as he pushed himself from the gate.

“Enough,” a female voice called out. “Let her through.” The male endahli shot her a glare, even as he stepped out of her way. The nairue smirked as she held both daggers in one hand and pulled the gate open wider. She didn’t bother to look back at him as she stepped through and made her way up the long narrow path that led to the partially-opened front door. She entered and stopped just inside. In front of her was a short hall that led into the main living space. White carpet most likely ran the entirety of the home, and from where she stood, she couldn’t see much of anything. She felt the male endahli come up behind her, and she stepped aside for him to enter. It was that, and she wanted to keep her eyes on both of them. The female endahli inclined her head and gestured for her to follow. “Come this way.” The nairue held out the daggers to the male and smirked as he took them with a scowl. She followed the other endahli through the living room, up a flight of stairs, down another hallway, and stopped before a closed door at the end. There were no decorations of any kind on the walls, and she was fifty percent sure that the home she was standing in, hadn’t been lived in for long, if at all. She looked herself over and sighed at the silver blood splattered on her dark blue shirt. The endahli knocked twice on the door and opened it. “Be quick.” The nairue rolled her eyes and walked inside. The office was like the rest of the house; no pictures, no bookshelves, no posters, no reading lamp, nothing except for the black swivel chair and the mahogany desk. The male endahli sitting behind it, looked up and shot her a glare.

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“Hassling my staff, are you?” he asked dryly as the door shut behind her.

“I did nothing of the sort,” the nairue said indignantly and shot him a glare of her own.

“I was told that you have a missive for me.” His dark green eyes narrowed suspiciously as she reached into her pocket and slowly withdrew a piece of paper that was carefully folded into a perfect square.

“From the chancellor,” the nairue said and held it out to him.

“You are one of his underlings, then.” It wasn’t a question, but she answered him anyways.

“I prefer the term…” she paused and shrugged. “messenger.” She still held the missive between forefinger and thumb, and she waved it at him. “Are you going to take it?” The male reached out and took it from her, his eyes never leaving her own ice-blue ones.

“Does the messenger have a name?” he asked and dropped it onto the desk.

She smiled. “The messenger, in fact, does not have a name. Do you, perhaps, have a name?” She already knew what his name was, but she could be a bitch, too.

“I do, but I am not inclined to give it to you.”

“Then we are in accord,” she said and inclined her head. He shrugged and picked up a silver cloud-shaped letter opener. He pricked his finger against the sharp end of it and allowed a drop of blood to touch the folded paper sitting on the desk. It sizzled for the briefest of seconds before vanishing.

“Do you know what is written on here?”

“I do not.” He hesitated, his eyes narrowing suspiciously before he opened it and glanced at it. Suspicious fucker, she thought and took several steps back as a cloud of black dust exploded in his face. “Oh dear,” the nairue breathed and chuckled under her breath.

“What the—?” the endahli began, but his words cut off on a choke.

“I am sorry,” she said and smiled. “but I did not get that. Could you, perhaps, repeat yourself?”

“What is this?” he asked and wheezed for air that wasn’t there.

“Black Crush,” she replied casually. “Very potent stuff. Deadly to all who comes in contact with it. It will boil you from the inside out, breaking every single bone, slowly liquifying everything, until there is nothing left except for the skin. Very nasty stuff. Painful, too.” He opened his mouth, and instead of words coming out, black slime poured from it. The nairue whistled and leaned against the wall as he writhed in pain. “It’s starting,” she said happily and smiled to herself. The door burst open, but she remained where she was as four endahlians swooped in. One of them went over to the convulsing male, and she smiled as the sound of snapping bones reached her ears. “Forgive me, but you cannot help him,” she said and drove a foot into the stomach of the nearest one to her. Air whooshed out of her as she fell back several steps. She grabbed the one diving for her and jerked him close. They got a glimpse of her fangs, before she drove them into the side of his neck. She snarled and tore open his throat. She used him as a body shield as she swallowed and chewed her way through cartilage and bones. His head parted from the shoulders and hit the floor with a thud, arterial blood spraying into the air. A hot wave of sensation washed over her as she shifted into her kizai form. She opened her mouth and roared. Somewhere between a tigress, a lioness, and a snow leopard, a two-thousand-pound predator stood in the middle of the office. With pelt the color of snow and ice-blue eyes that glowed, she bared her teeth and snarled. Her silver ears flicked back and forth, and her silver-tipped tail whipped from side-to-side, sending another endahli flying into the wall. Deadly silver claws slashed through the air, ripping and disemboweling as she tore them apart. She crunched down on a femur and chewed as she eyed the male endahli she had come to kill. He was still alive, but barely. She patted over to him and sat. It took him approximately seven minutes and fifty-one seconds to die. Blood and gore were splattered all over the office. Hell, some of the mess even landed out in the hall. With a sigh, she took in a deep breath, holding it as the wash of her magic filled her lungs. She pulled all the shadows to her, surrounding herself in their cold embrace of darkness against the burning heat of light. She exhaled, and a torrent of bluish-white flames rushed out of her, setting everything in front of her ablaze. She leapt into the air and shattered the window as she crashed into it. Her paws landed on soft dark green grass, and she shook herself, sending shards of glass raining down from her pelt. She ran to the gate and spun about. Another torrent of fire tore from her, and she watched as the entire structure went up in flames. The nairue turned back to the gate and launched herself into the air. She slammed into the invisible ward and snarled as pain exploded in her head. She repeated the action, ignoring the increase of pain. After her fifth failed attempt, she flopped onto her belly with a huff of exasperation. A second later, she was laying naked on the ground, back to her humanoid form. Her wings rustled agitatedly behind her as she pushed to her feet. The sixth time is the charm, she silently muttered to herself and allowed the rush of energy to pour into her as she harnessed the moon. It came to her sluggishly, but it was better than nothing. On her home realm, it came to her like water, but since she was on the endahli dimension, it felt like she was drawing from a well of goop. On Shierrelle—home of the redari—it was a completely different story. There, all she had was what she could hold in her reserve. That, and whatever dark objects she had on hand. She gathered her magic into a swirling ball of bluish-silver energy and hurled it at the ward. It exploded, shattering the ward and ripping the gate free. It sailed through the air for a long minute before crashing to the ground with a loud clang. It vibrated on impact for a few seconds, before going still. The nairue looked up toward the bluish-purple sky and smiled. “Onward I go,” she said aloud and launched herself into the sky. She was a mere speck on the horizon before the first alarmed shout reached her ears. “Ah,” she said and let out a happy sigh. “finally.”