Life is a collection of unanswered questions.
Often, when found, the answers are not what is expected, and it is the search itself that leaves the heart pumping in anticipation for what might be discovered next.
Often, the answers are disappointing.
Even in a world full of magic and myth.
Even in a world full of endless possibilities...
Maybe Azura was just feeling a little bleak due to the hand life had dealt her most recently.
Maybe she’d felt this way for years and it finally hit a boiling point.
Maybe she was just at a low and everything was seemingly tumbling down to join her in her self inflicted misery.
She’d been rotting away in her bed for a few months now. It had been on and off, but she was back in her pit of self loathing once again - her natural habitat. She’d only eaten when she felt as though she was going to pass out, and she’d only just barely had the energy to shower or brush her teeth so she did not truly rot.
Here she was again.
Every time she told herself she wouldn’t get close to anyone because they’d inevitably leave. She told herself that they’d fall in love with all the wonderful flowers they discovered on the surface, and flee as the darkness occupying the soil they erupted from was finally revealed.
They always told her they wouldn’t.
They always told her that they were different.
Then, at the height of their frustration with the monsters that lived inside her broken head?
They would forget everything they had said.
They would forget all that she was when those monsters she had fought an eternal internal battle with weren’t wearing her face.
They would forget that they loved her, and why.
They would forget that in order to do so, meant loving fragments.
Bits and pieces scattered and patched together over and over again to create something that so desperately wanted to be whole, but simply was not.
Then, as she allowed the new wound on her heart to mend slowly but surely, she’d tell herself
this was the last time.
She would tell herself that she didn’t need anyone.
That she didn’t need love.
It wasn’t that she didn’t like being alone, or that she felt some deep yearning to be around others. Azura could spend her days in solitude without saying a word to anyone at all envelope in a sense of utter tranquility. She’d made peace with not finding that ‘other half’ that so many tore themselves up inside searching for, and it brought her no great sadness.
Then.
Something would come along and make her question all that very rational logic when she was so very content not searching for anything at all.
Because emotion wasn’t rational.
It wasn’t logical.
So here she was again.
They were gone again.
And she was alone.
The solitary being that she was meant to be.
So she should be happy…
Shouldn’t she?
Unfortunately, all of her obsessive and compulsive thoughts couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that she would never again hear the low rumble of his voice in her ear when he was tired, in the morning, or when he made love to her. That she would never see the way the smile forced its way onto his lips when she entered the room, or hear it on the phone as soon as she answered. Nor would she hear the varying ways that he would laugh, and oh how she loved each of them despite how absurd they could be.
Worst of all, she would never feel that flutter in her chest just from watching him - just from admiring the way he lived.
“Z.”
The buzz buzz of her vibrating phone had forced Azura to do something other than stare at the ceiling. A long and exhausted sigh – despite the fact that she had no reason to be exhausted – erupted from her as she rolled over, and eventually decided to answer. Her thumb hovered over the green button on the screen as she contemplated how much longer she could ignore her friend before she arrived at her doorstep, and she knew that the limit would likely be today.
There was no choice here, really.
Despite her tiny size, Sarai was an unstoppable force that should not be underestimated.
“What,” Azura finally replied after a pause that was much too long for her friend’s liking. It was meant to be a question, but the care for an answer didn’t exist, and so it stood to be a single and deeply annoyed syllable that was much closer to a statement than anything else.
“Well hello, Sunshine… Do me a favor and scrub your ass, put on something presentable, and be ready to depart your cave at seven tonight.”
“No.”
This answer was simple, short, and delivered without a millisecond of hesitation.
Sarai had expected as much.
“It wasn’t a request.”
“You said to do you a favor-”
“Z! Enough!” Sarai’s voice raised several octaves and levels of volume. Azura could hear the way it echoed throughout the cavernous location she must have been standing in - a train station, likely. “I can’t watch you like this anymore… It’s killing me! It's been two months of this shit! I just-”
“Rai... We were together for a year,” the deadpan delivery of the sentence defied the way it still hurt to say it out loud.
In reality, it was roughly a year.
They’d lingered in a situationship that was thick with their combined territorial natures for some time, and never had officially asked her to be his girlfriend.
It just happened.
How romantic.
Still, it had lasted long enough for their connection to bloom into something consuming.
It had been heated from the start and even though Azura knew it would likely leave her burned in the end, she had walked into the fire willingly. So, she only had herself to blame as she tried to reform some semblance of who she was from the pile of ash it had turned her into.
There was a stretch of silence on the other line that was eventually eclipsed by a sigh that was in part annoyed, but mostly remorseful. No, Sarai wasn’t ignorant to the suffering of her friend, nor did she plan to heartlessly ignore it. She had just watched her cry long enough, and she’d seen her slip into this hole far too many times to allow it to consume her again.
Sarai also didn’t think he was worthy of her misery.
It was a biased opinion, certainly, given it was her best friend, but it did not devalue its validity – not one bit. While Azura could be a nightmare, she could also be a dream. She was as lovely as she was insufferable, and a man who could not love her regardless of if she was high or low, simply wasn’t worthy of her.
Sarai had never really liked him.
They didn’t really know each other, admittedly, but she had heard things about him. She had heard that he couldn’t have a disagreement without stamping away like a toddler, and the way he could and often would become cruel when those tantrums did come. Unfortunately, each time it happened, Azura would make excuses for him despite how much it tended to hurt her. She would say it wasn’t his fault. That it was merely a product of what he had suffered at the hands of those who had been just as cruel, and that they would fight those monsters together.
Only for him to run at the first true sign of hers.
Several years her senior and with more baggage than an airship docked in Chu’ghal, she would have stayed with him no matter how many times he put her down, or made her feel small. When Azura loved someone, she loved hard, and it always destroyed her when it inevitably ended poorly.
Be it a friendship, or a romance, it always ended here.
In this hole.
Unfortunately, sometimes a friend is forced to watch as their friend made a mistake, and perhaps more than once. In Sarai’s opinion, he was certainly a mistake, and Sarai could only hope that Azura had actually learned from this one.
But she probably hadn’t.
Blame it on the absence of her father.
Although there were probably good and redeeming things about him, Sarai was firmly in the state of being that wanted to be angry at the person who hurt her best friend, and those thoughts didn’t support that narrative.
Which is why they were being rejected entirely.
“Come on, Z,” she finally said with a deep sigh of contrition. “I want to be there for you, but I just can’t keep seeing you like this… Something has to change.”
Azura’s bottom teeth jutted out to run across her top lip harshly as her eyelashes fluttered. Sarai was right, as painful as it was to hear – to accept. There was a need to step forward beyond her grief, and accept that the past was the past. Accept that he was the past. Still, the burning ache in her chest screamed for her to pathetically hold out hope that he might still come back, even if a part of her felt she deserved better.
So much better.
Felt that it was best that he stayed gone.
“I know,” Azura replied as a crack broke the second word in two.
It hurt Sarai.
It always did when she got like this.
It wasn’t always because of a man, or anyone, but sometimes Azura did this to herself. Sometimes it was the demons she harbored in her head getting the best of her. Sometimes, she just got too tired of the daily fight against them and didn’t have the energy to do it any longer.
It wasn’t her fault, she hadn’t asked to be the way that she was, and although she carried the burden well most days…
Exhaustion came for everyone eventually when every day was a battle.
“Seven?”
The pause that followed allowed Azura to muster the nerve to say the answer she didn’t think she could.
And yet?
“Seven.”
----------------------------------------
“Who is throwing this fucking thing?”
“Nobody knows,” Sarai replied as she looked around the thumping room with an excited sense of wonder. She had that cherub look to her, with full cheeks and wide eyes. It was as if she was a doll brought to life right down to the rosiness of her pale skin, the short red curls that dusted her shoulder, and the big eyes that were as blue as the Anish sea beneath an afternoon sun. For as long they had known one another, Azura had always regarded Sarai as a ray of sunshine personified.
One that could burn if someone was unlucky enough to get on her bad side.
“The invites just started popping up all over the streets… Eventually one floated into the cafe and I don’t know… It just seemed like a good way to pull you out of your funk,” she shrugged as she smiled up at Azura. A smile that was contagious. It could spill over from her lips to others as optimism beamed in those blue eyes.
Azura was lucky to have her.
Even if she didn’t say it as often as she should have, she wasn’t unaware of it.
Unfortunately, most didn’t say the things they should often enough.
Or at all.
“I just had a good feeling about it,” Sarai added as she shook her hips enthusiastically. The excitement in anticipation of all that the night could bring was settling into her hips, and plastered on her features in a great blooming grin. She wore her emotions as if they were an accessory, even the worst of them – something her and Azura had in common.
It was probably one of the reasons they got along as well as they did.
“And your feelings have never led you astray,” Azura said with overwhelming sarcasm.
Her natural state of being.
“Hey pot, I’m kettle,” Sarai retorted as she cocked her head at an angel and looked toward her friend. There was an impulsive thought to refer to the fact that she had a – once upon a time – had good feeling about her most recent ex, and all the ones that had come before, but she wasn’t going to sully the mood by bringing him up.
Tonight was a douche-free zone.
Azura didn’t say anything, instead her lips twisted into an annoyed and undeniably forced smile before her eyes rolled hard. Their white sclera corrupting the space her iris usually occupied entirely until they returned to level a breath afterward. While Sarai wasn’t wrong, she wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction of agreeing with her. Although Azura could and often was a wonderful judge of certain scenarios and the characters in them, she could also miss things or overlook them, and it frequently bit her in the ass.
Yes, someone did come to mind, but she didn’t want to think about him right now..
Tonight was a douche free zone.
For the most part, Azura didn’t hate clubs or parties, and had frequented them much more than she did now a few years ago. Before she had become a recluse and learned the value of solitude. Of a night in with a few close friends, and a few good laughs. Still, in the right mood, and usually with some liquid encouragement, she could occupy the center of attention happily.
But, given her current state of being as a walking raincloud?
…It seemed unlikely.
Which is why her hazel eyes admired the dark surroundings illuminated by dull red lights with pronounced hesitation. The same reserved attention to detail landed on the vast array of party goers already inside as she calculated her surroundings in silence. Azura had always wondered what it was like to arrive at these sorts of things before the crowd. She pondered what they looked like when just a few individuals were scattered around, awkwardly passing glances to one another before the privacy of the crowd disrupted the chance.
Tarus was a city, and while there were many of them across the many territories of Anathem, this one was unique – this one was incomparable. Although the supernatural and the occult were commonplace no matter where you found yourself, the underground of Tarus, the capital of the great kingdom of Anagénn, was its own animal. Whether you lived among the nobles of the court of the royal Romadis family, or you lurked among the slums of Central City with the societal sewer rats, and danced with those that occupied the underworld…
It was all the same.
It was all garbage of varying ranks.
Azura lingered just above the poverty line with her family, and she always had. Although she had ambitions of rising above it, of something beyond that joke of an existence, the hope for it dwindled with every passing year that she remained exactly where she was.
With every new reform that made the rich richer, and the poor poorer.
“Alright, you need a drink… Or seven,” Sarai said as a bounce found her footsteps. It was partially in response to the music, and partially because it was just how she carried herself. Often, Azura wondered if she descended from a Fae, or something equally as fantastical. While it was possible, that sort of information would probably only get her hunted and sold on the black market.
Yeah, it was dark.
But it didn’t mean it was any less true.
Fae were a dying breed. They had been teetering on the brink of extinction for the better half of the last century, or even before. In the present day, people either hunted them to death, or they hunted them to harbor them in safety. In fact, a handful of them could be found at the royal Tarian court, living a life of luxury.
…Or sugar coated imprisonment.
Whatever you preferred to call it.
“Seven, preferably,” Azura replied. The deadpan, listless delivery was her trademark, and not a result of her position firmly in the dumps – no pun intended.
The pair had garnered a few glances as they meandered their way through the party, but that was nothing special for any moderately attractive person in a public place where alcohol was served.
Still, while she did not believe herself to be unattractive, Azura had always regarded her appearance as… unconventional. She was tall – taller than most women – with a head of long brown waves that were tinted auburn, hovering above the small of her back as they came to their end. Her skin was ivory with an understated olive undertone, and her eyes were a burst of green, gold, and brown. The shape of them was akin to almonds, and they were surrounded by a curtain of thick black lashes that made them appear as though they were lined with coal. Her nose was rounded, but pointy, and slightly hooked as it stood out prominently against her notedly flattened profile. Her lips were long, ensuring her smile was wide, but they were full – soft in appearance with a split down the center.
In her opinion?
Her upper lip jutted out too much, and looked rather goofy from the side – almost like a duck. Her eyelids were much too large in comparison to the narrowness of her eyes. Her eyebrows were much too thick. Her jawline was far too defined, and it made her look masculine. Her shoulders were much too broad, even if they matched the width of her wide hips. Her waist wasn’t as slender as she wished it could be, but her frame simply wasn’t built for that.
Azura also hated her voice.
It had a raspiness that worsened in the morning, and only became crunchier the lower her volume was.
But there would always be things we did not love about ourselves, she supposed.
At the very least, she could agree that there were beautiful things about her, but there was something in her eyes that spoke of all the madness she harbored in her head.
For some?
It was a mystery that made them want to dive deep into that sea of ominous unknown.
Only to fear what they would find when they eventually did find it.
She stood in stark contrast next to the shorter, bubblier, Sarai, who was no less appealing in her very own redheaded right – if not more so. Short, petite, freckled, and delicate. Almost as if she might just shatter if you weren’t careful with her, but Azura knew that could not be further from the truth. She knew that Sarai was stronger than most, and that if someone intended to take her down they would be in for the fight of their life.
Admittedly, despite what was appealing about each of them, It didn’t take much to get attention in a place like this. Most people would come to a party in search of something to numb them - liquid or humanoid.
Azura supposed she existed on that list, even if she didn’t want to. In fact, now that she was out, finding a means to lose herself didn’t sound like such a bad idea after all.
Preferably in liquid form.
“Hello ladies,” the bartender greeted as they approached. He was something bald, lanky, covered in tattoos, with a few pieces of jewelry hanging from various orifices - some of them unseen.
“Hey there, Captain… We’ll take six shots of Torpa,” Sarai said as she offered the corresponding number of raised fingers to the man following a short salute.
“Trying to forget something, are we ladies?” The man smiled slyly as an unoffered chuckle lived beneath the mostly rhetorical question. He was a bartender, after all, they were used to people spilling all of the feelings that had led them to the drinks he would serve. “Or someone,” his eyes drifted to Azura before his gaze narrowed in an investigatory manner.
Great, some sort of a fucking empath.
What a nightmare this job must be for him.
“But the tips pay so well,” he added.
Oh fuck me, an Anagnosti?
“Hey… No, no,” Azura shook a finger at him in disapproval, taking on the manner of a disappointed mother for a moment. “You can’t just go in there without consent,” she added with increasingly furrowed eyebrows.
“That’s what she said,” Sarai quipped with a snort of laughter.
There was a brief glance passed from Azura as she looked down at her friend, and sighed in displeasure. While there were occasions where she shamelessly reveled in her friend’s childish sense of humor, it was typically when they were alone.
“Apologies… You’re just… louder than most,” he winked before turning away to retrieve their drinks.
Whatever the fuck that meant.
What it meant?
Was exactly how it sounded.
While everyone else in the room was a mumble of nonsense, Azura was screaming. He was also picking something up in her aura that was deeply unfamiliar, and equally intriguing. There were many hybrids in a place like Tarus. Individuals with things in their bloodline that would likely remain a mystery. In a place as old as Anathem, with pages written in blood of times of war and peace, the lines had been drawn and breached so many times. The result, was a collection of beings that the ancients perhaps had hoped would never exist.
“You gonna fuck him?” Sarai asked as she rose to her toes to whisper into her friend’s ear. A whisper that was much too loud. Meanwhile, the look she was offering his back as he attended to their order indicated that she wouldn’t mind going there herself.
He wasn’t particularly Azura’s type, anyway.
“What the fuck?” Azura replied with a grimace of displeasure as she neglected to meet her friend’s expectant stare. Call her a bit old fashioned, but she wasn’t one to fall on her back for a stranger. Letting someone between her legs required far too much vulnerability, and she wasn’t too keen on offering that to someone she had only just met
“Why do you think I brought you here?” The smaller of the two women threw her hands up as she spoke, her delivery thick with overdone exasperation. “You need to forget about dickhead, and the best way to do that? Is by finding a new one to sit on.”
No, Azura thought.
It was like putting a bandaid on an open wound that required stitches.
It would work for a short time, but the blood would eventually seep through, and it would fall off, leaving it exposed to the open air and infection.
That’s what the last two months had felt like.
Like the wound he left was being slowly infected as it sat raw in the open air.
The bartender was laughing to himself as he placed the glasses on the countertop. He hadn’t been trying to listen in, but Sarai had made little to no effort to keep their conversation private.
Subtlety wasn’t something she was familiar with, nor did she want to become acquainted.
Azura had allowed her attention to drift off again, slowly taking in the atmosphere so she wouldn’t propel into sensory overload. Meanwhile, the familiar long bottle was produced, and that pale cerulean cloudy liquid was poured into all six of those glasses with professional precision – not a drop spilled.
“If you’re going to be sick, do me a favor and make it to the bathroom,” the bartender said as charcoal eyes looked between the two women.
Torpa wasn’t the most expensive liquor, but it was one of the strongest. Most didn’t bother unless they intended to dive deep within the sea of inebriation before the end of the night. As Azura admired the swirling liquid quietly, she internally decided that doing that was exactly what she wanted.
Exactly what she needed.
“This isn’t our first proelio,” she replied as she stepped toward the bar and collected one of the glasses. When Sarai followed her example, a clink resounded as their shots collided, and they then threw them back in unison.
“Woo!” Sarai called out before slamming the glass on the bar top.
Azura was much quieter as she enjoyed the burn that traveled past her tongue, journeyed down her throat, and settled in the depths of her stomach. Already that warmth seemed to sooth that wound in the center of her chest, and her sanity subsequently began to hunger for more of it so it might know peace.
Thirtsy for the closest thing she had found to medicine yet.
The two girls slammed the remaining two shots without a hitch, and agreed that at least three more were in order. Now, for most, this was a little excessive, but as Azura had said…
This was not their first proelio.
A few years ago, there was hardly a night where they returned home before sunrise. A frequent collection of thuds heard as Azura stumbled up her staircase, and somehow managed to wake everyone despite her effort to not wake anyone at all.
It took her far too long to realize that she was medicating herself in the worst of ways.
So, now she only turned to this remedy when it got really bad, and it had been a disaster as of late. While she knew it would pass and that she would heal in time…
Sometimes time took far too long.
Eventually, Sarai dragged Azura to the dance floor. While she had been hesitant at first, beaming smiles were soon plastered on their lips as they lost themselves in the thump thump of the music. After several songs, a sheen of dew was clinging to their skin as they were warmed by that elixir of life in their veins, and their rhythmic movement to whatever song the Dj decided to play.
Mission accomplished.
What’s-His-Name hadn’t even crossed her mind since that first drop of Torpa had landed on her all to eager tongue.
The only thing that had come close was the quiet question as to why she had given this up?
Why she had forgotten herself for anyone at all?
“Listen, listen, listen,” Saria gripped the sides of Azura’s face as she forced her to look at her. With elevated breathing, and evident slur to her speech, she had become fairly touchy as she always did after a few drinks. “You need to remember that you are fucking beautiful… And he is a dumb bitch-”
“Rai,” Azura raised a hand to grasp her friend's mouth. While Sarai had consumed at least two more shots since the initial six, Azura had refrained. She thought it was wise that one of them was capable of leading them home by the end of the night. “Rai, please… Don’t fucking talk about him, okay?” She asked with a sweet and drunken smile. “Is fine… Sometimes shit just isn’t meant to be, yeah?”
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“Poof he gone!” Sarai exclaimed as she gripped her friend by the shoulders and shook her violently. “Poof, next!”
“No,” Azura rolled her eyes as her shoulders slumped, a sigh bubbling past her closed lips that made them rumble like the whinny of a horse. “No next… Just Zura,” she added with a contented smile as she began to bob her head to the music. They had both been moving idly as they screamed at one another obtusely, but she had begun swaying more intensely as she hoped to move away from the topic.
She was feeling good right now, and she wanted to ride that wave for as long as she was able.
“You two are hot,” a stranger approached and presented a dopey grin along with his greeting. Clearly, he was as drunk, if not more drunk than the two women.
While Azura’s immediate reaction was to grimace, Sarai was far more friendly as usual.
“No, you,” she said with a loud giggle as she poked him in the chest. Which, resulted in them both erupting in a stupid burst of laughter as Azura suddenly felt the call of the bar and another drink. “Hey… Do you wanna dance?” Sarai asked as her voice sweetened. A tone that was reserved for things she would like to climb, which were much greater in number when she was drunk.
Who was Azura to ruin her fun?
So, she quietly slunk away, and gave Sarai a look that told her to be careful, but that she didn’t mind. For the most part, she was used to flying solo. Which was why she walked to the bar without fear of doing so alone. While she was certainly intoxicated, she was still able to walk, and still coherent enough to where she could conduct herself in a semi-normal fashion.
Semi being the key word.
“Back again?” The bartender greeted as soon as she approached the bar. This time he took a moment to survey her body, dropping his attention down and returning it to her eyes as he waited for her order with a mischievous smirk.
While Azura was not oblivious to the glance, she knew it was best to ignore it unless she intended to reciprocate that energy – which she didn’t intend to. “No more Torpa,” she laughed lazily as she waved a hand at him. “Something to sip, yeah?”
“Pick your poison, gorgeous,” he smiled, revealing surprisingly white teeth.
Dental care wasn’t cheap in Tarus.
“Surprise me,” she replied with a smile that was subtly sheepish. There was a weirdness with compliments when it came to her. Not because she was without confidence entirely, but she did at times, have trouble believing them.
“You got it,” he grinned as he drummed a brief beat on the counter, and departed again.
Azura was only alone for a short moment afterward, a brief scan washing over the crowd before someone approached her from her left. Although she had expected they were just hoping to order a drink, the way their stare was fixated on her was increasing her already raised body temperature. Given she could only see who it was in her peripherals, she couldn’t get a good look at his face without turning her head and making it obvious – which she didn’t intend to. She’d forgotten the subtle politics of being at a bar, and the fact that object of the game was sex for most.
“You’re a beautiful dancer… The way you move reminds me of the Elves of Ignisium,” he greeted as he leaned against the counter. His voice was low and clear, falling from a mouth that seemed as though it had said something similar many times before – to many different women.
It was not lost on her that the compliment implied he had been watching her, and she was silently deciding if she was creeped out or flattered. Azura knew little about the Elves, but she knew their women were beautiful – delicate and elegant. Which meant he had been there himself, or that he had heard the same thing as everyone else.
Or that he was just hoping to flatter her.
It might have worked.
A little.
Slowly, she turned her head to look over her shoulder, hazel hues searching for the source of the voice until they were locked with an heartstopping emerald stare that was nearly lost to the intimate lighting of the party.
Green eyes were rare.
Almost as rare as hazel.
In Anathema, the shade of the iris was a symbol of status, and so many had speculated that Azura came from old blood - from magic. They were right, of course, but she and the rest of her family kept that to themselves. It was dangerous to be magic in the modern world. While it had always come with a certain potential for peril, it had only gotten worse over the centuries.
Still, it appeared that fact was not lost on him as a generous breath of time passed without a word from either of them. Only that continuous thumping rhythm of the music and the rumble of the bass from the speakers adorning the massive hall.
With a face like that, Azua had decided that perhaps she wasn’t so bothered that he had been watching her.
“Have you been there?” She replied, her tone thick with disinterested interest. An admittedly purposeful flare to indicate that despite how attractive he was, she wasn’t about to jump his bones.
He knew that though.
Women tended to try to play aloof with him, and he was typically fairly amused when it didn’t last long. Eventually, they would melt into sheepish looks from beneath a drape of lashes, and rosy cheeks as they stumbled over their syllables.
He expected Azura would land there soon enough.
While she had noticed that tall, dark, and handsome was indeed handsome, despite what Sarai had hoped for, she still didn’t intend to end her night with a stranger. She just wanted to enjoy herself - to numb the ceaseless cycle of fuck that occupied her head - but she was self aware enough to understand that nobody could fill that void.
Not yet.
Certainly not someone she didn’t know at all, and certainly not in one night.
“I have,” he replied simply, matching her enigmatic energy. However, the one difference was the hint of smirk that settled in the corner of lips that were thin, but not too thin. They were fuller than one might expect from a man, and it offset the masculinity of his strong angles that made up his features. “I recommend it to everyone… If you can stomach the prejudice.”
Ah, yes.
The Elves were notoriously xenophobic, but not without reason.
They were typically hunted beyond Ignisium, and so they rarely left its confines. Elves were coveted for their light magic, as it was an increasingly rare form. So, after seeing what became of the Magi and the Fae due to their natural talents, they decided that they didn't intend to share their fate, and closed their borders behind heavy restrictions. Getting in was no easy task, which meant that the stranger was lying about his trip there, or that he was fairly important.
“There’s plenty of that everywhere… Isn’t there?” Azura replied as she turned to face him properly. As they now stood face to face, the crowded room around them acted as a curtain for privacy despite how public their current location was. The few short steps left between them were occupied by a tingling electricity that was building little by little. Whether or not it was the first sparks of genuine chemistry, or the simple unmistakable simmer of attraction fueled by consumption of alcoholic beverages…
It was hard to tell.
But it hardly mattered to either of them.
Before the stranger could answer, the bartender returned with a drink that was red in color, and placed it down in front of Azura. It had a toothpick topped with two boomberries that were a suggestion with their presence alone. They got their name from the way they popped in your mouth, and due to the fact that they were an aphrodisiac.
Azura eyed them quietly as she turned away from her new conversational companion, and could not help the gentle pull at the corner of her lips that had almost become a smirk.
“Enjoy your drink,” the bartender grinned before passing a glance to the new arrival. “Another Verdan?”
Verdan?
The beverage that was the same shade as his eyes was like a drug.
And very expensive.
A fact that was certainly noted by Azura.
The stranger nodded slowly, and then watched the bartender as he departed. “I hope I’m not interrupting?” While his tone was seemingly genuine, there was an arrogant flair to his expression that implied that he didn’t not truly care if he had.
“The song… Maybe,” Azura retorted as she raised the drink to her lips. The sip was hesitant as she was unfamiliar with what it was, but she was pleasantly surprised as a saccharine cinnamon flavor washed over her tongue. It was not so sweet that it was overpowering, and as the infusions of spicy boomberry rose above the other flavors she could feel herself become… elated.
It was a good drink.
She was fairly sure it had probably gotten him laid once or twice.
“Are you sure… Given the drink,” he jutted his chin toward the glass as she placed it down on the counter in front of her. The way he spoke gave away the fact that he had not been raised in the slums, and that he was maybe even a noble.
But what was he doing here?
Sometimes the higher classes liked to slum it from time to time, but it was rarer in recent years. Decreasing in frequency as the divide between tax brackets grew to be elephantine.
Azura did not immediately respond to him. Partially because she was trying to retain the aloof aura she had been putting on, and partially because she wasn’t sure what to say. So instead, she toyed with the toothpick in her drink, swirling it around before she retrieved it, and investigated the tiny vermillion bulbous fruit with narrowed-eyed interest. After a few moments of contemplation, she moved her grip toward the opposite end of the tiny spear, and pulled one of the berries into her mouth with her lips. As expected, it popped in her mouth and flooded it with the trademark explosion of spiced sweetness as she chewed slowly, and then swallowed.
“He’s not my type,” she eventually responded perhaps too loudly. While she had a tendency to be blunt when she was sober, all hope for a filter had departed the premises when she was drinking.
Now, the stranger was not sure if this was meant to imply that he was her type, or if the girl was just being honest. Which was why he decided not to read into it too deeply, but did slowly slide along the bar to be closer to her.
“It’s rare to retain your standards after you’ve been drinking,” he replied simply, his volume dropping now that the space between them had been thinned.
“Speaking from experience?” Azura laughed as she turned her head to look at him.
He was handsome.
And he wasn’t from here.
His features told a tale of ancient kingdoms beyond the confines of Anagénn. High cheekbones and sharpened chiseled angles that once against left her to wonder…
What was he doing here?
“We’ve all made mistakes, haven’t we?” He admitted shamelessly as his lips parted in a lopsided grin.
That grin unleashed a flood of thoughts in her head.
A thought that the ease in which he conducted himself implied that he had done this before, and perhaps many times.
A thought that this would be empty, a searing memory and nothing more, if she allowed it to go where it was seemingly headed.
But maybe that wouldn’t be so bad…
“You are the most beautiful woman I have seen all night,” he complimented coolly as his drink was delivered, and he offered the bartender a brief nod of thanks.
Azura was also thankful for his arrival, as it provided a chance for her to recover from the unexpected flattery. It wasn’t the fact that it was a compliment, it was the way he had said. It wasn’t overdone or some empty attempt to praise her, it seemed genuine.
Or maybe she was just a fool who was falling for his shit.
Whether it was the drinks, or the simple fact that he was arguably one of the most attractive things she had seen all evening, she couldn’t tell.
Nor did she believe she cared.
“You’re lying,” she quipped with a laugh as she reached for her drink again. There was another sip taken, this one healthier than the last, before she managed to say anything else. “But it’s working,” Azura added as she returned her attention to him meaningfully.
“It usually does,” he responded, and as he said those words his tone shifted. Something in it became minacious. The details of his delivery acting as a warning.
A red flag waving in the wind that screamed:
Danger ahead.
You know what What’s-HIs-Face had screamed?
With those big blue eyes and full cheeks that told a lie of youthfulness despite his age?
He had told tales of safety and security.
Of a future she had so desperately wanted to acquire.
And it had all been a lie.
Which was probably why the bluntness of the hazard in the form of a man that was holding her close almost felt like relief - like a breath of fresh air.
“But I wasn’t lying,” he affirmed as he took another step forward, and dropped his voice another octave.
The brief bridge of silence that followed was more heated than the last. There was a tension between them that was ripe with sparks of chemistry, and it was melting away all those lingering inhibitions along with every sip of her drink.
But the moment was cut short.
Suddenly, the party went dark, and screams of panic began to emanate from the various corners of the hall. Then, a bright light was beamed behind the Dj that displayed King Teris with an bright red x drawn over his face.
The riots had gotten bad.
And so had the retaliation.
“Suppress your oppressors! Stand against the tyranny of the Romadis family! There is no king of Anagénn! We are the free nation of Anathema! They grow fat in their castles as we starve in the streets! They grow fat off of our suffering! Death to King Teris! Death to the Romadis family!”
“Oh fuck,” Azura sighed as she rolled her eyes. Unlike others, she and her conversational companion had not devolved into immediate panic due to the interruption. However, she had felt his presence move closer in a manner that was almost… protective.
Which was seriously unexpected from a random guy at the bar.
Unfortunately, her annoyance was short lived as sparks of magic began to erupt around the hall. Various colors firing from different directions as expletives and other unintelligible things were shouted between those on opposing sides.
“The Gods turn against them! Their magic is lost! Magi of Central City rise! Take back what is ours!”
Now the screams were the chorus to a rumbling stampede of partygoers who were violently rushing for the exit. Which certainly gave Azura reason to panic. Not for fear of her own life, but for the vertically challenged woman she had arrived with who was prime target for injury in a situation like this.
“We should go, now,” the stranger said as he gripped her arm. While there was a roughness to it, a sense of urgency, there was also care taken not to hurt her. Even as he began to pull her forcefully and push his way through the throng of hysterics.
“Wait-... My friend-... She’s-”
“Hopefully she has sense enough to leave too,” he said brusquely as he moved forward ceaselessly.
“Wait! I have to find her!” Azura tried to tug her arm free but he responded with greater strength, denying her freedom from his grip. Although it seemed as though he intended to reply, the scream that echoed from one of the corners of the hall was bloodcurdling.
Someone had been harmed.
Maybe even multiple someones.
While her fear for where Sarai was only increased, she couldn’t deny the fact that trying to fight against the rushing mob would probably only result in injury. So, she let him pull her to safety. Anxiously watching the blur of faces as her breathing elevated with each step they took. When they finally broke free of the alleyway beyond the doors, and stood on the glistening streets leftover from the rain of the day, she broke away from him and tried to level her breathing. All the while, she frantically collected her phone from her pocket, praying to the gods that Sarai was alright wherever she was. The way she tapped at the screen of her phone was sloppy, which was the reason she eventually decided that she should call her.
Every ring was anxiety inducing.
Every second she did not know she was alright made it harder to breathe.
“Z! Z are you okay! That was fucking crazy!” There sound of voices could be heard in the background, but not the same overbearing chatter that surrounded Azura. Which meant that she had already put some distance between herself and the party, and that was probably for the best.
“Rai! Are you fucking okay?”
“Yeah I’m okay bitch, chill,” Sarai laughed. While her nonchalance was probably due to how drunk she was, it didn’t make it any less annoying. “These bitches were shooting sparks out of their hands and shit… It was wild!”
“Where are you?” Azura raised her hand to her uncovered ear as a loud group of partygoers walked by, still in a panic as they talked amongst each other excitedly.
“Huh? Oh,” the sounds of Sarai adjusting her phone flooded Azura’s ear. “I’m sorry girl… But I’m gonna get laid… Will you be able to get home and shit?” She said in another one of those whispers that was so loud it defied the purpose of a whisper entirely.
Although she was slightly disappointed, Azura slowly turned her gaze on the stranger who was still standing nearby. There was a respectable distance between them, but it was clear he was watching her. Every so often, his attention would drift to their surroundings, quietly analyzing those who walked closely to them and ensuring they did not approach.
It was… oddly gentlemanly.
“You know… I think I’ll be alright, Rai,” Azura said finally as she released a contended sigh.
“Good, I’ll call you tomorrow bitch, love you!” Sarai then smothered the phone in a flurry of kisses before she hung up.
“Love you too,” Azura responded even though she could no longer hear her, and released yet another sigh.
“Your friend is alright?” The stranger asked as his hands slipped into his pockets, and he took a few steps forward. Despite the carelessness of his delivery, he did hope no one had been hurt.
However, just like Azura, he had heard that scream, and it made it clear that it was unlikely.
“Yeah, she’s good…,” Azura trailed off as she slipped her phone into the pocket of her dress. She had sown it in herself, and she had learned to sew from her mother. It was a good skill to have when new clothing purchases were rare, and you had to make do with getting creative with the holes in the clothes that you had. “Hey uh… Thanks for… Getting me out of there,” she added as she raised her hands to rub the bare skin of her exposed biceps. Even with the artificial warmth of her inebriated state, it was a cool night made cooler with lingering moisture in the air. Their location was also in close proximity to the waterfront, and the sea breeze always carried a chill along with the scent of the ocean.
Without a hesitation, the stranger removed his jacket, and offered it to her. “Don’t mention it,” he said quietly as he took another step forward.
Awkwardly, Azura took the jacket from his grasp, and slipped it over her shoulders. It was leather, and warmed from her body heat. She was also instantly wafted with the scent of cologne that clung to its silky lining. It was a piquant aroma of plum, neroli, frankincense, and something else she couldn’t quite gauge that was almost woodsy.
A scent that seemed to appropriately belong to him.
She tried to not be obvious in the way she inhaled it deeply, but it was difficult. There was something about someone who smelled good that was undeniably attractive.
“I’ve got a place not far from here… It might not be a bad idea to lay low there until everything calms-”
Before he could properly finish his thought, the green lights of the arriving City Cadre tore through the moonlit darkness of the dampened streets. In an immediate response, the lingering crowd scattered into the night like scared rats, and Azura felt it would be wise to do the same. The Lucera house was some ways away from Central City. While she was used to the walk, and didn’t mind it most nights, the sound of that scream before they had fled the party had her on edge. She had heard about the injuries during the riots, and even the punishments doled out to those who participated in them. But it was one thing to listen to a story secondhand, and it was another to be there as it played out.
“Lead the way,” Azura responded after watching the emerald lights briefly. There was still this nagging voice in her head that rightfully would not and could not trust this person. That was telling her not to go to wherever his place was because it was dangerous, but he didn’t seem… nefarious.
Or he hadn’t given her reason to believe he was
Yet.
With a nod and brief connection of their gazes, he planted his hand gently on the small of her back to indicate the direction they would move in, and she dutifully followed his lead. The journey to their intended destina was a blur of faces as they slunk through the streets with urgency. A commotion heard in the distance as the cadre apprehended those responsible for the chaos that prematurely ended the party.
There had been some idle conversation between them, but not much. Small talk about where they were from, and in what part of the city they lived. While they rode an aged elevator to the top of an equally archaic building, Azura turned her head to watch him for a moment. She admired the sharp angles of his profile a little too liberally, and eventually summoned his attention toward her as another one of those lopsided grins nestled into the corner of his lips.
“Yes?” He inquired with a raised eyebrow.
“What’s your name?”
“Cyrus,” he said after a pause as he watched the passing floors briefly. “And yours?” His attention returned to her as he countered her question, and tilted his head to the side as he waited for a response.
“Just call me Z,” Azura replied as the elevator came to a stop.
With a nod, Cyrus stepped toward the door, leaning forward so that he could pull it upward and the could enter the loft beyond. The interior was simple, modern, but it was a nice place. The decorations said that he had money, but not too much – or that he didn’t care to flaunt it.
While he moved toward what appeared to be a kitchen area and began turning on lights, she took lazy steps as she observed her surroundings. Eventually reaching the floor to ceiling windows that allowed her to see the streets below. The green lights of the Cadre were still aglow, as they searched the pedestrians that had lingered too long, hoping to find more of those who had spoken against the King.
Who had, essentially, made a threat on his life.
“Here,” Cyrus said as he approached, startling Azura slightly. He was so light on his feet, that she hadn’t even heard him as he moved toward her to offer the glass of water in his hand. As she looked at the clear liquid, she suddenly realized how everything had sobered her, and just how thirsty she was for true hydration.
“Thanks,” she said softly as she raised the glass to her lips, and began to gulp it down without an ounce of grace. There was something about a cold glass of water when you were battling oncoming dehydration that was like a drug.
“It’s going to get worse,” Cyrus continued. “With the way things are headed… There’s been talks of civil war… With the threat of a Xetu invasion, the years of unrest from the lower class…,” Cyrus trailed off as his attention drifted toward Azura. He had stopped himself before he began ranting, expecting she wouldn’t be interested.
Which was why he was surprised to find her watching him, listening with wide eyes as she finished her water, and realized that there were actual thoughts in his head.
Unexpected from a man who had picked her up in a bar, but certainly not unwelcome.
“Is this the part where you tell me you were in on it?” She asked as she offered him a playful grin, but she was partially serious. Radicals came in all shapes and sizes. Some of them were loud and proud, and some of them lingered in the shadows.
“You were thirsty?” He laughed as he reached for the empty glass, and ignored her question.
How suspicious...
“I was, yeah,” she chuckled as she handed it to him. “I’ve heard about the riots… Saw a few of them start, but left before they finished.”
“Wise,” Cyrus replied as he placed the glass on the counter some steps away and then leaned against it. “When it’s all settled down… I can call you a cab?”
Azura’s eyebrow raised as she felt… disappointed.
Unexpectedly so.
It was likely that he was probably just being polite, and had expected that the chaos had sullied whatever mood they had previously shared at the part.
For a time, it had.
But that time had passed.
Gradually, Azura began to pull his jacket from her shoulders as she walked toward him. He watched her all the while, carefully taking in her form as a slow breath came from his nose. Yes, he was trying to be decent by not pressing further for what he had initially been in search of when he had approached her, but the slow crawl of a walk she did toward him indicated that maybe she wanted otherwise.
Cyrus’ arms crossed over his chest as his chin lifted, and he remained where he was, leaning against the counter. When she finally reached him, offering his coat, he didn’t say a word. Instead he waited as green eyes looked down at her as she closed the last bit of space between them.
“Here,” she said quietly. “You’ll be wanting this back, then?” Azura bit into her bottom lip as the jacket hung between them.
She was baiting him.
The question was.
Would he bite?
After another pause, he stepped away from the counter, and reached outward. When he gripped the coat, however, he tugged it harshly before Azura had a chance to release it. “Do you intend to stay for the night… Z?” He asked in a voice so low she felt the rumble of it up her spin in the form of a tingle.
This wasn’t her style, typically. If things got too heated too quickly, she would pull away from them, and eventually she would be a ghost. Whether it was all the excitement from the night, or the broken part of her that was still in search of a numbing medium, she was feeling like stepping out of her comfort zone.
Just this once.
“I don’t usually do this… And I know how that sounds… It’s what everyone says so they don’t look like a giant slut, but I swear-”
Without a word, Cyrus’ hand raised toward her face, cupped her jaw, and his thumb ran across her bottom lip gently – silencing her. Whatever was running through his head was lost to Azura as she stared up at, but the battle played out in that emerald gaze as he admired her in excruciating detail.
Then.
It came to an abrupt end as something like a grunt erupted from behind his neutral expression, and he leaned forward. “I don’t care,” he whispered just before he pressed his lips against hers.
There were no words.
There was no need for them.
Only the fervorous grip and the feral sounds of two people letting go completely. Marking one another’s skin with kisses, bites, and scratches as their sweat coated forms glistened in the moonlight that erupted from magnificent floor to ceiling windows.
Azura was not numb as she cried out in ecstasy and clawed at him like an animal.
She was not numb as she erupted for him and felt true relief for the first time in months.
She felt everything.
It was just what she wanted.
Just what she needed.
----------------------------------------
…Or so she thought.
For when the morning came, the harshness of reality would be a rude awakening, and not in the form of the expected hangover.
It had all seemed too perfect, hadn’t it?
The too handsome stranger, and the way he acted like a knight in shining armor.
It was as if he’d been ripped straight from a fairy tale, right down to the way he made her feel until the moon was replaced by the waking sun.
Nothing was ever so marvelous.
Not for Azura.
Still, she lingered in the bliss from the night before as the first signs of consciousness returned to her form. That intoxication, a different kind than the one granted by Torpa, elicited a delay as she came to terms with her new surroundings.
There was no soft bed beneath her, but a hard and cold floor.
There was no loft around her, but a seemingly endless space shrouded in darkness.
Yet there he was, standing before her, eyes cast downward toward a stone floor.
This was why you did not go home with the stranger.
No matter how good they made you feel.
Azura’s eyebrows pulled into a deep furrow as she began to look around her, and then the realization that she had heavy chains on her wrists shot her into full consciousness all too quickly. Her state of dehydration and pounding in her head were secondary to the fact that Mr. Perfect Stranger… Had kidnapped her?
What the fuck was going on?
Where the fuck was she?
“Hey, I know we didn’t discuss a safeword or anything last night, but what the fuck-”
“I, Cyrus, bring forth Dominess Azura Alandris Zulandri… The daughter of Dominus Zelarin Zulandri… You have been summoned to the royal Tarian Court to answer for the crimes of your father against the great Kingdom of Anagénn,” Cyrus spoke in a tone that was unfamiliar and professional. A far cry from the timber Azura had become acquainted with less than twenty-four hours prior.
“What. The. Fuck,” her eyes fixated on him as they narrowed. “My name is Azura Alandris-”
“No,” he quipped firmly. “You are the bastard daughter of the Dominus of Xetus… You are, as of one week ago, the last remaining heir to the Xetus Empire-”
“And you’re off of you’re fucking rocker, Cyrus-”
Suddenly, the room was illuminated, and it was revealed that they were not alone. The dull light that had hung overhead bloomed and disrupt the darkness that once existed in the rest of the room. Soon, a dreary space that was undeniably some sort of prison cell was revealed, and so was the self-proclaimed Queen and King of Anagénn themselves:
Queen Shatrina and King Teris X.
It was Shatrina who was closest, her posture perfectly poised as she took one calculated step forward, and regarded Azura with glaring disapproval. Staring down at her with ease from her standing position, and judging her in a demeaning variation of silence. She wielded a leer that could strip skin from bone, tear apart sinew and muscle, and Azura was no exception to her skill.
Suddenly she felt as if she was naked.
As if her soul were the only thing she had left to wear, and it was left suspended in the center of the room for Shatrina to weigh as if she were the old god Celementia herself. It was a feeling that made her want to crawl back into the cave she had emerged from just a few hours ago, and never emerge again.
This had to be a dream?
Did he drug her?
Did he-
“Your mother told you nothing of your true lineage, girl?” She asked pointedly as her lips pulled into an annoyed purse. It seemed as if they were being controlled, as if she had to fight to stop the top one from curling back in disgust. “Did she never foster your gifts?”
Azura said nothing as she watched the woman, her eyebrows stitching together in disbelief before she began to shake her head, hoping she would wake from this dream – from this nightmare. Certainly, she wanted more than her life was now, but not this. Not titles, intrigue, and a life at a court surrounded by those who would sooner stab her in the back than offer her a smile. At least in the slums people were honest about being a piece of a shit, but here, among the nobility, everyone wore a mask.
Everyone pretended as if they were good when they were monsters.
When they only cared for themselves.
“Answer me, girl,” Shatrina barked, her voice booming throughout the cell. It smelled of years of neglect and those who had never known freedom again after its confines.
The response?
A further narrowing of Azura’s eyes as she met the stare of the queen head on. Unwavering in her confidence despite the fact that it would take one word to remove her head from the rest of her body. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she nearly hissed as she spoke through a clenched jaw. If she had come to terms with the fact that this was a reality and not some alcohol fueled hallucination, she might have taken more care in the way she addressed royalty.
But alas…
Here they were.
There was a feathering of Teris’ jaw, but with a simple glance from his wife over her shoulder, he decided not to retaliate against Azura’s blatant lack of respect. In his mind, this whole endeavor was a joke, and the girl should be left to rot in the slums with the rest of her ilk.
“Your conception came from the illicit affair between your mother, an unregistered Magi, and your true father… The tyrannical Domnius of the Xetus Dominion, who has very recently captured our southernmost port, Latrenia… Our most powerful naval base and lucrative source of income for all of Anagénn,” Shatrina spoke through an increasingly tightened mandible. Over annunciating and elongating her syllables unnecessarily as she spoke to Azura as if she were born just the day before.
Everyone knew about the war.
Everyone knew that any day now Xetu armies may just march through the city streets and slaughter them all.
So they knew who her mother was, huh?
They knew she was a magi, and yet they had left her alone for all these years…
Why?
Because of this?
Because she was a… Princess, or whatever the fuck he had said?
No.
Fuck that.
Fuck this.
They were all out of their minds-
“I have brought you here to offer you… opportunity. To aid you in claiming your birthright as a future leader of Xetus… To help you to bring peace not just to Tarus, the home you know, but to Xetus… The home that was robbed from you,” Shatrina continued as she resumed moving forwad. She was regality incarnate. Her dress was likely worth more than Azura had seen in her entire life, and that didn’t compare to the golden crown tucked within the onyx tresses that fell from her head. It had swirling details and glowing iridescent jewels, just the same as the necklace clinging to the slender caramel pillar that was her neck.
She was so very beautiful.
Painfully so.
With her honeyed skin and those midnight curls styled into intricate braids.
A jewel as rare and precious as those found in her crown.
Shatrina was a born Athacan Princess equipped with their natural allure that projected from her hypnotizing charcoal gaze. Initially, she was never meant to be a queen of anything, she was a third born daughter to her father, but she had captivated a young Prince Teris, and now she ruled over all of Anagénn at his side.
Though some might dispute that fact.
“I offer you things beyond what you could have ever imagined as an ally to the crown of Anagénn… as the first Domina of Xetus,” her slow steps came to a stop with a significant distance still between them as her hands moved to clasp behind her back.
Azura could do nothing but gawk.
Mouth hung open like a trout bested by a fishing rod as the proud fisherman held his trophy high in the air.
They had the wrong girl.
She was no Princess.
No Domina.
No nothing.
So, following a tense silence as she was met by the searing stare of royalty, Azura began to shake her head. “I don’t… This isn’t-...,” she stumbled over her words as she struggled against her bindings.“You have the wrong person,” Azura added as her breathing began to drift toward erraticism. It was no surprise that a panic attack would soon be arriving, because if this was all true…
If she was really who they said she was…
Everything was going to change.
“Unfortunately… Azura… I do not.”