It was the first of the five Forgotten Days at the end of the current 76th year of the New Order. Winter had come out in full force, gracing the town of Scitathswood and its surroundings with a white blanket, freezing nights and chilly but mostly dry days. According to several sources, the seasons had changed a little quicker compared to last year and it was quite a bit colder.
Arakiel had just finished eating a rather nutritious lunch in the well-heated dining chamber alongside his core party in addition to Nyanna and Alannah. The two got along surprisingly well after an admittedly rough start given the insults Alannah had hurled at Nyanna, but the joint training sessions had sparked a sort of rivalry over which the women bonded at first; it had led to them realizing they had multiple shared interests, whether it concerned handsome men, a dislike for manual labor or their shared passion for all things sweet, especially if they could make it themselves.
Their rather merry little gathering got disturbed when one of the keep’s staff politely informed the lord of the keep that an urgent visitor had arrived, demanding to speak with him directly.
Upon query, the man merely relayed that the woman had insisted that none but the Executor Djinni may hear her words.
Arakiel and Aurora got up and went to meet the guest who was undoubtedly the person he had been waiting for.
Sultan Zimraan’s messenger, unsurprisingly, turned out to be a veiled jinnum woman, yet her dark, skintight attire was drenched, dirty and there was little grace or charm in the way she walked up and down in the rather spacious entrance hall. Her – surprisingly dark and not red – eyes relayed fatigue and the repeated heavy breaths spoke of great strain and exertion.
The first thing Arakiel ordered was to have someone bring her a set of dry clothes after which he went to greet her in a polite manner, asking whether the jinnum wanted to have some food and drinks at a warm fireplace first.
Much to his surprise, she obliged and indeed affirmed.
He instructed the keep’s staff to see their guest welcomed accordingly and then told the messenger to take as much time as she needed.
She did need over an hour to ‘arrive’ in full at which point the woman visited him and his aurea in the former duchess’s office which he had occupied for the past weeks, not that he had changed a lot in here. All of this was but a temporary abode and he’d rather not put the time and effort into arranging something he’d just end up dumping very soon.
The jinnum held onto the dirty, weathered cloth around her head that covered everything but her dark eyes, but she had accepted another dress that was a bit too large for her lean, athletic frame.
Arakiel, wearing his seraphim’s aspect, bade her to sit down while Aurora, who was currently resting her head on his shoulder, barely offered the messenger a glance which wasn’t unexpected. Nothing besides him seemed to hold her interest for long at this point.
“This humble one greets the Executor Djinni,” the woman introduced respectfully. She made a slight bow and then followed his gesture, adding. “And I thank you for your hospitality. It warms this humble one’s heart to see that the precepts of hospitality are upheld even in this awful land of snow and impurity.”
“You think it awful?” Aurora then asked somewhat surprised. “I think it’s incredibly charming.”
The messenger looked over Aurora and briefly held her breath before replying. “Of course, Divine Envoy.”
His seraphim, however, had already dismissed the woman from her mind by this point, undoubtedly.
“On to the matter at hand,” Arakiel went on, crossing his fingers. “What important news do you bring that Sultan Zimraan sends you all the way up here by yourself, my lady?”
The Air Alterator briefly cleared her throat and then continued. “The Lord Djinn is pleased with the efforts of his executor. So pleased, in fact, that he and the other sultans are mobilizing their own forces to support your efforts.”
Arakiel raised an eyebrow for he most certainly hadn’t expected that. “Is that so?” He asked a little skeptically.
“A second army is being formed as we speak, Lord Executor. It might’ve already moved out to be honest. The last days have melded into one as I sprinted across this gruesomely white and far too cold land.” The messenger answered and then laid out further. Arakiel found her voice to be a little raspy and honestly unpleasant to the ears.
“The Lord Djinni agrees with your stated assessment and bids you and the Smokeless Host to exploit our foe’s weakness and push further inland, He did not give me an exact time frame, but it would probably be best if you secured the duchy north of here by the time the Mirrors’ Host shows up.” The jinnum woman said, informed.
“The duchy of Maduts’ Crossing is normally a land of natural choke points given how strewn it is with rivers,” Arakiel laid out as he recalled the scouts’ reports. “The major river that leads into lake Moloioch will most likely not freeze over, but some of the smaller ones just might.”
“How you perform this task is left to your discretion, Executor Djinni. As long as you uphold the tenants, the Lord Djinn cares only about the result.” She pointed out, causing Aurora to whisper straight in his ear, her melodious voice pleasuring his drums to the utmost.
Not even Shemyaza had been able speak in such an incredibly sensual tone and Aurora most likely did it without realizing it, which only made her more desirable.
“See, even the sultan defers to your judgment, my Lord.”
“Am I allowed to push into the Three Rivers Abound A Sea Of Gold, the royal capital?” Arakiel queried and as expected, the woman shook her head.
“No, you must wait for reinforcements before you push into the foe’s heartlands. Your immediate task is to conquer the duchy north of here and open a passage into the heartlands while preventing an exodus in the already conquered realms.” She exacted further and then added in a slightly solemn tone. “I was told to commend you for your actions thus far.”
“Naturally,” Arakiel deflected casually and then moved on to another issue. “But the sultan could’ve relayed all of this over an astral communion – why did he send you here personally?”
“Follow me, please,” the woman said without further comment.
She led them back into the room where she changed her clothes that had been spread out in front of the hearth. There, she pointed at a red velvet pouch that was attached for her black, stained dress.
The messenger fetched it and handed it to him while saying. “The Lord Djinn wanted me to hand this to you and you only.”
Arakiel took the bag and found it to be exceedingly lightweight. He opened the cord that held it together and took a peek inside before he rapidly closed it once more, trying to overplay how his heart had skipped a beat and was now pounding with excitement.
“Adequate,” he merely said and went on to address the last details that would undoubtedly play a role soon. “You will most likely wish to inspect the demesne. If anyone troubles you, send them to me and I’ll see to it that you can do your duty undisturbed. Furthermore, Lord Akili and Lady Aisha have a house in the former noble’s district. It’s the red house at the circular square with the well.”
“Thank you for your cooperation, Executor Djinni. I will be sure to mention it to the Lord Djinn.” The messenger said while her dark eyes briefly lit up with something he couldn’t quite place.
He didn’t intend to stick around and find out, motioning Aurora to follow him.
Once they had gained some distance and he was sure that no one was around in the faintly lit crossing of two corridors, he showed her the bag’s contents, saying in a slightly trembling voice. “That’s a sizable donation by the sultan. Quite sizable.”
“Are these… shards?” Aurora queried while putting one of her pointing fingers to her chin.
Inside the bag, Arakiel counted nine air, twelve fire and three astral shards. A donation of 21 elemental and three sorcerous shards… sizable might be an understatement.
“Be careful, my Lord.” Aurora suddenly reminded in a concerned voice. “Do not let greed sway you from your path.”
“I’ve no intention of doing that my love,” Arakiel returned and gave her a kiss. “But it is incredibly good loot nonetheless. That alone might be enough to buy an awakening for Nyanna.”
Aurora locked eyes with him and lightly tilted her head. “Say what?”
“Nyanna, just like Alannah, has a some kind heritage that connects strongly to nature magic. It might be elven, it might be fae. I intend to pay the Transcended to awaken her bloodline.” He answered in a somewhat pondering tone.
Aurora’s reaction came as a surprise, and her words were exceedingly dismissive. “Why would you waste resources on this impure creature?”
“Impure creature?” He repeated while looking his seraphim over in disbelief. “Are you jealous?”
His aurea tilted her head quite a bit as though she tried to make sense of his question, the pointing finger cutely pushing against her chin. “Why would I be jealous of a slave, my beloved?” She ended up asking in a sweet, almost innocent tone.
“Good,” Arakiel returned as he pulled her closer. “Make no mistake, Aurora. No one can replace you in my eyes – so there is no need to be jealous.”
A smile hushed across the seraphim’s lips as her eyes began to gleam with a golden halo as they had done quite often lately. She leaned forward, her wings playfully wrapping around him along with her arms. “I am so glad to hear you say that, o Lord of mine,” she whispered in a tone that caused a part of his brain to short-circuit and before he knew what was happening, he had slammed Aurora against the nearest wall while groping her body all over.
The golden sheen around her irises challenged him and he had to rise to meet it. She didn’t really stand a chance as he had ample experience with his aurea at this point.
After a brief and intense fight of intimate caresses and pinches, he forced her onto her knees at which point the sheen in her eyes faded and her resistance with it.
“Don’t worry, Aurora.” Arakiel went on to say in a slightly domineering tone as her eyes cleared and a meek blush joined her already reddened face. “I haven’t forgotten about my oaths.”
She looked away and said nothing.
Arakiel let go of her shock of hair and instead pulled the seraphim up by her upper arms, saying in a reassuring tone. “If there’s ever going to be an additional girl in my heart, then I haven’t met her yet.”
“I, I wasn’t…” The aurea muttered in an abashed tone.
He kissed her on the lips and then whispered smugly into her ears while softly feeling up her left breast. “I like it when you’re jealous.”
“Fine,” she exclaimed in between soft moans. “Then pretty her up if you must, but don’t force me to sleep with her!”
“I would never,” Arakiel reassured her. “I would never force you to sleep with another woman.”
An image flashed through his mind and although he was near-certain that his manhood addled his brain quite decently, he still found the thought of his aurea and his slave kissing and exchanging caresses for his viewing pleasure quite… enticing.
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“Now, if you took a liking to it…” Arakiel muttered at which point Aurora pushed him away for real, her eyes stating in no uncertain terms that he had just crossed a line.
He backed off and straightened his doublet while raising his hands in defense, noting. “It’s just a thought, dear – nothing else.”
“M-hmm,” she muttered with narrowed eyes. “Arakiel, o Lord of mine,” she began yet her tone held a heavy trace of sarcasm and accusation. “I am well aware of your body and its language. You can imagine whatever you want, but I mean it – do not force me.”
“What’s so wrong with Nyanna anyway?” He found himself asking, realizing he might’ve just stepped on a Fire Evoker’s mine.
“She’s impure,” Aurora returned right away as if that explained everything.
“How so?” He inquired. The answer came swiftly and with no value.
“I don’t know – she just is.”
“So you wouldn’t mind it with a ‘pure’ girl?” Arakiel asked at which point she slapped him across the face.
It barely hurt.
“Thank you,” he added without a shred of guilt. “I deserved that.”
“You lecherous man you! Am I not enough to satisfy you!?” Aurora blamed him in a rather hurtful manner.
Arakiel reached out to her neck and softly began to chuck her.
“Have I slept with anyone but you so far, my little seraphim?” He asked while meeting her gaze head-on.
“You have not,” she returned right away and then added in a whisper. “I think.”
“No girl can even begin to compare to you, Aurora,” he soothed and then went on to the point of contention that she would surely bring up now. “I’m training Nyanna because I find satisfaction and – admittedly – arousal in the act of subduing her.”
“But why do you need her? I am right here?” His aurea asked in a slightly accusing manner, but he shook his head fervently.
“There mere thought of hurting or pressuring you into submission makes me sick, Aurora,” Arakiel objected right away. “Don’t even allude to it!”
She lightly lowered her head and threw him an ambiguous glare. “So… I’m special?” She asked in a manner that only allowed one answer.
“Of course you are, my aurea.” He returned right away.
Aurora reached for his temples and looked him straight in the eye. “Tell me, my beloved. Say the words.”
He answered while meeting her gaze, “You are special to me, Aurora.”
“That’s not my full name.”
“You are special to me, Aurora li Arakiel.” He corrected and got a little closer to her. He felt her warm breath accelerate, gaining just a little bit of moisture.
Her left hand reached for his imprisoned manhood while her deliciously red lips formed the next question in words as soft as velvet. “Do you desire me?”
“Yes,” he answered without second thought. Yes he absolutely did.
“Say it,” she demanded, repeating. “Say the words.”
He lightly pushed her back, right against the wooden wall again. One hand hand gone underneath her al-Aliriqean dress again, craving the supple milky flesh beneath.
“I desire you, Aurora li Arakiel.” He professed and proclaimed as a finger playfully circlet the hardened rosy peak.
Her free hand had skillfully undone the belt at this point.
She was very close now, exceedingly close. The soft scent of vanilla was all around him and his heart beat like a drum – and he actually heard hers beating too. Much, much faster than it needed to be.
It made something with him, awoke something primal.
The golden halo around her irises returned as she posed the next question in a slightly quivering voice. “Do you love me?”
“I love you, Aurora li Arakiel,” he answered right away before kissing her on the lips. He gently pushed her against the wall while always meeting her gaze that had turned glassy at this point.
He, too, had trouble keeping his eyes focused, not that it mattered. They were so very close to one another, after all.
Besides, he could smell her, feel her – almost taste her. What need did he have for a clear vision?
One of her hands coiled around his shoulder while the other had completed its task.
His own free hand softly wandered from her chin down to her neck, where it stopped right on the cut alexandrite that proudly proclaimed the reality of the matter in a soft green and slightly amber tone due to a nearby window.
He slightly pulled back, causing a soft line of saliva to form between their mouths.
They were both just about ready, but one more thing needed to be said, for it came from the bottom of his own heart. After all, it was the compromise he had made with the hatred that was still somewhere down there, buried beneath a mountain of desire.
“And I love owning you, my guiding light of dawn.”
The smile that formed on her lips was all he needed to go ahead.
Right in this moment, he wanted her more than anything else in the planes – and through his own actions, he seized what he coveted, just like the Transcended intended.
The glow around his aurea’s irises didn’t fade until late in the evening when both lay intertwined with one another not in their bed, but on the keep’s snow-covered rooftop that they somehow had ended up on. Both had long since shed their clothes, finding comfort in the fiery golden aura that not only covered both of them, but also merged wherever their skin met.
He leaned against one of the railings while Aurora snuggled up to him, half of her body overlapped with his, the wings failing to not get in the way in some kind. Both were utterly spent from their most intense lovemaking yet and Arakiel was shocked to realize that they had burnt through nearly all of Aurora’s soul in the process, for the flame inside her was bit a wisp while he had barely anything remaining as well.
Maybe they had subconsciously used it to fuel Arakiel’s body because he wasn’t cold; quite the opposite, he was flaring hot and now that he thought about, it seemed as though his seraphim had actually heated up as well.
Her body felt much warmer than he recalled, but he might also just be stuck in the afterglow for now. And what a blissful one it was.
As the golden-haired, golden-eyed beauty lightly caressed his shaven chin, she let out a dissatisfied click with her tongue, whispering. “You should let it grow, my beloved Lord and Conqueror.”
“Hm?” He asked, unsure what she meant. One hand still stroked her soft hair while the other had coiled around her waist.
“Your beard, you should let it grow a bit. And cut your hair – you’ve matured a lot.” Aurora suggested and he wondered how he should criticize her to get back at her.
He found nothing; even the big-yet-slender wings that mostly got in the way were perfect, the white plumage putting the snow’s purity to shame.
Instead, a thought crossed his mind and he had to voice it, asking. “Tell me, seraphim. Has our covenant’s nature been defined yet?”
Aurora let out a soft sigh and shook her head slightly. “I think not, my Lord, but I will know when it happens… I think.”
“You’ve stopped asking.” He pointed out.
“Huh?”
“You’re no longer asking me whether I accept your tribute after you catch the dawn. You hand it over right away.” Arakiel recounted and then went on with some further observations. “Your eyes begin to glow gold whenever you challenge me for random minor things and when I remind you, the sheen fades. You’ve basically stopped paying attention to your surroundings except when something briefly catches your interest, only to immediately discard it.”
“My Lord has been watching me…?” Aurora asked with mild surprise, yet the smile on her face told him that she was very glad that he did.
“You’ve basically stopped to do anything that isn’t tied to me, Aurora.” He concluded in a slightly concerned voice.
“Does this please you, my Lord?” His seraphim asked in a curious voice.
“Yes – and no.” Arakiel returned truthfully. “While I should be at the center of your attention, I don’t want you giving up everything else. You used to read, to write, paint and play music – is that all no longer important?”
“It is unimportant right now, my Lord.” Aurora went on to respond, adding. “Besides, I still play the violin for you.”
While that statement was true and oh he loved it when she played music only for him, it wasn’t quite what he wanted to convey. For a moment, he wondered whether it was the seraphim in her speaking. On second thought, they were probably one and the same. Truthfully, he couldn’t tell.
She was an immortal and she was different from him, it was just a fact.
“Only the covenant’s nature matters?” He asked to confirm, which she did.
“Yes, my Lord.”
“And what nature will it be… given the way things are developing?” He queried further.
“I cannot say, for I do not know.” She returned and he believed her.
Nonetheless, he had to speak his mind. “Aurora.”
She looked him straight in the eye, just as he did into hers.
“When I took you from the Maidenhold, I called myself your champion and I mean it still.” He reminded her, reminded himself. “I want you to be happy and if my current path is…”
“Stop,” Aurora interrupted and her eyes remained just golden without a glow. “There is no need to doubt yourself, my Lord. Look at me… am I not happiness incarnate?”
He couldn’t deny that she had been very lively over the past hours – or weeks, really. Despite her intense focus onto him, she didn’t seem unhappy in the slightest.
And yet, it didn’t sit quite right with him.
“You say that, yet what about your hobbies?” Arakiel tried to raise as a point.
“Have I failed you somehow?” She asked in a slightly worried tone. “What must I do to make you see that I am perfectly happy? I love you, my Lord Arakiel – more than anything else in the world! What else must I do to prove it!?”
“Nothing,” he deflected right away. “You don’t need to prove anything.”
“Then stop doubting yourself. Look around you, my Lord – look how far you’ve come in a mere six months?” Aurora queried as she raised herself up into a sitting position before she got up in full. She spread her wings and she looked down at the snow-covered town below.
He rose beside her and once again let his hand coil around her slim waist. He wanted to be close to her and he loved that she was always so close to him.
This, he couldn’t deny.
The sky was dark and the moon’s light barely pierced the heavy clouds. Down in the city, only a few braziers were kept alight while many of the former noble’s windows still held traces of light. The warriors of the Smokeless Host were still awake, but the farther out one’s eye wandered, the less that was the case.
The people of Scitathswood rose and went to bed with the sun and this time year, there seemed to be more darkness than light over the course of a day.
“You are correct, my lovely light.” Arakiel muttered as he pulled her even closer. He loved that vanilla scent of hers – there was nothing better.
He had achieved so much in so little time already.
All he had to do now was remain cautious.
“Look,” Aurora said softly as she pointed towards the sky, where soft flakes of snow began to fall down onto the earth. “There’s a local saying that if you catch the first flake of a new flurry, you’ll be granted a wish,” she recounted with a slightly awed undertone.
Arakiel’s eyes unwillingly went to the little tower that was still a little higher than them. “Who said that?”
“Alannah, she wants Ezekiel to marry her.” Aurora let slip and he burst into a chuckle as he channeled the last bits of Aurora’s soul into a sigil.
“Silly girl. That wish of hers might come true… but not quite how she imagines it.” He answered and as he was about to blink, Aurora added a little snippet.
“I am quite aware of my surroundings, Arakiel – they just pale in comparison to you.”
He grabbed the sigil and blinked on top of the tower. As his feet met the untainted snow, they suddenly felt very cold and he had a bad premonition that whatever had kept his body safe from the elements had just run out with his stunt.
Nonetheless, he held out as the frost began to creep up his body and when he caught the first snowflake, he formed a particular thought in his mind before he rapidly descended while his feet began to turn just a little red. They also hurt a lot, the cold beginning to sting.
Aurora turned towards him and approached while her wings excitedly spread to their full size.
“What did you wish for, my Lord?” She asked in a most curious tone while holding out her delicate, white hand.
He took it while gifting her a smile. “That’s a secret.”
Then, he hurriedly led her inside lest the red turn to blue and he loose a limb.
He still had great plans to achieve. And for that, he needed all five.