Location and time unknown

The night was black as pitch and pain throbbed so hard throughout her entire body that the woman could barely keep going. The scrolls she’d stolen – managed to hide from those things – bounced against one side of her body while the arm, no more than a stump at the shoulder and still seeping blood despite their… abilities, threatened to doom her with each shock of pain she barely fought off.

But even the sounds of their footsteps slowly catching up to her couldn’t carry her much further, and despite their size being so great that their movements could be heard long off the woman knew, knew she was a goner at this rate.

How could she have been so stupid to get caught as she did, she wondered through the haze of pain as she continued panting, her hide booted feet pounding away at the dirt. She was warned by the higher ups, alerted to every evil trick and ability those creatures possessed, yet still she’d…

The woman threw herself at a tree, resting for a moment. Her mind harangued her, harried her not just for this moment of weakness but her stupidity in believing she’d learned enough from him to be a threat when, really, she had so much further to go before revenge could be gotten. The woman choked back vomit, swore under her breath, and pushed off of the tree as tears streamed down her face and mingled with the mud and other, far less pleasant things she’d been yanked through that night.

Even if she survived this, she knew disease would probably claim her before she got what she wanted. If she managed to get what she had come for back to her leaders, that would be an impressive – though impossible now – act in and of itself…

Damn the Imperial family, she thought bitterly as she stumbled and caught herself before taking off once again. Damn them, damn that miserable child of theirs, damn the whole of Zhanach! That single thought kept her going, but it was another that brought a smile to her face. Just you wait, you little piglet, I’ll make sure the Denizen doesn’t get to assimilate you. No way do you get an eternal life after the crimes you and your wretched blood committed-

Her mind suddenly went blank as the ground under her disappeared. The woman kept her mouth shut as she fell, which served her rather better than screaming as she rolled and thudded her way down a steep incline before, just as she reached the bottom of the hill, she fell even further as her body slid right into an open hole right where diagonal met horizontal, the cave so steep that she couldn’t catch herself as she fell even further, down into the deepest, darkest depths she would have ever seen in her life.

If she were conscious, that was.

But eventually she did regain consciousness, and as she did so she lifted her head to look around before the sound of something vast moving about reached her ears.

Hello, little one, the voice said, then something soft brushed the woman’s cheek as she lifted herself up on her single arm, her eyes unable to see due to the darkness – or having lost them, she wasn’t sure at the moment, and given how much pain she was in already, it probably wouldn’t have registered anyways. Stay still, you’re wounded, the voice was soothing, feminine, and she could feel the softness enveloping her as her body was lifted gently up and brought forward.

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Let us see one another, shall we? Before the woman knew what was happening, a light trill could be heard, followed up by a sudden burst of light as what was once utter blackness became utter white, only the two round black orbs that stared out from what looked like a ball of white fluff and a matching beak like that of some bird or underwater beast breaking up the mess the thing’s color made for the woman’s vision. There, that should be better. My, you truly have been put to use, have you not?

It took the woman far, far longer to speak than she wanted to, the chattering of her teeth and the haze of blood loss and exhaustion making it nearly impossible. But she managed. “T-tower… gi-giants…”

Ah, the thing didn’t speak, at least not the normal way, but it blinked its eyes as it talked, and if possible it seemed to smile knowingly. I see. A thief? No, not with that countenance. Never we shall mind, but we must tend to those wounds… unable to reason why this thing seemed concerned for her as it did, the woman couldn’t muster up an accusation, or even doubt. Why, you wonder? Who knows why, but I do so dearly wish we had less death around these parts, especially of ones so determined as you yourself seem to be.

“N-not… nice,” the woman managed to murmur in reply.

The beast chuckled. Even if you say that, I cannot see how letting one of the Child’s children come to such an end is good, especially after all I have received due to its blessings. And besides, the thing seemed to smile as it looked down upon the woman, one long tentacle raising up to reveal claws that poked out of the soft white hair at the end of it, who knows where your story might take you, my dear? That you have found me through whatever means makes me believe that this is not supposed to be your end.

You will survive.

The sound of claws rending some unearthly flesh rung out all around them, then all became quiet once more.

Oanadach, Capital of Zhanach, Present Day

“Well, good morning, Lupyr,” the redheaded man drawled from his place behind the large, plain brown desk, papers spread from one end to the other and in towering forms in varying places. “To what does your uncle owe the pleasure of seeing his majesty the future Emperor of Zhanach awake at such a decent hour?”

The boy smacked his lips and scratched at the curly red mop of hair that sat limp on his head as he said, “That damned clock tower… tell me, uncle Mercesvae,” he started as he shuffled over, grabbed a chair from one side of the room and sat down at the other side of the desk normally reserved for those not of Imperial blood, “can’t we at least move the thing? Or my room, preferably?”

Mercesvae smiled thinly, his own red mop of hair only a bit longer than his nephew’s and swaying in the gentle breeze that wafted through the open palace window. “Or you could simply go to bed at a godsly hour, perhaps?” when Lupyr seemed ready to argue, Mercesvae cut him off abruptly. “Your cousin Navydya hasn’t a problem listening to its chimes, my nephew, so I can’t see how you, one of regal blood, a young man of such bearing, should have a problem where-”

“Navydya’s not normal,” Lupyr cut him off as he flopped down onto some papers. “And besides, she’s not here. She hasn’t been here for more than a month now and she was supposed to be back a while ago…” then he looked at his uncle and said, “she will be back, right uncle-”

“Of course she will,” Mercesvae sat back in his work chair, sighed, steepled his hands then settled his eyes on his nephew. “It’s just… taking a while. Admittedly, you’d think we’d hear something from the guardsmen in Thaschwitz at least, but it could be just some mix up.”

The two stared at one another for a while. Whether the younger believed the older or not, he didn’t say, but eventually Lupyr broke the silence with another whine of, “If we can’t move the bedroom or the clock tower, can we at least change the capital to somewhere else?”

“Not on your life, Lupyr. Now get to bed at a decent hour already,” Mercesvae watched as the young teenage boy whined as he slumped off and out of his uncle's office, a small smile and a laugh reaching the older man's lips as both Dobrudin, the Imperial Scribe and Zbyar, the Captain of the Imperial Family’s Guard entered the room a moment later.