Let Me Not - Part I: Cage of Souls

[Heart of Zaga]

Let Me Not - Part I: Cage of Souls

Attachment 1981

Asside from everything that had happened to us the weeks before I was amazed to see Selene in that kind of vitality. The only time I'd had a glimpse of that joyful face, just like a kid on a candy store, was when she did indulge in sweets months before when the money streamed like deleur out of the fountain I stood in front of that night. It was a Party. A party only fit for the aristocracy of Alerar. The hostess had been splendid on her presentation, from the beautiful way the food had been placed, to the ornate silk-print invitations.

My mistress received no such thing. During those days I remember she used to bask on free-loading: leeching resources, pleasure, and comfort wherever she could take a bite off it. She refused to relinquish the luxurious lifestyle she had enjoyed so far. Bluntly, she was a brat, I have to love her either way; she and I are one.

Selene sent me a couple minutes prior to fetch her some of that liquid, alcoholic gold humans call deleur. Without knowing any better I discretely submerged a long glass into the bottom of the fountain. Immediately after a thousand instigating glances from people around fell upon me, for a second I felt like a criminal running around naked again. A servant, ironically of a higher end than me modestly grasped my arm, taking the glass from my hand and placing one fresh from his tray instead. Half embarrassed and half pissed I wobbled back to mylady who was sitting a couple dozen yards away in one of the tables in the higher end of the room; Selene had followed me with her eyes through the saloon, witnessing my scene. She forced the glass off my hand and gave me a 'thank you, love' in a tone no more softer than her grasp. After I'd sat down she leaned froward, elbows on table, and began her whispering reprimand.

"I can't believe you just did that."

"I apologize, I didn't know" I answered honestly

"How can you not realize you're not supposed to take from the fountain. Even a chimp would've given into peer preasure."

"What are you talking about?"

"Did you ever see anyone else put their glass in that fountain?" She snapped, "No, you didn't. Know why? Because only the hosts drink from the fountain, and that woman hasn't even done it yet. Maybe if you'd dressed a little bit more nicely you would've passed as a host. Look at your face, can you be more obvious?" she waved at me, turning her face away for a moment, "I wish I could leave you home."

"Well, I- you see. um" I retorted clumsily.

"Why did you even bother walking back here? Didn't you hear me tell you not to?"

"But you didn't say anything!"

"My stare should be good enough, I made a thousand faces, I thought you'd get a hint and walked away- hoped you might've been smart enough to simply walk out of the party all together." She paused for a second and took a deep breath after which her tone shifted from anger to that of disappointment, "And on top of everything you walk back here so everyone can see who you're with. I think Sprite-thgings were supposed to be wise"

"I never said wise meant tactful..."

Ashamed, but above everything, feeling miserable I felt it necessary to defend my blasphemous actions. "Well I think its all silly"

"-What is?" The question escaped her faintly as she clumped on a piece of Reclant Cake.

"Having a fountain of deleur no one can drink off! Do you realize how much that thing is worth?! If I worked from one year I would only be able to make enough gold to buy an two ounces of that thing. Besides, it isn't any better than the crane kind and that one is much less expensive-"

It took me a couple seconds, and Selene's intense stare, for me to measure what I'd just spouted without the decency of whispering. I heard a couple giggles from the two girls who where seated behind us; the stare of their companions burnt through my back. The whispering was the worst, it flew through the air like poison through water that took no time to greatly upset the mistress. Selene slowly pressed her hand against my lap and grasped it as hard as her nails could before breaking, straightened her body toward me and gave me a stare that got its message across.

'Don't open your mouth again or I'll make sure to stitch it shut when we get home'.

[Fatina]

Gently she placed her hand on Selene's shoulder. Painting the most honest of -fake- smiles she came to the young man's aid. "Don't be so hard on him, lass. It's the first time he's been in a place like this isn't it?" Zaga nodded slightly, "I should have given him a briefing on what to expect."

She tapped her companions shoulder and with this she sat to Selene's right. They were sharing one of the best tables in the venue, a large house that easily outshone the cottages surrounding it. Around it beautiful rose gardens bloomed and eventually disappeared into a wide grass field were the horses trained in the afternoon and let loose to enjoy the free land of the Alerar fields. The moon was two days short of being full, regardless, it shone bright with all the splendor of a cloudless summer-night sky. Although the scenery was beautiful, what could be seen through the tall window-doors was just another added decor to the room, thus equally ignored like all others.

Fatina took a glance of the lady beside her. Her long brown hair had been nicely combed into a structural style, exalted, by the dozens of carets of jewelry that'd been placed on her persona. She had borrowed one of the better gowns in her arsenal, a dark, wine-colored dress made out of some fine silk embroiled with shimmering rubies. Selene looked like something out of a nymph tale or someone you would expect to see them spread their stuff in Aphrodite's lore. Fatina was jealous, only slightly. If she weren't so sure her better-developed curvature gave her an edge over her younger companion, she would have stripped the dress right off the girl's back.

Fatina knew the girl. She knew her mother much better, and only met Selene before when she was a little toddler; to her advantage, Selene was too young then to remember, but Fatina sure did. For a while Selene had been the object of her hate; a plausible ransom token against the woman who almost destroyed her life. The now Matriarch of the Du'vedevich's had seen days far different from her current pompous lifestyle. She was a whore. But if any merit can be given to her; she only prowled after aristocrats. A high-class harlot if there can be such a thing. A whore is a whore is a whore, but for someone audacious enough to become the mistress of one of her many husbands, it might as well be a dead one.

In the Past Fatina has used marriage as a tool to futher her goals, once she'd taken what she needed it was easy to pawn another woman on her man, cry adultery and get an annulment, hopefully gaining some of the mans fortune with it. The man in question had been no different, but madame Du'Vedevich had gotten ahead of herself. It is not as if Fatina had loved the man; she'd never loved anything as far as her memory allowed her, much less a human. Her children, maybe, but that was a memory of the past she couldn't see quite clearly. What had bothered her then was that one of her men had been stolen, specially when she didnt lack anything as a woman, quite the contrary.

It didn't take long for her to notice her late husband's frequent excursions to the alleys. She ignored it until there was an outcome: Almost a year of turning a blind eye to the affair the prostitute gave birth, almost twenty years later, that same infant sat next to her that evening. Fatina had already plotted the three deaths; Selene would not have been an exception.

Soon after however, the woman married a young lord of the Du'Vedevich family. Back then that much had satisfied her, weather or not Selene was a real Du'vedevich or the bastard child or her old puppet's didn't matter to her. Before she sank deep into the corruption she'd once actually cared for social status, as long as the affair didn't tamper her personally Mistress Du'Vedevich could walk away physically unscathed.

She'd forgotten all about what'd happened in Salvar with all those revolting nobles, the complicated business of the aristocracy and the bureaucracy of the church. She'd moved onto bigger things, constructing a scheme that would built up to imaginable heights but eventually crumble in Raiaea under the pressure of the High Bard. This gained her many titles, "Enemy of the State of Raiaea," "High-class Crimilar," "That vile necromancer" all complimented her second name, The Crimson Lady, something she'd attained through her bloody murderous spree in her more mundane criminal career. Fatina couldn't have been more proud of her accomplishments, her only regret was getting caught.

Reminesing about the old days made her laugh a little. Her plots back then had been truly vengeful and immature. Her plan that night, however, was beyond anything her old self could have conceived.

"Its getting cold in here, lass. Wouldn't want you to catch a cold." Said Fatina as she placed her lean, dark fur collar on Selene's bare shoulders. She smiled back shyly in approval.

Selene had something that interested Fatina, and she was ready to tear flesh and bone to get it.

[Calamus]

“No –no” He forcefully struggled to clear his vision; however a stream of tears begun to haze his eyes once more. Mustering all the remaining strength and will in his body, he pressed the gaping wound with his palm to no avail; it escaped Aiden like a fountain regardless. He wiped his eyes quickly, only to have the terrible scene come into focus. Wherever he looked there was blood, and all the more mortifyingly he was covered in it.

Aiden peered around the room, admiring all the nice faces and well-dressed people. He and Caldren had been staying with the hostess for a couple of days. At the beginning he had suspected her hospitality. She had run into them one night while they where, indisposed, in the streets; They had never had a steady place to live so they kept constantly moving. Never having a complete understanding of nations' languages, rules and costumes it was hard to hold on to a single place for long. Staying with that woman was longest they'd ever slept on the same bed. Her name was Makresta Bkran, a medium-sized woman not much older than 45 that always spoke loudly and seemed to be in the greatest of moods.

Aiden sat down on an empty chair and as he stared at the large, glistening chandelier, waiting for Caldren, he remembered the night the arrived at the mannor and how amazed they were at the luxury. Rows and rows of butlers came that same night to wash them headed by an ancient geezer known by the name of Rhew. Rhew stood tall among the rest of the servitude, 6 feet tall and heavy. He was a master tailor of a sort and engineered a couple outfits for them, including the dark, sharp-cut ones they wore that day. They were almost identical.

Aiden had allowed himself to be entertained by the crowd until-

The metal fork he'd been holding then bent under the pressure of his hand as he saw the monstrous beast sitting a couple dozen yards from him. His eyes where open wide with expectation and his jaw had dropped sliglty. Even though she had draped her slender golden body behind meters of gas blue silk, prepped her golden locks, and covered herself in diamonds he could still see the same beast he saw the day he was rudely awakened.

'I just found something. You shouldn't see it yet, stay where you are, alright?' thought Aiden, sure Calder would listen.

'Well, why? What's the matter' Calder had made a detour for the bar before reaching the place Aiden had chosen, a nice table at the other side of the ballroom opposite to the windows. Both of them had been looking forth to this party as a way to relax from their reality, but the the sight of that thing they'd been running from all these years dispelled the illusion on the spot.

'Don't worry about it. Just stay in there and get ready to make a run for it.'

Calder set the two icy glasses down into the granite counter, receiving a concerned look by the bartender which he disregarded with a glance. 'That's comforting.'

He could feel Aiden laughing on the other end.

'Common, trust me on this, man. Just stay put till I tell you. I'll just talk to an old, old friend of ours. No peaking, eh.' Aiden dropped down the mental wall, shutting Calder out before he had a chance to object. If Calder knew what he was about to do, the whole evening would turn into a massacre.

Before making a move he took a couple minutes to eye the woman through. She hadn't aged too much since the last time he'd seen Fatina. Unlike her human contemporaries the fact that she was born an elf of pure pedigree considerably slowed the slow craving motion of the heavy wrinkles human women of her age suffered from. She didn't need to use magic to suppress her age and that just made her slightly more hated by her human counterparts. And more still, her race had a long history of dealing with the arcane ways of magic, which made her existence- just slightly- more threatening.

Caldren and Aiden had heard news of the woman after they escaped her grasp. She'd been imprisoned by the High Bard and stripped of her book, The Selanarium, said to have been created by Selana herself, to which she'd, stupidly engraved all her magic. It was a nice idea, her power was greatly amplified, and the book gave her the ability to inscribe any spell seen or felt into it for Fatina's use. However, if it were to be removed from her persona she would loose all but her most basic of magic. It happened. And even though Caldren and Aiden were being prosecuted as supposed collaborators to her dark rituals, they were rejoiced of hearing the news that she'd been sentenced to death.

The government had failed to carry out her execution and lied about her death.

She wasn't destroying the place. Proof she hadn't fled the Bard without a scratch, even if she'd escaped, she had failed to replenish her obscene ability with magic. Because of this he was confident of his decision, he would be able to defend himself if the need be.

Their eyes met. Aiden passive train of though shattered into an abrupt halt. Her eyes glistened like fiery runes with the same malicious arrogance of years before. This was The Crimson Lady, a cold calculative fiend that moved through the years silently tearing life and flesh as she went. His brow sunk into a frown and his posture became rigid. Fatina painted a beautiful grin across her face, one of those only given to old acquaintances and long-lost childhood friends. Aiden never lost sight of the fiend as he passed her table, That was the first time he'd ever been so close to her, and as soon as he gave her his back toward the garden , shivers shattered breaking cold through his pale body.

Fatina leaned toward the young lady acompaning her and whispered something in her ear, after which she stood, lifting her heavy gown and golden body, following Aiden into the dark night.

[Fatina]

Outside the air was cool, and the sky was pitch-black; the full moon and the shimmer of the stars began a slow decent into a wall of dark clouds. She had never seen Aiden dressed so nicely before, much less see him wield such a furious, unwavering stare. Her memories of him were of his dirty naked body rotting inside a cage in which he famished and flinched at her touch. From all of her experiments, he and Caldren had been her favorite pets. The ones that actually survived more than an hour after being brought to life.

When Xem'zûnd began to make his moves against the nation of Raiaea the teaching of the arts of Enarlin was suspended and completely elliminated from the Iestien University's curriculum. Regardless, she'd began experimenting the art on her own. It didn't take long until she grew corrupted to a degree in which her bast knowledge of Turlin had no effect in cleansing her.

After twenty years Fantia had already read and learned every single book and mastered every single class that Istien University had to offer. She had been the best of their warriors, and many times been offered a position as a regent that she'd chosen to ignore. After one of Alerar's battle against scarce coastal nations she'd gained a notorious reputation by committing war crimes and disregarding the lives of the prisoners under her command. At the beginning, the Bard had ignored these reports as rumors, not willing to submit one of their best mages to martial law. But when the nation was again at peace, reports of her infamy kept rolling in she was the victim of several investigations. It wasn't until the government took a change in administration that these investigations became more aggressive and the truth of her nature came to light.

"Of all places I didn't expect to see my old lab rat here. What have you been up to, darling?" Fatina rose her hand and with the natural way of a mother made an attempt to touch Aiden's face.

With a swift motion Aiden caugh her hand, forcefully throwing it aside. No matter how hard she tried to mask her touch with ternderness, to Aiden, her fingers where no softer than iron needles. He braced himself immediately and with a well-hidden struggle he made an exclamation, "What are you doing here," the words escaped him barely, "Fatina Reviinok?"

"Aiden, sweet, babay. I though I had lost you forever... Where have you been?" her tone was sweet and swelled by a high pitch that well complimented her appearance, a charming lady with all the novelties of feminity, "I looked for you everywhere, but in the end I assumed I'd lost you forever."

Fatina looked at him in the most loving manner. For a second it he wondered in regret was intertwined in her tone. He shook the sole thought off. To even conceive Fatina know the meaning of regret, was nothing far from naive. "You make me sick, monster."

Again the wind blew cold on them, winter steady approaching on the last days of the dreaded spirit of autumn. The outside of the garden was poorly illuminated by a couple ground torches, still, Aiden could perfectly see Fatina's eyes begin to glisten with water. "Why do you talk to me like that," her voice began to break, "I haven't seen you in so long! and yet- and yet you are so coarse when all I have done was search for you. How can you talk to me that way?" She placed her face between her hands and began to sob silently, her body shook with her lamentation and her nose began to sniffle.

"Don't fuck with me!" All the noises of the night silenced at Aiden's exclamation, his stare was still as serious and intense as the instant in which their eyes had met. Fatina could not fool someone who'd been so wronged by her, in his eyes there was no compassion, but the reflexion of a blood-thirsty fiend so low not even the creator would dare touch. But just as he saw right through her facade so did Fatina did through his. Behind his furious, unwavering stare Fatina could see the real Aiden. He was horrified to his core.

[Heart of Zaga]

Not too long into the evening dinner was served. A meal consisting of a fillet of some lean fish, steamed vegetables topped with a fruit sauce, a nicely baked loaf of bread, and an innumerable number of pastries of all sorts, shapes and colors. The portions were large, more than what the normal family in Salvar consumed in a day, yet, somehow, Selene had managed to clean up her plate and still have room for desert. She'd even stolen some before the meal.

Zaga was grateful they had been brought there. He and Selene had wandered through the southern cities of Salvar for months, searching for food wherever it could be found. Sleeping wherever one could sleep. Bathing wherever- whenever- one could bathe. He'd stolen from merchants, embraced her until she slept under bridges, and exposed themselves when it rained. The weather did not favor their half hard-earned, half-sloven lifestyle; the nights where cold and the people where not any warmer.

Being the daughter of a noble, Selene had seen better days. That her current state was so miserable was in great part due to Zaga's existence.

Many years filled with hatred passed before Selene was able to accept the demon inside of her. He's been doing a lot for her to redeem his blasphemous acts. After the house of Du'Vedevich deflected the government and allied itself with the church on the civil war, she was forced to flee. No soul within her resonated, she was an asset to the church, a curiosity wanted dead or alive. They scurried through the land of Salvar, well aware of an elite working hot on their trail, with no intelligence of the strange being that accompanied her they examined their behavior awaiting the moment to strike; each of their attempts failed one way or another. It was in Dulk'otar when this group overestimated their will to fight or flight that they lost their trial.

They met a woman on that city, who at the beginning they mistook as another enemy. But she identified herself as Fatina Keyes, a noblewoman who'd enjoyed trade privileges with the Du'Vedevich's master. She expressed great knowledge of Selene's crest so the young lass had no trouble believing her lies. She offered Selene and Zaga asylum in Alerar. They did not hesitates to escape.

To them, the means of their transportation had been unclear; A sickly sleep fell upon them throughout their journey, and awakened in the room of an Inn to fresh new clothes. They where close to the manor, explained Fatina, but she wanted to meet someone who'd sent her an invitation to one of her balls; She felt obliged to take them with her.

To them, Fatina was the one meaningful blessing in their miserable lives.

It hadn't been to long that Fatina had walked outside when Selene realized she was alone. being in a place with so many unknown faces bothered her, she almost felt naked without Fatina at her side. "Did Mrs. Keyes say where she was going?" Said Selene as she placed her fork and napkin down.

"She told you just before she left. You didn't hear her?" Zaga said indifferently as he toyed with his food. None of it seemed appetizing, and unlike his mistress he wasn't famished.

"She did?- 'Course she did!" she corrected, "but... with all this music, you see, I couldn't hear anything. The music is too loud, and these people just keep yapping. Nobles can be quite odd. "

Zaga lifter his view and set it upon the Orchestra. It was composed by elder males, mostly playing wind and string instruments. "That excuse of a group over there barely make themselves be heard. They were either asked to keep it low, or they think of their music too bad to be played clearly. I don't blame them." He picked one of the many empty glasses sitting on the table and eyed its top, "Are you sure you're not chewing too loudly that you can't even hear yourself - you make weird noises when you eat. Besides, these people are no more loud than city crowds and you can hear me just fine. Not to mention I heard her perfectly."

He could swear a vein had popped in her forehead, her skin had lit up hot like fire almost instantly. But before she had a chance to erupt he answered her question. "She said she was going to take some air in the garden." She raised her hand indignantly but again Zaga cut her off, "I'll go get you some more of this piss water, I'll ask a waiter this time. You stay here and look pretty." With this and a sarcastic smile he flew out of his seat and disappeared into the crowd of unrecognizable faces.

[Calamus]

She had risen her eyes into his, still flooded with water - no longer sullen, but full with the naught and anticipation of a lynx upon its pray. Her pout was turned upside-down into a malevolent smile pulled straight from among Aiden's nightmares. "But I have missed you," said the woman, throwing her body in a menacing move into Aiden, wrapping her arms around his back. Fear petrified him before he had a chance to void her, and immediately, his stone composure thawed into a shivering mess.

Holding the male tightly against her she placed her mouth to his ear and whispered "haven't you?- Missed thee sound of my voice? The touch of my hands? The burn of my nails- the feeling of my hot blade cutting through your bones!" She clenched her hand on his back, driving her sharp nails into his skin, "well I've fucking have. I've never had a better toy."

The words flowed into him like a sickling plague- the warm nauseating feeling of a bleeding brain slowly failing, slipping, dragging painfully and slowly into death but never achieving it to recover in a process equally degrading, only to be cut into again, deprived of the yearned satisfaction of dying. A feeling he was not proud of knowing.

Sweat came running down his forehead cold, his pupils had dilated and his body could not stop shivering. He cursed himself a thousand times for confronting someone he could not control; the nightmares would come true now, the past revisited him, bringing horrible visions of the dreary, dark, filthy catacombs of the High Bard. She drew her teeth into his ear and pressed until it bled, giving him a taste of those twenty years but also intruding into his fear ten-fold. All he could do was babble incoherent curses out of the knot that was his voice.

"Where have you been all my life?" whispered Fatina gauntly.

"Mrs. Keyes?" A sweet voice emerged from among the night, cutting through the panic and exposing the real quiet of the night, "oh! pardon me, I didn't mean to disturb you."

The silhouette of a woman stood at the entrance, she'd hidden herself behind the glass of the door, and peeked out of it only waiting for a dismissal. Who was she talking to?

"What are you doing here, honey? You should be enjoying yourself," Fatina turned from to Selene, softening her face and tainting her voice with that same disgusting tone, but never releasing her grasp from Aiden, "practice your step, the music is nice and I bet they've served deserts already."

Aiden could not see the figure clearly, inside the lights where too bight and outside the night was too grim, however he could detect clearly the subtlety of her movements. She lowered her head slightly and made a hesitant attempt to move back, but began staring at something on the floor instead.

"I uh- um," the girl abandoned the safety of the door and slowly began approaching the couple. Aiden had lived with Fatina long enough to know when she boiled inside, and right now, she was growing tenser by the second, "well you see, Zaga wandered off a little while ago but he hasn't come back, he must be distracting himself with something else. You came back here and he is who-knows-where, so I've been sitting alone for a bit now, I don't know anyone here and- I feel a little awkward." the ended her sentence with a shy giggle and her advance just under the moonlight.

[Fatina]

Selene was a name that derived fro the old moon. It was a beautiful name with meaning no less nicer. It is redundant to say that under the moonlight, Selene was truly in her best element. Two innocent eyes stared at Fatina expectantly, she was yet to acknowledge Aiden's existence or to recognize what more attentive people would have mistaken as an intimate moment.

The woman was a marvel of nature, one of the most beautiful humans she'd ever seen; elves, well, she'd seen better. But what she had of beauty she lacked of wit. From all the people Fatina had exchanged words throughout her life, Selene was among the ones with the least touch, the least modesty, and the lest decency. She was full of dumb empty comments and pleasantries; she would talk in the most lovely-and vain way, as if trying to convey the passion of a moment into breath-taking words that at the end said nothing.

"Please don't think of me ungrateful. I am I really am not. This day has been like, a stroll through the icy gardens or Slavar. Oh! Not that I don't like this one out here. All this star-colored roses are just gorgeous." her face illuminated into a smile.

Goddamn bitch. There was nothing that irritated Fatina more than an insidious brat that though of herself high and spoke to others like a grandma to her offspring's swine.

"Sorry about that honey, there was just someone I was dying to see." Fatina pressed her head against Aiden's chest and smiled at Selene almost in a defying manner.

Selene's neck jolted backwards and shook slightly, "That was awfully rude! Look at me, rambling on about my silly problems, I didn't notice you two where- ah have I made a blunder? I am Selene Du'Vedevich, pleasure to meet you mister--"

Aiden did not answer, everything was happening too fast, the shock Fatina had given him hadn't passed yet so he stood there still mumbling, eyes wide open, shivering inside his cold damp coat. After a couple seconds Selene's face softened even more with satisfaction. She was almost sure it was her beauty and not fear that had this man babbling.

"He's just a little nervous. Call him Mr. A. He'll be coming back with us," Fatina's chin rose higher on Aiden's chest, "back home where he belongs."

"I'm glad! I wan't to know more about you Mrs. Keyes, any friend of yours will surely be a friend of mine," she gave Aiden an almost unperceivable nod, "hope you will be able to join us then, Mr. A. Pleased to make your acquaintance." After placing her hand on Fatina's shoulder she left for the entrance and disappeared again in the blue-blooded crowds.

Fatina was ready to resume her slow, ushering tourtune when a sharp cold pain rain through her stomach. It wasn't until she made an attempt to move that she noticed. Her core had been frozen into ice. She separated herself slightly from the man, who'd stopped to shiver, and had reached for her matrix. Even through her thick silk gloves she could feel the chill from her body, confused slightly she gasped as a sudden movement almost made her loose her balance. breathing was now hard to do, the air seemed colder than moments prior.

"Aiden?"

[Calamus]

As the slender, sensual figure vanished in the evening, Aiden's terror transformed into rancor, and eventually into a small piece of hard, cold courage. Aiden shoved her off, and having the same stability as someone impaled straight across, Fatina struggled not to fall from the strong push.

There was no doubt about it. An aura similar to the anti-firmament's sprites lingered about the young woman. Aiden was sure she was not a specter nor a living soul like he and Caldren. She was an empty shell, there was no soul within her, but why was she alive?

"What kind of sick game are you trying to pull now?" His stare again solidified into two intense orbs, now he was pissed.

"A new interest of mine. After I'm done with her, though, it will be just like old times. You've always been the only one..." From below the shadow of a wall Fatina's eyes flashed brightly. "Valash du' seh duvelereshtroz dumag solsheio argchi'" the forceful chant summoned to her flames which lit the air around her in consecutive flashes, extinguishing split seconds before they flared. The low pitched booms of the flares threw Aiden aback, for a second he thought his face would melt. In two seconds she'd managed to remove the ice spell.

Aiden's head shook slightly in disdain, his eyes began to water as he took several steps back. His fists never unclenched. "There is no chance in hell I'll go back with you. I don't give a fuck what you do to that woman, but I won't be moved by you!"

"Big words for a sub-human." Fatina continued with a condescending smile, "You've grown a lot, baby. Enough to make your own decisions, and this one is yours to choose..."

"We have grown, grown enough not to fear you! The decision is mine to make, but I'll be the one giving the options from now on; I'll never go back, and I sure as hell won't die, never to you!" Aiden rose his hand before his face, pointing to the sky he touched his forehead with his nail, arching his finger downward he blew into the opening. A tail of blue fire shot toward the object of his hate, illuminating his surrounding Aiden placed all his strength into the attack.

Fatina's eye flashed, her smile melting into a frown. A confident one however. In a quick motion she extended her arm before her, turning her palm as she closed it the blue flame grew wide and dim before hitting her fist. From under the flashes Fatina reappeared, untouched.

Unsheathing the blade hidden underneath her dress she threw her herself at the man, warping her free arm around his neck in a strong choke-hold. "Big words, baby, big words".

[Heart of Zaga]

Selene rejoined the party with a sly smile, pressing a feathered fan over her forehead in an attempt to conceal it. She could still only half believe what had happened. Selene had genuenly stumbled upon the couple without prior knowledge of the man existence. Now she was riddeled wiuth questions. Who was he? what where they both doing? had he found her beautiful? That must have been the reason he seemed so speechless. In the past people has refered to her looks as stunning, but that reaction seemed a bit much. Still she wanted it to be true; The man was nothing short of stunning himself. Seeing as Lady Keyes was still nowhere to be seen, she relented and allowed her smile to be seen, but still a little embarrassed of the blush she bit her thumb and turned toward the decorated wall, pretending to admire its vintage floral decor.

I don't blame him either; I'm closer to his age anyway.

"Whoah!" a familiarly annoying voice exclaimed behind her, "you know, drunken middle-age pug rats are not very good judges of beauty; Alcohol tends to beautify even the ugliest of nuns. "

"Bah! Shut it, bastard." She tunned to see her companions eyes peering straight into her; she had always hated that about him, how she could see straight through her, how privacy was a relative term, and how she could never think without a reproach. As long as she wasn't doing anything it should not be un-lady-like. So what the hell.

"I'm just saying what's on everyones mind. I mean, the man is not an elf, unlike her, is that even... like- yeah. How do- h- how do you... like do they have the-"

"You don't have to finish saying it you've already painted beautiful diagrams in your head- All incorrect by the way. And yes it does go in- Now who else is thinking that might I ask?"

Selene stared blankly at him for a few seconds before she understood the recapped question. "Oh, you know everyone here- they must know them already, they're a couple, right?"

"As far as I am concerned, Lady Keyes is not married..."

"Engaged?"

"Nay."

"Caught?"

"No."

"Courted?"

Zaga shook his head

"Testing-" Selene gasped "On the rebound!" she glared, "Whore."

"He might be a concubine. I hear males are more marketable in elven societies, I believe its more acceptable-"

"Yeah whatever. Whore."

"Yes, he."

"No, her. Well both."

"Either way. Remember we are their guests, we don't want to offend them. Specially Lady Keyes, she took us
out of a very precarious position. You cannot allow yourself to think less of her, now that she has taken us in it is only fair for us to be equally hospitable. And- erase those man-stealing sentiments of your's gonna get us turned over to the Church."

Selene stared at him a little bit longer, "I really hate you."

[Calamus]

Caldren still sat on the small velvet stool hovering over a drink he had not tasted. He has been thinking all this time. About everything that had happened to them, how he came to life and the way Aiden had been created. He closed his eyes and stared into the bast empty void that was his mind. It was dark and lonely, and by realizing this he felt so alone, terrifyingly, just one.

Hulloooo

There was still no answer. He sat there surrounded my an innumerable amount of people, all faceless, all meaningless and uneventful. Yet he felt consumed by the void of his mind. For a second this nostalgic feeling reminded him how it was, the anti-firmament, where he would never be lonely, but always terribly alone.

For Aiden's sake, It was only on these occasion when he find himself blocked away from their conjoined mind that he was allowed to think of the old days. Fleshy irritated eyelids opened slowly, eyes set, stargazing into a constellation of shimmers, ripples in the, dense, warm carmine alcohol before him.The horrible days when their world was nothing else than blood, flesh, and steel; their universe, a dark, damp room; their god, and infernal mistress; their life, sorrowed, grieved, pained, pained, pained.

Are you back yet? Still no answer.

Caldren was already getting anxious. There was nothing more terrifying for him than loosing sight of Aiden; he had been with him for so long, loosing him would be like missing an arm or a leg. They had become each others' clutches inside this brave new world they had entered. If he were to loose Aiden, he would not know what to do with himself.

The sound of cracking glass interrupted his grief-full trance. He had been clenching to the fragile glass without realizing it.

"Uh-oh." carefully he removed both hands from the glass, placing each one side to each side, forcing his palms down and stretching his fingers.

This sudden burst to reality made him review what he'd been thinking. Why was he getting so worried over? It was Aiden! Probably one of the things Caldren doted most about their bond was how bare his companions feelings were presented to him. There was nothing he could hide from him, there was nothing he would hide from him. That's why he could not comprehend why he had chosen to hide from him, unless he would be doing something that would embarrass him. All he could do now was trust him. Whatever it was.

He giggled has he lifted his glass to his mouth, whispering to himself, "hurry up, you crazy motherfucker."

He choked.

Caldren set the wine down with enough force that it shattered below his fist. What? The deep red wine felt warm behind his lips. What a horrible taste he thought, all at once, as the drink stopped halfway down his throat still trying to realize what was happening.

He moved his body slightly foward, though found himself paralyzed by a sharp pain in his lower abdomen that before had felt cold and now was swiftly descending into a raging pain of the likes he'd never felt before.

"No...'' He whispered to himself over and over, just as he received a bartender's cold, callous, stare from afar.

His hand twitched. He was bleeding. the long stem of the glass had perforated through the side of his palm as it fell, and shards where pungently encrusted all over. He looked to the table. Red splatters everywhere, and it slid through the white stone top like an ocean. It was a deep pool, it traveled and it poured down into the carpet, it flowed,it stained his clothes, the side of his body, the source of his pain. His head fell, and a string of crimson escaped his lips. He noticed it before his eyes rolled back as-well as his hand, which he'd not been aware, was now pressing against his side, and that red crimson that poured out of him, and slithered, traveled through his white garments like a cloud until all he saw was red, red, red.

"No- no- no- Aiden, please."

And for one fleeting moment he reminisced of the happiness meeting Aiden had brought him, even in that world so terrifyingly dark, he was no longer lonely, and together, in their universe, and through their god, how they lived, lived, lived.