View Full Version : Day 4 (Mature 18+)
It had only been a few hours….
Verdant emerald eyes danced around the room in an attempt to find distractions from her body, pained pleasure ebbing at her consciousness. Through the barred windows Amari had seen the light shift from day, to the amber glow of twilight, to night. The fire that Lye had ‘oh so lovingly’ stoked before he left her was only just beginning to die out. Soon, the full chill of night would set in.
It had only been a few hours….
Amari was struggling to remain coherent. She was exhausted. The bucking state her body had been forced in denied her sleep. It denied her release, and movement. She sat there like a lifeless doll. The exposed parts of her pale skin glistening in the sweat of lust in the pale moonlight. A small groan escaped her parted lips, and her tongue darted out to lick a strand of drool upon them. Her breaths still coming in staggered breaths. Every so often rolls of pleasure would ripple through her, but she was powerless to let them continue, to surf them herself. Instead, she had to feel them rise and fall. Leaving her in a constant state of denied bliss.
Her mind was unable to process it all. The pain from prior - her untapped ability, as she realized she was able to heal others, .the undeniable urge and desire to have her captor, Lye wrap his arms around her. Amari’s eyes flickered, every so often the soft glow broke the darkness of the night.
Lye.
The Silver haired, green eyed demon. She didn’t know his name, she barely knew a thing about him; beyond the fact that he was slowly taking everything from her. Twisting her into the ideal. His ideal. Amari knew this, but her broken mind had gone beyond the point of caring. Each day bought new horrors, opened her eyes to new ways of thinking, and elicited new tender moments from him. Those moments, were perchance her favorite, glimpses into his past - his powerful form wavering, showing slivers of humanity. Somewhere, deep within him, there was someone, who may have even cared about her.
Slowly, it had set in. He truly was her master. His presence utterly dominating, clouding her judgement. His aura seeping into every nook and crevice of her being. He was all she knew. Previous memories began to fade and blur. The sadistic love from her brother, Jake, the Fae boy Fenn, and Shinsou. All people she had met, and all who had an impact on her. She struggled to remember their faces- and why she had any form of connection to them.
She didn’t have a desire to see any of them again, all she wanted - was for him to come back.
Oh how things had changed, only days ago she had spat in his face- attempting to avoid every touch, she wanted to rip every smirk off his pale features. Now - she found herself wanting to see him - to see his thin lips twisted upward. To feel his form against hers. To hear his low drawling voice compliment her.
“Master….” She pleaded.
No response came, and why would it? She was alone. Left to her own devices. Paralysed, unable to writhe, unable to explore her own desires - unable to escape. Amari shut her eyes. Sleep would not come for her, all she could do was wait for his return.
After all, that was what she was here for. She was his. The object of his insatiable, twisted demands. His toy, his object. His pet.
And was that really such a bad thing?
Elthas_Belthasar
11-07-16, 11:35 AM
Then...
A thing had happened.
Some things made sense, others were enthropic and chaotic events that simply had no sense or meaning.
Elthas was one such event. He'd been summoned by the girl's near death experience and her sudden surge of power. Days prior. He stood by her side in the spirit realm out of some sense of honour and pity. As he maneuvered in the shadows of the cell, he decided to manifest. He and the girl were currently alone. Elthas maneuvered through the chamber, Lichensith did not respond to the girl's call...not yet he didn't. Elthas had however, been summoned by the girl and would remain by her side.
He was no pet.
He would defend the girl with his very spiritual essence, his soul, if need be.
Elthas's glowing eyes peered from the great beyond, his hood present atop his head at that point. The room would have grown considerably colder at the wraith's presence. Likely, it would not affect the girl much. Elthas did not know the true situation of the spirit girl named Amari and the woman before him. He did not know their connection. I am trapped. What world of secrets have I stumbled upon this time? Elthas was one who honoured the alliances between Men and Elves. He instinctively wanted to save the broken girl before him.
He moved so that he was in front of her.
"You." Elthas began. "Do you know who I am?" He had a sneaking suspicion that the woman he'd met in the spirit realm was not necessarily the same girl he saw in the "real" world. Something was mysterious about the whole event, a mystery that Elthas would never solve. But Elthas had to know if she remembered him. That would be at least a start.
She uttered a word.
Elthas had heard it...They are conditioning her...
Then he recalled where we he had heard the name of the flesh weaver before. In The Citadel Leagues, uttered with great fear, respect and admiration. Information was power, and Elthas recalled every opponent he had ever witnessed in The Citadel Leagues. Aure... The spiritual form of the girl before him had revealed a name of one of her torturers. But that was not the one called Master. Elthas decided to lower his hood at that point to see if she would remember his glowing eyes, and his own platinum hair.
"I don't think we have much time." Elthas said. He would wait by her side until the man named Master revealed himself...
Amari’s mind was sinking, further and further into a cold and unrelenting depth. One that dug its claws into her psyche - twisting and changing her, her thoughts both conscious and subconscious. Even one as strong willed as Mari wasn’t able to navigate its depths. Drowning in the figurative darkness.
Then.
There was a glimmer, as though wisps of smoke licked at the air and came together to form a dark figure - one that Amari in her drug induced sexual vigor had not noticed. It approached her and glanced down at her with pained glowing eyes eyes.
Goosebumps formed on her skin as Elthas materialised, hovering over the bed watching her writhing form with glowing eyes. Amari glanced up at him with a hazed look. “Mas...ter?” “Her brows furrowed. No. This platinum haired man was not her master.
He asked if she remembered him, or, at least knew who he was. Amari struggled to place him. She stared at him as her chest erratically rose and fell. “...Elthas?” Her voice quiet, drained - and confused. She had a vague recollection of him, and his song. She thought he was nothing more than a fevered dream.
“You’re real?”
Her eyes shifted from his form to the ceiling, it was so hard to concentrate. Hard to place things, to speak, to do anything but give into the rolling sensations that ravaged her trapped form. “I can’t…..move….” She muttered, closing her eyes. “So tired…” She closed her eyes, but sleep would not come. Instead her body twitched with another spasm. Almost granting her climax till the sigil her brother had placed on her took its hold, and denied her. The woman groaned, slowly lifting heavy lids.
“Time…?”
Was her Master returning? Amari tried to move her body, but to no avail, still paralysed. “Is he coming back?” Her dull eyes drifted over to Elthas, as though he would have an answer.
Elthas didn’t seem to take too well to her state. He reached out to clasp onto her upper arm, Amari’s heated body twitched in retaliation to the cooling sensation.
“You’re not his.” He spoke in a comforting tone. “You’re not a pet. You’re Amari.”
His words, comforting as they were caused a bitter laugh to roll through the young girl. “Hah-aha-hahah…” Her outburst was broken, her eyes heavy. She could feel the cold from his touch seeping into her skin. Forcing her body to calm down.
She felt her eyes drooping, and finally- she could feel herself drifting off to sleep. No doubt, Lye intended her to be kept awake all night. A part of her worried about that, but now that sleep was washing over her - there was no way to combat it. “T-thank you…” she mumbled before loosing consciousness.
Her body still heaved and twitched - but at least the woman would have some reprive, thanks to Elthas. He grounded her, kept her sane. His presence the past two days may not have seemed like much. Yet, it was all Amari needed to keep sane. A small spark of light amidst the dark world she was in.
Elthas_Belthasar
11-11-16, 03:18 PM
Elthas watched the girl as she passed out from whatever the two men in the torture chamber had done to her...or...were doing to her.
The wraith did not know how to exactly express the feeling in the pit of his soul. Pity...? Remorse...? Some feeble sense of justice...? Elthas had no word for the swelling of emotions that he currently felt. Here was this beautiful creature being treated like little more than a toy for someone's personal amusements. Flashes in his mind. The thoughts immediately returned to how Hylda Terrentius was treated in her final days and hours.
Elthas had been a light of hope then for her, but he was not in a position to save her.
Perhaps comfort was the biggest of all releases...
Someone is doing this to her. Elthas thought to himself one more time. The man, Aure, he knew the man was powerful. I do not have the power to take him down on hand...but this other person...has a familiar aspect to him. Why did he seem so familiar...? Elthas thought to himself in a state of perpetual madness. He had stood by the spirit form of the girl before him for many hours while he watched the horrific things the men in the chamber did to her body.
I've seen that sort of torture somewhere before. But maybe not as extreme...
Elthas was trying to place where he had seen that ...fleshcrafting... before. It bordered on Necromancy. The skill with which the man named Aure tortured the woman's body. He swore he had seen it somewhere before. At that point his head hurt. All he knew was that he'd been summoned by the girl in a bizarre twist of fate.
Fate was an unkind and cruel mistress.
Under better circumstances, Elthas would have gladly served Amari as a guardian.
No...this is not the same sort of circumstance. Amari is being twisted into something dark and horrifying. I have stumbled upon something I should not have...but Fate...again is a crazy bitch at points. Elthas saw that the room had nothing he could use. But there was a single door.
Angrily, Elthas began to hover towards the door and prepare to make his attempt to rescue her against her captors. There were few things in life more terrifying than a poltergeist spurned.
Lye's restless gaze focused on the grain of the stone ceiling. He tried to make out its details in the darkness of his chambers with sunken eyes. The animal furs hung half on his bed and draped across his midsection only enough to keep his most sensitive parts safe from the crawling bite of cold. The hearth crackled lightly with the faintest glow of dying embers, and the spirits of dead trees lingered in the air as a smokey haze. From the exhaust, he heard the skitter and scratch of his wake up call. Covered in soot to match its already midnight feathers, one of Lye's ravens hopped from the char to the cool, marble floor. It opened its beak in a loud squabble met quickly by its master's verdant glare.
The assassin swung his legs out and as he stood, the remaining furs slumped free from him to the floor. The raven flapped wildly in protest before rocketing itself back up the hearth's exhaust. With a groan, Lye stretched his scarred arms across his equally marred chest. He pulled his thick canvas leggings from the hanging rack and slid them over his legs. The mark left from the red hot iron throbbed tenderly as the coarse fabric ran over the healing wound. His teeth grit at the memory of the red headed vixen who haunted his night. Murdered children, the pained cries of innocent women as their husbands slipped to the void, and a year of torture all slipped beneath the surface for a sound night's rest. For some unorthodox reason, Amari wedged herself into the crevices of his shattered mind and flooded his sleep with dreams.
The assassin grit his teeth as he finished buckling his attire tight against his body. His boots sounded an echo in his chambers with each step as he approached the door and snatched his furs from the stand. Bolt after lock, the iron door to his chambers finally swung open with a creak.
"Master!"
Lye jostled at the unwelcome sight of Advencia. The short, busty girl came up to only his sternum, but for what she lacked in height, she made up for in deception, personality, and skill. Her round, fair face beamed with a wide smile that forced her bright blue eyes into slits. Lye sighed deeply, his patience tested from a long night of tossing and turning.
"Yes, Advencia?" he asked in a low drab. With his gloved hand, he gripped her shoulder and moved her aside like an object.
She staggered, but only enough for her golden curls to bounce and sway around her mid back. Her brows pursed together with her red lips and dainty hands rested firmly against wide hips.
"Hmph!" she pouted. "Is that any way to treat your favorite assassin?!"
"You're not my favorite," he quickly replied as he continued to walk toward the grand hall.
Advencia huffed and broke into a hustled jog to catch up. The corset that hugged her waist, pushed her moderately sized chest to a point they threatened to spill out with each hurried stride. The ruffles of her white dress fluttered behind her, long in the back, but threateningly short in the front. Were it not for the white laced leggings and furred boots, a leering man would be satisfied with a simple glimpse.
"Wait up! Don't you want my briefing?!" she whined as tiny fingers clasped to his draping furs.
"Another time," Lye commanded.
"But it went really well!" she cried. She let go of him and gestured to her attire. "Look! I didn't even spill a drop this time!"
"Good." Lye stopped at the grand doors leading to the wintry cold outside. His hand came to rest against the riveted iron over smoothed hardwood, and he sighed at the sounds of pouting behind him. "Look, write me a report and leave it in my room. We can discuss your investigation on the Salvic nobles in a moment."
"But I learned something about Aure, too!"
Lye paused, looking over to the deceptively innocent girl for a brief moment of interest. His eyes flared before thinning and shaking his head.
"Write it in the report," he replied before shoving the doors open. A blast of crisp winter air swept inward and teased at Advencia's dress. Her hands struggled against the breeze to keep her very questionable attire from revealing what already hadn't been exposed.
"But, Master!"
Her words failed to reach him as Lye slipped into the snowy clearing. The door groaned and rattled shut, separating him from her sight. Free from her silken, but equally grating voice, the assassin lord rubbed at his weary eyes as he pressed onward toward Amari's cabin. While Advencia had remained loyal to his cause since the affairs of Eiskalt, something about her demeanor chipped away at his patience. Without doubt, she was an important asset of the Hand, but one that walked the taught line of insanity with great finesse.
With a shake of his head, Lye approached the cabin and tried the door. His weariness and failed memory found it locked. The events of the day prior beckoned the steel needle that wedged the door against the frame - a more permanent lock. With a huff, he cleared his mind for a brief moment and let the comforting touch of darkness warm his bones. His flesh, his form, and his mind slipped into the plane of darkness - a place far warmer than Salvar. In his specter-like form still tethered to Althanas, he walked through the physical bounds of Amari's cabin and manifested on the other side.
The eerie glow of another presence forced Lye's hand to draw both blades fixed to his hip and his lips muttered the name of the third horseman, famine. Both of the enchanted blades thirsted for the apparition's spectral energy.
"Who are you?" Lye hissed. "What are you doing in here?"
Lye drifted his gaze momentarily from the specter to the sleeping maiden beside him and a snarl formed across his lips.
"What did you do?" Lye growled in warning.
Elthas_Belthasar
11-27-16, 11:08 AM
Elthas saw the man before him.
Suddenly it him all at once...a memory from his murky past.
Once there was a fortress that invaded. The fortress was sentient and it had it's own agenda and motivation for the arrival. Many Heroes approached the fortress but only a few came back. And only one stood against the evil and conquered...his name was Elthas. Elthas looked at Lichensith...the man was present for the events at Forral's Fortress.
He would never forget the man's glowing eyes...they rivaled his own.
Elthas observed the man's open hostility. I can make you angry... Elthas thought to himself for a moment. But Elthas decided to tell him the truth. "I was summoned. Quite by accident." The wraith suddenly said carefully. "You were present at Forral's." Elthas said, pointing out the truth in the situation. "What I did pales in comparison to what you have done to this girl." Elthas carefully observed the man before him. "I strongly suggest you put those away." Elthas was referring to the weapons that the man pulled out. "It would be a damned shame if one of us got hurt." There was acid in the wraith's voice.
"Now, like I said. You were present at Forral's. So was I." Elthas was trying to figure out what made the man tick...what would egg him on. Careful now...he appears quite dangerous. Elthas looked at the sleeping girl before him. "You don't know what she is do you?" Elthas taunted.
"I was," Lye agreed. His thoughts ran through those distant events, trying to recall a familiar face.
He remembered an elf, one of flesh and bone. By comparison, they looked alike, but the ghastly apparition before him begged several questions.
"I've done nothing," Lye replied, his grip tight on his weapons. This would be the first encounter with something ethereal, but the steel in his hands were equipped for such a threat. "I've only educated her."
The spirit of Elthas made a threat to disarm. A foreigner in the Seventh Sanctum, warning the founder to disarm after invading, Lye felt disinclined to acquiesce to his request. On the other hand, Elthas kept his blades sheathed as he spoke.
"She's my charge. Beyond that, you have no business around her, nor here," Lye stood his ground like a coiled snake ready to strike. His gaze only briefly diverted to Amari's slowly rising and falling chest. "Now specter, make your point or make your leave. Spirit or not, my resolve will not waver."
The assassin wanted to begin his attack, but the words Elthas spoke plucked at his interests. Did he know something that Aurelianus had yet to reveal? And why would such an entity take a risk to appear by Amari's side, nevertheless challenge a mortal for her. Could his new pet possess powers that transcend into the ephemeral plane?
Lye's eyes became slivers, trying to make sense of the current happenings. Yet even in this hostile air, the assassin worried the harm that would befall his slumbering pet should combat arise. Worst yet, should the apparition possess her or manipulate the soul within. Truth be told, Lye had become enamored in her mysteries.
"Speak," Lye commanded Elthas, "I will not afford you a second chance."
Elthas had managed to send Amari into a sleep where Lichensith could not reach her. Her dreams were broken, scattered. She dreamt of home, her brother, her father. She dreamt of a life far more simple but far more unfulfilling. She stirred in her sleep. Body twitching. The bandits...their cruel ways, their rancid breath. Then - her dreams shifted to the only reprise the woman had in her life.
"Shin...sou..." The name escaped her lips in a pained, longing whisper. Her heart ached. He was the first man Amari grew to love and respect, but he too now wanted her head.
Amari groaned as she opened her eyes to the sound of angered voices. Her eyes felt heavy, her head swam. She open and shut her eyes once more.
What was I....doing...?
Amari tried to lift herself up but the concoction Lye fed her the night before still clung to her system. Her arms buckled under her weight and she fell back into the bed. "Ugh..." Amari tried again, and failed. Again, failed. Finally - after her fourth or fifth attempt, Amari had managed to swivel her body to see just what the hell was going on.
Her eyes landed on the two before her. Elthas...
Amari blinked, last night's memories coming back to her in slow waves. That's right...he came back, he's not a figment of my imagination. He helped me sleep, but why...
Her eyes travelled to the other person, and her breath caught in her throat. The man she only knew as 'Master' was coiled into an attack position. Weapon's drawn. Were the two going to fight? Why? The woman had mixed feelings. She struggled to ascertain what was what. Parts of her felt compelled to throw herself between her 'Master' and Elthas. To stop the two from needlessly fighting. Elthas had helped her twice now.
Even so, with her broken mind, in her broken state - a part of Amari wanted to see the silver haired demon take on Elthas. For no other reason other than her morbid curiosity.
"Stop it..." She mumbled as she tried to pull herself from the bed.
Great deal of good that did. She fell straight down to the floor with a heavy thud. Her head colliding with the wood. "Dammit." She hissed. "This is your fault." She muttered toward her 'Master' as she slowly rose to her feet again.
It was clearly a struggle to stand, yet here stood a obstinate girl. Slowly stumbling toward the two men. "The hell...is going on here?" She breathed before collapsing to the floor again. She managed to catch herself this time. Droplets of sweat hit the wooden floorboards. The woman didn't even seem to realise she was completely naked.
"Dammit..." She hissed. Angry at her own inability to stand between the men, to stop whatever nonsense was going on. Her eyes felt heavy, and her body swayed. Staying conscious was difficult.
Elthas_Belthasar
12-12-16, 09:00 PM
Elthas caught her waking movements and returned his attention back towards Lichensith.
"You remember now...don't you. Forral's Fortress." Elthas's eyes narrowed as he considered the situation at hand. Elthas had information that Lichensith would want...no...need in regards to Amari. Elthas thought for a long moment. I've already planted the seed within her. The seed to fight back. Elthas looked at Amari for a moment, and then towards Lich. "I have information you'll want. But maybe I don't feel like revealing it to you." Elthas needed to have a leeway, or a sense of leeway when it came to dealing with the powerful man before him. Elthas kept his spectral blades drawn as well, but he would not put Amari in any further danger than she was already in...
Elthas spoke to Lichensith one more time. "Remember." The wraith taunted. "I easily made it through whatever wards and defenses you might have in place here." Elthas explained. "Consider that I can wander in here any time I want and there's not shit you can do about it." Elthas continued. Elthas pointed his blade toward Lichensith. "This time, however...because the girl is here...I will not cut you just yet." Elthas explained. "But know this...you're on borrowed time." Elthas looked at Amari for a long moment. "Remember me...to the last. I will be back for you to save you someday when you are ready to be free. I will show you the truth. The truth this horrible person before you will not reveal." Elthas took a good long look at Lichensith. Then he smiled at that point. "I will return." Elthas said calmly at that point...and he was sincere. He could travel there as long as Amari was able to summon him again. He figured she would be able to...but he knew how to get there now.
It would be over at that point.
Elthas began to move away from Amari and Lichensith...he was needed elsewhere...As he moved away he used his power to travel to Phantaria and vanished from the Firmanent. His body faded out, leaving arcane energy behind. As reality faded away, Elthas willed himself to the nearest gate of Phantaria. At that point, he entered and was gone...
There was a sinister laugh the entire time.
With muscles tight and teeth clenched, Lye bore the brunt of Elthas' warning. The assassin's eyes reduced to slits, but the moment his mind had comitted to attack, the ephemeral spirit faded from presence. Lye slipped a profanity across his lips. His blood boiled hot and the cloud of breath hissed from his core like embers upon fallen snow. With no enemy to focus his aggression upon, his eyes fell to the struggling girl upon the floor.
"Who is he?" Lye asked in a threatening tone.
Both his blades slapped into their wooden scabbards with commanding force. His boots beat against the worn wooden floors and with the grace of a brute, he picked Amari from the floor. Hefted like the doll she was, he cast her violently against the cabin wall with a thud and a yelp. Her body crumpled back into the bed, still riddled with the venom he fed her the night prior.
"So you are still not without your tricks," Lye growled. He happened upon her before she could react.
From the pouch at this back, he produced Amari's lace choker. Handled more like a garrote than the fine ornament is appeared to be, he wrapped it around her reddened neck and clasped it shut. Her head fell from hid grip, hair spilling across the furs upon the bed. As the pinnacle of his rage began to fade, he felt the ache of his wounds inflicted by her. While mostly healed, the deeper tissues still throbbed - a red-hot firepoker to the thigh took more than a gentle touch to mend.
In memorandum of that night, the back of his hand rapped her across the face.
"Who is he?" Lye asked again. He looked at her as though betrayed. He believed her almost broken. Perhaps his methods were too kind up until this point, he thought.
Amari heard his question, she lifted her head, it was still heavy. She groaned in response. Wanting to answer but her head was swimming. "H-he-" Before she could answer he picked her up. Her body was limp in his grip. She barely managed to stand let alone fight against his strong grip. "M-Master..." Amari choked. He didn't listen. The silver haired demon threw Amari against the wall.
'THUD'
Amari yelped in pain as her body sickeningly slapped itself against the wall. She crumpled uselessly to the bed. Amari tried to roll over, coughing and heaving. She felt as though the had the wind knocked out of her. He hissed at her, calling Elthas' appearance a trick. Amari wished it were one of her tricks, if it had been, it meant she had some sort of strength to her, but she did not.
She felt his weight press her to the bed. "S-stop it!" She cried out, trying to push him off, but her arms buckled. She was still too weak. dammit.... She let her arms fall limp to her sides. Questioning eyes staring up at her captor. She didn't understand. He had been rather gentle the night before. What sparked such ire? Was it Elthas?
Then there was the slap, hard and firm against her cheek. The force threw her face to the side, he repeated his question. "E-Elthas...he...he said he was an elf of...of...Roold?" Amari said, her voice shaking, unsure of her own words as she struggled to remember. "I...I don't know...he just...he just appeared when I died...I..."
Another slap to the face, "Just appeared!?" he hissed, lowering his head closer to her. "You expect me to believe that?"
Amari nodded, "I-I have no reason to lie." She squirmed under his grip. "E-Elthas said a disturbance drew him to me. He..I -his presence comforted me, but that's all I know. I swear..." She stared back up at him with her emerald golden gaze.
"G-get off..."
"You do not command me!" Lye roared. By the wrists, he dragged her from the bed and to the cold, wooden floor.
He placed his knee firmly into her back and wrenched her arms behind her back in what could only be described as an unnatural position. He braced both her frail wrists beneath his weight so he could fetch his grappling cable from his hip. Lye assumed he would have no need for bindings this day, but the knowledgeable intruder proved something greater afoot. While not intended for binding, the braided metal cable became an impromptu tool. Each pass wrapped tightly against her fair and soft skin. Its resistance to such tight bends pressed deeper against the flesh than intended and pinched between the passes.
"And this 'Shinsou'," Lye began as he finished the final knot. "Was he next to be called to service?"
He rose without her reply and with firm grip and pull, he urged her to her feet by the uncomfortable bindings which now held her arms behind her back.
"You, Aurelianus, and now this Elthas," The assassin spilled the names with venom from his lips. "I am tired of being denied and challenged."
He pulled her toward him, well aware that standing would be a feat of will as the toxins still swam in her blood.
"You begged for me, as what, a rouse?!" Lye walked to Amari's door, still wedged shut with one of his magical weapons. His boot planted against the firm wood and wrested the door askew.
"This has gone beyond amusement." His boot slammed against the door again. Splinters spat from the wrought iron hinges and metal groaned as it warped. Its assailant growled through clenched teeth from pain screaming in his thigh. It only fueled his rage.
"By nightfall, you will never disobey again..." His boot connected a third and final time. Iron shredded from the cabin frame and the door caved outward into the harsh winter's snow. The minuscule heat that remained in her cabin flooded out into the unforgiving air as frigid blasts washed over them both.
Lye turned his angered gaze upon the only one present to unleash it upon.
"What am I?" He asked slowly, eyes penetrating her with malice and a stew of ill intent. "And what are you?"
"Sh...shinsou...?" Amari gasped. The confusion evident in her voice. "H-he...he's after my head. It's..it's a long sto-Ahh!" Amari inwardly hissed as she felt him pull her arms and wrists back, straining her already pained muscles. Lye bound her tightly, and painfully, and dragged her to her feet. Amari tried to stay standing but her weight kept causing her to trip and fall.
Amari winced as splinters flew past her face, the door to her home shattering. Lye threw her to the snow outside, it clung to her nude form, and stung her skin with a bitter coldness. "S...stop it....." She muttered weakly. "It wasn't...a rouse..." She let her thoughts linger to the night before. His heated touches, gentle caresses. "Yes...I wanted you..." Her voice was weak, she was tired and pained. Her teeth chattered against her quickly blue-ing lips. "I wanted you..." She sobbed again.
He hissed his questions at her, the same ones he asked last night; reaffirming the state of her mind. If it weren't for Elthas, she'd be able to answer him in full earnest. Hours ago she wanted nothing more than him, in his entirety, and believed that she was naught but his. Now, she was slowly building herself back up again.
"You're....my master..." Amari said through pained gasps, she wrenched her head to glance up at him. He looked absolutely furious. Madness laced his eyes, but there was an undeniable hurt in his voice. "And I'm...I'm yours." She whispered weakly, pressing her head into the snow. She was at his mercy. She still hadn't shaken off his toxins, no matter how hard she tried. She wondered if this was what he must of felt during the year of torture underneath Aurelianus. She pressed her head further into the snow. "I'm sorry..." she mumbled.
"You will be," he hissed. "ADVENCIA!"
His voice bellowed into the chilled air like a warcry. With anger still thick on his brow and patience thin for Amari's struggles, the assassin wrenched her from the ground. His touch forceful and devoid of concern, he pulled her into his arm and hefted her over his shoulder like a sack of grain. His boots waded through the crisp powder toward his longhouse where doors groaned open. The girl from earlier, clad in white, slipped through the opening and scampered out to meet him.
"You called sir?!" she asked with bright eyes filled with hope and excitement. But much like the warmth of heat in the Scavian wilds, it left her fair features quick as a breeze. Instead of looking into Lye's verdant command, Advencia eyed Amari's exposed body with flames of envy and jealousy.
"We have an intruder," the assassin commanded, his stride continuing past his colleague.
"I can see that," Advencia interjected with her narrowed eyes on Amari.
"Not her, but an associate of hers. His name is Elthas and he has the ability to become ethereal. There may be a second intruder by the name of Shinsou. Get the word out and find anyone with the ability to place wards. Have them get started immediately with the longhouse and Inner Sanctum."
"What about this thing," Advencia hissed. Lye stopped short of the massive longhouse doors.
"This thing," he growled, turning to her with a steeling gaze. "Is mine to do with as I see fit and that will not be a problem or concern of yours."
Advencia met him with defiance. The skilled killer she was, it took more than the threat of a superior to rattle her. Yet, like a switch, the scantily clad subordinate switched off her bitter demeanor and jarred herself into a bright and bubbly smile.
"Yessir~" she replied in melodic song. Advencia saluted out of mockery or playfulness. Then with a smiling nod, she pivoted to begin her work. Yet, the moment her face slipped from her commander's eyes, it snapped back into a scowl of jealousy. Advencia departed to begin her work as commanded.
Lye turned back to his sanctum and carried Amari to her favorite location within the inner sanctum. Instead of weapons of torture, feasting tables, or throngs of lust driven men, it laid bare except for a roaring fire to the back. Not a sound to be heard or soul to be seen. Lye hefted the girl off his shoulders to the dirt ground and barred the doors behind them. The final bolt of iron slammed into place, barring anyone from entry. His hands remained on the door, head hung and his back to his captive.
Then, he began to laugh - a low, rolling chuckle unstable in tone.
"Actions and consequence," he laughed, shaking his head. The strands of silver that draped from his head swayed like a platinum waterfall.
"I even wanted to reward you. I wanted to. Compassion. Me?" He laughed harder, hand gripping his face as the tone of his voice struggled to settle on any one inflection. "Aurelianus even sees it. Something he won't even tell me. And now..." The laugh silenced with a deep breath and a sigh. He turned to face her. "Now you've brought people to this sanctum. People claiming to comfort you and seemingly know more about you than I."
His voice began low and gentle, rising into a deep, commanding tone.
"Tell me everything." His hands coiled into fists. "Or beg that I believe you."
Compassion?
She watched him through the crimson curtain of her hair, as he laughed. Muttering incoherent things to himself. Amari couldn't tell if he was angry, upset or amused. "M...Master...." Her tone, despite her circumstances was laced with genuine concern. He was unhinged. As though something within him snapped.
Then he commanded her, in a low, drawling tone. One that shook her core, one that she felt she had to obey - she just had to. This man, was her Master and he was oh so eloquently giving her an order.
She pushed herself to her knees with a groan. "Shinsou...is nowhere near here..." She muttered darkly. "And if he was - he'd be hunting for my death, go ahead. Find him. Kill him." She spat. Her answer didn't seem to satisfy her Master. He growled darkly. Amari sighed, and continued. This time from the beginning. How Shinsou rescued her from the bandits, how she had fallen for him, but one of his men tried to bed her. She told him about how she had killed the man, accidently shoving him out the window, and that Shinsou was nothing more than a playboy, and was after her life. She said she left the Brotherhood, and made way for Rubbletown- and a year later, that's where she had been taken into his custody.
Amari fell silent as he started laughing again. She wasn't sure if he had believed her or not. Amari had already told him everything she knew about Elthas, which was very little. His laughter unnerved her. There was one thing she could tell him that'd snap him out of his pained laughter. "The mark on my back."
Just as she guessed, he quitened down, and she could hear his foosteps approach her. With a swift to her stomach Lye sent Amari sprawling across the ground. Amari groaned as he pulled her up by her hair. Practically spitting his question in her face. "What about it!?"
Amari winced, trying not to scream out. "I-it's what revives me. If I die...You-Nng...You just...wipe blood on it."
"Is that so...." His tone shifted, and he dropped her to the floor.
"Yes..." Amari said, pushing herself back off the floor. "When I die, I seem to be...I don't know...glowing, It's like, I am chained to my body. I don't know what I am...I guess not as human as I thought. If I knew any more...I'd tell you."
Lye pulled a dagger from its scabbard at the idea. Shinsou and Elthas slipped into afterthought. She'd known worse than death at this point, but to test her theory here and now encouraged him.
"Really now," he started, skeptically. His hands shook and he knelt beside her.
"Amari..." he said her name for the first time since renouncing her as a person. His hand ran across her face, gently. "An immortal, how I pity you."
A finger traced down her jawline and across the lace choker he had crafted for her.
"You will never know beauty of life and now the fear of death is absolved from you. Pain will eventually be a nuance and morality will corrode from boredom and loss. You are cursed. Doomed to a fate far worse than I could ever show you."
With a feint of his blade toward her heart, his misdirected it and drove the dagger into the earth between her legs. His hands directed them to her bindings and he unwound them free from her wrists. Redness swelled from areas worn raw from his aggression on the cable. He gripped them and felt her reel from the tenderness of the wounds.
"So, immortal..." Lye stood from her and fixed his grappling cables to his waist. "What now?"
The question came with unknown intentions.
"Just a fallen noble starving in the streets to learn you're better than all those mortals that suppressed you, even myself. How does that feel?" The dagger he thrust in front of her remained as he spoke. Lye shed his furs to reveal his leather attire, riddled with iron rivets and pockets of unknown content. Weapons littered his waist and firelight shimmered off the blades affixed to his boots.
"And you've known about this for some time, yet you still reluctantly call me master. What is your play? Can I really teach you anything? Can an immortal's will be broken?" Lye asked, but they left his lips as a reflection toward himself. He faced her plainly. Her body nude except for the choker and warmed only by the flames radiating at the far wall behind her. Yet opposed he stood to her clad in combat attire and equipped with numerous tools to test the lifespans of mortals.
"Hmmm..." The gears in his head spun, and clicked. A new thought dawned on him.
"Pick up that knife," Lye commanded and he drew a matching blade from the scabbard at his hips.
Amari
"W-what did...." Amari couldn't believe the word that fell from his mouth, her name. She'd almost forgotten it. Amidst the heavy, pained sensations that ebbed at her body, the drugging, and the sleepless nights, she'd almost forgotten that was her name.
She felt him lean over her and couldn't help but press her face into his gentle touch. Her eyes fluttered shut as she leaned toward him. "I-Immortal...." Amari repeated the word, it was a foreign concept to her. She didn't see herself as such. She knew she could die, and she guessed that if no one revived her - she'd stay dead. Locked in some strange limbo just like Elthas was.
She noticed his blade, and narry flinched when he went to strike her heart. She simply held her breath, waiting for the sting of the metal. The scrape of it against her bone and the warm rush of blood leaving her body.
Nothing.
She exhaled.
"I don't think I'm immortal..." She whispered, watching as he carefully undone her binds. She was confused at this point. She was expecting a lashing, a beating. Hell- she'd even expect to be thrown into the fire. The Silver haired man seemed to switch from one emotion to the next with an unhinged ease.
"What now..." Amari repeated.
"I want to learn what I am." She said in earnest. "If not human, then what?" She knew he couldn't answer her question. Amari fell silent as he said she was better than everyone else. A sinking feeling hit her chest. How could she be? She was utterly useless. What good was a revival if someone else had to help to do it? What good was it to come back still bleeding and wracked with pain?
A bitter laugh left her lips. "Better?" She shook her head, absently rubbing her wrists. "I'm nothing more than your plaything, am I not?" She asked. A large part of her believed those words, and Amari was struggling to deal with the concept - now - even more so, she was struggling with the idea that she was anything more than that. That she was worth anything more than a life of servitude. "My play...I don't...I don't know..." She furrowed her brow. "Lately, my heads been so fuzzy."
She lifted her gaze toward him her eyes dancing on all the odds and ends attached to him. They lingered on various bags and sharpened tools before rising to meet his cold curious gaze with a questioning one of her own. He commanded her to pick up the knife, and Amari obeyed. She toyed with it in her hands watching as he drew his own blade.
"You...want me to fight you?"
He didn't answer. Amari struggled to push herself to her feet. Her legs shook, her wrists ached and throbbed. She was barely able to hold the knife. The moment she tightened her grip on it, her hand started to shake uncontrollably. "I don't think I can, Master..." Amari admitted, feeling vertigo ebb at her head. Amari stumbled, but caught her balance before collapsing.
"If you insist, Master..." She held the knife out in front of her, watching an waiting for some sort of movement from him, any sort of indication of a fight. She knew she'd loose instantly, that this was all a game to amuse him. Still, it beat living in the slums.
"Your body is a tool, nothing more. So is mine - a means to an end." He watched her struggle to stand. The blade shook in her clutches and her stance failed before she could root it.
"Plaything? No. You've never been that," Lye's own blade moved in his hands with great finesse. He demonstrated control over the edge, knowledge of the weapon's balance, of its curves, and momentum. It switched hands, changed grip, then flung back to the other hand. In his hands, the threatening edge of a weapon looked nothing more than a toy.
"A student." He lashed out, steel smashing into steel. His blade immediately wrested hers from her hands and skipped across the floor. He stepped inward toward he broken stance and the bite of steel slide into her stomach with a wet shlick. He wrapped his other arm around her, and pulled her into a tight embrace.
"And when you're ready..." He twisted the blade in her gut to open the wound. Like a faucet, it ran from her, across the blade, over his fingers, and spattered to the floor from the apex of his knuckles.
"I'll have you fight me to the death." He pulled the blade from her and gave enough space between the two to grab her by the back of her head. Then, he pressed his lips into hers. A trickle of blood slipped from between them before the assassin left her embrace entirely. He took a step back and ran a sleeve across his bloodied lips.
Then, with a smile, he watched and waited for the light to fade.
To say Amari felt confused and conflicted was an understatement. He had spent the last three days instilling, and beating the notion that she was nothing into her tiny form. Twisting her mind into believing she was his - and now he was saying she wasn't his plaything? The woman furrowed her brow.
But he told that woman.... Amari continued her thoughts out loud. "Didn't...you tell that woman I was yours to do with as you pleased?"
Her eyes fell to his hands as he deftly began playing with the small knife. Shifting it between his hands, balancing it on the tips of his fingers, every stroke every motion...the blade glided effortlessly through the air. The silver haired man claimed her as his student before lashing out, Amari barely had time to block his attack, she was surprised she managed to. Her grip on the blade wasn't strong enough and it clattered uselessly across the dirtied wooden floor from her hand.
Then, Amari felt a sensation she was all too familiar with. The sting of her skin as the blade parted it. The heated and sudden lashing of pain that prickled her body, the blood. The sudden cold she felt as her blood cascaded over his hand. Her Master wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her closer and driving the blade deeper into her stomach. Amari's head rolled forward. Her brothers insidious insignia caused the rippling sensations of pleasure to sting at her skin and loins, although she wasn't full conscious enough to appreciate the apex and masochism of pain and pleasure.
She felt another sharp jerk, before his lips pressed hard against hers. Amari mumbled incoherently, coughing up blood into the tender kiss. A shaking arm reached out to have her hand curl into his silvery locks. She returned the kiss with muted fevor. Her body twitching from the pain. Sweat dotting her forehead. Her tongue darted into his mouth before he pulled away and allowed her to crumple to the floor.
Amari tried to scream, but she coughed up more blood and it became a gurgle. Her fading emerald and golden gaze looked up at the man. Her Master, as he smiled. smears of her blood still clung to his pale skin. Amari's breathes were in quick, short successions as she struggled to breath. She felt cold, then. Nothing.
Her physical body died, with her uselessly crumpled up on the floor. The golden ring around her irises faded to an inky black.
Then; there was a gasp, as Amari sat up once more. This time in her etheral form. Nude, baring the jacket Elthas had given her prior. Her form and eyes glowing a brilliant glittering amber hue. Amari glanced to the side at her body, still unsure of how to feel or act in such a predicament.
"What...am I...." She breathed, glancing down at herself. Her Ethereal form had no wounds, her abdomen ached where he had stabbed her, but beyond that her skin was pristine. Amari lowered her head to the floor, shutting her eyes, repeating the question to herself. "What am I...."
He bore a toothy grin as she lay on the floor. The same crimson that spilled from her abdomen in waves still stained the crevices of his teeth. He watched her eyes flicker and water, screams muted by pain and blood swelling in her throat. Yet, far faster than intended, she slipped into the void and fell silent. Days of torture, lack of food, water and warmth took its toll on her frame. She welcomed death all too easily.
The smile fell from his lips and he shook his head.
"What am I doing?" Lye pinched the ridge of his nose. A trail of red fell from his fingers and ran down his cheek. He walked to her corpse and took a knee beside her.
In the silence of the room, interrupted only by the crackle of firelight, he stared at her. His gloved hand brushed her scarlet hair from a face frozen in the grips of confusion. Her green and golden eyes stared blankly onward with dilated pupils. Lye's eyes trailed from her morbid face down her neck, past exposed breasts, and to the wound in her stomach that no longer gushed crimson vitae. His finger ran along the jagged seam of the wound, pressing inward slightly. The warmth of her body still remained, but the color of her skin already shifted toward a cooler hue.
"I've killed stronger," he muttered to himself, barely audible.
"I've slaughtered weaker." Removing his hand from the wound, he wiped the excess blood across her chest as if she were a rag. His reddened blade followed, marring her pale, soft skin with even more stains.
"What are you?" he asked. A sigh escaped him as a pain of indecision worked into his expression. He stood.
"Where are you now, Elthas?!" Lye shouted, voice echoing in the large, empty cavern. "The girl is dead! Make good on your threat, specter!"
He threw his hands wide to invite a free blow.
"What secrets do you have? Go on! I'm on borrowed time! Feel free to end it!"
His hands fell limp, the echoes of his maddened cries fell silent.
"Nothing..." A softened tone escaped his lips. "An empty threat."
"Worthless."
Lye faced Amari's corpse and narrowed his eyes. He fetched the discarded blade from the soil beside her and returned both to their scabbards. Kneeling down, he slid his arms beneath her. Already, her skin felt cool to the touch. With a grunt, the two rose and he made to the barred doors. A will of the shadows moved them free and his boot forced them open. As he walked across the smooth stone of the main hall, echoes of spattered blood mixed with heavy footsteps. He turned right, leading to a door forged of pure iron and again willed the shadows to aide it open.
Inside, light struggled to identify its contents. Torchèrs in the four corners of the moderately sized room burst to light with a blue flame. A bed, desk, rug, and several various belongings identified the room as a living quarter - Lye's living quarters. He carried Amari to the center of the room and laid her atop a black, bearskin rug. He then walked to a trough made from carved onyx seemingly cut from the mountain itself. From the corner, Lye pulled a cork from the wall. Immediately, water spilled forth from an underground stream and began to pool in the basin beneath.
He left the room, her body lifeless on the floor and trickle filling the tub. He returned moments later with a basket of fruit, cuts of meat, and several staple vegetables. In the crook of his arm, several rolls of bandages and spools of thread were held. They were set on a small shelf by the entrance as he worked a fire in the hearth to the far wall beside the bed. He continued to busy about, prepping the bath, heating it with coals thrown in a slot beneath the basin, boiling a pot of water for the vegetables, and searing meat on wooden kabob skewers. All the while, Amari's corpse grew cold and shifted deeper into shades of blues, greens, and purples.
With a dusting of his hands, Lye finally turned to his inanimate company.
"Now," he began, kneeling and turning her to her back. "This sigil."
Blood already clumped and coagulated on her skin, matted by the coarse fur of the rug. Gelatinous vitae covered her tattoo at the base of her back. He found it odd, that it needed human touch to work, but he questioned it not. Were she trustworthy, he would see her rise from the dead like before. Were she a liar, she would stay within the confines of the void as she deserved.
"We test your truth." Lye pressed his thumb into her blood and smeared it across her mark.
It was an odd thing, to see your own limp corpse. Amari lifted her head as her Master began to talk. Amari propped herself up on her knees, watching curiously as he questioned his actions. He seemed disappointed with how quickly she had died. "What do you expect..." She muttered dryly, shifting her gaze away.
Even with the jacket she felt an unforgiving cold set into her form. Amari pulled the emerald green garb tighter around her form. Lye called out for Elthas. She wondered if Elthas would appear again. Her death was what drew him to her the first time. "You can't see or hear me, can you?" Amari asked Lye as he gingerly picked up her body. Giving no indication that he could see her glowing form. Nor the bloodied chain that connected that form to her limp, lifeless body.
It pulled taught as Lye walked away and Amari was forced to follow. This plane of existence, it was odd, she hadn't had extended time in it during her previous death. Nor was she in the right frame of mind to fully take it all in. It was similar to life, but everything had an odd shimmering film over it, and her Masters voice was muffled, as though he were speaking through material.
Amari felt uneasy, she didn't like that he had yet to revive her and was carrying her to an unknown location. She glanced at the chain that connected her ethereal form to her body. It swayed limply between the two, as she walked side by side with Ulroke. "That chain...." Amari mused to herself. What did it mean? Was it a symbol of her ties to that body? What would happen if it broke?
Lye lead them into a larger chamber - Amari wished she could feel the warmth that it appeared to ooze. He set her down on a black rug, and started on what she could only explain as chores. Filling the bath, fetching food, cooking. The more time that had passed the more restless Amari became. She took this time to explore the room, as far from her body as the chain would allow.
It looked like his living quarters, his bed was elegant. She ran her glowing hand across its surface. She could feel the polished onyx. I can interact with things?
Amari wanted to test this theory, could she push something over? If she were to touch her Master, would he feel it?
Lye was at her body now. Amari approached and kneeled next to him. She chanced a hand over his chest. It emitted a soft golden glow, and she quickly withdrew. If he felt it, he didn't react. Her Master ran a finger over the sigil, and Amari felt winded - as though she had lost the ability to breathe. The chain quickly retracted and forcibly, and painfully tugged her back into her body.
A blinding light filled the room, and once again Ulroke was forced to shield his eyes. Amari's body contorted as it breathed with new life. Amari gasped for air before a shrill scream filled the room. Her chest ached, her head felt groggy and she was horribly anaemic. Her body reconstructed the deeper wounds, but as the light died down a deep tear in her skin still glistened with newly forming blood.
Amari's eyes watered as she clutched her wound. Her screams died down to pained gasps. She clenched her teeth. She glanced up at the man and her quivering lips formed a small smirk. "G-good enough truth?" She strained. Amari wanted to say more. To explain the surreal experience of following her own limp corpse but her hands shook. Her vision dotted.
Lacking food, sleep, and blood. She was in a terrible state. She was alive, but barely. Her head lowered and she shut her eyes. She could feel him move away, only to return shortly after. Then, a sharp pain in her abdomen. "Argh!" Amari went to clutch her wound, but her hand was batted away.
"Stay still." came her Masters short, sharp command.
Amari stilled, and realised he was sewing her wound shut. The smell that lingered in the air suggested the sharp pain she felt was some form of antiseptic. "Killed stronger...slaughtered weaker...." Amari whispered, alluding to the fact that she may have been dead - but she had lingered, and saw everything.
"I damn well...Ugh...wish I knew what I -uh..fuck- was."
The man had bandaged her. Amari tentatively tried to push herself up using her elbows. A wave of nausea followed suit. She swayed and clumps of crimson hair, matted with her blood spilled over her bare shoulders. She groaned, but refused to let herself fall back down to the floor.
"Interesting," Lye commented as he tore the bandages from the roll. "You heard all that. I was certain you were dead."
He put away the needles, thread, and medical supplies, returning with yet another vial of strange fluid. Lye dangled it in front of her face.
"Drink it," he commanded. She looked up to him weakly, then back to the vial with merited hesitation.
"It speeds up recovery," he clarified. "Well, for human mortals at least."
The familiar fire of her personality flickered in her narrowed eyes. She reached for the elixir at the expense of her balance. Before she could topple, he caught her.
"Easy," Lye cooed, walking Amari to the edge of the onyx basin. Coals already began to work warmth into the water. Still chilled to the touch, waves of heat spilled from the slot near her ankles and upward. She winced and groaned softly as she found her balance. He offered the potion again, this time safely wrested from his hand.
"You'll be sleeping here from now on," Lye stated, moving to check the cook on their meal. He heard her sputter, glass vial clinking once on the stone floor before coming to rest atop the soiled fur rug.
"Wh-what?"
"That won't be a problem, will it?" he stated more as a fact than a question. Flames licked at the crude kabobs and charred the meat nicely. Rendered fat glistened along the grains and sizzled, filling the room with savory aroma. "Now that you have spirits showing up and making threats on your behalf, you can't be left alone."
Lye plucked one of the skewers from the flames. Still a tad under-cooked, but equally seared, he held it to her.
"Eat." He need not repeat himself when Amari grabbed for it the moment he spoke. From the wellspring in the corner, he filled a tin cup to which he placed beside her.
"Your wounds should heal within the hour. I tried to keep it clean and quick." Lye returned to the fire to fetch his own kabob and perched himself upon the bed in the corner of the room. He pulled a cooked morsel of beef from the stick. Compared to the cattle in warmer climates, Salvic beef was higher in fat and generally more tender. It melted away in his mouth as he chewed, all the while staring uncomfortably at Amari. Aside from matted hair and bandages, only a thin coat of blood covered her bare skin.
"I did, I heard - and saw it all." Amari pressed her hand to her heart. "This body was dead. I was not." She paused, leaning against the edge of the bathtub. She still felt quite dizzy, and the warmth that radiated from underneath and licked at her ankles was welcoming. She took a tentative bite from the meat and chewed. "It's difficult...to explain. It's like, I am this entirely new being. Like some glowing person, and I'm attached to my physical body with a bloodied chain. When I see things. It's like it has this strange film over it, and your voice was muffled."
Amari took another few bites, chewing slowly as she stared at the silver haired man. Trying to understand exactly what was going on in that head of his. "Even if staying here were a problem. I don't exactly have a say in the matter." She mused, twirling the now empty metallic rod. Lye gave her a half hearted smirk.
Somehow, his lack of bite bothered her. Amari picked up the cup and drank the entirety of its contents in fevered gulps. The cool water drained over the sides of her mouth and spilled onto her exposed chest. With a gasp she set the cup back down on the edge of the bath before gingerly pushing herself off. It took a great deal of effort, but she made her way to the bed and allowed herself to sit on one of the furs on the floor. Resting her back against the Onyx base. Amari inwardly hissed as the movement caused pain to shoot up her side. "Fuck me..." She muttered.
There was more silence. What happened to his threats? "Hey..." Amari glanced up at the man, pushing her hair back out of her verdant gaze. "You said by nightfall, I'd never disobey you again. Just hours ago you were so angry and violent. Now..." She bit her lower lip, unsure if she was pushing her boundaries or not. "You called me by my name - you treat my wounds, you stare at me with....that strange gaze...I don't understand you. At all."
He chuckled. "You expect to understand someone after 4 days?"
Amari paused. "4 days..." She turned her gaze away from him. "Has it only been 4 days?" It felt like far longer. It felt like she'd been here months, not days. Amari rubbed her eyes wearily. She was loosing track of time. This wasn't good. This man, this insane, craized, awful, moody man. He was the only semblance of normalcy Amari had. It was comforting in a surreal way.
"Yes, only four." The assassin felt fortunate for her swift subservience. The harsh weather of Salvar and poor conditions of Rubble town did most of the work for him. As she sat beside the bed, stripped of clothing, beaten, and dirty, he wondered how circumstances would have differed were she not gifted. Before he registered his actions, Lye found himself running his fingers through her hair as though some precious child of his. After he realized the involuntary gesture, he pulled his hand back and rose from the bed.
"Today," he began, trailing his voice as he braced himself over the hearth. "Before the incident with your unexpected guest, I had our day planned."
He held his kabob in the fire. His eyes focused on the flames as they licked over the surface of his food so that his mind would not wander.
"Once you've healed, bathed, and eaten your fill, I want you to get dressed. Use my furs for now."
Char began to work itself around the vegetables and lit the exposed wooden tip aflame.
"When you're ready, meet me outside."
Feeling the hunger leave him, Lye let the kabob fall into the fire. It hissed and screamed as flames consumed it. The sustenance it once held turned to blackened char and embers. Without another word he turned and made for the door. His face resumed its stern and stoic demeanor and his boots moved with purpose. Iron groaned open and ground closed with a resounding clank.
Amari was left alone once again. Meanwhile, Lye's footsteps faded to the distance.
Her day wasn't over.
His gentle, thoughtful drawl confirmed that it had indeed only been 4 days. Then, goosebumps travelled down her back as she felt the gentle caress of his fingers in her hair. Amari shut her eyes, leaning against the bed. She was so tired...the actions illicit feelings of tender comfort. Just as Amari was drifting off to sleep she felt him shift away. Amari sat up with a groan of discontent.
"Plans..." Of course...the man always had plans. Amari glanced down at her wounds, gingerly patting the bandage. Surprisingly, it hadn't hurt as much as it did prior. Amari pulled on the gauze, and just as Lye said - the wound was healing at an increased rate. For once, the elixer she drank was doing exactly as he said. Amari continued to pull the gauze away, letting it fall over her knees. "What plans?" She asked.
Her response was the hiss of burning meat as he dropped it into the fire. "Wasteful..." Amari chided. Lye turned and shot her a disapproving glare. Amari averted her gaze from his. "Fine...." Amari muttered, and with her words he shut her within his room to do as she pleased.
Amari carefully stood, and headed to the hearth, removing the slowly charring vegetables and meats. She placed them on the plate that had been left next to it. Amari bit into a cob of corn. Glancing around the room. It was silly...he left her in what she had to assume was his private quarters. Amari had access to everything. Weapons. Clothing. Documents and papers... and yet, none of it interested her. Amari held the plate, wandering around with the food as she ate her fill. Taking a gander at some of his outfits, sitting atop dress mannequins, there was a table in the corner piled high with handwritten papers. Amari avoided that, she couldn't exactly read anyway. There was another table, this one interested her. It was filled with bubbling liquids and various intricate and exotic ingredients. "Potions?" She said curiously running a hand over the table. Amari was tempted to mess around with them - but she pulled away.
No, not today.
Checking her wound, Amari noted it had fully healed. She placed the plate down on the floor beside the bath, and just as she was instructed to. She very slowly cleaned herself. Taking her time to enjoy the warmth of the bath, and using the different shampoos and conditioners that Lye had. After a good hour long soak Amari pulled her body from the bath and dried herself off.
Now, to get dressed. Amari headed to one of the mannequins. She slipped on a very loose black shirt, and pants. Followed by wrapping herself in the various furs. Finally, she slipped on the boots. Her feet fell right back out of them when she took a step. "I suppose socks will have to do."
Amari left the shoes behind as she exited the chamber, heaving her weight against the locks to close it tight behind her. She padded down a long hall, then another - finally. Amari was outside, and there - was a very impatient Master. She had taken almost two hours. She bought the furs closer around her. "Now what?"
While Amari cared for herself, Lye busied about. He received Advencia's report, learning much needed information about several Salvic nobles. A few members of his charge informed him of wards being placed and the structural integrity of the Sanctum against spiritual assault. To that effect, he found their preparations lacking. Several ravens were dispatched to scouting parties, relaying new information and mission goals needed to further his agenda. While he busied with Amari, Lye's reach still extended around Althanas.
"Good," he commented to one such subordinate. "Let me know when they've returned with him, and keep the father oblivious to his absence."
"Yesir"
Lye dismissed his shady colleague and turned his attentions to the opening doors as Amari emerged. Two hours passed, not a moment wasted, but his expression silently questioned what mischief she had been up to in that time. He narrowed his gaze on her as she asked her question.
"Follow me," he commanded, turning his back to her.
Freshly fallen snow crunched under their weight as they made way through the camp. Crude footpaths were worn down to the dirt, still icy and hard from a muddy mix of snow, ice, and dirt. Their journey took them past several huts made from fallen logs and thatch roofs. The hammer against anvil sounded rhythmically from beneath an open awning. The smith, clad in something akin to summer attire, ran a sleeve over his sweaty brow as the red glow of the heart gave color to the white canvas around them.
He finally came to rest at the open gates. Two archers atop watchtowers on each side of the wall acknowledged him with a silent nod. A keen eared man could hear the tension leave their bowstrings as their gaze returned to the surrounding treeline. Just past the gates lied the haunted forest, home to all manner of forgotten creatures from the War of the Tap. Pikes topped with frozen and preserved heads peppered the passage inward, a constant memory of what happens to those who wrong the Hand.
"So," Lye began, his gaze fixed to the shadows between the trees. "You've seen plenty horrible things since your being here."
He shot a glance to Amari.
"Through all of it, you've kept your sanity," he continued, stepping toward her and brushing a few lonely flakes of snow from her shoulders. "A real diamond in the rough. To be standing here without ropes or chains."
He gestured to the wilds.
"You can go." His tone remained sincere, expression as flat and lifeless as a professional gambler. He looked to her, keen eyes eluding to alternative purpose.
"The option has always been there. If you wish to leave now, I will afford you an envoy to Archen's outer limits."
He paused, enough time for her to question his motives.
"But you may also stay. Do so, and I will welcome you into the fold. You will be given tasks to complete and stand on equal ground with the men here. You will, however, remain mine. You will stay by my side and I will teach you how to protect yourself, to take whatever you like from this world, and afford you my time in effort in helping you answer those questions about yourself."
He stepped from her to give her ample space.
"So," he continued. "If you choose to stay, you will be bound to service like all the men here. Desertion affords the death penalty. For you, I'll have to get more creative."
"Would you like to leave?"
Would you like to leave?
The question hung in the air like -I'll insert something here when I am not tired as fuck- Amari felt her chest tighten, was he really offering her freedom? Was it that simple? She glanced side ward at him with an accusing gaze. No, it wasn't that simple. Nothing was with this man. She contemplated what he'd actually do if she did just walk away. Would that be it? No more brutish attacks? No more childish outbursts?
It was right there. It was right..Fucking....there Within her reach. So why the hell couldn't she just say 'yes, I want to leave' or any other variation thereof?
Amari turned her body toward the silver haired man. He didn't look at her with a smirk, nor a predatory gaze. His green eyes stared her down with an insatiable curiosity. He was being dead serious. "Choose..." The word fell from her lips in a whisper, before she laughed. "That ain't an option, it's just cause and effect." She rose her shoulders in a shrug. "What are you? An idiot."
Amari had made up her mind, hell. She'd made it up before he ever offered her the question. There was no choice. For whatever reason, Amari didn't, couldn't leave him, nor the sanctum.
"You think I'm just going to up and leave after all that?" She approached him in a huff. "Wasn't it you who claimed to take me in my entirety? Wasn't it you who oh so boldly said I wouldn't defy you after this day?" He raised a curious brow at her, but did not offer Amari any further words.
Amari gripped his jacket in her hands, tilting her head up toward him. "you've messed around with my body, and my head - and you think I'm going to walk away? You're more stupid than I took you for." She offered him a smirk. "I'm staying."
Amari moved in as if she were to kiss him, instead -She jabbed him indignantly in the chest, "But to hell if you dare liken me to those fuckin' filthy men.
"Fair," Lye commented with a grin. He turned his attentions to the two watchmen and nodded. They acknowledge the signal and dropped their bows to throw themselves upon massive gears. As they put all their effort into turning the wheels, the doors of the Sanctum grunted and roared as hundreds of pounds of solid wood and iron dragged across ice and snow.
"Then we start with your first charge," the assassin roared over noise. "Follow me."
Again, he lead her elsewhere. This time to a further corner of the camp wedged against the mountainside and the three story perimeter walls. The foul stench of rot and filth permeated the nostrils, followed by the mellow grunt and squeal of swines. Lye approached an animal pen, filled with heavy hair boars. Each huffed clouds of breath into the chilled air. Mud, shit, and snow clung in clumps to their bodies as they huddled together in a puddle of black miasma for warmth.
"Wait here," Lye commanded. As he left her outside, he went into a small shack adjacent to the pen. Not more than a minute later, he emerged with two pails and held them out to her.
"Here." Each bucket sloshed with a thick, almost black soup of unknown content. From the surface of the glistening ichor, several round rolls of what seem like sausage crested. Stench of rot seemed to waft upwards in billows of steam. Some of the curdled fluid spilled over the edge of the pail to the snow below, marring it in a deep red.
"Feed them," Lye commanded.
Amari stared at the two buckets he held out to her. Feelings of nausea washing over her. It was foul, and even her - in all her obliviousness knew that what was in those buckets, was no doubt, once human. "You know..." Amari wrinkled her nose. "The bandits who had me before you - had me do this too. Feeding human remains to pigs and boars. Since they eat everything. Normally though...it isn't as...." Amari groaned. not wanting to accept the buckets. "Fetid...as this..."
"I need to ensure you are capable of...." He paused and offered her a toothy grin. "Menial tasks before I task you with more important matters."
Amari shot him a glare, taking one bucket but leaving the other in his outstretched hand. "I've done menial tasks all my life. This is nothing new. Why don't you help, since you already dressed and ready to go?"
Her snide remark caused her Master to raise his hand and slap her face. "Feed them, or you're sleeping with them tonight." He set the bucket on the floor.
The action worked, Amari shut up. Her face red with the mark from his hand, and the possibility of an enamoured blush. "Tch..." Amari got to work - deftly picking up both buckets and with no more fuss, and little mess - fed the pigs. She threw the empty buckets at his feet.
"Next time don't let things rot so much. It's disgusting."
Lye drew his hand across her face once more.
"You're in no position to give advice," he spat. "Be grateful the remains aren't fresh... Or yours for that matter."
Amari held her face where he struck her the second time. Eyes like daggers stared back at him in defiance, but she kept her mouth silent except for an annoyed click of her tongue.
For the remainder of the afternoon, Lye gave Amari several other small tasks. She polished the human ivory of his throne with much to say about his vanity. He returned her comments with physical violence in regards to her lack of humility. This then transitioned to polishing the boots of Lye's men who were on reserve leave at the Sanctum. Between cat calls and leers from the off-duty thugs and bandits, some of which Amari had more intimate knowledge of, she finished the task with minimal complaint. The more Lye punished her for her outbreaks the more in-line she became while also fidgeting for reasons unknown to her. The menial tasks ended as the two returned to Lye's chambers where she was tasked to polish and hone his knives.
"Do not dull the edges," Lye warned as he began to remove his daily attire.
“I’d feel it best to have someone more skilled to do this, Master.” She mused. “I shall try not to.” She glanced up at him with questioning eyes. It was clear she was exhausted. Denied sleep, and rest. “Will that be all today?”
The assassin pulled his black tunic from himself, baring his skin to the crisp evening air. He moved to his empty mannequin and arranged his equipment upon it before tending to a new flame in the hearth.
“That is all,” he replied. Sparks flung from the whetwheel as the worked. After he lit a new fire, he rose to inspect her as she worked. As expected, the job was messy and the blades showed uneven grind along the edge. While efficient for the thugs she used to help, it paled to the perfection demanded from his occupation.
“Up,” he commanded, gesturing her away from the wheel.
Amari rose, handing him the dagger. Lye assumed her seat and began to put the blade to the wheel.
“Dress down. We will have dinner and the night is yours. You can’t leave this room for obvious reasons,” his voice droned on as sparks slung from the steel.
Amari snorted, but it was the only sound of discontent she made. She undressed, and found the silken gown he had left on a spare mannequin for her. He watched out the corner of his eye as she tried to cover herself. He smirked. It was too small and despite her best efforts the front of her was exposed. Her pristine milky skin danced in the firelight, the only mark was the small scar left from his blade, and the single - three point star between her breasts.
She caught him looking. “What?”
“That level of elegance suits you,” he complimented with a grin.
She rolled her eyes and approached him, peering over his shoulder as he worked. “Don’t expect me to wander around outside dressed like this.” She quipped. Her eyes were focused on his work.
“You’ve walked around in less,” he retorted. The assassin finished working the initial edge before flipping the blade over to work the burrs and prime the cutting angle. “You did well today,” he continued, “despite our interruption. Do you have any requests as a reward?”
“Sleep.” It came quick, and without hesitation. She shifted from behind him to sit on her knees by his feet. “I’m exhausted…”
Lye paused, lifting the dagger from the wheel and turned to her. He hadn't thought of accommodations. His eyes drifted to the blood-stained rug that covered an otherwise bare, stone floor. He questioned whether or not to offer her the same bed as his own and looked to her with pondering eyes.
“Where would you sleep?” asked a question, curious for the answer. His memory recalled the night prior and the state he left her in. Prior to the wraith, he wished to use her lust to drive her. All had gone to naught since then and her own will carried her instead.
She glanced toward the bed then back to him. It was clear from her expression that Amari’s thoughts travelled to the previous night too. Lye caught the slight shift of colour in her cheeks, the few quickened breaths and how she shifted, attempting to cover more of her body. She shifted her gaze away. “Wherever. You’re the Master, right?”
His eyes narrowed. So much of her was still fluid and unpredictable. He glanced toward the fire which elicited an ache from the healing wound in his thigh. How much of her did he already have? How much of her would she still be capable of giving? Would she be so bold as to attempt on him in their sleep?
He recalled her broken stance, her ameture grip on the knife and hesitation to kill her first man. Lye shook his head and returned his blade to the wheel.
“You’ll sleep with me,” he concluded, watching her from the corner of his vision. “Should I trust you with that much or do you prefer chains?”
The slightest flutter of a smile crested on her lips at the mention of chains, but just as quickly as it appeared, it disappeared, as the realisation of his suggestion set in. “I-uh. No. I mean.” She quickly stood, “That’ll be fine. I can rest now then?”
“The night is yours,” he repeated. She nodded and he watched as she padded over to the side of the bed and slid under the covers, offering a satisfied sigh.
Shinsou Vaan Osiris
01-16-17, 05:56 AM
Mari receives 1335 EXP and 145 GP!
Lye receives 1815 EXP and 145 GP!
Elthas Belthasar receives 470 EXP and 45 GP!
Shinsou Vaan Osiris
01-17-17, 06:43 AM
All rewards added!
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