Fate - First Reply A Deadly Dance and A Lonely Soul

A 1x1 Roleplay where the first writer to respond can join
The way her nails dug into the bare flesh of his back drew the slightest hint of a groan from Len's throat to crash against her lips. He'd had no idea, not a clue how badly he'd wanted to do this, to hold her close in his arms just once. Kassa was a kindred soul, a warrior who thought nothing of themselves and everything of others, to her own detriment.

Could she see now, though? That he thought everything of her?

Kassa's body pressed tightly against him, her lips refusing to leave his, as though every silent moment of tension that had lingered between them was being released in a slow, steady stream between the two of them. That such a renowned and legendary warrior could be given something akin to butterflies in his stomach seemed laughable, but every bone in B-taa's body yearned for her, shouted in fear and pleaded for her not to pull away.

The Grand Terios of The Seven Trees knew what this was. He'd felt it before, and the pressure in his chest was undeniable.

Love.

But even as Kassa pulled away from the decadent dance of their lips, just enough so that she could whisper to him in words softer than the silken sheets they laid on, Len knew that she would not speak the words. The chains that bound her were loosened by emotion, by need, but they were still too strong for her to declare such a feeling, one so powerful that it would be akin to spitting in the face of her Masterful One.

It was okay. When she hesitated, Len only smiled knowingly, comfortingly.

"Kassa..." He whispered back, his hands slowly traveling up her back, fingers grazing lightly over the back of her neck and brushing through her beautiful auburn locks. "Without you, I am lost. There is no being God who could sway me to leave your side."

Another kiss, this one deeper, and his palms slid to her shoulders, gripping the clothes she wore as he overcame another momentary bout of cowardice. No, this was what he wanted. What they both deserved. His grip relaxed, and his lips drifted from hers once more. "Tomorrow, we will face the world as we always have..." Len murmured against her neck, as he leaned forward to kiss her flesh there softly.

"Tonight, the world outside of this room can burn."

Kassa Lia
 
When she first met Len, he was just a peculiar looking, talkative fool. She thought to use him for the supposed wealth she’d assumed he had, or in some other nefarious way to further her own progress in this horrid world. He was nothing to her then. If he got in her way, by accident or design, killing him and disposing of the body was an acceptable course of action.

Now, she couldn’t dream of doing any such thing.

He wasn’t peculiar looking anymore. Despite his unusual pale skin, he was attractive. Kassa found her pulse quicken as he kissed her neck, and the stupid thought that she could have done worse with an obese slothful thug crossed her mind. It was clear Len wasn’t some kind of Crown Prince or Lord of some fairytale land, but he was the Grand Terios, fit and toned and wildly attractive, and she thought she could live with that.

He promised to not leave her side, and, as she had not done to anyone for quite some time, she believed him. And, as he said the world outside could burn, she agreed. For the first time, she laughed, and it was a sound of simple happiness, not contempt or sardonic as all the times before.

Her eyes wandered over his body. She bit her lip as she inhaled, a slow, uncertain breath that hissed past lips and teeth.

The Masterful One would never approve, Kassa decided, but he could go fuck himself this time.

She shrugged of the ragged coat she wore, casting it to the side. She held Len’s eyes as she slowly lifted her tunic, with the brassiere following. The tiny scars from the torture did not detract from the beauty that she had used to escape from the unfriendly clutches of law enforcers so many times before. Her skin was smooth and unmarked otherwise… yet she still felt nervous as her clothes fell to the side of the bed, worried she might not meet Len’s standards.

She laid down again and pulled the Grand Terios over her with strength belying her small size. Her face flushed. Would she embarrass herself?

“Is kissing all you’re good for?” she asked.

Len Dy't B-taa
 
For the first time since the pair of them had met, the dark filter that always seemed to cloud her vision cleared. Len saw not the barrier that had divided them for so long under the title of a dark Master she was beholden to follow. The walls were down, and tonight Kassa was just a woman. Tonight, Kassa was his woman. It was shocking to him just how much he liked the sound of that...

As far as B-taa was concerned, he'd just been proven right; Kassa Lia was every bit as incredible a woman without the dark cloud that shrouded every intention and motive she wrapped herself in. Every kiss that connected them grew more frantic, more heated, and the laugh that spilled from her lips as she pulled herself up and brought her hands to her coat that covered her sounded as sweet as honey to his ears. It was incredible, that seeing such happiness on her face could invigorate him as much as it did.

Like the curtain rising on a display fit for only kings and gods, she stripped herself of the layers that hid her from his eyes. This time, there was no attempt made to avert his eyes. On the contrary, Len's hands slid to her sides, his palms tough but still gentle as they traveled up her body with the tunic and brassiere as they were cast aside. The warmth of her skin against his own was an intoxicating feeling, something that made his heart skittish and his skin bump like gooseflesh.

"You're beautiful..." Len muttered up at her, sheer adoration in his eyes as his hands slid around to meet at the swells of her breasts.

Before he even had a chance to go further, she'd leveraged his wandering hands and pulled him on top of her, rolling to lay underneath him.

All of a sudden, this was very real.

But he'd never backed down from a challenge before.

So when she teased him with that flushed face and those smoldering eyes, Len offered only a cocksure grin down at her, his hands moving to the belt holding his trousers, and his voice deep and husky. "I don't know, Kassa. How about we find out?"




Complete.


For the first time since his revival. No, since even before his death, Len felt complete.

The sheets were warm against his bare flesh, though not nearly as warm as the woman curled up against his side, head resting against his broad chest. The crackle of the torch that kept the bed chamber dimly lit was oddly relaxing against the sound of dull wind beating against the empty building they'd made their own for the night.

For somebody who'd been so concerned about his injuries, Kassa had shown no problem with putting him through his paces. The Terios had no inkling of how long he'd slept, but he found he didn't care. Every minute he could spend here, in this room with her, this strange, troubled woman who he could no longer pretend he hadn't fallen in love with, was a minute he thanked the Trees for granting him.

Did it have to end?

Kassa Lia
 
Beneath her austere composure lived a certain passion. For the first time, Kassa gave in to that passion and the desire inside demanding satiation. In turn, Len showed her the same, and when they finally fell asleep it was as if they had found everything they had ever wished for.

No dreams or nightmares disturbed Kassa’s sleep. Only the endless, dark void that welcomed her every night, ever since she had summoned the entity who condemned and watched over her. Usually, when the void lifted and she awoke, He was the first thing she thought of. But this time, it was Len she thought of, and he was there beside her, his pale skin warm. She smiled as she curled up tighter against him, her hand tracing the contours of his chest.

Never before had she felt so safe, so secure.

“Darling,” she said, and this time the endearment was more than just a word she bestowed on everyone. She kissed him lightly on the lips and slid out of bed, wincing sightly. She was a little sore.

The sun was bright, high in the sky when they awoke late in the day. Kassa gazed out the window as she dressed slowly, as if she had no cares or responsibilities to speak of. She knew the world outside was often dark in more ways than one, hiding dismal realities behind staged idealistic scenes. She had learned that the day her mother was burned to bone and ash, and had not thought otherwise since then. But now that world of cruelty seemed far away, and while she knew it would come back, that this moment of peace would come to an end, she felt at ease.

She washed her face in a little basin that ran with the warm waters of a reservoir drawn from the hot springs, and then sat down beside Len with a smile more sincere and pure than any she had given before.

“What will you do when we reach your Trees?” she asked. She had worried about it, briefly, hours ago. She had assumed he would go his separate way and she hers, whatever their paths were and wherever they led. She had assumed she would never see him again after they reached that land he desired to see. Now, she wasn’t worried. He wasn’t going to leave her, and she certainly wasn’t going to leave him.

She leaned over, her hands gliding over the injuries Len had sustained the day before. The ointments she had applied had done their work well. “How are you feeling?”

Len Dy't B-taa
 
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There was nothing quite like the high of her lips pressed against his own once again followed by the low of her warmth sliding from his own as she left his side on the bed. Were it practical he would have held her there for the entirety of the day, slowly unleashing every held-back yearning emotion that had built up over the last handful of days. It was that final kiss before she left him with that phantom touch against his broad chest that left him wanting more.

Len turned to his side, watching her as she dressed with warmth and adoration filling his gaze. When the shroud of darkness that damned Master of hers wasn't choking the happiness out of Kassa, she practically glowed. Of course that also could have been the morning sun beating against her bare flesh in the brief moment he got to admire it before she covered up.

"I don't know, really. Suppose that depends on what you plan on doing. I don't expect there to be much left of them..." The thought did hit him with a small wave of sadness... seeing the trees, or the lack thereof... it wasn't going to be easy for him. Idly he dragged a hand across the sheets of the bed, managing to bring his smile back after a brief pause. "But I won't be alone, so I'll be fine." After last night, Len wasn't worried about Kassa pushing him away. Whatever that dark being was that guided her would rage, and likely stand against them, but Len would fight that battle when he came to it.

Len would fight any battle for Kassa.

Lia's soft touch glided over his sore ribs, not helped by the... exercises... she'd put him through a few hours prior. Worth it, of course, but his body complained. B-taa closed his eyes, smiling as he slid a hand up one of the arms examining him. "Sore." he chuckled. "But better than I've felt in ages at the same time..."

Kassa Lia
 
True or false, Kassa often preferred to think of herself as unsentimental. Not exactly unfeeling, but cold to the weak emotions that fettered other women. Shivers of desire, butterflies in the stomach – these things were nothing less than silly and foolish. And Kassa was a woman, not a little girl. She had not been since the day she summoned a darkness beyond the void. Just as she had brought something into existence, so too did she give something up.

Now, as her eyes wandered over Len’s body and felt the lingering ache in her own, Kassa realized perhaps she was not as immune as she had believed. Perhaps it wasn’t a bad thing, but as she watched the smile from her lover die just for a moment at the thought of the Trees being no longer there, she wondered what the Masterful One would say. She had not heard his sinister voice for some time now, and it worried her.

Still, she smiled as Len admitted to being sore but still better. “Was it too much for you, darling?” she teased. She grasped hold of the hand sliding up her arm and gave it a tug. “Up, sweetie. You can’t lie in bed all day. But give me a moment.” She left the bed, finding her satchel lying not far from the edge. In a few moments she was grinding and mixing something with the little mortar and pestle she carried everywhere. She brought the resulting paste to Len and, without waiting for his permission, forced it down his throat with a few invading fingers. It wasn’t the ideal breakfast, but a few minutes’ time would see the ache in Len’s ribs subsiding.

Kassa was in no hurry to leave, but eventually, they made it outside. There, the horses were waiting, pawing the ground as if impatient to be off. They had a long way to go still and there was not much time left in the day. But as they started riding at a leisurely trot, Kassa turned to Len with a mischievous smile. “You know, you’re a good talker, darling. Surely you know some good tales? Tell me a story.”

Len Dy't B-taa
 
The dynamic between them had changed dramatically in the span of a single night, for certain. Len knew well that Kassa wasn't an ordinary woman by any stretch of the imagination. There were factors at play in her life that the everyday soul couldn't even begin to wrap their mind around. B-taa had been through his fair share of experiences, and this 'Masterful One' was far from the first omnipotent-like being he'd encountered. That being the case, he'd brushed it's existence off rather easily, and would deal with it if and when it became a problem.

For others though, they'd see it as an unholy abomination. A Demon. For Kassa? It may as well have been her entire world, stringing her along, guiding her every action with its power, however subtle the influence. Powerful as it was, however, it was not absolute. Last night, the two of them broke its grip on her. For those fleeting hours, and even this morning, they acted not under the invisible spell of darkness, but as a team forging towards goals all their own.

It was a victory, though he didn't feel so triumphant and on top of things when she pulled him up and started shoving her fingers down his throat, but the half-lidded eyes and teasing swirl of his tongue around her digits evened the playing field just a tad. She'd had no complaints about the way he'd teased her the night before, he doubted she would begin now.

The sun-baked Savannah looked different today when the light finally broke into the hot-springs building and into their eyes as the door swung open. When the two of them had arrived there had been tension between them. Feelings brewing that neither of them knew how to handle. Today, they were united. Today, they were one. For however long it lasted, Len wanted to carry on with the momentum that only a pair like them could carry.

"A good talker? Me? I'm not so sure I'd consider myself much of an orator." Len chuckled, the horse underneath him trotting happily, glad to not be standing out in the sun without an outlet for its energy any longer. Len peered over at Kassa, who was giving him a look akin to a cat who'd just caught a bird. "There was one night when I and a few good men and women under my command were tasked with the return of a precious Dra'lii egg to its nest. I believe the common name for them is Dragon. A group of overzealous hunters had swiped the thing without realizing what it was, and the mother was burning settlement after settlement to a crisp."

Kassa Lia
 
Stroking the neck of her horse, Kassa listened raptly to Len’s story. Her eyes turned to him, a bit wide as he clarified what a Dra’lil really was. She’d heard of dragons, fanciful fairy tales and real accounts, of course. She’d seen paintings and read stories of the rare legends, once even trading words with a self-proclaimed dragon slayer. But she had never truly seen one, much less touched the unhatched offspring of one.

“How did that go? Did it stop after you returned it?” she asked. Kassa was no dragon mother, but she wondered if she would have ceased her attack. After the worry and the risk of her egg becoming a king’s feast…

Kassa was about to ask what Len thought a dragon yolk might taste like when she felt it.

By now she was used to it, and so no one would have known simply by looking at her that something was amiss. The only reaction from her was a stiffening in her body, a sudden cloud over her eyes and a stern set of her jaw. She glanced at Len as the dark foreboding swept through her, there and gone as quickly as a midwinter wind. She then stared straight ahead as she spoke.

“Three days ahead there’s a small homestead. No one lives there. He wants to see me.” She didn’t have to clarify who He was. “He… I could just not go. I’ve stood Him up before… but if I do that, He’s really not going to be happy when I do have to see Him.” She swallowed, then looked at Len defiantly. “I know what you’re going to say and the answer is no. You’re not coming with me.” Her hands tightened around the reins of her horse as she dared Len with the look in her eyes to refuse, as she knew he probably would, the stubborn fool.

The Masterful One never called her for casual chitchat. The relationship with Him was clear, and always had been. It was pure business, give and take, where sacrifice and service was at the center and little else mattered. Usually, He let her do as she thought she willed. Very rarely did He tell her where to go, or even what to do in situations where even she would have liked some advice. But He was an enigma, a being she never dared try to define, and as the center and source of her power, He wielded an authority over her, a thought that chilled her deeper than the cold that came with the calling of her magic.

This time, she was sure, it was going to address Len, and she didn’t want him there to cause trouble. Len was trouble, and she didn’t like the thought of him talking to the Masterful One.

Len Dy't B-taa
 
Kassa wasn't the only one who'd become accustomed to that dark presence when it made itself known. In the span of mere seconds, he saw that ominous cloud of shadow overtake her again, like a predator finally finding the prey it had wounded days prior. Len didn't finish the story. He knew that their trials had begun again, and while the presence of the Masterful One was back...

Oddly enough, it didn't seem nearly as strong as it had just a few days prior.

Indeed, to Len's visible surprise, her initial suggestion was to ignore his call altogether. A day earlier she would never have proposed such an idea to him. Perhaps their time together had produced a more profound effect on the lovely Kassa than even B-taa realized. Regardless, her words made him crack a smile. Not just her flouting the possibility of no-showing, but her insistence he not come with her if she did heed his summons.

She knew as well as he did that just wasn't happening.

"After all that talk about sticking together, Kassa? You know what this is about. It's about me, so I should be there for it." Still, he could see the genuine worry behind her eyes. For his well-being, for what might happen if things took a downward turn between he and her Masterful One. Len bit the inside of his cheek, eventually sighing.

"Look. I won't fight him unless he fights me. I'll even hold my tongue, but I need to be there. If he has an objection with... us... then I wish for him to say it to my face. Or are dark deities cowards in this time?"

Kassa Lia
 
Irritation flickered across Kassa’s face as Len smiled. What in the hell was so funny? And of course, to her dismay Len did indeed insist on attending her meeting with the master of her life. But she focused on the grasslands ahead of them, bathed in soothing light and flickering in a warm wind, she realized she never truly wanted Len to obey her. She didn’t want him to come, yet it was a relief when he insisted. Her heart clenched with a feeling she never experienced before, and her hand suddenly reached for her eyes when a speck of dust seemed to reach them.

She finally looked to Len, so strong and handsome and so damn chivalrous. She really couldn’t stand him… and she smiled. “Fine, darling. But you really don’t understand beings like Him.” Her hands tightened on the reins of her horse, then released as she breathed out in a release of tension that, unfortunately, refused to leave entirely.

“The Masterful One… I don’t know if I would even call Him a deity. I don’t know what He truly is. I’ve never actually even seen Him. He keeps Himself cloaked in shadows and darkness, so I’ve only really heard His voice. But His power… it’s very real, Len. What He gave me… it’s nothing compared to what He has. You must be very careful. What I summoned that day… I opened a gate to something horrible, and I’m paying for it with every day of my life.”

She breathed out and shook her head. She forced a smile again, “You remind of a Karkadaan. Do you know what those are?”

She proceeded to tell the handsome Len of a strange unicorn, bulkier and larger than its elegant relative, normally calm but never docile, able to charge at such blazing speeds no being could outrace it. Deadly and beautiful at once, capable of great rage and so very, very rare; it was said its great, arching horn, when ground to a powder, provided instant relief from erectile dysfunction, so no one ever saw one nowadays.

The sun began to set, and as darkness began to cloak the grasslands in long shadows, she slid off her horse. There was a small bubbling creek nearby, and a few trees filled with scarlet fruit. It was a rather picturesque scene, and she hoped it wouldn’t be disturbed for quite a while. Some things deserved to be left alone.

“Let’s camp here. Len… darling, thank you. You’re a fool, but… thank you.”

Len Dy't B-taa
 
That immediate glimmer of frustration in her eyes was about what Len had expected when he made his thoughts known, but even Kassa knew that the situation had changed from last night. They weren't just traveling companions with vaguely aligning destinations anymore. The connection they shared was deeper now, the feelings far more complex and powerful. It wasn't as simple as letting her go on alone, just as Len had no doubt she would have objected to him tackling the mercenaries that were tailing them solo.

When Kassa smiled, pushing out all the breath from her lungs as she relaxed atop her horse, B-taa knew for certain that she recognized all of these things. Where once she would argue and try to convince him otherwise, now she simply let out a little sigh and relented. Instead, she spoke more of the Masterful One. Of what little she knew about Him, and what He was capable of. It all sounded rather grandiose, and Len clicked his tongue as he leaned back slightly, bouncing to the sway of his horse's gait. The two of them had only bathed yesterday and already he could feel the sand blowing against him in the wind and caking against his skin.

"You musn't blame yourself for unleashing him Kassa, regardless of what has happened since. Guilt is a powerful weapon against the unwilling. " It was foolish to dwell on such things, he'd learned, and a small shake of his head coincided with a small pick-up in speed. "If it wasn't you, it would have been somebody else. A being like that would have found a gateway to force itself through even if you hadn't been the one to do it."

Len held his tongue from further speak of her 'Master'. No grandiose description could ever make him fear something that would not show its face. While Kassa made terrible claims of His power, Len had only ever seen Him act through her, even when he was insulted by Len. That simply didn't track.

The rest of the ride was more lighthearted, thankfully. The stories of what Kassa called a Karkadaan were amusing and intriguing, especially when the two of them put together that such beasts were often ridden by Len's people in a time when they were far more plentiful. The reason for their eventual demise was sad, but he also still couldn't help but laugh. "People will find a reason to destroy anything... Although now I wonder why exactly I remind you of one, I don't believe I have much need for such a horn." He teased, offering her a wink as she pulled her horse to the side to set up camp.

Len could see why. Such sights seemed far rarer in this time, stunning pictures of nature frozen in time amongst a sprawling waste. If anything it would be a relaxing place to rest, and the shade of the trees would be welcome when morning came. Hitching the horses, Len stretched, gripping his side slightly. Kassa's work had healed him greatly, but he'd be sore for a while. Len sits by the creek, crossing his legs and looking back at her as she speaks.


"I do believe I made you a promise last night. I am a man of my word."
 
One eyebrow tilted upward as Kassa regarded Len before she laughed once again. Of course it was no humorous matter, and any other time she would have taken his words with somber gravity, but now… she was different. She had changed over the course of the recent times in ways she didn’t fully understand, realizing only that it was because of Len. Ever since offering her water to the pale dancer in the streets of Maraan, things had begun to warp. Sometimes it was delightful, as last night had been… and sometimes it was frightening, because change meant something new, unfamiliar, and often dangerous.

But it was far too late to regret any of it now. So she laughed, waving a hand at him in lighthearted dismissal. “You said a lot of things last night, darling,” she said flippantly. “As for the Karkadaan’s horn… we’ll see about that in the future. Beginner’s luck, as they say,” she smirked as she wandered over to one of the trees. She looked up at one of the lower-hanging fruits, their color still vivid in the fading light. Reaching up, she plucked one from the branch and turned it this way and that, examining the bright skin and smooth texture.

Kassa wasn’t an expert in agriculture itself, but over the years she had learned and gleaned a great amount of information concerning herbs and other flora, including fruits. Knowing what to eat and what to avoid had become essential in her survival so she recognized the fruit for what it was before she bit into the tart-sweet flesh and pleasant crimson seeds. Picking another of its kind she tossed another pomegranate at Len.

“They say eating the seeds can help you see beyond death,” Kassa commented as she finished off the fruit. “I don’t know about that, but if you're interested, I’ve some rosehips that help foretell the future.” She cocked her head at Len. “I’m not kidding. Are you interested? Think about it.”

She turned towards the creek. The hot weather and dust made her feel dirty again, and she liked better to be clean. She was about to tell Len to politely turn away before she remembered. Unabashed, she shed her clothes and collected a few bottles from her satchel before stepping into the cool water to wash.

Lathering one of the bottle’s contents into her hair, she kept her eyes on Len as she spoke. “Some say that the magic is only being high on the smoke and smell of the rosehips… and that is true for fraudsters and amateurs. I am neither. I’ve used it only three times before… all wasted, unfortunately, but I wouldn’t mind peeking for you. It’s mostly symbolic and vague images that are all only possibility, of course.”

She dipped her head into the water and then out. She scrubbed her skin clean and stepped out of the water. Startlingly, the air around her chilled as the moisture evaporated in a great silver cloud, leaving her dry as desert sand.

“What do you see in the future, Len?”

Len Dy't B-taa
 
Beginner's luck? Len didn't mind the suggestion that his performance was assisted by fate when she coupled it with the insinuation there would be more to come."So I'm not just a one night stand for you then. I certainly hoped, but I didn't want to assume." Len teased her, dismounting his horse alongside her. The little patch of safe haven in the harsh desert was so inviting that it would have been foolish not to stop even for just a few minutes. Seeing such vivid fruits and clear water amongst such an arid environment would tempt even the most stalwart of travelers.

Kassa took a bite out of one of the vibrantly colored fruits, musing about its effects and tossing one over to him. Vision beyond death? It sounded intriguing, but it also drew a laugh from him. "I've already seen beyond my own death. My future was supposed to end long ago." He mused, looking over the fruit resting in his palm. "But I also do not place stock in the whims of fate. I have twisted luck's hand and carved my own path before..."

Everything he had done since his reincarnation had been against the will of the world. Kassa had helped him, pressing against that fragile glass of reality with all of her might alongside him. It was yet another thing Len was eternally grateful to her for. Len took a tentative bite of the fruit as he watched Kassa shed her clothes with an admiring gaze. Indeed she looked every bit as beautiful in the light of day as she did by firelight. It was difficult not to find an excuse to disrobe and join her, at the risk of delaying their trip further...

"I am looking into the future every time I blink, Kassa. This entire world... it's so unlike mine own that I feel as though I'm peeking through the veil almost constantly." Len slowly walked to the edge of the water, pulling the jacket from his shoulders and dropping to his knees to scoop some of it up to wash the dust and grime from his face, eyes peering up at the figure of his lovely companion as she stepped out of the water in front of him."Whatever lies ahead, the fact that I need not face it alone is enough for me. No vague shape can conquer the both of us."

The visage before him was one he cared deeply for. On the chance that this... that whatever they were didn't last, he wanted to be oblivious to that fact. So he could enjoy this time of full-heartedness with a clear mind.
 
Normally Kassa would have smirked or felt contempt at Len’s words. This time however, she laughed – and not unkindly. His confident faith concerning their invulnerability woke a mirth in her she hadn’t known existed. Though it had a tinge of darkness to it, it was lighthearted all the same and she was not averse to the black humor and bleak jokes that passed through her mind. To her credit, she didn’t share any of them with Len, letting him indulge in his optimism, at least for a moment.

She reached out and poked Len’s nose. “I think I’d better help you shed your naivety, darling,” she said, in a teasing voice. “But first… you’re dirty again.”

Len was given no warning, except the one that always came. The warmth around them evaporated immediately as ice formed around them, reaching to the banks of the stream. The edge of the water frosted as she stepped around Len and brought her hands together in resounding clap that echoed with unnatural force through the small oasis they’d found. With it, another power collided with Len’s back, sending him toppling into the water. Compared to the cold of her magic, the creek might as well have been boiling hot.

“Go wash properly, unconquerable one,” Kassa said flippantly, brushing her hair back from a bare shoulder. “I’m going to prepare our discourse into the future.”

She dressed, but not in her traveling clothes. What she donned instead was the dress saved exclusively for special occasions, such as unique rituals, spellcasting, enchantments and the rare party she might attend. Drawn from the depths of her knapsack, it was a deep, shimmering green silk, with elegant lace stitched about the waist and bosom. With a high neck, sleeveless arms and flowing hem, it was a modest but beautiful and becoming style, stressing the curves of her body without revealing much skin.

A fire awaited Len when he was finished with his involuntary bath, lined with dried river stones topped with odd purple herbs with petals curling up from the heat. Kassa gestured for Len to sit as the night darkened the shadows around them.

“Don’t worry, darling,” she advised the Grand Terios. “In the end, what you see is really up to you. You’ve got magic like me, and that can affect many things.”

Than she began to chant.

It was in no language Len would ever have heard. It was harsh, hard – yet beautiful too, with rolling consonants and soft syllables interspersed among the strange foreign words. Among those words were obvious names, names so complex in their pronunciation it was useless trying to replicate their impossible sound. As she chanted, she tossed herbs into the fire, and lastly came the rosehips. Silver smoke billowed from the fire as the rosehips burned.

“Rosehips for a sweet smoke,” Kassa shifted into a more recognizable tongue with ease.

“Lemongrass and clove for the song and dance.

“Sage for healing.

“Heliotrope and vervain for prophecy.

“Blue lotus for sweet dreams,” she breathed, and the smoke tilted, surrounding Len in a cloud of darkness.
 
It almost would have been easy to forget the hardships they'd faced, and those that were yet to come. Something about the peacefulness of their surroundings, the calm in Kassa's voice as she teased him, it was enough to dull him to the far less favorable truth of his situation. But it was a false ignorance; Len knew that he was merely ignoring the inevitable, and Kassa was enabling him for this bittersweet moment between them.

She pressed her finger to the tip of his nose, circling him as icy tendrils of her power reached out to embrace him. Len slid his eyes shut, smirking at the display with a murmur. "Shed my naivety? Here I thought you liked me for the pure, innocent soul that I am, Kassa..." As if he were any saintlier than she. Kassa liked to think ill of herself, but they both had demons that they contended with. "You wouldn't want to corrupt me when we've made so much progress, would you?"

He didn't get an answer. Not a verbal one, anyways. Instead, all of her force pressed against his back to knock him off of his feet and into the waters she'd just been bathing in. The contrast in temperature sent a chill through his body, and he allowed himself to submerge completely in the streams pleasant embrace for a time. Not until his lungs began to scream for air did his head re-emerge, by which point Kassa has dressed herself in an alluring emerald ensemble that drew his lips apart silently.

Again, B-taa tempered his wonderment, dutifully cleaning the grime and dirt from his body with the crystaline waters running through the heavenly oasis. When the Terios emerged from his bath, he opted merely to wrap his top around his waist, allowing the majority of his body to dry from the breeze of the night itself. Thoughtful, dark eyes brightened at the sight of her waiting by the fire for him, and he slid down to sit across from her, unsure of nothing, but ready for whatever she offered him.

Then she began. The chanting and mixing of herbs, the roaring of the flame as it consumed her offerings, smoke pluming out and enveloping him completely, whisking him away to someplace else entirely, deep within his own mind. A feeling of nostalgia overwhelmed him completely-- Len almost felt as though he were the Grand Terios once again, leading the very rays of the sun to pierce the hearts of any who would harm his home. He could hear the brass-shapen horns sounding the Vaast Nazca, rallying the passion in every soul loyal to the Lord Emperor Rel'leth as the very city they lived in moved across the desert plains to conquer new lands.

And then black once more. Deeper and darker than before.
 
Around them the smoke swirled, black as night. Unafraid, Kassa breathed it in, allowing it to draw her into a land where dreams rules and the past and future were brought into the present. Her eyes opened and gazed deep into the fire now roaring before her. Its golden body danced in her vision, forming surreal dancers made of flame. She closed her eyes again, and the magic of the seer plunged her deep into an endless abyss.

She heard it first, the mighty sound of horns tearing apart the air. The blackness engulfing her suddenly ripped apart like cloth at weak seams, exposing a blue sky and a bright horizon. From that horizon, a city emerged, held aloft by powers she could not comprehend. It soared, horns singing, across a plane of golden sand and rolling dunes. She saw towers made of fiery mother-of-pearl, so tall and of such majestic splendor she knew she would see nothing else like it. The rest she could see were walls of force and architectural brilliance, and the sun flashed and refracted over every surface of this…

Then she saw him. Standing at the apex of the mightiest tower, at first a black silhouette in the face of all the burning light, and then a golden figure, he embodied every dream of what a heroic legend might be. Armor that seemed carved from the sun itself with bronzed skin, wielding a great weapon with a scything blade that he held high into the air as he searched the land for his next destined conquest.

Kassa breathed in sharply as she realized who that figure was. Len. Len, as he was and who he was meant to be; Grand Terios Len Dy’t B-taa, of the City of the Aberrant, graced by the song of the Vaast Nazca.

Be warned, be warned, they were coming. Futile be the will of those who resist their might!

The city flared once more, and was swallowed up by darkness.

Symbols Kassa recognized and knew since the day she had opened up the forbidden gates formed around her. They were glyphs of a sorcery deemed cruel and prohibited by even the greatest mages, curses, hexes and blasphemies of magic touched upon only by demons and those with ill-guided ambition. Voices accompanied them, voices she’d heard that day of the Opening, chanting verses of hymns of the damned. They danced around her, all colors of a demonic rainbow, and then vanished.

What she saw next made her scream.

The smoke whirled up into the air as the fire suddenly died, and all the that was left were cinders and flickering embers.

Len Dy't B-taa
 
Len shared in the vivid dreams that wrapped around both of them like woven patterns of the past, rich in color and boisterous in sound. Admittedly, he had been skeptical of the things that Kassa had told him were possible with so little, but he stared at the proof of her ability before him now; rosehips, sage, lotus had birthed the very city he remembered so precisely anew in his sight. Standing tall beneath the blazing sun, gliding across the sands as though it had never left him. Or rather, he had never left it.

Those horns, calling out into the sky as they searched for the next adventure, the next quest to undertake. He could not feel his face, but he knew that there were tears, that he wept at the beauty, the memory, the longing to be home again. To be that man standing on high, commanding armies beneath his feet that would follow him to death or victory alike.

But it was fleeting. All too fleeting. As soon as it bathed him with its majesty, the vision of the past dissipated before his eyes, leaving the dark once more, and a scene every bit as macabre as he'd imagined it.

The crashing of emotion from jubilation to dread was like a guillotine on his neck, as he bore witness to the death of Kassa Lia's innocence, and the birth of The Darksome. Yearning turned to anger, turned to rage, turned to determination. These were the memories that haunted her at night, that made each sleep a hell for the woman he'd grown so fond of.

These were the memories he would help her to put to rest.

When she awoke from the living, breathing nightmare, she would not be alone in the black of the night as she found herself so many other times. No, she would be wrapped in his embrace, his arms holding her close, shielding her from those tendrils of horror that sought to warp and break her mind.
 
Are you afraid, my child, my child?​
​
Do you shiver in fear, in the grip of the night?​
​
Do you tremble in dread, of the moon and its might?​
​
Do you remember the darkness, my child, my child?​
​
Hold close to your heart the burning and fright.​
​
Let the shadow close over your heart and your sight.​
​
Are you afraid now, my child, my child?​

She had not been. Not since the day she had opened the forbidden gates with forbidden magic had she been afraid. Death had not scared her; not even the prospect of eternal damnation could faze her. For she had seen it all in the burning corpse of her mother, and the gleeful, exultant shouts of the men and women drunk on her death. In the ashes and the soot staining the walls black and wrapping up the sun in noxious smoke, her core had been left shaken, but stronger than before. Strong in bitterness, in resentment, and the insatiable hunger for revenge. No, she was not afraid then. Fear was something she could not afford to be.

Now, she was terrified.

She hugged against Len as his arms enfolded her, shaking with uncontrolled spasms, sobs breaking up through her throat regardless of how hard she tried to stop them. How she hated herself, at the weakness she so rarely experienced now. Did they not name her the Darksome One, all the people who fell before her and the ones who barely survived her endless wrath? Swords, spears, arrows, even magic that might have oncer rivaled her own could not stand against her now. When she flung open the gates to the Masterful One’s gifts; power that gave her insurmountable strength.

Strength that left her when she saw her death, as sure and inescapable as she had ever seen anything.

And so for a very long time it seemed even Len’s touch could not save her, in whatever form he might be, in whatever vision he might match. What force could the Grand Terios be against death itself? Against the acid talons of fate? Against the poisoned jaws of destiny?

If she had to die, Kassa slowly realized, she could do nothing about it. After all, she reasoned, Len was meant for greater things. It didn’t matter what pleas she could voice, what ritual she might invoke, what spells she could spin. She was a dead woman, but Len…

Len would live. That was what mattered.

So she finally pulled away from him. It seemed as if his comfort had gotten through to her, though nothing could be farther from the truth. She didn’t tell him anything; he didn’t need to know. Still, her voice was hoarse and raw, as much as she tried to regain her composure and careless nonchalance.

“I’ve never seen a more handsome man, B-taa. But I think I prefer the long hair.”
 
Len had come to know Kassa far better than she'd likely let anybody know her in many years. There was a level of trust that the Darksome woman had placed in him when she'd opened herself to him, allowed his emotions to reach her and make her vulnerable. B-taa prided himself on the bond the two had built, though in its youth it very much was. Despite all of that, when Kassa finally opened her eyes, emerging from what seemed a hellish nightmare that deigned to suck any life and happiness from her very soul, she tried her best to maintain herself and play off the scene of silent torment Len had just witnessed her encounter.

A month ago, it would have worked. Now, Len saw through the facade.

The frown that tugged at his face remained, his hands reaching out as if to try and pull her back as she left his embrace, before falling to his sides. A day that had begun in happiness had now turned somber once more, and even from where he sat he felt the immense change in pressure lingering in the air around them. The happiness at seeing his home was quashed by witnessing one he cared so deeply for suffer.

"Kassa, I..."

What was he to say? That he understood? That he knew how she felt? Both would be lies, and Len was above lying for the sake of comfort. Kassa wouldn't have lied to him so blatantly, and B-taa valued her too much to offer such patronization. "...I'm sorry." He finished, apologizing for even considering it.

He rose to his feet, taking a handful of dirt from the ground and tossing it across the flames to dim them. Perhaps the wisest thing would be to submit to her fear, to pretend he didn't hear the frailty of her compliment meant to divert the topic.

Wisdom had not gotten him this far with Kassa.

"There is no such thing as true destiny. You said it yourself that what you see is up to you. I cannot claim to have experienced your depths, but I know they are not bottomless."
 
Gaze falling, Kassa could not meet Len's eyes. She stared instead at the fire, dying of the soil thrown over it. The flames flickered and hissed as they suffocated, dwindling to small, smoking embers that would be cold by daylight. She regretted ever lighting that fire, regretted ever looking into its smoke. What had compelled her to cast such forbidden magic in the first place?

Perhaps she would have raged at herself in the past – paced back and forth as she berated herself out loud, speaking to no one but herself as she rebuked her own foolishness, her careless stupidity, her ill-informed decisions. But Len, so very astute, was here. She knew he could see through her lies as one could see through sheer silk. Though he may not know exactly what was wrong, precisely what she had seen... he still knew more than she wanted him to. Enough to apologize. Enough to offer words that defied destiny and fate and all that nonsense.

It was kindly meant, but still infuriating. She tossed her hands in the air. “Shut up, Len,” she said, though her tone was quiet and tired, rather than angry. “You don't understand.” All this talk about depths and destiny... how exhausting. How exasperating! She let her hands fall. “I have to be... bottomless. Everything comes with a price, darling. You should know that better than anyone. Some of that price is being so strong you forget what strength is.” She lifted a hand and poked his chest, finally looking at him in the eye with a cocked brow. “Remember that. Are you strong, sweetie? Don't let it kill you.”

I shall be very irate it you die before me.

Kassa stood, retrieving a blanket from the saddlebags, tossing it down on the ground flat. She laid down on it without care for a cover, staring up at the night sky. It was clear that evening, and the stars were slowly awakening, with a slim crescent moon to keep them company. It was a very pretty sight. The water nearby gurgled softly, and a gentle breeze ruffled the leaves of the fruit trees in a playful manner. This was the sort of place she could never decide if she hated or loved.

“Len. What do you see when you look at the sky? The stars? Or the darkness between the stars?”

She sighed, closing her eyes. “I'm tired, darling. Sleep with me? That sort of magic always wears me out. I'm sorry for all that trouble, it seems to cause nothing more than... that. Trouble.”
 
Her words were genuine, and all rang true in his head. Well, all of them except for three of them.

"You don't understand."

It was this trio of fallacy that brought a measure of irk to his features as his frustrated companion tried desperately to communicate to him just how she felt; the depths of her worry, without worrying him in turn. Much of the unspoken in her words was heard, but she would offer him no chance to rebuke, laying a blanket on the ground before them and settling herself in under the stars.

They were a beautiful sight, begetting the storm brewing beneath.

The man furrows his brow, closing his eyes and looking off to the side, perhaps into some picture from his memory he wished was beside him instead of trapped behind time. After a moment, Len sighed, lowering himself onto the blanket below him, laying beside his dear companion. Her thoughts were somewhat of a mystery, but despite what she believed, he knew her pain. He understood what she meant when she warned him of strength.

It was how he'd died in his first life.

"You're wrong, Kassa." He muttered from beside her as he slid onto his back, a hand reaching out to touch her own. "I do understand. I know what it is to live with such fear. I know what is to be bottomless. And I know how strength can kill you. Firsthand."

The one thing that Len had never spoken a breath of was how he'd died. The fact of the matter was that just as Kassa had placed her darkest memories under mental lock and key, so too had he. The waves of regret and remorse that washed over him at the mere sliver of those memories made it difficult to function otherwise.

Len took her hand in his, squeezing slightly.

"Something was stolen from me, and I fought to take it back. I fought, and lived on to fight some more. I battled like a cornered animal against fate until..." Dark recollection flashed across his glossy eyes. "...I became something ugly. Something not myself. In the end, my unyielding strength killed me."

That wasn't all it had done, though. The next sentence was little more than a whisper.

"And I took my entire civilization down with me."
 
Her question went unanswered… but Kassa already realized she wasn’t too interested in either. As he laid claim to painful knowledge of fear and fatal strength, she frowned, recognizing the error in her thoughts. In the end, he indeed might understand, after all. But this did nothing to cheer her heart or lift her soul. Why would it? It dampened both. For the fact, was, someone as beautiful and true as Len should never have been exposed to the horrors of a bloody life. It felt like a betrayal conceived by the gods themselves.

The great warrior’s voice dropped to little more than a whisper, and Kassa turned then to look at her partner. In the vision she had conjured, she had seen him at his highest glory, the head of a conquering nation that would go undefeated for untold time. It shone in brightness and promise, and though it could not completely dispel the darkness she had seen afterwards of her death, it refused to be forgotten. It refused to let it be known that she had not seen one thing – Len laid at his lowest.

It was nearly impossible for one to believe that this lovely figure beside her could be disgraced, but she saw in his eyes that indeed he could. How many times, she wondered, had she looked into so many eyes that proclaimed to be invulnerable to shame, only to be proven weak and suffer humiliation in the end. Here, she saw acknowledgment of the fact, and a story she would rather not hear.

Even so…

“What happened?” she whispered as her hand reflexively returned the touch. “How did you die? For what? And why?” All forbidden questions to be sure, but she could not hold back. She wanted to know -she had to. Now that they were together, wasn’t she entitled to the story of his downfall, as he was to hers?

Of course, she hadn’t told him everything. That was yet to come. The cabin where the Masterful One patiently waited was not far, and there he would be shown all that remained. After that, there was nothing she feared so much as what Len might do when he encountered the being – god or demon or whatever He might be – once more.

“Tell me,” she insisted. Tell me before you do something foolish again.
 
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"What happened? Tell me."

Len grimaced, his hand dropping back to his side as he turned his head to look forward into the vast expanse of nothing ahead of them. He could dance around this topic no longer, then? It stood to realize that she would learn of his tragedy in due time. That such a grand, wonderous civilization could come to such a pitiful end... speaking the tale aloud, recounting what he'd done... already his chest ached, the wound that had once been there never truly gone.

"We were so mighty, so feared... None dared stand against our might. Under my blade, I made thousands kneel to our strength. My strength." His hand hovered over his heart, his eyes sliding shut as he recounted those final tumultuous years. "But with so many enemies, we were left without friends. None wished to trade with us, and as wealthy as we were, one cannot eat riches. The Savannah does not provide much in the way of sustenance, of course..."

Len had pled with his leaders to cease their war faring, but it had fallen on deaf ears. Instead, the violence only escalated. "Out of desperation, we began to ravage other cities. Not for their service or for domination, but to strip away all they had for our own continued survival. Every other civilization we met were deemed enemies to be killed, so that their food and materials could keep us alive." The Terios shook his head, pushing himself to sit up slightly as he let out a sigh. "I had no choice but to serve. Even with my might, however, we could not maintain a military through such endless war. Our numbers dwindled regardless, and men and women from other positions in the Kingdom were haphazardly trained to battle and sent out on the front lines.

He'd not been proud of his part in their heinous actions already, but it was not until he saw the results of this latest practice could he stand it no longer. Len's face tightened as he recalled, his voice growing stiff. "In the lists of those lost one day, I saw something that broke something within me. The names of my parents, sent off to battles they had not asked for. Not only them, but the only woman I'd ever loved, Yura... One who's kindness and love for peace was stronger than any I'd ever known. They'd all been killed. And for what?"

The warrior took a sharp breath, as if steeling himself to admit his actions after generations of witholding them, repressing them.

"I could stand it no longer. Something within my mind slipped out of place. When next I was sent out to battle, I turned on my soldiers. I commanded them to return to their homes and pray to our gods for forgiveness. Any who refused met the edge of my blade. I returned to the Kingdom, and I chased and executed those in charge one by one. I turned our Kingdom into a hunting ground, where the fat and privileged at last knew what it was to feel fear and pain, that they'd so thoughtlessly pushed to the ones they were meant to lead."

Finally, he dropped his hand, his voice quieting as he slid back down, a weight lifted from his shoulders indeed, but not one he was certain he'd wished removed. It was a confrontation of what he'd truly become; a dark mutation of his previous self, twisted in the mind and blackened of the heart.

"When it was done, The Kingdom was leaderless, powerless, without allies or food. I had taken the hand we had been gripping the edge of demise with and pried it loose finger by finger. But I did not feel pride, or satisfaction. I felt sorrow. I had been chosen to held guide these people, and now I'd been responsible for aiding in their doom. The last life I took was my own, as I threw myself upon my blade."

At last he looked at her.

"Imagine the horror of waking up. After all of that. Why I wished to die in that desert city you found me in, do you understand now?"

Kassa Lia
 
As Len recalled the story of his life, and the life of so many others, Kassa listened, rapt. She did not speak, not daring to interrupt the narrative, even as her mind puzzled over the tale that ended in tragedy. She had been born and raised in relative solitude, but she had spent most of her life wandering the lands of Arethil, listening and learning the history of the world. Yet never had she heard of the wars and conquest of the army Len spoke of. Such a conflict would not be so easily forgotten, so how was it that it seemed to have never happened? Was it so long ago? Or did hate and fear keep the story behind closed lips?

Whatever it was, the land had recovered, though Len’s pride and honor had not. She grimaced as he ended the tale with his own suicide, unable to imagine the pain he had gone through, the suffering his heart and mind endured and failed to prevail against. He asked if she understood, and she did, but she doubted if she could relate.

Any woman, after hearing his story, would have cast him aside in disgust. Len’s legacy was made of unending death, slaughter, greed, fear, and cowardice. It was not something to be envied, nor was it something that begged for sympathy. Kassa was well aware that if their personal histories were any different, she might have ended their relationship now.

Instead, she looked into Len’s eyes, and there was no disgust or reproach in hers.

“Darling,” she said softly, “you wished to die, and you didn’t. Because of me. I follow preordained roads, and that road led me to you. However mad and distorted it may be, here everything happened for a reason we can’t yet understand.” She looked away then. “What you did was horrible, but can you really blame only yourself? You lost so much, not just your parents and… Yura.”

The fire was dying into hot embers and seething coals. She stared into the dying light. When she looked at him again, it was with a concentrated scowl. “Darling, you lost all your honor back then, so all you can do now is your best to regain it. I have killed too. It taints the soul. Won’t you try to wash away that darkness?”

She reached up, her fingers touching his chin, turning his head to face hers. “Someone brought you back, dear. To punish you again. Turn that misfortune of yours against them. You got your life back. I saved you, and I will not have you waste my effort.

“Go to sleep, darling. I promise you, I will be here when you wake up, when no one else was.”
 
She did understand.

As she stared into his eyes, holding his chin gently to stop him from averting his eyes further, he saw in that fiery gaze that had made him melt the night before that she did truly believe in him, understand his plight. That alone was enough to soothe his troubled mind far more than he cared to admit. Both of them had been so condemned to isolation, to solitude when they needed companionship more than any other in the world.

Len's face went soft, the emotion that he'd withheld, the rage and sadness and regret, it all displayed outwardly at last as he felt the warmth of tears in his eyes. His head tilted forward, forehead pressing gently against her own as he wept openly in her presence.

"I gave them everything, Kassa... I don't have anything left..."

His entire life, he'd served. His thanks was to have everything he'd loved stolen from him, and be made into a monster because of it. When The Darksome One had found him there, dying on the streets of the trade city, he'd thought himself still that monster. In truth, he'd kept that opinion of himself throughout the entierety of their journey.

Until last night.

Last night, when she'd lay bare skinned on the soft silken sheets beneath him, that smug grin on her face, the husky challenge on her lips to love her as though he'd never left the world. The anticipation before they'd finally loosed the emotions they'd been holding, and the morning, when he'd woken up with her nestled snugly in his arms...

It was only then that Len Dy't B-taa felt human again.

One of his hands slid up Kassa's arm, resting on the side of her face as the old warrior opened himself, allowed himself to feel what he'd been running from for far too long as his fingers traced through the locks of her hair than hung there.

"You see now, why I can't let you face this alone?" He muttered, voice still uneven. "I will not abandon the woman I love for a second time, Kassa. I refuse."

But she was right. The fire grew dim, and now wasn't the time to argue further. He stopped himself from any further insistence, and slid back down slowly, his eyes sliding shut as the sheer exertion of telling her all that he had began to take hold of him. Yes. Sleep is what he needed most. Morning so often brought a clear head and concise thoughts. Tomorrow, he was sure, he could sort this all out.

"Come here." He mumbled. "Let me hold you."
 
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