SONG INSPIRATION: From Nowhere - Adam Hurst & .Goetia. - Peter Gundry
CHAPTER WARNINGS: general warnings & emotional manipulation
A/N: Thanks for all the support!
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"My roots, my roots run deep into the hollow."
- Roots / In This Moment
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SPELLBOUND
CHAPTER II: TIME BEGAN IN A GARDEN
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The last? What an absurd notion. She could not possibly be the last.
Cool stream water flowed around her up to her hindquarters and she tossed her wet mane from her face. Despite the chilly mornings, she found easy delight bathing in the meadow spring that seeped from the crooked nest of rocks to the north.
A sleepy-eyed owl passed in front of her, swooping up into his roost for the day.
What would humans know? she thought. They were impractical beings prone to desperate passion and crippled by the inevitable refusal of their own mortality. But most of all, their hearts were readily corruptible. Superstition and fear drove them.
Yet, the memory of the black demon surfaced in her mind, taunting her.
How long had it been since she had seen her own kind, or spoken to them? The answer left an ache in her chest so painful she winced. She could not recall.
A distant memory of musical laughter ebbed in her heart; then it was gone, a brief phantom. Sorrow hung her head low, the cool water swirling around her partially submerged muzzle. Her lips opened to drink, swallowing the chilly water down a constricted throat. Proud as she was, loneliness wore on even the fiercest of creatures.
But she did not weep. Unicorns never wept.
Long ago, she had counted the moons waiting for them, but after a time, those endless moons had all faded into a single moon, a forsaken satellite in a bed of cold, violet satin. Though she would never voice it aloud, she had come to feel left behind, forgotten. She yearned to see faces she herself had unremembered. They danced just out of her mind's eye.
If she were indeed the last, then...
The thought terrified her and she shoved it viciously away. Just because no human had witnessed a unicorn in many moons did not mean they had all vanished. Unicorns did not simply vanish. They could be hunted, trapped; unicorns could even be killed if they left their forests, but they did not vanish.
She tossed her head again and trotted out onto the bank. Water glittered from her body as she shook it away, the sun breasting the far hills and sending shafts of yellow light over her meadow.
Memory continued to taunt her, the black demon advancing, his expressionless helm glaring at her without eyes.
Rey shivered.
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o ~ o
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She stood in a sprawling courtyard, strange blackish vines choking the crumbling walls with ruby blooms adorning their coils. Gangly wolves lurked in the advancing shadows, their festering yellow eyes sharp with malice. Statues that might have once stood with dignity now cowered with decay, their once ivory faces eroded beneath a shroud of viral mold.
Glancing down at her cloven hooves, she expressed a sigh of relief. Not human. That, at the very least, was one relief.
In the center of the courtyard was placed a large sundial. It stretched more than three meters in diameter with the gnomon's shadow cast to the morning side, piercing through the roman numeral VIII. She moved closer, intrigued. Something about the object pulled at her, begged her closer. Written within the dial were the ancient words 'Time began in a Garden.'
She read them aloud in their dead tongue, her voice carrying over the stillness like a breath of life. The world stirred, inhaled deeply, exhaled and fell silent again.
Yellow eyes moved closer, teeth glittering.
Her gaze ticked up, studying the empty sky. No clouds, no stars, only a rich night darkness and, flying in the face of normality, a vibrant rising sun to the south. It cast its warm glow along the tops of the twisting spires as they dripped with sparkling moisture. Beyond the brightness she squinted, thinking for a moment she saw a small round body behind the sun. Rings. Maybe another body, blue like water. And a third... red like blood.
She glanced back to the sundial and her heart squeezed abruptly with panic. The shadow of the gnomon was moving backwards. Her head jerked to the south, seeking the sun again, but it was gone. Her heart scrambled into her throat as she saw what had taken its place.
Him.
Behind his figure the toothed mountains tore into the twilight with violent color, hues of purple and gold, splashes of red, and the planets she had noted earlier came into full view. His cape shuddered with the desert sand, the gaunt trees around him demanding his soul like beckoning reapers and the brilliance of the morning rise casting his silhouette in soft angelic light. It seemed as if the planets stood in alignment with him. Waiting.
So far away, she thought. So... unfair.
He stared at her from across that unfair distance, openly wanton, and she quivered as an odd sensation gathered in the pit of her stomach. It unfurled, suffusing her blood with a pleasant heat and her legs danced under her, all at once restless with... something.
He reached out, much as he did in the dream before, though this time his words carried to her. "Join me."
Her breath hitched.
"Join me." he repeated.
A part of her wavered toward him and she felt tears coursing down her cheeks. Unicorns did not weep. The tears were human; hot and wet and human.
Fear shot through her like a charged bolt of lightning and far-off on the horizon she heard the roll of thunder.
"Please." he beseeched her.
She resisted the overwhelming urge to go to him, planting her hooves harshly on the uneven stone and straightening her posture, head high. Gods, this feeling... It seemed to well up from some secret depth inside of her and touch her with utter madness. It was a desperate sort of yearning, a want so profound her mind ran hot with a single word. Mine.
Rey came awake slowly, lashes fluttering.
Elsewhere near the sea a man woke from his own dreams, a single feverish word departing his lips.
"Please."
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o ~ o
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The days would soon grow short, but her forest would remain green... so she believed.
Autumn scents rode on the air blown in from the north and the winter storms gathered like soft, spun metropolises in the sky, lavish towers of pink and gold, ribbons of slate blue manifesting like serpents and overtaking those cities. Darkening them.
Lightning. Thunder.
It was noontide when the hummingbird entered her wood. He flew on a calm breeze, unimpeded, almost drunken in his aimlessness. She did not know it then, but this stranger would be the harbinger of a journey she never expected. She would find adventure, awakening, treachery and tears.
In time, she would grow to hate this benevolent fellow, but she would grow to hate herself more so.
She cantered up to him, swishing her tail flippantly.
The miniature fowl donned the colors of ending summer: burnt reds, sleepy browns and a chest of predawn blue. He buzzed on the wind, swinging around the unicorn to her left. She nodded amiably, greeting him.
"Welcome, hummingbird!" she chimed. "I am Rey. Have you traveled far?"
"I'm not quite sure." the creature remarked distractedly as he flitted about seemingly unaware she had introduced herself at all.
She tilted her head. "What is your name?"
He hovered over a bundle of hyacinth blooms near her. "My name? Well I..." he paused, landed on a neighboring stem and looked up to her with glassy little eyes.
He appeared so old in that moment, a fragile thing the wind had carried into her forest with no real concern other than to be rid of him. He was forgotten. The confirming whisper in her mind of that fact sent an instant spear through her heart. She saw his age now, snowy edges of gray at the tips of of his feathers over his eyes, down around his beak, the crag of near invisible wrinkles as he squinted in thought.
"I do not remember." he finally said.
That was not the answer she was looking for.
Rey pinned her ears back impatiently at his bewilderment. "How does a hummingbird not recall his own name?"
"I was supposed to be somewhere else." he declared. "Though, I have not the faintest idea where."
"Then where did you come from?" she tried, extracting the petulance from her tone.
This creature did not deserve the brunt of her frustrations. But he had traveled, had seen the world beyond her forest. If he could tell her what had happened—if anything had indeed happened—to the other unicorns, perhaps it would help her decision.
Her spine turned to ice. Had she already come to a decision? So quickly? The thought of leaving played along that cord of ice, winding round her vertebrae like a snake and she shuddered, fear gathering as a great and terrible stone in her belly.
His head darted once right, then left, then back to her. "A garden."
And the world stopped.
"Gar-garden?" she sputtered.
The bird's stare suddenly grew alight, excited with memory. "I know not who I was, but I do know I am not myself. I know not where I came from, only that I am supposed to be here."
Rey stared at him, bewilderment now overtaking her.
"I know you." he continued. "Even if I were blind I would know you, great light-bringer. You are the last, but not if you can save the others. You must go to the garden by the sea. The garden."
He took flight abruptly, danced uneasily now as his beady eyes flashed.
Rey gulped at air, hissing breathlessly. "The unicorns. They are in danger."
"The garden." he repeated.
"Where?" she demanded.
"Follow the star, Alshain. Follow it to its end and you will find your garden. You will find your sea."
Her breaths came in bursts and her head felt distant from her body. She saw the sundial, the coiling vines with their bloody blooms, the wolves... and him.
"What is your name?" Rey asked one final time. "Please tell me your name."
"I think... Tekka." he whispered and flitted away into the unknown.
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o ~ o
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A dream. No. A nightmare.
He had not been waiting for her this time. In his place had been a pale monstrosity of gold and gnarled flesh. At this monstrosity's feet had knelt the black demon, helmet gleaming with a distant pinkish light and bright sword bathed in gore.
She stood now at the edge of her forest, awake and looking over the open plains while the grass rolled in waves, while the trees rocked drowsily and the midnight sky blinked on uncaring of the world below it.
Her eyes centered on a single star. Alshain. Then, down to the man-made road coiling below that star.
She took her first step and did not look back.
o ~ o
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o ~ o
The prisoner was gone. Gone!
Kylo Ren prowled the halls, sword hand quaking. The morning light poured in from the tall windows, pale and flat as he turned a corner and descended a set of stairs. Guards were quick to give him a wide berth, their faces downcast.
He bit back a snarl as he passed down another stone stairway. Allowing Hux to handle this situation and letting his men question the prisoner instead of Kylo doing it himself had turned into a disastrous mistake. Unsurprisingly. Despite the persuasive tactics Hux's men used, the bastard had kept his lips sealed. That should not surprise Kylo, either. His mother had sent this man to retrieve the letter after all and she was not one to make decisions lightly. The man was chosen for this exact reason.
Clever mother, he murmured inwardly. Though, still in vain, I'm afraid. When I find him, he will sing.
At the end of the corridor, the very red-headed cur he wanted to drive his sword through appeared, all smooth silk and quick, uneven steps. He was nervous, Kylo realized. He should be.
"General Hux," he snarled—no need for veiled enmity at this ungodly hour.
The man straightened his spine, puffing out his chest as he approached. "Lord Ren. I would spare a moment to speak with you, but—
"But you seem to have lost my prisoner." Kylo interjected flatly. "Your soldiers are quite skilled at incompetence."
"How dare you!" Hux exclaimed, coming full stop. "My men are exceptionally skilled, trained from infancy!"
Kylo clicked his tongue impatiently, the sound lost under his helm. "Yes. You boast often of such diminutive facets, and yet my prisoner is missing."
"He will be found!" Hux defended angrily, all evidence of his usually artful guise lost.
Kylo grinned malevolently, savoring his rival's unease. "Before his capture, the prisoner had stowed away a very important item, a letter from Luke Skywalker meant for his sister, Leia Organa."
Hux retained most of his composure, but he could not conceal the slight widening of his eyes.
"Now, because of one of your men, King Snoke has lost the first opportunity in a decade to track down our most perilous threat." Kylo continued. "So, for your sake, I suggest you handle this matter yourself and get both that prisoner and that letter before the Resistance does." He paused, looking Hux from head to toe with an exaggerated and measured slowness. "Unless, of course, your capacity for incompetence matches that of your men."
Hux's mouth twisted rancorously. "Do not pretend this excludes your own personal interest." He gave his equal pause, teeth flashing in a cat-like grin. "Be mindful, Ren, lest Snoke's suspicions over the Hosnian colonies be roused again."
Rage ignited in Kylo's chest at the man's insinuation, spreading like wildfire. How dare he allude such a thing. His mother was the enemy, but she was also not the entire Resistance. And if this imbecile thought he would aid his uncle in any fashion, he would quickly find how wrong his thoughts were. His uncle would die by his hand before the end of this war. He would die and his blood would stain the steel of his sword. Of that, Kylo was certain.
He advanced on Hux, invading what little personal space the man had left. His helm glinted in the glow of the torches, cold and expressionless. "If I were you, general, I would be more concerned with my own welfare."
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o ~ o
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Damn the gods if he did not dream for the second time that night.
He kicked his feet off the bed, tossed his blankets aside and rested his head in his hands. The lax ponytail in which he had tied his hair had fallen loose with his restless tossing and it now slipped around his shoulders, tangled and erratic. He smoothed his hand through it, catching his fingers which caused a grimace.
Damn the gods, he thought again. Damn this bizarre fantasy his mind had fabricated and damn those long, beautiful legs; those lips. Like flower petals, he remembered. She had spoken to him and he had watched her mouth, eyes hypnotized as her tongue had darted out to wet them.
"You are wicked."
"Yes," he had said. "Yes I am."
"And you are mine." the lips had smiled.
He jerked to his feet, feeling the intense pull of the words like an inevitable allure which drew him deeper, deeper... deeper.
"Are you real?" he asked the empty room.
Silence.
He exhaled a breath he did not realize he had been holding and answered himself bitterly. "No."
Waves crashed into the rocks below, rattling through the castle walls like laughter. Kylo grinned cynically at the sound. One could call it the low cackling of the Fates, sadistic voyeurs who sat upon their plush clouds weaving their cursed tapestry with spiteful fingers.
He dressed slowly, donning his helmet with heavy hands. Where was he going to pass the sleepless time now? To ride as he usually did? The thought of racing along the sharp cliff overlooking the ocean was a bitter taste in his mouth and he knew that tonight it would not be enough.
"Kylo Ren."
Snoke's eerie whisper set his teeth on edge and his hands faltered.
"Come."
The command lingered over his nerve-endings like a baneful chill, but the presence was already gone. Apparently, how he would spend the rest of his sleepless night had already been chosen for him.
A short time later he entered the throne room passed the grim sentinels, their three-eyed stare melting over him like a feverish disease. He suppressed a shudder and walked confidently into the chamber. Snoke, however, was not fooled.
"My apprentice is troubled." came the basso voice, echoing through the room.
Of course, he wasn't fooled.
Kylo bowed low. "Our prisoner has escaped. The general wastes time with his men. My knights and I should be—
"You know of what I speak, Kylo Ren." The warning in his tone brooked no argument and Kylo's fists clenched.
He took a breath, and another... and another. When he spoke, his whisper boomed in his own ears. "Only shallow thirsts, my king. Nothing more."
"You have not sought counsel over these matters." Snoke declared softly, a blade in silk. His pause made Kylo's hair stand on end, which his master seemed to relish before continuing, "and you have not visited your grandfather's sepulcer in many a fortnight. Should I be concerned, my apprentice?"
Here it was.
Kylo felt naked as he always had in his master's presence, but this time was much more perilous. He must tread carefully.
Did his master believe he had set the prisoner free? At this point, Kylo Ren would not be shocked by such an allegation. But Snoke must see into his mind; he must know that Kylo desired Luke's death as equally as the Resistance.
Was this the only thing which stayed his hand, Kylo wondered, a seed of fear taking root in his chest.
"I grow weary, master." Kylo murmured, tilting his head up to face him. Through the helm, Kylo sensed Snoke's unseen eyes burning into his flesh.
The darkness moved, then stilled. The smell of poppy incense surrounded him and something else, something rancid.
"Yes, Kylo Ren, I am aware. Though, I dare to wonder why you have not sought my counsel over these matters sooner." The voice moved behind him, circling him.
Kylo controlled his heartbeat; kept his shoulders relaxed. Avoiding his master's keen perception would be too dangerous. Truth was his only ally here, but there were many truths and only one need be revealed now, though it soured his tongue to even consider uttering it aloud.
"I wished not to displease my master with such trivialities."
Weakness, the words said. Doubt. They betrayed him like some flagrant jester bouncing about the room, teetering manically as he prattled away Kylo's secrets, all the while juggling tomatoes meant for Kylo's reddening face.
He grit his teeth, the cold metal of his helm bringing a sliver of comfort to his pride, though only a sliver.
Snoke appeared to consider Kylo's confession, his ruined visage ghastly in the pink light of lit candles on the altar near his throne. Kylo fixated on the altar.
It was approximately three meters long, a meter wide, rudimentary in shape and disconcerting to look at. Esoteric cuneiform was etched along its ancient surface in long divided lines, which were interrupted by a single symbol in equal intervals—a serpent surrounding an open, glaring eye.
He abruptly ripped his gaze away, realizing he had begun to stare. Staring at the symbol too long did strange things to a person's mind, or so the rumors went.
"Your fear haunts you, but what I have taught you—has it not made you stronger?" Snoke finally asked, his tone uncharacteristically gentle.
"It has." Kylo replied after a moment.
"And have I not given you the means to pursue your vengeance? Have I not given you a great power in which to use against those who have wronged you?"
Kylo closed his eyes, shame curling through his gut. "You have."
"My apprentice has never lied to me. I know I can trust him," Snoke continued, softer now, "yet, he does not trust me with his trivialities?"
The shame grew, eating at Kylo. Snoke was wrong. He had lied once, many years ago. And he would do it again without hesitation. That alone terrified him.
He hastily shoved those thoughts away.
"Forgive me, master." he said, his tongue a cumbersome weight in his mouth.
Snoke smiled. "All is forgiven, my good and faithful apprentice. Now, let us discuss more pressing matters."
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o ~ o
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Dawn broke out in a conflagration of gold across the sky, contrasting brilliantly with the previous week's stormy-gray. Kylo sat atop his stallion in full armor with his sword sheathed at his back and his knights fanned out at his sides. They gleamed in equal tones of black and silver, their weapons also strapped and sheathed at their backs. Ahead of them, the drawbridge lay open to reveal a world of gossamer fog which glowed with the coming sunlight.
The scene was eerie in its beauty, touching Kylo in a deep, hidden place. His chest shivered and he averted his eyes, rattled by the sudden sense of prescience that overwhelmed him.
You are mine...
He shook his head, a single sharp jerk, which to most appeared as if he were merely surveying his knights. He would be the only one. No other dared to even glance at them.
They sat silently on their mounts, a macabre collection of grisly angles and tattered edges; their helmets pointed to the open road from the castle and their fists resting idly on the horns of their saddles. Their horses pawed at the ground tempestuously, each one as black as pitch and with eyes like death. His knights, blessed by the dark sorcery taught to him by his king.
Skywalker would be appalled to know what became of his pupils.
Taking a moment, Kylo savored the idea of happening upon the old man with his knights and striking him down. What an expression would be on his uncle's face. What a sight! Unfortunately, the daydream ended as he was all too quickly drawn to the sour face glaring at him from the drawbridge entrance. Not a face he cared to contemplate.
General Hux stood with a small group of men, his attire slightly askew—a peculiarity Kylo found instantly delightful—and his cheeks a mottled red. Kylo measured him with a sideways glance that to any other would have been invisible, but not to Armitage Hux. The man's lips pressed into a thin, bloodless line.
"General." Kylo intoned, approaching him.
He swallowed a grimace, blue eyes blazing. "Lord Ren."
Snoke's and Kylo's discussion the previous night had detailed the recovery of the lost prisoner and Hux's now limited involvement. Kylo was to take his knights, pursue the prisoner and the traitor who assisted him, and bring them both back. Snoke was explicit; the traitor was to be taken alive. Once they returned, he was to be made an example of before all of the First Order.
For general Hux, this was to be a time of reflection and reevaluation. The loyalty of his troops needed testing and he was just the man to do it.
"See that this does not happen again." Kylo remarked dispassionately. "I doubt Snoke will be as forgiving the next time."
Red cheeks flared redder. "See that you recover our only link to Skywalker. I would hate to see our king lose that link for good."
The threat hung blatant in the air.
In his absence, Hux would whisper to the good king, wondering on the capability of his dutiful apprentice. Snoke would never hear such claims, of course. He knew the value of Kylo's abilities as he knew his own. They were both creatures of the old blood. What beat in their breast was the arcane magic and arcane magic was not to be squandered.
Still, this was be an unfortunate development, but one Kylo must allow.
He glared down at Hux, his helm catching rays of morning light. He seriously considered skewering the man with his sword, however, thought better of it at the last second. "The First Order's time grows short. See that no more of it is wasted, general."
Before Hux could reply, Kylo kicked his heels and his stallion reared, thrashing about madly and galloping away into the mist. His knights followed quickly behind him, leaving Hux to scowl after them.
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