Crimson Twilight: Midnight
Chapter 4: Past
The sound of a hammer striking an anvil repeatedly was a familiar sound to Trenzein Zaisen as he approached the blacksmith's shop. With good reason to, he had known Kreizen for a long time and whenever there was a crisis you could always find him forging away. It was Kreizen's way of dealing with his worries. The wizard opened the door and sure enough, found Kreizen hard at work on another shield. The next thing that he noticed was the girl who leaned against one of Kreizen's toolboxes, fast asleep. Long, golden hair fell carelessly over the girl's back and a blanket was draped over her.
"I thought that girl had short hair, Reiz."
The blacksmith stopped pounding for a while and acknowledged Trenzein's presence with a brief glance.
"I thought so too, Zein. Looks like we're both wrong, eh?"
The wizard sat beside the golden-haired girl and watched her curiously.
"Interesting… You've found yourself a strange girl to take care of, Reiz."
The blacksmith shrugged his shoulders.
"I've seen stranger things. The doppelganger was in here earlier trying to hug me if you can believe that. Stranger still, he saw Moonlight over there and muttered something about "slaying Eddga" and "Getting ahead of him". After that he left, saying that he was off to look for Osiris."
Trenzein took a seat on one of Kreizen's tool boxes and began to watch the blacksmith at work. Kreizen stopped hammering again and inspected his work. With raydrics possessing no elemental weaknesses, he had been forced to work on protective equipment instead of weapons.
"You might as well say it, Zein. You're not the type who enjoys watching me work. So what's this all about? You didn't come here to check up on either me or Moonlight, right?"
Trenzein shrugged his shoulders.
"So much for subtlety then…it's about your sister, Reiz."
Kreizen raised an eyebrow.
"What about Seihanine?"
The wizard was silent for a while as he tried to put his thoughts into words. It was somewhat hard to determine the change in Seihanine's attitude. She had always been distant and appraising but that was a natural reaction and he enjoyed teasing her out of her more frigid moods. Her distance these days seemed so deliberate, as if she was consciously pushing everyone away and he didn't want to disturb her this time.
"She's treating me like a complete stranger. All of a sudden she's calling me "Trenzein Zaisen" during those rare moments when she feels like talking. Most of the time all I'm getting these days is cold shoulders and frigid stares. Do you know what's going on with her?"
Kreizen's brows furrowed. His younger sister had always been more reserved than most people. At times she could be really cold and insensitive, almost bordering on being rude and selfish at times but she was only like that with casual acquaintances, not long time friends. What worried him was that she was reverting to her attitude before she had met the overconfident wizard. He had always approved of how Seihanine had "warmed up" to Trenzein. It would be such a waste if all of that was for nothing…
"Sei's having a rough time out of this, Zein. Makaelthos's death and the siege are bound to take their toll on her. Not to mention having Maiha out there…"
Kreizen gripped his hammer tightly. Maiha Il-Xalascent was his responsibility but it was his younger sister who was taking the brunt of the crazed assassin's attacks. Now it seems that battling Maiha was straining Seihanine's relationships with other people. Yet here he was, forging…
"That's what I want to ask you about, Reiz. Sei doesn't tell me anything so I'm asking you if she told you anything."
The blacksmith placed the newly-crafted shield on top of the stack of shields in the corner. Now he had to send this new batch to the wizards for proper enchantments and then to the knights.
"Sei hasn't been talking to me much these days. What were you expecting, Zein?"
The wizard shrugged his shoulders.
"Anything, I have a feeling that this has something to do with the last time we encountered Maiha."
Kreizen leaned towards Trenzein with interest. He wasn't around during the last time his sister fought against Maiha and their last conversation about it wasn't so pleasant.
"That was right before the orc tribes' last attack, right? What happened, Zein?"
The wizard was silent as he tried to recall the events during that foggy morning. The wizard remembered shouting Seihanine's name only to receive an arrow to the chest as an answer. Then he recalled how she fought so hard against her half sister. It was that moment that really worried him. The frenzied look on Seihanine was so fierce and so frighteningly similar to Maiha's that he had to stop the fight before Seihanine lost it completely and when he had done that, the expression on the huntress's face made it look as if she was going to kill him for interfering. When he explained this to Kreizen, the blacksmith's expression darkened.
"This is the exact reason why I don't want Sei tangling with Maiha…"
It was the wizard's turn to listen intently…
"Maiha told her something before she vanished and I think that's the reason why she's been avoiding me these days. I know that Maiha's your clan's mortal enemy but Sei seems to hate her more between the two of you. In fact it's almost on a different level."
Kreizen watched Trenzein carefully for a while. He had known the wizard for five years already. He had found him to be trustworthy and dependable despite his outward arrogance and impatience. He decided that he could tell Trenzein about the entire thing…
"Nothing would set me more at ease than watching Maiha fall dead before my axe, Trenzein, but compared to what Sei feels, my hatred for that assassin would be mere annoyance. It's more than just a thirst for vengeance for Sei, every woe in her life, every bit of misery; it all revolves around Maiha…"
The blacksmith was contemplative for a while. Trenzein realized that it was probably Kreizen's first time in trying to put his finger on the truth regarding clan Xalascent and the entire incident with Maiha. To his surprise, the blacksmith suddenly smiled sadly…
"Hey, Zein…"
Trenzein raised an eyebrow.
"What is it? Remembered something?"
The blacksmith took a brief look at the sleeping form of Moonlight. At the sight of the golden-haired girl, his smile grew sadder.
"Did you know that Sei wanted to become a dancer once?"
Trenzein's eyes widened. This was certainly news!
"A dancer? That's a bit…hard to imagine, Reiz."
The blacksmith leaned back in anticipation of a perhaps a long tale.
"Is it? Back then I found it hard to imagine that Sei would take to the huntress's life. When you watched her practice her dancing as an archer, you thought of grace, beauty and magic, never efficiency or falcons and shooting monsters dead for a living. Then again that was quite a long time ago. I doubt if Sei remembers a step of the dances she worked so hard to learn back then…"
For a while, Trenzein actually forgot that this entire conversation was about the huntress's reasons for hating Maiha so much. He tried to imagine Seihanine in a dancer's outfit and did his best to suppress what he knew would be a ridiculous grin. With Kreizen telling such a serious tale, an out of place smile will prove extremely rude…
"Go on then, Reiz. What's that got to do with Maiha?"
The blacksmith suppressed his own grin while he watched Trenzein struggled over his facial expressions. While there was nothing to be laughing about in what happened to his sister in the past, he had to smile at Trenzein's reaction.
"Maiha, back then, was our somewhat wayward, half-sister. She wandered a lot, something that our elders disapproved of and her interest in thievery, stealth and assassination was a source of great concern. While Sei occupied the center stage of our clan's dancing school and the nightly dreams of practically every non-Xalascent man in Payon, Maiha kept to the shadows, plotting things that we would discover too late…"
The mention of Maiha wiped all traces of a smile from Kreizen and Trenzein. There was something in the mere mention of the assassin's name that evoked an inexplicably evil atmosphere. Kreizen forced himself to continue…
"It was on the day when she was to be declared a full-fledged dancer by our clan. On that day, Maiha went crazy, or perhaps she had been crazy all along and decided that it was time to reveal it…"
The blacksmith's hands clenched into fists and shook…
"While I was busy inviting people to a celebration, Maiha attacked our clan house. In a matter of hours she had killed everyone inside, including the elders meant to testify that Sei was a full-fledged dancer. For some reason, she didn't kill Sei, despite that she would have had her at her mercy. Instead she chose to disappear for a while and leave us wondering who could have done such a heinous crime…"
Trenzein's eyes narrowed. To be in the receiving end of Maiha's mercy was a fate worse than death and he knew what both felt like. Having to choose between depending on Maiha's whim for survival and dying in the powerful backlash of his spell, he would rather choose the latter. Kreizen continued his tale…
"Seihanine changed that day. From the dagger cuts, we discerned that an assassin did it. The cuts were unique, we knew because the dagger cuts were the same as the ones we found on our dead parents when they were recovered from Glastheim. Sei decided to quit dancing on that day. She cut her hair short and undertook intensive training to become a huntress in the least possible amount of time. In less than two months she was ready. Our remaining clan members had gathered to approve of her mission to destroy the assassin who was responsible for all our misery…"
Kreizen paused again. The next bit of memory bordered on disturbing. The entire thing happened five years ago, but he could vividly remember every detail of it, the sickening smell of blood, and the body parts that were neatly arranged through out the room. In the center of the scene of slaughter stood Maiha, soaked from head to toe in blood, casually munching on a human heart…
"On that day we discovered that it was Maiha who was responsible for everything. What really galled Sei was that the assassin didn't even have any sort of personal reason to do it. She killed the elders out of spite and murdered our relatives for a chance to eat their hearts. It was horrifying to listen to Maiha during that day, Zein. With a smile she casually explained that she ruined our lives, Sei's especially, simply because she could."
Kreizen's expression became even grimmer.
"We hunted her down towards the ruins of Glastheim along with the last members of our clan. You were there, Zein. You watched her butcher clan Xalascent until only two remained. You were there when we were separated from each other by a couple of abysmal knights…"
Trenzein nodded. Seihanine had explained this part. The huntress had revealed the hideous scar she had on her upper back. A physical mark of Maiha's influence on her life…
"I was there when Maiha was talking to Sei. I heard the words she used to torment my sister…"
Kreizen closed his eyes. Maiha's words were as clear now as it was before…
"Who would watch you dance now, baby sister? Who would watch you bare those arms of yours, when they're covered with scars? Would you have the nerve to show that back of yours to anyone? I doubt it! You've fallen far from grace, Sei! You've become a hideous mockery of your former self! Where would you go now, you clanless, ugly woman? You have no home, or family left!"
Trenzein winced as Kreizen repeated the words to him. It was cruelty, pure and simple. To have someone murder, destroy and despoil everything you held dear and would hold dear…it was no wonder Sei hated Maiha so much and why Kreizen felt so responsible. At least Reiz was living his dream…
'I'm going to put an end to this…watch me, Sei…it will end soon…'
The wizard left Kreizen's shop morosely. Seihanine's past was one depressing tale of murder and insanity. It only convinced him though, that Seihanine should not remain in contact with Maiha.
'This isn't Xalascent business anymore…I will handle this. I swear…'