Chapter 32: Evolving

"You were so brave..." Callum said, wiping the blood away from Ezran's throat with his one remaining handkerchief. "I'm so proud of you kiddo."

Ezran nodded. "Callum. Rayla." He said, gesturing to her.

Callum's head jerked toward Rayla, who was on her knees.

Trying to clean her sword with the snow.

Callum looked back at Ezran, and tousled his hair, before hugging him. Then he ran to Rayla's side.

"Hey. Hey, come on. Come on, look at me." Callum said.

Rayla stared straight ahead. Her hands shaking.

Trying to wipe her blade clean with snow had resulted in her hands being covered with snow and blood.

Her eyes stared straight ahead. Still frozen wide.

"Rayla...please...just look at me."

"Get away Callum." Rayla replied, shaking her head. "Please. It's not safe."

"Yes it is." Callum replied. "It's safe."

"I'm an assassin, Callum." Rayla said, finally turning to look at him, her whole body shaking. "You're never safe. Get away. Quickly."

"Rayla..." Callum began, looking down at her blade.

It was more or less clean. But her hands remained bloody. And she held them in front of her, stopping to look at them every few seconds.

"Okay. Yeah we gotta wipe those off." Callum said, reaching for her hands.

"No!" Rayla exclaimed, yanking them away. "Don't touch them. Please...don't...don't touch it. It's not for you." She said, bowing her head. "It's mine. I drew it, it's mine. I gotta live with that..."

"Rayla, you're talkin crazy. I can wash it off..." Callum said, reaching for her hands.

She violently yanked them away again.

"Callum...don't touch it!" She shouted. She looked down at it. "It's mine. Ah took it. Ah drew it. Ah killed him. You didn't." She said, looking up at him, tears in her eyes. "Don't...I won't let you do that to yourself." She bowed her head. "This was mah destiny all along...killin."

Callum reached for her chin, and tilted her head up.

"Rayla...look at me. Look at me, I love you..."

"Callum, I'm a killer! It's what I am! All I was ever meant to be..." Rayla said, eyes pleading with him to understand. "I'm not meant to love, I'm meant to kill!"

"Who cares what you're meant for?!" Callum demanded. "You're a person! You get to choose! And you did. It was either him or Ezran. This doesn't change you."

Rayla shook her head frantically.

"Then why...why can't I get it off mah hands?" She asked, holding up her shaking, bloody four fingered hands.

Callum reached out, and grabbed them gently.

"Callum, don't let it touch you..." Rayla begged, bowing her head.

"I want to." Callum replied, looking into her eyes. "This isn't a weight you have to carry alone." He said, bringing her hands down toward the snow, he began wiping the blood away.

Rayla stared down at them, and as he continued to wipe the blood away, she slowly leaned forward.

And brought her head to rest against his shoulder.

There was one person in the entire world she could fall apart against. And she needed to now. So she did.

"GAAAAAAAAAAHHH!" Azrael screamed, grabbing at his chest.

The barbarians turned in shock, as he keeled over, letting out more grunts of pain, and began crawling across the ground.

"What is it?" Rhizan asked, running to his side.

Azrael swiftly pulled the black orb out of his cloak, staring into it.

Seeing a red flash, that faded quickly.

"Talon." He whispered, staring into the swirling darkness. "His pain...it is no longer with me." He said, looking up at the barbarian commander. "Something has happened. We must move!" He shouted, turning to the barbarians. "Quickly! There is no time to lose!"

"Azrael, what does this mean?" Rhizan demanded.

Azrael stared back at him, eyes wide under the wooden mask.

"It means we must move. Now."

Rayla sat on the bench in the banther lodge. Staring blankly into the fire.

Callum watched her with concern, as he flipped through an old spell book.

"Found it!" He exclaimed, finding a drawing of a rune. "It's a shield spell! I can put a bunch of these around the lodge. That should buy us some time."

"How long do you think they'll hold?" Ezran asked.

Callum grimaced.

"I've never done one before...probably not long. I'll just have to draw a ton of them." He said, putting the book down. "Do you have any ideas?" He asked.

Ezran nodded.

"A few. I don't know if they'll work but...I'm gonna go see if I can reach out to some old friends." He said, turning and walking toward his room.

Callum frowned, wondering what he meant by that, before turning to Rayla.

"Rayla...we have a chance here. These runes, my zip zap powers, your moonshadow elfness, whatever Ezran is doing...we have a chance!"

Rayla nodded, looking over at him and forcing a smile.

"Good. I'm glad." She said with a nod.

Callum saw through it, and sat down next to her.

"Hey. You're still Rayla."

Rayla frowned.

"I know I am. It's just..."

Callum leaned over and held her hands.

"It doesn't matter what you did. You had to do it." He said, looking into her eyes. "He was gonna kill my brother. I would've done the same thing you did."

Rayla nodded, looking down at the floor.

"I just...i was raised...and trained...to be a weapon. That's what they told me my destiny was." She said, turning to look at him. "And now I feel like a weapon. I don't...I don't like feelin like a weapon, Callum. I don't want this to be mah destiny." She said, looking back at the fire.

"Hey." Callum said, scooting closer. "Look at me."

Rayla did, and he leaned in, looking into her purple eyes.

"You are so, so much more than a weapon, Rayla. You know you are."

Rayla sighed.

"What am I, Callum?"

"You're brave. And strong. And you have a good heart. You're so, unbelievably resilient, and so kind, and...I believe the term you once used was...pretty daring?"

Rayla managed a chuckle, wiping her tears away and smiling at Callum.

"Pretty darin. Yeah." She agreed. "Didja actually write that down?"

Callum flipped open the notebook quickly, and showed her the page.

"Yeah. It's written down. Can't argue with it now." Callum said matter of factly.

Rayla leaned over to rest her head against his shoulder.

"We're gonna get through this, Callum." She said confidently. "All of us."

Her eyes narrowed with determination. "I'll make sure of it."

"On that note." Callum said, swiftly kissing her on the cheek and getting up. "I gotta go draw a bunch of runes around the lodge. Are you gonna be okay?"

"I'm Rayla, remember? All that nice stuff ya just said about me? I'll be fine." Rayla replied with a wave of her hand, as she stood up off the bench, swinging her blades around to fold them back in, before stowing them behind her back.

Upstairs, Ezran sat on his bed.

Eyes closed. Rubbing his temples as he thought hard. He took a deep breath.

A smile appearing on his face.

"Hey Zym." He said softly. "I miss you buddy. We could...really use some help."

The group reached the edge of the slope. The sun was beginning to sink on the horizon, as the late afternoon turned towards the evening.

And on the snowy ground, Talon lay, motionless. As he had been left.

Empty eyes staring at the sky. Red snow around his body.

Azrael walked up to him slowly, sliding the mask off his face, to reveal the trembling lip beneath.

"No..." he breathed, reaching a hand toward the cold corpse, grabbing his stiff hand. "NO!"

Flames erupted from his other hand, skirting across the snow, melting a patch of it. The barbarians watched from afar.

"My son...please...no..." Azrael begged, tears forming in his eyes, as he crouched over the body, before resting his head on the boy's chest. Just beside the wound.

"My son..." he repeated, holding Talon's head. He looked up into his blank eyes, closing his own.

Then with his hand, he closed the assassin's eyes.

And let out a cry of sorrowful rage.

Rhizan approached slowly.

"My king..." he began.

"Do not call me that." Azrael snapped. "My people are dead. My kingdom..." he tugged the hood down to cover Talon's face, and placed his wooden mask on his still chest. "My kingdom is put to rest now."

He stood up, then looked across the snowy ground.

His body shaking, as he saw the small footsteps.

"The king lives. The children live." He spat, venom in his voice. "We will follow the footsteps. And finish this."

He clenched his fists as he walked away from his assassin's corpse. "Then we will bury my son. With honor. Let's move!" He shouted.

"Wait!" Rhizan shouted to his men.

Azrael paused, turning to glare at the man.

"I gave an order." He snarled.

"You promised us honor and glory." The commander said, stepping towards him. "Beyond our wildest dreams. Conquest of five kingdoms. Vengeance against Xadia."

"This is still my promise." Azrael replied.

The commander looked back at Talon's corpse.

"And now, we hunt children through the forest. Children!"

Azrael turned to him, eye twitching.

"Make your point."

"There is no honor in the slaughter of children. The blades of my men have been stained with the blood of enough innocent lives in your name." He stated firmly. "I have lost soldiers. Lost my own soul. Following in your mad vision, fallen king. And now...here we remain. In this snowy forest, losing man after man, as we hunt children!"

Azrael glared silently back at him.

"Perhaps this is my punishment for joining you." Rhizan continued. "Perhaps this forest is our purgatory. But I for one have had enough. I am leaving. And I am bringing my men with me."

Azrael's lip quivered, no longer from sadness, but from rage.

"You dare to desert your cause, mercenary? You haven't the courage to strike down a king?!"

"I have no cause. By definition." The commander replied. "But if I did...it would not be this madness you have led us to." He stated. "This King is younger than my own child was. The murder of these children will not bring your kingdom back. Nor your assassin."

Azrael nodded slowly.

"You are so right..." he said, reaching into his cloak.

Suddenly, his eyes began to darken, as he exposed the black orb.

"But I'm afraid it's all I have left." He finished, holding the orb up high.

"What are you...?" The commander began.

"YMRA FO NIAP." Azrael said, the dark magic flowing through his body.

As the dark clouds erupted from the orb, and filled the sky.

Spreading from barbarian to barbarian, they began to cough violently as they inhaled the dark clouds.

A smirk appeared on Azrael's face, as they sank to their knees around him.

Their bodies changing.

"What are you doing?!" Rhizan demanded, before the dark clouds poured down his throat as well, dropping him to his knees.

"I'm evolving you." Azrael replied, walking past him, as he coughed. "Making you tougher, faster...more obedient." He said, leaning down and looking into the commander's eyes, as they changed to red. "You're welcome."

The commander watched as the skin of his barbarians began hard, ridges and horns rising from their bodies.

They screamed in agony, as they were forcibly transformed.

"I may have lost everything." Azrael stated, walking through the snow, as the soldiers transformed around him. "But that doesn't mean they shouldn't too." He turned back to the commander, as horns rose from his head, and he let out a pained screech.

"Monster..." He breathed, trying to fight the transformation.

"I agree." Azrael replied. "What an impressive army of monsters. Rise up!" He commanded.

The beasts stood up off the ground, their red eyes glued to him, as he beckoned them forth.

"It is time for the King of Katolis to rejoin his father." Azrael hissed.