The feeling of having one's memory returned is an odd one. There's an awareness that I didn't know certain things before, but now that I do, there's no way I could go back to knowing what it was not to know. The best comparison I can give is reading a book one has read before. The first time you experience it, it's all a surprise, just like in life. The next time, though, you know what's going to happen because the experience is in your memory. You can't go back to the surprise and suspense of the first reading.
It applies to right now, for instance. Before entering this dungeon, I could barely remember Zara's name because of the seal in my mind. Now, though, I could tell you everything from what food she likes, what colors she prefers to wear, what kinds of jokes are most likely to make her laugh, even her quirk of flaring her tails for balance when she's about to move from one stance to the next. It's like when Adar kissed my forehead and unlocked the seal, I remembered reading the book, and now I just know the whole story.
That's how I knew that fighting Zara would be difficult, and after the torrent of memories that came after the first room, I'm glad for the distraction. Anything to keep me from thinking about Aswad and my own death at his hands. Funny, isn't it? I spent months begging Salos to tell me about him and now I want nothing to do with him or those memories because, yeah I loved the guy enough to marry him, but I'm pretty sure that he changed pretty drastically between then and when he literally cut me open. Hard to love someone who killed you, even if you didn't stay dead. Those memories are too painful to process right now. Better to focus on the happier things that come with Zara's reminders.
We've defeated her twice now, once when she was in the form of a young teen and once as a slightly older teen. It certainly wasn't easy. By unspoken agreement, Salos and I have fallen back on our old standby, with him fighting up front while I lend support with magic. My brother is fierce, having lost none of his combat ability. Muscle ripples under blue skin with every swing of his sword, cleaving the air and splattering hissing beads of poison on the ground. He's honestly a little too aggressive sometimes...but I guess that's what comes from being locked in a metal vessel for so long.
I've become so overheated from the fire of her magic that I've shed my shirt, leaving myself only in my wrappings, leather armor, magic cuffs, and flowing pants. I'd take off the armor too, but I'm too glad for the protection it provides against Zara's blades. The cuffs are doing their job nicely, too. I'll have to remember to thank Yamuraiha when we get back. Previously, the thought of running about with my bindings showing would have embarrassed me. Now, I really don't know why I cared. I've worn less in combat situations. Plus, I grew up with the Niran, some of whom honestly ran around naked at times. Fortunately, that particular lack of regard for any sort of modesty never passed on to Salos, Zara, and I.
It's been difficult for me to fight with the intent to kill while we've been fighting Zara, but we've had to. Salos was forced to do minor healing on me when one incarnation almost pierced my chest. Like an idiot, I'd neglected to take into account that Zara can channel her fire through her blades to increase damage. Fortunately, I was quick enough to dodge, my newly remembered lessons from Adar and Amara keeping me lighter on my feet than I was before. If she'd done that maneuver when I first entered the dungeon, I'd be dead. As it is, I dealt with a nasty slice across my arm.
The memories are returning in a steady trickle, slowly but surely filling in the gaps. They usually aren't anything big like the first few I experienced. Just a moment of 'oh yeah, I know how to do the spin dodge and follow up thingy' or 'duh, apply light magic like this'. Honestly, it's kinda embarrassing how I've been running around feeling like a badass till this point. The Mina who entered this dungeon...I guess the best way to put it is that I was like a watered down version of myself.
Discount Mina, the childish part of my mind giggles.
Focus, my sun, my brother chides in return.
Whatever Salos did, that seal he slammed into place when he realized that my mind was still fragile from my 'death', was an act of desperation. When I found him in his dungeon, he wasn't himself. He'd been alone for thousands of years, something no Dioscuri should go through. I've always known there's a part of him that's a little off, a little broken from our separation, but I hadn't realized he was desperate enough to act on it. Now that the cat's out of the bag, he's let go of those guarded memories, allowing me to see them.
In the moment that he placed his forehead to mine, in that first meeting, he put a tight lid on my mind, taking advantage of the fact that I was just barely starting to feel the bond again. I feel...conflicted about that. On one hand, not only has he been keeping secrets, he purposely tried to keep me from remembering. On the other...I really can't say that I would have acted differently if our positions were reversed. Would I have risked alienating him to protect him from what I saw as dangerous? Honestly...it's likely. The Dioscuri aren't like humans. The legends say that we are originally one soul that splits in two at the moment of conception, preparing for life in such a way that neither part will ever be alone. It's natural for us to go to lengths that others might consider insane. I know that certain members of Solomon's army had been a little put off by our relationship. There's a reason for those rumors that the Dioscuri have incestuous relationships. They're untrue, but after being a part of human culture, I can see where they come from.
My conflicted emotions just about got us hurt early on when Zara slipped past Salos' guard and slashed into his bicep. He snarled, mouth open, fangs bared, and the pupils in his green eyes narrowed to slits. Though his face is human in shape, there was nothing remotely human about that expression. Zara growled back, ears pressing against her hair. It's a sure reminder that none of us are human, we never were. Many races have praised us as beautiful, exotic people. But human-like? No.
Why have I been hiding, pretending to be one? I can't quite recall...
Salos twisted his head, nearly catching Zara with his antlers. She reeled back out of reach, hissing through those sharp teeth. The world seemed to slow for just a moment as I saw my opening. Raising the staff just slightly, I bent the light around us to my will, creating a copy of myself flying at Zara from the side as Salos coiled, his mind working in tandem with mine. She glanced for just a second. It's all Salos needs to get in close enough to strike a final blow. I still don't know if she would actually kill one of us, but it definitely seems like that's her intent. Whatever the case, Salos cut through her with a savage rippling of muscle.
I'd almost forgotten why the Church learned to fear us. Watching him fight like a beast reminded me. With his brawn and my sharp eyes and magic behind him...we were a force to be reckoned with. A sort of primal pride fills me in response to our victory. It feels like it used to. When our king was still alive. When we were the full culmination of all the magical, physical, and tactical knowledge our mentors could pour into us.
As soon as we cut Zara down, she dissolved into fox-fire, like Adar had. Specifically, into a Whisp, a fire familiar used by the Niran. I originally assumed each one was created by Adar, but something in my gut tells me differently. The Whisps both drifted away after being defeated, and we made no effort to pursue them. Instead, we moved forward, following the continuous hallway to the next room.
Our current battle is by far the most challenging. This version of Zara is from a time when we were all fighting in Solomon's army early on, warriors standing against David's church. It's the version we trained with when we were in our early teens. It's especially difficult for me because, well, I was a crybaby when I was younger and it was this Zara who coddled me. It was also this Zara who routinely beat Salos back into manageability when he went through his rebellious stage. This seems to be something he remembers and doesn't appreciate, if his ferocious blows are anything to go by.
Zara nimbly dodges another strike and the sword cuts into the tiled floor, the acidic substance on the blade eating into it and embedding the weapon into the ground. She laughs as he wrenches it free with a roar.
"Gotta be faster than that, Salos!" she sings.
His responding rage flares and then returns to its continuous boil, making me wince. Not wanting to be distracted, I raise a small barrier between my brother and I, blocking out his emotions without cutting him off from my view of the battle. My role in our team of three was tactical. I wasn't as strong in physical combat as Salos, or as proficient with magic as Zara, but my mind was always quick, fueled by books and quiet observation. Ugo taught me how to look at a battlefield and see the flow of both sides, to predict where an enemy commander would direct his forces next. Really, now that I think about it, I honestly think that Ugo could run circles around Koumei as far as tactical knowledge goes, and that's saying something.
With so many memories returned, I'm recalling a lot of what I learned- the problem is, I'm out of practice. Plus, that tactical knowledge won't work on Zara. She knows us as well as we know her. We're not fighting an army with a commander I can outwit. Zara actually taught me quite a bit, having been on the battlefield longer than I. All of my light attacks and illusions are practically useless because they're Niran-taught tricks, and she's too fast for Salos. I'm going to have to get crafty.
Her red hair whirls as she dodges again before darting in to slash at my brother with her daggers. I tilt the Staff, casting a small hardened pane of light. Her daggers glance off and the pane breaks. Even after all that practice, it's still only good for one or two hits. Ugo was always frustrated that it wasn't more durable. Honestly, there had to be some kind of disconnect between what he was theorizing and what I was actually able to do, because it didn't matter how many times and ways he explained it, I never managed to progress further. Still, it's kept a number of my allies out of danger. I just never expected to use it against Zara.
Really, the reason Salos is keeping up with her speed is because we've combined our vision. Even when she moves to attack him from behind, he knows because I can see it. She's struck at me with fire magic three times now, but thus far, nothing has hit me. My defenses are strong enough with my illusions and borg that she hasn't landed anything yet. Before my memories returned, I knew that larger illusions were possible, and had even experimented a bit, but I'd never quite gotten there. Now I know that's because I wasn't thinking about it the right way. Illusions aren't filling a space with light, like I'd thought before. They're made through the reflection of light. It's as though there's an invisible stained glass window through which I'm reflecting a high-powered beam. The stronger the illusion, the more realistic it is. Over the course of these three battles, I've managed to remember how to produce myself and my brother in movement, which is why we won that last fight like we did. I've dodged the attacks so far by reflecting myself somewhere else and using a strong glamour to mask my presence completely. It's a trick Adar taught me, and one I often used to cover for Salos when he, Barbatos, and Valefor were causing mischief.
Salos growls out the name of a spell and the ground quakes, the tiled floor splintering as large bulbs erupt through it. I glance at the statue against the far wall, its positioning identical to the one in the first room. There's been a statue in each of the rooms thus far. The first one of us as children. Then, a bronze thing depicting us as very young teens, which had been a serious blast from the past. This one is gold plated and heavy, but that doesn't mean that it won't fall during the battle. The still-life portrayal of young Salos doing his best to outmatch young Zara while I look on from the sidelines is almost jarring when compared to what's currently happening in the room. Maybe history really does operate in a cycle.
Zara darts away to put distance between her and Salos, clearing the small field of bulbs. One of them bursts open and a sickly sweet smell reaches my inhuman senses. Quickly, I pull my collar up over the lower half of my face. I experienced his hallucinogenic toxin in his dungeon and don't want to go through it again. This is one of those annoying area of effect spells where the caster is immune, but everyone else is screwed. It's also one of my brother's favorites. He tried to use it in our fight against Ithnan, but we were taken down before it culminated.
The other bulbs burst, flooding the room in green fog. My clothes aren't enough to block out the gas, so I throw up a borg to keep it away. I can still hear Salos giggling as he calls out a challenge to Zara.
"What's wrong? Not so tough now, are you!"
It seems that, in his desire to beat her, Salos has forgotten something important. It's only my remembering it that allows him to shield himself in time. He curses, pulling a cocoon of vines around himself. Not a second later, everything explodes.
While that gas is highly effective, it's also extremely flammable. It was one of the first spells he'd ever tried to use against her, and it was never very effective. I sigh. He never learns. His mental apology is tinged with annoyance and I send the barest flicker of acknowledgement in return, focused on where Zara went after the explosion.
As soon as I'm sure I won't end up dead upon entering the smoke, I dart in. Preemptively, I put up a borg, fully expecting Zara to use the smoke as a screen. I'm glad I do, because she does exactly what I expected. A ting of blades striking my borg comes from my right and I whirl, opening that side long enough to set off a blinding blast of light. Before the glare is gone, I swing the Staff like a mace, lashing out with the hard, rounded end. Zara's faster than me, and knows my tricks, but I'm just the distraction. She jumps back, an instinctive response made to escape my magic and follow-up. To keep her headed that way, I go on the offensive, pushing myself to my full speed to keep up with her. My recalled lessons with Amara take over, lending to my overall performance. My previous fighting maneuvers were human-taught, novice level. This is the combat style that kept me alive on Alma Torran. The technique that allowed me to become a warrior for my King. Zara pushes back and I twist in a counter, my movements more Niran than human, in a move taken straight from Amara's playbook. The Staff meets her daggers with a repetitive clash, the sounds of our combat quieter than those made when she fought Salos. Speaking of Salos…
My brother bursts through behind her with a battle cry and her ears flicker. Her muscles tense. Time seems to slow around us.
I know Zara, and Ugo, Adar, Solomon, and Amon have taught me much about tactics- whether in large-scale battles or smaller skirmishes. She has three directions to go: left, right, or up. She won't want to be caught in a drawn-out combat with the two of us pressing in, risking being caught in a scissor maneuver. If she goes up, she'll be using magic. If she goes left, that will open her up to attack me. Right, she gets the advantage on Salos.
She jumps out from between us, vaulting up and to the right. Magic, aimed at Salos.
I react as soon as the fire bursts from her, projecting a shield. Salos, reading my thoughts, matches my movements. As the shield shatters with the impact of her attack, his sword stabs through the space it had been. With a sickening squelch, we bring down Zara's latest incarnation.
Again, she disappears into a small burst of foxfire and disappears. I watch it go with narrowed eyes, taking a moment to catch my breath. Beside me, Salos slouches with an exhale. He's been doing most of the fighting, but he's also pulling Rukh from the dungeon for energy. I'm left with my personal reserves, which I've been steadily depleting by using magic to back him up. As we take a much-needed break, I ponder something that's been troubling me.
This is Adar's dungeon, that much we've confirmed. But that doesn't feel like Adar's foxfire. With so much having come back, I am sure of that now. It's hard to explain, but Adar's fire moves a certain way. It's like his experience has transferred to it. The foxfire that disappeared after each fight with a Zara...it's more reserved. It almost seems impossible, but…
Absently, I slip my fingers under the edge of my armor and brush my stomach, feeling the knotted smoothness of the scar there and the mark that's reemerged over the tissue. Aswad's blow severed the mark made by Zara's adoption ceremony, and it shouldn't have come back...but, as I saw when I was stripping off a few layers, the red and green flames have emblazoned themselves on my skin once again. It happened sometime between the first and second room, I know. At least, that's when I saw it.
I know what the clues are saying, but I don't want to give into false hope if I'm wrong about this.
Salos reaches out to touch my arm and I look up at him.
Are you alright?
I nod.
A bit overwhelmed at the moment. I feel like I've been walking around half asleep and just woke up.
He frowns as we begin moving again, heading down the hall and toward our next challenge.
I know. Before...it was like you were a younger version of yourself. Almost like when we were at Amon's.
I wish I could cock a brow at him. I really do.
And whose fault was that?
His expression turns remorseful. I've forgiven him for his desperate actions, yes, but I'm still feeling the sting of what he did in my heart.
I know, he grits out, And I'll apologize as many times as necessary, do whatever it takes to make things right between us.
It's a rare thing, but even Dioscuri twins can have bad blood between them for a time. It never lasts long, but it's always an explosive and highly volatile thing. We might be one soul in two forms, but we are not the same person. Salos knows me and I know him, but as he's proven, we're capable of hiding things from each other. Normally, the level of subterfuge he enacted wouldn't be possible. However, our bond was severed with my 'death' and that allowed him a bit of freedom that he wouldn't have had in a normal situation.
Fortunately, with the secret-keeping no longer holding us back, our bond should finally heal to what it was. Even with him being a Djinn.
I know you will, but don't think I'll let you off easy.
He glances at me, green eyes cutting in my direction in such a familiar look of apology that my heart squeezes. He senses the bittersweetness permeating my thoughts and slips his hand into mine. How long do we have like this? How long will we be in this dungeon, where we can walk side-by-side again? That's part of the reason I can't stay angry at him, won't allow myself to process his secrets as a betrayal of trust like some might think I should. My time with him is so limited. We had twenty-one short years together. Dioscuri can live for much longer than humans. We should have had decades, centuries if we were among the lucky Old Ones. A scant twenty-one years and now…
Separation.
Salos gently pushes the thought from my mind.
Not forever, my sun.
He's right. We have a plan. A theory, rather. I'm no Ugo, despite his attempts to groom me into his mini-me, but I've given it a lot of thought. Dioscuri have the ability to join physically, two beings becoming one. The Church regarded this as an abomination but feared what we could do with it, which was why they struck at our people like they did. While this is one of our greatest strengths since it allows us to become 'whole', it isn't without its dangers. There's only so many times a pair can join before they can't separate again. I can vaguely remember that, in our village, there were even some pairs who just joined and had no interest in returning to their separate forms. It wasn't super uncommon. Salos and I used this power prolifically during our war with the Church to take advantage of the superiority in combat that it granted us. I don't know what our 'limit' is, but we're likely approaching it. At least, it's gotten harder to separate from him when I enter what I call my 'full equip'. I suspect that the day will come soon that I won't be able to return to myself.
This, paired with the fact that the metal vessel that turned Salos into a Djinn was originally meant for both of us, are the main facets in my theory. It was specifically calibrated for the two of us, but only one used it. It's possible that there's still magical energy tugging at me, wanting to go through the transformation process. Keeping all of this in mind, we've reasoned that, when the time comes, we'll join and I will join him as a singular djinn. Two combined into one. Whether that happens because we used the full equip too many times, because I'm dying, or because we've simply chosen to, that is the fate that awaits me. Barring sudden death, of course. This time, a blow like the one I received on Alma Torran won't be enough to stop me. Ugo's magic will ensure that. One day, I'll join with Salos for the last time, and Mina as an individual will be no more. Our separation will finally, blessedly, end and we will be as we were at birth: two in one.
In the meantime, though, there's work to be done and a life to live. So we'll make the best of this time we have together in Adar's dungeon.
Salos abruptly stops, his hold on my hand tightening. We're still in the hall, surrounded by murals of Alma Torran. Glancing over, I can see an image of a battle, Niran clashing with human magicians. The golden figure at the front is definitely Zara. The entrance of the fourth room is just up ahead, the next incarnation of Zara doubtlessly waiting inside. I frown in momentary confusion at why he paused. Then, I realize that there are sounds of combat up ahead.
We look at each other, bewildered. My first thought is that it's Keary and the others and that we've somehow caught up with them. Good Solomon, it feels like it's been years since I left them at the dungeon entrance. When I focus, though, it sounds like it's a one on one fight. Leif would never allow Keary to be separated from him. Even grandfather would have a hard time ensuring that. So what's going on?
Wary, we slip forward, hunkering down. Salos releases my hand and drifts away a bit, just in case someone decides to fire a large spell at us. Each of us slinking down one side of the hall, we noiselessly make our way to the entrance of the next room and peer inside.
The sight inside pushes the breath from my lungs.
Like the other rooms, this one boasts a large statue. This one depicts Zara, Salos, and I as young adults, standing together in positions that suggest we're laughing at something that Salos has said. In front of the statue, there is indeed a fight occuring. Zara moves at a speed that makes her previous incarnations pale in comparison. Fire erupts in the center of the room, filling it with smoke and obscuring whoever she's currently in combat with. She leaps back from the explosion, landing gracefully on her feet a short distance from us.
The mark on my stomach warms, like someone has pressed their hand to my skin. I sense Salos's fleeting recognition of his own mark.
Is that...?
Zara pauses and then looks over at us. Seeing us standing in the doorway, her lips part in that familiar fanged grin. Her red hair, tipped in gold, glimmers in the room's ghostly light. The fox-like ears atop her head flicker back toward the smokescreen, no doubt helping her keep tabs on her opponent. She salutes with one of her daggers, tails swirling behind her. Is it just my imagination, or are there more than there were when I last saw her in life…?
"Salos! Mina-me! Took you long enough! Were my younger selves too much for you?"
My eyes warm with oncoming tears. This is the Zara I know from my last years on Alma Torran. This is the one I saw married and who counseled me as we built peace under Solomon's reign. This is Solomon's general, with whom I fought the last battles of the war. Out of all the incarnations, this Zara makes me want to do nothing more than run in and squeeze her tightly.
She gives me a look that suggests that my face has given all of this away.
"Aw, Mina. Don't cry. You're alright. You grew out of being a crybaby, remember?"
I nod quickly, blinking the tears back.
"Yeah. I haven't cried like that since you and Salos went on that mission."
She grins wider, then, a touch of relief in her expression.
"Oh, good. Grandfather was right, then. This did help you remember. I'm so glad! I would have hated to watch you stay in the dark about everything…"
She looks at Salos then and something unspoken passes between them. I don't catch all of it through his end, but I sense pain, regret, old resentment, and grief. He and Zara never got along the best, but this…
An enraged sound cuts off my train of thought and we all tense, looking toward the dissipating smoke. Zara's smile disappears and her blue eyes, the only sign of her human heritage, narrow. She gives a low hiss through her teeth, hackles raised.
"Sorry we can't have a bigger reunion, Mina. Salos. This guy's been giving me some problems. He seemed to be looking for you, but I've been keeping him busy. He's pissed about it," she scoffs, "He deserves so much worse than what I've been doing, but he's not really mine to kill alone. Not that it'll do any good to kill him in this form. The little cockroach. Might make us all feel a little better, though..."
My brows furrow. Does this mean we're fighting with her and not against her? Who's she talking about? What does she mean about 'this form'? Who would be looking for us?
Salos abruptly snarls, his pupils narrowing until they're the barest of black slits in his green eyes. He goes to dash forward, but Zara barks out a direction in Niran that causes him to pause. With a jolt, I realize that we've been conversing in Niran this whole time, as easily as if we were speaking the language of the current world. It comes so naturally that I didn't even pause to question it.
The realization of our spoken tongue is fleeting as I pick up what has my brother so riled. My own body tenses and an inhuman hiss escapes between my teeth. I know that my own expression likely resembles Salos's, rage distorting my features into something bestial.
Tendrils of shadow erupt from the still-clearing smoke and Zara tsks. She must have enacted some kind of holding measure for him to have waited so long to attack. Without thinking, I raise the Staff in my hand, a shield springing up in front of each of us and blocking the attack. Then, drawing upon the energy flowing through my bond with Salos and the newly reestablished one with Zara, I push back. The shields collapse into three separate beams of intensified light and shoot inward. Zara smiles approvingly, as a grunt of pain indicates that I've hit my mark.
The expression disappears when my target speaks in a horrid, rasping mockery of a voice I once knew.
"I know that spell. Your illusions are getting better, Zara. I didn't realize that you could even copy someone's magic with your foxfire clones."
She scoffs, rotating her wrists in preparation for resuming the fight.
"I can't. That, you utter asshole, was the real thing."
The smoke finally clears enough for us to see him, still standing in the center of the room. Aswad surveys Zara with narrowed black eyes, a sneer on his face that I've never seen before. Before, seeing him would have made my heart tremble with happiness. Now, I want nothing more than to impale him on the end of my sword. I know from the look in his eye, cold and dark like a void, that this is not the same man I fell in love with. It's not even the man who killed me. This is someone cold and uncaring, molded by bitterness and pride. He wears black robes, his long hair spilling loose and unkempt down his back, a staff clutched in one boney hand. His face is gaunt and pale, harsh with no trace of warmth. An ugly, pockmarked scar crosses his throat and I feel Salos's savage pride at the sight of it. This isn't at all the man I loved. This is the Aswad Arba created when she fed the darkness in his heart, which I had worked so hard to heal. Not even my love, my light could permeate as far down as he allowed her words to.
Taking Zara's words under consideration, he glances toward my brother and I. His gaze meets mine and his eyes widened slightly, that coldness breaking just a little. I see a look there that is a ghost of something familiar. Surprise sparks, followed by longing. But not the warm longing he'd looked at me with in the past. This is hungry- like a starved man seeing food for the first time in a long time.
"Mina," he breathes, "Ithnan told the truth. You're back…"
As though those awful distorted words were a trigger, Salos snaps. His blue skin pulls taut as every muscle in his body goes rigid. He leans forward, his head jutting toward Aswad, his hands clenched. The knuckles of his sword hand turn powder blue from the strain and the veins in his neck and face bulge. A rumble builds in his chest. Then, he opens his mouth in a roar, his sharp canines on full, threatening display. It's an instinct, this challenge, something passed down from our Dioscuri ancestors. I've made it myself once, when Sabnack pursued Salos without his consent. He makes it now in response to Aswad's mention of my name, even that serving as an affront. Zara hisses again in threat, a reminder that he has no room to speak here. I find myself rumbling as well, a warning.
Aswad's expression goes back to what it was, cool and guarded.
"I see. You-"
I don't know what he was going to say next, because Salos leaps at him. The tension within him releases in one huge motion. Aswad barely has time to bring his staff up to block the blow meant to cleave him in two. They strain for a moment, then Salos jumps away again as the shadows at their feet erupt from the ground in spikes. A favorite move of his, I recall.
Snarling like a hunting cat that's found something encroaching on its territory, Salos begins to circle at what he's judged to be a safe distance. Zara falls into step across from him, keeping Aswad between them. His dark eyes move constantly from one to the other, watching for their next attack.
"So you've come to finish the job, Salos," he touches the scar on his throat, "Not satisfied with the state you left me in?"
Salos doesn't answer. My brother's rage is so intense that he can barely form coherent thought. His mind is centered only on his desire to utterly destroy the man in front of him.
"The state he left you in?" Zara growls, "You killed Mina. It's only unfortunate he didn't finish the job."
Aswad bears his own teeth at her in a sharp hiss.
"I never meant to. It was your arrogant brother's brainwashing-"
A shriek of rage leaves me as I bring the Staff down in a sharp motion. Intensified light explodes and he cries out. Salos and Zara's anger seeps through our bonds, fueling my own. I won't listen to his justifications for taking my life. The scar on my stomach doesn't tell of an accident, it tells of a brutal killing.
My attack spurs the other two into motion. Like vultures sensing weakness, they descend on Aswad. He throws up a barrier of shadow and Salos's blade hisses off the rounded surface. Zara sinks her daggers into the shield and ignites them. When it blows open, I'm ready with another beam. Aswad's shadows and my light were never very compatible, but I've always had the upper hand magic-wise. I have always literally outshone him.
Salos's claws swipe into his back as the barrier dissipates. He rears back and Zara darts in and then away, cutting the backs of his legs in lightning fast strikes. I pull together the rest of my own energy, uncaring that I'm down to dredges, and light him up with another blast as he sinks to his knees. This use of my magic is unrefined, but effective. Amon wouldn't approve, but I'm too angry to care.
"You think you were actually keeping me at bay earlier?" Zara grits out as Salos bats Aswad's staff away with a hard blow, "You're an idiot. That was all for this moment," another slash through his arm keeps him from retrieving his staff, "So that Salos and Mina could get here. Because it wouldn't be right for me to take revenge on my own. I'm not the one you killed."
Aswad breathes raggedly, black blood pooling beneath him. He glares up at Zara as she speaks, the expression maintained even when Salos grip his long hair to keep him utterly still. We've overwhelmed him in a matter of seconds, our teamwork instinctively returning as soon as we stepped into battle together. There were few individuals who could stand against the three of us together, and Aswad was never one of them.
I approach, taking the dagger Zara offers me. Aswad's eyes flicker up to me and hold, that hungry expression returning.
"Mina-"
I sink the dagger into his chest, not allowing the hardness to leave my expression. His eyes widen and he immediately gurgles.
"You have nothing to say to me. You are not the Aswad I knew and I am not the Mina you think you know. Don't expect any pity from me."
He stares into my eyes until the light leaves his own. Then, he seems to collapse into himself. I rear back as a doll, painted to resemble him, falls where he had knelt. Blood seeps over it as it lands. Then, it vanishes.
Zara huffs.
"Dammit, grandpa, you were too fast," she mutters, "I said to boot him after we destroyed it. Now he's gonna come back sooner instead of later…"
Salos breathes in short, deep breaths, trying to calm himself now that the threat is gone. At her words, he growls again. I'm a little confused by the 'coming back' and the whole doll thing, but Salos is still too out of it to care.
"Then we'll kill him again. And again, if we have to. Until he stays dead."
She nods, ignoring the way his anger still distorts his voice.
"True. It's not like he's going to have enough time to get stronger...though, when you guys rolled in, he was definitely already struggling. We'd been fighting for a good while and I wanted to make sure his magoi was pretty low before taking him out. I knew you wouldn't be ready for any kind of drawn out battle."
I mutter a thank you, handing her dagger back. With Aswad gone and the threat of another fight with an incarnation of Zara no longer looming, exhaustion hits me like a thousand pound boulder. This day really has been too much. I've used so much magoi and energy and have been through so much since the morning that it's almost unreal.
Zara catches me as I sway.
"Woah there, Mina. I know you're exhausted, but you're not done yet. Just wait a little while longer, okay? Grandfather will want to see you again."
I really want to just conk out on her shoulder right then and there. She even smells like Zara did and it's super comforting. I let my head fall against her for a moment, for once not caring that she's taller than me. This feels like home.
"Hey, are you another foxfire? Are you gonna disappear soon?" I murmur tiredly.
I feel her chuckle more than hear it as she pats my back.
"Maybe," she says playfully. Then her tone turns serious, "I'll definitely be disappearing once we get you back to grandfather. I'd love to spend more time with you, Mina-me, but you've got more to do. You can't stay here with me forever."
In the wake of my exhaustion, and the reeling of emotions from remembering my entire life, finding my long-lost sister's look alike, and killing my ex-boyfriend, I grumble discontentedly. I hate that this isn't the real Zara. I thought for sure that it was when I was able to draw on her power through the bond. Though, now that I think about it, it could be that I was pulling from the dungeon itself. All of the Niran would have access to the Golden One's energy. Or it might be some of her residual magoi from when he became a Djinn...I remember there being a huge argument about that. The metal vessel was originally going to be calibrated to her magic, but Adar wouldn't have it. It could be that he was feeding some of her leftover magic through a foxfire.
"Yes I can. I can live here with Adar."
She laughs, squeezing me tightly. She even hugs like Zara. These foxfires really are just like her. Dammit, Adar. Now I'm going to cry again.
"You're being silly. Your friends are here to capture his dungeon, remember? And they're actually doing a pretty good job," she pauses, in the way I know means she sensing the area with that ability of hers, "We had to split them up a couple of times because three Dungeon Capturers is a lot to have together. They've almost reached the treasure room. Which means that, pretty soon, he'll be choosing one as a king candidate."
I roll my head to look up at her.
"Really? How are Keary and Kouha getting along?"
She grins, bearing those sharp teeth at me.
"Really well, actually. Who would have known that Sabnack and Leraje work so well together?"
I chuckle, feeling Salos's echoed amusement. The Ice Queen and the Eternal Crybaby, huh?
Zara jostles me, pushing me gently away from her warmth. I don't like it. For me, Zara is comfort and safety. After the day I've had, I need that. I need her and Adar and Ugo and Solomon and Sheba in a big group hug. At one point I would have included Arba and Aswad but fuck them. I'll be happy when I can finally shove my sword up Arba's traitorous ass. I finally remember that she's the leader of Al Tharmen and, to be honest, I'm more pissed than relieved. She cared for us, cared for Zara-
Salos sends me a soothing thought and I relax, pulling the rest of the way back from Zara.
"Alright, let's go find the others," I start toward the exit, only to pause when I realize that I'm still in all my Dioscuri glory.
I actually really like having my glamour down, but it wouldn't be wise to just go popping over like 'so, yeah, there's all this. And, by the way, I'm not human'. I'll do that on my own terms when the time is right.
As usual, Zara seems to know exactly what I'm thinking. She comes up beside me and motions a few times.
"There we go. While you're here, you'll look human. Of course, you'll have to glamour yourself when you leave, but you know how."
I smile in response to her pleased expression. She always has loved taking care of us.
"Thanks," I motion toward the hall leading out of the room, "I take it you know the way to the treasure room?"
Her ears flicker in amusement.
"Of course. But I can do you one better."
With a certain amount of sway in her gait, she walks to one of the walls and presses a hand against it. A moment later, a door forms under her touch, polished gold pushing out from the marble beneath and creating a gap in what seems to be a story about Adar pulling a prank on someone. She steps back with a flourish, motioning toward the door. It swings slowly open, revealing a portal.
"A shortcut, my lady."
I can't help but laugh at her dramatics. Salos follows me at a small distance as I step through.
There's that odd feeling that accompanies passing into a dungeon, like walking through a membrane. Then, I pop out in a new hallway. This one runs to my left and right, intersecting with another up ahead. A few Niran in fox form almost mow me down as they run straight past where I came out, sending me reeling back into my brother.
"Sorry, Mina!" one calls in a series of yips and barks that serves as the Niran language when they speak as foxes.
"Your friends are tough!" the other one comments.
I pause for a moment, watching their furry tails disappear around the corner down the hall. Were they the ones testing Keary and the others?
The sound of running footsteps draws my attention to the way from which they had come. Zara presses through the door behind us and it disappears into the wall like it never existed in the first place. As soon as it's gone, I hear a shout.
"Thamina! There you are!"
Keary comes into view in full Djinn equip, a lacy white material covering her torso and leaving a good deal of skin bare. Damn, I always forget how skanky Sabnack made that outfit. Behind the princess, Leif runs in strides that eat up distance like nothing I've ever seen. Lukas is at his side, his axe scuffed. My eyes widen when I see the injuries the two Varangian warriors have sustained. Holy shit, what did grandpa do?
Keary pulls up a short distance from me, looking at Salos and Zara warily. Her long blonde hair is loose for once and it makes her looks surprisingly young. She breathes hard, looking as whipped as I feel.
"Who are these people with you?"
I look up at Salos, who cocks a brow at me.
Stop that.
"This is my djinn, manifested to help protect me."
The Niran way of redirecting the truth is coming easily now, without my previous human compunctions hindering me. I motion to Zara next and she smiles at Keary.
"And this is our guide. She appeared as a reward for success in combat."
Keary looks at her hard for a moment.
"You're the one in all the paintings."
Zara nods, tails swirling.
"Mmhm. You did well in clearing Seere's dungeon. I'm here to take you all the rest of the way."
"Does that apply to all of us?"
We all look toward the intersection. It looks like the party from Kou just caught up. Prince Kouha is wearing less clothes in his equip, but he somehow looks less like a stripper than before. Thank Solomon. I just hope it lasts. Prince Koumei stands behind him, still in his rumpled robes. He looks at us tiredly, but even from this distance, I can see the wheels turning. It's when his gaze meets mine that I have a serious 'oh shit' moment.
The Kou Empire's greatest mind has spent the day wandering through an ancient dungeon with my face plastered all over the walls and giant statues of me in various areas. And if that look on his face is anything to go by, he definitely took notice of that little connection and started pondering.
Zara shoots Kouha a giant grin, bounding happily toward the Kou party.
"Of course it does, cutie!"
Oh my. I know that tone. The purr at the end means she's about to pour on the charm. Fortunately, her sudden attentions mean that Koumei is no longer concerned with me at the moment.
Keary comes up beside me, letting her equip fade away. I can feel Salos's distaste at anything related to Sabnack being near him, but he doesn't let it show. The princess looks up at him wonderingly.
"An ability of yours?"
I shake my head.
"A quirk of the dungeon."
Leif approaches as well, giving my brother an appraising look. Salos looks back at him with a bored expression.
"So this is your djinn? Impressive. I'm glad to see that you had ample protection when you were separated from us."
I can feel Salos's pride at that and see the tiny little smirk that pulls at his mouth. What catches my attention more than my brother's preening, though, is the way Keary's looking between us. Salos and I are strikingly similar. Our eyes are the same shape and the bones in our face are structured the same way. Combine that with our blue hair and it's really an eerie effect. Keary has obviously picked up on it, since she looks at me with a glance that says 'this needs explained'. I nod once.
"After we get out of this dungeon," I say quietly, "I'll tell you what I can."
She nods, appeased for now. She promised not to push me on what I know, but after what we've been through together, and what she's seen relating to me, I feel that she deserves answers to the questions she undoubtedly has. It might be taboo to speak of Alma Torran to the people of this world, but I'm not going through life being the only one besides a child who knows the truth. Al Tharmen will no doubt target Keary as well, because of her position and her connection to me. I want her prepared.
As we move to follow Zara, walking side by side, I find myself hoping that my newfound power will be enough to protect the large number of loved ones I've accumulated in my brief time in the current world. Salos sends me a comforting thought, and for a moment, I almost think I feel Zara's soothing thought through the adoption bond.
What's this? Two chapters in such a short time? We'll call it a summer special.
Next chapter marks the end of the Seere arc. For those of you who have been waiting patiently: Ja'far will be back next chapter, Sinbad will be returning within the next two chapters, and Hakuryuu is about to make his debut. Zagan's dungeon is also just around the corner, which means that Ithnan will be making a return soon as well. I'm excited to write this next part out!
Also, with Zara and Adar becoming more prevalent in the story- if you haven't read Melissiaew's Golden Love prequel, I would definitely suggest it. There'll be a lot of context clues about stuff here in SaS, but her story covers things a lot more in depth and sets the stage for what happens in SaS.
On to reviews!
Razhenshia: I've had that happen before too with story updates. It's always so odd XD. Melissiaew and I have been missing Ja'far as well, which is why he's coming back so soon. Stay tuned!
As always, your feedback is appreciated!