(Content warning: This chapter contains descriptions of gore, torture and acid burns.)
Her screams echoed through the dark hallway, bouncing off the concrete walls as two peacekeepers dragged her into the white room by her short chocolate hair. The faceless soldiers did not respond to such cries for help. Whether they could hear her was unknown. She struggled against them, used her broken nails to claw at them, her chipped teeth to bite at them, but they did not even flinch.
Over them, the two Elders watched. This would be the last one they needed.
Tiyanak reached out with their mind, and with their hand, toward their mate. "She is the final subject."
"I wish we could do more." Xezbeth could be heard to sigh, their bony chest heaving. Their posture was crooked, bent and broken, no fault of their own, but it gave them a degraded and corrupted look.
"We should be pleased we could do this at all." Tiyanak took their hand and pulled them forward a bit, toward where they stood as the human girl thrashed, bound to a metal chair. She looked up at the Elders with utter fear in her eyes. Their glowing apparitions consumed the corners of her feeble mind.
Tiyanak reached out with their thoughts, pushed past her enervated barriers and pressed farther and farther into her thoughts. She tried, in vain she tried, but she could not resist them, or their power.
"You are special." The words shook her body to it's core. He reached out with dry, half-rotten hands and stroked his knotted thumb over her chin. "You discovered your power at only four...your mother was finally proud of you...your sisters so jealous…"
"Let me go, you mummified cunt!" The girl's voice was high and nasally, nothing soothing to the ears, but it commanded a sort of power. Tiyanak was pleased: they knew they had chosen well.
"You cannot run away from destiny." they said as they drew their hand away. The human doctors were already filing into the room, towing carts with surgical supplies and vials full of purple liquid.
"Let me go!" The poor girl shrieked as the two Elders withdrew from the room to let the scientists work their magic. She began to plead, then sob, then as the door closed, scream.
.
.
"I've never seen such a blade." Zafar said, as he pulled the dagger from the hilt of Kon-Mai's katana and balanced it in one hand. "We certainly weren't allowed weapons like this."
"It was built by the Elders themselves." Kon-Mai said. "I would have abandoned it long ago, but I have modified it enough to make it my own. Plus...there is nothing quite like it on Earth."
"The blade is almost crystalline…" He flipped it towards himself, the tip pointing toward his own eye.
"Be careful with that. You might poke your eye out." Nazira chimed in as she waltzed into the sandy amphitheater where the former two were training. Hidden from the heat of the desert sun, it stood in the shadow of a large grove of palm trees. The stone steps that used to be able to sit nearly a hundred had crumbled around them, but this ancient Roman site still held some kind of reverence.
"I am glad you came." Kon-Mai nodded to her.
"Sorry I'm late, I wanted to sleep a bit longer." Nazira chuckled and stretched her arm over her head. "What did I miss?"
"We have not yet begun. Your brother was examining my blades."
"I have to say I'm slightly jealous." Zafar admitted. "We could have been using swords this whole time. Maybe they wouldn't have broken constantly like our pistols."
"Kompira was never good at making guns." Nazira dropped her bag beside the pile of stones and pulled her long, black hair back in a ponytail. She was dtressed scantily, her shorts and tank top hugging her slim, nearly scrawny figure.
Kon-Mai turned her eyes back towards Zafar and held out her hand, wordlessly asking for her blade back. He reluctantly placed it in her grip and took hold of the wooden training blade she had brought from the Avenger.
"Now then." Kon-Mai straightened up. "Let me see your stance."
She was almost impressed: Zafar was not as clueless to swords as she once thought. He put slightly too much weight in his knees, but he stayed low and held the sword tightly, but kept his wrist loose.
"Not bad." She nodded, scanning him with her eyes. She picked up her own training blade and took up her stance. "Lunge."
He almost caught her off guard by how fast he was, how nimble. His limbs seemed as though they could stretch beyond their measure. He lunged forward, bringing the blade upward towards her face. Kon-Mai dove backward into a flip and came up on her feet, examining his next move. He, of course, seemed to take the same approach, getting into a crouch and waiting.
"You are quite skilled." Kon-Mai chuckled, meeting his eyes.
"I survived with the Elders for this long." He said, seeming to relax a bit under her praise. "I had to be skilled."
"Then you know to never let your guard down." She darted forward and cut upward towards his face. He jumped back, but the tip of the blade hit his chin, and she saw a bit of green ichor dribble from his mouth.
"Zafar!" Nazira began to rush towards him but he held up his hand, wiping the green blood from his lip.
"You got me." He chuckled. "Good work, Mordenna. You really are all they say."
"Thank you." Kon-Mai gave him a toothy grin, similar to the prideful smirk her brother was known for.
"And perhaps flattery will get me somewhere!" Zafar snapped as he sprinted forward, crossing the distance between them in a matter of seconds. He brought his blade across, aiming for just under her throat, only to find her gone.
Then he felt the tip of the wooden blade pressed into his back. "Well done." She cooed, her cloak falling away. "But next time, keep your eyes solely on the target. Or else they might just disappear."
"Hey! Going invisible?" Nazira crossed her arms. "That's cheating!"
"Not on the battlefield." Kon-Mai turned to her. "Out there, your enemy does not live by any kind of honor or code."
"You did."
"By my own force of will." She took her blade away from Zafar, letting him move away slightly. "The Elders have no honor, and neither do the soldiers who follow them. They will not adhere to what is just or fair. If given the slightest chance…" She turned to Zafar. "They will kill you."
"Then we must not give them such a chance." He walked over to Nazira, flipped the blade over and handed it to her by the hilt. "Your turn, Sister."
"Normally I'm the beautiful woman beating the shit out of another person." She giggled. "But I suppose I'm up for a switch~."
Kon-Mai took a moment to ponder those words. Had Nazira just called her beautiful? As she ruminated on it, she nearly missed the approaching footsteps.
Nazira was even more flexible than her brother, and Kon-Mai had to duck clumsily to avoid her strike, dropping to the ground and rolling to one side. She hopped up on her feet once again, quickly adjusting her stance as Nazira slid around to her side, hoping to cut underneath her. Kon-Mai blocked the strike, but it almost put her off balance. Nazira fought with fury, and a look of terror in her green eyes.
Kon-Mai had to use her whole weight to shove the woman back, and at that point, she threw her cloak over her body and disappeared into shadow. Nazira stopped then, possibly listening for the Shrinemaiden's steps, but Kon-Mai knew exactly how to place her feet to keep herself from making noise.
Coming up from behind, Kon-Mai dropped her cloak and swiped upward. Nazira managed to dodge, just barely. Kon-Mai was about to praise her but stopped when she noticed the distress in her face.
"Should we break for now?" She said instead. "You look disturbed."
"You drop in and out of sight like a damn Codex." She said with an exasperated laugh. "Yes, I'm disturbed."
"Do you want to stop?"
"No…" Nazira adjusted her grip again. "I'm just...getting warmed up."
Kon-Mai took up her stance once again, and this time Nazira held still, like Zafar had, and each one waited for the other to strike. Kon-Mai watched every movement, then closed her eyes and listened. Then she rushed.
Nazira might have meant to bring up her sword, but her hand slipped and the wooden blade dropped from her grip, and instead she took the brunt of the strike with her hand. She cried out, falling back, and immediately the fight screeched to a halt. Zafar jumped forward towards his sister, and Kon-Mai reached down. "Are you alri-"
Nazira let out a furious hiss, her eyes shining with tears, and she flung the palm of her injured hand out to stop Kon-Mai from coming closer. With this action, a spray of green, boiling blood shot out from the wound, over the side of the Shrinemaiden's face.
She screamed, stumbling back, as the blood began to burn.
.
.
"Do we have everything?" Senuna asked, looking around at the ship.
"Half our soldiers are still on shore." Bradford said. "And our Chosen. And your child."
"We'll be back within a day's time." Senuna replied. "Besides, even if Zafar insists they're being hunted, it's safer here than on the ship."
"If you say so." Bradford tapped over the PDA. "...Jane. We're missing Jane."
"Not missing, she's on a date." Zhang said, hobbling in on his cane. "Told me to tell you to go ahead."
"Well then I think-" Senuna sat down at her desk, and then broke off. "...Where's Pangu?"
"The possum?" Bradford blew a raspberry. "I think Tygan had him…?"
"No, he took him out this morning." Senuna sighed. "Oh, tell me he's not in the vents again."
"Well at least he'll be on the ship." Bradford chuckled. "I haven't heard any scratching."
"What if he hurts himself though?"
Zhang lowered his body onto one of the fluffy cushions. "Senuna, it's just a possum."
"You heartless bastard, he's a friend." She said, only half joking.
"Never had a pet?" Bradford asked, and although it was unclear who he was referring to, Zhang shook his head.
"We had drug sniffing dogs in the Triad. They weren't all that friendly."
"I outlived all of mine." Senuna sighed. "But oh, do I miss my fluffy babies."
"That's not weird." Bradford said. "Animals don't usually live long, especially compared to you."
She smiled at him. "Is my age showing?"
"You have smile lines." He said, tossing the PDA onto her bed. "But other than that, you don't look a day over 20."
"I wish I could say that for you, Bradford." Senuna chuckled. "But your youthful attitude makes up for all the grey."
"I'm flattered." He deadpanned. "If that's all, then let's get a move on Commander. Betos and Volk won't wait forever."
"Volk might." Zhang chuckled. "If he passes out."
.
.
"What do you have in your pocket?"
Gur-Rai didn't open his eyes at first. He just let the heat of the very old, stone bench by the side of the lake seep into his body. The warm desert sun beat down on him and Dhar-Mon, who had joined him for a walk that morning while their sister was busy training the snake siblings.
It wasn't often that the two brothers themselves spent time together without the company of the third Chosen, who had always seemed to stick the trio together like glue. Gur-Rai had to wonder how anything got done before she was born…
"Whatever are you talking about?" Gur-Rai said coyly, knowing all too well what was in his jacket. It wiggled a bit as he spoke, and he felt a fuzzy nose touch his chin.
"You brought the rat out?" Dhar-Mon sighed, looking back out over the lake.
"He needs emotional stimulation." Gur-Rai opened his jacket and plucked Pangu out of his inner pocket. The possum squeaked a bit, then began crawling up his arm. "You ever had a pet, Brother?"
"At my stronghold?" Dhar-Mon shook his head. "Never."
"Why?"
Dhar-Mon gave his little brother a confused look.
"It's a valid question." Gur-Rai shrugged. "Why didn't you ever get one? Do you not like animals?"
"That is not so, I don't mind animals." Dhar-Mon even held out one, giant hand for Pangu to sniff. His palm was almost as big as Pangu's whole body.
"Just never got one as a pet?" Gur-Rai asked as Pangu crawled from his jacket onto Dhar-Mon's hand.
"...In truth?" He let out a great sigh. "The Elders would never have allowed it."
"Bullshit." Gur-Rai scoffed. "They didn't watch us that closely."
"They did not watch you closely." Dhar-Mon sounded forlorn. "But I...was constantly aware of their presence."
"I was too. Could you not tune it out?" Gur-Rai sat up fully.
"No." Dhar-Mon put his hand on Pangu's furry behind as the possum climbed up his shirt to his shoulder. "Their voices were so loud...have you ever had someone whisper directly into your ear? It was as loud as that, and constant."
Gur-Rai wondered if Kon-Mai had the same experience. He, too, had had the constant whisperings of the Elders in his head, on account of the chip, but they had always been somewhat...muted? He was able to drown them out when he was busy with other things. Like when he was on a hunt, focused so tightly on his target that all other stimuli just dropped away. Or when he was at a bar, perhaps in a rowdy city center, where the stench of strong drink and cheap perfume obscured everything else. Or (his favorite) when he was in bed with a lover, and it was just him and the person who he trusted to share his body with. How easily things could get lost in that tussle, how quickly the Elders' orders melted into white noise, covered by moans of titillation, sharp nails clawing at the bed sheets, and lips tracing wet skin. His oath to the Elders would become twisted and warped until he was swearing eternal fealty to his one true love...or whoever was atop him that night.
"...So no pets?" He finally asked.
Dhar-Mon shook his head, his eyes glued to the possum who was now trying to slide down his sleeve. "I was the Elder's greatest champion, given a palace meant to be immaculate...an animal would have tainted that image of myself."
"Truth be told, I always figured they liked Kon-Mai more." Gur-Rai sighed, holding out one arm so Pangu could climb onto him.
"They did." Dhar-Mon admitted.
"Huh?"
"They loved our sister-"
"No, I heard you say it, I just never thought I ever would." Gur-Rai pulled his arm into his lap, and Pangu plopped onto the bench.
"It is the truth, there is no reason to deny it." Even as he said that, Gur-Rai saw the twinge of sorrow in his eyes. "The Elders knew from the beginning that I was not enough. They put more into her than either of us."
"Hey, at least you got hair." Gur-Rai chuckled. "...And so did she. Fuck."
"I do not blame her for their favoritism." Dhar-Mon added. "After her failure to eliminate Betos, the Elders punished her in a worse way than they'd ever yet inflicted on me. For a time they talked of...reclaiming her."
That sent a chill up Gur-Rai's back. "...Maybe she was right to take herself out first." He muttered. "If she knew they were already set to kill her."
It was almost like clockwork, then, that they heard a scream, and the two brothers jumped to their feet.
"Was that Kon-Mai's voice?!" Dhar-Mon cried.
"Sounded like it!" Gur-Rai took off down the alley without waiting, and Dhar-Mon raced after him.
.
.
Malinalli was already feeling the stress of operating in a haven. It felt like she was in bootcamp again, and she thought she'd left that place far, far behind.
She hadn't realized so many of the Vipers had taken to starting families in the middle of a war, but she wished they'd given it a lick of thought as she pulled off her bloody gloves and set up the remaining eggs in an incubation tank. "Tell me there aren't more."
"That looks like the last of 'em." Chinonso, her fellow nurse, said in response. She, too, looked weary after their endeavor that morning. "I can sew her up, Molly."
"No, no, let me get on fresh-"
"Absolutely not, you've been working all morning without a break. Go eat something at least." She walked around to the unconscious Viper's oxygen tank and began to taper off the anesthesia. "I've got a watch on her."
"You're sure?" Malinalli didn't want to doubt her colleagues, but she felt so uneasy leaving only one person to clean up this whole mess.
"Malinalli. For God's sake, Tygan doesn't work as hard as you." Chinonso flicked her hands. "Go, shoo, before I call in your boyfriend to come get you~"
Malinalli blushed hard. "My huh?"
"Oh don't you play dumb~" Cinonso began to thread the surgical needle. "We've all seen you and Dhar-Mon making goo goo eyes at each other."
"Dhar-Mon and I are just friends." Malinalli retorted softly, in a way that was not at all convincing.
"Yeah, sure you are." Chinonso looked up and winked. "Keep telling yourself that."
"We are!"
"Well then I'll tell your 'friend' to come throw you over his shoulder and carry you out of here." She gave Malinalli a look that told her, in no uncertain terms, to scram.
She stepped out of the medical tent and into the hot desert sun, pulling her hair down from it's bun. Her scrubs were still covered in blood and fluid, but she just had to take a minute to breathe before-
"Malinalli!" A deep, booming voice called, and her eyes flew open, her body in full panic mode.
"Dhar-Mon?!" She instinctively froze, a chill going through her as she was suddenly surrounded by the smell of blood, by bright blue light, the golden statues, her screaming-
She felt his strong hands on her shoulders. "Malinalli, Kon-Mai has been burned!"
It took her a minute to register that he was there, even though he was standing right in front of her. She reached out, one hand on his chest, just making sure he was real…
And then his word caught up to her. "She is?! By what?"
"Acid to her face!" He bent down. "Are you alright? You look pale. Have I upset you?!"
"No..no I'm fine!." Malinalli went to tie her hair back up. "Lead the way! Wait, no, hold on…" She dashed back into the medical tent and grabbed the nearest medkit.
Chinonso looked up. "Something wrong?"
"Emergency, tell you later!" Malinalli spluttered and darted back outside, following Dhar-Mon as he led her towards the remains of the amphitheater.
.
.
The screams grew louder with every hour. No human being should have been able to break the sound barrier with merely their voice. But the humans had surprised them before, and no doubt they would again.
Tiyanak was so proud of this one. They had not been much involved in the birth of the Chosen, but this was what it must have felt like. This was their daughter. Their pride and joy.
She lay open on the table. Her organs were bare, her heart still beating, struggling but still beating. Underneath her battered ribcage, the scientists were already making the changes needed to her stomach, removing bits of tissue and replacing it with a tube-grown Digerian Gland. Her intestines were spun away, loop by loop, replaced with orb-like structures meant to filter out the "static" and only deliver the purest of psionic energy to her body. Her spleen was cut away, replaced with a Taux filter.
They felt a hand on their arm, warm and slightly damp. "My love."
Tiyanak reached out with their other arm and pulled Xezbeth close to them. "Isn't she lovely?" They asked their partner. "Isn't she divine?"
"Do you think the others-" Xezbeth began, but Tiyanak stopped them.
"It does not matter that they think. Only that they allow us to have her." They pressed their forehead against Xezbeth's and let out a soothing, psionic humm.
"Isn't life just beautiful?"
.
.
Kon-Mai refused to move her hand away from her face. She was somewhat thankful that the left eye had been the one hit by Nazira's defense, at least it was the one that didn't work. But the acidic blood had dripped down her cheek and her lip, cutting a path with it's descent. She could feel bits of skin peeling away, falling off in her hand-
Gur-Rai took her hand and tried to get her to budge. "I need to see it."
"No."
"I need to see how bad it is."
"Don't!" Her voice broke. "Don't look at me!"
"Sister, please." He knelt in front of her and through her blurred vision and tears, she saw his worried face. "Please let me help you."
Almost trusting her better judgement, she began to move…
"Look at what you have done!"
And her hands flew up to cover her shame once again. A sob escaped her cracked lips. "I do not need help! Just let me be, Gur-Rai!"
"Konnie, don't say that!" Gur-Rai sat beside her, pulling her into his arms, desperate to get her to move. "You're hurt, please please please let me help you."
"Do not look at me! I would rather burn than let my own negligence be ogled by you!"
"Konnie." Gur-Rai sounded so hurt by that.
"You did not earn any such torment." Zafar spoke up, from where he knelt along the stones. "This was not your fault." He looked to his own sister, who stood frozen with a look of overwhelming guilt clouding her face.
Heavy footsteps joined them, and Gur-Rai looked up, sighing in relief. "Fucking took you long enough! Kon-Mai, Malinalli's here. She's gonna fix you up."
Kon-Mai muttered something through her hands, but as Malinalli reached to pull them away from her face, she wrenched away from the nurse's grasp.
"Kon-Mai, I need to see the wound." Malinalli insisted. Dhar-Mon sat on the other side of his sister, rubbing her back.
She looked up, only one eye peeking through her fingers. "No." She hissed. "There is no cure for this." She heaved. "Let me be!"
Malinalli grimaced, her expression uncharacteristically harsh. "I saw you when you were half dead, unconscious on the operating table, intestines hanging on a rack.." She said calmly. "I've seen you at your worst, Konnie, and it wasn't enough to scare me away." She reached out and put a hand on her knee. "You're one of my closest friends. No, not friend: you're my family. And you need to let me help you."
"Sister." Gur-Rai said again. "I hate seeing you like this. You're still my baby sister and I'm still supposed to protect you…"
She peeked at him, one eye watering.
"You have always taken the brunt of the pain." Dhar-Mon added. "To cry is not to show weakness. Let us heal you, and this whole thing will fade into memory."
Kon-Mai seemed to take a shaken breath, and then pulled her finger away and pressed closer to Gur-Rai. "Do not look too long…"
Malinalli got closer, taking her chin in her hands. It really wasn't as bad as Kon-Mai had made it seem: the droplets of acid had cut a small indentation from her eye to her cheek, and the eyelid itself was burnt and crusted, but luckily the eyeball seemed untouched. She must have closed it before the attack.
Malinalli pulled a bottle of water and added a weak powder base, shaking it up. "I'm gonna flush the wound out first. Lean forward a bit for me?"
Gur-Rai shifted so he was holding his sister partially over the sand, and Malinalli worked on cleansing the remaining acid from her face. Kon-Mai winced a bit, but seemed to be holding well.
Finally patting the red wound dry, Malinalli turned to Dhar-Mon. "I'm going to hold the edges of the wound closed, Can you heal her?"
"Almost certainly." He already was gathering purple energy into his hands.
Gur-Rai wrapped an arm around Kon-Mai's shoulder and leaned her onto his chest. She tried to pull away, but his grip was true. "I gotchu Sis." She said softly. "I gotchu."
Dhar-Mon lifted Kon-Mai's head a little. She flinched at the direct sunlight, attempting to pull away, but Dhar-Mon grabbed her hand. "It's only me, Sister. No one else is looking except Molly.".
Malinalli reached up to her face, right under her eye, and began to pinch closed the wound, and Dhar-Mon pressed his fingers to her ragged face.
.
.
She wished she could open the window, but at this altitude? She'd have sucked all the furniture into the sky~
Still, Senuna could pretend that the air conditioning in her quarters was the evening air, and she took a deep breath as she stared out into the orange clouds.
"You know, I think we're going to win this time." She said.
No answer her at first, but then Zhang spoke. "Why?"
"Because." She shrugged.
"Just because?" Zhang chuckled, leaning on his cane. "Oh Sunny, even in a completely alien world, you always stay the same."
She looked back and smiled at him. "...Tell me a story."
"Of what?"
"Of your Triad days." She plopped down on her bed, her white cape fluttering around her. "You hardly ever talk about it."
"Because I regret most of it." Zhang sighed and leaned back. "But I suppose…how much do you know about Hong Kong?"
"It had a strained relationship with China." She replied. "I played a charity show there once. It was so loud and bright and lively…"
"Those lights hid a lot." He admitted. "But let's see. This was from...when I was about 23 or so. Still rather knew, but I'd been around the ropes a few times."
"I don;t think that's how the saying goes."
He ignored her. "I was waiting for a contact by myself by a very old train station."
"How old?"
"I didn't see a train come by once. The tracks were all wooden, which I suppose isn't weird in and of itself, but then the station creaked and groaned with the slightest wind, and I felt as though it was going to come down around me."
Senuna leaned forward, entranced.
"Well, I'm waiting, and waiting, and a good hour passes. My contact has not arrived. So I start to look around. Maybe they got lost."
"Did they?"
"To this day, I don't know." He sat back. "But after a while, I decide to start walking down the tracks, thinking I might find them. I kept walking and eventually, the tracks disappeared into a tunnel."
"Did you go in?"
"Yes, against my better judgement." He chuckled. "Inside the tunnel it was pitch black, I couldn't see the light at the other side. It would have been pointless to keep walking. And yet...once I began I couldn't stop."
Senuna smiled just a hair.
"The tunnel looked empty but I...felt things all around me. I was not alone in there."
"Were you scared?"
"Strangely? No." He stopped, one finger tapping the bulb on his cane. "...I would have felt more scared if I were alone. But whatever these things were, they were not there to hurt me. I was...encircled by them. Protected, even if I couldn't see them.
"Eventually, the tunnel came to an end and let out into a subway station. I took the train back and told the boss our client was a no show."
"What next?" Senuna asked. "Did you ever go back?"
"I tried." He sighed. "But I could never find that train station, or that tunnel, again."
.
.
The agony of existence was all she knew. It began when she was born, when she first heard the whispers of the universe within her feeble mind. It had never been enough to kill her, but it had ached along her brow on and off for years, just sharp enough for her to know something was wrong, but never enough to bring her to the edges of sanity. Instead she lingered in it's empty threshold.
Her mother, a cruel woman, had ignored her pleas for relief. Her little sisters, the favored ones, had hid from her. Her father? God knew where he was. And so in her pain she lashed out. She struck at her sisters. She cursed her mother. But she never lied.
The cycle repeated. Ignorance. Pain. Anger. Lashing. Repeat until the peacekeepers kicked down their door, and they handed her over without a second thought.
At the beginning, all she felt was pain. The doctor's knives, the drills, the lasers, blood, her blood, their blood as she fought back. But then time passed and that pain pushed her so close to the brink, she was left clawing at the edges of her mind, begging to be killed, just to make it stop…
Tiyanak, her parent, her creator, took her chin in their weathered hands and wiped away her tears, meeting her red eyes. "You are perfect." They said. "You are perfect in this pain."
And with that, she broke. Pushed over the precipice, the drills and knives and blood became her safety, her Elder's hands became her cradle.
Xezbeth themselves lifted her from the table, their hunched back curling around her like a womb. The sweet smell of decay flooded her nostrils and it was glorious.
Her two masters stood over her as they lowered her into the acid bath, into the tube that would strip away the last of her human flaws and reveal her true potential to the world.
"You are ready."
.
.
The darkness of the medical tent was a relief from the oppressive sun. Kon-Mai's eye was still slightly burning, but Malinalli had assured her that the acid had all been flushed away, and that the residual feeling was likely her eye trying to clear itself.
She stared into her cup of tea, at the blurry outline of her face. Completely mended, barely a mark on her, perhaps a bit of a faint line on her cheek but nothing noticeable. It was like she was never wounded.
She felt silly. And then she felt bad. She should not have reacted in such a way. It was uncouth, bad form. She had snapped at her brother, and surely alienated their potential allies. Kon-Mai straightened her back and tried to alleviate herself of the idea that her meltdown had lost her the respect of her students.
The tent flap fluttered aside ever so slightly. Speaking of her students, Nazira hesitantly poked her head in. "...You awake in here?"
"Are you inquiring for entry?" Kon-Mai put her tea on the stone table before her. "You may come inside."
Nazira stepped into the shade, her arms hugging her scrawny body. "I came to apologize."
"Apologize…?" Kon-Mai wondered if her expression truly conveyed the confusion she felt.
"I shouldn't have reacted that way and I shouldn't have hurt you." Nazira sat across from her, her legs crossed. "I should've known you weren't going to hurt me."
"You reacted to my attacking you." Kon-Mai shook her head.
"You were training me, I think in that circumstance it was definitely an overreaction."
"Did I not tell you your enemy will not fight fair?" Kon-Mai downed the last of her tea.
Nazira scoffed. "It doesn't matter. I don't think the sword is my thing, honestly."
Kon-Mai's heart dropped. "A shame...you are quite talented."
"You think so?" Nazira shook her head. "No. That's a slippery slope. Besides, I'm more of a lover than a fighter."
"That is perfectly valid." Kon-Mai nodded. "As long as you can defend yourself."
Nazira laughed. "I don't think that will be an issue. If I could do a number on the Chosen Assassin of all people-"
"Shrinemaiden." Kon-Mai corrected her.
"You too, hm? You all really want to rebrand yourselves."
"I want to distance myself from the Elders." Kon-Mai annunciated each word.
"Well, I can't blame you, I did the same thing."
There was a bit of awkward silence between the two, and Kon-Mai took the opportunity to speak.
"I am sorry for my outburst." She said. "It was not fair to you. You should not have had to see me in such a state."
Nazira blinked. "Such a state…? Your face was melting off." She scoffed. "Honestly, I would have screamed too!"
Kon-Mai stared at her lap. "I should have maintained my composure. It was unbecoming of me."
"You can't be serious."
"I am, and I want you to know I am sorry." Kon-Mai met Nazira's eyes (green like her blood). "I hope you can forgive me."
"Absolutely not." Nazira jumped to her feet. "Because there's nothing to forgive! I hurt you, Kon-Mai, and you reacted! That's not losing composure!"
"I am the Shrinemaiden." Kon-Mai felt her own blood boiling. "I have an image I must maintain, a face I must present to the world, and I cannot let it slip. Or I will fail, just like before."
"Fail in what?" Nazira asked her pointedly, and Kon-Mai did not have an answer. Perhaps it was good, then that the tent flap fluttered aside and Gur-Rai poked his head in.
"Have either of you girls seen Pangu?"
.
.
Imdugud did not like following Xezbeth and Tiyanak toward anywhere they were excited to go. Xezbeth had no filter but at least he knew what to expect from them. Tiyanak was almost as cunning as their masters.
They led him down the dark, slick hallways of their personal laboratory. The scientists he did see all avoided his gaze, mulling about as if in a trance. Within the closed doors, he heard various screams of abject horror. It was enough to make even his skin crawl.
Tiyanak pushed open one of the doors. "See for yourself. She is ready."
Imdugud looked them in the face. "I swear upon the stars, if this is a trap-"
"No traps. No tricks." Tiyanak reached out and pushed the door open. "Dua-Zoar. Please, step forward." From the darkness, a glowing purple light emerged as the new hybrid stepped into view.
The alien woman wore intricate armor, carved with Etheric runes like the Priests, but her purple eyes were merely covered by a black and purple visor. Atop her head was a red crest sprouting from her skull. Her molted skin was crimson as blood. In one hand she held what appeared to be a modified stun baton, but the edges had been sharpened, and the tip was a deadly point.
Imdugud drifted toward her, and she looked up at him, then past him at her creator.
"Bow, child." Tiyanak told her.
Dua-Zoar knelt on one knee.
"She is the last of the Holy Lancers." Tiyanak said. "Our newest creation."
"How much did this cost?" Imdugud grumbled.
Tiyanak was silent, but Xezbeth spoke their mind. "You see the miracle of life before you, and all you can think to ask is how much we spent?"
"Need I remind you two that WE ARE IN DEBT?!" Imdugud whirled around. "We do not have time or resources to waste on this frivolous expenditure! You were supposed to make Priests!"
"Do you honestly expect a Priest could have taken in the Chosen Assassin?" Tiyanak chuckled. "You will find that these elite warriors are built to hunt them. They are nearly as powerful, and infinitely more loyal."
"Really now?" Imdugud looked at his papers. "...How many did you make?"
"50 to start. But we can expedite production on more."
"No, we're straining resources as it is. But if she's here already..." He turned back to Dua-Zoar, who stared up at him, her purple eyes cutting into his soul.
"Will you obey me like your master?" Imdugud asked.
*"I am yours to do with as you please."* Dua-Zoar said in a voice that bounced off the walls and shattered on his feeble frame.
"Good." He reached down and laid a crooked hand on her cheek. "Might as well make use of what we have."
Summary: This chapter begins with Tiyanak and Xezbeth, another pair of married Elders, kidnapping a human woman for use in their experiments. Their goal is to create a servant that is strong enough to take down the Chosen, and still be loyal to them. By the end of the chapter, Imdugud, another Elder, is introduced to Dua-Zoar, a Holy Lancer and the result of the aforementioned experiments.
At the oasis, Kon-Mai begins training Zafar and Nazira in sword fighting. While Zafar does well, accepting his defeat at the hands of the master. Nazira becomes startled and sprays Kon-Mai with acidic blood, wounding her eye. Kon-Mai's brothers hear her screaming, and while Gur-Rai goes to comfort her, Dhar-Mon rushes to get Malinalli. At first, Kon-Mai refuses treatment due to past trauma, however Malinalli eventually gets her to open up, and is able to heal the wound.
(Hello my dudes! Sorry this one is a bit late. Luckily, I had a burst of inspiration in the last couple of days, something I dearly needed. The fires in my county are about halfway contained, so I think the danger of evacuation is over. However, if the next chapter is also late, you can thank my incoming school work lol.
Last thing: I want to thank everyone who has been asking questions on my Tumblr as of late! They're a real blast to answer and you guys come up with the most interesting questions. If you want to ask the characters anything, check out either the dedicated blog, chosenstories or my personal blog, witharsenicsauce .)