Mari finally made it back to her room, exhausted. She shut the door after bidding Ja'far goodnight. She was just about to get to bed when she heard a soft rattling from the corner of the room. She sighed, having already had enough scares for one night, but got up and roamed around in the dark, listening for the noise to come again.
The soft rattling grew louder when Mari when close to her dresser and she wondered if it was some kind of animal around.
She slipped the drawer open and looked inside to see the clothes that Ata had given her. She tilted her head in question and reached inside to find the small sliver of metal she'd picked up from the market earlier. It buzzed in her hand and Mari dropped it back into the drawer in shock.
But then, she heard somebody wailing, and crying, and groaning as if they were in pain and Mari was sure it was no one from outside and it had to be someone from in her room.
She looked around a bit. She hadn't noticed it before but the voice was so familiar. She slowly made her way back to her drawer and slipped her hand down to the silver metal. It was glowing now and rattling in her hand and the wailing became louder and louder.
"H-hey now." She cooed watching and hearing the wailing voice waver as it heard her voice.
"Don't cry." She leaned down to kiss the metal in her palm. The voice wavered again before silencing. "There there, it's okay now." She smoothed over the metal and sat next to the bed.
"Mind telling me your name?" She cooed to the metal, it's silver color tinted by it's green glow.
The voice from the metal was familiar, it's shaky tone jumping intervals and cracking every so often in the soft wails it gave. "n-name?"
"Yes your name, darling." She ran another finger over the metal feeling the energy in her palm relax a bit.
"m-my name is...Mauru." the voice stated, a slight shiver in his voice.
"That's lovely." Mari smiled lightly, feeling the metal rattle in her hand.
"W-would you like to come out?" She asked, watching the metal closely. At first there was no answer. "No one can hurt you here." Mari said again, her voice a bit softer.
There was a long silence before the metal glowed a certain shade and a soft mist began to rest around the room. She closed her eyes. Mari waited until the air was dense and comepletely clouded before she opened them again, the room filled with an odd presence. She remained silent feeling the mist around her tighten until a figure began to rise. The clouds shifted and a small spark lit in the fog.
"Do you promise?" The voice trembled again as Mari watched the fog.
"I promise." Mari spoke, making the fog shift even more. The figure emerged more, dark limbs and scarred hands twisting around the spark. It was an eye, Mari concluded. The spark flickered and was joined by another before facial features began to appear. She reached out and touched his cheek, making the fog disperse around him.
The body was red, probably from heat and the scars seem like they were still painful. They were painful to look at. But he seemed so familiar. She watched as it materialized more.
It was the man from before. In the arena. The scarred body was unforgettable.
The figure finally stood and Mari stared up at the taller body.
"You're tall." Mari said, looking up at him. He sat down on the ground, making himself small that before, almost to the size of Mari herself. A childish face appeared, where the pained one had been. The small child had less scars and bright red eyes, to match his equally red face. Was he hot?
He gave a small breath and looked around to inspect the room. He seemed content after a few glances and sat relaxed in front of Mari, who watched him carefully.
"What are you?" Mauru finally said. Mari jumped.
"What do you mean?" She asked, staring back at his face. He wasn't looking at her anymore.
"I'm a human, same as anyone else." She shrugged. She was nothing special.
"But at the arena, you were…like a monster." Mari stared back at the horned boy and couldn't help but giggle. The face he gave was beyond funny and hearing the words from a monster himself was funny in it's own.
Mauru blushed. "W-what?" he grumbled, seeming to pout.
"Your one to talk." She smiled and he directed his attention elsewhere, hiding his blush.
"You know what I mean." He grunted.
"But you're different from the arena." Mari said.
"I'm a shapeshifter. I can shift to the shape that my master desires." He looked directly at her, his red eyes piercing.
"Well I don't mind your other form. Or any form you'd like." Mari watched him tilt his head in confusion. "Do you have a preferred form?" She leaned up and touched one of scars on his shoulder. He gave a small gasp, and shuddered away.
"I'm sorry! Did I hurt you?" Mari pulled her hand away quickly.
"N-no!" He grabbed her hand and brought it to his lips, kissing softly. "I-I like your touch. It doesn't hurt me." He nuzzled her hand and she giggle.
"You can be your favored form if you like. I don't mind."
The boy began to glow again, his body burning a bit as he began to change again, his body growing bigger and his face becoming older. His eyes were still the same. His hair grew longer and fell, more like spilled, over his shoulders, reaching down to the mid-back.
His horns became even longer and a bit sharper and more curved and Mari slide back to avoid being poked.
When the red finally faded, there stood a man as tall as one of the others were, with big red eyes and claws that scratched the ground.
Now that, was a monster. Mauru finally sat back down and watched Mari for a while.
"Do I disgust you now, master?" As he talked, large pointed fangs were seen protruding from his mouth. He looked like he expected her to say yes, which gave him a pissed off kind of expression.
"Not at all." She reached up and moved her fingers over the rough horn, causing Mauru to give a slight jump and lower his head.
"Your fine the way you are." He gave a slight whimper and lowered his head even more, his cheek touching the cool surface of the ground. Supposedly, the sensation was nice to him.
He gave a mumbled and soon he was snoring softly on the ground.
"Silly thing. Don't sleep on the floor!"
I'm really sorry for the Arabian mispronunciation a bunch of chapters back! A guest commented that Xouf was spelt wrong. It's written Khouf and pronounced (kou-oof). I'm really sorry to all this offended. I apologize for the mistake, I was trying my best to make things as accurate as possible. I won't be doing things like that anymore, so don't worry! Thank you for informing me that it was wrong and sorry that I didn't do as well as would be exceptionable.