The midday air was hot and sticky on my skin. Pants left my lips, but I couldn't stop now. Stopping meant letting the Cearte capture me, and I couldn't get caught.

"How much longer?" I tried to ask Eldrazi, but the words were scratchy, my throat dry, the constant Dust in the air anything but a help. "When can I finally stop?"

"I... I don't know, Gav," he answered. "I don't know."

It had been so long since that day– almost a year– but it might as well have been yesterday from how fresh it all still felt. I could still hear the echo of Cynwrig's words, see the torn, bloodied mess that had once been my mother, and I'd never, never been able to stop since.

Somehow, I missed the sight of a raised root, and my boot caught, body launching forward until my face was ground against the dirt, pebbles and sand scratching at my cheeks. Tears welled in my eyes, and I hardly had the will to push myself up again. Not that I wanted to be caught here, but with how long I'd travelled the countryside, looking for Cynwrig... It seemed so pointless. I was never going to find him. I'd be killed first.

Movement sounded on my right, and I flinched, panic lacing through me. I shouldn't have stopped, shouldn't have even wasted time thinking. Now Eldrazi and I would die, and as the sight of white robes drew closer, I scrambled to my feet, prepping to sprint once more.

"Don't run, Serpent."

Perhaps it was because I'd merely been a child then, no more than ten and one. Perhaps it was because stopping was all my body had longed to do, but I'd stayed at the man's words, back turned. "Why shouldn't I?"

"Because I've been tracking you for quite some time now, and I've an offer you can't refuse."

It was then that I turned to look over my shoulder to find not a Cearte, but an Eunsi dressed in all white, with feathery wings and ears to match. A fabric mask was fixed to the lower half of his face to keep out the Dust that was so common in Tercia, blocking most of his features from sight, save for his blue eyes. In fact, it was the only pigment to him save for the arrangement of golden medallions down his long burka. A noble, Eldrazi was quick to inform me. They always ranked in wing colours.

Still, Cearte or not, I reached to pull my bow off my back, even though the man surely had plenty of magik at his disposal. It made me feel safer as I lifted it with my chin, facing him. "What do you want?"

"I think the better question–" The man held up his hands to show no weapons as he continued to approach. "-is what do you want from me? You see, I've heard about you, Serpent. Your face is plastered even so far as Tercia for your crimes."

"They aren't my crimes," I spat through grit teeth, not even bothering to keep the venom out of my voice. I didn't anger Tachir'. I didn't make him take my brother from me and slaughter hundreds on his violent quest to end both me and my Demon. The only thing I'd ever done was be born a Dávoln, although maybe that was enough for the man to warrant my death. Offer or not, I doubted he was different from the others.

"Actually, I was hoping that they were. After all, we both can help each other." He chuckled, spreading taloned fingers confidently. "I have a way to conceal your... curse. You wouldn't be hurt by constantly maintaining a Human form, because underneath you could always look like– well– this." He lazily waved to the whole of me, up and down, his voice anything but pleasant. "Magik sensing, basic detection, you could be immune to all of it."

I narrowed my eyes. "I know all about Eunsis and your illusions. In case you haven't heard, Dávolns always keep one thing Demon and Human about them. I personally can't use magik. Your deal is useless."

"Ah-ah." The man shook his head with a smile. "Not an illusion. Not magik. Technology. In short, I have connections in Ulnter, and they've made quite the advancements over the years. They're the ones that deal with shifting, and I have no doubt they could solve your little conundrum. Imagine something akin to a bracelet. If you wear it, you look Human, no matter the form you really are beneath."

My ears pricked at that. It sounded perfect. Almost too perfect. "And what would you expect me to do in return?"

"Oh, a simple task, really." He dismissively waved his hand again. "I offer you safe passage back to Tercia as my 'prisoner', and once you're there, you eliminate an Eunsi noble by the name of Mylan. Surely an easy mission for a low-life such as yourself."

The insult stung, but it was far from the worst I'd suffered. In my chest, I could feel Eldrazi recoil at the idea of killing someone but...

Wouldn't it be worth it? I asked him. I was so, so tired of running.

"But we don't know if the man deserves it. Eunsis are Immortal, Gav. They don't just come back. To send someone to Astren... I don't know. What's if 'e's lyin'?"

Does he seem like he is? I flicked the forks of my tongue from my mouth, but I couldn't taste any hesitation from the man. He was speaking the truth.

Eldrazi was quiet for a while. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

I mulled it over, but it didn't take me long. Yes. I'm sick of this. I've killed Cearte before to save myself, and this is no different. Once I have this technology, we will never have to kill again.

Besides, I told him a moment later. Didn't you say Tercian nobles kept slaves? This Mylan person is probably no better than the rest of them. It's not as though I'd be killing an innocent.

I heard a sigh in the back of my mind. "If... that's what you want Gav. I'm just 'ere for the ride."

I sent him a mental thank you in return. That was one thing I always appreciated about him: his understanding. Because it wasn't as though I liked killing people. Everytime, it sent shivers down my spine, staining my thoughts with ghastly images and leaving me to feel disgusted, unable to sleep. I didn't want to be a murderer. But maybe... maybe if I took out just one rotten person, things would get better. I wouldn't be chased, and I could find Cynwrig to stop Tachir' too. Then all of the senseless slaughter would be over.

"Well?" The man asked, pulling me out of my head. "What's your answer?"

I opened my eyes, my bow lowering to my side as I gave him a curt nod.

"I'll do it."

☽◯☾

And so I came to find myself in an Eunsi noble's bedroom at midnight. Perhaps it should've come as no surprise to me that my target was the older brother of the man that had hired me— Sidriel, as I came to learn later. People with power often used ill-gotten means to stay there or rise higher, but that wasn't my business. My only goal, once he'd snuck me into the estate and to the man's room, was to sink my fangs into him and leave with my prize. No more questions needed to be asked.

Right before Sidriel had left, he'd told me his brother would be following soon, which didn't leave much time. Still, I wanted the element of surprise, and I kicked off my boots, shifting into my Dávoln form. Scales began to coat the pads of my feet and hands, and I moved closer to the wall, feeling the soft wool adhered to the decorative paper plastered there. It was a bit harder to grip onto than stone, but the scales on my hands still managed to find enough notches and crevices to allow me to climb, eventually crawling to flip up onto the ceiling to stare at the floor below. All the man needed to do now was enter, and I'd have him.

I tried to quell the constant, uncomfortable squirming within me from Eldrazi, although that was getting harder with each passing moment. The churning of regret in my stomach was already bad enough. I didn't need him doubling it. Stop, I told him. I need to do this. I have to... for both of us. Besides, didn't you spy and kill off Eunsis when you were alive? What's one more?

I could hear him wetting his lips, thinking his answer over. "It was a different life Gav, and I killed the ones I 'ad to t' escape. It wasn't because I was unde' orders. I was never unde' orders."

It was then that the man entered, and I held my breath. He looked much like his brother: blue eyes, tall, grey hair despite the fact he was meant to live forever.

Not that he was going to.

The second he closed the door, I released my grip on the ceiling, falling towards him with a hiss. A cry broke out as I landed on his back. I quickly choked it off, wrapping my arm around his neck. It was hard to hold on, with him flapping his wings and thrashing wildly, but I curled my legs around him, pressing tight. Then I craned my head down, opening my mouth to sink my fangs into his shoulder.

A shock slammed through me as the man tumbled back, careening me into the wall before I could bite. An ache thundered through my skull. I tried to push past it, to maintain my hold, but he only flung me into the wall again and again until I released, becoming a crumpled heap on the floor. My head spun, panic only growing as icy fingers pressed against my throat, forcing me into standing.

Unfeeling eyes scanned over me, finally landing on my ears, only slightly tipped from Eldrazi's minor influence. "A Dávoln?" he asked. "What is one of you doing in my estate?"

Since lying was out of the question, intimation seemed either better, or neutral at worst. I narrowed my gaze, lip pulling back to bare the very fangs I planned to do him in with. "Killing you."

"Bold words." He hummed. "But like the others, I'm afraid you missed your chance." His eyes closed in a simple prayer, and I could feel the air stirring around me. Magik, but I realised it far too late as the cold feeling of Eór's Will built up, a whip suddenly filling the man's outstretched hand. Its end was wrapped around me, emanating enough magik to burn, and I writhed beneath its touch. In another hand, the magik shimmered to shape a blue dagger which pressed along my ribs.

I shivered, a whimper escaping my trembling lips as a sharp, stinging red began to blossom where he pressed. The man however, only sighed as he worked the dagger further beneath my flesh. "Goodness Sidriel. Not even a half competent assassin this time. What? Did he drag you out of the most decrepit slums he could find? Dirty thing." He shook his head. "Well, I sincerely hope you were paid upfront."

His face pressed close enough for me to taste the tobacco on his breath, and the dagger's path grew too hot for me to think clearly. Only enough to lay there and die.

"May Astren treat you well, D—"

"Ah shut up already, wouldja?"

"Excuse me?" the man asked, raising a brow, but Eldrazi paid him no mind as I could feel our jaw working to form a wad of saliva, and with that, he spat at the man, purple venom dripping down his face.

It splattered into his eye, his neck, a sharp, acidic hiss sounding as the flesh squirmed and bubbled. The man screamed, and I found the whip loosening around my bones, the dagger retreating as the Eunsi reached up to claw at his face, running to his bedside as if the sheets there could dab the pain away. Nausea swelled in my gut, but I didn't have time to watch further as Eldrazi bolted our legs into action, and then we were taking off down the hallway.

"What... what was that?" I tried to ask him between my pounding breaths as we raced past several doors only to find the last one locked. "What did we just do?"

Eldrazi wasted very little time clawing our fingers frantically into the wood before giving up, trying the next knob. This one turned. "... I killed 'im Gav, not us. Don't go blamin' yourself for something like that." The room opened up into a swarm of servants, but as Eldrazi whipped one of my mother's knives from our belt, most screamed and tore to the sides to stay out of our way. It was lucky, but as shouts and calls to arms continued to sound behind us, it wouldn't last.

"It was horrible. I—" I bit our lip, unable to blink away the image of the man's cheek being eaten away until I could see through to the teeth beneath. "I didn't know we could do that."

"Well, if you've gone and learned your lesson by now, then 'opefully, we never will again," he answered, spinning around as the scene changed to what seemed to be the servant's quarters of the estate. Or perhaps it was the room they worked in, given the tables of folded and sorted clothes. Whatever it was, it certainly wasn't an exit. The only thing in here other than the furniture was a girl about my age with orange wings pressed up at the end of the corner, watching us with wide eyes.

With a tisk, Eldrazi wheeled back around to the door, but I could see the hall filled with more guards than I could count, equipped with shining khopeshes to run us through. My heart beat ever louder, and I quickly slammed the door shut and threw the bolt across, though we both knew it wouldn't hold for long.

Regret flooded through me as I continued to stare. We were trapped. Even if we did open the door, there was no getting past all of them, and eventually, they'd burst their way in here, soon, if the violent thudding against the wood was any indication. Eldrazi had tried his best, but this was as far as we were getting.

Tears built up in my eyes until they broke free to stream down my face. "I'm sorry Eldrazi. I'm so sorry. I should've listened to you."

"It's fine," he answered, though I could feel just how far from it he was, every muscle of ours twitching like an animal in a cage. "It's fine! I'll get us outta 'ere, don't w—"

We were interrupted by the feelings of talons sinking into our arm, and I nearly flinched out of our skin. Turning our head the slightest bit, I glanced over our shoulder to find the Eunsi maid no longer pressed against the corner. Her blue eyes sought deeply into mine from beneath light brown bangs, and I trembled from their intensity.

Then they flicked to the door. "Did you do it?" she asked, and I was surprised at how soft her voice was, gentle as her gaze returned to me. "Is Lord Mylan gone?"

"Y-yes?" I nodded, not sure what exactly to tell her. Could I truly get in any worse trouble for admitting what Eldrazi had done?

She gasped, mouth falling open, but she quickly closed it, nodding herself as she let go, waving us over to the wall. At first, I was confused, but then she opened up a latch there, opening up a door into a long, dark laundry chute.

"Come with me," she whispered, and as the door began to splinter in behind me, I didn't argue. I only climbed in with the orange-winged girl behind.

The chute was dreadfully cold, wind whipping along my back and arms as I continued to slide further away from the estate. Part of me dreaded that the fast fall would come to a hard, deadly end, but eventually I landed into a soft mountain of fabric, cloth billowing around me.

Then a foot slammed into my head, an ache spreading along my back as the girl tumbled into me with a short cry. Hastily, I shoved her away, frantically pushing myself to standing.

"Where are we? Why are you helping me?" I demanded, scanning the area around us until I noticed that the girl's hands were shaking, and that her bare arms held only scars, not feathers, same as her ears. Those were round, Human, and my mind started putting it together faster than she answered.

"Because," she continued with a giggle. "You saved me!"

I froze. "I... what?"

"You saved me!" She stretched out a finger to tap my nose, and I didn't try to move as I stood there, confused. "Do you know how long I've been enslaved here? Working for that- that—" She gave up, instead spreading her arms to spin around in a small dance before falling into the laundry. "Never mind. The point is, you and me, we're the same, and now we can escape!"

"The same?" I repeated. We certainly didn't look the same, and really, I didn't have time to argue with this girl. If Eldrazi's insistent nag within my chest meant anything, I ought to be running and trying every wall within this laundry room until I found the exit. But I didn't want to yet, far more curious about the girl in front of me. "What do you mean? Are you..." I squinted at her. "Are you a Dávoln?"

"Mhm!" She nodded. "Well, the Eunsi kind, but still basically the same." She ran up, grabbing my hand so tightly it warmed my cheeks. I wasn't used to people being so.... Touchy. "I've been trapped here for years until you came to save me. Thank you!"

"Oh, it's nothing. Really." I quickly pulled my hand away, not able to take it any longer. She seemed to take the hint, instead moving to start climbing down the clothes pile towards what I could only assume was an exit. I followed.

"That's not true. It definitely was something," she said before holding out a single palm. After closing her eyes, a small, heatless white light bloomed in her hand, letting her see as she continued to walk. "So, if it wasn't to help us, then why'd you do it?"

"I..." I trailed off, biting my lip. "It probably sounds selfish, but I was promised a reward for killing him. Something that could hide all of this." I gestured down to myself, specifically my tail. "I just wanted to be free."

"What?" the girl gasped, and suddenly she was taking hold of my hand again. It felt warm, and this time, I didn't pull away. "That's not selfish at all! People like us deserve to be free. We deserve to live in the open just like anyone else, without Cearte and whips and—"

She stopped, and I tried not to look again at the scars along her body. Instead I focused on the growing light of an exit before us, and with it, the telltale taste of Dust. "Yes well, I think that's impossible at this point," I told her, the words numb. "It wasn't supposed to be. Things were supposed to get better but I think if I went back to collect my reward now, they'd kill me."

Which meant I put Eldrazi in danger for nothing. My chest tightened, but I managed to clear my throat, setting that all aside to continue. "So, while I appreciate your help, once I'm out of here, you should go."

After all, as kind as she seemed, it's not as though people like us could have friends beyond the other soul we'd been born with. A family, a future... it just wasn't meant to be, and with how infamous I'd become, it was better for the girl to run the other way once the damp tunnel we were in came to an end. She'd be safer that way.

"What if it wasn't impossible?"

"What?"

The tunnel was ending now, leading to an open courtyard. Dust swirled around our feet, as black as the tainted desert sand of this place. It whipped painfully with the wind, tearing through my cloak and tunic, not nearly as suited to the environment as the Eunsi Dávoln's baggy beige pants and strange half-shirt. Still, even as I frowned at the smoky sky, I could see her smiling through it to the sun.

"When you work for nobles, you hear things sometimes, and once, when I was serving coffee to his guests, I overheard Lord Mylan talking about the Relics of Akasha."

"What?" I repeated, my mind suddenly remembering the legends my mother used to read me as a child, only a year ago. "But those are just stories. They're not real."

"But the Cearte said they were!" she argued back, putting her hands on the fabric scarf tied around her hips. "Unless you're calling me a liar?"

"Huh? N-no, of course not!" I quickly sputtered, hating how I could hear Eldrazi mocking me from the back of my mind. "I'm not saying that at all. Just that..."

"It sounds too good to be true?" she asked, and I nodded.

"Well—" She dug the toe of her sandal into the blackened sand. "So did the idea of me ever getting saved from Mylan. I'd... given up on a lot of things, actually."

Her voice trembled, and I froze at the sight of tears building in her beautiful eyes, as blue as the skies in storybooks. Her wings folded tight against her back, and for some reason, I went to wrap my arms around them.

"Please don't cry," I said, feeling her shake beneath me. Each one caused my heart to clench, ache in a way that made me want to do something to help. An idea formed in my mind, and I wanted to toss it aside, because it was foolish. Even more foolish and reckless than the situation I'd just gotten out of.

And yet, I was drawing back, my hand lifting to brush the girl's light brown hair from her wet face, and mouth opening before I could stop it. "We can help you get the Relics. Eldrazi and I."

"We can what?" Eldrazi shouted in the back of my head, enough to make it ache.

"Really?" she asked, gasping, hands clasping in front of her chest. "You would do that for me?"

"O-of course." I gave her a sheepish smile. "I mean, how much more trouble could I honestly get in? I'm already wanted."

"Oh thank you!" she cried, and her arms shot out, her weight flung against me as her wings beat, until I was thrown back flat onto the sand with a cry. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"Mhm," I hummed, not able to get much more out with the girl on top of me, her long hair falling onto my shoulders, and round cheeks caught up in the widest, most grateful grin. She was so happy, and for some reason, that made me happy too. So I laid there, arms above my head, and face tilting up to ask one more question. After all, we were going to be working together now, supposedly. "So, what's your name?"

"I'm Niamh, and my Eunsi's name is Imael," she replied cheerfully, getting up and offering me a hand, which I took. "What about you?"

"Gavin, and Eldrazi." I brushed myself off, trying to keep my face tipped down so she couldn't see the wide, moronic smile I was struggling to keep off it. It was nice, being able to be so open, to have someone like me as we turned away from the manor, towards— well, the Relics, I supposed. An entire new mission, one that felt so wild and dangerous and completely beyond my ability.

Except this time, I wouldn't be alone.

"What am I? The bones ya leave out for dogs?" Eldrazi demanded, but I shoved his jealousy aside with a chuckle.

It's not like that, 'Drazi, I explained. This is... something different. Something new.

"And you're sure it's somethin' you really wanna do?" he asked, and if I closed my eyes, I could see the Demon standing there in the depths of my mind, the headspace far more yellow than I was used to. His arms were crossed, boot tapping as he bent forward, squinting golden eyes to inspect me. "Really, really sure? You just got outta one nasty mission, and now you're recklessly jumpin' right into another?"

Sure. Why not? I asked, only half paying attention to the conversation as Niamh grabbed my arm to point excitedly at a bird circling the sky, telling me what kind it was. Besides, since when have you ever been against stealing?

He paused, lips pursing, and I knew I'd piqued his interest as he gave a fanged grin. "You make a good point. Very well. You two 'ave my blessing."

For some reason, that just made my cheeks even more hot. Don't say it like that!

Still, as his obnoxious laughter echoed through my thoughts, with Niamh softly giggling at my side, I could only bring myself to smile. Because, it was as I'd said: This was something new, and maybe Eldrazi was right and this was reckless, but if it was, then for once, I was more than ready to see exactly where it led.