It had been such a short time, less than a decade, compared to all his years of living, yet still it seemed like all the loneliness and sorrow had been completely erased from his heart. It also felt like the time itself had slowed down. Instead of letting months and years just pass, he treasured each and every moment with Aslan, the sorcerer who had sought him out and never left his side since the day they had met.

At first living among humans had felt strange, and his demeanor had surely attracted a lot of unwanted attention, but Aslan had patiently covered for him until he had learned to act like one of them. Even when Aslan had been invited to the capital to serve as the emperor's magician, nobody had suspected that he'd be anything else than his apprentice.

"Janos! Are you awake?"

Good timing. He languidly stretched under the covers. The sorcerer had been gone all night – and very insistent that he should not accompany him -, and he had just been thinking if he should track him down.

The door to their bedroom was slammed open. Aslan looked completely disheveled and out of breath.

Janos rolled out of bed and walked up to him. "What's wrong?"

The first answer he got was a passionate kiss, like the sorcerer was trying to devour him. Not that he minded.

Then Aslan pulled back and took a few deep breaths before looking Janos straight into the eyes, his expression somber. "Get dressed. I need you to deliver something to the palace."

That was disappointing. "Now?"

"Yes. Right now."

It was strange to see Aslan this serious and...rushed. He pouted briefly, but as that had no effect on the sorcerer at all, hurried to don his clothes.

Aslan handed him a sealed envelope with a mark he had never seen before. "What is this?" he asked.

The sorcerer gave him a lingering kiss on the lips. "I will explain everything later. I promise. Just hurry now."

~*~*~

Janos really didn't understand what was going on as he walked back home from the palace. He had met with the captain of the imperial guard, who had thanked him for bringing such important information and stated that they'd handle things from now on. Overall, that man had made his hackles rise. Aslan better have a very good explanation ready.

The huge bell in the central plaza was ringing, its sound reaching to the farthest corners of the city and pulling curious citizens to see what was happening.

Janos growled low in his throat, a habit Aslan had tried to discourage all along but failed. Everything was already too strange today. He didn't want to deal with anything more.

But that wish was completely in vain. As he reached their house, he saw that the front door had been torn off its hinges. Aslan was nowhere to be seen, and there was a small puddle of fresh blood on the floor of his study.

Janos dipped one finger in the liquid, sniffed it and then brushed it against his tongue. Without a doubt Aslan's. And the room smelled of steel and magic and sweaty humans. And...something else he couldn't quite name. Something old and dangerous.

His growling increased in volume. Nobody hurt Aslan without consequences. He hurried back to the street. He'd find them. And then he'd kill them. No matter who or what they were.

He followed Aslan's scent at first and, when he lost it among all the smells of the city, the stronger scent of that something else. After what felt like an eternity he finally reached the central square, now packed with a curious crowd. Determined not to stop, he pushed his way through.

There were imperial soldiers keeping the citizens at bay from a large cage shaped like a ball cut in half and bolted to the stones of the plaza. A man was standing next to it and reading something from a long scroll. Janos didn't pay any attention to what he was saying. Because inside the cage sat Aslan, one of his sleeves bloody, but otherwise unharmed.

"Aslan!" he called out as he rushed forward.

Two guards grabbed his arms as he tried to move past them.

"Let go of me!" he screamed at them. "He's-"

A punch to his stomach cut his words short.

"Quiet," one of the soldiers warned in low voice. "If they as much as think you're his accomplice, you will burn too."

Janos's heart skipped a beat. Now he remembered why that old scent had seemed somehow familiar. An immortal creature like him, but of flames and fury. He could see it, the small metal vessel this embodiment of destruction slumbered in. Inside the same cage Aslan was trapped in. And none of these people watching would make a move to help him.

"Let him go," another voice put in. The captain he had delivered the letter to. "He helped in the sorcerer's capture. He's not involved."

Janos barely heard him. His entire attention was focused on the metal vessel that was starting to glow red from the heat within. The moment the guards released him he ran to the cage as fast as he could. "Aslan!"

"Janos..." Aslan smiled softly and reached between the bars to take his hands. "Please walk away. I want you safe. I promise, I will explain everything later."

"You don't understand! You'll die!"

The bars were heating up, the inside of the cage glowing with eerie crimson radiance.

Aslan's eyes wouldn't leave his. "I will find you," he mouthed and then pushed Janos away harshly. Away from the cage. Away from the inferno erupting within.

"ASLAN!!!" Even as the sorcerer disappeared in the flames, Janos rushed back to the bars, completely ignorant of the blistering heat scalding his skin. The metal was enchanted with strong enough spells to hold an ancient immortal, one without flesh and form.

But...it...would...never...hold...him!

The disguise spell Aslan had used to alter his form came undone as he pulled on the cage with all his might. The bars still held. But the bolts pinning it to the ground did not.

With an ear-shattering roar the crimson beast hurled the entire construct aside.

There was nothing left inside, only the flames. Fiery eyes in a billowing red smoke meeting his equally burning ones. A scorching embrace enveloping him. And a rage just like the one running through his veins.

Then it was all gone. Cold water was dumped on him to extinguish his still smoldering fur. Skin and muscle knit itself back together. He could not die, not even by the power of another immortal.

The shackles clamping around his wrists and ankles both burned and froze him to the bone. His powers trapped just like those of the spirit of flames.

And the darkness...The cold and lonely darkness surrounding him as the last stone to block the sunlight from his prison was put in place.

Alone. Forever.