Dedicated to Axela1998 for the awesome picture of Rena ^_^ 

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Chapter 12 - The Heart of a Moment 

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It wasn't long before someone came to collect Rena. 

Cayden had recognised her need to do something she knew as normal and as such, had allowed her to groom his hair as he continued to coach her through everything he could think of that she'd need to understand to bluff her way through. While the initial brushing of his lengthy hair had been painful, he'd almost started to enjoy it as she fished out various things people put in hair from the seemingly bottomless drawers beside the bed. 

As such, she was just finishing tying his hair back in a high ponytail when the knock came at the door. 

Her hands froze on his head. He heard her draw in a deep breath, steadying herself before her fingers resumed their work and she called out, "Come in!" 

The door creaked open. Cayden went to turn his head and was rewarded with a smack for it. He drew breath to protest before he caught himself: in front of everyone else, he was her thrall. 

Instead, he had to content himself with watching through the mirror. 

"What is it?" asked Rena, her voice polite. 

"Qariinn let you keep the defiler, did he?" said the girl in the doorway. She was stocky in build, with broad shoulders Cayden guessed would be partly due to her Mythic. Light blonde hair flowed from not just her scalp, but the back of her neck and her tailbone, the same place as Rena's tails. Centaur in her half form. "I heard rumours, but I didn't think they'd be true."

Rena finished pulling Cayden's hair through the final time and snapped the elastic around the ponytail before she turned around. "I thought it was a fitting punishment for a defiler," she said, moving to put everything away. "He abused the ley, and now the same ley keeps him bound to me. He's even giving back what he owes."

The centaur Mythic frowned, considering the idea. "Pretty poetic, honestly. I wish I had that kind of power. I'd enslave so many humans I'd have an army."

"More than one and they just get in the way," said Rena with a careless shrug. "But I doubt you're here to discuss thralls with me."

"Qariinn requested your presence as soon as you were able," said the centaur. "I'm to escort you to his office when you're ready to leave."

"Well, now that Cayden's presentable," said Rena, running her eyes over him to ensure the fact, "I'm probably as ready as I'll ever be. What's your name?" 

The centaur beamed. "Allegra, Emberheart."

"Rena is fine," said Rena with a grin. "It's nice to meet you, Allegra. Shall we be on our way?" 

It was with that the two practically linked arms and skipped off down the hall, Cayden following close behind and Allegra asking why she didn't need to give Cayden explicit instructions for him to know what she wanted. They'd decided it'd be easier to continue the pretense that way, so Rena wouldn't forget or Cayden accidentally counter an instruction. 

He was surprised at how easily Rena fell into the casual conversation with a complete stranger like she'd known them her whole life. He envied it in a way. It generally took him years to build up the kind of relationships where he felt comfortable enough to talk about anything, and that'd been before he'd become Nazine's full time bodyguard. Outside of Nazine, the only other person he'd seen occasionally and considered a friend had been Andre. 

The centaur, Allegra, turned the corner and paused to ask Rena if she wanted to visit the baths before the meeting. When Rena politely declined, saying she didn't want to keep Qariinn waiting, Allegra led them down what looked like one of the main hallways. 

Cayden hadn't looked when the spectre had taken Andre. He'd heard the struggles, the final words that refused to accept the end, and finally the wet slap of flesh on marble as Andre's body hit the floor. 

He hadn't reacted then. Hadn't felt the need to. What good were emotions to the dead, after all? As far as he'd known, he was about to join Andre on the floor. Even his final struggle had been more of an obligation, hoping to get Nazine or the archangel to react, possibly do enough damage for the valkyrie, Svala, to be able to consider it a battleground and trigger her powers. Even if Cayden himself had died in the process, it would have been worth it to stir the Mythics into action. 

But never in a million years had he expected it to be Rena to answer the call. Rena, the girl who he'd pinned completely wrong as a delinquent for the fun of it had been the one to do something while the others had sat there, watched and cried. And not just something either. 

She'd saved him. Pulled him straight from a mouth of death and placed herself between them, threatening various forms of pain if it dared to try again as she faced down a djinn, something even Cayden would have thought twice about before engaging in a fight. 

Granted, she probably doesn't have the same understanding of one, he thought, listening closely as Allegra explained something to do with the baths and the schedules involved. But if she can see the ley around an Unbound, she'd know he was nothing to sneeze at. 

Cayden tried to focus on the present, remember the details of the structures and absorb his surroundings down to the last carved archway and chipped marble stone but it was harder than it should have been. 

In light of his own unexpected free pass from the spectre, the deaths of the other ley guards seemed incredibly unfair, especially Bri's. She hadn't been scheduled to go to Leristith. Cayden had found out she was there when she'd approached him after they stopped for the night, telling him that she'd long since learned to try and prevent Tialin, the oracle Mythic from going where she pleased. It was all she could do to follow her and try to prevent harm as it came. 

But it was Andre's death was the hardest to accept. The hardest to realise that his friend would no longer share meals with him beside the hearth long after their Mythics had fallen asleep, would no longer spar in the training grounds. Sometimes, Andre had been the only thing to keep Cayden sane after long weeks of dealing with Nazine and the Order's babysitting that came with him. 

It left an intangible hole of guilt in him that he wasn't sure would ever heal, only attempt to fill by getting Nazine to Leristith to perform the rejuvenation. That's what Andre would have told him. To make the sacrifices count. 

I'm sorry I couldn't save you. 

After another few minutes of walking the halls with Cayden recieving dirty stares from every Mythic they passed, they reached the double doors of the djinn's office. 

Cayden had always had a sensitivity to ley, part of the reason he'd been chosen as Nazine's guard. Standing outside these doors now, runes carved deep into their surface was enough to make him realise that wherever this was that the Unbounds had made their base of operations, it was ancient, and it was powerful--far beyond that of a simply ley hotspot. 

The centaur paused outside, her hand hovering over the surface of the door as she smiled at something Rena had said. "Anyway, we're here. Just remember not to touch anything unless he specifically allows you to. He doesn't let just anyone see the interior of this room, so take the chance to take it in while you can. I've only ever seen it once, but it's a sight to behold."

"Thanks for the warning," said Rena. "Anything else I should keep in mind?"

The centaur's gaze slid over to Cayden. "I doubt he's going to let your thrall inside. Might want to just leave it out here." 

Rena was already shaking her head. "Where I go, he goes." She offered the centaur a weak smile. "I learned how to survive in a world of humans, but I have a feeling a world of Mythics would rip him apart, and then I lose my secondary ley source and have to go find another human to feed off. It's more trouble than it's worth."

Allegra seemed to accept that. "Must be a pain to rely on humans for ley. The stars are much more--"

The doors opened. 

They didn't swing inward as Cayden had expected them to. Instead, the runes lit up and retracted the stone into hidden parts of the wall to give the appearance that it had split. In the newfound gap, staff in hand, stood the djinn.

"Is there a problem, Allegra?" he asked the centaur, though his eyes locked on Rena. The way he looked at her was... hungry. It was the only word Cayden could apply to his expression. "Why has her entrance been delayed?" 

The centaur inclined her head quickly. "Apologies, Qariinn. She wished to know if her thrall would be allowed inside."

Qariinn blinked. "Absolutely not." 

"Why is that?" said Rena, meeting the djinn's stare with the perfect mix of defiance and respect. "Do you not trust my ability to contain him?" 

"What I have to say is for your ears and your ears alone, Rena," Qariinn said. "And while he may be your thrall, there are ways to make them talk, powers that will break your hold over him, and I do not wish to take that risk. He is to remain outside."

Cayden was debating whether or not intervening would seem out of place for a thrall when Rena beat him to it. 

She squared her shoulders and lifted her chin. "Then I ask that you allow him to check on the condition of the phoenix Mythic that was in my group so he may report back to me."

The djinn raised an eyebrow at that. "Why should you need to do such a thing?"

"The phoenix was injured prior to the rescue," said Rena without skipping a beat. "Is it so strange that I wish to ensure his well being? Cayden was ley guard to the phoenix, so if there is something wrong I have faith that he'll be able to handle it."

The djinn pursed his lips, considering. 

Cayden suppressed the internal scream and channelled it into tension in his chest to relieve it. He didn't want to leave Rena alone in a room with the djinn. Not with the way that he was looking at her like she was some kind of toy he planned to take full effect of. He doubted the djinn would harm her, physically at least, but there were more ways to harm a Mythic than simple torture. 

But the djinn nodded. "Very well." He turned to Allegra. "You shall take the thrall to where the phoenix is being kept. You may take another with you if you wish." 

Allegra's eyes went wide like she wanted to protest, but respect won out. With her lips pressed together in a tight line, she said, "As you wish." She shot Cayden a look that told him all he needed to know. "Come with me." 

Cayden forced his feet to move, to carry him away from Rena as the stone doors sealed shut behind her. 

*+*+*+*

When the stone doors closed shut behind her, Rena instantly regretted not fighting harder for Cayden to be allowed inside. 

She'd seen the chance to get Cayden to Nazine and taken it, knowing that, unless something went seriously wrong, Cayden wouldn't be able to help her with the looming conversation. But even so, he'd been a security blanket, the knowledge that he would back her up if necessary helping keep her calm. 

Nazine is the goal here, she told herself. Everything else is secondary to getting him out. 

As he had been the day before, the djinn was regal as ever, the cloud of ley around him thicker than it had ever been. It clung to everything it could, tasting its physical surroundings but always gravitating back to the djinn himself in his robes and skin of ever shifting colours. 

"Nervous, Emberheart?" he asked. The staff he leaned on was a new addition and Rena caught herself wondering at its presence. "There is no need to be, I promise. I am merely intrigued by you."

"Rena is fine, please." Being referred to by the name he'd given her felt like a loss of control, an acceptance that he'd established some form of dominance over her. "And I hope you won't find me too disappointing. I'm not anything special, by all rights."

The djinn led her to one of the spiral staircases that stood at either side of the room. Waterfalls spilled down through their centres, splashing onto the rocks of the small, tranquil garden that ran underneath it and edged the room, giving the air a clear, fresh aroma she'd only ever found outside of cities. 

"Nonsense," he said as they ascended. His staff clacked against the white stone with spiderwebs of gold. "By all rights, you are infinitely more interesting to me than all others who have passed through our gates by the simple fact that you were already Unbound. I have only been aware of myself and one other who have managed it with nothing but the sheer force of will."

The stairs led to a secondary floor of the room, more of a balcony that that ended halfway across the space to overlook the other half than a true floor. 

What Rena saw was enough to make her gasp. 

The roof was higher, far higher than she'd realised and seemed to be composed of stained glass. The light that streamed through it fell on to nine statues, colouring them with impossible detail. Each one seemed to be illuminated from behind like that of a window and sunlight, but they rested in alcoves either side of and above the door she'd entered through which had definitely had a closed-in room on the other side. 

"What is this place?" she breathed. 

"Starali'lai. An ancient fae temple that was destroyed by humans before the deities merged our races," said the djinn. "This room is the heart of the temple, a space where the ley surfaces from the veins of the planet herself. In its prime, it was a place of power, of worship to the nine alpha Mythics that birthed our species."

"This doesn't look destroyed to me," said Rena. "It's pristine." 

"A djinn is granted three wishes, three pleas to the essence of ley to change the fabric of reality," said Qariinn. "I used my second to resurrect this temple so that I might create a haven for Mythics, should they wish for sanctuary from the abomination that this world has become. Just being within the walls is enough to partially suppress the human infecting us all. It's part of how I assist my kin in their unbinding, in addition to encouraging them to embrace their instincts and feed off their secondary source to starve their connection to the human."

"Suppress the human?" asked Rena. "How does that work?"

"Because the ley energies of this place are so strong, you will often find that it empowers the Mythic spirit. In addition to that, the heart of the temple is bound to my own spirit, and as such I am able to add slight alterations to its purpose."

Rena nodded along. Which means that if we want to save Nazine, we have to get him out of this temple as soon as possible, preferably before he gets suppressed enough for the phoenix to break through entirely. 

A moment of silence passed in which Rena found herself studying the statues of the nine creators, the legendary beings that were said to have been the first of each family. Even as she examined Garact, the beast, her eyes were drawn back to the statue above the door, the ancestor referred to as the true creator because it'd taught the other eight how to fuse their power. 

"I fear that I can't suppress my curiosity for much longer," said the djinn, moving to stand beside Rena where she leaned on the spiralled railing, staring out at the statues. Immediately she straightened out of the vulnerable position, annoyed that she'd let herself relax in the first place. "I was meaning to ask, how was it that you conquered your human? So young, too?" 

This was it, the part that Cayden hadn't been able to prepare her for. As the djinn spoke, Rena ran through her options. Cayden had mentioned that some Mythics came Unbound through diseases and other susceptibilities to the ley that sustained a Mythic, but they'd also decided that the djinn would be less likely to respect her if that were the case. Less likely to place her in a position she could... 

She winced internally. Exploit. 

Rena chose one of the riskier options. "I admit that I'm new to the specifics of this. What do you mean by how?" 

She nearly sighed in relief as the gamble paid off and Qariinn's ego started talking. 

"What was the moment, the realisation that allowed you to surge past the barrier and take control?" he clarified. "For me, it was when I realised that the Order intended to use my wishes for their own human gains. As they tried to get the human parasite within me to use the first wish, I rose up from the depths and took back the reins on my abilities the human mind had clung to for so long. The wish did not go through as the ley went to chaos around me, but I have never considered it wasted. The wish, in essence, was the thing to grant my freedom, whether I'd realised at the time that I wanted it or not."

Thank the creators he's so long winded. "Ah, that moment."

"I hope you don't consider it prying." His tone told her that he didn't care if she did. He wanted to know. "It is just... useful for my studies to know such things."

Rena leant back against a pillar. She cast her eyes to the ground and her memory back, searching for something that she could use as a basis of truth. Something too creative and she'd forget the details. Something not significant enough and he might not believe it. 

Only one thing came to mind, and she hated herself for it. 

"It was around the time when the Order starts to teach you how to commune with your Mythic, how to achieve that perfect harmony we're all supposed to strive for," she said, folding her arms over her chest. "I was having trouble communicating with my Mythic, and as such my teacher, a man named Elijah, kept me back after class to attempt a different way of sensing my Mythic."

The djinn frowned but rolled a hand to continue. 

"Some kind of ritual, supposed to boost my Mythic's strength." She could still see the shadows flickering on the walls that the sun had left behind as Elijah lit the candles around her in the circle and opened the vessel of ley, releasing it. "But it didn't work as it was supposed to. All it did was strengthen my abilities, give me access to new ones that I wasn't strong enough to control yet that were being forced upon me by the ley. I didn't realise what was happening at first."

Rena swallowed, trying to loosen the building knot, the next words that would be the essence of truth bathed in deception. She didn't want to relive this. She didn't want to remember what had happened, but she kept Nazine at the forefront of her mind. Telling herself that it was for him, even as she started to question the truth of what Elijah had said after, the accusations he'd thrown at her. 

"One of those... abilities did something to Elijah," she said stiffly. "His face changed, became enraptured by the sight of me. And as I was struggling to get the ley under control, he told me to stand up. I obeyed without question, trusting him as my teacher, but he advanced on me. Pushed me against the wall with a hand on my side as the other one touched my face, and--"

Rena cut off and stretched her neck, unable to continue with the details. Her hand gravitated to her key, her fingers not resting on the reshaped metal and crystal but the gold chain itself around her throat. The chain that'd been replaced only once in her life. 

She focused on what she was trying to do, to weave a moment that had 'empowered' her. "It was that moment that something in me rose up over what the Order had trained me to be, and so I did the only thing I could. I set my hands ablaze and shoved them into his chest."

She didn't miss the irony. Here she was, creating the event that had apparently triggered her will to unbind herself from the same moment that had terrified her of her Mythic. Of herself. 

Rena met the djinn's eyes, hoping it'd be enough to convince him. "It wasn't instant, but whatever that was refused to settle down. The... power of that moment stuck with me. I harnessed it and ended up suppressing my human, though I worked to ensure the Order never found out that I'd broken free." That Elijah made sure no one from the Order ever found out what I'd done. 

No. 

What he'd done.  

The sound of the water hitting the rocks was all to greet Rena's ears for a long minute as the djinn stared out over the statues, seemingly absorbing her words. 

"Interesting," he said. "A more personal experience than my own or my colleague, but interesting, nonetheless. Although I find it infinitely more intriguing the way you describe your training. It is as if you were the human in the scenario, not the Mythic. I clearly remember the sensation every time the human boy felt for my powers, attempting to communicate with me and reaching in to pull me out."

She'd forgotten about that detail, but she covered the fact with a careless flick of her hair. "As far as I was concerned, it was me they were talking to. I could hear everything just as well as the human, understand it better. I could feel the body we shared, even if I couldn't control it. I experienced it just as much as she did." 

The djinn laughed at that. It soothed away the acidic taste the memory had regurgitated. "Ah, Rena. And you feared that you would not be sufficient to hold my interest. You have only doubled my respect for you, child. I am glad we were able to meet."

"I'm glad you were able to rescue me from the Order, in all honesty," said Rena with a careful smile. Cayden had covered this. This was solid ground. "To be able to live without the fear that one day they'd figure me out and dispose of me seems surreal. I almost expect to wake up at any moment." 

"With us, you can have that life," said the djinn. "We only ask that you lend your assistance rescuing more of our kin so they too may share our joy." 

"To find there is truth to one of the Order's rumours is a pleasant surprise," said Rena. She chewed her lip, trying to appear concerned. "Although I do have to ask, are the Unbounds truly responsible for the portals inducing chaos and closing?"

"No, Emberheart," said Qariinn, rushing on before Rena could correct him. "The closing of the portals, the rising number of chaotics, that is the translation of the ley's fury, what spills up through the surface from the roiling blood of this world. For an Unbound to intentionally poison a portal with chaos would be treason. Matricide. We would die ourselves before causing knowing harm to that which gives us life." 

"A rumour of the Order to strike fear of you into Mythics, then," said Rena. "It seems to have worked, judging by the reactions of those who were brought here with me." It was so hard not to use the word 'kidnap', but Rena swallowed it down. "They fear you. All of us that are Unbound."

"Not all here are yet Unbound," said the djinn. "There are some still working towards true freedom from their human, but their Mythic is well and truly in control with the assistance of my suppression field. As for your friends, it won't take long for their Mythics to surface, and with it, you will often find their opinion changes drastically. Once I am sure they have surfaced will their true training begin."

Rena tilted her head. "Training? Of what nature?"

"To ensure they can maintain control outside this haven," said the djinn with another clack as he shifted his staff against the stones. "But also of an offensive and defensive nature. This world is not friendly, and it is imperative that we teach what the Order did not to our brothers and sisters."

The way Qariinn explained it was passive enough, but all Rena could think was army. "I can attest to that. I was almost killed by a chaotic that formed from a portal during a rejuvenation ceremony a few days ago. Cayden was the one to save me."

"Your thrall?" Qariinn seemed genuinely surprised. "Are you not capable enough in your abilities to defend yourself?"

Rena gave him a sheepish shrug. "The Order doesn't teach it seriously, and I was never able to train myself without fear of discovery." She glanced at the tail behind her, flicking the ends up to hip height. They were long and flexible enough that she could take an end and run her fingers through the fur comfortably. "I didn't want to risk walking around in my half form in case it drew attention."

The djinn tapped his staff against the ground. "We shall have to correct that, shall we not? A Mythic such as yourself should not be without the means to defend herself. Would you mind journeying to the training grounds with me now, perhaps set up a spar between yourself and another so I may see where your current level of ability?" 

Sensing that the conversation was coming to a close, Qariinn having learned all he'd needed for now, all Rena wanted to do was find Cayden. Find Nazine, the other Mythics that'd come with her and tell them that she hadn't betrayed them. 

But the djinn was waiting, and Rena had the feeling he didn't take lightly to being refused. 

And so, she quickly inclined her head, pursing her lips as she once more met the djinn's backlit gaze.

"If you'd like to watch me get my tail handed to me by a fae with a phobia of wings, it would be my pleasure, Qariinn."

*+*+*+*

A/N - You guys are AMAZING. Mythic is currently ranked #16 in Fantasy and #18 in Adventure, and that's just completely insane. Like, wow. Thank you so much *-* 

Wordcount: 40,578 [LESS THAN 10K LEFT. HOME SPRINT! Though the story is going to go on a while after we're done with NaNo...]