(Hello. This chapter happens to feature a song, which I wrote and played. If you would like to hear it to go along with the lyrics here, I put a youtube link of me playing it at the very top, and when the text becomes centered, those are the lyrics. Either way, enjoy the chapter.)

The first sense to return to Xoris, pulling him from the black nothingness was the soft touch of a sheet lying on top of him. No armour to weigh him down, and seemingly nothing beneath him as he lay suspended on warm air alone.

The next was the sharp scent of cooked meat, not one that he recognized though. Spices wafted through the room, bitter and pungent along with it. From the same direction came a deeper female voice, faintly humming some tune or another.

The Vampire! With that, his eyes shot open and he sat up, a good distance above the bed. The room he was in was small, with beige walls looking as though they were built with solidified sand, and even smaller with shelves filled with bottles, stones, weapons...

He swallowed hard. She might not have tried to kill him back at the village, but that didn't mean she wasn't an enemy, and yet... He put a hand to his chest, wearing a fresh white shirt. A little above that, he could feel his neck wrapped in another cloth, something cold and soothing on the wound. His fingers brushed against it. Did she do this?

"Oh good. You're finally awake. I was hoping I didn't have to give up my bed for a third night in a row." Xoris froze in panic as the girl stepped into the room, brushing her long, white bangs out of her face to reveal more of the red blotch the one side held. Instantly, he was falling, his body colliding with the bed as he lost the subconscious focus he'd maintained.

"It... It's you!" He glanced around for his sword, eyes on his arms, chest, and legs rolling sleepily to find it. It was propped up against the wall on the other end of the room though, well out of reach. Not that he wanted to fight her, but things had had the tendency to go against his favour recently, and if the dull look in her one crimson eye meant anything, he doubted he could do much to her. "I have so many questions that you need to answer! Well, if you can, of course. I would appreciate it if-" He stopped as she brought her face closer, her elegant features easy for him to make out in the low lightning. He pushed himself back.

"Absolutely not."

"What?" It came out as a shout, much louder than he intended as she yanked at the wrap on his neck harshly. He took hold of her hand, pushing it off his skin while he glanced up at her from a green eye nestled by his collarbone. "But you told me to find you! I did that."

"Yes. I said find me when you're ready. Half-starved, dehydrated, bleeding out, and on the verge of death is not anywhere close to what I consider ready. So, just be patient. I'm trying to help." A fang poked out of her mouth as she frowned in concentration, going back to unwrapping his neck.

"Well... just tell me while I sit here then. There's nothing else to do." He winced a bit as cool air brushed up against the sore, exposed hole.

"Again, no. I have no idea what you want from me, but if I go ahead and tell you whatever you want to hear, you're going to take the information and run off with it, most likely to go and throw yourself at some other foolish endeavour. So if I keep my mouth shut, you'll have to sit here, rest, eat something, and there will be absolutely nothing you can do about it." Xoris could see a harsh smirk pull across her face from an eye on the side of his neck as she dipped a finger in a bottle of water. He twitched as she slid it on the wound, dressing it.

"You want me to sit here? There's people out there trying to find me. Sekhi! I can't even trust myself not to do anything. You have to help me!" He pleaded, drawing the sheets into a bunch as he clenched his fists. "I... I don't have anyone else."

Instead he heard a sigh before a line of black cloaked his vision, the bandages gently being placed back on. As she stretched the fabric taught, she held out another finger, using the claw tipped on the end to slice through it. "I am helping. You don't seem to realise this, but you're missing an entire eye. I'm redressing this, and I cleaned up the other cuts, wrapped up your leg, and I am trying to cook. Answers are the last thing on my list. Your sense of priorities is very, very skewed." He heard a harsh sniff come from her as she glanced up, head turning to peer into the open doorway at the other end of the room. "Speaking of..." Xoris also sniffed, the scent of smoke reaching him. "Dekr!" With that she was running out, leaving him to sit blankly on the bed. "Give me a quarter turn or so." She peeked around the corner again. "And stop looking so stiff. With any luck, we're on the same side, so just treat my home as your own." With that she left him once again.

Treat her home as my own? His nose crinkled as he frowned slightly. The last time he'd been home, he'd taken hold of a sword for a single purpose. Maybe it was a good thing that it was well out of his reach. Still, there was nothing to do but look around. It certainly doesn't look like home. Xoris would never have let the place fall apart so much. A wayward cloak was flung over a chair, bottles stacked along the walls...

He reached over to grab one. Alcohol? But he doubted that would even affect her. How could one drink just enough unfiltered water and added ingredients to risk the Stain if their mind had already been consumed by it? He glanced at the label, a single stick with another branching line drawn to the left near the upper left corner. Twenty. The one sitting beside it featured another line, this time with a line meeting the centre perfectly, the upper right corner holding a box. And this is nineteen. Whatever they held, it was the only thing organised about the place. He put it back.

With nothing else to do, he reached over to tap his hands against his lap. A small hum rumbled through the mouth on his neck, and as he continued to stare, a small wooden box, topped with strips of metal caught his attention. A kalimba.

Even with sticking a hand out, he couldn't see where the girl was standing in the other room, which he assumed to be the kitchen. He glanced at the box again. Was it all right to touch it? Then again, he supposed he did have one at home. The wood felt smooth against his skin as his fingers brushed against it, his thumbs easily finding their place among the keys. The same tune was back in his mind, and as he flicked his thumb over the notes, he could still remember the order to the song he could never place. As it rang out, the sound playing across the room, he began to hum with it, when he could hear singing coming from the doorway, rich and deep.

O mira'en, e adhia

Why do you cry?

As your songs fill the shadows like the Cracks fill the sky?

O Princess of Sacrifice

Bound to the land

Save your people from the Beast by taking his hand

The traitor created from the Final Eye

Cursed to be Human to finally die

Nothing left of the Watered Plains

Destroyed by your ceaseless, selfish gain

O Princess of Sacrifice

To save him is sin

For the dead must lie and the Beasts shall win

Xoris stopped as the girl's voice came to an end. She finally walked back in, a small tray of food in her arms as she continued to hum the same melody. "You know the song? It has lyrics?" he asked her incredulously.

"Of course? It's an ancient Stained chant. I... thought you knew it?" She gestured to the kalimba, still in his hands as she placed the tray on his lap.

"Not... really." It was simply something he had been humming for as long as he could remember. No words, no meaning, just hazy memories of hearing it sometime long ago, and being unable to let it go since. Now that he heard them though... He bit his lip. "It's about the Thing of Eyes and Teeth, isn't it? The first one?" He flicked the eyes on his face down to look at the meal in front of him, the warm rapidly seeping through the yellow glass of the tray and into his legs.

"Not really. It's more about the ashclaeve of a princess who married that traitor." The girl slid a chair back, placing dishes of her own in front of her, watching him.

"You know of her?" Ignoring the food for a moment, he picked up the cup in front of him. The water was unfiltered, tasting smooth and fresh as it helped to clear some of the grogginess still lingering in his mind.

"Only that she convinced a powerful Horror to learn to bring back the dead to save her people. That about all anyone knows, really." She shrugged, forking a small piece of greenish-brown meat into her mouth. "I thought that's why you were playing it. It's about your kind, or close to it."

"No. I just... knew it. That's all." Xoris reached over to put the kalimba back, mulling it over. "You sing very well."

"Oh, um, thank you? You play well." She tugged at her long bangs, draping the white strands over the Stained half of her face. It was only for a moment though, before she tilted her head back, giving him a stern look. "Now are you going to finally eat? I worked hard to make that." She gestured to his plate.

"What... is it?" He stabbed off a squared chunk, trying to hold it up to his face. Certainly wasn't mined, with its unique colouring. It looked... bloody, dripping dark green despite the red flakes of countless spices.

"Why are you asking a question that you already know the answer to, and don't want to hear anyway?" She raised her eyebrows at him. "It's Human, of course. I brought it home from a slaughter raid earlier this tally."

"...Right." He nodded at her, continuing to stare at it warily. Despite the distant rumble of hunger in him, he knew it was wrong, wasn't it? The taste of blood running through his thoughts, he wasn't supposed to like it. But, he came here to understand the Stained, and their way of life. They're already dead, I suppose. It's not as though I would ever bring them back. To not eat it would... be a waste. He tentatively brought the fork to his mouth, hoping he wasn't being rude as Dydra stared at him expectantly. It was sweet and gamey. He waited for the taste of guilt to sour it, but the feeling never grew to be any more than just a nagging thought of what he should feel, in the back of his mind. "So is that why Stained act so violent? You just need food?"

"It's not you, it's we," she clarified. "You seem to have a hard time understanding that you're one too, and you should know just as well that it's not anything done out of hunger. We can eat it, but it's just healthy, not required. The more you ignore hurting Humans, the worse your drive is going to be. It's better that way."

"Why?" He threw his hands down, clattering with the tray as he stared at her intently. What did she mean, the more he ignored it? He didn't have to hurt anyone. It was a choice. He could choose. "Why attack us then? Why go on slaughter raids? What do you even get out of it?"

"Again, you're not a Human, so it's not 'us'." The girl put a hand to her chin, her fork down to let her drum her fingers on the edge of her plate as she raised her brows. "You can't just sit there with hundreds of eyes and keep telling yourself you're one of them. That's... that's not how this works."

"It could be!" He held up his hands in defence. Instantly, the Vampire's working grey eye was flicking down at them, most likely noticing the mouth that sat on the left, and Xoris felt his face flush as she gave him another unamused look. "I-I was raised as a Human, my ancestors were Human. I can be both!" The tips of his fingers curled in as he switched to pleading once again. "That's why I need your help. I know what I am, and I accept that, but I can't put my family in danger. I don't want to hurt anyone... else."

"Oh, you're married?" She glanced for a moment at the smallest finger of his left hand, most likely looking for a braided ring of reeds, but seemed confused to find it empty. "I... didn't know."

"Not that kind of family. They're the ones who raised me. My brothers, sisters, and parents, in a sense. That's why I can't let anything happen to them. They were always there for me, before I knew of any of this, and they continued to be there for me even after. But I still..." He blinked away at the tears that began to surface in his eyes. Some part of me wanted to anyway. "I'm sure you understand. I never asked to be Stained, and it all seems so... senseless. I just want to know why."

The screech of a wooden chair against the floor raked against his ears as the girl stood up suddenly. "So you think I asked to be Stained? You think this is a choice? That you can simply come there, make me out to be a horrible person, and ask for justification so you can feel better about yourself? Is that what this is?" The red of her blood was beginning to flush her pale cheeks in anger, her teeth grit as she scowled. "I'm a senseless murderer, then?"

"N-no! That's not how I meant it at all. If I just had a reason I'm sure I'd see that you're not a murderer at all..." As he spoke, he desperately focused any violet eye he could on her, but without her Stained eye being able to focus on him, there was nothing he could do. He felt powerless as she stood there, glaring at him in fury. Sweat dripped down the back of his neck as he tried to think. "I know you're not a bad person. I just want to know why there's so much bloodshed. Why... we're like this." He reached out, trying to seem less threatening as he lightly touched her shoulder to get her attention. "I'm sorry."

"It's... fine." She looked at his hand, but didn't push him away as she sat back down. She was back to chewing on her lip as she looked away. "I suppose I'm just annoyed because I don't really have one for you. It's simply the Higher Beast's will."

Xoris began to tap a finger against his lap. "You've mentioned a Higher Beast before, at the slaughter raid. Are they your ruler?"

A sharp laugh filled the air as the Vampire bent over in her chair. "What? No. There's no ruler of the Beasts, and if there were to be one, it would be me, not the Higher Beast."

The skin on Xoris' arms twitched as his eyes widened. She's the ruler? He tilted his head down, a firm blush of embarrassment filling his face. "Oh! I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to demand for your presence at the front gates because of that. I had no idea, Queen..."

"My name is Dydra. Not queen, not ruler, not... Thing of Stains and Fangs, or whatever else you want to come up with. Just Dydra. The only thing I do is keep the village together and help organise the raids, that's all, so please, don't be so formal."

"I... see." Xoris wasn't entirely sure that he did, but it seemed like the right thing to say. "So what's the Higher Beast then?" The name still implied a position of power.

"Well, no one knows, exactly. It's just the force that brings all the Beasts together, one way or another. The reason I'm so well respected here is because I'm said to have a stronger connection to them than others, most likely because the Stain crept into my head." Her fingers brushed against the mark over her eye. "Ever since it spread into my eye, I was able to see images, or emotions that were separate from mine. Or hear words, almost? It's like–"

"A voiceless voice," Xoris cut in for her, looking at his hands.

"... yes, exactly. Can you also hear them?" Dydra tilted her head at him, an eyebrow raised. "I've never met anyone else who can. Most are too driven by the will, or can't remember their actions enough to explain what it's like to be driven by the Higher Beast."

"I-" His voice broke off, sounding almost cracked as he tried to get the words out. His hands reached up to tug at his hair. "Yes. It's... like a daze, and the entire time this... will is telling me that it's the right thing to do, but it can't be. It should feel so wrong. I don't want to be like this. I wanted to fight against it, stop it, something." He stopped again, looking at her as wet tears began to roll down his face and chest before he could stop them. "I'm not the same person I was, Dydra. I can't even call myself a person anymore. I want to. The fact that you can sit here and talk to me makes me want to so much, but I'm not. I don't even know if I ever was to begin with." The room fell quiet for a moment as he closed his eyes, trying to wipe at his face.

"You're not just a thing."

"What?" He glanced up at her, trying to stop the shaking of his chest, threatening another sob.

"That's what this is about, isn't it? The first thing you ever told me about yourself at that village was that you're the Thing of Eyes and Teeth, and you worked for Humans. That's all they ever look at Beasts as. Tools, food, and objects," she spat, as if the words were bitter in not just tone, but taste.

"Well, I don't know what else they would be." Xoris jolted at the angry look Dydra shot at him in response. "I don't mean it offensively! This is the first time I've ever... met someone else of my kind. I was never taught to see it any differently."

"All right." She looked at him thoughtfully, inspecting him. "Well, a thing wouldn't think so hard on right and wrong, and a tool would have continued to work for the side he was hired for. Does that help?" With both her plate and Xoris' empty, she reached over to grab it, starting to make her way out of the room.

"I suppose." The idea still held a heavy weight in his chest. If he was a person, then so was every other Beast. An image flashed through his mind, of fields upon fields filled with petrified Beasts. I killed them. Hundred of them. Thousands of them. The guilt clawed at his insides, squeezing his stomach and sitting on his lungs. All he'd ever seen was the pure aggression in their eyes whenever they'd seen other Humans, or heard stories of them ripped apart after wild attacks. Even Dydra had shoved a dagger through a man's chest before finally calming down, but after that, she left, and returned to her home, like any other soldier. 

It was just another side. His thoughts continued to spiral as they filled with the elation he'd felt tearing wings off his enemies. No. People. That was what he had done, hadn't he? It was slaughter, it was killing. The Fae, the Beasts, Humans... they were people. All of them are... The illusion shattered, realisation rushing in to fill it with cold fingers, gripping him as hard and unforgiving as stone. It crushed his lungs, sent chills down his spine as his hands trembled, sloshing water out of the glass he held. I... What have I done?

His wide eyes followed her as she walked out of the room to clear off the dishes, before heading back in. His voice wavered, but he needed to ask. "Do you know why you're fighting in this war, or what started it?" If it was truly people fighting against people, then something had to start it, more than whatever strange affliction the Higher Beast's Will was. Can I... fix it?

Dydra only shook her head. "It started Aeons ago. The first Stained have long since died and become part of the land. The only thing I know is that the Humans struck first, and the Higher Beast wants them gone."

Xoris nodded, not really answering, his mind numb. So there's no clear answer then. He'd come here to learn how to deny every urge in his body: to live a Human life while looking like a Stained. The war was unimportant at this rate. He wouldn't be picking a side anyway. His breath still shook all the same, but he tried to steady it, tried to calm down, because it wasn't as though he could go back, right? He had already removed any way to bring people back. The only thing he could do now was make sure it didn't happen again.

Instead, he mulled over every time he'd heard what Dydra referred to as the Higher Beast. The fort was the most obvious, as was when he'd fought Fae, or most battles, really. Even as he shuddered at the thought of it all though, less obvious examples started coming to mind. Times when his mind became hazy, or... Testing Day. He could still remember the feeling of the orb in his hand, the strange, unmal voice speaking in its meaningless tongue. But I was so young then. Was it... there all along? He loathed the idea of being connected to such a violent being, but that was what it was, another being, right? Something else's thoughts and concepts invading his mind, and now, his body.

With a start, he flicked several of his eyes over to Dydra, trying to give her his full attention. His voice came out loud, and confident. This was how he could fix it. This was the answer, the Beast he needed to fight. "Where can I meet the Higher Beast?"