Enjoy the first chapter of my slow-burn fantasy romance, “Softened Gleam”!
It has been so long since I’ve been stuck in this awful gang. I had once walked the streets of Allesan‒ for the God’s sake, Allesan, for work. Now I wish I could go back and tell the woman with fiery hair I am not interested in her proposal. Much to my dismay it had become clear to me that Hestia saw me as nothing but a pet. During the early days in my work with the Syndicate it was as though she spoke honeyed words, hypnotizing me as though trying to court me. Now it is though she speaks with venom, with a special vigor and hatred, a need to harm me.
The weather was sweltering. The sun beat on my bare chest and back. I put my hair down in hopes it would prevent sunburn on my fair skin. “I don’t know why I considered this a vacation. Put me back in the musty cave,” I whined, pushing myself through the branches into a busy street of people much taller than me. They all looked down, some smirking, some sneering. No matter. I wasn’t there on vacation, I didn’t have time to start altercations with the locals. This is work. I was there to kill somebody. I was there to commit a crime and escape unscathed.
Judging by the directions given to me by Wynnstan, it seems I’d arrived at my destination. Birds of every color of the rainbow flew from tree to tree, singing in various tunes, and side-show acts performed beautiful woodwind instruments. It seemed as though people in Enethor lived in harmony with nature. Lines of long, wooden, boat-shaped houses covered in clay and mud lay in rows in front of the street to my right, and to my left are shops and stalls. In the center of the city lay a monolithic palace of marble, large gardens hanging from vast terraces, complete with waterfalls of fountains falling from the terraces. But directly before me was a government building, a special one at that. One that a certain Argoni ambassador had entered. An ambassador the Olere Syndicate wants eliminated.
I yawned, putting my hair up. Here I was at the judicial building for this province, where two guards stared me down. Their armor was made of a dark, lightweight metal, their helmets covering the entire face, with antlers jutting from the forehead, as a Daemon would look. Perhaps this was a scare tactic they’d learned from their short-lived war with Allesan. Chainmail fell from their necks to their shoulders.
“State your business, five-fingers,” ordered the rightmost guard.
“Now, sir, that is no way to talk to someone related to you. I simply wish to speak to a grand councilperson,” I replied, my words silken smooth.
“We won’t allow the time of a valuable government official to be wasted. State your business,” ordered the guard to the left. They both stepped forward, placing a spear on each of my clavicles. There’s nothing more that I love than a clear invitation to violence. The adrenaline rushed through my veins and my lips threatened a smile. A giggle escaped by mouth.
“I really didn’t want to have to do this to you guys, but I’ve got a job to do,” I said, ducking below the spears. I focused on the energy within me, and an enormous burst of energy exited my body. I watched the markings come from me once more. The flash of white light caused the guards to fall to the ground, stunned.
I sprinted into the building. The floor was made of a hard stone, the walls made of some sort of white brick. This area was among the richest of places I’d ever seen, besides the Royal Palace in Tethna. Hestia wasn’t wrong in telling me that I was correct in killing the man I was about to kill. The corrupt lawmakers in this area were collaborating with an Argoni company that worked with one of Allesan’s most power-hungry oligarchs, which Hestia wasn’t too fond of. From what I’d heard of corporate money-skulls in Allesan, they labored their workers until their bodies could no longer take it.
The receptionist in the building ogled me, clearly seeing me as a threat. I sighed, pulling a mask over my nose and mouth. I gripped my knives with five fingers, as opposed to the Enethorian six. I was a freak to these people, I may as well act the part, although personally I find myself too pretty to be a terrorist.
“Where is Orinimh Aole’an?” I screamed in the Ene language, wielding my knives brazenly, staring with intent at the female secretary in front of me. In truth, I liked to see people in fear. Too often people view me as a feeble adversary. I knew it was wrong, but I smiled beneath my mask.
“I-In a meeting! Second floor, sixth door to the right! Please don’t kill me!” She cried out.
I neared the counter. I felt myself dissociating, shutting off my brain, allowing myself to soak in the wickedness of the moment. I deliberately chose to speak the Mer tongue, Felsch, to confuse the horrified Elven woman. “Truthfully, I am not sorry. I will forget this transgression. I know that the Gods will not. No witnesses, Hestia’s orders. I’m just like you, I’m doing what I’m paid for,” I said, pulling my mask up and slashing her throat. A tear slid down my cheek as I watched her sputter on the ground, drowning in her own blood. Maybe I was sorry. Hestia had forced me to do worse, but I felt my emotions bubbling up. I sought more violence to distract myself.
“Sixth…… door… sixth… door…” I repeated, almost obsessively, counting all the doors. I flew through the door. A council sat in procession, Enethorian officials in decorated robes sat with a human male that brandished a startosser on his right hip and a sword on his left. Now was the time to flash them. The same beautiful flash stunned the men in the room.. Brilliant white light filled the room. Taking advantage of everyone’s blindness, Lucifer jumped the table, shoving both daggers into the official’s chest. The elf coughed up blood, but his eyes were still glazed over, still blind.
“You dare use witchcraft in the presence of a national ambassador of Argon?! You will pay, you fucking knife-eared bastard!” Screamed the human, who took his firearm and pointed it at Lucifer. It seems as though a human’s recovery time to his flash was quicker than an elf’s. I noted the observation, taking a shot to my left shoulder. Burning pain shot through my arm, as hot blood dribbled down it. My arm went limp and I dropped my weapon.
“Now, now, put that down, why don’t we settle this like real men? Only cowards resort to ranged weapons,” I taunted through gritted teeth.
“I’m stunned by your vigor. Then again, now that I look at you, you are one of the whities. Shorter, stockier… dumber. Constantly fighting a war with people ten times your size, foolishly thinking you’ll win,” the man said, wiping his eyes of tears as he laughed at me.
“I haven’t got any business in Gelus, my friend. I’m from Tethna. Goes to show you that race doesn’t mean everything, huh?” I chortled, slowly approaching the man around the table. The other officials in the room cowered under the table. The man’s confident expression slowly grew grim as he drew his sword. A light, silver blade.
The man swung, missing me entirely and hitting the wooden table. I leapt forward. The human responded with a swift counter-punch, nearly missing my head. As we pulled away from one another, the man stared at his wrist. His radial artery had been sliced upward, and blood spilled from the wound.
“A death like that will be long and stressful, would you like me to lift the burden from your shoulders? Perhaps you can return to Cybian in the afterlife!” I squealed, clapping his hand against the table. To his surprise, the man knelt before me, bowing his head to me. He slowly reached for his startosser, aiming it directly at my leg. “Fu-uuuckkk.”
Red hot pain shot through the front of my right leg. I fell atop the man. I screamed in pain, clenching my teeth. “Well, at least you didn’t hit my bits. I grabbed the man by his hair, slamming him against the stone floor until a puddle of blood covered the floor around his head like a sacrilegious halo.
The rest of Hestia’s team was supposed to be in the building by now to perform an extraction. It seems as though she was late, and I was still wounded. A Marujean woman entered the room.
“Kasi! Thank the Gods you’re here!” I exclaimed. Her expression was neutral. She frowned at me, her bright blue, cat-like eyes locking to mine.
“I told you not to call me that. We are not friends, Escovier. Get up, Shigur is fighting guards in the hall by herself,” she barked. She was a pretty woman. Tusks jutted from her lower lips, freckles dotted her ruddy skin, covering her cat-like face. She wore robes and brandished two golden sickles.
Anger boiled within me. My coworkers didn’t even respect me. “My apologies, please get me out of here, Ninkasi,” I said, sneering. Ninkasi groaned, slapping me with her feline tail. She dragged him down the hallway. A white-scaled reptilian woman was fighting a couple guards in the hallway, performing violent takedowns on soldiers. She climbed walls, dropping down onto them, gnashing their bodies with her jaws.
“Greetings, Lucifer. Is the job done satisfactorily?” She asked. Her tone was neutral, her expression granting no feelings or care. She wore leather armor, and had horns upon her head, along with two piercings on her right eyebrow.
“No ‘Luci, are you okay’? Why are you always so cold-blooded, Kroz? We’ve gone on enough missions together to at the very least be on speaking terms!”
“I find you annoying. I do not know how Hestia puts up with you. If it were me, you would be in two pieces before your mouth even opened,” Kroz snarled, whipping her metal-tipped tail on the floor. Ninkasi stifled a laugh.
“Wynnstan is outside with a horse and wagon with necessary medical supplies. He knew not to pack light, as everyone already knew you would exit this heavily injured,” Ninkasi stated, clearly indifferent to his injuries. They dragged me outside and threw me in the wagon. Kroz and Ninkasi jumped to the seat on the carriage, quickly setting off. I pulled my mask down.
“Aye, Luci. Looks like you had quite the battle,” Wynnstan giggled. He was a kind person. He was a Daemon with rouge skin and chunky jewelry. His curly, black hair was tied into a tight bun. In truth, I found them attractive.
Tethna only allowed marriage between a male and a female, or two females, but male on male relationships were completely ruled out. This left me with a hole in my head, a void of unknowing of who I was even allowed to be attracted to. I wasn’t really used to this feeling, but whenever I was around Wynnstan I felt fuzzy. But that’s wrong, or at least I thought it was…
“Y-Yeah, a little intense, Wynn. Nobody told me there would be a human with a gun in there!” I exclaimed, frowning. Wynnstan leaned down to me, observing his wounds. His hot breath hit me directly on my neck. “Eep!” I stammered, flinching and crawling backwards in the wagon. Wynnstan looked at me, confused.
“Let me treat your wounds. Hestia will have my head if you don’t come back alive. I don’t know why you put up with this organization treating you as a sentient flashbang, you’re more than that,”
“Okay…” I sheepishly replied. Usually, I was fantastic in social situations, especially ones involving members of the opposite sex.
But he isn’t the opposite sex! Stop thinking of them that way! Those who engage in sodomy are committing a sin against the natural order of the world! Similar guilty thoughts rushed into my mind and despite the shame, my cheeks began to feel warm. I quickly laid on the floor in such a way that my hair covered my face. It would be obvious if I was blushing, as my skin is pale blue. Through the curtain of white hair I saw Wynnstan smile and shake their head, bandaging me up all the same.
It had been a while since we had departed Secundus. The forest around us had become dark and increasingly wild. Insects screeched and animals howled in the distance, the rolling of the wagon wheels atop the overgrown stone road had lulled everyone but me to sleep.
I frowned as I tossed and turned. I couldn’t sleep. The thought of going back to Hestia terrified me, but the thought of the Pits was even worse. I hated the location demanded by the Syndicate. The dark caves of the Pits, the artificial light. Every minute I spent in the world’s basement I yearned for sunlight.
I woke up to a soft hand on my shoulder. My eyes shot open and a soft flash burst from my body.
“S-Sorry! Startled me! Luckily I didn’t go full flashbang, haha…” I said, sitting up. I avoided eye contact out of embarrassment.
“We’re boarding a boat. Should be about a three day journey. We would get an airship, but that isn’t exactly low profile,” Wynn sighed. “On the bright side, it’s a Mer ship. Thought you might like that,”
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