THE PAST
She spied the chapel, five years old, denying her father's request to stay away from the wooden building that held the great riches that they all hoarded away from her.
' They must have lots of shiny stones in there' The only thing of value she knee to her heart, the stones her father let her keep in her room as he hid her away. In punishment for leaving her room he took her stones away, all the pretty ones, all the ones she spent hours searching for, and now she stood here, looking apon that building in the desire she might replace them with the stones she suspected her father hid.
She rushed across the dirt covered ground, looking left and right and rushed to the front door of the chapel which lay bare of any guards.
' Yess..' She remained silent as small hands propped the door open ever so slightly, allowing her the chance to slide between the large oak doors.
And then she turned to see what was within, and froze.
Alone, sat a boy no smaller than herself, draped in white and red, his chest didn't rise, nor did breath escape. He simply was, and theere in that throne of stone he sat.
" Hey ... " Her whisper carried across the candle lit space, casting shadows over the crimson rug. " Do you know where they keep the stones ... "
He acted as if he couldn't hear her words, simply stared forward as if made of stone.
" Hellooooo" She moved across the carpet slowly, quietly, her word a simple whisper, approaching the three steps that rose up to the base of the weird stone throne the boy sat.
The torch light stretched, bathing the white veil in the fingers of eldritch shadows that crept over him like creeping branches of dead trees.
The innocence of her eyes denied the strangeness of the chapel and the one within, ignorance of the mind hiding the truth as she came to stand over him directly, lips chewing as she lingered her brown hair curiously.
" Helloooo" She waved her hand infront of the veil, yet no response came. " hmmm"
With no other choice, she resolved herself, and the one watcher her infront simply sat.
He watched, didn't deny her nor attempt to stop her as her curious fingers toyed at the base of the veil and slowly lifted.
She raised it, and folded it back over the back of his headdress, and then froze like a statue. Her small mouth falling open against her will, eyes staring down into his own, unblinking, refusing to remove her gaze from his own eyes.
' Curious ' His eyes studied her intently, his immobile body stuck the way he was. She was the first to do this, and would be the last, to go out of her way with nothing but innocence to peer at his face.
' Beautiful ... ' There was something strange about the eyes she looked into. Something utterly alien about them that enraptured her, gripped her very thought. She couldn't study his face, couldn't look away as those dark orbs of strange colour burned into her minds eye. ' The most beautiful rocks mine eyes have ever glanved apon'
She didn't know how much time passed as she stared, as they stared at eachother, one blinking, one not ... not once.
A desire rose in the back of his mind, and his eyes must have shown, as her head tilted slowly to the side with a slow eyed blink.
[ Gift given ]
' Hello ....'
She startled as the soft, young voice echoed around her head for the first time, quickly looming around in confusion before her eyes turned back to the immobile boy on the throne.
Whatever exchange they were to have died as the doors to the chapel burst open, and three figures rushed in.
Startled, Uhar dropped the veil in fear, seeing her father and the two parents of the boy on the throne rushing in.
A hand reached around and seized her by the pit, and hefted her clear from the ground as her legs dangled.
" YOU STUPID GIRL " Contrell grabbed her violently by the arm, dragging her toward the chapel doors so he may punish her away from these hallowed grounds.
" Mmm no " Her small voice cried as she struggled, dragging her away from the throne as his parents regarded her with nothing but crossed arms. " Let me go ... "
" You're going away for a very long time now " His grip hurt her arm, and her whimper made Malak glare.
" Let me go .... LET ME GO I WANT TO STAY"
" NOOOO ... HE NEEDS ME HE NEEDS MEEE " At her strangled cry, Malak squinted and made a decision. And so the grounds of the chapel quaked for the first time. He hadn't uttered a word, had simply expressed his will in the only way he could and the whole village shook.
Contrell froze as the weight of the world dropped apon him, forcing him into the ground as Uhar fell, grunting before rising and darting behind the throne, cowering behind it as he and Malak's parents stared at the boy who had acted, perhaps for thr first time since his birth, of his own.
" A decision had been made" Malak's father decreed reluctantly, hissing internally as he spied the small girl behind the throne.
" Forgive us ... we did not know" Contrell debated removing her, but ultimately let the matter fall, she would be taken care for, much easier than having to deal with her on his own. " Very well "
"At your bidding milord" The boy on the throne offered no words, but dismissed them easily despite his silence.
They strode back the way they came, gently closing the chapel doors behind then as Uhar peeked out and stared at the now once more closed doors.
"... you saved me " She whispered and crawled forward.
She rounded to the front of the throne, staring up at the veil once more with puffy eyes and reddened cheeks. She tantively raised her hands to his own in his lap, and cupped his hand with her own. " Who are you ... "
She froze as instead of words or mental communion, she found a pretty gem the size of her palm to be shining in his hand. A gem of deep sapphire, deeper than the oceans blue.
' Beautiful '
.....
THE PRESENT
....
Black gauntlets circled around a small sapphire, what had once been the size of her palm now no bigger than the tip of her thumb.
Her thumb and index circling the gem she had kept on her person every moment of her life, a tool for her comfort.
She watched, stared, and guarded, like she had since she was a child, and would forever more. Her silence eternal, her stare full of emotion she couldn't convey but both understood.
She watched him, and slowly tucked the jewel into a pocket in her armour, whilst Malak was served dinner by Leah.
" Much appreciated " He inclined his head as Leah levelled the silver plate the same as the last onto the table, the same plate served to him over the last week of staying here.
" Of course milord" Leah bowed deeply, taking several steps away and turning away to allow Malak the privacy of raising the veil over his face to eat.
He ate slowly as he deliberated. The room was full of gifts, several paintings stacked in the corner from grateful citizens who sought him out during his time throughout the streets.
The magister had tried, well and truly, to keep his existence a secret, but the moment Sek returned to his house with his wife, showing her his ... alterations, any pretence of what he was died that night, with the wife forcing her husband to drag her before the gift giver.
She had begged, pleaded at his feet after bursting into his chamber, barely surviving Uhar who had made to sever her head from her body, only stops by a bark from her master.
" Please milord, pleeease " She had wept, crying with unglu features as she rimmed her head over and over into carpet before her hesd bled from the repeated impacts." MAKE ME PRETTY "
Her whole life she had been considered what everyone in thr city called ... ugly. A slightly lazy eye, a crooked nose and large teeth, she was a mockery in this city of beautifully refined creatures. And she wept at the chance to have what she thought to be beauty.
He looked upon her not in distaste, but understanding. Here was a woman who had suffered at the hands of something beyond her control, facing the prejudice of the people of this city for something as useless as her looks.
And this ... was suffering, the beauty of life, of a person who had suffered so that they were beautiful underneath, like a metamorphosis.
" Poor child" He lowered himself to the ground upon one knee, brushing a stray lock of hair from her face. " You are beautiful, beautiful of the soul, beautiful of the mind and beautiful of the heart, a beacon of hope and suffering refusing to be smothered by the darkness around you... I will bring that beauty to the surface"
He cupped her ears, her red rimmed eyes full of glistening tears that belied the white sheet covering his face.
" It warms me to see such tenacity" He spoke earnestly, and made to act, give a gift that didn't have caveats, didn't have clauses and didn't have an expiry date.
[ Gift given]
He slowly let go, arms reaching for her hands and lifting her from the ground.
" Never forget the hardships you have endured, and do not abuse the gifts I have given, for I can take them away easier than I give them" His warning was clear as they rose, and a vicious crack broke her face in half, blackened seams spreading across the entirety of her featured as dead skin and facial structure slowly peeled away to reveal the new face beneath.
Her fat rolled face peeled away to reveal a heart shaped face, brown eyes turned a silver reflective of the water pools at the base of Sathar. Full lips parted in testing, a perfectly portioned button nose sat at the centre of her face as luscious lashes fluttered.
Had this been the modern world she would have been a model, in this climate, she was heart attack waiting to happen to people who understood little of what a real beauty was, even in this city full of wander.
He lead her to a basin of water. Past Leah who watched with parted lips and shaking legs at the strange scene she had bire witness to.
" Look upon yourself ... " And so the wife leant over, and found fresh tears running down her sky blue eyes, catching ... understanding her beauty for the first time.
" Thank you ... mil... lord of roses" She fell at his feet and kissed his toes in reverence, as if the act would convey how she felt." You have my eternal gratitude milord, should you want anything, I will do my best to serve, body mind and soul, I serve "
" Now now ... " He chuckled and dragged her from the ground again, holding her shoulders squarely with deceptively powerful hands. "Do not make promises you can't keep... now go ... return to your husbands side... and live a long life of envy ... oh ... and send your husband in before you two depart"
She darted out, dragging her husband by the hand whom was flabbergasted at the changes of his wife, and from the looks of it, Sek was quite interested in taking her home this very moment.
" Sek was it ... " Thr man turned a stony gaze at Malak, nodding a single time before turning enraptured eyes to his wife.
" Her beauty is now a threat to yourself and herself, any man who sees her will seek her hand, including the magister,they may not ask for her opinion in the matter if they have enough station. I'd find a way to guard her... without confining her, I'd be quite displeased if I found out you were mistreating her in suspicion due to her beauty" A cold understanding washed over Sek, whose features settled into a firm scowl, eyes turning cold with murderous intent.
" I understand milord" Sek bowed deeply, he was determined to guard her above all else, he would have regardless of what she looked like, but now her beauty was a genuine danger.
" Come ... I would give you another gift." And so Sek leant at Malak's feet, head bowed in refusal to gaze upon this holy creature before him.
" I bequeathe to you the strength of ten men, the endurance of a horse, and the ability to know whenever your lady wife be in danger, of the mind ... and of the body" The system acted, and a sense of knowing afforded itself into Sek's mind.
Muscles coiled around bone like steel cable, his lungs reworked themselves and his body fortified the resistance needed for endurance.
" I... I don't know what to say" Grateful, he finally glanced upon the holy figure, heat coming to his face as he beheld the life changer.
" Then say nothing, and always remember these words. A gift is to be cherished, never forgotten, nor is the hand that gifted it. Now I believe your lovely wife is quite eager to .ake you late for tomorrow's duties" Malak turned away, and let the man flee into the city with his wife where they failed to keep their hands off of eachother until the next day's duties. And then it happened. The magisters plan to utilise his gifts for himself went up in smoke as soon as Sek and his wife joined with others.
Wives and widows crawled on through the night, wishing for their own beauty, wishing to be young, wishing for their husbands to lay hand on them again.
Men came in during the day, wishing for strength. Wishing for luck and weapon, even guidance.
Children came during the afternoons, their wishes nothing but an expression of purity. A flower to never die, a bug they wanted to keep but parents would no doubt deny. One child even wanted their stick to be as strong as a sword and as long lasting. Those were his favourite wishes to grant, the way their eyes would light up, the simplest things they asked for proving the most valuable in the world.
And then came the gifts in turn, tithes even in offering after his services had been levied. Paintings made by men whose artistic hand had been boosted by his aid. Ring's from artisans who took the time to craft finely made gold and silver braces and rings that now sat in a box on the side of his bed.
An assasin had even given him several bottles of the tears of lys when he had gifted them back the power to stand of their own feet once more.
And every time he gave a blessing, he knew, Leah was reporting his actions back to the magister, whom from word of those close by who had come in search of him, was growing more and more nervous with every act of grace he levied and didn't call for himself.
With every day that passed, his influence slowly grew, to the point they were even considering apart of one of the hundred gods worshipped in this city, and those of old religion were considering him one of the two, arguing about which one he truly represented. But already, some were considering the room and brick he tread holy grounds.
Every time he left his room, crowds would part, they levied him respect, they levied him dues his old home only knew to take advantage of. They'd even taken it apon themselves to start building effigies in his likeness, something he did find rather amusing.
" And it's all coming to a head" He smirked, as painters outside painted a mural in his name, a man who'd lost feeling in arm and use of fingers, now using the gift to paint the likeness of the man who'd returned them.
He watched Leah closely, and did something he knew that would force the magister to act.
" Uhar.... " He leant over a chest and made a show of reaching under a bunch of light stones much to Leah's interest. " It grows restless, would you mind holding it for me while I adjust it's bedding"
The monolith came forward, her full lips spreading in a small smile under veil as the heat of an egg several times larger than the month before settled in the palm of her gauntlets. Hissing escaped the gauntlets as the egg threatened to melt clean through the armoured plating.
" .... " As her gauntlets started to fail to deal with the blistering heat, as Malak began to rearrange the stones into a new formation to allow for beater heat distribution.
" It grows, it'll be born soon enough and then my powers will wane as the source grows until they are gone... the drake of gifts shall take its power with it until finds a new master" He lied smoothly, of which Uhar knew, as Leah listened closely and then laid an almost unbreakable gaze apon the egg.
" Here here " Uhar handed the egg back to the waiting gloves of her master, where he buried the egg in the chest pf heated stones until it faded completely from view.
" Milord ... uhm ... what was that" Leah asked, slowly turning from the chest to the keeper of the egg, the lie told taking firm purchase in her mind. She spoke tantively, carefully as she always had, testing waters, lying to his face.
He cast a warning glance to Uhar, whose entire body tensed, the desire to protect roaring as fiercely as ever.
" Oh... sorry I forgot ... " He plastered a smile vicious and full of secrets. " It's a drake egg ... "
The trap was set, all that needed was for it to be unleashed.