There were many times along her journey to Osan that Teyva had considered having another heart-to-heart with Azrael. To tell her everything about where she came from. She’d been afraid, though, how does one just drop the bombshell that they used to be human and are from another world. There was so much that Teyva didn’t understand, so many answers to questions she didn’t have. Then here comes the King of the Azar himself dropping a word like that into the conversation. She couldn’t help herself, all pretense of poker-face fell away as she whipped her head in his direction.

He smiled, “We have a lot to talk about, Lady Akura.”

She narrowed her eyes at him and looked out toward the view beyond. The sun was beginning to set and the waving grains that covered the wildlands began to give off an eerie glow from this angle. She rubbed her arms, not even sure what to say to him. What was there to say? The look in his eyes said a lot to her, he knew more than he was letting on.

He cleared his throat to fill the silence and turned toward the glass, crossing his arms behind his back.”When I was a little boy there was nothing here in Osan. Only a few stragglers from the various groups had tried and failed to settle within the walls of the fortress. Occasionally groups would be sent by the four tribes to try to take control. It wouldn’t last long, another tribe would swoop in and push them out. All I knew was war and an endless cycle of new, distant masters.”

He let out a breath, “What I want for the Azar is peace more than anything. When I took the throne I sent my own daughter to sue for peace with the humans of Katal. If they agreed the other human Kingdoms would likely follow suit. That was my hope. An era where the Azar could finally build a homeland of their own instead of struggling in the open plains. I don’t want to fight anyone, Lady Akura. I want the next generation to wonder why we even fought to begin with.”

“Why are you telling me this?” Teyva asked, “I get it, you’re a good guy, you raised Azrael so I figured as much.”

He chuckled and shook his head, “There is a process that this world undergoes on occasion. Some call it the Heroic Cycle, others just The Cycle. When the Azar crown a ruler the world itself reacts and calls forth a hero from another place to Katal. The humans rally behind the hero and declare war on the Azar. This cycle has happened for as far back as our people can remember. The truth of it though, how the so-called hero appears is a closely guarded secret. How could an entire people cope with a world that seems predisposed to hate them?”

Teyva felt a chill run up her spine. She didn’t like the direction he was going with this. Nephral squirmed on her shoulders and his tail flicked with agitation. She set her jaw and stared out the window, taking deep breaths of the scented air.

“I gathered the Magi and sought out old wisdom, they crafted a ritual that would intercept the incumbent hero. My goal was to summon the hero to Osan and avoid war altogether,” He frowned, “The spell appeared to have failed and so I sent Azrael with a message of peace to Katal,” He turned to face her, “It would seem I need to apologize for interfering with your trip, Lady Akura. You arrived in such an unpleasant place.”

Teyva leaned against the glass and closed her eyes, she swallowed and tried to settle the queasiness in her stomach. Nephral turned to quietly purring against her. There were her answers laid out infront of her and for some reason she felt like it was all a mistake. So her arrival in Orum, the tomb of Teyva Rani, meeting Azrael, they’d all been on accident. A coincidence. So what, the system just happened to pluck her out of the many souls out there in the void? She’d quietly hoped that maybe she was special in some way, that she in particular was picked for a reason. 

“So I was just picked to play a role that’s been played before,” Teyva muttered, “Just show up, knock the Azar down a peg, and then what?”

The King gave her a mirthless smile, “I do not know. We have no record of what happens after an Azar King is defeated beyond some vagueries.”

“All of it was an accident, a spell gone wrong,” Teyva muttered, pressing her nose against the glass as her skin grew hot. She bit her lip and squeezed her eyes shut, the boiling anger beginning to press against the back of her eyes. If the Azar hadn’t interfered she would never have been born into Teyva Rani’s bones. Never had to endure the mind games the woman played with her as she struggled to survive in the Balthin Sea. She would have been uplifted as a hero by the Humans of Katal. Probably been able to live in relative comfort, even if it was as a glorified figurehead of a war she had no reason to participate in.

“Do you have any idea what I went through?” She spat, turning to him, “I died! Over and over and over in that tomb! I have the ghost of some insane queen in my head just waiting for me to die again so she can take over! I was so scared!” She bellowed, turning to look him dead in the eyes. “I turned into this… thing!” She gestured to herself. “Do you think I like being stared at like I’m some walking nightmare? That I like getting turned away for being a ‘strange creature’?”

He held his composure never turning his gaze from her. She continued to vent, barraging him with accusation after accusation, “I consumed aspect stones to survive! It hurts! The pain of just using one of those things is something I’ll never forget. I was nearly mauled by wolves, I-” She cut herself off and caught her breath, turning back to the window and away from the growing sadness in his eyes. Sadness and resolve. She wanted to punch her fist clear through the window. She wanted to scream, to cry, to do something to him to make him fully understand.

“You did what you had to do,” She muttered, finally, her eyes downcast.

“I did, and for what you went through, I am sorry.”

Teyva tilted her head and sighed, “I met Azrael. Met my babies, Nephral here,” She muttered, stroking the sphinx. Nephral yawned and pressed his head against her face. She buried her face in his fur and breathed, settling herself a little more. “A glorified puppet, that’s what this cycle wanted for me, right?”

“Yes.”

She turned to look him in the eyes, “And what do you want from me?”

He took a breath and crossed his arms behind his back, glancing out the window for a few heartbeats before looking in her direction. “To make you the same offer I would have made if you had arrived in Osan.”

“And that is?”

“Stay here in the Pinnacle, I’ll induct you into my family as one of my own. You’ll live in comfort here, free to exist as you choose. No war to play in, I do not want that for you. You and I never need to come to blows and neither do my people with the humans. Without a true hero of the cycle to rally behind, the humans won’t go to war,” He said, “If you do not want to, you’ll never have to fight again here in my home. We can look into a way to excise that ghost from you as well.”

Teyva turned fully to face him; “That’s it? Just live out the rest of my life here in Osan? No ‘fight for the Azar’ instead?”

He chuckled; “I daresay that we can handle ourselves against minor attacks. It is an all-out war I am concerned about.”

She made a face, the anger abating a little. Becoming Azrael’s literal sister wasn’t such a bad deal, and to be honest it seemed like she could at the very least avoid danger this way. But she had to wonder what kind of life that was. She had told Azrael that she wanted to do something with herself in this new life. This felt like the easy way out. She rubbed her arms and looked out to the darkening fields of grain. “What’s the catch?”

“Azrael cannot know of the Cycle’s intention for you in this world,” He said, “No one can.”

Teyva frowned, “No deal, I don’t want to keep any more secrets from her.”

“You understand that you were brought in this world to kill me, correct? That a force greater than either of us can fully comprehend wishes nothing less than to see you and I come to blows? Even if you pledge never to see that future take place, do you think Azrael can handle that truth?” He asked, “Please, do not put that burden on her.”

Teyva glanced in his direction again and let out a sigh; “I can’t keep it from her, your Majesty. She deserves to know the truth and now that I have my answers I can give it to her. You want me to be her sister for goodness sake,” She ran her fingers through her hair and Nephral hopped to the ground, looking between them. “Our connection is important to me. I believe that she’ll forgive me for being what I am. She’s accepted me so far.”

The King gave her a sad smile, “Very well, but you tell her at your own risk.”

She rubbed her arms again and held his gaze. Her glowing skin became more and more of a beacon in the darkening room. “I don’t want to just exist, your Majesty, I want to do something with my life. I don’t know what it is, but I’m not going to sit around and wait for it to come to me. As long as you don’t stop me from that, you have yourself a deal. I love Azrael. And Osan, from what I’ve seen so far, is a beautiful place. I don’t want to see any more bloodshed if I don’t have to.”

He bowed his head low and she felt her chest tighten a bit, “Thank you, on behalf of my people who may never know what you’ve done and endured for them. Thank you.”