“Who heard you?”
“I don’t know! But they’re coming. They’re coming right now!” Snow insisted, looking around as if he really expected to see something appear out of nowhere.
He looked so convinced that ZaiWin1Literally zai (blade) + win (chaos) couldn’t help looking around as well. But more than what he could or could not see, what he heard left him immediately alert.
A shrieking howl echoed from outside, followed by another, and then another, and ZaiWin quickly undid the black dome so he could take a real look at his surroundings.
“Come here! And no matter what don’t leave my side.”
Snow immediately obeyed his short and dry command. He’d never seen him look like this, he thought looking up at his grave expression, his cold blue eyes quickly scrutinizing the scarce lean trees around them. On the other hand, those howling sounds were making him nauseous, the same way he normally felt at the smell of roasted meat.
Raising his hand, ZaiWin made a small, black butterfly appear as if it had been hiding just beneath his skin and, with a wave of his hand, sent it flying across the darkening sky, towards their camp.
Snow followed the small butterfly with his gaze until it disappeared, lost amongst the shadows of the evening. But then he could finally see something else, his heart beating furiously against his chest.
Many black forms were hiding in the shadow all around them, but the red glowing symbols that covered their bodies made it impossible not to see them. By the way they moved, they looked like animals; large, heavy animals that silently surrounded them, encircling them, their equally red eyes peering at them from the shadows. And then another shrieking howl filled the air, this time from much closer, and the dark beasts sped across the clearing towards them. Their heavy paws thundered as they hit the ground, the sound of dried branches cracking beneath their weight. Growling viciously, they were upon them in the blink of an eye, and they were nothing like any animal Snow had ever seen.
Vaguely reminding him of wolves, they were much larger, almost as tall as ZaiWin, their huge mouths fixed on a ferocious grin that showed two rows of yellow, sharp teeth. The saliva that trickled from their mouths was black and thick, sticking to their overly-gown black fur, their muzzles abnormally sharp and pointy. And their eyes were small but as bright-red as the symbols covering their black bodies. And yet, more than their frightening appearance, what was really disturbing was something entirely different.
They were just wrong, Snow could instinctively tell, even though he didn’t now exactly why or how. They were wrong the same way the darkness that always surrounded ZaiWin was wrong. But they were wrong on an entirely different scale, to the point that he was immediately certain that things like that should not be allowed to exist in the world.
A long, black flash drew an arch right in front of Snow’s eyes, and sliced open the throat of the closest beast, sending it flying through the air. The thing fell heavily on the ground, sliding across the tall grass until it hit a tree, cracking it’s trunk open, the sound of it as it was uprooted making him cringe. However none of the other beasts seem to care or even fear suffering the same fate as their companion, still coming at them.
Whatever had sliced the first monster’s throat hovered quietly for an instant, and then flew again, gracefully shooting across the air like an arrow, slicing another beast, and then another. It looked like a thin, long sword, Snow thought when he caught a glimpse of it. A black sword, wrapped in an eerie black mist, and Snow looked up at him to confirm what he’d already guessed, that ZaiWin was the one commanding it. His face serious and cold, wherever he looked at the sword would follow, flashing back and forth, cutting down one beast after the other with dizzying speed.
The smell that quickly filled the air was the worst that Snow had ever experienced, forcing him to cover his mouth and nose, making him dizzy. And then he noticed it.
The land where those things stepped, the land where they bled, it turned immediately black, like a dark, contagious disease. Everything they touched died, dark fumes rising from the ground like poisonous smoke. And even though he couldn’t see it, he knew that the rotting disease was permeating deep into the soil, the land beneath his feet crying silently in agony.
A sharp, loud shriek forced him to cover his ears instead.
One of the beasts hadn’t died immediately, and the hair-raising sound it was making while it twisted horribly on the ground, blood gushing from his wound like black water from a fountain, almost split his head in two. And then something wet and warm splattered all over his face, and Snow couldn’t hear anything anymore. He tried to breathe, but his throat closed, making him choke as he uselessly clutched his own neck, gasping for air that refused to go beyond his mouth.
Nox2Literally nox (night). Nox is the name of the Clan (family name), also the name of a Province. ZaiWin uses it because he is the Governor of Nox. ZaiWin felt as if someone had just shot an arrow through his head, from one temple to the other, making him wince in pain. And then the brat beside him was on his knees, clutching his neck, coughing and choking on something.
Grabbing him by one arm, he tried to pull him back to his feet, away from the black miasma that now reached knee high. But not only he could not stand, his knees buckling beneath him, he also couldn’t breathe, his lips slowly turning blue, tears of agony sliding down his young face.
It was as if the entire world had just collapsed around him, ZaiWin's mind going completely blank. A deafening fury rose from the depths of his chest and he just couldn’t think clearly anymore. Acting on pure instinct, he slammed his foot on the ground and released an array he hadn’t used in many years, not since he had finally managed to get rid of all the feimao3Literally fei (raging / furious) + mao (beast / monster). Raving beasts that appear in unbalanced, ungoverned lands. They possess destructive markings that in turn corrupt the land even further. Hard to explain in just 2 lines -_-; Anyway. Bad, vicious things that need to be killed. infesting the Province of Nox.
A wave of heavy darkness surged through the entire clearing, and the dark monsters surrounding him were immediately turned to dust, the backslash from using it bringing a sharp pain to his chest and leaving his mouth tasting of blood.
Holding the brat in his arms, he slipped into that other world of darkness and sped through it as fast as a gust of wind.
ZenTar4Literally zen (silent) + tar (wind) and MenTar5Literally men (lake) + tar (wind) were just about to go and find him when he suddenly appeared amongst them, carefully placing Snow on the ground.
“Feimao, north from here!” he simply instructed, and the two brothers didn’t even hesitate, rushing towards the direction he’d indicated.
HawkEye, a frightened expression on his face, was having a hard time holding their equally scared horses down, making sure they didn’t panic and bolted away.
At the sight of him VinWei6Literally vin (hard) + wei (crystal) joined him immediately, a small silk purple pouch already in her hands.
“What happened?” she asked, searching Snow’s body for signs of injury, and ZaiWin shook his head.
“I don’t know! He suddenly couldn’t breathe!”
“Is this those things’ blood? Quickly! Wash it away!” she demanded without waiting for a reply.
ZaiWin rushed to obey her, grabbing the closest flask of water and pouring it over Snow’s face, carefully washing away the black blood marring his skin.
VinWei opened her pouch and took out a large, smooth crystal the size of her palm. Holding it against the boy’s forehead, she closed her eyes to better focus on her task. Beneath her pale hand, the crystal begun to glow and, to ZaiWin’s relief, Snow gasped and coughed, finally able breathe again, even though it still took a while until his lips regained a healthier shade.
The high shriek that filled the air made ZaiWin look back.
They were getting closer. He should go and help ZenTar and MenTar. None of them was a lesser fighter, but their daitai7Literally dai (light) + tai (mark), or Holy Markings, considered Heavenly Blessings. They’re the source of power. were more adequate to fight off murders and robbers, not foul creatures like the feimao. They were bound to need some help. But then a golden glow captured his gaze, and he couldn’t help stare in disbelief at the brat lying right in front of him.
He was awake now, his pale eyes open, but his gaze was empty, as if his mind were somewhere else. The light of the crystal that VinWei still held against his forehead filled his weird, glassy irises with iridescent colors, but what really caught ZaiWin’s attention was the intensity and precision of golden array formed around him.
Closing his eyes in a silent command, the golden array quickly obeyed his order and expanded, sliding right beneath ZaiWin’s knees, rushing towards the trees around them. The sound of brushes and trees growing at an abnormal speed filled the air, and what had been a few, lean trees, quickly became a dark dense forest. Instantly numerous howls and shrieks echoed from the recently formed forest, as the golden light sped through the them until ZaiWin could no longer see it.
Snow frowned, cringing painfully at the horrible sound, and before he could think about what he was doing, ZaiWin had already covered his ears with both his hands.
And then everything was silent again.
VinWei took a deep breath and looked at the crystal that had completely lost its glow.
“This kid! Has no respect whatsoever for other people’s work!” she grunted, even though ZaiWin was still looking back and forth, trying to understand exactly what had happened.
The sound of footsteps captured his attention, and the two brothers appeared from the dense forest surrounding what was now a clearing. By their expressions he could easily tell that, not only they weren’t happy about something, they were equally confused.
“You all saw it, right? The golden array,” ZenTar asked, resting his sword on his shoulder as if it were too heavy to carry any other way.
“It was amazing! Everything grew! And it was as if the trees had revolted against those things! The roots raising from the ground to grab them, the branches piercing them from one sit to the other!” MenTar excitedly described, wiping the black blood dripping from his brow on his sleeve.
“You two! Get properly cleaned! I don’t want any of that foul thing anywhere near Snow!” VinWei warned them and they both looked at the boy still lying on the ground.
“Is he all right?” MenTar asked, suddenly worried, and she sighed.
“He is now. But their blood is like poison to him. So get cleaned. You included!” she added, turning to ZaiWin who was still covering Snow’s ears. ZaiWin immediately raised both hands, stepping away from the boy.
“That array. Was it his doing?” ZenTar asked in a dry tone, his cold, suspicious eyes on the boy, and ZaiWin nodded.
“We were just practicing it before … That he could pull it out so soon, and in such a large scale …”
Better yet, that he could give it such an aggressive nature!, he thought, but opted to keep it to himself.
“Wow! He’s really amazing!” MenTar completed his sentence with an admiring smile on his face. “But why isn’t he waking up?”
“You try getting poisoned and then raise an array that size while you’re still being treated! I was still purifying his body when he went and created that growth array! ZaiWin! Teaching him how to control his daitai is all fine and good, but you better teach him about limits as well! He’ll end up killing himself if this goes on!” she openly scolded him and ZaiWin sighed.
Well, it wasn’t as if she was wrong. He had completely forgotten about that. No matter, he quickly decided the next instant, looking down at Snow, at the traces of tears still visible on his sleeping face. As long as he would be fine in a few hours.
“Let’s go. We can go back to that creek,” he decided, and the other two followed him without further questions.
