Judari placed his hand upon the cold limb, his veins popping out from beneath his violet skin. He raised his cleaver, ichor dripping from its grated steel. Then with all might forcing the metal down upon the limb, severing the blood canals and muscle, away was the connection of limb to the full body. Blood flew from the rock table, crevices carved to alleviate the pain of the mundane task to clean, not that he was spared this task. Though his lips didn't change form no matter the job he was put on. He took the limb in hand, and threw it behind him, a massive pile of severed parts and bodies laid still, dripping crimson down the mound to an open grate.
Judari felt a creeping nausea crawling up his system, begging to be released. Though he swallowed down his spit, pushing back his own body's unconformity. He looked upon the rest of the decaying corpses laid on the table at his hands with his sunken eyes, so much work, so much he couldn't bear, yet had too.
A cloth swung with wind behind him, the dark room's only candle light near extinguished from the slight breeze.
"Jubari my muscle-work, how's it going with the parts." He heard from behind.
"It's going." He said, throwing the worked cleaver to the side.
"Good good, now you've worked quite a while for me, nearly even paid me off for the surgery."
"Yes?" Judari with struggle limped his body around to face the doctor, his stature only reaching Judari's chest.
"Well I've been thinkin'. I could start paying ya', real silver coins y'know. I'm a business man first, and not keeping my best worker alive would be quite the bad investment." The doctor said, adjusting his dark brown coat over his fat laid body, with hints of white fabric hiding underneath the multitudes of dried stains.
"And look at you, you're a natural at severing parts, knowing just where to cleave. The last boy who did this for me nearly got me in trouble with a necromancer y'know." The doctor walked close, reaching his hand upward. Judari felt the doctor's greasy hand on his shoulder. His muscles stiffened, but he didn't move. Not yet.
"So, would you like to earn a living?" The doctor said, grabbing Judari's sharp bladed shoulder with a single hand. Judari, though, simply turned a heel, and picked his cleaver back up, continuing his work. One limb at a time.
"I knew you'd comply. I'll leave a packet of silver in your room, pick it up when you're done with this pile. And don't miss any this time." The doctor smiled with psudory, and scurried away.
Judari glanced upon his hands, one, two, three… seven… nine… All fingers are still attached.
He throws the cleaver in the air yet again, and swipes down. Till ichor drips from his face more than the lifeless husks beside him.
"You have to get out of here, what you're doing is both degrading and immoral. Look at yourself, you're practically withering away as you stand, please listen to me." Judari's mind spoke to him, and he shrugged.
"I know you're hurting, but hurting yourself isn't the solution." Judari shrugged again, chopping limb after limb, till the pile only had one body remaining.
"You heard the doctor, we've already paid him off, we aren't in any obligation to stay."
"You told me to remain here, that running away was a coward's play, and that not working would be a sin, to me, my father and name."
"I know, but this has gone too far, you've only eaten thrice this past month, and your hair has reached your jaw."
"I'm not in a state to listen to your yapper, I desire to be still of mind." His mind thus shut off, only left with the burning candle at his left.
With silver packet in hand, Judari stammered through the backdoor of the clinic. The tight back-alley littered with some sort of liquid, though Judari's eyes neither cared, nor could see past the darkness to determine what the liquid was. Stepping through till he reached the end, and his eyes were met with the city of stone. Massive pillars of rock and calcite spiral toward the spiked ceiling, with broken walkways hung from each one, small houses carved in the underground's structure. Judari peered out to the bustling street, hundreds of kindreds passing by, yelling, buying, spitting and punching. Though his eyes flew through them, only searching for an armor's silver gleam.
His journey wasn't far, but the memories of what he had committed in the court of Palelink still remained strong and visual in his mind. He reached for the back of his muscled neck, and threw cowl over his head, somewhat concealing his face. Though walking along with the many crowds, he more or less blended in with the general population, all with hood over their heads, as people stood in alleyways, being beat by guards of the city, Judari didn't brave to look their way, and simply limped towards his tiny apartment stationed above the clinic.
Not much was placed in the cramped space. Only a lit candle along with a tiny rusted scissor placed upon a small table with uneven legs, causing the candle to tilt its flowing wax ever so slightly. A bed The unkempt bed tilted awkwardly, one end gapped away from the wall while the other grated against the carved rock. And lastly, Judari's only possession of value, a dusty mirror, blocking the slight crack that excused as a window to the vile streets. He dragged himself inside, the silver packet carrying only twenty two coins, yet for Judari weighing that of a thousand. He threw the coins to the table, the candle caught in the crossfire of his instinct, thrown off the table and splashing on the ground with wet wax. Judari could only stare, grabbing the table and ripping it towards himself, placing it in front of the mirror, and wiping the right side of it clean with his textured hand.
"I look disgusting." He murmured to himself, wiping more dust away from the mirror.
"It'd be nice if you didn't insult yourself."
"I'll say what I want to myself." Judari quelched his lips.
"It wasn't your fault."
"You've been trying to convince me of that for over a month."
"The path you are on would disappoint our father, can you imagine his expression if he saw you right now?" His superego spoke to him.
"He hung himself, he's dead and no longer matters to me." Judari grips upon the ridges of the mirror, clenching down upon the rustic bark with enough force to make it squeal. His reflection staring back at him with pity in its eyes.
"I know why you lie, you still take matter of what he wanted for you into your heart. He's gone but his ideals still linger in you."
"I only do what I want to. Whatever I desire, I will do and have." Judari reached for the pair of rusted scissors, grabbing them from the dust-fit floor.
"His only ideals he threw to the sea as well, he became a husk unable to properly even look me in the eyes without breaking down."
"He was sick."
"He was weak." Judari threw claw to his forehead, pinning his uneven nails into his leathery skin.
"And you've become cruel." His mind spoke back to him, trying its best to reach out through the mirror with its shaking hands. Judari snipped upon his hair with the scissor, carvings and marks laid into the steel.
"You've lost so much, you've hurt so much. My moral heart can't bear to witness this self-deterioration anymore."
"Then close your eyes."
"My eyes are yours, and yours are mine."
"Would you stop with your word-play. All you are is a pretentious version of me, focused on everything that does not matter."
"A higher sense of self matters the most in this world. It allows you to ascend beyond your mortal ties, and truly live."
"Yet when your body crumbles, what are you left with?"
"You're left with memories."
"Of what."
"Of what you've achieved for the world."
"That goes no matter way, my id will carry me forward to my truest desires. Unobstructed with the will of others."
"You are not your body, it is just a reflection of a lesser you."
"And what if it's the reverse. The body is what performs actions, the truth of reality. You can have thoughts and intentions but what do they serve when the body is sitting idle in a cave."
"Yet what is a body to do without the guiding light of the mind. Becoming more akin to a beast rather than a person."
Judari snipped upon his hair, letting more of it descend to the ground. Each gray lock littering the cold stone floor, along with tiny pools of liquid, either transparent or red.
"So now what have you planned, to simply dwell in the misery of your currency. You've followed your desires yet all they've accomplished is bring you further from your self. Has detaching yourself from your identity helped quell the sorrow. Or has it simply set a ticking clock, till you remember who you are. Your dreams, Rito, your father, your mother."
Judari's eyes lit with thunder, now staring daggers into the mirror.
"You dare bring my mother up. I will rid myself if I have to be reminded again. You nasty ghoul. My father and mother have been dead for years." Judari store with wide eyes at his reflection, himself staring back with teary pitiful eyes. Unlike he whose eyes were dry with rage.
"In my heart… He never returned. I never spoke of it… My father died that day along with my mother. His corpse cared for me, but never him."
"Oh gods. That letter… No, it couldn't have been."
"You are breaking, please calm down."
His mirror image with sorrow in its eyes, tried to reach out and caress Judari, though unable to break free, it remained trapped. Only able to observe.
"No, I was the final nail in his already crafted coffin. Did I kill him, or do him a service?!"
"You didn't kill him, or anyone."
"And why should I take your word for it. Not once have I taken gain from listening to your snakely words. Moral, what a lie. You're a veil to view the world in your favor." Judari said with spit and fire in his voice. His throat tight with rage, and legs crackling as he stood up, scissor in hand, buzzing his hairs up.
"You aren't in headspace for this. Put the scissor down-"
"I think it's about time I was left be. Only a monolith of well-mind in my head." Judari said, the scissor pulsing with a yellow hue, as spirals of thunder escaped and crackled from the blade."
"I beg for your mercy, we're all that's left of the whole."
"For our mother's sake. Would you kill your self?" Judari tilted the scissor to point at the dusty mirror.
"For id shall triumph" A bolt of sickly thunder shot from the tip of the rust, crackling Judari's mirror image in an explosion of a thousand glass-shards. Each one tinted with a sliver of yellow. His room laid dark with shadows, each shadow containing creatures of the abyss and beyond, horrid images of fake kindred faces, plastered with smooth yet jagged expressions. Though he couldn't even bother to look at his unraveling mind… As he was free.
The final snap, Judari's soul weighed no longer, soaring high above the clouds. Free, from his self. He opened his eyes as the victor, his arm with a few scatter glass shards stuck in them. He plucked each shard with animalistic haste, the wounds deepening. Yet, like his past injuries, none left a scar, as though they never existed. And he smiled, for he was free. He let his mindless hand wander to his silver pouch, grab it on it loosely yet with enough force to crush a bone.
He raised his neck and head, standing with a pride that touched his very withered soul.
"I have gained what was stolen from me." He whispered through his stained teeth.
"MY CONFIDENCE!" He beamed with ravenous giddy, his feet tapping on the ground spontaneously with heavy clicks. Throwing his head back, each end of his smile reaching for his ears. Throwing his arms long away from his body, he could feel the polluted dense air fill his nostrils and brain.
"O for I'm finally alone, all alone! It's so beautifully quiet! I have killed my self, I have killed my flaws! It's so quiet!" He let his body spin back and forth, each twist another muscle and bone bent to his will. For he was dancing. His movement frantic and each tug on his strength a showing of domination over his body, mind and soul.
"I'm so happy, it's been so long since I was happy!"
"Every single person has been weighing me down, my potential squandered!" He looked at the scattered glass shards that littered the floor still and reflecting his joyous expression.
"I am a mirror to perfection!" He bared his teeth in a wild grin, spinning and kicking with reckless energy, as though his body was collapsing and rising all at once.
"I've never felt so alive!" His voice flooding his tiny room, and his body near reaching the walls from his manic movement.
"I've never been alive!" He yelped, violent tears streaming down his cavernous eyes and down his harsh textured cheeks. His mouth dry and taper. Raising himself upwards with grace.
"My body feels quite arid, how's about I drench my desires." He spoke to himself with ecstatic manic slathering his tone.
"Some alcohol to take my mind off things!" The silver pouch in his hands, he lept around the room, searching corner to corner, dust to dust, for nothing at all.
Till finally ending his frantic dance, standing still in the room much like a stone statue. Lifeless and dull, with no shine in his eyes. Boringly he went through the door to his apartment and out to the sulfur-laced streets.
Judari dragged himself through the dilapidated streets, his path weaving between apartments stacked haphazardly atop each other. Some buildings carved out from ancient moss-infiltrated clay, where depictions of shining moss and slugs were scraped into the hardened clay houses, their roofs open to the surrounding mass-cavern. While some of the newer, were carved with haste for homes to be built and resided in. Judari viewed the open sections between each building, children playing with balls made of hay and rocks, kicking them around piles of dead corpses, using them as goal-posts for their games.
As the distinct sound of fire burned into Judari's ear, his attention craved to be met with an answer to where the sound helmed from. He with viscous brisk his head turned to the small alley, where he could witness the stem where the flames hailed from. A pyre of bodies, some large, others small, all burned. Their kindred features lost to the flames, charred black. Overseeing and controlling the fire, was a cloaked figure in a leather mask, horns jutting from the top and sprigs of herbs woven under the leather.
A heavy black piece of glass placed on each side of the mask, making it resemble much like a fire-fly, or as Judari knew them, Pyre-flies.
Behind the burning pile, sat a small girl, with a crude looking doll and coughing softly into her hand. No snot, no roughness, but a simple cough. Till the Pyre-flies went around the pile, raising their metal gloved hands with fire sigils carved into the steel. A single moment passed, till they unleashed a wave of sickly flames. Judari tore his gaze from the scene as the girl's guttural scream faded into the cavernous streets of the Emerald District, no different from the countless other cries heard throughout the day.
Judari stumbled around the place, his mind in a haze searching for any clue or scent of what he desired, alcohol. His silver pouch in hand, he wandered more and more. The sour stench of brew touching past his bulky nose, though it only excited him. The stench only rivaled by the black smog in the air that rose along the city's corners and streets. Judari kept his step, only following the scent. His fantasy just ahead, he pioneered through a small alleyway, the darkness around him, broken up by a thin figure.
"All of your silver. Now." A silver haired young man stepped forward, a pierced dagger in his right hand, leant forward like one would hold a butter-knife. Judari gazed with dead eyes, into the man's emerald irises. His body still and quiet, as the man's limbs shook.
"You heard me mutt, I see you're carrying a hefty seft of silver, so hand it over! Or I'll... uh... I'll dig yer eyes out!" The robber said, and Judari peered past the shadows to the man's face, seeing his expression brang the ever-slightest smile to the Vind.
"Do you really value silver this much?" Judari said, raising his chin upward.
"Toss it to me now!" He let his small blade flip forward, ready for lunging. JJudari smiled as the bandit, fueled by desperation, lunged forward, his blade aimed for the Vind's chest. With effortless grace, Judari sidestepped the dagger and seized the robber's arm. And with a single swift kick, sent the man's bone snapping backward. Quickly throwing him to the dusty alleyway stone floor. Landing stomach first, the man writhed in pain, trying his best not to let out a single release of scream.
"Mmf." Judari salvated in the moment, letting his heavy boot step upon the man's back, his heel twisting around the spine of the man beneath him with pure force.
"Of all the thousands of people you could meet down here, I was picked. Oh truly, how more blessed could this day become!" He said, with glee and pain in his voice, as the thief squirmed beneath him, trying in vain to escape the torture.
Judari reached down, caressing the thief's skinny arms, digging his fingers into the thin flesh to feel the paper bones beneath. Judari's muscles tensed, each vain ticking forward with a pump of blood, a shot of adrenaline in each cell.
"No more stealing for you." He'd say, and much like one would with a lever, Judari ripped the man's upward, snapping his forearm's bone. The Vind starred, bewildered by his own strength, as the muscles around the cartilage tore apart, each fiber splitting from the sharp shattered bone.
A shriek and cry that could rival that of a grieving mother, exited the man's sore throat, his eyes bloodshot from the excessive glutton pain laid upon his body. Judari twisted his heel harder, relishing the free eerie calm in his mind. Though the blood splattered on his hand, he saw where his desires had done to him, he saw his act laid upon a man, he saw in himself, that he couldn't care. Only sound speaking to the Vind being the cracking of bones, his own left leg much in the same condition, which only fueled his wrath upon the man. Though as his adrenaline died, and the cries turned to a soft whimper from the man, no longer even having the energy to react, Judari's body flattened with energy, and becoming bored. Leaving the poor thief with the barest of glimmer left in the eye, and his saliva hanging from his defeated face, resting upon the dust-fil alley floor.
Like a bushel caught in the wind, Judari stumbled through the streets, dried crimson still clinging to his fingers. He tried to think, he tried again and again, yet couldn't summon a shade of question or introspect. He shook, his heart beating faster. And while cold ran through his veins, his head was none-the wiser, so he persisted with a smile.
Finally his conquest for inebriation had reached its end. A small sign hung above a frail wooden door, simply reading. 'Drinks and Bar'. With a wide, reckless smile on his lips, he pushed through the door. The stone wall towering just slightly over the maniad Vind.
A dim little room, about six meters to the bar, and ten to the furthest wall. The bar was dim and worn, five tables scattered in an uninviting pattern. Though Judari stumbled past the low-looking patrons, for he was a sigil in a lawless land .Eyes darted back and forth from Judari's hulking frame as he passed, bodies and steel shaking, for he carried a smile.
Though in his eyes, a familiar streak of hair caught his attention. Her golden eyes turned to the bartender, and her fair gray skin blending ever so slightly with the wall in front of her. Judari felt his mouth run dry, and his heart racing. Through his dry crackled lips, a whisper escaped.
"Iris…" His breath heavy, and his soul light, he sat himself on the next seat from his new desire. Her sitting with a half-fil glass, and to her right, a bright lit candle. With a heavy thud his arse was planted down on the creaky chair. A flickering candle to his left, but still burning.
"Tender! I'd simply love a large glass of brodni, could you pour me a large glass of it?" He said, with a snarky growl in his voice, forcing his shoulders upwards and chest outward. The bartender nodded, setting aside the damp glasses they were cleaning.Iris blinked, tensing her muscles slightly as she turned her head, questioning if she was dreaming.
"Hey." Judari said, looking at her with an aloof side eye, with a small smirk on his lips.
"It's.. it's you…" She looked at her previous savior, his lips as dry as desert-korn, and his face dotted with small pricks of black.
"How…" She took a breath, fiddling with the gold bracelets that adorned her left arm.
"How have you been?" She said, her face turning a warmly smile, and setting her own drink aside, her golden eyes instead focusing on the Vind.
"I've been doing Great! Really come into my own, though I'm doing even better now that I'm seeing your golden eyes." He said, keeping his eyes slightly hidden from her.
"O wow, such a charm-smith you've become." She said, forcing herself a slight giggle.
"So, what're you doing here in the Underground? On some Sigil Knight order?"
"No… That'd be quite the bore, wouldn't it?"
"I suppose it would, arresting the innocent and so forth." She jabbed him with a small nudge.
"Hah! You're so right Iris!" Her eyes widened, as the man at her left laughed.
"You are simply full of surprises, Judari. I honestly don't know whether to believe you were ever a Skik" She chuckled, though more genuine and with warmth. Judai store at the wall for but three seconds.
"I never should have been one." He said, frowning. Then quickly turned a wide smile. As his brodni finally arrived at his hand's reach.
"Let us not worry about the past, and cheer for the present!" He said, raising his glass. Her yellow eyes glittering.
"To Arvor for that!" She raised her voice lightly, clinking her glass with Judari's
"Skol!" Judari yelled, bringing the glass up to his mouth. Time slipped away in the haze of brodni and dim candlelight, seconds and hours consumed by inebriation and conversation. They spoke of nothing and everything, but Iris couldn't help noticing the tension growing in Judari's smile. The way his eyes darted, as if seeking desire, even in her presence.
"Y'know, I really regret not asking you to come with me." Iris said, sipping her drink. Placing it on her table, and then tipping it around, keeping her worker's hands busy.
"Come with you where?" Judari said, throwing another silver coin to the tender for another glass'o brodni.
"With me, down here. I just didn't have the courage, you were in the bourgeoisie city, and I an underground dweller. You had already shaken me up by not sending me to the gutter, so really…" She restricted her word-flow.
"I don't know, I suppose I'm just happy I get another chance to talk to you." She smiled warmly, playing around with the gold bracelets around her wrist, and her teeth slightly bitten into her lip.
"I'm sorry, I'm spilling my thoughts all over the place. So, what have you been doing since we last met, Judari?" She asked forward to him, his eyes still turned away from hers.
"O' uh, nothing much, I've started work down here, no longer a Sigil, doesn't align with my desires any longer."
"What does align with my wants though, is you." He said, his body leaning slightly closer to hers. Her gray cheeks filling with warmth.
"O' you romantic, cut it out." She nudged his side, his side feeling more like touching a cliff's face, instead of flesh. Her hands drew back, conflicted.
"I'd like to ask your father permission to wed with you, I… I'll be king, Iris. And you—you'll be queen." His voice wavered, as if testing the words for the first time.
"We'll rule this whole place. We'll… we'll have it all." His ecstasy died out, though the lingering words hung in the air, ticking onto Iris.
"Hold your deer Judari, you're moving quite fast, and I don't think anyone would appreciate year five hundred coming back to Gaia." She giggled.
"And if you want permission from my father, you'd need to get arrested to meet him!" She forced a laugh. Judari keeping quiet for but a couple seconds.
"What happened?" He asked, his fingers drifting over to the brodni within his reach
"It wasn't an awful long ago… I at least got to say goodbye, sitting at the front door, waiting patiently, I waited and waited, and he never came through the door. Those damned Skiks. I had to go ask around before even knowing he was arrested… for loitering." Her hands shook with brewing rage, but quickly she cut the heat off on her emotion.
"It hasn't been the same since, at least it's only a five year sentence…" She lowered her tone, along with her empty glass and head, like a melody coming to an end.
"My father committed suicide, not long ago." Judari stated, coldly gazing into the stone wall where shelves of various liquor stood enticing.
"I'm so sorry, were you close?"
"Not particularly, he was old and weak, has been since I was seven." Judari steered his head away from Iris, her not seeing the small bead of a tear forming in his left eye. He raised his chin and head high, swallowing down the pain into his gut.
"But y'know, your father." He said, his mask laid strong on.
"If I was there with him, I would've punched those guards' jaws clean off, making sure they know their place down here!" He said with bravado, pushing his chest forward. Iris shook her anchor off, rising up from her slumped position.
"Pfft, I'm sure you would."
"Of course! Look at me, they should be afraid of me!" He said, Iris chewed on her lip, and he hurling down another glass of brodni, the liquid spilling slightly from his now drenched lips. Iris flew her finger under Judari's tightened jaw. Catching and wiping the liquid off him.
"Y'know, you're quite pretty when you let go." She giggled slightly, dapping him with a tiny cloth she had dug up from her pocket. Her finger's tilting his face towards hers, his eyes, soulless and unlit, finally met hers, and they widened.
"What… what happened to you?" She asked, her golden eyes gazing at Judari's frame, and piercing his dead violet irises.
"I… spent some time in the training halls, got my blood pumping, even held my own down here."
"No, what happened to you." She said quietly, the sight of his once-glimmering gaze now shattered and dull, beady tears start forming at the edges of her eyes
"I-." Judari sought around the bar for distractions, an escape.
"Please tell me." She cupped his shivering jaw in her hands firmly, desperation etched into her expression, her eyes narrowing with concern.
"I… saw a monster." His breath became labored, and his pursuit more frantic.
"Do you want to talk about it?" She searched for his eyes, but he kept them away.
"I lost a lot, I gained some." His eyes finally locked upon the candle to his left, pulling his head free from her hands.
"What did you lose?" She asked, her voice dripping with longing.
"My self." He whispered, his lips pursed as he extinguished the candle's flame with a single, mournful breath, plunging the left of his face into the dark's shadow. The orange light, gone.
Judari's lips tugged into a wide smile.
"But what I really want to lose myself in… is you." He threw his arm around her, pulling her close. Iris's heart skipped, her body torn between the familiar warmth, yet apprehension, as she registered the shift in him. Her whole body shook, running cold along her back. Iris looked at him, unsure whether to endorse or to enforce herself over him.
"Judari… I'm sure…" Her voice wavered, and she pulled back slightly, searching his eyes for the man she once knew.
"I'm not sure whether I can recognize you anymore." The laughter in her tone was light, but the weight of her concern laid heavy in her chest, the laughter itself forced out. Judari's eyes flickered across the bar, his mind in a race against time itself.
"Of course you don't recognize me, I'm a new man, a better man than ever before." Judari whispered, leaning closer. Iris drew away from his clutch, but still remained close enough.
"Come with me, you said it yourself, you regret not asking me to come down here, so here's your chance to redeem yourself and let your desire be fulfilled." He whispered, sending cold shivers down her spine.
"I…" Iris' voice lowered, and just as her chin was about to turn away from his direction, he let his own hand slide under her jaw, locking their gazes together. Her rampant thoughts halted in an instant, and her heart skipping a beat, as she was met with his sunken eyes.
"Be my queen." Judari let his gaze pierce Iris', her eyelids trembled as she swallowed hard. The bar seemed to freeze, time stopping for a moment before she took a breath, and spoke.
"Lead the way." She raised her chin upward, a declaration. Their hands intertwined, and with bravado, Judari lifted himself upward, and Iris following along. He swung her forward, and out of her sight, put thumb and pointer-finger to the still-burning candle. The smell of burnt wax, charcoal and alcohol dragging with them, along the last patrons cries and weeps for better lives.
Judari out upon the street, swung Iris and himself around. His smile wide and his body as extravagant as the night-sky of rock and blue glowing fungus. They hopped around on the stone paved road, not a soul or kindred could stop their dance. Though the world around them couldn't affect them, Judari's eyes began to glide downward, his lids not in his control. His movements slowing as if the weight of the past itself pressed against his body.
The brodni, creeping like a shadow, finally hit him like a hammer to the gut. He gripped Iris's hand tightly as they sank into walking a slow pace. In response to his pressure, Iris squeezed his torn and calloused hand in return, her grip strong and steady. Judari tilted his head onto Iris's shoulder, his light gray locks brushing her neck, eliciting a soft, involuntary giggle.
"Shh, I know you're tired." She fiddled with his fair hair, her nails occasionally getting stuck in his curls as she scratched his tense scalp. The light around them lowered, as they descended down the streets and alleys of the Underground Expanse. And though the city was still screaming and heavy with fumes, the pair walked calmly. Iris still shook slightly, she quelled her shivers with a deep breath.
"Carrying a mask can be tiresome..." Iris murmured as she guided him through the quiet streets, each step bringing them closer to her destination. A faint clinking of metal echoed through the narrow street, a set of footsteps growing closer.
"I am… tired…" He admitted, seeming to sink further upon Iris' shoulder, the faintest tear sliding down the creek of his cheek.
"I know, you can rest back at my place for tonight." She cupped her roughened hands on his flawed violet skin, each little scar and pore so ever obvious to her. She leaned in, and gave him a little peck on the cheek.
"Maybe a little less tired now?" Iris asks, as Judari melts further into her shoulder.
"I… want you..." Judari murmured, his voice slightly cushioned by her clothes, his warm breath traveling through the fabric. The sound of heavy clinking metal approached, each moment being closer and closer. Judari's eyes widened, and Iris's heart pounded in her chest, her breath catching in her throat as the clinking steel grew louder, closer. She held Judari's hand tighter, trying to ground herself.
"Halt!" A voice yells behind them, the pair seized their walking, twisting their bodies around. Being met with a pair of Sigil Guards. Though Iris' heart still beat like a pumping machine, she felt but a shade lighter as they didn't already have their swords out and ready. The guards gazed up and down the Vind and Rigan, vying for anything, any clue or hint of criminality. Though an electric buzz still resided, from the cold gaze of the guards up facing stature.
"Is there an issue, officers?" Iris said, stepping slightly ahead, her body taut with apprehension, while Judari's fingers twitched at his side, resisting the urge to reach for a weapon he no longer carried.
"We'll decide if there is." The pair approached, each footstep a heavy reminder and thud to Judari. Their Sigil helmets sat snug on their skulls, but the metal couldn't hide the smirks curling beneath. The alley around them was still, save for the faint hum of machinery from far off, and the distant cries of a city that never truly slept. The air was thick with fumes, burning the back of Iris's throat as she faced the guards. Their lustful eyes hunting for what their super-egos desired. Judari twitched, his eyes watching with wrathful intent.
"Hmpf, a Rigan girl with Goldinveer bracelets. Say Isaiah, do you believe this underground dweller could ever afford such luxury?" The one guard let his finger slide under the bracelets, feeling their weight. His armor just as shining as the gold she wore, unused and new.
"I don't." Guard Isaiah said, his voice and armor slightly more worn and dull compared to his partner's shiny nasal.
"Alright ma'am, would you let go of this sky-kin and follow us." The guard closest to Iris said, a too wide slimy smile on his lips. He turned his back, and began a prideful walk.
"Wait, Melbrose." The dull knight said, his steady hand now shaking on the hilt of his sword.
"Is this not, Judari Onyx?" Standing only a few meters away, Isaiah kept close eye on Judari's features. Every feature examined, but with cautious movements. Judari's eyes locked upon the guards, his mind set rotation by a new burning desire. A small simmer brew, as Melbrose turned.
"Indeed it is! Y'know, he'd fetch quite the sum of silver for you and me." He drew his sword, stancing up. A buzz of yellow lighting struck out from his blade.
"Melbrose… I wouldn't-"
"Step aside from the Vind ma'am, he is a wanted man. Comply or you'll be thrown to the Decayed Isle." Melbrose' smile wide, he stood ready for Judari to simply walk into his cuffs.
"Melbrose put your blade away!" Isaiah shouted to deaf ears, as Judari plucked himself off of Iris' shoulder. His eyes sat straight ahead, with folds upon folds of rage.
"Judari, wait!" Iris attempted reaching her arms out to grab the Vind, but he ripped his arms upward. Taking a small step forward, he played his movements like a melody. His arms slowly descending, each pore in his skin seeping an amber liquid. Each little drop of brown gold dripped upon the slate road, pattering as Judari wept the alcohol out of himself.
He walked with the grace of a seraph. Isaiah, with hands on his hilt, let his hand slide upward. Though Judari saw. In the blink of an eye, he glided his left foot forward across the pavement.. His left arm reaching up to the night-sky of stone, and his right forming a fist traveling downard. His back arched, the crescendo of his movement came to its peak, as he reached for the blackened star of his mind's desire. A quarter of a second passed, till he let his knuckle carry his entire upper body structure forward with un-kindred speed. His fist just connecting to Isaiah's jaw, with only the sound of bone cracking being echoed before the knight had been thrown to the closest stone wall, four meters away.
"Catherine..." Isaiah muttered, the knight's helmet cracked open like an egg, and the metal splintered against the stone wall. His body slumped over, eyes closed, blood seeping from his nose. Melbrose kept quick eye, his body struck with fear even as his blade buzzed with mighty thunder. Even with his heart shaking, Melbrose charged forward with his jolting sword. Judari peered his sunken eyes ahead, the steel just about approaching his head. The blade caught on his forearm's flesh, unable to split Judari's bone. The Vind stared daggers into Melbrose's tainted eyes, as he gritted his teeth and smiled. Kicking the knight away with a forceful lunge. He took hand to hilt, and plucked the metal out of his bleeding arm. Though the crimson stopped flowing, but two seconds after exposure. Judari charged forward, slicing upwards upon Melbrose's stomach plate once, and another time again downward. The steel tearing apart from the brutality, spewing a shower of blood. Melbrose fell to the pavement, Judari hurling away the blade. He lifted his foot, ready to deliver hours of torture.
"JUDARI STOP!" Iris leapt in, attempting her best to halt all of Judari's strength. Her gaze flickered in confusion, darting from her brutal savior, to the defeated oppressor. His eyes snapped to hers. Melbrose in his deathly state, reached his arm towards Isaiah, till strength left him.
"I protected you!" Judari smiled, sliding his arm behind Iris, sweeping her off the pavement, cradling her against him. His feet set ablaze with energy, with Iris held in his arms, he began a sprint. His dull eyes reflected the passing torches of the screaming city.
"I… I knew you were still the same boy that saved me." She said, not even sure if she believed her own words anymore as she became lost in Judari's ecstasy. She pointed forward, and he ran. They raced past lifeless bodies, their path littered with the desperate cries of beggars, but neither slowed. At last, Iris tugged at Judari's arm, stopping him in front of her hastily constructed apartment. Without hesitation, they collided in a heated embrace, their passion carrying them from wall to wall as they tumbled through the apartment. Finally at her room, Judari asked with a smirk to be let in, and she invited him inside with a wink. The birds in love, gave each other their way inside. Judari lept to the door, and shut it with a thud.
"Come here, Judari."