Chapter Two

A Dangerous Creature

“Dehsul! After her!” I snapped at Arianna’s guards when my ayraziis tore across the landscape. She’d broken away from the darkness I’d summoned to subdue her as if it were nothing. Djialkan and Alala both fled my shoulders as I chased after Arianna.

‘Nalithor, that form…’ Eyrian began warily. ‘We can’t let her fly.’

‘I know that!’ I shot the Draekin a look before picking up my speed. ‘We have to stop her.’

Arianna was little more than a streak of white fur and enraged darkness as she sped across the ground. Whatever she’d seen, I knew it must have been extreme. Her demeanor had changed in an instant, and her sudden shift in appearance had arrived with so much power it had pushed several of our companions away.

Her nine vulpine tails had returned, accompanied by both her vulpine ears and her horns. However, the appearance of wings was our greatest concern. Twelve wings—the signature of Devillian royalty. Her feathers were such a deep black they seemed to devour all light. Shadows teased along the ridges of her wings.

‘Arianna, come back—’ I stumbled when the maelstrom in her mind hit me.

“That bad is it?” Eyrian growled from beside me when I summoned my spear.

“Surround her. We’re going to have to pin her by force,” I ordered, calling my armor around my body next.

I ran after Arianna and rapidly closed the distance. She must have sensed me. A few seconds before I would have caught up, she launched into the air on her wings and flew upward. Cursing, I leapt after her and then disappeared in a burst of shadows. When I reappeared above her, I was already midway through a kick. My shin connected with her stomach and sent her plummeting back to the ground.

She recovered far too fast and lashed out at me with Eoraso when I approached. The edge of her blade drew sparks across my armor. They hadn’t even faded before she turned into another attack. Eoraso flew past my throat as I hastily dodged her strike. I’d never seen Arianna move with such speed or precision. I had expected her attacks to be sloppy and bestial with her mind so overtaken.

I was wrong.

Darkness enveloped me again as I teleported myself behind Arianna. I had to do something to incapacitate her, and my options were limited. We had to injure her, poison her, strike her unconscious, or I had to get into a position where I could bite her and overwhelm her with my venom.

Before I had fully reappeared Arianna had already turned. Eoraso tore through my upper arm, slicing down to the bone. I cursed and disappeared again, putting distance between Arianna and myself. If she could follow me even within the darkness, then biting her wasn’t a possibility.

Arianna appeared in front of me and her shin slammed into my chest, sending me flying backward. The air left my lungs, leaving me coughing to regain my breath. My instincts screamed for me to move—a dangerous monster was bearing down on me with every intention of harm.

‘A monster, huh…’ I leapt away from Arianna again and gritted my teeth. Her face was expressionless and her eyes were glazed-over. A more foolish man would have thought there was no longer anyone “home”. ‘Eyrian… Does Reu still have access to vralsium?’

‘Nalithor, what are you thinking?’ Eyrian’s tone was one of unease, but I sensed that it was directed toward Arianna. ‘Hells, what is Her Highness doing?!’

‘I told you this place was dangerous.’ I dodged Arianna again, then parried her following strike. The force she hit me with made my joints creak and made my injured arm ache. ‘We’re going to have to hope direct contact with vralsium will do something to subdue her. At this rate she’ll kill all of us.’

‘Kill?!’ Eyrian demanded. ‘You can’t be serious! She’s—’

Eoraso deflected off my armor again, but this time it left a gouge behind. I narrowed my eyes at the blade and then looked at Arianna—the blade was responding far too well to her bloodlust. Something had to be done before everything spiraled fully out of control.

Arianna and I clashed again, but this time her darkness enveloped me in a cloak of seduction. Give in to her, fight with her instead of against. Lend her my being so that she could stamp out the filth that was destroying the Aledacian Forests. The strength of her power brought me to my knees with a shudder.

Alas, she was too confident. Her darkness released me before it could overtake me fully. I launched after her when she turned to leave me behind. She caught my spear against her much more delicate blade but still held me off with one hand. Darkness drifted down her arm lazily and twisted around Eoraso’s blade.

In a movement faster than I could follow, Arianna shoved my spear to the side and Eoraso dove through my chest and out my back. Blood welled up in my throat and darkness rushed through my veins, hot like fire. Her scent overwhelmed my senses as my legs buckled and my knees struck the ground.

Arianna pulled the blade from my chest with a flourish and then stared at the blade with hazy eyes. Her lips parted after she sniffed at my blood coating the blade. Lust. Near-blinding lust radiated from her, almost shredding the last threads of control I had. I watched, fascinated, as she ran her tongue up the bloodied blade. My blood stained her plush lips and pale skin, taunting me, luring me to take a taste of her.

‘Her lust…if I can get a taste of it…’ I attempted to move toward her despite my wounds, then stopped myself when Arianna let Eoraso drop from her grip. ‘What is she doing?’

“Delicious…” Arianna’s breathy voice was the only warning I had before she was upon me. One of her hands pressed flat against my chest and pushed me back against the ground. Her legs rested to either side of my hips as her free hand pushed my robes open to reveal my chest wound.

“Stop—” I cut myself off with a snarl when Arianna leaned down and ran her tongue over the wound. Her lust was suffocating me, making me desperate to give in to her. An amused smile played on her lips as she sat back and licked her lips.

“I think I’ll make you mine…” Arianna ran her fingers along my jawline and then down my throat. She bit her lower lip and smiled again, her wings shifting to obscure me from the view of others. Those lustful lips, just out of my reach. Maddening. “You’re lucky you smell so good, you know. Anyone else would be dead already.

“Mmm… I suppose you’re lucky Eoraso missed his mark, too.”

“Make me…?” I gasped in pain when Arianna pressed her thumb tight over my wound. She just giggled at me and then brought her bloodied thumb to her lips while watching me. ‘A predator. I can’t let myself give in. We have to get out of here before…’

My thoughts and vision swam, muddied by blood loss. I had to heal before matters grew more dangerous. Arianna was so close, I just had to find a way to taste her and take her power for myself. She was like an endless fount of lust. Her power teased along my skin just as effectively as her hands could.

“Poor thing,” Arianna murmured, taking my face in both of her hands and leaning down with a mischievous smile. “It hurts, doesn’t it? Let’s see…”

Her mouth met mine and her power tightened its grasp on me further. A moan of pleasure escaped her when she tasted my blood again. ‘If I give in, can I…’

A flash of dark green and the jingle of metal broke me from my thoughts. Thick chains looped around Arianna’s throat and torso then drew taut, dragging her forcibly off of me. The sudden disappearance of her warmth sent a shiver through me and I lifted a hand over my eyes briefly.

“You’re slow…” I groaned.

“Looks like Falrrsald isn’t the only dangerous thing.” Eyrian appeared in my peripheral vision with his arms crossed. “She missed both your hearts?”

“Nnngh, yes,” I muttered, using my good arm to push myself into a sitting position. The look on Arianna’s face gave me pause. Despite her vralsium restraints she continued to struggle toward me. What had started as unadulterated bloodlust and a desire to right the “wrongs” of Falrrsald had become all-consuming lust and hunger. ‘Where has this part of her been hiding? Is this simply a matter of her instincts taking over, or…’

“We’re going to have to do something,” Kabos’ comment broke me from my thoughts. “She’s…strong. Even with the vralsium we can’t contain her for long.”

I shifted my attention to the guards and frowned. Three of them were struggling to restrain Arianna. Wisps of darkness licked along her skin even though the vralsium should have rendered her powerless. Arianna seemed oblivious to the presence of the guards—her senses were fully focused on hunting me.

“I understand.” I rose to my feet and suppressed a wince when my wounds pulled. Blood ran down my chest anew, catching my ayraziis’ attention. A purr rumbled in her throat as she leaned forward against her restraints in an attempt to close the distance between us. ‘Djialkan…is this still Arianna?’

‘Of course.’ The fae-dragon snorted. ‘You underestimated her, Nalithor. Were you not a god, you would be dead for doing so.

‘She is neither an Adinvyr nor is she a Rylthra. Do not let her appearance deceive you. Until now, you have been going at the pace you expect necessary for one of your kind. This is a mere taste of the hunger she’s locked away.’

‘Hunger…’ I crouched in front of Arianna and watched as she strained to reach my bloodied skin. ‘She needs to feed more often than an Adinvyr? Even so, this crazed demeanor—’

‘You underestimate yourself, as well,’ Djialkan spoke in a lecturing tone. ‘Hurry up and subdue her. We need to retreat to Sihix before they get here.’

I placed my hand over Arianna’s face and felt her grow still like prey. Her pulse sped up and her darkness retreated into her skin as if she was trying to make herself seem less threatening. Cornered prey. ‘You will make me yours, hmmm?’

My power rushed through Arianna and blew away the barriers around her mind. Chaos. The torrent of thoughts and sensory input was a cacophony I couldn’t hope to sort through. Even with her barriers gone she resisted, pushed back against me, but my patience was gone.

She needed to understand that there was a more dangerous predator here.

Me.

Arianna went limp and collapsed forward against the chains, finally growing calm. I sighed and took a step back from her. Anyone else would have been terrified if I had used my power against them in such a way. Instead, she felt excited by the threat of a stronger opponent. ‘Perhaps she can handle my fire after all. Even I never reached such a bestial level…’

“Wasn’t that a bit much?” Eyrian shook his head before I could answer. “Never mind. We needed her subdued and you did it. Not my problem if she decides to eviscerate you for it later.”

“Alala and I will seal your wounds. Sit.” Djialkan walked over to us in the form of a boy, his expression serious. “We will have to wait until Arianna wakes to mend you fully—or hope that someone in Sihix is willing to do so.”

I sat down on the grass without argument and glanced over at Arianna’s unconscious body while Djialkan and Alala began their work. She had seriously tried to kill me. I wasn’t sure how to respond to such a thing. My ayraziis, the woman I loved more than anything else, truly could become a monster in her own right when pressed.

Arianna had warned me before that keeping her from following her instincts was dangerous, but I hadn’t taken the warning seriously. Now, I had a hole through my chest and numerous other deep wounds. Djialkan was right—I underestimated her. Not only that, but I had miscalculated.

‘I’ve grown complacent.’ I shut my eyes and took a deep breath but stopped short when my wounds strained. ‘I’m still not powerful enough. Not yet. She could have killed me. Bested me with relative ease…’

“How long ‘til she wakes?” Azhar stepped into view, his brow furrowing when he saw my expression.

“We don’t have long,” I answered before turning my attention to Djialkan. “Were you able to make any sense out of her thoughts, Djialkan?”

“If I tell you, it will be you we must subdue next.” Djialkan waved his hand dismissively before returning to healing. “Her loss of control is justified—as are her actions against you, though she will not think as much when she wakes.

“Any other time you would need to let her do as she pleased.”

‘She’s going to be a mess when she wakes.’ I sighed heavily and looked over at my slumbering ayraziis again. She set my blood on fire and I knew better than to assume it was lingering wisps of her power. The most worthy opponent I had ever found was also my ayraziis.

“Up you go.” Eyrian offered me a hand and pulled me to my feet. “Let’s get her to the safety of Sihix before you pass out, alright?”

I nodded in silence and watched the Draekin heft Arianna over his shoulder—what should have been my job. Eyrian spotted my expression and shot me an apologetic look before turning to give his men their orders. Djialkan and Alala returned to my shoulders to settle in for the remainder of our journey. Alala whined and licked my cheek, but I was too absorbed in my thoughts to respond.

Arianna’s demeanor had caused me to falter, to show weakness. I had become her prey without providing her any challenge. Was that how most people felt when an Adinvyr or a Vampire hunted them? Did Arianna feel so helpless and overwhelmed when I sought to feast on her? It was upsetting to think about. I wanted her to feel safe, loved. Not…defeated.

‘Neither of you have been able to truly spar at full power.’ Djialkan smacked me with his tail, a little too close to my chest wound. ‘You should consider adjusting your domain so that you and Arianna have somewhere to test each other. Else the both of you will be at an impasse.’

“Let’s use our powers to speed this up.” I placed a hand over my wound, wincing. The wound left by Eoraso still burned with Arianna’s darkness, even after Djialkan and Alala’s healing efforts. I paused. ‘Eoraso…where did she drop it?’

“Nalithor?” Eyrian questioned when I turned and walked back the way we came.

“She dropped Eoraso. We can’t allow that sword to just lay out here.” I motioned for him to follow me. “It should return to her if we bring her close enough. If not…Djialkan, would the sword let you handle it?”

“It will return to her,” Djialkan answered, pointing his nose off to my left. “Over there, where your blood stained the grass. Eoraso should be near.”

It didn’t take long to find the blade. When Eyrian and I approached it, Eoraso began to tremble and then levitated off the ground. The blade grazed past my face, slicing my cheek open before it turned into darkness and absorbed into Arianna’s jewelry. If the sword’s seeming aggressiveness was a hint of my ayraziis’ continuing chaos, then we needed to leave immediately.

‘Stinky magics. Making Ari mad!’ Alala rubbed her nose into my shoulder. ‘Ari hurt Nali…is Nali okay? I don’t wanna see Ari hurt Nali again…’

I reached up with my good arm and ruffled Alala’s fur briefly. The honest answer was no, I wasn’t alright—but telling the young fox that was out of the question. Arianna’s power still threatened to wrest control from me and force me to act as her thrall.

“I can’t believe she didn’t even hesitate!” Eyrian sighed, glancing over his shoulder at me when I began to fall behind. “Oi, are we going to have to carry you too, Your Highness?”

“Funny.” I snorted at him. “We should run. My wounds can wait until we’re within the forest. I will manage.”

“But…” Kabos frowned at me when I shook my head. “If you’re certain, then we should begin at once. Let’s skirt around the crater’s rim—perhaps putting more of that between us and Yiltanys will reduce the chances of Her Highness waking at an inopportune time.”

Without another word we all sprang into a sprint. The pain spreading outward from my wounds threatened to make me fall behind but Djialkan braced me with his own power, forcibly keeping my wounds closed.

An hour passed before we reached Sihix’s edge. Under other circumstances we would have hesitated to barge into an Aledacian Forest, but this time we were relieved to enter one. I collapsed to my knees several yards into the forest and doubled over in pain, attempting to catch my breath, to fight off Arianna’s influence.

“Humph, what took you so long?” The question made my blood freeze—that was my voice. “And who the hell did that to my Arianna? I will kill whoever—”

“Would you rather her enter Yiltanys in a blood-blinded daze?” I snapped, lifting my head to glare at the fragment of myself. The smug look on his face made me want to punch him.

“Carry that one to Sihix too.” My other self motioned vaguely at me before turning his back to us and beginning to walk deeper into the forest. “Sihix is impatient as ever and I’m not inclined to test his patience.”

‘Have I always been so annoying?’ I cut my eyes to the side at Eyrian when he started laughing.

“I will carry you.” Djialkan sighed and shifted into a drake the size of a horse. “You shouldn’t press your wounds further. We will have to wait until she wakes to extract that power, unfortunately.”

“Power?” Eyrian shot me a questioning look.

“You don’t want to know,” I answered, content to leave it at that.

Eyrian took the hint and we all moved to follow my other self. Just the thought was enough to make me bristle. Now that I was in his presence for myself I understood how Arianna felt about the situation. “Wrong” was the most accurate way to describe our separation. Even so, I still feared accepting that part of myself—and he seemed to feel similarly.

“Oh? You boys underestimated her, I see.” The vaguely familiar voice made me jolt awake and sit up on Djialkan’s back—I didn’t even remember slumping forward. “Dear, dear Arianna… Poor thing. Was using vralsium against her truly necessary?”

“We had no other way of subduing her,” I answered as I dismounted Djialkan.

Sihix turned to look at me with an intrigued expression. A devious smirk spread across the Lari’xan’s mouth when he spotted my wounds and, after a moment, he strode forward to stand in front of me. Sihix towered over me by a foot but I refused to let that intimidate me. Instead, I stood tall and glared back in defiance.

Even if Sihix, and his people, were a large part of why Arianna hadn’t gone mad…he was still a Lari’xan associated with darkness and trickery.

“Have you learned your lesson, yet?” Sihix’s smirk grew when I bared my fangs at him. “Or must she run you through again before you understand?”

“Wait, Arianna did that to—” My other self fell silent and glanced toward where Arianna’s unconscious form laid.

“Do you mean to say that she is Balance and I am not…or is it something else?” I narrowed my eyes at Sihix but he simply laughed at me. The effortless aura of darkness around the Lari’xan was eerily similar to the aura Arianna could exert. Just how much of an influence had the forest’s power had on her?

“I mean to say it isn’t your place to choose her.” Sihix motioned with one hand from me to Arianna. “The woman chooses the man—if you don’t believe me, you can always ask your mother or Erist’il. They can confirm as much.

“She could choose you…or she could choose perhaps Eyrian, or Lehrr, or one of the ‘candidates’ those idiotic creatures think they’ve chosen. Ah, though she is quite adorable… Perhaps I should take her for myself.”

“You’re a Lari’xan, your kind doesn’t take—” I brought my hands up to my throat when an unseen force cut off my air supply. Sihix made no movement aside from giving me a dangerous smile.

“Balance belongs to Yiltanys and me,” Sihix spoke casually while I struggled for air. “I could take on a lover of my choosing if I so desired. ‘Lari’xan’, as you call us, may not have the same understanding of relationships as the created races do—but it isn’t unheard of for us to make attempts.

“It’s good you aren’t mindlessly subservient to us like most are. You will need that willpower if you want a chance at being chosen by her.”

I began coughing for air the moment Sihix’s power released my throat. The Lari’xan just watched with amusement when I glared at him. Looking at Sihix was unnerving, in a way. The way parts of his hair and body disappeared into darkness almost felt like a trick on the eyes, but it wasn’t.

“The hells is this green stuff?” The feminine hiss startled me into turning around.

‘She’s already…’ I stared at Arianna in disbelief. She tossed the vralsium chains aside with another hiss and then rose to her feet, rubbing at her eyes as if she’d woken from a long slumber.

Her expression was one of concern and discomfort, at first, when she spotted me. A low growl escaped me when my other self darted for her first and lifted her off her feet in a tight embrace. Even if we were technically the same man, we weren’t “whole”. Until we were fixed, he was another man.

Another man holding my ayraziis.

“Put me down before I kill you.” Arianna’s voice made everyone present freeze, aside from Sihix—he just laughed. My ayraziis shot the Lari’xan a foul look before grabbing my other self and dragging him over to me by the arm. “We’re here now, so why haven’t you merged yet? This is—”

“—wrong?” I offered. She looked surprised by my understanding, so I continued, “I can sense it as well, Arianna, but we just got here and I have no idea how to do as you ask.”

“How about this?” Arianna reached up to grab us both and attempted to forcibly smoosh us together. Her antics drew laughter from Sihix, who walked over and promptly tugged her away from both of us—something my other self seemed to agree was unacceptable.

“Bastard, bring her back here!” My other self snarled, summoning an orb of darkness in one hand.

“Humph, you expect to attack him with that?” I shot my other self a condescending glare. “He’s the Lari’xan of darkness, you fool. That will do nothing.”

“This is way too weird!” Akedos crossed his arms and looked between us, his fur standing on end. “How did something like this even happen?”

“That’s what I want to know!” Arianna snapped, before rounding on Sihix and jabbing her finger into his chest. “What the fuck did you do to ‘break’ my nylziis like that, huh? I should gouge out your liver with Eoraso until you—”

“Arianna,” I sighed and brought my fingers to my temples. ‘How can she comfortably chastise a Lari’xan like that? He could crush her with a thought!’

“You’re cute as ever.” Sihix grinned and patted Arianna’s head like she was a child. “Nalithor told you about the ‘Split’ didn’t he? The worlds aren’t the only things that suffered—several deities and demigods chose to lend me their power when part of my domain was sent to the skies with X’shmir.”

“I did no such—”

“A nasty side-effect is that they don’t remember doing as such,” Sihix continued, ignoring my presence. “I no longer require their help, but actually luring them here is another matter entirely.”

“Then fix them!” Arianna jabbed Sihix with her finger again. “At the very least, if he’s whole, he might be able to—”

“—stop you from running amok?” Sihix smirked when Arianna crossed her arms and turned her back to him with a small “humph”. The Lari’xan glanced toward me briefly and then back to Arianna. “You sure you don’t want to stab him again?”

In a flash, my ayraziis drew Eoraso and slashed through the air where Sihix had been standing. I moved to stop her but grew still when darkness wrapped around me and a blade appeared against my throat. ‘What is Sihix’s aim?’

“Now that I have your attention,” Sihix began, pressing the blade tighter to my throat. “‘Fixing’ them is a rather—”

The Lari’xan disappeared into the darkness again moments before Eoraso pierced the spot he’d been standing in. I reached out to stop Arianna but she vanished into the shadows too to chase after Sihix. Her anger hit me like a wall, sending the traces of her power into a frenzy in my veins. I gasped and clutched my wound, dropping to one knee.

“The hells?” My other self took a step back from me. “What did she do to…”

Arianna went flying backwards past us, her back slamming into the base of a tree with a thud. Sihix reappeared in front of her and looked down with a cheerful grin. The force of the hit seemed to have snapped Arianna out of her anger, for the moment, but I sensed it simmering within her again already.

“I believe it’s past the princess’s bedtime.’ Sihix pivoted to look at Eyrian and the other guards. “Djialkan and Alala can show you to the quarters my servants prepared for you all.”

“I’m not going to sleep until this shit is fixed, you bastard!” Arianna snapped. She moved to rise to her feet but Sihix planted his foot against her shoulder and forced her back into a sitting position—this time his expression was not one of amusement.

“Your father, your guards, and your nylziis may be content to let you dictate your own pace, but I will not.” Sihix’s deadly tone made my heart skip several beats. The darkness around him seemed to deepen and take on a more menacing quality. “You are going to sleep, and you’re not permitted to wake until you’ve fully recovered.

“I don’t care what your plans are.”

Sihix turned away from Arianna and walked away from her as she collapsed in place.

“Was that truly necessary?” My other self frowned, shooting Arianna a worried look.

“She’s still under the influence of her power and not truly awake.” Sihix shook his head before beckoning to us. “The two of you are coming with me. I need to fix you before she wakes, else she will kill you.”

“But I don’t want to be part of this bastard!” My other self pointed at me and snarled.

“I can’t claim to be fond of the idea either.” I snorted.

“Would you prefer I allow Arianna to slay you both? That can be arranged.” Sihix’s tone gave me pause—he was serious.

“She would never—” My other self started, earning an odd look from me. “What?”

“Who do you think did this to me?” I motioned at my wounds, watching my other self grow pale. “I got in her way.”

“Rightly so,” Sihix commented with a shrug before pointing at me. “Regardless, do you still think she is simply a candidate, Nalithor?”

“No…but where does that put me?” I countered. “I’ve been acting as Balance for several decades now. If she too still has that role—”

“The hells do you mean you’ve been acting as Balance?” My other self interrupted. “Just how arrogant are you?”

“His arrogance is up for debate.” Sihix laughed. “However, we did make him Balance when it became clear that Arianna wouldn’t be able to take on the role for a long time.

“We had to make an exception to our own rules—two deities of Balance, both unmarried. We’ve even had to make further exceptions by allowing you both to feed without it resulting in consummation of your partnership. Under other circumstances, your willingness to indulge in each other would be taken as you ‘choosing’ each other.

“Alas, Avrirsa needed Balance in some form immediately. Crusty old rules won’t help anyone.”

Sihix turned his back to us and began walking. When we hesitated to follow, his darkness picked us both up and threw us ahead of him by several dozen feet. My first instinct was to lash out against Sihix for his behavior, but my mind was still reeling in an attempt to process the information.

I moved to stand up and promptly collapsed in pain. Arianna’s power coursed through me again, attempting to draw me toward something. Something she desperately wanted to destroy.

“Ah, such a troublesome one she is!” Sihix exclaimed cheerfully, clapping his hands together and grinning as he stood before me. “She would certainly make a perfect wife for me or for Chaos, wouldn’t she? I wonder if you can truly handle her. After all, you won’t even accept the part of yourself that could help with that.

“Would you really allow your fear to cost you Arianna?”

“Bastard…” I snarled through gritted teeth, shifting to glare up at Sihix. He was intentionally provoking me and I knew it. The darkness in my blood grasped on to every little fragment of anger and heightened my senses, tempting me into drawing my weapon against the Lari’xan. He was getting in the way of…something. There was something important I had to take care of in this place. ‘But…what is it?’

“I suppose it’s past your bedtime too!” Sihix laughed, making a motion with one finger. His darkness coiled around me and lifted me into the air, dangling me several feet above the ground. “We’ll have to deal with what your ayraziis has done to you before we can discuss ‘fixing you’.”

I opened my mouth to argue but Sihix’s darkness closed in around me and dragged me forcibly into the realm of dreams.

He didn’t allow me even the illusion of struggle.

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