It had been nearly half a candle-hour since Yuer arrived back at the Ayaseen residence. He had Sakina take Hasha into her personal quarters where the Mesrin young woman could wash herself and sate her hunger.

The little Valquari boy, on the other hand, glued himself to Yuer and refused to leave. Sakina had attempted to coax him out of her master’s inner chamber using several methods, including seducing him with candied fruits and savory snacks. However, her efforts proved futile as the boy’s only response to her cajoling was to hide his face deeper into Yuer’s tunic. At some point, she just gave up and walked out of the inner chamber with Hasha on tow.

Yuer glanced down at the white head trying to bury itself into his clothing. A small smile surfaced upon his lips. He gently lifted up the bony boy’s chin and softly suggested, “How about you take a bath here? I can help you wash up. What do you think?”

The boy pursed his lips, seeming to be giving Yuer’s suggestion some thought. A moment later, he nodded his head wordlessly.

“Good. Come with me.” Yuer extended a hand toward the child and after a brief pause, the latter took it.

The Dasrari young master guided his small guest deeper into his inner chamber where a small side room with a sliding door was located. Yuer opened the door and led the boy to the already steaming redwood bathtub. Sakina had made sure to prepare his bathwater before leaving.

Yuer gently helped the boy out of what was left of his filthy tatters. He then seated the child slowly into the tub. The youth lathered a bar of mint-scented soap into a soft towel before running it gently across the little boy’s bruised and discolored skin. He didn’t talk and instead focused his gaze on the child’s face, watching for signs of discomfort. The little child, however, neither grimaced nor winced. His face was surprisingly expressionless as he silently stared right ahead, his gaze seemed somewhat empty.

Yuer was only too familiar with that gaze. He himself had such an empty and lost look about him for many years. The boy’s current state of mind was likely no different from his own at that time. The youth had firsthand knowledge that no amount of words, no matter how warm and sweet, could erase or lessen the horror of what was done to him.

Thus, Yuer remained silent as he worked to delicately clean every patch of skin he could reach. Once finished, he lathed the soap once more and slipped his soaked hands into the little boy’s matted and dirty white hair. He gently washed the strands, paying heed not to accidentally press into the several new and old gashes littered across the child’s scalp. As Yuer poured the hot water over the boy’s hair in order to rinse it, he noticed the dead lice falling off of it into the now pinkish bathwater.

He needs a haircut, thought Yuer.

The youth stood up and walked to the redwood cupboard placed on the opposite wall of the room. He took out several dry towels, a wooden comb, silver scissors and a clean razor. He returned to the boy and wrapped a small towel around his skinny neck. He then began to mindfully comb through the white strands, straightening out knotted hair. After making sure the boy’s hair was neatly combed, Yuer began to methodically cut at the longish white mop.

Yuer got lost in his task, forgetting the passage of time. This feeling of immersing oneself in menial, small chores wasn’t an unfamiliar experience to the youth. During the last month of his previous life, he spent his final days confined to his own Rezna quarters, under house arrest. He wasn’t allowed any servants for fear they might collude with the remnants of the Zaradate Temple and smuggle him out. So instead, he had to do his own everyday routines by himself, this included bathing himself, trimming his own hair with the butter knife, cleaning up his own room and washing his own clothes. At that time, the only remaining grip Yuer had on his sanity was maintained through these mindless, mundane tasks. While he did them, his head no longer buzzed, his body no longer hurt and the world made sense.

Yuer had wanted to kill himself several times but Jarak left him with nothing sharp enough to dig into skin or long enough to hang oneself with. In fact, Yuer did try to smash his head against the wall once but that didn’t achieve much other than a larger, more competent company of Light Echo healers stationed at his door.

Denied the merciful embrace of death, Yuer had no choice but to spend his remaining days numbing himself with little, simple things as he slowly descended into muffled, hushed insanity.

A sardonic, pale imitation of a smile emerged upon Yuer’s face. No matter whether he wanted to think about such memories or not, his mind would always take it upon itself to remind him of these bleak, dark corners of his consciousness. It was almost as it was reminding him that he couldn’t forget them, that he mustn’t forget them, those dismal and grim days.

A tentative touch on the skin of his hand brought Yuer back to his current reality. He looked down and found the obsidian-colored and strangely knowing eyes of the boy boring into his own. The latter gently squeezed his hand before turning around. Yuer realized he must have been staring into space for a while because he noticed he had long finished cutting the kid’s hair.

The youth sighed before taking the silver razorblade into his hand and smoothly passing it through the boy’s already cut hair. Some time passed before all that remained of the boy’s previously wild mop was a fuzz of white, cropped tightly to his scalp. No sign of any wiggling, unwelcome insects anywhere to be found.

Eventually, Yuer helped the small boy out of the tub and into a warm, big towel. He then led him back to his inner chamber where he clothed the Valquari child in a long white tunic of his own. The top came down to the boy’s feet, dragging on the floor behind him. Yuer realized that a shopping trip to the Merchant District was a must-do at this point.

After feeding the little boy and eating himself, Yuer coaxed the child to sleep. He then walked out of his outer chamber and took a right turn to Sakina’s quarters.

He knocked once before pushing the door. Hasha was sitting on the bed, happily crunching on an apple while Sakina was sitting at the lunch table, eating. The Mesrin redhead noticed him first. She acknowledged his presence with a little, careless wave. Sakina, on the other hand, shot to her feet, offering him a deep bow, “Esteemed young master.”

Yuer smiled, patting Sakina on the shoulder, “No need for formalities, just go back to your lunch.”

Sakina nodded then went back to her seat at the table.

Yuer seated himself on a chair opposite Sakina’s while Hasha remained on the bed, lazily leaning back on its headboard.

Without further ado, he started, “I have two missions for the both of you. The first is for Sakina. This afternoon, you will go and snoop around the Dasrari District. I need you to get me the whereabouts of the second Reznal, Ivak of Kersa.”

Sakina chewed her food carefully before asking, “Esteemed young master, isn’t the second Reznal staying at the Palace?”

Yuer shook his head, “No, he is not on good terms with the old Rezas. He will certainly be residing elsewhere for the time being. Find it out for me.”

“As you wish, esteemed master.”

Yuer took a sip from the water cup Sakina had put on the table before continuing in Mesrin, “The second mission is for Hasha, I want you to sneak your way into the Undercity and bring out a certain Tamine Nakari for me. The boy is around fifteen summers; he is lanky for his age, dark brown hair and hazel eyes. I will draw you a portrait of his countenance before you leave. Once you have successfully achieved this mission, I will help you secure a boarding chip out of the Empire.”

Hasha inquired, head slightly titled to the side, “This Tamine Nakari?”

Yuer clarified, “An errand boy of a Shakoura sub-chief I killed. His code name was Lone Eye. The boy’s parents are both long dead so he should be roaming about the Undercity at this moment. You need to sniff him out.”

Hasha froze for a bit, her gaze settling upon Yuer. Her amber eyes held a combination of disbelief and awe. A moment later, she shifted her eyes away, “And if the boy refuses?”

Yuer tucked a stray brown strand behind his ear, “If you offer him the right price, he won’t. All you need to tell him is that someone is willing to cultivate him and he will come along.”

“You said he belongs to the Shakoura. What if they make a fuss and refuse to hand him over?”

Yuer’s gaze fell upon Hasha, stayed there for a period. In a neutral tone, he responded, “You fight them and bring him out. If worse comes to worst and you are outnumbered just make sure to kill the boy before you flee.”

The spoon, that Sakina was about to dip into her soup, clattered against the wooden surface of the table. The lone sound rang harshly against the sudden silence that blanketed the room. Sakina’s eyes slowly sought out her young master. The latter looked back at her, gaze impassive and unreadable.

Hasha conveniently cleared her thought, cutting through the awkward air, “When do you want it done?”

Yuer diverted his attention away from Sakina’s frowning face, “Tonight. Right now, the sun is sitting at the middle of the sky which means it’s around noon. You will rest until nightfall to replenish your Echo, shortly after you will set out.”

Hasha nodded, “Alright, we have a deal then.”

She, then, slipped under the covering of the bed and turned around, nonchalantly giving her back to the two other people in the room. She muttered, “Tired, need to sleep now. Wake me up when the sun sets.”

Yuer stood up from his chair, walked to Sakina. He caressed the skin of her cheek with his hand and softly said, “There will be times when you will doubt and scorn me, and this might be one of those times.”

Sakina trembled slightly; her jaw clenched so tight it hurt. “I wouldn’t dare.”

Yuer sighed; the sound so soft one could barely hear it, “I am no longer the gentle and tender boy you once knew. In reality, I am neither an honorable nor a kind person, Sakina. But I can promise you this one truth: Whatever acts I commit, I will always have my reasons for doing them. Sometimes those acts won’t make sense to you, other times they might seem heartless and cruel in your eyes but know this; I will never do them in recklessness. I won’t harm others out of malice; what I desire is to protect myself and to protect you, the one person who means the world to me.”

Sakina jolted as if struck by lightning. She, then, dipped her chin. Yuer studied her lowered face, noting the mist of tears which began to collect at the edges of her downcast eyes. He gently wiped at her gathering teardrops with his bare hand. He then turned and walked to the door. Shortly before leaving, he threw one last glance at his servant and said, “Good work today. You must be tired so rest for now.”

After her young master left, Sakina remained motionless on the chair, an invisible fist clenching around her torn heart. She didn’t know whether to be elated that her master considered her humble self such an important person to him or to be sorrowful at the loss of his tender innocence. The young girl stayed like that for a long while, confused and forlorn. Hasha, who was pretending to be asleep, opened her eyes and grunted in broken Semani, “Bed, now… Come rest.”

Her unintentionally harsh tone seemed to snap Sakina out of her somber daze. The latter nodded and stood up. She cleaned away the leftover of her half-uneaten lunch before settling on the additional bed in her quarters. She lay silently upon the bedding, hoping for sleep to claim her so that the clamorous thoughts crowding her mind would quiet down for bit.

After a brief stroll through his courtyard’s little garden, Yuer returned back to his inner chamber. He brought out paper and ink and started on Tamine’s portrait, which he promised Hasha. After finishing the task, he rose from his desk and peered at the Valquari child sleeping on his bed. The little boy breathed softly, his sleep appeared deep and dreamless. A soft smile graced Yuer’s lips at the sight. He took off his clothes and slipped into the large bed, next to the child. His gaze fixed unseeingly on the roof of the ceiling. So many thoughts and memories tried to violently crowd his mind. He needed to sleep so that he could heal the little boy’s wounds and Hasha’s bruises. Thus, he pretended the fierce storm raging within his head didn’t exist and tried to submit himself to the soothing embrace of temporary oblivion.

When Yuer opened his eyes again, he wasn’t in his room. He was somewhere dark, cold and strange. The empty sky, which was dyed in the color of blood, hanged far too low to a shifting, black ground. He stood in the middle of this edge-less wasteland, naked as the day he was born. He felt neither cold nor hot. Then he suddenly felt it, the scorched and blackened dirt shifting underneath him. It started to twist and tremble. As if it was a living being, the dirt morphed into the shape of countless, thin hands. Those earthen hands clasped around his ankles, their grip tight and unshakable. They violently pulled at him, wanting to bring him down, wanting to sink him into the depth of their burnt, tortured earth.

Yuer started to struggle. He tried to free his feet from those hands but it was to no avail. His strength wasn’t enough to ward them off. He called upon his Echo but neither attributes responded to his call. By now, he was already knee deep into the earth. He clawed at his own throat, screaming his distress over and over. The hands, however, turned a deaf ear to his anguished wails, pulling him deeper and deeper.

No, no, no!

Yuer’s now hoarse throat began to close on him. Breathing became an arduous chore. The world around him started to grow hazy and blurred.

No, no, no! This can’t be! I can’t die! No, I can’t die! Not now! Not yet! No please…please… help…help me!

Right after he voiced his pleas, Yuer felt it, a sudden shift. Something moved and contorted from within his body like an ancient, dormant entity. It then swiftly traveled its way upward to his throat. Something fathomless compelled Yuer to open his mouth and he did. A long, sinuous form as wide as three of his slender fingers jetted out of his mouth. The form coiled itself around his struggling body, its scaled surface felt cool against his bare skin. It then extended itself, growing bigger and longer. Soon enough, the figure became gigantic with Yuer ending up less than tenth of its body mass. Black ink oozed out of the form and cloaked Yuer in its protective mist-like substance. The figure then hissed at the earthen hands and lashed at them with its powerful tail. The earthen hands dissipated upon impact, like broken pieces of a mirage.

The form shifted its head toward Yuer and the latter struggled against the sudden, overwhelming sense of unsettling familiarity. The gigantic figure appeared to be a serpent with deep red scales and hollow, bottomless eyes. Some of its scales were missing and through those gaps, that familiar black miasma generously seeped out of them, clinging around the serpent like a second skin.

The towering, red serpent slithered closer to Yuer, resting a portion its head against his forehead. It flicked its long, black tongue against his cheek, its empty and eerie gaze bore into his own. In a dissonant and reverberating voice, it said, “Your plea was heard. The mark was drawn. The pact is now signed and you shall call upon me again.”

It gently coiled its strong, long and supple body around Yuer. The black ink seeping out of its missing scales shifted and danced in the air, pooling around the youth like a clueless and overly attached child. The serpent said, “Go back to where you belong, mortal child. Don’t ever come to this place again.”

Yuer looked at the serpent, still dazed. In a hoarse voice, he brokenly asked, “Who…who are you?”

The serpent replied enigmatically, “Soon enough, you shall know.” A dangerous red glint suddenly flashed across the hollow depth of its dead eyes. It then bellowed, “Now, leave!”

Suddenly, Yuer was jolted awake. For a bit, he struggled to catch his breath. His undergarments clang uncomfortably to his sweat-drenched back. His heart continued to thump wildly against his chest. A small hand touched his wet back and Yuer was startled. He turned around to look at its owner and found the supposedly sleeping Valquari child staring at him. Yuer heaved a deep sigh and patted the child gently on his now, short and closely cropped hair.

The little boy stared down at the hand with which he touched Yuer’s back before holding out to him. Red, damp smears coated the small palm. Yuer frowned at the sight of what seemed to be blood. He gingerly stood up and headed toward a shelf on the wall, bringing out his concubine mother’s Light Echo mirror box.

He placed the orb on the wall and poured his Light Echo into it, making it expand across the four walls of the room like a second coat of paint. The walls reflected Yuer’s image back to him from various angles. He carefully took off his upper undergarment and hissed slightly at the sting of pulling away wet fabric from wounded skin. He looked at the reflection of his back on one of the walls and found himself taken aback at what he saw.

From the lowest point of his spine up to the highest point right under his Echo mark, a vivid tattoo of a deep red serpent span across his back. The many details of its coiling figure, its seeping black ink, its missing scales and its strangely hollows eyes were all depicted so realistically that one wouldn’t be surprised if the image suddenly sprang to life.

Realization dawned on Yuer. This serpent was the one he had met in his dream, the one who saved him from those earth-shaped hands trying to bury him alive. He frowned, his thoughts wandering everywhere and nowhere. At last, he was about to shift his gaze away from his reflection when he suddenly noticed them, strange little black flecks glittering eerily within the blue pools of his eyes. Yuer walked closer to the wall-mirror, his gaze fixated upon his own face. He stared at those unfamiliar and bizarre flecks for while before he decided to close his eyes. He mentally wished those strange dots away and then opened his eyes once again. Suddenly the flecks disappeared as if they had never appeared in the first place.

Yuer touched the wall and willed the mirror to morph back to its original form. He then took the orb and placed back in the box. He returned the box to the shelf and dragged his slightly trembling feet to the bed.

He put his head in his hands, and kept silent. The little boy crawled across the bed and came to tuck himself against Yuer’s hunched figure. He wordlessly patted the older youth on the hand, almost as if he was trying to reassure him. Yuer smiled slightly and lifted his head; he glanced at the child and softly whispered, “What in the Mahatir’s holy glory is happening to me, little one?”