plot goes wack here. sorry.
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t w e n t y - t w o
The whistle of the air is sharp, high pitched and immediately ceases the fire brimming in the hearth, instantly snatching all the warmth it provided the room, sucking it through a dim and dark void.
It's pitch black, where not even the sharpest of eyes can make out the familiar curve of the dome above, or the tall silhouettes of the bookshelves. It's nothing but a thick fog, that roams low to the ground, greedily gravitating towards the only source of warmth left, the small sleeping wolf.
The walls begin to crawl with cold, nothing similar to nature's winter. Nothing about it natural, or orderly in the world. It's manifested, energy weaved and manipulated to create such a hollow outlet. The air brims with ice that isn't meant to exist, conjoining together and becoming a potent musk.
It's heavy, heavy with energy that has been drawn out from the very depths of a being, energy that has been produced and conjured in the hardest of ways, where blood and tears have fallen. Every single particle is drawn to it, and it's greedy in its wake, touching and feeling.
More of it swallows the library, wafting upwards from the ground beneath and suffocating everything.
It's as if this new intruder attempts to rid anything this realm had to offer, to wipe out any existence of warmth that walks and flood only poison and toxicity.
The shadows seem to be able to breathe, thickening and moulding into a state that isn't quite solid, but isn't thin gas either, condensing from vapour in the slightest way. They have no features, nothing that gives recognition. They move with the air, like a second skin, easily with no obvious direction.
They just feel, becoming gravitated to the hum of pure energy left. They've managed to eradicate all else, black ice beginning to thicken on the exterior of the dome above.
It strokes her skin, touch unable to be felt by the being, but her features curve, shifting in her sleep and eyes sleepily opening. She can see nothing, eyes only seeing the one block of colour, vision being stolen from her. Eyes flicker back to her slumber, temptation too great.
It's only when her head begins to build with pressure, an unwanted entity entering. It feels as if her nerves begin to bulge, begin to contract so hard they feel as if they'd burst. It builds and builds, creating a numbing ache as it does so, before it suddenly ceases. With a sudden departure it tugs, tugs at the very essence of her and drawing it out like thread.
Her head is empty, no longer warm or humane. It's hollow, now occupied by the cold, icy and with a stinging sensation. Darkness begins to groom her. With the mind being interfered with, it's much easier to seize the body.
Skin begins to lose a rosy hue, instead left with a sickly yellow undertone. The rise and fall from her chest becomes slower and smaller, almost stopping in one case. Limbs become weak in a moment, unable to move, fragile and weak.
The heart cannot be reached, and the bond wraps around it a little harder, too stubborn to let go. It makes it beat.
Eyes flicker open again, brows furrowed and curved. They squeeze, narrowing a little when unable to see past the scope of black. Shuffling up, the movement causing her head to spin. Eyes try again, only seeing the shadows move before her like dark cloaks.
She's sure they're moving, but it doesn't make sense. Her drowsiness doesn't help.
"Mekhi?" whispered in a hoarse voice, barely heard across the room. Shadows only move, and she can't feel anything, can't feel the jolt of fear her nerves would normally strike her with.
They near and near, and she's all but disorientated, too focused on the cold sensation spreading across the back of her skull. It's all she can focus on in this minute.
"M-," the words can't come from her, her lungs feeling like they've obtained a weight to them, something settling in the bits. Breaths are soft, almost negligible.
Shadows descend towards her, almost able to graze the curve of her cheek.
They don't get the chance to.
The doors of the library slam open with urgency, the lights of the chandeliers that decorate the ceiling, coming on. It's a bright hue, and a strong presence that walks among them, too much for these shadows to steal energy away from.
It's a high-pitch wail that falls from them, causing the wolf to pull her hands over her ears and eyes to shut tightly, as they melt back into the floor.
The hearth is lighted once again.
The wolf rubs her eyes, still in a limbo state, half awake and half in a lucid word. The darkening and the hollowing of her head doesn't help, feeling dazed and confused. She doesn't move from her spot, cradling her head into her lap.
Her body feels lighter than usual, as if there isn't anything left. It's as if the shadows have stolen something away from her, and she's only left with a few of the pieces.
Javis footsteps are a little hard as he walks.
He'd been merely passing through, when the gust of cold brushed his skin from outside in the hallway, eyes catching onto black ice crackling beneath the library doors. It seems now to have dissipated, alongside with whatever else was in here.
The beast within the male is on edge, sensing another entity had been here, had been freely roaming the library with such easy access to his Queen.
"Ember?" approaching her, his skin still shivering. His eyes fall onto the glass dome, watching black ice melt into nothing.
The air felt tense, felt strange. It was in the process of shifting, going back into the normal. It felt empty.
His fur rises, eyes watching and sweeping the room. Nothing. But he's on edge, the male ruffled.
He scoops her up in his arms, feeling much better now that she was physically in his grasp and out of any potential harm. His insides feel uneasy, the slightest tether of fear prickling his stomach. Javis had never experienced anything of the sort. His King is mind linked immediately.
The butler turns his attention to the wolf, whose breathing is a little too soft for his liking, barely audible. Her skin is sickly pale, with a tint of yellow. Her limbs seem to have lost the capacity to move. She has no control over them, unable to muster anything. Her eyes are open, but lost. She lays somewhere between sleep and the events of what had just happened. Her mind is frazzled, wolf inside her just shutting down for a few moments.
She's cold to the touch, her forehead like ice. The lycan worries.
He knows that she can hear him. Her eyes flicker up, and her fingers grip him a little tighter. She's conscious, but not in the present.
Figures bombard through, Mekhi and Micah following pursuit. They both halt, features confused. The hairs on their skin rises, beasts already on edge, already sensing the shift on their earth. A gust of wind falls onto the pair. Something wasn't right, something was out of place. The room seemed larger, mirroring a void.
Mekhi comes to Javis immediately, eyes stroking upon her. His beast knows something had been here, had done something. He growls in frustration, needing answers so he could rid the threat.
"Have the healer look her over. Don't leave her side," it's a quiet demand, pressing a kiss to the top of her head, fingers pushing a curl that had stuck to her cheek away. Her eyes only lift to him, features still confused.
Javis complies, turning with the female delicately balanced in his arms.
"What do you think it was?" it's Micah, eyes warily looking around the room. The normality of it makes his gut wrench, because something had been in here. They both don't speak of the fact that it wasn't anything they encountered on this realm.
"I don't know," an admission that the King hates to make, tattooed fingers curling and jaw clenching.
"Fuck, it feels different," Micah grumbles, folding his arms over each other.
"Like all the energy has been sucked away," they both look at the library, that now has acquired a grey cast over it.
It looked the same, but it didn't feel the same.
The King doesn't speak his suspicions out loud, thoughts too absurd to even be uttered from his mouth. A faint memory flickers in the back of his head. His features settle hard, beast unhappy that his gift had been so close to something so greedy for her warmth. He has trust in Javis that she'd be in good hands, but he's irked.
It only takes a half hour for a gathering to be held in his office.
Midnight had long been passed. Mekhi and Micah had been busy with a few issues that had come up earlier in the night, involving rowdy juvenile males and a hunt in the woods. They had just finished up, before Javis's mind link had come through.
Ember had been checked over by the healer, who said that her energy and strength would slowly return. She the wolf away with a special herbal tea, that would fasten the process.
Currently, she's in the lap of her half, small form curled into his torso, fingers splayed across the warm cup of her herbal tea. She's much more awake, but her features are sullen, brows permanently furrowed and eyes glassy, taking her far away. Mekhi's arm wraps around her, thumb rubbing the skin of her thigh that was slightly exposed, his shirt riling up on her. The wolf is cold, but the heat from her half helps.
They were behind his desk, so no other eyes could linger on her skin.
Micah and Thalia were both there, sitting on the carpeted floor and resting backs on the velvet couch. Javis was looking through the library once more, for any clues. The group were merely waiting.
Mekhi presses a kiss every so often on his half's head, nose nuzzling into her, and words softly encouraging her to drink the tea. It was working, her rosiness beginning to return, and her body beginning to feel like itself again.
Eyes all fall to the door, when the general that they were waiting for walks in.
He's obviously just woken up, dark hair a mess and brown eyes still on the sleepy side. He only wears some sleeping shorts, and a mismatched hoodie on top. His form enters, and surprised brows are raised with the entrance of Faiza, also wearing mismatched clothes, behind him.
Mekhi doesn't comment, knowing the way of the Moon.
The more you pulled and denied the bond, the more intense it would fall when it was rekindled. It would fall hard, and quick. It was almost like a punishment for going against the path the Moon had set you on, the denial of fate. There's a sudden need established, so it was no surprise that the two spent a night together in such short time.
The King's lips curve to a scowl at the sight of the new female.
Mekhi wasn't normally a rude male, though he could be very blunt. His beast wasn't that trusting of anyone in this instance, and he didn't know this particular female lycan well. It didn't help that he had no idea what had happened, or who had conducted it. It eats at him, pricking at the back of his head.
Alden immediately bounds towards Ember, a finger giving her cheek the slightest caress before turning back away.
Faiza sits on the couch, features intent but not filled with huge amounts of expression. Alden sits with her, not touching her.
"What happened?" Alden asks, looking towards the pair.
A sigh rolls from the King, who recounts what Javis had told him a little while ago, when he had brought Ember back. Ember doesn't say anything, her memory a little hazy and struggling to remember exactly what she had experienced. But she tells them all she could, tone low and quiet, with longs pauses and furrowed brows.
They all listen carefully.
"That-," it's Thalia, pulling blonde tresses into a bun on her head.
"That doesn't sound like any of the other Kingdoms. No other species have such an ability. To melt into darkness? To omit cold and suck energy away?" she poses, hand lazily laced with Micah.
Mekhi says nothing, curling his arms around his wolf, resting his chin on the top of her head. Her eyes close, but her ears listen carefully.
A few more moments of silence, lycans deep in thought.
"Maybe the witches? The fae folk? They have the ability to harness different forms of energy, in different ways respective to their species. I mean the way Javis explained what he felt, feels like a manipulation of energy. And I mean, Ember had fallen weak and without strength. So?" it's a suggestion from Micah. Alden shakes his head.
"Yes, but they don't have the strength to hold such a feat. And how would they get across our borders? The whole melting into the ground thing doesn't fit with their ability either. And what would their motive be? They have nothing against us," the general has logic.
More silence.
"Maybe-," it's Faiza, her tone low and raspy.
"Maybe it isn't a Kingdom on this realm," the sentence stuns them all for a moment. It's blasphemy, for such an idea to be uttered.
Mekhi doesn't speak, jaw only tightening and his hold on Ember a little hard.
"What are you suggesting?" Micah presses, curious eyes falling onto the female. She clears her throat, sitting up a little taller.
"Well, if we take the facts. The hearth was put out, warmth stolen, black ice on the dome and the floor, the disappearance of colour and vision, the shadows moving and melting back into the ground, and not to mention the idea of energy being manipulated-," she takes a breath.
"Only one species fits that in my book. A demon," she murmurs, eyes thoughtful and the emerald darkening.
"A demon?" Thalia repeats. Faiza nods.
"Yes. They're beings that move within the shadows, they can take on different forms of the dark – mainly shadows- and use that in a way to transport. They're greedy for energy, because they don't have a soul. Accumulated energy mirrors a soul, like a makeshift soul. They're desperate for it, and so they suck it all of the energy they can find, and steal it. It had to be a demon. That's why Ember is so weak after her encounter with them, and why the room turned frigid and cold. They took the energy," Faiza explains.
Micah's face only narrows, pulling Thalia into his lap, fingers playing with the hem of her bralette.
"And you know this how?" the prince is sceptical, wary. The beast was on stance for the safety of the wolf he bowed down to.
"I've studied the realms. Like you studied training, like Alden studied law. It was an interest, and it's not hard finding information if you look in the right places," the female is blunt, a little annoyed that Micah thinks she's untrustworthy.
Micah doesn't push her, forcing his fur to settle down.
"But-but realms can't come to contact with each other. Beings on different realms can't cross. How is it a demon?" all heads turn to the soft and quiet voice, Ember sitting up and rubbing her eyes, paying more attention.
They don't have the answers, only giving a response of silence.
"That's Ancient Law," it's a sigh from her, lips curving into a pout. Her empty cup is set onto the desk before her.
"It can't happen. It's impossible. Right?" turning to Mekhi, eyes wide. The male doesn't speak again.
"Right?" she repeats, brows furrowing and features worried.
He sighs, shifting so she's propped up onto the desk, legs swinging. His muscles are tense, eyes closing when her hands massage the base of his shoulders.
"I don't know baby," raking a hand through his hair, teal hues haunted. Her lips curve, and he sighs again.
"King Alec," the name comes from Alden, and her memory jolts, remembering a conversation that she shared with the general long ago.
"Oh yes. He's the King who had found is half. You know him, right? He's the-the King of-," her eyes narrow, unable to remember.
"Demons," it's murmured with a hard edge. Her lips part.
"Oh," she breathes out, rubbing the bare skin of her arms.
"Let's not even consider the possibility. Realms coming in contact? Demons crossing over to here? What the fuck? It's bullshit. It's not possible. Our realms are so segregated. We barely mention the fact that there are different realms, because they're different worlds practically. We have nothing to do with each other," Micah grunts.
"Not to mention, Ancient Law could be broken. The Council rules all realms, they'd know about this. It's not demons. And why would King Alec have sent them after Ember, him and Mekhi are on good terms," it's Thalia.
Ember's confused.
"Wait," small palms telling everyone to halt.
"Realm's don't make contact. How do you know King Alec in the first place?" it's a soft accusation to her half, arms crossing over each other.
Mekhi moves resting his hands by either side of her thigh, letting his thumbs curve onto her skin. His eyes hold a gallant memory, lips curving into a smirk. He doesn't answer though, it's Micah.
"During his youth, your half was a nosy little fucker. He found a loophole, with Alec as the receiving end. They kept contact through all these years, hidden from the Law and the Realms. They made a pact to do so," it's a snicker from Micah.
Ember wonders what Mekhi was like before taking his throne. The mischief swimming in his eyes tell her all she needs to know. She asks no more questions.
"Alec wouldn't have his own turn on me. I don't think so anyway. The last I had him in contact, was just after I found Ember. He hasn't reached out to me since, too infatuated with his half. I don't think it is him," the beast's gut is trustworthy.
"Either way, fine, Alec and Mekhi somehow fell into contact. But to physically cross? Fucking impossible," Micah sighs.
"Well technically, communication between the two Kings should've been impossible too. King Mekhi getting a second half is impossible. Whose to say this couldn't happen? The Moon has her ways," it's Faiza.
Mekhi groans. Was this a form of her message too? Did the Moon have all these events occur?
"Okay, for arguments sake let's say these were demons. What purpose do they have here, considering Alec and Mekhi are on good terms?" it's Alden who poses this.
Micah scoffs, finding this absurd.
"There's no point in theorising. This isn't a demon. Lower realm creatures aren't crossing over to our realm. It's not a demon, it has to be a witch or something. They must've done a mirage," he argues back.
"Enough," Mekhi immediately has them both sit with tails tucked in.
"I'll contact Alec and ask if he was aware of such a breach. We'll proceed from there and figure this out," he murmurs.
"Are we assuming that this threat is the same threat that ended with Aurora's death? They were human hunters, and the case didn't lead anywhere. Could they be linked?" it's Thalia's question. Mekhi silences, form clenching.
Before the discussion can progress forward, Javis emerges from the scout he did in the library. A paper is held in his hands. It's passed to Mekhi, who passes it to Ember. It's screwed up into a ball, creased and wrinkled.
With trembling small fingers, she unravels it, leaning it against her thigh and smoothing out the material.
"My mate was against the law," her voice trembles in the slightest as she reads, eyes falling upon thick, black and chalky writing.
"You lycans took her away under the Law's demand. It seems taking the first wasn't enough, because here you are with your own that is against the Law too. She'll go like the first," voice quiet and low.
"Signed by Lazar," her breath hitches with the name, only going noticed by her half. The paper falls from her hands and to the floor, features shocked and mouth parted with no words.
"Lazar? Who the fuck is that?" Alden mutters behind her.
Ember says nothing, unable to move, not even blinking. Teal sees all.
"That's enough for the night. It's late. We'll talk more and hypothesise in the morning. You all need to sleep and rest up," his voice is loud. Ember doesn't move a hair, petite fingers clenching the material of the shirt she wore hard.
"But-," Micah complains, upset that they hadn't figured out everything, and that there was a prominent risk over Ember.
"That's the end of it," Mekhi mutters, a warning in his tone. The lycans get up and leave in defeat.
Mekhi stands up, hands cupping his half's cheeks, thumbs delicate when stroking the skin.
"What is it my gift?" noticing how wide her eyes were. The bond feels dim within them, the wolf shielding herself.
She blinks up at him.
"Lazar-he," she looks down, before turning up to him again.
"He's my father,"
Mekhi says nothing, the male simply dipping down and picking her up, letting her settle in the crook of his neck.
"We'll talk more in this tomorrow. Don't let it trouble your head baby. We'll untangle this mess out soon, okay?" and she nods, not saying anything.
He presses a kiss to the top of her head, before heading out of his office and up to his room, where the wolf would definitely be safe in his grasp.