Azami woke up from the sound of clinking swords and shouts of orders. She pried her eyes open and bright red orbs shone from the light peering from her room. She yawned loudly before rising from her bed to prepare for the day. She looked at her dresser before trying out a new outfit. She picked a red top with golden linings, white bottoms, white flats and golden ornament that is added on top of her head. She checked herself in the mirror before going out. She greeted the staffs around and she grinned when she saw the people she was looking for.
"So this is where you two were! I thought you were out again for another mission." Golden orbs stared at her happily.
"We won't leave you alone so easily, Azami-nee." The purple haired magician said. The blonde man beside him nodded his head before taking out a parchment. She took it and read the contents. They will be taking out another gunud in the west.
"So when are we going to go out?"
"Solomon is supposed to get here along with Ugo and Arba. Oh! There they are!" She looked at her brothers who waved at the figures in front of them. Setta, her little brother and Ithnan, her twin-alike. They were not related by blood but the way they treated each other, they might as well be.
"Setta! Ithnan! Did you practice your magic last night?" She asked them suddenly. They tensed. You see, Azami was teaching them a restoring magic but they could not get it right. They laughed sheepishly. Azami huffed, and laughs from in front of them could be heard. She sighed as Solomon, Arba and Ugo laughed at their comrade.
"So? Shall we go?" They grabbed their staves and flew towards the next gunud. Ithnan provided energy for the moving fortress while Azami decided to fly towards the place earlier than them.
"Okay. So where is that gunud supposed to be?" She pointed her staff in front and the rukh around her fluttered as it pointed a little towards the east. She arrived at the said tower only to see winged human like people glaring at her. She glared back and readied a spell.
"Tadmir aleaql!" Nothing happened until they suddenly clutched their heads in pain. She grinned before taking down a few of them. The winged creature, whom she remembered as the Zalam Tribe, used their claws to capture her. She dodged every attack until one spiky hands got a hold of her. Blood spluttered on her stomach and she grunted.
"Stupid me. I shouldn't have played with it. Ugh!" She raised her staff and stabbed the Zalam. It howled in pain and Azami was thrown off its hands. She wiped the blood from her mouth before using a healing magic and covering the wound with a spare cloth. When she deemed it unnoticeable, she held her staff once again and ran towards the Gunud. Soon, Solomon and the others arrived. Arba and Setta took care of the west wing while Ugo and Ithnan were responsible for the east wing. Solomon raced after Azami. Once he caught up to her, he asked her what was the status of the Zalam.
"They're completely under control but I can sense a shift in the rukh. It suddenly got weaker. Maybe the sacrifice is still alive!"
"You're right! Let's go!" They were about to reach the final door when a lightning bolt stopped them. They looked up to see twenty magicians from the Orthodox. They were holding creepy smirks that made the pink haired magician cringe.
"You blasphemous magicians! Why do you defy us!? Especially you, Master Solomon." One of the Orthodontist said. Solomon scoffed at them.
"Get out of our way. You're the blasphemous here. Using these humans as sacrifices for your non-existent god!" They growled in disapproval before firing another set of lightening magic. Solomon manipulated the space but Azami saw that he was still far from mastering it.
"Dhoruf!" The new set of attacks bent towards them and blew them away. Azami shrugged before using her magic to control their minds like puppets. Drool came out of their mouths as they walked like the dead. She quickly disposed them. It was taking their time so the pink haired magician asked Solomon to go and save whoever was left in the tower. He nodded. She grinned maniacally at the enemies in front of her before weaving her hands in the air.
"ARGH!!" They all screamed in pain. She used her fire magic to burn their asses down the tower. Just when she thought they admitted defeat, she felt something touch the wound on her stomach and that made her wince. There was a man behind her holding his staff trying to stab the wounded magician.
"Now that's dirty! Malja!" The ground ate the man and blood spluttered around them. She wiped away the blood from her face before removing the cloth to check out her wound. She glared at it before using water magic. It cleaned the wound but there was now a medium-sized hole.
"Damn. This really hurts a lot. Satas Ashaff." The wound closed enough for it to stop bleeding. She covered it once more by a new clean cloth so that her brothers will not suspect anything. Solomon came down with a wounded busty woman in his arms. She was breathing heavily. The girl had bright orange hair and copper eyes and was about as tall as her.
"Satas Ashaff!" She chanted to heal the girl. Soon, the pained face of the girl contorted into a comforting one. She opened her eyes and was suddenly on guard. She was looking around nervously as if somebody was going to kill her. Azami calmed her down with a spell and she fell asleep in a blink. Solomon sighed before picking her back again to consult Ugo. The battle outsid died down and it left a lot of Zalam and resistants weary. An elder from the Zalam tribe stepped up and bowed down. Solomon and her were confused. Arba informed them that they were just suddenly controlled after one of their own led some weird priests into their lands. Supposedly, they were going to led them to their Father but instead, it led it to their doom. The elder pointed at a handsome young man who was supposed to be a traitor. The other tribe members yelled at him and accused him. Azami got angry as well so she took her staff out and raised it.
"Silence! No one is to be blamed for such absurdity! Look. It's the Orthodox Church that is at fault! He was just deceived. Open your eyes."
"That is true, Azami-sama but if he didn't let those fools enter our realm then—"
"Stop! If you were in his place and there were people who suddenly proclaimed salvation in this hell then I'm sure that you will accept the same proposition. We make mistakes and sacrifices but that is part of life. Remember that not all are perfect." She told them. Silence echoed around and the elder sighed in resignation. He nodded at her statement. She smiled but when she looked at the young man, he was scowling at her while mouthing, 'I don't need your help.'
'Wow. Way to say thank you for saving your ass. Oh well. If that's what he wants to think.' She entered back to Setta and Ithnan's side. With a smile, she hugged them tightly. Solomon went to her and gave here the look. She smiled sheepishly. Of course her wound would not be invisible to him. He pointed to Ugo but she shook her head and mouthed that she will be the one to take care of the wound. He sighed.
"Just do it before those two notices it." She nodded. Ithnan and Setta were fussing about their new magic that they apparently learned. She praised them before checking the Zalam tribe who were picking up dead bodies. She helped them by restoring the dead bodies as if they were just sleeping. They smiled in appreciation. Just then, she felt a splitting pain in her stomach. She touched it only to see blood pouring out.
"Damn. Satas Ashaff." She murmured. The rukh mended the gash in her stomach before breathing out a relieved sigh. The young man stared at her skeptically while she waved at him nervously. He shook his head. She watched him help with his tribe but it looked like they still had not forgiven him considering all those cold stares will occasionally gets from his own kin. She pursed her lips before helping him. She walked towards him and carried a couple of logs (what she can carry that is). The young man glared at her.
"Get out of here! I don't need you."
"No, you don't, but I'm helping the tribe. Plus do you think the elder can still do it? I mean look at him. He's obviously going to fall with just a tug from his waist cloth. No offense." The young Zalam chuckled at her remark. Maybe she was not bad at all, that was what he thought. Through out the day, Azami and the other resistants helped. This continued for three days until they were attacked once again. Many of the Zalam blamed the same young man, whom she had known as Furcas. He tried to defend himself but it fell on deaf ears.
"Furcas! I would gladly need your help here!" She yelled as she threw the priest aside and used Zilzal. The earth shook. Solomon used his manipulating magic to redirect their water magic away. Setta froze them and Ithnan used that chance to kick them. Arba grinned while using her staff to drive them away. The Orthodox priests cursed at them.
"You, Daif! These monsters shall pay!" One priest said as he pointed his staff at a Zalam child. Azami quickly intercepted it.
"AAAAHH!!" It burned her body. The magic was fire and the gash on her stomach worsened. Tears sprung from her eyes and teared up a little. Setta yelled for her sister while Ithnan killed the priest before rushing to his sister. Solomon examined the wound and it looked like it was deeper than it should have. Probably because of the wounds from earlier. The wound barely healed for the past three days.
"This is bad. We have to treat this before it worsens." Arba said as she reached for the wound. Azami screamed bloody murder which pained her brothers. She huffed before opening her eyes to see if the Zalam child was alright. He was fine. Setta scolded her for being careless. He used ice magic to prevent blood from seeping through. Ithnan took out a basin full of water before cleaning the wounded area. They fussed about her while the young man who witnessed everything, watched them wide eyed. The priests were driven out by Ugo and the other magicians.
"That should teach them a lesson." Ugo said.
"Yes but Azami is not in any good condition right now." Solomon said. The brothers cursed and that was when Furcas went and asked for their permission.
"Let me heal her." They looked up at him. Solomon nodded and Furcas kneeled down to get a better look at the damage. He sighed.
"Shifa' alzzll." His hands glowed and it entered her system. Soon, flesh began to connect itself and that made her squirm. Then a new skin formed on her stomach and it looked brand new. They smiled at his work and thanked him. The elder looked at his kin. Furcas stared at his elder before saying that he wanted to be by Azami's side. They were surprised.
"I see. Then go, my child. I just hope that you'll forgive us for the way we treated you." From that onwards, he was the first djinn by her side. Then it came Sitri. She was an outcast in their tribe mainly because she was a product of a forbidden love. She would receive disgusted looks but Azami never once did even if the lustful djinn scorned her. Soon, she fell for her kindness. But who said that she will not be accepted by another djinn? It was Stolas. He accepted her whole and she could never be anymore happy.
Solomon did not knew about her encounters with the other djinns but he had suspicions. There was this one time where Azami left in a haste and she wandered the area with her friends. That left her brothers sometimes worried but she assured them that she was hanging out with trustworthy people (or creature).
"You're going out again, Azami-nee?" Setta asked her sister as he walked towards his brother's room. She nodded and told him that she might return a day after tomorrow.
"Alright. Just be careful out there!"
"Got it! Tell that to Ithnan as well! See ya! Oh sh—"
"Language, Azami-nee!"
"Indubado! Sorry! Ah! Furcas is really going to kill me this time."
She flew towards the said Zalam but she was wracked in the head hard.
"OW!! YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO HIT ME HARD!" She pouted. Furcas glared at her before calling out two of his other friends, namely Sitri and Stolas. Sitri smiled at her before telling her a story about some great friends of her. They were Leraje, Ipos and Paimon. She nodded in interest. They kept on talking but Furcas interrupted them by saying that they will looking for two mythical beasts in the South. They traveled for a short time and searched but there was no sign of anything mythical except for the plants. They had to eat a very sweet fruit that night and they vowed not to eat that one again. They traveled for another day but there was nothing.
"This is ridiculous! We'll never find them!" Sitri complained.
"Maybe they don't want to be found, don't you think, Azami?" Stolas asked. She was starting consider that option. Furcas disagreed him. Just then, a resounding roar and screech were heard not far from them. She flew upwards to see two creatures fighting. One was a majestic bird of some sort. It had colorful wings of red and yellow. The other one was a wolf with nine tails, silver coat and purple eyes. There were strange marks on their forehead and she believed that the red ones were the rukh symbol. They were heavily wounded so the pink haired magician decided to step up and step them despite the protest from her friends.
"Tawaquff!" Their bodies froze and once she deemed it safe, she released the spell. Azami let out a relieved sigh. They stopped what they were doing only to glare at her. She defended herself by saying that it was not right. They retorted back that it was their destiny and role.
"That's stupid."
"Don't you think it's that easy, Little One. For centuries we've been doing this. So step back and just leave the two of us fight to death." The she-wolf said. Azami looked at her as if she had grown another head.
"You have choices you know. What's good with fighting anyway? And to death at that? You should value your lives more."
"But this is the value of our lives." The Phoenix said. Azami snorted in amusement with their absurdity. She plainly told them that their history does not define their lives nor their value. What defines them is what they do in the present. Now that they were doing the same thing as their ancestors, then they have not created their own individuality and personality.
"You are one interesting human. I am Ronove." The phoenix said. The she-wolf also introduced herself. She was named Alphas but due to uniqueness, they decided to add the letter h. She would have forgotten her companions if it was not for Ronove pointing out the obvious. She introduced them and soon, they were getting along well. Furcas was not scared of them but he would often joke with them about life and sometimes, they would tease Azami with her currently non-existent love life.
"I'm not interested with anybody right now. Maybe in the future~" She playfully said with wiggling eyebrows. Their laugh boomed along the plains. She now had Furcas, Sitri, Stolas, Ronove and Halphas. The pink haired magician did not expect that she will be able to see her future. Her dark future and a glimpse of a renewed one. That was through Sitri's friend, Ipos. But that will a story to tell in the next chapter.
=END=