Chapter 23

My hearing is muffled but my eyes snapped open to an oxygenated sky. There is dry fabric under my back, shielding me from the uncomfortable bump of rocks. Enhanced senses can be a curse, every drenched part of me felt worse than when I had been human. My short fur felt heavy. The ear tuft fur struggled to stay standing and only amplified the muted sense of hearing.

There is a shadow standing over me. Blurred, shadowed, and blurry with silhouettes.

My nape flared with phantom memory, the defensive shriek leaving my mouth is both guttural and spooked.

The only reason I do not draw fangs into the stranger’s wrist or throat is because they weren’t directly touching me. No, they had been kneeling by my side, their hands thrown up in peace, which did very little to calm the snarl in my chest.

My tail immediately curved itself to lay closer to my waist, and claws dipped to the rocky terrain. Any sudden movement would be grounds to toss a wave of stones in their direction. It would hurt and I wanted this Dulling to bleed.

“Woah, halt, cease! I mean no harm, are you not an ally of Ivory?” Unfamiliar, this voice is someone I have not met. “Please, clear your eyes! I am Prince Rook, and I apologize for what my mother has done to your family, but listen when I say; I want to make it right…!” He was firm, voice sharp.

It’s enough to clear my frazzled nerves. Just for a second.

Rook. Prince Rook. Wazir’s son. Not the Hunter. Not Wazir herself.

Her wacky son, because who attached themselves to strangers so quickly? And yet Ivory clearly favored him, I had seen it, heard it in how Ivory spoke.

Ebony had been worse with his not-so-discreet fascination with Fakir. A single night was all it took.

Thinking of the twins is painful; I want them back, I want them back, I want them back.

“...Your mother is the entire reason Ivory and Ebony are in that mess.” And Opal… “I cannot believe I let a bunch of petty Dullings rough us up. You. Prince, what is right to you?” I sneered, sitting up properly and giving him a grin full of teeth.

Rook looked me straight in the eye, resolute, and he declared his answer in a stern breath.

“Your freedom. Your family and friends’ right to exist.” Rook did not move, hardly swallowed, as if any normal function would cause me to instinctively react. “You are right, my mother is the main reason for this orchestrated disaster. She is a shrewd Dulling when it comes to holding onto things she believed are hers,” Rook grimaced. “But you cannot force your grasp on others, expecting full obedience. Just as you cannot snatch up lives, no matter how you think of them, and treat them as objects to be shined and caged.” Rook ducked his head, ashamed.

“I forget people like you still exist,” I looked to the water, reminded of the times I had fallen in. “Or rather, the fact across the universe, there will always be some with values rooted in balanced truth.” People who hold onto their beliefs no matter what may come.

Rook gave a strained smile. “The universe…? Are you implying you came from elsewhere?”

I do not respond, staring at the brownness of my skin, and the experiences it had brought me in a world far away.

Rook lowered his eyes in respectful silence.

“Why do you think that way?” I cannot help but question this prince, this ‘noble’ who his mother hoarded fiercely.

“Well,” Rook cleared his throat. “I learned a lot from my aunt before she passed. Mother did not want me interacting with the common Dullings of our kingdom. Still, I disobeyed and learned there are many Dullings and creatures out there who live their own lives.” His gaze fell wistful. “I found beauty in it. Sincerity. Clarity about the world. It’s comparable to watching birds fly, and being unable to follow or catch them, for good reason.”

An open-minded brat for the queen, then. “Did you know Ivory wasn’t a Dulling?”

“Hn,” Rook grew a light smile. “Not at first, but I’d say it makes sense now. His aura, the way he carries himself, is something not often found in Dullings. No, that was a stranger who walked in-between snow, frost, and death. And you know what, I think he thrived!” Rook brightly smirked, prim and confident. “I’m grateful he didn’t harm my citizens even if they treated him poorly.”

Yes. I heard of that, Ivory had told the tale with a detached mindset. Rocks, the same ones I would’ve clobbered those brats with if I had been there. Some youngsters need a good beatdown to remember what it feels to be punched in the face, and not to bother others without good cause.

Rook coughed into a wrist, pink dusting his face. “Don’t worry, Ivory was unharmed…Unlike the current time. Will you let me aid you in rescuing him and his brother?” He gathered a fist to the chest. “I am trained in combat and strategy. When it comes to Mother, I can combat her games as well as fend off the other enemy.” Rook kept his gaze steady, blues solid and aware.

“I hardly trust much of you,” I bluntly told the prince, tail beginning to sway lazily. “What else can you promise, to ensure I do not jump into battle with a dagger at my back?”

Rook reached into a pocket.

A locket of silver with shiny platinum wind markings shone in the faint light. With a click, a soft tune of a music box tickled my ears.

Inside was a picture of a very confused young boy, a stoic Queen Wazir, and an aunt who grinned brightly, holding them both close together.

“Hear my plan, explosive as it is, and tell me if it’s enough to tide you over.” The prince then lowered himself to a bow, one of respect. “All I ask, is you spare my kingdom, and allow me one last conversation with Ivory before you set off for good.” Rook closed his eyes. “I am not so naive to beg you to stay. This world does nothing but cause harm to your kind and your protected. Ivory is a friend of mine. I do not allow those I value to come to harm, lest of all the ones they treasure.”

Dullings are strange. They value their bonds, no matter how fleeting, far more than humanity ever did.

Perhaps it was the solace in trauma after abandonment from their previous deities.

Every meeting with another lonely soul, must be precious.

How (un)lucky of my brothers to take interest in Dulling kind.

And now, I must rescue them from said people.