Oh…
Great.
She'd found the God of the Dead.
Fan-fucking-tastic.
Wait, why was she surprised? This was a dead land.
A dead land in a dream and a creature that was supposed to be myth.
Most civilizations on the rock had their own version of creation and how the rock had come to be. Some of them even believed that they'd simply sprung into existence one day fully formed. Others attributed their existence to random gods, even a volcanic eruption that had pitched them out into the world.
The Land of Sorrow generally followed the religious beliefs of the Followers of the Sun, though to a much more relaxed standard than the truly devoted. Ceres was generally considered the one and only god, who had created everything that lived under the sun for some reason or another.
There were always a few common threads through them all, as there was in all things that shared a common world, and Arrawn was one of them.
The God of Death. A reaper in the Hearthland. A ghost king in the East. A griffin headed lion in the Wasteland. Antiquity called him an omen. She didn't know what the lands West of the Spine of the World called him, maybe they were separate enough that he wasn't in their stories at all.
"Why are you here?" She asked him.
"Why are you?" He returned. "You are not of this world, not anymore. You belong to the living. The land beyond the veil." His power was gathering. Eirian could feel the air shifting, the chill growing deeper.
"I've been dreaming about this place. The people. Something called me here." Eirian insisted, because she'd never dreamed of anything else the way she dreamed of this place.
"A dream is nothing. You lost your place here long ago and you cannot return."
His power started to push against her, forcing her back. Eirian fought to withstand it, summoning her own magic and was stunned at how powerfully it responded. It was always ready and willing but now it was almost excited.
It crashed into Arrawn's gathering power and was immediately crushed, but it kept going, kept pouring out of her and Eirian kept trying.
His power felt so familiar, like it came from the same endless ocean that her's did, but there was no doubt he was stronger. That the endless well of Eirian's magic wasn't enough.
"Wait! I just want to know-"
"That knowledge is not yours to have. Not yet." His power knocked her back several steps and once she lost her footing, she lost all momentum and ground.
"Please, I have to know-"
A roar drowned out her voice, pushing her further back, back the way she came. She grasped at her magic and forced everything she could at him, but it wasn't enough.
She lost her footing, the force of Arrawn's magic picking her up and flinging her backwards out of the room, out of the cave, out of the mountain.
A caustic laugh followed her. "Remember the deal, princess. No coming home until you finish your task."
Eirian tried to speak, tried to grasp at anything, she felt a sudden buoyance, hands reaching for her, power rising in her defense, but she didn't recognize it.
A dozen of them coming to her defense but even together they weren't enough.
With a sudden push, a crushing weight that forced the air from her lungs until her vision started to fade, it felt like she was flying.
***
Eirian jerked awake to the worried faces of Chenzhou and Yuze.
She sat up gasping for air, a searing pain across the backs of her shoulders, and the haunting feeling of fingers against her skin.
Light was just breaking over the horizon, but it hadn't dispelled the morning chill yet and her skin was clammy with sweat.
She shivered, and accepted the blanket Anna held out. "Thank you."
Anna gave her a tentative smile. "Of course."
"Are you okay?" Chenzhou looked a bit panicked.
"Weird dream." Eirian admitted. "What happened?"
Chenzhou bit his lip before saying, "You were screaming. We weren't sure if we should wake you up. Your magic- the flames, we could see them."
"What the hell were you dreaming about?" Yuze demanded. "It sounded like you were being murdered."
Eirian shivered harder as she thought of Arrawn's cold power and pulled the blanket tighter around her. Fox and Li coaxed the fire to life, even though they be leaving soon and Eirian shifted closer. "I'm not sure." Her back and shoulder blades ached. She wanted to see what it was, but without a mirror and with so many people around…
Magical marks weren't always a good thing.
In fact, they were almost always bad and there were very, very few exceptions.
Ardain hummed, stirring to life at Eirian's side.
"It was just a nightmare." Eirian murmured, suddenly unsure. How much could she safely share.
Especially with Lord Zhao, Lord Yin, and Lady Yang making their way over to see what the commotion was about.
"Is everything alright?" Lady Yang's sharp eyes swept over all of them. Chenzhou, Yuze, Eirian and Marian met her gaze fearlessly. Anna looked away and somehow Finn, Emmy, and Patrick were still asleep.
Snake walked over and their feet until all three of them startled awake. "Get up, it's time to go."
Thankfully, the distraction worked, and they were all feed and mounted up and fed within the hour. Marian shoved an extra serving of heavy bread at Eirian and watched as she dutifully chewed on it.
They rode into the rising sun. On Eirian's hip, Ardain continued a gentle hum, and she wondered if Chenzhou and Yuze's blades were also awake?
Neither man gave any sign that they could hear them, but neither of them seemed like the type to embrace a Blooding Blade. Was it possible to make one and ignore it after?
Eirian could never ignore Ardain. She'd tried once, just to see what would happen and Ardain had only gotten louder and louder, angrier and angrier until she'd nearly driven Eirian deaf and mad.
As long as Eirian treated the blade with respect and adoration, Ardain would protect her.
So, what was she warning against now?
~ tbc