"Dawn of a quest."

Dai felt exhausted. He looked up at the god with pure rage burning within his eyes, everything that had just happened to him passing through his mind, again and again. He glared at Lukas before getting to his feet, his throat burning as he did so.

Finally, he tore his gaze from Lukas, refocusing it on the wall littered with deadly swords. Lukas followed Dai's gaze, yet before Lukas could process what the Mutare was thinking, Dai took off, sprinting for one of the swords that hung on the wall.

Lukas, however, grasped the back of the Mutare's hood, pulling it down, and the Mutare along with it. Dai winced as his head was slammed against the stone floor, and he began to cough, the world spinning as he tasted blood, his blood. 

Yet, as he stared upwards, he saw one thing. The smirk of the Fire God who was the one to blame for all of this. Dai immediately knew that he hated him. He hated Lukas. Yet, there was nothing he could do about it. He had already used too much magic at once. He was a fool for trying to challenge a god.

Lukas, however, just kept smirking as he looked at the utterly defeated Mutare, and, for the first time, got a glimpse of his face. His skin was a darkened caramel color, lighter than Lukas's but still several shades darker than any Lekki's. His lips were slightly agape so that the Mutare's fangs were just barely viable. 

Freckles dotted his cheeks like stars, uncalculated constellations. His hair was a dark and wild brown, falling in long a braid down his back and shoulders, with twin cat-like ears sprouting from his skull. A matching tail lay fluffed up and curled around his legs as his golden eyes shone with a certain degree of helplessness.

"You are not going to kill yourself," Lukas ordered, his voice deep and slow. "Now, get up. We have lingered here far too long," he said and Dai slowly picked himself up eyeing the swords that still hung off the wall. His shoulder burned from where Lukas had stabbed him, a lingering effect of the curse, and all Dai wanted was for the pain to go away. 

Eventually, it did. It was a cooling sensation, like a frozen wind on a hot summer day. It rushed through Dai's body freeing himself from any pain. He looked around the shop and realized just how messed up it was, and he gave Harac an apologetic grin.

"I apologize for the mess, Harac," Dai said, dipping his head to the ancient man who sat with his back against the wall near Honey, brown eyes still filled with fear as he looked from Dai to Lukas. "Can Harac tell Lord Convel that I have simply died?" Dai asked, and Harac nodded his head, too stunned to speak.

"Honey, get up!" Lukas snapped at the Lekki girl who jumped to her feet. Dai's hood was still down and his golden eyes were studying Honey carefully, as Honey stared back, her own chocolate eyes laced with curiosity. Lukas had crossed to the other side of the store and was sticking his head out the door. "Both of you! Get over here, now!" Lukas snapped. 

Dai dashed across the room to the window next to the door, trying to see what the god saw. A group of Mutare had surrounded the entrance of the shop and were murmuring to one another in hushed voices. Only that wasn't the problem.

Up the cobblestone street, ten soldiers were closing in on the shop, their swords drawn. "Great," Dai muttered to himself as he saw the soldiers drawing closer by the moment. "Now we're all going to die."

"No, we're not," Lukas growled, turning back to the old shopkeeper who had gotten to his feet, his eyes darker than usual. "Harac. Supplies. Now," the god snapped and Harac nodded before dashing to the back and reappearing just as Honey worked up the courage to look out the window. 

What she saw was the soldiers pushing past fleeing civilians who had seen them appear. All of the soldiers wore the same armor with the silver halfmoon on its chest plate. The leader of the group approached the small shop carefully. There had been sounds of fighting from inside the city, which was strictly forbidden.

"Whoever's in there, best come out, now!" he shouted as Honey pressed her face against the frozen glass. However, the glass was so cold it quickly began to burn, and Honey jerked away, staring at it. It shouldn't have been that cold. Her eyes widened with childlike wonder as she watched elegant frost patterns dance across the glass, twirling and swirling into beautiful patterns on the cold glass. 

Honey turned to Dai, who was standing next to her, his hand resting against the glass, and his eyes closed. When he finally opened his eyes finally the frost had completely covered the window, hiding them away from the world.

"Did you do that?" Honey asked as Dai turned away, pulling the hood of his cloak over his head. He said nothing, but Honey knew that he did. It wasn't cold enough outside for something like that to happen naturally, and from what Honey had seen earlier, Dai could create ice, and apparently frost as well, with his mind, alone. 

A feat that could only have been magic, something a Lekki could be executed for in Amaryllis. In the dim sunlight that filtered through the frost barrier that hid them from the outside world, Dai looked like little more than a shadow, his cloak hiding him from the world. Separating him.

"Okay let's get out of here," Lukas snapped, causing both Honey and Dai to turn to him, and Honey noticed he had a burlap sack thrown over his shoulders filled with supplies for their quest. "The rest of the supplies are in the cart. It shall only cause trouble if we linger."

Honey moved away from the window, following Lukas without a second thought. She only turned back when she noticed Dai hadn't followed. He was still standing there, a frozen shadow, lacking in both color and movement before he turned towards Honey breaking whatever spell he'd cast over his own body. 

He stared at her for just a heartbeat his golden eyes like two stars woven into the night sky that was his hood, before he began walking towards her. He brushed past her, and just like the glass now covered with frost when he touched her, it was so cold it burned.

Honey hesitated for a heartbeat before following Dai out the door. However, when she did summon her courage and push her way through the door she found herself in a dark and filthy alleyway with an ancient cart in it. The cart that Lukas had spoken of was, in truth, just a large wooden wagon attached to a large stallion with a pelt as white as snow. 

Honey climbed into the back with some difficulty where Dai already sat on a bag of what looked like a grain of some type, running his fingers through his fluffy brown tail. It was a habit that he picked up many years ago, that always resurfaced whenever he was nervous.

Honey positioned herself on the wooden floor of the cart, her knees pulled to her chest, in between the bag the Lukas had been carrying earlier and a barrel only half filled as Honey could hear the liquid sloshing in it. 

After what seemed like an eternity, they began to move down the dark alleyway that was next to the shop, the only sound being the horse's hooves against the cobblestone path, echoing like thunder before a storm. They rode slowly along the path before they came to one of the three gates, a different one from where they entered, and the guards waved them through without so much a blinking. 

They rode down a well-traveled path in perfect silence, the full moon shining above them, guiding their path as they reentered the jaws of the Wild Woods, Honey's heart echoing in her chest as the dark sky filled with dancing stars conducted by the full moon's light was replaced by the ceiling of interwoven branches and pine needles casting shadows across the forest floor that they rode down, nothing but the fires that followed Lukas wherever he went to guide them.

A U T H O R ' S   N O T E

Sorry that this is a day late, my internet yesterday was less than great and I didn't get a chance to upload this.

Another notice is that I will be taking a short break on this story.

But don't worry. Updates will resume on the August 20th.

So thanks for reading as always, and remember to vote and comment!!