Pain streaked across Lua's body. Consciousness flickered and his memories blurred together. But he remembered a voice, soft and silky, saying, "save him."

He woke bleary-eyed to a strange sight. A girl. Or what looked like a girl. He had never seen skin so pale. Her sand-coloured hair hung to her hips in dreadlocks lined with beads. Strange lines protruded from her face. Her features, while angelically delicate were flawed enough to be mundane. But that was the least of it.

She didn't notice him. And if she had then she dared not show it. She simply stared straight ahead, unmoving and seemingly unalive.

But she wasn't dead, as far as he could tell. Her chest rose and fell. Her fingers flared and thumped her knees. If her frame was any indication of her age, then she must've been as old as Lua. But she had flimsy limbs and looked like she didn't eat much.

He waited for her to react and when she didn't he raised an arm.

"Are you awake?"

He flinched. She could speak. He adjusted himself to sit forward, wincing as he did. A corrosive ache emanated from his hip. He pulled back his shirt to find a bandage wrapped around his torso, over the wound.

"How do you feel?" She said. Her voice like pillows and velvet.

"Who are you?" Lua said. "And where am I?"

Her head dropped but her gaze fell to the floor. She smiled slightly but refused to make eye contact. "I'm Zemlya and you're in my room."

"Were you the one who did this?" He pointed at his torso.

"Did what?"

She still refused look at him. But perhaps she couldn't see at all.

"The bandages...?" He watched her carefully and took in their surroundings. They seemed to be in a windowless blue room. A wooden desk stood by the far end, with books neatly piled atop it. A wardrobe and door beside it. And another door on the adjacent wall. He seemed to be on the only bed in the room. And that was about it. Nothing sharp and dangerous in sight.

"Well no, Harran did," she said. "He was the one who carried you here and dressed your wound."

An accomplice? The girl had no problem answering his questions but failed to go into depth as if to hide something.

One hand grabbed a clump of her hair. The other, the sea shell hanging at his throat. She gasped. Lua drove the sharp end of the shell against her throat. "Raise your hands, slowly, to either side of you." He spoke low and slow. She did as she was told, her arms trembling as they did. "Good."

"Can you not see?" He said.

"I'm blind." Her soft voice wobbled.

"Alright, then allow me to describe the situation you're currently in. I'm holding a knife to your throat. If I push any further I could rip out your throat. Now you don't want that, do you?"

She shook her head, the first tears slipping past her cheek.

"No, then you're going to tell me again, who you are and where I am."

"My name is Zemlya, daughter of His Majesty King Zev of Dhulka and Mistress Riella Dove. We're in an apartment block in the Jasmine district of the Southern Quarter."

"Dhulka, where is this Dhulka?"

"I don't know what you mean." She sniffled.

He tugged her by the roots of her hair and paid her cries no heed. "Where on earth is Dhulka?" She seemed to hesitate. She stilled. Lua pressed the shell into her throat. "Or does this place not exist and you're just a Cadit whore who found me along your shores?"

"Dhulka," she said, "Dhulka isn't on land."

His side throbbed with pain. "You're not being specific enough—"

She shook her head, hurriedly now. "You have to let me go. I know you must be confused. I'll explain everything I promise, but you must let go of me."

The door swung open before he could respond. A burly young men entered.

Lua yanked her out of her chair. She fell against the bed. He twisted her around. The tip of the shell grazed the center of her throat. His pain worsened, but he couldn't let it show.

"Harran?" She cried. "Harran, is that you?

"Lady Zemlya, don't worry I'm here," the big fellow said. He was unarmed and empty-handed.

"Take another step and she dies," Lua sneered.

The girl's accomplice raised his hands and seemed to comply. But his left index finger bent forward and a dart-like structure flew out of it and towards Lua. Lua felt his arms numb suddenly and his vision grew hazy and soon he was falling unconscious again.

~~~

Zemlya felt his grip loosen and his hand fall limp against her. Her heart rammed against her ribcage and the beat flooded her ears. Everything hit her at once. Including the fact that Harran was going to kill him.

Harran's rough hard hand clasped her by one arm, and his cold metallic hand caught her by the other elbow, sending a shiver through her bones. "Are you hurt?" He demanded.

She shook her head. She placed a hand over her heart and willed it calm. But the tears kept coming and her hands trembled. Steady breathing was an effort. Harran wiped her tears.

"I knew I never should have brought him here," Harran hissed.

Zemlya caught his arm just as his hand pulled away. "Harran wait."

"Let go, I won't allow him to hurt you again." He tugged his arm away but she persisted, refusing to let go.

"Listen to me Harran, please, just listen."

They were both very headstrong individuals, daring the other to concede. A moment passed.

Harran grunted and lowered. "Alright."

She sighed. "He isn't from here."

"That's obvious."

"What do you mean?"

"He doesn't look...nevermind."

"Does he not look like he's from Dhulka?"

"His skin, is a shade I've never seen before. Charred. Dark. No one in Dhulka looks like this."

"Then he must be from the surface."

Harran chuckled. Which meant it was one of the most absurd things Zemlya would ever say. And he had heard her say many absurd things before. But his one was far from amusement. "Nothing can survive on the surface, you know that."

"I know, I know, it sounds impossible. But he didn't know a thing about Dhulka and when he asked where it was he assumed it was on land."

"You really think there are people on the surface?"

"Dowda thinks there are people on the surface. And Dowda's usually right. This man, he must be from the surface."

Harran took a moment to digest this newfound knowledge. "If he really is from the surface, then we should tell someone."

"No." Zemlya surprised herself. But she knew where her heart was. "We can't."

"This changes everything. How can we not tell anyone?"

"You know what they did to everyone in the Petunia district. People thought just because we were exposed to the sun we had become less human. They locked us in labs and tried to find what was wrong with us. But they never did. Harran, you say he doesn't look like us. He's from the surface, practically another world. If it was torture for me I can't imagine what they'd do to him."

"But..." Harran sighed. "If they find him here, you could be in big trouble. And after what he just did I don't want him anywhere near you. He can't stay here."

"He's injured Harran."

"That didn't stop him from almost killing you."

"He wouldn't have anyway. He was in pain even as he held me hostage. I heard it."

"Then what do we do? We nurse him back to good health and hope he doesn't kill you?"

"We talk to him Harran. Treat him human."

~~~

Dawn had arrived but Lua had yet to return. Word had reached Shan that a conflict had broke out over the Dreel River. But those who had left for battle hadn't been sighted since sundown the day before.

The Drait Chief hadn't slept since then. All night long he waited for his son's return. For news to turn out that the fire across the river was all a sham to urge the tribes into conflict. But as the hours dwindled by he grew more and more despaired.

When the sun broke from the horizon and light spewed across the green pastures of Drait, a young boy barged into the chief's manor to inform him of the warriors' return. The chief rushed out and into the courtyard to find his warriors, all soaked wet and wounded. But as his gaze ran over each man, he didn't find his son.

"Chief Shan." Makapa, his son's closest friend, fell to a knee before him. His arm was in a sling and his hair was matted with blood. "We searched all night, but Lua..."

"Tell me what happened." Shan regarded his men, men whom his son trusted and who trusted his son, so much that they'd lose their lives to protect the other. "Did the Cadits attack earlier than anticipated?"

"The Cadits, they claimed one of own started the fire. But Lua refused to believe it. Then it turned out one of our own was indeed responsible for the fire."

"Who?"

"Eri Kakaito, sir. He had been crippled by the cadits before being lost to the river."

The name rung a bell in Shan's mind. Memories of his eldest son playing with a lanky boy as a child came back to him. That gave him a motive. But that also gave Lua a motive. "And how did Lua respond?"

Makapa hesitated. The words almost too sour to speak. "He punched the Cadit warrior. Beat him bloody, sir."

Shan felt the need to explode into flames. But as the chief he was the only person who wasn't allowed to. So he simply bit down on his frustration, hard. "The Cadits countered. And Lua was lost in the fight."

Makapa shook his head. An odd mixture of anger and adoration set over his countenance. "We were winning. The Cadits withdrew. But the bridge collapsed into the river. I saw him get hit but the next moment I lost sight of him. We searched all night but we, couldn't find him."

"Makapa." The chief placed a hand on the boy's shoulder. "Thank you for being a loyal friend to my son."

Makapa's gaze snapped up to meet the chief's. "Chief Shan, he isn't dead. Unless I see his cold dead body for myself, I refuse to believe Lua is dead."

Makapa was only desperately holding onto the unlikely outcome that his friend would come back. But Shan wasn't as foolish. Instead he found solace in the knowledge that his son fought even to his last breath, as any Drait warrior should.

Shan had no time to mourn the loss of his son. War was upon his tribe. And many lives were at stake, more than Lua would have ever known.

He sent the warriors away and receded into his manor. Into the confines of his room where he retrieved a box from under his floor boards. He placed a peice of the box against his ear and waited for the sound to come through. Three rings then a beep.

"Chief Shan, to what do I owe this pleasure?" A man's voice spoke through the piece.

"Your Majesty," Shan said, "I'm afraid I have bad news."

A/n: well, would ya look at that. Also sorry, lengthy chapter, just hope you enjoyed it 😀 😊