11. Chapter 11 #2
Yentriss demanded patrols, especially after learning of the highwaymen.
They couldn’t simply venture outside their borders without taking precautions.
Levi had spoken of distrust among the other kingdoms of magic and elves, so Ashmedai agreed patrols and vigilance were necessary, since there was no way to know how outsiders might react to them, even if they would look “normal” upon leaving their lands.
“From our tests, it seems anyone can take on their former self if they choose, even now, here, while still within the barrier. Levi and I did so and were able to change back, so the choice is yours.”
That brought a fresh hush upon the crowd, many looking around as if wondering who might try it first.
No one did.
“Can I have wings?” a small voice asked.
Kenner waved from where he sat in his father’s lap.
“I don’t think it works that way, Kenner,” Ashmedai said. “You can look as you would have should your parents have had you when they were, um….” He looked to Yentriss beside him because he didn’t remember anymore what she and Grillo were.
“An elf,” Yentriss said, with a fondness rarely heard from her.
“Human,” Grillo called in kind.
“Then you might look a bit like Levi,” Ashmedai said to Kenner, “just not blue.”
Kenner had seemed intrigued when Ashmedai first said Levi’s name, but those final words made him grimace, like not being blue made the whole thing far less appealing.
Ashmedai was going to recommend they test things slowly, only if people wanted to, and with careful consideration, sharing all findings to be certain there were no unforeseen side effects—when another hush struck the crowd as light began to filter in through the open doorway.
Bright light.
“The sun is rising!” someone cried, and an immediate dash began for the door.
“Everyone, please!” Dreya tried to retain order, but the excitement was too great for anyone to listen, and Ashmedai reached over to rest a hand on Dreya’s arm.
“I think such a sight happening for the first time in a thousand years is something everyone deserves to see.” Ashmedai smiled and watched the excitement fill Dreya’s face too before she spun around and yanked a surprised Luccite from her chair to lead them both out the back door.
“Go,” Ashmedai told Yentriss, who bowed in thanks before hurrying to join her family.
Levi waited for him, and they walked hand in hand down the center aisle to exit out the front doors after everyone else had gone. All the details they still needed to settle paled in comparison to seeing the sun brighten the once Dark Kingdom.
It was bright, something none of them were used to, and some, like Dreya, had never seen the sun before, yet somehow it didn’t seem to bother anyone or cause them pain.
It merely took them a moment to adjust. The city looked so different in daylight, since everything was otherwise as it had been all these years, from the angled buildings to the distant trees shimmering black.
“What does this mean when everything else still looks the same?” Luccite asked, farther out since she had come from around the back with Dreya, still holding her hand .
Ashmedai picked a flower from a bush blooming in front of the grand hall’s front windows and willed it with a thought to become how it had once been. Instead of blue luminescence and a winding black stem, the flower became a long-stemmed red rose.
Mindful of the thorns, Ashmedai handed it to Levi, who smiled.
“We get to choose,” Ashmedai said, “so let us do so wisely.”
Everything became more of a celebration after that, different but just as glorious as Festival Day.
There were some things people wanted to remember of their old lives, and so they would change objects to that other form, sometimes to stay that way, sometimes to change back.
But few who changed their bodies left themselves as human, elf, dwarf, or half.
Like Daedlys, who had once been a slender white-haired elf, or Klarent, a brown-haired human with a handsome beard.
Grillo, who’d also been human, had still been broad and tall, but with dark skin and tightly coiled black hair, whereas Yentriss was an elf with paler skin, long golden braids, and green eyes.
Kenner tried very hard to follow their example, a half-elf with medium skin between their two shades and brown hair with golden highlights, though he didn’t seem capable of willing his horns away—or didn’t want to.
Dreya was especially fascinated with Luccite’s red curls when she took on her dwarven form, her button nose still looking quite catlike. Dreya herself, like Kenner, couldn’t fully form a “normal” persona, and only managed to rid herself of bark and hooves.
Almost everyone eventually returned to their cursed selves, however, as Ashmedai had suspected. Titles like “monster” were in the eye of the beholder, and a thousand years was a long time to learn that.
There would be order, more tests, and exploration—eventually—but for now, people were content to have a day in the sunshine.
Ashmedai thought Levi looked especially radiant in brighter light, his red hair proving to have even more variations in shade than Ashmedai had ever noticed. His blue skin too.
“What next, my darling?” Ashmedai asked. They hadn’t chosen a destination, though their impromptu stroll had ended with them at the top of the market steps.
Rather than head down, Levi motioned farther along the path. “While a walk by the lake would be lovely, I should clean up the tower.”
“Oh? I was hoping you might continue staying with me at the castle.”
“I was hoping the same.” Levi took Ashmedai’s hands. “But I’d like to keep the tower as well, maybe even continue some of Braxton’s experiments. Humanely . There are great things that can be done with alchemy.”
“True. You know, there’s one thing I don’t understand about what happened last night. Brax made it sound as if it had to be you, your soul to accomplish all this, but in the end, it didn’t matter.”
Levi’s smile turned thin, as though the reminder pained him.
“I guess not.” He kissed Ashmedai, and once more Ashmedai was struck by how different it felt to kiss Levi without stitches.
He hadn’t noticed as much when he first took the stitches away, but then they had been quite a bit more amorously involved at the time.
Still, it was definitely different now, more starkly different every time, in fact, almost like Ashmedai was kissing someone else.
That thought stirred unease in Ashmedai’s stomach.
“I’ll come with you to assist—” he tried when Levi turned away.
“ No .” Levi whirled around. “No thank you. I’d like some time alone if that’s all right.”
“Of course,” Ashmedai said. Levi needed to mourn too, and it was an understandable request. There was no reason for Ashmedai to feel like anything was off, and yet there was… something he couldn’t identify, sitting in his stomach where the unease had swirled.
The last thing Ashmedai wanted was to be distrustful of Levi, but that feeling in his gut didn’t fade. He decided, at least for a few paces, he’d follow Levi by shadow to ensure everything was okay.
There were more shadows than ever with the sun shining above, so finding several along the road was easy, and Ashmedai leapt from one to the next, keeping his distance and always staying out of sight. He was being protective, not suspicious, he told himself.
Then, when Levi got to the portion of the road that would either continue toward the tower or curve into the wood, he went into the trees.
Ashmedai slipped back out of the shadows and stared.
Why would Levi not mention he planned to enter the wood?
That gnawing, unsettled feeling might have prompted Ashmedai to continue following Levi, but there was also something about the tower being “cleaned up” that gave him pause, and in one swift pivot, he turned for that destination instead.
Before anything was changed, Ashmedai wanted to see it again for himself.
Levi
Levi was already starting to forget things. He couldn’t remember his brother’s name anymore, and he had only just recalled it the day before. His old life seemed to be fading first, but Levi didn’t want to lose any of it again. He’d already been robbed of himself once.
Not knowing the passage of time was worse. There were no windows in the workshop. He knew it had only been hours, but how many? And how many more did he have before he would forget everything ?
Footsteps drew his attention to his surroundings. Braxton’s presence wouldn’t be welcome, because it meant he’d be working toward giving Levi a new body, a new life, and Levi didn’t want to give up this one.
The sight of Ashmedai walking through the workshop door made him lose all other thought.
“Ash!” Levi shouted. “I’m here! Ash, I’m here!”
Ashmedai didn’t appear to hear Levi, for his pace was slow, moving around the workshop with a scrutinizing eye, as though looking for something.
“I’m here….” Levi said, weak and defeated, because Ashmedai wasn’t looking for him . He had no reason to believe he didn’t already have Levi with him.
It was good to see Ashmedai though, beautiful as ever, walking with his fluid grace as if the shadows themselves carried him forward.
Maybe he simply sought a book or some token to remember Braxton by.
His expression was pensive, however, as he trailed his claws along the shelving and pored over notes scrawled on scraps of parchment on various tables.
None of it seemed to satisfy what he was searching for.
“You must know something’s wrong,” Levi said. “That’s why you’re here, isn’t it? You must be able to tell he’s not me. He’s not me, Ash. I’m me!” he finished with another shout.
Ashmedai’s head whipped toward the Onyx.
“Can you hear me? Ash!”
Ashmedai didn’t answer, but his brow scrunched as he began to approach.
“Yes! I’m here! I’m here! Please hear me!”