Theme 11: Ayden - Week 4

I feel like I got so much done last week, I can't begin to enumerate everything XD let's just say we're going forward in many ways.

Week 4! I should have enough year-time left to fit in two more characters, one of which is already decided. The one for next week, however, is still up for self-debate XD I do want to stay in theme, but that may be hard. Anyway. Issues for another day.

Today I pick a scene that happens as Ayden and Richard found themselves enroled in a great plot to strike down the Emperor's bride-to-be, Lady Misa. Things, however, did not go quite as planned...

(note: the dark-skinned women are slaves.)

Ayden's eyes never strayed from this woman, from this immaculate soul that so openly revealed itself to him. Like a locked door to which he had possessed the key, her mind, her memories, opened themselves to him and painted a blurry landscape of emotions and decisions that had led her to this point – to her death. Yes, she knew she was going to die; how she knew this, however, Ayden wasn't certain of. He sensed the power, like a quiet current, running in her veins… and the taint of darkness, faint, repressed by the high level of energy contained in her life. This taint called out to him – and, he surmised, she must have sensed it.

Absently he took a step forward, to have his focus broken by Richard's forceful grip on his arm, pulling him back. His eyes saw again decadent wealth, and the reality of the Elven woman staring at them with great fear and determination.

Richard called out to her. "Are you Misa?"

The woman did not respond, but gritted her teeth. Ayden shook his head.

"She is not Misa," he replied matter-of-factly, "She's an impostor."

Even Richard gasped, in unison with the dark-skinned women and Misa herself.

"What do you mean, she's not Misa?" Richard replied, glancing down at Ayden. He looked over at the Elven woman. "Who are you, then?"

Ayden sensed Richard's sudden anxiety; the thought that, perhaps, this alleged impostor might be a decoy planted here to lead Atrophy into a deadly trap.

"She's no trap, Richard," Ayden stated to Richard's partial relief, "If anything, she's trapped herself here. Have you not, girl?"

In response, Misa pulled open a drawer from the vanity and took up a dagger. The dark-skinned women backed away, frightened, dropping their utensils.

"You understand me, too," Ayden continued, pulling his arm from Richard's weakened grasp to approach her, "You have knowledge. Tell me, girl, tell me what you know."

A loud knock on the door to Ayden and Richard's left echoed, followed by a loud, commanding voice. "We heard a commotion. What's going on in there!"

"Nothing!" one of the dark-skinned women yelled after a quick silent deliberation with her desert sisters, "I made fault! Cut wrong hair!"

This blatant lie clearly sufficed, for the guard did not pry further. This did mean, as Richard himself was noting, that there was at least one guard at this western set of doors, and certainly more at the eastern set of doors. Interestingly enough, Misa herself feared possible attention.

"You are an impostor," Ayden said, standing about a meter from Misa, "You fear being found out.

"What is it you know, girl," Ayden pressed on, the swirls of her soul twisting beneath the clouding pressure of his own, "You see my truth. None other has. Your soul asks questions, seeks answers – what answers do you seek?"

Misa's face contorted more the heavier Ayden's presence became, until her nerves snapped: with a loud cry she lunged forward, plunging her dagger into Ayden's heart. During the split second her soul took to make this decision, Ayden had braced himself and secured his grip on this body. He felt his soul recoil upon impact, briefly relinquish attachment, and immediately settle again within the inhabited corpse and coil round the dagger's blade. It was a part of his body now – a part of his deadly existence.

"Answer me," Ayden repeated. Misa screamed.