October 10, 2003, 19:00
The Higher vampires mounts
Alastur Clan
All the guards are running around between the cells and corridors like headless chickens when Amara reaches the jail.
"You did this! You let him out!" The president of the prison walks up to Amara. He's practically boiling from anger, and Amara could picture a melted waterfall of lava oozing out of his head, quite fitting for an onis.
"Don't trespass. " Dagher, Amara's guardian, steps in between both men.
"You're a fucking spoilt brat, first you let LiQin loose and now you're hiding behind your little bitch of a slave?" The president, looking Dagher up and down.
"Don't you fucking dare." Amara is quick with moving in front of Dagher and face the man. "Also, I'll have you know I never helped him to break out, I didn't even find out about it before this noon."
"We all know you had the intention to, why the fuck would we believe you now?"
Amara doesn't have much to say to the man, and he also knows that he doesn't need to justify anything to him. Call it abuse of power of a royal or whatever.
He walks by the furious man, ignoring his tantrum as he climbs the stairs.
Amara thinks this would have happened one way or another, it was a dumb decision from the start to leave LiQin alive for more than three days in his cell knowing that he's one of the best wizards in this world. Leaving him for almost ten years and then get him executed is the dumbest thing Amara could think of asking for to be done to his possible son murderer. Maybe his initial thoughts are biased, given that the said ten years are chosen to make the criminal get tortured day it day out, without even allowing him to see anyone other than his henchman.
Amara reaches LiQin's cell, and he could see random drawings around the cell's walls. They could be there out of boredom but could also be a ward or spell. Amara suspects LiQin finding a weak spot in the wards around the prison that prevent any magic inside its circle. A wizard with LiQin's abilities and talent? Breaking that weak spot is like any other magic child play.
He moves his fingers across the lines of the drawings and tries to connect with them, maybe open up their memories and see through them how LiQin did it. Amara's finger tips are gliding against the rough walls of the cell with ease when he's hit by a memory between his touch and the rock.
And there it is, the weak spot, the weak spot that came down day by day over the last eight years.
Amara is quick to pull his hand away when he sees the lines starting to glow as a reaction of the reading, close enough to recreate the spell and break the wards around the prison again.
To say Amara feels sick in the stomach would be an understatement. He's lightheaded and nauseous as he strides away from the cell as quick as possible.
He meets Dagher at the end of the corridor, who gets concerned the moment he sees how pale Amara's face is.
"What did you find?" He's quick with planting his hands onto Amara's shoulders, keeping him upright in case if his body got the best of him and gave out.
"we need to leave to the castle, now." Amara dodges the question and walks away from Dagher, leaving him as confused as ever.
*
October 15, 2003, 15:02
The moonfolks kingdom
The sky castle dining hall
Dad and Felony are talking about military shit that Evdokia couldn't care any less about during their family lunch. She has been feeling sick since she heard of LiQin's escape, almost certain that it'll only be followed by a series of traumatic events. As much as she wanted him free, she never thought that he'd pull a breaker move. She doesn't even understand how the fuck can an extremely dangerous-according to them- man in their world can escape one of the best prison security systems in their realm. Makes you wonder if LiQin was indeed as dangerous as they said he is. She doesn't want to believe it, even if everyone else is questioning his morals at this moment, even her father, Artem, LiQin's best friend.
She's poking at her broccoli when they hear a swift of wind entering the room through one of the opened windows.
It's a messaged scroll, and it makes Evdokia's heart drop. What makes her feel worse about the whole situation is that Amara has the same petrified look he had on his face the night he came back from the prison, storming back to his room without batting a single eye to anyone. Mum asked Dagher if there's anything they should worry about, however he seemed to be as confused and clueless as the rest of them. All he knew is that he got out of the cell acting like this, and it only anxious them even more.
As the scroll makes its way through the room, carrying itself along with particles and petals, Evdokia eyes Amara, looking at the scroll like it has the order to death sentence everyone in this room.
It lands right in front of king Artem's dish with a click sound. It's black with a piece of a red ruby on the cover, indicating its from the higher vampires clans.
Dad picks up the scroll and opens it, unfolding it and leaning towards mum so she can read it with him.
They both have a stern look on their faces until it falls, along with every emotion possible other than horrification. The both look up at Amara at the same time, and Evdokia doesn't know if its a mortified look or shame and anger.
"Amara, how could you not tell us?!" Mum hurries up to her feet to reach Amara, embracing him in her warm arms. She looks scared for her life, holding on tight to him like someone is about to snatch him from her hold and execute him.
This seems to be the breaking point of Amara, as he literally falls apart to million broken pieces in front of them all, gripping his mothers arms with all he has as he cries his eyes out.
"Dad, what's wrong? What does it say?" Felony is quick to his feet as he plants a hand on his older brother's shoulder in courtesy.
"It was Amara. Amara helped LiQin to escape." Dad's voice is flat and as broken as a father who lost their child, only that he still haven't. He lets the scroll fall from his hands to the ground like a mountain falling to the surface.
"what?" both Felony and Evdokia utter at the same time, findings it hard to believe that their low headed text book perfect brother would do such a thing.
" Not like that." Valodya is quick to correct the king, picking up the paper and reads the segment out loud. "his highness presence in the cell multiple times a week over the eight years has caused the wards to weaken day by day, as he has a protection magic shield that attacks unfamiliar wards or spells that could harm its holder. We can't tell if he did it on purpose or not, but if the moonfolk's kingdom didn't present proof by the end of the next day, prince Amara Artem Yun shall be delivered to the higher clans headquarters for possible imprisonment or execution. "
"I didn't know, I swear I didn't know!" Amara screams
"We believe you, " king Artem says in the most composed voice, straightening his back as he gets up and walks to Amara and Hilla, "and no power, and I mean no power in this world can take you away from me, from us, not as long as I live."
Hilla nods her head rapidly, arms still around her oldest son.
As the rest of the family gets heated up, Felony saying he's ready for war if it's what they want, Amara refusing to hear it and saying he'll just turn himself in and stop a disaster from occurring, Hilla having another breakdown over Amara's words, Artem ordering the general to prepare a battalion to take along with him to the vampire mountains.
Evdokia sits there, just sits. She's trying to take in everything that was just said. LiQin's breaking out due to Amara's visits, Amara's possible death sentence, Felony and dad's preparation for war and what might come with it.
She feels something warm on her arm, and that's when she realises that her nails have implanted her forearm without her noticing from the deep thinking. She removes her hand with a hiss, and Valodya is quick to her side, casting a healing spell onto it, his long fingertips softly feeling the wound and closing it up.
"hey, look at me." He calls gently, raising her face through her chin with his knuckles. "It will all be okay, I'll make sure of that."
She smiles at him assertively, hoping, with her whole, that, indeed, it'll all be okay.
*
April 24, 2021, 24:15
Beijing, china
Evdokia and Jean's
Apartment
"Hello, little angel. Do you still remember me?" LiQin smiles at the camera, the skin at the corner of his eyes creasing slightly, age catching up to his face.
Evdokia takes a deep inhale, still in disbelief of what her eyes might be tricking her into seeing.
"I need your help, little angel. Ill keep this short in case anything happens. There are people who...lets just say, wish to see my head on a silver platter served to avenge their lost ones. I've realised that not so long ago when I got jumped by five of their men. I defeated them, of course.
They've now taken a different approach to get me out of my hiding place. They've kidnapped my son and sent me his location, asking me to turn myself in and they shall let him go. I don't trust them, not one bit."
Honest to god, Evdokia can't tell if his voice is full of rage or sorrow. Maybe a combination of both.
"I will not put the location on this drive in case it fell in the wrong hands. But I'm sure a few clicks on an FBI pc can give you my phone number. Don't hesitate to call me if you agree to help me.
I beg you, little angel. YuNing is the only thing I have left in life, please save him and his five friends. I'll be gone for now. Hopefully, I will see you soon, little angel."
*
The video ends, and they're all faced with their own reflection against the black screen.
"Six kids...and you only found two." Dodo says in a low voice, low scared voice.
"Yes, they could have been zero, actually, if it wasn't for this flash drive reaching me." Evdokia corrects.
"Just, hold on. You're telling me Wang LiQin is not just alive, but he's also a werewolf that is currently chained in this building's garage? And he has a fucking son?" Reema is pinching the bridge of her nose in disbelief, trying to digest everything she was just told.
"Yes, well, he's part wolf part fairy." Jean answers her, even though she sounded like she was asking herself more than anyone else in the room.
"I know that, genius." Reema rolls her eyes at Jean.
"Haven't you felt any suspicion towards him when you met him? Like, I don't know, that identical name?" Jean questions ZiYan, ignoring Reema.
"I would have never thought- it never occurred to me that they had the same name." ZiYan stutters in confusion, and Evdokia gets it, she really does. "YuNing has never showed any signs of magic, neither their home or LiQin, I'm sure he knew I was a merman, though. Not to mention, I thought everyone thought he was dead."
"He's that good of a wizard, not surprised. " Evdokia murmurs.
ZiYan, like they suspected, knows he's true nature. He has made it clear that YuNing doesn't know a batshit about it, and so Robin gave him a strong drug to put him to sleep after he showered, insuring they talk freely with no filters.
Something about this sequence of events tells Jean that they're about to dip into deep waters of a mess that is much bigger than them. The moment Evdokia told him that LiQin is alive and there are people after him, he knew they were up against what their parents have gone through, even if it isn't the same, it still weighs as so.
Jean holds Evdokia's hand and intertwines their fingers, blocking out the noises around them to telepath through touch.
What are you thinking about right now?
The war.
We're pretty fucked up, aren't we?
I guess you could say that, love.
A loud bang and howl under their feet pulls them out of each others minds. Evdokia sighs heavily, the stress of the last few days starting to get to her.
"I'll go check up on him." Evdokia says as she gets up from the couch and walks to the staircase leading to the basement.
"I'll come with you." Reema hurries to her feet and follows behind Evdokia, leaving both of their teams left with nothing to do in the meantime.
They do a random lot pulls to decide on the rooms distribution, which draws out YuNing and ZiYan together, Dodo along with Evdokia and Reema in the main bedroom, Mizuki, Ufuk and Robin in the second suit, while Jean, Ira and Andy take the second bedroom with a twin bed and a couch.
ZiYan thinks that this wasn't really much of a random draft but more of an age distribution apart from the girls being together regardless. But he doesn't have anything against it, so he keeps his thoughts to himself.
Shortly after they're done with the draws, Evdokia and Reema are back, who ask Ufuk and Ira to cook them dinner because everyone hasn't eaten anything since the last morning, and god knows when was the last time YuNing and ZiYan were given a meal with how skinny and drained they're both looking.
The house overall smells like roasted turkey and gravy when ZiYan steps out of the shower, and it makes ZiYan moan internally in hunger.
ZiYan is waiting in their room, silent and allowing the silence of the night set in and calm him down.
He's called for food in fifteen minutes after he's is out of the shower.
Looking at the long dining table covered in silk tablecloth embroidered with gold and deep blue threads all over, forming a picture that YuNing couldn't quite catch from the food and plates blocking the way between his eyes and the cloth.
To say ZiYan amused with how much food they managed to cook in less than an hour would be an understatement. He has a gut feeling that they used some magic to help them out.
Mermen and mermaids don't necessarily use magic that much. They're not the most skilled creatures when it comes to casting spells, but ZiYan has learnt a trick or two from his father who's half fae.
"we don't normally use magic this regularly, but we figured we're all too tired to wait for actual cooking time, aren't we?" Mizuki throws as he pulls his chair to sit down.
Well that accentuates ZiYan's thought.
As Ziyan sits down and waits for Jean to plate him food onto his plate, he steadily takes in all the people sitting around him, trying to match up what he has known so far about them with their appearances.
Mizuki, an eight tailed kitsune with night black hair, long sloped nose, a cheeky smile and a long neck. ZiYan could tell he's one of Evdokia's most trusted ones on his team. Their relationship feels like a girl and her uncle.
Ira, a cecaelia who also happens to be the most fun to be around. ZiYan thinks this would have been much more awkward if he wasn't here right now to warm them up.
Robin, a winter stalker elf, a snow elf in short. He has sky blue hair that looks oddly natural, and he feels like, it actually is. His skin is as white as snow with a strong blush over his knuckles and cheeks. He looks like the thinker of the team, with his round glasses and all.
Jean, an Iron war elf. ZiYan has no idea what that is supposed to mean exactly but he thinks the man look like he's gone through a lot given the amount of apparent scars on his face. He got ZiYan curious but ZiYan knows better than asking about a scar's past due to what has everyone gone through back in the day.
Ufuk, an archura, tall and long like a slim tree branch. His hair looks like the roots of a tree, and its beautiful in its own way. He's the wise and sane person on Reema's squad, as far as he's concerned.
Dodo, a shapeshifter. She has striking grey eyes and long blonde hair, average height of a teenage girl. ZiYan is curious of the limits of her power. He thinks its the coolest power of them all, but he keeps it to himself because when he said power to Ira the man gave him a weird look. He hasn't encountered any creatures other than his family in his life, and it does leave a person with utter curiosity towards other creatures capabilities.
Andy, a werewolf, dark tanned glistening skin with a nose scar. His hair black, wavy and cut into wolf cut, quite fitting. He looks like his parents dragged him into a trip he didn't want nothing to do with it. ZiYan doesn't think he has seen him change the frown expression he has on his face since he walked into this house.
Reema, a wind elf, short brown hair with a cute nose, wide eyes with tall lashes. She seems cool, ZiYan would approve of her coolness.
There's also a guy named Valodya, who Ira has shown him a picture of, with fire red head and freckles. Ira said he's Evdokia's guardian, and ZiYan could see it.
ZiYan smiles at his plate, and digs into his food, content and glad that fate has united him with this bunch.
*
YuNing wakes up at dawn and he realises everyone has already gone to sleep. YuNing doesn't find it in him to close his eyes again after tossing in bed for what seemed to be like half an hour, be it because of the howling he can hear from under his feet or the unanswered questions swirling around in his mind. He gets up, carefully slipping out of the room and making sure he doesn't wake up ZiYan on his way out.
He finds her in the balcony, head resting on Jean's shoulder. Their backs are facing the opened door of the balcony, and YuNing is glad they didn't hear him when he sat by the door behind the arm chair on its right. They're talking in a low tone but high enough for his ears to catch the conversation between the two.
"You should talk to him." Jean says, his hands reaching out to tuck the little hair by her face behind her ears.
Evdokia grunts and hides her face in Jean's chest.
"You know he's probably very confused, it's not as easy for him, you kn-"
"I know what you mean," she interrupts, gently so, "I will, talk to him. I just need time to... be ready for some of what he has to ask. Also, shouldn't that be his father's choice? What if he wants him to carry on with him living a normal life."
"Is it even the right thing? He's bound to know, one way or another." Jean mumbles.
"I know. His magical core will show at some point, but again, it's LiQin's choice."
Jean hums in agreement, his fingers traveling along her white locks, the moon casting its light on both of their figures, and it's beautiful and poetic if he didn't know they were talking about him. He decides to take his leave when he sees them shuffling and stretching out, ready to leave as well.
His head is heavy when it reaches the pillow. He hears whines and whimpers of an animal coming from the basement of the house. He feels the days that have passed finally sinking in and he cries. He cries and cries for as long as he can, for as long as his body can produce tears, hands slapped onto his mouth to stop any whimpers and moans from leaving his lips and possibly waking ZiYan up.
And if he dreams about fields of white gardenia flowers, swallowing him whole and embracing him with children's laughter, he doesn't dwell on it the next morning when he wakes up to the smell of green tea mixed with gardenia flowers petals brew.
*