Shadow of a Different Sun
"This isn't your room, Shadow."
He whirled around to find Open Skies Above sliding out of the darkness behind the curtains. He could barely recognize her in the heavy folds of the purple cloak, it's deep hood hiding all but the most wayward of her crimson tresses. He summoned up his bravado for a smirk. "It looks like the sun must have burned you indeed... I've never seen you so... modest."
"You're very confident. We'll see if it lasts when I've finished castigating your very soul..."
"Where is she?" Shadow of a Different Sun knew her voice well, and that to listen was to surrender. "Never mind, I can tell she's gone, and been gone for a while. I think I'm done here."
"That's where you're..."
"The Candle Extinguished!" The Day caste slipped one arm up in a deceptively embracing gesture, while the other snapped forward with thumb extended to crush a pressure point just below her jawline. Inky black essence roiled off of his arms as they slid through the combo. Her skin flared with adamant essence, but then sudden shock registered on her features.
Shadow of a Different Sun stepped back, smirking, while she stood uncomfortably, her limbs stiff and immobile. "Still relying on Resistance Charms, even as a solar? Looks like they're no better than ours, thank the Void. I've got to go, but just you remember that I could have killed you tonight, or dragged you back to the Mask myself for his tender care. You owe me."
As he threw one leg over the window sill, he sneered back at her, "I'll be seeing you, Widow... ah, sorry, you have a new name now. Perhaps I'll call you the Once and Future Widow? Say hi to your lover for me, this time; I'm supposed to be somewhere else."
And he was gone.
Fifteen minutes later, Open Skies Above could move. Her first action was to spit out an undeniably indelicate word.
He approached the tent warily, the spring in his step and twist of lips disappearing as he drew near. The Walker in Darkness did not play favorites, but even so, Shadow of a Different Sun knew that he had never been entirely trusted. His garment was blackened hemp, the sort that any cut-rate ninja-hopeful would wear, barely dignified by the skill that he wielded. Every inch of his body from his jaw down was closely wrapped in the fabric, leaving only his ivory skin and raven feathered hair free in the wind. He wore no artifacts, no wonders of the underworld. He knew all too well why he had not received even the simplest of accouterments. He had not yet been forgiven for his last incarnation's death.
The billowing black linen ran over his skin like oil over water as he entered the war pavilion. Inside it was expansive, dim, and silent. A single brazier by the throne did little to fill the shadows or warm the path. As he entered, he instinctively spoke the charm to ward himself against his master’s liturgy; he already felt like a sniveling dog without the aid of magic. She was there of course. Her innumerable veils, as always, were settled about her delicate frame like layer upon layer of cobwebs on some long disused piece of elegant furniture. She sat beside the Walker, leaning toward him. They had been plotting again.
Shadow did not raise his eyes to meet the Deathlord. “Master, you summoned me.” He bowed low and swept his arm before him.
“Shadow of a Different Sun.” He said the words coldly, his pale blue lips scarcely moving as he formed the words. “Where have you been?”
Always direct. Shadow caught himself thinking the words admiringly, even as the bitter words formed in his mouth. “You have never cared where I sojourned before, your august majesty, so long as I have come when you called and left when dismissed. Have I offended? Shall I flagellate myself to prove my dedication? My life is in your hands, sire and king, and I long for nothing so much as the void.”
“You were never skilled at dissimulation. Do not try to learn now. I have heard rumors that one of your sisters has become a traitor to the void. Have you confirmed these?”
“Yes, my liege. I... I met her, actually.”
“And how did you find her?”
“A changed woman, in some respects.”
“So you do not deny that you have been conversing with members of that most dangerous circle?”
Oh dear. He risked a glance at The Green Lady, but could see nothing through the green haze of gauzy veils that were draped about her.
The Walker in Darkness spoke, and his voice was as heavy and malicious as a windless sea. “You are forbidden from entering the Marukan. Shadow, you are too young and easily influenced, and they are too dangerous. Do not give me a reason to question your loyalty. Go.”
Shadow of a Different Sun found himself walking back across the plain, through the thinning ranks of the undead. “Every day we grow weaker, and rely more on the Mask of Winter... and now we are divided from within as well. Damn that sidereal.” He muttered the words to himself quietly as he watched the generals looking after him, grinning at his debasement.
The lone Night Caste considered how best he might serve both his master and the void.
