THE ARCHAIC SKY

CHAPTER: THE OLD ALLIES

Guizhong funeral parlor

Now owned by it's seventy second director, was an old organization known to be able to purify vengeful spirits of the dead and of the old gods by burning the corpses in a sacred ritual of the impermanence of fate. Though now there are mostly known for their effective burying rites.

Time began to slow. There. Right there. Was an opening. He was vulnerable. She hated him. Despised him. Resented him. How many more times would he forget her? how many more times would she have to feel the aching in her heart when he does.

She wanted to kill him. Even without the blade attached on her thigh, the one the foolish arrogant prince had just confiscated, she could still kill him. With icy blades of the sky that could fall at her will. With permafrost ice that could appear form the ground with a simple kick. With a strong gale that she could infuse to her punch. With water that she could form into a sphere around his head to drown him. With the electricity of the firmament that would roast him into ash.

But she couldn't do it. she hated herself for not being able to. But it would do nothing. She couldn't kill him. Not in a million years. Not because she loved hayato. But because Hayato Hirai had the face of harune mizurai.

His dashingly handsome features. His dark messy hair that she herself had once cut for him, out of the annoyance that it made his look homeless. His golden fiery eyes that was the core of his infernal gifts. His height that made her seem like a dwarf. His mouth that was stuck on a permanent smirk, one Amara wanted to punch out of his face. he looked like harune mizurai. But it didn't mean he was him.

No. hayato Hirai was a doll. A marionette. A puppet of the empire, the emperor. His alliegance, his loyalty, it belonged to the empire that though was formed peacefully, was ruled by a tyrant. If that tyrant were to send out an order for him to kill her. he would do so swiftly out of fear that the emperor would put his wrath on the people of his kingdom. Even if he wasn't the king, instead nothing but a prince, a daimyo under the emperor, Amara knew he cared about his people.

Far more than he cared about her.

Right now, even if he remembered her, she was insignificant, nothing but another pawn in his game of chess. These thoughts, it hurt her even though it was her own mind that made them up. it made her hate him even more. Which meant it made everything easier for her.

The handmaidens rushed to escort her out. Amara could only see one glimpse of him before he disappeared from her view.

Why was he looking at her with such a gaze?

The pavilion had a normal entrance. Sliding white doors with simple designs decorating it's screen. But once opened, the chambers were nearly grander than the grand hall. Sheets of silk and rosewood tables. Even the cushions on the chairs were fine embroidered silk. Sunlight drowning the room.

At the edge she could see a thin screen placed between the bedroom and bath. A thigh-deep circular pool that was already filled with hot water. Silky water that now surrounded her. her eyes dazed as her head was tilted back, her only view was that of the ceiling.

"are you feeling lonely, old friend?" a voice came from behind the screen.

Amara submerged herself further, her head tilting. "it still beats having you for company" she replied as she remembered the owner of the voice. "don't even think of coming any closer and throwing something into the water! What are you doing here?"

The voice laughed loudly "what else?" she walked out into amara's view. Her eyes a pale red with hints of gold as her hair was a nice light burgundy-brown, her skin a nice glowing porcelain. She giggled again. "I'm just being a seikatsu herald"