Savage Flame

Part 2 - Chapter 6

Alaz-Vahşi̇.

The whisper coated her skin, raising the hairs on her arms and sending an eerie shiver down her spine. The bite of the diamond blade across her forearm was centering, the warm blood bubbling to the surface and dripping with a silken viscosity to splatter onto the cold, stone floor.

This was a dark place, a room beneath the foundation of the castle, an icy-cold chamber devoid of light. Surrounded by an array of distorted mirrors, the Queen knelt, bare from the waist up and her red hair free, unbound, and wild. A scarlet sash knotted at the crevice of her hips, finely-toned muscle and curve descending beneath the fabric.

Alaz-Vahşi̇.

It was a myriad of vocals, an echo filling the room. A swirl of ancient spirits and stardust caressed her back and the garuda tattoo resurfaced, glowing with a sunset-and-eclipse intensity. The surrounding mirrors reflected the witchlight, the infinite ceiling above scattered with fractures of eerie hues.

With an opposing hand, the Queen dipped her fingers into the pooling blood and smeared the crimson onto her face, her eyes rolling back to reveal the white, bone-like orb. The room suddenly roared to life with hellfire, foreign symbols etching down her entire body. In the sway of the ancient power, the figures of her siblings appeared in the mirrors: Altantsetseg, Borjigin, and Enkh-Amgalan. The triad of siblings shimmered, an open pocket of darkness between them. Then, a broadly-muscled man, with a stoic-like demeanor donned in black and red robes and curled-toed boots materialized, his black hair tied at the peak of his skull in a sleek bun. A heavy chain of iron hung from his sturdy neck, a hidden jewel catching the witchlight as the man's chest expanded with each breath.

Alaz-Vahşi swept into a bow, pressing her forehead against the stone floor. "Босоорой, Охин." The deep rumble of the man's voice vibrated through her blood, carving intricacies into her bones. Rise, Daughter. An excruciating heat filled the chamber, melting the ice into a crystal ooze that trailed down the walls like tears. As her emerald eyes lifted to find her father's, the apparitions of her siblings spread their hands, blue flames erupting from their mouths and enveloping their eyes in hellish red. Together, their voice rippled into the void, "Нар цус алдах үед бид шатдаг." When the sky bleeds, we burn.

Then, one by one, her siblings vanished from view until only her father remained. Chinggis Alkan beheld his youngest daughter under a powerful gaze, and opened his mouth, his voice again like a burning caress, "Сэрээрэй, Бяцхан дөл." Awaken, Little Flame.

The Queen lurched awake, her auburn hair plastered to her chest and back, and raw gasps escaping her cracked lips. The room spun as her hand caught the sheets around her, the fabric slipping from her grasp as she tumbled off the bed onto the centering stone floor. Her stomach twisted, and she stumbled to empty it into the sunken basin in the adjacent room. Her fingers trembled as she finally caught her breath, empty but alive with her sibling's message: We will arrive at sundown. Prepare for the flames of ruin.

Yanking a robe around her after washing out and braiding her hair, she took one last look at the scarred, naked back of the muscular man that occupied the other half of the bed before slinking out to address her court.

Vidar waited until she left the room before pulling on his clothes and following his queen.