Mage (ON HOLD)

Chapter 7-Ashin

I slowly blinked my eyes open. Above me, Illayad and Mesic, the twin moons, were high in the night sky, and in the east, there was a faint glow to indicate dawn. I sat bolt upright, staring around at my surroundings. It's already close to dawn? I thought in dismay. How long was I unconscious for? To my left, there was a campfire, with a dark figure sitting in front of it. I squinted my eyes in the gloom, trying to make out its features. It was sitting cross-legged, with its back to me, poking a stick into the flames. Flames. I felt nausea rise up in my throat and suddenly retched, the bitter taste of bile making my eyes water.

The figure twisted its head around, its face still in shadow from the firelight. It gracefully got to its feet without any visible effort and started to walk over. I immediately recoiled, and although still shaky, drew Syrovy from its sheath. "Who are you?" I asked, my voice trembling slightly. "What do you want?" The figure took a step back and raised its hands in surprise.

"And this is the thanks that I get for saving your life?" The figure grumbled, although I could hear a note of amusement in its undoubtedly male voice.

"Oh." I lowered my sword and got to my feet. "Um. Thanks." I blushed bright red at my own awkwardness, although I was glad that the figure couldn't see my sudden colouring in the darkness.

"My pleasure," He replied lightly. "My name's Ashin, by the way." Ashin manouvered himself back to the fire, where he sat down and crossed his legs again.

"I'm Taya," I said, walking over and sitting down across from him. Glancing up, I noticed that Ashin was wearing only a leather vest and rough, woolen pants over worn boots. A golden pendant shaped like a triangle with a horizontal line through the middle dangled on a chain around his neck. I looked higher, to his face, and was slightly surprised by what I saw. Ashin couldn't have been much older than me, with light brown hair, dark eyebrows, and a narrow face with striking cheekbones. His eyes were shaded by the ridge of his brow, but I could see a light sprinkling of freckles over the bridge of his nose. His skin was pale, too, as if he lived farther north than Mokry. Ashin looked up, probably feeling my eyes on him, and I jolted in shock. "You're a Megara!"

...

Ashin looked slightly amused at my surprise. "Yes, I am. Thank you for noticing." His eyes, a bright amber colour, stared into mine, and I couldn't take my eyes away from the vertical slit that ran down the centre of his irises, taking the place of normal human pupils.

I could barely find my voice. "But.... But you're extinct! All of you were supposed to be dead!"

He snorted. "Apparently not. After the humans-" Here he paused, a note of disdain apparent in his voice- "After they drove us to the far north, they just assumed that we were all dead and continued no their attempts to dominate Araxia. But, the Megara were stonger than they expected, and we managed to find a way to survive in the north. For nearly a century now, we had thrived and grown, and even though there were maybe six Megara that survived the original purge, they multiplied until we already have a small village, in the treetops."

I shifted awkwardly. "Um, I'm sorry-"

"Don't be." Ashin cut me off, his amber eyes regaining their warm twinkle. "It's not your fault that your ancestors did what they did."

"Oh. Thank you."

"Don't mention it."

We both stared at the fire for a few moments, each lost in our own thoughts. After a few moments, I spoke up again. "So, why are you here? Why did you leave your village?"

Ashin glanced up, his forearms resting on his knees. "Do you know Kaline? Wait- of course you do. Well, I was going to be the friend, the contact, that you would meet when you came back to the school. However, Kaline had a premonition, a feeling, that you would need help, and sent me down after you. It's a good thing that I arrived when I did; a few moments longer, and you would have suffocated from the smoke."

"Oh. Thank you again."

"Don't mention it."

We both stared into the fire for a bit longer. The awkwardness in the air was so thick that I could cut it with a knife.

"Well, I'm going to sleep now. I'm exhausted... After nearly being burned alive and all that." I announced, a bit too loudly.

Ashin nodded. "Me too. I'm tired after keeping watch."

Without another word, we both curled up on our sides and I closed my eyes, plunging my world into darkness

...

Ashin lay in the darkness, eyes open, listening to Taya's breathing. All his life, he had been told stories about the humans, about how they had tried to kill off his entire species and many others before he had been born, about how they were cruel, vicious, and greedy. He had imagined what an encounter with a human would be like, over and over. But he had never imagined himself likeing a human. Taya was completely different. She was funny, and clever, and brave, and curious. If he hadn't known better, Ashin could have easily imagined her to be a Megara. When he first got the task of helping Taya... He didn't think that he would enjoy it.

...

I lay in the darkness, my eyes squeezed tightly shut. Across the fire, I could hear Ashin shift in his sleep, his leg twitching. I was still partially in shock from discovering that Ashin was Megara. His entire race was supposed to be wiped out, except for Kaline, but there he was, living, breathing, and refreshingly candid about what he thought of humans. All of my life, I had heard tales about how all the other races in Araxia were little better than animals, about how they were violent, territorial, and brutal. For the first time in my life, I started to wonder if those tales were wrong.