Wide Awake_A Breath of Life

by Aeryn Jaden

  “Arkana does not exist for the rest of the universe. Both in terms of physical presence and information about its existence. We want to keep it that way. But don’t worry, only those meant to be here ever reach us and if any mistakes are made, they get corrected fast.”

  The kenil had wanted to be reassuring but obviously something didn't translate as well as he’d hoped as the human’s expression got closed off, frozen and really reminiscent of how he’d looked when he was thinking he fought for his life during his kalas purification. Baring his teeth like that was a sign of aggression for drakars and K’Aran had the sudden notion that maybe humans aren't that different after all as his not-mate mate charged head on, arms tense, in his mind probably ready to fight for his freedom. K’Aran didn't want him hurt and knew that with how determined his brave human seemed it was inevitable and the drakar will have to immobilise him somehow before an accident happened. With a quick flick of his fingers the room’s security activated and the enraged human froze in place, just a brush away from K’Aran’s still body. Unfortunately, this form of restraining was really invasive and incapacitated all physical functions, except for breathing but including speech. Using it in the first place didn't bode well for their future relationship and building of trust.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t want you to hurt yourself trying to escape.”

  Maybe he was doomed to fail. The human’s eyes glinted dangerously in response as if confirming K’Aran’s thoughts.

  “It’s still dangerous out there, at least until you are better trained to cope with Arkana and its quirks. Not to mention that while most of us are peaceful races, we have our bad apples too. I just want-”

  “Kenil, a contingent of the priest kasta accompanied by kenil Shaz is quickly approaching us from East.”

  Than’s eyes fluttered in anger as he heard the growls of the drakar language and K’Aran wanted to hit something for the poor timing of it all. He’d expected a visit from the priests since the day he’d rushed out of the temple with his arms full of his precious burden, his new kadush. To have them coming unannounced and with his main competitor for head kenil, kenil Shaz, didn't bode well. He wasn't worried, he’d bested Shaz before and they were in relatively friendly terms. Only the older drakar had gotten a bit volatile lately, as the signs of maturity had reached peak and the madness had started to set. Kenil Shaz needed a mate soon or else. K’Aran hoped he was wrong but his gut was telling him that the priest had tried to manipulate that need to make an honorable drakar as Shaz practically issue a declaration of war on the Shab family and K’Aran. He had little choice now.

  “May Arkana’s blessed soil swallow them whole! It shouldn't happen like this. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, but it’s for your safety. This way they won’t be able to take you away from me.”

  He turned towards the closest wall and studied the images his darkar had sent him to the tapas viewscreen.

  “Open the gates but don’t welcome them. Let them set foot uninvited on our land.”

  His cousin, the drakar that had notified him of the complication, let an almost amused snort and simply closed the channel leaving K’Aran once again alone with his incessed mate.

  That priest that had checked his human after the kalas incident. That priest’s eyes had seemed hazy and cunning as he’d read his kadush’ soul. K’Aran felt a shiver go down his spine and his wings quivered nervously. Priest kasta was meant to rule aside drakars, they were the scholars as the drakars were the protectors. To have them go at each other's throats like this was unheard off since the Sacred Wars that had almost destroyed the entire planet. He felt his razor sharp fangs elongate even more at the thought of anybody threatening his house and future family. His eyes were probably wild and crazed but he hated what he was about to do and the necessity of it. He wasn't able to focus and talk around his mouth full of sharp teeth and he thought his forked tongue was probably peeking through as he was hissing his rage, too far gone for regular growls. His human’s eyes were wide and fearful as his bronze skin took an almost greenish pallor, similar to K’Aran’s natural alabaster softly scaley skin. It didn't look good on his kadush and K’Aran cursed the day the priests rose to power even if logically he knew that not all of them were bad and the good they had done vastly outnumbered the bad . He couldn’t think, his ears were already picking up the sound of approaching kadalas, lange two legged beast that drakars mostly used for military demonstrations and training considering there hadn’t been a war in millenia on Arakana. With a last repentant look at the still immobilized human, his entire body shaking lightly as the drakar just wanted to start begging for forgiveness, K’Aran activated his family daggart crest, a cage like-ring on his left thumb that could serve as a weapon too but was mostly used nowadays in the rituals of officially branding a mate as the established kadush, husband in the human’s language. It was supposed to be a moment of celebration and joy, mutual affirmation of their commitment and what K’Aran was about to do would desecrate the very meaning of the gesture. It will be unforgivable. The crest quickly started to grow bright purple, the metallic symbol in the middle somehow turning a bit reddish as the dag heated. His brave human’s eyes seemed wild and when this morning K’Aran had been eager to come see him, talk with him for the first time and learn as much as he could about his kadush, now he could only feel lead weighting down his steps as he again approached the immobilized human in the middle of their tapas, the room that was supposed to be a sanctuary, their mating retreat. It wasn't right. It wasn't. He closed his eyes for a moment before valiantly meeting the desperate eyes of his kadush.

  “I’m sorry. I’m doing this to protect you. Me. Us. I’m so sorry.”

  The dag, the special metal crest on the middle of his daggart, was now ready and as K’Aran pressed it into the skin right behind his human’s cute, delicate ears, it sizzled and burned in the symbol, marking them officially as bonded. His human's eyes widened with pain and frozen as he was, he couldn’t even scream his pain as his skin flushed under the sear and tears slipped silently down his cheeks.

  Chapter Five

  The confrontation with the priests was anticlimactic. They didn't dare step in, mostly because Shaz and his drakars were blocking the priests’way, waiting hours at the gates until K’Aran finally showed up and sombrily saluted kenil Shaz. For his part Shaz caught on the smell of burnt skin and glimpsed the still heated dag on K’Aran’s hand and that was that. He nodded and made turnabout, snorting his derision in the priests’ direction as him and his drakars respectfully let their congratulatory growl and lifted off in an erratic flight above the trees as it was costum for announcing the joyful occasion. K’Aran didn’t have it in him to do more than do the specific series of hand gestures followed by the snapping of his wings in acceptance of the congratulations and invited them for an official celebration later on. The priests got completely ignored during all this and as Shaz and his people quickly flew away, K’Aran was almost at the end of his patience having just enough self control to not turn towards the remaining intruders, center of them the priest that had examined his mate after the kalas incident and that seemed to be the ringleader.

  “You dare come between a kenil and his kadush?”

  “He’s not yours until the mark is sealed. He’s too important for trivial things.” K’Aran glowled his displeasure and noticed with satisfaction that the other priest were looking

  more and more scared, unsure of what they were really doing there. Good. He’ll fight the entire priest kasta for his human. He’d realised that the human being already purified and in sync with the planet from before the kalas purification was something big and significant, he just didn't care. Priests talked and talked but forgot how to feel. There was a way of doing things and this was not it.

  “He’s mine! And even if that wasn't true, he should be given a choice before you put your grabby hands all over him and decide all his future. Isn't it enough that he’s stuck here?”

  The priest’s sly expressio
n pulled a hiss from K’Aran and the other priests made way. It was a known fact hat drakars hissed only when they were ready to strike.

  “Like you gave him before biting him and bonding?”

  His muscles tensed, his wings flapped once and K’Aran leaned forward in preparation of the battle. It’ll not be easy, priests could use Arkana’s energy and, trained, they were quite deadly in battle. Their hasha, a wooden stick ending in a gash, a stone specific to a certain element that was their primary speciality, could blast and make use of that specific element in any form they desired. If the other priests were less than honorable and interfered, K’Aran was dead, his drakars probably too. He realised all this in a split second but still, it was worth it.

  “Enough!” The voice rang clear and foreign, freezing everybody in their positions. The priests muttered among themselves as the first thing they noticed was the still inflamed sigil on the side of the human’s throat. K’Aran whined seeing his human wince as he turned his head to take in the scene before him. K’Aran was supposed to take care of him. This time was supposed to be reserved for mates being together and consolidating their bond. Instead the drakar had to rush and forcefully mate his kadush before leaving him to fend for himself and take care of the painful brand while he came outside to deal with the interlopers looking to tear them apart before they even got a chance to be… something. His human eyes flicked to his and the regard flustered K’Aran. Those amber eyes were already starting to turn purple, so soon, it was incredible. What was even more incredible was the small smile on the those mischievous upturned lips as he looked at K’Aran as if he already knew him, understood him and dare he say? Loved him. He didn't know what had happened during the time he’d left his unconcious mate in their tapas and now, but something significant had obviously happened. Not to mention that his human had spoken drakara.The kals purification aided newcomers to be faster in picking up new languages but this was ridiculous. His human hadn’t had enough time to be already speaking drakara.

  “Mazar, we have come to plead our allegiance and offer our support in these difficult times. We had readied accomodations for you and are prepared to -”

  “Yeah, you can stop there.”

  Oh, but his drakara was impeccable! K’Aran’s hearts swelled with pride, his stomach warmed

  from the inside as a foreign feeling of… fondness boiled towards the surface of his skin. The priest jolted with the final consonant growl. K’Aran inched towards his humna and flushed under his welcoming smile. What was going on?

  “I know you, Kaza. You’ve just met me, but I know you. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

  The priest’s eyes widened startled and again K’Aran inched a bit closer to his kadush. Maybe the man had suffered from a mental breakdown after all his ordeals on Arkana. The old tablets did say that human beings were not as strong. Maybe that applied to the spirit too. The other priests did the opposite, stepping back and leaving the priest Kaza, if that was really his name, alone. It was a symbolic gesture and K’Aran nodded towards them, showing that he’d understood and forgiven their clueless intrusion. His kadush’ thunderous expression didn’t bode well for the obstinate priest thought and K’Aran got ready to protect his human if the priest forgot all decorum and attacked. He’d not thought it possible but then again he’d not expected an act of war from the holy man either. K’Aran felt more and more as if there was something that he was missing. Something important about his kadush. He didn't like it at all. Well, he did say he wanted someone to keep him on his toes…

  “Of course, Mazar. After all that is part of why-”

  “NO. I said: I KNOW.”

  The priest’s eyes got impossibly bigger and K’Aran was a bit slow in understanding that his human has just threatened the priest with whatever he said he knew. He jumped a bit too late and Kaza had his hasha already up and glowing with energy. He expected to hear the sound of sizzling flesh as his human got hit and pulverized by the direct ray of pure energy. Not even a drakar’s thick hide could withstand a direct strike without dire consequences. His chest rumbled with distress, his claws out as they all froze in place for a second. Then…

  Then nothing happened.

  The priest’s hasha slowly lost his glow, its power quietly draining until it fizzled out. Behind K’Aran, his human was laughing like a lunatic. In front, the other priests’ white clothes turned to grey ash as Arkana itself found them unworthy and punished them by taking away some of the power She had granted them in the first place. Kaza, the troublemaker priest, fell to the ground with a incredulous wail as his priest robes steadily turned to gray, darker and darker, before turning completely black. Not even apprentices had black robes. It was unheard off in their long lifetimes, whispered about only in the old legends and not even there did it say what exactly it meant. As the priest started to cry pitifully, his hasha, the symbol and power of his former status, turned to dust where he was clutching it to his chest. His human stopped laughing. The other priests gasped and K’Aran turned to look behind.

  There he was. Almost one foot shorter, lean and golden. Eyes sparkling with a violent purple that spoke of his power. His human. Not a mazar, a favoured of the gods. Not a double blessed one, gifted with talents for his worth.

  Nop. That would have been too easy. No, K’Aran had went ahead and forcibly mated a Son of Arakana.

  He stepped back towards the other prostinating priests, ready to kneel and put his fate in his human’s, could he still call him that?- hands, when his kadush’ eyes rolled back and he collapsed to the ground like a sack of crumpa. This time, K’Aran wasn’t fast enough to catch him in time. The priests proceeded to gasp once again.

  * * *

  Than had done this once before, he was sure of it. Everything hurt. Then it didn't. He felt like he was floating- bla bla. Maybe he was in a time loop, a time loop where his body screeched with pain every other second. Just his luck.

  “Beloved?”

  Err. Say what?

  “I know you’re awake. It’s safe now, they all left. We’re in our tapas. Nobody can get in here

  without my permission.” Yeah, really not reassuring. Somebody needed to clue this guy in . He decided that keeping his eyes closed really didn't make him invisible and beside Than wasn't in the habit of hiding from bad situations. This had bad written all over it, from the “beloved” to the reassurance that Than couldn't get away no matter what without the alien’s permission.

  “There you are. Hmm, you’re eyes are gold again.”

  “My what? and it’s called brown, creepy dude.”

  He opened his mouth to comment on it more when he realised that for sure it wasn't english

  that he was speaking.

  “What the hell is this! Explain and quick!”

  He reached for his hidden backup knife and unfortunately found out he wasn't carrying it. He

  also remembered when he’d seen the winged creeper last time and throwing that said knife straight to the guy’s face. Then the fucker branded him! His left hand slowly prodded at the still painful burn. He refused to panic. He wasn't in a romance novel and for sure he wasn't in a bdsm one, no matter what this alien creeper thought.

  “I am no one’s slave. I’d rather die first,” his vicious statement hit home as the winged creepy flushed a sickening blue colour, eyes startled and he whined in distress.

  “Slave! Slavery has never been allowed on Arkana! What kind of savage beast do you think me? Kadush-”

  “You branded me. You did something to immobilise me and against my will, you put your mark on me. Is that correct or not?”

  The guy, err alien, Than had guessed about the sex, considering the considerable bulge under that modest, and very much molded, loin cloth, looked ready to throw up and Than almost felt bad. Until his neck twinged again and reminded him that he was right, dammit.