“Sit,” she instructed, guiding him down to the bed. He sat, looking up at her hypnotic eyes.
“Relax,” she giggled. “I will not bite you.”
“I know I just…” he began but she cut him off, kissing him gently. Reven fell into it willingly, even going so far as to pull her closer to him. She offered no resistance, easily taking control to maximize her own pleasure. Reven did not argue, did not speak, silently following her lead, her desires until things progressed to a near suffocating crescendo…
…that made the world around him tremble to its very core. The bedroom vanished, Serai just a distant memory, and the darkness around him painfully penetrating.
Reven flinched when a dim light illuminated in the distance. It wasn’t enough to be blinding, but the darkness was so deep that even the dim flicker was enough to make him narrow his eyes.
“Hello?” he called, taking careful steps toward the light. He fought a tightness in his chest. He had to have faith, to trust again without second guessing. He continued forward putting his long-forgotten trust and faith in Serai. “Hello?”
The light flickered, forming itself into a single orange flame. It did not appear to have a source, hovering in mid-air. Wisps of orange and yellow and blue danced together casting no shadow. The light extended only so far into the consuming darkness but gradually grew bright enough to be truly blinding. Eventually, his eyes adjusted, the darkness returning to claim the light of the flame. Except, there was no flame. Instead, Reven now looked at a… boy. To call him such was grossly inaccurate. He looked to be about adolescent in age if Reven had to guess. Even then, age was difficult to place for the boy was not one of the mortal races. He had the face and torso of a human, but hair of feathers. His shoulders blended seamlessly into large, powerful wings and he stood on clawed feet like those of a bird.
“Hello,” the bird-boy said. His voice was deeper than expected but still rang with a childish lilt. In fact, it sounded oddly familiar.
“Uh… hello,” Reven croaked, swallowing hard on his own stupid fears and insecurities. The bird-boy smiled. His skin was a deep tan, but the plumage of his feathers was an orange-blue ombre that matched his eyes. “Do… I know you?”
“Yes,” the creature answered simply. He crouched, making him appear much smaller than Reven, but he looked up at the bard with complete adoration.
Reven could only frown in confusion for a few moments before the ‘who’ this boy was finally materialized.
“Azure…” Reven breathed out. The creature’s smile broadened.
“Hello, Beloved.”
Reven glanced around, still only seeing darkness, then back at Azure. “I don’t understand what’s happening. Where are we?”
Azure stood. He was still shorter than Reven but taller than expected. He extended a wing, his rough hand sticking out of the feathers with sharp claws at the tip of each awkward looking finger. Reven blinked, hesitating but Azure simply waited patiently. When Reven finally took Azure’s hand, everything shifted.
The darkness blurred together in a haze of colors like a smear of heavenly bodies in the sky. When the movement stopped, the pair stood before a giant pool of brilliant silver-blue ‘water’. At the center of the pool stood a wizened old man made of the same watery substance. The old man regarded Reven with a cordial nod.
“We see you, Son of the Flame,” the man said with a voice that reverberated with the Power of many. It was overwhelming to hear, bringing tears to Reven’s eyes. “You are Called again.”
Reven looked up, mouth dropping open. The emphasis on the first letter made him worry. “Called? Again?”
The overwhelming Power grew in strength, showing him a rich history of men and women that stood before him with the capacity to speak with these beings. Nodes; pure sources of unrefined Power that gave the planet its life. He saw a time when there was no life to the Nodes, no Power to fuel anything. People suffered. Many died, or worse. What followed brought unspeakable horrors that continued to plague mortal kind; demons, devils, monsters of unimaginable horror. Then, slowly, the Nodes returned and, so too, did their Vessels; their Speakers.
“Oh gods,” Reven croaked. He stumbled back, grabbing at his head with a grimace. “I…”
“Breathe, Beloved,” Azure said. “I am here.”
Oddly enough, that both terrified and comforted the bard all at once. However, the gentle reminder did draw a ragged breath from his lungs, leaving him dizzy and light-headed. Reven let the vertigo carry him to his knees. When he looked up, Azure crouched beside him and the old man watched him closely.
“Why…” Reven forced out, his voice barely audible and terribly scratchy. He took a moment to gather himself and tried again. “Why do you call me Beloved?”
Azure tilted his head in thought even adding a pensive twist to his lips. “What else would I call you? You are mine to protect, to guide; beloved.”
“Then you know who I am,” Reven pointed out. “Why can’t I remember anything?”
Azure shrank then, the plumage on his head flattening against his scalp. The old man remained silent. Reven looked between them but settled on Azure.
“Did…” he began.
“It is complicated,” the bird-boy meeped. “Something awful happened. You pulled too much Power; more than you could handle. More… more than I could handle. I very nearly lost you all over again and-”
“Again?” Reven repeated with a worried chuckle. “This has happened before?”
“Azure is too young,” the old man admonished. When he spoke, his voice was felt as a pounding echo of a thousand voices. It was terrifyingly beautiful to hear. Reven let the voice rock him back onto his haunches
