I woke roughly, a hand grasping my shoulder and shaking. My eyes flickered open, adjusting to the inky darkness that stretched out before me, and the uncertain indistinct shape that knelt before.
"It's time," Ryder told me, thankfully appearing a lot less inebriated than the afternoon before. His hair was dishevelled likely due to a night of turbulent sleep, but his eyes were alert. I hastened to my feet, observing my surroundings. We were in a cave: the stone walls moist with moss and droplets of water and the ground a gleaming mess of shredded vegetation.
There were weapons stocked in the corner: a glittering array of silver that warmed my heart. Typical daggers and swords were present, but also - to my delight - an updated assortment. Paralysers wreathed in trembling blue energy levels, a lightweight crimson sword (sativus) designed for slicing through skin without the force required to propel a normal sword.
My fingers trailed over metal and imagined the screams that could be triggered out of its use. My mind darted towards Lasster and his brutish partner - Caxton - and tailored the thought to them, picturing me breaking bone and dicing skin. I grinned at the bloodthirsty vision it conjured up.
"You look happy to be here," my partner commented. I turned, taking Ryder in. He was standing tall and didn't seem too hung-over from the obviously excessive amount of crimtane he had indulged in yesterday.
"I relish the opportunity to take back what's mine," I explained, recalling the beat-down I had taken in the Intelligence Maze with a grimace. "But I'm glad you turned up at all. How's your head?"
He shrugged, strolling over to perceive the choice of weapons. Ryder's long, spidery fingers danced over the many glorious options, pausing by the sativus. My partner grasped it firmly, swinging it up and slicing it through the air with pre-determined skill. He'd been practising without me.
"Perhaps not my wisest decision," he admitted, a rueful smile dominating his features. I felt taken aback by such a calm and even teasing gesture - I could explain away his open nature when crimtane abuse was a viable explanation... but now, he should have been back to normal.
To being a moody dick.
"So what's the game plan?" I asked him, though I was fully able to devise any such strategy myself. However, his new personality was throwing me off-guard; I didn't know how to be a partner to someone who acted nice to me. I was used to a Ryder Stellaire that was brisk and professional and exceedingly dislikeable - he understood why he had to be there and why we had to win, but he definitely didn't want to be there.
"We need allies," he started us off, biting his lip as my partner considered. "I'm assuming you'll have a couple of good options with Valeryan & Alaysa - I'd suggest Kydan and his partner, Lynx for my part. Getting allies will allow us to scrape into the top pairings when the numbers dwindle down and after that, we can break alliances - "
"Lynx is with Kydan?" I interrupted, remembering the thoroughly dislikeable character. He was Zaretz's boyfriend, cursed more than I ever could and was heavily anti-Light and anti-Everything. If rumours could be relied on, he was also friends with Lasseter which pretty much placed him as slightly lesser than Scavenger Food in my book.
"You know him?"
"As much as anyone does," I scoffed. Lynx wasn't the social type - he was, in fact, quite similar to Stellaire in that aspect, but had always been tenfold more detestable.
"Well, we only have to be allies so long," Ryder pointed out, almost like he was a reasonable person. I was still reeling over the fact he hadn't insulted me in over ninety seconds. It was a ground-breaking record. "When we gets to the last few pairings, we can split off."
YOU ARE READING
Legacy
Romance"There's a war going on, Katarina," he hissed into my ear. "Remember which side you're on. And know that neither is the right one." This world was built on power, lies and corruption. Our hands were always stained with blood. Our eyes were windows t...
