THE KEEPERS ( THE ORBS OF UTAH )

CHAPTER SEVEN

WHAT LURKS IN THE SHADOWS

Analisia's training outfit

I closed the door behind me, my breathing laboured from the race I just partook in. The race to get out of the lounge as if the hounds of Berheimia were chasing after me. Arisydius's furious yells didn't leave me. Great gods, she had looked like the spirit seeker of Berheimia looking for damned souls.

I blinked my eyes open then closed then yet again, taking slow deliberate breaths to calm me down. I doubted I could calm down. My mind was a chaotic mess and my body throbbed with adrenaline and I had the urge to laugh out loud for no reason in particular.

" In trouble, are we?"

My eyes snapped open in alarm as I gasped in fright. Fear lodged itself in my heart as my eyes darted over every surface of my room.

And there he was, slumped over an armchair at the sitting area close to the door that led to the balcony.

Domathian

Even though he was partially hidden by the dark I could recognize his voice from anywhere. His deep, velvety soft baritone was distinctively soothing. A voice that could tantalize the pure into sin.

His brawny form was unforgettable. Hell, it was the form that almost hurled me to the gates of the departed. He was the last person I expected to see, especially, with what happened at the training fields. I was right to be cautious of him.

" What do you want?" I asked shakily. My heartbeats all but skyrocketed. I felt like any time he would change back in that monster I fought with and finish me off.

He rose from the chair then walked into the the light that streamed through the bare windows. I gasped yet again, my eyes widening when I took him in.

His golden hair that once looked like a halo was now a glossy raven as though it was dipped in ink. It was longer too. Falling to his eyes and the nape of his neck like a curtain.

The mascanti stretched over his taut chest and muscled arms that looked like they could break through steel. His skin was a pale as the moon and smooth looking. Tribal black markings mapped his left arm. The markings were a series of swirls, dotted lines, intricate curls, runic inscriptions and jagged clawy lines. A part of the tribal tattoo peeked at the collar of his neck.

His face was bowed in shame as he came to kneel before me.

I asked again in panic, thinking of nothing but escaping this room. " What. Do. You. Want?"

" There are no words that could quite describe how sorry I am. What I did was inexcusable and I give you permission to punish me as you see fit," he spoke.

My brows furrowed at his words. I couldn't quite grasp the fact that he was kneeling before me, apologising. The idea of punishing him or any other being didn't sit well with me. I was incapable of such an act.

" And it took you what, a weak to finally have the courage to face me!" I spat angrily, voice laced with bitterness. My fury was mounting with every passing second. It was just a matter of time before I exploded from the poisonous feeling.

He raised his face, his jaw clenched, a vein pulsing at the left side of face, right at the temple.

I was quite shocked to see that his eyes were mismatched. One was amber and the other silver. The whites of his eyes were swallowed by blackness. His ears were now pointy. Even with the drastic changes he looked exotic and beautiful. His transition was truly startling, shocking and remarkable. It was like he was a different being altogether.