In a world divided into three races since ancient times, there have been three kingdoms. The first kingdom is the kingdom of the gods and sits in the heavens ruling above the other two. The second is called Amaryllis and filled with the prosperous...
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"When Honey dosed off, the conversation went with her."
Dai just couldn't bring himself to talk more than what was necessary. This place... well this place was full of bad memories. He didn't want to touch the ground here, not even with paws clad in leather. It was an ancient place - just as sacred as it was cursed. Nothing would ever grow here again, Dai knew that. That happened sometimes when there was two great surges of contradicting magic in the same location.
There was another place just like this where the Dark Master and Lady of Light had waged war a thousand years ago. And before that, there were dozens of stone valleys and crests where Sun and Moon had battled. This place was a blemish of the world. Something the gods had destroyed.
The fire danced before Dai now. It made a mockery of this place. Lukas had set it without batting an eye. He'd flicked his wrist and it had come to life. Constructing flames was just as easy as breathing for him. At least it seemed he'd mastered one form of magic in all of his immortal years. Still, if Dai had access to the countless wells of knowledge that Lukas did... well Dai wouldn't have lost the fight between them.
He wouldn't be a familiar right now.
"You should get some rest," Lukas said. "I know you like to stay on watch but... you Mutare need to sleep as well."
Dai's tail flicked. "I'm fine."
"I could stay on watch," Lukas insisted, continuing on like a bull. He trampled grasses and lesser things into a submission. "I'm probably too worked up to get any rest in the first place. At least one of us should-"
"Even if I wanted to I couldn't," Dai said, turning a cold glare at Lukas. "I won't dishonor the dead in that way."
Slowly, Lukas's expression settled into one of understanding. It was a somber but steady thing, his lidded eyes angled downwards and his knuckled dragging across the stone and ash. They came up gray. "I know your feelings towards me are... complex. Sometimes you act like we're friends and other times I feel like... well I feel like you are plotting to kill me."
That was because... well Dai was plotting. The path had ended. He was at the crossroads and he was too weak to make the harder choice. Dai... Dai wished he could be friends. He really and truly did. But his brother... Dai felt as if something cold had slipped around his throat. A hand and... a warning.
If Dai defied him... what would be the consequences?
"I don't know what you want me to say," Dai said, looking down. A few more hours and Dai... well Dai would be finished. He would let holy blood mix with the ancient ash in order to amend the sins committed here. But would even that be enough?
"We should agree to be honest with one another from now on," Lukas said.
"And why's that?" Dai asked.
Lukas faltered for a moment before he rubbed the back of his neck. "I mean... after we find the Rose Book we still need to figure out how to unbind you as my familiar. It makes sense to... to be honest with one another in order to be able to better work together, you know?" He offered a half smile, weak and sheepish. "I know I've done a lot wrong but... well no one's saying I can't get it right next time."
Ah.
The color red filled the space between Dai's eyelids. A familiar face covered in dirt, a familiar smile that never faltered, and those so, so familiar words. "You might've messed up once. Or twice. Or well, a lot of times, but no one's saying you can't get it right next time, er, your- your Highness."
Somehow Dai shifted closer to Lukas. He was on his hands and knees but they were eye level. The heat of Lukas's body could be felt a mile away so this close... well Dai felt like he was suffocating. That was alright, in a way.
The color red came closer. He wrapped his own cloak - the same crimson shade as his name - around Dai, even though out of the pair of them, Dai was far more well adapted to the cold. "There you go. You need a bit of color in your wardrobe, your Highness. Besides, even though you might be the Ice Prince, even you looked a little cold in this weather."
Dai put his head on Lukas's shoulder. They were so close to one another that Dai could hear the pounding of Lukas's heart. It was rapid in its own right. "You promise? To be better?"
"Yeah," Lukas said. It was so breathy it ached. "And... do you? To tell the truth, I mean?"
Dai looked down at his own hands. They were covered in ash at this point to. By morning all three of them would become almost as gray as the landscape, as gray as Lukas's eyes. "I'm... not very good at it but... I can try. To be more honest."
"Alright," Lukas said. "I'm okay with that. I don't mind learning about your past one word at a time if that's what it takes."
And that's what it would take. Dai knew that.
"You never finished your story," he said, then. Because it was true. Lukas never had finished the tale of how he learned of the Rose Book's location to begin with - the one with the pretty and smart Mutare girl.
"I can do that," Lukas said. It was all he was able to. "I can do that."
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