Meraki, you have given me a chance to prove myself to you by entrusting me with an important maiaak that needs to be delivered to the Solarch. Elyssar Fenris of Hearthgrove gave me sufficient supplies and a carriage for transportation. I must admit, the carriage is a bit worn down. The Elysian crescent is half missing, it creaks a lot, and it also smells of old incense. But I am sure that it’ll get the job done. He also spoke that the road to Athanasia is blessed. I have never felt so honored as I do now. The maiaak that I am transporting goes by the name of Lyzal. It’s an odd name if you ask me. She is very mulish. But even with that, she is still compliant. Lyzal -

Lyzal let out a loud sigh, disturbing Luna on purpose. “What are you writing?”

“My journey.”

“It’s only been a few days, and nothing has happened.”

“Still, it would be best to document -”

“Who is going to read a Liora’s journal anyways?” Lyzal squinted at Luna.

Luna’s shoulders slumped. Lyzal wasn’t entirely wrong, but Luna couldn’t help but want to write about her experiences. Besides the occasional short travels from Wynfell to Hearthgrove, Luna has never been outside the village. Also, of all places, she was going to Athanasia, the grand city of white. She’s heard stories about Athanasia and the grand chapel, Empyrean. And as if that wasn’t exciting enough, she was appointed a very important task.

A cool breeze pushed her hair back. Letting out a defeated sigh, Luna closed her journal and looked up at the night sky. The speck of stars seemed brighter than normal tonight. The woods were quiet besides the crickets and leaves rustling. She focused her eyes on the moon. It was a softly glowing crescent. Lyzal’s yawn drew Luna’s attention away from the moon. She was stretching all of her limbs, including her wings. Luna couldn’t help but wonder -

“Do you ever feel like your wings get in the way?”

Lyzal side eyed Luna, “Why would you ask that?”

“They seem kind of big and in the way.”

Facing Luna, “No.” That one word held as much attitude as possible. Now tilting her head from left to right, “Besides,” she was now stretching her back, “putting them away and taking them back out is a pain.”

Luna slightly tilted her head in question. “You can put them away?”

Lyzal snapped a sharp look at Luna as if it was the most obvious thing. “Do you even know what I am?”

“A maiaak?”

A loud and harsh scoff left Lyzal as she jumped into a nearby tree.

Luna pressed her lips together. It was clear that she just insulted Lyzal, but she wasn’t sure how. Shaking her head, she quickly pushed the thought aside, thinking that it didn’t matter and put the fire out. Putting her things away in her bag, Luna went to sleep, using her cloak to keep her warm for the night.

Lyzal sat nearby in a tree, watching over Luna. This whole situation was a joke to her. Nothing more embarrassing than being led by a Liora across country. The only reason she stayed was that the damned human did technically save her. If Luna hadn’t come and graciously freed her, she would have burned to death.

Well, I did repay her by getting us out of the fire. I could have just left her there. Still, though, I am curious about how -

A snap of a nearby twig broke her train of thought. Looking in the sound’s direction. Slowly she sat up, examining the area. That’s when she spotted a male not too far off in the dense of the woods attempting to sneak up on Luna. Letting out a low growl, she jumped from tree to tree until she was above the prey, who thought he was the hunter. Watching him slightly relax after his rookie mistake, and become hyper-fixated on Luna, a small smile played on Lyzal’s lips. Quickly swapping to a serious face, Lyzal jumped down, catching her prey off guard. He quickly whipped around just in time for Lyzal to grab him by the neck, slamming him into a nearby tree.

“You men always think a pretty face means easy prey,” she hissed, then tightened her grip. “What do you think you’re going to do to my human?”

Grabbing hold of Lyzal’s wrist, the shocked man spit out, “Your human?” Scoffing, he smirked, “are you sure about that? Because it looks to be the other way around.”

With a growl, Lyzal pulled him away from the tree just to slam him back into it. With a hiss, the man grabbed Lyzal’s wrist with his other hand. Both hands trying to push her off. “I can kill you.” Lyzal hissed.

“If you’re bonded by such a weak livine energy that such a weak human produced, how can you be so sure you can do anything?” His smug look quickly came back.

"Men," Lyzal scoffed as she leaned in and her grip tightened, "Always so arrogant before death."

The man’s confidence faltered. He decided to approach this a different way. “Why are you protecting her, anyway? Don’t you want to be free?”

“What business of it is yours?”

“As a fellow maiaak, I could help you out of your predicament.”

“If I wanted your help, I would have asked for it, leech.”

“Don’t call me that!” he whispered in a harsh tone, trying not to wake the nearby human.

“It’s what you are.” Lyzal smirked. “No reason to be ashamed.”

“What I am, has a proper name-” getting frustrated, he let one of his hands go from Lyzal’s wrist and rubbed his face. Peeking through his fingers once again, he decided to change tactics. “It was never my intention to kill your human.”

Lyzal kept her grip firm while giving him a look of skepticism. Both sat in silence. It was clear that this woman wasn’t going to let him go. Probably was even contemplating how to kill him. Sadly, he wasn’t about to give up without a fight. He had gone without for almost three and a half weeks. He must get rid of her.

Feeling her grip tighten, he slammed his fist into her arm, forcing her to loosen her grip, and shoving her away. Lyzal grabbed his collar, yanking him from the tree. With one giant thrust of her wings, they had taken to the air. They both struggled to fight in midair before Lyzal finally dove, slamming him into the ground, creating a small crater that outlined his body. Luna snapped up in full attention at the sudden earthquake. When she looked at the scene, she stared wide-eyed at the newly formed crater. Looking around, she only saw blurs whipping past and around her. The horse started panicking. Luna got up to grab the horse in an attempt to calm it down. Then there was a sudden sound of the reins snapping. Standing on its hind legs, the horse whined. Luna fell to the ground trying to get out of the way. As soon as its front legs landed on the ground, it took off.

“Beau!” Luna called out to the horse as it galloped away.

The sound of blows brought her attention back to the middle of camp, where two blurry figures were still hashing it out. Luna looked back in the distance where Beau ran off, heart pounding, panicking herself. She whipped her attention back to the blurs, knowing that she couldn’t gain much distance without Lyzal. She ran her fingers through her bangs, pushing her hair back in frustrated panic. After a moment, the two blurs paused on either side of the campsite. One was Lyzal, and the other was a male stranger who looked human. They both lunged at each other for what seemed like round two. Not wanting to see how devastating things could get, Luna quickly held up her hand, casting a small barrier between the two. Lyzal, using her wings to push her in the opposite direction, skid to a halt. The stranger, on the other hand, ran straight into the barrier. Lyzal cackled her unforgiving laugh.

“You were saying how weak my human is, when you can’t even crash through her barrier?”

“It doesn’t count; I was caught off guard!”

“Excuses, excuses. All you men are nothing but excuses!”

“Does someone want to explain to me what is going on here?!” Luna interrupted.

“That leech,” Lyzal pointed at the stranger, “is trying to eat you for dinner. And I am protecting you.” She spoke in a matter-of-fact tone.

“I told you I wasn’t going to kill your precious human. I just need a little to hold me over until I find my next prey.”

“Prey? You’re a maiaak?” Luna stared at the stranger in shock.

“Of course he is! And he ought to starve for how pathetic he is. I bet squirrels laugh at you.”

Luna noted the stranger’s face turning red. Meanwhile, she probably lost a shade of color, herself. She had almost mistaken him for a human.

“You don’t want me to starve near you. You both would be in danger.” The stranger continued.

“Even more of a reason for me to kill you.” Lyzal snapped back.

“Do we really have to try to kill each other?” Luna nervously asked, wondering how much more damage they could do.

“What? You don’t want me to rid the world of one more maiaak? Thought I’d be doing you a favor.”

Luna couldn’t tell if Lyzal was being serious or sarcastic. “My job is to get you to Athanasia. Not kill every random maiaak we come across.” Luna spoke to Lyzal, who only shrugged her shoulders in response, as she looked away. “And you, I’m sorry, what’s your name?” Luna turned her attention to the stranger.

“Oh! You’ll ask for his name, but not mine?” Lyzal snapped her attention back to Luna.

“I already know your name, Lyzal.”

“Yeah. Only because I blurted it out after being referred to as beast.”

Ignoring Lyzal, the stranger spoke, “My name is Saros, thank you for asking.” Saros gave a mocking grin to Lyzal, who, in return, squinted at him.

“Saros, if I let you go, you’re just going to attack another human?”

“How else is he going to feed?” Lyzal spoke as if, once again, it was so obvious. “Leech.”

“Stop calling me that!” Saros snapped.

“Why do you keep calling him that?” Luna looked back at Lyzal for an explanation.

“Because that is what he is. Not that you would understand that.”

Luna pressed her lips together. “Then teach me?”

“Why would I bother teaching someone who is marching me to my death?” Lyzal stuck her nose up, looking away again.

Saros stepped in. “I think it’s refreshing that a human who doesn’t know, wants to learn. That bat over there, is a v’lur. And I am a nephir. The reason us nephirs are referred to as leeches is because we require blood as sustenance.” Saros had started walking closer to Luna, who cautiously took a few steps back. “We could hunt other maiaaks, but they are quite disgusting. Whereas human’s, well, theirs, especially that of women, is sweeter.” He politely smiled, revealing exceptionally sharp fangs.

Luna couldn’t help but note that while his smile was disarming, his words were anything but. Her body had gone so stiff that it didn’t shiver from the chill that crawled down her spine.

“Oh.” Was all that Luna could mutter.

Lyzal rolled her eyes and let out a huff, flicking her wings in annoyance. “maiaaks with manners are still maiaaks. Just as men with manners are still men.”

After Lyzal’s comments, Luna was able to find her voice again; “You said something about the both of us being in danger?”

“Yes. If I go without for so long, I’ll-”

“Become a deranged, uncontrollable lunatic.” Lyzal cut in.

“That’s a bit extreme.” Saros squinted at Lyzal.

“Quit trying to downplay it. It’s true, and you know it.”

Saros and Lyzal began to argue as Luna tuned them out. Bringing a finger to her lips, she went into deep thought. It was her belief that all maiaaks were to be exterminated. But the reality of it was that she had no fighting capabilities. Healing and barriers was the extent of her livine. The fact that Lyzal somehow remained bonded to her was a wonder. She could just let Lyzal kill Saros. However, unbinding Lyzal meant the mission would fail. If Lyzal dies; mission fails. And there was no way she could leave Saros unchecked.

He does seem… reasonable. Luna bit her thumb. She must be out of her mind with what she’s about to propose.

Focusing back on Saros and Lyzal, they were now in each other’s faces. Watching the heated argument, Luna was surprised that they weren’t throwing fists again. Then, for a second, she got distracted by the thought of why weren’t they physically assaulting each other? Maiaaks are supposed to be barbaric. Shaking her head, she snapped back to reality.

“What if I gave you my blood?” Luna interrupted. Saros and Lyzal stopped mid-argument to stare at the naive human. “You said you weren’t going to kill me. Right?”

Lyzal, the first to move between the two, blinked as her shoulders slumped. Deeply inhaling she mumbled, “Girl out here giving woman a bad name.” Then she spoke directly to Luna; “Don’t call me when you realize he’s sucking you dry. I won’t lift a finger to help.”

Saros glared at Lyzal. Luna could only press her lips together. She shouldn’t have expected anything less.

“Pay her no mind, …I’m sorry, you asked for my name, but not I yours. Where are my manners?”

Lyzal scoffed from behind Luna.

“Luna. Liora Luna.” Luna introduced herself.

“Just call her Luna.” Lyzal continued to disrespect Luna’s beliefs.

This time Luna glared at Lyzal.

“Liora Luna, I thank you for being so gracious.”

“The one and only.” Lyzal mumbled just loud enough for them both to hear.

“I’m not doing this for you. I just don’t want you attacking other humans. Understand?”

“Of course.” Saros put on his polite smile again.

“So,” Luna took in a deep breath, “how do we do this?”

Putting an arm behind his back, Saros slightly bowed and held out his other hand. Hesitantly, Luna put her hand in his. Saros brushed his thumb over her veins as he raised her wrist to his lips and bit down.