Bond Breakers

Merran

20 Years Later

Merran huffed in displeasure. She had journeyed from the furthest city of Aradia. Temis was on the northern-most tip of the island a long and arduous trip across all matter of landscapes except ones inhabited by other people. Merran wasn't one to sit still. She was energetic and quick to grow bored without company which made her trek that much longer and lonelier. She hated being away from her own home. Her own people. The hustle and bustle of the busy sea-food markets, the fisherman shouting out their wares, the colourful swaths of sea-cloth draped over the sturdy wooden buildings. But when the king called, she came. She wished she could've used his method of instant travel. The king could cover vast distances within the blink of an eye. However, the High priest had prevented the enchantment from the falling into the people's grasp, claiming it would be a danger to give Aradian's access to the gift-ability. Merran had always agreed until she had met Shakur. The short, slitted eyed zealot was frankly unpleasant, and Merran never found people unpleasant. She got along with everyone and felt a great pride in being able to talk to just about anyone about anything. It was a trademark of her king's reign and realm. Everyone was not only accepted but questioned. Cultures, religions, languages, knowledge, it was all shared and understood, the realm coexisted in peace because people no longer lived under the prejudice of one belief, they were exposed to others and learned to respect them all. But Shakur seemed to live above such things, he looked upon her with dislike-even hate. She knew his people were the first to call Aradia their home. They claimed it was their birth right to rule it, and all that had arrived after them. An old practice eliminated by long fought wars and rulers who had come into the possession of gift-abilities. Most of the Sulfites had forgotten, even made peace with their past prejudices, but it looked like the high priest had not. Merran could read it in his eyes. Although, there was something more than the superiority complex of a worshipper. At first glance she thought it was her skin colour, the tinge of golden-bronze that came with living in Temis, the proclaimed sun-coast. The shade lighter than that of Shakur's Sulfa. Or the shells in her braided blond hair. However, it wasn't that. It was her. He scowled every time she spoke. But her lisp in grasping Aradia's language didn't annoy him. And then she caught his eye.

It was her eyes, the turquoise blue ringed with honey-gold that was such a rarity in the main city. The way his slanted eyes, prominent in the North continent of Sulfa slitted even further when they found her own. But she couldn't fathom the reason behind that loathing gaze, and the high priest wasn't one to ask outright. She would have to tease the answer out of him.

"Shakur," she used his birth name as was tradition in Temis, no one was given titles, not even her, "do you know why the king has summoned me on my own?"

Shakur didn't bother looking back. "Erya does what he wants girl, no matter what the consequences."

Some hidden meaning, but Merran knew better than to ask. Sulfhites were closed off in a way that was more heritage than outright rudeness.

"Well, he is king after all."

This time Shakur glanced back, his head spinning on his neck like a vulture seeking raw meat. There was a gleam in his eyes that frightened her a little, and she wasn't easy to scare. She monitored the port closest to the Forician's, if the shield fell, her city would be the one hit first. Was the first one hit...

"For now," his eyes glistened cruelly, "changes are coming Merran of Temis, and you were the beginning and the start of them."

He sniffed at her. "And when I'm done, the end of them."

A riddle then, she mused. She did like solving puzzles, and the High priest of Aradia would defiantly take some time to work out.

"What are you smiling at?" Shakur asked looking put out that his declaration had not conjured some sort of outburst from her.