YUVEN

I am not an illusion. I am its precursor, I am Yuven Traye. I was the doom of Irimount. Elation spread through his arms when he flattened himself against the stone, cheek pressed against it. Pebbles flaked his feathers, slipping out of their hollows. He curled his fingers into the uneven cracks and brushed his palm through the bliss of pain. One pure fact of his life. I am Yuven Traye. Yuven Traye. I am this, and no one can take it from me. He drifted his tongue over the edge of his lips, tasting the rust of his previous choking fit. No one. Fists clenched, he lifted his head when armored punching bags came into view from the other side of the bars. The claws on their boots kept them steadfast on the iciest of floors, but it came with its own drawbacks. On his elbows, he laughed. "Oh, what do you want now? I'm afraid if you've come for entertainment, I'm sure you can find a jester. Or has the peacock king finally grown a spine?"

Both of the Sentinels scowled at him in disgust. "Wrong, Traye. In fact, it seems His Grace has decided to have a dangerous sense of mercy. If you want my opinion on the matter though—" He tore open the bars and stomped to him, dragging him off the floor by his collar, and Yuven flared his nostrils to take in all the air of freedom. "He is soft. He should've had you executed the moment he dragged your sorry hide in here."

"On that matter, I concor," Yuven hissed through his clenched teeth. "But look at it here, you were so scared of me when I was in the Gaol. You feel powerful now that it's clear I can't fight back." He grunted when the Sentinel hauled him to his feet, driving his metal fingers into his arm.

"You'll be silent for this, Yuven Traye. He didn't say what condition you had to be in."

"Silence..." Yuven tasted the word and swayed. "Oh, I would kill for some of that." Silence from your conviction, from your words, from your hatred and condescending belief. Out of the cell of a thousand lifetimes, another Sentinel latched onto his other arm and the two metal peacocks dragged him out of the dungeons, where his ankles hit every step upwards. Arms locked together, he pressed his lips together and soothed the harsh teeth in the air. One breath in. One step closer. Daggers rested around their belt, but with his hands clasped in front of them, he counted their steps. How much weight they put on each foot as their claws scraped the floor. Scaly chains protected their necks and their helms revealed the vertical slits of Avaerilians. The same scales wound around their chest and flowed out into looser pauldrons for leg protection. His feet dragged on the white carpet below him, and he winced when another Sentinel opened a large door, meant for a king fat on his own power.

I'll make them remember my name. I'll make them remember every damned thing they've done to my family.

Instruments played a falsity of joy in the city buried underneath the corruption of those above them. Tundra murals painted across the surface of the door, another long lie ran deep in their blood. Armor drummed with his sense of thirst when the door opened, and they hauled him inside. Thrown onto the carpet, he drove his own claws into the threads and breathed deep of his depravity. Neck strained, he measured his immediate surroundings. King Laucan sat on his useless throne, his fancy chair, with Keeper Blackwall closeby.

Blackwall.

"Here's Yuven Traye, Your Grace," one of the Sentinels said.

Yuven checked the corners, then stopped with a stuttered heartbeat when someone whispered out his name on an oceanic tide of agony, demanding his duty to the world.

"Yuven?"

Fenrer Pyren, in the muck of his soul, cold and relentless. It flashed over the concern writ upon the lie of his face. Spite bled onto his tongue when he lifted himself off his knees. Never again to kneel to another. Fenrer held out his hand, a cruel response to his question. He pushed his fangs behind his lips, and laughed, causing his Oathbound to withdraw his hand. He tore white hair off his brow. "Perfect. I can finally show you, Molvisaliz." Tears cracked his throat. "I can show you my conviction." His fingers relaxed, and he waddled backwards at Fenrer's illusion of confusion. On the wings of his rage, he slammed his fist into the closest Sentinel's scaled neck, they choked at the hit, and he twisted around to their companion, slipping one of the daggers out of the hilt. One pinpoint of precision. He lunged forward, slipping it through their helmet. Blood squirted out and over the cold metal, painting it with rust. Another lunge with the sound of squelching, he dropped the Sentinel to their knees and kicked out their jaw.

"Yuven—" Fenrer rasped.

The other Sentinel withdrew their blade, but he spun forward and kicked out their clawed feet from the tips. Bones cracked when he slammed the knife through the vulnerable scales. He chewed on his rage and the agony as he tore it through their throat. "I'm done with this." Yuven tossed the dagger to the side, taking another clean one. All for a clean cut. "I'm done with your lies. I'm done with you using him, Keeper Blackwall. I will not fall for it a second time. Let us see how you can hold up on my playing field." He spun the hilt through his fingers, and raced for the fake in front of him. Adara screeched in his ears, but Fenrer held fast and took the brunt of his attack when he grabbed his forearms. Through the tearing spatial distortion, he pulled Fenrer through and slammed him into one of the columns.

"Yuven! Stop!" Adara screamed.

"Never again." Yuven dug his fingers into Fenrer's knuckles, who widened his eyes. "Go on then, Molvisaliz. Finish this. Show me your mercy." He tucked his elbows in, and Fenrer pushed him off, causing him to fumble the dagger. Wisps of ice flew around the hilt, but when he grabbed it, the point met the colonnade of stone when Fenrer ducked out of his slice. Glyphs danced at the edges of his fingertips when he drove one into Fenrer's face, who stumbled with a rattly breath. "Come!" He sent another glyph forward, but Fenrer broke this one with his own. "Come! Show me what you are! Show me your need for forgiveness!"

Fenrer raised his hands, but there was no surrender against Derelicts. He took his chance and slammed the heel of his palm against the center of the illusion's ribcage. Pain creased Fenrer's face when he doubled over. "Yuven, please—"

I will not kneel.

Air tightened around his fingers, and he slammed it into his face, sliding his hand over his lips and drove the expansion of truth into the lie. "Yes," he whispered when Fenrer struggled and strangled his fatal grip. "How cruel you were to me." He listened close to the death rattle of his life, and he wrapped his arm around Fenrer's neck when his knees buckled and he pulled him down with him, to the sea. "It's okay though. I do forgive you. I can never say no to you, Molvisaliz." He sobbed when the false eyes slipped into the back of his head and he went limp. "Yes, I won't let him sully you anymore." He twisted the hilt of the dagger, and wrapped his shaking fingers around it. He lowered his hand from Fenrer's mouth to cup his chin, tilting his head back to expose the one vulnerability everyone had. "All is forgiven. You felt the way you did because of my weakness. Keeper Blackwall can't use you like this." He counted his breaths, then pushed the blade against his throat, angling it for the cleanest, merciful cut when he poured his magick through the sharp edge. "Unlike them, you deserve better."

Quick footsteps distracted the final end. He gasped when someone's hand cracked across his face with the force of a whip, and Fenrer slumped to the floor at his knees, resting on his side. Yuven gasped when Adara grabbed onto his collar, and the ringing silence filled her horrified, silent screeching as she snapped out words and it all pounded in his head. Shaken, tears ran down her face as she dug her fingers deeper into her shoulders and the blur subsided. "Wake up!" she screeched with a sob. "That's your best friend! He's not the one who hurt you!"

"It's a lie," he rasped.

Her agony turned to confused rage. "What in the hells do you mean?" She shook him again. "You need to wake up!"

"I am awake. I've been awake." Air stuck to his lungs and he shivered at the sense of freedom. "And I told you, Sazaka. We can't have victory without sacrifice." Mist billowed from his own teeth and nose into a dance with his tears. "Even if we must drag it through the mud." He drove his fingers into his own palm, crushing the spite, and he scowled at the Princess of Naveera when she drew closer with her own horrified expression. On his throne, King Laucan, the peacock king, got up from his chair in alarm, where his Sentinels bled across the throne room.

Keeper Blackwall blinked, unaffected by his construct's near demise.

Yuven looked between all of them. The music went silent. His heartbeat quelled in cold flames. He waited for the crumble of his soul, the bubble of the crimson pool. With a clatter, the dagger fell beside him. It echoed throughout the throne room. He dragged his fingertips across the icy tiles, then returned his attention to the falsehood of his spite. Fenrer remained still, shallow breaths leaving his nose. "No," he whispered and crawled closer in his boundless mistakes. Words tickled the edge of his tongue when he clutched the front of Fenrer's armor, tugging him closer by the leather straps. "No." Where is your conviction? What happened to it? "You were supposed to..." He swallowed the notes and grabbed his limp hand off the ground. Reach out to me... You were supposed to climb and come to me... I could've helped you.

Details lost in his rage.

Fenrer's clammy hand slipped out of his.

Adara brought hers to her mouth in shocked torment.

Yuven let him go.

On his knees, he lifted himself by his back and turned around to the throne and the false reign. King Laucan, all alone without the Keeper at his side, but none of it mattered. None of it but the bloodlust of their families. "You know what, King Laucan?" He dragged himself out into the center of the throne room. "I had a long... long time to think about things in that Gaol you put me in." He rolled his neck across his shoulders and dragged his feet forward. "I've decided... do you want the Doom of Irimount? Let me give it to you." He stretched out his hands, and formed icy seax's to rest in his fingertips, while Adara leaned over Fenrer in his side vision. "Let's see how much blood that crown can really hold."

Glyph on his heel, he raced forward with the rage of his unknown family, and the people the king murdered. On the wings of space, a glyph of ticking foci spun from Laucan's raised arm. Into its cradle, he drove his seax's closer to the center. "You think this damned magick can protect you from me?" Energy ripped through the forces of nature between them, with Laucan holding the time glyph as a slowed shield. "How about I give you a lesson in perception." He flipped over the glyph, then slammed his foot into Laucan's back, who gasped and fell down the steps of his own pedestal. Yuven scowled down at the king when he knelt, but stood up all the same.

"I said you can leave," Laucan said with a growing hiss in his nostrils.

"We're so close, though, Your Royal Peacock." Yuven allowed his weapons to melt off his fingers and wet the steps below him with blood. "Remember what I said? That crown can't protect you. Not when I can just do this." He held out his arms, an embrace to the world before stepping backwards. His shins met the edge of a throne, and he slumped down into it and crossed one leg over the other. "Since I've parked my royal backside on here... guess I can be called a king." He smiled when Laucan's expression turned to stone. "Come now, Your Grace. If you want this so badly, cast aside that perception of yours and cut me down like you've cut down entire bloodlines." He leaned forward and rested his chin on the tips of his fingers. "Let's see what you are when you don't hide behind an outsider. Or are you truly so pathetic, small, and weak that you will watch your kingdom die around you, and you will reign over the ashes? Is it easier that way? With no one to sit on this throne but you?"

A whistle slammed beside his head and cut into the throne.

Yuven smiled at the glitter of metal from the chakram which narrowly missed his ear.

Laucan held out the other chakram, and revealed his fangs as his pupils turned into the beads of their inner wyvern fury. Yuven stood up when the chakram returned to its owner on the trail of ice it came from.

"Good. We've reached an understanding." He reformed the ice seax's, but added white flames across the edge. "Show me what you are, King Laucan. Show me what your perception and power amounts to on its own without having to rely on people smarter and stronger than you are." Yuven showed his fangs, then smiled at the small king at his heel. "Let's remind them what we are."