by Isabel Wroth
"Got it. How many people, valos or other inhabitants of Penumbra, are there? How many people live here in the palace?" From the way the three beings in front of her paused, sharing quick looks with one another, Deja got the distinct impression they were uncomfortable.
"There are nine hundred, and thirty two builders within Penumbra. We three warriors, and you, Marahi Deja. The builders do not live within the palace. It was completed a millennium ago, and Marahi Astaria instructed the builders to continue expanding the city until she returned."
Deja frowned at them, sure she had heard them mention that the construction was ongoing. "When is this Astaria person coming back?"
"It is unknown to us when Marahi Astaria will return. We three were the ones to escort Astaria to her ship, where we remained, in the spot where you gave your blood to pull us from hibernation."
"What? You stood in that same spot for a thousand years?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Astaria gave us orders to wait until her return, and exposed to the sunlight like we were without our heartstones, we were forced to hibernate."
Deja gnawed on her lips, looking at each of the three warriors in turn as she digested the information she was receiving.
"Without giving more detailed instructions, you had no choice but to take her orders literally. Your heartstone is like a data programing chip, then? Without it, you are...incomplete?"
Izax acknowledged her with a nod, but her eye caught on the way Azzuryn touched the empty well in his chest. As though it ached. Sympathy filled her as she sat and thought about what a horrible person Astaria was shaping up to be.
"We are bound to you now, Marahi. Bound to serve, protect, and obey you." Arkhan touched the depression in his chest, tiny veins illuminated under the pressure of his fingertips.
"How are you bound to me?"
Izax tapped a finger to his chest, the sound a hollow clack of stone on stone.
"You spilled your blood into the well of my heartstone. The living energy within the fluids revived me from slumber."
Deja's skin prickled as she recalled her desperate climb up Izax's armor. "Just in time, too. Those shrieking monsters were about to make a meal of me."
"Ak'rena." Izax stated. "The shrieking monsters are called, Ak'rena."
A rather elegant name for something so predatory. "You smeared my blood on Azurryn and Arkhan too."
"Without it, we would still be frozen in the light. You freed us."
It was on the tip of her tongue to contradict Arkhan's statement. If the three warriors had been truly free, they would have a choice as to whether or not they wanted to serve, protect, and obey her.
FOUR
~DEJA
One would have thought crash landing on an alien planet, being hunted by carnivorous creatures, rescued by stone warriors who were actually shadows encased in stone, and brought to a city built in the shadows would have exhausted a body.
Not hers.
Deja lay in the strange bed, nestled in the center of what felt like a cloud, warm and comfortable, but she couldn't sleep a wink.
She had become so used to the constant hum of the Concord's engine core and the screaming and crying of the other prisoners as they came and went from their own terrible experiments. Now, it was so...quiet. Too quiet.
Deja rolled out of bed and padded to the beautifully carved doors, rubbing her fingertips over the wafer thin panes of stone before pushing them wide and walking out onto the balcony that overlooked the city.
She drug in a huge breath, leaning on the dark stone railing, slowly letting her gaze roll out over the enormity of all that lay before her.
All, that apparently belonged to her now.
It was too easy. Too good to be true. Crash land on an alien world, bleed on some aliens, and congratulations, you've won yourself a castle and a city full of semi-sentient slaves? No way.
Deja shook her head, catching a glimpse of the creepy black statue down in the forecourt. Even looking at the back of it made her shiver, wondering what kind of person or being Astaria was.
Alien, obviously. Some kind of evil overlord if the things Izax had said were even half true. Arkhan had assured her Astaria was long gone, that no statues of her would come to life as she was not valo-kind.
The three warriors called Deja a 'child of the Creator,' but she hadn't been able to ascertain if that meant they thought she was the same sort of being Astaria was, or if they were speaking of a greater creator. A universal being responsible for all creation. It seemed to the Shadow Valos, they were one and the same.
Deja worried what would happen once Izax realized she wasn't the same kind of creature as Astaria. She was wary of claiming to be a child of the creator and asked to...create something, only to fail and wind up in prison again. Or worse.
The soft breeze brought the faint sounds of hammering, which drew her attention back to the city. It was truly the most beautiful place she had seen.
The buildings were hexagonal in structure, built together in towering sections up the side of the mountain and along the riverbank that bisected the land.
There were places where the stone had started to dull with age, others shimmering and shiny like they had just been polished, rather like the exoskeletons Izax, Arkhan, and Azurryn wore.
Movement caught her eye, and Deja nearly fell back on her ass to see Azurryn on the opposite end of the balcony, crouched down on one knee, watching her in utter silence.
"Bloody hell, you scared me!" she breathed, pressing her hand to her chest to stem the racing of her heart. Azurryn mimicked her, spreading his stone hand over the empty well where his heartstone should have been, but he didn't say a word.
"You don't say much, do you?" He slowly shook his head, his eyes shining from inside his helmet. "Can't sleep either? Do you even sleep?" Stone grated with a soft hiss when the warrior shrugged his plated shoulders. "Can you talk?"
Azzuryn shook his head again, and Deja wondered if something had gone wrong when he had been created. Or if more of whatever programing it was that animated him had been corrupted or removed when his heartstone had been pulled.
"May I...um—" Deja pointed to his chest, and Azzuryn removed his hand, as still as the statue she had thought him to be as she approached.
With her fingertips a breath away from touching the smooth armor, Deja glanced up, managing a quick smile when he leaned forward just enough for her hand to make contact.
Deja heard herself laugh, watching the way the stone reacted to the heat of her skin, sparkling with little motes of light, fading or brightening depending on how she touched it.
She went so far as to trace her own name on Azzuryn's armor, blushing hotly to realize how juvenile that was. He was a living being, not a mirror covered in steam.
Deja frowned and leaned closer, noticing behind the light something else moved.
"Azurryn, Izax said you're made of shadow. Can you show me what you look like without your armor?"
She backed up a few steps when the enormous valo reached up to twist his helmet to the left, to the right, then going motionless as black smoke poured out from beneath the plates of armor to puddle at her feet.
She gasped at the cool tendrils that moved over her toes, gaping in awe and no small amount of fear when the black fog took shape. A torso, arms, and a head with familiar rainbow colored eyes floating in front of her like...like a phantom shadow.
"Oh, my."
Azzuryn didn't have much in the way of facial features, but she could see the shadow shivering like it was trying to find a shape to take. His lower half was just billowing smoke, a cyclone that pulsed and swirled in the breeze.
Deja reached out tentatively, nerves making her tremble ever so slightly when the shadow met her fingertips with a human shaped hand. Five fingers, three knuckles, tendons and veins along the back.
Skin met shadow with a sparkle of electricity, a hum of energy that made goosebumps rise on Deja's arms and confusingly made plea
sure pulse between her thighs.
Azzuryn's shadow was cool, not unpleasant enough to make her pull away, but he wasn't solid. Like a ghost, her hand passed through his completely.
Azzuryn reached up and brushed his incorporeal knuckles along her cheek, making her give a breathless laugh at the prickle of ticklish sensation, watching in amazement when he swirled around her in a rush of sensual static and rolled back inside the vessel of his armor.
The stone hands flexed and once again Azzuryn stared out at her from the slits of the intricately carved helmet.
"Thank you," she murmured, feeling for some reason like she ought to not speak louder than a whisper. "It's strange, how warm your armor is, but your shadow is so cool."
Silence met her statement, and for a time the two of them stood there staring at one another.
"Do you mind if I just sit out here with you for a while? I'm not ready to go back to bed."
Azurryn's answer was to reach out and carefully scoop her up and bring her to sit on his bent knee with her back against his chest.
Deja smiled, pulling her feet up to hug her knees, able to rest her head against his armored arm. Maybe it was because he couldn't talk, but Deja found it easy to speak to him.
"This can't possibly be real. Logically, I should be less willing to accept all this is happening. I'm probably in an induced coma or something back in Dr. Travis' torture room, dreaming." Azurryn closed one of his big armored hands around her, securing her against him, making her smile even wider. "If I am in a coma, I don't think I want to wake up. I haven't felt so safe in such a long time."
AZURRYN~
The new mistress of Penumbra had fallen asleep cuddled up against his armor.
Azurryn looked down at her in gentle amusement, fascinated by the way her pale skin seemed so much brighter in comparison to the blackness of his exoskeleton. Azzuryn had only intended to ensure he was close by in case Deja woke and was afraid.
The balcony was the easiest place for him to wait, the closest he could be without awkwardly lying down inside one of the opulent rooms.
He had been able to peek inside while Deja had gone about exploring her new quarters, looking inside chests, opening storage doors, mumbling strange words when she had discovered the clothing that had once belonged to Astaria.
Deja had finally lay down to sleep, continuing to talk to herself about something called the finest silk, which apparently was unbearably uncomfortable compared to the linens she pulled over herself.
He was grateful the smaller valo had been able to prepare everything for Deja while she had slumbered on the rejuvenation table, clearing what had once been Astaria's chambers of all her belongings, replacing them with things from other rooms in the palace. Unfortunately, there had been no other garments for Deja to wear, except for what had once been Astaria's.
He could not speak, yet unlike his brethren, Azurryn had retained his emotions and memories. A cruel and purposeful punishment made by his former mistress.
He had felt a deep distrust, dislike, even fury towards Deja. Hatred for Izax when he had painted Azurryn's heartstone well with Deja's blood, enslaving him to another female, one that they knew nothing about.
Azurryn knew Izax hadn't blooded their wells with malicious intent. Izax was incapable of feeling hatred or maliciousness. He had followed Astaria's commands to protect any of her kind who came to Sonhadra, but in the end it made little difference.
The fact remained they once again were bound to obey, when in truth Azurryn would have preferred to stand in the same spot for eternity if it meant never having to serve Astaria or one of her kind ever again.
Then Deja had awoken, her fear reaching out to him because of their blood-link. Izax had led the way into the healing chamber where Deja had stood, clutching her hands together and looking so small, so delicate and vulnerable, Azurryn's hatred had softened.
There had been no cruelty in her wide eyes, no hint of Astaria or any one of her people in Deja's features. She had been terrified of them, shaking when she had reached out to take her odd ocular coverings from Arkhan.
There had been no recognition for the Creator's technology as she had examined the rejuvenation table, fearful with every step she took, terrified beyond reason of the light itself.
To see her joy, the beauty she found in Penumbra, the awe she expressed was all the convincing Azurryn needed to believe she was no child of Astaria.
Astaria had been cold, unfeeling, cruel. She found no beauty in the city she had ordered built for her, no pleasure in the sweetness of the fruits planted to nourish her, and never had she expressed feeling safe.
Never would Astaria have allowed herself to be so vulnerable as to have fallen asleep out on the balcony here between his hands.
He studied Deja, watching the way the gentle breeze made tendrils of her hair flutter against her cheeks.
This female, this human, was not of the Creators.
Azurryn couldn't help but feel relieved by this, yet wary at the same time. True, he had slumbered for nearly a thousand years, but ten thousand could not erase memories of Astaria’s cruelty. He knew what to expect of her.
This pale creature was an unknown, and foolishly, Azurryn found himself hoping Penumbra's new lady would be different.
Kinder, perhaps.
His inability to speak seemed to displease and distress her, yet in his silence he learned many things about his mistress. Chief among them, she herself was the product of terrible experiments. Imprisoned against her will, forced to suffer at the hands of a monstrous being.
Though she was delicate and tiny, a different species from another world, it appeared Azurryn and the Shadow Valos had much in common with Marahi Deja.
FIVE
~DEJA
Without any sort of clocks or a way to tell time on her own, it could have been a few days, or a few weeks, since the crash. It felt like weeks, though Deja had barely managed to explore the level her quarters were on.
She had begun a system of waking up, deciding which ludicrously revealing outfit to wear for the day, carefully testing the new fruits and odd vegetables brought up by one of the warriors, and moving out along the eerily silent, empty hallways to see what she could discover.
What she found, was room after amazing room. All but three of the penthouse sized suites on her same floor were empty, and all of them were covered in a thick layer of dust.
In fact, most everywhere she walked she left a trail of footprints behind, which did make it easy to navigate around. With nothing to do but wander, Deja had found herself at the top of the enormous staircase with a silent warrior following behind her. Azzuryn was so silent in fact, that for a while, Deja had forgotten he was there.
She made it all the way down the long flight of stairs and into the main hall, looking up and up and up to try and study the motif carved into the stone.
Deja nearly came out of her skin when a huge hand suddenly settled beside her. Whipping around, she remembered Azurryn was there with her and apparently offering to lift her up.
"Oh. Thank you." Steadying herself on his raised finger, clinging to it despite how he very slowly, very carefully lifted her up. All the way over his head, in fact, which despite the terrifying distance between her and the ground, gave her a perfect view.
Higher up, the shadows weren't as deep, allowing her to make out the details. The unbelievable wealth of gems and images carved into the stone, figures and scenes displayed in beautiful flowing lines, except for the harsh, overbearingly large creature that must have been Astaria.
At the beginning of the carving, there were nine beings with Astaria in the lead, coming down to what Deja assumed was the surface of Sonhadra from a wedge shaped spaceship where each of the creators went in different directions, settling in different areas on the planet on what looked like...thrones?
The next space on the fresco showed Astaria using a device shaped like a lance to capture and pull the shadow creatures from the darkness, forcing them w
ith the pronged end of the staff into empty suits of stone armor.
Deja found herself rubbing at an ache that blossomed between her breasts, her breath catching as angry tears formed in her eyes. Even carved in stone, the emotion, the story of how the Shadow Valos had tried to resist Astaria was clear.
It made Deja think of the way the builders had come out to greet her the first day she had walked into the city. Not out of interest or care, they had come out of blind obedience. As slaves.
The story told in stone went on, scenes of battles fought between Astaria's enslaved shadows and another horde of terrifying creatures, commanded by a large, imposing figure with sinister horns curled around his head, his face a blank shield, like Astaria's.
The two opposing forces faced one another, piles of bodies from both sides littering the bottom of the carving, both alien overlords directing their soldiers to fight until only a handful remained between them.
A truce or something was arranged, the Shadow Valos returned to the haven of Penumbra, and in her fury Astaria stood over the armored shadows, ripping their heartstones out one by one, taking away their free will, their desires, everything that made the Shadowed valos who they were.
The second to last panel showed the malevolent frame of Astaria above thousands of valos, she large and towering, they portrayed as tiny and insignificant, prostrated beneath her. Her shoulders were draped in a cascade of thousands of gems, some kind of opulent necklace, seated on a throne that overlooked the city of Penumbra.
Deja suddenly found it increasingly difficult to breathe. Her heart pounded so hard she could feel the stretch of her veins as they struggled to contain and direct the flow of blood being forced to her extremities.
"Azurryn...can you take me outside...please?" she gasped out, her legs turning to jelly, unable to support her any longer.
Distantly, she felt herself plop down in the center of the stone warrior's big hand, certain she should have been terrified by the sensation of the short fall and the whoosh of gravity tugging at her already churning belly up into her throat.
