[Marsh forest
7:31 pm
2 January, 3000]
The night was alive with the soft crackling of the campfire and its amber glow flickered against the dark canvas of the forest.
Xiaoya Feng leaned back against a tree, her legs crossed and her gaze fixed on the fire as if it held secrets she could decipher.
All the weak quests were done - finished without much fuss - Now everyone had scattered to their assigned tasks.
Hers? To bring food from the forest.
She'd hunted a deer earlier. Its carcass now roasting over the flames, filling the air with an earthy, smoky aroma that made hunger stir in even the most disciplined stomachs.
"Master," Zhen materialized beside her as a wisp of mischief with a lollipop between her lips, sat on her lap.
She purred in a syrup-sweet voice.
Her translucent fingers gestured toward the fray(Kirin) who locked in a heated debate with Brina, whose stormy frown could sour milk.
"Shall I weave through the shadows? Eavesdrop on their… delicious little dramas?"
"Nuh-uh! No need to waste your time." Xiaoya Feng smirked as her lips curled just slightly before she took another bite of her chocolate bar.
Heyes lazily trailing over to Kirin and her teammates.
They were arguing about something trivial again; Or so it seemed.
Xiaoya didn't need Zhen's help; reading lips was almost second nature to her by now. And besides, she already knew exactly what Brina was whispering into Kirin's ear: warnings. Warnings about 'her.'
'Love. Manipulation. Naivety. How amusing." A laugh bubbled silently in her throat. 'Oh, the irony.'
Brina's warnings were no mystery. "She's playing you, Kirin! Planting honeyed lies to soften your spine!"
"You think I'd fall for that? She doesn't even know—" Kirin vehemently disagreed, brushing off Brina's concerns with a stubborn shake of her head. What Kirin didn't realize, though— what Xiaoya found utterly hilarious — was that Kirin wasn't even aware of her own preferences.
Too bad for her as Xiaoya Feng had noticed.
How could she forget the hitch in Kirin's breath that evening weeks ago, the accidental brush of hands as they'd gathered firewood?
Or the way her gaze lingered; It wasn't on faces but on the curve of a collarbone and the sway of a hip before snapping away with cheeks flushed; Decoded the way she tried (and failed) to play it cool whenever Xiaoya Feng caught her staring. And then there was that time in the bathroom — A coincidence, really.
Xiaoya hadn't meant to overhear but sometimes fate has a funny way of dropping truths right into your lap.
Through the thin walls, she'd heard Kirin muttering to herself as clear frustration dripped from every word.
"I'm so single it hurts. Why can't I pull any woman I like?" Followed by... Well, sounds Xiaoya Feng preferred not to dwell on. Suffice it to say, Kirin wasn't exactly subtle about her desires; Even if she couldn't admit them to herself.
"Killing the people you love isn't easy for everyone." Xiaoya mused aloud as her tone was deceptively light. She popped another piece of chocolate into her mouth.
'Love is messy, complicated, and often cruel.' She'd learned that lesson in the hard way. Still she was playing games with hearts again because apparently. It seems like she hadn't suffered enough yet.
"Looks like she hates me…" Xiaoya Feng straightened while schooling her expression into something neutral, something unreadable upon seeing Kirin coming toward her with deadpan expression as she tried to act innocent.
Her smile wavered, a tender curve of resignation as she looked at the cracked ground at her feet, as if the earth would consume the hurt in her voice.
"That's not the case at all." Kirin exhaled a harsh breath.
It sounded half-irritation and half-pity as she reached out to tousle the girl's hair.
"Dance for me, dance for me, dance for me, oh-oh! I've never seen anybody do the things you do before…" Above her skull, unseen, Zhen rode on top of Kirin's unruly mane and her wings digging into hair strands as she danced a jittery, silent jig - A mischievous sprite crowned on a throne of obliviousness.
"Nope. Not at all." Kirin disagreed in dry amusement with a flash of knowing smirk. "She's rude to everyone. Survival tactic, probably. Now… Can you hand over your guild card to me? Let's see it. I need to plan for our raid. Seraphants let their guard down at 4 a.m; It will be too busy dreaming of whatever celestial beasts dream about. But before we attack…"
She held out a calloused palm. "Trust me until our quest is complete."
Xiaoya Feng's hand jerked towards the pendant pressed against her skin.
The hidden guild card beat with secret weight; To yield it was to give up her soul - not her record, not her power but the slender truth she has to guard it for years. 'If they report me dead… 50% of her holdings, forfeit; Her weapons, her vaults, Even her mother's pendant - All theirs while the other half will be distributed to the teammates or people who give them guild card..'
Zhen attempted to do a somersault and nearly fell over balance. Kirin blinked, unaware.
'Trust.' Xiaoya's trachea spasmed. Trusting was a product rarer than dragon's shit.
But this is a gamble.
If Kirin double-crossed her and killed then the guild's goons would come knocking at her door for queries. If they find out she killed her then they A century in the obsidian pits, they'd sentence her to.
"Umm… If it's you…" Xiaoya Feng removed the chain from around her head.
The card glowed, written with runes visible only to the guild as she let it fall into Kirin's upturned palm. "Don't make me regret this."
Kirin's smile widened but her eyes? For an instant, they gleamed with something that looked very much like respect. "Regret's for people who sleep past 4 a.m."
'Master- Shall I steal it at night?!' Zhen was hanging upside down on a strand of hair as she blew a raspberry nobody noticed.
"Wait for my words." Xiaoya Feng cooed while dipping her head. The light in her eyes sparkling like a playfully cat is having fun with a trapped moth.
"Well, you see… I don't have any superpowers like most awakeners." Her words were bitter-sweet as if it were a shared joke. "So what is the plan?"
Kirin's eyes shut like she was piercing the game.
Many old memories flashed: Awakeners she'd met. All of the individuals she met, their abilities burning like wildfire.
But Xiaoya? Her record had been simple: F- rank assassin. It is a term meant to mock and Kirin's mind reeled.
'Speed. Precision. The kind that leaves no footprints.' Her lip curled, the smile of a predator. "So. You're faster than anyone here. Perfect for us. You'll be a diversion. We will Kill the seraphant while it's focused on… bait."
'So this is their plan, No?' Xiaoya's smile iced and her eyes compressed into slits. The flames between them spat that was casting jagged shadows on her face. Bait huh? It is just a role for fools, for cannon fodder. Kirin's plan stank of sacrifice, and Xiaoya's heartbeat accelerated, not with fear, but rage.
'She thinks I'm expendable.' but at the back of the anger squirmed a strand of cold calculation of her master; 'If you want to survive then… Prove your worth, or be a pawn. I guess, He teached me some good things.'
"You know I know a lot about magic beasts. Considering them, I've… a plan as well." Xiaoya spoke slowly, each syllable a needle threaded with venom. Her fingers ran over the hilt of the dagger at her thigh — A reflex or A reminder.
"If you put faith on me." She emphasized the word, tossing Kirin's earlier insistence back like a knife. "... It'll work."
"Huh?!" Kirin barked, laughter too raw to be genuine. "Umm, sure. Tell me." Her nod was stiff, a marionette's. To contradict now would destroy the delicate partnership, and Xiaoya's guild card still burned in her pocket — It is a hostage, or a vow.
She tapped her fingers on her thigh.
Trust was a bridge spanning a chasm as Xiaoya waited on the other side.
"Master, Please die with me." Zhen, sitting on Kirin's shoulder, mimed strangling herself with an invisible rope, tongue hanging out.
Xiaoya leaned forward, the firelight casting her face into a mask of shadows.
"The seraphant's weak point isn't its heart." She whispered "It's the antlers. They focus on its power and generate it. Break one, and it'll stumble without any problem for some seconds. Then…"