Work Text:
Light world (open image in new tab to zoom)
The barren lands were sere, but nothing could ruin this day for him, for it was to be their wedding day. Harsh as the local Wamphyr lords and ladies in their soaring aerie, the lands surrounding them still held their own beauty and promise clasped deep to their breast.
Looking outward from the overhung cliff face, he watched a thin dust devil insinuating itself across the march, wending through the low mesas strewn across the vast canyon floor. The Szgany had done well enough for themselves in this strange new world. Whatever had opened the rift, be it blessing or curse, had certainly made life interesting for them.
He glanced to the roast-fire as he thought about the changes that had been wrought in their lives.
The beast now lying carved before them would feed the entire clan for a week in its current state, and that was without counting the remainder yet to be smoked and laid in against the lean months. These creatures were strange, no doubt. Ten feet tall if they were an inch, flightless bird-things that looked kin to monstrous skinks and aught else — these ostrdactyls were beautiful, to be sure, but fractious, and with fiery tempers. Those few that would be tamed sore tested one's patience. This abomination though... it had been possessed by the Wamphyr, turned, transformed.
He smiled.
That had made only for more of a challenge, not an insurmountable task.
As the choicer cuts of the beast roasted further, he contemplated his life and the vagueries that had led him to this day, this choice.
The day that following the mountain stream had led him to his bride to be.
How he had stood before her, transfixed by her beauty and grace.
He had sworn then that he would best all, to be worthy of her graces.
As if she could hear his thoughts, she turned to him just then, her eyes wandering his face, caressing his soul with their burning, penetrating gaze. He could feel her within him, as if prodding the recesses of his mind. Doors opening before her, welcoming her every wish.
She returned her attention to the gathered guests, and his mind returned to ease.
To know her was to truly understand fearsome presence.
She was a Shuvani, and so such was to be expected, though hers was indeed a towering force to rival even their Wamphyr overlords. She could not go long unnoticed.
Indeed, she hadn't, as their wedding day bore mute witness to.
But it wasn't human notice that was the great concern.
Soon the feast was begun. The wines brought forth and toasts pledged.
Music and dancing captured their spirits, as all were caught up in the moment.
When the climax of the festivities had come and gone, and the couple was permitted a private moment amid the swirl, it was time.
Soon, all would know the cumulative might within their grasp, and their lands would spread unchecked.
She turned to him once more, offering him that most coveted portion of the great beast.
It was this that he had sought foremost.
It was this that would bring their union to its peak.
It was this that would tear away the weakness of his flesh and see him reborn with her: Wamphyri!