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The sea wind whistled in his sharp ears, or perhaps it was just an echo stuck in his head. The dried blood on his shoulder and stomach, the stinging heat in his side, and the feeling of his pride like a divine beast dragging with every step made him wish he hadn't fully woken up.
But he couldn't die. Not while his brother Sae was still out there, somewhere in the battle-red sky of his domain, drenched in fire and honor against the cursed dragons of the western kingdom.
It was a custom among all divine beasts that giving one's life for the expansion of their kingdoms was the greatest honor and pride one could achieve. In this case, it was the turn of the Eastern Dragon Clan against the Kirin faction, a territory ruled by two of their best generals of royal blood from those lands: the young lords Rin and Sae of the Itoshi clan.
Rin gritted his teeth, his claws scraping the bark of the tree he'd held himself against for a moment. His body, now partially sealed with a transformation spell, still retained the humanoid form his brother had imposed on him just before pushing him through the portal he'd been able to cast at the last moment. But in his current state, his legs were weak, his lungs brittle, and one of his horns was broken.
Such an inferior form for a Lord like him.
It was ridiculous.
Humiliating.
So lukewarm.
His bare feet led him through a dense forest, covered in salt spray and the silent echoes of insects. The sky of the human world was dull, colorless, so devoid of magical energy that it made him nauseous. Despite this, he could still sense an ancient presence, albeit faint in the distance. There, among the evening shadows, stood an old, abandoned temple, with moss creeping up the stairs and a broken statue of a god no longer worshipped.
— “Tch, it stinks of humans.” — The entity thought with contempt, letting its body finally collapse onto the lead-cold wood, so that its turquoise scale earrings softly chimed.
It was a curious contrast how the old wood made Rin's turquoise robes stand out, as did the silver and gold ornaments, but none of those things helped to improve the divine beast's irritable state.
His horn was splintered and his pride trampled, yet he was still breathing. Sae had saved him, and that was what irritated him the most. Sae always treated him like a harmless youngling who needed to be cared for. Even when he had been the one to protect the southern border and hold the barrier for hours until he was out of breath, all feats that could only be performed by powerful beasts 600 or 1200 years old, he, at his young age of 415, had accomplished all of that with his bare hands, and yet all he received was a…
"Rin, stand down. You're no match for them."
His brother's words burned hotter than the flames of the west.
— “Idiot... if I hadn’t stepped in, the fire would have…”
At that, the creaking of wood broke his train of thought, the lord froze.
An animal?
Due to exhaustion, moving was painful, and every muscle was as numb as a rock. All he could do was endure, and luckily, it didn't seem to be something magical or powerful. The presence was human, so weak and so stupid, something he could most likely banish with a simple gesture.
Another creak sounds, followed by the sliding door moving and the sound of a couple of small footsteps.
Straining his neck in pain, the lord looked up and could see how the small figure held in its hands a kind of constant white, almost as if it were a kind of torch without fire.
A repulsive human artifact.
He didn't pause to analyze it; his gaze changed almost instantly, now revealing the sclera of his eyes, black as the abyss, and his turquoise pupils sharpened like those of a predator. Rin narrowed his mouth, revealing his sharp fangs, and let out a menacing hiss.
The human figure stopped in its tracks and, looking more closely, the lord realized that it was a human offspring.
The fear was there, yes. It was noticeable in the boy's tense shoulders, smeared with mud on his face, and in the slight trembling of his fingers as he held that light. His legs didn't move, but the human didn't take a single step back either.
— "Paralyzed? How stupid must he be to not understand the danger?" — Rin thought with annoyance.
The hatchling had cyan hair, like the sea of his former home. Messy, as if the wind had tousled it without warning. Large eyes, the same shade, wide open, but not out of fear. There was something else, something Rin didn't fully understand. The lord tried to growl louder, move an arm, or even flex his claws, but his body wouldn't respond. He could barely keep his neck up and his eyes open. His tongue felt like lead, and every attempt at speech was only a harsh, incomprehensible gasp.
Then the human child decided to take one more step, and then another. Although Rin wanted to rip his head off with a swipe of his paw, he could do nothing but watch him with silent fury.
The human creature stopped at a safe distance. He looked him up and down, assessing his form with an unusual anomaly that his poor mind couldn't understand.
There were no screams, no sobs, no running away. Just that absurd calm that defied all logic. The baby blue boy carefully bent down, opened the small backpack hanging on his back, and took something out. It was a neatly folded blue blanket decorated with a pattern of sleeping sheep.
Rin narrowed his eyes, suspicious. What was that nuisance planning to do with that? Trap him with a useless cloth? He'd be a fool to think this would hold him back.
But the boy didn't make any sudden gestures; in fact, he walked slowly toward the corner where he was regenerating. With a swift movement, the boy placed the cloth around his lower waist and then stepped back to give him space. He hadn't left, but sat down next to a broken column, without taking his eyes off the child.
Rin blinked in confusion, the warmth from his body beginning to drift away with the wind and the evening chill that seeped through the cracks in the ceiling. The blanket had no magical properties, but it was soft and warm.
As he had deduced, a useless cloth.
Rin's body remained tense, preparing for an attack that was never going to come. The boy, still in the dim glow of that fireless lantern, sat cross-legged, staring at him with those large eyes. He didn't speak or move, just stared, as if seeing a broken creature in the corner of a temple was the most natural thing in the world.
The sound of rain began as a soft murmur, a scattered drip between the old tiles. Then it grew, filling the air with a steady patter that drowned out even Rin's own thoughts. The scent of wet earth seeped through the cracks, mingling with the smell of old moss and dried blood. The human creature looked up for a moment, as if calculating an escape route, but in the end, he didn't. He shrugged, took off his backpack, and placed it behind him as a makeshift pillow. Then he hugged his legs, leaning his body against the pillar, and finally, a yawn.
Rin narrowed his eyes even further. Not out of tiredness, but out of disbelief.
—“Are he really going to sleep here?” — The question ran through Rin’s excited mind.
He was just a child, a defenseless kid, in the middle of an abandoned temple, in the rain and in front of a creature like him.
And yet you were not afraid of him?
Was this a mockery, considering him such an inferior being that he couldn't inspire fear? How dare that insolent brat?! No way! He'll kill him as soon as he can recover again.
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Over the next few hours, the lord watched the boy's every move. The way he rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand, the way he tucked that sky-blue antenna behind his ear. That slight shudder as he felt the cold air seep through the cracks. It was clear the boy was cold, but then why didn't he use his useless blanket on him? After all, he didn't need any of that to recover.
Rin glanced at the backpack that had fallen to the side. It wasn't like the cloth ones some of the humans in his hometown owned; it had more space than the makeshift bags the lower class could afford. On the other hand, the boy's clothes looked a bit worn, as if he'd been wearing them more often.
—"Is he running away from something?"—Rin thought, alertness flashing. The divine beast's instinct warned the lord of something more than mere childish curiosity.
A child on the run? Perhaps lost? Or exiled?
Whatever, that wasn't his problem.
The rain continued to fall, the sound hypnotic, and the lights from the human's torch flickered, and with them, the child's face became a shadow shrouded in darkness.
Despite his harmless appearance, Rin wasn't about to let his guard down. However, even with his turquoise eyes open, his body also began to give way. The exhaustion that had kept him raging now dragged him toward the abyss of sleep, and his muscles weighed more than steel. The ridiculous fabric retained only a bit of his remaining warmth.
As the rain marked the gentle rhythm of the night, Rin finally gave in to tiredness and closed his eyes, just for a moment, so he could regain his strength.
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When the lord opened his eyes again, the light had changed.
It wasn't the rosy warmth of dawn, but the dull, diffuse glow of a cloudy afternoon. The shadows inside the temple had shifted. The patter of rain had ceased, leaving only the distant sound of water trickling through the cracks in the roof.
The Lord blinked slowly. His neck ached, his body still numb, but he was no longer trapped by that paralyzing inertia. He tried moving his fingers. One by one, and then his arms. It wasn't much, but they were clear signs of his recovery.
"Good," the lord murmured, surprised to hear his voice, since it was hoarse and low, but ultimately his.
He inspected each fresh wound with a quick glance. The wounds and blood were still there, some with old scabs, others still wet, but his magic was beginning to circulate again. Slowly, like a trickle of water escaping through a rock, but it was returning.
It was then that he noticed the blanket. It was still on top of him in its wrinkled form, shifted slightly by the movement of his tail and stole, but still present.
Rin just snorted, barely a dry sound through his nose.
—"Ridiculous." —He muttered, yet he didn't move the cloth.
He looked around carefully; there was no sign of the boy who had accompanied him. His presence had disappeared. Normally, he would enjoy the quiet, one less disturbance, but he still felt uneasy. He didn't have time to question himself for long, because the familiar sound of small footsteps on wet wood immediately put him on guard. His claws sharpened and his muscles tensed again.
The screen marking the entrance creaked with a slight movement, and there stood the same boy from yesterday. In his hands, he was carrying a strange box and a bottle. From the aroma, Rin could deduce that it was human food, nothing special: wrapped bread, some fruit, and smaller boxes.
Rin didn't say anything, in fact he just looked at him, expectantly, with the hardness of a predator that doesn't want to be tamed.
The boy approached cautiously. Now without his backpack, without his flashlight, and again without words. He stopped at a safe distance and stretched out his arms, offering the food. As if giving it was the most logical thing to do after having shared the night with a wounded monster.
— "I don't need it," —Rin told him clearly.
It wasn't a roar or even a threat, just a simple but harsh statement.
The boy didn't move, in fact he just lowered his arms a little and looked at the attempted plate confused.
What was wrong with that child?
Humans weren't like that. They weren't constant, nor generous. They weren't even loyal to creatures of their own species, and yet that child, that son of man, with sky-blue eyes and hair, did just the opposite.
Rin simply looked away, still not accepting the food.
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Days passed.
The boy came every morning, carrying something different. A container of soup, rice wrapped in leaves, fruit, crackers. Sometimes he brought a kind of soft box filled with liquid of dubious origin, and other times just dry bread. He never said a word or demanded anything, which was quite unusual considering how noisy children his age tend to be. When he refused, the boy just left the food nearby and sat silently watching, as if checking to make sure Rin was still breathing.
And Rin, true to his pride as a lord, rejected everything.
—"This Lord doesn't need it."
—"I don't want any of that."
—"You don't need to do that."
Cold, cutting words. Sometimes he didn't even speak, just looked away, allowing the silence to do its part. The boy didn't insist; he only nodded once, very briefly, and then sat a safe distance away, hugging his knees in silent resignation.
But one afternoon, everything was different.
The light was already fading when Rin raised his head in annoyance. Something wasn't right, as the boy usually arrived before the sky began to darken. It was unwise to stay outside when the forest mists began to stir with a life of their own, when the night creatures came out to hunt.
—"Tsk…" — The lord's tongue clicked, although his tone didn't have the same harshness as always.
Minutes passed, and Rin stirred each time, restless, but not admitting it. He had learned to measure the passing of time by the change in temperature and the angle of the light that entered through the cracks. It was already late, too late.
—“Where the hell had he gone?” — Rin thought, possibly imagining the child’s deaths in the middle of the forest.
Alone, abandoned and with no one to turn to for survival.
Just thinking about it was enough to keep him still, but in the midst of his thoughts, a sound appeared in the air. The screen opened with a slow creak, and the boy appeared in the middle of the dawn.
For some strange reason, Rin sighed silently. He refused to accept being relaxed just because he'd seen the boy return. It was clear his relaxation was more related to the fact that the boy hadn't gone somewhere else to tell someone about how he'd encountered a creature in the temple. It would be troublesome and a waste of time to kill villagers even in his recovering state.
However, the peace was cut short when a scent of iron invaded Rin's sensitive nose. Upon closer inspection, he was struck dumb because the boy had returned in a very sorry state. His light blue hair was disheveled, his small body covered in dust and bruises, and there was a cut on his cheek where the scent was coming from. There was also a wound on his lip that had left a thin scab. He limped when he walked, but even so, he had carried something in his arms, as always. This time it was a small cloth bag, barely containing something soft and smelling of meat, poorly wrapped in some kind of soft layer.
The boy walked in without saying anything and tried to walk to the same spot as always. As usual, he clumsily placed the food on the floor and sat down to see Rin's reaction.
Despite the situation, Rin only has one thing to answer:
-"I don't want to."
The boy again tries to extend the food to Rin to convince him to eat and he, sighing with tiredness, emphasizes:
—"This Lord already told you that he doesn't want anything, understand."
The Kirin watched his reaction for a long moment. The boy had become depressed and was showing signs of tiredness and sadness, yet he still sat in front of him.
How the hell did the kid end up like this? But most importantly, where were his belongings? When he left, he'd taken his bag, but now he had nothing left.
Slowly, Rin extended a claw, not in a gesture of threat, but to firmly grasp the boy's chin and lift his bruised face toward the light he summoned with a snap, illuminating the darkened room.
The boy was confused why the young man did this, but he couldn't say anything because Rin got ahead of him.
— "Who did this to your face?" the Kirin asked in a firm voice, staring into those large, light blue eyes.
The boy stared at him in surprise, his eyes wide as if the world had cracked open a little. When he didn't get a response, Rin didn't look away and asked again, something he never did with his subjects, otherwise he'd kill them.
—"This Lord require a question. Answer. Who was it?"
The claw held firm, though it didn't grip. Rin expected an answer, a word, perhaps a name or something, but what he received was the last thing he imagined.
The boy smiled at him.
At first, there was only a slight tremor at the corner of the infant's lips, barely perceptible; and then, that smile spread slowly, warm and enthusiastic, as if something inside him had suddenly ignited. His eyes, swollen and reddened, shone with an incomprehensible mixture of relief and excitement.
Rin frowned, confused.
— "Why are you smiling like that?"— The lord added another question, but without removing his hand from that round face.— "I just asked why you're hurt."
The boy blinked, as if he had just been told something he had never heard before, opened his mouth, and finally, after many days of silence, his voice came out emotional but clear:
— "It's just that no one has ever asked me how I was, sir. Not even my parents…"
Rin opened his eyes slightly, surprised by the boy's soft, calm voice. He was so surprised that he instinctively let go of the child's chin and raised an eyebrow.
— "So you did know how to talk, child of man."
The tone was not mocking, but full of strangeness.
—"Why did you remain silent in front of this Lord before?"
The boy lowered his gaze slightly, thoughtful, before answering just as gently:
—"Since he was always angry, I thought the noise bothered him. That's why I kept quiet."
Rin watched him silently. He didn't know if the boy was lying or if he was just too smart to be cautious and read his surroundings. There was a sigh from Rin, and then an unexpectedly serious question:
—"Your name."
The boy raised his head slightly, as if this were important. Something in his face lit up, even with the bruises visible.
—"My name is Yō Hiori."
The Kirin repeated that strange name in his head. Not out loud, at least not yet. He just turned around, settling back into his corner, without further insistence. But that night, his closeness no longer made him uncomfortable. In fact, he let him come close enough so that the boy was now resting near his curly tail. Of course, just to make sure the boy didn't try anything strange.
It was just a precaution.
All Rin could see now was that the boy didn't move. He just looked down and held his food in both hands, as if hoping Rin would, for once, accept it.
Although the Kirin said nothing more that night, he did not dismiss it with disdain either.
He did not express acceptance, but the next day Yō saw that the food he had brought to that Lord was no longer there, which made the boy smile even more.
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In the following weeks, when the first light of dawn filtered through the trees, Rin knew he was ready.
The wounds had completely healed. The scabs were gone, leaving his skin immaculate and smooth. His horn was restored, which meant his magic would once again flow with warm, dense force beneath his skin. He no longer felt the dead weight of his body, and he was finally whole, or close enough to return to his own world.
Go back…
The Kirin rose silently. His agile, firm body barely touched the ground. Yō was still asleep, curled up in the wood, one hand still holding his tail. As if he still wanted to cling to the warmth it emanated. Rin watched him with an unreadable expression, as once again that strange warmth pressed against his chest, right where his sternum bones began.
Annoyed by that feeling, Rin just looked away and muttered to himself.
—"It's nothing, just a lukewarm impression."
Perhaps it would be best for both of them if he left before the feeling worsened. So, bending down to gently release the boy's hand from his tail, he stepped back, turned, and, without a sound, walked confidently toward the temple exit, his insides growling and growling silently. There was a clearing in the trees where the energy of the world was steady enough to open a portal.
That's where he was headed. It was time to return to his own world.
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With the long, silent stride of his bare feet, Rin advanced until he found the ideal spot to open the portal. All he needed to do was simply gather energy in his horn and position his hands precisely to cut the line separating space and distance toward his destination.
Just one more gesture.
A simple movement, and he would be far away, but then, something in his environment changed.
Human voices and too close to your location.
The lord stopped immediately, moving swiftly like a shadow toward shadows. He slid to the top of a tree and listened intently. They were two adult humans, dressed in worn clothes and mud-covered boots. Their faces were partially covered by crude masks, but what was most suspicious was what dangled from their belts.
They were rusty knives.
Beside those humans were at least two dogs, one of them so impatient that it tugged on the leash with an anxious force to move forward.
—"He's close. I told you, that thieving rat couldn't have gone far."
—"Are you sure this rag will do?"
—"Yes. It's his. The dog already has the scent. Let's go."
The hidden lord narrowed his eyes.
One of the men held a grimy piece of cloth, which he held to the dog's snout. The beast sniffed intensely, tensed its body, and let out a low bark. Without waiting for instructions, the man released the dogs, which ran into the foliage, hastily guiding the humans to where they needed to go.
Once again silence reigned, those humans were hunting someone.
Rin could have left at that moment, after all, a human matter was not his problem, but his curiosity to know made his instinct guide him towards the point where the humans paused.
In a couple of steps, he stealthily approached the place where the humans had been moments before and among the trampled leaves and the turned earth, he saw something that he discerned with the element of the forest.
A dirty piece of blue blanket, stained with dirt and dried blood, but still bearing the embroidered pattern of a sleeping sheep.
Rin recognized the blessed pattern instantly.
The expression on the Lord's humanoid face didn't immediately change. In fact, at first, he remained stoic, almost impassive, as if the discovery were of no importance.
Or at least it stayed that way until a child's scream echoed through the forest.
That sound had cut through the air with a violence that passed through the trees and made the leaves vibrate.
That voice was recognized by Lord Rin's sharp ears, and, after a strong wind and the whistling of the forest, his turquoise pupils quickly sharpened into a dangerously thin line. His breathing, silent until then, became deeper and more bestial.
An invisible tension began to run through his body.
His brow furrowed to the point where several throbbing veins popped out near his eyes, his jaw clenched, and a faint vibration ran through the base of his horn, as if the magic within him were beginning to stir. The edges of his eyes hardened as the sclera of his eyes darkened, his skin tightened, and little by little, his face took on a ferocity he rarely displayed. It wasn't anger; it was something more primal and otherworldly. Befitting a divine beast that had helped him survive centuries of violent territorial wars and now wanted to claim his blood.
Rin's body leaned slightly forward, as if the lord's most bestial instincts were taking control of his mind. The claws on his hands, always hidden or restrained, emerged clearly, ready to tear.
The Kirin would no longer be just a creature watching in the shadows. Someone was going to pay dearly for giving it a reason to stay.
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The dogs returned first, panting and dragging something in their jaws. The weight of Yō's child's body scraped against the ground, leaving a trail of dust. The boy barely moved, shielding himself as best he could from the animals' dragging.
The two men followed them at a steady pace, their gazes utterly lacking in mercy. One of them kicked the boy without hesitation, hard enough to send him tumbling to the ground.
—"You disgusting brat! Did you think you could rob us and get away with it?"
Hiori shrank in place, crying barely a voice like a thread of sobs.
—"Sorry… I was just hungry…"
Another kick from the second man hit him in the stomach, knocking out a lot of air in the process.
— "Us too!" — the other yelled, raising his knife without hesitation. — "We let you get away before, but now you're going to learn not to stick your hands where they don't belong, you damn scum."
The dogs growl, alert to the men's movements, as if they were already trained to be accomplices of those ruthless adults.
The boy had no escape. Hiori's hands were shaking, his face covered in dirt, blood, and tears revealed the fear he was experiencing at that moment, and his body, fragile and bruised, could take no more.
Amidst all this fear and chaos, only one ethereal figure came to Hiori's little mind.
A firm but understandable voice.
That unexpected warmth of curly strands.
A turquoise look that is stoic, but sincere and without any kind of deception behind it.
No one, in his short life, had ever seen him with such sincerity as that magical lord. He wasn't like his parents, who always told him:
— “This is all your fault, Yō.”
— “We got divorced because you couldn’t be the best.”
He didn't see him as an object to be exploited or profited from. He simply treated him with pure sincerity, and now…
— “Who did this to you?”
And now, he'll never be able to see him again.
— "M-My Lord" — whispered little Yō , his chest shaking with a stifled cry. — "help me…"
It was a prayer. A broken whisper that the forest, somehow, seemed to hear, because it responded with a dry thunderclap that rumbled from high in the trees, even though the sky remained clear. The ground trembled slightly, as if something ancient were awakening beneath the earth's crust. A presence rose up, dense and majestic, like a raging storm held back for centuries.
The men stopped, knives still raised, as an unnatural wind caressed their skin with icy fingers. The dogs, until then ferocious, began to whine, retreating with their tails between their legs and their ears drooping. Something invisible was crushing the air around them, charging it with magic.
And then they saw it.
Two turquoise eyes, burning like celestial embers, shone in the shadows. A towering silhouette emerged from the foliage, its body covered in deep blue electric currents that didn't burn, but made it seem wrapped in sacred thunder.
It didn't walk; the creature floated, barely touching the ground, as if the world itself were moving aside in its wake.
It was a creature, half beast and half god. It had the slender, muscular build of a wild steed, but its hide was intertwined with sea scales that reflected the moonlight like crystals. From its back sprouted strands of energy like curling, flowing manes, dancing to the rhythm of the arcane wind. Its legs ended in dark talons capable of rending the most solid stone, and its single horn glowed with an energy so dense it distorted the air around it.
— "W-what the fuck is that thing?" — One of the men stammered, his face pale, backing away awkwardly.
The Kirin automatically glared at him with destructive fury and in that instant, there was no place in the forest where sin could hide.
It wasn't a demon, of course not. It was judge and punishment incarnated in a divine beast.
With a mixture of a roar and a deep, deafening whinny, which emerged from his robust chest, charged with magic and rage, the air around him cracked as if reality itself trembled under his will. The dogs, hearing the paranormal noise, fled far away, leaving their shuddering masters to their fate.
The humans screamed, but their voices were drowned out by the crash of the trees as they bent under the power that had been unleashed.
The beast launched itself at them with superhuman speed. One tried to raise his knife, but he didn't have time. The Kirin's claw pierced him like paper, and his body was thrown several meters away from the area before crashing against a tree trunk, inert, like a broken rag doll.
The other, paralyzed by fear, fell to his knees. He tried to implore, to raise his hands, to mumble something that might have been a plea, but the Kirin didn't hear him.
There was no room for their pleas.
With a ground-shaking trot, the Kirin charged at him with brutal force, its sharp horn slashing forward, piercing the man's chest. The contact of the skin with the sacred electric energy incinerated the impure flesh. The body convulsed once and then evaporated lifelessly, leaving behind only smoke and ash.
Silence returned to the forest.
All that remained was the murmur of the wind through the trees and the trembling body of a child, still sobbing, huddled among the roots of a nearby tree. Yō couldn't stop crying. The pain from the beating burned through every corner of his small body, and his arms wrapped around the bark with all his might, as if it could protect him from the fear and death he'd felt so close. His breath came in ragged gasps, his sobs trailing off into tiny hiccups. His vision was blurred, but he could still clearly see the creature meters away.
However, the boy didn't move. He didn't even run or scream in horror; he just stared, dumbfounded. His eyes wide open, in a state of icy shock.
The creature, noticing the boy's gaze, approached him in complete silence. Each slow step seemed to weigh like a heartbeat in the earth itself. The kirin advanced with unnatural majesty, covered in a mystical blue glow. Its body gleamed with sharp scales, its single horn still throbbed with suppressed magic, and its razor-sharp eyes seemed to see deeper than flesh.
Yō trembled, not understanding what was approaching. He didn't know whether to fear or surrender, and yet all anxious and fatalistic thoughts gradually faded away as his cyan eyes met the creature's.
That turquoise glow, its intensity, and that curly fur swirling around its neck, tail, and front legs, shining like sea foam… he had seen it all before.
It took Yō only a few seconds to recognize him.
— "My… lord…?" — the boy whispered, as if the word were melting on his lips; and his tender eyes filled with even more tears, not just from fear, but from relief.
His voice was barely a whisper among the trees, but it was enough for the creature. Upon hearing its title the creature's sharp pupils... became round and with a snort from its snout it stuck out its tongue to begin licking the child's visible wounds.
The infant's laughter soon began to appear, tickled by the scratchy texture. Since Hiori was distracted, he didn't notice how several of his wounds began to heal and disappear.
With almost no effort, the boy easily separated himself from the root, and with his small arms, he reached out for the creature's snout. He brushed the Kirin's face with his small, human fingers, touching the familiar warmth of the scales.
The beast looked at him to make sure he had no more injuries and was satisfied with his work. Seeing how the boy was now calmer, the divine magic began to dissipate again.
A harmless turquoise light enveloped him completely, soft as a mist, refreshing like the sea. The flowing mane shrank, as did the horn, in a silent glow. The body changed and refined into a more humanoid form until, kneeling before the boy, the dark-green-haired lord stood revealed, covered in his elegant robes, stoles, and ornaments, but with the same turquoise eyes filled with stoic calm.
It was Rin.
Yō, stunned, and with tears of relief running down his cheeks, was filled with so many joyful emotions at the same time that he was forced to throw his Lord with his small arms that surrounded Rin's neck, hugging him tightly and hiding his small face in his shoulder.
— "My lord,"—the boy repeated, a sob breaking between his lips.— "I thought you were gone."
Rin said nothing at first. His hands, still trembling with the lingering energy of the fight, gently rested on the boy's back. He wrapped his arms around him completely, cradling him against his chest as if trying to rebuild him with the warmth of his arms alone.
— "Nonsense..."—He muttered, his voice barely audible, but filled with a hidden, restrained concern. — "This Lord heard your call, even if you didn't shout my name."
The boy just nodded, pressing his forehead to Rin's chest. He didn't have the strength to speak, only to cry, knowing that he was finally safe.
Rin remained silent for a moment longer, letting the trembling of the small body in his arms calm. The magic still flickered faintly at his fingertips, as if refusing to fade completely, but he knew it couldn't stay.
Gently, he lowered the boy to face him. His turquoise eyes met Yō's, still soaked with tears. Rin reached up and wiped some of the dust from his cheek.
— "Yō, listen to this Lord carefully." Rin said Hiori's name for the first time, but in a calm and firm voice.— "I can't stay with you here. This Lord must leave."
Yō's face twisted, first in confusion and then in terror.
— "W-what?" — The boy stammered, his voice cracking with fear of abandonment. — "Are you leaving? Where?"
Rin stroked the little boy's head, stopping at the crown, where the sky-blue hair swirled in soft strands.
—"To my home. This Lord have people who need this Lord's presence." — Rin said.
Hiori stared at him and almost automatically asked him:
— “Take me with you,” Yō pleaded with the lord with a glimmer of hope.
But Rin's head shook from side to side.
—"Wherever Lord is going isn't a safe place for a human child like you. I need you to stay here, be a good boy, and stay out of trouble."
Yō stared at him as if the world were falling apart. The words hurt more than any blow before, as something inside him broke at hearing them, and without thinking, he gripped Rin's neck tightly again, as if afraid he would vanish if he let go.
—"No! I don't want you to go! I want to be with my Lord!" — Hiori's voice held such a painful desperation that even the wind seemed to stop. — "I can learn to fend for myself. I won't be a burden to you! I'll do anything! But please don't leave me."
Rin frowned. His characteristic stoic expression showed signs of doubt, but above all, a pain that had only one solution. His inner beast roared inside, stirring restlessly and refusing to leave his protégé. Because yes, the bond was already made. Even without a pact, the bond between sacred creature and protégé had long been established.
There was no denial.
Rin sighed deeply, lowering his head until he was level with the boy.
— "Listen carefully," —Rin spoke to him again, but this time in a deeper voice. —"If you come with me, your life will change forever. You won't be a normal child who grows up and will have to learn to survive every day of your life."
Yō stared at him, but in the end nodded quickly, without thinking much about it.
—"I can do it, I've been living in the forest since I ran away from my parents."
Rin knew it perfectly well, but, to silence the inner voice of his beast and the tears of his protégé, he closed his eyes for a second and then, seriously, told him the following guidelines:
—"Three rules".
Yō held his breath.
— "If you can fulfill these three conditions of your Lord, then you may remain as long as your mortal life lasts." — Then he hardened his voice. — "Otherwise, if you are unable to fulfill them, I will return you to your world."
Hiori, wiping the tears from his face, just nodded and listened attentively to the three rules his Lord was proposing to him so that he could remain by his side.
—"First: You'll look out for yourself. I won't always be there to save you. You must learn to defend yourself."
—"Yes"— Hiori nodded, small but firm.
—"Second: You will find your own food. Don't expect others to do it for you. If you're hungry or in need, you'll have to find a way to take care of it."
Hiori nodded again.
— "And third…"— Rin held his cheek, forcing him to look directly into his eyes. — "If I ever order you to stay in one place and wait for me… you will. No matter how long it takes, you have to wait for me. Understood?"
—"I-I'll do it… I promise…"
Rin watched him for a few more seconds in silence, as if weighing every decision he'd made so far. But finally, the lord's turquoise gaze softened, followed by his hand extended toward the boy.
—"Then follow me."— The divine beast said calmly.
Yō looked at him with those round, shining eyes, a mixture of fear, excitement, but above all, hope. He was about to take a step that would change everything, and even though everything was confusing, he didn't hesitate for a moment. In fact, he reached out firmly and took Rin's hand in both of his little hands, holding on as if letting go would mean losing his only refuge.
The air around them began to change. The temperature dropped slightly, as if magic condensed reality itself. Behind Rin, space distorted, rippling like the surface of a lake when a stone falls into it. A line of light drew vertically in the air, thin as a hair, then slowly opened, revealing a threshold: an oval portal framed by floating arcane symbols, where on the other side was not a forest, but an unknown horizon.
Blue and green mists covered that strange world. There were mountains floating among the clouds, majestic creatures soaring through the sky, and forests so ancient they seemed forgotten by time. The air was filled with living energy, almost as if everything there breathed.
Yō stood open-mouthed and enraptured, his feet moving on their own, guided by Rin's firm hand.
— "Don't let go of this Lord's hand,"— Rin warned, still not looking at him. — "This world isn't like yours. If you get lost, it will be very difficult to find yourself again."
— "I won't let go," — the boy said immediately, with a pure conviction that momentarily thawed Rin's heart.
Finally, the two crossed the portal together, leaving behind a forest that had witnessed all the pain, fear, and hopelessness that had once gripped Yō's heart. Because now, on the other side, in a vast, alien world, he was no longer alone.
[Eleven years later]
The sun filtered through the tall branches of the impossibly tall trees, painting the river with flashes of emerald and silver. The waters were crystal-clear, almost magical, and the jade-scaled fish swam within with an elegance that defied the laws of the human world, but for Hiori, that was no longer surprising.
Standing on a flat rock at the river's edge, Hiori calmly drew his bow. His sharp, steady gaze followed the movements of his prey underwater. His bearing was gone from the fearful boy of yesteryear. Now, with his long, light blue hair tied back in a low ponytail, his upright posture, and his body trained by years of discipline, he looked like a proud, skilled, and handsome young man worthy of being a protégé of the Itoshi clan.
His long fingers released the string, giving it a familiar jingle from his earring.
The arrows whistled through the air three times with precision, and within seconds, three fish lay out of the water, still and perfect for dinner.
Hiori smiled with satisfaction at his improved aim; all his training had been worth it. Cautiously, he approached the shore and bent down, taking care not to wet the elegant robes he was wearing. After all, they were a precious gift from his Lord. Made of stronger, finer fabrics, they protected him from the cold and the hostility of other creatures and humans due to the emblem printed on his back. He removed them respectfully, folding them aside on a dry stone. Beneath those beautiful robes, he wore only a thin undergarment, almost translucent in the sunlight and tied to his body with a dark ribbon. His muscles moved naturally as he collected the dead fish, unaware of the divine figure watching him from a distance.
As he stood up and returned to the grass with the loot in his arms, Hiori felt the familiar warmth surrounding him. This caused the boy to look up and gasp in surprise because his Lord was there.
A few meters away, standing under the shade of a tree bent by time, Lord Rin was staring at him, his turquoise eyes shining like two icy moons. His stature and figure hadn't changed at all in these eleven years. Stately and solemn, his single horn gleaming in the filtered sunlight, his same stole and curly train blowing in the breeze, and his face unfathomably calm. If there was anything different about his appearance, it would only be the absence of one of his scale earrings, which dangled in Hiori's ear, a sign that he was related to his lord.
Their silhouettes seemed to be part of the landscape itself, as if nature had molded it to its liking.
Hiori stood still for a second, feeling his heart pound in his chest. A warm blush tinged his cheeks; he carefully lowered the fish onto the grass and, without another thought, ran toward the figure.
—Lord Rin! — He exclaimed with contained joy, which he only let out at moments like this.
Rin raised an eyebrow slightly, but he still didn't move. In fact, his eyes softened at the sight of him coming.
Hiori didn't stop walking until he was standing in front of Rin. And, as was his custom, he hugged him tightly without asking permission. His face buried itself in the other's chest, the only place in that world where he had always found peace.
Rin's cold hand automatically placed itself gently on Hiori's head, stroking his still damp hair.
— "I see your aim has improved," — Rin murmured calmly, his hand still on his head. — "Three arrows, three fish. You didn't waste a single shot."
Hiori felt the blood rush to his face even more. He gave a small, nervous laugh, lowering his gaze slightly, though his arms remained wrapped around Rin.
— "Oh, did you notice?"— the young man stammered, his voice trembling with emotion. — "I wanted to surprise him, although I still have a long way to go before I can land multiple prey with a single arrow."
— "Hmm?"— Rin looked at him with a hint of amusement in his eyes, something barely visible but very real. — "You're getting very ambitious, Hiori."
— "I didn't!" — The young man pulled away slightly, still laughing, his face burning. — I just wanted to… make sure I surprised him with my new techniques.
Rin watched him silently, as if reading every intention, every unspoken word behind that sentence. Then he let his fingers slide once more through the young man's damp, loose hair before gracefully stepping away.
Hiori stood up straight, and with that gesture, it became even clearer to the Lord that his protégé had grown quite a bit. He was almost as tall as Rin, with only a few more centimeters remaining until they were the same size. Who would have imagined that the child lost in such a short time was now close to reaching adulthood? He was going to miss that lost child, but he didn't reject his younger self. After all, despite the change, they were both still the same person who found him in that abandoned temple.
And, in contrast to Rin's thoughts, despite the passage of time, in Hiori's eyes, his lord still seemed like an untouchable, powerful and distant being, even though he was standing right in front of him.
— "I'm glad you're back, my lord," — Hiori said softly, picking up the robe he'd left folded near the fish. — "Every time you go out into those shadow-infested areas, I feel something inside me wait, still, until I see you again."
— "We made a deal, remember?" — Rin replied as he started walking toward the cliff house, knowing Hiori would follow. — "You wait for me, and I'll come back."
Hiori nodded silently. Sometimes, when Rin was away, the loneliness became unbearable. Although he already knew how to hunt, build, and live on his own, nothing filled the emptiness of those days without his Lord. Still, he remained steadfast, because he had made a promise.
A little ironic, because even though Rin said he wouldn't always protect him, during their first few years together he never allowed anything to hurt him. Rin, without saying so, had saved him more times than Hiori could count.
That's why now he wanted to do the same for his Lord.
Be strong and worthy of staying by his side.
As they walked back together, the sun was already beginning to set behind the floating mountains, dyeing the sky pink and gold. Hiori walked beside him, carrying the fish in a small net bag, his gaze forward and at peace.
A thought crossed the mind of the young man with cyan hair, gentle but constant. He had lived in this world for eleven years, had seen it face impossible beasts, creatures straight out of nightmares, and also witnessed the most solemn moments of silence, where Rin gazed at the horizon as if still searching for something that needed searching.
Hiori knew that, even though they walked together, there was still a distance between them. Not of affection, not of trust… but of power.
— “Someday,” — the young man thought as they advanced under the golden sky. — “I want to be at his level. I want him to look up to him on the battlefield and see me. Not like a child lost in the forest, but someone he can trust.”
The sea breeze came up from the cliff, stirring Rin's stole, and their hair danced in the wind.
— “I want to fight by your side, Lord Rin. Not only because I owe you everything, but because I choose you every day.”
Hiori narrowed his eyes, determined.
— “I will soon become stronger, and when that time comes… you will never fight alone again.”
Rin turned his face slightly, as if sensing something, and his turquoise eyes met Hiori's cyan ones. The young man said nothing, but held his gaze, and for a moment, Rin seemed to smile slightly.
— "Hurry up, before the sky turns to night," Rin said, resuming his serene gait. "This Lord needs to make a request of you."
Hiori, with a smile forming on his face and carrying his robes with renewed pride, exclaimed with enthusiasm:
— Yes, Lord Rin!
And as twilight enveloped the floating world, the two continued walking together, toward their clifftop home.
The end.