“So you are TsuYa, the son of ZenToYa?” the deep, calm voice intoned across the expanse of the Gathering Room. Now that the welcoming festivities were over, sound seemed to carry and stretch through the open space in an unusual way. “Yes, that’s right?” TsuYa gave a startled glance up from his thoughts and lingering [...]
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“SoYa, talk to me! What’s going on?” Father’s face rippled in a blur of worry and fatherly concern. Kneeling, the winged man placed a hand on both of SoYa’s shoulders, pulling the Apprentice to face him. “Father,” SoYa’s voice was strangled as his hand waved with an exaggerated motion, “It’s Zemi… he’s…” Maybe it was [...]
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“Your spirit is in great turmoil, ZenToYa.” The warrior startled in surprise at the unexpected sound of the voice, his own tone reflecting his puzzlement, “Aur?” Despite the amount of time that Zento had spent there in the small room that had been set aside for Aur, very little communication had been made between them. [...]
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“He’s not responding to anything,” AsaHi’s worried eyes lifted as SoYa entered the room. “What do we do?” “Still?” the Apprentice frowned, setting a tray down on the stone wall-table. He brought in a small bowl, the scent of warm herbal soup rising with the shifting of steam. And a pitcher of drink. Not as [...]
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The silence after the storm fell over the lands of the Spiral. Zento could feel it shiver through the forests, a whisper of change sweeping on the sooty wind. The same shiver rippled over his own body as he strode out the Keep’s ornate doors. As they grounded shut behind him, ZenToYa quite unceremoniously flopped [...]
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Zento could hear the hollow sound of his breath expanding and contracting around him in the narrow corridor. No matter what he did, he couldn’t make the sound any less nervous. No matter how firm his footsteps sounded as he strode toward the lit archway, he couldn’t ease the thundering of his heart. I must [...]
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“You cannot be here!” a woman’s high-pitched voice squealed, like fingernails on slate. Zento couldn’t help but wince, stopping his advance more because of the ear-shattering sound rather than the demand itself. Shoulders back, hair tied away from his face in a battle-knot, bhinod ready at hand – the warrior stood firmly at the top [...]
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