"Hurry it up slave!" The Serpent lord condescendingly shouted to the redheaded worker, his voice echoing in the dark of night.

Deepscar obediently hastened, hoping to avoid his Master's whip. The out-of-the-ordinary occurrence he encountered earlier with a Lotus had been disorienting him. What was the reason for that girl's interest in his father's murderers? What did she care about them? What does she have to do with them? These questions, plus the long hidden memories that the encounter had stirred up within him were troubling him.

Deepscar and the Serpent officer were two of the few left in the field that late at night. Most of those who were still there were the slave-driving lords watching as peasants wrapped up their work for the night. Deepscar and his lord were standing quite a distance from the others, finishing up what was left of the work for the day.

"What's wrong with you, Wolf? Can't do a peasant's job? Make it fast!" The master ordered, impatient. "It's late and I'm tired, though I won't hesitate to whip you if you take any longer."

"You're not the only one who's tired," Deepscar said under his breath. His shoulders were already aching from the heavy loads he had been carrying throughout the day.

"What did you say?!" The Serpent lord shouted, taking hold of his whip. "You worthless imbecile? You dare answer me?!" He flicked his whip swiftly across the back of the young slave, making him grimace in pain. The redhead dropped the load on his back and stood up straight, glaring down at the shorter slave driver. Before he could do more however, he felt another sharp sting of a whip across his back, followed by yet another aimed at his heels as a nearby Serpent Lord neared to help his fellow officer. Forced down on his knees by the wounds cut into his limbs, the two Serpent lords began whipping him angrily, waiting for him to scream in pain as he clenched his jaw and refused to let them have the satisfaction of putting him to shame. They whipped every part of his body until he finally slumped onto the ground, wincing in pain.

"How dare you attack your Master?!" The original officer challenged angrily, still whipping the already bloodied slave.

Suddenly, a sharp crystalline object pierced through one of them, surprising the other as his fellow Serpent dropped dead on the ground. Before he could recover from his shock, he felt the same diamond blade cut across his back and stab him from behind.

Barely conscious, Deepscar could see nothing but a familiar cloaked figure. He realized that it was the girl he had encountered earlier that afternoon.

She crouched down beside him. "Are you okay?" he heard her ask. He could hardly see her for his vision was beginning to blur, and when he tried to answer her, he found that he could not speak or almost even breathe. She helped him up and aided him as he walked; trying to hasten their pace for more Serpent officers had begun to come around.

"We better hurry," She told him, as they broke into a slow run towards the forest.

They kept moving for some time, even after they had lost those soldiers. The plentiful trees and the darkness of the night were on their side, making it easier for them to elude the officers on their tail. Axyll aided him patiently until she was sure no one was following them anymore. She then leaned Deepscar against a tree, removing her cloak and resting his head on it like a pillow, before sitting next to him, leaning back her head on its trunk.

Deepscar was breathless and utterly exhausted by the pain caused by the wounds from the two Serpent lords' heartless abuse. But, his curiosity overpowering him, he still tried to speak.

"Thank you...for helping me," He breathed deeply, trying to make up for the air he'd lost, "But why did you?"

She was silent for some time, unsure of what to say. This silence stretched out uneasily until she finally decided to answer. "We're not very different, you know," she said softly. "Though it might not seem that way, we both share the same fate...the same pain."

She took a deep breath; a sad crept across her face. "I helped you...because I realized we both carry a similar goal and I know the pain of being unable to fulfill it."

The young Wolf didn't reply, for he did not know what to make of her blunt revelation. But she continued nonetheless, breathless herself, "My father is trapped in an unimaginable world of intense torment. To avenge him, if not save him, is probably the last thing I can do for him."

Deepscar smiled but kept silent, a strong feeling of gratefulness surging through him. But he was too tired and too weak to say anything else. He just leaned there, letting himself regain his strength. Neither of them spoke until the next morning, but it was nevertheless clear to both that they had each other's trust.

After a while, the young Lotus looked up and realized that her companion was awake and watching her intently. She returned his gaze and they regarded each other for a few moments, before Deepscar finally spoke.

"I'd like to know your name, or at least, whatever you think it suitable for me to call you."

"Axyll, my name is Axyll."

Deepscar nodded. "Axyll..." he paused. "A warrior's name."

"Indeed I was created to be nothing else but a warrior..." Axyll said softly. And loudly, she asked, "And what may I call you Wolf?"

Deepscar glanced up, fixing his gaze on the sky. "My fellow slaves called me Deepscar, as did the lords who watched over us. My real Wolf name I never uttered upon being sold to slavery, for such would be an insult to my clan. So having nothing to call me, and out of convenience, I suppose, they referred to my wounds and gave me a slave's name, a name I intend to use until I've avenged my father and regained his honor, and mine as well."

Axyll nodded, once again reminded of her reason for saving him. She then took something from behind her back and walked up to him.

"Take this." She handed him an unusually styled dagger, "You're defenseless without a weapon."

He took it slowly and looked at it. It was intricately designed with spaces to make it very lightweight.

"Where did you get this?" he inquired, quite awed by the object. "Its craftsmanship is exquisite…"

"I made it," she said with a smile, heading back to the spot she had previously occupied. Deepscar's eyes followed her before shifting to where she had originally taken the dagger. There on the ground lay two more weapons. One was an extraordinary, unusually shaped blade; the other was a kind of small, circular shield with a thin blade surrounding it.

"And you made those too?"

"No," she replied, taking the round one, "This I took from the Serpent," she said, inserting her arm into the strap attached below it. She looked at it, amused, moving her arm around to see how well it fit. She then used it to point to the other one. "That, from the Wolf."

Deepscar's eyes widened. "So you have been to the Wolf?"

"Yes, and I suppose you want to go there?"

The young man's expression revealed sadness, his eyes still fixed on the Wolf weapon. "More than anything..."

Axyll respectfully stayed quiet for a few moments, taking off the weapon on her arm and laying it back down. After which, she spoke again, this time to ask a question.

"Tell me, what holds you to the Wolf Clan? What binds you to your old loyalties?"

Deepscar replied simply. "I am a Wolf. Though I no longer feel worthy of our great name, I find myself still unable to let go. I was raised as a proud member of our Clan and that thought was my only comfort during all my years of slavery. And so despite the fact that I've been away from the territory for so long, there is no other place I could really ever consider my home."

"But what do you expect to find? What could possibly be left for you there after all these years?" Axyll paused, and asked softly, "How could it possibly be a home without your family?"

His messy hair concealed his features in a shadow as he looked down. "There's more to my family waiting for me back there," he continued softly, "...or at least that's what I want to believe."

The young Lotus just looked at him for she understood little of what he was saying. She remembered herself in him; a displaced clansman with practically no reason to go back home, no matter how strong his clan's blood runs through his veins. The only difference is that despite this, he still wished to go back. Axyll would not even try to return to the Lotus if it were not to rescue his father and kill her persecutor. In a way, she honored this Wolf's great attachment to his clan; something she never had because her whole existence revolved around the sole purpose of rebelling to her own clan's master.

"I admire you for that.." she whispered inaudibly, making Deepscar look up questioningly.

"What did you say?"

She shook her head and instead replied, "I'll help you go back."

Deepscar gave her a surprised look, and then unsuccessfully tried to stand up to talk to her eye to eye. "You don't really have to. You have done enough for me already by helping me gain my freedom. For that I am grateful. But it would be far too much if..."

The young lady laughed softly, "You're still too weak to walk on your own, let alone hunt for food and protect yourself. You will need help since it is no short journey back to you clan."

Having given up on standing, he leaned back down against the tree instead. "Thank you," he said sincerely.

"It would be awfully dreadful, after all," Axyll continued, "if the person I helped escape be killed in a matter of days because he was still unable to fight for himself...Wouldn't you think?"

"I still don't understand, though, why you insist in helping me."

"I told you," She replied. "Our lives are parallel. You seek revenge for you father's death. I, too, want to avenge all the suffering my own father is experiencing."

Deepscar opened his eyes to look at her, "Experiencing?" he echoed her words, noticing its present tense.

The young lady nodded, her brow furrowing a little. "Death is his only escape if I fail to save him. But in that world, death is inexistent."

"I can't imagine," the Wolf replied, looking down. He could only half comprehend what his companion had said, but he knew that the Lotus and their magic were never easy to understand.

"No one can imagine it unless they've experienced it," She replied, turning away. Even now the torment was still very clear to her. They fell silent for a long time before Axyll turned to draw her attention back to her weapons.

For an instant, Deepscar noticed a flicker of sunlight reflect blue and green in Axyll's eyes when she moved her head. He found it highly unusual and it fascinated him.

"Lovely..." Deepscar murmured, awed.

Axyll turned to look at him, as surprised as he was amazed.

"Blue and green," he explained simply.

"What?"

"Your eyes...you have the most interesting colors in them. I don't think I've ever seen anything like it before."

"Ah," the Lotus released a sigh, "A constant reminder of my existence and my purpose."

"Your existence?"

"Yes," her answer preceded a long silence.

The young man opened his mouth to speak again but before he could, Axyll's low voice had already began telling him a little of her story.

"I was formed to be a real Lotus purely through Lotus magic. I was created for only one purpose..to defeat the greatest adversary of my father, or rather, my creator, if he failed to do it himself," She paused, "My eyes lead me back to that purpose when I drift astray."

"Who was his greatest adversary?" He inquired.

"The leader of the Lotus Clan,"

Deepscar was silenced by her answer. For so long, no one could ever beat the Lotus Clan's leader, not even the wisest from the Serpent nor from the Wolf. And here was a girl made for no other reason but to defeat him.

"His defeat is that important to your father?"

"And to me," she told him, softly. "For it is the sole reason for my existence."

There was silence for a while, until Axyll continued. "I was never really meant to exist, after all. My being here is beyond the designs of fate, yet he never made it seem that way. He gave me life, an identity and a purpose....I owe everything I am to my father, and to fail him would be the greatest shame I can imagine. That's why the Lotus can never be my home…"

The Wolf looked at the dagger he was holding, deep in thought. He now understood why she had been denying her Lotus roots. Her mere purpose was already a denial of where she had come. And he understood why she could never call herself a Lotus until its leader, the man she was made to kill, was no more.

Deepscar glanced back at her, but her unusual eyes were now veiled by her wavy hair. Somehow, he felt for her. He believed it was impossible to exist for just a single purpose; everything in the world is too intertwined for it to be possible. And it saddened him somewhat that this young woman, who had come off to him as quite a remarkable person, would think otherwise.

"There is no distinct purpose that can determine any person's destiny," He spoke in an attempt to comfort her in some way. But she kept silent.

Little by little, Deepscar felt his uneasiness towards this girl slowly receding. Her reasons for rescuing him had become clearer, and as he had begun to learn about her story, he felt the unusual bond they shared, grateful once more to have someone to trust. With a resigned sigh, he leaned his head and looked back up at the sky. She was right. He was still too weak to wander around on his own, and it had been so long since he last walked through these forests. His body was still in pain, so he tried to relax, somehow letting go of the uneasiness he felt at the thought of traveling with a Lotus. He turned his glance towards her pale face, smiling a little as he watched her. < No, I'm not traveling with a Lotus, but traveling with a friend. >