[ R for possible language]

With Ethan working in Kurayo with Nemesis meant Isleen had free time. The last time she had idle hands, she found herself getting plucked from the masses by a god that interested in her gifts in hemomancy and nectromancy. The fact she was a seer was a bonus given his need for war and destruction. The dark haired girl had no interest in being a tool for someone else’s chaos again. Isleen’s needs were simple, requiring only her mate and a semblance of a pack. Her wolven nature required solitude and yet a place to belong. If she were being honest with herself, she knew Nosse likely would not provide this for her. These people were too clean for the filth on her soul. They had golden hearts and pure intentions, wanting to better the world for everyone and protect the innocent. It was a noble sentiment, but her soul was arcane. Isleen could not bring herself to disappoint her family with her decision. She had just found Kiba, Teu, and the rest again.

Naturally, Kythe and Kiba allowed her to stay without question. Her room was nothing special, which was perfectly fine by her. The seer wanted to keep her head low and try to remain fairly anonymous. However, the fact remains she was a daughter of Kiba Balatro so there was murmurs when she was around. Everyone knew Teu and her role was clear within the guild. Isleen, for all intent and purposes, was new. No one questioned her relation to Kiba despite the truth that they shared no blood. He and Nami had raised her since she was an infant as a favor to her birth mother. Isleen thanked the gods every day she looked more like her birth father than her biological mother because it allowed her to blend in with the Balatro family effortlessly. The family did not lie about her to tie to them; they simply didn’t speak of it. It seemed unimportant to treat her as anything less than biological family. There were some days she suffered from imposter syndrome but that was her problem.

One morning she woke to the clanking of hammers. She groaned and wrapped her arms around her pillow tighter. Her sleep schedule had not fully adjusted since her arrival.

Darkness. Winding darkness. Flanking flames. No, not flames. Lava. And yet, chilly air - the kind that sinks deep into one’s bones. Suddenly, total darkness once more. Slowly, a room came into few. In the middle sat a grand, lavish throne. It had to be several feet high, but that was not the most imposing aspect of the room. Instead, it was the man that sat upon in with a wicked grin, covered eyes, and massive wings that were dark like onyx. His fingers rapped against the end of the armrest. Arrogance and anger radiated off him like a thick fog,

Her eyes snapped open with a puzzled expression. The girl truly believed her gift of sight had not followed her into this new world. It must have been a dream, an incredibly odd dream. The pounding sound distracted her thoughts. After a few frustrating moments, she rose from bed with a huff. She dressed in a simple grey dress with embroidery around the neckline and bell sleeves. The wolf slid on plain shoes and pulled her hair back in a bushy ponytail. Isleen felt a little woozy and decided to wash her face in the bath area of the hall. After a few splashes of cool water she glanced at a mirror. The uneasy feeling returned. “No,” she growled softly. The wolf should have immediately gone to Kythe to discuss it but she refused. She was just a normal, half breed with a knack for blood and death.

The girl made her way to one of the kitchens without bothering to acknowledge anyone’s existence. She plucked an apple from a fruit bowl and pivoted away. Hastily, she bit down and found herself in one of the purposely unfinished rooms. She sat upon a polished rock and glanced at the ivy growing up the walls. Isleen bit into the apple, now looking up at the exposed sky. She didn’t quite understand the idea behind these random areas that were being left untouched. She glanced down at her seat and wondered if it were significant. The wolf shrugged. An old, random rock was the least of her concerns.

Nosse. 

Trust his his mother to name her Guild after the Elvish word for family, or Clan, or tribe. It was so like Kythe. So pretentious, so… pathetic. He loathed the meaning behind the name, despised the very thought of it if he was honest, but since their run in with Xyaban, the Guild and his mother’s people had come in handy since, and they had helped in rebuilding his beloved Ria’s confidence, had given her a purpose and a reason to concentrate on something other than what had happened. 
Silently he reminded himself to seek out the Archangel that has removed his lover’s suffering from her, Ria had seemed lighter and far more like herself since her meeting with Artiya’il. Anyone that helped his heart out of the darkness, had his gratitude, and he would ensure he repaid the Angel for what she had done. 

He was grateful for his lack of sight sometimes, his time in the Guild was one of those times. He had no need to see the construction, or the purposefully half done rooms, he knew his mother far better than she realised… sadly on this one point he agreed with her. The Guild hall as perfectly positioned, nestled deep within the mountains, the surrounding forests filled with wild beasts that could mislead those not deemed as friends, keeping unwanted visitors away from their doors. From the sky the Hall looked unfinished, dead and buried, falling apart with the ravages of time, a place that was better to stay away from, lest the walls crumble around you and crush you beneath their stones. Nature had reclaimed this place, and his mother intended to leave it that way, a measure of protection as well as respect for the world they lived in. 

Entering the kitchen, the man flicked his black wings, his Drake sat upon his shoulder, Silence ensuring his master was made aware of any loose debris that might fell him, Raith’s blindfold in place around his eyes. He found himself some bread and some water, wondering what dark tasks would be given to him today, after all despite the Nosse’s sunny disposition, even they found themselves involved in the shadows… a good thing for him and for Dae really, as they would have been lost in this Guild otherwise.

A scent caught his attention, and Raith turned his head slightly, sightless gaze fixed upon the point beyond. The blood was that of Alairia’s family, though not of one he had met before. ”Another of mother’s adopted ilk? How many of you are there exactly?”

If she were willing to admit she had a vision, that meant she had to tell her family. Isleen knew her father and sister would not react poorly, but she feared it would rub Ethan the wrong way. He had been beside her the entire ‘blessing.’ Plus, the seer never fully developed the skill. She saw glimpses of scenes but never more than a few seconds. She and Kythe’s relationship began when she was a child due to this ability. The Minadrias woman had become a mentor of sorts. Isleen was not a very good student, a fact that she was currently regretting. Apparently the girl’s father was now in a relationship with Kythe’s daughter. This essentially made Kythe Isleen’s grandmother.

For a moment, she thought of Teu’s children as she nearly finished the apple. They were full grown adults now and she had missed most of it. She believed they both were in relationships but wasn’t certain. Regardless, she thought of their ever expanding family tree. When she allowed herself to think of her birth parents, it was nearly impossible to imagine only having Neveah after being part of such a large family for long. She struggled with the idea of making amends with her biological mother. Frankly, the hybrid wasn’t even sure if Neveah lived.

She shook her head for a moment, realizing she was being spoken to. Isleen turned her attention to a man she had not come across yet. The apple core fell out of her hand, toppling to the ground with a thud and rolling away. The wings were undeniable. It was him. She licked the corner of her mouth. “Somethin’ like that,” she responded with a dry tone. “As I’m going to guess your mother is Kythe. I haven’t exactly gone around introducing myself to everyone. I’m Isleen Amara Balatro, one of Kiba’s daughters. And you are?” the wolf adding with a slightly kinder tone.

“I have an odd question for you. Any chance you’re important somehow? A ruler of sorts? A prince perhaps?” the girl questioned. Realistically, she didn’t think so if he was here but it was worth the ask.

He felt the air shift, heard the ever so slight intake of breath, the apple thudding onto the floor before it rolled away, he could even smell the sudden burst of apple juice in the air from the impact. Without a word, and without the use of Silence’s ever observant gaze, the man knelt and caught the offending fruit, mid-escape, picking it up gently and holding it upon his fingertips as he stood up once more. ”Unfortunately,” he replied in a cold, dark tone as Isleen guessed that Kythe was his mother. He would have denied it if he could, but of the triplets, Raith looked most like their mother… much to his disdain. ”My name is Raith, though I take neither my father nor my mother’s names as my own. The less I have to associate myself as their bloodline the better,” he snarled, stretching his arm out to the woman to offer her back her apple. 

A laugh, mirthless though the sound was, escaped the man’s lips and he smiled at her, an arrogant aura palpable on the air where this man was concerned. ”I like you, at least you recognise greatness when it stands before you. In this world? I’m of no notable importance, not yet at least, no ruler yet, but that will come in time, once I know that Alairia is stronger and ready to face that with me. I’m a Prince of a world I no longer belong to, and heir to a throne that requires the death of my mother… though I would be more than happy to aid her in her demise, sadly my lover’s adoration of my birth mother stays my hand in claiming such titles, and they would mean very little here. No. No Prince am I, not yet at least.”

Isleen wondered which of her gifts, if any, came with her to the new world. She had not explored her arcane magic much less hemancy or necromancy. Frankly, she was fine with being a normal lycan without the ability to cast. Certainly there were others who would be jealous of such talents but she was not an overly ambitious girl. The dark haired beauty would have been perfectly content just living in the woods, by the sea, with Ethan. He needed more, and she would support him in these endeavors. Perhaps one day she would share his hunger for power. Today’s not that day, she thought to herself with another bite of apple.

Bright amber eyes widened at the seemingly blind dragon. She took the apple back but set it on the table without another bite. “Pleasure to meet you,” she replied out of obligation, not sincerity. The seer had never met someone who disliked Kythe. She couldn’t help but wonder what inspired such disdain. That was a story she needed to know one day. Anything to help make these white knights a little more human she thought to herself, tired of everyone around her being so pure. There was beauty in imperfection and darkness.

She chuckled at his response, though she was not seeking is approval. He was about to wreck her world - she was certain of it though didn’t know how. “You seriously think you’re the one that will end Kythe Sitari? Greatness is coming, sure, but I doubt that’s the debt owed,” the girl retorted with a dry tone. His bombastic nature did not impress her. It would take more than shiny wings and mommy problems for her to take him seriously. ‘Power is like being a lady. If you have to say you are, you are neither,’ she could hear her angelic mother in her ear. “Wait, Alaira? What happened to my niece?” the wolf asked with an involuntary growl.

He could smell that she was different, could almost taste it on the air, let alone feel it despite the gap between them. Had he not already been deeply in love with Alairia, he might have found Isleen attractive, or at the very least intriguing - but he knew where his heart lay, and none would sway this man, not now not ever. Still, she did not feel like the rest of the Balatro ilk, she reminded him more of Dae, darker somehow, more aware of how the real world worked. Not naive like the others seemed to be to him… though he had felt that on Teu on occasions too, admittedly he usually dismissed his lover's mother entirely, she was too 'nice' for his liking, but he tolerated them all because of Ria. 

"I'm certain of it," he replied with a smile, "Whether it's her death or something greater, it is what I am owed and it will come sooner or later. I'm a patient man, I waited nearly two centuries to find that woman I called my mother, and I've found her. Sadly my love for Ria means she will live, for now at least, but the day will come." Of that he had absolutely no doubt, Kythe could not avoid his knife forever.

He raised an eyebrow, he liked this one, this one was far more on his wavelength, just as Dae was. Maybe there were a few allies amongst this ill-gotten family. "She was harmed by Xyaban, because of me," he admitted, his tone soft and dark, the anger held behind his gritted teeth. "Alairia's love for me would be her downfall, but I will not see harm done to her again. The Dragoness used Ria as a weapon against me; tortured her, did unspeakable things to her. All to punish me. Have no fear, the Dragoness will feel my blade in her ribs and she will regret ever touching a hair on Alairia's head."