“Do you think it was the Djinn that convinced him to have this rigid monstrosity of an Eastern Mansion, or do you think it was all him?” asked Sevis.

Tigin looked up towards the third-floor balcony where a guard they were currently trying to avoid the scrutiny of paced, “I think it was all him. Do you see any Bein here?”.

“Do all Easterners live this way?” asked Sevis as he peaked inside, turning his nose up at whatever he found there, “It’s so dark and ugly. Surely the vermin are rampant”.

Tigin sighed, “As much as I admire your architectural taste, we have bigger priorities here”.

A boom of another building falling echoed in the distance.

Sevis glanced in the direction of the dust cloud, “They’ll level the city at this rate”.

The Guard turned towards the noise too, “Best we get out before then, yes?”

Sevis nodded, moving forward with Tigin inside one of the side entrances and into a main hallway.

A main hallway crowded with servants and guards. Tigin’s first instinct was to freeze and turn around, but Sevis pushed him forward through the throng. It took a moment for Tigin to realise that these Tribesman weren’t in the least bit concerned with what Tigin and Sevis were doing, they were too panicked in their own jobs to do much else.

“Buckets! We need more buckets headed for the lake!”

“Towels and clothes to be soaked head for the river!”

“Lady Aberlea is asking for Guards to help with her silks!”

“Guards to the West Sector to help contain the Tribesman!”

Orders were shouted left and right. Never from the same person. The mansion was far more chaotic inside that it appeared on the outside. Though, Sevis and Tigin had taken a path that Aegin had ‘cleared’.

Sevis and Tigin found a staircase to the second floor fairly quickly. From the tower image that Aegin had drawn, they were pretty sure they’d have to climb the floors higher to reach Rima.

“Oi Big Man!” called an older woman. Sevis and Tigin paid her no mind. But the old woman was faster than she appeared, she caught up with them in and instant and spun Tigin around, dumping a basket of towels into his arms, “Help me take this to the river already”.

Tigin froze, glancing at Sevis. Sevis looked just as stumped. He was hardly willing to cut down an old woman.

“Come on, quickly!”

The old woman turned back towards him and saw the hesitation on their faces, “Hold on, do I know you?”

Tigin realised his mistake and opened his mouth to reply before the woman’s eyes narrowed on bands on Sevis’ bicep.

“Red-Eyed Snake…”

She appeared shocked for a moment, then conflicted. Then, right as Sevis shifted forward to prevent her from calling out, she stepped forward and took the basket off of Tigin. She nodded in the opposite direction to where Sevis and Tigin had been heading, “The Princess is that way, in the reception hall with Gryffyn. I’d get a move on if I were you”.

Then she spun and headed off.

Tigin glanced at Sevis, then both of them jogged down the corridor that the old woman had indicated.

***

Snap.

Aegin huffed as he reached up to rub his neck where the vertebrae had just snapped back into place. The tingling of his healing on his bones, muscles and limbs had been persistent for a while now. He’d had to duck into the shadows more than once to await a stray and take a few extra gulps from his prey. He wasn’t all that adept at mid-battle snacking, and frankly by now he’d hoped that he would have worn Yashi down at least a little bit.

But the Djinn didn’t even seem tired.

Aegin extracted himself from another collapsed building, stalking out onto the street where Yashi waited. The Djinn looked almost bored.

“What’s that? The sixth building I thrown you through? You really are quite durable,” Yashi huffed, “And you feel pain, that is quite the down side for you. Surely even you can now see whose victory this will be. You’re wasting your breath”.

“You’re wasting yours by talking,” Aegin huffed.

He raced forward once more, going in low and swiping his claws up towards Yashi’s jugular. The Djinn managed a partial step back, but Aegin’s claws went through the skin and the strange nothingness beyond it.

Strange was really the only way to describe it. Aegin had never felt anything like it. The fact that Yashi appeared to possess rapid healing abilities that barely scratched the surface of his stored energy, as well as a distinct lack of any internal organs, veins, muscles or bones was a unique phenomenon. One that Aegin couldn’t for the life of him work out how to beat. It appeared absolutely nothing solid could damage him.

So Aegin had tried throwing the Djinn in the fire.

But that didn’t work either. The Fire barely seemed to even both Yashi as he stepped through it.

Still, his aim was to kill time, not necessarily to kill the Djinn. So Aegin kept attacking, and as a result, kept getting thrown into buildings when he took a wrong step.

“Surely you’re exhausted by now,” Yashi commented as he twisted to the side, narrowly avoiding Aegin’s claws. The Djinn could avoid him if he was concentrating hard. Yashi had been fighting Aegin for over an hour, and the new and distinctive attack patterns were beginning to fall into a pattern, “I know you’ve been snacking, the blood on your chin isn’t all that subtle, but you’re brand new, you should be starving thanks to your untrained new abilities”.

Aegin only replied with a hiss as he twisted behind Yashi and stabbed the Djinn through the back with his long claws.

Nothing, the bastard was still standing.

Yashi sighed and turned to face Aegin, his blue eyes flashing with amusement, “Really, I’m saying this out of concern, aren’t you tired, Aegin?”

Aegin knew that blue flash, and he instinctively let his Allure take over in that moment between being awake and being pushed into a dream he’d have to fight his way out of.

Yashi froze, then ripped his gaze away from Aegin.

“Urgh!” Yashi growled in frustration, “That was rude of you. No one comes into my head, I go into theirs!”

Yashi pushed the wind, and Aegin sailed back into another building.