II. The Covenant

Soft green light consumed his form, jumpstarting his body's natural healing. After a moment the light exploded outwards into what seemed to be dust before completely fading, leaving a newly reinvigorated Mayanil behind.

He glanced at the mirror once more and couldn't help the grin that came to his lips. This was how he remembered himself, with warm mahogany skin wrapped around powerful, lean muscle. His eyes no longer were dead and sunken, instead alert and full of shine, as they should have been. His hair was still a problem, falling in a neat pile around his feet. There was no way in hell he'd be able to take care of all of this. Not alone at least. Better to chop it off and-

'I bet you'd look sooooo good with long hair,' the memory of her came like a whisper and he couldn't help his momentary hesitation. Maybe he didn't have to chop ALL of it off. Just enough that it didn't drag him down. After taking a moment to decide on a good length, he tied his hair off with a brand and held his hand up like a knife.

"Ignum Laceria." He uttered and a flame erupted around his upheld hand, taking the shape of a blade. With a single swift chop he cut through his hair effortlessly and let out a quiet sigh as the excess fell to the ground with a dull thud. He glanced at the mirror again and admired his handiwork. It stopped near the small of his back now, with the ends being tied off by a thick purple band. "Not bad, not bad at all." He said to himself and quickly dressed, throwing on a simple outfit and stretching a little bit. Just as he was finished, two loud raps rang from his door and a voice called for him.

"Mayanil? May I come in?"

He recognized the voice but couldn't quite put a name to it. "It's unlocked!" The door pushed open and a young woman poked her head in. Her expression was confused for a moment before she rushed over to him, checking him up and down like a concerned parent.

"We didn't expect you to be up yet, let alone using magia. But look at you, going the extra mile," she said after a moment and chuckled. "If you don't remember me, I'm-"

"Rudea." Mayanil found her name in his memories. "You were my doctor since I was a boy, how could I forget?" He said, pulling her into a tight hug until a realization hit him. He released her and looked her in the face for a long moment before tilting his head. "But shouldn't you be... older? Or de-" A swift blow to the top of his head stopped that thought in the process.

"If you must know, our experiments with vitality transference were successful." Rudea said matter-of-factly, shaking her fist out with a small frown. "Not even back for five minutes and I've already had to hit you. You never change, huh?"

Mayanil waited to the pain to ease a bit before he shot her a grin. "You wouldn't have me any other way."

"Keep on thinking that." She said and motioned for him to follow as she turned to leave. "Come on, everyone is anxious to meet you.

"Everyone?" He asked, following behind her. "Has the Covenant grown since I've been out?"

"Of course we have. It couldn't be just the five of us forever."

They walked down a hallway of carved stone with simple light fixtures shining down white light overhead. Rudea walked in front of Mayanil, the click of her heels on the stone floor echoing ahead of them and disturbing their relatively comfortable silence. They walked for about a minute before the hallway gave a to what looked to be a common area. At the center of the room was a rectangular table surrounded with people talking amongst themselves. As soon as he and Rudea approached the table all conversation stopped and immediately all eyes were on him.

Denus sat at the head of the table, his chin resting in one of his hands. He seemed almost bored and was the only one Mayanil recognized. The others were complete strangers.

"This the one?" The burly man sitting on Denus' left said, sizing Mayanil up for a moment before giving him a single nod and taking a bite of the sizeable steak on his plate. "Don't look like much."

"And you look like a lot, if that plate is anything to go by." Mayanil shot back, feeling just the slightest bit insulted. The man immediately stopped his chewing, his eyes narrowing on Mayanil with a small frown. Mayanil met his gaze with a grin, unintimidated by the man or his bulk. "The name's Mayanil, by the way."

"Ignacio." The man said, chuckling for a moment before returning to his meal. "I like this one Denus. Hope he lasts longer than the last one."

"You're always so mean Iggy! Would it kill you to be nice for once" The young woman sitting beside Ignacio exclaimed, smacking him on his arm before shooting a beaming smile at Mayanil. "My name is Irina. Iggy here is my partner." She was spritely and full of charm, but Mayanil knew there had to be something to be up with her. A bruise in the shape of her hand was starting to form on Ignacio's arm. It didn't even like she had hit him that hard.

"Pleasure to meet you, Irina." Mayanil said, giving her a small brown and an equally beaming smile. The both of them looked strong enough and seemed close, he could imagine they proved to be quite a force when working together.

At the end of the table opposite of Denus, two teenagers sat together, talking amongst themselves. The young man was incredibly familiar, but different somehow.

"That's Mazareus' son, Montio." Denus said. At the mention of his name, the young man turned his attention to Mayanil and others. His eyes widened when he saw Mayanil. "Not so much a runt anymore, huh?"

"Dad wasn't kidding, you do look like mom." He said and gave Mayanil a salute and a wide smile. "Montio Greis at your service! And this young woman," he motioned towards the other teen setting beside him. "is Chell." The young woman next to him met Mayanil's gaze for a moment before quickly looking away and hiding behind Montio. "You'll have to forgive her. She's shy." He said apologeticallya

Mayanil nodded and shot the group a smile. "Glad to meet all of you. I've been out a long time, so you'll have to forgive me if I lean on you all for a while." He said and gave a small bow before looking at Denus. The ethereal man nodded and stood.

"As of today, Mayanil will be returning to active duty in the Covenant so I expect you all to do your best for him. Montio, Chell, will you take him to the arena for some training? I'm sure he's itching to get the rust out."