Amor Vincit Omnia

(Love Conquers All)

Part One: Sun and Shadow

"Die Liebe ist ein wildes Tier
Sie atmet dich, sie sucht nach dir
Nistet auf gebrochenen Herzen
Geht auf Jagd bei Kuss und Kerzen
Saugt sich fest an deinen Lippen
Gräbt sich Gänge durch die Rippen
Lässt sich fallen weich wie Schnee
Erst wird es heiß, dann kalt, am Ende tut es weh."

"Love is a wild beast
She smells you, she seeks you out
Nests on broken hearts
Goes out to hunt for kiss and candle
Sucks firmly on your lips
Digs tunnels through your ribs
Can fall as soft as the snow
First it is hot, then cold, and in the end it hurts."

- Rammstein
"Amour"

Chapter One: A Fateful Meeting

The day was waning into dusk, and the last rays of the dying sun kindled the surface of the river into diamond fire. The sky was clear of clouds. A lingering breeze tinged the air with the scent of primroses and lilac. Saiya unbuckled her heavy pack and set it gratefully down in the shade of a massive elm tree dipping its roots into the river shallows. This, she thought, was as good a place as any to make camp, cook some food, and perhaps have a bath to wash off the dust of the trail.

It had been a week since her last sight of civilization, but Saiya was not concerned. She had rationed the rice to last a fortnight, and at this time of year berries and tubers were plentiful in the rich woodland, the birds were laying eggs, and fish frolicked in every available water source. No, she would not starve.

Predators were a larger concern. In the village she'd recently left, there were disturbing rumors of half-eaten corpses found on the road, and livestock missing from the fields. Wolves, some said, grown bold from a lean winter in the mountains. Rogue soldiers, whispered others, fleeing from war in the east and falling into a life of rape, murder, and pillage. A few even blamed demons for the destruction. Saiya did not care which of these theories was true, or even if any of them were. She had yet to encounter anything more threatening than a fox, stealing off with the treasures of a remote farm.

As Saiya surveyed the landscape, searching for the best place to lay her bedroll, her stomach rumbled. With a grimace, she counted the hours since her last meal and realized that she'd forgotten lunch again. Hunger spurred her to haste as she gathered dry sticks to build a fire on the sandy bank and started the rice boiling, adding a double portion so she would have enough for breakfast as well. She wrapped new potatoes in leaves and set them in the coals to bake, and harvested some sun-ripened blackberries from a nearby bramble patch for dessert.

With dinner in the making, her next priority was to get clean. Stripping down to her underclothes (a lifelong habit of keeping the minimal cover when bathing, developed by a childhood in the company of the monks) she waded into the water. It was much colder than expected, and within moments she was covered in goosebumps and shaking like a leaf. Steeling herself, she took a deep breath and submerged, staying down for as long as she could before surfacing in a rush of water and pent-up breath. She ran her hands through her cap of white-blond hair, making it stand up in little clumps. With her boyish hairstyle, flat chest, low voice, and long, lithe, muscular figure, she was often mistaken for male: an error which she did nothing to rectify. Even when her correct gender was divined, men rarely pursued her. If they did, they quickly learned not to. A punch in the face from a hand wearing brass knuckles, or a strike in the groin from a kneecap made hard by practice was an experience likely to discourage even the most desperate of louts.

Saiya floated on her back for some minutes, happily drifting with the current and focusing on her breathing. Then she swam powerfully upstream to a small waterfall from a tributary that joined the larger river. Sitting crosslegged on a damp rock with the icy water pounding against her skull and running in rivulets down her back and between her breasts, she rested her hands on her knees, palms upward, and prepared herself for her daily meditation.

Relax … the cold does not exist … the ache in your bones does not exist … you as an individual do not exist … you are not Saiya, Foundling Child of the Temple of the High Sun … you are merely another spring feeding into the great river, which in turn runs to the indefinite sea, which is the source of all life.

The familiar feeling of peace washed over her, a sense of unity with the world around her, of belonging. She was aware of each and every living being, a vast teeming ecosystem from the tadpoles playing at her feet to the ferns draping down over her head to the lone eagle wheeling a hundred feet above. She knew them all and accepted them all and was in turn accepted by them. She need have no fear, for all of nature was her inner sanctum, her holy temple, her place of prayer.

A new life force entered her range of awareness. With her mind's eye she saw it: a foreign influence, a jarring sensation of 'wrong'. This newcomer was no child of nature. She felt a menacing darkness, a harsh stinging stench of blood and steel and hate. Alarm jolted her out of her deep calm; her eyes flew open. She could hear nothing over the rushing of the waterfall, but she could feel the source of the wrongness, right above her, poised to strike. She was suddenly conscious of her near nudity, and the brass knuckles sitting uselessly in her pack on the far side of the river. She selected two smooth stones that fit comfortably in her fists and would not cut her palms from the impact of striking, and crouched, balanced like a cat on the wet stone, ready to fight.

With a wild yell, the whatever-it-was leaped down from above, a blur of tan and black, and broke the river with a great splash. Bubbles rushed to the surface as the creature sank down, but Saiya could not determine its shape under the roiling, frothing water. Then she saw it rapidly ascending again, and she tensed up. As soon as the head emerged she lashed out, landing a firm blow with the stone. She had a momentary impression of a pair of dark eyes – wide with surprise, pain … and just a hint of reproach – before they rolled upwards to expose the whites and closed in unconsciousness. The creature dropped briefly under and then bobbed up again, face-down, floating downstream at a decent clip. Bare limbs connected to a torso in an entirely human way. A cloud of dark hair fanned out around the head. No horns, no tail, no demonic indicators of any variety.

Three facts passed through Saiya's brain in rapid succession and left her dazed.

The 'creature' she had attacked was a man.

He was as naked as the day he was born.

He was, at present, in mortal danger of drowning.

It was the third fact that forced her body into action while her mind was still reeling with the realization of what she had done. Whatever the cause of the dark energy she had felt, this man, this fellow human being, might shortly be dead and if he was, it would be her fault. She plunged into the river after him, rolled him over so he could breath, held his head above the water as she swam to shore.

Saiya dragged the man up onto the sandy bank beside the fire, restricting her eyes to his face and upper body to preserve his modesty as much as possible. The rest of him she hastily covered with her blanket. She checked his breathing (deep and steady), his heartbeat (regular), and his eyes (still rolled back). There didn't seem to be any immediate cause for concern there. There was a painful lump growing on the top of his head, but no bleeding. She made him as warm and comfortable as she could and turned her attention to her dinner, which was beginning to show signs of overcooking.

When the man had not awakened after ten minutes elapsed, Saiya shrugged and began to eat. Between bites, she scrutinized her unintended victim, trying to fathom what sort of person he might be. He was young, at a guess barely older than herself, which would put him in his early-to-mid twenties. His black hair, slightly longer than her own, was unrestrained and currently slicked back by water, revealing a fine-boned face with smooth skin darker than that of most of the occupants of this northern land. Large eyes hid beneath lids capped with long lashes that fluttered delicately. A sharp nose, straight and narrow brows, high cheekbones, thin and sensitive lips – the bottom fuller than the top. His jawline was covered with a sparse growth of beard probably half a week old. His muscular development suggested that he was not a stranger to combat, and his hands and feet were rough and callused, but he did not have the scars of a hardened warrior. The only personal effect he wore was a silver ring on his pinky finger, set with a red stone. The outside edge of the ring was blackened as though it had been scorched by some infernal fire.

As the minutes passed, Saiya's curiosity grew unbearable. She had never seen anyone quite like this before. The only men she had ever been within two feet of were the old and venerable temple monks, with their bald heads and bushy beards and voices that could never be stern enough to conceal the kindness in their eyes. Not one of them was under sixty, and the eldest had lost count of his years at one hundred and three.

Dusk had surrendered to the full darkness of night by the time the stranger stirred. At first he rolled onto his side, facing the fire, and uttered a long groan. Then his eyes flickered open, staring blankly into the flames for a long moment. Saiya, sitting off to the side out of his line of sight, thought it better not to speak lest she startle him.

When he finally moved, it was with a speed that astonished her. One moment he was lying stretched out under the blanket, and the next she was flat on her back with a heavy weight crushing down on her, an iron hand squeezing her throat, and a face snarling aggressively inches from her own. His narrowed gaze pierced through her, and the sharp puffs of breath from his nose ghosted across her cheek.

"Who the hell are you?" he gritted out, baring his teeth. The canines were abnormally sharp, almost fangs. There was something predatory about them, and about the set of his eyes. Glaring down at her, he looked like a wild beast on the hunt.

"Not - your - enemy," Saiya choked out. Confusion crossed the man's face, and the pressure of his fingers eased ever so slightly. Saiya's chest heaved as she drew in badly needed air.

"A woman?" he wondered aloud. Saiya would have snorted if she was not in such a poor position. If he thought she was weak purely because she was female, he had a lesson coming.

"If you're not an enemy, why did you attack me?" he demanded, still growling.

"You - startled - me … I was medi - tating under - the waterfall … could you - let me go - please? Can't - breathe …"

He didn't respond right away, apparently considering his options. Finally he released her and retreated to a less threatening distance, still maintaining his air of caution. He made no attempt to cover himself, however, and Saiya felt her face heat. She averted her eyes.

"So I startled you," he said after a minute. His voice – when not rough with anger – was surprising pleasant: not too deep, slightly accented, and layered with unexpected humor. "You were swimming in the river and I jumped down on you out of nowhere. I can see how knocking me out was a reasonable reaction, but still … you could have killed me."

"I didn't know what you were," Saiya said. "Once I realized you were human, I pulled you out."

"Oh, I see!" he said sarcastically. "So you're both my attempted murderer and my savior."

Saiya glared, but the man's eyes abruptly creased up and the corners of his mouth curled, showing his pointed canines. His shoulders shook silently. After a moment, Saiya realized he was laughing, and her own rigid posture relaxed slightly. It seemed that he'd forgiven her.

"I think we may have started off on the wrong foot," he said. "I scared you, and you clocked me on the head with a boulder, judging by the ache in my skull."

"You should be glad that I was only holding a rock," she replied. "Normally I prefer brass knuckles."

He winced and rubbed the lump at the crown of his head.

"My name is Saiya," she continued. "I am a stranger in these parts. I come from the mountains to the west, in Ivgorod."

"They call me Baal," he said. "Short for Baalzibal. I don't belong here either, but I hail from the opposite direction." He held out a hand, but Saiya did not reach out to take it. The name he gave had stirred something in her distant memory, and she was regarding him with suspicion.

"Baal," she said. "Isn't that the name of a-"

"Demon, yes." His eyes darkened and for a split second seemed almost to glow. It faded instantly and Saiya decided that it was just a trick of the firelight.

"It's a long story," he said. "You needn't look at me like I'm going to sprout wings and bite your head off. I'm as human as you are." He stood suddenly, and Saiya, confronted directly with what had so far been shielded from view by his leg, covered her eyes.

"Is that so?" she managed to say. "Is it your habit to run around the woods in the middle of the night without any, ah, clothes? Because no self-respecting humans that I know behave so indecently."

Baal laughed. "What, girl, were you raised in a monastery?"

"Actually, yes, I was."

"Really?"

She peeped out from between her fingers to scowl at him and instantly wished she had not. He was still proudly and unashamedly on display.

"Would you please wrap yourself in a blanket or something?" she begged. He did not reply, but there was a rustling sound.

"There," he said. "It's all right, you can look now. I won't offend your sensitive eyes."

Warily she removed her hands from her face, but he was speaking the truth. His dark eyes glimmered with laughter at her sigh of relief.

"You are just a child," he said. "Albeit a lanky, overgrown one."

Heat flooded her cheeks again, but it was fueled by anger rather than embarrassment. How dare he, a total stranger, be so rude? Lanky? Overgrown? A child?

"I'm twenty-one!" she snapped.

"Oh! A real grown-up lady!" he mocked, but there was no spite in his tone. Saiya fought to calm herself. What would the Head Monk say, she wondered, if he could see her now, flying into a rage over some petty insult by a man who she didn't even know. He would shake his head, she decided, and say in his slow, wise way, "You have much yet to learn, little one. Someday. If the gods are merciful."

No, rising to his bait was not the way to play this game. That would never earn his respect. She would have to give back as good as she got.

"And I suppose you're in your middle years already, good sir," she teased. "You seem so very learned in the ways of the world. You must be at least forty."

"I'm a good deal more learned than you, anyway," he shot back. "I'm not the one hiding my eyes like a proper little maiden."

"It's called 'modesty'," she said. "You might want to learn some … unless you find it a thrill to flaunt your masculinity to maidens."

"You might be surprised to learn that most of the time I am extremely modest and polite, especially in the company of the fairer sex," he said. "You happened to catch me at a bad moment. You see, I've been on the road all day and when I saw the river, I thought it would take the chance to bathe a bit, privately, in my own company. I was not expecting any maidens, let alone one with fists so fierce."

"Well," she said, unable to help a blush of pride at the compliment. "I was trained by warrior monks. But I suppose I'll forgive you for your rude behavior if you'll forgive me for almost drowning you."

"It's a deal," he said. "Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to borrow your blanket for a few minutes while I ford the river again. I left all my belongings on the other side … among them the clothes that I would normally be wearing right now. I'll bring your blanket back when I am 'decent'."

"Alright," Saiya agreed. Baal nodded, looked at her a minute longer, and then rather brusquely turned and vanished into the darkness. In his absence, Saiya felt suddenly and unexpectedly lonely.

Now fully edited and updated with new content! If you find any typos, please notify me so I can fix them. :3