Page 4 of Stitches
He wasn’t planning on taking the tunic or a belt, but at the last second, he shoved both into his bag, just as the shop door opened to admit someone new.
Levi drew up his hood. Everyone knew about him, he just… didn’t like the way most people stared.
“Ash!” Klarent proclaimed. “We were just talking about you.”
Levi’s eyes snapped to the man who had entered.
Ashmedai.
The Shadow King.
Every time Levi saw him, it was as if his stitched-together limbs were about to unravel, and he felt both unable to move and as if he might collapse to the ground in pieces at any moment.
The king was just so beautiful. Levi didn’t even know if he understood beauty, but to him, Ashmedai was it.
His skin was white as bone, his hair long, straight, and ebony black, with black in place of the whites of his eyes, white irises, long nails, almost like claws, all his teeth razor-sharp, and pointier ears than Levi’s subtle tips, like Levi had read about elves.
Like Daedlys, Ashmedai wore all black, but with stitching and accents in red and gold. He looked so royal, with a brocade tunic and long cloak. He wore no crown, but when he moved, the shadows moved with him, as if drawn to his regal presence.
Levi could relate.
“Daedlys, my friend, Dreya pointed out that my sword belt is in need of mending, possibly replacement, before next week’s hunt. What do you recommend? And what’s this about talking about me?” He turned with a mildly amused smile toward Klarent.
Ashmedai’s voice was deep and penetrating, so much so that Levi could feel it rumble through his chest. Ashmedai was king and not often seen around town, yet he acted toward his people as if they were all the same station, allowing anyone who wished it to call him “Ash” and consider him friend. From what Levi had been told, Ashmedai had always been that way, since the start of the curse, when the once Amethyst Kingdom’s prince brought calamity upon the people and Ashmedai became king in his stead to save them.
Levi watched Klarent try to inconspicuously hide the book he meant to give Ashmedai later, rising in the same motion to draw attention elsewhere. Daedlys waved a hand to assist, finishing hiding the book beneath the desk. Telekinesis wasn’t his main magic. If anyone asked, he’d say that flawless visualization to create clothing without using patterns, as well as other items, was his true gift.
“Why, we were saying how long it’s been since we last saw you and how much you’d enjoy learning of Brax’s newest invention. Show him, my love.”
Daedlys did so, touching the black crystal with intent this time and briefly shrouding them in darkness. When the lights returned, he said, “Can you imagine how convenient it will be to turn out all one’s lights at once before going to bed? Tell you what, my king, I’ll give you a deal on the first one, so long as I can keep it on display until Brax sends me more.”
Ashmedai approached the crystal, eyeing it with the same subtle smile and a curious tilt of his head. He didn’t float like the others but carriedsuch a commanding presence in his steps, Levi’s breath was lost again and again while looking at him.
The white-on-black eyes Levi was staring at suddenly turned toward him, likely having felt the weight of his gaze, and all at once, Levi could move again—because he had to.
“Th-thank you, Sir Daedlys,” Levi stuttered, half muffled by the fabric of his hood. His feet reacted before he’d consciously considered running, because the panic of being perceived by the king made him desperate to get out from under those eyes.
“Hang on, Stitches, have you met—”
“Another time!” Levi all but shrieked, ducking his head to scurry from the shop, and then just as quickly fled from the market.
Once up the market steps, it wasn’t far to Braxton’s tower, but Levi was still out of breath when he reached it. He hadn’t needed to keep such a fast pace after he’d turned toward the wood—almost no one visited Braxton other than the king, and he had only stopped by once since Levi was created.
Levi had stayed hidden in his room the entire time.
“Levi? Back so soon?”
The immediate call of Braxton’s voice as Levi fell against the front door made his shoulders hunch up to his ears. “Y-yes, Master.”
“That was hardly enough time to complete your errands.” Braxton’s head appeared at an almost ninety-degree angle, peeking at Levi from the workshop entrance across the main level. Besides appearing older, like a human man closer to forty than twenty, Braxton looked very much like Levi since Levi had been made from copies of Braxton’s ownparts. Braxton’s hair was the same red color, though more meticulously styled, and the rest of his coloring was what Levi’s would have been if he were alive instead of animated through alchemy—pale peach skin and blue eyes.
“I completed the trade, I simply—”
“Rushed on back like a scared child,” Braxton huffed, head disappearing. His disappointed tone was enough to make Levi sag heavier against the door.
There was a faint purple glow coming from the workshop, pulsing every so often with brighter and brighter light. Braxton’s specialty with alchemy was to always use the Source Crystal to power his creations. That was why some of the smaller crystals near the Amethyst gemstone were also violet, as conduits to transfer its magic, in essence, combining magic with science. As Braxton once explained to Levi, magic is innate, alchemy requires materials, and both have a cost.
The only time outside of Braxton’s work when violet became the primary color for crystals or decoration was during Festival Day. No one in the Shadow Lands would have dared channel that power any other day, afraid the demon that caused them to become monsters and trapped them within the barrier of the wood would snatch them up if they tried.
