Shit...
Seeing Zenith loom on the rooftop above them, the guards dropped Rachel and stopped moving toward Dust. Zenith jumped down and cracked the floor beneath. The guards gripped their swords and moved closer to him.
"You are interfering with official Defense Organization business! Please leave immediately or you will be arrested."
Zenith pulled out a rusted pendant from his pocket and let it dangle in front of the men's faces. All confidence drained from their bodies. In its place a deep fear began eating at them. The guards dropped their swords to the ground. Their now empty hands began to shiver uncontrollably.
"You-You're one of the royals."
Perfectly synchronized, the men fell to the floor. Their heads and knees scraped against the concrete while a pool of sweat formed under them.
"Please... Please look past this indiscretion. We don't wish to make trouble with the Hallowed King."
Zenith put the pendant back in his pocket. His navy eyes burned with hatred.
"Leave. I have more pressing matters than dealing with fodder."
The men scurried away, the stench of fear fading as they left. With the guards gone, there was no other target for Zenith's rage except the frail boy behind him. Zenith began moving closer to Dust. A slew of emotions ignited inside Dust, the most potent of which was a deep sense of weakness. He did not plead for his safety, nor did he attempt to flee. His eyes began to water as he stared up at the incarnation of violence standing before him.
Zenith's knee rammed into Dust's stomach. He fell to the ground coughing. Another blow landed on his back, followed by many more. Each punch came with such speed and viciousness that Dust could no longer recognize the amount of blows that had landed on him. He could only recognize the bulbous tumor of pain that expanded inside him with each impact. His will to resist left him alongside the many thin streams of blood leaking from his head.
Dust looked up amid the fury of blows and met Zenith's eyes. His bloodshot eyes allowed a creeping red to mix with the cold navy, a blend which amplified Zenith's malicious intent. A black haze drifted over Dust's vision. Sensation and pain left his body.
Monste-
***
Dust's sight hadn't yet returned to him. His body felt as if it was drifting in an endless black sea, tethered to reality only by discomfort. Sensation began to return to him, with it came the terror he felt in the moment before falling unconscious. He awoke with a jolt. Dust was lying on his bed at the inn, Zenith was asleep in a chair next to him.
I... I have to get away from him.
Dust attempted to get out of the bed quietly so as to not wake Zenith. He neared the edge of the mattress but was stopped upon feeling Zenith's cold gaze icing his spine. Dust rushed to the corner of the bed, preparing to run should Zenith show any hostility. No anger flared within Zenith's eyes, but there still was that ever-present sense of superiority.
"I apologize for hitting you. However, I intend to make it clear that this is the cost for breaking my trust."
His face bore no sincerity whatsoever.
"I won't be taking you out tomorrow. You didn't show me the same respect I'd given you up until this point. I might've been able to look past you leaving the inn, but you just had to take my money didn't you. I think my first impression of you might not have been too far off after all."
Dust and Zenith did not have a stable relationship, but at the very least it could've been considered an equal one. Not anymore. Dust understood that Zenith was no longer looking at him as a person but rather an object to be controlled. By breaking Zenith's trust Dust had shattered any chance of Zenith talking to him as an equal. Resistance grew within Dust. He wanted to fight back against this, but one glance at Zenith's unfeeling eyes pulled a timid response out of his mouth.
"I... I understand."
There it was again. That vile smirk. Those arrogant eyes. Zenith's more repugnant features became more distinct in this instant. Dust could tell just by looking at him. He was happy to no longer feel the need to view Dust as his equal. It was like his humanity was a burden he wished to discard.
"I don't want you to leave the inn tonight or for most of tomorrow. The people you got in trouble with are rather persistent, and that pendant of mine isn't guaranteed to hold them off long. I'll be nearby and I will know if you leave. So please don't try; you'll save us both some trouble."
Dust nodded almost involuntarily. A sense of inferiority ravaged him, ripping away any thoughts of resistance.
"Great... I do intend to keep my promise to you if nothing else. But that only applies if you help me with my plans, instead of doing what you did today. I would prefer it if this is the last case of you wronging me."
Zenith's words weighed heavy on his shoulders. He did feel anger, but panic held him back. As much as he wanted to try to make himself understood... It all just felt so pointless right now. All he knew was that moving forward, he and Zenith were not equals. He would no longer follow Zenith in hopes of being rewarded, but instead to avoid punishment.
Zenith moved slightly closer and allowed his navy shrouded eyes to rip into the fear-torn jade of Dust's. A thought so powerful it almost felt telepathic burst forth in his mind.
Know your place.