Chaos Heir

Chapter 1238 Marriage

Khan and Liiza entered the cargo area still hand-in-hand, their glowing eyes joining the dim artificial illumination of that crowded, rearranged space.

Carlos' crew had temporarily relocated the abundant supplies, replacing them with chairs, stools, and other makeshift seats neatly arranged in lines and split into two halves by a path that stretched from the entrance.

The criminal crew occupied the seats on the left, while the rescued women were on the right, both groups standing, awaiting the main guests.

Meanwhile, the central path ended on a makeshift short platform, where Ilman and Tamara stood on opposite edges. Zalpa was between them, sitting behind a bubbling metal cauldron that released occasional wisps of grey smoke.

That audience wasn't ideal for such a meaningful event. It had few acquaintances and even fewer friends, but Liiza and Khan didn't care. Their relationship had started on snowy peaks and had thrived in hidden, damp caves. Neither would complain if it culminated in a shabby hall mostly filled with strangers.

If anything, that cargo area was perfectly in theme with Khan and Liiza's relationship. It was almost fateful, and both realized that truth, stepping forward without showing any hesitation.

Zalpa had given the couple vague instructions, leaving the other directives for the ceremony itself. Once Khan and Liiza stepped on the platform, stopping before the metal cauldron, Zalpa stood up, wearing the most serious expression in her repertoire.

That wasn't out of affection or acceptance. That ceremony was a ritual, and Zalpa was a Shaman who abided by the Niqols' old ways. Those practices were profound, mysterious, and dangerous, and her expression conveyed that threat, filling the hall's symphony with tension and anxiety.

"Due to our diverse audience," Zalpa announced, her voice reaching every corner of the hall, "We'll hold the ceremony in the human language, which everyone here understands."

Zalpa's accent was still rough, but her mastery of the human language had improved in those ten years. That wasn't much, especially due to the vast time gap, but Khan noticed that detail anyway.

"Today," Zalpa continued, "I'll have the privilege and duty of uniting two people in marriage, abiding by a ritual that is as rare as true love, a ritual only possible to those who carry the mark of their feelings, a ritual that will merge them once and for all for eternity."

Khan felt he had understood something, and the confirmation immediately arrived.

"Bride," Zalpa called, looking at Liiza. "Show the mark of your feelings."

Liiza tightened her grasp on Khan's hand, seemingly reminding him that he couldn't let it go during the ceremony, before reaching for her left shoulder. Her fingers easily tore through her white robe, exposing part of her bra and the white tattoo above it.

"Groom," Zalpa called after nodding at Liiza's tattoo and moving her gaze to Khan. "Show the mark of your feelings."

Khan didn't need explanations anymore. He reached for his right shoulder with his free hand, tearing his robe to expose the blue tattoo on his back. Liiza's red symbols were still there, but Zalpa didn't need to check the spot to confirm the mark's existence. After all, she had been the one who drew it.

"The marks are in the open for everyone to see," Zalpa declared. "No one can deny your feelings. The ceremony can continue."

Zalpa lowered her gaze, immersing her hand in the bubbling cauldron and using it to stir the dark, dense liquid. She mumbled something inaudible under her breath, occasionally releasing tinges of mana from her fingers, seemingly casting a spell.

"Bride," Zalpa eventually called, her bright eyes still shining on the cauldron. "Announce your name."

"Liiza!" Liiza shouted, her voice reeking with pride and resolve.

"Groom," Zalpa continued. "Announce your name."

"Khan!" Khan cried, imitating Liiza.

"Liiza! Khan!" Zalpa called. "The cauldron is ready to accept your blood."

No one had warned Khan about that detail, so he couldn't refrain from glaring at Liiza. Still, she was already looking at him, showing a cute, apologetic smile while her right hand reached for her chest.

Liiza's fingers pierced her robe and skin, but no blood came out. She had to dig her hand deeper into her flesh until a sense of weakness seeped through the mental connection to draw what she needed.

Khan squeezed Liiza's hand, annoyed but also showing his support while she drew her fingers out of her robe. Drops of pale-red blood fell on her clothes, tainting their whiteness, but a few remained on her black fingernails, which she stretched over the cauldron.

The dark liquid sizzled when Liiza's blood fell into it. Its bubbles quieted down, seemingly awaiting another ingredient, telling Khan it was his turn.

Khan lifted his left hand, and a red membrane enveloped his scarred fingers. A humming noise started to spread through the hall before Khan forcefully closed his hand, piercing his palm.

The bubbles returned when Khan poured his blood into the cauldron. The dark liquid churned and stirred on its own, growing denser and pitch-black. A trail of grey smoke eventually escaped that container, and the substance inside it became still.

"The cauldron is ready!" Zalpa announced, eerie wisdom in her rough voice. "It's time to hear your vows."

'Vows?' Khan wondered, but Liiza didn't give him the chance to think. She turned toward him, facing him while still clinging to his right hand, wearing a serious but fragile expression that he hadn't seen since Zama's death.

"I am of ice," Liiza declared, doing her best not to let her voice waver, tremble, or crack.

That seriousness silenced everything about Khan, but a realization dawned on his brain anyway. Liiza was revealing something private and scary, something she had yet to tell anyone.

"My fate was to be pure, unreachable, untouchable, and incorruptible," Liiza continued, "Detached from emotions, unable to sense anything at all."

Liiza's eyes grew watery, but she held back the tears, even if her voice started to show signs of cracking.

"I was meant to lose touch, hearing, smell, taste, and sight," Liiza revealed. "I was destined to become an eternal corpse, cursed to a pretense of life that lacked its very meaning, to watch the flow of the years in complete stillness, solitude, and darkness."

Evolved warriors didn't have easy lives. Becoming one was a harsh ordeal, but living with the consequences of that practice wasn't any better.

Khan's red tattoos were a perfect example of that. His chaos had become too grand and heavy for most normal environments and people. He had to use intricate and powerful techniques to share spaces with ordinary people without risking destroying everything in his surroundings.

Liiza was no different. She had reached results similar to Khan's when she mutated herself through the new old ways, but her element hid a different kind of curse. Liiza was meant to be ice, and ice was impossibly cold.

"But when I'm with yo-," Liiza began to say, only for her eyes to finally give up on holding back the tears. Her voice cracked as she hid her mouth behind her forearm, quickly calming down before using her sleeve to wipe out that wetness.

"But when I'm with you," Liiza repeated, newfound steadiness in her voice. "When I touch you, I feel warm. When I hide in your neck, I smell your scent. When I kiss you, I taste your love. When you whisper in my ears, sparks run down my back."

Liiza had to stop and gulp since the tears were threatening to fall again. Yet, she didn't allow that. Their time would come, but that wasn't it.

"And when I look at you," Liiza continued, almost sobbing, "My world lights up."

Khan was fighting a battle of his own. Watching Liiza and feeling her through the mental connection was prompting everything about him to jump forward and hold her. However, he couldn't. Besides, Khan's turn had yet to come.

"You are the life in my ice," Liiza concluded. "You brought hope to my future, so I'll give it to you to be yours forever."

Liiza couldn't stop the tears anymore but didn't need to, either. Her vow was complete, so she could let herself go a bit. Still, her glowing eyes remained on Khan, illuminating him with all the love they could convey.

Khan wanted to lose himself in that look but had a job to do. He didn't prepare grand speeches, nor was he ready for them. Khan honestly didn't know what could match Liiza's revelations, so he decided to be honest, uncaring of the secrets he spilled.

"Before meeting you," Khan announced, "My nightmares were my life."

Liiza's teary eyes faltered. She knew how close to the heart Khan kept that topic, but he felt no hesitation sharing it before that crowd.

"I had no dreams," Khan stated. "I had no hopes. I didn't exist past my curse and didn't know it was possible to exist outside of it."

A faint smile broadened on Khan's face as he recalled an old memory. He couldn't believe how that minor issue had been the beginning of the love story that culminated in his marriage.

"But then," Khan continued. "I ended up on a cold, dark planet. It had to be just another mission, but the Ugu created problems for me as soon as I arrived because I smelled like a Nak."

Liiza tried to scold Khan with her eyes, not believing he was actually telling that story. Still, her smile refused to disappear.

"I thought I was done for," Khan revealed, "But my superior called someone who could solve the problem, and in a few minutes, I found myself before this huge three-eyed bird."

Khan shook his head, unable to refrain from revealing another funny detail.

"I swear it to how much I love you," Khan said. "For a second, I thought Paul was talking to [Zama]."

Liiza exploded into a laugh, using her free hand to wipe out her lingering tears.

"But then, I saw you," Khan continued. "I was in the worst state I had ever been in my life back then, but as soon as I saw you, I couldn't look away anymore. I still can't."

Khan gulped. His reaction wasn't teary, but those words definitely affected him. Theoretically, he was just recalling memories, but his heart didn't listen to reason.

"And you saw me, too," Khan added. "You saw more than anyone had ever seen. You saw all and still touched my heart to feel me even more."

In hindsight, it was evident. Khan would have never been fine with a stranger touching his scar, but Liiza wasn't just anyone. She wasn't even at their first encounter.

"I learned about a life outside my curse that day," Khan concluded, "And you expanded it with each second we spent together. It's yours and only yours. It was when you gave birth to it, and it will be until it ends."

Liiza and Khan lost each other in their respective stare. They couldn't have been clearer about their feelings and had never been more ready to take that final step. However, after many silent seconds passed, their glowing eyes moved toward the figure behind the cauldron.

Zalpa reacted before the two could notice any detail. She ran her sleeve over her face and cleared her throat while leaning behind the cauldron, retrieving a bowl she didn't hesitate to immerse in the pitch-black liquid.

"For the bride, her right hand," Zalpa ordered, scooping a good chunk of the liquid before offering the bowl. "For the groom, the left hand."

Liiza and Khan complied, seizing the bowl together and holding it with their opposite hands. The dense black liquid didn't look healthy at all, but they both knew what came next.

"Drink together to be together," Zalpa announced, "And your union will be forever carved in your skin for everyone to see."

Khan and Liiza exchanged a glance before getting closer and leaning toward the bowl. Their mouths landed on its edge as they lifted it, and the black liquid fell down their throats and faces.

The couple didn't know how much they had to drink, but a reaction arrived before they emptied the bowl. Their tattoos and intertwined hands started to burn, creating a physical connection that prevented them from letting go of each other.

The burning sensation intensified, but Khan and Liiza were nothing but resilient. They kept their eyes open, fighting the pain to check what was happening, and their eyes inevitably fell on their arms.

Liiza's white tattoo expanded, branch-like lines growing from it, covering her shoulder and arm. The same went for Khan's blue mark, and the two kept stretching toward each other, converging on their joined hands.

A magnetic, unstoppable force kept the two hands glued together while the tattoos completed the expansion, becoming one at that node. That strange, invisible pull disappeared at that point, and the same went for the burning sensation.

Khan and Liiza slowly let go of each other, lifting their arms and hands to study them. Liiza even pulled up her sleeve, exposing the new tattoos on her body, of which Khan wore an identical blue version.

The main rune on Khan's back was still in its place, but intricate branch-like symbols had covered his right shoulder, arm, and hand now, hiding his scars.

The same went for Liiza. Those intricate white tattoos now stretched from her chest to cover her left shoulder, arm, and hand. She even glanced at Khan's marks, finding no difference whatsoever in their shape. Only their color differed, but that was hardly relevant.

Instead, the relevant detail was in the couple's hands. The blue and white symbols came to an abrupt end when they reached their palms, leaving them oddly devoid of those new tattoos.

As for why, Khan and Liiza immediately found an answer. They took each other's hands again, holding them in the same position as before, and that abrupt end was no more. The tattoos were incomplete individually and could only show their true shape when both sides were joined.

Of course, the tattoos weren't random lines. They drew ancient Niqols' symbols that even Liiza struggled to read. However, she couldn't focus on that now. Liiza only took one last glance at her left arm before looking at Zalpa, awaiting her verdict.

"I now declare you married," Zalpa announced, nodding.

Khan wanted to smile at Zalpa but couldn't find the time since cold hands trapped his face, forcing him into a kiss that the ceremony had delayed for too long. Liiza clung to his head with everything she had, and he didn't hesitate to lift her, marking the official beginning of his married life.

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