OC SPOTLIGHT June: Hush // essentially sfw

hush's actual name is luka. he was born and raised among the scoundrels--the loose criminal organisation that you may remember from some previous OC spotlights (such as the ones about nokai and jin). the scoundrel headquarters was always his home, thieves and bandits and outcasts his family. he grew up with an ideology based on freedom and community, where personal judgement and the code of the scoundrels mattered more than imperial law. luka himself was never one to rob and steal for the sake of personal gain, but rather to redistribute wealth to where it was sorely needed, helping the poor and forgotten people who'd fallen beneath the cracks of the imperial system. he had a good, unselfish heart, and was known among his brethren to be reliable, loyal, and kind, always doing what he thought was right.

he is an andarah, a species that's visually very similar to humans, but with dark sclera, brightly coloured irises, and more variation in skin tone. more importantly they are incredibly tough. unlike humans with their comparably squishy flesh and brittle skeleton, andarahs have tireless muscles and bones that might as well be steel. other than being difficult to injure in the first place, being very resilient to sickness and disease, and also healing relatively quickly, they're virtually immune to magic. in a world where witchcraft is everywhere, this often give andarah a formidable advantage: things like fireball throwing, mind control spells, and curses just won't work on them. to make them even more formidable they're usually tall and easily develop hard muscle mass; with their strength, stamina, and immunity to magic, they're often unstoppable forces and immovable objects all at once. imagine being used to burning your enemies to a crisp, only to have a beefy andarah with gleaming eyes walk through your magical flames as if they were nothing. the downside, of course, is that magic can't help them, either: for example they can't benefit from healing spells.

speaking of magic, proper use of it is also subject to imperial law, which is infamously draconic and complex. there's certain kinds of witchcraft that are regulated or forbidden, and anyone who breaks the rules run the risk of being locked in prisons intended specifically for magically talented convicts, along with people who simply use their magical skills for ill. but many of these laws are outdated or much too strict, and there's people--not least among the scoundrels--who rebel against them. one such person was named juda, and he just so happened to be one of luka's best friends--at times a friend with benefits, even.

in their youth, juda was reckless and hot-headed, while luka always had his feet planted firmly on the ground, calm and solid and reliable. loyal as ever, the andarahn was often by juda's side in his personal crusade against the magic prisons. they would infiltrate or attack them, to free people who had been unjustly incarcerated and help them create a new life for themselves, out of reach from the harsh laws. during one such raid, however, juda's brash behaviour had them all caught in a trap. it was then that luka did what needed to be done to save his friends and the innocents they were trying to help. he stayed behind, buying them time to escape by distracting their pursuers, even though it inevitably meant he got caught by the imperial inquisitors and sentinels (a kind of police force). 

he was put on trial, and with his track record as a lifelong criminal he was sentenced to death. one of the inquisitors who had taken part in his capture, however, had been impressed by his martial prowess and unexpected cunning, and visited his cell to offer him an alternative to execution: joining the so-called dead men of khalafa.

khalafa is the god of guardianship, protection, and duty--and the dead men of khalafa are a group of outcasts tasked with doing very dangerous dirty work, such as hunting down rabid monsters, ghosts, witches, and any other terrors that come in their path. they usually have a short life expectancy and they're social pariahs. at best, people are wary of them. at worst, they're met with fear, distrust, dislike, disgust, or any mixture thereof. the dead men travel all across the empire, often passing through small villages where there's no permanently stationed soldiers or sentinels to protect them. though people are happy to have them take care of their issues they never want them to stay for longer than necessary, since they're viewed as unlucky. you can always recognise a dead man from the tattoos on their hands, arms, and neck, making their status (or rather lack thereof) plain for all to see. few people ever become a dead man willingly, because it's not a fun part to play--but it's better than execution, isn't it?

luka accepts the offer.

joining the dead men means going through a ceremony where you're ritually killed and buried. you spend a few days locked in a sealed tomb, in and of itself a test of your character--and the ritual demands a sacrifice. once you emerge from the cold, silent dark, you're leaving part of your living life behind. in luka's case, he lost his voice. after this funerary ceremony, a dead man of khalafa is legally, socially, and spiritually dead. they're not alive but they aren't ghosts or undead either--they're something unique and strange, with souls that feel somehow different, and that's part of why most people find them extremely unnerving. 

now mute, luka becomes known as hush. andarah--often stoic, quiet types--commonly use sign language along with verbal speech, so he's not completely without means of communication. but it's not like everyone knows sign, so the loss of his voice combines with his new peculiar status to distance him even further from others. he becomes a travelling monster hunter, very skilled in his job, but most people find his presence very unsettling--a dead man is bad as it is, but a dead man that's always silent as the grave? even worse.

next time he meets juda, his old friend is happy to see him alive, but shocked to learn what's happened to him. it's an eye-opening experience for juda and makes him change his ways, but hush holds no grudge and has no regrets. it was his choice to save his friends--his family--and he was fully aware of the risks.

the dead men get no payment for the work they do. in their travels they usually stay at temples and shrines of khalafa, and sometimes people give them food and shelter in thanks for their help. but other than that their primary way of making money is by selling rare materials collected from the monsters they kill.

and that's how hush meets kayin.

like many times before, the hunter is waiting at an inn, about to meet a buyer that's contacted him through a messenger. apparently it's some kind of nobleman, and while hush doesn't think kindly of aristocracy, money is money. a hooded figure walks in, and once they unveil their face, two things become immediately apparent. one: the man is blind, and has no way of seeing hush sign. two: there's no mistaking his identity. with his moon pale eyes, silver hair, and facial tattoos, the elf is none other than kayin, one of the three most powerful people in the empire, second only to the empresses themselves.

everyone, whether you live in the heart of the capital or a tiny village in the middle of nowhere, knows of the “imperial triad.” there's imran, titled "the sword of khunsu," the imperial leader of military matters; there's an elusive entity known as sekai zuri (though some say they're only a myth), who watches over imperial intelligence; and then there's kayin, "the eye of saoban," the court fortune teller and one of the foremost magicians of the empire. despite his usual lack of respect for authority, the only thing hush can think to do is kneel before him. kayin is slender and fragile-looking, but his presence is almost overwhelming, and it fills hush with a sort of unfamiliar awe.

to his astonishment, kayin reaches out for his hands, and speaks to him in tactile sign, fingertips ghosting across his palm. rather than the combination of muteness and blindness causing any issue, it opens the door for a more intimate type of communication than hush has ever known. 

moreover, kayin treats him like an equal. despite the massive difference in status, with the monster hunter being a social pariah and kayin being one of the most elevated officials of the empire, he treats him with a type of common decency that has become a true luxury for hush--and that he would never have expected from such an illustrious person. after years of being a dead man, he's become used to never being welcome anywhere except for when his services are needed and to never receive thanks in his dangerous occupation. but kayin sits with him, hand to hand, inspecting his wares and talking to him without any of the mistrust, judgement, or disdain that hush has grown accustomed to. in fact the elven mage asks him whether he might be able to get hold of some other materials for him, and hush promises to do his best. 

with time, hush basically becomes kayin's personal hunter, proving himself as reliable in this new task as in any other duty he's ever taken upon himself. soon enough, their interactions venture beyond mere business. since kayin doesn't often leave the capital, he starts asking hush questions about the outside world, sitting with his hands out as hush paints stories on his palms. the andarahn didn’t think he’d ever happily spend hours in the company of an aristocrat, but kayin is downright spellbinding to him. the sorcerer, in his turn, finds hush’s straightforward and honest personality very refreshing, compared to the intrigue, deceit, and flattery of the palatial noblemen and imperial officials he’s usually surrounded by. they make an odd sight--a silky, elegant, refined elf and a rough, scarred, down-to-earth hunter, but somehow they just … click. 

one day kayin asks to 'see' hush's face, gently tracing his features with his fingertips, and it's then that hush has to admit to himself that he's fallen in love.

it's crept up on him, but even after realising as much he has no intention of ever acting on it. he's a dead man, and the elf is the court sorcerer--there's no way anything could ever come of it, and the hunter has far too much respect for kayin to even hope. but he's oddly content just to love him, quiet as ever and happily helping him in any way he can. their way of communication necessitates a nearness that often border on tenderness, and hush comes to silently cherish every second--the soft touch of kayin's fingertips and the warmth of his palms as they tactile sign, every elegant movement, his scent that hush would be able to recognise among a hundred others.

after a while, he comes to act more or less as his unofficial bodyguard, and with his stealthy ways he often serves that purpose better than a more conventional guard. hush finds himself stalking about the imperial palace, hidden and unseen and making sure kayin is safe, always. there's many who disapprove of the presence of a dead man, but few who would openly question the court sorcerer's decisions. that said, he's got no shortage of enemies--it’s part of being powerful--and though kayin is far from defenseless it makes things easier to have hush around, helping him deal with assassins and other threats to his life. 

while taking care of one such attacker, hush gets mildly injured. he doesn’t want to concern kayin with it, however, even when the sorcerer comes up to check on him. he says he's fine, but kayin furrows his brow, fingers smoothing across his features, murmurs "you're lying" -- and reaches up to kiss him.

it leaves hush completely at a loss for words, and when their lips part they just linger, forehead to forehead, for what feels like an eternity. finally, hush faintly signs against his palm that i'm getting blood all over you. at that, kayin calls for a bath to be drawn--for both of them.

it legitimately takes hush a while to process that his feelings for the elf were mutual. countless times he finds himself just watching the elf, as though he'd disappear into thin air if he ever took his eyes off of him. somehow kayin can always feel his gaze, and the tender warmth in his chest always blooms into a heat in his blood when kayin slips into his lap or pulls him into his bed. 

they both still have their respective duties to fulfill, and the love between them can never be publicly acknowledged, but that doesn't make it any less real. most of the time it’s a strange arrangement, but there’s certain rare moments where they can get a taste of what their life together could have been like if things had been different--as in, more normal. with the andarahn as a guide kayin is able to travel outside the palace, and in the middle of the desert or tracing the shore of the river, they can momentarily forget about the rest of the world. hush takes him by the hand and leads him off the beaten path, so that he can smell the plants of the countryside, feel fistfuls of dry sand or moist earth in his hand, listen to the breeze in the papyrus reeds, and other such sensory experiences that are so different from the urban life he's used to. other times, kayin visits hush's dreams, where he can see him more clearly and hear an echo of what his voice once sounded like. 

but the important thing about hush and kayin's story is that none of them is lacking anything. hush is mute and kayin is blind, but it never pushed them apart--only pulled them closer together, allowing them to communicate and connect in an incredibly intimate way. you don't need words to love someone.

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aaaaa, the feels. thinking about hush and kayin never fails to make me emotional. they have all the odds stacked up against them, and yet instead of letting it stop them from loving one another they end up with such a beautifully strong bond. hope you enjoyed the read, and if you have any questions about hush and his story, just comment below <3 

// art + hush © me; kayin + juda © kubi.