Chapter twenty-three: Insignia of Death

Reina can sense her body and consciousness being separate entities. Her thoughts do not match up with her actions. She has no movement. A touch of her wrist brings her closer to existing.

“There you are, I’ve been wondering where you’ve disappeared to.” The deep voice sounds familiar, but she can’t recall from where or how. “Come now Reina, it’s time to wake from this coma of yours.” That speech pattern, it’s grossly annoying, yet, oddly charming.

She can feel herself being pulled by the wrist, but still can’t see. A hand gently touches the back of her head and brings a chilling pulse throughout her body. Reina’s eyes finally open to meet the last person she wants to see. “V-Vensen?” Her mouth is full of distaste from saying his name. She then notices that she’s floating in the same darkness where they first met.

“Oh good, you still have some of your memories, at least, anything associated with what your last thoughts were before dying.”

“Where’s Vila you scum-bag!? What have you done with her!?” Reina tries to pounce on Vensen with rage, but he takes a few steps back just out of her reach as she levitates and flails around.

“My, if I knew you would be so hyperactive, I would have put chains on you first.”

“You stay away from me, Beldorian!”

Vensen looks to the man that came with him from Vila’s room with a puzzled face, then back to her. “Beldorian?”

She becomes full of acrimony. “Don’t play dumb with me! It’s obvious that you follow the teachings of Beldor! How else would you be able to perform all those stunts you’ve been dishing out!? You even called yourself a sorcerer!”

Vensen surveys all over the place with his vision whilst reciting the memory in his head and silently rephrasing the name on his lips. His face shows his remembrance as he stares back at her. “Ah yes, Beldor, he was a servant of mine. He proved to be disloyal-so I-devoured him.” He then gives her another devious grin and adds, “He was quite delicious.”

The realization hits Reina mercilessly as it slowly seeps into her cognition. “Your-servant?”

“Yes dear, although, the locals called me by a different name at the time.” Vensen glances around some more to retrieve the memory and back to Reina again. “I believe it was, Vindelos.” He notices her laconic response and decides to say more, “It’s a good oumi* that we made a deal when we did, I was in need of another drudge.”

“Deal?” Reina’s anamneses are still a jumbled mess.

He cocks his head in a motherly fashion and looks over to his servant. Vensen gazes at her and replies, “Dear-sweet-Reina; try to extract the moment from your mind, I’m sure it’s in there.”

It doesn’t take long for her to retrieve it. “What about it?”

“Remember when I placed that mark on your hand?”

Reina stares at the exact palm that now bears the ink of a hallow square as Vensen lengthens his talk.

“That symbol is actually used to chattel whoever holds it to the person who gives it to them, basically, I enslaved your soul by trickery.”

She becomes aghast. “What?”

“You belong to me, darling. I can do whatever I want with you.” Vensen’s signature and sickening smile forces its way onto his lips. The look of winning evil in his demonic eyes tells of his cruel thoughts lucidly. “Yamato and Sosen will be your guidance of any task I give you until you understand the routine.”

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The man next to him suddenly becomes stunned by this notion. “Huh-me, Lord Vensen?”

One of Vensen’s eyes twitches as his smile gives off an aura of annoyance. “Yes, Sosen; why else would I have brought you here?” He makes a strong effort to not sound incensed, but some of it manages to leak out anyway.

“Now just hold on a minute,” Reina interrupts their conversation to continue hers, “What if I don’t want to obey your command?”

Vensen calms himself down before answering, “If you so happen to disobey me directly, that emblem on your palm will send a scorching pain throughout your entire body, or if you’d like, you can wander around here in the void for the rest of eternity.”

It doesn’t take long for her to think it over and make her decision. “Alright, I suppose I could deal with you, but only to an extent.”

His smirk widens slightly. “It’s so much fun to make compromises with you, Reina dear.”

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As the three of them walk through the fancy castle, Vensen gives Reina a quick debriefing of her first menial assignment.

“I assume that you’re able to cook, so I’ll leave the preparation of breakfast to you.” Tethalia* creeps over the horizon and attempts to make the blue sky a lighter shade. The few beams of light that do hit the trio from the window exposes the physical darkness of Vensen’s appearance. “Yamato and Sosen will help you in doing so.”

Reina looks to the one named “Sosen” as they advance down the chilly hall towards the kitchen.

Sosen gives her a welcoming smile as the dark purple insignia on his neck crawls around the left side of his face, leaving the resemblance of three claw marks on his cheek while it pulsates like a living thing.

Reina forces the same kind gesture back to him and starts to feel better about the situation. Perhaps if she had someone like this guy with her, working for Vensen won’t be all bad.

“Here you are.” Vensen recaptures their attention and lets them into the warm room. “Yamato, I brought you some aid.”

A big burley mitsu turns from a cooking pot with a black shirt and a white apron on. “I’m already finishing up. You should’ve brought them sooner.” The thick scar on his left eye and deep grumbling voice intimidates Reina a bit.

Vensen skootches her further into the room so that Sosen may enter. “My apologies.” He then disappears without another word or trace of his existence other than a few strands of that dark mist he always has with him.

She stands in the middle of the room feeling a bit awkward and makes an effort to destroy the unnerving air. “Um-well then, the name’s Reina. How are you, good sir?” Reina bows to the well-built mitsu.

He extends his hand to her and accommodates, “I’m just fine, thanks. You can call me Yamato.” He looks to the young man and introduces him, “That wimp over there is Sosen.”

Sosen responds with a nervous face. “Do you always have to call me a wimp, Sir?”

“Yes.” His answer is quick and somewhat harsh.

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The three servils commence on cleaning up before the first meal of the day. Reina and Sosen stand at the sink taking care of last night’s dinner while Yamato makes sure the food is ready for serving.

Reina stays intermittent between scrubbing the plates and examining the pulsating insignia that scrapes on the left side of the young man’s face down his neck. The moving purple texture has three permanent claw marks on his cheek and what looks like the edges of a flame down his jugular. What could be the rest of his tattoo hides underneath his clothing instead.

“You must be wondering about the mark on my neck.”

She jolts from his sudden comment. “Oh, forgive me for starring, how rude of me!”

He chuckles with a warm smile. “It’s alright, kinda hard not to when it’s out in the open. This tattoo isn’t much different from the one you have.” He points to the empty square on her hand. “Mine started out as three claw marks on my shoulder.” Sosen then unzips his dark green coat to reveal the rest on his brown skin. “Over time it spread, I think it’s still growing.”

“It’s called the insignia of death.” Yamato cuts in before cooling off a spoonful sample of the stew. He then continues, “Every one of Vensen’s chattels has a unique variation of it somewhere on their body.”

“Including you, Yamato-kan?” Sosen asks as he fully puts his coat back on.

“Of course,” he answers.

“That can’t be true,” Sosen protests like a small child, “I’ve seen you in your boxers at the spa here enough to know that I haven’t seen anything like a tattoo on there.”

Reina contains the explosion that could have been laughter and instead forces it into a giggle.

Yamato gives him a death glare and enlightens in an irate tone, “That’s because I learned how to hide it from sight, you dim-wit.”

Sosen backs off a bit out of fear with his hands up in defense. “Aw c’mon Yamato, give me a break, I was only initiated just before Reina here. I’m still new.”

Yamato turns back to his soup with his mutterings.

“Yamato-kan,” Reina’s curiosity has peaked about this whole insignia ordeal, “I hope you don’t mind me asking, but, where is yours located?”

He sighs. “I don’t mind at all, it’s on my back.”

Sosen decides to gently push the conversation further with his interest, “Hey Yamato, does yours squirm around like mine?”

“How would I know? It’s not like I’ve been keeping a close eye on it lately, besides, it’s kinda difficult to literally watch your own back.” His reply is blunt and irked-sounding.

The young man becomes concerned for him. “Yamato, are you okay? You’re not being as energetic as usual.” He turns to Reina and makes a quick comment, “Normally, he would be chasing me around the room to pummel me by now.”

“I’m fine, just a little exhausted is all.”

Finally, Sosen has the urge to walk up behind Yamato and hugs him with his head resting on the man’s back.

Yamato’s face contorts into an unpleased and uncomfortable obverse. “Sosen-The fuck are you doing?”

“It’s okay, Yamato. You can tell us if something is wrong. We’re your friends.” Sosen’s embrace tightens around Yamato’s waist. “You’re my friend, and I want to be there for you whenever you need me.”

Reina feels the moment as well and comes over to hug Yamato from the side. “That’s right Yamato, you can tell us anything dear.”

Yamato finally loses his cool and snatches the back of Sosen’s coat from behind. He lifts Sosen up to his face as it twists into one full of wrath with his hand clutching into a fist.

Reina takes this as a signal to release her hold on him.

Sosen, on the other hand, squirms around with his feet in the air as Yamato’s rage crescendos. “No-wait-Yamato-please!” A rush of darkness overwhelms Sosen’s vision. His head goes limp from the blow that Yamato unleashed onto his face with a blackeye forming.

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Oumi- Much like an omen, it is a type of sign that either presumes good or bad fortune.

Tethalia- Another word for the sun in the hiki language.