Still in a bad mood, Frei walked along with Evelin in the direction he expected to find her companions or others that came here from outside of the Fabled Universe. Despite his mission being over for him, he still desired the Gifted as his blood slaves, pushing the matter of slightly reducing his ability to learn new spells to the back of his mind.
"So, the way you have depicted them, they will accept the wine because they have already suggested you bring them some." Frei went through his strategy to recruit more vampires into his clan once again. "They will presume that you are trying to join their group, bringing them the wine to make a good impression."
"Yes, Master." Evelin hurried to nod many times, while not daring to have too much eye contact with Frei.
"Perfect, they will drink it along with my blood and become my slaves." He continued with a smile, it seemed almost too easy, but there was no reason it should not work out.
"Yes, they will be slaves, the same way as I am." She responded in the same way.
"Splendid." He smiled and due to him being distracted by his thoughts, he had not noticed an elf child that ran in his direction and they collided with an unexpected force.
"Careless brat!" Frei stumbled, revealing his canines for a second, annoyed by the interruption. He watched the poor child that sat on its butt for a moment, the boy was dazed by his teeth for an instant before he swiftly stood up and ran away in fright. Evelin quickly appeared in front of him as if to shield him from more careless pedestrians.
"What insolence, should I turn that child? Will we need a bottle of juice too? Wine seems not sufficient for this purpose." Evelin tried to offer a constructive solution.
" . . . " Frei stared at Evelin for a while. "Juice? Ah, Yes. No, I do not think so."
"But Master said all should listen to the Master when we grow our society to its peak. I can turn the child myself later when we are numerous to lessen Master's burden." Evelin nodded sharply with a smile that looked like it had been tattooed onto her face.
"What am I doing?" Frei suddenly stopped, grasping his head in his hands.
"No, this is not the way." He mumbled, the scared face of the elf child still in front of his eyes and looked at Evelin's stoic expression, a fake smile that seemed would remain there even If she was to genocide ten villages in a row.
"Evelin, forget everything I have ever told you to do or think: Now!" Frei grabbed her head with his palms and watched her eyes come to life again.
Suddenly, there was a bright golden flash above their heads, illuminating their surroundings like a sun, causing Frei to worry about his subordinate, hoping that all the clothes she wore was enough. When he looked up he saw that the flash had been caused by a spherical golden barrier that was protecting the city. It was still visible, as it shielded the city from an ongoing attack of a creature Frei had never seen before.
"There is a whole nest!"
"It is an Aberration!"
"Aberrations!"
"The devils are here, the prophet was right!"
Judging by the elfs in panic around him, it was not something common, he was particularly disturbed by the fear he could see in their eyes. The same look Evelin, the face of whom he was still holding, also had.
Frankly the reason for that was quite different.
He looked closer at the creature that was causing their panic and saw that the color of its skin was deep purple and its shape was humanoid, with its limbs looking ordinary except that its right arm was an aberration, likely giving the creature its name. In its right arm's place there was a huge tentacle that started as one at its base and roughly in the middle split into several more appendages of varying thickness and length, the longest one being about the same length as the creature was tall. When fully stretched, it would probably reach even a meter further. The only other deviations from a human was the unusually short neck of the creature and its eyes, that each had a different color. What surprised Frei the most was that the alien-like creature wore simple clothes, suggesting that it had some level of intelligence.
Frei tore his eyes away from the Aberration and noticed what was probably the main reason for panic of his fellow elfs around him. Behind the Aberration was an island, floating in the air. It was hard to determine the distance, but it had to be considerable, as he almost could not see the Aberrations that inhabited the island even as specks of dust.
A few of them seemed to head in their direction and he wanted to use the opportunity to guess the distance, but before he could, his attention had been captivated by the transparent magical wings that appeared on the back of the Aberration that until this moment had stood on the city's barrier, trying to get past it. It flapped its blue wings and flew in the direction of the forest, it most likely decided to pick an easier target as its prey. Its purpose was certainly to hunt, not to be an ambassador on a diplomatic mission.
Among the tiny dots in the distance that moved around the island, he noticed something bigger that grew larger with every passing second. His palms were still pressing against Evelin's temples when he realized that what was flying in their direction was not a huge monster, nor a dragon, but something as much dangerous.
A huge boulder.
"We need to hide underground, come!" Frei shouted and ran in the direction of a winery, while holding Evelin by her hand. He hoped that they had some sort of a cellar that would shield them from collateral damage, as they could not survive a direct impact no matter what they did anyway.
Evelin followed him, confused and worried, her face on longer a stone mask.
* * * *
Samma'El sat on a bench in a garden, chewing on apples, a restless figure of Mikha'El fidgeting right next to him.
It was unusual to spend so much time in Heaven given his position, but desperate times made them forget many of the regulations from the past.
"That is unexpected." He had been prepared for some deviations, because of how wildly the crazy scientists of the Arcane Universe had mixed all that should not be tempered with, but he had not included evacuation or sealing among his plans. Something that looked like one of reasonable possibilities now, when they had obtained some detailed feedback from Gabri'El, who had finally swallowed his pride and gave them a detailed report.
"What are we going to do? Should we pull out?" Mikha'El asked, it was funny how he depended on him. He was resolute when he knew his enemy, but they were in a chaotic situation and there were no straightforward approaches to solve their predicament and the one he usually turned to was indisposed.
Samma'El had expected that the Fabled Universe would at some point stop sucking all the souls like mad and stabilize, enabling their regular troops to enter and begin the usual conquest routine the same way they did it in the Arcane Universe, but the glutton of a universe acted differently. Its concept seemed to incorporate some sort of an infinite expansion, denying anyone inside a way to congregate souls, limiting them only to their own. The rest was being snatched and used to power its expansion into all directions. As a consequence, the Fabled Universe expanded in abrupt jumps, annexing huge chunks of void whenever a large number of souls trespassed its borders.
At present, it seemed that it would never stop, growing like cancer every time something fed it a conglomeration of souls, sabotaging the very principle that power in the Divine and Arcane universes was based on.
"If we keep pushing more souls into the Fabled Universe, we might only cause it to expand more. I would focus on conquering the Arcane Universe first. We have the upper hand and we can observe the changes as the losing side will undoubtedly flee also in the direction of the Fabled Universe." Sama'El spoke after a minute of thinking and Mikha'El met his proposition with silence.
"What about out brother?" He only asked, the expected lesson for their overly eager companion turned into something more severe than they had anticipated.
"At the moment, we can only pray for his safety. I still refuse to believe that he will be bested so easily." Sama'El sighed and thought that maybe it was a good opportunity for some serious changes, as he had felt boredom weighing him down too much the last few centuries.
* * * *
Ejay hummed while on a refreshing stroll on the massive castle walls, just an hour after the sun hid behind the forests of the west. He happened upon Nitarja, whose tail was leaning against the wall, her ears pointing haphazardly to the sides. She was obviously cast down, her right hand clenching something in her pocket. He wondered what happened, could it be because of Frei's recent departure?
"What is all this gloom and doom about? Cheer up, fox." Ejay jabbed her side with his finger, but he had to wait a while for her delayed response. "It has only been hours since you two lovebirds parted ways and you already look like this? Sheesh!"
Stolen novel; please report.
"Have you seen Victor by the way? We should be preparing for our mission, or was our guide delayed? Who will be our leader anyway?" More questions poured out of Ejay's mouth.
"Not seen him." She answered dryly and both of them waited in silence for a while, Ejay being aware of the glaring contrast in their mood.
"The purple burns." Nitarja whispered suddenly and Ejay did not know what he was supposed to think about her strange statement.
"What purple? And is it such a problem to be nearly falling off the wall here because of it?" His eyebrows rose, while he waited to be told about what it was all about.
Without a word, she took a strand of her hair that was purple and a little bit shorter than her original white hair and waved it in front of Ejay's eyes. After a moment, she finally gave him an explanation.
"I wanted to remember Frei better the moment he left, so I have colored a strand of my hair with the same dye he used and . . it burns." She gestured with her hand in the direction of a silver spoon that was lying on the wall, along a leather glove that she had used to manipulate the spoon.
"I have noticed that he is a bit different, but now everything falls into place. He is somehow immune to silver and not just that, he is probably immune to every negative effect a lesser vampire should be subjected to. I thought it ridiculous before and have never seriously considered it, but after giving it a lot of thought, " She took a deep breath while staring at the strand of hair and continued. "it is obvious."
"Even if it was true, it would be a reason for a celebration, not for an hour of mourning on the wall!" Ejay tried to counter with his positive attitude, showing a bright smile.
"Celebration? Do you understand that he can walk away anytime he wants, but stays with us, a slave, only because I am a thrall to Victor? I . . ." Her voice broke and she had to take a deep breath again before she was able to continue.
"I am his real slaver, not Victor. If it wasn't for me, he could walk away without turning back anytime he wants!" She turned at him and Ejay could see how troubled she was, her expression that of a tortured animal. "He saved my life multiple times and the only thing I am able to do for him is to pull him under the water! I cannot accept this!"
"Why do you blame yourself? You are not the one in control!" Ejay wanted to be furious when he saw the injustice, but could not quite aim his harsh words directly at their master.
"But the effect is still the same! I am his chain, his burden!" She nearly shouted, tears in her eyes. "No, not anymore, he will be free from that leash. " She bowed her head, looking at the cold, dark wall, her long white hair spread on its dirty surface.
"I hope that you have not done something stupid." Ejay said dryly, uneasy about where it was going. "You can just pretend that you are that chain to live a comfortable life among the vampires, he might be able to fight them if he is this special."
Ejay began grasping on straws to provide at least some hope to his desperate friend.
"To bind him to the vampires only to ensure a comfortable life for myself?" She looked at Ejay like he was crazy after she had imagined herself in that kind of a situation, she herself living in luxury while forcing the one she loved to obey Victor's will.
"Frei, I never would have given you to them, not for anything." Nitarja stared through her tears and hair down from the wall at an inconspicuous ordinary human that was carrying a letter the contents of which made her insides burn with sadness so heavy that she had to avert her eyes.
"No, I have done what I had to. He will no longer be a part of my life and I will cease to burden him with my safety. It is over." She started to cry openly and Ejay knew that it was meaningless to talk about it any further.
Sometimes the only healer able to help was time, so he just put his hand on her back, as it heaved up and down with sobs.
"Don't cry, you are perfect. I have never met a more honorable person in my life." Ejay did not just tried to comfort her, he really meant what he said.
* * * *
"Run, run, run, my sweet, sweet girl." Ratel ran along the smooth, white skin with her claw, the predatory move leaving a deep trail of blood in its wake. She followed with her tongue along the wound, licking the bright red blood off the skin. She gulped down and an expression of joy appeared on her face
"It's intoxicating." She breathed out like in a trance, not paying attention to the feeble attempts of her exhausted victim to dodge her claws. Actually, she seemed to enjoy the resistance, like cat playing with mouse that was desperately hanging onto its life with its last ounce of strength.
For a second, Ratel frowned when she saw that her actions no longer caused any cries or begging coming from Nitarja's mouth, she appeared to be almost completely spent after what had devolved into merciless torture when Victor left the room with no specific orders. For a moment, Ratel stared at the massaging table that was now fully covered with blood and began wiping the blood off its surface with her hand, licking it afterwards with her long tongue.
"You are no longer fun, maybe this can invigorate you a bit." Ratel stepped closer to the multiple layers of heavy curtains that protected the inside of the room from direct sunlight and made a small hole in it. "This should be the right size."
Ratel watched as the thin ray of light shone through the tiny hole landing on Nitarja's exposed skin of her thigh. She smiled when Nitarja cried out in pain, a line of burning flesh snaking on her body, as she was trying to dodge the ray of light.
"That's what I want to see girl, squirm, fight, bleed!" Ratel stepped closer to her with spring in her steps and put her head closer to Nitarja's that was still tied upside down with leather stripes.
"This game will be a lot of fun, you can actually survive if you stand still and let the light burn a hole trough your leg, but if you squirm to much. . . " Ratel left the last words unspoken and giggled like she had just made a great joke, while she looked into Nitarja's eyes that were no longer wet with tears, as her body simply ran out of resources to make more.
"Just kill me!" Nitarja shouted out in a horse voice, but Ratel seemed to be hell bent on toying with her until she broke.
* * * *
"How disappointing." Nitarja heard a familiar voice shorty after she let out the last shout she was capable off. Her senses blurred by the all encompassing pain of light burning her flesh, she could still tell that the excruciating sensation of burning stopped abruptly. A few moments later, someone placed a hand on the back of her head and something began to pour inside her mouth.
A minute later, she realized the one with her in the room was Victor.
After another, she figured out that he was pouring blood into her mouth, the blood that originated from Ratel's head that must have been severed in a single, clean strike.
"Have more, it will help you recover." He fed her more, while shadows swirled around her, cutting off all her leather restrains. However, she remained in the exactly same position, not having the strength to move, resting on her back with her limbs spread wide.
"Why this much?" She could not care less about why he had killed Ratel, she had transformed into a demon in her eyes during the torture. She wanted to know why Victor punished her so harshly, as she considered it too cruel for his standards, the multiple stages of torture that started as teasing, then rape and ended up as brutal mutilation replaying in front of her eyes.
"I had to make sure before I killed her and you kind of deserved a heavy handed approach after what you have done." He responded calmly, lowering the head slowly, as the blood it contained had been mostly exhausted.
"I should not have chosen a badger, they are prone to this." Victor sighed and sat down next to Nitarja that was still unable to move her body, waiting for the blood to take some effect, her mortal shell aching all over.
"The wild races take the bond badly, it is similar to trying to domesticate a wolf, many of them die because they cannot bear to lose their freedom." He looked at the blood covered fur on Ratel's dead body and let out another sigh. "She had promise, but she also had a natural tendency to enjoy the blood of her victims to the point she could not control herself. A deadly combination of traits turning her into a maniac in the end, I cannot have someone like her as my subordinate."
"How can you expect me not to take vengeance for this? You should kill me too, as some day I might also hold your head like you are holding hers now." Nitarja claimed openly in a whisper, not even trying to hide her intent, at this point, she almost thought of death as a release.
"You won't" Victor laughed heartily, obviously amused by what she had said. "This is an interesting conversation, people rarely talk to me like this."
He looked at her and used his right hand to rise her head a bit to look into her eyes, as she was unable to do it with her own strength yet.
"Eternity can be cruel, unyielding, numbing to the point of insanity. After the first ten years, you will experience most of what you are curious about, after fifty all your family and friends will be dead, after a few hundred you will be bored of new people whose life burns out like paper in front of you and there will be no old ones anymore. In all this madness there will be only one safe heaven that will never change, never truly abandon you, the one place with those like you. Vampires, me."
"Yes, this awful and beautiful place, holding deep memories you can never forget or compare to anything else." He gestured with his one hand all around him.
Victor stood up and picked Nitarja's body up, like he was picking up a marionette the limbs of which were limp, without any will. A wave of tangible darkness washed over the massaging table, clearing all the mess on it away in an instant and Victor put her down, this time she was lying there in a proper position.
"I should examine you for some nasty stuff she might have done in her craze." He said as if it was his morning routine and his hands started to move along her skin, touching her lightly along the way.
"What?!" Nitarja, slowly regaining her strength, had no idea what he had in mind, but she had not recovered enough to put up any resistance even if she wanted.
"Let's say that this mess is not at all the worst level of crazy I have experienced." Nitarja felt Victor's hands inspecting her everywhere, he appeared to be looking for something stuck under her skin.
"You know, I might seem cruel and everything, but even when all the human cities fall, you will always have your place here among us. Maybe a bit harsh at times, but we will never give up on you." He seemed to notice that his words made her pupils move in the direction of Ratel's body.
"Well, as long as you do not give up on yourself, turning into a blood crazed animal or try to actively destroy this castle." The recovering Nitarja pushed her revulsion down her throat when he reached even places she almost had forgotten she had.
"Isn't it poetic? The walls of this castle bind us together with pain, joy and eternity, forever a place where we can belong to when all others hunt us down. Even though these intense memories may seem disgusting and extreme to you now, situations like these forge bonds that last, not drinking tea. Many vampires tend to find the hard way that even the worst memories are worth remembering when the alternative is simply nothingness."
For a second, his eyes lost all its playfulness, but it was so brief Nitarja was not even sure whether she had not imagined it. "And don't you think that you will not turn into a psychopath with time, ordinary minds have never been build for immortality."
"Does that mean you would accept Frei back despite his actions? I don't believe that all vampires are one big, marry family." She whispered in a quiet voice.
"He? He might be a problem, because I am not at all sure that he is actually a vampire. Yes, vampires can kill one another, but . . ." Nitarja stiffened suddenly, enduring more of Victor hands' adventures.
"Stop! You are clearly mocking me now!" She lowered her head, almost thinking that he was only giving her a false hope before another round of suffering would being.
"Right, I am probably too paranoid. Ratel was a young vampire, she would not do something like that." Victor mumbled to himself and Nitarja did not even want to hear what he had in mind.
"Done, I will send you more blood, you will recover without an issue." Victor straightened up himself and looked at her gloomy expression.
"Smile, little fox, we have an eternity to live through!" He chuckled while grabbing one corner of her mouth lightly, lifting it up into a smile.
"Just fuck off already." She spoke with her mouth distorted, utter chaos in her head. Was he her enemy or not? She could not even tell anymore!
"That's the attitude, you will recover in no time." He pointed at her playfully and winked, while walking out of the room. When the door closed, she sighed and stared at the ceiling with mixed emotions and lingering pain all over her body, but she had already enough strength to find a certain instrument on the floor, inside a torn pocket of her tattered clothes. She put a small wooden flute closer to her lips, but stopped abruptly right before making a sound.
"Don't come Frei, I can handle this. Stay safe."