While the Shade was setting Miede down and beginning its preparations for battle, Heacrim, Bart, and Epim had finally made their way to Duncire’s room.

The gentle giant Duncire looked quite happy at the sight of his father, quite distraught at the sight of the injured Epim, and then grew quite worried at the look on his father’s face. He waited for his father to explain the situation, but Alucire had no time to explain the exact situation..

“Duncire, my son.” He spoke with a heavy, desolate tone. “I’m going to ask something of you, and it is terribly unfair.”

Duncire did not speak, the expression on his face clearly one of discomfort. Although he spent his life contained in the castle, he was not dumb. The expression his father gave him an implicit understanding of what was to come.

Bart stayed silent, waiting for the explanation Alucire had been putting off. He was still worried about Epim, to the extent that his eyes had never completely left him.

Alucire took a deep breath, his hand visibility shaking. “I…”

He grips his hands into fists, and resolves himself. “Your mother and I, after today I’m sorry to say neither of us will be alive.”

Duncire nearly jumped upwards, the stitches on his body’s straining. “Papa why!? Did our visitors-”

Alucire shook his head. “No, no not them. Our past has caught up with us, the pain we tried to bury away has returned. I can feel it from here, Miede is fading. She has been delivered wounds that she can’t recover from, from a man who intends to deliver only pain upon the world.”

Duncire yells. “But then why aren’t you up there helping her, papa! I know you’re strong, and your blood! Couldn’t you-”

“Duncire!” Alucire yells. “The man is vile, and I am sickly, too fatigued to fight. And, I have put off my destiny for far too long. I am just as vile as the man above, I have deprived you of the right of life that you deserved.”

Duncire shook his head. “No, No! It might be dark down here, and cramped, but you both-”

“We both put our continued life above yours, we denied you a chance at a future for a continued equilibrium, one that only brings pain!” Alucire’s eyes were noticeably shuddering.

Bart listens on, his eyes focusing on Epim. His breathing was growing dim, and he would soon take action regardless of Alucire’s words. But he was broken out of his concentration by the next words of Alucire’s.

“No longer. We will end your curse once and for all, you must devour my heart Duncire. Our friend here will consume my blood as penance for our actions against the Bloodsuckers, who only cared for us.”

The room was silent, Duncire’s face was one of pure shock and confusion. Bart eyes widened in shock, and before he regained his senses he was already yelling. “WHAT!? This is your plan? You’ve spoken nothing of healing Epim, you think I will simply drink your blood? And you believe your heart will cure your son? If you’ve known that then why go all this time without doing a thing!?” Before he can continue, Alucire interjects.

“I will awaken Epim myself, not through blood. Through a connection of the soul. Miede and I studied long, and hard on ways to cure you, my son. My blood became a panacea. Albeit temporarily towards your affliction. The only answer we found for your health was a permanent source of it, my heart.”

Alucire took a deep breath, looking his son into the eyes. “But my damn blood, it makes my body a prison. Even if just a scrap of me were to remain, my soul would remain in it unable to move on. My body would recreate itself, I would be reborn, it would reform itself in the image of my soul. Giving Duncire my heart was an imperfect solution, one that would only cause more problems. That is- That was the reality.”

Alucire looked at Epim, specifically his hand, the ring on his finger that was both smooth and rough. “But, were my soul ever to be displaced, such a thing wouldn’t occur.The blood wouldn’t have a shape to return to. Duncire, you’d have a constant source of the medicine you need. My heart would continue to beat, it would continue to produce the blood you need.”

Duncire spoke. “But papa, I don’t want to if it means hurting you…” He said it weakly, not able to make eye contact with Alucire. Duncire had not even attempted to hurt the bloodsuckers who would draw on his blood, the thought of hurting his own father made him visibly ill.

“I know, I know Duncire, you’re kind, you’re gentle. But… If I don’t do this it means we will hurt much more than just ourselves. We will hurt the bloodsuckers, the brave heroes who came here looking for an answer, and you Duncire. We will continue to deprive you of a future. Your mother and I have already paid far too great a price, no… we have avoided paying a price so that we can continue on. It is our time to make a choice, to deny our continued stagnation.”

Bart snapped. “And how exactly do you plan to remove your soul all of a sudden? Have you just become enlightened, able to extinguish yourself with your newfound revelation?” He was feeling a mix of emotions, and they brought out rage from him, one he couldn’t ignore.

Alucire shook his head, once again looking at the ring of Epim’s finger. “Not revelation, no. The opportunity has been given solely by chance. The ring this boy wears, it's a gateway to the inner self. Although I’m not sure if he’s aware, that gateway is wide open. He’s allowing just anyone to waltz in if they so choose. It’s rare for such a man to exist, in this world where we surround ourselves with walls of self interest and doubt.”

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Bart looks to the ring, and looks back at Alucire. “But that’s… ridiculous.” Bart thinks back to Epim’s scythe, and its ephemeral nature. It too was something he couldn’t explain, which brought doubt into his mind on his understanding of what was possible, and what was not.

“It is, but it is the truth. Now, we must hurry. There’s not much time, the situation above is getting dire. Soon, your friend above will be dead, and Miede…” Alucire grew somber, the vitality that seemed to stem through him became dulled and weak.

He closed his eyes for just a moment, thinking back on their long journey together. He opened them up, the resolve obvious in them. “This will not be the end. She and I, we’ll reunite in the black sands. I will find my way to that endless desert, and I will wait endlessly for her if I must. Miede, my companion, my lover. I won’t allow her to pass on alone.”

Bart turned his head down. “Just a myth. That desert’s just a fairy tale, it’s not real. It’s something that people speak of only to give hope to the hopeless. Do you really believe… such a thing is real? ”

Alucire shook his head. “I’m not sure. If it’s real or not. But if it means meeting my Miede again… I would believe in any matter of myth, any matter of legend. Although it is our love for each other that has brought this place to such ruin I still… I will still grasp for her hand, no matter how impossible it is.”

Alucire turns to Bart, who was trying to take the information in. “And young Bloodsucker, whether or not you take my blood for yourself is your choice. I simply wish for your people to thrive. You who can take the blood of others for yourself, please use it to do more good than I ever could.”

Duncire slammed his centipede tail against the ground. “No Papa, stop saying such things! You cared for me, you even cared for the bats who hurt us! You cared for mama when there was nobody else! Don’t say you did no good, I won’t allow it, I won’t allow it!” With each emphasis Duncire’s tail slammed against the ground again and again, a sign of active protest to the sentiment Alucire was expressing.

Bart still did not understand. “But I don’t understand, Epim still has an arrow in his side. You expect a communion with his soul to magically fix him. He’s still human, and he’s not like you. What are you expecting to happen? Surely your blood would be better for him than me.”

Alucire stares for a long time at Epim ,before turning back to Bart. “I’m expecting him to put himself back together. He’s much more than what you think, he’s…” Alucire stops himself. “He’s someone who can stand even under great pain, he just doesn’t know how to yet.”

Bart frowns, the answer not being satisfactory. His intuition told him however, that Alucire could see his friend far more clearly than he could right now. It saddened him, the thought that he did not truly understand the man who was his savior and friend.

Alucire looked back to Duncire, a myriad of emotions ran through him. He would never be able to know for certain if his son would be able to live the life he wanted, but he knew that whatever awaited him, it was much greater than the five hundred years of solitude he and his wife had subjected him to.

“Duncire, I’m so sorry. It’s the only option I can think of, I’ve never given you a fair chance, have I?” The pity he had for himself was obvious as his voice took on a deprecating tone.

Duncire shook his head. “I… I don’t want to… I don’t want to say goodbye.” Tears rolled down his monstrous face.

Alucire shuddered at his words, the pain his son felt was clear. “I know but…” He trailed off, not able to organize his thoughts.

Bart spoke now. “The Bloodsuckers, we will stand by your side. We will become your friends, we will watch over you as a sibling. And… you won’t have to say goodbye to your father, not completely. Because his heart will be beating within you, he’ll always be a part of you, caring for you.” Although Bart could not forgive what Alucire and Miede had done, he understood that the care they had for Duncire was real. It was something tangible, something he could feel in the very air.

Alucire nearly felt himself collapse out of grief at the words Bart spoke, but he could do no such thing now. “I’m sorry, but the choice must be made. Duncire, will you take my heart?” Alucire looked forward, trying to convey his emotion not through words but through expression.

Duncire looked back, father and son’s gaze met each other. The words Bart had said seemed to resonate with him, but still, it was only his own acceptance and understanding that would give him the courage to make the choice.

“Ok. Papa, I won’t ever forget you, or mama. I’ll.., Be strong for both of your sakes!” Duncire said this with a feigned confidence, undercut by the weak tone of his voice overtaken by his sobbing.

The Shade’s footsteps from above slammed down, preparing for his battle with Heacrim.

Alucire breathed deeply. “Goodbye, my son.” He turned to Bart. “And goodbye to you as well, my child. I regret that I couldn’t show your kind the love they deserved, but I’m sure my son will do what I could not.” Alucire looks to the ring on Epim’s finger, and moves his hand to it. “Although the world may be cruel, I’m sure with people like this in it, it’ll become a place where we can change.”

Alucire touches the ring with the tip of his index finger, his final thoughts are of his son. “He won’t be alone… he won’t be alone!” The ring glows a dim twilight, and unceremoniously his body slumps over. Alucire, the progenitor of the Bloodsuckers, the father of Duncire, had left his body and life behind.

Were Duncire to wait, his grief would overtake him, and he would not be able to complete the task his Father had asked of him. So he did not, he pushed his emotions down, and began the process to take his fathers heart.

The mouth on his stomach that was stitched closed strained open, the thread that kept it together bursting off. There were no teeth in the mouth, instead long, spindly limbs reached out of it, all of them ending in a sharp point. It was surgical, precise, the way the limbs reached towards Alucire’s body and gouged into his chest. They wrapped themselves around the heart in Alucire’s chest, and with a quick yank, they retreated back into Duncire’s body with the heart in tow. The mouth closes on his stomach, and in an instant a transformation begins to occur within him.

The gold fur that was centralized on his legs and arms began to spread, overtaking the dull colors that marked the rest of his body. The vestigial wings on the back of his body begin to transform, no longer laying limply along his back, they spread out, barely fitting in the underground chamber. The stitches all along his body break, but no blood spills out of the wounds, they suture themselves together with his own flesh. The scales seem to shed off him, instantly replaced by more vibrant pristine ones of golden hue. His claws become sharper, and a deeper black. His tail makes no such major transformation, but it gains dexterity and flexibility. The hooves on his feet too transform, shedding away their previous cover. Duncire was changing, not only in body but in mind, in soul. Pain receded and clarity came to him.

At the same time, Bart looks over to Alucire’s body. He accepts the gift he was offered, and sinks his teeth into the neck of Alucire, accepting his progenitor’s ichor.

Bart’s body pumps with muscle, and then condenses. His fur seems to groom itself, becoming refined and sleek. Although he does not undergo a visible outward transformation to the extent of Duncire, his physiology changes in its entirety. His body was changing much like the first Bloodsucker who drank from Alucire’s flesh. But this was no change of species or evolution, it was a fulfillment of potential.

While the two underwent their transformation, Alucire found himself sinking into a deep darkness, in the depths of Epim’s soul. His golden eyes scanned, and found their mark. Within his soul, Epim was curled beneath that twilight ball of light that had followed him from all that time ago. His body seemed weak, and his eyes lacked all life.

Alucire approached through the darkness, not fully understanding, but knowing that it was his time to complete his final task in life.