Chapter 22

Remembering

While Klaus was being dragged around at the gym. Lilith had been up all night looking at maps with a creased brow. She was digging, trying to plot a route to World four hundred and thirty-two.

There were direct ways to reach it, of course, but to go directly- her party would have to go through three worlds that had fallen to the blight.

Lilith considered phoning Pain again, but the demon had phoned her not an hour past with some harsh words. She smiled, remembering how it had complained about her new lovers' plans. 'Just when I think he cannot surprise me anymore, he does.'

The demon had sent her the maps along with Pride. He was aware of what she was planning, but they did not tell Klaus yet. Lilith made sure to keep it hidden in her mind while convincing herself it was for his own good.

Her thoughts drifted for a few moments on Klaus, her smile broadening when she thought of the good time they had. Then she looked back down towards the table where all the new information she had on the star routes lay. She was impressed when she received it, sure that the information was more than triple what her family could provide.

The star routes were maps, used by the families to plot courses through the Secret Worlds. One could not jump directly to just anywhere. One World leads to another in a series of portals that were painstakingly sniffed out by others. A lot of information was lost during the great war, and the flight they were forced into right after. As a result, the families basically had to start mapping out the worlds from scratch.

It was due to the nature of these portals that planning out your journey was of the utmost importance. Some worlds had advanced life forms, others were arid wastelands, and then there were the special Worlds.

Perfect globes hung in space to be nothing if not perfect paradises. It was these Worlds that the families competed for, shed blood for. As the blight grew, they were becoming less, either by being taken over by the blight or becoming unreachable.

Lilith wanted to reach one of these worlds. During the eighteen years, she served as a watcher for Klaus, Lilith had inquired after her old companion who had betrayed her. She had exhausted all of her favors, and made quite a few deals, squandering most of her resources in his pursuit. Not just because she wanted revenge, she wanted that, yes, but more importantly, she wanted what had been stolen from her.

Her inquiries had made one thing clear. The man that betrayed her never made it out of the Secret Worlds.

'If my assumptions are correct, what we had was a seed of Sephiroth. The fact that this world has remained unblighted and intact even though the worlds around it has fallen- only serves to bolster my suspicions.'

Lilith once again looked over the maps and one of the routes she had plotted. 'Seems I don't have a choice, this world poses the least amount of risk.'

The route she was looking at, lead to the World where she had nearly died and was found by Klaus' father, Alexandros. When she was there previously, the blight was just starting to grow on the planet. It was almost completely lost to it now.

Back then, she had to run from blighted beasts and the angry inhabitants of the world who blamed everyone and anyone from the outside, for the blight. They were dryad type creatures that could cast terrible illusions while possessing the fauna and flora- turning the very environment against you.

Lilith put her hands on her face and rubbed at her temples. A headache was starting to brew, one she could do without. Her eyes flitted up and to the center of where most of the corruption was. The blighted worlds were marked by their gray coloring. Directly opposite of where the corruption seemed to stem from, was a large swath of worlds marked in purple.

In the center of it all was an insignia. One, Pain had made sure she remembered. It was of a dragon's head roaring at something unknown. It represented Tiamat- Klaus' mother. Her territory was more than triple that of any other family that had their territories marked out in different colors.

Lilith had never seen another map, showing details of Tiamat and she was not surprised because her territory was far away from any others. It was no secret that the further away from the normal worlds you went, the more abundant the world energy would grow. Due to the strange phenomena bigger, stronger and nastier creatures would appear. So few ventured so far.

'Still, many families have powerful elders that could make the trip. So why are they not telling everyone? Why are they content to sit and wait for the blight to come for us? All except for them.' The last part of her thoughts was directed at the small splotch of red situated right behind the big purple area. It had the same tree painted on it that the hotel did.

Lilith rubbed her finger over the mark that represented the Roth. She gave a sad smile. "The father saved my life, and the son gave me a home. Even if the other families are not saying anything why are you not?"

Lilith forced her eyes away from the map and turned back to the World where she wanted to go. 'I can find answers later, first I need to focus on this.'

While Lilith was working up a headache, Klaus was working up a sweat with an enthusiastic Liz.

"That's it! Harder, do it harder! Faster, faster. Push it to the metal, make it your Lil bitch!"

Klaus stopped mid lunge and turned to Liz with a raised eyebrow.

The girl immediately stopped shouting and straightened up from her cheer pose with a blush. "Was that a bit much?"

Klaus heaved and lowered a large generator they had found on top of the building and put it, with much difficulty- gently to the ground.

Liz watched his muscles strain with the movement. Most of his shirt was torn with the multiple attempts at picking it up in the first place. After he had managed to get the thing above his head. Liz had encouraged him to do lunges while holding it above his head.

Klaus gave her a complicated look while plonking down right there on the ground. His legs felt like jelly and his arms even worse. His chest was heaving for breath so it took a few seconds to reply. "Yeah, that was a bit much." He then looked at the blocky generator which had served as the girls torturing device. "Do you think it still works?"

Liz gave the thing a look. It had a few dents where Klaus had gripped it. There were more than a few scratches, and Klaus had put it down the wrong way around.

She gave him an innocent smile and unconvincingly said. "I am sure it will don't worry about it."

Klaus shakily got to his feet and gave the machine a guilty look. 'I will just buy another one. I am going to be here for a week, after all.'

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

He then walked over to the edge of the roof. Like the first time when he looked down from it, he felt the same rush. The hotel was around forty stories high. Not the largest building in the area, but it was high enough to give Liz vertigo when she, out of curiosity, looked down from the edge.

Klaus had at first done the same, but after the first time, he found himself drawn to it whenever he took a break. The wind rustled through his hair and blew his shirt against his chest. Klaus closed his eyes and could almost feel his wings spread behind his back.

Klaus' heart started to race. He thought of how it felt when he dove down towards the bear in the woods. Klaus smiled and dove deeper into the memory. The way the wind flowed over his scales. How it filled and caught in his wings. It sang in his ears, urging him faster.

What got his blood pumping even more than the wind- was the thrill of the hunt. Seeing his target, watching it as it walked on the ground. It was a pathetic land dweller, but it was food.

The jarring impact when he crashed into it. The taste of blood when his mouth snapped around its neck. The taste did not disgust him. It was ecstasy!

The victorious roar announcing his dominance and the flames with which, he bathed his enemy.

Liz watched Klaus from a few steps back with mounting worry. The way he just stood there with his eyes closed; almost, like he was ready to jump at any moment was the cause.

She took a few steps closer, when he leaned even further over the edge, a bright, and cruel-looking smile forming on his face. She wanted to grab his shirt and pull Klaus back. The fact that she would not be able to, never entering her worried mind.

Liz was reaching out towards Klaus when her eyes caught sight of it. A purple flame. The flame itself was small and barely holding on. What truly caught Liz's attention was the tattoo that had appeared on Klaus' left arm.

"Is that his stigmata?" She mumbled aloud.

Her voice served to shake Klaus out of his trance. He whipped around only to see she was standing directly behind him. 'I should throw her over the side for interrupting my- What, no she is a friend.'

Klaus took in the girl while his instincts warred with each other; in the end, a flicker of suspicion settled in the back of his mind. 'Did she want to push me off?'

She pointed at his arm and Klaus glanced down to see the last of the tattoo recede and disappear.

He looked back up at her with confusion, only to see her smiling excitedly. "Klaus, you used your stigmata!"

Klaus glanced back down at his arm as if it would give him answers. He still felt suspicious. "Really?"

Liz grabbed his arm and pulled. "First get away from there, I thought you were going to jump."

Klaus was still a bit stiff but followed along. His mind felt split, yet more in order than it had in a while.

"What were you thinking about?" Asked Liz, after they were far enough to make her feel comfortable.

Klaus looked back towards the edge. He was already missing what he felt. He quickly realized he wanted to fly- spread his wings and announce his presence with a roar. 'And watch how the land-bound creatures ran for their lives at my majestic presence.'

Klaus shook his head to clear it. He was judging others for looking down on the normal humans and here he was doing the same. 'Not just humans, everything.'

His arm got shaken again, and he looked back towards Liz. "Klaus, I asked what you were thinking about."

Klaus looked at her and then his arm where she held it.

Liz sensed a change in Klaus and let go of his arm. "Are you okay?"

He shook his head. "No, I feel strange."

The excitement in Liz was doused by Klaus' words. 'I was so happy for him that I forgot my own experience and what I saw during my awakening. If Klaus' vision was as bad as mine, the change in him is understandable.'

Liz looked towards the roof access. "Do you want to go down?"

Elizebeth felt awkward with the whole situation. She generally did well if things were going according to her expectations. At that moment, she felt out of her depth and unequipped to handle the situation. After her awakening, it had taken days for her to speak to someone again. In certain aspects, she still had not gotten over it. So her intention was to get Klaus somewhere she knew he was safe and then to get someone else to deal with it.

It made her feel guilty, in a sense. She considered Klaus to be her friend, after all.

To her dismay, Klaus, shook his head, while not even looking at her. "I want to stay, see if I can trigger my stigmata again."

Liz bit her lip and looked from Klaus to the door again.

Klaus, who was starting to feel a bit like himself, smiled at the uncertain and worried Liz. "Don't worry, I am not planning on jumping to my death."

'Besides this world won't allow me to take my dragon form, I need to remember that. I need an anchor, as Lilith said so many months ago.' He mused.

She felt relief at seeing the smile but was still uncertain about leaving him alone. 'I will just find one of those... demons things and let them know.'

Mind made up Liz shuffled from one foot to another for a moment and then hugged her friend, much to his surprise. "Don't do anything stupid okay?"

"I won't, promise."

She gave him a nod and then disappeared down the stairs. Klaus smiled; he could hear her running. It did not take a wild guess for him to figure out why.

Liz barely made it out of the door before nearly crashing into, Silence who was leaning against the wall.

She was startled at first, but soon realized how stupid she was. 'Silence is one of Klaus' guards after all.'

She looked between the buff man and the roof exit and then suggested. "Watch him closely."

Silence did not give her any reaction, so she tried to explain further, not enjoying the idea that she was talking to a demon. She had also heard the stories after all.

"Watch him from very close, as in an arm's distance. Klaus activated his stigmata and is acting strange."

She finally got a reaction out of the demon in the form of a smile with no teeth.

Liz felt relief right up until he clapped her on the shoulder, causing her feet to nearly lift from the ground.

Silence quickly steadied her and gave what he probably thought was an apologetic smile, with teeth.

Liz had never seen the demon speak or open his mouth for that matter. So when he smiled, revealing rows upon rows of sharp teeth, she nearly screamed.

She was just about to try and kick him to get away, but Silence let go and disappeared through the door.

Liz took a shaky breath and then continued down the stairs.

Klaus was sitting on the edge of the building while looking at his arm. He was trying to recall the memories and what he felt at that moment when his stigmata activated.

'It is not working.' He thought in frustration. 'Well, I have barely been here for a minute. Focus, think of flying, hunting and burning things.'

He felt a bit of excitement when he thought of burning things, but nothing else. He sighed and looked from his arm to the busy streets with people walking below.

The hotel was built near what he assumed was a shopping district. People were busying themselves, traveling to and from different shops.

Klaus knew the city was near the sea and he could smell it in the air. He had never been to the sea before, but he did not think about it until that moment.

A boot scuffing against the ground drew Klaus' attention. He turned to see Silence standing within an arm's length from him. 'That was quick, no, he was probably skulking nearby.'

Klaus smiled at the demon. "You know, with a name like Silence, I thought you would be sneakier."

The demon frowned at him and then shrugged.

Klaus shrugged back and then looked out over the view. "I managed to summon flames, my mother's flames. I never told anyone this, but when I went through the awakening of her bloodline, I was her."

He heard some shuffling behind him and then saw Silence next to him. The demon took a seat. Both of them now had their feet dangling over the edge.

Klaus waited a minute for the demon to do something, anything really, but he just sat there and looked over the crowded streets below.

"So, as I was saying. I was my mother for a few minutes. That itself is strange, but I would not trade it for the world. It is after all the closest I had ever consciously been to her. Even more than that, it was the most freeing experience of my life. I was flying, hunting a bear as large as a truck."

While Klaus explained the feelings in him welled up, and by the time he reached the part where he burned the bear. The stigmata appeared once more.

It made him happy, but only served to confuse him more. After all, the previous time it happened, Klaus was more in his dragon mindset to the point of it nearly taking over.

'It's not the mindset, but the feeling or perhaps it is simply remembering the ability? Just remembering would be too easy, would it not?'

Klaus did not realize that him telling Silence the story had served as his anchor.

Deciding to give his idea a try, Klaus thought back while extending his now tattooed arm forward. He thought of how the flame had spewed forth from his maw, but it was more than that. He had drawn energy in preparation for it. He also thought back to when he was in his dragon form. Whenever he had breathed fire, Klaus had drawn the energy from somewhere in his chest.

'Energy from my dragon heart? It happens in the storybooks, right?

The thought was barely done before the tattoo lit up in purple and from his hand launched a gout of violet flame that was twice Klaus' size in length.

Silence fell over backward and rolled away in fright. He had seen what that flame had done to things before.

By the time he stopped his roll, the flame was already gone.

He watched as Klaus' torso started to sag forward and jumped just in time to grab him by the arm.

Klaus, it seemed was out cold.