" Thank you" He rasped

She tilted her head

" You are not what I expected." She returned.

A bitter laugh escaped his lips, " Niether am I..."

She bound him in ropes and said something in an ancient language that he had never seen before yet could shake the feeling of familiarity.

The cord tightened and a symbol emerged above it. He wasn't shocked at this point. This girl...Valencia was a vision. She was built like an amazonian princess, towering and powerful. Her hair was a red cord of flames that traced down her back, and her eyes were the umber tones of the earth and held a simple strength and wisdom beyond her years. They trudged noiselessly to some hidden place. John moved pitifully behind like a forlorn captive.

They came upon what seemed to be an abandoned Medieval mansion. The building was imposing and looked to pass the skies boundary. They approach a lard oak door, where Valencia cut her palm and smeared her blood on the stone. She gazed at him expectantly, but John was too busy marveling at the structure.

" Ahem! John I can only take your blood willingly." She stated, annoyed as if he were supposed to know these things.

He held out his hand and she sliced the flesh, perhaps a little deeper than needed. The doors swung open revealing a hidden society. They seemed stuck in the past and John felt as if he had climbed into a time machine.

"Aiden, I need to see The Mother Council. I have a prisoner that needs to be judged." The boy nodded and opened the entrance.

The door led to a darkened room walled with soil. The air smelled musty and malodorous. There was a large stone table in the shape of a circle. Sitting at the table was a group of sagacious figures cloaked in mystery. John's skin began to crawl at the scene of them.

" I, Valencia O'Clery of Morrighan bring you John Bekk of Freyr"

The figures finally spoke, their voices contain the mountains but whispered like the wind, " Come, forward daughter of Morrighan,"

She approached the council. " I have come so that you might pass judgment on this...life. He-"

" We know why it is you come, daughter." She blushed and stepped back.

"What do you have to say for yourself son of Freyr?"

"umm. Like the god Freyr...no distrepect.."

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" No, child not the gods as you know them. They were not much different from you. Humans see what they want."

He nodded.

" Well if I am here to be judged, then I say condemn me. I know that I have... done monstrous deeds. At the time I had no remorse and I enjoyed every second of the other's pain. Now...I felt their pain as if it were my own. I know that I will never make up for what I did. I know that nothing I can ever do will start to balance the darkness, but I want to start anyway. Please..."

"Child, look at us."

He glanced up at them, and he began to feel a tug in his heart.

" You know what it is to be emtpy and then fulfilled am I correct child?"

He nodded

" Hmm, in all our years we have only encountered this once. You shall have a test and if you prove to be sound in soul and spirit then you shall survive if not, it shall not matter."

John trembled, but he supposed it was just, possibly more than he deserved.

" You will be tested at the time we determine, and you will not know the precise moment it will be presented."

Valencia handed him off to a man named Jacob, who was tasked with, 'clensing him'. he was stripped of all of his clothes and cleansed until he was red. Then he was thrown into a scalding vat of...something. The liquid resembled honey, but as he was thrown in the liquid turned from gold to light blue. He was plucked from the bath and placed into a chair. His hair was combed and trimmed, but Jacob left most of the length, so now his wavy hair rested just above his shoulders.

It turns out he was Valencias' charge. It became increasingly clear that she did not want him there. When the made there was to the dining hall, her earthy eyes changed from warm to cold. She didn't speak a word and when they arrived in the dining hall she pointed to a small desolate table in the corner with a sign above it that said, "neamh-inchaite" or "untouchable".

" Valencia, you know the rules, He is in your care you have to sit with him at the table." A stern, but kindly man instructed her, as she turned away. She rolled her eyes and grudgingly followed.

He was given a slice of bread and a meager piece of meat. He felt genuinely grateful for it.

" They have to place you soon, but because of your...eventful past you cannot take on a combat roll or be assosiated with weaponry whether you pass the test or not."

He just nodded. He could tell that she was itching to ask him something. He could never read people before. The only expression he knew was an expression of pain.

" Why did you do it?" She asked, with natural curiosity.

" Because I could, because I liked it. I perceived no morals, I wasnt restricted by concience."

" But...now you are?" She demanded accusingly.

" Yes...I think I am. I am different and I don't understand," He looked at her and for the first time his verdant eyes ignited, " I dont expect pitty and Its is no excuse...just an explinaton."

She looked a little surprised at this, but she quickly regained her cool exterior.

" Dont worry, you dont have it," She said as she dug into her plate.