Bethyinine sat down next to her brother and laid her hand on his shoulder. James looked at her as tears began to form in his eyes.
”What have you done?” Bethyinine asked.
”I have doomed us all.” James whimpered.
”How? How could you have all people have doomed us all?” Bethyinine said.
James simply looked at Bethyinine and did not bother responding. After a minute he got up and refused to grab his ledger from the desk. Luxcious simply looked at James as he left the room.
”Where are you going!” Bethyinine yelled.
”Home.” James responded.
”Why, are they after you still? What could possibly be a threat now?” Bethyinine asked.
”No, or at least not that I’m aware of. Frankly I don’t even know why this “conflict” is already over to begin with. Well, the only threat left is me. Or at least that’s what the contingency said, originally anyways.” James replied.
”What contingency? How many plans do you have exactly?” Bethyinine said.
”Sundown, I let something out, I freed a creature that I locked away. The number of contingencies which I have are not important at the moment.” James answered.
”What could you possibly have let out? And how exactly is that a contingency?” Bethyinine inquired.
”Some thing that I thought I had killed long ago. As for my reasons why, I don’t want either of you to know.” James replied as he walked towards the door.
Bethyinine glanced at Luxcious as the door to the room closed behind James. Luxcious simply looked at her before sitting down at the desk and pulling out a piece of paper and a quill. Bethyinine groaned, laid down on the bed, and stared out the window. Luxcious glanced back at her as he began to write down a series of personal notes.
”What exactly are you writing down?” Bethyinine asked.
”Research” Luxcious responded.
”On what exactly?” Bethyinine said.
”Why do you need to know?” Luxcious asked.
”I’m bored, what kind of answer do you want from me?” Bethyinine responded.
Luxcious nodded as Bethyinine got up off the bed and walked over to the desk. She looked down at the paper and immediately recognized the words in front of her. This bastard was cataloging notes on her, and probably without her consent.
”How exactly did you get all of these notes?” Bethyinine asked.
”James gave them to me.” Luxcious answered.
”And he didn’t think to let me know about it!” Bethyinine hissed.
”I suppose so, and now that I think about it, he really should have asked first.” Luxcious said.
“Yes, yes he should have.” Bethyinine replied and sat back down on the bed.
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Luxcious finished writing down his notes and joined her. Bethyinine smiled and playfully pounced onto Luxcious, pinning him to the bed. He looked up at her as fear began to fill his eyes.
”What exactly are you going to do to me?” Luxcious asked.
”My dear Scholar, you of all people should know what I can do.” Bethyinine responded.
”Sorry to divert the conversation, but should we not be concerned with whatever secrets James has!” Luxcious yelled.
Bethyinine smirked and simply ignored his cries. She was right though; he did know what she was capable of. That single fact alone terrified him to death for he could not anticipate just what exactly she would do to him. Bethyinine chuckled and stroked his chin with one of her claws as her tail swayed overhead. She would enjoy every precious moment of their time, so long as Luxcious was comfortable with it. Luxcious closed his eyes as his senses slowly went dark, the only thing he could feel now was heat. Bethyinine smiled, laid down on the bed, and drifted off to sleep. She satisfied with herself for the time being.
A few hours passed by before Bethyinine woke up. Now she was wearing Luxcious’s robes, which were stained a deep scarlet. She hopped off the bed and walked over to Luxcious’s desk, spilling a handful of entrails to the floor as she did. Frankly, Beth wouldn’t bring him back for a few more hours, not until she had finished her research. Quickly she opened up James’s ledger that he had left in his panic.
The thing was quite small, only having around 50 pages at best. Yet despite that, Beth still yearned to read its pages. So she stared at the first few, noticing that nothing there caught her interest. The pages flew by at a relatively brisk pace. Eventually Beth stopped at around page forty or so, finally finding something of interest to her.
Regarding Bethyinine
-
She’s a fickle thing, that beast, I’ll give her that much. Loves to tear me apart over and over again. Surprised she hasn’t gotten bored of killing me yet. Seeing as she does it every single day, and more than once too. Eventually I’ll rip her to pieces, just like the rest of her kin.
Only problem is, some part of me actually likes her. Even though that part of me probably knows that she’s still a just animal. So, the problem there is the fact that I still like her. Meaning I can’t pull the trigger on her when the time inevitably comes for me to do so. Here’s the solution: I rip out that part of me and kill it off. Doesn’t matter if it’s my humanity or what, if it’s impeding my progress then it must go.
-
Bethyinine closed the ledger before grabbing a nearby candle. She took both of them outside with her and promptly burnt them. Then she hastily returned to Luxcious’s office, out of fear that someone might report her for murder, given her bloody attire. She sat down on the bed again and took off Luxcious’s robes.
”Best to not bring him back, best to let the Scholar find out on his own. Given just how curious he is, it probably won’t take long,” She chuckled.
The Abyss
Benedict stared down at the creature in front of him. He could not completely comprehend just what it was that he was looking at. Yet the creature seemed to understand him completely. It conjured two chairs and a table before sitting down. Benedict begrudgingly sat down, only doing so half out of curtesy and half out of fear. The creature shifted its mist-like form to something more human looking in appearance. It snapped its fingers and a checkerboard appeared on the table.
”I never thought in all my years that I would have any company down here.” It said.
”If I may ask, when was the last time you had company?” Benedict replied.
”A couple hundred years ago, a man who went by the name of Silas Mori if I recall.” The creature answered.
”So, you’ve met the man which they call Virgil then.” Benedict responded.
”Indeed I have, albeit for a brief moment.” The creature smiled.
”Well, what exactly are you, and how long have you been down here?” Benedict asked.
”Oh, me? Some call me Finality, others the End, but you can call me whatever you want. As for how long I’ve been down here, I have no idea.” The creature chuckled.
”So, you’re the physical embodiment of calamity then? If that’s the case, then no wonder you’re locked up here.” Benedict responded.
The creature simply nodded and moved a white piece forward. Benedict simply moved one of his pieces forward to counter. Checkers, and not chess, how odd this was. Normally if you wanted to discuss something complicated, you would be playing a game of chess. Yet this thing decided to play a game of checkers instead. Benedict chuckled and simply looked at the creature which looked back and smiled. He looked down at the board and noticed that his opponent had moved yet another piece. Benedict chuckled and moved yet another piece forward. Now the game had begun in earnest at last. It had only taken a couple centuries to do so.