The Empty Mirror
Chapter 6: Pale horrors
This scene hinted that both characters, the vampire and the girl, had transcended their own identities, exchanging the scripts of their existences in a grotesque theatrical performance. The dance of their fates, intertwined in the gloom, revealed a mysterious narrative where the vampire, with his macabre porcelain face, became an obedient servant, awaiting his master like an actor immersed in an eternal drama. The atmosphere that enveloped them was as dense as the shadows of the night, weaving a tapestry of intrigue and mystery that invited the imagination to unravel the threads of this enigmatic relationship as foul as vomit itself.
I awoke with duly measured caution, realising that I was still tenaciously holding on to my existence. With a colossal effort, I endeavoured to rise from the inhospitable and icy sarcophagus; in the coffin where that freakish male in perpetual repose had lain the night before, I would question my peculiar condition and surroundings with great fear and bewilderment, yet a sharp pain in my head stifled my attempt. A plaintive wail escaped my lips, as my trembling fingers strove to quell the source of my discomfort.
Through halting blinks, I scanned my surroundings, yearning to unravel the enigmas that lurked in their shadows. I whispered in a murmur barely audible to my own ears: "Where am I... Have I been the victim of a blackout?
However, as I turned my gaze towards the threshold of the room, my eyes met again with that enigmatic man who watched me undaunted, radiating an unsettling calm. It was he who, at the crucial moment, had offered me his complicit hand. Nevertheless, an uneasy and alarming sensation was taking possession of my being, a disturbance with no apparent cause. Perhaps my ingratitude was the master of ceremonies in this gloomy theatre of moods.
Fixing my gaze on the stranger, the words came from between my lips with a bow tinged with a dismal echo: "I express my gratitude for your assistance". His reply, however, plunged into the abyss of indolence: 'There is no reason to be grateful, so there is no need to worry about it'.
An oppressive silence hung over us, like a veil of declining darkness. "You looked exhausted. What events have brought you to this state? From what remote abyss do you emerge?" - The man inquired with an intrigue that exuded a hint of unease.
My trembling lips stammer, shrouded in the haze of confusion: "I... I... I don't know... I apologise" - I articulated, still lost in the mists of my mind.
"You are ignorant of your own antecedents? You have confessed to have misplaced your course, but now I glimpse that the source of your origin is hidden in the enigmas of incomprehension" - whispered the man, as if unfathomable truths were hidden in his words...
The dark and hermetic castle stood majestically before my broken spirit, its imposing figure shrouded in shadows and abysmal secrets. The macabre structure stood like a grim fortress, defying the passage of time and emanating an aura of unfathomable mystery. I was plunged into an intricate labyrinth of unknowing, as if I had been dragged into a forgotten and unknown realm... The gloomy and oppressive forest, whose twisted branches and withered leaves seemed to whisper ancient secrets, surrounded me without mercy...
My mind wavered between confusion and horror, like a navigator lost in tumultuous and unknown waters. Every step I took seemed to plunge me deeper into the abyss of oblivion, while an unsettling sense of danger lurked in every nook and cranny. I searched desperately for answers, but they were jealously hidden in the deepest recesses of my presumed memory, as if protected by a supernatural barrier.
Beside me, the enigmatic stranger, bearer of unspeakable secrets and clad in dark robes that seemed to melt into the shadows, turned his piercing gaze upon my being. His deep eyes, charged with a sinister and ancient presence, seemed to delve into the depths of my soul. "The shadows have faded your memories" - he whispered in a suspenseful voice laden with ominous presence. His words echoed in the air, as if they were reverberations of the echoes of forgotten times. "Have you forgotten even your own name?" - he continued, unravelling the most vulnerable fibres of my being.
My lips trembled as I tried to articulate a response, but the words resisted emerging, stifled by the veil of uncertainty that surrounded me. Amnesia had woven its web in the darkest, most hidden recesses of my mind, leaving me trapped in an inextricable tangle of confusion and unease. I found myself in an abyss of oblivion, where the fragments of my past had faded into a sepulchral silence, and all that remained was the hope of unravelling the enigmas that had led me to this mental helplessness.
"Have your family ties vanished as well?" - inquired the enigmatic stranger, whose tone shrouded in a halo of inscrutable mystery resounded like a whisper imbued with hidden revelations. "Where is the face of your loved ones hidden in the impassive shadows of your oblivion?"
A torrent of overflowing anguish flooded my eyes, which were surrendered to the oppression of grief, as I admitted in despair, "No... I remember nothing...". The man, in his aura of enigma, let out a sigh that seemed to carry with it the burden of overwhelming disapproval, as if my forgetfulness were an unforgivable affront.
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"Your despair of yesterday has given way to the quiet sojourn of oblivion," he declared with a mixture of bitterness and concern, revealing his dissatisfaction with my state of oblivion and the sombre uncertainty that enveloped me.
"But that doesn't matter now. Now, listen carefully" - his words reverberated in the thick, uneasy air, like an ominous echo echoing in the depths of the abyss.
I found myself immersed in the depths of darkness, wandering through an intricate labyrinth of murky thoughts. The stranger's words reverberated in my ears with a cryptic and ambiguous air, like the hieroglyphics of ancient civilisations.
My fears and doubts devoured me, dragging me like a lonely underdog in the vast ocean of foolishness. I was fighting a fierce battle to find a glimmer of light amidst the thick fog of amnesia.
Certainty had completely disappeared, leaving me with no direction or clarity in my thoughts. I could not fully comprehend his enigmatic insinuations, and his every word exposed my fragility, plunging me into ineffable anguish.
The castle, once a safe haven, had now become a deadly trap closing inexorably around me. I felt the tightness squeezing my shoulders, certain that my only alternative was to plunge into the depths of unknowing. Fear clung to me tenaciously, whispering nightmares deep inside me.
Every step into the unknown was fraught with uncertainty, but I could not turn back. It was the price I had to pay to escape amnesia and unravel the enigmas that enveloped me, even if it meant delving into the darkest abysses of my existence.
Oh, please, cease your frivolous and banal behaviour, young lady!
"Why should I find myself in danger if I should make up my mind to remain in this place?" - I boldly assert that I will cause no disturbance. "I beg you, in desperation, to allow me to prolong my stay for a short time. I undertake to withdraw at the earliest opportunity" - I pleaded, imploring with full knowledge of the delicacy of the situation in which I was immersed.
"Girl, I'm not trying to misrepresent," he replied in a tone of voice that denoted some latent irritation. My words had resonated in his being unexpectedly, and the air was charged with a palpable tension, as if a veil of discomfort was unfurling between us.
"No... I did not mean to imply anything so reckless" - I hastened to reply, fearful that I had offended his susceptibility. I sought to rectify any misunderstanding, aware that the fragile balance of the place was teetering on the edge of precipitation.
"A vampire dwells in the vicinity..." - he continued, emphasising each word with a cadence that sent shivers down my spine. The name of that accursed creature echoed in the air, invoking images of sinister shadows and unfathomable horrors.
"Vampire?" - I inquired cautiously, feeling dread take hold of me, snaking through my veins. The mention of this supernatural being aroused age-old fears, fuelled by tales whispered in the most grotesque gloom, when reality and fantasy intertwine.
"Are you ignorant of its true nature?" - he replied with evident surprise, as if my ignorance was incomprehensible in those domains steeped in inscrutable secrets. His words revealed the true essence of these sinister creatures, inhuman entities hiding under the guise of humans, eager to quench their insatiable thirst for blood and vitality. An ineffable shiver, like a remote echo of ancient terrors, snaked through the recesses of my being, as the man's words faded into the stale air that permeated the room. Barely a whisper, delicate as a lost sigh, escaped my lips: "A Rokurobuki? Fear, like an invisible but tangible entity, imprisoned me with its claws of icy steel, bristling my skin in a sinister dance, worthy of macabre rituals.
"I understand. I will leave at once," I replied hastily, conscious that I must not add to the grief of the man who, until then, had been my only lifeline in this inscrutable abyss of unimaginable nightmares. Nevertheless, to persist in calling him "you", as I had done until now, seemed increasingly insufficient, even inappropriate in the face of the blackness that lurked.
His youth was apparent, apparently only a few years separated me from him. Yet I found it hard to find the right words to address him in any other way. Moreover, on one occasion, it was he himself who considered me a "child", condescendingly descending into the fragility of my existence, as if I were a delicate puppet in a world of cosmic terrors.
The instant of revelation manifested itself in a sudden unexpectedness, as I carefully lifted myself from the disfigured bed. In my trembling hands I held the fragment of purple cloth that had served as a makeshift bed. A shudder twisted up my spine as I became aware of the dark, viscous bloodstains that desecrated it, disturbing signs of the evil events that had transpired in that dark corner of gloom.
I hastened my steps, a strange urgency gripping me, as if the castle walls themselves guarded shadowy secrets that threatened to engulf me. The conversation I had had with this enigmatic individual, both in days past and in the present, echoed persistently in my mind. His words, enigmatic and ambiguous, slithered like poisonous snakes through the intricate labyrinth of my thoughts. Despite his apparent indifference to my situation and my opinions, I felt a strange excitement bubbling inside me, as if he was about to unveil something momentous.
When I saw him for the first time, his gaze, with eyes of deep, inscrutable crimson, pierced the barriers of my being to my innermost core. A shiver ran down my spine and a hitherto unknown unease gripped me, as if a sharp sword threatened to slowly and mercilessly sever my existence, carving my throat with every beat of my heart. Yet the apprehension that gripped me was not just from his physical presence; it was something more, something ineffable and sinister that lurked in the shadows of his being.
Her hair, tangled and black as the fathomless depths, fell chaotically over her shoulders. The pallor of his skin, with a complexion so diaphanous it bordered on the unearthly, emphasised the fine, delicate features of his face, whose perfection bordered on the feminine, leaving no doubt of his masculine nature. Dressed in a loose-fitting white shirt with long sleeves, the fabric fitted smoothly to his figure, while the cuffs and bottom hem were tailored with almost supernatural precision.
Black trousers, cinched at his waist by a brown leather belt festooned with a metal buckle, extended to black leather boots. These boots, with their metal buckles and worn soles, seemed to carry dark and sinister tales of walking along paths that strayed into the gloom. Their garments also comprised a breastplate and backplate of rusted metal, profusely ornamented with enigmatic motifs and detailed engravings. The rust marks visible in places hinted at prolonged use over the centuries, as if it had wandered forgotten lands for ages immemorial.