This is an odd beauty... Enjoy.
O.G.
"It looks cursed." Nadir said eyeing the small statue wearily.
Erik rolled his eyes. "You told me to go out and to stop moping… Besides. I have always found finding odd things for sale rather soothing and curious… Something to study at least. And not…" His voice trailed off as his mind wandered, and Nadir instantly felt bad for questioning him. Erik had come quite a long way from the dying mess on the shore of the his destroyed home at the opera. The very home the two were currently trying to restore.
Nadir had begged and begged he move from the place, so filled with memory. But Erik refused, claiming it made a fitting silent tomb. And despite it being beneath the opera house which was also under repairs, it was far enough away to where he could block out music, as it still was too painful of a topic for the prodigy. Most things were too painful if Nadir was honest. Most of Eriks paintings, artistic materials, and instruments had all been destroyed. The house they were rebuilding it seemed would be practically vacant as Erik stubbornly refused to replace most of the interior. Only buying the necessary furniture. Restoring the back few rooms last. And completely abandoning his destroyed music room.
The only two unique rooms were Eriks work room where he could at least repair things (mainly his prosthetic) and his library. Though Nadir had noted anything that was fictional or poetic had remained untouched. Instead the genius it seemed tried to occupy his time with non-fiction and research into any topic imaginable. Of course Nadir knew this was simply a distraction, but he would not question it as reading was by far Eriks healthiest addiction.
Though if he kept bringing home freaky little statues as he did today, Nadir might have to change his opinion of that.
"It looks evil." Nadir protested weakly as it stared at the idol. It stood about 30 centimeters high and had red rubies for eyes that seemed to follow Nadir.
"Then I of all people can relate." Erik said rolling his eyes. He began to inspect the base, rubbing the inscription trying to figure out what language it was in. He was muttering under his breath and soon was wondering off to the library, trying hard to not show his limp which was indeed getting better with practice.
Nadir looked at the totem and found himself rather wanting to not be in the same room as that… Thing. So instead he wandered upstairs for a bath whilst Darius went off to cook in their half finished kitchen. Nadir decided it best to forget about the evil item and instead go to his room to bathe. It had been a long day of work for them all. How Erik managed to stay up for weeks on end and help with the reconstruction was beyond Nadir, as Nadir himself was dead on his feet an hour after dinner.
Once again he passed the room. One of the only two in the house no one dared touch. It depressed Nadir to see its darkened wooden frame, a tomb having been sealed the night the opera caught fire. Inside lay perhaps the most vital part of who Erik was. His music. Dead now, according to the musical genius. It was perhaps one of the worst losses the world had ever carried and it did not even know what it had lost. A way to hear emotion in it's truest form.
Nadir had often been moved by his music. Never being a virtuoso himself, he did enjoy it. But what had moved him was… Was the way Erik seemed to capture Nadirs own grief in one particular song that he played twice a year…
Nadir nearly let out a sob at the thought of not being able to hear his sons requiem this year. It was always his one solace on that day, as Erik seemed to… Understand. To be able to put what Nadir felt about his lost son into words.
Not being able to stand there and see that crypt for another moment, for it reminded him too much of a grave in a much drier climate, he went off to his room. Once there he ventured into the attached bathroom and started a bath in the tub. He sat on the edge and studied his own reflection in the water as it rippled and filled the soft white porcelain tub. A middle aged man staring back. Wrinkles etched into the tanned skin -contrasting the white of the tub. They lined his eyes and brow from years of stress. Unruly curled hair with streaks of premature gray that he had donned since at least twenty three. Still it was not an unattractive face, well defined nose, soft lips. But his eyes… They once held more warmth, and now seemed vacant in many ways. He let out a sigh as he remembered quite a different face staring into the water as he did now only a few months ago. And it was a very unattractive face indeed.
"Nadir please… We can put it off for. For another day. Rags in my room… I… I would rather not see how…"
"Erik you are going to have to look eventually…" Nadir sighed as he gently settled Erik on a small chair in his flat's rather luxurious lavatory. Still Erik winced. It had been two weeks since Nadir discovered him half dead on the shore of the lake. He was sure he had never ran quite so fast as when he hurried a bleeding unconscious Erik into his flat.
He had broken most of his bones. Lost most of his foot, half a rib, internal bleeding, and his hip which was already damaged, was down right mess for Nadir to fix. But after fourteen or so hours of surgery Nadir managed to save the wretched soul.
At first he had been furious that he had in fact, not died. But later grew to hold on to the fact he was at least on the same plane of existence as Christine. Which did help Nadir considerably as he no longer protested help, or at least not as vehemently.
But there had been one thing he had been avoiding like the plague itself. His reflection. And he had insisted greatly on sponge baths, rather preferring to lose any ounce of dignity he might have had around Nadir than face his own face. For he knew it too had been altered.
But Nadir insisted on a proper bath. Saying the hot water would relax his muscles and help him heal. Erik insisted that he would rather become stone with his stiff muscles and broken bones than to risk seeing what he had become. And naturally he was ignored.
Erik closed his eyes as he heard the water start. He did not move now, in too much pain perhaps to do so. He kept his yellow eyes shut tight as Nadir lifted him and gently settled him into the hot water. Whimpering as his body ached at any movement.
When he was in Nadir positioned him and he soon relaxed slightly. The water, as much as he hated to admit it, was in fact helping his broken form.
And for a while he managed to avoid his dreaded reflection. That was until he moved to assist Nadir in washing his arm and opened his eyes out of reflex.
His whole world froze as looking back at him in the water was his own demented face, mouth open in a silent scream of horror.
What had been a nose hole was now a long black and deep gash. His cheeks which hugged his teeth to show their impression, now were riddled with holes. His sharp cheekbones which had always stuck out past the skin as actual bone (though it was hard to tell as his skin was so pale) was now cracked and ragged, chunks missing from the sharp feature. His temple on the right side now stood completely exposed with muscles and tendons completely visible. Tufts of his white blond cotton like hair sticking out oddly in contrast. His sunken in wide eyes had violent scars over them as the yellow eyes stared back in terror.
He had thought his death's head could not get any more frightening or hideous. But he had been wrong. Oh so wrong.
Nadir shook his head at the memory. It had taken an hour to calm him down that day… As Nadir sank into the tub he reflected how much Erik had come along since. Sure, it did pain him dearly Erik was not… Not being truly Erik, the master of art, but he was now trying. He was reading and building. Working and in a sense, motivated. Rebuilding the house had been rather therapeutic for him it seemed.
All and all, Erik, despite incredible odds and suffering, was trying. Trying to rebuild his life and to be a better man. And Nadir could not be more proud of him for it. Even if it did mean weird freaky idols that occasionally ended up in the parlor.
Nadir was in a rather peaceful mood as he exited the warm waters and slipped on his dinner clothes. Of course, these thoughts were interrupted by a violent crash down stairs.
Nadir ran as fast as he could and stopped dead in his tracks as not one but four masked figures were stumbling to their feet. All of which looked a bit worse for wear in varying degrees, and three of which had full masks and similar stature. The youngest and most shaken however, only had a half mask. All looked around wildly and Nadir found himself exclaiming " WHAT THE FUCK!?" before his mind finally gave up trying to understand the hellish concept of four Eriks, and he fainted with a loud thump.
The most confused but for once calmest one looked down with mismatched eyes and said "Couldn't have said it better myself…"
O.G.
I will have an Erik which is talking guide in chapter two.