«I, over all my life, had never seen something so perfect outside ours lands. These lands that I will talk in this letter are the one over the seas of the East, long after the Dead Desert. Yes, you must have guessed, it's after the Deadlands. Now, do not worry; even though the journey through the Deadlands was long and hard, I didn't suffer from it. It was pretty much interesting, especially for... well, that perfection.

You see, the Deadlands are, like all people will tell you, a field of rock, where the waters are fill with dark blood, where an eerie fog is hunting you. But, you see, the infamous walking deads aren't from this place. The skeletons didn't attack me, the rotten horses didn't look at me, the old constructions were sleeping at my passage, because, you see, these creations are coming from the magic of one single person.

This, you see, perfection, is that person.

The dark Empress Nastasia vo Eræterna of the lands beyond the Deadlands. Well, yes, you see, they don't have a name. I don't really know why, thought. The Empress doesn't bother herself with names, I guess... When I stayed there, she had never called somebody by its name. Why? Because she didn't need it.

You see, this person must be the greatest sorceress in all the world. Yes, you must have guessed it; she's a necromancer. She's the one who is controlling all the deads in the Deadlands. She builds her army from there, controlling not only the humans, but also the animals, and all kinds of creature that you could see there. You see, she told me that these lands have seen so much blood and violence that death is vibring in it, so even in long distances, she can control them, because the magic won't leave the place. She told me that, you see, even if she lost the control, they would still be faithful to her, because her magic is vibring with the air. They now know nothing else but her.

But, you see, she is not only a necromancer. She is also a powerful hypnotist. Yes, better than me. Actually, if I am still alive today, as I write this letter, it is because of my own powers. Because if she is so powerful, that everywhere she goes, the men go to her, and, you see, if she takes all those lands without any kind of effort, it is because everybody under her reign is hypnotised. They are all her slaves. When I had defended myself against her magic, she was worried, I think. I, you see, don't really remember that well. I, you must guess, was too afraid to die when I found out that I was lost in the Deadlands!

So she guided me through them, through dark blue fields, and then, before I knew, there was a something that you could call an ocean. Big waves of blue-dressed men, but no. They were forming some kind of a mount. And at the top of that mount was a gigantic throne, made of bones, a big skull of a elder dragon, and on it was sitting that Empress. Even though the scene was so macabre, so disgusting, it was marvelous. It was so charming... This perfection, she doesn't need to control people. Her own beauty is enough for falling in love with her.

Well, you see, as I am really old, I knew that I had no chances as all to, well, you know. But still, she wanted so badly to talk to me, to know how I didn't get under her control. I wanted to do anything for her. Maybe it is because she is so powerful, maybe I was kind of mind-controlled, since, as you will read it, you see, she doesn't look that beautiful.

Well, yes, you see, it's true, she was almost naked there. She had long dark grey, maybe leather, but it looked kind of bones, well, anyway, she had those long gloves, showing only her shoulders, and it was the same with her boots, with long pointy heels, going to the middle of her tights. She had also an armor, of the same material as her gloves and boots, and also the same color, but maybe a little darker, of the shape of a bustier. You could see her perfect rounded ass, and her back was naked, and still, even if, you see, I know that some people will say that she looked like a prostitute, being so undressed, but she really looked powerful, dressed like that. Well, you see, she also had some kind of helmet, a really big skull of a dragon, that covered her eyes and her nose. You could only see the lower part of her blue face, with long filthy pink hair, but through the eyes of the skull, you could see two bright red lights. Actually, when she removed her helmet when we talked in some kind of private form, I saw that her eyes are pink, but it doesn't really matter, I think.

Oh, yes, I said blue skin. You see, in our worlds, there are many species that even I don't know all of them. Like her. She is the only one of her species in her land, maybe the last one, but she doesn't really look human. She doesn't look of any species that I know. She says that she is a vampire, but don't vampires have dark hair and pale skin? Maybe she is a different kind... She doesn't turn into bats, eats garlic and as iron and silver around her. Well, you see, I guessed that she doesn't like sun, since it never showed in her lands. Oh, well, does it really matter? What she is, I mean? She is beautiful like that, and it is quite enough for me. And her men, I guess.

I think that they all have feelings for her, even been brainwashed. She doesn't care a bit for them, but they all acted like they are in love with her. And I don't think that she's making them like that. In hypnosis, you can't control people feeling. For example, you can't make a brother hates his. You can control hm to make him attack his brother, you can control what he will say, but you can't make him hate him. That is the main reason why people reverse the brainwash and break the link of the control. Because of their feelings... If the brother plays with the feelings of the controlled guy, his heart will take over the magic. Ah, the power of love... Such a marvelous thing!

Maybe she is also a succub. That would explain things. Well, I don't know. You see, I really like her physics, but maybe it is because she can charm people? How to know, she doesn't like to talk much. She will talk about her, but she will give you short answers. I think that she could make a superb philosopher, since when I asked her why she was controlling people and seeking more and more lands, she replied "Why not?" I had no idea what to answer that.

I really do not understand her actions, why she is gathering such a big army of male slaves. She doesn't want any woman, I do not know why. She only want men, even if they are more intellectual that muscles. Oh, well, you see, there was no child in there, now that I think of it. Maybe because children don't fall in love? Ha ha ha! Well, really I do not understand at all... Such a big mystery...

Oh, well, I had only this paper. I am going back home. Now, I'm in the city in the desert. I shall be back in two weeks.

Your dear old friend, that is happy to be back home.»

______________________________________________________________________________

She was tired of all of this...

She took one of her mind slaves by the head, curving her long fingers around the chin, and full opened her mouth, so that she could bite him with her shiny teeth, drinking his blood as he flinched, his white eyes looking at the sky with horror, whining like the stupid dog he was, but still, even with this look of pain on his face, she knew that he was having great pleasure from that. Sexual pleasure. She was tired of all of this...

She didn't want that. That old man felt almost like an exception, but truly, they are all the same. They love her sexually. They want her because of how she looks. They didn't love her. They were like all men that she had ever talked to : never caring about her feelings, just wanting to satisfy their selfish obsessions. It made her sick, to think about it. All these men at her feet, letting her do whatever she was pleased off, only to be near her breasts, to feel her warm, to touch her legs... Stupid creatures. She pushed the man she was sucking the blood from to the base of the mountain of slaves, as new ones came to her, waiting with big grins to be of satisfaction. She sighed... She just wanted a man that loved her...

To know what was that thing people called love. They all said that it was a marvelous feeling, that its power was belong everything, that it was pure magic, unbreakable. Was she selfish, to want to feel this "love" so that she could be more powerful? No, it wasn't just about power... It was curiosity. She had lived for more than a thousand of years, she saw numerous things, there wasn't much to see now, but that thing called love. She was bored with life, there was nothing exciting anymore...

Of course, that old man, invulnerable to her hypnotism, was quite an enjoyment. He did have some conversation. Even if her men were brainwashed, they weren't "zombies", they could talk to her like ordinary people, but these men were all dumb. Even the most intelligent, that had read books, that did university and such, they had nothing interesting to tell her... She was all surrounded by incompetents!

But that man was different. Even if he didn't count well, or was quite slow, he was quite the encyclopedia. That man had the dream to walk over all the world, to see every land there were to see ― much obliged she was to tell him that there was more to see than their dimension, and that if he didn't knew somebody of that power, he'll never be able to see everything, like her (yes, she could teleport, but she couldn't switch dimensions). She thinks that he had seen more than her, but maybe it was because she had forgot a lot about her past. Where was she from, who were her parents, did she had sisters or brothers, did she have children, did she ever love someone? She couldn't remember anything of it. As far as she could, she had only remember been the Empress of a walking mount of bluish men, prove of their obeisance to the Dark Empress. Been always in movement like that, there was no writing of the history of her reign ― or it there was some before her, in these lands. She couldn't even say if these lands were to her, from the start, of if at the moment, she was walking in an ancient city. There was no way to tell it...

That old man told her about the cities above the desert, the hot sun of the sands, the warn waters from the fields, the buildings in the sky, the frozen valleys, the volcanoes, and such things that she had seen, but had forgot them. Sure, there was a volcano in her blue lands, but it was asleep, and nothing of a menace. Then, after she had remembered all of it, he talked about civilisations, technologies, sciences, of much interest. But when he had nothing much to say, he praised her magic, and talked about all the magicians he had talked to. He made her quite jealous, she had to say. Even if she could float, teleport, had powerful necromancy and hypnosis, able of regeneration and of healing powers, hearing him talking about hydromancians and control of time made her realize that she wasn't that powerful that she thought. Her army couldn't resist against someone who could provoke earthquakes.

Then he talked about himself, being a hypnotist too, and made a long story about how hypnosis had its weakness, and talked about love.

― "Have you ever been in love, old man?"

― "Well, your Excellenty, I have a wife!"

― "How does it feels to have a wife?"

He hesitated, not knowing how to answer. He seemed that he knew that she had never been in love, and that the only answer that he had to offer her was something like "it's like been in love".

She was jealous of him...

It was the reason why she sent him back to his lands, banishing him for her realm.

Because he couldn't give her an answer...

Now she kind of regret it. There was nothing to do in these lands. She could only suck blood to keep herself alive, be disgusted by her men, let them transport her to another village where she could brainwashed the men, searching for love, and wonder about it...

______________________________________________________________________________

― "Your Marvelance..." said a man, bowing low to his Empress, who dared to look at him. Seeing that he had her attention, he continued. "A man entered in the Deadlands." he adverted her.

― "The old man?"

― "No. He has short black hair, yellow eyes, and wears a black cloak."

― "'K." she replied, since there was nothing to reply.

― "He..." the blueish man hesitated, looked at her with fear of disappointement. "He's destroying everything there."

There was a silence.

― "Um... What?"

― "H-h-he has magic... He's exploding the constructions and the skelet-tons... H-h-he―"

― "So that's why..." She couldn't have see this intruder, since her minions were dead. There was that much that she could'nt sense their death... This was troublesome.

― "What... do yo intend to do?"

― "Um?" did Nastasia. "Oh, well, remember it to me tomorrow. If he's still alive after the Nightingales..." What? She didn't know. It had never happened before. And it was quite impossible to survive to these horses, anyway...

She shouldn't have done that. Oh but how could she know? She had never seen that before. She didn't know that magicians could do explosions that destroyed dead in a second, before the skeletons could see him. How to deal with this kind of people, in these cases...? Unfortunately for her, in her part of the world, she was the only one to do magic, so she had nobody to defend herself. That magician walked toward her, killing her men with a little gesture of the hand, creating flashes of explosions, energy going through the warriors who had no chance against him. As he walked, his eyes fixed on her, men were falling to their knees, coughing blood, breathing their death as they cried for their failure. At that moment, as the mount crashed, as she was the only one standing, defenseless she could see that he could do more than creating explosions of energy. A cage of energy surrounded her, and before she knew, she was on her knees, a heavy pressure keeping her from lifting her head.

― "Reconize me?" said the quite charming voice from the black man, who took her chin. She kept silent, having nothing to say, then she realized : these eyes, she had seen them before...

― "Feeling quite pathetic, now, don't you?" said the old man that was now a handsome magician. "Hum? Why the long face? Now now, I told you : you'll be easily defeated with only hypnosis!"

― "What do yo want..." said lowly the fallen Empress, her bored eyes on the man that was kicking a dead body.

― "Your powers."

― "Um... What?"

― "Your powers!" said the man, with enjoyment. "Even if... hypnosis and necromancy aren't the best powers, they're quite handy. With these powers, I'll be the most powerful magician of my country..." he said, looking to the west, where his lands were. "Oh, but you ask "why do you want my hypnosis when you already have it?" Well, it's quite simple : with yours, mine will be flawless!"

― "..." she didn't answer. He changed a lot... If it wasn't for these eyes, she wouldn't recognize him. He was a completely different guy. Pale skin, short hair, grand beauty, arrogant personality... He was quite far from that kind old man... but, now that she was thinking about it, he's still as talkative.

― "Well, anyway, you fell in my trap. There's nothing to me to do here anymore. As much as I'll like to watch you die here, I, unfortunately, have better things to do. Fare thy well, Nastasia!"

... Heh. A trap, eh? So that's it. This cage sucks her power, transferring it to this guy, and after that there'll be nothing more to suck... She will die. Well, she guess that it was to be expected. She did have thought about it, about how she was quite defenseless, even with her billion of men at her feet, and the large army of deads around her. If she had ever lost the control, she would have been in deep trouble. But she let it pass. She did nothing about it, and now, she had to suffer the consequences of her foolishness. She sighed, as she felt heavier and heavier.

This device was quite slow... She wouldn't die before morning... She couldn't move, she couldn't do a thing... She could only think about her mistakes...

... She didn't want to die like that... She needed to know what was love before... Even if there was no one to remember her, except for that dirty traitor, she still needed to live. Not for being famous, not to apologize, not to search excuses, not to find truth, just to... know what the hell was love. She... She didn't even think she would ask to be loved back. If she really wanted to know love, she'll need to love. Legions of men had been in love with her... even if it wasn't the way she wanted it. She kind of knew what it was to be loved, with all these perverts, but she never had their feelings... She didn't want to die like that. Not while she was that ignorant... She needed to know at least one time that feeling. She needed to have this chance. Her last wish. After that, she could die. She wouldn't care anymore. Her life was quite useless, now...

Well, it always had been so, but that wasn't the matter. The problem was that she was dying and that the only one she could love was that black magician. She didn't hate him, neither she would love him. He was cute, but she didn't like his arrogance.

... Heh. He was right. Even in death, like a little girl, she could only think of futile things, idling loves...

She... She must be really desperate to act like that...

______________________________________________________________________________

Slowly, she opened her eyes. What happened? She felt really light, now... So she wasn't in that cage anymore. Her vision was all blurry. What was going on? She was all cold... Nauseous. Was that how if felt to be dead? It was a strange feeling, then... People said that vampires were dead beings... But this was far different from her life. Now, her body was warm... And she didn't feel thirsty anymore. But she was hungry. She smiled. A dead dying... Would he like come back to life? So that's how humans were feeling? Cold, empty, broken, incomplete, worthless? She could understand that all these men were in love with her, then... She had been everything that they weren't. So it wasn't just for her beauty, it was for her feeling of serenity, never having of worry about heat nor food. For the fact that she was above humanity.

But still, what happened? Did she die? Where was she?

― "Are you awake?" asked a low male voice, full of concern. She gasped, and with her pink eyes, searched that man, but the world was so blurry. "Y-you are alright? I... Erm..." This person sounded shy quite a lot. But it didn't sound that he was impressed by her beauty. It sounded like if he was like that by nature.

― "Who are you?" said Nastasia with pain, still trying to see him.

― "Hem... I am..." he hesitated. What was it? "I am... Count Bleck... Yeah."

― "You don't sound sure."

― "I know. I need to remember that I am a Count now."

― "Oh?" It was just that? So it was a young man whose father died and inherited the power of his lands? So... where was she then?

― "Where am I?" she asked, wondering... wondering if she was in the Underwhere or alive.

― "Hem..." he hesitated. So he didn't know, uh? "Well, hum, about that cage that you were in..."

― "Oh... So I'm still here."

― "Um... Yes, I guess that you are... still "here", but what was it for?"

― "Hun?"

― "The cage."

― "Oh." The cage, yes. "To kill me."

― "To―...!? But why someone would want to kill such a refined lady such like you?"

― "I, hum..." she blushed. Refined lady? She? Nobody told such things to her before... "Well... To have my powers."

― "Oh... I see, my apologies." She guessed that he said that due that if she was there, in such a bad shape, it was because she had lost most of her powers. "Ah... Excuse me."

― "Hypnosis and necromancy." she said, sensing his urge to ask what kind of power she had.

― "Do you still have them?"

She didn't answer. She had no idea... She didn't even know if she was still alive! If she was still... the being she was.

― "I am sorry, it was harsh for me to ask such questions. Your well-being is far more important. Are you feeling right?"

― "No..."

― "What is it?"

― "I don't know if I'm still alive."

― "Eh?" said the Count, surprised by her answer. For him, if you could talk... You were alive, no? "Well, you're not bleeding, your eyes look quite weak, but maybe it is just fatigue. Your skin is quite pale, but―"

― "Pale?"

― "Hum... Well, yes, for me, at least. The few humans I ever saw had more―"

― "Human?"

― "... I... beg your pardon?"

― "I look human?"

He kept silent, and so she did. So... having losing her powers made her... human?

― "I... I am sorry, I didn't intend to―"

― "I'm supposed to have blue skin."

― "Oh. Well, you don't anymore."

― "I see, so that what happened. I am no longer a vampire..."

He kept silent another time, then rested her head something soft ― oh, so she was inside a house? He... He took care of her? But why...

― "Excuse me." said the Count, in far distance. "Do not worry, nothing will happen to you now. I will come back." he said, before leaving her alone. She sighed... Now she felt so heavy... Why? But she didn't have the time to wonder ― she fell asleep...

______________________________________________________________________________

She woke up. How many time has she slept? She didn't know, but it didn't feel long. Maybe an hour or too. She was still feeling strange, but she could bare it. She stood up, her vision still a little blurry... Why her eyes weren't working right? How the lost of power could affect her vision? Of what is the transformation in a human...? She walked to the door, the only opening to the outside world, where the shining moon made the around bright, and a little more clear for her. After a minute, trying to adjust her vision, she gasped, as she realized that this village was near of her location, where she was imprisoned... And that the lands were green. The blue... It all left. The blue of her powers... It didn't exist anymore...

She felt heavier and heavier, with no reason at all, and suddenly, she fell to her knees, and cried. She felt like she had lost everything, even her utility. She felt like she was less than trash...

... How that man could help her? She was just a useless human, now... If he was a Count, he should be able to value people more than that. He did said that he haven't met much human in his life, so he must be something else. She didn't see him, she didn't know how he looked, but he surely wasn't human. She didn't know where she was, but she was quite sure that it wasn't a manor or a castle, so that Count had fled his lands. Was it because he cared about trash? About futile selfish humans, that could only break his heart? That his parents are against his love for others? That should be it... That's the only reason why he could save her! A useless whore, with no powers at all...

He said he would come back, but even if it was true...

She won't be there.

______________________________________________________________________________

― "Wait! Where are you going? Stop! You can't go away like that!" said the same low male voice, but even if it hurt her heart ― how could she be like that... how could she feel pain like that? ― she didn't stop. She didn't want to believe that a man could care about her like that. Even if the only thing he had done was saving her, she couldn't. That man wasn't drooling over her body! He didn't do that for her beauty ― since she wasn't pretty anymore ― or for her powers ― since she didn't have them anymore. He did that... for no reason at all!

― "Wait!" he said again, catching her, covering her little body with his cape, protecting her from the rains. "You can't run away like that... You can't even see well!" he added, taking her in a strong embrace, heating her cold body.

― "Why would you care!?" she replied, her eyes closed, her legs not strong enough to stand still.

― "Why not?" he answered, like she would to her slaves before that. But, unlike them, she could replied.

― "Because I'm just an useless human! I don't even have power, why would you save a life if it doesn't bring anything to you?"

― "I'm... I'm not a monster..." he said, and she looked at his face, surprised by his answer. Close like that, she could see that he had dark hair, and pale skin, much like a human... What species was he? "I care about everybody! If I can save someone, I'll do it!"

― "Why?"

― "Because nobody deserves to die! And don't say that you do, people only wanted your powers, you said. Now that they have it, you don't need to die!"

― "But I'm useless! I'm nothing without my powers! I'm just... nothing, now..."

He sighed, as she cried on his torso, while he hugged her with his strong arms. He stayed still, as she rested her head on him, her tears drying as time passed. She sighed too, as she realized that it made her relax, to be in his arms like that. Never she had been like that... What was that feeling?

― "Are you sure you have lost your powers?" he asked, after a while.

― "The fields aren't blue anymore. My powers aren't here anymore."

― "That doesn't mean that you don't have them anymore. Magic is just inside you, you know."

She didn't know that to answer, nor to think. He kind of made a point, but she didn't feel any magic in her... She didn't feel any power, nowhere. Then, all of a sudden, he let her go, and she caught his hand, in fear that he would leave her alone.

― "Plus... Hem... We're kind of floating right now."

― "W-what?" she said, looking to the distant blurry floor. He was right! But how?

― "I think it was just because you were tired. Being in that cage made you weak. Now, your skin is becoming more blue."

― "Really?" she said with hope, then she looked at her arms, then her hands, since she had long sleeves. They all seem white for her...

― "Wait" said the Count, as he placed something on her head. Two glasses came before her eyes, and everything became crystal clear. "Glasses?" she said, surprised, as she looked at the Count. "Yeah, had to steal them, sort of...." he muttered, not proud of himself, but she didn't listen to him. He did have dark hair, a little long, with vibrant blue eyes, and his skin...

It was pale, like human, but there was a strong hint of blue in there.

Then she looked at herself, wearing a white blouse and a black skirt, and her hands...

They were pale, like human, but there was also a hint of blue. Not as strong as him, but...

She wondered : were they from the same species? Even if their hair and eyes colors where quite different, she felt they were quite the same. They even both levitate... She knew that certain species have powers in common...

― "L-look..." said the Count, uncomfortable. "I don't think that you're useless or something like that... Maybe it will just take time for you to have your powers back?"

― "I don't know..." She even didn't know that she could still fly.

― "I..." he hesitated. "I am looking for help, and I think that you can help me." She looked at him, as if she was waiting for him to continue.

― "I want the worlds to―"

― "I'll follow you."

― "Eh? But I didn't―"

― "Whatever you'll do, I'll follow you. Everywhere you'll go, I'll be there do."

― "But why?"

... Who knows. She just liked that feeling. She wanted to know what it was, and for that, she had to be with him.

― "Yeah, so thanks for the glasses."

― "Hem... Hem yes, you're welcome, but―"

― "'K, so um, yeah, where are we going now?"

He sighed. He abandoned. He saw that she didn't care, well fine and let's go create a new world! He turned around, flying toward the south. "We shall search for more companions, of course."

― "Perfect."

Congrats, you just read 9 pages.
Next is Bleck. Maybe it'll be more than 10 pages, since I'm gonna add his meeting with Dimentio.

To the one-word reviewer : WHERE ARE THOU? *cries* Because of you, it took me like years to do this one!

I think this will be the prelude to a story. I first thought of doing this one in two or three chapters. I wanted to add more, but that'll do a story. I don't want you to die lol

Oh, and, for those who didn't see my fan arts of Dimentio : the old man here is not him. My Dimentio has long black hair, not short.