Reaver looked around and found himself floating in a dark purple mist. He knew exactly where he was. It was the dream again...the one that had plagued his existence for over 300 years. The mist set him down softly before a small cottage, with heather and lilac growing along the outside. He could practically smell the sweet scent of flowers mixing with the earthy smells of Oakvale. He waltzed right up to the cottage and took a look inside. There was a young woman, and a small boy who was stubbornly refusing to wake up. Reaver smiled as he recognized the youth.
"Come on Victor! You'll be late for school!" Dawn, his mother scolded him. The small boy with chestnut brown hair slowly rose from his bed, hair a tangled mess.
"Henery and Cammilia are already waiting by the front door of the house. If you don't get up soon, they'll run along without you!" His mother urged. The boy rubbed his eyes as he sat up in his small bed.
"Ok, mum, I'm ready." The boy grumbled and fumbled to get into his pauper clothes and brush his hair. His mother took over for him.
"Come on, wipe that frown off your face, don't be a grumpy rabbit now." She said, adding some spit to keep the stubborn cowlick in the back down.
"Mum!" The youth protested, pulling away from his doting mother. His mother frowned.
"Don't be so reckless! You look adorable, now hurry or you'll be late!" The small boy smiled at his mother, grabbed an apple for his teacher, and then raced out the front door. An older boy with the same hair color and brown eyes stood waiting for him, next to a girl Victor's age with long wavy blonde locks and big blue eyes that made her look like a doll. The young girl smiled at Victor, and Victor felt himself blush.
"Hi Cammilia, hi Henery, lets go or we'll be late!" Henery rolled his eyes.
"We're already late, thanks to you. C'mon Cammilia. Lets get a move on." Henery said as he grabbed the apple from Victor's hand and took a big bite. Then he threw the rest of the apple to the ground and ran off towards the school house. Victor ran to catch up with his older brother. Cammilia ran up to his side. She smiled at him and tassled his hair. The cowlick bounced right back up.
"Your mother tries way too hard ya know? Your hair looks way cuter this way!" Cammilia giggled and before Victor could say anything, she was already a ways ahead. Victor touched the spot where she had messed up his hair and smiled.
"You always know just what to do Cammeilia..." The boy shook away the crush and raced to catch up to his brother and his friend.
"And you always did..." Reaver fought to keep up with the three children, but they ran from him, and the purple mist picked him up again, eager for the dream to continue. When the mist cleared, Reaver looked around and saw the youth, now a teen, with a small rosebud in tow. Reaver looked longingly at the young girl he was about to hand it too.
"I remember that day, even after 300 years, I'll never forget it." Reaver desperately wanted to tell the young man what to say to win over his fair damsel, he had even tried shouting it to him in past dreams, but the young man and womans scene moved forward as if it where a play as the forgotten couple began their courtship before his eyes.
"Cammelia! I finally found you! I-I need to tell you something..." The lanky young man called out to the water nymph sitting on the rock, soaking her feet. The "nymph" looked up and smiled, her blonde hair glistening in the sunlight like gold.
"Victor? What is it?" Cammilia asked standing up. Victor ran to her side and announced.
"I got the job! The town guards said I could be a bounty hunter!" Cammilia beamed.
"That's wonderful Victor! I'm so happy for you, you are really good at shooting monsters ya know." Victor tried to hide his blush as he replied.
"Thank you." Cammilia leaned close and kissed him. Victor was surprised and felt his whole face turn red. Cammilia looked at him and giggled.
"I like you too ya know? No need to be so shy." Cammilia said with a kind smile.
The bittersweet memories flooded Reaver's heart. He knew that it was only going to get harder to watch as the dream went on. He broke free of the mist in time to see himself, now a man, down on one knee, holding up a gleaming ruby ring in his hands. Cammilia was sitting on a chair and he was at her feet, begging, it seemed, for such a perfect creatures love. But she had always loved him, and so of course, she would comply. He could only look on in awe.
"Oh my darling. I must ask you for your hand in marriage. Please my sweet, become my wife..." Victor pleaded on his knees up to Cammilia. The fair-haired maiden smiled.
"Of course I will!" She cried as she lifted him to his feet and planted a sweet kiss around his neck and face.
"I have waited for this moment for as long as I could remember, now we can finally be together just as we always wanted-forever!" Cammilia nodded smiling, tears streaming down her fair face.
"Yes Victor. We'll be together forever!" Victor cried as well.
"Lets begin the wedding preparations! I want to be married as soon as possible. I cannot live a second more without you!"
It pained him that he would never have a romance like that again.
"If I had somehow been able to keep Connie, but now she will never love me again, she thinks that I am a monster. I know it." He rubbed his temples and watched as the mist set him down into the next phase of the dream.
"Victor! I'm pregnant!" Cammilia bloomed to her husband. Victor took a step back, happiness filling his face.
"Cammilia, that's wonderful news! Oh my love, my darling, my angel!" The couple embraced at the news.
"I know! I've been wanting to do this for some time now. I am going to have the local artist commission a portrait of you in the morning!"
"Oh, darling, but that's so expensive..." Cammilia replied, a bit worried.
"I know but you deserve to be immortalized in art. Hundreds of years later, people will look at that painting and say, who was that beautiful woman, she must have been very special." Victor added.
"Oh, Victor...you are such a romantic ya know?" The next second, there was a sharp rap at the door of their small cottage. Victor opened the door and came face to face with his older brother, Henery.
"Henery! Cammilia's with child!" Victor proudly announced.
"Victor that's nice, but there is something that we must discuss." Henery blew him off. Victor looked up at his older brother.
"What is it Henery? Is something the matter?" Henery frowned gravely.
"Its mother. She had fallen sick."
"Sick? How sick?"
"She's dying..." Victor looked into his brother's brown eyes in horror.
"Dying? Are you sure?" Henery nodded sadly.
"The doctor says she has but three months to live. In the meantime, I have told her that I am going to pay for both of our houses. I had a rather interesting offer you see, from the owner of Orchird Farm. He says he wants to do a partnership with me. I'll be making more money than almost any other farmer in Albion." Henery bragged. Victor looked through the window at his pregnant wife.
"My bounty hunting has been paying well too. I just bagged a black balverine this morning, but if mums sick, I could make it into a coat for her, to keep her warm." Henery just laughed.
"Don't even bother! The old woman has enough problems without you having to give her some rubbish beast pelt that isn't even fit for her. I, on the other hand, just bought her the finest robe that money can buy, with the remains of the farmers proposition money. It was made in the mysterious south of Albion. Surely you couldn't do better with that smelly old beasts pelt." Victor's temper flared.
"I have every right to give her a gift as you do!" The younger brother fought back. Henery laughed again, tauntingly.
"Yeah, but which will she actually WANT?" With that, Victor's materialistic brother walked off, still mocking him.
"He was a hell of a brother -even after 300 years I still am glad that he died." Reaver scoffed in a laugh, a rare happenstance in this dream. But he knew that he would only be laughing for so long, before THEY showed up...
"Daddy, what does a hero do?" The small girl at Victor's feet asked, green eyes ablaze. Victor looked kindly at the youth and smiled.
"Well Opal, a true hero protects his or her people. They are selfless and always kind. They are brave and fearless, even in the face of death." Opal stared on as her daddy's own green eyes glowed with heroic blood.
"True heros?" The young girl asked. Victor nodded.
"Well, sweetie, a hero has to make an important choice, to be good or to be evil. Those heros that do good are what we call true heros. The evil heros are merely self-serving. They seek to better only themselves and use their power to hurt and destroy for their own glorification." Victor said. Opal made a face.
"That sounds awful!" The small girl swatted a strand of black hair from her eyes. Then she rose on short skinny legs and rushed to embrace Victor.
"I'm glad your a true hero daddy!" The girls words melted his heart. Victor looked down kindly at his daughter and smiled gently.
"I will always do whatever it takes to protect you." He looked closer to his child. Opal had fallen asleep on his lap.
Reaver fought back the tears.
"Your one hell of a father..." He cursed himself.
"She trusted me, they all did. And why wouldn't they? I was their hero. I protected that town, they had never known fear because of me." Then the pain returned as the mist came for him again. Reaver struggled harder than ever before to fight it.
"No! Not to the next scene, please. Let the dream end here, let my memories for once remain untouched by what I have done. Please, I am begging you!" Reaver lashed and fought in the darkness, but the mist picked him up as if he had been completely willing. Reaver started running as fast as he could towards the old farmhouse in the distance, determined to get there just a few seconds earlier, to stop what was about to transpire. To get his wife and his little Opal to safety. Just a few moments was all he needed, but when he arrived, the scene was already in motion. The other him, the old him, had just come through the farmhouse door.
"Ah! Victor! You've finally made it!" Farmer Ben cried heartedly. Victor nervously walked past the entrance and towards the farmer.
"Yes. Great to be here. Some bandits where holding me up, but I'm ok." Ben laughed gaily.
"Well, don't just stand there with your stomach rumbling! The village hero deserves some dinner!" Ben motioned to the large banquet that lay out on the table before him. There was roast duck, suckling pig, cornucopias filled with fruits and vegetables, fresh breads and warm pies galore. Oakvale was having its annual harvest feast, and Victor looked on to all the people who had gathered at the farmhouse. His mother, though sickly, Henery at her side, and Cammilia his darling, looking absolutely exquisite in her soft blue dress. Their daughter, Opal was playing with some of the other children, but she rushed to her daddy the moment that she saw him.
"Daddy, Daddy! Your back! What took you so long?" The green-eyed girl asked. Victor patted her head.
"I-had some other business to attend to. I'm sorry that I'm late dear." The little girl looked confused.
"Daddy? What other work?" Victor looked grimly at his daughter.
"Its a grown-up thing sweetie, you wouldn't understand until your older ok?" He gave her one last pat and then headed towards Cammilia. Cammilia embraced him and kissed him on the cheek.
"I missed you. Victor? Are you alright?" She asked, noticing the concern on his face. Victor leaned close to her.
"I did it! I found the book!" He whispered excitedly. Cammilia looked terrified.
"No, Victor, there is something that the local priest told me about that thing, I-I didn't know before, but...oh Victor, please say you didn't..." Victor, unnoticing her concern grabbed her soft hands.
"Yes! Yes I did my love! Now we shall be together forever! Hah! All of us! You, me and little Opal! We will be ok, we will make a name for ourselves! I did it Cammilia, I said I would give you a great life, and now...Now I really can!" Cammilia took a step back.
"Victor...your starting to scare me...please say you are only kidding, that book is cursed..." Victor shook off her concern and just looked upset that she would say such things.
"Oh Cammilia, you don't have to worry. I'm a hero, ok? No matter what my brother or mum says, I am great, and I am going to make a name for myself!" Cammilia looked on in horror.
"Victor..." BLASH!CRRRRAAACKKKKK! The lights in the farmhouse blew out and the windows gave a sickening shatter as they burst into a million pieces. People screamed and babies cried. Cammilia and Opal grabbed Victor in horror, and Victor himself looked on and pulled his bow free of its quiver. The noise of wind was replaced by screams as farmer Ben was ripped apart by savage shadows, which looked like wolves mixed with crocodiles. The black beasts ripped him apart from the middle, like they where gutting a trout. Other shadow beasts, some like bears, others like balverines, and some like twisted abominations, came and killed each of the villagers similarly, and Victor rushed in to slay them, only to be left horrified. The three judges of the Shadow Court rose up to greet his attack.
"Why? Why are you doing this?!" An oblivious Victor yelled over the bloodcurdling screams and howling wind. The lead judge just laughed evilly.
"This is what you asked us for. Eternal life. We are giving it to you." Victor stood confused and horrified as he watched as his own brother was torn in half.
"No! This isn't what I wanted! NO!" Victor yelled at the shadow.
"I wanted to protect these people. That's why I asked for immunity from sickness and death. I wanted to be able to save them!" The lead judge shook his head and the screams grew louder and more terrible.
"We judges know you, Victor. You say you wish to protect..." The lead judge picked up a young baby. He then crushed its skull into dust and pulp. Victor screamed. "But what you felt in your heart when you summoned us...was greed..." The other shadows laughed tauntingly at Victor. Victor whirled around and around, eager to find and protect Cammilia and Opal.
"DADDY!" Victor turned and to his horror, he saw little Opal and his wife Cammilia being carried up to the lead judge by the shadow beasts. Victor lunged to save them, firing arrows into the monsters, but to no avail. They go right through them as the creatures passed Opal to the dark judges. Victor could only watch in agony as his daughter was shredded alive. Her agonizing scream filled the air as her warm organs sopped left and right. A piece of her tender flesh landed on Victor's cheek. He screamed to the judges to stop, and continued to fire arrows until his quiver was empty. But Cammelia was already in the clutches of the lead judge, and the last look that she gave Victor, after watching Opal die, and knowing it was he husband to blame...it wasn't hate, it wasn't fear, it was sorrow. A look that forever smashed his heart.
"I thought I could trust you..." She whispered. Victor's eyes widened. As the wind raged and the smell of blood choked the night air, the lead judge impaled her upon his great sword, her last scream followed by a small delicate rattle in her perfect throat.
"NO!" Victor screamed. He charged forward and threw himself into a blind fight with the creatures and the shadow judges. He was defeated instantly, and fell to his knees as they taunted him.
"Hero of Skill. Not skilled enough to save his true love. Only one can be helped. Only one is required. Hero of Skill. How foolish you are." The laughter drowned out the screams of the night, followed by silence. And then that too was replaced, by a lone man sobbing amongst a dark village of death.
Connie was awakened by the sound of Reaver yelling. She rushed up onto the deck, but he was nowhere to be found. She cried out for him, but there was no answer. Lance followed her around the deck of the Reaver II, and finally into the master suit. Reaver was sitting atop his luxury double bed, drenched in sweat with a look of frozen horror stamped to his face. Connie approached him with caution.
"Reaver? Are you ok?" Reaver remained frozen, which prompted her to become very worried. Never before had she seen the brave Reaver so terrified. Even in the Shadow Court, he had been extremely brave and bold. But now, it was as if he had just encountered his worst nightmare. Connie reached out and touched the kissmark on his cheek. Reaver still remained motionless, but finally spoke.
"...She was all that I ever needed..." His voice trembled. Connie knew in an instant that he was talking about Cammilia.
"I know Reaver. She must have been very special to you." She offered. Reaver turned to her and his eyes grew dark.
"That wasn't what I wanted...they tricked me. They took my wish and twisted it to fit their own evil desires. They took everything from me that day. And even now that they are gone, it still haunts my every dream." Connie looked at him.
"Dream? You had a dream?" She asked. Reaver nodded slowly.
"For 300 years I have had but one dream. That dream. You only know a tiny portion of what really happened that night Connie. The full truth is more painful than you could ever imagine, and I choose to spare you." Connie was over being angry with Reaver, she now realized that his story was all true, and that he had not fooled her. Now all that she wanted to do was comfort him. He looked up, unsure what to say next.
"Reaver. I had no idea that you lost so much..." Reaver looked away from her and down to the wooden floorboards.
"I was such a fool...I had hoped that you would give me another chance, but now it would seem that I have killed that too..." Lance came up and licked Reaver's face, and to Connie's surprise, Reaver didn't try to stop him, instead he involuntarily patted the wolfdogs warm white fur. Connie slid her hand in his.
"I love you. I want to help you get this out. Please Reaver. Please trust me enough to tell me the whole story." Reaver shook his head.
"Perhaps someday. But I am not ready today." Connie stroked his hand with her own.
"Reaver. I forgive you. Please. Lets start anew together ok? I love you and I want nothing more than to spend my life with you."
"Really dear? Even after all I put you through?" Connie smiled happily.
"Of course. I behaved rashly. I'm so sorry Reaver, for not believing that you cared for me. You gave up your immortality for me, you saved my life, you left your mansion and everything you owned just to be with me. I love you and I want to be with you forever, our own personal forever. However long it lasts."
"Connie, I haven't been a good, trustworthy man for 300 years. But I want to be that man now, for you."Reaver embraced her passionately. Connie felt her body soften at his warm touch. She let her eyelids close and lay down upon his lap. Reaver stroked her long hair as he watched her body rise and fall.
"You truely are a remarkable woman Connie." He spoke softly.