Dead man's Blues C11
Hi Guest, Ilich and Sherryfish! If I could hug you guys for all these kind reviews you have being gracing me, I WOULD! But I can't, so I really really want to thank you guys. You guys are the best. Recently I have joined this discord chat, and I realise that the average age for people in the fandom are soooooo young (I suddenly feel so old). And, I shouldn't be surprised but there was actually an admin inside the recognizes me from back in those days period. This world is so small.
Anyway, the following are the questions I have compiled, you can ask me more if I have missed out or something, I'll my best to answer：
Are the council members equal in power?
Yes. Each one of them is severely overpowered, and if they want to, they can cause significant damage to the world. However, their powers are bound to the councils and they mostly balanced out each other, which reduces the chance that any of them can go around causing damage without another member stopping him or her in time. The White King is an exception, he have significantly lesser power in real life compared to the rest of the members as his powers are locked up by the most powerful artifacts in the world, his own skeleton. In exchange, he do have loads of other powerful artifacts, which he imbue with his reservoir of locked up power.
His current role in the council is keeping watch in the other dimension, also known as the spirit world or the dreaming world. It is an everchanging world that is mostly peaceful, sometimes disruptive, and these disruptions will affect the current world. The White King will then warn the people, giving out what people would call prophecies.
Is the war going to be a light vs darkness conflict?
Stripped down to the core, yes it is. In the end, it is the people with selfish intent that corrupted themselves that needs to be taken down, those people are the darkness in this story. The light is liberation, it's the selflessness reflected by the individuals, light is learning that letting go is the best thing for you and everything you love.
Will I ever finish Viva La Vida and Into the Array?
Yes, and yes. If anything, I would love to finish Viva La Vida one day. Contrary to what subpar content I have currently release for Viva La Vida, it was actually a really huge project that involves all the characters in Hetalia. But the sad fact is, I was not too confident in my writing (I am still not that confident right now), and the scale of Viva La Vida was daunting for me to continue then.
For into the Array, I think I would continue it after this story. I will rewrite it if I have the time as well. Then afterwards I can perhaps release a list of titles and its short summary for you guys to decide which long story I should start next! If nobody chooses anything, I would actually love to start this supernatural murder mystery story I came up with when I first started writing.
Loud wrenching screams heave out of Gilbert's trembling lips as he gasps desperately for air, the searing pain stretches through from the bone of his arms. He clutches the source of the pain tightly, falling over onto the ground, twisting, and turning and writhing like a worm as the snow crunches around him with each movement he made.
"Fucking hell." He curses, his harsh breath visible from the cold. "I'm fucking dead and it still fucking hurts." Despite the pain he is going through, he felt worried about the nature of the magic, he can feel the destructiveness of the magic as it muddle up his energies. With a determined grunt, he concentrate enough through the pain to gather enough strength to control the chaotic magic. He appears in a dim, white room, and in the middle of this white room stood a slab of white marble, on the top of it lies a set of carved, white skeleton placed in order of the human anatomy, it is missing the radius bone. The pain stretches out in a steady manner, extending its reach into half a side of the White King's head, each pulsation drives him closer and closer to the edge of insanity. As he writhe, he did not realise that another man was standing nearby, looking on at him.
"You look pathetic."
"How the hell did you get in here?" Gilbert glances up to the direction of the voice, head still press deep into the ground. His bloody colored eyes filled with frustrated agony.
"Oh…. Look at you. It is honestly mortifying how you grovel on the ground from such small little… trick." Julius commented, shrugging.
"You did it?" Gilbert asked. "Why did you do it? What is fucking wrong with you? This is not funny."
Julius took a deep, casual breath. Tilting his head to the side a little, as though he is thinking, he answered: "Well, isn't it obvious why I did this? To take this." He walked over to the marble slab, which was as tall as his waist, and picked up a pendant lying amongst the bones. "Back."
He lift it up to his eye level, the round pendant swirl from left to right, showing the two faces of the pendant: a half face of a golden, smiling sun, its single eye encrusted by a shining white diamond against a background of mother of pearl. On the other side, a sleeping crescent moon floating in the middle accompanied by three diamond stars. The moon created from the mother of pearl, against an onyx background. The duality of the Daughter's power encased in this single pendant.
"You fucking kidding me? Stop…." Gilbert begged. "This. Please. The power will seep out without the pendant or the bone. I'll give the pendant back to the Daughter. You shouldn't touch it."
"You are corrupted. And it will corrupt her too, I cannot risk that." Julius replied, his usual habit of dragging the end of words. "I'll cleanse it with my power."
"You… like her?" Gilbert muttered amidst the ever-growing pain, the veins on his temple pops out as exertion cast a shade of red all over his face.
"That's not the point. The point is, she wanted a favour, and I am gladly giving it to her." Julius said, the pendant now lying on his palm as he stare at it, the face of the sun.
"Take it back. I'll use another artifact to seal it up till the Everbloom return my scepter. Just get the fuck out of here!" Gilbert cough out the last of his words before attempting to stand up, he staggered over, slumping, and holding on the marble slab for support. Julius stood beside him and watched. Gilbert took out the feather from his jacket, and with trembling fingers, he closes his eyes, mumbling the spell that unbound the bone seal. He grab onto the air between Julius and the bones and pulled, an audible snapping tear through the air, broking off the link between the pendant and the seal.
"Go." Gilbert said, feeling annoyingly betrayed. The pain from his arms immediately subside, with his strength returning, so is his anger. He left a disgusted glance over at Julius. "Seriously? You're not leaving? You ruined my night, and you ruined everything I have planned so long for. If the Daughter wanted the pendant, she could have told me. But instead, she have asked you to get it back from me. And you can't even be bothered asking me, you have to do this horrible thing to me. I know I owe you guys this much for keeping me in the councils, but you guys are fucking jerks. Where did you even learn this from? This is the exact same magic disturbing on the other side. I thought it escaped!" He ranted. The bones on the marble slab started vibrating from holding the powers in, white-blue lights emanating from within. Seeing this, Gilbert got worried and mutter the same spell, his fingers loosen letting the long feather go, it floated in the air, hovering over the bones. Grabbing the spell string only he can see, he pulled, the skull lifted a little and plop right back, Gilbert weave that string with the feather. Still the bones on the marble slab rattled on, slightly more violently than before. This is strange, he thought. Bewildered, he pulled on more strings and weave them more and more. It got to a point where the bones finally settled down and is longer emanating any lights that Gilbert finally let out a sigh of relief. He attribute this strange event to the fact that pendant is technically more powerful than the feather and need lesser connections to his bones to make a complete seal.
But soon, he was proven wrong.
Not more than a seconds later, as he was about to turn towards Julius for another torrent of rants, puffs of ominous black smoke creep out from his bones. "This magic…" he mutter, eyes wide in horror. He turned back at Julius with caution. "You…."
Julius smiled. "Oops, you finally found out. I was wondering how long I have to keep this façade on for." He took out the White Scepter from his cloak, it is covered in a film of living, grotesque blackish flesh that grew its roots deep into the bones.
The White King's mouth widen in shock. That was the true source of where the pain was coming from. Gilbert quickly snapped out of it, he reaches out to the feather and his bones, mumbling and pulling the strings apart as fast as he can. His reservoir of powers surge out through the bones, dissipating every last bit of the smoke that was slowly invading as it fills him up with magic, and like a cup that is filled with water to the brim, Gilbert felt the urgency to let it all out. His eyes, nose and mouth all glowed a blinding white from the inside, even his breath became stars. In that moment, his senses became pre-eminent, "You are not Julius. Who are you?" he demanded; the magic distorted his voice into a deep echo.
"You still do not know who I am?" Julius taunted, letting out a laugh. "For all your powers, you do not know how to use them. What a waste. It would be better if they are put to good use, don't you think?"
"Are you underestimating me?" Gilbert asked, amused.
"There's somebody else who is more worthy of your power." Julius replied.
"There's nobody else more worthy than me." Gilbert roar, a devastating bolt energy poured out of his voice as it crash towards where Julius is. The recipient, seemingly caught off guard, hastily pull up his cloak and imbue it with his strongest protective spells. It crack under the onslaught of the magic and break into a million pieces, scattering and dissipating in the air, sending its user back where he hit violently against the wall before dropping onto the ground.
Julius retch out a mouthful of blood, it form long strings of silvery saliva, connecting the lips to the puddle on the ground. Julius breath hard from the injuries as he look back up at the White King, slowing walking towards him.
"You do not threaten this world with my presence." Gilbert said. The intense energy from his overflowing magic created a thick presence in the air, the glow is glaringly daunting. "Perhaps the lack of activities from the Five in recent years have made you think you stood a chance, or maybe you somehow making your way into my personal quarters have gave you such confidence. Think again. I exist. And because I exist, nobody would have a chance." He let out the last of the warning and aim his arms at the person on the floor, the thick magic in the air sway to his will, and hoist Julius into the air by the throat. "Who are you. And who sent you here. What have you done to the Fallen and the Everbloom?"
"The Fallen? The Everbloom?" Julius choked out, laughing, spitting out droplets of blood as the saliva and blood mixture drip out messily from his mouth and onto his chin.
Gilbert frowned, annoyed by his avoiding talks. He tightened the grip to his throat, only for Julius to turn red, gagging. "There's a thin line between ignorance and courage. I do not know which one you belong to. But I am not going any risk any chance of you hurting this world. Farewell." He releases a massive output of power with ease, ready to blast them into this Julius in front of him and turn him into dust.
"S-Shatter the lock that encloses the sleeping p…prince, for you who is wronged, please hear my cry. When I call your name, I beseech thee, come forth Viktor, it is time my Lord." Julius chanted quickly.
Puffs of black smoke snake out like multiple tentacles from between the bones on the marble slab, it extended itself towards Gilbert. The White King's quick reflex saved him as he moved of the way when the smoke tentacles tried to grab his leg. Gilbert quickly let out a few blast magic from his palm, each leaving behind solid ice, as the tentacles shun his attack. However, as more and more pour out from his bones, he became overwhelmed as more reaches him and coil themselves around his body. The black smoke's magic choke full of energy held onto Gilbert tightly, it broke his attack on Julius.
Julius fell to the ground with a light thud, coughing. Slowly he stood up again, wiping the blood off his chin with the back of hands, he walk towards the constricted man. And with each step he took, the magic sustaining his façade subside, the face that was once Julius, peel away like a burning piece of paper to reveal a younger looking face:- with a pair of black, soulless eyes and soft black hair, it becomes all too familiar to the White King whose face it belongs to.
"You betrayed us!" Gilbert cried out, struggling against the restriction in an agitated manner. "The councils will not let you go for doing this! Everbloom."
"There will be no need for the council…. Soon." Kiku replied, lifting his hands up, lightly stroking the White King's cheek and jaw in a mockingly endearing manner. "A new world will be remade in our image, with our vision. Join me."
"Like I said, underestimating me will be your downfall!" Gilbert replied. He broke off the whole seal sealing up his powers, absorbing the bursting reservoir of energy from the other side. The energy radiated out, clearing out all the tentacles holding onto him. "Perhaps you do not understand the nature of my power, after all you are only a newly invited host to this body you called your own. My powers belongs to God's, by fate or by coincidence, I was the CHOSEN ONE. To wield this power. And it will be my responsibility to destroy you, and whom you pledge your allegiance to."
The disparity between the powers seems to plant a little admiring fear in Kiku as he staggered back when the White King moves over. The projection of his soul changes with the amount of magic he weld, Gilbert's hair, now long, silvery, and glowing white, dances menacing around him like a halo.
"I know."
Gilbert tilted his head in bewilderment by Kiku's words.
"We never intend to destroy you." Kiku broke out into a laugh, "Without you, the powers will be dispersed back into this world. But we can control you." He continued, raising both of his arms like an air hug, he clutch and pull. The seeds silently planted by the smoke tentacles when it was holding the White King earlier, spread it roots out with Kiku's control. It extended out like lightning, spreading out tiny web of roots visible like dark abyss all across his glowing body.
Gilbert open his mouth, wanting to speak, but it was immediately closed back. His expression unsettled; he knew what's going on. The gritted teeth slowly turn upwards into a forced smile and his arms drew back into a cross on his chest, the roots spread and retreated inside his body like a tug of war for the control of the body.
"There's no use struggling with the inevitable." Kiku spat out, arms trembling from amount of strength he used trying to gain an upper hand against the White King. All I need is just a slip, the Everbloom thought. "The roots have grown deep. Your soul would break. Join me, I'll give you anything you want."
"Your lies…" Gilbert hiss out with great effort. "will not distract me."
Unbeknownst to Gilbert, a tiny smirk tug at the corner of Kiku's lips. Veins started popping out of his arms from strain of the wrestle, Kiku quietly uses a little magic to push an object out of the pocket inside his cloak. The tiny thing fell to the ground with tinkering clink, Gilbert's eyes flutter over the object upon hearing the sound. His eyes widened with a sharp intake of air, in that moment, fear struck his heart and within a split of a second, Kiku exerted the last of his remaining strength and consume the White King. The darkness eclipse his lights completely, and he remain stranded in the air as the roots absorbed the infinite powers of the White King, then he fell onto the floor, unmoving.
Kiku let out a grunt as he swing his arms to relieve the strains after the ordeal, the blood is already crusting on his chin. Then bending down, he picked up the emerald encrusted ring on the floor, and after observing it for a while, he commented: "The shadow in the heart is where all the demons hide. Don't you agree, my dear White King?"
"Yes." The White King replied, kneeling on one knee in front of Kiku with his head bowed in a servile manner.
Alfred stare at the man in front of him, parted only by the table. Wang Yao is facing Alfred as well, but his eyes darted from place to place, occasionally he purse his lips, and other times, his furrowed brows moves like he is figuring out something hard. "Just in case you don't realise it, we have been staring at each other for the past 1 hour. Well, I am the one doing the staring more, but really…. I've been thinking… While we are sitting here doing nothing… if we should get dessert."
Wang Yao did not react to his words, instead he let out a loud, audible sigh and tilt his head, looking up at the corner of his eyes. The lines between his brows deepen as he scrunches his face even more. "Helloooooooooooooooooo? Is your soul still floating out in the air or something?" Alfred complained, snapping his fingers in front of Yao's face.
"Tch, stop it." Yao replied, slapping his hands away.
"Seriously… I'm asking you a very serious question here. Should we?"
"Should we what?"
"Should we get dessert?"
"We just had lunch. Like literally, just had lunch."
"Well, that's like an hour ago. It should be time for afternoon tea soon."
"No Alfred…. Afternoon tea doesn't start until 3 hours later."
"Why? It's afternoon now."
"Hello? Please don't make me knock some sense into your head. Afternoon tea starts at 4."
Alfred groan, leaning back as he cover his face in frustration. "What about dessert?" he quickly lean forward to ask again.
"Well, I supposed we…. could. If you like." Yao shrugged, before standing up to walk away.
"YES! DESSERTS!" Alfred yelled out, clenching his fists in excitement as he follow after Wang Yao. "Let's see, let's see…. What dessert should we get? …. Chocolate chip cookies? Nah, that sound more like a treat than a dessert. Apple pie with ice cream? Strawberry cheesecake? Peach cobbler? Y'know Yao, I always have a hard choice with desserts. So, I ended up buying them all."
Wang Yao glance to the side at him with annoyance. "I don't think they sell them here."
"What? Why?"
"It's not the Crossroad my friend, they don't sell everything here. Well, there's a confectionary shop over there, we could ask what they sell in this country." Yao quickly add on, walking towards the shop before Alfred could go on his rants.
They push pass the wooden and glass door, and the bell clink the arrival of new customers. "Welcome!" a man with moustache and a pot belly said heartily, he stood behind a glass display counter filled with a variety of brightly colour sweets covered in white powder. The shop is not a huge one, but all around are filled with assortments of interesting looking glassware, trinkets, tea leaves and coffee beans.
"Woah…" Alfred's eyes was glued to the sweets in the glass display the moment they stepped into the shop. He took quick steps and press his face and palm against the glass panel, looking in in a serious manner. "What's all these?" he asked, breath fogging up his glasses and the glass panel.
"Why, Mister, it's called Lokum. You two must be travelers here. Let me explain, every sweet that is sold here are local specialties, you won't find the ones sold in other countries as nice as the ones you can find here. Besides, we make way more delicious flavours. Look over here, this beautiful pink lokum is rose water flavoured, a classic. You should try it if you have never tried this before. These other coloured ones are other fruit flavour, and some of them are filled with bits of nuts like pistachio, almond, some are sprinkled with saffron. Then followed by these swirly ones over here, they are swirled with nougats, and it's way chewier. So, if you love a munch, you can try this."
"W-W-What is that!?" Alfred commented, his eyes darting to the far corner. On a round tray is filled with pieces of pastries with fluffy layered crust.
"Ohh… That's called Baklava. We have the pistachio and walnut version. Each layer of crust is sprinkled with a layer of nuts. Recently we have created the chocolate flavour as well, but it's not available yet, but soon it will be."
"God… Please bless your angel for beautiful food like these." Alfred mumble under his breath, eyes glittering and unwavering from the spread behind the glass panel.
"Ahhhh, you are in luck Mister." The man immediately called out as another shorter man came out from behind the door that leads to the kitchen holding onto a tray of brownish looking stuff, sprinkled with greenish bits. "The Kunefe is now available. It's a sweet made from crispy thin noodles made with flour and water, we topped it up with sweet cheese, melted to delightfulness. You can also choose to top it with our ice cream over there."
"Ice cream?" Alfred's breath hitch, he glance towards where the man was pointing and saw it. Again, he mumble something under his breath.
"Are you crazy!?" Yao smack him on his arms. "Hey, Alfred. I'm talking to you."
The man behind the counter, with his hands together, leaned forward in confusion. Looking side to side at the two man he said: "I'm sorry Mister, I didn't quite catch you."
"I said-" Alfred replied.
"No Alfred." Yao tried to cut him off.
"I'll have one of everything in this shop!" he shouted very happily. "And I want noodle thing you are talking about as well." He move to where the ice creams are and said: "Don't forget the ice cream please. I want this. And this. And… And this." He tap excitedly at the glass panel.
"Alfred we can't finish everything."
"No Yao, you don't understand." He turned towards Yao. "We can't. But I can."
Yao sigh. A sign that he gave up. He shook his head to shake the feeling out of his head, though he can't help but to wish that Ivan were here instead. He took a glance over at Alfred.
It took a while but the two employees in the shop finally managed to finish packing Alfred's orders. They are all smiles as the two of them left the shop. And they made their way walking along the road again. Alfred is stuffing mouth after mouth of the crispy, cheesy Kunefe soaked up with the creamy, sticky goodness of the ice cream on the paper plate. Each mouth he took, he made a 'Mmmmm' sound. It set off the switch inside Yao's mind, but he kept it in.
"Alfred…" Yao started.
"I ain't sharing."
"No. I'm not. I…"
"What?" Alfred asked, turning to him as he put another big mouthful of the sweet dessert in between his lips. "Hmmmmmm…"
"Can you stop doing that…." Yao finally said.
"Why? It's delicious. It's my appreciation to God for this delicious food."
"I have something important to ask you!" Yao half-shouted in annoyance, then he awkwardly look around when he realise he caught some passerby's attention.
"Stop being so angsty all the time. I'm listening." Alfred shrug nonchalantly, obviously more interested in his food.
"I'm… thinking of looking for Ivan."
"Ivan?" Alfred replied. "That vampire sidekick of yours?"
"Well…" Yao's eye twitch, then he took a breath and continued: "Yeah…"
"Then let's go."
"No Alfred… His parents are progenitor of all the vampires. They are located in Wolford, but I have never been there before and Ivan told me that it was shrouded by magic, inaccessible to anyone except for the people who lives there." Yao explains, low key hoping that Alfred get what he means.
"Inaccessible to anyone?" Alfred repeated.
"Yes."
"What's the issue?"
Wang Yao took another breath to calm himself before replying: "How are we supposed to get in?"
Alfred continued munching on his food, swallowed and add: "By magic."
"I. Have. None."
"I'll help." Alfred smile. Quite mischievously.
"Are you serious? How are we going to find that place then?" Yao asked.
"By magic."
Yao scrunch his face in disgust. Following after Alfred, silently thinking that he might be playing with him. Alfred slurp up the last of his desserts on his plate, and with a swift magic fire emitting from his palm, turn it to ashes, patting the ashes off his palm, he turned around and said: "Let's go."
"What?"
"I thought you wanted to go to Wolford?" Alfred asked, now stuffing one of the Lokum he took out from the multiple paper bags on his arms. "Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm…"
"You're not joking with me, right? You're really helping me?"
"Of course."
"But its hidden… I... I don't know where it's located. How are we going to a place when we don't even know how to find it?" Yao ranted in annoyance, at the situation, at Alfred's nonchalant attitude and most of all, at Alfred's repeated "Mmmmmmmm" to every mouth of food he eats.
"By magic."
"Argh!" Yao let out, grabbing onto his hair with both of his fist to keep it together.
"Chill, my friend. You are my band mate; you are special to me." Alfred pacified, patting his hands with fingers stained with sugar powder on Yao's back. Then licking the powder off from his fingers and wiping it on the front of his shirt, he lifted both of his arms into the air and tilted his head upwards. "I pray, by the Grace of God, allow my eyes to see for all you have created in 7 days, and for all you have not thereafter." Alfred sing. Multiple eyes popped out all over his body in random positions, even on his cheeks, his neck, his arms, his palms. Blinking at random times, they all widened after a few seconds as though they found something.
"Found it." Alfred announced, smiling. He grab hold onto Yao's arm and took a step forward, another hand glowed in white spread the air apart like a curtain. Wang Yao felt a thin, jelly-like texture pass right through him and together with Alfred, stepped into another place.
"The hidden mansion in Wolford. There's only one emitting such massive energy. Quite hidden, but still, it's almost easy."
Wang Yao's mouth was left agape at the gloomy looking castle in a little distance away. Finally, he managed to say: "H-How did you do it so fast and make it so easy. It's not teleportation isn't it?"
"My name is Alfred, but you can call me amazing." Alfred replied, posing with his fingers holding onto his chin in an egotistical manner.
"There's really no point in talking to you, isn't it?" Yao asked, turning to him, secretly grateful and amazed but more than ever, the feeling of wanting to slap him.
"If you really need to know, I merely asked God for permission to open my eyes to see thing I need to. I'm an angel after all." Alfred said, popping another sweet into his mouth. "Mmmmmmm. These crunchy nuts blend so perfectly well with the chewy nougats. So delicious. Anyway, there are dangerous things inside that mansion. Your vampire sidekick is asleep. And it seems like he is the sworn enemy of the High Heavens."
"Sworn enemy?" Wang Yao mouthed under his breath, feeling baffled.
"You need to wake him up. I'll cover you. Once we reach inside, run up the stairs and go to your left, walk straight. There, you will be faced with a long corridor with multiple doors on both sides, walk all the way to the end and turn left again. You will find him there. Wake him up and meet me back here in one hour. Give me your bag. I'll put them with my sweets in a safe location." Alfred explains, his multiple eyes scanning over the horizon of this gloomy, barren land around the mansion. He reaches out his hands to Yao for his bag, and Yao pass it to him without much thought.
"Anyway, if by any chance the person who woke up is not your little friend. Call my name." He added on, eyes darting around, observant to things he can see.
"H-How am I supposed to do that? Just shout for you? In the mansion that… doesn't sound like a good idea…" Yao asked.
Alfred turn his left arm upwards and plunge his fingers like a claw into his arms. Digging and twisting it through violently, he pulls out one of the multiple eyes from his arms, a single eyeball with its trails of soft, curd-like nerves sit on a little pool of blood on Alfred's palm. Wang Yao's facial expression emitted a horrified and disgusted expression during the whole process and when Alfred hands his eyeball over. "Take this." he replied.
"What the fuck?" Yao asked, looking at the eyeball on his hands.
"Take it."
"I don't want to. That's disgusting." Yao protested, shaking his head, and moving back in disgust.
Alfred let out a patronizing expression, the words: "Oh really?" written all over his face, obvious enough for anybody to see it. Then, rolling his eyes, he move forward, grab Yao's arms with his other hand and place the bloodied organ on Yao's palm much to his chagrin.
"Argh…" Yao let out, as he felt the slimy, soft and sticky feelings on his palm. But as fast as he felt it, it disappears. Wang Yao open his palm again to find a sight even more disturbing, the eyeball seems to disappear and now appear embedded in his palm, as the eye now stares back at him blinking.
"What is this!?" Yao exclaimed, holding his wrist with his other hands. "Why is it stuck inside my hands now!?"
"My eyes…. Duh." Alfred replied. "Don't act so disgusted with it… It's God's gift to me. Anyway, it will protect you, just whisper my name, and I will be with you wherever you are. Or, if you prefer the easier way to deal with your little friend. Use this." Alfred said, handing over a tiny, silvery sword, glistening its own blue-ish soft light. "Stab it into his heart." He whispers.
"Why do I need to do that?" Yao asked, eyeing the intricate looking weapon suspiciously.
"Purification."
"Will he die from it?"
"If you prefer that term, yes, your vampire sidekick might potentially die from it."
"I won't do it."
Alfred did not answer, instead his hands continues to stay there, waiting for Wang Yao to take it. Yao knitted his brow at him, seemingly annoyed, then he head towards the mansion. Alfred turn his head forward to glance at Yao, then looking back at his tiny weapon, he closes his fingers in. The tiny thing disappears. Alfred followed after him and together they walk towards the gates of the mansion. They soon find themselves in front of a tall, crooked gate that is surrounded by grey and sturdy brick fences, overgrown with moss and weeds, they look easy to just barge in.
Alfred grabs hold of Yao's wrist and he turned them transparent.
Leading the way, the Angel kick the gate open and walk in confidently with Yao in tow. At least the latter does not feel embarrassed with Alfred walking by his side now. The duo continue to walk steadily along the path that leads them to the entrance, where a short dusty, marble stairs with red carpet leads to a massive grey metal door. The round handle on both flap of the door was held in the mouth of two ferocious, metal gargoyle head, just when Yao was thinking that the door would need at least two strong men to pull it open, Alfred casually grabs hold onto one of them and with a swing, easily pulled the heavy looking door open with a loud slam to the wall. Wang Yao jump in shock, heart thumping as he stare at the crumbling cracks on the wall before being pulled inwards by Alfred.
The red carpet dulled by dirty continue to extend all the way in, where a large hall ends with a painting of a man and a lady dressed in impeccable suits and gown. Another staircase split into two and each leads up to the second floor. Tall ceilings and stained glasses echoes their muted footsteps as they walk on the carpet. Distance running footsteps soon reveal two men from either side of the doorway and Wang Yao immediately recognize them as the two from the room.
"Where's the intruder?" Toris shouted, glancing down worriedly all around the halls.
"How the hell am I supposed to know? Eduard just told me there is." Raivis complained, as he look around the halls.
"There must be somebody. You heard that didn't you. Look, look, look. Over there, look, that door is basically torn open. Somebody horrible is in here! We are fundamentally fucked Raivis. We are fucked!" Toris let out a tirade of concerns.
Raivis stretch out both of his hands to let out his magic. "Reveal." He shouted. But nothing happens. He stood there glancing left and right around the whole place as the echoes of his shout reverberate awkwardly.
"We are dead." Toris mumbled, eyes widened at the sight of nothing around the hall. "Raivis. We need to inform our Masters. Raivis. Raivis."
"Go!" Toris heard voice shouting it. He swung his head towards the sound and find a person dashing past him, and in the distance, Raivis's neck was squeezed in the hand of a tall, blonde man in specs, multiple eyes all over his body. "An Angel!?" Toris let out in horror. "Oh no…" He quickly tried to run back to where he come from, but soon he found himself unable to move and unable to speak.
"Relax. I'm not gonna hurt you. Just helping a friend getting his sidekick back. In fact, if we can use this time to introduce each other, perhaps we are able to make some trades. I've heard about this place. How 'bout it? My name's Alfred. Yours?" Alfred introduced, facing his head towards Raivis, he release the grip over his mouth.
"EDUA-"
Alfred immediately tighten again. "Ahh… Not a big fan of introduction eh. What about you?" He release Toris's mouth.
"MAST-"
"Goodness. Guess we have to do it the hard way, my favourite way actually." Alfred smiled, glancing deviously side to side at the two frightened faces.
Wang Yao ran pass Toris the moment Alfred release his grip; the transparency subside almost immediately. He ran through the corridors, passing by multiple rooms as instructed by Alfred. They are all mostly locked and mostly shut by a simple wooden door, occasionally are the ones unshut, but they are pitch black, or the ones with a massive metal door. The corridors are lit up by flickering candles, though the flames never seems to go out no matter how violently they flickered.
Yao finally reaches before the room. It is closed shut by wooden door was just like mostly others that came before this, suddenly, Wang Yao became hesitant. The flashback of the dirty look filled with disdain came filling up his mind, he knows it was not Ivan, but it was enough to make him feel unworthy of Ivan's love. Torn between the shame and the fear that Ivan, like the others and himself, will see him as a dirtied, flawed person and the urge to burst in and drag Ivan back with him, he chose the latter.
Pushing the door lightly, the light from the corridor pours in, Yao smile, glad that it is not locked or something. Through the dim lighting, he could vaguely make out the sparsely furnished room, there's only a huge bed with canopy frame in the middle of the room, the netting spread apart on one side of the bed, and on the bed is a sleeping figure.
He walked in silently towards the bed, in between, the figure stir, and Yao could finally see Ivan's face. He look exactly like that other time when they are stuck up in the academy, his translucent skin crawling with dark veins.
He quickly rush over to the sleeping Ivan and shake him lightly.
"Ivan…." Yao whispers. "Wake up. It's me."
But he continues slumbering.
Yao moves his hands and run it through Ivan's hair, stroking it tenderly. Suddenly, Ivan's eyes shot wide open, glaring menacingly at Yao in front of him. His lips curl into a twisted smile as he grab Yao's left shoulder tightly.
"Let go. It hurts." Yao struggled against the grip as it draws blood, staining his clothes.
"You came. On your own accord." Viktor taunted cruelly. "And you brought a friend."
"Alfr-rghh…. " Yao let out as the grip tightens, jagged nails poke in deeper as the blood cover the fingers red. The blood emitted an addicting smell to Viktor, and like a trance, he loosen his grip and place his fingers into his mouth, long split tongue twirl itself around his fingers, licking and swallowing the blood.
"You taste delicious." The vampire said, slowly removing his fingers as his face soften with guilt.
"Ivan?" Yao's face brighten up with joy, he move himself in front of Ivan and cup his palm on his cheek, slowly tilting it up, he found a pair of teary, puppy eyes looking back at him.
"I'm sorry Yao. I cannot control Viktor." Ivan cried, his hands gripping onto Yao's wrist, stroking it tenderly with his fingers. "I have hurt you. I cannot forgive myself, so I will not ask for your forgiveness." His lips trembled as he closes his eyes and tears dripped out from his eyes.
"It's okay Ivan. It's okay." Yao cooed, wiping the tears, and stroking his head. "You came back, didn't you? You didn't hurt me. It's not you."
"No…." Ivan slowly trailed out. "Yao… I don't want to lie to you. Viktor is me…. We are two parts of the same soul."
Ivan could feel the hands over his cheek subtly moving apart from his skin at his confession, his heart was fearing the worst and it came true. His face change as he saw the hurt and confusion on Yao's face.
"Y-You was lying to me?" Yao asked.
"No!" Ivan immediately clarified. "No Yao…. I found it out myself… I swear I only knew about it after I left you. I would never lie to you. I swear. I do." He said, almost pleading.
"I believe you." Yao replied, his tone not convincing enough to Ivan, but it's enough for now. Ivan slip his arms around Yao's chest and pull him close. "I won't let you go..."
"You said something?" Yao asked.
"Nothing."
"Hmm… let's go then. Alfred is waiting."
"Alfred?"
Wang Yao pull apart and look at Ivan. "Yes, Alfred brought me here, thankfully. How else do you think I can manage to come here."
Ivan look at the person before him, his breath trembling from the intense pang of jealousy in his heart, he bit his lips, eyes wandering all around to distract himself. His glance landed on something visible from Yao's palm.
"Ivan?"
"What's that?"
"What?"
"This." Ivan said, picking up his wrist and lifting his fingers up to reveal a strange blinking eye with blue iris.
"That's Alfred's eyes. He said it would protect me. I just need to say his name. Nice of him, but it's honestly gross how he decided to just plant his eye on me." Yao explains casually.
"I'll take it out. You don't need it anymore." Ivan exclaimed, reaching to touch the eye.
"No! You might hurt him." Yao scolded, pulling his hands away from him.
Light casual words uttered by Wang Yao seems to pierce a thousand flaming swords into his heart, it turn his eyes green. Ivan stop reaching out immediately and remained silent. "Let's go then." He finally said.
Ivan and Wang Yao walk out to the main hall and was greeted by the sight of Alfred sitting on the steps, munching on the sweets from a bag. Three figures stood at attention in descending order in front of Alfred.
"Get your eye out from Yao." Ivan demanded angrily.
Alfred look up at Ivan in bewilderment, then to the side at Yao for answers. Then back at Ivan, he commented: "A thank you would be nice, but you're welcome."
"What are you doing?" Yao asked, tugging at Ivan's sleeve, he is caught off guard with Ivan's behavior.
The vampire frown.
"Anyway, my job here is done, so as a compliment, give me a place where you two want to go and I'll bring us there." Alfred announced, standing up, brushing his palm against each other.
"It's okay. I can do that." Ivan replied.
"You can?" Yao asked.
"I can now. I'll bring you wherever you want to go!" Ivan nodded earnestly.
Wang Yao thought about it carefully, finally he said: "I think I want to go home. Do you want to go with me Ivan?"
"Yes."
"Alfred, bring us to the place where the sun rises."
"Alright. Back to where the sun rises." Alfred's hands glow in pure, soft lights.
"And give me back my bag!" Yao shouted, as Alfred swipe his glowing hands in the air in front of Ivan and Yao. The bright lights blinded them momentarily and when their eyes cleared, they found themselves in an empty alleyway. Bustling noises can be heard just on the streets outside the alleyway. Wang Yao look down and found his bag just leaning against his leg, he picked it and carried it over his shoulder. Letting out a breath, he took a deep breath of the all too familiar air again.
"Finally, back home!" Yao said. "Let's go Ivan."
Back in the mansion, Alfred turn back to the trembling trio still standing in attention. Positioning himself in front of them, he announced: "You guys are free."
With their mouth free of magic, Eduard is the first to blurt out: "What?"
"For one, your masters are dead. You no longer need to serve them." Alfred replied.
"What are you talking about? We are all vampires; we are all dead." Raivis struggled, shouting.
"Yeah, and we are all bound to them." Toris add on.
"It's just an illusion." Alfred explains. "Your masters are already dead, and the last one is gone too. You guys are free. Go on, go and do what vampires do."
"Then let us go!" Raivis demanded.
"I'll let you guys go. But I don't want any fights. If we can all agree to it, I'll release the magic."
"Fine." Eduard said.
"No, you have to promise with your name. Every single one of you. Every promise to an angel will always be honored." Alfred smile mischievously.
Eduard knitted his brow and replied: "I, Eduard, promise that I will not initiate a fight with Alfred when he honour his words to release us."
Raivis and Toris followed suit and the trio was release.
"Open your eyes and see my friends." Alfred repeated, his eyes glinted a white flash of magic.
The trio seems to realise something and they look at each other in confusion. "H-He's right… We are free…. Our masters… Are dead…." Toris widened his eyes, nudging Raivis beside him.
"How…." Raivis wondered.
Eduard push up his spectacles. "Ivan…."
Toris and Raivis face change as they look towards Eduard. Unanimously, they all agreed in silence.
"I'm bringing Natalie with me. Couldn't ask for better mates to be trapped in this hell, but I'm glad we are finally out of it. Bye." Toris let out, the first to respond.
"Oh wow. I'm… I'm going to pack and leave as well then." Raivis quickly said, moving as well.
Eduard finally snapped out of the realization and he too said: "Then I'm leaving too. Thank you, Mr. Alfred. For opening our eyes."
"It's Mr. Jones for ya. F. Jones. Enjoy your freedom." Alfred smiled. As the last of them left the great halls, Alfred stood there alone, seemingly thinking. Then he took out a tiny pouch from his pocket, he commented: "With this, perhaps we will be one step closer to finding a way to bring everyone home. Dear Heavenly Lord from above, please give me your blessings."