CHAPTER 6 - "REVELATIONS"

Liec was moved to another room, a less spacious guest quarters that had a bed and dresser and very little else. This was to keep Liec from destroying a better equipped room for actual, respected guests. The mansion had many guest quarters for lavish parties or other such occasions. Liec's previous room was reserved for special guests of the highest caliber. Little did Sebastian know that Liec would nearly demolish it with a child's temper tantrum.

All the furniture will have to be replaced, he thought.

His master how ordered Liec to remain in his quarters until said otherwise, and Sebastian had to oblige, locking the young twin of his master in the room, with only visits during meal times. He did not feel for the boy's isolation, knowing the boy - as he has said - was "imprisoned". But Sebastian knew what imprisoned felt like. This contract he had with his master was a prison of its own accord.

Liec could not explain the impression that he had, escaping from his imprisonment, however, and finding his way to the Phantomhive mansion. He was drawn here by a "feeling", as he said. It was an intriguing mystery, Sebastian had to admit. One he most assuredly would have ample time to solve, he hoped.

Through the second floor corridors of the mansion, Sebastian rolled a food trolley towards Liec's quarters. After dining, his master ordered him to serve Liec lunch. Therefore, Sebastian gathered what was needed for a fitting course for Liec and left to deliver.

He stopped at the door and knocked, and half expected screams of "Go away!" from the boy from inside, but instead, and surprisingly, a subtle voice said, "Come in." Taken aback for a brief moment, Sebastian mused. Had he and his master broken Liec's spirit with their antagonistic nature prior by drugging Liec with a truth serum to make him reveal the true reason he was here…or had the boy merely calmed down?

Unlocking the door with a key attached to a chain, Sebastian entered with the trolley. Sebastian immediately saw Liec laying on the bed with his back towards the door.

"Your lunch, young Liec," Sebastian said. "My master wishes you keep up your strength."

Leic turned, rolled towards Sebastian. "Where is Tanaka? I wish for him to serve me."

"I'm afraid he is unavailable. Men of his age are often struck down with exhaustion."

"Then why do you keep him on if he's unable to comply with his duties?"

"You must ask my master that, but I feel that it is out of respect for his servitude to his father, Vincent Phantomhive. Tanaka is still very capable, however. Do not underestimate him."

Liec sat up, but Sebastian felt the boy was weary, even afraid of him. The fiery spirit the boy once had had been doused slightly. "I do not disagree with that," Liec said.

Sebastian revealed the meal under a silver serving dome, it was a platter of salad with pieces of chicken with yogurt for dessert.

"Leave me, I wish to eat alone." Liec said it as if it were an order.

Sebastian smiled thinly, amused. "Of course. I will retrieve the dishes and trolley later." And he left, locking the door behind him.

An hour later, he returned to Liec's quarters and half expected there to be a repeat demonstration of this morning's tantrum with dishes flying and the room in disarray, but when he knocked on the door, his response was met with silence. He opened the door, and found the dishes were not broken and the room was as he had left it. And young Liec asleep on the bed with his back facing the door. With nothing to do, what else was there to do but rest, Sebastian thought. And besides, with a little ingenuity, he had lightly doused Liec's food with a sedative, to make the young boy's stay here a more quiet one.

He prepared to leave with the trolley when Liec moaned in his sleep. It was not a normal moan, but a restless sound, one that referred to as having a disturbing dream or nightmare.

Sebastian observed the boy for a few moments and the moans continued. What could the boy be dreaming that had his mind so disturbed? At this age, anything could, Sebastian wagered. The human mind was a complex thing filled with a power not even the most epoch of demons understood. It was one of the greatest mysteries of the universe that even humanity itself had yet to fully understand its complexity. And dreams especially.

It was said dreams held an important significance for humans. Without dreaming, the human mind could not rest and restore itself to its full potential for the following day. Without what was known as REM sleep (rapid eye moment) when a human is in his deepest state of sleep, the brain could not organize the events or images accumulated from the day. And on occasion, he had observed his master's crankiness when he had not slept well. Most humans, from what Sebastian had been told, do not remember their dreams. And if they have had a significantly nightmarish dream, the mind had a way of blocking them from reaching the consciousness, locking it way in the subconscious with a kind of lock and key. Unless of course, the human is awakened suddenly, and then the dream slowly fades.

It was one subject Sebastian was fascinated with, and he had spent many a night researching the significance of human dreaming while the household was sleeping. Being a demon, he had little need for rest. And with his master's vast library of books, he had a lot of knowledge on the subject at his finger tips. But there were many theories on what images in dreams meant. Some experts claimed most images in dreams represented wants and desires, and others say, images were just things for the mind to become distracted as the complex organization of the consciousness did its work to file away knowledge accumulated from that day.

Sebastian stood and watched Liec sleep and an amusing thought arose. The subconscious of the human mind was all revealing. What if he could see inside Liec's mind and learn his true origin? He could put to rest, so to speak, the recent mystery of Liec's sudden appearance. Attempting the truth serum once again would be a failure, he knew, what could Liec reveal that Liec himself didn't know?

Removing a gloved hand, he placed a hand on Liec's forehead…

He was laying naked on a metal table with a man standing over him in white garb, he seemed to have something in his hand but it was hard to see. Maybe a small surgical blade. The man's face was covered with a surgical mask. He could hear voices outside his sight. A bright light nearly blinded him, and he had to continuously close his eyes so they would not hurt from the sting. He was trapped and unable to move, strapped to the table by leather straps, including a strap across his throat.

A ceremony was being performed, he could hear. Enchantments performed by others spoken in Latin. He recognized the language. But he was not a part of it. He didn't know where he was, the air was hot, even stifling, and it was hard to breath.

He heard a young boy scream, and he struggled, wanting to avoid the same fate of the other.

He had been brought to a small amphitheatre deep underground, stripped and strapped to this table. But he had been blindfolded when carried here.

His memory was foggy. He had been given some sort of sedative and it was starting to ease his mind and body into a form of unconsciousness. Why were they doing this? Who were these people?

Another man's voice spoke, this time in German, but he had an English accent. The man was not from Germany, he was English, and he spoke to the doctor who stood over the table. The boy only caught fragments of conversion and words he knew in German. He was a tall man and dressed in a white robe, but the catch of black hair did briefly block the blinding light.

The man smiled, as he looked down. And then spoke in English. The tall man gently stroked a hand through his (boy on the table) hair. "Do be mindful with the boy, doctor. He and Ceil are my greatest creations. They will make the Inner Circle proud one day. Do what must be done."

The doctor conceded.

Then darkness took him.

Sebastian removed his hand from Liec's forehead. He had dwelled into the boy's dream and saw what the boy had seen through his eyes. The dream only lasted a few minutes, but the boy was still sound asleep on the bed.

It was not a dream, per sa, but a memory, Sebastian concluded. A memory perhaps the boy's subconscious wanted to remember but could not because it was too painful for the boy's consciousness to disclose. A repressed memory, if he recalled the term.

The dream was very interesting. Although it still didn't reveal whether Liec was indeed his master's blood relative, it did disclose some sort of plot against him. And had the other boy's scream been his master just as he was being branded by the Mark of the Beast? The scent of burning flesh was unmistakable. An iron rod with a branding symbol heated in a coal fire then pressed to flesh would make that ghastly smell.

And the tall man the boy saw was indeed Vincent Phantomhive, his master's deceased father.

This had to have happened not long before he appeared to Ceil Phantomhive, Sebastian recalled, and made the contract with his master. But he had not seen this boy in the room with his master at the time. Most likely this doctor had removed Liec before the slaughter of the other members of the Inner Circle began.

Sebastian knew some of the Inner Circle had escaped, or were not present. And Vincent Phantomhive had already left. He had heard their dying screams of the Inner Circle when he started to slaughter them that their brethren would seek revenge. He just didn't know how many were not there when his master gave him the order to murder them all. And this was but one reason why he was still with his master, that he hadn't taken Ceil Phantomhive's soul yet: to be Ceil Phantomhive's butler until all those that hurt him and murdered his parents were dealt with and found. His master had a very vengeful streak.

The last remaining members of the Inner Circle were in hiding. If he could find them, then this farce being chained to a human would be over. But as each day went by, the sadistic nature of his master's heart brought a new hunger which further added to Ceil Phantonhive's hatred. And it was that that gave Sebastian the will to continue to serve his master. Because in the end, he would devour a soul with such wicked energy, that it could sustain his appetite for eons.

But now with the appearance of Liec, this brought a whole new chapter to his master's life, and it was curious how Ceil would react to a rival such as Leic. But not Liec, Sebastian mused with some amusement. This was only the name the boy remembered. He had a real name.

But it would be Sebastian's secret for now, as would the dream. He would tell no one. It was somehow quite entertaining to watch others attempt to place logic where the truth was just out of their knowledgeable reach, but where someone did know and kept it hidden.

And he prided himself on knowing things.

Sebastian rolled the trolley out of Liec's quarters and locked the door, and contemplated on how he could use this new found knowledge to its fullest potential.

To be continued…