Chapter 139
Avalina had difficulty sleeping that night. She couldn't believe she had drawn blood on someone. The very idea of it nearly made her sick. She could barely stand the sight of her own blood, and the realization that she had willingly caused someone else to bleed, to hurt, troubled her greatly. But it was done now, and she couldn't take it back. But it didn't stop her from wishing.
Shuddering, she slid farther under the covers, trying to block out the dark stains that reemerged in her mind's eye and focus elsewhere.
She didn't know where the horse she'd ridden had gone off to. The poor creature had been driven mad with fear, and it was the first time Avalina had ever seen the effect the Horned King had on animals. Save Mitternacht, of course, and she silently thanked the Fates yet again for not letting him go mad as well.
She had seen Creeper when she went to care for Mitternacht that night and they had talked some. Avalina had petted Addie a bit and played a little with Gethin, softly thanking him for sounding the alarm only yesterday morning (It seemed like a week ago). Creeper had been nervous, probably wondering if Avalina was angry at him, but although nothing was said of what had transpired earlier today the goblin knew she was not upset at him by the time they parted ways.
The fact that she had thanked him might have helped a little.
She had thanked the Horned King before she went to bed, remembering her manners and apologizing for not doing so earlier, but he had said after what he had done, gratitude was probably the last thing on her mind. And then she had felt simply awful for offending him until he tickled her and that had been the end of it. His aura hadn't felt as heavy then.
He had been somewhat preoccupied tonight, but she didn't know why. Maybe it had something to do with his old henchmen making their reappearance? Unexpected, unpleasant things cropping up from your past was enough to make anyone a bit gloomy.
He had lightened a little before he bid her goodnight, but she hoped he wouldn't dwell on what happened today very much.
Thinking about the past was usually not a good thing.
Creeper had seen how relieved the human had been when they had appeared in the clearing, and he had had an opportunity to look her over when the men were busy staring at her and his Master instead of him.
The dark stains on her clothes he had seen last night hadn't been blood as he'd assumed, but some sort of alcoholic beverage. By the looks of it they'd thrown it on her. There was blood there too, but not as much as he'd estimated.
After she had disappeared on the horse and his master had given the word, Creeper had launched himself at the thugs who had once tormented him so badly with a fury. He didn't know how to wield a weapon but that didn't matter...he had claws.
And he had enjoyed every second of the bloodshed. Addie had too. She probably would have eaten the remains if the few men that had managed to escape hadn't scattered to the four winds and needed to be hunted down individually.
Creeper had rarely seen his master fight, but he had today. "Fight" was rather a strong word, actually...the men were either too terrified of him to move, or they weakly tried to defend themselves and the lich had finished them in one swing.
It wasn't til that night, when Creeper returned from killing the last one, (the horse had stumbled, breaking its leg, and letting Addie kill it had been merciful at least) that he wondered suddenly what the human girl would have thought of him, if she'd seen his bloodthirsty behavior today.
The thought was rather sobering.
Creeper had quickly washed himself and Addie off to remove the evidence and carried on as normal, but he hoped this had not damaged their acquaintanceship and silently swore to himself he wasn't leaving the human alone any more. If she didn't have the horse with her, it would be himself or a gwythaint, but the goblin felt that if he'd been faster taking Addie out that morning, this whole thing could have been avoided.
He wouldn't make that mistake again.
The Horned King stood silently in the darkness of his chambers, slowly clenching and relaxing his fists, deep in thought as he stared out the window.
He hadn't killed for a while. He'd forgotten that powerful feeling that came with ending a life, and the sensation that causing death gave him. Invariably, the lich killed without feeling a single drop of emotion for his victims, whether it be positive or negative. He simply felt nothing. Or so, he had thought before. But this time...it was like a weak taste of something hardly tangible, and the second life he'd ended today had heightened the hardly perceivable feeling.
As had the third. And the fourth.
By the time he had finished and teleported back, leaving the goblin to track down whatever remained, the sensation was tingling through him and felt...certainly not "good" or what mortals seemed to call "moral" by any means...but almost...pleasant.
And yet...while the lich did not mind ending lives in the slightest, he felt vaguely uncomfortable possessing this feeling that left him almost longing to kill again.
He tried to shove the thought away, but it came back, reliving the moments of earlier when he had killed what had once been part of his army. He could not deny the sensation had been...
Snarling softly, he pressed his fingers to his temple, attempting to shut out those taunting images. He did not wish to dwell on them anymore, but...why? They were not unpleasant to remember. Rather, they were quite the opposite.
'I have never felt anything for the lives I extinguished before,' he thought, faintly intrigued despite himself. 'I felt nothing. Destroying them brought no pleasantries. So what is this? This faint urge in my head, this hunger, to repeat my actions of today?'
The Horned King furrowed a brow ridge faintly, thinking.
'Perhaps I did enjoy killing at some period, and over time, this...somewhat pleasing sensation...dulled, even as the killings increased. That is quite possible. But if I cannot remember this, why is it choosing to resurface now?'
The lich began to pace, coldly calculating the possibilities.
'I lost all of my true capacity for feeling centuries ago. It is logical that with the return of my heart, (which reappeared entirely of its own accord...I still do not understand what caused it to return...) I am experiencing sensations from many years ago that would have remained dormant, had I not reawakened them with bloodshed.'
He nodded to himself. 'That is the most plausible possibility. If that is indeed the case...'
The Horned King stiffened faintly as he saw his future in front of him as clearly as the curtains by the window. Assuming, for one moment, that he was not doomed to return to the Cauldron (he withheld an involuntary shudder) and was allowed by some twist of Fate to survive...also assuming he appeased this faint (but nonetheless insistent) involuntary urge to kill again...he would eventually meet the very state of existence that Avalina had been gently pulling him from for the past several months. If he allowed this craving for bloodshed to take him over, he would become exactly as he had been before, if not worse.
'I suspect it took much time for this urge to leave me,' he mused. 'And when it eventually departed, it had been so long since I experienced it I no longer possessed knowledge of it. Another cycle like that would take centuries to wear off if my calculations are correct.'
The lich gave a harsh, embittered hiss, the bloodchilling sound echoing eerily off the walls.
'It is pointless to speculate over something that will never happen. Still...there is a chance, however slight, that this will manifest more quickly than the last occurrence. I have enough time left for it to do so.'
The Horned King faintly narrowed his eyes.
'Though encouraging this sensation is rather inviting, I must resist. If I do not suppress it, it is possible this feeling will take me over, as it may have done once before. And if I allow, it will destroy all I have worked toward these past months.'
The lich slowly clenched his fists. He had never permitted his thoughts or what passed for "emotion" to get the better of him before and he wasn't starting now. To do so would be highly illogical. Still...he admitted to himself this sensation could pose a problem if he wasn't cautious.
'If at all possible, I must not kill again. I spilled blood today merely from necessity, but the circumstances hardly matter. This urge will grow if not contained. Ordinarily I would not concern myself so with such a trivial matter, as there are no humans poking about very often. The only reason the brute trespassed is because everything is green now. The only mortal still around is...Avalina.'
The Horned King growled softly in resolve.
'I will control this. She will be safe. I promised her that.'
The faint, malicious voice of his master floated to the top of his mind.
'You are delusioned, my foolish, backslidden apprentice. Since when has the Horned King ever promised anything, and meant it?'
The Horned King's eyes faintly flickered.
'I will not harm her. This will not conquer me. I am the Horned King, and I permit nothing if I do not desire it.'
His master's dark chuckle was laced with mockery.
'Oh, but you do, my apprentice. You /do/ desire this. To wound...to maim...to kill...'
The lich bared his fangs in barely suppressed fury, attempting to block it out, but it was no use. His master's voice could enter his head whenever he pleased and there was nothing the Horned King could do about it.
'You know nothing of my desires,' he thought coldly. 'I am no longer your apprentice.'
His master continued as if he neither heard nor cared.
'...To see that pool of blood spread out at your feet...to feel it slipping through your fingers...see the terror on their faces as they die...'
'I feel nothing for them,' the lich answered.
'...What about the Pig-Keeper's face? For you to be the last thing that little wretch sees...'
When the lich did not reply, his master taunted further.
'You even have something to practice on. She's about his size.'
The Horned King snarled aloud.
'Silence.'
'You've forgotten your place as my subordinate. No matter, you will remember your position when you return to me. Still, she's the only mortal around, unless you count that pathetic goblin. There's nothing stopping you from slipping inside her room some dark night and choking the life out of...'
'I will never harm her!' The Horned King snarled inside his head.
'But you have,' his master shot back, 'You've already harmed her in more ways than you care to recount. Ripping her from her family was an impeccable start. So why do you balk now? She knows the location of the Pig-Boy. She can tell you where he lives. You could finally get your long-awaited revenge...'
'. . .I value Avalina's company more than the blood of the Pig-Keeper.'
The Horned King almost heard Arawn snarl in rage, feeling the truth in the words, and the lich felt a spark of triumph as his master continued.
'You're a disgrace to the name of Evil. There was a time you would have killed her instantly, without feeling, without deferment. And yet now, you not only refuse, but /vehemently/ so. You are not the Huntsman you were. You were unbeatable! Undefeatable! And now, you've fallen in the most disgraceful way possible. Not by a sword or a spell, but a little peasant girl, so pathetic and weak its a tragedy she's survived this long.'
The Horned King refrained from answering his master, knowing Arawn was attempting to goad him into speaking. But he could not help but ponder on what had been said.
It was true. He had been (and still was, regardless of what his master said) the Master of All Evil, and until his superior's death, surpassed only by Arawn himself. Nothing could stop him, it seemed. Absolutely nothing. But then...the Pig-Keeper had happened. And then, after an Eternity in an ageless Hell, he had been delivered by some sort of happening so powerful not even the Fates could control it. And now...this child had came into his heartless existence, in which he was devoid of nearly all feeling, and then...things had started happening to him. Things he didn't understand, things he both longed for and loathed in equal measure, as intriguing in their complexities as they were weak and worthless. And over time, the disgust for the things she brought with her began to lessen, until now...he couldn't remember the last time he'd felt it.
'But she is anything but weak,' he thought silently, remembering what he himself had told her not too long ago. 'Her strengths appear as weaknesses, but I have never seen or heard of a mortal so strong that they cry for their enemies, and call a...creature like me...a friend.'
'You were my finest warrior until she appeared,' his master said. 'So, naturally, the solution is simple. We must remove the problem.'
'You cannot defeat the Invisibles,' the Horned King thought, faintly smug. 'And there is no "we" anymore. There hasn't been for centuries.'
The lich could almost feel his master seething in rage, but after a very long silence his master spoke, voice tight with fury.
'If you will not remove her from our way, then I will.'
'I no longer take orders from you.'
'This is your final warning,' his master spoke coldly. 'Because I am feeling generous, I am giving you the opportunity to allow her a quick and painless death. You are creative enough with ending lives to devise a method, I am certain. But if you do not, I will take the utmost pleasure in making quite sure she perishes as slowly and agonizingly as remotely possible. And when you return to me, you will wish you had simply killed her in her sleep to save her even a moment of the torment.'
'You cannot harm her while the Invisibles are here,' the Horned King replied, 'And your bluffing is nigh-laughable. You are as harmless to her now as an old tin pot.'
It was a very long time before his master replied once more, before falling silent.
'That will soon be remedied.'
So, is that just another bluff of Arawn's, or is it legitimate? *ninja face* Bahahahaha!
. . .That moment when you're finally forced to admit to yourself (after 139 bloomin' chapters of denial) that people dislike your OC and you know it was all your fault because of how you made her and it can never be somehow reversed no matter how hard you try... ='( I've let you down, Ava! Please forgive me for failing you after I gave it my all and it just didn't work! ='( *sobs uncontrollably* XDXDXD
This is something I've been meaning to say something about for a long time, but I keep forgetting. XD /How/ in blue blazes is it possible for readers to go through my story, and by the end of the month, I have chapters with over 50 views, and then have chapters with absolutely none? Even after I get new readers this happens and I just don't understand it. How can I get zero views on a chapter when the chapter above or below it has twenty-something? It's just so WeIrD...0_0 Lol
Thank you to everyone that reads and reviews! =D I just appreciate you guys so much! =D I'd say group hug, but I don't do those, so here...have some Oreos instead. =D Lol