THE GOLIATHUS CHRONICLES
Chapter 20- Solar Rising
/
Almost five months had passed since Dinarius had disappeared.
Five long months.
The thought lingered heavily in Ami's mind as she sat in the medic room, wincing as each contraction hit. Having to deal with pain was becoming a common event, and after what she had to deal with in the past...peh...these labor pains were nothing.
"Unngghh!"
Well, maybe not nothing...
I feel almost helpless right now. A very foreign sensation.
Goliathus sat to her right side, turning a hand-made dagger in his hands and worrying the little cracks and crevices in his own design with the tips of his sharp claws. Occasionally, a slight muscle spasm twitched through his shoulder as if emphasizing his restrained anxiousness.
Ami reached up her sweaty hand to stroke the side of his face, before suppressing another grunt as another intense wave of pain spread across her swollen abdomen.
You don't have to do anything, love. Simply being here is all I need.
She smiled, but the lingering thoughts of Dinarius still haunted her, causing her warm smile to fade quickly.
The heradus picked up on it, but he didn't mention it. He would never admit to being worried about that one, especially after the little tryst he had ended up having with Ami not too long ago...but at the same time, he felt pride. That new child, ready now to leave the womb, was his, and he knew it.
He also knew it was male by sent alone, but he chose not to tell her.
Something about not knowing the gender until the moment of birth seemed to excite some human mothers. Humans were very weird, after all, but this one he could do anything for...whatever it took to make her happy.
That sensation...was not so foreign anymore.
This is more like I had wished it was with Navius... Ami sighed, the regret evident in her pained thoughts.
Goliathus gave an angry snort as the memory invaded his mind, unwanted.
I will still make sure those Shadow Vampires become extinct. Even if it takes me another thousand years.
Ami lifted her eyes towards him solemnly, as he stared on ahead, lost in this thoughts like he always was. In many ways, looking at him made her happy, knowing he would be around forever, or at least she assumed so. But she was also sad, because she knew humans lived relatively short lives. How would Goliathus do mentally without her? He was so hard to overcome, in so many ways. Her years with him in therapy were only the beginning.
Far from cured...he was far from a cured mind.
He was re-trained perhaps...and far kinder than he could ever be...in fact the word was almost laughable just a few short years ago...but that hideous evil still remained within him, didn't it? Ami wasn't sure how losing heads would affect the demon at all, could it just regrow them? She realized in some ways that this battle with his inner evils might never die. They would just have to fight them on and on...and when she died, he would be alone again to fight them.
He would have no reason to fight anymore.
Ami silently cursed to herself the moment Goliathus shifted his attention to her, eyes gazing intently. Rambling on in her thoughts and worries was never a good thing when in his close vicinity. He was just too strong a telepath.
But to her thoughts, he said nothing. He chose not to allow her to read anything that was crossing over in his own mind. Instead, he put a clawed hand delicately on her belly then leaned down to inhale deeply. He rumbled deep in his chest, almost as if purring.
Smiling, Ami put a hand on top of his, enjoying the brief rest from the contractions and just living the moment.
For in a moment, everything can change.
/
Every day was the same, waking in and out of blackness. The passage of time was unknown and impossible to follow, just the pain of straining one's eyes to open, blinding light, and more blackness. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the light turned into shapes, forms...objects. It was not oblivion, it was a room, metal...wood...food?
Smells of...meat...
A thin and frail figure stood up shakily to its feet, long white hairs covering his eyes. Pushing them away weakly, eyes transfixed upon the source of the smell. Wonderful...fresh...intoxicating...raw...taking small, heavy-laden steps, Dinarius inched his way towards what looked like a crude trough made of rickety wood, and stuffed to the brim with raw slabs of meat, covered in what seemed like gallons of blood.
Pausing, the heradus took a deep breath, but his sense of smell was somewhat clouded from his weakened state. He could not remember anything since...since when? All he could focus on was the mouth-watering sight in front of him.
And yet...something seemed very wrong about it. He couldn't figure it out, but it was there, and he tried to swat it away, frustrated.
Hungry...he was just so hungry...just as he reached the trough, dropping to his knees and putting one stick-thin arm into the blood to pull out a chunk of the meat, he saw a little carcass to his side, on the stone floor. It looked like a little bird...or some kind of bat. He felt a faint pain in his heart.
Why did that matter again? He had seen it before, that little carcass. It was mainly just bones now, with a few scraps of hide here and there, tiny pieces strewn about. What was so important about it? Had to be something.
Drawing his attention away from it, he shoved the piece of juicy goodness into his maw and swallowed whole. A different taste, but it was good nonetheless.
The rest disappeared quickly as more of the blood sploshed over the sides and onto the floor, causing a thick and heady sent to only fill the room's atmosphere more deeply.
/
Goliathus stared in wonder at the new life which had emerged into the world. Almost hidden within the folds of small and underdeveloped wings was a face that looked much like his. In fact...almost exactly like his. The body was the same grey color, only lighter. It was the eyes that really got his attention, however. They were an orange and yellow combination that he had never seen the likes of before, even with all of his kind that he could remember.
Have you ever seen eyes like that in the human world?
No, they're gorgeous! Simply amazing! Ami smiled, despite the fact she was soaked in sweat, extremely weary, and very sore in her nether-regions. As she had requested, very few people had come into the room, only Julie to help out when needed, as she did have some nursing skills. Since her first birthing experience had gone horribly, she was going to make sure this one was far different.
And she had succeeded. Still beaming, she took the child gently from Goliathus and cuddled him against her chest.
A boy..
I already have a name for him.
You do?
Surely. His eyes made me think of it. Solarus.
Ami nodded, she definitely approved.
He's just beautiful, Goliathus. Just beautiful...I'm the happiest person alive right now.
Figuring out Ami's way of thinking was still a shock to the heradus, but he smiled his rare toothy smile, and nuzzled against her neck.
I will leave you two alone to bond for a while. But I will not dare go far. If you need me , just call out. He paused, then turned to face her just as he almost walked out the door. Is there anything to eat in the kitchen?
Ami laughed suddenly. I have no doubt your son will have just as voracious an appetite as you. The joys of motherhood...and when he's a teenager? The whole expression of being "eaten out of house and home" will have a whole new meaning...especially with the two of you living here!
Goliathus gave a raspy chuckle, and left it at that, his gait nearly silent as he strode down the hallway with his long duster trailing behind him.
Sighing, Ami took another good look at the mesmerizing colors of her newborn son's eyes.
Like the colors of the rising sun...perfect. Solarus.
The infant gazed sleepily up at his mother, giving a tiny yawn around the nipple before closing them completely.
So cute now...but...
The future. What would the future hold? As much as Ami wanted to be nothing but happy and believe everything would just be wonderful...part of her knew...the struggle would only get harder. Dinarius was gone, and something just did not feel right.
/
Amana. The name never left him, it was something he could never forget. The cute little girl with her perfect strawberry-blonde pigtails and her deep blue eyes, set into her angelic face.
"Watch over my daughter, Dinarius. I'm entrusting her to you. I have no one else to turn to."
"I understand master. Please do not worry over it...I will watch over her. No one will harm this child as long as I exist."
A satisfied nod of raven-black hair, a spark of trust in eyes almost as blue as hers, and the master of Dark Mages, left the room.
Only a couple of months later, the vampire leader Donovan had her, killed her...skinned her alive...
Maniel...I failed you...I failed her...Amana...
Amana...
He awoke again, nearly screaming in madness from the memory which had been repeated to him over and over and over mercilessly like a skipping record.
He found himself lying on a pool of warm blood, and looking up, he saw the trough was now nearly empty. And yet...the hunger still remained, pulling and tearing at his conscious without mercy. The hunger roiling, controlling...someone else spoke of this to him. Warned of this to him.
Someone? He knew who that someone was...but the name eluded him.
Why in the hell were all his memories gone? They were there buried in the back of his mind, but he couldn't focus on them...he realized something was unnaturally holding them back. He snarled, fighting against it, but he was so hungry... so hungry...
A large clack, the sound of sliding metal, and through his hazy vision he saw a figure enter into his prison, completely hidden behind tendrils of black robes. More meat and gallons of blood were poured into the trough, filling it up again, and the figure left as quickly as it had come.
This was a familiar ritual...too familiar...and the scents were all wrong.
They were so wrong, and yet he was helpless against the one demanding and primitive sensation that ruled over him.
To eat...
/
The easel remained blank, and Goliathus had stared at it for hours. He had felt compelled to draw something to herald the arrival of his newly born son, but his hand would not move. He had been drawn away by the sudden realization that the demon had been incredibly quiet and the very feeling of it had left him in an instant.
It was a strange sort of emptiness...and he had not even taken the time to realize the full impact of what this might mean until in that moment, as if staring at that blank, white square had shown him what truly lie inside his mind.
Nothing.
No angry voices of the dead...
Darry? Where are you?
No relentless cries of the Hunger...though he still had plenty of an appetite...
It still seems more normal...
No fear, no cursed needs...just nothing.
Except the love he had for his new family, and for those who had helped him.
And...just himself.
It can not be gone...just like that?
If it was gone...where did it go?
It was that question which caused Goliathus' eyes to widen as he thought of Dinarius and his disappearance.
No...is that...possible?
In the next moment, the easel was knocked to the ground as he hurried back to the medic room.
/
IT'S GOOD, ISN'T IT?
Yes...it is...why am I so hungry? I just can't...get enough...why won't they bring more?
YOU MUST HAVE PATIENCE, MY DEAR. PATIENCE. SOON, YOU CAN LEAVE THIS PLACE AND HAVE ALL YOU DESIRE.
A long moment of cold, dark, nauseated silence.
I WILL HELP YOU FIND IT. IT'S ALL AROUND...THEY ARE ALL AROUND. SO EASY. YOU WILL SUFFER NO MORE.
Help me...I can't remember anything...I'm so confused...what happened to me?
THE VAMPIRES TOOK YOU HERE. THEY ARE YOUR ENEMIES. YOU CAN KILL THEM, THEY ARE NOT YOUR FRIENDS. I AM YOUR FRIEND. YOUR ONLY FRIEND. TRUST NO ONE ELSE BUT ME, AND I WILL HELP YOU.
Please tell me what they did to me!
THEY KEPT YOU IN THIS ROOM FOR MONTHS. BUT I TOLD THEM WHAT TO FEED YOU. I HAVE NO USE FOR THEM ANYMORE. I WILL GIVE YOU STRENGTH, RENEW YOUR BODY. I WILL ALLOW THE FLESH TO HEAL YOU. WHEN YOU ARE STRONG, GO AND KILL THOSE USELESS INSECTS IF YOU CHOOSE. BUT FIRST, FIND THE ONE WHO BETRAYED ME AND DESTROY HIM. I WILL SHOW YOU HOW.
Who? Who is my enemy?
I WILL LEAD YOU TO HIM. YOU WILL SEE FOR YOURSELF.
NOW, GO EAT. AND THIS TIME, IT WILL HEAL YOU. I WILL END YOUR SUFFERING. I AM YOUR FRIEND. THE ONLY ONE YOU NEED.
TRUST IN ME...
IN ME...
Dinarius wailed, his head felt like it was on fire, from such a loud and powerful voice relentlessly booming into this head. He buried himself in the trough, covering himself in the blood, eating the flesh as fast as he could muster. He felt his body renewing itself, a strength overcoming him like he had never felt before.
Oh gods, but it was intoxicating! It was so marvelous, so incredible!
And he needed MORE of it, NOW.
He reached in again, but nothing remained.
Still, he had no concern of that as he went to the door and with supernatural ability that had surpassed anything he had before, he broke through, bending the metal bars with hardly an effort and splintering the wood into hundreds of dusty pieces.
He expected the vampires to try and stop him, but oddly, no one came down the dank, castle walls.
Making his way upstairs, Dinarius simply went to the main gate, stretched out his wings, and jumped into the chilly night air.
Back inside, a familiar face chuckled to himself, while a hulking, shadowy figure hissed in its own triumph.
The plan had worked.
/
End Chapter 20.
I've been dying to get Solarus into the story. Man , I am so in love with Pilar-Sama's creepling designs. They are FCKING CUTE! A bit of inspriation from those, I admit, when it came to little Sol. Or maybe I'll have Ami start calling him "Sollie". Bwa ha ha! XD