Merry Christmas and happy New Year guys. ;)
35
The East Lands were huge compared to other places, like the humid and marshy South. The South was filled with big marshes and deep jungles, it was a very hot, rainy place and not everyone seemed to get used to the heavy rains that pours in the entire week. There were a few vampires that lived there, since most vampires get burnt by water too, so it wasn't weird to not see much of that race living there. Humans were a great number but, even when there weren't vampires, the Undead roamed in each corner, and the humans has to constantly fight against them. The West Lands were quiet arid, low humidity and high temperatures. They were basically a desert as no rains seemed to ever pour in the hot sands, meaning the Sun would always stay out, so it would be normal that vampires didn't want to live there. Surprisingly, there were a few nests of vampires living in the deserts thanks to devices similar to the Casket Armors. The problem with the West Lands, in opposing to the rest of the lands, was the lack of food. The vampires were forced to feed from the animals instead of humans, and when a group of humans decided to cross it was like an oasis in the middle of the heat.
The North Lands were rich, much like the East Lands. They were placed nearly in the same latitude and longitude, meaning they both shared a same weather condition, unlike the West and South lands. The North Lands were as big as the East Lands, but quiet shorter if compared with the massive desert from the West Lands. The people living there were prosper and had been living like that for centuries. The Undeading was present like in any other place, but was more controlled thanks to the amount of hunters living there, but after Ratatosk's first attack to the North Lands and increasing the number of Undeads it started to get harder and harder to live, as the foil was slowly being corrupted and the plants started to die, preventing the humans to feed correctly. This started inner civilian fights until the creation of the local Guild. The gunslingers were called when fights between neighbours starts and where the ones that tried to give peace to the chaos started by Ratatosk. Everyone knew that the foil would eventually not be able to give anymore plants to feed from, so the people demanded the Guild to find a solution for it, and so they started to find empty lands where they could travel.
The East Lands were going under a big change after Ratatosk finally took control of Vanargandr. He smashed down Istrakan and San Miguel and built new cities over them, covering everything that once belonged to the Humans and forcing them to hide underground, but not being able to get away from him as he soon raised huge walls around the cities and underneath to prevent them to run away. He created different places for his most powerful vampires to live and control a portion of the East Lands, to keep everything like Ratatosk wanted and to have places where he could go out and have some 'fun' while hunting down humans. Even though the Undeading, the foil from the East Lands seemed to be greater than the rest, as the Solar Children had stepped there a lot of times and that seemed get the lands more fertile. Other source for that fertile land was the once great Solar Tree which, even when it died long ago, the roots were still making the foil fertile.
A lot of people from different lands came here because they knew that with a little piece of land they could do practically everything; from building their own house to even grow vegetables and other fruits from it. This fertility gave Ratatosk a lot of problems when he ascended to the power. People wanted to gain control of the East Lands, and Ratatosk's most important subject in his agenda was to keep in line to those people that wanted to steal his territory. Once he was killed, Dumas took all the responsibilities and had a better way to keep them away. Instead of just kicking them out like Ratatosk did, he simple sent his vampires to kill them. This way, the attacks ceased a lot.
But there were people that didn't give up.
When Nidhoggr started to work for Oyan, he thought that the only thing that the auburn haired man wanted was to kill the vampires and free the land from the Undeads, like he had been spreading all over his hometown for years. He never suspected that his main target was to basically eradicate the vampires, like he wanted, but also force the people living in the East Lands to submit to his will and kick them out or kill them if they refused. On the other hand, Neschume seemed to want the same as Oyan; kill everyone and have the lands for himself and his family, and the vampires that wanted to join him afterwards, and the only way he could do it was to free the Beast inside Lucian and let it consume everything on its sight. That way, not only the humans living in the East Lands would die, but also the ones from the north, west and south, meaning that Neschume and his family would be able to control and rule wherever they pleased.
After being nearly killed by the Lunar Tribe centuries ago, Nidhoggr wasn't going to give up so easily what he considered his home to people like Neschume or Oyan. Even though he felt that humans were inferior beings and useless creatures, even when he later found out he didn't agree anymore in Ratatosk's ideas, even after he changed his views, after he was captured and tortured by Oyan's men, he was going to fight to retrieve the lands, his home, his resting place.
But to him it was hard. He wasn't a vampire made for fighting, he had a great brain to think great ideas, and had a lot of time to work on them, but his lack of knowledge in combat made him a weak vampire overall. His personality wasn't great either; Dumas often picked up on him, calling him names and insulting him wherever he could. Nidhoggr was a rather reclusive and lonely vampire, and only found he could hang out with the already slaved Sabata. Nidhoggr started to feel less and less content with Ratatosk's success, seeing how he was being pushed away slowly. Hresvelgr had left Ratatosk's side soon afterwards he noticed the man was becoming an arrogant bastard (which was normal since he had Vanargandr under his control), not bothering in taking or even asking Nidhoggr if he wanted to leave with him.
Sooner or later, everyone Nidhoggr once trusted disappointed him in a way or other. He only seemed to like and trust Sabata, even though the latter was chained against the wall the entire day, was tortured by Ratatosk himself and had to endure the weird experiments he run on him. Nidhoggr only kept fighting and surviving to see the light at the end of the tunnel, to see that perfect world that Sabata often talked about, to finally see a place where he could live and not bother with assholes all the time.
That was Nidhoggr's goal, those were his desires.
Dainn didn't have goals so different from Nidhoggr. Although he once was a vampire than wanted to revive Jormungandr to do more or less the same thing Ratatosk wanted to do in the first place, he learned to like the human race after he sealed Jormungandr again in the Spiral Tower with Ringo's help.
He was used to use things and other creatures, he was used to trick and cheat people with his shadows, with his lies. He was a creature born to lie, to destroy and to humiliate. He was a naturally egocentric person, he was selfish and he gave a damn about others.
He never understood why Durathror liked him a lot, nor why the little pink haired vampire girl wanted to hang out with him, to talk with him or do things together. She treated Dainn like her big brother, and admired him like such. To Dainn, it was confusing. Why the girl would like to share 'human' emotions when they were supposed to destroy the humans? They were supposed to not have or feel those emotions at all, even if they were sleeping deep inside them, since the Immortals were Dark's tool to stop the spreading of the humans and to prevent them to destroy the Universe with their selfish feelings.
When Dainn took control of Ringo's body, he had access to the man's memories and feelings. He was trilled and shocked to find such warm feelings attached to Mani and his sons, to the Solar Tree, to San Miguel, to Spiral Tower, to the Moon, to the Sun, to things that Ringo wanted to fight for. Dainn never had something he wanted to fight for, since he thought that vampires were just creatures made to stop the humans from his selfness, to remind them that there was someone above them in the food chain that was going to eat them right away. He didn't really fight for his ideals when he was ordered to wake Jormungandr from his sleep to let it eat away every living thing. He just was following orders, it wasn't something he truly wanted to do, not that he didn't like the idea of killing the entire human race, but he didn't feel he was doing it because he wanted it.
Django's soul and powers called him from his sleep. Dainn had returned to his shadow form to be able to roam around without having to care about waking the Earth Snake again, and he found out that Django had been sealed in the prison by Sabata himself. Otenko had already disappeared when he found out that the boy had given up to his vampire powers in order to survive inside the dark place. Using his powers, Dainn broke the seal from the prison and both of them escaped, teaming up and start a research about vampirism to be able to cure Sabata's one. This time, Dainn felt that he was doing something he wanted. He still wanted to kill the entire human race, but after travelling with Django for thirty years, he found out that humans were just like vampires and the other way around. There was no point, at all, to hate humans and their actions since vampires acts the same way.
To Dainn, his goal would be to do whatever he wanted, when he wanted and how he wanted. He simple wanted a place to rest in peace and not bothers with others trying to constantly try to kill him or kick him off from anywhere.
For Dyango, it was very personal. Since little, he had followed his father's steps and become a vampire hunter like him, besides to carry on the genes of the Solar Children that sleep within him. After he found out he had an older brother, he started to doubt about his role as a Solar Child and a vampire hunter, especially after being bitten by his own father, which was converted by the Count of Groundsoaking Blood. If the Lunar Blood inside him didn't stop the curse, what would his friends do upon the situation? Would they have kindly say to him he had to leave, or would they mercilessly kill him as soon as they found out? Then, his brother was kidnapped and used to awake the Beast. He knew that Sabata's desire to fight with him was strong, and was his only goal after he managed to break from the Queen's chain, but Django didn't want to. He knew that his duty as vampire hunter was to kill the Undead but… Sabata was being controlled, he was forced to fuse with a creature created to destroy, who was Django to kill him because he had what Ratatosk needed to awake the Beast? That moment of doubt was the one that nearly costs his life.
He never stopped believing in his brother, though, after he was sealed in the prison. He did go angry on Otenko for leaving him and, in an act of rebellion because of his teen moment, he told to himself 'fuck everything' and welcomed the Dark Matter inside his body, he welcomed the dark powers that engulfed his body and his soul to corrupt it and transform him into a rightful vampire. He later regretted it, but he learned to accept the fact he was no longer human. Dainn was a good company and a good guide into his newly steps as a newborn vampire. After he got out from the prison, he wanted to find a way to free his brother from Ratatosk's control and so, he went into a research with his new vampire friend about vampirism and antique magic. He still hadn't found out how to break the spell that keeps Vanargandr's soul and Lucian's soul fused, but he is determinate to eventually find it out.
Dyango's goals were a bit different from Nidhoggr's and Dainn's. While both vampire boys wanted a place where they could live peacefully, Dyango wanted a place where he could call home. He travelled around the world for thirty years, and for thirty years he hadn't felt that cosy feeling, that feeling of belonging to somewhere. He only felt it when he visited the East Lands from time to time, and he knew his place was there. That's why he ended up searching for his brother and helping him in this fight.
Oyan simply wanted to fill that empty space he had in his chest after his father and grandfather were killed. He developed a hate towards the vampires, thinking he was going to be able to let it go once he enlisted as a gunslinger in the local Guild, but his grudge went out of hand, and he ended up hunting the vampires inside his own town and forced his best friend Hindi, also a vampire, to run away with his family because he just couldn't kill him. He was frustrated with himself for not being able to trust vampires back after what he saw and how his mother acted like if nothing had happened. That was what it angered him the most, and why he enlisted at early age. He wanted to run away from that house, from that woman, from that person that didn't really care that his father had died. Oyan didn't care if she hadn't love him at all, because he had found out that it was an arranged marriage. He couldn't get why she, at least, didn't show sympathy for his dead. He hated her too.
While he was frustrated with himself, he only managed to find himself at peace when he was holding a gun between his hands, when he was fighting against a strong foe, or when he was hunting down vampires. Oyan felt he was chasing down the vampires that killed his father and grandfather, and he felt he was chasing down that woman that made his life impossible after he enlisted in the Guild. One moment he was the loving son and then the other he was treated like crap. Maybe his mother never wanted to marry a human, maybe what she craved all along was to marry a vampire and have a vampire child. Oyan hated her the moment she changed her preferences, and decided to leave his house as soon as the law let him do, and moved to the Guild's building where he stayed since then. Hindi tried to be his friend, but Oyan didn't let him. He was too deep inside his hate and depression to actually see that Hindi was only trying to help him. He never lost Hindi even after he had hot discussions about vampires, humans and morals.
Oyan only wanted to find for once a way to ease his soul and try to heal his wounds. Too bad he is too blind to see that he had the answer in front of his eyes all these time.
Ernest wanted to give a chance of living to those who suffered while Dumas reigned. He knew in flesh how it was to have your family abducted by the vampires and how it was to be alone and have to take care of yourself at the young age of thirteen. He had no one he could rely on, he had no one he could trust and he had no one to look over him. For him, Trinity was like a second father and fight with him and for him was the only thing Ernest found to be worthy. He later developed an interest in Bea when the young woman came some time after Trinity died, and Ernest saw something to fight for now that the only important person in his life had disappeared forever. He, along with Kay, raised Aaron and Ernest felt content with himself now that he had someone to take care of, even when he had grow to love the entire Guild and feel it like his own. He still didn't like the leadership since he thinks he is not worthy of doing such role but no one can do it better than him in this situation.
Ernest only wanted to be useful to others since he couldn't even fight to protect his family when the vampires took them, and this war meant a lot to him since he is helping a lot of people to restore their normal lives once the war ends.
Kay was no different from Ernest, as both of them were very close friends, having the same opinions and thoughts about everything. While Ernest felt to be needed, Kay simply liked to help others in what he could. It took him a while to find out what he liked since when his family kicked him out from home he had to take care of himself and to learn to survive in the wild streets, making him selfish and self-centred. Too often his life had been in danger because he wandered in the wrong places, but those situations made him a though man when he grew up. Trinity showed him another way of living and other point of view he hadn't considered while being a spoiled brat and while being a delinquent. He understood and learned that everyone can change their life style if they only try, and Kay did it. When he was ready to confront his father again and apologize for what he did he didn't expect that his father would deny the fact he ever had a son, which lead Kay to think that everything that he had seen from Trinity was just a fantasy. Later on he realized he would have done the same thing if he had been in his father's side. Deep inside, Kay thanks him because if his father hadn't kicked him out, he wouldn't be able to meet Trinity.
Kay wanted to see a place where everyone could live the lives they wanted, to do what they wanted without being chained to stereotypes like his canid race was back in his hometown.
Bea's wishes were quiet girly, as she actually wanted to settle down and have a partner to spend her time with. She couldn't daydream as a child since her family was killed in one of the vampire's rampage. She cried a lot because of it, and went to live with some relatives in the South before she returned to the East Lands to enlist in the Guild when she was old enough. Her relatives tried to convince her not to, since she had possibilities of ending up dead in the fight against the vampires, but Bea said he couldn't sit around and do nothing while the vampires raged upon her home. Some of her friends were still alive, and she wanted to fight for them and create a place where they could come out without worrying about the vampires lurking at the corned of the block. Bea found in Aaron the little brother she never had, she took care of him along Ernest and Kay, and she was the only female role the boy ever had in his life as he developed a strong bound with her. Bea was responsible for Aaron's most reckless side as she herself is at times.
It wasn't surprising that Bea's only wish was that Aaron had a better place to live in, a place where he shouldn't have to fight at such young age.
Nish was too used to the pain. He was too used to lose someone you love in times like these, since he had lived Ratatosk's entire reign and the few years that Dumas ruled after him, so it wasn't surprisingly that he didn't show too much emotion when someone loses an important person. It's not that he doesn't care, but the picture was far too familiar for him, and he sometimes wished he could just erase that feeling that his past lovers and friends left in his chest. Nish hated to feel like that, since he was once a very cheerful person that liked to hang out with his friends and to enjoy the little things life gives to every people on the planet, but after all the hunting the humans did to his race, and the fact that Ratatosk cared less about his fellow comrades turned him into a depressing person. He started to travel alone seeing that he wasn't going to be able to endure another lose.
He used to have something to fight for. At first it was his friends, then his lovers but when everything disappeared from his sight, he felt lost. He lost the meaning of his life, he didn't like to keep living all alone, he didn't like the way things were turning out and so, he decided to go to the mountains to see if he could fight with a very angry vampire and end his life. He had been living for centuries now, and he was growing tired of simple going around alone all the time, with no one to talk with. And then, he saw him. To Nish, he seemed as lost as he was, and could see in his eyes the same emotions he was feeling right now. That horned vampire also felt lost, also felt pain. At first he didn't realize that he was walking towards him, like a moth attracted to the sensuously swirls of the fire, but then… He will not deny he was attracted by his looks at first, but after talking with him the night after in the mansion, and slowly getting attached to him, Nish noticed he had found out someone to like, someone to love. He still was disgusted about certain things from Dumas' personality and past actions as the Duke, but everything could be forgotten, and Nish only wanted to star over.
Nish had found a person that had walked his own path of pain and sorrow, and was willing to give his life for him if he had to. The only thing the vampire wanted was to make Dumas happy, and for that he needed to fight.
Dumas, on the other hand, was still confused about himself. He had changed in the past four years, but some traits of his old self leaked from time to time. As a vampire that knew power, he was used to control others and he will not deny he loves it. He loves being in control, he loves being able to decide what it will do of other's lives but he also knows when he has to control, when he has to shut up and let others do the work for him. With Lucian wasn't so different. He wanted Rymer back, and Lucian was in possession of his soul seeing as he was friend with Ursula. He accepted helping him as long as he managed to revive Rymer after they were done with the transformation, but in middle of things, he met Nish, and his world turned upside down.
He did love Nish, he liked his laid back personality and his spontaneous spirit to be able to do random things under the most unique situations. Dumas found it very interesting, and was eager to find and to taste more of that wild nature Nish leaked every time he opened his mouth, but then, he thought of Rymer, of the times they spent together, if it was right, if it was wrong, if he had to wait longer to let another person be in his life. He was used to be hurt, to be used as just a tool to be trashed later. His feelings were hurt too many times that then, he didn't care about other's feeling and treated everyone like crap, including Rymer before and after he became his mate, often not realizing it and erupting heavy discussions and fights between them. At the same time, he was scared. If he let Nish in, would he hurt him like others did in the past? It was that fear that drove him to treat others like they weren't worthy of him, hoping they would lose interesting in him and walk away. Nish insisted in go with him and Dumas was surprised and angry that the vampire was still hot on his heels, but that made him feel happy in the inside, to see that there was at least someone willing to see past his cruel words and be able to hear what he had to say.
Even thought for the things he did in the past, Dumas wanted to see the reborn of the East Lands as a new place, a place where peace could finally bloom, something he couldn't achieve when he was being pushed by the Immortals. He fought because this was his home too, and when he died the first time he begged Lucian and Aaron to do what he couldn't. Now, he was giving everything of him to fulfil his desire of protecting his home.
Neschume and Frayn were tired of seeing Nature being devastated by human's hands, they hated seeing how the humans disowned everything that wasn't at their height of supremacy. They saw the things they did to their race, to their family and friends in the nest they lived in the South. They were forced to abandon their homes and travel around the South Lands as nomads, always trying to find a place where they could stay for a while and then depart again when they were found out. Neschume was tired of running away, of being ashamed of what he was because he wasn't a human. He was damn proud of being a vampire as a human would be because he was a human. When he was old enough to go and to take care of himself, he took his brother with him and both of them started to form their own family, their own nest of vampires. They were quiet angry about what Ratatosk was doing, entirely against him because he was just doing the same humans were doing to the planet. He had Vanargandr at his side, which made him a fearsome foe, so Neschume went to search a way to get rid of him to take the Lord down.
Neschume's idea wasn't to take the throne like Frayn had thought in first place, he just wanted to free the lands and return the natural glory they once had. He disliked humans still, he would hunt them down too, but he was no god to judge or to bring their doom upon them. He could only reunite with his fellow vampires in his nest and hunt them down as they did the same with their race, but nothing else. If Vanargandr wanted to fulfil his destiny as the Destruciton Beast, he would let do it since that would be even better. His decision of joining forces with Oyan was only to get easier access to his Guild and be able to kill him and his men easier after the war ended. As much as Oyan wanted to get rid the planet from vampires, Neschume wanted to do the same with humans, to lesser extent since if humans disappears, he wouldn't have where to feed.
His ideals weren't that bad, nor where wrong at all. Like everyone else, he knew the feeling of losing someone because of the hate between humans and vampires and other beasts and creatures, and he let that hate rule his lifestyle and bring him here to the East Lands, to bring back the natural glory they once had, and to see if he could do the same with the rest of the lands. He just wanted a better place for vampires to live in, and Frayn supported him because he believes in the same goal as his brother.
Lobreta and Hër, and every other vampire helping with the war and fighting along the gunslingers were anxious to see the fruit of their effort, of their passions and desires being realized. They weren't quiet convinced at first, suspecting from the humans the first time they were called to the ruined Dark Castle, they didn't even believe a word Dumas told them, since they all knew the former Duke was a cheap bastard, and everything could be an entire trap. For their own good, it wasn't like that, and they started to believe and to hope what the humans were fighting for. They all shared the same ideals and they started to see each other as equals with minor physical appearances.
The Terrennials simply acted to what the planet's will tells them, and the planet wanted them to protect it, to take care of it and to take care of the living, and not so living, things resting on it. The planet wanted every creature to live long, to prosper and to reproduce, since it loved every creature in it even if some of them hurt it badly. It understood it was in their nature to do so, to be that destructive but like a parent that forgives the child after it broke a glass flowerpot, the planet forgave the things the humans and the vampires did to the planet and to each other, dying the ground with their blood and making the planet cry at the lose of its children.
Aaron was still young, and sometimes very naïve in his goals at life. At first, when he first met Lucian, he wanted to avenge his father much like Lucian wanted to do. He later realized there was no point in killing Dumas just for the sake of his own selfish dream since he wasn't the only one that suffered under the horned vampire's hands. Lucian understood it after keeping him like his partner and when they fought against Dumas and Polidori in outer space. They avenged their loved ones, but they also avenged those countless of vampires and humans that died during that period.
The young boy soon discovered the bloom of love, and he started to think a word in where he could live calmly with his vampire lover. He had troubles with his friends because of it (mostly Toasty) since they were a bit confused about his choices; he was a vampire hunter, how come he was in love with a vampire itself? Aaron learned with Lucian and Dumas, after the transformation had ended for the first, that it was pointless to fight something that was entirely human in the inside. Vampire might be bloodlusting beasts and they might be Dark's weapon of choice to keep humans at line but, in what they were different from humans? They hate, they love, the live, they raise their families, they have their culture and festivities like humans. They fight against each other because of the territory and food, they discuss about morals, they discriminate each other. Aaron wasn't too sure about what exactly he was fighting against; to truly beasts that were trying to extinguish the human race, or against what human fears because human knows that if vampires keep appearing, they soon will be gone?
Aaron was disgusted from that, and soon he disliked being a gunslinger himself. He wanted to quit but he had others he didn't want to disappoint, so he kept fighting only because he was loyal to his friends and if his friends wanted to fight, he would help them.
To him, Lucian was his most important person on the world and he wanted to protect him as he did for him each time they went into missions in the outskirts of the East Lands. Aaron simply wanted a place where he and Lucian could stay without being discriminated because of their choices.
"…How beautiful…", whispered Lucian to the wind, truly meaning his words after he had felt all the feelings from each individual joining this war. He was touched by their stories, by their emotions and hopes.
He recovered his adult shape once he had convinced Aaron to take the bullet off from his leg, and now he was standing at the edge of the building, with the little boy on his arms as he swung his tail from side to side, the two huge hands resting at the edge of the building too. The sun was slowly rising from behind the mountains in the frontier, and he could see the small groups fighting with each other down in the streets. Both of his eyes, along with Vanargandr's one on his forehead, were open, admiring the strong feeling of determination each individual had upon their own goals in their lives. And he remembered. He remembered that feeling as well, he remembered when he craved to fight against Django, to prove that he was just a mama's boy, that he was so much better than him because he knew everything Django didn't had to go through.
But he lost.
Django had something he obviously lacked, but Lucian was too weak to hate his younger sibling, he didn't have that 'hate' side of the Moon. He inherited all the love her mother had towards her husband and children, and he couldn't help it but to accept Django's brotherly love and to finally realize that if you only fight for yourself, you will end up with an empty feeling in your chest that can't be filled. Lucian felt empty in the past because he never had something to fight for besides the fact to stay alive. He never felt love, he never felt friendship, he never felt anything for anyone, but when Carmilla first arrived to the satellite thanks to the Count's doing, he felt something twitch inside him. He knew about her and what happened to the poor girl, and he sympathized with her past, feeling way too identified with it, but he couldn't understand why he was so interested in her until it was too late. After she died, after Django defeated him, he realized what he lacked, and what he wanted to do with his life. Carmilla's soul was his reason to fight against the Queen and to travel back to San Miguel to find a way to retrieve her human body where her soul could rest.
His luck didn't last too long as soon as he accepted the Lunar Blessing to become the new Moon Beauty. Ratatosk was hot on his tail and his mind was lost once the vampire took control of it. His grudge and hate returned and Lucian was soon forced to fuse with the Beast and to seal his brother in the lonely and dark prison. For thirty years he endured the pain from the crimson haired vampire (not that he wasn't used to it) and when he saw an opportunity, he took it. He was again fighting for himself, but then he met Ella and his life had a new reason to live. Then, she died at Dumas' hands, and he was extremely tired of starting to love to lose it again. Aaron was his anchor in certain times where his grudge resurfaced and tempted him in destroying everything.
Now the boy was resting in his arms, cuddling comfortable to his chest even though his veins were black because of the Dark Matter swimming in his blood. Lucian would never let his boy have the curse as long as he was sure about it, as long as he was sure he wanted to spend the rest of the eternity with him.
Lucian kneeled on the edge of the roof and hugged his mate closer, circling his wings around them as he inhaled deeply Aaron's scent. From his body, threads of Dark Matter started to flow upwards, soon fading in the sky. In matter of minutes, a gigantic black sphere appeared before the Sun and covered it completely, bringing back the night. This obviously startled everyone, more especially to the gunslingers and Terrennials.
"What's happening?", asked Gunda to Hoshii, which was now staring at the starry sky with a worried expression on her face.
"There is… something going to happen in just minutes.", she answered. Her Lizarman trembled nervously, much like Gunda's and the others. "Something is going to end the war in just minutes…"
"What will end it?"
"A big shadow.", she grasped the leashes tighter, swallowing. "A big shadow will devour everyone that stays in Acuna…", Hoshii's eyes shone with fear and Gunda started to worry.
"Can you tell me how much time do we have left?", his mind was already thinking for a plan.
"…Well, depending on what you want to do.", she smiled softly. "We have around twenty to thirty minutes before Acuna is engulfed with darkness."
"Then let's get working!", shouted the canid man as he gestured with his hands to the rest of his gunslingers, everyone following him soon afterwards.
Dainn was starting to worry about how things were coming out. They couldn't retrieve the needle from Neschume since the darn bastard escaped again and this time, Dainn couldn't trace his Dark Matter to spot him. Nidhoggr suggested to return and reunite with the others since he didn't like the fact that the Sun, the Sun was covered with something. Nero agreed and Dainn had to follow them. On the other hand, Dyango was quiet calm about the entire thing, and Hel was walking next to him once they had finally finished with every north gunslinger and vampire that was fighting with them.
Ernest and Kay were being carried around by Dumas and Nish, as the latter two were trying to find the Terrennials. Perrault was sitting on her master's head like always, trying to spot the rest of her companions.
Toasty was leading the group now that Aaron was gone, and he and Alexander were discussing what to do next when Nero appeared before him, happy to see that he was alright. Dyango, once he had found them and joined, explained to the rest that what was blocking the Sun was probably something that the Beast was doing, since he didn't know other outer force other than Dark to do such thing. The news didn't calm the Terrennial down seeing he had to find Aaron yet, but Alexander stopped his thought saying that they couldn't worry about him anymore. If he had to die, then they had to let him die. Plus, they had to worry about the Viscounts now because just little after Lucian took Aaron with him, their bodies started to disintegrate slowly and bleed a lot. Virginia already lost an eye and Edgar was just hanging there with some potions Lobreta had with her at the time. Ezra said it was time to return, seeing that they couldn't do much if the Beast was lose and crazy like this. If the Beast was going to finally devour the planet, it wouldn't be fair for the rest of the vampires to not see their families and friends before the imminent doom.
Pushing aside his own desire of finding Aaron Toasty agreed, sniffing and crying on Alexander's shoulder as the small group started to walk off Acuna back to the Vambery.
Ernest told Nish to slow down and to land when he spotted the running Lizardmen just below them. Kay was shocked to see the canid man leading the group when they landed before it. Gunda was glad he finally managed to find them and he told them what was happening and what Hoshii had just read in the stars. Dumas said there was no point in fighting anymore seeing as the Beast was just starting to do what it was created for.
"Is it there no hope then?", said Ernest to Dumas. He gripped his Dragoon tightly. "Are we… I mean… the planet is going to be really devoured?"
The horned man nodded.
"Vanargandr was once sealed by the Lunar Tribe and would have remained that way if Mani hadn't have offspring. The only way to seal it again would be if, by some sort of miracle, Lucian recovers his conscious and either kills himself to prevent Vanargandr from destroying the planet or expulses it from his body, but I doubt there is a way to do so.", explained the man.
"And at this rate, it would be impossible to kill Lucian.", added Nish anticipating what Gunda had in mind. "Seeing he is fused with the Beast very intimately, his power is far, far beyond us, even if we group and fight together."
"But he had the Beast controlled all these years! Why just so suddenly…", Ernest sighed and covered his face with his right hand. He felt so angry to see that all his effort to fight was in vain.
"He no longer has Lunar Blood in him to actually do that.", said Dumas. "Vanargandr is corrupting Lucian's body and mind with the Dark Matter in order to do what he started in the Moon thirty years ago."
Hoshii was the one that interrupted and hurried them to leave Acuna. Gunda told Kay to jump behind him as Ernest went with Hoshii. Dumas and Nish opened their wings and flew away, being the head of the group and telling Gunda where he had to go, although they stopped in mid air as they saw two columns of Dark Matter raise from the ground, to materialize and remind to a differently colored Dark Castle. From the bridge connecting both towers, a slipping creature started to form and Dumas paled when he and Nish noticed that the one hanging from the towers was Jormungandr. The gigantic snake opened its jaws and let out a pitch screech, forcing the vampires in Acuna to cover their ears in pain.
Jormungandr screeched a second time before sticking its tongue out and let strange and dark, purplish clouds sprout from its mouth. The clouds quickly covered the air above the snake, and they started to slowly spread over Acuna.
Dainn and Dyango panicked, and Hel screamed to the rest to speed up, saying that if those clouds ever touch one of the humans they would turn into mindless ghouls. Having that in mind, the group started to walk faster in the opposite direction from where they walking seeing that Jormungandr just appeared right in the middle of the city to have a better coverage of it.
Dumas and Nish urged Gunda to walk south likewise, as they spread their wings and tried to get away from the snake as fast as they could, but Perrault was snatched from the man's head by one of the strange oozes Vanargandr controlled. Dumas freaked out when he noticed and started to attack the critter with low chances of getting his Terrennial back. He started to follow the ooze when it started to back away but Nish stopped him.
"Let me go! I'm not going anywhere without Perrault!", shouted the former Duke as the other vampire held his wings tightly in his hands, but the man was twisting them so hard that Nish lost his grasp.
"I'm not letting you die because of her!", the albino screamed, managing to catch Duma' left leg. "I'm not going to let YOU die! I already had enough!"
Both of them struggled and the albino ended the quarrel when he headbutted the horned man with his ice helmet, knocking Dumas out. Nish frowned as he looked back at the screaming Perrault, and mumbled an apologize before turning around and leaving.
The only figure that was seen to be flying towards the clouds was the one from Lucian, whose tail was slashing around like mad, his pupils widened and nearly gone when he reached the strange tower Jormungandr was resting on. The snake screeched again when some of its eyes locked their gaze on the floating form of the vessel and gently took the young boy's body in the appendages sticking out from its body, as he curled the boy on them to protect him from the Dark Clouds.
Lucian floated above the Dark Clouds, above Jormungandr and he saw how many individuals were running away scared of what was happening. Neschumen's group was standing at the frontier, watching with joy how the Dark Clouds were covering the sky. Cyril's werewolves were in their beast form, also running away from the city, and Oyan and the men he had left following the beasts example.
Lucian's hands (rather claws) glowed in a crimson glow, and the Dark Clouds started to spin as soon as they left Jormungandr's mouth, creating a roaring vortex above the snake. He started to laugh, and laugh hard as his voice echoed in the city while his skin started to burnt out, exposing his flesh, then his bones and organs. His hair fell off and his eyes disappeared, as he let out a primal scream before he was reduced to black ashes that fell on the Dark Clouds.
Hoshii let out a scream as she started to mumble the time was over, that her star reading had been wrong all the time and that the clouds over the future were too thick. Ernest tried to calm her down, because her ride was started to whine with nervousness. Gunda screamed and Hoshii jumped from her seat, locking gaze with him before nodding and urging her Lizarmen to run faster.
Nish beat his wings furiously, trying to gain as much as speed as he could while having Dumas' body on his arms. He felt completely guilty and sorry for leaving Perrault behind, but Dumas was more important to him right now. Nish hoped Dumas understood if they ever get alive from the city.
Hel screamed in pain, tripping and falling on the floor as she gripped her teeth tightly. Dyango urged the others to keep going as he returned to the woman's side, helping her on her feet to try and meet the others, but Hel screamed again before her entire body went black and a mass of shadow left Bea's body, returning to herself when Hel abandoned the human's mind.
"How do you feel?", asked Dyango to Bea, who was gripping his shirt tightly.
"I feel like fucking crap…", she screamed in shock when the young man lifted her and started to run. "What are you doing?!"
"I'm sorry, but in the state you are it will be faster this way."
Dyango soon returned to the group and the Terrennials were glad to see that Bea was back once more.
The Dark Clouds were now covering Acuna completely and, to everyone's shock, a dark barrier formed at the city's frontiers, trapping everyone inside, including Neschume's vampires. Jormungandr finally closed its mouth when they covered the roof of the barrier and coiled comfortably around the tower, having especial care in not hurting Aaron while it did so. Firmly grasping the boy against its body with his appendages and covering them with his membrane wings, the snake gave another screech and the clouds started to spin in the other way they had been doing it. They spun faster and faster, the noise becoming unbearable to vampire's and human's ears, but each of them kept running, desperate for their own lives, trying to finally reach the frontier of Acuna and see if they could trespass the barrier.
Lucian's laugh could be heard again as the centre of the vortex fell at incredible speed to the ground, taking along all the clouds behind and turning into pitch, black shadows that started to roam into the streets, covering the buildings with shadows as they swallowed everything in their path. The speed of the shadows was unbelievable, and the first group in being its victims was Cyril and his werewolves. They whined and cried, feeling intense pain when the shadows penetrated in their bodies, tearing them apart quickly and feeding from their negative emotions and blood that poured from their flesh and wounds.
Oyan and his men were the next ones. Oyan simply dropped his gun and embraced the shadows when they enveloped his body to start tearing it apart. He could hear his men cries of help and mercy for a few seconds before his own ears stopped hearing, and his body stopped to feel, and his eyes stopped to see. Soon, his mind turned off and he knew no more.
Neschume and his family was panicking when the shadows reached them too, the vampires trying in vain to escape and to fight back, as each hit didn't do anything to the shadows that swallowed them.
A roar was heard, and a bony creature emerged from the centre of the thick shadows, its massive fanged mouth opening and letting another roar as its tongue dance around its fangs. It had no flesh, no skin, no organs. It was a living mass of skulls and bones, and its single red eye blinked a few times before it adjusted to the sight before it. Oozes started to come out from its body and from its sides, two bony and massive hands came out; one white, the other purple. Steam of Dark Matter came out from its mouth as it breathes darkness around. It roared again and the oozes shivered around it, watching how the shadows consumed everything in their path.
Hel materialized on Jormungandr's head as she was now holding Aaron on her arms when Vanargandr turned around to lock his eye on the lean woman. The Beast dragged itself towards her and with its floating hands took the boy on them, quickly covering Aaron with them as he made a soft, purring noise when it smelled his scent. Vanargandr stood straight as its chest opened and several flesh tentacles wrapped around the boy and pulled him inside, in a secure environment to prevent him being corrupted by the Dark Clouds.
"Shit, let me go!", screamed Perrault when she was dragged by the ooze to Vanargandr's nose. "Let me go! What the fuck do you want from me?!", demanded when she was placed face to face with the Beast. The Terrennial felt incredible small upon the sight of the Beast before her.
"I want what they stole from me.", growled Vanargandr. "I want what once it belonged to me by right, and only you have now."
Perrault was forced to take a more human form, but remaining with her feline traits as she stayed with her suit too. She screamed in pain when the oozes transformed in translucent tentacles that held her tight in place, even when she angrily scratched with her hands, trying to desperately break free.
"What the fuck are you talking about?! I haven't stolen anything from you! Let me go!", cried out the Terrennial.
She hear a snicker and Vanargandr's mouth opened, revealing his purplish tongue as it started to twitch and melt, becoming the body of someone she knew very well. The oozes tentacles moved her closer to the mouth as she nearly fainted in disgust when the ooze covered body of Lucian came into view. He was grinning widely, his eyes were bright red and his sclera's quickly turned pitch black. His hair was visibly longer, but his bangs and hairstyle remained intact. His forearms were mutated and were turned pitch black too, with long claws made of Dark Matter. Over his shoulders and spine run strange runes that glowed in red.
Perrault shivered.
"…w-what d-do you w-want f-f-from me…", managed to articulate.
Lucian chuckled, standing up over the melting tongue as he walked closer to the Terrennial, helping his poor balance with Vanargandr's fangs along the way. He dropped on his knees before Perrault and showed her his long fangs.
"I want my power back.", he told her, laughing. "I just want my power back, I want my Lunar Blessing back!", he frowned, lifting his hands and stretching his arms towards the Terrenial.
Perrault fainted when one of the long claws went through her head.
The shadows cornered Dyango's group, as the Terrennials bounced constantly over the barrier when they attacked it with their powers but none of them seemed to work. Dainn and Nidhoggr helped too, but their attacks were absorbed by the barrier, and made it thicker. Gunda had the same problem when he reached the edge of the city with his group. Nish insisted but his ice powers froze over the surface before melting away soon afterwards. Dumas was already awake from the hit he received before, not really too happy to find out Perrault was taken away. Ernest and Kay, Gunda and his men tried to break the barrier with their solar guns, but not even the solar energy managed to break a small hole on it. Hoshii was whimpering and mumbling some predictions to herself that no one could understand, not even Gunda when he walked to her to hear them better.
"Oh Heavens…", whispered Nish, turning his back to the barrier when he felt the shadows come their way. "Oh Heavens…", his chest, even when he didn't need to breath at all, was rising quickly due to his nervousness. Dumas' right hand gripped his, as the horned man swallowed hard upon seeing them come.
Ernest tangled his left arm with Kay's, and the canid man took his hand, standing firmly before the dark menace. Guna and his soldiers jumped down their ridings, as the lizarmen scattered around without caring about them. The group stood together before the shadows, like convicts that were to receive the shot from a squad. Everyone held hands together, and swallowed hard. Some started to pray under their breath, and only one of them lighted a cig. He took a deep breath before letting it out.
Dyango had Dainn tightly close on his waist. The shadowy vampire was trembling in utter fear now, as Nidhoggr was next to him, holding one of his hands. The Viscounts were close to each other, the humans were grouped together and the vampires on the other side likewise. The Terrennials were all together too, and Toasty sighed heavily. He turned to look at Ezra, which turned into her semi-human form, and the ice Terrennial returned his gaze. They hold hands together, tightly, and then turned their gaze to the shadows that were coming to them.
"I love you.", said Toasty outlout and Ezra's eyes widened. "I'm sorry I couldn't told you earlier…", he sighed again. "But I love you.", he tightened his hands on Ezra's and the artic fox snorted. "What?"
"You idiot…", she cried. "I knew it all along…"
Alexander smiled, and he gripped Toasty's hand, while Nero did the same with the Wind Terrennial.
All of them closed their eyes, all of them facing their destiny, their death. All of them closed their eyes to not see the fanged smile that the shadows created when they opened their mouth and engulf them all.