Disclaimer – some readers might find this slightly disturbing, but it shouldn't be anything a teenager can't handle. Just thought I'd put that out there.
I listen to music when I write, and I have a playlist on Youtube that I have on shuffle – I like to believe that the songs influence the writing. While I was writing the scene with Aksua and Alexander, the Final Fantasy 13 Sunleth Waterscape theme started playing, which is one of the most cheerful things I have ever heard. I just found it ironic that I was writing this scene of disturbing violence to the light and cheerful background of that. :P
Actually, on that point I've been trying to think of a song or theme that relates to each of my main characters, but I can't quite think of one for Alexander or Marik. Any suggestions?
"What have you done to Caiellis?" Alex demanded again, taking a fearful step back towards his little brother despite himself, his blue eyes still locked in place with Aksua's chocolate spheres. The vampire paced slowly closer to him, languidly tensing and releasing her muscles in anticipation of her meal. It didn't feel right to Alexander to just let her do this to him – every instinct he had screamed for him to fight back, but at the same time he didn't want his little brother to be hurt more, and there was a possibility that the boy would be able to break out of whatever Aksua's Summoning was doing to him, so he was stuck.
The woman licked her lips, feeling the weary young man in front of her about to succumb to her charm once again. She didn't have much magical energy left after she used her most powerful spell on Caiellis, but was still in possession of her supernatural speed and strength. Aksua thought it had been worth it to subdue the boy – his dark angel would have been too strong to deal with, and now with him out of the equation Alex was all hers.
After that, she would feed on the younger boy, although the thought of it left a slightly bitter taste at the back of her mouth that was soon subsumed within the desire to gorge on this boy's blood, to find out if it really was as exquisite as it was said to be. Killing children never sat well with Aksua, although she had done it numerous times in the past – at least Alex was an adult now, and very attractive to boot, much like his father.
"Nocturon sent him to the realm of his deepest desires," Aksua giggled at the expression of outrage plastered on the adolescent's face, stepping closer to him as he inched backwards, batting her eyelids and intently observing how the boy's heart-rate quickened out of lust for her, pumping blood at an increased speed out of his wounds. "Give in, Alexander. You know you want to – Caiellis is happy," she whispered, though her words still reached Alex's ears, the alluring tone making him want to lower his defences, as she continued, "And I can make you happy as well, while you do the same for me. I can show you true pleasure, not the pathetic half-ecstasy Tradax and his over-indulged cronies blabber on about. I can make your inner dreams, your deepest desires," she shadow-stepped next to him, taking in the scent of his noble blood, feeling her plans finally coming to fruition, as she leaned in to the side of his head, her mouth inches from his ear, "Come true."
"I'm not entirely sure my deepest desires consist of becoming your meal," Alex smiled charmingly at her, as her features twisted into an annoyed scowl. Now that he had managed to steel himself and his little brother was in very real danger, he had been able to resist her charm. It wasn't going to work on him twice. "Besides, although you're very pretty, you're not my type – I prefer shyer girls to ones that hunt you from one nation to another."
Aksua shrieked in fury and backhanded him, the force of the blow sending Alexander spinning through the air as pain erupted on his cheek. Ouch. That would leave a painful bruise. He landed sprawled next to Caiellis, who was still trapped within Nocturon's dream-land, the shapeless horror still pooling around him.
It hissed threateningly at Alex's proximity, exposing several gnashing mouths full of bleached teeth and coalescing more prominently around the boy's younger brother, but otherwise made no move towards the middle Lucerna. Cai's eyes were still shut, but judging from his heightened breathing and occasional gasps and sobs the boy was under a lot of emotional strain. He wished he could come to his brother's aid, but Nocturon would just injure the kid more if he tried to help. It was up to Caiellis to free himself from the induced-unconsciousness, but the youngest Lucerna was very mentally strong so Alex probably wouldn't have to wait long. The boy's leg was still bleeding, the horror making no motion to stem the trickle of crimson liquid, and Alex shuddered when it finally hit him that if he fell too quickly, didn't allow his little brother enough time to escape from his mind then they would both die.
He scrambled back, focussing on the more immediate situation of trying to prevent Aksua from doing as much damage as she could before his brother reawakened – he didn't really want to rely on Cai, but Alexander could discern that at least the boy was putting up resistance considering the tension present in his body and the annoyed grunts he was making. I just have to hold on...
"You're going nowhere, handsome," Aksua purred seductively and leapt towards him, landing on top of the boy and knocking the air out of him. Her hands slid down his sides, and equal amounts of conflicting longing and disgust running through him as the vampire straddled him, the mere aura of her slowing his movements through a mixture of nauseating Black magic and her captivating allure.
The scent of the young man's blood and the heat of his skin was intoxicating, and Aksua grabbed Alexander's wrists, pressing them into the hard stone of the ground, completely overriding his feeble opposition – though the boy was physically very strong, he was weakened by his exhaustion, lack of mana and Aksua's debilitating curses, whereas the vampire was augmented by supernatural strength, her demonic gifts that grew in power due to her proximity to the abyss and her primal lust for his blood.
"I think a room in Civitas Sol would be more suitable...for what you've apparently got planned," Alex gasped out of the pain he felt – the vampire was sat on his broken ribs, grinding them against each other in flaring agony. She giggled and ran her claws down his sides once again, trying to take the time to savour the moment before she finally drank and moaning softly at the grunts of pain the teenager emitted. "Oh no babe. The darkness if fine, just me and you here, able to do whatever we wish – I know you want me, and we can visit the heights of pleasure together before you die."
"No...thanks," he managed to wheeze out as she increased the pressure on his chest, scraping his ribs against his lungs and making breathing a painful experience. Aksua cocked an eyebrow, the atavistic hunger in her eyes half-masked by a veneer of playful flirtatiousness, and she increased the intensity of her curses the dark magic sapping the boy of strength but ensuring that he was fully conscious for what was about to happen. "Oh, I see. Would you prefer it if little Caiellis joined in?"
"That's...disgusting," Alex half-growled, sincerely hoping that the bitch wouldn't drag his little brother into it. He definitely didn't want her violating the younger boy as well. "Luckily for you, baby, I completely agree. While he is cute, he's nowhere near as handsome or attractive as you, and he's way too thin for my tastes. I'd much prefer just you and me." Alex grunted in pain as she released one of his arms – he automatically went to swing at her, but when she wagged her finger and Cai started sobbing uncontrollably, he stopped. He tried to twist his head, to see what new torment was being inflicted upon his little brother, but the vampire held his cheek and forced him to look into her eyes. She lulled in a soothing voice: "Don't worry about your precious little brother, he's fine – for now. And I'm fully aware that you are trying to delay so that he can somehow escape from Nocturon's embrace, but rest assured there is no chance of that happening – once young Cai sees what I've got planned, he won't want to leave. Give in. You know you want to. Give in to me, and I'll make your last moments as pleasurable as possible."
"I...don't think so...bitch," he replied through gritted teeth, shaking his head vigorously as the vampire scowled. She slapped his across the face, bouncing his head off the ground in a sickening impact. The pumping of his heart, adrenalized by the panic he felt, was amplified in the vampire's head, becoming an addictive drumbeat that she could no longer ignore. Aksua abandoned the pretence of wanting to do anything else other than feed, and clamped her mouth round the wounds on his side. It was bliss. The blood pouring into her mouth was the most exquisite, the most perfect, thing she had ever tasted, and it took all of Aksua's self-control to not drain him dry right there – who knew when she would next get any Lucernas to savour?
Alex only just resisted the urge to vomit as he felt the vampire sucking the blood out of the cuts she had created, feeling his stomach churn at the revolting actions. Caiellis please, you have to wake up! I need you, please! After a few seconds of greedily slurping on the vitae, Aksua pulled away, her mouth covered in the scarlet fluids and her pupils dilated in ecstasy.
"You taste as good as you look, pretty boy," she laughed, the beauty of the sound utterly at odds with the desperate situation, and then frowned as she noticed the boy's lips moving silently, pain flashing periodically over his sculpted but now deathly pale features. Aksua snorted derisively as she recognised the ancient syllables of the Canticia Luxia, the Lucaelian battle-hymn that was said to be written by the first monarch, King Matalis Ortus Lucerna, after the First Angel apparently told him it. Aksua didn't believe that for a second, and found it wonderfully ironic that in his pain the prince had resorted to mouthing that.
"No angels can save you from me," she whispered sensuously, noticing the effects of her enchantments slowly killing her victim. That was the thing about a vampire's bite – it didn't just extract blood from the target, but also afflicted them with a death-causing curse.
That was why vampires had always had to prey upon humans to survive, as they couldn't just abduct a few and then feast on them for many years because they would die, and the blood deteriorated a few minutes before that. Aksua knew she didn't have that long before her meal expired, judging by his pained breathing, pale skin and his eyes losing their blue lustre and becoming more faded. At least his blood was still crimson and pure, not oily and black, which meant she had a few more minutes to enjoy the sensation. And, by whatever gods may be out there, that sensation was rapturous. She would drink some more of the blood from other wounds, create some more, and then go for the jugular before the fluid became corrupted – it was still edible, but if she had wanted just edible then she could have attacked any random village and got it.
Alex moaned in pain as the vampire ripped off his shirt, sticking her teeth into his muscled flesh and biting hard. He could still feel the agony of the torment, but his mind was beginning to shut itself away from the reality of torture. He tried to fight it, reminding himself that his little brother still needed him, that he needed to stay awake to survive, but his battered psyche insisted that it was time to rest.
"Caiells..." he whimpered, and his head lolled back – this time the vampire made no move to stop him from looking at his sibling. Despair ran through him when he saw his little brother's face – the boy was still crying, tears running unimpeded down his innocent features, but now instead of distress and pain a contented expression adorned his face, a happy smile that Alex knew hadn't properly graced his little brother since he was a small child – sure, he had been reasonably happy on numerous occasions in the past, especially around his big brother, but their mother's death and the civil war had left significant emotional scarring on both of the princes that neither wanted to confront. Cai...please...help, he pleaded, too weak to say the words as his blood was drained from within him and dark curses began to travel through his bloodstream. Please...little bro...big bro needs you...
"Not too long now, beautiful," Aksua's soothing voice could be heard, indicating that she had finished feeding in that area, but Alex could no longer feel anything physical apart from a sensation of pain that encompassed his whole body, "On the bright side for you, at least you won't have to wait very long for your little brother after you leave."
Out of the corner of his eye, Alex noticed something strange, although he couldn't quite focus on it. He couldn't move his head from where his gaze was fixated upon his little brother, and blessed unconsciousness was beckoning him into its endless abyss, but Alexander knew he had to fight. Then suddenly, the vampire's tone changed. The middle Lucerna let out a guttural scream of suffering as Aksua conjured up a blade of pure shadow and vindictively rammed it through him with a fierce snarl of disappointment, all his other pain seemingly fading away in light of this new agony.
A wave of light pulsed over him, flinging the vampire across the abandoned village, where she landed elegantly on all fours and poised to face this new threat, he body tensed and ready to explode into action. A heavy impact cracked the ground next to Alex, who tried to move his head to see what it was.
"Everything is alright, Alexander," a harsh voice, brimming with righteous and cold anger but also coloured slightly with parental warmth, spoke, and Alex experienced an emotion that he hadn't in several years, one of safety knowing that his father was watching over him. "You can go to sleep now. I will deal with this bitch."
"Is that any way to address a former lover, Marik-Sweetie?" Aksua smirked flirtatiously, although underneath the masquerade of pleasantry was a burning rage at being interrupted.
The rush of addictive ecstasy she had felt as the Lucerna's blood pour through her was dissipating, replaced by a primeval longing that Aksua knew would consume her if she couldn't feed again soon. Despite being pulled away from her current prey, a greater opportunity had presented itself – instead of just two young Lucerna princes, the king of the entire nation had come to stop her.
And apparently, so had his lackeys, who were busy landing the Yentarian Airship a safe distance away before rushing to their king's aid, who himself had jumped out of the vehicle the second he saw his sons in danger, Summoning as he did so. The hated Angel of Wrath, Akroma, had appeared at the king's side, the seraph that had dealt her a near fatal blow the first time she had been close to fully feasting on a member of the royal family. Aksua knew it was stupid of her to fight, that she should just flee, but the lust to feed was too strong now to be overcome by any rational thought. Besides, even if she did try to leave she doubted that the king wouldn't hunt her down in his need for vengeance against what she had done to his sons, and she may never get a chance to drain a Lucerna again.
"It's been a while, Aksua," Alexander heard his father say, the man's voice distant like he was shouting it from a very large distance away, instead of stood protectively in front of him. He knew his father was right, that he should just let unconsciousness take him, but it went against all his instincts to let others protect him and not to help. The last thing he heard was: "Aren't you supposed to be dead, Sweetheart?"
"Despite how ridiculously big your angel's sword is, it was only a scratch," she shot back, moving closer to Caiellis now that Marik blocked her from the now inert Alex, smirking as she saw the man's countenance twist to become full of hatred – but more than just that, Aksua perceived a flash of disappointment clouding his furious blue eyes as they passed over the comparatively unharmed younger sibling, who still had that contented smile on his face. "It takes a lot more than that to get rid of me."
Marik felt sympathy war with bitter resentment when he looked at his youngest, still trapped in the vampire's dream-world – he himself couldn't really talk about resisting Aksua's charm, having let the vampire get close enough to almost kill him, but Cai had left Alex unguarded and the older brother had paid for it. He pushed the thoughts to the back of his mind – both his sons needed him to focus and slay the vampire once and for all, so there would be no room for distractions. He growled threateningly as Aksua ran her slender fingers through the mop of brown hair on Caiellis's head, her shadow-Summoning purring in delight as its mistress touched it.
"I feel a bit mean, actually," Aksua admitted, her tone full of sarcasm, "I've hurt Alex more than his mind can comprehend, but as I focussed all of my time on him I've not yet had the chance to truly hurt little Caiellis yet, and now is as good a time as ever."
"Get away from him!" Marik shouted, though he felt the words were empty, and formed a selection of glowing swords from his pure White mana, flinging them at the vampire and trying not to hit his son with the magical blades. Aksua hissed in annoyance as she was forced to move away from the smallest prince to avoid being impaled, gracefully somersaulting out of the way of the swords as they sang through the air. She skulked to the side, recalling Nocturon as she realised that she would need all of her power to face the king head on. Anyway, after his failed Summoning the boy would have barely any mana to work with, and the abrupt disconnection from the realm of dreams that induced by her abyssal horror often left victims incredibly disorientated and nauseous – plus, Nocturon was vindictive and viscous, echoing its Summoning, so Aksua doubted the horror would leave the boy's mind peacefully.
.*.*.*.
Caiellis smiled up at his family, feeling the warmth and love in their gazes and slowly erasing his memories of that other world – it must just have been some form of dream, but it had greatly scared the boy. Judging by the relief etched on his brother's features, who now looked at him affectionately, it had frightened them as well. Cai wasn't surprised – accusing his uncle of being a traitor, not remembering who his cousin was, thinking his mother was dead and insisting that Alex needed help would have alarmed him if the situation was reversed.
"You had me scared for a second there, kiddo," Alex scoffed, punching him on the arm and being met by disapproving glares from Hollie and Emili, as Cai yelped in pain and massaged the limb. "What, it's not like that should hurt him."
"Don't be mean to little cous-cous, Alex," Hollie chastised childishly, grinning playfully at him and winking at her cousin, who blinked in bemusement, a child-like expression of confusion on his youthful face. Alex laughed at said: "I'm pretty sure you saying that is more annoying than me punching him in a brotherly manner."
"Don't be a hypocrite, Alexander," their mother laughed, making to stand up but sitting back down when Caiellis's little hands grabbed her arm tightly, not wanting his mum to leave. "You have thousands of nicknames for him, and not all of them are nice. Besides, when does Cai ever call you something other than you own name or big brother?"
"Never, but you don't understand, mum," Alex grinned mischievously, "You never had any siblings to torment," he said, plucking Cai from his mother's embrace and wrapping him in a painful arm-lock that restricted the boy's movements.
"The kid has a point, Emili," Johnias added, patting Marik on the head as the other man sent him a glowering death-stare, "A big brother has the divine right to make his sibling's life a misery."
Caiellis laughed loudly at the look of pure irritation on his father's face, quickly silencing when the man glared back at him. Smiling evilly, he said: "I would like to discuss the nature of your punishment for the disrespect you showed to your uncle and king, young man."
The boy's face fell, recalling that he had acted with extreme hostility in the presence of poor Johnias, his uncle never having done anything to warrant his ire. His father was right, he deserved a punishment for his actions, and he made to kneel in front of his uncle before belatedly remembering that he was still in Alex's wrestling hold.
Then, it started. A look of worry encapsulated his mother's features, and as his older brother released Caiellis he walked towards the woman, his apology forgotten.
"Mum? You okay?" he inquired, starting to come to her side as he looked down at him, her eyes full of a saddening mixture of despair and horror.
"You aren't having him!" she screamed, the noise desperate and horrifying to Cai's ears, reminding him of a time when his mum had acted the same way. He froze. No, that couldn't be right. Mum was never in that situation, me imagining her dying wasn't real – but I can think of it in so much detail...
"Caiellis, stay where you are," the stern voice of his father broke through his shocked paralysis, panic flooding him as his image of a perfect family was beginning to shatter with his mother's desperate wailing. "What's happening to her?" he asked, about to tentatively take a step towards her.
"I TOLD YOU TO STAY WHERE YOU ARE!" Marik bellowed, the sound full of fury, and fear crept up Cai's spine at the anger in his father's voice – it sounded like the man was going to hit him. "Alexander, get your brother. Now!"
Cai felt strong hands grab his thin biceps, roughly hoisting the boy off his feet as he flailed, trying to get to his distressed mum, who was starting to glow with a malicious light and reached out towards him. He reached out his own arm as Alex let go of that and instead wrapped an arm around his lower chest, pulling him away from the loving and nurturing woman. Their fingertips brushed together, and the instant they did so Emili shattered, shards of iridescent stained glass exploding from what was her body and launching themselves in all directions in Caiellis's bedroom. One of them hit him, but instead of slicing the fragile flesh of his leg open it passed straight through, glinting with malevolent twilight.
"Mum! Mum!" he shrieked, batting futilely at his brother's muscular arm, his tiny fists not moving the limb at all. Tears ran down his face as the last trace of Emili faded away, and he turned his head to the rest of his family – shock was covering all of their features as well, coupled with a grim inevitability that made his heart race in panic and fear. "What's happening?!"
Johnias's wife went next, detonating in the same way as his mother – Cai remembered with a jolt that he never actually knew the woman's name, and now that she had gone he couldn't visualise her face either. Despite their loves dying before their eyes, Marik and Johnias didn't seem that concerned for them, but as their gazes landed upon Cai he felt a bleak determination in their blue eyes, a determination to protect him at all costs. "Dad? Uncle Johnias? What is going on?"
"Don't worry, Caiellis. We aren't going to let them take you," Johnias said, ruffling his hair fondly and smiling reassuringly at him, although none of that showed in his eyes. To which Marik added: "Your uncle is right. You are safe with-"
Cai shrieked in despair as both men cracked and smashed apart, shards of glass cascading to the floor where the two brothers were stood. More tears ran down his face, and he pressed his face into his hands. No...Why? Why did this have to happen? I was happy... I don't want to to go! I don't want them to take me!
"I'm not letting you go," Alex declared, squeezing his little brother tightly to his chest, determined to protect the younger boy from what was occurring. Cai couldn't breathe the larger boy was hugging so tightly, the air fighting to get into his lungs, but then the pressure on his chest eased and he landed with a bump on the floor.
"ALEX!" he screamed, desperately grabbing at the fragments of his big brother, as if collecting the glass would allow him to rebuild the older boy, rebuild the illusion of happiness, but when his thin fingers touched the pieces they broke apart even more, millions of tiny shards cover the carpeted floor until even they dissolved into nothingness.
"Alex..." he whimpered, scrunching up his hands into fists and punching the floor in anger, something he had never done before. Caiellis had never released his anger in a violent manner, instead directing it inwards where it festered and turned instead into self-loathing. That, or having a shouting match with someone, most likely his big brother. His big brother. The one who was gone. The feeling of warmth that had started when Hollie first called Alexander into the room and persisted even through the members of his perfect family shattering into pieces disappeared, and Caiellis was left feeling hollow as the rest of the room exploded around him, plunging him and his cousin into an abyss of darkness twinkling with the light of stars.
He didn't know how they were floating, or where they were – they were defying the laws of physics that he knew of, they should have been falling, not sat in the same position as earlier. Then it finally hit him – it wasn't real. None of it was. The dream Caiellis had had earlier was reality, and the truth of that made him want to scream out in agony. Then that begged the question – who – or what – was Hollie? Cai looked at the girl, who gave a sad smile back and shook her head, before splintering into the slivers of crystal, following the fate that had befallen the rest of his "family". Her face was erased from his memory, as well as her name, but Cai would never forget the perfect family he had created in his mind.
.*.*.*.
Caiellis was thrust into an uncaring and harsh reality, stumbling forwards and slamming face-first into the ground. He tried to get up, the events of the day flooding back to him in painful clarity, but as he tried to use his left arm to push himself to his feet agonising pain erupted in the limb, making him gasp at the blossoming torment. He couldn't remember being injured in that area, but then he reasoned that anything could have happened while he was trapped in the dream realm. Stupid! Caiellis thought harshly, huge quantities of disappointment and guilt vying for control in his mind, but the prince removed them quickly.
Alex needed help; his brother must have taken the brunt of the vampire's wrath while he was stuck in happy-fantasy-land enjoying himself. Cai mentally cursed himself for letting his already exhausted brother go alone against the vampire, and used his right arm to hoist himself up, heavily favouring that side of his body as he already was aware of the damage to his leg. He found it both ironic and pathetic that he was busy worrying about minor wounds like these when his brother was in need of help, and, gritting his teeth, ignored the pain and made to get back to his feet, swiftly noting the position of his weapon, only a few metres to the left.
Caiellis wished he knew how long he had been comatose – the dream had only lasted about ten minutes at most, but that length of time didn't necessarily translate to the amount elapsed in reality – even so, ten minutes was an awfully long period to be left alone against a covetous and formidable vampiress. The boy lifted his head up, about halfway to standing up, and his breath caught in his throat.
"Alex!" the word rose unbidden from his mouth in a half-scream, half-gasp, and Caiellis felt like he wanted to vomit when his eyes landed on his older brother. He started to hyperventilate, panic and despair forcing his limbs into action. Alex was in a bad state. Cai could see that from here, the older boy covered in his own blood with numerous viscous wounds predominantly covering his chest. There were four men stood defensively next to his brother, two of them half-kneeling and pouring purifying White mana into the older boy, but it still didn't ease Cai's mind.
He cried out a choked sob of anguish and stumbled towards the position of the older boy. Huge fat tears, their size increasing as if they gorged upon his despair, rolled down the boy's cheeks, crackling with coruscating purple force when they touched the malignant birthmark of the Black Sun. Alexander looked dead; the teen's eyes squeezed shut as tears of his own spilled down his deathly pale face, although he was still locked within a painful unconsciousness, whimpering in pain and breathing heavily – at least that means he is still alive, the rational part of Caiellis's brain quipped before it's pragmatic voice was drowned in another wave of sorrow. This is all my fault... Cai thought as his body was wracked by another sob, his mind unable to process his brother being as injured as he was – while he had seen the older boy wounded in the past, often having to patch up the more reckless teenager himself, none of them had ever been life-threatening.
Caiellis started to run closer, powerless to think about anything else but his brother, and tripped when he put weight on his wounded leg. A pair of gauntleted hands prevented his headlong fall, and Cai found his face buried in soft fabric covering a breastplate of hard metal instead of the ground. Tears blurred his vision, and the youngest prince tried to shove the person holding him away and continue on his quest to reach Alex's side, but a firm grip impeded his frantic movements and stopped him from harming himself further, one large arm hooked under his legs and the other wrapped around his back.
"Shh, Cai, everything is going to be fine," Tristram comforted, lightly stroking the boy's back and repeating the words over and over as small fists pounded at his armoured chest. After a few seconds of frustrated resistance, Caiellis stopped trying to remove the immovable object of the Guardian and pressed his face into the fabric, alternating between weakly crying his brother's name and sobbing. Tristram then said again, "Cai, your father is here fighting with Aksua, and Uncle Tybalt and Hierarch Aretis are healing your brother," he decided not to add that the older boy was in critical condition and desperately needed a medical facility, Cai would already be aware and he didn't want to frighten the young boy further, "So everything will be alright."
Caiellis wanted to scream that "No, everything is not alright you idiot! My brother is going to die, and it's all my fault!" But he knew that it wasn't Tristram's responsibility for the failure, and that the man was trying to calm him down. He just wished that his elders would stop trying to tell him that the situations in his life were fine when they clearly weren't. Only Alexander and his mum had ever been able to successfully pull that off with him. He wiped his eyes, his chest still hitching up and down and still wracked with stifled but still anguished mewls, and looked up into the stern face if the Guardian, who flashed a quick smile at the prince.
Tristram had heard the boy calling for his brother, spotting him waking up from his unnatural slumber and staggering towards them while the other Light-bearers were either too fixed on the stricken older prince or their battling monarch, who slowly paced around the abandoned village square that they had found the sons of Marik in, Aksua mirroring his actions like they were orbiting a common centre of fated gravity. Caiellis was pale, his leg was bleeding profusely onto the ground and his left arm was bruised painfully, twisted at an awful angle, but obviously the kid had ignored his own wounds in his need to get to Alexander. The ghost of a purple contusion still lingered on Cai's thin throat, the faded evidence of Tristram's shame in not being able to stop the abduction of the princes, a reminder that is was the boys' protectors' fault that Alex was now horribly injured.
"Is...is Alex going to be ok?" Cai asked, stammering the words in his panic and needing to get to his brother's side. The boy already knew the answer to the question, so instead Tristram ignored it, not wanting to lie to him but also not wanting to fracture the prince's delicate mental state even more. "Kiddo, I'm just going to do a temporary job on your wounds, then you can see your brother, ok?"
Caiellis nodded slowly, still trembling, a look of confusion briefly creasing his face (which looked incredibly young in the golden light of the Hierarchs' healing) as if he was only just remembering that he himself had also suffered injuries as well. It then turned into a pout when he came to the conclusion that this was just a further delay to ensuring Alexander was safe, and he deserved the pain anyway.
Tristram conjured up a small light, both so that he could better analyse the abuse the younger boy had suffered and aid in the nullification of the pain, although his healing magic was nowhere near strong enough to repair even minor cuts. He knew that Caiellis wasn't thinking clearly, the trauma of seeing his brother in that much danger slowing down his mental functions, otherwise he would have rejuvenated himself before getting to Alexander. The poor kid probably blamed himself for what happened, and while that was not entirely true Cai was partly at fault, but almost definitely not to the extent that he was beating himself up over.
The Guardian stifled a gasp when he saw just how much blood Caiellis had lost – yes, Alex had sustained heavy damage that was far more destructive than his little brother's, but that still didn't make the wounds look any better. He ripped off the cloth adorning the front of his breastplate with the entwined sigils of Capitalia Lux and the Blade of Wrath, creating a makeshift bandage around the boy's gushing calf. The man knew that wouldn't last long, and wished Marik would hurry up in his battle with their enemy so they could evacuate both Alex and his brother – the wench was using powerful shadow-magic to prevent the Airship's systems from working, otherwise they could have left by now – though he doubted that Aksua would let her prey just leave, and Marik would want vengeance for the damage done to his sons, not that he had noticed what had happened to Caiellis. He then tenderly prodded the boy's broken arm, noting his suppressed yelp of pain at the touch.
"Cai, I need to relocate the bones in your arm. This is going to hurt," he stated simply, wanting to give the boy warning of the incoming pain but knowing that it would be better to just get it over and done with before letting Cai worry about it. He spontaneously jolted the forearm back into place, grimacing at the boy's hiss of agony and feeling empathetic towards him, as he had often suffered similar injuries. He was immensely relieved that he had seen Caiellis, as if the boy had fallen over chances are he would have bled out while they were busy fussing over a critical Alexander. Tristram thought he had hurt the boy when he started crying again, but quickly realised that it was because he could see Alex with more clarity now that he was closer.
He carried the boy over and deposited him next to his older brother, ignoring the irritated glance Oleic cast over in his direction – the two thirty year olds were fierce rivals, wont to repeatedly challenging each other to duels. The Guardian of Civitas Sol usually made no attempts to disguise his dislike of the youngest prince unless he was actually in the presence of the Lucerna family themselves, which made Tristram despise the arrogant man even more, as he felt protective of both of the king's sons. Normally, Tristram would now have gone to help his king against the woman, but Marik had been very clear before he jumped off the Airship that none of them were to aid him in his battle. Tristram could easily have just disobeyed the order like he had in the past when the man occasionally let his pride blind him, but he had sensed that there were very real reasons behind the command, not just the need for vengeance.
Cai shuffled closer to his brother, Tybalt ensuring that he moved to accommodate the younger boy, knowing that preventing Caiellis from getting to the prone form of Alex even more would end in disaster – Tristram had already done enough. Aretis ignored the boy and hid a sneer of contempt – it was said that the Light-bearers of Civitas Sol had objected most to the young prince being allowed to live, as apart from Capitalia Lux their city had suffered the most under Xarius's reign of terror.
"Alex..." he sobbed, unable to say anything more than that and now truly realising the extent of his brother's injuries – the healing that Aretis and Uncle Tybalt were doing was just prolonging the inevitable, and Alex needed serious medical attention from professionals if he was to have any hope of surviving. He let his hands slide down his brother's arm until he found the hand, and gripped it tightly, his small fingers already slick with his brother's blood. Tybalt had to repress a smile – despite the fact that Alex was still making pained groans, the second his little brother made contact he calmed down, completely imperceptibly to anyone who had not known the boy his entire life, reacting positively to the presence of his little brother even though there was no way he could be aware of it.
"I'm sure Alex will be fine. He's a strong lad," Tybalt assured his youngest student, placing a wrinkled hand on the boy's shaking shoulder and subtly infusing the gesture with resolve-augmenting White mana – had they been in a situation less dire, Caiellis would have noticed the man's interference and asked him why he thought it necessary to bolster his emotional state, but since the boy hadn't noticed it was obviously the right choice, especially judging the fact that he was no longer hyperventilating, though Tybalt didn't know whether to attribute that to his magic or the contact with his brother.
Truth be told, he was significantly concerned by the drastically deteriorating health of the older boy – the blood that was pumping out from various wounds was starting to become thicker and more like tar, indicating a deep corruption taking hold, and the boy began violently coughing up oily blood. The purifying enchantments of the Hierarchs were the only bulwarks against complete and utter takeover of the virus-like curse, and even their walls of mana were beginning to crack under the tide of impurity that was jeopardizing the teenager's life.
"H-he d-didn't d-deserve...w-why...?" Cai stuttered, trying to hold back more tears but failing miserably. The boy was going into shock, in spite of Tybalt using magic and words to try to reassure him, and his words came out in snivels. "M-my fault...I should have...h-helped. I s-should have been hurt instead."
"Look, Caiellis, you couldn't have done anything. And Alexander will prefer it this way, he would have been saying the exact same if the situation was reversed." Tybalt said sternly, using strictness where soothing tones had failed.
"...failure of a brother," Cai muttered bitterly, before pulling Alex's limp forearm up and hugging it tightly, dead set on making sure nothing else would harm the older boy further on this disastrous night, but it seemed he had calmed down after seeing his older brother in such a state. Still continuing the channel his magical energy into the losing battle of Alexander's purity, Tybalt let his eyes stray to where his king was busying combating the greatest threat – he understood now why Marik had ordered that none of the others interfere, as this Aksua was immensely powerful and would make a mockery of any attempt at teamwork. The king needed to hurry up so that they could take Alex back to the city and get him proper help from trained healers and medical staff – even that wouldn't be a guarantee of his survival, but there was son chance of the boy living if they remained here.
.*.*.*.
"You will pay for what you have done to them, bitch," Marik spat, sending Akroma to rush at the vampire, the angel's gargantuan sword obliterating the ground with a thunderous impact fuelled by Marik's cold anger. The angel's perfect features were impassive apart from a glimmer of contempt in her forbidding eyes, and she attacked again, charging her holy weapon with milky light and swinging it in a wide arc that Aksua had to leap away from. She was met by the king, his own greatsword drawn and thrumming with mystical potency, and formed twin blades of pure darkness herself to block his blade for a single second before morphing into shadow as a blast of light was shot out by the Angel of Wrath.
"Marik-Sweetie, you are more impatient than I remember," Aksua taunted, ramming a shard of blackness into the back of Akroma before fading away again. The angel scowled and released White mana in a pulse around her, slamming her sword into the ground and loudly singing the words of a hymn. A shriek of pain could be heard and the vampire tumbled out of the darkness a few metres away, trails of smoke coming from her hair.
"Maybe that has something to do with the fact that I have to kill you to allow Alexander to get help," Marik snarled as Aksua flipped back to her feet, standing up to her full height and looking haughtily back at the king and his First Sisterhood angel. A glint of amusement made it's way into her alluring brown eyes, although she wasn't trying to seduce Marik – her charm would have no effect on the furious monarch. "Oh don't be silly, I'm not stopping you from leaving."
A moment of hesitancy made the king narrow his eyes, and although he knew he should be trying to kill the vampire he sarcastically shot back: "Then I suppose it isn't you creating the shadows preventing the Airship's movement?"
"No, why would I want to trap a vengeful king in with me? You aren't as attractive as you used to be, and Alex is basically dead anyway," she smirked maliciously at Marik's smouldering glower. She raises a fair point, the king thought for a second, before stamping the doubt out; she was probably just saying it to get him to delay so she could regain her power – it would be in her best interests to fill her opponent with uncertainty, and lying would be one of the best ways to do it.
"Although," Aksua lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper, though it still carried through the abyss, the words sounding like the vampire was stood right next to him, "I wouldn't be against making Alex a vampire and saving his life for you, if you would just let me go unharmed."
"The king is not going to be swayed by your lies, vampire-scum," Akroma bellowed, launching another assault, this one of bolts of light that arced through the air.
Cai watched the engagement fearfully, although at this distance he could only hear what Akroma was saying, the resonance if the heavenly angel's voice piercing through the darkness and filling all the Lucaelians' hearts with conviction. However, sometimes the occasional word, such as "Marik-Sweetie" and "former love" drifted through the night, but his shocked mind couldn't process them so it filed them away to be analysed later. As the vampire and his father traded more blows, the hated Aksua switching her weapons from two malevolent swords to a large scythe, not unlike Orzhova's before Caiellis infused it with White mana in his Summoning ritual. His father fought so much like him, methodically gaining an advantage through a series of precise and well-thought out strikes that forced Aksua into an unfavourable position.
However, he perceived elements of his older brother's fighting style in their dad's over aggression and spontaneous impatience that often let him catch the vampire off guard. For the first time since finally seeing the man again after the civil war, Cai felt a small swell of admiration for his father, before that was consumed by the sadness he felt over Alex's horrific wounding. The boy coughed up some more sticky black phlegm, shuddering in torment, and Caiellis brushed tears of agony from his brother's face, as the older boy had often done to him in the past.
Aksua was getting panicked, a mixture of anxiety and dread running through her functionally immortal body as she realised she was soon going to lose the battle – Marik's relentless attacks gave her no quarter, no room to properly manoeuvre and regain the advantage. She knew she couldn't just morph into shadow again – Akroma was ready to purge the area if the vampire tried it again; she had been fortunate to only have some of her hair incinerated by the blast. The vampire blasted a huge wall of wriggling darkness at the king and somersaulted backwards.
Snarling, her face losing it's beauty and becoming something altogether more sinister and terrifying, Aksua called Nocturon into her, her shadowy horror pulsating into her body from her open mouth, wriggling through her veins and corrupting the stolen blood within – this technique had been taught to her by the Perverter of Truth, augmenting her power massively but also coming at a terrible price – the immortality she had gained through the consumption of vast quantities of blood would be rendered null, meaning that she would have to feed again after this battle – but Aksua didn't care.
Her bones began to crack as Nocturon expanded, her eyes filled with darkness and her beautiful hair falling out in clumps. She shrieked in agony as the horror twisted her from the inside, forcing her to vomit out near-solid blobs of murk that throbbed to the sound of an unheard and malignant heartbeat. Her once slender-body expanded at a huge rate, the skin becoming swollen and almost breaking at the horror seethed within her, drinking greedily upon her essence to empower itself. Writhing tendrils of darkness burst out from her back, the sound of tearing skin horrifying to behold as they pushed her off the ground, elevating her undulating and bloated body above the floor and suspending Aksua like a puppet controlled by the strings of an invisible master. The analogy was not lost on the vampire, who screamed in pain and tried to revert the spell, regain her original form as her mind dipped further into insanity, but Nocturon gleefully silenced her mana-fuelled protestations with a roar of dark desires made manifest.
And then, Akroma was in front of her, the angel's pitiless voice full of hatred and abhorrence, perfectly enunciating the syllables of a purification spell, one of the most destructive. The angel had recognised the vile powers of a greater demon, one she had often fought in Sancturia in the endless wars between the armies of light and dark – Seizan, the Perverter of Truth. Aksua screeched in mindless fury when she deduced that she had been tricked – her demonic patron had given her the spell so that he could claim her soul fully if she ever used it, and the vampire silently cursed him as her personality was dissolved, gobbled up by Nocturon, the malevolent horror nestling in her body and sending Aksua to her death.
"Marik! I require you aid to enact the Vengeance," Akroma announced austerely, her authoritarian tone reminding the king of the one he often utilised on disobedient subjects (or sons) and brooking no dissent, so Marik did as he was told and provided the angel with a large chunk of mana. The thing that had been Aksua screeched, the noise cutting through the air and forcing every Lucaelian to cover their ears, more tendrils of questing shadow-substance bursting out of the vampire's body and hurtling towards the many meals available. Marik hacked apart the tentacle that tried to crush him into a pulp, seeing Tristram Summon his guardian angel Athela of the Aegis, a large shield of mana encapsulating the king's sons and making the tendrils bounce off as the angel used her glaive to cut them apart.
The ones that tried to get close to Akroma immediately dissipated as a golden light began to surround the Angel of Wrath, a blinding intensity that made Marik want to instinctively look away despite a Summoner always being immune to the spells of the Summoning (apart from a few exceptions). Cai covered his eyes as the light became too much, gripping Alex's hand tightly as he sensed a gargantuan increase in mana from his father's angel, matching and then eclipsing the energy abomination that was Aksua was filled with.
Marik looked on with a mixture of awe, terror and self-pride as Akroma focussed all the magical potency into her huge sword, the blade beginning to shine with an incandescent light. Even though he had seen the Vengeance before, having used it many times during the civil war against traitorous generals that had aligned themselves with the Arch-Heretic, his angel's finishing still captured a sense of awful wonder from the king. The spell was one that was filled with her utter abhorrence of Black mana itself (Marik was no stranger to the fact that Akroma actively despised Cai's Orzhova), a cold fury powering hatred that no White creature should ever be able to feel.
Cai heard a shout of pure hatred and an undulating shriek, but still couldn't open his eyes to see what was happening. Akroma shot towards the horror that Aksua had become, screaming her loathing of the abomination in an extremely rare display of emotion, and swung her sword. It smashed apart the creature's feeble block, slamming into not-Aksua with a calamitous discharge of thunderous energy that shook the earth. Caiellis saw light even with his eyes snapped shut and a hand covering them, and moved protectively in front of Alexander, despite knowing that their father would never willingly hurt them.
When the light faded, and Cai tentatively opened his eyes, there was no trace of Aksua, and Akroma sheathed her sword with a dispassionate flourish, as if the angel had exhausted the amount of emotion she was allowed to show in a certain time period and had to go back to being detached and aloof. He felt awe encompass his thoughts as the shield Athela had created faded away – Akroma had absolutely annihilated every particle of Aksua.
"And so is the fate of all those who sell their soul to demons," the angel bellowed, abruptly returning back inside of Marik as the king ran towards Alex.
Also, apparently I lied about not doing another chapter until after Christmas. Sorry if Cai seemed a bit weak or pathetic, but trust me after a few scenes in the next chapter we will be seeing plenty more of strong and determined Caiellis.