Sitting on top of a chair in a dark underground facility, illuminated by blue magical lights, I watched Albert do his work methodically. I did offer my help – of course – but he rejected my offer after I apparently made some serious mistakes right away … whatever they were.
I didn’t understand much about magical circles after all and didn’t know the methods to imprint them onto mithril at all. Especially the smaller shaft made Albert worry quite a bit, especially because my requests were a bit over the top.
“You are aware they can only be used once?” He asked, pumping air into a melting furnace. This was already the sixth spear he was making, so the workflow was already ingrained into him.
“I have no other use for them anyway. The ballistas aren’t as mobile as I thought they would be.” These weapons had already been delivered, but they had been constructed using really heavy materials so that they wouldn’t break right away after firing once.
“That’s because using the mana loaded inside the mithril right away is inefficient. You should have gone for a delayed activation.”
“But that would be new in this world. And explaining where I got these from is already difficult, but telling them … the idea for magical fuse thingy came out of my head would be hard.” I explained and crossed my legs watching with great interest how he etched a magical circle into the spear. Looking at if from afar, I couldn’t even read the words on it, mostly because they were so curved, but also because the sentence structure was mutilated beyond recognition. “And you are sure that this will work?”
“Otherwise my friends could die, am I wrong?” He asked and looked at me a bit unfriendly, even though we usually got along very well thanks to the bond that muddled both of our emotions a bit. He had his changed far more than I did though.
“No …” I muttered, placing my chin on my palm in a bit of boredom.
“Will I … will I see them again? I mean … I didn’t know who they were at the academy and I wish to talk with them about the old times.” Exhaling loudly, I thought about his rather difficult request. I didn’t want them to meet anytime soon, that was for sure.
“Possibly. They might try to murder you though, being what you are now.” I warned, hoping he would stop thinking about it.
“I … I still want to.” He said, making me sigh quietly.
“Eventually.” I answered a little while later. If that was his wish, I didn’t mind fulfilling it once I had my wishes granted. That could take up anything from two days to years though.
He didn’t reply to me at all, and rather focused intensely on finishing the spear.
As he did so, he grabbed the tip which wasn’t that hot and put the whole thing into a iron stand, which already held the other five.
“And you are sure Hannah can work with these?”
“Definitely. Can you make sure they are handled properly by Tom? I have my doubts he knows how to transport these.”
“I’ll make sure of it. And … you really want me to give all this? It has everything I’ll ever need.” He said, looking through the room filled with apparatuses and machines I didn’t even know existed. There was everything he wrote down onto a list a few days ago, bought by the money Tom had.
“Its all yours. If you need anything, you can ask Tom for help. And another thing … never go outside on your own. If you really wish to go out, ask the whore to accompany you.”
“I will … Lucy? Why are you calling each other like this? Has anything happened between you?” He asked, unsure if that question was appropriate to ask. Sighing a little bit, I shook my head in refusal.
“We started calling each other a long time ago. She must have noticed something about me even I wasn’t aware of during that time…” I muttered, thinking back about the first time we met each other.
“So … you don’t seem to be angry whenever she calls you that. Are you …” a slut? Well, there was hardly any way for me to deny that anymore. But I still didn’t want him to know. He was fourteen after all.
“Albert, you are way too young and innocent to ask these questions. It’s better if you let this matter rest.” I explained looking at him sternly. “I’ll need to get going now. We wont be gone for too many days.”
“What about me?” He asked as soon as I stood up from the chair gracefully.
“Feel free to follow your hearts desire.” I explained and looked at him with great interest, wondering what he would say next.
“But I need blood.” Well, that much was obvious. So far, he didn’t drink any human blood because it wasn’t given with their approval, and neither did he could drink animal blood because he couldn’t swallow it, no matter how often I asked him to try.
Which left me with nothing but one option, which was to give him my blood. Luckily he didn’t seem to think about where my blood came from, or ignored it completely. Whatever it was, I fed him each and every night.
“I prepared enough blood for you to get you over a few weeks. But I still want you to try drinking animal blood.” I explained and walked towards him.
“I’m sorry. I just down have the iron will you have.” He said, lowering his head a little while I pulled him into an embrace.
“Don’t worry about it. I’m sure we’ll find a solution sometime.” I explained, patted his head a little and ignored how he hugged me tightly for a rather long time.
“Albert … I need to go now.” I explained quietly and patted his back once more. Reluctantly, he let go of me and I smiled brightly. After caressing his cheek a little, I patted his head and smiled brightly.
“I’ll be back in no time.” I said happily.
“I will be waiting for you.” He said and kept smiling, even as I turned around and went towards the door. Turning my head around, I waved towards him and exited the smithy through the door, leading into a lengthy stairwell I ascended right away.
“And? Did you hug him? Kissed his cheek?”
“If that’s what I need to do to let these dumb thoughts of his vanish, then yes. I will do anything I need to. And no, I did not kiss his cheek.” Sighing a little, I looked into her green eyes and and stepped a bit closer. “My relationship with him will not change anything in between us. I need you Hannah, and you are my friend, more than he will ever be. Do you want me to pat your head? Console you whenever you feel treated unjustly? You aren’t fourteen, and you aren’t as naïve to think that my actions are genuine.”
“I have known him before he turned into a vampire. And he is different … he looks at you like a child looks at his mother now. And you … are you sure that you haven’t changed as well?” She asked, looking straight into my eyes, not even trying to hide her emotions.
“I am four hundred and eleven. I struggle with hurting kids because they have more of Irminsuls gift than adults. I can feel the bond between me and him. I know I let a few things slide whenever Tom goes overboard … but I am very well aware where these emotions come from. And make no mistake. I will dispose of them wherever they get troublesome. With you though …. I don’t know I’m capable of that.” I explained and hugged her tightly. She trembled a little, but relaxed soon enough.
“I know about your desire to have a family.” And that stunned me. I was a hundred percent sure I never told her about that … and neither could anyone else have told her. “You tried it with Mary and it worked out somewhat … you possibly tried it with Tom as well, but you definitely were testing it out with Albert. But its not what you are looking for either, right?”
“How do you … you listened?”
“No, I didn’t. That’s the conclusion I came to after thinking about it for a long time. I have nothing against Luna … she is a sweet girl, but she also has the highest chance of becoming the person you search for. You love her because she sacrificed herself for you in her past life, she was your first friend and so much more. I want you to find happiness … but I don’t want to lose mine in the process.” Hannah admitted and looked towards the ground ashamed of her own emotions.
“Idiot.” I said a bit angrily and smacked her forehead with my fist lightly. “I adore her so much because Luna is the way she is. She may be the one I am looking for, but by pulling her in closer, I will ruin everything that makes me like her. She isn’t made for the world we live in … and it would ruin her to be by my side for too long.” I explained a bit unhappily. “I am searching Hannah. I can’t explain why, but I am searching for a family. It’s a wish I don’t want anyone to know … and I know it will be impossible to fulfil. And even if I will ever become a mother, or if I ever find a sister or even a new mother for myself … I will be damned if I push you away from me.” I said, conscious about her fears and desires. She was envious about Luna because of my relationship to her. But more than that, she feared being left behind.
“Do you promise?” She asked, her ears slightly wet.
“I do.” I said and gave her my pinky finger. She smiled a bit tired, then hooked my finger with hers and we shook our hands. I knew she wouldn’t rest with this. Her envy and fears were too deeply rooted. I had left her for two hundred years already before and she hated every second of it. Because there was no challenge and no way to have fun for her.
“So … want to slaughter a few demons?” I asked, stepped back and smiled brightly.
“More than anything.” She said, suddenly overwhelmed by excitement, her previous feelings of fear and envy already gone by.
“I want to stab someone in the head!” I exclaimed exited, took her hands and held them tightly, our fingers interlocked in between us.
“I can’t wait to hear their screams!” Hannah told me as happy as I was. Finally, there was someone who could fight her on even ground and I didn’t mind giving her a shot at murdering a demon general.
The fun was only a few days away from us.
Sitting on top of a chair in a dark underground facility, illuminated by blue magical lights, I watched Albert do his work methodically. I did offer my help – of course – but he rejected my offer after I apparently made some serious mistakes right away … whatever they were.
I didn’t understand much about magical circles after all and didn’t know the methods to imprint them onto mithril at all. Especially the smaller shaft made Albert worry quite a bit, especially because my requests were a bit over the top.
“You are aware they can only be used once?” He asked, pumping air into a melting furnace. This was already the sixth spear he was making, so the workflow was already ingrained into him.
“I have no other use for them anyway. The ballistas aren’t as mobile as I thought they would be.” These weapons had already been delivered, but they had been constructed using really heavy materials so that they wouldn’t break right away after firing once.
“That’s because using the mana loaded inside the mithril right away is inefficient. You should have gone for a delayed activation.”
“But that would be new in this world. And explaining where I got these from is already difficult, but telling them … the idea for magical fuse thingy came out of my head would be hard.” I explained and crossed my legs watching with great interest how he etched a magical circle into the spear. Looking at if from afar, I couldn’t even read the words on it, mostly because they were so curved, but also because the sentence structure was mutilated beyond recognition. “And you are sure that this will work?”
“Otherwise my friends could die, am I wrong?” He asked and looked at me a bit unfriendly, even though we usually got along very well thanks to the bond that muddled both of our emotions a bit. He had his changed far more than I did though.
“No …” I muttered, placing my chin on my palm in a bit of boredom.
“Will I … will I see them again? I mean … I didn’t know who they were at the academy and I wish to talk with them about the old times.” Exhaling loudly, I thought about his rather difficult request. I didn’t want them to meet anytime soon, that was for sure.
“Possibly. They might try to murder you though, being what you are now.” I warned, hoping he would stop thinking about it.
“I … I still want to.” He said, making me sigh quietly.
“Eventually.” I answered a little while later. If that was his wish, I didn’t mind fulfilling it once I had my wishes granted. That could take up anything from two days to years though.
He didn’t reply to me at all, and rather focused intensely on finishing the spear.
As he did so, he grabbed the tip which wasn’t that hot and put the whole thing into a iron stand, which already held the other five.
“And you are sure Hannah can work with these?”
“Definitely. Can you make sure they are handled properly by Tom? I have my doubts he knows how to transport these.”
“I’ll make sure of it. And … you really want me to give all this? It has everything I’ll ever need.” He said, looking through the room filled with apparatuses and machines I didn’t even know existed. There was everything he wrote down onto a list a few days ago, bought by the money Tom had.
“Its all yours. If you need anything, you can ask Tom for help. And another thing … never go outside on your own. If you really wish to go out, ask the whore to accompany you.”
“I will … Lucy? Why are you calling each other like this? Has anything happened between you?” He asked, unsure if that question was appropriate to ask. Sighing a little bit, I shook my head in refusal.
“We started calling each other a long time ago. She must have noticed something about me even I wasn’t aware of during that time…” I muttered, thinking back about the first time we met each other.
“So … you don’t seem to be angry whenever she calls you that. Are you …” a slut? Well, there was hardly any way for me to deny that anymore. But I still didn’t want him to know. He was fourteen after all.
“Albert, you are way too young and innocent to ask these questions. It’s better if you let this matter rest.” I explained looking at him sternly. “I’ll need to get going now. We wont be gone for too many days.”
“What about me?” He asked as soon as I stood up from the chair gracefully.
“Feel free to follow your hearts desire.” I explained and looked at him with great interest, wondering what he would say next.
“But I need blood.” Well, that much was obvious. So far, he didn’t drink any human blood because it wasn’t given with their approval, and neither did he could drink animal blood because he couldn’t swallow it, no matter how often I asked him to try.
Which left me with nothing but one option, which was to give him my blood. Luckily he didn’t seem to think about where my blood came from, or ignored it completely. Whatever it was, I fed him each and every night.
“I prepared enough blood for you to get you over a few weeks. But I still want you to try drinking animal blood.” I explained and walked towards him.
“I’m sorry. I just down have the iron will you have.” He said, lowering his head a little while I pulled him into an embrace.
“Don’t worry about it. I’m sure we’ll find a solution sometime.” I explained, patted his head a little and ignored how he hugged me tightly for a rather long time.
“Albert … I need to go now.” I explained quietly and patted his back once more. Reluctantly, he let go of me and I smiled brightly. After caressing his cheek a little, I patted his head and smiled brightly.
“I’ll be back in no time.” I said happily.
“I will be waiting for you.” He said and kept smiling, even as I turned around and went towards the door. Turning my head around, I waved towards him and exited the smithy through the door, leading into a lengthy stairwell I ascended right away.
“And? Did you hug him? Kissed his cheek?”
“If that’s what I need to do to let these dumb thoughts of his vanish, then yes. I will do anything I need to. And no, I did not kiss his cheek.” Sighing a little, I looked into her green eyes and and stepped a bit closer. “My relationship with him will not change anything in between us. I need you Hannah, and you are my friend, more than he will ever be. Do you want me to pat your head? Console you whenever you feel treated unjustly? You aren’t fourteen, and you aren’t as naïve to think that my actions are genuine.”
“I have known him before he turned into a vampire. And he is different … he looks at you like a child looks at his mother now. And you … are you sure that you haven’t changed as well?” She asked, looking straight into my eyes, not even trying to hide her emotions.
“I am four hundred and eleven. I struggle with hurting kids because they have more of Irminsuls gift than adults. I can feel the bond between me and him. I know I let a few things slide whenever Tom goes overboard … but I am very well aware where these emotions come from. And make no mistake. I will dispose of them wherever they get troublesome. With you though …. I don’t know I’m capable of that.” I explained and hugged her tightly. She trembled a little, but relaxed soon enough.
“I know about your desire to have a family.” And that stunned me. I was a hundred percent sure I never told her about that … and neither could anyone else have told her. “You tried it with Mary and it worked out somewhat … you possibly tried it with Tom as well, but you definitely were testing it out with Albert. But its not what you are looking for either, right?”
“How do you … you listened?”
“No, I didn’t. That’s the conclusion I came to after thinking about it for a long time. I have nothing against Luna … she is a sweet girl, but she also has the highest chance of becoming the person you search for. You love her because she sacrificed herself for you in her past life, she was your first friend and so much more. I want you to find happiness … but I don’t want to lose mine in the process.” Hannah admitted and looked towards the ground ashamed of her own emotions.
“Idiot.” I said a bit angrily and smacked her forehead with my fist lightly. “I adore her so much because Luna is the way she is. She may be the one I am looking for, but by pulling her in closer, I will ruin everything that makes me like her. She isn’t made for the world we live in … and it would ruin her to be by my side for too long.” I explained a bit unhappily. “I am searching Hannah. I can’t explain why, but I am searching for a family. It’s a wish I don’t want anyone to know … and I know it will be impossible to fulfil. And even if I will ever become a mother, or if I ever find a sister or even a new mother for myself … I will be damned if I push you away from me.” I said, conscious about her fears and desires. She was envious about Luna because of my relationship to her. But more than that, she feared being left behind.
“Do you promise?” She asked, her ears slightly wet.
“I do.” I said and gave her my pinky finger. She smiled a bit tired, then hooked my finger with hers and we shook our hands. I knew she wouldn’t rest with this. Her envy and fears were too deeply rooted. I had left her for two hundred years already before and she hated every second of it. Because there was no challenge and no way to have fun for her.
“So … want to slaughter a few demons?” I asked, stepped back and smiled brightly.
“More than anything.” She said, suddenly overwhelmed by excitement, her previous feelings of fear and envy already gone by.
“I want to stab someone in the head!” I exclaimed exited, took her hands and held them tightly, our fingers interlocked in between us.
“I can’t wait to hear their screams!” Hannah told me as happy as I was. Finally, there was someone who could fight her on even ground and I didn’t mind giving her a shot at murdering a demon general.
The fun was only a few days away from us.
