So warm … dressed in a prim and proper nightgown, I woke up as my pillow stirred beneath me.
“Lu …” Luna mumbled still drunken on sleep while I rolled off her and stared at the ceiling. “Lu … how was your night?”
“Oh? It was kind of nice. I played board games with Sebastian … you should have seen his face as I won chess twelve times in a row.” I answered and giggled a little, waking Hannah up in the process. Naturally, I didn’t tell her that I murdered someone just to have a bit of fun. She … wouldn’t take that well.
“Oh … time to stand up I guess.” Hannah mumbled, rubbing her eyes as someone rang a bell. And so, we quickly changed into regular clothing and joined the others in eating breakfast. Gregory obviously complained straight away and I could see that the others weren’t exactly glad about the quality either as the taste was worse than canteen food. Gruel with crackers … and that was it.
Well, it kept us alive and was easy to transport, so there was that. And afterwards, we began the second day of our journey high spirited. Riding on a white stallion, I was in the centre of the formation with Louis and Luna by my side. Hannah was at the tip of the centre while the four idiots were riding further ahead, securing the way for us. And behind us, around three hundred fifty adventurers formed the end of the column, securing all the necessary carts we used to carry rations.
Hannah’s troops, or rather what the constable made out of them was half a day ahead, making sure the roads were passable and on lookout for any traps.
But it did seem they still left us a few ‘challenges’ behind.
“Lucy, there is a goblin nest ahead.” Sofie shouted, galloping back towards us quickly. Raising my eyebrow, I thought about the implications and frowned a little as I didn’t get it. Goblins wouldn’t attack this caravan, they were a bit too intelligent for that.
“Okay and …” I asked, slowly realising why she may have come back. The problem wasn’t the goblins per se, but rather the team which had found it.
“Schwarz is already fighting them.” Yep … that’s what I assumed back then. Sighing quietly, I nodded towards Luna who then waved a red flag while we stopped our horses. Sofie immediately galloped back to the place they found the nest with half of the adventurers following her on foot.
I wanted to join as well, but sadly that was not the task of a queen. I had to stay back and keep the men motivated and guided, especially because I couldn’t find a satisfying general and thus decided to share the burden with Hannah.
But that day, it wasn’t an issue as the threat was dealt with after an hour or so … which sadly meant we needed to hurry up more. Well, it wasn’t my decision so I wasn’t even listening to the complaining adventurers afterwards, but rather soothed them with general statements like ‘I’m sure the church will take care of your exhaustion’ … or something along these lines.
And honestly, except the griffon we saw high above us, there wasn’t anything else noteworthy on the first day of travelling. But even then, we were all quite glad as we arrived at a church whose patron was the god of fire. It was a tall building, situated on the outskirts of a city which allowed us to enter without much of a parade. Still, it was indeed quite awesome they had made place for every adventurer somewhere, even though most naturally couldn’t go into the church.
In fact, most of the warm building was rather vacant except for the staff and us apparently.
But hey … they did have several hot tubs in the cellar … which was nice I guess? The bathtubs in the capital were mostly lukewarm at best, or so I was told.
“Come on! At least dip your toes into the water? You are going to like it for sure!” Ellie said, already melting thanks to all the heat while I merely sat on a stool, a blanket wrapped around my whole body.
“Oh no, I’m fine. Just enjoy the bubbling hot water. It’s not going to be often you guys can experience that.” I explained gently while watching how Hannah cleaned Luna’s hair carefully.
“Fine …” Ellie said and vanished underneath the waterline. Suddenly, I heard a rather loud discussion over the wall which didn’t go to the ceiling. Besides this little compartments were the three boys, surely competing or arguing about something stupid.
“Hey, is everything okay over there?” Sofie asked what I didn’t want to. There was no doubt their quarrel would ruin the mood in this room.
“Schwarz wanted to peek!” Louis said loudly which made me chuckle a little.
“I did not?” Schwarz shouted back, clearly jumping back into the water going by the sounds. Giggling, I held my breath only as the girls looked at me in confusion.
“What? They are young. Let them have their fun.” I explained myself which got me even more questioning gazes.
“You sound like a grandma sometimes.” Ellie judged which actually hurt a little.
“I … I’m not that old?” I said and crossed my arms in front of my chest a bit bummed out.
“Right … you are older than my grandma.” Ellie commented and laughed a little while yo got even more defensive.
“Ouch. But in my heart, I’m still young!” I exclaimed unhappily.
“Said every old person ever.” Ellie joked on, not realising that she actually hurt my feelings a little.
“Stop being so mean, Ellie.” Sofie interjected and tickled Ellie’s sides a little which made the subject of her attack laugh uncontrollably.
Smiling a bit thankful, I leaned my back against the wall and closed my eyes. It was indeed quite hot in this room, but also distinctly different from the warmth I was seeking out so often. Even though they should be the same, one was speaking to my soul, while the other was just warming up my body. But even then, I merely felt this shitty difference instead of the real deal. I couldn’t feel the part of Irminsul inside Sofie, not even remotely. She was warmer than the others, but that was about it.
Well, I barely had any time to think about it as Luna took my hands shortly afterwards and smiled brightly.
“What are you brooding about?” She asked while pulling me up from the stool.
“Not much …” I mumbled a bit surprised as she pulled me out of the room in the one opposite of the woman’s bath. This room was furnished with a few wide wooden couches and a magical apparatus in the middle which was already filling the room with hot steam. Luna giggled a little as she pulled me towards one of these couches and laid down on it while making sure her blanked stayed in place. Extending both of her hands towards me, I smiled a little as I allowed her to embrace me tightly.
We rolled around a little until she finally settled by my side, hugging me tightly with one arm and laying her head on my shoulder.
“I would have never imagined I would be best friend with a vampire someday.” She whispered quietly and rubbed her cheek on my skin lovingly.
“And I could have never dreamed of having you as well.” I said, caressing her side from over the blanket a little.
“Can I … can I ask you something personal?” She asked, which made me feel a bit conflicted. On the one hand, I didn’t like lying to her at all, but on the other I was always troubled with denying her any request.
“Whatever it is.” I thus answered, hoping her questions didn’t bore too deeply into my messed up existence.
“I have never asked how it feels to … to thirst for blood.” She said quietly and completely unsure if her question wasn’t a bit over the top.
“It’s different from your thirst, that’s for sure. It’s never going away fully no matter how much animal blood I drink.” Or human blood for that matter. “It’s more like a desire to indulge in it …” I was honestly on a never ending thirst for blood, even though I didn’t need to drink it when I had an out of body experience.
“But I read that other vampires were fine after having their fill.” And so did Tom and Albert.
“I’m not like the others … not even remotely.” Too much messed with my real race. I even had a hard time to differentiate between my vampiric thirst for blood and my … other blood thirst.
“I’m sorry … I didn’t know that.” She admitted, saddened by a fact I didn’t want her to know for that very reason.
“Don’t be. It’s not your fault and neither is it something you need to concern yourself with.” I said, hoping she would let it be and rather smile happily like usual.
“I know … but I still want to help.” She said which made me cuddle her affectionately.
“Thank you.” I mumbled, pressing my lips onto her scalp.
“Lu … can I touch them?” She asked, looking into my eyes after I had made a mess out of her hairs.
“Hmm?” I asked not entirely sure what she wanted.
“Your teeth.” She stated glancing towards my lips with interest.
“Aren’t you scared?” I asked and pulled her further upwards so that her head was right next to mine.
“No? I’m safe with you, that’s for sure.” Once again, she proved her faith in me by not scaring away as I opened my mouth wide and leaned my head back a little. For the first time, she caught a glimpse of my canines which made her look at them in awe.
Without any fear in her eyes, she bought her right hand to my lips and touched my right canine with her index finger. She touched my flesh a little, but soon went downwards on it until she reached the sharp end.
“It’s like a normal teeth.” She admitted, which was exactly what my canines where. A longer, sharper and sturdier version, but it was still a teeth.
“Ischetanyis.” I mumbled, too scared to speak properly because I didn’t want to hurt her accidentally.
“Oh sorry.” She said and pulled her finger out of my mouth while giggling happily. Giggling along, I soon found my forehead against her sweaty one, our eyes mere centimetres from each other away.
“I want to show you something …” She muttered and looked downwards in between our bodies. The tips of her fingers touched each other before she pulled them a bit away. Then, she closed her eyes and concentrated. For minutes, nothing happened but then suddenly, a blue orb appeared between her hands for a second before it collapsed into itself. The backlash came immediately as Luna coughed up a bit of blood onto my shoulder while I patted her back in surprise and shock.
“Luna … that is …” Her magic. One which couldn’t be replicated by the system or anyone else. It was the power to see into the future based on what she knew. She was by no means capable of predicting everything, but it would allow her to see the truth sometimes. A dangerous ability for me, but also insanely useful.
“I did it! And … I’m sorry for the blood.” She mumbled, already cleaning my shoulder in a hurry.
“What have you seen?” I asked gleefully and looked into her exited eyes.
“That you will hug me!” That much was a no brainier. I immediately swung myself over her and hugged her tightly while burrowing my nose into her nape.
“Luna … please don’t leave me.” I muttered quietly, very close to tearing up for some reason.
“I won’t.” She said and patted my back while I went deep into me and decided to share a secret with her.
“I … I want to tell you a secret. One that will explain why I cannot bear to lose you. There is a cycle of reincarnation in every world. The only real connection to this world is through purgatory where every soul lands after dying. There, they can heal their wounds and be reborn without their memories. Usually, they retain their appearance and personality …” I explained and looked down on her face a few centimetres away from mine.
“What do you want to say?” She asked curiously, not exactly following what I wanted to say.
“You were there … two hundred years ago. You were the first one I could call my friend and till this day, you are my best friend.” I explained, grabbing her shoulders while remembering how her corpse burned in this cursed tent she died in, infested by parasitic worms.
“I was … what?”
“You have sacrificed your life for me, because you have seen something with your magic. Till this day, I don’t know for sure what it was … but it is still a fact you did everything for me.” I said, crying tears of sadness, but also relief onto her cheeks.
“Lu … that’s …” She said, gently swiping the tears off my cheeks.
“Unbelievable? Yes … but it’s the truth. And part of the truth is also that I only survived through your actions. Actions speak louder than words Luna … and your actions still echo in my heart to this very day.” I explained and hugged her tightly. I knew for sure that I couldn’t bear losing her a second time. Back during my first time on Solaris, I was still somewhat stable but that changed near the end drastically. Truthfully, I wasn’t sure how I would react this time if I even could accept her death once more.
So warm … dressed in a prim and proper nightgown, I woke up as my pillow stirred beneath me.
“Lu …” Luna mumbled still drunken on sleep while I rolled off her and stared at the ceiling. “Lu … how was your night?”
“Oh? It was kind of nice. I played board games with Sebastian … you should have seen his face as I won chess twelve times in a row.” I answered and giggled a little, waking Hannah up in the process. Naturally, I didn’t tell her that I murdered someone just to have a bit of fun. She … wouldn’t take that well.
“Oh … time to stand up I guess.” Hannah mumbled, rubbing her eyes as someone rang a bell. And so, we quickly changed into regular clothing and joined the others in eating breakfast. Gregory obviously complained straight away and I could see that the others weren’t exactly glad about the quality either as the taste was worse than canteen food. Gruel with crackers … and that was it.
Well, it kept us alive and was easy to transport, so there was that. And afterwards, we began the second day of our journey high spirited. Riding on a white stallion, I was in the centre of the formation with Louis and Luna by my side. Hannah was at the tip of the centre while the four idiots were riding further ahead, securing the way for us. And behind us, around three hundred fifty adventurers formed the end of the column, securing all the necessary carts we used to carry rations.
Hannah’s troops, or rather what the constable made out of them was half a day ahead, making sure the roads were passable and on lookout for any traps.
But it did seem they still left us a few ‘challenges’ behind.
“Lucy, there is a goblin nest ahead.” Sofie shouted, galloping back towards us quickly. Raising my eyebrow, I thought about the implications and frowned a little as I didn’t get it. Goblins wouldn’t attack this caravan, they were a bit too intelligent for that.
“Okay and …” I asked, slowly realising why she may have come back. The problem wasn’t the goblins per se, but rather the team which had found it.
“Schwarz is already fighting them.” Yep … that’s what I assumed back then. Sighing quietly, I nodded towards Luna who then waved a red flag while we stopped our horses. Sofie immediately galloped back to the place they found the nest with half of the adventurers following her on foot.
I wanted to join as well, but sadly that was not the task of a queen. I had to stay back and keep the men motivated and guided, especially because I couldn’t find a satisfying general and thus decided to share the burden with Hannah.
But that day, it wasn’t an issue as the threat was dealt with after an hour or so … which sadly meant we needed to hurry up more. Well, it wasn’t my decision so I wasn’t even listening to the complaining adventurers afterwards, but rather soothed them with general statements like ‘I’m sure the church will take care of your exhaustion’ … or something along these lines.
And honestly, except the griffon we saw high above us, there wasn’t anything else noteworthy on the first day of travelling. But even then, we were all quite glad as we arrived at a church whose patron was the god of fire. It was a tall building, situated on the outskirts of a city which allowed us to enter without much of a parade. Still, it was indeed quite awesome they had made place for every adventurer somewhere, even though most naturally couldn’t go into the church.
In fact, most of the warm building was rather vacant except for the staff and us apparently.
But hey … they did have several hot tubs in the cellar … which was nice I guess? The bathtubs in the capital were mostly lukewarm at best, or so I was told.
“Come on! At least dip your toes into the water? You are going to like it for sure!” Ellie said, already melting thanks to all the heat while I merely sat on a stool, a blanket wrapped around my whole body.
“Oh no, I’m fine. Just enjoy the bubbling hot water. It’s not going to be often you guys can experience that.” I explained gently while watching how Hannah cleaned Luna’s hair carefully.
“Fine …” Ellie said and vanished underneath the waterline. Suddenly, I heard a rather loud discussion over the wall which didn’t go to the ceiling. Besides this little compartments were the three boys, surely competing or arguing about something stupid.
“Hey, is everything okay over there?” Sofie asked what I didn’t want to. There was no doubt their quarrel would ruin the mood in this room.
“Schwarz wanted to peek!” Louis said loudly which made me chuckle a little.
“I did not?” Schwarz shouted back, clearly jumping back into the water going by the sounds. Giggling, I held my breath only as the girls looked at me in confusion.
“What? They are young. Let them have their fun.” I explained myself which got me even more questioning gazes.
“You sound like a grandma sometimes.” Ellie judged which actually hurt a little.
“I … I’m not that old?” I said and crossed my arms in front of my chest a bit bummed out.
“Right … you are older than my grandma.” Ellie commented and laughed a little while yo got even more defensive.
“Ouch. But in my heart, I’m still young!” I exclaimed unhappily.
“Said every old person ever.” Ellie joked on, not realising that she actually hurt my feelings a little.
“Stop being so mean, Ellie.” Sofie interjected and tickled Ellie’s sides a little which made the subject of her attack laugh uncontrollably.
Smiling a bit thankful, I leaned my back against the wall and closed my eyes. It was indeed quite hot in this room, but also distinctly different from the warmth I was seeking out so often. Even though they should be the same, one was speaking to my soul, while the other was just warming up my body. But even then, I merely felt this shitty difference instead of the real deal. I couldn’t feel the part of Irminsul inside Sofie, not even remotely. She was warmer than the others, but that was about it.
Well, I barely had any time to think about it as Luna took my hands shortly afterwards and smiled brightly.
“What are you brooding about?” She asked while pulling me up from the stool.
“Not much …” I mumbled a bit surprised as she pulled me out of the room in the one opposite of the woman’s bath. This room was furnished with a few wide wooden couches and a magical apparatus in the middle which was already filling the room with hot steam. Luna giggled a little as she pulled me towards one of these couches and laid down on it while making sure her blanked stayed in place. Extending both of her hands towards me, I smiled a little as I allowed her to embrace me tightly.
We rolled around a little until she finally settled by my side, hugging me tightly with one arm and laying her head on my shoulder.
“I would have never imagined I would be best friend with a vampire someday.” She whispered quietly and rubbed her cheek on my skin lovingly.
“And I could have never dreamed of having you as well.” I said, caressing her side from over the blanket a little.
“Can I … can I ask you something personal?” She asked, which made me feel a bit conflicted. On the one hand, I didn’t like lying to her at all, but on the other I was always troubled with denying her any request.
“Whatever it is.” I thus answered, hoping her questions didn’t bore too deeply into my messed up existence.
“I have never asked how it feels to … to thirst for blood.” She said quietly and completely unsure if her question wasn’t a bit over the top.
“It’s different from your thirst, that’s for sure. It’s never going away fully no matter how much animal blood I drink.” Or human blood for that matter. “It’s more like a desire to indulge in it …” I was honestly on a never ending thirst for blood, even though I didn’t need to drink it when I had an out of body experience.
“But I read that other vampires were fine after having their fill.” And so did Tom and Albert.
“I’m not like the others … not even remotely.” Too much messed with my real race. I even had a hard time to differentiate between my vampiric thirst for blood and my … other blood thirst.
“I’m sorry … I didn’t know that.” She admitted, saddened by a fact I didn’t want her to know for that very reason.
“Don’t be. It’s not your fault and neither is it something you need to concern yourself with.” I said, hoping she would let it be and rather smile happily like usual.
“I know … but I still want to help.” She said which made me cuddle her affectionately.
“Thank you.” I mumbled, pressing my lips onto her scalp.
“Lu … can I touch them?” She asked, looking into my eyes after I had made a mess out of her hairs.
“Hmm?” I asked not entirely sure what she wanted.
“Your teeth.” She stated glancing towards my lips with interest.
“Aren’t you scared?” I asked and pulled her further upwards so that her head was right next to mine.
“No? I’m safe with you, that’s for sure.” Once again, she proved her faith in me by not scaring away as I opened my mouth wide and leaned my head back a little. For the first time, she caught a glimpse of my canines which made her look at them in awe.
Without any fear in her eyes, she bought her right hand to my lips and touched my right canine with her index finger. She touched my flesh a little, but soon went downwards on it until she reached the sharp end.
“It’s like a normal teeth.” She admitted, which was exactly what my canines where. A longer, sharper and sturdier version, but it was still a teeth.
“Ischetanyis.” I mumbled, too scared to speak properly because I didn’t want to hurt her accidentally.
“Oh sorry.” She said and pulled her finger out of my mouth while giggling happily. Giggling along, I soon found my forehead against her sweaty one, our eyes mere centimetres from each other away.
“I want to show you something …” She muttered and looked downwards in between our bodies. The tips of her fingers touched each other before she pulled them a bit away. Then, she closed her eyes and concentrated. For minutes, nothing happened but then suddenly, a blue orb appeared between her hands for a second before it collapsed into itself. The backlash came immediately as Luna coughed up a bit of blood onto my shoulder while I patted her back in surprise and shock.
“Luna … that is …” Her magic. One which couldn’t be replicated by the system or anyone else. It was the power to see into the future based on what she knew. She was by no means capable of predicting everything, but it would allow her to see the truth sometimes. A dangerous ability for me, but also insanely useful.
“I did it! And … I’m sorry for the blood.” She mumbled, already cleaning my shoulder in a hurry.
“What have you seen?” I asked gleefully and looked into her exited eyes.
“That you will hug me!” That much was a no brainier. I immediately swung myself over her and hugged her tightly while burrowing my nose into her nape.
“Luna … please don’t leave me.” I muttered quietly, very close to tearing up for some reason.
“I won’t.” She said and patted my back while I went deep into me and decided to share a secret with her.
“I … I want to tell you a secret. One that will explain why I cannot bear to lose you. There is a cycle of reincarnation in every world. The only real connection to this world is through purgatory where every soul lands after dying. There, they can heal their wounds and be reborn without their memories. Usually, they retain their appearance and personality …” I explained and looked down on her face a few centimetres away from mine.
“What do you want to say?” She asked curiously, not exactly following what I wanted to say.
“You were there … two hundred years ago. You were the first one I could call my friend and till this day, you are my best friend.” I explained, grabbing her shoulders while remembering how her corpse burned in this cursed tent she died in, infested by parasitic worms.
“I was … what?”
“You have sacrificed your life for me, because you have seen something with your magic. Till this day, I don’t know for sure what it was … but it is still a fact you did everything for me.” I said, crying tears of sadness, but also relief onto her cheeks.
“Lu … that’s …” She said, gently swiping the tears off my cheeks.
“Unbelievable? Yes … but it’s the truth. And part of the truth is also that I only survived through your actions. Actions speak louder than words Luna … and your actions still echo in my heart to this very day.” I explained and hugged her tightly. I knew for sure that I couldn’t bear losing her a second time. Back during my first time on Solaris, I was still somewhat stable but that changed near the end drastically. Truthfully, I wasn’t sure how I would react this time if I even could accept her death once more.
