Chapter 101: The Dead Should Be Buried
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"Would you be returning to the King of Faldenhorf?" Leron asked, rubbing his eyes as he saw Yulio putting down the sheets he gave him in front of him.
He was right. He can't hear the sound of pouring rain, anymore, and the sunbeams that pass through the small holes of the cave promise of a beautiful, clear weather. He stretched his arms feeling quite positive of today because of it, but there is still the fact that his old friend would have to leave, and they too as well, going separate ways.
Even if they got off the wrong foot last night, Yulio's actions were understandable. He too like Vladstin, suffered a lot, and from what he learned of the events that turn bigger and bigger like a snowball rolling into a much destructive force, suffering can make people do incredibly catastrophic things that you couldn't have expected.
So he does not feel wary of him, only sympathetic and sad for him.
"En." Yulio just answered with a grunt, and left the tent.
As soon as he opened the partition, he was met with the other two, wide awake and with one aiming a dagger at him while the other just bearing his clawed hand.
"Good morning, Yulio. The weather's not bad today, your forecast is correct." Vladstin said with a smile, his sharp fingers curled in both an intimidating and sophisticated way.
"Why were you in his Highness' tent?" Sangfroid flashed the dagger horizontally on his neck.
Yulio was unbothered. His eyes were lazy and a little puffy, like he was in no mood to interact with these young people. "I just returned the beddings he gave me. I will be leaving."
He pushed Sangfroid away, and limped with a droopy head.
"Yulio, wait!" Leron came out of the tent. "Why don't you consider joining us to find the Hermit? I know you don't believe in them, but there is still a chance, right? That way, you would not be bound by the King of Faldenhorf."
Vladstin added: "Yes, your main purpose of serving him has become void anyway, right? You can't take revenge, so why keep being his slave?"
Yulio turned to them, eyes looking unsure. He truly looks like a lost ghost, and he does feel like one. A phantom with nowhere to go. And the only place he know as a home was under servitude for the King along with his fellow man-hounds.
He did consider it, but found his heart too tired to test the unknown.
"If I were to break this curse, I need to do it with my whole pack. Can the Hermit transform all of us back to human? Nothing is for free, he would need resources, or something in exchange for it. And I don't think all of us hounds will come into agreement." Yulio sadly smiled. "Thank you for the offer, though."
He waved to them. "I wish you three a good and satisfying travel."
By that, he meant a good and satisfying end, that he did not receive.
With this encounter being finished in such a mix of emotions, leaving all of them unsatisfied, they left the cave and continue their journey again. Even if they want to ponder and dawdle longer, the pages never stop turning, and time never waited for them. The only direction to go is forward.
They're already halfway through their arranged time period, and they could see the Libitinous Mountain getting nearer and nearer each day, yet feeling more and more distant from all the mysterious events that only left them with a few tangled threads.
------------------------
"I don't feel so serene." Vladstin suddenly said as they were going into a clearing.
"Why?"
"Why?"
Leron asked with worry, while Sangfroid asked with the suspicion for it being a start of a dry, not-well-made joke.
"It's the air." Vladstin gestured around. "There's something.... Cough.... About it..."
He then looked above the sky. It was nighttime, yet they were still traveling because they have to make up for the days they spent in the cave. Besides, the wolves are pretty nice to sleep on with their fluffy coats, and they're cleaning-free too. You don't need to set them up like tents.
They had been going on like this, and the humans are doing quite well with traveling without taking any breaks. You would expect the vampire lord to be the last to be affected by it, yet here he was, holding his head and coughing and wheezing.
He felt his head closing in one itself, pulsating... His enhanced sense had gone clearer, he can hear the cicadas, and the fluttering of fireflies, but the next second, he can't even hear his own breathing at all. It felt like his insides would soon implode and pour out of him....
"Vladstin! Vladstin, you're bleeding!" Leron exclaimed.
But the vampire lord kept looking at the night sky, with a strange expression on his face. He spoke in a fugue-like trance. "There are two moons tonight....."
"He can't seem to hear us." Sangfroid waved a hand on his face. "Wake up, you're bleeding through all your orifices."
It was true, thick, crimson blood flowed through his eyes, his nose, his mouth, his ears, and even the gaps of his nails... Drip, drip, drip... But Vladstin only had a sense of nostalgia for the sound, both melancholic and euphoric.
"Why is this happening!?" Leron felt a great trepidation from seeing his beloved in this state.
Sangfroid looked around, and notice a stone coffin not so far away. There was more, scattered around them, with dead leaves and mist surrounding them. There was a sort of eerie call just from the sight of them.
"This must be the vampire lord's tombstones, Xendros personally buried them here." The former Chief Huntsman informed them. "The Bishop taught us that there are many seals here to stop any possible escape in case they come back to life for good measure.... Perhaps that is what is causing Vladstin to be like this."
"He slit the throats of sheep and burn the remains....." Vladstin muttered. "He drew a symbol of a cross over the sky, and their head..... Burying the dead forever..... mask on their face....."
Sangfroid was apprehensive. "How did you know about the kaverkai seal.... about all that?"
"I can see him." The Vampire Lord answered, though it did not feel like a response to Sangfroid. It was like he was still narrating to himself, encased in a bubble of his own separate from the two humans. "He bowed to them, one by one, like an old friend he lost... Chrysalis, everything's changing, soon enemies, soon lovers, soon back to nothing...."
He turned to them both, but in a way like he's not really looking at them with those bloody tears. When he spoke, more of the sanguine liquid flowed on the side of his lips.
It was a horrifying sight.
But the humans were used to it. Or at least, one was, while the other is learning to stomach more and more grotesque visages.
Leron looked at Sangfroid, his eyes asking him what to do, but Sangfroid just shook his head. Leron doesn't know what that meant, but he waited.
Vladstin remained smiling blankly at them, unblinking.
"There's always three bounded by love and lies and hate.... Always three." The Vampire Lord said, and dismounted off his wolf.
Leron wanted to speak and follow him, but Sangfroid gently placed a hand over his chest, a gesture telling him to wait a bit more. Leron nodded wordlessly, still at a loss, and they slowly followed where Vladstin was heading.
What Vladstin was seeing was different from them.
First, he saw a pinprick of light. The light was swimming in darkness, and it starts to rotate, and rotate, and rotate, until you do not know where the light ends and the darkness is, a Big Gray.
The grayness is not constant throughout, there are always lighter parts, and darker parts. But his focus was drawn to the darker, the Shades.
The Shades come in all sorts of hues, but they are always dark, corrupted, and rotten. They seek to also blacken those they touch. But since everything is the Big Gray, that does not mean that the Shades are pure black. They were former light colors that were touched by the darkness more than the rest.
The Shades reach out to all kinds of life, to humans and animals and plants and everything beyond. But they always favored humans, because of their complicated minds.
Because of their emotions.
There are certain emotions that match a Shade. There are certain people that, after their metamorphoses, their time to get out of the cocoon, will exhibit an emotion stronger than the rest.
Golden love... dandelions shades of happiness. This isn't the Shades color. The Shades' color.....
Is that of the mysterious yellow moon. A yellow that is cold, gold that is not precious nor shining, yet beaming nonetheless.
There was the moon of the past, and the moon of the present. The moon shining upon them now, the moon shining upon this scene.
A man carrying something on his back, his face forlorn. He was all alone, walking sluggishly to bring this thing into a marble cage in the woods.
"So many dead....." He muttered to himself. "And it's all my fault. If only I believed you."
The thing he is carrying did not answer.
"But you must understand. The dead should stay dead. The buried must remain buried. It is what God has willed."
Still no answer.
He gently laid down the thing wrapped in several pieces of cloth.
The moon of the present shine down on Vladstin as he halted and pushed a vampire lord's tombstone. Leron and Sangfroid peered with him as well.
The moon of the past is shown on the object laid in there. Vladstin watched it become unwrapped, anticipating like a boy who is anticipating for his present...
And there was nothing there. Nothing but a scarecrow filled with more hay to form the figure of a man, and wearing a condescending smile on its face.
The dead did not die nor get buried like it was supposed to.
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"Would you be returning to the King of Faldenhorf?" Leron asked, rubbing his eyes as he saw Yulio putting down the sheets he gave him in front of him.
He was right. He can't hear the sound of pouring rain, anymore, and the sunbeams that pass through the small holes of the cave promise of a beautiful, clear weather. He stretched his arms feeling quite positive of today because of it, but there is still the fact that his old friend would have to leave, and they too as well, going separate ways.
Even if they got off the wrong foot last night, Yulio's actions were understandable. He too like Vladstin, suffered a lot, and from what he learned of the events that turn bigger and bigger like a snowball rolling into a much destructive force, suffering can make people do incredibly catastrophic things that you couldn't have expected.
So he does not feel wary of him, only sympathetic and sad for him.
"En." Yulio just answered with a grunt, and left the tent.
As soon as he opened the partition, he was met with the other two, wide awake and with one aiming a dagger at him while the other just bearing his clawed hand.
"Good morning, Yulio. The weather's not bad today, your forecast is correct." Vladstin said with a smile, his sharp fingers curled in both an intimidating and sophisticated way.
"Why were you in his Highness' tent?" Sangfroid flashed the dagger horizontally on his neck.
Yulio was unbothered. His eyes were lazy and a little puffy, like he was in no mood to interact with these young people. "I just returned the beddings he gave me. I will be leaving."
He pushed Sangfroid away, and limped with a droopy head.
"Yulio, wait!" Leron came out of the tent. "Why don't you consider joining us to find the Hermit? I know you don't believe in them, but there is still a chance, right? That way, you would not be bound by the King of Faldenhorf."
Vladstin added: "Yes, your main purpose of serving him has become void anyway, right? You can't take revenge, so why keep being his slave?"
Yulio turned to them, eyes looking unsure. He truly looks like a lost ghost, and he does feel like one. A phantom with nowhere to go. And the only place he know as a home was under servitude for the King along with his fellow man-hounds.
He did consider it, but found his heart too tired to test the unknown.
"If I were to break this curse, I need to do it with my whole pack. Can the Hermit transform all of us back to human? Nothing is for free, he would need resources, or something in exchange for it. And I don't think all of us hounds will come into agreement." Yulio sadly smiled. "Thank you for the offer, though."
He waved to them. "I wish you three a good and satisfying travel."
By that, he meant a good and satisfying end, that he did not receive.
With this encounter being finished in such a mix of emotions, leaving all of them unsatisfied, they left the cave and continue their journey again. Even if they want to ponder and dawdle longer, the pages never stop turning, and time never waited for them. The only direction to go is forward.
They're already halfway through their arranged time period, and they could see the Libitinous Mountain getting nearer and nearer each day, yet feeling more and more distant from all the mysterious events that only left them with a few tangled threads.
------------------------
"I don't feel so serene." Vladstin suddenly said as they were going into a clearing.
"Why?"
"Why?"
Leron asked with worry, while Sangfroid asked with the suspicion for it being a start of a dry, not-well-made joke.
"It's the air." Vladstin gestured around. "There's something.... Cough.... About it..."
He then looked above the sky. It was nighttime, yet they were still traveling because they have to make up for the days they spent in the cave. Besides, the wolves are pretty nice to sleep on with their fluffy coats, and they're cleaning-free too. You don't need to set them up like tents.
They had been going on like this, and the humans are doing quite well with traveling without taking any breaks. You would expect the vampire lord to be the last to be affected by it, yet here he was, holding his head and coughing and wheezing.
He felt his head closing in one itself, pulsating... His enhanced sense had gone clearer, he can hear the cicadas, and the fluttering of fireflies, but the next second, he can't even hear his own breathing at all. It felt like his insides would soon implode and pour out of him....
"Vladstin! Vladstin, you're bleeding!" Leron exclaimed.
But the vampire lord kept looking at the night sky, with a strange expression on his face. He spoke in a fugue-like trance. "There are two moons tonight....."
"He can't seem to hear us." Sangfroid waved a hand on his face. "Wake up, you're bleeding through all your orifices."
It was true, thick, crimson blood flowed through his eyes, his nose, his mouth, his ears, and even the gaps of his nails... Drip, drip, drip... But Vladstin only had a sense of nostalgia for the sound, both melancholic and euphoric.
"Why is this happening!?" Leron felt a great trepidation from seeing his beloved in this state.
Sangfroid looked around, and notice a stone coffin not so far away. There was more, scattered around them, with dead leaves and mist surrounding them. There was a sort of eerie call just from the sight of them.
"This must be the vampire lord's tombstones, Xendros personally buried them here." The former Chief Huntsman informed them. "The Bishop taught us that there are many seals here to stop any possible escape in case they come back to life for good measure.... Perhaps that is what is causing Vladstin to be like this."
"He slit the throats of sheep and burn the remains....." Vladstin muttered. "He drew a symbol of a cross over the sky, and their head..... Burying the dead forever..... mask on their face....."
Sangfroid was apprehensive. "How did you know about the kaverkai seal.... about all that?"
"I can see him." The Vampire Lord answered, though it did not feel like a response to Sangfroid. It was like he was still narrating to himself, encased in a bubble of his own separate from the two humans. "He bowed to them, one by one, like an old friend he lost... Chrysalis, everything's changing, soon enemies, soon lovers, soon back to nothing...."
He turned to them both, but in a way like he's not really looking at them with those bloody tears. When he spoke, more of the sanguine liquid flowed on the side of his lips.
It was a horrifying sight.
But the humans were used to it. Or at least, one was, while the other is learning to stomach more and more grotesque visages.
Leron looked at Sangfroid, his eyes asking him what to do, but Sangfroid just shook his head. Leron doesn't know what that meant, but he waited.
Vladstin remained smiling blankly at them, unblinking.
"There's always three bounded by love and lies and hate.... Always three." The Vampire Lord said, and dismounted off his wolf.
Leron wanted to speak and follow him, but Sangfroid gently placed a hand over his chest, a gesture telling him to wait a bit more. Leron nodded wordlessly, still at a loss, and they slowly followed where Vladstin was heading.
What Vladstin was seeing was different from them.
First, he saw a pinprick of light. The light was swimming in darkness, and it starts to rotate, and rotate, and rotate, until you do not know where the light ends and the darkness is, a Big Gray.
The grayness is not constant throughout, there are always lighter parts, and darker parts. But his focus was drawn to the darker, the Shades.
The Shades come in all sorts of hues, but they are always dark, corrupted, and rotten. They seek to also blacken those they touch. But since everything is the Big Gray, that does not mean that the Shades are pure black. They were former light colors that were touched by the darkness more than the rest.
The Shades reach out to all kinds of life, to humans and animals and plants and everything beyond. But they always favored humans, because of their complicated minds.
Because of their emotions.
There are certain emotions that match a Shade. There are certain people that, after their metamorphoses, their time to get out of the cocoon, will exhibit an emotion stronger than the rest.
Golden love... dandelions shades of happiness. This isn't the Shades color. The Shades' color.....
Is that of the mysterious yellow moon. A yellow that is cold, gold that is not precious nor shining, yet beaming nonetheless.
There was the moon of the past, and the moon of the present. The moon shining upon them now, the moon shining upon this scene.
A man carrying something on his back, his face forlorn. He was all alone, walking sluggishly to bring this thing into a marble cage in the woods.
"So many dead....." He muttered to himself. "And it's all my fault. If only I believed you."
The thing he is carrying did not answer.
"But you must understand. The dead should stay dead. The buried must remain buried. It is what God has willed."
Still no answer.
He gently laid down the thing wrapped in several pieces of cloth.
The moon of the present shine down on Vladstin as he halted and pushed a vampire lord's tombstone. Leron and Sangfroid peered with him as well.
The moon of the past is shown on the object laid in there. Vladstin watched it become unwrapped, anticipating like a boy who is anticipating for his present...
And there was nothing there. Nothing but a scarecrow filled with more hay to form the figure of a man, and wearing a condescending smile on its face.
The dead did not die nor get buried like it was supposed to.
"Would you be returning to the King of Faldenhorf?" Leron asked, rubbing his eyes as he saw Yulio putting down the sheets he gave him in front of him.He was right. He can't hear the sound of pouring rain, anymore, and the sunbeams that pass through the small holes of the cave promise of a beautiful, clear weather. He stretched his arms feeling quite positive of today because of it, but there is still the fact that his old friend would have to leave, and they too as well, going separate ways.Even if they got off the wrong foot last night, Yulio's actions were understandable. He too like Vladstin, suffered a lot, and from what he learned of the events that turn bigger and bigger like a snowball rolling into a much destructive force, suffering can make people do incredibly catastrophic things that you couldn't have expected.So he does not feel wary of him, only sympathetic and sad for him."En." Yulio just answered with a grunt, and left the tent.As soon as he opened the partition, he was met with the other two, wide awake and with one aiming a dagger at him while the other just bearing his clawed hand."Good morning, Yulio. The weather's not bad today, your forecast is correct." Vladstin said with a smile, his sharp fingers curled in both an intimidating and sophisticated way."Why were you in his Highness' tent?" Sangfroid flashed the dagger horizontally on his neck.Yulio was unbothered. His eyes were lazy and a little puffy, like he was in no mood to interact with these young people. "I just returned the beddings he gave me. I will be leaving."He pushed Sangfroid away, and limped with a droopy head."Yulio, wait!" Leron came out of the tent. "Why don't you consider joining us to find the Hermit? I know you don't believe in them, but there is still a chance, right? That way, you would not be bound by the King of Faldenhorf."Vladstin added: "Yes, your main purpose of serving him has become void anyway, right?You can't take revenge, so why keep being his slave?"Yulio turned to them, eyes looking unsure. He truly looks like a lost ghost, and he does feel like one. A phantom with nowhere to go. And the only place he know as a home was under servitude for the King along with his fellow man-hounds.He did consider it, but found his heart too tired to test the unknown."If I were to break this curse, I need to do it with my whole pack. Can the Hermit transform all of us back to human? Nothing is for free, he would need resources, or something in exchange for it. And I don't think all of us hounds will come into agreement." Yulio sadly smiled. "Thank you for the offer, though."He waved to them. "I wish you three a good and satisfying travel."By that, he meant a good and satisfying end, that he did not receive.With this encounter being finished in such a mix of emotions, leaving all of them unsatisfied, they left the cave and continue their journey again. Even if they want to ponder and dawdle longer, the pages never stop turning, and time never waited for them. The only direction to go is forward.They're already halfway through their arranged time period, and they could see the Libitinous Mountain getting nearer and nearer each day, yet feeling more and more distant from all the mysterious events that only left them with a few tangled threads.------------------------"I don't feel so serene." Vladstin suddenly said as they were going into a clearing."Why?""Why?"Leron asked with worry, while Sangfroid asked with the suspicion for it being a start of a dry, not-well-made joke."It's the air." Vladstin gestured around. "There's something.... Cough.... About it..."He then looked above the sky. It was nighttime, yet they were still traveling because they have to make up for the days they spent in the cave. Besides, the wolves are pretty nice to sleep on with their fluffy coats, and they're cleaning-free too. You don't need to set them up like tents.They had been going on like this, and the humans are doing quite well with traveling without taking any breaks. You would expect the vampire lord to be the last to be affected by it, yet here he was, holding his head and coughing and wheezing.He felt his head closing in one itself, pulsating... His enhanced sense had gone clearer, he can hear the cicadas, and the fluttering of fireflies, but the next second, he can't even hear his own breathing at all. It felt like his insides would soon implode and pour out of him...."Vladstin! Vladstin, you're bleeding!" Leron exclaimed.But the vampire lord kept looking at the night sky, with a strange expression on his face. He spoke in a fugue-like trance. "There are two moons tonight.....""He can't seem to hear us." Sangfroid waved a hand on his face. "Wake up, you're bleeding through all your orifices."It was true, thick, crimson blood flowed through his eyes, his nose, his mouth, his ears, and even the gaps of his nails... Drip, drip, drip... But Vladstin only had a sense of nostalgia for the sound, both melancholic and euphoric."Why is this happening!?" Leron felt a great trepidation from seeing his beloved in this state.Sangfroid looked around, and notice a stone coffin not so far away. There was more, scattered around them, with dead leaves and mist surrounding them. There was a sort of eerie call just from the sight of them."This must be the vampire lord's tombstones, Xendros personally buried them here." The former Chief Huntsman informed them. "The Bishop taught us that there are many seals here to stop any possible escape in case they come back to life for good measure.... Perhaps that is what is causing Vladstin to be like this.""He slit the throats of sheep and burn the remains....." Vladstin muttered. "He drew a symbol of a cross over the sky, and their head..... Burying the dead forever..... mask on their face....."Sangfroid was apprehensive. "How did you know about the kaverkai seal.... about all that?""I can see him." The Vampire Lord answered, though it did not feel like a response to Sangfroid. It was like he was still narrating to himself, encased in a bubble of his own separate from the two humans. "He bowed to them, one by one, like an old friend he lost... Chrysalis, everything's changing, soon enemies, soon lovers, soon back to nothing...."He turned to them both, but in a way like he's not really looking at them with those bloody tears. When he spoke, more of the sanguine liquid flowed on the side of his lips.It was a horrifying sight.But the humans were used to it. Or at least, one was, while the other is learning to stomach more and more grotesque visages.Leron looked at Sangfroid, his eyes asking him what to do, but Sangfroid just shook his head. Leron doesn't know what that meant, but he waited.Vladstin remained smiling blankly at them, unblinking."There's always three bounded by love and lies and hate.... Always three." The Vampire Lord said, and dismounted off his wolf.Leron wanted to speak and follow him, but Sangfroid gently placed a hand over his chest, a gesture telling him to wait a bit more. Leron nodded wordlessly, still at a loss, and they slowly followed where Vladstin was heading.What Vladstin was seeing was different from them.First, he saw a pinprick of light. The light was swimming in darkness, and it starts to rotate, and rotate, and rotate, until you do not know where the light ends and the darkness is, a Big Gray.The grayness is not constant throughout, there are always lighter parts, and darker parts. But his focus was drawn to the darker, the Shades.The Shades come in all sorts of hues, but they are always dark, corrupted, and rotten. They seek to also blacken those they touch. But since everything is the Big Gray, that does not mean that the Shades are pure black. They were former light colors that were touched by the darkness more than the rest.The Shades reach out to all kinds of life, to humans and animals and plants and everything beyond. But they always favored humans, because of their complicated minds.Because of their emotions.There are certain emotions that match a Shade. There are certain people that, after their metamorphoses, their time to get out of the cocoon, will exhibit an emotion stronger than the rest.Golden love... dandelions shades of happiness. This isn't the Shades color. The Shades' color.....Is that of the mysterious yellow moon. A yellow that is cold, gold that is not precious nor shining, yet beaming nonetheless.There was the moon of the past, and the moon of the present. The moon shining upon them now, the moon shining upon this scene.A man carrying something on his back, his face forlorn. He was all alone, walking sluggishly to bring this thing into a marble cage in the woods."So many dead....." He muttered to himself. "And it's all my fault. If only I believed you."The thing he is carrying did not answer."But you must understand. The dead should stay dead. The buried must remain buried. It is what God has willed."Still no answer.He gently laid down the thing wrapped in several pieces of cloth.The moon of the present shine down on Vladstin as he halted and pushed a vampire lord's tombstone. Leron and Sangfroid peered with him as well.The moon of the past is shown on the object laid in there. Vladstin watched it become unwrapped, anticipating like a boy who is anticipating for his present...And there was nothing there. Nothing but a scarecrow filled with more hay to form the figure of a man, and wearing a condescending smile on its face.The dead did not die nor get buried like it was supposed to.
