Chapter 87: The Journey Continues
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The three were left pondering over what the appearance of this fairy meant for them.
"What just happened.....?" Leron asked.
"We got visited by a fairy." Vladstin answered plainly.
"We know that. We're asking why." Sangfroid stomped on the last bit of ashes from the firewood last night.
"What was the Mandrien's purpose? The two of you keep on mentioning a test we didn't pass, and it must be involved with the dream that I had. You were there, and you told me to wake up, so you must know something."
Leron's blue eyes widened. "That's what happened to me too! Though I don't recall the dream clearly as much..... All I know is Vladstin was there and I woke up."
Sangfroid paced back and forth. "Then all of us must have been dreaming. But for what?"
Since the start of the journey, he never once regarded Vladstin straight to the eye. He held so much anger and frustration towards him that he felt just looking at him would bring it all back.
If Vladstin had only run like he told him to with Prince Leron, the deal with the Ilvedians wouldn't have been made.
No, not just that. His hatred runs deeper than what he would like to admit. If Vladstin didn't exist.....
Prince Leron wouldn't have to suffer so much.
He didn't just hate Vladstin's decisions and actions, he hated Vladstin's existence itself.
But now, he had the urge to study Vladstin closely, to meet him face to face. Like a man who had broken a mirror years ago, and was scared to look at it fearing that it will bring bad luck, but then had an unfortunate life without looking at it anyway.
It was futile. The only option was to succumb.
Vladstin has the answers. Vladstin is hiding everything.
"What exactly happened?" Sangfroid clasped him by the shoulder, one purple eye piercing straight through the golden ones. "What do the dreams mean?"
"I don't know either." Vladstin grinned at him. "Min Libitino, you're looking at me so intensely. Have I ever told you that I like—"
"Don't lie! You always lie!" The hunter gripped the vampire harder, his nails digging deep into past the coarse clothing and into the undead flesh.
All of them were shocked by this sudden outburst, even Sangfroid. He rarely raises his voice. The last time he did, back when he was defending the same man that he was accusing of lying to his fellow Huntsmen.....
It did not end well.
He tried to regain his composure, keeping his breathing steady. "All I want is the truth. The whole truth. Just tell us."
Vladstin didn't answer, just holding his gaze for a while. Sangfroid felt like he was locking eyes with a statue. There wasn't a single emotion on his face or a sign of being human.
Because he wasn't one after all.
"Min Libitino....." Vladstin began to speak, now showing hints of the same unsettling fondness towards him. "Your voice sounds beautiful even when you yell. You should make it louder more often, so you can grace the whole world with it."
Sangfroid's patience is running low, and he let out a small grumble. "I give up. If you wouldn't tell me—"
"I'm telling the truth. I do not know." Vladstin said, firmly.
He placed a gruesome, clawed hand delicately on Sangfroid's shoulder. "You say I'm always lying to you..... But since when? I can't recall ever lying to you since we first met. Can you help me jog my memory of when that happened?"
Sangfroid was stunned by this, like he was hit with a splash of cold water.
"Is it that I am lying... Or that you couldn't accept the truths that I say, that's why you always think it must be a lie?" Vladstin smiled at him, a fanged smile. "Min Libitino, I can accept any accusation you give me because you wouldn't be wrong in doing so. You can call me a murderer, a monster, a psychopath..... But I was never a liar."
Leron could only stay at the sidelines from all this, too baffled and confused to speak. But he knew he must resolve the tension between the two soon.
"So you really did not know..... Even when you were involved with the dream, you don't know what they mean." Leron acted like a mediator between the two to keep the peace, separating them and holding on with one hand on either of their shoulders.
"Yes, do dreams even have to have meaning? Do they serve a purpose?" Vladstin tilted his head to the side.
Leron nodded. "I guess not. Therefore, let us not fight anymore. We cannot stall the journey any longer, we need as much time as we can to get to the Hermit."
The Vampire Lord found this reasonable. "Of course, of course. Six months may come in a blur. We're almost at the half of it, even."
He turned to Sangfroid with the same grin that makes you want to punch his face. "Shall we, Min Libitino?"
Sangfroid let go of clasping, his loathing returning when he saw this vampire and his beloved prince so close to each other and coming into an agreement. He scowled, and turned to pack their things.
The trio went on with traveling the perilous woods again fill with unknown adversaries like the one they encountered, along with an army of dead corpses and dead wolves.
--------------------------
The next few days were not filled with excitement like the time they encountered the Fairy King Mandrien. Sangfroid's mind still roamed about it once in a while, but the longer he tried to grasp his dream, the more it eludes him.
"That's just how dreams work, Sangfroid."
He blinked in surprise when Prince Leron suddenly appeared beside him, riding a sapphire-eyed wolf beside his one-eyed one.
"You're still thinking about it, aren't you? But normal dreams also work that way, the harder we try to recall them, the more out of reach it becomes." Leron sighed. "Like everything one yearns for in a miserable life."
"What..... What do you recall?"
Sangfroid was cautious to say anything, but for some reason, he had gained more courage to speak than before.
Perhaps it was because of the dream he cannot remember.
"Incomprehensible details." Leron said. "Fish tails..... A cliff..... A knife..... And, you were there too. Something about butterflies."
Sangfroid's brooding face showed a sign of lightening up a little. "We used to play with butterflies when we were younger. I don't know if you could recall."
"I do. But.... How do I explain.... I'm just aware of it, but I'm disconnected from it. I'm disconnected to it all, the past, before I killed Vladstin." Leron said. "I guess it would be fair to tell you the truth."
Leron gave a full account of him performing brain surgery on himself to get rid of his conscience. He even went as far as to explain everything about the day he killed the Prince of Crescentia, about how he seduced him in bed, tied him up, and stab him in cold blood.
"Before, I didn't even have the capacity to truly feel guilty about it." Leron revealed the scar on his scalp. "Because of this. Vladstin knows. I think I'm recovering, but he wouldn't believe me."
He lightly chuckled, sounding a bit bitter. "How funny. You treat him like a liar, and he treats me like one too. Even when he's telling you the truth, you can't believe him, and I don't blame you. And I don't even blame him if he doesn't believe in me either."
"It's almost a cycle." Leron drew a circle in the air. "The only way to complete it is if I don't believe in you. But that's silly, because I've always believed in you, Sangfroid!"
When Sangfroid was listening to the retelling of his own crimes, he felt like he couldn't stand it. He noticed how easy it was for Leron to just upfront tell him. And it.... It agonizes him.
How can he be so dense? Doesn't he know how much pain he'll bring by revealing such things?
And to laugh it off in the end too. Sangfroid felt in his heart.....
That Leron never acknowledged his feelings for him. Even he thinks that Sangfroid is just like those butterflies.
A fleeting memory.
Not someone who is present, who never left his side.
"The cycle is already complete, Your Highness." Sangfroid said, trying to run away from the pain by making his lupine steed move faster.
Leron was confused by what he meant. Is Sangfroid saying that he doesn't believe in him? Why?
He believed in everything Sangfroid does. He was the one person he knows who would keep at his words and be fair to anyone. To be loyal to his duty....
'You believe in his loyalty, his devotion to you.'
A voice in his head says.
That's right. Had he ever even tried to get to know Sangfroid beyond the character he had given to him. Beyond the childhood friend, beyond the loyal guard, beyond the Noble Hunstman?
Has he ever tried to get to know Sangfroid as a person?
He felt another twinge of guilt in his heart, like a tied knot is starting to unravel, a piece of his frayed nerves connecting together to form empathy. He empathized with Vladstin, but since when had he ever put himself in Sangfroid's shoes?
Since when had he tried to imagine what it felt like to be as loyal as him and yet want nothing in return, ready to accept destruction just to keep him safe?
But when he tried to reach out, it was too late.
Sangfroid and Vladstin are conversing again. They were bickering, bantering, like an old couple that got tired of each other yet somehow had a stronger bond because of all the fighting and making up that they have done.
He could never have something like that with either of them. Because Sangfroid would never pick a fight with him even to correct him when he is wrong.
And Vladstin...
Vladstin had long given up on him, to have anything to do with him, whether that was fighting or loving.
Both of them feel so far away.
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The three were left pondering over what the appearance of this fairy meant for them.
"What just happened.....?" Leron asked.
"We got visited by a fairy." Vladstin answered plainly.
"We know that. We're asking why." Sangfroid stomped on the last bit of ashes from the firewood last night.
"What was the Mandrien's purpose? The two of you keep on mentioning a test we didn't pass, and it must be involved with the dream that I had. You were there, and you told me to wake up, so you must know something."
Leron's blue eyes widened. "That's what happened to me too! Though I don't recall the dream clearly as much..... All I know is Vladstin was there and I woke up."
Sangfroid paced back and forth. "Then all of us must have been dreaming. But for what?"
Since the start of the journey, he never once regarded Vladstin straight to the eye. He held so much anger and frustration towards him that he felt just looking at him would bring it all back.
If Vladstin had only run like he told him to with Prince Leron, the deal with the Ilvedians wouldn't have been made.
No, not just that. His hatred runs deeper than what he would like to admit. If Vladstin didn't exist.....
Prince Leron wouldn't have to suffer so much.
He didn't just hate Vladstin's decisions and actions, he hated Vladstin's existence itself.
But now, he had the urge to study Vladstin closely, to meet him face to face. Like a man who had broken a mirror years ago, and was scared to look at it fearing that it will bring bad luck, but then had an unfortunate life without looking at it anyway.
It was futile. The only option was to succumb.
Vladstin has the answers. Vladstin is hiding everything.
"What exactly happened?" Sangfroid clasped him by the shoulder, one purple eye piercing straight through the golden ones. "What do the dreams mean?"
"I don't know either." Vladstin grinned at him. "Min Libitino, you're looking at me so intensely. Have I ever told you that I like—"
"Don't lie! You always lie!" The hunter gripped the vampire harder, his nails digging deep into past the coarse clothing and into the undead flesh.
All of them were shocked by this sudden outburst, even Sangfroid. He rarely raises his voice. The last time he did, back when he was defending the same man that he was accusing of lying to his fellow Huntsmen.....
It did not end well.
He tried to regain his composure, keeping his breathing steady. "All I want is the truth. The whole truth. Just tell us."
Vladstin didn't answer, just holding his gaze for a while. Sangfroid felt like he was locking eyes with a statue. There wasn't a single emotion on his face or a sign of being human.
Because he wasn't one after all.
"Min Libitino....." Vladstin began to speak, now showing hints of the same unsettling fondness towards him. "Your voice sounds beautiful even when you yell. You should make it louder more often, so you can grace the whole world with it."
Sangfroid's patience is running low, and he let out a small grumble. "I give up. If you wouldn't tell me—"
"I'm telling the truth. I do not know." Vladstin said, firmly.
He placed a gruesome, clawed hand delicately on Sangfroid's shoulder. "You say I'm always lying to you..... But since when? I can't recall ever lying to you since we first met. Can you help me jog my memory of when that happened?"
Sangfroid was stunned by this, like he was hit with a splash of cold water.
"Is it that I am lying... Or that you couldn't accept the truths that I say, that's why you always think it must be a lie?" Vladstin smiled at him, a fanged smile. "Min Libitino, I can accept any accusation you give me because you wouldn't be wrong in doing so. You can call me a murderer, a monster, a psychopath..... But I was never a liar."
Leron could only stay at the sidelines from all this, too baffled and confused to speak. But he knew he must resolve the tension between the two soon.
"So you really did not know..... Even when you were involved with the dream, you don't know what they mean." Leron acted like a mediator between the two to keep the peace, separating them and holding on with one hand on either of their shoulders.
"Yes, do dreams even have to have meaning? Do they serve a purpose?" Vladstin tilted his head to the side.
Leron nodded. "I guess not. Therefore, let us not fight anymore. We cannot stall the journey any longer, we need as much time as we can to get to the Hermit."
The Vampire Lord found this reasonable. "Of course, of course. Six months may come in a blur. We're almost at the half of it, even."
He turned to Sangfroid with the same grin that makes you want to punch his face. "Shall we, Min Libitino?"
Sangfroid let go of clasping, his loathing returning when he saw this vampire and his beloved prince so close to each other and coming into an agreement. He scowled, and turned to pack their things.
The trio went on with traveling the perilous woods again fill with unknown adversaries like the one they encountered, along with an army of dead corpses and dead wolves.
--------------------------
The next few days were not filled with excitement like the time they encountered the Fairy King Mandrien. Sangfroid's mind still roamed about it once in a while, but the longer he tried to grasp his dream, the more it eludes him.
"That's just how dreams work, Sangfroid."
He blinked in surprise when Prince Leron suddenly appeared beside him, riding a sapphire-eyed wolf beside his one-eyed one.
"You're still thinking about it, aren't you? But normal dreams also work that way, the harder we try to recall them, the more out of reach it becomes." Leron sighed. "Like everything one yearns for in a miserable life."
"What..... What do you recall?"
Sangfroid was cautious to say anything, but for some reason, he had gained more courage to speak than before.
Perhaps it was because of the dream he cannot remember.
"Incomprehensible details." Leron said. "Fish tails..... A cliff..... A knife..... And, you were there too. Something about butterflies."
Sangfroid's brooding face showed a sign of lightening up a little. "We used to play with butterflies when we were younger. I don't know if you could recall."
"I do. But.... How do I explain.... I'm just aware of it, but I'm disconnected from it. I'm disconnected to it all, the past, before I killed Vladstin." Leron said. "I guess it would be fair to tell you the truth."
Leron gave a full account of him performing brain surgery on himself to get rid of his conscience. He even went as far as to explain everything about the day he killed the Prince of Crescentia, about how he seduced him in bed, tied him up, and stab him in cold blood.
"Before, I didn't even have the capacity to truly feel guilty about it." Leron revealed the scar on his scalp. "Because of this. Vladstin knows. I think I'm recovering, but he wouldn't believe me."
He lightly chuckled, sounding a bit bitter. "How funny. You treat him like a liar, and he treats me like one too. Even when he's telling you the truth, you can't believe him, and I don't blame you. And I don't even blame him if he doesn't believe in me either."
"It's almost a cycle." Leron drew a circle in the air. "The only way to complete it is if I don't believe in you. But that's silly, because I've always believed in you, Sangfroid!"
When Sangfroid was listening to the retelling of his own crimes, he felt like he couldn't stand it. He noticed how easy it was for Leron to just upfront tell him. And it.... It agonizes him.
How can he be so dense? Doesn't he know how much pain he'll bring by revealing such things?
And to laugh it off in the end too. Sangfroid felt in his heart.....
That Leron never acknowledged his feelings for him. Even he thinks that Sangfroid is just like those butterflies.
A fleeting memory.
Not someone who is present, who never left his side.
"The cycle is already complete, Your Highness." Sangfroid said, trying to run away from the pain by making his lupine steed move faster.
Leron was confused by what he meant. Is Sangfroid saying that he doesn't believe in him? Why?
He believed in everything Sangfroid does. He was the one person he knows who would keep at his words and be fair to anyone. To be loyal to his duty....
'You believe in his loyalty, his devotion to you.'
A voice in his head says.
That's right. Had he ever even tried to get to know Sangfroid beyond the character he had given to him. Beyond the childhood friend, beyond the loyal guard, beyond the Noble Hunstman?
Has he ever tried to get to know Sangfroid as a person?
He felt another twinge of guilt in his heart, like a tied knot is starting to unravel, a piece of his frayed nerves connecting together to form empathy. He empathized with Vladstin, but since when had he ever put himself in Sangfroid's shoes?
Since when had he tried to imagine what it felt like to be as loyal as him and yet want nothing in return, ready to accept destruction just to keep him safe?
But when he tried to reach out, it was too late.
Sangfroid and Vladstin are conversing again. They were bickering, bantering, like an old couple that got tired of each other yet somehow had a stronger bond because of all the fighting and making up that they have done.
He could never have something like that with either of them. Because Sangfroid would never pick a fight with him even to correct him when he is wrong.
And Vladstin...
Vladstin had long given up on him, to have anything to do with him, whether that was fighting or loving.
Both of them feel so far away.
The three were left pondering over what the appearance of this fairy meant for them."What just happened.....?" Leron asked."We got visited by a fairy." Vladstin answered plainly."We know that. We're asking why." Sangfroid stomped on the last bit of ashes from the firewood last night."What was the Mandrien's purpose? The two of you keep on mentioning a test we didn't pass, and it must be involved with the dream that I had. You were there, and you told me to wake up, so you must know something."Leron's blue eyes widened. "That's what happened to me too! Though I don't recall the dream clearly as much..... All I know is Vladstin was there and I woke up."Sangfroid paced back and forth. "Then all of us must have been dreaming. But for what?"Since the start of the journey, he never once regarded Vladstin straight to the eye. He held so much anger and frustration towards him that he felt just looking at him would bring it all back.If Vladstin had only run like he told him to with Prince Leron, the deal with the Ilvedians wouldn't have been made.No, not just that. His hatred runs deeper than what he would like to admit. If Vladstin didn't exist.....Prince Leron wouldn't have to suffer so much.He didn't just hate Vladstin's decisions and actions, he hated Vladstin's existence itself.But now, he had the urge to study Vladstin closely, to meet him face to face. Like a man who had broken a mirror years ago, and was scared to look at it fearing that it will bring bad luck, but then had an unfortunate life without looking at it anyway.It was futile. The only option was to succumb.Vladstin has the answers. Vladstin is hiding everything."What exactly happened?" Sangfroid clasped him by the shoulder, one purple eye piercing straight through the golden ones. "What do the dreams mean?""I don't know either." Vladstin grinned at him. "Min Libitino, you're looking at me so intensely. Have I ever told you that I like""Don't lie! You always lie!" The hunter gripped the vampire harder, his nails digging deep into past the coarse clothing and into the undead flesh.All of them were shocked by this sudden outburst, even Sangfroid. He rarely raises his voice. The last time he did, back when he was defending the same man that he was accusing of lying to his fellow Huntsmen.....It did not end well.He tried to regain his composure, keeping his breathing steady. "All I want is the truth. The whole truth. Just tell us."Vladstin didn't answer, just holding his gaze for a while. Sangfroid felt like he was locking eyes with a statue. There wasn't a single emotion on his face or a sign of being human.Because he wasn't one after all."Min Libitino....." Vladstin began to speak, now showing hints of the same unsettling fondness towards him. "Your voice sounds beautiful even when you yell. You should make it louder more often, so you can grace the whole world with it."Sangfroid's patience is running low, and he let out a small grumble. "I give up. If you wouldn't tell me""I'm telling the truth. I do not know." Vladstin said, firmly.He placed a gruesome, clawed hand delicately on Sangfroid's shoulder. "You say I'm always lying to you..... But since when? I can't recall ever lying to you since we first met. Can you help me jog my memory of when that happened?"Sangfroid was stunned by this, like he was hit with a splash of cold water."Is it that I am lying... Or that you couldn't accept the truths that I say, that's why you always think it must be a lie?" Vladstin smiled at him, a fanged smile. "Min Libitino, I can accept any accusation you give me because you wouldn't be wrong in doing so. You can call me a murderer, a monster, a psychopath..... But I was never a liar."Leron could only stay at the sidelines from all this, too baffled and confused to speak. But he knew he must resolve the tension between the two soon."So you really did not know..... Even when you were involved with the dream, you don't know what they mean." Leron acted like a mediator between the two to keep the peace, separating them and holding on with one hand on either of their shoulders."Yes, do dreams even have to have meaning? Do they serve a purpose?" Vladstin tilted his head to the side.Leron nodded. "I guess not. Therefore, let us not fight anymore. We cannot stall the journey any longer, we need as much time as we can to get to the Hermit."The Vampire Lord found this reasonable. "Of course, of course. Six months may come in a blur. We're almost at the half of it, even."He turned to Sangfroid with the same grin that makes you want to punch his face. "Shall we, Min Libitino?"Sangfroid let go of clasping, his loathing returning when he saw this vampire and his beloved prince so close to each other and coming into an agreement. He scowled, and turned to pack their things.The trio went on with traveling the perilous woods again fill with unknown adversaries like the one they encountered, along with an army of dead corpses and dead wolves.--------------------------The next few days were not filled with excitement like the time they encountered the Fairy King Mandrien. Sangfroid's mind still roamed about it once in a while, but the longer he tried to grasp his dream, the more it eludes him."That's just how dreams work, Sangfroid."He blinked in surprise when Prince Leron suddenly appeared beside him, riding a sapphire-eyed wolf beside his one-eyed one."You're still thinking about it, aren't you? But normal dreams also work that way, the harder we try to recall them, the more out of reach it becomes." Leron sighed. "Like everything one yearns for in a miserable life.""What..... What do you recall?"Sangfroid was cautious to say anything, but for some reason, he had gained more courage to speak than before.Perhaps it was because of the dream he cannot remember."Incomprehensible details." Leron said. "Fish tails..... A cliff..... A knife..... And, you were there too. Something about butterflies."Sangfroid's brooding face showed a sign of lightening up a little. "We used to play with butterflies when we were younger. I don't know if you could recall.""I do. But.... How do I explain.... I'm just aware of it, but I'm disconnected from it. I'm disconnected to it all, the past, before I killed Vladstin." Leron said. "I guess it would be fair to tell you the truth."Leron gave a full account of him performing brain surgery on himself to get rid of his conscience. He even went as far as to explain everything about the day he killed the Prince of Crescentia, about how he seduced him in bed, tied him up, and stab him in cold blood."Before, I didn't even have the capacity to truly feel guilty about it." Leron revealed the scar on his scalp. "Because of this. Vladstin knows. I think I'm recovering, but he wouldn't believe me."He lightly chuckled, sounding a bit bitter. "How funny. You treat him like a liar, and he treats me like one too. Even when he's telling you the truth, you can't believe him, and I don't blame you. And I don't even blame him if he doesn't believe in me either.""It's almost a cycle." Leron drew a circle in the air. "The only way to complete it is if I don't believe in you. But that's silly, because I've always believed in you, Sangfroid!"When Sangfroid was listening to the retelling of his own crimes, he felt like he couldn't stand it. He noticed how easy it was for Leron to just upfront tell him. And it.... It agonizes him.How can he be so dense? Doesn't he know how much pain he'll bring by revealing such things?And to laugh it off in the end too. Sangfroid felt in his heart.....That Leron never acknowledged his feelings for him. Even he thinks that Sangfroid is just like those butterflies.A fleeting memory.Not someone who is present, who never left his side."The cycle is already complete, Your Highness." Sangfroid said, trying to run away from the pain by making his lupine steed move faster.Leron was confused by what he meant. Is Sangfroid saying that he doesn't believe in him? Why?He believed in everything Sangfroid does. He was the one person he knows who would keep at his words and be fair to anyone. To be loyal to his duty....'You believe in his loyalty, his devotion to you.'A voice in his head says.That's right. Had he ever even tried to get to know Sangfroid beyond the character he had given to him. Beyond the childhood friend, beyond the loyal guard, beyond the Noble Hunstman?Has he ever tried to get to know Sangfroid as a person?He felt another twinge of guilt in his heart, like a tied knot is starting to unravel, a piece of his frayed nerves connecting together to form empathy. He empathized with Vladstin, but since when had he ever put himself in Sangfroid's shoes?Since when had he tried to imagine what it felt like to be as loyal as him and yet want nothing in return, ready to accept destruction just to keep him safe?But when he tried to reach out, it was too late.Sangfroid and Vladstin are conversing again. They were bickering, bantering, like an old couple that got tired of each other yet somehow had a stronger bond because of all the fighting and making up that they have done.He could never have something like that with either of them. Because Sangfroid would never pick a fight with him even to correct him when he is wrong.And Vladstin...Vladstin had long given up on him, to have anything to do with him, whether that was fighting or loving.Both of them feel so far away.
