Post by phoenix on Dec 5, 2015 0:20:01 GMT -5
(Part 1)
Methuselah opened his eyes.
His vision was blurry. He was seeing double. He blinked once, then twice, up at the stone ceiling above him. The albino quickly shut his eyes again. Where was he?
He heard whispers around him.
“Are you certain that he’s the one?” whispered one voice.
“Yes.” Another voice whispered. “The Great Jewel is reacting to his presence. It has never reacted, before.”
“But it glows darkly…”
“Do you have any other ideas?” the whisper coming from this person was hissed, rather dangerously.
Methuselah didn’t like where the conversation was going. He opened his eyes once more. His vision was still blurry. Still doubled. The albino frowned and raised a hand to his eyes. The sound of a chain moving caught his attention. He paused in his movements, and the whispers ceased. Methuselah tried to sit up.
He was laying in a large circle, his wrists and ankles bound, surrounded by cloaked figures. Methuselah tried to blink away the blurriness.
“You’re awake.” Came a familiar voice. “Good.”
Xiu walked toward him, her bare feet climbing the stairs and stepping into the circle. Methuselah looked over his shoulder at the woman in red scale armor and growled. He then lashed out at her- causing the surrounding cloaked figures to gasp, stepping back- but the red dragon woman didn’t even flinch as she chains stopped the man, holding him steady to the ground. The woman tilt her head and crossed her arms over her chest.
“Temper, temper…” she tutted.
“Release me, Dragon!” Methuselah growled.
“Not yet.” She said to him, finally moving again, kneeling down to be at his level just out of reach. “You see, I brought you here initially for my clan to exact revenge and kill you…”
“Comforting…” Methuselah glared, cutting her off.
“… Yes, well…” Xiu smiled coyly. “You see that gem out there?” she asked, pointing to it. “It’s reacting to you. We’ve never seen it react, before. So you’re going to help us.”
Blood red orbs glanced about. He was in a stone tower, with arched windows all around. Outside of one of the windows to which Xiu pointed, he could see another tower with a large Gem atop of it. The Jewel pulsed a dark color. Methuselah looked back to Xiu and lashed out again.
Once more, the surrounding cloaked figures took a step back. The dark-skinned woman did not move, even when Methuselah’s fingernails came inches away from her face. She smirked.
“I willst never aid to thyne cause!” He growled.
“Oh, you will…” Xiu said, standing to her full height.
Methuselah was hit in the head with something hard. He fell back down to the ground, unconscious. Xiu looked to the cloaked figure whom hit him, then back down to the vampire.
“We’re not giving you a choice.” She said to him, even if he was passed out.
****************************
It had been weeks since Methuselah had arrived to the Great Realm of the Jewel. He had not been cooperative at all with the cloaked figures, and, as a result, was whipped as punishment on a regular basis. But the vampire did not say a word. He took his beatings in silence, his glare and hatred for the cloaked figures darker and more intense with each lash of the whip.
The albino’s skin was filthy, covered in welts and dried blood and sweat. His hair was no longer white, instead grimy and dusty and dirty. When Xiu descended into the chamber, he stood, hunched over slightly due to his height at the fact that the chains around his wrists weren’t long enough. Head hung low, he glared at the red dragon scale woman.
With her were four cloaked figures carrying a stone bench. They set the bench down before Methuselah and stepped back. Xiu sat upon the bench, with one leg crossed over the other. She watched him for a long time before she finally spoke.
“Methuselah.”
“Dragon.” He growled. It was the first words he had spoken in weeks.
“This is how it’s going to work. That protective aura of yours has got to go.”
Methuselah’s gaze dropped from the woman before him down to his hands. He hadn’t noticed, but his aura was up. It wasn’t as bright or as vivid as he could normally make it, but it was still up, however slight. Blood red orbs raised back to the Dragon woman.
“The Jewel can’t give you its power with your aura up. We tried waiting for you to sleep, we tried beating you, we’ve tried… Well, we’ve tried a lot, Vampire, and, surprisingly, your aura remains up. So we’re going to… try something else.”
At her last words, Xiu jumped up and stepped aside. Methuselah saw multiple cloaked figures approaching him. He tried to fight them off, but his movement was limited by the chains. Xiu kicked the stone bench until it was directly in front of the albino. The cloaked figures shoved him down onto it until he was on his stomach, spread eagle. A chanting began, and something tore into Methuselah’s back. The albino cried out in pain.
For hours, the chamber echoed like an authentic torture chamber. Methuselah had symbols carved into his back and his calves. He lay on the stone bench, weak, his throat sore, but his aura remained, however dim.
Some of the cloaked figures knelt by his wrists, attempting to remove the bracers. Methuselah panicked. He began thrashing with renewed adrenaline, trying to keep his wrists away from the cloaked figures.
He was afraid of what was going to happen if his anti-berserk bracers were removed. He would have no control. Methuselah suddenly stopped thrashing. It was actually a wonderful idea: allowing the cloaked figures to remove his anti-berserk bracers. They knew nothing of his berserk abilities. Xiu knew nothing. With everything that they put him through, he didn’t care if he unknowingly and unwillingly hurt them or not.
Xiu looked at him with a raised brow and cautious expression.
His anti-berserk bracers were removed. Gritting his teeth from the pain, the cloaked figures carved symbols into his wrists as the chanting continued. Xiu examined the bracers casually. When they were done, the symbols glowed red, and Methuselah’s aura shattered like glass.
“Finally…” the red dragon woman said, tossing the bracer she held to the ground.
There was a loud rushing sound. The cloaked figures all looked around, nervous. Xiu glanced up at the ceiling, then to the stairs that lead up from the chamber. Whatever it was, it was getting closer.
Suddenly a dark energy rushed into the room. The cloaked figures fell to their knees, covering themselves, protecting themselves. Xiu jumped out of the way, landing on her arm, crying out in pain. The dark energy rushed and swirled around Methuselah before it entered him. Methuselah cried out in pain. His cries were barely audible amidst the rushing of the dark energy.
When the dark energy was fully inside of the Vampire, the silence that followed was deafening. So much so that Xiu had to cover her ears for a moment. She looked to Methuselah, who did not move at all. Was he dead?
Slowly, she approached him. With the deafening silence, she could hear every movement of her body; every vibration as her bare feet touched the stone floor; every blink of her eyes; every beat of her heart; every inhale and exhale that she took. She stopped before the Vampire’s limp body. And she watched him for a long moment.
“Methuselah…”
Methuselah’s eyes shot open. They were no longer blood red, but black. The albino jumped up from his position on the stone bench. The chains about his wrists and ankles shattered. Xiu’s eyes went wide and she jumped back. The cloaked figures scrambled to their feet in an attempt to escape.
“Put the bracers back on him!” Xiu ordered. Nobody listened. They were too busy being slaughtered.
Xiu barely made it out of the chamber. She ran up the stairs two at a time, only to come to a skidding halt at the top:
There, before her, were strange and dark creatures. Many cloaked figures lay dead, on the ground. She watched the destruction before her, and heard the chaos from the berserker behind her, rapidly approaching. She was trapped.
With a growl, she lunged forward, her body shifting into that of a large, red dragon. Part of the castle collapsed about her, falling atop of the dark creatures. They scratched at her, but she fended them off and launched herself up in the air, escaping just as Methuselah reached the top of the stairs.
The Red dragon watched as the Vampire destroyed the dark creatures about him as if they were nothing. What were they? What was going on?
**************************
It was like living in Hellsgate all over again: But instead of Vampires, she and her kind were at war with these new dark entities. And then there was Methuselah, in an eternal berserk state, who, like in Hellsgate, fought everything and anything. Dragons and Darklings were his enemy. It didn’t matter.
Years went by. The Jewel grew eternally darker, and as did the sky. The lavish fields of the Great Realm of the Jewel turned to dust and rocks. Xiu had returned to the castle and grabbed the anti-berserk bracers. For years, she had tried to put them back onto Methuselah without getting slaughtered herself, but with no luck. Each time, she would narrowly escape. He was strong. Too strong for even her, which she hated.
One day, Xiu found Methuselah by a blood-colored stream. He was kneeling, reaching into the red water, and washing himself with it. The red dragon lady figured that it would be her best bet. Slowly, quietly, and cautiously, she approached. One step. Another step…
At the third step, Methuselah spun around. Xiu’s heart sunk. How? How did he know?
They stared at each other for a long moment. Xiu then noticed that the Vampire’s eyes weren’t black, as they had been for the past few years, but, rather, blood red.
“Vampire.” She said, out of habit for the creature he had become, then corrected herself. “Methuselah.”
Methuselah did not say a word. He remained where he was, frozen, on his knees by the bloody stream. Xiu attempted to approach him again. She took one step. Then another.
Something caught Methuselah’s attention. His head swiftly turned to his left. He growled and leapt after a darkling. Xiu cussed and ran after him. The time to put the anti-berserk bracers back on him was now or never.
She raced after him, and found him slaughtering a few Darklings. The red dragon woman jumped on Methuselah’s back and put one of the bracers back on Methuselah’s arm before she was flung off of him, landing on her own back. She grit her teeth from the pain, but Methuselah did not move. She jumped back up and put the other bracer on, before jumping back. Still, Methuselah did not move. He simply looked at her with blood red orbs.
“Well that was a little too… easy…”
Methuselah’s arm struck out at her, grabbing her by the throat before she could even finish her thought, pinning her to the wall of rocks behind her. He then lift her off of the ground.
“These doth not work.” He told her.
“Because… you’re not… Berserk!” Xiu tried, kicking at the Vampire, both of her hands scratching at the one hand Methuselah had around her throat. “It’s… the darkness!” she choked.
Methuselah threw the red dragon woman against the wall of stones. It exploded upon impact, and Xiu fell to the ground in pain. She tried getting back up, but Methuselah reached her first. He grabbed her hand and pulled her up as if she were a rag doll.
Xiu winced, her legs wobbly once she was on her feet. Methuselah slammed her hand down onto a rock, and pulled out a hidden blade. The dark-skinned woman’s eyes went wide.
“What are you doing?” she hissed.
Methuselah stabbed the blade through his hand, and into Xiu’s. She cried out in pain and surprise, and the cry became a screech as Methuselah began carving a symbol into both of their hands simultaneously while chanting something in a foreign language.
When Methuselah was done, he pulled the blade out of both of their hands and released Xiu. She fell to her knees, and crawled away from the Vampire in fear, stumbling each time her injured hand touched the ground.
“What have you done? What have you done!?” she said, panicked.
“We art now linked.” Methuselah said, looking to his hand as it healed quickly, thanks to him being a Vampire and an Ancient.
“Why…? Why would you do that?” Xiu whispered, horrified, holding her throbbing hand. The blade only carved into the surface of her hand, unlike his own hand, which had gone all the way through.
“Now, one cannot die without thyne other. And now I hath an army of Dragons at mine disposal.” He said, walking away. Xiu growled and Methuselah paused in his steps. He looked over his shoulder, and his expression was almost sad. “And because I needst thou to be mine voice of reason.”
Methuselah turned back and continued walking away. Xiu had been glaring, but at his last words, she blinked, confused. She got back to her feet and followed the Vampire.
“Wait… Did you let me put the bracers back on you?” she asked.
“Aye.”
“Did you get rid of the darkness?” she wondered.
“Nay, I hath it contained, t’is all.”
“What happened to you…?” she said.
Methuselah spun around, causing Xiu to skid to a halt. The Vampire’s eyes flashed from blood red to black, and back again numerous times.
“I asketh thou the same, Dragon, for the runes carved into mine skin art thy magic, not mine own.”
Xiu watched the Vampire carefully, before he turned around and continued walking off. She rubbed at her aching hand and followed, in silence, the rest of the way.
*******************
It had been many years in the Great Realm of the Jewel since Methuselah and Xiu’s forced partnership. They had destroyed many Darklings, but for each one they destroyed, it seemed that two more sprouted forth from the gem up in the tower.
Methuselah and Xiu eventually made it to the gem in the tower. Methuselah was eventually able to open a portal back to Hellsgate via the Jewel.
“It worked.” Xiu said, almost amazed.
Methuselah smirked as he opened a portal back to the Loch Ness. “Thou doubtest me, always.” He said.
“Because I never know when it’s you or the darkness talking.” She replied, as she followed the Vampire through the new portal, to the placed called Loch Ness.
*******************
Dark eyes opened, and a gasp escaped his lips. A dark, clawed hand quickly grasped at the necklace about his neck, which pulsed darkly.
“Phobos! Deimos!” the being croaked.
The large doors opened, and twins with long black hair walked toward him. When they saw him in distress, they rushed over to him, one on each side. The twin in the long red dress removed the being’s hand from about the necklace, while the twin in the purple dress placed a delicate hand on the gem about her master’s neck, filling it with energy.
“It’s here.” The being gasped.
********************
Methuselah stepped out of the portal into the Loch Ness, followed by Xiu. The albino had spent years in the Great Realm of the Jewel. The Vampire was broader with muscles, his hair longer. He had watched the Great Realm of the Jewel die into nothing but a waste land. But, strangely, the Loch Ness did not appear to have changed much if at all from his last memory of it.
Methuselah glanced around. He parted his lips to speak, but another voice sounded, instead.
“That’s um… That’s mine.”
The Vampire and the Red Dragon woman spun around. There stood a weak being, held up by two beautiful and identical twins.
“That darkness.” The being said. “It’s mine.” He weakly pointed to the gem around his neck. “See? You can feel it pulsing. You can feel it calling to you, can’t you…”
“I know not what thou speaketh of…” Methuselah said, his blood red orbs on the being’s necklace.
With each pulse, Methuselah’s eyes changed from blood red to black, and back to red again.
“Methuselah…” Xiu said, cautiously. “Voice of reason, here. Snap out of it…”
The dark-skinned woman was unable to reason with the Vampire. Methuselah growled and lunged at the feathered being, but the twins raised their free hand simultaneously, and Methuselah hit a forcefield. He growled darkly, his eyes now black. He scratched at the forcefield, almost getting through. Xiu tried to stop him, but was flung away.
The feathered being grinned weakly, licking his lips. “Ohh, I feel it.” He whispered to the twins. “I feel it, and it feels wonderful. I need it. I need all of it…”
The twins did not reply, focusing on keeping the barrier up from the Ancient. The feathery being wiggled free from the twins, standing to his full height, a rather evil expression on his face. The being licked his lips once more and shot up into the sky before dive bombing onto Methuselah.
They did not hit solid ground, however. A portal formed beneath Methuselah as he was pushed down into it. Xiu scampered to reach him, but it was too late. Her eyes darted to the twins, who shattered the barrier before them and turned into ravens. They crossed paths and dived into the portal after their master. Xiu growled.
“Why am I always saving you?!” she hissed, before jumping in after them all, the portal shutting behind her.
Methuselah opened his eyes.
His vision was blurry. He was seeing double. He blinked once, then twice, up at the stone ceiling above him. The albino quickly shut his eyes again. Where was he?
He heard whispers around him.
“Are you certain that he’s the one?” whispered one voice.
“Yes.” Another voice whispered. “The Great Jewel is reacting to his presence. It has never reacted, before.”
“But it glows darkly…”
“Do you have any other ideas?” the whisper coming from this person was hissed, rather dangerously.
Methuselah didn’t like where the conversation was going. He opened his eyes once more. His vision was still blurry. Still doubled. The albino frowned and raised a hand to his eyes. The sound of a chain moving caught his attention. He paused in his movements, and the whispers ceased. Methuselah tried to sit up.
He was laying in a large circle, his wrists and ankles bound, surrounded by cloaked figures. Methuselah tried to blink away the blurriness.
“You’re awake.” Came a familiar voice. “Good.”
Xiu walked toward him, her bare feet climbing the stairs and stepping into the circle. Methuselah looked over his shoulder at the woman in red scale armor and growled. He then lashed out at her- causing the surrounding cloaked figures to gasp, stepping back- but the red dragon woman didn’t even flinch as she chains stopped the man, holding him steady to the ground. The woman tilt her head and crossed her arms over her chest.
“Temper, temper…” she tutted.
“Release me, Dragon!” Methuselah growled.
“Not yet.” She said to him, finally moving again, kneeling down to be at his level just out of reach. “You see, I brought you here initially for my clan to exact revenge and kill you…”
“Comforting…” Methuselah glared, cutting her off.
“… Yes, well…” Xiu smiled coyly. “You see that gem out there?” she asked, pointing to it. “It’s reacting to you. We’ve never seen it react, before. So you’re going to help us.”
Blood red orbs glanced about. He was in a stone tower, with arched windows all around. Outside of one of the windows to which Xiu pointed, he could see another tower with a large Gem atop of it. The Jewel pulsed a dark color. Methuselah looked back to Xiu and lashed out again.
Once more, the surrounding cloaked figures took a step back. The dark-skinned woman did not move, even when Methuselah’s fingernails came inches away from her face. She smirked.
“I willst never aid to thyne cause!” He growled.
“Oh, you will…” Xiu said, standing to her full height.
Methuselah was hit in the head with something hard. He fell back down to the ground, unconscious. Xiu looked to the cloaked figure whom hit him, then back down to the vampire.
“We’re not giving you a choice.” She said to him, even if he was passed out.
****************************
It had been weeks since Methuselah had arrived to the Great Realm of the Jewel. He had not been cooperative at all with the cloaked figures, and, as a result, was whipped as punishment on a regular basis. But the vampire did not say a word. He took his beatings in silence, his glare and hatred for the cloaked figures darker and more intense with each lash of the whip.
The albino’s skin was filthy, covered in welts and dried blood and sweat. His hair was no longer white, instead grimy and dusty and dirty. When Xiu descended into the chamber, he stood, hunched over slightly due to his height at the fact that the chains around his wrists weren’t long enough. Head hung low, he glared at the red dragon scale woman.
With her were four cloaked figures carrying a stone bench. They set the bench down before Methuselah and stepped back. Xiu sat upon the bench, with one leg crossed over the other. She watched him for a long time before she finally spoke.
“Methuselah.”
“Dragon.” He growled. It was the first words he had spoken in weeks.
“This is how it’s going to work. That protective aura of yours has got to go.”
Methuselah’s gaze dropped from the woman before him down to his hands. He hadn’t noticed, but his aura was up. It wasn’t as bright or as vivid as he could normally make it, but it was still up, however slight. Blood red orbs raised back to the Dragon woman.
“The Jewel can’t give you its power with your aura up. We tried waiting for you to sleep, we tried beating you, we’ve tried… Well, we’ve tried a lot, Vampire, and, surprisingly, your aura remains up. So we’re going to… try something else.”
At her last words, Xiu jumped up and stepped aside. Methuselah saw multiple cloaked figures approaching him. He tried to fight them off, but his movement was limited by the chains. Xiu kicked the stone bench until it was directly in front of the albino. The cloaked figures shoved him down onto it until he was on his stomach, spread eagle. A chanting began, and something tore into Methuselah’s back. The albino cried out in pain.
For hours, the chamber echoed like an authentic torture chamber. Methuselah had symbols carved into his back and his calves. He lay on the stone bench, weak, his throat sore, but his aura remained, however dim.
Some of the cloaked figures knelt by his wrists, attempting to remove the bracers. Methuselah panicked. He began thrashing with renewed adrenaline, trying to keep his wrists away from the cloaked figures.
He was afraid of what was going to happen if his anti-berserk bracers were removed. He would have no control. Methuselah suddenly stopped thrashing. It was actually a wonderful idea: allowing the cloaked figures to remove his anti-berserk bracers. They knew nothing of his berserk abilities. Xiu knew nothing. With everything that they put him through, he didn’t care if he unknowingly and unwillingly hurt them or not.
Xiu looked at him with a raised brow and cautious expression.
His anti-berserk bracers were removed. Gritting his teeth from the pain, the cloaked figures carved symbols into his wrists as the chanting continued. Xiu examined the bracers casually. When they were done, the symbols glowed red, and Methuselah’s aura shattered like glass.
“Finally…” the red dragon woman said, tossing the bracer she held to the ground.
There was a loud rushing sound. The cloaked figures all looked around, nervous. Xiu glanced up at the ceiling, then to the stairs that lead up from the chamber. Whatever it was, it was getting closer.
Suddenly a dark energy rushed into the room. The cloaked figures fell to their knees, covering themselves, protecting themselves. Xiu jumped out of the way, landing on her arm, crying out in pain. The dark energy rushed and swirled around Methuselah before it entered him. Methuselah cried out in pain. His cries were barely audible amidst the rushing of the dark energy.
When the dark energy was fully inside of the Vampire, the silence that followed was deafening. So much so that Xiu had to cover her ears for a moment. She looked to Methuselah, who did not move at all. Was he dead?
Slowly, she approached him. With the deafening silence, she could hear every movement of her body; every vibration as her bare feet touched the stone floor; every blink of her eyes; every beat of her heart; every inhale and exhale that she took. She stopped before the Vampire’s limp body. And she watched him for a long moment.
“Methuselah…”
Methuselah’s eyes shot open. They were no longer blood red, but black. The albino jumped up from his position on the stone bench. The chains about his wrists and ankles shattered. Xiu’s eyes went wide and she jumped back. The cloaked figures scrambled to their feet in an attempt to escape.
“Put the bracers back on him!” Xiu ordered. Nobody listened. They were too busy being slaughtered.
Xiu barely made it out of the chamber. She ran up the stairs two at a time, only to come to a skidding halt at the top:
There, before her, were strange and dark creatures. Many cloaked figures lay dead, on the ground. She watched the destruction before her, and heard the chaos from the berserker behind her, rapidly approaching. She was trapped.
With a growl, she lunged forward, her body shifting into that of a large, red dragon. Part of the castle collapsed about her, falling atop of the dark creatures. They scratched at her, but she fended them off and launched herself up in the air, escaping just as Methuselah reached the top of the stairs.
The Red dragon watched as the Vampire destroyed the dark creatures about him as if they were nothing. What were they? What was going on?
**************************
It was like living in Hellsgate all over again: But instead of Vampires, she and her kind were at war with these new dark entities. And then there was Methuselah, in an eternal berserk state, who, like in Hellsgate, fought everything and anything. Dragons and Darklings were his enemy. It didn’t matter.
Years went by. The Jewel grew eternally darker, and as did the sky. The lavish fields of the Great Realm of the Jewel turned to dust and rocks. Xiu had returned to the castle and grabbed the anti-berserk bracers. For years, she had tried to put them back onto Methuselah without getting slaughtered herself, but with no luck. Each time, she would narrowly escape. He was strong. Too strong for even her, which she hated.
One day, Xiu found Methuselah by a blood-colored stream. He was kneeling, reaching into the red water, and washing himself with it. The red dragon lady figured that it would be her best bet. Slowly, quietly, and cautiously, she approached. One step. Another step…
At the third step, Methuselah spun around. Xiu’s heart sunk. How? How did he know?
They stared at each other for a long moment. Xiu then noticed that the Vampire’s eyes weren’t black, as they had been for the past few years, but, rather, blood red.
“Vampire.” She said, out of habit for the creature he had become, then corrected herself. “Methuselah.”
Methuselah did not say a word. He remained where he was, frozen, on his knees by the bloody stream. Xiu attempted to approach him again. She took one step. Then another.
Something caught Methuselah’s attention. His head swiftly turned to his left. He growled and leapt after a darkling. Xiu cussed and ran after him. The time to put the anti-berserk bracers back on him was now or never.
She raced after him, and found him slaughtering a few Darklings. The red dragon woman jumped on Methuselah’s back and put one of the bracers back on Methuselah’s arm before she was flung off of him, landing on her own back. She grit her teeth from the pain, but Methuselah did not move. She jumped back up and put the other bracer on, before jumping back. Still, Methuselah did not move. He simply looked at her with blood red orbs.
“Well that was a little too… easy…”
Methuselah’s arm struck out at her, grabbing her by the throat before she could even finish her thought, pinning her to the wall of rocks behind her. He then lift her off of the ground.
“These doth not work.” He told her.
“Because… you’re not… Berserk!” Xiu tried, kicking at the Vampire, both of her hands scratching at the one hand Methuselah had around her throat. “It’s… the darkness!” she choked.
Methuselah threw the red dragon woman against the wall of stones. It exploded upon impact, and Xiu fell to the ground in pain. She tried getting back up, but Methuselah reached her first. He grabbed her hand and pulled her up as if she were a rag doll.
Xiu winced, her legs wobbly once she was on her feet. Methuselah slammed her hand down onto a rock, and pulled out a hidden blade. The dark-skinned woman’s eyes went wide.
“What are you doing?” she hissed.
Methuselah stabbed the blade through his hand, and into Xiu’s. She cried out in pain and surprise, and the cry became a screech as Methuselah began carving a symbol into both of their hands simultaneously while chanting something in a foreign language.
When Methuselah was done, he pulled the blade out of both of their hands and released Xiu. She fell to her knees, and crawled away from the Vampire in fear, stumbling each time her injured hand touched the ground.
“What have you done? What have you done!?” she said, panicked.
“We art now linked.” Methuselah said, looking to his hand as it healed quickly, thanks to him being a Vampire and an Ancient.
“Why…? Why would you do that?” Xiu whispered, horrified, holding her throbbing hand. The blade only carved into the surface of her hand, unlike his own hand, which had gone all the way through.
“Now, one cannot die without thyne other. And now I hath an army of Dragons at mine disposal.” He said, walking away. Xiu growled and Methuselah paused in his steps. He looked over his shoulder, and his expression was almost sad. “And because I needst thou to be mine voice of reason.”
Methuselah turned back and continued walking away. Xiu had been glaring, but at his last words, she blinked, confused. She got back to her feet and followed the Vampire.
“Wait… Did you let me put the bracers back on you?” she asked.
“Aye.”
“Did you get rid of the darkness?” she wondered.
“Nay, I hath it contained, t’is all.”
“What happened to you…?” she said.
Methuselah spun around, causing Xiu to skid to a halt. The Vampire’s eyes flashed from blood red to black, and back again numerous times.
“I asketh thou the same, Dragon, for the runes carved into mine skin art thy magic, not mine own.”
Xiu watched the Vampire carefully, before he turned around and continued walking off. She rubbed at her aching hand and followed, in silence, the rest of the way.
*******************
It had been many years in the Great Realm of the Jewel since Methuselah and Xiu’s forced partnership. They had destroyed many Darklings, but for each one they destroyed, it seemed that two more sprouted forth from the gem up in the tower.
Methuselah and Xiu eventually made it to the gem in the tower. Methuselah was eventually able to open a portal back to Hellsgate via the Jewel.
“It worked.” Xiu said, almost amazed.
Methuselah smirked as he opened a portal back to the Loch Ness. “Thou doubtest me, always.” He said.
“Because I never know when it’s you or the darkness talking.” She replied, as she followed the Vampire through the new portal, to the placed called Loch Ness.
*******************
Dark eyes opened, and a gasp escaped his lips. A dark, clawed hand quickly grasped at the necklace about his neck, which pulsed darkly.
“Phobos! Deimos!” the being croaked.
The large doors opened, and twins with long black hair walked toward him. When they saw him in distress, they rushed over to him, one on each side. The twin in the long red dress removed the being’s hand from about the necklace, while the twin in the purple dress placed a delicate hand on the gem about her master’s neck, filling it with energy.
“It’s here.” The being gasped.
********************
Methuselah stepped out of the portal into the Loch Ness, followed by Xiu. The albino had spent years in the Great Realm of the Jewel. The Vampire was broader with muscles, his hair longer. He had watched the Great Realm of the Jewel die into nothing but a waste land. But, strangely, the Loch Ness did not appear to have changed much if at all from his last memory of it.
Methuselah glanced around. He parted his lips to speak, but another voice sounded, instead.
“That’s um… That’s mine.”
The Vampire and the Red Dragon woman spun around. There stood a weak being, held up by two beautiful and identical twins.
“That darkness.” The being said. “It’s mine.” He weakly pointed to the gem around his neck. “See? You can feel it pulsing. You can feel it calling to you, can’t you…”
“I know not what thou speaketh of…” Methuselah said, his blood red orbs on the being’s necklace.
With each pulse, Methuselah’s eyes changed from blood red to black, and back to red again.
“Methuselah…” Xiu said, cautiously. “Voice of reason, here. Snap out of it…”
The dark-skinned woman was unable to reason with the Vampire. Methuselah growled and lunged at the feathered being, but the twins raised their free hand simultaneously, and Methuselah hit a forcefield. He growled darkly, his eyes now black. He scratched at the forcefield, almost getting through. Xiu tried to stop him, but was flung away.
The feathered being grinned weakly, licking his lips. “Ohh, I feel it.” He whispered to the twins. “I feel it, and it feels wonderful. I need it. I need all of it…”
The twins did not reply, focusing on keeping the barrier up from the Ancient. The feathery being wiggled free from the twins, standing to his full height, a rather evil expression on his face. The being licked his lips once more and shot up into the sky before dive bombing onto Methuselah.
They did not hit solid ground, however. A portal formed beneath Methuselah as he was pushed down into it. Xiu scampered to reach him, but it was too late. Her eyes darted to the twins, who shattered the barrier before them and turned into ravens. They crossed paths and dived into the portal after their master. Xiu growled.
“Why am I always saving you?!” she hissed, before jumping in after them all, the portal shutting behind her.