Book One: Helltide

Chapter 2: Conflicted (Akuma)

Author's Note: Hello everyone and welcome back to our story! I do apologize for the lateness of this chapter but I wanted to pop in and give you guys a little bit of an update. We now have a schedule! Every Wednesday we will post a new chapter inviting you deeper and deeper into the story that we have created. With that being said, be sure to follow us so you always get the notification when we post! I check the story every day so feel free to leave any comments and such. We do accept constructive criticism as it helps our writing as much as possible. Onto our story today! Here we get a glimpse of the beginning of Akuma and Vixen's relationship. If you didn't see the tags, this is a lesbian story featuring our protagonist and antagonist's daughter. All of you, buckle in! Grab yourself some refreshments and snacks and get ready for a rollercoaster!

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the images that I use in this story. I only own the characters and the lands and have permission to use them.

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I sneezed, shooting up straight. Or as straight as I could be. The sun sifted through the cracks in the broken-down ceiling. A year later and I had yet to find my place in this world. My dreams constantly plagued by nightmares. I groaned and flopped back down on the dusty floor and immediately sneezed again. Alright then, time to move.

I got up and stretched, peering through a small gap in a boarded-up window. The streets were deserted. A lone wind blew a dust bunny. I had very dazedly stumbled into this town and into this building before collapsing from exhaustion. I don't sleep very often due to the nightmares so I just typically go until I literally cannot anymore. I took a good look at my surroundings, allowing my eyes to adjust to the ass crack of dawn light. I was in a library. But...This wasn't a library. A library shouldn't be dusty. These books hadn't touched a shaft of light or even the eyes of a prying angel or demon in years it looked like.

I reached out and grabbed one of the books in front of me. History of Helltide. Ah, I must be in Helltide. Typical. I would find myself in the most dangerous of the five kingdoms. I sighed and blew off the dust covering the book, coughing. "Damn!" My eyes watered. "Would it kill anyone to open up a book?"

I immediately regretted my words as I perused the book taking in as much information as I could. Long ago, Helltide's first clan, the Thieving Clan, were ambitious. They coveted things that did not belong to them and were often stealing from other clans. Legend says there were two brothers by the name of Xanthos. Conte Xanthos overthrew his brother, and his brother was forced to watch as Conte took Helltide down a dark path of greed and war. Each King after Conte would have worse morals and beliefs, making Helltide one of the most feared tyrannical kingdoms of Excelsia. After about 200 years, King Runeard, the recent tyrant, had shut down any and all libraries and anybody who would be seen with a book would be executed...No questions asked.

I shut that book and grabbed another one right next to it. Again blowing off the dust I opened it, the pages crinkling and crackling. It was the Xanthos line. There at the top of the page sat Conte Xanthos, first of his line. There was a branch connecting him to another name, but I couldn't make it out. His picture was burned straight out of the book. Generations and generations passed until King Runeard and Queen Amadea. There was writing next to the Queen's name: Deceased. Around her picture were water marks or rather tear stains. Two branches stood out to me the most. The end of the line. Zephyr Xanthos and Vixen Xanthos. Zephyr's eyes were scratched out and it was clearly with passion. Then there was Vixen Xanthos.

The Princess Heir to the throne of Helltide. I ran my finger over the girl's portrait. She was beautiful but that's where it stopped. She shared the same scowl as her father did. Well with a father like Runeard, I wasn't surprised. Her frame was the only one untouched out of them all. the numbers 777 were etched into the page at the bottom. Likely a typo of some sort.