~Valarendrik~
The wounded tenverian guard's heavy black armor thudded to the dark soil with a cloud of pale ashes puffing up around him. I violently grabbed the top of his head, lengthening my claws until they pierced the putrid flesh of his scalp. A rabid snarl thundered from his gnashing jaws, while I silently gazed down into his frightened yet spiteful dead eyes with pure animosity boiling in my heart.
"What do you want from me, your highness? I had no orders to seek you out." He sneered and thrashed, flailing his useless broken arms. I almost smiled watching the limp limbs flop around, the recent memory of twisting my shadows around the bones then snapping them like mere twigs dancing in my mind.
"Yes, but found me you have." I yanked his head back, exposing his vulnerable throat to the darkness. The trees mournfully whispered to one another as I carefully surveyed the looming disintegrative buildings, ensuring that he was indeed the only guard in the area. "Alright, he's subdued." I called into the darkness, speaking in English.
Oliver, Jayden, and Parker all emerged from the shadows of the ruins, slipping past a few crumbling pillars and scattered stones. The swords in their hands refected the darkness and ashes kicked up around their feet as they warily walked over, eyeing the guard with uncertainty.
"You're sure you've got him?" Jayden questioned as the guard began to snarl and thrash again.
"What the fuck kind of wretched tenverians are those!?" The guard growled in a deep guttural voice. "There's not even any rot on them and one's dark!? Your Majesty, I beseech you, allow me to exterminate them!" He began to ramble on in disgust and rage. I tuned him out with an annoyed roll of my eyes. Thankfully the others couldn't understand what insulting and discriminatory things he was spewing, nor could he understand our otherworldly English words.
"Bring his flesh back to be devoured along with the shadow stag." The crown sinisterly cooed, referring to the abyssal beast Oliver had hunted with his bow to feed the group.
"Yes, I'm sure." I replied to Jayden with a smile, ignoring the crown as well. "Now, you won't have much luck trying to stab or slash a guard in the front due to their heavy breastplates. However, stabbing up near the navel will cripple them, and going for the throat will be fatal." I used my sword to point to all the guard's weak spots, as he growled and gnashed his teeth at us. "The back of the knees is also a good spot to aim for." I gestured to the way I had sliced up his legs for the demonstration. "It won't kill them, obviously. But it will definitely give you an advantage."
Oliver curiously tilted his head with a few thin tendrils of wavy hair twisting out from the darkness of his hood. "Why won't stabbing them through the navel kill them?" He casually spun his sword in his hand while he asked.
"Because we're undead." I shrugged like it was the most apparent thing in the world. "Honestly, you could stab all the way through his torso without killing him, as long as you avoided his heart. Here, watch." I stabbed up into the guard's bony back, piercing a lung with the wet sound of slicing through rotten flesh. Pungent smelling blood gushed from his mouth, spilling onto the ashen soil as he gasped in agony, now unable to obtain the air needed to scream or speak properly. "See, still alive."
Jayden hummed in thought, shuffling on his feet as he curiously watched the guard suffer. "That's pretty neat. I'd be interested to learn all the ways we can die. Like, I know we can't suffocate, we can't drown-"
"Actually, we can drown." I interrupted while tightening my grip on the writhing guard's head, black blood now oozing down his forehead as well. "If too much water gets into our rot, we'll become waterlogged and parish."
"Huh, interesting." Jayden tapped his chin with a clawed finger. "But how can that happen to us if we're not rotting like this guy?" He motioned to the guard.
I blinked a few times in thought, realizing he had a good point. Sometimes I'd forget that my body was no longer that of a rotting corpse. That Azathoth had relieved me from my loathsome and decaying flesh prison. Memories of my mother whipping my back fleshless stirred in my mind like a cauldron of venom. The biting injuries she inflicted would never heal upon my corpsen frame. I couldn't take my jacket off, lest my hair would become painfully entangled in my spine.
The crown clicked as I shook my head, casting away such wretched memories. Now was not the time for that. I had agreed to teach these human souls how to defend themselves. I needed to train them to safely and efficiently kill.
"I suppose you're right, Jayden. Sometimes I forget that I no longer have any rot." I lightheartedly chuckled, earning a curious head tilt from Oliver. He looked like he had another question, but held his tongue. "Well anyway, who would like to kill him?"
Jayden put his hand on Parker's shoulder, giving it a light squeeze. "My boy, I know you don't want to, but I think it would be good for you to get some practice."
"But, dad-" Jayden silenced Parker's protest with a stern stare. The young man looked hesitant and unsure of himself, shaking as he tightened his grip his the sword. "Alright." He softly spoke while glancing down toward the ground. His long braided hair and tattered cloak blew in the breeze as his wary crimson eyes lifted back up to met mine.
I held the guard firm, baring his neck so Parker would have an easy time with it. "Just pierce his throat with the blade and slash it open." I instructed with a comforting smile as he slowly approached.
The guard growled the best he could manage, spitting black blood from his mouth and trying to bite at Parker with his nasty gaping maw. Parker carefully pressed the blade to his tender decaying flesh. His hands trembled and his eyes were filled with confliction. "I'm sorry. I've never killed anyone before." He said with an apologetic smile, brows furrowing in concentration.
"It gets easier with time, I promise." I kindly reassured him, holding the guard so tightly that my claws began puncturing his skull. His head would be easy to crush within my grasp, but the boy needed to learn how to kill for the sake of his own survival.
The blade was sharp enough to effortlessly slice through the moldering skin, but it was Parker's rectitude that made him struggle. He squeezed his eyes shut and forced his hands to move, cutting deeply into the rotten flesh. Blood poured like rancid sludge as a gaping neck wound was slashed open, trickling down the smooth blade and onto Parker's hand. The guard gave one last gargled gasp then slumped in complete stillness. Parker visibly recoiled with a nauseated expression, dropping the weapon as though it had burned him.
"Well done." I smiled while letting the guard's dead corpse flop to the ground with a heavy thud.
Jayden and Oliver immediately came over and began bombarding the young fellow with congratulatory words and pats on the back. "Yeah! I'm so proud of you!" Jayden exclaimed, grinning ear to ear. "You fucking did it!"
Parker shyly tucked a loose strand of hair that had fallen free from his braid behind his ear. "Thanks, but it wasn't that impressive." He softly smiled while looking down and shaking his head.
"Nonsense! You just slashed a native across the throat!" Oliver cheered before pointing back into the darkness of the ruins. "Well, I'm going to go grab my kill. We should head back, the others are probably hungry." My chest swelled at his words, feeling anxious to get back to Lucilia.
Jayden, Parker, and I quickly scavenged what we could from the guard while Oliver fetched the dead shadow stag. We trudged through the towering ruins, the stones once stacked by ancient hands succumbing to erosion and time, slowly returning to dust. I picked some fruit while passing beneath the twisting twigs of a caedis tree, needing it to feed both Lucilia and Sagacor.
I had decided it would be best to keep Sagacor mostly indoors when unattended. The risk of a passing tenverian recognizing him as the prince's horse was far too great for me to take. And as much as I wanted to help these people, the reality that my presence here endangered them weighed on me greatly. If my mother got word of all this, she'd surely send out a small army to capture me and eliminate the others... Not that I couldn't take out a small army on my own, but still.
The great white tree in front of the palace came into sight, its lugubrious spirit ever groaning in anguish. I unwittingly hastened my steps into a swift glide, using my shadows to carry me up the curved palace steps at an unnatural speed. Anticipation ruthlessly squeezed my heart at the thought of finding Lucilia. We'd only been gone for a few hours, yet I felt as though my very soul desperately yearned to be near her once again... Which was odd since I'd never had that problem while leaving her to go hunting.
...Perhaps it is because we are now lovers?
I burst through the broken-down doorway in a flurry of shadows and ash, pausing to hover in place when I heard the sound of heavily clomping hooves and giggling children filling the foyer. Light flickered upon the walls as Sagacor came quickly trotting down the stairs with Lucilia and three youngsters bouncing on his back, laughing as though it were the most thrilling thing they'd ever done in their short lives.
Oliver's adopted daughter, Rosalie, was safely tucked beneath Lucilia's arm with the flower crown upon her head, while two more laughing children sat behind them. The lantern was in Lucilia's hand, glowing almost as brightly as she was. Bright blue eyes widened in surprise once she noticed my presence, with a joyous smile spreading across her delicate pink lips. If I had breath, her beauty surely would have stolen it away.
"I've been giving out free pony rides, I hope you don't mind." She said with a laugh.
Amusement twinkled in my eyes at her referring to my massive abyssal war stallion as a pony. "I do not mind as long as you ride me later." My lips twisted into a smirk as I spoke in the abyssal language.
With a faint click of my tongue, I summoned Sagacor over to me, carrying my blushing lover and the children along with him. Large hooves came to a stop, then I pressed my forehead against his while affectionately stroking the side of his corpsen face, greeting my cherished companion with the gift of a caedis fruit. He softly whinnied and excitedly gobbled up the fruit in one bite, making me quietly laugh at his gluttonous behavior.
"How did patrolling the area go?" Lucilia's voice chimed like a bell as she asked her question.
With a loving smile spread across my face, I moved to her side, greeting the children as I did so. "It went well. Parker got to kill a guard and Oliver caught a shadow stag for everyone to eat."
Thin black ribbons of shadows swirled around a piece of red fruit as my large clawed hand offered it up to her. Her pale dainty human hand graciously excepted it, with her soft fingertips gently kissing my palm. I wanted to grab her hand as it moved away, craving the contact. But I placed my palm on her knee instead.
"Oh yes! Thank you! I've been hungry enough to eat an entire beached whale!" She began eagerly munching on the fruit.
It still remained a mystery what exactly had caused that bright light to spark between our palms the other day. The light was from my soul, of that I had no doubt. And that terrified me because I didn't have the slightest fucking clue what my soul was or where it originally came from. All I knew was that it was very bright and not originally from the abyss. I was an anomaly, even to myself.
Although I had to admit, the sensation of my soul touching her like that had been quite pleasant. It brought a newfangled blissfulness with it, as if it yearned to reach out and envelope her with all the love I had to offer. To merge with her. In fact, I was almost tempted to see if it would happen again, but fear of it bringing harm to her kept me from even suggesting it.
"Don't you dare do it again..." The crown's voice was a faint snarl in my mind.
"I um, I missed you while you were away." Lucilia's dulcet voice pulled me from my thoughts. Her thick dark lashes shyly fluttered with a slight blush painting her pink cheeks.
My smile spread into a wide mischievous grin. I was glad to know that I was not the only one who hadn't enjoyed our brief separation. "I was eager to return to you as well, my lover." I gave her knee a gentle squeeze. "In fact, if we were alone right now, I'd be spreading your thighs and passionately fucking your sweet little cunt with my tongue until you screamed loud enough to make the walls tremble." I made sure to speak in the abyssal language so the children wouldn't understand my perverse confession.
Her face grew bright red, and she used her hand to fan herself with a flustered chuckle. "Well, um, while you guys were out, we made something that we want to show you." She quickly changed the topic in English, then exchanged playful smiles with the children, who were giggling and holding onto her.
Heavy footsteps thumped into the room as the others entered. Oliver had the dead shadow stag slung over his shoulders and Jayden seemed to be giving Parker some kind of pep talk. Oliver carelessly placed the stag to the side with its heavy twisted antlers clunking on the stone floor, then he rushed over to greet his daughter.
"Rosalie!" He swooped the giggling girl off of Sagacor's back, holding her tight with a fatherly kiss to the cheek. "I hope she behaved for you." He playfully said to Lucilia while Rosalie gently tugged his hood down, revealing his disheveled bun.
"Oh, she behaved wonderfully. In fact, I was just telling Valarendrik that we made something for everyone to enjoy while you guys were out." Whatever it was she was talking about, she seemed very excited about it.
"Let's see it then." Jayden clapped as he spoke, the noise echoing through the spacious foyer. "Just lead the way."
"Alright." She confidently grabbed the reins, clicking her heels against Sagacors sides to instruct him to walk. "This way." I inwardly laughed, remembering how frightened she'd been upon first seeing him. Now her tiny frame was riding the massive but dopey stallion like a true equestrian.
The lantern light flickered across the cracked stone walls as we strolled down a crumbling corridor, making the spiderwebs glisten like curtains of golden thread. We made small talk with the children and amongst ourselves until Lucilia led us through a tall double-wide archway, leading into a large room with narrow iron-bar windows reaching to the ceiling. A few others were already inside, murmuring amongst themselves.
I immediately recognized what they had built. In the center of the room was a circle of stacked stones collected from the rubble. They'd filled it with a few twigs and sticks and placed a narrow flat stone across the top. It was twice as big as the one I'd made beside the river back at the cave, but not as neatly stacked.
"Check it out. We made a fire pit!" Lucilia happily gestured to it.
Pure elation lit up Oliver's face. "What!? Holy fiddlesticks! I haven't seen one of these in years!" He excitedly rushed over to it, holding Rosalie with one arm as he enthusiastically inspected their work. "I used to have one in my backyard. Inviting friends over for a bonfire was a favorite activity of mine back home!" He slid Rosalie to the ground as he crouched down and began rearranging the sticks. "We'll need some actual logs."
Jayden laughed while looking around. "This is the perfect room for it, considering those windows will allow plenty of ventilation."
"Right? That's what I was thinking." Lucilia agreed while throwing her leg over the saddle, readying to get down.
My shadows swiftly wrapped around her waist, pulling her from Sagacor with ease. I wove my arms around her in a loving embrace, leaning down to press a quick yet gentle kiss to her soft lips. "The firepit looks wonderful." I murmured, holding her body close to mine.
The sweet perfume of her arousal suddenly enwreathed my senses. With a smoldering gaze that said 'I am going to throw you over my shoulder, carry you away like a savage, and fuck you senseless,' I stared down into her big bright blue eyes, seeing her cute flat teeth give her bottom lip a little nibble.
"Now, have you guys successfully done this before? Because we've tried to make fires in the past, but the wood wouldn't light." Jayden unwittingly interrupted our little moment, pointing to the firepit.
Lucilia awkwardly cleared her throat and took a step back. "Yes, it's tricky, but it works when we use the lighter." Weariness was written across her face as she looked back up at me. "Oh shoot! It's in the bedroom. I completely forgot to grab it." She delicately placed her fingertips on her brow while shaking her head in frustration, lustrous golden hair swaying as she did so.
A low and quiet growl rumbled in my chest at the sight of her distress. "I shall go retrieve it for you!" I gallantly announced while pointing up a finger, wanting nothing more than to serve my beautiful and kind-hearted human woman.
She softly squeaked as I pressed a quick kiss to the top of her head then hurried out of the room, gliding through the crumbling corridor and up the steep steps like a swift shadowy specter. Dark shadows writhed around me as I burst into the room Lucilia and I had been staying in, my crimson eyes immediately scanning the area for the earthly fire creating device.
Ah-ha! There it is!
The little black lighter rested on the desk next to an obsidian cup full of wilted and chewed-up stems. It wasn't difficult to find considering that the dilapidated bed and the antique desk were only two furnishings in the room. I hastily glided over and swiped it up with my claws.
Just as I was turning to leave, a deep guttural roar thundered off in the far distance, making my body freeze and my shadows stir. The sound was bestial and hellish, full of rage and malevolence. A promise of death and suffering. I knew that sound well... It was the roar of a rampaging demon...
Oh wonderful, Azathoth has returned... I smiled to myself.
"What!?" The crown screeched in distress, twitching wildly upon my head.
I curiously glided through the crumbled opening leading onto the balcony, staring towards Tenveriel. A thunderous boom followed by a blindingly bright wave of flames suddenly rained down upon part of the main city. An eerie unnatural orange glow painted the swirling black clouds above, while the roaring fire consumed the far-off buildings, roasting them to smoldering smithereens. It was too distant for me to see very well, but heinous screams of agony were faintly carried upon the ashen winds.
He was looking for me, no doubt assuming that I'd been captured after seeing what had become of my cave. And judging by the fiery massacre ensuing, he was pissed the fuck off that he couldn't find me.
...I should get his attention. Lucilia is my lover now and will likely want to stay with me. Also, he could retrieve earth things for her and the human souls, making everyone more comfortable here.
"Azathoth!" I called out, doubting that he could hear me from so far away and over his blazing rampage. My hand raised into the darkness, holding up the lighter to signal to him. But just as my thumb went to ignite the flame, the crown angrily shoved its claws against my scalp, threatening to pierce my skin and causing the lighter to slip from my grip and land on the stone floor with a clink.
"Don't you dare!" It furiously growled.
"Ow! What the fuck!?" I snarled while wincing and staggering backward, placing my hand over the bones to hold it still. "Lucilia is my lover now. We do not have to evade him anymore."
"Yes, we do!" It hissed while forcefully pushing back against my hand. "Just because she is your lover does not mean that she will choose to stay with us! She is invaluable. We cannot risk losing her!"
"You're being absurd. We have successfully kindled the love thing and are now a part of a strange somewhat human community. What more could we do to persuade her?" I sternly argued, then quickly reached for the lighter.
"No!" The crown seethed, piercing my head with an outer claw. "She has to stay in the abyss!"
"Ah! Shit!" My hand automatically covered the injury, coating my fingers with black blood. "Fuck you!" With absolutely no thoughts to warn the crown of my intent, I abruptly slammed my forehead against the crumbling stone wall, causing it to crack even further.
It screeched in pain while I gritted my teeth, enduring the throbbing ache radiating through my skull."Listen to me! It will take the demon at least another week, if not longer to find us here. That gives us more time to ensure that she is ours." The bones distraughtly writhed on my head like the squirming legs of a spider. "I only want to ensure that the girl- our lover- stays with us. Isn't that what you want too? To keep her here with us... forever?"
I stumbled over to the stone railing, slightly discombobulated from how hard I hit my head. "If by keep her here, you mean have her willingly choose to stay, then yes, that is what I want. And if she does choose to stay, I'm sure she'll want to visit earth every now and then. We'll need Azathoth to transport her regardless." My silken hair tumbled over my shoulders, twirling into the darkness as I gazed out toward Tenveriel.
Regret filled my spirit at the sight of it. While I was busy squabbling with the crown, all evidence of the flames had resigned to the natural state of darkness. Grey smoke swirled up from the chard buildings and the screams had fallen silent. Azathoth had likely already teleported away. Probably to the lake abode.
"Azathoth!" I called out in a last-ditch attempt to get his attention, using my shadows to retrieve the lighter. The tiny flame sparked to life in my hand as I desperately waved it around, trying to signal to my good friend. "Azathoth!" My booming voice echoed across the ashen valleys only to be swallowed by silence.
A minute passed with nothing but the whispering wind to keep me company... Dammit, I missed him!
"Look what you've done!" I growled to the crown in vexation while gesturing toward the smoldering kingdom, probably looking like a crazy man talking to himself. "He's already gone!"
"You're welcome for keeping our little light here with us." It taunted with a sinister tap to my head. "She surely would have left if he had come."
I furrowed my brows and frowned, considering what it was saying... Do you really think she would still want to leave? Even with the love thing? I silently thought to the crown.
"Of course she would still choose to leave! You are asking her to abandon her homeworld... for you... a worthless weakling... a prince of nothing." Fear that the crown was right seized my heart, cracking open the door of my mind to allow doubt's sinister shadow to creep on in. "You must ensure that the girl is truly content to remain here."
I stared out into the darkness, feeling extremely uneasy, yet agreeing with the crown nonetheless. It would break me to lose Lucilia. Her decision to stay here meant everything to me. And even though I did miss my cherished demonic friend, I had to ensure that she wanted to stay. That she would be mine, willingly.
"We should go back. They're probably wondering why I have been delayed." My voice was a faint whisper bleeding into the wind.
My shadows swirled across the floor, holding me up to hover within their misty grasp. I gave Tenveriel one last hate-filled glance, feeling my heart blister with venomous loathing. I was glad that a small part of it had just burned. Nothing good ever came from that wretched place, and the citizens were all flesh-eating murderers and rapists. Festering within the kingdom walls like maggots writhing inside of a corpse. Disgusting and deserving of death.
Then a smile graced my lips as I turned away, musing about how furious my mother must be right now. My grip tightened on the lighter, holding it with determination to get it to my lover. I wisped out of the room and leapt over the stairwell railing, dropping down five stories into the foyer. My shadows broke my fall, allowing me to land gracefully on my feet, then I headed back to the others.
The room was now filled with joyous chatter and merriment, with the golden lantern light flickering beautifully over Lucilia's bright features. It seemed as though just about everyone had filed in during my absence. Stones and various objects had been arranged to create seats around the fire pit, with a heaping stack of wood now piled next to it. Jayden was carving up the shadow stag for people to eat, and someone had fetched a few buckets of water to pour drinks from along with a pile of various fruits.
It was strange being a part of a friendly community like this. I'd never experienced anything quite like it before, but I found that I enjoyed it very much.
Lucilia sat next to Maribel, Jayden's sassy elderly lover, laughing about a man from a place called Florida. I didn't understand the joke though. Sagacor's black corpsen body laid behind them, with a bunch of bouncing children playing on his back, tugging at his tail and using the side of his saddle as a slide. A few were even sloppily braiding his mane. He seemed to be enjoying it, oddly enough.
"Oh! There you are!" Lucilia happily chirped once she noticed me. "I thought you'd gotten lost or forgotten about us." She joked with a giggle.
Most of the murmuring immediately quieted down and all eyes fell upon me as if they'd all been awaiting my return as well. Receiving so much unexpected attention caused a wave of nervousness to suddenly crash over me. I couldn't tell them that I'd been delayed by the crown. It could reveal my royal heritage, and the crown was already repulsive and unsettling enough. Plus, I worried that they might exile me if they knew the truth.
"...Thanks..." The crown sarcastically whispered into my mind.
...Shit, what should I tell them!?
"That you're a cunt." The crown retorted.
"I was just, um, m-" I was about to say masturbating, my wonted excuse, but then I remembered that there were children in the room... Dammit, I can't say that. "...mmm-mmm..." The room became deathly quiet as I awkwardly hummed out the 'M' sound, nervously glancing around at all the confused faces. "...Mmm-aking sure that everything was safe!" A bunch of relieved sighs and gentle mumblings of thanks instantly followed... Phew!
"Alright, well let's get this fire started!" Oliver happily exclaimed. I gladly handed him the lighter, wanting to get all the attention off of me.
He crouched down in front of the stones, effortlessly igniting the fancily stacked sticks to create a roaring pillar of flames. Everyone cheered as the room became illuminated by the brightest light I'd ever seen up close. All darkness seemed to bow to its glory, surrendering to the radiant glow of the crackling fire. It was incredibly otherworldly, almost unfathomable.
I sat down beside Lucilia, enjoying the way her small body curled into my side. With a satisfied smile, I wrapped an arm around her shoulders, holding her close as we chatted with the others while staring into the flickering flames.
The crown twitched as I kissed the top of her head, feeling truly content and happy.