Story:Kings of Strife/Part 13

Part Thirteen
The next morning was torture.

Vainia couldn't bring herself to focus on any of her classes, or even think about her dreams, as she usually did. She couldn't even bring herself to dredge up memories of her beautiful homeland or its stricken people. No, the only thing that graced her mind - or tainted it - was that dreaded man. That terrifying, disgusting crimson man. Oh, how she wished she had stayed in her room last night. After visiting Councilor Vaelus' office last night and witnessing what she would quite likely never forget, Vainia had ran back to her room and locked the door. The room was elegant and the bed was inviting, but it was none the easier for Vainia to find refuge in it. Sleep would not come, it refused to even leaden her eyelids a smidgen. She set runes around the perimeter of her room and sat curled up on the wall opposite the only opening, watching it with wide eyes and a hand clutched tightly around her rapier. She watched and waited for hours until the sun came up, dreading and hoping for the moment when the crimson man found her and came to kill her too. The suspense was terribly stressful.

She still saw what happened when she blinked, his red coat and fire touched hair lighting the darkness of her eyes. He was a rainbow of vermillion, every drop of blood that graced him further accentuating his deadly attire. It was breathtakingly frightening, the ease of which he wielded such a large sword. He swung it around like it was an extension of his own arm, and had murdered the girl without a moment's hesitation. The very fact that such a person existed was enough to give Vainia the shakes.

Something told her she was being absolutely foolish, that she would have to grow up before she could continue her plans. Sure, she wouldn't be able to break into Councilor Vaelus' office now that he was almost certainly dead - come to think of it, why was he in his room at that time? Would she have been caught even if the crimson man wasn't there? That was scary, too, the thought that she was so close to failing. But because of his escapades, again, she wouldn't be able to go through with her plans, but that wasn't too serious. A simple readjustment of her syllabus would yield her the information she sought sooner or later. And if she were to become Queen of Mortis and defeat the Inusian Republic, she would no doubt have to witness her fair share of violence and death. She would have to become used to it; for all the strength she prided herself on having, she would eventually have to use it.

But would she become like that man, that ghost of brutality? Would she become an effortless murderer, killing for the fun of it because it "furthers her goals"? No, she thought to herself, that wasn't what Nolstuvainia Sestrum would become. The would-be Queen would be righteous - she had already devoted her life to her country. She was going to make it a good one.

Eventually it dawned on her that she really knew nothing about what happened the night before, nothing at all. For a girl who prided herself on knowing as much as possible and being in control of her destiny, this was the most frightening and soul-shaking. There were simply so many questions - who was that man? Why did he assault Councilor Vaelus, and why last night? Was he some sort of assassin or political enemy? Would he hunt her down, too?

Apparently that last question answered itself. The entire school day passed, and Vainia left the Calligraphy room with the purpose of returning to her room. No more training tonight, nor any missions, she reasoned. Perhaps it was time for a break, even for a day, to help with her mental health. Maybe more rune studies would calm her nerves. She was still constantly on edge, being alarmed by the slightest inconsistency and irregularity in her normal day. She began to see men in red coats out of the corner of her eyes, scaring her, taunting her...stalking her. Eventually she ignored this and was almost at the girl's dorm when night finally began to fall. It had turned out that she was simply hallucinating out of fear. The teacher in her Calligraphy class had fallen immensely ill and had to leave campus the day after she had seen Vaelus in his room, so her class had gotten a substitute. His handwriting was nowhere near exquisite, so he simply read the notes left by the teacher for the next week or so. Two days after the incident, Vainia had found out that Councilor Vaelus had been asleep in his room when it had mysteriously caught fire, and he burned inside of it along with an unknown female. Rumors around the school spoke of foul play, perhaps the work of a vengeful business partner from the past, but the official investigation had claimed there was no evidence that it was anything other than a simple match fire. Vaelus’ successor had been chosen and was a new, innocent lawyer from eastern Inusia. Vainia knew there was nothing she could get off him, and so she dropped the spying mission and began to think of a new one.

A week and a half had passed since the incident, and Vainia began to let it slip to the back of her mind. The day before, she had finally gotten a full night’s sleep, something that had eluded her for the time. “Just a past enemy that came on a contract kill, that must have been it,” Vainia had assured herself. “And there’s absolutely no way he saw me, let alone will hunt me down. I’m safe. I’m safe.”

Logic, every possible solution dictated that this was the truth, and thus Vainia began to accept it as such, but occasionally the fear returned to her and reduced her to a handful of shivering dust. She hated the fear and herself for succumbing to it and worked expressively to remove it from herself. Her gateway to do this involved strolling the Zeta campus at night, making herself one with the night and melding with it.

A week and a half after the death of Councilor Vaelus, Vainia sat in her Calligraphy class as usual and idly sketched something on a stray piece of paper. It was a signet ring she drew, one that hadn’t had its seal designed quite yet, but one that she knew would be amazingly charming. It would grace her fingers and hers alone, a trademark of the world’s queen. Just something she liked to imagine sometime.

The time came for class to end, and the students began to rush out of the door. Noltsuvainia looked up at the commencement of the session and stood up, gathering her things without a word or a glance at any of the others. She was the last one leaving the room and had almost left the doorway when the substitute called her attention.

“Ah, excuse me, Miss?” She stopped and looked to the tall man, assuming he had spoken to her. The substitute was very tall and had deep black hair kept in a ponytail that snaked along his back. He wore the standard Zeta Academy uniform with a steel blue sash across his chest that showed him off as a teacher, but his blazer was always kept loose and buttoned much deeper on his chest than was considered modest, so deep that it was noticeable that he wore no shirt underneath it. His pants were surprisingly tight, but in stark contrast, the blazer that complimented it was loose and seemed to hang off his body. All this combined with his chiseled, heavy face and the outline of muscle beneath his sleeves lead the substitute to quickly become popular among classmates, but he was so unique and almost enigmatic that none of the students dared to grow close to him in any way. The fact that he had singled out Vainia after class, along with the harsh scowl he held, sent chills down her spine.

Vainia showed none of it, however, and simply strolled up to the desk of the substitute. He sat in the large black chair that stood behind the wide wooden desk and idly played with his sash. He made eye contact with her and his eyes were a dull grayish-blue that held onto her and refused to let go.

Vainia tilted her chin slightly into the air, a habit that she purposely perpetuated in order to strengthen her opinion of herself and contrast with her short height, and spoke coldly to the substitute. “Yes, Mr. Siraot? May I help you?”

The substitute chuckled and lowered his head, letting a small part of his bangs hang over his long forehead. “Yes, ma’am, I’d just like to inquire if you had heard what exactly happened to Mr. Treus…?”

Vainia’s forehead knotted as her eyebrows pushed together. “He was taken by a serious illness and went to his family to recover. How could you not know that?” The substitute chuckled.

“…Yes, yes, I suppose that is what happened. At least, that’s what they told me.” He laughed again and looked up at her again, his eyes still making the same cold, probing motions within hers. His voice was deep and lazy, as if he barely made any effort to speak, and she almost felt like he was mocking her. Vainia tsked her teeth.

“Is that all you wanted from me, Mr. Siraot? I have other business to attend to.” Vainia spoke with unabashed irritation at having been held up, but she was inwardly suspicious of this man. How capricious she found him!

Again the substitute laughed to himself and stood up from his chair. Now the height difference between the two was amazingly prominent, and Vainia looked up at his blue eyes now. She didn’t let him intimidate her, which she was now sure that he was trying to do. But for what purpose?

“No, one more thing, madame. I have to ask…” With this, the man’s eyes suddenly took on a metamorphosis of sorts, suddenly becoming amazingly sharp and frighteningly serious. His voice lost all amusing pretenses. “Did you hear about what happened to Councilor Vaelus?” The substitute tugged on his blazer’s open collar.

Vainia was stricken with fear and frozen on her feet. Something about the look of the substitute’s eyes and the intimidating way he stood above her was enough to send her into hyperventilation, and she began to reminisce about the disturbing death of Vaelus and the girl with him again. A minute passed in this awkward silence, and then another, until finally Vainia composed herself and looked down to the floor. She smoothed out her hair and answered quietly.

“No… No, I had heard he died in a fire, but… That’s all. Excuse me, I really must be going.” She whirled about and left the large classroom, now silent and absent from the sounds of moving students. The substitute did not move but to chuckle to himself moments after Vainia had left.

“I see… So it was you.”

Vainia couldn’t go straight to her room afterwards, let alone focus on any homework she had. Panicking and unfocused, she wandered around the campus until the sun began to set. That night, the midsummer sunset was very late, and so was the hour that she finally, filled with nervous energy, returned to her room - along with another visitor.

He was waiting for her in the shadows of her room, and was illuminated once she clicked her light switch on. Vainia froze in place, her eyes wide with terror, her books falling to the ground. The substitute, his uniform absent from his body, was now dressed in the red coat and black pants that plagued her dreams. The two large swords were sheathed and strapped to his waist. He looked up and stared right at her, the grim smile he wore contrasting the mad gaze his eyes looked her over with. He was tall, much taller than she, and his skin was pale and taunt. Sapphire blue eyes locked with hers and filled her entire body with chills of terror. Her heart was pierced with unspeakable fear. There was no mistaking that he was the same man that she had encountered back in the classroom, mere hours before. Vainia was still as the substitute reached a vein-painted hand to his hair and pulled slightly. The short black hair, now revealed to be a wig, parted with his scalp, letting loose a long red mane that sighed as it fell on his shoulders.

Finally she moved. Her foot kicked up the rapier sheath that was kept by her door, blasting it into the air and dropping it in place with her hands. Liberated from her books, her right hand now unsheathed the rapier and pointed it forward, stopping at the tip of the man's throat. He too had moved, both his blades also unsheathed and pointed at her. Their tips were crossed as well, making an "x" around Vainia's neck. She would have gulped, but the movement probably would have cut her due to how close the steel was to her throat. Despite her situation, a sort of superiority ran to her head and unconsciously caused a chuckle. The words spilled from her mouth. "Aren’t you going to kill me like you did them?"

She wasn't prepared for what came next. All of a sudden her rapier left her hand forcefully and the ceiling came rushing to greet her. She was on her back on the floor, the red man's heavy armored foot crashing down hard on her chest. His left sword had flown out to the side to disarm her weapon and the other's hilt stabbed her in her stomach, causing her to fall. Her breath suddenly left and she struggled to get it back. The red man's half-closed blue eyes looked her over and stopped at hers again with a sort of a mocking look. This time she wasn't filled with fear, but with an inexplicable wave of aggression. How dare he mock her? How dare he get the best of her?

Every muscle in her body tensed and cried to jump up and show this man his place, but she lacked the power to do so. For some reason, he hadn't killed her yet, but every moment he stalled would be a moment closer to her victory, she was sure of it. As if he noticed this change in her, the man spoke, in his deep and provocative baritone. Even his voice gave her goosebumps, with the way it seemed to taunt without care or reason. "I've found you, my mysterious intruder." Vainia's face flashed with anger.

"No shit, you bastard." It was unusual for her to swear like this, as she found it un-ladylike, but the circumstances had radically changed. She lost her breath once again when the man put more pressure on her chest. Something felt like it cracked, too. She only looked up at him with more frustration, albeit vaguely shielded with pain. He looked at her with glee in response, as if her agony had kindled his energy. She then took note never to show him her pain again.

"I'm going to make this nice and slow, so I can enjoy it. What a lucky man I am to have found you so soon! I wasn’t planning on being able to find you for months, even, but it appears I got lucky when I cut my way into that stupid class of yours. Yes, I'll teach you not to eavesdrop on adults. Haven't they drilled that into you yet?" A devilish laugh went through him as he stabbed his left sword into the floor of her room. Vainia idly hoped Lucille wasn't downstairs, or she'd have a shock if she looked up. The man in red began to talk again. "Any last words before I make you decorate this place? Any bullies you'd like me to kill next?" He looked down at her, eyes aflame with a sort of destructive humor. He waited for her to say something. She opened her mouth and made speaking motions, but no words left her mouth. Now he was puzzled, his eyes searching the room as if looking for some joke reference or something he'd missed. Another look at her, but now Vainia's face looked satisfied, scarily content. "No," he whispered. "No!!" He picked up his foot and moved to stomp her in her throat as the walls began to glow, but he was a moment too late as she silently spoke the final words of her incantation.

Now the walls - and the floor besides Vainia - were alight with small circles, circles filled with unintelligible characters. Spears burst through them instantly, summoned from the astral plane with the purpose of destroying her enemies. They pierced the red man forcefully, sending him reeling off his perch on her. From the floor and all four walls, small-sized javelins speared into him, until he staggered about in front of her, glowing red poles emerging from most of his body. The crimson man's clothes were accentuated with his blood, and he looked about in rage and confusion. The spitting image of a pincushion.

She had her chance, now that he was stunned. Vainia rolled to the right and picked up her rapier before turning on her foot and running right back at him, blade extended to stab him in his throat. She could hear the fanfares in her head as time seemed to slow, her victory assured, and how sweet it was. How dare he step inside her room, a sacred place, and threaten her; how dare he point blades at the once and future queen?! His eyes locked to hers with ferocious fury, and his right arm shook as he lifted his blade to parry hers. It was futile, she spoke to herself - futile! She found herself muttering it and eventually screaming it as she dodged his attack.

"Useless! That’s useless! Useless useless useless!" Her frenzied words united in syncopation as she stabbed the man, his parries clumsy and slow. An unfamiliar feeling swept through her, filling her body with energy, with anger, speed, and power. She pushed the man further and further backwards, his blood splashing left and right in her room from her ruthless stabs. He was backed to the large window now, his eyes wide as she continued to speak her sadistic mantra. "Now...DIE!" Her arms flexed in a titanic effort as she slashed at the man's chest, slicing his jacket open and pushing him with enough force to break the window. Time seemed to slow to a stop as he fell wordlessly, down down down, through the dark space of the outside, his blood and hair and clothes flares in the black night sky. Surges and surges of power, of sheer victory, slapped her in the face like a tidal wave, she won, she beat him, she did it.

A smirk not unlike the one he looked at her with before now graced Vainia's face as she watched him fall seemingly slowly out of her vision, plummeting from the third floor of the girl's dorm. He was dead, he was surely dead, she had killed him. But the instant before he was out of sight, the instant before the radical color of his hair disappeared, she saw his face once again, and was horrified. For he wore not the face of pain and terror that she expected, that she wanted. He looked at her with mocking eyes once again and with a disarming, laughing smile. His lips seemed to part in sheer glee, as if she had given him everything he wanted in life. This bloodcurling expression melted all her bravado and filled her with self-doubt and fear. Who was this man? What was this man?

She stood in front of her destroyed window, watching the night sky with eyes wide as the breeze chilled her bones. No, that wasn't quite right; something else filled her with coldness and summoned sweat to drip down her arms and forehead. The very idea that the man could have survived that was enough to make her want to crawl in her bed and sleep for the next hundred years. After all the damage she did, after the power of her most powerful rune spell... how could he possibly still be living? Not to mention he fell down a three story window. Adding that to his prior injuries would certainly spell death... right?

No matter how she thought about it, something filled her with dread. And, on the other hand... what had happened to her? Vainia now looked at her hands, the right one still tightly clutching the hilt of her rapier. Its gold sheen was stained with blood, as were her hands and much of her uniform. She was overcome with... something, something greater than rage. It was encompassing, but it felt... good. She had felt good while brutally attacking that man, and while she knew she was in the right of self-defense, it was still somewhat terrifying to know she could act like that. But the power she held, even in that moment, was sweet and she knew she wanted more. She needed more.

But first, she reasoned, was the time to finish what she started. It wouldn't do to have this man wandering around campus unchecked - too many lives would be lost. Inusian lives, to be fair, but lives all the same. She swallowed and turned to go downstairs, taking one last look at her trashed room. The rune spears had pierced through and cut many of her belongings, and most of the intact furniture had the man’s blood on them now. No matter, she could always buy more things.

But she could never buy back the lives lost if this man wasn't finished off. It was up to her to do it.

All the way down the spiral stairs, she couldn't stop herself from shaking, but that was the extent she would let her fear get to her. If he survived such an assault, she had basically no chance of winning against this man, but that was a given. She had only won because of her clever use of runes; this time, he was weakened. All she was going to do was go down there and decapitate him; a brutal practice, but one that delivered results. Everything was going to be fine, she assured herself. There was no place for weakness or fear in a queen's mind - hers must be the blade that strikes swiftly and with strength. With strength, she repeated in her mind, with strength with strength with strength

Then her strength left her.

She dropped her rapier and dropped to her knees as she saw the scene outside of her window. All of the hope was gone. She cradled her head with her hands as hot tears began to fall. All of her resolve, all of her strength and motives, dissipated. It was disgusting and frustrating, but she couldn't do anything about it. It was gone, like the body of the red man. The blood was still there, lots of it, but there was no body. Nobody would have been able to get up from such a fall, let alone if they had just been stabbed tens of times. Vainia wanted to die now, she wanted to feel that pain, she wanted to feel the dark embrace of death. That man was a danger to the entire world, to her people, and she could do nothing about it, nothing, nothing...

And all was dark again.

The next thing Vainia Sestrum saw was a stone wall. It was certainly made of stone, but its color was nothing like any stone she had seen before. It was pitch black, not just painted black, but black to its core. A quick look around confirmed this for every other stone in the room she was sitting in. She was on the floor, a floor that was tiled wonderfully with a black and indigo pattern. The walls, already addressed, were polished impeccably, but there was some degree of melancholy about it, as if it had been destroyed countless times, only to be rebuilt again...

Quickly these observations grew less and less important as panic wove its way through Nolstuvainia Sestrum. Where was she, how did she get here? This was no place she recognized from the Academy, for sure. She had scoured every inch of the place, and this would have rung a bell somewhere. She tried to get up, but she was tied up and couldn't move. Her rapier was sheathed and in front of her, tauntingly out of reach.

"Dammit...!" She struggled harder and began to think of a rune spell that could cut her bonds... perhaps a sword summon?

A voice caught her attention behind her, and she whirled around in surprise. "Ah, so you're awake..." It was instantly familiar. She wasn't sure she could ever forget that voice. The man in red stepped out from the shadows and looked at her with those despicably mocking eyes again. His arms were crossed over his chest, and despite the blood that was still on his coat - not very noticeable, but still there - he was uninjured in any way. He looked to still be in the physical condition as he was before she fought him. "How could this be...?" She couldn't wrap her head around it - how long was she unconscious? How had she gone unconscious?

He took a step towards her, then another. In the small, cramped room, it wouldn't take long for him to reach her. Vainia moved herself backwards clumsily.

"Don't you come near me! You stay away, you... you bastard!" Her voice was hoarse and husky, and her throat hurt. It must have been a while since she drank anything. He chuckled in response to her empty threats, and his movement didn't stop at all. She sound found herself cornered by the stone wall, however. It was cold, and her sleeveless uniform blazer wasn't helping that at all. Perhaps her fashion statement of rebelliously wearing the blazer without the sleeves wasn't so logical an idea. Now he stopped in front of her, mere inches from her bound body, uncomfortably close and within her personal space. She looked up at him with eyes full of fury. He smiled back at her.

"Now, now... What happened to all that wonderful fear and energy you had last time? Aren't you afraid of me?" He asked the question with a husky pianissimo, just loud enough to hear and catch all the subtle ways he made fun of her. Inhuman or not, Vainia was getting tired of his condescending tone. How dare he talk down to her? Would she have to teach him a lesson again? She spitefully spit at him, but it didn't quite reach his face. The spit trickled down his shoulder. He didn't move a muscle. Vainia assumed it was her time to talk.

"No, I'm disgusted by you, you... you freak! Where am I?! How dare you touch me?! Tell me where I am, dammit...!" She struggled valiantly, but her bones were weak and it hurt to move her arms. The ropes around her were tight, and she could feel cuts beginning to occur in her arms. "You can't do this to me! I'll have you cut open! You let... me... go! Ugh!" She stopped moving and struggled to catch her breath again, but she looked up at the man with continued defiance. She refused to let him see pain or fear in her, not anymore. She would die on her feet if she had to. "You can't do this to me! You can't do this... to me!!"

The red man chuckled again. She grew ever so tired of his stupid little laughs. "I think it's time you stopped resisting me, madame. I can tell there's something special about you..." He looked at her with piercing blue eyes, as if he was looking to her very soul. She hoped what he saw frightened him. "I find your eyes fascinating. I find you fascinating. Not just the way you hold yourself, but your fearlessness. I've never met a man in the world who wasn't afraid of me, let alone a little girl. Hmhmhm." He continued to laugh. Vainia's face darkened even more. This wasn't a laughing matter. She replied to him with scorn.

"I’m not a little girl, I’m 21! And you stop laughing this instant. The Academian Centurions will find that I'm missing and they'll find you, and you'll be sorr-"

The man in red flipped his hair and cut her off with more amused snickers. "You think I'm afraid of them? You think I'm afraid of anyone? No, young lady, no, that's where you're wrong." Now he knelt to his knees to look at her and bent to move his face very close to hers. They weren't quite eye level, he was still somewhat taller than her, but she didn't have to crane her neck upwards to glare at him and their eye contact was almost seamless. Now it'd be easier. He ran a hand through his long red hair, smoothing it backwards as he spoke. "By the way, I'm sure you'll find yourself a long way from home, young madam." She lifted her chin and spit right in his eye; he stood up quickly and reflexively, furiously rubbing his eye to get the saliva from it. A dark smirk lifted Vainia's lips. "I told you not to laugh at me, you barbarian." He stood with his back to her once he fished the fluid from his eye, and she noticed he was... trembling. Now she was confused, at least until he slightly turned to look down at her. She had watched him peel layers like an onion before her eyes, each layer more terrifying and paralyzing than the last.

"I'm trying my hardest not to gut you right now, you rotten little shit." She looked back with shock. It was like his entire personality had changed in the span of an instant. Now this was terrifying. But she tried not to let her growing fear slip through, that was just what he wanted. No, she continued to look at his hard glare with equal hatred. The shadows danced on his face and seemed to illuminate his bright blue eyes. "Now you'd do well to listen to me and listen to me well, or I'd have to cut open that pretty little throat of yours and watch you bleed to death." She couldn't bring herself to talk anymore, as much as she wanted to. Now he bent down once again, this time staring at her with... different eyes. They no longer mocked her... they openly despised her.

He stared at her for a moment before squinting. "I know you. You're... you're the princess of Mortis." She looked away, not saying a word. "I thought so." He stood up and put his hands in his coat pockets. "Tell me why you are in Inusia." She noticed that this was a clue; they were still in Inusia. She took note of it for future reference and opened her mouth to speak.

"My business is none of yours. I will kill you. I will become stronger, for my people. And you're just an obstacle in my way." Her words were the only weapon she had left, and she wielded them with all the harsh confidence that she usually did. Now she glared at him with renewed vigor, as if remembering her goals filled her with more energy. The man in red grimly smirked at her, but his eyes withheld something. They looked detached... wounded?

Gin spoke back to her with detached, biting and brutal honesty. "I don't know if you noticed, but you're not strong. You're not strong at all." Vainia's eyes narrowed. "I am strong. And you don't fear me. You don't fear strength incarnate. Now why is that?" He caressed her face with a cold, pale hand, but she jerked away from it. He looked away again, straining against something. She knew very well that he fought against himself, but she knew not why. "It's been so long since someone looked at me without fear." Vainia looked at him now with confused eyes, shocked at the weakness and the humanity that she had just heard in his voice. Just what was going on here - first he laughed at her, then he was filled with hatred, now he's melancholy? This man, a serial killer! she reminded herself, was not only unsafe, he was obviously insane. He continued to speak to her. "I haven't killed you for a reason. I don't...” He started to breath heavily, as if speaking was starting to bring him physical pain. “I don't want to kill you." She looked at him with a mouth slightly ajar, her lips parted and her head tilted slightly. The man in red cut her off with more of his words.

"No, don't speak. I have much to tell you, but first... I must. I must plead to you." Now he lay his hands over his face, his hair pushed up ever so slightly. They clenched into fists and back into open palms, mirroring his inner turmoil. Vainia couldn't understand it - turmoil at what? "I understand this must be incomprehensible to you, but..." He looked at her and let his hands lower and start to fidget at his sword belt that held both sheaths of his large blades on the back of his waist. "You must listen. I... I am a fool. A misguided fool. A hound without his leash... An army without its commander." He unbuckled his belt and his blades clattered to the floor. "The things I've seen... They haunt me.” The top of his pants, now devoid of a belt, began to droop deeper and deeper below his bare torso. The outline of his musculature became ever more noticeable to Vainia, but the man didn’t seem to notice. “They fill me with pain, pain I cannot feel." It sounded like his voice was weighed down with eons and eons of pain. Vainia was speechless.

He looked to her with eyes that now glittered with fire. What could they mean, what could they have seen? "I strike against anything that lives in the hopes that one day, something will strike back. And I'll feel it. I believe I've found that thing, but... it's still too early. I have no guidance. For years, I've been just wandering, killing, with emptiness. I've been searching. And at long last... I've found it. I've found you." Now he bent to his knees a third time, looking to Vainia's eyes, searching. She didn't trust him, she hated and feared him all the same, but she didn't know what to say or think at this. This could be just another mood swing, she knew, but it didn't make any sense. It seemed like he spoke with his heart, spilling it and letting the blood drip on Vainia's head. She could see in his face how agonizing that was for him, but... what could she do? What did he want from her? He pulled out a knife and cut the ropes around her in an instant, without even looking. She fell back to the wall again, bringing her hands in front of her and rubbing them. There were slight canvasses where the ropes had held.

He held her hands in his, hands cold with some unspeakable lack of warmth. She instinctively jerked her hands away and clutched them to her chest, continuing to shrink away from him. In the murderer's eyes shone a brilliant light that was crushed, a hurt that she had created. Should she feel sorry for him? He seemed to reach out to her, to cry from years of apparent agony. He whispered, now. "I need you... and you need me. I will be your strength. I will be your knight. Please... please." He was shaking now, eyes wide with some unrecognizable feeling. Vainia didn't move.

And then, after what felt like years and years of the two staring at each other, the music in his ears apparently became incredibly loud. He looked down at himself and then his hands, as if realizing something and was disgusted by what he found. He stood up abrubtly and moved to the door in the room, one that Vainia had not even noticed. She stayed in her curled up position, watching as he strode out of the room. Before he closed the door behind him, he looked back at her with those same eyes, those eyes of a thousand painful emotions. Now she was shaking, and the door shut. He had left his swords behind, with her.

Outside, in the darkness, he walked through the gigantic black castle until he was at the fourth floor veranda. He stood on the balcony and looked out over the canyon of which the castle stood guard over. From his height, he could see much of the Inusian mountains and its dark countryside, but he was blind to it all. Gin Taoris was staring into the inside of his soul, reaching into the inky black sea for something he had lost long ago. It slipped from him as he drowned in the dark ocean, but there was a light, two of them. He fell further and further, but now he could see, now he could see that he was on the right path. Aren't I?

Just what have I become?

...End of Part Thirteen.

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