There were intense flashes of light, and every time those flashes appeared, a significant amount of the monsters attacking Maze would loose their life, but even then, they were still able to cause extreme damage to him, especially the lightning tailed bats. But the time for stalling was enough, I was ready to end this, the only problem remaining is that I don't know how to do so.
If Maze won he would have killed me without hesitation, but if I do kill Maze; I'll be starting a blood feud with the Bediako coven. Not to mention his allies would also want payback. It would be an inevitable civil war as previously concluded. The only difference being that; I would be the one they were fighting. I had no problem protecting myself, but being a leader meant I had to think about the bigger picture. And if my fight with Maze has told me one thing, it's that I'm not as all powerful as I thought I was. I was only just starting, and I had a long way to go. So the only other option would be to hurt him, and hurt him so bad that he would never forget it.
I pulled out my soul energy, there wasn't much and pulling on it made me feel as if I was squeezing out toothpaste from an empty tube. There was this sudden emptiness and hollow feeling at the center of my being, like I might have or was loosing a part of my self. I eased up a little, as using too much of my soul energy, especially when it's depleted was grounds to have my soul permanently damaged. It was not something I would like to experience.
The monsters were connected to me telepathically, so it only took a simple gesture of my head to have them move to the left and right of Maze, forming a circle around him rather than attacking him with reckless abandon. Maze was exposed to the world looking worse for wear. His Avatar had completely disappeared and his body was littered with bite marks, with huge chunks of flesh missing.
There were scorch marks and outright burn marks, accompanied by black and purple blotches that pulsed with bulbous boils. He was poisoned, electrocuted, burnt and bitten to a miserable state. He looked nothing like the prideful elder he's supposed to be.
As soon as the monsters parted, I didn't waste time and swung my sword while his defenses were still down. A beam of pure white light with a hint of purple flew out of my sword and slammed into his chest. The rune circle for [DREAM] appeared over his head, as I hunched over and coughed up blood. My insides felt like they were burning and my knees were knocking against each other.
I was really at my limit. Maze rushed at me, but before he could get close he suddenly stopped, his eyes open wide as he fell back on his ass, moving backwards rapidly as if he had seen a ghost. I couldn't see what he was seeing, but that could be solved.
[Soul Sight] [Soul Walker]
The world faded out of focus, and all that was left was me and Maze, standing face to face on a mountain, with the moon hanging high above us. It was beautiful and serene and peaceful. The open skies above and sweet scent of the crisp air as it blew with a hint of an early spring shower. This world was a dream, his dream. But in here I was master.
"What...wh....what...….are you."
He was terrified, his eyes bulged in fright as he scrambled backwards to the edge of a cliff, his fingers digging deeply into the ground below him. I looked down at myself, and all I could see was myself. But I looked right and a puddle of water appeared, and a visage so terrifying I couldn't describe was looking right back at me.
I almost screamed and jumped back in fright, but this was a world of my own design. This was what Maze saw me as, and since this was his dream I couldn't change that, well I could, but I didn't want too. I looked at him and took a step forward, he took five backwards in response.
"My name is Jason. And I'm your reckoning."
I smiled sinisterly and then the world turned upside down and Maze fell down into the night sky. I followed, sticking close to his terrified face as the full moon drew closer in it's brightness. The beauty of all this was that, most people would find this experience exciting, amazing and beautiful.
But while this was Maze's dream, it was built on a template created by my power, which meant I alone had the keys to its foundation and structure. All Maze has to do is dream and experience whatever I want him too. Which meant he felt what I wanted him to feel, and saw what I wanted him to see.
The world turned again and we fell back to the mountain with a loud boom. Maze was In a large crater, all of his bones a broken mess. But he was still very much alive, it was as if he was no longer a vampire, and was just ordinary. I sat at the edge of the crater and looked at him with a soft smile. But I'm sure the horrible looking fangs dripping with yellow saliva he saw, would make him want to piss his pants.
"Aren't you supposed to be a grand elder. All powerful, wise, smart. The so called spiritual leader of the vampire race. A pillar and a stellar role model. Now you're just pathetic." I said to him as I picked dirt out of my nails.
"I...."
"Stop! Did I say you could talk. Hearing your voice is quite annoying, maybe it would. Be. Better. If. You. Didn't. Have. A. Mouth."
I placed emphasis on each word, and I watched with satisfaction as his lips slammed together. And as if some cosmic entity had an eraser in hand, Maze's lips disappeared until all that was left there was a blank patch of skin. He moaned and mumbled in fright, he struggled to move his broken body, but he couldn't do anything like that, he was completely stuck in his own nightmare. He blinked his eyes rapidly as tears dripped from them.
Maybe I was not playing fair, manipulating his emotions in the dream made it easier to mess with him. If I had left his brash, rude and fearless character intact, it would have been more of a challenge to break him, but it would have been more satisfactory.
"I have a friend of mine here who would like to say hello. And I think I should give you guys some time to get reacquainted with each other."
His son Galen appeared on the edge of the crater, looking just as haggard and emancipated as the last time he was alive. Maze had his eyes widened to epic proportions in surprise and heartache as Galen drew close to him, dragging a massive tool box behind himself. Galen sat beside his father and used one of his hands to smooth back his father's hair.
"It's good to see you again father. Yes! It's good. Which means now you can do the right thing and save me. You can save me right? I know you can. But it's not going to be easy for you, kikikikiki. For me to live, for me to survive.......father you have to die! But you wouldn't mind right? I'm you're son, and you love me don't you, so please DIE!"
Galen had said he wanted his father to die. But I don't think dropping a hammer on his already broken shoulder was the proper way to do so. But that was just the beginning. The toolbox looked like an endless box of horrors as Galen kept dipping his hand inside and dragging out torture tools that would make even the toughest men cry for their mommas. Saws, the classics, nails, also a classic and a floss, which was totally Ingenious. Galen really had a talent for this kind of work.
It went on for hours, as Galen tried so many different ways of torture. For the first two hours it was extremely enjoyable, and then I began to feel sick. By this point Maze was no longer responding. It was not as if he was dead, but he was broken, lost in the confines of his own mind as he retreated to the only place that could offer him solace from both the physical pain and emotional pain he was feeling. What was I doing? How did it ever come to this.
I understood being merciless to your enemies, but this, this was completely evil. I looked at Galen, covered in blood as he slammed a wrench on his father's ribcage over and over again. The image flickered, and what I was seeing was me, the old me. A younger Jason, delivering the blow that took his father's life, over and over again. I took a deep breath and took a frightened step back, falling backwards o to the fifth zone platform.
Everything was normal, and Maze was standing in front of me, his eyes completely blank and devoid of light. He was lost, deep in his mind, away from the horrors, away from the torture. Without an active mind to hold his body up he fell to his knees, eyes forward still as blank as ever. I broke him and there was nothing left behind those eyes.
I pulled myself up, barely capable of standing myself as I walked towards Maze. I picked him up and moved towards the destroyed podium watching the four elders standing there watching me. Farina walked forward to lend a hand when my knees buckled under the weight of Maze.
I didn't feel like a human right now, rather I felt like some sort of new born baby. Weak, helpless, tired and guilty. With Farina's help I walked over and placed the catatonic Maze in front of Sousa as I gave a scathing glare to her, Bien and the so called young master of the Inferno bloodline coven.
"Are we done here? This is what you made me do. Bien you used me to get your revenge, putting my life on the line in a blatant display of manipulation. You didn't even bother to hide the fact that you were gambling with my life and the life of my vampires to get what you wanted. You're a pathetic piece of trash, and unless you come crawling on your knees, begging to serve me, I don't want to have anything to do with you. Our previous deal is off, because you're the least trustworthy person of all the elders."
I didn't even bother to find out what her expression looked like before I turned to Sousa.
"You're worse than trash! Your life was not enough for you, and neither were the people in it who love you, so you're sleeping with the head warden of the pit. The same person who has put thousands of your people through hell and pain the likes of which you can never imagine; and do you know why you can't imagine it?.......because you've been fucking! The Enemy! Bien can not be trusted because all she thinks about is herself and not the bigger picture. You're both trash but she's a better trash than you. Because even if she's selfish, she's not a traitor!"
My words were filled with venom, and I made sure the entire basin could hear it. And they erupted in chaos at my words. The fact that Sousa did not defend herself immediately made everyone sure of her guilt. And I'm sure the reason she couldn't do so, was because she was surprised someone found out her deep dark secret. She was completely unprepared for it, and as such she was drowned out by outburst or rage from the vampires around.
I turned to my final target, and that was the so called young master. He looked at me fiercely, as if challenging me, daring me to say whatever it is I wanted to say.
"I'm not going to judge about your sexual tastes. I mean it's a free world right? But don't you think incest is a rather nasty practice. It's weird, and even more so when you consider the fact that you're banging your own uncle. Gross. But in the end you're just a puppet with no real power, a figure head that was placed on the council just so that others with more power can fuck around, doing stupid and worthless stuff that would never better the life of the common vampire. After today, I think it's safe to say, that the vampire council is over. See you around weirdos."
Xaseah came down from the stands, followed by the other envoys. I looked at them and smiled. I didn't get what I came here for, but I don't regret it. If everything that happened didn't happen, I would have brought a snake back home to my people. I exposed them though, and now it's left to the remaining vampires to decide for themselves whether they can trust their leaders anymore or not. My doors would be open to them anytime. I turned to Teluna and said to him.
"Take us home kid."
A huge portal appeared and encompassed us all. Five minutes later we came out in front of the palace, to a world that was scorching hot on one half, and freezing cold in the other. The smell of death and the scent of blood filled the air, as the shadows of two massive dragons flew over our heads.
"Uhhh Teluna? Where the fuck did you take us?"