"Thanks." Mathis muttered when she was done.
Nadia looked at him with wide eyes, but he understood. Yue Zian was truly a person to be feared and he had a terrifying thirst for blood, just because it was satisfying to him. Every single person in the Keogon clan was terrified at him, even the Clan Leader felt uneasy whenever they were in the same room. The only person who didn't mind his presence was the Second Son. Lucien had a similar personality to Yue Zian's, with the only difference being the fact that he didn't like to get his hands dirty, but preferred more to watch. Being the same, Lucien would take Yue Zian everywhere with him when Yue Zian wasn't busy. The two of them walking together resembled a painting of hell, two demons, Lucien always with a sinister smile plastered on his face, and Yue Zian only one foot behind him, sporting an emotionless face all the time.
It took only a glance, a word, for the love of God, only a sigh, to scare the maids to death whenever they saw him or passed by him. Nadia somehow was the only unfortunate soul left to deal with him, enduring everything like a pro. But now this awful person just said thanks, and the poor woman didn't know what to say or how to react. She knew how to handle an emotionless, covered in blood, throwing fits and being absolutely terrifying Yue Zian. Not this man smiling and blushing, saying "thanks" to her. In the end, she kept her lips sealed and just lowered her head as she raised the cloak in the air for him to put it on.
Instead, Mathis grabbed the cloak from her hands and put it on himself. He was too busy examining the black cloak and the details on it, to notice Nadia jumping back, startled at the sudden movement. Slowly, as if trying to not get caught, she took a few steps back and remained still, but it was obvious she would sprint out of the room any given chance.
"Where is Lucien?" Mathis asked.
Speaking book-wise, Yue Zian shouldn't have called the Second Son by his name, for it wasn't proper. At least he should have called him Young Master, but such things were trivial to Mathis. He made that son of a bitch and was used to refer to him as just Lucien a lot while writing so not only he forgot about how should he address him, but Mathis also felt weird calling him that, even though the words were in the tip of his tongue.
Nadia on the other hand, couldn't believe her ears. Yue Zian was disrespecting the Young Master so openly. It wasn't exactly unknown that Yue Zian loathed Lucien even though he did everything Lucien told him to do. He just never expressed it, always put on a mask of pretended respect when he talked with the Young Master. The only thing that gave him away was the fact that he was especially in a bad mood when Lucien was around shouting to the guards or soldiers around who endured partially because of Yue Zian's respected position as a Great General and partially because they sympathized with him.
"He's in his room. The Second Son is waiting for you to join him for breakfast." Her head was lowered, hands fidgeting with the silver tray.
Mathis smiled at her once again and passed by her to leave the room. As he walked by, his hand landed on Nadia's shoulder, previously intended to be a light reassuring pat. However, Nadia looked as if she had been slapped on the face without reason. Eyes opened wide, her body frozen in place and not knowing what to do. Not until Yue Zian walked out the room, the door closing behind him, did she dare to breathe at ease. Her body had tensed at such degree, that now that she finally relaxed her muscles, the tray fell once again on the floor, her body following after it. No one had the guts to face such man every day and serve him without fainting every time he moved a muscle so everyone in the castle knew that Nadia wasn't ordinary. Her bravery was praised by every other servants, but they also pitied her and didn't want to be in her place. Originally Nadia didn't mind. She had gotten used with Yue Zian's personality, steeled her heart and served him without shaking once. But this… this? Today was the first time since the first day Nadia saw him that she felt so lost and terrified, not knowing what to do and say, the composure she had maintained for so long, crumbling into nothing in just five minutes.
Meanwhile, Mathis had no idea where he was going. The palace was an enormous place, with countless rooms and hallways. He knew because, Mathis himself wrote it to be that way, yet he couldn't possibly know every corner of the palace. This is because he always had some vague image of the place in his head while writing about it and only the important parts of the place were described in detail. He couldn't have possibly thought about the entire architecture of a palace. That would be impossible, even more so if you take into consideration the fact that there are three other clans, each one of them with their own palaces as well. How Mathis found his way to Lucien's room though, was due to muscle memory. Yue Zian's body seemed to remember his way around, so without giving it much thought, Mathis walked down the hallways with confidence.
When he found himself in front of the Second Son's room he knocked twice and waited for an answer, ignoring the two guards at each side of the door. If he would have spared them at least one glance, Mathis would have noticed the surprised side glance the two men gave him. It didn't take too long before Lucien's voice was heard from behind the door, a "Come in" said with indifference.
"From all the characters I wrote, I had to be Yue Zian and meet Lucien. This isn't a dream anymore. This a fucking nightmare." Mathis thought and pushed open the door.
Lucien's room was even bigger than that of Yue Zian's. It was also more graceful and furnished with such expensive things, Mathis couldn't help but hold his breath in awe. It was one thing to write and imagine about such place, but to actually see it and walk into it, was a whole other thing. And in that breathtakingly beautiful room, by an enormous window with vines dangling from behind it, stood the evil son of a bitch, the Second Son, Lucien of Keogon.
Knowing him like the back of his palm, Mathis didn't find him scary, but still his body seemed to tense upon seeing him. Lucien stood by the window, not bothering to pay Yue Zian a single look. Dressed in expensive clothes, with his hands behind his back and a grin on his face that didn't promise anything good, he looked like the perfect villain. It wasn't until Yue Zian had walked down to the middle of the room that Lucien finally returned to face him.
The moment he saw him, his left eyebrow raised in bewilderment, the corner of his lips twitching a bit. Mathis felt his blood run cold. Is this the part where this dream turns into a night terror?
"Why are you looking like that? What happened to your hair?" Lucien asked, his tone making it look like Mathis had shown up naked in front of him.
Confused, Mathis raised his hand and touched his hair. It appears that after going a bit nuts earlier in his room, pulling his hair and such, Mathis had messed his hair a bit too much, looking like he had just woken up or rather like a bird had decided to use his head as a nest. Even so, Yue Zian never walked out of his room with his hair down. His long black hair would always, without exception, be tied up with a long red ribbon in a pony tail. Seeing him in such condition for the first time, made him look almost wild. Either way, it wasn't how, according to the Second Son, a Great General should look like. Such appearance was less expected from someone like him.
Mathis understood immediately, but he didn't have any hair tie nor "long red ribbon" with him to pull his hair up so all he could do at the moment was to straighten his hair down with his hands and try to look as proper as he could.
Lucien looked at Yue Zian as if considering the idea that the man in front of him had gotten possessed, that in some way wouldn't be that far from the truth. He shook his head as if shooing away any useless thoughts and collected himself.
"Have you finally recovered?" Lucien asked with a calm tone, but he didn't look like he cared that much, or maybe like he knew the answer already but asked just for the sake of it.
Not sure of what to say, Mathis just simply nodded and didn't speak anything. It was a dream, but he felt too anxious to act or speak as he wished, recalling how odd is that despite knowing he's dreaming, he hadn't gone lucid and he couldn't wake up neither. Either way he didn't lie. He was feeling extremely well, even more than he should with his eyesight fixed and his pinky finger completed.
Lucien walked away from the window. With his hands still behind his back, he approached the table seated nearby and gestured to Mathis to sit. The table was round and made from dark wood that looked nothing like the trees from Mathis' world, which meant it was made of a tree from this dream, a fictional tree. Mathis, of course, was aware of this, which only made the desire to admire the wooden table, which legs were skillfully carved to look like two dragons were holding it, but with Lucien present, he didn't dare. Dream or not, the villain Mathis created was terrifyingly scary and he knew this better than anyone else so he didn't want to test him.
Mathis waited for Lucien to sit first. It might have been a while since he had finished writing the story but he somewhat tried to remember as much as he could about the relationship between Lucien and Yue Zian in order to behave properly, mostly out of fear than anything else.
"To be scared of your own creation. Pfft." Mathis mentally sneered at himself, not knowing if he should laugh or cry at his pathetic situation. Son, I'm your father… adoptive father… actually I take it back. No one wants you.
The table was filled with different dishes of all sorts, that barely left any place for anything else. There were meats of all kinds and forms, eggs boiled and scrambled, three or more kinds of salads, fresh baked bread and buns, small plates with cheese and so on. There were three silver carafes, the first one was filled with water, the second one with milk and the third one was filled with wine. A huge bowl with fruits of all kinds stood in the middle of the table and two empty plates with a set of a knife and a fork at the side were set in front of the two men. Lucien started to fill the plate in front of him and began to eat, but Mathis seemed to hesitate.
Looking at all the food in front of him he already felt full, but that wasn't the matter. Mathis Bauer rarely eat breakfast. It was a bad habit of his, but for the biggest part of his life, he would stuff himself at one or two am, walking stealthy down the kitchen to "steal" snacks and wouldn't want to eat anything until late in the afternoon. However, right now, he felt like if he didn't eat anything, it would offend Lucien. It's not like he cared, but he was quite scared that offending him would lead to some gruesome consequence, even though he knew the relationship between Lucien and Yue Zian was that of two pals… one mercilessly using the other while the latter only wished to kill him in his sleep but couldn't. Two psychopath pals. Yue Zian indeed worked for Lucien and handled a lot of dirty jobs for him, but other than that they were rather causal around each other, even though with their personalities that casually was different from what people thought of.
Despite himself, Mathis decided to just grab an apple and munch on it until Lucien was finished with his breakfast. Meanwhile Lucien spoke with a voice so calm and naked of emotions. "I need you to kill my dear brother."
Mathis was about to grab the apple at that moment, his eyes previously locked on a perfect crimson red one that looked rather juicy. However when Lucien spoke to him, his gaze shifted to the man in front of him and the extended hand retreated.
Just like when Nadia first walked into the room, a wave of excitement took over his body like a demon possessing its victim. It even felt like that demon was the one who spoke the following words. "I thought, the Clan Leader didn't suspect anything." Once the words left his mouth, Mathis had to fight the big urge to giggle in excitement.
All this was simply because the words, the movements, this whole scene was just like he remembered writing it. Only now that Lucien had said those words did Mathis recall this part of the book and he couldn't help himself. At first he couldn't remember it because unlike in the book, Yue Zian appeared proper in Lucien's room and the conversation in the book didn't start with Lucien being dumbfounded by his appearance. But now that they had sat on the table, the flow of event had gone back in tracks and was flowing the original way. Noticing this, Mathis felt like playing a role, reciting the very same words he once wrote.
"It's not about either he suspects anything or not. The Zicia Clan was wiped out anyway so there's no going back for him. I'm more concerned about the High Lords."
"What about them?" Mathis said with a serious look, but deep down he was trying his best to don't giggle.
Lucien stuffed his mouth with some scrambled eggs and chewed slowly Un bothered. Only after he was done chewing, he put the knife and fork down and took a silver cup in front of him and filled it with wine. "Those good for nothing dunces are suspecting that Brother is alive and that Father used his death as an excuse to declare war and bring siege upon the clan." Lucien twirled the wine in the cup as he spoke. Then, with his lips slightly curved up he lifted the cup near his lips and drank a sip. "If they find out he's indeed not dead, those oafs will try to overthrow Father as an act of apology to the clans so they won't declare war and 'to bring justice in this place'."
"Isn't what the Young Master wanted?"
The Second Son, Lucien of Keogon, had had his eyes on his father's position since in youth. Such ambitions of his are what set the book in motion. It's his desire of taking the Clan Leader position and his desire to rule over all the other clans that made the root of all evil in the story. Even though the book itself starts with the main characters that are from the Zicia Clan, a whole different clan from the one Lucien and Yue Zian are from, the troubles start after the First Son of the Keogon Clan slyly gets kidnapped by his own brother in Ziacia's territory, the blame tossed at the Zicia Clan. There are several reasons why Lucien chose this clan to blame for his brother's assumed murder, one of these reasons was to find an excuse to wipe out the whole clan. The annihilation of the Zicia clan is just the first step in his plan to achieve success.
Watching his plans in progress in person, Mathis felt like a fan watching his favorite show from within the filming set. The scene in front of him unraveled itself like a beautiful flower blooming in the spring, sprawling its petals slowly and with elegance. He knew the answer Lucien was about to give by heart just like he knew the words he was saying.
"I don't want a civil war within my clan. The High Lords overthrowing the throne in the name of justice is just a lame excuse so one of them can declare themselves Clan Leader." Lucien sneered. "How pathetic. As if I will allow such thing to happen. They haven't done anything yet because they don't have any proof and don't want to stir up unnecessary troubles." Lucien put down the cup and leaned back on the chair. His arms crossed over his chest, while turning his gaze outside the window. A heavy sigh came from deep down his chest. "If only Father had listened to me and declared war to the clans back then, Brother and him wouldn't have to die."
The words and the tone didn't match each other, sending shivers down Mathis' spine.
"In any case, I want you to leave the palace as soon as possible. There's no time to waste and give those simpletons any chance of succeeding anything."
Mathis muttered. "As you wish." He stood to leave the room, grabbing that apple he had been eyeing up for quite a while, but not after taking even five or so steps towards the door, Lucien spoke again.
"You did a great job back in Zicia."
Mathis turned around to face Lucien again. His forehead furrowed in confusion for a split second before the realization hit him, and his face darkened. But Lucien didn't notice it. He was too busy staring outside the window. His hand reached to the bowl of fruits in the middle of the table and got hold of a single purple grape before throwing it in his mouth.
Seeing such scene, it reminded Mathis of something. The memories rushed in, making him feel as if a bucket with cold water had been thrown on his head. His body froze and his gaze became unfocused. He remembered himself writing in his room late at night, a plate with grapes placed near the computer. He recalled pushing his glasses up his nose before grabbing a grape and throwing it into his mouth, something he had been doing for a while now, but this time the grape went down his throat without him having a chance to chew on it first. Choking on that single grape, without being able to ask for help, his face gone red and cold sweat running down his face and body… Mathis recalled his vision going blurry from the tears formed by the struggle to breathe and then going dark when that struggle was in vain. The last thing he remembered was his body going limp before falling on the floor.
"I… I died?" Mathis thought to himself, not feeling so well anymore. The room seemed to spin around, choosing the wrong time to play tricks on him. "I choked to death? ON A FUCKING GRAPE?!!"
Confusion, despair, dejection, anger, embarrassment, regret, objection… all these feelings whirled in his heart like a wild storm created out of nowhere and he couldn't handle anymore. Without realizing it, Mathis found himself falling on the floor, the last thing he saw being the villain of his novel rising from his chair and walking to him. After that he was devoured by darkness.