"Do you even know where he is?" Scias asked trying to stand up. Yet, not even a second later, he fell on the bed with a loud thump followed by a small crack. Apparently the bed was a bit too old to handle such actions.
Scias had been starving and kept tied against the chair for several days. His body now was weak because of it and couldn't make any sudden moves or any other moves for all that it matters. Out of instinct, Yue Zian extended his hand to steady Scias but when his hand wrapped around the First Son's arm he had already fallen back on the bed.
Yue Zian thought. "This will be a bit troublesome." Then he turned to Nadia and asked. "Do you mind if we spend the night here?"
Nadia was taken back by such question. Why was Yue Zian even asking her? The more time she spent by his side the more confused she became. The sudden change in his personality wasn't something that could be justified by only saying that he was in a good mood. He was the same person but… not, almost like he was… she didn't dare finish that thought.
Nadia had spent quite some time serving this man and she had came to notice a lot of things about him. The expressions he made, the tone he used when talking to people, the way he moved… yet from this morning, every single one of these had changed. They all were… more carefree. Instead of having that straight face all the time, this man had smiled and frowned, chuckled and blushed, showing more emotions he had shown his whole life. He didn't talk with that cold tone anymore. His voice was calmer, softer, gentler… Somewhat he couldn't tie his hair anymore and on top of all these, this was the first time she had seen him so lost in thoughts around other people not caring if anyone was seeing. Usually he would be always so cautious, not daring to show anything on his face, to not show his thoughts and interests unless no one was watching. She had seen him lost in thoughts only once in her life, rubbing his chin and playing with his hair. But that was so long ago she wasn't so sure anymore if she had dreamed it or not.
This strange behavior made her more curious and surprised than scared of the man.
"I… why are you asking me this?" She asked.
Yue Zian stood up and looked around the shack with his hands resting on his hips. "Well, our dear friend here," he pointed at Scias with his thumb, "needs to rest and recover his strength. So he will have to sleep on the bed. But I'm afraid there won't be anywhere for you to sleep on…" His voice trailed off and his teeth bit down on the corner of his lower lip.
Scias was listening to the two of them in amusement.
"Oh." Nadia said. "I can sleep on the floor. It's okay."
Yue Zian knew Nadia wasn't that fragile, but he felt bad to make her sleep on the floor. Besides, she was a lady. If it wasn't for Scias having to restore his energy, he wouldn't even think about it. Nadia would sleep on the bed. Who cared if Scias was a First Son or even the Clan Leader himself. But with the given circumstances there wasn't much he could do. He felt ashamed for even asking Nadia such thing.
"But…" Yue Zian started to say but Nadia waved him off.
"It's okay. I will fix something for you then…"
"I won't be sleeping." Yue Zian said in a matter of fact tone, as if it was an obvious thing. He was used to spending the whole night awake behind a computer screen, so falling asleep during the night felt almost alien to him. Besides he could go a few days without sleep.
Nadia blinked once, her lips parted to say something but no words rolled out of the mouth.
"Hmm..." Yue Zian hummed and looked around the shack again. "Okay, then… I will help you prepare something for yourself. There must be a few blankets around here." He scratched his chin once and smiled at Nadia who almost blushed, not sure if it was because of the words or the smile.
Scias coughed. "Are you sure he's Yue Zian?" The question was directed to Nadia who in spite of herself shrugged while shaking her head. Scias chuckled, enjoying himself. "You truly are acting very strange today, Yue Zian."
If it were a normal situation, this conversation would be pretty funny, but Yue Zian wasn't Yue Zian and was Yue Zian at the same time. What Scias said, made Yue Zian laugh awkwardly while scratching his neck. Acting the way someone who is guilty would act.
Scias laughed some more. "I like it, I like it." He said and then asked Nadia once more. "Don't you agree?"
Poor Nadia couldn't help herself this time and her cheeks blushed red, before shyly nodding once.
Yue Zian laughed awkwardly, trying to change the subject. He felt extremely uncomfortable with such things being discussed in front of him. "We should eat something. Right?" the question wasn't directed to anyone in particular. "I will look around… and find something…. There should be some food…" He was more muttering to himself at this point than talking to anyone. He was walking around the shack like a headless chicken, searching for food under the bed and under the sink. Both Scias and Nadia chuckled at him, before the latter cleared her throat.
"Sir… there's more food in the saddlebag."
"Oh yeah, yeah. Right. You're very right. Hahaha."
Yue Zian walked outside the shack and slapped his forehead, but the door behind him wasn't closed and the loud slap was heard by Scias and Nadia. The first started to laugh at loud while Nadia just chuckled again, hiding her mouth behind her hand.
Yue Zian blushed furiously and rushed to Abyss even more embarrassed now. "What the fuck am I doing? It's not like they will know anything, anyway." Breathing deeply a few times to calm himself down, the red from his cheeks finally faded away.
Abyss was looking at him while chewing on the grass in its mouth. "Even the horse thinks I'm weird." He said at loud. "Is that right, Abyss? You think I'm weird too, right?" Yue Zian patted the horse's head. The horse looked at him shocked… as shocked as a horse can look. The cause of the shock being the fact that Yue Zian, its cruel and violent owner was patting its head gently and softly for the first time ever. "Well, it's not my fault." Yue Zian huffed, his forehead furrowed. "I can't act like a psychopath and kill everyone that is ahead of me." His eyes rolled. Yue Zian patted Abyss' head some more and chuckled. "Mathis Bauer has been reborn. Yue Zian has been reborn. Beware world, I came to fuck shit up. Hahaha."
If seen from afar he looked like a lunatic, with a few screws loose in the head, but Mathis Bauer had a habit of talking nonsense to himself at loud, just for his own entertainment. There were times when Maria would walk in on him talking and laughing at himself, leading to the two of the staring awkwardly at each other for a few minutes before Maria would slam the door shut and wouldn't dare face the man the whole day. When such things firstly happened, she was convinced Mathis was possessed. It took quite a while to change her mind.
When Yue Zian returned in the shack, Nadia had already found a few blankets and had laid them down on the floor against the wall on the other side of the table. She and Scias seemed to be arguing, and didn't pay much attention to him when he walked in.
"I can sleep on the floor, it's not big deal." Nadia said while folding one of the blankets into a pillow.
"I already told you that I can…" Scias tried to convince her, but Nadia shook her head.
It seems that after Yue Zian left, Scias tried to persuade Nadia into sleeping on the bed, but she wouldn't agree. Even though Scias made it look like he was totally fine with sleeping on the floor, his body begged to differ. No matter how much he tried to hide it, his body was weak and hurting all over from being cramped on that chair. The guards used the bed in turns themselves, one sleeping while the other kept guard outside, but Scias never left the chair. Sleeping on the floor not only wouldn't help much with his situation but it would probably make things worse. Tomorrow they would leave. Yue Zian couldn't possibly wait until he was feeling well. This night was all he could give to Scias to get somewhat better.
"You need to get better." Nadia smiled at him and sat on the blankets.
"I brought the food." Yue Zian said while throwing all he had in his arms on the table. He had made sure to leave something for later, and all he had taken into the shack was just some buns, some cheese and a few tomatoes. While looking at the food, his heart cried for some pizza or tacos. "God, I would kill for a taco right now." He mumbled.
Scias and Nadia stared at him. "What's that?" Scias asked interested in the weird name.
Yue Zian looked confused for a moment and just muttered a "huh?", not realizing that tacos don't exist in this world. When it finally hit him his mouth made an o shape but no sound came out. "I forgot you guys don't know what tacos are."
Scias and Nadia blinked in confusion.
Yue Zian chuckled while seeing their faces. At first he thought to just brush it away and not explain, but upon seeing their eyes filled with curiosity he started to explain what tacos are, all while trying to don't mention Taco Bell.
"Where did you try this dish?" Scias asked while munching a bun.
Nadia didn't come to the table. She looked hesitant, feeling that it wasn't appropriate for a servant like her to eat on the same table with the First Son. Yue Zian, who didn't even think about these kind of things, just sat and dragged the other chair away from the table for Nadia to sit. The woman just stared at the chair still not sure. Yue Zian looked at her and at the chair, the meaning behind that look very clear. He didn't look like he would give it up so Nadia finally stood up from the floor and sat on the table. Yue Zian left a bun on her hands and continued to talk.
"I don't think you know the place…" It's a whole other dimension after all, he thought to himself. "But if you want, I can try to make some for you when the chance is given." Scias looked like an excited child upon hearing that. His eyes shined and a huge grin appeared on his face. Yue Zian looked at Nadia who was shyly taking small bites of her bun. "I will make some for you too." He smiled at her.
Nadia froze with the bun halfway to her mouth, her eyes looking up from it to Yue Zian, her face flushing. "What? No, no, no… that would be…"
"Why not? You have already done a lot for me, so making tacos for you is nothing." As he spoke, Yue Zian shoved some cheese on her hands.
Nadia's eyes fell on the bun again and nodded without saying anything.
"Why did you change so suddenly?" Scias asked out of the blue. His expression calm and serious, demanding for an answer. The problem was that there wasn't an answer. There was no logical answer to that question. What could Yue Zian tell him? I was a psychopath yesterday, but I was reincarnated or something in this body this morning? Who would believe him? "Ever since you were young you were such a cold and violent child. You didn't talk much neither, let alone speak in such way. What are you playing, Yue Zian?"
Yue Zian stared at him. Apparently Scias wasn't that much of an ignorant to just accept this sudden change of him. Even Nadia obviously felt the same, but she couldn't say much out of fear. But Scias had nothing to fear. He was already prepared to die. And he wasn't scared of Yue Zian either, so he just asked him straight away, thinking that he might be planning something in secret.
Yue Zian sighed and leaned against the chair. "I'm not playing anything. I just grew tired of being feared and doing as told all the time." He wasn't particularly telling the truth, but not lying neither. It was just the gray zone in between these two where he chose to stay. Telling the truth would just make him sound like a lunatic, while lying made him feel bad. After all he wanted to have Scias and Nadia's trust. That couldn't be earned by lying. "Your brother made me wipe out the entire clan, and in the future he would order me to do much more. I decided to change sides now before it's too late." He tried to look causal while speaking, but nervousness wouldn't let him be. Unconsciously he had started to pick at the bun in his hands bit by bit, his eyes glued to the table. "Being in the good guys' side feels much better, doesn't it?" Yue Zian cracked a smile at Scias, who had been studying him the entire time.
He didn't say anything for a moment then as he came up with a decision, Scias smiled too. "Yeah, it does." He still seemed a bit suspicious but knew how to cover it up pretty well behind a cheerful smile.
Outside the shack, the sun had set and it had already became dark. Yue Zian grabbed his sword and walked out. "I better stay on guard now. Goodnight." He didn't wait for an answer and closed the door behind him.
Abyss was by the watering trough. When it saw Yue Zian walk out of the shack, it hurried to his side, circled around him a few times before shoving him with its head a few times, like a dog asking for pats. Yue Zian chuckled at it. "You like it don't you?" He caressed its head and sat on the ground with his legs crossed. Abyss kneeled on the ground before him, before sitting down and resting its head on his lap. "You're being too friendly so suddenly." Just then, Abyss nudged with its nose the pouch on Yue Zian's sash. "HAHAHAHA." Yue Zian burst out laughing. "You're so wily."
He took a sugar cube out of the pouch and gave it to Abyss.
The shack was in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by trees on all sides. There were no highways, busy streets with flashy signs nor tall buildings. It was complete darkness, the only light coming from the candles inside the shack and the full moon on the sky. Yue Zian couldn't remember the last time he had seen the night sky. With no city lights to dim the star lights, the sky looked spectacular. He had never seen so many stars in his life. It left him speechless.
"I guess today can be considered as my birthday." He muttered to Abyss while caressing its head. "After all I died yesterday… and now I'm reborn. Have you ever been reborn?" Yue Zian asked the horse and actually waited for its answers. When it didn't say anything, for obvious reasons, he sighed. "Who dies while choking on a grape? I don't even want to think what the news will say. So embarrassing." It wasn't easy to let go of his old life, because it wasn't that old in the first place. After all that life was just a day ago. "Mathis Bauer, the famous writer, tragically died after heroically battling with the monstrous and sinister creature, the Grape." His arms were thrown in the air like a showman. "Might as well have died of embarrassment first."
His eyes landed on the sword at his side and the left eyebrow raised. Carefully to not accidentally hurt Abyss that still had its head on his lap, Yue Zian unsheathed the sword. His fingers trailed down the cold blade, touching the engraved writing on it. He seemed to see pretty clearly even though it was dark. If he didn't know better, Yue Zian would think that it was because his eyes got used to the darkness, but he knew better. However Yue Zian didn't need light to see what it was written, for he already knew it.
The blade of the sword Yue Zian owned and wielded looked like it had shadows locked within, twirling and shifting inside the blade. It looked as sinister as the man who owned it. The graved writing on the blade was enough to make people shudder in fear. It was engraved in the Ink Spell's language, the first symbol starting where the blade emerged from the handle and the writing went down it until the middle of the blade. To be devoured by darkness… that's what it was written on that sword. It wasn't an Ink Spell, but just the meaning and the language used to write it made that sword look and feel so ominous. That and the way it was forged. But for whom were those words engraved, only Yue Zian knew.
"It looked cooler in my head." Yue Zian said. "Now it is just simply terrifying."
He was still touching the cold blade when he heard someone giggle. It was the voice of a woman, but it didn't came from inside the shack. There's no way it came from Nadia. His eyes wandered around the area in the darkness. There was nothing there. Abyss must have sensed something was off, because it stood up and walked backwards as if trying to get away from whoever the owner of that voice was. Yue Zian raised on his feet and grabbed the reins of the horse, looking around once more. The sword in his hand, suddenly felt light.
That woman giggled again.
This time it was closer and it came from behind the trees in front of the shack. The voice sent a shiver down his spine, his body freezing in place while Abyss was growing even more agitated. A silhouette surrounded by a dim light peaked from behind the trees. It was the face of a beautiful woman, with long dark hair, full pink lips and big blue eyes, looking like a nymph or fairy. She was looking at Yue Zian right in the eyes, a flirtatious smile on her face.
The woman walked around the tree she was hiding, revealing a long slim body dressed in a plain white dress. The dress was a bit too revealing, showing a lot of her chest and just like Yue Zian's tunic, it had two slits at the side starting about five fingers below the waist, showing her long pale legs. The woman looked like was dancing with every step she took towards Yue Zian, but only after five steps she giggled and rushed back behind the tree again, hiding as if she was too shy to approach him.
Yue Zian blinked in amusement, ignoring Abyss' protests and struggles to be as far away from that woman as possible. He tied the horse on the hitching rail near the watering trough and took one hesitant step towards the woman.
The woman watched him with eager eyes and giggled again. She hid her face behind the tree before jumping from behind it, holding her dress on her hands.
Yue Zian took a few more steps towards the woman, walking slowly, the grip around the handle of the sword tightening. The woman looked more and more excited with every step he took towards her, but the closer he got to her the deeper into the woods she walked in.
Yue Zian's eyes were glued to the woman in astonishment. He wanted to get closer, to take a better look at her, study her face, the way she moved and acted, but right when he was about to step into the forest, a hand yanked him back so suddenly and forcefully, he ended up falling on the ground. He looked back at the woman but her beautiful face now was twisted in a scary way from anger. She hissed like a cat once before disappearing in thin air.
Yue Zian turned his eyes towards the person who had yanked him away from this opportunity and frowned. "Why would you do that?" He pouted at Nadia.
Nadia looked down at him, wings spread in a threatening way, like an angry eagle who was about to attack. Sure enough that anger was reflected on her face as well, directed at him like the blade of a sword. "What are you talking about? That was a…"
"A Huldra." Yue Zian finished her sentence. "I know."
The anger drained away from Nadia's face, her lips parted and now she was looking at Yue Zian in confusion, her face changing colors from red to white to red again. "Then why… why were you…" The words seemed to stuck in her throat, then suddenly her cheeks turned bright red. If it wasn't for the fact that Yue Zian could see clearly in dark, he wouldn't have noticed. "Were you thinking of doing it… I…" The more she talked the more her cheeks turned red.
Yue Zian chuckled. "Of course not. I'm not stupid. I just wanted to see her up close." He explained.
Writing about mythical creatures and demons was one thing, but to see one with his own eyes? The excitement was too much to control. Just like a child seeing a firefly for the first time, Yue Zian had walked towards the light, wanting to catch that creature and look it from up close. However in the heat of that excitement he had forgotten how dangerous Huldras are and only now it downed at him.
A Huldra was a troll-like women that lived in the forest. She appears as a beautiful woman who lures men into underground tunnels with no way returning to the surface. Once the men are trapped, she would suck the life out of them. She looks so beautiful and alluring, you can't tell she has a cow-tail under that white dress of hers.
Yue Zian found himself talking in embarrassment. "I'm sorry."
Nadia looked at him not knowing what to say. Truth be told, both her and Scias woke up from Abyss' protests and when they walked outside the shack. What they saw had both of them shocked. Yue Zian allowing himself to be lured away by such a lowly creature as Huldra. At first both of them didn't try to stop him. After all he's Yue Zian. He can't be such an idiot, right? But for some reason, after watching him and seeing that he was indeed an idiot, Nadia acted in spite of herself and before she realized it, she had grabbed Yue Zian's arm and dragged him back to safety.
"I…" Nadia started to say, but before she could finish whatever she was about to say, she blushed some more and ran into the shack.
Yield Zian blinked in surprise. He gave a look to Sicas as if asking what was with her, but Scias just shrugged.
"The Huldra has been wandering around the shack for some time. The guards usually just ignore such lowly creatures like her." Scias explained with a calm tone. "Were you going to kill it?"
Yue Zian shrugged. It's not like he had that kind of intention, but it was too embarrassing to say that he was just allowing that creature to lure him away out of curiosity and not with a killing intent.
Scias studied his face then walked inside the shack, pulling the door shut behind him. Yue Zian was alone once again.
After that Abyss seemed to be angry with him and didn't let him come close, yet it took one sugar cube for the horse to become friendly again.
After the whole thing with the Huldra, nothing much happened throughout the night. Scias looked better, more lively than yesterday and definitely more cheerful. His back still hurt but it wasn't that serious that he couldn't even walk. After eating some breakfast, Yue Zian took his bracers off again, rolled up his sleeves just a bit above his wrists and took out the ink bottle and the brush from the saddle bag.
Scias stared at his face, a strange expression on him that Yue Zian could understand. Then Scias' eyes fell on the ink bottle and frowned. "I thought you weren't allowed to use Ink Spells."
Yue Zian was a half-breed. His father not being from the Keogon clan and his own past painted in blood from young age were the reasons why Yue Zian wasn't allowed to use Ink Spells even if he could do them. He wasn't allowed to learn the language nor learn any spells, such knowledge being kept away from him. It was only normal for Scias to be surprised when seeing him not only knowing the language for the Ink Spells, but he also knew the spells and without fault at that.
"The Second Son isn't allowed to kidnap and kill you either, but that didn't stop him." At this point Yue Zian only hoped that he wouldn't ask where he learned to do the Ink Spells when he had no access to the books.
However Scias didn't say anything more and just watched him redo the Shortening Distance Spell on his wrist. This time he wasn't going to ride on Abyss. He let Scias and Nadia climb on the horse while he grabbed at the rails with one hand the other pressed against Abyss' head. The first time Yue Zian did the spell, he was riding the horse and Nadia had her arms around his waist, so the spell moved everyone that was in contact with him. Now that he wasn't on the horse's back, he had to at least keep contact with Abyss for the horse and the two people on top of it for the spell to move them all along with Yue Zian. He could write the spell on the others and it would have the same effect, but this way it saved time and there wasn't the chance of any of them taking a step slightly in another direction and drifting several miles away from the group.
"How come you are so sure of Azariah's existence and whereabouts?" Scias asked.
Yue Zian smirked. "Why don't you ask him about that when you meet him yourself?"