My feet were dragging on the ground as Vic took a different road and pulled me along.
"Where are we going?"
"Home."
"But- this is…"
"We're going back to my house."
"Your house? But- why?"
Vic stopped and looked at me, irritated.
"Why are you asking so many questions, Moon? Do you have anything against my house?"
I was silent. My eyes were weary. I didn't look at Vic, but he sensed my worries and sighed, holding my shoulders firmly.
"Moon… I-I promise I'll explain everything to you, okay? It's just… this is not the best place, trust me."
I snickered at his words and looked at him.
"I did trust you, didn't I? I gave you all my trust and went against so many people in my own family. You became my everything within these few days, but… but then why did you have to keep the veil?"
"Veil?"
"You hid your past from me. The most important part that I didn't even know of, about your life. Why, Vic? Am I only supposed to trust you and not expect it back? Why do you have to keep me in the dark like this?"
"Moon, Moon, trust me there was a reason behind my actions. Let's just… let's just get back home. I promise I'll tell you everything."
Vic didn't wait any longer and walked faster, making me follow his lead. As we reached home, I almost slumped into his bed and sat there silently for a long while. Vic, on the other hand, brought a bowl with cold water, dipped a piece of cloth in it, and began washing my hand. But I really didn't care about that at all, at the moment. Things were getting out of hand and I was yet to get a clear picture of my past. My past was clearly haunting me and I couldn't get rid of these visions until I had answers.
I pulled my hand away and looked wearily at Vic.
"Vic, I need answers. This could wait."
Vic looked down and nodded. He kept the bowl away and sat down next to me. He sighed and took my hand in his.
"This morning, I… I woke up a little late. I didn't see you next to me, so I got up to check where you were, but… I couldn't find you. Instead, I saw… I saw a trail of blood on the floor. I was really scared, but I didn't want anybody else to be worried. I… kind of walked out of the room and saw almost everyone was up. They asked me if you were up and I had to lie, but when I got inside your room again, the blood was… gone."
"Gone?"
"Yeah. No signs of it at all."
I was shocked. Did someone clean it? What was the blood doing there in the first place? I wasn't hurt this morning.
"So then I ran out to search for you. My heart was saying something was wrong. I immediately came to the festival grounds, but the Türbeh was locked. So I ran towards the river and saw you standing there in a trance."
It emotionally drained me to even think about it. The confusion that I was in, made my head spin.
"Vic WHAT? What are you even talking about? Why would… there be blood…?"
"I-I don't know… But… something told me that I needed to find you. It was… It was as if someone dragged a body across the floor. And… I got really scared."
My head hurt. What was even happening? Did someone lure him out to me? But then- if the mysterious man wanted to hurt me, then… who would set up this act? And… if their intention was really pure, why would they not tell Vic directly?
"I-I cannot think anymore, Vic. I'm tired. My head hurts, and I still don't have the answers i'm looking for."
Vic sighed and looked away. He closed his eyes for a split second, and with another big sigh, looked at me.
"What do you want to know?"
"You… had a twin?" I asked. My voice sounded very robotic, and Vic almost stared at me blankly for a few minutes, but then, he got up and began pacing the room.
"Yes. I did. I even told you once."
I remembered when he narrated his life story to me. He did mention that there were two kids who were born together, but he never mentioned that it was his sibling.
"I… didn't know who my parents were. All I knew was that we were left with someone else after birth. Malvic and I grew up in a family where we never had anybody to love us… But then, one day, someone took Malvic away. I remained as the only werewolf in the house of vampires. Naturally, you can understand the amount of turmoil I had to go through."
"And… What about… Vlad and… Elena?"
"They were Vampires. They were born in the same family."
Though I didn't know a majority of the characters in this story, I had a feeling that Astra was somehow related to Elena. I got up from the bed and walked up to Vic.
"So… you had no contact with Malvic while growing up? Then… Why did he still hold a grudge against you? And… me?"
It was evident by now that Astra, Vlad, Anya and the others were simply just side-characters that Malvic didn't care about. In the chess game that he was planning in his head, he clearly wanted to checkmate the King and reach the Queen. But why WAS he so vengeful?
Vic sighed. He turned to look at me mournfully.
"Malvic was said to be the evil version of me. Though he did grow up to be evil, as a child, his powers were very limited. And as a brother, I was always understanding of him. He was driven by feelings, emotions, and desires and that's why he always had clouded judgment. I, on the other hand, always used my brain and preferred to rely on my thoughts and conscience to act. Therefore, I was different."
"Yes, but… why was he vengeful, Vic?"
"As children, we were never given the love that we deserved in a family of Vampires. We were cornered and the only ones who would ever communicate with us were Vlad and Elena. Mal was tired of it. He was spiteful of our parents' actions and always condemned them. According to him, no child was supposed to be born in a family without love. If someone isn't sure about raising a child the right way, they should not think of giving birth at all. On the other hand, I… tried to be more understanding. I always said that maybe our parents had reasons for abandoning us, but… Mal never listened. That was when he began hating me." Vic stopped, and then shot a bitter smirk.
"Well, I don't even know if he was right with his thoughts or not, or if he was able to come to terms with it, but-"
"He did, Vic." I interrupted him, as he raised an eyebrow at me.
"What?"
"He did come to terms with it. But in the wrong way."
"I- I don't understand…?"
I paced around the room remembering what Mal said.
"Remember how you said someone took him away one day? Well… turns out… It was your mother. She raised him separately to instill in him more hateful and dark energy as he grew up, so that one day, he could… conquer everyone and kill you to become invincible." "'Malvictor', he said I believe."
Vic's eyes widened at my words.
"Wh-What name did you just… say?"
"Uh- Malvictor? But… why?"
Vic took a few deep breaths and almost lost his balance. I ran to him and caught him.
"Vic! What-"
"Wait right here." Vic said, as he walked out of my grip and began frantically searching for something in his scrolls. He threw almost all of his books on the floor, until he finally pulled out a tattered piece of paper that almost looked like a mix of a letter and a chemistry experiment page. He read the paper carefully for a long moment, before he returned to me with it and held it in front of me.
"People weren't supposed to read anyone's future, back then. But… Dione wrote one for me."
I looked at Vic and then back at the paper, and took it from his hands.
"The Tale of… Malvictor?!"
My face turned pale as I skimmed through the contents of the page.
"After a few days of… your demise, Elena came up to me and showed me this. Apparently, Dione had only told her about this, and asked her to keep me safe from Mal. Elena was indebted to you for always caring about everyone so much. She was inspired by you. So… once you passed away, Elena… made a decision. She didn't ask for permission, but came up to Vlad and declared that… she wanted to give up her existence and come back as your apprentice, so as to serve you, and protect you from calamities and warn you about dangers."
"Astra…" I whispered and closed my eyes. "She… gave up her life?"
Vic nodded. My heart sank. This story was much deeper than it seemed. I shook my head and tried to calm myself down, as I proceeded to read from the paper.
"Dearest Elena,
I know you have heard about my decision to marry. But I promise you, this was for the best. When I saw Vic the other day and examined his sigils, I was very surprisingly able to realize his future. And it was very dark.
I got to know that Malvic is his twin, and they are very much related. Malvic shares his powers with Victor and therefore, he cannot accomplish his dark missions as long as Vic is alive and breathing. And that seems to be his next target. As far as I can see, he wants to use my powers to finish Vic, but at the same time, he wants to keep me alive.
Elena, the marriage is in a few days, on the next full moon. Please, do not let Vic come out at ANY COST. Malvic will gain immense power if he is able to usurp Vic's powers and will cause terrible damage to the world. I will do everything in my power to stop him, but you need to promise me, Elena, that you will keep Vic out of this and safe. Mal will become Malvictor, if he's able to harm Vic, and just like his name, he would try to maliciously bring victory to himself. He would become almost invincible. Please, take my words into account and DO NOT tell anyone about this letter.
Yours,
Dione."
The letter ended with certain symbols, which resembled the sigils in Vic's hands. Maybe Dione wanted to explain what she saw in the sigils. However, this information was very useful and terrifying at the same time. If Mal was back, then it meant that he was once again looking to harm Vic, as well as me, for some reason. I turned to look at Vic to put the final puzzle pieces in place.
"Vic, listen to me. I-I understand why Mal is vengeful, but… why does he want to harm me? What did I do to him? Why does he need me?"
"He needs me because he can gain power, and he needs you, because…" Vic suddenly paused and became thoughtful.
"He needs you because…"
"Because?"
"Because…"
"Vic, because what?!"
"Wait, wait, Moon, I- I can't… I can't remember!"
"You can't REMEMBER?"
Vic all of a sudden became agitated. He ran up to his table and threw things off the table. He clutched his head hard and pulled his hair.
"I- I CAN'T REMEMBER, MOON! WHAT THE HELL? I- I… I KNOW I CANNOT FORGET ABOUT SOMETHING SO IMPORTANT! MOON, I- I PROMISE I REMEMBERED, BUT-"
I ran close to him and patted his back gently.
"Vic, look at me. Try to remember, please. This is very important, Vic. Please…"
"I CAN'T, MOON! I- I CAN'T REMEMBER ANYTHING!! I CAN'T REMEMBER WHAT EXACTLY HAPPENED! IT'S ALL DARK INSIDE MY HEAD! AGHHH!!"
Vic clutched his head and fell to the floor, wincing in pain. I crouched down immediately and held him tight.
"WHAT IS HAPPENING TO ME, MOON? WH-WHY CAN'T I REMEMBER ANYTHING? WHY?!" He screamed and I hugged him tighter. Vic was shaking in my arms like a child waking up after a nightmare. What was happening to him? Why wasn't he able to remember anything from the past? He knew about so much, but he forgot the most important part? What was I supposed to do now? Vic was continuously sobbing in my arms, trying to make me understand that he wasn't faking his actions. He really was unable to remember anything. But why?
A cynical laughter filled the room, answering my thoughts.
"Darkness! DARKNESS WILL COVER EVERYTHING, DIONE! JUST LIKE POOR LITTLE VIC, EVERYONE'S CONSCIENCE WILL BE COVERED IN DARKNESS. NO ONE CAN TELL YOU THE TRUTH OTHER THAN ME!! MY TRUTH WOULD BE THE SOLE TRUTH FOR YOU, DIONE. ACCEPT YOUR FATE!"
"NOOOO!!" I screamed. Vic looked at me concerned. He wiped away his tears.
"What happened?"
I looked at Vic. Was he not able to hear it?
"Did you… not hear anything?"
"I- no? What are you talking about?"
"So it IS him." I thought. This was all because of Malvic. He clouded Vic's thoughts with his darkness just so that I would beg him for answers. But did I really have to go to him for answers? Beg him for them? Was there really no way out of his evil clutches?
It took me a long while to calm Vic down. Once he was finally down to rest in the evening, I was able to walk back home and spend some much needed alone time.
"So… as far as my past life is concerned… I was… Dione. I was the princess of Hestia. Even though there wasn't a lot of significance of the titles, people in Hestia still believed in them. Dione met Vic when she was eight years old, and Vic was twelve. She also met Vlad and got to know Vic, and somehow, also Elena. Vic and Dione grew closer and became good friends within a few months, but on one festival of Eternia, Vic blamed Dione for turning him into a 'monster', and apparently, he was talking about his transition to a werewolf. Maybe he wasn't able to control his powers at the moment, and he thought Dione, being a witch princess, somehow cursed him. He was even imprisoned for it, and everyone began spreading rumors about them, so… Dione's mother decided to separate them. Vic was imprisoned, while one night, Dione was taken away to Gloria… who also happened to be Eternia? Dione then spent the next ten years without any contact with Hestia and its people, and learnt the art of witchcraft and healing. She became one of Eternia's best students and after ten whole years, she was allowed to go back to Hestia. She came back to Hestia on the festival of Eternia, and she bumped into Vic. They were both grown up and gave into their feelings. They grew closer that year, and clearly fell in love. Both Vic and Dione were able to explain themselves, and even the people of Hestia loved the pair. But… What exactly happened the night Dione went to Eternia so desperately? What was happening to Vic, and why? And… according to my vision, Dione had already met Malvic by then. Gosh, this was getting even more confusing. What was the puzzle piece I was missing?!"
I slammed the glass of water on my dressing table after taking a sip, as I went and lay down on my bed feeling frustrated. Why wasn't I able to figure out this last piece?
"My Lady? Is everything alright?"
I turned around at Misaii's voice, as she entered my room slowly.
"Misaii?"
"Yes, My Lady. I thought I should come check on you. You have been stressed since the past few days." She said, smiling at me with her usual kind smile.
"I- what… how did you know?"
Though I didn't want to sound like I was suspecting her, everything going on around me made me feel suspicious about everything.
"Actually… I asked Astra. She… told me vaguely about some things that were bothering you, and I thought I should come see if I could help. Moreover, that day, after you asked me for help, you didn't even tell me if it worked. So I was a little curious too. Is everything okay?"
Misaii touched my shoulder gently, and I almost melted into her touch. Her touch was just so affectionate and persuasive, that without giving it a second thought, I began telling her about my problems.
"I told you that I had these… dreams. And now, well I keep hearing voices, Misaii. And… I really need answers to figure out what is happening with me."
Misaii silently listened and nodded.
"Since you already know the gist… I believe you know that I'm trying to know more about Dione?"
She nodded.
"Did you know… who she was? And… What happened to her?"
Misaii turned to look away and peered out of the window. She was silent for a long moment, and then said, "No. I do not know what happened to her, My Lady."
My heart sank, but then she spoke again.
"But… I might have a solution, if you'd like to know."