Silence ruled the space.
The silence was so much that it could alarm even a god. The space was devoid of anything. Just plain white and it stretched as far as the eye could see. It was endless, like a whole world.
Kylian was standing in the middle of the place, his eyes, normal silvery flashed around in confusion.
'Where am I?' he thought inwardly as he swiveled, constantly, in 360° turns.
"You are here, Eleodore!"
A voice echoed around the place. It sounded like the union of speakers located at the four corners of the white realm. That's if it has corners and ends.
Kylian looked around. 'My real name?' he thought and the confusion on his face overflowed as he desperately searched for the caller.
"It's me."
The voice came again.
Kylian searched around his head for where he had heard the voice before. No one knows his real name. Apart from Heald, Sarai, Mei Li and Benzo, no one else knows his real name. They knew his name only because he told the story of his past to them.
No one from his past knows his name. Because after he became a vampire and the curse made his life a blood coated one, everyone knew him as Clawe. No one knew him as Eleodore.
'Who else knows my name?' he asked himself, the frown on his face deepening each passing second.
"You should have asked yourself that; who have called me by my birthname before?"
The voice bought Kylian from his thoughts.
The entirety of his tribesmen is dead, all killed by him when he was out of his mind. So they are out of options.
After he has told the stories to Heald and the trio, and Adrian arrived with his army of vampires, Sarai called him by his name when she asked for his decision whether it's to live or give up and die.
Only then have someone called him by his birthname.
His eyes flashed around as he growled. "Who are you?"
"I can see you have a very bad memory." The voice echoed back.
Kylian's eyes dilated as a pang of realization hit him.
When he was in the realm he had appeared after his apparent death (The Oasis), the voice that talked to him there called him by his birthname. 'Eleodore!'
"It's you!" Kylian growled.
"A growl to the saver of your life is a sign of ingratitude."
Kylian stopped growling like a puppy would stop barking when it's patted on the head. He felt helpless as he asked. "Where is this place?"
A slight sound resonated amidst the silence then the reply came.
"We are in your subconscious mind."
Kylian raised an eyebrow as he pondered. "You said I'll pay for my survival with my life. Yet, I made it. I was alive."
"You are alive now, but not for long."
Kylian frowned deeply. "Uh?!" He gulped as he took a step forward, it was like walking in the air. "Why is it not for long?"
"You need her. You need her."
Kylian's eyes glittered with despair as he looked down. "I lost her."
There was silence for a while.
But then, the voice replied. "You shouldn't loose her, again."
"Uh?!" Kylian lifted his head, his eyes were wide with surprise as he asked. "Will I live?"
"Yes." There was pause before the voice echoed, more than it has done before. "But not without her. Find her!!!!!"
**********
Kylian shrieked hard as he woke up to live. His eyes were wide open and his muscles were bulging heavily as he struggled to move his body but he couldn't.
He looked down and he saw that he was in the middle of a yellow magic circle, which was aglow. The fluctuation of magical energy oozing from the circle made it clear what it's doing beneath Kylian.
It's a binding magic circle. It restricts movement of supernatural creatures.
They had to be prepared for whatever was to come, because they knew how dangerous Kylian could be if he's not sane.
"You have to calm down now, you are safe."
His eyes were red as it flashed up to look at the voice.
Then he saw them.
Heald, Sarai, Benzo, Mei Li and a stranger that looked like an eighteen years old boy, Hector.
"Kylian, calm your mind. You are safe now." Heald reached his pallid hands out to Kylian with a reassuring look.
Kylian's growling reduced and his red eyes turned back to its normal silvery shade.
"Where is this?" Kylian asked as he glanced around. All he could see were roots, coiled and running around the whole place leaving a shed in the middle, which they are, now.
"This place is called the Marcaba." The stranger, which is Hector, replied as he watched Kylian with a look of admiration.
Kylian frowned deeply but seeing Heald nod, he calmed.
Sarai snapped her fingers and the magic circle went off, releasing Kylian.
Kylian fell into the ready arms of Heald as he gave him a dark cloak to cover his unclad body.
Kylian collected the cloak and sat down on a thigh sized root nearby.
"How do you feel now?" Hector asked.
Kylian's irritated gazed lifted as he glared at him. He shifted his gaze to Heald and couldn't help but ask. "Who is he?"
Heald smiled, slightly. "He's Hector. He knows a lot about Skull Vampires."
Kylian's eyes flashed as he heard the words 'Skull Vampires'. He shifted on his butts and faced Hector as he asked. "I feel hot. I feel like ripping things apart."
Hector's brows twitched as he heard this. Everyone else had different expressions on their faces when they heard what Kylian said. Some had confusion, some had horror while the others had doubt.
The confusion was felt by Sarai. What's going on, on her mind is evident as she slowly rubbed her two palms together, preparing to curb Kylian the moment he makes any unexpected move.
The horror was felt by Benzo. Even though he keeps a confident front when he's with Kylian, the truth is that he's scared of him. After hearing Kylian's past, he's slightly scared of him. It's not Kylian that he's scared of actually, but the mad vampire Kylian could become in a second.
It terrified him anytime he sees or remembered the horrific scenes that Kylian said he's caused in the past.
Mei Li on the other hand felt nothing. She's just here for one thing, and that's to do what Sarai says. She's just here because of Sarai and she cares little about what's going on around here. Of course, if Kylian attacks her, a single swipe from her runes engraved sword is all it takes to get his head off, so she's so confident that if the two is pitted against each other, she has her leverage. Only the speed of a vampire Kylian possesses can be of a little headache.
Lastly, the doubt was felt by Hector. He knew so much about the Skulls. He's read about them right from the time he was turned. He was like a scholar of the knowledge about the Skulls. How they react, their culture, what they can do or what they do, everything has been read by him in the old books left behind.
But when he heard Kylian's words, he felt unsure.
His doubtful eyes turned to Sarai. He founded it pleasing that Sarai was already looking at him, too. "What's that?"
Sarai shook her head and muttered. "I don't know."
Kylian scoffed and blinked as he murmured, with zero humor. "Do you guys know that I can hear you, clearly."
"Oh!" Sarai faced Kylian squarely, her eyes were wide and slightly glinted with humor as she replied. "I know."
Hector moved closer to Kylian, the large old book was in his pallid hands. "Do you know what's happening to you?"
"Yes, I do." Kylian's seemed to be in thoughts as he narrated. "When Sarai took the dying me to that ancient wizard's house, I heard everything he said. I was turned by a skull vampire, a member of a clan of vampires that were cursed and annihilated centuries ago."
Hector grinned as he heard this. "That's good. There's little to explain here."
Kylian frowned at that. "What's to be explained? For the past centuries, I had no explanation for what's going on with me, even the Witches of the Himalayas couldn't tell a tale about it."
"Things are different now. We have analysed everything based on the things we've seen in you." Sarai stepped forward with eagerness.
Kylian nodded, telling her to continue.
"When the curse kicks in, what do you feel?" Sarai asked.
Kylian's eyes twitched visibly in a flinch. He looked away and gazed at the empty space as he began to reply, in a slow pace. "At first, all I see is blood, the bloodshed from my past. On my first transformation when my mother was stoned to death by my tribesmen, all I could see was the blood on the battlefields I have fought before." He paused. "After that, I feel heat, pain. Immense pain and then, I feel nothing. All I feel after that is death."
Sarai sighed and the side of her lips curled as she said, "it's the immense pain that drives you mad. The curse triggers the black veins. The black veins heats up your blood vessels and inflicts overwhelming pain on you, the pain that gets so much that it drives you mad and eventually makes you feel nothing at the end." Sarai's grin lingered with admiration as she muttered. "All pain will disappears, at the end."
Kylian's eyes dilated and he nodded, slowly. "You got it. The black veins, after it has brought pain that becomes too much that it takes all sanity away from me, the pain will shut down at that point. No matter what injury I sustain, I feel nothing." His gaze lifted to Sarai's face. "You are right."
"But if that's the case, then there's a problem," Kylian suddenly said.
Sarai's grin disappeared as she asked. "What is it?"
"When I was fighting Adrian, I felt in control even when the curse was active. That's not all. I also felt pain for the first time." Kylian's hand caressed his abdomen as he muttered. "Adrian stabbed me with a stake and I felt the pain."
Heald, Benzo and Mei Li had disturbed gazes too, when they heard this.
It's peculiar no matter which way one looks at it. This is the first time such a thing has happened to him, and he confirmed it himself. It wouldn't take much thinking to know that there's problem.
"That's definitely a problem." Hector opened the old book as he searched for something, desperation dripping off his pores.
Everyone anticipated what Hector was going to find as they watched him searched through the book.
"I got it." Hector said as he opened a page of the book.
His eyes were narrowed as he read it, slowly. His eyes shifted form the book and when he saw the look of anticipation of the others, he chuckled. "It's written in ancient Greek, so I will have to understand first before saying it out to you guys."
Heald took it upon himself to reply for the others. He nodded, "take your time."
"But don't take too long." Benzo added with a deep frown.
Hector smiled and lowered his gaze back to the book.
After a while, he lifted his gaze from the book. His expression was ugly.
The others shifted uncomfortably as they fixed their gaze on him.
"What's it?" Sarai asked the one million dollars question.
"There's a problem." Hector sighed as he continued. "The Skull resuscitation process with the ice water isn't complete yet."
"How?" Sarai frowned deeply.
The others stared with shock as they moved their gazed between Sarai and Hector.
Heald stepped forward as he asked, his face was contorted in confusion. "What's the Skull resuscitation process?"
Sarai held her breath as she replied. "When I brought him here, he was already desiccating. There was no remedy for a desiccating vampire but there's one for a Skull. We did it and he was brought back to life. It was after he returned back to life that he went after Christa to save her from that blue eyed supernatural."
Heald's eyes flashed in understanding as he glanced at Kylian.
Kylian was barely trying to keep his sanity in hand, he felt so uncomfortable as he sat on that root. He felt like something was missing and the confusion was killing him.
His lips parted and he asked. "What remains of the process?"
Hector's gaze flashed to Kylian. He gritted hard as he began to talk. "The process takes a Skull vampire to a realm known as the Oasis. In the Oasis, doors are opened, either the bad one or the good. Many doors are opened, choices are broadened or thinned, life is shortened or prolonged. Options are expanded or reduced. The Oasis is a way to infinite possibilities."
Hector paused for a few seconds. Then continued. "That's why a skull without a mate cannot survive it. Two souls is better than one." Hector shifted his gaze to Kylian as he muttered. "You and your mate made the resuscitation possible. Which meant that, all the doors of possibilities opened in the Oasis were also opened by the two of you. To close those doors and complete the process, you need her too."
Just then, what seemed to be a void to Kylian before began to take shape as he remembered something. What he saw and heard in his subconscious mind.
'Find your mate! Find her!!'
"Find her!" Kylian muttered loudly.
The others turned their gaze to him in shock and surprise.
But Kylian was in his own world. His eyes flashed up as he yelled with panic. "We need to find her!"
***********