He clicked sent on the video he just edited for a client, it was his third one that morning and it was only 9:12. He got off his desk chair, with a frowned eyebrows looked at the black cover of the Temhos and loudly exhaled air, sharply glancing bitterly upon it. Nathaniel pushed away the heavy, thick curtain covering his windows and looked out, quickly covered his eyes from the strong sunlight entering his room wishing it could parish him like a vampire exposed to sunlight for too long.
The weather was indeed beautiful but the expression on his face did not change, it was simply one of a cold, emotionless man. "I am not feeling sad nor happy but simply existing…." He said to his empty bedroom, clearly frustrated from his boring life and the research on the Temhos.
"I could give my ol' buddy here another chance at love…. we used to do it so well once upon a time!" he rubbed the dust off his digital DSLR camera, grabbing it and looking at some of the pictures he had taken in the past.
"hmmm, let's see, the last time I used this bad girl was the camping trip with Daniel." He quickly checked for the time the last picture was taken, "11:11 in the evening, how perfectly aligned…" It was a gloomy picture of the forbidden forest, so dark, so ever dramatic. Just the way Nathaniel liked it, he thought glancing upon it, "I should print and frame this one. It was taken only a few minutes before I met my hopefully soon to be lover, the girl with ruby eyes…. although come to think of it----I never saw her eyes…only…the dress….the white tattered one that only covered her torso. Her legs…. Her legs were so ever naked and white just like the dreams I have been having of her."
He huffed and looked back at the book laying on his study desk wistfully, "And I have no idea why the dreams stopped….it was only hope to it." he put the camera in his backpack, put on a black, long-sleeve shirt with a pair of blue jeans and with black boots in hands, walked towards the entrance of his tiny apartment.
"Today I should give the color black a rest and put on something more…..unique than usual." He opened his closet glancing carefully at each blazer, coat and trench coat he had available. "There you are! Pale grey, I would have worn this on my meeting with Daniel if I knew what he was going to wear but….kidding of course, I would never match colors with that idiot."
Like a prisoner on his parole, free of his imaginary shackles and his own mind, he strolled the streets confidently. The weather was cold, but the sun kept him warm as long as it was in his sight. He quickly caught the first tram to das Rathaus, Vienna's townhall.
Strolling around curiously around the park surrounding the townhall, he searched for the perfect camera-shot and angle when he was suddenly distracted by his own reflection on the window of a nearby store, "My, my, will you look at that! I do look indeed devilishly handsome and in good shape again! All at the cost of tolerating life and these hairless monkeys without the help of any substance…."
Regardless of his frustrations, he continued to take several pictures from different angles of the townhall, the sad people and even the pigeons. Anything that he could work with on his workstation and print out as his new masterpiece but no matter how good the shots were, they were never good enough to distract him from the reason why he was out in the first place.
"Sigh, it never gets easier, does it?! No matter how hard I try to distract myself…"----he focused, taking yet another picture of the townhall tower----"with no Alcohol and the dreamworld dormant, I can't escape this emptiness…guess I need to do what Giovanni King use to always tell me and Daniel, 'be strong kid!'"
He began aimlessly strolling through the city, lost in his thoughts, controlled by his negative emotions that felt like it could overwhelm him at any given moment like a flood of mud blurring his mind, and the only way out was to keep walking.
In a trice, he had walked an entire street without even noticing, when his eyes met with a cigarette vending machine. He instantly stop and bought a pack. Leaning towards the bark of an old tree, he lighted up and smoked one, the exhaling of toxic Tabacco entering his lungs, calming him even if it meant for only a few minutes.
Hearing people's laughter, the joy in the air in city that was known to be unfriendly felt unreal. Nathaniel carelessly threw the cigarette away, scoffing at the people passing by and began aimlessly to walk again.
Hours passed, lost in unescapable thoughts, he lost track of where he was headed to, "…. Where…am---I?" he stopped and looked around, nothing seemed familiar, which part of the city or district was he in?! He strolled down a few blocks before noticing a familiar building.
The Schöpfwerk public library. He instantly felt a chilling sensation going down his spine, giving him goosebumps as he gazed upon its entrance, "Something is really odd with the old library….and I can't put my fingers on it." He narrowed his eyes as stared at its entrance.
As he stood in the middle of the street staring, Nathaniel briefly saw a girl with raven black hair and a white dress standing on the porch, smiling at him before she disappeared into thin air, "What the…. where the hell did she go?!" he stood there confused, robbing his eyes a few times, "Either I am totally going bananas, or my mind is playing tricks on me. Guess there is only one way to find out!"
He stepped into the library, all eyes turned to him and his stylish clothes. His black shirt which had two buttons open, two unique necklaces around his neck, a black cross and a shark tooth, his black ring with the ruby gem in hands distracting the people he passed by with his air of carelessness and mystery. What was this handsome young man up to, whispered everyone in to one another, finding a reason to open their mouth in the so ever quiet halls filled with nothing but bookshelves.
Nathaniel curiously strolled down the aisles, hoping to see the girl in the white dress, "It has been a while….guess I could check out a book or two for distraction purposes." The shelves were filled with interesting books from countless topics with numerous subjects and genres to pick from.
The more he searched, however, the more boring and mundane the topics seemed to be for his taste, "Philosophy, nope! Fiction, no snowball chance in hell!! Thank you very much! For crying out loud, all these topics are so boring! Why would anyone waste their time on them." He whispered frustratingly.
Three hours in, searching endlessly and Nathanial was still looking for a book. Eventually he picked up Leaves of grass by Walt Whiteman and decided to check out and leave----however, on his way out on the second floor he felt someone in black suit watching him, he could feel the weight of his eyes upon him but continued to ignore and walk towards the checkout.
As he strolled closer to the check out, he felt the loud formal shoe steps walking behind him, following him everywhere he went but when he turned around there only a handful of people minding their own business---I must be losing my mind…whatever. He continued until he saw a man in a black suit stride to an aisle in the far corners of the library.
Nathaniel followed him, fasting his pace with each step taken, "Hey, who are you and why do you keep following me!?"
"Shuuush!" said the people around him but he didn't care he ran behind him and got into the forgotten aisle. He looked around in awe for a few seconds, "How could I've missed it---this whole time?! Maybe I could find something about the Temhos....You idiot! Why would these morons keep a book about the Temhos in this puny library out of all places?!"
He heard something whispering seductively in his ears "Nathaniel….come…to----me"
He stopped and checked his surrounding dreadfully, "Ok, now I know that I must be losing my freaking mind, is it real or my God forsaken imagination?!" he stood there for a while, the whispers gone. So, he shook off the feelings and began to read the titles of every single book he could get his hands on. They were all covered in dust and seemed abandoned for a long time.
Some of the titles were unreadable. How come no one ever cleans this section---Nathanial wondered to himself, vigorously reading the titles until he came upon a book titled the whispers of the Darkness. His pupils immediately dilated, and he pulled out the book out and vigorously cleaned its cover with his sleeves. He sat down right there on the floor and read it intensely. The book was thick and had more than 2000 pages.
Several hours had passed, Nathaniel was fully hypnotized by its content. The librarian, nevertheless, had other plans as she called him out, pointing to her watch indicating it was closing time. "What?!" Nathanial glanced at his watch in shock. Time had passed so fast and here he thought he had only spent a handful of minutes studying it.
Nathanial was only able to read a handful of pages, regardless of that, he made it his life mission to read as much as he could and dig out information about his precious Temhos. Nothing could stop him now.
All these years, the black book has been my only source of knowledge for this---thing that is suppose to give me the powers---the purpose I seek so much. I have never been able to find any information about the Temhos other than the vague stories and folk's lore about vampires. Mythological books only hint its existence with open ended lores. He stared at the book in his hand, strolling down the nearest tram stop. And now this---I am not even actually looking for evidence of its existence but searching for entertainment when all of a sudden I am presented with this thick book, titled the whispers of the Temhos….how uncanny,"-----he thought in excitement before his joy was cut off by his logic----But why did I find it now? Why was this book there specifically today? Who the heck was that guy in the black suit?! He continued to think when an unknown force, made him stop over-thinking and suddenly he was grinning like a little child who bought his favorite snack, happy and grateful to have been there today on that specific occasion to find the book and check it out.
Back at home, he voraciously read as much as he could until sunrise. Despite of his research nevertheless, the more he read the less sense it made. The book was vaguer than Nathanial expected. It mostly hinted at indefinite, open ending interpretations of the Temhos and its location.
Frustrated, tired and angry he turned to the last chapter, impatiently reading its title. Howeverm when he turned the page to the first page, the chapter was fully coded in a gibberish written language he had never seen before. "God damn it, what's this now?!" he turned the page and came across a map, his eyes instantly dilated and his face was covered with a wide grin, "This stupid map must be it!! It is the key to its location." He touched the written symbols below the map. "Of course it is coded too… I have to find a way to decipher it!" he took picture of the symbols really hoping to find something online to help him translate for several hours, but the web couldn't help him. There were no signs of such language in written history, "No, no, no, no, no, NO!! Not now, not like this…. damn it not when I am so close!!" he yelled at the monitor, almost smashing his keyboard in frustration.
"You really think you can let me down now don't you? Well, I'll let you in a little secret, you might be mad but I am the father of madness-----he screamed, punching the book's cover---I will not give up on finding you and making you my little bitch---he continued to scream, on the brink of madness.
After a few days of research, Nathaniel was unable to find the slightest clue. Desperate and frustrated he took out his phone, staring at its screen hesitantly, "Daniel is always a dick whenever I talk about the Temhos, but he is the only one I can talk to without sounding like a mental case— that and he promised to help me out this time so he owns me one….." he mumbled and punched dial.
"Hello, brother. Watcha doing?"
"You know, enjoying life as much as I can before you manage to ruin it for me."
"Ha-ha, funny as always, Daniel; have you considered opening your own standup comedy club, or are you still waiting for investors?"
"Whatever, what do you want, Nate?"
"If only I was next to you right now I would slap you so hard---how many times have I told not to call me Nate, Dick!!---He took a deep breath, calmed himself down and continued---"I am feeling both particularly frustrated and excited from something I found recently…..do you care to join me for a few drinks and discuss the matter at hand?"
Daniel sighed. He really didn't have the patience to deal with his brother and his delusional ideas, but he made a promise, "I am the honorable!" he said to himself in an annoyed tone "I got a gut feeling it is going to be a long night though….".
"Sure, I could go for a drink or two but please…keep your wild ideas brief and concise I really had a lot of drama at work today and I'm in need of no more."
"Oh, you gonna love it---that I can guarantee!! Meet me at Beer Street same spot at 8ish? "Fine but don't be late as usual, I don't have time to waste."
Nathaniel hung up the phone and quickly got dressed up and headed to the front door. He could not wait to tell Daniel about the book and his findings.
The exciting ideas, the amazing possibilities, they were all streaming in his head endless as he quickly put on an onyx black blazer and looked himself in the mirror, "Ohm, tasty. You are lucky I am not into men else I would have devoured you whole." He stared at the reflection with his typical smirk.
On the other side of the city of Vienna, Daniel had just left his office. I am in no humor for public transportation today. He raised his hand and took a cab to the local bar he.
Arriving swiftly at the entrance of Beerstreet, he stopped and stared at his reflection, he had a casual suit and a pair of sneakers on. I hope he doesn't stand me up for more than half an hour. I just want a drink or two and a good laugh listening to another one of his wild ideas. Hope I can control my laughter." Stepping inside the dark ambient, passing by the old 90s posters and frame pictures of customers' who had long outgrown bars, he was delightfully surprised to see Nathaniel sitting rather anxiously on their usual spot, waving at him with a smile---"Oh boy, he found something really big this time hasn't he"---Daniel strolled towards him nervously.
"Well, well look at just what the cat dragged in, aren't you a little too happy to see me!?" the look on Daniel's face an unreadable one, "Come on brother, you should smile more often when you see your brother, after all it is a privilege to be in my presence!"
"And I already regret agreeing on meeting you today" Daniel took a seat at the table and looked desperately at the bartender for a drink, "Best gin you got, on the rocks double shot." he reached for his wallet, "How much would that be? Plus the tip of course!"
"Your drinks have already been taken care of Mr.; your brother actually paid for all your drinks for the duration of the evening!"
He looked back at his brother, remembering his promise, "Oh goodies, now I have to tell him about the homeless guy Jana at the office keeps talking about." He grew weary and uncomfortable, moving on his seats every now and then.
Having a few drinks and catching up, Nathaniel did not hesitate to instantly mention the book and tell him how he found it, showing pictures of its pages and the map on his phone, "If we managed to decipher the last chapter, we might find the Temhos' last location." He continued without end.
Hours passed and Nathaniel would not shut up about the mysterious book---Daniel was beginning to have a headache.
"If only we could go back and camp at the forbidden forest even if it meant for a single night. I am sure I would find more crucial clues to its whereabouts." He persuaded watching his brother's reaction carefully.
"Heck no! I am not going back camping on those freaking woods, ever again! Thank you very much! Why don't you go camping by yourself or take a friend if you're so scared of going there alone?!" he scoffed.
"What do you think I have been doing for the past several months, you genius? Every single weekend I would rent a car and camp there leaving my lover back at home, wondering where the hell have I gone to…. eventually she ran out of patience and…so did my freaking bank account which began to dwindle. That's when you miraculously called me and we made that pack together which, one to think of it, I am the only one really holding my end of the bargain and taking things seriously." Daniel let out an exasperated huff and checked his watch, "You on the other hand have done nothing but to check your watch and phone all the time, pretending to have greater ways of spending your pathetic evening locked in your puny little apartment right next to your dear Lea safe and sound away from the dangers of this world!"
"Ok, I really need to stop you there…. I truly hope you don't make me regret this but you are driving me crazy to say the least. So, as promise, I have some information regarding your precious Temhos too, or something among those lines."-----he sighed and nervously gazed upon his brother who's eyes brightened up from the news---"It has been a few days that my co-worker, Jana, has been talking about her ex-husband becoming homeless though to his obsession with a similar deity….she also happened to mention that he now lives in an abandoned building on the 15th district." he hoped it would stop him from talking about the Temhos so much.
Nathaniel paused for a few seconds, a huge grin appeared on his face before it was instantly replaced by a frown, "Wait what?!?! And you had to wait for two hours to finally crack and tell me about this?! What is your problem, dude?!" he complained.
"Because the idea of this deity and its powers are madness, it makes no sense at all; even a six-year-old would laugh at it. Why would I deepen your madness and sick ideas by introducing you to a crazy person and add even more drama to your twisted mind." He took a long sip from his drink and continued, "The false hope of one day finding the Temhos and harvesting its powers is absolute bananas, Brother and you know it!"
"Oh, there he goes again, living in denial, opposing and contradicting every weird, supernatural event we have witnessed together since the day that old man gave me the black book. I thought you were a man of your words, brother! Daniel the honorable, huh. You are nothing but a pretender and a coward!" he mocked, chugging down his whole drink.
Daniel just stared back at him, irritatingly taking a sip from his third drink, "I still stand by my promise, else I would have never even remotely mentioned this homeless fool. I just think that this is going to be yet another reason for you to fall off the wagon and continue your derange way of life, screwing different girls every night and partying like there is no tomorrow until you're stuck in a rut again. I fear this cycle will have no end to it!" Nathaniel shook his leg nervously, impatiently staring at him with a frown ready to explode but Daniel was not going to stop there, "There is something wicked in those cursed woods, but it is not worth for you to look for its source for the rest of your life! The Temhos is a myth, it is not REAL!"
"You don't understand, the Temhos does exist," Daniel shook his head in disbelief, "We just need to find the location where it was last lock up and then we can harvest its ultimate power, imagine being able to move at the speed of a bullet train during the dark, to hear what people are saying from kilometers away, to rip open the hearts of your enemies with your bare hands and bite off their neck with a pair of vampire-like fangs, to compel the hottest chick in the club to become your girlfriend? Not that I would need that last one with my impeccable reputation and seductive traits of course." Daniel still looked unconvinced, "And please don't you dare say no to all of them, I am certain that you were tempted by at least one of these abilities now haven't you?" said Nathanial sounding almost paranoid and deluded.
"You see what I'm saying? You have crossed the edge and reached absolute madness. If such powers did exist do you really think powerful governments around the world would do nothing to harness it, to add it to their arsenal. The powers you are talking about are God-like and if the myth is even remotely real in the realm of reality, then it would have been searched for more than thousands of years ago when it was supposedly lost in the first place!" Daniel yet again hoped to reason with his brother who's endless lust and hunger for more power was oozing through every part of his face.
"I know it is real Daniel, and I will find it brother, and we will share it together!"
He was taken aback, "And why is that? Why do you want to share such tremendous powers with your little brother, huh?"
"Because you are my brother and I love you, you have been by my side my whole life and had had my back when I was about to fall off the edge; family and blood above all!" Said Nathanial pridefully.
"Family and blood above all brother"
"So will you help me with this quest or are you going to continue to mock me again?!"
Daniel contemplated the situation, looked back at his brother's despair and continued, "Alright, Alright, I am a man of my words so I will take you to the mad man somewhere during the week, I have to free my schedule. I only hope the two of you together won't be a couple of clowns short for a circus. Nevertheless, be warned Nathaniel, from what I heard from Jenna, he is mad beyond redemption, he could be dangerous."
Nathaniel gave a genuine smile to his brother, put his hand on his shoulder, "Oh please, you know me better than that, I feel a little insulted. I have seen madness worse than what you can possibly imagine, I have roamed some of the worst asylums and nut houses in Europe in search for clues about the Darkness and believe me when I say that I have seen some really messed up people."-----he raised his hand, and pointed to his empty glass----"Some of them were so messed up that even I couldn't handle their madness and had nightmares for months. I am more than capable of handling this!"
"Very well then, a toast to that, I just need you to promise me that you won't get too disappointed if that crazy guy is unable to decipher the book or give you any sort of information regarding the Temhos."
"Ohm, I can't make any promises but thanks for the heads up, Daniel. Now you being a dick to me all the time aside, how come you have known of this mad man and have not mentioned him before?"
"But isn't it obvious? To give this information to you, an obsessed maniac is spelling disaster….oh come to think of it, what have I put myself into. The two of you together would be the local freak show." He chuckled, pointing at him mockingly.
"Ha-ha, very funny!" he said annoyed, lightly punching Daniel's belly.
"Ahhh, easy there! Besides what if this dude is a fraud and fails to give the information you need, and my big bro once again falls deep into a depression or worse----a mental breakdown."
"Oh my goodness, such a heartwarming statement, I….I almost barfed. You know I hate when you pretend that you are concern about my mental health too much, just stop it." He thanked the bartender, took a huge sip out of his gin glass, "I'm just happy you have found someone that could potentially help me, now that's something I would drink to, Next round is on me! Oh…..I forgot I already paid for your rounds in advance. It looks like I am having a little too much fun!"
He checked out a girl passing, his glass close to his mouth smiling at her beauty before he continued, "So, now that we have that out of the way. How is everything?! I don't need to look at the clock to say that you're out wayyy passed your curfew…. humph dear Lea is not in town, is she?!"
"Jesus man, what is she my mother?!" he scoffed, "We have a mutual set of boundaries and we respect them. Hers is for me to usually be home by 10 and mine is to be the wonderful girlfriend that she is and to respect me and be by myside all the time no matter what."
Nathaniel clapped dramatically and slowly, "Once again you have done it! You almost made me barf, blechhhhh!!" he chuckled, "I am so sorry…. not really though." he glanced back, covering his torso from potential punches coming his way, "Oh, come to think of it! That means that you were finally able to see your best friend, Miss Lucia! How is that hotness doing? Is she still mad that I never called her back after sleeping with her?!"
"Nope, she is over you for like years now, but nice try!" he paused, looked at his glass and hesitantly continued, "I—er—I just feel her flirting with me all the time, like she wants something to happen between us but I….I just don't seem to be able to imagine it happening. I just love Lea too much! I was about to tell her about our camping trip a few days ago, but I directly got up and left without saying goodbye when she was still asleep…."
"Nope, there is no such thing as loving a woman so much that you could not slightly cheat on her not even a quicky, stop fooling yourself Daniel! You are obviously blocking your feelings, emotions and wants and that won't do you any good in the long run! Truuust me!" he talked in his air of carelessness, pointing a finger to his gin glass, asking the bartender for another fill.
"Then you have served as the perfect example for me to never cheat, even it were for a single night, on my lover no matter how sexy and hot the chick in hand is! So, cheers to that!"
Daniel checked his watch, it was almost 1 after midnight, "Well, that does it! This is the last drink for me, I have to go to work tomorrow. But I will make up some time and call you to meet this wierdo over the week, brother! I promise!" he smiled, yawed and instantly covered his mouth.
"I trust your words, Mr. King. After all we are known for our high alcohol tolerance and to be men of our words….at least one of us is known for the latter." Nathaniel replied chuckling at his own comments, shaking his hand goodbye.