Blood of Ivy

House of Corpses

Unknown

I could tell Zeren was happy with his decoration he had over his archway as he greeted his highest ranked men into his home.

It was his usual welcome party when we conquered a new place that he'd invite us to his stained home and we would revel in the carnage he'd put up.

I never reveled.  I acted as I always have.

This time he had outdone himself.  The brunette was dead and drained in the archway while the women he must have hand picked from the arena were nailed to the walls all too tired, dead, or almost dead to scream.  There were a few still begging however and as usual the first legions officers were playing their games with them.  I had no time for that since I knew the play by play.  I had been one of them in my younger years.

I got to the door and found Zeren grinning at me.  We had a few words and he complimented me on my strategy in taking City Ivy which I smiled and shrugged off as if it was nothing.  Contrary to what these men thought it really wasn't so difficult to take but they grew up in the west whereas I am familiar with the streets of City Ivy.  I had gone to lessons with the men and women locked away in their arenas or burnt in piles in the streets.  Why was I so heartless to give the most cruel ruler of the new world my home?  This wretched place was no home.  These people were self-righteous and had never accepted difference.  I had been the definition of difference.

I held myself from cringing at the sight of his dinner table.  There before me was a woman and a man with their eyes and mouth sewed closed.  There was brown mess seeping through the cracks (the sew job was horrendous) and I assumed it was Zeren's way of showing they ate shit.  They were also forced together in a gruesome manner which made me never want to have sex.

"Remarkable work isn't it?" Jarell stood next to me clearly admiring the vile kings work.  He clearly didn't see the look of disgust I let slip.

I gathered myself and tried to mimic his love for the king.  "Zeren has truly outdone himself this time.  I'm especially interested in his needle work." I lied smoothly as I always have.  I wished that I'd be able to sleep as well as I lied.  I've never been able to forget these images I deal with daily.

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Aeva

I could hear the gathering a cheers coming from downstairs while very seldom did I hear the men shuffle through the corridor outside my door.  In a usual setting I would have escaped through the window and ran off.  Unfortunately for me this was not remotely close to a normal setting.

I had looked over at the window and found it covered with a corpse.  The monster who threw me in this room must've figured I'd want nothing to do with escaping finding a dead body over my window.  Unfortunately for him I won't let this defiled corpse keep me from possibly a similar fate.  Unfortunately for me there was a celebration of some sort going on downstairs and multiple of his army were outside taunting people underneath the window.

I found the room to be empty except for a pail and a blanket on the floor.  I was surprised I even had that.

"All hail King Zeren!" His men clearly adored him but what I couldn't understand was how.  How would a normal person follow a murdering monster?

I crept over to the door and tried to listen to the commotion.

"...dreams of owning the world."

"With the weakness of women and their emotional sensitivity-" Two men were talking a decent distance away and I had my ear pushed up against the bottom of the door to my room.  "-out of the way we have the world in the palm of our hands.  We just need to continue north and we'll be able to grow our numbers."