Me And The Dark

Chapter 39

Valentina

The woman in the painting and I stared at each other, a silent connection stretching between us.

"You... Are you Isidora?" I finally asked, the surprise perceptible in my voice.

She simply nodded, her ancient eyes carrying the burden of a mysterious past.

Shaking my head, I struggled to understand why the Keepers had directed me to her, despite her controversial actions. "I don't get it..."

I remembered Maxine Redwood's diary entries, the Keepers' stories, and even the complex story of Isidora, which seemed to me to have come straight out of a legend.

"Percival brought you here, didn't he?" she asked, her voice ringing with long-suppressed emotion.

I nodded, realising that the ties of the past were never completely broken.

"Why?"

"They want to make up for past mistakes, but-" I began, but she cut me off, her gaze becoming piercing.

"What have they done with the repository?" She asked the question with sudden intensity, as if the fate of her former refuge worried her.

"It's quite a long story, actually..." I replied, my words floating in the cold, damp air of the cavern. "My ancestor siphoned it off before someone else who coveted it got hold of it."

A glint of intrigue crossed his eyes. "Fascinating... Did she survive?"

I shoved my hands into my pockets, seeking some comfort. "Yeah, pretty good, actually."

It was a strange moment, somewhere between past and present. Reading Maxine's diary made me feel as if I knew her innermost thoughts, but this only added a layer of complexity to the current situation.

There was a heavy silence, with Isidora seemingly immersed in her own thoughts.

"Miss Morganach...?" I asked shyly.

"You know what I've done, don't you?" she asked with palpable sadness.

I nodded again. "You wanted to help your father..."

Regret tinged her eyes. "Yes, I wanted to save my father from a life of pain. But my actions had terrible consequences."

"The Keepers think I'm the key to fixing these mistakes, but I don't even know where to start," I admitted, searching for answers in the worn features of her portrait.

Isidora let out a mock sneer. "So that's what they called themselves, why am I not even surprised.." she said scornfully.

"You don't carry them in your heart, do you?" I simply asked.

"Well... they were unreasonable, uncompromising, selfish, and power conservative. They were always like 'Alright, there's this immense power with the potential to help countless people but please don't use it, even if it's literally what makes you special'" she paused. "They've never stopped saying that you have to be careful, that you have to learn more about this power before you use it."

"But you have more ambition..." I whispered.

"My father suffered and so did I, Miss...?"

"Pierce, Valentina Pierce." I finally introduced myself.

She smiled slightly at me, nodding.

Isidora seemed ready to share her story, and I listened attentively as the details of her past slowly unfolded.

"I trusted the Keepers blindly. They killed me because they discovered the repository I had created," she confessed, her distant gaze betraying the pain of the memory.