Veritas

Chapter 68

When the darkness faded once more, Aislinn was in another room. A single woman was sitting with her legs crossed and eyes shut as if she was meditating.

Contrasted by the woman's calmness, a horde of vampires was surrounding her, throwing themselves at her over and over again in a wild frenzy. Despite their efforts, though, an invisible wall appeared to separate them from the woman. Regardless, their efforts continued, and the woman's meditation did as well.

"This is where it ends for me, and where the story begins that you now find yourself in" a sad voice that Aislinn recognized said from behind her. She spun around to face the familiar voice, the one that had once before reached out to her while she believed she was going to die. This time, though, the voice was connected to a woman who'd crept up on Aislinn, despite the fact that Aislinn had clearly seen her meditating in front of her.

"How...?" Aislinn asked, baffled by the strange experience she continued to have.

"How is not the question to ask, and is one you must learn for yourself, I'm afraid. Time is running out. I can only tell tell you the basic, most important things, okay? First, you must never do what I did. I forcefully pulled you into a vision, and it is extremely dangerous; but, I had no choice. I have shown you two things, the first is what I need to happen with Cate, and this one is my own reality. They appear as visions from a third party; but, in order to show you the culprits, it was the only thing I could think to do" the woman explained in a rush, only confusing Aislinn further.

"Who's Cate? What culprits? You're not making sense!" Aislinn cut in, frustrated.

"You'll understand later" the woman said, breezing past Aislinn's questions. "This is all I can do for you. You must work backwards from here. Trust Gwen, she will guide you. I'm so sorry it had to be this way, you'll understand why, you just need to learn the truth" she continued, rushing her words to get through them as quickly as possible while anxiously keeping an eye on her physical body.

"Please. I don't understand anything! Why am I here?" Aislinn demanded.

The woman just closed her eyes, the entire scene wobbling around them a bit, emphasizing the struggle she was enduring to keep the vision visible to Aislinn. Still, Aislinn didn't clue in, and was only more frustrated to be ignored by the woman.

"What is going on?" She demanded. The sound of a deep, wicked laugh caught her attention, though, and pulled it away from the stranger.

"I have existed for many centuries" a voice from beyond the door said with a chuckle, slowly approaching the room from beyond the door. His voice was haunting, and had the hairs on the back of Aislinn's neck prickling and standing on end.

"And for many centuries, I have longed for this day" that horrible voice continued, its owner ducking his head to enter through the doorframe.

"I'm sorry, my time is up" the woman said urgently, grasping Aislinn's hands. "We can't see the vampires" the woman explained, motioning the the door as she added "he's their King, you have to defeat him. We've put our hope in you!"

Shaking her head, Aislinn's head was spinning. She couldn't keep up with what the woman was telling her, or why the woman was telling her these things. Did she mean that she couldn't see the vampires that were attacking her? It would be fortunate if she couldn't, given the sight of the Vampire King who entered the room. He was built like a werewolf, tall and muscular; but, his skin was pale, almost blue, and visibly cold. The warm air around him in the room turned to a steamy vapour  as it hit his skin, due to the drastic temperature differences. He had a beautiful, white smile which was complimented by fangs that were already growing longer due to his excitement over the pending kill. His eyes, where a normal person's would be white, were as black as pitch, with fiery red irises and white pupils in the centre.

"Today, we have succeeded. Today, we will cut the Thread" the monster spat. "I will finally be free from your wretched binds."

"I'm sorry" the woman whispered to Aislinn as tears rolled down her cheeks. The vision turned hazy, and the woman's physical forehead creased with concentration as she clearly tried to hold onto her focus.

"How can I help you?" Aislinn demanded, grasping at the hands of the woman's image. It faded in and out, giving her a sad smile.

"Save the future. Avenge us all. Make things right" the woman whispered, reaching out to embrace Aislinn tightly. Before Aislinn could even hug her back, though, she'd whispered "good bye" and vanished.

Unfortunately, because Aislinn was viewing the woman's memory, once she returned to her own body, Aislinn had been returned to darkness. Like last time, the sounds of the memory echoed and followed her while she drifted away.

The last thing that she heard was the angry yell of the mysterious woman, likely her final battle cry before engaging the King in a fight to the death.