The Eyes Of 'Rah

The Dark Matter

Beads of sweats lined Xavier's forehead as he had his moment with the dark element which had grown over the years to take the form of a man. Its hollowed eye socket turned to him as they both engaged in their usual conversation that yielded nothing.

Xavier's night of agony had evolved over the years, the dark element which hovered around him since he was young had now taken the form of a human.

He didn't know much about the thing, except it feeds on his fear and brings more misery to him. Even though the pains he suffered had not left him, Xavier had been fortunate put an end to the dark matter's ability to instil fear in him the moment he stopped being afraid. Now all it does is to converse with him while he was shackled in pain.

Realising he was not getting rid of his pain soon, or better yet, hadn't been lucky to know any way to end his pain as he had ended his companion's doing, to make the pain a little bearable which meant there would be less scream and groans from him, Xavier had initiated a conversation between them.

The first day he saw the dark matter took the shape of a hollowed human with darkness oozing behind him, his mind had gone slacked. He watched as it stood right in front of him intimidating him. The only thing it did was to just stand there and watch him, one day, he had decided to talk to it but was met with silence.

He had been used to doing the talking while he assumed that it only listened until one day when he responded. That had marked the beginning of an ill-fated relationship between a torturers and its subject.

Gasping after a painful crack in the ribs, he let out a breath of relief when his pain reduced, "so, when do you think the higher up will end my miserable life and put an end to this pain, Hollow?"

Letting out another feat of scream as a nerve-racking shots of pain hits his head. Xavier knew it won't answer that particular question or anyone related to it since that was  not the first time he would ask.

Exhaling loudly, he looked at Hollow who cared less about his misfortune, "how many of your kinds exist or is it just you?"

He was still at the 'getting to know you stage's with the thing, even though the had spent much time together, Hollow wasn't that much of a talker, Xavier did most of the talking always. He needed to know as much as he could about it, perhaps, there might be something he could use to his advantage. In the past years, he had learned that there's no man who can't be controlled,  all one needs is to look for what they secretly desire the most and every other thing will follow.

He had been looking for a way to bend the Hollow to his will, if he could identify it's weakness, he suspected he would be able to control it.

"I'm not the only one" it replied.

"Care to share what your type is called?"

"I have no idea"

Feeling the bubble as it slowly disappeared which indicated that the night's painful session had come to an end, Xavier crawled to the table with his cracked bones and gulped the blood in the large jar. As his bones repaired and his abilities gradually returned, he glanced at where Hollow was supposed to be, wasn't surprised when he didn't see him.

He exited the torture room, making way to his room to get some sleep. His mind went back to how he could bend Hollow to his will, he suspected Hollow could hold the answer to how he could lift his curse. Remembering when he asked it one day why it doesn't answer most of his questions, Xavier had gleaned from its response that the only way it could do or answer whatever Xavier instructed was to be its controller.Ever since then, Xavier had been looking for a way to control the god damn thing.

Several hours later, the loud noise of a familiar heartbeat as it approached his wing made him open his eyes, Xavier sighed since he knew the person who had the nerve to enter his wing unless they were summoned could only be his annoying cousin, whom he knew does it purposely to annoy him.

Xavier had never for once expressed his annoyance which was why Stephen continued to rile him up. Glad that he came after his moment in the room, nobody aside from his parents knew about his ordeal and he needed to keep it that way. There was no way he would allow anyone to know his weakness, especially his insufferable cousin.

"Top of the afternoon to you dear cousin" Stephen barged in, making loud noise to announce his entrance. He swiped the corner of his lips with which had been smeared with blood with the neatly folded napkin on Xavier's table.

"Afternoon to you too, to what do we owe the honour of gracing us with your presence, Stephen?" Xavier started taking off his clothes while he entered the bathroom.

As he submerged himself in the cold bath, partly listening to his cousin as he blabbed on about the need to let loose in town, he thought about what he needed to do at the factory later.

Knowing by the time he would be out, his clothes would have been neatly laid out by his valet, Xavier enjoyed the water for a while before emerging.

"It's been long I took a tour round the town, heard there are new development everywhere" Stephen rambled on as Xavier calmly stood while he was being dressed by his valet.

"How are the twins? Does Diane still follows you boys around like a long lost puppy?"

Xavier was not surprised he mentioned Diane, everyone knew how enamoured he was by her, something that infuriated the twins especially Daniel so much. He could imagine the look on the twins' faces when they realised Stephen was in town.

As Xavier walked along the hallway to have a quick lunch, he noticed the discomfort look on one of the maids, sighting the dark mark of being bitten on her neck, he stopped suddenly and looked straight at the girl, "did he force you?"

Everyone knew who he was referring to, there was no way Xavier would condole any vampire's barbaric behaviour of drinking from a human without their consent, especially not in his household.

Ever since his parents retired to their country home, he had been in charge of managing the affairs of the Manor and the factory. His father was still a member of the Upper House, something he had no wish to partake in. He was too busy sorting his affairs and searching for a way to lift the curse to meddling with the kingdom's affair or other creatures matters.

"No" the maid answered.

"Have you ever been bitten before?"

"No, sir"

That could explain the discomfort she felt, Xavier progressed to the drawing room, with his butler in tow and Stephen who only had a smirk on his face after watching his cousin's questioning the maid.

"How long are you going to be here?

"Don't know yet"

Not bothered by his response since he wasn't worthy of being a threat to him, Xavier finished his meal and headed to the carriage.

"Allow me join you in a ride to town, cousin" climbing in, Stephen settled himself in like he was the owner and waited for Xavier to enter.

"Are the twins joining us?"

"I don't remember planning any activity that warrants the word 'us' in it" he flipped the morning paper his butler had arranged loudly to show he wasn't interested in any chitchat, he ignored him and concentrated on reading the happenings around the kingdom.

"Is that a pawn shop over there? I've never been in one" Stephen looked in awe as their carriage passed by 'The Pawn'. Unbothered as to how his cousin couldn't have been in any despite all the centuries he had spent on Earth.

Xavier had been in countless pawnshops inside and outside of the kingdom, he looked ahead at the retreating shop as it got smaller, he had been in it before but it was a long time ago.

Few miles to the factory, Stephen knocked on the roof of the carriage to signal it to stop, "I think I'll feed my eyes from here. In case you don't see me by the time you're ready to go, check by the pawn shop." His eyes sparkled in mischief, "my gut tells me I'm going to find it interesting" his fangs descended as he jumped down.

Xavier spared him no glance as knocked again for the carriage to continue. He dropped the paper he was reading and watched his rude cousin as he strolled along the road with his hands in his pockets.

Fully aware of the people Stephen might cause distress upon in the pawnshop, he felt irritated that it bothered him when it shouldn't have.

Xavier had a feeling that his troublemaker cousin might be the reason he would step into the pawnshop very soon.