Ethereal

David's Tale

The room was dark and smelled musky. Astrid could tell the basement was damp and old from the marks on the walls. She continued to walk further into the basement and saw a small light sitting in the corner. She approached it and wondered why it was the only one on.

"Y-you..? Why are you here? You.. you're not like the others.. So tell me. Why?" called a weak voice from behind Astrid. She slowly turned around to see a young man bound to a chair. She covered her mouth to keep herself from gasping at the gruesome scene. Though he was beaten and bloodied, she could still see that for a human, he was beautiful.

"I-I'm sorry? What?" she said as she approached him.

"Why are you here? I told them I wouldn't say anything. They won't get anything out of me." the man said as he spat on the ground next to him and shifted his gaze towards Astrid.

"I'm not here to force you to talk to them.." she said as she pulled another chair from against the wall and sat about three feet in front of him.

"Then why are you here?" he asked coldly.

"I.. I just wanted to talk. I wanted to see if I could help-"

"If you want to help me, then do me a favor. Stab that little 'boy-toy' of yours."

Astrid looked frustrated and slightly offended. "Hey, I don't appreciate that you know."

"And I don't appreciate being tied up and left in a dank cellar."

"Hmm.. point taken.." she said as she looked at her hands. "I'm sorry, you know.. About all of this.."

"Ahh, don't be. It's my own fault. I shouldn't have gotten that close to the manor. I got caught up in revenge.." he said as he voice began to trail off. "but let me tell you something." he said as he leaned in closer to Astrid, causing her to look back up. "It was nice to finally put an arrow in the back of that boyfriend of yours."

Astrid jumped back and slapped the young man across the face as hard as she could. "What's wrong with you?!" she yelled. "What did he ever do to you? What reason do you have?" she asked, tears running down her face.

"Don't play dumb! You know what he did. You just don't want to admit it as true." he said as he spat out a little blood.

"O-oh my Gods. I am so sorry I hit you.." she said as she wiped some of the blood off of his lip. He looked at her questioningly. Her tenderness confused him.

"You.. really don't know.. Do you?" he asked quietly.

"No, I don't. I don't know what you're talking about."

He looked at her and chuckled. "Well, let's just say this. Oliver isn't a good guy. He has more blood on his hands than I ever will."

"W-what? What do you mean?" she asked as she sat completely upright and shifted in her seat.

"Remember that little thing I mentioned called revenge? Yeah. In order to want revenge, someone has to have wronged you, or someone/something close to you."

"What could Oliver have possibly done that caused you to want him dead?" she said before he began his next sentence.

"..My whole family lies dead at his hands.. As does the rest of the town I originally came from.." he said as he looked down. His arms moved slightly and Astrid thought that he wanted to hold his face. Tears began to pour from his eyes.

"Oliver did that..?" she asked, her voice shaking with fear.

"Did I stutter?" he said in an annoyed tone. "He's a monster. A menace. He thinks he can do whatever he wants just because his daddy dearest let him be in charge of the guards. He let that power go to his head and wiped out a whole town. All he had to do was talk to us.. but he didn't. 'No chances of getting this wrong' he said as he sent the guards into the town.. My father gave me to one of his friends and told him to run. He ran..and ran.. and ran and ran, never looking back. Can you guess who saved me? Who took me away from the chaos that Oliver had caused?!" he said, his voice raising.

"N-Nestor.." Astrid remembered Nestor had left a few years before because his wife was with child. Oliver's family completely understood and said he could come back whenever he wished.

"Bingo. Three years ago, he saved my life. I still owe him. If not for him, I would be charred just like the rest of my family and old friends."

"There's no way Nestor would have betrayed Oliver's father though.. They parted on good terms."

"You're right to a point. They did leave on good terms. They even stayed on good terms for a long time, that is until Oliver killed an entire town. Over one person too! How ridiculous is that? He would kill everyone over one person! Did he even think of anyone around him as he watched them burn?" he said, borderline crying and laughing at the same time.

"Over one person? What do you mean? Who was it?" Astrid asked.

He looked down at his feet. "..David.." he finally answered in a cold voice. "David Crux.."

"What did he do?"

The man grew silent for a few moments. "He.. he accidentally killed a member of Oliver's family. They were together playing decided to go to see the flowers near the waterfall.." he said as his eyes closed. He seemed to be looking back at a memory. "They went near the top of the waterfall and found that the prettiest flowers grew towards the top of the waterfall. Right on the very edge."

"What happened?"

"..An animal.. a wolf, came out of the forest and ran towards them. David saw the beast first.. He tried to warn the girl. He tried to pull her up, but by the time she realized she was in danger, it was too late. The wolf pounced on her as she began to stand... She.. fell to her death.. as David watched.." he said through tears. He began violently sobbing. "He never wanted to see her hurt.. God, that was the last thing he wanted.."

"I'm.. I'm sorry I brought it up. This is obviously hard to speak about." Astrid said as she moved her seat next to him and placed her hand on his shoulder. "Were you close to girl or David?"

"Yeah, I was very close." he said as he shifted his gaze back to the floor. She grabbed the young man and pulled him close to her, hugging him. He tensed up, unprepared for the affection.

"W-why are you hugging me?" he said, a slight pink color forming on his cheeks.

"I felt like you needed a hug, so I hugged you." she said.

"W-whatever.." he said as he loosened his muscles and let himself relax.

"Thank you for talking to me today. Is it alright if I came and saw you again tomorrow?" she said, releasing her grip.

"That would be fine. Just, if I say something weird, please don't be upset, okay?"

"Alright, I promise. By the way, can I ask you one last thing?"

"Sure, anything."

"What's your name?" she said, putting the chair back against the wall.

"..David.. David Crux." he said slowly with a light smile.