"You alone are a spiritual being who possess a body, a mind, and a soul. You cannot fail these gifts. Nurture them and they will grow each in different and spectacular ways."
MTH 17
CHAPTER SIX
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There's one thing that a thinking form of life, or death, has in common with, of all things, a simple bowl of soup. Varieties of emotions as soup has varieties of vegetables. Happiness, confusion, fear, love, despair. Especially Madam Elenora, who was a great example of the concoction. A great mixture of vegetables like bewilderment, with a pinch of happiness, only the married fear and despair masked the taste. You'd never know you'd have a bit of happiness in every spoonful of this dreaded situation that poor Elenora found herself in. She didn't know it herself, but it was there.
Gathering her things, which of course wasn't more than her book, she wasn't sure what the next spoonful would consist of. It was an excuse of course. "I have all of my things there" was only a feeble attempt to wiggle out again. The thing about this man was that his sentences and orders we so unbelievably straightforward that there was no way to lie or maneuver around them. Now, she sat on the bed and drowned in her passing thoughts like a stream. Similar to a hammer slowed down in speed as it hit a nail, Elenora's body fell to the bed. Laying down and curling up like a silent child on the sheets. The serenity of silence embraced her tense body as her thoughts rowed its way out the window into the sea of the city and to the mansion. Never in her mind would she even fathom anyone falling in love with her in the Mortem Tier much less the leader of the undead beings that she had been raised all her life to believe was her enemy. The man she feared the most when she died and escaped here was the same man to fall in love with her. Small fingers tapped on the comforter and abruptly stopped. Madam reached behind her blindly and her finger met the hard cover of her novel.
When she opened it, the cover rested on the sheets, her eyes rocking back and forth on the right page.
"Dear Diary,
Days in this human cell have grown more and more exhausting and frightening.
When will they execute me? What are they waiting for? I can't say how long I've been in this cell, and from the looks of things, I'd say that I am not completely useless to them. Of course, if I was completely useless, they would have killed me, yes?"
The book was shut. Silence ceased.
"You gathered your things rather quickly, now didn't you Elenora Elizabeth?"
"Oh!" A noticeable gasp escaped her lips. She sat up like a bullet and dusted her dress off, standing up quickly.
"Oh! Well, I... I suppose."
She wiped her eyes with her thumb, clutching her book. 18's being made the whole room feel like it was on a ship. The man only smiled without a reply.
"Have you gathered all of your things, love?"
18 noticed that she hadn't held much at all but in a sense, he knew that she told a small fib in the first place. Elenora knew he noticed. In response to his question, the woman nodded.
"Well then, shall we be off?"
The Tier Head held his arm out for her to take. Her small, soft, gentle touch wrapped around the arm of his coat, replying with a small and slightly wobbly "yes" and sending them off through the unknown.
Xx__________________________.•.__________________________xX
"Here we are... This room now belongs to you. Is this alright?"
"Y-yes! It's more than enough! " Her reply gradually silencing to a careful little "Thank... you, sir..."
He nodded, returning to the doorway. "It's my pleasure... and your home." He added. "If you need me for any reason, you know where my bedroom is. From the downstairs where the back staircase begins. Once you're there, you'll know where to find me."
"Also," A pause. "don't hesitate to look around when you're well rested. Make yourself at home. In your own time..."
Again she thanked him, and The Tier Head of 18 headed out, shutting the door behind him with a mouse-like thud and Elenora made her way to the canopy bed that was perched against the wall. Still and unmovable, she sat on the edge of the bed, pondering, thinking. Then she slowly laid down. The bones in her back finally resting, nested and tucked into the delicate sheets. The feeling was like a pressured spring finally let loose and rested. Looking at the back of her eyelids, they wanted to stay that way. No longer will she think about how she ended up here. She didn't want to. By the time she had decided that she wouldn't bring herself to worry and her mind slowed down, it fell empty and Elenora fell silent. The sheets did not rustle, only staying packed with sleeping body and the walls creaked but did not disturb. The hardcover gently rested with her in her arms. Gentle palms wrapped around it, warmed with cloud-like body heat. Her chest mimicked the slow rise and fall of the lake that could be glanced upon from icy window hidden behind silky white curtains.
He knew that she was not awake. Feeling the inactive currents of wavelengths emanating from her soul. How could a human soul be so... loud? The gentle push and pull could be felt from where he sat behind his desk across the mansion. Greatly similar to how Elenora felt when he was around. The same seasick feeling. A smile appeared on his face and stayed there. Humans... they can feel it too, of course, only when it's strong. Only when a heavy weighted soul was drooping around. A disturbed spirit, or demon, they could feel this current punching them in the stomach. The nerve racking feeling like someone breathing behind you, making the hairs on your neck stand. So very weak they were, but in that sense, that is why her body is so weak around him. Souls from many, young and old, collected and compacted into one being, swarming around her like frantic bees.
"Must be like a freak show... Bloody hell, that feeling..." he thought. "Poor girl... Probably homesick... Scared."
This is of course how any Tier Head could just pluck out a Blood Bearer like candy at a candy store. Like a candle shown down the street with nothing around it but utter darkness. The only human, or rarely a Mortem, that stood out like a sore thumb. The one who was perfectly compatible, whose soul stood out to them but performed oppositely for anyone else. The souls that belong together. A long extended while of the sickly feeling while pages of The Mortem Tier Heads spell book flipped and turned, while beakers and liquids were mixed. It took hours, but suddenly a shock when he got up to move to the library on the first floor. Like someone suddenly grabbing you as you read. She was awake, and the calmed ripples of her soul turned to waves. Shooting up was his head from the pages.
He let her roam about, familiarizing herself. Back to the pages, but he did not read them, only scanned them but his mind was elsewhere. Elenora. He was certainly glad he had helped her. Even if she didn't know it, The Tier Head was aware she was in the Tier even before the raid. The "suspicious woman" who conversed with the human man in the streets was only confirmation when he was notified about the matter, yet she could have easily taken the place of The Hominum Tier Heads best spy. In a way, 18 felt bad for her. Humans have always been squeamish around flesh and blood, and to have seen a man be consumed alive before her and a raid, not to mention the hell he damned himself for putting her mind through, Elenora had seen much more than he knows she would have wanted. He didn't have to guess, she was a strong woman. One who was soft spoken but knew no boundaries when she spoke her mind. Yet, she never wept in front of people. At least he knew she cursed herself if she shed a tear infront of another. The door on the first floor of the library, creaked open and the man's head shot down again like the fiddlers bow on an ending staccato, a strong clutch on the pages he read. Her wavelength was short along with the frequency. She was nervous. A body slipped through a small crack as the library door peeled open. It was difficult for him to imagine why she was lurking around as if something were going to appear from thin air and startle her. Funny girl. Unfortunately, it made sense. Creaking of the old wooden floor beneath her. The fascination and excitement swam her veins like stream fish. Living and growing up in a library, it was amazing how books piled to the third floor of where she would lay her head down at night. It was certainly bigger than any library she's seen, all piled to the third floor, like a building in itself. Already decided in her mind, Elenora was going to read like there was no ending. Mortem reads three stories high, all of these never seen before in the Hominum Tier, never beheld by just any human eye.
Like she used to, she ran her fingers over the spines, waiting for one to catch. The sudden stop when it caught the tip of her finger, pulling her back like tug of war and she tucked her old novel under her arm. She wanted to savor, but quickly finish the one she was currently sucked into, so she put the book back in the perfect slot it called its home. The cushioned chair hadn't been warmed by body heat in an extended while. Not until Elenora made a little home there, just her and her book living in that chair, she was determined to leave no pages left. No words unread. The sounds were courteous to the young woman as she read, hushed, only speaking through the turn in the pages and soft footsteps.
"That one's a good read... Does it interest you, love?" His sudden presence didn't startle her. The woman's soft sweet voice carried only certain distances.
"Y-yes, very much so! It's quite intriguing!"
"Is that so?"
Generously, she was handed a slightly thicker book, marked by a ribbon through the center. Crisp, but frequently read as if touched by thousands before her. Her mind in oblivion again, as books were known to do to her, the reading switch was set in motion. On and on about a small boy who was adopted to a sweet family, only to find out that they had secrets of their own for him to discover. A cute but mysterious Mortem novel. It felt different as if just the author created an entire different tone in the thing from the beginning. To save the trouble of being tied down, the woman closed it.
"If that one interests you so, this will hook you like a fish."
Elenora gifted him with a soft smile. "Thank you very much, sir..!" she chimed.
"It's my pleasure..." 18 replied, fixing his tie. "That particular book... You were holding it when you arrived. It does not belong to this library. Where... did you get it?"
"A... a friend supposedly had it for years."
"Did they, now?"
She nodded slowly. "Well... Yes... Ever since we were children, we've always been very fascinated with this place, so... knowing that, she gave it to me."
"I see... If you don't mind me asking, why are you so enthralled with The Mortem Tier?" he asked.
"Well..."
18 had closed his own book and sat in the cushioned chair next to her.
"It's... Everything... The war left me that way, I suppose... The Hominum Tier Head..." She trailed then finished. "Our leader betrayed us, leaving our Tier to die during a raid. He made no orders. He saved no one. I decided I despised that man after my family was... After my family passed when a was a child." She corrected. "They are no longer sensible... like they've lost their minds over it all..."
The man was silent. 18 gazed at the floor. The words filled his eardrums but, nothing of such came out of his mouth. Tiny hands clenched in the lap of their owner.
"I'm sorry... I went rambling again..."
"No, not at all. It was I who asked the question. I apologize."
18 stood up and brushed himself off, reaching into his pocket in hopes to lighten the mood by changing the conversation.
"Well Madam, I've been meaning to give you this..."
Elenora snapped from her daze.
"Why not walk the city? Roam the crowds... Treat yourself." An untold amount of currency was handed to her and the world before her froze.
"M... Me?"
"Of course. Go on. Enjoy yourself."
Madam took the money slowly. It felt surreal. She didn't know such acts were possible, simply handing money to someone like he did.
"Thank you, sir... Very much." She uttered.
"You're welcome, love." The man replied, turning around and returning to his book. "Find something that you like."
Between the time it took her to stand up and get to the towering door, the woman was already aware of what she wanted. Something she had in mind for a while. Something she needed desperately if she were to live here as he said she would.
