Savia's Heart [Sequel to Bastian's Song] [HIATUS]

The First Vampyre

Ambrogio was a mortal man who fell under the greatest of curses: love.

He found her upon a dusty road which led to the temple of the Sun. She walked with her fierce eyes looking straight ahead and her shoulders squared. The liquid silver of her stare caught him, held him spellbound. She smiled.

Ambrogio was lost to her.

They met every morning at the crossroads where she stopped to draw water from a well. They spoke to one another of things that did not matter. He touched her fingers. She whispered his name with a smile.

Ambrogio arrived early one morning, flowers in hand, to ask for hers. He was met, instead, with the fiery gaze of the Sun.

'You desire that beauty which rightfully belongs to me, mortal.' Helios glared as he spoke, and the heat of it seared Ambrogio. 'For your transgression, I curse you. From my light, a fire upon your skin, that you may never see another day.'

And Ambrogio felt the weight of the curse settle over him like death. He fled, under cover of darkness, to the caves west of the city and the temple to the Sun.

All she found when she arrived to meet him were his flowers and his blood upon the ground.

Ambrogio searched until he found that which he sought: an opening to the Underworld. Cold crept over him, the scent of the dead all around him, but he wore his resolve as armor until he bowed before Aides, Lord of the Underworld.

Aides, ever the opportunist, offered sanctuary to the lovelorn Ambrogio and his lady in the land of the dead. Helios' light could not touch him there, for the Sun did not shine upon the realm of the afterlife. However, Ambrogio's safe passage would cost him dearly.

Aides, alone in his cold domain, wanted what he did not have: the heart of a goddess to warm him. He bade Ambrogio to bring him the heart of Selene, she who danced gracefully among the stars, for she had given her heart willingly to another, and so it could be taken.

Under the weight of his curse, Ambrogio agreed. A bargain was struck. To secure his promise, Ambrogio gave him the only thing he had to give—his own soul. Aides sent the mortal back to the land of the living with only a compass to aid him in his quest. The heart was well hidden, and the compass would guide him.

Ambrogio, distraught at the idea that his lady would face another morning with no word from him, stopped long enough to pen a letter for her. Lacking ink, he made do with a sharp dagger and his own blood.

The next dawn, his lady love found his letter and knew all that had transpired. Her heart broke for Ambrogio, but she held tight to his words. To keep from angering Helios any more than they already had, she continued her routine as though she did not notice Ambrogio's absence.

Every night, Ambrogio would hunt with the compass lighting his way through the caves beside the city.

Every dawn, she would find a letter waiting for her, written in blood and overflowing with promises of a future safe from the gods.

And then came the night when Ambrogio found the Heart of Selene. Deep in a cave, upon a bed of soft feathers and fine linen, slept a man who appeared ordinary. His tousled brown hair curled around his gentle face, and he smiled softly as though dreaming something sweet.

Around his neck, a woven silver chain bore a glowing, heart-shaped gem that pulsed rhythmically. Ambrogio snuck the necklace off the sleeping man's chest and stole into the night with it. He rushed for the cave of Aides and his salvation.

When he stepped into the moonlit night, he drew the attention of Selene, for he held her Heart. In fury, she cursed Ambrogio, that the silver of the Heart and chain should burn his very skin.

Ambrogio cried out and dropped the Heart, his hands burning with the wrath of a goddess, and he wept. All was lost to him, for he could no longer complete Aides' task. Selene fell to the surface and scooped up her Heart, but she could not ignore the tears that he released so pitifully.

She bade him to explain why he would risk her wrath. When he spoke of his love, and Helios' anger, mercy overtook her. Selene knew well the woes of a heart that yearned. The goddess took pity upon Ambrogio and offered him a way to be with his love.

Come dawn, his lady love received a letter to board a ship that left harbor that day. Obligingly, she packed, and found that Ambrogio rested in the hull of the ship, out of the light of the sun. Together, the two escaped and lived their life in the mountains, only venturing out in the night.

They worshiped Selene, their protector, and spent many long years happily together. Alas, as time passed, Ambrogio found he was untouched by old age without a mortal soul. His lady love did not share the same protection. She grew bent with age and ached with pains that he could not cure.

Ambrogio begged Selene to save his love, but death was not in her power to stay. She bade him to let his love die, and place his trust in her, that she would not let such loyal followers suffer if she could avoid it.

So he returned home, and held the love of his life in his arms as she breathed her last. And as her soul left her body, Selene gathered it close to her bosom. She breathed her power into the mortal soul and granted her life immortal, as a goddess in her own right.

So Artemis returned to the earth, and her love, in the form of moonlight. Every night, she shone upon her husband Ambrogio and bathed him with her eternal love. And when the Moon went dark, once a month, she could return to him in her mortal form, as young and ageless as he.

Together, they were blessed by the Moon for their years of service with strength and speed beyond man.

Together, they lived and loved, for all eternity.