The Brothers of Sin-Black Blood

Chapter 6

Time passed away as fast as in every other day and I saw myself viewing different artworks inside the Sivellius College of the Arts along with one of the rulers. I had always considered myself a creep and generally a gore artist but the work that was hanging on the cream painted walls was most of the times horrifying even for someone like me.

Elizabeth stepped by my side after my unforeseen pause in front of a specific drawing which made the hairs raise up on my nape. I muttered without moving my eyes from it.

"Who would come up with something like this? I was seriously afraid that my art might be too vulgar for this place but now I'm about to throw away those thoughts."

The picture contained a headless woman. She was drawn topless only wearing a long black skirt tied under her abdomen on which were written, in gold, various words and symbols belonging to a language I didn't know. Her upper naked body was surrounded by leather belts and pockets that held herbs and exotic looking plants. In her hands she was holding two severed heads, one looked like it could belong to a young female adult and the other one to a male in his fifties. The drawing was called "For my dear Guardian Spirit-1913". Elizabeth glared at it and smiled wide.

"For sure a realistic and beautiful interpretation, isn't it? This drawing is full of feelings and dignity and we all appreciated it." I looked at the ruler with a confused expression and didn't keep my questions in for any longer.

"Dignity? Feelings? What feelings can someone express through this?"

"Well dear, this is a portrait interpretation of a hero who brought light into this world. Her name was Echa, the one who saves, and her life years were found in a cruel period of time, a time where only men were considered powerful enough for owning healing abilities. When parents would give birth to girls with strong druidism talents they would either murder them or forbid the use of their healing spells. Her father Nikiq, known as the flower of the moon, raised her up instead and turned her into a strong naturist healer." 

I looked at the drawing amazed as I was starting to understand its background. " But why is it represented this way?"

"Unfortunately after Echa's power was visible to the world, various women embraced their abilities which only ended up with the girl being decapitated for not following the tradition. Her father was executed as well for allowing and raising her skills up. Echa fulfilled her fate and existence but her soul refused to leave this planet so she remained in purgatory along with the unrested. This drawing is the interpretation of what shamans believe she looks like now."

I looked more at the drawing and made connections between it and the information that Elizabeth was giving me. I looked at her and arranged my hair. "Are there shamans on this island?"

She nodded and crossed her arms. "Not so many but the artist of this particular piece is a shaman. Echa is indeed her guardian spirit and guides her in battles, she is the one with who the spirit makes connections and bonds through rituals and visions."

I nodded in amazement and finally let go of that picture so I could admire other's as well. Elizabeth followed behind. "There are not so many drawings that are plain abstract and are not connected to either dreams, visions, events or feelings. I need to show you something."

She passed me and went ahead so she could lead me to what I supposed to be a particular picture but I was still quite curious." What is it?"

We both stopped in front of an unique representation...of something. She looked at me and asked in a soft tone. " What do you feel about this?"

I approached the drawing and started to examine it. The style of it was unique, it looked realistic yet horrific. In the middle a bright old lavender coloured glow in the shape of a human was floating between two groups of people. The glow was facing a few people dressed in black, parts of their faces and arms being covered in blood. Behind the glow was a group bigger in number consisting  of people dressed in white. Both the groups were separated by two old and rusty chain gates  and some of them were trying to reach the glow by pushing their arms in the gate's holes. The bigger group implied the feeling of anger while the smaller group implied the feeling of fear.

"This is the representation of someone's vision. What do you think about it?"

I touched the drawing in order to feel its texture. It was not made by a delicate hand, it was not made in petty details but the drawing delivered feelings and tension, it was enough for me to consider it a masterpiece. I looked down at the information board. "The savior - 1873" by Seth Toslowv.

I murmured mostly to myself. "This is unique.. even the blood looks real... I was never able to get the exact shade and texture. "I turned at Elizabeth and continued. " I don't have any idea what it represents though... there are so many possibilities. I know for sure that this drawing emanates negative emotions, at least I feel this way." I looked back again at the groups of people.

She laid a hand on my shoulder and said. "Thank you for your opinion, nobody knows for sure what it represents. The creator of this piece has never attended this college, this drawing was found at his residence and it was signed by him. Unfortunately we found this picture too late and we did not have the chance to have shared some information about it."

"What happened?" I asked out of curiosity.

The ruler hesitated a bit but in the end she answered. "Well the owner of this drawing disappeared, reason why we ended up investigating his house and room and we ended up finding this. We found various other pictures full of visions, which were usually followed by small notes with different words and short phrases. For this picture we found only tons of paper pieces ripped apart and we couldn't make a proper conclusion."

"That's interesting... maybe one day you will be able to know its meaning."

"I really hope I will my child, I am not the type that can get visions easily and I wished I could. Sometimes I do not know what the subsequent hides for this place."