The Maksymillians

Chapter 1

Shadow. Light. Life. Three constant beings at together, a surge of dominance. Life occupied the air, the light seeping through. Rectangular boxes with transparent voices, shed blood as the light impaled.

Beige...bloody beige...

My toes wriggled against the dead trees. Their past thoughts mixing with mine, as the beige consumed my eyes. I stepped forwards, into a past I could never forget. The staircase slithered and twisted as it had done for over a century. The timber huddling with the light, a hopeless child with a widowed mother. Never had I seen such conformity, the wooden graphs of the staircase, bonded as one. Only the corner of my pupil saw the shadow. Its unwanted presence soaked in the homeless of the room. I watched as children of the light, were born into the disease of darkness. A wicked smile crossed my lips, the reflection of a million tortured souls. The release of a breath whispered down. Gliding and spiralling gentle along the staircase. Its silence touch lastly reaching my ears, a silent unsettling hello. A sharp pain ripped through my spine, as the cold blade dug like a rabid dog. Falling to a knee, I roared in pain. "That's no way to treat family, now is it?" I growled, her pleasured look was clear.

"You deserve worst you bastard." Gabrielle's voice hadn't changed, still the same annoyingly calm demeanour most of our family carried. The Arsenic seeped into my veins, as I fell to my second knee. The aforementioned shadows now happily taunting my certain demise. Her boots pouted to my left as they came to confront me. The leather subsided as her pale dress came into view, the lean young figure now kneeing to me. I smiled quietly to myself, my next words as cold as death itself.

"Hello sister..." I paused, making each word a gradual crescendo of sinister, "What a completely unwelcome surprise."

Her smile mimicked mine. "Well Nik," she said, her curly hazelnut hair shadowing her usually bright face, "Maybe I should re-introduce some other...'unwelcome surprises'...". As the phrase leapt from her raspberry lips, two men walked down the staircase. One had his hands interrupting the bond between the widowed mother and the hopeless child, the other stamping his Florsheim Beresford boots into the wooden graphs, each step a warning shot. I watched as my brothers Tomaz and Matthaeus approached me, Tomaz with his usual short blonde hair and curly, reflective blue eyes. His usual bland light blue shirt and dark grey shorts, and short white wrist bands. Matthaeus smiled his slick backed hair a part of his cultured personality, while his grey skinny jeans inhaled his legs, the white shirt draped over it. I wasn't surprised. During the centuries none had stuck closer to Gabi's side than my dear brother Matt. I could only recall the time when Gabi daggered Matt for trying to convince her boyfriend to leave town. Tom however...his change intrigued me.

"Tom," I reached out, my voice asking him to draw closer, "Fallen for our sisters charm again have we?" Not a reply. Matt's eyes narrowed towards me, his glare filled with anger, yet his voice remained ever so calm.

"Nik." His paused filled the room, "Where is Marcelian? It is not my intention to kill you...however...I cannot same the same for Gabrielle."

I let the silence consume the air. I allowed the silence to wrap its tentacles around the air and strip the life from it...piece by piece. I appealed to my closet brother once more, "Tom," my voice was raspy as the Arsenic drove deeper into my bloodstream, "Don't listen to these fools. Join me. Again."

"Nikolaus!" Matthaeus, his calm composure now running thin, "Where is Marcel? Do you want the Arsenic to kill you? On estimate you only have another sixty seconds to live..."

Tom eyes finally locked unto mine. With my remaining strength I outstretched my hand. Hoping. Nothing. And with that, I took my bow and exited into the black.

Beige. Bloody Beige. It starred at me. Then I noticed his eyes. His reflective blue eyes. I mustered a dead smile, its meaning still present. I could feel the fingertips of the timber etching its way into my back. Fear hovered over my heart, the dagger close to what many would call home. He stood over me, fair fingertips gripping unto the blade as if the blade was a reassurance. It was only then I noticed, out of my eyes corner, the bloody bodies of Matthaeus and Gabrielle, his groomed hair only slightly out of place, her pale dress as constant splash of agony and war. Never had they seemed so vulnerable, alone, at eternal sleep. His chest was covered by, what I could only presume, was a chair's leg, his regal posture impaled to the ground we once lived on. Her neck was snapped. It was simple, however slightly awkward, I began to speak my mind.

"I could teach you how to snap a neck properly, if you wished." I stated, usual devilish charm crossing my lips. Tomaz forced his lips to smile back, which he followed up with a profound statement...something only I could have said better.

"You miserable idiot." He began, his tone dark, "If it weren't for me you'd be dead. Something you so clearly deserve."

"Well that's no way to address me". I added a little wink for flair. His eyes remained ever reflective, a trait only he had ever garnered. The dagger hovered ever closer to my heart. A small smile of cruelty swiping upon his lips. "Nik," his tone had shifted, only sightlier, to the brother I had always beloved, "Why did you come back?"

A grin crossed my lips. It was the question I had asked myself for years. This town. My home...well it was once. Before all of this. I broke this sacred ground. I took this unwanted land, and made it the masterpiece it was today. In my countless years of existence, only I, and I alone, had burnt and raised so many cities. Back when the scraps of the death walked this colony, I painted the canvas for what would become the greatest of cities. A momentous pyramid of life. And now, having no true apparent reason, I simply answered. "For you...dear brother," another set of lies my lips would speak, would not faze me though, I had deceived for far worse. "Marcel put me into exile. While in my absence, I heard that my creation had fallen. Both our kindred brothers allow too much leverage to the mortals...something in my leadership I had never done."

Tomaz smiled, he replied, "That was a dictatorship Klaus. You and I both know that."

"And what a dictatorship was it!" I cried happily from my vulnerable position, "I brought wealth to this city! We brought the princes and princesses, together we took what had weaken and made it a Kingdom!"

"Together? We? That is in the past Klaus."

"I do not believe in time, Tom. And neither should you," I paused, letting my words sink in, "Remove the impending doom from my heart...and I will consider un-daggering Marcelian...wherever he may be..."   

"How long has been daggered for?"

"Um...well...Do I look like I care to check the time when I dagger people? Do you think of me as someone who likes to know, when he has left a traitorous brood to die? No."

"Traitorous brood? That monarch suits you more brother."

I paused. Biting my inner lip. Then, as the devilish smile returned once more, I posed a challenge. "Brother," I began, my lips sowing seeds of deceit and possible death, "You can do one of two things. Either, I can help you find Marcel, and you can save our families constant counsellor...or...you can stop hiding behind the shadow of the youngest, and rise above that. After all...your blood and mine are the same...What's stopping you from becoming the head of the family, hmh? Do you always want to be known as that? The youngest one? Helpless? Defenceless? Alone? Join me...and at my side...I will bring you into true power. Our family. All families. Will fear your name as they do mine. And together we will take back our city! Our home! Whatever it takes..."

Tom smiled. I could tell he was pondering the idea. His breath led in a counter proposal, "What about this dear brother...You tell me where our brother is, or I dagger you for an eternity."

"And then what Tom? And then what?" I taunted, slightly growling, "Marcel returns, and all problems will turn to dust? No. He will return, the control our family has on this city will frail, and we will lose everything!"

"Fine. We will take back this city," Tom stated, "We will amass to whatever greatness you want. You will be king...and I will help..."

I smiled, knowing well that the pause could only mean one thing.

"But first," he added a grin on his face, "We find Marcelian".  I smiled, somewhat agreeing. He mentioned something about Matthaeus and Gabrielle waking up, so we disappeared. This had not been the first time our great family had gone to war. Centuries had been spent wanting each other's demise, and centuries had been spent to no such avail. After all...a war cannot be won without a few regrettable demises and losses...no matter how destructive they may be...