Banquet of the Count

Chapter 10: The Spectre

Death.

Resurrection.

Darkness.

Light.

Good.

Evil.

Where shall my soul go? Into the body of a normal human or the prison of a corrupted being?

Eli couldn't feel anything. No pain, no sound, no wind. Just...... Nothing. The endless unconsciousness known as death slowly swallowed him up, his soul unable to distinguish the living from the dead, the good from the bad.

He couldn't even identify the differences between the darkness he was currently in, and the darkness that had imprisoned him for those few hours in the castle.

His thoughts, however, were somehow still livid as his soul drifted towards the darkness of the Other Side, the world of the dead.

He recalled how he'd called himself the monster that lead to all this chaos. The rising of the Count and his darkness, and the last time he'd managed to phase into the Dark Owl.

Livid memories, but rather painful ones they were.

All of a sudden, Eli felt like he could hear something knocking on an item. A noise that sounded distant and quiet.

The repetitive knocking was rather disturbing. Tak. Tak. Tak......

Something weird was going on, though Eli didn't know exactly what. He, however, knew that there was this weird feeling in his soul. A small surge of energy that bursted through his soul for an unknown reason......

Arise, Dark Owl. Leave the shadows of the dead and return to the darkness of the living.

'W-w-what......'

Forget about embracing death. The dark forces in the world of the living souls would bring your life back to its original form.

'W-who-'

Energy coursed through Eli's soul with the force of a powerful tsunami. Eli felt his soul being submerged in the power as though it were the darkness that had enveloped him earlier.

This energy...... It felt dangerously familiar.

Why, though? Why does it-

'Eli!' A shout in the voice of a person that Eli knew of too well rang through his ears as he regained conscious.

'E-Emma?!'

Eli tried to move, but his body ached at every single slight movement he made. He tried to look around, but his strength didn't allow him to do so very well.

What in the world actually happened......

As Eli's consciousness began to fully return to him, he felt the painfully sharp thing that had pierced through his body.

The electrical wall from Burke's attack.

But...... How?

'Thank goodness,' A softer, fear-driven voice spoke. 'It worked.'

'Fio-Fiona?!'

'Get him off the wall first, okay?! I couldn't stand-'

'Shut up, Emma!'

The last voice that shouted surprised Eli the most. It was a loud voice that somehow sounded like the harsh snarls of the non-living. The voice that belonged to a supposedly-silent, unsociable young man. A voice that belonged to a person who'd rather be with the dead than the living.