Two Souls, One Heart (based on the show True Blood)

Requiem of Gehenna

Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet...Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened...

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Eric's vampiric eyes quickly adjusted to the pitch blackness as he took in the vast, barren landscape and he was perplexed; the air yielded no scent. At the same time, his keen ears picked up a faint noise in the distance; so he cautiously progresses towards the sound.

The sight of Tara's progeny caught him by surprise. Jessica was sitting on the ground against a tree, groaning in agony, her porcelain face disfigured, scorched from her tumultuous journey into Perdition. Her left arm was agonizingly stung, dislocated from the fall. The young woman fought through the searing pain as she shrugged off the backpack strapped to her injured shoulder. With trembling hands, she pulled out the vial of vampire blood and gulped it all down. Straightaway, she felt a euphoric high, her aching ceased, and her third-degree burns began healing. It only took a moment and Jessica was able to stand on her feet.

As Eric approached he disapprovingly appraised her, "Do you know why it is foolish to consume V?"

She brushed the dust from her jeans. "What I consume is none of your goddamn business." Jessica had prepared for weeks, studying spells and patiently waiting for Aether and The High Priestess to get off their asses and recite the incantation to enter the dark realm.

He arched his blonde eyebrow; he was slightly surprised but unmoved by her impoliteness. "It is because one never knows how the vampire's blood will affect you unless you drink directly from the source. And you, foolish girl, drank way too much."

"I don't give a shit." She snapped, the fledgling fire-witch needed the blood to heal, she'd deal with the side effects later. She had no idea what Aether's vampire was doing in the Dark Realm, did not care, and was not about to waste time listening to his lecture. So she began to tread away from Eric, surveying her surroundings, as she did so, her pupils began to enlarge, her eyes fully adjusting to the darkness. The fog suddenly rose and became so thick she soon lost sight of Eric. After walking away a few feet, Jessica peered back to see if he was following her. He was not, so she pulled out Holly's enchanted emerald and began to chant an illumination spell.

Eric was finished being concerned with Tara's subject; it was time to absorb his effort on his quest. He watched Jessica walk into the mist, the Viking decided to move forward in the opposite direction.

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TARA POV

My life geared me for continuous upheaval and conflicts, my dreams equipped me for survival in strange surroundings, constant shifts, and scene changes. And from the moment I entered the underworld, I've fought with every breath, constantly on the knife's edge. I desperately search for my mom, calling out her name, in response, blood-curdling screams, growls, and roars, echoed back at me. Otherworldly looking bugs zipped in and out of my ears, humming and buzzing their little annoying songs. I managed to get my boot stuck in a marsh puddle on the bank of the green-brown stream. The mud sucked on my foot before I got the steadiness to shake my foot free and flick off some of the soggy gunk. The earth released my foot with slushy but undeniable pop. 

Frustratingly, I traversed through never-ending mazes. All the while, praying, that I was somehow getting closer to her. At what seemed like the end of each maze, I was disappointingly greeted by more dense unending bushes. And the labyrinth would suddenly transform into tall overhanging branches, darkly foreboding, ominous sounds, creaking, whispering trees, thicker leaves, and thick undergrowth at the forest edge. The narrow and twisting path of the dense wood choked with brambles, matted undergrowth, sprawling branches, and stiff branches.