The Return | Cricky [C]

Chapter LXVII: Indigo

Everyone has those life defining moments, but isn't it amazing how few and far between they are? All the days, hours, minutes in between that mean nothing. I guess some people would argue it all has significance. The little things add up and forge a path towards the chapter's climax, butterfly effect and all. You'd think after walking the Earth with immortality for so long, I'd have a way of knowing why life has to play out this way, with these moments, oftentimes only mere seconds that ripple years and years into our future. They say we forget pain, but that only goes for the prick of a needle and not the torment of the mind.

The image around me, it was crafted so perfectly, I almost believed it to be my reality. Once, it was. The room was dark and the light of the city life poured in through the windows to create a perfectly horrific cinematic of a murder scene. The white sheets were tangled around Yuki's frail body as it hung lifeless over the edge of the mattress. Any blood that stained the sheets was purely for aesthetic, a Master vampire's desire to paint an erotic picture for me. As I held Yuki's head in my hand, his limp was neck stretched out, displaying the deep purple veins in his neck.

The drop of venom dried on his puncture wound, I knew it well. It wasn't enough that my entire world was taken from me over a petty territory war, but he was forced to suffer. I remember very clearly, the loss caused me more grief than I'd ever known, but it was knowing Yuki had laid in this bed for hours in intense pain, unable to move his own body due to paralysis until he eventually asphyxiated—That taught me the power of anger. As I had cried over his corpse, every muscle in my body tightened, my teeth had clenched so hard I could've snapped my fangs, and all this rage and sorrow had wracked my spine while I continued to sob.

And all of this, my living nightmare, it had come back to me in a vision. We'd traveled for days now and been ambushed by hunters and thieves at many points. Upon one of these encounters, I told the others to go on without me. I'd catch up. Moony had whined, Vinny seeming just as pathetic, but Ryan insisted they listen to me. Once they'd gone, I looked upon the spray of dead bodies we'd just created upon the forest floor. A motley crew of fey that'd attempted to rob us. One remained grasping to a shred of life, a wood elf with braided blonde hair and tanned skin. I knelt down beside him, bringing his head into my lap. I could see the light fading in his eyes. Maybe it was the hair, or his delicate features. More than likely, it was that of which Ville warned me of. To take a soul is far different from a life, and for just a moment the world around me had melted and taken me back to a time in which I felt like I'd lost my own soul.

I saw the truth in the illusion. Unlike the time Zombie had trapped me in my own mind, I knew when I was in it that it wasn't real, yet I felt that agony all the same. When the world came back to me and I was once again looking at the wood elf's face, I could only see Yuki's. The wound in his abdomen had hemorrhaged enough while I was dazed. His soul managed to escape my grasp due to my own weakness. I wonder if he realizes how lucky he was.

Through the savagery and chaos sewn into this land, we were able to leave a trail of bodies without anyone even questioning it. Hunting for me had never been easier. I'd learned from our guide exactly what was going on here; A Holy war. Ricky had mentioned to me the concept of homophobia didn't exist here, and I so foolishly assumed that meant they were free of brainwashed cults and false prophets. They may not have prejudice against homosexuality, but that unfortunately hasn't prevented other forms of bigotry from taking root. The fey here were locked in a century-long battle with a human kingdom led by warlocks and bolstered by barbarians. From my limited experience with elves, I never thought they could find humans to be a challenge in combat. Unfortunately, it seems the wood elves that remain here are without homes or elders to show them their own strength. Much like the thief I'd just killed, they're nothing more than rogues now.