In the Name of Justice: Chapter XXVI
Here we get some Kircheis back story. It's another one of those cases when I write it based on vague details, then read Asagi's version and realise I've got most of it wrong. XD But I have to keep telling myself that this is only an adaptation, so it's not going to follow the original exactly.
Still, it bothers me. Enjoy the chapter!
Chapter XXVI
Frozen Heart
Once Justice had been let free of his ice prison by Kircheis, he rejoined the others, who had gathered nearby. Everyone was there - Whiteley, Rafaga, Luso and Abess-Reid, as well as the two Guardians. Upon seeing the young prince, each greeted him with an echo of “Your Majesty” and a respectful bow - something that Justice still wasn’t used to, after so much time.
However, there seemed to be one who was neither obliged nor willing to pay him any regard. Carbuncle stood beside a nearby stump of a tree, his back turned to the rest of the party as he stared out over the marshes. Justice froze when he saw him. For a moment, he even considered approaching him, but knew that doing so would only bring back the bitterness of the previous evening. Had Carbuncle told the others about Jais? About the inn and Blanche? Judging from their behaviour, they were still none the wiser, though the confrontation was one he would much rather leave for later than sooner.
A hand tapped his shoulder, and Justice turned to find himself staring into the face of a horse. It took him a few seconds to recognise the familiar features, though when he did, he found himself smiling; and the animal, it seemed, was pleased to see him as well. It flicked its mane excitedly as the man ran his hands down the front of its head, snorting in appreciation when he scratched the area between its eyes lightly.
“I can't believe you kept him with you,” he said.
“Your horse is female, Your Majesty.” Rafaga nodded as he walked past. “And may I say, one of the most well-trained animals I have ever had the pleasure of looking after.”
Justice turned back to the horse and chuckled softly, when he noticed Kircheis approaching him from the side. In his hand he clutched the map.
“Your Highness,” said Kircheis, “We have managed to gather the final information regarding the Schwarzschild Sword. According to the map, we need only continue through the marshes before reaching a place called Groveside Woods - that’s where it is hidden.” He traced the route with his finger.
“Groveside Woods...” Justice’s heart set in motion at the mention of the name. “Yes, that’s definitely right. That’s where Gideon is headed. If we hurry, we can intercept him.”
Kircheis fixed him with blank eyes. “Gideon, Your Majesty?”
For a moment, Justice frowned, but then it occurred to him - of course! He had yet to tell the Guardians about the vampire and the events that had happened since their separation. Had it really been two days since that night? In a way, he was surprised Carbuncle hadn’t filled them in on the details behind his back; but then again, it still eluded him as to how the fire vampire had managed to find the others before him - or indeed, how long they had been together.
So Justice told them about Gideon: about how he’d been attacked the night of the campfire; his rescue and subsequent separation from Blanche; and how he had set out to find her. He deliberately avoided any mention of his dispute with Carbuncle - primarily because he was determined not to over-complicate matters, but also as a result of his own emotions. He was beginning to feel a deep resentment for the fire vampire now that the initial relief of meeting the Guardians once again had faded away. Perhaps if he had not been so hasty to abandon them, then Gideon would not have been so successful in his kidnapping. Blanche would still be with him…
For the first time that evening, Justice felt a sharp pain stab at his heart. Why would someone like Carbuncle associate himself with a mere human? After all, she was a mere ‘servant girl’, and he a traitor. If the Guardian was going to regard him as nothingness, then so be it.
Kircheis’ expression was that of shock as he stared at the black-haired man. “And this person is taking orders from Judas, you say?”
“Yes. He’s the one who attacked Rakina, and-” Justice stopped himself before he could continue. Maybe mentioning the lost army would not be the wisest choice with the present company.
However, the water vampire seemed too wrapped up in his own thoughts to notice the other’s mistake. He turned to Rakina. “Do you remember anything of this person? Surely you must have seen something from when you were approached?”
The servant looked flustered. “It's very difficult to say, My Lord. He did everything he could to keep his face hidden.”
“Did he have silvery-white hair? Possibly a cloak?” said Justice.
“Y-yes, actually. Now that you mention it… I think he very well may have done some sort of black overalls, at least.”
The words only served to confirm what Justice had known all along. Kircheis, on the other hand, seemed to descend into a state of panic. “This… This is awful! If he’s heading for the sword, then that means… We need to leave now.” At once, he began to make his way towards the area where the servants were tending to the horses. Then, turning to Justice, he added, “Your Majesty, would you care to join me in the lead? There is something I would like to discuss with you.”
Justice found himself slightly taken aback at the water vampire’s sudden spirit, but obeyed nonetheless, mounting his horse as the others did the same. It took a few seconds for him to reacquaint himself with the feeling, but then he gathered the reins in his hands, and set off.
The horses fared better than he would have originally believed on the marshy ground, their hooves succeeding in finding what little solid matter existed amid the mud. After a few minutes, they had fallen into a steady rhythm, so Justice took the opportunity to glance up into the sky. A full moon… Perhaps it was because he had been so distracted these past few days that he had barely had time to pay attention to the phases he usually observed with such attentive eyes.
“Recently, I’ve been wondering whether Wilderness is looking up at the same moon.”
Kircheis’ voice startled Justice a little. His horse's dun coat stood out against the darkness as he rode up alongside him, much like the man himself; the vibrant blue detailing of his clothes caught the moonlight like water.
The black-haired man nodded, at which Kircheis sighed softly. “There’s no use in pondering over such things, or pretending that this is the first time something like this has happened. And besides, we are our own people now - the Guardians. The days of being Schwarzschild’s Knights are over, and if Wilderness wishes to abandon us mid-operation, then he has every right to.” Slowly, he turned to look at Justice. “Rafaga told you about his connections to Dreizehn, did he not?”
Justice’s eyes widened, unsure of whether or not to say. “How did you find out?” Surely the wind vampire had told him to keep to a secret.
“Rafaga is an easy person to read,” chuckled the blond. “And, well, we’ve always been close since the fall of the monarchy.” A small sigh escaped his mouth. “But Wilderness... We all have times in our lives we must try to forget. For me, that is…”
Justice listened as his words faded into the night. There was a few seconds’ silence, but then Kircheis spoke again. This time, though, his tone seemed firmer, as if he were doing his best to hide some deep emotion.
“We ran into some rogue vampires along the way here. Young, of course, and clearly well-endowed - the smell of blood clung to them like rot. We were able to fend them off, but…” He lowered his head with a gentle shake. “Sometimes I spend so much time as a Guardian that I forget I’m a vampire, that there are beings like that wandering the night. And it wasn’t so much the fact that they had drunk recently than the way they acted; it was as if they were attacking us out of instinct, for the sole purpose of shedding blood…
“I shouldn’t dwell upon it. I know. Yet after over a thousand years of existence, it still hurts to see how I might have turned out, had I not been around others who were trying to refine themselves. Wilderness, King Dreizehn… But perhaps after everything, I owe the most to my twin sister.”
“Your sister Martisor?” Justice recalled the name having been mentioned briefly around the campfire.
“She would be honoured that you remember her name, Your Majesty,” Kircheis said. “And honoured further to meet you. We were born to a small clan of mages in the mountains whose first hand was the manipulation of ice and water. Both Martisor and I had sorcerer’s blood within us - if we’d wanted, we could have trained to become masters in the field of magic. But when I was still in my mother’s womb, something happened: Martisor seemed to take precedence over me in terms of physical development. It was no fault of her own, by any means, though it meant that she was born healthy, and I as a sickly child.
“Regrettably, our mother died whilst giving birth, so we were left in the hands of our father; and as expected, we started to pursue our clan's art from a young age. Of course, Martisor excelled. I would look to her every time we practised together. It continued like that until the clan was ravaged by a rare disease, and half of its adult population - including our father - was wiped out within a week. That was the moment when we decided to leave once and for all.”
A sudden jolt brought Justice back to the present as his horse lost its footing, though it soon fell back into a regular pace. Kircheis didn’t seem to notice - his eyes were distant, as if he were seeing something other than the marsh in front of him.
“Martisor said we would be able to travel to the nearby towns and look for work, but by the time we arrived at the first village outside our mountain range, the wilderness had taken its toll on us. No-one wanted to employ two sickly children, especially when good money was at stake. No, it soon became clear what our roles were.” He sighed. “You would be surprised by how much a person will pay to have another killed.”
“But surely it wasn't your fault - you were trying to stay alive, after all.”
“No, Your Majesty,” said Kircheis, shaking his head. “We may have been children at the time, but we had been brought up as adults - we knew what we were doing. I was thirteen when the first Lanzek War reached Marthiel, by which time I had already carried out my first kill. I doubt I will ever be able to forget the look on the man’s face as I placed the knife to his throat - just a normal person who had brought it upon himself.
“And so the years dragged on. At times, things improved, and I was able to turn away from my underground life; others, I was forced to fall back into the footsteps of an assassin. I even attempted to resurrect the water powers I had learnt as a child, so that I may find work as a public performer, though there was no spark there - not like Martisor. Truly, when Schwarzschild found us, it was a blessing.
“Well, I say ‘found’, but in fact, it was us who came to him. The second war was in motion, and the king began to appeal for men to apply as soldiers for his army. Martisor and I responded at once, and upon request, granted an audience with the king himself. We explained how we had left home, and that if he required so, we could provide our skills to his personal guard. I strongly believed that we would be turned away at first, but Dreizehn listened to our each and every word. We were fighting alongside him as vampires before a year had passed.
“When the war was over, the two of us remained with the king. But Martisor… I could tell she wasn't satisfied with her life in the castle. Out in the towns, she had begun to find her own way at last. She asked Dreizehn for a leave, and he obliged - within months, she had found a house to settle in, and a man who loved her. I was so happy for my sister - she had discovered her place at last.
“On the other hand, I… I had been having some problems adjusting to the life of a vampire. Perhaps it was that after a life of weakness, I was suddenly in control of such power that my body was unable to cope with the changes. I grew restless. Then, one day, I was approached by one of the maids, a human named Hannah, and ended up lashing out with my powers. Luckily, there was no serious damage, but that was the point when I realised I had to take a stand against myself. There was nothing else for it - it had to be done.
“I confined myself to the castle basement and encased myself in ice - my own personal prison, if you like. It was as if time had been suspended, as if everything were revolving around my own little palace. My memories from that period are hazy, though I know that every moment I fought against my enhanced powers was a step closer to the possibility of never waking up again; yet that was a risk I was willing to take if it meant that I would be able to rid the world of the monster I had become.
“Of course, I did manage to break out in the end. I remember lying on the basement floor, surrounded by the shards of ice that had held me for so long. I was a changed person, and for the first time since my transformation into a vampire, I felt as if I had absolute control over my body. The castle was unchanged, leading me to wonder whether any time had passed at all - how wrong I was.
“Forty years. That was the amount of time I had spent unconscious. When Dreizehn first told me, I could barely believe it; yet the more time went on, the more changes I began to notice: the king had turned yet another vampire, Rafaga, to his side, and all over the country, the great wars were merely a memory. And Martisor, my dear Martisor… She had been deceived by her lover during the early years of my confinement and exacted her own revenge. However, the discovery by the townspeople had led to the revelation of her true nature as a vampire and an execution being ordered. She was burnt by the mobs in the town square.”
Justice was silent for a few minutes. “I’m so sorry,” he said at last.
“Sorry? Why is that, Your Majesty?” Kircheis’ head remained low as he spoke. “I cannot say my sister lived a good life, but it warms me to know that those final years with her lover were happy times for her.” He sighed. “I used to wonder why she didn’t use her abilities to fight back against those who killed her, though only now I realise that she was willing to accept any fate brought upon her, so long as it meant that she could live as a human. In the end, all she wanted was a normal life, away from all the bloodshed and killing; yet after all that had happened, even that turned out to be an impossible reality.”
A normal life… Justice was unable to think what could be classed as such a thing. Was ‘normal’ starting a family, surrounded by a comfortable home and friends? Perhaps it was the idea of aging, of living a life where one could do as they pleased and not remain bound by their own nature.
Or maybe in the end, ‘normal’ simply meant ‘human’.
Slowly, Justice turned to the water vampire to see him looking directly at him, and to his surprise, there were tears clinging to his cheeks.
“You're probably wondering why I’m telling this to you. In short, I don’t believe there should be any secrets between brothers.” His eyes flitted to the ground. “And, well, if I am to be frank... I’m frightened, Your Majesty. I know not what lies for us ahead, and with all this talk of powerful vampires - of this Gideon…”
“You can’t compare yourself someone like that!” Justice interrupted. “You're a Guardian, after all.”
Kircheis’ expression was halfway between a smile and a grimace. “But that is merely the title I have been given. On the inside, I am no better than any other vampire that walks this land. I fear for the life of my fellow Guardians, and I… I fear for my own life. If I ever find myself overridden with my powers again, and I have to retreat to my ice prison, I know that this time, I shall never wake up.”
Once more, Justice was at a loss for words. He longed to give some kind of reassurance to the water vampire, but what was there to say?
Looking at the man, he could never have realised how much he had suffered in his life, how much anguish he had been forced to endure. How could he tell him that the future would be better when the past stood as it did?
Because, ultimately, neither knew what waited for them at the end of the path. Even if they did find the sword, then what would happen? Would they be able to rescue Blanche? The answers to these questions lay ahead - Justice was sure of it; now, it was simply a case of waiting.
Waiting for the unknown.
Next Chapter →
Still, it bothers me. Enjoy the chapter!
Chapter XXVI
Frozen Heart
Once Justice had been let free of his ice prison by Kircheis, he rejoined the others, who had gathered nearby. Everyone was there - Whiteley, Rafaga, Luso and Abess-Reid, as well as the two Guardians. Upon seeing the young prince, each greeted him with an echo of “Your Majesty” and a respectful bow - something that Justice still wasn’t used to, after so much time.
However, there seemed to be one who was neither obliged nor willing to pay him any regard. Carbuncle stood beside a nearby stump of a tree, his back turned to the rest of the party as he stared out over the marshes. Justice froze when he saw him. For a moment, he even considered approaching him, but knew that doing so would only bring back the bitterness of the previous evening. Had Carbuncle told the others about Jais? About the inn and Blanche? Judging from their behaviour, they were still none the wiser, though the confrontation was one he would much rather leave for later than sooner.
A hand tapped his shoulder, and Justice turned to find himself staring into the face of a horse. It took him a few seconds to recognise the familiar features, though when he did, he found himself smiling; and the animal, it seemed, was pleased to see him as well. It flicked its mane excitedly as the man ran his hands down the front of its head, snorting in appreciation when he scratched the area between its eyes lightly.
“I can't believe you kept him with you,” he said.
“Your horse is female, Your Majesty.” Rafaga nodded as he walked past. “And may I say, one of the most well-trained animals I have ever had the pleasure of looking after.”
Justice turned back to the horse and chuckled softly, when he noticed Kircheis approaching him from the side. In his hand he clutched the map.
“Your Highness,” said Kircheis, “We have managed to gather the final information regarding the Schwarzschild Sword. According to the map, we need only continue through the marshes before reaching a place called Groveside Woods - that’s where it is hidden.” He traced the route with his finger.
“Groveside Woods...” Justice’s heart set in motion at the mention of the name. “Yes, that’s definitely right. That’s where Gideon is headed. If we hurry, we can intercept him.”
Kircheis fixed him with blank eyes. “Gideon, Your Majesty?”
For a moment, Justice frowned, but then it occurred to him - of course! He had yet to tell the Guardians about the vampire and the events that had happened since their separation. Had it really been two days since that night? In a way, he was surprised Carbuncle hadn’t filled them in on the details behind his back; but then again, it still eluded him as to how the fire vampire had managed to find the others before him - or indeed, how long they had been together.
So Justice told them about Gideon: about how he’d been attacked the night of the campfire; his rescue and subsequent separation from Blanche; and how he had set out to find her. He deliberately avoided any mention of his dispute with Carbuncle - primarily because he was determined not to over-complicate matters, but also as a result of his own emotions. He was beginning to feel a deep resentment for the fire vampire now that the initial relief of meeting the Guardians once again had faded away. Perhaps if he had not been so hasty to abandon them, then Gideon would not have been so successful in his kidnapping. Blanche would still be with him…
For the first time that evening, Justice felt a sharp pain stab at his heart. Why would someone like Carbuncle associate himself with a mere human? After all, she was a mere ‘servant girl’, and he a traitor. If the Guardian was going to regard him as nothingness, then so be it.
Kircheis’ expression was that of shock as he stared at the black-haired man. “And this person is taking orders from Judas, you say?”
“Yes. He’s the one who attacked Rakina, and-” Justice stopped himself before he could continue. Maybe mentioning the lost army would not be the wisest choice with the present company.
However, the water vampire seemed too wrapped up in his own thoughts to notice the other’s mistake. He turned to Rakina. “Do you remember anything of this person? Surely you must have seen something from when you were approached?”
The servant looked flustered. “It's very difficult to say, My Lord. He did everything he could to keep his face hidden.”
“Did he have silvery-white hair? Possibly a cloak?” said Justice.
“Y-yes, actually. Now that you mention it… I think he very well may have done some sort of black overalls, at least.”
The words only served to confirm what Justice had known all along. Kircheis, on the other hand, seemed to descend into a state of panic. “This… This is awful! If he’s heading for the sword, then that means… We need to leave now.” At once, he began to make his way towards the area where the servants were tending to the horses. Then, turning to Justice, he added, “Your Majesty, would you care to join me in the lead? There is something I would like to discuss with you.”
Justice found himself slightly taken aback at the water vampire’s sudden spirit, but obeyed nonetheless, mounting his horse as the others did the same. It took a few seconds for him to reacquaint himself with the feeling, but then he gathered the reins in his hands, and set off.
The horses fared better than he would have originally believed on the marshy ground, their hooves succeeding in finding what little solid matter existed amid the mud. After a few minutes, they had fallen into a steady rhythm, so Justice took the opportunity to glance up into the sky. A full moon… Perhaps it was because he had been so distracted these past few days that he had barely had time to pay attention to the phases he usually observed with such attentive eyes.
“Recently, I’ve been wondering whether Wilderness is looking up at the same moon.”
Kircheis’ voice startled Justice a little. His horse's dun coat stood out against the darkness as he rode up alongside him, much like the man himself; the vibrant blue detailing of his clothes caught the moonlight like water.
The black-haired man nodded, at which Kircheis sighed softly. “There’s no use in pondering over such things, or pretending that this is the first time something like this has happened. And besides, we are our own people now - the Guardians. The days of being Schwarzschild’s Knights are over, and if Wilderness wishes to abandon us mid-operation, then he has every right to.” Slowly, he turned to look at Justice. “Rafaga told you about his connections to Dreizehn, did he not?”
Justice’s eyes widened, unsure of whether or not to say. “How did you find out?” Surely the wind vampire had told him to keep to a secret.
“Rafaga is an easy person to read,” chuckled the blond. “And, well, we’ve always been close since the fall of the monarchy.” A small sigh escaped his mouth. “But Wilderness... We all have times in our lives we must try to forget. For me, that is…”
Justice listened as his words faded into the night. There was a few seconds’ silence, but then Kircheis spoke again. This time, though, his tone seemed firmer, as if he were doing his best to hide some deep emotion.
“We ran into some rogue vampires along the way here. Young, of course, and clearly well-endowed - the smell of blood clung to them like rot. We were able to fend them off, but…” He lowered his head with a gentle shake. “Sometimes I spend so much time as a Guardian that I forget I’m a vampire, that there are beings like that wandering the night. And it wasn’t so much the fact that they had drunk recently than the way they acted; it was as if they were attacking us out of instinct, for the sole purpose of shedding blood…
“I shouldn’t dwell upon it. I know. Yet after over a thousand years of existence, it still hurts to see how I might have turned out, had I not been around others who were trying to refine themselves. Wilderness, King Dreizehn… But perhaps after everything, I owe the most to my twin sister.”
“Your sister Martisor?” Justice recalled the name having been mentioned briefly around the campfire.
“She would be honoured that you remember her name, Your Majesty,” Kircheis said. “And honoured further to meet you. We were born to a small clan of mages in the mountains whose first hand was the manipulation of ice and water. Both Martisor and I had sorcerer’s blood within us - if we’d wanted, we could have trained to become masters in the field of magic. But when I was still in my mother’s womb, something happened: Martisor seemed to take precedence over me in terms of physical development. It was no fault of her own, by any means, though it meant that she was born healthy, and I as a sickly child.
“Regrettably, our mother died whilst giving birth, so we were left in the hands of our father; and as expected, we started to pursue our clan's art from a young age. Of course, Martisor excelled. I would look to her every time we practised together. It continued like that until the clan was ravaged by a rare disease, and half of its adult population - including our father - was wiped out within a week. That was the moment when we decided to leave once and for all.”
A sudden jolt brought Justice back to the present as his horse lost its footing, though it soon fell back into a regular pace. Kircheis didn’t seem to notice - his eyes were distant, as if he were seeing something other than the marsh in front of him.
“Martisor said we would be able to travel to the nearby towns and look for work, but by the time we arrived at the first village outside our mountain range, the wilderness had taken its toll on us. No-one wanted to employ two sickly children, especially when good money was at stake. No, it soon became clear what our roles were.” He sighed. “You would be surprised by how much a person will pay to have another killed.”
“But surely it wasn't your fault - you were trying to stay alive, after all.”
“No, Your Majesty,” said Kircheis, shaking his head. “We may have been children at the time, but we had been brought up as adults - we knew what we were doing. I was thirteen when the first Lanzek War reached Marthiel, by which time I had already carried out my first kill. I doubt I will ever be able to forget the look on the man’s face as I placed the knife to his throat - just a normal person who had brought it upon himself.
“And so the years dragged on. At times, things improved, and I was able to turn away from my underground life; others, I was forced to fall back into the footsteps of an assassin. I even attempted to resurrect the water powers I had learnt as a child, so that I may find work as a public performer, though there was no spark there - not like Martisor. Truly, when Schwarzschild found us, it was a blessing.
“Well, I say ‘found’, but in fact, it was us who came to him. The second war was in motion, and the king began to appeal for men to apply as soldiers for his army. Martisor and I responded at once, and upon request, granted an audience with the king himself. We explained how we had left home, and that if he required so, we could provide our skills to his personal guard. I strongly believed that we would be turned away at first, but Dreizehn listened to our each and every word. We were fighting alongside him as vampires before a year had passed.
“When the war was over, the two of us remained with the king. But Martisor… I could tell she wasn't satisfied with her life in the castle. Out in the towns, she had begun to find her own way at last. She asked Dreizehn for a leave, and he obliged - within months, she had found a house to settle in, and a man who loved her. I was so happy for my sister - she had discovered her place at last.
“On the other hand, I… I had been having some problems adjusting to the life of a vampire. Perhaps it was that after a life of weakness, I was suddenly in control of such power that my body was unable to cope with the changes. I grew restless. Then, one day, I was approached by one of the maids, a human named Hannah, and ended up lashing out with my powers. Luckily, there was no serious damage, but that was the point when I realised I had to take a stand against myself. There was nothing else for it - it had to be done.
“I confined myself to the castle basement and encased myself in ice - my own personal prison, if you like. It was as if time had been suspended, as if everything were revolving around my own little palace. My memories from that period are hazy, though I know that every moment I fought against my enhanced powers was a step closer to the possibility of never waking up again; yet that was a risk I was willing to take if it meant that I would be able to rid the world of the monster I had become.
“Of course, I did manage to break out in the end. I remember lying on the basement floor, surrounded by the shards of ice that had held me for so long. I was a changed person, and for the first time since my transformation into a vampire, I felt as if I had absolute control over my body. The castle was unchanged, leading me to wonder whether any time had passed at all - how wrong I was.
“Forty years. That was the amount of time I had spent unconscious. When Dreizehn first told me, I could barely believe it; yet the more time went on, the more changes I began to notice: the king had turned yet another vampire, Rafaga, to his side, and all over the country, the great wars were merely a memory. And Martisor, my dear Martisor… She had been deceived by her lover during the early years of my confinement and exacted her own revenge. However, the discovery by the townspeople had led to the revelation of her true nature as a vampire and an execution being ordered. She was burnt by the mobs in the town square.”
Justice was silent for a few minutes. “I’m so sorry,” he said at last.
“Sorry? Why is that, Your Majesty?” Kircheis’ head remained low as he spoke. “I cannot say my sister lived a good life, but it warms me to know that those final years with her lover were happy times for her.” He sighed. “I used to wonder why she didn’t use her abilities to fight back against those who killed her, though only now I realise that she was willing to accept any fate brought upon her, so long as it meant that she could live as a human. In the end, all she wanted was a normal life, away from all the bloodshed and killing; yet after all that had happened, even that turned out to be an impossible reality.”
A normal life… Justice was unable to think what could be classed as such a thing. Was ‘normal’ starting a family, surrounded by a comfortable home and friends? Perhaps it was the idea of aging, of living a life where one could do as they pleased and not remain bound by their own nature.
Or maybe in the end, ‘normal’ simply meant ‘human’.
Slowly, Justice turned to the water vampire to see him looking directly at him, and to his surprise, there were tears clinging to his cheeks.
“You're probably wondering why I’m telling this to you. In short, I don’t believe there should be any secrets between brothers.” His eyes flitted to the ground. “And, well, if I am to be frank... I’m frightened, Your Majesty. I know not what lies for us ahead, and with all this talk of powerful vampires - of this Gideon…”
“You can’t compare yourself someone like that!” Justice interrupted. “You're a Guardian, after all.”
Kircheis’ expression was halfway between a smile and a grimace. “But that is merely the title I have been given. On the inside, I am no better than any other vampire that walks this land. I fear for the life of my fellow Guardians, and I… I fear for my own life. If I ever find myself overridden with my powers again, and I have to retreat to my ice prison, I know that this time, I shall never wake up.”
Once more, Justice was at a loss for words. He longed to give some kind of reassurance to the water vampire, but what was there to say?
Looking at the man, he could never have realised how much he had suffered in his life, how much anguish he had been forced to endure. How could he tell him that the future would be better when the past stood as it did?
Because, ultimately, neither knew what waited for them at the end of the path. Even if they did find the sword, then what would happen? Would they be able to rescue Blanche? The answers to these questions lay ahead - Justice was sure of it; now, it was simply a case of waiting.
Waiting for the unknown.
Next Chapter →