Chapter 101: Blood Brothers
The wind was soft, like crossing a fine mist of water. They moved rapidly through intricate paths. The snake, with its intuitive understanding of the paths, was excellent at avoiding any type of interruption.
On its oily and scaly back they traveled in peace, enjoying the breeze and surrendering to a meditative silence.
The fragments of time inside the ruin remained alive and vibrant in their disturbed minds. They had needed to survive constantly.
"Do you think that with time we will forget it?" Abyss commented from the front. His face was hidden by his own shadow.
Gabriel allowed the wind to wave his overcoat, responding:
"The question does not consist of that. Will we overcome it? Because no experience can be forgotten."
The silence between both thickened again, allowing time to heal their wounds.
Time continued passing and each time they abandoned more the limits of the outskirts. Soon they would return within the walled safety of the city.
He observed a notification that he had ignored until that moment. Because of his newly acquired level 30, he had received another skill.
A very special one.
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[The Claws of Draugr]
Description: Invokes the interior blood energy and condenses it into a powerful attack that focuses on the user’s hands. A short-range movement, but extremely damaging.
Cost: Blood energy. Its repeated use provokes mental load.
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A very useful skill in combat. Deeply connected with his vampiric heritage that began to awaken with even more force while his capacity grew.
He was still too weak.
He sighed from tiredness, reflecting on the challenges that awaited him.
He touched Abyss’s shoulder and made eye contact with his increasingly tormented eyes. Finally he made a question that intrigued him:
"Do you remember anything of the last trial? Those fearsome Infernal Circles. I did not even manage to remember having been there."
At his unexpected question, even Abyss reacted with surprise. In his expression the shudder before an unacceptable reality was drawn.
"That makes no sense. But if you really do not remember it, you are a fortunate idiot. My body still reacts instinctively to the cold."
Cold... A simple word, but one that evoked the terrors they had survived together. A glacial shudder that froze the soul.
"It was dark. From its beginning to its end. A gigantic space where we were abandoned only with the decency of our own company, suffering terrible and malevolent winds." Abyss’s words resonated with the constancy of a seasoned and experienced man.
Even he, with his own bad-life works, had been deeply touched by the last trial of Noxx.
"I... Only remember having fallen unconscious. Afterward I woke up with the humming of that man." Said Gabriel with a doubtful expression. He had totally lost his memories, sealed or forgotten.
The scaly snake suddenly hissed with its tongue, alerting both. They were near their destination. The pet had been an excellent help with the transport.
"You have collected your reward, right?" Asked Abyss. Referring to the objects that all the winning participants had received.
"Yes, I have done it. Do you have the statue with you?"
Suddenly he felt alarmed. The statues were supposed to be large and heavy, sculpted with delicacy and mastery. Abyss did not gather any of those characteristics.
He had his personal inventory, but the native NPCs should not have anything so singular.
"The statue was sealed with a magical spell. That strange servant probably wanted to avoid that his new chosen ones began a battle to the death."
It was a logical response, but one that revealed a small weakness in Gabriel’s alibi. Even so, no comment was made about it. Avoiding the suspicion so as not to aggravate into a confusion.
"What do you think about all that? The Gods, the ruin and all that shit," asked Gabriel with eyes dark from confusion. The loyal servant of Charles must be a knower in that regard.
"I would never say it to another person, Jester. But we have been tied by destiny. The future... Is covered by uncertainty." Said Abyss, continuing with graver words: "The Gods belong to the dawns of creation. When man still did not exist, created from clay according to the most ancient myths."
Gabriel listened with more attention to the digressions that contained deep mysteries and secrets of antiquity. It was the last key piece that his internal construction needed about the events.
"But a phenomenon of the cosmic heavens provoked their fall, reducing them to mere tales of a nascent humanity. The orders dissolved and the lineages died. With a new order being born from their chronic sick body." Suddenly Abyss’s gaze sharpened, making a crazy proposal.
"Jester, become my blood brother. You have demonstrated your worth and both of us have gotten involved with the Primordial Night."
He observed carefully his serious and sharp eyes, reflecting on the proposal. A blood brother was a connection as intimate as comrades in arms, contributing to a beneficial relationship free of deceptive tactics.
"Do I have to accept it?"
"You must."
That simple exchange sealed the end of the negotiation. Neither of the two needed more words to understand the simple thoughts of the other. They had been forged in desperation and adversity.
Abyss made a short but deep cut on Gabriel’s hand, dirtying his calloused and glacial hand with the extremely warm blood.
He felt no pain. He felt no regret. The weight of the cut was above all symbolic, because it would soon close with his abnormal regeneration.
"Your blood is not normal. It has another smell," said Abyss. His nose sniffed, noticing slight different tones in the smell to which he had grown so accustomed.
"I do not believe that any brother of Abyss is normal."
***
Finally they had returned to the vicinity of the deteriorated walls of Bérsaic. The ancient tower announced their long-awaited arrival.
The spiritual pet returned to its previous size, hiding among the sleeves of its master.
Without sharing too many words, they passed through the controls of the city. Their figures quickly intermingled with the rest, disappearing among the darkest hallways of Bérsaic.
Their destination was the Frozen North. Charles must be waiting anxiously for their return, since Abyss apparently was in a hurry in his march.
Finally in front of the oak doors, with the presence of the assassin cold dissuading the annoyance of Gabriel’s fanatics, they entered inside Charles’s personal office.
They needed to close the deal they had begun.
Probably the deal with the devil.