Lucian and Halcyon walked side by side, their steps echoing throughout the chamber. Minutes passed in silence. No one spoke, each lost in their thoughts.
This silence wasn't just between them… it was in the air, heavy, thick. Halcyon glanced around, they noticed the corridor stretched on far too long, even for a ruined tombstone. This place felt… designed. As if it had been built for someone important. Example, someone ancient. Only kingdoms… true empires constructed places like this.
Still, something gnawed at them both. The Malgrith weren't the only ones drawn to relics.
Halcyon's fingers curled tightly... She'd lost hers… It annoyed her, just think about how could have worked here.
Lucian's gaze flicked to her when she wasn't looking, and his fingers brushed against his hidden pouch, where a warm relic pulsed faintly… From his connection.
He felt conflicted, If he decided to use it now, she will easily realized he was also looking for the relic… There also if she didn't know about the relic and he just believed so.
As soon as he was about to use it secretly both there eyes glinted of light… They both halted, as looked around. A circular, wide and echoing room. Filled, with weathered stone pillars.
Halcyon began counting under her breath. "Ten... eleven... twelve..."
The tunnel still stretched past it… longer than any other chambers before. The walls were lined with runes, the shadows flickering over rusted broken swords, tattered robes, and shattered emblems of skeletons.
Was the past really a shining age of heroes... or had it always been quietly bleeding, long before anyone noticed?
Halcyon stepped forward, her finger brushed against a clammy moss-covered mural. "Look at this… " she murmured.
Her gaze traced the images of a man standing among robed figures… his hands raised to the light. "He seemed to be a lord over other… A guardian. Maybe a protector."
Lucian stepped beside her, his gaze narrowed onto the carvings. "No... Not just one of them…He was like someone to them…that they saw him as a chosen one for the human race."
Without another word, he again noted all the murals. Halcyon heart fluttering, but felt a nostalgic of hope.
So thousands of year ago humanity had someone similar to like all race had there first kind of there lord…but how come I didn't hear about it and why is seemed to be easier from history… they left this place in such a dangerous layer.
Specifically, it seemed like he did something, that lost the faith of humanity… Whatever they or him did… It also hurt the humanity more than the creatures, that centuries ago started fighting back, despite previously living in harmony first.
In short, if this person was linked the crown relic that they are and the Crimson Sanctum have been looking for she remembered that only one person, who could maybe find it before them was Asher and they had a good relationship with, but she haven't seen them since she left the Sanctum.
Had humanity failed their guardian first... or Had the guardian failed humanity?.
A Couple Minutes Later…
As they walked deeper, the murals changed.
What began as a tale of hope and unity now spiraled into horror...
The man once hailed as savior was shown amidst fire and broken seals, his eyes… once alight with purpose… darkened with madness.
"They turned on him," Halcyon muttered, standing before a cracked statue, without a head. "Or maybe... he turned on them."
The statue's body was filled of cracks, covered in strange, frenzied carvings… like the ravings of a mad person or a… betrayed soul.
"No," Lucian said softly. "They believed in them. Something twisted him. Maybe he wanted more… and they denied him."
Halcyon stiffened. "Sound familiar?"
Lucian turned to her. His eyes gleamed in the low light, as he cross is arms. "You think this is like us?"
"Isn't it?" she snapped. "We trained. We believed. We were… we were special. But when we stopped fitting his picture…"
"You're blaming him?" Lucian cut in, voice cold. "And not us… for seeing it and staying anyway?"
"Aren't you?"
"No," he said. "I blame us too. For staying when we knew. For watching the cracks form and doing nothing. For believing the lie because it was easier."
Halcyon's jaw clenched. "So what? We should've run at the first sign? You think its that simple?"
Her shoulder sagged, she continued before he could speak. "I think you're still think back for letting him control you," Every word ached her chest. "You left, Lucian. But you never… you also help him I thought you knew better he trusted you more than me."
Lucian's gaze darkened, over her. He remembered, the first signs he saw from, Lazarus of what he could become, one he saw. But ignored it because he all belived, trusted and loved each other…
She knew... at least a little about what he was doing. But what made her run? It couldn't have been after I left… I shouldn't been part of his madness. Whatever it was, it had to happen before everything fell apart
Halcyon have nightmares, about the moment she first saw Lazarus covered in blood… it's why she hates the smell of it now… More by Lucian and Lazarus.
She also had her own thought, because it something she was terrified about she never wanted to come nor see about Lazarus again.
Lazarus did it anyway… even after I told him no… beside the so call help the humanity… even after I begged him to stop. He still went behind our backs... and I? I was the fool who turned a blind eye. I won't make the same mistake like before.
"ku! Ku!"
Suddenly, Halcyon bent forward, coughing violently... She twisted away from Lucian, one hand over her mouth.
Lucian's gaze snapped to her. "You sick… or just sick of me?"
She smirked, though it was weak... Blood smeared her glove.
"Little of both."
She tried to hide it… but forgot one thing, she seemed to forget. Vampires had keen senses, sight that exceed humans… His brow furrowed slightly. He could smell the blood. And, something didn't smell right.
Even as she tried to hide her sickness, she thought back… If all they had did was just talk, this possibly won't be happening. And, she possibly could have found the crown relic to heal herself... Before she cough herself to death.
Now, they were both silent and had that argument, they remembered something at a young age of what they saw from Lazarus… early signs of his troubles.
Could he have stopped it all… if he'd spoken sooner, if he'd acted sooner?
…
Twelve Years Back…
A cabin that creaked with every gust of wind… Even the lantern hanging from the rafter swung gently.
It had a much younger, Lucian he looked way different and more calm without air of death around him, he stood near a doorway, his back pressed against the splintered wood, arms crossed, face pale and unreadable… he had silver-white hair, and his crimson eyes remained fixed on the scene before him?
Ahead of him, had at the center had a… bloodstained table?
There was also Lazarus, who almost had a similar look to him, he leaned over a monstrous body... A werewolf…or what was left as it's flesh was now torn open, ribs cracked apart, fur matted of blood. Lazarus was calm, his hands covered by gloved, as he adjusted the metal clamps and muttered notes under his breath.
"They said the heart keeps twitching even after death," Lazarus whispered, half to himself. "If I can isolate it, maybe we can… "
Lucian didn't reply. His gaze never left Lazarus, nor the corpse. His silence wasn't from fear…he'd seen worse… but something about Lazarus focus unnerved him. It wasn't clinical. It was personal... Obsessed.
Lazarus reached into the wolf cavity using a surgical tool, twisting, pulling, until a faint pulse of movement flickered beneath his fingers... it was a spasm from the werewolf's heart.
"There," he said with a breathless smile. "You saw it, right?"
Lucian nodded once. "… I saw it."
For a long moment, neither of them moved. Just the quiet hum of the forest outside. And the sharp stench of blood.
"Creaaak."
They both heard, the sound of the door next to Lucian open barley ajar by more of a inch… his head snapped toward it.
A small figure stood there... No younger than two years than them… A girl with clean, curled hair, her eyes were filled of fright... Her bare feet silent on the wooden floor, her trembling fingers cluched the door frame…it was a young Halcyon right now she wasn't her happy self but scared.
She stared at the table, at the body. At Lazarus… At Lucian.
Her lips parted, but no sound came out.
Lucian eyes softened… only slightly. Lazarus, meanwhile, slowly turned toward her, the blood covered scalpel still in his hand, glistening red in the lantern glow.
"You weren't supposed to see this." Lazarus murmured.
Lucian sighed, he then stepped forward, she slipped between
Lucian stepped forward then, he slipped between Lazarus and Halcyon… shielding her with his body.
Was he protecting Halcyon back then because he cared… or because he couldn't bear seeing someone else broken by Lazarus?