Of Life and Unlife von Crion_dm459 (Bringing Light into the Night) ================================================================================ Kapitel 2: A Leap of Faith -------------------------- Surely you are having a difficult time believing all of this. The simple fact that I am weaving a tale of ancient history as if I had been there is just a sign of my ability of telling tells. But, my dear, did you ever think for a moment that I was telling you the truth? Do you honestly believe that I am telling you the tale of my next book instead of my own life story? Yes, yes, have a glass of wine. I believe that it may help for what will come next. I had made a full recovery at that time. I was given a room, clean clothing, and even the option to bathe. It was…paradise. It was like living in the church, but without the same restrictions. Of course, I did have a job. My first job with the lord was to work in his library. I did not wish to see a library again, but he needed to have things in order. He wanted these musty tomes that his guests would frequently use to have some form of order. He found that I could read just as easily as he could, and believed that assigning me to the job would save the hassle on his guests. To me, it was a simple job. Just place the books in some semblance of order by title, and the job was done. I did not mind that some of the titles consisted of names like “The Book of Nod,” “The Book of Shadows,” or the “Necronomicon.” I only did what I was ordered, and gave my mind the simple explanation that he had these books to learn of his enemies. Afterwards, he ordered me as his scribe. I would write his letters to his colleagues, his family, and his enemies as he dictated. I was uncertain if this was because he himself was unable to write, or if he believed that doing such labor on his own was below him. But still, I wrote as I was instructed. Some of these letters were addressed to strange people. One day, I would write a letter to the cardinal in a nearby town, and the next I was writing to an “old acquaintance” about a three-hundred year old book that had arrived to the library the day before. As always, I thought nothing of these letters. I saw them as what I was assigned to do to survive. But, even during this time, the passion within me was not dead. For years, I did as I was ordered in the library, as his personal scribe, and even teaching other people of his choosing to read and write, but something within me felt empty. I wanted something that I was missing. At any chance I had, I stole some paper from anywhere that I could, and using whatever materials I had, I began to draw. These drawings were different from before, but they were drawings all the same. In my childhood days, only religion mattered to my mind. God had given me a gift and I was expected to use it properly. Now, my art was different. I drew some religious moments, such as the great flood, the damnation of Adam and Eve, and the destruction of Abel by his brother’s hands. But, many other times, my mind wandered. I drew the demons that haunted my dreams when I slept, the women that I knew I could never have, and the battlefields with a rain of blood that I have heard from our own knights. These images always remained burned into my mind, and no matter how many times I would draw them or variations of them, they continued to burn like a fever. But, one day, I was careless. I did not destroy the images, but only hid them. Eventually, there were too many to hide within my room, and they were found. I was taken before the lord again. This time when I met him, things were different. He was still handsome to a point of perfection, and the woman that was in his room at that time just as beautiful. The jealousy that I held was kept in check by the men at my sides. I myself was what truly had changed. Finally given the chance of living in conditions that did not mean my death, I was not as frail as I had once been years before. I was clean, and the only sign of any grime on me was on my hands from the constant use of ink and the dust from the books I organized. I was by no means as ugly as when I had first met the man, but his looks still far surpassed mine. The result of that meeting was strange, to say the least. I first thought that I would be killed, or suffer some other form of punishment for stealing from the lord of the house. But no strike came, no call for my death. Just silent contemplation as he and the woman with him examined the drawings. They exchanged a few words in a language I did not know before turning back to me. He then decided to change his original offer. He wanted me to start working on his portrait, and then continue my service only in drawing what he commanded me to. While this may seem a bit restrictive, it was a job that I wanted more than anything. I was actually given permission to draw, and to paint. That was the true shock. This would be one of the first times I could place an image in color. The portrait started slow, as he demanded to be depicted as something powerful and mighty, slaying his foes. After some time of working on his concept, he demanded to appear as a figure of authority, yet an image of something to love. Every so often, he would change his demands, and I would have to start anew. Eventually, over a year later, it was finished. The image was hanging in his personal gallery, which was steadily growing as he gave a few words and ordered me to paint. The gallery continued to grow as I began to grow older. But, he never seemed to age. In fact, when I reached the age of twenty-seven and began to fall ill again in my age, he still appeared as young as when he moved in. I did not ask questions. He brought someone to heal me years ago, and I assumed that he had his ways to stay young that he never shared with any other worker. It was only fair, but I was beginning to fear for my own mortality. But, as always, things were bound to change. Shortly after my twenty-eighth birthday, a time when I was truly showing my age, one of the women who frequently came to speak to the lord came to my chambers. She was…beautiful. There is no word for it. She had the grace of a dancer, the air of a queen, hair of platinum, eyes of sapphires, and the beauty of nature. I believe “perfection” would be too poor of a word to do her justice. She came to me that night, even with my poor health. At this time, many servants avoided me in fear that I would infect them with my ailment. It was a shock to have a guest, especially one as elegant as she. Her request was a simple one, but would be my most daunting task yet. She only requested that she become an immortal in my work; she only wanted a simple portrait. Her payment, she said, would be enough for me to continue living for ten years, maybe even longer. At that time…I didn’t have anything else to lose. I feared that the lord would dispose of me any day at his whim due to my poor health. I reluctantly agreed. She was pleased. In fact, she was pleased enough to not leave my room that night. I never expected or experienced things like that. Every woman in the manor saw me as a man to stay away from. Not because of my looks, but because of my personality. I was considered eccentric at times for the fervor of my work. I was…strange to them. And no woman wished to risk her chaste nature for getting to close to me. This woman was of course, different. I should have taken that as a warning that this young woman, possibly younger than the lord himself, would choose someone like me over someone like him. But, again, I digress. You are not here to hear my doubts over my first experience, but to hear my life. My apologies. For the next few months, through the summer and into the fall, I continued to draw. The woman would come and check my progress and pose as needed, always making her visits more of an inspiration and a way to goad me to complete the work. I knew that my health was failing upon the oncoming of fall. I knew I needed to finish this work soon, and asked her to come more often. Weekly, at that. She was pleased for the request and began to come as I asked. Her beauty was no match at all for her voice. She always spoke with a calm tone that demanded to be heard. A strange combination, but if you had heard her words, you would believe the same. It was in October when I finished. I knew that I would be knocking upon death’s door soon enough, and rushed to complete every detail. The work…is beyond words. Her reaction was also beyond words. She looked at me and knew what my condition was. She smiled at me that night, and placed me into my bed. Things were growing dark when the extreme ecstasy of her kiss flooded all my senses. The next night, I awoke with a great hunger. She was at my side when I awoke, and also slowly left the bed to search for her dress. I felt…strange. My body felt lighter and cooler. My breathing was shallow, but I did not suffer any difficulties from the low level of air. Finally…my illness was gone. The night before, I had a belief that I would die. But there I was, still moving. And the hunger inside of me grew. She smiled again and calmly told me to dress myself. Then we would search for our breakfast. She was the first to show me how far I had sold my soul. She taught me that I needed the blood of the humans, the very same humans that I had been working with all of these years, in order to survive. The first time was…lovely. It is a simple experience to imagine. Just think with me…imagine wanting something so badly, and suddenly having it. Imagine that even if you are taking what you want by force, a level of force that could kill the person you are taking from, you know that you will never be caught. Even better; the person gives it to you willingly. It is almost the way she was, offering herself to me on that first night… Again, I digress. She stayed with me in the manor for a few days. After that time, she ordered that we should move. The lord was growing irritated that I was not giving him the attention that a lord deserved. My fourth night after awakening was when I moved again, saying goodbye to this life. And of course, my life would never be the same again. Hosted by Animexx e.V. (http://www.animexx.de)