Music Suggestion: "Experience" – Ludovico Einaudi (start soft, let it build)
Renak hadn't moved since Lucian vanished, his breath fogging in the cold air as if the room itself recoiled from what had just happened.
Outside, silence stretched like skin over bone.
And then—
A scream.
Not Kyrell's.
Not Renak's.
But one of the Council guards stationed outside the eastern wing.
Then another. And another. Choked, shrieking, silenced. One by one.
A sickening crack echoed through the stone halls as Lucian's voice returned—not through speech, but through the very walls themselves. Shadows pulsed outward like blood through veins, thick and slow and unnatural.
The air grew viscous.
Renak stumbled back, nearly slipping. "He… he's gone mad."
No one answered him.
Because no one could.
---
Lucian hadn't run.
He hadn't wept.
He hadn't broken down.
He had remembered. What it meant to be feared.
And what it meant to be forgotten.
They had tried to clip his power. Temper it. Tame it with centuries of service, diplomacy, and hollow obedience.
But love…
Love had changed the equation.
And losing Kyrell had shattered it.
He moved now like an ancient storm returning to familiar skies—rooms darkening in his wake, doors opening without touch, and the cold rising as though death itself walked beside him.
The Council tried to intervene. Of course they did.
Elder Zareth raised a protective glyph—Lucian shattered it with a look.
Elder Vora summoned a creature from bone and ash—it disintegrated before it could open its mouth.
"Where is he?" Lucian's voice wasn't spoken, but every council member heard it in their skulls, like a splitting migraine edged with fire.
Renak finally reached him, breathless. "We don't know. He was guarded, Lucian. Watched. It's as if—he remembered something. Or someone helped him."
Lucian turned, eyes no longer gentle nor golden. They were void, reflecting only what they'd lost.
"Mara?"
Renak shook his head violently. "No—she's still in confinement."
"Damien?"
"He left before the disappearance."
"Ray? Silas?"
Renak faltered. "Possibly. But..."
Lucian didn't wait.
---
When he found Silas, the vampire was already kneeling in a prayer chamber—sensing what was coming.
"Lucian, I swear on my blood—"
Lucian raised one hand.
The walls began to bleed.
Silas screamed, not from pain, but from the memories forced into his mind—the taste of betrayal, the night in the forest, a whispered conversation with someone unseen.
"You didn't take him," Lucian said coldly, "but you let someone else try."
Silas sobbed. "He said Kyrell was dangerous—he said you'd lost your mind. I only—"
"You forget," Lucian murmured, stepping into the shadows, "I never had one to begin with."
---
The entire Council chamber was empty by nightfall.
No meetings. No decisions.
Only silence.
And smoke.
Renak found Lucian hours later, seated on the high throne where no vampire had dared sit in centuries.
He didn't speak.
Lucian raised his eyes slowly. "You said no one saw him leave. But someone helped him."
Renak swallowed. "Do you have any idea who?"
Lucian stared ahead, a hollow king in a ruined kingdom.
Then he whispered:
"The voice from the old kingdom. The one Kyrell heard. It's not finished with him."
Renak took a slow step back.
Lucian smiled.
It was the kind of smile that had once made kingdoms fall.
---
Author's Note
Music Suggestion: "Experience" – Ludovico Einaudi (start soft, let it build)
Renak hadn't moved since Lucian vanished, his breath fogging in the cold air as if the room itself recoiled from what had just happened.
Outside, silence stretched like skin over bone.
And then—
A scream.
Not Kyrell's.
Not Renak's.
But one of the Council guards stationed outside the eastern wing.
Then another. And another. Choked, shrieking, silenced. One by one.
A sickening crack echoed through the stone halls as Lucian's voice returned—not through speech, but through the very walls themselves. Shadows pulsed outward like blood through veins, thick and slow and unnatural.
The air grew viscous.
Renak stumbled back, nearly slipping. "He… he's gone mad."
No one answered him.
Because no one could.
---
Lucian hadn't run.
He hadn't wept.
He hadn't broken down.
He had remembered. What it meant to be feared.
And what it meant to be forgotten.
They had tried to clip his power. Temper it. Tame it with centuries of service, diplomacy, and hollow obedience.
But love…
Love had changed the equation.
And losing Kyrell had shattered it.
He moved now like an ancient storm returning to familiar skies—rooms darkening in his wake, doors opening without touch, and the cold rising as though death itself walked beside him.
The Council tried to intervene. Of course they did.
Elder Zareth raised a protective glyph—Lucian shattered it with a look.
Elder Vora summoned a creature from bone and ash—it disintegrated before it could open its mouth.
"Where is he?" Lucian's voice wasn't spoken, but every council member heard it in their skulls, like a splitting migraine edged with fire.
Renak finally reached him, breathless. "We don't know. He was guarded, Lucian. Watched. It's as if—he remembered something. Or someone helped him."
Lucian turned, eyes no longer gentle nor golden. They were void, reflecting only what they'd lost.
"Mara?"
Renak shook his head violently. "No—she's still in confinement."
"Damien?"
"He left before the disappearance."
"Ray? Silas?"
Renak faltered. "Possibly. But..."
Lucian didn't wait.
---
When he found Silas, the vampire was already kneeling in a prayer chamber—sensing what was coming.
"Lucian, I swear on my blood—"
Lucian raised one hand.
The walls began to bleed.
Silas screamed, not from pain, but from the memories forced into his mind—the taste of betrayal, the night in the forest, a whispered conversation with someone unseen.
"You didn't take him," Lucian said coldly, "but you let someone else try."
Silas sobbed. "He said Kyrell was dangerous—he said you'd lost your mind. I only—"
"You forget," Lucian murmured, stepping into the shadows, "I never had one to begin with."
---
The entire Council chamber was empty by nightfall.
No meetings. No decisions.
Only silence.
And smoke.
Renak found Lucian hours later, seated on the high throne where no vampire had dared sit in centuries.
He didn't speak.
Lucian raised his eyes slowly. "You said no one saw him leave. But someone helped him."
Renak swallowed. "Do you have any idea who?"
Lucian stared ahead, a hollow king in a ruined kingdom.
Then he whispered:
"The voice from the old kingdom. The one Kyrell heard. It's not finished with him."
Renak took a slow step back.
Lucian smiled.
It was the kind of smile that had once made kingdoms fall.
---