"ARGHHHHH!!"
The pain was a living thing, crawling through his veins, gnawing at him from the inside out. The sensation was so visceral that time seemed to slow around him.
Seconds felt like hours, minutes like days. The hellish pain came like an overwhelming, endless flood.
There was no gradual increase. No waves of release.
Just a constant, uninterrupted flow of utter agony.
Nevaris lay on the floor with his mouth agape in a silent scream. Green veins bulged and snaked up his throat yet sound no longer came out.
He could feel every muscle tear, every bone splinter and shatter as his body changed.
Whatever process was occurring within him seemed to be amplifying every one of his senses to the nth degree.
Keeping him trapped in a relentless cycle of destruction and reconstruction.
Again and again, without the slightless mercy. Leaving Nevaris wishing he could die.
After every completed cycle, a deluge of inky, black blood would erupt from every pour on his body. When the contaminated liquid fell to the floor, it began to hiss and sizzle against the marble.
While the pain was immense, the repeated recent exposure to inhuman levels of pain had given Nevaris enough resistance to keep his mind lucid enough not to cause much damage to his surroundings.
But that composure did not last long as a robotic voice straight from the lowest layer of hell reappeared.
The second the voice ended, all the pain Nevaris felt across his body faded. But the pain had not truly disappeared, only replaced by a sensation he couldn't quantify.
It felt as if something inside him broke—not flesh, not bone, but the core of his being—and the pain that followed was endless.
Nevaris' rationality had fully collapsed. Moving on pure instinct to rid himself of the pain, he got to his knees and began to violently slam his head into the floor repeatedly. Hoping to use the pain to distract himself from the infernal fire burning within his soul.
But the pain didn't ease. It never ceased, and as time passed, his body began to morph and visibly change. The constant stimulation from both his body and soul was too much for him to endure.
The scream that tore out of his throat wasn't human, echoing like the anguished wail of a creature born of nightmares and agony.
"ARRGGGGG!!"
…
Staring at the two silent women seated in front of him, Garren was sweating bullets.
'Young master, of all the times you choose to be late, THIS has to be the worst moment to choose.' he complained inwardly.
Garren had been a butler of the Aurelion family for a very long time. He served under Selunara's mother from a young age, and after her passing he continued to serve Selunara even in her exile.
Dressed in a well fitted black tuxedo and sporting his signature eye monocle, he looked every bet like a Victorian butler. His brownish horns pulled back across his head like a gazelle's antlers yet they didn't diminish his polished aura.
His face was cleanly shaven and quite handsome with a few streaks of grey in his hair being the only indication of all the years he had lived. But facing the current situation, even his always composed stern expression was beginning to crack.
He had been among the first to greet the young master's fiancees, and of course, like usual, the young lord himself was not present. Leaving the task of entertaining them and welcoming them entirely to him.
Don't get him wrong, Garren is wholeheartedly devoted to Selunara and her family. But he was thoroughly disappointed by the attitude of Selunara's only son.
He had high hopes that the Nevaris would eventually break out of his self-pity and become the fierce warrior his mother was. But as the years passed, he gradually began to lose all hope in the cowering idiot. And now the bastard couldn't even be bothered to welcome his own fiancees to his home on the day of their first meeting.
Coughing awkwardly, he put on his best harmless smile and spoke, "My ladies, I apologize for the lack of a warm reception. Madam Selunara is away on business and is unable to properly welcome you both. I will do my utmost to make sure you are settled and everything is prepared to your liking."
"And what of the young prince?"
Garren's brow twitched almost imperceptively at the sharp question.
Turning to face the voice, he was slightly shocked by her appearance.
As a close aid of Selunara, he thought himself to be quite used to beauty considering that she herself was well-known as one of the most beautiful beings in Elysium. And while the girl before him couldn't be considered on the same level as Selunara, she would certainly become a beauty of renown in the future.
Her skin had a pale tone, not as pale as a vampire's, but enough to see she probably doesn't see much sun. Her purple hair fell over her shoulders like silk and seemed to highlight her soft emerald eyes.
The amethyst gem that sat on her forehead gave her already beautiful face an exotic, and somewhat dangerous allure.
"Well? Got an answer, or should we both assume that our "husband" just can't be bothered to grace us with his presence?"
The biting tone in her words snapped Garren out of his wandering thoughts.
Pulling on his centuries of experience as a professional butler, he answered without fluster, "You are mistaken, Lady Lilith. The young master is quite shy by nature and has been trying to pick the best outfit to make your first meeting as memorable as possible."
Lilith let out an unconvinced snort and leaned back crossing her arms.
Garren said nothing in the face of her discontent, and deep down he honestly felt a little sorry for the two women. In a world like Elysium, getting hitched to a man as weak and useless as Nevaris put both of them in a pretty bad position.
A hint of movement caught Garren's attention from the corner of his eye. Shifting his attention, he finally took notice of the other individual in the room with them.
'How long has she been there? I couldn't even sense her.' Garren said inwardly, though the words that came out of his mouth betrayed none of his inner surprise.
"Lady Anantashesha, is there something you would like to ask?"
The girl jumped at the sudden attention, she drew into herself as if trying to disappear into the plush couch beneath her. Her face was hidden behind a ghastly metal mask, its surface covered in dents and rust.
Her fingers clung tightly to the long sleeves of her dress, pulling on them as if trying to anchor herself within the waves of anxiety and fear of being the center of attention.
"By the Absolute, you have a mouth beneath that thing so use it will you!?" unable to stand Anantashesha's painful silence, Lilith snapped in annoyance.
"H-Heee!"
Anantashesha let out a frightened yelp as her presence shrank even further. Clearly she found the short-tempered Lilith quite scary.
Seeing the situation growing more tense, Garren hurriedly spoke up, "Lady Anantashesha, just say whatever it is you want to say. And please, sample this tea I brewed. I have been told it is quite refreshing."
As he spoke, a tray of tea seemed to materialize out of thin air and was placed on the table before her.
Hesitating briefly, Anantashesha grabbed the already filled cup of tea and tentatively took a slow sip. Her eyes appeared to widen and even with most of her face hidden, the surprise and delight in her eyes could be clearly seen.
Garren chuckled lightly while Lilith let out a derisive snort and turned her head away.
After a few more sips, Anantashesha placed the cup in her palm onto her lap with a small sigh. Her fingers flexed and as if gathering all the strength she could muster, her small voice broke out from behind her mask.
"U-Umm…y-y-you c-can call m-me…A-A-Ana." she said.
Her voice was as quiet as a mosquito, and if it wasn't for Garren's heightened hearing he would have missed it.
With a smile he nodded, both in reply to her request and as a sign to continue.
Finding more courage from his encouragement, Ana found her voice again.
"W-When will m-m-m-" Ana's word cut off as she bit her tongue in her fluster. But desperate to finish her sentence she powered through. "When will m-mother return?"
For some reason everyone in the room felt a strange sense of pride seeing her finish her words. Even the prickly Lilith felt the corners of her lips curl upward slightly before the mask of annoyance quickly settled back in.
Garren let out a toothy smile as he began to reply, "The madam will be back in two days at most. A message has already been sent to-"
Just then a terrifying roar ripped clean through the mansion, the force behind it causing the walls to shake.
The three of them jumped to their feet in shock. Lilith and Garren hurried to the door, Ana hid behind the couch she had been sitting on.
"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?" Lilith shouted, her voice laced with a fear she was trying desperately to hide.
Garren didn't hear her. His dragon-like eyes sharpened as they located the source of the roar and his face paled with worry. "It came from the young master's room…"
Without a second's hesitation, his form flickered as he disappeared. Lilith was momentarily stunned before she finally reacted. She was about to chase after him before realizing they were forgetting someone.
Lilith strode back into the room and pulled Ana to her feet, dragging her along as she hurried to catch up with Garren.
"W-Where are w-we going?" Ana asked in terror.
Lilith didn't even spare her a glance as she continued forward. "To meet our husband "sister". Come on, this looks exciting.
Ignoring the whimpers behind her, Lilith followed the stream of servants all rushing to a certain wing of the mansion.
…
It wasn't hard to find his room. Following the crowd, Ana and Lilith reached the rundown wing that should belong to their absent husband.
Lilith, still holding Ana's hand tightly, pushed through the crowd and stepped into the dark room. The room itself was a mess.
The furniture looked like it had just experienced a brutal massacre, blood painting the walls and floor. Lilith's expression was grim while Ana covered the eye openings in her mask with her free arm.
Seeing Garren standing motionless in front of them, Lilith began to step forward.
"Hey old man, where is our deadbeat…hus…band…" Lilith's voice lowered into a whisper as her eyes shifted toward the sight that had frozen the old butler stiff.
"Deadbeat? That's not ever nice to say about the man you are spending the rest of your life with, is it?" a velvety voice echoed from in front of them.
The voice sent a shiver down the spines of all those present, especially those in closer proximity to it.
Lilith seemed not to hear it. Every single one of her senses locked onto the figure before. The very handsome, very naked figure before her.