Looking up at Orlok, Avram says, "What is this?"
Elia, walking forward with worry across her face, says, "If that thing they have sealed in their get loose Orb isn't making back here." Turning to Stelara, Elia says, "Why would you even keep something like that in the castle?"
"The Queen decided it. She knew if it got out, she could stop it. But we shouldn't worry, because Orb, at the very least with Advent, should be able to hold Dragoste off, or even kill him with pure force."
Ivana shouts, "ORB DOESN'T KILL PEOPLE!"
Wadim says, "Especially someone whom he wanted to meet, like Dragoste."
Gheorghe says, "You made a mistake; he is going to get himself killed."
Willow, tightening his fist, turns and says, "I will go check on Orb!" Before running away from the room.
Elia says, "Don't go, you fool!" Yet he continues to run off without waiting a single second for anyone.
Avram quickly throws the machine over to Stelara and grabs the three idiots by the head. "So what? Do you think that boy is going to die anytime soon, especially to Dragoste? You know for a fact he has too much to live for to fall here."
With tears flowing down, Ivana says, "But were scared. Everyone is fighting out there, all of our new friends, when they should be running. We thought they could at least be safe, but now the chances of them all dying is too high to be calm."
Smacking her across the face, Avram, with all his emotions suppressed in his body, says, "Yes, they knew that. Each of them is fighting for the future they want, like they have done every day since we met them. You say you love them, yet you deny what has allowed them to even make the friendships with you all that they have. These guys were willing to piss off their new business partners just to respect the three of you; at least do the same for them."
Gheorghe says, "It's way too much for us to imagine how we're supposed to handle all of our friends dealing with this, while we can't even do anything."
"Then fight as well, you have the tool to try and bring back the greatest trump card we have in this country. Focus on getting the Queen back up. That's the mission you three need to aim to accomplish," Avram says.
Wadim, with a look full of despair, says, "Not a single day in our lives have we been able to actually fight back and overcome the troubles in front of us. Especially not on this fucking cursed land, we can't do this, we can't fight like everyone else. I was unsure before, but if we try now, we are definitely going to fail and get the Queen killed."
Avram, standing up, says, "You're all acting just like when I first met you all, so all I can say is. I would like to build a giant golem with Iancu, and you all one day, I can't die till then, so please, save me guys."
Their eyes open wide, and Avram turns and says, "I will go check on Willow and Orb to make sure everything is okay."
As he rushes off, Orlok, releasing the three, says, "Are you going to keep trying to run away? If so, go. I can't expect all of you in your current states to actually help the Queen in any good capacity."
The three stand up and, turning to face him, they wipe their tears and say, "We will do it."
Stelara smiles as she places the machine beside the Queen and says, "Now let's get started."
The three walk forward, and at the same time, the castle rumbles with more ferocity than it has at any point throughout the day. Fear creeps into the three of them, yet they shut it out and move forward.
Location: The Chamber of Spirits
Φ Lying with my body across the floor, I try to regenerate, yet Dragoste bones stab into my body, splattering my blood across the ground again and again slowling me down.
As it stops, I look forward to where I see Balaur's giant bone poking through the castle.
Φ Dragoste kicks Orb in the face and says, "One of the great things about curses, Orb, is that they're biological. So there is a chance when two people with a curse have kids, their curses can compound into a stronger one over generations, and Frumos' family took advantage of this to gain power. There was a curse that allowed the user to tame animals by placing their flesh, blood or bones in them from a random Nightmare in the countryside. After one large dowery, and a generation later, we secured a series of Nightmares who were able to send their bones into our animals to control them.
We chalked Balaur full of them, and eventually gained the ability to command it, and essentially automate its functions through our control. It allowed us to teach this big hulk many different ways to actually work by itself, before that the Queen essentially had to convince Balaur to do even the simplest of processes. Using this, we gained immense political and economic power, essentially controlling all of Balaur's functions in the capital. Yet over generations, our blood thinned, and you can only inbred so much before you lose your curse overall. Still, every once in a generation, one of our family members are bone with the ability to forcefully command Balaur again. Just, like, me."
Orb, focusing his body up, says, "Even still, I will stop you."
Holding his cursed item in his hands, Dragoste rubs Orb's blood against it, and moments later, Orb crashes into the floor as the weight of his body increases.
"You're young, but with how injured you are, that extra weight should be enough to keep you down. But let's just add a little more to this."
Dragoste's bones pierce Orb again, and again, making blood drip from his body all over the floor until his body goes limp on the floor, and Dragoste lifts him up with his bones.
"You did well, Orb, but you underestimated me. I had planned far enough to be able to beat Orlok in his weakened state if I had to. Freezing my blood and damaging my organs cannot stop me; I will just manipulate my own bones to push me forward towards my goal."
Struggling to keep himself conscious, Orb says, "Stop, this."
"Far too much has happened for me to ever stop moving forward, Orb, but as thanks for the stupidity within you that stopped you from ripping my head off the moment I was downed, I will bring you with me to see this."
Dragoste walks forward towards the large staircase and ascends it. "Earlier at the sermon given to the people by the priests, did you notice the discrepancy, or were you too enraptured in their theatrics to notice?"
"Despite calling out the 7 beasts in the 2nd world, they only listed 6."
"You're correct, because the 7th beast is something that people never wish to discuss in this country, despite their whorish relationship with their god. The 7th beast, the crazed illusion. Not a being, but a delusion, one that is said to overtake the hearts and souls of man, turning them into a mockery of humankind, they will appear during the time of momentous change in society and be the bringer of a false world. And to anyone who has read the scriptures, there is a massive candidate for who such a beast could be."
"The Nightmares of Blestemate."
"Correct! In the very book, the almighty God, who knows everything, apparently created beings which sound like they could represent Nightmares are labelled as one of the great evils! Can you imagine? Isn't it comical? If God exists, this must be some kind of punishment for sins we committed in a past life, or otherwise, this wouldn't make any degree of sense. Or maybe that god we pray to each day isn't compassionate, isn't kind, and is just a tool made by psychopaths to drown us all in the oceans of their greed and hatred. If so, then maybe what I need is to seek the power of another god."
"Orb, you see, a long time ago, a dragon appeared from Avesta and cursed our land, or at least that's the story we tell everyone. Some kind of demonic beast with multiple heads that is reminiscent of one of the 7 beasts told to us in the religious scriptures, but that was an oversimplification. To curse is to manipulate the soul, and the act of such a phenomenon was only possible by demons or the extinct race known as the Yugaku. Yet in the little documents the scholars of Cordum have been able to collect on Yugaku throughout time, we heard they once had a king, a god, a hero who had saved them from a giant beast long ago."
Φ As Dragoste speaks, an image flashes through my mind. The image of the conversation Setanta had with Scáthach after the battle with Aoife. Her words and images play in my mind as Dragoste speak straining my already tired brain.
Reaching the top of the stairs, Dragoste's eyes land on a large door, and he sends his bones forward trying to smash it, but they break first. "It seems I am too weak to break past it on my own."
Soon, through the castle, one of Balaur's bones completely decimates the door, and in front of it lies a room covered in a spectral, shining purple light, with little dots that remind me of the stars shining in the sky. And in the middle of the room lies a podium with a cube on it.
Walking forward, Dragoste says, "That being from long ago, never died, it continued to exist, and caused many calamities around the world, until it was sealed here. A being of untold power, and today I have come. For you."
As we step into the room, a series of thoughts barrages my head again, and again. It's just like when I first felt Setanta's overflowing memories, but this is something different, something far more ancient, something far angrier, and something far lonelier than Setanta could ever hope to be.
"ORB!"
Soon, all of the feelings coursing through me come to a halt, and I hear Setanta's voice say, "I have taken all of the thoughts and feelings into myself."
I thought you didn't want to help me. Is someone trying to say they love me?
"Be quiet, brat. This situation playing out as aggressively as it is towards you is partially my fault due to that things issues with myself. Don't expect this in the future, but right now, Orb, you need to focus and force yourself to move."
I can't heal my fatigue, even if I regenerate broken parts; they just come back in the state that they were before damage.
"Then start fighting like a beastkin. Your internal organs aren't human either. Beastkin's insides are special; we all have the ability basic ability to break down food far faster if we eat and properly get all the nutrition. Combine that with a power nap, and you'll be up and running to fight."
A bone pierces me in my shoulder, and Dragoste, holding his head, says, "You're far too sane, your legacy isn't given you some form of mental relief, is it?"
"If you can't withstand this, you should just give up."
"No chance, no matter how much pain inflicted upon me, I will fight."
He rushes forward as I wait for my body to regenerate enough. His hand soon lands on the cube in front of himself, and holding it up, he says, "I have prepared this all for you. A feast of thoughts and emotions, now answer me, ancient beast, and give me your power!"