"What?" That one word clung adamantly to the strands of Ezeikel's heart. His eyes narrowed, lips curled in an agitated scowl as he glared daggers at his malnourished father. The air around them gained a heavier weight, the darkness shuffling slightly around Ezeikel as his body shook. The tears he struggled so fruitlessly to hold back cascaded down in large waves, washing away the few strands of patience that remained after all that had transpired.
His fingers curled into tight fists, and he raised them up in the air. Then, he struck the ground, one heavy, audible bang followed as both fists struck hard rock, the sound of bones cracking trailing right after.
"Son!" Kennedy shot to his feet and rushed to Ezeikel's side. His legs moved with speed his body shouldn't have been capable of producing. Even when they were being chased by Darion, his movements were never this instant.
Right after covering the distance, he knelt down, placing a careful hand on his son's back.
"Ezeikel, I'm sorry, but what you ask, I truly cannot tell you," he spoke in a worried tone, hoping his words would have some sort of positive effect. However, instead of answering his father, the young vampire grabbed his father's hand suddenly, and shoved it away.
Ezeikel gritted his teeth, forcing himself to gather his thoughts before speaking in a fierce tone:
"You fool, you say you can't tell me the truth now. Just look at yourself, look at us. Look at what your secrets have caused us! My mother is dead. My sister, whom I never even got to meet, is also dead! We're the only ones left! This accursed world doesn't care about us! It never did! All we had were ourselves, yet despite knowing about this power, you chose to hide it from me!
"It only activates when I'm close to death. I only know that because that damned voice told me. What? Do you think i'm scared of death? I ran through a damned warzone just to save you! I actually believed I died at that point, yet here I am! Look at me! I'm alive and breathing, am I not?!"
Ezeikel breathed out a heavy sigh, shaking his head roughly as the memories of the past assaulted his thoughts. Images of the past flashed before his eyes—the once beautiful times when they were all a happy family, living together and striving to survive under the harsh regime of the lightless kingdom.
"You scoundrel! You knew all this time that I had this power in me, yet you hid it from me. You hid it from us! Now, look at where we are."
As Ezeikel spoke, Kennedy's expression was filled with a mix of regret and surprise. Slowly, he muttered under his breath, still unable to believe what he had heard.
"Your mother… was pregnant?"
Ezeikel grimaced as he glanced at his father, then replied saying:
"She refused to tell you because she knew that wouldn't make a difference. A loser like you wouldn't bat an eye to let his wife and unborn child die in order to save himself," right after saying that, Ezeikel picked himself up from the ground. He wiped his tears with his dirty, bloodied sleeves, and began to walk out of the enclosure, to the streets of the tenebrous town.
Kennedy quickly trailed behind him, calling out to his son repeatedly.
'Your father is deeply troubled. Don't you think you should take it easy on him?' the voice in his head suggested, concern evident in its tone.
'What do you know about anything? You've only been useful for barely 24 hours, yet you already think you can give me orders. Just shut up,' Ezeikel replied crudely to the voice.
'My apologies…'
"Ezeikel! Wait, please!" Kennedy finally caught up to him, grabbing his garment from behind. Ezeikel immediately shrugged his arms off, letting Kennedy fall to the ground on his back.
"It was the only way she could think of to protect you!"
Ezeikel turned to face him, his crimson eyes… well, at this point, they weren't fully red anymore. While majority of his eyes glowed red, around the corners, steaks of orange could be identified, fighting unrelentingly to overcome the rest of his visual coloration.
"What are you talking about?"
Kennedy heaved out a sigh, then got back to his feet. His tone was earnest as he began his explanation.
"Your mother… before Darion attacked, she told me that she couldn't be the mother you needed her to be, not with me being dead. Ezeikel, your mother couldn't handle the pain of loosing someone she loved. She said she'd rather die than watch any of us get killed. And her child… she didn't even mention anything about that to me. I… I can't believe she got herself and our unborn child killed."
Kennedy hated himself for a lot of things already, but now, hearing that he had lost another member of his family… it crushed him deeply.
Still, he hoped his words would finally get through to his son.
At that moment, Ezeikel collapsed, breathing heavily as he relived that harrowing moment once more.
From time to time, he'd experience conjured memories of the past. Like that time after he and his father survived the Rumbling, he experienced a dreadful vision of his mother being slaughtered by Darion. However, in that memory, he remembered her speaking to him before her demise.
'I love you, Ezeik-" her words were cut short by a bloodcurdling scream, her life snatched away by the odious figure of Darion Stern, the second in command of the Abyssal Gang.
…That wasn't how it actually played out. When she really died, she didn't leave any last words for her son. Instead, she simply accepted her fate, and died with a smile.
Though Ezeikel wasn't awake to witness that part. All he saw was his mother's corpse, and Darion Stern within their enclosure, as well as everything else that transpired.
Those words, those macabre images, they were all modified by his frightened mind.
"Mother…" Ezeikel's voice was low, hoarse, and suffused with a deep sense of yearning. He looked up into the dark sky, raising his hand in the air, as if trying to grab hold of something.
Then, another image invaded his thoughts, one of a woman with long flowing dark hair and a calm, reassuring smile. Her lips moved, as if trying to say something, but right after, all that could be heard was the same ominous screams, and a vast spillage of blood. Her face contorted in agony, and her body was torn open.
She died, right before his trembling eyes.
"This… is hell…" he said, slowly shaking his head. He turned to face his father, his mind a proper mess.
While all of this was going on, the citizens of Fluxton carried on with their decrepit lives, all alert of the potential doom of the enemy returning to harvest their lives.
_________
Back in the royal castle, the Darkhaven Family was going about with whatever tasks they had to attend to. Sylvia and her army were busy distributing amenities to the citizens of the empire, while Lucien was preoccupied with other matters.
Though he was the Prime Minister, and acting Emperor of Nefaria, the latter epithet was soon to be challenged. Just like all the times before, the stern legacy wouldn't just be allowed to ascend to the throne. He would have to battle for the right against all those who wished to challenge him.
However, there was still another issue that needed to be addressed. That had to do with the throne itself, and not who sat on it in particular. Whenever an Emperor died, the powers he inherited from the throne usually returned, meaning that the next person to assume monarchy would be at liberty to obtain these powers.
But then, ever since Kael's kidnap, the ancient powers still hadn't returned to the throne, and that only meant one thing.
The spawn of the devil… was still alive. Somewhere, at least.
What that meant was that for now, even if the battle for supremacy were to take place, the victor wouldn't be able to access the prodigious powers of being the Emperor.
That fact alone had left potential contestants reluctant to proceed with the duals. Even if they managed to best Lucien, they would be no where near as fearsome as Kael was with all his powers.
So for now, Lucien was left unchallenged and undefeated, unable to access the monarchial powers himself. Most of the royals were still reeling from everything that had transpired. From the Night Of Crimson, so the dreadfully long match between Emperor Kael and Slade Of The Shadows, it had been non-stop conflict and tension.
Multiple dark memories of their past were triggered, and the royal castle shook violently during their glorious battle. Now, all that remained after the unexpected war was an upturned empire.
In one of the many chambers of the castle, a young vampire with sleeked back hair and a muscular build paced back and forth repeatedly. He mumbled under his breath, his face covered in sweat as he ran a shaky hand through his neatly kept hair. It had already been a full twenty-four hours since the end of the decisive battle, and the rest of the Darkhaven Family had long moved on from the wretched conclusion as though it had never happened.
'Father… where did they take you?' Mars thought to himself, his heart thumping louding as shook his head.