Child of Darkness Chapter 3: Fearful Child By Amanda Barton * * * "I need you to know something, Valteria." Filia set down her cup of steaming herbal tea on the table and reached across it to take his small hand in hers. The look in her eyes made him feel her emotional pain somehow, seeing through him and burning his heart. What was wrong with her? Was it something he had done? He had never seen her like this before and she had requested to see him alone without Jiras and Grabos around. That wasn't like her at all and it was already past his regular bedtime that Filia was very strict about. "I'm not your real mother. . . " Something in her voice and expression made him want to cry just then. That couldn't be! What was she talking about? Filia had raised him all his life, for five years after his hatching. He had known that Jiras and Grabos weren't really related to him, and he had wondered where his father was, but. . . Where were his parents then? Why was he with Filia? Why hadn't she told him sooner? There were so many questions cluttering in his head that it was hard to think and he couldn't focus on what to say. "What?" The dull tone of his voice made it obvious to Filia that he wasn't able to think of anything else to say. What was she to tell him now? She knew that she would have to face this moment someday and she had prepared for it. But now, as she sat face to face with Valteria, she felt a lump in her throat that made it emotionally painful to say a single word. "I found your egg on my shop doorstep one day with this." She reached into the pocket of her cloak, never removing her other hand from Valteria's, and set a strange object on the table. It was a wooden stick holding two strings that were attached to two gleaming red orbs. Valteria just sat there staring at it for a long moment, trying to hold back his tears. He lightly ran his fingertips down the smooth wood for a moment, pulling away from Filia's grasp on his hand. Still, he kept silent, although there were still thousands of questions whirling in his head. Suddenly he blurted out; "They didn't want me. . . " "Oh, Valteria-chan! I'm sure it wasn't that! Perhaps they were about to die and didn't want to leave you-" "Why do you want me then?" It took him a minute to realize he had said that and wished that he hadn't. But by now he was so upset that he didn't care. His own parents had abandoned him. . . "Valteria-chan-" He didn't wait for an answer. He could feel the tears coming, and he would not show them to her. Valteria hastily stood up from the table and dashed away into his room where he had wept himself to sleep. * * * The clicking of the strange toy mesmerized him as he sat awake in his bed, letting the depressing memories flood back through him. His dreams had once again awoken him and he didn't think he would be able to lull himself back into sleep. In fact, he didn't want to fall back asleep. . . His dreams always had the same objects with the same names, in vivid, clear images, though they still had no logical order. They were so lucid that he could have sworn he felt the same pain, the same scars, the same tears, and the same emotions as the man in his dreams. And every time he roused from sleep he just sat there, drowning himself in his own despair. Things had never been the same between he and Filia since she had told him the truth about his parents. They grew quite distant from each other and hardly ever spoke. When he was younger, he did nothing but spend endless hours with Filia, running around the shop, and almost broke the delicate pottery. She had taught him to always be polite and friendly with others, which he had been until the word had gotten around about his parents. After that, none of the other kids would come near him or speak to him, only whisper amongst themselves about the 'orphan'. And then, he too, shut himself away from reality and created a world where all he would do is silently think of his dreams and his regretful memories. It was no wonder that everyone called him strange. He acted nothing like a normal child. As the hours swept by, he finally refrained from clacking the two red orbs together and set them on his desk. What were they anyway? His parents must have wanted him to have them even though they had left him. He sat down on his bed and counted the minutes that sped by on his clock. He didn't want morning to come. Then he would have to go back to school and he knew that meant facing Vistal again. What would he think about Filia healing all of his wounds? He would probably pick on him even more for that about being too weak to handle it. . . And it was true! If only he could learn magic, learn how to fight. Then he would show him! As much as he didn't want it to, morning peered into his bedroom with rays of warm sunlight. Since he had already been awake, he got out of bed and dressed before Filia could come in and bother him about never getting out of bed. He hastily brushed his hair and slowly crept into the kitchen. Filia was already over the stove cooking breakfast, but looked up long enough to give him a smile that let him know she was satisfied at how quickly he gotten up. Jiras and Grabos weren't even up and about yet, and for as long as he could remember, those two were sitting at the table waiting with drool dripping from the sides of their mouths. "Well, good morning! It's nice to see you awake so early!" She sounded as cheerful as ever, reaching in cupboards and taking out spices, cooking with merriment in her eyes. He was glad that she was feeling better after all of the energy he had drained from her the night before. She had looked half dead limping to her room with her eyes barely opened. He guessed that sleep must have easily remedied the power exerted from any sorcerer. "I'm sorry about exhausting you last night," He said at last, letting out his guilt. Filia never turned away from the dish she was preparing to face him, but somehow he felt her stern eyes upon him. "Glad to go back to school?" That was the last thing he had expected her to say. He didn't feel like thinking of a lie right now. . . He was too tired for that, so he decided to tell the truth. "No." Her curious gaze shifted from the frying eggs cooking on the stove to him. "Why?" "I hate school. Everyone's a jerk to me." "Is that why you were beat up coming home yesterday?" "Yes." "What did you do?" "Nothing! Vistal did it!" "Valteria, tell me the truth!" "I am!" He felt warm tears of anger running down his cheeks that he couldn't control. He didn't want to talk about it or think about it and Filia didn't even believe him anyway. He wished he hadn't told the truth; now he would have to tell her everything. Valteria heard himself blurting out; "You always want me to be someone I'm not! You're always trying to get me to come out and talk to everyone and be happy all the time like you are! I'm sure you wouldn't be so chipper all the time if your parents abandoned you on someone's doorstep!" "Valteria-" "You think that doesn't bother me? I have to think about it all the time! I think about when I'm trying to fall asleep! I think about it when I'm at school! I close my eyes and all I can think about is that from the day my egg was laid I was told 'I don't want you'!" He stood up, sniffing, trying to wipe away the tears with his shirt, but Filia had already seen them anyway, and he hadn't even thought before he said all those careless words. But that was how he truly felt and he actually was relieved to have them released from his cluttered mind of secret thoughts and feelings. And he knew those were not words that were heard from a normal five-year-old child. Filia was staring at him like some strange creature that had memorized the whole speech from the script of a play. "You want to know why Vistal beat me up, Filia? Huh?" Valteria found himself yelling at her now. "The first thing we're supposed to learn is how to revert from dragon form to human form and the first step of that is how to grow your wings. When we all grew our wings, everyone had pretty golden wings." He paused and looked at Filia straight in the eyes. She gasped and actually stepped back like she was afraid of what he was going to say next, as though she already knew. Her eyes were stricken with fright. "I didn't have golden wings. . . They're black and they're feathery instead of scaly. Why do I have black wings, Filia? Everyone told me that only Ancient Dragons are black and they're all dead. I'm an outcast aren't I? The whole class is against me and thinks that I'm out to kill them! And Vistal came and beat me up! And he'll probably do it again if you send me back there! I won't go!" "Valteria-chan, calm yourself." Her voice was steady and soft, almost soothing. She shut off the stove and silently sat down at the table beside him. She wiped the tears off his face with her gloves, though he tried to jerk away many times in reluctance. She gave him a serious look that forced him to immediately cease acting so rudely toward her. But the glare in his own eyes made her feel guiltier than ever. "I know that thinking about your parents must bother you, but that doesn't mean you have an excuse to close yourself off from the rest of the world and feel sorry for yourself. I have enough love to give you to make up for any real blood relative. Isn't that enough?" He didn't answer. "Valteria-chan, I never said that I wanted you to be just like me. All I'm saying is that you'll have a much easier time in life if you start communicating with others and gaining their friendship to help you along the way. Otherwise, someday you'll end up alone. And your wings. . . " Filia stopped abruptly and hesitantly continued. "Perhaps, your parents were Ancients who survived the war and were being hunted by the other Karyuohs, so they left your egg with me." "I heard that no one survived and that war took place even before you were born, Filia!" His voice was bitter and cold, nothing like a five-year-old voice, which was childish and playful. And the fierce flame burning in his eyes was enough to intimidate anyone into looking away. Even Filia forced her gaze elsewhere from him. Why did all of this have to pile onto her at once? After all, what else could she say except that his parents had left him? She still wasn't quite sure what had resurrected his soul back into a dragon's egg in the first place. . . "I don't know any more than you do," she said truthfully, pulling him to her in a tight hug. "But try to live with me instead of your real mother, okay?" He snuggled in closer to cloak and began to weep again without even realizing it. Why was she kind to him when he wasn't even her real son? It made him tearful that she was so good to him, and he had been acting rather selfishly with the things he had said about her. Her gentle fingers stroked his aquamarine hair lovingly and a warm smile spread across her face watching him hug her back ferociously. "What about school?" He sniffed. "Well, I can't just keep you home all day. You have to go. . . But I'll make a deal with you, all right? I'll go to the school tonight and have a talk with your teacher to make sure that the other kids won't do a thing to you. You know that I won't let anyone hurt you, Valteria-chan." She released him and let him step away from her arm's grasp. He smiled at her weakly. "Thank you, but-" "Don't worry. You can't be sure that he'll come after you again. Just try to relax and try to get along with other kids. I'm sure that they'll come to learn to deal with someone who has a different color of wings sooner or later when they see that you're no threat to anyone." Filia got up and went back to attend to the breakfast that she had left sitting on the stove while Valteria sat at the table waiting patiently. It wasn't long before the scent enticed Jiras and Grabos into the kitchen with their tongues hanging out of their mouths like starving dogs. * * * I hesitantly crept into the small room that Garv- sama had pointed out to me. A fire was blazing in the fireplace at the far wall making the room steamy and hot. A cushioned chair was sitting in the left corner beside a miniature desk, which held a wine bottle, a wineglass, and a cigarette. This was exactly the way I had pictured the Beastmaster's office, and I was right. I used the new magic spell my Master had shown me to make myself invisible to any eye and gazed around, hoping that Xellass would come soon. I was still fairly new to the Mazoku race and it pained me to over-use my newly given powers for long periods of time. But this was the first thing Garv- sama had asked of me and I was determined not to flaw it in any way. I wanted to gain his trust and let him have faith in me to do more missions for him even though my training was not completed. Sneaking into Xellass Metallium's fortress and spying on her to see what she was up to seemed to be interesting enough for a first assignment. As my thoughts drifted, Xellass entered the room dressed in an even skimpier outfit than the one I had seen her wearing before; a completely white lingerie outfit that tightly clung to her beautiful form. The shirt was laced up with white strings, barely covering her breasts and chest. She wasn't wearing any pants, just white-laced panties with white fishnet stockings running up her long legs. Her long lashed, exotic eyes rolled over the room as though she was expecting to see someone there, a smirk toying on her painted lips. It made me a little nervous, making me wonder if she could still sense my presence with her powers. She may have had a lower position than Maryuoh-sama, but I wasn't about to make a mistake by underestimating her. But her image broke me out of all other conscious thought, still entrapping me like any other man would have been. I tried to focus and pay attention to what was said, but it was difficult to tear myself away from staring at her with fantasies whirling around in my head. Xelloss followed attentively behind her as she lay down in front of the fireplace, stretching her tanned body completely out, relaxing with a sigh. Her back was completely uncovered and bare like most of her other flesh and it didn't surprise me, seeing to how hot it was in the room. Xelloss wasn't wearing a shirt either, just black leather pants. He hastily took a small bottle off of the desk and removed the cap, letting the oil in the bottle leak onto his hands thoroughly. He then set it aside and began rubbing it on his Master's back, fingers massaging it in carefully. Xellass moaned with enjoyment as he continued up to her shoulder blades and shoulders, his fingers sliding along the delicate flesh. Xelloss looked pleased as well and continued to her lower back and ribcage, grinning darkly. I would have liked to be in Xelloss' place, the lucky bastard! No wonder his mind was so twisted, being around such a seductive and gorgeous Master all the time and all. . . "Xelloss, love. . . " "Hai?" "I have an assignment for you." My ears perked up when she said it, forcing me to actually listen to what was said instead of daydreaming about her lovely voice as I had just done. "I should have set you up for it awhile ago, but it didn't seem needed until now. You know Lina Inverse-" she paused. "You do know who Lina Inverse is don't you, Love?" Xelloss nodded. "Luna Inverse's little sister, the one who defeated the Dark Lord, Shabranigdo." "Ah! So you have been paying attention! Anyway, we believe that she is somehow connected with the Lord of Nightmares. . . She killed Shabranigdo by invoking Nightmare-sama's Giga Slave with the accompaniment of the Sword of Light. If our calculations are right, then she just may be one we would want to add to our forces. If she has Mazoku blood beneath that human shell like her sister, then she would surely be more than useful to us." She purred, still entrapped by Xelloss' hands massaging up and down her smooth skin. "What is it you wish me to do, Master?" He said, stroking one of her golden locks of hair lovingly. "I want you to follow her, observe her, gain her trust. Give her or any of her companions no indication of what you really are. If they find out you're a Mazoku, then everything will be ruined. Make Lina open to your suggestions; obey what you ask of her. If you succeed then we'll be able to use her in any way we wish." Her voice was serious, stern, and I burned each word said into my brain, hoping to remember it all to report to Maryuoh- sama. "Manipulation, eh?" Xelloss said it pleasurably, seeming to be overjoyed with his new mission already. "Manipulation is strongest weapon that the Mazoku wield, Love. You'll start immediately and I don't want your eyes to leave her for a second unless I summon you, understand?" "Hai." * * * Valteria slowly opened his gleaming, golden eyes, letting out a long, tired groan. The wounds on his face and arms stung from being beaten by Vistal again and his muscles were incredibly sore from trying to resist and fight back. . . Filia had gone out to help fix the situation, but it didn't make him feel much better for the humiliation already experienced was too much to bear. . . The house was mysteriously quiet without Grabos and Jiras around to cause a ruckus with their clumsiness. . . But it was almost pleasurable to Valteria at the moment. His mouth and stomach were so worn from vomiting and spitting up blood that seemed he couldn't even lift his jaw to speak. It was a surprise to him that he was able to tell Filia what happened when he returned from school. As painful as it was, Valteria lifted his weak body up from the couch were he had lazily drifted into sleep, and stepped into the kitchen. The only noise lingering in the darkened room was the swift ticking of the large wooden clock in the corner. And. . . there was something lying on the kitchen table. It was note in a white envelope that he hadn't seen there before he fell asleep. Valteria sat down at the table and examined it, wondering if Filia had just left it out and he hadn't noticed it. Too curious to mind his own business and leave it alone though, he curiously opened it and lifted out the note inside. He couldn't read much yet, but there was only one word composed of three letters in strange red writing. That he would be able to read. He drew it closer into the candlelight and tried to sound it out. DIE "Die. . . ?" Valteria stopped and gasped after reading it as the red letters actually dripped down as a liquid like split ink into blood that ran down his fingers and arms. . . Blood! What the hell! He dropped it with a startled scream, taken aback, rushing to the sink to wash it off. He hastily turned the silver faucet, almost crying with fright as more blood gushed out from it instead of water. He fell back, hitting the floor harshly, bruising his already wounded back. The blood poured from it ferociously, spilling over the edge of the sink and onto of the floor. The letter was still "bleeding" as well, the gruesome blood consuming the kitchen table to a point where the smooth wood was not shown from beneath it. Even though he thought he couldn't even speak, he found himself screaming at the top of his lungs as the blood seemed to come and form around him on all sides, becoming raging waves that splashed against his skin. Valteria struggled to stand and escape from it, crying so violently that he thought he would vomit again. He tried to catch his quickened breath but the blood washed over him, making him choke and fight to stay above it for air. His arms and legs were so injured that it took all of the energy he had left to stand, which was so painful that he had to clench his teeth against the razor numbing pain going through every nerve in his body. But he did stand, forcing himself up within the sea of blood that was smeared all over his clothes and babyflesh. Now there was blood dripping down from the ceiling too, coming down on all the surrounding walls. . . Forming into shapes that came to life out of the red blobs. Snakes, the scales perfectly shaping themselves along the long slender bodies, amethyst eyes twinkling on its threatening face, the tongue flicking in and out of its mouth. The colors began to change to fit the snake's true appearance and suddenly they were beginning to move into life. The snakes began pouring down on Valteria, hissing viciously, fangs showing from the sides of the mouth. A scream lingered in his throat, but he didn't have the strength to release it, had to push back the pain inside. Tears spurted from his eyes in his fright, making it hard to see as he frantically tried to shove the snakes away. Finally, he fought his way out into the living room, the blood and snakes still coming for him through the doorway. Even when he shut the door, the blood leaked in from underneath it, and within it the snakes began to form again, biting Valteria's foot on all sides. The screaming, the crying, the blood dripping into his eyes. . . It was too much. It became so painful that he could hardly see around the tears running wildly down his cheeks. Panicking, he tried to run into his room, tripping over the furniture in the crowded living room, splashing in the blood, more snakes coming to bite his face, teeth sinking into the flesh. And suddenly it all seemed to stop as two arms came around him, embracing Valteria's shivering body, snakes vanishing. He buried his face in the cloth of the figure holding him, glad to receive the comfort. Filia was finally back. . . But it didn't feel like Filia's touch. Too cold too dark, and. . . it smelt a lot like blood, mystery. . . Then there was that prick of a needle, the hungry knife shoving into his chest. . . Valteria felt himself drifting away, every part of him numbing, his ears and throat clogging, his gaze going dim, the blood oozing from the wound. The pain thrummed harder, the knife being pushed farther and farther inside of him. He reached out, trying to grab something, anything for comfort. He could just barely see those amethyst eyes twinkling at him, just before he lost consciousness, falling over in the cold arms that were still embracing him. There was nothing. . . Until he heard one last muffled voice drift into his ears, Filia's hysterical cry. "Valteria-chan!"