Velor killed the engine at the out gates.
What followed was utter silence...leaving behind only the low caw of a raven circling high above...not close...but somewhere far off!
Velor looked behind him as the caw resonated... he heaved a deep sigh. " Soon, I will get rid of your manipulations as well! "
Then he huffed forward... towards that abandoned manor...where nobody went.
The land held its breath like always.
Velor leaned against a brittle post overrun with moss, casually looking around, inspecting the place... not because he feared he was being followed... but he could sense the shift in air pressure. He casually rubbed his palm. "Well... well... seems like something is coming... too soon I must say... " Turning back reluctantly he sighed again, " Anyways..." and then walked away.
Ahead of him the tattered structure hummed as if reacting.
It’s steeple broken , windows hollowed, swayed endlessly.The walls too looked like they were dying... somehow.
He pushed through the heavy wooden doors.The air inside was still. Dust hung in the shafts of dim, filtered light.
But Velor didn’t look around.
He walked straight to the far corner where the half collapsed metal bookshelf stood just as crooked,as rusted as he had left it.
There were still no books.Just as it was meant to be.
Velor reached out. The same drill.
Three pushes to the left.
Three pulls to the right.
Then he stepped back.
A deep creaking groan echoed as unseen gears churned somewhere below. The shelf shuddered, trembled, and then slid aside...revealing the trap door.
He crouched,and then with a grunt, he yanked it open. A mouth of darkness yawned beneath.
And without hesitation...
His boots disturbed no dust...the place was always . Always freshly damp. Always breathing.
He did not need light. He knew the place like the back of his hand.
The deeper he went, the colder it became.
Then came the scent of wet iron... tangy...the unmistakable tang of blood.
But it was not fresh blood. Not quite. It had the scent of something endless. Blood that never finished spilling.
Like breathing... in an endless loop.
Then came a grunt...Deep. Ragged.Like something had forgotten how to do it right.
The snapping of bones when one is forced to transform... but the shift was not complete. It was wrong.
Velor didn’t pause.His steps remained steady.
At the very bottom, the path opened up.
An iron door loomed ahead...bolted shut with heavy chains etched in runes that pulsed faintly...almost in pain.
Velor halted before it.
He pressed one palm against the cold metal surface and whispered, almost lovingly."Hello, beautiful...how have you been???"
It wasn’t a roar. It was an eruption.
The howl that came next was feral. Inhuman. So raw and violent that the walls shivered.
Chains clanked and strained on the other side. The door trembled.
But Velor...he smiled.
He stood up, dusting his knees, and leaned casually against the doorframe.
"Miss me, darling?" he murmured. "I missed you too."
But the presence behind the door loomed.And then...a faint light flickered to life.
A red glow, almost pulsing, bleeding through the cracks around the iron.
He pressed his forehead to the cold metal and closed his eyes.
"You have grown quiet lately," he said, softly. "I see...what happens on the surface,still affects you! "
Another grunt.He paused.
Then...he laughed, short and brittle.
"It’s alright.I know it’s not your fault."
His knuckles rapped the door again.
"Should I open it today? Should I come in and sing to you like I used to?"
His voice grew almost babying. Tender.
"Are you hungry? Did they feed you last moon? Or did the curse eat all your hunger again, hmm?"
The runes pulsed brighter, and this time...Another sound came from the other side.
It wasn’t quite human.But it wasn’t completely beast either.
Velor stepped back, just far enough to let the glow spill through the gap as he unlatched the smallest peep window.
He opened it.And there she was.
Half in shadows, half emerging from the dark.
Her body twisted in impossible angles...part woman...part creature...her limbs shackled but still trembling.
Her skin was torn in places... or maybe it was growing raw with every breath. Perpetually bleeding, always seeping...rivulets of crimson trailing down her form.
And above her...there was...a loop.
A single blood drop rose from her chest, crystallizing mid air into a jagged ruby shard...hovering...and then melting again into warm liquid that dripped right back onto her skin...Again. And again.
Like a curse devouring its own tail... an eternal loop.
Velor watched with something that was neither pity nor horror.He watched like a man who had created her.Maybe like a father...Or worse...like someone who had fallen in love with her.
"You look divine today," he whispered. "Like a goddess in creation,in the heavens of the ancient cosmos."
She didn’t respond.But her deformed eyes flickered...only for a second..towards the light. Towards him.
Velor smiled...almost reverent.
" I still remember the day I found you... got you technically... but whatever... That’s when it all started to fall apart... or so I thought... Power!!! Power has always been the source of all evil... all conflict... all war... it turns brother against brother... it turns love to ashes in a second... isn’t that the case, my love? "
The runes flared.Her chains pulled tight as she tried to move.
She snarled...gurgling, barely sane.But Velor whispered through it all... "Shhh... I know, I know. He doesn’t see you like I do. None of them do."
His fingers curled into a fist."But he will, soon enough." Then after a pause he added. "You felt her when she was here, didn’t you? She fuels your strength... and... you saved her life... didn’t you? Now tell me... are you still a monster??? Or a savior... "
He leaned closer, lowering his voice to a tender rasp." Rest assured that I am going to bring Kieran Blackmoon to his knees. And then I will bring him here. So he can meet you too!You will see him with your own eyes..."
She stilled.Even the breathing stopped...for a second.
Velor’s grin turned darker."Won’t that be fun?"
The loop above her pulsed once...blood red...crimson red...flooding the chamber like a heartbeat.