- A Stance of Stone and Mountain's Bone [pt.2]

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A/N: I apologize for not uploading lately. Finals have been killing me and I'm losing brain cells with each passing day.

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The halls were quiet with a blanket of silence surrounding them like drapes hanging from the curtains. The candle light that brightens the hallways cast shadows amongst the walls, items and trinkets that dotted the various tables and stands.

Two men stood facing one another, a tension between the two, despite the smile on their faces. One bulged with muscles that looked as if they could crush stone in their bare hands, turning it to dust effortlessly. The other however, was lean and strong, but not nearly as buff as the other.

But there was something odd about his lean man, who stood watching the other with a confidence that would exclude arrogance to anyone who looked at him. He was not intimidated nor was he afraid. Instead, his mind and eyes watched the muscular man with a keen interest.

"What do you need?"

He asked, his voice echoing deep and thin, surrounding Rian like he had fallen in a pool of water. His voice came in a husky but firm, not tempted by the tense atmosphere that surrounded them.

"I need to ask you for a favor."

"Oh? A favor?"

Cain smiled, his eyes glimmering like a demon's, matching his facial expression.

"To what do I owe this little favor of yours?"

"..."

Rian kept silent, thinking hard on what Cain said. In all truth, he had no reason to ask Cain for a favor, nor did Cain have any reason to accept his request.

"...I will be in your debt."

The words came like a small echo of a child's voice, barely audible to Cain, yet it peaked his interest nonetheless.

"And why would I need your debt? I can move mountains, burn cities, and dry up lakes. Why would I need the help of a mortal man?"

"...because you even have to sit on the sidelines at times. There are even times when you can't interfere in situations, unless you wish to reveal your little secret."

"And what secret is that?"

"You. You are the secret. Your power is something you and Lia keep hidden, but she trusted me enough to tell me."

Rian held firm in his words, but Cain narrowed his eyes, finding his words all too similar sounding to a threat.

"Is that a challenge?"

"No, it's a statement of what I know. I know you hide your powers from unseen eyes, so there must be times when you wish to interfere in a situation but can't."

"And so you're offering to be my avatar for a while. Do what I want, when I want, and in return I fulfill this little favor of yours?"

"Yes."

In Rian's eyes this seemed fair, of course he didn't know about Cain's gamble with Lia some weeks ago back in Neverdark. That gamble basically made it so that he could take over Lia's body any one time he wished and do whatever he wished in that moment.

He only had two chances left however, and he didn't want to waste them.

"I suppose there's no harm in having more of something."

"....does that mean you'll help me?"

Cain shook his head placing his hands behind his back as he looked Rian over, curiosity getting the better of him.

"First, tell me what you want?"

"I think you know what I want."

Rian was no fool, for he knew that Cain had some power over the mind, some power that allowed him to know things that others may not. Things that Rian had seen Lia reveal, things she shouldn't have known.

Cain repealed as much as he nodded his head, but instead of accepting Rian's unspoken request, he held up his hand speaking instead.

"I do, but I'd like to hear it from you first. I'd like to know why you'd want this?"

"...because it's the right thing to do."

"Are you sure?"

"Why would it not be?"

Cain's smile deepened, as if he had heard the very thing he wanted to hear, the very trap in their argument he had led Rian into.

"What you want me to do is very taxing and being so taxing, I need to know if it's worth the time and effort."

"You would be saving someone from a terrible fate. How can that not be worth your time."

"Choices."

"...what?"

"If I do what you're asking of me, how can I be sure it won't go to waste? How can I be sure they won't make the same mistake and choose the wrong path? It would all be for waste then."

Rian gripped his own palm hard, hard enough that if there really was a bit of stone in his palm, he would have crushed it by now. What made him mad though, was the fact that Cain had a point, a fact he couldn't argue against.

If he did this, if Cain bothered himself with his request, he had no way of knowing if it would turn out all right. If it would all be worth it.

As if to rub salt in the wound, Cain continued, his voice rising in power with each word, stomping Rian to the ground in his hopes.

"What happens if they make the wrong choices in life and end right back in the palace they came from, here, lying in a bed with a broken leg. Why should I risk the fate of a human when it is the humans that I don't trust."

Rian took a deep breath, searching for the words he could say to stomp out their growing fire rising from Cain.

"I can tell that you don't trust humans. Why I don't know, neither do I care much for the past. All I know is that humans learn from their mistakes. They learn from their past and make the right decisions to make the right changes."

"And you just expect me to trust that a human will learn from their mistakes?"

It was already too late. Cain saw the trap waiting for him the moment his words left his mouth, even before Rian spoke, he knew the result of their conversation and where this would end.

"You trusted Lia to make that change. I ask you to trust someone else for once."

Cain took a deep breath, letting the air in his lungs leave in a small plume of steam from his nose. He was trapped and he was caught. There was little he could do now, so he kept his mind clear and focused.

"...Fine."

Rian perked up, surprised to see the signs of him having won this argument, but his next words were crushed by his own hope.

"So you'll help her-"

"You will find out tomorrow. Go back to your room and leave me to work."

Rian wanted to say more, he wanted to grab onto Cain by the arm, turn him around and force him to give him his answer, if he would help, or if he would leave her to die.. His own emotions seemed to be getting the better of him.

But Rian was smarter than that and so he kept to himself, silently nodded his head at Cain as he turned around and walked back down the hall, back towards his room and out of Cain's sight. His shadows disappeared and melded with the shadows that danced across the walls, his hopes following him like a tailing puppy dog.

Cain stood there alone in the hallway, watching the light from the various candles flicker and die with a touch of his hand. He eyed the door to Lia's room for several seconds, before finally, his body disappeared with the flicker of shadows dancing past him.

He vanished into the night.

***

The curtains were drawn back, the long and wide window open to cast both a cool breeze and the pale light of the moon over the room. A single bed rested by the side of the window, as the sheets and curtains blew around with the wind, dancing with its tune.

A single body rested within the covers atop the soft and cushion-like bed, their chest and stomach slowly rising with each calm and steady breath they took, like a mountain rising and falling with the wind.

Cain watched Becka sleep for the shadows, his crimson eyes glowing within the darkening room, reflecting the pale glow of the moonlight as it made its way deeper into the room.

He watched Becka sleep, soundly and silently, lost within her dreams. He watched her stomach rise and fall with each breath, as she shifted her body in the covers of the bed.

It was a cool night and the subtle brush of the cold wind on his arms sent goosebumps up his back and skin. He didn't like the cold, but he could live with it. He had for years and years of his life before, what difference did a little chill have on him.

Cain approached the bed, silent with each step though he didn't care much for the noise, it wasn't like anyone - even the sleeping beauty - would hear him. Yet, his steps made no sound at all as he glided through the room, casting his long and dark shadow over the wall.

When he reached the bedside, his eyes passed over Becka and her leg, which had been placed in a long splint, wrapping of white and tight cloth clung to her swollen leg.

It looked painful, but then again, everything did in this world. It didn't matter if it was a bruise or a scar, life was always painful in the end.

"...the real question is, can she learn from that pain?"

Cain was careful with his hand, reaching slowly over her bound leg, careful to only brush his fingers across the skin.

"Humans aren't always the smartest people. They lie, cheat, pillage and plunder. From what I've seen in my many years of living and servitude of mortals, I know that humans are one of the most vile creatures I've ever seen."

With his other hand he softly brushed away the loose strands of hair that clung to Becka's face, ehr sweat rolling down the side of her cheeks and forehead.

She wasn't having the best of dreams, her own mind plagued by the nightmares of her first monster encounter, a large stone giant plundering and plowing through her town and people. The days that followed were agonizing.

No food, no home and a lingering fear over the people who walked with broken limbs and bloody soles from that ruined town to the nearest city for help.

Cain could see it, he could see all of the memories plaguing her head. In many ways he sought to remove them from her mind, contain them and destroy them, but he knew that if he did this, his actions next would be all for nothing.

"He cares for you. Why I don't know - he would hate you honestly."

He drew away his hand, turning his eyes back towards the broken leg.

"Gods know I would."

He gripped hard against her broken leg, his fingers brushing hard against her skin and the cloth as he tore it free from the wooden splints.

Becka groaned, still haunted now by both pain and her dreams.

'I can ease one I suppose.'

Taking his free hand, Cain waved once over Becka's head, careful not to make contact with her skin, lest he steal her memories away from her. Instantly the girl calmed down, the sweat once rolling heavily from her skin now subsided back within her as her breathing returned to normal.

"Humans are strange creatures, yet they can be so easily read. Like a book they pour out their contents to any who can see them, longing to be understood yet never bothering to understand."

Now Cain took both his hands away from her skin and flesh, raising one into the moonlight that poured from the window, dying his hand in the same pale white light.

"They point the blame at someone else, never taking it for themselves, and yet they expect to have sympathy. They expect to be treated as if they are the center of the world. Long have I watched people go mad with my power, destroying nations, building kingdoms, and longing - always longing - for more."

A small trickle of blood flowed from his finger, down his knuckles and into his palm, glowing a strange bright red, unlike normal blood that took on a darker color.

"They might have good intentions, they might only want to help others, but in the end they all desire the same thing. The one thing I hate."

The blood popped and expanded, truing from one drop of blood into a now puddle of blood that swarmed around Cain's hand, glowing with its awing color.

"Power."

The blood stopped and spread out, freezing itself into a dozen or so thin and sharp needles before they plunged themselves deep into Becka's flesh, following the slight and nimble movements of Cain's hand as he brought it down.

The needles rested there for a moment, before Cain began pushing down on an unseen force, the frozen blood turning back into a smooth liquid melding into the flesh of Becka's swollen and purplish leg.

"Let's hope you're different."

With that, Cain turned his back to the sleeping beauty, his eyes sparking in a warm red glow before his body vanished back into the shadows. All the while the small drowsy Becka only got a glimpse of what or who once stood before her, before falling back into a deep sleep.

A demon with a heart of gold.

***

When morning came, Lia had awoken with a start, late within the day, as the light from the morning sun poured through the window next to her bed. She had spent the night waiting for Cain to return from his talk with Rian, but suddenly she had blacked out and woken up the next morning unexpectedly.

Lia of course, not knowing the full extent of Cain's powers, wrote it off as though she was simply tired and fell asleep before Cain and returned.

After all, most people don't remember the final moments they have before they are lost to their own sleep and stamina.

Lia quickly got changed and headed out towards the grand hall, the main dining room the Master had invited them into. He had told the group that they were welcome to any and all the food of his that they could eat, the only rule being that they needed to show up at the appropriate time in the day to feast.

Breakfast, Lunch, or dinner. Lia ws not sure of course which of those three she was currently intruding on, but when she entered the grand hall to find the Master and Arnold alone, she was surprised to see the large expansive breakfast lined out before her.

"Ah, good morning! You're up sooner than we had expected, given your little bout with the monster yesterday, we would have expected you to sleep until noon."

The Master stood up, gesturing towards an empty chair at his side, opposite the seat Arnolad was sitting in sipping on his morning drink.

"Apologies. I guess we were all more tired than we looked."

The Master brushed it off, offering Lia a plate of deviled eggs and sausage.

"Nonsense. You needed that rest. Arnold and I are the only ones up right now, and we were just discussing our next plan of action."

Lia perked up at this, placing down a spoon full of eggs that had not yet reached her mouth.

"Then I assume we will continue our investigation? What about the Fire Drakes?"

The Master squirmed in his seat, eyeing the calm and imposing Arnold who continued to sip at his drink.

"Well, not exactly."

"What does that mean?"

The Master was about to elaborate, but Arnold interrupted him, speaking before a single word left his mouth.

"You will ride with me from now on."