The Black Beauty

Vincent closed his eyes as she was laying in her blood still breathing until she breathes for the last time. He waited for another ten minutes before he cleaned the house and he healed the wound that the woman inflicted upon herself.

"We are done here," says Vincent as he carried the body of the woman in his arms.

"So back to the swamps," says O'Dimm as Vincent sighs.

"Yes," says Vincent as he opened another rift this time towards the heart of the cave under the Oaktree.

They walked through the rift and the spirit was surprised that they didn't longer than a day as they arrived in less than two hours with the body.

The spirit could feel Vincent's ice-cold aura and was fearful to speak until Vincent says, "We are back and here is the body. I will now release you from your cage and you will possess this body. Once you have done so you will not speak to anyone about how you got this body."

"What do you m-" says the spirit when it stopped because Vincent glared at the hearts making it feel cold which was impossible since she didn't have a body.

"If anyone who isn't present here today finds out what happened today I will kill find you and kill you all, do you two understand," says Vincent as his aura manifested and the Twin Dragons appeared behind him.

"You don't have to fear that I will tell someone. We both are in the same boat after all," says O'Dimm a bit intimidated by the aura Vincent was showing them.

"And you, spirit? What do you say?" asks Vincent as he stared at the pulsating hearts. The

"I won't tell a souk about what happened today," says the voice as Vincent puts his hand on the hearts.

"Then you shall be free again," says Vincent as he breaks free the spirit.

The spirit was released and entered the body of the woman. She took her first breath in ages and stood up to take her first steps. She walked towards Vincent and O'Dimm before stopping in front of Vincent who took out a mask.

"You will be wearing this mask so you won't be recognized by someone who knows the former owner of this body. Also, you will be living in the orphanage with two other people and take care of the children living there. If I find out that you did something that could harm the children there. I will kill you and you will wish that I had killed you today," says Vincent as the spirit puts the mask on.

It was a black mask that resembled the old Dragon Priest Mask. Vincent then opened a rift that leads to the orphanage to shorten the time since he needed to go with Olgierd to the Temple of Lilvani.

"You know I wanted to enjoy my travel back while seeing the wilderness but you destroyed everything," says Vincent joking about it as he tried to change the mood.

"That didn't help to change the mood," says O'Dimm as he walked away from the rift.

"I will await you at the Temple," says O'Dimm leaving the cave.

"We should go before someone get the wrong idea and tried to poke with their sword through the rift to verify if it's dangerous," says Vincent as he passed through the rift followed by the spirit.

They arrive on the other side and find Alexander ready to shoot a spell at them when he saw that it was only Vincent passing through the portal.

He stopped what he was about to release and says, "I'm sorry, Vincent. We thought you were a threat."

Then the spirit arrived at his side and Vincent says, "I brought you a helping hand since only you two will have trouble taking care of all the children that will be arriving here."

"We don't have that many. Right now we have about four children that we are sheltering. But if you think that she will be helpful I won't say no to her," says Alexander as he looked at the spirit.

He stretches his hand out and says, "Nice to meet you, my name is Alexander and you are?"

"You can call me the Black Beauty," says the Black Beauty as she takes Alexander's hand.

"You should take her to the children and the head of the orphanage. By the way, has a man looking like a barbarian arrive here some days ago?" asks Vincent as Alexander nods.

"Yes, he came saying that he was waiting for you. We gave him a bed and food," says Alexander when Vincent puts his hand on Alexander's shoulder.

"You did well. I will sleep here tonight before leaving for tomorrow with him," says Vincent before turning to the Black Beauty and says, "Behave yourself while you are here. I trust you and you heard what happens if you break my trust."

Vincent then leaves in search of Olgierd as Alexander showed the Black Beauty around. Once he found Olgierd who was leaning against a wall he takes the last item out of his bag.

"With this, all three wishes have been completed. Now you will follow me to the destination we agreed on beforehand," says Vincent as Olgierd looks at the house before taking it from Vincent.

He broke it and found the document inside that would allow the Borsody Family to trade without paying taxes in Oxenfurt.

"It seems like they didn't give you a hard time. If they give you the house just like that," says Olgierd as he looked at the document.

He sighs as he burns the document when Vincent says, "We are leaving tomorrow."

"Good for me. I want to sleep for a while and think about the future," says Olgierd as he leaves Vincent behind while going to his room.

Vincent stared at the moon before giving a little pray for the woman to all of his Gods before going to find an empty room to sleep in it.

The next day, Vincent finds Alexander playing with the children while the former Baron was taking care of the field with the Black Beauty. Vincent walks towards Alexander and sees that the children were three boys and one girl.

"It seems there will be a competition between the boys only to find out that the girl is from the other riverbank, aren't I right, Olgierd?" asks Vincent as Olgierd was sitting against the wall.

"They will find out sooner or later but later would be much more fun to see their reactions to their advances to her," says Olgierd as he looked at the four children play with Alexander.

"We should get going. We have a swamp to cross to get to our destination," says Vincent as he took out some dried-up meat and handed some over to Olgierd to serve as their breakfast.

They moved then crossing the swamps until reaching Downwarren where Vincent meets the elder of the village.

"Have you solved the problem we had?" asks the elder as Vincent nods.

"I have taken care of it. She shouldn't molest you any longer," says Vincent not proud of what he did yesterday.

"Anyway, I need to leave with my companion. We have things to do at another place," says Vincent as he wanted to leave as fast as possible to not feel guilty about what he did.

"You should still accept our thanks for your good deed towards us," says the elder as he takes a pouch of coins out which Vincent rejected.

"Keep it and help the people that need it more than me. I have enough money on myself," says Vincent as he walked away from the elder and returned to the path.

"It seems you did something you aren't proud of," says Olgierd noticing how Vincent behaved around the elder.

"I did something horrible and if you continue to question me about it. Then I will show you that being immortal is an even bigger curse than you already think about," says Vincent as Olgierd could feel Vincent's aura manifest for a moment before Vincent controlled his anger.

"We should continue our way to our destination. We have a long way in front of us," says Vincent as he walked in front leaving Downwarren.

They fought their way through the forest when Vincent looks at the map while standing in front of a cave entrance.

"Is this the place?" asks Olgierd as Vincent looked at the cave entrance.

"It seems so," says Vincent as he looked at Olgierd before putting the map away and walks into the cave followed by Olgierd.

They find some specters that Vincent took care of them as they walked through the cave system finding some dead witch hunters.

"Where the Specters responsible for this?" asks Olgierd crouching down beside Vincent who was investigating the corpses.

"Most likely, they don't have any wound on their skin and they looked like they were sucked dry of their life force," says Vincent as he noticed the wrinkles on their face.

"Are there more of those around?" asks Olgierd as Vincent looked at him confused.

"What are you afraid of. You are an immortal they can't kill you," says Vincent as Olgierd looked at him seriously.

"Yeah, but I don't want to look like those corpses forever," says Olgierd as Vincent smiled.

"You are afraid of looking like an old man," says Vincent taunting Olgierd as he looked through the belongings of the corpses finding some gold, weapons, and diaries.

"What are you doing?" asks Olgierd seeing what Vincent was doing.

"Looting them. I will later give the money and weapon back to their families. That's why I keep the diaries too. They will show me the way to their family. If they don't have one I will give it to someone that needs it the most," says Vincent as he stored everything in his bag before standing up and his hand began to produce fire to burn the corpses.

"We should continue on our way since we are almost there," says Vincent as Olgierd stands up.

"If you say so," says Olgierd as he walks behind Vincent when he asks, "So the Temple we are going to who is it dedicated to."

"I don't know who it is dedicated to and I don't really care. Your Gods are not the mine. I have my Gods who I pray to and they are many. Even my children have difficulties remembering their names while I know them all since I talk and eat with them sometimes," says Vincent as they seemed to find the exit of the cave system.

"You can talk with gods?" asks Olgierd thinking that Vincent was now crazy.

"Yes, that might be because I am at the border of becoming one. I am holding my advancement back for the people that I have to protect," says Vincent as he walked over the ground that was covered by leaves.

The full moon was already in sight and Olgierd walked behind Vincent while saying, "So you are saying that you will become a god soon."

"It depends on what we call soon. For us immortals yes. But for mortals no. At least some 100 years will pass before I am forced to become a god until then I will guide my people from the shadows," says Vincent as he stood in front of the altar in the middle of the temple with Olgierd when they hear someone clap his hands.