- Whispers and Wonders: The Journey of the Damned

They sat around a warm fire, Rian and Lukali taking it better than Lia did. She was already warm, heated by the fire raging inside her - Cain's magic no doubt. He seemed to like fire.

Across from her, slowly stirring a bowl of soup, porridge, or something that Lia couldn't tell, Voln sat in silence, watching the water move around with his spoon. Passing behind him occasionally, his summons would make various appearances helping around their little makeshift camp. A place Lia could only guess was made in haste after she discovered his cave.

"I didn't expect the mighty Voln Dorrow to be so old."

"You leave your expectations behind you."

He said without looking up from his food, eyes passing over the fire shimmering in the waters.

"It will make it easier for you to listen."

The summons, who had been introduced as Malkova, was a strikingly more beautiful woman than Lia had thought. On average, Lia would rank herself at least a five, and thus, felt a little awkward being treated by such a beautiful woman.

"Thank you."

She said, taking a bowl offered to her by Malkova, who sat down close to Voln, her head resting on his shoulder in a loving way.

Lia watched with curiosity, clearly still not able to understand the depth of their relationship, nor how the two even got to this point in their lives. But nonetheless, she knew it wasn't her business.

"You're curious, aren't you?"

"Huh?"

Lia looked up from her bowl of potato stew, which she had learned from taking a bite of the warm mixture, eyes contempt with surprise.

"How did we meet? How we…"

Voln glanced at Malkova, a small smile spreading across his face.

"Well….I didn't want to intrude."

Voln waved it off, siling as he placed down his empty bowl.

"I had planned on telling you what you wanted to know anyways. My story, my life, the answers you're looking for. Including this wouldn't be much of a problem."

"Then please…"

"When I was a kid, I was born to one Daniel Green and one Samantha Green. A couple who loved one another very much. My father was the groundskeeper, a man who was excellent in his job as he often received many bonuses from Mr. Dorrow."

"The same Mr. Dorrow who…?"

"No. The current Dorrow is the son of my fathers former employer."

"Ah, then please, continue."

Voln straightened up as the story began to gain traction on the rough and rocky terrain that was his life.

"My mother was mostly a housewife, someone who watched me grow up. My father made many friends, some old, some young. Saul and Winslow were probably his greatest friends. People who I used to call my Uncles. They would watch me playing in the gardens, the halls, and the ballroom. They were a great family to me. People I would hold dear until the end of my years."

"Sounds like a wonderful life…"

"It was. But, then my father got sick. I was fifteen years old at that time, a moment in my life when I was about to become an adult. He got pretty sick, and soon enough, he was bedridden. He could hardly move, hardly speak. My mother used to wonder aloud when she thought she was alone - I was a sneaky little brat. She would pray and pray, hoping that things would get better, wondering how we were going to provide for ourselves with my father in such a state. Eventually, she found a way."

Lia felt her stomach twist and turn, a feeling of knowing that felt so chilling against her skin. She could already guess where this was going.

"My other ended up remarrying the Dorrow's son. A man who was barely more than a few years older than me. She thought that having money at her disposal would help her keep my father alive, healthy, with the best doctors on hand. But…"

"It didn't work?"

Voln sighed, Malkova digging her head deeper against his shoulder in an attempt to comfort him.

"I guess you could say that my dad wasn't the type of man who would give up one life that easily. I watched him struggle with that sickness for nearly a year before it took him. My mother would send the occasional doctor to try and help him, but they all left in vain. What my dad wanted, knowing that he wouldn't live to see the next year, was to spend as much time with his family as possible...."

Voln's voice hardened , his face twisting into an ugly frown.

"But she was always off running around with 'him.' That bastard Dorrow. I would hardly see her at all in my youth, with the occasional visit to our home, she would always be surrounded by guards and her maids."

Rian and Lukali stopped trying to warm up, a new form of chilling cold running down their spine. Unbeknownst to them all, Lia began to shake slightly, the fire in her raging like a storm.

"I remember fondly how I would beg my mother to come home, spend time with dad and what not. Spend time with me. But…haa…she would always just pat me on the head, put on her makeup, and leave without a word. Sometimes she would be gone for just a day, sometimes it was many days. But what became the icing on this cake of my sad tale was how she was so busy in her life, that even as my father passed away she wasn't there to see him off."

Lia's grip tightened on her pants, her nails digging into her skin in anger. She had actually spoken with these people before. She had actually thought they were a nice couple.

'All humans hide behind a mask. Sometimes we just don't realize that there is no human brought them. Only monsters.'

Cain's voice was clear and calm, but did little to sooth her burning rage. Voln could see this of course, but didn't stop in the story. She wanted answers, so he was going to give them to her. The true story, no lies.

"I cried for days after that, hating my mother, hating myself. Hating everything. Eventually Saul and Winslow came looking for me, seeing as my mother was far too busy for her grieving son."

His sarcasm was alcohol on an open wound, burning and seeing into his hatred.

"They dragged me from my house, brought me to the Manor, and thus, I became Voln Dorrow. Seeing as my mother couldn't have any more children because of health issues, I was accepted almost immediately. But, despite their best efforts, I was cold where I was meant to be warm. Angry when I was meant to be calm. They called me an embarrassment, and soon enough, I was shunned by the Dorrow's friends, but never by them. It makes me hate them even more. All that I did to just get mad at them, and yet they smiled on and tried - tried! - to love me."

"...but you didn't?"

"No. I hated every one of them. More so than you could ever believe."

"I can imagine."

Lia knew more than he thought. She had once been that same child, hiding in her own room, afraid to come out in case she was mocked by her own family, stared at as if she was some strange creature. Some type of freak.

She hated it.

Voln hated it.

They were somewhat the same.

"Winslow came to me one night, alone and very cautious. He told me that the doctors were giving reports back to the Dorrows about my dad's condition. How sick he was, how he could be helped, and so forth. He ended up giving me one of those very same reports."

"And?"

Voln reached for something out of a small sack next to him, things and items jingling around in them, clearly his personal belongings. He pulled a small slip of paper from the sack, before tossing it over the fire towards Lia, who quickly caught it.

Voln didn't seem to care much if the paper burned. He probably wished it would.

Slowly, Lia read the contents of the report aloud, her voice like a beating drum in the silent night.

"Check up fifteen; patient Daniel Green. Report; subject is experiencing nausea, vomiting, and extreme stomach pains. Suggested medicine being pain relievers, herbal remedies, and such."

Lia looked up from her reading, a frown of confusion on her face.

"What does this mean?"

"Keep reading."

With Voln's persuasion, Lia continued reading in silence until she read a line that made her eyes widen.

"Go on. Read it aloud."

"...the subject seems to be experiencing symptoms similar to that of Hemlock poisoning. Hemlock poisoning?"

"A plant. A very potent plant that can kill a human. They're weeds, but the Dorrow's have tons around their house. It was written off as the cause of his illness, being carelessness."

Rian spoke up, having silently listened to this whole conversation, he had his own opinion to put out in the open.

"You believe otherwise?"

"Yes."

"Why? If he was a landscaper, wouldn't this have been just a coincidence."

"No, it wouldn't have. Hemlock plants need to be ingested in order for the poison to be potent enough to kill. And even then, you would need a lot of Hemlock in order to kill anyone, otherwise you would just get a small rash, some symptoms. But not death."

Voln turned to Lia, a question in his gaze, wondering if she had made the connection or not yet.

"So…you believe that someone poisoned him?"

"Correct. I spent months searching for why, who, and what happened. So much so that the year passed by quicker than I expected, the Dorrows were quite worried as you might guess. It was around this time that Malkova came to me, called in the midst of a hail storm that prevented me from getting home in time. We camped out in some cave on the rocks, a cave I would later use as my hiding place."

He smiled, both Lia and him knowing exactly what cave he was talking about.

"My mother was worried, very worried too at that. She was never much of a fan for summons or summoners, so at the first chance she got, she blamed Malkova as the reason why I was spiraling out of control. I was up all day searching for books, leads, anything at all. While at night I would train with Malkova. She was my greatest friend after my dad died, and pretty soon…"

Voln brushed a hand over her head, smoothing her hair down in a comforting way.

"...we were in love. But my mother…well, in her infinite wisdom on how to raise a son and care for her family, contacted some old friends. People from the Scholars Chapel."

Though Lia wasn't aware of who the Scholars Chapel was, from the reactions of Rian and Lukali, she could guess that it was bad.

"The Scholars Chapel specializes in 'puritan' beliefs. Beliefs that people are meant to rule over summons, and the summons is just a slave to their master. They've been known to torture some summons in front of their summoners, as if the pain isn't transfered over. They like it. I hate it."

Lukali voices his concern and disbelief, his eyes wide with shock.

"Your mother called them?"

"Yes. I guess in her mind she thought they could help me, but, when they took me away, I knew it wasn't for anything good. They talked about how they could help me, how Malkova was just a manipulator - and worst of all, how they would take her from me. Rid me of my parasite, as they claimed."

Voln pointed to Lia's hand, the rune circle etched into her skin just barely showing its ink from under her sleeves.

"You're a summoner too?"

"Oh…yes. In fact, I think you've met him before."

"Ah, yes. The 'fire man,' at least that's what Malkova calls him."

Malkova, knowing who Cain was and still being frightened of him, slapped Voln on the shoulder for telling about that.

"Ow! Calm down. He's not here right now, so don't be afraid."

Lia watched the interaction with VOln and Malkova, quick to voice her questions.

"You don't seem surprised that Cain could speak?"

"Hm? Oh, that. Yes well, to be honest I really was. But I've long gotten over that surprise. So don't worry."

Lia sighed in relief, glad she didn't have to go down the rabbit hole of explaining who Cain was and what not. It made things easier.

"Hng on, I have a question."

Rian raised his hand gathering their attention to him.

"I can already guess that you ran from the Chappel - I mean I would to if I was you - but, even if you ran away, why go back to the Manor? You were home free?"

Voln sighed, shaking his head, his eyes turning to Lia.

"Let me guess, they showed you some rooms, some old toys and stuff, babbling on and on about my happy childhood. That's what gave you the impression that I was a kid right?"

"I mean, all the toys and stuff did give me that idea, yes."

Lia scratched the back of her head in embarrassment, finding the idea somewhat foolish now.

"Well, all that isn't mine. None of it was. It was all planted there in order to give Hunters a story to tell."

"So that's why all the toys looked the way they did. I was wondering why some things looked touched while others looked like they hadn't been moved in years."

Voln nodded his head, agreeing with her deduction.

"Yep. That's mostly the jist of it all. They lie to every Hunter that comes this way. Now, to answer your question…"

He pointed to Rian, his expression more open now than when he had been talking about his past.

"I came back because I was tired of hiding. I wanted them to send a group of Hunters I could turn to my side. People I could tell the truth to. So I made my appearance in order to make their story seem like sh*t."

He gestured around him to the three Hunters present.

"It worked."

"Wait."

Lia held up a hand, her mind hurting from all this information.

"You mean that you did all this just to get a few Hunters on your side?"

"Pretty much. I needed someone to help me find the man who did this to my dad. I know he's in the Manor somewhere, but I'm not the type of person to go pointing fingers. I needed someone's help on the inside who could do all this for me."

Lia thought for a moment, clearly her mind was working to fast for her to come to a simple conclusion.

"So, what do you want us to do exactly?"

Voln smiled, glad that Lia was on the same page as him, and was even willing to hear him out.

"I need you to go back to the Manor, start asking questions, interrogations, anything that can help me find my fathers killer. Once you have that, you can tell my mother where to find me, and collect the reward."

"Why trust that we won't just tell you mother where you are in the first place?"

"Simple. She wouldn't give you the money unless I was back at her side. And if you do tell her before I get what I want, she won't ever find me."

Now it was Lia's turn to smile, finding this plan all to perfect.

"You're quite scary, you know that right?"

"I've been told that before. I learned the hard way what happens when you let fate take a hold on you. I won't let it get close again."

Lia nodded her head, glancing towards Rian and Lukali, who also nodded. They were in so long as she was.

"Alright. Who do we start with?"

"Winslow."