Meeting the Darkness again

After a few shots of blood and brandy with Mark, Christopher went to his room which was prepared by Jack and located on the second floor.

Interestingly, after he replenished his blood stats, his body began to act normal somehow.

It was like he became human again, eating food, drinking water or alcohol and even his body temperature turned normal.

Still, his hands were cold as ice due to being sick as a human.

'Well, something probably can't be changed even after death,' he joked, watching his opening and closing hand.

With a slight smile, he opened the door of his room.

"Thank you again for everything Jackie," spoke Christopher in the doorway of his room.

"That's nothing, my friend. I thank you, enjoy your stay," replayed Jack, bowed and walked away.

Christopher walked in and closed the door, turning his face to his new 'home' right after.

The room had a small bed in the right opposite corner, a wooden nightstand with a candle next to it, a wooden closet on the left opposite side, a window between the nightstand and the closet, opposite the door, and a pretty fine bathroom which's doors were to the right, the doorway of the bathroom doors ended near the end of the bed.

"I have a weird feeling of peace that I used to only have in my home or with my wives," Christopher spoke in an amused but nostalgic tone.

It was a nostalgic feeling that brought loneliness.

And this loneliness brought imagination and memories.

All kinds of memories, happy, sad, sweet, intimate.

["Yeah, it's nice and cozy,"] replayed Ardelean in a relaxed tone, pretty unusual for him.

Christopher chuckled at the words of his teacher and walked to the window.

When he opened it, the window made a cracking sound and his face was hit by a slight and warm breeze.

Looking around at the setting sun, he could almost see the entire town from his room.

["Actually, the town is pretty quiet. I thought the people would be more stressed out by the orcs' invasion but it looks like they already survived attacks like this in the past,"] noted Ardelean.

"Yeah, but I wonder what planet is this and where is located. I know it's Aragos alright, but I always thought that Earth is the only planet with life. Looks like I was so much wrong."

["True, you were. Humans always think they're the center of the universe. I used to be like that too until the Darkness opened my eyes,"] Ardelean commented.

"But what is interesting is how is everything so similar. Except for orcs, ogres, and other monsters that might hide in the dark, this planet looks like I'm in medieval times on Earth."

"It's like I'm living in the past."

["Haaah, you should rest, let's talk about it later."] Ardelean spoke as a gif of a teddy bear going to sleep in his bed appeared in Christopher's view.

"Hahahaha," Christopher chuckled.

"Aaah~ you are right, I should rest. I'm glad you are here in this mess with me," Christopher replayed and lay on the bed, slowly drifting into the realm of dreams.

["Always... friend"] Ardelean thought as the system went offline.

...

[... A dark crypt...]

Meanwhile, in a dark crypt in an unknown location, five coffins illuminated by the blood-red moonlight opened forcefully.

The place was dim as five men suddenly sat up in the coffins and a beautiful woman in her late twenties in a maid uniform walked inside, saying "Lord Cravensworth, you're wake~."

"Yes Maria, and I'm hungry," replayed the one in the middle with a tone of indifference and disappeared.

Reappearing behind the woman with glowing blood-red eyes, his skin turned pale like ash, his ears sharpened, his nails turned into sharp claws and his teeth sharpened too.

Without hesitation, he bit her neck forcefully and drained her dry while sensual moans were echoing through the dim crypt.

"Son? She was my favorite," a male voice echoed through the crypt, making the man and those four look towards the stairs leading up.

In an opened doorway stood a silhouette of a man in aristocratic clothes.

"Sorry Father, but you should have sent someone else then if you liked her that much," replayed the man with mouth and chin covered in blood and threw the maid's lifeless body on the ground.

"Whatever. I have a work for you. All of you come upstairs," the man ordered and all five men instantly disappeared from the crypt.

...

"Haaaaah!" Christopher suddenly woke up, panting and sweating.

He dreamed about Lazarus taking his place, becoming the husband of his wives while he was still stuck on this planet.

["Uaaaaah?"] Ardelean yawned, ["What happened?"]

"Bad dream. Something I didn't have for a long time," Christopher sat up and looked around his dark room.

Suddenly, his eyes drifted to the opposite corner of his room where two purple eyes and a big, white, and wide smile appeared.

"Hello there, long time no see. It's so easy to get into your head," something spoke from that dark corner in a provocative tone.

"Who are you!" responded Christopher as he teleported himself to the other corner of his room and picked up his sword, pulling it out from its sheet he pointed it towards the creature in the corner.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA," the creature laughed.

"If I wanted to hurt you, you would be already dead, Christopher," the sentence came in a warning tone.

Christopher nodded and hid his sword on the sheet he had already on his back.

The creature narrowed its eyes, "You trust me so easily?"

"You send me here so you need me alive for something. Obviously, you will not kill me today, so for now, I'll trust you... Darkness," Christopher responded with an unbiased expression.

The Darkness smiled "You are right," and walked out from the dark corner, looking like a human.

He was 190cm tall with well-defined muscles, long black hair, and purple eyes, wearing a black suit with purple details and laces around his chest and sleeves.

"What do you want and why did you send me here?" Christopher asked straight the main question.

"Hahahaha, you didn't change, that's good," the Darkness chuckled.

"It was just one day, of course, I didn't change," Christopher rolled his eyes but registered the hidden meaning.

"One day for you, a year for me, and three days for your wives," the Darkness replayed with a curious look, wanting to see Christopher's reaction.

"Three?" he narrowed his eyes dangerously.

"Yes, Aragos is a planet located in another dimension than Earth. Time here is different from everything else. You can be here a year but on Earth, it would be already three. For other places on this planet, it's more complicated than here," the Darkness spoke.

Memories of his wives and that dream he had a few minutes ago flashed through his mind as he asked "What do you want then? Why did you send me here!"

"Haaaah, you are no fun, puppet," the Darkness sighed as the window that was behind Christopher opened and the Darkness flew like a shadow through Christopher and that window.

Christopher turned his head to the window and pure shock appeared on his face.

He was on Ardelean's home planet again.

Using his teleporting powers, he appeared next to Darkness, who was looking at the two big stars, resembling suns.

One was yellow while the other was red.

The sky was like he remembered it, aqua blue with green tones above the hills.

"Why are we here again?" Christopher asked and the Darkness started explaining.

"You know everything about my fight with the Light?"

"Yeah, you got your ass kicked haha~" Christopher chucked.

The Darkness rolled his eyes and asked "Yeah, but did you know that the Light cheated?"

"Yeah I know, and?" Christopher narrowed his eyes and the Darkness smiled while starting explaining.

"In the past, me and the Light, we lived in peace. We were married."

Hearing this, Christopher almost choked.

"You were WHAT?"

"I taught you know that," the Darkness spoke.

"I know that but, hearing it is always pretty weird," Christopher shrugged his chin.

"Heh, I understand it sounds... pretty weird actually like you said but, she was different then. Loving and caring. The perfect wife material! We were happy and our marriage even helped your universe to stabilize and be in constant balance."

"Later on, we wanted a child, but God appeared with his concept of good, light, and everything. He said that I'm evil and she is pure, that we are not 'compatible' with each other and our love could destroy everything he created."

"He started manipulating her against me and in the end, she fell under his 'charm'. He used her against me, to destroy me but it's impossible. You can't destroy Darkness without destroying a Light, because without me, the Light can't exist and without Light, I can't exist."

"Only if you immediately use someone to take the burden of my or her concept, we can die peacefully. Until then, we are connected."

"At that time, she didn't have anyone to take my place so that's why she just threw me into that prison using a specific artifact."

"Eye of Aragos," Christopher spoke and the Darkness nodded.

"An artifact she gained from God and used to defeat me. He knew I was stronger so he gave her his strongest weapon, a weapon that was used to create an entire universe."

"One question," asked Christopher to make sure his thoughts were wrong.

"Where is that eye now?"

But his thoughts were immediately thrown into the trash when the Darkness looked at him with a wide smile, showing his sharp teeth.

Christopher rolled his eyes, thinking how deep into this hole full of shit he can fall.

"So, that's why you are here. Find the eye and with it's help, you can go back to your wives... Simple right?"

"Why don't you look for it alone fucker?! I think it would be faster for both of us!" Christopher spoke in annoyance.

"I can't, I'm not here remember? I'm still locked in that prison so it's just on you two," the Darkness replayed.

"Two?" Christopher narrowed his eyes.

"Ardelean will help you like always. You are friends after all, right?" the Darkness smiled and started walking away.

["Yes,"] Ardelean replied and the Darkness nodded.

Christopher just looked at the leaving Darkness man and when he wanted to ask something, a purple dagger accompanied by sounds of thunders, fell from the sky.

The Darkness turned and smiled "Use it wisely..."

Then, everything crumbled apart like it was just a dream and when Christopher woke up again, it was a night but this time, he was on Aragos again.

Looking around, a few new candles were placed around his room.

The room now felt more comfortable, so Christopher slowly got up and walked to his window again.

Looking around, near the tavern was now standing a big bonfire.

It's flames were easily reaching ten meters high and people of the town were dancing and singing happily around it.

["What do you think? It looks like fun, right?"] Ardelean asked.

"Where do you think it's the Eye?" Christopher placed his question.

["If it was on me, I would probably hide it somewhere where I could always have it under my sight. Like a gem crown maybe?"]

"Interesting..." Christopher replayed.

["Common host, we should go out. Relax a little before we go,"] spoke Ardelean in an excited tone.

"Yeah, you are right," spoke Christopher, completely ignoring what happened a minute ago.

What brought the memories back was when the purple dagger suddenly appeared in the middle of the room, levitating.

Remembering, Christopher took the dagger, and his weapons and left his room in silence.

When the door closed, Melina, who was hiding under the bed rolled out and got up.

"That was close," patting her clothes "Whatever... hehehe~," she threw herself on the bed and started sniffing the sheets like a teenager in love and a female in heat.

"Mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine," she was repeating the same word like a broken record until she had enough.

Then, she got up and with her iris in the shape of a heart and body covered in Christopher's scent, she left his room.

...

Coming down the stairs and entering the bar, Christopher ordered a cup of blood and sat next to Mark who was reading a book.

"Hey there, slept well? HeHeHe," Mark asked and chuckled a little.

"Yeah, it was good. Anyways, you said that after I rest you would tell me more about this world," Christopher spoke.

"What do you want to do now?" asked Mark as four question bars appeared in Christopher's field of view.

'Hmm, what should I choose?' he thought.

He picked the first one and asked "What can you tell me about this world?"

Mark sipped his brandy and explained "This planet is very old but still full of life. People here have a long lifespan, about five hundred years."

"It's about four times more than on my planet," Christopher replayed and Mark smiled "It's because of this," and pulled a bottle of water that had something purple and yellow in it.

It looked like small minerals or something and when Christopher drank it, he felt the taste of blood.

"Wait a minute! I felt ...blood? How is that possible?" he was shocked.

Mark laughed and explained "This my friend, is a water of life. It's coming from the core of this planet, nutritioning all living on its surface. It can heal any injury and can't become spoiled when you let her in the bottle."

"Every being who drinks it would feel a taste of what they need to survive. Vampires would feel blood and this water would even act like blood. Others would feel water probably, etc."

"But this water is very rare. Before the monsters came, we were a happy planet without troubles but when the Light Queen, her four Lords with their dragons, ogres, orcs, and other monsters came, the water started disappearing and now, we have one bottle each year for the entire town."

Christopher narrowed his eyes "Lords?"

Mark bent closer to Christopher and Christopher's gaze fell on the orange flickering flames of the candle that was placed between them.

Both sipping from their drinks, Mark started explaining and Christopher's gaze was locked with the candle's flame where Mark's words turned into images of two big dragons.

"When the Darkness lost the battle against the Light, the Light stayed in that Universe but sent here her right hand, her follower." the image turned and showed a woman of immense holly beauty in a long gold dress.

"Why?" asked Christopher.

"Because when they lived in peace, this was their home."

"How is that possible?" Christopher placed another question as the image changed to a cave with a big purple dragon egg.

"You see, at first, this was a planet where each year, a Darkness Dragon was born due to this water, later turning into an entity to be used to control a new universe that was born with him and the Light dragon."

"From another planet then came Light and they became the balance concepts for that new Universe that was born with them. Until the last Darkness dragon fell in love with the Light dragon and disappeared into the void where the battle happened. From that day, no other dragon was born here neither on the Light planet."

"It's like no new universes were born either."

Christopher opened his eyes wide but didn't say anything and Mark continued.

"We don't know the name of the Light queen, but she became a cold, calculating ruler of this world." as Mark's words began to flow, a crest of a dragon surrounded by other four on each corner appeared in the flickering flames of that candle.

"And Four Lords that fought against her on her way through the universe before, now serve under her. She took them with her as trophies from their home worlds she demolished and placed them here as her rulers."

Suddenly, Christopher saw the face of a handsome but cruel-looking man with long black hair that reached his shoulders and a French musketeer-type beard, wearing black and read medieval aristocratic clothes.

"The first is Lord Cravensworth, who lives in Sangruil, located high in the North mountains."

"None of his guests have ever come back from that dark, cold castle."

Then, the image changed and Christopher now saw a man with animalistic features and long, messy, brown hair that flew in the wind. He wore clothes made from animal skin and his eyes gleamed azure blue.

"The second is Frederic Casentino, a being of incredible power that lives deep in the stone kingdom past the east gate."

"It is said that he is not the only one of his kind that lives in that place."

The image changed again and Christopher saw two men, smiling and conceited, one with short blond hair and one with longer black hair, standing behind a beautiful girl with red eyes and blond hair. All of them were dressed in black clothes.

"The third and most troublesome are the descendants of the Mozenait family, who are known for their Mastery of Witchcraft."

"These two brothers and one sister are ruling the misty West and the city of Witphoke."

'Withpoke huh? That Orc from earlier mentioned that place,' Christopher thought and focused again on the flames.

Then the image changed the last time, revealing a woman with a sinful body that was hidden under a black queen-like dress with raven feathers around her neckline. Her hair was curled but her face was hidden behind a dark, faceless mask.

"The fourth is the Empress of Death and a Commander of Ravens, living in a Credia Empire in the South."

"No one knows her true name and those who found out never left the gates of her city."

"Interesting, can you tell me more about those towns?" Christopher asked with curiosity as the names of the four kingdoms appeared in his field of view like those questions before.

Picking the first again, Mark chuckled "Ho, ho, ho~, let me tell you about Sangruil then, The kingdom of Blood Roses."

"This kingdom was created in ancient times but these days, no one exactly knows who built it and who knew that is already dead or forgot that."

"The weird thing? Well, this kingdom has it's moon, whose color is resembling blood. Crazy right? I don't know how they did it but it was a long time since the castle saw our sun."

"Some rumors are saying that this extraordinary kingdom is hiding an incredibly powerful weapon that belonged to the former king of this castle who killed the mighty dragon Ortasax before he was murdered by Lord Cravensworth himself."

"The weapon is supposed to still have a few drops of the dragon's rare golden blood on its blade, but I'm telling you, many brave men went in search of this weapon, but the only thing that was left behind were their dead bodies."

"Bodies without a single drop of blood."

Christopher understood "Vampires huh?"

Mark nodded and Christopher picked the next town.

"Ahh~ Did you heard about the beautiful Withpoke, the Lake of Witches? No? Let me introduce it to you then."

"A long time ago, the river warlocks of the Mozenait family established a network of trading barges who would transport gold back to the Royal Capital."

"There, the previous king melted it down and forged a pleasure garden made of solid gold."

"But the peace between the king and warlocks didn't last long, mainly because of the king's greed and the warlocks went rogue, later building their city on the golden Withpoke lake, protecting it to their last breath."

"When the last male of the Mozenait family that lived there died, the witches that were living there too, transformed it into their kingdom until the three mysterious, and powerful last descendants came there and took the town back."

"...But I'm suggesting you do NOT go there, because if you do then, heh well, you can't leave them anymore."

"Why?" asked Christopher as his expression narrowed.

"I don't know, but it might be connected with the youngest sibling. That girl is a powerful witch and her speciality? Mind and Blood control."

Christopher gulped and quickly chose another town.

"Well, I thought you would never ask me about this one. Haaah~ The kingdom of the Full Moon, ruled by Lord Casentino."

"The story of this kingdom starts when Frederic Casentino, the head of the Royal Capital Council was being haunted because of his werewolf curse by our previous king."

"During his escape from the Royal Capital, he ran deep into the Saigia forest, where he found few of his kind."

"With their help, he built a city high in the mountains that worked and still works as a refuge for all werewolves even in these days."

"Time slowly passed and the city turned into a powerful kingdom, feared almost by everyone, mainly by Vampires because of the Werewolves' venom that can permanently kill them after three days."

"Thanks to the height of the kingdom, the night there is longer and the day shorter... so if you start a fight with someone of their kind there, especially in the night, well, it would be the biggest mistake you ever made."

Christopher smiled and chose the last town.

*Whistle "Wow, it was a long time since someone asked me about Credia Empire, a long time indeed, but I'm glad you did my friend hehe."

"You know, the zealots of Credia have earned their reputation as cruel and devoted soldiers, so trust me when I say you don't want to see them on your opponent's side."

"Their armies march under the banner of their Empress, a secret Goddess whose name has never been spoken outside of Credia. Weird right... so much devotion."

*Ahm "Anyways..."

"This empire is not that big and was built just a few thousand years ago, but when you want trustworthy soldiers, Credia's people are the ones you are looking for."

"But of course... there is a catch. And a BIG one."

"Every time, you need to bring a human as payment for their services."

"Pretty weird right?"

"Well, rumors are saying that the Goddess who is protecting them and granting them their supernatural abilities really loves human flesh, so if you want to leave their city alive, always bring someone with you."

"Just in case."

When Christopher heard about the last town, he drank the blood from his cup in a row and ordered another.

Mark laughed and pulled a map from his pocket "Here, she helped me numerous times, now, she's yours."

Christopher took the map, took the candle into his hand, and placed the map on the wooden table.

Hearing footsteps, he turned his face towards the stairs and saw Melina with a wide smile staring at him without blinking while walking down.

He shuddered and quickly looked at the map, knowing that this type of face had his wives when they wanted to *"Ahm," spend time together.

'Ardelean?'

["Yeah I got you,"] he responded and the place, in Christopher's right below the corner of his field of view, now showed a minimap and compass.

'Thanks.'

Ardelean nodded and Christopher started studying the map more closely.

"What are you doing darl-" *AHM! "-Christopher~" Melina's voice sent shivers down Christopher's spine.

'Not you too... Am I some magnet for this kind of troublesome women? Not that I'm complaining, it's just weird.'

["Hahaha, get used to it. Vampires are very much desired in numerous universes,"] laughed Ardelean and Christopher just rolled his eyes but noted this comment in his memory.

Melina went slowly behind him and whispered into his left ear "Darling?"

Christopher woke up and opened his eyes wide, responding "Y-yes?"

"Come and dance with me."

Christopher looked at her and was feeling that her eyes are slowly sucking his soul out of him, which he liked a lot actually.

Then, he looked the last time on the map, before he handed her over to Mark and Melina started pulling him out.

"Ahhh~ my daughter is really scary sometimes," Mark spoke while looking at his daughter who looked like a psychopath in heat.

"Heh, like mother like daughter I guess," he spoke and sipped his brandy, starting to read his book again.

...