Chapter 170: 170
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Ah yes, Delina Mikhail. How could I forget her? I have had such a vivid array of conversations with her that it would be nigh impossible to forget even an ounce of who she is.
Nodding to Soren, I peer once again at the diadem, losing myself in thought.
To say I 'Met' would certainly be an understatement. In my time in Sezeria I have had some pretty volatile encounters with her, and all manner of confrontations, and even that is putting it lightly. It was thanks to her original spite towards me that it quickly became apparent to me upon entering this palace that mortals aren't the only ones plagued with jealousy. In fact, vampires themselves seem to be the worst sufferers of all. What a cruel parody it is that an immortal creature, just like any other, has to struggle for love all the same as we do.
That said, Delina was never really a truly bad vampire. Not like Azrael, or Andrais, who delight upon the suffering of mortal flesh and to make onlookers squirm with unease upon their passing. No, she never truly wanted to harm me. She was just heartbroken and bitter, and ruined by the fact her love would never truly be returned to her, no matter how greatly she pined for it.
The longer I stayed in the palace (though my interactions with her were always rather tumultuous up until recently), I began to sympathise with her, with that feeling- the hopelessness, the unattainability, the premise that no matter how hard you try or strive towards something, you are never going to get closer to achieving it. For the longest time that is how I felt about Soren, from hating him, then plunging head first into loving him, yet I never had any hope that he would love me.
Delina was much the same as me then- listless and feeling ever ruined by love, trapped within its grasp and yet being a willing captive to its prisons.
I know the feeling all too well.
A soft, comforting voice calls to me in my head, soothing the aching worries in my mind with a series of honeyed coos.
You have nothing to fear anymore, Serena. I love you dear. I will always love you.
Shaken out of my daze, I give the watchful Soren a fleeting smile.
Thank you, honey.
I reply, and he returns my smile, a gentle gleam twinkling in his eyes.
"Yes, I know Lady Delina. We've had a-" I pause for a moment, the words stuck on my tongue. "-Interesting relationship." I say out loud now, brows furrowing. Kal nods his head in agreement, wrinkling his nose as he inspects the diadem between his fingers.
"Yeah. Isn't she the blue skinned vampire lady? Has narrow, pointed horns that look a bit like daggers? A permanently hard look, as though she wants to beat you up but considers such an action below her?" Kal says, the shiver that runs through him seeming to suggest that I am not the only one who has gotten on her bad side. I murmur my acknowledgment.
"Yeah, that's her. Couldn't have put it better myself. Is it hers, then?"
Soren shakes his head in adamant denial. Puffing out his cheeks, he toys with his words for a moment.
"No, well, sort of. You see, it was her grandmothers- though just recently it was given to Lady Delina Mikhail as a birthday present. You see Mikhail isn't a pure blooded vampire, but she is from a line of very noble, very powerful families. On her fathers side, there is the Mikhail dynasty- they rule a small kingdom West from here. It's home to a lot of wealthy vampires who are bent less on sex, more on class. Very high brow, and they care almost as much about fashion as we do here. You wouldn't see a single beggar on the streets up there, mostly because they would have been drained them all before they can even get there," he says rather casually, as if this is nothing new to him.
Then again, I suppose for a vampire who is several hundreds of years old, it becomes increasingly difficult to find anything new and surprising, and undoubtedly as time continues to grind, the toll of life becomes stale with similarity. Soren has seen things in his lifetime that I cannot even hope to imagine, but that does not mean they are breath taking to him.
"I suppose that would explain her attitude then," Kal snickers beside me, then shortly falls silent when Soren shoots him an unimpressed look. Despite the fact that Delina certainly has had her misgivings towards us, she is still Soren's friend, and by that nature earns a margin of respect- a respect that Kal clearly grants begrudgingly.
A flicker of silence passes between us, broken only by the whoosh and swill of water.
"Okay," Kal says slowly nervously, processing the information in an attempt to break up the awkward silence that has befallen us. He holds up the crystalline diadem out in empty air again, surveying it over.
"But that doesn't actually tell us anything about this necklace. Or her grandmother."
"I am getting to that, Kal, patience," he snaps sharply, to which Kal promptly closes his mouth, not keen to sustain an argument.
For a moment, Soren floats there, his eyes flickering, a look of puzzlement on his face as if best deciding how to break the news to us. Such a look doesn't exactly fill me with confidence. Eventually he puffs out a sigh.
"Alright. Lady Delina's grandmother- her mothers side, was a Siren."
"What?" Kal and I both burst out at the same time, but Soren waves his hands, quelling us into a submissive but rather anxious silence. Nervously, I glance back down into the water, a faint quiver running through me as my eyes scan the murky depths, watching for flickers of movement below. All at once all that fabric and gold accessories littering the seabed are starting to make a whole lot more sense.
Kal fidgets apprehensively beside me, quite clearly having a similar array of thoughts. But before either of us can start sweating bullets about the prospect of coming face to face with a siren, Soren coughs us back to attention.
"You probably know that they are notoriously tricky creatures, and have a tendency to rely on illusions and trickery to lure in their prey. She was very well acquainted with Azrael, and loves her granddaughter deeply. So when Azrael offered to build her an underwater city under our palace and place her as its guardian in order to protect the people of Sezeria- including her granddaughter, she could hardly refuse. She has been guarding the entrance with her people for hundreds of years- I have to admit, her loyalty is rather endearing."
Both Kal and I become motionless in shocked silence. Then for the second time today, just as reality hits us, we burst out:
"An underwater city?" we cry in unison, flabbergasted. Soren gives us both a long look of disbelief.
"There are much greater, and much worse things lurking in the world of Faey," he shrugs simply, which of course, is absolutely true. Me having a soul of power, for instance, would certainly boggle a fair few mortals minds- and even members of the council. But to think there is an entire city underwater, under this palace? Not to mention Azrael himself auditioned its construction?
Dizzily I place a finger to my temple, attempting vainly to steady the pounding of the ever growing ache in my head. The world truly is a crazy place.
"So," Kal concludes, his voice shaking slightly. "We have a seemingly endless cavern full of Azrael's illusions, an ancient Siren lady somewhere deep underwater who also dabbles in the magic of illusions, and we have no way to breathe underwater." he stops for a moment, listing off on his fingers to make sure he has gotten everything.
"To be honest, I don't think there is much hope for us."
Irritably, I reach up from the water to slap Kal's ankles.
"Stop being so negative." I complain, unwilling to relent to any inconveniences just yet- though they are rather big inconveniences. Besides, if I can get through a maze of halflings bent on my immediate demise, how hard can one Siren lady be in a massive ocean of illusions?
I glance up to Soren, who watches me with a curious expression playing on his features, as if perhaps he already knows what I am thinking.
"Lady Delina, does she come down here?" I ask curiously, to which Soren gives me a ponderous look.
"Quite often, but I don't see how-"
Then he stops still, suddenly realising where I am going with this. Hesitantly, he nods, bringing a hand up to his face to scratch his chin.
"Yes, yes, you are right, I completely forgot."
Kal looks between us both, his eyes flickering and wide, as though quite unsure what is going on. Desperately he flits between us, trying to make sense of the situation.
"Okay enough with the weird mind games, what are you two thinking?"
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Ah yes, Delina Mikhail. How could I forget her? I have had such a vivid array of conversations with her that it would be nigh impossible to forget even an ounce of who she is.
Nodding to Soren, I peer once again at the diadem, losing myself in thought.
To say I 'Met' would certainly be an understatement. In my time in Sezeria I have had some pretty volatile encounters with her, and all manner of confrontations, and even that is putting it lightly. It was thanks to her original spite towards me that it quickly became apparent to me upon entering this palace that mortals aren't the only ones plagued with jealousy. In fact, vampires themselves seem to be the worst sufferers of all. What a cruel parody it is that an immortal creature, just like any other, has to struggle for love all the same as we do.
That said, Delina was never really a truly bad vampire. Not like Azrael, or Andrais, who delight upon the suffering of mortal flesh and to make onlookers squirm with unease upon their passing. No, she never truly wanted to harm me. She was just heartbroken and bitter, and ruined by the fact her love would never truly be returned to her, no matter how greatly she pined for it.
The longer I stayed in the palace (though my interactions with her were always rather tumultuous up until recently), I began to sympathise with her, with that feeling- the hopelessness, the unattainability, the premise that no matter how hard you try or strive towards something, you are never going to get closer to achieving it. For the longest time that is how I felt about Soren, from hating him, then plunging head first into loving him, yet I never had any hope that he would love me.
Delina was much the same as me then- listless and feeling ever ruined by love, trapped within its grasp and yet being a willing captive to its prisons.
I know the feeling all too well.
A soft, comforting voice calls to me in my head, soothing the aching worries in my mind with a series of honeyed coos.
You have nothing to fear anymore, Serena. I love you dear. I will always love you.
Shaken out of my daze, I give the watchful Soren a fleeting smile.
Thank you, honey.
I reply, and he returns my smile, a gentle gleam twinkling in his eyes.
"Yes, I know Lady Delina. We've had a-" I pause for a moment, the words stuck on my tongue. "-Interesting relationship." I say out loud now, brows furrowing. Kal nods his head in agreement, wrinkling his nose as he inspects the diadem between his fingers.
"Yeah. Isn't she the blue skinned vampire lady? Has narrow, pointed horns that look a bit like daggers? A permanently hard look, as though she wants to beat you up but considers such an action below her?" Kal says, the shiver that runs through him seeming to suggest that I am not the only one who has gotten on her bad side. I murmur my acknowledgment.
"Yeah, that's her. Couldn't have put it better myself. Is it hers, then?"
Soren shakes his head in adamant denial. Puffing out his cheeks, he toys with his words for a moment.
"No, well, sort of. You see, it was her grandmothers- though just recently it was given to Lady Delina Mikhail as a birthday present. You see Mikhail isn't a pure blooded vampire, but she is from a line of very noble, very powerful families. On her fathers side, there is the Mikhail dynasty- they rule a small kingdom West from here. It's home to a lot of wealthy vampires who are bent less on sex, more on class. Very high brow, and they care almost as much about fashion as we do here. You wouldn't see a single beggar on the streets up there, mostly because they would have been drained them all before they can even get there," he says rather casually, as if this is nothing new to him.
Then again, I suppose for a vampire who is several hundreds of years old, it becomes increasingly difficult to find anything new and surprising, and undoubtedly as time continues to grind, the toll of life becomes stale with similarity. Soren has seen things in his lifetime that I cannot even hope to imagine, but that does not mean they are breath taking to him.
"I suppose that would explain her attitude then," Kal snickers beside me, then shortly falls silent when Soren shoots him an unimpressed look. Despite the fact that Delina certainly has had her misgivings towards us, she is still Soren's friend, and by that nature earns a margin of respect- a respect that Kal clearly grants begrudgingly.
A flicker of silence passes between us, broken only by the whoosh and swill of water.
"Okay," Kal says slowly nervously, processing the information in an attempt to break up the awkward silence that has befallen us. He holds up the crystalline diadem out in empty air again, surveying it over.
"But that doesn't actually tell us anything about this necklace. Or her grandmother."
"I am getting to that, Kal, patience," he snaps sharply, to which Kal promptly closes his mouth, not keen to sustain an argument.
For a moment, Soren floats there, his eyes flickering, a look of puzzlement on his face as if best deciding how to break the news to us. Such a look doesn't exactly fill me with confidence. Eventually he puffs out a sigh.
"Alright. Lady Delina's grandmother- her mothers side, was a Siren."
"What?" Kal and I both burst out at the same time, but Soren waves his hands, quelling us into a submissive but rather anxious silence. Nervously, I glance back down into the water, a faint quiver running through me as my eyes scan the murky depths, watching for flickers of movement below. All at once all that fabric and gold accessories littering the seabed are starting to make a whole lot more sense.
Kal fidgets apprehensively beside me, quite clearly having a similar array of thoughts. But before either of us can start sweating bullets about the prospect of coming face to face with a siren, Soren coughs us back to attention.
"You probably know that they are notoriously tricky creatures, and have a tendency to rely on illusions and trickery to lure in their prey. She was very well acquainted with Azrael, and loves her granddaughter deeply. So when Azrael offered to build her an underwater city under our palace and place her as its guardian in order to protect the people of Sezeria- including her granddaughter, she could hardly refuse. She has been guarding the entrance with her people for hundreds of years- I have to admit, her loyalty is rather endearing."
Both Kal and I become motionless in shocked silence. Then for the second time today, just as reality hits us, we burst out:
"An underwater city?" we cry in unison, flabbergasted. Soren gives us both a long look of disbelief.
"There are much greater, and much worse things lurking in the world of Faey," he shrugs simply, which of course, is absolutely true. Me having a soul of power, for instance, would certainly boggle a fair few mortals minds- and even members of the council. But to think there is an entire city underwater, under this palace? Not to mention Azrael himself auditioned its construction?
Dizzily I place a finger to my temple, attempting vainly to steady the pounding of the ever growing ache in my head. The world truly is a crazy place.
"So," Kal concludes, his voice shaking slightly. "We have a seemingly endless cavern full of Azrael's illusions, an ancient Siren lady somewhere deep underwater who also dabbles in the magic of illusions, and we have no way to breathe underwater." he stops for a moment, listing off on his fingers to make sure he has gotten everything.
"To be honest, I don't think there is much hope for us."
Irritably, I reach up from the water to slap Kal's ankles.
"Stop being so negative." I complain, unwilling to relent to any inconveniences just yet- though they are rather big inconveniences. Besides, if I can get through a maze of halflings bent on my immediate demise, how hard can one Siren lady be in a massive ocean of illusions?
I glance up to Soren, who watches me with a curious expression playing on his features, as if perhaps he already knows what I am thinking.
"Lady Delina, does she come down here?" I ask curiously, to which Soren gives me a ponderous look.
"Quite often, but I don't see how-"
Then he stops still, suddenly realising where I am going with this. Hesitantly, he nods, bringing a hand up to his face to scratch his chin.
"Yes, yes, you are right, I completely forgot."
Kal looks between us both, his eyes flickering and wide, as though quite unsure what is going on. Desperately he flits between us, trying to make sense of the situation.
"Okay enough with the weird mind games, what are you two thinking?"
Ah yes, Delina Mikhail. How could I forget her? I have had such a vivid array of conversations with her that it would be nigh impossible to forget even an ounce of who she is.Nodding to Soren, I peer once again at the diadem, losing myself in thought.To say I 'Met' would certainly be an understatement. In my time in Sezeria I have had some pretty volatile encounters with her, and all manner of confrontations, and even that is putting it lightly. It was thanks to her original spite towards me that it quickly became apparent to me upon entering this palace that mortals aren't the only ones plagued with jealousy. In fact, vampires themselves seem to be the worst sufferers of all. What a cruel parody it is that an immortal creature, just like any other, has to struggle for love all the same as we do.That said, Delina was never really a truly bad vampire. Not like Azrael, or Andrais, who delight upon the suffering of mortal flesh and to make onlookers squirm with unease upon their passing. No, she never truly wanted to harm me. She was just heartbroken and bitter, and ruined by the fact her love would never truly be returned to her, no matter how greatly she pined for it.The longer I stayed in the palace though my interactions with her were always rather tumultuous up until recently, I began to sympathise with her, with that feeling- the hopelessness, the unattainability, the premise that no matter how hard you try or strive towards something, you are never going to get closer to achieving it. For the longest time that is how I felt about Soren, from hating him, then plunging head first into loving him, yet I never had any hope that he would love me.Delina was much the same as me then- listless and feeling ever ruined by love, trapped within its grasp and yet being a willing captive to its prisons.I know the feeling all too well.A soft, comforting voice calls to me in my head, soothing the aching worries in my mind with a series of honeyed coos.You have nothing to fear anymore, Serena. I love you dear. I will always love you. Shaken out of my daze, I give the watchful Soren a fleeting smile.Thank you, honey.I reply, and he returns my smile, a gentle gleam twinkling in his eyes. "Yes, I know Lady Delina. We've had a-" I pause for a moment, the words stuck on my tongue. "-Interesting relationship." I say out loud now, brows furrowing. Kal nods his head in agreement, wrinkling his nose as he inspects the diadem between his fingers."Yeah. Isn't she the blue skinned vampire lady? Has narrow, pointed horns that look a bit like daggers? A permanently hard look, as though she wants to beat you up but considers such an action below her?" Kal says, the shiver that runs through him seeming to suggest that I am not the only one who has gotten on her bad side. I murmur my acknowledgment."Yeah, that's her. Couldn't have put it better myself. Is it hers, then?"Soren shakes his head in adamant denial. Puffing out his cheeks, he toys with his words for a moment."No, well, sort of. You see, it was her grandmothers- though just recently it was given to Lady Delina Mikhail as a birthday present. You see Mikhail isn't a pure blooded vampire, but she is from a line of very noble, very powerful families. On her fathers side, there is the Mikhail dynasty- they rule a small kingdom West from here. It's home to a lot of wealthy vampires who are bent less on sex, more on class. Very high brow, and they care almost as much about fashion as we do here. You wouldn't see a single beggar on the streets up there, mostly because they would have been drained them all before they can even get there," he says rather casually, as if this is nothing new to him. Then again, I suppose for a vampire who is several hundreds of years old, it becomes increasingly difficult to find anything new and surprising, and undoubtedly as time continues to grind, the toll of life becomes stale with similarity. Soren has seen things in his lifetime that I cannot even hope to imagine, but that does not mean they are breath taking to him."I suppose that would explain her attitude then," Kal snickers beside me, then shortly falls silent when Soren shoots him an unimpressed look. Despite the fact that Delina certainly has had her misgivings towards us, she is still Soren's friend, and by that nature earns a margin of respect- a respect that Kal clearly grants begrudgingly. A flicker of silence passes between us, broken only by the whoosh and swill of water."Okay," Kal says slowly nervously, processing the information in an attempt to break up the awkward silence that has befallen us. He holds up the crystalline diadem out in empty air again, surveying it over."But that doesn't actually tell us anything about this necklace. Or her grandmother.""I am getting to that, Kal, patience," he snaps sharply, to which Kal promptly closes his mouth, not keen to sustain an argument.For a moment, Soren floats there, his eyes flickering, a look of puzzlement on his face as if best deciding how to break the news to us. Such a look doesn't exactly fill me with confidence. Eventually he puffs out a sigh."Alright. Lady Delina's grandmother- her mothers side, was a Siren.""What?" Kal and I both burst out at the same time, but Soren waves his hands, quelling us into a submissive but rather anxious silence. Nervously, I glance back down into the water, a faint quiver running through me as my eyes scan the murky depths, watching for flickers of movement below. All at once all that fabric and gold accessories littering the seabed are starting to make a whole lot more sense.Kal fidgets apprehensively beside me, quite clearly having a similar array of thoughts. But before either of us can start sweating bullets about the prospect of coming face to face with a siren, Soren coughs us back to attention."You probably know that they are notoriously tricky creatures, and have a tendency to rely on illusions and trickery to lure in their prey. She was very well acquainted with Azrael, and loves her granddaughter deeply. So when Azrael offered to build her an underwater city under our palace and place her as its guardian in order to protect the people of Sezeria- including her granddaughter, she could hardly refuse. She has been guarding the entrance with her people for hundreds of years- I have to admit, her loyalty is rather endearing."Both Kal and I become motionless in shocked silence. Then for the second time today, just as reality hits us, we burst out:"An underwater city?" we cry in unison, flabbergasted. Soren gives us both a long look of disbelief."There are much greater, and much worse things lurking in the world of Faey," he shrugs simply, which of course, is absolutely true. Me having a soul of power, for instance, would certainly boggle a fair few mortals minds- and even members of the council. But to think there is an entire city underwater, under this palace? Not to mention Azrael himself auditioned its construction? Dizzily I place a finger to my temple, attempting vainly to steady the pounding of the ever growing ache in my head. The world truly is a crazy place."So," Kal concludes, his voice shaking slightly. "We have a seemingly endless cavern full of Azrael's illusions, an ancient Siren lady somewhere deep underwater who also dabbles in the magic of illusions, and we have no way to breathe underwater." he stops for a moment, listing off on his fingers to make sure he has gotten everything. "To be honest, I don't think there is much hope for us."Irritably, I reach up from the water to slap Kal's ankles."Stop being so negative." I complain, unwilling to relent to any inconveniences just yet- though they are rather big inconveniences. Besides, if I can get through a maze of halflings bent on my immediate demise, how hard can one Siren lady be in a massive ocean of illusions? I glance up to Soren, who watches me with a curious expression playing on his features, as if perhaps he already knows what I am thinking."Lady Delina, does she come down here?" I ask curiously, to which Soren gives me a ponderous look."Quite often, but I don't see how-"Then he stops still, suddenly realising where I am going with this. Hesitantly, he nods, bringing a hand up to his face to scratch his chin."Yes, yes, you are right, I completely forgot." Kal looks between us both, his eyes flickering and wide, as though quite unsure what is going on. Desperately he flits between us, trying to make sense of the situation."Okay enough with the weird mind games, what are you two thinking?"
