NOCTEM

Irene

A strange looking young man was seated on a throne made entirely out of skulls—countless skulls which were without doubt procured from different monsters and humans.

His skin was deathly pale, with eyes riddled by dark circles. His pupil were a deep shade of green while his iris were pitch black.

His hair was onyx coloured which complemented nicely with his ghastly pale skin, alongside his mouth which looked like it had been forcibly torn at the sides by a blade as he had lines that extended all the way to his cheekbone. Although it was stitched neatly, he looked too eerie to be human.

He was currently within a dark throne room adorned by several statues of monstrous giants holding enormous blades and war hammers.

There was very little moonlight seeping into the throne room and the aura currently emanating from him was extremely vile.

"M..My lord.." A trembling human managed to utter, his face was pale and filled with fear. " W..W..We were able... to get rid of the crescent wolf pack as well as the scion of the wolf race and the blood witch Aurelia.. But.. But.. we couldn't... We.. couldn't g.. get the boy."

For a short while an ominous silence befell the eerie throne room, then the strange young man seated on the throne of skulls, exhaled. A sound which only seemed to further enhance the eerie and ominous atmosphere.

"You have less than ten seconds to start explaining the reason for your failure after I had provided you with adequate resources and equipment necessary to carry out the mission, clearly you knew the boy was the priority."

The trembling human stuttered, his gaze down as he couldn't dare meet the eyes of his lord.

"He..He.. ventured i.. into the cursed forest... The men w..who chased after him.. all perished, I s.. suspect that.. the.. child.. perished..as wel..."

Blood splattered on the floor of the dark throne room as the head of the human exploded from his body before he could utter another word.

The strange young man looked down at the headless body of the human with disgust and a look akin to scorn.

"Fool!"

He stood up from his skull throne and walked across the hall of his throne room.. his steps were unhurried and graceful, his presence itself was like a venomous snake stalking close by as if it was looking for a prey to devour.

Leaving the chilling confines of his throne room, he took a walk around his castle.

From the upper levels to the lower levels of the castle there were no servants within them, no presence of life, only eerie statues of both monsters, humanoid creatures, Dulhan.. gargoyle, even members of different races, elves, werewolves, dragons, sirens and as long as the list goes with the exception of a few races were present in the castle, but there was no sign of life anywhere at least on the upper levels of the castle.

Down at the very last floor, behind a huge iron door was a teenage girl, shackled by multiple chains. Her appearance was disheveled and her clothes were ragged but her alabaster skin was flawless, her silver hair had dark strands along the edges as well as the base of her hair, her bright green eyes were bleak and lifeless as she stared at the strange man with an ominous aura.

The young man smiled, a mischievous glint in his eyes, perfectly reflecting the image of the young girl.

He lingered for a few moments as he stared at the girl, she had no fear in her — no rather it'd be more accurate to say that she had no will to live anymore..

The pale man grinned making the room temperature drop by a few degrees.

"My dear Irene, I bring good news, well depending on how you see it, it can also be bad news to you as well."

He lingered for a moment, the chained girl didn't react, no movements, no expressions, she remained perfectly unmoving even as the pale man spoke.

"Well where do I start... Ah yes.. your parents are dead, you know the ones you loathe so much for not coming to your aid and leaving you for dead.."

As soon as he mentioned this, the chained girl raised her head to get a better look at the pale man, a look of surprise marred her delicate face.

The pale man chuckled then continued.

"And that's not all my dear specimen, not only did they leave you for dead, they also spawned another child to replace you..."

He walked closer, his grin widened and his voice grew more a tad bit deeper than its usual tone.

"You weren't needed, so they didn't look for you, to them you were just something that could be replaced, and then they gave up their life for your younger sibling, something they could never have done for you.."

The girl's facial expression had turned into one of hate, her teary eyes were full of murderous intent and her tightly clenched fists were bleeding.

"Now.. Irene, why don't you pay a visit to your dear sweet brother, the one who was chosen over you, after all it's only fair if you destroy the one person your parents loved so dearly, much so that they had to give up their life for him."

"Name.. what is his name!." her voice came across as a hoarse whisper but the pale man clearly heard it.

He gazed down at her with a subtle smile.

"Nox.. his name is Nox Ráu Vlad."