Lucian

Nordenvania – Late Autumn

Eternal darkness. Eternal terror. Eternal agony.

For two years his heart had not stopped hammering in fear. Two full years of torturous horror that had numbed his mind and drained his soul. It was the only thing he could feel. The never ending terror that had sent him to the very core of madness, erasing the last traces of sanity he might still had left, and emptying him of every emotion he might have once felt.

He couldn't remember anything, his memories and thoughts now nothing but a meaningless blur, like a long forgotten and distant dream. He couldn't remember why he was here. Why was he so scared? Why couldn't he move or speak? Was he even alive in the first place? Oh he couldn't even remember his own name!

He couldn't remember anything. Except for the vague image of a blonde boy who gave him comfort every night. He didn't remember who the boy was. Was he even real? Or was he the illusion of his terrified mind longing for the slightest sliver of peace?

Cold winds whistled through the woods and the tree branches snapped above him. The gargoyles cried through the night, and so did he, his voice a choked scream within the grotesque grey stone that enveloped his shuddering soul.

The boy. The blond boy. Oh how he longed for the blond boy to come and soothe him. He cried louder as the winds blew stronger, forcing his degenerating mind to focus onto the distorted image of the blond boy. The boy, the boy, I want the boy...

He didn't know if this was the work of his hallucinating mind, or if his wish had indeed been answered. For the next moment he heard the rustling sound of approaching footfalls, before the faint glow of blue Angel Light revealed a head of golden hair.

A black raven with a scarred wing sat atop the boy's shoulder, which he recalled seeing quite a few times before. But he had never seen that other boy who followed them, with his unfamiliar pale face and long ebony hair.

The two boys approached him, and his heart hammered harder, anticipation overriding his fear.

Save me! Save me! He tried to speak, but like every time his voice was trapped, resulting in a mere dying choke within his throat.

Strangely though, it seemed that the blonde boy could hear him, for he stretched out his arms at once and wrapped them around the gargoyle. A sudden surge of comforting warmth enveloped him, and his fear instantly disappeared.

"It's alright Lucian, I'm here," the boy whispered.

Lucian! My name is Lucian! Lucian gasped out at the mention of his name.

"Yes Lucian, that's your name," the boy responded in a gentle voice, and Lucian wondered if that boy could somehow hear his silent voice through the gargoyle stone.

Who are you? Lucian asked voicelessly, testing his theory.

"I am Hans," the boy smiled in response, confirming that he could indeed hear the unspoken words of gargoyles.

Hans! Lucian sighed deeply as he remembered the boy's name as well. He probably asked him about it every night, but he always forgot it again as soon as he left him. Just as he thought of it, he could already feel Hans's warmth fading. Lucian shuddered and his heart started pounding again in horror as he found Hans breaking the embrace and moving away.

No! Don't leave me!

"I am not leaving you Lucie," Hans smiled, and the next moment he leapt behind the gargoyle and climbed onto its winged back. Lucian turned around at once, keeping his eyes locked on Hans as if his life depended on the mere sight of him.

The blue Angel Light glowed brighter, reflecting upon Hans's smirking face, and Lucian caught an unsettling, or rather mad glint in his citrine eyes. The large raven atop his shoulder cawed. Hans cooed and stroked it gently, before he pulled it into his arms.

"Now Riki," Hans said, and the other unfamiliar boy stepped towards them, his face as pale as snow, and his shivering hands tightly grasping a thick book.

A silver gleam flashed briefly through the dark, and Lucian's heart raced in horror as he noticed the sharp dagger Hans held in his hand, drawing it close to the raven's side. And before he knew it, the silver blade had sunk into flesh and a loud anguished caw echoed through the night. Lucian could feel the trickling warmth of blood against his gargoyle form, and the raven's claws and feathers scratching him as it writhed in pain.

Then the boy named Riki spoke.

"Blod Offrian Lif. Tacan Sawol. Cursian. Haelan."

A massive flash of green light exploded in the dark, blinding him. Excruciating pain shot throughout his body, intensifying within his chest and ripping open his heart. Rock clattered as the earth shook beneath him, and thunder roared like furious beasts attacking the night skies. Cold winds howled and shrill screams pierced through his soul. Images of writhing gargoyles haunted his mind, their wings flapping and their green eyes gleaming.

Consumed by waves of terror, Lucian cried out and flapped his wings in a desperate attempt to flee, despite knowing very well that his stone confines would never let him go.

He kicked and writhed and cried...

He screamed and wailed and screeched...

Until...

To his utmost shock, for the first time since he had been trapped within the gargoyle's curse, a voice escaped his desperate throat.

A long deafening caw that shook the whole woods.

And for the first time, his wings moved, beating vigorously and slapping against the gargoyle stone.

Lucian's heart pounded hard, no longer in fear, but in exhilaration.

He was moving!

He cawed again and again, and then he leapt, his sharp claws releasing the gargoyle, and his little black wings spreading in the air.

Ignoring the still bleeding wound in his side, he took to the black skies, finally freed from his endless sleep of terror.

*********

So, there has always been a reason for Lucian's curse, and now it's finally revealed. Did you expect something like that? :D

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