Hidden Revelations

Dante DeLyse? :D

"How dare they speak to me like that? Like I was some common knave on the side of the street!" Dante fumed as he threw his glass into the flames. "They were looking down on me, on me!" he said through gritted teeth as he turned his back on the fire, his eyes glazed over with intense anger. Storming over to the foyer of the estate, Dante unclasped the broach around his neck, allowing the cape to fall to the ground. Continuing on his way, the young man threw his low brimmed hat to a nearby bench. Garbed only in a mustard coloured tunic, Dante ascended the wooden stairs, two at a time. "They really think that I will just allow them to claim the glory? They think that they will go and slay the dragons?"
Reaching the top of the stairs, Dante walked forward at a much slower pace, his chest pounding from the sudden exertion. Shadows surrounded the young man as his footsteps brought him closer to his destination. "For years we have lived in the shadows of others, for years we have pretended to be something we were not. Somewhere along the line, we lost the way and forgot who we were... Father, I will bring us back to our former glory!" Dante finished as he fell to his knees staring up at the tapestry. The face that adorned the fabric had long since faded and had started to deteriorate at the edges. A grinning man with a warm looking face seemed to be laughing, or at least that was how he was portrayed. Dante's features softened for a moment before he clenched his eyes shut again. "I wont let you down, father."

"Hey! Who's up there? Damn it, they lit a fire!" a gruff voice echoed from downstairs causing Dante to open his eyes slowly. "Why can't everybody just leave me alone?" he whispered to himself as he got to his feet. "The guard has been called, stay where you are!" the voice sounded, this time closer. "We know you've been living here! This castle is private property, you shouldnt be here!" the voice shouted, his footsteps sounding out against the steps leading upstairs. Dante whirled around and looked in each direction, trying his hardest to remember where the adjoining staircase was.
As the man reached the top of the stairs, he found himself looking at at the tapestry, with no sign of the intruder at all. "Damn it, you're only making this harder on yourself!" he called out as he walked closer to the tapestry. Reaching a hand forward he lay his fingers on the old cloth. "You've seen better days, Victor." he mumbled as he inclined his head in a mark of respect. Turning around, the heavyset man cleared his throat. "It's you again, isn't it?"
Dante felt his throat clench up as he heard the recognised the familiar voice, he wanted to rush out and confront the man, but his feet started taking him backward, further into the darkness. The voice around the corner, however, continued. "You're going to have to move on, we all did... this doesnt belong to you anymore, he sacrificed it all."

Dante felt the anger burning up inside of him, but he held his tongue. The voice however started to grow fainter as the heavyset man spoke. "Trust me, there are few people that respected your father as much as I did, but seriously... his venture was ridiculous! The doctors were right, he needed special care." Dante couldnt stand it anymore, he heard his own voice as though it was another person speaking. "My father was not dilusional, he had a vision and pride."
Whirling around, the man grinned as he regarded the raging youth. "You never could hold your temper, could you Dante?"
Dante however was still staring at the man across from him, "You havent changed at all, have you Jacques?"
Jacques' smile never left his lips as he started walking calmly towards Dante, his arms outstretched in a familiar fashion.

Whirling around, Dante ran towards the railing of the staircase. Without any hesitation, he leapt over it, only to tumble down the stairs. Jacques swore an oath as he rushed to look over the balcony, but by the time he stretched out over the rail, Dante was gone. "You can't get far, I've known this house longer than you boy!" Jacques shouted, his lip curling into a smirk as he calmly started walking down the stairs. "Your father employed me to keep you out of trouble, amongst other things." The man's smirk grew wider as he reached towards the hilt of his sword. "You've no idea how long I humoured your tantrums, it was a blessing when Victor sent you overseas. The arrogance you arrived back with... its no wonder none of your family claimed you."

"Shut up!" Dante whispered harshly, almost to himself. He sat in a shadowed corner, tears flowing slowly down his cheeks. "Just please, shut up." Jacques' voice however, only became more distinct as the distance between the two grew shorter and shorter. "You know, Victor always was a little soft. All of the staff that were here just assumed you inherited that from him. We always knew you were a little special. Like, me... a common butler, being asked to take care of a snot ridden brat like yourself?! I was trained in seventeen types of martial art, no swordsman could best me in the land, at least none tried. But what was the job given to me? To get lazy, lose my skills and to take care of you? You've no idea how much I'm going to enjoy this, Dante."

Dante cringed as he heard the sound of a sword being unsheathed. Pushing the soles of his feet to the wooden floorboards, he pushed his back against the wall as hard as he could, trying to get farther away at any cost. The steps of his former butler became distant, but this only fueled the young man to push harder. His futile efforts did nothing but cause his feet to slide aimlessly across the ground. His tears were flowing faster now. "Why me?" Dante sighed in anguish, slamming his head against the wall behind him. A small thud sounded, not loud enough for Jacques to hear. But a loud clicking soon followed, causing Dante to scramble to his feet. Looking around him, he tried to figure out how to stop the noise, but the darkness hid any clues that may have existed. Slowly, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a tapestry flutter backward as though there were a window behind it. Pulling the cloth back, Dante gasped when he saw the cause of the clicking. A partition of the wall was sliding to the right, leaving a small opening. Hesitating for a moment, Dante simply stared at the corridor, until his ears picked up the sound of hurried footsteps. Turning back to regard the hallway, Dante closed his eyes tightly and ran forward, his foot snapping against a small chunk of wood beside the fake wall.

Jacques smiled as he approached the dark corner, "You really think that shadows can mask you in this place? I've had to find you everytime you ran from lessons. You're predictable, Dante!" Jacques finished as he pulled the tapestry from the wall. The cloth ripped from its hangings and fell to the ground with a slight thump. Yet behind it lay nothing but the cold stone wall. "Impossible..." Jacques cursed.
"Hello, is there anyone here! You summoned the guard!" a gruff voice echoed from down the corridor.

Jacques sheathed his sword and looked over his shoulder, "You're lucky this time brat, but the next time you come here. I'll have your head. Nobody makes a fool out of me, nobody!"

Dante groaned as he picked himself up off the ground. Opening his eyes slightly, he gasped to find himself in a well lit area. However it wasnt the light that shocked him, it was the fact that he was in a huge warehouse. Glowing stones hung from huge chains across the roof area. They glowed brighter and brighter as he approached them. "Mage crystals?" Dante said in wonder as he outstretched a hand towards one of them. A slight spark emitted from the crystal, instantly discouraging him from making another attempt to examine the material. Turning around, the young man tried to take in the entire sight, but it was too much, even for him. Wandering over to a nearby chair, Dante collapsed against the leather, not even taking a moment to marvel at the value of the object he was sitting in. Leaning back, Dante tried to make sense of everything that had happened this night. He had been staying at the family estate for the past few weeks, only because his limited savings had expired and his foster family, the DeLyse's had cast him out. Jacques had only found him one day when he himself had been trying to loot one of the master chambers. Dante recalled the look on his face as he caught him. It was true that his family had sold the estate to the kingdom, but to Dante it was still his home. Regardless of who's name belonged to it. "Why did everything have to go wrong?"

Turning in the chair, Dante bowed his head and rested it against a very dusty mahogany desk. Instantly, his head lurched back up as he started coughing. His hands waving from side to side to try and clear away the dust. Yet as his knuckle brushed up against something, he stopped to look down. Clearing the tears from his eyes, Dante read the front of the book. "Journal of Victoire Lysanthe, Sky Pirate."

Dante's eyes widened as he read the second name over and over again. "Father?"

Author's Note

meh

Reviews

[trish420]

I like where this is going, i hope you post more :-)