Drake appeared within his chambers, his breathing unstable as he struggled to stand upright. He pulled his bloodied hand from his ribs, studying it with great awe. What is happening to me? He stumbled forward, falling before he was held upright by strong hands.
“You look horrible.” A solemn voice said.
Drake looked up into a set of hard golden eyes. “W-where did you come from?” He stammered through his words as he studied the man before him.
“That doesn’t matter.” The man stated as he helped Drake over to his bed. “God, how did you get like this, or do I even have to ask? Why didn’t you just heal yourself before you became this bad?”
Drake shot the man a dirty look as he lowered himself onto his bed; the room seemed to spin around him. “The last time I checked, I didn’t have to worry about dieing from anything like this since…” he allowed his words to trail off for a moment as he lay down on his bed. “I’ll take care of it now.”
He placed his hands over his stomach, just a few inches from the wound. There was a light glow emitting from his hands as the wound began to heal.
“Damn it!” He yelled, more out of anger then pain. “I forgot how painful something like this can be.” He glanced back to the man, a slight smile crossing over his face. “So, what are you doing back here?”
“I’ve come back to take care of something.”
“Don’t you mean someone?” The man didn’t answer as Drake just shook his head. “You don’t need to worry about that anymore.”
“What are you talking about? She-”
“Isn’t like that anymore. Or haven’t you heard the latest?”
“I haven’t heard much of anything lately.”
Drake couldn’t help but let out a laugh. “Where have you been not to hear news like that?” He shook his head slightly. “She’s not how she use to be.”
“Is that so?” The man questioned in an unbelieving tone. “The last time I saw her she was-”
“Unstable.” Drake finished for him, giving him a slight look in disgust. “But that was all taken care of when you left.”
“I had no choice then! She was going mad!”
“You were the only thing that kept what little sanity she had at the time!”
“I couldn’t watch her act the way she did any longer! That’s why I left!” The man walked away from him, stopping a few feet short from the bed. “I left to become stronger, so that I may stop her pain.”
“So that’s why you came back?”
“To stop her pain, yes.”
“By killing her?”
“As a last resort.” He turned back to him, his fist clenched tightly at his sides. “And only as a last resort.”
“Then you will kill her? If there is no other choice?”
He then sighed as he looked away from him. “If need be.”
Drake closed his eyes. “Well sorry to say, but she’s already a step ahead of you.” The man turned back to him, meeting his gaze as he opened his eyes once again. “I told you, she is not the monster she was made out to be.”
“But, she did do all those things.” He said through clenched teeth. “And if she is back to her normal self now, I can’t believe she’ll willingly walk amongst these people after what she had done to them.”
“That’s why she planned on going through with the ceremony.”
“The ceremony?” The man said with distress to be seen within his eyes. “That’s a fate worse then death. Why didn’t you stop her?”
“I tried…she ended up taking me with her.”
“What?”
“But something went wrong.” Drake said sitting upright sluggishly. He rubbed his forehead. “We weren’t held within that hell. Something brought us back.”
They remained silent for a moment as Drake lowered his hand. He tried to get to his feet but sat back onto the bed as he legs gave out beneath him.
“What do you think the meaning of this is?”
“I don’t know, but I believe it may have something to do with my loss of strength recently.”
“So, it is true. You did lose your immortality.”
“You think I will allow myself to bleed to death? Especially when she has her mind set on continuing with the ceremony?”
“I thought you said she failed with the ceremony.”
“She did, but there’s another way.” He said looking him in the eyes. “With the Soul Keeper, she’ll be able to lock her soul away for good.”