Ви Корс - The Mist and the Lightning. Part IV

Today the book tells me terrible things! On a page, accidentally open by me, it says “Demons never lie, but always deceive.

They give you an illusion of independence, like you are the one managing the course of your life.

The main purpose of all demons’ schemes is an attempt to lure you into their world.

Normally, this is how they do it: first they try to “eat” your soul, causing a powerful emotional outburst, and then they’d pull in your lifeless physical body and hide it in one of the remote corners of their world. If you won’t die right away, they will give you their energy and change your energy structure irreversibly.

Even if you find one day your crippled physical body, you would never be able to reunite with it, you will forever be a slave to these horrifying creatures”…

I’m alone again in the room at the top of a tower. The others are as always playing cards, drinking and laughing hard downstairs…

I am just overwhelmed by contradictory feelings…

First of all, of course, towards my scampish brother Arel, as always, and then towards this girl…

Heavens, how gorgeous she is! I can’t admire her beauty enough, hoping nobody notices and throwing a glimpse at her.

When she is with him I’m admiring the both of them, I’m not jealous, no, that just can’t be!

Could a girl like THIS ever be with me…

She and my brother make a beautiful couple, both tall, lean, with dark hair, only her hair is half as almost half as long as Arel’s.

Luckily, they don’t notice my glimpses. Nobody does. Who cares about Vil…

But I’m afraid for her…

I’m afraid that Arel might hurt her. She’s totally helpless in front of him and his tricks! She’s so kind and gentle. My heart was just bleeding while I watched Arel fighting her during the training. Why did he have to push her so hard! Drag her through the dirt to entertain his friends! They got their kicks watching it. I saw how a couple of times her face twisted, she could hardly hold on without showing she’s in pain, she turned pale, and Arel just went on! His cruelty has no boundaries!

Besides, I don’t like that he is lying to her, he continues his ungodly relations with Nikto, and poor Carina doesn’t know a thing. And how could such a pure creature come up with this thought. She is like an angel!

And my brother soils her, and it’s unbearable! What will happen when she finds out how vilely he was deceiving her? And she will find out sooner or later, I have no doubt about it. It will shock her! Karina herself is unable of lying, I’m sure!

She would never play, pretend that everything is unfamiliar to her.

How would it feel for her to understand she was just a toy in Arel’s filthy hands?

Of course, she is incapable of vendetta, I’m sure of it, even though her father is a very influential man and could harm us…

Harm us really badly, if he wanted to …

Arel knows that Carina has a bright soul, so he isn’t afraid of anything. He knows that he shouldn’t expect a foul play from her, she is being honest with him, and unlike him she told him the truth about her father. About WHO he is…

Sometimes I have horrific thoughts, I imagine how Arel hurts her right in front of me. I heard of her fight with Enriki, Enriki insulted her, hurt her feelings! Why wasn’t I there at the moment!

If Arel will ever hurt her…

Raise his hand on her…

Try to humiliate her, like other girls…

Then I will protect her!

These are horrible thoughts, but I swear to Gods, I will raise my hand on my beloved brother! Kill him, if I have to!

But I will protect Carina! It’s my duty!

I recall seeing him for the first time…

I was five years old, or maybe a little younger, but I remember that day clearly…

Mom brought me to the big hall, there was a lady sitting on a throne…

By that time she was completely insane, but I didn’t know that, and didn’t understand…

She was horrifying! Like the death itself! White face framed by dark hair, high-necked black dress…

And those empty eyes…

They scared me more than anything else!

If my mother wasn’t standing right behind my back, I would escape from there right away. But mom told me to come closer…

Luckily, the lady remained indifferent, but the boy sitting in her lap pressed against her and hugging her, lifted his tiny face and looked at me…

It was Arel…

Even back then he already was unbelievably beautiful…

I remember being amazed that he wasn’t scared of this terrifying woman, on the contrary, he clung to her with his both hands, like he was afraid to be torn from her.

I handed him a toy, like mom taught me.

It was a plush toy.

I was supposed to give it to him and then invite my little liege to play together. But my tongue froze inside my mouth. I became speechless. However, I’m still not over it, I keep turning speechless in front of Arel.

I blankly handed him the stuffed animal.

He took it.

He didn’t smile at me, didn’t say anything, just took the toy that was handed to him, while still clinging to his mother with one hand.

And I remember that he didn’t toss it away, no, he held it tenderly and tucked his face in its soft fur.

And I turned away, hiding my face in mom’s skirt, and she took me away.

That’s how our first meeting ended, and our relationship still adjust…

But I still love Arel…

And I know he loved the toy I gave him…

My name is Carina. Carina Kors, but I often call myself Carina Iness. Adding the name of my mother, whom unfortunately I don’t remember at all.

It’s been about two months since I came to the Castle, came for the Winter festival and stayed. Stayed with the prince and his friends. During this time I got to know them better, learned to find a common language with them, even though it wasn’t easy.

Along with them I took part in the response to the Black Bey and his ally. And I saw how Orel and his warriors fight. How they pair up and work in a total harmony with each other. And each one adjust his attacks to another, and puts up a guard if his friend is under attack.

And along with them I’ve spent some fun nights in “Bakar” at the Lower City, and in Orel’s Castle. And I’ve seen them quarrel, unable to agree. They argue so fiercely, each one tries to convince the others he’s right, but at in the end nothing changes, and everyone remains with his own opinion. Their arguments are pointless, they cannot hear each other, and everyone is talking to himself, but cannot hear himself, just as he cannot hear the others.

Chapter One.

“The First Time”

“I agree to gamble on the wishes, if whoever loses won’t refuse to fulfill them” – said Tol, picking out of habit his gapped teeth with his fat fingers.

“Yeah”, – Orel nodded, “Screw you and your wishes! You’ll just make the looser lick Asa again.”

Everybody laughed.

“Hey, you didn’t lick her!”– Tol protested with outrage, and everybody roared with laughter.

“So what do you suppose I did?!”

“Poured a bottle of wine into her and took a sip!”

“But she came! The deal was licking her till she comes, it’s not my fault she comes with me faster than she comes with you!”

“Now the looser would lick Tol’s ass” – Lis said, laughing. His black hair framed his pale grey face like dark tangled icicles.

“That’s exactly what I’m talking about”, – Tol agreed, “You wouldn’t, and nobody would!”

“Nikto might!”

“Very funny,” – Nikto grunted. His had was at Orel’s lap, and he fumbled Nik’s hair involuntarily. His fingers softly untangled thick white strands, all mats and tangles.

“You mean not a single one of you would do it!”

“We could make normal wishes, like to tell something, some interesting life incidents, for example” – Enriki suggested.

“It’s boring!” – Tol whined.

“Not at all! Besides, if Carina wakes up, comes down here and sees all of us fucking Asa, she might not understand it was just a game!”

“For how long can we fuck Asa?” – Orel mumbled, “Aren’t you fuckin’ fed up?”

“We are” – Lis responded. “Tol, we’re fuckin’ fed up with fucking your Asa”.

“So you won’t get her anymore!” – Tol snarled.

“Oh, like she needs your permission to fuck! I personally fucked her, back when you weren’t giving her away to anybody, wouldn’t even let anybody touch your precious Asa.

“Me too”, – Enriki pitched in. “She’s a whore”.

Tol twisted his lips: “No”.

“Should I summon Mina?” – Orel asked.

“We are fed up with her, too! We don’t even have a single normal girls here, Arel!” – Enriki sounded displeased.

“Call your sister then!” – He snarled back.

Everybody froze, and Enriki went pale.

“So, we are going to tell stories” – Tol said gingerly. “Nik, tell us about your Rosa, how did it all happen?” – He added, seeing that everybody are still quiet.

“How did the two of you fuck?” – Lis specified gloomily.

“I didn’t lose yet” – Nikto argued, touching his scarred cheek involuntarily, “and I don’t like reminiscing it”.

“Why didn’t you follow her to the “upper world”, if you are still suffering? What stopped you from going up there and finding her?” – Enriki asked.

“Looking like this?!”

“After all, if your story is true, it was all Rosa’s fault!”

“And if she truly loved you, would she reject you?” – Orel added, “Regardless of what you became.”

“While protecting her!” – Tol added meaningfully.

“And be like an endless reproach to her?”

“I never thought you would sweat it so much!” – Enriki was surprised, “You are now talking as a common man, not even a warrior”.

“Like a weak kid” – Orel said, “‘I couldn’t let her see me like this!’ Beaten, mutilated. Who is she, she’s just a woman, and that’s it!”

Nikto was silent.

“You don’t get it” – he finally said. “She was a ‘white’, a genuine ‘white’ “…

“And you are Nikto, right?” – Lis snorted.

“Right”.

“I don’t have any respect for your human part” – Enriki said, – “It would be better if your demon suppressed it completely!”

“Fuck, I don’t understand what’s the deal with still considering Nik a human possessed by a demon” – Orel said grumpily. “It’s so dumb! This bullshit just pisses me off, and you, smart-looking people, insist on thinking of him as of someone redone, undone, possessed! You feeling ok?!”

Enriki blushed: “Fine! And what’s so dumb about it? I don’t see anything dumb here!”

“Andin my opinion, it’s just dumbness! I mean, Nick was living happily in his…what’s it’s called… oh, never mind, and then bam! A demon possessed him! What’s happening?! What for?!”

“Maybe he called the demon himself” – Squint-Eye suggested, “to become more powerful and to get back at his enemies”.

“What enemies?!”

“The Reds”.

“Oh, ok. Only instead of getting back at the Reds, he went straight to the Blacks’ ‘farm’!”

“Well, the demon must have had an agenda of his own”.

“Yes, everybody knows that the demons are just like that. You want something from them, and you end up getting the complete opposite”.

“Well, yes”.

The friends laughed at Orel’s ironic tone.

“I never said the demon possessed him like that” – Enriki tried to argue. “It’s just that if he was sold to a witch as a child, she must have been the one who turned him in to the dark powers. Sacrificed him. You understand what I’m talking about, Arel? Otherwise, why would she need a child? He was meant as a present, a sacrifice to demon from the beginning. Or maybe she obeyed the demon’s command, and he needed a body to penetrate into our world. That’s why Nikto’s human part is undeveloped and squalid. He is just meant to obey and be passive. That was also done by the witch, to make it easier for the demon. I mean, you guys can’t argue that Nikto is obedient most of the time, and resembles a wind-up toy”.