MAIN CHARACTERS
*GRIN* Who else?!?
Alec Su - Alexander de Suliton /Alex Sullivan
Vicki Zhao - Wren/ Victoria Alcott / Vicki Summers
This story may be a little confusing...sorry in advance! But basically, for a brief explanation...it is about how Alexander de Sulition (Alec) stumbles over an opportunity to possess magical powers beyond belief, to become an Immortal being, and so he does eagerly, without realising the consequences of his actions. But all power has it's price...and every blessing comes with a curse. With the ability to live forever, to use his powers for either good or bad, a curse also settles over his life...for all eternity he is to live, all those who would love him, and who he loved in return would be doomed to a tragic death...
Wren is but a simple village girl who had known Alexander before his great transformation...destinied to love him, she is doomed to die for him from the curse that haunted his life. But he knows that their souls are linked forever by bonds of love beyond all powers and curses...and that she will be reborn, again and again...destinied to love him once more. So Alexander de Sulition wanders throughout time, watching, waiting for his love to come back to him...searching for the one person who would love him forever, and be condemned for that love, unless he realises the truth behind his acquired powers and their true price...and free them from the curse, for once and for all...
*GRIN* confusing? Feel free to annoy me if you're confused...oh, and that is why Vicki and Alec have different names, because it's different lifetimes, ok?
--------------------
Time froze, and stood still as the single gunshot echoed within his mind over and over again. Stunned, he could only stare senselessly at her, at the brilliant smile on her lips, at the emotions that sparkled within her round eyes…and felt the world end again as that brilliant light in her eyes dimmed. His soul screamed in anguish as he lurched forward to catch her crumpling figure, his face completely white as he held her in his arms…no, not again, please…with his heart and soul he called on all the power within him, on his unique ability to heal, his powerful hands shone with a brilliant blue aura as he held them over the gaping wound, desperately trying to staunch the flow of blood that seeped from her body, draining her life force. But his powerful hands that had healed so many people, faceless, meaningless people within his past, they were only stained a dark red, he…he could not prevent her life from draining from her. The only person who had ever loved him…the person he had loved for all eternity, and he was helpless to save her, save her from this shadow cast over them.“No, please God, not again…Victoria, don’t die, please don’t die again!” He murmured over and over again, his eyes burning with tears he never thought he would remember how to shed again. Taking a deep breath, he summoned up all the life force that burned within him to throw against the inevitable, but froze as her hand grasped at his weakly. “Al…Alex,” she whispered hoarsely, the sorrow within her brilliant eyes burning into his soul. “Don’t…it…it won’t work…” “Victoria,” he half sobbed, grasping her hand tightly in his sticky one…sticky from the blood that drained from her. “Why? Why Victoria? How could you be so stupid?” he cried, admonishing her bitterly as the vision of her throwing herself in front of him, of the bullet that ripped through her slender body tore at his mind. “You didn’t have to…” his voice trailed off as her other hand reached up and caressed his cheek, He leaned his face into her touch, the anguish ripping his soul apart as she whispered again, the same words that had haunted his life for the eternity that it had become.
“I…I don’t…regret…anything…” her voice became laboured as she gasped for breath. The world was getting dimmer around her…Victoria knew that her time has come, again…but she struggled to speak, to tell him again, as she had done in the previous life that had ended here too, in his embrace…a curse, but nonetheless a bittersweet blessing, to be in his arms even for this short precious moment in time. She forced herself to speak, to push away the growing darkness that threatened to engulf her consciousness… “I…I love you…” “Don’t speak, love,” he murmured half brokenly as his stained hands stroked her pale white cheeks, “It…it’ll be alright, it will…don’t die, don’t leave me again, love…please…please don’t leave me…”
But destiny cannot be altered…their souls had been bound inexplicably together, by bounds beyond time and space…she was destined to love him, in this life, and the next…for all eternity, as was her destiny to die for this love…for the curse that brought doom on those around him, around the one who had acquired tremendous power within him, at a terrible price. Yet she did not care, did not care how many lifetimes this would happen, did not care that her life blood was draining out of her body once more, only… “Will…will you wait for me…again?” she whispered weakly. Hot tears fell on her increasingly numb hands as he nodded. “For all eternity,” he whispered, his Immortal soul wracked with anguish beyond bearing as her bloodless lips curved into that familiar, small smile at his words. Swallowing awkwardly, he leaned and pressed his lips ever so gently against hers…sealing his promise once more. His heart froze as she sighed ever so softly, and then…she left. NO!!! Please, please no…he had lost her again…it was all because of him…of the curse that he had bought on those around him…on all those who would love someone like him…
“VICTORIA!!!” The scream of pure anguish split the silence of the forest as the man who could not die held his love in his arms, snatched away from him once more by a curse that would haunt them forever…
“You’ve never heard of the legend of Alexander de Sulition, the man who made a pact with the Devil?!?” The girl’s hushed voice was filled with incredulity as she stared at the graceful figure of a young woman across from her. “The creature who’d fed off the lives of innocent young girls? How can you possibly not have heard of him?” The young woman rolled her round, expressive eyes at her and the other two girls who all sat huddled up together within the small, horse drawn carriage. “Oh no, not another horror story! Really, Cassandra, can’t you come up with something a bit more…well, original?” “Victoria!” her cousin protested indignantly in the face of her scorn, “I’m not making it up, there really was someone named Alexander de Sulition, and he was really…” “A poor, innocent man who had the misfortune of living in the same place as a bunch of overimaginative, ignorant villagers?” Victoria said archly, her lips curved into a wry smile at her young cousin’s indignation.
“Victoria…” she half wailed in protest, and the other two girls in the carriage giggled at her distress. “Oh alright, alright…tell me about this supposed ‘monster’ then,” Victoria sighed, giving up, but then her round eyes twinkled mischievously as she couldn’t resist teasing her cousin a bit more, “Did he have sharp teeth and a dark cloak, like a bad Dracula impersonator?” Cassandra flushed slightly as the other three exploded into merry laughter, fiddling with her gloves in her lap. “Alright, I’m sorry,” Victoria, relenting as she saw her little cousin’s distressed look, “Tell us what you know about this Alexander de Sulition then…you have my complete attention.” Her eyes still twinkled with amusement, but she carefully kept her face entirely sombre…Cassandra’s face brightened at this, and launched eagerly into the tale…
“It happened right here you know, in this very town we’re going to stay in! Legend has it that the stone circle that lies just on the outskirts of town is…haunted. That it is a doorway into Hell itself, and that it will only open into the beyond when there is a lunar eclipse, when even the moon light is erased and there is but endless night. Those who dare venture into the stone circle on such an occasion would come face to face with the dark forces themselves, or even…the Devil himself.” Cassandra’s voice was hushed as she told them the last bit, her face deadly serious. Despite their cynicism, the other three girls leaned towards her, their eyes filled with interest. It was only natural, after all, their lives were so mundane, being well brought up young ladies of this sophisticated upper class, their lives filled only with endless dances and endless different social engagements until such time as they are bound down by marriage and duty.
It was the way of life for them, yet Victoria Alcott felt like she was dying, nonetheless. She had grown up in the ‘brave new world’, the Americas, where society was not as stuffy and unbending as it was here in ‘old’ England. Her parents had, despite their rank and position, instilled within her a strong belief in liberty and education, a streak of stubbornness in her soul now combated daily with her need to play her part in her role in this society, to be the docile, well bred genteel lady her grandfather would demand of her. She could play her part well, it was a necessity to do so, now that he was her only family, her only kin that she must now impose on after her parents deaths, yet…Victoria’s natural impetuous and curious nature, as well as her strong-mindedness could not be repressed every moment. No matter how silly others might think of her to even pay attention to these stories, her eyes sparkled with curiosity as she asked, “So this Alexander person, so did he venture into the circle?”
Cassandra grinned at the interest on her older cousin’s face. Two days ago, when she had met Victoria’s boat from America, she would have sworn her cousin would be a graceful, genteel lady…in short, a boring, stiff and unbending aristocrat, like the rest of her family. Now, however…thank goodness for someone who’s actually got a sense of humour, she thought to herself. She’s nothing like the rest of them…oh lord, I can’t wait to see grandfather’s reaction! Cassandra had to stifle a giggle at the vision of her grandfather’s astonished expression…it might even be fun! Clearing her throat, she continued with her tale. “Yes, you’re right! This Alexander de Sulition was just some vagabond or something, who ignored the warnings of the villagers…or maybe they didn’t warn him, because they didn’t care about the fate of some stranger…” she shrugged indifferently. “Anyway, he stumbled into the circle right in the middle of a lunar eclipse…but he didn’t die! Instead, he came back to the village after a few months completely different…he had these mysterious powers and he had moved into the castle as if he was a lord or something, the castle that’s our grandfather’s mansion right now. People began to question and wonder…they said he had made some pact with the Devil himself!”
“So he became rich suddenly…that doesn’t make him a monster,” Victoria said reasonably, she couldn’t help but argue, it just didn’t make sense! “Maybe the villagers were just envious of him, so they started to spread such nasty tales about him…a nobody suddenly becoming a strong, powerful man, that’s all. After all, if wealth is all it takes to become a monster, really…then what would that make our grandfather?” she said with a wry grin, and Cassandra couldn’t help but giggle. “Victoria! It’s just a legend I heard, I didn’t make this up you know! Anyway, did you want to hear the rest of the story or not?” “Of course!” Three voices spoke at once, and the little girl grinned. “Well, soon there were all these stories of missing girls, and how a strange dark figure was seen wandering the hills in the middle of the night…coupled with his inability to be hurt, his wounds didn’t bleed, and he could hurt people without even touching them. In the end, everyone believed he was a creature of the Devil, and that he had to be killed…”
As the carriage kept moving within the darkness of the night, Victoria Alcott forgot, for the moment, all her sorrows and worries over the future, her frustration at being trapped in a place and position not of her choosing…instead, she listened vividly to a legend that was nearly a hundred years old…a legend that was to have a profound effect on her life forever, as the curse that followed her soul throughout time and space led her once more to a person, and a fate she could never abandon…
*****
Once more, his soul flew into the vast emptiness as it wrenched away from it’s earthy coils with all the strength and power that brimmed within him. Yes…this power that was both a blessing, and a bane…his soul cried endlessly into the darkness as he searched, like he did every night for countless years. Through the countless awareness of people…through every conscious mind, he called…searching, watching, waiting…for the one who he had promised to wait for…for the one who had sacrificed her life and soul for his sake. The one person who had ever loved him, and had died for him…his soul mate, his love…he will find her again, he must…Wren…his soul cried endlessly for her, for soul of the simple village girl many years ago…Wren, where are you?!? Alexander de Sulition, the man who could not die, allowed his awareness to roam the cloud of semi conscious thoughts of all those within this town, this town to which the person her soul was reborn as would surely return to, one day…some day. Yet, once again, there was only silence as he shouted into the emptiness the name that was imprinted in his mind forever…Wren…
Oh papa, she thought sadly, the light in her eyes dimming as she remembered. Her father, the sole family she had had since her mother had died when she was young…a young visionary who believed in freedom and liberty, and had bought up his child to be so. An aristocrat who believed that all people were equal…and that daughters should be free, to live their own lives…oh Papa, why did you have to go and leave me alone? I…I miss you, everyday…I miss your smile, I miss hearing you laugh…I miss our lives together…papa…Victoria Alcott had to blink rapidly to clear the mist in her eyes. I cannot cry…I promised him I wouldn’t cry, that I would be strong. But…flinging back her head, she stared up into the gradually lightening sky…I love you, mama, papa…always…I will make you proud of me, I promise, she vowed determinedly. No matter what, I will still be someone you can be proud of…I promise…
****
He stared at the rising sun, though his face remained bleak and expressionless, as it always was, his dark eyes were filled with an ancient sorrow. Once again, he had not found her…every night, in his dreams, he would search for her…for the soul of a girl who had faded from everyone’s memories, into the mists of time…everyone except him. For his spirit to leave his body and wander the dreamtrails was no trial, not for him…the man with inner powers beyond belief. Powers that were ill-gotten, yet were an integral part of him now…powers that could be used for good or evil. But Alexander Sulition chose to do neither. Because for these powers that he had accepted eagerly, he had paid a horrifying price…he had brought a curse upon those around him, those who would have the misfortune to care about someone like him. Once he would sworn that living forever, with power to do whatever he pleased…he would have sworn that it would be the ultimate dream, the best thing a person could have. After all, wasn’t death the ultimate fear of all men? To be powerful, and immortal…what more could a person want from life? But now…he knew the truth behind this façade…what was eternal life, when the price was being alone, for all eternity? What was power, when you remained helpless as you watched the people you love die again and again?
Alone…always alone…it was ironic, but now that he could live forever, all he wanted to do was end it…to be free. But no, a bond tied him down here…a bond that stretched beyond time and space…a bond that revolved around the soul of the girl who had died for him. An oath made to wait for her…to find her again…yes, he would wait…he would continue to live each and every day as any normal person did, and at night…his spirit would wander the dream trails once more in search of her. Wren…Wren, where are you? Wren…come back to me…please come back…his spirit call remained unanswered in the stillness of the dawn hours. Sighing, Alexander turned around, and walked back into his workshop, putting away the haunting sorrow that followed him, he put on the mask of a normal person to face another normal day…the immortal, momentarily forgotten…
A few hours later, his face dripped with sweat as he carefully, painstakingly fashioned the glass, bringing to life another glorious winged creature, born from the grains of sand and the ashes of the strong, powerful fire that heated his face. The glass bird half-spread it’s wings of a brilliant bronze…a crystal wren, perched on a leafy twig…the glass moulding ever so smoothly to his manipulations. Alexander poured his heart into the piece, his mind completely on bringing this bird to life…let others see only the perfect details on the glass, to him…it was as if he was giving this inanimate glass life, instilling in it a life force he had been unable to give to the person the bird represented to him. A young girl’s face appeared before him, her round eyes sparkling with a joy that made his heart ache in anguish…to see those eyes again, just once…
The door swung open, interrupting his thoughts. Quickly composing himself with an ease that he had acquired through time, he placed his glass to one side carefully. Getting up, he moved out into the outer room, looking at the person who had come into his shop. “Master Sullivan,” the man greeted him, taking off his hat. Alex looked at him without expression, wiping his sweaty hands on his burn-spotted leather smock. “Yes?” he asked in a neutral tone. Perhaps he didn’t display the normal deference one of his rank should for one of the aristocrats, he was but a glassmaker…even if he was considered an artist by some, but he didn’t care. After all these years, what would he care about what others thought? Power and wealth…it meant nothing to him…he had learnt that lesson well. Too well. The gentleman was a bit irritated at his manner, but kept his temper…he had already heard about this glassmaker’s strange manner. However, he was the best at his craft…“I have a commission for you,” he began, his eyes examining some of the works on the shelves appreciatively. Truly exquisite… “A centrepiece for the Lord Haston’s Ball in a week’s time…perhaps the something symbolic of his coat of arms…whatever.” He waved his hand dismissively, not caring as long as he had a gift. “Will you be able to do it?” Alexander de Sulition…nay, now, in this time and place, he was Alex Sullivan….Alex only smiled cynically, and nodded.
Tor Walters started to walk out, then paused, looking at the glass piece that stood on the mantle. It was another crystal bird perched on a swing…within an opened door glass cage. “That looks interesting…” he said appreciatively, then looked straight at Alex. “How much would you ask for it?” he asked abruptly, moving to pick it up. “It’s not for sale, my lord,” Alex said stiffly, his eyes cold. “Please put it down…” “Wha…” His hand slipped, and the piece hurdled towards the floor as he watched in mortification…then looked up, stunned as Alex had somehow managed to catch it. Wasn’t…wasn’t he standing a bit further away…Lord, did he move fast… “Sorry, my good man, I would have paid for it if it had broken…” His voice faltered as he saw the look in Alex’s eyes briefly…his eyes burned with an intense fire that stunned him. Then as quickly as it had appeared, it was gone, and Tor could breath normally again. “It’s alright my lord,” Alex said briefly, turning away, “Thank you for your commission.” “Yes…yes, err…good day.” For reasons totally unknown even to himself, Tor Walters left the shop swiftly, trying to forget that momentary fear that had overwhelmed him so briefly. It was ridiculous…why would he suddenly be afraid…it was nothing, he decided to himself as he mounted his horse. It was just the stuffiness of the shop, that’s all…
Alex’s eyes burned with a strange light as he retreated swiftly into his workshop…luckily the shop room was more or less dimly lighted only. If anyone looked at him just now…if he had looked in the mirror, he would see that his eyes were a tawny, almost brilliant gold colour. He had used his powers…he could feel the force burning in his veins even now. He had not wanted anyone to know now, anyone to realise he was not what he seemed…he had learnt from his previous mistake. The one that had costed him the life of the one person he had ever loved…but when the crystal wren had hurdled towards the ground, it was as if it was really her…Wren…as if once again he was seeing their dreams breaking, shattering into a thousand pieces… “STOP!” he had commanded in a cold, steely voice filled with power. Alexander de Sulition had then moved forward, in that frozen moment of Time, to save his piece…in freezing time, right in front of Tor Walters too, he had risked his identity. Yet…Alex stared down at the wren that was half forged from the glass, his heart tearing at him…he had been unable to save her…how could he not save this token that stood for her, small as it was? He would risk it all…he would rather die a thousand times than to see her get hurt again for his sake…Wren…I will wait for you, for all eternity if needs be. Just come back to me…please…Wren…
****
Victoria Alcott stepped out of the carriage, her eyes viewing the huge mansion rather apprehensively. So this was to be her home from now on…this grey, dreary place…she sighed, her spirits low. She was homesick already…but she could not go back, not ever. I can do this, she thought to herself sternly, I can! Setting her shoulders, she walked gracefully towards the entrance…then froze in her steps. “Victoria?” Cassandra who had been following her, gave her a puzzled look. “What’s wrong?” There was a strange, almost bewildered expression on Victoria’s face. For a moment there, she could have sworn she heard someone calling her…she had felt something tugging at her within…the strangest feeling…but it was gone now. She shook her head slightly, dismissing it only as her imagination at work again. “Nothing, it…it was nothing…”
Victoria sighed as she leaned against the windowsill, luxuriating in the fresh, biting air of the night that filled her lungs as she took a deep breath, the coolness of the wind that tousled her long wavy hair. It had been so stuffy in that room all night, and not just because of the great roaring fireplace, nor the cigar smoke that permeated the air. It…it was the people, all the people who smiled at her with their fake, hollow smiles and exchanged their empty pleasantries with that superior tone that seemed to persist throughout the high class society that she was part of, but did not belong to. And it was to be like this for the rest of her life, this…this empty existence as nothing but the grand daughter of the Lord Haston, the jewel of his mansion…like some expensive treasure waiting to exchange hands into the next man, whoever he deems to find her for a husband. Victoria could feel herself screaming inside, repulsed by the role that she had to play, every sense and thought within her rebelled against this meaningless existence, but there was nothing she could do. He was her grandfather, her only kin…a man who hated her father for stealing his precious daughter away, a daughter who could not live with the life that he had tried to make for her. Now, it was Victoria’s turn…but there was no dashing young missionary to save her from this life, to take her away to where the land was young, and the people were free…
Oh papa, mama, why did you have to leave me? She thought sadly, staring up at the brightly shimmering stars above her, almost in tears. But no, she did not cry…she no longer knew how to. Victoria Alcott had stopped crying the day her father had left her to rejoin her mother in Heaven, the day she had promised him she would not cry. She was strong, she would survive this, survive anything…she could play this part, the dutiful grand daughter to an unloving grandfather who would never forgive her parents for their supposed crimes. She would be the dignified, graceful Miss Alcott, the role that she had been designated to play…yet, Victoria couldn’t help but reach forth her slender, tiny hands to the stars that shone above her, her heart filled with a yearning she could not name. If only she could run, if only she could fly…just fly into the skies and be…free. If only…
Suddenly, that strange, yet almost familiar feeling filled her again. Her eyes wide, she froze…it was as if something, or someone was calling…yes, someone was calling her, but she could not hear anything. It was just a feeling…a strange, almost nagging feeling that tugged at her from within…eyes wide with confusion, Victoria spun around looking for something…anything to explain it, to explain this. But she saw nothing…heart fluttering wildly, her round, bewildered eyes stared back unseeingly at the night sky as she tried to calm down, to think…then, it ended, that feeling, as if it had never been. What on earth…she relaxed somewhat, maybe it was just her imagination. Yes, it…it was just her usually active imagination that had been suppressed by the dullness of her surroundings, that must be it, she decided to herself. Nonetheless...her eyes were clouded as she turned from the window back into the room, heaving a small sigh. There…there was almost a sense of regret when that feeling ended, it…it was almost as if she was suddenly incomplete without it…a strange, unexplainable yearning within her for it to tug at her soul once more…
*****
Alex jerked upright in his bed, his wide eyes burning with that strange fire that was roaring through his veins, contrasting with the paleness on his shocked face. He had wandered the dream trails as usual, and this time…Wren! He had found her, felt her presence…it…it could not be true…he had found her?!? After all these years, all this time…he had found her again…was it even possible?!? Almost trembling with excitement and joy, Alex took a deep breath, and took control of the mystic power that was raging through his veins even now. Trying to control the tingling excitement within him, he cast his mind out again, searching, barely brushing through others consciousness as he only wanted to find his loved one…Wren…oh God. She was here…it was true, it wasn’t a dream, he had finally found her, she had come back to him! God, he…he didn’t know what to do…Alex almost sobbed in his exhilaration. Wren…oh Wren…her image flashed before his eyes, the sweet, innocent girl from his past, the only person to ever love him for who he was inside, no matter what he could and couldn’t do…the girl who had given up her life for him. He had waited for her all these years, he who could not die, for her to come back to him…for she would, that he knew. For their very souls were linked, entwined by a destiny that he had wrecked himself when he had acquired these powers…she had died for his sake, and it tore at his soul knowing this…knowing that if he had not accepted his part of the bargain, she would have lived…if he had not acted the fool he had been, then…
But now she had been reborn, her soul within another mortal vessel, in this time and space. Finally, after he had waited for her all these years, searched for all eternity for the glimpse of the soul of his loved one, he had found her again…now he could undo the wrongs of the past, he would protect her from harm, from anything or anyone who would ever dare to hurt her again. He would spend the rest of his life, no matter how long or how short it was, to pay back what he owed her…a happy life, a love that would never be extinguished no matter how much time passes…for God had given her back to him, given him this one chance to make up for his sins…Wren, wait for me, my love, he called into the darkness of the night, his eyes burning with a fierce joy. Soon, soon we shall meet once more, and this time, nothing shall come between us again…nothing…
_____
**** SOMEWHERE, SOMEWHEN ****
In another time, another space, two watchers looked on as the two souls drifted closer and closer together once more. Bent over a strangely glowing game board that shimmered with vividly different colours, one smiled as her delicate fingers picked up a tiny piece that bore an uncanny resemblance to a girl. “The same move, sister?” The cold emptiness in the voice would have frozen any mortal in mind-wrenching fear, but the other just smiled, her eyes twinkling merrily at the non-descriptive figure huddled in the cloak of darkness across the board from her. “While you choose to change your players every time, brother, I like to keep the same dear soul…” Her fingers nimbly dropped the game piece into the place on the game board that was not…in the shimmering glow, it was uncertain how big or small the board was, nor what it represented. “Never underestimate the power of a tiny pawn, brother, nor the power of love. I shall win this game yet.”
“Sister, your sentimentality will be your undoing. These selfish, weak mortals you love don’t deserve your attentions, accept that my darkness will win, every time, every game. Look how they squabble so greedily, so mindlessly for their pitiful lives…why must you persist in believing in them?” The lady only smiled, her whole form radiant with the light that she was the embodiment of. “Because, brother, while they hope, they love, they live…they are my children, though they are yours also. No matter how dark and evil, how greedy and selfish they can be, they also have a side filled with love and hope, of joy and selflessness…it is something you will never understand…I did not lose the last game, it has not ended, not as long as this soul continues to walk the same path she does, and nor will it until our central piece has made his decision. Remember, we agreed to let his decision decide the fate of this game…”
“It’s almost insulting, sister, to let this selfish weakling determine the outcome, he is sure to be like the others…all the brave talk, yet when the final call comes…” She gave him a wry smile, with a ‘wait and see’ expression in her starry eyes. “A whole world, in the hands of a mortal,” he said darkly, glaring at the piece that had materialised in the middle of the board, surrounded by a tiny shell of golden light...a shell of power. She only smiled back at him, her brother yet her enemy, as the Dark is to the Light, they were kin, yet opposing forces in the High Universe. “Yes, the mortal shall decide, though he would never know the importance of his choices. It is only fitting that a mortal be our gambling piece for this game. After all, brother, it is their world…to live in darkness or light, it is up to them…and him.”
Having made her move, the two incandescent figures
watched as the web she had cast bring the two souls closer and closer together,
as it had in the previous game…nay, this same game, only a few moves before. A
few moves that were countless years on the Earth that was their game board, many
years of agony and endless searching for the people that were their game pieces,
in this game of theirs, this game of lives…of light and darkness…of hope and
despair…all centred on the one man they had chosen to bear the weight of their
power, to decide the fate of the world through his actions, though he knew it
not. The man called Alexander de Sulition.
_______
Victoria hid her mouth behind her hand, trying to suppress the yawn she could feel coming. Cassandra caught her eye across the breakfast table, and winked. “Late night?” she mouthed exaggeratedly, and Victoria wrinkled her nose at her pesky cousin. It wasn’t that, it was just…she had had the strangest dreams last night, especially the one about these two strange figures sitting at a table playing something that looked like chess. But the game looked nothing like the chess sets she had ever seen…and then there was that strangely familiar face that kept appearing in her vividly coloured dreams…a young man…she quickly caught another yawn, giving her cousin a rueful look. Cassandra grinned, then quickly composed herself as their grandfather finished his conversation with the butler, and turned his frowning face back to his two charges.
Lord Haston’s face was expressionless as he looked at his newest charge, his dead daughter Vivian’s child. She looked so much like her mother it was uncanny…but those eyes, that stubborn chin reminded him too much of that man for comfort. That good for nothing, stupid young man with all his burning visions…that Louis Alcott, with his revolutionary ideas and burning resolutions. Where had it taken him in the end? It had seen him to his grave, but he had taken his daughter with him. Now, it was as if his embodiment stood before him now, in the form of his granddaughter, Victoria Alcott…though she resembled Vivian in many ways, he knew that she did not like this genteel life. She has no choice, he thought harshly, glaring at the apparently oblivious girl. I will never let her betray me like her mother did, nor that other one…his eyes clouded for a moment as he remembered, all so dimly, another girl who had born the Haston name, so very many years ago. A girl whose face he barely remembered, so lost within the mists of time, only that she too, had left him alone, when he was but a child. Shaking his head, he forgot his bemusement to watch that girl again. Victoria will be a true daughter of the Haston family and obey, or else…he would not stand for another Haston girl to rebel against the family once more.
“There will be a Ball in a weeks time. You will both be expected to attend.” The two girls looked up, startled. Their grandfather continued as if not noticing their reactions. “It is in honour of your arrival in this town, and I expect the both of you to behave as a Lady of the Haston family should. You hear me, Victoria?” His voice was cold as his flinty gaze fell on her. But Victoria only nodded demurely, her eyes carefully veiled. She knew that these reprimands would be common in the days to come, and that she must not react to them, must not let him see the fire in her eyes. “Yes, grandfather.”
“A Ball? Victoria, it’s going to be your introduction into high society! Oh, I can’t wait to see everyone there…” Cassandra was talking on and on, but Victoria was barely listening. “Hmm?” she asked, distracted. Cassandra rolled her eyes at her older cousin. “I said, you might even meet your prince charming there, and then…” “Then what?” Victoria asked, her mouth curved into a wry smile. “He’ll take me on his pure white steed, and ride away into the sunset while grandfather has a fit over another girl rebelling against him? I don’t think so, Cassandra, Prince Charmings don’t exist in real life.” “Oh really?” Cassandra lifted her eyebrows at her cousin. “And how would you know? It’s possible…” “But not very probable. Oh come on Cassandra, we have a much more important task at hand,” Victoria said as she took her cousin’s hand, and started to drag her down the hallway. “What task?!?” Cassandra asked, startled. Victoria threw her a grin as she turned her head back to look at her. “You have to teach me how to dance in one weeks time. I always had better things to do before, but now…” “You…you don’t KNOW how to?” She asked incredulously, then sighed at Victoria’s rueful smile. “Oh boy, this is going to be a LONG week…”
There was a musty smell in the room as she ventured in hesitantly, her eyes wide as she noted the layer of dust on the wooden floor that creaked beneath her feet, and the furniture and wall hangings that had been covered with what once must have been pure white linen, now grim and dirty with age. It was obvious that no one had been in this room for a very long time…yet, why did she feel like she had been here before? Why did she feel so uneasy …it…it felt so very familiar, like she had once known this place…no, it wasn’t possible, she thought to herself. Surely there was some logical explanation, like…all rooms in old mansions were designed the same, she must have stayed in a room similar to this one before, that’s it, she decided, pushing aside the uneasy feeling as her eyes settled on the cobweb covered cloth hanging above the mantle. Putting down the candle on a table, she moved as if drawn to it, her eyes filled with curiosity. A sudden irresistible urge made her hands grasp the heavy, silken rope to draw aside the cloth, to reveal the dark secret within…
“VICTORIA!” The girl jumped, her heart fluttering wildly as she spun around, then sighed in relief. “Cassandra! You nearly scared the living daylights out of me!” Victoria scolded her cousin, who was peering at her through the entrance. “Me? Oh funny, what about you?” Cassandra replied indignantly, “Your bed is mysteriously empty in the middle of the night, and you say that I’M the one scaring you!” She looked around the room curiously, her eyes wide. “What is this place?” she asked, her voice hushed. “How did you find this?” Victoria shot her a devious grin. “I couldn’t sleep, so I looked around the hallways…” “Grandfather would kill you if he found you wandering around in a nightgown in the middle of the night!” Victoria tossed her hair, shrugging. “I could always pretend I was sleepwalking.” “So you found this place by accident?” Victoria rolled her eyes. “No, I’m psychic…of COURSE I found it by accident!”
Cassandra only gave her a sheepish grin as she ran her hand along the edges of a wooden table. “Look at all this dust! I don’t think anyone’s been in here for years! Do you think Grandfather even knows about this room?” Victoria shrugged slightly, she doubted anyone did…sure, the entrance to this room was well hidden behind her wardrobe, and she had found it by accident, yet…despite her words, she wasn’t sure it was entirely an accident. Somehow, she had been curious about the depth of that enormous wardrobe in her room…it was almost as if she had known about the false backing of it, as if it was a faint, distant memory…No, don’t be silly, Victoria, she told herself sternly, repressing the uneasy feeling within her. How could you have possibly known? It’s not like you’ve ever been here before! But then…her eyes fell on that covered painting again. Suddenly she understood with a clarity that was almost eerie…this was the reason she was here, why she had found this place…as if drawn, she moved towards it, her hands reaching up automatically to pull the cloth aside. “Victoria, what are you doing?” Dimly she heard Cassandra’s uneasy voice behind her, but she did not reply. She had to know what laid behind the cloth, aged with time, the desire was burning within her…
At her touch, the cloth fell away. Dimly Victoria heard Cassandra gasp behind her, but she could only stare dazedly at the image before her, her heart fluttering wildly. The blood felt icy in her veins as she reached out slowly, with a trembling hand, to touch the wooden frame…to convince her reeling mind that she was not dreaming, that the image she was seeing in the flickering glow from the candles was real. The image frozen in time, captured in the still, undying strokes of a painting…the image of herself…
=======
He stared at the piece before him, his eyes flickered with a strange intensity as he contemplated the night that was before him. Tonight, it was the Ball at Lord Haston’s mansion. It was almost funny if there was not so much at stake, for him, at any rate. Alex looked at the piece with something akin to anger. It was the grey wolf that was the symbolic creature on the Haston family’s coat of arms…oh yes, he remembered that well. How could he forget? They were amongst those who had brought him to this fate of his, who had conspired to bring him down, and resulted in the worst nightmare he could possibly imagine…they had taken his Wren from him. If he was as he had been before, before Wren had shown him there were other things in life besides the hatred that had burned in his heart, they would not be alive this day, the bloodline would have long since ceased to exist in this world…now, they had even taken over the very mansion that he had once owned! But nay, he did not care anymore. All he cared for now was the girl who haunted his dreams…the girl who had saved his soul from descending into the darkest pit of hatred and revenge…
FLASHBACK
It was cold, so very cold that the
air stung his lungs as he gasped for breath, trying to control the shivering
that wracked his body. The cold breeze froze his skin through the thin ragged
tunic that was all his earthly possession, and he huddled further into the dark
doorway, curling into a ball in a desperate effort to warm himself. But he knew
that the snows were coming, and when it did…he would die. Though he was barely
thirteen, he understood all too well that no one could survive the harsh winter
without shelter, and his home…he bite his lip in an effort to repress the
tears he could not shed. No, he would not cry, he would not let them see him
cry. With an anger and hatred beyond his years, he clenched his fists as he
stared into the dark night. They…the rest of the world…none of them would
ever care about him, they only kicked and spat at him as he scavenged for food
on the streets, trying to survive the best he could without family, without a
home…they who had stolen his parents from him, but had let him live through
the mercy in their hearts.
He laughed bitterly to himself. Mercy
indeed…for all the piety they portrayed in their fine clothes as they walked
to church on Sundays, for all their polite smiles and so called charities…the
malevolence within them was all too apparent. Their mouths dripped with poison
as they condemned him for who he was…an orphan brat…an orphan of their
making. Hypocrites, all of them! They had condemned his parents for sins they
had never committed…in their dark hearted jealousy they had sent them to their
deaths with a conviction that had nothing to do with the righteousness of God
they spoke with their mouths, but everything to do with the dark hatred and envy
that breed in their hearts. So he had watched them burn, the only two people in
the world who had ever loved him, burning in the flames that served only as fuel
for the hatred that was being born in the young boy’s heart, the certainty
that there was no one in the world that was not evil, that was not out to hurt
him…
The light from the doorway fell upon
him, and he flinched from the sudden brightness. With a swiftness that was born
from painful experience, he scrambled away from it…from the person who was
sure to hit him…to curse at the demon’s spawn that dared to cower in their
doorway. “Are you alright? Please don’t run…” The gentle whisper froze
him in his desperate dash for safety. Slowly he turned around, his eyes wide
with astonishment. It was a little girl holding a tiny candle as she peered at
him in the night. But that was not what surprised him, it was her eyes…her
eyes that shone with no hatred, no contempt…why was she looking at him like
that? “I…what do you want?” he mumbled sullenly, his heart filled with
distrust. She gave him a little smile as she closed the door behind him,
beckoning to him with her hand, but he did not move. With a little sigh, she
shrugged her shoulders, and placed the bundle she had held behind her on the
steps. His eyes widened with shock…it was loaf of bread, and…a cloak?
Why…? “I saw you out here, and my father was asleep, so…” “I don’t
need your pity!” he said harshly, though his eyes were staring at the cloak
hungrily. To be warm again… She gave him an impish smile, her face was elfin
in the pale moonlight. “It’s not pity, I like giving things to my
friends.” “I’m not your friend…I…I’m the witch’s brat, the
demon’s spawn, or haven’t you heard? I have no friends,” he said bitterly,
his eyes burning with tears that he refused to cry. It was not manly to cry…he
could not let them see him cry…
A tiny hand slipped into his with a
confidence that stunned him. In astonishment he stared at the tiny girl in front
of him as she shook his hand gently. “Well, I want to be your friend. My
name’s Wren, what’s yours?” He looked into her round eyes, sparkling with
a warmth and sincerity that tugged at his heart that had felt dead for so long.
He knew he should back away now, take his hand away before he was hurt
again…everyone was out to hurt him, to get at him…but somehow, he didn’t.
Her hand felt so warm in his…he whispered hesitantly, “My name is
Alexander.” Thus, beneath the silvery moon, their destiny was sealed…
END OF FLASHBACK
Wren…she had been there when the whole world had scorned and condemned him for who he was…she had been there when he had radiated with the ill gotten power that he did not understand, and would come to regret…when the whole village had grovelled before him, their voices dripping with honey despite the hate in their eyes…she had been there. For his sins, for his pride and conceitedness, she had paid the dearest price possible…she had paid with her life. But now…he smiled gently as he wrapped up the glass piece with felt. It was the first time he had truly smiled in many years now…so many years it felt strange on his face. Tonight, he would deliver this parcel to the mansion, he had delayed in the work deliberately for this very reason. Because tonight was the ball, and she was going to be there…she had to be. Though he had felt her presence on the dream trails, had revelled in the familiarity of the purity of her soul…he knew not her face in this life. He would go, tonight…to watch, with these eyes that had waited many long years to see her once again, to watch and seek the one woman he would wait for all eternity for. Wren…yes, tonight…tonight their paths shall cross again. And this time, he thought determinedly, no one shall tear us apart again. No one.