Matt's story
05:37 Dec 03 2006
Times Read: 537
A figure dressed in a cloak walked onto a balcony adjoining a beautifully dark and well-decorated bedroom. The outside of his cloak was a soft black velvet with an even softer black velvet inside that looked like it was bleeding and a blood-red silk trim. He stared out at the stars from his dark palace deep in thought of the one he kept wishing for. He spoke to the sky, “I know the one that my heart belongs to is out there, and I just don’t know where to start looking.” Then he turned suddenly as he heard the balcony doors creak open.
“Lord, are you not cold out here,” asked a beautiful girl that looked more like a full-sized doll. “It is -5 below freezing, Lord, please come inside before you freeze to death. Come and bless us with your stories of the past for we have prepared something for you to eat,” she pleaded.
“Leave me be, the cold is a welcome touch to go with the darkness in my heart,” he boomed, “Now let me be alone in this icy coffin!”
With that she ran back to the doors crying because her lord was willing to freeze instead of bless her and her ‘friends’ with his presence.
He then turned and floated to the doors and flung them open with such force as to break normal doors. He then tossed the cloak onto his bed and strode over to a mirror and asked weather or not, the one he was searching for had heard his wish. A figure of a woman who looked almost like a goddess appeared in the mirror. Her beauty was breath taking to him, for none other he has ever seen looked as such. Short she may be, but he never knew one girl he dated that was tall, or that even stayed around after they saw him in the light. He knew it was almost dawn and he was ever so tired from lack of sleep for many days because of his search.
Hate always filled his heart; hate against everything but, one girl, the girl in the mirror he couldn’t come to have hate towards.
The next night he went out amongst the normal people in the world dressed as he always was. His cloak that only let his hair flow out behind him through a hole that seemed to vanish when nothing was in it and whatever else he choose to wear under it. His hair flowed down past his knees and seemed to put off a black glow even though it was a gold and silver mix. Other than that not a soul knew what he looked like under his cloak, for he never removed it. When he went out this night though, something was different about the air. It was like forces unknown had set up a chance meeting this night. He was walking in the sleet to a ‘restaurant’ that all seemed to fear for their own reasons. The place only opened at night and smelled of death and blood all the time. He had a reason for always going to this place on a Friday night, he owned the joint. Friday night was when he would visit an old friend of his, for she only came during the weekends for she had her own ‘things‘ to take care of during the rest of the week. Chaos Lounge was the name of it, but tonight when he went in and received the entry list, an unfamiliar name was written down. He questioned the guard about what she looked like. After the conversation, he had begun to search for a girl that had short black hair, naturally pale skin, and a beautiful dark purple and black gothic dress on. He wondered at the name he saw on the list for it had never been spoken by anyone other than his friend, for the name was her old name she used to go by. Almost silently he spoke the name, “Corvsesta Ishstar. Who would dare use that name, or even know it to begin with? I must find this girl and speak with her.” After over three hours of searching he found the girl and froze in the middle of the dance floor because of the fact that she looked like a goddess. Noticing that the crowd of people as well as the music stopped, he boomed, “This is a party and a place to eat for you all, so don’t pay any heed to the fact that I’m standing here and continue! He strode closer to the figure and spoke lower than normal, “You in the gothic dress come with me. I would like to talk with you outside for a moment.”
She stared at him in amazement but with an overwhelming fear as well for she couldn‘t see what he looked like or even see his eyes. She usually would know something about a person just by the look in their eyes, but with him nothing, for his cloak made only shadows appear. She understood now why everyone in the building seemed to fear him. Why she didn’t know really, except that she somehow felt a little comfortable when she stood next to him. She held onto his cloaked arm as they waded through the tons of people to the back exit. While they moved to the exit, she noticed that when he spoke everyone seemed to winch in pain from just the sound of his voice.
“I noticed that this was your first time here, miss,” he spoke. “Although I thought it was an old friend from the name, but instead I was informed that it was someone new.”
“Yes I have never heard of this place before, but had a sudden urge to travel out this way,” as she paused she realized that his voiced seemed to cut through the air like butter, “I don’t know really anything about this place or where I can stay till I find what I‘ve come for. I just know that this city has what I search for.”
He stared at her trying to match her to the image he saw in the mirror, and then replied, “Most people may think me heartless, but I will let you stay with me in my palace, miss. Whenever you want, I can take you there, but I usually stay that this place till an hour before dawn.” As he continued to walk with her, he noticed that she was slowly inching closer to him still holding his cloaked arm. “Miss, I don’t mind you holding onto me, but you don’t even know who I am or anything about me. I could be some crazed person that would use you as a sacrifice for some weird and creepy ritual.” Although even during all of that which he said, he could see she didn’t believe a word of it, for she just snuggled up closer into his cloak.
“I would like to go up to your palace with you whenever you wish to leave. To answer the question that you would like to know, my name is Rayne Alueth. I have come here for reasons that I believe to be fate, predetermined, or whatever you want to call it,” she softly spoke.
Her words were sweet and comforting to his ears, and as he thought of what to do next he suddenly spoke, “I will make an exception this time and go back to my palace sooner than normal and you shall come with me, if you wish my dear Rayne. I usually don’t allow anyone to touch my cloak, as you saw when we walked through the people. They all kind of moved away from me some. Anyways, since you told me your name, even though it wasn’t what you wrote on the list, I will allow you to know mine as well. I am Zimmermir, and I am lord of that palace that is overlooking this establishment.”
She closed in even more to the figure almost enough to feel his heart beat, as slow as it may be. She realized that it wasn’t her imagination or the cold weather, this arm was so cold even under the cloak, his whole body was colder than it should have been. She also realized he didn’t seem to mind her getting so close to him.
It wasn’t long before they arrived at the palace. He knocked the usual way, three solid times and once softly with a sudden scratch at the end. The ten foot steel doors swung open without a sound and a figure dressed in an elegantly embroidered semi-low cut dress with overly long open sleeves stood in the doorway. She softly spoke, “Master I see that you have returned early this night,” not noticing the girl standing next to him. “Come in and let us take care of whatever you may need. We all wish that you would take better care of yourself and not keep yourself locked away so much.”
“Do you not notice that I have company, or do you just not care?” he boomed. “Do you not like the guest that I have with me? She has no place to stay and I have decided to let her stay here amongst us till she finds her own place. I am not so heartless as everyone must think of me. You all should know that by now!” he bellowed at the figure. “Do you wish to eat anything,” he asked of his new guest.
“Um,” she stared at the figure with fear, “if you have anything I will have the same.”
“You heard our guest. Fix two of the usual, and bring her some water and the usual for me,” he replied as she started to walk away. Then, he turned to her, “ I asked for water for you, because I don’t think you would like the taste of what I am having to drink.” Then, they continued into the inner part of the palace.
Even late into the night they had continued to talk about whatever came to mind. She noticed that he never once removed his cloak nor seemed to neither eat nor drink when food and drink were set before him. She noticed that the people that brought the food and drink looked like they shouldn’t of been alive to start with and begun to hold her knees close to her chest. She didn’t understand anything about what was in the palace, for they had entered his room without walking through much of the place or even going up stairs. As she started to softly cry, a cold arm wrapped around her and held her. “Why does everyone seem to fear you?” she spoke with words drowned by tears, “Everyone seems like just the sound of your voice hurts them, and yet I feel safe next to you and your voice feels soft to me.”
“Why? No one knows anything about me, for I stay in my palace during the day and never remove my cloak when anyone is around. Whenever shopping is needed to bring more food or other items up here, one of ‘them’ does it for me. They are the only company I ever have most of the time,” he explained.
Slowly she started to try and remove the part that kept his face hidden and he kept on even in the darkest part of this place so she could look upon his face.
“None shall see what I look like unless I want them to!” he thundered as he stood up in one swift motion. “I have my reasons, and will thank you if you don’t try to remove my cloak again,” he spoke as he floated outside to the balcony. “Why must she wish to see me?” he whispered to the stars, “I am not one that people ever wish to have living amongst them, for they fear my abilities. They would never understand me or anything about me.”
She stared at him shocked then strode after him and grabbed his arm. “Don’t be afraid of me, all I wanted to do was gaze upon the person who was nice to me in this city and for being so sweet and kind to Me.“ she whispered to him.
He stared at her looking for answers to his questions then replied, “Why? I make them all run from me,” as he waved a hand across the land, “They all will never accept me or anything about me. They fear me and my ‘family’.” Then he turned around and headed back towards the doors calling out for someone to get a few things ready and to show the guest where a bathroom was. “It is about time for me to retire for the night, my dear.”
A figure in a blood-red dress with see-thru black sleeves suddenly strode into the room; “I will take you to your room and show you where you can clean up, because you must be tired and dirty from that walk up here. You are the first guest that we have had in quite some time, miss.”
“I thought that people didn’t come up here, because of fear or whatever,” Rayne spoke softly as usual.
After a few minutes of walking through the dark palace, she broke the silence because they were at the bed and restrooms, “By the way, miss, my name is Isabella. Just call if you ever need anything, for I am the one that will take care of you while you stay here with our Lord.” The restroom was across the hall from the room that Rayne Alueth was to stay in. “Just say my name whenever you need anything and no matter where I am, I will hear you and come to your aid,” Isabella spoke softly.
Rayne noticed that even when Isabella spoke loud, it seemed more of a whisper than regularly speaking. “Thank you kindly. I shall at least freshen up some then go and lay down for I am truly exhausted.”
“Lord I have returned, and our guest Rayne has gone off to bed for the night but, I have shown her where some clothes are that I believed would fit her nicely,” Isabella informed.
“You are truly amazing, my dear Isabella,” Zimmermir gently spoke or as gentle as he knew.
Isabella stood in the doorway thinking of what to say, for she truly wasn’t fond of her lord bringing home some other woman. She knew what she was, but that didn’t mean that she couldn’t feel love. “I would like to spend some time with you tonight before you sleep,” she stated with a hint of fear and anger in her voice.
Zimmermir bellowed, “Why do I hear a mixture of anger and fear in your voice my dear Isabella? Are you angry at someone or do you just have fear for your life like all those fools down below this palace of mine?”
Isabella stared at her lord thinking of a way to deny it all then retorted, “Lord, you did hear anger and fear but, not for the reasons that you believed. For quite some time now, I have had these urges deep inside my heart to do something but, I never knew what they meant,” she stated in her usual soft tone. “My Lord, I-I know that you s-search for the one who has your heart b-but, I must confess these feelings th-that I now know what they are. My Lord, I d-deeply care and l-love you,” Isabella spoke with a slight stutter.
“Yes I know that you do, my dear, but as you said yourself, I search for the one who has my heart. If matters were different, than I might have given you the same feelings that you have for me but things stand as they are now. I can not give you the true feelings that you have for me, because I have them for someone else, who I do not know, for I do not know who she is or what she looks like,” Zimmermir responded. “I must be getting to sleep soon before the sun rises, for I am deathly tired. I shall hope you try nothing foolish during the night my dear, for even the palace watches all. Goodnight and remember what I have asked of you and wish for you to do,” he stated sleepily.
The next day Rayne had awoken a long while before her host did so, she went down from the palace. She had dawned a dress that made her look a little like a mistress of the night. It was a long black dress with a bodice in black satin covered in lace. The long laced sleeves came to a point at her long graceful fingers. Black trim edged the sleeves with a button fastening it closed. The bodice was surrounded by black trim and the front and waist were adorned by purple trim. Suddenly as if out of the darkness she heard a familiar voice.
“Rayne? Why must you leave the palace without letting anyone know where you are heading? My Lord informed me before he drifted into sleep early this morning to have someone go with you if you went into town. Must you try and make my job harder than it should be!” Isabella exclaimed.
“Humph! You don’t seem too fond of me! To say the truth none of you seem fond of me! Is it because you think I aim to steal your lord away from you or, do you just not trust me?” Rayne boomed even though it never became louder than a hiss.
“So what if I don’t trust you! I have my own personal reasons not to. He wishes that someone go with you incase anything were to happen. Just mainly to protect you from any harm. I could really care--” she froze mid sentence as if someone were waiting for her to finish so they would have a reason to strike her down where she stood.
“Fine, since he wants someone to go with me, incase anything should happen I will wait for you to get whoever you wish,” Rayne spoke softer but still with a twinge of anger.
“Coteia! Come here now, for I wish for you to go with our guest into town,” Isabella boomed.
Out of the shadowy doorway traveled a voice with enough hate and anger to make Rayne double over as if in pain. She knew from that voice that something terrible must have happened in the past between the two.
“I don’t have to listen to a single word you say, you conniving little bitch! You lied to our master a while back once you came into the picture and made me endure pain the likes which I hope you never see for I wish you to feel things far worse than I!” thundered Coteia.
Rayne felt enough hate and anger from those words to make her double over as if she was just kneed with force to the stomach. She then thought ‘Yet another life-like doll.’ as she barely noticed the person whose voice she heard a moment ago. The woman was dressed in the same style dress that she herself had on, but made out of the same fabric as Zimmermir’s cloak.
The figure walked over to Rayne and began talking as if she didn’t notice that Isabella was standing there, “Hello, miss. As you may already of guessed, I am Coteia. I would be honored to be the one to travel with you into town and show you all the sites this place has to offer.” As she started to help Rayne back into a standing position, she noticed the dress and begun speaking again, “I hope that that dress is to your liking Miss.”
“Why do you ask me that? Of course I do! It is absolutely beautiful!” responded Rayne.
Grinning from ear to ear Coteia replied, “you are too kind Miss. I made that dress myself early this morning before you awoke to fit you and only you.” Glaring at Isabella for only a brief second then returning her attention back to her new friend, “Do not think I am like some people here. I have no anger nor hate towards you only for her because of what she did to me a while back. I was in love with our master before she came around and she made me go through Hell because of her lies to him about me.”
Puzzled by all that just happened and how someone could so suddenly change from having all that hate and anger to being such a sweet and gentle person. “Sure, I will be glad to let you show me all the sites and I would like to see the stuff you like most of all too,” Rayne replied.
The two of them headed for the hidden trail that lead towards town and left Isabella screaming at nothing.
After a few hours of walking thru the town and Coteia showing different places to Rayne, they came to a spot in town that seemed the busiest of all.
“This is the best place of them all. Personally I love it mostly out of all the places I enjoy,” stated Coteia.
“What is this place and what are they doing?” Rayne questioned as she waved a hand towards the crowded street all acting as if they were all getting ready for something to happen.
“This Miss Rayne is what the town calls ‘Main’ Attraction Street. Anything they wish to do happens here. It ranges from fireworks to street parties, or plays to festivals, or whatever they wish to do,” replied Coteia as she noticed a familiar figure dressed in a short dress and a long flowing cloak with the same general design as her master’s.
As Rayne continued staring at the hustle and bustle in the street, she heard someone whistle and say something towards the two of them. “But, I don’t understand anything about this place. What are they doing tonight? Everyone is so busy but, I don’t know what to do,” she explained. Rayne suddenly thought about her host instead of the new hostess that she was with - He is dark and creepy but I feel comfortable next to him. Why is this?
Coteia suddenly just put a finger on Rayne’s lips to silence her and pointed at the stars. Then a loud boom went off in front of them and the sky was lit-up by multi-colored explosions.
At that same time the figured that passed by Coteia and her guest was headed towards Zimmermir to deliver a most urgent message from the night before.
It was almost dark by the time she made it to the palace. With two swift thundering knocks the doors swung open revealing the usual greeter, Isabella.
“What do you want? I am in no mood to deal with anymore guests tonight!” she boomed.
With that comment the figure that was dress in a short low-cut black silken dress with short see-thru sleeves and a long flowing satin cloak that seemed like an identical match to Zimmermir’s which she had wrapped around her to play the trick of wearing nothing then bellowed, “You shalt not want to piss me off this night Isabella, for I am most angered by events that happened at the lounge! You will move out of my way and let e visit your master!”
Isabella suddenly disappeared back into the shadows of the palace and let the guest enter still mumbling random things under her breath. “He still sleeps right now, but if you must you can wake him, Miss Ishstar,” she grumbled.
Not paying any heed to the nonsense that came from Isabella, she just strode into the inner chambers of the palace and found her way to Zimmermir’s room. “My dearest friend get your ass up for we need to talk about a little problem that happened when you didn’t come back to Chaos Lounge last night,” Miss Ishstar thundered softly.
Slowly turning to face her, he mumbled just audible enough to understand, “What time is it, Corvsesta? Have you any idea why I didn’t come back to visit you like I always do? What is so urgent that your voice carried from the entrance to my room?” he questioned.
“Well, first off it is almost dark outside and I already know why you didn’t show up last night to talk, like usual. I saw Coteia and some girl with her down in town where the fireworks were fixing to start,” explained the woman.
“Corvsesta, what is so urgent though? What could of happened at Chaos Lounge?” he questioned yet again to try and get the answer finally.
“Well, after you left, some chick dressed to fit in with the rest of the crowd threw your guard to the far wall like a rag doll. She said that she wished to speak with you but, saw that you weren’t around and told me to relay a message to you. Her words exactly -’You will tell your friend Zimmermir to meet me at my house tomorrow night at midnight for I have a friend of his that may come to harm if he doesn’t show. He must come and come alone not even his little dolls may be anywhere around him when he shows. The only one that may be with him is you my little prize, for you will be the one harmed if he doesn’t show or if he does try anything sneaky.’ That was what she said to a ‘T’. She put fear into even me. ME! No one has ever made me have fear before but, she scares me,” exclaimed Corvsesta.
“Well, take me there and don’t worry, I will do what she asked so you don’t come to harm,” with those words, they both ran off towards a house in the middle of nowhere.
To be continued……
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