Chapter 74: The Mother Of Depravity[1]
Xior stood in front of the unmoving Acheron, who sat on the throne and just observed him with her crimson eyes.
Xior’s words did not come out, as if her presence forced his mouth to remain closed and not to make a noise without her command.
One of the hands on the throne twitched and she raised it, only to close it as she formed a fist.
Xior felt an imaginable pressure enveloped his body, he felt as if an invisible hand had grabbed his body.
Blood dripped from the ceiling and Xior writhed to break free, then she moved her hand once more, his world stumbled as she twisted and turned his body.
She inspected his body, from top to bottom. But she didn’t utter a single word. It was as if she was not interested in him.
His scent was different, it reminded him of an old acquaintance–of someone who was also betrayed like her.
Apart from that nothing about him was anything spectacular, if he was in a novel then he would’ve been a side character who died early on.
She increased the pressure, his chest was constricted and his bones creaked, close to get broken by the pressure.
He gritted his teeth and endured it, blood dripped down from his nose and ears and dropped onto the ground.
It pulsed and his blood was sucked into the red velvet carpet. But along with that the pressure which enveloped his body vanished.
She stared at him, her crimson eyes saw through him as the chamber around his pulsed and the blood which dripped from the roof started to drip quicker.
"What insect...walks before me, uninvited." She said with a lazy voice which masked her emotions.
"I am Xior." He replied while being respectful
She didn’t respond to him, it was as if she didn’t care about who he was. She continued to stare at him.
"I do not care what you are called, you interrupted my sleep...surely there was a reason for it." She leaned back on the throne, her hand on her chin and her eyes pierced him like daggers.
She moved her hand again, this time the psychic force pulled him towards her, he wanted to force himself not to move but he didn’t want her to get angered by him.
He knew the difference between him and her, she was the Mother, the Great Progenitor–of course he’d know to not get on her bad side.
As he was pulled towards her, there was a shift in her eyes. Her crimson eyes had seen the blood which pumped inside his body.
It was familiar, so much so that it almost made her weep. A long time ago, when she was just a kid, she had met a strange man in a strange land.
He too struggled like her, but there was this uninterested look on his face which pulled her towards him.
He had helped her survive early on, over the years as time went by their bond changed. She started to understand him, even if it was every so slight.
But on the other hand, he became distant–everything about him felt as wrong. The monsters of the Abyss would wither and die even if he was a mile away from them.
And so, one day he left...Acheron was once again left alone in the Abyss to wander. How come Xior had the blood of that man, she thought.
Anger, sorrow, regret...these emotions stirred within her but she didn’t let a single one pour out.
But she underestimated Xior, he had seen the slight shift in her expression. He pursed his lips, she felt all to similar to him.
The events from when he arrived on the island played in his mind, the blood which seeped into the ground, the underground city kept watch by the Bathory Family and now her, the Great Progenitor of Vampires.
It became full circle to him, this island was a containment facility for her. And the girl he saw in his dreams...that was surely her.
But before he could utter a word, she spoke yet again.
"What do you seek, child of the dragon." She declared as the blood which dripped periodically in the chamber started to drip quickly.
Xior didn’t answer right away, he paused whatever he wanted to say. He looked down and then back up at her.
"Oh great Mother.." Xior said as he looked down at the ground.
The word mother made her flinch, the memories of betrayal came back to her. She wanted to weep, to scream but because there was an uninvited guest who felt familiar to someone she knew–she couldn’t show weakness.
But now he shifted his gaze towards her, to study her. And then with a voice so gentle, one would never believe this came from someone like him, he said.
"To set you free."
There was no smile on her face, no anger at first. There was only an eerie silence which fell in the chamber and he felt as if a heavy weight weighed down on his soul.
Just like before, the word free made her blood boil with anger instead of sadness. The whole chamber shook.
The blood dropped down in thick streams, the walls bled blood as if they cried tears of blood. The ground pulsed heavily. And all the candles in the chamber snuffed out all at once, which plunged the whole chamber into complete utter darkness.
Then it was broken, by the crimson glow of her eyes. "Freedom? You dare whisper that word in front of me? I was bound to chains, not given freedom last time. Chains forged by the ones who called me Mother."
She roared as the chamber continued to shake, her anger was on the peak. Xior had miscalculated, his judgement which was usually right–was however wrong this time.
It felt he had lost, that he would die here and then the women above would too in a few days. He gritted is teeth, he didn’t want that, he wanted them to live at least.
She moved her hand with a sudden motion, blood tendrils burst from the carpet and impaled Xior’s arms and legs, and pinned him to a wall.
He was stuck there, he couldn’t move his arms, nor his legs. Then another tendril jumped from the carpet and struck his chest, which made him cough out blood.
Acheron leaned forward on the throne, her silver hair fell on half of her face which made only one of her crimson eyes visible.
"They begged for eternity, and I gave them that. They begged to be free of the chains which bind the mortals and guess what...I freed them of that as well. And for everything I did for them, they sealed me in the dark and threw me in water so that I live there for eternity all alone, betrayed by my children surrounded by darkness."
The mansion reacted as if it felt the sorrow and anger which erupted from her, the blood flooded every inch of the mansion, the walls felt as if they cried with tears of blood with streams as thick and quick as a water stream.
Then the blood rose inside the chamber, and molded into knights which towered over Xior. They had weapons made out of the same blood in their hands.
A dozen or so walked towards the stuck Xior, he struggled to break free but as he couldn’t move his arms or his legs it was futile.
"I you wish to see freedom from this place...carve it...bleed for it...and show me your resolve." She said as the blood knight suddenly became buffed.
He pulled hard and his right arm tore off of the elbow, that was the only way to break free from the tendril.
Acheron looked at him in awe as he ripped off his own arm to get free. She thought he would be a armless and legless fool after he frees himself and would die to the blood knights.
But she didn’t know Xior’s regeneration skill, from the torn of arm, a new one popped out. The bone extended first, then the muscles stretched and joined with each other and then the skin formed which made it look like new.
He broke free from the tendrils and regenerated his wound, he then remembered what he had seen in his dreams.
He realized that she was not dangerous at all...but she was only deeply wounded by history. He understood her as he too spent his life as if it were hell on earth but even then it wouldn’t compare to how much she suffered.
The knights raised their blades ready to attack Xior, he took out his sword and unsheathed it to start the fight.
Acheron sat on her throne, her red eyes never blinked as she was about to see the confrontation between her knights and Xior, her lips were parted halfway and her expression was one of anger and curiosity.
She wanted to see how the one who had a similar scent to someone she knew would perform.
She then spoke with a voice which reverberated inside the whole chamber, "show me, human...show me if you have what it takes to even think about freeing me...if you can get to me unscathed by my knights, I will give you a chance."