Evangeline lies under the black bed-coverings, comforter drawn up to her face to avoid the chill. Stone walls and marble floors did not lend themselves to a warm residence. Appropriate then, for a residence owned by a man who was not warm himself. Or... was he?
She looks over to see Xel'enfer's sleeping form, black skin and scales, crowned with a spray of white hair. Evangeline had known the man for almost a year, and every meeting had been a harsh one. She had hated him for who he was, and what he represented, thought him a monster, taking advantage of the weak and helpless, making them his. Evangeline sighs and fingers the mythril collar fastened to her neck, marking her as one of those she had deemed helpless.
Yet... helpless she was not. There was nothing truly keeping the collar on her except her own willingness. A willingness backed by her desire to learn what Xel had promised. She could understand the rules, to an extent, the discipline. The things Xel had knowledge of were dangerous indeed, and one did not simply hand weapons to a recruit without the training and discipline to use them properly.Â
Still, the situation confused her. Xel seemed less interested in cruelty, and more in mirth. The man smiled, he laughed, even sang. Things she never would have believed him capable of. Things she never thought she would have done as well in his presence. Why then the symbols? The collar... the strange rules?Â
Why this code, that seemed more the master of Xel than he was of her? This path he was desperate to follow? And when was she going to learn how to summon a demon army and take over the city?
Evangeline grumbles and burrows down into the blankets, for in the end, there were only two choices. Leave, and give up on whatever she might learn, or stay, to see what the next day would bring.
As dawn breaks the next morning, it would find Evangeline had remained, dozing lazily in the grand bed.
She looks over to see Xel'enfer's sleeping form, black skin and scales, crowned with a spray of white hair. Evangeline had known the man for almost a year, and every meeting had been a harsh one. She had hated him for who he was, and what he represented, thought him a monster, taking advantage of the weak and helpless, making them his. Evangeline sighs and fingers the mythril collar fastened to her neck, marking her as one of those she had deemed helpless.
Yet... helpless she was not. There was nothing truly keeping the collar on her except her own willingness. A willingness backed by her desire to learn what Xel had promised. She could understand the rules, to an extent, the discipline. The things Xel had knowledge of were dangerous indeed, and one did not simply hand weapons to a recruit without the training and discipline to use them properly.Â
Still, the situation confused her. Xel seemed less interested in cruelty, and more in mirth. The man smiled, he laughed, even sang. Things she never would have believed him capable of. Things she never thought she would have done as well in his presence. Why then the symbols? The collar... the strange rules?Â
Why this code, that seemed more the master of Xel than he was of her? This path he was desperate to follow? And when was she going to learn how to summon a demon army and take over the city?
Evangeline grumbles and burrows down into the blankets, for in the end, there were only two choices. Leave, and give up on whatever she might learn, or stay, to see what the next day would bring.
As dawn breaks the next morning, it would find Evangeline had remained, dozing lazily in the grand bed.
