The Apokolipz has Returned... Part Three((--Nanarie--))
The silence was broken by the low tone of his voice rather then the whispers of death she remembered."Evening, m'lady Nanarie." His eyes refused to leave hers even as he greeted her with a deep bow. She didn't offer a greeting or a simple nod of her head. Her thoughts were too jumbled and chaotic to utter a sound. She took a step back and to the side, inviting him inside with a simple movement of her hand as she forced the lump from her throat.
The sweet smell of blood tickled her nose as he entered. She took in the scents. Halfling, Koada'dal, Feir'dal, Dwarves. She inhaled again. ...and Rivvel. The five scents lingered near his form. His eyes broke their gaze, "M'Lady" her silver brow raised as their eyes met once more. "my apologies, but..." She followed his eyes to the trail of fresh blood left by the hem of his midnight black robes.
As pleasing and intoxicating as the scents of the slain light lovers were, she couldn't help but be slightly amused at the mess. Word of these massacres had spread like a plague. She hadn't seen Apokolipz since her return to D'Orakaa's Keep but she knew, by the details of the handiwork done on these tortured souls and villages, that he still walked Norrath. Her mouth quirked, her head tilted and her eyes, half-caste, turned toward him. The arm that still held the door extended and pushed the door to a close. Her other hand released the tightly gripped dagger.
Silence again. Something was different about him. This wasn't the same man she confronted on her first visit to the Butchered Halfling. She began to crack her knuckles, one by one at first then again all at once. She crossed her arms over her chest and shifted her weight to her left leg. Her head canted curiously to the side as she watched him. Her silver eyebrows pinched in silent contemplation. A brief flash of bright red glazed her damaged eyes before dimming to the swirl of confusion, once again. "What do dos want? Why are dos here?" she finally managed in a soft quizzical tone.
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((---The Apokolipz---))
The Apokolipz nodded at her response, following her lead and entering her house once again. His ice-blue eyes remained fixed on hers still, as he turned to her while she closed the door behind him. They stood there, in the short entrance hallway of her childhood home, together. The dust and debris that had littered this floor had obviously been cleaned. The dark wood and stone of the building had been polished as well. Even the decorations and furniture had been refinished. His mind absorbed the sights, though his eyes remained focused. Oddly, he was somewhat relieved by her reaction to his apparent visit, though his being there was not something he intended...
The sound of her knuckles cracking drew his attention, his eyes drifting down to her hands... And there, on her calloused hand, on that scarred finger, it rested; the thin band of silvery-white metal worn as a wedding ring, an extremely well cut diamond set within its top. The Apokolipz paused in mid sentence, mid thought, mid breath... stunned, her questions unheard.
---- He lay on his back in the darkened room, in her embrace. Her bright eyes glowing like stars mere inches from his face. His mind was overwhelmed by the haze of the moment; the heat of her body, the touch of her skin against him, the pleasing scent of lavender, smoke, and? ?her??
"Xas, ussta ssinssrigg, vel'drav udos phuul vellupala," she whispered to him in her sweet, soft voice...----
Yes, my love, when we are wed... the words that haunted him from the memory, stabbed into his chest like a glowing hot blade. Though he could no longer feel such pain, he had felt this. The memory was an instant, and he quickly turned to prevent her from seeing the effects it had. The Apokolipz could not have foreseen this... this ?emotion?. The stabbing agony of loss and suffering within him. His mind reeled at such an unknown and foreign thing... but still... he had recollected it from somewhere...
----He fumbled with the incantation, his concentration slipping from so many grievous wounds. His blood flowed freely now, and the sharp scratching nails of bony fingertips raking his flesh only added more to it. A rusty blade sank into his thigh, his arm tried to fend away another attacker, all of which made it impossible for him to open the gateway, the portal only shimmering briefly before collapsing. His minion had crumbled not long ago, and now the full brunt of the Ultricle?s wandering dead was upon him. In a last act of desperation, he gripped his small parcels in his bloodied hand, wishing beyond hope that he would survive long enough... but, he knew he would not... As he sank to his knees, his legs seeming to give out under him as other skeletal hands clawed at his robes in an attempt to finish him off, his mind could only think of his one true love... Nanarie... The pain of his flesh faded as his heart felt as if it were ripping open within his chest... for he knew that he would never again lay his eyes upon her or ever feel her touch... and that she would feel the same... loss... agony... suffering... He screamed her name in that final breath, with all of his heart, before collapsing into eternal darkness...----
The necromancer?s body shuddered from the memory he had hoped he had buried during the months of carnage he had brought to the lands of Norrath... but, it seems, it was not enough, nor could it ever have been. He still kept his features turned from her, his back to her, in fact. ?Nanarie...? his voice cracked, full of anguish. ?That ring you wear... it is a wedding band, yes...?? He struggled to regain his composure, waves of choking heat rushing up into his face from his chest now, his eyes becoming glassy.
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((---Nanarie---))
She watched him, waiting for an answer. He stood assertive, bold, and more regal than the laid back rebellious youth she remembered. Her eyes followed his again. This time he focused on her scarred hands as she continued to crack her knuckles out of habit. She stopped, her hands clasped together before her bad habit took over again. He said nothing. After what seemed like another eternity, she looked up to him. His eyes still locked on her calloused hands. He turned away from her rather quickly, an odd expression on his face. It was very rare to ever see anything other than an ice cold glare from him. But there it was. An emotion. In the brief moment she had before he turned, she saw his features twist in pain.
Still, he said nothing. Time seemed to stand still again as he remained motionless with his back to her. Then, with her eyes fixed on his form, she saw him shudder. "Nanarie..." His voice sounded pained. It cracked as if her name alone was agony for him to say. " That ring you wear... it is a wedding band, yes...? Her eyes fell to the Velium diamond wedding ring on her left hand, realizing what he had been entranced by.
She fingered her ring with her opposite hand. She had become used to wearing it. When he stared so intently at her fists she had not realized that was why. She merely thought the sound of her knuckles cracking annoyed him, as it did many others. She could hear in his voice that he was indeed different. The way he mentioned her ring, the way he looked at her, and how he held her gaze. He was indeed a different man. But how different? Her thoughts became less chaotic. Why had he come? What could he possibly have to say to her? There was no doubt in her mind that he would be cursing her very life for what she had done.
Even though she had given up on 'love', an emotion the average Teir'dal scoffed at, she had still decided to go through with her plans. To give Apok Vladdiks past. She had to prove to him that she had spoke truth. That she wasn't some young, naive jalil running after some random Jaluk for fun.
She slowly nodded in response before she spoke in a soft yet assertive tone. "X'as, it is, indeed, a wedding band usstan wear. Lord Vinlaael and usstan were wed naut too long ago." Her tone turned into her previous quizzical tone as her silver brows pinched. "Dos had nau idea, did dos?" She took a single step forward and stopped. She stood there a moment then asked her initial questions again. Her swirling, blood red eyes narrowed, slowed and dimmed as she focused on the back of the necromancer. "What do dos want? Why are dos here?"
She mentally acknowledged the dagger at her back. This visit alone seemed odd. She knew he had been here before. His smell had lingered for days after each visit. She only suspected that the shambles she found her front entryway in was his doing. So why was he here now. Why did he choose to knock? She had observed the Apokolipz during her time at House D'Orakaa. She knew his capabilities. She knew his destructiveness. Nanarie stood mentally prepared.
Karn sensing her uneasiness, came wobbling down the stairs and straight to her. Placing itself between her and the Apokolipz, in a guarding stance. A glowing red orb flashed in it's fist. The glowing green sockets eye the Necromancer warily. It's dingy skull turned back to it's mistress as if waiting for her word of action. She just shook her head, her long white locks swaying with that slight movement.
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((---The Apokolipz---))
His mind still fought to control his emotions, so new to him yet so old.
"What do dos want? Why are dos here?"
Her words were insistent. The sound of bone clattering across the floor told him of her minion?s arrival, yet only his subconscious noted it. He turned then, to face her, his face flushed, his eyes full of emotion. The Apokolipz took note of the skeleton only to step so that he could see her clearly, as if it were a post or something else not worth his attention.
?You think I came here to fight you?? his pained voice asked incredulously. He stepped closer to her, her minion moving aside, oddly. ?I did naut know dos would even be here. I came only to check on our... your house.? He now stood mere feet from her, his expression and tone in sync; pain and sorrow, soft and caring...
The candlelight flickered gently, providing its dim light to the short hallway. The dancing shadows played across her features. Her crimson eyes sparkled briefly in their locked gaze, her features eased, her silvery hair gleaming in the shadowy light...
----Together they lay, as they had done so many nights, warmly content to lay in each other?s arms. His eyes were half-caste, briefly awakening to ensure himself that the moment existed, that she was there. Her head pressed onto his bare chest in slumber, the scent of her silver hair filled each breath he took, her soft breathing warming his skin all the more, caressing him. His arms, which were wrapped around her, holding her to him, squeezed her tighter, and her own slumbering embrace returned the squeeze. Their entwined legs even seemed to lock together while they had slept, completing the puzzle, the subconscious need to feel each other so near. His heart ached for her in that moment, his hazed mind not wanting to disturb her sweet dreams, yet wanting her to awaken, just so he could gaze upon her face and look into those eyes once more before drifting back to sleep. Hours seemed to pass for him in this moment, but truly only minutes, before he felt the light tickling of her eyelashes, as her eyes slowly blinked... He smiled warmly to himself, knowing.
?Have dos been awake all of this time, my love...?? he whispered the question lovingly, sleepily, a half grin on his features.
She purred her affirmation. ?...mmhmm...? He felt her cheek grow into a smile against him. ?Usstan did naut want to wake dos...? she purred again, her soft voice like honey to his senses.
His grin grew from her response, the loving ache from his heart flowing over his body in a rushing wave of tingling heat. She stirred slightly, as if noticing the change, her legs tightening their embrace on his. Her head slowly turned, her face rose, her half-caste eyes gazing lovingly up at his; twin stars of crystal white twinkling in the shadowed darkness surrounded by the silvery clouds of her hair...----
Yes, another haunting memory filled with lost emotions that only brought him more pain and sadness. His gaze upon her was now softer, longing, absolutely uncommon for such a creature, sparkling with life and a flood of emotions never seen there before... not as the Apokolipz. The shadow play on her features so vividly reminded him of that night, of so many nights...
He stepped closer to her, his hand raising to mere inches of her face, his eyes glassy from never seen grief. Softly, tenderly, he whispered to her, his words like the echo of lost dreams. ?...in this light, your eyes... are like stars... shining in the night of your face... and your hair... like silvery clouds in the full moonlight...?
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((---Nanarie---))
He turned to face her. His eyes were strange, full of sorrow. His face seemed flushed. He took a step to the side as he glanced at the bony minion before him.
?You think I came here to fight you?? His voice was full of anguish. He slowly approached her. Her minion, stepping aside yet still wary as it's glowing sockets followed his short path. ?I did naut know dos would even be here. I came only to check on our... your house.? Her face turned from inquisitive to surprise. Our house? This was Apokolipz standing before her. Yet, it was Vladdik speaking, it was Vladdik she saw in his eyes. His presence here, in their old home... it all left her speechless.
The candlelight cast orange hues and dark shadows across his face. He seemed to pause in that moment as his ice blue eyes remained locked on her deep crimson ones. As if for a moment, he wasn't there. Then his features became much softer. A look totally unnatural for the Apokolipz. He seemed so much less like Death in this moment. He kept looking at her in that strange, longing and painful way.
This wasn't making any sense to her. What was really going on here? What is uk up to? Her hands flexed and tightened at her sides. Her jaw clenched. Here she stood, confused, upset and pained at what was going on with the man in front of her. All the while wondering if this was a trick or some scheme to test her. Vladdik was dead. He died a long time ago. Or, so she had thought. Could this really be ukta?
Slowly, he stepped closer. His eyes glassy as they reflected the faint candlelight. His hand reaching toward her face. His voice a tender whisper all to familiar too her.
*~* Everything was quiet. The entire city seemed to be in slumber. Nanarie sat on the cool stone of her windowsill, garbed in her nightgown and ebon cloak. Her legs dangling over the outside ledge, swinging childishly about. Her crystal eyes taking in the handsome Tier'dal floating just outside her window.
Every few moments of rare silence, their eyes would lock in what seemed to be an eternity. His scarlet eyes told her so much when he said so little. Their eyes seemed to say what their mouths dared not to. Her long delicate fingers toyed with the bronze handle of the candleholder. The flame danced, casting dark shadows and golden hues on both their faces.
He hovered closer to her in that very moment. His voice was a tender whisper as he inched closer. ?...in this light, your eyes... are like stars... shining in the night of your face..." His hand began to rise toward her. Her eyes entranced by his. Every bit of her ached for his touch. "and your hair... like silvery clouds in the full moonlight...? *~*
The present echoed the words of the past. The Apokolipz's voice spoke in tandem with Vladdik's. She could feel his hand drawing closer to her face. She could feel the same surging emotions of that night so many years ago. Her crimson orbs were slowly refocusing on the reality before her. The scarlet eyes she was lost in just seconds before slowly faded to a crystal blue. Her mind cleared just enough for a rational thought. As his hand inched closer and closer to her dark face, her wide blood red eyes slowly narrowed and pulsated from their usual deep and dark to a boiling brightness. The Knightess took a measured step back. Her left hand glided almost uncertainly through her long stark white hair. "What is going on...?" Her voice was a broken whisper. She had almost let the emotions of that memory take over.
She had done everything in her power to put Vladdik and what they had, who she was, her entire past, behind her. She was married to Vinlaael, their House Enforcer, at that time. A man who was in so many ways similar to herself. Now, after all this time, the Apokolipz comes here, of all places, like this? Why now? Why naut when usstan had first returned? It wasn't too long before her return that she slipped the elixir into his wine. Why had uk waited?
She reached over to the small table she had unknowingly placed the candle on and wrapped her fingers around its base. She turned her face from him. Her old, buried emotions becoming so strong that it pained her to be that close to him. Every bit of what she felt became vivid as she took those few difficult steps to pass him and enter the main room. Her hands clenching, her knuckles cracking and her neck rotating and popping in her internal war. " ...since when have dos spoke the words of udossta elders?"
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((---The Apokolipz---))
For a moment, she was the Nanarie of his past? soft, innocent? the girl who loved him? In a blink, she was gone. The girl became the woman. Her eyes hardened as she stepped away from his touch, as if she would wilt from it like so many of Light?s creations have now. Her gaze drifted from him. ?What is going on??? Her mind still seemed trying to grasp for an explanation, for the words did not seemed directed at him.
He lowered his hand and his gaze, looking to the candle?s flame as she reached for it. As she turned to him, candle in hand, their eyes met again. The ache, the pain, were as visible in her eyes as they must have been in his own expression, so much so that she seemed to turn from it, as she did from his touch.
?She cannot bear my touch, even the sight of me,? he thought to himself. ?But why should she..? After all I have done?? The Apokolipz turned to watch her walk slowly away, into the living room. Her retreat helped his own mind to clear, somewhat. Since his domination over the spirits he collected, his emotions had resurfaced. Hundreds of lifetimes, hundreds of rebirths, yet the strongest emotions came from? Vladdik.
??since when have dos spoke the words of udossta elders??
Yes, he had, but never had the Apokolipz spoken such words in all of his incarnations. The mingling of minds, it seems, has had other side effects?
His footsteps sounded unheard, as he followed her into the room. His eyes watched her back, the muscles shifting under her light armor, muscles developed over years of slaying with the blade. Up close, personal? and it ?was? personal for her. Parts of him respected her as she was now? admired her? yet, another part only felt remorse for having caused it.
A fresh trail of blood from the bottom hem of his clothing remained in his passing as he approached her again, this time he remained a few feet away, not wanting to force her retreat again. He sighed slightly, his overwhelming affections in check for now. ?We are meeting, again, yet for the first time, you and I,? he explained, his tone soft, yet factual. His statement was in answer to her spoken thought. He watched her closely, yet his mind took in the room.
The plush couch, end tables, portraits, and knickknacks were all cleaned and restored since his last visit to this place. Even the dead rat had been removed. The fireplace glowed softly from the remains of burning wood; hot coals and ash supplying heat to the room against the ever-present chill of Neriak?s underworld. Between the glow of the coals and the candlelight in her hand, there was more than enough illumination to the room for their Teir?Dal sight.
She paused at his words, evidently contemplating. The necromancer took it as his queue to continue. ?As with my feelings towards you, those words are also for you and you alone.? She looked back at him, over her shoulder, her eyes glowing from the light of the fireplace, adding flame to their crimson depths. ?You deserve the truth, Nanarie, but, rather than ask questions that only gain a piece to the puzzle, would you rather I explain everything, from the beginning?? His words held more meaning than they said, and the way he said them stressed it; there was a great deal more to it all? more than she could ever guess?