Free and Unfettered 40 Nocturne

Nocturne inwardly ground his teeth at the sheer indignity he had been subjected to each time the Vampiric Princess came to where he resided. He couldn't contain the hatred in his heart. For a Crown Prince to be subjected to such indignities, he had even felt like dying a few times in the beginning. He would rather be tortured each time she came. Now, however, after calming his mind, all he desired was to free himself from this state so that he could take stone cold revenge upon the Vampires.

Diligently, he cultivated, day in and out. Not a second went by where he rested. In this way, he reached a wondrous state where he ignored the outside world of silence, sinking into the depths of his mind. His enlightenment into the insights of magic rapidly soared. His body tempering, which had reached an impasse flew far and unhindered. Although he couldn't move a muscle, his magic was always working inside. Slowly but steadily, he reached the point where he could keep up the magic boosts all the time.

Speaking up to here, he was unresigned. For all his mastery in battle, he had been unable to fight the changes in his body, leaving him helpless even upon falling under the mark. Before falling under the spell of eternal sleep, he had secreted himself away, but he hadn't been able to hide himself well enough even under the protection of runes due to the whittling of time. Day by day, he pondered on how he could break the magic that was keeping him under the influence of eternal sleep, but he still had not found a solution.

Two days after Alixia visited his room, he had visitors. Their intrusion into the room he was held came as a surprise to him. Somehow, he could tell that they weren't the usual maids and butlers that came to clean up his room.

Taking a shallow breath, he could tell that one of them was a Vampire whilst the other was a human. The combination came as no surprise. A lot of Vampires liked to keep a human or two at their sides, ordering them around as servants, whilst serving as a snack should they get hungry.

There was little hope within him that they had come to liberate him from this cursed state, but his heart was as traitorous as ever, giving birth to little stirrings of hope.

Nocturne could feel the two of them conversing silently in the way the air of the room moved gently. He waited patiently, having tempered himself from the long waits in silence. It was unlikely that these two were working under Alixia. Whether or not they were working for someone else was the question.

The Prince felt the presence of the Vampire draw nearer, instantly causing his hackles to raise. He couldn't fight the reflexive thoughts that he was about to drink from him. As Alixia kept stating, 'his blood was absolutely divine'.

Then what happened exceeded all his expectations. He was…picked up bridal style. Bridal. Style. The indignation in his heart rose sharply. As a Crown Prince of the Great Empire of Ashtria, when had he ever been treated this way? If he could, he would have instantly punched this audacious Vampire in the face before launching unending scores of magic against him for this slight against himself.

Nocturne felt like snarling, but his muscles remained as unresponsive as ever, leaving him feeling a great amount of cold rage that he had nowhere to vent.

"Master, do you know this man?"

Nocturne felt his indignance disappear instantly at the unexpected question. The voice came from above him, impossibly near his ear, signifying that it came from the Vampire and not the human.

All it took was this singular line to shock him and send him into a daze. The Vampire was the servant and the human the master. Considering how proud and arrogant most Vampires were, it was practically impossible to obtain one as a servant. Furthermore, he could feel that the Vampire wasn't a low ranking one. He instinctively felt a sense of danger radiating from this man, as if he was a match for him in terms of battle.

"I don't," he heard. The moment the human's voice entered his ears, he felt like someone had shook his entire brain, causing him to feel dizzy. The voice was low and smooth, sensual and beckoning. It contained hints of ice and indifference, somehow making him feel like drawing closer to the owner.

Nocturne had never wanted so badly to open his eyes to take a look at the owner of the voice. Crown Prince of an Empire, how many types of people had he met? But none had ever invoked such a feeling within him. He was unreasonably attracted to the owner of the voice. He could tell that they were still rather young, but he felt a faint yearning that he couldn't explain.

"But for convenience sake, let's call him Black."

Abruptly, the strange feelings that voice had invoked in him were replaced by the disappeared indignance. Nocturne knew that he was attractive. Gorgeous, even. The first impression he gave was 'white', but the youth was calling him Black?

Even amongst the scores of people he had met before, when had he ever heard such bad naming sense? He badly wanted to refute and reject the name with all his strength, but as always, his body was working against him and nothing changed. Nocturne felt a renewed burst of frustration, his mind working at a mile a minute as he worked on a solution with renewed vigour.

A series of sounds he couldn't place were heard. It wasn't until his finger was pricked and his blood was collected that he knew what was happening. Instantly, he understood what they were doing. Strangely, he didn't feel any unease at his blood being used. Anyway, he was stuck in his cursed state. What couldn't they do to him? Regardless, whatever they did, he would willingly accept if they were taking him for the reasons he thought they were.

Holding faint hope in his heart, he felt like he believed in the owner of that cold voice, even if there was no concrete reason for doing so. It was strange. He had always based his actions according to logic, but there was no way for him to explain this.

They sent him into some stored space. He could feel the fluctuations in the area around him, which was startlingly filled with sound. He could feel the gentle caress of wind and the rustling of plant leaves, filling him with an indescribable feeling as he heard the familiar long-lost sounds.

For the first time in a long while, Nocturne felt relieved from this mental burden. He relaxed all of a sudden, causing him to fall into a state akin to sleep, which shouldn't have been possible.

Chapter end