Chapter 102 - The Hell Inside His Mind

It was not just the man that was disappointed, but Vladstin as well.

The vampire blinked a bit...

Then laid himself face-first inside the tomb.

"Vladstin!" The humans exclaimed, trying to pull him out.

But Vladstin stayed still as a heavy rock, only saying, "This is where I belong."

Before he fell on his second bout of unnatural unconsciousness during these travels.

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Strange flames belly-danced at the entrance of a sand palace slowly crumbling. The heat sometimes became too much, teasing the small grains to the limit, turning them into the glass shard prickly to the feet. It is reminiscent of the former Sun K'mer, the fallen civilization of endless deserts with people depending on a single prosperous river to survive.

But no such river exists here. This is the 'King Blood's domain', also known as 'Crimson Wolf's den' also known as 'Nightmare Fiesta' also known as 'MURDERER MURDERER crib' also known as 'Vladstin's Personal Hell'.

Anyway, he is too much of creative to pick a single name for it so he summed it up as Hell.

Funny thing is, Hell was a concept introduced to him by Leron. Crescentian's have total reincarnation, so there's no such place where you can put all sinners. Next life may be hell, next life may be heaven, who knows?

But he is more fascinated by this, just by the visceral hideousness of the place. Nobody in the world can agree on what it looks like, but everyone can agree that when they hear it, it is 'BAD'. But what makes it bad exactly? The place burning, the punishment to people, the devil ruling it?

In Vladstin's Hell, you really cannot pick. All are equally terrible.

Upon his arrival a new swarm of souls stepped on the glass shards and sand just to reach his crumbling castle, where he sits in a throne made of more class and sand, a hand on his cheek.

"Alright, what painful memory do we have today?" He asked them lazily.

"I am Ferina Gasimer. My father sold me to a man when I was eight years old. I was undressed almost every night, taken advantage of in exchange for my daily living. I thought that upon moving to Crescentia, I will be safe, but he still managed to catch me. The soldiers and patrol guards may have turned a blind eye, or maybe I was just unlucky. After all, Crescentia is the Kingdom of Fairness. Still, nobody knew of our licentious relationship even after the kingdom burned."

"I am Dandalus Steil. Kingdom of Fairness my ass! A competitor in business overtook mine using foul means, sabotaging my products whenever they are being shipped, causing me to fall into poverty. Had they higher-ups ever known? I can only feed my daughter a small fish a day! But thanks for you trusting that Ilvedian spy prince of yours, our life in poverty is over! Tsk, I could only hope she's in a better life now, unlike me stuck with spite and resentment in some prince's brain."

"I am....."

One by one, they continued to roll in. Big and small, people's problems and discontentment, he knew it all. From all the corpses he can transform and can control, this was in exchange. So much problems that would make you want to scream!

This is how it is in his mind every day even when he's conscious, but now that he has left the conscious world, it had become more vivid. Vladstin's Personal Hell is all there is, no Sangfroid or even crybaby Leron to distract him from it.

Before, he had no emotions. So it was just 'knowing' them, no problem. But now, he shares the same torments these people suffered, every wound they sustained, every abuse, every hatred, every trauma that made them cry at night..... He partook in them too.

Like a bitter, bitter wine he never asked for.

There's so many things about his kingdom and former beautiful like that were crumbling to pieces and swirling in the quicksand the more he learned from these 'souls' In truth, he doesn't believe that there are legions and legions of souls inside him.

He is quite aware, or at least he hopes so, that this is just a metaphysical manifestation made by his imagination to digest all the memories he had collected from drinking the blood of these corpses.

If he waved them away, they'd disappear. But where will the nightmare go, then? As long as he's asleep, it will have to continue.

"Pfft, no matter what I dream of next, it will be much better than another examining of my palace's complaints." He mumbled to himself.

And so, the castle of sand and glass got swallowed into a swirling pool, collapsing in itself, taking these people away with them. It only left Vladstin in complete darkness.

How peaceful, but he knows already the piece wouldn't last long. 

He closed his eyes for a second...

And found himself in a carriage.

He was facing a boy, along with two adults, all with white hair and golden eyes. The woman was on the right, the man was on the left.

"Where are we off to, mother and father? Are we going to the Gisonblix Waterfalls? Have a picnic on the Turpentine Woods? Go hunting for rabbits?"

"It's always with you and the rabbits." 

"I love rabbits. Especially black ones, they're really rare. I want to have them as a pet, can I? Can I?" 

"You know how much rabbits repopulate, they are going to litter the whole palace. We have visitors all the time, we can't have them stepping on rabbit poo, won't we?"

"Hehehe, that would be really funny!" "I agree."

"Lazar...." 

Vladstin rubbed his chin. "Oh? So it took me here, huh? This is my next nightmare?"

He waved at the family having a conversation in the carriage, about to approach a prince that was 'exiled'. But they didn't notice him. He was a phantom, merely a watcher of these distant memories that don't feel like his anymore.

Family? What family? His family is a pile of ashes, it cannot possibly be these vibrant and lively people in front of him.

"I'm really good! I always help the needy when I see them. Can't I get a small reward for being good?"

"Hah, how naive." Vladstin chuckled at this. "Being good gives you nothing, little boy."

"Not until you stop playing tricks to others. And I'd rather you have a friend than a pet. Do you not like playing with the orphans that I introduced to you?"

Vladstin interjected. "Actually, a friend is more troublesome than a pet, madam. Pets don't burn kingdoms and stab you." 

"Nah, they're all great, it's just that....They're either older or younger than me. No one was my age or shares my interest."

Vladstin commented again. "Better too much younger or older than you than you're age to fall in love with."

"What would catch your interest? You are always changing your mind like the seasonal winds."

"Oh, that one never changed, Father!" Vladstin flicked his father's forehead like he always did when he was young.

"Hmm....If they're as cute as a rabbit, I might be interested in them!"

"Rabbits turn to snakes, don't you know?" He then flicked his younger self instead. But nobody felt it.

The coach suddenly came to a halt, just like he anticipated.

"Help! Someone help me, please!"

He rolled his eyes at the dramatic voice of the child, so pitiful and shrilly, it hurts his ears. He jumped down just as they stopped on the dirt road, and approached the child lying on the ground.

He bent down to meet his eye level.

"Hello again, traitor." He smiled at Leron who couldn't see him.

"Help me, please....I am so hungry and thirsty.... I can't walk anymore...."

Instead of feeling the same emotions as his younger self, or hearing his thoughts, he instead forms a connection with this young Leron the moment he looked at his blue eyes.

(Please believe me.)

(I hope they will believe me.)

(What if they see through my trick? Would they kill me? I'm so afraid..... But I suppose it's not as bad as what Father would do if I returned immediately like I thought. There's no turning back now.)

Vladstin raised an eyebrow. So he did think of going back, huh?

"Oh, you poor boy!" Queen Vanesda rushed to his side, her shawl with colorful patterns getting caught in the wind. "Who would leave a small child on his own here? Where are your parents?"

"My father.... exit...exer.... exa..." 

The panic in this was real, not enough for him to stutter, but it's still there. He needed to make a believable performance, his life depends on it. Vladstin can feel the same panic that can make you feel like something's rising up your throat.

"Do you mean exiled, my boy?" King Lazar asked. "Are you a royal?"

"Yes...." Prince Leron lifted a brooch he was clutching with his small fingers. "I'm a prince...."

King Lazar took the brooch with the top view of a dragon on it, spreading its wings in a T shape.

"Ilvedia...." Queen Vanesda wrinkled her forehead when she saw the symbol.

"Who is he?" 

He saw his younger self look. He could remember what he thought back then. It was very stupid. 

'Wow, he looks like a black-haired bunny!'

Vladstin could not help but chortle at the thought. Seriously, this scene is so hilarious, as well as his former embarrassing thoughts about it. The teenage him who has developed a crush on Leron even fondly recalled this encounter every night, telling himself that it was a fated meeting.

Not knowing that fate is not real, and that it was all a fat bastard king controlling the strings.

"The Prince of Ilvedia." King Lazar introduced them.

"What shall we do, Your Majesty?" The coachman asked.

"Let us go back to the palace." King Lazar took Leron's small hands. "Can you stand up? Would like for me to carry you?"

"Yes, please..." 

Vladstin saw his younger self comfort him. "Don't be afraid, we'll take care of you."

(Thank the Holy Dragon Lord, I thought he hated me. Now about the queen..."

"Lazar.... You shouldn't carry the child like that, he might get hurt in that position. Let me have him." 

Vladstin ruffled the young Leron's hair as he watched him get carried by his mother. "You're worrying for nothing, you got the whole Crescentian Royal Family wrapped in your little finger."

As the family bantered on who to pick up Leron, the little prince stared at his own kingdom in the far distance, deep in thought.

Vladstin heard these, and he was pleasantly surprised. 

The last thought Leron had before being moved to Crescentia was....

(I hope Sangfroid is doing fine back there. I forgot to say goodbye to him. I hope he has someone else to play and watch butterflies with. I will miss him.)

As he heard these thoughts, his hellish dream of finding out things he never asked to know shifted into another scene.