Chronicles of Contessa: Shadows of the Heart

Brunelle had vanished during the night, much like he would at the castle. Just like him… and without wanting, Lucca felt he would miss him…

The air was cold to Lucca, the mist did not end. At first he thought it was merely the morning air, however he had not seen clearly for many miles now. Lanzon led the way thankfully, and though he never told him Lucca was happy to have a guide. He didn’t know what would’ve become of him if it was not for Brunelle and his friend. Lucca held a tight grip on his sword handle as he trekked onward.
“How can you see in this?” Lucca asked his leader.
“It is not sight, but smell… the air is still sweet, we are nearing the waters edge”
“Water?” Lucca asked, never having thought of the possibility of a lake.
“Yes” he hissed in response, “there is a lake called Belno-Erjiri, but fear not we can go around and through a wood” Lanzon said.
Lucca was growing weary, the weight of the pack and the long road was enough. He nibbled on the dry bread that was loaded into his side pouch, Lanzon seemed without fatigue. He did not have footwear, his toes were claws sharper then the finest point on a sword and curved like a wilted willow tree. He would no doubt be a very formidable opponent, Brunelle must be a competent swordsman to have outsmarted this walking-weapon.
Lucca suddenly stepped into water, he heard Lanzon chuckle to his right.
“I am sorry young one, I thought you were at my rear!” he called out, “the lake is before you… be sure to keep your shoe from you rations, that lake is poisoned!” he called again. Lucca’s eyes widened slightly and he looked down and saw the bones of many animals.
He followed very closely to Lanzon now, his eyes looking away from his guide’s back to see the bones of hundreds of unknowing creatures. All having drunk from death’s waiting chalice, Lucca saw a fresh deer just within the last day not seeing the warnings of dead from the mist.

“Why is the air here so thick?” Lucca said,
“They say an ice god was slain here, by a mage of fire… the ice was turned to mist and here we are” Lanzon said factually. Lucca did not argue, it was different from the haunted forest of the witch and something very calming about it. The blue tint on the wind was magical indeed, the only thing Lucca could see for certain was the blue sky when his head drifted upward, yet all around him there was nothing to be seen.

Many nights passed, Lucca questioned this tall swordsman who led him along this unknown path. He was never very trusting, although as a friend of Brunelle’s it shed a small glint of light on his scaly skin. The mist had disappeared several days ago and the days were clear, green hills and swaying grass of the prairie lands were all about them. He looked so very out of place to Lucca, his clothes of various greens and tans and his yellow and verdant skin.
The meadow they entered was as far and wide as the eyes could allow, Lucca looked back on occasion and saw the blue mists creeping over the treetops and swirling about. That night they camped in the very middle of the field, the fire flickered flints of light into the air and the smoke was welcome to Lucca’s lungs. Lanzon smoked a pipe, rather intricate and the most beautiful color of oak, it glimmered and reflected the fire.
“So why?” Lanzon asked interrupting Lucca’s thoughts.
“Why what?”
“Why leave a life of privilege and wealth, to join my rough hide here so very far from your home?” he questioned, Lucca did not like being asked personal questions and he was quiet for a long time. Lanzon stared into Lucca with his snake-like iris’s that were frightfully thin from the light of the fire.
“Did you carve your own destiny?” Lucca asked, Lanzon burst into laughter at that moment somehow finding some humour in it.
“Destiny?” Lanzon chuckled, “there is no such thing, all happens as it happens… I myself am a bred warrior, my clans are have always been fighters. To live and die by the sword is my destiny, if that’s what you believe” Lanzon stated.
“Could you ever imagine having no choice? Having to live life as others laid it out for you?”
“I could imagine it… ah, I do see where you are going young one”
“My life was controlled, and my destiny… I wanted to be more then this flesh would allow”
“What of your brother and sister then?” Lanzon asked, keeping an eye on Lucca’s reaction. Lucca jolted slightly at the sound of his siblings. That Alexandria, so young and vibrant… annoying. And that Enea, so bold and honourable… it made him sick.
“They have their own paths to follow, it has nothing to do with me”
“Why become a Lizaberian Shadow?” Lanzon continued his rain of questions.
“Can we speak no more of this?” Lucca said impatiently.
“I am the guide boy, I like to know about those that follow” he replied, Lucca sighed.
“I have always loved their country, shrouded in secrecy, attacking from the shadows… clothed in black with those haunting masks”
“Ah, just youthful curiosity, your dreams will be given a bitter taste of reality” Lanzon said, “I had the interesting privilege of fighting one of their kindred” Lanzon said and sipped his stew that was boiling over the fire.



Lucca’s ears perked slightly, how he loved battle though he had never been in a real one. He was the greatest of his tutors pupils, his skills were never used. Lanzon could tell that the boy was interested so he continued,
“It was a draw” he laughed, “the bastard threw a dagger into my left thigh and I had injured him early on in the fight… we had fought for many hours, they are inhumanly skilled”
“I am more drawn into their world with each step”
“Yes.. well fear not, it’s not far now… try to sleep now, we rise early forest evils are quick to feast on tardy risers” Lanzon turned his head away and laid back on his blanket.
Lucca watched him lay down, his armour was removed and he only wore his clothes. He looked invincible, the muscles beneath his reptilian skin were toned and tough, no doubt he felt like a lizard too that slick almost liquid feel. Lucca shuddered slightly and thought more on the Shadows and how he would soon be welcomed into their coven.

Morning came and Lucca awoke slowly, the smoke was billowing from the fire and Lanzon was now where to be seen. Lucca was struck with panic suddenly, and the reptiles words came back to him. The forest evils that would eat those who slept late, no doubt it was more an old wives tale but Lucca was in a frenzy. He looked into the fields and there was no one, then he looked into the trees and did not see his lizard hide anywhere. He did not want to draw attention, so Lucca gathered his belongings and rations and ran into the woods.
Although the woods were safe there was another reason he wished to go there, there was the sound of water flowing in the distance. Lucca followed the noise, trying to be as silent as he could and failing snapping twigs and slipping on dewy roots made him curse aloud. When he did at last reach the small river he saw Lanzon, carelessly swimming about in only his reptile skin. Lucca had an odd look on his face, one of slight embarrassment and slight amusement at his reaction to Lanzon’s disappearance. Lanzon would dive down and return to the surface with a fish which he instantly swallowed.
Lucca watched him do this for a moment and then went to the small shore where Lanzon had his wears strewn on the soil. Lanzon noticed Lucca suddenly and grinned a lizard grin,
“Finally awake are you, the water will wake you up!” he called
”I thought a reptile was cold-blooded!” Lucca called back.
“You read too many books, I’m a water breed” Lanzon said and walked through the water toward the shore.
Lucca looked at him exit the water, Lanzon had another fish in his mouth and chewed on it ceaselessly. Lanzon took a small cloth from inside his bag and dried himself, he began to tie his armour to his shoulders and legs and set his sword in it’s rightful place.

Lucca turned to head out of the forest when his eyes caught something a shape in the water.
“Lanzon…” Lucca said, the lizard turned to Lucca as he pointed to the river. The shape moved closer, it was water itself transparent and blurry like opening one’s eyes in the depths of a lagoon. It walked right out from the pool, a human form in a water’s guise. Lanzon had his sword out without Lucca noticing as the water shape walked forward.
It stopped some distance before reaching the pair both with their swords at the ready. It stood fully upright like a human, and the water dripped from it’s body.
“What are you?” Lanzon said, the shape gestured to itself then to Lucca.
The shape then morphed and became a human, the water steamed from his body and he became flesh. His hair was the color of grass near the beach, an aquamarine, and his robes were glittering white. His dark blue eyes focused on the two that stood before him, and he bowed in reverence.
“I thank you good creatures of the land, you have freed me from my prison” he said and Lanzon looked at Lucca with some surprise.
“I’m not sure what we’ve done to receive your thanks” Lanzon said
“Even if it was by accident, there was a horrid spell on this river that I would be trapped inside until someone came and swam in the waters”
“How long were your trapped?” Lucca asked.
“Centuries my friends, what is your journey?” he asked walking closer to Lucca.
“All in time, let us leave the forest for now… I must think” Lanzon said, looking as though he had a headache.
Âternĭus he said his name was… as he looked into Lucca’s red eyes.
Aternius was a quiet creature, he walked slowly looking on the environment as though it was the first time he had seen it. This feeling was no doubt from being isolated in a pool of water for so long, staring at the same shrubs, the same change in the color of the leaves each season. Lanzon allowed Aternius to walk near him, but Lucca could see that the lizard was ever watchful of this newcomer hand-on-sword.
Lucca was not sure what damage a mere sword could do to this being, that only days ago became water itself… somehow Lucca knew that it was not the limit of his power.
On they walked though, to Lucca’s future and his purpose. Aternius was watching Lucca even as Lanzon’s eye was trained on this entity, the deep blue eyes that could not be lied to only intently gaze at in mystified silence. Lucca was slightly uncomfortable under these orbs of his, it made him want to scream out all his secrets, perhaps that was this magician’s power.
Eventually Lucca wanted to know a great deal more of this man, he looked young however, not a day older then Lucca, his hair made him look otherworldly the almost jade tint of it.
“Who trapped you, in that water-prison” Lucca asked one calm moonlit night. Aternius smiled at him and Lucca felt his head rush like he had stood up far too fast, the eyes were kind yet so very evil.
“My old mentor… he feared my power and trapped in the pool, cursing me to the limit of control over water”
“Why did he do such a thing, would a mentor not want a pupil to be more powerful?” Lucca questioned.
Aternius turned and let his eyes slide from Lucca’s, his face changed slightly as he looked out into the dark but he saw everything illuminated.
“He became, afraid of me… he loved me dearly but in my training, he felt I lost my humanity and mind. No doubt it has left me a little after being trapped for so very long” he said becoming slightly emotional.
Then he held up his hand and a drop of water fell up out of his palm, he widened his eyes on it and it flickered about like the fire that sat before them. The drop split into three and it became three dancers, beautiful women prancing on the lines of his hand. They danced about as though enchanted by a sorcerer and their nude liquid-bodies were too captivating for any eye to look away. Lucca was mesmerized, they become one drop again and formed a spike.
Aternius froze the spike and it became like a thin javelin, it shot from his hand like lightning and flew out into the air. The sound of a soft thud came from the darkness, shortly after a louder noise came, like that of a sack into dry grass. Aternius sighed and lowered his hand,
“I am left with this… I could do far more before my master sealed my abilities”
“Can you ever regain your powers?”
“Supposedly… one once said there was a book that spoke of all things magical, even woven in strands from ghosts hair… and encrusted with bright jewels made from souls. My master told me it told of a method, an ancient ritual but it would have to be made in blood…” he said sounding sinister. Lucca watched the magician speak, watching how he formed the words with his mouth… there was something very strange about this creature before him.
“Blood”, Lucca said,
“From that of a noble person, one who ruled others… only such a person would levy my powers be reborn” he told him, “and I have every intention of fulfilling my ambition”
“I cannot sleep!” Lanzon said from his blanket, then sighing heavily and trying to get comfortable once again. Lucca looked at the back of Lanzon’s head with a smirk on his face.
“And what do you seek Lucca?”
“To become more then a pawn” he replied
The next morning Lucca woke first and saw a dead deer in the middle of the field, the wound was small and thin and the fur was damp around the orifice. Aternius had killed it with his ice projectile, though it was pitch black, somehow he knew… this disturbed Lucca.

They continued on the path to Lucca’s ease of mind, and the days seemed endless. Aternius told of his stories from eons passed, and his time in the lake his face would change drastically during his speech. Lanzon told Lucca he did not trust a man who could not tell a story with no humor and their feelings only grew. Lucca once saw Aternius playing a scene with water in his palm, the figures would dance about then they would take the form of Lucca and Aternius sometimes. Aternius could tell he was looking though, his face had a smile, an evil smile and he would close his palm and Lucca would look away. Aternius with his smile and eyes drifting in Lucca’s direction would melt into water and soak into the ground.
He would disappear for hours then reappear behind them, sneaking to Lucca’s ear and whispering softly. Lucca’s face would drain of blood even though he would feel so very warm, this magician was casting a spell he would think but he would long in the night for those whispers.
Lanzon was growing wise to this magician’s ideals, while he may have offered his services his intentions were unknown to the lizard. He was suspicious behind his reptilian smiles and cocked eyes.
Lucca was having wild dreams every night, each time they would become more and more vivid. Aternius was guiding him through a maze, but the maze was ever changing… every few turns they would find a mirror that was showing a moment of Lucca’s life. Aternius would plead with Lucca to reveal his past to him, and in the dream Lucca could not dissuade his dark ocean eyes.
Aternius would touch him and ignite Lucca’s flesh, to a magician mortals are so very weak to this power. And Aternius would make Lucca moan in his sleep, his back would arc upward as the magician would take him, knowing his every thought. Lucca would awaken and there Aternius would be, his eyes glaring yet kind, glowing yet shrouded in darkness… loving, yet brimming with madness.

It was the last mountain before the city of diamonds, the one called Atmostherea. Aternius was walking near Lucca, just close enough for the prince to feel his eyes on his back. Lucca was jostled by it but continued looking onward. Lanzon was looking forward but kept his mind on Aternius, the lights of Atmostherea were visible and the night was as though the moon had plumed into a radiant flower igniting the very earth beneath.
Lucca could hear the words of Aternius enter his mind,
“Tell me… Prince of men, tell me all your secrets” he said and Lucca turned at him with a most odd look of awe and fear as Aternius stood there as still as the trees behind him.
“I know there are those that have worshipped you… knelt for you, gave their lust unto your beautiful image, tell me why I should not kill you for my power to return?” he said in Lucca’s mind. There was a pause as Aternius drew closer, Lucca tried to call for his reptilian comrade though it was fruitless.
His mouth was sealed with Aternius’s power, and he drew ever closer stone faced and glowing blue eyes.