I watched the young ones gather in one straight line as they waited for their turn to get their bowls poured with hot porridge. Slade's eyebrows were scrunched into a frown while he served them one by one.

"Be careful; the porridge will spill if you hold your bowl like that," he nagged. 

Once Sevor and Wye Fye walked past the line of starving kids, it exacerbated Slade's mood and his scowl improved for the worse.

"Hurry up the line is getting longer!" he huffed.

Wye Fye shot me a look and rolled her eyes. She pulled Sevor close to her and leaned her head against her lover's shoulder.

I did not know why she was so exasperated with me. Was it something she ate? Was I reminding her of how much she was inferior to the ground we stood upon?

"Get in line," I heard Slade argued.

"You want a pregnant woman to stand in line?" Wye Fye scoffed.

"I much rather have you fall in line," Slade hissed.

"Slade now is not the time..." Sevor warned.

Slade leaned forward, with his nostrils flaring. "Adults are served last. The children will be fed first."

Wye Fye lost her patience and tried to snatch the wooden ladle from Slade, who held strongly on the dipper.

"Can't you see that there's a child in me?"

This time, it was Slade's turn to scoff. "I see no child in you woman and even if there was, I wouldn't even bother to lift a finger for it even if an orc tries to step on it."

Wye Fye gritted her teeth and wanted to lash out but Sevor stopped her.

"That's enough!" Sevor yelled.

"You—I'll kill you!" she screamed.

"Stop it Wye Fye!" Sevor shouted. Wye Fye broke free from his hold and glared at him.

"Why aren't you doing anything to defend me? I thought you love me? How can you let him insult me like this?! How can you let him insult your child?!"

"Simple; because that isn't his to begin with," Slade drawled, enraging Wye Fye even further.

Sevor dragged the hysterical Wye Fye away and once she was out of sight with her screams slowly fading, the children regained their appetite. Who wouldn't lose their ravenousness after seeing an unsavory creature waltz in?

My eyes rose to the castle floating magnificently among these disastrous ruins. I would like to go there, bring Wye Fye with me, and leave her there for good. That land was high enough to match her ego.

Buck sat beside me and slurped the steaming hot soup. There were some bits of meat in his soup in which he enjoyed with passion. These creatures really do find pleasure in killing the living just to feast on their corpse.

When the soup cannot be finished any further with a spoon, Buck put the rim of the bowl between his lips and slurped it all the way. He licked the bowl clean and then let out a loud burp.

"I'm so full that I can die now without complaints."

"Don't say that," I said sternly. I did not condone death. I did not like it as much as I did not like Wye Fye.

Buck blushed and scratched the back of his neck. "Oops! Sorry 'bout that onii-chan."

I continued to munch on my celery, making crunching noises while I watched the children play.

Today was a day filled with inactivity. I merely watched others with their daily chores and observed Wye Fye's inflated head bump with whomever she may catch lazing around.

Slade headed out along with Buck to collect ingredients for dinner and I was left doing nothing. Sevor was assigned to restore some houses back into their livable state and had some older kids help him with it.

Once in a while, I would catch Sevor sparing me a glance and once our eyes would meet, he would look away and would establish a conversation with one of the kids. Wye Fye would pass by to check in and give him a parting kiss right after.

In every kiss she would look at me with a leer as if she was trying to elicit some kind of response from me. Did she want me to give them a standing ovation? She must really desire to express her love to the world although I guess the world wouldn't care less for her. I didn't even think that the land would accept her as a fertilizer with how she wanted to rise above everyone.

"Onii-chan, you're an ancient right?" Buck asked.

"How did you know?" I questioned.

Buck smiled. "Rui, my friend, told me about your race," he answered. His cheery face slowly dropped and a worried and sad expression slowly crept up. "It's the reason why he went out. He wanted to look for ancients and ask them for help. It's so that we wouldn't have to starve anymore."

A heavy feeling in my chest visited once again. "He hasn't come back?" I asked.

"No...I hoped that big brother Slade would find him but..." Buck's statement trailed into a request as his melancholic expression changed back into a beaming smile. He wiped his glistening eyes and stared at me with optimism.

 "Please purify the land! Big sister Wye Fye plans to make this our home since she's searching for something."

I looked at Buck with question. "Is she searching for a smaller head since her current one is too big?"

Buck alarmingly looked from left to right. "Shhh oniisan! If you let her hear you, you'll be in big trouble!"

I really didn't mind if I get in any more trouble. I get this certain satisfaction whenever I see that woman enraged.

"I am already contained in a big problem Buck but I now exclude the fact that I was kidnapped by my brother. I am quite pleased with the results of my kidnapping."

"You were kidnapped?"

I nodded. "Yes, I was kidnapped by my brother and I am now being held captive by the only three adults in this area."

Buck didn't know what to reply as he cleared his throat and laughed awkwardly. "Ohh...well Wye Fye and our two brothers aren't that bad. When our homes were destroyed and our families were killed by the catastrophes, the three of them came and took us under their care."

How thoughtful of them to have saved these children from their ruined homes just to take them into an even more ruined home. I was very impressed.

Although I was taken away against my will, that didn't mean that I wouldn't listen to this child's request. There were still good and innocent hearts in here despite Wye Fye's overpowering beauty.

I placed a hand on top of Buck's head and petted him softly. "Tomorrow, you will see the world in a different color," I told him.

I cannot purify the land with Wye Fye eyeing my every movement. It would be better if I hid my good deeds and leave immediately.

Slade was finally done with serving the line of kids and scooped the leftovers to his own bowl "I'm happy that you're here to cook again onii-chan!" Buck cheered.

Slade hummed in a bored manner and ate his food.

"Slade, what is Wye Fye searching for here?" I asked. The man finished chewing his food before answering me.

"She's searching for the portal where ancient souls rest. This is ancient territory but it was abandoned for twenty-four blue moons."

I believed this made all of them trespassers and this made me the legal owner of where Wye Fye was demanding respect.

Then again, the world must be considering her as a trespasser. She must be kicked out.

"Why is she searching for it?"

Slade grunted. "She thinks that if she releases those souls, that would purify this land and this will become our new home."

After he said that, Slade laughed as if it was the stupidest idea he had ever heard.

"I don't think that portal has anything now though."

"Why's that?"

Slade gave me a puzzled expression. "You're an ancient, you should know that."

"I apologize; I wasn't educated that much because they fear that I would rebel like my brother."

The man sighed and fed himself more before continuing. "Before this place was abandoned, it housed all of the ancients but during the war and after it, the minor catastrophe problem became a major one not just because of the warfare. Many of the ancients were sacrificed and that caused an uprising led by the current Queen's sister, Titia. "

"Sacrificed for what?" Buck questioned.

Slade shrugged. "I don't know. This was just hearsay from travelers who had ancient friends."

"Hey ancient!" Wye Fye called to which I didn't respond to.

The only time when I did finally acknowledge her presence was when she was finally standing in front of me.

"I'm talking to you ancient!" She hissed.

"I am not the only ancient in my kind. Please specify the ancient who you desire to talk to," I deadpanned. Buck was making actions as he panicked from my reply and Slade was looking at me with amusement.

Her eyebrows scrunched im further." You're the only ancient here glupyy (stupid.) I do not need to specify."

I closed my eyes and sighed. "Very well then; what can I do for you tik (bitch?)"

Buck suddenly fainted and Slade's mouth hanged open. I can see how red she was turning. "Qu-as tu dit?! (What did you say?!) Who do you think you're talking to?" She fisted my hair along with my flower crown and hauled me forward.

"You are the only tik here so I need not to specify."

"Why you-"

"Enough Wye Fye!" Sevor shouted. A crowd of worried and scared children had already formed around us.

"He disrespected me! I am a princess of the Vampire kingdom! How can he say such repulsive things to royalty?!"

I was also a prince but do you see me demanding respect to a tree?

Slade rose up and grabbed her by the arm. He shoved her to the side and then stood me up. "Well guess what? You are not in your precious kingdom. You're the one who decided to latch on to my brother's leg. You left your title the day you ran away."

Sevor stood beside Wye Fye and held her. He glared at Slade and Wye Fye glared at me.

"You...I don't know what's an ancient doing here but if you want to stay here, you have to work under our rules!" she stated in a panting manner.

"Why do I have to work under your rules in our territory? They say that this is ancient territory and you are clearly trespassers. Please refrain from demanding respect from me because I do not give such thing to the pitiful. And who said that I wished to stay? May I remind you that I am kidnapped?"

Wye Fye was struggling hard in Sevor's restraining arms to get free so that she can hurt me."Why don't you all just die?!" She snarled at me. "You left us to die anyway so what's your purpose on living? Just become one of them!"

"I said enough Wye Fye!" Sevor boomed. His red eye glowed and all of his teeth elongated.

What she said just dirtied her reputation. The older kids looked at her with disbelief and the younger ones looked at her with fear. Asking an ancient to become a catastrophe must be like asking death to take over.

Wye Fye began to sob. She broke away from Sevor's hold and ran away. Buck jolted up in a standing position and rotated to have a view of his surroundings.

"What did I miss?"

"Breakfast," Slade replied causing Buck to whine.

A yawn escaped from my lips and I began to walk to where Slade took me when I first arrived here.

"Wait, Lucian," Sevor spoke catching my attention.

"Yes?"

He seemed hesitant to ask me but he swallowed whatever was stopping him. "We will release you if you do us one favor."

"And what is that?"

"Help us open the doors of the castle. Wye Fye thinks that the portal is in there."

Slade crossed his arms over his chest. "You do know that it's empty right?"

Sevor narrowed his gaze at his twin. "We don't know that. No one really saw what happened here. The only fact of what we have is that the ancient queen's sister, Titia Rosaryth, is now the leader of the catastrophes."

"This just proves that the portal is empty. Titia would have destroyed the portal."

"We will still look into it. We need to find a way to stop her, remember? We need information."

Slade scoffed. "No, you mean you want to make your lover happy. You don't need information. You just need more reasons for her to worship you more. You gave up on this Titia hunting the day when you found Wye Fye and the day when you threw me away like I'm just a hindrance. Stop pretending."

Slade walked passed Sevor and joined my side. "What are you talking about? We swore in front of father's grave that we will avenge him!" Sevor pointed out.

"You made me promise that. I don't care about our abusive father and besides, you're the one who broke your own goal. I don't have anything to lose but you have."

With that, Slade ended the conversation by turning his back away from his brother. He pushed me gently to walk and I went with the flow of his mood. I was feeling drowsy and I did not want to deal with those two combined.

We entered the small room and Slade slammed the door close. He wasn't angry but he wasn't calm either. He was a volcano waiting to erupt. I climbed over the mushy mattress, not caring if it smelled and lied down. I felt the bed dip beside me and let the body occupy the empty space.

"I'm not alone anymore," he whispered.

"Were you looking for someone who would annoy Wye Fye and Sevor besides yourself?"

Slade snorted and huffed. "Yes...and Sevor won't be able to resist any longer. I know that there's still a huge part of him that desires you. Wye Fye can't fill that emptiness."

Slade became quiet and became a warm body to this chilly night. I closed my strained eyes with a purpose. I need to wake up early so that I can free this area from death's venom and go back to Caleb.

Once I noticed that Slade fell asleep, I considered this as a great opportunity. I carefully removed myself from bed and sneaked out. There were a few children sleeping outside around the pyram and I walked to where Buck was sleeping. I observed his calm face while he slept and smiled in his sleep.

"I will pay our long time debt. You deserve the taste of our power."

 I want the younger ones to stay innocent and pure. I want them to breathe fresh air and live peacefully.

My hands automatically removed the belt around my waist and I carefully placed it down. I slipped my gloves off and threw them into the pyram. The fire consumed the gloves in its blazing destruction and I thought of making Lucius think more highly of me.

I fell to my knees and clawed dirt into my hold. Light slowly got out like wavy rays of the sun. Bright green grass spread across the field of the dead land. Trees rose proudly in their stand and flowers bloomed freshly with their stunning colors. The soiled water was decontaminated. The clear waters sparkled and fishes jumped with life. The sweet scent of life defeated the conquering odor of death and I began to laugh. 

My heart was getting tickled with joy. I stood up and spun around. I removed my sandals and let my power exit there. The children woke up from the laughter I was producing and they began to giggle and run around happily. Some of them scooped clean water from the lake and drank from there. Others plucked fruits from the trees while a few, including Buck, watched me as I bring life to the dead. I stopped laughing and smiled at the children watching me.

"This is my gift to all of you," I stated. I kneelt in front of Buck and took his hand. "You may live here for as long as you want to..."

Before Buck could reply, his eyes widened in shock when something pierced through the air from behind me and went through my ankle.

"Oniisan!" The children gasped.

"Your power didn't reach the castle so I'll personally escort you there," Wye Fye snorted. I sat and assessed the arrow piercing through my ankle. 

"There's blood..." I whispered. The kids younger than Buck started weeping.

"Oniisan!" They wailed.

Buck was clenching his fists in anger and I continued to stare at my wound.

Wye Fye pushed Buck aside and I raised my head to look at her. "Sevor is a fool to think that we will let you go. You will stay here with us and sustain our needs. You will come with me to the castle."

Why are you so desperate to get there?  I already revived most of this place. The castle wasn't a necessity. "Tell me, what do you really want from that castle?"

There was no permanent permanency in life but a tik will always be a tik even when you have done them good.

Although I did not really know the meaning of tik but Wye Fye's demonstration of being one proved how terrible they were in handling their life. She should donate her life to those who deserved it.

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A/N: Hi peeps, how's your day?  I was planning to update on Tuesday but I might get drowned with errands.