Sean watched the raven fly off with the note but stayed out of sight. He watched the maid close the window, but she didn't lock it. Instead, she looked around the room and quickly slipped into a side room. Peeking in a bit more, he saw her leave that room into another. Allowing him to dash across the room toward the window. Without opening it, he looked out in the hopes of seeing the raven. He wanted to know where it was going. He briefly saw it fly out away from the house to catch the wind, before swooping back. It was heading to a room somewhere upstairs. Was it possible the witch was living in the house? Turning around, he gasped with a start. The maid stood a short distance away from him, her eyes kind but curious when she asked him. "Can I help you with something?" Shaking his head, he tried to swallow down his nervousness and surprise by admitting. "I just... was looking for a place to calm down. Seeing what they are. I... It overwhelmed me."

Fixing her dress, the maid smiled and admitted innocently. "Yes. I was a bit of a shock to me as well. But they aren't so bad. Spoiled, certainly. Though you didn't hear that from me." Chuckling a little, Sean replied honestly. "You don't have to tell me that. I can see it." Moving to rest her arm on the back of a chair, she asked him so sweetly. "I've no doubt. With eyes like yours. So blue. They remind me of a clear spring sky. Right when the world brightens with color again after a long winter." Blushing, Sean mumbled out. "Thank you." Her fingers began to stroke the fabric of the chair as she looked him over and commented warmly. "You're welcome. You'll have to forgive me. I've been in the presence of darkness for so long... that the light you bring is... rather a welcome sight." Sean raised an eyebrow, until he looked himself over. He hadn't noticed that his skin was sparkling a little like he was covered in glitter. Even with no light in the dark room.

Biting her lip, she asked him curiously. "Is it true what they say about you Ljosalfar? That you managed to control the light of Alfheim?" Swallowing, Sean found himself honestly replying without thinking about it. "I'd rather not talk about it." His own answer surprised him. Where had that come from? Reaching up to rub his collarbone nervously, he wondered if his avatar had acted on its own. Was it an in-game response that he wasn't told about? He was so distracted by the outburst that he didn't notice she had moved closer to him, until she whispered over his shoulder. "You best be careful in a place of death like this... There is nothing Draugr want more than to possess the power over life and death. Within your veins... they could drain the light of Alfheim from you." Sean leaned away from her a bit, mumbling out uneasily. "Draugr? The zombies and skeletons?" Grinning, she reached out to lightly touch his chest wear the outfit would normally reveal cleavage. Her voice dropping a bit lower when she whispered again. "Draugr. It means Undead. That includes Zombies, Skeletons... vampires. Any living tissue reanimated from death."

Grabbing her wrist to stop her from touching him, he locked eyes with her and asked a little confused. "Why do you stay here? You could leave. Start over somewhere else." Her eyes lowered from his when she replied grimly. "I can't. This place is all I've ever known. I was born here. I... I will die here." Releasing her hand, Sean softly told her. "You don't have to. That's your choice. Not your fate." A small smile spread on her face, when she peered up at him and said playfully. "You are so different from them. So full of life. You live in a beautiful bright world... but that is no place for monsters like me." Furrowing his brows, Sean wispily asks her. "You don't look like a monster to me." Her slender hand rose to slide her fingertips across his jaw, before removing the mask from his face. Dropping the mask, her face draws closer to his as she puts her hand on his cheek and whispers to him in a sudden breathless voice. "Not all monsters are ugly on the outside. Some wear masks." Her lips moved in for a kiss, but he tilted his head back from her.

Her face falling into a heartbroken expression that Sean quickly tells gently. "I'm sorry. You're very pretty... but you're better than this." Her eyes glaze over with tears, her voice breaking a little when she asks him. "What...? How can you say that to me? Do you think I'm a..." Carefully taking her wrist to pull it away from his cheek, he looked her in the eyes and answered genuinely. "No. I don't believe you are. But I can see the pain in your eyes. I recognize it. You want something that you know you can't have." Her fingers curled and a tear slid down her cheek as she stared at him in surprise. Releasing her wrist, he moved his hand to hers to brush her tear away with his thumb. He was a little shocked that she let him do it, but he whispered to her lovingly. "The mask you claim to wear isn't making you happy. So... maybe you should get rid of it." Giving him a tiny smile, she lowered her eyes to the rug and asked him darkly. "Pretty words. But do you really believe in them?"

Keeping his eyes on her, he answered truthfully. "Yes. I've spent a lot of years being someone that I'm not. Entering this world... Allows me to fix a mistake I made." The doors to the room slowly creaked closed and locked on their own, drawing Sean's attention. Grabbing her hand, he asked anxiously. "Oh, no. We should call for-" His words were cut short by the maid carefully turning his head to look at her. Holding his jaw in her slender fingers, she lifted her other hand to her face. Waving her hand over the side of her face, her flawless beautiful face faded away on one side to reveal three deep scars that spanned the length of one side of her face. One of her soft brown eyes fading to a light shade of solid white. Along her throat were thinner cuts like something had slashed at her throat and missed. Even a small piece of her ear was missing. Staring deeply into his eyes, she asked him sternly. "And now? Am I still pretty, Ljosalfar? Has the removal of my mask unsettled a beautiful creature such as you?"

Staying very still, he forced himself to look at her and found himself answering again in a pained tone. "No. Because if you if you knew the truth about my kin... you wouldn't think I'm beautiful. What you see. Is what my kind did to itself. Instead of guarding the light of Alfheim. A few of us wanted to control it. To correct our flaws and become as perfect and powerful as the light. We didn't want to feel the pain of loss and fear anymore. We wanted to overcome sheltered darkness and embrace the light like so many other races." On their own his hands cupped her face, and he finished off in a broken voice. "You wanna see what the light has done to me?!" The woman gasped sharply, her head jerking back in his hands as her eyes flared with a blinding starlight that light up the room. From the light that beamed from her eyes, he saw her memories play out in highlights. The images showed her as a beautiful woman. She was married and happy. Until her twin boys died to a plague. While her husband mourned. She sought out a necromancer to bring her sons back. He did. At a cost.

The necromancer revived her kids by not as they were. He used a wolf and a raven's life in exchange. Twisting them into monsters. Monsters that she loved deeply despite how they looked. However, her husband didn't. He killed them in their cribs and when she fought with him. He whipped her across the face with a nine-tailed whip. Leaving her shortly after he saw what damage he had to her for a beautiful woman in the village. Yet, her rage persisted, and she stole his kids with her in the hopes of fixing her sons. Only for the necromancer to tell her that the cost to truly fix them could only be achieved by killing their father only after his line is severed. A quest she has struggled with since her sons carry a virus that has spread to the family through accidental contact with them. A side effect to their reanimation. Leaving only those who are immortal immune to it. Both Mira and her husband. The lord of Grim Hollow. For the cost to revive her sons wasn't just the lives of the animals sacrificed but also those of their parents. Cursing them with immortality until one finds a way to kill the other to finish the spell.

With a startled yelp, Sean yanked his hands off her face. Staggering back, he watched something pop by his health bar that read; 'Alfheim's Lightbringer. Rare racial ability unlocked. See their truth. Foresee their death. Destroy Draugr with your divine light." Panting a little, Sean blurted out shakily. "What the fuck...?" Standing in front of him, Mira's eyes were not shining with beams of light anymore. She stood just as shocked by the events as him. Tearing running down her cheeks, when she brokenly told him. "He hired you to kill me before I finish killing his family. Can you say I'm in the wrong? I'm I truly unsavable because I want what was taken from me? Have I not suffered? Am I never to be happy?" Taking shallow breaths, Sean honestly replied. "I don't know... I..." Sean couldn't finish. He could barely think straight. Moving closer to him, she grabbed his arm and pleaded hopefully. "Please. Let me finish this. Give me the chance to set things right. He killed them... He took them from me. No one judged him for the monster he is! My babies hurt no one. They are just scared..."

Swallowing, Sean shrugged out cautiously. "Trisha's face?" Mira rubbed his arm, rushing out. "Trisha is far from innocent. She hates dogs. She kicked him when he was nosing through the trash... He attacked her in self-defense. He's not mean... I swear. He just... hasn't been shown kindness by anyone other than me." Sean's eyes drifted to the mask and inhaled slowly. The mask was like Mira's beautiful face. The wolf had attacked him... but stopped when it recognized HER face. Cupping his face, Mira told him seriously. "Please, understand. They are not the monsters... They are just scared little boys. He wants them dead, and he wants me dead... but he doesn't know what you now know. Please... as a mother. I'm begging you to help me." Footsteps began to thunder down the hallway, forcing her to plead desperately. "Please?!" Swallowing hard, Sean told her softly. "I need to think it over." Mira nodded with relief, then shoved Sean against the wall and pressed his lips to his in a passionate kiss.

The kiss completely startled Sean. He hadn't expected it and could only grip her arms before the door opened. Light poured into the room from the candlelight in the hallway. Breaking the kiss, Mira shrugged away from Sean and fled through the other door beside him with a shaky outburst of. "Excuse me. I need to... clean something." Sean took a minute to catch his breath, then looked toward the door. He thought he'd see the lord, but instead saw Mark. Sean's whole body tensed as he blurted out. "Mark. It's not what it looked like." Mark's eyes were guarded, and his expression hardened. Yet, without a word, he whirled around on his heels and stormed off. Pushing off the wall, Sean ran after him, yelling out desperately. "Mark! No! Wait! It's not what you think!" Huffing bitterly, Mark snapped out over his shoulder. "Ya? How do you know what I'm thinking?" Grabbing his arm, Sean pulled him to a stop and pleaded out. "Because I do! But you're wrong!"

Yanking his arm out of Sean's hands, Mark snapped out angrily. "Am I? We've been down this road before, remember?! Only I don't know the maid well enough to know if she is using you are not. But considering her position in this place, I'd say she is to get something out of you. But go ahead. Call me a liar like you did then. Tell me how wrong I am!" His words cut deep into Sean, but he stammered out in a broken voice. "Mark, this is nothing like then. She probably thought you were the lord and was covering her own ass." Rolling his eyes, Mark scoffed out. "THAT is supposed to make me feel better?! Sorry I interrupted. Guess I'm not even worth an alibi now." Wincing, Sean grabbed his arm again and blurted out. "No! Mark, that isn't what I meant!" Yanking his arm back, Mark slammed Sean up against the wall and yelled out in a pained voice. "FUCK YOU! You're not doing this to me again! Pick a fucking side! My heart isn't something you can use when it is convenient! I have feelings too and they get hurt just as badly when you smash them! You wanna be straight. BE STRIAGHT! Don't dance the line with me when you know how I feel about you!"

Lowering his arm from Sean's chest, Mark took a step back and weakly told him with teary eyes. "I feel like a fool. You love being mine in games where you need me... but you're only playing pretend with me again. Aren't you?" Sean shook his head, but Mark simply turned away and stormed down the hallway as he stated aloud. "You know what... Just stay away from me. I need to be alone. FUCK!" Sean flinched as Mark punched the wall and let out a loud outcry of anger. To Be Continued...