Lord of Eternal Night by Ben Alderson

2

Much like those who watched from cracks in doors and behind shuttered windows, I too had been a criminal of the same intrigue. Studying as the yearly Claims walked through the streets of Darkmourn towards the boundaries of the castle that crowned it. But my interest was always educational. Seeing how the Claims held themselves as they walked, or were dragged, towards their doom. I often wondered what my day would be like. I suppose, as I now walked calmly surrounded by the coven, I did not imagine it to be far different from this.

The only difference between those that watched my procession, was they would have revelled in knowing that it was my turn. The son of the very woman who picked those that were sent before me. It was the duty of our family since the first Claiming – to choose whose child would be sent. Knowing that it would one day end with me.

They likely believed this would be a just punishment. My Claiming arrived as they watched on with bellies full of revenge or pleasure. Feelings returned in tenfold to my family from those who already lost loved ones to the yearly sacrifice.

Except I would be the first to return, setting an end to the curse.

A woollen shawl had been draped over my shoulders and with it a welcomed warmth. “This will fight the chill.”

I thanked Lamiere with a gentle smile and hugged the itchy fabric close.

It was Mother’s idea to go dressed in very little. Exposing the glow of my skin beneath the full moon. To distract the creature upon my arrival. The trousers I wore were made from leather which made them ripple with each footfall up the levelled path towards the castle. The tunic did little to cover me. The sleeves were dramatic – a loose design that hid the nimble curve of my arms. The collar barely touched my neck as it was sizes bigger for me than it should have been. Exposing my neck purposefully. Mother’s choice.

If I needed to warm myself a simple call of flame would cease the cold that racked my bones. But I could not use my power. Not yet. Not with fear that the creature watched from the countless windows that speckled across the face of the castle. Each now alight with orange flames. Waiting for my arrival. It cannot know. Not until the final day, the final hour when I would break the curse. Only then would I reveal myself.

Darkmourn connected itself to the castle by a bridge of aged stone. Far below the chasms of jagged rock waited potential threats for those who drunkenly stumbled over the unprotected edge. Wind ripped across the bridge, whistling its deadly song as it did so. The brown locks of my hair danced beneath its force — not once did I lift a hand to stop it.

We walked in silence, bathed only in the screaming of wind and the chorus of nightly creatures that dared prowl this close to the castle’s boundary line. The place in which the curse began. Or ended, depending on where one stood. The tickle of gazes from Darkmourn faded the further we travelled towards the castle, giving way to another. The feeling was strange. A cold, burning of awareness that someone else watched on. An unseen witness.

I raised my stare towards the towering walls of the castle, looking out for his outline in the many windows. For any sign that he watched my arrival. It made distracting myself from the cold that much harder.

Too focused on the feeling and silence, I hardly noticed the shuffle of footsteps slow to a stop.

“This is where we leave you,” Mother said, leaning in and pressing a kiss to each cheek, lips close to my ear. “Remember to conceal yourself. Be smart. Be cautious. And return our saviour.”

“I know what is required of me,” I said, teeth threatening to chatter as the cold spread throughout me. “Mother.” She stiffened as I held my voice firm, not whispering back as she did to me.

“Then you may go.” Her face remained frozen, lips pulled into a thin, white line. “Take up your position as this year’s Claiming.”

“I shall.”

Whereas the group that followed me here kept back, Lamiere hovered between both parties.

“I will send my thoughts as positive castings, Jak.” Lamiere’s silver locks billowed in the wind, her own cloak held around her. “When you return I promise to cook you your favourite soup.”

I moved towards her, feeling a sudden softening of my heart, and put a hand on the short woman’s shoulder. “With such promises you will make the following weeks painfully long.”

Lamiere snorted, wiping the bubble of snot that burst from her nose across the sleeve of her muddied shawl. “May She guide you.”

We both glanced to the moon as if it watched from above. “Do not miss me too terribly, Lamiere. I will return.”

There was something about the way she glanced away that told me that she did not believe me. That single moment sunk my heart into the pit of my belly.

“You should take your leave, Jak.” Mother distracted me from my moment of self-doubt. “Do not keep the creature waiting.”

* * *

The wallof shadow was visible only up close. I tilted my head, left and right, admiring the strange power that raced far up into the sky and far below the ground where the bridge met the castle’s boundary. Many had tried to break through, but never with success. It was a magic even Mother could not explain. Only the Claim could enter.

I raised a hand and pressed it against the membrane of dark magic. To the touch it was cold. But with a push, my fingers began to slip through it as though it was no more than the dark waters of a lake. My hand reached through first, followed by a foot.

Holding my breath, I proceeded through the strange barrier. Only when the sensation of nightly winter cut across me did I dare open my eyes. I made it.

I allowed myself a moment to catch my breath before walking ahead, not once looking back at Mother, Lamiere and the coven as they witnessed from the other side.

As I passed beneath the crumbling pillared archway, it seemed that the shadows beyond it thickened.

All my focus was on the haunting building before me. The years had not been kind on it. Although it was near impossible to ignore that this castle would have been a spectacle of beauty and architectural prowess long before the curse settled upon it.

A place of grandeur and wealth. Where the vines would have been more than brown corpses clinging to the weathered bricks of the building. The pillars that lined the elaborate walkway would have stood tall and proud. Even the walkway beneath my boots was sodden with weeds and cracks, overgrown to a point that the slabs beneath were close to impossible to see.

Noise in the thick shadows that devoured the overgrown gardens I walked within made me pick up speed. I dared look long enough to see what lurked within.

Was it the creature? Stalking me as I walked towards his front door?

I longed to call on that fire now — to shed light across the hungry darkness around me. A guiding light would come in handy as I stumbled my way up the ruined perron towards the closed door of the castle. But I resisted, hands fumbling across the vine-covered stone banister to keep myself upright.

I waited before the door, unsure to knock or wait. He would know I was here. From the stories I had heard, I knew he likely sensed my presence the moment I stepped foot on his land. Yet the door did not open, but I grew colder and impatient.

Giving up, I raised a fist but before my knuckles could rap upon the dark oak door, it swung inward. I cringed at the sound of old hinges as they screeched.

If he did not know I was here before, he would now.

“Hello?” My voice echoed into the barren entrance before me. I hesitated, foot poised to take my first step into the castle, as I waited for a response.

Silence greeted me in return.

Whereas the world beyond the castle was shadowed in darkness, the inside was not. Although worn, I was greeted by colour. The wooden flooring glowed orange beneath the lit candelabra. White candles dripped furiously among the intricate twisting of metal. Wax melted in frozen drips that puddled across the polished, yet ancient floor. As I stepped inside a wall of stale air slammed into me. I cupped a hand over my nose, trying not to inhale the scent. But it was too late. It lathered the back of my throat and clung to my tongue. This air that had festered without the benefit of an open window or door.

“Hello?” I questioned again, body tense as I reached for the door to see who had opened it. I readied myself for a scare, only to find the space empty behind it.

Years I had readied for this moment, but the fear that stiffened my body was never expected. Its presence shocked me. Mother taught me about fight and flight, always urging me to clench fists and throw power. But now, standing here, I wanted nothing but to turn and run.

The door slammed suddenly. I jumped back, spluttering a shout as I got out of the way of its aggressive swing. The phantom movement shook dust from the walls and rafters until it settled down upon me like snow.

“You rush to leave so soon?” The voice was everywhere and nowhere at once. My fists clenched at my sides as the velvet tone slithered down my spine.

“Forgive me.” I kept my gaze down as I turned around, unable to bring myself to look up at the stairway that took up the majority of the entrance. He was there. I knew it.

“It is that time already…” the voice purred. “Another year has passed without much thought. And here I find a Claim standing in my presence. How can it be a year already when I still can taste the last Claim so… clearly?”

I looked up for a moment, long enough to see the towering figure standing at the top of the stairs. Only to snap my gaze back down to my feet in a blink.

Adrenaline flooded through me, setting every vein on fire. I felt the elements stir at my reaction. A readiness that made my bones shake. This is it. My target. That fear that had not long raced through me was blown out with a single exhale.

Should I cower? Force my hands to shake so he thought me weak?

I opted to keep my gaze low as I fought the urge to smile.

Play the part.

“They normally scream, you know.” The voice was closer now, yet no more than a whisper. “It has been many a year since one stood without words before me.”

“I fear words fail me… in your presence.”

There was a shift in the air. He had moved from his perch at the top of the stairs to a place inches before me in a blink. Where the floor was empty before me, now stood boots; black polished leather that caught the light of the candles that hung far above.

“Let me see you,” he purred; a sweet brush of breath tingled over me. I breathed it in, images of orchards in spring flooding my mind. But there was something else beneath it. Copper. A sharp tang that hid almost perfectly beneath the illusion of apples. “Do not fear me.”

I should have not looked up so quickly for fear that he sensed that I was not scared of him. But my reaction that followed would have covered up any distrust in my forced demeanour.

His eyes were obsidian. No. I squinted closer. Red. Deep red that it seemed they were nothing but pits of darkness.

He was pure light. From the white marble of his manicured hair, to the glow of his skin that seemed to shine from within. His entire body had been crafted from strands of moonlight. My neck ached as I had to look up at him. He towered over me by a foot, or two.

“I do not fear you,” I said, eyes darting across his face. A face I had imagined a million times. Such a waste. He was handsome, so much so it should have inspired songs and stories. Perhaps it would have been harder knowing the outcome of this visit if I had grown up looking upon his face. Somehow it was easier creating images of it from my imagination all these years.

They were always different. Sometimes human, like the man before me, other times I would play on his title of creature and imagine a beast with horns and a twisted face.

His lips were flushed with colour, as if he had taken a bite from a pomegranate a moment before he smiled. “How… unexpected.”

I wanted to agree with him, but I swallowed my words as he exposed two points of his canines. How unexpected indeed.

He fiddled with the golden buttons of his dark navy velvet jacket. His nails pointed and sharp. One tug and he would likely slice through the threading with ease.

A shiver ran down my arms as I studied him. Not from fear or disgust. But of anticipation.

“I suppose you wonder what happens next?” he asked. “But I feel as though I should at least know your name before indulging you in such…things.”

I nodded, trying to steady my breathing. I felt my desire to lash out with my power now. And it would likely hurt him, maim him perhaps. But the curse was clear, Mother had drilled it into me. Only on the final night when the moon bled would his immortality waver. That was when I had to strike.

Focus. I hissed to myself. Wait.

“I asked you a question.” His tone dropped suddenly that my stomach flipped with it. He pressed a nail into the bottom of my chin. It pricked my skin until there was a kiss of wetness beneath his touch.

“Jak,” I said through gritted teeth. “My name is Jak.”

The creature snapped back as though my words burned him. In doing so a sting of cold was left at the mark where his nail touched me.

He stood back for a moment, studying me with his wide, ruby eyes as though he looked for something. Then he lashed forward again, gripping the tops of both my arms and pinching with an urgent hold.

Fire boiled within me.

“Do not fucking touch me,”I spat, losing all control. His touch riled disgust throughout me. My hand moved in a blur, knocking against his cheek. The pain that followed had me screaming out. The force sent a shiver of agony up the bones in my arm until it spread across my back. It felt as though my palm had connected with stone.

I stumbled back, hand cradled to my chest as a sob of anguish racked my lungs. I landed on the floor as I tripped over my own feet, landing awkwardly on the sack that was tied around my belt. The bowl jolted into my hip beneath the fall.

“You dare raise a hand to me?” The creature spoke, his voice growing louder with each word. “In my own home?”

His mouth split in a growl that shook the very shadows of the castle. The air vibrated as spit lined his straight bottom teeth to the two canines that grew in size before my eyes. He loomed above me, features distorted. The darks of his eyes seemed to devour all of the white that had been there.

I cowered on the floor, unable to muster the strength to protect myself as pain radiated through me. Fear. Honest, boiling fear.

“Get up,” he hissed, raining spittle down over me. “Get up, now!”

Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t. With my arm cradled to my chest I could not fight as his hands found me and yanked me from my sitting position.

I winced as he struck out, expecting his own forceful slap to reach me. Instead, a vice grip wrapped around my good arm and lifted me from the slabbed floor. His strength was unimaginable. I was a doll beneath his grasp.

“Stop!” I cried out as he dragged me across the floor, legs dragging pathetically beneath me.

Only moments into my arrival and I had shattered my chances of getting close to him.

As he dragged me across the entrance room, he hissed and seethed. His shoulders rose and fell dramatically. Anger shivered in the air around him, intensifying the strange glow from his skin.

“Please…” I pleaded, shoulder now splitting in pain as it took the brunt of my weight. “You are hurting me.”

“You know little of pain…” he hissed, nails biting into my skin as his grip tightened. “But you will. I see now what you want from me. You want the beast. The creature you have heard much about. You will soon come to know that I am what you make me. Fool me once, beauty, and you will not have the chance to do it again.”

With a heave he threw me to the ground before him. I scrambled across it, trying to put distance between us. The corridor we were in was dark, untouched by the candles that burned in the distance. The darkness played tricks on my mind as it pulled and twisted at his face.

I stopped, not by choice. My back pressed against a door, I felt the rigid wood as it stopped me in my tracks.

“In.” He flashed his pointed teeth in warning. “Now.”

I barely had a moment to stand. I fumbled with the brass knob of the door, hands coming away covered in dust. I even noticed the mounds of it that now clung to my trousers and dirtied tunic.

I threw the door open, slamming it against the wall behind it. I did not register what lay within before the creature was there, hand gripped around the door, wood creaking beneath his grip.

I stood frozen. Body a mess of aches and pains, and I seethed, “Do… do not touch me again.”

He barked a laugh. “You are in my home now. You are my Claim. Did they not warn you of what that meant?”

My lips curled over my own teeth. Through my lashes I looked at him and snarled, “You know nothing of the knowledge I possess of you, demon.”

He faltered for a moment, head tilting slightly. “Demon. Hm.”

Then the door was slammed in my face. Enough that I flinched, closing my eyes as the wood barrelled towards me.

There was a click. A turning of a key. Then footsteps, sounding off into the corridor beyond the room.

Alone. I was alone.

Countless times I had dreamed about this night. Yet I had not once imagined that this would have ever been the outcome of my first moments within the castle.

I sagged to the floor and unleashed the tears of anger. Far off in the distance of the castle I heard a roar. A feral scream that clawed down my spine.

And deep down I felt Mother’s presence and the disappointment towards me.

Day one and I had already failed.