The Lord and his Queen

Chapter 1: Arrival at Darken

The dark world hides. It hides in the strangest places, perhaps the cafe where you have your morning coffee or maybe the gym. In fact the darkness hides where there are people to hide among. Vampires. They are literally everywhere. They are governed by law much like humans. However unlike humans all the vampires of the word are governed by one individual. He is the lord of darkness, His majesty the sire of all, he is the blood that governs blood and the Thorne that made the first prick of a human's finger. Ronan Thorne. How do I know this you may ask? well I'll get to that shortly.

My name is Sarafyna. I am a student of Darken university. Odd name? yea I thought so too, but it’s the best place to go to become a professor of mythology. the school is smack in the center of Europe and therefore surrounded by culture of all kinds throughout history. and by the center I mean it’s measurable. If you were to put a ruler on a globe and measure Europe encased in a square of longitude and latitudinal lines the very center would be the main building of this oddly humble university. I mean humble to. It's fairly small and the buildings aren't flashy. It's the instructors that make up the life blood of the school. They come from all around the world to teach culture in all of its splendor. Everything from agriculture, to politics, and yes myths and legends that spring up from all over the world. this is why I am here. It is my dream to travel the world and write about myths and how they came to be. It is by starting my journey here that I would eventually realize the cosmos, or whatever higher power people these days believe in, had a very different fate in mind.

Day 1. I walk up to the school for orientation and I am immediately approached by a scrawny, bespectacled boy with messy brown hair, freckles, khaki pants and a flannel shirt. He also had an incredibly strong Irish accent. He began to speak reading off of a stack of note cards clipped to a clipboard with my picture and student profile

" Hello I am Seamus and I am your student ambassador, how are you today? I am fine as-Wait...I misread that. so I am supposed to ask how are you and you're supposed to answer...How are you today?" He looked up at me and I struggled to stifle a giggle so as not to be rude.

" I am fine, My name is-"

"I know your name, Your Sarafyna Fantine and you are starting the Mythology of the world course. It is on this clip board I was given, see?" He held out the clip board and showed me. like I hadn't seen it to begin with.

"Right follow me please." he turned and briskly waddled off. I had to almost jog to keep up with him. As he showed me the campus he would stop and read from the note cards as though it had been rehearsed at the last minute. I met a few of the teachers and other students who thankfully weren't quite as awkward as Seamus. We walked past the student dorms and he stated as I was a lady I would have to have a Lady student show me my dorm since he was a boy and not a girl he couldn't show me.

"So that concludes our tour of the campus, are there any questions?" he looked at me over his note cards. I did indeed have a question.

"Yes what is that tower right there?" I pointed to a tower that stood in the center of the courtyard. Seamus looked and nodded adjusting his glasses.

"Yes so this is an anomaly of the school. Professionals say it is a trick of the light due to the mix of moisture in the air and the way the sun shines indirectly or something but the tower is not actually there and only a few students can see it. students have been known to come to the school and see it and be obsessed for a time and then shut up about it and some students can’t see it when they come but can after being here for a short while. We have found no correlation behind the students who can, but many who were artists have been able to draw the tower and they all look alike. it's a strange anomaly there is a whole section on the invisible tower of Darken in the library you can look at in your spare time. is there anything else?"

"No. I am going to head to the dorm classes start tomorrow. good day Seamus." I walked off and he turned and sauntered away as well mopping his forehead with a tissue from his shirt pocket.

Shaking my head instead of heading to the dorm I walked up to the tower. It had a large diameter with an Iron fence around the border of it about 10 feet away from the stone. all over the fence were tacked billboards with events of the school like a student hub. As I circled it I saw a plaque with an image of the tower engraved. I read;

This spot is long known as the earth void. It is a site where an anomaly takes place for a choice few special people who claim to see a tower standing where many do not actually see it. Speculation from all over the world claims this to be a physical anomaly where myths tell otherwise. This spot holds mystery and wonder for all who witness it. The fence was erected in the late 1800's as a safety precaution. People who claimed to see the tower would wander to the spot where the door was speculated to be and vanish. some were seen again and some were never seen again. We ask that the fence is not breached. Furthermore grass, flowers, and other plant life do not grow here birds and insects are seen avoiding the area. This is yet to be explained.

I stared at the tower wondering how people couldn't see it. Needless to say I was obsessed.

"So can you see it?" I jumped as a perky voice squeaked the question behind me. turning I saw a petite girl, short brown hair, bright blue eyes, and a wide smile.

"uh...yea I can. Can you?" she squeaked again bouncing in a very excited circle around me. I made a mental note to investigate the origins of bouncy bunny people in my travels. I chuckled as she answered.

"No I can't but I believe when people say they can see it. It's the whole reason I am attending this school. My great grandfather was a historian who studied it. He felt the explanation to the anomaly of the vanished tower was explainable through history and not science and just as he was about to write his thesis on it he became a victim of the tower. I have my own theories of course some are based on his and some are completely my own through my own tests and studies, for example-" she leaned down and picked up a small stone and then looked over her shoulder to make sure no one was watching, then she threw the stone at the tower. I watched as it bounced back off the stones.

"See?! the stone bounced so there must be something there. but throughout history because of the disappearances people who can't see it are afraid to get close without anyone who can see it. But due to student disappearances school rules prohibit crossing the fence. I have to get my degree before the school will let me continue my grandfather's work. I'm Lucinda. Please no nicknames, I like Lucinda. " She held her hand out to me and I shook it. together, her and I walked away toward the Girls dorm. As we walked away I looked back and saw a figure in the window at the top. tall, masculine, with long hair. It was dark so I couldn't make out his shadowed face.

"What's wrong?" her voice jogged me back to reality and I realized I had stopped in my tracks. I looked back up and he was gone.

"Oh nothing I thought I saw someone in the top window there." I pointed and then remembered she couldn't see what I was pointing at. Her eyes got wide and she pulled out a notebook and began to jot down some notes.

"Male or Female? Height? did you see any details?" I stammered along with her questions.

"Uh It was tall but I can only guess that from the torso I suppose. From the waist up I can only tell so much. It was blocky and fairly masculine so I guess male? and I couldn't see features, but it looked like it had long straight hair." She wrote everything I said in fast sloppy writing.

" Hey Lucinda?" she looked at me as I asked my question.

"Is there any history as far as the tower's origins or how far back it goes in history?"

“My grandfather was only able to write that by the time he was studying it it was still beyond ancient I mean the plaque alone says it’s been here since before the 1800s so there's that as for its origin I again have my own theories, and you know I am such an airhead I never asked your name.” She looked at me expectantly and it took me a moment to catch up.

“Oh! Sarafyna. I’m ok with nicknames.”

“Fantastic you’re my dorm mate!” She showed me the list and sure enough Sarafyna Fantine and Lucinda Fanille. Well at least I know my dorm mate is friendly. And maybe since I can see the tower I can help her study it.

We went to the dorm and the woman who ran the dorm house gave us a tour as a group. She was a stern looking professor with silvery black hair pulled up into a top knot. She wore a knee length pencil skirt and waistcoat and stockings with simple brown shoes and had a sharp almost shrill voice.

“I am Professor Agnes and I am in charge of all dormitory care and enforcement. Please let me give you a quick tour.” As she took us around she showed us where the showers, wash room, and dorms were and then bid us goodnight right after going over a set of surprisingly non strict rules. 

“You are hard working students. As long as you keep your rooms orderly and the building stays clean and neat and there is no excessive noise or boys in the building past 10 pm I will not bother you. Inspections are however once weekly and hall monitors will be changed on the daily. There is a rotation that every one of you is on in pairs by dorm starting. This week is dorms FA to GO. thank you ladies please check the rotation and have a good night.” she nodded and gave a half bow before walking away stiffly, leaving a peppy looking blond in her place.

“Hello ladies and welcome. I am the student DM meaning Dorm Mother. My name is Amber Duschene and I would like to give you a run down of how hall monitors jobs work. The monitors take 2 shifts so tonight it looks like we have Sarafyna and Lucinda taking the 10pm to 2am shift and Lynnette and Darci taking the 2 am to 4 am shifts. 5 am is when people typically wake up for any Zero hour classes taken. So your job ladies is simply to walk the halls which are always lit and just make sure no one is sneaking in boys or partying past hours usually on weekends is alright as long as it's not too crazy” She dismissed us and we settled into our dorms. Mine and Lucinda's dorm faced the tower directly where I saw the figure in the window. 

“Lucinda, would you mind me taking the window desk? I can give you tower updates for your thesis.”

At this she bounced up and down shrieking with joy before agreeing and we both unpacked. I was exhausted but the time rolled around to 10 much faster than I expected and we had to start our rounds. Amber met us outside the door and handed us pepper spray and a floor plan to the building. Luckily it was a small building size wise. 3 floors and one hallway per floor containing dorms and bathrooms and an elevator. Lucinda started at the top floor and we decided to just do rounds. As I began to walk back and forth between the bottom floor and half of the middle floor I thought about the figure in the tower. As I thought I didn’t pay attention to where my feet took me and before I knew it I had bumped into something only half my height. Half of my body went over the thing leaving me slightly winded. When I looked up I realized I had wandered to the tower fence. The tower was still there even though the sun wasn’t out. I looked at the fence that I had run into. An iron fence with roses growing through it. I reached out and touched the rose in front of me. The petals felt like velvet. I traced my fingers down thinking to pick on when-

“Ouch!” I whispered as a thorn pricked me. A small bead of blood dripped from my finger and onto the ground on the other side of the fence and suddenly I was bathed in yellow light. I was blinded for just a moment before I saw a shadow in front of the light and a tall slim figure in the doorway. Before my eyes could fully adjust I was face to face with a man. A man who had emerged from the tower.