White Devil

Resurrection of the Butterfly-3

Those screams for mercy are eventually vanquished by the roar of an animal. There are gunshots and clashes of something hard and concrete all over the building. The humans are obviously trying to survive desperately. But all of this disaster would have never occurred if it were not for their actions themselves. I stop walking when I reach the edge of the hallway, knowing that there are footsteps following me from behind once those wails begin to die down.

He is here.

Turning my head gracefully, my set of red eyes meets another crimson pair one. Although it is not as brilliant or nightmarish like mine, they are still marvelous enough. Bigger, definitely. But aside all of those beastly semblances and dark fur, the black panther still has a soft spot in something that is close to how a heart should feel in me.

“Alto.” I extend one of my arms to pet him on the head. He is as tall as me in this form. His midnight fur looks rather rough, though different from the touch. He growls back in recognition and nudges his head to the right slightly in a bow. “The remaining humans are attempting their escapes. Make sure that you stop them without letting them actually self harming themselves, will you?” I speak dearly. He purrs in respond and expeditiously jumps off on all fours, his tail trailing behind predatorily. With that, he is out of my sight and launches himself to battlefield once again.

A certain door creak thought it does not have to to gain my attention. I spot Ryan standing behind it, his eyes parted with horror, though I can tell not for me this time.

“W-what was that-t?” he asks, throat showing symptoms of dryness.

“That was my cat pet. Or what your supervisor liked to call, ‘my dog─’”

“Monster!” he bursts out historically. “Anything that is not human is monster.”

“Oh, really?” I flex my gaze. “Then what do you call those of humans who do the crimes under the name of their ‘god’? Are those not an act close to a reflection of a monster─?”

“Unholy creatures!” he hisses in an accusing tone, apparently still persistent in what he believes. This time he is not just talking about me. “You monsters destroyed my family and only home I have ever known warmth for. If none of yours races ever existed, we humans would have been in happier places right now, not fighting for our lives.”

“Ah, that is where you are wrong. If we do not exist, that means my ancestors do not exist as well. And if that happens, where do you think your kind will be?”

“Living our lives in peace. That is for sure!”

“Wrong. You will not even be able to taste what it feels like to be alive, wondering as bodiless spirits that does not know how it feels like to get into touch with anything.”

Ryan shakes his head in denial. “Lies! You are lying. There is nothing your kind can do better than spreading lies.”

“If you say that I am lying, then you do not know me at all. First thing you have to know about me is that I do not do ‘lies.’”

“I don’t want to hear a word you are saying again, vampire.” He backs away from me as if I am a plague, but immalleably stumble back on his feet.

Then I look down at him, this poor young boy who lost his parents and now about to take deeper wrong road of life. His cries himself into tears of his own patheticness and let himself drown in it. The world is already crumbling into pieces in his sorrowful eyes. To find a brighter future in his part at this point is....no hope.

So I do the right thing and offer my hand to him.

His eyes land on my hand, but he can only stare at it, as if having no idea in the first place of what he is looking at.

“Come with me, and I will show you the real world you are living right now.” Ryan still remains in silence, so I continue. “It is not as bad as you thought it is, though. You probably only ever been living inside the safety borders of humans, never catching a glimpse of how it is outside those tall walls.”

He keeps staring at my grayish hand, light barely falling upon his lost eyes. Then slowly, after minutes have passed, he finally registers the words I just say to him, and quickly retrieve his hand back. His body begins to tremble, but not out of fear.

“No! You and your kind are just going to kill me. Don’t think I am stupid. I know that they are just waiting for me at the other side of the wall to suck me dry. I will not fall for your words!” He backs away, stumbling against the metal barricade and through the maze of hallways until I can see him no more.

“The world is different from what you were thinking, Ryan.” He shivers when I use his name, but does nothing as to insult me of doing so. “It might be a little bit dark and sometimes sinister, but there are many lights equally exist as well, shining brilliantly than anything you probably have lays your eyes upon.”

Somewhere in the corner of the cold hallways, Ryan hitches in his breathe, but I know that he can still hear me. The matter at hand is whether he will let my voice reach him or not. Yet I continue anyway.

“The world has changed since humans voluntarily enter and live inside the border. The Old Ways have changed. You need to see it from a new perspective.”

From the unyielding lungs of mortal, I know by now that Alto has finished collecting his captors. Ryan has gone far away by now ─ far enough that he will not be able to hear me any longer. I let him choose the path he wants, but the rebellion is now done for.

Two pairs of paws land in front of me, setting a sharp reddish glint. He stands on two legs and purrs, activating the collar around his neck. A storm appears from above him, grazing patiently up to the top of his head. The dark wind passes and instead of paws, appears two long legs covered in pants. The torso changes from fully furred into what resembles a human’s, complete with good material of shirt, vest and blazer. A pendant polished proudly on his right chest ─ a symbol of mine. Then finally that panther’s head turns into a man’s face.

His skin is as light as ivory, but his hair is still the same dark shade of midnight. Those strands are slick as ink, styled into a medium length and combed to the left. His eyes remain at the same color ─ a result upon receiving my gift ─ but looking more human now.

“Ever human in this warehouse has been secured, except for the one you have let go,” he says, his voice holds wisdom and loyalty. Then it turns into one with deep in thought. “Your Majesty, are you sure about this? I can still catch up to him if you would like to.”

“No, Alto. He has made his choice. We can not always interrupt them. They have their freewill, even if it is to suffer or to survive.”

“There is also another complication. The masked leader is nowhere to be seen.”

“I have expected so. But don’t you know, Alto? Before that spear dysfunctional me for a moment, I caught smell of him. That man, Alto, is no man at all. He is a pureblood.”

He gulps once he hears this news. “Who is he, Your Majesty?”

“That is where the real problem starts. I have no idea. He was never around the castle before, and I never met him until tonight.”

“So that means that either he was hid or a runaway,” he concludes. “Would you like me to investigate him?”

“No, thank you. I will personally find out myself. Besides, an individual so well unknown like this needs special access to get through, which means only my father or my fiancé.” Yet I have a doubt they will share information even with me.

I travel back prior and leave the rest to be handled by my knight. Blood colors are painting the room that leads to the sublime throne, occupied by the Emperor himself. His hair cascade passes his waistline with shade as pure as cloud. His figure remains in a stillness, like a statue. His nails are crossed on his lap, his robe lies organizedly around him. The crown of stone on his head has the same shade as his narrow eyes, which are framed by wise thickness, both looking as if were just dipped by fresh blood. I stop only a few meters before his sanctuary and bow a deep perfection.

“Your Grace,” I raise my head to meet his eyes, “may I bother you with a question?”

“Ask away, my daughter.” A thin line forms in the lightest pink of his lips.

“Tonight, I believe that you are aware that I was stopping yet another rebellion. What makes this time different was that I found myself a very disturbing opponent. He smelt.... similar, yet.... I could not recognize him. Do you know who that might be?” I ask politely, even though I know that he knows already. He must know, or else, what is being an emperor for than knowing his citizens?

“A pureblood, you mean? You were right. He has not been in the castle for a very long time,” he mentions my previous conversation with Alto back at the warehouse inside the human continent. “His name is Lancel de Britannia, one of the so many of your cousins. He was banished from the castle as a punishment of committing a crime.”

I remember. He was trying to take over the throne, which automatically led to the rest of the world. It was such a frightening era back then, since he was known to almost succeed. Is he planning to repeat history, then? Is that why he was using the humans to side with him without even allowing them to know who he really is? If they had known, they would have been spitting on his mask. But back then, when Lancel almost took over everything, was nineteen years ago. And at the time, he was only ten. To be able to make the purebloods almost fell into his hands completely is.... terrifying. He was at the same age as I was, yet....

“What is it that you seem to be in concern, daughter?” my father’s voice brushes with tenderness.

“Something does not make any sense. The first attempt of the rebellion happened when I was ten years old. How come.... that I do not remember it? Something so big and important as that is impossible to be close to forget, yet, how could I?” My eyebrows are curling in frustration, not being able to figure this out. It is preposterous for a vampire to forget, especially a pureblood such as me. How was I able to forget such a precarious event? Unless, of course, if I was compelled. But not anyone is able to do so to me, except─

“Father, did you make me forget about it?”

Doing a gesture that close to sighing, Father finally gives in. “Your mother has just recently died. I didn’t want you to keep mourn in desperation, so I decided to take some part of your memory, along with the night when she was.... deceased.”

We both grimace at that. Mother was a subject that we mostly avoid, mostly on her nonexistenceness. We all cherish the moment we shared with her. She was an empress both known for beauty and sharpness. She was a creation of art and my childhood world. Everything used to be revolting around her and my siblings. The little heaven that I had was the wonderful and bright land we truly owned. I was still innocent back then, and I loved being in that world. Every day was filled with sunlight, music, and happy smiles. Mother was the sun, and the rest of us are the plants that adore her light.

Losing her was a very big impact on all of us. The world felt as if it had suddenly died and we were left in the dark, cold barren. The weeks were spent raining heavily, and for once I did not enjoy the weather anymore. But at that moment of grief was the time when I found Alto. He was just a small kitten back then, wild and lost. When I approached him, he scratched me. That was the very first time I have ever gotten myself injured and realized just how much impact a small being can give. Under the gray sky, I decided to adopt him right there and then.