Debt Paid, Knowledge Acquired

--The Nydisian Kingdom, Eraregord, Othes Forest--

Katherine looked up to see his red eyes staring into the fire. It wasn't until now that she noticed the slight scar on his lip. It was a thin line that crossed on the very edge of his upper lip.

As if knowing what she was staring out he looked down and caught her gaze. She quickly averted her gaze and looked to where Llewellyn was once standing as he walked into the forest.

Lucian was still seated calmly behind her with his back against one of the trees and with her seated directly in front of him, her back to his chest.

Being unable to bear the silence, Katherine finally spoke, "Tell me a story,"

"Milord," She quickly added wanting to remain respectful.

His already deep voice was low and sounded like a hum, "What do you wish to hear about? The tales of the creatures below sea level or the creatures that plague the earth realm?"

Katherine stared off into the distance in awe of the things he said, she was partially tempted to daydream and let her imagination run wild.

It has been a while since Lucian spoke to a human this calmly, but something about her naivety intrigued him. He had forgotten how amazed humans were with the things that they would call myths but are in fact his reality and the world they lived in.

"Tell of the earth realm," Katherine responded. After some time when he didn't respond, Katherine turned back to look at him.

The amusement he had moments ago flashed in his eyes momentarily before he spoke. "What is it?" Katherine asked.

Without heeding much attention to his words he kept his gaze on her big brown eyes, "Your innocence, it's intoxicating." He then slowly moved back to rest his back fully.

The girl seated in front of him was no different from a child that wished to hear a slumber time tale.

"There's a tree somewhere in the highlands, where the wolves reside. The tree grants you either one wish or a glimpse of your future, never both, to all beings. The wolves call it Centem Natura."

Katherine turned to look at him, face to face and listened carefully to his words. "Have you ever visited the tree?" She wanted to know what he would wish for.

"Using the tree isn't that simple, whatever it is you wish for isn't always exactly what you get. I have seen it twist the words of the wishes it grants." Lucian paused and he remembered a time someone close to him had used it.

"It's a very deceitful creature, and for that reason, I've never used it." Lucian continued speaking while silently reliving his memories.

"Creature? It's alive?" Lucian looked in deep thought before he finally answered Katherine.

"In the old era, it was a tree that would grant you understanding and peace of mind, but in everything, there is a balance. So in turn, there was another tree that even just being around it brought out the worst side in people."

"At the time, there were more remaining kingdoms, the King of one of the lands asked a sorcerer to grant him the power of the tree. He thought if his men were enraged enough they would win the war with such fierce brutality," Lucian's eyes met the sky and began to examine the constellations as he spoke.

"The sorcerer granted him the power of the tree but it drove him and his people to madness. After the war the killing was endless-" Couldn't the sorcerer just remove the power he had given the king and his people? Katherine thought.

"Why did the sorcerer do such a thing? I thought witches were supposed to be good,"

"Sorcerers and witches are slightly different and it is only because of where they draw their power from, witches draw power from the earth and everything natural, sorcerers do not." Katherine didn't want to interrupt him again so she waited and listened patiently as he continued.

"The sorcerer then had to bind the rage and bloodlust of him and his people to the one thing that could balance it," He looked at her with a raised eyebrow half expecting her to finish off his sentence.

"Centem Natura," Katherine whispered. That was the only thing made to balance out the deceit from the other tree.

"It was, later on, discovered that the sorcerer was trying to harness the power for himself and use it to control nations and was using the king to test it before consuming it himself. He was beheaded shortly after." In a world full of supernatural and all kinds of creatures, Katherine had momentarily forgotten how much gore was put on display.

Lucian remained quiet, as usual, his eyebrows were furrowed and his deep golden eyes were so focused. Katherine recalled him having deep blood red eyes moments earlier, how did they change? She thought.

"Why do your eyes keep changing?" Katherine asked, wondering how his eyes could keep shifting between golden brown and deep red.

"You noticed," The side of Lucian's lip tilted upward slightly as he averted his gaze to look at the girl.

"How could I not?" The small brunette seated ahead of him seemed to have a knack for curiosity, Lucian thought to himself.

"My vampire and werewolf are constantly fighting for dominance, both are top hierarchy with my werewolf side being an alpha and my vampire side being a pureblood and getting older," Lucian explained.

"Can you not control it?" In response, Lucian closed his eyes and when he opened them they were blood red and filled with hunger. Katherine held back her shock not wanting Lucian to think she was afraid of him.

Only a handful of people knew about Lucian being a vampire-werewolf hybrid. To the rest of the world, he was a purebred vampire and due to that, he kept his eyes blood red at all times.

"I thought pureblood only referred to people who are solely vampires?" Katherine asked. She had heard of mongrel vampires, which were half-human and were considered as the lowest ranking of vampires, but she had never encountered a pureblood or purebred vampire until now.

"Pureblood vampires refer to any vampire that isn't tainted with human blood, vampires see it as disrespectful to be part human," As developed as the society may seem, there was still heavy prejudice and bias towards humans, despite the law that doesn't allow vampires to kill humans without cause.

Some time had passed while Lucian and Katherine sat together in silence. "Do you know someone that has used the powers of the tree?"

"My mother," Lucian's eyes remained closed and his demeanour calm as he rested his back against the wood. Katherine's eyes went wide as he mentioned his mother. Ever since the beheading of the Queen, no one dared to speak of it, at least in public.

"She used it to try and keep the throne in Williams' name," Trying to outplay the cardinal was punishable by death.

Wasn't that treason? Katherine thought to herself. She didn't have the strength to say it out loud and risk offending Lucian.