The Pain Does Not Bother Me Anymore.

Hertha felt herself being trapped in the endless quagmire of the deep dark abyss as she was being dragged into the depths of the ocean.

Pale bodies drifted around her, which could not help but remind her of her eventual fate.

She looked down and saw merfolks swarming around her legs, causing her to scream and flush out the air from her lungs.

They tore open her clothes and ripped through her flesh, dyeing her in a scarlet mist of blood. Her thoughts turned hazy as she held in her last remaining breath. Then, a formless pressure enveloped her body; she felt her imminent death but also a sense of security within, as memories of the distant past clouded her mind.

"Vincent! Vincent!" a voice cried out.

A girl ran up to a boy lying in a pool of blood.

She pulled his body in for a hug but only to see his two eyes were dug out.

"Noooooooooo!!!" the girl screamed in despair.

She looked up and glared at the girl standing in front of them, who was playing around with a bloodied dagger in her hand.

"Selena! Why!!!" she bawled and caressed the bloodied face of the boy.

"No reason, really," Selena replied nonchalantly.

She then unveiled her fingers, revealing two azure eyes twitching within her palms, "I just don't like his eyes."

"Too cruel!" the girl whimpered as her eyes turned misty.

"Hertha, don't cry," the blinded boy said in a flat tone and wiped her tears with his bloodied fingers.

"Vincent! I am sorry I cannot protect you," Hertha leaned close to his chest and cried.

Selena burned with rage; she threw his azure eyes on the ground and stomped on it.

"I will dig out your filthy eyes again if you still refuse to kneel before me!!!" Selena shouted.

Vincent faced her with his hollowed eyes and said in mockery, "Why don't you kneel before me instead?"

"You!!!" Selena raised her dagger again.

"Nooooooooooo!!!" Hertha sprang up, shoved her into the ground and clenched her throat.

Selena's eyes turned golden; she kicked her away and aimed the dagger in her chest.

A bloodied hand clasped the dagger from moving any further.

"Just leave," Vincent said.

"How dare she hurt me! Just you wait!" Selena said and stomped away.

Vincent picked Hertha in her arms and sat down in the shade of a tree.

"Don't do this ever again," he warned.

"But your eyes!" she wept.

"A minor inconvenience," he said.

She traced her fingers on the collar, embedded with gems strapped around his neck.

"Don't lie! I know what this is!" she said.

"The pain no longer bothers me," he caressed her hair.

Azure specks formed around his empty eye sockets; his veins bulged and split open as the gems surrounding the collar were set ablaze. They pulsated in a shade of golden and soaked him in divine lightning.

Thudder! Thudder! Thudder!

His muscles spasmed, and his bones creaked, but his expression was still as serene as ever.

Hertha clasped her fingers around his neck to stop the bleeding, but it was all in vain. Blood leaked out from between her fingers, drenching her own body with his blood. Then finally, the gems strapped on the collar turned dim as the two specks of lights moulded themselves in the form of eyes.

He gazed at her with his new set of azure eyes and grinned, "Not even a scratch."

"Let's run away," she said in a soft voice.

"You know I can't," he replied. "Not until--"

Boom! The ground shook as a figure landed in front of them.

Golden lightning streaked across the man wrapped in ceremonial robes.

"The Emperor," Hertha let out a sigh.

"How dare you disrespect the Crown and hurt my daughter," the man glared at Hertha. "Even if you are from the Blackburne family, you won't escape judgement."

Hertha stood up and bowed her head, "I am willing to take any form of punishment for my actions."

"My daughter shall handle your punishment," he said. "But rest assured, you won't face the death penalty. The members of the Blackburne family deserves at least this much."

Selena walked beside her father and said with a smug smile, " Humph! What Blackburne family? She is just a bastard child born out of wedlock."

Hertha lowered her head and gritted her teeth in shame, but she did not protest any further.

"I don't have time for this," The Emperor narrowed his eyes. "Finish this quick."

"Yes!" Selena said and declared. "A hundred lashes and five years in the dungeon!"

"It's settled then," The Emperor said. "Sinful Hertha, you are now bani--"

"I refuse!" Vincent interjected.

"Insolent!" The Emperor bellowed. "Do you eve--"

"She will walk free," Vincent said in a cold tone.

"How dar--" Selena said.

Vincent narrowed his eyes, "I won't repeat this again. Exempt her from all forms of punishment and give her an official noble title."

"HAHAHAA, I haven't laughed for years!" the Emperor gave out a burst of crazed laughter.

"Vincent! How dare you talk over my Lord Father!" Selena shouted. "Forget the dungeons! She must be executed!"

"I approve!" the Emperor replied in a sneer. "Guards! Take her to the gallows!"

Men with swords and spears marched forth and surrounded them from all sides.

Hertha looked back at Vincent and said with a content smile, "My dear Vincent, please take care of yourself when I am gone."

Vincent's eyes turned luminescent, he placed his hands underneath his neck.

Crack! Crack! Crack! Creak!

A fountain of blood formed as he tore off his own head.

The collar fell down and crumbled into dust.

Tentacles sprouted out of his neck and pierced through the throats of the nearby guards, instantly reaping their lives.

Then a single tentacle grabbed onto his severed head and reattached it with the rest of his body.

"Impossible!" Selena screamed in fear for the first time in her life.

The Emperor narrowed his eyes and looked on in greed, lightning bolts resembling golden pillars formed in his palms, "So the ritual was actually a success?"

Vincent stood up and embraced Hertha from behind. He came close to her ears and said in a domineering voice, "My sweet Hertha, you are not allowed to die unless I want you to."

Lub-dub....lub-dub.....lub-dud

Flash!

A pair of strong arms caught Hertha drowning in the depths. She breathed in as her eyes shot open and saw Vincent right in front of her face. Her lips were connected to his while he pushed in the air into her lungs. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and her tongue invaded his mouth. Their tongues interlocked and swirled inside.

A single drop of violet blood passed through his throat and pierced into her tongue. Then, it travelled through her veins and spread across her beating heart.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

New flesh formed at a pace visible to the naked eye around her wounds while blood tendrils crisscrossed around her lacerated skin before being stitched back together.

All the while, tentacles burrowed out of Vincent's body and skewered through the throats of the nearby merfolks. Some abandoned their brethren and scurried away in fear but were soon caught by the never-ending swarm of tentacles. They wrapped around their waists and smashed them against each other until nothing remained of them other than glops of pulverised flesh.

Splash! Skeletal wings unfurled behind Vincent, and he burst out of the water with Hertha in his arms.

A thin thread of saliva hung between their lips when they separated.

"Please don't ever leave me," Hertha said in a feeble voice.

"Why would I ever leave my wife?" Vincent replied.

"Don't lie! You don't care about me as much as her!" she said.

"What will prove you otherwise?" he teased.

"I don't want to lose to her," she said in determination. "I want to have your child!"

"But it will not be human," he said.

"I don't care! It will still be our child!" she said.

"Well, I won't turn away beautiful women," he said and landed on the upturned hull of the ship. His blood-red robes parted as his two skeletal wings folded within his back.

Celeste jumped into Hertha's bosom and said in distress, "Are... you alright!?"

Hertha caressed her hair and said in reassurance, "Nothing will happen to me as long as your Father is there."

"Hmm, I know! Papa is strong!" she said with a cheer.

Selena looked at them with complicated eyes but did not interfere.

"What are you thinking?" Vincent walked beside her.

"Will she ever forgive me?" Selena asked.

"Probably not," he replied. "Why bring this up right now?"

"I just....," she replied.

"But when did you ever care about what she thinks?" he asked.

"I am no longer the girl I was back then!" she replied.

"No one can change their true nature," he said.

"Will I always be haunted with my foolish deeds in the past," she lowered her head. "I am truly a despicable woman."

"Yes, you are," he whispered in her ear. "But there are no such things as absolutes in this world."