The Woman Or Hollow

" Whose blood?" Ian questioned more to himself than Nobos, but Nobos answered anyway.

" I don't know!" he shrugged non-committal.

Ian took no notice of it. His eyes were still very much on the book, and he pulled out his blade and nipped the tip of his finger. Black blood trickled on the book, and he was thrown across the floor, landing against the closest pillar. The living plain of existence and everything in it seemed to have an extreme reaction to everything that belonged to the Hollow, painfully unpleasant.

Nobos laughed " I guess it's not yours." he smirked and turned in his seat to look at him, gloating at Ian's misfortune.

Ian grunted and pushed himself off the floor, displeased to his bones and padded across the floor back to the table. He didn't reply and sat back down, glowering at the book. He was angry, period. Nothing worked in his favour, and every attempt to mend things seemed to take a turn for the worse.

" That woman will get you killed long before your time, even though you're immortal. Somehow I see it happening." Nobos amusedly warned and turned back in the chair, snickering.

Ian didn't reply, but if his eyes could burn, the book would have turned ash. He took Nobos's hand and nipped his finger before Nobos even realised what he'd done or had a chance even to react. One drop of blood fell on the book, and Nobos flew out of the chair across the room and crashed into the wall with a loud thump.

Ian hummed, but it was because it had piqued its curiosity. Nobos pushed himself off the floor, grumbling, cursing all gods and eventually plopped back in his seat next to him, giving him sideways glances, surly like a child that had been scolded for something he hadn't done.

" I need a drop of her blood!" Ian demanded, and Nobos gasped.

" She is still Shaddow Valley, isn't she?" Ian raised his head and looked at Nobos with an accusatory gaze.

Nobos cleared his throat " Last I checked, she was." he said, trying to appear confident, but he was far from it.

Ian waved his hand at the wall without taking his eyes off Nobos and watched surprise wash on his face as soon as Iris appeared on the wall.

" She left, didn't she?" Iris asked, still pinioning Nobos with his gaze.

Nobos made several attempts to speak, but nothing came out of his wretched mouth. Ian's hand flew to his neck, he knew he couldn't die, but it felt satisfying to squeeze his neck for his stupidity and lack of competence to follow his instructions.

Nobos didn't even flinch at the hand wrapped around his neck with a somewhat bored look on his face, glaring.

" This is getting old fast!" Nobos remarked rather boisterously, without even attempting to free himself of Ian's grip.

" Not for me!" Ian retorted and squeezed his neck harder until he heard a snapping sound.

Nonos pushed his hand away. "I get it. You're angry! I ca-

" Get the blood from her. That's what I want you to do. Make sure she stays out of trouble." Ian hissed, interrupting Nobos, opening a portal on the verge of losing his already frayed patience.

" Personally", he hissed, stressing the word, and waved his hand at the portal.

Nobos reluctantly pushed the chair, stood up and shuffled his feet to the portal. He didn't seem willing to do this out of the kindness of his heart.

" Disobey me, and next time, I'll send you to the eternal flames. You'll come back as a bag of bones!" Ian threatened, and Nobos walked through the portal, not sparing Ian another glance.

He had no clue what would happen if a Hollow Lord stepped into the living realm, but he would like to know. Plus, Nobos was getting on his last nerve. More than he could tolerate alive or whatever he was now. He didn't know what he was anymore.

Ian closed the books on the table. It was useless to try and study them. The enchantment placed on the book was strong, and he was sure once he had Iris's blood, they would reveal their secrets to him. For some reason, at that moment, he felt that he was no different than Ettrick. He was pursuing the same futile goal without even knowing what was required.

Iris still tethered him to the world of the living, and he still had a sliver of his soul left, so he wasn't wholly hopeless.

Azra was still trapped inside Arkathira. The events of that day seemed an eternity away. Ian waved his hand at the wall. Arkathira appeared on the wall. It was still the same. Nothing had happened. Azra was still in there. His son had made the ultimate sacrifice just like he did to save Iris. They were more alike than he liked to believe. Maybe Seth hadn't fundamentally screwed him when he interfered with his development.

Nobos appeared in the throne room, huffing and puffing, holding his arm in one hand. Ian wanted to raise an eyebrow but wasn't sure if he could still do that.

"She tried to kill me." Nobos huffed and plopped himself in the chair.

He reattached his arm and glared at him.

Ian let out a muffled chuckle " You moron. What did you say to her?" he asked in mirth, scuffing his head.

" I told her that I need a drop of her blood." Nobos shrugged. He sounded truthful and fucking stupid.

" That was the first thing that came out of your mouth?" Ian sarcastically asked.

Nobos nodded " We can't stay long in the realm of the living. We don't belong. Bad things happen. Let's just say that was in a rush ", he blabbered the same old news, and Ian was already heard enough and raised his hand, to make Nobos stop.

Ian internally rolled his eyes at Nobos " I guess there's no other choice than go and get it myself!" he said, annoyed at Nobos's failure to complete a straightforward task.

Ian waved his hand at the obsidian wall trying to find Iris so he could open a portal as close as possible to her.

Nobos expression changed from impassive to panic in a flash " You can step into the realm of the living again. Hollow will crumble. You already know this. You have been breaking rule after rule since you ascended to your seat. You need to stop. Choose is either the woman or Hollow." Nobos furiously said, lunging across the floor to where he was as Ian pulled out his sword and ran it across his neck.

Nobos head bounced on the obsidian floor as his body crumpled onto the floor. Ian nodded to himself " That will keep you quiet for a while anyway. Her, it will always be her. You and your stupid speeches," Ian quipped, fed up with his nonsense nagging.

Opening the portal, Ian stepped again into the living realm, hoping to find Iris and the solution to their little problem.