Oath of Vengeance

After burying Viktor in pristine ground, the small group made their way back to the Mercer-Archeos estate in just over two hours, having accomplished Severus's mission, albeit with a more than undesirable outcome.

In addition to the harsh bitterness of finding the mercenary dead in such a dreadful manner, Tristessa regretted not having had the opportunity to recover her photograph, her only remaining connection to Earth that, perhaps, hadn't been destroyed along with her clothes after her first Death.

It was difficult to let go and give up, knowing there was no way to get it back without inventing a series of lies to tell those two men and risking them discovering she wasn't a Nekrom native.

And, in regards of Nekrom...

The girl had no more tears to shed; Severus had taken care of that. A necessary course of action, one that even Jin agreed with as he was incapable of having a heart cold enough to carry out the task.

The moral of the elf's warning was to never let your guard down. Never. That was the basis of the Empire's collective unconscious, at war with the Shadow Queen and her minions.

Otherwise... One could run the risk of ending up like poor Viktor. Death in that world was commonplace. That was the cruel reality.

"Nekrom..." she said within the dark vaults of her mind, as she looked out the guest room window. The peaceful plain ahead, distorted by upper terrain and hills hundreds of Earth meters ahead, stretched to the horizon, where the sun was beginning to set, and darkness began to dominate everything. Her Baptism in Ruins pulsated with a fleeting pang of pain, making her put a hand to her chest. "I don't want to die again..."

That was going to be her last night in that house; just to please Jin, without being able to do much more to thank him for his endless help and solidarity, she was going to stay for dinner and sleep.

However, that last bit was going to be a problem now that a certain crimson-haired elf had taken over the room's only bed: Severus was snoring, face up, fully clothed and without even removing his boots.

He looked so absurdly cute, sleeping like a drunkard, yet so brimming with unearthly beauty... Tristessa couldn't help but feel very nervous now that she was giving the elf her full, uninterrupted attention.

"Ahhh, damn it! Am I really that love-struck or what?!" she exclaimed, both hands on her head. Having failed to take advantage of the privacy her mind offered, her cry ended up waking the blood elf. "…Fuck. Sorry, Severus."

"Wha…? Is it time to eat? For a decrepit crone, you look quite young today, Tiara..." The elf yawned and scratched his long right ear before realizing his mistake. "Oh, Miss Tristessa!"

"Are you suicidal or something? If you dare saying that to Miss Tiara... You're crazy," the girl muttered, horrified. Severus burst out laughing and sat on the edge of the bed.

"Yes, I admit today wasn't an ideal day to joke with her. Did you see her face when we arrived? She doesn't like me, but you... I don't need to ask her to know she hates you with all her heart."

Sighing, Tristessa nodded.

"She have no love for me right from the start, but it just so happens that before I went with Jin to the woods, I had a rather heated verbal exchange with her," she explained, sprawling back in her chair and ignoring the tickle in her neck she felt whenever Tiara was the focus of a conversation. An implicit resentment, directed at that person in particular. "Neither of us want to see each other's faces."

"Then be thankful that tomorrow at dawn you'll be on your way to Entrana, in the company of this handsome elf." Severus, with a smug gesture, was proud of himself. "Jin looked so worried when he begged me on his knees to take you under my wing... What a melodramatic man."

"Is it all right for me to come with you?" she asked timidly. "Will I not be a burden to you?"

"Of course not. I'll help you heal your mind, that's a promise. In return... I think you'll have to pay me by working as my assistant in my business."

"Yeah, I didn't think it would be free."

"Nothing is. If that idea doesn't interest you, there are other ways to pay me…" Tristessa's heart leapt violently at that dangerous insinuation, and when she opened and closed her mouth several times like a fish, the elf couldn't hold back his laughter. "I was joking! You're too young and too human for me, miss. This elf only accepts women with long ears, red hair and in their fifties or older. If you know any, I'm available to do my part for the continuation of my species."

The girl laughed, quite nervously.

"You scared me a bit there, Severus. But that last thing you said... I feel like you weren't joking around," she said, her voice trailing off at the blood elf's silent confirmation.

An awkward silence. The atmosphere was ruined, and a smile faded to give way to an apathetic grimace that tainted Severus's natural appeal.

"...of course, you don't remember: we elves were driven to the brink of extinction at the hands of the Shadow Queen."

There was no longer any fun and sympathetic quality in his voice. There was only legendary fury, eyes emanating icy bloodlust, and fists clenched with insane strength.

"We blood elves are the survivors of the genocide that claimed dozens of million lives in a single day. Generations of Light Elves gave their lives to ensure our continued existence. A sea of ​​blood that witnessed our birth... Bathed in the blood and tears of our brothers and sisters, flooding our stolen lands, soaking into our skin, our hair... In our souls, marked with an eternal oath."

"O-oath?" the cowering girl repeated, and Severus stood up, unable to sit still for a single second with so much anger overwhelming him.

"An oath of vengeance. We are the embodiment of our ancestors' wrath, the voice of those who can no longer scream, and the sword of those who can no longer fight. We are fueled by the fire of eternal hatred for the evil that mercilessly annihilated us." Severus opened his hands and showed her glyphs etched beneath his skin like bruises, filled with violent, supernatural energy that she could feel rapidly altering the immediate surroundings. "We will never have peace until we see the Dark Lady on her knees, and be the hand of a blood elf the one that banishes her malevolent soul to oblivion."

The sudden fear Tristessa felt couldn't be dissolved into nothingness, even though the elf had no hostile intentions toward her. She couldn't shake it off.

Genocide. Extinction. Strong words that perfectly explained the inhuman fury Severus displayed when it came to the Dark Lady or anything related to her.

She felt the blood elf's hands emanating the energy of those glyphs catalyzed by his soul, like a burning heat that reached her face, and only that kept her firmly in place. Away, shunned. Protected from being hurt if she tried to take another step.

"S-Severus..." She cleared her throat before continuing. "I suspect you need a hug, but all that anger you feel burns...literally. I'm feeling it from here."

She couldn't get the elf to release any of the tension he was carrying, not even a small laugh.

"I hope it doesn't end up burning you, kid. However… I don't know why, but I sense that you know very well what it's like to feel this kind of anger." The comment surprised Tristessa. He said it with serious confidence, clearly knowing what he was talking about. Severus clenched his fists and sat back down on the bed. "Something in your eyes tells me so. And to see it in a lady as young as you… It saddens me a little."

Tristessa lowered her gaze slightly, unsure of what to say. She thought she couldn't possibly feel such violent and chaotic emotions, but… There was a precedent, one that happened that very day, in the dilapidated stable of that very house.

A precedent of unleashed emotions, which served as fuel for all that fury expressed in words that could define Tristessa Irandell as a cruel person.

A piece of shit, as her mother's voice told her in her shattered memories.

"I hope I'm wrong," he heard the elf murmur.

"…me too."