Hell… That was the only thing he could compare it to. Was that a bad thing? Of course not. Fire, brimstone, violence, all things that he was proud to say that he stood for. So why did the sight before him, homes, businesses, burned black, make him sick to his stomach?

Against the backdrop of charred buildings and orange flames was a single golden bracelet. It sat in the middle of what was once a beautiful garden. Instead of a bed of roses and daisies, the jewelry sat upon a thin layer of ash.

“Merry Christmas,” he muttered, tears welling in his crimson eyes. The very words he’d uttered when he gave her the bracelet. He could still see the inscription on the side, warped as it was by flame, proclaiming “Love always, Lai”.

~

The room was, unlike Lai’s, neat and tidy. A queen sized bed took up the Eastern wall, with an oaken desk and chair dominating its opposite. The Northern wall was bare save for a single window with lacy pink curtains, while the Southern wall was where the inhabitant’s dresser was placed. The door was in the corner where the Southern and Western walls met, on the Southern side.

A young woman stood at the window and looked out, observing the new dawn. She noted with a bit of scorn that they were once again situated in a new location. It seemed like the portal generator malfunctioned every week or so, taking the whole castle to new surroundings. It was a wonder that they hadn’t appeared on top of any pre-existing structures.

“Damn it Hojo,” she mumbled, still drowsy. She found her wire frame glasses on her desk and neatly placed them on her nose. “Should’ve fixed the problem by now. I’m too busy keeping Lai from killing himself to baby-sit you.”

As if on cue the door opened and a raven haired man stepped in. He wore a night cap, which was at odds with the plain tuxedo he was wearing (And had been wearing for the past fifty years). The man took his cap with one hand and brushed his hair with the other.

“Good morning Letho,” he said, putting his cap back on. “I didn’t know you slept in such plain pajamas. Then again, I guess I’m hardly one to criticize. Still, you’re Prince Lailoken’s top servant, and should be dressed accord-”

“Shut up Hojo,” she sharply replied. Letho grabbed her hand mirror from her desk and set about tying her hair in its customary plethora of braids. “What I wear is none of your business. Besides, why are you bugging me about this? I thought it was your shift to watch Lai.”

Hojo shifted his weight from one foot to the other, cursing himself for forgetting about the strict schedule his associate had set. The Prince makes three suicide attempts and he’s supposed to watch him sleep? Of course, Letho cared more about the nether than him. To Hojo, Lailoken was just a pretty face and means for a living.

“It is, it is. I hardly think he’s going to kill himself in his sleep though. If anything, he’ll kill me instead. Remember when he choked me in his sleep until I passed out, and then beat me when he awoke because he thought I was trying to take advantage of him?”

Letho threw him an angry glance, and wryly replied, “Until he choked you, you were trying to take advantage of him.”

“Bah,” Hojo said, smoothing out a wrinkle in his tuxedo. “You know as well as I do that he’s not my type. He’s younger than some of the hairs on my head. Just kind of cute, is all.”

“I’ll remember that,” Letho dryly noted, and set her mirror down. She stood up and gave Hojo a small ‘Do what I say or I’m going to mess you up’ smile. “Would you go check on him at least? I can’t walk around in my pajamas.”

The male demon opened his mouth to protest, but quickly closed it and retreated. It was futile to try and reason with her when she was in that kind of mood. Though he was technically a higher class of demon than she was, Prince Pyrrhus had assigned her as his head servant long ago, and that meant that she outranked him while they were in the castle.

Hojo crossed the hall to Lai’s door and grabbed the metal knob. He paused and drummed his fingers on its smooth form. What if the Prince was awake? He certainly didn’t enjoy his servants barging into his room without so much as knocking.

“He’s asleep,” the lust demon said, reassuring himself. “He’ll stay sleeping for a few days, then he’ll wake up for an hour or so, and then he’ll go back to sleep. It’s been like that for three weeks now.”

He slowly turned the knob, dreadfully aware of every minute detail of his surroundings. Hojo saw the round fixture turning, felt its cold surface beneath his sweaty palm, heard a grind and a click issue forth from inside the door, could smell the musty scent of Lai’s room.

“Does he have to keep the door closed all the time?” Hojo thought, wrinkling his nose in disgust. “His room wouldn’t smell like this if it got some fresh air once in a while.”

The wooden door was gently pulled open, revealing a room with no noticeable floor. The bottom of the room was lost long ago in the clutter of weapons, clothing, snacks, and various other assorted junk. As the servant in charge of the cleaning staff, it was Hojo’s job to clean the mess up. He didn’t like it in Lai’s room though, and thus stayed well away from it for the most part.

His eyes darted about the room in search of two things: The sleeping form of Prince Lailoken Pyrrhus, and the closet. The closet was the main reason he hated this room. Within it dwelled a tentacled beast known as a Shoggoth, which Lai affectionately referred to as a pet. He wouldn’t be so fond of it if he knew what it did to him in his sleep, of course.

Hojo found the closet door closed, and let out a sigh of relief. Subsequent scans of the room quickly revealed that the creature in the closet was the only living being in the room. Lai was nowhere to be found.

“Letho!” he called, wheeling around and running for his associate’s room. “We might have a problem!”

~

Outside of the castle, sitting on one of the gargoyles that adorned a section of the wall several hundred feet above the entrance, was a thin, purple-haired boy. He wore no shirt, exposing his malnourished physique. His ribs were plainly visible, and each breath was labored.

The Prince was always fairly thin, a horribly fast metabolism was to blame for that, but going for so much time without eating anything led him to this state. He supposed that starving himself counted as his fourth suicide attempt, though this attempt wasn’t intentional. In fact, he wouldn’t be making any more suicide attempts in the near future.

He pulled a sweat stained slip of paper from his jeans and read it over again with his crimson eyes. A letter from his father, King Elijah Pyrrhus. His father never really liked his illegitimate son, but the letter held knowledge that would almost show a kind of twisted love.

“To receive,” he said, reading a small part of the letter to himself, “one must first give. A Wishmaster exists who could bring her back. He’s known to mess with the wishes however, so wishing her back to life might not work too well. Why not wish for something that can’t be screwed up? He only requires something in return.”

Lai crumpled the paper up and jammed it back into his pocket. What did he have? He’d heard from witnesses, several of whom were half-crazed, that the Wishmaster had no need for money or land. That was just about all he had, now that she was gone.

A sudden bang reached his ears and Lai looked down at the entrance to his castle. A visitor? He sighed and slipped off of the gargoyle.

“May as well see what they want,” he thought, plummeting to the ground below.

__________________

~BA Characters~

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ciroton Ciroton (3:30:08 PM): D'aww aiko called me intellegant. xD

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