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Heartache

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Chapter 4

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The Bartham Keep is a massive Gothic castle residing in the middle of nowhere. Massive building with many rooms and hallways and a great hall that leads into the castle's entrance. It consist of many floors and a tall ceiling with a grand staircase in front of it. The place is very spacious, with numerous shelves filled with books, picture frames, furniture, and other items that are fit for decoration.

"Amazing, ain't it?" The pixie said in her cheerful and grating voice, acting as their guide tour guide in this castle, "This is me and my young mistress living!" Garnet felt proud of herself for bringing Adam and Lilim here to give them a proper tour before introducing them to Alucard, her best friend and owner of this castle.

Garnet was ecstatic to show the two of them around the place, moving from room to room, and the style was Victorian Gothic, based on medieval Gothic architecture from the 19th century with dark crimson colors as the main color while being somewhat neutral in theme, interestingly different from those other castles and homes he had read before.

Having spent time in libraries before, Adam has a deep curiosity about different eras in human history, especially the Victorian era. Seeing this castle reminds him of many books he has read and has fascinated him. Books about the great Vikings, Japanese shogunates, Egypt's pharaohs, ancient Romans, Greek myths, and many more.

But the strangest of all is how this place looks intact, as if it were frozen in time or something along those lines. He couldn't help but be suspicious about this place, yet he doesn't want to sound paranoid at the same time. "This is... very impressive," Adam said in disbelief, "almost too impressive."

Hearing his comment, she felt a warm sensation in her heart as she turned to face him with a confident expression on her face. "Spot on!" Garnet said, sounding like she is bragging about it, "This is my mistress castle, built by her own hands," she proudly said while pointing at herself, "The Bartham Keep!"

He stopped in his tracks, leaving his curious daughter around in this open hallway as his brows raised with a display of confusion on his face. Adam then looked at Garnet with skepticism on his face and said, "I'm sorry?" Adam asked in an uncertain tone, not believing what he was hearing from the pixie's mouth.

Garnet nodded her head, acting like she was confirming what she just said: "Yes, my mistress Alucard built this castle!" She exclaimed while waving her arms around in an exaggerated manner, "It is true, I swear!" The way she had said those words and the look on her face as she said them to him were enough to make him more confused.

Adam put his hand on his chin, wanting to think about it for a moment as he is still finding this hard to believe: "You're saying she built it by her own hands without help?" He asked while giving her a look that said, Are you out of your mind?'.

Garnet put her hand on her hips and smiled at him, saying, "Of course!" She happily said, acting like she was telling the truth to him, "After all, my mistress is very capable of anything when she puts her mind to it!" Then she frowned while making a funny face at him, saying, "Hey, what's with that look?" The pixie pouted at him as she was starting to get annoyed.

Adam took notice of her behavior and sighed tiredly while rubbing his forehead with his index finger, feeling frustrated for being here in this castle and having to go through this pointless conversation with her once more: "How long did it take to build the place?" Straight to the point, that is what he was thinking of asking.

Garnet thought for a moment as she then tilted her head in a confused look, "hmm..." trailing off, she was starting to think about it, "let me think...," a few seconds had passed before she responded, "nearly a century and a half?" Garnet said her response seemed more like a question than a statement, as she felt unsure of how long it would take.

"What?"

He is unable to believe what he has just heard. No human being can live that long, let alone function properly when building such large and impressive structures. Something is not adding up and it's bugging him. "It doesn't make any sense," Adam said as he couldn't help but feel suspicious about it.

"Of course it does!" Garnet exclaimed as she then shook her head with arms waving around in disagreement, "My mistress is very intelligent and cool-looking; she even has superhuman strength and magic!" Then she stopped for a moment as she facepalmed herself while her cheeks became flushed. "Well, maybe not magic," Garnet said, realizing that she had said something that wasn't true. "I mean, yeah, superhuman strength," she said in an awkward manner as she scratched the back of her head.

That doesn't sound like a human, "So she's a mutant?" He asked with a doubtful look on his face; something wasn't adding up, and he couldn't help but feel suspicious about it. Garnet's face then changed to an expression that is almost like she is thinking of something, as she didn't say anything for a moment.

"Mutant? You shouldn't say that word," Garnet said with a serious look on her face. "My mistress doesn't like to be called that." Adam gave her a questioning look, finding it strange that she just said it, and then put his hand on his chin while thinking about it, unable to find a logical answer to why she would say that.

"Why?" Adam asked with an honest tone, wanting to know the reason why she reacted like that and not understanding why she was getting offended by that word, curious about this topic, "Is she...different?" The term mutant itself was synonymous with abnormality—something that isn't normal or human in physical appearance.

"Because its—" Just as the pixie was about to answer, the loud crash of a vase breaking from impact on the ground could be heard echoing throughout the spacious hallway, making the two of them stop in their tracks as they looked to see where the sound was coming from. In fact, Adam had seen a vase that was placed on the wall—the very one that had been shattered into pieces as its fragments scattered on the floor.

And sitting there was his shocked daughter, afraid from the sudden act as she began to cry while standing up with arms trembling, "aahhh!" Lilim quickly placed her hands over her ears, terrified by the loud noise she just heard. That noise was very unexpected, and it made her cry from shock.

A relieved, exhausted smile curled his lips, sighing before approaching her as he knelt down to his daughter's level before she grabbed him in fear, "gahhguhh!" She pointed at the broken vase on the floor, causing Adam to look at the shattered pieces with a blank expression on his face. A few seconds had passed before Adam lifted his gaze to look at Lilim.

"You're okay?" Adam asked with a concerned look on his face as he patted her head to calm her down, "Just be more careful, alright?" Lilim slowly nodded her head while whimpering a bit, still traumatized by what just happened. Feeling guilty for not paying attention to her, he gently pulled her arm before giving her a reassuring smile.

"Ah, come on!" Garnet flew over to them with arms crossed over her chest while pouting with a dissatisfied look on her face. "Now I will have to clean that up," she said in an annoyed tone as she stared at the shattered pieces on the ground. "Ugh, I hate cleaning!" She yelled loudly before her eyes landed on Lilim.

"You have to help, you know?" She said this while staring at her with an unimpressed look on her face. Lilim just gave her a confused look in response, unsure of what she just said as she was still recovering from her fright and tilting her head in confusion. Adam saw this, and he quickly turned his attention to Garnet with a stern look on his face.

"No," he said in a firm tone, shutting her up as he gave her a glare. "I'll do it," Adam said before looking back at his daughter with a reassuring smile on his face. "Don't worry," he said while softly patting her head before standing up. "Where do you keep the broom?" The pixie gave him an annoyed look as she sighed tiredly.

"You don't have to do that," Garnet said as she flew to the broken vase and pointed at it with her finger. "I can fix it myself, anyway!" As she said that, a mysterious purple beam projected from the said finger, causing the fragment pieces to rapidly reconstruct themselves as Lilim watched in awe, intrigued by the whole thing.

Once the broken pieces of the vase were whole again, she pointed her index finger on her own chest in a show of bravado and said, "Ta da! All done!" she said with a proud look on her face. Lilim continued to observe as Adam stared at the vase with a blank expression on his face, finding it hard to believe that she had just done that and unable to find a logical explanation for why she did that.

But since everything he had gone through in life had shown time and time again how the impossible became possible, it was just like those various superstitions of the supernatural, and Adam wasn't going to deny that, as he had no other logical explanation for this. So he will just shrug it off and not say anything.

It's not like she did anything wrong, and besides, it is quite a wonder to see, so there is no point in arguing about it. While he was contemplating what to say, Lilim went over to the now-fixed vase with curiosity as she reached out her hand, wanting to touch it again, before Garnet flew to her extended arm, holding it with all her might.

"You can't—" Trying to pull away Lilim's arm from the grip of Garnet, "touch that!" the pixie said while struggling to prevent his daughter from breaking the vase again, "it's very fragile!" She screamed in protest from her hold as she struggled to pull the arm back, causing the focused girl to switch her attention to the pixie.

"Oohh?" Adam's daughter felt intrigued by this as she looked at Garnet with curiosity in her eyes. "Oww?.." With one hand, Lilim began to pull away Garnet's grip from her arm as she took notice of the strange force being applied to her. "Ahhhhh," she said, then grabbed her, curious about the force she was feeling on her arm.

As Garnet comically tried to escape from her grasp, Adam chuckled at the sight of this hilarious scene unfolding in front of him. "You seem to have quite a grip there," Adam said with a light tone as he found this hilarious, causing the desperate Garnet to have her eyes directed at him with a show of anger.

"Real funny!" She yelled at him with an angry tone while pouting, "I'm not enjoying this!" Garnet struggled to get away from her grasp, but Lilim was too strong for her to handle, as she is showing no signs of letting go. "Ugh!" As she struggled, the girl giggled at the sight of this before slowly losing grip of her, allowing the pixie to be finally freed from her prison.

"Thanks jerk!" Garnet said in an angry tone while wiping sweat off her forehead, "I would have had a heart attack if that kept going!" Lilim looked at her with a curious look on her face, wanting to know what Garnet just said as she tilted her head in confusion, causing things to be awkward between them. "Uhh..." the pixie said, scratching the back of her head while trying to think of something to say.

Adam shook his head in disbelief at the stupidity of what just happened as he approached them. "We better get going," Adam said while staring at Garnet, "we still have a tour to finish." As he said that, the pixie looked at him with a disappointed look on her face as she hung her head in shame.

"Fine..."

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by 3 Armored Kittens · Prodromos v.1.1 - World Anvil 0.9.15.009 © 2017-2024 [en] | Anvil Time: 09:23, May 9 2024