Chương 19: Melancholy

Snow crunched beneath Lenore's sabatons. The partially rusted metal creaked as she walked inside of a storm, northern winds blowing hard against her face. Her black hair waved violently, but she made no effort to fix it. Her lifeless black eyes gazed out into the blizzard, the black wings on her back occasionally fluttering, and sending snow cascading around her. The bottom tip of her scabbard dragged against the top layer of white.

"Shouldn't you look more lively?" Ampherea asked.

"This is our first delegation, and you're already dragging yourself around. Quite literally."

"I am very lively, glutton. I can't wait to complete this dull task." Gluttony chuckled and gave the fallen angel a pat on her shoulder.

"We should separate for now. I will overlook them from the mountain range and check the broader surroundings. I feel a strong presence over there." She pointed towards a frosted mountain and licked her lips.

"It's making me hungry." Lenore shrugged.

"I will not be the one to suffer Victoria's Wrath if you go overboard."

"Relax, I will just have a little taste, a small nibble." The fallen angel watched the dragoness fly away. After a while, when most mortal eyes would no longer see the dragon, Lenore continued to walk. She remembered the task that was delegated to her. I wonder if she will give me a hug again when this is over. I would love to feel her arms around me once more. My Queen, you make all of my Melancholy melt.

In front of her, the snow storm started to clear a bit, and she could see a distant city rising from the ground. Obsidian black spires towered towards the heavens, much like their own castle. So, is that where those vampires make their homes? It's more like Rela's mimicry. A dull, envious imitation. The fluttering of wings made Lenore's pointed ears twitch. She looked up and saw gargoyles flying towards her, made of grey stone. A couple of vampires trailed behind them, flying with magic rather than wings.

Do they not share Her wings? A different bloodline? Or... Lenore didn't know too much about vampires to begin with. Other than her queen, she only knew Rela, and both of them were much different than the beings that flew towards her now. She felt something severely lacking from them. It's dull and dreadful, something that doesn't belong in Her space. The fallen angel took a deep breath into her lungs, blowing foggy air out of her mouth.

Her shoulders slumped as they landed in front of her, the ground rumbling beneath the gargoyle's feet. Snow scattered into their surroundings, splashing against Lenore's armor. She sighed.

"You didn't have to do that. Making an entrance is what annoying people do. I can already feel I won't like this encounter."

"Silence," one of the vampire's said, stepping forwards.

"Fallen Angel, do you not know where you stand? You've entered the territory of Our Regent, Annabelle von Valentine." Lenore blinked once.

"A regent? Where is the ruler?"

"That is of no concern to you. What allowed you to travel here? I thought your kind was banished. The Fallen Angels of Lisandre should not be allowed to roam the world again."

"So tiresome. You presume I am related to those." The vampire's dull red eyes blinked a few times in surprise and suspicion. He looked up and down her form, trying to make heads or tails of her.

"Don't lie to me. Even if you were once an angel, you don't have the cards to make up fibs. By the regent's orders, you're to come with us for interrogation." Lenore breathed another sigh.

"I don't follow any orders from anyone other than my queen."

"Your queen? Is there an entire country of you bastards?"

"This is why you should not make assumptions. I will not come with you, nor will I answer any of your questions. My mission was to come here and see what this place is like, but I think I can sense how dull it is from here."

"What?" The man asked.

"You would say that here, in these lands? There is a limit to arrogance that I can take." A memory surfaced in Lenore's mind from this situation. Back when she was less real, there was something like this. Her queen had only recently picked her up from the ruins of an old castle, the castle that Lenore had been in when she descended and lost her title of angel. Cut off from the sky, she'd chased her own melancholy.

The light of the heavens had always been so lacking, the towering white spires creating an endless monotony that made the color of her eyes fade over time. Her once vivid white eyes gradually turned grey, and when Elise Shadowspill found her, they blackened. The world around her turned dark, but it was a glorious Melancholy. In that, she could stand to gaze upon something that was much better than anything in the heavens. It was like a black apple, hanging out of reach.

Once eaten, it would cement Lenore's place in the world and give her Melancholy meaning. Yet, the queen had never held her in that strange reality. The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Instead, the two of them went on quests together occasionally. They'd arrived at lands where people like the men in front of her existed. They always spouted out their drab titles, glib with their cancerous nobility.

It leaked from them out of their pores, and it was all so routine. It was as if their enemies weren't real either, playing the tune of puppets along strings. Lenore had always wanted to voice her disdain for them, the taste of their nature hanging in the air like the air of a swamp. But, she could not summon the words even if she wanted to. Her own voice was something practiced like she was merely a painting for an artist, and her sound was a dark coat on the page, creating a lifeless canvas.

"So incredibly dull." The vampire finally snapped, while the other tried to grab his arm. He pointed towards Lenore with a face burning in anger.

"Kill her," he said, looking at the gargoyles. I felt this coming, and now I can finally die. [Melancholy: Meaningless Life]. She felt the swipe of a large stone paw, riddled with claws. It smashed into her head. Lenore felt her skull cave in, the stone digging into her brain. Half of her head splatted onto the ground, the other half remaining in place. Bits of her brain matter clung to the gargoyle's hand, sticking to it like glue. The vampire blinked in surprise.

"That's all?"

"Dull," she said.

"What!? You still live? How are you standing?" As if time had started to flow in reverse, the blood and other parts of her had started to flow back into her. It formed in a disgusting showing, her skull reshaping around the parts of her brain. Her dark beauty came back, unmarred.

"Kill her!" He screamed. This time, she dodged the gargoyle's strike at her body, slipping into its reach. She gave it a weak punch to its chest, her gauntlets shaking from the impact. The gargoyle wrapped a confused clawed hand around her throat and squeezed hard, breaking her neck. Fractures from his attack crawled down her spine, and she fell to the ground. Ah, I am dead again. So sad and meaningless. Her armor creaked, her bones snapping back into place. Lenore pushed herself off of the ground with her hands.

She grabbed the hilt of her sword that was rusted in many places and unsheathed it. With a flap of her wings, she arrived in front of them. The other vampire moved fast, reacting to her attack. His nails transformed into long black claws and stabbed through her armor and her heart as she swung her sword, missing both of them. Lenore watched her heart leave her chest, still pumping in the man's hand. It was as black as the wings that fluttered on her back. The first vampire didn't hesitate either.

He grabbed the base of her wings and pulled, ripping them hard from her body. Both of them threw the pieces of her far away, but she took shape again, faster than either of them could grasp.

"If you kill me so fast. Naturally, I will become whole even faster."

"Wh... What are you?" The vampire asked with a hint of fear in his voice.

"I am Melancholy. Your struggle is meaningless. I wish it wasn't true, but it is."

"Wait..." She flapped her wings faster this time, arriving quicker than before, and swinging harder. The vampire met her with a conjured sword of his own, the air vibrating from their strike. His feet dug into the ground, cracks forming as snow flew away from them in a shockwave.

"How did you get so strong all of the sudden?" He groaned.

"You keep killing me. People are doomed in life, but in death, they can come back stronger. That is the only beautiful thing about living. Well... that and my queen."

"You're a monster," he complained with a small nudge of his head. His comrade responded and summoned a wand, casting a spell that incinerated her completely. Lenore fell into ashes on the wind, but the zone activated. The domain of Melancholy answered her calling. The world warped cruelly into her bidding, forming her back on the other side of them again.

"Go now," the vampire leader said.

"I will hold her off, just go get help!" Lenore shook her head.

"That won't work either. I am sorry. I wish your struggle would have more meaning."

"Shut up!" The vampire shouted and glanced over.

"Go now!" The other vampire nodded in panic and flew away with one of the gargoyles. Lenore sighed.

"Why do people never listen? Part of the reason life sucks is because there are always these types. They go on their own without listening. They struggle meaninglessly when they know the end is coming. If we'd just spoken, we could have had a less dull outcome. Both of you could have lived, but now you're destined for..." The vampire rushed forwards with his ethereal sword, but she dodged it easily with the smallest of head movements.

It was as if it was nothing but a reaction to shoulder pain, quite fitting with the frown on her face. So painful these guys are. She swung her sword so fast that no mortal, or likely even angel, could react. His head went flying from his body, his eyes widening as it twirled through the air.

"Yeah, I know it hurts a bit, but you will get used to it. That's another thing that sucks about life. Dying is really painful." The gargoyle reacted next and tried to punch her. Her fist slammed against his, and he shattered into bits of stone, falling with his master. Lenore sighed once more.

"[Melancholy: The Loss of Morale]." The world warped again like a cruel vixen. It shaped around her authority, defying the logic of reality. After an instant, all four of them were in front of her again, and she was back to her original position. The man that had insisted on flying away with his gargoyle was before her as if nothing had ever happened.

"A lot of times, life is quite boring, and things don't happen the way you want them to. You get caught up in staring at something and wonder how much time has passed." The vampire grabbed his neck, looking around desperately.

"What... how did... why? I am alive again?"

"Not for very long. Your end will be quite melancholic. I am normally not an advocate of self-harm though." He fell to his knees.

"What do you mean? Why are we still here? What is this?"

"I know. It sucks a lot, but it will be over eventually. The more you fight it, the worse it will hurt." The other vampire summoned his wand again.

"I wouldn't do that." He launched his spell, and his own body disintegrated. Lenore gritted her teeth and held her helmeted head.

"I told you, didn't I?" She heaved out a breath.

"Man, this is really awful. He is dead for real, you know?" The vampire swallowed and looked towards his friend's ashes, scattering on the wind.

"You... you are a demon. Something like you should not exist in this world."

"Yeah, I am sorry about that. It hurts me as well."