Nightmare Lilith // Request // Private

oh lá lá, i may have caused

a disaster

Scream.

A blood-chilling scream resonated through the apartment, perfectly audible in every corner of it, in every single room. Sitting in her bed, breathing heavily, could be seen a petite, slim girl, her long, silky red locks falling on her shoulders. Her usually beautiful, calm face had been twisted by a horrid grimace of fear, cold sweat descending on her forehead, on her silky skin. Taking a shaking hand to her mouth, Elizabeth covered her mouth with her own hand, trying to calm down. I-it was j-just a N-nightmare... J-just a n-nightmare. Elizabeth stammered, burying her head in her hands. She felt so weak like this, so useless, a state in which she did not want anyone else to see her in. Soft knocks could be heard on her locked, wooden door, which Elizabeth did her best to ignore. She would not open. Zero could not see her like this. He knew she had had nightmares ever since the powers that flow in her veins were unlocked, yet the red head had never permitted to him to see her terrified face, the sweat descend her face, her body shaking in terror. It was the same dream every night, the same scenario, the same scenes, yet it still terrified her to the core.

In her dream, destruction surrounded her. Destroyed buildings, fire, dead bodies, and the flag of the Shadow Clan on top of it all, with Elizabeth, wearing her armor, right in front of it. A heartless killer, the respected leader of the Shadow Clan. Walking through the sea of corpses could be seen a tall, muscular man, wearing an armor, similar to Elizabeth. With a simple movement, he bent slightly before her, a show of respect, an action that Elizabeth did not hesitate in repeating. The leaders, be it current or previous, of the Shadow Clan, always showed respect to each-other. The man's words were craved into Elizabeth's mind, words that would never be erased from her head, no matter how hard she tried.

Have the shadows consumed you completely, at last, my child? Has the power corrupted your mind so far? His voice was calm, relaxed, yet cold, without a single note of softness, of love, even when he referred to Elizabeth as his child. She was obviously not his direct daughter: her father was Alexander Silvershield, one of the Generals of the Pergrandean Army, but she was, regardless, related to Zed. She was, after all, his descendant, the one to inherit his powers, the power of the shadows.

And the consequences of bearing such immense power. Her sanity was slowly slipping away, all she thought about was killing, letting the shadows consume her. With every second, her resistance became weaker and weaker, her desire to oppose herself to insanity, to being consumed by the shadows, becoming smaller and smaller. She could not go insane, she had to avoid the scenario from her dreams at any cost. After all, Zero himself had stated that it was not a dream: but the future, a warning from Zed, an attempt of the man of whom she was a descendant to stop her from following his path, and meeting his fate. And she did not want to become a monster. At all.

Getting up from her bed, the redhead dragged herself towards the bathroom in order to take a nice, warm shower, that would help her wake up and shake off from the horrid experience of going through the dream yet again. Sighing, she let the water hit her face, a small smile appearing on her lips. A shower always helped her to wash away the bad memories, even though they came back the next night, and the next one, and the next one...

Walking back into her room, nothing on but her underwear, the redhead walked towards a darker corner of her room, barely lit by the sun rays that already invaded her room, putting forth her hand only for it to make contact with the cold, black metal of her armor seconds upon that. The familiar feeling of the dark thoughts, the power of shadows stirring inside her made the redhead smile. She hated the feel of insanity, of dark thoughts, but adored the power, the feel of might that run through her body. It may be perillous... but these shadows, they guide me.

Without hesitating for a second, the Shadow Assasin placed on her Armor, sighing as she took her helmet, holding it with her hand as she headed towards the Rune Knights Headquarters, her red hair tucked into her armor. Yet another day, another day of boredom in which she'd possibly bully some of the recruits just for fun, although she was a simple recruit too. Being degraded to a recruit was so silly for her, it pissed her off. She'd prove her power, her might. Even if she had to beat it into people's minds. Or cut it into their backs.

oh lá lá, i may have caused

a disaster

As soon as Elizabeth set foot into the Rune Knights Headquarters, a girl literally ran into her, falling to the ground and throwing Elizabeth alongside her. If her armor weighted a bit more, something that'd difficult her task quite a lot during combat, considering her dynamic style of fighting, she would have remained on her feet, and would have not fallen, which resulted in humiliation for her. Quickly getting up, she crossed her hands over her chest, her electric blue eyes coldly staring at the girl beneath her, the Shadow Assassin refusing to offer her a hand to get up. The girl whimpered and got up on her feet all alone, almost tripping, her eyes meeting with the ice cold stare of Elizabeth. Despite the fact she wore the armor given to her by the Shadow Clan, Elizabeth was easily recognized by everyone in the headquarters mainly due to the fact that everyone knew that the only individual to always wear an armor, regardless where she went, was none other, than Elizabeth Silvershield. Putting ehr hands forth, an envelope in them, the girl muttered something about how the Magic Council had sent a letter to the redhead, and, as soon as the hand of Elizabeth reached up and took the letter from the girl's hands, her metal-covered fingers placed on the paper, the girl turned on her heels and literally ran away, incapable of standing any further the cold stare. Shrugging, Elizabeth turned around and leaned against a wall, playing with the envelope in her hands. How pathetic.

Her blue eyes focused on the envelope in her hands, Elizabeth hesitated for a few seconds, before passing her sharpened finger ends through the envelope, ripping it open. Throwing the envelope in a nearby paper bin, the Shadow Assassin's eyebrow rose as she read through the letter that had been sent to her, her interest rising with every word she read. The magic council... contacting me? A simple recruit? This is, without doubt, curious, oh, so curious.. It was a curious situation, without doubt, a situation in which Elizabeth had never thought she'd see herself in, although, considering she should have expected it, considering who she was: a Rune Knight. Perhaps not officially, yet, but a Rune Knight none less.

A mass murder of dark mages was happening in the Haunted Village, by a subject described as a seven years old child. Although only dark mages were murdered, a mass murder was equally punishable, equally wrong, and had converted this girl, this child, into no less than a Serial Killer. A serial killer that was to be captured by Elizabeth. Sighing, the redheaded armored girl threw the letter in the same bin as the envelope, and fixed her gauntlets a bit, heading towards the exit without even saying a word to her fellow Rune Knights. As if they needed to know that she was out on a job. All she wanted now, was to figure out what was with this weird case, and bring the kiddo to justice.

There was no train that led to the Haunted Village. How interesting, right? With a grimm expression on her face, which, obviously, could not be seen by anyone due to the mask hiding her face, Elizabeth walked to the nearest carriage with a chaffeur which offered its services and promised to take anyone anywhere. Without taking out her mask, she placed her hand on the window, a clash sounding as the metal of the carriage and the metal of Elizabeth's gauntles collided suddenly. I'd like to be taken to the Haunted Village. Her voice sounded eerie and muffled through the mask, as per usual, and as expected from someone who wore a mask. The man inside the car looked at the Shadow Assassin, startled, and shivered at the sight of her.

Wha? The Haunted Village? Nope, lady, I won't take you there, that place is cursed, cursed I say! You won't find anyone to take ya there, so I suggest you prepare to walk! The silly man stated with a funny note in his voice, not even realizing the error he had just committed. Nobody, absolutely nobody said no to Elizabeth. Putting her hand inside the carriage, with a simple hand movement, Elizabeth elegantly placed her hand before the man's neck, a blade appearing from its hideout. I said take me to the Haunted Village. Elizabeth growled, her blade perilously near the man's neck. That, you pathetic human, was an order, not a question. If you fail to obey me, what I'll do to you cannot be undone. Am I clear?

The man nodded, allowing Elizabeth to sit at the back of the carriage, and, without talking any further, he activated the carriage, heading towards the Haunted Village, cold sweat falling on his temple. With a simple, elegant twist of her hand, Illusion returned to its hideout, appearing as if it was never outside in the first place, as if it never existed at all. Violence and threats could get a woman everything she wanted. Everything.

oh lá lá, i may have caused

a disaster

The Haunted Village. Oh, how empty it looked, the eerie, creepy feeling. Elizabeth's blue eyes wandered aimlessly around the town as soon as she got out of the carriage, which, as soon as she set her second foot out of it completely, hurried to get away from the insane armored girl, and the cursed town. How pathetic, was it not? Did he not feel curiosity, the desire to explore the mysteries of this place?

Of course not. A human without magic, that only knew to gain his money via business or commerce, and had never been in a dangerous situation before, would naturally be scared of this city. But Elizabeth, Elizabeth was pretty much born on the battlefield. In the army since the age of 10, Elizabeth has made her way through the ranks by killing supernatural entities much stronger than her, and by surviving perilous situations. She knew danger too well. To well to step back and run away. With determined steps, she made her way towards the village, wondering where exactly was everyone, and where could she find the kid. Honestly, would anyone even live in a cursed village? In a village where horrors hid behind every corner? Quite unlikely.

Letting her hands fall next to her body calmly, Elizabeth made her way towards the village, constantly read to take out Illusion and Delusion in case of need. Her reflexes were impeccable, she would need no time to take out her weaponry and react to an attack in case it occurred. Going through a ghost city would not be pleasant. Mostly if she encountered corpses in her way. Oh, she would  not have fun doing this: but it was Elizabeth's duty as a Rune Knight. A disgusting, horrid duty, but duty regardless.

Hands next to her body, the Shadow Assassin looked around, smiling as she noticed that the city had shadows everywhere. The sun almost did not hit the city at all, thus leaving a lot of shadowy places, and thus, a lot of material for Elizabeth to use to cast her spells. She was safe. Now regardless what happened, she was safe. She could always create weapons, clones, she could use her magic whenever she wanted. Sighing in relief, the Shadow Assassin kept walking through the city, looking for anything that was remotely similar to a human. Be it a living one, or a dead one. She wanted to know the current situation in this place. She needed to know it badly.

Or she could not continue and work without knowing this. She had to know what had happened in this village, and if there was anyone alive to tell her what had happened. She needed to know. If not...

It could cost her life.

oh lá lá, i may have caused

a disaster

The city was completely empty. Not a single corpse could be seen, not a single living human, possessed huuman, or any human. Nothing. Not even animals could be seen. Elizabeth was getting incredibly nervous. The lack of people had never affected her as much as it did then, it had never really caused her to get nervous as she did. But now, the lack of human beings only worried her. Had the entire village been exterminated? Had the child killed everyone who lived in it, and had it disposed of the bodies?

How had it disposed of the bodies? What had happened here? The questions were so many, and the answers, scarce.

The streets of the city were exactly the opposite to those of Crocus, or Era, or even Clover. The streets of those cities were always illuminated, swarmed with people happily chattering or laughing, people passing by. And here, the streets were empty, quiet, and dark. It was not like the darkness worried Elizabeth. It was the only thing she found soothing in this twisted, cursed village. The presence of shadows meant security for her, it meant she'd be capable of using her precious magic, she could escape safely at any moment, and land her lethal attacks without hesitation. The environment was perfect: yet it made Elizabeth very, very nervous.

Walking silently through the lines of perfect, neat houses, all of which in perfect conditions, yet all of which emitting the same, eerie feeling as a haunted, old, half broken house would, Elizabeth could not help but feel curious and ask herself what had happened here, what had been the cause of the disappearance of all the population of this village. And where could that demonic child possibly hide? Her task was similar to that of finding a needle in the haystack: only that she had to find an assassin child in a village full of empty houses. Or houses she believed were empty.

Perhaps they weren't. Perhaps the people were hiding inside, too scared of the child, too scared for their lives to come out. Without hesitating, Elizabeth turned on her heels and headed towards the nearest house, ending up before the massive mahogany entrance door within seconds. Reluctant for a second, she took her gentile hand, which was as per usual covered by a gauntlet, and hit the door with her palm a few times, in an attempt to provoke a  louder knock, a more audible one, her metallic gauntlet hitting the wood. Without warning, the door opened all by itself when Elizabeth placed her palm on it to knock, proving to her that the door was, to begin with, not only unlocked, but also semi open. A chill went down Elizabeth's spine, causing her to shiver ever so slightly, before recovering her position. This was not good. This was definitely not good. With a simple, yet elegant hand movement, in which she basically unfolded her fingers and put her arms a bit lower for a second, Illusion and Delusion appeared from their hideout, ready to slice any enemy open.

And that was exactly what Elizabeth planned to use them for in case an emergency appeared. An emergency that could be a peril for her.

Hello? Elizabeth called out, reluctant, her voice coming out slightly weird through the mask as she expected any type of answer, reaction. The lack of answer or reaction to her words, both positive and negative, only further worsened Elizabeth's nervousness, a small hint of panic appearing in her electric blue eyes, before those turned scarlet red, an eerie glow appearing around them. The change of her eyes, the eerie glow, it meant only one thing: the Shadow Assassin had arrived, and was ready to destroy people. Or, in this case, explore the immense mansion the redhead had entered, and discover any secret within it, cutting the throat of every enemy in her way.

oh lá lá, i may have caused

a disaster

The house was immense. Immense. Every hallway Elizabeth encountered looked endless, and, if she reached its end, it only led to another hallway with the exact same appearance, with dozens and dozens of rooms attached to them. Whoever had lived in this mansion prior to it becoming an abandoned mansion, had been sickeningly rich, that Elizabeth could easily determine. Her parents had been important in Pergrande, an important noble family that stood proudly at the highest levels of the social hierarchy, which, naturally, meant that it was a sickeningly rich family. The mansion they had lived in had been immense, and as a child, before she joined the army, Elizabeth often found herself getting lost in the immense mansion, and having to look for familiar locations or objects in order to figure out where she was. But this, this rivaled and surpassed even her family's mansion by a lot. Many of the mansion of the richest Pergrandean families looked like cottages in comparison to this. Simple cottages.

The hallways were often completely dark, or only with the minimal illumination coming from the light that got through the windows. Each and every door in the house was exactly the same as the previous, every single detail the same as on every other door in the house. Like Elizabeth and her shadow doppelgangers, in both cases every copy was the same, even in the smallest detail. This, however, only made Elizabeth's task more and more difficult. The endless hallways, the appearance of the doors, it all confused her. Scratching her helmet with her hand, Elizabeth stared at the hallway before her stupidly. She was supposed to be incredibly intelligent in order to be able to use her magic correctly: because, honestly, everyone could summon a clone and destroy things, but not many could summon a clone, being stupid and all, and simply do with that clone what Elizabeth did, they could not destroy people's minds with it, like Elizabeth did. It was pleasant to confuse one's enemies, and could be a life saver often. But Elizabeth being confused? This was horridly annoying.

With a sigh, the Shadow Assassin took her hand up, placing it on the squeaky clean handle in order to open the door. Pushing it down gently, a small click was heard, upon which the door opened slightly, indicating to Elizabeth that it could be opened now. Pushing it slowly, cautiously, Elizabeth rook up both of her hands, Illusion and Delusion ready to open throats without hesitation. Elizabeth honestly doubted that she'd find the child, the assassin of so many people, in the first house she checked, as, honestly, she wasn't that lucky, and possibly the little assassin had put some effort into hiding, rather than simply getting a pretty house set up in the first residence her little eyes had laid upon, a place where, despite its dimensions, she could be easily found by anyone determined enough as to check the entire mansion. And that someone, was Elizabeth. Every corner of the house, every bed, everything she would check. She had to make sure the house was completely inhabited before leaving and heading towards her next objective: the neighbor house. It was tough, tedious work, but she had to deal with it.

Because the Magic Council did not forgive treason. And disobeying could be described easily as treason. Not only in the Magic Council: but everywhere.

The room Elizabeth had made her way in was rather big, and yet, as lonely and empty as any other. Dark, creepy curtains were pulled over the windows, blocking even the scarce light that managed to make its way through, and illuminate the room. The utter darkness in the room Elizabeth found both incredibly soothing, and eerie. The darkness meant anything could hide anywhere, and that could cause a rather generous problem for the poor Shadow Assassin. As if her job wasn't problematic enough.

The fact that she had to capture a criminal she did not find disturbing: she had warned herself millions of times prior to joining the Rune Knights that she'd have to face this. And she had nothing against it. It was the fact that the criminal was, according to what the reports stated, a seven years old child. In order to capture the criminal, Elizabeth would have to hurt a child. Possibly, at the moment of doing it, in the heat of the battle, she wouldn't feel guilty or care. Her mind would be too controlled by the beast inside her for her to care. But afterwards? Would she be capable of sleeping at night, knowing that her blades had run through the body of a seven years old child? Regardless how twisted it could be, regardless how guilty the child was, it was wrong hurting a child. Wrong.

The room was elegant, incredibly elegant, and a further proof of how rich the family was. In the center, against a wall, could be seen a gigantic, black, circular bed, with black elegant veils all around its perimeter. Shelves filled with books, stuffed animals and rich, porcelain dolls, the room had obviously pertained to a child. Could it be... By the looks, Elizabeth could judge that the room pertained to a) a child of a rather twisted parents or b) a rather twisted child. The room, everything was dark, black, dark blue. It was eerie. To see a child's room with these gloomy colors, it was simply eerie.

Shivering, Elizabeth made her way inside the room, leaving the door open behind her, and walking around, inspecting every corner of the eerie room. Without hesitating, she pulled the silky curtains away, letting the little sunlight that was blocked by them to enter the room, giving her some light to be guided by. Although Elizabeth, maiden of shadows and shadow assassin, was closely related to the shadow realm, to shadows, darkness, she had to admit that that day, she needed the light, aside from the shadows. Because in complete darkness, she could attack, but not see. And right now, she needed to see.

The room, as she had expected, was empty. And creepy. The stuffed animals looked scary enough to make someone run away from the room, the porcelain dolls were simply porcelain dolls, creepy as always. She disliked the room. Even the books were creepy. Tale of the Murderer or Jane the Insane were some of the most eye-catching titles, among others. But, for Elizabeth, there was a book that was even more surprising than any other.

Tale of the Master of Shadows.

With a shaking hand, she reached up to take the small, perfect book in her hands, caressing its cover gently. A book about Zed, a book about her great-great-great Grandfather. The cover was, as expected, black, with a glowing red symbol in the middle, it being the mask of Zed, the Master of Shadows, and the twin blades. The symbol of the Shadow Clan, the exact same symbol that was engraved on Elizabeth's back. What was this book doing here? Could she, perhaps, find answers about her past in this village? Was this why she was sent?

Before she could keep thinking about the book, which the Shadow Assassin would conserve until the very end of the job, the door behind her closed all by itself with a tremendous sound.

oh lá lá, i may have caused

a disaster

Holding the precious book with one hand, Elizabeth backed away against the book shelf, her back hitting against it. Holding her hand up, she realized that, holding the book with one hand would seriously limit her battle abilities, as it would force her to fight with one hand, and thus she'd lose the dynamism present in her fights when she fought with both hands. Quickly turning around, placing the book on top of the shelves, hoping not to forget it later on, Elizabeth looked at the door, both her hands in a battle position, her scarlet red eyes glowing in the darkness. Doors closing alone. Seriously, Lilith? That was the cheapest trick to exist on the face of Earthland. That was so cliché, yet it had startled Elizabeth, who had let her focus switch for a second from her task, on to herself and her past. It was a normal reaction: after all she had spotted a book about the origins of her magic, about the man whose descendant she was, the first Master of Shadows, a book that would permit her to further know what happened with him, if he turned into a ruthless monster like she would, and what had he done. She needed to know.

Looking around, her eyes checking every possible dark corner for a hiding child assassin, Elizabeth hissed, her glowing eyes inspecting every corner she had previously deemed as suspicious in order to make sure that nobody would suddenly jump at her. But oh, it seemed nothing was hiding. And, in fact, nobody was hiding. Something was just awaiting to stab her in the back. Turning around, the redhead nearly yelped as she noticed the gigantic sword, just hovering in mid air right behind her, threatening to stab her. It was just there, hovering, still far away from her, but the redhead knew, she had the feeling that one she turned around, it would stab her.

Although it didn't even require her to turn around. With any second that passed, the sword seemed to be nearing her, the distance between the redhead and the sword decreasing as time went by, albeit by a centimeter or so. She wouldn't wait for the stupid sword to stab her. She had to get out of the room; and fast. She did not know if there was someone holding the sword, she did not know if it was real, she only knew that, if it was there, there was the high chance of it hurting her. And she disliked the idea of getting stabbed.

Without hesitating, Elizabeth turned on her heels, heading towards the door, an exclamation leaving her lips as she saw the blade awaiting her at the door, still nearing her with every second that went by. She was near the door, and the blade was near her. Could she escape? How could she? Suddenly, it hit her. She could escape from the room without having to near the stupid blade too much. She was roughly four meters away from the door. The perfect distance. Her eyes, already scarlet red, glimmered for a second as shadows began gathering in her free hand, a feeling of uneasiness, insecurity in the air. For a split second she remained still, before she unleashed the shadows of her hand, her eyes always on the sword. No apparent changes were made in the room. Everything was in it's place, the sword slowly advancing. But outside the room... Oh, outside the room was Elizabeth's ticket to liberty. Closing her eyes, the sword still in her sight, as weird as it sounded, Elizabeth tried to clear her mind of thoughts, to have it free of all thoughts. She felt how the ground beneath her feet dissapeared, and, the air was quickly changed from a rather chilling one from the previous room, to a warmer one. Opening her eyes, a smile drawing on her lips, Elizabeth almost cheered, for she was free from the room...

... But not of the sword. It had followed her outside, somehow, it was awaiting her, it was stalking her. It was still far away from her, but, it was approaching her fast. Anger boiling inside her, Elizabeth gritted her teeth, her grip on the book tightening significantly. Son of a- She muttered, hissing, her voice low and cold, hostile. She avoided finishing the sentence, as it would be highly inapropiate for a lady like her to swear... Wait, it wouldn't, since she was a Knight, she had basically lived ninety percent of her life on the battlefield. She was forgiven. Think you're very smart, hm? Well, guess what, I'm not the Master of Disengage (and Shadows) without a reason. She smirked, ready to run from the stupid blade.