Bruises: Chapter 2

The next few weeks went by in this manner.
Kellen would sneak out every night to sit beside the prison and listen, drifting into his own dream world to the sound of the naga's tales about the outside world. When he was done with Kellen's world, he started to talk about his own...

This he spoke of with true enthusiasm. He told of the Council of 21, powerful nonhumans who ran the worlds like impartial judges, and were the true law to any who presumes to live long lives. The Incubi Guard, who were the executioner's hand of the Council and carried out their judgments depending on the degree of the offense. He talked of the vampires, the werewolves, the void, dragons, elves, phoenixes, as well as the wars they all engaged in with each other and with the less desirable of groups, like the Deep species' consisting of; drow, driders, demons, goblins, and all manner of more chaotically inclined naga. He talked of the barrier that separated that world from this one that only hybrids were allowed to pass through, and the second barrier within Trea itself that separated the world of Gods from the rest of the Nonhumans, where the Abyss and Olympus resided as well as Tarterus, Hell, and a number of others.

Nehebu-kau told him of the environments, how there were no dirty cities that puked black smoke into the sky and stained it, but rather miles upon endless miles of wild, untainted lands. Forests older than some of the dragons, mountains that had seen the passage of millenniums, deserts that were as vicious and unkind as they had been eons ago since their formation. He told Kellen about the Universe Gods, who lived in the two beautiful rings that wound around the planet up in the sky. These beings made the lesser gods; Egyptians, Greek, Norse and so forth, and they created the Major Races themselves- or at least the original. The Universe Gods created the first of the races and then let them live as they pleased, mostly because they had been drawn into infighting between themselves over how to run the planet, and therefore the Lesser Gods had to be created. They had been intended just to watch over the races while the Universe ones were gone, but these gods grew corrupted and full of themselves, spoiled by so much power to the point that most races didn't even know about their original creators.

He wove tales of necromancers that created their own versions of undeath, and battles between those who saw themselves as good and those that the 'good' deemed to be evil. His favorite topic was to talk of the Druids that would often help the Naga out when they found ones they liked... that in itself was rare though, because a majority of naga ate smaller naga and kept to their own kingdom. He talked of their king Apocalypse and of that creatures' various deeds, of the royal bloodline, and of the customs of the Naga people.

"Do you have any questions for me tonight?" Nehebu-kau asked in his form of greeting one night when Kellen joined him again. He'd come to look forward to this bit of company, and he really did like the curious boy, who seemed so endlessly interested in the Hunter's life..

"I wanted to know about the Sun." He explained easily smiling at him, he had grown comfortable around the naga, and the stories that he told him were the only true delight in his life so it was easy for him to smile at them. "There is a sun in this world, and there is the god that lives in Trea, they are the same... how is it that he can be in both at once? Not just Sun even... Gravity and all those Universe Gods. How do they exist outside the barrier..." He asked, "Unless the place that you called Space, was outside the barrier... then couldn't the humans in their rockets fly over it?" He rambled. These were the sort of thoughts that built up in his mind between their meetings, whether or not they would be logical to a normal person- they were extremely interesting to a person who had not known any logic till recently.

“The Universe Gods live within the rings of Trea, but this world is technically also a part of Trea it's just sectioned off. Humans can't pass unassisted through the barrier, so when they try to sail into the ocean they are just transported to the other side so it seems like they went in a circle. With space it's the same, they can't see the rings and they can't see Trea. Sun lives in the ball of fire that rises both in this world and in Trea, it's the same sun, again its simply altered through the Ancient Magic to further confuse the humans into thinking their little piece of world is a planet alone. All the Universe Gods' powers keep the worlds functioning properly… If they were to lose their war against the more evil of their type, then the world would be lost, the same as if they decided they were bored with it and left.” Answered the Naga.

"But... Everything would be destroyed if they left..." Kellen started looking horrified at this notion, would they simply leave? Would they leave and let the world rot into nothing... when he didn't even get to see the sky he had been so curious about? "They wouldn't actually leave... would they? And they would win the war....right?" he asked, looking a bit distressed now.

“Have no fear of such things, dear Kellen…” Nehebu-kau soothed, used to such concerns expression by the inquisitive boy by now, “this war has been going on since the creation of the Major Races, and Nova will not be defeated. Last I had heard, the perpetrator of the wars; Starz, had been captured and imprisoned. The Universe Gods do not grow bored, we are safe.”

"Okay..." The boy agreed easily, closing his eyes for a moment before he looked back up at him and paused- his expression growing more confused now as he focused on something else, "hmm?" he wondered as he moved to sit up on his knees and his fingers stroked over the glass where there was a faint line, "Ohh...." He said in realization, "it's like the card key's he uses for Heartless and Alary's rooms..."

“Card key?” Nehebu-kau approached the wall and raised up to inspect whatever the boy had found. The slot was very narrow- hardly noticeable at all, like something a floppy disk might fit into had it been computer operated, “where would he be keeping this key?”

"Probably in his office, or on his person... It sort of depends on the outfit and if he could carry it with him. Some of his fancier outfits don't have pockets or places to carry things in, see..." He explained as he inspected the slit a little bit more, "It's what he does to keep track of the things he likes best, once the door is locked- only the key can open it. That's why I can come out of my room at all at night, I don't have one of these locks on my door, because I'm not important."

Nehebu-kau snorted before he could stop himself, “then Narcissus is more blind than I thought.” Though upon realizing he'd said that out loud, he cleared his throat and continued, “do you know of any way to steal it from him, or perhaps some way I could trick him into releasing me himself?”

Kellen blinked a couple times then seemed to pale, "There is no way that he would willingly release someone, unless they were no longer of value, and you are a very high value..." He trailed then bit his lip a little bit, "But...I could try to steal it for you... If... if you helped me get out of this place...- you don't have to bring me with you! Just let help me get outside, long enough to see ... something other than this place."

The Hunter thought long and hard about this deal… not about helping the boy, because he'd do that anyway, but about the consequences should the child fail. If he were caught, Nehebu-kau wouldn't be able to save him from within his prison, “If you take this risk for me and we succeed, I will take you with me far away from this place and show you all the things I have talked about these last several days.”

The boys' expression instantly brightened from its previous fear as he smiled at him, "Then I will get the key for you." He promised, not that he wouldn't try- but now he had even more of a reason, if that was possible. "I'll get it tomorrow during the auctions, almost everyone's attention will be focused on what is going on stage so no one will notice." He decided as he pushed himself to his feet with his growing excitement.

“Alright- but for the love of Gamma please be careful!” Nehebu-kau hissed in warning, which would mark the first time he'd actually used his own god's name in any form in front of Kellen, “I cannot help you if things go awry…. If he finds you, you will have to run from here as far as you can go until I find a way to escape and come to you myself, understood?”

Kellen blinked at him then smiled, "I understand, I won't let myself get caught,” he promised but there was an empty sort of assurance in his voice. There was no way Kellen could get out of this place on his own, he would simply get caught at the door and be demoted even farther than he was... but he kept smiling at him, "I'll see you tonight, I have to rest now though..." He smiled bowing his head a little bit as he turned to go.

“Go then, rest.” Encouraged the raven-haired creature, watching Kellen go with a frown of concern etched into his brow. It took the Naga hours to get to sleep, but eventually sleep did find him, curled up in the tight ball as usual with his torso hidden in the center away from prying eyes.

He awoke again early the next day though, watching the shifts of men and women welcoming the morning crowd while Nehebu-kau marveled at the fact that Lust never seemed to sleep except between the hours of 1-8 am. With a rather unattractive snort of derision, he uncurled and lay along his belly with his head propped up on his hand, ignoring the usual gawking he received and watching for any sign of Kellen.

The boy that he was searching for was slowly working his way through the crowd, occasionally hassled by some lecher, but he was able to make his way into the hall with a deep breath.
He was shaking, when was the last time he had been this nervous? Kellen turned his eyes back towards the main hall where the top stars put on their usual performance before he took few more breaths to build up his motivation. "Okay-" He mumbled turning to slide down the hall- wishing that his outfit wasn't so lightly colored, it made it harder for him to hide in the shadows but so far he hadn't been caught. "Okay..." He repeated when he realized he was already in front of Narcissus's office door, trying to quell the light headed feeling as he reached down to turn the handle, "Please don't be locked." He begged under his breath as he closed his eyes tightly as his hand grasped the doorknob.

Kellen bowed his head against the doorframe in relief when the door slid open and he crept through the narrow gap and shut it behind him. He had only been in this office a few times in his life- he didn't enjoy either of those times at all...

"Key card." He said to himself to jog his memory about what exactly his goal was. He would be free- once he got it and got Nehebu-kau out... He moved across the room quickly to start searching through the elaborate desk, for anything that moderately resembled what he needed and then made a small whining noise when he pulled out three of them.

"Which one is it..." He whispered furrowing his brow, they were all different colors... but the colors didn't help him indicate which door they each belonged to... So he decided to take all of them.

He stuffed the three of them in his rather tight shirt before he slid out the door again, only relaxing when he had shut it and slumped back against the expensive wood. He had three keys, but one of them was their ticket out... He'd been able to get it after all, even though his heart rate was far from a soothing beat.

“Kellen.”

The word was a very simple one, just one word… one word that ripped the boys' secrecy away and plunged him into cold, harsh danger. Narcissus' voice was filled with a false sweetness, something chilling and malevolent both but somehow managing to sound vaguely pleasant- probably having to do with the fact that two highly esteemed members of society; potential clients, were at his side.

“What on earth are you doing in my personal offices?”

"Nn-" Was all Kellen was able to respond as he turned his eyes up to look at the man that had kept him captive all his life, his throat was dry- he didn't know if he would be able to speak, "I-..I..." He started his heart feeling as if it was about to explode, "W-was looking for you." He finally spit out, "I-I was going to apologize f-for my lack of clients a-and I couldn't do that while you were on stage s-so I came... here." He said, praying to a God that he had never bothered to think of before, please let Narcissus be too busy to care...

“I see. You know you aren't allowed in there without me and you knew I would be with new clients today- important ones. Just for that you will be punished…” Perhaps he was just showing off the amount of control he had over his employees, or perhaps narcissus really was this twisted, “lets go. Walk ahead of me.”

Oh God... Kellen nodded slowly before he pushed himself away from the door as he turned to walk in the direction that he had directed. Could he escape? Would he get far enough to the cage to unlock it? It didn't really matter if he didn't know which key it was! That would make the difference between escape and capture he didn't know how to tell! The boy was trying very hard not to burst into hysterical tears as he walked, hoping that the man couldn't tell that he was shaking.

Narcissus' eyes bored holes into Kellen's back the entire way, and when they reached the stage areas he set the clients up with Heartless and Alary- the former of which gave Kellen a sympathetic look in passing- and angled his direction back onto the blond, “I'll have you publicly humiliated, that should teach you enough. Get up onto the stage and strip while I find a suitable whip,” he ordered coolly.

Kellen shivered in horror as he stepped up on the stage and looked out on the crowd that was now staring at him curiously. He moved to remove his shirt carefully- making sure the cards were wrapped up in the fabric but the highly priced vampire noticed the card shape in his hand.
Alary blinked a couple of times then smirked faintly as he wandered onto the stage to take his clothes away from him and Kellen started to make a protesting sound when he saw the vampire slip two of the cards out of his shirt and into his own pocket, leaving only one... before he dropped the bundle next to one of the glass containers at the end of the stage.

Kellen started to mumble a question but the vampire had already turned to his client and wrapped his arms around his neck. Had Alary singled out the keys? Had he given him the one that he needed... that didn't change the situation... he still couldn't get to him... he was still going to be punished. He felt the tears start to build up in his eyes...

“Narcissus” growled Nehebu-kau as he entered the tank near where the clothes had been dropped, and the leader glanced an interested eye towards the Naga as he joined the boy on the stage with the whip he'd managed to scare up.

“Yes, dear creature?” he oozed.

“Why is this boy being punished?” the raven thought it best to pretend he didn't know him- for Kellen's sake- until he'd figured out the stakes.

“The boy entered my personal offices without my consent, and for it he will be puni-“

“That's it?” he interrupted, much to the shock of the watching audience, who were hanging on every word… he'd have to be careful, “he went where he wasn't supposed to be once and you're doing this to him?”

“Would you rather take his place, Naga?” Narcissus asked, apparently intrigued now and had stopped his approach, “if I allowed such, you would attack, so that's impossible. Do you feel something for this boy?”

Nehebu-kau could think of no answer to that, but that was fine because Narcissus loved hearing himself talk, and today he had such an audience.

“Perhaps that is a more fitting punishment then. Let him be your prey. You will be starved like an animal until you have no choice, and then my anger will be sated. Come here boy-“ Narcissus grabbed Kellen's arm to yank him towards the opposite box, and Nehebu-kau was already slithering quickly up through the tunnel even as the blond was shoved into the one way compartment. This didn't operate like the door- it was a false piece of the wall that could only be opened in one direction and therefore made it so Narcissus didn't have to be the one feeding him all the time. The man seemed rather confident in Kellen's fate though, so he'd treat him like pet food.

Kellen turned his head around wildly to try and understand what happened, "No- No please don't! I'm sorry- I won't do it again!" Kellen begged, sounding very much like he was afraid to be near the Naga but really he was just didn't know how either of them out get out if they were locked in there, "I beg you!!" He cried as he struggled limply against the surprisingly strong male while his hand skimmed to try and catch his shirt, would he at least have the key with him, would it work both ways?

Narcissus ignored the feeble clawing of the human, finishing up and pulled the one-way door shut behind the blond. Then he straightened and sneered- all confidence, all amusement, just -knowing- things would again go his way. Nehebu-kau would have killed to see the expression on the wicked man's face when he dropped into the correct tank and wrapped his coils protectively around Kellen, hiding him from the sight of the crowd and stroking his hair to try and calm him with black tipped fingers.

Incredulous but still confident, the male scoffed, “you'll be hungry soon enough.”

With that sweeping declaration, he drew the audiences' attention elsewhere… and business moved on.

Kellen sniffed trying to get himself to relax again as he allowed himself to hide with in the coils, it was an odd feeling... but not unpleasant, "I'm sorry..." He said quietly into the Naga's chest, "I failed, I couldn't even escape myself..." He mumbled sadly as he wrapped his arms around himself.

Nehebu-kau shook his head but said nothing, too intent on tracking Narcissus' movements for the remainder of the day. In truth he wasn't sure WHAT to say, or how to comfort the boy that he probably would indeed end up eating whether he wanted to or not if they were there more than two or three months. The Naga couldn't consume human food and he was certain they would sustain the boy until his own hunger grew to the point of pulling out his more primal instincts.

Clients came, gawked, and went. Employees followed clients; Narcissus basked in his own glory… life went on as usual for the rest of the day. One of the slaves was sent to take Kellen's clothes, much to the Naga's chagrin.

Deep into the night however, when things were calm and silent once again, Nehebu-kau's attention was once again grabbed by a gentle rapping at the tank. He twisted away from Kellen and stared in vague shock at the feminine red head and the lithe purple haired boy at his side. Heartless looked calm despite the fact that he and Alary weren't supposed to be out after hours- if anything he seemed amused, and the incubis tilted his head at them curiously before holding up the small key card that had previously been in Kellen's clothes.

"Wh...what?" Kellen started rousing himself from the sleep he'd forced himself into and blinked when he recognized them, "But... how did you to get out-" He started before Alary held up the other two keys that he had taken previously, "He'll notice-" He started looking alarmed and the vampire shrugged.

"Be quick about it would you?" Alary asked the red head quietly as he crossed his arms over his currently bare chest, his lavender eyes rather impassive to the whole situation.

Heartless swiped the card, waited until the tiny light turned green, then pulled the clear door open and backed out of the way. When he spoke, the voice was soft and almost child-like, but filled with a sureness that probably developed from his nearly one hundred years of life, “Flee this place and do not look back.”

“I fully intend to.” Agreed the Hunter, slithering out of his prison for the first time in months then glanced back at them, “will you two be alright?”

“He can do nothing to us, we're too expensive to harm.” Heartless reassured smoothly, “Farewell… Alary, would you like to take a bath with me?”
With that invitation and the attention apparently shifting from them, the Naga beckoned for Kellen to follow him and began to slide stealthily through the dark theatre towards the courtyard.

"Um..." Kellen said softly as he walked with him, his voice barely above a whisper, "I know that it doesn't matter here... but I don't have any clothes to be going outside with..." He trailed, he didn't know how different the weather would be outside, but he knew that most of them wore something.

“That's a good point.” Nehebu-kau stopped his progress and looked around, searching until he discovered the inevitable bits of discarded clothing in the halls. A shirt here, something passable as pants there… no shoes though, “put these on, I'll carry you once we're outside so the pavement doesn't hurt your feet.”

The boy nodded as he pulled on his clothes and had to hold the pants up because they were to big for his extremely small frame, "Okay..." He said faintly as he moved closer to him so that he could be picked up, glancing over his shoulder fearfully like someone would suddenly appear to crush their dream of escape.

Nehebu-kau let the boy up onto his back and resumed his journey towards the exit with ever more eagerness. Every fiber of his soul wanted freedom, ever bit of him wanted to see the sky and feel the crisp air of pre-dawn on his skin… Therefore, when one of the whores that had darted him so long ago appeared in their path, looking startled with mouth partly open to scream an alarm, the Naga silenced her with a quick strike of his venomous fangs to the throat. She went down gargling on her own blood and Nehebu-kau smothered her under his tail as he passed. From there they were interrupted, and the Hunter shouldered open the doors and spilled out into the courtyard. The sun had not yet begun to rise but it was close, and the lighter color was just beginning to touch at the sky in the east, meaning the stars were still scattered in their twinkling patterns in the velvet night above them. The wind was blowing just a little and it picked at the raven's hair, a few nearby crows cawing at the predator suspiciously as he passed to the city.

Kellen lifted his head to look directly up at the sky as he gasped quietly; it was even more brilliant than anything that he had imagined... He made a small noise when the tears fogged his vision of the new world and he lowered his head to wipe them away before he looked back up at the sky and beamed, "Thank you..." He whispered moving his arms to hug the Naga's head, "Thank you so much..." He whispered.