George growled menacingly at the shadows and used his body to knock them out of the air. He swung his arms wide, raking them with his sharp claws. Nothing could stand against his rage. These things that had flocked to George, playfully trying to devour his heart, flew away shrieking and spitting curses.
George collected himself and landed to rest.
He found himself standing in a field in the depths of winter. Breathing heavily, he looked around.
The frozen earth showed no signs of life. It was as if he’d flown all the way to the land of the dead. His breath turned white in the air before melting into the darkness, and the smell of the sky just before snowfall permeated to the back of his nose. He’d been flying for quite a while, but the position of the moon in the sky had hardly changed.
The forest of deciduous yews and their ever-present leaves formed black shapes in the darkness. A pre-snow frost covered the ground.
The reality of his situation finally struck him. The pain in his chest increased, perhaps from breathing in so much cold air. George squeezed his fists tight, lowered his head, and sobbed.
Love outlasts life. It was nothing more than a convenient phrase people told themselves. No matter how deeply you care for someone, what good is love if you can’t hold it in your hands? It was no different than a memory. He didn’t want a memory—he wanted Elyne.
Just then, he heard someone calling his name from the darkness. George wiped away his tears and raised his head, scanning the area.
“Are you satisfied?”
The voice dripped with a familiar irony.
George focused on one point in the expansive darkness. A man appeared as though materializing from thin air, wrapped in the same long cloak as George.
The man’s deathly pale complexion looked even more ghastly in the moonlight. His sleek hair and eyes seemed to melt into the darkness around him, and although a smile graced his thin lips, there was only a faint hint of crimson in them.
“I’m asking if you enjoyed playing your little game of house,” the man continued. “But it’s about time you came back to your senses.”
George furiously grabbed at him, but the man evaded like a wisp of smoke. George hadn’t even been able to lay a finger on him.
“I’m grateful to you,” George said, his voice shaking. “I had nothing but doubts about my new body, and you taught me magic and how to use it. I was living in anguish, not knowing what to do, and you gave me a new life.”
“I appear before all those who call me.”
“So we didn’t meet by chance? I called you? But I didn’t even know your name.”
“I instantly recognize the voice of a soul seeking help. Animal, human, it doesn’t matter. Cries of anguish are particularly sweet and attract all manner of monsters, just like how you were swarmed now. Humans fear any encounter with a monster, but they’re the ones who call them. Regardless, you’ve learned to control your powers well in such a short period of time. Manipulating the aether, creating simulacrums, and imbuing them with temporary souls—it’s almost as if you’ve been studying under a conjurer since you were young.”
“Nil. I know all too well that you’re a monster of nothingness. You have no interest whatsoever in the emotions people feel around life and death. After all, humans are born from nothing and to nothing they return. You just watch that cycle from a distance. But I’m different. Even if that elixir means I cannot die, this body still has a human heart—”
“Which will someday vanish,” the monster called Nil interjected. “As you live the rest of your days in solitude, the human parts of you will fall away and disappear, one after another. You’ll lose your humanity, then your unfeeling monster side will take control. If it didn’t happen like that, you would never be able to live for all eternity. The overwhelming sadness would crush you.”
“I will not choose to live like that.”
“Then how come you didn’t let her drink some of your blood? One cup would have been enough. She wouldn’t have regained her lost youth, but she would have stopped aging further. Elyne would have remained just as beautiful and been granted eternal life. So why didn’t you?”
“You’re saying I should have let her experience this torture? This burning will of Voivode Vlad that courses through my veins? Had she drunk my blood and lived forever, she also would have heard his voice whispering in her ear for the rest of her days. His voice commanding her to keep fighting to save the motherland. Those thoughts would consume her night and day. I couldn’t let her carry such a burden. It’s a voice that only a soldier could endure.”
“And what about you? Will you forever follow Vlad’s commands?”
“Until Walachia is freed from Ottoman rule.”
“And after that?”
“I don’t know. Vlad was a deeply mistrusting man. Even after the Ottoman Empire has been driven out, this blood may still worry over Walachia’s future. All of Europe is connected. War never ends.”
Nil reached out and touched George’s cheek. George’s body had been chilled by the frigid air—but Nil’s fingers were colder. They felt like icicles against his skin. “You have become a monster. Accept it. I can introduce you to many others.”
“Don’t. I need no such help.”
“It might be good to at least get to know them. You don’t want them always interfering with you like they did tonight, do you? You may not die, but certain injuries will still cause you to suffer. You could even be beheaded, but you wouldn’t die.”
“What if someone crushes my head? I can’t recover from that, can I?”
“No matter how finely ground your body may be, your blood will flow together, reassemble somewhere, and return you to your original form. Even if those pieces are scattered to the ends of the earth. That is what it means to be immortal.”
Shock overcame George, and he gave a frenzied laugh. “I can’t believe it. Then all I can do is despair?”
“Despair is a human emotion,” Nil continued. “Not one monsters have. That is why I told you to hurry up and become your true monstrous self. If you don’t, then it was pointless for me to teach you all that magic. It will be incredibly difficult for you to rid yourself of those human emotions before you chase off the Ottomans completely, however, because doing so will require you to work with humans. You will never fully become a monster so long as you are involved with them. You’ll be a monster, but suffer as a human. It would be best to find a compromise somewhere.”
The hem of Nil’s cloak fluttered, and he melted into the darkness. “I’ll check in on you from time to time. If you ever need anything from me, don’t hesitate to call.”
“You’ll come even if I don’t.”
“I told you earlier. Monsters appear when humans are sad and in turmoil. Such things come across even without words.”
1526. Fifty years after the death of Vlad and one year after the death of Elyne.
As a result of Hungary’s crushing defeat by the Ottomans at the Battle of Mohács, Transylvania became a semi-independent vassal state of the Ottoman Empire. Following this, the three principalities of Moldavia, Walachia, and Transylvania fell under complete control of the empire for a long time.
Moldavia and Walachia merged into a single principality and regained autonomous rule from the empire in 1861. They eventually seized independence during fighting between the Russian and Ottoman Empires in 1881 and were recognized internationally as the Kingdom of Romania.
Until that time, George moved residences frequently, always working behind the scenes for the independence of his homeland. Each time, he would change his name and appearance.
He finally settled on the name George Silvestri, giving himself the title of count to allow him easier access to the elite of society, government officials, and military personnel.
Moldavia and Walachia had finally gained independence, but Transylvania remained a vassal state. At the start of the Great War, it was still a part of Hungary. When Romania joined the war on the side of the Allies in 1916, they marched troops straight into Transylvania to liberate it from Hungary and take it for the Kingdom of Romania.
However, this invasion incurred horrific losses. The monarchy had deployed barely trained soldiers who lacked proper equipment and charged in using the same tactics they had before the Great War—an attack that could only be described as thoughtless.
George didn’t raise a hand to help.
He maintained his position as spectator.