Sword of Truth
The evening dragged onward until it was night and then the day again. Earth continued on in its normal cycle, unaffected by the disturbance to the creatures inhabiting it. Though not in Hell, the birds still sang, and the rabbits hopped. It seemed like the only places astray were the lands of the unhuman, and that comment was not entirely false. Deep in the fiery pits, Lucifer had locked himself away in the cellar, and in the fairy's land, everything turned bitter. Nothing was sweet for the beings out of humanity, but with the first meeting of the alliance, Vivian hoped things would change. At about late morning, the anticipated messenger arrived- a beautiful dragon.
The reptile was the usual size of an adult fist and made the horrid chatter of its species. It flew room to room so that everyone would know its presence before perching on Scarrden's head to clean itself. With everyone warned of the coming departure, the journey to Ivory Tower began. A long while through the day, accompanied by the dragon, the group of vampires and werewolves found themselves on the banks of Avalon. There were wizards, witches, and other manipulators of magic going about their day, but besides that, there was an orchard of apples that lead to the large building across the island. The large, stone building was covered in juniper, but what gave away its nature was the iron sword that seeked to purge those who walked through its door. Ivory Tower was still as threatening as when it was built, purifying evil from a mile away.
When the cursed family came into the tower, they found that they had been beaten by the merfolk. Quickly, Lady Meredith rushed towards them. "My goodness! Is the lad alright?" she asked. Vivian petted her son's head and smiled. "I'm hoping that the High Wizard will be able to wake him" she answered. The Mer-matron pressed a hand to her heart, "I am sure he will. For today, he even graced me with legs, although I wish he could have... never mind. Please, excuse me," she sniffled. Anyone could guess that her child had been too far gone for help. Vivian refused to let her mind wander to the chance her son would also be in a forever rest. "High Wizard," knocked the woman to the door.
The old man had answered the door and rushed Arlot to a comfortable bed. Wizards bustled around the boy's body to examine him until Vivian couldn't watch anymore. The woman took her youngest and walked around the orchard. Xuario followed along with her aside a reluctant Xiana. "I'm sure everything will go well, girls," the vampire man comforted. Vivian smiled and watched Xia push Juliet in the apple tree's old rope swing. "You should sit down, Aunt Vivian," the young vampire girl said with a turn towards her, "I can take care of Juliet." Xuario nodded his head in agreement. "Please, just sit down and try to calm your mind. Scarrden is with Arlot and Amiana, and so is the person with the best chance at helping their situation. Close your eyes and think about it," Vivian hear her half-brother say. In moments, she had fallen asleep from her exhaustion.
Inside the tower, Scarrden crowded around with the wizards and their apprentices. As a former practitioner of medicine and an ex-wizard's apprentice, the werewolf father was working to exchange helpful information regarding the health of his twins and Xiana. Amiana also sat in a crowd of magic users, but her method of being helpful included acting as a living pincushion. Silently, she sat as men and women poked about her body and wrote in their notebooks. The pain wasn't reaching her senses at all, because every speck of the silver-haired girl's attention was focused towards the ongoings outside. "I need a break," she finally stated; the sheltered magic users would examine her all day if she let them. Thankfully, most of the inhabitants of Avalon were kind and the witches and wizards immediately backed off. "Please do take a rest. You've been so patient!" the insisted. Amiana smiled and turned towards the open window where Juliet was playing. "Xiana, come up so that your wound can be checked!"
The young vampire girl stared up in fear for a moment before waving to Juliet and ascending the tower. While this happened, Amiana found herself staring at her exhausted mother underneath an apple tree. "Father, I need to speak with you," the werewolf girl cut into his conversation. Scarrden stopped a witch mid-sentence and walked off to where his daughter's small hand brought him. "Is everything alright, darling?" the worried werewolf man inquired. Amiana took a deep breath and squeezed her father's hand. "No. Everything is not alright. I- I need to talk to you about something. I shouldn't have kept it from you to begin with, but I- really- need you to listen," she pleaded with her ears bent down. Scarrden felt his heartbeat quicken, "What is it? If it's this important, then I need to know now. We can worry about consequences later." The young werewolf girl bit her lip, "I can't tell you here. We need to go to the High Wizard's study."
Inside of the High Wizard's study, it smelled of old paper and ink. With all the piles of scrolls strewn about, there was little doubt that the storage had been striped for answers to their problem. Amidst the chaos, Papilus sat on his old sofa reading. "Princess Amiana," he greeted from his scroll, "To what do I owe the pleasure?" The werewolf girl put her hand on his shoulder, "I have found strength." Papilus stopped his reading and turned towards the young werewolf. "What do you mean, my child? Are you still speaking from out last encounter?" he exclaimed. The look of being beaten washed over Amiana's face. "Sit. Sit now, please. Scarrden, will you please take a place also?" the old man rushed. "Amiana- Princess Amiana, will you explain to me what you mean by finding your strength?"
"I lied to you all... and I told Arlot to lie to you as well. I'm also the reason Arlot is in the state that he is. Everything up to now has been my fault; I now have the strength to admit it, and I'm going to tell you what really happened the night I died. I'm going to tell you the new tale of The Cursed Creature of Cursed Blood."