Oneiric

The end is nigh - Part 1

It was late, past ten, in the night, when Flavius and I officially went to bed. We had spent the entire day inside my apartment, talking about anything that came to mind. The only time he had to leave, was when he needed to go back home and get new clothes for the next day. I had insisted he stayed with me tonight, in case I had another bad dream. Of course, I wasn't afraid of anything, but maybe his presence would help. Not that I wanted him with me only for that reason, no, it just felt wrong for him not to be. I didn’t have to ask twice, as the idea of us sleeping together pleased him greatly. It joyed me even more, knowing he wanted it as much as I did.

While he was gone at his place, I took advantage and went to take a shower, and to jerk off, since I didn’t want to impose my sexual will. If he didn’t feel prepared, it was rude of me to be selfish. So, I had satisfied my selfishness, before he returned. After my bath, I contemplated the most important information I had received today. The fact that he loves me, and more so, that he was sincere, and I believed him.

The sentiment was reciprocal, as I undoubtedly agreed with myself that I felt the same for him. When he returned, he asked if I had been playing with myself, which made me blush a little. He said that he could sense the scent of my cum, still lingering in the air. Even if I tried to deny, even if I had splashed the entire house with perfume and cleaning products, he would have known anyway.

He explained that it's the way blood flows through the body, after a while, when relieving oneself sexually. It seems to flow more rapidly, more intense and there's the scent of testosterone in the body and other hormones. I couldn't lie even if I were dead. He'd know anyway. All of that information aroused me so much, thinking about what he was probably thinking when finding out I had been naughty.

While lying in bed, under the protective hug of Flavius’ body, I wanted to ask him about something that I had been aching to find out. He sensed there was something on my mind. Probably my blood was now rushing from the other smaller head to the big one on my shoulders.

“I feel like something is bothering you, Claudius. What is it?”, he asked as he took in my scent, tickling the back of my neck, in a pleasant way.

“I was curious about you...”

“You can ask me anything, you know that”, he said, tightening his grip, just a bit.

“Flavius, how did you become a strigoi?”, I asked, holding my breath as if it kept me from hearing his answer.

“Are you sure you want to know?”, he asked.

“Dearly.”

He released me from his grip, and rose up, resting his back on the pillows, which leaned on the bedboard. He pulled me closer to him, my head resting on his chest, and put his hand around my shoulders. I slipped one hand under his waist, and the other I rested on his eight pack. I tried not to get aroused but failed eventually. He was also aroused, as the duvet slightly tented over his cock.

“Nine thousand years ago, I was living my life on what used to be a great plain, that now lies underwater. The Black Sea wasn’t a sea during those times; it was merely a freshwater lake. My people and I were Thracians, and we were related to the peoples living in the Carpathian-Danuban area. You know them as Dacians or Getae, but those names came later on, after thousands of years.

As you know, from our dream we had together, I was a hunter, but I was also a warrior in my tribe. Interactions with hostile tribes were rare, but not inexistent. So, I was trained to protect women, children, and the elderly. Along with others, strong like myself, we formed the military of our tribe, if you may.

One day, a great roaring sound could be heard in the distance. We thought it was coming from an invading tribe, so we prepared our weapons and sought them. When we arrived at the source of the noise, it was not warring humans that made it, but a great waterfall that was tearing the upper land it came from. Now you know it as the Bosphorus Strait. A great calamity had occurred in the frozen land of Canada, and a vast reservoir of water broke from the melting ice, and spilled into the ocean, raising sea levels.

My tribe was forced to flee our birthplace, as we were situated close to the flooding and the waters were quickly surging. So, we took as much as we could carry and migrated towards East, settling beyond the great plain, at the base of the Meridional Carpathians. As we were related to the indigenous peoples that already resided there, language was not a barrier, and relationships were friendly. We got along very well and thrived.

Even in those far away times, the existence of homosexuality was indeed present. It’s true that it was extremely rare, as the numbers of the human species were still very low, compared to Antiquity or even the Renaissance. But it did manifest, and I was chosen by nature to be different.

At first, I was confused and thought it was just a phase, as I was in my late teens, having just turned 19, prior to the great flood. So, I did as all young, virile men my age did and jerked it off, never thinking about it too deeply. But I was getting older, and as years passed, nearing my thirties, I had to settle, find a wife, and produce offspring. I had no choice but to obey the rules of society. I found I girl that liked me and married her. Her name was Dokia.”

“Did you sleep with her?”, I asked, curious like a child.

“I did.”

“How did you manage to get aroused if you were gay?”

“At first it wasn’t difficult, as I was virile and never fucked before” when Flavius said “fucked” I was caught by surprise. I didn’t recall hearing him talk like that before. But I didn’t mind.

“But afterward?”

“I had to think about my male tribesmen. To imagine their cocks and get hard on that.”

“Did you see them naked?”

“Only when we had to take a piss.”

“Were there any like us? Gay I mean?”

“In my village, no. But things changed when Dokia’s brother, Davos, had returned home. I didn’t know she had a brother, or any family since they were all killed by a pack of wolves when she was a child. She was the only survivor the villagers found. You see, the village I lived in was not built by my tribe, but by Dacians. We were only welcomed into their settlement, and mingled and mixed, forming new families.”

“So, was Dokia’s brother like us?”

“At first, I could have sworn he was just a normal man. But sometimes I would have the impression he was watching me. One day, I was breaking wood, my torso naked, I heard a noise in the thicket behind me, and when I looked, I saw Davos touching the bulge in his pantaloons.

I went to him as if I was mesmerized, and he kissed me. We fucked that day, and any other day we had the chance. We were slowly falling in love and I may have neglected my wife Dokia. She might have felt something was happening between me and her brother. But I didn’t think she knew the truth.

One day as I was returning with firewood for our hut, I went inside to liven the fire with some logs. Dokia was waiting for me on our bed, naked, ready to be taken by myself. I tried to do it, but I couldn’t get it hard. She leaned over to my ear and asked ‘Should I get Davos to help you get it hard?’. I froze when I heard her say those words. She had found out about us. I tried to explain the entire situation to her. She seemed to take it quite well, but it was all an act.

After her knife penetrated my abdomen, I fell to my knees then on my side, aching in pain, losing blood. As she left me there to bleed to death, she said she will take care of her brother too. I couldn’t bear to just stand there and wait to die, also thinking that he will die as well.

So, with all the remaining forces that I had, I got up and went for Dokia. Davos was herding some sheep up on one of the mountains, his sister knew where he was. When I reached the mountain, I tried to warn him, but I only distracted him from seeing the knife his sister held. I screamed for his name when she plunged the blade right under his sternum.

I rushed to Dokia and with what force I had left, I took the knife and stabbed her in the belly. With her dying cries, her true form was revealed to be – a witch. She screamed and cursed while blood poured out of her stomach and mouth. The sky darkened and it started to rain and snow at the same time.

Again, I fell to my knees, near the corpse of my beloved Davos, waiting for the last drop of life to seep out of my body. But it did not happen. With her last words, Dokia finished her curse and turned to stone.

The wound in my abdomen had started to heal, while the blood was pulled back into my body, my heart was beating slower and slower until it stopped. I felt great pain in my chest as my body slowly lost its warmth and all functions. I fell to the ground like a rock and closed my eyes.

I woke up that night, covered in snow. I didn’t feel cold, I didn’t feel warm, I didn’t feel anything. My eyes could perfectly see in the blackness of the night. The sky was clear and full of stars. I could see them so well, as if they were right above my head, floating in the Universe. I could hear sounds of animals or flowing waters that were miles away.

As I rose up from the snow-covered ground, I looked over Davos’ body, lying there, stiff, and blue, his eyes still open, a puddle of frozen, dark blood staining him, making the ice red. I screamed as loud as I could, the echo of my voice traveling far into the wilderness. When I lifted him, I felt his weightlessness. I buried him there, digging the hole with my bare hands, agonizing to the thought of not being with him anymore.

I waited for death to take me, but it would not come. I realized that Dokia had cursed me to live eternally, with the thought of losing my love. Her punishment had succeeded, for a couple of millennia, I resented what she had turned me into. I felt a thirst for life essence. After each person I killed, I felt more and more like a monster, less human. I didn’t feel remorse, not guilt, anything. I wandered the ancient world like an animal, feeding with others’ blood and semen. Time had passed and I had forgotten how to feel.

Until one day, when I was stalking an older woman and her grandchild. They were walking on a path, through a small forest, heading home from picking up berries. I was just about to jump them but a wolf suddenly appeared from the other side. It tried to grab the child but the woman jumped in front, the animal biting her arm, never letting go. She held the wolf, screaming to her granddaughter to run away. That act of sacrifice reminded me of something I had to, once upon a time, done.

After that day, I could say I started to evolve back into a civilized being.”

After hearing his story, I wrapped my arms around his torso and strengthened my grip, while I buried my head in his chest even more. Somehow I tried to make him feel better, without words, only with my presence. I tried.

“What’s wrong Claudius?”, he asked.

“You went through so much pain and nobody was there for you. Flavius, as long as I live, with all the power I can muster, I will always be there for you. I will love you, to the very end", I said, tears escaping my eyes.

"Please, don't cry! I can't stand to see your beautiful eyes, your lovely features, ruined by the pain of crying", he said, while holding me, kissing me on the head.

He didn’t say anything else, but I could feel he was content. We rolled over to our sides, but this time it was me who was holding him in my arms. As ridiculous as it may seem, I wanted to protect him, I wanted to make him feel safe, as he makes me feel in his presence. I will be his anchor, if the situation will ever occur, pulling him back, securing his humanity. And he is my anchor, keeping death from dragging me down to the lands of the dead.

“Claudius? Are you asleep?”, asked Flavius as he turned to face me. I felt his cold glare on my face.

“I was only half awake, half asleep”, I said, while I opened my eyes and looked at him. I couldn’t see much, as the blinds were covering the windows and darkness engulfed the room. I was surely too sleepy to focus on my powers, to see in the gloom. It must have been late into the night though.

“I’m sorry, I disturbed your sleep.”

“Don’t worry about that. I was afraid that I will not see you when I wake up in the morning.”

“Why would you think of such a thing?”, he asked while caressing my cheeks with his hand.

“I don’t know. I don’t want it to be just a dream and, when I wake up, nothing of this to be actually true. Maybe I’m a little scared of losing this battle with death. Maybe I’m afraid of losing you.”

“I would have been worried if you weren’t afraid at all. A little fear is needed sometimes; it makes us think in perspective. You will never lose me, that I can promise. As long as you want me in your life, I will be here.”

“But that’s just it, Flavius. I won’t be here forever. I will age, get old, then eventually I will die.”

“That’s how life works. We get born, grow up, age, then die.”

“But what will happen with you? How will you cope?”

“I haven’t thought about that yet. It’s a faraway situation to think of it now.”

“But…”, I wanted to say it, however, I was not sure how.

“What is it?”

“What if I were immortal? Like you!”

“You are not asking what I think you are going to ask, are you?”

“I am. Flavius, look at me”, he turned away, but that didn’t discourage me. I put my hands on his back and came closer with my body until our skins touched. “Flavius, please look at me”.

“You don’t know what you are asking for, Claudius!”, he said, half turning to face me.

“Maybe if you explained it to me, I might understand it better. Give me something to think about.”

“I won’t turn you into a monster! You have no idea how difficult it was for me to regain my humanity.”

“I will have you to teach me.”

“Claudius…”

“How do you transform a human into a strigoi?”

“Are you sure you want to know?”, he asked while fully facing me again.

“I am certain of it.”

“Very well. There must be an exchange of three fluids that sustain and give life. The first one would be water, and it can simply come from saliva. This already happens when we kiss; even if we’re not aware, we do swallow, unwillingly, the other’s saliva. The second fluid is sperm, as it gives life when fertilizing an ovule. This is also easy to exchange either by swallowing the partner’s cum, or having him ejaculate inside you; it doesn’t matter too much if it’s anally or vaginally. The third and final fluid is blood, as it sustains life. This is the most difficult one to exchange, for I will have to drink yours entirely, bring you to the brink of death and, afterward give you all of my blood.”

“How did you discover this process? I mean, you are the only one of your kind.”

“In my disgust of what I had become, I ransacked Dokia’s belongings and found some of her scribblings on a stone tablet, hidden in a hole under our bed. It explained what I had become, how I would survive, and how I could multiply.”

“After knowing how the process works, I still don’t want to back away from the thought of becoming your immortal other.”

“Don’t think about it too much. Let’s live your life and make the most out of it.”

I didn’t insist on the subject. I can’t force him to do it and he’s right. For now, we can live life and be happy together. That, after we find a way to break this seal and save me from very premature death. Although I can cast away the thought of being mortal, a foreboding feeling lingers in my chest, reminding me that there will be a time when I will be no more and Flavius will again be alone. I cast it away, trying to pretend it's all going to be fine... for 60-70 years.

I rolled over, lying on my side, my back facing Flavius. He came closer and wrapped his hands around my torso, burying his head in the space between my right shoulder and neck. It didn’t take me too long to fall asleep, in his protective grip. I did not dream at all.

The next morning, after my breakfast, Flavius had to leave for the office and I had to get ready for university. During lunch, Lavinia and I talked about what I had learned about Flavius, Dokia, and her curse. Lavinia didn’t seem to know this part of history. For all we know about her, is what folklore tells us.

There are two versions, one of which says that she was the daughter of the Dacian king Decebalus. The Roman emperor Trajan fell in love with her, but she refused to join him and flees with her tribe in the Ceahlau mountain. Knowing she won’t escape Trajan, she asks the Dacian supreme god, Zalmoxis to turn her to stone.

The other version portrays her as a mother, who has a son named Dragobetes. Her son marries a girl, without his mother’s consent. Dokia, to make her daughter-in-law’s life a burden, gives her black wool and asks the girl to wash it until it becomes white. But that was impossible, so Christ, seeing how the girl struggles, gives her a red flower to put in the river and wash the wool. When it turned white, the girl returned to her mother-in-law. The woman, seeing the red flower, thought that Spring had come, and went up to the mountain to embrace it, wearing nine coats. As Dockia ascended the mountain, she got hot and took the coats off, one by one, but suddenly the weather changed and started to snow. Dokia froze and turned to ice.

Although the versions were different from what Flavius had told me, one element of truth existed: turning into stone or ice. The rest of the day we spent in the seminar rooms, discussing different topics, that were taught the previous day. You see, in Romania, as students, you first hear the professor’s lecture in the amphitheater, and take notes, then either on the same day or on a different day, during the same week, you discuss it in the seminar, with the professor’s assistant.

The rest of the week I had spent with Flavius, either at his place or at mine. Living a normal life, like a couple in love. I giggled inside while thinking that thought. I was in a very good mood, mostly thanks to Flavius, but also due to me not having nightmares anymore.

It was Saturday when Flavius and I went to bed, at my place, since I live closer to where the military parade will take place. Sure, we could have stayed at his, but you never know how traffic can be in the morning of such a great event as Romania’s National Day. So, better to be safe, than to be late and miss out on the festivities.

Early that morning, the sky was clear and the sun shone a warm light on the entire city. Flavius had insisted we wake up at 8, to arrive there at least at a quarter to nine, and take up some good spots in the front. We had met with Lavinia at the interchange station and took the blue metro line for the rest of the trip, toward our destination.

When we arrived at the Aviators station, I could see there were more people coming out of the opposite train as well; early birds like us, I thought to myself. Once up at the surface, we went straight for the boulevard of Marshal Constantine Prezan, which led to our little Arc de Triomphe.

We were lucky, and Flavius was right to arrive as early as possible. There were lots of people already at the border between the boulevard and the pavement, where barriers were placed by the police. We found a nice spot with a good view and Lavinia was lucky because in front of her were children, so she was able to see over their heads.

When the President had arrived, he and the highest-ranked Commandant inspected the troops. The President greeted them, and they responded in perfect unison. A voice in the megaphones announced the singing of the national anthem by a well-known Romanian singer, while the fanfare accompanied, and cannon shots were fired at regular intervals. I could see that all the officials, in their special designated area were standing, right hand over their hearts. After the hymn was finished, the President, along with two young soldiers dressed in events uniforms, had laid a funeral wreath at the base of the Arch of Triumph, to honor the ones who fought and died in all the battles that made Romania what it is today.

The air force was the first to initiate the festivities. As the planes soared through the clear blue sky, everybody looked up as if they were seeing them for the first time.

Afterward, the ground vehicles followed shortly after the last airplanes roared up in the sky.

And last but not least, soldiers from all the branches of the Romanian military had started to parade, all of them passing through the Arch. I don’t know if other countries do it, but Romania always invites her allies to participate in this celebration. So, all of the military groups, allied to us, sent a small number of soldiers to parade along with our troops. It was quite an emotional event to see so many foreign, young troops, participating and being cheered for and applauded by the civilians.

After all the soldiers had gone through the Arch of Triumph, the military fanfare had saluted the officials, and the event ended, with the President and other politicians preparing to leave, probably heading to other big cities, where celebrations would take place.

Of course, Romanians will be able to continue the fun by going to the concerts which took place in different areas of the Capital, or by participating at the grand Christmas fare to eat national dishes, sweets and bakes and, to drink hot red wine with cinnamon and apple or orange.

I, for one, didn’t really want to go to the fair, but Lavinia insisted we should at least meet up again this evening and drink a cup or two of that delicious hot wine. So, after a few hours, Flavius and I met with Lavinia again, this time in the city center.

As always, before December 1st, Bucharest is decorated into the Holiday season. Christmas lights adorn the street lamps and the shop windows. Pine trees filled with colored baubles, garlands, and presents under them fill the stores. Holiday music can be heard everywhere you go and LED snowmen light the small park in the Unirii Square. All that is missing is the snow.

We went to the Christmas fair held in Constitution Square, a minute's walk from Unirii, guided by the beautifully decorated fountains that lead to the House of Parliament. We delighted ourselves with the hot potion I mentioned earlier and with some gingerbread. I don’t know if it was the wine or just the good mood I had been in lately, but I was the one to suggest we continued our little celebration in the gay club, not too far from the Old Town.

"What? Don't look at me like I'm some old fart", I said to both Flavius and Lavinia. They made a "Say what?" face when I suggested we spent the night in a club.

"What have you done to him Flavius? He usually tries to find excuses not to go out", said Lavinia to him, with an intentionally serious face - she was just pretending.

"Nothing actually. Is he always like that?", he played along. "My, my, this won't do babe!".

"Babe? Who are you?!", I could also play along. It was odd to hear him talk like that But I liked it.

We arrived at Alexander at around half-past eleven, and it was packed. The music was loud and had an electronic vibe to it. I don’t usually listen to this genre, but tonight it would have to do. We didn’t need a table to sit at, so we stayed near the bar, in case we got thirsty for juice, a beer, or even some spirit or cocktail.

The DJ didn’t put only electronic music, he alternated through many genres, from Romanian folk music, to dance, club, house, even some really nice remixes of old Italian songs. But the piece de la resistance was a song, most of my generation and children up to five years older than me, when I was ten, knew by heart. A well-known sound of Christmas bells started, then the rest of the instrumental followed, and when the singers said their first lines, the entire club screamed in cheers and started to dance even more lively.

Andre' was the two-girl band that sung “Dreamy night” (Noapte de vis); a video song about two girls in their sixteens, being visited by Santa Claus who, surprisingly was a young, muscly, blonde guy. All through the song, the sexual allusions were pretty obvious, but when I was a kid, I didn’t catch them. Not even when the girls undressed the young Santa in his underwear, and kissed him on the couch.

When Lavinia heard the song, she took one of my hands, and one of Flavius’ hands and invited us both to dance with her. As she was between me and him, it was quite hot to find myself in such a situation, or better put, position. I didn’t mind her rubbing against my body, as we were the best of friends and it was all just silly behavior. I didn’t mind Flavius rubbing his body against her either, for I knew what he felt for me, but looking at him, the way he moved, the way he looked at me, aroused me. I had to turn with my back to Lavinia, just to avoid an awkward situation. For me, because I don’t think she would have minded feeling my boner.

As the hours passed, the music changed from song to song, until the club started to slowly empty itself. When I looked at my phone to check the time it was nearly five in the morning. Seeing there were just a few people left, Lavinia sat at one of the tables close to us, to rest her legs a bit.

I was also a bit tired, but I took advantage of the fact that Flavius and I were somewhat alone. A slow, blues-like melody had started and he approached me, to the rhythm of the song. Our bodies touched in an embrace, our hands wrapped around our backs and waists. I put my head on his shoulder and let him lead. The dance was like the music, slow-paced and so was our movement, circling the axis of our hugging bodies. The coldness of Flavius’ body invigorated me, for I was hot and my clothes were a bit wet from all that dancing among all those people.

When the song had ended, we stopped as well, but we didn’t let go. I rose my head and caught his ember-lit irises looking at me with passion and tenderness. “I love you”, he said to me, then our lips touched into an innocent and short kiss. “I love you too”, I responded, tightening my grip around his waist. We stayed like so, hugging each other all throughout the next song, continuing to blues around, disregarding the different rhythm of the new melody. In the end, the lyrics caught my attention and I agreed, heavily to what the words Shakira and Rihanna sung. However, I repeated them in my mind, altering them to best suit what I felt for Flavius. I hummed in the rhythm while saying the words in my mind:

‘I’d rob and I’d kill to keep him with me,

I’d do anything for this boy.

I’d give my last dime to hold him tonight,

I’d do anything for this boy.’

I would do it, without stopping to think, if ever the situation occurred. At this point, I can sincerely say that I am head over heels in love with him. It is as if all the love I had given to Liviu, wasn’t completely offered to him, due to his early demise. Instead, it went back inside me, hidden under layers of guilt and grief and negation. Until I saw this god who approached me and dared to have feelings for me. He sparked something in my chest and made me rediscover what it felt to love again.

Lavinia approached us, saying that the two of us looked good together and that she was happy for both of us. As we didn't want her to feel excluded, we both rose our arms, to invite her in our hug. We left the club shortly after that, for it was closing time. As I didn’t live too far away from the city center either, Flavius and I decided to walk to my apartment, but not before accompanying Lavinia to the metro station.

It was still dark when we exited the club Alexander, and the streets were deserted. The night air was cold and silence almost dominated the sleepy city. We detoured, entering a street with old, possibly some abandoned, buildings. The street lights flickered and a sudden gust of wind blew, catching us by surprise. The closest street lanterns to us exploded and darkness engulfed that portion of the sidewalk.

A burst of eerie, feminine laughter could be heard. On the ground, in the darkest part of the street, a cloud of dust or smoke formed and a silhouette of a woman appeared out of it. Her forms were unclear and dark, but her eyes were green and lit. The mark on my leg started to hurt, then I felt a grip on my ankle. I fell down and was dragged toward the woman. I heard Flavius speaking a name before I fainted.

“Dokia!”

When I woke up, I was again in Flavius’ bed, but this time there was light in the room. How long have I been passed out? When I lifted my body upon the pillows, Flavius rose from one of the armchairs and came towards me. He spoke loudly that I have awakened and not long after that, Lavinia entered the room.

“What happened on that street?”, I asked while rubbing my eyes.

“Dokia happened”, said Flavius.

“What do you mean?”, I was confounded.

“She tried to grab you; she tried to take you to the underworld herself”, Lavinia said.

“How is this possible”, I couldn’t believe it.

“When she cast the curse on me, she must have done something else to ensure her return”, Flavius answered. He didn’t look too good, as if he worried to the brink of insanity.

“She must have cast some sort of binding spell”, Lavinia tried to clear things a bit.

“What’s that?”, I asked.

“A binding spell is just that. While on the brink of her death, she must have mustered all of her strength to curse Flavius and to tie her soul, somehow, to him”, she explained.

“But what’s that got to do with me?”, I must have looked vapid, because their faces changed. “Why are you looking at me like that?”.

“Claudius, she tried to take you. I cannot allow that, to anyone”, Flavius answered.

“It must be connected to your dream at the beach. When you were marked as a departing soul”, Lavinia said.

“Yeah, I know that. But what connection do I have with Dokia?”

“We must go to the place where it all started and try to find out”, Lavinia said.

“We will leave as soon as Claudius is able to. We have to put a stop to this. She won’t give up until she succeeds”, continued Flavius, with a grave tone.

“I am fine now. When can we leave?”, I didn’t want to procrastinate this situation.

“Are you sure, Claudius?”, Flavius wasn’t too convinced.

“Absolutely”, I replied. “But how do you expect to find any clues where it all started?”.

“As I told you weeks ago, magic leaves traces. It doesn’t matter how much time it passed, if you know where to look, and how, you will be shown”, Lavinia explained.

“Then let’s have a little trip to the mountains and stop this bitch once and for all”, I said, and Flavius smiled at me, while Lavinia was surprised by my language.

After a couple of hours, I was sitting with Flavius, in his car, waiting for Lavinia, in the parking lot of her block of apartments. When she got in, the engine purred and we were off to the highway. It was a three-hour drive from Bucharest to the natural monument of Babele. We were quiet, most of the way there. The trip was pleasant, even if the circumstances were not the happiest ones. As we got closer to the mountainous region, the landscape changed from gray to white.

There was a road that led almost to the peak, but at some point, you had to continue on foot. We got out of the car to stretch, before ascending to the summit. It snowed before our arrival, but now it stopped. It was really beautiful to see a blanket of white snow covering everything as far as the eyes could see. But we didn’t have time for sightseeing, as we were here on business to save my marked ass from being dragged alive into the world of the dead.

There was no special path, no stairs to ease our ascension, however, Flavius did not have any struggles. I wondered if he hadn’t been superhuman, would he still find it easy to climb the inclined and slippery path. Even if we had dressed properly for the mountains, the thick layer of snow sure didn’t make it easy.

By the time we reached the fenced area, it had gotten dark. Normally this climb takes probably twenty minutes however, it took me and Lavinia almost forty to keep up with Flavius. He could have reached the summit four times by now, but he always waited for us to catch up with him.

The area looked deserted. No tourists were allowed here during snowstorms, and the mountain rangers were probably relaxing inside the cabins, forty minutes down the path. So, it was clear for us to do a little trespassing. Flavius took Lavinia in his arms and jumped higher than the height of the fence, then gracefully landed on the other side. He did the same thing with me, and gosh was it an interesting activity. The moment he bent his knees, to take the lead, I could feel the adrenaline surging within me. After he jumped, I felt an opposing force, like when an elevator goes up. I could see the ground as if falling down, as we rose into the air. While up I got to see the light of the cities, far away, and the clear blue sky, lit by a half-moon.

The descent was so light, it was like a leaf floated into the air, calmly touching the ground. Or like when a cat jumps down, always perfectly landing on its feet, unharmed. Before letting me go, I gave Flavius a surprise kiss on his cold cheeks. He smiled and kissed me back, on the lips. It was all so quick, as we didn’t want to flaunt ourselves in front of Lavinia. It was not the time, nor the place.

From the fences, there was only a three-minute walk toward the rocky formations that we call Babele (old women). I never understood why they were given this name, folklore aside. To me, they all look like big tables, with a fat center leg. Or, some squished mushrooms. There were several smaller formations, around a bigger one. Flavius said that was where Dokia died and turned into stone.

“Okay, now that we’re here, what do we do?”, I asked them.

“I will have to commune with the monument, to draw energy from it. Then I will be able to access the residual magic and make it reveal to us the last moments when Flavius was turned and Dokia had transformed into stone”, Lavinia explained, as she approached the large rock formation.

“How is that going to help?”, asked Flavius.

“Yeah, how can re-seeing the past help us breaking the seal on my ankle?”, I asked as well.

“I may be able to hear what incantation Dokia recited while casting her spell. If I can recognize it, I can search for information about it in my grimoire”, she answered, while touching the stone.

“Do you need us to do anything, Lavinia?”, Flavius asked her.

“No, I just need to concentrate”, she answered, then silence fell between us.

It was quiet, only a light breeze could be heard, from time to time. The moment felt heavy upon me, as I was a little nervous, not knowing what to expect. Not knowing how I would react or feel when I was going to see how Flavius died and came back again. As Lavinia concentrated on her meditation, small flickers of light sparked from the stone, then waves of magic poured from its base, reaching the other stones.

The magic reshaped the area to what it used to look like, nine thousand years ago, during the afternoon. Surprisingly, not much had changed, with the exception of the stones, which were now gone, as well as the large one. Lavinia stepped back from where she stood and observed carefully. The monument took the shape of a wounded Dokia, casting her spell, looking toward an injured Flavius.

He looked different, millennia ago, he had long hair, as beautiful as it was today, and a beard. His physique was practically the same, maybe less muscly before his transformation, and his eyes were of a darker shade of blue. He looked a bit savage in the clothes he wore back then, but I could recognize my Flavius in him. It pained me to see his suffering, not knowing we won’t die, not knowing he won’t meet with Davos in Kogainon, the land of the Dacian gods.

We heard what Dokia was chanting, and I was surprised to understand most of the words she used, for they seemed Latin, but changed as if resembling some sort of proto-Romanian. We could hear her incantation.

“Wilted leaves in walnut’s tree

Ample pain you caused to me.

May forever thou be damned

Soulless corpse as white as sand.

Blood for blood will then return,

Love of yours to pain, in turn.

Ageless stone shall be my tomb,

Deathless life will be your wound.

Lightless shackles life it takes,

The other half, my slumber wakes.”

When Dokia said the last words of her spell, everything exploded into a multitude of colors that blinded us all, then it all returned back to normal. On the stone monument, words appeared and shone in green light. I was drawn to the rock, like a moth to the flame. I didn’t notice I was moving when I had already reached it. I placed my hand on the rock, it felt warm, then cold, then warm again; continuously changing between the two. As I spoke the words I saw but didn’t understand, Lavinia cried for me to stop. But in vain.

Nocturnus spiritus malus

Ego hac nocte liberabit vos.