Elucard awoke leaning against the wall of a small room made of black and teal glass-like crystals. The room had no windows or a door. He checked for his weapons, but found none. He then inspected his maimed arm. To his surprise his old green Magi arm had been replaced by a shadow prosthetic arm. He rubbed a finger up the dark purple and inky glass-like flesh.
He flexed it and smiled when he could wiggle his fingers. Elucard studied the arm further. Could he channel the Magi through it? Could he control the shadows as he once commanded plant life? He attempted to channel magic through his new arm, but to his dismay, he could not call magic to him. Elucard instinctively reached for his neck. No, he didn’t have a dampening collar on.
Perhaps Mateo is controlling my arm somehow… Which means I must still be alive, but for how long have I been down here? And where is here?
“You are indeed alive, elf,” said the same wolf voice he heard plaguing his thoughts, his dreams; his nightmares. The same twisted voice that drove him into his darkness.
“Who are you? Show yourself!” Elucard demanded.
Two figures phased through the wall in front Elucard: a kanis dressed in dark robes and a finely dressed nobleman with silver hair and and golden eyes..
Elucard tried to stand, but his new arm suddenly weighed as much as a horse, he could not budge.
The man bowed before Elucard. “I assume my former associate, Inle, has told you who I am?”
“Wraslyn,” Elucard sneered.
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“Then perhaps I can enlighten you on why you are here?”
Elucard remained silent.
Wraslyn nodded and smiled. “I am in need of a new Silent Master.”
Elucard raised a brow. “Silent Master? What do the Black Rabbits have to do with any of this?”
Tezhok chuckled.
“Everything. They were the foot soldiers of my council.” explained Wraslyn.
“Dead of Winter?” asked Elucard.
“Yes. Ryjin was my Silent Master. I had him trained and gave him his seat of power so that he would assassinate Jaelyn,” answered Wraslyn.
Elucard pondered for a moment before choosing his next words. “So that Koda would leave his position as Arcane Guardian and join you instead?”
“You were always a clever one, Elucard. Yes, without Koda, my fool of a former teacher would one day die and leave the final seal without a strong guardian,” finished Wraslyn.
“The Cypress seal is on Nashoon!?” Elucard was more shocked than in doubt. The idea that a celestial seal was right under his nose hit him like a sack of bricks.
“Now, Elucard. I present to you two choices,” said Wraslyn. “Join my side as a colleague or serve as my puppet.”
Elucard strained his body to comply, but his arm weighed him down like an undertow.
Wraslyn knelt down and grabbed the elf’s chin. He tugged it up and down. “‘Yes, Wraslyn, I will join you.’” He then shook Elucard’s face left to right. “Or, ‘no I won’t.’”
Elucard ripped his head away from the vampire’s grip and spat a wad of mucus in his face. “I will never serve you.”
Wraslyn stood back up and used a handkerchief to wipe the spit from his face. “One way or another, you will serve as my Silent Master.” He gestured for the wolf to approach Elucard. “You’ll find my familiar, Tezhok, is very persuasive.”
Elucard shot an icy glare at Wraslyn so cold that even the vampire had to avert his gaze.
“Do what you will, Wraslyn. But know this, I will destroy you,” hissed Elucard.
Wraslyn paused before leaving the room. “I have no doubt in my mind that you will try.”
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