Heart of Darkness

Skender sat near the river, listening to the sound of flowing water. Birds were chirping in the spring weather and the breeze was getting warmer. The sun peeked from behind a few clouds, feeling warm against his cold skin. Leaning back against the tree he closed his eyes to rest for a while. This was the only place he could be left alone. For the many years that he had been coming here, he had never encountered anyone but today would be different. He sensed a presence. Opening his eyes, he saw a woman falling down from a cliff. Or jumping? 

Her body hit the water, causing the gentle waves to disrupt and splash to the sides. A few angry voices followed and Skender looked up to see a few men standing on the cliff and looking down. "Hurry down! Find her!" One of them ordered. 

Skender gazed at the river again.  The water was flowing forward with forceful waves and the woman hadn't swum back up yet. 

With a sigh of frustration, he stood up. What a way to ruin his peace. His ears strained to listen to anything unusual under the water. It had traveled with her down the road. Taking himself to where he sensed her heartbeat slowing down, he caught her under the waves and brought them back up the surface. He carried her to land and then lay her down on the ground. Her knee was dislocated. Before waking her up, he popped it back into place and then covered her scarred legs. 

Now, he thought of how not to use too much force to push down her chest. He wasn't sure if he would do it the right way or end up hurting her. Either way, he would have to do it. He pushed down a few times until the water came out of her mouth and nose. 

She coughed, pushing herself up on her elbows and gasping for air. Then she fell back again, her chest rising and falling in heavy breaths. 

"Are you alright?" He loomed over her and she took notice of him for the first time. She blinked once and then twice as if she couldn't believe her eyes. 

"Am I dead?" she asked. 

"No." 

Her gaze left his, traveling down to his nose and then his lips, before returning to look into his eyes again. "I am alive." 

"Yes." 

"And you are…" She slowly reached for his face, letting her fingers brush the skin of his cheek. Skender froze. "You are real." She said in disbelief pulling her fingers back. 

Skender created some distance between them, but she misunderstood it as him being a gentleman. She sat up, her eyes still watching him with astonishment. Skender ignored her. He was used to people staring at him with awe, especially the first time. 

"Well, now that you are alright…" He stood up to leave. 

"Wait!" She rose hastily and faltered, falling backward with a shrill of pain before he caught her. Her face ended up inches away from his and both stared into each other's eyes. 

Her eyes were a teal blue. Big and frighteningly beautiful. For a moment he held his breath, feeling her chest rise and fall against his. When he came back to his senses he almost dropped her before catching her again. 

"Oh!" Startled she grabbed onto his shirt. "My Lord, do you intend to give me a heart attack?"Her eyes were wide but then softened as she looked closer at him. "Is it not enough my heart became still at the sight of you?" 

Oh, well. 

Skender helped her stand steady on her feet. She grimaced as her weight fell on her knee but then adjusted herself to put most of her weight on her non-injured leg. 

"You are quite talented with words," Skender pointed. 

She turned to him with a knowing smile. "Thank you." They stared at each other for a moment and then her gaze faltered. Now she stared at his chest instead, her eyes narrowing. "Is that real gold?" 

Skender looked down to see what she was staring at. She was looking at the gold buttons on his jacket. If she could tell it was real gold only by looking then she had another talent. 

"Yes." 

"Oh my," Her smile widened and her eyes twinkled. "My Lord, one of those would save my life." She told him and then gave him an innocent look. 

Unbelievable. He just saved her life, but he understood she was in danger if she had to jump from such a distance and hurt herself in the process.

He tore the button from his shirt and held it out. Her eyes widened and she looked between him and the button in his hand. "Are you giving it to me?" 

He gestured for her to take it without a word. 

Now she was thinking if it wasn't real gold and why he was willing to give it to her. Skeptically, she reached for it and took it from him. She turned it back and forth, examining it and thinking that it did look like real gold. 

"You are most generous, My Lord." She said looking up at him with dreamy eyes. "You must be my guardian angel to save me twice." 

Guardian angel? He noticed the necklace with a cross around her neck. Angel? If she only knew he was the exact opposite. 

She stepped back, halting to keep the weight off from her knee. "Thank you." She said a smile of real joy showing on her face. Then she turned around and hurried away. She couldn't walk fast and Skender wondered for a moment if she could get away before the ones chasing her found her. 

He shook his head. Why did he care? 

The woman stopped and turned back. "May I know the name of the man who blessed my day?" She called. 

People found his birth name odd, "Alexander." He said. 

She smiled. "I hope you bless my day with your presence again, Alexander." She curtsied and then continued to leave. 

For a moment he wondered what her name would be but quickly discarded that thought. 

Skender went back to the castle, his clothes and hair soaked. He changed into something dry thinking that this was the only day in a long time he had experienced something different. His days were very much the same, waking up, meeting after meeting, spending time away near the river, going back home and pretending to enjoy some time with the other demons, and then going to bed. 

From time to time he would have to deal with Lucrezia who had noticed the change in him as well. She didn't like how things were turning and showed some real concern and doubt. It seemed like her plan was failing for the first time and numbing the destroyer wasn't serving her purpose. 

Numbing his destroyer had also numbed a part of him. Strangely he felt emptier than before, like a big part of him was missing. As if something had died in him and now he was also fading away slowly. Drowning into the abyss of emptiness. 

Lucrezia was thinking of how to awaken his destroyer. She was getting tired of the walking corpse he had become but she didn't know how to awaken it safely. It would not be as calm as the first time after being numbed again. It would be vengeful and Skender wasn't strong enough to stop it. His strength and everything else got left with the destroyer. Almost as if he took everything away from him on purpose. 

At first, Skender had enjoyed it. The quietness, the peace but he couldn't understand why he had a problem with it now. Sometimes he wondered if he should awaken it, but then he thought of the people that he might hurt. 

With a sigh fell back in his bed and closed his eyes. 

Awaken it! He heard a voice in his head.