A House Filled With Night
The Veins That Bind Us

Fiske leaned eagerly over Runa’s shoulder. “So, what does it say? Anything interesting?”

They were all gathered together in a small study to keep Runa company while she combed through Celemine’s books. Casimir and Torin had settled onto a couch in the corner of the room, while Sylvain paced constantly back and forth across the room. But Niko and Fiske chose to stay glued to her side.

“I—” began Runa.

“Don’t act so excited, Fiske,” Torin called from his seat, grinning a little. “It makes you look a little evil.”

Fiske just rolled his eyes and leaned in closer to Runa. “So?”

“I’ve barely opened a single book yet!”

He tutted disappointedly, but fell back. “Hey, where did Niko run off to just now?”

“Probably the bathroom,” Casimir grumbled, not bothering to open his eyes. “Be quiet, already.”

Now that she wasn’t so crowded, Runa felt free to breathe in slowly and let out the shaky sigh she had been holding in. Her fingers brushed against the frayed leather covers of each book, wondering which to look into first. She might have convinced the Sons of Midnight that she was bold, but she wasn’t so sure she believed it herself. And after the nightmare she had experienced down in the library, she wasn’t exactly thrilled to be studying more of those ancient, ghostly tomes.

With a final nod of resolve, she grabbed the first one her hands reached, and cracked it open to the first page. She realized, with a shudder, that it was the same one she had first opened down in the library. That familiar, haunting image of the dark figure with the gaping mouth stared up at her, the same words blazing upon the page:

“Worlds between worlds, darkness within darkness.

Here is the sap of life: here is the greatest power of the soul.”

As she read on, Runa began to notice notes written along the margins in quivery, threadlike scrawl. Most were simple phrases, like “study this,” or “important;” others relayed extensive personal thoughts. Much of the text, although in her own language, was completely beyond her comprehension. Regardless, she read on, in the feeble hope that something important might eventually stand out to her.

Niko reappeared eventually, bearing a tray of full of snacks. Everyone turned and stared at him. He blinked.

“I was hungry.”

“Hey, what do you think this is, a party?” growled Casimir, reaching out to grab a sandwich and stuff it into his mouth. The others immediately joined in.

Runa smiled absently but didn’t look up. She couldn’t pull her eyes away from the new page she had just turned to. It was a large illustration of a great geyser which had burst out of the earth. Not only was the page absolutely riddled with notes, but something about this fountain felt terribly familiar. The caption at the top of the page read: The Heart Feeds Our Veins.

“My means of victory,” read the scribbled notes, “This is my means of victory. I will become stronger than Celemine.”

Runa shivered. She knew that name. Then the notes must have been written by their father. It made her skin crawl, just knowing he had held the book now in her hands. She couldn’t imagine how his sons would feel. Her eyes flitted to the side for a moment, wondering if they were watching. She was too nervous to turn around and check.

Their father seemed to have written over this particular page many times, because some notes were written in different inks. As his writings went on, they seemed become short accounts relaying his search for the fountain, his steps as he drew nearer, his success in replaceing it, and his strength from feeding off it. But it was the last one at the bottom, the newest one, which caught her attention.

“It is not I whom she must fear, but my offspring. I have produced five already, and they grow stronger by the day. When they are nurtured by pure, raw power, how can they be anything else? I have grown far stronger than her. I will destroy—”

“So, anything interesting?”

Runa practically jumped out of her own skin at the sound of Fiske’s muffled voice in her left ear. He was still munching on a cracker.

“Good grief, don’t ever do that again!”

“Oh. Sorry. So…anything interesting?”

She sighed. “Well, um…your father wrote a lot of notes on this text. He—he talked a lot about a special fountain.”

“Ah.”

She looked around from face to face, waiting for something, anything more than this silent response. She only received blank stares and averted eyes.

“Actually, it gave me a funny feeling while I was reading into it. In fact, I was wondering if it might have something to do with that thing you call ‘the Heart’ of the House.”

Everyone looked at Sylvain.

“…It might,” he admitted, finally.

“Are you going to tell me what it is?”

“We…might.”

“At this point, wouldn’t it be helpful if I knew a little more about what goes on with you and the House? Am I going to keep getting dismissed after breakfast while you do whatever it is you do? Are you going to keep talking amongst yourselves with your eyes while I sit here confused? Don’t you think I deserve to know at least what everyone else already knows?”

Torin bit his tongue. Sylvain frowned. Gazes turned awkwardly to the ground.

“It’s difficult to explain,” Fiske mumbled.

“I’ll try my best to understand,” Runa said.

Casimir cleared his throat. “Come on, she needs to know.”

“Everything?” asked Niko, his eyes widening.

“At least this.”

“I agree,” said Sylvain, nodding.

“Niko, why don’t you bring in the poison?” added Casimir. “We haven’t drunk today yet. Might as well get it over with while Sylvain explains.”

Niko got up and left without a word.

“Poison?” Runa’s brow furrowed. “What do you mean by poison?”

“Don’t worry. That’s just Casimir’s nickname for it.”

“Practically is,” said Casimir with a grunt.

“What? What is it?”

Sylvain folded his hands together, beginning slowly as he thought. “Well…it starts with our father, really. You know a little about him. Enough to know he wasn’t a good man.”

Torin scoffed at this.

“He had plans for us. Since we were born, he wanted to train us to be as powerful as him—more powerful. That’s why he built this House: not only as a place where he could live and grow stronger, but also where he could raise us up to become strong like him. The thing about this House is, it’s not like this because of who built it. It’s like this because of where it was built. Because of what lies at its root.”

He paused, as if to check whether Runa followed what he was saying. She was nodding profusely, bidding him to go on.

“Deep in the ground beneath us, there is a very, very old spring. This spring does not bring forth pure water, but pure…wonder. Everything it touches becomes something greater and more fantastical than it was before. People have searched for it throughout history. Its location had been lost long ago, hidden for centuries, until…until our father found it. He built this house upon it, and it streams throughout every passageway, every wall, every corner—that’s why the House is so alive. It has blood, veins, and a heart.”

“But what does this have to do with all of you?”

Before Sylvain could continue, Niko entered, carrying a tray with five glasses of the clear liquid she had glimpsed on the first morning of her arrival. Looking closer now, it seemed to glimmer in a familiar way when the light danced upon its surface.

“This is that blood running through the House,” Sylvain said, taking a glass. The other brothers gathered around and took a glass for themselves.

“Runa, if you listen to nothing else I say, please listen to this. Never drink from the fountain. Never touch it. Never even come close to it.”

“I still don’t understand. If it makes you stronger, why—”

“Because the story hasn’t ended yet. After our father built the House, he raised us here, compelling us to drink from the fountain every day of our lives, even as newborns. It’s what made us the way we are. Without it, we would be just like you, or any other human.”

Sylvain lifted up his drink to dump all its contents down his throat, the other brothers following his lead.

“But don’t be deceived, it’s no gift from the gods. Much more of a curse. This is the reason we can never leave the House. We can’t live without the fountain anymore. If we don’t drink from it every day, we will grow ill, and eventually, die. Not one of us has ever been able to survive without it. Believe me, we have tried. We’ve given up hope of it. You might have thought you were the trapped one when we first brought you, Runa. But in truth, we are.”

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~ A/N ~

Yum, yum. Magic water.

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