Much of his time was preoccupied with either family, servants or his visitors so it was a rarity when the Lord of the Citadel had a moment or two of solitude. Not that he let it go to waste just sitting on his throne or drifting off into space. Nay, Xunatar was always scheming, always plotting his next couple of actions. An idle mind was something he only took pleasure in if it was someone else’s but not his own. Whenever he got the chance, he would sneak off into parts of the Cradle that was hidden from all eyes, including those of his most trusted. There were many rooms that were concealed unless he wished for them to be revealed, but of course something like that would…no, should be expected from his position. One of his favorite ones was in his throne room, right behind the throne itself. A door was revealed a foot away, and inside it was naught but darkness until stepped through.

The god indeed did that and closed the door, and the structure vanished once it shut. The darkness receded and a long corridor illuminated so that he could stroll down it with silence being his own companion until he reached a rather spacious room that still existed in the throne hall. It’s appearance mirrored that of his treasured room, aside from the lack of his seat and there were ivory pillars lined up and towards the back, a glass chamber resided with a person inside it. Chaotic energies could be seen every now and then flowing through it as the woman floated in stasis.

She herself carried a pretty appearance with long fair hair and porcelain skin. The only flaw that could be seen was that hideous scar that wrapped around her neck, where the poor darling had been decapitated. Ah yes, taken from the world, or more so, a previous one at such a young age. One would see that she had just been a few years into actual womanhood when she had her untimely death. Only…well, it was so much untimely as it was also planned thoroughly. The devil smirked as he stood in front of the chamber and peeked inside. Placing his hand onto the smooth surface, he closed his eyes and fell into a trance like state before the spot he was touching was beginning to crack. The cracks grew and expanded, consuming the container while she remained changed.

He could feel the anticipation in the air and suddenly his blue eyes flashed open before the chamber shattered and had the woman float over to his awaiting arms. “It’s time to awaken, my doll”, he spoke so affectionately as he marched them away from the room and materialized a bed for her. Xunatar settled her down onto it and caressed the side of her face. “You have slumbered for so long, but now it's time for us to get to work…”

The horrid nightmares were never ceasing and for some reason, she would never awaken from them. She wouldn’t awaken period. As if caught in an endless cycle of demise and butchery, she recalled every moment as it replayed again and again. It was pure hell as she found her flesh meeting with steel over and over before the final blow came down, slicing at her neck completely and cleanly. Had she died? Was that why she could no longer wake up from her slumber? Perhaps she truly was in hell for the hazy memory would start all over again from scratch. She was in a forest, and found herself running through it. She could see knights around her having been slaughtered and their bodies laid gruesomely against tree trunks and on the ground. A few were hung high above branches and some were without heads. She felt armor pieces on her and yet there was also stained blood glistening on the surfaces. Was it her blood or that of someone else’s? The woman couldn’t be bothered by that now as she heard several footsteps rushing behind her, chants were thrown at her in languages she couldn’t understand.

Why were they after her? What she was doing here to begin with?

She cried out, begging for help from her father, but the words slipped out without her permission. Who was her father? Where was he and could he had protected her. Having been through this ordeal time and time again was driving her to the edge of madness as she realized at this point that it was once again going to end in the fashion she despised the most. “Father! Father! Save me please, Father!”, she shrieked, never wanting to feel the pain again, but it was all for naught. The hands reached from the shadows behind her and ripped her off of the ground. They threw her down like a doll and then the daggers. Those blasted daggers were lifted into the air before plunging down into exposed flesh. She howled and cried but they repeated impaled her to no end. They didn’t care, she couldn’t even see their faces that were covered beneath white and crimson hooded robes. All that were seen were their cold, distant eyes as they tore at their prey before one of them came with a sword and she knew by that point of what was coming and screamed before he swung it harshly down upon her neck.

Darkness loomed around her, silence surrounded everything and before she knew it, her body was moving and she could see that she was running through the woods…yet again. “No, please! Father! Save me!” The words poured right out of her mouth again, and familiar sights of the knights and an unpaved path appeared again. She didn’t know how much more she could take of this. How long could this nightmarish situation play out before it was all over? Tears streamed down her face, only they were more so crimson and thick. They stained her face as she scrambled in a pointless effort to avoid the daggers, the sword, the pain and the fear.

Yet, it played out exactly like last time.

The truth hit her harder than the weapons could ever do- she wouldn’t make it through this night, that was what fate intended. She was reliving her own death. The realization slapped her across the face as the sword came down and again was awaken by the darkness before the chase happened. Her heart sank and she wanted to stop running, yet her body moved on its own according. Why!?“, she shouted as her legs kept her moving. She wanted to stop, but couldn’t. Her mind was fracturing, struggling to keep herself in check. She felt those awful hands pulling at her before being launched onto the damp earth, and then the daggers attacked. The blood flowed through fresh wounds before the sword came into play. She waited for it as it came down, and shut her eyes tightly before a voice came to her. It was smoothing and seemed strong enough to pull her away from all of this. Light flooded her eyes, and distorted her so. Where was she now? This didn’t seem like a part of the endless cycle she was trapped in. Breathing heavily, her head turned to see someone stroking her and a deep anger came out before she took the wrist harshly into her hands and she bite into his arm. Her frustrations towards those men, her own father not showing up to help her, and the feeling of doom drove her into this feral like state and she glared up at him.

With those venomous, golden eyes.

There was no telling in what shape the woman would be in, but he wasn’t really concerned about it- in any sense, he would fix and fashion her into a useful tool. After all, he didn’t go through all that trouble to separate her from her kin and have her killed all for nothing. He had been the one that informed that damn cult, Brightfall where her kind was housed up at and used them as just another means. Watching her in her state, he thought of it all being a success. The best part was that he didn’t have to lift too much of a finger to complete it. He felt her cold skin against his fingers as they traveled down her face- Oh she would be one of his greatest instruments. All she had to do now was wake up.

And she did.

He spotted those golden eyes immediately and knew that she was who he expected. Of course, he wasn’t very well expecting her immediate reaction as he felt her fangs dig into his arm, but there was no wincing from the god. Instead, he let her have it as he felt his blood flowing into her mouth and running down her chin onto the bed. He met her ferocious look with one of a false kindness. She didn’t relent her beastly grip nor did he cave into fear and pain. Such a little thing like her couldn’t do much damage to the likes of him anyway. He smiled through it and let her get all that anger and frustration out, no matter how long it took.

After all, he had all the time in the world.

While she was certainly one that had some fight in her, he felt her fangs slowly losing strength in their bite and before too long, she removed herself off of him. His wounds immediately sealed and he wiped away any excess blood off of him. “There, there, are we sated?” His voice was heavenly to the ears and he stepped back to give her breathing room. A part of him should have known that the predator inside her was somewhat still intact and that leaving her cornered like that would have consequences. “Even after death, you’ve had moxie left in you. Wonderful.”

He bowed gracefully as only someone as elegant as he could muster before her. “Do not fear, your long awaited sleep has been cut short and you are among the living yet again, my dear. Welcome to my home- the Hollow Cradle. I am Xunatar, the god and lord of this place.”

Despite not knowing where she was or what was going on, she felt that something was off about the man that dared to lay his hand upon her. Even as hazily as she was, she wouldn’t allow it. For all she knew, he was to blame for the hell she was put through. She tasted the blood from him, the copper taste felt foreign to her after all that time asleep yet it was comforting to her tongue. But she wasn’t looking to feed, but to be defiant and to threaten that she would be as unruly as possible until he submitted. Which he did not. That made her slightly curious as he only didn’t pose a threat to her but was allowing for her to attack him.

She continued to clenched her fangs into him for several moments before finally loosening herself from his arm and licked the blood clean from her lips. It took her a bit to figure out that her body had been exposed before clawing at the blankets to cover herself up. How dare he! Her body wasn’t meant to be seen by such unworthy eyes! Glaring, her expression didn’t change while he introduced himself so flamboyantly. But it was the words before that captivated her.

Death?

He brows knitted together in slight confusion; was the dream really what happened to her? She felt along her neck, making sure that her head was attached to her neck, which it was. But it felt so real, and her head still felt light and fuzzy from being awoken. “Where is my father?”, she spoke, bring her hand up to her head as she tried to remember him. “I want him…right now”, she demanded from him.

There was no recollection of hearing a god by that name, and she still didn’t fully trust him. Of course that was the result of some faint memories she carried- she recalled that word used a lot.

Trust.

More so, she recalled that there was barely any meaning behind that word unless it was towards her father. Aside from that, she could hardly remember other things. Still, she couldn’t completely expose her thoughts and feelings like she had her nude form towards this god, if that was what he really was. Even if he presented himself as benign. It could all be a ruse as far as she was concerned.

“Tell me, what part of DaeLuin are we in now?”

She had so many questions, and was demanding of so many things, but Xunatar wasn’t yet willing to part with the answers. It was leverage, after all that he could use against her to be more…cooperate. But it was good to see that she was so coherent even after being dead for so long. Although she covered herself up, there was no need since he wasn’t paying too much attention to her features like that. His need for her was above that of carnal desire for her flesh.

No, he had much bigger plans for the last pureblood from her family.

From the looks of it, it appeared that her memories weren’t completely intact. It was from her demeanor and not realizing that she had perished. “Dear child, you are not in DaeLuin. That world had ceased for us when we crossed over. Now we are in a place called Revaliir, a world that has a few similarities to that realm. But it’s its own world.”

He circled around the bed, well aware that someone in her position may not appreciate his stalking like movement, but like a tamer of wild beasts, he showed absolutely no fear for her to prey on. “As for why you are here, it's quite simple. I saved you. Even your father couldn’t do that, that is if he was capable or wanting to.” Coming from around the headboard, he encroached closer to her position and smiled. “You…died, my dear. The huntress was hunted, think of the irony there. You and yours were slaughtered and your father is no more.” Xunatar backed off slightly and waved off his words as if they meant nothing to him.

“You are the last of your blood, my girl. The last of a legacy. Now tell me, do you remember your name?”

Not in DaeLuin? What sort of worthless filth was he spewing from his mouth? Of course this was DaeLuin! Whatever game he was playing was doing nothing but stir her boiling temper. They had to be in DaeLuin still, not this Revaliir place Xunatar kept going on about. Her hands clenched onto the sheets even tighter; had her heart still have the capability of beating, it too would have felt tight against her chest. “You sprout lies! We are in DaeLuin!” The urge to slap him strengthened, but those eyes of his would only get another view of her body and right now, her prideful nature wouldn’t allow him another peek. Disgusting little worm he was!

The thought, though, still plagued her while thinking about this. Perhaps he was right, but then how long had she been in these parts? And where was her family? Her father? If anything else, then all she required was him and to hell with the rest of those vultures. She had to find him else what would become of her?

Whether he was a god or not, he was intruding on her personal space without her consent. She didn’t care if he had saved her- she owed him absolutely nothing. Still, she recognized begrudgingly that she needed him. Xunatar was more aware of this world and she had to pry as much from him as possible. “You know nothing of him. He would slaughter you and anyone else that would dare lay a hand on me.” The woman huffed at him before folding her arms against her, while still keeping the sheets on. While she wanted to argue with him that she hadn’t died, the memory she kept reliving over and over prior still shook her. There was little doubt that her being hunted and then gruesomely attacked in that hellish cycle was more than a coincidence. She was sure that she had died by the hands of that cult. But it was when he spoke of her father as if he was gone forever that made her eyes seep with crimson. But just as quickly as it came, it flashed away when she was asked her name. After a long pause, she looked away, feeling the weight of shame in not being able to produce an answer.

“That part, I don’t recall. I can remember bits here and there, but I don’t recall it. I believe that it was once changed from before I was inducted…to the family.” The final word uttered was in a softer tone as she recalled just how much of them didn’t matter. Slowly, ever so slowly, she rose off of the bed and the blankets fell from her body. But surprisingly enough, she was already covered by a simple white shirt and trousers. She attempted to get up from the bed, her legs were a bit woozy and her movement was sluggish as she tried to get her balance. After a few tiny steps, she nearly fell over but she recovered and turned to face the man again.

“Why am I here, Xunatar?” That was one of the many questions that were in the back of her head- it didn’t make too much sense and it didn’t dawn onto her until just now that he must of had a purpose for saving and bring her back here.

Her denial of the facts was expected, as well as her defiance against him, but Xunatar knew that her sort would fold eventually. Some were harder nuts to crack than others, but the end was always the same result. Her reaction especially for her father and clan. He looked on stoic as ever while she slowly came to the conclusion that she was being feed the truth. It was obvious in the look in her eyes, and he would be lying if he said he didn’t take in some amusement in her agony.

“I see… She didn’t remember who she was, but there were some things that she did remember, or perhaps only as much as she knew at the time of her death. “I am familiar with your family, or more so your former matriarch. She didn’t seem too fond of my presence, but I am an acquired taste, I suppose.” With a shrug, he watched her rise to her feet and had already taken the liberty of clothing her. Despite her body weakened from the awakening, he did nothing to help her as she struggled- in a way, it played out well. Between her vanity and his beliefs of strength, assisting her would have done nothing for her.

“Then may I suggest Trinity? I think it fits well considering that you have been born thrice into the world of the living.” He summoned a life size mirror for her to observe herself, no doubt that she’d be paying plenty of attention to her lovely little scar that clashed with her otherwise flawless skin. “There’s plenty of reasoning for me to help the queen.” Xunatar smiled craftily at her as her reflection changed- the plain clothing was replaced with a lovely dress that was worthy of vampire royalty. The shade of red fit her quite well and hugged at her curves. From what he understood, she had been a knight and not one that sought out so formal wears, but he had a hunch that now that she would be more open to the idea.

“Truthfully, I wish to see your clan rise back from the ashes. Your father, bless his soul, was a grand knight, but a soft ruler. You’ve always had yearned for a stronger hand when it came to ruling, no? Then take your rightful place then…I’m merely here to see that you take what is yours.”