Debauchery of a Soul-Eating Wraith

Erik Lockheart paused like he was waiting for Evian to say something more. Something that maybe negated everything he had said so far as a joke. When that never came, he felt forced to speak,

"Wait- You're serious?"

"Of course I am," Evian said, "Why did you think I wasn't."

"Because I just told you there's no point to it," Erik said.

"YOU tried. I haven't." Evian said.

"You think you being a member of the Stygian Family will make you succeed where I have failed... That your Stygian name holds any sort of merit in this part of the City?" Erik asked. His tone was intent on making it clear that he thought the whole idea was foolish.

Evian ignored the tone and answered simply.

"Maybe."

Erik frowned and then he relaxed his expression and tried to look gracious again,

"Listen, Kid, I've been working that angle for months- a year even..."

'Oh, I'm sure you have you sly dog, you.' Evian thought with a secret chuckle.

Erik continued,

"... Frida has decided not to interfere so there is nothing and I mean, nothing, you can do to change her mind."

"I'd still like to try," Evian said making a point to take a sip of wine.

"Are you not listening to me, boy?" Erik said, his frown quickly returning. For some reason, Evian made him feel threatened.

"Father, what's with the Gatekeep?" Ember snapped at him.

"Gatekeep? I-I don't..."

"If he says he wants to try, let him," Ember said and Evian smiled at her,

"Thank you, Ember. And Erik, you seem to have an 'in' with the Lordess, surely you can facilitate a meet?" Evian said.

Erik's cheeks puffed, turning red as he resisted the urge to let out a frustrated yell at Evian with his daughter so close by.

Eventually, he deflated with a sigh,

"Fine."

"Splendid," Evian said and chuckled at his pretentious choice of words.

"I can guess why you want that meet," Daria whispered to him.

"Really?" Evan asked in a weak attempt at surprise.

Daria just smirked,

"I want to tag along,"

"Why?" Evian asked. This time his surprise was genuine.

Daria gave him a slu smile.

"I have my reasons."

Evian rolled his eyes at her before he looked over at Gillert,

"And now, the Spear."

"We gave it to Ember for safekeeping," Gillert said.

Evian looked over at the Redhead.

"Ember?"

"It's not on me."

"Why not?"

"I hid it in case... Well, in care what happened today happened. That Spear is much too valuable to keep on me at all times." Ember said.

"So where is it?" Evian asked gently, "Viyeen Complex?"

Ember shook her head immediately,

"What? No. I brought it here. It's- It's somewhere in the Mansion."

"Well then, let's go get it," Evian said enthusiastically.

Ember's eyes widened,

"Wha- what? Oh. Well, it's just..."

"What is it?" Gillert asked her.

Ember didn't take her eyes off Evian's face, trying to suppress the redness creeping up her cheeks.

"Nothing. Nothing at all. Evian, come on." she said before getting up from her seat.

Evian tapped the back of Daria's hand.

"I'll be back," he said. It seemed the polite thing to do seeing as he was about to leave her in the company of strangers.

"Sure," Daria told him gently, and by the time Evian was away from the Dining table, Erik Lockheart cleared his throat.

"So, Miss Daria. How does it work? The Arcane Arts I mean?" he asked.

"Why do you ask?"

"Well, you guys -Arcanists- are always so cagey about what it entails. I've always been curious..." Erik said.

"There's a reason for that, you know," Daria said.

That was the last Evian heard of the conversation. Clearly, Daria would be entertained in his absence.

He and Ember walked the corridors in silence. He tried his hardest to act oblivious to her glances at him...

"What's wrong? Something on my face?"

... But, of course, he failed.

"It's nothing," Ember said, "It's just..."

They stopped in front of large double doors that so clearly led into a bedroom and Evian understood the issue even before Ember spoke,

"I stashed the Spear away in my room."

"I see," Evian said as Ember started shifting from foot to foot as though unsure how to progress.

Evian appeared unbothered by the location. Why would he be?

"Alright then, let's just go in and get it," he said.

"Oh um sure."

The doors opened and they stepped in together.

Ember turned on the lamps with Spiritual energy and went right over to where she had stashed the Spear. Unlocking the Compartment, she pulled out the Spear, long and covered with a cloth as it was.

She struggled to lift the Spear and propped it standing as soon as she could to take most of its weight off her body. When she looked at Evian, she saw he was taking a thorough glance at her room, especially her bed, well tidied by the Mansion workers in her absence.

Her cheeks went red and kept getting redder.

"Nice," Evian said when he took his eyes off the room and laid them on her.

Despite her red face, Ember's smile, natural and falsely 'at ease' as it was, hid whatever 'inappropriate' thoughts she had, quite well.

"Here," she said, pushing the covered Spear at Evian.

Evian received it and his eyes widened at its weight. It caught him by surprise and he had to quickly adjust his stance to properly keep it propped up.

Seeing Evian struggle caused Ember's old teasing smile to return and for the first time that day, she truly relaxed around him.

"Haha, see? You can't wield it."

"Why is it so heavy?" Evian asked as he pulled the cloth off the weapon.

Ember shrugged,

"It's a Six Star Weapon meant to be wielded by powerful physical Might. It only gets lighter when you infuse it with Spiritual energy."

"Really?" Evian said as he eyed the weapon over, staring especially at the Spearheads on both ends of it.

Ember nodded.

"Really. But it's also very draining. At the Third Order, it will drain every bit of my reserves before I can run anybody through with it."

"Wow," Evian said, his eyes still on the weapon.

"Wow indeed. So, and you still want to wield it? Keep in mind, you'll have to wait before you can truly handle its might."

Evian's brows furrowed.

Unknown to Ember, 'waiting' was only one of the issues Evian faced when it came to wielding the Spear. Being a Six Star weapon, the Spear would always require Spiritual energy to truly be potent... Spiritual Energy Evian did not possess.

'Assistant?'

[It's as you have thought. The Spear can be modified to be wielded with Eldritch energy but you WILL need to possess the Weapon Modification Manuscript from the Decadent Store. It costs 1000 Soul Points.

Would you like to view your current Soul Points balance?]

Evian's lips twitched,

'Sure. What reason could there possibly be not to shove how Soul-Point broke I am into my face?'

[As you wish]

[Soul Point Balance: 350 Soul Points (Insufficient Balance)]

Evian's eyes widened as the tab appeared in front of his eyes flashing red to signify and hammer home his low balance.

'There's no way you didn't do that on purpose.'

[Do what on purpose? You asked to see your balance and I showed it to you.]

'Do- Do you not understand Sarcasm?'

The Decadent Assistant adopted a confused tone that Evian instantly tagged as false.

[Sarcasm?]

Evian was ready to retort but Ember's voice pulled him out of his mental conference and reminded him he was not alone.

"Hey, you spaced out for a bit. I asked if you still want to wield the Spear." the Redhead told him once she had his attention again.

"Oh," Evian said before nodding, "Yes, Yes. I think I can work something out. Yes."

"Alright," Ember said with a shrug.

Evian pressed his Spatial Ring against the Spear and sucked it in for safekeeping until he could purchase the required Manuscript to make it useful.

A few seconds of silence passed as it dawned on Ember that their reason for being here had been accomplished. Now they were just two people standing in her room... mere feet from her bed.

"I guess that's it," she said absentmindedly.

Evian nodded with a smile.

"Yes, it is. Should we get back to the dinner?" he asked.

"You know," Ember said looking like she was screwing up her courage to get something off her chest,

"I've never had a man in here before."

Her words sounded like an invitation. Evian caught that and he slowly positioned his body until he was facing her.

Ember smiled bashfully at the implication of his positioning. The closeness that was creeping close and was perfectly cultivated by their aloneness in the room.

"You're the first," she said, raising her face to stare at his while blushing furiously at the potential double meaning of her words.

Evian let out a small chuckle as he raised his hands and placed them on her shoulders, rubbing them gently as he stared into her eyes. Cold grey orbs into warm brown ones.

"I'm honored," he said as his hands slowly went from her shoulders to her arms.

Ember shuddered at the tingling sensation his touch had on her and her eyes widened when she noticed Evian's face was getting closer to hers.

Evian paused when his lips were an inch from hers.

"I'm going to kiss you now."

It wasn't exactly a request. It was a statement of intent but Ember gave her consent anyway with an enthusiastic but controlled nod.

"I know."

The knees came out almost like a whisper due to how breathless she was.

Her knees went weak once his sweet-tasting lips finally touched hers...

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