“Vitya has me swamped with work because of the Belarusian Lord appointment issue,” Arseny murmured as he walked with Anya through the halls of the Black Tortoise temple.
Arseny was a whole head taller than Anya–the same height as Viktor– and he had pitch-black hair unlike Anya who had platinum blonde hair, their faces, however, were nearly identical.
Anya chuckled a bit, “Sorry, it is for the sake of Belarus…If someone corrupt gets that spot problems will arise…”
“I know…but I'm not exactly a politician, I was just supposed to be like you– the right-hand man,” Arseny murmured.
“I’m not that important.” Anya chuckled.
“What servant gets as many perks as you…?” Arseny murmured and raised an eyebrow, Anya just smiled in response.
“Elder! Elder!”
A follower ran down the hall at them, completely out of breath and terrified.
“What is it?” Anya asked.
“A dungeon has opened in the Lady’s room!”
“What?!”
—
Andrei and Elena both quickly rushed to the Black tortoise temple after hearing the news. They assumed that Arseny and Anya would’ve already started getting rid of the dungeon but when they arrived in Elena’s bedroom at the temple they found them still outside the dungeon.
“What is going on? Why aren’t you going in?” Elena asked, going up to Anya and Arseny who were standing near the sword in the middle of her bedroom. They were all geared up to enter the dungeon but for some reason, they didn’t.
“My lady…” Arseny murmured and bowed.
“It’s sealed. We can’t go in no matter how hard we try,” Anya explained.
Elena looked confused and turned to Andrei, something like that had never happened before.
She walked deeper into the room and glanced down at the sword in the center of the room before looking up at the dungeon.
“Come on, I’m waiting for you.”
Elena didn’t even realize she had grabbed the sword, or that she has already stepped into the portal with ease. She had trusted Anya and Arseny on their observation but somehow it seemed that the dungeon wanted her to come in.
Andrei quickly reached out and tried to grab her free hand but he failed. He was, however, able to enter the dungeon much to everyone’s shock. Anya and Arseny tried entering after them but it didn’t work at all for them.
“...Will they be okay?” Arseny murmured and glanced at his mother with concern.
“...I can’t be certain…please alert lady Natasha…” Anya murmured, staring at the dungeon.
‘All three of them…”
–
Rather than a dungeon, Elena ended up in a completely different place.
A castle covered in black and gold, from the walls to the floor. She stood in front of a mirror. Or what for a second she believed to be a mirror. She quickly realized that she was actually just standing in front of a person, one who looked identical to her.
There was practically no difference, Elena had to look even closer to notice small snake-like fangs in her smiling mouth.
“You…”
“I’m glad you answered my call, this can all go quicker this way. “ The woman said and chuckled.
“I am Zoya or Odin (1) as I am often called by other incarnations. I was the first Black Tortoise Incarnation.” The woman explained and quickly grasped Elena’s wrist, dragging her along with her.
As they walked Zoya was silent and Elena was also silent, she knew she shouldn’t try to stop Zoya because she seemed to hold no Ill will, though it could be that because they were technically the same person, Elena couldn’t sense it.
“I know your husband’s family very well.” Zoya suddenly said.
“You do?” Elena asked, curious about how old Zoya was.
“Yes, I was around back then. I advised Filipp Evanoff to give up on his plan to kill Avelina. He did not listen to me though. And now here we are, with the Ivanov family falling farther and farther into depravity regardless of how much they try.” Zoya chuckled.
Elena stopped in her tracks immediately.
“What do you mean…?”
Zoya sighed and pulled Elena toward a castle window and pointed down at a barely visible island in the sky below. It was pitch black, flowing with black water and pure negative energy.
Elena’s concern only heightened as she continued to watch. She could feel Andrei and Viktor’s presence on that Island but she really didn’t even understand where she was and what she was looking at. She wanted to just jump out and try to fly over there but Zoya’s grip on her wrist was tight.
“If you want to fix all that, you’re going to have to come with me first.”
—--
Andrei also found himself in a place he didn’t recognize at all. His situation was much less comfortable though. He was staring out at an ocean of black goo and negative energy. He wasn’t in the goo but he was stuck in a single square of white polished stone, watching the goo slowly climb and fall the sea.
“What is this…!” He looked around and when he turned to his sides he found two very familiar statues. He then turned behind him and found the third missing one. The three statues of his ancestors were at the center of the sea of negative energy. He was standing right at the edge of Vikentiy’s statue.
“Elena! Are you here!?” He quickly called and he heard a voice in the distance quickly getting closer. Not an echo or a response but a quick cacophony of laughter and screeches and sounds.
“Poor Little human how sad” “TO BED.” “What a shame” “Avelina, Avelina, AVelina AVELINA” “father” “FILLIPP” “Vikentiy, the star” “FATHER”
“YOU HAVE WRONGED ME” “I remember” “I REMEMBER”
“TO BED.” “Poor Little human how sad” “AVELINA” “father” “FILLIPP” “Vikentiy, the star” “FATHER”
“I remember” “I REMEMBER” “YOU HAVE WRONGED ME”
“Avelina, Avelina, AVelina AVELINA” “father” “FILLIPP” “Vikentiy, the star” “FATHER” “ Poor Little human how sad” “TO BED.”
“I remember” “I REMEMBER”
Andrei clutched his head and covered his ears with his palms, the endless repetition was driving him crazy. As his mind wavered, repulsed by the memories of his family’s true story visual hallucinations followed the auditory ones.
Illusions of the statues around him moving, dancing, singing, and then of Avelina becoming Elena. As he stared at the statue that had now become his own beloved, he feared the sight he would see if he turned his head to look toward the statue of Vikentiy but before his body could move for him, hands of impurity reached out to grasp the pure white statues. The very thought of such filth touching Elena caused Andrei to react when it was best he didn’t. He moved, reaching for his sword to slice at the impurities, using the sword to cut through them. His movement however caused him to become the next target.
He tried to continue cutting through the illusions but they only grew stronger and as he held his place on the statue, the statue itself began to sink with him into the darkness of the sea. He couldn’t stop it, not at all.
The next thing he knew, he was also in the sea of impurity, watching as the whole world turned dark and foggy, illusions battering his sight as he struggled.
Illusions of Elena were okay, he could dispute the hateful words the negative energy made her say but when it came to Illusions of Viktor he began to sink much faster.
The idea that he had failed him as a father was fresh in his own mind and hearing Viktor, or worse, teen Viktor say it only made things significantly worse for his mental state.
—
“Why do I have to be here.” Viktor spat as the carriage entered the military academy.
“Because you wanted to come to the academy,” Andrei responded, coldly looking out of the window.
“Yeah, maybe 10 years ago. I already know everything they’re going to teach me here what’s the point!?” Viktor asked, truthfully he knew what the point was but he wanted Andrei to just say it. He wanted him to say to his face that he hoped that being in a strict academy like this would straighten him out–in more ways than one.
Of course, Andrei didn’t utter a word of that and simply got off the carriage to greet the teachers.
He didn’t know what Viktor’s problem was. One day he was a little angel and the next he was butting heads with him almost on purpose. And there was no point in asking him what was wrong because it's not like he appreciated that sentiment much either–not that he knew how to word it well, to begin with.
He knew that Elena trusted Lord Zhao with Viktor’s education but he couldn’t bring himself to do the same, not when he saw the sweet little Viktor disappearing more and more every second that he was around. But maybe he was too late, because even after the academy and no longer having Lord Zhao around Viktor didn’t return to who he used to be. He learned to fake it around halfway through though.
In the eyes of the people outside of his family, he was a charming young man, even to his family actually, he was a charming young man but a he grew it became more and more clear to them that he and Andrei were never going to get along anymore,
The charm seemed like a step forward though. And it was honestly the only reason Andrei ever came to care for Mark. Upon their first meeting, he was mortified. By the thought that his son was not actually just doing an ‘act’ to make him angry but also by the thought that Viktor chose someone like that. Mark was loud, thoughtless, and worst of all, he would not give up. Viktor would toss every single one of his letters and he would still come and visit. Andrei honestly wanted to give him a piece of his mind at almost every turn but Viktor was changing and Mark just seemed to be the reason.
This change was nothing compared to the change he saw when Viktor started his final year at the magic academy. He had heard from Anya, that Viktor had started to act… differently. He didn’t know what this meant but Natasha practically knocked his and Elena’s door down after the Paris auction and immediately told them the same thing. And when he saw him in London… for a second it was like his son was back. He was charming in a way that didn’t feel fake.
“Should I just up and die then!?” –Viktor had once won an argument like that. By completely shattering Andrei’s heart and saying that when Andrei told him that there was no way that he could be with a man. Andrei had meant it in a more logical sense, Viktor clearly had to pass on the mana constitution and since he likely also had Vikentiy’s curse, he also had to pass that on too, he might have 100 years until it was mandatory to pass it on but he should still pass it on early, for the sake of his health. He was supposed to explain this to Viktor but when the words were almost stuck in his throat, it was like the devil had pushed the words out of Viktor. To end the argument that had really just been a warning.
“I don’t want to die..” Hearing this from Viktor after he found out that he was cursed almost made Andrei tear up. Why was it that it seemed like his little boy was finally returning now? Now that he was sick and likely wouldn’t survive a year?
–
“Should I just up and die then!?” Preying on his pain once again, the negative energy showed him that scene again, but with child Viktor instead.
“No!”
