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The overblots themselves were hard on everyone. Dorm members, overblotters, people close by. Everyone. No one went unaffected.
Perhaps that’s why Bram came to the isolated roof with Malleus, his broken horn reflecting moonlight like some fractured mirror. With the dampened magic, he was… More emotional. Curled up into a little ball, knees hugged close to his chest. He looked like a child… Well… He reminded you he was a child.
“Mind if I sit?” the vampire asked, only out of courtesy before sinking down beside him.
The two sat in silence, staring out at the foggy landscape of Diasomnia. Malleus offered the elder only a brief glance before going back to his sulking. Bram, in turn, did not pressure Malleus to speak. He was a father in more ways than one, he knew better than to force sensitive topics.
However… It did need to be addressed. Gently, though. Bram found himself rather good at gently addressing this sort of thing…
“... I do understand.” He said, turning to face Malleus now.
“No, you do not.” Malleus stated firmly, not looking at Bram. “You could not possibly comprehend what I am feeling.”
Bram sighed. He knew he’d say that. After all, the most he said about the past were off hand mentions of his service, be it he fought for the right for Malleus to marry any student he saw fit or for himself to wear a dress if he so chose. He seldom shared more than that.
“... How would you like to hear a story?” Bram quipped, staring back out at the horizon.
“Do I have a choice in the matter?” Malleus asked, resting his chin on his hand boredly.
“You loved my stories when you were just a wee little lizard.” Bram retorted, his ear flicking in annoyance.
“I believe I’ve grown quite a bit since then.” Malleus mused. “But… Very well. If it is so worth sharing, go on then.”
Bram sighed, leaning back as he started speaking.
“This is the story of a ghost…”
“A ghost?”
“Well, people certainly called him that. Truthfully, he was born human, to human parents in a human castle.”
“A nobleman?”
“By name and blood, yes. However, his parents did not deem him so. Because terrible misfortune struck him before he was even a day old, born without the features of his parents. They called him the devil, and scorned him like sin.”
“Merely for looking different? How cruel…”
“Well, they were indeed humans… They scorned their only son, vowing to never have another, for it was clear they were cursed with that wretched spawn… But he was no wretch. He was a kind and gentle boy, wanting nothing but peace.”
“How would he know what a world of peace is if he didn’t have it from birth?”
“The family had a grand library. It was one of the few places he could go. He could read for hours, only noticed by the maids who pitied him and brought him sweets between meals.”
“How awful…”
“Oh yes… He lived a dreadful life… And it got worse before it got better.”
“But it does get better?”
“Indeed it does… But not for a long while. Especially not on the boy’s seventeenth birthday, when he watched helplessly as he saw himself as what he could only call a monster.”
“Did he turn cruel?”
“Oh, not in the slightest. If anything it made him more timid. He was terrified of what he could do, what his instincts demanded… But his father hated the transformation more than he did. He locked that boy in his room as he begged and clawed at the door, crying and begging to be better.”
“Typical…”
“The father did not let him out, even as the boy starved. So, the boy climbed out his window, finding a pack of wolves around the castle.”
“Were they kinder than the humans?”
“Oh much so. Wolves do not care for skin or hair or eyes. They care about lost cubs, and that mother certainly saw one when she took that boy in. Now, the boy had a birthday in a colder month, so winter came quickly. Being the one with opposable thumbs, the boy hunted for the pack, until he was caught one day.”
Malleus gasped. “A hunter?”
“No, not quite.” Bram chuckled. “A general.”
“A general?”
“A general. A fearsome general, who took the boy back to the troops, away from the pack. The general… Was not a kind man.”
“... Then why did he stay?”
“One part of it was fear… But the general also fed him rations. He gave him a place to sleep, a way to speak when words would fail the boy, and trained him into a soldier. He was not a kind man, no. But the fae general did not see the pale skin, white as snow, the silver hair, the blood red eyes. He saw power and pointed ears, and he trained it into something incredible.”
“I see… Did it really take so little to satisfy the boy?”
“Well, imagine it were you. For once in your life, you were surrounded by people who looked at you not with fear or disgust, but with the eyes they looked at everyone else with. You were merely an equal.”
“... That does make it easier to understand.”
“Naturally. So the boy trained. He fought. He feasted when he could. And he stayed by the general’s side, as he was the first man to offer him any kind of shelter that anything on two legs could really hope for.”
“And then what happened…?”
“Then… That general was given a great responsibility. Greater than any he’d had before, for someone he truly loved but could never have for himself.”
“Could there truly be something so great…?”
“Truly… That boy was there with the general on his orders. He didn’t understand why the general wanted him there, but he didn’t dare question it. That’s how he knew what was so special, so great that it took the general’s entire attention.”
“And… What was it…?”
“... An egg.”
“An egg?”
“A special egg.”
Malleus scoffed. “How special could it be? It’s an egg.”
“When it hatched… For the first time that boy had seen… The general cried. He sobbed his poor heart out… And it was the most human thing that boy had ever seen the fairy do…”
“... I see… I suppose if it elicited such a reaction, then I suppose it must’ve been incredibly important.”
“It was… The general changed after that day. He was more protective of both the boy and the hatchling… Like a true father…”
“It must’ve been special for that boy to have a family after his hardships…”
“Oh yes… It is…” Bram mused wistfully. “... That’s the story of how I came to meet you and Lilia.”
Malleus froze at that. His eyes widened as he stared at the elder vampire, the reveal taking him completely by surprise. “Y-You mean–you–?”
Bram gave a hearty laugh at the dragon’s surprise. “Indeed… That boy was me. Shunned for my albinism in a time when it was seen as devil’s work… Given a home in the army more comfortable than any lavish castle could provide…”
Malleus sighed. “... Castle walls don’t breed stories…”
“... No… They do not…”
“... So… If you truly understand… Why was it me…?”
“Oh! That’s simple! I hardly use magic at all, only out of pure necessity, and even then I cheat. To this day, I don’t know how to fly a broom!”
Malleus gave a puzzled look. “... You’re nearly 300.”
“Many adults can’t do common things!”
“Most don’t attend prestigious high schools either.”
“Okay!” Bram clapped, standing up straight now. “I think we’ve dwelled on that conversation plenty! How about we go out for ice cream?”
Malleus hesitated for only a moment before standing himself. “Don’t think for a moment this means I’ve forgotten about any of this.”
Bram laughed awkwardly, continuing to deflect from Malleus’ prying questions as they both made their ways back inside.