Kitty stared up at the clouded red skies, the familiar feeling of hard and unyielding rock under her feet giving her an odd sense of comfort, considering where she was. Oblivion. Sorta. In reality she was back in that mountainous cave, using an astral spirit projection to appear here on Oblivion. She hadn't wanted to leave this place before, but there were other factors at play and Dan had asked if she would come with him, she always found it hard to say no to him. But this place could have been good for her, it would have been a chance for her to let go of everything and give into the darkness safely. A place where no matter how far she receded into that blissful void that kept the emotions out, she wouldn't be able to hurt anyone. Ironically, her darkness was part of the reason why she was here. 

Kitty continued to walk, searching for something, or rather someone. All her grief and suffering had started with one person, one person that set her on the dark path that left her swimming in death destruction madness pain sorrow, and another soul in her body. She was looking for her uncle. It was high time that she face her darkness and embrace it, and then overcome it. Kitty direly needed to confront Corsetta, the very manifestation of her hatred for herself. Corsetta represented every negative thing Kitty did or felt; her anger, her hatred, her grief, her thirst for vengeance and revenge, her hunger for blood, her want for complete and utter chaos havoc and destruction, even that hungering for power that Kitty tried to keep forced so far down. It was time Corsetta met her end. And thus, the reason for her trip. Step 1: Forgive and let go. 


@Draetheus

How long had it been? Years? Decades? Draetheus didn't know anymore. The track of time was lost to him as he pondered and pondered in eternal solitude with no company.
When he had died and his soul sent to this world, he was a different person: arrogant, power-hungry and a monster that had killed many. Always claiming to be on the right path, believing that dominance belonged to his kind and not accepting change. Willing to go so far as to enslave an entire race to prove his point, to rise back to the top of the food chain. And ultimately he failed.

And now he sat, atop his makeshift throne carved into a large boulder that he had hauled up there a long time ago. The throne itself was at the tip of a large hill that offered him a full view over the hellish landscape of Oblivion. He had what felt like an eternity here to ponder to himself and he realised. There was a reason why he never found his family here. It's just that they were in a better place and he was not. While they may be dwelling in some sort of paradise, he was stuck down here in this inescapable hole for eternity. And it was here he began to realise the error of his ways, what made him different from his siblings and parents.
They were never power hungry and neither did they enslave. Despite thinking their more passive methods to be foolish, it had taken him all these years to realise that they were right. War and loss had taken its toll on him and it was that cruelty that implanted its own cruelty within him. And now, he was alone.

But a familiar figure came into his sight as he gazed down at the dwelling, suffering inhabitants. Many barely moving and just laying or sitting, having accepted their fates long ago. It was Kittiana. She had returned, but why? What was she looking for? But no, he wasn't so foolish. He continued to watch, curious as to what she was up to.

Kitty had spotted Draetheus as well, stopping for a moment and looking at him. She hadn't bothered to clean up after her fight with Zalgo. There was sill a bit of blood on her face from her split lip, and soot still clung to her hair face and clothes. She didn't look like she had been through hell, but she had definitely been through something. Kitty maintained his gaze for a moment longer, then began to head toward him and as he got closer he could see the slight shimmer her body had. She wasn't entirely there. 

Kitty stopped in front of her uncle's mock throne, looking at him with a calm and serious gaze, there wasn't a hint of the anger and madness and hatred she had looked at him with the last time they met. "Hello Uncle."

Draetheus watched as she walked up to him. The slight shimmer to her appearance was obvious enough to tell him that this was a mere projection.
"Couldn't care to greet me in person, child?" Draetheus replied. His voice was a bit croaky and softer than before, while his tone did not carry a derogatory demeanor like before. Rather, he sounded a bit tired, defeated even.
"Why are you here?"

"I did not wish to antagonize the Judge further. I doubt he would be willing to let me leave a second time." Curiosity showed on Kitty's face, she took a seat in front of Draetheus still strangely calm. "It seems your ego and ignorance to humility have finally lessened. You sound tired uncle." The half vampire nearly smirked, a glint of red in her eyes but just as quickly as it appeared it vanished. "I am here in hopes of making amends. It seems from the looks of you and the sound of your tone, you too have realized the destruction grudges and misguided mindsets can cause. I seek to eradicate my demon, but first I must heal the bond between myself and the person who helped me create my demon."

Draetheus let out a tired huff. He thought for a moment, looking straight ahead into the landscape.
"Do you realise that you are one of the very few who were ever allowed to leave this place again? Oblivion is a pit of eternal solitude and suffering for those who wronged continuously in their lifetimes they say, and yet that eternity did not apply to you."
Draetheus then shifted his gaze down to her.
"Has it ever occurred to you why fate had led you to freedom?"

"Because it enjoys tormenting me." Was her quick reply, any emotion on her face draining away. "Strange as it may seem I enjoyed it here. I could give into her here without fear of her hurting anyone, I didn't have to feel the pain. My personal hell is living." Her fingertips seemed to brush the ground, but nothing seemed to stir, she wasn't really here after all. "An endless cycle of finding happiness, only to have it ripped from my fingertips violently and drenched in blood. A never ending journey of serving penance for my sins, only to create more of them." 

Kitty looked down at her palms, instead of smooth tan skin all she saw was red dripping off her flesh and screams flooded her ears while the scent of fire filled her nose. "My ledger has been long since lost in the sea of blood I engulfed it in, nothing will wash my palms clean. But letting go of my demon may give me a breath of air, if only delay my drowning in scarlet." Then Kitty seemed to fall silent, as if pondering.

"I would have been loathe to admit it before, but we are not so different are we?"

Draetheus locked eyes with her. Thinking about her question for a moment.
"You've suffered a lot it seems. And I'm to blame."
He grabbed the sides of the throne and heaved himself off the seat. As he did so, he shook off some spider-like insects that were feasting on the flesh on his chest. He walked past Kitty and stood at the edge of the tip of the hill. He looked out to the landscape and took a deep breath. Closing his eyes, he breathed out in a long drawn out sigh before opening them again slowly.
"For so long, I thought I was the best among my siblings. My father preferred me to the others, he had so much hope for me. He loved all of us. Dagon was a direct copy of him: strong and brave. Danica, your great grandmother was fierce.. much like you. But she was also extremely gentle at heart like mother. And I thought I was the best. I thought that all these righteous qualities would only lead our species to doom."

He paused for a moment, breathing again.
"You remind me of her, my older sister. You can not be blamed for the darkness you harbor within yourself. Your darkness stemmed from someone much darker. We are actually very different." He shook his head as he said the last part.

She turned so that she was sitting facing his back again, curiosity back on her face. "What was she like? Danica?" Kitty didn't know why she was bothering asking him, all she needed was to forgive him and let it go but yet it didn't seem like it would be so easy. "Is that why you killed my father? You thought my father was weak because he loved my mother and my mother was weak because she was human." Then the smirk curled on Kitty's lips, her mother was anything but weak. "She was much stronger than you thought she was. A Dagmaer witch. In possession of the book too." 

Then she sighed, actually looking at Draetheus with pity instead of anger or hatred. "Everyone has their wayward paths. What finally kicked my ass into getting off my wayward path, was someone very dear to me getting off theirs. I also have to do right by my daughters, I can not always be afraid of losing my control and hurting someone around them. I have to set an example."

Draetheus listened to her words not with dismissal as he usually would have, nor the pouting of an annoying child. This time, he listened to her words with interest and intrigue. When she finished, he spoke again.
"Danica was... the heart and soul of us siblings. She was gentle, caring and warm hearted. But in battle she was fierce and unrelenting. She never gave up in a fight. It was as if fear itself feared her. She was a brilliant warrior. She was also considered one of the most beautiful women in the land by those that served us. She married a human who she had turned. A respectable man he was of noble class and valour. Both seemed to complete each other." He sighed.

"I killed your parents because I was arrogant. I viewed humanity as much lower than us and as slaves. Humans lived in peace under my father's rule, but I always falsely deemed his kindness to their kind a weakness. When your father married a human without turning her, accepting her for who she was, I let that arrogance and anger consume me fully. A fit of blind rage and I had both of their blood on my hands."
He shook his head again.

Draetheus then turned and walked up to her, stopping only a meter away. He looked eyes with her again.
"I failed my father. He thought that I'd be the one to bring peace to the world. To end all conflict. I was the youngest, and as such I had so much potential to learn everything I could from both my parents and siblings. But all this corrupted mind of mine collected was hatred.
I was wrong, what I did was evil. I am aware of this now. There is nothing I can do to atone for my sins but dwell in this land for the rest of my being. But at least I can make amends with the one person I wronged the most."
Draetheus looked up at the red sky.
"I hope and imagine that my family rests in a better place than this. They deserve it for all they had done in their lives just as I deserve this banishment."
He looked back down at Kitty.
"For all the time that we had spent in conflict against each other, I always thought that you were deluded and idiotic, misguided and naive. But I was wrong. You were always on the right path, I was just too arrogant to see it."
He then looked down at the ground.
"You are, and always will be. The greatest descendant of Dracula. And you will be the best mother to your children despite what you may think." He looked at her in the eyes again. "Do not fail them, teach them to be strong and take care of them. Do not ever give up in what you do, and teach them to never give up either. Dracula's legacy will continue through you. I implore you, do not fail him, and most of all, do not fail your children."

Something seemed to click in Kitty and she stood up, meeting his gaze with the exact shade of blue in her eyes that had father had. Her mother had always told her she had her father's eyes, while her father told her she was the spitting image of her mother, both were true. "I met him once. Dracula. You were about 1. He loved you dearly, I could see it. Do not think yourself completely lost and evil, evil can not be loved but you were. You were just misguided."  Kitty gave Draetheus a thin smile, but a smile nonetheless. "I do not plan on failing my Great Great Grandfather, nor do I plan on failing my children. A war on Earth is coming and they must be prepared." 

Kitty's body started to shimmer more, her spell was waning and her projection was beginning to fade. "Thank you Uncle. You have been forgiven." Then she gave him a smile, perhaps a similar expression to one his sister might have worn. "But I will not forget. Should I ever see you on the opposite side of a battlefield. I will eviscerate you."

Draetheus nodded.
He then walked past her over to the throne. He stood in front of it and stared for a few seconds, before drawing his fist up and slamming it down onto the carved seat. The sheer force of the impact sent a shockwave throughout the entire boulder, causing large cracks to grow across it within a second. Some small pieces of rock flew off in all directions. For a moment the boulder retained its size, but then the next second, it crumbled into more smaller pieces of rock, some of which rolled down the hill. He then took one last look at Kitty and walked off, to parts unknown.

Kitty's astral body faded from Oblivion, her real eyes flying open and the rock wall of the mountain cave greeted her. Kitty got up and headed over to the backpack on the bed, ripping open two blood bags and devouring them. She had used a lot of energy with her magic recently, she needed to replenish it and blood certainly helped. "Did we have to meet here?" Severina's voice echoed in the cave and Kitty smiled slightly, even with her back turned she could imagine the brunette's nose wrinkling up as she looked around with slight disdain. 

Sure enough when Kitty turned Severina's nose was wrinkled up, her black cardigan pulled tightly across her body as she shivered. "You wouldn't be cold if you weren't wearing a miniskirt." "It's cute." "Whatever, did you bring the things I need?" "Yes, did you bring the spells?" "They're on the bed, but I need you to stay." Severina pouted, looking at the girl with annoyance. "Why?" "Because if I seem like I'm losing I need you to kill me." "What?! No way! Diana would kill me! So would your feathered daughter. I think. Let's not even mention your boyfriend Death." "He's not Death anymore. And stop over reacting. Neither of them would kill you. Dan actually gained a brain and Jaya... actually I'm not sure about her. She might actually kill you." The corners of Kitty's mouth turned up, if Dan was watching like he said he was, she could get her jabs in all the time. Teasing him relentlessly seemed to be a twisted form of flirting for her. 

Severina tossed Kitty the bag, it was full of the things she needed. "Fine. I'll stay. But if I die too, I'm going to annoy the shit out of you on the other side." "You sound like Diana." "Just kill me now." Kitty rolled her eyes, sitting down crisscrossed. She pulled the candles out first; a black one for banishing negativity, a purple one for spirit and wisdom, and a white one for divination purity healing and exorcism. Then she took out a small purple bag from the bigger bag, taking out the herbs afterwards. She stuffed as much mugwort, acacia, honeysuckle, peppermint, rosemary, thyme, yarrow, cloves, dandelion, lilac, lavender, and calendula into the bag. After that she produced a purple marker and drew an eye on the bag, putting the marker away, then rubbing the bag on her third eye Chakra (forehead). With her other hand she began to light the candles, a wave of energy running through her with each lit candle. When she lit the last one the world around her seemed to disappear, only to be replaced with one that was exact same but everything was in shades of black and grey. A hand grabbed Kitty's throat, lava circling the owner's wrist.




"Hiya Kits."