All of us were silent. The image of thousands of people being lacerated before my eyes would never leave my brain.
Nakia broke the silence. "So, let me get this straight," she started, "People were killing each other, and so you wiped out the entire earth, because you felt it was a waste of life "force" for you."
"Indeed," BloodLust said.
Nakia scoffed. She pointed at Pietro. "And I thought you were evil!"
At that very moment, BloodLust stood up and walked towards an arched doorway behind his throne.
"Come, let me show you the lake," he said.
"I've already seen it." I said, shuddering.
"Ah, but that was in the past."
He led us out of the main chamber and we followed him down a series of long, serpentine corridors, and towards the cavern of the lake. My eyes widened in awe;
Instead of the murky blood that had occupied the lake of the past, this lake was pristine. The water was crystal clear, and the jagged rocks at the bottom were visible.
At the far end of the cave, a large waterfall came cascading down, creating foamy ripples on the surface of the water.
The entire cavern was illuminated with a series of torches placed on the rocky walls, and there was a warmth which was absent from the blood lake I had seen before.
"All the power from the blood," explained BloodLust, "Is condensed inside this Blood Orb."
He stood there for a moment, gazing at it in admiration, as the deep red glow was reflected in his dark eyes.
"What now?" Nakia asked.
Pietro grabbed my arm and yanked me and Nakia to a corner. BloodLust did not notice as he continued to stare at the Orb in awe.
"I think we should go back," I whispered at Nakia and Pietro.
Pietro laughed in disbelief. "What? Go back now?"
He looked around at the cave in glee.
"This everything I have ever wanted. I am not going. I shall stay here." He crossed his arms and leaned back against a rock.
Nakia shook her head. "There is no way we're leaving two BloodLust's here. One of you is bad enough, imagine what havoc both of you could wreak."
I looked at the Blood Orb which I held in my hands and back up at Pietro. He looked at me and uttered a word I had never expected from his mouth.
"Please, Gabriel... please let me stay here..." he said, "Look, I won't even have to kill anyone anymore-"
"That's cause there isn't anyone here to kill." Nakia interjected back at him.
"There is..." said a voice from behind us. BloodLust had now stopped staring at the Blood Orb and had turned to us.
"What?" I asked.
"There is someone to kill," he drawled, "Two people, in fact."
He flicked his finger and almost instantly, strings of tendons and flesh rapidly slithered down from the dark ceiling, and wrapped themselves around Nakia's ankles and wrists. She tried to wriggle free, but BloodLust's power was too strong.
"LET HER GO!" I yelled at him.
BloodLust looked at me, and drew out two swords from his cloak. Both were engraved with 'Memento Mori', and he held them both out to me and Pietro.
