Masked Emotions // Dream6d

Chapter 1

Warning: Strong Language, Blood, Gore, mention of death

     Vincent sighed, scrubbing harder to remove a stubborn stain. At one point, he would have thought it to be some sort of strange mud, but by now he was aware that this was dried blood. He didn't dare ask what happened there, but it had happened recently.

     The young man had been working in the castle since the new king had first taken over. He was in training until just a few weeks ago. The longer he worked, the more he yearned to go back to those days. He was never alone, always surrounded by the other trainees. Now, he worked in his assigned hallway, while the others stayed isolated in theirs.

     He stood up and wiped the sweat from his brow. He glanced over at a nearby wall, where something was engraved in the wall. 'A6D' it read. The new king had made them put that there when he kept getting lost in the castle. He said it made him more aware of which hallway he was in out of the hundreds of others.

     His hands fidgeted with his name tag, which had the same marking on it. His boss was too lazy to remember names, so he made them identify themselves with the hallways they worked in.

     Suddenly, Vincent heard a thundering of footsteps, signifying someone was walking that way. Remembering his teachings, he slipped into a secret servant's hallway behind a tapestry so as not to be seen. He looked through a hole in the wall as a patrol of guards strolled past. Vincent groaned quietly at the muddy footprints they left in their wake, knowing he'd have to clean them up. He also caught a glimpse of something resembling a human head and nearly lost his lunch.

     The moment they were gone, he hurried back to cleaning, trying to get the mud out before it set in the carpet. Vincent wished he didn't have to hide the moment anyone rounded the corner, but castle staff were taught early on that they were to be nothing more than shadows. If ever they could not reach a hiding spot, they must stand at attention and pray the higher class do not decide to interact with them.

     He blew a strand of unkept hair out of his eyes, annoyed constantly at how it continued to fall into his field of view. The young man wondered why there were guards walking through his usually peaceful halls. He figured it was another order from the king; he had become paranoid as of late.

     He sighed and sat back to admire his work. He'd removed the mud completely and the carpet looked as good as new. However, a new blood stain spanning the length of the entire hallway splattered the stones of the floor. He gagged at the thought that someone had just recently been dismembered nearby.

     Without thinking, his hands strayed to his throat as he imagined an axe deceasing down on his neck as it had so many times in his nightmares. The scent of fresh blood reached his nose and he stumbled to a window, unlocking it and pushing it open.

     He gazed out at the kingdom below. From here, he could see the quaint little bakery his parents owned. He hadn't been to see them in quite awhile, since he rarely got days off from his busy job. The cool breeze calmed his nerves and he inhaled deeply. He could smell the ocean, the salty air carried all the way from the vast horizon.

     When he turned back to the musty hall, he silently wished he had chosen to take over the bakery as his parents had offered. He dipped his cloth in a bucket of water and rung it out, before beginning to clear the blood away. He recalled the day he took the job at the castle.

     They were offering a handful of positions to anyone who was brave enough to take them. The pay was good and would be enough to feed his family for years to come. So, naturally, Vincent snatched the opportunity. What the job description did not tell you, was that the open positions were because the new king had killed most of the workers in the castle when he took the throne.