The first follower

The rain that had started off as a light drizzle had turned into a full-scale downpour as Blumiere shivered and pulled his cloak more tightly around him, to shield the precious book he clutched to his chest. His voice was horse from calling all day, searching for his beloved Timpani. But he hadn't found her. Slow and discouraged, Blumiere approached a nearby dark cave, which looked like a good place to camp and sort out his jumble of tangled thoughts, but as soon as he came close, a screech pierced his ears and a strange being leapt out at him. It looked like a gnarled, ugly bundle of rotten tree roots with a head and brown tangled feet.

"Who dares?!" It cried "Who dares to trespass on my cavern?!" It continued screeching in this fashion for some time, before Blumiere tired of it's rambling and blasted the creature with dark energy from the staff he had stolen from his father. The creature was sucked into the mini-vortex and spun around violently before being blasted out and crumpling to the ground motionlessly. Blumiere simply kicked the corpse out of his way and entered the cave. He was immediately greeted by another screech, but this sounded more like an animal's cry of fear. Blumiere advanced further into the dark and almost bumped his head against a cage hung from the ceiling, far too small a cage for the bat that was trapped inside. The remainder of the day's light streamed in and the bat whimpered at it's harsh glare. It was obvious to Blumiere that the bat was injured in one wing and starving, so despite his growing hatred for the world, he unlocked that latch and set the bat free, smiling thinly at the way it somehow managed to get out and flew shakily around the cave before settling upside-down near where Blumiere made his camp, it's eyes landing on anything but him.

Just before dawn came, Blumiere was woken by a strange noise. As he sat up, the first thing he realised was that he was not alone. A small, purple-haired woman sat crossed-legged underneath where the bat had been, her eyes tightly shut.

"Who are you?" Blumiere asked. The woman immediately turned towards his voice and replied in a dry and cracked voice, as if she hadn't spoken in a long time.

"I'm...Nastasia." she whispered, a slight accent brushing her words "You saved me."

"What? Wait, you were that bat?!" Blumiere blinked in surprise. Nastasia nodded.

"I have been trapped for...um, a long time." She tried to turn more towards him, but gave a small cry of pain and held her arm, causing him to remember in a flash of the bat's injured wing. He shook out his cape and crawled over to Nastasia, who flinched away, obviously unsure of where he was. Blumiere paused.

"Tell me, why do you keep your eyes shut, Nastasia?" he asked.

"I have, um, a strong hypnotic power in my eyes." She explained "If anyone looks at them, they are in my power. I try to, um, keep my eyes closed to, uh, protect other people such as you."

"I see." Blumiere gently took Nastasia's arm in his hands and she winced slightly, but he went on; "Well, first things first, if you trust me, I can heal your arm for you."

"Really?"

He didn't reply verbally to this, but a white light glowed from his hands and surrounded Nastasia's arm. When the light faded, the deep cut had completely vanished. Nastasia ran her hand over her arm in astonishment. "It's...gone!" she gasped. Blumiere now concentrated his powers of creation into his new idea. The white light glowed again and this time, when it subsided, he smiled and guided Nastasia's hand to what he had made. "Glasses?" she asked, feeling their triangular outline with her thin fingers.

"They are tinted." Blumiere explained "This way you can control your hypnotic eyes easily." Nastasia immediately put them on and Blumiere could tell she blinked a couple of times and then stared open-mouthed around her in shock.

"All...this time...I've been, um, trapped...here?!" she whispered. Blumiere nodded and suddenly, a tiny spark of hope lit in him.

"Nastasia." He said and noted at how, when she looked at him, she didn't seem fazed by his freakish appearance. It reminded him painfully of Timpani. "Nastasia. Please, have you seen or heard about a beautiful girl wandering alone? Her hair is as black as night and her eyes shine like diamonds..."

Nastasia shook her head regretfully.

"No." She replied tentatively "But, um, who is she?" Blumiere's shoulders slumped as he answered,

"Timpani, the love of my life. My father...I...I don't know what he did to her, but I'll never give up searching for her! Never!" his voice broke and he turned away to hide his tears. Nastasia stayed silent, just watching Blumiere as he stared into a corner of the cave, his hope crumbling and a burning hate for the world swiftly igniting and roaring in his ears. He slowly got to his feet and reached for the book he had been carrying, undoing the clip on the side of it and opened it on the last chapter. A strange, unearthly light shone from it.

"What...is that?" Nastasia recoiled slightly from the book. Blumiere studied it carefully.

"My revenge." He said coldly "The world took my Timpani away from me...so now it will pay. This is the Dark Prognosticus, my ancestor's book of hidden prophecies. And this..." he placed a finger on the title of the last prophecy "This is the chapter that prophesises the destruction of all worlds...which I will fulfil!"

"Destroy all worlds?!" Nastasia cried "Is that...um, not a bit, uh, harsh?" Blumiere turned to her.

"You don't fool me, Nastasia. I know there are people who you would deeply wish revenge upon. Those jailers of yours, as a start?"

Nastasia sat perfectly still, but her hands were shaking slightly and a single tear trickled down her blue-skinned cheek, which was quickly brushed away. She nodded slowly.

"Yes." She whispered "The...the people that did this to me...I-I want them to die." She finished bitterly.

"I have killed my father already." Blumiere said flatly and stood tall, seeming to fill the whole cave. "So will you join me?"

Nastasia also got to her feet and placed both her hands over her heart, which was a gesture new to Blumiere, but her words confirmed what he guessed it meant.

"Of course I will. I, uh, owe you my life, and I am prepared to die for you if, um, if need be."

Blumiere, or rather, Count Bleck nodded.

"Then it shall begin."

A/N meeeeeeeeh sorry for being so out of action recently...this is my present to you guys to make up for it!