Begin, Ivan
The last thing I remembered was seeing two strange people standing before me. My vision was blurry and I couldn't make out who they were before I completely blacked out. I just wanted to escape from that place, and bring those kids with me… I fought so hard, but that bastard Parro still got away. It seemed my life was just a continuous tragedy at this point. While unconscious, I dreamed of when I was just a boy, and my mother was still alive. She was such a beautiful and kind woman. I remembered the way she would tell us stories about our father, telling us he was on grand adventures. Despite the way she felt about him, I knew even then that he had abandoned us. I would tell her that I hated him, but she would just say, "Dear, there is not enough time in this world for us to hate others. Let go." I couldn't let it go. Especially when my mother got sick, all I thought was, where is my father? Why isn't he here caring for our mother?" I felt that I would never know the answer. In my dream, my mother was smiling so brightly. She had such kind eyes, and a warmth about her that made us forget all about the cruel world we lived in. I miss you, mother…
I woke up in a dimly lit room that seemed to be adorned with old faded tapestries of different colors. The walls were painted in a deep scarlet red. There were green velvet chairs, and other furniture made from dark wood. Where was I? I pulled myself out of the bed I was lying in, and immediately fell to the floor. My muscles felt weak, and I could hear my own heart beating out of my chest, BUMP BUMP…BUMP BUMP… I grasped hold of my chest with my hand and tried to brace myself on the floor. I looked down at my hand that was holding me up off the floor and my vision became blurry. In a short instant, I swore that I could see the bones of my hand. It was like my skin had become translucent, or maybe I was seeing through it? I gasped for air and muttered, "What the hell is happening to me?" As if on cue, the door to the room burst open. "Hey! What the hell are you doing out of bed?!" It was a girl, possibly my age or a little older. She wore a strange wardrobe very reminiscent of a scarecrow. It even seemed like there was actual straw stuffed into the sleeves and neckline of the shirt making her look very poofy. The oddest part was that she wore a weathered and wide brimmed pointy hat that very distinctly looked like a face sewn into the folds of the leather. She wore glasses that covered pretty rose colored eyes, and tufts of bright teal hair stuck out from under her hat. Overall she was pretty, despite her bizarre attire. "Uh… who are you?" I asked with genuine confusion. She seemed somewhat annoyed by that question. "Is that really what you should be asking me right now? Get yourself back into the bed." She demanded as she grabbed hold of my arm and helped me up. I sat there on the bed still trying to wrap my head around what was happening. It only just occurred to me as I sat there on the bed that I was almost completely naked aside from bandages wrapped around various parts of my body. "AH!?" I yelled as I trapped hold of the bed sheets and threw them over myself. The girl simply stood there looking at me with an eyebrow raised. "Here, take this." She said as she threw a small vial of some kind of blue pink liquid. "Drink it, you'll feel better after. Then come down the stairs after you put those clothes on." She pointed to a stack of clothes that was sitting on one of the chairs in the room. She then turned and walked back to the door. Before leaving she turned her head and looked back, "By the way, if you're wondering who put those bandages on you… it was me. No need to be embarrassed." She said as her own face seemed to turn bright red. "Anyways, I'll see you downstairs. Drink the potion." And with that, the strange girl left the room while I had this weird vial of fluid in my hand. She called it a potion, but I have never really seen such a thing before. I was highly skeptical, I didn't even know who she was… "Dammit… what the hell." I threw back the weird pink liquid into my mouth and swallowed it in one gulp. At first I felt nothing, but then my whole body began to feel warm, then extremely hot. My body literally began to steam. "W-what is this?" I questioned. Even though my body temperature was incredibly high, I felt absolutely no pain. In fact, I began to feel completely rejuvenated as the heat in my body began to cool down. I had no idea what a potion was or how it could do such a thing, but I felt amazing. I got up from the bed and dressed into the clothes that were left for me. I took a deep breath, and walked out of the door of the room and into the hallway. I followed it down to an upper landing of a staircase that the girl had mentioned and began my descent. The staircase spiraled down into an open dining room that looked quite extravagant, with all sorts of decorations and golden filigree covering the tall ceiling . There were people sitting at the large dining table and I recognized a few of them immediately. I saw Bastien and Henry sitting together on one side. Kimo and Lillez were sitting on the other. I was so happy to see they were alright. On the far end of the table, I could see the same girl that had visited me in the room sitting next to a man. The man was sitting at the head of the table with his hands clasped together. He had pointed ears, and dark slicked back hair. His skin was extremely pale and his eyes were fierce. Wrapped around his arm was a small white snake. He had all kinds of strange jewelry on him with strange markings. He saw me walking down the stairs first and stood up and walked towards me. Everyone else at the table noticed as well and shouted, "Ivan!! You did it! You got us out!" Bastien cheered "Thank you Ivan, thank you so much!" Kimo said through tears. Henry pounded his chest with his fist and smiled towards me. He still wore the bandage around his eyes. As the strange man approached me and I reached the bottom of the stairs, a sense of unease began to creep up the back of my spine. The man reached out his hand to shake mine, "I am pleased you're awake, it's nice to meet you Ivan. I have heard quite a lot about you from your friends here." He said eloquently and yet monotoned. I looked down at his hand, and the snake that was wrapped around his arm with hesitance. Henry spoke up as if understanding what I was feeling, "It's alright Ivan, he is someone you were wanting to meet." I glanced at Henry who still had a sly smile on his face. Even though he couldn't see a thing, that guy somehow saw right through me. I shook off my doubts and reached out and took the man's hand. "Who exactly are you sir?" I questioned. "Now that's an interesting question isn't it?" He said with a dull smile. As he spoke his words, the snake around his arm slithered down and transferred onto my hand. I tried to recoil, but he held my hand firm. I was completely unable to move, this man was incredibly strong. "Hold still, Ivan. Allow me to show you who I am." The man said firmly. As the snake slithered up my arm, it made its way to my neck and bit down. I shouted as I felt its fangs bite down into my skin, "AHGH WHAT THE HELL!" After biting into my neck the snake then slithered down my other arm and back up around to the man. The snake slithered its way up his arm and then proceeded to bite into his neck. He didn't even flinch, he just continued to hold onto my hand with an apathetic look on his face. A moment after being bitten the man's eyes began to glow a purple hue very similar to mine. His eyes got wide and his gaze drifted towards the ceiling, and then straight back to staring into my eyes. "I see, so it really was you." He said as his face began to contort into a strange smile. He finally let go of my hand and then turned to walk back towards the head of the table. He sat down and then gestured to me to come sit down as well. I was so confused by what was going on and was holding my hand over the spot where the snake had bitten me. I hesitantly followed suit and took a seat at the opposite end of the table across from the strange man. "Ivan, I am sure you must have a lot of questions about why my friend Albany here bit you." He said while petting the white snake. When he spoke, everyone else in the room remained silent. "Let's play a little game shall we? I'll give you a chance to guess how I came to be here and who I am. If you can guess one of those two things, I'll give you a prize. If you can guess both, then I'll give you something even greater. Are you interested?" He asked with a sly smile. I already had a vague idea of who this man was based on what Henry had mentioned earlier. He said that this man was someone I wanted to meet… If he is who I think he is, then this is an undeniable chance to gain something important. Unfortunately, how in the hell am I supposed to know how he got here?! I need to think about this clearly and from the beginning. "U-um, can I just have a minute to think and then give you an answer?" I requested. He still had a sly smile, and had his hands clasped together at the table confidently. "Yes, do take a minute to think it over." He responded. This man was undoubtedly one of those bestowers that Henry had spoken about. And the first name I had heard relating to them was Nightingale. I was confident that this man must be him. But the first time I actually heard his name was from Raven, who I haven't seen in a long time… Could it be…? Raven did mention that I needed to find this man. Would it even be possible for that skeleton to be able to find someone who is supposed to be incredibly elusive? It's possible that this man also just stumbled upon us by chance, but at the same time… We were in an underground prison of some sort that seemed like it was hidden very well. Damnit, I didn't want to screw this up, but I had to take a gamble. After a moment of thinking, I looked the man in the eyes and gave him an answer. "You… You're Nightingale, aren't you? The Bestower." I said firmly.