Iseulith chuckled when Cersie asked to stay, running his fingers over the lad’s brow lightly. “Yes, of course darling. I will take you to a nice place to nap.” He moved quickly to his feet and he could feel the coldness of the floor. He looked perplexed for a moment at the strangeness of the feeling. Yet another curious side effect of this blood. He reached down to slip the lad into his arms lifting him as if the weight of a feather stuffed pillow. He made his way down a hallway of identical doors walking lightly passed all until selecting one a distance back. He tucked Cersie up against one shoulder as he reached out to rest his open palm on the door.<br/><br/><br/>A second later the latch clicked and the door swung open to reveal an<a class="link link--external" data-proxy-href="/proxy.php?link=https%3A%2F%2Fs-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com%2Foriginals%2F7f%2Fe4%2F6c%2F7fe46c92af3a8cfe8a354953ce557d57.jpg&amp;hash=0ad1059c752ed5762f01411e0c3488bb" href="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/7f/e4/6c/7fe46c92af3a8cfe8a354953ce557d57.jpg" rel="nofollow ugc noopener" target="_blank">ancient forest</a>. The canopy above was thick with tangled branches but bright moonlight broke throughout it in places casting soft pillars of light all over the small clearing they stood in. Iseulith walked them both, still completely nude, further into the clearing. The unremarkable wooden door closed behind them but remained, set as it was into the trunk of a large thick tree with sprawling gnarled roots. They passed all manor of iridescent night blooming wildflowers as they went and a small breeze picked up tendrils of the vampire’s long loose hair as he settled them onto an elevated patch of soft moss covered ground. There wasn’t a sound in the wood other than the distance calls of the night birds or a far off stream bubbling gently over water smoothed stones. The ancient was a master of illusions once again in his regard for detail within the confined parameters of his controlled demision, all the way to the softly meandering air currents that rustled the leaves and branches, filtered in from the outside world through a carefully constructed magical barrier.<br/><br/><br/>He lay next to Cersie on the plush natural bed of greenery around them, tracing the lines of the elemental’s face struck with how innocent he seemed despite all of his years of life and addiction. “You can stay with me as long as you like, and more. Sleep well my pet.” He whispered softly, though he doubted the man could hear him anymore, likely having succumb to sleep during their brief trip into the wooded sanctuary. He had created this space in particular from a garbled memory of a clearing he had visited during his life though he could not remember why the image had stuck with him all of these centuries, he felt it was a soothing place and had entered it quite regularly for a time. It had been many years since then but the feelings remained the same even now as he refortified the barrier walls, repairing any degradation the seals had accrued from disuse. He traced little symbols into the air around them, stitching up the quantum fabric and even still his mind wandered. He would need to make Cersie a proper space where he could stay comfortably without concern for the outside world but he did not think he held enough power within himself to create such a dream. There were limits to how far he could stretch the fabric of space between the planes, but perhaps there was a skilled witch who possessed such a skill? He had heard of some who were very powerful, in tune with nature themselves in some regard. He despised witches, however. In his experience they were almost exclusively of foul temperaments and prone to violence at the drop of a coin.<br/><br/><br/>Iseulith could feel dawn approaching. There would have been no way to tell as the space they inhabited was in a perpetual state of midnight but the familiar sinking feeling of his body going into stasis overwhelmed him. He sighed softly and leaned in to kiss Cersie between his brows, “I will be back for you at dusk.” He lifted himself lightly to his feet and faded quickly into the shadows. In this moment Cersie was effectively trapped within the realm. The forest stretched on well past the clearing, but one would never reach its edge because no edge in fact existed. The forest just stretched on forever in an infinite loop, always cycling back around to that plain wooden door and the clearing where Cersie would eventually awaken.<br/><br/><br/>The ancient vampire made his way into the lower quarters of the house, down a winding flight of stairs into a deep stone chamber, a mausoleum. There was but one room within, in the center of which sat a platform of black marble littered with etchings of ancient protective sigils and wards, cast in gold. Iseulith moved up the platform stairs and climbed into his<a class="link link--external" data-proxy-href="/proxy.php?link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.candlepines.com.au%2Ffileadmin%2F_processed_%2Fcsm_Traditional_9ab91e19ca.jpg&amp;hash=f8ecd7d14e8a30ae60a768e59356cfc0" href="https://www.candlepines.com.au/fileadmin/_processed_/csm_Traditional_9ab91e19ca.jpg" rel="nofollow ugc noopener" target="_blank">red lacquered coffin</a>, lowering himself into the plush interior of black silk. The lid closed, shrouding him in absolute darkness and soundless solitude. He could still feel the wind elemental’s magic within him, he felt it would perhaps last a day or two, but it wouldn’t belong before he was craving it once again. Those ruby eyes fluttered closed as the sun broke the horizon, like they had done for all of his undead life.