It is mid afternoon. Sun high above, mercilessly barraging everything on the planet with it's rays. Inside of a certain field, in a certain forest, in a certain country, stands two groups of people.
On one side; a group of two girls, one with silver hair and red eyes who wears a black cloak, the other an elf with black shoulder length hair and green eyes wearing a white, knee length dress with a similar black cloak draping over.
On the other side a group of three people; two boys and a girl, the boys wear identical silver and grey dress-clothes, ones that would be found in a private school. The girl wearing a similarly coloured shirt and knee skirt.
The two groups look each other across the field.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~An Few Hours Earlier
We examine the ground, Lindy and myself, looking around the area. We quickly find the corpse. It appears scavengers have got to the body, but the cause of death is apparent
"Magic" Lindy gasps. It's not a surprise that there are more mages than just us in this area but the magic used here was able to cleanly slice through a man's head.
"What is it?" Chris says finally coming back to check on us
"Look around the area! something occurred here" Lindy commands Chris, he was about to reply when he laid eyes on the corpse
"Right"
After a minute of searching, we find a small pool of blood. Well small is a relative term, it is clear that the amount of blood here came from a corpse, but not a large one.
"What happened her" Lindy asks with a mix of curiosity and repulsion
"Hey Chris" I ask drawing his attention
"What?"
While he was distracted, Lindy chops his neck. He falls unconscious immediately.
"Thank you Lindy"
"You're welcome Will"
I start channelling my mana. My thoughts become clearer. I can see everything.
Three people. One person. The three people, humans, adults, lightly armed, coins?, payment, chasing. One person, small, child?, non-human, elf would be most likely, but an elven child is unlikely.
Continuing.
One person, mage, kills one. Stabbed. Heart. Blood. Death.
Two people. Leave. West.
Another person. Size? Race? Gender? Age? Smell? Purpose? Action? Real?
First person. Still alive? Crawls. Away. Stops. Stands. Walks. West.
"Done" I say as I rise. Lindy is sitting with her back to a tree watching me
"You're getting better this time it only took an hour"
"Is Chris still asleep?"
"I didn't hold back, he should be 'waking' up soon" she pauses "So?"
I fill her in on everything. She seems just as disturbed as I do at this mysterious traceless person. And at the apparent revival of the small person.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Lindy asks
The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
"I suspect that a vampire resurrected the body"
"Agreed, but I don't think its the same person were trying to recruit" Lindy says biting her lip
"Why is that?" I ask, wanting to hear her thoughts
"Why would a vampire, a pure blood probably, reveal themselves at that village, only to turn a random stranger into a fledgling. It doesn't make sense. It's far more likely that we're dealing with two separate groups"
"That makes sense" I think for a second "and at the rate that these two incident occurred... it looks like the vampires and the supposed A rank will meet up soon"
"Uggggg" we hear from behind us. Turning around we find Chris rising from the ground.
"What happened" he asks confused and still a bit out of it
"You fainted when you saw the body you baby!" Lindy says accusingly, I hold my laughter
"What did you say!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Morgan and I have been walking for several hours now. Night has long since past, leaving us in the early morning. At least vampires don't suffer during the daytime, that would suck! Well I mean some vampires start to smell I don't.
As we walk, I notice that Morgan looks visibly happier, almost radiating happiness
"Morgan are you ok?" I ask, slightly concerned
"I've never been better mistress!" she replies eagerly. Who are you and what have you done with Morgan?!
"Where are we going now?" she asks "now that we've attended the gathering I mean?"
"Well, we are heading back home, it's nice there"
"It's nice where?"
"Back at home silly" I hope she didn't hit her head on the way out, her change in personality and now this...
"I'm beginning to enjoy this second chance at life, it's much more peaceful. I'm even beginning to wonder why I was ever sad in the first place. Everything is great in my life. Everything is resolved" what a strange way to phrase that I think to myself
"Well we will be able to enjoy a few years of peace now that the gathering has ended" I take a deep breath "Yes as long as everything remains this calm for a while, everything will be just fine."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We arrive at a field...
I look over to Lindy and say "I smell vampires" she gulps
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We arrive at a field...
I look over at Morgan and say "I smell shadow hunters" She gulps
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AN - Let me know about any grammatical errors and leave a comment about what you think. Thanks
As an aside, if you have the time, leave a rating. It's still early days but in a general sense it lets me know how I'm doing. Thanks so much.