“If you need some time to think about it, that is perfectly fine, just don’t take too long to decide or I will go looking for someone else.” Calvus looked at Arthur expectantly waiting for his answer.
‘This is a great opportunity, but I don’t know if I want to be an alchemist. He said that I would be doing a lot of foraging for ingredients which I hate doing but he also said he would help me learn how to be more effective at it and how to recognize useful plants.’ With a sigh Arthur turned to Calvus and said “I need some time to think about this.” Calvus looked a little saddened by his answer but said nothing. “I will be here tomorrow at about the same time and I will give you my answer then.”
“Well alright then, I suppose I will see you tomorrow.” Arthur nodded and left, returning to the guild hoping that Calavia would still be there. ‘I need her input in deciding if I should become an apprentice under Calvus.’ When Arthur arrived at the guild he searched all the places he could think to find her but came up empty handed.
‘That is most unfortunate, I guess I will need to ask her tomorrow after my classes end and then go and give Calvus my answer.’ Arthur sighed in annoyance and began walking back to The Free Parrot Bar and rented the same room for another ten copper coins.
Arthur entered the room and immediately upon locking the door plopped down on the bed to try and get some sleep. But the moment he tried to close his eyes he had the distinct feeling of someone watching him the same way from earlier in the day. Arthur sat up and his eyes darted around the room looking for who was watching him but he found no one.
For several hours Arthur waited for someone to enter the room and show themselves but no one did, by midnight Arthur was already feeling tired after all the running around he did. At around one o’clock in the morning Arthur decided that he needed to get some sleep even with the ominous presence he could feel. He made sure to keep his sword in his hands while he slept.
At around two o’clock just as Arthur was drifting off to sleep a loud shattering of glass in his room made him wide awake. He quickly drew his sword from its sheath and readied himself to face whatever smashed through his room.
A humanoid figure wearing a blood red cloak stood just a meter and a half away from him wielding two daggers. The hood the figure was wearing was down allowing Arthur to see that his assailant was a human man, the paleness of his face, and the large grin that showed his two long canine teeth.
The pale man did not wait long as he launched a flurry of strikes at Arthur, he could only block about half of the attacks the rest he had to take directly. Thankfully his armor withstood and kept him safe from any harm.
‘Looks like you have some decent training with the blade. But it won't save you now.’
The pale man giggled in a disturbing way that sounded almost childish, the flurry of attacks were not meant to cause harm, only gauge the target's skill level and for the pale man Arthur’s skill was below his.
The pale man pushed Arthur towards a wall to limit when he could go and deliver the killing strike. As Arthur felt his space to move dwindling he knew he would need to use his magic to turn the tides and slowly began to use geomancy to hinder his opponent in a way he would not notice until it was too late.
The pale man sped his attacks up as Arthur got closer and closer to the wall, and when Arthur was finally forced into the wall he inwardly cried out in joy and went stepped forward for the killing blow. But when he did his foot did not move, it reminded him of the one time he got stuck in tar back home.
When he looked down he saw his foot was stuck to the floor via conjured earth. With the momentary distraction of his opponent Arthur raised his sword and slashed down leaving a large gash across the pale man's chest. The pale man cried out in pain as he took a step back with his only unrestrained foot in an attempt to put some distance between them.
‘No this cannot be happening! He is only a novice mage, he cannot know how to cast earth restraints let alone cast without magic words or hand signs!’
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Arthur pressed his advantage this time stabbing the pale man with the tip of his longsword in the gut. ‘I have you now.’ Arthur smiled as he dealt a second blow to his assailant. Another cry of pain left the pale man's mouth as he began to flair his blades around wildly in an attempt to hit what should have been his prey.
Arthur did not allow him to rest and began to conjure a ball of water just a bit larger than a human's head while he struck at the pale man who needed to use both his daggers to block. It took almost half a minute but the ball of water was finished and Arthur took a step back as he mentally gave it the order to cover the pale man's head.
The ball of water darted to the pale man and covered his head preventing him from breathing. Arthur took several steps back to wait for suffocation to take effect. Initially the pale man did start panicking but as soon as he realized what was covering his head he inwardly laughed and just started striking his restraints on his leg.
‘What? Why isn’t he suffocating? He shouldn’t be able to breathe with the water covering his head.’ But alas Arthur was not aware of the anatomy of vampires and all the changes they experience as they transform, one of which being no longer needing to breathe.
Arthur dispelled the water and began to conjure four spikes made up of conjured earth behind his back for when the vampire broke from his restraint. ‘This must be a vampire like the captain told me about. But this raises the question, is he the master or the servant? I guess I can just ask him after I cut his arms and legs off.”
The vampire with a loud crack broke free and turned around in a matter of only ten seconds expecting to see his target terrified that he couldn’t be suffocated. Instead he was met by four large earth projectiles each easily the size of an arrow aiming for his joins in his shoulders and knees.
“AARRGH!” The vampire felt his left arm was stuck to its side with an earth arrow lodged between the joints. The other earth arrows, while they did not disable the vampire, still made contact with one in his forearm, one in his right calf, and the last in his left thigh.
‘I won't be able to heal those on my own, I will need to get help from lord Darius to heal these wounds.’ The vampire looked at his opponent who stood firm and blocked the window he came in from. ‘But first I need to get out of here, I can’t win in this condition and that bastard is blocking the window. The only option I have is the door.’
Arthur and the vampire held their positions firm, each waiting for the other to make the first move. The vampire snarled, he needed to get out and his target was more than happy to wait for him to try something.
‘He can’t keep going like this.’ Arthur looked at the gash on the vampire's chest very slowly closing. ‘Just because he is healing doesn’t mean he is full of energy, when I was healing after fighting Saturio I was almost always tired. That doesn’t even take into account all the blood he is losing. As the vampire was moving around the room he was losing quite a bit of blood thus leaving a few puddles of blood around the room.
The vampire agitated and tired let out a loud angry shout. “AAUUHH!” He bolted towards Arthur with the dagger in his right hand ready to stab. Arthur readied himself to block the attack when the vampire raised his arm above his head then threw the dagger with all his might at his face. The dagger sailed through the air with incredible speed and Arthur was not fast enough to dodge it entirely. The dagger grazed his left cheek drawing blood, Arthur fell back into the broken window giving the vampire enough time to unlock the door of the room.
The vampire ran with all its might with Arthur hot on his tail. To stop the vampire or at least slow it down he tried to conjure a horizontal beam of earth between the hallway. The vampire seeing the beam forming just two meters away from him began to slide on his back underneath.
‘Oh no you don’t’ Arthur saw the vampire's desperate attempt to avoid the obstacle and used the conjured earth and added another from the canter down to the floor. The vampire already sliding could not react to the small earth spike that pierced into his gut. Due to Arthur’s inexperience in manipulating such a large amount of earth he had a tendency to start with the earth in the center and then go to the stuff on the outside creating an accidental spike.
The vampire gasped as he felt the earth construct go through his intestines and bleed profusely. He looked to the man who was responsible for his death, he looked quite ordinary for someone so cunning and decisive. But now the ruse was up, lord Darius would no longer fall for such deceptions and would swiftly get rid of him.
“HAHAHAHAHAHA!” The vampire laughed as Arthur looked on puzzled. “Your ruse will not last long after lord Darius learns of my death, he will destroy you and everything that transpired will be forgotten.”
“Tell who this lord Darius is and I will give you a peaceful death.” Arthur pointed his blade at the vampire's neck. ‘He definitely is not the master, but with those wounds he won’t last all that long. I just hope he is the type to spill the beans before he dies.’
“You fool. You cannot defeat him, he will annihilate you. He has many contingencies for those like you. How do you think we have remained undetected for so long? Everyone else who tried to expose us has disappeared. HEHEHEHE!” The vampire started coughing more and more until he started coughing up blood.
“This is the end for you Mr. Arthur.”