“From childhood's hour I have not been. As others were, I have not seen. As others saw, I could not awaken. My heart to joy at the same tone. And all I loved, I loved alone.”
- Edgar Allan Poe
Vanessa clicked her tongue in disgust and walked out of the shadows. Focusing on the woman before her she saw a thin twenty-year-old with eyes too old for the young complexion. Something she often saw when looking at herself in a mirror. Energy coursed just beneath the deathly pale skin. The woman looked more like a vampire than she herself.
“My name is...call me Vanessa.” Vanessa gave a wry half-smile.
“And you are here…?”
“You know why. You are at the center of a massive catastrophe. Someone opened a portal to the void and it seems all of it was to summon you back. And who are you exactly?”
“My name is Amber.” It seemed as if she wanted to continue but then stopped herself.
“Amber. Good. You know that your continued existence – as is- will lead to massive devastation and countless deaths?”
“I...had an inkling.” Amber frowned. “Why are we talking if that is the case?”
The night wind swept over the plateau surrounding the tower, and loose snow blew in shallow streamers past their feet. The only one who shivered was Lily standing behind Amber in the doorway.
“When I came here I wanted to kill you and be done with it. Closing the portal will take much work- even after sending you back. And time is of the essence. Every minute people die and the damage grows worse. But murder does not sit well with me. Even as you could argue that killing the undead isn’t the same.” She smiled self-deprecatingly.
“And what do you propose instead?” Amber looked at the elf curiously then her eyes lit with understanding. “You are undead too. Aren’t you? Is it pity?” She laughed.
“Maybe. Can you sever the connection with the portal? If that is possible, all else will be the same. I don’t need to send you back. I only want to close the portal and stop the chaos.”
“Sadly that won’t work. The void energy is essentially my lifeblood and when it is absent this body will cease to function...and I don’t feel my gate.”
“You had one?”
“Yes. I couldn’t control it, and that was dangerous to everyone around me.” Old pain was briefly visible in her eyes. “And it grew worse over time. Especially after giving birth.” She sighed.
“Mh. That is a dilemma.”
“You won’t hurt her.” Lily stepped outside and clenched her hands nervously. As before she was clothed in ratty brown robes, hood turned up.
“There is a bit of void in even these surroundings and if you were to live in the fort currently housing the portal the residual magic should last you some time.” Vanessa thought quickly.
“Imprisoned in some abandoned fort on the edge of nowhere? Slowly dying without having any power, even to defend myself?” Amber frowned.
“But without being the cause of untold death and destruction.” Vanessa spread her arms and hands helplessly.
Amber looked conflicted. Her strangely youthful features nearly white in the dim light of the stars. Dark clouds seemed to be flowing just beneath her skin, and the ground cracked as everything living began to wither and die.
‘That is what could happen with Alyssa. I hope she has enough potions.’ Vanessa waited in tense silence.
Lily looked nervously at her mother, “You can’t be thinking of allowing that? Father worked so hard to get you back!”
“No. I won’t sacrifice myself!” Amber shouted and raised her arm as a lance of darkness shot forth missing Vanessa by a hairsbreadth as she dodged to the side. The streak of black nothing carved through a tree, the wood decaying rapidly as needles browned and began to fall like the sand of an hourglass.
Vanessa clenched her teeth, and claws of black ice formed around her fingers as she launched herself over another bolt of black unlight.
Lily chanted, and wind began to whirl around her obscuring her figure.
Trying for a quick resolution Vanessa narrowed her profile and dived toward Amber but before she got into range darkness exploded from the slim woman roaring into the sky in an imperfect circle. Spitting out a word of power Vanessa called a gust of wind angling around the surging energies. She hit the wall of the tower heavily, bending her knees to lessen the impact, and then jumped again this time chanting a spell. Spears of ice formed in front of her before accelerating quickly at Amber who threw another void-bolt that barely missed.
The ice spears impacted the gushing void flares and disintegrated. Only small shards peppered the void-mage causing insignificant cuts.
Lily too, incanted a spell, and several wind blades scythed toward the vampire as Vanessa strove to maintain her momentum casting another volley of ice spears. Feeling her energies draining she mentally commanded the shadow demon to attack, regret filling her for a moment. One of the wind blades clipped her shoulder cutting into the fabric of her coat. A lattice of blue energy was briefly visible as a protective spell activated turning away the razor-sharp disc of air.
With nary a whisper, the demon rose from the darkness behind Amber, and elongated claws reached forth to sever her neck. Lily reacted quickly throwing herself forward through the circle of void energies hands sparking with lightning. Interposing herself between the demon and its target she barely got her hands in position. Sparks flew as claws met her spelled hands.
Amber whirled around, and her eyes widened, “Lily!”
Vanessa winced and gripped a potion filled with crystallized mana throwing it into the air before cutting it open with her claws. Glittering crystals filled the air as she drew symbols while chanting another more complicated spell. Grasping a runed tablet, she pressed it into the middle of the formation.
Lily staggered, and blood spilled from cuts on her hands and arms. Her skin began to wither, and her hair grew white, falling to the ground as the negative energy she had crossed began to wreak havoc on her living form. She tilted to the side, crumbling bonelessly as the demon simply slit her throat.
Massive amounts of void burst from eyes and mouth as Amber screamed incoherently and a wave of black mist frothed over the shadow demon, who was pressed back against the tower wall before slowly disintegrating. With a tilt of its featureless head toward Vanessa, it vanished.
Flames coalesced before the small vampire building into a white-hot ball of fire, the tablet a shadow in its depths. With a gesture, the missile flew forward, passing the void circle while only losing a bit of energy, disrupted as Amber’s concentration was at the moment, before impacting the still screaming woman. Flames gouted into the night sky and turned the area before the tower into a flaming inferno.
Vanessa grimaced as blood dripped from her lips, and uncontrolled mana surged through her veins. Her lacking affinity made it all the more painful. Hopefully, that would be enough. She did not have much energy left, and physically assaulting the void mage would not be a winning proposition. At least not without the element of surprise. She felt sorry for the two, but she could not allow the void portal to remain open. The death toll this would cause was incalculable, and the Heartstealer had too many cards on the table, as it were.
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Black energy surged, and the flames were violently dispersed before a tattered and severely wounded Amber strode through the fires, still burning on the ground. Gesturing, she threw void lance after void lance at Vanessa, who hastily dodged before another missile clipped her leg. With a final burst of blue light, the protection spell she had cast unraveled and burst into motes of flickering radiance.
Exhausted and seeing Amber still going strong, Vanessa cursed and quickly ran for the edge of the hill before jumping down toward the forest growing on its flank. Streaking void energies Nearly hit her hair, fluttering behind her, her hood thrown back during the fighting.
“I will get you. I will kill you. I will end all of you. I hate this world, I hate it all!” Black lightning danced around the void mage as she indiscriminately drew on her connection to the portal. Trees withered and stone cracked.
Vanessa vanished between the trees and winced as she put weight on her damaged leg. Back to the others with the bad news and new information and hopefully to find a solution.
This could hardly have gone worse.
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The new trees were scattered on what had been the dirt path the constructs had bulldozed through the forest. Iseret put one hand on the rough bark feeling for something special, something different.
Finding nothing.
“They are asleep.” Sirviel stepped closer, exhaustion marring her features. “It is not easy being awake. It is not in the nature of plants and is usually not needed. There are those of us who quicken in the floes of mana, and some become as the short-lived, vying for dominance for food. Some like me want a different kind of existence.”
Iseret turned her head. “Are they still in there? Is there anything left?”
“No. I fear with the change, their old life has ended. Perhaps if they awaken to a dryad, she will have vivid dreams of a life long past. I wouldn’t know.”
“Was this the first time you did something like this?”
“Yes. I would not carelessly change the nature of a thinking creature. It is not right. But they would have brought more death, more injuries, and they, themselves, would not have grown from it. It was ugly and unnecessary. And selfishly, I did not want to end.” Emerald eyes focused on slit-yellow ones.
Sirviel walked with unearthly grace, and it was readily apparent that she had neither muscles nor bones. She was like a stunning facsimile of a humanoid with few flaws. Leaves covered her breasts and lower body. Other than that she was naked- If that was the correct word for it. Iseret nearly blushed as she caught herself staring.
“Mh. Thank you, Eldest, for your care.” Mordrak walked up to them, limping from a deep cut in his upper left leg and covered in shallow wounds and scratches.
“Would that I could only care and not worry. Giving life to flesh and thoughts is my joy.”
“I never spoke to a dryad before. Are you a typical example of your kind?” Iseret asked.
“The others...” Sirviel’s features contorted in quiet pain. “They were all unique. And I miss them all. I slept too deeply and did not hear them coming. The men with their iron. And when I woke to my sister's dying screams, I simply drove them off. Now in the days and hours of silence, I sometimes think that was too soft. Much less than they should have been punished. Perhaps that was what drove me to this point.” She looked at the transformed soldiers.
“I would have killed them for what they did if that were my siblings lying on the ground.” Iseret looked at the corpses of the fallen dryads. “So don’t expect judgment from me. The better question is- What now?”
“The tribes have been called. It is only a matter of time. A week? Two? Then we will cleanse this forest of its despoilers. Make them think twice about trying that again.” Mordrak growled in a deep voice. “And we hold and keep the Eldest safe in the meantime.” He nodded at Sirviel.
Iseret repressed a sigh. ‘Where was Vanessa? It was high time to look after the other children.’
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Evening at a campsite. Back with Alyssa, Mireille, and their friends.
Alea gave the screwdriver a final decisive twist. Looking at her from the side, Cecily tried to keep the focus on the screw and mostly succeeded. Wiping a bit of sweat from her forehead, the dark-haired girl stood and inspected her handiwork. Butler One had suffered a bit of damage in the fighting back in the Nordmark’s camp, which was now mostly fixed. Pulling the leather cover back in place, she nodded. Proper repairs would have to wait until they were back in Fort Wolfsbane at least.
The dark-green coat she was wearing was reinforced with metallic alloy spelled to weigh next to nothing and a heating enchantment as was common for such winter wear. Her fingers were covered in slim, formfitting leather gloves. The blindfold she was wearing was fur lined and especially warm and comfortable. Her family had not spared any expense while her grandma had still been in Kronenburg. She should be back in Grunewald already, and her uncle Demavar back in Graufurt. She hoped everything was going alright for them, at least. The murmurs about sedition and rebellion were alarming, to say the least, but at the time of their departure, it had been just that- Rumors and whispers.
‘There will not be a chance for conventional mail until we reach the fort, and the distance is too great for a rune-sparrow.’ Shaking her legs which had gone stiff as she worked, she walked back toward the campsite. The wind whispered through the surrounding trees the sky still showed hints of grey as the sun had barely set. Butler One followed at a respectful distance.
Last night she had that dream again, with her grandfather working in the workshop together with her. That had sadly never happened exactly like that in real life, as he died much too soon for her to be ready for such fine work. Her small hands and stature had precluded proper tinkering even as she studied earnestly. ‘I would have loved for grandfather to be here.’ Her parents had loved her. She knew that. But after the accident that cost her eyesight, guilt and her own withdrawn self had driven them apart.
Her grandfather had worked tirelessly to bring back her sight, and when she was killed, he brought her back from death. She had felt very close to him, and his death would have devastated her.
If she could have remembered.
Some days she hated the loss of her past, but she knew even that had been calculated for her benefit. And it was coming back to her, bit by bit. Cold and caring- that had characterized his attitude toward his favorite granddaughter. His only granddaughter.
The spider on her shoulder followed her unconscious desire and turned to look at Butler One. Having no vision to the front, she stopped and licked her lips in embarrassment. The automaton tilted its head, porcelain mask glinting in the firelight.
“Please arrange my bedding and then patrol along the camp's edge for undead.”
“Very well, Miss von Graufurt.” Acknowledging her order, the construct quickly went to the tent the group of friends had claimed and began to arrange her bedroll.
Looking after the departing mechanical figure, she frowned. ‘Had he become more intelligent? Was that really only a set of preset commands?’ With her – admittedly- not complete knowledge of golemcraft it should not be possible for the construct to act like this.
“Alea! There you are. You missed dinner. I grabbed some flatbread and soup for you.” Alyssa trotted up to her and smiled while pressing a bowl of steaming soup into her hands. “Come sit down and eat something.” Grabbing a seat at the edge of the fire on some blankets spread on the snow, Alea began to eat cautiously of the hot soup. “How are you? It isn’t too strenuous to walk all the time, is it?”
“No. Butler One carries my backpack, and walking in the middle, the snow is already flattened. I can’t complain.” Blowing on her soup to disperse the heat, Alea gave a half-smile. “That’s not to say that I’m not tired. I hope we reach the fort sooner rather than later, and the undead attacks are not making it better either.”
“Do you think the church of Jaros will come?” Alyssa asked curiously.
“Why do you think I know? I have a title but not much else.” Alea smiled self-deprecatingly and slowly ate from the soup while savoring its warmth.
“I just thought that you would have a guess.”
“I think when they hear how things are around here, they will send someone,” Alea said after some thinking. “Not for the Nordmark rebellion or the tribes. But the undead are concerning enough.”
“We could sure use them.”
“Where is Mireille?”
“She wanted to get a bit of exercise and joined a patrol. The teachers and some of the older students have organized those to clear the area of undead animals and such.”
“That sure sounds like her.” Alea nodded and continued to eat in silence while Alyssa gazed into the campfire flames. Cyrus was rummaging through some of the leftovers from the cooking. He had dug up some rabbit intestines and was eating them noisily.
“Do you think he might get sick from that?”
“Hardly. He is a lot more poisonous than mere spoiled food.”
Alea raised her left hand and turned Cecily away from the sight before she continued eating.
They had reached the logging camp but found it deserted. The loggers and most of their machines were gone, and if the tracks were any indication, they had moved to the northwest. They had only missed them by a half-day or so. The log cabin was not large enough for all of them, so the wounded and those without magical heating methods were given priority placement for sleeping indoors.
“I wonder how Iseret and Vanessa are faring.” Alyssa mused quietly.
“I don’t think you have to worry. What they cannot fight, they can outrun.”
“I hope you are right about that.”