Chapter 2

“What the…” the Keeper wondered aloud, as the eleven Priests stood behind him. At this moment, he stood at the center of the Grave, looking at the sight before him. There were dozens of corpses, all drained for blood, dirtying this ground he found so holy. Not long ago, he had noticed that his twelfth Priest had started running away from the Grave, at great speed. He had already gotten quite a distance away, since the Keeper didn’t notice right away. Since he was fleeing so adamantly, the Keeper came to the most natural conclusion.

The Grave had been attacked. However, the events the scene before his eyes described, was not what he had expected. The most holy Grave had been dirtied by human filth, and the protector of the Grave, the trusted Priest, was running away. But that was not what puzzled him so much. There were clear signs of an actual battle being fought here; not just a one sided slaughter, which would have been the case, if the they had fought the Priest, but an actual battle. Then, why was there no blood on the ground? But it made him think that it ought to have been the Priest that brought them here in the first place. After all, there was no way a group of construction workers would be here otherwise.

“Damnit! Go find that bastard, and bring him to me!” the Keeper shouted at his minions. Without delay, every single one of the Priests sped away in the direction of the twelfth Priest. As the Priests disappeared from sight, the Keeper stood alone on the ashen grounds of the Grave. He had spent so much time here, protected it for so long, but never before had something like this happened. Never before, had he let something like this slip through. And it was all because of that last, twelfth Priest! He had only served him for a few centuries, and he did indeed have reason to betray. But the Keeper thought he’d put all that behind him.

“Why did he have to do this? No matter who does it, the punishment for dirtying this sacred ground is always death,” the Keeper spoke, as he finally walked away from the defiled area. He couldn’t bear the sight anymore, and he also couldn’t lower himself to cleaning the ground himself. He’d have the Priests find someone to do it.

Meanwhile, Ulfvaldr had already gotten quite a distance away his own gravesite. But as he walked, he was puzzled. He could feel all these connections, in all directions. These connections, they felt like small treads, connected him, and whatever was on the other side. Some felt like they originated thousands of miles away, and some like many sources were clustered together. He could even feel a good dozen connections behind him, which he guessed originated around where he just came from, and another one a bit farther away. For now, he decided to follow the one nearest to him, other than the ones at the grave.

He didn’t want to go back to the strange gravesite, since he didn’t feel like it was a good idea to go see something that appeared just after he escaped. Thus, he walked towards another small group relatively nearby. This group consisted of  only a few tread strands, so if whatever it was, was hostile, then he should still be able to at least escape, if not defeat it. He knew that he was much stronger than any human, but he didn’t dare underestimate these ‘treads’. They most certainly didn’t feel human.

After a good hour of traveling, what appeared to be some sort of village appeared on the horizon. However, this village, it was nothing like he had ever seen. It combined a beauty he could never have imagined; the walls surrounding it were tall and straight, and made of stone constructs. The buildings were tall and majestic, and made from an assortment of stone and wood. But most of all, they seemed stable like nothing he had ever seen! It was simply amazing. Ulfvaldr didn’t doubt that rain or wind would never make it through and bother the residents.

The people inside this village wore clothes similar to the people he just killed. They were made of that same, thin fabric, and the weapons of the guards were just as shiny. It really seemed like it could cut through anything. He even saw two guards sparring, and each time their swords clashed, they spurred a golden glister; it was truly spectacular.

Warily, he made his way closer to the village gate. He was prepared to fight at a moment’s notice, but if possible, he would prefer to avoid fighting for now. There was too much he didn’t know. Thus, he warily tried to enter through the gate, but he was quickly stopped by a guard.

“Hey, stop! Who are you?” the guard asked, but as his eyes hovered over to Ulfvaldr’s eyes, his expression changed.

“Oh, excuse my behaviour Lord! Let me bring you to the manor. I’m sure the other Lords will want to meet you,” the Guard said. Ulfvaldr was glad to see that he could understand his speech, which was no doubt thanks to the several dozen victims from before. Their memories had been enough to give Ulfvaldr a relatively complete understanding of the language.

Thus, they walked the village, and for every step they took, he was even more astounded. Even the ground was marvellous! It was covered in the smoothest stone he had ever seen, and everything was so clean. But he was also rather puzzled. He was puzzled by the amount of people who were outside, at this time of day, and the way they looked at him. They no longer looked at him with fear and hatred, as they had done in the old days, but with awe and respect. He simply could not understand why.

A few moments later, they appeared outside the largest construction Ulfvaldr had ever seen. It was a building, made out of smooth, white stone, even smoother than what they walked on before, and it was taller than any building he had ever seen. In the building there were also holes carved in, but they were all covered in some sort of cloth that seemed even finer than the clothes everyone wore.

As they arrived outside the entrance of the building the guard had called a ‘manor’,  Ulfvaldr was entrusted to another guard.

“Bring this Lord to see the other Lords, will you?” the guard asked the other. The manor guard looked at Ulfvaldr, and his expression immediately changed to one of awe and respect.

“Of course!” He answered, and quickly opened the door, to let Ulfvaldr in.

“Right this way, my Lord,” he said.

Inside the building was also quite the marvellous sight. Everything was decorated with the finest items Ulfvaldr had ever seen, even though he had no idea what they were. Some of them seemed somewhat familiar, though, from all the memories he absorbed.

The guard led him through several hallways, before arriving at another interesting construct. He had seen this several times before, as he was led through the manor. It seemed to function as a door, but you had to pull down some sort of handle to open it. It was rather marvellous.

The guard knocked on the door, only for it to open on its own, much to Ulfvaldr’s marvel. Ever since he revived, he had seen wonder after wonder. As the door had opened, the guard took a step inside but didn’t move further into the room.

“Lord, there is a guest,” the guard announced. The man inside the room glanced towards the door and saw Ulfvaldr.

“Show him in,” the man said. The guard bowed, and left the room, letting Ulfvaldr inside. As Ulfvaldr stepped into the room, he made sure to look around him. Around the room, stood several shelves, filled with weird, rectangular objects. These objects were, as Ulfvaldr noticed once more, unfamiliar. Other than the shelves, there contained a few fine chairs, as well as a table placed more to inside of the room and, in front of the mysterious stranger.

“Please, sit down,” the man said, as he gestured to a chair, in front of the table. Ulfvaldr didn’t say anything, and sat down on the chair. A short while after Ulfvaldr settled, the man finally spoke again.

“What brings you here?” He asked.

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“The need for knowledge,” Ulfvaldr answered. The man was slightly surprised, because he noticed a slight accent in Ulfvaldr. It was rare to see anyone having an accent.

“Knowledge? Then what do you need to know?” The man said.

“What are you? You are not like the others; the humans. Your eyes, they’re like mine,” Ulfvaldr said, much to the man’s surprise.

“What am I? You mean you don’t know what we are? Have you lived under a rock your entire life?” With man asked with apparent shock.

“Well, I suppose you could say that… Or at least most of it,” he answered back.

“Hmm, well, this is strange, I must say. You really must have lived a lonesome, and sheltered life. Do you know how you became what you are, and how long it has been? And how’s your thirst?” The man continued.

I do not know how I became like this, nor how long it has been, but I quenched my thirst not long ago,” Ulfvaldr said. He had decided to not reveal the truth of his identity, knowing that it might bring countless troubles.

“Is that so? Well, I must say, that is very irresponsible of the one who turned you. To just turn a random stranger, then disappear. We will have to report this; he could be a danger to our society,” the man said.

“But oh well, I suppose I’ll just have to help you. I’m not one to abandon a helpless young Vampire,” he continued.

“Vampire?” Ulfvaldr asked, “What is that?”

“Oh right, you lived under a rock, right? Well figuratively at least. A Vampire; that’s what we are,” he said.

“A Vampire?” Ulfvaldr said. At this moment, Ulfvaldr’s brain was wrecked as never before. He didn’t doubt this man. Both of them were vampires, he was sure of it. Even from the beginning, he could feel a connection to him; a sense of familiarity. But before he revived, before the battle, he had never felt any treads like these. It had only been him. Just what could have changed, to make so many of them? And were they all just as powerful as he was?

“Just what is a Vampire? How are they born? Where did they come from?” Ulfvaldr asked.

“Well, the Vampire is a being of the night; a predator, like no other. As I’m sure you’ve already noticed, we cannot step into the sunlight, and we need blood to survive, but we possess unimaginable strength. As for how we’re made, it’s quite simple, actually. A human has to drink the blood of a Vampire, and then, in turn, be bitten by said Vampire. That way, a certain venom is injected into the human. Then, a few days later the human will die, and rise as a Vampire,” the man said.

“But for where we came from, that’s a hard one. There are legends one how we came to be. Some think we always existed, but the most popular origin story, is the legend of the Grave. It goes something like this: once upon a time, there was a single beast that wreaked havoc upon humanity, killing tens of thousands, until finally, humanity formed an army and fought this original Vampire. The battle resulted in its final defeat, and the first vampires feasted upon his flesh and blood. The first vampires were the ones lucky enough to get bitten, by the original Vampire’s final struggle. Whether it’s true or not, I have no idea, however, the Grave is said to exist. One of the first vampires is its Keeper, and has twelve Priests as his helpers,” the man said.

“Hmmm, that certainly sounds interesting,” Ulfvaldr replied.

“Indeed it does. If you want to know more about our history, then you could visit the capital one day. There’s a lot of historians there, but I’m not too knowledgeable on that subject. Anyways, before we continue, maybe we should introduce ourselves?” the man said with a smile. It was only at this moment that Ulfvaldr realized that neither of them knows the other’s name.

“My name is Ulfvaldr, but you can call my Valdr,” Ulfvaldr said.

“Ulfvalder? That name is a bit weird, and honestly, it doesn’t really fit in well. How about I just call you Valdis? That way, you won’t raise any questions,” the man said.

“I suppose,” Ulfvaldr answered.

“Great, then Valdis, let me introduce myself. My name is Labrax Draco, and I’m the leader of this small town, as well as the head of the Draco family. I shall introduce you to the others later, though,” Labrax said. Labrax was a good looking man, but he was quite a bit shorter than Ulfvaldr, and his hair was of a lighter colour.

“What now?” Ulfvaldr asked, and to reply, Labrax gave him a wide smirk,

“Now, I will teach you about the true nature of our race, and all our abilities. You see, our physical strength isn’t the only thing that makes us superior to humans. We also possess other, more mystical powers. As we age, we will gain even more of these powers. For one, we have the power of compulsion. With only the use of our eyes, we can force any mortal man to do anything we please, to any degree,” he started. As Ulfvaldr heard of this, he was clearly surprised. Even back in the day, he didn’t know he had such a power.

“Is that true? Then, how do I do it?” Ulfvaldr, or Valdis as he was now called, asked with clear excitement. This was no minor power.

“It’s simple, really. You just need to look your target into the eyes, then order them. You’ll somehow feel the power inside you, but it might take a few tries, before you succeed. That’s why we’re going to practise now. Although, you should know that it only works on humans, so don’t go trying it on any Vampire, or you’ll risk angering them,” Labrax said, before standing up from his chair.

“Well then, follow me,” he then said, before leaving the room. Ulfvaldr promptly followed. After leaving the room, they took a short walk, until they found the nearest guard.

“He’ll do I suppose. Just look him into the eyes, then pull that power up from deep within yourself, and order him. You’ll probably fail the first few times, so don’t worry,” Labrax said. Thus, Valdis moved in front of the nervous guard. As he looked him into the guard’s eyes, he started searching within himself, for a hidden power. However, much to his surprise, it took barely a second, until he felt like he could grab at a majestic power. It was unlike anything he’d felt before; it made him feel like he could control anything, no matter what it was. Without breaking eye contact with the guard, he said,

“Don’t breathe,” and suddenly, the guard stopped breathing, all while an anxious expression built up on his face. It didn’t take long, until he started clawing at his mouth, then throat, trying to breath. However, no matter what he did, he couldn’t breathe at all. Meanwhile, Labrax was looking at his new friend in shock.

“Oh my, you’re a quick learner… I’ve never seen anyone do it on their first try, or even to this degree. But, you should really let him breathe again. No reason to kill him,” Labrax said.

“Oh, right,” Valdis said, before looking him into the eyes once more, “you can breathe again,” he said, and the guard started gasping uncontrollably.

“Thank you, thank you kind Lord,” he said, as he had finally caught his breath again. Then, the two vampires left him behind without ceremony, or even a word.

“What other powers do we possess?” Valdis asked, as the continued walking through the halls of the manor.

“Hmm, we do not have as many powers at a young age, as when we’ve aged some. However, there are still some. For example, if you concentrate, you should be able to see the aura of the people around you. Seeing the aura of people, is a great way to distinguish between vampires and humans, for example. A normal human, usually has a red aura, but a vampire’s aura tends to be darker, like grey, or even black. Try it now, and tell me if you succeed again,” Labrax said.

“Alright,” Valdis answered, as he started to concentrate. Thus, he closed his eyes, and focused, until, after only a short moment, once more, he started to see a grey light through his closed eye lids.

“I can see it. Your aura, its grey,” Ulfvaldr said, causing Labrax to give a magnificent smile, as he grasped at Valdis’s shoulder.

“Magnificent! I’ve never seen someone as talented as you! It’s just amazing,” he said, with clear excitement. This wasn’t just the marvel of seeing a talent, but the fact that this talent was under his own nurture. This would greatly benefit his sphere of power, so he’d certainly want Valdis to work for him.

“Alright, now try concealing your power. I’ll look at your aura, and check how well you do. Are you ready?” He asked again. Now he wanted to see just how far he could take it; learning the abilities in an instant.

“Alright,” Valdis answered, and once more started concentrating. And indeed, once more it only took him an instant, before he saw the power within himself. This time he attempted and managed to hide it, where no one could see it. Again, it only took an instant for Labrax to, once more, have a shocked expression.

“This, this, I didn’t even seen your aura yet, and you already concealed it? Just how far does your power reach? Ah, it doesn’t matter, this is tremendously good news! Listen to me, Valdis, it’s best if you keep your powers concealed, you hear me? If other larger powers hear word of your prowess, they’ll try and steal you away. Sure, it might sound good, but trust me, it’s best if you stay here, until your power is solidified. That way, you’ll be able to secure yourself a better future,” Labrax said.

“Well, if you think that’s for the best,” Valdis said.

“I do think it’s for the best. Your freedom will be seriously restricted, if you join one of the big powers, at least compared to how it’s here,” he said.

“Alright, I’ll trust you. After all, I know too little of this world,” Valdis said, as a strange light entered his eyes.