The whiff of coffee beans filled the nose as Polar's eyes slowly opened. It wasn't a particularly bright day out, but it was also not raining. Just a gray day where the clouds blot out the sun and the sky couldn't decide if it wanted to pee on the citizens below. Polar loved those days because it often meant he could enjoy the mist that occurred before raining all day long.   

"You awake yet?" His father said, stoking the fire on the right side of the cabin.   

"Yeah. I'm awake." Polar said, shifting his body to sit on the side of the bed.   

His father was a haggard man, but he did his best to make sure that Polar had a good start to the day. Polar's mother had died when he was eight when a dragon ripped her head off and his father wanted to be there for him. In a fit of anger, Polar had thrown a fireball at the dragon and even though it didn't make it to the dragon, his father knew Polar was a mage from that point on. The Mage's Guild took them in and, so long as Polar did well in his studies, they provided everything they needed according to Polar's rank. It was easy to figure out which rank they were in since it just followed the same color of the metals used for currency and their values.   

By providing everything they needed, that meant there were rationed out meals by individuals who focused their magic in the agricultural sense. Since Polar focused on destructive and constructive magic, his practice assignments mostly consisted of helping the builders of the surrounding kingdoms build certain structures. Since he was Nickel class he was responsible for peasant housing, which meant he got a lot of classes.   

Every day, he had to go in for assignment and he was usually assigned a house or two. His teacher would accompany him to fix anything he did wrong and teach him while he practiced. The problem was that his teacher was a liquor mage, so most of the time she was a complete drunken asshole. Her specialty matched his own, but she had taken up liquor magic because it paid more and it meant she didn't have to buy her own liquor. She was rumored to have been a powerful mage when she was younger, but Polar had never seen any of it.   

The Mage Guild had special diplomatic protection, though, since it had dealings with the surrounding kingdoms and it was too powerful to destroy with just normal people. The Mage Guild was all about civil mindedness and ensuring magic was put to good use. Mages needed to practice and normal people needed stuff, which made for a great relationship until someone wanted to go to war.   

Polar had never done anything of great importance, and his magic hadn't ever gone past Nickel while he watched friends pass into Silver. However, he had lost many of his friends to the War Contracts, which were alluring due to the massive pay involved. His friends thought it would be easy money but found that the kingdoms didn't really care about protecting their investment and only hired them for their extra firepower. Many fell to arrows and beheadings when the side they chose began to lose.   

To avoid being accused of taking a side, the Mage Guild put up a contract for a standard pay rate depending on the estimated length of the war. The mages could then pick a side on which to fight. The frequency of these contracts had been used to cull the weak from passing on to greater ranks, as you needed to have a certain number of wins underneath your belt to go any higher than Silver.   

"So, you have to take the test again, huh?" His father asked, sipping on the coffee that he had made.   

"Yeah, my teacher enlisted me because she thinks I should have gained the power I need by now," Polar said.   

"This'll be the twentieth time you've failed." His father noted.   

"You don't know if I'm going to fail or not," Polar said, defending what little pride he had left.   

"You don't want to kill anything. You're a Destructo Mage that doesn't want to kill anything, and the test of a Destructo Mage is to kill something." His father pointed out, "You will never pass. It's not like I mind. You aren't kicked out if you fail."   

His father didn't mind because he could spend his time doing the things he wanted. Whether it was art or reading or hunting, his father lived a rather luxuriant life as peasants go. He had never pressured Polar to do anything with his life, but that didn't stop him from pointing out painful truths.   

"I will pass this time," Polar stated, not entirely confident he would.   

"Listen, boy. You're a mage. Even if you're not the best mage, you're still a mage. You don't have to prove anything to anyone, least of all me. I love you as you are, and if you want to fail every test until the day you die, then I ain't gonna tell you it's wrong." His father stated, "My job is to support you in your decisions... it's what your mother would have wanted."   

Polar never really knew his father's past, and when he asked, his father always told him that he would be better off not knowing. Every mage had to submit to the test their teacher assigned them because it was their teacher's way of making them grow. The teachers set them up and the goal was to come out of one of two entrances. Anything goes with the test, and some have had cruel teachers, with their tests ending their student's lives.   

Polar's test had always been the same, and his teacher did it on purpose. The teacher would put a rabbit in a confined cage in the middle of the testing area, and all Polar had to do was kill it. The only problem was that when Polar activated his power, he couldn't control his emotions, and he broke down into tears before he could ever summon a fireball. This time, his teacher had decided not to answer him when Polar asked what his test would be about.   

A knock came at the door, and his father got up to answer it. Polar rushed to put on some clothes, but the door was open before he ever reached the drawer. Lora walked in, ignoring the naked body that Polar was embarrassed she had been able to see.   

"Good morning, Lora." His father said.   

"Good morning, Jack." Lora started, "Do you know where my student is?"   

"Oh, he's over there," Jack said, pointing towards his son.   

Lora looked over at Polar as he hurried to pull his pants over his hips. Lora simply stared at him until he was fully dressed, and Jack sat back down in his chair.   

"Good morning, teacher," Polar said nervously.   

"Good morning, sleazeball. You ready to finally pass." Lora said with a smile.   

"I wish you wouldn't call me names," Polar said as he pulled on his t-shirt.   

"And I wish you had passed in the first couple of tests, but we both didn't get what we wanted. This time will be different, though." Lora stated.   

"You still haven't told me what will be different." Polar pointed out.   

Lora was silent as he finished pulling on his robes, and they left the house. Polar climbed on top of his horse, following Lora as she led him towards the testing area.   

The arena, or testing area as many preferred to call it, was expansive in size. Lora was definitely right about it being different, though, because there was a simple cottage in the middle of the testing area. Polar had never had to kill anything other than a rabbit, and he couldn't even manage that.   

It wasn't as though Polar was opposed to killing. Sometimes, one only had the option to kill, but killing when things could be done another way really bothered him. Polar walked towards the cottage, noticing that it grew harder to walk towards it. The pressure made him sweat, his body jittered with nervousness and excitement, and his legs slowly became wobbly.   

He turned the handle on the cottage door, slowly cracking it open to what looked like an open-lit fire with someone sitting in front of it. The woman in the chair got up, and he saw that it was Lora.   

“Wait, you're my test?” Polar inquired.   

“Polar, come here,” Lora directed.   

Polar looked at her for a moment. Lora didn't talk like that, and certainly not to him. Lora looked at him for a slight second before flicking her hand to beckon him closer. Polar's body floated into the air and flew to her like a rag doll.    

“You have failed this test way too many times, but do you know why they assigned me to you?” Lora asked.   

“Because they thought you were an asshole and thought assigning you a failure would improve your attitude?” Polar guessed.   

“Nope. Although, that was probably a side reason. They told me about your mother and your powers. I had the same problem as you until I failed too many times,” Lora said, coming closer to him.   

Polar was becoming awkward now that his teacher's breasts were firmly pressed against his chest. He had had dirty thoughts of his teacher in the past, but he had always managed to contain it and hide it. Lora moved closer, even still, her lips inches away from his.   

“Teacher?” Polar questioned, begging for the awkwardness to stop.   

“That was nine hundred years ago,” Lora said before she suddenly latched her teeth onto his neck.   

He began to feel a cooling sensation as the blood began to leave his body. Her body seemed warm now, and his weak body leaned into it.   

In what seemed like the world slipping away, Polar felt himself fall towards the ground. The world around him was spinning as he watched Lora place a cage with a rabbit in front of him and then walk away. He was no longer in control of his own actions, and the rabbit in front of him seemed to pulsate. Raising his hand, Polar felt a weird wet feeling on his hand that he instinctively pulled on. The rabbit exploded, but the blood flew into his hand.   

As the blood flooded inwards, it was as though he had a hundred energy spells bombard him with each drop. When it stopped, he had too much energy pent up inside of him, and he cried out in pain. The cottage blew apart, and Polar stood in the middle of the testing ground with several eyes looking down on him from the judge's seat.   

"Well done, Polar. It is good to see that you have finally passed." One of the judges said, "I think we can all agree that passing you is long overdue."   

"Are you talking about having to see him twenty times in a row or having to come here only to know he will fail in the past twenty rounds?" One of the judges sarcastically retorted, and the bench of judges laughed.   

For the first time in his life, Polar felt anger like he had never felt before. Raising his hand towards the judge, he began amassing a black sludge-like substance in front of him. Just as he was about to fling it at the judge who had made him angry, Lora stepped in and shoved his arm in a different direction. When the sludge landed on the ground, its explosion was so massive that Polar had to brace himself against Lora just to stay standing.  

"I think I may have made the young man angry," The sarcastic judge said.  

"No, I think Lora may have modified him. Lora, did you bless him as your teacher blessed you?" Another judge speculated.  

"Yes. I believe that his problem stems from a traumatic experience that stunts his rational thought," Lora stated.  

"Ah, so he is your Vampiric Knight now," The speculative judge acknowledged.  

"Well then, I believe that he should be granted Silver rank and committed to at least one War Contract to determine his threat level," The sarcastic judge said.  

Polar was confused by the conversation. He was primarily confused because War Contracts had not been forced in the past, and using them as a threat assessment had been unheard of. It wasn't like he wasn't elated that he had passed, but it seemed as though he had not passed on his own, and he was now subjected to different rules because of his teacher.  

"Polar, will you agree to a War Contract?" Lora asked him, snapping him out of his thoughts.  

Polar stayed silent because he wasn't sure how to answer. He wanted to know what his teacher had done to him, but he also didn't want to die in battle as he had seen so many of his friends do in the past. Promotion to Silver meant that he and his father got better living quarters and he got a private library of magical teachings. The goal of any mage at the guild was to attain the rank of Platinum, which was where you had an equivalent standing of a noble. Polar had never even dreamed of reaching that rank, and now it looked as though he had an actual shot.  

"Polar?" Lora poked.  

"Yes, I'll do it," Polar said, his voice cracking due to the length of time he had spent not talking.  

"Alright. Congratulations, Polar. You are now of Silver rank. You will need to see the Head Builder to acquire your additional benefits," the judge in the middle said before they all got up and left.  

"Good. You passed as I thought you would," Lora said.  

"What am I?" Polar asked.  

"You are my Vampiric Knight," Lora stated with a smile.  

"What does that even mean?" Polar asked, emotionally numb from all that occurred.  

"It means you can use blood as a power boost. It means you can't ever hurt me. Finally, it means that if I ask you to do something, then you must do it even if you don't want to." Lora pointed out.  

"You killed that rabbit," Polar said.  

"No, you were given a command to feed. You chose the rabbit." Lora said, "You chose to kill the rabbit."  

"I never asked you to do this," Polar said, starting to back away from her.  

"No, you didn't. I also wasn't asked when I received my own. You needed to pass Polar; there was simply nothing more I could do for you to pass at this point," Lora pointed out, "You had learned every spell that a mage of your level was allowed to learn and, without a generous push, we would have been at this level for the rest of your life. I was put into the same position as my teacher had been and I chose the same decision as he did."  

Polar wasn't exactly ready for a War Contact, and Lora wasn't helpful in this regard. He had yet to tell his father that he would be leaving the next day to fight in what was deemed a small skirmish. They had assigned him a small fight because they didn't want to kill him, but he would have to get used to these types of assignments since eliminating troublesome people was the Silver rank homework for Destructo mages. His teacher went off regularly to clear out bandit caves. A sword was no match for a fireball, after all. Mages at her rank also learned summoning spells of Tier 2, which meant she could summon a dragon at her worst condition. Polar had to earn the right to summon Tier 1 creatures, which meant he had to fight with the spells that he had learned over the years.  

His father sat out on the porch as he walked up the hill towards the cabin he had come to know since he was a teenager. All the children were given shelter inside the Mage's Guild building until they became teenagers, which was when they received their first ranking. The building hadn't been much more than a room and food was served by a cafeteria with the minimal amount of food needed to keep a person alive. It wasn't luxuriant by any means and they did this so that their first reward at their ranking test was not a disappointment.  

His father had to live in an empty house during that time, unable to move into the building because he wasn't a mage. It gave him time to get over the loss, but he had also come to appreciate the small things in life during that time.  

"Hello, son," His father said as Polar walked up onto the porch.  

"Good evening, Father," Polar said, attempting to go inside.  

Polar found that even though he placed his foot forward, it would not go beyond the doorway. Polar put his hands out and felt a weird gel-like substance that pushed him back when he put his hands on it. He had learned in lore that vampires were not allowed into places where the unsinful resided. His father was and had always been a very peaceful man. Forgiving of most everything he had done and went to pray at every sunset. Polar had not afforded himself to join his father, which made the blood on his hands even worse.  

Polar sat down on the porch, leaning against the gel substance and watching the sun as it went down. Another part of the lore said that vampires burst into flames when they were in the sun, but he had yet to see this happen. Lora came up the hill shortly after silence and sat in around the two men. She had come leading a horse that was carrying a chest behind it. Polar sighed in what felt like the emotion that had been gone from him the day his mother died had begun to seep itself back into him.  

"Good evening, Lora!" Jake called out to her.  

"Good evening, Jake! Did he tell you he passed?" Lora called back.  

Jake looked at his son, and Polar could see the tears welling up inside of his eyes. Jake's face slowly broke into a smile that would have made any son proud. Instead, Polar's heart wilted as though someone was clutching it and just holding it. Jake noticed this emotion on Polar's face and stopped smiling for a moment, looking towards Lora.  

"She did what she thought was best, Polar. You know as well as anyone that we each walk down difficult paths." His father said solemnly.  

"You knew?" Polar inquired.  

"No, but if your teacher chose it, then it was what she thought was best. She has acted as your mother in far more ways than you know. Just ignore it for now and give it time." Jake said, "Until then, I invite you into your home."  

Polar fell back slightly as the gel vanished, and he was no longer supported by it. He struggled to right himself, leaning on the frame to bring himself back up. Lora walked up the steps and squatted down to give him a hand.  

"I've brought the armor you will need for your fight. Most of it is the same armor I had when I was your age, but I had to switch out the breastplate." Lora stated.  

"What? Armor? What's going on?" Jake asked.  

"As part of the agreement to pass into Silver, I agreed to participate in a War Contract," Polar stated.  

"You what?" Jake said, the tears in his eyes quickly turned from joy to sadness, "Even though you know what happened to your mother?"  

Polar looked at his father with dead eyes. He didn't know how to make this painful for him. What can one say when they've invested decades of time caring for their own only to find out that investment could be thrown away? Polar chose not to say anything because anything he would have said would have just hurt his father more.  

"Alright, so your armor is very unique." Lora began, pulling out one of the arm guards and opening the outer shell to reveal several blood-red vials. "Each piece of armor has a vial of blood collected from various animals. You are a vampire now, so these vials will be useful when you need an extra boost of power."  

"What are the cons of being a vampire?" Polar asked bluntly.  

"Well, first is that you will be forever tied to whoever sired you, which would be me. The only way to cure your vampire side, I would need to die. You can't go into places of purity; you simply won't be allowed. You can't harm children who can't speak. You will find sleeping to be something that is no longer of use." Lora stated, "That's it, really. There are a few cons, but it's mostly a boost."  

"What? No bursting into flames under the sun? No constant need to drink blood? No fear of the cross?" Polar asked, puzzled by the extreme simplicity.  

"That's just folklore created by novelists who want to have easy tropes. Being a vampire is more like having a symbiotic relationship with a disease. Do certain things, and it can be very beneficial. Ignore it, and it will simply be a nuisance. Don't you want to hear the pros?" Lora asked with her hands on her hips.  

"Sure," Polar said, rolling his eyes.  

"You can track wounds by blood scent. When you have taken a drink of blood, you can lift ten times your weight and move ten times as fast, and your spells are ten times more powerful. So long as you are not drained of blood, you can't really die because you will heal too fast for there to be any danger. That means if you get hit by a cannonball, you will die, but if you get hit by a spear, it'll hurt like hell, but you'll be fine once you take it out." Lora pointed out.  

"Wait, so I can get hit by arrows and be fine?" Polar asked. Then what was the point of the armor?"  

"To prevent you from losing limbs," Lora stated.  

"Losing limbs? I thought I could heal?" Polar asked.  

"If a limb is chopped off, it will heal the wound close. You aren't a reptile; you can't regrow limbs," Lora said.  

Lora pulled out a metal staff that looked as though it had several metallic vines wrapped around it. In the crevices of the vines, between the wrapping, there were long strides of ruby gems darkened by some viscous material. Lora sighed as she handed it over to Polar.  

"Was this your staff?" Polar asked.  

"Yes, and be very careful not to lose this staff. I now have gauntlets that have the same effect, but this staff is where I got the inspiration. It is called the Vamp Staff because the gems contain vampiric blood in them, which is what makes it dark. You know that you can use magic through your hands, but you can probably use a drop of that magic to produce the same effect through this staff." Lora said, "It's very powerful, but only in a vampiric mage's hand."  

"Why are you giving me all this stuff? This must have cost a fortune," Polar inquired, feeling awkward about the amount he was being given.  

"I am your teacher. This is stuff that I no longer use. I turned you into a Vampiric Knight, and so it is only fitting that I give you the appropriate tools to utilize the abilities." Lora stated.  

"How many vampires are there?" Polar asked.  

"I only know of four at this Mage's Guild." Lora bluntly stated.  

"This mage's guild... This? As in, there is more than one?" Polar asked, astonished that he had never been told this.  

"Oh, shouldn't have said that. Oh well, don't think too much of it. Anyway, I believe with this you will be ready for tomorrow." Lora said with a smile, "Good luck, pupil."  

Polar walked up to the desk at the War Office. It was a small part of the Mage's Guild, but there were several portals swirling around them. A group of men in tall, shining armor sat at a table near the desk, and their armor seemed to glow with a bright yellow light. Each carried a weapon that was massive compared to normal weapons, such as the hammer leaning against the table that could be the base of a statue. Undoubtedly, these were paladins from the Warrior's Guild, which meant they were here to transport someone.  

"Hello," Polar said when he came to the woman at the desk.  

"Hello, name?" She asked.  

"Polar," Polar stated, nervous about what would occur.  

"Alright, level one skirmish. The role is assistance. Pay is one pound of silver." She announced, "Your party is over there."  

She pointed to the group of men sitting at the table that painfully stood out amongst all the other individuals in the room. Polar walked over to them, and in an awkward silence, they all looked up at him.  

"Uhm... hi, I'm Polar. The mage that agreed to the contract." Polar said.  

"Alright." One man said.  

The man had a small flag draping over his right shoulder, which signaled that he was their leader. He was tall and burly and lifted the hammer that was leaning against the table like it was nothing as he stood up.  

"My name is Grand. My lord requested we hire a mage for this skirmish, but I don't think you will be of any use. Let us get on with this mission." Grand said with a smile.  

Polar nodded and followed them towards one of the portals in the room. As they walked through it, the environment changed into a rich forest that was covered in vines. The portal was not there on that side, which meant Polar would need to find his way back.  

"Solaris!" Polar commanded as he held out his hand.  

A bolt of light came out of his hand and eventually settled down into what looked like a map. It showed the forest for up to miles around them, but he had no idea where they were supposed to go.  

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"I suppose I was wrong; show me where Lilith is then, mage," Grand said.  

"Lilith," Polar said to the map.  

The map made a blue outline of a trail heading towards what looked like a ruin in the bulk of the forest.  

"You might be useful after all. Alright, men, head in that direction." Grand commanded.  

Polar waved his hand and released the magic from his grip. The small spell was taught to all beginners of the Nickel level so that they could easily find their way back. The trek through the forest wasn't bad if Polar ignored the bugs that constantly ate at them. It wasn't long before the group managed to walk onto the steps of the ruin, where things looked as though they had been recently touched. There were men laid about with fresh blood coming out of wounds and making dark imprints on the ground their backs laid against.  

"Solaris! Sonar!" Polar commanded.  

The map reappeared in his hand, but this time, waves spread throughout it, signaling movement as the waves repeated and objects moved. Some objects moved fast and in a group, while others moved slowly and alone. Grand looked down at the map with a frown.  

"Alright, so it looks like the enemy won the battle for the steps. There's probably a few left, and they're probably looting the valuables from inside." Grand said, "We'll have to eliminate them before we continue. If they set off the traps, then we could all die."  

Polar nodded as he withdrew his hand back into his cloak. Each mage got a cloak to match their rank, and each cloak came with benefits. He did not know what benefits his cloak would have, and the Mage's Guild preferred it this way so that students wouldn't come to rely on them in case they didn't have them. The group headed into the passageway, which was well-lit by the torches that had been left behind by the enemy. Each torch was enough to light the way toward the next torch.  

The group didn't talk much and it seemed this was normal for them. Polar was left to his thoughts, which were focused on how to attack the enemy without coming anywhere near the battle. If he could use sonar with a destruction spell, it might target everything around them and effectively destroy the building. His spells were too widespread to do any pinpoint damage.  

It wasn't long after he lost himself in his thoughts that he noticed the group was beginning to find areas of cover. Without noticing it, Polar had walked into an enormous room that had lakes surrounding a platform. A group of unknown men stood in the center, and they outnumbered Grand's small group. Polar looked to see if any of them were carrying staves or wands, which was a hallmark of any mage or witch. In a breath of relief, he saw that none did. Polaris looked towards Grand.  

"Are any of them yours?" Polar whispered.  

"No. Get behind cover," Grand commanded.  

Polar ignored the command, as he was allowed to do underneath the contract. Instead, he held his staff forward, wanting to test out his new power.  

"Sonar! Moltar! Viper!" Polar commanded.  

The walls trembled as sonic waves bashed against them, and the poisonous molten lava hissed as it splashed against objects. The unknown men screamed in pain as it hit their bodies, melting the flesh it touched and seeping poison into their bloodstreams. Within moments, the entire group was frozen into place by molten rock, and the survivors were slowly dying from the poisoning. Grand walked up behind him with his mouth open slightly.  

"You are a Silver mage, right?" Grand asked.  

"Yes," Polar said.  

"I'd hate to get on your bad side," Grand said.  

Polar smiled at the gesture, but he was more astonished with how little magic that took from him. The three spells would have normally exhausted him, and he would have had to rest. He didn't know if it was his vampiric blood or the staff, but he barely felt any magic leave him when he cast the spells. Polar even noticed he had no qualms about destroying enemies that had done nothing to him. Grand walked over to where the men were and examined the area around it.  

"It doesn't seem to be here," Grand stated.  

"What is it that you are looking for?" Polar asked.  

"None of your business, mage." Grand replied, "I want you two to go check out the king's chamber."  

Grand pointed towards a throne hanging off the wall, towering over the lake below. Polar could see where a stable rock had once supported the throne, but it had worn away through the centuries, leaving the ruins uncared for. Polar looked at the man who would accompany him, scratching his head.  

"Levitate. Pair." Polar said, pointing towards the man.  

The two began to float into the air and slowly hovered towards the thrown. The man looked slightly scared to be so high up in the air but tried to look calm to show that he was tough. Polar let out a small chuckle at the sad sight, but he figured that it was a common trait amongst warriors. They lightly landed on the throne and Polar peered behind the chair to see that there was a solid gold door.  

The man got off the seat and went up to the door, looking for a handle of some sort. He pushed against the door to see if he could make it budge on its own. Polar looked at the door, watching the man try to open it with a slight amusement.  

"Move," Polar stated.  

"What? You think you can open this door?" The man asked, not realizing that Polar provided a spell that was currently pushing open the door.  

As the door slowly opened, a room of very expensive items filled Polar's sight. Many would raid this ruin if they had the opportunity, but the man walked right past such items in his search. Polar walked into it and saw that it had a perfectly preserved tiger rug with a bed made of rare wood and rounded out with elephant tusks. There were many brilliant swords and shields that made up the walls of the room. The man was searching through boxes that were slightly hidden behind the king's bed. Polar didn't know what it was, but one of the boxes that the man had put aside began to pull Polar's attention.  

He stared down at it, wondering what was inside, and then decided that his curiosity was simply too much. Opening the box revealed a black hammer, one that would be used in forging another actual weapon. There was a single blood ruby on the top of the hammer while the rest of it looked like a normal hammer, except black. He put it into his robes while the man wasn't paying attention and closed the box.  

"I found it." The man said as he pulled out a gold book from a chest.  

"Bring it down here," Grand commanded.  

"Steal," Polar commanded.  

The book flew out of the man's hand and into Polar's hand when he began to stand up.  

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?" The man said, placing his hand on his weapon.  

"According to the War Contract, all magical items found in non-war based fights must be examined by the individuals of a magical nature to provide a threat analysis." Polar stated, peering an eye at the man, "Or did you not read your own contract?"  

"Grand! The mage took the book!" The man called to Grand.  

"Bring the book down here," Grand commanded again.  

"Levitate. Move. Attract." Polar pointed at the man, who was sent flying at Grand but safely landed with a slight thud in front of him, "Oops, sorry. I'm not used to using those commands on people... other than myself."  

Polar walked towards the throne, peering into the book, which seemed to be a paladin Lost Tome. Occasionally, paladins would seek them out to add them to their library and improve their abilities. They generally contained lost knowledge that helped them fight their battles because not all paladins and the like were united at one time. Some fought each other for control, and knowledge was a victim of the fights. A gold book was different, though, because gold wasn't wasted on much by paladins.  

"Polar?" Grand questioned, looking up at the mage who was standing by the throne.  

"What is your intention with this book, Grand? I could easily spend a month studying this item, but why don't we save ourselves some time and tell me why a paladin book is in pure gold?" Polar inquired.  

"It's the Original," Grand stated.  

"So, it's gold just because it's the founding book of the Paladin Order? I find that hard to believe." Polar replied.  

"It was crafted by the Paladin Order who reigned in the beginning years. The Paladin Order was more advanced than any of the groups we have today." Grand said.  

Polar's eyes widened, and he knew that he was about to make a grave error if he handed this off without contacting his superiors. Grand was giving him the answers because he knew there was something in the book that he didn't want the Mage Guild to see.  

"I need to contact the War Office," Polar said, looking at Grand suspiciously.  

"I can't let you do that, mage," Grand said, readying his hammer for a fight.  

Polar pulled out one of the vials from his arm guards and drank the blood inside of it. He felt the incredible power rush through him, but it wasn't as powerful as it had first been. He placed the vial back in his arm guard, looking down at the band of paladins.  

"I have to follow the terms of my contract, paladin. I do not wish to fight you, but I will if I have to." Polar said.  

"Then a fight you will have," Grand said, chucking his enormous hammer at Polar.  

"Move," Polar said, flicking his hand to the side and watching the hammer change directions in mid-air, crashing to the ground.  

The other men began to move towards the arrows on their backs, but Polar stuck his hand out. He didn't want to be responsible for messing up his first contract.  

"Let me contact the War Office. I do not want to kill you. There are rules." Polar said, hoping Grand would come to his senses, but threatening to kill him was not something Grand could let pass by him.  

"Ready your arrows," Grand commanded.  

"Gravity," Polar stated.  

The entire group was instantly pinned to the ground, unable to move due to the increased gravity.  

"Call," Polar commanded.  

A mirror appeared in front of him, which slowly rippled as it attempted to find an Elder it could connect to. Slowly the mirror began to shine, revealing an Elder that hid his face in a cloak.  

"What is it, Polar?" The Elder asked.  

"I was told that this book was the Original." Polar stated, showing the Elder the book, "Once I was informed of what it was, I believed that I needed to contact the War Office. The client attempted to stop me and I have disabled them by peaceful means."  

"Hmm, that is troublesome. The judges should be watching you, and this could be a test. Did the contract list the purpose?" The Elder questioned.  

"No, just that I was to assist the paladins," Polar stated.  

"Very well. Hold the book up." The Elder commanded.  

Polar held the book up, and then the Elder said something under his breath. In a second breath, a book appeared in the Elder's hand.  

"I have copied the book. You may hand it to the paladins. You have free reign to kill them if they come after you." The Elder said, slightly raising his voice so that the group of men could hear him.  

"Yes, sir," Polar said, bowing as the mirror disappeared.  

Polar turned towards the paladins, who were still lying on the ground.  

"Now, you can have the book, and we can leave together, or I can just leave you here," Polar said.  

"Well, now that you've copied it, there is no point in fighting over it." Grand pointed out.  

"Look, I was just doing my job. The contract says what the contract says." Polar stated.  

"Yeah, I get the point; now let us up," Grand replied.  

"Release," Polar commanded, waving his hand over them.  

The group was released from the gravity hold and began to stand up, stretching out the limbs that had gone numb. Grand walked over to the edge and jumped into the lake, swimming to get his hammer. Polar watched them carefully, keeping his distance in case they decided to attack.  

"Levitate." Polar command, feeling himself float into the air.  

Polar slowly moved down towards the group, and Grand pulled himself out of the water. Polar stayed in the air, a few feet away from the group, while they collected themselves. He felt the improvement from the blood begin to wear off, but he chose not to take anymore just in case he had to drink it in an emergency. The group gathered themselves and headed back the way they came.  

The way back was uncomfortable and loaded with an awkward silence that seemed to drag on for long periods of time. The sense of adventure he had previously felt went away and was replaced by a consistent urge to attack the men in front of him. It was part of standard mage training to distrust normal people because normal people were often under orders from elsewhere and only thought of self-preservation in the materialistic sense. Mages had their own self-preservation, but it was more for their life than for the jewels around them. After all, a mage would always have access to money and wealth. What a mage considered valuable was magical items and their potential. That's why each contract made mages withhold magical artifacts. A normal person would use it to fight others to win over whatever battle they fought. A mage would bring it back to the library to be studied, examined, replicated, and maybe used in defense if the mages on the wall weren't strong enough.   

They could say magical words and grow shelves of crops, so there was no need to overthrow kingdoms for crops. They could say magical words and make a room exponentially larger than it, so there was no need for land. If they really wanted to, they could create an entirely different dimension and just live there. Magic provided for everything and the only cost was the right words in order to use the cosmic thread. Blood magic was the only magic that required sacrifice, but that was also why it was extremely powerful. Most magic worked like building blocks, such as casting “levitate” to fly in the air and “move” to go a specific direction. If you knew the right combination of words, it was easy to do it and the words only acted as symbols. The ranks above Silver often didn't need to speak in order to invoke them, something Polar greatly wanted to achieve.  

"Sonar. Feel." Polar whispered quietly, hoping the men in front of him didn't hear him.  

Polar felt the waves hit him as they bounced back towards him, noting the presence of several individuals standing outside of the cave but he wasn't sure how many because the men in front of him distorted the signals. Polar pulled out another vial and drank it. He felt like he knew there was going to be a fight up ahead; he just didn't know who it was going to be against.  

The group of men came out of the long passageway and into the light, but their bodies disappeared from Polar's view. There was no clamoring of weapons, just the same silence as before, so Polar assumed he would be led into an ambush.  

"Shield. Sphere." Polar whispered, watching as a purple goo slowly dripped down around his body in the form of a sphere.  

He walked out of the passageway and was immediately greeted by at least ten arrows bouncing off of the shield and the weapons of the men he had been with bouncing off of it too.  

"Gravity. Poison. Air. Spin." Polar commanded.  

At the same time that gravity brought everyone around him to their knees, a whirlwind of poison erupted around his body. The men struggled to get up from the pressure of gravity but were unable to do so and began breathing in the poison around them. Polar watched as many of the men in slightly less glamorous armor began to die from the poison. The ones who had shining armor were beginning to stand up and resisted the poison completely, which included the men he had been with.  

"You're going to have to do better than that coward!" Grand said as he slammed his hammer against the shield, shattering it into pieces.  

"Fire. Hydrogen." Polar commanded, placing his hand towards Grand's face.  

Grand's head was blown off as a resounding explosion could be heard throughout the forest. Polar didn't spend long looking at the pulsating blood before he began to move back to avoid the sword stabs coming at him.  

"Curse. Metal. Steel. Melt." Polar command, wistfully dodging the pokes towards him.  

The men screamed as their armor began to melt onto their bodies, and nearly all of them dropped to the ground as their bodies were unable to move due to the pain. A few of them passed out, but some didn't and the ones that didn't were stuck into place by the metal that once protected their bodies. Polar stuck out his hand, and the men who had managed to stay awake began to scream as the blood slowly poured from their bodies and into his hand. In every scream, he found that he was growing incredibly powerful with their blood.  

"Hellfire Hammer!" Polar heard as the ground beneath him began to shake.  

Polar screamed in agony as the ground began to get hot, and he felt himself sink begin to sink in the early stages of molten lava.  

"Levitate! Move! Up!" Polar screamed, pulling himself out of the lava, barely escaping with his limbs intact albeit severely burnt.   

"Stop," Polar said, gasping for breath from the pain and dripping sweat from his forehead.  

He looked down below him and saw that a person with a staff was sitting on a horse, looking up at him. The person was covered in crosses and looked more like a priest than anything else.  

"Come to me, sinner!" He heard from below and then felt like he was being thrown towards the ground.  

"Earth. Move. Inner." Polar commanded.  

Polar felt the pull stop as the priest was now occupied with his own earthquake. He watched the horse buck as it tried to escape the moving ground from underneath it, but it eventually fell to the side and pinned the priest's leg underneath it.  

"Be gone, beast." The priest commanded, which made the horse fly into the air and away from him.  

"Gravity. Gravity." Polar commanded, holding his hand over the priest.  

Polar slowly came towards the priest, floating down as he slowly released the magic he had put into his levitation. The blood from the vial had long passed but the blood of the men was still in his veins. The priest was now trapped underneath double the force of gravity the other men had been and was throwing out random spells in all directions in the hopes of hitting Polar.  

"Curse. Mouth. Close." Polar commanded.  

The priest could no longer talk and Polar landed on the ground lightly. He walked over to the priest, bending down to look at him in the face.  

"It seems that we need to have a chat at the Mage's Guild," Polar said.  

The priest tried to use his hands to tear his mouth open, perhaps to cast more spells, but was unable to budge them. Instead, Polar released the gravity, and the priest stood up, grabbing for a sword that had long melted into its scabbard. Polar looked at him while the priest tried to find a weapon he could lift, but unlike the men he was with he was unable to lift any of the weapons the men had carried. The priest eventually gave up and walked over to him with his head down, unable to cast spells or do any real harm.  

The two walked back into the forest of trees, slowly making their way back to the spot of the portal. They stood over the spot, and Polar could feel its presence. He pricked his finger on a local shrubbery and poured it on the ground of the portal, which opened up beneath him and the priest. Polar landed quickly only to be met by the Elder that he had been speaking with before. The Elder had the Original in his hands this time, and Polar raised an eyebrow.  

"You seemed to have forgotten to pick it up when you came back. Next time, lad, if they're willing to kill for it, then it's usually powerful enough to kill." the Elder said with a smile, "You were so serious back there. What happened to the squeamish mage I once knew?"  

"I don't know, it just came out that way," Polar said, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment.  

"Alright, well, what do we have here?" The Elder inquired, looking at the priest, "Is this a Holy Priest I see before my eyes? Don't you guys just sit in a library all day?"  

The priest pointed towards his mouth, trying to get the Elder to allow him to speak. The Elder waved his hand, and the priest's hands were melted together.  

"Oh, you must be a new person to your order if you think I'm foolish enough to let you speak in such an open area. Let us talk somewhere else." The Elder said, snapping his fingers.  

Polar felt the world spin around them, and then all three of them were in a dark black room. He wasn't sure where he was because he had never seen such a room while he was in the guild.  

"Could you release him, son?" The Elder asked.  

"Yes, Elder," Polar said, waving his hand to release the curse he had placed on the priest's mouth. The priest gasped for air.  

"Burn all ye unholy creatures!" The priest suddenly yelled in anger.  

The Elder looked around, acting like he was waiting for something to happen. Nothing did, and this was something that surprised Polar. Not only had he never seen this room, but he had also never seen magic being taken away from the user.  

"Oh, I think you will find this room is incapable of housing any type of spell. You see, I built this room off of stones I found in the Draconian mountain range. They were used to hide Drakes when they snuck into kingdoms in their human forms. It completely suppresses all types of magic that haven't already been cast. Now, tell me, priest, why have you come out of your citadel?" The Elder asked.  

"You heathens will pay." The priest replied.  

"Yes, yes. We will burn in a fiery pit or wallow for eternity in darkness. Yadda, yadda. I've heard those zealot threats before, and they never came to pass. Are you going to answer my questions, or am I going to have to pull out your brain to find the memories that have my answer?" The Elder said, which caused Polar to snicker.  

The priest looked at the Elder wide-eyed, surprised that his words had the opposite of the intended effect. He looked towards Polar for a moment but then looked down and let out an enormous sigh.  

"We all wanted to grab the Original." The priest said.  

"Understandable, but why did you attack this young mage?" The Elder inquired.  

"We didn't want to share the location where it was found," the priest said bluntly.  

"Interesting. This suggests that there must be more there than just the original." The Elder stated.  

Polar pulled out the black hammer from his robes and showed it to the Elder. The Elder's eyebrow raised, and he took the hammer into his hand.  

"The Vampiric Hammer? You have found the order of the Vampiric Paladins?" The Elder pondered.  

"What, is everything vampiric now?" Polar asked, getting annoyed at how many times the word vampire was coming up.  

"Oh, Polar. The Vampiric Paladins are a dead order, primarily because their head Paladin sired them, and that vampire died, so the vampires became normal people. They came in flocks to join because people could be special by becoming a vampire. I would say it was a dangerous fad that lasted longer than it was supposed to." The Elder pointed out, "They had the standard weaponry of Paladin order in their day, but the thing that made them and their weapons different was this hammer. Their armor turned black, and not even a dragon could dent it. Good stuff, really."  

"So, what will happen now that we've gotten the Original and the hammer?" Polar asked.  

"Well, the Paladins will try to kill us, of course. I'd better hand these off to Ken." The Elder stated, "He'd be able to use these."  

"Is he a vampire too?" Polar asked.  

"OH yes, he sired Lora," The Elder said with a smile, "and I sired him. Although, I did it with magic, and he did it the natural way."  

"Okay, what do I do now?" Polar asked.  

"Well, you get to go kill them first." The Elder replied, laughing at the irony.