Fourth Age, 3403, half moon, ninth day. Winter, time to repair the village.
An old wooden house on the outskirts of the village in the woods.
Luxon stubbornly looked at Claudia.
"I'll try again!"
"It will be useless, you are too talented at magic. Until you learn how to weak your talent, mana will get in the way of building a contract with the world."
Luxon had always spent more time on his own study of magic. Technically, he was only a mortal playing with spells, but Claudia didn't want to upset him. Luxon admired her stories about magicians too much.
Claudia really saw Luxon as her little sister. The sorcerer's talent only made her more depressed.
He had improved his swordsmanship, but it was useless in the way of a knight. The sword was only a tool, he should have listened more to his own heart.
Claudia wondered who the boy's ancestor was. The sorcerer's talent varied according to the power of the ancestor. The hero was no match for the legendary ancestor.
Luxon surprised her with his common sense. This is not the behaviour typical of a village child. His manners are not formed in a village environment, his guesses about the meaning of some difficult terms are even stranger.
Claudia sometimes thought that Luxon had grown up in a noble family and was hiding out in the countryside. This showed how compatible the child was with his ancestor.
"Alright, go to sleep, stop feeding your body with mana. It replaces your sleep and food, but it undermines your mind. Keep doing that, you'll become a twitchy lunatic."
Luxon nodded and went to his bedroom. Claudia kept scanning him with her aura, she knew about his training at night. He hadn't fooled her this time, it gave her a bit of strange joy.
When she was alive, she never thought she would begin to learn some spells. Her path was clear and her goals attainable, but now it was worse. Claudia looked up at the sky and reached for the stars with her hand.
She must cope, must find a powerful wizard. Centuries of this existence are slowly undermining her as a person. Another thousand years, two thousand, ten thousand?
When did she lose her humanity? She needs to lift the curse, then find out the fate of her sister and brother. Time has greatly distorted Knight's soul. Thousands of years have made her sense of justice decrepit, but she sticks to her code.
People don't change, because human life is too short. Claudia, on the other hand, is warped... The code of the knight, the only chain of identity.
Who would have thought she would linger for a year in the vampire lands. Her journey must not end, deserts, seas and ancient empires await her. Sooner or later, she will solve her problem.
Then she will find the perpetrators, revenge will be exacted, even if only the bones of their descendants remain. Her whole life, code and ambition, everything is now just an ironic joke. Claudia won't stop, no matter how much blood is spilled.
***
She woke Luxon up early in the morning. That afternoon they went into the village together. The spell allowed them to remain inconspicuous. Luxon habitually stole a couple of tasty treats.
Claudia noticed how Luxon tried not to look at the civilians.
"Is something bothering you?"
"I think I'm changing again... The voice in my head is telling me to watch out for people..."
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Deep in his heart burned a fire of hatred. Ever since he called himself Luxon, it was as if his whole soul had changed. Luxon was not afraid of his elders, he always looked for ways to retreat, regarded the villagers as enemies and felt contempt.
"It's normal, a sorcerer's talent affects character. The ancestor who gave you the talent was hostile to the human race. You will learn to overcome this feeling s..."
Claudia grabbed Luxon and in the next moments they were already hiding in a haystack.
Luxon was silent, the teacher would be sure to say why they were hiding.
"I can feel the aura of a knight, and also strange auras... They're not knights, but they're not supreme swordsmen either. Try to be quiet, we'll keep an eye on the situation in the village."
Claudia pulled the straw apart and began to watch the village.
After only a few minutes of waiting, several vampires ran into the village. They prepared for battle, and immediately armed men came after them.
Two groups of soldiers fought, they had the strength of elite mortals. The villagers had no time to hide, the vampires sucked their blood periodically, and the men in armor killed to prevent the enemy from replenishing their strength.
The vampire grabbed the old man and drained him of his life in just a moment.
*shouting*
A soldier of the human group decapitated another Kresian, this forced the vampire to retreat.
*shouting*
The hunter tried to fight back, but both groups simply ignored his life. His arrow bounced off his armour, then one of the men swung his sword. The hunter was chopped in two.
*shouting*
A real mass murder erupted in the village. The villagers screamed and ran from the mad massacre. Someone fell, causing them to be trampled.
The two groups ignored the consequences of their actions and continued fighting.
Luxon saw death for the first time, but he felt no pity or fear. The boy realised that he had absolutely no empathy for other people.
His teacher suddenly applied an aura disguise.
"Luxon don't move, don't use your aura, freeze."
The boy nodded, he waited for what frightened the teacher.
Magical circles formed in the air, mana being frantically sucked out by a strategic spell. Both groups of soldiers began to flee, but it was too late. A magic vortex emerged in the centre of the spell, growing larger by the second.
The vortex tore at the bodies of vampires and humans. The armour rattled and disintegrated into sharp shards. Half the soldiers turned to dust, they merged with the vortex of mana and disappeared completely.
The swirl of mana stopped abruptly and formed the shape of a huge pillar. The mana of the spell finally dissipated, and a huge magical tower emerged in the centre of the village. Dozens of metres in diameter and hundreds of metres high, the stone tower was filled with glowing runes.
The surviving soldiers fell, their bodies showing no visible damage, but they were dead. The translucent silhouettes of men were torn away from their bodies. Luxon could not look away from such a display of spells.
"The souls of these soldiers are captured..."
Luxon heard the teacher's words, which made his interest grow.
The souls of the soldiers clung to their bodies, but they were drawn to the tower. One by one, anyone who disturbed the peace of the village paid the price. The souls melted into the runes of the tower, a strange translucent substance seeping through the stonework.
Before the tower fully absorbed the souls, other spells arose. Portals arose around the tower, they glowed a rich turquoise colour. Hundreds of people emerged from the portals, they immediately surrounded the magical tower.
Luxon shuddered, he felt helpless. Every one that came out of the portal was a knight or an archmage. Some knights were weaker, but any one of them could crush Luxon like a cockroach.
The boy saw hundreds of knights for the first time...
"Strange..."
Claudia could sense the knight's aura from only ten people. All the others had the aura of a knight, but they were too weak. It was as if their power was fake.
She quickly analysed people.
Two hundred fakes, she wondered how they got their power, but they were no threat.
Nine weak true knights and five archmages, Claudia did not consider them a threat. The conviction of the six knights was weak, they had not even discovered the abilities of the contract.
The other three were pathetic, their contract abilities enhanced by physical strength, such rubbish would die after thirty seconds of combat.
The archimages were even more pathetic. The crest on the mage's mantle was dull, the mana not distorted around their family's runes. These archmages were from a young family.
Even more modest were their auras, they had only slightly touched the mysteries of magic. They had only recently become archmages, just a couple of years ago.
The threat came from only two leaders. Both men had touched legendary power, they could be described as semi-legendary. What they lacked was the competent use of legendary power.
The young girl with blonde hair and blue eyes was a priestess. Claudia had always despised priests, this was the first time she had felt such power from fanatics. Her long confinement in the crypt had not gone unchanged in the world, thousands of years ago priests could not compete with magicians.
The second leader was an old man in knight's armour, his strength could match Claudia's. The old man was a true knight with energy ability. The straw body doomed Claudia to lose the duel.
The doors of the magic tower opened. A group of vampires came out to meet the people. At the front was a girl dressed in a lilac magical robe. Her hood was completely covered. Her face was a starry sky beneath the hood. The material of her clothing was dotted with magical circuitry, the kind of artifacts only a few magicians could use.
The vampire girl's magical crest was strong. Mana was gathering where the girl was striding. Claudia knew this magical family, the first clue to finding her sister.
Blood light.
Claudia's sister was competing with a vampire from this magical family. The knight was a little excited to be able to talk to the descendants of her sister's friends.