Undead City- Altraud

Outside the city walls, in an open field.

Arthur glanced at his foot as a dry chuckle escaped from his skull.

'Such good teamwork, yet they don't want to be a part of the team' he thought while sighing and clapping his hands in appreciation.

The noise attracted their attention making them stare at him.

"Hey old bones, I can get the measurements now, right?" Maya inquired and was ignored.

Ervin clenched his bow in satisfaction as he stepped out from his hiding spot, Arya too had a thin smile on her face but her eyes were focused on Arthur's hands.

"Good job, as promised, I will fulfil your requests"

" Can we change out requests?" Arya asked her gaze still focused on his bony hands. Thinking for a moment Arthur responded with a nod, saying, "You can, but they have to be reasonable" his gaze lingered on Maya as he stressed the word reasonable, but she just scoffed and turned away.

"Anyway let's start with, Ervin"

Nodding in response Ervin thought for a while and asked for a new set of bows and arrows, he pointed at his weapons as he spoke, "These are weak, I need new ones ".

The weapons Ervin used were made of Blackwood and looked worn out because of excessive use, analysing its condition Arthur took out a red crystal from his robes,

"There is a weapon storage chamber left to my grave, it has a red roof, Use the crystal to enter it and pick any bow and arrows you like" he presented the crystal to Ervin who promptly took it. He then glanced at Arya.

"You are strong, let's meet again" After saying his piece he scurried away, leaving a bewildered Arya and a laughing Maya behind him.

Chuckling at the boy's attitude Arthur turned to Maya waiting for her request, he didn't wait for long though, as after some pondering she responded,

"I would love to take her measurements but not now, can I have a book about dungeon monsters and their behaviour?"

Arthur observed her for a while and took out a blue crystal from his robe. Giving it to her, he directed her to find a grave with a blue roof, located near the centre of the city, south to his own. Taking the crystal Maya said her farewells to Arya and left.

After the departure of the two, Arya stared at Arthur and requested,

"Can you teach me about affinity and skills?"

Thinking for a moment Arthur glanced back at her and questioned,

"You want to be my student?"

"Yes, is it unreasonable?" Laughing at the response he answered, "It's not unreasonable, but to be my student you need to trust me, will you?"

Arya did not respond, she wanted to trust others but couldn't. Her life was filled with loneliness and betrayal, trust was a novelty to her.

As the silence stretched on, Arthur sat on a nearby rock and spoke up,

" I will teach you, but after I am done teaching, you need to tell me about your life. You see undead are curious creatures, and a Lich like me is no exception, I will share my research and you share about your life".

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Taking a deep breath she sighed, and nodded her head in agreement.

"Do I need to sign a contract?"

"I don't have trust issues kid, follow me" Arthur answered as he rose from the rock and moved towards the city, Arya stood still as a thin smile formed on her face. She touched her lip in bewilderment and hurriedly followed him.

***********************

Inside the Vampire palace

In a lavishly decorated room, Veld stood, alone, his gaze fixed on a large portrait of a female vampire that was hung on a wall.

The woman had deep blue hair, dark red eyes and spot free doll-like face that had a high resemblance to Arya. Veld looked at the portrait with longing eyes, his hands reached out to the portrait as he tried to remember all the fond memories he shared with her.

Her name was Victoria, she was a war hero, someone who fought in many battles along with him and earned his father's recognition.

As he was reminiscing, the door to the room was kicked open as Sirius barged in and screamed at him.

"Veld, have you gone mad, why did you start a war with humans?"

"Are you talking about Edinburg Fort?" Veld gave Sirius a sidelong glance and continued,

"I did not start any war, not yet. Just increased the surveillance around the area and sent a bit more troops than usual"

Sirius gritted his teeth in frustration at Veld's nonchalant attitude,

"Why? Why are you increasing the troops?"

Hearing his friend's question, Veld took in a deep breath to calm his nerves,

"I want my people to die on a battlefield, to die in the enemy's hands. I don't want to kill them with my own hands" he spoke in a neutral tone, causing a stunned silence to descend in the room. Sirius exhaled sharply, sweat trickling down his forehead as he tried to process the new information.

"Is the country's internal situation so bad?" He asked dearly hoping to get no as an answer but reality was cruel to him.

"Yes, yes it's bad, so bad in fact that I had to exile my daughter just to protect her, so bad that I had to start a war just to prevent my people from killing each other " Veld spoke each word while looking straight into Sirius's eyes, his voice not faltering as he continued,

"I will repeat, I want my people to die a Worriers death and I will make sure that happens". He spoke with conviction, leaving no room for negotiation.

"Guess we are monsters after all, How do you want my death to be?" Sirius asked as he sat on a nearby chair and looked up towards the portrait.

"Don't know, but I want to die by her daughter's hand" Veld spoke with a grin.

"Stop trying to reminisce about dead people and do your work " Sirius advised and walked away, leaving Veld alone with only a portrait of his dead wife with him in the room.

**************************

Undead City- Altraud

In the central white grave

After the challenge, Arya and Arthur returned to the grave. Arthur sat on his throne, with many scrolls scattered around it and glanced at Arya who made herself comfortable on a nearby chair. Smiling he asked

"Do you know what innate affinities are?"

"Affinities that are present at birth" Arya responded, She knew that each species had an ability they were born with and explained as such, receiving a nod of approval.

"Correct, innate affinity is common for all members of a species, for example,

Blood magic is the innate affinity for vampires, it is present in all vampires but no other species have blood magic,

Drain magic is innate to undead,

mist to human,

wood to elves and

magma to dwarfs"

Arthur explained while also demonstrating his drain magic, he pointed his arm towards her and muttered , As the green hue from his hands struck her, her movement speed decreased. The effect however disappeared after a minute.

"Each living being produces an internal energy called Hue, depending on the affinity the hue colour changes, red for blood magic, green for drain magic etc." Arthur continued as he received a nod of understanding from Arya.

" Hue is however, highly volatile and impossible to control, and that's where skills come in" He took out a scroll that was glowing in red colour and passed it to Arya. Receiving it she scanned the contents, it was a scroll called and had a magic circle inside it. After scanning its contents Arya turned back, eager to hear about its details.

"That scroll contains the magic circle to learn skill, Your skill is very weak, replace it with that skill" Arthur ordered, confusing her.

"Um, why replace, I can have both right?" She asked while tilting her head.

"Yes, you can have both, but any living being can only afford 4 skills at a time, if you want to use any new skill you have to replace it with one of the existing skills, I too have four skills,

and one more which is a secret"

Satisfied with the explanation, Arya was about to nod but stopped as she recalled Arthur's skills, , it was not drain-related magic skill...