The Undead City- Altraud

Inside the dungeon tomb.

A narrow passage, dimly lit by the many torches anchored to a side of the brick walls came into view as Arya fluttered her eyes open trying to cope with the sudden change in the intensity of light.

The passage only allowed 3 moderately built adults to walk side by side simultaneously. The walls had many cracks running through them, with many small and large holes littering them, making Arya seriously question the durability of the structure.

She moved carefully in the direction of the passage, consciously controlling her every movement to produce as little noise as possible. As she moved, the glow of the torches on the walls increased, lighting up in blue flames, illuminating the path ahead.

'squeak'

Arya's careful movements halted upon hearing the eerily familiar sound. Her head turned, almost robotically, towards the sound only to see her most dreaded opponent. It stood on its two hind legs, with a long tail, red eyes, a long snout with whiskers, small body covered in black fur, gazing at Arya while producing a 'squeak' sound. It was a sewer rat.

Arya shrieked in horror at the sight of a much larger version of her arch nemesis and the thief of the pitiful amount of food she had after her mother's death. She hurriedly bit her fingers and shaped the blood flowing out into a broomstick using the skill and with her both eyes closed she used it as a club to strike the dungeon rat until it was turned into a bloody pulp.

Lightly peeking at the dead rat, Arya sighed in relief and undid the blood shaping, making the blood fall limply back to the ground. Her kicked in replenishing the lost blood but consumed more Hue in the process and reduced her stamina.

Observing the puddle of blood Arya recalled about the two-skill scroll she received from Arthur. She took out the scrolls from a bag and gazed at them with interest.

Sighing she examined her surroundings and after finding no other rats, at least not in the vicinity, she closed her eyes and concentrated, trying to visualise her heart. She was able to achieve it by concentrating on the origin of her Hue, which was the heart.

Three of the four chambers of her heart were filled with magic circles representing the skills that she learnt.

She focused on the chambers containing the and < blood shaping> skills, willing them to dissipate. After a few minutes, the skill circles dissipated.

Arya felt a sudden weakness after losing the skills but chose to ignore it and opened the skill scrolls in her hand. She injected her Hue into them and as her Hue came in contact with the magic circle inside the scroll, a similar circle formed in a chamber of her heart. She did the same thing with the other skill, causing a headache due to the sudden information about the two new skills that she learned.

Her skills were

- support type.

The active skill consumes Hue

and absorbs the enemy's blood to give a temporary boost to the user's magic attack and speed by 1x.

Can be stacked 3 times.

Range 5m(can be improved with practice)

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

- mixed type.

The active skill consumes Hue

Control the user's blood, can shape them into weapons for attack or defence.

Controlling the blood inside the user's body to make it flow faster gives a temporary boost to speed by 1x.

Range 5m(can be improved with practice)

- support type.

Passive skill,

passively heals the user's wounds by consuming the user's stamina and Hue,

can help detoxify low doses of poisons,

The user falls unconscious if the damage is severe.

Range none.

It took Arya a few seconds to recover from the dizziness and when she did, to her horror, she found herself staring at a few dozen of dungeon rats that were peeking at her from the many holes in the walls of the narrow passage. She snapped out of her shocked state and glanced at the puddle of rat blood around her.

Extending her hand towards the puddle she mumbled , Hue seeped out of her hand and entered the puddle allowing her to control the blood. She formed a spherical blood shield around her and bolted towards the end of the passage, trying to run away from the rats as soon as possible.

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

The undead city- Altraud

Inside the central white grave.

Arthur and Paul sat opposite each other and were playing a strategy game called chess. Paul was aggressively attacking with his pawns, while Arthur focused on defending and counterattacking.

"You are too passive" Paul muttered, but it was easily audible to Arthur.

"Our city and undead cities in general are all built on a battlefield, I don't want to start a new one"

Sighing at Arthur's stubbornness Paul continued the game when a noise disturbed them.

"Hey old bones, I am back, missed me, you did, didn't you? Admit it." The loud voice of Maya resounded throughout the wall, attracting the attention of both Arthur and Paul.

"What do you want?" Arthur asked irritated.

"Oh Paul, you are here too, how are the kids, do they miss me?"

"No, no they don't, ignore them. Don't teach them anything weird"

Paul was visibly agitated at the thought of the kids becoming influenced by her.

"I don't teach them anything weird, just somebody measuring techniques and methods of creating a skill book "

Paul smacked her on the head and hurriedly ran to the inner city to make sure no kid was practising anybody measuring techniques.

Arthur was peeved at being ignored but could only sigh and listen to his friend's distress.

"So, what do you want?" Arthur asked the same question again, his irritation not decreasing in the slightest.

"Hm, oh I am going to the dungeon. Just wanted to let you know"

"Alone?" Arthur asked, worried.

"No, I am taking the muscle head with me. Where is Arya? I want her to join too" Maya explained her plan while glancing at the game board. She quickly moved a piece towards the opposite king and muttered "Checkmate" while grinning.

"Let's ignore the game. What's that book?" Arthur asked trying to change the subject. He was pretty good in it but had a hard time beating either Maya or his girlfriend, the death knight Kyouka.

"This is the spell book I made, I can't use any skills because, you know, I don't get a heart until I evolve at least once, so I made this book. With this I can use skills even if I don't have a heart" Maya smiled proudly, showing off her book to Arthur.

"So you want to test it inside a dungeon?" Arthur asked, receiving a nod as a reply.

"Fine, but take Ervin with you, you can meet Arya inside the dungeon"

"Wait, she is already inside the dungeon," Maya asked surprised.

"Yes, now get out"

Maya nodded and hurried away in search of Ervin. Finally, Arthur focused on the game, trying to figure out why he lost.

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

Edinburg fort

Inside Fiona's residence.

Fiona sat on her chair, sorting through as many documents as she could when a knock on the door distracted her. She permitted the person to come in and after noticing that it was a member of the army she asked,

"Any new attacks?"

"No ma'am, but, we obtained information about a small group of vampires heading towards the human camp near the undead territory"

Fiona's eyebrows creased at the information. "Anything else?" She inquired

"Yes ma'am, we were able to link the small group origin to the Duncanville, They were Lady Selena's guards " he answered and turned silent.

"Ask the vice-captain to take charge of this fort, I am going to the undead territory"

The soldier gave her a crisp salute and ran to complete his tasks.

"Selena, ha, I have a bad feeling about this" Fiona muttered to herself and left the room.

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

Undead City- Deimos

Inside a large pristine white grave.

A death knight, the strongest of all undead and one of the five sovereigns of the world- kyouka, sat on her throne, massaging her temples while reading a report about an undead lich.

"That moron, what is he thinking allowing a vampire, and a princess at that to stay in the undead territory" she screamed.

Sighing she glared at Arthur's picture and whispered " I hope you are not doing anything reckless and idiotic".