I marched onwards, closing my eyes to focus, drawing the Runes with my mind, I opened them, my new vision taking over. I searched for a dense darkness, a corruption so heavy it choked those near it. Bringing my hand to my shoulder, I beckoned Huginn to rest on my hand, but understanding what I wished, he flew from my shoulder and nestled onto a nearby rooftop. Around the corner, Danger. Cultists. I peered around the sharp turn, four of them, one draped in elaborately decorated white robes, not unlike that one man who spoke to me before that memory Daemon called me into the past. I thought to not kill them right away but to listen.
"The Archon calls for the death of these 'intruders' but I don't see how we are to do so. They are too strong-" says one of the regular cultists, the green-robed one interrupts "But we have the numbers, much of the town has been converted or conglomerated, and only thirty remain. Ah, how I love it when they resist~ The survivors have such spirit, it makes me so interested~ And that Butcher, I'd love to break him~" She sounded so deranged... so disgusting... but she is strong, just from the dense darkness I can tell she is strong. A new character appears, out of a portal, not like those I have seen before but, twisted, and wrong.
"No, Sister, I want to play with him too~" The worst part about these green-clad women was that they looked... appealing? Even through their clothes, I can make out the subtle curves, I hated it but I can not deny I felt some attraction to the way they looked, sounded and spoke. Was that part of their trick? "Should we invite him to play now?" the first green-robed cultist asked, "Yes~" All five of the cultists turned to me, even behind the corner they could tell I was there, but when did they realise? For how long did they know I was here? "Come on out pretty boy~ Don't you want to play?" their voices became one and they twisted around each other, before I would have had to take some time to readjust, but my mind was sharper than ever. I stepped out, the once attractive women fused into one creature as if you had glued two people together at the back, Two forward-facing heads, four arms, four legs. The whole body constantly moved, never staying in one place for long, "Vice-Archon's madame's Perhaps we should-" one of their twisted hands grasped the Cultist by the head "NO! PLEA-" they crushed his skull, bloody gore sprayed from their clawed hand and his squished brain fell to the stone path with a wet thud.
'Maim. Butcher. Kill. Slaughter.' I took my ready stance, digging my feet into the snow-covered stone road. My Father's words rang through my head. My breathing became more and more regulated as I drew my sword, my scarlet eyes shone through the slits of my helmet. The training my Father instilled into my taking over as I pushed my Magic Blood to my arms and through the blade of my sword. The lackeys of the sisters began to draw near. They got closer. They were in reach of my sword. So I swung, lightning arcing off my blade as it cut through the air, then their flesh. In one unnaturally swift stroke, the two black-robed cultists were cleaved in two, their torsos and insides landing on the floor, followed by their legs, spraying dark blood and yellow all over the ground. Was I faster than before? "Show no fear. Make them fear your name, make them understand the strength of the Endyarr Dynasty." I could feel the cold gaze of my old man as his words rang in my mind like a bell. The creature the twins morphed into began to circle me in irregular patterns. After about a minute they split into two people once again, tearing away from each other violently and circling me in opposite directions. cautious, I moved in a way to try to keep them both in my sight, but inevitably, one got behind me... Giggling came from behind me, then a sharp pain, a slash at the sural region of my leg. Then a kick in my back, stumbling forward the other sister struck me in the chin with her foot, knocking my helmet off of my head. Strands of my white hair fell in front of my left eye, "My, My, not just pretty~" said the one in front of me, "He's handsome~" continued the sister, the other rounded around me to join her, "I just want to play with him more and more~" at this point I couldn't tell them apart, they both wore the same robes and mask. One looked down at the other's dagger, "His blood looks so tasty..." she stared at me with a dark look in her eyes, "...I wonder how it tastes-" her thoughts were cut short. Blood from their subordinates collected into a spike and struck her in the head, killing her instantly. "Sister-" I interrupted her with a lunge with my sword, one she countered with a screech, one that flew me back into the wall of a nearby home, "Bastard! You killed her didn't you?! I knew you mixed bloods were hiding something!" her eyes were full of pain and anger, infusing my legs with Magic Blood I tried again, only to be stopped with a kick in my side. My sword flew out of my grip as my armour, once again, crunched under the strength of the kick, I rolled and struck another wall. My mouth began to draw blood, my tongue hurts, damn it. I thought to myself, a swelling feeling in my tongue already. I started to rise to my feet when she came around again, a punch to the jaw, then a flurry of hits to my chest and stomach, blood spurted out from my mouth, and my gums bled, as did something inside my abdomen. Stumbling backwards, I was able to find my footing, she came at me again, anger overtaking her logical thoughts. Planting one foot down, I was able to infuse it with Magical energy and launch myself forward and into her ribs, my gauntlet digging into her chest. I could hear the cracks of her bones as she flew back from the blow, a shiver ran up my spine. I shouldn't have done that. The lightning magic had run through my whole body, momentarily freezing me in place, the sister struck the very same wall she had flung me into with her voice, and blood pooled from her head. She had hit it on the wall, and most likely shattered her spine. I only escaped, relatively, unscathed because of the multiple layers of armour I wore, but all she had was a robe, thin cloth. Limping over to her I was able to confirm that she had been paralysed from the neck down. She looked up at me with pure fear, tears running down her bloodied mask, she wasn't even breathing, and her ribs had pierced her lungs. To finish her off, I brought my boot up against her head and slammed it down, splattering her brains all over the snow-covered stone floor.
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It took some time to regather myself, my helmet and my sword. Even longer to catch my breath, sitting down on the cold stone floor. "Now what? What was it Father said to do?" I thought out loud, 'When surrounded by a hostile force and they cannot find you, kill them in small batches, hang the bodies, cut them up, ruin their corpses and display them for the enemies to see' his words spoke in my mind. "But that Vampire, whoever they are. I owe them two now. I'd be dead if both of them tried." My fatigue began to take over. "Judging by the state of the Blood Magic, they are either an inexperienced member of the older generation or an experienced one from the younger." It doesn't narrow it down, they could be anyone and I didn't come here prepared for Vampires. If I faced off against it, I'd never kill it because I left my Silver weapons back in the house... a shiver of apprehension ran up my spine as I wondered about what they may want. I pushed the thought to the back of my mind, if they wanted to kill me, I would be dead already. Pushing myself to stand, I nearly fell back twice, when I did stand on my feet I stumbled backwards into a wall "Fucker!" I exclaimed, finally standing properly without stumbling or falling, the cut at my leg irritated me. Limping back over to the green-robed woman with a snapped neck, I rummaged through her pockets, finding multiple documents. I checked them. Some sort of contract with a label of what place in the hierarchy she was, along with a list of the different levels and her subordinates. Damn. 'Vice-Archon' there were four of them, each vying for the place of 'Archon' the leader of the group here, the man in the black and purple robes, the man in the mask adorned with a blood-painted eye. Several valuables, mainly silver coins and jewellery. Searching the three black-robed ones gave me a similar contract with the rank of 'Initiate' and a parchment of their new overlords, One Archon by the name of 'Valdis', four Vice-Archons, three of which were women, all were siblings. Eight 'Seers' were recognised with their white robes and blindfolds, the only group of cultists without their signature masks. A goal was within reach. Cut the head off the snake.