Hoplite pulled the wagon, his flashlight illuminating the smooth tunnel ahead. Theopalu had taken up a space behind him, directing him whenever the tunnel split off into other paths. Halm walked just slightly ahead of Hoplite, keeping on the lookout for approaching Fiends. The rest of the party kept watch out of the back of the wagon, in case any hordes decided to give pursuit. It had been hours now however, so Hoplite doubted that any significant force would be pursuing them. Even if there were, their roars would echo through the tunnels, giving the squad time to prepare.

Still though… something felt wrong about this place. His instincts told him to move through here as quickly as possible. Even Theopalu’s irritating laziness had been washed away, leaving the old elf with wide staring eyes that peered into the darkness ahead. Michael however, was far more paranoid from what Hoplite could see. The marine’s headlamp quaked slightly as he cast the light out of the back of the wagon. There was so much darkness surrounding them, if for some reason the lights were to shut off now, Hoplite had no doubt that Michael would become incapacitated.

“How much longer?” Hoplite asked Theopalu.

“A few more hours.” Theopalu said, not tearing his eyes away from the darkness ahead, “Just a few more hours…” He repeated again, seemingly to himself.

“Why are you on high alert?” Hoplite asked.

“I’m surprised you’re asking that.” Theopalu stated.

“You’re lazy.” He shot back flatly.

“Ah yes, this is the truth.” Theopalu nodded, “I am concerned by the lack of Fiends.”

“Why is that?” Hoplite asked, “It seems optimal for our mission.”

“There still should have been at least a few skulking about down here.” Theopalu said, “Yet we haven’t even seen a single one. It makes my imagination work is all, and it is not picturing anything good.”

“What are you thinking about then?” Lance asked from beside him, “I have a bad feeling too but I can’t place it.”

Hoplite felt this way as well, but remained silent.

“...There is an old story about the Akan-Dark, one that has lasted through the fall of Akan-Var, migrating to Akan-Dar.” Theopalu said, “Legend states that an ancient Romai ruin can be found down here, if one explores enough of the tunnels.”

Hoplite remembered hearing about the Romai. They were the dwarves that ruled during the Sixth Age, their leaders being vampires.

“I’ve not seen this supposed ruin myself, but if these tunnels are clear of Fiends… something made them disappear.” Theopalu said with a sigh.

“Are you saying there are vampires down here?” Cat whispered, squeezing beside Lance, “You aren’t for real, right?”

“Vampires are definitely real.” Theopalu said miserably, “It is unfortunate, but their kind hasn’t been completely wiped out. They are immortal, so the possibility of there being an ancient dwarven vampire running around down here… is plausible. Perhaps.”

Hoplite felt despair at the fact that he didn’t argue with the elf. In fact, he just took it as a given at this point.

“How dangerous are these vampires?” Hoplite asked.

“You would die if we came across one.” Theopalu told him, “At least, if it is an ancient one. Vampirism is something that only makes its victim more powerful with age, like fine wine the longer it ferments the more potent it becomes. If there truly is a Sixth Age Romai vampire roaming about down here… we’d best be careful.”

“Hoplite killed a Godling.” Lance said, “I don’t think a vampire would put up that much more of a challenge.”

Theopalu simply shook his head, “You’ve not seen what they are capable of.”

Everyone fell silent after that. Hoplite considered the possibilities as he continued pulling the wagon along. It seemed like an ancient vampire could be more powerful than Tuji had been… if that was the case, then he would need to use everything at his disposal in order to kill it.

“What are vampires' weaknesses?” Hoplite asked, “I assume sunlight.”

“For a vampire potentially this old, the sun would just be a nuisance, and we won’t be getting any down here.” Theopalu said, “They can regrow limbs and seal wounds in seconds, and their strength will likely exceed even yours. Don’t try and fight it, our only option would be to run.”

“If it’s really so powerful, it would only catch up with us.” Hoplite replied, “I will eliminate the threat if it appears.”

“Very well.” Theopalu sighed, “There are many steps to destroying a vampire however, and all must be followed to ensure that it can be done. Firstly, we must find its Coffin, and make sure it cannot enter it. If it does, it will be able to fully recover from whatever we’ve inflicted upon it in an instant, while we will be exhausted.”

“A coffin?” Hoplite asked, “Can’t we just destroy it?”

Theopalu shook his head, “No, this is not some pine box I’m talking about. Eventually, a vampire can form their own miniature realm, a Coffin, which is often tied to a physical object they choose. We must identify what the Coffin is and where it resides, then seal it, either physically or magically.”

“Could the creature be carrying their own Coffin?” Halm asked, tilting his head slightly, “They’d be able to warp into it right there, and we wouldn’t be able to stop it from happening.”

“Coffins are not things that a vampire can carry, they can enter it but they cannot bring it with them. Yes, they can choose a new object to be their Coffin instead, but it is a tedious effort, which is why vampires don’t typically roam far from it.” Theopalu explained.

“You seem like you know a lot about this.” Lance pointed out, “Why is that?”

“Think I’m a vampire, Lancela?” Theopalu asked, cocking an eyebrow.

Lance shook her head, “Of course not, but you know more than a lot of other people do. I’ve not heard of ‘Coffins’ before in the legends.”

“Vampires are a nearly extinct breed in this age.” Theopalu said, “And with Legolanthas present in the east, no vampire would dare try to raise a domain where the Dragon could find them.”

Hoplite sneered as he thought back to his encounter with Legolanthas, “Why would he care?” He asked.

“Dragons hate vampires, they see them as competition for ruling mortals, and any vampire surviving on the surface now would not stand a chance against him, for they are too young.”

“So Legolanthas would smite them if he knew there were any around?” Lance asked, “Seems oddly benevolent.”

“A young vampire is like a small, ugly weed in a big garden.” Theopalu said, “Ahkoolis, in Legolanthas’ eyes, is his garden, and he would not allow such a weed to outgrow it, and him eventually. Again, vampirism gets better with age, and doesn’t slow down. For example, if a vampire had somehow managed to survive from the First Age all the way up until now… well, even the very Pillar-Gods themselves might be threatened by such a being.”

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“I guess that means there are no vampires that old then.” Lance said casually, leaning back, “If there were, we’d be ruled by them right now.”

“Let us not make assumptions.” Theopalu told her, wagging a finger, “At the end of the day, vampires are sapient beings, perhaps not all wish to rule over mortals.”

“They’re evil.” Lance said flatly, “Of course they would all want to rule the world eventually.”

“Weaknesses.” Hoplite said, “I need more weaknesses.”

“Sunlight of course will kill a young vampire outright, but as they get older they build a tolerance for it. It will still stop their regeneration and other powers they wield, but again, it cannot be depended on down here. Thankfully, we have a paladin with us. Afina’s holy magic ought to put a damper on such a monster as well, yes Twindil?”

Twindil’s head turned from the back of the wagon, “Afina’s tranquility can drive off any undead.”

“Vampires are not undead… at least I do not consider them as such.” He said, “They do have a heartbeat, but it’s slow, perhaps only pumping once per day.”

“Again,” Lance said, leaning forward, “Why do you know so much about them?”

Theopalu shrugged, “I used to hunt them.” He said casually, “You learn intimate details when you spend a good amount of time with something.”

Lance opened her mouth to speak, but Hoplite cut her off, “Can their regeneration be halted by causing overwhelming damage?”

Theopalu nodded, “Yes, that is the most conventional way to end them, but only after sealing their Coffin.”

It was sort of like forcing them to the point of ‘going Wendigo’, like with Hoplite’s. If his regeneration couldn’t keep up with the damage, he’d be forced into voracious hunger, but if that hunger wasn’t sated and he continued to take damage, Hoplite would starve to death, or just bleed out, no longer able to heal himself after that point. It must have been the same way for vampires.

“We also must remove their head, burn the body, and leave the bones in the sun. This is the guaranteed method for vampire removal.” Theopalu said, “And I know what you all are thinking, yes, garlic helps, but only because a vampire's nose is sensitive to strong smells. If you have something pungent enough, you might be able to stun them.”

“Give Michael over there a few burritos and we’ll be good.” Cat chimed in, “Not that I believe any of this, just trying to lighten the mood.”

“I don’t know what a ‘burrito’ is, but I assume it has garlic. Why give it to Michael?” Theopalu asked, “Can he throw them well?”

Cat just shook her head, “Mike you get it right?”

Michael didn’t respond, still staring off into the darkness.

“Sir… if you don’t mind me asking, do you know why Higgins is acting like that? He’s been this way ever since we got down here.”

“He was trapped in his escape pod for over three days in the dark.” Hoplite said, leaving it at that.

It was a short summary, but he didn’t want to go into detail, that may make Michael more shaky than he already was.

“Anyway, most vampires can use Foundation exceedingly well. They can turn to mist, walk on water, shapeshift, basically anything magic related you can think of. It is not the vampirism that causes this, rather it is their eternal life spans. They have eternity to practice the Building the Houses and utilizing Foundation, their magical abilities are far more dangerous than anything else.”

“How long ago were you hunting vampires?” Lance asked after a moment.

“Take a right in this fork, and keep going straight.” Theopalu told Hoplite, ignoring the question.

They continued like that for another hour or so, lapsing into silence until finally, they encountered their first Fiend. It hovered just outside the range of his light, but Hoplite could see the squat figure, lightly swaying. Halm cracked his neck and approached the creature.

“I’ll take care of it.” Halm said with confidence, “At least now we know there aren’t any vampires down here.”

“New ones?” The Fiend said, suddenly becoming rigid.

Halm froze in place, “Are you like me then?”

“New ones!” The figure screamed, “New ones!”

“Calm down.” Halm said raising his hands, “You need to relax.”

“Follow! Follow!” The stout creature shouted before sprinting off.

“Let’s keep going.” Hoplite said, tugging the wagon.

“You want to follow that thing?” Lance asked.

“Of course not.” Hoplite said, “I don’t want to waste time.”

“It happens to be going the way we need to go…” Theopalu noted.

“If it wants to think we’re following it, then let it.” Hoplite said dismissively, “If it becomes aggressive, we’ll neutralize it.”

“Maybe we should just do that now.” Cat said, “Something about this is weird.”

He didn’t outright dismiss the idea, but a part of him strangely didn’t see a real need for it. The creature could be trying to lead them into a poorly made trap, sure, but it would no doubt get lost in the tunnels after they parted ways. Still, just to be safe…

“Halm, go disable it.” Hoplite whispered, “Even if we don’t follow the Fiend, it’ll let its kind know we’re down here.”

“No!” The creature yelled from up ahead, “No not me! I’m not a Fiend!”

Hoplite frowned, how had it heard them from all the way up there?

“Well what are you then?” Halm shouted back.

“I thought you said it was a Fiend?” Hoplite asked.

Halm only shrugged, “It's dark down here, I just assumed.”

“Just follow me!” The creature shouted back, “Follow!”

Hoplite sat down the cart abruptly and drew the Fortis, aiming it right at the squat figure. His instincts screamed that it needed to die right that instant. Would the gunshot echo through the tunnels and draw Fiends to their location? Potentially, but this thing, whatever it was, seemed far more dangerous at that moment.

“Cover your ears!” Hoplite shouted before pulling the trigger.

The bullet tore through the dark figure, its torso ballooning up and dissipating immediately after.

“We need to run!” Theopalu shouted, “Turn around and run, Hoplite!”

“If y-you won’t f-follow-” The creature stuttered,, “I h-have to m-make you!”

Hoplite fired again, the figure completely evaporating into darkness. No… it wasn’t that it had disappeared. There was weight to the surrounding darkness now, pressing in on the light from his helmet. He heard Michael’s breathing begin to shake as the blackness began to close in on the wagon.

“Dammit all! Hold on everybody, stay together, we were in its Coffin this whole time!” Theopalu shouted, moving over to Twindil, “You must dispel this, now!”

Was that creature a vampire then? Hoplite scanned the blackness, trying to find something, anything to shoot. Nothing appeared on his motion tracker, and infrared wasn’t picking anything up either… but now the tunnel seemed to come alive, its smooth walls warping and twisting around them.

“You have to go t-this way now!” It shouted, “You h-have to now! T-they will be h-happy to see you!”

“Afina, drive away this vile darkness!” Twindil shouted, clasping her hands together and kneeling, “So that we may be tranquil in the light!”

A warm light then surged out of her, expanding like a bubble before spreading out of the wagon. Once this strange bubble of light hit the encroaching darkness, the two seemed to clash, pushing one another back. The blackness however, seemed to be pushing closer regardless of this new resistance it faced. Hoplite saw Twindil sweating, her clasped hands trembling as the blood drained from her face. Then she clenched her teeth, growling as she pushed harder against the blackness, sending it back and extending through the tunnel.

“Twindil stop!” Alistair shouted, grabbing her shoulder, “You’ll burn yourself!”

She ignored the warning and screamed, and the light spread throughout the entire tunnel, revealing that the path now only led one direction. The warm glow that had come from Twindil seemed to light up the entire pathway now, and Hoplite could see that a massive steel gear lay at the end of it, set into the wall of the tunnel. Looking behind him he could only see a dead-end where there hadn’t been one before… there was no going back now.

Twindil collapsed, being caught by Alistair and Elum. The paladin had gone pale, her eyes shut in a pained grimace. Cat’s eyes were wide with shock, staring down at Twindil before looking to the suddenly changed tunnels.

“Y-you weren’t kidding!” Cat shouted, gripping her head in her hands, “Everything you said was real!? Magic and vampires!?”

“Get a grip, private.” Hoplite ordered sternly, “Don’t panic.”

“I’ll try sir…” Cat said, putting a hand to her brow, “I’ll try.”

He took a head count of everyone to ensure that no one had vanished, satisfied that everybody was still here. Kid’ka seemed to busy himself with trying to get Michael’s attention, the marine having fallen deathly silent. The encroaching darkness must have had a negative effect on his psyche, Hoplite would check in on him in just a moment.

Twindil seemed to have fallen completely unconscious, Elum and Alistair both setting her down flat in the center of the wagon before lifting her head up to drink from a water skin. Halm for his part simply looked confused, standing beside Hoplite and whipping his head to and fro in search for the vampire. Theopalu was pinching the bridge of his nose and shaking his head, letting out a stressed sigh while Lance gripped her chain-blades with a white-knuckled grip.

“Is this an illusion?” Hoplite asked, still gripping the Fortis.

“Unfortunately not.” Theopalu replied, looking up, “The creature has made the entire Akan-Dark its Coffin… I’ve not seen such a thing before. This vampire must be well over a thousand years old to have pulled off such a feat. Right now we’re safe, Afina’s light seems to be sticking around, but that won’t last forever, the vampire will return once it dissipates.”

It was true, the entire tunnel was lit up like it was day time.

“Twindil has very likely singed herself putting out that much magic… we can only hope that she recovers soon.” Theopalu said, “It looks like we have no choice but to go to that far door over there…” Theopalu squinted, “That looks like… no, it cannot be, that simply cannot be what I think it is.” He said, seemingly to himself. “I saw them be destroyed with my own eyes, this must be a part of the Coffin, that’s all.”

“What are you talking about?” Lance asked, “What do you see?”

“Look there, Lancela, in the center of that steel door, do you see the symbol?” He asked, pointing directly at it.

Hoplite did a double take. This massive steel gear was no such thing indeed, he could see steps leading up to it from here.

Lance squinted, staring down the hallway, “Am I supposed to recognize that?”

Hoplite too looked closer, zooming in for better clarity. The steel door indeed had a symbol right in its center. It was of a broad red hand, clutching an eyeball… the eye looked startlingly close to Ahkoolis, Hoplite noted.

“I saw them all die.” Theopalu repeated, “This simply cannot be…”

“What is that symbol?” Hoplite asked, “What is the significance?”

“That is the symbol of the Romai. The dwarves that ruled the Sixth Age.” Theopalu told him with a shudder.