“What the hell is a vampire doing here?” Alix asked once the shock of what he was seeing wore off. He didn’t know why he was shocked though. Crazier things happened to him on a daily basis. A vampire shouldn’t have fazed him at all. “Am I just seeing things or did she look a lot worse a moment ago?”
“You aren’t seeing things. She is the one that destroyed the spell on the skeletons. Or should I say, she is the one that ate the spell. I knew something wasn’t right in the crypt but this wasn’t what I was expecting,” Tifayn seethed.
“I thought vampires fed on blood?” Alix asked.
“No, you are right. Vampires feed on blood, but that is only because it is the quickest way to absorb the magic within it. They are like magic parasites. It is harder for them to feed off of pure magic, but in a place like the Crypt where it was so heavily filled with spells, it must have been a banquet. She fed on the spells and that is why most of the skeletons never woke up. She must have been down there a long time after she ran out of mana to have become so shrivelled. She started to absorb yours and that’s why her form changed. Please master, let me kill her.”
Alix had never seen Tifayn so pissed off before. He couldn’t understand the anger. No real harm had been done and the girl looked defenceless. He opened his stats and saw that his mana had indeed gone down without him doing anything, but this time he thought to pull out a mana potion. He downed the sweet blue liquid and his mana was instantly restored.
It was only then that his racing heart calmed enough to notice the text floating above the prone girl. Evory. Vampire, Lv. 319.
“I’d like to hear what she has to say,” Alix said, motioning for Tifayn to let go of her vicelike thigh grip.
“If that is what you wish, but it is my job to keep you safe so at least let me tie her up first,” Tifayn said, reluctant to get off the vampire.
The vampire looked like little more than a small child but he reluctantly agreed. He went and found some rope while Tifayn kept her perch on the girl. Only once she was securely tied up and Tifayn had thoroughly checked the bonds herself did she release the girl.
Tifayn had hit her pretty hard and she showed no signs of waking up any time soon. If she was as weak as Tifayn had said, she could be asleep for days. Alix opened up his inventory and threw together a quick potion. Instead of just giving her a plain healing potion, he decided to use an Elixir as a base and add in some herbal stimulants. He hoped the combination would be enough to revive her, so that he didn’t have to resort to Necromancy skills to do the job.
* Obtained Fortified Elixir
Alix pulled the purple vial from his inventory and examined his
handiwork. He was still fascinated at his new abilities. The vial was crystal clear, with a sleek but angular design that would have taxed the best craftsmen to replicate. The purple liquid inside rolled around with a pleasing viscosity, and like all the other potions it seemed to give off a slight phosphorescent glow.
“Hopefully this will wake her up. Hold her up for me.”
Tifayn positioned herself behind the girl and took a rough grip on her bonds. The girls head fell back limply, mouth opening to reveal fangs that looked too big for such a small mouth. Alix unstoppered the vial and poured out the contents. As soon as the liquid hit the vampires lips, it sank into her body.
The potion worked almost instantly. The girl gasped and flailed into waking, her eyes going wide. She looked around frantically, relaxing only a little when she caught sight of Alix, but when she noticed her bonds she began flailing wildly again.
“Release me!” she screeched in a high pitched voice.
“I suggest you quit your pathetic attempts to escape and answer my masters questions,” Tifayn hissed menacingly into the girls ear. “Unless you want me to knock you out again, and this time it will be permanent.”
The girl stopped her fighting when she realised her bonds weren’t about to break, although Alix thought it had more to do with Tifayn flashing her horns at her. A headbutt from those would probably have split his skull. He was surprised the small girl had managed to survive it.
“Your name is Evory isn’t it? Look, I don’t want you getting hurt. I just want to know what you are doing here,” Alix said in an attempt to calm her, although he imagined it didn’t sound very sincere since they had tied her up. His thoughts were quickly proven wrong when a new piece of text appeared in his log.
* Persuasion Successful
Evory turned her attention on Alix, but as soon as her eyes met his, Tifayn yanked her head away so that she was facing the opposite direction.
“Don’t even think about it. The Darknight has been kind enough to give you a healing potion. If I sense you trying to feed off anything else I will cut off your wings and feed you to the wyrm.”
Do we have a wyrm? Alix thought to himself. The thought of either a giant worm of a wingless dragon living in the depths of the castle didn’t do anything to comfort him.
“Don’t lie to me, if you had a wyrm I would know about it already. I’ve lived here longer than you have, demon,” Evory snarled. “I’m not going to harm the Darknight. He saved my life.”
“What do you mean, I saved your life?” Alix asked her.
“What was that spell you cast?” Evory replied in a way that implied he was an idiot for not understanding what she was trying to say already.
“Resurrection…” Alix said, realization dawning on him. “You were dead? I thought you were feeding on the spells down in the crypt?”
“I already told you, I have been here longer than this stupid demon. I finished feeding on all the mana down there years ago…or was it decades? What year is it?”
“I don’t know what year it is, but I know it’s been about two hundred years since the skeletons down there were supposed to revive so you must have been down there since before then,” Alix said, remembering Mr Bones’ words.
“Two centuries? You must be lying. I remember some of those pesky skeletons woke up and walked off, taking their precious mana with them, but there was still enough down there to keep me full. Until the entrance collapsed…got so tired…just wanted to rest my eyes for a bit…” Evory said, voice growing quieter and quieter as it trailed off, until she was mumbling under her breath to herself.
“She must have been trapped down there after the roof caved in and fed on the spells there until she ran out of mana. Once all the spells were gone, she had nothing left to feed on, so she fed on herself until she became a shrivelled husk. Then she died, painfully and alone, just like she deserved,” Tifayn surmised, relishing every word.
“Why do you hate vampires so much?” Alix asked. What Evory had done was annoying, but not enough to wish death upon her.
“Vampires have preyed on demons for millennia. Compared to races like Humans and Dwarves, Demons have a lot more mana within us. Babyl provides enough mana for everyone, but for some reason the Vampires still go out of their way to kill for their mana. They don’t need to consume blood to get their mana fix, but they still choose to do so. I would be doing the world a favour if you would let me break her neck.”
“Please, I wasn’t hurting anyone. I thought this place was abandoned! Do you think those skeletons had any blood for me to suck on? I felt the strong presence of magic when I was passing by this castle so I had a look and found all that mana stored in the crypt. There was so much of it…I couldn’t stop myself. I guess I was down there for longer than I thought. If I had known the place was going to fall apart, I never would have gone down there,” Evory whined.
“Better down there than out killing my people,” Tifayn said, giving the girls bonds a sharp tug. “Who knows how many you killed before you got trapped down there. You probably would have killed master if I hadn’t stopped you just now.”
“I never hurt anyone! It hurts me teeth, that’s why I just wanted to feed on those spells. I woke up so hungry and followed the aura I felt up here. I wasn’t going to attack anyone, just feed off his mana a bit. If you have a problem with other vampires then take it up with them!” Evory countered, starting her writhing again at Tifayn’s unfair treatment. “If you treat all vampire’s like this no wonder they hate you!”
“So what do you intend on doing now?” Alix asked Evory, trying to distract the two from their fighting. “You have devoured all of the mana that was down in the crypt, which in turn was the reason you became trapped down there. The spells you destroyed would have woken up the skeletons, and they would have repaired the castle which would have prevented the crypt collapsing. I can’t deny that I’m annoyed the castle is a shithole because of your actions, but you literally paid for it with your own life. This second chance you owe to me. If I let you go, do you promise never to return? There’s nothing left for you here.”
“I promise, I never want to see this place again.” Evory tugged weakly at her bonds, making sure to keep her gaze away from either of them in case Tifayn became riled again.
“Alix, you can’t just let her go,” Tifayn pleaded with him. It was still weird hearing her use his name, but when she did he knew she was being serious.
“If she can feed off of my mana, then isn’t far away from here the best place for her to be? Besides, I’m not going to give her life just to rip it away again. I’m not a murderer, and neither are you.”
“You are too kind to be an effective Darknight,” Tifayn said, cutting the ropes with a knife she seemed to pull out of nowhere. Then she grabbed the vampire girl by her scrawny wrist and dragged her to the closest window. With the other hand she unlocked the hatch and pushed it open and, with a mighty swing, threw Evory out into the darkness. “You know, now that I think about it, she’s the first Vampire I’ve heard of in a century. I was beginning to think they were all dead,” Tifayn said as the sound of wings faded into the night. She shut the window latch firmly and casually went back to bed.
Well that was weird. Alix hadn’t expected vampires to be such pitiful creatures but he had felt bad for Evory. His mind raced with questions but Tifayn didn’t look like she was in any mood to answer them. If anything, she looked like she was pissed off at him for letting Evory go. He couldn’t imagine such a thing bringing down a demon. It didn’t seem like Tifayn really had anything to fear from her, but he was sure Evory wouldn’t have left alive if Tifayn had come across her sooner.
They were questions for another day, but he found he was wide awake after all the commotion. He had slept through the entire day from the fatigue of using so much mana and now he was ready for a new day. It was the middle of the night though, so he brought up his inventory, cycled through his memories for a sleeping potion and threw some ingredients together. He added in some herbs he recognised like valerian root and chamomile flower for good measure, and he was left with a vial containing a pale blue liquid.
* Obtained Nightbringer Draught
The name sounded ominous, but Alix wanted to sleep too much
to care. He downed the contents, put out the candle and crawled in to bed.
True to its name, the Nightbringer potion knocked him out straight away and woke him as the sun was rising, feeling wonderfully refreshed. Alix made sure to spend a few moments crafting a decent stock of the potion before Tifayn woke. He was surprised she had managed to fall straight back to sleep again after everything.
In the quiet moments before she woke, he thought back on the previous day’s events. It felt like it had all gone by in such a rush. After summoning the skeletons, he had then instantly abandoned them. Then he had done the same with the vampire he had inadvertently resurrected. At least he knew he had such powerful magic at his disposal if anything happened to Tifayn. It wouldn’t do to make a habit of relying on Necromancy so he made a mental note to return to the library and search for some more advanced potion books. Hopefully he could craft some sort of Revive potion or Phoenix Down, although he hadn’t seen any such magical creature so far. The ingredients for such potions would likely be a lot rarer than anything he could find in the grounds as well.
Tifayn stretched herself awake shortly afterwards, and he was suddenly reminded of what had happened with her after he had woken the skeletons. The frantic lustfulness still weighed heavily on his mind and he was worried that it would happen again at any moment. Whatever it was that was affecting her so, he had to figure it out so that he could find some way to control it.
Once they had both risen, and Tifayn had brewed them a cup of what passed for tea in Babyl (a thick dark drink that was almost unpalatably sharp and bitter), he finally managed to ask her what had happened and get some answers to his burning questions.
“I really need to know what it is that causes you to act that way around me sometimes Tifayn. I know you say you can’t help it, but I’d like to find a way to try,” he began, hoping she didn’t take any offense to his words.
“There is not a simple answer. I guess I should just start at the beginning. The demons were once little more than beasts, although I don’t like to admit it, and you wouldn’t think it from looking at us now. Among all the races of Babyl, we were the ones that didn’t belong, reviled by everyone. All of the other races have their own realm, their own lands, history, culture, but us demons seemed to spring out of the darkness.
“It was a Darknight that eventually made us who we are now, gave us our humanity, for lack of a better word. Mirella raised us out of the dark pits we used to call home. No one knows where we originally came from, maybe we were summoned from another world like you were, but when the races found us in our dark city among the roots of Babyl, they said we had to be the ones that were causing the World Tree’s death. Mirella travelled deep beneath the earth, with the intention of wiping us out and gaining some favour from the races above, but once she found us she took pity on the creatures she found.
“Through her magic we evolved as a species and left our miserable lives for the world above. The Darknight became revered as a Demon Lord, which did nothing to gain her favour, but at least she managed to prove that it wasn’t the demons that were causing Babyl’s sickness, although it was a stupid claim to begin with. Babyl gives us life, as he does every other race beneath his boughs.
“Ever since then, all demons have had a connection to the Darknight. The connection manifests in different ways, and it also varies from Darknight to Darknight. Some feel a desire to protect, some feel great respect, others overwhelming devotion. That is the reason they chose to leave this place. When they are in the proximity of a Darknight, they feel like their actions are no longer their own.
“For me, I feel a very physical attraction. I can control it most of the time, but when you used your magic down in the crypt, your aura rushed into the void, and it felt like pouring oil on an ember within me.” Tifayn finished her explanation, leaving Alix feeling all the more guilty that it was all his fault but there was nothing he could do to change it.
“I don’t like the thought of you being manipulated against your will Tifayn.”
“It isn’t like that. It’s more like the bond amplifies feelings that are already there. If I wasn’t naturally attracted to you, I wouldn’t be affected so.”
“Still, I feel I should look into if there is a way to mask the effects of this connection, or my aura. I like you Tifayn, but I won’t be comfortable knowing that there is something else affecting your feelings for me. I guess I’ve got time to check out some more books in the library while the skeletons get to work on uncovering and repairing other parts of the castle. I should probably go and see how Mr Bones is getting on with all the new recruits first.”
“I’d almost forgotten about them. I still can’t believe it was a vampire that caused all the mess down there. If only I’d gone down there to check sooner…”
“There’s no point worrying over it now. We don’t have the time to obsess over ‘what if’s’. I do have one more question about demons though. If I manage to find a way to mask the effects of whatever connection I have with them, do you think they might return and help me out?”
“I guess it is possible, but you would have to have something to offer them to make it worth their while returning. We were always told that you would be the one to lead us, but time after time, the Darknight was always defeated. Most waited a lifetime to see your return, only to live out the rest of their days knowing it had been in vain. They decided eventually that they would look to their own to elect a Demon Lord to lead them, and abandoned the Darknight. I am the only one left that still believes in you. I know there is nothing that says the Solknight has to win, only that one of you must to gain the power to restore the World Tree by defeating the other. The bias for the Solknight means that you will always be at a disadvantage, unless there is someone here to help you, but I don’t think they would return to help you unless you can prove to them somehow that you have a better chance of defeating the Solknight than all the previous Darknights.”
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Well, thank you for staying and believing in me. I would have been screwed without you. I probably would have died on the spot the first time I saw one of the skeletons coming at me.”
“Don’t think so little of yourself, master. You are already doing better than some. I heard one Darknight begged on the streets of Galdea for months before they found him and threw him out. He became wild and unstable, and caused a lot of the damage to the castle himself. A lot of his spells are still hidden in the ruins. I think I’ll have a look around today and see if there’s anything else hiding from us.” Tifayn quickly finished her cup and headed out with a determined look.
Alix finished his own bitter cup of ‘tea’, checked his map for Mr Bones’ whereabouts and headed off. It felt good knowing that he was making progress, although it was progress he shouldn’t have had to make in the first place.
It seemed like he couldn’t turn a corner without almost bumping into a new skeleton. They all ranged in Level, with some disturbingly close to single digits, while others were in the hundreds, but none reached the Level of Mr Bones. He made sure to log every one of the skeletons into his map and by the time he reached Mr Bones, his map was filled with dozens of new white dots. There was something he wanted to ask the skeleton before he moved on to the topic of what to do with the new arrivals.
“When I was down in the crypt, after I had cast my spell, the first skeleton that came up to me said something weird. He called me son. Do you know what that is all about?” Alix asked Mr Bones. He also wanted to ask about the ones with low levels.
Mr Bones stood silent and unmoving for a few moments, to the point where Alix thought the spell keeping him going had worn off, or Evory had broken her promise and returned to feed, but eventually he stirred.
“Without knowing exactly which skeleton it was, I can only guess, but there are several from your world among the ones you resurrected yesterday,” Mr Bones answered.
“Are you saying some of the skeletons here are previous Darknights?” Alix said after a moments shock. He had never thought about where the skeletons had come from before, but at most he had thought them to be the original servants of the castle, or soldiers from previous Darknight’s armies.
“We are all Darknights. Did the ring not mention that?”
“No, it did not.” Alix glared down at the ring on his finger, which somehow managed to keep its eyes averted no matter which way he turned it. Knowing that the skeletons were all previous Darknights themselves sent a chill through him. Was that the future he had to look forward to if he died here?
“The power of the Darknight connects us all, making us all in turn a descendent of the other. You can be sure that the skeletons will have the utmost devotion to you. If you are able to defeat the Solknight, then their deaths will have been avenged.”
Alix suddenly felt a disturbing bond with the skeletons, and at the same time wished he had never brought it up. Every time he looked at the skeletons now he would see himself. Was he going to be wandering these same halls himself as reanimated bones in centuries to come? If he was ever going to have a chance of succeeding in getting back home, he was going to have to put such thoughts out of his mind.
“I noticed they all have wildly varying levels as well. I would have expected previous Darknight’s to be pretty strong, but none of them even come close to your Level.” Were they ones that had died as teenagers? Or were they Darknights that had done nothing but waste the five years they had been given? He couldn’t imagine how it was possible to only ready Level 12 after five years, while he was already at Level 4 after little more than a week.
“Everyone wears the mantle of the Darknight in their own way. Some train relentlessly for all the time they have available. Some feel like they are already strong enough when they arrive,” Mr Bones replied slowly, as if he was choosing his words carefully.
“I saw one that was only Level 12. How is that possible?”
Mr Bones was silent for a while but eventually his words echoes through the ring, compelled to answer his master’s question.
“It is not unheard of for some to ignore the task that they have been given. They refuse to let go of the world they have left behind, refuse to acknowledge the new reality they find themselves in. The Darknight cannot be harmed by others before the Terminus Ritual, but he can harm himself.
“I know the one you speak of. Junichi was still a child when the ritual summoned him. I never understood why one so young was brought here for such an important task.”
“The Church summoned a child to fight the Solknight? Does that mean that a person’s level is related to their age?”
“You will level up rapidly until you reach the same level as your age, after which your progression will require increased effort. Junichi was only ten when he arrived here. He was in the middle of his birthday party when the summoning took him. He levelled up twice in his time here, once a year for two years.”
“What happened then?” Alix asked when Mr Bones grew silent again. “Were there no demons looking after him?”
“There were, but he feared them. He feared us undead even more, but back then there was little need for us to be seen around the castle. We only kept watch on the walls, as he kept on trying to run away. The demons were able to look after the place, but Junichi fought with them constantly, thinking them his captors. I can only guess as to what happened to him, but after his twelfth birthday, he gave up. He locked himself away and stopped eating. After two years of trying his hardest to escape the castle, he knew its secret corners better than anyone. By the time he was found, he had cut the ring from his finger and starved himself. I questioned the demons afterwards as it was a tragedy that had never happened before. They told me he thought he had gone mad, and that if he got rid of the ring, the voices in his head would stop and he would wake up back home.”
“You never know, maybe that’s what happened to him.” Alix wished there was something he could do for the boy but he guessed the only thing he could have done was to let him rest. Instead he had dragged him from the grave to continue his torment. “Maybe I should send him back to the crypt and undo the spell on him, so that he can finally rest.”
“It has been a long time since then. Only I remember everyone’s past. Junichi no longer remembers anything other than his afterlife.”
That was both a depressing and comforting thought, but there was still a lingering feeling within him that he was tormenting the Darknight’s in death. This wasn’t what he would want for himself. He promised himself that he would only use the skeletons as long as it was necessary, and then he would find some other way to look after the castle.
“What happened with the Solknight and the Terminus Ritual after Junichi died? I thought that wasn’t possible until the five years were up?”
“In my anger, I went to Galdea and asked the King and Cardinal that question myself. My visage frightened them so that they told me everything in an attempt to get me to leave, as they had no magic that could harm me and I am already dead.
“They told me that the Solknight had been summoned almost on his deathbed, a man in his eighty-fourth year with an unknown illness. For two years the best healers in the land tried everything to cure him. I arrived shortly after his death, with the kingdom in disarray. The Cardinal couldn’t explain to me why both the Darknight and Solknight that had arrived were so incapable. They were already planning a new summoning ritual as Babyl could not wait another five hundred years, so I left them to it and things seemed to work fine after that. You should read about those days if you have the time. The other realms have always questioned why only the Church of the Kingdom of Men had the secret to performing the ritual, and after this failure a war between all the races almost broke out, with every other race claiming they should have the right to perform the ritual as well. The Cardinal quickly performed another summoning ritual and Emanuel arrived as the new Solknight. His charisma kept further talk of war at bay until the Terminus Ritual was performed, and by then war was no longer necessary.”
The history of Babyl was beginning to sound like it was longer than the recorded history of his own world so he doubted he would be able to read about it all, but with his Bibliophile Skill hopefully he could learn some of it. Maybe there would be some useful information in there. If he could learn more about the war, maybe he could find out which races had the greatest animosity towards Azuran’s Kingdom, and that might be where he could look for new allies. It would take his mind off of what his fate might be in a few short years at least.
“Do not worry, my lord. I can sense a great mental fortitude within you,” Mr Bones said, as if he could sense the growing unease within Alix.
“How are you getting on with the skeletons?” Alix asked in an attempt to change the subject. He almost wished he hadn’t learned the things he had, but it was better to learn them now than in a few years. “Are they going to be enough to get the place sorted out?”
“Yes, they will be more than sufficient. You succeeded in resurrecting almost every single one of them. I will have to go down into the crypt at some point and see what stopped the last few from answering the call, but it could be their bones are just too old to hold the spell anymore. It happens to us all eventually if we aren’t cared for properly,” Mr Bones replied, with as melancholic a tone as was possible for a skeleton to conjure up.
“What have you got them working on now? I would like to clothe them at some point as well if you have any suggestions. Or maybe I should ask the ring about that. It sounds like I have been ignoring it too much recently.”
“I have some of them clearing as much rubble as they can just now, others are repairing the stairs to the west tower. Some I have down in the flooded dungeon searching for a way to unblock the drains.”
“Is there something in the dungeon that we need?” Alix asked. He had seen them marked on his map but hadn’t thought anything of them.
“Not particularly, but it is always handy to have a dungeon. You never know who else might wander in unannounced. I thought it a worthy measure after Lady Tifayn told me of the vampire. I have another group working on clearing the path to the Armoury as well. It is more vital than ever now that you arm yourself.”
“You may be right. Evory said she had no intention of attacking me, but it still shows how vulnerable we are here. If it wasn’t for Tifayn, I never would have noticed her. I don’t think I have been taking this whole thing seriously enough.”
“There used to be many good weapons in the castle. I will let you know if I find anything suitable,” Mr Bones said, walking off to get back to work.
With the skeletons all busy and Tifayn away on her own mission in the dark corners of the castle he didn’t want anything to do with, he didn’t know what to do with himself. Mr Bones had thoroughly ruined his mood. He didn’t want to take any tools away from the skeletons to see what carpentry skills he might unlock while they still needed them. There was no point in practising magic until the grounds were cleared either, as he couldn’t afford to waste all the materials he could harvest there. He could head to the library to read more but he had just spent most of the past week indoors, so he decided to get outside for some fresh air.
Under the bright morning sky, he felt a bit refreshed, but a gloom hung over him that wouldn’t be so easy to clear. What he wouldn’t give for a joint right then to help him kick the crushing sensation that his destiny was to become a walking skeleton. He wandered towards the grounds he had last been clearing, wistfully hoping to spot some familiar buds in the overgrowth.
The early morning sunlight cast the grounds into partial shadow. Alix began working his way towards the sunlight, finding nothing but the same ingredients he had already found, all the while trying to think of something he could do to regain the trust of the Demons. Maybe the key was in finding a way to block the connection with Tifayn first, but the only idea he had for that was looking up what could be made with Lovebud and trying to make the opposite.
Just as he was bending down to cut another Dumpweed, he felt a jolt in his left shoulder as if an invisible presence was pulling on his arm.
Watch out! he heard the ring call out to him, and as he fell to the side, a knife rushed passed where he had just been standing a moment before. The man holding it lost his balance at Alix’s sudden movement and fell into the Dumpweed. Before he could regain his footing, a dark shape shot out of the shadows and pounced on the dirty man.
The two figures rolled around in the dirt and the weeds, wrestling each other for the upper hand. The man had lost his weapon but he had substantial muscles at his command. His rescuer, although slight of appearance, seemed to be made of tougher stuff than he had imagined, as they beat back every attack with impressive jumps and evasive moves.
Without a weapon Alix felt entirely useless against the bruiser. He briefly considered trying to use some magic but he was just as likely to hit his rescuer with a lightning bolt as the knifeman. He looked around in the dirt to try and find the dropped knife, thinking it would be better than nothing.
The knifeman roared in frustration as he failed to take down his rescuer, resorting to grabbing them by the legs and swinging them overhead in an arch, slamming them down into the ground. Alix frantically continued to search for the knife, sure the mans attention would turn to him at any moment, but his rescuer bounced up from the ground as if they were made of rubber and pounced for the knifeman’s throat, mouth open wide.
“Evory!” Alix called, suddenly recognising his rescuer under the large dusty robe she had found to cover herself with.
The vampire didn’t respond until the man had fallen to his knees, weakened from blood loss, and then fell back into the dirt.
With the sudden calm he was finally able to read the text floating above the man’s head. Casimir Brant. Lv. 89.
“Don’t worry, I didn’t kill him,” Evory said when she saw the look on his face, spitting as if she had something unpleasant stuck in her teeth. “It just seemed like the easiest way to knock him out. He was stronger than I thought he would be. My teeth are really sore now though. I hate doing it that way.”
“What the hell are you doing back here Evory? If Tifayn sees you again she will kill you.” Alix couldn’t help but look around for any sign of the demon. “It didn’t take you long to break your promise,” he said after it appeared the fight had gone unnoticed by anyone in the castle.
With every word Evory shrunk back, and with the last accusation she flinched like he had just hit her.
“I wasn’t going to reveal myself but…he meant to kill you. I heard him muttering something about the Darknight stealing his wife-“
“I haven’t stolen anyone’s wife!” Alix interrupted. “Thank you for jumping in to stop him, but that doesn’t answer what you are doing here. Did you actually leave in the first place?”
“Yes, I swear I did! I had no intention of ever coming back, but when I went to find my people, I couldn’t find anyone.”
“You’ve only been gone a day. You couldn’t have looked that hard in such a short amount of time.”
“I can fly very fast. I looked everywhere, but all I could find were bones. I don’t know what happened to them, but all of my people are dead,” Evory said, verging on tears as she told her story.
They can’t all be gone, he almost said, before he remembered just how long she had been down in the crypt, and Tifayn’s words about not having seen any vampire’s in a long time.
Did something happen to the vampires? Alix asked the ring, hoping for once that it could be useful.
I have been asleep for five hundred years, remember? If anything happened to the vampires, I don’t know about it.
Great. Thanks.
“Look Evory, I’m sorry about your people, but I don’t think it’s safe for you here. Maybe you should have another look for the vampires. You have been gone a long time. They could have just moved somewhere else?”
“No! They would never abandon the Hexnkryp. They are all dead, I know it,” Evory said, almost wailing.
What is the Hexnkryp? Alix asked the ring, not wanting to burden Evory with too many questions.
It is the domain of the vampires, their castle that floats among the boughs of Babyl. Like the girl says, they would never abandon it. There are many secrets there that cannot be left unguarded. If what she says is true then it is not good news.
From out of her robes she pulled a battered crown and handed it over. “Here, this is how I know they are all gone. I am the last of my kind and I have nowhere else to go.”
“What is this?” Alix asked as he examined it, but the ring gave him an answer before the girl could.
* Acquired Crown of the Vampire King. Mana Absorption.
“It was my fathers. I found it among his bones. Please, let me stay here until I can find out what happened to them all. I promise I will do whatever you say. I will guard this castle better than anyone else and make sure no one ever intrudes.”
“Like you did?”
“How can you be so mean to me master, I am the last of my kind and I just saved your life.”
“Please don’t call me that, and I think the ring saved my life, but thanks anyway.”
“Does that mean I can stay? I won’t survive anywhere else. You exude such a strong aura that it sustains me just being in your presence. Even if I were to feed more directly, your mana replenishes itself faster than you would notice it going down, and with my father’s crown, your mana will replenish even faster.”
Before Alix could reply, the man on the ground, Casimir Brant, groaned and stirred. Brant seemed to be fuelled by pure hatred and wasn’t going to let a little blood loss get in the way of reaching his goal. He surged to his feet in a rippling mass of muscle. Alix didn’t waste any time this time.
“Soulbind!” Alix called, pointing towards the charging man.
An intricate red spell circle appeared around Alix’s wrist, rotated, grew and then split. The lines shot from his hand and struck Brant in the head and he stopped as if he had struck a brick wall. His eyes glazed over and he just stood there staring into space.
“That was incredible, master. What did you do?” Evory asked as she walked around Brant’s still form, poking and prodding but getting no reaction.
“It’s another Necromancy spell. It seemed the best way to deal with him. I want to question him but he didn’t seem in the right frame of mind before. This way, his soul is in my control. I will let him go eventually, once I get some answers. What were you doing-“ Alix began to ask of Brant, but his glazed eyes suddenly rolled into the back of his head and he fell back to the ground. “Looks like he’s lost too much blood.”
“I can look after him until he is recovered, master,” Evory pleaded again.
Alix was still hesitant to let her stay, but much of that was only because of what Tifayn might do. He held no grudge against the girl, and she had proven herself handy already. He was curious to know what had become of the other vampires as well. He didn’t want to spend his time nursing his would be murderer back to health either.
“Listen to me carefully Evory. I will let you stay, but only temporarily. I want you to watch over this man until he is recovered, and I will take you up on your offer to guard the castle, but you can’t let Tifayn see you. The skeletons are repairing the west tower at the moment, but the north tower is still blocked off. It looks like its fairly intact above the blockage so you can stay there. I just need to figure out how to get this guy up there as well.”
“I can fly him up to the top,” Evory said, after she had finished celebrating.
“Are you sure you can carry such a weight? No offense, but you are pretty small.”
“Hmm, you are right. Is it alright if I feed on your mana, master? Just this once.”
Alix thought about it for a moment before relenting. He had plenty of mana and plenty of mana potions if she tried to take too much, and if she did that then he would know she still wasn’t to be trusted. “Alright, but don’t tell Tifayn.”
Evory opened her mouth wide until her fangs were protruding into the air and then inhaled deeply. Alix felt an odd sensation, almost like how it felt getting his blood drawn. It lasted a few uncomfortable moments, but like Evory said, his mana began to replenish itself even as it was falling, until it hung around the 50% mark.
As Evory inhaled, she seemed to grow taller. Her body filled out, her hair grew longer and thicker, and the lines of her face matured, until he was no longer looking at a little girl but a grown woman of a beauty to match Tifayn’s. She kept on feeding until she could grow no further, and then she let out a disturbingly loud moan that was becoming all too familiar to him.
The Evory that was left standing in front of him suddenly towered over him. The only word he could find to describe her new appearance was buxom. A shiver ran over her as if she was throwing off her old form. “I don’t think I’ve ever been this full before. It’s incredible,” Evory said in a new deeper voice as she examined her new form. The old robes she had found were suddenly filled to bursting. “Thank you, master.”
With her new form, Evory was able to pick up Brant with ease. She took off into the sky, winging her way towards the north tower. As she did, the notification bell went again.
* Title Unlocked: Vampire King.
* Acquired Curse Resistance.
* Reached Lv. 5
Well this is going to cause trouble, I just know it.