3rd of Zun’s Awakening, fifth month of 984:
With the morning sun coming out, not that Noct could see it nor know about it from inside his cell, he had finished his preparations. With a final crack, a part of the collar broke, dividing it into a big but damaged piece and several smaller fragments that fell onto the ground. With his magic now unlocked, he withered the metal cuffs that fixed his wrists to the chains and quickly threw the increasingly unstable remains of the collar towards the wall before jumping to the door.
The cell trembled with the explosion of rampaging mana. The lateral walls cracked and bent. Noct rushed to rise, not minding being pelted with stone fragments nor willing to rely on his ringing ears for threat detection, as he expected guards to be on their way. Dashing towards the opening on the cell, he didn’t hear the door cell being swung open as he jumped outwards.
As he fell, he came to a lot of visual, and a bit of internal, information. A small army of undead was preoccupied in a melee against the Tower guards, together with a small band of pirates. That was not to say that both undead and pirates weren’t fighting each other, but both of their focus was directed towards the Inquisition. ‘It would appear something didn’t go to plan.’ That random thought crossed his mind as he found himself unable to cast the magic that would stop his fall. As he plummeted towards the ground his eyes caught sight of a shining white sword in the middle of the pirate band before his legs finally made contact, breaking and bending in unnatural ways.
Noct screamed in pain, even as the stasis dagger, with its last reservoirs of mana of which it was rapidly depleting after leaving the tower, tried to regenerate his legs. Still, that scream was not loud enough to draw the attention of the pirates, for this battlefield was noisy enough and he was far away from its centre.
Against his blurry vision, that Noct tried to focus, he finally located the source of that white light. Andras, shield broken and back against a tree, had been disarmed by Ilkom, who was poised to give the last strike. Noct’s instincts kicked into action as he rose a hand and pointed towards Ilkom’s right sword, manifesting greenish energy that shoot from his index finger and broke the sword before it hit Andras.
That finally got the attention of some people. Ilkom, now knowing where his target was, kicked Andras aside and launched into a mad run towards his nemesis as he unsheathed another dagger. That gave Andras the brief window of opportunity to jab the face of the pirate at his right, causing him to drop his sword. Andras grabbed it before it fell and stabbed it into the third pirate near him, retracting it fast to continue its personal battle.
“I got you!” Bellowed Ilkom as he reached Noct. He cut off the right hand of Noct, moved forward in a vain attempt of self defence, and stabbed his stomach with his off hand dagger. Having learned from his duel, he muttered no words, only struck again, now with his dominant hand, cutting Noct’s throat and almost decapitating him.
“Instead of the eyes, I got the whole deal!” Ilkom’s mad smile didn’t last long, for his blinded eye didn’t catch a new attacker, silent as vampires could hope to be. His skull caved in as a claw struck it, killing him quickly and not letting him realise his grim fate.
….
Eve threw Ilkom’s body to the side. Completely forgetting its situation, it brought from its pocked the phylactery, its mind refusing to accept Noct’s death. It pushed the priceless tool on Noct’s bloodied chest, frantically chanting the Lichdom spell, trying to bind an unwilling soul that had already been slaved to another spell. One time. Two times. Three times. On the fourth time, Noct started to move, betraying logic and reason, for Eve’s spell could only be casted on a living being. Eve turned its crying face towards its old master, hoping for the impossible. What it saw was the destiny of all necromancers if left alone to root. A lowly zombie, with a vacant gaze and open mouth, grunted and breathed as it tried to rise up and hunt the nearby humans, full of shining lifeforce.
After a few tries, it realised that the frozen Eve was holding it back, and tried to bite Eve in the face, not even drawing blood as a zombie’s bite could never hope to damage a vampire’s skin. Noct’s neck wound turned into a smiling face, mocking Eve’s efforts. The sounds of the battle, long muffled in its, continued to dwindle as their forces lost against the Imperial soldiers. Eve tried to hold Noct's face back as it tried to push her away. The zombie revolted and thrashed around, unwilling to be held any longer as its hunger grew exponentially.
The sound of cristal breaking was heard from Eve’s left hand while an arrow found its aim true, embedding itself in Eve’s right shoulder.
“Eve, we have to go. Now!” Lantraz, armour almost broken and bloodied mace, grabbed its arm and tried to push. The Inquisition had sended reinforcements and their forces were almost wiped.
Andras, trying to help by the other side, followed with, “Your undead are being massacred, call for a rout!”
Those words woke up Eve. Its immaculate ruby eyes, incapable of being damaged by something as silly as crying, fixated on Andras as it let out a blood curdling screech. Andras almost fell back, his ears bleeding and incapable of hearing as Lantraz had to now hold Eve back, stopping a claw strike with its shield. That silenced the battlefield for a few seconds, thanks to the terror caused by the ire of a vampire. Having snapped, Eve constructed a tower of his own by magic alone. Small and only as wide as her, it, instead, rose up in the air to almost twenty metres. Without a moment of pause, it started to emit waves of grey mana, corrupting the nearby corpses and raising in seconds the imperial corpses as zombies or ghouls, generating a second but wild army.
Lantraz shield didn’t resist a second punch of Eve and broke, leaving it with a hole in its defences that Eve quickly capitalised, grabbing and launching him towards the forest. Eve’s right claw flew by the now empty space and grabbed Andras by the throat, wanting to make it slow. Make it painful. Noct’s zombie continued to be an eyesore, as it tried to eat the now incapacitated Andras rushing by the shortest route. Through Eve.
That knocked it slightly off balance, making it shake Andras. Eve recalibrated its feetwork and prepared to slowly choke Andras. His mortified stare stopped it. He was looking at the zombie, and had frozen as Eve had. Guilt, regret, self loathing. He wasn’t registrering the danger of his situation. Eve wished it could not see it. It was like looking in a mirror. Its bloodlust stopped being an effective barrier against those very same emotions it had, making Eve give up.
Dropping Andras, she turned around and grabbed the zombie by the shoulders, holding it down. Eve caressed Noct’s undead face for last time before freezing it to preserve the body. Picking the now block of ice and carrying it in its back, she snarled, “Retreat!”
Its last twenty sisters quickly routed while the unthinking zombies delayed the Tower’s garrison’s response. Eve was going to join them before looking behind. ‘The meat bag will not make it. Too slow.’ An afterthought that it acted on, grabbing Andras by the armour, its nails biting in, and carrying him by her side. The five remaining paladins of Lantraz followed quickly.
One of the first zombies they passed by had a carefully groomed grey beard.
……
After a few hours of a netherish march Andras was unceremoniously dropped.
“Argh!”
Eve paid no mind to the pain of an injured human as she turned towards Lantraz, which refused to meet it head on.
“You made me wait.” Cold words that brought to life an accusation out of that simple statement.
“If I hadn’t you would have died that day!” Lantraz’s arm flung to the side, trying to get its point across by physical action.
“I do not care. You stopped me and he died. You lied to me. You betrayed him.” Eve’s words grew more and more cold. ”Is your hypocritical faith now happy?”
“...what are you talking about?” Lantraz backed a step, a part of it knowing Eve was now a danger.
“If you had listened to me none of this madness would have occurred!” Eve’s words turned into a growl. It advanced a step, causing Lantraz to back two and hit a tree. “Are you delighted now? Did you prove yourself to your beloved meatbags?”
Lantraz tried to counter with anything, but no words left its skull.
“Did you manage to build our home under the human sun? Did your, o so great and just, acts convince the people you care for so very much? Did you save anyone worthy of being saved? Because whom I have seen deserved nothing. The soldiers you saved either abandoned him or were the direct cause of his death. The worthless peasants continue to toil their dirty lands, not doing anything of relevance and I am sure they will believe the lies the empress will tell them. They will laugh upon his demise.”
“...High Commander Andras came.” Whispered Lantraz, at the verge of a faith crisis under the pinpointed words of Eve.
“Did you forget who betrayed him first!” Hissed Eve. Breathing in, it finally gave up. “You won’t face yourself nor your failures, brother. However, I do know you did what you thought was best, even if only for your selfish and entitled reasons. Never for us, always for all. For your mysterious greater good.” Her eyes turned dark with a murderous glint. “If we had murdered their armies we would have ten times our forces. If we had acted freely, a hundredfold. If we had cleaned these pests from the north, we would have been uncountable. But no action will change the past.”
She turned around, “If anything, your endless preaching has finally done something worthwhile. It had teached me that the Old Empire was right. Humans are beneath us, and they should be there. They are incapable of the justice you speak so highly of.” She stood taller now, having made her peace with her choices. She would choose her path. “But I won’t be bothered to rule them. I am done with meatbags. I, Eve Ashen, will tear down this Empire. I will crush its Households. I will torch its farms. I will ravage its villages and cities. And I will grant the honour of watching it all unfold to our Lord.” Her voice carried all the venom she could conjure.
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Lantraz now found its voice, if in rage. “He wouldn’t want any of that and you know it! Stop disgracing its memory! How many of our siblings will you drown in your path to revenge! He wanted us to live, for Zun’s sake! Noct wante…”
“Do not utter his name, traitor!” Eve slightly crouched, almost pouncing onto Lantraz, who reached for its mostly broken weapon. Twenty sisters also unsheathed their weapons, completely loyal to her. Four paladins out of the five did the same, loyal to Lantraz. Andras backed and found backing on a tree, his wounds threatening to overpower his consciousness, as he fought to join in on the conversation, to say anything to defend himself and his people.
An uneasy stillness fell into the forest. Not willing to harm her sibling even in her enraged state, Eve relaxed her claws. Exhaling, she announced, “I won’t return with you nor will I hide in the coldness of the End like a coward. I ask you, as my brother, to go. Do not try to stop me.”
“You know I will, Eve.” Lantraz reaffirmed its grip in the mace and conjured a yellowish flame, smaller than usual but still capable of purifying undead. “You won’t undo what Noct tried to accomplish.”
“Then, will you make me kill you or will you kill me yourself? And, would Noct want this feud between its creations? Will you undo the family he tried to create by your own hands?” Mumbled Eve, in a monotone.
Lantraz stopped in its tracks, its walking motion freezes halfway.
“...So this is the extent of your determination? I should have seen it coming, for your justice is also a sight of its lack. You can only compromise, right? You could always be convinced to back away.” She didn’t turn around as she and her entourage walked deeper into the forest.
Lantraz tried to think of anything to convince her to turn back. She left its field of vision too quickly for its shaken mind to properly conjure a statement.
“Mount a campment. We have to think of a course of action.” Mumbled Lantraz. Its gaze turned to the side, not wanting to look at the trail of Eve. What it catched was Andras, bleeding out and having lost the fight against his body’s urges. “And, somebody, heal the High Commander!”
…..
“You paladins are a bunch of fools. How can you keep up this dream-like hope in a hell we do not deserve?...You did the same in those villages. Is never surrendering that attractive to you?” Said the sister that had still not left.
Paladin continued trying to heal its missing leg, as it was more important right now that its broken skull or spine, “But it did work, didn’t it?”
“Not here. Not now. And never again.”
Paladin was fairly tired of hearing cold words. “Doesn’t mean it was wrong of us to try.”
“No. But results are what matter. And this is what you piety and forgiveness achieved. Betrayal and dead.” Its voice lowered an octave. “Good intentions won’t bring the dead back to life.”
Paladin let out a small, humourless laugh, “Well, I was brought to live with that very intention.”
Snapping, the sister retorted, “How can you joke around right now! Have you finally lost the air inside your skull?!”
“How I feel won’t change anything, as you have said. I would rather lighten up the mood, for I do not think Noct’s death is something to express ire for.”
Its hands crawled towards its sickles. Paladin’s next words stopped it.
“He died on his own terms. He could have run away instead of saving his old friend. In the end, when he was challenged, he chose his morals over personal safety. And that's something I can only be proud of and strive to emulate. He stood by his ideals not to the end, but against it. No matter how painful his departure is, he stood tall. And I take an inordinate amount of pride as one of his creations.”
The sister could only shake its head as its hands returned to its previous positions.
“And you agree with me.” Paladin let that sink in for a few seconds. After no response was given, he whispered, “And you also fear for Eve. She is perhaps the one who is taking it the worst. She is on an edge of her choosing, so close to falling that it is scaring me. For now they are empty words, devoid of following actions. But what if she acts upon them? For how long will it remain something spoken aloud, brought by anger? For how long won’t it mix in, corrupt her?” Paladin looked up, not caring for the pain of his injuries. “Could you be there to pick her up if she falls in our place?”
The sister took a long and hard look at Paladin. He cared for humans as much as Lantraz. Yet here he was, asking her to forgive Eve on their behalf. To be there for her. Even if she had grown softer under her unexpected pairing with this fool, she agreed with Eve. And despite knowing this, Paladin had placed his trust on her. Not on Lantraz. It was almost as blinding as its trust was honest.
“Give me the book.” She almost fumbled those words out and, as they had been too quick and low, Paladin didn’t catch them.
“..Could you repeat that? I didn’t catch it.” Perplexed, Paladin asked.
“I have requested you to give me your book of teachings of whatever you call it. Always so quick to preach to others but when I ask you, you ignore me? Is that how a paladin acts?” The sister retorted, too ashamed to ask in a more proper manner.
“...you should not feel oblig…”
“Spare me your self doubt. I have heard more about your insecurities than my own thoughts. Give me the cursed book and be done with it. I have to go to Eve or they will leave me behind.” She spoke, stronger and firm now.
“So be it…” As Paladin passed her the book, he added, “Save them please. As many as you can.”
“Aren’t you demanding…” The sister grabbed the book and soon banished from sight.
…….
Once the campment was built, more of a task to keep Lantraz’s mind busy than for any useful reason, it tried to think of a way to stop Eve.
“I don’t think there’s a need to strictly deal with Eve.” Started Paladin, helped by another undead to an upright position. “We could redirect her focus while trying to minimise the damage.”
“Explain, Paladin.” Asked Lantraz, its face grimacing under the helmet.
“Eve had said herself that she will only start to act once she has, revived?, our lord. We just need to help her with it. From the shadows of course. We could even start our own mercenary company!”
“But how can we help her with something that doesn’t exist? If anyone should know about grey mana it is us, and we never found anything that could accomplish what Eve wants. Once a soul leaves a body, it can never return if not forced into slavery or imprisonment, and it will quickly travel to whatever furthermore that will receive it.” Lantraz clenched its first. The words of Eve still roamed inside its head. It had killed Noct. It had killed its Lord and friend.
“It needs not to be true. It only needs to give Eve time to calm down and return.” Answered Paladin, an undertone of shame slipping into his tone. “The locations of the past ruins of the Vampire Empire would suffice for that purpose. They should have ancient magic that Eve could waste her time in.”
“...is it really necessary to deceive Eve?” Asked an undead.
“We are helping her goals even if we ourselves do not believe in them. Furthermore, it is better than letting her do as she wishes. More damage to the Empire could cause them to focus on us.” Retorted another.
“But…”
“We shall do as Paladin has said.” Proclaimed Lantraz. “Once High Commander Andras wakes up we will start tailing Eve. She should start going east once she calms down. It is the trading region and the only place that can get some books from the theocracy.”
As they dismantled the campment, and as Andras gave his farewells, Lantraz focused his gaze onto his mace. Eve was the biggest problem, yes. But what would her entourage do? He doubted Eve would renege on her promise. Twenty new vampires would sprung up, free of all constraints. ‘I can only afford them a painless death, for risking our kin in the End is too dangerous.’ Bowed Lantraz. If any of his kind overstepped and turned themselves into a danger, he would be the one to stop them.
…….
“Sisters, you have followed me to the end and more. For that, I will finally grant your wishes, as there are no more precautions to follow. My only regret is leaving so many of you beneath the dirt of the sunny lands.” Eve let her words nail in with a pause. “I will give you the opportunity to leave my entourage and travel the world in your new forms.” The moonlight reflected on the nearby creek, revealing their dark silhouettes. “Who wants to go first?”
“I will go.” Said the twentieth sister, carrying inside her pouch Paladin’s book, more of a diary than the holy book of the Zun’s cult.
Eve nodded as she formed a spell circle on the ground, carving it into the dirt and grass with her own hands. Using water magic, she manipulated the nearby water and filled the crevices of the construct, freezing them to secure it. A gargantuan manifestation of one of the complex spells she knew, the creation of artificial vampires.
“Have you already picked your name or do I do the honours?”
As she stepped into the centre of the structure, she nodded. “Vamir.”
“I see. I never took you for a sentimental one.” Eve would have smirked if not for the situation they were in. Approaching her hand to Vamir’s temple to read her preferences, she activated the spell.
The air slightly trembled and the ground shook. All the plant life near the circle withered and dried up, turning into dust. Insects, bacteria, the fishes of the creek, … All the zone inside the spell and a metre away decayed as its lifeforce was sucked to feed the rapidly growing mess of bones and writhing flesh that had generated at the feet of Vamir. In the span of half an hour it developed internal organs, a skeleton, a nervous system, muscles and skin. The end result was a slender but well built body of a blonde woman with short hair, not above a metre and seventy of height. As she opened its new, red eyes, and finally breathed her first gulp of air, tasting the greenery of the forest if a bit tainted by the necromantic spell, her old body fell onto the ground, inert.
Struggling to get up, as she didn’t need to use magic to move her new body, she heard Eve. “Rise Vamir, as a breathing and undead. A bonafide vampire. You are free to go back to my service, to join Kal’s settlement or to roam the surface, free of any strings.”
Once Vamir got up, she kneeled again, “I shall serve you again, captain.”
“So be it.”
Out of the twenty new vampires, only three chose to remain with Eve. Eleven decided to roam the world, some desiring a family, others vengeance, and others searching for plain pleasure. The last six retreated to Kal’s settlement.
………….
On the cold End, Kal stood outside their new base, another subterranean city, this one still in construction. He had erected a small column of obsidian. Near the top, two small emeralds gave the illusion of two eyes. He regretted his choice, but he had made it nonetheless. He would build their home, an utopia just for them. There would be no need for the outside world. He would build a home.
He didn’t realise his knees had given up, causing him to kneel in front of the tiny monument. He didn’t realise the strength he was clenching his firsts. The only thing that he knew was the crashing sounds of his dream as that idyllic future was destroyed in real time, just as it had come so close to being real. They had been so close.
“Headmaster Kal?” Asked an undead, who had come to seek directions for the new underground farms.
Kal rose up, “Yes?” His private time had ended.
………………………..