The Steppe
We flew along the coast for days, encountering few smaller towns or cities, but like before no survivors. With every day that passed, more and more people died. I knew that, Shadow had tried to prepare me, yet I hadn’t really believed it. Now, I could see it with my own eyes.
We flew during the day, taking a few detours to look for survivors further inland, and made camp at night. We cleared rifts on our way, though none we encountered was anything really challenging. The beasts we encountered were mostly bears, some mutated to have elemental affinities, though they weren’t anywhere close to Invested enough for those affinities to manifest in powerful skills.
I usually made Kai and Carlito fight them in order to gain Investment, then took the blood for myself at the end. No use in wasting Investment.
Following the coast we quickly realized that something was wrong. Panama and Mexico were missing. Where they should be, instead was a large grassland, grafted straight onto the coast of Columbia east of Panama. It meant that those lands were shifted somewhere else, which was actually the largest switched area that I had encountered so far.
The towns and cities we encountered had strange architecture, and the a strange language. All of us could understand it, the Grand Spell’s translation worked perfectly, but we didn’t recognize the written language at all.
We saw a lot of horse herds as we flew over, running across what looked like a sea of grass. We didn’t approach them, as they didn’t seem dangerous. Though I saw a herd of all white horses that rushed ahead faster than I could fly. From the distance it almost looked like they had horns.
It was our eighth day across the grassland when we finally encountered something interesting.
I was flying next to Saia when Carlito waved his hands, trying to get my attention. I glanced at him and he pointed on behind him, on the other side of Saia. I frowned, but beat my wings and rolled over them to the other side.
I immediately noticed what he had spotted. Two large birds were flying our way. It was quickly apparent that they were eagles, mutated so that they were almost the same size as Saia’s drone.
I prepared for a fight as they came in, but then noticed that they had cloth wrapped around their legs. I frowned, realizing that perhaps the birds weren’t just wild. Source mutation didn’t turn all animals feral, or even more aggressive.
Some remained as they were in temperament, just physically altered.
The eagles came close, then paused, flying in line with me. I wondered if they were confused by us, a dragon carrying two humans, and a winged vampire. I doubted that they had ever encountered anything like us.
Finally, they turned away and headed back to the grassland. On a hunch, I decided to follow them. I gestured to Saia, then swerved. The eagles glided effortlessly, their keen eyes scanning the vast expanse of grassland below. We followed, keeping a respectful distance as they navigated the rolling hills of green below. After what felt like hours, a cluster of structures emerged from the horizon.
They were unlike anything I had ever seen before—circular dwellings with conical roofs, clustered together like mushrooms. Smoke curled lazily from openings at the top, a sign of life that surprised and excited me in equal measure. As we drew closer, I noticed movement: people, clad in colorful robes, tending to herds of sheep, goats, and strange beasts I didn’t quite recognize. Horses grazed peacefully nearby, their coats gleaming in the afternoon sun.
People, survivors, and many of them, dozens that I could see from the air. I felt a surge of curiosity, mixed with a sprinkle of caution. Who were these people? How had they survived the chaos of the Grand Spell’s arrival? I haven’t seen a lot of beasts, or even rifts, in this area. Perhaps they had it easier than the rest?
We circled the encampment once, observing from a distance. The people below noticed us, and a commotion started immediately. People mounted horses and drew bows, a few even hefted rifles. I decided to approach, signaling to Saia to land a short distance away.
As we touched down, a ripple of alarm spread through the camp. Men and women stopped what they were doing, their eyes widening in surprise as they took in the sight of a dragon, and a winged vampire—though they couldn’t know what I was. The two armed humans were probably the most surprising, if they had thought us beasts coming to attack. Several men kicked their horses and headed our way, keeping their weapons at the ready.
As they drew closer, I could tell that they were of Asian descent, every single one of them. Which told me that they were probably shifted from very far away.
They stopped their horses just in front of us.
“We mean no harm,” I yelled, then triggered my shift to show them what I was. There were murmurs and exclamations of surprise. Then as I finished and smiled, showing fangs, they whispered the word “vampire”. At least they weren’t people that were so isolated it missed my kind coming out.
A moment of tense silence hung in the air after that. Then, an elderly man, his face weathered and lined, got down from his horse and stepped forward. He wore a long, fur-lined coat and a hat with a pointed crown. His eyes, though narrowed, held a flicker of curiosity.
“Who are you?” He asked, his voice deep and resonant. “And what brings you to our lands?”
“I am Marianna Rojas,” I replied, stepping forward. “These are my companions, Carlito and Kai. We are traveling, heading north searching for other survivors. Like you.”
The elderly man nodded slowly. “I am Baatar, elder of this tribe. We are the Tsagaan Shonkhor.”
Somehow, I knew the translation of the name, White Falcons, it was like a second voice speaking over the words. The Grand Spell’s translation seemed to be more complicated than I thought.
“White Falcons,” I said slowly as I tilted my head and glanced at the two eagles standing next to a shack in the distance with people tending to them while looking at us. “But you use eagles?”
The elder sighed, and a few of his people chuckled.
“To my eternal shame,” he said with a shake of his head. “Grandfather would’ve beaten me senseless if he could see me now. But that is a story for another time.”
He gave me a long look. “The tribe has played host to the people of the blood in the past, and you are the first people we’ve seen since the bright light came and the world changed. We would be honored if you would join us in the ger, and share what you may of the world beyond the Steppe.”
I raised an eyebrow, I didn’t know much about Asian vampire covens, but they at least had some knowledge. That was good, as they didn’t seem to be afraid. Truthfully, the horror stories that humans often spoke about vampires were the outliers, the exceptions to the rule. Most vampires integrated into human communities and pulled strings behind the scenes. Making waves, and going on murder sprees wasn’t a smart idea.
I bowed my head. “We’d be honored.”
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We were led to a spacious ger, its interior warm and inviting. Thick rugs covered the earthen floor, and a fire crackled in a central hearth, casting a flickering glow on the woven tapestries that adorned the walls. We were offered bowls of steaming milk tea and plates of dried cheese and mutton. Or rather Kai and Carlito were.
For me, the elder had offered to bleed a glass of any member of the tribe of my choosing. Apparently, it was tradition. I politely declined, showing them that I had my own. I wasn’t quite ready to make a bond with these people, and I couldn’t take the blood freely given without them understanding what that meant. Not unless I wanted to incur a debt.
The four of us sat next to the fire, Saia included. I’ve had her separate a part of her drone to create a smaller one that could enter the tent while the rest remained outside with out supplies.
The looks on our hosts faces when she did that was priceless. On the way to the ger, we’ve learned that they were nomads, and that this was the Mongolian steppe. Inside of the ger became crowded quickly, as many wanted to see and hear about the visitors.
It was obvious that they were hungry for any information about the rest of the world.
Baatar sat across from us, his eyes filled with a mixture of curiosity and apprehension. “Tell me, Marianna Rojas,” he said, “Your name is familiar to us,” he motioned to one of the middle aged woman, who approached with piece of paper.
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I raised an eyebrow and the woman pushed the paper at Baatar. “We’ve written down the names that have appeared in the great gray void, in the sky. Is the one written here yours?”
I glanced at the paper as he turned it toward me, and saw the top 100 list. I was surprised that they had the foresight to write it down.
Impressed, I nodded. “Yes, that is me.”
He nodded, then gave the paper back before speaking. “Tell me what has become of the world beyond our steppes? The two moons above us were a sign enough of change, but we would know more.”
I took a deep breath, unsure of where to begin. It was difficult to explain the events of the past few months, the chaos, the destruction, the merging of worlds. But I did my best, recounting the arrival of the Grand Spell, the transformation of the Earth, the emergence of rifts and Source mutation of our world, the change of everything that we ever knew. Then I explained what Masks were and how Investment worked.
Baatar listened intently, his expression growing graver with each passing word. When I finished, a heavy silence filled the ger.
“So,” he finally said, his voice heavy, “the world we knew is gone.”
I nodded. “The Grand Spell has reshaped everything. The world is now a patchwork of different lands.”
Baatar sighed. “We have seen the changes in the animals, the strange new creatures that roam the steppes. But we did not know the extent of the upheaval. These Masks, we believed to be the gifts of our ancestors, they’ve been useful. My grandson, Arban, has been given one called Eagle Tamer, it has helped immensely.”
So much change, so much new danger. And they were still here, when many were not. They were exactly the kind of people that I expected to not only survive but thrive.
“We have a town, south of here, perhaps some seven hundred kilometers along the coast. It is safe, well, safer there.”
There were barely a hundred of them here, and while they’ve survived, they were also alone, and in the open.
He looked at me, his eyes filled with a deep sadness. “Thank you for the offer. But we are a simple people, Marianna Rojas. We live in harmony with the land, respecting the spirits and honoring our traditions. We do not understand these grand spells and twisted worlds. But to abandon our land is something that we’d need to discuss at length.”
I nodded in understanding. I wouldn’t push them, not yet.
“Your hospitality is great, especially now that the world is turned on its head. But we do need to continue our travel north.”
“Stay the night, rest,” Baatar said. “We’ll give your people room for sleep.”
I glanced at Kai and Carlito, it was already turning dark outside, and though I was sure that they could handle flying through the night, we weren’t in that much of a rush. And establishing relations with these people was important.
I nodded, agreeing.
The elder looked around then motioned for a teenage boy to approach. He whispered instructions for room to be made up for guests, then turned back at me. “We’ve encountered a handful of these rifts, as you describe them. We’ve avoided them out of fear. Perhaps we might go and explore one now that we know what they are.”
“Some are dangerous, but no more than everything else is now.”
Baatar nodded, then exchanged looks with a few of his people, the ones that looked like hunters. “We’ve seen signs of a large creature at the edges of the Steppe, north, where the strange forest cuts the plane in half,” he said with hard look in his eyes.
“We found dead horses, entire herds of them slaughtered. One of our scouts went missing weeks ago, we only found his horse, dead.”
Death came easy in this world, especially for humans. “You didn’t recognize the creature?”
“No one’s seen it, and it doesn’t approach the tribe,” Baatar answered. “The tracks aren’t anything like what we’ve ever seen. A few bears that don’t usually live in the Steppe have made their way from the south, but this is something new.”
“A beast from a rift probably,” I said.
“We’ve been meaning to send another group to try and look for it before it grows bolder and attacks the tribe. Though, we haven’t seen it in a few weeks. Still, it weighs on my mind. Perhaps, you could do us this favor and look for it?”
I tilted my head. “You don’t know where it is exactly?”
He shook his head. “No, it is elusive, and it ranges far.”
I wasn’t that keen on looking for a strange creature. For all I knew it was just a cunning predator, not something too dangerous.
“I could go and take a look now,” I said, there was still some light out, and I didn’t need to sleep like my two companions. That at least would give me something to do while they slept.
“You would do that for us?” Baatar asked. He had asked, but I got the sense that he didn’t really expect me to accept.
“Sure,” I said. “If I don’t find anything we’ll have to leave in the morning, but we’ll be coming back this way eventually, and we’ll probably have more time. Unless your people don’t catch it yourselves.”
Baatar inclined his head. I stood and stretched.
“I trust I can leave my people in your care?” I asked with a smile.
“Of course.”
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I flew out of the tribe and headed back to the coast, then north after I reached it. To where they told me to look for this creature. The wind whipped at my hair as I soared above the steppe, the setting sun painting the vast expanse of grassland in hues of orange and purple. Below, the nomadic village turned into a cluster of miniature gers, their smoke plumes rising above them as if to grasp the sky.
The freedom of flight drew me in. It was so liberating, it felt so natural. This was who I was, who I was always meant to be. Despite everything that happened, I silently thanked my sire for choosing me, for turning me. Our past was complicated, he had done me wrong, but this… I could forgive everything for this. I already did, in my heart, I realized.
I would not have been this free if another vampire had turned me.
I shook my head and turned my attention to the task at hand. I flew faster along the coast, approaching my top speed and quickly located the area the nomads spoke about. The Steppe had been shifted around, placed here from across the world. The forest that was beyond it was a thick jungle, stretching over hills and mountains.
I pushed west, along the edge of the two connected pieces of land. I dropped down, just above the trees and focused my senses, alert for any sign of the creature. The grasslands of the Steppe cut off abruptly, giving way to a dense forest, its towering trees a stark contrast to the open expanse behind me. The air grew cooler, heavy with the scent of pine needles and damp earth.
I encountered animals, herds of horses from the Steppe, other strange creatures that I hadn’t seen before but that reminded me of antelopes.
I looked for signs of fresh kills, the scent of blood. What the elder had told me was that they had found mutilated corpses. A predator didn’t generally kill without a need to eat, they didn’t leave food behind.
I saw something that caught my attention, a piece of land that was disturbed, earth gouged up and dried blood across the ground.
I landed and looked around. Whatever had happened, happened a while ago, weeks, maybe a month ago even. I wasn’t the best tracker around, I relied more on my senses than my knowledge, though I was taught the basics.
I took to the air again, then used [Quick Swap Slot—Lesser Constitution>Sharp Eye], then used the new skill. My eyesight sharpened, and I saw more details. Tracks that led into the forest. I frowned, they were long worn, but the tracks were of something that moved on two legs. And something that was heavy, like shifter or a vampire heavy. Except that from the shape of the tracks I didn’t think they were human footprints.
My mind immediately went to Guo Zhang and his hybrid form. I wondered if this could be a shifter that could do the same? Probably not, the most likely explanation was that it was something that got loose when a rift broke.
I beat my wings and got in the air again. I flew low, weaving between the tree trunks, my eyes scanning the forest floor for any disturbance. The tracks ended once they reached the forest. But, broken branches, trampled undergrowth, the lingering scent of blood – these were the clues I sought, the telltale signs of a predator’s passage.
The first sign I found was a scattering of bones, picked clean and bleached white by the elements. They were the remains of a horse, its skeletal frame lying amidst a patch of flattened ferns. The bones were old, the flesh long gone, but the lingering scent of decay remained. Something had fed here.
Further on, I discovered a trail of disturbed earth, as if something heavy had been dragged through the undergrowth. The trail led deeper into the forest, winding through a maze of tangled vines and gnarled roots.
The trail ended abruptly at the edge of a clearing. A sense of dread washed over me as I took in the scene before me. The clearing was a charnel house filled with savagery. Carcasses, both animal and human, lay scattered across the blood-soaked ground. Limbs were twisted at unnatural angles, flesh torn and mangled, bones shattered. The air was thick with the stench of death, a miasma that clung to the air and the Way itself. Symbols were carved into the ground, circular lines drawn with blood and bones stabbed into the lines at set intervals.
I landed softly on the edge of the clearing, then took in a small breath. The scent of death was old, as were the bodies, the blood. This happened more than a month ago, yet, the bodies were still here, untouched, uneaten, just decaying.
No animal had approached this. I understood, even I wanted to run away.
I cautiously approached the nearest carcass, a horse, its flesh ripped open and its entrails spilling onto the ground. The wounds were deep, the cuts precise, as if made by the claws of incredible sharpness. There was no sign of struggle, no indication that the horse had even had a chance to defend itself.
I moved from carcass to carcass, examining the wounds, searching for any clue to the creature’s identity. The kills were all similar, swift and brutal, with a focus on vital organs and major arteries. The kills were obviously not just for food, or at all. Something intelligent had done this. The question was whether it was something like the kobolds in the rifts or something more.
In the center of the clearing was a large oak tree, its gnarled branches reaching towards the sky like skeletal fingers. Its surface was weathered, and the bark covered in a sheen of red substance that was familiar to me.
The base of the tree was surrounded by a ring of bones, like an offering that made me shiver. A fear that I had only experienced a couple of times before returned.
“Saia, are you detecting anything?”
“Feedback: Yes,” my shirt vibrated, creating sound. “The Source-Weave in this clearing matches our encounters with the Blighted beasts.”
It was as I feared. This… ritual, or whatever it was, reminded me of what I saw in the memories of Valair Ankah, the blighted monsters and demons that had attacked one of the Vim’s worlds. I didn’t know what happened here, but it was not good, not good at all.
The worst part was that this happened a while ago. Whatever did it was gone. The nomads haven’t seen it in weeks. It could be God knows where by now.
I didn’t want to linger any longer than necessary. It felt wrong. I took to the sky, circling the clearing one last time. There was no sign of the creature, no indication of where it had gone.
Had it been hunting people and animals for this ritual? And what was even the purpose of it. I didn’t know, but for now I had to return. The night had settled in fully. The two moons shining down brightly.
I flew back towards the nomadic encampment, my mind racing with questions. I wished that I had the time to hunt it down. I knew the danger that the blight posed. But there was just so much more that I had to do. And seeing this just made me more worried about Aurora and the rest.
We weren’t supposed to be dealing with the blight, with monsters. I remembered the two creatures that I fought in the pass when we were fleeing from the church. One of it was in the early stages of turning into a monster. I didn’t know how then, and I didn’t know how this happened here now.
I had to accelerate my plans.