Decisions That Last
I returned to the tribe and landed without anyone noticing me. It turned out that having dark blue skin and black wings made you hard to see at night.
I found my companion and a few of the tribes people outside one of the gers.
The fire crackled merrily, casting a warm glow over the ger outer walls. Baatar, the elder of the Tsagaan Shonkhor, stroked his beard thoughtfully, his gaze flickering between his tribesmen and the two guests who sat cross-legged across from him.
Saia lounged nearby with several children running around her and climbing her neck. Watchful adults stood nearby, watching fearfully. I smiled, and shook my head.
I settled in the shadow, and listened in on their conversation. Interested to hear what they were talking about without me.
“I’m glad that you survived that,” Baatar said after Carlito finished speaking something that I’d missed.
“It was crazy, old man,” Carlito boasted. “Everyone tried to get out of the city, shooting everywhere, cars blocking the roads. Madness.”
I gathered that he was explaining what happened in the aftermath of the Grand Spell arriving, and his escape from the city.
Then, the old man shook his head. “You say the, world has been... Rearranged?”
Carlito, leaned back with a nonchalant air, then grinned. “Rearranged? That's one way to put it, old timer. More like tossed in a blender, hit with a fucking hurricane, and spit out the other side. Do you know that our former camp used to be in the middle of a desert? A military camp from the middle east we think,” he nodded towards Kai, “dropped straight in the middle of Colombia. And after what I’ve seen flying here, geography’s taken a permanent vacation, if you ask me.”
Kai, ever stoic, simply adjusted her braid. “Indeed. There are many areas that had been moved around. Such as this land here, though this piece of the Steppe appears to be larger than most that we’ve encountered so far.”
A ripple of murmurs and confused glances passed among the assembled nomads. A young woman with inquisitive eyes, voiced that collective bewilderment. “But... How can this be? It is mad?”
Carlito let out a bark of laughter. “Honey, God is probably having a good laugh at all this mess, we’re all just along for the ride.”
The elder put a hand on the young woman’s shoulder. “Peace Selenge, change always comes, we must find the wisdom that is new to be learned in this world.”
“Hey,” Carlito drawled, leaning forward conspiratorially. “At least you don’t have to worry about any governments and nations. Everything kinda went poof in the night. You’re really free now. Assuming you can survive.”
A stunned silence fell over the people. I realized that they hadn’t really had the chance to comprehend the new reality, the fact that all structure and order, that even their traditional way of life, all of it was gone. They had to adapt, or they would die like the rest.
“Survival of the fittest,” Carlito added. “That’s why you should join up with us. No ones more fit than our boss lady. I watched her tear beasts twice the size of a bear in half with just her hands. We are back to the old rules, need to attach yourself to the biggest and baddest warlord around and hope that all others piss themselves and leave you alone.”
Baatar straightened his back and looked at his tribesmen. “We shall speak on this topic, but the Steppe is all we know.”
Carlito raised his arms. “Fine, fine. It’s your decision anyway. I just wanted you to know that boss lady keeps her promises, and protects those that follow her.”
I started getting slightly uncomfortable with listening in, so I decided to interrupt them. I beat my wings and pretended to have just landed, then walked out of the shadow and into the light of the fire.
I heard exclamations from those who didn’t have the chance to see me clearly before. I shifted back, pulling my wings in which got a lot more people going.
“I found something,” I said, looking at the elder. “Can we talk in private?”
----------------------------------------
“That is… concerning,” Baatar said, then met my eye. “You say that you think this, thing, has left?”
“I suspect it. I cannot be certain. I didn’t do a thorough enough of a search for it.”
“Thank you for looking at all. And for telling me this.”
“What do you plan to do?”
“For now? Nothing. I’ll send a few more scouts north to make sure that it isn’t anywhere near. But as you’ve just said, there isn’t much we could do. Besides, we aren’t helpless. We’ve hunted these mutated animals for months, we’ve done well for ourselves.”
They had, but a monster was different. I opened my mouth, then closed it. Anything that I said could be seen as diminishing their achievements, looking down on them. I didn’t want that. They were capable, and I wanted them for my group. Perhaps they could deal with even a monster, people on Kirios did all the time, and I had forewarned them. They might lose people, but that was their choice.
“Perhaps you’d entertain the idea of moving more south? Closer to the southern edge of the Steppe, and the coast maybe? If you place some visible markers on the coast, you’ll be easier to find, an I can have my people send boats to you. Trade maybe?”
“That is reasonable,” Baatar said. “I’ll speak with the rest of the tribe.”
I nodded, it was the most I could do for now. I didn’t want to just come in and make force them to follow. I’ve done it with the camp because I felt like I could do better than them. Because they had already failed. Without me, they would’ve been dead.
These people had survived without me, they deserved consideration. I felt like my Heart of Azure and Scarlet resonated with that decision. People were not made equal, I shouldn’t treat them as such. Humans often spoke about equality, but the truth was different. I could offer the base minimal respect to everyone, but actions changed that balance, changed worth.
I excused myself and left the ger, it was getting late and most of the tribe was asleep. I was given a place next to the fire, as I didn’t need to sleep.
Saia sat near me, and I glanced at her.
“Any thoughts?” I asked in a whisper.
“Feedback: No.”
“Really?”
“Feedback: Really.”
“C’mon, you don’t have any input?”
“Feedback: I’m designed to serve as the support for my Host. I’m here to help you do the things you want to do, not influence what you do.”
“You’re no fun,” I showed her my tongue, which she ignored, and stood up. I walked around the tribe, the few people on watch gave me nods as I passed them by, but didn’t interfere.
I walked a bit outside of the gathering of gers, to the pens where they kept their livestock. The animals were all huddled together in the center, goats and the strange cow-like animals—that I just realized could be yaks—were all gathered around the sheep, sleeping against them.
I frowned, the arrangement feeling odd to me.
“It’s for the heat,” a voice said from the side. I’ve of course noticed the human approaching.
I glanced at the man holding a tall stick, a herder probably. He had a cap on his head, and wore thick furs. His eyes held a mirth to them that warmed me up to him instantly.
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
“Heat?” I asked.
“The sheep wool changed, it gives off heat now. Not as warm as a fire, but warm. The other animals gather around them at night for heat.”
I blinked, then turned to look at the animals. Now that he mentioned it, I caught that the sheep wool was actually reddish in color and not black as I had assumed. In my defense, it was dark.
I turned back to the man and spoke. “Marianna.”
“Temujin,” he introduced himself.
I blinked, the narrowed my eyes. The name was familiar.
He chuckled. “Temujin was Genghis Khan’s given name.”
“Ah,” I nodded in understanding, remembering.
“A heavy name?” I asked.
He shrugged. “Not any more than any other. It was a long time ago.”
“True,” I said.
“Did you know him?” He asked, and I turned to look at him with a raised eyebrow.
“Why do you ask?” I wasn’t sure how to deal with people assuming that I was much older than I looked. Especially now that I’ve fully matured where many of my fellow vampires had not.
“There is a story, of a woman vampire arriving at the court of Kublai Khan. She owed a debt to his grandfather, Genghis. It is said that she advised Kublai for his entire life, and even turned his son, Jingim, into a vampire. Kublai was so touched and honored that one of his line would live forever, that he then made the oath of service to the old vampire and her line. She didn’t want to rule, and left the Empire, but Kublai never forgot her gift. He was so grateful for her gift, so he ensured that all knew his decree, and that should Azzaya the Wise or any of her line ever return, they would have the support of the Empire.”
I blinked. “Huh, sorry, but that wasn’t me.”
“Shame,” he said. “Some stories mention wings, and eyes of jade, like yours.”
I looked back at the animals, thinking. It was possible that it was someone from my bloodline—the Sea. And my sire did mention that there were a few ancients like him still in Asia.
“Well, I’m glad that you didn’t bring out the torches and pitchforks when you saw me,” I said with a smile.
Temujin snorted. “No true Mongol ever would. Not even we who are so removed from our ancestors. Stories of vampire kind were never as horror filled and terrible as those in the west. To us, vampires were always like Azzaya the Wise, ancients that offered counsel and aid when needed. It is why we offered you our blood. It is the custom in the tribes. Vampires passing through often stopped by the tribes. At least they did in the past, before they came out and hiding became unnecessary.”
That surprised me. I had grown up in the part of the world where vampires were the bogeymen, devils who turned away from God. I guess that world really was a big place.
“Do you know Azzaya?” Temujin asked as the silence stretched.
“I’ve never heard of a vampire with that name, but we change names often, as time passes. And… I’m not that old,” I smiled at him.
He shook his head. “Sorry,” he said. “I’ve just grown up on the stories of Jingim and Azzaya. It is said that Jingim still lives in China, leading the biggest coven in the world. It… those stories were my favorite growing up.”
“No need to apologize. I understand what stories can mean to us.”
He returned my smile, then bowed and left me alone.
I turned my eyes to the sky, the two moons above me. The white broken one, and the red whole. Azure and Scarlet.
I toyed with a ring on my finger, the Ring of Bloodcast, I was yet to put a skill in it, permanently at least. I used one of my shelved ones to test it out. It was powerful, it removed the cooldown from the skill in return for me paying the price in blood. It weakened me with prolonged use, but I was a vampire, I regenerated. If I was actively feeding, I could use it for a while.
I’ve been thinking about something for a while. My Evolve Skill trait and how it would work with my given skills, not the taken ones. What would happen to a skill that I got from a Mask if I evolved it with my other skills. Would I lose the ability to use it without slotting it in my profiles? Or would it remain a skill that was always available to me.
I had this idea, to improve my [Blood Empowerment] skill. As it was, it made me stronger, faster, but I had a lot of skills that improved my physical condition that I could merge with it.
The issue was that such a decision was a lasting one. My other skills almost didn’t matter, they were borrowed power, and I could always get more. My given skills were different.
I had so little time these days to experiment.
The moons were still high in the sky, I had the entire night to rest and play around. I returned back to Saia, next to the fire and sat down against her side. Then I entered my soul space. It was time to farm some skills, and experiment again.
----------------------------------------
I went on a door binge. Harvesting skills from beasts and humans and Suul. Like before, I didn’t get many strong skills. They were too low Investment for any of them to have anything interesting. There were only two doors left in my Hallway of Doors that could hold anything truly powerful. The door leading to the Reaper, the beast from Ish Vimza that ambushed Shadow and me, and nearly killed him, leaving him injured.
He had said that it was in its Sixth Investment, and the fact that it ambushed us worried me. It meant that it would be hidden in the room when I entered, the situation was replicated. So it would have the chance to ambush me. I didn’t think I was as strong as Shadow yet, and he missed it.
I didn’t want to risk the beast managing to surprise me. The second door was that of the sikiri. It had been blighted when we fought it, driven mad by it. That had allowed us the chance to ambush it and kill it. Shadow had told me that the blight left on death, so the blood I drank was clean. But I didn’t know how a normal sikiri would act, or if I could match up to it.
I knew that I could injure it, especially now with my current strength. But Shadow had done a lot in that fight. I pulled away from those two doors, not wanting to take the risk. Not yet. Perhaps once I reached my Fourth Investment I would feel more comfortable.
I walked into the central hub and stepped up to the pedestal holding my [Blood Empowerment] skill. It was an icon, not a glowing orb, like my other given skills. The skill was represented by a blood red sculpture of myself, not terribly detailed, but enough that I could recognize myself. I picked it up, then carried it over to my Evolve Skill trait.
I placed it in the golden bowl, then went to gather the other skills. I didn’t place any gemstones in them, as I didn’t know how that would affect the evolution, the only one that had a gemstone was [Blood Empowerment] with a D grade Primal stone. It seemed to be boosting my physical strength somewhat, so I hoped that it wouldn’t mess things up. I would’ve put the same in all other skills, but I just didn’t have enough D grade stones of the same affinity for it.
The first ones that I gathered were my older ones: [Lesser Stamina Recovery], [Lesser Constitution], and [Lesser Night Sight]. I hoped that they would synergize well. [Blood Empowerment] was a full body enhancement skill, so they should all work well together.
Next, I put in two of my stronger skills: [Harden Self], [Sharp Eye] and [Stone Skin]. None of them was a passive, but neither was [Blood Empowerment].
That left me with room for three of my newly gained skills. I’ve gotten [Lesser Strength] again, this one the Suul version, then I got [Lesser Heat Resistance]—which I was very much glad for—and [Lesser Toughness].
A few of them seemed to overlap, but that shouldn’t be a problem.
I put the skills in, and watched as the skills collapsed into the center. A new skill was born, another blood red statue, but this time it had lines of different colors spreading through it.
I picked it up, and carried it over to its pedestal, then placed it down and read the new plaque.
My Blood, Surge For Power
Your blood surges through your body. Empowering all your physical attributes for a short period.
The new skill seemed to be an upgrade, so, a success. It seemed to be similar to [Blood Empowerment] so I’ll have to test it out. What I wanted to try was to see how it would work with my Bloodcast ring.
I left the soul space and stood, then left the tribe with a few words to Saia. Once I was all alone in the dark, I triggered the skill.
Immediately, I felt stronger, faster, better. My skin was covered in lines as my veins darkened, my hearing expanded, my eyesight sharpened, my smell broadened, even the touch of air on my skin felt deeper.
I rolled my shoulders and started running, feeling my blood surging through my body and empowering me. The effect didn’t last long. I felt it leave me and stumbled, then came to a stop.
The effect was barely twenty seconds long. That wasn’t a short period, not for my fights that didn’t last that long. But now I could see the more important part, how long the cooldown was. I started back, walking slowly. Minutes went by, without it coming back, which meant that it was probably a longer cooldown.
I settled in to wait, leaning against Saia again.
“How many more people do you think survived, like they did,” I gestured at the gers around us as I whispered my question.
Saia’s answer came from my shirt, with a low vibration that only I could pick up. “Feedback: Based on what we’ve seen so far, not many. All the major cities were overrun, the smaller ones abandoned, the projections are not good.”
I grimaced. “Shadow had said that we would be reduced greatly, now and in the coming years. I feel… feel like it is worse for us, because of rifts. They didn’t have them. I wonder if the Grand Spell did it on purpose like that. Because our population was so much greater than that of other worlds when they were brought over.”
“Feedback: Possible,” Saia said. “But, such adversity is also a chance to grow. You’ve seen how fast people could advance their Masks.”
“I have,” I nodded. “It’s just so sad I guess. So many people died and so many will die.”
“Statement: It is reality, you can’t change it.”
“I could save more. If I march up to Baatar’s ger, tell him that I’m now in charge and instruct him to move his people south, what do you think will happen? He can’t really say no. No one can, that’s the power I wield now.”
“Statement: Power is many things. The Ke Erzi didn’t have singular leaders. They each and every one of them had a voice, one that mattered. Loyalty wasn’t given to people, but to causes. That is what separated them. They chose which causes to follow, curing disease, building weapons, conquering nature. Some causes were in conflict, and had to be resolved either through diplomacy or violence. But ultimately, no single Ke Erzi had the power to command others. I do not know how to navigate your mad systems of governance.”
“Thank you so much,” I said sarcastically.
“Statement: No problem.”
I rolled my eyes. Yeah, I could command them, and I wanted to, I needed them. But… I also wanted for them to follow me because they wanted to.
When I came out of the Challenge, I had imagined just going around and conquering, but now I realized that it was more than that. I wanted what I got from the other survivors, the faith they had in me. The looks in their eyes that said that they were grateful, that they wanted to follow me.
I knew that I was going to get it from these people too. I felt it in my bones. I only needed an opportunity to show them that I was worthy of it.
I rested for a while, pushing all errant thoughts out of my mind.
The cooldown for my new skill was twenty minutes long. Too much for me. I focused and placed it in my ring, linking the skill with it.
There, I thought to myself. Now let’s see how this works.