Crouched in the corner next to a ghoul, a wet tarp over my nose, knife in hand I inspected the plant which had crept into a ghoul’s body. I followed a single plants stem from its arm, across a tangle of plants, all the way down to the rock floor. There I pulled out the plant from the roots, it revealed a purplish-black jewel. I tried to pull it out. However, other plants had inserted their roots in it as well. I cut these away with my knife and squeezed the jewel out of the crevasse. It slipped out of my fingers. If only I had some tweezers. I kept at it till I held a crystal shaped jewel with sharp edges and flat sides, it was squishy and felt like a syrup infused jelly candy. It seemed to act as a nutrient pellet for various plants. I followed a root once attached to the orb. It led to a vine that held down the ghoul. Another root led to a flower whose petals bloomed right under the ghoul’s nose.
How could such an intertwined ecosystem sprout so quickly? Either mana drastically increased mutation speed and the growth of these plants or it wasn’t just mana which was stored in that flame. Other things might have been spread far and wide. Only for these seeds to have bloomed here in an environment which met their requirements.
“Dandellion,” I called out. Soon enough a haze appeared at my side.
“Yes Patriarch.”
It seems he wouldn’t call me Aidar.
“Are there any new flora or fauna appearing outside?”
“I think I saw a few bizarre bugs, but I wasn’t certain whether they were just some bugs I didn’t know or they were new, but when I think back to it, they did seem weird with purple wings and red thoraxes.”
“Is that all?”
“So far yes,” he confirmed.
“And how come no one from the kingdom has come and seen the odd state of the people?”
“The first time one came I said we were suffering from the plague. And we were actually, so it wasn’t hard to make them leave. They left us for half a decade. I wanted to set up a quarantine zone for new arrivals after that but it would raise too many red flags, so I accepted the occasional plague. Anyhow, the next time a representative of the king came I simply fed them your blood and found that that worked fairly well too. I only gave them the order to say that all was well here so they shouldn’t have changed their habits too much for their lords to notice. And that was five years ago. I think the king is preoccupied with other issues. Enough so that he can ignore a lord that’s simply being reclusive in a time where others are no doubt struggling for power.”
“That’s good. You can go back to work.” That’s when I remembered something, “wait,” I yelled even though Dandellion could always hear my faintest whisper. “Those humans that have been born recently. You’ve been giving them my blood, but you implied that they aren’t vampires. What happened?”
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“Oh yes,” exclaimed Dandellion. “I gave them your blood, starting with a quarter drop of blood. I found that if you give those people two drops of blood they can be controlled, but at three drops they start to become ghoulish in thought and action. At four drops all is lost.”
“But then, they shouldn’t have become ghouls just from the blood in the water.”
“Water enhances the effect. When blood is mixed with ten parts water or more, even a drop is enough to turn ten mana holding individuals into ghouls. Honestly, your blood holds so much power we could decimate a few cities with a jug.”
“Then why haven’t you done anything? Wouldn’t that be good for the vampiric flame?”
“I would and I tried; however, I’m not able to leave the city and its proximity. And your blood seems to lose its effectiveness fairly quickly. After a day it is no more than regular blood.”
#
In what used to be a bedroom, I had created eight gardens. One held a ghoul without anything else, another a ghoul with water, the third, a ghoul and alcohol, the fourth, a ghoul and earth, the fifth nothing but earth, the sixth had nothing but water, the seventh had the black tar which dripped out of the ghoul’s mouth, and finally the eight had black tar and water. I did the same in an outdoor garden, and another one near the black torch. Thankfully, the ghouls obeyed my command and stayed put.
#
I stepped out the castle gates. Front, side, and inner city slept. Only a few workers trimmed trees and kept hedges sharp. The nobles’ houses still shinned. Awaiting their new vampiric masters; their previous owners now dispersed through the various occupations. Who needed a lord and nobles when everyone was under total and absolute control. This was the perfect absolute dictatorship.
I wandered the streets till I made my way to the outer city where blacksmiths hammered iron tools, where merchants transported goods to and froe warehouses and stores. All kept on going as they should; however, this was done with at precariously slow speeds, but with absolute consistency and dedication. As such production did not falter that much. Anyhow, all was good. The crime rate had also dropped to zero. If one discounted my twenty thousand counts of mind control.
I walked out the city to the farmlands. At least the roads leading out were now cleaned daily as to help a tad bit with public hygiene. However, only so much could be done without sewers and other modern systems.
In the farmland, farmers did what they had to do. I had no clue about anything farm related. I didn’t even know if they were currently plowing or tilling the land. Perhaps both words meant the same. Any how, I continued exploring the Swiss countryside. The fresh air cooled my lungs. Flowers I didn’t know by name blossomed. Butterflies wobbled through the air. Air which somehow grew colder and colder. Something beckoned me back.
Yes, I had forgotten about the experiments. Although I had set up the gardens, I had yet to transplant the plants. And I should have also set up four more boxes with dead ghouls instead of live ones. Work, work, work, I needed interns. I’d have to create a university to get some bachelor students to do this. But then I’d need to teach teachers from the ground up. How could I have forgotten? I had Dandellion. I skipped back to the city, I was sure lucky that he couldn’t say no to that, anyhow, I’m sure he’d be more than happy to bring up the next generation of underpaid educated flesh titrators and pipettors.
I heard gallops. I turned and there, five bright brown horses and knights draped in the finest armor sped towards me with the king’s banner. They passed me, leaving me in a desolate cloud of dust. I was puzzled for a second as if they were to talk to anyone it would be me. Only then did I remember I looked like a little kid right now.
I transformed into a bat and flew back to the castle gates.