People often wonder why bad things happen, did they anger the gods? Or perhaps, did they do wrong in a past life? Answers to those questions do not exist, the gods do nothing to influence the outcomes of their worshipers lives. And why, you ask? Because they have already set in motion the events that will eventually lead to either the demise of their people, or the rebirth of a utopia.
But it is here that morality and equality tend to disrupt the equilibrium, utopia is a broad concept, and different races have different perceptions of what it truly is. Each god favoured a race, many of them perished along with their worshipers. But four remain, each watching the final centuries of the planet they created so long ago, each wondering which would dominate and rule, which would survive the onslaught of rival nations and which would reach their dream of utopia.
Of the four gods that remained, Dervius grew weaker as the years passed, his once glorious race had diminished to near nothing, the Vampré were nearly extinct. Adam, however grew stronger as his mortals bred quickly and destroyed the other races, humans were clearly winning the race to the new utopia, their main threat however was Elthos’ children. The Elves had been strengthening their forces for decades, awaiting the coming battle. Dragthar on the other hand did not fight to kill the others, his only wish was to see his species remain alive for the centuries to come. But the other races had learned of Dragons and sought to kill them, which was why Dragthar made them leave the battlefields and seek solitude in the mountains. The Dragon god took pity on his younger brother Dervius and took many of the Royal Vampré to the mountains. Many of them died from the conditions, and by the time they had adapted to the environment, their number was greatly diminished. The Vampré that had remained where all but wiped out. Mortals had laid siege to their homes and destroyed their settlements.
All four of the gods looked down on the small planet and wondered who would prove triumphant. All they knew was that soon one of them would join their brothers and sisters and fade into myth.
The moonlight cast a pale glow across the busy encampment, people were getting out of their tents and starting up campfires. The Vampré tried to look cheerful as Marius came out from his tent. It was his Hunt-day. He had survived his eighteen summers and he was now able to venture into the forest and prove his worth as a hunter. An old Vam woman approached him with a dark vial slung around her neck. The eighteen year old bowed down on one knee and opened his jaws, bearing his white teeth. The Vam woman opened the vial and poured red liquid onto her finger which she proceeded to rub on the young Vam’s teeth. A crowd had gathered to watch Marius perform his first Hunt-day ceremony. The bedraggled Vampré huddled around the two Vam and watched as the blood touched his teeth. The transformation was slow to say the least, Marius felt his gums grow itchy as the liquid touched them. It was the first time that he had tasted blood and he liked it.
“With this blood, we give to you the responsibilities of a people, to look after our young, to serve our people as you would serve yourself, and to lead our people to redemption!” the old Vam intoned as fangs started to protrude from the young Vams gums. Marius tried not to touch the sharpened teeth with his tongue as they grew, he had waited for this day for years, and finally he would be permitted to go into the dense forest by himself. He couldn’t wait. “With these responsibilities…” the old Vam continued. Marius was feeling strange now, something in his body was obviously reacting with the new blood. There was something very wrong going on here. “…purge your body with the souls of your ancestors…”
Marius heaved forward and it felt as though everything he had eaten for the last four days left his stomach in one go. The young Vam continued to throw up until he couldn’t anymore. The old Vam however was now cleaning her hand on a piece of cloth, she was no longer talking. Marius panicked, he didn’t listen to what she was saying, he looked around for someone to say something. Jernado smiled at him and gestured towards the forest. Marius returned the smile and set off at a run. It was then that he knew there was something different. His whole body felt lighter. Marius increased his pace and found himself to be running faster than he had ever been able to go before, and what was stranger still was that he knew he could go even faster. He could hear the other Vampré cheering him on, but when he turned his head, they were out of sight. Marius stopped suddenly and tried to figure out how he could still hear the villagers. It took the youth a few moments to figure out that the cheers weren’t the only things he could hear, the movements of small animals and the rustling of random leaves shot through his mind. Marius whirled around and found that every direction he focused on contained a different sound. After a few moments, he heard what he was looking for. A river could be heard clearly through the dense forest. Marius smiled to himself and set off at a run. Strangely, the run took him only a few heartbeats, whereas the others in the camp had told him that it could take most of the night to navigate the way to it. The evening due had settled on the endless blades of grass that surrounded the wild river, Marius stopped abruptly and gazed around him. It was a beautiful sight. The river acted as a divide between the mountains, the Dragons lived on the other side of the feral waters. Marius leaned back, and sat down on the wet grass, never taking his eyes off the rushing water. Few of his people remained, they had all perished in the last raid on the village. In the last few years, human settlers had taken up residence in the mountains. The Vampré had avoided detection thus far, but it was only a matter of time. Marius knew that, even though he was the youngest of the whole village. Either the Vampré moved again, or they sat to the slaughter, it wouldn’t be long before they were all hunted down and killed.
Marius closed his eyes as he listened to the water, there had to be some way to avoid the same fate as the other Vampré that had remained back home. The rushing water slowly grew louder and louder until it became a deafening roar. Marius’ eyes shot open. His vision seemed sharper and more distinct. The young Vam remembered what Jernado had said to him about the Hunt-day.
“Each Vam takes the Hunt-day differently, most tend to pass out when the blood touches them. Although, there are some however that react more favourably…” the old Vam had said, “…When I had my first Hunt-day, I was able to jump from tree to tree, I could hear a leaf drop a league away, I could see the self same leaf drop from a league away. I could run and catch it before it hit the ground. For that day, I was a true Vampré from the days of old. Yet when the next night returned, I couldn’t run, jump, see or hear like I could. It is the curse of the Hunt-day, you need more blood to last…”
Marius remembered smiling at the old Vam’s tale, yet now, he wasn’t so sure if he had been lying. The young Vam slowly got to his feet, brushing the leaves that had stuck to his bare legs. Walking over to the river, he looked into the water. Closing his eyes he sped up his body and concentrated as much as he could. When he opened his eyes, the water was moving at a fraction of the pace it was moving before. And the sound had dulled considerably. Marius was able to make out his reflection from the nearly stilled water. A tall, black haired young Vam with green eyes stared back at him. Something was different though. It was only when he got down on his knees and stared at his face did he remember the fangs. Two gleaming white fangs protruded from his top lip. Marius felt them with his tongue and was surprised to find them sensitive to the touch. He was even more surprised when the fangs retracted into his gums. Marius reached into his mouth and found that his teeth were back to normal.
Getting off his knees, and back on his feet, Marius decided to venture further into the forest, it was after all going to be the only time he would feel like this, so he decided he may as well be helpful and take back some meat for the rest of the villagers. Closing his eyes, the young Vam blocked out the noise of the river and tried to concentrate on the sounds of animals. It wasn’t too long before he heard the deer.
Marius looked at the river one more time before he set off after his prey. Branches darted out at him as he ran through the trees. His feet avoided loose rocks and his arms pushed obstacles out of their way. Marius was loving the feeling of being a true Vampré, but that quickly changed as he came into a clearing. His quickened heartbeat had drowned out the noises around him, if he had listened, he may have heard the voices.
Two men, holding sharp metal sticks were standing around an old woman who was cutting up the deer. Fear shot through Marius. If there were three, there were sure to be more. The young Vam didn’t know what to do. His decision was made for him when one of the men turned and seen him.
“You boy! What are you doing out here on your own?” he said as he advanced on the young Vam. The other man turned and looked directly at Marius. “He doesn’t look like on of ours, I suppose we could put him in shackles and put him to work on the trenches?” he said as he looked to the other man. Marius panicked, he didn’t want a confrontation with these two men. “Yeah, I suppose, chain him up then.”
The second man advanced on the young Vam with his pointed silver stick held up in an aggressive stance.
“Go away!” Marius croaked. The two men paused and looked at the young Vam with shock. It was then that Marius felt the two protruding fangs in his mouth. “He…He’s…a Vampré!” One of the men said in astonishment. The other didn’t hesitate in charging Marius with his sword. The young boy darted out of the way and ran at the shocked man. Marius’ hand darted out and grabbed the mans wrist, before twisting it backwards sharply. He screamed as he dropped the sword and clutched his broken wrist.
The remaining man turned around, alarmed at how fast the Vampré had moved. Marius picked up the discarded sword and threw it at the man opposite him as hard as he could. The sword plunged into the mans chest and carried through until the hilt hit flesh. Blood splashed everywhere as the man died. Marius stood there in shock, he had just killed a human.
“Please…Please don’t kill me!” the man with the broken wrist pleaded as he cradled his arm. Marius turned around and faced the crying man. “Why are you here?”
“We came to find the Elves…we know they’re in this forest…we…we…”
An arrow shot through the night sky and pierced the heart of the wounded man. Marius’ eyes shot up and listened intently for movements in the woods. All he could hear was the old woman praying for her life….but then there was something else. The man keeled over and struck the ground with a resounding thud. Marius didn’t pause, he set off at a run in the direction of the sound. On his way, he picked up the other sword.
Looking up at the moon briefly, Marius knew he didn’t have much time to find the archer, so he ran faster than he ever imagined possible. Yet the sounds grew fainter. Marius, getting desperate leapt up at a nearby tree and caught a low branch. Hoisting himself up he listened again. The movements were slightly easier to hear due to the new vantage point. The young Vam paused briefly to catch his breath before he set out again. The pause saved his life.
An arrow shot out and embedded itself in the tree in front of him. Marius smiled and set off in the direction of the arrows flight. Leaping from branch to branch was decidedly harder than running on foot, but he trudged onwards. “Who are you?!” Marius shouted as he ran. An arrow shot out and stuck the tree where he was when he shouted. Marius stared at the tree and then glanced up at the moon. He had little time to find out who the archer was, and it looked as though he had little chance of doing that. Marius shouted out again. And he waited for the arrow which came from the north. Marius swatted the arrow out of its flight and drew back his arm that held the sword, a smile crossed his face as he looked at the moon for the last time that night.
Jivern lifted her bow and looked out into the night, her eyes were accustomed to the moonlight. She heard the Vam shouting again. He really didn’t learn at all. Maybe the Vampré were as barbaric as the Elven Elders made them out to be. Jivern had hoped to have a bit of a challenge before she killed him. They were as bad as the humans. The young Elf leapt high into the air and landed softly on the tallest branch of the oak tree. Lifting a few strands of brown hair away from her green eyes, she drew another arrow as she awaited the next sound.
“Who are you?!”
Jivern let loose and the arrow jetted out towards its target. The young Elf smiled. The Vampré weren’t as hard to kill as she had been told. All of a sudden a strange noise attacked her ears. Jivern leapt backwards as a sword smashed into the tree she had just stood on.
“Oh, you really messed with the wrong Elf today!” Jivern growled as she reached back for another arrow, only to find that her quiver was empty. “Until next time then.” she muttered to herself.
A cold, sharp metal pressed against the back of her neck. “Don’t make me hurt you” Marius said slowly as he walked around her. Jivern recognised her own dagger in his hand. “I’m going to take that dagger off you and kill you with it if you don’t let me go right now!” the elf said through grounded teeth.
“All I want to know is why you killed the human?” Marius asked as he held the dagger to her throat.
The Elf girl rolled her eyes and as quick as a flash she stepped backwards and grabbed at the dagger. Her hand however, found only air, and the dagger remained at her throat.
“Why did you kill the human?” Marius asked again, the slightest hint of amusement could be heard in his voice.
“You would do well to heed my warnings, lest I may not take mercy on you.” Jivern said as she calmly looked at the Vampré. Marius sighed as he dropped the knife, “you should be more careful with these.”
Jivern was astonished when he handed her back every single arrow she had shot at him. She looked at him as though he were crazy. “Wouldn’t do well to be out here when the sunlight hits…would it? Maybe I’ll see you again.” and with that, Marius darted back into the retreating darkness.
Jivern stood there for a few moments, wondering what had just happened. Her life had been spared by a blood savage. The young elf fell to her knees and looked up to the sky, something glinting in the pale moonlight caused her to lose her concentration, she looked up only to see the silver sword embedded in the oak tree. “You really shouldn’t have involved yourself Vampré.” Jivern muttered as she starting walking back to her camp, “You really shouldn’t.”
Dawn quickly approached, its purplish hue cast a strange mist over the tree tops of the dense mountainous forest. Sunlight was washing through the trees like a tidal wave of light. Birds awoke from their sleep and flew to the sky, singing to those who would listen. One person however had other things to deal with. Marius was running as fast as he could, his strength was draining fast and his limbs were seizing up on him. It was the illness that all Vampré suffered. Once a Vam came into contact with sunlight, the body reacted badly. The exact opposite of taking blood occurs due to it. Terrible vision, near deafness, strength is drained and awareness is dulled. Its almost as though the Vam is petrified. Marius however, had no intentions of lying helpless in the forest until night came. He ran as fast as he could, jumping over rocks and retracing his steps. It wasn’t long before he came across the place where he killed the man with the sword.
The only problem was, when he got there, he wasn’t alone.
The dagger embedded itself in the tree mere moments after Marius ducked for cover, his assailant was nowhere to be seen, but his hearing was still magnified enough for him to hear the controlled breathing. There was something about this that felt very wrong.
“Who are you?” the young Vam called as he got to his feet. A rustling in the bushes to his left caught his attention moments before the attack was sprung. Marius leapt backward as two figures jumped at him with terrifying speed. “Look, I gave her back her arrows…I have no quarrel with the elves!” Marius shouted as he dodged the inhumanly fast attacks. The figures paused for a moment and looked at each other, and then finally down at the fallen Vam.
“You managed to take the arrows of an Elf? …and you survived?” the first figure said out of the blue, the hood still cloaking his face. The second figure elbowed the first angrily, and Marius got the impression that they weren’t from the woods. Their cloaks were smoother than any of the furs he had seen in the wilderness, so he took the two figures to be outsiders.
“Just kill him and be over with it!” the second figure said with an exasperated tone. The young Vam could tell instantly that the second figure was a woman. “There must be some misunderstanding…” Marius began before the first figure jumped at him. With no time to react sensibly, the young Vampré closed his eyes and kicked out as hard as he could. His foot met the fabric of the cloak and stopped as though he had just kicked a mountain.
“He’s very strong for a human!” the man said absentmindedly as he looked to his companion. She however was just glancing up at the rising sun….its light creeping towards where they stood rapidly.
Marius had to act fast before he was caught defenceless in this sunlight. His right leg was locked in the grip of the man who was looking away at the sun also, apprehension holding him rooted on the spot.
It was then that the woman spoke. “We don’t have time to make it back to our camp, kill the human and lets hide…we cant afford to get trapped in the sunlight.”
“…you’re a Vampré?”, Marius couldn’t believe it had taken him so long to figure out why they wore such clothes and why they were so strong, these people weren’t humans or elves, they were Vam.
“What do you know of the Vam, boy?” the woman said with anger in her voice.
Marius could think of only one thing to do in such a scenario…he smiled. “Those teeth!” the man gasped as he let go of Marius’ foot. The woman started to speak, but the young Vam was gone, running faster than his body would allow…trying to make it back to the camp in the shadows of the mountain. Hoping that he wouldn’t be followed by the man or the woman.
Ducking underneath the branches around him, the young Vam ran as fast as his legs would allow him. His body was heavy and he could feel the strength ebbing from his body. The sun had almost overtaken him a few times, but Marius ran and clung to the shadows as he approached his camp.
He figured that all his senses weren’t fully gone as he could hear the distinct sounds of movement up North, it could only be his camp. As nobody inhabited the mountains anymore, even the dragons had moved on. Or so he was told. Marius had been an infant, in the early stages of Vampré life cycle. By human years, Marius would be considered to be over a century old, however this was a family trait that was shared by the Vampré he was told.
Moving such thoughts from his mind, the young Vam ran and jumped until he saw the faint glow of the campfires. Relief and joy ran over Marius as he ran the final length of the route…but it was only when he burst through the undergrowth that he realised what felt wrong. Why was there campfires at dawn?
Fire swept across the campsite, disfigured bodies littered the ground in front of him and a pyre indicated where the rest of his settlement lay. Marius smiled as he fell to his knees, tears ran shamelessly down his face. Everything was gone, everyone was dead and it was all his fault for not being there, not being there to save them. The young Vam cried as he crawled forward, trying to make it to the body closest to him.
The sun flooded the camp and beamed down upon the brutality. Marius collapsed under the weight of the light. He tried to reach out to the body in front of him…and through the tears, he crept slowly forward.
Agony swept through his body as Marius fought the pain coursing through his veins…fear for his life dwindled, fear of losing his friends died, fear of the unknown in his body left him as anger pulsed through him.
Tears of sadness flowed as his hand grasped the arm in front of him. The blood soaked body twitched slightly at his touch and Marius opened his water streaked eyes to look to the bloodied face of Jernado.
The elder Vam turned his head slightly towards his younger friend and said in half breaths, “Marius…there are things I have to tell you…about your family.”
The younger Vam tried to speak but the weight of the sun on his back wouldn’t allow him. All he could do was watch his friend die in front of him, and listen to his last words. If he had his senses, he would have known that there was more than one person watching him at that moment.
Mist swirled around the four figures as they stood rigid around the world they constantly watched. Each God watching the other, listening…thinking, who would be next to fall to the abyss. It wasn’t long before an indication showed itself.
Dervius fell to his knees, clutching at his chest. The three other gods watched on, one of which was smiling.
“Mortals are the future, brother. You can not prolong the inevitable, you have less than twenty survivors remaining. All of which are scattered around the globe, slowly dying, slowly forgetting their God…its time you forgot about them!” Adam said as he resumed looking down at his people.
Elthos’ face softened as he looked to his fallen brother, “You should not have based them so heavily on yourself, Dervius. It is only a matter of time before you leave our circle. Please resign with grace, I do not wish to see you suffer.”
Dragthar however looked down on the youngest of the four and said simply, “Get to your feet and pay more attention to who is alive, I think there is something you will be pleased to see…”
Adam looked down to the image of the planet and looked to find what his brother spoke of. When he saw the figure at the base of the mountain, he felt something that could only be described as unease.
Dervius got to his feet and looked down to see the mirrored image of himself standing at the base of the mountain. A direct descendant of his royal line? If that were the case, then all wasn’t lost.
Dragthar looked to the god of the Elves and saw the rare smirk pull on the corner of Elthos’ lips. This fight was far from over.
The cloaked figures looked on from the edge of the encampment, both had followed the young Vam to the battle site and both sat in the shadows of the trees and watched the interaction between the two Vam.
“Is there nothing we can do to help him?” The woman asked her companion. She couldn’t believe her eyes when they had first entered the camp. Nieker had to restrain her to stop her from running out to the younger Vam. She turned to the cloaked man, “What would you do if that was your settlement, Nieker, what would you do?”
Nieker turned around and looked at the mass of dead bodies that lay throughout the camp before answering, “You know what I’m like Taz, I’d gladly die wiping out the race that did this, but all Vam are like that!”
Taz looked out to where the young Vam let go of the arm in front of him, “That’s my point exactly, he’s going to die recklessly…which makes this journey pointless, we have to stop him from doing something stupid!”
“Avenging loved ones isn’t stupid…” Nieker said as he jumped down from his branch and started walking towards the sunlit area. Taz watched as her bodyguard walked to the edge of the shadows and donned his hood and veil. Instantly masking his brown hair and brown eyes. The female Vam looked up to where Marius had lay, only to find him sitting up with a small pouch, shaking in his left hand. The tears continued down his face as he raised it to his lips.
“No, no…not like this!” Taz started saying as she watched Marius lift the pouch, “Nieker, get him now!”
Marius picked up the pouch that gave him the power to live earlier, now it would give him the power to take the lives of those that took that life away from him. Movement to his left caught his eye. One of the cloaked figures was labouredly making its way towards him. Closing his eyes, Marius thought for a moment about what Jernado had told him before making his decision.
Nieker stumbled and fell momentarily, but by the time he looked up, Marius was drinking the contents of the pouch. Taz, forgetting her hood, leapt from the tree and ran towards her bodyguard. Nieker was making himself walk forward, his cloak saving most of his body from the sunlight, but the light around him slowed him down to a snails pace. By rights the young Vam should be unconscious, he only wore sheep skinned cloth as pants, and his full chest was exposed.
Marius stopped himself from gagging as the foul tasting liquid flowed through him. One drop had made him near invincible…now he needed enough to block the suns power. Enough to let him get to the ones that did this…and enough power to kill them.
Nieker fell to one knee as he continued forward, he could now see the young Vam drinking the contents heavily. If that was human blood the effects would only be dulled slightly, but his resistance to the light could destroy his body’s internal system. “Put down that pouch boy, you’re only doing yourself harm!” Nieker shouted to Marius, “We’ll help you find them, just put down the pouch!”
Taz stopped abruptly as she watched the young Vam get to his feet and stare up at the sun. No amount of human blood could affect a Vam like that. Nieker was speechless, even more so when Marius addressed him.
“Thank you for your offer, but this is my settlement, and its my calling to kill those responsible.”
Marius stood and let the pouch fall from his hand, everything didn’t move, it was like there was no breeze, everything stopped moving.
“This is my fight…and I will avenge the Vampré in the name of my family.”
The Vam was running amongst the trees in the forest before the pouch hit the ground. Taz got to where Nieker was on his knees, holding a pouch. “Its Dragon blood…the boy just drank a pouch of Dragon blood…” the bodyguard said with awe.
“What did he say? He said something to you….what was it?!” Taz said as she shook Nieker. The body guard was staring at the pouch in his hands, “He swore vengeance in the name of his family…he said his name…”
Taz grabbed his face and pulled it towards hers, both sets of brown eyes locked as she asked one more question. “What was the boys name?”
Nieker smiled for a moment and his eyes betrayed a look of silent wonder as he answered.
“He said his name was…Marius Du Dervius!”
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