Shadow of the Abyss

The Vale King could not keep his smile off his face watching Ashara run a spear through the man's bottom-up through his body till it exited out his mouth outside the manor gates. The winds carried the scent of blood across Vastaroph as the man—the Spy— gargled on the iron spear. He would not die soon. Maybe in a week, possibly two, if no one aided him. There would be some, of course, Forsaken whose single job for the next month it was to keep this man alive.

The man had been a spy sent by Silos, the foolish king, who did not seem to know his place. A warning had already been sent, yet the fool thought it wise to send someone to spy on him. He had two options. Ignore the offense or react, taking away something Silos loved. A wife, a child, a brother, a sister—the possibilities were limitless.

Shadows moving in the moonlight spoke to him. Men, savages, watching him from a distance before melting away into night. Without thinking, the Vale King bolted past Ashara, enjoying her work, and glided several hundreds of meters in the air as if he were wind—weightless and free.

The men, if they could be called men, were hidden from even the moonlight, scarlet eyes so red they seemed to swallow the whites of their eyes. They were leaping from rooftop to rooftop on all fours like a pack of hounds. Foamish biles poured from their lips as ghoulish moans hummed across their throat.

'Had they sensed something? Was that why they ran?' The Vale King threw away the idea. Neither he nor Ashara had any killing intent. It must have been something else.

"What do you think?" He asked, knowing she would be beside him.

"Vampire Spawns," Ashara said cooly. "Recently turned by the look of it. The blood must have attracted their attention."

There was a hint of amusement in her tone that made him chuckle. "What aren't you telling me?"

"They are running. Running away from food. You and I are masked from third circles like them. They are probably running on instinct. Think about it. They must have sensed, not us but the manor or your Forsaken. Still, they could work out for us when animals are frightened. They usually tend to return to where they felt safe."

"I thought that was only humans. Animals I assumed were always too stupid."

"Vampire Spawns are all born with the innate attachment towards their Master. They'll run towards him. Though I find it odd, he allowed such newborns to run wild."

They followed through the skies, a vague awareness of the formation that covered the city trying to push them under. It was a crime to fly if one was not royalty in Vastroph. Formations were there to keep even noblemen in check. The Vale King could ignore it because he was wind-personified. As for how Asharawas doing it, he did not care as long as she was.

Slowly, five Spawns became ten, ten became twenty, and twenty became thirty, then forty, fifty, sixty, then finally eighty as they ran towards the southern edge of Vastroph well into the slums. They came from the east, west, and north all the way towards the south.

"Ever seen a Vampire Lord?" The Vale King asked.

Ashara had a silly grin on her face. " The first Vampire was a Devil blessed by the Ars Goetia. I have indeed seen one," she said, as her skin cells became like finely pointed needles, altering themselves before his very eyes. Her skin surged like a wave, gaining an ageless appearance similar to that of a human while losing her elven ears and the graceful bone structure that complimented those tree worshipers. In a matter of seconds, she was a Vampire Lord, or at least something akin to the origin of all Vampires.

Whatever the case, she was even more devilishly beautiful than she was before, possessing traits that made her seem all the more an appetizing treat that seemed like a sin not to eat. If not for Altair's voice thundering the back of his mind to stay focused, the Vale King might have taken her then and there.

He tsked, forcing his feverish gaze away towards the Sea of Spawns below. None of these lesser creatures were strong. Simply based on their movement, they were as fast as a normal Fifth Circle. Nothing he couldn't exterminate with a single swing of his sword.

The Spawns had all gathered around a single building far more luxurious than the other broken-down rooftops and half-toppled buildings unable to withstand the elements. Why the noblemen allowed such a thing to exist in their capital city was beyond him. It was best these filthy homeless animals be snuffed out if they had no actual use. If killing was not an option, then simply pushing them to the rural outskirts of Vastroph was best. Such wasted infrastructure.

"Shall we?" Ashara asked, invoking an invisibility spell that slightly distorted light particles so that they appeared invisible to the naked eye.

Despite not wanting to smell the rabble below, he rolled his eyes, floating down without a sound onto what appeared like a government building terrace. He confirmed it with a jolt of omniscience before walking through the window and solidifying his body back into flesh and bone.

Recalling how Valemorph used to take so much Mana, and now it wasn't even a smidgen, his mood slightly improved. He was getting stronger and at a frightening rate. It won't be long before he would be able to keep his body permanently intangible.

"How are your meridians, Your Grace?" Ashara asked as he followed after through the halls without a sound, every so often hiding behind a beam, as they began to make their way down a flight of stairs below ground level.

"Sore," was all he said, sensing a slight baleful aura pressuring the air. "Vampire Lords, how strong are they?"

"It really depends your grace. Vampires are broken up into two fractions: Myriad and Infernal. One is the origin; the other is the weakened version we allow to wander to sow chaos. It's a simple thing for us to breed lesser creatures that aren't necessarily a part of the hells, but in a way, once that lineage is activated, they'll grow to insane levels of power."

"Do you have Authority over it as a royal?" Experience more content on empire

Ashara shook her head. "I would not. Vampires are fully owned by the Eighth King of Hell, who dethrone the Master of the Mystic Tree, Bael. I have no authority to command any of her kind, although that doesn't mean I can't metamorph into one of them."

"That ability seems kind of broken."

"Said the man who can turn himself intangible or can move at the speed of light, no matter how refined the world is," she fired back, earning a pop to her ass. Her face went beet red as she kept her mouth shut.

Spotting a few Spawns that were able to walk on their two feet and not like a dog, his brow shrunk. It did not appear that Ashara was right about the spawns fleeing. It seemed like someone had summoned all of them.

Down the serpentine stairs spiraling down into the unknown, they stopped after about ten minutes, ignoring the frothing Spawns on fours frozen in place by the baleful aura. Those old enough to keep some level of grace did not seem obscured by the aura, walking into an underground clearing with a dome-like ceiling. At the center of the clearing, a stone dais stood erect with a blackened throne standing tall.

'Master, there are seven vampires,' Ashara transmitted in a Soul Whisper. 'Each a half step into Transcendent.'

Aware she was not even speaking of the 'Lord,' he gave a slight nod, spotting the seven she gestured to scattered throughout the gathering throng, each hooded to mask their identity, though with the rising number of Spawns, there was no need—there were hundreds of them by now.

'I know you can't control the Lord; what about average vampires or their spawns?' He asked, formulating a plan.

"Easy," Ashara replied.

The Vale King smiled; if it was as Ashara had said, then his plan of taking control of the Vampire Army was within arms' reach.

'And if you command them to kill themselves?' He quickly asked, not forgetting to use a Soul Whisper. He couldn't afford a slip like that.

'They'd die, though, if there is someone of my rank beside me, in this case, a Vampire Lord, then or orders will cancel the other out.'

That had been rather useful information. It was the same for Devils, or so his omniscient told him.

Somewhat intrigued by the idea, the Vale King simply began to wait. Wait and—

A whirlwind of black smoke appeared above the dais, gathering all the air in the room before a man appeared, carrying that ageless appearance. He was young, despite how ancient his eyes appeared. Transcendent with the bearing of a noble. Not one that was recently created but one born to the life.

A true noble through and through.