Prologue
There once was a team of elemental masters called the Coalition of Creation, that fought to prevent the Realm of Steelalot from falling into the hands of a kingdom known as the Chroniclers of Time. They failed to annihilate the Chroniclers army and the realm fell to the Chroniclers leader. They discovered a tomb inhabited by a coven of witches called the Coven of the Salvatar. The witches had left a way to travel to another realm, a form of tea that makes a one-way passage to another realm. But little did the Elemental Masters know that the witches never intended to return to the dark realm the passageway leads to.
The realm is Gothjago, a realm where time passes much slower then Steelalot and Ninjago. But time dilation is the least of worries for humans in the dark realm. The balance between good and evil is tipped to evil. The realm had an odd day-night cycle. The days would last 12 hours while the nights would last 40. Once every year there would be a season of darkness where the sun wouldn’t rise. No two years would have the same length. The shortest was a month while the longest was 11 months.
In this time, the forces of darkness would kill every living thing. For many years there was nothing but plants and animals adjusted to the long nights. But over the years lifeforms from other realms invaded the Gothic Realm. Surface-Folk known as human beings built temples in the realm. Years in the other realms passed in just days.
The realm felt cheated by such lively creatures as demons rose to keep the other races in check. A race of demon-folk made the realm there own by eating the invasive races and using their own dead against them. And so the Vampire evolved. The Vampires carved there place in the realm taking over most of it. Any humans who didn’t leave we’re either wiped out or enslaved creating a dark realm ruled by Vampires. There was one island the vampires couldn’t take over due to a ritual suicide by a elemental master of light who practiced magic. It was called the Isle of Hope. Vampires couldn’t stay on the island for more then one cycle of the sun or they would desiccate and go dormant until moved away from the island. Refuges stayed on the island and fought for their lives to protect their loved ones. But once a year on the months of Darkness the islanders would face the worst.
Part 1: The First Shadow
Chapter 1: Banje
We waited in the tomb for our master of Dark Magic to figure out the magic tea. Whatever exists in the other realm can’t be worse then the army we’re facing. We had been banished from every town in the realm. Our enemy had taken over and crushed everyone in their way. We had no hope of surviving if we stayed in this realm. Even the Realm of Madness would be better than this. I entertained my teammates Shiya and Khan with smoke puppets at the fireplace. I used my Element; Smoke to warp the smoke coming out of the fire. I put on a show based on an underrated novel I love. It’s called the House of Demons and Form. I used my fingers to bend the smoke to show a colossal demon flailing his staff in a duel against an elemental master of shadow. My teammates looked at me amazed by what I had created with my power alone. Shiya is the Elemental Master of Poison and Khan is the Elemental Master of Shadow. There are six of us left. The others are Niklaus the Elemental Master of Dark Magic, Zora the Master of Sound and Rohan the Master of Form. We were about to travel to this other realm, perhaps we could build up our forces and eventually come back or we could start a new civilization in this realm. Niklaus walked in and says, “Ready to go.”
“Yes,” said Shiya. I said, “Ready as I’ll ever be.”
We stopped up to a fireplace where Niklaus had started to turn the tea to steam. He began to speak a dark magic incantation and a portal appeared. It was night time in the realm and it led to the woods. The trees appeared black but they looked like they were still alive. I was the first to walk though. The portal felt like wind and water mixed together. When I stepped through the air felt different. I waited for my teammates to walk through the portal. They stepped through about an hour apart from each other. I asked Shiya, “Why are they taking so long.”
“Time most be slower here,” said Shiya. Eventually, everyone steps through including Niklaus.
“Time to set out,” said Niklaus. “We have a world to explore and we need to map out all the doors to other worlds.”
I walked with my teammates as the sun started to rise, it was a lot dimmer then the sun I was used to.
Chapter 2: Niklaus
I didn’t have the same tea, so I couldn’t get us back to our realm, but sooner or later I would find a way back. We went through the woods of this world. The animals all scurried into hiding spots. It’s as if everything in this world had grown used to the night and became nocturnal. Pretty soon we found a small village of wooden houses. Some of the people may have adjusted to the darkness. People were standing in the shadows of hangovers, but a few stayed in the open. One family looks fearful at one rich man. The Man had dreadful reddish skin and scars on his arms. We went looking around the town. They didn’t have many stores and it was an agricultural society. Most of the people lived on farms. Many of the plants had black pigments. There were sales of foods on the street such as garlic and corn, there were cheaper fruits that had darker pigments. The town had a clinic, library, and a brothel, All of the necessities. We split up as a team and I went to the library to research the realm. In the library, I looked at maps of the world. This town is named Fallor after the man who founded it. It was to the south of a large landmass called Ravenor. It was a province ruled by the kingdom in the mountains to the north. North of Ravenor were many islands covered in ice. To the South, there are more islands and one island called the Isle of Hope to the southwest. Beyond it, there’s nothing but an endless sea. I went up to the librarian and said, “I’m new here, what’s your relation to the kingdom of Ravenor.”
The woman says, “It’s the Empire of the Bloodmongers, we don’t speak their name. The only reason we’re still alive is because we’ve stayed on their good side. Most of our race have perished.”
“What race is the empire?”
“Bloodmongers; demonic parasites, this is their realm. We just live here.”
“Are you at war?”
“No, they never let us form armies.”
I realized that this would end badly, we were in a dark realm. We had to get on the move, perhaps the islands to the south are the safest.
Chapter 3: Khan
I split up from the other five of my teammates. I saw a family of four afraid of some creepy rich guy. When he left I said, “Who’s he.”
“He’s one of the shadow-folk,” said a child. “The rulers of the world.”
“Why are you afraid of him?”
“Because they kill us when we’re of no use. And my family is in danger.”
“Why didn’t he try to kill you now.”
“Because it’s the day when they are the most tired. The sun only comes up for a few hours.”
I knew that the people and plants of this realm had adapted to endless shadows. Well, shadow’s my element so I felt at home. Who knows, maybe I could become the shadow-folk king. I bet they can’t master shadow as well as me. I went to the town’s brothel towards the end of the day. I enjoyed a pleasurable evening with one redhead with a lot of freckles. She had more reddish skin which made no sense assuming how dark this realm is. After our fling, I still cuddled with her and she started talking in a rather soft and beautiful voice. She looked me in the eye and the voice made me relax and ignore all my worries. I don’t remember much of what happened from then on. But at the time I saw her stick out a long black tongue. It has barbs on all sides with segments that look like suction cups. She gently inserted it into my arm and slurped blood. In her soft voice she made me forget everything and by the time night came I didn’t remember anything. I left the brothel but I discovered that I had one scar from the incident. It was a piece of skin that had been sucked until there was a nasty mark. I got up and reunited with the rest of the team. Niklaus says, “When the morning comes we need to travel south. We’re too close to something deadly, there’s only one place in this realm that we can be safe.”
Chapter 4: Shiya
It was the middle of the twilight most of the people went indoors, I had heard rumors of night demons stalking the people living in this realm. As a team we packed our bags and Rohan used his shapeshifting powers to deceive one stableman to let us steal a horse and carriage for the getaway, we started packing our supplies in. “We’ll leave at dawn, we can’t just sit around and wait for the demons to catch us. I don’t feel comfortable in a nation ruled by them,” said Niklaus.
The night lasted a while and we all got some rest. Halfway through the night, we heard tigers roaring in the distance. I decided to look for them myself. I got up and followed the noise, in the center of the town I saw the tigers shapeshift into armored men and women. One of them blew a horn to wake up the village. “We are the Flutes of Ravenor, this is an emergency, great power has taken refuge in this city. We must assimilate it.”
“One citizen says, why would you interrupt us all, we have followed your rules.”
“I am Sir Dragomar of the House of the Devil. You must obey me or die. Elemental Masters are living among you, anyone with Elemental Powers must be assimilated by our empire.”
“You seek to destroy not create said a civilian, you wish to take life from ones who deserve it.”
Dragomar runs forward and breathes on the man, he quickly coughs and dies. “Does anyone else want to stand in our way?”
A rebel pulls out a shotgun and blows the head of one of Dragomar’s troops. Dragomar shrieks in a high voice. I covered my ears and watched as three people dropped dead. One invisible armed man runs up to a body and starts slurping blood. I created a giant cloud of poison gas and spread it around the whole area. It was like chemical warfare, everyone in the open started to collapse even the warriors of Ravenor struggled to breathe. The one who was wounded by the headshot healed. His face regrew in a few seconds. I knew they hadn’t seen me yet so I went running back to my teammates. I woke up my teammates and said, “Get ready, the demons are here we need to get on the move or they’ll kill us all.”
Niklaus gets up and starts telling the team to get in the carriage. He starts getting the horses ready. “Shiya,” said Niklaus, set up a diversion with Zora, make them think we’re going to stay and fight, try to find their weakness.”
Chapter 5: Zoya
I was very drowsy and Shiya forced me out of bed. I said, “Someone better be dying.”
“People are, the darkness came,” said Shiva. “We’re a diversion, I need your power to fight monsters, one shriek will kill you and you’re the master of sound.”
I ran into the city to find rebels fighting the monsters for survival. The air was toxic and they were fighting a force too strong for them. The monsters had taken demonic forms such as giant humanoids with cat faces. One grabbed a man by the shoulders and tore the arms off. Then it slurped blood. “Let's annihilate these Vampires said a rebel.”
Another rebel ran up behind him and drove a wooden stake through his heart. It made the creature fall to the ground but it was not dead yet. Two vampires pulled out short swords and attacked the rebel. The rebel drew a longer sword and parried one swing but the creatures were too strong. The other vampire ran toward him and tried to stab him. He swung and fought smarter aiming at the creature's neck. He cut the vampire's neck but didn’t cut far enough because the vampire was smart enough to bend his neck far enough. The demon growled at his face, ripped the sword out of his hand, and ripped his head off. Then it slurped blood from his neck. Another rebel thrust a spear through the heart of a demon, One of his partners ran up from behind to behead him but an invisible vampire tore his heart out. The rebels were running out of troops although they had the element of surprise. A scary vampire roared, I used my powers to shield my friend by manipulating the sound. I sent a sonic boom at the troops wounding them and sending them to the ground. I noticed one invisible vampire avoid a plant called garlic at a vegetable stand. I realized that’s their weakness. I said, “Shiya, use your poison powers with garlic.”
Shiya emitted a cloud of gas laced with garlic and sent it into the street, the vampires were harmed by the rebels were not. They stabbed and staked the vampires and beheaded them. As they beheaded the vampires the bodies turned to dust. This is the only way to truly destroy vampires once and for all. We ran in the direction of these creatures to shake the vampires off. I noticed rustling in the bushes and noticed that we were being followed by an invisible demon. A man growled as he turned visible. “Dragomar!” Said Shiya.
She drew a Katana and beheaded Dragomar. We took off running heading for the east where the stable was. We jumped in and Niklaus said, “Giddy up”.
I hung outside the window gargled with my voice. Since it was dark I had to rely on my echolocation to see. Plus I could use it to hear the Vampires while they’re invisible. The sound waves slowly came back to me. In my vision, I saw Dragomar reforming his body and shapeshifting into a bat. He followed our carriage down the street. His army may have been defeated but he would chase us forever.
Chapter 6: Rohan
I sat in a carriage, I was wide awake because I went to bed a little early. “They want to assimilate us and our powers,” said Shiya.
“What does that mean,” I said. “Assimilate means take into yourself,” said Niklaus.
“They want to kill us and harvest our powers. I have no idea how but I’d expect anything from these demons.”
We were being chased by demons that only come out at night, I didn’t know what they were but after all the screaming and violence I heard I knew they meant business. I said, “Shiya, what kind of demons are these.”
“Demon-folk,” said Shiya. “Shapeshifters, vulnerable to garlic, blood drinking, screams that kill people, turning invisible: Vampires.”
I heard the horse's shriek and the whole carriage shook. Khan and I looked out the window and saw a redhead in the distance souring through the air with the body of a bat and a human head and breasts. Her eyes had gone fully white, it was like she was controlling our forces. “That woman,” said Khan. “I banged her.”
“Someone do something or we’re gonna crash into a quarry or something,” said Niklaus.
Khan manifested a giant snake out of the element of shadow and sent it toward the woman. It sends her tumbling through the dirt and she loses focus on our horses. Niklaus got control over the horses again and we continued to ride further south. “The ports nearby, as soon as we get here we need to abandon these horses and steal a ship, These monsters rule the realm except for one island. It’s our only hope, we need to make it there or the vampires will pick us off one by one.”
After a long while we reached a city on the port. It was way bigger than the town we had been at before. It was bright, There were trees with bioluminescence and lightened buildings. “These things can tell what you are, don’t let anyone see you,” said Niklaus.
I looked around this city, while it was bright, there were vampires everywhere. None of them disliked the dark. Even the normal people had grown accustomed to it. The humans in this town were wealthy too. Perhaps this town is where the two races lived in harmony. But harmony is something you can never achieve when living side by side with demons. If you shake hands with the devil you will always get burned.
I used my form powers to disguise myself as one rich vampire woman. I could feel my life signs altered such as a reduced heartbeat and a lack of tiredness. I was also very good at being stealthy. I could stand still for a while and I had enhanced sensitivity to the point where I could avoid making a sound when I stepped on the concrete roads. I started to hang around the port analyzing where all the boats were. With form powers, I can shape-shift into whatever I want and mimic voices but I can’t use many powers of whom I shapeshift into. I could fake vampire shapeshifting because my shapeshifting is far better than theirs, but I didn’t have the enhanced strength, senses, hypnotic and healing powers. Thankfully, this form will at least make me invulnerable to a deadly shriek. I saw Banje jumping around with a puff of smoke. He was looking for someone with keys to a boat.
Chapter 7: Banje II
I looked at a plaque and found the name of a yacht owner. I kept zipping around with smoke powers so nobody would take time to figure out where I was. I met with Rohan who agreed to talk to one of the port workers about the owner. Rohan did a good job passing as one of the vampires and found the name of the owner, thankfully, he’s human so our job is a little easier. I met up with the team and we organized a heist of this rich man’s house. He may be awake due to the schedule of this city's people.
We climbed the ceiling and found the chimney, Zoya used her enhanced sound abilities to listen closely to see if anyone was awake. “Just one child,” said Zoya, “don’t let him see you.”
We climbed down the chimney and walked around the house while the lights were still off. Zoya manipulated the sounds of our footsteps so there was no noise. We saw a child getting up for a snack. We hid behind furniture and didn’t make a peep. I found a room where the owner kept the keys to his boat. “It’s trapped,” said Niklaus.
I said, “I’ll zoom in then.”
I teleported in with a puff of smoke, I stole the keys and teleported out. But then an alarm went off. “It’s the smoke detectors dude,” said Niklaus.
Niklaus used a dark magic spell to make a glass window turn into something less than solid. I jumped through and the material was still there as a kind of gas. We all made it through and Niklaus made it turn into glass again and touched it to prove the spell worked. We ran away from the house and through the alleyway. News of alarm may get out but we made it to the boat before anyone noticed. I turned on the motor and started driving the boat into the ocean. The waves were rough but the boat was seaworthy. I said, “Next stop, Island of Hope.”
The sun made no sign of coming up. The night only got darker, but I didn’t care, I was captain of the boat and the waves looked just as good in the night. There were bioluminescent fish and algae that sparkled like diamonds. “It’s been 10 hours and it’s still the middle of the night,” said Rohan, “The day-night cycle must be different here.”
I said, “So Niklaus where is this Island of Hope.”
“Southwest,” said Niklaus. “I took us southwest but sadly, the air became more misty.”
Zoya started singing an old sailor's song and she danced with Rohan across the ship. “What’s that?” said Rohan.
He looked across the sea and saw a ship coming towards us. It was like nothing we had ever seen. It was completely black with a front that looked like a dragon and sails that looked like demon horns. They put a longship into the water and their men started rowing towards us. Zoya said, “They followed us after the heist.”
I turned on the motor as fast as possible but the troops on the longship gained on us by using the elemental power of water to create a wave right behind them. It pushed them forward faster than any ship ever could. If a normal motor was a rocket, the use of his power would be warp drive.
Chapter 8: Khan II
I drew my shadow power and sent waves of shadow across the water. I put on my claws, they’re steel braces that guard my arms and have three blades. Secondly, they channel my powers. Banje has a crossbow, Niklaus has a staff, Shiya has a Katana, Zoya has a Scimitar and Rohan has a battle mace. I saw the enemy ship right next to us, one vampire holding a rifle with a bayonet jumped onto our boat. Before I could run up and kick him off he got to his knees. It jumped on his neck and sawed into his neck with my blades. He fired a gunshot at Shiya but missed her by a few millimeters. She ran forward and thrust the sword through the vampire's chest right as I tore his head off. His body turned to dust and I fell, I barely caught ahold of the side of our yacht. I started to lift myself, but a gunshot from another vampire hit me in the back. I let go and fell into the water, the water was cold and I was bleeding. My teammates looked back shocked to see my fall. But they were forced to keep going as gunshots came from the longship in pursuit of them. I thought I would die but then a cold hand ripped me out of the water and put me on the front of the longship. There were seven men left, all wielded rifles with sharp bayonets. Two walked towards me with their bayonets out. I could tell the boat was still moving fast as the wind felt like freezing water against my body. A warrior said, “Kill them and leave the bodies intact, and let’s keep this one alive to watch his friends die.”
Before I could move one troop tied chains to my body leaving me stuck in one spot against the side of the boat. My teammates chose to fight because they knew they couldn’t escape with their lives. Banje shot the guard next to me with a crossbow, instantly stabbing him in the eye. In anger, the guard picked up a spear and threw it at Banje stabbing him right in the leg. I knew that I would never make it out of this alive so I focused on my power. Thankfully, these chains weren’t Vengestone. I made a wolf made of shadow jump on the guard and tear his head off. Niklaus picked up Banje’s bow and shot the guard through the chest with a steel-tipped arrowhead. He turned to dust and the others noticed. The other ones came at me but Shiya threw some kind of explosive that exploded in the middle of the longship. I felt myself fall into the water. The chains separated from me and I swam towards the yacht. I used a shadow creature to push myself out of the water and grabbed hold of the rails. Shiya walked towards me and lent a hand. I reached for her but then I felt a blade pierce my chest. Every nerve in my torso was in shock. There was a vampire behind me, one that was climbing the yacht after his boat blew up. I let go and fell into the water, I felt the cold wind of death take me.
Chapter 9: Shiya II
I knew the only way we’d survive was if I destroyed their boat. I had secretly put a few concoctions together just in case we needed an explosive. I made a bomb containing petroleum that even water wouldn’t put out the flames created by it. One toss and I could blow up any ship within seconds. I’m glad nobody knew about it so they would be surprised. Also, the explosion was so fast that they wouldn’t see it coming until it was too late. I threw it and aimed for the middle which was pretty far from Khan. It landed in the middle and a bunch of vampires were wounded. Khan swam to our boat and climbed the side of it. He was still bleeding from a gunshot and he was in pain. I put my hand in front of him and prepared to help him up. He reached for me and our fingertips touched. He tightened his grip around the tips of my fingers and then his eyes opened wide.
I looked downward to see the vampire with power over water climbing our boat. He held a rifle with a bayonet and had impaled Khan. He growled in my face and leaped onto the boat. I defended myself with my katana and blocked multiple slashes of his bayonet. He was really fast and strong I could barely keep him from stabbing me. Banje teleported behind the vampire and stabbed him with a knife in the neck. He started stabbing but the vampire fought back and through Banje into a rail. Rohan slammed his mace into the vampire's head and I threw my katana into his heart. Rohan pinned him down and Zoya beheaded him. I felt the air change and we were out of the fog. I looked at my traumatized teammates, we had escaped and the other troops were too far to swim, and without a boat or water elemental, they couldn’t catch us. Khan was dead and we didn’t even have a body to bury, None of us had gotten out without a scratch. I had a small bayonet slice on my arm and was exhausted, Niklaus was bleeding from his legs, Banje was stabbed in the leg Zoya and Rohan had bruises on their arms. “Far away we must go,” said Niklaus. “With luck, we’ll live to see another day. Don’t let Khan’s sacrifice be in vain.”
We drank some mead and let the boat take us as far southwest as the motor could. By some miracle, we saw an island in the distance before we ran out of fuel. We started paddling with all our might and fought the harsh wind that tried to blow us away from the island. After several hours were reached the shore to the island. We were all exhausted and in pain. We were covered in bandages and smelled like salt water. We set up camp and got some sleep, we woke up to a sunrise from the east.
Part 2: When The Darkness Comes
Chapter 10: Niklaus II
We knew that the days were short and the nights were long. So we did as much as we could in the time we had. This island was really big at least a hundred miles. We found a few people living here. There was a small village, There was silver and garlic everywhere. No wonder it’s the island of hope. “Greetings,” said a villager. “I’m Chief Zomo, welcome to the island of Hope. We love to help visitors as this is the one place we can be safe.”
“Thanks for your generosity, we’re elemental masters from another realm,” I said.
Zomo looked like he knew what Elemental Power was and he cringed. “What brings you to this realm.”
I said, “I’m searching for portals to and from this realm.”
“Our realm was taken over and our only chance and finding refuge is to seek out portals between realms,” said Rohan.
“So you came here to avoid the power of the demons of this realm?” said Zomo.
I nodded and he replied, “We’ll you're in luck, vampires cannot live on this island. Whenever the sun rises they will desiccate and can only be reawakened by a blood transfusion when removed from the island. I’ll take you in for our history, and I’ll let you explore this island on one condition.”
“What may that be,” I said. “You use your powers to help defend us from them, occasionally they attack at night.”
We went into a library run by a woman named Alecia Van Helsing. I could tell she was a vampire hunter because she had a silver longsword on her belt with a wooden stake in the other pocket. She read us a story on the history of this island. “And so the Elemental Master of Light, Paladin Solas sacrificed himself to the entity of the realm: the God Sackule. They made a divine curse that envelops this entire island. When the sun rises vampires fall into the darkness they came from.”
“Why don’t more people live here?” said Zoya.
“Because even the nights are long enough for people to perish.” Said Alecia.
“The days here last only twelve hours and the nights last forty.” I said, “I practice dark magic and all my teammates practice one element, from our battles we learned a lot about them.”
“Fine,” said Alecia, “I’ll train you to fight the Vampires, there needs to be more of us to save our people.” We all shook hands with Alecia and our training began.
Chapter 11: Alecia
I showed my recruits books and scrolls showing all the fighting styles and powers the vampires are capable of. On our first day, all of them showed potential and they were elemental masters. Shiya said, “They were after us for our powers they said they wanted to steal our powers.”
I said, “Vampires can’t steal elemental power.”
“They acted like they could, they called it assimilating.”
“Oh,” I said, “They do hunt elemental masters born into this realm and kill them to make more of their own.”
“What?” said Niklaus.
“Most Vampires are created by reanimating corpses to steal powers, skills, and abilities from human beings.”
“How does it work,” said Shiya.
“Sometimes those killed by Vampires, or bitten or living close to them or those who practiced witchcraft can come back as them after death. Vampires are not just humanoid or demon, they are undead monsters possessing corpses robbed of their souls. It’s why they heal so easily because they are enhanced humanoid bodies reanimated by demonic power.”
“So we’re going to be on the run as long as we live here,” said Niklaus. “I guess we might as well bring the fight to them.”
I took them into my dojo and started dueling with them to test their skills with a sword. “Rule number one, vampires have better strength, speed, stamina, intelligence, reflexes, and senses. So winning by intelligence or brute strength is a lost cause. The only way to beat them is to work together and hone your skills. I dueled with Niklaus and all the others, they all had mediocre sword fighting skills that were less than mine. “You’ll be lucky to land blows and vampires will heal pretty quickly, you have to commit to all-out attacks whenever you get an opening. Don’t hesitate to behead them or impale their hearts.”
After practicing with swords we moved on to different weapons such as axes, spears, and guns. “Never attack a night demon head on, always use your surroundings against them and attack from a distance but never plan too much on one thing because they’ll figure it out.”
After Rohan beat me by pinning me down with an axe to my neck I took them to another place where they could practice using their elemental powers. “Always use your elemental powers whenever you can because that’s what they are vulnerable to. All elemental abilities will harm vampires so that’s your best bet.”
By nightfall, we were all exhausted. I said, “Expect anything, don’t fully rely on one weapon or power, that will stop you. Also, all vampires are different, none are the same, some have elemental powers, some have all kinds of forms, some are much stronger but none should be underestimated. These aren’t just grunts, everyone is a nightmare for other walks of life.”
My new students went out into the village. I knew that I had to get them ready before the darkness came and they had a lot to learn.
Chapter 12: Zoya II
That night, We explored the village of our new island home. The islanders were glad to see us. I talked to one villager about vampire hunters and he said, “My son was a vampire hunter last year, Sadly he died in the line of duty. “We go through them a lot,” said the villager.
So apparently this was a dangerous job, but I had an advantage my element power could show them what what real power looks like. We enjoyed spending the night at the tavern at the center of the island. The village was called Malachi Cresent, named after the volcano in the island’s center. The place still looked good which was ironic because it was next to a mountain. I asked the bouncer, “Why is this place next to a volcano someday it will erupt.”
“On this island, tomorrow is the last worry, today is all that matters.”
People danced and made out on the dance floor. This island is unstable but people cope by enjoying the time they have. After seeing the nice village we returned to our dojo, Since the nights were so long we had to do what we could at night hours. After waking up in the middle of the night. We went to the dojo and started training against Alecia and some duelists in the night sky. “You have to learn to fight in the dark if you want to survive this trade,” said Alecia.
I ran into her and thrust my dull training sword at her chest. She parried the move and knocked the sword out of my hand. I ran around the room shooting sound waves as I went. It was dark so I had to focus on what I could hear. I heard Alecia stepping around the corner of one hallway. I ran toward her and shot a sound wave at her. I jumped on her and pinned her down. “You’ve succeeded, if you fight like this you have what it takes to be a vampire hunter.”
I got up and let Alecia up. The whole team trained and Rohan was the worst of us. He had problems seeing in the dark and kept losing to the temple’s training servants. This realm’s day-night cycle had taught us to appreciate every second of daylight.
Chapter 13: Rohan II
We didn’t waste a moment of the next day, I had tried to fight all night and I was still failing, I lost with an Axe, lost with a sword, and barely beat one guard with a spear. I would have to get used to fighting in the middle of the night, perhaps I had a disadvantage because my teammates relied more on dark magic and hearing. I had a dark power as well but mine gave me no advantage. I could shape-shift but that didn’t help me too much at night. Me and Niklaus set out to reach the most southern point of the island. They called it the Western Whip, it was a set land that wrapped around in a circle to the Southwest. When we finished hiking to it. I sat by and watched Niklaus meditate and focus on certain spells. He got up and said, “This is a portal to another realm, Dinojago. Could you jump it, to see where it takes us? I need to map out every realm connection.”
I said, “I’ll go first.” Niklaus cast a spell that created a whirlpool on the Western Whip. I jumped in and a portal took me to some jungle. I looked around to see a pack of three-headed flightless birds the size of cheetahs. I tried to pick a plant but It turned out to be some kind of Venus fly trap. While its mouth was closed I ripped one of the spikes off and put it in my pocket. I wondered how I could get back maybe Niklaus would have to cast another spell or maybe the portal was still open. I looked up to see the water from above, apparently, it was a reservoir above the surface which was weird. I stuck my hand into a gap and climbed in and a whirlpool took me back to Gothjago. I climbed out of the water soaked. “Where did you land,” said Niklaus.
“Jungle.”
“Oh,” said Niklaus. “That’s the bottom of the realm, not the top. Dinojago is an upside-down realm.”
“Would be better than this place,” I said.
“We all have issues in darkness not just you,” said Niklaus. “We just have workarounds.”
While walking home we stopped at the northwestern beachside village. It had the coolest playhouse on the whole island. They performed a play called the Nightstalker Chronicles. One old man clapped at a child actor. “Go Viktor.”
I walked up to him and said, “He's your grandson.”
“Yes,” said the old man. “It’s nice seeing my grandson so successful after my son and daughter died.”
“What,” I said. “During the Season of Darkness, a vampire broke their necks right in front of me.”
“What’s that,” I said. “The season of darkness is months of no sun. It’s a time when we live in hiding.”
I went up to Niklaus and said, “We’re in danger, they forgot to tell us something.” “Niklaus looked at me and said, “What.”
“Months of Darkness, when this island is vulnerable. Everyone here knows someone who died because of it.”
“That thought missed me, The stars and illustrations I’ve seen point to that and I let it escape me!” Said Niklaus.
He ran out of the theater and I followed him. We started running back to the dojo. But while the sun came out from behind a cloud, he pulled out a solar calendar traced the sun’s position, and compared the data to a graph he had written in his notepad. “Inconsistent, every year there is a season where the sun never rises, at the minimum it could last a month, at most, it could take up a whole year.”
“Sound like we’ve got a bone to pick with the chief,” I said.
Chapter 14: Zomo
In the evening I heard a sound, I had to see what it was. Unlike my guards I have a disability, I suffer from an anxiety disorder. I have trouble sleeping, trouble meditating, and trouble trusting others. I was meditating but I heard the same cling in the same order. I thought it was an attack. Either it’s people training or someone being sad*stic attacking someone who’s already downed. I walked out to see Shiya dueling one of my guards, a man named Xavier. Xavier pushed her forward and kicked her so she landed. Then he held the sword to her neck. He said, “Ha, you failed the same way three times.”
I said, “How did this poison elemental fail?”
“She underestimates under and overhead swings. And she expects me to only use my sword in the fight.”
I said, “Shiya, he’s right, don’t expect vampires to play by any rules.”
“Give me one more chance!” said Shiya.
“Fine,” said Xavier.
Shiya thrusted her sword at the guard and the guard blocked her attack. She twirled around and hit Xavier’s weapon. He slashed upward but Shiya guarded. Shiya made a shorter swing at Xavier’s head but he parried the attack and gently cut across Shiya’s neck. Shiya started bleeding. Xavier said, “First of all don’t leave your attacks open for parrying. Secondly, don’t ever twirl, You’d have better luck throwing your sword at a vampire.”
Shiya got up and put a bandage on her neck. She went back to practicing her sword stances. I saw the door open up when Rohan and Niklaus were back. Rohan and Niklaus reunited with their teammates who were using this time wisely to train. The sun was starting to go down and we were at the start of the twilight. Niklaus said, “Good day, I found a secret pathway to one of the realms our people wrote about.”
“It’s the dinosaur land,” said Rohan.
“I’ve heard of that place,” said Zoya, “I bet there are more realms connected to this place.”
“Yep,” said Niklaus. “I’ll continue looking. For now, I need to go to the library for more information on this island’s history.”
As the night went on, I started meditating in the monastery. I heard something in another room. I had to focus harder than most people to stay focused and on task. One cannot succeed if they let their disabilities control them. But something was after me. I heard the sound of breathing multiple times, it was the same person over and over. I got up and hid behind a statue. Niklaus looked around the corner expecting me to be here. He walked forward and started looking around. I pretended to be leaving the room so he didn’t think I was in fear. Nikalus saw me and said, “Zomo, You’ve been hiding secrets.”
“What?” I said.
“The dark season, I know one’s coming and you’ve forgotten to tell us.” The dark season crossed my mind, I had never mentioned it because I didn’t want to scare the recruits. I said, “We rarely speak of it as it’s the darkest time of the year.”
“When was the last one and how long was it?”
“Last year, 8 months ago and it had lasted 3 months.”
“In the archive, one said the longest was a year short of one month. I know it’s inconsistent, how can you tell how long.”
“My soothsayers claim when there’s a long night the next years are average length. We had an 8 month season 2 years ago and last year was 3. So this year will probably be average length which is 3 to 4 months.”
“Let me guess it’s starting at the beginning of this month.” Said Niklaus.
“Yes,” I said.
“Well shame on you, may the night kill you,” said Niklaus.
He left the room and woke up his team. I heard them leave the monastery and looked at Alecia’s library. They had stolen all kinds of books and weren’t going to play around with us.
Chapter 15: Shiya III
We hiked to the east side of the island the only place we hadn’t been. We had grown used to the nightfall. The first twenty hours of darkness were a lot brighter than the last twenty. I had already developed a habit of sleeping during the second. I walked up to Niklaus and said, “You dragged us out of the monastery's beds. What’s going on?”
“We’re not living with them anymore,” said Niklaus. “They lied to us and were planning to use us as cannon fodder.”
“How do you know,” I said. “They forgot to tell us there’s going to be four months of night after this month.”
“How could anything survive, it would get freezing.”
“And all the wildlife has adjusted to it. The vampires keep attacking this island and people die every time. Chief Zomo thought keeping in the dark was a good idea.”
“What are we going to do,” I said.
“Train on our own, hike every inch of this island, and hunt whatever vampires come in the middle of the night prepare ourselves,” said Niklaus.
“We’ve been to the west, north, center, and south, the only place we haven’t been is the east,” said Rohan.
“Tonight we're going to check out that village and be heroes.”
After hours of hiking, we reached the village to the east, We knew it was called Floweya. They were called that because the town was full of giant carnivorous flowers that were all over the town. They were big enough to swallow people whole and had adapted to living at night in the cold. The people of the town wore armor full of spikes and many wielded pole-arms and other weapons. I went up to one of them and said, “Hi I’m Shiya we’re from the west.”
“We’re all one nation, we put our faith in the chief, he’s a great chief.”
“He lied to us and we left,” I said.
“You better learn to accept our island country, teamwork is all we got, sometimes you can’t judge everyone.”
The team all talked to some of the villagers until a warrior came out into the center of town blowing a horn. The people said, “Great Saurav what have you brought for us?”
“Vampires are planning their next attack, I brought this one to slaughter.” The warrior’s followers bring a vampire in a stockade. “This is a scout of the vampire army who raped and killed one of our own two hours ago,” said Saurav.
Saurav looked the vampire in the eye and said, “How many troops have you brought.”
Saurav must be an elemental master of the mind since the vampire looks afraid and exposed as if he read his mind. “A legion of five hundred vampires are coming here this month,” said Saurav.
“Scouts for weeks and then the army at the season of darkness. I swear to lead you all to survive. And they're here looking for more than just the hidden shrine, they're after more elemental masters like me.”
Saurav took an axe and held it to the vampire’s neck. “By appointment of Chief Zomo, I sentence you to death for Murder, Rape, and aiding and abiding.”
Saurav beheads the vampire and stabs him in the back with a wooden stake. He picks up the ash from the creature's ruins and rubs it on his face before banging his chest in pride.
Chapter 16: Saurav
I loved the way the people looked at me during the executions. Nobody cared for the creatures I destroyed. I had been fighting the vampires for years, I was tired of training under the Chief Zomo but he trusted me enough to hold the true power of this village. I would lead the people of this town during vampire attacks and I would have the honor of being his executioner. Occasionally, I serve as a lawyer in the courthouse of this village. I walked back to my house which was an armory to the north of the village. While walking someone came to me and said, “Great Saurav, It is I Niklaus.”
I said, “You’re the new elemental masters like me.”
“Yes, I would like to purpose an alliance.”
“I thought the chief was using you.”
“He was, but he never told us about the coming dark night.”
“So you’re from one of the other fifteen realms, I bet you’re scared of the monsters around here.”
“No said Niklaus, “I’ve fought tougher then Vampires. They don’t stand a chance against elemental powers.”
“Don’t get co*cky, an elemental master of nature ended up dead. He was on my side and I had to burn the body so the demons wouldn’t get him.”
“Well, could you help us investigate and fight the Vampires? Could you give us a place to sleep in exchange for help.”
“Fine,” I said. "Human elemental masters need to stick together. You can sleep with my other warriors in the Twilight Fortress. I’ll take you there.”
In one hill of the island we had a fortress where my men lived. They had some open rooms for new recruits. I said, “These are elemental masters, they would rather fight on their own then live in the chiefs palace. Give them a good initiation.”
Chapter 17: Zoya III
I woke up in the Twilight Fortress with my two roommates Shiya and a warrior named Cersei. We only had three rooms we were allowed to use so we had to make a few compromises. Niklaus and Banje were roommates and they had to share a room with another Twilight Fortress member named Tino. Rohan was sharing a room with two warriors Larry and Cypher. We started rigorously training with our teammates for about a day of darkness and when the sun came up we continued. This brigade was different than Zomo’s dojo. This brigade taught us how to fight like soldiers in the army. This army had grown used to fighting vampires. They had helmets containing built-in earmuffs, extremely flexible armor, and silver weaponry. For the next few weeks, we trained and during the long nights, we battled against some of the vampires that came to scout and pillage.
As a legion of warriors, we would gang up on vampires at night and annihilate them. These troops had trained to fight them for years but with us, they were much better off. During a battle in the northeast, we broke up a squad of two vampires. One took the form of a giant while one took the form of a jaguar. Cersei fought the giant with a silver spear while I relied on a rapier and my powers. Three other warriors helped us and got attacked by the vampire’s jaguar form. You shot sound waves at it and annoyed the creature until it turned humanoid. Then I thrusted the rapier through its chest and the warrior decapitated him.
Cersei tried to stab the vampire in his beast form but kept getting driven back. She threw the spear and impaled the monster in the heart. Another warrior jumped on it and removed its head. The giant creature turns to dust instantly and the warrior falls and lands on his two feet. As the battle died down we looked at the rising sun. Great Saurav stood at the side of a cliff over the water. It walked up to him and said, “Why do they want this island dead so much.”
“They don’t, they just want to control humanity and force us all to play by their rules. This island is special the only island ruled by us instead of them.” I said, “So how many more sunrises are left of this season?”
“Three more,” said Saurav, “Then we’ll be fighting the undead all day and night.”
“What could we do to stop them from coming back once and for all?”
“Nothing, this is their realm we just live in it.”
Chapter 18: Banje III
On the second to last night of the season. We battled in the swamps in the northwest we fought a vampire who took the form of a giant snake demon. It was an elaborate composite form of ten pythons curled up together to take a humanoid form. It resembled legendary beings from Ninjago called the Vermillion except this one was taller and more ugly. Niklaus and Tino were by my side. We took cover and hid in the trees and slime. We blended in with the slime and grass. We twirled around him slashing at the snakes on him. When he was wounded he reverted to his human form. We dueled him but were overpowered pretty quickly. He stabbed Tino but I tore his head off. He disappeared instantly but he was still alive. He took humanoid form and Niklaus cast a ball of dark magic at him. Niklaus chanted a spell that made the slime climb up the vampire’s body long enough for me to drive a stake through his heart, then I beheaded him and he returned to the dust and earth he came from.
“Wonder what they came for, there’s not a human settlement for a couple of miles,” I said.
“Look at his bag,” said Niklaus. “I’ll save our teammate.”
I looked in the vampire's belongings, he held a backpack containing a telescope, microscope, map of the island, and sextant. I put the backpack on while Niklaus used healing spells on Tino. He repaired one of his organs but the wound was still bleeding. He applied a bandage but Tino said, “Still hurts!”
“It will get better,” said Niklaus. “I’m a dark magic sorcerer, not a miracle worker.”
We walked toward the village near Zomo’s shrine. Niklaus said,” This is the part of the island we’re going to defend.”
We found a place to live and we came across Chief Zomo. “Niklaus, I heard you’ve decided to team up with Great Saurav instead of us.”
“At least they tell us the truth, we know a legion of five hundred immortals is coming.”
“Whatever,” said Zomo. “At least you’re defending this sector of the island. You’ll have help from Alecia and my guards. I’m sorry for lying to you, what we did was unnecessary.”
“You’re forgiven,” said Niklaus.
Chapter 19: Tino
I’m glad we found a nice hotel because I still needed a few days to rest. Luckily, the days in this realm we’re long. It still hurt when stood up so I rested most of the time. Throughout this long night and short day, I studied some of the texts Niklaus and the elemental masters stole from Zomo’s library. At one point, Banje came in with another woman I didn’t recognize. She said, “Hi I’m Alecia Van Helsing.”
“I said are you related to the legendary vampire hunter Abraham Van Helsing.”
“Yes, he’s one of my ancestors, I was born on the mainland but left to come here.” “So, what was his greatest accomplishment.” “He took down the legendary Count Dracula; the most evil vampire in history. He was the father of the great countess Marya Zaleska and two other daughters he had an incestuous relationship with. He enslaved innocent people and ruled several parts of the mainland with an iron fist killing both his kind and humanity. Luckily, my ancestor destroyed him and now he’s in hell.” I said, “So you know what the vampires keep coming for on this island?”
“No,” said Alecia, “I’ve seen them try to counteract the power of light though, it could have something to do with the Paladin Solas.”
When Alecia was gone, I read some books on Paladin Solas. It said, “Paladin Solas committed ritual suicide by unleashing a psychic blast called an aura wave spell. The shrine where he performed the spell was the Shrine of Paladin Solas. It was a shrine where he tortured, dissected, and harvested vampires to see how they worked. Through his experiments, legend says he could remove vampire powers to make them human. They say the shrine is essential to the island's curse and gave the user power over the realm because Solas’s sacrifice linked the shrine to the god Sackule. The shrine was never seen again and still lies on this island.”
I called for Niklaus and Banje and they came to me pretty quick. I said, “I know what they’re after.”
“What,” said Niklaus.
“The Shrine of Paladin Solas.”
Alecia said, “No doubt about it.”
Chapter 20: Alecia II
I said, “The vampires know you’ll be able to find it so they’ve sent their legion to pulverize this whole island before you find it instead. And they want your bodies since you’re elemental masters.” “If we get it we can take control over the realm,” said Tino.
“Then we’ll get it,” said Niklaus. “As soon as the invasion begins we’ll start scouring the island. If the vampires get it, we’ll lose the one place we can be safe and the realm we never become brighter.”
Another night went on and from binoculars all over the island, Saurav’s legion started to spy ships full of vampires coming. After more preparation, we got ready to fight for our home. There were twelve hours of sunlight we had to prepare for the battle. Larry and Cypher were on it with Zoya and decided to attack a vampire warship during the day. As the hours went on, they filled the warship with explosives and set it up in flames. I saw the back explode with wooden and iron shrapnel flying out. Luckily, our teammates out alive. They paddled back while the vampires in the ruins of the ship weren’t so lucky. They couldn’t step foot on the island until sundown. I gathered some warriors and guards and monster hunters to fight at the northwest beach. As the sun went down vampires started crawling out of the water. They ran forward with super speed and attacked my warriors.
They quickly overpowered them but Banje made it harder for them to see using smoke powers. Smoke engulfed us all making it harder to see. I drawled a silver longsword and beheaded one when a guard stabbed it. The vampires may have their vision weakened but they were better off than us. They heard Niklaus cast a spell but punched him before he could finish it. I ran up behind the vampire and it heard me coming. It lunged into me instead and bit me on the neck. I could feel blood draining from my body and my neck was inflamed. Luckily a spear nipped my chest and a sword beheaded him. I ran through the beach of beheadings and saw the people being overwhelmed.
Niklaus got up from a beating and cast a spell that made the sand turn to quicksand and the vampires fell in it. I beheaded and staked one at the same time but then another one jumped on me. It punched me in the face with super strength and I fainted. I woke up to find Banje dragging me away. We had killed many vampires, but they had split us up. I saw one guard dead with bite marks on his neck. I knew he’d become one of them so I got up and staked him through the heart. I also found one female vampire raping one warrior in the shallow water. My head still hurt so I had to be careful to avoid any more. I walked into the swamp and around the trees. The vampires continued to chase us burning the swamp down. One vampire with lightning powers shot a lightning bolt at three warriors instantly electrifying them. I swam through the swamp water and made it to another side. I saw a lightning bolt hit the water which fried one of my guards instantly frying his skin. Me and Banje made it into the safer land and Niklaus set off a spell he’d been setting up. It was a dark magic barrier spell that only humans could get through. Tino ran into the barrier being chased by a vampire with a kusarigama. The vampire ran into the barrier and the darkness consumed him. He turned to dust instantly, unfortunately without a stake through his heart the dust reformed away from the shield. The vampire pack leader lead walked up to the barrier, “Don’t think this will hold forever, we have months of shadow and a million ways to go around. Surrender and prepare to be assimilated.”
Banje looked at the leader as if he had just seen a ghost. “Khan!” he shouted.
Part 3: The Endarkened Knight
Chapter 21: Demorkhan
The vampire army found the dead body of Khan in the water. They took the body with them and discovered he had been bitten by another vampire at some brothel. They took it with them and I chose it as my vessel. I’m Demorlas, I’m a powerful demon lord of this realm, I’ve lost a few bodies in the past, but this time I chose one as a body fit for a king. He was in peak physical condition and had shadow powers fit for a warlord such as me. I possessed the body since it was already marked by a vampire’s bite. After about a month I woke up in this creature’s body, I had enhanced it in every way. The first thing I did was hold my hand upward and create a puppet made of shadow. This was a power that was fit for a vampire. It’s like this body was born to be one of us. Then someone I knew in one of my past lives came walking in. It was Marya Zaleska, Dracula’s daughter. “So who are you, whoever you are you got lucky,” said Marya.
I knew my real name was Demorlas but this body’s name is Khan. I said, “Demorkhan.”
“I get it, you’re the legendary warlord Demorlas, I do find the name Demorkhan attractive.”
I said, “I have bits in pieces of this person’s memories and more will come back as I go. What’s going on?”
“Elemental Masters have come to the island of hope, now’s our last chance to find the Shrine of Paladin Solas.”
“I get it,” I said. “So you can become human and the rest of us can rule the realm.”
“Yes,” said Marya.
I got up and stepped up to Marya. I remember she disliked who she was, she hated everything about us and she hated her evil father Dracula. I said, “We’re not all like your father, You’ve seen how weak mortals are, especially in this realm. What makes you want to become like them? You’ll find it harder to brainwash others, you’ll be vulnerable to us and you’ll die within a handful of our years.”
“It’s better than when time stands still and we feel cold and stoic all the time.”
“Haha,” I said. “You’re choice, at least you have a soul, that’s the only excuse I can think of.”
Marya appointed me as one of the commanders of this operation and made me seize the northwest of the island. In about a week of downtime, I enjoyed the pleasures of a physical body. Speed, Strength, Games, a Crew, Sex, Alcohol and Elemental Powers. But on the day of the raid, I was first to attack. During the battle, I stayed in the Shadows and didn’t let anyone see me. I let my troops strike first against the army. I did kill three warriors using some new power I remembered from Khan’s memories. It was called Umbraportation and I used it to teleport into the shadows of trees. I saw the warlock Niklaus set up a magical barrier. My troops couldn’t get through but I still walked up to the barrier to threaten them. One elemental master shouted, “Khan!”
I knew him from Khan’s memories. I said, “I am everything he was and more.”
“You’ve taken our righteous friend,” said Niklaus. “We will never give into your forces, tell your army to leave or we’ll behead, stake, and burn every last one of you.”
“So be it,” I said, “Let the game of Shadow and Vengeance begin.”
Chapter 22: Niklaus III
Before the battle, I had traverses the ends of the swamp creating a two mile anti-vampire barrier. The vampires and my former teammate Khan left the area with super speed, I knew they would find a way around the barrier within minutes. Banje, Alecia and Tino had survived along with five other warriors and guards. The surviving warriors were a middle aged man named Oleg. A teenage boy named Tanner and an ambitious young swordsman named Alec. One pike wielding guard named Solon also survived. I said, “We have to get to the village, if we don’t Demon Khan’s legion is going to mass rape our people and burn it to the ground.”
“We’re not done yet, there’s not a scratch on me,” said Oleg.
We marched into the village and were glad the undead hadn’t reached it yet. I shouted out to city, “We broke up a legion of the undead, but they’re remnants are coming straight here. Everyone who’s capable of fighting needs to get a sword and shield in there hands use whatever you can find, heat swords in fire places. Bring alcohol and knives, be ready to behead, stake and burn everyone who enters this city.”
The people got ready, there were some minutemen with shotguns rifles and swords. One blacksmith handed out weapons. He walked up to me and said, “I’m Jyuri and I have the perfect weapon.”
He pulls out a silver katana with a battery on the hilt. “This battery will heat the blade up to thousands of degrees, anything will catch on fire and vampires will burn.”
I said, “Good luck, you’re going to need it.”
Khan’s legion came at us from two angles. Every man, woman and child was at the front lines ready to tear Vampire heads off. Khan held a sword towards the town limits, “Any last words?” Zomo shouted, “This is not your island to rule, we’ll never surrender and let you destroy all we’ve built.”
“Then let this town burn,” said Khan.
It was a shame I couldn’t set up another barrier but I was ready to use a few dark spells. The vampire army ran into the the battle from two angles one ran into the side of the building while the army of minuteman were in one. They split into two armies to fight the second force of the army, The five warriors went into the city to defend against the raiders while I lead this army that wasn’t an army. A child fought with a pitchfork and stabbed a vampire woman in the heart. Another civilian ran up and sliced it’s head off. More vampires cornered these two people and they quickly drained both of them of all blood. More civilians began to fall to the legion and I had to use a dark spell. One that harmed both humans and vampires, I spoke the incantation of a spell that made blood boil. The vampires in one area collapsed to the ground and the people beheaded and stabbed them. Several vampires fell to the ground leaving only five left in Khan’s regiment. They split up and each started picking off the people one by one. I left my post of fighting at a distance and ran into the battle. I took my staff and created a ball of energy as big as me.
When a vampire came at me, I shot it at the creature. The ball of dark magic started burning him, A child threw a boomerang at it’s neck and decapitated him. I threw a knife at his heart and he turned to dust. Jyuri pulled out his fire weapon heated up. Him and a woman were being stalked but Jyuri took the sword and stabbed the vampire while it was still invisible and he had to rely on changes in the air to find him, The woman ripped his head off and there were only three more vampires left. The last three picked off some of muscular men and scared the women and children with blood running down their faces. I casted a lightning spell which vaporized a hole in one of them allowing a child to behead him. The last two vampires fell quickly which left Khan as the last of the army. Khan shouted but only two people died because most of the minutemen wore earmuffs.I ran up to him with my staff but he disappeared in a puff of smoke. I said, “Now defend our city kill anything that’s not human.”
Chapter 23: Cersei
As the first night began, Saurav’s warriors were afraid of the oncoming attack. I was just another warrior on the east side of the island. My new friend Zoya had just survived sinking a vampire ship. Her other warriors had also survived, however, we had no time to celebrate. “We saw another vampire ship heading for the east of the island, They had longships for sending troops toward us.
Saurav said, “Right now, I’m leading a naval battle against this vampire ship. Let's beat it while we still can and find out who’s leading this war.”
Cypher said, “I heard are last destruction of a boat didn’t work out that well, the vampires survived the wreck and swam to the swamps and are attacking Zomo’s Village.”
“Then we aren’t going to blow it up,” said Saurav, “We’re going to loot and destroy everyone on it.”
“I’m in,” said Larry, “This is a long shot so we’re going to need all hands on deck.”
I said, “I’m in.”
All the other warriors held their hands up and said, “No Sacrifice, No Freedom.”
We all agreed to attack this ship, we all got in boats and some of us rested while the others trained and drove the boats. I was with Zoya, Shiya, and Cypher. Our boats were fortified and full of weapons such as catapults and spear launchers. Our attack formation was split up into clumps of three ships apart from each other covering a range.
“Saurav gave us orders through the transmitters on the boats. Here are your orders. Kill any vampire refugees who try to swim to safety during the upcoming battle.”
I was already well rested so I didn’t mind staying up and running the spear and catapults. I saw the sides of the vampire ship up close, I knew they were awake and could see us, it was only a matter of time before we were either fighting them or they sent warriors to attack us on longships. I saw one longship come toward us. Luckily, they didn’t have any wind and water elementals to make it go faster. I loaded spear torpedos with chains on them. When they got closer, I woke up my sleeping teammates while Cypher was the driver. Shiya said, “What,”
“We are about to be boarded by a vampire’s longboat get ready for battle.”
I got back on the turret and made hand signals to Cypher the driver. We had to keep quiet because the vampires had enhanced hearing we couldn’t let them find our plan. I saw more longships coming out of the enemy warship because they knew bits and pieces of our attack When we got into a battle with the longboat, vampires started shooting cannonballs at us. I fired the spear turret and anchored our boats together. Zoya stepped into the front of the boat and screamed in a pitch so high the vampires were weakened. I fired a catapult with a giant stone that split up the longboat. I jumped in the water with my spear and impaled one vampire in the heart before I tore his head off. Shiya used a poisonous garlic spell the weaken the whole platoon which was hurting due to the longboat breaking. One vampire threw a grenade onto our ship. I was in the water, so I couldn’t jump on it to save myself. Cypher and Zoya jumped out and took only the weapons they carried. The grenade blew and our boat was damaged, luckily it was still functional. We swam through the water destroying vampires. Cypher bludgeoned them with his flail and Zoya used sound waves to behead them.
Chapter 24: Rohan III
Larry and Saurav were with me on a boat near the ship Cypher, Shiya and Cersei were on. The Vampires had figured out our attack and they sent many longships at them. Luckily, our three ships were so far apart they didn’t know where we all were. Saurav said, “The third ship has some of my other warriors.”
The ships split up and attacked us all, I saw some coming after us while one other boat was between us and the girls. I watched a cannonball blow a hole in its hole and the vampire jumped on the boat. Rifle shots were fired and I heard axes hit the side of the boat. Larry stepped up to me and said, If we stand together they can’t hurt us. Saurav was driving the boat so he made a harsh turn to avoid the vampires in the longship to his left. Another one was in our way but we were still avoiding cannonballs from the other one. I said, “I’m going undercover to blow up one of these boats.”
You can avoid them while I pose as one of them. I went to the back of the boat and climbed down into the water. I used my shapeshifting powers to take vampire form. This made me need to breathe a lot less but I occasionally had to swim up for breaths of air. I’d always loved going undercover and now I was about to deceive the undead.
One of the commanders was in the boat, I watched the leader hold his hand forward and say, “Raid the boat.”
I swam beneath the longboat I saw one of them jump in the water and begin swimming toward the third ship. I grabbed his neck and started bending it till the neck snapped. I took a dagger cut his head off and staked him. I looked at the body and changed into it before pushing it into the deeper water. I climbed onto the boat and started doing the normal tasks a crewmate would do. “One woman looked at me and said, why are you back so soon.”
I said, “Because I can tell they’ll be dead before I get there.”
I continued loading rifles. Saurav’s boat shot a torpedo at us and it shook the boat. The woman next to me through a boomerang as far as she could. With her vampiric superpowers, it went farther than I could have imagined. I stepped up to the captain from behind and looked for a way to sabotage the boat. But they were not mechanical boats, they were fully run by manpower. “Captain Dremlyn,” said a vampire. “We’re under fire.”
“Don’t state the obvious,” said Dremlyn.
I ran up to the captain and drove a stake through the back of his chest. Someone ran after me and pulled me back. The captain had fallen into a deep sleep. Another one tried to rip my head off but I elbowed him. I saw something coming toward me from a catapult and the vampires around me loosened their grip so I could roll forward. I saw it explode and the whole longship broke apart. I jumped into the water and started swimming.
Chapter 25: Larry
I saw Saurav fire another catapult at the boat, I had just shot a torpedo at it from the front of the boat. We were heading for the docks of the vampire warship where all the longships were coming out. We came across the boat from the girls, they had gotten there’s working again and were in the middle of a naval battle. I shot another torpedo at the longship in front of them and it blew up. The driver started driving the boat before the vampires could get up from the waters. But then a vampire jumped out of the water and landed next to me. It snarled with its barbed tongue. And lunged for my throat. I felt the barbs cut into my neck and it was right on me. It started screeching and I covered my ears. I kicked the creature in the groin and slid away, I grabbed a butterfly sword and lopped his head off. I knew he’d come back so I staked him. But then another one jumped out of the water and I drew my sword. I saw the creature shapeshifting and I saw a familiar face. I said, “Rohan.”
“I took down a captain, he’s not waking up any time soon,” said Rohan.
“Good said Saurav and we’re about to board this mothership.”
We fought more longship users and came into the warship’s hull. Remarkably, all of us on the two ships had survived. Saurav was our leader, Cypher, Shiya, Cersei, Zoya and Rohan were by my side. We could feel the wind move around us. I knew the vampires were after us while invisible. I slashed at a random creature and it blocked itself with a spiked blade. The Vampires wielded cutlasses and double-bladed daggers. We all fought like there was no tomorrow. We overcame the bullets and swords. We ran through the ship slashing at everything in our line of sound and sight. I saw a commander shout at the top of his lungs, luckily, I kept earmuffs on. Saurav said, “Let’s blow this ship sky-high.”
I kept my butterfly sword in my hands and Cypher said, “I’ll find the fuel tanks of this boat, this ship doesn’t have sails so it’s got to have a fuel tank.”
The rest of us split up. I walked into the captain’s quarters with Zoya. The commander we had heard was there. He stepped up to me holding a Dao blade. “I am Lord Raovor, I am one of the three generals of the attack on this island. I ran at him with my butterfly sword. He was faster but he had no guard. I used the guard on my sword to defend myself. He tried to stab me and barely pierced the side of my chest. When he made a swinging attack I, swung my sword upward and slashed at his back. Zoya shot a sound wave at him and sent him tumbling through a window.
Chapter 26: Cypher
I was with Saurav and we had gone into the ship's engine room. I analyzed the plans while he fought the vampires that were after us. One vampire ran up to me holding a double-bladed scythe. I drew a Tri Scythe and clashed against the vampire who spun around. He was nowhere near tired and could attack from both sides. I struck him on the neck and shoved him into the ground where I used the sai on my pole weapon to split him and his head apart, then I staked him. I looked at the tanks on the ship and crossed a few cables. I went up to Saurav and whispered, Let’s get out of here, this place is gonna blow. I walked up a ladder leading to the ship's deck. I came across Shiya and said, “Let’s get off this boat.”
But then someone in the form of a humanoid bat flew down in front of us. He pulled out a Dao and said, “I love the taste of humans who think they stand a chance.”
He jumped on me and. Started sucking my blood till I became lightheaded. I fell to the ground wounded. I watched Saurav attack him with a double-bladed axe. The vampire out-maneuvered Saurav and stabbed him I saw Zoya run at him and send a wave of sound towards him sparing the wounded Saurav. “Give up Raovor.”
Shiya came to me and picked me up, “No one gets left behind,” she said.
Rohan picked up Saurav and carried him to the docking section of the boat. They laid us down and we took our boats out. I was usually the driver and I could barely trust anyone else with my survival while driving on land or sea. But since I was wounded what’s the point? All of us drove in our vehicles and we took a long way around the mothership so the vampires in longboats wouldn’t get to us. I saw the mothership explode in the middle and the sides pieces of wood and metal were sent into the air. But then I dosed off.
Chapter 27: Demorkhan II
The village of Malachi Cresent fought against us. And I had the legendary vampire hunter Alecia to rumble with. I was shocked by how well the women and children fought. They killed my men with pitchforks. The volcano was right next to the village and they made it the capital. To the Southwest, there was Zomo’s Dojo, which was where the island's chief lived. It was also the headquarters of Alecia. I knew I would have to attack it eventually but for now, our goal was the raid the city.
I retreated to the west side of the island which was all beach and swamps. More warriors started to wash up on the beach. I looked across the sea and saw the boat we came on. It was smoking and split in half. Of the vampires that washed up on the shore, two of them were my fellow commanders, Raovor and Dremlyn. Dremlyn still had a stake through the back of his chest. I ripped it out of him and laid him on his back to recover from drowning and the stabbing. He was in a catatonic state and it would be a while before he would reawaken.
Raovor walked up to me and said, “There’s two villages of vampire hunters, and they know we’re here. They blew up the mothership.”
“What happened to Marya?”
“They didn’t kill her, but I didn’t see her escape.”
“So you don’t know,” I said.
Dremlyn woke up and breathed in before coughing up the excess salt water in his throat. We informed him of the current situation. And the three of us discussed our plan of attack. Our goals were set in stone. Kill the elemental masters and reanimate them as more of our kind. Find the Shrine of Paladin Solas and break the curse of this island. I said, “First let's go after the Malachi Cresent and turn it into a base. Then the Dojo of the chief and the other village will fall. Plus, the volcano is connected to the underground caverns. I bet they lead to the shrine.”
We talked for a few hours and thought of every possibility of an assault on the village. The only thing we weren’t worried about was an eruption. Dremlyn decided to lead the army for a siege while Raovor led an assault from the sky with all our warriors who liked to fly. I would sneak into the city and pick off their best warriors before the battle. We put our plan into action and I entered the city, hiding in the shadows. I saw one middle-aged man guarding a house used as an arsenal. With my excellent eyesight, I saw his dog tag from a distance. It said Oleg. I snuck up behind him and snapped his neck in half.
Chapter 28: Jyuri
I kept my heat-katana on me at all times, I was at my shop working on weapons. I forged scimitar’s and pulled them out the flames still hot, I had to hand them to everyone in the crowd. Children wore tough gloves and so did all the other men. We needed better weapons than the pitchforks we’d been using. Tanner came up to me and asked for a double-bladed sword, I gave him a saw blade with two spike blades on the sides of it. Solon stood at my doorstep keeping the people from barging in. One swordsman named Alec told me to give him a new sword because he broke his during a battle. I have him two serrated cutlasses that he can dual-wield. But out of all the weapons, I had the most defensive and offensive weapon in the village. My heat-katana was turned off now and the battery was charging. With it, I stood a chance against the undead.
I heard someone in the crowd screaming, I stepped out to see a child with a sword in his back. I walked up to him and felt like I was being watched. I drew my katana and swung it around, slicing across a vampire's gut. It made itself visible and screamed. I was wearing earmuffs and so were some of the civilians and the ones that didn’t stick their fingers in their ears. Sadly, one person dropped dead. I thrusted my Katana forward and the vampire flipped backwards. “You ain’t going nowhere; Khan” shouted Alec. He ran at Khan with both his cutlasses. He slashed and dashed but Khan created a sword of his element, shadow. He warped around him slashing against the cutlasses. Someone ran up to Khan and stabbed him with a spear. Khan turned to smoke and disappeared. He started to reform as a bigger, darker form. It was an entity made of shadow. It had the face of a dragon and the body of a tall brutish demon.
It wailed its arms forward at all of us. I ran into my shop and grabbed my battery, it was most of the way full. I put it on and turned on my katana. The heat was not instant but it lingered for a while. I ran up slashing at the shadow arms. The fingers worked like tentacles and wrapped around my blade. He pulled me forward and I went flying into the road. Solon ran through the shadow tentacles and his pike at the monster's head. It exploded and took Khan’s form. But then, I saw the Khan pick up the pike and ran towards Solon and Impaled him with it in front of everyone. I turned around the city and started running.
Chapter 29: Tanner
I found Alec by the side of the building. He said, “Tanner, are you ready for a sword fight.”
“Yes, but I think we’re missing something. I doubt the vampires are attacking one person. I think an attack by the whole legion is coming.”
Alec looked at me and said, “Then let's kill the leader so they’ll raid this city to find their general dead."
You can, I’m not going to confront this guy,” I said. “It’s better to run and survive than waste your life for an act of heroism.”
“I’m older than you, cowardice is not wisdom.”
Alec snuck up on Khan and started slashing with his two swords. Khan pulled out Solon’s pike and tried to defend himself.
I looked into the sky and saw a demonic creature looking down at us. I knew I was right, more of the vampires were coming. I had fought them for most of my life. I had seen them outsmart my parents. During one set of homicides, my parents were being chased for a magical jewel. They deceived us with a diversion by staging attacks everywhere except a certain house which was where we hid. We were who they were truly after. I had planned to sacrifice myself to save my sister and they saw it coming. That night the four of us barely made it out alive. But the vampires got the jewel we valued. In my teenage years, I had gotten a job working at a bar and I was separated from my family that lived on the island’s other village.
I walked to the back of the city and I took my binoculars to study the lands nearby, we had fortified the whole city, there was no place we weren’t prepared for with troops. I saw on the southwest side of the town there were rats scurrying toward the town limits. I heard the warriors shout, “Burn 'em all.”
They through alcohol at the vampires and let it burst into flames. The vampires although lit took human form and made leaps toward the warriors. They started throwing stakes but the flying vampires took them down. I saw one warrior get thrown off his fence post and break his back. The monster who took him down jumped on him and crushed his face with his foot.
Chapter 30: Alec
I whipped my blades around Khan. His sword was nothing but pure shadow power so It was’t as cool as my serrated cutlasses. I thrusted one sword towards him and used the other to stab him in the eye. I twisted it and destroyed his eye. He pushed me with super strength and I hit the ground with a thud. Another warrior took advantage of the wound I inflicted and shot Khan with an arrow. Arrows impaled him by rounds at a time.
I had just won against the enemy, I would be hailed as a hero. I loved to show off how good of a swordsman I am. I had trained to be a sword fighter for years. I started when I was ten when I first wielded a sword. I loved the way it felt on my hands, the weight and feel of a sword made me feel uplifted. I loved all swords and I trained in all types of combat. I Dual wielded better than anyone. When I was a teenager, I wanted to be a ninja, a spy and mercenary. I trained in ninjitsu and used my skills to be a swordsman. When I became an adult I decided to stick with swordsman ship and dueling. I became the best swordsman on the island and fought vampires for sport. They would underestimate martial arts out of arrogance and I killed them.
I looked into the city and saw people panicking and firing at more monsters. I felt a mist go past me. It manifested in front of me and I barely blocked the sword. I blocked several more blows and one thrust. I pushed his sword towards him an used my other sword to behead him. His Body fell without the head and I stabbed it through the chest. But then another vampire, a woman jumped on me from a roof and I was thrown into the ground. She was unfazed by the fall. I slashed to prevent a thrust. She isn’t wasting any time. Despite my soreness, I used all my skills. I attacked from above her, two her sides, two her chest. This woman, wielded a katana. She used a more advanced fighting style blocking thrusts and my small slashes. She deceived me with a feint attack from above and then turned the sword from one side to another. It sliced across my finger which started bleeding.
“I said, “You’re martial arts are impressive but a true swordsman doesn’t go down dueling.”
“I am Countess Kitroft, I don’t boast nor spare my enemies.
The woman made more attacks with her Katana and cut me twice, I tried everything, even impractical 180 spins. I tried using a feint attack to trick her to defend her leg and then go for her shoulder but she slashed my arm with the katana. She leaned forward and licked my arm with her long tongue.
Chapter 31: Zoya IV
We spent a few hours on the boat we escaped on, it was a miracle that none of us had died during the raid of the mothership. Cypher and Saurav were wounded but their injuries weren’t too serious. However, blood loss is a major problem in this world. There are so many bloodsuckers around that just the slightest cut could get you healed. We took our ships to the port below the Fortress of Twilight. Saurav was back on his feet and said, “Our third brigade has been destroyed but the rest of us made it out alive.”
“We need to defend this port because countless survivors are swimming to this island,” said Saurav. “They may be attacking Zomo’s village instead of this one but trust me, they won’t leave us alone.”
Saurav took me to the tower of the fortress and told me to be a lookout. He said, “In the night, we must rely on sound more than light.”
I said, “I’ll try to use echolocation, I’ll tell you where the undead are.”
“I am telepathic,” said Saurav. “I’ll set up a connection between us, just think of sending me the information and it will come to me.”
Saurav leaned towards me and I started to hear what was going through his head. He was thinking that the realm was getting on his nerves. That he wished there was a way to free the realm from the demon’s control. Like us, Saurav wasn’t from Gothjago, he was from a realm beyond the night. He grew up in the Never-Realm but left to escape an army of samurai made of ice.
He looked at me and said, “So you stood up to your leaders of Steelalot, you were rebels in a world where a Coalition suppressed the rise of elemental powers?”
“I lost friends and family and they took over the whole realm. They used tablets that controlled time to overwhelm us we had to leave to find support from other realms.”
“You’ve found that,” said Saurav.
He kissed me and we fell to the floor. I took my belt out and loosed my leggings, but he said, “No, let’s not take this further. We will make it out of this alive, I know we will.”
Chapter 32: Banje IV
The city was under attack, There were vampires inside, vampires barging in and vampires diving out of the sky. One vampire in a demonic bat form dove toward me. I turned to smoke and got behind him. I stabbed him and prepared to behead him but then three more vampires ran at me with swords. I pulled out a katana to defend myself. I teleported around but they outsmarted me and slashed across my arms. I had to vanish to survive but they kept coming for me. They were working together so I couldn’t kill any of them.
The village on the volcano’s side was being burned to the ground. Everyone was running, even the village with the frequency of attacks this one had, the people were overwhelmed. I covered my ears at high-pitched screeches that killed innocent people. I saw a vampire ripping flesh from a corpse with his teeth and long tongue slurping all the blood it found. I ran towards him to behead but he blocked me. I tried sword fighting, but another vampire ran up to us and got involved. They kept slashing until I retreated. I looked around to see the vampires stepping up to work together. I saw them overwhelming some of our good warriors such as Alec, Tanner, and Jyuri. I saw my partner Niklaus surviving though.
I teamed up With Jyuri who had the hottest sword in town. I distracted three vampires that chased him with my smoke power and beheaded one. Another guarded him so I couldn’t stab him I dueled the other one while Jyuri stabbed the vampire. I ran up to behead him but before I could a wave of shadow chopped my blade in half. I looked around to see demon Khan zipping around. The surviving vampire jumped on Jyuri and bit into him and started draining blood. Khan appeared behind me using my shadow and grabbed my neck. I tried to punch but he pressed my neck and pushed into a pressure point. It was like his finger had memorized the location and spot of the nerve. He pushed so hard and my whole body went numb. I was paralyzed in his arms.
Niklaus shouted a spell and Khan ran with me in his arms. “You can’t kill your teammate,” said Khan. “Shoot me with some spell and I’ve got him as a shield.”
“I can’t but she can,” said Niklaus.
A stake drove through Khan and he lost his grip on me, I felt pins and needles all over my body but I could move again. I tried to shake it off but was very weak. Khan teleported away but Niklaus used another spell so he couldn’t use the same umbrakinetic teleportation ability again.
I got up and threw my sword at Khan and stabbed him in the shoulder pinning him against a wall. I said, “Let’s end this monster. He isn’t our friend he’s a soulless demon wearing his corpse.”
“Nothing’s truly Soulless,” said Khan. “Demons are better than souls.”
Several vampires came running into battle and one of them kicked Niklaus sending him flying into a wall.
Chapter 33: Demorkhan III
I used my shadow powers to make a dark whip fly to Banje’s leg. I tripped him then I pulled his sword out of my chest. I slashed the sword across his torso and pushed him to the ground. I stabbed him in the gut and held the sword outward. “You can never stop Demorkhan!” I shouted.
I ran forward and saw two of my men restraining the warlock Niklaus. I walked forward and prepared to execute him. But then an arrow hit me in the back, I turned around to see Alecia holding a crossbow. I teleported to her shadow and punched her in the neck. Niklaus got free of my goons and used his staff to make a wooden vine grow out of the ground towards me. It ripped through my chest and hit the ground on the other side. I tried to get away using my shadow powers to cut the vine but it was still in me. I tried to teleport away but couldn’t find a shadow.
Niklaus said, “You underestimate human intuition and teamwork.”
I said, “I am the Endarkened Knight, the one threat you will never destroy, the one threat that’s connected to you personally. Destroy me and you’ll disgrace your fallen friend.”
“You’ve already disgraced Khan,” said Niklaus. “I bet he’d love to see his possessed corpse destroyed.
I found a shadow by a shrine and teleported. I Appeared into the shadow but saw a piece of the wood was still in my chest. I was weaker than I thought. I tried to morph into some creature that would push this thing out of me. It left me weak. I took off running but saw a heat-sword in front of me. It slashed at my neck and I felt all the heat I could ever imagine burning my nerves open. Then the world went black. It seemed that nothing happened for what seemed like forever. I was in a sleep-like state. I felt like I was outside of my body and only flashes of the world came to me. I was back in a dormant state.
Chapter 34: Jyuri II
I looked at Khan’s body after I beheaded him. His form turned to ash before my very eyes. My heat-sword had come in handy. Niklaus ran up to me and said, “One down, two to go.”
I ran with him to survive as the city was attacked from above and the south. We decided to sneak out of the village through the maze of small houses to the northeast. We saw vampires taking advantage of the situation to kill people for blood. I saw one vampire licking the organs of a person it had just killed and mutilated. I didn’t make a peep because it would hear me with its enhanced senses. Alec, Tanner, Alecia, and Tino were with us. We’re apart but very close sneaking through the streets. I saw one vampire at the top of the house I was in the alleyway of. It had taken the form of a pterodactyl-like humanoid. I stayed beneath the hangover and stayed quiet. I saw just a couple of streets down there was a sewer leading out of the city. I started heading in that direction. I saw a rat sneak up next to me and turn into a vampire.
I pulled out my heat-sword and it tried to jump on me. I flipped over it while it tried to punch and kick. I thrust my heat sword into its neck and burned it up. While it was wounded I stabbed it through the heart and then chopped its head off. More rats came up to me. One of them turned into a boar-like creature with the head of a rat. It pulled out a Battle Pike and started swinging at it. I clashed with the sword against his pike and tried to melt the end off. He whipped his pike around so fast I couldn’t melt the four side blades of his pike. I barely defended myself against this creature. From behind me two more vampires in rat form took demonic form. One of them became a lion-like orc with a sword with the spike coming out the end of the blade. The other became a brutish Goblin with tusks. They started to attack me with their swords and I was overwhelmed. I slashed the lion-orc across the face with my heat blade but the other vampires came towards me. The Goblin slashed across my leg and I felt blood ooze from the wound. It slammed me into a wall and growled at me with his Goblin Face which morphed into a long tongue.
Niklaus came into the open and cast a dark magic spell at the three vampires. It paralyzed them instantly, but he collapsed to the ground. I ran up to him and helped him up. We walked into the sewer with our other friends. We walked over the walkway next to the sewer and made it out of the city. We hiked across the side of the volcano now thirsty and tired. We saw the village of Malachi Cresent now decimated. But the vampires hadn’t burned anything down. They had only fought the people and we were lucky to survive.
Part 4: Daughter of the Dragon
Chapter 35: Marya
I had a terrible childhood, my life was doomed from the beginning. My father was cruel and manipulative. My mother was caught up in an abusive relationship. I had always been a full vampire. So unlike the rest of my kind, I had a soul. My parents had them too, but my father had no morals. He did whatever he wanted and didn’t care about anyone but himself. When I was five I had my first kill. It was a young peasant who did nothing wrong. My father didn’t care and made me continue killing human beings. I stood against him and he started abusing me. I’m lucky he never used me as a sex object, he did that to some of my half-siblings. My mother stood up for me and he killed her right in front of me. I don’t even remember her name because he never mentioned her again. But I knew his name was Dracula, It meant Son of The Dragon, I title he taught me to be proud of.
He punished me by pinning me against a wall and peeling my skin off piece by piece. I looked in the mirror and saw my skinless flesh. As I healed I had to kill more people and my father made me do it. After a few weeks, I ran away. I learned to shapeshift while away and I started to survive off the animals. But humans were still on the menu and I had to kill a few. I felt so guilty killing such helpless beings. Thankfully, I learned a few forms such as Bat, Wolf, Mist, and Dragon form. My Father moved on and enslaved more people. He studied sorcery and became one of the most deadly vampires in our realm. He enslaved mortals and treated them like livestock. He had many more children, one child named Alucard who was a hybrid. Since he was a hybrid he had an easier time coping with bloodlust and keeping from killing people. I felt jealous of him and hoped that after my father’s death, I would become Mortal.
Dracula led his wives and daughters to his death by Van Helsing. I was sad when I wasn’t cured of my power. I searched my dad’s entire castle but he had nothing to help me. So I became a politician and earned the title of Countess. I rose through the ranks until I was on the Vampire High Council. They were full vampires like me, they treated me with respect and understood what I had been through. They had me lead the Legion of Treasure, a legion that searched for artifacts in the realm of Gothjago. I heard of the Shrine of Paladin Solas which could make me human. Plus it could control the realm and the curse of the Island of Hope where it resided.
Sadly, it was controlled by Vampire Hunters and the island was cursed so my kind couldn’t traverse it during the day. But when a team of outsiders with elemental power escaped the army, I volunteered to lead an attack. I took two generals, Raovor and Dremlyn. While at the sea, I discovered a Vampire warlord named Demorlas was back in a new body. I appointed him as my third general. In our warship, we attacked the island. The islanders sunk us but most of my army survived and we raided the city of Malachi Cresent.
I walked through the streets of the city I had just ordered the attack on. I saw innocent people ripped to pieces in the street. It was the collateral damage of a raid, the one thing worse than the guilt of all the people I killed for sustenance. Dremlyn said, “I am sorry to inform you but we lost our third general. Demorkhan has been slain.”
I said, “Necessary sacrifice to take the largest village. We still have months to destroy the resistance and find the shrine.”
I looked at a curb to see a line of blood leading towards a building. With my enhanced senses I saw a really small trail leading into a pile of rubble. I used telekinesis to make the rocks fly apart and there was a wounded sexy man with a beneath it. He looked up and me and said, “Please!”
I said, “We’ve found someone. Who are you?”
“I’m Banje, don’t kill me.”
I stepped up to him and looked into his eyes, “I’ll take you in, just relax and let me make the decisions.”
Chapter 36: Saurav II
For days we protected our Twilight Fortress, there was no sun to keep track of the days but we had clocks that told us. We saw the vampires appear at multiple places around the city and fortress, for some reason they hadn’t organized the attack yet. I left Zoya to guard the tower and communicate with telepathy. We had a strong bond thanks to my power. We could hear each other’s thoughts for miles. Plus, she liked me, she wanted us to become a thing.
With Zoya’s Echolocation, we could pick off all the vampires that were alone. When in pairs they are a lot harder to take down. Zoya would show me her thoughts constantly as I hunted the vampires near the beach on the east side of the island. We were near the village so we had to keep them from reaching the city. With the soundwaves, I felt Zoya’s voice in my head telling me where they were and what they were doing. I kept Larry by my side as we fought them, on the beach. I distracted them with psionic blasts and Larry beheaded and stabbed the vampires. But I heard a voice in my head saying to run. We ran through a set of palm trees. Zoya saw vampires in the water right where we were and there were a bunch of them. We took cover and I knew they were surrounding us using fast forms.
The Vampires were being quiet and changing form which made the echolocation harder to pinpoint them. I pulled out my axe and said, “Give me all you’ve got.”
A vampire in phoenix form flew toward me and breathed a gust of fire. I felt fire burn my arms and fry my skin. Larry threw his butterfly sword and chopped the phoenix’s head off. It reformed as a beautiful woman and landed. I tried to behead her but she pulled out a red spear and protected herself. It was a fire elemental a vampire had assimilated. “I’m Féria, master of fire, I wield the Spear of Fire, the one spear that nobody knows true power.”
I swung my axe at her repeatedly but she defended herself by spinning the spear. Larry ran up to her with his butterfly sword and she spun around using a mystical art, Spinjitzu.
I saw Larry go flying towards me and I had to jump out of the way to avoid him. She ran up to Larry and touched him with her firepower. She started scorching his skin and I saw flames burn up his entire body. “Surrender master of the mind.”
I tried a psionic blast but she looked unaffected, She took the spear chopped three of Larry’s fingers off, and licked them for blood. I attacked her again and she spun around. I jumped on a tree to avoid her and grabbed my wounded teammate. I started limping away with him but then Cypher some of my guards started running up. I took my teammate away while they all fought the vampires.
Chapter 37: Alec II
We started camping out and constantly moving our camp. We occasionally came into contact with the vampires. Luckily, I recalled a skill I had trained in, Spinjitzu, the ability to tap into inner balance and become a tornado. I used it to outsmart and destroy several vampires but the others could hear me using the power. We had to pack up again and on average we had to move three times a day. The days were still very dark as we were at the beginning of a long season of darkness.
While we traveled, I sewed a brown ninja outfit. I still wielded two serrated cutlasses. When we lost the vampires we started going towards Zomo’s Dojo. Alecia said, “Here’s the plan, we’re going to launch a gorilla campaign. We know the island better than our enemy. We split up and pick off the vampires and we ally with Zomo’s guards”
“I’ll be our ambassador,” said Tino. I’ll talk to Zomo and will strategize for the upcoming attack. It’s been days, I think we’re lucky the vampires haven’t burned the dojo yet.”
“I’ll come with you,” said Niklaus. “With my power, I could be of use to his guards.”
Jyuri, Tanner, Alecia, and I left our little campsite and I set up my own in the swamp. I built a small hut and built a furnace for crafting weapons. I wore my ninja suit all the time because bugs were always trying to bite me. I started crafting Kunai from metal and I started hunting wildlife of the swamp. I walked through the marsh and I could feel the air getting colder. Without the rare dose of sunlight, it had gotten a lot cooler outside. The Season of Darkness was like a mix of Night and Winter, After several months, the waterways would start to freeze. But at this point, most creatures were still active and I was after a certain beast I wanted. It was called a Darkgnavin. It was an alligator-like creature that lurked in the shadows of the waters. It was only out at night because it was nocturnal. I saw it teleport through shadows and devour a large fish. Its body was slimy and snakelike as it passed through the water. It had black pigments all over its dark green body. I jumped on it and used Spinjitzu in the water. While looking through the vortex I stabbed the creature in the head.
I dragged it out of the water and sat by the fire as I cooked it.
Chapter 38: Niklaus IV
Tino and I went back to Zomo’s Dojo, I hadn’t seen the place in weeks. We walked up the door and two guards stood in front of us. One said, “Oh, it’s the vampire hunter and our former member.”
“We’re here to meet with Chief Zomo,” said Tino.
“Good, don’t make him mad Niklaus,” said the guard.
We approached the Dojo and Zomo was meditating. “He said, you’ve returned, right when an attack is inevitable.”
“We’re among the region waiting on the next attack. You need to fortify this dojo at all costs, it’s the most important building in this realm,” said Tino.
“You’re right, we have so many sacred texts that the vampires could reach the sacred shrine with what we’re hiding,” said Zomo.
“I thought you had no idea where it is,” said Tino.
“I don’t, but the clues we have could lead us to it. I’d rather it be lost forever than fall into undead hands,” said Zomo.
“What,” said Tino.
“If the Vampires find it the curse on this island will be lifted and they’ll be able to take over. We’ll have nowhere to hide when the sun comes up,” said Zomo.
“That would be horrible,” said Tino.
“Let me guard this dojo,” I said. “I volunteer to use all my magical abilities to defend this place, With my powers I can create an army of dark creatures and shield us from a barrage of power.”
“I’ll allow this,” said Zomo, and thank you for filling the region with your hunters, this monastery must not fall.”
I went into the library and looked through books. Perhaps something could lead to the Shrine of the Light Paladin. I looked through the restricted section too. There were powerful dark magic books including a spell book created by the great sorcerer Frasat the ninth from the Cloud Kingdom. It showed how to perform the most powerful spells that allowed the creation of powerful dark magic creatures such as an army of Shadow Golems. There was one other dark magical book called The Art of Soul Tampering. It claimed there was one magic artifact that could prevent someone’s body from being possessed by demonic forces. Unfortunately, it was the darkest, most foul, and evil act in existence. It was called a Horcrux, an artifact merged with the soul of a dark wizard. It would protect that fragment of one’s soul as an anchor to the living plain. With it, the rest of their soul would stay in the sixteen realms rather than passing on to the Departed or one of the other nether realms. It allowed warlocks to haunt tombs and create new bodies making it so they could not die.
To create such an evil thing, a person must split their soul by committing the most senseless act. Intentional, planned unjustified murder, mercy killings, revenge, self-defense, or warfare do not count. Then the user must use a dark magic charm on an artifact allowing it to hold a piece of their soul. Then they must perform the act of necrophilia on the corpse of their victim. I looked at the page and there was a spell at the bottom of the page listing the charm needed to use the spell. One sub-note said that such an evil spell would make a warlock unable to be possessed by vampires due to a connection to their body.
I took this book with me along with several others, In the dark magic section, I found a helmet called the Witchmend which was a source of dark magic power that laid dormant for years. It extended the range of dark powers to insane levels and allowed more spells to be cast and controlled at once. I reunited with the guards and stood at the monastery gates. I raised my staff and put the helmet on my head. I started chanting incantations and made rock golems come out of the ground. They were covered in the purple energy of dark magic. Some were humanoid and some were draconic.
Chapter 39: Banje V
I woke up in a really comfortable hammock. I opened my eyes and looked around. I wasn’t dressed, but I had a blanket over my body. It was still night time but the area I was in was beautiful, the fireflies were still out and light glistened off some of the trees and the ground. I looked to my right and saw a woman in bed with me, she had an oval face and some straight eyebrows. I knew her as Marya, I had seen her in a dream, and I had flashes of her all night. I felt better, the wound on my chest no longer hurt and I was as relaxed as possible. My eyes weren’t tired at all, it was like I was fully awake and rejuvenated.
I decided to get up and wake up this beautiful woman next to me. But I wondered, what was going on, the last I remembered was fighting legions of vampires in the volcano village. How did I get in this hammock with this woman? I looked at my body and tried to lift my legs. But nothing happened, they stayed locked in place and I didn’t feel anything. I tried to move the rest of my body but nothing happened. I could still move my eyes and close them, but the rest of me was stiff. After a few minutes, I started to feel stiff, and the more I moved the stiffer I got. It started to feel unpleasant so I just stopped and I felt more relaxed, but the stiffness was slightly worse. And I was stuck miserable for a while.
At one point the woman next to me woke up, She climbed on top of me and looked into my eyes. “How do you like my mind conditioning.”
“No matter what I do to you, you’ll stay stiff, I’ve disconnected your mind and body. But isn’t it nice, pure bliss and freedom from anxiety? Your muscles are no longer a worry for your mind, haha.”
I looked at her while locked in and looked around, I wondered how this woman could justify what she was doing.
“My name is Marya Zaleska, get used to this state you're in. Cause it’s how you're going to feel for a while.”
She laid on me and put the blanket over her body. I got laid and she took most of the pleasure, I felt a little bit but only what was too good for the hypnosis to cover up. When she was done, she got up and took the blanket with her. I saw the wound across my torso for the first time since I got up. She had put a bandage over it, but there was a tube sticking out of the bandage.
She said, “I’m going to miss this when I find the shrine. I love the way human minds can be warped. Good thing I won’t lose hypnosis, completely, It will just be a little harder.”
Chapter 40: Raovor
I flew towards the dojo from the island’s volcanic core. I had taken a Raven-humanoid demonic form. I was spying on the dojo from a distance. The guards were ready and there were more vampire hunters there than usual. I looked at the right side of the fortress and saw someone with a staff. He looked familiar, like someone I saw during the battle of Malachi Crescent. But then a stone hit me in the chest, I felt myself falling and the creature hit me. It had the skin of a boulder and the wings of a dragon. It slashed at my wings and I felt the flesh rip, even though this isn’t my true form, pain is always true.
We stayed in the air, the Golem Dragon kept going. I knew that no matter what I would win against this thing. It was nothing but a grunt with a meaningless existence. I could tell by the way it looked that it was a creation of magic, not an actual being. Creatures made of rock and stone are rarely natural. The only realm where creatures like that form naturally is the Realm of Madness. And that’s because it’s a realm out of balance where darkness is dominant. Because of that rock monsters have souls and reproduce. However, this monster that attacked me was nothing but a proxy under the control of some elemental master, warlock, or all of the above. I started kicking at it and I felt its legs crumple. The dragon grabbed me with one hand and pushed the other one into the left side of my chest. It tried to grab my organs so I knew I had to get away. I kicked off its chest and my chest was free. I saw it starting to heal and I was lucky it didn’t rip any organs out.
I felt myself hit a rock, but I stayed in one piece. I got up and started running. I saw the dragon flying in circles above me. I turned invisible and hid in the woods. I sat next to a tree because I knew it wouldn’t see me. I saw the beast land on the ground and rocks slowly came to where its legs had been. I saw new legs form replacing the ones I broke. I still had a scar on my chest, but I felt better. It started sniffing and listening. It ran towards me like it knew I was there. I made a summersault and turned visible again. I ran with super speed and jumped into its face with super strength. I felt the creature's head shatter and its body split in half. But then, I collapsed to the ground. My skull broke due to the impact and my head hurt. I lay down and looked into the beautiful night stars.
Chapter 41: Larry II
I woke up in the hospital wing of the Twilight Fortress. The doctors had put a cast on me and bandages where my three fingers were. I had lost three fingers to the vampire Féria. The burns were all severe, and most of them would take weeks to heal. I eventually recovered enough to read and do research. Thankfully, I didn’t have any injuries that made me blind. I could still see pretty decent.
I have been through a lot over the years. I grew up on this island, unlike most, my family had survived with few losses. I had never told everyone my secret though. My family knew of one of the secret underground tunnels on this island. It was the sinkhole north of Floweya. It led to a cavern which led to a series of more caves. My grandmother told me the caves are where the Shrine of Paladin Solas is. Zoya said it’s what the vampires are after. It is connected to the heart of this realm.
I started to hear gunshots while I was examining the maps. Someone was attacking this fortress. I reached for my lamp set where I kept a pistol with a bayonet lug next to me, It had explosive bullets. I put it under the bed and put my head under the covers. If a vampire came to finish me off, I could stab and blow their head off.
I heard the voice of Féria through the walls. “Feel the sizzle of your demise,” said Féria. I heard someone scream while she used fire to burn them alive.
I heard shotgun blasts fire and vampires getting beheaded by the other warriors on our side. Luckily, they stayed away from this room. The fighting died down and Saurav walked up to me. “Larry, we’ve won this battle, but they just keep coming, we need to find the shrine, it’s all they want,” said Saurav.
I said, “Well, I know an entrance into the underground tunnels of this island. When I’m better I can take you to it.”
Chapter 42: Dremlyn
I saw from a distance the warlock Niklaus had created a dragon golem. I took the form of a humanoid demon that resembled a cheetah. With it, I had a lot more speed. I ran through the woods looking for any rebels I could pick off. I encountered one monster hunter hiding in an Earthwork disguised as a Skullmite mound. I knew it was one of them because with my enhanced vision I didn’t see many Skullmites. Skullmites were a pretty common insect that builds mounds. They only come out at night so any mound without them has to be man-made. I pulled out a magic wand and used it to channel my telepathic abilities. I was good at telekinesis so this mound easily came apart. Beneath it, there were more canals leading in four directions. I started stomping so I could figure out where he was based on sound.
Nothing happened so I had to continue stomping and focus on the way the soundwaves came back to me. I stomped on one and started to feel something. I stepped toward it and started jumping on one spot. But then, a Spike flew out of the ground and hit me in the chest. I heard someone run up behind me and slash at my back with a queer sword that had two blades connected to a chainsaw. I drew a sword and started dueling him, he caught several swings and almost stabbed me. I realized I wasn’t going to win, so I ran away. I found my teammate Raovor retreating. I said, “There are vampire hunters all over this place. We need to organize a bigger attack right at the center. Burn down the dojo first and ask questions later.”
“The stone dragons are all over the sky, we’re better off fighting on the ground,” said Raovor.
“I’ve figured that out,” I said. “We’ll lead the army for an attack, but it’ll take a lot to break through an army of those things. And then there’s the vampire hunters hiding in this region.”
“It’s alright, my army will overwhelm them till they give up, breaching the capital is the only thing that matters,” said Raovor.
We headed back to the Volcano where our army was. I said, “Legion of Darkness, In four hours, we’ll attack the capital and remember it as the last day of hope.”
Chapter 43: Zomo II
I stood at the highest tower in my monastery, every time I saw a blur in the woods I’d read my army. Xavier stood among my guards and Niklaus was on the right side of my Dojo. In the night, I saw one hooded figure come towards us. The person took their hood off and I recognized her as Alecia. I let her in and she took a position in the battle where she would fight with an artillery cannon.
I saw one of my guards looking through a telescope into the woods. A bullet hit him and he fell off the wall and died. I took cover and watched from behind the wall as we were suddenly ambushed by a legion of the undead. There were about twenty vampires on both sides and they were breaking the door open at the same time. I saw Niklaus make golems out of rocks in the ground. They jumped over the dojo and attacked the vampires trying to break through the door. My guards started firing at them but they couldn’t even kill one. The vampires avoided every gunshot and arrow like they were nothing. But then, Alecia shot one of them with her cannon and blew it’s head off. I quickly drew my bow and arrow and shot it through the heart. It turned to dust and I jumped from the platform I was on. I landed on my feet and rolled. The impact hurt but I made it out uninjured. My guards wield pikes and guns. I saw a giant troll-like creature jump into the center of the dojo. It growled in my face and showed its bloody throat. It screamed and a sound wave hit me in the chest. I was sent backward and my ears were ringing. I covered my ears as another vampire screamed and one of my guards dropped dead. Xavier jumped on the troll-vampires head and started stroking at its neck. I picked up a spear and threw it into the monster’s heart. Xavier tore the head off and it exploded into ash, Xavier landed with a thud.
I got up and climbed the tower with him. I saw more of my men get outsmarted and killed. But then I heard a sizzling noise. I looked into the battlefield to see Alec doing Spinjitzu. He had become a black vortex that sizzled through the darkness throwing vampires around. Even their enhanced senses couldn’t out-duel them. The vampires were flying around and when the tornado died town Alec still wielded his two swords like they were a part of him. One vampire dived at him and got its head ripped off. I saw arrows from my men hit them and turn them to ash. I saw Niklaus’s stone dragons attacking the legion. The Vampires tried to work together to beat them but Niklaus had more than one dragon. One of the dark magic dragons shot a ball of darkness and burned a vampire's head off. Another dug its claws into its chest which finished it off. The Vampires took more demonic forms such as orcs and trolls, The strongest one used a hyper jump attack and shattered one dragon-golem. But Alecia shot the troll in the chest and blew a giant hole in it. It growled as another vampire hunter, Jyuri beheaded it with his heat-sword. More and more of the enemy fell apart and the survivors retreated.
but there were heavy casualties on my side too. I looked at my guards and many had either died or were injured. Thankfully, I only had a few sore muscles, and not even a drop of blood had fallen.
Chapter 44: Alecia III
“This is not the end of the battle,” shouted Jyuri from outside the wall. “This is just the first wave, there’s more of them coming.”
“Then so be it, make haste, we have no time so we must use every second to reload and improvise,” said Zomo.
I got out of my cannon and with some of the guards I went into the other rooms of the monastery to change my outfit and search for whatever artifacts I had been hiding. I had been a vampire hunter for years. I still had all kinds of weapons I rarely used. One weapon was the Medallion with a silver blade that retracts. With it, I could put it on my shirt and just touch it and the blade would impale vampires in the heart. Plus, I had a weaponized boomerang that was circular. I went to my bedroom and took out some of my greatest weapons. I had saved for a long time, this was the biggest battle I’d ever been in. It’s the last stand for my people so now was the right time to use it. I looked through my private safe that only I knew the number to. It was a difficult safe to get it. It’s designed so that only a certain lock combination can open it. However, the lock is very high quality and nearly impossible to rip off. Trying to break it off could break what’s inside it. Deep in the safe, I had hidden a powerful weapon that could only be used once. It was called a Soul Grenade, a Djinn Crystal connected to a device that releases Kethanol and ignites it to cause an explosion. When released it will suck anyone within a 100-foot radius into it. Demons are vulnerable to it as well as any life form except for a dark wizard who created a Horcrux. Horcrux makes its users invulnerable to all Djinn entrapments. The crystal contained a pocket dimension inside it, They were used for all kinds of swords and other entrapments such as amulets. Djinn had other devices to trap mortals but the crystals were the greatest. Some were an inhospitable void, some put those inside to sleep and some tortured those trapped inside.
I took this with me and started to change my outfit. I put my clothes away and found something else to change into. But I heard the door close and something locked. I dropped the outfit and looked at the door. I tried to turn the lock but someone had put a bar on the other side trapping me in this room. I picked up a screwdriver and tried to open the ventilation pipe so I could get out of there. But then someone scratched at the window, a man jumped in through it. I tried to scream but he ran up to me and put his hand on my mouth. He slammed me into the wall and started assaulting me, sexually. He threw me into the ground and punched my jaw. I looked at him and saw his face, It was the elemental master Niklaus. He kicked me across the floor and stomped on my head. I felt my head hurt and a headache started. I said, “What’s wrong with you?”
“Shame you’ll never know, we’ll never be reunited in the Departed Realm,” said Niklaus.
He took his staff and hit me in the head. I saw my life flash before my eyes. I remember growing up with such a legendary family and training in all the ways to hunt the demon-folk. I felt one last kick to my face and my mind shut down for good.
Chapter 45: Niklaus V
I looked at the body of the hero I had just killed. I had broken in while nobody was looking and made sure nobody would walk in on us. There was blood oozing from Alecia’s head and I had already bruised her lingerie-clad body. I took the Witchmend off my head and sat it on her bed. I chanted the dark magic charm to prepare the body for a fragment of my soul. I said, “Fortunious Immortius.”
The helmet’s magical signature was effected and it became an item worthy of a piece of my soul. I jumped on the body of Alecia and completed the dark magic ritual with the other evil act. I held my staff to the helmet and the fragment of my soul broke off into it. It felt like I was less than human, it wasn’t half my soul, souls don’t split by math, they’re a purely supernatural thing. I heard the helmet ringing in my ear because a piece of my soul inhabited it. I looked at my reflection in the helmet and my forehead was slightly more bony. This was a side-effect of committing such an evil use of dark magic. This piece of myself living in the helmet would keep me alive no matter what. If I died I’d come back as a ghost-like creature. Plus it would protect the helmet at all costs, manipulating people around it to kill each other, Possessing people who cherish it, creating ghostly forms of me, and if it’s destroyed the fragment of my soul will go out with a bang and torment or kill anyone around it.
I put it back on my head and I felt whole again, I don’t know if the power of the artifact will change but it’s still a cool helmet. I climbed back out the window and went back to my post. I looked at the crumbled Dragon Golem. I focused on the chunks of stone and made it come back together. I started to unearth more of the rock monsters the enemy had destroyed. I left them immobilized in the front of the monastery so they’d be menacing. I went to the west side of the monastery and made a bigger one that I kept curled up so the vampires wouldn’t see it yet. I made a giant 100-foot monster that was a humanoid stone creature but it could easily roll into a ball that’s a third of its height. I could tell that using this much rock was leaving big gaps in the ground, However, it’s possible we could use this for an advantage.
Chapter 46: Tanner II
I didn’t waste any time, I had to get something done no matter what. When you’re a warrior the important thing is to get attention and stay active. Even the minimum can boost the morale of the people. I had been on this island for a long time, long enough to call it home. I fled here two years ago and found sanctuary. I was born on the mainland and left for obvious reasons. It’s a much better life decision to be a vampire hunter than a banker. My father was a banker on the mainland, but I could tell by how he acted that was constantly hypnotized and manipulated by the vampires that rule the continent. I escaped on a ship full of Immigrants that came to this island.
The island of hope needed more people as we constantly got killed. Living on the mainland gives you a statistically higher chance of survival. But what’s the point of living if life is miserable and you’re a second-class life-form? Human beings are not the dominant race of this realm, on the mainland we’re little more than slaves and livestock. I’m not the living on the sidelines type, I’m a warrior.
I witnessed the end of the battle from a distance. I walked up to the Dojo to see the army refortifying for an upcoming attack. I stayed in the woods so I could use my methods of Gorilla warfare against the vampires. I had already scared off one of them, it could have been my red beard. And so the next attack began, I ran through woods and used my telescope when I could tell invisible vampires were putting a plan into action. They were using the trees as cover which made them harder to detect. I stayed low too so they wouldn’t see me, I had eaten some garlic so they’d keep away and had rested inside a big log. The flying vampire forces were on the right side of the woods and were approaching the Dojo Through the woods there was more of an army near me.
They were split into two groups approaching both sides of the Dojo, I could tell they were using a battle tactic called the false gap, to the right two segments would surround the right side of the dojo. However, there’s a gap between them that could be used against them. I could tell it was deliberately placed to manipulate Zomo’s army to attack it and waste effort there so the army in the sky could ambush them. I went after the two segments trying this with the attention of sabotaging the treacherous move. I barely kept quiet to keep them from following me. Thankfully, I was on my a-game and knew how to be silent.
I saw the battle begin, first, the army to the left attacked the dojo and was slowly overwhelmed forcing the armies to the right to join in as a reinforcement. I ran into the battle and threw a flat-hilted knife at the tactician. The vampires moved toward me to kill me and the two sides merged canceling the false gap. I defended myself with my double-bladed sword and used the twisted nature of it to confuse the two vampires who attacked me. I held myself off but knew they were out for blood. A stone dragon came crashing towards me and mauled a vampire ripping its head off. I stabbed it and felt the skin I had cut through exploding into ash.
I saw the vampire's plan devolve into a traditional ambush and the flying army attacked the side of the dojo. I saw golems come out of the ground and send the flying monsters hurling into the hole-filled ground. I was helped out by a barrage of arrows and catapulted stones as I dueled against multiple of them at once. I saw arrows hit two vampires in the heart and I spun around to decapitate them both. But the rest of the arrows missed the hearts so I still had a few undead to deal with. Luckily, another two giant stone monsters came to me and started fighting the remaining grunts. I ran towards the dojo and crawled through the earthworks where vampires had fallen. I disposed of them while they were down and the fight continued. But the enemy had one more attack up their sleeve.
I saw Marya and a few other guards surrounding her step up from out of the woods. The guards screamed and I covered my ears. It was the loudest one we had heard, vampires used it to pick off several of our own. All the armies turned as all attention was on the leader.
Chapter 47: Marya II
I had two banshee guards at my side, They had learned to shapeshift into louder banshee-like demons. Combined they could overwhelm and hear for miles, I watched with my senses as they brutally tore up the ears of the enemy. Three people dropped dead in the middle battlefield. Warriors on the wall held both hands on their ears and I saw gunshots hit them and they fell and died. One warrior with a flaming sword destroyed my warriors on the ground while he put some earmuffs on. I walked toward the battlefield, I was going to use my power to burn this entire dojo to the ground. I was one of the most powerful leaders in this army. And I had just fed on the blood of Banje my new servant so I was strong enough to take my most powerful form.
I shouted, “Warriors of Hope, surrender or I’ll annihilate all of you.”
“Ha ha,” shouted Niklaus. “We’ve made it further than you’d expect, your tactics have failed, and your army is split up. If you don’t retreat you’ll suffer heavier losses.”
I said, “You forgot about one thing.”
I started to shapeshift. I focused on my body and remembered the skill I’d been developing for years. My most brutish and biggest form, my most offensive and defensive form. I felt my legs grow to enormous sizes and so did my arms. My chest and torso turned into a bigger and more animal-like shape. I felt the muscles on my face stretch and my eyes became slightly weaker. I had taken my Dragon-Kaiju form. I had become 200 feet 200-foot-tall dragon with a wingspan of 200 feet on both sides. I breathed fire straight at the Dojo, I was now as big as the dojo and I had an army with me. Fires erupted and I kicked the wall of the Monastery. The whole thing fell over and people scurried out like ants.
I felt a cannonball hit me in the throat and fell, I got up and swiped toward the ground with my hand. The wing hit a guard and he went flying into the earthworks west of the monastery. My flying warriors flew into the monastery and we seized it. I stepped up in the night sky and breathed a jet of fire into the sky. I shouted, “I am Countess Marya Zaleska: Daughter of the Dragon.”
Chapter 48: Jyuri III
I stuck to the right wall of the monastery. The entire place was alight, Every piece of cloth was alight and the air felt like fire. I saw the front wall crumble into pieces, I saw one brave guard fire a cannon straight at the giant dragon. It was the largest dragon I had ever seen, but it was still just a dragon. It tumbled backwards but I knew it wouldn’t be down for long. I reunited with Tino toward the back of the monastery, “We’re falling,” I said.
“We have to get out of here,” said Tino.
I saw a giant dragon claw and wing swipe across the wall and Xavier, a guard on the left side was thrown hundreds of feet. Tino and I took cover as more flying vampires stormed the dark, flaming monastery. I drew my sword as we ran through a corridor. Five vampires in the form of bat-like demons flew in, I saw Niklaus at the end, he cast a spell that made them lose control of their wings and crash into the floor. We fled out the back of the monastery and we were overwhelmed by more of the demon-folk. Niklaus made his golems jump forward and fight them, I saw him chanting more dark magic curses as stone dragons rose. In the distance, I heard the giant dragon screaming, “I am Countess Marya Zaleska: Daughter of the Dragon.”
I saw a fire shoot into the sky and we could see better than we could before. Niklaus made the stone dragons attack the vampire dragon. But Marya was more powerful than them because she became her creature, Niklaus’s things were nothing but soulless golems. She swatted them and used her claws to crush one. But then, Niklaus made one humanoid golem ride on top of the dragon and jump onto Marya’s head. It punched her until she got weaker, she started falling and I knew she would have to abandon the dragon form. She threw the golem back at us and I saw it tumble through the dojo. I got out of the way but Tino wasn’t so lucky. It crushed him instantly. Niklaus made the creature get back up and sent it back into the battle. It turned out Tanner and many more warriors were holding off the flying monsters, I stepped up to the ruined monastery and saw Marya in human form in the distance. Zomo shouted, “Charge, we’ve won.”
Our surviving warriors attacked the remaining warriors, and the vampires started to retreat as we had shown them the true power of humanity. The next dark morning, we started taking all our stuff out of the decimated monastery. It turned out Xavier had survived as he landed in a soft earthwork. Somehow, he only broke a few bones and he helped clean up the mess. He looked through one room where he found something strange, walked up to all of us, and said, “This is insane, somebody raped and killed Alecia.”
Part 5: Into the Underground
Chapter 49: Raovor II
I retreated as I saw Marya fall. I flew with some of my other men and we retreated. We reunited in the town of Malachi Crescent. There were only 20 of our men left on the western front. Troops were fighting to the east but we couldn’t waste any more troops because they weren’t doing very well either. They had been tasked with searching for the shrine. Dremlyn and Marya were among the survivors. “We’re failing,” said Dremlyn. “We can’t call for backup and we can’t waste this season.”
“These people have grown up destroying our kind, numbers only increase the yield of failure,” said Marya.”
“I said, “So what’s the plan?”
“We’re going to merge with our eastern front to increase our numbers,” said Marya. “Since we’ve wasted a lot of our troops we’ll need more.”
“Then what?” I said.
“We’ll search for the entrances of the Underground. That is where the shrine is. That’s what our eastern troops have discovered.”
“Good, time to stop chasing monster hunters and start pulverizing this island,” I said.
Féria, one of the warriors of the eastern front stepped up to our island holding her spear. Marya said, “This woman has saved us a lot of trouble, she searched the east island and used sonar to find an entrance.”
“I escaped to this realm from Ninjago, and I stole this spear from a powerful samurai,” said Féria. “
No, you didn’t, the fire elemental whom you possessed did,” I said.
“Yeah right,” said Féria, “But I remember it and have become this woman, so what matters.”
“Haha,” I said.
In our meeting among generals, Marya said, “Féria, you’re promoted to general, I lost one of my own during the battle of Malachi Crescent.”
“Thanks, I will not fail you,” said Féria.
Chapter 50: Xavier
I had known Alecia for years I had worked for Zomo for three years as a guard. I had been born on this island but I stood out above my piers. It’s like the universe didn’t want me dead, I survived a blow that sent me flying into a mound of dirt. I was glad when I saw our team win the battle. But while cleaning up the mess, I found a door ripped to pieces and a semi-nude dead body on the floor. It was Alecia, Her face was smashed and bloody and she had blood running down her legs and chest.
This couldn’t have been one of the vampires, only a few of them entered here and she wasn’t in the battle. Plus Vampires wouldn’t have left this blood on the ground. It’s more likely that she was killed before the battle and someone covered it up thinking that nobody would have any suspicions. I went out and told everyone in the dojo what I had found. The place was mostly a wreck and everyone was busy. Zomo looked at me in shock, “I know my captain of the guard would never lie to me.”
“Her body has been in the same position for a long time and she wasn’t in this battle. Plus, vampires are a lot quicker, I can tell whoever did it was sad*stic and slow.”
“Then this is by far our greatest loss,” said Zomo. “But as a team, we will prosper and fight in her name!”
The warriors cheered at Zomo and he revealed the army had to scatter to start looking for the sacred shrine before the vampires did. Plus, with the wreckage, we need another place to hide until the dark season ends. While packing up his stuff I walked into Zoom’s bedroom. “She’s our friend we can’t right this off. The killer needs to have his head ripped off and put on a spike.”
“I know, but we’re in no position to use our time and resources on her, we can’t fight amongst ourselves while we’re clinging on for dear life.”
“Fine, I’ll do it myself, If I had to choose between justice and this island; I’d choose justice.
I walked out of the room mumbling, “I’m Detective Xavier.”
Chapter 51: Rohan IV
Cypher, Saurav, Zoya, Shiya, Cersei, and I had been fighting the undead for the last few weeks. We heard the city of Malachi Crescent had been taken over but Zomo’s Dojo still stood and the vampires were running out of firepower. To the eastern front, we had been in more of a stalemate. The Vampires had attacked the Twilight Fortress but we defended it. We managed to save our wounded teammate Larry from the attack. We chased the eastern vampire legion off but realized we had to leave it because it was attracting too much attention.
So we ended up defending the town of Floweya from wave after wave of vampires. We also found a tunnel that led underground thanks to Larry who was still wounded. I felt sorry for him, he had third-degree burns all over his body and had lost a finger to an elemental master of fire. I helped treat him with Shiya in the town of Floweya. The wind was chilly, so we stayed indoors most of the time. With the lack of sunlight nothing was heating the world, so it had gotten very cold. Saurav and Zoya were off scouting and Cersei and Cypher had entered the underground.
Larry took us to a secret Sinkhole in Floweya. It was inside a building covered by metal so nobody would have to worry about it or find it. We all jumped into it and found multiple tunnels with one leading further down and towards the east of the island and one leading towards the volcano. Cersei and Cypher had split up to explore it while the rest of us stayed at the surface. I ventured out of the city and left Shiya to heal Larry. I saw the people of Floweya freezing in the street.
Merchants were reusing to sell whatever blankets and matches they had left, money was worthless in such a hard time. Homes were decimated, and vampires kept coming and killing people one at a time. I saw one family begging a merchant for matches because their fire had been extinguished. I found some old dried-out wood from a palm tree that died. I gave it to them and used my shapeshifting powers to steal from the merchant. I set a fire as carefully as possible and the family was happy with me. I felt good, I had made life better for the most innocent of people.
Chapter 52: Cersei II
Cypher and I walked through the underground tunnels. We occasionally came across bugs that stood in our way. Cypher pulled out his flail and I pulled out my spear, We swatted them like they were no big deal. We came upon a split in the tunnel One led upward and one led downward. Cypher said, “I’d rather go upwards than downwards.”
I said, “No silly, the shrine is probably further down.”
“I guess we’re splitting up,” said Cypher.
I went down the darker tunnel while Cypher took the other one. After hiking what felt like a kilometer, I saw a circular door. It was closed and made of bronze. I figured out that you needed to guess the right combination of tiles to open it. I pressed these little slabs on the outside of the center and found the right one. When it opened, I saw that the pieces were in the same spot so I could close it again when I left.
I looked around and saw a temple on the other side. There were three tunnels leading out of it in three different directions. Unfortunately, this temple had no shrine so this can’t be the Shrine of Paladin Solas. I saw a demon come towards me, It was a bear-sized creature with bat wings. It curled up into a ball and rolled towards me. I pulled out my spear and started jumping around to evade it. I stood up and started swinging its bat wings. I defended myself with my spear. I clashed with the claws on the demon’s wings. I started climbing the walls to defend myself. I jumped up and I jumped onto its head. I killed it and we both fell. Thankfully the beast broke my fall and I got out unscathed. But then two more of these creatures appeared from the temple entrances. I pulled out my spear and got ready for more.
Chapter 53: Cypher II
I continued southeast, Eventually, I reached a dead end. It was an underwater cove right against the island's corner. I knew I’d have to go downward luckily, I could improvise and make a stone board to slide downward. I found an oval rock and started flattening it. I saw something on the wall. It was camouflaged, some small creature that was like a mix of gecko and candle. It had a body that looked like a candle with a flame that changed colors. It came out and attacked me. I fought the creature and swung at it, but it started shooting fire and flying around and disappearing before my eyes.
It held up an explosive liquid that sparkled. I saw a crack in the wall and looked in to see a room next to this cove full of the same chemical. It was all over the walls and sparkling rocks were there. I saw the candle creature run into the room and light one rock on fire. I grabbed my stone board and wobbled down a slope. It was miserable wobbly and half done. Every bump made me think I was going to die. I heard an explosion and water came in after me. I swerved around a bump and this hit something else and went falling forward. I hurdled several feet and hit a rock. My head hurt and I looked up to see a waterfall coming. I felt it hit me and I couldn’t breathe. The water tossed me around and the last thing I felt was my head hitting some rocks.
Chapter 54: Cersei III
I heard the water running as I fought the monsters. I climbed a pillar and a wave flooded the room and sent the demons tumbling. I was stuck hanging onto the pillar. I saw pillars in front of me and Most would crumble. I had to get to the temple’s door and close it so no more water could get in. I leaped and barely caught the first Pillar. I stood on the top and jumped onto the next. This time it was slippery and the whole thing moved. I only caught it with one hand and was left hanging by a thread with rushing water beneath me.
I hoisted my body forward and stood on the collapsing pillar. Which was a slope in the opposite direction as what I needed. I grabbed a rock on the wall and climbed to the door, I found the slabs with the puzzle to close it. I touched them in the opposite order as before and it started to close. I took my hand out of the way and saw the water slow down and eventually shut down. I saw the water leak out of this room and into a lake to one side and down one tunnel. The whole place was doused. I guess that Cypher fell for some boobytrap. If she did it then there’s no way she could have survived.
I looked around the temple, my way out was sealed off, and I was stuck down here. But I decided that I was not going to let myself die, I would be the one to find the Shrine of Paladin Solas.
Chapter 55: Zomo III
We had scattered and left our home dojo, I hadn’t have to leave it during the season of darkness in years. This time, we had chosen to enter some of the underground tunnels. They would be good places to hide and could lead us the the shrine the enemy seeks. Fortunately, we still had enough weapons and supplies to survive and beat the vampires if we came to a fight. We found an entrance in the swamp caves. It was long and deep way that ultimately lead us into a large cavern where we could rest. Some of us stayed on the surface. Xavier stayed on the surface because he knew one of us killed Alecia so he didn’t trust any of us. Niklaus and I spoke to the people. Niklaus said, “Who volunteers to go crawling into the unknown. There lies our destiny, There lies a chance for peace.”
By the end of the day, three people volunteered to travel with us and look through the underground. Tanner, Jyuri and Alec brought their weapons and a few changes of clothes. For the first time in a while I was a field agent. I brought two weapon of mine, A shotgun and a Double Bladed Axe. As we marched into the caverns I had to use the axe a few times to fight some of the monsters we encountered. Below the surface there were all kinds of gothic monsters. There were a type of gargoyle-frogs that had crusty skin that made them look like stone. Fortunately, it’s breakable so we could kill them. Alec used his spinjitzu power to cut one in half while the rest of us fought the other ones. We hiked through caverns with lakes and shrines. Sadly, all the shrines we came to had none of them were the fabled shrine we were after.
Chapter 56: Féria
At the Mountain of Malachai Crescent, we circled the volcano from above. Our sorcerers had discovered a tunnel through the Volcano that led deep into the island. I had experience with fire So I volunteered to lead this one. We flew into the volcanic tunnel and ran so far that we’d be all alright if it erupted. It took us downward into the mountain but split up as we went. Some of my men said we needed to split up to search multiple tunnels. But I refused to allow this, I made us stick together.
We continued exploring for a few days, we rested occasionally and fed on bottles of blood we had kept in our luggage. We eventually came to a large cavern. There were already five people in there, I had fifteen men and women by my side.
I said, “We could stop them now. Perhaps this cavern is essential to finding the shrine.”
“Good idea, I think we should take them down while we have the chance.”
“Who’s hungry,” said one of my guards.
I flew around the pillars in the cave, I came upon one of their men with a flaming sword. I started doing Spinjitzu and spun towards him. But then something else hit me. It was another warrior using Spinjitzu. And our tornados merged and we fought in the vortex. Energy sizzled around us and we dueled. He swung two swords around and I slammed my spear into his swords. The Vortex’s separated and I continued going through the motions stabbing at his twister. Our vortexes collided and energy came out. I hit his spinning tornado and with a flash of light, he went flying into a pillar. I stopped performing the art and stepped forward with my spear.
Chapter 57: Alec III
I looked at the firewoman with her spear. I said, “Enough spinjitzu, let's start dueling.”
I drew my swords and started clashing at her, she fought with her spear, We dueled through the cavern as the rest of us fought the vampires. Jyuri started throwing shurikens at the vampires. I saw them getting slashed in the neck and knocked down for moments so Zomo could run over and behead them. I saw Zomo behead three of the vampires. Tanner ran around fighting them two but he only beheaded one. I dueled the fire vampire running around a pillar. A vampire hit the pillar in the middle and it fell toward me, I used spinjitzu to get out but It fell and hit another pillar which fell over. Rocks started caving in around the entire room. The pillars fell like dominos and the whole place was going to collapse. I ran towards one of the exits but my teammates either couldn’t or were too busy fighting to survive. Niklaus shouted a light spell and created a luminescent golden fire filling the air.
The Entire room filled up and he created barriers that vampires couldn’t get past. This protected my teammates as we all ran out. Jyuri, Tanner, and Zomo ran out but the vampires surrounded Niklaus in the middle. We had to leave the place was collapsing, Jyuri was the first to leave the room, but then A rock fell on top of me, I jumped forward and barely escaped the boulder. We knew more of them were coming so we had to leave before the entranceways collapsed. I went through the entrance and stood at the game watching Tanner and Zomo follow. Zomo made it through, but then the boulder fell in front of the entrance and it crushed Tanner’s leg just as he made it through. I walked up to him and cut his leg off so we could drag him away, he screamed in pain and went into shock. Jyuri wrapped a bandage around his leg and we carried him out. Niklaus was a goner and our teammate was wounded. I feared this was the beginning of the end.
Chapter 58: Xavier II
I was back at the Dojo studying the crime scene. From the body, I knew that she was sexually assaulted both before and after she died. I looked for any fingerprints, DNA, or proof of how he must have killed her. I had concluded that he got in through the window and the door was locked from the outside as a plan to kill her. Then they opened the window and climbed in. Whoever did it knew what they were doing. The windows were cleaned.
I had to discover the motive, most of the men in the dojo aren’t capable of what this person did, and most wouldn’t want to kill this woman. This can’t be just a hedonistic murder out of a lack of care for our cause. This was specific, perhaps it was the work of a spy out to sabotage us. In the corner of the bed, I found a bloody print of a strange symbol. While the perpetrator raped her, some blood got on his outfit and he touched the bed leaving a print of it. I searched for information at the library, Whoever did it must have worn the symbol.
I thought linked the symbol to dark magic, so it must have been Niklaus. I couldn’t think of a reason why, perhaps the elemental masters are spies working for the vampires, or it could be a ritualistic killing I thought. I read everything relating to dark magic rituals. I found one book referencing the Horcrux. The page described necrophilia and the ritualistic murder required. Plus it said it affected the user’s appearance. At that, I remembered that Niklaus looked slightly different the last time I saw him the first time.
I had figured it out, Niklaus was Alecia’s killer and he had achieved Immortality. I had to discover his soul artifact and destroy it to avenge her.
Chapter 59: Jyuri IV
We walked back to the underground camp carrying Tanner who had fainted from a loss of blood. He had lost his leg when it was pinned beneath a boulder. We marched through the underground ruins and eventually found the cavern where our people were hiding. We saw that Xavier was with the people. Zomo said, “Team, we searched the ruins and found a room with clues to the shrine, unfortunately, we were ambushed and now the vampires have taken it. And Niklaus was left to die in a crumbling room.”
“Good,” shouted Xavier, “That otherworlder was behind the death of Alecia.”
“That warlock helped us,” said Zomo.
“He raped and killed her in a demonic ritual sacrifice to prolong his life. I’m glad it ended suddenly.”
“Your evidence,” said Zomo.
“I found library books connecting her murder to ritualistic killings and Niklaus’s appearance had changed in a method that confirmed he did it.”
I said, “Alecia was a great warrior and so was Niklaus, evil acts shouldn’t outdo what’s right. If the gods wished him dead then so be it. You can disgrace his memory but you cannot disgrace his deeds.”
We went with our people into the camp, I thought about Niklaus, I thought he was a hero. I looked up to him. But what if he committed an evil act and killed another hero for a dark magic ritual? But has he died in the wreck, he’s a warlock with all kinds of power.
Chapter 60: Cersei IV
I walked into one large room. I had been walking through tunnels for days, It was dark, but I had some good food to eat on the way, there was more demonic wildlife and some creatures living underground that somehow tasted decent. I slept next to Stones and walked most of the day. The large room was full of ash from dead vampires. Boulders were everywhere and the place and parts were collapsed. I walked through being careful not to start a collapse. I went to a shrine in the middle and read some symbols, there was ancient writing that I knew very little about translating. I saw a hand beneath a boulder, I pushed the boulder off and gently got it off of him. He was smashed but still in one piece. I recognized him as Niklaus, one of the Elemental Masters. I couldn’t bring him with me, but this place was a decent tomb.
I rested in this tomb for a while and discovered that of the shrines in the room many pieces had already been stolen. But I uncovered something important. The symbols claimed that the Shrine of Paladin Solas was not underground and that it was on the surface but you need certain runes from underground to access it. The vampires had already figured it out and taken most of the runes, time will tell if they figure out how to access it.
I started to piece together runes and search for a way out, unfortunately, they had all closed. I found when crack that I could use to bush a large boulder far enough to get in. I slipped all my notes from the runes through the crack and then climbed into it when I woke up the next morning. The tunnel split and one of them went up to the surface while one went further down. I decided to take the one leading down so I could look for more of the runes that may be needed to find the shrine. I went down pretty far, it started to get hot and there were some fire-earth creatures living below the island. I fought several fire-orcs and earth monkeys. Eventually, I found a monolith deep below. I stared at the runes and figured out that to find it you need the spear of Paladin Solas.
Even though it was burning hot, I noticed that the monolith had tiny ridges that slid in and out. I pressed them all at once and nothing happened. So I looked around and saw that one of the ridges needed to be pulled out for the monolith’s upper half to turn over. I pulled it out and carefully held the one on the other side in with my spear and used my hands to press the others. I pulled it at myself and sat it down. It was a double-bladed spear for ceremonial uses. I picked it up and started marching upwards. Eventually, I got out and took the other route. After a day, It took me to right underneath the eastern bay of the island. I found a cove next to the exit and set up a small camp.
Chapter 61: Shiya IV
, and the cove’s roof absorbed a thin layer of snow. land on the water by the getting, wehopingdown to near
The snow wouldn’t melt for a few months so from now on we’d have to be careful, tracks would make us easier to find. However the same is true for our enemies. I thought it might feel warmer in the cove so I walked into the cove, there was a cavern entrance near it, I saw a blanket on the ground and went downward, I saw Cersei sleeping on a few blankets. I went outside and waited for her to wake up. She stepped out of the cove and saw me, She said, “Shiya!”
She ran towards me and hugged me, “We’re close to winning, I have a double-bladed spear that will lead us to the Shrine of Paladin Solas.”
“Great, what happened to Cypher?”
“Dead!”
“How,”
“Flood from above where I was, the chance of survival is about as likely as the extinction of the vampire.”
“Shame,” I said.
We started on our trek into Floweya, Cersei showed me the double spear. I had a feeling that Floweya was on a collision course with the vampires.
Part 6: Decrypted
Chapter 62: Zoya V
I fought the remaining undead from the Twilight Fortress. I had the advantage of my powers, but the invisible monsters still snuck around. With my sonic powers, I heard tiny rustles in the grass and could detect where they were. I had some of my guards attack them. The monsters took off running and I heard screams through my earmuffs, Thankfully, All my guards survived. At the edge of Floweya, Saurav, the wounded Larry, Cersei, and Shiya stood guard. They had been back for a couple of weeks.
We had been preparing for a battle the last few weeks, the town of Floweya had become a town of snow. The polar winter had made it a chore to be outside, good thing I was wearing thick clothes of fur. The people here had survived many colder winters, but the attacks weren’t as frequent in some. We had awesome full-body coats that we could still run and be flexible in. It wouldn’t get much colder than below freezing So I guessed I could survive. I watched Saurav fight with his Axe against many vampires running toward the town invisible. I helped him out with sonar, while he used his mind-reading power to detect their thoughts while running. I saw his axe slash across their necks while they were still visible, their bodies turned visible as their heads fell off. Then they turned to dust by Larry’s pike.
In the last few weeks, the army of Marya Zaleska had figured out that they needed the Double Spear of Paladin Solas which Shiya had. The attacks became more frequent and we prepared for the ultimate battle against their army. We would defend the men and women of this city while our chief still rested in the underground. I had heard that Niklaus had died in the underground while nasty rumors about him spread. I Heard one invisible monster running near me, it sounded like it tried to escape after seeing the others getting clobbered. I jumped onto a hill and followed the noise in my white coat that made me blend in. The footprints in the snow of the woods gave away the invisible vampire which did everything possible to make minuscule footprints. But I did a good job with stealth too. I used a wave of sonar to behead this person instantly and stabbed them with a bayonet. I continued walking through the woods looking for them amongst the woods. I walked through the woods that led closer to the volcano of Malachi Cresent. I looked up at the mountainside with dread, it was the new headquarters for more of Maria’s forces, bats swarmed around and the city had disappeared, replaced with the fortress of evil.
Chapter 63: Saurav III
I followed Zoya into the woods. It was late in the cycle we had been following and she was scouting ahead to see when the undead would attack. I saw her staring at the volcano while examining tracks. They looked like cat tracks but Zoya stopped where they ended and meditated. Before I was anywhere near her, she said, “Hi Saurav, I see you made the right choice to follow me.”
While walking closer I said, “Do you think those tracks are from a normal animal or one of the vampires.”
“It’s a real family of Sniketons, a species of cats that prefer to live underground. With my powers, I can hear them bundling together to survive the cold. Thankfully they live underground, they’re way more fortunate than the rest of us.”
“So you wouldn’t mind living underground.”
“Not in this realm,” said Zoya. “How many people choose to live like that on the main continent and the rest of this world.”
“A handful, mostly on small islands and a few underground villages in the mainland. But the vampires take them down, you're better off in one of the villages they control. At least the vampires let some people live.”
“Then why do you fight against them.”
“Because survival isn’t living,” I said, “I want to live freely and support only my people, not filthy bloodsucking demons.”
“Then there’s more light in you than anything in this world,” said Zoya.
She stepped up to me and we kissed. We made out with the volcano above us. It was the brightest thing on the island. We danced around the trees and continued our search for the enemy.
Chapter 64: Marya III
My warriors had started to look through the runes, and we were preparing for our attack on the Town of Floweya. The warriors there had the Spear of Paladin Solas which we need to uncover the shrine. The Twilight Fortress would be a tough obstruction to beat. We were pretty low on men so we had to be careful. It had been a month since we entered the cavern and our attack had been going on for a month before that. We only had a month and a half at the most before we’d be forced to leave. I had to find the shrine or the enemy would find it the year of peace.
We had figured out that the shrine was in the swamp to the north of the island and we had laid out all the runes and artifacts we needed all we needed was the spear and then the world would be ours. The shrine was in a kind of inter-dimensional void in the swamp. In the snow, our troops were getting ready. We had many hypnotized human hostages working for us. They were carrying weapons and sharpening our tools. I saw one of my thralls accidentally cut one of my other thralls' hands off with a sword. I walked up to him and said, “You're worthless.”
I drained his blood and killed him instantly. I applied a bandage to the other and let him get back to work. In a camp around a fireplace, we scantily clad male and female thralls chopping firewood wearing nothing but loincloths and the women wore jewels over their nipples. They were so hypnotized they followed all orders and didn’t care that they were nearly naked around a fire next to the snow. We had them double as dancers, luckily, the wind wasn’t that bad, and the only part of them that too cold was their feet. One woman controlled by Dremlyn said, “My feet are turning blue please let me warm up. Dremlyn said, “Stop.”
He laid her body down and looked at her feet she lost feeling. “Fine,” said Dremlyn. “You have beautiful feet, I want your body intact. Relax.”
Her body went limp and she looked as comfortable as possible. He put her feet closest to the fireplace but then he started penetrating her. I saw my servant Banje picking up wood. I had control over his body to the point where it was like a robot. Raovor was next to me, he said, “Why haven’t you turned him yet, he has powers.”
“I like a little boy toy to play with. I walked up to Banje and said, “Enough labor, dance.”
I made him dance around the fireplace with one other thrall and ordered him to dance with the woman. I made them sensually dance and caress each other. Everyone around was entertained, and it was all from my post-hypnotic suggestions. He didn’t care when his loincloth fell off and he was next to the woman. The woman was under the control of Raovor, but she was hypnotized to be horny and offer herself easily.
Out of reflex and her hypnotic state she seductively continued the dance and they made love in the middle of it. “Funny isn’t it,” said Raovor. “How powerful the primal instinct of intimacy is how everyone falls.
We clinked our drinks and drank to the erotic dancing around the fireplace.
Chapter 65: Zoya VI
The attack was on the horizon, Saurav and I were sleeping together. It was very cold and the Twilight Fortress wasn’t the warmest place to stay. We had to sleep together, naked; to keep ourselves warm. We occasionally made love until early in the morning. We hated getting out of bed because it was cold outside of the covers. We got up and met with the rest of our army in a meeting. Shiya, Cersei, Rohan, Saurav, and I were among the Twilight Fortress members and we still had several soldiers each with swords, shotguns, spears, and all other weapons we could find.
More reinforcements came from Zomo’s group that had been living in the caves and underground sections of the island. Jyuri, Tanner, and Alec were among the reinforcements. Tanner now had an Aluminium prosthetic leg. It gave him the ability to walk and run if he was careful. Saurav said, “We have the last thing they need to find the shrine, the spear of Paladin Solas. If they get it, they’ll be able to free this island from the curse set by him. Then we’ll have to leave or die and the vampires will rule this realm forever. Thankfully, the long night is almost over, we’ve survived pretty long. If we win, we’ll show them that the human soul never falls.
We all took positions and stayed under the roof and loaded canons pointing outside of the fortress. We even had troops in the city led by Rohan and Alec that would be prepared for an attack from multiple angles. But the spear was in the Twilight Fortress so it’s where they would attack first off. The attack started rather slow the vampire army approaching from the west, But then we saw some of them coming out of the snowy forest to the southwest. They flew towards us in werebat form and we started shooting cannonballs. We blasted them out of the sky and are warriors ran up. They had earmuffs impeded In their helmets to prevent death by shrieking vampires. They ran through with super strength and dodged the first wave of cannonballs. They shapeshifted and flew into the fortress. I saw Tanner fight them with his dual sword, but he got overpowered by three of them at once. I shot sonar slashes through the air but they missed. An invisible vampire stabbed me through the chest from out of nowhere. Saurav through his axe and missed it. I fell to the ground with blood oozing out. The last thing I saw was Alec’s spinjitzu, but a vampire protected itself with super strength and pushed Alec spinning out of the window.
Chapter 66: Tanner III
I saw Zoya die from out of nowhere. The vampires kept disappearing at every attack I made. I had been learning the art of Spinjitzu from Alec and the others so I slashed and kicked at every vampire around me visible or invisible. I spun around and slashed with my double sword. I caught one blow of a Katana with my weapon and pushed upward before stabbing it and pushing the vampire into the blast of Shiya’s shotgun. Its head blew off and the body turned to dust. I continued spinning and saw Jyuri lose a parry to a vampire with a Katana. I spun toward him and beheaded the vampire with my double-bladed sword while spinning. I smelled something terrible, Garlic, it was Shiya’s attack against them.
The vampires started failing as they were affected by it, sadly several of them held their breath and flew out, but one thrust his sword at me, I flung the sword away and the vampire dropped it but leaped out the window taking me with him. It shattered and glass surrounded the two of us. He slammed me into the ground and I felt my bones snap as I had just fallen 10 feet. I saw orc-like vampires with charging with an army of Polarnines, Brutish wolf-like polar bears. Three of of them surrounded me following orders from vampire telepathy. I drew a shuriken out of my pocket and killed one of the polar nines. I threw one at the commander Dremlyn’s head and the creatures snapped out of their control. One jumped on him and One jumped on me. It slashed me across the eyes and I felt my right eye rip out of its socket. Then I saw a grenade land next to me from the west side. I closed my left eye and heard the explosion and that was the end.
Chapter 67: Alec IV
I used my Spinjitzu to attack several vampires, they stood sturdy and the usual enhanced speed while dueling in Spinjitzu form did little to help. They kept putting their swords in positions that harmed my weapon as it attacked them from the vortex of my spinner. A grenade has just killed one of my partners a boy named named Tanner. I fought one vampire that took the form of a giant cobra and defended myself as it struck. I saw my people falling out of the fortress and it motivated me to fight back. I continued fighting with the others and I saw more cannonballs blast at them. I frequently ran backward when I was attacked in groups. I took cover behind the fortress and let my people fight back. I saw ash and dust from slain vampires falling out the steps. But then a series of cannonballs hit The fortress. I climbed into the rubble and saw flying vampires attack Saurav and our entire force.
I ran in and started fighting with them. One vampire ran up with a steel whip that she telepathically controlled. It flailed around and in seconds she killed three guards, I used spinjitzu and attacked her I slashed as time stood still but the whip hit my blade and as I spun it hit my leg and sent me tumbling backward and spinning out. My vampire's boomerang barely missed my neck and I got up to defend myself. A brutish vampire attacked Shiya taking the form of a centaur with a giant sword with a curved end. She defended herself with the spear but one vampire through a shuriken at her. It hit her back and blood started squirting out. She screamed and I spun towards her and picked her up. She was next to me wounded as the vortex of energy spun around us. I continued spinning as I ran towards the east side of the fortress. A Bat dived towards me and I stopped spinning so I could attack it. I slashed at the bat as it waved its winged back and took human form. It was Féria the fire vampire. It pulled out a fire spear and we dueled. I grabbed the double-bladed spear of Paladin Solas and said, “You shall not have this.”
I defended myself and Shiya. All around me, I saw my fellow soldiers falling, I saw Cersei scream as a sword impaled her in the chest. I saw Rohan fighting the shapeshifting vampires taking the form of a humanoid dragon. He managed to destroy a few but we were still getting overwhelmed. Shiya made a thrust and a slash as I tried to defend myself. But then I felt a shuriken stick me in the side. I felt Féria’s spear slice across my arm and I dropped the spear, Féria took it and made a super leap into the air to leave the fortress. I pulled the shuriken out of myself and saw it was bleeding. Thankfully, I managed to defend myself as the survivors left leaving behind several of our deceased including Cersei. We made it into the woods and split up. “Today we have lost our greatest fortress and my greatest love,” said Saurav.
Chapter 68: Féria II
We leveled the Twilight Fortress leaving it burned to the ground. Even the basem*nt wasn’t standing. In the basem*nt, I found a guard in hiding, he was scared and frightened by us. He didn’t see me viewing him through the rubble because our eyesight was much better than his He tried to hide and escape but before he could notice I flew towards him and impaled him with my spear. I Bent my neck over so I could look at his face upside down. He died and I bit into his neck and drank some of his blood. But I kept his body intact so one of us could possess him.
I took the spear I had taken back to the pack, Dremlyn was still at the forefront of the attack. I showed him the spear and he said, “Fantastic, we’re one step closer to the end.”
I saw a hooded figure in the distance and still said, “let's get out of here, there could be more of them prepared to beat us. We can’t afford to lose any more troops.”
We started marching west, we knew that at the volcano we could perform the first step of the ritual. This would tell us the location of the next step which would lead us to a third step that would take us to a pocket dimension where the shrine lies. However, it can only be accessed during the season of darkness so we had a time limit. While walking, some of my men came back to me and said, “We lost two of our own, one tripped on a booby trap and was taken away. Then we found another one staked so it must have been a diversion.”
I drew my Spear of Fire and started looking around for any monster hunters in the tropical forest. I heard a slice of a sword and leaped toward the sound. By the time I got there, I found one of my own turned to ash. But the killer was nowhere to be seen, I thought it could be something other than human, something with power. But what could it be, an elemental master with teleportation, a dragon, an invisible man? I heard another sound and looked up to see another vampire's head fall off before it turned to ash. I leaped forward and felt the air move around me. The killer had run. I leaped into the air and saw the hooded figure I had seen before. I ran into it in mutant bat form but it got up and ran faster. We both ran at high speed so I knew that It must be of my kind. I swiped my foot at him and he tripped. I saw the face of Niklaus, the warlock I saw left for dead underground. He shot a shockwave of magic hit me so I ran back against an aura of light. He shot a beam of light at me so I flew back. But then I felt that I was weakened by too much radiation which heated my skin. I felt redness over my skin and I vomited into the grass. I ran back to my team and said, “Everyone, we have a newly turned vampire hunting us.”
Chapter 69: Niklaus VI
I felt a rock hit me from above and I was left outside of my own body. Unable to interact with the world unable to pass on to the Departed Realm, unable to see anything past that moment. I was less than a ghost, a spirit trapped in the third dimension. But I was more than dead. I saw my body crushed beneath boulders and smashed. Thankfully, a woman named Cersei took the boulder off me and I could watch my body reanimate. A vampire came to me when I practiced Dark Magic, I saw over weeks it unflattened itself and repaired my brain and body. However, my dark connections allowed me to confront his demon in spirit form. I saw the ugly demon for what it truly was, A disembodied face of red with an ugly spiked tongue. I fought it and shot a ray of light at it that scared it off. I possessed my body which it had repaired for me and got up. My senses were far better, I could hear just the slightest scurry of a crab insect. I got up and realized that I was now enhanced but now controlled by a vampire's body.
I started on my way out and had to kill and eat a few creatures for blood. I eventually got out of the abyss and realized that it was snowing, I laid low and realized that the cold no longer bothered me at all. I had cheated fate and was now more powerful. I eventually found out the Twilight Fortress was under attack but was too late to intervene. So I started picking off their warriors. I used magic to enchant a long vine to ensnare one of them. I made the plants take it to me and then I stabbed and beheaded it. Then one of the guards looked in one direction so I followed them to another side where I staked it through the heart and left a dent in the side of a tree. I left the stake there and ran. I saw them discuss the disappearances and then beheaded another one and ran off, I flew up and killed another one right in front of Féria before running. She chased me and I beat her with light. But then I knew they were after me so I ran further off and spied on them from a distance. The pack got back to Malachai Cresent and wasted no time performing the volcano ritual.
Chapter 70: Rohan V
We went back into the city weak and cold. Shiya and Alec were wounded, I was doing alright. I had learned to take the form of a draconic humanoid where I looked like a lizard with wings on my arms that I could fly with. Plus it made me stronger and tougher. Saurav said, “They have what they came for. We have to ambush them and find the shrine before they free this island from the curse of Paladin Solas.”
“Then we have no time to waste,” said Jyuri. “If we give up and rest in the city this island won’t be safe and the isle of hope will lose its hope. And Tanner, Zoya, and Cersei will have died for nothing.”
“You’re right,” said Saurav. “I’ll find hand to hand, fist to fist if I have to. Who here is still strong enough to head west instead of taking a break.”
I said, “I am.”
“And so am I,” said Jyuri.
“Good,” said Saurav. “To Zomo’s group, we go, then well intercept them.”
We started going west after a few hours we found Zomo in the caves, Of them several more guards volunteered to join us including Xavier. We set out to Malachai Cresent. We saw shadows in the night and got ready. I followed it and took my dragon form. I eventually saw a glimpse of its face. It was Niklaus. I said, “Niklaus, I know it’s not you.”
“You’re wrong, I can never die,” said Niklaus he jumped forward and respectfully bowed in front of me.
“I possessed the one that tried to possess me.”
I said, “I believe you, but Xaviers in the group, he’ll kill you.”
“I’m not joining your group, but I always help from the shadows,” said Niklaus.
Chapter 71: Zomo IV
I rode with Saurav’s group for the first time in years. He had always been my greatest accomplice in leading the Twilight Fortress. But for years we had been separate, he’d do his own thing at his fortress and I would stay to myself at my place which is now in ruins. Now we rode together on bikes and buggies carrying our supplies. We were trying to be stealthy as there were vampire scouts in the area. I saw one of my men stub his toe and scream, I said, “Hush, we don’t want to draw any attention.”
One invisible vampire ran past us, but I saw leaves move suspiciously so I blew its head off with a shotgun and let one of my men stab it. We approached Malachai Cresent. We saw an elder holding its hands up in the sky and I said, “We have to split up, we need to pick off more of them and travel to the peak and figure out where the Shrine is.”
“I’ll go after the information,” said Rohan. “Jyuri, are you with me?”
“Yep,” said Jyuri.
“I’ll support you,” said Saurav.
“Then I guess it’s the job of the rest of us to blow up that city,” said Zomo. “Honestly, I’d love to watch that city burn.”
“Then let’s put our plan into action,” said Saurav. “I will have revenge.”
We sneaked in through the sewers. There were two scouts in our way. Saurav used his mental powers to attack them and my men staked them. Saurav went north and we broke into a rundown building nobody was living in. I waved goodbye to Saurav and we went our separate ways.
Chapter 72: Banje VI
The time had gone by really quickly, I was completely under Marya’s control. I had thought that this could be fate worse than death. Constant abuse, rape, and no control over my own body. After all this time, they were ready for a ritual. Marya and many of the vampire leaders were on the mountain peak around the volcano. Marya was on top of me making my arms and legs wrap around her. This time I wasn’t immobilized but was controlled instead. I could feel everything as she made me penetrate her. One of the guards said, “Marya, the ritual’s almost ready.”
“Good,” said Marya. “Enough Banje immobilize.”
I felt my entire body go limp, she carefully got off me but kept my arms and legs in the position they were in. So I was left on the side of the volcano frozen, naked and helpless. And I would have to watch the ritual. Raovor had set tablets with runes all over the volcano and Dremlyn managed to hoover over the volcano. Féria twirled the spear of Paladin Solas and a blast of fire erupted out. Raovor survived by making it away although his body was scorched. A ring appeared in the flame, I saw rocks in the ocean in the ring. Marya said, “It’s south of here at the rocks.”
But then I saw a cannon blast hit the mountain peak, shrapnel flew onto some of the grunts. Then arrows started flying but I saw Raovor roll downhill out of self-defense. I saw one vampire pull out a stake and kill his kind. Heads started rolling as Jyuri a man with a flaming sword began killing them. The mysterious vampire shapeshifted and I saw that it was my Teammate Rohan in disguise. Saurav ran into the battle and shot a grapple into Dremyln’s chest. He pulled it forward and Jyuri chopped his head off and he turned to dust. I saw Marya escape and run. Saurav came to me in the battle and put his hand on my head. He used his powers over the mind to undo Marya’s Hypnotic powers. I wiggled my toes and looked up, I was able to move for the first time in at least a month.
I said, “Thanks, I got to get some clothes.”
I teleported through the battle with smoke and saw one vampire with beautiful, strong, and flexible armor. I used a sword to cut his head off then I took the armor off his body. His head tried to fly back onto his body, but I stabbed him in the heart. His body turned to dust but his clothes were still alright. I put it on hid behind a rock and went after another vampire to fight.
Chapter 73: Jyuri V
I continued fighting the vampires with my flaming sword, I took down more and more and it started to feel like the Spinjitzu training course. I went through the motions and as I attacked the last vampire I spun around and jumped. I sent it flying into the wall, and then I beheaded and stabbed it. We had crashed this ritual and now we knew where he had to go. I saw Raovor to the volcano’s north. I followed him myself. I said, “It’s a good day to die.”
He had scorch marks all over him both his body and his face. “You can’t stop me,” said Raovor. “I am invincible.”
He ran towards me with a sword and we started dueling, I used Spinjitzu with all intent for the first time and I instantly got into it. But he avoided the spin attack and I had to change to defense from a thrust of his sword. We dueled down the mountain. He made long downward jumps and I defended from them or got out of the way. I missed one attack and jumped toward him but he defended himself and I had to move my sword so that he wouldn’t stab me in midair. I tumbled but stuck the landing. While wobbling, he swung his sword upward and slashed across my chest. I thrust and he used a spin attack. I swung and he stabbed my foot. I tried to kick and got my arm around but he stomped on my leg and broke it. I threw a rock at his eyes and swung for his neck. I slashed it halfway but then my arm gave out. After a few seconds, he turned into smoke and flew away.
I got up and crawled into a hiding spot, a set of rocks that created a small room I could stay in and rest. My arms were tired and my leg was throbbing. Rohan came to me and said, “We won, this was a slaughter.”
I said, “I hope Zomo can destroy Raovor, we still have that general to worry about. He stomped me, literally.
Chapter 74: Xavier III
We were filling the sewers up with bombs, we were going to burn this whole city to the ground. I was with Zomo and a few other guards. We heard explosions in the mountain above, apparently Saurav’s forces were winning. We saw one vampire ahead in the sewer, I took a steel boomerang and beheaded him. Zomo shot an arrow at his heart and he turned to dust. We ran forward and put another explosive into the wall where he was. But then more vampires jumped into the sewer, from above. They landed in the water and took the form of 10-foot-tall crocodile demons with fists covered in claws. They started attacking us and I saw one looking like a falcon commanding them.
I started throwing boomerangs but they covered each other and outdid us. So we split up, I took a path leading out of the sewer. I was chased by one super fast vampire who galloped through the water in his ogre demon form. I saw bricks fly at me but got out of the way before it hit. I made it out into the city, I was surrounded by the undead as there were vampires everywhere. A took cover and tried to lay low. I saw Raovor in his falcon-like form standing on top of one of our buildings, holding Zomo. “This was the man who thought he owned this island. Any last words.”
“I’m a true chief, true chiefs die with their resistance.”
He pulled a grenade out of his pocket and pulled the pin. He gouged Raovor’s leg with one hand and stuck his hand with the grenade under Raovor’s chest. It exploded and they both fell off the roof. I ran through the streets and through a boomerang but a random vampire caught it and ambushed me. A guard ran up to Raovor and chopped one of his hands off as he was getting up. I gunshot hit the vampire in front of me and I ran towards Raovor. He ripped the head off the guard who wounded him but shrapnel had still filled his body. I ran up and beheaded him with my double-bladed axe and thrust a knife through his heart. I had just killed Raovor another of Marya’s generals. My guards fought around me, they fought with guns and swords, bullets flew and the vampires all fell. Shrieks of the vampire flooded the city and I stood at one place we couldn’t put a bomb over. I pulled the trigger and the whole city burst into flames. A few of my guards died but the vampires were decimated too. Of the ones that survived we ran through putting down the wounded undead.
I saw in the crater that was the sewers many of the demonic swamp monster form the vampires took. We walked through the ruins staking and beheading them like it was no big deal. However, Zomo was dead and only three of us were left. It was one of my friends a guard named Damong and a newbie named Irem. We saw the body of our leader Zomo. “I said, he went out with a bang. He’s the reason the three of us are still alive. He’s the hope this island was founded on.”
Chapter 75: Niklaus VII
I watched from the south side of the volcano as Marya and Féria traveled to the rocks on the south side of the island where they would finish the ritual. Rohan came to me and said, “We have to get there and sabotage the ritual.”
I said, “Let’s take anyone who’s still able with us.”
We found Banje putting down a few soldiers, and we walked up to him. Saurav was helping him destroy vampires. I used a spell to make a sword telekinetically fly into one’s heart and burn its head off with a fire spell. Saurav walked towards me and said, “Niklaus, you’re back!”
“There’s no time to apologize and explain, “If we don’t reach the side of the canyon now the world will fall to darkness.”
“You killed Alecia,” said Saurav.
“I’m sorry,” I said, “but if I hadn’t I’d be dead. Now let's make her death meaningful.”
“Marya is the most perverted demon queen in all of creation,” said Banje.
“Okay then it’s the four of us to the canyon right now,” said Saurav.
We started walking down the treacherous slopes of the island and hiked through the grassy spires. There were spires of stone sticking into the air which would make good places to hide during a shootout. There were a few trees as well and some vines wrapped around the spires. The land was full of more chasms and rocky passageways. I talked to Saurav, Please forgive me, “I know she was a good person and I promise I won’t do that to anyone else.”
“We can’t kill each other,” said Saurav. “Making yourself invincible doesn’t justify the rape and murder of a good person.”
“Well, I’ll surrender my Vampire powers at the shrine, with it I can have my body reverted to human.”
“That won’t lead to forgiveness, you have to redeem yourself to be forgiven,” said Saurav.
We started to approach the canyon and we could see the vampire woman with a set of runes on rocks and Marya was chanting magic incantations.
Chapter 76: Féria III
We had been researching all the tablets we found and realized this was what we needed to do. We carved runes into the rocks. Marya sat in the middle and meditated. The runes glowed and a portal opened above us. But then gunshots started flying towards us. Saurav, Banje, Rohan, and Niklaus ran towards us. I jumped into the portal and I felt myself stop moving, as we had gone into a pocket dimension It looked like we were surrounded by a funhouse of stones. The rocks had distorted reflections all around them. We were separate from each other and in a pocket-dimension maze. Perhaps this dimension is the heart of the island, the perfect place to hide a sacred shrine. But if we’re split up and the enemy made it in then they could be anywhere.
I was careful to keep track of the mirrors around me so nobody would manipulate them to sneak up on me. I eventually found Marya near the center of the maze. But then Saurav walked in with his axe and threw it at my neck. I felt my neck slice off, I tried to make my head fly back to my body and Marya fought Saurav. I managed to reattach my head I pulled out my spear and looked around the shining rocks. I ran towards a short mirror and shattered it seeing Banje behind it. I started dueling him with my spear as he fought with a sword. We eventually backed off. I heard Niklaus and Rohan nearby and I followed them I saw them next to a shrine with the bones of Paladin Solas encased in it, It was white and gold. I pulled out my spear and got into a duel with Niklaus.
Our weapons slashed around at high speed, Rohan pulled out a sword and we started a three-way duel. The rest of us got involved as well and bullets started flying, I drove Rohan and Niklaus away with a three-way duel. Marya walked up to the shrine and I used the distraction to buy them time. Our duel continued and Niklaus kept defending himself but I used the heat of my spear of fire to burn Niklaus’s staff in half. Then I used spinjitzu to send Rohan hurdling into a wall. I picked him up and used my teeth and barbed tongue to rip open his throat and drain blood from it.
“You’ve lost another one,” I said. I distracted Niklaus and used the mirror walls to my advantage to approach the shrine. Marya was at the shrine, I through boulders with super strength and shot flame blasts at Banje and Saurav. Marya fell to the ground she must have made a psychic connection to lift the curse. I walked up to her and said, “Have you succeeded, has the curse been broken.”
“Yes,” said Marya, “My curse is broken. Arrow.”
A crossbow arrow hit me in the heart, It was Banje’s. “Did you expect me to both, help our kind and become human,” said Marya. “Human side.”
I saw Banje punch Saurav in the face and stab him in the shoulder with an arrow. Marya pulled out a dagger and stabbed me in the neck and sliced my head off. I felt my body turn to dust as the arrow was still in my heart. I was disembodied and had fallen asleep.
Chapter 77: Saurav IV
I had an arrow in my shoulder it hurt like the Underworld. I looked at Banje’s face. He didn’t look any different but I knew why. It’s a post-hypnotic trigger used by Marya. I kicked him in the balls took my axe and slammed it into his shoulder. Then I walked forward and slashed across his back so hard he fell to the ground. I walked up to Marya and saw that her mouth had changed, she no longer had a barbed tongue. I said, “This was your plan, you just wanted to be human.”
“I’ve won, let me live,” said Marya.
I saw Banje slowly get up. “Idle,” said Marya.
Banje leaned against against a wall. “Here do whatever you want with the shrine,” said Marya, “I’m human that’s all I wanted.”
Niklaus walked up to me and said, “So this is what she wanted, I guess I can have it too.”
Niklaus sat in front of the shrine and let its energy bathe him. He got up and picked up his staff, he was slightly weaker but he was glad to be human again. He said, “Guys, you can go in peace, let me stay here and use the shrine to locate some of the realm passageways.”
We found many exits led back to the rocks on the beach. We were shocked it was this easy and found ourselves right where we were before. We walked back to Malachai Crescent to find that Xavier and some of the survivors had overtaken it. I stepped up and said, “We’re free and the Countess Marya Zaleska Is now human.”
The people cheered as the long night was almost over.
Chapter 78: Xavier IV
A couple of weeks after the battle, we started to repopulate the two villages and rebuild. Plus we started to take down the remaining vampires. Although we had lost many of our men, it would be a long time before we would get this big of an attack again.
Marya had gotten accustomed to her new life and she had seduced Banje to be her boyfriend. We eventually got to the sunrise. I was with Marya, Banje, and Saurav. On Malachai Cresent when the sun rose for the first time in months. I had survived the dark season more than once but they were always special. Marya was glad that she could enjoy the sun without getting aggravated by it and seeking shelter. I went back to the city and helped a few kids play Templegate Tigers. They were glad their parents were still alive and I told them the realm would change now that the shrine was in our control.
However, while walking back to my place as the sun began to set, I overheard Benje mention Niklaus as if he was still around. I followed them and heard Saurav say, “He’s found all the portals out of here, we could create an empire across the realms now and leave this ghastly place.”
I traveled to the place I heard about the shrine from and I entered the tomb through the inter-dimensional ritual I was told about. I walked around but Niklaus outsmarted me and through me off a platform and I hit my head on rocks. “I attacked him but he shot a spell at me and that made my skin burn, it felt like acid. As a few cuts on my body expanded and became blisters.”
Niklaus said, “You think you’re a hero, I am the real hero; I saved us all.”
“Heroes don’t kill good people,” I said.
“Well, what I did help the world more than you, I just had to tap into the darkness to save the light.”
“Surrender, or I’ll send you to another realm,” said Niklaus.
I bowed down and said, “Fine great sorcerer, I surrender.”
“Okay,” said Niklaus. “Find someone else to stalk.”
Chapter 79: Banje VII
Marya and I walked by the beach side during the sunset, it was our second day outside of the season of darkness. With more warmth the tropical paradise had become warmer and so had the wind. I asked, “So what other triggers have you put in my head, Please don’t use them on me, I don’t want to be controlled. It’s part of being human, you have to respect free will.”
“I have a few like one that will make you strip, freeze or attack there all separate so they can’t be removed all at once. Luckily, you’re not vulnerable as nobody else can trigger them, only my voice when I’m right in front of you allows them. But now that I’m human I don’t need them. I like you as your true self.”
She leaned in and kissed me, it was the first time she had touched me sensually with my consent. We walked to the sea of spires on the Southside of the island and made out on the rocks. As the night went on we made love on top of the rocks, It was the first time we had consensual sex. She was nice enough not to use any triggers on me and I left her breathless as her body reacted and felt differently experience sex for the first time as a human. But she was no virgin as she didn’t bleed. Whether she liked it, she was the same woman who lead the attack against us. I didn’t say anything we continued and slept on the rocks.
I saw her get up and she walked up to me from behind and whispered, “Here the wind and waves. Things change, I have finally changed for this is the rhythm of the ocean.”
“Rhythm is the primal instinct, all things work the same, what’s different now,” I said.
“We finally know what It means to be living,” said Marya.
I stepped to the rocks above a high drop onto spikes and giant rocks next to the ocean. She leaned on to my neck and rubbed her hand around my chest. I used my elbow to grab her neck and strangle her. I swung my whole body around and through her off the ridge. A Sharp spire impaled her in the chest and her body was left impaled on the rocks. I saw her eyes look at me one time before they stopped working. Marya the self-disgraced daughter of the dragon was no more.
