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Resurrection of a Hero

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Anne Lauten

Anne Lauten

Posts: 3,830 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
"How're you doing so far?" Laressa asked, as she sat down next to the mossy old well. On their third day into the quest, the Leath group had come upon the ruins of what centuries ago must have been a rich man's house, before the creeping wilderness had swallowed it. However, it was shelter, and provided the first bit of security they had had since they left. A well was nearby, and that was where Laressa was sitting, with her companion, Filiana.

"Alright," Filiana replied, although she didn't look alright at all, with dark circles on the normally flawless skin under her eyes. Her face was slightly shrunken, and her right hand had developed a faint tremor.

Laressa frowned. "Really. What's going on? There's obviously something wrong, but you won't tell me what it is."

Filiana sighed. "Fine. But first you have to promise that you won't tell anybody."

"I won't."

"Alright then. I need to go back to my childhood though, so I hope you don't mind long stories."

"I don't."

"Good. Well then, here we go. I was born into a vampire village. You see, the people were human, but those who ruled were vampire. The rulers would watch for 'perfect' people. Only the best people were made into vampires. They were all smart, good in battle, pretty or handsome, and just.

There were rules about making more vampires.

The first was that no weak people were turned, no person with a defect, in mind or body, were to be made into a ruler.

The second was that no vampire-rulers were to have children, or that no mother or pregnant woman were to be turned. Men were bound by the same rule: no fathers were made vampire. This was so that no parent, immortal though vampireness, would turn their imperfect children to save them from death.

08-Mar-2007 02:21:34

Anne Lauten

Anne Lauten

Posts: 3,830 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
The third rule was that no person below age forty was to be turned; the reasoning being that people only become set in their personality after that age, and that people who survived to that ago must have been able to keep themselves from harm.

The fourth was that, always, before a ruler made a new vampire, he or she would ask the other rulers. The person would not be turned unless they all agreed.

My mother broke all those rules.

You see, when she was made a vampire she had a child already: me. I was off on an adventure though, and the man travelling with me had come back to the village, saying I was dead. He did think I was, for with his own eyes he had seen me dead, my head severed by a scythe. However, that was but a image from the sorcerer I was fighting, who wished for my ally to desert me. I was alive and fighting still, and managed to defeat my opponent. I wondered where my friend was, and shed many tears, for I assumed he had perished.

When I got back my mother was a ruler, and I was so changed that no person knew me.

One leg had been severed during the fight, and the right half of my face shredded by a spell. I no longer looked human, and was surprised that my mother recognized me. I was dying by then, slowly of an infection. My mother knew that if she asked to turn me, she would be refused. I was the very image of imperfect.

So she didn't ask. I should have stopped her, said no to immortality, but I was too frightened of death. I let her do it. Through her magics, she was able to repair me, so I looked as I had when I departed for my adventure.

Everything was kept secret, and I arranged to leave the next night. Before I left though, I ran into a ruler, who recognized a fellow vampire. I was dragged to the other rulers.

They demanded to know who made me.

My mother stepped up.

08-Mar-2007 02:22:54

Anne Lauten

Anne Lauten

Posts: 3,830 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
After an all-night meeting, the rulers decided to pardon my mother. She was well liked by the townsfolk, and they might rebel if she was killed.

I however, was a different story.

I was imperfect, you see, for other vampires cannot see the magics that my mother cast, they see only a one-legged vampire with a torn face.

Added to being imperfect, I was too young (twenty-four), too strange-looking (remember that to them half of my face was shredded), and too bad in battle. Even though I'd killed that sorcerer, they still thought I wasn't good enough.

They decided that I would have to die.

The only way you can kill a vampire is by fire; swords wound them, but cannot kill. I was placed in a cell, with iron bars and only one small window high on the wall, tormenting me with the freedom that lay beyond it.

I don't know why I wasn't searched.

Perhaps nobody thought of it in time, perhaps they figured that I didn't have the skill to wield even the most simple of weapons. As I looked at that window, my hand brushed against Jasmang, my dagger. It could cut through anything, due to the enchantment to lay upon it. Passed down through the family, it was a dark-bladed weapon with a silver hilt, the inlaid rubies shining a dull crimson in the sliver of moonlight that escaped the window.

It took almost no time at all to cut through the bars.

It has been seven years since then, and I've been doing well. I was looking for another adventure, and found it in the shape of this expedition."

"But that still doesn't explain what's wrong."

"I was getting to that. You see, I AM a vampire. Vampires drink blood to stay alive, although they can survive on human food. However, human food tastes horrible to vampires. I've never tried to survive on it until now, which I now realize was a mistake. I nearly throw up every time I eat, which results in my not eating much."

Laressa looked unhappy for her friend's plight, but still asked, "You killed people?"

08-Mar-2007 02:24:25

Anne Lauten

Anne Lauten

Posts: 3,830 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
"No!" Filiana said, "I would never do that. I just drink a little bit from different people, then use magic to make them forget that anything ever happened."

"Oh, alright then. That doesn't hurt anybody does it?"

"No, not at all."

"Good." They sat in silence for a few minutes, before Laressa spoke again. "That still doesn't do anything for the present situation though, does it?"

"Hm."

Three more minutes passed. "You could drink from me." Laressa said suddenly.

"Are you sure about that?"

"Does it hurt?"

"No."

"Will it do any harm to me?"

"No. At most you'll feel slightly dizzy for a few seconds, and that's only if I miscalculate."

"Then I'm fine with it."

"Really?"

"Yup."

"Really really?"

"Yup."

"You're sure?"

"Yup."

"Really very sure?"

"Yup."

"Alright then."

"What do I do?"

"Just sit there."

"Okay." Laressa smiled. "My life is in your hands."

"Don't worry."

Filiana leaned over, and as gently as possible sank her fangs. A half-minute passed, and then she withdrew. "You okay?"

"Absolutely, completely, and totally fine."

"All right then. Let's go, the others'll be worrying."

The two women got up, brushed themselves off, and retraced their tracks back to camp.

08-Mar-2007 02:26:09

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