Revenge of the Sorcerer King 2-3

Hey Everyone! How's the week going for everyone so far? 

Chapter 3

Alessa

I poked a fang into one of my blood crystals. Pulling some of the liquid in, I satiated my thirst for a few hours. The crystals were useful, but fell short in comparison to fresh blood. I did feel slightly awkward doing them around my mother. I still wasn’t sure how I was supposed to act around her.

“Mother. What are you thinking about?” I asked her after at least three hours of silence since the bandit attack.

She gave me a smile. “That is rather complicated. Its not everyday that you get rescued by your daughter. For so long I could only pray that you were still alive, forced out in the worlds as you were. Now you’re here in front of me, but… Well, like I said its complicated.”

“You don’t like what I’ve become do you?” I said looking at the ground.

“I understand the circumstances behind it. Oberon filled me in while you were… drinking a little while ago. I can’t say I’m comfortable with it, but I promise I won’t hold it against you.”

I nodded though I was a bit sad to hear it, I knew this reaction was to be expected. In fact, most people would likely run screaming for the hills if they had a choice. Not only where there two vampires in this party but a lich of untold power and a wannabe necromancer. To normal people this would be the party of evil if there ever was one.

I gave her a tight smile then made my way back to one of the other carts. The woman that had been with my mother was about my age and we’d been hitting it off rather well. She didn’t seem to outright fear me.

“Jade.”

“Alessa. What do you need?” the girl asked when I appeared next to her.

“I just wanted some company.”

“Ah. Don’t worry. I spent a few weeks with your mother in that… place. She will be able to accept this if you give her some time and space.”

“I hope so,” I muttered then blinked as I looked to her. “Do you miss your family?”

She gave a tight laugh. “That is a bit complicated.”

“I’m hearing that word a lot today,” I said leaning back on the seat.

“Ha ha. My family wanted to use me, though I knew they loved me. How do you stay angry at people that you’ve known all you’re life trying to look out for you, while not thinking about you?”

“I guess it is complicated.” 

“Exactly.”

We chatted for a few hours. The journey was being made while heading straight for Haven. Oberon refused to stop at any of the towns or cities on the way. Luckily, we weren’t the only ones, so we weren’t stopped near cities. The one time we were stopped next to a town that appeared to have seen a few bandit raids, ended horribly. For the guards that was.

~~~

A few nights into the journey, Helena was helping me with unlocking my new vampire form. She possessed several and was trying to help me get the feel for it. I don’t know why but the idea of changing my body into something else just gave me a headache.

“Why are you having so much trouble with this? Your body has already changed once when you became a vampire!”

“I know but…” I grumbled under my breath.

“But what?” she said crossing her arms over her chest.

“I don’t know. I just feel like there is a wall pushing on my body when I try to change.”

“You’re going to be one of those…” Helena said putting a hand to her temple.

“Those?” I asked confused.

“The type that can’t do things until it becomes a life or death situation. There is always one every couple years.”

“Luckily me?” I said with a groan.

She snorted then walked off. I didn’t even attempt to follow her as she burst into shadow then some bats flew out of the trees. I sighed and hung my head.

“Rough night?” a voice sounded behind me. I jerked around to see Oberon leaning against the tree. Now that his body had a layer of skin, he could make facial expression. Right now, he was smirking at me.

“You could say that. I feel like I’m at a crossroads,” I said falling back to look up at the sky. The stars were particularly vibrant tonight. I couldn’t help but feel they were mocking me.

“Let me guess. Embrace the night or try to stay in the light with your mother?”

“Maybe… I know I would be dead if I hadn’t become a vampire, but I finally got my mother back. I feel like I’m about to lose her again.”

Oberon walked over and sat on a tree stump. I saw him look up at the night sky. We were doing the same thing, but I felt like he could see so much more than me.

“If you play your cards right you will live forever. Stuck eternally in time like a picture. Eternity gives you time to play out more than one life. If you want to stay in the light for now there is nothing wrong with that. You can take your mother and find a place to hide away from the world.”

I looked at him surprised. I never thought he would suggest something like this. I couldn’t even think of anything to say.

“Just remember, you will still have to run and hide even in the light. All thanks to that tattoo on your back. The same for your mother,” he finished then got up and walked away.

That’s right. I’d forgotten thanks to getting my mother back but there were people that needed to pay for making my entire bloodline suffer. I turned back to the night sky and starred as the thoughts rolled through my mind.

~~~

“Well this place looks a lot different,” Helena said as we made our way through the forest.

“That’s usually what happens when Range Guardians are killed,” Oberon said looking into the distance.

“What could kill a Range Guardian?” I asked. Range Guardians protected the forests from taint and other invaders. There were immensely powerful while in their domain. It took several hundred adventurers to take down one a few years back. It was almost easier just to build settlements while avoiding them completely.

“Another Range Guardian. I didn’t think he’d have access to the abilities he had while alive. Considering how deep he was underground, I estimate he was a guardian from several centuries if not longer. I actually feel bad about the Range Guardians now,” Oberon said almost muttering to himself.

“Him?” Helena asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Yes. I might have raised one while we were making our way through here. It looks like he’s doing well for himself.”

I looked to the forest around us. It was more of a hellish twisted version with black miasma coiling through the air. Strange plant life grew up and appeared to be strangling the trees and other foliage in the underbrush. We hadn’t seen a single creature since entering the strange place. I wasn’t sure I wanted to see what twisted things this place would conjure either.

The women in the carts started to cough or fall ill and Oberon called for a stop. He examined my mother since she was the most comfortable with him. After a few minutes he nodded and rummaged through the various items in the cart. He found a jewel or crystal and placed his hand on it as he chanted. After another ten or fifteen minutes, he finished as the jewel flashed.

Grabbing some leather strips, he made a rather poor choker and attached the jewel to it. When my mother wore it, she started to recover from the miasma sickness. Oberon looked at the women and men in the carts then started making more. A few hours later, he finished and everyone had a miasma cleanser.

We didn’t want to test the limits of the enscripted jewels, so we made haste out of the forest. Oberon looked like he wanted to look for the undead Range Guardian, but Helena and I overruled him. It wouldn’t be a joke if he was unable to control the thing and it ate everyone. He grumbled and groaned but finally nodded listening to reason.

~~~

Finally, after two weeks we made it to Guil. Or at least, the burned husk of the town. Undead wandered aimlessly in the streets and it looked like a large battle had been waged around several of the buildings. Oberon went in ahead of us and made sure all the undead were claimed as his. Apparently, he’d left a little present here when we’d stopped for the night.

“Did you do this at every place we stopped?” Helena asked peeking through a burned out window.

“I honestly didn’t think it would cause this. It was a single rat after all,” he said with a shrug.

“Knowing you, it was probably a level hundred rat or something,” I said shaking my head at the surroundings. It was just ridiculous that a single rat resulted in this.

“They win some they lose some,” he replied with a laugh. “Let’s hurry and get back to Haven.”