The Human From a Dungeon

Master General Kirain Yith

Adventurer Level: N/A

Unknown - Balushenian

"Wait... Are you saying you're going to drink my phylactery?" the skull asked incredulously.

"Obviously," I jeered at the defeated lich.

The phylactery in question was a completely enclosed glass vial. Without a cork or lid to grant access to its contents, I would have to find a way to break the glass without spilling the precious blood within. Breaking it in such a way that glass got into the blood would also be inconvenient. I spun the vial between my thumb and forefinger as I pondered the problem.

"I'd rather you didn't," said the lich.

"Your opinion is as noted as it is irrelevant."

"That's not just blood, vampire. It's blood that has been thrice cursed and forcefully imbued with dark magics that have been forgotten to time. There's no telling what will happen to you if you drink it. Best case scenario, you die and I'm stuck in here as a skull until I can find some way to regenerate."

"You believe that's the best case scenario?"

"Yes, I do. To give an example of the many potential worse case scenarios, you could become a flesh-eating mutant, doomed to mindlessly wander these halls until an adventurer puts you out of your misery."

"Why bother trying to talk me out of drinking this?" I asked. "It isn't as if it's your only phylactery. I can smell another one lurking around here somewhere."

"Oh," the talking skull said. "So that's why you haven't killed me."

"Yes. Now answer my question."

"I care because I do not know what will happen. I have a deep-seated hatred of surprises."

"Seems more like a fear."

The skull paused, considering its next words.

"The two are intrinsically linked."

"Regardless, this is what I came here to do," I said as I set the skull down on the throne and licked the end of the vial.

"Please, we can probably..."

The lich trailed off as it was drowned out by the shrill whine of my claw scoring the glass. Once I had completed the score, I gently squeezed the vial until I heard cracking noises. I repeated this process until the cracking had ceased, then I flicked the end of the vial, sending it flying and leaving me with a freshly opened phylactery.

"We can find another way to do whatever it is you're trying to do," the lich pleaded, panic edging into its voice. "You don't have to do this."

"Calm down," I replied with a smirk. "Everything will be fine.

"No, it won't. You're about to make a terrible..."

The skull's semi-ethereal voice seemed to fade away as the overbearing smell of magically-enriched blood made its way to my nostrils. The coppery smell that I was more familiar with had always been infatuating to a degree, but this was far more than that. It felt as if it were demanding that I drink it. My fangs involuntarily grew, forcing my mouth open.

In the back of my mind, I knew what was happening. The being in my dreams had told me of whispers and their effects. Despite this knowledge, my hand moved toward my mouth of its own volition and I lacked any desire to stop it.

A single drop of the blood touched my tongue, and shockwaves of pure pleasure spread throughout my body. It was like nothing I had ever felt before. Better than the most delicious dessert, better than a gentle massage after a long exercise, better even than making love. I shuddered in ecstasy before draining the phylactery in one gulp. For the briefest of moments, I had found bliss. Every ache and pain was gone, replaced by a kind and loving warmth that embraced every last corner of my body.

Then the pleasure turned to an equal and opposite measure of pain. It felt as if all of my muscles and tendons were trying to move in opposite directions, fighting each other in the process. My bones began to crack as if they were breaking, and I heard a scream as I was forced into doubling over. I briefly became aware of the fact that the screaming was coming from my own mouth before I fell to the ground. My head smashed against the smooth tiles, and I was suddenly free from the pain, floating in a void that was rapidly becoming familiar.

'Finally,' the raspy voice said. 'I was beginning to think that you had somehow missed what you needed to do.'

"Wha-" I ran out of breath and silently cursed myself for even trying at this point. 'What happened?'

'You drank the lich's phylactery, just as you were meant to. Now you will have power.'

'I remember pain. So much pain. Too much pain to survive.'

'I'm jealous. The ability to feel must be so wonderful and horrible. Interesting, to say the least.'

'But... Why did it hurt so much?'

'Power can only be gained through pain, either your own or someone else's. In this case, your pain was necessary. Your body is reconfiguring itself, which is exactly as pleasant as it sounds.'

'What is it reconfiguring into?'

'Is that a hint of vanity I hear in your voice?' it laughed. 'Are you worried for your physical appearance? No need. You will retain your appearance, though your musculature will be mildly larger than it was before. The reconfiguration mostly impacts your internal organs. And fangs, of course.'

'That doesn't answer my question.'

'It's less fun if I have to give you the answers to everything,' the being sighed. 'Fine, I will spoil the surprise. You are becoming a being that this world has not seen since before the cataclysm wars. A Master Vampire.'

Its answer left me speechless. It is common knowledge that vampires become more powerful as time passes, growing in strength, speed, magical prowess, and even intelligence. However, this growth is as dramatic as it is mysterious, and does not occur in brood or half-breeds. As such, I had dismissed the knowledge as quickly as I had been forced to learn it.

All of it came flooding back, though, as I struggled to cope with what I had just been told. Master Vampires are the penultimate form of vampire ascendancy. They are faster, stronger, and capable of much more devastating magical feats than any other vampire. Some vampires spend their entire unlives trying to discover how to become a master.

Unfortunately, no vampire wants another vampire to become a master. Masters can use their powers of suggestions on lesser vampires, forcing their intentions upon them as if they were mere fledglings or brood. As a result, all of the research into how to become a Master was as jealously guarded as it was fruitless. There's nothing more terrifying to a vampire than to have all of their plans and schemes laid low by a Master Vampire who has need of them.

Of course, these hypnotic powers have limits. I don't know specifically what those limits are, but there were at least ten masters in the ages before the cataclysm wars. Four of them fell to mortal armies, two of them fell to other Masters, and the rest fell to betrayal. This includes the founder of the Night Kingdom, who was usurped.

'A Master Vampire?' I finally asked. 'And what am I to do with this... gift?'

'Your only obligation to me is to do what comes natural to you. It will take you some time to get used to your new body, though, and bear in mind that consuming blood is no longer optional. You need less of it than a standard vampire does, but you will perish if you do not feed.'

'I don't suppose you can tell me where I can find blood?'

'It is within my capabilities, yes. There is a town relatively nearby, to the southeast of the entrance to the dungeon. There is a hidden tunnel that leads to an abandoned manor within the town. The locals believe this manor is haunted, and most avoid it if they can.'

'Won't a drow stand out in a dwarven town?'

'The town is racially mixed, but yes, a drow will stand out. That won't be a problem.'

'Why not?'

'I cannot say. I'm already toeing the line regarding what I can tell you.'

'I understand. I'll find the hidden tunnel. Can you tell me more about my abilities?'

'Not in detail. Suffice it to say that you're in for a surprise after your first meal.'

The entity began to laugh, and before I could ask it to clarify, my eyes snapped open. I took in a breath, and noticed smells that I hadn't noticed before. Even the smells that I had noticed before smelled more defined and pungent. My ears were ringing, and I tried to put my hand to my forehead to soothe the ache behind my eyes. Instinctively, my head tilted to the right as my right hand sailed past it and smashed into the floor, cracking the stone tiles.

I stared at the broken tiles in shock for a few moments before I realized the ringing in my ears had turned to buzzing. Buzzing that sounded suspiciously like someone attempting to communicate with me. I closed my eyes, shook my head, and swallowed to clear my ears of pressure.

"Do you still have your wits about you, vampire?" asked the lich. "Or have you been driven to madness by the potency of my blood?"

"Do not worry for me, lich. I am cognizant of my surroundings," I said with a grin that demonstrated my new fangs.

"Gods, your fangs! What in the hells happened to you?"

I licked my teeth, inadvertently shredding my tongue in the process. I quickly closed my mouth to hide this blunder. I pretended to clear my throat as I waited for my tongue to heal enough to reply.

"For centuries, perhaps millennia, vampires have been wishing to do what I've just done. Yet, for all their studies and efforts, a half-breed has accomplished it first," I said with a laugh. "I have ascended."

"Ascended? What do you..." the lich trailed off for a moment. "Oh, I see. You're a Master Vampire now."

"Correct. And now, I must seek a source of nutrition. Where is the secret tunnel to the city nearby?"

"I'm not helping you until you kill me."

I stared into the eyeless skull, and felt it staring back at me. We continued this contest of gazes in silence for a few moments before I sighed and shrugged.

"So be it, I'll find it myself," I said, rising from the ground to study the walls.

"You're going to leave me here, then?"

"What better place for you than your throne?"

"This isn't my throne."

"Then whose..." I trailed off as I found a disguised switch. "No, it doesn't matter. I have more important matters to attend to."

I pressed the switch and a door hidden within the wall silently slid open. I looked back toward the lich with a cruel grin.

"Farewell, lich. Fret not, I'll return soon."

"I hope not."

I laughed and entered the hidden passage. I found another switch inside which closed the hidden door behind me. This passage led to another room, filled with odds and ends that indicated that it was a mixture of an apothecary and library, both of which had seen extensive use fairly recently.

I explored this area, finding several rooms in various states of disrepair. I found a kitchen, a room with several destroyed beds, an armory full of rusty equipment, empty jail cells, a dining hall with rotted furniture, a surgical suite, and an abandoned altar to a long forgotten malignant entity.

Finally, I came across the tunnel that my own malignant entity had spoken of. As I traveled this tunnel, I realized that it opened up many possibilities for me. Instead of leaving the corpses where they lay, I could bring them back with me and create my own vampire horde. I could even purchase the manor at the end of this passage, becoming a well-respected member of the town. Before long, I could take control of the town and raise an actual army.

With this army, I could attack the Night Kingdom with no need of plots or secrecy. Then the vampires that manage to survive King Lofin's purge would be forced to bow to my will. I would be able to to expand our borders, using the drow as fodder for brood. It was with these pleasant thoughts in mind that I came to the end of the tunnel. I found another switch, opening another secret door and allowing me access to the manor.

It was decrepit. I had entered into the foyer, and great marble columns covered in mold and moss greeted me. The two larger columns held the ceiling, and four smaller ones held up the staircase, the center of which had collapsed. The giant windows surrounding the doors had all been broken and boarded up. The tile flooring was partly covered by a rug that must have cost a lifetime's worth of earnings, but was now as worthless as the detritus covering it.

Even through all the wear and tear of time I could see how splendid this place had once been. I found myself a little jealous, for my own manor could hardly compare. I wondered what had caused this town's populace to find it so loathsome, but my theorizing was interrupted by a very welcome scent. Prey.

I quickly and quietly tracked the scent, and found someone sleeping in what had been the dining room. An obviously homeless elf was resting on a table which had lost its legs. The smell of his day to day life was repugnant, but thankfully it was overwhelmed by the scent of his lifeblood.

Happy to find my first meal, and potentially my first lackey, I bit into him with such speed that he didn't even have time to wake before his blood was gushing into my waiting maw. I greedily gulped it down in record time, feeling the warmth flood through me. Even after his heart stopped, I drank until there was no blood remaining.

I dropped the elf and instinctively felt a change occur within me. My current physical form malleable. It can change, bend, morph into something else. Someone else, even. I can grow taller or shorter, fatter or thinner, darker or lighter. While the process of changing is magical, the change itself is physical in nature and cannot be detected via magical means. Shapeshifting, a skill that many of the fair folk use to wreak mischief and mayhem among mortals.

The knowledge of this ability and its endless possibilities swarmed my mind even as my newest victim looked up at me. His newly acquired fangs were on full show within a childish grin. I stood, and he moved into a kneeling position, still looking up at me with the same expression.

"Are you ready to serve me?" I asked.

"Yes... Master."