Vanthea: The Rise of Alduin

Sudden door knocks woke him up. They were softer and felt

way more serene than the way they used to knock on his cage

bars using their weapons a few days ago. He was sleeping in

a bed, an actual bed with sheets, a pillow and a blanket. Not

only that, he was now living in a fully furnished room! It had a

sofa, a table, a few chairs and even a few wine bottles for him

to drink to his heart’s content. Everything felt so different. The

Vaermiraiits were being so nice to him all of a sudden, they felt

more like servants rather than abductors. He was treated like

royalty. This made him realize just how much he was missing

the small luxuries of his nearly forgotten home. He couldn’t

even remember how much time had passed since then.

‘Lodus, are you awake? It’s time to begin your training,’ a

muffled voice said.

‘I am getting dressed, wait a bit,’ he answered.

He wore a simple outfit that they had laid down for him. Cotton

white shirt with long sleeves, black pants and black shoes.

‘Come in,’ he muttered

The Vaermiraiit that entered the room was a familiar face. It

was Zera. The vile creature who was making his life miserable

just a few days ago was now his personal servant. Quite ironic.

He gazed in the mirror and was still unable to comprehend the

drastic changes in his appearance.

‘Our clan leader is waiting for you in the great dining hall

to eat breakfast. Do you know his name yet?’

‘Fine. And no.’

‘You should know the name of your host. It’s common eti-

quette,’ she rolled her eyes.

‘What do you vampires even know about etiquette? All you

do is eat, rape, pillage and destroy everything around you, like

animals. You literally live in caves.’

‘We are just more connected to our wild side, that’s all. Soon

you will grow to like our culture.’

‘I hope not... I’m going to eat, bye,’ he said, ‘Fucking ass-

hole,’ he thought.

He arrived to the dining hall and saw a bunch of candles lit up by

very bizarre looking flames. The clan leader was waiting for him

on his throne, placed beside Alduin’s very own throne which was

even bigger. They were supposed to be sat down at the head of

the table, like nobles. The table was filled to the brim with what

seemed like food but without any clear sign regarding what kind

of food specifically.

‘Finally you’re up! I have been waiting for you!’ The clan

leader said.

‘I overslept. What is all this?’

‘Just my regular breakfast with a few adaptations from your

previous lifestyle. You see, instead of my regular morning snack

- roasted baby hands, we have beef steak and lamb ribs. I am sure it will be to your liking. Vampires don’t consume dairy

products or vegetables, only meat, so unfortunately that’s your

only choice of nutrition.’

‘Fine.’

‘Today will be your first day in training to become a satisfac-

tory Araqhaiit. It will begin with agility training and maybe if

you show good signs of improvement, flight training too.’

‘Uh-huh,’ he played with his food

He was reminded of his father scolding him for doing so and it

made him sulk.

‘After agility training Gozo will,’ Lysaner began saying but

was interrupted by Alduin.

‘Gozo? Fuck no,’ he said and clenched his fists.

‘Gozo will teach you the fundamentals of blood magic.’ He

said, ignoring Alduin’s interruption, ‘That is all. Now, I eat!’ A

bone cracking sound was heard, ‘This is delicious!’

Alduin stared at his empty goblet, trying to avoid the subject.

‘Can I have some wine?’ He asked

‘Here,’ Zera handed him a chalice and filled it up with wine.

‘If fruits are toxic to your bodies how come you’re able to

drink wine? It baffles me,’ he asked.

‘Great question. We actually have no idea,’ he laughed, ‘but

wine is very similar in taste and texture to a baby’s blood and so

it is the first beverage newly-turned Vaermiraiits drink before

they move on to actual blood. This is only the case for red wine

though, white wine is very toxic to us.’

‘Huh.’

Alduin finished eating his breakfast.

‘What now?’ He asked.

‘Head outside. One of my generals will conduct your agility

training.’

‘Okay.’

‘My name is Lysander, by the way. Lysander of Thebes.’

‘Okay,’ he said, ‘I don’t remember asking for your name you

asshole,’ he thought.

‘Goodluck,’ Lysander nodded.

He stepped out of the dining hall and then out of the under-

ground fort he now called home. A vampire in thick black armor

was waiting for him outside.

‘Good morning, Lodus! My name is Edward Vul. I am one of

Lysander’s generals and I will be overseeing your agility training

this fine day!’

‘You are awfully cheery.’

‘Well that’s quite rude to say, isn’t it?’

‘How should I know? You guys killed my parents way before

they had the chance to educate me,’ he rolled his eyes.

‘It is because I used to be a human knight before I was turned

by Gozo. Most of the others you’ve met were born as vampires.’

‘I hate him,’ he sulked.

‘I-I see... For what it’s worth I’m sorry this has happened to

you... I remember how I felt when I was in your place.’

‘Does it get better? Will it get better?’ He asked seeking

reassurance.

Edward looked down and sighed.

‘I wish it did, kid. I really do...’ He sighed again, looking

like Alduin’s situation actually saddened him, ‘Anyways, follow

me to the training grounds.’

Alduin nodded. After a few minutes they arrived to the training

grounds. It was a massive field, filled with weird mechanical

devices that were probably used for training evasion techniques.

There were wild beasts locked up in cages at the sides of the field

and in the center was an enormous weapon rack with a variety

of weapons such as spears, swords, bows, daggers et cetera.

‘This is going to be your second home until you finally ac-

quire the agility of an Araqhaiit. Your Elvish skills are not on

par with my own and that is unacceptable. We will begin with a

simple running test. Do you see this weapon rack? Run towards

it, touch it and then run back here. Do it as fast as you can! Ready? Set! Go!’

Alduin was surprised by the short notice of this exam but quickly

started sprinting forward. Reaching the weapons rack he im-

mediately turned and rushed back to Edward. It was probably

about two kilometers in each direction. The clan’s cave system

was enormous.

‘Five minutes and thirteen seconds... I can do this distance

in a minute if I wanted to and you should be able to do it even

faster! Your next exam will be to dodge all of my attacks for at

least a minute and we’ll keep trying it until you succeed. Ready?

Go!’

Edward took out his battleaxe and started swinging it at Alduin.

Despite its massive size he wielded it like it did not weigh more

than an apple. Alduin tried to dodge the hits but the third one

landed successfully. He was decapitated instantly. He screamed,

maybe he actually didn’t want to die yet?

‘Huh? What the fuck?! Wait, why am I not dead? And why

are you so tall suddenly? What the fuck is going on?!’ He was

panicking.

‘Weren’t you told that you are immortal? I’m taller because

right now you’re nothing but a talking head that is lying on the

ground. Regrow your body and let’s start again. Be quick with

it.’

‘Oh. How?’

‘What? Oh, hmm.. Okay, listen carefully. Natural regener-

ation is an instinct you have to train. So, just try to focus very

hard on regrowing limbs, I guess? I know it is confusing. It was

that way for me as well many years ago.’

‘Uh... Fine...’

Alduin closed his eyes and tried to think about the concept of

regrowing his body but it didn’t work. Then he tried a different

tactic, instead of imagining his body growing back together

he imagined each bodypart by itself in the correct order from

his head to his feet, in the highest detail he could. Suddenly,

he found himself staring at his feet. His body was now fully restored and the previous one disappeared.

‘Huh. But where did my body go?’ He asked.

‘I knew you had it in you! Well you didn’t actually regrow

anything, just called your body back to you and reattached it to

your head. Now, get up and let’s try this again,’ Edward smiled.

The process of getting beat up, torn apart and mutilated re-

peated itself for many long hours. Alduin could only survive

for two seconds at max which wasn’t enough. At least he was

getting the hang of his newly found regenerative ability.

‘You’ve improved but it’s not enough yet. Anyways, it’s time

for lunch. After lunch Gozo will instruct you about blood magic.

Stand up and let’s go.’

‘Finally,’ Alduin replied and got up.

Lunch consisted of, you guessed it, fresh human flesh fetched

straight from today’s hunt. There was a lot of variety regarding

ages, races, sexes et cetera. Alduin had never known that each

option tasted differently. At least there was the option of wine

to sate his thirst. Again, he picked the meat belonging to the

oldest-looking human he could find. After eating Alduin was

instructed to wait outside for Gozo to escort him to his next

training. His afternoon practice included unleashing his blood

magic for the first time. He was standing outside the fort near a

rock shaped like a tree, or rather was trying very hard to portray

a tree. There were a few benches alongside it forming the shape

of a circle and what seemed to be an extinguished bonfire in the

middle of them.

‘This is probably a portrayal of the mortal world... Looks

similar but not nearly as inviting as the actual thing. I miss it,’

he thought to himself.

Finally, he heard a voice calling his name from a distance.

‘Lodus! I’m here! Sorry to have kept you waiting for so long,

I was preoccupied with a bunch of human bandits trying to

investigate our cave. How was lunch?’ The Vaermiraiit said.

‘Fine,’ he clenched his fists in subtle rage.

‘Follow me to the training grounds. These ones are com-

pletely different from those you’ve been using in the morning

because they serve a very different purpose.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘The ones from before serve as a Colosseum and they’re usu-

ally used for duels and arena fights. The training area we are

heading to was built by the founder of this clan for the purpose

of practicing blood magic without the risk of endangering any-

thing. It’s isolated and protected by several magic barriers.’

‘Okay.’

‘Mhm,’ Gozo nodded, ‘Not that you asked but the bandits

were no fun. As soon as they noticed my glowing red eyes they

just started screaming and running towards the exit. They were

literally shitting and pissing their underpants. I didn’t enjoy

killing them at all so I just fed them to my hounds.’

‘Okay.’

‘Let’s go.’

Gozo started running in remarkable speed and signalled Alduin

to follow him. After a few minutes they arrived to their desti-

nation. It was a bizarre cave-looking room surrounded by four

octagonal seals glowing in the color of blue. The entrance to the

room was a rectangular seal.

‘No one can enter this room without uttering the chants

taught to us by its creator. The chant is ‘La Vaermiraiit, ant-yadin fennen u yul. Oniya saltu. Nor din pavette’!’ Gozo shouted.

The entrance seal diminished into thin air and Gozo started

walking toward it. Alduin came along. The room was enormous.

There were many pools of blood scattered across the floor and

he could see a few bones floating in them.

‘This place was built hundreds of years ago by our founder,

whom we call The One of Silver Blood. Because, well, his blood was silver. As simple as that. He was a higher Vaermiraiit and the

most powerful blood magic user in Euphata.’

‘What happened to him?’ Alduin asked.

‘He was murdered by one of our own. You are familiar with

him, our current clan leader.’

‘Lysander? How is he still alive then? How was he able to

kill him if he was that strong? Why do you let a traitor rule over

you? I am so confused.’

‘The culture of vampires is very similar to that of beasts.

When a beta kills the alpha they become the new alpha and we

simply don’t question it. If a member has a problem with the

change in command they simply must kill the new leader and

replace them. Such is our way.’

‘That’s barbaric.’

‘Maybe, but I am okay with it. Also, weren’t we interrupting

some arena fight between you and other elvish children? What

the hell was that about? Guess you are not that different as you

may think, huh?’

‘That is different, it is tradition! A battle between Snow Elves

at a young age for the chance of becoming a Hekket! How dare

you compare us to you filthy monsters?!’ He said angrily.

‘A Hekket? What is that? Also, don’t you see the irony in

what you are saying?’

‘It’s like a royal bodyguard. A part of a special unit of fighters

that protect nobles from extremely dangerous enemies. It is an

honour to become one!’

‘Well to me that just seems like your culture also appropri-

ates needless violence. And to answer your question, Lysander

won using an artifact he stole from The Order. Apparently it

was created for the purpose of destroying our kind so it’s quite

ironic that he chose to use it against his own leader’

‘The Order? The academy of magic? I didn’t know they

crafted weapons.’

‘Yes, exactly that! He infiltrated one of the temples that were

teaching curse magic and slaughtered everyone in it. He took

the plunder all to himself and used one of the cursed artifacts.

Now Lysander doesn’t even allow us to utter our founder’s name,

only to mention him by using his nickname.’

‘But this whole clan and cave system was created by him!’

‘Just accept it as we have. Names are meaningless and so are

memories. The ones who die, die. You don’t see wolves visiting

their parents’ graves, right? This is our culture. Now, please let’s

focus on the task at hand.’

‘I hate your culture.’

‘You need to grow up if you want to lead us,’ he rolled his

eyes.

Alduin scoffed in response. Gozo escorted him to the middle

of the room and then immediately began moving his fingers in

ways Alduin had never seen before. He knew that he was chant-

ing something but he had no idea what. Suddenly, the nearest

pool of blood started gushing out and blood began floating in

midair.

‘What I just did with my fingers is the hand-sign equivalent

of chanting ‘Oniya, ternas nir’, which tells blood to float in

the air. Blood magic uses your life force and blood as source

material. Bear in mind that this spell and telekinesis are very

alike. Meaning that if I lose focus on the spell the blood would

just fall back to the ground.’

‘How do I do it? Is it activated the way I activated my regen-

eration?’

‘Not quite. After chanting try to focus your mind and imag-

ine the blood floating up. That should be enough to make some-

thing happen. In hand-chanting each sign represents a different

rune in Omnitongue.’

‘So they are like written incantations.’

‘Yes.’

‘Okay.’

Alduin tried to recall the signs his instructor made and focus on

lifting the blood from the pool. He failed miserably in his first,

second and third attempts. In the fourth attempt the blood got

launched into the ceiling and then immediately fell back into

the pool.

‘I did it.’

‘Yes but honestly this wouldn’t be good enough for combat.

I’ll have you practice this until you can control it for more than

ten minutes at least. Then we’ll move to levitation. Keep prac-

ticing. I’ll be off hunting in the meantime and shall return to

check in on you in a few hours.’

‘Okay.’

‘Goodbye.’

He began practicing the new blood spell he learned but had been

failing for quite a while. After two hours he was able to lift the

blood but only for about a minute till it blasted off into the walls.

‘Where... Where is father’s advice when I need it?! I need

you!’ He sulked.

After yet another hour he was finally able to maintain the spell

for about four minutes. And then for eight minutes. Alduin was

growing exhausted from the mental penalties of using blood

magic but kept on going. After yet another two hours he was

able to maintain it for twelve minutes. Gozo was back from

hunting and asked him to demonstrate what he had gathered so

far. Fortunately, Alduin was trained to work under pressure so

being tested didn’t startle him. He lifted his fingers and formed

the signs. The blood began floating in the air and Gozo was

counting the seconds loudly. A minute passed and then three,

and then eight and then twelve...

‘Eight hundred and ninety-six, eight hundred and ninety-

seven, eight hundred and ninety-eight, eight hundred and ninety-

nine, nine hundred! Well done, Lodus! Now I can teach you

levitation!’

Even though Alduin’s face was neutral one could see his eyes lit

up just a tiny bit. Suddenly, he fell to the ground from exhaus-

tion.

‘You can rest for a few minutes and then we’ll continue.’

‘Mhm.’

‘Blood magic consumes your life force, meaning that its

usage tires you both mentally and physically. Overuse can either

make you fall asleep or turn you insane, whichever comes first

and is more logical in relation to the complexity of th-’

Alduin fell asleep and woke up three hours later.

‘You’re finally awake. Stand up. I want you to learn to levi-

tate before going to sleep today. You’ve slept for way too long.’

‘Okay.’

He stood in front of Alduin and then started moving his fingers

to form signs that were both similar and completely different

from the previous ones. When he made the last sign his body

started floating in the air and a crimson-red smoke was coming

from underneath his feet.

‘Did you focus on the signs I made? Try it out. This time I

won’t test you afterwards so just practice until you succeed and

then go to sleep. I have things to do now, farewell,’ he nodded

and left.

Alduin practiced the spell for hours on end. Each and every time

it failed with him getting launched into the ceiling or into one

of the walls, injuring him immensely.

‘Being able to heal myself so quickly sure is useful but I miss

my mother’s cooking... Was this transformation even worth

it? I could have joined them in Heonmeyu by now...’ Alduin

thought to himself and frowned for a few seconds.

His skills improved with time, allowing him to control his levita-

tion for ten minutes. This level satisfied him for now. He was set

on becoming way more powerful, powerful enough to avenge

his family one day. Despite the late hour he decided to stroll around the city. He practiced levitation from the cave-room to

the city’s main square. The square was very noisy, with dozens of

children loudly playing around the grand blood fountain. They

were teasing each other and splashing the blood all around. On

top of the fountain laid a big statue made of stone, depicting

the figure of Lysander holding a sword.

‘Fucking narcissist...’ He thought.

In between the childish mayhem he spotted a few young and old

couples sitting on benches, talking and flirting. Some of them

were eating skewers, or drinking wine. He also saw local street

artists playing music on drums and a wind instrument he had

never seen before. It was very long and red steam was coming

out of it. Some people were dancing to their tunes, though it

looked more like a pagan ceremony than a dance.

‘Hey, you!’ He heard a voice and looked for its source.

It came from a street-food vendor operating a stall next to the

fountain. Alduin pointed at himself, questioning whether he

was the intended recipient.

‘Yeah, you!’ The seller said and laughed, ‘why are you in such

shock? Come get yourself some delicious snacks!’ He smiled.

‘Okay,’ he said.

It reminded him a bit of the time he went out on ‘culinary ad-

ventures’ with his uncle.He approached the stall.

‘What do you have for sale?’ Alduin asked.

‘What are you craving?’ He asked back.

‘To go back home...’ He murmured.

‘What did you say? I couldn’t hear you.’

‘Oh, uh, nothing. Hmm... I don’t know to be honest, what

do you have?’

‘Marinated baby fingers, skewered human intestines, ‘Bala-

gas’...’

‘Balaga? What’s that?’ He asked.

‘Are you new here?’ The merchant wondered.

‘Yes.’

‘Oh, well, it is a local snack from our city! It is quite delicious

in fact! It is crispy baby liver coated with breadcrumbs and

cooked in a sauce of human breastmilk and wine. It has quite

the kick!’ The merchant smiled broadly.

Great uneasiness had engulfed Alduin’s mind. Why does that

‘snack’ fascinate him so? Had he finally lost his sense of mor-

tality? His ethics. He was incredibly curious to taste it that he

might end up enjoying it. He froze in place, stuck in thought.

‘Well?’ The merchant pushed him for a verdict.

‘I’ll... Fuck! I’ll have one please... How much does it cost?’

‘Fine choice! It’s jus-,’ the merchant stopped suddenly talk-

ing and froze in place, he was staring at Alduin but it felt like he

was looking through him, ‘General Edward, sir!’ The merchant

shouted and bowed.

Suddenly everyone in the streets stopped what they were doing.

People who were sitting stood up immediately.

‘General Edward!’ They shouted and bowed.

‘Hello,’ Edward responded, ‘Oh, Alduin, what are you doing

here?’ He asked

‘Hey. Uhm...’ He stared at the ground in shyness, ‘I was

walking around and this person suggested I try a local snack, so

I thought I should taste it...’

‘Which one?’

‘A Balaga, of course!’ The merchant said proudly with a

smile.

‘Ah, those are marvelous! Yeah, you should really try them.

Maybe it could also help you get used to your new diet,’ he said.

‘Yes...’ Alduin said, still insecure about having been caught

ordering such ‘food’.

‘Don’t worry about the price,’ Edward said and smiled, ‘Get

two of them for me and two for my friend here.’

‘Coming right up!’

‘Wait, why?’ Alduin said, confused.

‘Because I want to make your time here more ‘enjoyable’.’

‘Here you go!’ The merchant said and handed Edward four

skewered golden balls, they were steaming hot, ‘Wait for them

to cool off a bit for the best experience,’ he smiled.

‘Take these,’ Edward gave Alduin his pieces, ‘follow me,’ he

said.

‘Where to?’ Alduin asked.

‘General Edward!’ The merchant shouted again and bowed,

the people around them did the same.

‘Where to?’ Alduin asked.

‘I know a nice spot in the city.’

Alduin nodded and followed along. There was a huge ‘temple‘

carved in stone in front of the square, adorned with the symbols

of Vaonie all around. Edward led him toward it and then took

a sharp left, skipping it by a few ‘buildings’ (if you could even

call them that) and then took a shortcut through a dark alley to

the right. Every time they came across another vampire they

immediately bowed to Edward and did not move until he ‘let’

them by acknowledging their existence.

‘I did not know you were such a ‘big shot’ around here!’

Alduin was curious.

‘Vampire acknowledge strength, and I am considered the

best at what I do!’ He answered and laughed.

They went up two more flights of stairs, turned left, then left,

right, up, right. They kept walking until Edward suddenly stopped

in front of a platform guarded by banister. They were high

enough to see the entirety of the square, alongside all of its

wonder.

‘Here we are, take a seat,’ Edward smiled and pointed in the

direction of a bench that oversaw everything.

They sat down. Edward sighed. Alduin looked at him. Why did

he invite him here?

‘Look at the floor for a second. What do you see?’

‘Lines, a lot of lines that are carved on the stone. On top

of each group of five lines there is a diagonal one that crosses

them,’ Alduin answered.

‘Good. I made those, back when I had just turned. You

see, I was turned when I was about twenty years old. I made a

promise to avenge my family that was slain by these vampires,

but for that I knew I had to be stronger. So I vowed to keep

training and stay alive until that happens. Every line you see

here represents a whole week. I used to come here everyday to

think and reminisce about my past, it is very isolated but I loved

the view. It is really quiet here...’ Edward said, frowning ever so

slightly.

‘Did you end up doing it?’

‘Getting my revenge?’

‘No. As you can see there are a lot of lines here. At some

point I just kind of forgot all about it, you know? Moved on.’

‘Do you think they know you betrayed them like that?’

‘Excuse me?’

‘Your family was murdered and all you’ve done in return

is befriend the ones who did it to them! My father would have

probably disowned me for that,’ he said, irritated.

‘Would revenge bring them back?’ Edward asked, wearing

a serious face.

‘No, but...’

‘Exactly. I have a new life now, and I think my parents would

have wanted me to make the best I can out of it. Say I take

revenge, then what? I’m back to square one. No friends, no

family, nowhere to stay, nothing to eat. Plus I am not strong

enough to defeat Lysander so he might just kill me and then all

of those lines would have been for nothing.’

‘That just sounds like excuses to me,’ Alduin said rudely.

‘Maybe so!’ He laughed but it was prominent that it was

fake.

‘I’m sorry. I have offended you, despite you trying your best

to make me feel better about my situation.’

‘I know. It’s fine. You’ll grow out of it, believe me. You’re a

strong kid. Plus, you’re literally a god now! Maybe you might

just be able to get your revenge one day,’ he winked, ‘feel free to

make this place your own by the way. It helped me so it might

help you as well,’ he smiled.

‘Thank you.’

‘You’re welcome. Let’s eat.’

They tapped their Balagas as a toast and began eating. Edward

was visibly curious to see his reaction about the taste.

‘Wow, this is amazing!’ Alduin smiled and said with food

still in his mouth, ‘It’s crispy but also soft and juicy. And creamy

too!’

‘I know, right?’ Edward laughed.

Alduin’s smile suddenly dropped. Edward immediately picked

up on the reason why.

‘It will be okay, kid. The sooner you get used to your new

life, the less this would trouble you. It is an acquired taste...’ He

patted him on the back.

‘You’re just in denial... You are eating your own people! How

can you do that while keeping on that smile? It is sick.’

‘You get used to it,’ he sighed.

Alduin sighed again. They both ate their second Balaga and then

gazed at the view.

‘Was it difficult? Getting used to being a vampire? To killing

humans like one would do cattle?’ Alduin turned his head toward

Edward and asked.

‘Yes, very,’ he sighed, ‘as I’ve told you before, the one who

turned me was Gozo. And just like in your case, he and his horde

had come during a big event of my people. It was my sister’s

wedding, in fact. I heard people from my village call it the ‘Red

Wedding’ nowadays...’

Alduin frowned.

‘Can you tell me about your past life?’ Alduin asked.

‘Oh, um, okay.’

Edward began telling the tale of his life as a human, as a knight,

as a lover, a son and a brother. His story was cut short though by

a sudden feeling of ‘pressure‘ on his shoulder. He looked to the

left, Alduin had fallen asleep resting his head on his shoulder. He

sighed and decided to let it happen. After an hour it was time for

him to leave so he teleported home, though not before patting

Alduin on the head a few times. He teleported away, waking up

Alduin by his sudden absence. Though initially surprised he had

figured out what happened and regained his focus. He slowly

rubbed his eyes and stretched, slowly recalling where he was.

‘Time to go back, I guess,’ he said to himself and practiced

his levitation toward the main square.

When he finally reached it he decided to have one final look

around, trying to find something new to discover. He gazed

upon the temple. Its giant wooden doors were fully open, invit-

ing folk to pray. A wisp of orange smoke came out of it.

‘Let’s see what’s inside,’ he said and stepped in.

The temple was huge, like an incredibly long hallway full of won-

der. He expected there to be benches or bookshelves of material

to read or pray from, but it had none of that. The floor was

covered entirely by semi-squashed red grapes. The walls were

covered by handprints in varying shades of red and orange and

candles. Orange smoke covered a major part of the room. There

was a strong stench of iron and decay contrasted by the subtle

sweetness of the burning beeswax candles, a revolting harmony

between fire and blood.

‘What are those for?’ He wondered.

He witnessed naked vampires crawling around in circles, each

adult held a decapitated human baby in their right hand and

waved it around above their head, making its blood splatter.

Their faces were set on the floor as they were murmuring or

whispering something ominous which he could not compre-

hend. The ones with children had them copy their movements

and join their circle, with lit candles in their right hand. Every

couple of meters there stood an altar, filled with lit candles.

‘W-What is all this?’ He was shocked, his eyes wide open.

He saw a man and a woman holding two crying babies and

stepping toward a small part in the wall that hadn’t been painted

yet. The babies were treated drastically differently from each

other. The woman held the baby delicately with care, caressing

their hair and trying to calm them down. The man held the other

crying baby from its leg with one hand and with the other hand

he held a knife. Then, the pair stopped in-place. The man held

his knife high in the air, murmured something and then slashed

the baby he was holding diagonally in the torso. Blood was

oozing out until the baby’s cries faded into shivering quietness.

The woman hugged her baby excitedly and then took it closer to

the dead one’s wound.

‘Barbaric... Who could do such a thing to a baby?!’ He

thought and cracked his teeth in discomfort.

‘Touch it,’ she said and smiled.

The man grabbed the baby’s hand and made it touch the blood.

Then, the woman brought it closer to the wall. The curious baby

gave in to its urge to touch the wall, adding a new handprint to

it. The couple let the baby take a sip from a glass of wine that

was sitting on top of one of the altars.

‘Oh, so that’s what those were...’ Alduin thought.

He looked at the baby’s face and realized its eyes were glowing.

‘A new-born huh?’ He said.

He turned away and kept walking forward toward the main altar

that was in the middle of the temple, ignoring the vampires that

were crawling on the floor. It took him about five minutes to

reach it, mainly because he kept stopping to observe curious

decorations or ceremonies that had taken place inside. The main

altar was a big pillar made of stone, engulfed by lit candles. On

top of it was resting a big silver chalice filled to the brim with

crimson liquid. The pillar was attached to a gigantic statue

shaped like the symbol of Vaonie. Six names were carved into

the statue in seemingly random positions. ‘Fema’, ‘Pholexu’,

‘Kans’, ‘Anor’, ‘Ophiin’ and ‘Lodus’.

‘The Araqhaiits,’ he said.

Two women approached the altar, each holding a glass cup and

pouring it into the chalice.

‘What is inside of the cups?’ He asked them.

‘What do you mean? It’s red wine obviously...’ The woman

on the left said obnoxiously, rolled her eyes and turned back to

her friend.

They bowed in front of the altar and left. He decided to leave

as well, it was all too much for him. He exited the temple and

looked to his left. He gazed upon a couple of taverns, their names

increasingly weirder. ‘Blood-red’, ‘Taste the Iron’, ‘The Dazed

Human’ and so forth. They too were carved in stone, out of the

same massive rock that contained the temple.

‘I’ll check those out later,’ he thought.

He turned his head to the right saw an inn named ‘Deathless

Moonlight’.

‘I wonder who sleeps there... Are there any poor vampires?

What even is their money?’ He asked himself.

Next to the inn he saw a gigantic post to which were attached

road-signs, all made of rock and stone. The road sign pointing

to the main square said ‘Center’, the one pointing forward said

‘Strong Zone’ and the one pointing to the right said ‘Mediocre

Zone’. There were two road-signs that pointed in the direction

of the temple, one said ‘Temple’ and the latter said ‘Weak Zone’.

‘Well this confirms what they told me, that a person’s po-

sition in the social hierarchy is all about their strength... If I

compare this to mortal cities, then these ‘Zones’ are probably

districts, meaning that the strong vampires are only allowed to

live there, and the weak ones can only live all the way up there.

Interesting,’ he thought, ‘so maybe ‘poor’ vampires are just weak

vampires?’.

He decided it was finally time to head back to his dorm and

sleep. A day just as tough as this one had been waiting for him

tomorrow.

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Author's note - I hope to get reviews and feedback. Thank you :)