Vanthea: The Rise of Alduin

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‘WHAT?! That is not a subject to jest about, you Dunbar!

You broke our deal!’ A man said shakingly while tears began

dropping from his eyes.

‘Just who do you think you’re talking to?! Don’t you dare

take that tone with me! Plus, there was nothing I could do about

it. My soldiers had already killed them way before I could even

prevent it! That is the truth!’ The lord said.

‘You... You promised me that you would let them live! You

piece of shit. I lost everyone I cared about because of you! Everyone!’

He yelled out.

‘In Vaonie’s name, if you continue talking to me like that

I’ll reunite you with your family! Even as a vampire you are no

match for me. I am your lord. Know your place!’

‘You fucking... Pfft... Fine. Fine. May I be excused?’ The

man grinded his teeth and clenched his fists firmly in anger.

‘Yes, get out of here. Also, you are officially relieved of your

current position and taken down a rank, that should surely teach

you the lesson that I, am the boss. Got it?’

‘Yes,my lord,’ he said while growling.

‘Dismissed!’ The lord waved for the man to leave with the

palm of his hand, the way one would shoo away a mosquito.

The man rushed out of the throne room with a terrifying glare

in his face.

‘And shut the door behind you! Vaonie preserve us, he had

already left. Imbeciles, every last one of my subjects is a goddamn

imbecile. You,’ he pointed at one of the royal guards, ‘yes

you, close the door. Now!’

The guard let out a beastly growl of submission and did as instructed

by his master. The man rushed to the office of a Vaermiraiit general. The noise of a door being kicked down echoed

around the halls of the castle.

‘You better have an explanation for barging in like that, halfbreed.

Our lord may have hellishly strong patience with you but

I sure don’t,’ the general yelled out, sitting on the chair in his

office.

‘You had one job. One fucking job and you couldn’t do it

properly!’ He shouted with his face wet from the tears he had

shed.

‘So he told you.’

‘And what if he did?!’

‘He should have waited a bit before telling you.We have an

important military operation coming up,’ he said calmly.

‘What-’, he exhaled heavily, ‘are you kidding me? I just lost

my entire family! Have you any idea what I am feeling right

now?!’ the man shouted, crying but also laughing hysterically.

‘We all lost the ones dear to us. Get over it. Need I remind

you that you were the one who came up to us in the first place?

Half dead? Begging us to give you power? Don’t make this about

us. This was your decision. Face the consequences and get out

ofmy face! You anger me.’

‘I will not!’ The man shouted and punched the wall next to

him so hard it almost completely collapsed.

‘What did you just say to me, you little shit?’

‘Fight me!’ The man said, laughing and sobbing at the same

time.

‘And why would I waste my time fighting a wimp such as

yourself?’

‘Because if you don’t oblige I will tell all of your soldiers how

much of a coward you are. That sure would have an effect on

morale!’ He laughed.

‘I... You will regret this, Elf.’

‘I already regret being alive, I have absolutely nothing to

lose!’ He shouted and laughed while staring at the ground.

‘So be it. Tomorrow, a duel in front ofmy entire garrison.

Be there or I will officially set a target and a sum on your head.

Is that understood?’

‘Yes.’

‘Good. Leave me.’

The man nodded, picked up the huge metallic door and put

it back in its place. It fell down almost immediately and with

that the general’s growl became even more menacing. The day

passed. Despite having no access to sunlight in the underground

castle of the vampires, they had their ownway of telling the time.

Some used magic for that, some just had a weird biological

clock of thirst for blood with which they could tell the time.

Nevertheless, the time for the duel had come. Thousands of

vampires attended it, serving as an audience. After all, it was a

very rare occasion to bear witness to a fight between a vampire

general and a mere newly-turned member of their society. The

fight was to take place in the underground training facility, one that looked almost exactly like aColosseum,maybe for that exact

purpose?

Sounds of beastly growls, screams and incomprehensible

sounds of excitement engulfed the arena from all directions.

‘Blood! Blood! Blood! Blood!’ The soldiers shouted in terrifying

unison.

They bashed their heads in their seats, their weapons in each

other and their hands in claps of excited applause. At the highest

row sat the members of the high court of vampires alongside

their lord sitting on a much bigger chair than theirs. He

had an excited look in his face, saliva dripping from his mouth.

This battle had awakened his primal thirst for bloodshed or just

blood altogether. A vampire dressed in dark-blue silk robes

launched herself from her chair to the middle of the Colosseum.

She served as one of the main advisors to the lord, and now it

seemed, also as the official judge of the battle.

‘Ladies and gentlemen! Are you ready for some violence?!’

She shouted.

The crowd went nuts and shouted in agreement, their voices

colluded into one strong and scary shout.

‘Are you ready for some blood?!’

Again, the crowd joined her excitement and yelled out their own

animalistic way of saying yes.

‘Then let’s get right down to it!’

She took out a knife and cut the veins of her left hand, causing

blood to drip down. Then, she began chanting something with

his fingers, making the blood at her feet accumulate into a thick

red mist that allowed her to levitate above the ground. After a

few meters up she stopped and opened her mouth again.

‘The fight we have today is going to end very fast unfortunately,

because one of them would never stand a chance! Please

welcome our fighters!’ She laughed and then shouted with an

evil grin.

The general shot himself from his seat straight to one side of the

arena, making a superhero landing (for added entertainment).

The crowd, recognizing their high commander, was shouting

even louder in excitement. Considering how powerful he was,

they had no idea how strong his opponent could be. Then, after

approximately four minutes his opponent walked inside, a bit

out of balance, with a bottle of red wine in his right hand (I mean

I love wine too but one should know when to stop, right?). His

eyes were red, like he had recently cried. Having recognized

him the audience began booing in disappointment. After all,

his rank in their army was very basic, there was no way he could

actually put up a fight worth watching.

Themandid not let that destroy his morale, hewalked slowly

and confidently.When he reached his assigned position in the

ring he opened the bottle and began chugging it all in. When he

finished he threw it to the side, shattering it.

‘I hate how difficult getting drunk is now that I’m a pieceof-

shit vampire like you,’ the man said, laughing bizarrely.

‘Do you actually believe you could defeat me while intoxicated?

I mean, it was clear to me that you were a fool but not

that much!’ The general shouted, chuckling.

‘We’ll see about that,’ the man smirked.

‘Fighters, pick your weapons from the rack and get ready!’

The judge yelled out.

The general picked out a big spear and shield, finally taking up

a battle stance.

‘I don’t need aweapon to defeat you. Good-old magic should

be enough to end your pathetic life!’ The man shouted and

pointed at his foe.

The general laughed and moved his spear in a way of telling

him to come at him, a provocation. The man smirked again

but stood in his place, not moving an inch. He signaled the

general to come at him while chanting something quickly in the

tone of a whisper. He raised his hands in the air, performing

some kind of stance that was never seen before. Maybe that

of a mage? Curious, the general began charging towards him

with the spear pointing forward. While running, he pierced his fingers, letting a bit of blood drip down to the floor and

then used his fingers to cast a spell. He rubbed the blade of

the spear in a caressing motion, causing it to start glowing in

strong crimson - the color of blood. Just about two meters from

his opponent, he changed his course and began sidestepping

around in a circle at an extreme speed, while unleashing a wave

of blood spikes every now and again using blood that oozed out

of his self-inflicted wounds.

The man laughed uncontrollably and formed a light-blue

magic barrier around himself in the shape of a ball, one that

none of the spikes could penetrate. Understanding this, the general

stopped his little game and growled in anger. He turned his

sight towards the disappointed eyes of his lord and immediately

cut off his left hand. Gazing at his wound he made his arm grow

back and began chanting loudly. The blood that was splashed

on the ground started glowing and levitating around him.

‘Watch and learn, oaf.’

‘Uh-huh.’

The blood was circling around his spear, it looked like a small

tornado hinting of the upcoming doom of its target. The man

remained in his place, standing and grinning like he’s watching

an entertaining show, tears dropping from his eyes. Having had

enough of his opponent’s arrogance, the general prepared the

stance once used by the Spartan Peltasts. He shouted and shot it

towards the man. It made a loud bang and flew incredibly fast,

aimed at an incredible accuracy. The tornado of blood glowed

even stronger and made a screeching sound as though it was

alive, flying with the power of a strong wind. The man didn’t

change his smug look and arrogantly waited for the spear to

come. The moment it had entered his vicinity he formed seals

with his left hand.

‘Watch and learn!’ He shouted.

Themomenthis chantwas done hemoved the fingers of his right

hand in a flicking motion. The crowd went nuts, anticipating

the death of the man who went way ahead of his league. Or so it seemed... Until a bright circle colored in green enveloped

the spear and disappeared completely alongside it with a woosh

sound. Loud noises of shock were heard all across the arena.

‘What...What did you just do?’ The general asked in confusion.

‘Just a thing I picked up inmy time at the Exploitation school

of The Order’

The man swiftly changed his stance, intimidating his bamboozled

opponent.

‘Now that everyone knows what I’m capable of, it ismy turn.

You have no idea who you’re dealing with. I may be a young

vampire but a young Elf I am most certainly not! You and all

who helped you destroymy life will pay! Jul u uli! Veridia u uli!

Vetir uli, dreem din uli3!’ The man chanted.

Immediately the arenawas engulfed by an incredibly cold breeze

followed by a thick mist of ice. No one could see inside, not that

they cared considering that they were busy dealing with sudden

sharp pulses of immense pain, their bodies were shutting down.

Apparently, he knew of the vampires’ weakness to the cold that

was kept a secret inside the community itself. The audience

began screaming for help fromtheir lord, running around trying

to escape the claws of the chilly mist that was turning more and

more invisible as time went by. Despite having perfected his

own resistance to the cold, the lord refused to lose his army just

for a stupid conflict. He growled loudly, launched himself from

his throne and stood two meters away from the mage.

He lifted his hand, formed seals of a spell with the other

and grabbed the man’s throat, choking him firmly. The man

began panicking and gasping for air, nothing he tried worked.

He had no idea that the lord was this powerful, penetrating and

nullifying all of his magical shields. After a few minutes his

face turned blue as he was quickly reaching his limit. Almost

immediately he formed seals with his fingers, exterminating

3(Omnitongue) Sky of ice! Earth of ice! (To) call ice, (to) disappear

the ice.

the mist he had created.

‘Good boy. I told you to know your place, didn’t I?’

He released his grip from the man’s throat, making him fall

straight to the ground. Hewas choking, coughing and breathing

heavily.

‘I will kill you one day you son of a bitch! I will kill all of you!’

The man yelled, crying and coughing.

‘Uh-huh. Never stop believing,’ the lord said, laughing.

He kicked the man in the face, making him bleed heavily from

the nose and mouth.

‘Soon I will kill him and will find away to get you back. Trust

me... I love you...’ The man whispered to himself, spitting out

blood.

He stood back up and walked away. The crowd was caught in

awe.

‘All of you, the show is over. Dismissed!’ The lord shouted to

the audience.

The crowd dispersed. He walked towards the general who was

lying on the ground, tasting the earth. He helped him up. The

general was wheezing and found it difficult to stand properly,

exhausted and gravely injured.

‘Seriously?!’ The lord yelled out.

‘Wha-what?’ The general responded.

‘How dare you embarrass me like that?! Now I have to fight

that asshole. What a fucking disgrace, and you call yourself a

vampire general!’

‘He... He is powerful,my lord. I did the best that I could,’

he said, still trying to catch his breath.

‘Hmph.’

The lord slapped the general so hard he fell back to the ground.

Dirt is an acquired taste after all.

‘Don’t ever disappoint me again!’ The lord said, turned his

back and walked away.

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