ã€Š(Dropped)The Ancientã€‹


 Prologue - The Awakening

    In a cave somewhere in a mountain range was a cave. In this cave, near the entrance, there were ten men in high quality leather armor sitting around campfires and laughing loudly. In the rear of this cave was a cage. In this cage was a dark half-elf woman with little to no clothes who seems like she was beaten up badly, with blood running down her out of a open wound on her forehead.

    ¡°Can''t we just have a little fun with this bitch? I mean we already beat her half to death. She''s already damaged so that wouldn''t matter, would it?¡± asked one of the man. The largest of them, whose right half of his face was burned badly, slapped him across the face and answered ¡°What are you talking about you fucking dimwit? We punished her for screaming. Our employer tasked us to find him an exotic sex-slave. How can you even consider stealing the joy of popping the cherry from him?¡±

    ¡°I''m sorry boss but maybe if we use her other....¡± That was the last thing this man ever spoke because in this moment the tip of a sword protruded out of his back. ¡°You imbecile, you are a disgrace. I shouldn''t have let you into our group in the first place. To even consider damaging the product... And to all of you. Consider this a warning. I''m not playing around!¡±

    With this he retracted the sword and cleaned it with a cloth which he threw into the fire afterwards. ¡°Hey Walo. Throw him out of the cave before he starts to smell. And clean up this blood as well.¡± ¡°Yes Boss.¡± With this another of the man came and dragged the dead body out of the cave.

    While all this occurred, behind a secret door deeper in the cave, there was a room with a cherry wood coffin inside. And in this coffin was a being that once again opened his eyes to this world after a long period of sleep.

    The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    Slowly the top of the coffin was opened and a mummified hand was shown. When the coffin was fully opened one could see a fully mummified man lying inside. He was wearing the finest of clothing even a king would turn green with envy. But that wasn''t the only thing that stood out about the mummified man. The second thing was that he had completely white hair that would reach his waist if he were standing. And the last thing that was also the most outstanding about the mummy was that it was moving.

    Slowly but steadily he sat up and placed one hand at the rim of the coffin. After this he opened his former closed eyes. If someone were to see these eyes in this moment they would say that they were unique without question. Nobody in this world had ever heard of someone with blood red eyes. After this short moment the mummy closed his eyes and he looked like he inhaled a deep breath and a sort of a grin could be seen on his face.

    Again he opened his eyes and took a step out of the coffin. Now fully standing one could see that he was not particularly tall. Only 1,8 m. He was wearing black pants and shoes, a black jacket with a white undershirt and a white jabot. His body though dried out like a prune. Because of this his bodily features were impossible to detect.

    After adjusting his clothes (not that it would change anything. I mean he is still ugly as fuck. I mean have you ever seen a mummy? xD) he went towards a wall and starts going alongside it. After three steps he stopped and and pressed on a spot that seemed like it was some kind of ore that was in this stonewall. And with a deep rumbling sound a 2x2 m square opened in the wall. After the mummy made his way out of the room the wall closed with another rumbling sound.

 Chapter 1 - First Meal

    I''m a bit

    disappointed. Nobody woke me up. And it''s not like I have been asleep

    for just a little while by the looks of it. I mean I look like a damn

    prune. But there''s nothing to mourn about. I may have overslept a

    little but there''s nothing in this world that can''t be healed with a

    cup of warm, fresh blood. And my first snack is coming right in my

    direction. I am one lucky man.

    And with

    this I merge into the shadows to avoid detection by my prey. I''m

    lucky that the place I''m currently in is a natural cave so there are

    lots of stalagmites and stuff like that so i can hide pretty well.

    Just when I hid in the shadows a man, clad in a leather armor, with a

    torch in one hand and a short sword in the other comes down the slope

    and in the cavern I''m currently hiding in.

    ¡°Of course

    there''s nothing here. What was he thinking by sending me here. I had

    such a nice dream and then came this damn rumbling and then he had to

    pick me to lock here.¡± He was mumbling some this under his breath.

    He was slightly pissed that he had to look in this dead end of the

    cave. He should have just kept sleeping. Bad for him, good for me.

    ¡°Hey! Is

    there someone!¡± Now the man was shouting. What an idiot is this? If

    there was some sort of enemy what would he accomplish by shouting

    like this? Nothing. I think I should teach him a lesson. And he could

    pay with all his blood. I think that is a good idea.

    With this is

    slowly made my way around the man. The moment he stopped walking I

    stepped out of the shadows and took position behind him.

    ¡°I knew

    it. There is nothing here. Nothing surprising about that.¡± He spoke

    and turned around. The moment he saw me and my gruesome appearance he

    wanted to scream but I thrust my hand inside his now open mouth and

    all that could be heard was a muffled ¡°Hmmmpf¡±. I could see the

    horror in his eyes. Now came the part where I would tell him to be

    careful and that this lesson would be paid with his blood. But all

    that came out of my mouth was a ¡°Szzzz¡±. I totally forgot that to

    actually speak you need vocal chords. And at the moment they where as

    dry as a dessert. I sighed inwardly and opened my mouth wider than

    any human should be able to and revealed a set of teeth that were

    long and pointy.

    At this

    sight he almost fainted. So I made it quick and chomped down at his

    throat and ripped a large chunk out of it. After that I gulped down

    most of the ruby liquid that gushed out of the opening. I made a

    mess. As I was finished so was my jabot. But we all must make

    sacrifices. And a bloody jabot was not that big of a loss.

    And with

    that I let the corpse fall to the ground. I looked at my hands and it

    seemed like this one was not enough to restore my body. I looked

    better but just as good as a hundred year old would look like with

    age marks all over my hands. And for my face I can only imagine.

    But if I

    heard correctly then there were even more tasty snacks towards the

    entrance of this cave. It seems that today is my lucky day. But why

    are there even People in this cave? It should be in a mountain range.

    Whatever. Good that they are here. Lets go!

    And with

    this I made my way up the slope and around the edge towards the exit

    and the rest of those tasty humans. When I reached a nearly 90¡ã

    curve I slowed down and looked around it. Eight  meters away was a

    campfire with 7 man with leather armor around it eating some sort of

    meat that was grilled above the fire. It seemed like they were all

    human. I was a bit disappointed because I wanted some blood from

    another source. I mean the same thing all the time gets quite boring.

    But there was another scent among those humans. It was somewhat sweet

    and reminded me of the fruity blood of the elves. But at the same

    time it had hints of death and the boring bland smell of human mixed

    into it.

    I looked

    around and saw a cage standing at the wall to my right hand. And in

    that cage was a unconscious dark half-elf woman. Hmmm. Maybe I can

    help myself to at least one tasty snack today. But first lets deal

    with those unsuspecting idiots.

    First I need

    to make sure that none of them can escape. I focused on my own man

    pool and conjured a wall of darkness that blocked the entrance to the

    cave. The same time I did that I also laid a blanket of darkness over

    the fire to extinguish it. With this done there should be nobody

    except me that can see in this absolute darkness. And with this I got

    going. I took a step around the corner and faced the seven humans

    that all leapt up and draw there weapons shouting something about an

    enemy attack and such things.

    One could

    see that they were professionals. Even in this absolute darkness they

    didn''t loose their head and quickly build a circle with backs facing

    towards each other and swords pointing outwards. This was without

    question a remarkable feat and I couldn''t help but inwardly praise

    them for this. But this wouldn''t help them even a tiny bit against

    me. But they didn''t know that at this time.

    ¡°Where are

    you, you coward! Show yourself if you are a man!¡± shouted the

    biggest of them. He seemed really confident in himself and his men.

    ¡°Oh, I don''t think I will show myself as of now.¡± I answered and

    manipulated my voice so that it seems that it came out of any

    direction. And with this I leapt forward towards the one that was the

    nearest to me. I covered the remaining 5 meters with this jump and

    landed right in front of him without even a sound. I grasped onto his

    right shoulder with my one hand and the other grasped his wrist and

    with a fluid motion I ripped his arm of and jumped back in the same

    moment. ¡°Ahhhhh. My arm. It ripped of my arm!!¡± was the only

    thing that came out of his mouth before he collapsed to the ground

    holding his shoulder where his arm used to be. All this while his

    blood sprinkled all over the man standing right next to him.

    I looked at

    the arm that I held in my hand and was about to bite into to suck it

    dry but before I could do it I smelled something rotten coming from

    it. He was sick. I could not say what it was but it had definitely

    something to do with his blood. Such low quality was nothing I would

    even consider when I''m starving. So I threw the arm at the man that

    stood to the other side of the man and was clean so far. It hit him

    straight in the face. ¡°Hmm. Disgusting. Haha¡± Was all I said

    while I made my way around the circle looking for my next target.

    The next one

    was a blonde guy. Maybe 22 years old. He had healthy skin. Surly his

    This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.blood was tasty. So lets have a taste. And with this I once again

    leapt forward but this time I grabbed the whole guy and jumped

    backwards. It seems that I was not as silent as last time because the

    moment I jumped back the guy to my right slashed with his sword

    towards me. To bad that his comrade was now between me and him. So he

    slashed him instead. It was not a deep cut because of the leather

    armor but I could smell his blood. Like I thought. This guy had some

    good smelling blood I grinned to myself. ¡°Ahhh let go of me you

    monster¡± was he screaming while I dragged him in a corner of the

    cave.

    ¡°Grayham!

    Hold on. I''m coming. Don''t worry. We will get this monster. Men! He

    is in the left corner. Halfmoon formation. Go and get him!¡± ¡°YES

    BOSS!!!¡± And with this the remaining four humans made there way

    towards my corner to circle me. ¡°Seems like you have to wait my

    little snack. But don''t worry I will be right back~!¡± I laughed and

    crushed his throat and threw him against the cave wall. He slid down

    and there he lay motionless. I now shifted my attention towards the

    four men coming in my direction and smirked. They looked rather

    pathetic taking small steps and brandishing their swords in front of

    them. But what can I say. They couldn¡¯t see so it was only natural.

    ¡°Get him

    guys. He can''t kill you all!¡± yelled the big guy that stood there

    in the middle of the cave while his subordinates walked towards me

    with fearsome expressions on their face. ¡°Don''t back down now! We

    have already cornered him! Don''t let those sacrifices go to waste. He

    is only one guy. What can he possibly do?¡± It seems like this guy

    likes to talk. Maybe that is something I could take advantage of

    later on.

    ¡°Hahaha.

    You think that you can really beat me? You have seen nothing yet. Let

    me show you the true terror of the night!¡± and with this I made one

    step forward into their formation, kneeled down on one knee and

    slashed at the kneecaps of the men right and left to me. Their legs

    bend in an unnatural angle and I could hear a satisfactory snapping

    sound and two people howled in unison.

    And there

    they lay. Holding their knee and whimpering like some small child. It

    was a sight to behold. Now the other two started to back up. Fear was

    written all over their faces. I jumped towards the on to my right,

    grabbed his head and smashed it on the ground. After a short

    resistance my hand made contact with the floor. This man didn''t even

    have the chance to scream before he died. On the contrary I was now

    covered in brain matter, blood and bone splinters.

    Now there

    was only one remaining man and the leader. ¡°Guys. What is going on?

    Did you get him? What was that popping noise right now?¡± ¡°I don''t

    know boss! No ones answering. What in the fucking hell happened here?

    What is this thing?¡± asked the last subordinate while at the verge

    of tears. ¡°You damn monster. Show yourself and fight like a

    honorable man! I will smash you to pieces!¡± ¡°Now now. Why should

    I fight like a honorable man when I''m a monster? You said it

    yourself. Haha¡± was my response to this stupid question. ¡°besides

    it''s more fun this way.¡±

    And now for

    my great entrance! I pounced at the man. Right into his sword. It

    hurt a little but thats all there was to it. The moment I was in

    front of him and his sword protruded out of my back the fear the man

    showed was replaced by surprise and then joy. ¡°I hit him Gerald! I

    hit him!¡± he yelled out in surprise. But in this moment my hand dug

    its way through his rib cage and grasped his heart. The moment he

    realized it was all but the end the look of joy was then again

    replaced by a look of even greater terror. Oh man I love this sight.

    It never gets old. And with this my teeth chomped down at his neck

    and I begin to suck him dry. After a few seconds I had enough to

    restore my appearance.

    And with

    this I ended the shadow wall at the entrance and the moonlight filled

    the cave. The leader could now see me. Standing in front of his last

    standing man with a sword coming out of my back and a still beating

    heart in my hand while giving him a bloody grin. And within a moment

    I could smell the fragrance of urine. That''s right. The leader of

    this pathetic bunch pissed himself!

    While still

    looking at me he took a step backwards. Then another and another. The

    moment he wanted to turn and run I conjured some shadow shackles and

    bound his feet to the ground causing him to fall flat on his face

    where he lost consciousness. I then let go of the man I was holding

    and pulled the sword out of me, causing a little bit of my blood to

    be spilled but it soon stopped and within a blink of an eye the wound

    was regenerated.

    I then

    looked around at the still living men. What should I do with these

    idiots? I am not thirsty enough to drink all of them. Turn them into

    my kin? No. I don''t think so. I have standards! Ghouls maybe? But

    they are so weak and I don''t need them right now. So there''s only one

    option. ¡°Sigh¡± this in more troublesome than I thought but what

    needs to be done needs to be done. So I grabbed a sword and went from

    guy to guy and sliced open their throats. There was no remarkable

    resistance so I was quickly done and they begun drowning in their own

    blood.

    So the only

    ones remaining in this cave where the leader, Gerald, the woman in

    the cage and me. At this moment I looked outside the cave and saw the

    back of a man running away from the cave. He was clad in the same

    leather armor like the other men. This means I let someone escape.

    ¡°Damn. I let one escape. But I won''t run after him. I just ate and

    sport directly after eating is not pleasant. What could one guy even

    do. Today is his lucky day.¡± I said and sighed. I then redirected

    my gaze to the shivering man which is wrapped in shadows.

    I made my

    way towards him which caused him to shiver even more violently but

    all that came out of his mouth was a silent ¡°Monster¡±. I knelt in

    front of him and gave him my friendliest smile I could with long

    sharp fangs and blood all over the face ¡°And now my friend we will

    have a loooong talk¡± With this words I dragged him away from the

    entrance, deeper into the cave and leaned him against a wall.

    Authors

    Corner:

    Sp this is

    the first chapter to this fiction. I hope you enjoyed it. Please

    comment if you have any criticism.

    I think I

    will release at least one chapter a week on Wednesdays and if I get

    one ready earlier there will be more but I want to be flexible on

    this.

 Chapter 2 - Information gathering

    Authors

    corner:

    I originally didn''t want to release a chapter so soon but then I got

    to ten followers within half a day so I wrote another chapter for you

    as a thank you for 13 follows and 3 favorites. I really appreciate

    it. But without further ado here is chapter 2:------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    I leaned him

    against the wall opposite to the wall with the cage. After that I

    begun piling up the corpses in the rear of the cage near the way to

    the cavern I came from. All while the only surviving human shot angry

    glances at me. And any time now he should have enough... ¡°Hey you

    fucking monster! Don''t ignore me! I will crush you!¡± Yep there he

    goes. Seems like he is one tough guy that he can regain his posture

    this quick. ¡°My, my. You are one rude fellow. To call someone so

    suddenly a monster. Where are your manners?¡± ¡°I will definitely

    not introduce me to someone that butchered all my men! You can go and

    fuck yourself!¡± he even spit some saliva while shouting this.

    ¡°And I

    thought we could talk like the gentleman we are. You disappoint me.¡±

    While speaking this I took a cloth from one of the dead men and begun

    cleaning my face from all the blood. ¡°Talk? I will never talk to

    someone like you! Let me go or kill me but I will never tell you

    anything!¡± ¡°Oh I thought you were more the begging for your life

    thug. I never imagined that you would prefer to die with you man. I''m

    quite surprised. But I assure you that you will tell me anything I

    want to know.¡± ¡°Fuck you! I won''t be saying anything from now

    on!¡± ¡°Putting up resistance? I like that. Haha. Then are you

    prepared to have some fun?¡± Oh now he does not answer anymore.

    I go back to

    the pile of bodies and took a dagger from one of them. It was not the

    best quality but it was sharp and that what mattered in this

    situation. I turned around and smiled towards the sitting man. I hold

    the dagger in the air and said with a grin ¡°Look I found us a toy

    to play with. What do you think?¡± No answer. He just looked at me

    with determination in his eyes. Ahh I like to break those guys. It

    gives you enormous satisfaction when they crumble and spill all their

    secrets.

    ¡°So~ shall

    we begin? Not that you have a say in that matter of course haha.¡±

    And with this I made my way towards him and squatted down in front of

    him, looking him straight in the eyes. ¡°So my first question is:

    What are you doing here?¡± He just angrily stared at me. It seems

    like he didn''t even consider answering me. ¡°Sigh. Then let the fun

    begin¡± and with this I smiled at him and took a rope that was lay

    next to me. ¡°But it would be a shame if you would bleed to death,

    wouldn''t it?¡± With these words I grabbed his arm and tie it firmly

    around his arm. ¡°So with this you will have a long time till all

    the blood left your body but the pain will still reach your brain.¡±

    ¡°Do you think I care? I will withstand every torture you throw at

    me! I will not tell you anything!¡± ¡°Oh you will. I have time.

    Even if it takes month. I will get what I want. But I don''t think it

    will be that long¡± I smiled at him and lowered the dagger towards

    his hand. ¡°I don''t think you need the top of your finger right?¡±

    And with this I made my first cut and he his first scream.

    Four cuts

    later all his fingers on the right hand were missing their

    fingertips. ¡°So have you made up your mind? Want to tell me

    something?¡± With tears in his eyes he stared at me full of hatred.

    ¡°NO!¡±

    Good. Now

    there is round two. ¡°You know I always admired the construction of

    the body of humanoids. I dedicated decades just studying the anatomy

    of living things and it never ceases to amaze me. I think I will show

    you what I mean so you can learn something from our little

    conversation.¡± He just looked at me like I was some sort of

    lunatic.

    I begun

    peeling of the skin from his thumb. Slowly and steady I worked my way

    up to the hand. The moment I reached the hand I stopped and started

    the next finger. Slowly and giving attention to not severing any

    muscles or tendons. All the while ignoring his screams and his

    promise to answer all of my questions. It is interesting how quick he

    went back on his word to tell me nothing. Halfway through the third

    finger he lost his consciousness because of the pain and his endless

    screams of agony stopped.

    Because I

    tied a rope around his arms there was not as much blood as one would

    expect and one could see the muscles clearly. Here and there you

    could see the white of a tendon or a little bone. All in all I was

    pleased with the result I got. It''s now time to wake him up and show

    him the results of my hard work. With this I went over and got a

    bottle of water from next to the fire and splashed some of it in his

    face. Seems like it did not work. Maybe the pain is to big.

    With this

    thought in mind I went through a bag in which medical herbs and

    potions were. I took out one cream that could reduce the pain from a

    wound and begun rubbing it on his hand. After this was finished I had

    to wait a few minutes until the cream started to operate.

    In the

    meantime I gave a closer look to the cage with the half-elf in it. It

    amazes me that she could still be unconscious with all this fighting

    an screaming around her. But upon closer inspection it seems like she

    was on the verge of death. Seems like those guys had beaten her up

    harder than what she could take. But when you could imagine her

    without all the injuries she was beautiful like all elves and

    half-elves.

    Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.

    She had

    waist long black hair, pointy ears, a small mouth with full purple

    lips, a cute nose and skin that had a grey, but not unhealthy, color,

    slightly lighter than a full blood would have. To perfect this look

    she possessed the right amount of womanly curves. Were she to stand

    she would reach a height of 1,6m at most.

    She is

    without a doubt beautiful. I think I should consider making her one

    of my kin. I should seriously think about that. Traveling to my old

    home would be way more fun with a companion. But first comes the

    dessert. I took out a cup from one of the bags that lay on the ground

    and made my way towards the cage. I grabbed her hand a made a small

    cut on her wrist and let her blood trickle into the cup. It was a

    shallow cut therefore it took a while to fill the cup but I won''t let

    her bleed out until I know what to do with her.

    When the cup

    was full I took a light sip from it and the earthy taste that all

    elves have in common filled my mouth. It was a truly pleasant

    feeling. I sighed appreciative and made my way back to the human. The

    medicine had enough time so the pain should be a lot better now.

    I again

    splashed some water in his face. This time I got a reaction from him.

    His face twitched where the cold water hit and he slowly regained

    consciousness. ¡°Ahh you have finally woken up. What a pleasant

    surprise that is. That means we can now begin our conversation, am I

    right?¡± ¡°Yes, yes. All you want just... just don''t do anything

    more to me. The pain is killing me.¡± was the answer he gave me

    while whimpering and even shedding tears of pain. In his eyes I could

    see that the pain had almost driven this man to insanity. Maybe he

    was not as strong minded as I thought he would be. But what is done

    is done.

    ¡°Ohh? And

    here I thought you were a tough guy. I even wanted to teach you some

    things about the human anatomy. I even went through the troublesome

    work to skin your hand. See?¡± With these words I held his skinned

    hand in front of his face and the poor man almost fainted by this

    sight. ¡°Seems like you don''t appreciate the trouble I''ve gone

    through. In this case I will skip this and come straight to my first

    question: What were you doing here?¡± ¡°W-We came from the west.

    T-Th-There we captured a slave for our employer. We rested here on

    our way t-towards the capital of the kingdom of Wegril.¡± ¡°Kingdom

    of Wegril? Interesting. I never heard of a kingdom with this name¡±

    I mumbled to myself. ¡°You see I have been sleeping for a slightly

    long time. Do you mind telling me what the name of the kingdom was

    before it was named Wegril? And when the cahenge occurred?¡± ¡°O-O-Of

    course. The kingdom of Wegril exists slightly longer than 100 years.

    Before it w-w-was n-named Clestan.¡± I know Clestan. That is a good

    sign. When I went to sleep there was a war between two factions if I

    remember correctly and in one was a member from a house called

    Wegril. If my estimation is right then I was asleep for around 110

    years. That''s actually not so bad.

    ¡°Now my

    second question. Are there any other new kingdoms that I should know

    of?¡± ¡°Y-Yes. By the lake to the south there is the capital of

    Atrya. At the shore to the south east there is the capital of Stesia.

    In the middle of this continent is the capital from the central

    empire and to the south is th capital of Masha. The entire west is a

    giant forrest. I don''t know anything about that. Only that there is

    the land of the elves and beast-men. P-P-Please. Tha-a-at is the

    truth. Don''t hurt me.¡± While crying like a baby he stutters the

    last few sentences. ¡°It is okay. You have done well enough. We

    don''t need to get our hand dirty, do we?¡± ¡°No, no!¡± ¡°Good.¡±

    I smiled at him. But it seems like it had not an calming effect on

    him.

    The names of

    the countries have changed but the capitals are in the same

    directions. It seems like the role of the kingdoms have not changed.

    The Central Empire is still in control over a vaast amount of plains

    and continue their role as the main producer of corn. Stesia controls

    the fishing in the ocean and the building of ships. Atrya has the

    role to cultivate high quality fish in the sea and masha Is a

    portcity that lives through trading with the other nations. Maybe

    there are some misconceptions about that but I can still clear them

    later on. For now that seems logical.

    ¡°Last

    question for now: how many forts have the humans build in this

    mountain range?¡± ¡°N-Not one. The orcs from the wastelands destroy

    every effort t-to build one.¡± ¡°Good. Very good. With this the

    question-answer session is over. For now.¡± I wink at him and laugh

    a little while his already pale face grew a shade whiter. And with a

    sip I finish my cup of blood which I was enjoying while we were

    talking. ¡°Now you go back to sleep.¡± With these words I smack the

    empty cup at his temple and knock him out.

    I stand up

    and make my way towards the cage with the half-elf inside. ¡°What to

    do, what to do?¡± I pondered while stroking my chin.

    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------There was not much information just the bare nessecity about the kingdoms. I will go into detail once it is needed and I will also add a summary of all information that is given about rankings, hierarchies, characters, legendary items etc. in an extra chapter where you can search for specific things. I update this once in a while. When this will be out I don''t know. So please be patient.

    The next chapter will give you a little inside on this worlds vampires and their hierarchy.

 Chapter 3 - The way home

    Author¡¯s corner:

    Hey ho. The author here. I thought about releasing this as the guaranteed wednesday release but then I thought that it would be kinda lame to let this be a infodump chapter so I decided that I will write another chapter for wednesday.

    ¡®When I remember right then there are not many of my subjects left from the events that lead to my sleep. If so then someone should have woken me up. But that¡¯s obviously not the case. To strengthen my position in this world one subordinate would be nice. So that speaks in her favor. The negative point is that I don¡¯t know any of her strengths. But on the other hand if she doesn¡¯t have any fighting capabilities than I could eventually train her. This is not an easy decision. Maybe I should ask her if I¡¯m able to wake her up. But with the injuries she has it would not be unlikely that she won¡¯t wake up in the near future. But if you don¡¯t try you won¡¯t achieve anything.¡¯

    And with these thoughts I squatted ripped the door of the cage open. After this I lifted the unconscious half-elf up and made my way to the now extinguished fire pit. There I lay here on the ground and took a water bottle and splashed some water in her face but there was no reaction. ¡°Gratulations. You almost killed her. I thought you and your men should bring her back alive. And now look at here. She¡¯s more dead than alive.¡± I said to the man that was sitting unconscious at the wall. ¡®Back to the topic at hand. When I can¡¯t question her now then I have to hope that I¡¯m lucky to get a competent and somewhat smart subordinate.¡¯

    ¡°Rejoice human. I will give the rest of your insignificant life meaning. You are the one, that has the honour to become the sacrifice necessary for her to take the first step towards her new existence.¡± I don¡¯t know why but talking to the unconscious human gave me some sort of satisfaction. It may look stupid but I have lived long enough to don¡¯t care about what others think about me.

    First I need to remove as much of her blood as possible. For that I cut through the carotid artery. After this I just needed to watch until the stream of fresh blood ended. The moment this was the case I bit in my wrist and opened my own vein and let my blood flow in her mouth. After I made sure that a good mouthful made its way down to her stomach I sat down and let my regeneration close the wound. Now I only need to wait for the transformation to begin.

    A few seconds after my blood reached her stomach the spasms alongside with the cries of agony began. All of her veins turned black and after she opened her eyes wide from the pain, they were completely blood red. Her teeth began falling out and new ones could be seen slowly coming through her gingival. The new teeth were way sharper and the canines were longer and had a sharp point at the top. The blood-red in the eyes creeped back and now only the iris had this color. After that, the black veins lost this color and the screams came to an end and the breathing jumped back to a normal rhythm.

    I bend towards her and stroked some wisps out of her face and sat back. Waiting for her to wake up. That would happen in about 4 hours from now when her body has accepted the changes. So I sat down closed my eyes and waited. After about 4 hours and 30 minutes I heard a low growl. It seems like she has woken up. I opened my eyes and there she was. On all fours and glaring and growling at me.

    ¡°Haha. It seems you are full of vigor. I like you. But now is not the time for a fight. You look hungry.¡± With these words I stood up and went in her direction. She cowered down like a wounded animal ready to attack. ¡°Come on. Let me show you what I have arranged for you. Not that you can understand me as of now.¡± I jumped at her and grabbed her at the neck. I ignored her clawing at my arm and dragged her towards Gerard.With a swift move of my other hand I cut open his throat and held her head in the near vicinity of the wound.

    This was enough to get her attention. She ended her claw attack on me and focused solely on the neck of Gerard. She sunk her teeth deep in his neck and began gulping down his red life juice. After a while the hunger faded and reasoning came back to her mind. She looked around a little disoriented and then towards me. She looked me in the eyes and shivered. After that she made a deep bow in my direction and remained in that position.

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to be so formal. We will be travel companions after all.¡± I said while I smiled at her. With this she didn¡¯t relax but ended her bowing and again looked at me with big question marks in her eyes. You have many questions. I know that. I will answer them when we begin our walk towards my residence.¡± With this I went to the exit. ¡°Follow me.¡±

    After a few steps I felt that she was following me and said ¡°You have undergone a transformation. But that is nothing that you haven¡¯t realized by now. The more interesting question is: What are you now? The answer is quite simple. You are a vampire. Or when you want to say it with the words I prefer it would be blood shadow. Why that is a better description is irrelevant for now. But I will give you a book in which you can read about the creation of the world and our race. For now I will tell you some information that is more important. You may know some stories about my, and now also your, race. Not all is true.¡±

    I looked in her direction and saw that she was listening. Satisfied I continued, ¡°We can survive in the sun. Not all of us but the higher can. But the sun has a weakening effect on the higher ones so don¡¯t fight stronger foes in the broad daylight. Indoors or on cloudy days when the sunlight is weaker, the effect is weaker. We don¡¯t die through garlic and other sort of vegetable that is said to have that effect. We have a reflection. I wonder who came up with this crap. Hahaha. A stake through the heart kills the most of us. Like the other races. But there are a few exceptions. But what needs to be said is that we have a higher regeneration than other races.¡±

    I made a short break to swallow and think about the next topic. After a while I said, ¡°The next and probably most important part is the hierarchy. If you don¡¯t know that you can die pretty fast. The highest position is taken by the ancients. That would be me and my sister. That explains why you feel like bowing in my presence. But again I don¡¯t feel like talking about all this stuff. If you are interested in the transformation and the powers of the race then I can give you a book about that as well. It¡¯s just too tiresome to explain when you can read  it on your own. Haha. Where was I? Ah yes, the hierarchy. The next lower level would be the elder vampires. There are only 4. The next level is where you are. The noble vampires. They are the highest step of those that can be converted. So feel lucky that I am in need of some noble.¡±

    Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    I looked at her but she didn¡¯t seem as happy as I imagined. ¡°Hmm, you don¡¯t seem too convinced. But it does not matter. You can¡¯t change this fact. You have to accept that!¡± I said while smiling at her. ¡°Take a step down and you have higher vampires. 150 years ago they were commonly known as the peak existence in this race. Not least because the higher ones didn¡¯t walk around murdering people or guarding stuff. There are more higher vampires than nobles. The next step are the normal vampires. These are the ones that the most fairytales speak about. The ¡®mighty hunters of the night¡¯ like they call themselfs with pride.¡± I spoke with disdain overflowing from my voice. ¡°They ruin our noble reputation. Not that we were ever loved by the humans. But we have pride. And those are spitting on their heritage!¡± I spit out and made a grimace that showed my disdain clearly.

    ¡°Ehem.¡± I cough slightly. ¡°Sorry for my rant. I couldn¡¯t contain myself. The next and last level are the lesser vampires. They have intelligence like an animal. They are the canon fodder that the normal vampires use in large quantities when they want to attack something like a settlement. But honestly I don¡¯t like them. Normal vampires are okay if they follow either me or my sister but, contrary to my sister I don¡¯t think that lesser vampires serve a purpose and are pests at best.¡± Another pause. I look towards the half-elf.

    ¡°Now the interesting part. Every higher and noble vampire has a vampiristic form. These vary from original race to original race. Elves for example are banshees. And this includes you because the elven heritage is stronger than the human one. A wolfman for example would be able to shapeshift in a half-wolf-form and a form where he resembles a wolf. But again I will give you a book about that later. But a few words regarding banshees. They are not the messengers of death for nothing. They have the nasty ability to kill with their voice. It may take some practice but then you will be able to kill weaker enemies with a simple scream.¡± She had a astonished expression on her face. Seems like that piqued her interest.

    ¡°Now I think I told you the most important things. If I forgot something don¡¯t blame me. It is a long time since I last had to introduce someone in our culture. Normally one of my subordinates would do that. The most important is that you keep the hierarchy in mind. If you ever insult someone higher than you it may end with your death. And now is the time where you can ask me some questions.¡± Once again my vision shifted away from the path to the half-elf and now banshee. She seems to ponder about what she heard until now. When I said this last sentence she was surprised but thought just a short duration before asking, ¡°May I know your name, milord?¡± ¡°Ohh, please excude my rudeness. We walked such a long time and I didn¡¯t even introduce myself. My name is Nathaniel di Contetia.¡± ¡®Where are my manners? How could I forget to introduce myself?¡¯ I thought. ¡°Is there anything else you want to ask?¡± ¡°Yes, Milord di Contetia. Why did you transform me?¡± ¡°That is quite simple. Most of my former subordinates, if not all, are dead. And I hate travelling alone. Does that answer your question?¡± ¡°Yes Milord.¡± ¡°And stop calling me Milord for now. It stops the flow of a conversation.¡± ¡°If it is your wish.¡±

    ¡®The blood bond is truly an amazing thing. It makes this so much easier than having to talk to some hysteric person. This was a really good idea my sister had back then.¡¯ I sighed in admiration of this wonderful ritual that we had back then to alter the effect of our blood on the transformed. ¡°Where are we going?¡± ¡°Were headed towards my mansion. It it deep in the mountain range in a hidden valley. I just hope that in the last hundred years no one found it. There we will start building a functioning organisation that provides us with anything that we someday may need. But now let me ask you a question: What have you done before I transformed you?¡± ¡°I was a hunter in the mountain village I lived at. I pride myself to be the best archer of the whole village.¡± She said with blatant pride in her voice.

    ¡°Was it a happy live? Do you have friends there?¡± ¡°No. I was an outsider. They accepted my existence at the edge of the village. And when the slavers came to this village they sold me to them.¡± ¡°Then if you want you can go to them later on and make one or two your personal servants. Haha. This would be the best kind of irony. By the way. What was your name? Not that it matters, you get a new one eventually.¡± ¡°My name was Aryana. I would be honoured to receive a new name together with this new existence.¡±

    While we had this conversation we walked the path that lead through the mountains. It was not a long way. After roughly 1 and a half hour we stood in front of the beginning of a small and narrow passage between two steep faces. ¡°We are almost there. My mansion is right behind this alleyway. But it is a bit strange. Normally there would be an illusion spell that hides this entrance. It seems my secret valley is not so secret anymore haha. Are you ready to take a look at your new home?¡± I asked her. ¡°Yes.¡± A simple and straightforward answer. I believe I had enormous luck with this one. She seems like a capable women. She will be a great aid in my future plans.

    With this we made our way in the alleyway. After a few steps a distinctive smell penetrated my nose and I knew immediately what had found my secret valley and my good mood plummeted in the deepest abyss. Aryana seemed to sense my change in mood and asked, ¡°Have I done something wrong?¡± ¡°No no. It¡¯s just that I know what found my secret valley. And that does not make me happy. Those ugly abortions! Tch. it seems that you can test your new abilities soon on living targets. Is there a better training than slaughtering puny orcs?¡± ¡°B-But I don¡¯t even have a weapon¡­¡± ¡°A weapon? Your a banshee. You can kill them with your bare hands. If you survive this slaughter festival I will give you a bow that is better than even the bows of those arrogant wood-elves. What do you say?¡± ¡°V-Very well. I will try my best.¡± One could clearly see how uncomfortable she felt. But I have full confidence that she will survive that. In the end they are only lowly orcs. Nothing we should be afraid of. And if she somehow would die then she was unworthy in the first place.

    And with these thoughts we made our way towards the exit of these alleyway.

    Author¡¯s corner:

    So the next chapter will contain a bit more action than this chapter. But that is not that hard :P

    Also I cut it a little short on some topics. I just think that 2.5k words infodump is enough. So I will release the books he refers to as separate chapters. They will be a bit shorter than a regular chapter but contain just information like extracts from an encyclopedia or a scientific essay.

 Chapter 4 - Pest Control (Part 1)

    Author''s corner:

    Here is the wednesday chapter. It is a bit longer than I expected it to be. I hope you enjoy it. Also because of a comment under the last chapter I tried to separate the dialogue a bit better to create some clearness. Hope it worked as intended. :)

    We made our way through the narrow pathway, only wide enough to allow three people walking side by side. We came across many of the traps that should keep this entrance safe in the case it was discovered. There were spears that were ripped out of there retainer after they hit some of the invaders. This could be seen by the bloodstains that stained them. The corpses couldn¡¯t be found in the near vicinity but that was no surprise considering that orcs have cannibalistic tendencies. There were also a few arrow traps and those that would drop stones from a high place to stop the enemy from advancing. All of them killed a lot of them if one considered the amount of dried blood.

    After 5 minutes of walking the pathway opened up a bit and a few meters ahead was a gatehouse made from the grey granite of the mountains with a metal door blocking the path. The metal door was broken open and was hanging crooked in the hinges. The intricate ornaments on the door could still be seen but the orcs did their best to remove my crest from the door and their efforts were successful. The drop with a crown on top was hardly there. It must have been a lot of work to erase that. ¡°Those bastards. Know they no shame?¡± I spit on the ground. ¡°They will pay for this! Not one of them will leave this valley alive!¡±

    I must have been too loud because the moment I said that two orcs made their way through the open gate and looked surprised to see us here. They were like all orcs around 2,3 meters high and 1 meter wide in the shoulder region and had dark green skin. One was bald and had a scar over his left, empty eye socket and his only tusk was on the right side. He was wearing a hide vest and hide pants that reached his knees. He was armed with a rusty iron sword. The other one had long, black, matted hair. He had both husks and in one of them were three golden rings. He was wearing a battered leather armor and the same kind of hide pants the other was wearing. He was armed with a spear. They looked in our direction and said something in their crude language that reminded me of the sounds of pigs. After that they readied their weapons and made their way towards us.

    ¡°Aryana, would you be so kind? Now you can prove yourself and experience what you are capable of now.¡±

    ¡°If you want me to do this I will¡­¡± One look in her face told me that she was not convinced that she could win this battle and fear was creeping in her eyes. But nonetheless she made her way towards the orcs. After getting a closer look at her I could see blatant lust in the eyes of the orcs. The one with the sword laughed and made a big step in her direction and wanted to grab her arm but Aryana made a quick sidestep and hit him straight at the solar plexus. What she didn¡¯t anticipated was that she was stronger than before her transformation. Because of that her fist sunk wrist deep into the chest of the orc. The orc looked as surprised as Aryana and then cough out a mouthful of blood over her before sinking on his knees, not really realising what happened.

    The other orc roared in anger and stormed towards her and stabbed the spear towards her abdomen. In a daze because of what happened and her hand still in the chest of the orc Aryana was to slow to evade and the spear pierced her abdomen and made his way all the way through her body and protruded even a few centimeters out of her back. Now it was Aryana who coughed out a mouthful of blood. After that the orc lifted the spear with Aryana on one end into the air and made a quick side swing, throwing her of the spear and against the wall. This resulted in her spitting another mouthful of blood and gliding down the wall, blood gushing out of the wound in her abdomen.

    The orc didn¡¯t give her a second glance and made his way towards me. He was a bit more cautious than his now dead companion. Nonetheless he attacked me. This time he swept the spear in an attempt to hit my legs. I just jumped up and landed on his shoulder from where I jumped once again, landing 2 meters behind him while he stumbled a few steps forward. ¡°Huh? You want to fight me now? But you fight with her is not over yet. I think it would be unfair to team up against you, don¡¯t you think?¡±

    He turned around to face me once more but his gaze was captured by Aryana who now was kneeling on the ground, her gaze directed towards the ground and her face covered by her long black hair. She slowly heightened her face and the hair slid back, revealing her face contorted in anger. But the most prominent feature in her face where her completely blood red eyes from which blood red lines made their way all over her face. The rest of her face and over all her skin was now a pale white color. Her mouth was filled with long and sharp fangs and her fingers were longer and topped by blood red, 5 cm long claws. She changed her position into a cowering one, like a tiger right before he pounced at his prey. Her gaze penetrated into the eyes of the orc whose eyes opened wide in shock. He made a few steps backward and begun shivering in fear over the immense amount of bloodlust she emitted.

    ¡°How dare you hurting me, you ugly creature! I will kill you!¡± She screamed at him and her voice resembled the sound of chalk screeching on a blackboard. And with these words she pounced in the direction of the orc. She grabbed his right arm and his right tusk, throwing him around and letting loose of the arm but holding onto the tusk, effectively ripping out the tusk and breaking his jaw in the progress. The orc stumbled against the wall and held his jaw, staring in panic at the strange half-elf in front of him who threw away the bloody tusk. Then she opened her mouth wider than humanly, or in this case elvenly, possible and out of her mouth came a screech that made the sound from fingernails on a blackboard sound like a heavenly chorus.

    The orc begun to shudder violently and a few bubbling sounds could be heard. A few seconds later the orc collapsed. If one was to examine this orc closely one would find that his blood was frozen in his veins. After killing the orc the screech came to an end and the red in her eyes slowly changed to the normal colors. The red lines also vanished and her skin changed back to the original grey color. The claws also retracted. After the transformation was completed she collapsed and groaned in pain while the wound in her abdomen, which was healed half the way, begun to bleed again.

    After a while she calmed down but the healing started to slow down. ¡°It seems like you need blood. Want some?¡±

    ¡°Yes. Please give me some of your blood¡­¡± She said with a little pain in her voice. ¡°Oh no. You don¡¯t get my blood. Haha. But look there is enough blood around you. You just have to drink it haha.¡± I said with an amused look on my face. ¡°B-But it smells disgusting¡­¡±

    ¡°Oh? Is that so? The only alternative would be to die. So consider your choice wisely.¡± I told her with a wide grin on my face. ¡°You can¡¯t be serious.¡±

    ¡°Hmm? You think so? You had my blood one time. That is more than most can say. And now make your choice. We don¡¯t have the whole night to idle around there are orcs to kill!¡±

    With a last pleading look that was met by my mocking smile she crawled towards the orc she first killed and let her fangs sink in his neck.

    The moment his blood came into contact with her tongue she gagged and almost vomited. This is the only natural reaction to something like that. Orc blood is one of the most disgusting thing I could imagine. It has a rotten and moldy taste that is complemented by an awful smell and I don¡¯t know why but after the death of an orc the blood starts to curdle immediately so you have those lumps once in awhile. I must say she has a strong will. She gulped down two mouthful before letting go and beginning to cough so hard I thought her lung would come out. After 2 minutes she calmed down and spit a few times with a disgusted expression on her face.

    ¡°So you decided to live? That¡¯s nice. Now that your wound has healed we can move on, can we?¡± I said to her with a wide smile on my face. ¡°That was the most disgusting thing I ever tasted!¡± Once again she spit on the ground. ¡°This taste will haunt me in my dreams!¡±

    ¡°Haha. Your face was priceless~. Alone that made it priceless. Also gratulations for winning your first fight. You did well and even discovered your vampiric form. And the blood drinking part was your punishment for getting wounded. I hope you learn from it.¡±

    With this I went towards the gate and looked behind it. They effectively destroyed every bit of decoration that was in this gatehouse. I sighed and made my way towards the exit to the valley. When we made our way out of the pathway the dawn was now on the verge of the night. The look into the valley was beautiful. In front of us was a river that had its origin by a waterfall on the left and made its way further down the valley back into a mountain wall. To the right was a little forest of red oak trees. I chose them because of the nice blood-red color of their leaves. But by now only a few of them remained. Most of them were logged and used to build some sort of execution device. It locks like a big V and in the middle hung a humanoid figure.

    The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    On the other side of the river was the back of a large mansion. It was four stories high in the middle. On the sides were wings that had a 90¡ã angle to the main part and were three stories high. It would be a nice building if not for the ¡°renovations¡± the orcs had done to it. They had destroyed all windows that were present. Also they ripped all the decorative ivy that had made it¡¯s way up the walls. With this a lot of the rendering came loose as well and the bricks could be seen.

    To the left was a building nicely build out of basalt. This was the quarters for the slaves in the back and for the servants in the front. Also the first floor in the front was occupied by the stables for horses and the like. On the opposite wall from where we were there was the highest building in this valley. This was also made from basalt and was home to my personal guard. The existence of orcs in this valley showed that they were not occupied at the moment. These barracks were 6 stories high and could house the four high ranking officers and 200 soldiers.

    ¡°First let us gear up. I hate getting in contact with the blood of those filthy bastards.¡±

    ¡°Yes. That sounds good. But where do we get some weapons without running into orcs? It seems like they occupied the big mansion.¡± She looked at me with a look on her face that showed her unwillingness to touch even the slightest bit of orc blood ever again. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. The good stuff is not in the mansion. But I don¡¯t know if I have an armor that fits you. But let¡¯s first move. Follow me.¡± I began walking towards the waterfall. Up close one could see that there was a little space between the waterfall and the wall behind it. I made my way through the gap and stood in a small passage that was blocked by a big and heavy black iron door after 3 meters.

    This door filled the whole passage. One could not pass without opening the door. It was adorned with beautiful ornaments that showed a human kneeling in front if a shadowy figure that towered above her. The human figure looked like a defeated warrior with a broken sword in his hand and a full plate armor. The features of the shadowy figure could not be identified. It seems like the real shadows hid them from the eye of the observer. Only one thing could be seen without fail and that were the large fangs in the mouth of the shadow.

    With quick steps I made my way towards the door and slightly cut my right thumb with my canines and pressed the bleeding wound against the fangs of the shadowy figure. After a short while a slight rumble could be heard and the door swung inwards. ¡°After you.¡± I smiled towards Aryana. She walked in and I followed suit. Behind the door was a natural limestone cave with light moss covering the ceiling, bathing the whole cave in a dim light. The cave was almost a hundred meters long and on the widest place fifty meters wide. On the walls and in the middle were all sorts of showcases, cabinets and chests. All filled to the brim with useless and useful artifacts, armor and weapons. ¡°Don¡¯t even think about getting in here without me. There are as many magical traps in here as magical artifacts. Also you can¡¯t open the door. There are just as many security measures on the door as traps in this room.¡± I said as I looked towards Aryana. Not that I ever thought she would try it. ¡°I would never even think of robbing my master!¡± She exclaimed with a shocked expression on her face.

    ¡°Now come. We still need to give you a new name. This is the second reason I first wanted to come here. Follow me to the back of the cave.¡± We went through the whole cave towards the far end. There we could see a pond, which was 2 meters in diameter and 1 meter deep, with a red liquid in it.

    ¡°This is the essence. I don¡¯t have a better name for this. This is the one of the two I know of. The other is in the castle of my sister at the other end of the continent. I discovered it through accident when I build the mansion in this valley. At first I had no clue what this liquid does but later I found out that it has a strengthening effect on the soul and the body. In itself this is nothing spectacular. The humans have similar wells in their lands. It just takes many years to give a large enough boost to be significant. They are rare but some schools are build at places with those wells. The thing that makes these so special is that if you combine it with a naming ceremony the effect is astronomically. After undergoing the ceremony the soul is strengthened to a degree where you can suppress the hunger for blood for a long duration without going insane. Also you get the ability to think clearly in the vampiristic form. Which is, you know that, normally impossible. The last, and probably biggest, thing you get from this well is that you are capable of using blood rites after being named.¡± I explained to her while standing next to the pool. ¡°The only negative thing is that we can¡¯t influence the name given during the ceremony.¡±

    ¡°Okay. What is it that I have to do?¡± Was the answer I got from Aryana. ¡°It is simple. You need to immerse into the liquid. But before we do that you need to clean yourself. Over there, behind the stalagmite, is a pond with clean water. Remove those rags and wash yourself. After that go into the pond with the essence. I will recite the necessary verses to give you your new name.¡±

    ¡°Yes. I will be right back.¡± With these words she went behind the stalagmite. After a few minutes she came back fully naked and I could get a good look at her body. She had well toned muscles and not a gram of excess fat. She had small and firm breasts and a round butt. All in all perfect proportions. After a last glance in my direction she went straight into the pond with the red liquid.

    After she was in the middle of the pond she kneeled down immersed fully into the liquid. After the last bit of her was under the surface I said the ancient words that accompany every namin rite that was ever done in our race.

    ¡°From the shadows we came,

    In the shadows we live,

    In the shadows we hunt,

    And shadows we will be when we die.

    Today I bring forth this daughter of the shadows,

    Her life will now be guided by the shadows,

    May the shadows guide her,

    May the shadows hide her,

    May the shadows protect her,

    Because she is the shadow of every existence.

    From now on she will be known under a new name,

    Given by the shadows can it only be taken by the shadows.¡±

    After I finished reciting those words the surrounding shadows crept towards the pond and entered it. After reaching the middle they encased Aryana only to disperse a few seconds later. After this happened she emerged from the pond, heavy breathing and looking confused around before her view cleared and she focused on me. ¡°What¡¯s your name, daughter of the shadows?¡±

    ¡°My new name is¡­¡±

    Author¡¯s corner:

    Not the most epic cliffhanger in existence but I don¡¯t care! Originally I had planned to only write one chapter about the cleaning of the mansion but then BOOOM 3k words and it hasn¡¯t even started yet. On the other hand you could argue it is still only one chapter because It has yet to start. But you get what I mean :D

 Chapter 5 - Pest Control (Part 2)

    Author''s corner:

    Here you go with chapter 5. Enjoy :)

    ¡°My new name is Lethia.¡± Was her answer while she smiled at me. ¡°From now on you have the right to wear the additional name of ¡®di Contetia¡¯ because you are a member of my clan and a resident of my mansion. Now pledge your allegiance to me!¡± I said while stretching my arms to my sides like i want to hug the entire world. With my last words the shadows behind me began to move and seem to build a cloak that made me look like a living shadow while  only my face could be seen with glowing red eyes.

    She kneeled in front of me with her head facing towards the ground. ¡°My Lord, I will vow my eternal loyalty to you and only you. I will always follow your command because you gave me the chance to live!¡± I let her kneel a few more seconds before turning around and dispersing the shadows. ¡°Very well, very well indeed. Now follow me, Lethia.¡± With these words I walked towards a giant wardrobe near the well. ¡°If there is an armor that would suit you it would be in here. Let¡¯s see.¡± I opened the wardrobe. ¡°Hmmm. Plate? No. Not suitable for an archer. Maybe this cloth armor? Oh nevermind. This armor is a joke. Who would enchant a light cloth armor that it just weighs half its weight? Haha. What is this? Hide? No no, we don¡¯t want you look like a barbarian. Don¡¯t we have some leather armor in here? That¡¯s sad. Really sad.¡± And with this I closed the wardrobe. I pondered a few minutes with my hand scratching my chin then my eyes lit up. ¡°That could work!¡±

    With a few big steps I made my way towards another wardrobe. This wardrobe was a lot smaller than the last one. I opened it. Inside were assassin like clothes made of cloth. I quickly grabbed one made of black cloth and gave it to her. ¡°Here, change into this. It won¡¯t give you high protection but the enchantments higher your agility and your stealth ability.¡± She took it and began changing into it. The outfit consisted of black cloth shoes with a soft leather sole to reduce the sound while walking. Tight, black trouser with three retainers for throwing knives on each side and a retainer for a dagger on her right lower leg. Her upper body was covered by a tight, black cloth jacket that had a hood attached to it. On the inside of the underarm were on each side five retainers for throwing needles. On the right breast side were another three retainers for throwing knives. Around her waist she now wore a leather belt with a lot of pockets and holders for weapons attached to it. The outfit was finished by a pair of black gloves with lead inlets above the knuckles to give her punch a little extra. ¡°Yes this will do. Is it comfortable?¡±

    ¡°Yes it is. I can even feel that my muscles are more elastic than before and contain a explosive power that allows me to jump higher and wider than before!¡±

    Good. Now that we have your armor we need a weapon. And I have exactly what you need! Follow me. I don¡¯t have normal weapons in here so I won¡¯t give you a dagger or throwing knives or a short sword.¡±

    I made my way to the other side of the cave where the weapons were. ¡°Since a long time ago it is a tradition that the nobles of the two clans use special weapons. The discovery of them is irrelevant. But the important part is that these weapons are forged under the influence of a Blood rite. Up to ten sacrifices can be made in the forging process. But the more sacrifices are made the higher the chance that the weapon gets destroyed. I and my sister, as the heads of the clans, have weapons forged with ten sacrifices and as such the most powerful ones. Don¡¯t ask how many times we tried until it finally worked haha. The average noble gets a weapon with three sacrifices. These are considered easy to forge and normally take to three tries to forge. If a noble shows himself worthy enough than a better weapon can be given. Now the interesting part. You are a hunter so your weapon should be a bow. This is the first time I give it to someone. Normally no one wants a bow. So I only have one. But I must say it is a beautiful piece of smithery.¡±

    I opened a showcase with a recurve-bow in it. It was almost 1,5 m long.  The limbs of the bow were made of a red metal and had engravings of thorny vines all over them. The grip was made out of a almost black wood with golden runes on it. The bowstring was made of the black, silky thread of a titanspider and as hard as steel but silky and elastic like normal spider thread. ¡°This bow doesn¡¯t need arrows, which does not mean it can¡¯t use any. It only has the option to use the life force of the user to conjure arrows. It is a little amount and you should be able to fire up to 150 arrows before you feel exhausted. All you have to do to be able to use it, is to smear a little bit of your blood onto the limbs and insert some mana into it. This seals the blood bond and this weapon will be yours until you die or cancel the bond. Now take the bow. My first command is that you are to hunt down every single orc that is in the open. I will personally clean the mansion. I think there will be the leader.¡±

    ¡°As you command, my Lord.¡± And with these words she took the bow, bit in her thumb and smeared a little of her blood onto the red metal that absorbed the blood in the blink of an eye. After this she made her way through the door into the night beyond.

    After she was gone I went to a corner of the cave where the shadows were almost solid. I merged my shadow with these and forced them away. Behind those shadows was a stand with a set of black leather armor, consisting of a black trouser, armguards, shin guards, shoes, and gloves, on top of it. (I don¡¯t know how to describe it so here is a link so you can get an impression:[/url] [url=http://images.maskworld.com/is/image/maskworld/bigview/daemonen-lederruestung-mit-beintaschen-schwarz--mw-302195-1.jpg]http://images.maskworld.com/is/image/maskworld/bigview/daemonen-lederruestung-mit-beintaschen-schwarz--mw-302195-1.jpg</a>)

    Next to the stand was an empty holder for a sword. As I looked at it I swore to myself that I would find my sword that was stolen the day I was forced to go to sleep and I would annihilate everyone that is standing in my way! I don the armor and could feel the power it gave me rushing through my whole body. This armor is more than a normal leather armor. It has more defensive power than the heaviest normal knight armor and on top of that it functions as a catalysator for shadowmagic.

    The moment I stepped out of the corner the shadows flowed back into position and hid the now empty corner. Now I only need a weapon. I went to the wall were the weapons with up to level 8 were (level = number of sacrifices). There I grabbed a bastard sword with a red blade. The guard looked like it was entangled with thorny vines with red tips. The pommel was a octagonal shaped onyx. I closed my hand around the blade and cut into my flesh. I felt the sword drinking my blood and absorbing my mana. After this I could feel what the sword could do. It had enhanced sharpness to the point where it could cut through steel like a hot knife through butter. It also aids in the regeneration of the wielder by absorbing the life force of an enemy that it cuts and giving it to the wielder. It also is a lesser catalysator for shadowmagic.

    After I was done I went out of the cave and closed the door behind me. The sword in the right hand and a grin on my face I clad myself in shadows and walked towards the mansion. I entered through a window in the back and stood in a large room that was a study room from the looks. Everything was a mess. The stucco was ripped from the wall and ceiling. The drawers were ripped open and the content was on the floor. All that looked remotely expensive was missing. I made my way out of the room into a hallway. The same sight as, I supposed, everywhere in the mansion. Anger welled up in me. How dare they destroy my home? Not one orc will leave this mountain range or, as long as I reside here, set one foot into it ever again. But first I need to focus on killing all inside this mansion.

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    Further down the hallway was a large double door. Behind this door was the large entrance hall which was two floors high. If my guess is correct then there should be the place where most of the orcs will reside. The leader will most like be in the audience room in the third floor. But let¡¯s find out. And with a wide grin on my face I opened the double door and looked into the faces of almost 50 orcs.

    Before they even realised what happened I was in the middle of them and with one swing of the sword I cut two orcs in half. After this I instantly vanished from the spot and appeared behind another orc cleaving him vertically in half. After this I made a large swing from left to right with the sword and a large shadowy arc appeared in front of me, flying towards the orcs, killing another five. Then I rammed the sword into the ground. ¡°Guardians of the Shadowforest, hear my call and come to my aid.¡± I uttered under my breath and the shadows around the room seemed to solidify in the form of four wolves with a shoulder height of 1,5m. ¡°Kill them! Kill them all! Don¡¯t let even one orc in this room alive!¡± I didn¡¯t even wait for the wolves to start and pulled my sword out of the ground and leapt at another orc.

    Now they had overcome the original surprise and put up some resistance but it was futile. I was way too fast and the shadow wolves were, well shadows. Normal weapons stood no chance against them. The wolves ripped open their ribcages and abdomen and threw around the innards. I cleanly severed heads, arms and legs and switched the position before the blood even came out of the wound. The battle was over before it even begun. The whole room was now painted in the red blood of the orcs. The guts of the orcs decorate the walls and the floor and the orcs were either dead or dieing because of severed limbs. A painful groan and an awful smell filled the room. Disgusted I looked around and made my to the curved stairs that lead up to the second floor. ¡°Kill all the orcs in the right and the left wing. After that you can go back to your plane.¡± I said while waving my hand at the wolves.

    ¡°Ahhooooooo¡± After a loud howl they ran towards their destination to fulfill their assignment. I made my way up towards the second floor and from there to the nearest stairs to the third floor. On my way I came across five orcs that heard the noise from the battle and the howl and wanted to have a look. The first orc lost his legs. The second orc tried to block my sword but I cut right through the sword and from his right shoulder all the way out of the left side of his belly. The third got his heart pierced. The fourth managed to attack me with a swing of his mace towards my head. I ducked and kicked against his knee, breaking it. While he was falling I made a 180¡ã turn and deflected the thrust aimed at me from behind. One quick step and I was behind him and kicked him in the back. Breaking his spine and causing him to fall forwards and impale the orc that was falling because of the broken knee. After this I decapitated him with a quick swing with the sword.

    I looked down on me and to my great pleasure only my shoes had blood on them. Not even a drop could be seen on my armor. With a smile towards the impaled and slowly dying orc, who looked at me like I was his worst nightmare, I went on and eventually reached the staircase. I slowly made my way up and toward the double doors leading into my audience room. On these previously beautiful adorned doors the orcs also made a few improvements. The painted some sort of skull with brown paint on them. Maybe some sort of tribe crest. I don¡¯t really care. They ruined my door. I worked hours over hours to perfect those doors! And they dared to defile them! The anger I felt from when I first saw my mansion welled up again. I could feel my eyes flare up and emit a faint red glow. The black smoke like shadows crawled up to me and clad me until only my eyes could be seen. My fangs grew larger and my total height was now 2m. The corridor behind me was filled with corporeal darkness.

    At this moment I reached the door and kicked it open. The doors fell out of the hinges and slid 5 meters into the room and the darkness flooded into the room, extinguishing every torch in its way until only the moonlight was left. ¡°How dare you come into my land, my HOUSE and defile it with your filthy presence!¡± I spoke with a booming voice that sounded like it would come out of the deepest presence. I took my first step into the room and let my aura fill it. Every orc present froze in fear. A few even pissed themselves. I looked around the room and could see that there were forty orcs in rusty, heavy plate armor. Where my throne should be standing, was now a armchair and on it sat an orc which was wearing a hide trouser and a hide jacket. He had a warhammer standing next to his ¡®throne¡¯ and was covered in scars. He was a bit larger than your average orc and seemed to be the leader. Next to him stood an orc which has to be a shaman. He was wearing a leather robe with a hood. On the robe were burned in runes and he was wearing a cane with a grey stone on top.

    ¡°Die, filth!¡± Once again my voice boomed through the room and all orcs shivered in fear. With a wink of my hand I conjured shadow spikes that through the armor and the orcs and killed them in an instant. Now only the shaman and the leader were alive. I lowered the amount of fear that I emitted, effectively allowing the orcs to move again. They both looked at me as if their worst nightmare was coming upon them. But he was not the leader for nothing. After a few seconds he grabbed his warhammer and made his way slowly towards me while oinking something to the shaman while shivering in fear. I never bothered to learn the orc language so I could only assume what he was saying but I think he said that they should attack.

    While they were conversing like the pigs they were I uttered a few words for a spell I haven¡¯t used in ages. ¡°Shadow Dimension.¡± And in the next moment we were not standing in the audience room anymore. We were in a forest.The only colors in this forest were grey and black. The shadows were moving as if they were living beings. The trees were grey with black leaves. The sounds that could be heard were that of wolves howling, owls crying and other predators of the night joining the concert of voices. And in the middle of all were two orcs that were staring at the scenery with disbelief in their eyes. ¡°Welcome to my world! This is a friction of the world where all shadows are born! Do you like it? Haha¡± My voice echoed through the forest. I was now one with the shadows of this world. And my voice seemed to come from everywhere. Slowly, the shadows at the edge of the clearing, the two orcs were standing at, filled with all sorts of creatures of the night. On a inaudible command all creatures jumped at the orcs at the same time. The crows and owls peched at their eyes ears and noses while the wolves and big cats mauled on their arms and legs and rats bit open their bellies to crawl inside and start eating the intestines. All this happened to my satisfied laughter and the screams of agony of the orcs.

    After the death of the orcs I left the Shadow Dimension and made my way out of the mansion. As of now there were no more orcs in it. It was time to meet up with Lethia to speak about my future plans. We needed someone to clean this mess up and also new red oaks to replace those that were logged by the orcs.

    Author''s corner:

    The next chapter will be about Aryana, or now Lethia, from her abduction up to this point. This means there will be a third chapter of Pest Control but I don¡¯t want to rush it.

    I will try to get it out as soon as possible. Preferable tomorrow. But maybe sunday. I don¡¯t know yet.

    And as always there may be grammatical errors and misspellings so point them out for me to fix.

 Chapter 6 - Past and Pest Control (Part 3)

    Author''s corner:

    Here is the final part of the Pest Control chapters. It is a bit longer because it contains the journey of Aryana from the village she lived in till the current time in the story. Because some may not want to read the part that happened from the perspective of Nathaniel already again from her point of view I parted it.

    Part 1: The village (her way from the village to the first cave)

    Part 2: A fateful encounter (this is the part that is what happened in the two caves.)

    Part 3: Pest Control (After she left the cave after the naming ceremony.)

    I tried to shorten a lot of descriptions and dialogue in part 2 because you already know them from the other point of view. I recommend reading this nonetheless because I added a few things that were not in the other point of view.

    Now the IMPORTANT part! I got 52 followers and that is freaking amazing! I promised to release a chapter today so here it is. But I also wanted to thank you for the 50+ follows. So I finished the Pest Control chapters and added as a little bonus the past of Aryana, now known as Lethia. Be prepared it is not a short chapter ;D

    But now enough from me. ENJOY!

    Point of view of Aryana, later known as Lethia.

    Part 1: The village

    I made my way back home from my little hunting trip. It was not especially successful but I managed to kill a deer and a rabbit. The pelts will get me some vegetables and the meat will feed me for at least a week if I preserve it. The village I was headed to was in the outskirts of a mountain range in the north of the central continent. Further north is only the wasteland that is inhabited by creatures of the orc family like orcs, goblins and trolls. But luckily there advancement is more towards the capital further in  the east so not many orcs attack the village.

    I first stopped at my little hut that I called my home, which was outside of the village. There I skinned the animals, cleaned the pelts and hung the rabbit meat in little pieces in the sun to make dried meat. Some of the deer meat was sliced in cubes and put in a big pot on the stove to cook a ragout. After that I took the pelts and the rest of the meat and made my way towards the entrance of the village. The moment the villagers saw me they immediately sneered at me and looked with blatant disdain at me. I could hear them say all the bad things about me. That I¡¯m a bastard. That I¡¯m a disgrace to the human race. That it would be better if I die. I came to ignore it. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that I¡¯m one of only two hunters in this village I would be thrown out of the village. And if it weren¡¯t for the fact that I would be caught and sold as a slave if I were to leave this village for a bigger town or caves where my race is believed to live, I would be gone years age.

    I went to the general store in the village where all thing are sold and bought. I entered and was greeted by the unwilling glance of the storekeeper. ¡°Another batch of low quality pelts?¡± He asked me. I knew my pelts were spotless but if I complain here I won¡¯t be able to ever sell something in this village again. So I just nodded and laid them on  the counter for him to inspect. He picked one up and inspected it. ¡°Hmmm¡­ they are even worse than the last you brought.¡± I felt anger welling up inside me, knowing that he wanted to press  the price even further well knowing I could say nothing against it. ¡°I am generous today. I will give you¡­ hmmm¡­ lets see, 5 silver.¡± I knew they were worth at least 15 silver but I kept shut and just nodded. He handed me the silver coins and I handed over the meat that I didn¡¯t need. ¡°It¡¯s deer meat.¡± I added. ¡°Are you trying to say I¡¯m too stupid to even identify deer meat, you dirty bastard?¡± He yelled at me. ¡°Here are 20 copper. And now fuck off!¡± With this he robbed me off another 30 copper and threw me out of his store.

    My next stop was a vegetable stand on the middle of the village center. There I bought a basket of old but still edible vegetables for three silver. That was nearly double the price fresh vegetables would sell for. I looked at my meager spoil while making my way out of the village and sighed. Out of the corner of my eye I made out a group of men in good leather armor that were headed towards the only inn in this village but I paid it no mind. They must be from the military or mercenaries here to look after the orcs or something.

    When I came back to my hut it was already dawn. I put the vegetables away and filled a wooden bowl with ragout and sat down to eat. After that I went to sleep. The hunting trip and dealing with those villagers was tiring after all.

    In the middle of the night I woke up to the sound of wood breaking. I looked around and could see three dark figures making their way through the destroyed door and the only room in my hut towards my bed. I jumped up and screamed. ¡°Who are you? What do you want? Stay away from me!¡± but they didn¡¯t care. They closed the distance and one grabbed my arm. I reacted immediately and punched him in the face. I could feel his nose breaking but my hand hurt badly after that. He let loose of my arm and held his face while groaning. ¡°You little bitch! If not for the money I would kill you right here and now!¡± I kicked to second man in the groin and he fell to the ground where he squirmed in pain. The third man was now in reach and boxed me in the ribs. The breath left my lungs and I coughed and bowed forward, desperately trying to breathe. I knew I had to leave before they can knock me out. I stumbled forward and rammed my shoulder into the ribcage of the third man. In return he grabbed me and threw me against the wall near the door. I howled in pain and tried to crawl on all four out of the door, away from the three man. But at this moment the man which nose I broke came back to his senses and kicked against my ribcage that I flew the meter that I crawled away from the wall back against it. I could hear my ribs crack and pain rushed through my entire body. ¡°You filthy whore! You broke my nose!¡± And with this he kicked me again and again. I could feel three ribs breaking and then I lost consciousness.

    The next time I regained consciousness I was dragged through the entry of the village. My hands and feet were bound and they just put a rope around my feet and pulled me over the ground. Pain was the only thing I felt, but the sight of the man that I kicked in the groin still limping and groaning gave me a little satisfaction. Now I could finally take a look at the people that beat me up badly and dragged me out of my home. The man with the broken nose  had brown hair, brown eyes, was 1,9m and a short beard. He was the storekeeper. The one I kicked in the groin had slightly grey blond hair, was 1,8m and had no beard. The rest was pretty ordinary. He had no noteworthy features. He was the owner of the inn. The last of the three has long black hair and a sturdy build. His skin was weatherbeaten. He was one of the farmers living in this village. I still didn¡¯t know exactly what was going on but cursed those three men in the worst way I could imagine.

    My rough and painful journey came to an end in front of the inn. I hadn¡¯t muttered a single word since I regained my consciousness and tried not to show any signs of pain. ¡°Hey that whore has woken up. Haha. I go and get Gerard.¡± Said the innkeeper and went inside. After a few minutes he came back with one guy in leather armor. He had a large, nasty looking burn over the right side of his face. ¡°Oh you actually had something like this in your village. That saves us a lot of time and money. We would have bought something like this from a slaver further to the west. I think I can give you, considering the state of the goods, 4 gold for her. I think that is an appropriate price. Do you agree?¡± He asked the innkeeper. ¡°Yes, yes. Of course. This is a generous offer if I say so. We will readily agree to your proposal.¡± the innkeeper answered in a submissive way while rubbing his hands with a grin on his face.

    My eyes widened. The actually sold me. They sold me. They sold me. This was the only thought that remained in my head. I could think nothing else. I couldn¡¯t even speak. I just lay there opening and closing my mouth in shock like a fish.

    ¡°Just throw her in the cage in the stable. We will leave tomorrow after breakfast.¡± Gerard said and handed the two gold coins over to the innkeeper. After they threw me in the cage I again lost consciousness.

    I woke up the next morning after they loaded me on a wooden cart. I was still in this cage though. I could see the whole village lined up on the way to the gates. Nine man in leather armor on horses were riding in front of the cart and one was driving it. We begun our way out of the village and the villagers threw moldy vegetables and fruits at me. Two even emptied their jerry in my direction. But luckily it hit the cart and only some splashes found their way in my cage. Even the children took part in this whole spectacle. I could feel a few tears running down my cheeks over my own powerlessness. I vowed that if I ever were to come out of this I would do everything in my power to never be powerless! And so I left the village filthy, in pain, crying and in an iron cage.

    After we left the village I started to regain my composure and started questioning the men around me. ¡°Wh-What happens to me now?¡±

    ¡°Oh, she has regained her ability to speak! Well it will do no harm to let you know.¡± Gerard begun. ¡°We were searching for a new toy for our employer. His previous one broke and he had to kill it. It was after all only a lifeless shell after only four weeks. He really gets better and better at breaking them. Haha.¡±

    ¡°True. And it is no fun when they don¡¯t struggle after all.¡± Another of the men joined in. I could feel the urge to vomit. Not only sold but to a sadistic asshole at that.

    I could feel something cracking in my mind and I started to laugh uncontrollable and to scream and cry while baning my head against the iron bars of the cage which lead to blood running down my face. ¡°Hey that whore lost it. You shouldn¡¯t have told her that, Gerard. What shall we do now?¡± I heard someone saying. ¡°All of you. Stop! First of all get her out of the cage before she kills herself!¡± He said with a little panic in his voice. They opened the cage and grabbed my foot and dragged me out of it. On my way to the ground my head met with the edge of the wagon and the bleeding intensified, leading only to more laughter. After I was on the ground I began kicking and punching around me but the mercenaries didn¡¯t care. Gerard now began kicking me. He kicked my ribcage and pushed my broken ribs into my abdomen where I felt something rupture. Another man kicked me against the head. I felt my head snap around and faced another boot that hit me on the forehead. Now my maniac like laughing had changed to screams of pain and sobs and I begged them to stop but to no awhile. After another boot connected to my temple I lost consciousness for the third time in this short duration.

    Part 2: A fateful encounter

    After an almost infinite amount of time just emerging in the sweet black nothingness my perception changed. The calm black sea I was laying in changed. First small waves that got bigger and bigger washed over me. Every wave brought forth a wave of pain equivalent to the height of the waves. Soon the waves towered over me and the pain was almost unbearable and because I already was unconscious there was no way out. I had to endure. Soon after the waves had reached their maximum they began turning red. First it was only a little bit dark red in the all-embracing blackness. But soon I could clearly see it. It stopped the moment all black had changed to a blood red. The waves also didn¡¯t bring pain anymore and started to calm. But now the small waves brought something way worse than pain. They brought hunger. With every wave it piled up. I could think about nothing else, Just hunger. I needed something to eat or I would die! I would die! Die! Die!

    And with this I opened my eyes. All was dyed in different shades of red. But all what I could think of was to satisfy this burning and raging hunger deep down in my intestines. I looked around there was a man sitting leaned on a wall. He was like me. I instinctively knew that. He was also a predator. I needed to kill him to get what I wanted. I growled at him and he opened his eyes and looked at me. ¡°Haha. It seems you are full of vigor. I like you. But now is not the time for a fight. You look hungry.¡± I couldn¡¯t comprehend what he was saying. The hunger was too loud. He made a step in my direction, I could feel the difference in strength. I shouldn¡¯t have woken him up. I should have run! But now it was too late. ¡°Come on. Let me show you what I have arranged for you. Not that you can understand me as of now.¡± He jumped at me and grabbed me. I had no time to evade. I don¡¯t want to die. Let me go! I started to claw at his arm hoping he would let loose. But he didn¡¯t. He dragged me towards another man that looked like someone I knew but I did not care. I was focused on getting away from this dangerous predator holding my neck. Then I could smelled something delicious and heard a low bubble. I redirected my view and saw blood rushing out of a deep wound in the neck of the human. He almost dipped my nose in this delicious red liquid. I completely forgot everything around me and focused solely on the blood that was flowing down this body. I sunk my teeth deep into his neck, opening the wound even more, and started drinking the red life juice in large gulps. I could feel the hunger fading and the red curtain lifted. I know could think freely again.

    I stood up and looked around. We were in a cave. There were the mercenaries that bought me. And the one that I drank from was actually Gerard. Now I focused on the one in front of me. I looked at him. He was really handsome. He wore clothing that only royalty would wear but it was all covered in a thick layer of slowly drying blood. He had pale skin, an aristocratic facial structure and high cheekbones, giving him a slightly arrogant look. But the most characteristic features in his face were his blood red eyes. I looked into them and I felt the difference in power. I was nothing more than a mere ant in front of him. I shivered and bowed deeply looking towards the ground, hoping that I didn¡¯t anger him in any way.

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to be so formal. We will be travel companions after all.¡± I heard him say. I wasn¡¯t sure what exactly I should do and don¡¯t so I just ended my bow and looked at him. I had many questions but I didn¡¯t want to annoy him so I kept quiet. ¡°You have many questions. I know that. I will answer them when we begin our walk towards my residence.¡± He said and turned around to exit the cave. ¡°Follow me.¡± I slowly followed him out of the cave.

    The moment I stepped out of the cave I was overwhelmed by the impressions I got from my senses. They were sharper than ever. The senses of a half elf weren¡¯t bad but they were far from what I had now. I could clearly see in the dark of the beginning day. I could clearly see the leaves on a tree over hundred metres away. I could smell the different animals that walked by the cave the last days and I could hear the different noises of mice moving little stones in their path.

    The next 1 and half an hours we walked through the mountains and he told me about my new existence. I knew I had changed but I didn¡¯t know what I was. But apparently I was something that he called blood shadow, known to the public as vampire. I was baffled. I now had the chance to be strong. And all that thanks to the man walking in front of me. In this moment I vowed that I would do anything for my savior. He is the only reason I am still alive and because of that I will serve him for the rest of my live.

    When the topic came to my origin I felt the anger once again welling up in me. I told him that they sold me to the mercenaries. He just looked at me and then said with a laugh. ¡°Then if you want you can go to them later on and make one or two your personal servants. Haha. This would be the best kind of irony. By the way. What was your name? Not that it matters, you get a new one eventually.¡± I couldn¡¯t help myself and smiled.Yes. I will kill every single one of them! Slowly and painfully! None of them will escape my wrath! To the question what my name is I answered ¡°My name was Aryana. I would be honoured to receive a new name together with this new existence.¡± And this was true. If my saviour would give me a name I would wear it with honour till the day I die.

    We finally arrived in front of a small path that lead through a tight space between two faces. He said that my new home was behind this path. I was really eager to see it. In my entire life I had no place I could call my home. Just a hut near a village that hated me. After just a few steps I felt that his mood changed drastically and he now permeated an aura that instilled fear in the deepest part of my soul. Uneasy I asked ¡°Have I done something wrong?¡± To which he just smiled and said ¡°No no. It¡¯s just that I know what found my secret valley. And that does not make me happy. Those ugly abortions! Tch. it seems that you can test your new abilities soon on living targets. Is there a better training than slaughtering puny orcs?¡±. Orcs? And he speaks about killing, no SLAUGHTERING them? Without a weapon? ¡°B-But I don¡¯t even have a weapon¡­¡± I voiced my concerns. ¡°A weapon? Your a banshee. You can kill them with your bare hands. If you survive this slaughter festival I will give you a bow that is better than even the bows of those arrogant wood-elves. What do you say?¡± Was his answer. There was no way around that. So I had to focus on surviving. Surely he would do nothing that gets me killed after he worked so hard to give me this life. I will not disappoint my new master! ¡°V-Very well. I will try my best.¡± Was all I could say.

    After about five minutes of walking through the path we arrived at an opening where a large gatehouse stood, blocking the path. The moment he saw what the orcs had done to the door he got enraged and vowed that not one of the orcs will leave this valley. But the moment he shouted those words two big and ugly orcs made their way towards us. His next words surprised me. ¡°Aryana, would you be so kind? Now you can prove yourself and experience what you are capable of now.¡± He send me, unarmed, alone against two orcs which were armed with a spear and a sword. He sure must be kidding. But he told me about a few things I¡¯m now capable of and deep down under my fear I am eager to test my limits. So my answer was ¡°If you want me to do this I will¡­¡± I¡¯m still not convinced that I could win. But he surely will rescue me when things start to go down. I hope my fear is not to apparent.

    After they caught sight of me the look in their eyes changed to a look of lust and the one with the sword made a step forward and tried to grab me. But it was as if he was moving in slow-motion. I could easily sidestep and connected my fist into his solar plexus. But I must have been stronger than I thought. My fist sunk wrist deep into his ribcage. I could feel the warm and almost gooey texture of what must be his lung. And from the top I could feel a beating sensation that slowly started to slow down. I was as perplex as the orc, who coughed a mouthful of blood in my face, I just killed, that I missed the second orc that roared in anger and pierced me with his spear right through my abdomen. The pain was horrible but I could endure it. The black sea was way worse. But the moment he made a fast swing with his spear and threw me against the wall must have been enough to knock me out.

    The next moment I was kneeling on the ground but I couldn¡¯t control myself. But it was not scary. I knew I needed this to survive. I didn¡¯t fight against it. I just let go of the reigns and watched as my body said ¡°How dare you hurting me, you ugly creature! I will kill you!¡± with a voice that sounded kinda melodious to my ears. The next moment I pounced at the orc and grabbed his right arm and his right tusk. I threw him around but hold onto his tusk, ripping it out in the progress while he stumbles against the wall. He looked at me in fear and pain. I could feel satisfaction welling up in me! He, who hurt me, was now in a position where he is at my mercy. And in this moment I opened my mouth and a terrifying screech came out of it.

    After a few seconds of violent shuddering the orc collapsed, dead. With a a slight unease I could feel my teeth retracting and my finger shrinking. And after that finished the pain from my half healed wound was back. ¡°It seems like you need blood. Want some?¡±

    ¡°Yes. Please give me some of your blood¡­¡± I answered him while suppressing the pain. ¡°Oh no. You don¡¯t get my blood. Haha. But look there is enough blood around you. You just have to drink it haha.¡± He can¡¯t be serious. The blood from the orcs smelled nauseating. I can¡¯t drink this! ¡°B-But it smells disgusting¡­¡± But he just smiled at me and told me. ¡°Oh? Is that so? The only alternative would be to die. So consider your choice wisely.¡± It must be another test. Yes that is it. If I can¡¯t drink that blood then how will I survive in a situation where this is the only option! But I need to be sure. I need to ask one more time. ¡°You can¡¯t be serious.¡±

    And he just smiled at me ¡°Hmm? You think so? You had my blood one time. That is more than most can say. And now make your choice. We don¡¯t have the whole night to idle around there are orcs to kill!¡± I send him one last glance and then crawled towards the first orc I killed.

    There I bit deep in his neck. Immediately a gooey liquid filled my mouth that tasted like moldy bread that I once had, mixed with the smell of rotten flesh. It was topped of by lumps of half curdled blood. It was the most disgusting thing I ever tasted. I almost vomited the moment one lump stuck itself to my throat but I managed to swallow it all. But after the second mouthful I couldn¡¯t contain myself anymore and started coughing violently. After two minutes I calmed down and spit out a few times in the futile attempt to get rid of that awful taste.

    Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

    ¡°So you decided to live? That¡¯s nice. Now that your wound has healed we can move on, can we?¡± he said with a wide grin on his face. ¡°That was the most disgusting thing I ever tasted!¡± I voiced my opinion and spit on the ground. ¡°This taste will haunt me in my dreams!¡± I hope I have to never drink those shit again! ¡°Haha. Your face was priceless~. Alone that made it priceless. Also gratulations for winning your first fight. You did well and even discovered your vampiric form. And the blood drinking part was your punishment for getting wounded. I hope you learn from it.¡± he said and simply walked away.

    It was now almost nightfall and we made our way out of the path and entered the valley. It would be beautiful but the orcs ruined it with their vandalism. They logged the red oaks in the little forest to my right and ruined the facade of the mansion in front of me behind a little river. I could only imagine what the orcs had done to the interior of the houses I could see. The thing that caught my eye was a wooden construction that looked like a big V. In the middle of this thing hung a humanoid figure.

    ¡°First let us gear up. I hate getting in contact with the blood of those filthy bastards.¡± But he said that we don¡¯t need weapons But who am I to complain? But the mansion is, almost certain, the headquarter of the orcs. ¡°Yes. That sounds good. But where do we get some weapons without running into orcs? It seems like they occupied the big mansion.¡± But it seems like the mansion is not our destination. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. The good stuff is not in the mansion. But I don¡¯t know if I have an armor that fits you. But let¡¯s first move. Follow me.¡±

    It seems like behind the waterfall was a cave. And there was that giant door. It was almost double the size of me. It was as big as the door to the village I used to live in. But it was far more beautiful than that simple wooden gate. This one here was made of black iron and howed a human kneeling in front if a shadowy figure that towered above her. The human figure looked like a defeated warrior with a broken sword in his hand and a full plate armor. The features of the shadowy figure could not be identified. It seems like the real shadows hid them from the eye of the observer. Only one thing could be seen without fail and that were the large fangs in the mouth of the shadow. It was awe inspiring. I thought that this must be the god that the vampires, I mean we, worship. It can only be that. It shows such a majestic aura that no mortal could ever hope to achieve such an aura.

    Then Nathaniel went in front of the door and smeared a bit of his blood onto the fangs of that shadow creature. After that the door opened with a slight rumble. Behind that door was a limestone cave that was filled with all sorts of showcases, cabinets, wardrobes and chests. ¡°Don¡¯t even think about getting in here without me. There are as many magical traps in here as magical artifacts. Also you can¡¯t open the door. There are just as many security measures on the door as traps in this room.¡± how could he think that I would ever attempt to rob him. I was shocked! ¡°I would never even think of robbing my master!¡± I almost shouted with shock all over my face.

    ¡°Now come. We still need to give you a new name. This is the second reason I first wanted to come here. Follow me to the back of the cave.¡± At the back of the cave was a little pond with red liquid in it. He explained to me what this liquid does and I listened intently to not miss a single word.

    ¡°Okay. What is it that I have to do?¡± I asked after he finished explaining. ¡°It is simple. You need to immerse into the liquid. But before we do that you need to clean yourself. Over there, behind the stalagmite, is a pond with clean water. Remove those rags and wash yourself. After that go into the pond with the essence. I will recite the necessary verses to give you your new name.¡±

    ¡°Yes. I will be right back.¡±

    I felt a bit awkward after I came back after washing myself and standing fully naked in front of a male for the first time. But contrary to my expectations he had no lust on his eyes. He simply looked at with no ill intentions in his eyes. So I made my way into the pond. After I was in the middle of the pool I kneeled down and waited. I could hear him mumbling something that was so muffled through the water that I could not understand what it was but after he was finished I could FEEL the shadows encasing me. After a short while I couldn¡¯t feel the liquid anymore and opened my eyes.

    I wasn¡¯t in the pond anymore. I stood in a forest made of shadows. Where am I, was my first thought. But before I could shout if there is someone, the shadows that were cast by the trees made of shadows in a world of grey and black, moved to a point in front of me where they began forming a humanoid figure out of shadows. I could not identify if this figure was male or female. I couldn¡¯t even see any facial features. It was only a standing shadow. The eyes of that figure were made of a maelstrom of red and black. I could only stand and stare. After a while the figure started talking. ¡°Hello, daughter of the shadows. I¡¯m an avatar of Shan¡¯tar, god of the shadowforst and I will grant you your name. Carry him with honour and may the shadows protect you, little Lethia.¡±And with this the entire scenery vanished and I was once again in the pool. There I emerged from the pond and started to breath heavy. I was a little confused as what happened but I soon enough focused on Nathaniel to hear his question. ¡°What¡¯s your name, daughter of the shadows?¡± I took one last breath and answered him. ¡°My new name is Lethia.¡±

    ¡°From now on you have the right to wear the additional name of ¡®di Contetia¡¯ because you are a member of my clan and a resident of my mansion. Now pledge your allegiance to me!¡± His voice boomed through my head and I was as happy as never before. Finally I got acknowledged! I could finally be part of a family! I kneeled in front of him while facing the ground. I could feel his imposing aura that told me that he is a true ruler. Not like those fake rulers like the one in the village I used to live! A true ruler. And he acknowledged ME! Of course I¡¯m going to pledge my loyalty to him! And from the bottom of my heart and soul I vowed ¡°My Lord, I will vow my eternal loyalty to you and only you. I will always follow your command because you gave me the chance to live!¡±

    After this we made our way through the cave and searched for a new armor for me. After a short while he looked like he found what he was looking for and gave me a set of black clothing that reminded me of assassins. I quickly changed into it and finally he was talking about a weapon for me. He told me the differences of the weapons in his possession and that I would get a low grade one and when I prove myself I would get a better one. After this explanation he showed me a beautiful bow made of red metal and adorned with thorny vines. After sealing the blood bond I knew what the bow could do for me. He would create arrows from my life force and would assist me while shooting to improve my accuracy in long ranges.

    Part 3: Pest Control

    I was seriously happy and just waited for an opportunity to prove myself. ¡°Now take the bow. My first command is that you are to hunt down every single orc that is in the open. I will personally clean the mansion. I think there will be the leader.¡± And this chance came sooner than I expected. But I was brimming with confidence. ¡°As you command, my Lord.¡± And I sprinted almost out of the cave into the open space behind the waterfall. There I took a deep breath of the fresh night air and closed my eyes for a short duration of time. This perfect day was only tainted by the presence of those orcs! I will annihilate the all! And with these thoughts I made my way towards the remaining few trees and the big V.

    In front of the V was a large fire that was fueled by the remains of the red oaks. It really was a shame. And around the fire a large amount of orcs could be seen eating some kind of meat that was more raw than cooked. And I could see a lot of humans sitting in a cage a little further towards the remaining trees. In this cage were at least 20 humans but they all had in common that they were around 25, with short military haircuts and male. The one hanging on the V was a beastman from the panther tribe. Black hair was covering almost his entire body. Black panther ears protruded through his short black hair and his yellow eyes with black catlike pupils glared angrily around while he was shouting creative insults. The orcs only laughed at him and threw stones and bones at his already badly bruised body.

    I observed all this while slowly making my way through the shadows towards the trees. Nobody saw me. Finally I reached the remaining trees and climbed one that was not in the front row all the way to the top, where I clad myself in shadows as to not be spotted. From there I could see the orcs sitting around the fire. They numbered 30. If I had to fought them all at once I might as well suicide.

    I needed something like a plan to reduce the numbers. Maybe if i could extinguish the fire. And then it came to me. If I could coat the fire in shadows no light could escape and controlling shadows is something that I did myself just a moment ago. I just need to focus and I should be able to do it. I concentrated on the shadows that were cast by the orcs and the stuff that was lying around. After a while I could feel a connection to the shadows and started moving them. It was harder than it sounded. After only 3 seconds sweat was running down my entire body and I felt the start of a headache but I didn¡¯t falter. After another 2 seconds the shadows started to move quicker and the orcs noticed something was wrong but they just squeaked in their language and didn¡¯t even bother to stand up nor grabbed their weapons which were lying around them on the ground. The only who sensed the severity of the situation was the panther-man who suddenly quieted down and just looked around in search for the culprit. Maintaining the shadows over the fire was surprisingly easy. Far easier than moving them towards the fire. I could only rejoice and start part two of my plan. Killing orcs.

    A few seconds later the shadows reached the fire and the orcs still didn¡¯t seem to care. With a last boost in concentration I willed the shadows over the fire and suddenly the only light on came from the moon and the stars. I had no problems seeing them but the sudden absence of the bright light made the orcs almost blind. And in addition to that they began to panic and searched for their weapon while jumping up and running into each other more hindering than helping each other.

    I took advantage of this situation and started shooting with my bow. I pulled back the bowstring and a black arrow with red whirles on the surface materialised and I could feel a slight drain of my life force. I aimed at the head of a orc that was a little distance away from the rest and let the arrow loose. It flew exactly where I aimed at and hit the right eye of the orc. The eye and a large portion of his head was obliterated and only a fist big hole remained where his eye was. Bone splinters, blood and brain matter sprinkled the ground behind him and the orc fell on his back before he realised what happened. No other orc noticed what happened. In this fashion I started to pick the orcs that were a little away from the rest and 10 seconds after the fire was extinguished and the panic started 10 orcs were dead. Now the rest of the orcs realised that some of them were dead and all of them adapted to the darkness. But they were far from organised. I shot into the knee of another orc, severing the lower leg from the upper part and while he was falling and shrieking in surprise and pain I shot an arrow through his neck ending his pitiful existence.

    Now came the second part of the plan. I closed my eyes and released the darkness coating around the flames. The fire once again burned with its full intensity, blinding all orcs that stood around it. Again I could hear the surprised squeaks of the orcs. I looked at the fire through my closed eyelids and after a moment I noticed that my eyes had adapted so I looked slightly away from the fire and opened my eyes. Then I again shot arrow after arrow. It took again 10 seconds before the orcs adapted to the change in their environment. But at the time they did only 9 were left standing and I was still sitting in the safety of my tree.

    One of the orcs seemed to realise that they were attacked and that the attacker was with a high possibility near the trees. They didn¡¯t seem to care that only nine of them were left or that the corpses lying around them had fist sized holes in their body or that blood and brainmatter was lying everywhere. They were running towards my location. I could kill three with quick shots while they were running in a straight line towards my location, then they were out of my line of sight. I attached the bow to my back and readied myself.

    The moment they arrived on the first tree they slowed down and made their way with caution through the trees. The moment the first orc was under my tree I let myself fall behind him. I landed as silent as a falling leaf and kicked his knees from behind. He fell to his knees and was now a little bit smaller than I am. I grabbed his head with both hands and twisted his head to the left. At first I heard him squeak in surprise, but that soon changed into one of exertion. First there was resistance but after I twisted with a little more force his neck broke with a satisfying crunch like a dry branch.

    By now the remaining five orcs had seen me and stormed in my direction. All of them were wielding rusty swords. The first cut from above. I quickly sidestepped and hit his wrist, disarming him as a result. The next wanted to behead me and swung his sword in an arc. I just ducked and made a sweep-kick towards his knees, breaking one and bringing him down to the ground in the process. The first one now wanted to grab me. I again sidestepped and grabbed his arm I then made a quick turn and threw the orc towards his companion that was approaching from behind. With a quick step I stood above the one with the broken knee. He tried to cut my leg but I only kicked the blade away and with a quick stomp I squished his windpipe. I then face the one that was storming towards me. He screamed something I didn¡¯t understand while sounding like a pig and tried to body slam me into a tree.

    I jumped as high as I could but it was not enough. His shoulder slammed into my feet and I lost balance. The good part was that the orc didn¡¯t ram me into the tree. The bad part was I was now lying on the floor and two angry orcs were approaching me rapidly while another one behind me recovers from his liaison with a tree. I needed to stand up or I will die. I managed to get on my knees but then the first orc was in front of me and kicked, me while still running, against a tree 3 meters away. I could feel the impact from the tree and my ribcage cracked a little under the pressure but nothing broke. I quickly jumped on my feet, in time to evade another ram attack. I hit the ribs of the orc that tried to ram me for the second time and could feel them break through the leather armor he was wearing. I just wanted to hit a second time to shove the broken ribs into his inner organs but a sword cut from above ruined it. I barely evaded but still received a minor cut on my arm.

    I countered by hitting his face with the backside of my hand. This time I used more force than when I hit the ribs of the other. I could feel and see his head cave in. His eye burst under the force and the liquid flowed down on my glove. Through little holes in the skull brainmatter leaked together with blood and mixed with the liquid from the eye. All this made an awful smelling and looking cocktail that now coated the backside of my glove. I turned around and finished the orc that leaned against the tree with a quick punch towards the already broken ribs. The orc screamed in pain and coughed a mouthful of blood against the tree and then sunk dying down to the ground.

    The last two orcs made their way towards me and tried to pincer me. The one in front of me tried his luck with a cut from the top left towards my hip. I quickly closed the distance and elbowed his solar plexus and blocked his swing by simultaneous hitting and breaking his elbow. I then grabbed his arm and threw him over my shoulder and stomped down on his throat leaving him to die from suffocation. Now there was only one orc left that was fast closing in. He thrusted his sword at me from behind. I didn¡¯t manage to fully evade and the sword scratched over my ribs, leaving a bloody scratch behind. I trapped the sword between my arm and my ribs and turned my body around with a quick move, while inhaling a sharp breath from the pain. The orc let go of the weapon and was now unarmed.

    I took the sword out from under my arm. I then cut towards the abdomen of the orc who just managed to evade and received only a shallow cut. He counterattacked from the left and I blocked but got pushed away on meter because of the difference in size and weight. I kicked dirted in his face with my left foot and made a quick step to close the distance. The orc, blinded by the dirt, didn¡¯t see me coming and I cut open his abdomen and quickly jumped back. I managed to evade the blood that was now flowing out of this wound. Shortly after his guts started to fall out and the orc fell to his knees, looking disbelieving at the amount of blood and intestines lying on the ground. Then he tried apathetically to stuff his intestines back into his belly. I watched all this in silence. After a whole minute the orc was finally dead and fell face first into the dirt.

    I now made my way out of the trees and towards the wooden construct. The moment I showed myself all eyes were on me. I ignored the human in the cage. That didn¡¯t mean I could not hear them. They were whispering about not angering me and that I¡¯m not a human and in general they were talking what the next logical step was while looking anxious in my direction.

    I came to a halt in front of the V and looked up to panther man who looked down on me with a curious face. I now could see that his hands had claws and he also had a black tail that was only half its normal length and he was missing his right ear. I looked at him laid my head to the side and then send him a bright smile. Master Nathaniel wanted subordinates. This man looks like he can be of use. I should bring him to Master! Yes this is a good plan!

    ¡°Hey, what are you thinking about? And what are you? You look like you are half dark elf half human but you smell like nothing I ever met!¡± The panther man spoke to me. ¡°I was thinking that today is my lucky day! And you can make it even better! Listen. If I release you, will you follow me to my Master or do you prefer hanging here till I¡¯m back with him?¡±

    ¡°No, no! You can release me. Even if I want to how could I possibly run from someone who killed 30 orcs alone? Haha. And I¡¯m also interested in the one you call master.¡±

    Oh, that was easier then I thought. The next part is to release him. I could climb up and break the anchoring of the iron chains that bind him. But that would be troublesome. Should I just knock down the whole construct? No that might hurt this guy. Hmmm. And then it hit me. I had a bow. I took the bow and took the first shot and destroyed the anchoring on one side. This caused the panther man to swing against the pole on the other side, which caused him to groan a little. I then shot the other anchoring and he landed on the ground. A bit shakily but on his feet. ¡°Come on. Don¡¯t just stand there, follow me!¡± I said to the panther-man while already walking towards the mansion. ¡°Hey, could you please free us as well? Only if that is possible of course, young miss.¡± One of the humans actually the guts to call out to me. I turned around and gave them an ugly grin. ¡°Human filth. Be happy that I don¡¯t kill you on the spot!¡± I spit on the ground and walked away. The pantherman followed me, dragging his chains behind him, while silently grinning.

    The moment we stopped near a destroyed fountain in front of the mansion the doors opened and my Master walked out with a grin on his face.

    Author''s corner:

    First of all thanks to all who read this whole chapter. This is the longest chapter I¡¯ve written so far. 8,2 k words phew¡­

    And a little warning: my chapters normally won¡¯t be this long! This is a special occasion.

    If there are(spoiler: there are) spelling and/or grammatical issues please let me know so I can fix it.

    Another thing: I somehow forgot to end the last sentence in the last chapter(big thanks to the guy who pointed it out!)¡­ I¡¯m sorry for that but I added the rest. Here is the full paragraph(nothing major but still...) :

    After the death of the orcs I left the Shadow Dimension and made my way out of the mansion. As of now there were no more orcs in it. It was time to meet up with Lethia to speak about my future plans. We needed someone to clean this mess up and also new red oaks to replace those that were logged by the orcs.

    Next chapter will be the guaranteed wednesday chapter.

    I wish all of you a nice rest of the weekend. :)

 Information 1 - The Central Continent and its regions

    Author¡¯s Corner:

    I was bored so I thought I give you guys some information on the world the story is set in. I also made a little map that only contains the most basic kind of information and a brief introduction of the regions. The next chapter will be tomorrow like I said :)

    What is black remains black. I don''t have a clue why so it is how it is... :-TsavKAnz-:

    Central Continent

    The regions are:

    Atyra

    Capital: Heles, Population: ~30.000

    Atyra is with ~477 km from east to west and ~515 km from north to south the smallest of the human kingdoms. Because of its location its main focus lies on trading with the dwarves in the east and the other human kingdoms in the north, south and west. Also in this continent there is one sort of fish that only lives in the Heles Sea. This leads to a luxury product that is sought after in the whole country. Also Atyra is the leading country in researching natural laws and magic and has the best known magic academy of the continent.

    Atyra has a little standing army that mainly consists of city guards and royal knights. The only danger in this country comes from the bandits and the normal wildlife.

    Barbarian Hills

    The Barbarian Hills are a region in the south east of the central continent. It is a region that is dominated by hills and inhabited by tribes of humans which are all fighting among themselves. Those tribes are considered barbaric because of the fighting and traditional aspect of their culture. They are technologically not as far as the rest of the continent because they don¡¯t see the reason to research in those fields.

    On the other hand they are skilled fighters that are hardened through a life of fighting from a young age. This makes them superior to any army of the other kingdoms and more than once  Stesia had to learn this the hard way.

    Central Empire

    Capital: Ilison, Population: 100.000

    The Central Empire in one of the largest kingdoms on the continent. It is the granary of the continent and produces most of the crops. The mindset of the people is that humans are the superior race and all other have to submit. That leads to many conflicts with the neighboring Kilin forest. Non-human slavery is legal and the Empire''s slave markets are the biggest in the continent, having ¡°products¡± for every taste.

    Governance: Monarchy, the emperor holds the absolute power.

    The Central Empire has a large standing army of 250.000 and the option to call another 100.000 to arms in a case of emergency. This is possible because they teach the young generation about the honour of war and that they are the bulwark of humanity. This leads to an increased standing of the military in this nation.

    Corrupted Wastelands

    Located in this black and stony wasteland is the Rift. Some say that it was caused by the battle of two of the gods that destroyed the landscape and cause this crack in the dimension. The reality is that every being that goes near the Rift slowly loses its sanity and begins to mutate. As a result many abnormalities and undead roam those lands and sometimes try to invade the human and dwarven lands as if controlled by a hive mind.

    Another unexplained thing that happens is, that some people hear a call from the Rift and let everything behind to go to the Corrupted Wastelands. At first they were stopped at the border but soon after they learned that they cannot be near the Rift they started causing trouble in  the towns they were at. This lead to the extermination of one town through a necromancer that wanted to leave but couldn¡¯t. After this incident the policy was changed and everyone that wanted to leave was allowed to but everything that came back from the Corrupted Wastelands was to be slaughtered mercilessly.

    Odrosrokar

    Odrosrokar is the massive mountain range in the middle of the continent. It is inhabited by the dwarves and the dark elves. They don¡¯t get along pretty well but the mountain range is big enough for both of them so they don¡¯t clash that often. The dark elves live in isolation so no numbers are known for their fighting strength but rumors say that they have at least a army of 10.000.

    Governance(Dark Elves): Monarchy, the queen holds the absolute power

    The dwarves are in constant battle against the creatures coming from the Corrupted Wastelands and have an army of at least 150.000 men, but only their capital is free to travel to for non-dwarves so not much is known about their real fighting strength. Their capital is Danwahr.

    Governance(Dwarves): Monarchy, the king holds the absolute power

    Dark Mountains

    You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

    The Dark Mountains are the natural border that separates the Orcen Desert from the human inhabited lands. Every effort to build fortresses in the mountains to mine for minerals and ores were brutally destroyed by the orcs. Nonetheless there are a few villages in the outskirts of the mountains that try to become lucky and maintain a little mine.

    Kilin Forest

    Capital: Uel Ancalen, Population: 20.000

    The Kilin Forest is the home of the wood elves and the different beast-men in an alliance together.

    Governance: Governed by a council that consists of the wisest/most powerful people of each race

    They have a standing army that is suited for the combat in the forest and numbers around 30.000 members, but every other inhabitant is also adept in combat so the overall combat ready forces cannot be counted.

    Lava Fields

    The Lava Fields are an area that is filled with active volcanoes and lava seas and rivers. The overall populace believes that the dragon race resides in the largest of the volcanoes.

    Masha

    Capital: Ayam, Population: 250.000

    Masha may not be the biggest country in terms of size but it certainly has the biggest cities of the whole continent. This country is trade oriented and has the biggest fleet of all the nations. It also has established trading routes with all countries that have a coast. If you want to buy something then you will get it there. Even if it is illegal. Masha has everything.

    Governance: Governed by a council of merchants

    Masha does not have an army like the other nations. That is because it is ruled by a council of merchants that have the biggest trading companies in Masha. And those merchants have their own personal armies along with all the other slightly rich people. That makes it hard to tell the actual number but it is believed that there are at least 150.000 armed people in Masha.

    Orcen Desert

    The Orcen Desert is inhabited by the nomadic tribes of the orcs and their brethren, the goblins and ogres. It is a vast Desert that is barely inhabitable and pushes the orcs above the mountains towards the human kingdoms.

    Scorched Desert

    The Scorched Desert is a magical Wasteland that has nothing in it that is alive. Everything in it looks burned and destroyed. The sandy scenery it sometimes broken by scorched ruins of large cities. It is the homeland of the undead and their king.

    Stesia

    Capital: Sia, Population: 50.000

    Stesia is also one of the biggest countries on the continent. It is in constant fighting with the neighboring tribes from the Barbarian Hills and focuses solely on military research together with the dwarves. This lead to them having the most advanced technology when it comes to weapons. But the research is actually more reputable than the military which leads to an army that is by far smaller than the one from the Central Empire.

    Governance: The ruling class of Stesia consists of a royal family and a council of prominent researchers and the upper echelon of the military.

    Stesia has a standing army that numbers 125.000.

    Wegril

    Wegril is a little kingdom in the north of the continent and the bulwark against the everlasting assault from the orcs. It is considered unimportant for the power balance of the continent and is mostly looked down upon by the other nations. It has little to no crop production because of the location in the outskirt of the Dark Mountains and needs to import it all from the Central Empire. Because of the constant struggle between the noble factions, most parts of the imported crops don¡¯t make their way to the normal citizens what leads to an increased occurrence of bandits.

    Governance: Monarchy that is highly influenced by the opinions of the nobles.

    Wegril has a standing army that consists of 50.000 men, stationed at the border of the Dark Mountains.

    Author¡¯s corner:

    There will be one or two other information chapters the next days. One about the different races and a short description of them and another one that focusses on the vampires/blood shadows. I hope I can get them out before friday. If not you have to wait until next week.

 Chapter 7 - The second follows quick

    Author¡¯s corner:

    First of all thanks for 69^^ (I know I¡¯m a kid at heart) followers and 11 favorites. You guys are great!

    Now here is the wednesday chapter.

    I will go back on  the promise of 2.5k words a chapter. I just can¡¯t do it¡­ So here are another 3.3k words. I will not say this is average or not. From now on I will make the chapters as long as I see fit. Deal with it :P

    I won¡¯t be writing this we so there might be no chapter. Chapter will not be later than wednesday.

    But now enough from me. ENJOY!

    Point of view of Nathaniel di Contetia:

    As I stepped out of the mansion Lethia was already waiting for me with another person standing besides her. This person was a panther-man. ¡°Hunting completed already?¡±

    ¡°Yes, my Lord. It was rather easy. Those orcs are dumber than I had anticipated. I could easily outmaneuver them.¡± She answered with a slight bow in my direction. ¡°That¡¯s good to hear. And who might be the person besides you? I can¡¯t remember seeing him before.¡± I said with a questioning look and a raised eyebrow in the direction of the panther-man. ¡°My name is Fuza¡¯ar. I am deeply in debt to your subordinate for rescuing me. May I ask who you are?¡± He answered me with a deep bow in my direction. ¡°Oh, a well mannered cat. That¡¯s something I don¡¯t see often haha.¡± I said with a soft chuckle to which I could see his face darken with displeasure. ¡°My name is of no interest for you. But I am the owner of this now tainted mansion.¡±

    ¡°Also there are some humans in a cage near the giant V. I would have killed them with pleasure but then I remembered that they could serve another purpose more efficiently. But that is only if you approve of it.¡± Lethia gave another bit of information. ¡°That is quite the good idea. I have no objections. We can guide them to their new quarters later. You don¡¯t have deep connections with those humans?¡± I directed the last question at Fuza¡¯ar. ¡°No. I just stumbled across their path. And if not for an orc attack I would have fought them. They had the audacity to propose the idea of selling me as a slave.¡± He answered in a calm manner.

    ¡°Okay that was more than expected. Let¡¯s go inside. We may be able to find a room that is suitable for a little conversation. I want to learn more about you. And I don¡¯t let a no count as an answer!¡± I ended our little conversation and turned around to once again enter the mansion. Fuza¡¯ar followed me and Lethia was in the rear, probably making sure he does not attempt to run. After making our way through the entire mansion we finally found a room where the interior was not too much damaged and two chairs and one armchair with red cushions. I took the armchair and let the other two sit on the chairs.

    After we settled down I looked at the panther-man with a look that demanded answers. ¡°What brings a cat like you in these regions? Normally you inhabit the Kilin forest outskirts if my informations are up to date. And you have to cross the Central Empire. That¡¯s not an easy journey.¡± Once again he looked displeased with the way I addressed him.

    ¡°I wanted to fight. My race is one of fighters but my opponents were disappointing. I wished for more. But in the Kilin Forest all you can fight are patrols of humans and the honour duels inside the tribe. After a while I grew bored and decided that I needed stronger opponents. That was when I decided that I had to leave the Forest and search for strong opponents. I heard the legends about the fighting strong orcs and their brethren. So I decided to see if they are true. I left the Forest and made my way across the countries and avoided the civilization and eventually I managed to reach the Dark Mountains. There I got really unlucky and crossed path with a group of 34 mercenaries that were most likely hired to inspect the region. The moment they saw me they started their attempts to capture me. I could hear them say that I would be worth a lot of money. But soon after the fight started the orcs attacked. There were a lot of orcs and after a while we were overwhelmed. Only the 21 humans in the cage and I survived the attack. I don¡¯t know why but they had enormous fun beating me up again and again. After a while we reached this valley and they started building the V and hung me up there. Starting to throw stuff at me. The rest is what happened just a few moments ago.¡±

    ¡°You are really one lucky cat. I can offer you what you search for. I have just one tiny condition. You need to pledge your loyalty to me and I can grant you power. And enemies more than you can count.¡± I looked at him with a smile. ¡°I¡¯m not interested in a cult of devil worshippers. I would like to go now if you don¡¯t mind.¡± He wanted to stand up but Lethia was now standing behind him, pressing him back against the chair. ¡°Tststs. Not so quick. I have not finished yet. I was on a longer, let¡¯s call it a vacation. And I need some trustworthy subjects that help me establish an organisation that can provide me with anything I might need. There is nothing about devils or demons. Just plain politics and fighting.¡± I leaned back with the hand folded in front of my chest. ¡°I don¡¯t believe you. You could say anything and then it is too late. I don¡¯t even know your name!¡± His expression now changed between angry and panicked. ¡°You ungrateful creature! My Lord expressed his wish that you become his! I should have let you on the construction dying of starvation!¡± Lethia shouted out angrily, her fingers that rested on Fuza¡¯ar¡¯s shoulder grabbing tight, causing his bones to slightly crack and blood could be seen where her fingernails cut into his skin. A painful moan was all that escaped Fuza¡¯ar¡¯s mouth and he glared angrily at me.

    ¡°Lethia. That¡¯s enough.¡± I said to Lethia who hold tight for another few seconds before letting loose. But she still glared at Fuza¡¯ar angrily. ¡°Granted. You don¡¯t know anything about me or my motives but you have to trust me that I don¡¯t worship some evil being. But I am no hero either. And you will be of use for me. One way or another. The choice is up to you.¡± I looked calmly at him and stated this as facts that were already set in stone and unchangeable. ¡°Do I have a choice?¡± Was all he pressed between his teeth while glaring at me. ¡°Of course not!¡± I clapped my hands and stood up. I smiled at him and then with a quick motion I drew the sword and with a precise cut I opened his throat. ¡°Now die for me.¡± I looked at his surprised face while he began to gurgling blood, all the while smiling. I motioned Lethia to step back and kicked him on the chest, causing the chair to fall back. He was now lying on the floor, trying to stop the bloodflow from his throat. After a while his movements started to slow down and finally stopped. A short while after the blood stopped flowing.

    ¡°He smells delicious!¡± Lethia looked at me with sparkling eyes. ¡°You don¡¯t eat from the floor in this house. Have some decency. I have a hidden cellar with a lot of preserved bottles of exquisite blood. If they are still there we will drink some later. But now there are more pressing matters to attend.¡± I took the sword and cleaned it with a cloth that was lying around in this room. After that I cut into my wrist, allowing my blood to flow. I then forced my wrist into his mouth. It took me a while to get the blood into his stomach but finally I was successful.

    The moment the transformation began I motioned Lethia to follow me. I didn¡¯t need to see this. After a few times it got boring. Let¡¯s see what we can do with those humans. At first let¡¯s go to the building where the slaves were in the earlier days. There should be enough collars for all of them. Then they can start cleaning up this mess. And maybe we can transform one or two later on.¡± With this we left the mansion and went to the building to the right. Through the stable in the front and the stairs down in the cellar in the part of the building where the servants used to live. The door to the cellar was broken open and we could easily enter. Behind the door was one big room that was as big as the entire layout of the building. It was filled to the brim with  big cells on all sides. There was enough room to contain around 100 slaves in there. Near the door was a chest that was opened but the collars that should be  inside were still there. They were simple black leather collars with a red stone in the front.

    The collars suppressed  the wearer''s mind and made him a mindless slave that can follow commands but has no will of its own. As such they could not be used to do complicated tasks but it was sufficient for cleaning. I took a rope and slid 21 collars on it. After that I knotted the rope and gave it to Lethia. ¡°Now we can go to the humans.¡±

    On our way to the humans in the cage Lethia asked ¡°Why did you cut his throat? Can¡¯t you just feed him some blood?¡± I looked at her and said ¡°I could have but the rate at which this is successful is much lower than when the blood is first removed to a great amount. You see the mana that is present in the blood of any living being and forms their aura, changes when someone gets transformed. This means you have another aura than before. The greater the change the harder it is to succeed. For the lower ranks like lesser and normal it is not so important. The changes are not that big. But if you go higher the changes are greater and so is the resistance of your aura. This resistance can cause the transformation to go wrong and you could go insane in the progress. Why this is, I¡¯m not entirely sure yet but I¡¯m looking into this in my research. Is that an answer to your question?¡±

    The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.¡°Yes, my Lord.¡± She answered me.

    We walked over the bridge that crossed the little river and made our way to the cage that housed the humans. The moment they saw us I could see hope light up their eyes. Too bad that I didn¡¯t come here to release them. Ever. ¡°Please let us go. We just want to leave this place.¡± One of the men pleaded to me. ¡°I believe you.¡± I said and smiled at the man. I could see that they believed I would free them and joy could be seen on their faces. ¡°But I don¡¯t plan to release you.¡± And there it went. Now there was only despair on their faces. ¡°You can¡¯t do that. Do you know who I am!¡± One man screamed at me. ¡°No. I don¡¯t know and I couldn¡¯t care less.¡± Was my answer. To this the man only opened and closed his mouth repeatedly like a fish and went red in anger. ¡°I don¡¯t think you understand the situation you are in. Nobody knows you are in this valley. I could kill you right here and now. But I need someone to clean my mansion. It is slightly dirty you see and you seem like capable man so I wanted to ask if you could help me.¡± I smiled nicely at them.

    ¡°O-Of cou-course we would like¡­¡± One man began to agree to my proposal but was cut short by the arrogant man from before. ¡°No. I, Amiel of Mentshire, brother of the duke of Mentshire, will never lower me in the rank of a lowly servant!¡±

    ¡°I see. Your men are ready to help me. That is really nice of them. And I think I have another little task that suits you rather well. If you would have the goodwill to follow me after I release you from this cage, your highness.¡± I said with a mocking undertone, that he didn¡¯t seem to get, in my voice and a slight bow in his direction. ¡°You finally acknowledged my social standing? That is a smart move peasant! Out of pure goodwill I will forget about the former affront. Now open the door!¡± He spoke in a commanding manner. ¡°Lethia. Would you be so kind to open the door for our esteemed guest?¡±

    She looked at me with a knowing smile and took a step towards the door and placed her hands on two bars. ¡°Don¡¯t you need a key?¡± One man meekly asked before becoming wide eyed the moment Lethia broke open an opening that was wide enough for one person. I bowed in the direction of the arrogant man and made an inviting gesture to sign him to step outside. ¡°You would not mind if I equip those man with these collars here? They are only a security measure. You surely wouldn¡¯t let strangers roam your mansion to clean it, would you?¡± I asked him nicely. ¡°Of course not. I totally understand your situation!¡± Amiel answered while standing next to me.

    ¡°As you may know, my companion here is rather adept in handling her bow. So if you would be so kind to step out of the cage and equip those collars I would be really happy.¡± I smiled in the general direction of the cage. But it seems that they were not as pleased as I was in this moment. I could only guess why but they followed my demand obediently and put on the collar. After that I made a little cut in my thumb and smeared my blood on the red stone in the front of the collar. Amiel looked really interested in what I was doing. ¡°Speak. What are those collars? I have never seen anything like that before. Normal collars are sealed with a short magic ritual.¡±

    ¡°I found these long ago in a ruin. They are quicker to place on someone but the big contra is that they are not as responsive as before and can only be used in simple tasks. But for cleaning it is more than enough.¡± I answered his question.

    ¡°You obey every command given by Lethia as if it was my command!¡± I spoke to the men which only nodded with empty eyes. ¡°Sir Amiel, would you be so kind to follow me into the mansion. There we will wait for an important guest to arrive that may be an important asset in the future. But excuse me for not serving anything except for water. It happened that there is a shortage of servants at the moment and a little incident happened that dirtied my home. But there are still suitable places to sit for one important person like you.¡± I inwardly laughed to myself. Fooling arrogant nobles was something that made my day since there were nobles. They are so full of themselves that they don¡¯t even realise when they were played with.

    ¡°Lethia, make them clean the valley. The corpses and the dirt and everything can be thrown into the river. There is a grid where the river goes into the mountains. This can be opened from this side. But be cautious, there are giant titanspiders in the cave system behind the grid. And send on of the men in the room next to the special room. He shall bring water and two pots to drink from.¡±

    ¡°Yes, my Lord¡±

    ¡°Shall we?¡± I asked Amiel and we began walking towards the mansion. ¡°My other guest will be here in about three hours. If you help him with a little task you might be able to get one bigger in return. So if you have the time to spare¡­¡±

    ¡°This sounds interesting. Lead the way.¡± Amiel gave his approval and we made our way to the room next to the room where Fuza¡¯ar was ¡®sleeping¡¯.

    The next three hours were filled with his rants about the common people and how they destroy the kingdom Wegril and how the nobles are the only ones interested in the surviving of the kingdom. I just smiled at him and nodded approvingly. The moment I heard a sound coming from the neighboring room I interrupted him. ¡°It seems like my guest has arrived. Please follow me to the meeting room.¡± I stood up and opened the door for him. After reaching the door a few steps down the corridor I opened it and he took a step inside. I stepped behind him and gave him a soft push, which let him stumble further into the room, and closed the door behind him.

    ¡°Hmm? You don¡¯t like my surprise? Now I¡¯m disappointed. I endured your boring rants all the time and now look at you. Haha. But I didn¡¯t lie. If you can survive this you can get a big favor from me and him. So do your best!¡± I said to Amiel who stared in shock at the being that stood in front of him. Fuza¡¯ar was now a being that would best be described as a were-panther. He was roughly 2 m tall. His entire body was covered in thick plach and shiny fur. His cat like eyes were now red, in contrast to the former yellow. His former implied snout was now fully there. His hands were now more like paws and his legs reminded the observer of a panther. His tail was swaying from left to right and he was ready to pounce at any moment but just stared intently at me and Amiel.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be so shy you two. Ah. I apologize I didn¡¯t introduce you two. This beautiful guy right here is Fuza¡¯ar. You may know him. He is the guy you wanted to sell as a slave. And this arrogant idiot that stands in front of me is Amiel. Some noble bumpkin. Now that I introduce you two, have fun.¡± I smiled at Amiel and Fuza¡¯ar, who understood that I didn¡¯t have any intention towards the human and began growling at him and began circling him. I moved away from Amiel who looked at me with shock and disbelieve. ¡°Ohhhhh. Didn¡¯t your mommy tell you not to go with strangers who promise you sweets? Haha.¡±

    ¡°Why? WHY?!¡± He screamed at me. ¡°You know. I needed someone to feed him some blood. I originally wanted to pick one of you guys at random but this seemed more fun. And now I can say. It is way more fun.¡± At this moment the were-panther jumped at Amiel and pawed at his arm, throwing him around, screaming in pain. Holding his broken arm he looked in panic towards the were-panther and tried to back away from him in panic.

    ¡°I thought you would put up more of a fight. You disappoint me. Really. You are here to investigate orc incidents and can¡¯t even fight back a little.¡± I spoke while Fuza¡¯ar clawed over his face with both his hands, leaving a bloody mess that no one would recognize as a human face anymore. More screams and sobs could be heard and a faint odour of urine could be smelled. It seems like Lord High-and-Mighty pissed himself. This caused me to giggle a little while Fuza¡¯ar dug into the stomach of Amiel, ripping out the intestines one after another and gulping down the crimson fluid that was streaming down all over Amiels body. After a few seconds the cries of agony stopped and Amiel was dead. The door opened and Lethia came into the roo. ¡°I heard he was eating the little snack you prepared and wanted to see what happens next. Also the corpses are taken care of and the humans began to clean the mansion.¡± I smiled and nodded ¡°That¡¯s good. Now let¡¯s see what his attitude is. But it should not be too bad. Thanks to the blood bond haha. This was really the best thing we added to our blood!¡±

    The eyes of Fuza¡¯ar focused on me and he opened his mouth.

 Sorry Guys

Sorry guys. There won''t be a chapter today. I''m a little busy today and wasn''t writing all day. I try to give you  the chapter tomorrow as soon as possible. I hope you can forgive me. :-TsavKAnz-: