~ Chapter Two ~
The Calm before the Storm
The day was Ocktober 15th, 442, it was a late beautiful warm fall afternoon in the city of Zhagos. Its townspeople filled the streets with laughter and cheer, not knowing what was to come later that night. But one such boy wasn't so cheerful this morning, for he had traveled a long way to the city.
Boy: "Damn all these people! They need to move out of our way, we're late as it is, we'll never make it there in time!" A woman with aqua blue hair walking beside him then spoke.
Woman: "Now Luke you need to mind your manners, you knew just as well as I did that it would be very busy here because of the festival tomorrow. I'm sure that the professor will understand if we are a bit late." She looked over at Luke, he looked younger then he was but for a boy of only seventeen, no one had studied more about vampires then he did. When he was just five years old a coven of upier had come in the night and killed his entire family, all but him; he instead somehow survived killing the vampires. That was the night he found out he was different from the rest of his family.
Luke: "Yes Aqua I'm sorry for my outburst but it's just that he asked for me personally to help him with his research. He could've chosen a real expert to assist him but he chose me!" Aqua smiled.
Aqua: "You are very enthusiastic about this aren't you? After all, you have spent half your life studying and learning everything there is to know about the many species of vampires that live in our world." Aqua then thought back to the night in Valda where she had found Luke alone in that house surrounded by all those upier corpses. "You sure have come a long way since the night I found you Luke." The boy sighed before speaking again.
Luke: "Yeah I have, with everything I've been through, losing my family, all the training and studying I've done at Noxmore under your guidance. I know that not all vampires are bloodthirsty monsters, but the people of Arnora do have the right to know how to deal with the ones that are. So yes I am excited to help the professor with his research."
Aqua: "Speaking of which I believe we've arrived." Aqua looked up at a large sign hanging off the building reading it aloud. "The Zhagos Institute of Magical and Paranormal Studies. Yes this is indeed the place and look there's the professor waiting for us." Aqua and Luke walked up the white marble steps to be greeted by a dark red skinned man with fire for hair. "Luke, I'd like you to meet Professor Sigmus, the head of vampiric studies here at the Zhagos Institute." Luke took a longing look at the professor before speaking.
Luke: "It's very nice to finally meet you Professor Sigmus, Aqua has told me a great deal about you. May I ask what species you are exactly?" Aqua shot a stern look at Luke while Sigmus just laughed.
Sigmus: "Haha It's quite alright Aqua, the boy is just curious, and if anything is allowed here in the institute it's curiosity! To answer your question Luke I'm an Elemental, to be more specific I'm a Fire Elemental."
Luke: "You're an Elemental? I've read about them, your race is one of the oldest in all of Arnora, some even call you the primordial race. But it's extremely rare to see your kind on the outside of your own cities."
Sigmus: "Right you are Luke we are the primordial race, we were born from planet itself and yes we very rarely leave our homes but there was nothing for me back there, and my research into magical and paranormal creatures had better use for human's and the other races then it did my own kind."
Luke: "Such as your research about vampires?"
Sigmus: "Exactly, you see we Elementals live in places where such creatures could not exist. I myself come from a city of fire deep within the Crun Slopes, and since vampires are vulnerable to fire the extreme temperature there would burn them to a crisp in a second."
Luke: "If such creatures cease to exist in your homeland then how did you come to study them exactly?"
Sigmus: "A very excellent question indeed, you see my home is deep underground within the mines of the Iron City so we constantly trade with the Dwarves. One day I happened to come across a book of beasts that the surface races face on a daily basis and I was fascinated by it. So I took the work I developed in my homeland and applied it in ways that could be beneficial to help keep the monsters of the surface world at bay. When I first came to the surface I had the honor of meeting your teacher Aqua, who just so happened to be in Valgrim at the time. She then helped me find my way here to the institute where I told her about my reasons for coming here and shortly after she told me everything about you and your knowledge of vampires. Including what happened to you as a child, I must say I find it fascinating how you were able to stop an entire coven of upier."
Luke: "I too find it interesting, because it's a night that I can't recall, I have no memories at all of what happened. I would be more than happy to share it with you if I did, but I'm eager to help out in any way that I can. So when can we start?"
Sigmus: "That is very interesting, for you to lose your entire memory of that night, but one must not dwell too much on the past and we can start right now if you would like. If you'll please follow me, I can give you a tour of my lab." Sigmus then walks off into the institute followed by Luke and Aqua where they soon reach his lab. "I must warn you to be very cautious, we have a few cages that contain some vampires we been experimenting on." Luke and Aqua then walk ahead of Sigmus and looked around at the many experiments that the lab workers have been developing.
Aqua: "You've definitely come a long way on a few of these projects since the last time I visited Sigmus." Aqua looked around and picked a sword up off a table in front of her. "I remember this, It's the Helios blade if I'm not mistaken?"
Sigmus: "You're correct as always Aqua. It's actually in the final stages of development and we hope to have it done for mass production within the next few weeks." Luke walked over beside Aqua and examined the blade she was holding.
Luke: "What exactly does the blade do? It looks like a regular sword to me."
Sigmus: "That it does but I'll tell you a little secret, it's not just a regular sword haha! You see, by combining silver ore with a few fire and light crystals we've come up with a way to harness the power of the sun in the palm of one's hand, may I?" Sigmus then took the sword from Aqua and swung it around a bit, the blade started to glow red hot, causing an upier in a nearby cage to go crazy.
Luke: "Well would you look at that it actually works! I know of a few people that would love to get their hands on that blade." Luke then walked over to the upier cage and peered inside studying the creature. "I know we could have used it that night and maybe then my family could have lived." He looked over at the other cages each containing a different species of vampire. "You have quite a few interesting subjects here professor and they're all very docile. How is it that you're keeping them that way?"
Sigmus: "Yes they are quite interesting and to answer your question the institute is protected by powerful warding magic that weakens the vampires." Sigmus walked over next to Luke while grabbing a notebook and quill off the table beside him. "Care to tell me about them Luke? It's getting late and I know you've come a long way. So the sooner we start the sooner you guys can go and rest." Luke nodded happily to the professor before turning his attention back to the vampires.
Luke: "Well this one here is clearly an upier, although they resemble humans much like higher vampires they are truly monstrous. Their thirst for blood is unquenchable and they are known to live in the biggest covens among all the vampire species. A single upier could wipe out an entire village in a single night. The more blood they consume the more powerful they become, but their biggest strength ironically seems to also be their biggest weakness as well because if they feed on too much blood at one time it could actually become poisonous to them."
Sigmus: "That's truly fascinating, we've been working on a potion of sorts that makes blood poisonous to any creatures that feeds on it, a single bite could be fatal to them, perhaps we could further develop it into one that works specifically against upiers." Sigmus quickly jotted down a few notes and walked over to the next cage. "What can you tell me about this one here?" Luke walked over next to Sigmus looking into the cage at a snow white skinned vampire.
Luke: "Oh this one here is known as a draugr, how did you come by it I wonder? I would love to know because they live high on top of Arnora's mountains. Unlike most vampires the draugr prefer cold climates and hibernate nearly a third of their lives. They mainly feed on the mountain animals that are indigenous to their home regions, but they have been known to feed on the occasional adventurer that decides to wander into their habitat. They are extremely weak to heat, more so than any other vampire, any fluctuation in the temperature could be potentially harmful to them since they live in negative temperatures. Which brings me to wonder how exactly you're keeping it alive?"
Sigmus: "Well to answer your question on how I acquired it, I happen to know a few of the wizards from the Ice Tower on Winter's Reef, they needed alchemy ingredients and I needed a draugr for my studies. As for your second question, the cage it's in is enchanted to mimic the temperature of its home region" Sigmus again wrote down a few notes. "The Helios blade would work perfectly against the draugr vampires, the heat it puts out is close to five hundred degrees, I will definitely have to test it out sometime. Now this next one here we only recently acquired and I hardly know anything about it but it's my favorite of all that we've acquired so far. Perhaps you can shed some light on it for me Luke?" He walked over looking into the cage and was surprised by what he saw.
Luke: "Oh this one here is very interesting, it's called a kumara, a very rare species of vampire that has a big thing for gold. It's covered in scales and has large wings protruding from its back as you can see. This makes them somewhat resemble dragons and they often get mistaken for them because of it. They're native only to the Elven realm of Avelenor and It's believed that an ancient Elven king had put a curse upon a group of thieves who tried to steal from the royal Wahthyr treasury and the result of that curse is what lies before us here. The thing it loves the most is its biggest downfall because they can only be killed with a weapon made of pure gold."
Sigmus: "Interesting, very interesting indeed, I'll have to study up on ancient Elven curses. On another note we could redesign the Helios sword and make one specifically for fighting the kumara." Sigmus again wrote down a few notes. "With all this new information I think we could write a book if we wanted to, now for the last one." Luke looked into the final cage and noticed right away what sort of vampire it held.
Luke: "This one here is known as a yaksha, the only known vampire that lives in aquatic habitats. The upiers might live in the biggest covens of any of the species but none are more numerous then the yaksha. They can be found almost all over Arnora in any body of water."
Aqua: "That's for certain in fact they can be found all over the Dry Isles, the school was constantly fighting them off until we put up a magic barrier to keep them away." Luke laughed a bit.
Luke: "Haha yeah I remember they kept stealing the fish we would get from the bay. That's another interesting thing about them professor, they are the only vampire species to feed only on sea life, although they have been know to attack humans when provoked, but none have ever fed on them like most other vampires do and like most vampires sunlight is their biggest weakness, but they don't burn like other vampires. They can actually walk in the sunlight for a while as long as they keep their skin moist. If they spend too much time out of the water however, they'll dry up into a husk instead of turning to dust like most other vampires."
Sigmus: "That is truly astounding Luke, these notes I've got now thanks to you will make my research into vampires unlike any other! Thank you for your assistance today." The boy smiled.
Luke: "Well I'm glad I could help you out professor, though these are only a few of the species found here in Arnora."
Sigmus: "That's true but we can only hold four in the lab at a time, we do have many books on the others and I do believe that will help in my research on the rest. I thank you again for helping Luke, and thank you Aqua for introducing me to him."
Aqua: "You are very welcome Sigmus and thank you for having us. But as you said it's late, it's starting to get dark out and we should be going."
Sigmus: "That it is, I thank you again for your help Luke, I hope to see you again soon." Aqua and Luke finish their goodbyes and soon leave the institute making their way to a nearby Inn, not knowing that an old friend was staying in the very same building.
Aqua: "Here we are, the Dragon Stone Inn, the school has taken the liberty and reserved a few rooms for us, I just hope they're ready." They walked into the inn and were greeted by the innkeeper.
Innkeeper: "Welcome to the Dragon Stone, how may I be of service to you?"
Aqua: "We have some rooms reserved, we're from the Noxmore School of Magic."
Inn keep: "Ah yes we have been expecting you, your rooms are up the stairs and to the left, I took the liberty of lighting the fires in your rooms and you have food waiting for you as well." Aqua and Luke thank the inn keep before going up the stairs to their rooms.
Aqua: "This one here is mine and that one over there is yours Luke. Now go and eat then get some rest. We have to be up bright and early if you want to attend the festival before it gets too busy tomorrow." He nodded before going into his room and looked around.
Luke: "It's not much of a room but it's better then sharing with the other students back at Noxmore, even the food smells better, hopefully it tastes better as well." He grabbed a dinner roll off his plate and proceeded to eat it. Shortly after finishing his meal he laid back on the bed, staring up at the ceiling slowly drifting off to sleep, only to be awoken by loud screams a few hours later. The noise had startled him, jumping out of bed he ran out of his room to meet Aqua. "By the Gods, what the hell is going on, where are those screams coming from!?"
Aqua: "I don't know but whatever it is, it can't be good, come Luke as mages of Noxmore it's our duty to help those in need!" They then ran down the stairs, out of the inn and down the street, soon coming to a house surrounded by many townspeople. They then pushed their way to the front of the crowd to see a man talking with some guards. "Orion? Is that really you?" The man looked up at Aqua surprised.
Orion: "Well isn't this a very small world, first I find out that Owin is in the city and now I run into Aqua Moonfall of all people."
Aqua: "Owin's here as well?"
Orion: " Yes, but you just missed him. He was here until he took off after the beast."
Aqua: "A beast you say? That would explain the screams we heard, what sort of beast is it exactly, maybe we can help?" Orion looked around to make sure no one was listening and then pulled Aqua to the side.
Orion: "It's not exactly a beast Aqua, it's Arwen my fiancé... She's been turned into a vampire, Owin said she's become a creature called a bruxa."
Luke: "A bruxa you say? Well that's quite a coincidence isn't it Aqua? We came all the way to Zhagos to visit the Institute to help professor Sigmus in his research on vampires and now we come across the only known species of vampire that are all female, what way did it go exactly?" Orion looked over at Luke then back to Aqua.
Orion: "Who's the kid?"
Aqua: "Oh this is Luke, he's a student of mine at Noxmore and as he said we're in the city visiting the Zhagos Institute to help Sigmus with his studies."
Orion: "So you know about vampires do you Luke? Tell me how does one such as Arwen become a bruxa exactly?"
Luke: "Yeah I might look young but I'm quite an expert on them! You said it was your fiancé that was turned into the bruxa? It had to have been a very powerful blood poultice that caused her transformation." Orion had a look of surprise on his face.
Orion: "That's exactly what Owin said to me before he took off, if you two hurry now you might just catch him. He went east towards the warehouse district not too long ago." With that said Aqua and Luke took off in pursuit of Owin. Orion then walked over to one of his nearby guards and spoke to him. "I want you to double the guards and report to me the moment anyone sees them return with or without Arwen." He looked around. "Get this mess cleaned up as well and burn everything we don't need anyone snooping around in business they shouldn't be involved in." The guard simply nodded before Orion turned and disappeared into the crowd.