Vampires and Madmen

[Arawn]

A blast of cool air blew across the mountain’s base in a rush to scale the peak. The continental range spanned the lower region of Salvar, separating it from the homeland of Althanas’ drow. These mountains were among the harshest terrain in the land, dwarfing any constructs of mere mortals. A cloaked creature could be seen at the foot of them, seeking shelter in ruins among the snow. The sky above him was a light grey, evidence of an unseen sun behind the overcast clouds. The ruins about him were mostly unrecognizable for what they had once been. Large piles of black stone and odd tilted pillars jutting out of the snow-covered ground littered the once populated base camp. The ever-present wind rushing through them muffled any other sound. It was an uninviting maze of decrepit buildings and wintry cold. Still, the cloaked creature was thankful of it. He found a snow-packed spire, presumably once the roof of an important building, and positioned himself beside it while standing, that it might shield him from Salvar’s bracing winds.

“What am I doing here?” Hikari no Ashigaru wondered aloud, his words carried from him by the speeding air.

He was tired, cold and frustrated. He had awoken some time ago almost half a mile away from the black ruins, facedown in the snow. Ice melted and became water in the folds of his clothing, chilling him to the bone. It was always a shock to awaken from Arawn’s possession in a quite different location from that in which he recalled losing consciousness. The light mage Hikari and the vampire Arawn constantly warred over dominance of the same form. Disoriented, Hikari had looked around the myriad of snow and spotted the area with black stones that marked the grave of an old settlement once precariously placed on Salvar’s border with Alerar. He had tucked his black cloak about him to shield from the piercing wind and headed down the mountain with the hope of locating shelter. It had been an exhaustive trek, the low temperatures sucking energy from the dark elf with every step. As he grew closer to the dark ruins, he thought of his last clear memories.

The last time Hikari had given in to his vampiric side, he had been in a tavern in Knife’s Edge, keeping warm by a fire at night. He remembered noticing the smell of beings around him, picking up their sweat and breath. He began to hear and distinguish individual heartbeats all about him. This was always a sure sign that his undead half was struggling to overthrow his sovereign control of their body. In response, the white warrior attempted to pay close attention to the fire near him, concentrating on its light and letting its warmth wash over him. He let the light enter his body and combat Arawn’s attempt to rise again. Even as his skin was starting to hiss in protest with the vampiric taint taking hold, he was confident he would be able to stay this surge. That was, until someone opened the door to the tavern and a gust blew out the blaze. What happened between then and Hikari’s reawakening was a blur to the mage.

Now, the pale dark elf was shivering beside the black stone spire breaking Salvar’s snow-laden winds for him. He looked about at all the constructs of obsidian and felt despair. The vampire was taking hold of him with more and more ease of late. He feared becoming no more than a spectator in the proverbial sidelines of his mind. Arawn had most likely been seeking to reach Alerar through the mountain pass, the cold being a small threat to a vampyr. Hikari no Ashigaru, once renowned for his achievements and strength, was now at the beck and call of another. He had no way of knowing why Arawn wanted to reach Alerar at all. He never discovered any of the vampire’s intentions. The light mage suspected the only reason he had control now was due to the blessing of an unforeseen sunray cutting through the thick clouds above. When night should fall, he’d be vulnerable to the undead will within him once more. This was no way to exist. This was not a life.

With the wind still muffling all sounds, the white warrior slumped to the sub-zero ground and shed a single tear in misery.

[grim137]

Tarry looks like we finally have a job for you after this period of peace. It seems there had been a rogue vampire by the name of Hikari or something, whose been making quite a name for himself lately. Normally we wouldn’t worry too much about such a thing since there are several rogue vampires running around Althanas and most of them are harmless. Hikari has quickly proven to be an exception to this rule. Already the lunatic has murdered several vampires though as of yet nobody important has been killed though we are starting to fear that may change soon. He has been spotted near the hidden city Asaraka zor Vampira. While we are not sure if he knows of it yet or if he is simply traveling through the mountain range, at this point it no longer matters. As you are well aware of, the hidden city serves as a focal point for many important events and we often have high ranking and important members of the vampire race traveling there. We have thought about trying to make Hikari an ally but at this point it seems the virus has driven him insane. As such we have decided that there is not other alternative than to have him killed. This, as I’m sure you have guessed by now, is where you come in. Agent Tarry Whealer, your next assignment is to assassinate the vampire Hikari. Upon successful completion of the contract you will be paid a handsome sum of 1500 gold, in addition to this you may keep any equipment that you plunder from Hikari’s corpse. The vampire delivering this note knows a teleportation spell that will take you two Hikari's last known location.

-General Isalb Visig.

Tarry snorted as he handed the note back to the taller, heavily cloaked vampire that had given it to him in the first place. The day in Radasanth was incredibly hot and with no clouds in the sky what so ever it was no wonder the messenger was heavily cloaked since bad things tended to happen to most breeds of vampires when they got sun on their pale, white skin. In away the blind vampire was almost relieved to do get the job not only would a trip to Salvar be a welcome break from the retched heat wave that had gripped the large city the past few days, but it would also give him something to do and provide a good way to keep his skills with his blade sharp other than killing the lousy hero wannabes that infested the Citadel like fleas on a dog.

“Well ready when you are,” responded the blood-sucking assassin in a surprisingly casual tone despite the fact that he was about to go to a harsh environment such as Salvar solely for purpose of murdering a creature that he whom he had never met and only vaguely heard of.

The hooded figure mumbled a quick “yes sir” and in an instant the two figures were standing in the icy tundra of Salvar less than twenty yards away from the white warrior Hikari no Ashigaru. There was no sign to announce their arrival to Salvar or their leave of Radasanth, none of the flashing lights or plumes of smoke or anything that seemed to accompany most other teleportation spells. Who ever the cloaked figure was he had gotten good at teleporting. This was evident by the fact that he disappeared almost as soon as they had arrived. Having done his job he simply teleported away to some other, far more enjoyable region. Tarry took no notice of this.

“Ah Salvar, the icey waste land, Frozen Hell, and a million other equally fitting names given to it by the locals,” thought the vampire as his body quickly adjusted itself to the well below freezing temperatures and biting winds.

The creauture in front of Tarry was certainly and interesting one. The blind vampire could actually detect three souls: a drow, a vampire and some sort of unknown creature. The puzzling thing was that they were all in the exact same location. The only possible explanation for such an odd phenomena was that the three very different souls were actually sharing the exact somebody.

It was while Tarry was going over such a strange turn of events in his head that he realized that was exactly what happened. He had heard stories mostly drunken ramblings from people in various pubs of creatures who contained multiple souls in the same body. The most clichéd of these stories being the ones about how one soul is supposedly good and innocent yet weak while the other soul is as evil as evil could be yet also insanely powerful.

“Well this is an interesting turn of events. Sucks for the other two souls if that vampire soul that I sense is Hikari.”

With that the blind assassin made his way over to the figure casually, with his hand resting gently and unassumingly on the hilt of his blade.

“Greetings traveler, I am looking for the one people call Hikari. You wouldn’t know where I might find him now would you?” called Tarry to the white warrior, doing his best to sound unthreatening like any old regular adventurer in the harsh climate.

[Arawn]

The dark elf was shocked to hear another’s voice. He hadn’t sensed the being’s arrival and was confounded as to how he had managed it. Hikari’s immediate surroundings had appeared quite abandoned when he had look on them from afar, but there were surely dozens of places for one to hide among the ruins and the winds would hide anyone’s careful movements. The proud warrior rose from the earth and brushed himself off, a vain attempt to rid himself of his momentary sign of weakness, which he had no idea if his present companion had beheld. Rising to his full and impressive height, he towered over the blonde, tanned humanoid that had addressed him and attempted to peer into his eyes. He often did this to get a better measure of a being than just looking them up and down. The only problem with the tactic in this instance was that the being had black bandages over his eyes. This troubled the white warrior somewhat.

Hikari no Ashigaru had come to some positions of power in his days. He once led the infamous Black Hand, defending faction of Ithermoss Hec’Bahal’s Red Hand group. He had also been a finalist in the Cell tournament some time ago, held in such regard as Yari Rafanas and Zieg Tulfried. More recently, he had scraped a victory against Letho Ravenheart in the first round of the Serenti Invitational. For all these reasons and a few more, the dark elf was not unused to others recognizing him. There were hardly that many tall, white drow around that anyone knew of. However, if this being standing in the snow before him knew his name without looking upon him, there was something much more ominous at play in their meeting. The fact that he knew in which direction Hikari no Ashigaru was to speak to him over the rushing winds was troubling alone, belying any possibility that he should take the creature at face value. Cautiously, the tired dark elf spoke.

“This is quite an out of the way place to look for him,” he said with mock humor. “You must have the good fortune of a thousand divine blessings, for it’s his voice you’re hearing now.”

The hastening air seemed to slow down slightly as he finished speaking. He had grown used to its low roar and suddenly felt vulnerable in its absence. His breath was coming in blasts of mist before him, heralded by quiet gasps. The air was thin and his blood was cold. His clothes were still soaked and proving less helpful than if he’d been standing there naked. The sun broke slightly through the clouds and shone on the settlement’s remains around the two beings. The light glanced off the creations of stone, making them appear smoother and more precious than they were, seeming to surround them in shimmering black gems. Hikari was thankful for the light, practically breathing it in with the wind’s retreat.

Thoughts chased themselves around Hikari’s head as he tried to give his inquisitor meaning and purpose. Had he been hidden in the ruins all along and simply made himself known now, utilizing some unknown power to discern his name? Had the pale creature perhaps been following Arawn from Knife’s Edge to punish him for whatever crimes Hikari could not recall he committed? The possibilities were endless, yet another troubling symptom of shared essences in a single form. Hikari had no way of knowing when anyone had introduced himself to his alter ego and interacted with that side of him. His eyes may have seen this blind being a dozen times before, but he had no way to be sure. As such, he constantly had to play out interactions with new individuals as if with a clean slate, hoping for the best.

[grim137]

As Hikari finished his introduction the icy winds of Salvar began to pick up and seemed to swirl around them, either by chance or caused by some unseen force created by the ruins. The ice and snow began to fall harder from the sky and Tarry could feel and almost hear the long forgotten spirits of the ruins stirring violently with anticipation at what was to come.

A smile crept up on Tarry’s face upon hearing white warrior admit that he was Hikari. It meant that the blind vampire hadn’t been delivered to the wrong target (as the case was occasionally) and that he wouldn’t have to go searching throughout the frozen tundra and mountains of Salvar to find said target.

There was no verbal response from Tarry because there didn’t need to be. Though technically he was supposed to go through and make some official, regal sounding bullshit speech about how Hikari was sentenced by vampire law to die for his crimes or something like that, Tarry knew that ultimately nobody would care as long as in the end Hikari stopped living.

With a cold and calculating motion that came from years of fighting and years of killing the hand on Tarry's blade wrapped itself tightly around the hilt. With one fluid motion the strength and speed of the predator brought the massive tungsten blade out from the protection of its sheath and with a level of skill that could be matched by very few warriors, swung it fluidly towards the neck of the white warrior, Hikari no Ashigaru.

[Arawn]

“Whoa now!”

Hikari stumbled back from the blonde being’s attack, shocked that he should prove so quick to anger. He felt the cold surface of the dark ruin he’d been using to shelter him against his back as the blade approached his neck. With a split second’s moment to decide, his form burst into light and he began to fall through the black domed spire, his molecules effectively becoming particles of light as the tungsten sword passed through his glowing neck. Tumbling out the other side of the wrecked roof, he reverted to his normal form, gasping for air and hit by the full impact of icy wind on its other side. The fallen roof was now separating the two individuals. Drained by the reflex display of his powers, Hikari was having trouble with his over-excited heart. His body was tired from the trip down the mountainside and now he was forced into conflict without the slightest warning. His limbs felt weighted now, difficult to move after performing such a taxing ability.

“He’s an aggressive little blind man, isn’t he?” he thought in disbelief of his adversary. “And I thought it was bizarre when he said he was ‘looking’ for me.”

Deducing that the tanned creature would be coming around the dome in seconds to accomplish what he had just failed to do, Hikari summoned his favored weapon from a pocket in existence. With a flash like a lightning bolt, a falchion of deep black diamond suddenly materialized in the dark elf’s right hand as he leaned heavily against the dome, opposite where he had been standing. Its blade glowed richly with bright moonlight, proving a better source of power than the concealed sun above. Even with it, he had no chance of mustering enough energy to pose a significant challenge to any warrior worth his salt at the moment. Only one alternative was left the unaccompanied and fatigued white warrior as the wind bit his skin harshly and he waited for his mysterious foe to round the dome. If he could not combat his aggressor himself, he would have to seek aid.

With a vertical slash of the falchion at the empty space in front of him, a rip appeared in mid-air, glowing an intense white. It grew in size, seeming a gaping hole between two very different realms. From it, two creatures squeezed through, landing before the dark elf. The ripple between dimensions shut behind them and the drow was left facing his beckoned allies. They were timber wolves, thick fur and acute senses honed for a climate such as Salvar’s. They were linked to Hikari no Ashigaru profoundly, all three of them born of the same ambit. They, like him in his rightful state, were beings of solid white light, glowing as their padded feet pawed at the snow below them. They were growling, sensing a threat nearby and sniffing the air in anticipation. With a nod from their master, the two canines spaced themselves around him with their backs to the white warrior, hoping to deter any oncoming danger. It was there, with his back to the ruined roof and wolves guarding him at angles, that Hikari attempted to regain his breath.

[grim137]

Tarry smiled at first as the white warrior failed to dodge the deadly tungsten blade. Yet this smile soon turned into dissapointment as it turned out the blade had simply passed through the assassin’s target with out leaving so much as a nick or scratch in the flesh of Hikari, all due to whatever strange magic the warrior of light was using. Of course things turned even more annoying as the magic proved that not was it good for dodging otherwise fatal blows, but also for making a quick escape when the white warrior phased through the obsidian dome of a roof that had long ago collapsed.

“Damn it, I was hoping for a quick and easy mission. Looks like some work on my part will be involved after all,” thought the vampire with a bit of disappointment as he put his blade back in its sheath.

Upon holstering his blade, the undead assassin began to casually move around the large dome. There was no anger in his movements and no hatred could be detected in his steps because in truth Tarry felt no ill will towards any of the three souls that inhabited the body of Hikari no Ashigaru. Tarry was only trying to kill him because of the job description. The assassination was simply business to the livelike vampire and nothing more.

The vampire’s progress around the dome was a bit slow thanks to the strong winds and ankle deep snow impeding his movement a bit so it wasn’t all that surprising to the assassin that his target had already prepared some sort of defense.

Tarry stopped for a moment, his mind using his spirit sense to briefly analyze the strange creatures that Hikari had just summoned. The creatures were strange, a lot like the dire wolves that inhabited the harsh and icy lands of Salvar, yet different at the same time, almost like spirits. It didn’t take more than a second or two for Tarry to realize that Hikari had summoned them and that was probably why the wolves felt like spirits.

Once again Tarry attacked seemingly with out emotion, only this time it was with magic not blade. The blind vampire quickly aimed the palm of his right hand in the general direction of Hikari and his new pets. In an instant the palm burst with life as three blasts of ki energy were released from the vampire’s hand. Each blast had a different target, the first two fired were each aimed at one of the wolves and the third was meant for the white warrior himself.

[Arawn]

I put you on my left, since you didn’t specify.The moment the blind individual rounded the domed obsidian spire, all three allies had a different reaction. The wolf closest to the assassin was on Hikari’s left, snarling at the creature. Its predatory teeth were bared and its hairs were on end as it lunged powerfully with its claws out, hoping to tear at his face. The first of the blasts struck this luminescent wolf in the underbelly as it flew toward the hired killer, shattering it into countless pieces that promptly vanished in the freezing Salvic air. The echo of a pained howl reverberated throughout the dark ruins. The second wolf leapt to one side, only having its fur singed by the energy beam as it glanced the beast narrowly and made a deep hole in the packed snow. The glowing being landed on its paws, its padded feet well adapted for the terrain. The dark elf himself mimicked the latter of his aides, jumping away from the spire and coming to fall face forward in about three feet of the white powder. His untrained eyes had led him to believe the ground would be more solid where he had intended to land.

“I hate this continent,” the white warrior thought in irritation, hostile frost now biting at all his exposed flesh.

As he attempted to rise, finding it more difficult than he expected laden with snow, he sent a simple tacit message to his primal companion. This communication traveled neither by air nor by thought, but by some connection of essence between the two. It was to keep the killer busy as its master attempted to put some distance between them. Still gripping his glowing falchion with his right hand, Hikari no Ashigaru pushed and struggled out of the elven-shaped hole he had made in the snow and began to run, at a jogging pace, toward one of the less derelict ruins in his range of vision. From what he could make out in what was fast becoming a haze of fluttering snowflakes, the construct consisted of a dilapidated chapel-like building of the same dark stone as all the other ruins. It was roughly twenty feet tall and slightly more across, a dark doorway facing the struggling dark elf as if beckoning him in from the biting cold. It had been hidden from his gaze by the spire when he was on the other side.

“Of course irony would never stray far from me,” he thought bitterly. The white warrior could not be certain of the conditions of the structure’s inner sanctum, but his choices were limited with his breath coming harsher by the moment as he attempted to trudge his fatigued form through the snow toward the edifice some fifty feet away.

In the meantime, the radiant wolf Hikari had summoned was positioning itself between its struggling master and the one seeking to harm him. It kept its head low to the ground and back legs tense, ready to spring at the sign of another attack or a chance to strike. Glowing saliva oozed from its curled lips, teeth shining in readiness to bite down on its opponent. There was no sympathy for the loss of a comrade in this beast. It was a being summoned to do the bidding of its master and nothing more, like a machine with a set task. It possessed all the same features and physical dispositions of its canine brethren, but lacked a will of its own or any personal desires and priorities. It was sentient in the sense that it could reason for itself without Hikari telling it what to do at every obstacle it ran into, but its actions were inexorably determined by another’s command. Now, with its instructions clearly given, the wolf was more than prepared to give its life in defense of the dark elf as it faced his blind attacker.

[grim137]

((Sorry for the delay.))

“This is getting annoying. Every time I come close to just ending this damn mission the cowardly little prick keeps running away.”

As the winds of Salvar increased, becoming ever stronger and ever louder and as the icy cold temperatures began to grow ever colder, Tarry could feel is frustration growing. The blind and often mentally unstable vampire was quickly growing tired of his opponent’s games of cat and mouse.

“Stop running and just die, I grow tired of these games Hikari!” yelled the frustrated vampire though it was unlikely the white warrior would hear him as his voice was lost to the shrill howling of the wind.

With anger propelled speed Tarry once again drew his deadly, double edged, tungsten blade and with one fluid motion the vampire brought it arching downwards with deadly speed and accuracy towards Hikari’s summoned pet, the glowing white wolf.

As the battle raged on, it was quickly becoming apparent that something was bringing the worst out in the assassin. Rather that something was whatever sinister magic lingered in the ruins or if it was the vampire’s own natural taint or even one of his numerous physiological problems was unknown at the moment

[Arawn]

True to its master’s wishes, the white timber wolf was drawing the assassin’s attention. With back legs hunched at the ready, the wolf leapt to one side of the vampire’s downward slash with a snarl and proceeded to lunge at his outstretched arm, seeking to rend the flesh that held the blade. Its one-track mind was bent on tearing the blind man’s skin so as to provide a decent distraction for him from its master. It was like a brainwashed soldier, the ultimate fighting machine. It possessed no soul, no ego and no sovereign desire to continue living. The drow’s aggressor had proven more than capable of destroying his aides of light. Nevertheless, should the glowing canine’s salivating jaws catch the vampire’s arm, the grip would be held until one or the other conceded in the struggle. It was very probable it was sealing its fate in the act, but no thought of hesitation crossed the wolf’s head as his powerful body dashed pointblank toward the arm of the one who had ended its implicit double with absurd ease.

Some distance away, Hikari was closing in on the dilapidated shelter he so longed for. Flakes now swirled everywhere and the wind was pulling at his cloak, biting his dampened arms and legs. The feeling of cold was less uncomfortable as before, now more a pleasing numbness. It may be more supportable for his body, but the white warrior knew enough of the dangers of low temperatures to deduce that the numbing of his extremities as he struggled through the snow was cause for concern rather than relief. He pushed harder through the gale, unaware of what might be going on behind him. A soft shudder would run up his spine now and then, the sense one gets when turning their back on an armed enemy. When he came upon the darkened entrance to the enigmatic chapel, Hikari no Ashigaru threw himself onto the threshold and collapsed on the floor on all fours with a cough to worry any being.

His coughs went on for some moments, his inhalations of air only prompting another again and again as he lay on his hands and knees. The wolf and vampire might be immune to the rigors of climatic extremes, but the dark elf was not so fortunate. His moonlight-imbued falchion was positioned securely under the palm of his right hand, forgotten of in the assault of respiratory complications. In the midst of the echoing coughs, he did not at first get a chance to look about the structure he had entered. The blade’s luminescence revealed a large square interior with polished white marble walls lined all around with different types of weapons mounted on plaques. Each weapon had a precious gem set into it somewhere, be it a sapphire at the upper shaft of an axe or a dark ruby at the hilt of a bastard sword. They were all quite ornate and well polished, extremely out of place in these forsaken ruins. Their reason for being there was yet a mystery, one Hikari had not even begun to consider as he lay coughing at the stone floor.

[grim137]

Unsurprisingly the wolf had dodged Tarry’s rather predictable attack on it, despite the vampire’s speed. The creature of light may have been soulless, emotionless and devoid of any thought other than to obey its master will but it was still a natural a deadly predator much like the creature whose form it imitated, the dire wolf, and thus it reacted naturally with an attack of its own.

Like Tarry’s attack before it the wolf’s attack was very simple and predictable. Still at such close range to the vampire it was also unavoidable. The sharp, flesh rending teeth sank deep into the vampire’s arm causing him to lose his cold demeanor and let out a loud scream of pain that was rendered almost completely mute by the violent, howling winds of the frozen artic lands of Salvar.

Dropping his blade from pain Tarry quickly lost his footing to the wolf and collapsed backwards into the deep snow. The wolf was now on top of the vampire rending and clawing at the bloodsucking predator with a never ending drive to satisfy its master's will by killing the assassin. Needless to say it was not a pleasant position to be in for the assassin.

With the smell of his own tainted blood filling his nostrils and pain shooting through his body the vampire's mind began to cloud over. The deadly blood lust, the disease inside him that scientist on his home planet had exploited and his vampirism and taint had amplified was once again coming to the forefront. No longer was it enough to simply kill Hikari or the white warrior's little white mutt with a simple dagger to the heart or a quick decapitation. Now both of them needed to suffer; to spill gallons upon gallons of their blood upon the white snow and stain the vast ruins forever with the pungent yet morbidly enjoyable stench of death.

As the wolf continued its never ending and increasingly vicious assault on Tarry, the blind vampire acted quickly. With his free hand he wrapped his arm around the creature's thick fury neck, making sure that it would not escape his next attack. Once again the spirit energy began flowing through Tarry’s powerful body, this time towards the exact spot where the wolf had sunk its sharp teeth ever so deeply into his arm. The wolf's desire to please its master would become a downfall now as it left it in a position that was nearly impossible to escape. From the spot on Tarry’s arm where the wolf’s mouth sunk deep another blast of ki energy erupted with deadly force.

[Arawn]

Stuff here on in is agreed upon and not powergaming or bunnying.The final echoes of the drow’s coughs faded away silently. He raised his upper body, breathing in too-cold air as he stood on his knees in the middle of the chapel-like building. It was then he noticed its odd adornments revealed by his falchion’s glow. Greater cogs were spinning in their confrontation than either combatant knew. It was no coincidence Hikari had been released from Arawn’s grasp in sight of these ruins. It was no coincidence the blind assassin’s employers had waited for the drow to be there in order to send in their emissary. This was a place of power they wanted tested. Their guinea pigs in place, it was only required for them to begin using the toys set out for them.

“What is this?” Hikari asked of the empty room as he looked onto the magnificent arsenal, getting to his feet with falchion in hand.

The weapons were hypnotizing. The blades shone as if they’d never been used since their flawless creation. The gems’ faces were each as brilliant as the last. For once, Hikari felt intimidated. It seemed odd it should be at the presence of inanimate weapons, but they gave of an aura of power, imposing awe and respect. Swallowing hard as his eyes shifted in every direction, the white warrior backed into a corner where he could keep an eye on the entire room. Paranoia was taking hold and he did not have any idea why. He felt the mounted weapons might conspire against him somehow. His troubled mind considered exiting the shelter of the edifice and braving the harsh conditions without, assassin or no.

A howl cut chillingly through the wind and reached his elven ears. His second summoned ally was now dead, though he could not guess as to how it had met its end. The blind being would be heading for him next. For a second, he considered it impossible for one without sigh to locate the building in the blizzard, but shot this notion down himself in recalling its ability to attack him so accurately. Hikari decided to build up his reserves of energy. With every metallic material of a dozen weapons glimmering, he increased the glow of Jinkourai Ittou, breathing in the light of his sword. It entered his body, filling the void within him gratifyingly, despite the circumstances. Hikari Ashigaru’s eyes stayed on the doorway showing naught but passing snowflakes. At any moment, his foe would appear, despite a blind man’s odds.

“Why can’t anything ever be taken at face value?”

[grim137]

With the second of the two summoned creatures dead the blind vampire rose slowly out of the icy hole that had been created by the brief yet brutal battle with the wolf. The bloodsucker arose to his feet, covered from head to toe with snow and a smattering of blood, his hair whipping violently in the increasingly harsh winds and his body filled with an ever-stinging pain, especially his arm.

By now the spirits that inhabited the unholy place seemed to be growing increasingly restless. They swarmed around Tarry circling him. Not just that but after a moment Tarry realized they seemed to be ushering him somewhere, trying with an incredible eagerness to get him to move to some unknown location.

The blind vampire ignored this, instead focusing on Hikari’s location. Once he picked up the white warrior's spirit again the blind assassin continued to walk slowly and deliberately towards his intended target, stopping only briefly to pick up his sword that had been dropped a moment earlier. Yet as he did so Tarry couldn’t help but notice something rather peculiar. The violent winds seemed to change direction it actually felt like they were pushing Tarry towards his target, he also noticed that the spirits too seemed to be ushering him in that direction as if they couldn’t wait for the two deadly creatures to combat each other.

Yet it never occurred to the slightly demented bloodsucker why this was happening because quite frankly the thought hadn’t occurred to him. Anger, annoyance, pain and all sorts of other unpleasant stimuli prevented him from thinking about the details or from thinking about why the very ruins themselves seemed to beg for the only two living souls they had seen for possibly centuries to kill each other. By now Tarry was simply too happy to oblige and get the job over with.

Tarry stopped his trek at entrance of the ancient chapel. The whole thing seemed cursed and tainted. It was beautiful, yes, with numerous exotic weapons of all sorts of makes, models and builds finally crafted by some unknown black smith and cursed by some unforeseen force. When Tarry set foot through the doorway the spirits seemed to become more anxious more restless and Tarry could finally get a good look at them with his spirit sense.

Every spirit was vampiric in origin. Every one of them seemed to be muttering something in a silent language that he couldn’t understand. They were all clearly warriors in their past life, as many of them seemed to be adorned in fancy yet fearsome looking phantom armor that no longer existed but was merely part of their spirit's appearance in the after life. Not only that but the spirits in all their decrepit, tortured looking glory wielded similar weapons similar to their armor; fearsome, elegant and existent only in appearance. Had the assassin of the vampire’s not been blind he would have noticed that these weapons looked exactly like the ones that adorned the walls of the cursed chapel.

The weapons themselves seemed to be drawing him by some invisible string, calling him by some invisible force. Whatever dark abyss had spawned them they seemed to want Tarry to use them, wield them, kill with them. All in all it gave Tarry the creeps, even if he was used by now to dealing with archaic and cursed things.

Once again Tarry spoke no words towards his target, such a thing was simply a waste of time and breath, instead he simply drew his blade once again. He knew his target had few tricks up his sleeve that was why he didn’t make the first move this time. The assassin figured that by now it would be easier of Hikari attacked first and leave himself open to a swift and fatal counter.