“Hmm…your outfit could use a change.” Zerinia said, narrowing her eyes at Tharia’s ragged robes, she looked down at them then back to Zerinia, “What’s wrong with them?” She asked, genuinely confused, it was basic and practical, the idea of having to change them was strange to her and before battle even more so.
“Look, they’re simple, practical and does what it needs.” Zerinia nodded. “Maybe, but it doesn’t say ‘powerful chieftain’, and if we’re going to fight humans, we need something intimidating…something that shows you mean business.” “I don’t entirely know what that means but…that’s good, right?” Tharia said, not knowing what to expect from the vampire who smiled, holding out some new clothes. “Of course it is good, and with this, none will be able to face you without looking terrified.” Tharia raised an eyebrow but remained quiet as she walked away to get changed.
“Do you think she’ll lead her people well?” Edilia said, walking over and standing next to Zerinia, who smiled before responding, “I do…and if she and her people will fight bravely, which is likely when considering who we’re talking about…we should be able to lead them in a battle where we can save innocent lives, repair damage between these two peoples and do good.” Edilia nodded slowly before responding, “Good…I never believed I would have ever done such a thing.” She said before walking off.
Zerinia thought about her words, she was made to be a villain, to do wrong, to cause harm, but thinking about it now…it felt strange, perhaps it was the new mind she had adopted, maybe it was the idea of an inherently evil creature doing right because it was told to, does that make it any better? Does a evil creature, who actively harms others for their own personal gain, suddenly different because they were told to do otherwise by their authority?
The question remained unanswered for a few seconds before she walked in another direction as she heard footsteps running over, “Lady Zerinia…I heard about what’s happening, everyone is preparing for battle too, is it true?” It was Rango, his face showed he was confused by what he had heard, but he was clearly on edge just in case the rumours were true.
“Yes, they are…because of that, I want you all to gather in the central hall where I shall give you all a debrief on how we will be dealing with this threat.” Rango raised an eyebrow, confused by what she said. “Uh, ‘debrief’? What’s that?” “It’s kind of hard to explain…just come to the central hall with everyone and you can see for yourselves.” She said before turning away and walking, Rango nodded, still confused but understanding her final command, he turned and walked before jogging to carry out what he was told.
Perhaps 30 minutes later, everyone had gathered in the centre of the village in the main hall, it was where Zerinia had taken temporary accommodations, not that she would actually sleep in there due to her undead nature. Instead, they all stood in front of a stage, Zerinia looked out at all of them with fake confidence while thinking on how to proceed.
“Damn it, why does this have to be this scary? I’m a literal vampire, I committed a murder just a few days ago now and I can’t even give a short talk, barely even a speech?! Damn this stage fright!” Zerinia thought, clearing her throat before finally beginning her talk. “S- So…hello e- ev- everyone, I’m…never mind, you already know who I am, ha ha…” Everyone just stared at her with blank expressions, causing Zerinia’s paranoia to skyrocket unnaturally. “A- Anyway it has come to my attention that uhh…a human village is being attacked by other humans, and for the sake of doing the right thing, I want to save this small land.”
The crowd mumbled and looked at one another, wondering as to why a powerful vampire is concerned with human affairs and why demi-humanoids like them would have to intervene like this, Zerinia quickly responded to their confusion. “Yes, I know you all may be confused about why I would want to do this, but there is a reasonable explanation for this…my goal is simple, yet shapeless, I want something many others do and similarly, I am willing to do anything to achieve it…order, peace and happiness. And if I am to stand aside and let innocent, weak lives lose their chances of having these things, what is the point of even claiming I want such a thing?”
Everyone looked around and nodded, her words made sense to them and Zerinia let out a long, slow sigh of relief, happy that they understood. “Excellent, thank you all…now, this is how we’re going to save this village…”
“So, did General Iriar tell you why we had to take this village? I mean, what use is it anyway?” One of the armoured men said to another, standing on a hill as hundreds of soldiers stormed into the village, rampaging anyone they say, executing prisoners and showing no mercy to anyone regardless of age, gender or capability.
“I don’t know, something about needing the land to build a fortress to keep an eye on demi-humanoids in the forest…and hey, it’s better they’re killed by their own kind than being murdered, or worse, than some monster tribe within the forests.” He said with casual confidence, like that rule of logic made perfect sense.
“Yeah, I guess you’re right, not like we need more mouths to feed by taking them in…kill them off, bury them somewhere, take resources, build the fortress and move on. Just one big aid and these people die for a good cause too.”
“Now you’re getting it.” The first guy said with a confident grin, the other guy chuckled.
“Who said I didn’t?” They both laughed before turning back to watch the massacre of all these innocent villagers, the best weapons they had were pitchforks, pickaxes, scythes, sickles, rakes and shovels. All of which proved to be completely ineffective against the trained soldiers who moved through them like a knife in warm butter.
Running down the road was a young woman, no older than 19 and in her arms, her younger brother, a boy only 7 years old. Her diminishing strength could only bring her so far before she fell, tripping over the body of her neighbour, an elderly woman who was like a grandmother to her and the young boy. She tried to get up, holding the whimpering boy close, tightly in her scrapped arms, only to be met by the sight of two soldiers standing over her, their chain-mail tight firm and practically unharmed by the villagers attempts at harming them.
“Oh, I remember you, you’re both are the little ones that ran with that older guy who told you to run before I stabbed him through the chest…like father like children I guess.” The first one said, raising his sword.
“Just kill them quickly, we have more people to kill.” The other said, looking in another direction. The young woman held her brother tight and sealed her eyes shut, trying to shield him from the incoming attack.
“Argh-“ The soldier said, his body dropping to the ground.
“Wha-…What the?!” The soldier next to him said, looking at his ally on the floor. His eyes were wide in pain, his body still and a large arrow sticking out of his chest. Around then, one by one, more and more of the soldiers found arrows in their bodies before dying of said wounds, the young woman and her brother looked up and saw what was happening to their invaders and could only watch in fascination, fear and confusion. On the hill towards the west, many Lizardfolk stood with arrows and bows, clearly being the source of the new assault.
“Ha! Call yourselves soldiers while killing innocents of your own kind?” Kaa yelled out, getting out a horn and blowing into it and from the north, Lizardfolk and Orc’s charged forward, their weapons slicing through the human soldiers while guiding the remaining survivors northwards to where they had come from.
“What is this?!” Commander Haroth demanded, one of the second in commands in the assault. One of the soldiers on standby rushed over to give a report on the new development in the assault.
“We don’t know, sir! Everything was going well until Demi-Humanoids appeared and have been fighting our forces, they have better positioning, superior physical soldiers and weapons powerful enough to get through our armour!” He said, clearly panicking that their plan wasn’t as intended.
“Damn it, useless, all of you! You, get General Selark here now!” He yelled; the soldier nodded and ran off to carry out this task.
“Do we chase after him?” Maura asked, looking over to Rango from the trees nearby.
“No, our priority is to remain here, observe and relay information back to Zerinia.” Maura nodded before looking back at the small group of soldiers.
“I managed to bring back one of their own.” Edilia said, dragging a lifeless body back to Zerinia who remained behind the treeline, watching the carnage from afar, analyzing her enemies while commanding her forces. “Have all human civilians been evacuated?” She asked, Edilia only responded with a nod, who looked down at the body.
“Very well…Blood Knight!” She said, holding a hand out at the body, causing it to morph, mutate and grow into a large monster with blood red armour with black and gold trim, the creature was perhaps 12 to 15 feet tall with a rotted form mainly hidden under its armour with glowing red eyes, broken and crooked teeth sharp enough to break through iron and no lips to hide them, and an intense stare that looked like it could pierce the soul itself.
The beast stared down at Zerinia, its creator, as if waiting for her words like it would be divine revelation. Tharia stared at the beast with a dumbstruck expression, absolutely terrified by its large size, intense watch and deathly aura.
“What- What the hell is that thing?! She just…made it with just a few words?! Am I going insane?! I am not going near that thing, whatever it is…why does it need to be so tall?! And its sword and shield, they look like they could destroy a building…calm down Tharia, it’s on your side, just take deep breaths…deep breaths Tharia.” She thought to herself, but even that didn’t calm her from the terror that surged through her body like water in a river. Zerinia watched it with hidden fascination, “Woah…it looks exactly like it did from divine unbreaking! It looks as powerful as it did from before…I wonder if it can evolve into a ‘Blood Emperor like they did in divine unbreaking too! Man, this is pretty sick!”
Zerinia’s face remained calm though as she looked over to Edilia. “Go to Rango and Maura, keep an eye on the soldiers on the other hill and if they try anything unwanted, let me know.” The Elf Ghoul nodded before walking away, leaving Zerinia, Tharia and the ‘Blood Knight’, both of which looking at the same people from before. Zerinia turned and looked over to the Blood Knight and spoke with her command, the order it had wanted since it was made. Zerinia pointed back towards the village and spoke.
“Kill all the soldiers in the village who wear armour and anyone with them, leave none of them alive!” That was her command, the order, the mission to the undead beast that stood before her. The beast turned and saw bodies of the soldiers laying dead before letting out a blood lusted roar, it was a sound of a beast that wanted death, blood and destruction.
“RAAAAAAAAOOOOOOWH!” It yelled before running into the once peaceful village. Tharia was frozen by the sound, not out of cold but out of an absolute primordial fear that she had never felt before, she felt something wet leaking out of her nose, flowing down smoothly like a waterfall, raising her hand to feel what it was, she looked down to her fingers, now stained with a dark crimson liquid, one that felt so foreign in this situation yet was also very familiar after how many times she saw it. It was blood.