Vampires in Alagaesia
Mischal cursed at his lot in life. He was only trying to help his people, yet the elven families rejected his theories and were repulsed by his methods. The bodies he was experimenting on were already dead, why were so many of his kind against making as much of their sacrifice as possible. Not only was he not hurting anyone, but he was trying to restore life to that which no longer had any. Could the blinded fools not see his good intentions? No, they were blinded by their lack of knowledge. The fools heard the word necromancy and immediately shut out any other information being told. Those closed-minded swine.
Yet for all his anger at being exiled from the elvish community, he had to admit one thing. All his experiments had ended in failure. Most attempts showed no affect whatsoever, and those that did regain some shadow of their former lives were nothing but abominations. Mischal passed in front of the cells holding the failures which showed the most promise, and was still horribly disappointed. Three years and this is all I have to show for it???
He looked at the rotted corpse of what was once a fine elvish youth and didn't even flinch when the thing lunged at the bars snapping his jaws like a lunatic. This one had no trace of the intelligence that once resided in the partially bashed open skull perched atop his neck. Ever since it was arisen it had been possessed by an insatiable desire for raw, freshly killed meat, and it had no reserves about where its next meal would come from.
In the next cell rested one of his experiments on an animal corpse. Much like the first partial success, this one killed indiscriminately for its food. However, once this one got its fill, it was just as complacent as any other undisturbed wolf. This one had given him an iota of hope, however he had been unable to replicate the results in any humanoid experiments so far.
Then he approached the next cell, his biggest let down. At first it had seemed like he had succeeded. The specimen showed signs of sentient levels of intelligence, and had even had a series of short conversations with Mischal. Most of which pertained to his whereabouts and his requests for some food. However, when Mischal brought him some of the seed cakes he had been eating for lunch, the subject spit them out immediately after taking a bite. Mischal tried several other food sources, including finely cooked meats, but still could not get the creature to eat. After a few days without food, the specimen was acting just as deranged as the one in the first cell.
Suddenly Mischal did a double-take. The cell was empty, with a three foot by six foot hole in the back wall. Panicking, Mischal ran outside looking for signs of his lost experiment. Hearing a soft crunch in a tree above him he looked up to see the subject pounce onto him. His last thought was Shade's blood, what monstrosity have I just unleashed on the world?
~Experiment's POV~
As he felt the life-blood running down his throat he saw flashes, mostly indiscernible, of his victim's memories. Through the hazy images he remember with an unnatural clarity three words in the Ancient Language, and what they could do if said over a dessicated corpse. With the onrush of blood he also started to gain back some of his humanity. Looking around in the moonlit forest, he realized there were no … what were they called? Oh yes... Elves. Yes there were no elves around for miles.
Looking for shelter, the experiment decided the forest was not a fit place for him. He was still weak from his period of starvation and the few life forms he sensed around here were either large or reeked of magic. Fleeing from the edge of Du Weldenvarden, he began to run south west as fast as he could. After only a couple of hours he encountered an elven outpost with few men stationed.
Bypassing the two guards on the perimeter without being detected, the experiment proceeded to the barracks. He chose one of the three young males sleeping there and promptly sank his fangs into the throat of his victim. While gorging himself on the elf's blood, the experiment realized the onrush of memories seemed a little clearer and easier to manage. The experiment realized he should choose a name for himself, just in case he ever wanted to play with his food for a little while. Using the memories of his two meals that day, he chose what he felt was a fitting name for himself. Umbra Venator, the shadow hunter.
Quickly checking to ensure he hadn't awoken either of the other two elves, he left silently. Inspecting the land around him he found the entrance to a cave. Pausing at the opening, he sniffed the air tentatively. Umbra became concerned when he sensed a large and powerful creature residing within. Still cocky from the blood rush, he charged in anyways to find a massive wolf and her pup holed up within.
The she-wolf, sensing his presence in an instinctual fashion turned and snarled at Umbra, fully prepared to do what was necessary to defend her offspring. Umbra casually swung at the wolf, only to be snapped into awareness by the sharp pain produced by the she-wolf's teeth sinking into his arm. Slightly more cautious, Umbra circled the wolf, unsure of just how powerful it actually was.
Lightning fast, the she-wolf pounced, but but cut off mid dive by Umbra's fist colliding with her chest and snapping one of her ribs. Shaking off the pain, the wolf rose from the ground and stood protectively in front of her young male pup, fighting the instincts shouting at her to flee.
When Umbra tried to press the attack on the wounded she-wolf, all he received was a sharp clubbing on the head by the wolf's paw. Feeling his anger manifest itself in his arm he thrust his claw-fingered arm through the stomach of the she-wolf and snapped her spine. Umbra, pleased with his kill, took a moment to get his bearings back and felt a small pain in his ankle. Looking down, he discovered the young wolf attached to the bottom of his leg.
Umbra kicked the small animal off of him with an annoyed grunt. Deciding to spare the young wolf for now he muttered "slytha" and carried the young wolf into the center of the floor and began to make a rudimentary bed, using magic when tasks couldn't be quickly achieved mundanely. Umbra instinctively knew it would be sun-up soon and wished not to be awake when it came about.
He finished his task and laid down with the wolf pup only fifteen minutes before the sun broke the horizon. Umbra then entered a semi-conscious, almost catatonic state that would be his sleep. While he was fully aware of his surroundings, he could not will his body into movement. Resolving to spend all his future days contemplating his existence, he went back over the details of the day in his mind.