The Tale of Yissu Yermos: Boy Vampire
Chapter 1- Resurrection
Somebody once told me "nobody can live forever", and that "Immortality is just a myth". Well, clearly they'd never met a vampire, which is pretty uncommon in Skyrim, as the land's full of them. They're usually dwelling in some cave, worshipping their sacred Daedric Gods, or feasting upon the wary when night falls. They don't care who the 'wary' consists of either, I mean, I'm fifthteen years old, and in no way did they show me any mercy. Well, they did, but not in the way that allowed me to live to see the next day. You'll see what I mean when I get to that part of the tale. I think it's best that I start from the beginning and make my way to when I was sired, just so you get a good load of the information you'll need to understand this tale of twisted beings, deceit and disloyalty. This tale of my undead life.
It starts one Morndas morning, when I set off to work with the rest of the slave boys from Riften. Yes, I'm a slave, if you have a problem with that, please stop reading, but if you don't, please let me continue. My family had come from a poor background, and had moved to Riften in hope of work. They'd found none and had lived in a run-down house for five years before eventually selling me, their only child, to a slave trader. Bastards. Whilst we'd never seen eye-to-eye, me and my parents had always attempted to work together to get food on the table in order to keep us eating and alive. We had always scrapped by, even if it had meant making dark deals with the Thieves Guild of Riften, or stealing from the other inhabitants of Riften (which was where I came of use to my parents). But those days had ended, and dark times lay upon us. The Thieves Guild had died down to a mere five people and people had started to become more wary of myself and my family, keeping their eyes keenly on us and hiding their possessions when any of us walked by. The guards were more alert and were larger in number than ever before, patrolling at all times and keeping their hands gripped tightly around their swords. They made sure they set an example that struck fear into the hearts of every citizen by brutally torturing and then hanging any thief they caught in front of the citizens. Due to the tightening in security, the food on our table became more and more scarce, which led to the point where my parents and I were starting to famish away, and so they sold me when the opportunity arose.
"Don't worry son, these men will be able to take care of you better than your Mother and I could ever have done, and you should be able to find yourself a new home that feeds you every day, three times a day," My Father reassured as I mounted the carriage that belonged to the sinister looking slave traders.
I looked at him spitefully, feeling the urge to spit in his face. Even the other slaves looked disgusted by my parent's actions. I mean, these guys were orphans and had been snatched from the streets and handcuffed, but I'd been sold by my parents. "I hope you and Mother enjoy the week's worth of meals my money brings you before the Devines take you from this world after you starve!" I tried not to create a scene, but I had to unleash my feelings towards my Father. My Mother just stood there, looking wary and slightly upset, but not upset enough to say that her only child was being sold.
My Father looked at me in revolt. "Son, if we're getting feelings up in the air, then I must say: You've always been an enormous disappointment you myself and your Mother. You've always dragged us down and have never been of any real use to us. I hope one day you'll return a true man with a spine." And with that he sharply turned on the spot and marched off. My Mother looked at me and sighed before following him.
"Oh, I will Father, but only when you're on your death bed!" I screamed after him. In the process of screaming I had stood up sub-consciously, only to find a rough hand grip my shoulder and wrench me back down in my place. And that had been the last I had seen of my parents in my living life. I'd be paying them a quick visit though in the near future, and I'd be keeping my ward towards my Father.
I hung my head down as I allowed the slave traders to shackle me, knowing that if I made a run for it they'd not think two thoughts about shooting me down. One of the other slave boys patted me on the back and said: "Who needs parents anyway eh? They just hold you back from embracing your true potential in life."
The boy had a point; I could be so much further in life if it hadn't been for those morons. I looked up at him and smiled. "You're right, who needs 'em." The other boys smiled and all patted me on the back. They all seemed to be my age, give or take a few years, and they all seemed to be in my position: Shackled down and unable to do anything about it. These guys could be my family now, or so I'd thought at the time. But plans changed, as my parents had just proven.
It wasn't long before the slave traders decided they weren't going to be able to get anything more out of Riften and declared it was time to set off. They'd snatched from the streets and sold all they could, and knew they'd be returning this time next year expecting the same, but for now they would have to leave. One of the slave traders, the most armed one who was fully suited in steel armour and wielded a steel great sword as well as possessing a hunting bow, mounted the back of the carriage with me and the other boys, smirking at us and inspecting our bodies and their use. He nodded, looking fairly satisfied. "We're going to get a lot for this batch of meat," He called to his two companions who rode up top of the carriage, the ones who were merely armed with bows and a mace each.
"I bloody well hope so," One of them replied, "I don't want a winter like the last one. Nearly friggin' starved, and we lost Nimphon to the Frost Trolls in search of food. But if we don't make a lot off of them, we can just send what we have left to look for food, or just use them," He laughed, as did his two companions. A worried look sprouted onto the wimpiest-looking boy, who looked like he was a year or so younger than myself and as if he was the skinniest lad in time. I bet he was fast though. The driver whipped one of the horses softly and the carriage set off, onward out of Riften, and onto what my sire would call my destiny.
The carriage rolled onwards for most of that day in silence. None of the slave boys in the back of the carriage dare to talk in fear that one of the traders, most likely the one sat with us in the back of the carriage, would pounce. To my surprise though we came across no real dangers on the long road we travelled that day. I'd expected us to run into a giant or a pack of wolves, but no, nothing. It was also fairly sunny too, which made the ride slightly more pleasant than what it could have been if we'd been hit by a storm or a strong encore of heavy rain and wind. I hadn't travelled Skyrim that much in my life, but I knew that if I was ever freed as a slave boy, I'd have to do it. It was beautiful, stunning in fact, and I'd yet to explore the mountains. Of course, these were my thoughts at the time; I had plenty of time to do all of that when I was sired.
We stopped for Lunch near some large rocks in a field where we had a full view of everything around us. Whilst the three slave-traders seemed to set out a full, three course meal by the side of the carriage, us slave-boys received a small piece of bread each with a little soup to share, just so that we weren't strong enough to escape but were strong enough to carry on living. "Don't worry boys; there'll be more of that where that came from if you stay as quiet as you have just done now for the rest of that day!" One of the laughed gruffly whilst the others joined in laughing, all pleasuring themselves too much by staring at our faces, which all bore looks of great disappointment and annoyance. I could tell the anger was swelling up inside every single boy, but they, like me, knew better than to just lash out at the traders. They were armed; we were not.
The rest of the day carried out like the first half had; we'd sat in the back of the carriage in a cold silence whilst we rode through grassy plains as we approached what looked like a colder part of Skyrim. Beyond the horizon the plains were covered in a pure white colour instead of the refreshing green colour they'd been covered in over the land we'd travelled through that day.
Upon reaching these snowy plains the carriage came to an abrupt halt. "We should rest here for the night and continue through the cold tomorrow when we have enough strength and vigour to do so. Hopefully we'll reach Whiterun within two days, if we don't run into any complications," the slave trader who was driving suggested, leaving his companions nodding, and us boys sighing with relief. If anything, nightfall would have been the time to escape. Under the blanket of darkness the night sky laid upon us we could hide away in the shadows and creep away from the slave traders, one by one until they actually noticed we'd escaped, and by then it'd been too late for them to have done anything. That was the ideal plan. However, life doesn't always go to plan.
"I'd have you agree with Greckor," replied one of the nord slave-traders, the one who'd sat in the front of the carriage next to Greckor, the driver.
The slave-trader in the huge armour, who was an orc, also spoke up and agreed, and so they drove the carriage into a set of rocks and hid it there, creating a fire with haste before the sun could set. That was the last time any of those slave traders lay their eyes on the sun.
Whilst we didn't get a three-course meal, the slave-traders treated us to a larger meal than the minuscule piece of bread they had given us at lunch time, which basically meant that they gave us a little bit of meat and some wine. The slave-traders however sat themselves down to a nice, huge meal that included plenty of mead, bread and meat whilst they laughed ecstatically together, all punching each other playfully and drinking the night away. They also made the fire grow brighter, leaving us slave-boys wondering why they had even attempted to hide as we stared into the dancing flames thoughtfully.
Finally, one of the boys plucked up the courage to suggest their escape. "If any time's better to attempt to escape than ever, it's now. Agreed?"
An encore of mumblings and nodding followed his question as I kept my keen eyes on the three drunken idiots by the fire. "I say we run together, if we separate then we'll surely all be dead within a day, if that." I replied, my eyes still transfixed on the fire and the slave-traders. Something didn't feel right, as if all of the feeling in the world had just been sucked away leaving the world and everything in it emotionless and cold. No coloured felt present but was present as no sound felt present but was present. Something was wrong.
However, before anybody could reply to my suggestion we were hit by a powerful, bone-crushing gale of wind that blew me and the slave-boys back against the rocks. The carriage was sent catapulting through the air and the fire was silenced, leaving us all in a nightmarish darkness. The laughter from the slave-traders immediately died down and was replaced with the ruffles of them being blown across the ground by the gale of wind.
As I lifted my body from the ground I noticed a pain worse than any I had ever felt in my left arm. My right hand sub-consciously moved across and rubbed the wound on my arm, unable to rise above the wound due to the shackles restricting it from doing so, only to find that it met a hot liquid that seemed to be covering my entire left arm. I had my left arm against one of the rocks violently when being blown back, but now was no time to worry about that. We had to run, that wind had been no accident, I knew it had to have been on purpose.
Around me stilettos of the slave-boys rose from the ground, all of them groaning and rubbing their wounds. This was followed by loud cries and angry shouts of the slave-traders, all complaining and screaming at each other about how they'd lost us. Before I could even tell the others to get up and run though, a piercing screech speared through the air and pounded down our ear holes, causing most of the boys, myself not included, to quickly cover their ears, some of them even dropping to the floor.
I knew if I stayed where I was I'd be dead meat, and so I rose from where I had fallen and started to stagger around, attempting to regain my balance after the screech and the wind. What happened next though was a blur. Many dark stilettos leap down upon us from the rocks, one of them landing near the boy who lie nearest to me and wrenching up high into the air and jumping up after him, meeting him in mid-air as the stiletto rose and the boy fell, gripping him where they met and thrusting his mouth around his neck.
"Vampires," I muttered fearfully. I'd heard of them in stories, but I always had thought they were myths, stories that had been told to children to keep them quiet and in place, never had I imagined I'd be facing them. Hell, facing them wasn't even on my mind; I had to get moving, in any direction away from where I was!
Around me many stilettos merged into one as the vampires wrapped themselves around their victims, showing no mercy as they preyed on the weak, gaggling and laughing as their mouths filled with the sweet taste of the hot, oozing blood. Horrific screams from the boys pierced the air and my ears, terrorizing me for the rest of my short life. They wept and called for each other and their loved ones, but nobody came for them. Nobody but the lifeless, blood-sucking bringers of death. I seemed to be one of the last boys who were left standing, and so I dived to the floor and crept along to my captors, who ironically could be my saviours right now.
I had to weave myself in and out of the unknown shapes silently, occasionally hot blood dropping from them onto my body, which led to me being covered in it by the time I'd reached where the fire had originally been before the remaining ashes had been scattered everywhere. Some would have called it luck that I hadn't been caught scrambling around on the ground; I called it pure skill, skill that I'd learnt when I stole from people back in Riften. Not far from where I currently lay were two stilettos fighting, one of them the orc and one of them a rather large vampire. By the orc's feet lie a limp-looking body. I bet that was one of the body's of one of his dead companions, and so I scrambled over to it, dragging my body along the ground quickly and stealthily.
Most of the screams started to die down now, and most of the bodies of the slave-boys started to drop lifelessly to the ground, large chunks of their neck missing. I reached the body of the slave-trader and fumbled around in his pocket, eventually causing a jingling noise. Bingo! I'd found what I was looking for. I plundered the keys from the slave-trader's pocket and unlocked my shackles, grabbing his mace from near his body and standing up. At that moment I noticed what I'd done wrong, I'd give myself away. That was the mistake that cost me my life.
A grisly-looking vampire approached me, making it close enough to me for me to notice the sinister, satisfied smirk that his face bore in the dim moonlight. His face, especially around his mouth, was coated in layers and layers of teenage blood. His eyes were a blood-red colour, pleasuring themselves at the sight of the defenceless piece of meat that was me. The vampire pounced his arm forward like a snake pouncing for its prey, but only to find that I weren't going to let him kill me that easy. In one quick, easy movement I swung the slave-trader's weapon from below near my leg upwards to meet the vampire's hand, not failing to hit it and leave a mighty mark. The vampire merely laughed at my attempts to keep myself alive. "You've got some fight in you boy, I like that! Better than the rest of these disgusting, pitiful pieces of garbage!" I stepped backwards slowly a few steps before hitting one of the rocks with my back. I was trapped.
The vampire leaped up high and over me, landing and positioning himself on the top of the boulder I was stood with my back to, giving me a clear view of the stilettos that were slowly but surely closing in on me. The orc had failed in surviving when four vampires had all struck at once, all getting a taste of his dirty blood. "But unfortunately boy, you haven't got enough fight!" The vampire snarled before thrusting his unwounded arm down at me. I narrowly avoided the attacker from above and gripped his arm, wrenching on it, thus causing the vampire to lose his balance and fall down next to me. Before I could strike the final blow though, another vampire attacked from the left. It was the big one who'd been fighting the orc. Without a second thought (or even a first for that matter) I swung the mace towards him, indenting it into his chest. He groaned in shock and pain before he turned to dust. I'd hit his heart with a mighty blow, one that was mighty enough to change my fate forever.
The other vampires that had started to approach me came to an abrupt halt before recoiling in fear. "What are you doing you morons! So, he's killed our leader, he's just a boy! Finish him!" Screamed the vampire who was using the boulder as support whilst he recovered himself to his feet. None of the vampires dared to move. The vampire spat and ducked down as I swung the mace as hard as I could in the direction of the vampire's face. Upon colliding with the boulder the weapon shattered, sending violent vibrations up the mace, vibrations so violent that they caused me to drop the mace.
Before I could make my next move the vampire lunged his hand out for my neck and gripped it, smashing my body against the rock, leaving it filled with waves upon waves of pain. I groaned. He drew his grisly, worn out face up to my young, slightly blood covered face and smiled satisfyingly. His breath stank of the stench of bad blood, though that didn't stop him from breathing all over my face, leaving the stench of his breath tingling in my nose, revolting and rotting my senses. "I should thank you boy; you've just promoted me to the leader of this cult here, something that I've tried to achieve for years now. In fact, I will thank you!" The vampire swooped his head down and licked my blood-soaked arm viciously, cutting it further with his barbed teeth. This of course sent a shiver through my entire body, draining all heat and life from it. "Oh your blood tastes sooo good!" He laughed menacingly. "Thank the Divines that I'm a vampire in fact, it doesn't seem abnormal that I'm taking pleasure in tasting and enjoying your blood! Now, sit tight," The vampire drew one of his acuminate finger nails and cut into the arm that he was using to grip my neck. He showed no signs of pain or grimacing, only pleasure. "Feast!" With the hand he had just cut his arm with, he wrenched my long, curly hair and pushed my head down to the wound on his arm, causing me to suck in some of his blood. It was unearthly and disgusting. To my relief though he soon wrenched my head back up to face his. It was a painful pull, and it meant I had to inhale the stench of the vampire's breath, but it wasn't as bad as sucking his blood. "Now, my turn!" The vampire said unmercifully as he swiftly moved his head so that he could sink his teeth into my neck.
"Aghh..." I groaned as the teeth pierced my neck, cutting through like a knife through soft butter. I could feel the life being drained from my body, my blood rushing to my neck just to be sucked out further. It wasn't all that painful, just more shocking, and life draining. My senses started to dim to the point where I could no longer here the sucking sounds the vampire was making as he drained my blood from me, or see the vampires who stood there, watching me in fear, expecting me to lash out and save myself, nor could I smell the stench of the vampire or the small of blood in the air. The only thing I could feel anymore was the vampire's blood swelling in my mouth, dripping from my lips and down my face.
And that is how I died.
What happened to my body between the time of my death and my resurrection is completely beyond me. Since you can't do much with a dead body (or much legal stuff anyway) I just assume they carried it to the place of my resurrection, placed me there and resurrected me. Or at least I hoped that's what they did with my dead body...
The first thing my senses picked up was the chanting. And then the intense beams of light, which were picked up when my eyes opened. I groaned, but yet didn't feel any pain or any reason to groan, I just did. It was slightly weird, as were my senses, they seemed to have... improved. My hearing seemed to be sharper and could pick up more detail. My eyes seemed to take in more light and intensity. My tongue seemed to be able to taste the blood and emotion of other beings mixed together as it drifted through the air. My skin seemed to feel to emotions of others and the vibe that vibrated through the air. My nose could smell the blood of others and its purity. Everything was sharper than before, I'd been reborn, but not as a human, no. I'd been reborn as what felt like a god, a being to be feared by all mortals.
I'd been reborn as Yissu Yermos: Boy Vampire.
