Chapter 1: Where in Mieyerditch...?
Search for the Shadow
Being one of them was a new feeling to Shadow...
She knew that being like this, being a Vyrewatch, meant she had to act more mature, give the humans of the city less to gawk at. Ever since her initial transformation, she'd been allowed to romp around the city of Meiyerditch like a little child, stirring up the dirt with wild abandon, scrambling into small places she should have never alerted the other humans to, and building up a fine collection of scratches—which healed rather quickly, to her luck—all over her skin from being slashed at by furious stray cats that she had trampled on the tails of. Sometimes the humans would give her odd looks and they were beginning not to take the Vampyres seriously because of her actions.
She had already been ridden the riot act, so this was nothing new to her ears. She was completely adapted to being yelled at by her leading lord. If it wasn't one thing, it was certainly another. Lord Drakan must have found joy in reminding her of all the things she did wrong, whatever it would be this time. He always told her off for the same general reason, but for different things in a more broad point of view. She had been yelled at for portraying immature behaviors in front of the humans, skipping around cheerfully, being startled by smallish things like stray dogs, inflicting harm upon herself because of the stupid tricks she attempted to perform... She had been directly informed that her actions were causing unwanted reactions in the humans of the city. Thrice or so had other Vyrewatch had to have been called in to drag her away for her childish antics, which would be fine, if humans weren't watching. The humans would watch this and they began to sense a weakness in the Vampyres' power and authority over the city. They began to think, well, if this one can't behave, perhaps there are others. Once he had even gone as far as to blame Shadow for Vanescula's acting against his own rule, an event which, suffice to say, didn't end too well.
Nonetheless, Shadow covertly knew he was correct. She was accepted into the royal family, she had finally grown her wings, she had the honor of being one of the Vyrewatch. Yet, she certainly had never shown she deserved this spot, though, she would never admit that aloud for the fear that certain people may overhear. A royal wasn't supposed to act like a newborn, exploring curiously and getting into loads of trouble over something foolish. To add to this, a Vyrewatch was supposed to strike fear into the hearts of the human populace. When a Vyrewatch walked—or flew—by, humans were meant to cower back, huddle against the sides of buildings, seek any shelter away from it's soulless eyes, and shudder for the fear that it may find them. For a human to react as so, it meant you were a qualified Vyrewatch. Shadow realized that when she walked by, humans did not act as so. They looked upon her with curious eyes, inching closer. Little children were brave enough to say hi to her and grab onto her leg; what was even more shameful was that their parents didn't stop them, for they didn't fear her. Shadow knew in her lifeless heart this was not correct. It broke the order of the Vampyre.
It had been a week or so before anyone noticed Shadow's wings had grown in. How many humans knew she was a Vyrewatch already before someone was informed? How many of them had already taken a different view upon Vyrewatch because of her? One of the patrolling Vyrewatch must have noticed she was fully developed, because eventually someone reported to Ranis, Ranis informed Lord Drakan, and Lord Drakan eventually had Shadow called to his office in Castle Drakan to have a word with her about it. To be honest, it wasn't quite the lecture Shadow was expecting... Nor was she expecting a visit from Ranis himself...
Ranis impatiently shook his long red wings out as he perched on the side of a crumbling building. He was quite a site to behold, a bat-winged, red skinned monster with long pointed ears and a flat snout with sharp teeth protruding out. He was adorned in rather skin-tight blue and black clothing and wore pale peach bracers on his arms. Even though he did not usually wear shoes in this form, for it made his talon-like feet feel cramped, but he did wear tall black shoes this time. Reason? He didn't need one. The city of Meiyerditch was extremely unnerving to him; he was much more used to the sheer gothic beauty of the royal city of Darkmeyer, not the rotting decay of Meiyerditch. He would have refused to go, but he was under the direct order of Lord Drakan to... it didn't matter what, to be completely honest. If Lord Drakan told you to do something, you did it, regardless of how inconvenient or idiotic it may be, and Lord Drakan seemed to be extremely skilled at handing out both sorts of tasks. So naturally, when Lord Drakan commanded Ranis to locate Shadow and bring her to him, there was no other choice for Ranis but to politely comply. Refusal was forbidden.
His head tilted ever so slightly to the side, for Ranis had absolutely no idea where Shadow would be at. Shadow wasn't a highly predictable girl, at least not for Ranis' mind. Even the complex Vampyric mind of Ranis could not possibly predict the intricate pattern of actions that Shadow performed throughout the day. Sometimes, Ranis swore there was none. However, there had to be some pattern, as Ranis was intelligent enough to realize how easy it was for Vanstrom to pick up on them. Nonetheless, there was no way that Ranis was going to ask Vanstrom where he thought Shadow was. Vanstrom's pet was horrible enough; Harold startled even the most evil and cruel of Vampyres, but Vanstrom himself... Ranis would sooner face Lord Drakan's wrath.
It was frustrating though, looking for Shadow in the sprawling ghettos of Meiyerditch. Looking for anyone in that wreck of a city was quite the task, like a human locating a needle in a haystack, but to find Shadow there was more like a human finding a needle in a silo of hay. Twice the inconvenient. Using comparisons was often different for a Vampyre then it was for a human. For example, a human would have extreme difficulty finding a needle in a haystack. Needles are quite small and hay is abundant, but, to a Vampyre, it was more like locating a boulder then a needle. For one, if the Vampyre watched the person put the needle in, they could simply read the person's mind for the needle's location. If they didn't see where it was, all they had to do was track the scent of metal. Needles smelled quite different then hay, for both were very different items. Thus, locating the needle would be no difficult task. Where to begin? Where to continue? If he just looked frivolously, he knew how long it would take to find her. Nevertheless, with no leads to follow, senseless searching seemed to be the only choice.
Ranis raised his nose ever so slightly into the sky, taking in a deep breath of the surrounding air. Unfortunately, Meiyerditch had a strange collection of appalling and rancid scents with commonly blocked out the one scent you were attempting to pry out of the crowd in particular. Ranis' nose twitched slightly, but nothing came to him that seemed to assist him in his search. He was in fact just about to give up the Vampyric form of searching for someone and revert to a more lowly human form of searching when his ears flicked twice, picking up the sound of a human conversation not too far away. Instinctively, Ranis' head turned in the direction of the conversation. He was naturally used to listening in on humans. Not many humans were in Darkmeyer, but you'd be surprised how enterprising the ones who were stuck there were. Sometimes it paid to eavesdrop in on what they were saying. His advanced eyes instantly picked up on their locations. Two males, both devoid of most color and life and clothed in ripped rags, like the rest of the city. They were of near same height, both in poor health, the only difference was one's hair was a long, but colorless grey whereas the other man's was a short, but bright brown, almost too bright. Nonetheless, nothing outstandingly special, needless to say.
They grey haired male lowered his head slightly, as if he figured that would block out his words from being heard by any nearby nosy Vampyres. "Did you see that Vampyre with the green wings?" He asked his friend, sounding a trifle excited, which was logical since not much happened to get excited over in Meiyerditch. Humans were always looking for chances to start rumors. Rumors were like Christmas in Meiyerditch; it was finally something to be happy over.
"You mean that new one?" the brown haired male inquired in response, earning himself a quick nod from his friend as an answer. Upon receiving that nod, he returned it, quickly adding as well, "Yeah, I saw her. I see her all the time. Weird one, she is. What about her?" Ranis' ears flicked once more as he listened to them.
Ranis wasn't sure, but he could tell the grey haired male was quite paranoid, possibly because he was so certain his conversation was being listened to. Humans were always afraid of angering the Vampyres with their conversations, which is why they kept them so private, quite, and quick. Even being near another human will sometimes raise the suspicion of a nearby Vampyre, prominently a Vyrewatch. But did they expect that he was nearby, or was it a more generalized paranoia? Ranis leaned forward a little to get a closer view on the humans.
Screeeeech...
Ranis snarled in irritation, for his movement on the floorboards had caused them to loll slightly out of place, producing the subtle, but evident, squealing noise they had just sounded. Was it enough for the humans to hear? "Well I heard..." The grey haired male stopped in the middle of the sentence, right as the floorboards screeched slightly. He quickly looked up in the sound's direction. Ranis knew he was close enough to be seem by the human and sure enough, the human's eyes eventually met with Ranis' shadowy figure perched on the route. "Agh! Vampyre! Can the conversation." Certainly enough, the human had heard the sound and located Ranis. The two fell immediately silent.
There was no point in hiding now, Ranis figured, since they had already clearly spotted him on the building. Ranis already noticed the evident signs of a human attempting to avoid any further detection from a Vampyre. They had ceased their conversation in the middle of the sentence, wandering apart from one another as if they were simply passing through the same point of the city by chance and had never intended to meet up. The two of them refused to make eye contact with one another and wouldn't even look in Ranis' general direction anymore. Ranis, alongside any other half intelligent Vampyre, immediately recognized all these signs. They weren't truly fooling anyone, but sometimes Vampyres didn't care enough to further pressure the humans on their conversations and went about their business, as if the trick had really worked. So it became a general human misconception that acting like nothing exists will keep a Vampyre out of your business. These two were very probable to soon learn the fine degree to which they were wrong.
Ranis released an earsplitting screech, a sound generally used to either inform other Vampyres you were going in either for an attack or towards prey, so they would react accordingly, or on rarer occasions, used to strike fear into humans the Vampyres planned on landing by to speak with. It was much easier to get half a word out of a human when they had it embedded in their mind you were going to sink your teeth into the soft flesh of their neck and tear it open. The two humans attempted to pretend like they didn't even notice the sound, but Ranis spotted the way they nearly jumped out of their skin and poorly endeavored to mask it. That had given them quite the start. His long, leathery wings spread open, stretching to nearly twice his height in length. He raised one clawed hand up as he released yet another deafening shriek, and he noticed the way one glanced up at him fearfully out of the corner of his eye. He knew, he knew Ranis was planning on confronting him, and he was secretly hoping Ranis may change his mind suddenly and conveniently. Rising to to a standing position, Ranis flapped his wings once, a thick current of air racing between the leathery surface, throwing him not more then a foot or two into the sky. Ranis could feel his feet floating lightly in the sky, the interesting sense it produced when you could tell your feet were leaving the comfort of the ground below. To him, the sky was just as comfortable as the ground, as was the water, the marsh, whatever he wanted to put his feet in, he gladly would. His wings flapped once more, twice more, thrice more. He kicked his feet high into the sky, stabilizing his position in the sky before making any movement towards the humans. He knew many Vyrewatch who never stabilized themselves, his sister being one of them, but he always did. Though unlikely, you could horribly injure yourself if you weren't stabilized before soaring away... unlikely, but possible. Ranis always preferred considering any negative possibilities and discarding them as quickly as possible.
He could tell fear was rushing swiftly down the humans' spines. It was true, too. The two humans were absolutely terrified. They knew Ranis had been listening, probably the entire time, and they were petrified of what would happen if he landed by them to speak with them. The brown haired human was a little more spunky then his grey haired friend, and thus wasn't quite as afraid, but the two of them both realized how bad it would be, though if they'd had known who Ranis was, they probably would've ran for it rather then subtly, but briskly, wander away.
Ranis landed with a slam in front of them, stirring up the dirt and dust which had taken countless months to settle in large piles on the ground. The two humans had to stop themselves from falling over, due to the shock produced by Ranis landing so suddenly and so nearby. The two of them coughed as a frenzy of dust swirled around them, taking any entry they could into their bodies in an attempt to block their oxygen flow or blind their vision. Ranis took a couple seconds to observe. The grey haired man was further away and was leaning against a wall while attempting to get control over his coughing. The brown haired man was much closer, nearly within touching distance of Ranis, and seemed to be a trifle more nonchalant over the flow of dust, though still bothered.
Since the grey haired man seemed to know a bit more about the topic then his brown haired friend, Ranis figured he would be a better target for questioning then his brown haired companion. Thus he turned around quickly, peering over his shoulder, quickly honing in on the frail figure of the grey haired man. He hardly even noticed the other figure below him, drawing back in fear as he saw Ranis' colorless eyes up close. Vampyric eyes are usually either blazing red, or generally colorless. For Ranis, he fell into the colorless family. Upon hearing the gasp, he glanced below him silently. Certainly enough, the brown haired human was drawing back quickly in fear, but Ranis noticed the way he was unable to take his gaze off Ranis. New child, Ranis assumed, new enough, anyways. Often times, humans would gaze in Vampyric eyes, a clear fear beating rapidly in their fragile hearts and despite their extreme fear, they would be unable to look away and Ranis knew why. Seeing the colorless, or blazing, eyes of a Vampyre up close for the first time was a unique experience for a human, a visage their little minds would never forget. Fear is not forgotten easily, and a Vampyre can strike some of the most powerful and long lasting fear in a human heart. However, this was not who Ranis was interested in and with a frightening snarl he drew back a clawed hang and swatted the brown haired human aside. The human was unable to resist, flying away a short distance and landing with a thud and a timid squeal. He was unharmed, though. Shame, thought Ranis, he liked it when they bled.
The brown haired human was attempting to recover, something he appeared to be having a difficult time completing. He had never been physically assaulted by one of the Vampyres—at least, not one of the Vyrewatch, those winged demons—before and it was a new feeling to him. He felt something, something he couldn't explain, racing up his arm when he had been swatted at. He couldn't explain it, but he felt somewhat weak, tired, maybe.
Then, like a blur in the wind, Ranis pounced towards the grey haired human. The human hardly had time to react towards Ranis' outstanding speed. Within a matter of seconds and another horrifying screech, Ranis was upon the poor man, pushing him against the side of a slowly crumbling building and hovering over his small body, wings spread to make him look larger, one clawed hand on the ground, another raised up, ready to strike. He bared his sharp teeth hatefully at the human and could hear the beating of his heart quickly increase as fear trickled down his spine. Ranis almost purred in content at the sound of his rapidly beating heart. He absolutely reveled in the fear of humans. The way of which he hovered over the human and the awkward position the human had been forced into... it gave Ranis a clear advantage, though he already had many advantages over the human, sensory advantage, speed advantage, strength advantage, size advantage, and most importantly, an intelligence advantage. Ranis wasted no time in getting what he wanted. He lurched towards the human and loudly spat, "Tell me what you know!"
The fear that he was insinuating in the grey haired human was quite evident. Everything about Ranis struck a grand degree of fear into the very core of the poor man, his posture, his voice, even what he was in general was enough to scare the man. Ranis, he was loving every second of this. "I have no idea what you're talking about, honestly!" the man replied in fear, very truthful to his word. He did not know for true what information Ranis wanted, but this did nothing in the way of convincing Ranis. Ranis knew.
"Don't play old fool with me, human!" Ranis spat with discontent, leaning in closer towards the human in order to further scare him. "You know exactly what I am talking about. Don't attempt to pretend like I never heard your conversation." The human simply continued to shudder in fear as Ranis' voice rose slightly, mocking the small bit of the conversation he overheard. "Oh hello my pathetic friend! Did you see the Vampyre with the green wings! Oh no, don't keep talking! There's a Vampyre conveniently listening in on our conversation!" Ranis suddenly lashed out with his free clawed hand, clasping it around the man's throat, with every intent to squeeze if he must. His voice returned back to normal, which wasn't much more comforting for the human, as he snarled, "That conversation. Perhaps you remember it. You were going to talk about someone, someone I may just be looking for. So tell me where she is! Tell me now, or I'll crush your neck like a mosquito. It wouldn't be very difficult, you know?"
The brown haired human had finally completely recovered and as so, was completely aware of his friend being threatened by the large, demonic creature we call Ranis. Needless to say, he wasn't too happy to see the creature threatening to crush his friend's neck and ran to defend. The brown haired human bolted swiftly up to Ranis, drawing back his hand and violently punching Ranis. It was all to convenient, though, that Ranis' wing just happened to sway ever so slightly to the side right as the punch was being thrown. As so, the punch harmlessly struck the thick leathery surface of Ranis' glistening red wing and thus caused no direct harm to Ranis himself. Furious, though, the human threw another punch at Ranis, which was once more conveniently reflected by Ranis' thick leathery wing. This time, the brown haired human grabbed the surface of Ranis' wing, pulling back on it. Without even looking over, Ranis reached over, twisted his clawed hand ever so slightly to the side, and immediately caused the brown haired man to lose his grip. Aware that Ranis was uncannily winning, though without even watching, the brown haired man simply rose to his feet and yelled bravely, though the fear in him was still present, at Ranis, "Leave him alone!" Finally, Ranis bothered to look over at the brown haired human. "He didn't do anything to you! Why don't you pick on someone your own size?"
Those were intended to be fighting words, but didn't quite come off in the manner he had hoped them to. Ranis just released a boisterous, booming laugh, a laughter which seemed to wrench it's way into the man's heart and slowly tear apart at it. "I would, but you don't seem to fit that description, now do you? Bug off, bloodsack." Ranis turned his attention back to the grey haired man right as the brown haired men growled in anger.
Fists clenched and anger at the boiling point, the brown haired man decided to bring the fight to Ranis. Thus the brown haired man instantaneously charged for the unaware Vampyre, ready to strike him down in order to save his friend. He was literally inches from striking, when Ranis reacted unnaturally quickly and with deadly accurate precision. Without glancing over, Ranis nonchalantly wrapped his long, wretched fingers around the human's wrist, startling him and delaying his charge. Still not watching who he was fighting, Ranis proceeded to twist the man's wrist backwards, but not before he could reach forward with his free hand. Ranis reacted with perfect timing to that strike as well, still without actually watching his target. He quickly jerked the man's wrist backwards over his head, causing him to collapse in the dirt and exploiting his strike into failure. His right hand was still holding it's powerful grasp on the left wrist of the brown haired man. For the first time, Ranis turned to face his enemy, only to drive to heel of his shoe into the man's right hand, effectively pinning it to the ground. The man screamed loudly, blood rushing from his hand where Ranis had crushed it. This was only the beginning of the pain Ranis was going to cause this insolent human. Ranis was now kneeling over the body of the man, who was now struggling with his left hand in Ranis' powerful grip. It was all in vain, sadly. Without warning, Ranis placed his other hand very near the human's face to balance himself, tightened his grip on the man's wrist, then suddenly wrenched it to the side. The entire bone in the arm bent abnormally to the side and a horrifying snap all of a sudden echoed off the walls of the building as the bone in the man's arm could bend no further and tore apart. The brown haired human released a terrible wail, unable to calm himself at the extreme pain rushing through his body. All he could think about was his arm, how badly it hurt, the bone snapped clear in half. Ranis was smiling the entire time, for when the wails of the human reverberated through the city and into Ranis' ears, he could only feel pride and happiness welling up inside. Ranis utterly delighted in the pain of humans.
Ranis released the human, stepping back to observe the man's reaction towards the damage inflicted upon him. Suffice to say, Ranis had been quite cruel in the process of dealing with the man. "My arm!" The man howled in perpetual pain. "Oh holy Saradomin my arm! It's not supposed to bend that way!" Ranis simply smirked as he detected tears jetting down the man's cheeks. The pain was endless, and Ranis loved it.
"Your arm's not the only bone that can be bent in most unnatural ways." Ranis explained to the man with a devious smirk. He beamed in the direction of the grey haired man for a second before turning his attention back to his current victim. "There are plenty other bones that can be bent abnormally. Your wrist, for one." The man screamed once more as Ranis crushed the man's wrist, same arm, which only added to his pain. "Your ankle." He hissed proudly as he stepped upon the man's ankle this time, crushing it with a single step. "Your leg can be snapped as well." Ranis once again portrayed this as he grabbed the man's right leg, the same leg on which he crushed the ankle, and twisted it cruelly to the left until it to broke apart with a sickening snap, accompanied by another anguishing scream from the man. The man was absolutely ridden with fear, and it only grew worse as Ranis bent over, gently wrapped his snake-like fingers around the man's skull, glared directly into his eyes, and said with a sly grin, "But my favorite, is the neck."
The brown haired man was completely overrun by fear. Any bravery or bravado he had before had been chased away by the sickly snapping sounds made by his bones as Ranis one by one broke them in half like mere toothpicks. Without any other way to go, the man closed his eyes, not wanting to look into the emotionless voids that were called eyes that bore into his very soul, and weakly plead, "P-please don't... Sp-spare me. Please..." He now choked on his words, certain there was nothing he could say to convince the heartless monster to leave him be.
Ranis said absolutely nothing to the human. He simply turned aside with nothing more then a mere huff and glanced down upon the grey haired man who, despite being horrified, had been uninjured thus far. Ranis bent over in front of the man, not bothering to perform any threatening gestures. He simply motioned to the man's beaten and broken friend and said, "You can tell me what I want, or I can break you just like I did your friend. Your choice."
"I-I submit..." The grey haired man timidly muttered, afraid that if he showed any signs of refusal, Ranis would snap him like a twig as well, leaving the two of them to rot and die with broken bones in the middle of the city. The grey haired man knew that without him around to assist, his friend would surely die. "I-I'll tell you what you want to know. Just please, don't hurt me..."
Ranis smirked upon the human. "Very good." he coyly declared. Nonetheless, he held his position over the man, just in case he decided to act rashly, which would not be advised. "Now, where is she?" Ranis was being very calm all of the sudden, speaking in a relaxed, tranquil tone of voice, no bared teeth, no threats, complete serenity.
The grey haired man coughed, a failed attempt to hide just how truly afraid he was of Ranis now. Though he still failed to recognize just how much power Ranis held over the general Vampyric race, he was intelligent enough to realize Ranis was powerful, even for a Vampyre. "The green winged Vampyre, the one you're looking for, she said something about a Vykio... or something like that. She was arguing with one of those little gargoyle-looking Vampyres." Ranis quickly corrected him, informing him that those are Juveniles. "Wh-whatever you call those little critters. Some kind of argument about wings and letting someone know. Then she just suddenly announced she was bored of him and something about a Vykio... whatever that is... Then she flew in that direction." His finger trembled as he pointed in a general northbound direction. "That's all I know, I swear!" He knew there was more to the story, much more... Nonetheless, Ranis only wanted to know where she was, and that, he had told him.
For a moment or two, Ranis glared upon the grey haired human. He knew for a fact there was more to the story; he could sense it deep within the human's timid heart. However, not caring for the human and his blasphemous tall tales of Vampyric feats, he simply rose to his feet and declared. "Good, you will be spared for your obedience to me." Ranis heard him heave a sigh of relief, which only made him that much more ecstatic for what he was going to say next. "But your friend... he dies for his crimes against the Vampyres!"
The grey haired man screamed his loud protests as Ranis approached the limp form of the brown haired man, who was finally coming to with his pain and attempting to recover from it was well as he could. He had not been entirely listening to the conversation between Ranis and his friend and thus was shocked when he looked up and saw Ranis hovering over him, his soulless eyes ripping a trench through his heart. Ranis said nothing, but he did smile upon the brown haired man as he gave Ranis a fearful gaze, a look that asked what he was doing. Ranis quickly answered that look. He drew back his shoe, rising it at an angle over the skull of the man. With outstanding speed and force, he brought it down upon the man's skull, giving him only a second to scream before his foot broke through the man's skull, crushing anything that existed inside. The man's skull caved in as Ranis brought his foot back out, now covered in the blood of the brown haired man. Ranis watched the scene in delight, the broken skull quickly collapsing, the blood pouring like a waterfall out of the side, and the horrified look on the face of the grey haired man as he watched his friend's skull being crushed.
The grey haired man found it increasingly more difficult to rise to his feet, for he was trembling so violently from the event he just witnessed he could barely maintain himself. Finally able to stand, he timidly muttered, "N-no... Oh Saradomin... no." He turned to Ranis, a combination of fear and anger darting through his mind. He finally cried to the powerful Vampyre, "How could you!?" and raced to take revenge for his fallen comrade.
This revenge was short lived, however, as before the man could strike, Ranis reached his hand out, wrapped it around the bottom of the man's neck, and lifted him ever so slightly off the ground. "I have just spared your life, a mercy I do not generally adorn upon unworthy bloodsacks such as yourself, and you show your thanks for attempting to assault me? Humans are pitiful." He suddenly threw the grey haired man to the ground and said with a hiss, looking down upon his shivering figure, "Do not try it again."
With that, Ranis spread his wings and took to the sky, leaving the emotionally scarred human to consider the passed events on his own. He performed a swift u-turn, changing himself from a southern direction to the northerly direction the human had pointed him in. Before leaving, he took a deep whiff of the human's scent. If the human had steered him wrong, he could come back and feast upon his blood until he dropped dead. He then flew off, his wings producing a thick current of air under them as he flew. His eyes darted swiftly around as he continued further north. Vykio... Ranis knew exactly who that was. It was one of the Vyrewatch, quite a high ranking one too. He usually worked directly for Lord Drakan and spent a lot of time organizing his files, fetching him things, or simply listening to him ramble about his past. Ranis also knew well enough that Shadow and Vykio were close, outstandingly close. He never quite understood why, but he did understand that they shared a deep, probably unbreakable kinship with one another. He spotted many things along the way, wary humans wandering the city depths, attempting to locate anything of interest or at the very least, a place to hide; he spotted Vyrewatch of all shapes and sizes and wing colors, patrolling the streets to the best of their abilities and keeping a careful eye on the humans down below; he also caught sight of many lower ranking creatures on the Vampyric scale, namely the Juveniles and the Juvinates, both who usually kept to themselves as they were trying to keep their hostility in check. Lower ranked Vampyres were always scared that noble Vampyres such as Ranis were going to accuse them of having gone feral and throw them out of the city. That's why they were always so silent, always kept to themselves, always prowled places no one else bothered to go. They didn't want to start anything they would regret.
Frustration was beginning to well up within Ranis, and he was highly considering sniffing out the human and tearing his heart out for daring to misguide a Vampyre noble. He had just, in fact, glanced curiously over his shoulder when the sound of a Vyrewatch taking to the sky caught his ears. First thing he noticed was the whooshing sounds, how quickly the Vyrewatch moved. Yet, he was amazed to hear a few initial swoops of the wings in the same location before this Vyrewatch began to move. Ranis was impressed, for he had located another Vampyre that stabilized his—or possibly her—self before taking to the sky. Ranis tilted his head the smallest bit to the side, wondering who it could be, when a figure flew into his sight.
This creature looked both human and Vampyre at the same time, an ability that Ranis had come to know quite well. It was a form known as subhuman form, a unique Vampyric form in which Vampyres were quite literally both human and Vampyre at the same time. The anatomy appeared human, the skin was usually a more regular color, not the general off white that most Vyrewatch had. There were a few exceptions, Ranis and his sister, Vanstrom Klause... but most Vyrewatch had either off white or possibly grey skin. Besides fangs, which a Vampyre would have in every form save for mist, the other evident Vampyric feature in a Vampyre in subhuman form were the bat-like wings, of a color which usually portrayed their rank, though not always perfectly accurate. The wings weren't as long in subhuman form as they were in full Vampyre form, but anyone could still clearly see they were there. Ranis recognized the filmy green wings, the messy blond hair, and most importantly, the fact that this Vyrewatch was still wearing the old black and grey Vampyric uniform, which seldom few Vampyres still wore. This, was Vykio.
Vykio had spotted Ranis anyways, but that didn't stop Ranis from calling out to the young, eager Vyrewatch, "Hey Vykio! Come here for a moment. I need to speak with you." Ranis decided not to tear out the human's heart... for now, since thus far, he'd been correct.
"Yes sir!" Vykio responded eagerly, flying towards Ranis even though Ranis was almost certain Vykio was already going to address him in the first place, even if only for a moment. You see, Vampyres didn't usually use their mind reading powers on their own kind because they saw it as a direct form of disrespect to read someone's mind. The Vampyres respected one another, so they never read each others minds; but they didn't respect humans at all, so they always read the minds of humans. That was how Ranis had so easily bested the human in combat without even looking at him. He read the human's mind and knowing every exact move the human was going to make made it so he could react accordingly without even having to waver his attention. "Can I help you, Sir Ranis?"
Ranis couldn't help but beam for a moment as Vykio addressed him so properly. A lot of people simply addressed him as 'Ranis', whereas they would turn around and address his sister as 'Lady Vanescula'. It made Ranis feel like he wasn't as highly respected as his own sister and at most times; it made him feel pitiful. For Vykio to use such a dignified title on his own accord, it meant the young Vyrewatch respected Ranis. Ranis liked to see there were still some out there that respected who he was. He finally was able to trash his ego, refusing to let it waver his intentions, and respond, "Yes you can, Vykio. Have you seen Shadow around here, by chance? Lord Drakan sent me to fetch her and I'm seeming to find it increasingly difficult to locate her."
Vykio threw a smile upon Ranis, a look he often used towards the other Vampyres. "Well, you're in luck, sir." Vykio eagerly replied, finally throwing that corny grin off his face and retaining the more serious expression a Vyrewatch was meant to bear. "I just finished talking to her not thirty seconds ago. She's still down in that clearing, sir." Ranis gazed downwards with Vykio's finger and certainly enough, he could make out a small figure down there.
"Good." Ranis said straightforwardly to Vykio. "You've done well, Vykio." It felt awkward to Ranis to say 'thank you' or 'you're welcome' to anyone other then someone higher up then him... and even that made him uncomfortable, for he felt those words degraded you as a being, that they were a direct sign of weakness. Ranis refused to ever show the slightest sign of weakness and thus being forced to thank someone or anything of the latter caused him to whip out with a great shudder. Even the thought of it made him shudder inwardly.
"It was nothing, sir." Vykio responded politely. Ranis found it nearly impossible to mask his shudder. Even hearing someone else using a form of 'you're welcome' was enough to give Ranis the shivers. It was one thing to hear lesser beings say it, but to listen to a perfectly, not to mention highly, qualified Vyrewatch say it was a bit too much for him. However, he couldn't bring himself to point this out to Vykio.
Since Ranis was unable to correct Vykio for saying such a thing without feeling remorse for correcting an eager young Vyrewatch, and with nothing else to be said in this conversation—a conversation which, soon became clear to Ranis, Vykio was waiting for him to finish—Ranis quickly responded, "Yes, well, that's quite fine." He felt a trifle on the awkward side, for now it seemed as if he were repeating himself in a rather uncomfortable fashion. He attempted to waver the discomforting conversation by adding, "Well, you must be on your way, then."
Luckily for Ranis, Vykio was a very dignified and qualified Vampyre. When a higher ranked Vampyre told him to do something, he wasn't one of those young whelps that added further queries as to why he was asked to do this task and what purpose it was going to hold. He simply agreed with a valiant, "Yes sir!" and turned in a different direction, swiftly flying off without another word. Ranis always thought Vykio was one of the more qualified Vyrewatch and made an inward note to put in a good word for him next time he idly spoke to Lord Drakan.
As soon as Vykio had departed from the airspace, Ranis wasted absolutely no time in flying down on Shadow's location. Far as he was concerned, the quicker he spoke to her and brought her to Lord Drakan the better. Lord Drakan was a wonderful man, no doubt, but he was quite hasty and had a nasty habit of being widely on the impatient side. When you were commanded by Lord Drakan, it was a race to finish as quickly as possible. Ranis could make out Shadow's features better as he neared her. She was adorned in a skin-tight black outfit, which sort of looked like what a human might call a bathing suit. Dark grey pieces of clothing ran up her arms and legs, stopping a few inches before they reached her clothing otherwise. She wore a brace around her neck which was white and spiked. She also wore tall black boots. Ranis could see her long, dark brown hair flowing in the wind. She had long green wings, which had definitely grown since Ranis had last seen her. The outfit was very much like one of the old Vyrewatch uniforms, save for the spiked bracelets she adorned, not to mention the V shaped necklace Ranis noticed she was wearing. Ranis wondered... where did she get that? He had seen Vanstrom wearing one before, but surely it couldn't be his. Could it? Very unlikely, as the two were mortal enemies on every sense of the word and Vanstrom would've torn Shadow's head off for touching his necklace.
As Ranis' feet touching the ground, he closed his eyes. He felt the way he was light on his feet as he touched the ground. His fingertips met with one another as he reached the ground. He could feel his Vampyric features fading away. His tall ears shrunk down to side. He could feel the awkward feeling of his wings racing back into his shoulder blades, a phenomenon he never seemed to be able to explain, sadly. His face flattened, no longer bearing a snout, though still bearing sharp, fanged teeth. He could feel his claws retracting, as with the talons on his feet. He opened his eyes and gazed upon his hand, watching as the red coloring seemed to rush oddly away and change to a light and awkward pale. Another thing he could never explain was how his clothes lengthened. Maybe they were always this length and the size of Vyrewatch form made them appear small. Maybe his clothes in his two forms were separate from one another... He probably would never know. His outfit was still black and blue as per usual, but now it had long sleeves and was longer in length, appearing like a robe. He held up a single hand, the left hand, now with fingers instead of claws, and ran it across his head. He sighed gently as his fingers passed through the short, soft black hair that now adorned his head. Ranis knew he was now entirely in his human form. He knew that Shadow preferred talking with Vampyres who weren't in full Vampyric form and Ranis rarely went into subhuman form. It was fully human or fully Vampyre for him... not both. As the last of his features went towards their human side, he took a gentle step forward. However, he had misjudged Shadow's hearing abilities as a Vampyre and was a little astonished to see her turning her head back after only one cautious step. It took Ranis a moment to realize he still had his fingertips on his right hand jutted out sharply, as if he still had claws with which he were planning to strike someone with. Upon realizing this, he swiftly relaxed his fingers, hoping Shadow hadn't noticed his tension. Luckily, it appeared that she hadn't.
Shadow smiled, a more comfortable smile then what Vykio usually did. This one didn't unnerve Ranis as much as Vykio's did. Upon seeing Ranis standing in front of her, happy to see he was in human form, Shadow gently announced, "I see you came to speak with me, Ranis. What can I help you with?"
Ranis and Shadow were on pretty good terms with one another. Initially, their meeting was very tense, but mostly due to the presence of people which did not like each other very much, needless to say. During their first meeting, Malak and Dessous were arguing about land, Vanstrom was making it difficult for Shadow to enjoy herself with his senseless snide commentary, and Ranis couldn't help but continuously argue with everything his sister said. To make it a more generalized event, everyone except Lord Drakan had found someone to argue with that day. It made their meeting a little unnerving, to say the least. One day, though, Ranis happened to walk in on Shadow and Vanescula arguing over blood tithes and the argument ended with Shadow declaring Vanescula a 'brainless moron' and quickly departing. Ranis, amused to see Shadow hated his sister too, decided to give Shadow a second chance. Needless to say, the two became quick friends.
Ranis again wasted no time in getting to the point. If he strayed from the topic by even the slightest, he knew idle conversation would draw over them and they would spend countless hours chatting to one another, only for Ranis to eventually realized he had made Lord Drakan wait and get accordingly chewed out for his insolence. "Shadow, Lord Drakan wishes to speak to you immediately." Ranis said, making certain he sounded as official as possible so Shadow wouldn't find an excuse to start an idle conversation.
"Is that so?" Shadow asked a bit too cheerfully, tilting her head to the side with a smile. Ranis refused to smile back. He was going to make certain this meeting remained official and nothing more. "Well, I guess it was only inevitable that he eventually find out I was hiding my newly grown wings from him." She signed dejectedly, as if she knew that debate weren't going to end well. "Oh well, this won't be the first time Lord Drakan has yelled at me for my impudence." In fact, she had gotten a lecture similar to that not too long ago.
Making certain to be as straightforward as physically possible, Ranis replied, "Naturally." he felt he was being a bit too nonchalant and quickly continued, "He will meet you where he always does, in his office within the depths of Castle Drakan. I advise you make haste." Ranis didn't want to have to go with her and, to be technical, Lord Drakan had just told Ranis to get her to the castle; he never said Ranis had to come along. He didn't want to come along, not now, anyways, for he was again worried about the risk of idle conversation.
Shadow nodded kindly upon Ranis; she always held a very relaxed and polite gaze towards Ranis, something that could either be very relaxing or very unnerving depending on the occasion. "Thank you, Ranis." Ranis shivered once more upon hearing those thanking words. He had to intertwine his fingers between one another and relax his breathing in order to ignore that. "I'll be on my way, then."
Ranis watched in utter silence as Shadow turned away from him. She bent over slightly, the tips of her fingers just barely touching the ground below. She pushed off the ground suddenly, leaping a few feet off the earth below, her shadow skulking darkly below her. Ranis watched how awkwardly her wings flapped, as if it were clear she weren't quite used to flying yet. It became quickly evident to Ranis just how new she was; any Vyrewatch, or anyone who had seen a Vyrewatch fly, could see it. The way she pushed herself off the ground to gain air rather then just flap her wings to levitate herself into the sky, the was her wings rushed far too rapidly, something which Ranis was worried she would hurt herself doing. She wasn't a hummingbird, she was a Vyrewatch. Her wings were far more comparable to a bat or a dragon then a bird. Ranis knew that if she flapped those wings too quickly she would lose altitude at a rapid pace and would probably not recover properly if she began to crash. However, Ranis knew arguing with Shadow was useless, for she hardly even listened to a word anyone said. Sometimes she even disregarded anything Lord Drakan told her. Ranis wondered if there was anyone Shadow truly listening to when they were talking. Ranis was at least happy to see Shadow had taken to stabilizing herself in the sky, though he was pretty sure she was only performing such a task because flying was a rather unnerving task for her to perform. Eventually, she gained enough altitude, felt a feeling of bravery rush into her spine, then flew off quickly, leaving a gust of wing behind for Ranis to turn away from. Then with that, her silhouette faded over the horizon of Meiyerditch.