11. Costs


Therius ducked out of the way of Ulrica, just before the woman turned and blasted him with a spray of blood, right in the eyes. The white knight staggered backwards, barely dodging a swing of a sword she created out of the blood pooling around them, dripping onto the stone floors below them because of all the Blood Creatures lingering around.

He knew he was easily outnumbered, and he wasn't sure if Arganan could even fight. He didn't even know if Calista and the others would be coming so soon.

Damn it. Maybe running ahead of everyone else hadn't been the smartest plan, but he'd just wanted to protect Arganan and all the other knights that got attacked, even if it cost his life. He swore that he'd fight for those that needed protecting until his final breath.

But could he die yet? He was the fated Blood Warrior. The Blood Warrior.

This couldn't be his time yet, could it?

He did his best not to focus on the possibility of dying, despite the scent of blood flooding his nostrils. Rolling out of the way of another blast from Ulrica, he stabbed forwards, nicking her shoulder. She hissed, before blasting him again. He hit the wall behind him, groaning as he slid onto the ground.

Ulrica laughed. Slow footsteps made him look up at her leering face, and she spit on him. Therius growled, reaching for his sword, but several Blood Creatures lunged at him, holding him down.

"Blood—!"

He didn't get the time to speak, two bloody hands clamping over his mouth and lower jaw from one Blood Creature. Despite him trying to bite at them, or try to use his mind to speak to him, trying to will them into obeying him, nothing was working.

"Look at you now," Ulrica purred, her malicious gaze staring into his, "all perfectly vulnerable. This will be fun to watch."

She took a deep breath, eyes glowing, and the Blood Creatures hissed at Therius, opening up their sharp jaws. Therius' eyes widened, and a scream would've left his throat—

If not for Arganan stabbing Ulrica in the side. Ulrica gasped, a groan escaping her as the glow in her eyes vanished, and she staggered away from both men, some of the Blood Creatures following her.

Therius pushed several Blood Creatures off himself, looking to Arganan, who was barely on his feet, sword in hand. "How did you…?"

"Weak spots." Arganan breathed, looking to Therius. "The fucking Blood Warrior marks you have. They're all weak spots! She has one on her side!"

"What!?" Therius looked from Arganan, then to Ulrica, then to Arganan again. "But how did you find out? Were you researching with Mirania and Zesha?"

Arganan gestured to one of the Blood Creatures floating by his side. "They told me, after I asked nicely." A faint laugh escaped him at that. "Apparently she doesn't treat them well enough. I promised them I'd treat them better."

You better live up to that promise, Therius thought but didn't say out loud. He knew the Count and Calista didn't have the best relationship, and it wasn't like he'd necessarily had any close bonds with anyone (except maybe Dagran, as far as Therius knew about their relationship).

"Damn you!" Ulrica's hiss made both men turn their attention to her. "Do either of you have any clue as of what your power can do?"

A forced laugh escaped Arganan's lips, and he shook his head. "Hell no. I'm pretty sure we would, if you stopped trying to kill us every second."

Therius inhaled sharply, eyes trained on Ulrica as he picked up his sword. "Perhaps you'd like to tell us, Miss Ulrica?"

Ulrica could only laugh. "In your dreams!"

Her eyes glowed, and she lunged at both men again, all three of them falling into a frenzy of attacks. Blood Creatures either fought on the behalf of Therius and Arganan or for Ulrica.

Despite the white knight and former Count not knowing much about their own new abilities, neither man wanted to go down without a fight well-fought.


Zesha walked back into the library, frowning as he saw Mirania running about, pulling books off the shelves.

"Human…?"

"Not now." Mirania flipped open a book, her eyes scanning the pages as fast as she could. "I need to find more information on the Blood Warrior and fast. Count Arganan's being attacked, Therius and the others ran ahead, but…I just know there has to be something missing."

"I thought we figured it out already." The King of the Gurak noted, walking over to her and picking up a book, frowning as he opened it up and began to skim through it. "I killed Cassius, and subsequently absorbed his power. We just have to kill all our enemies in order to gain their power and become the 'Blood Warrior' that we've all discussed. Simple as that, human."

"I get that point—and call me Mirania, please." She frowned, looking up at him. "I also understand that we know how people can gain the power of the Blood Warrior, but…is there a way to gain it from others without killing them? You saw all the Blood Creatures that were with Cassius, right? They disappeared after you gained his power. And so far, we've only seen one or two with Therius…and none with you. Calista told me she saw a few with the former Count when she first saw him, and I saw a few with Asthar. It leads me to believe that Asthar and the former Count spent more time with these powers than you and Therius did. They probably have more power than you two."

Zesha exhaled sharply, flipping through more pages. He still didn't find anything, so he put it down and picked up another book. "You think the number of Blood Creatures someone has in total symbolizes how powerful and experienced they are?" He scoffed at that. "Numbers do not always win the battle."

"It could be." Mirania shuddered, putting her book down. "I also understand what you mean, but we also know Cassius had more experience in his powers overall, given how comfortable he was with his powers when trying to kill you, me, and Yurick. You managed to kill him, and yet you don't have more Blood Creatures with you."

"It's not like I've had a chance to master said power." Zesha pointed out. "Like with swords, spears, and other weaponry, you need time to train and hone your abilities. Is it not the same for magic, and strange powers such as the Blood Warrior's own?"

"It could be a matter of time and overall length of experience, no matter how much power you have." Mirania conceded. "But I still think there's something else."

That was when Zesha flipped to a particular page in the book he held, and he stared. Could it be…?

He started reading aloud.

"Those who seek knowledge of the Blood Warrior's will pay a heavy price. The blood of others is needed to aid them."

He looked up to see Mirania pale, eyes widening.

"Did you just say…the blood of others?"

He offered the book to her. "That's what it says."

She grabbed the book from him, flipping to the next pages. All the ensuing pages were blank, and she stared, before flipping back to the page Zesha just pointed out.

"Ow!" She grimaced, looking to her now-cut index finger. A drop of blood formed, before it fell onto one of the blank pages. Moments later, blood-red words began to form on it.

"Mirania," Zesha started, breath hitching, "That's…"

"They weren't kidding about the blood." She breathed, looking to the page and reading it.

"For each page, blood of someone other than the Blood Warrior must be spilled upon it. Only do this when you have no idea what to do." She frowned, looking up at him. "Do you think I could just bleed onto a few pages and find out everything?"

"Try it." Zesha suggested. "It might work." He took the book from her, holding it carefully so she could squeeze another drop of blood onto another blank page.

Nothing happened.

Zesha growled, glaring down at the book.

"Don't tell me we need to spill a different' person's blood for every page…"


Therius found himself hitting the wall again, sliding down onto the floor. If the scent of blood wasn't nauseating enough earlier, now it was. He wasn't sure if all of it came from whatever wounds he sustained so far, or

He barely rolled out of the way in time, Ulrica hissing and trying to blast him with sprays of blood.

"You won't escape me! Get back here!"

Arganan groaned, throwing a chunk of broken wall at Ulrica as he got scratched by a few Blood Creatures at her command. "Blah, blah, blah, can you shut up!?"

"Where's your mark?" Ulrica glared right at him in the good eye, blasting him back against a nearby pillar. "Once I find it, you'll be dead!"

"As if I'd tell you, bitch!" Arganan roared back. "Unlike you, we actually KNOW where your bloody weak spot is!"

Therius would've groaned and told them both off for having such a partially-silly discussion in the middle of a life-and-death situation, but he decided that wasn't the smartest idea. He was getting better at figuring out what not to say, recently. Instead, he used the time of Ulrica distracted by Arganan to tackle her down—only to raise his sword and slice into her side, the blade embedding itself into her skin.

Ulrica screeched, eyes alighting with pain. Therius swallowed, pulling the sword out of her side where the mark was, and he saw fresh blood pool from her

"Y-you…fool…" Ulrica glared up at him, eyebrows furrowed, her face a mix of anguish and anger from a clenched jaw and malicious eyes. "You won't always win so easily."

Therius steeled his gaze on her, standing up slowly, sword still in hand. He tried not to gag at all the bloody smells invading his nostrils as he spoke, voice coming out weaker than he hoped.

"I think I won this one. Begone."

Therius expected the light to fade from her eyes, for her to stop breathing. Instead, her entire body convulsed, before turning bloody red, melting onto the ground…before it started creeping towards Therius.

"Therius?" Arganan coughed, weakly. "I think you might want to—"

Too late.

Therius saw nothing but red rising around him, before everything went black.


Zesha tried to cut his own finger and put some of his blood on the page, but nothing happened.

"They really do mean anyone who isn't the Blood Warrior." Mirania managed, sighing as she used healing magic to repair her cut finger and his. "I guess because you have the Blood Warrior's mark, you spilling your blood on the page wouldn't do anything."

"I suppose that must be so." Zesha frowned, closing the book and looking up at her. "If that's the case, does that mean we go around, asking everyone and anyone possible to squeeze some blood onto every page?"

Mirania shook her head, shuddering. "I hope not. But we should get back to the others as soon as we can. This…could help all of us."

Zesha's eyes narrowed. "But at what cost?"

Mirania decided not to answer that as they both headed out of the library.


"It's Sir Therius and the former Count Arganan over there, Lady Calista!"

"What!? Lead me to them"

Calista had went to get reinforcements after Therius ran ahead to see all the chaos, but she didn't know what to expect. She didn't know if Therius was still alive, or if anyone was dead.

As they walked in, she certainly she didn't expect this:

Therius, blood covered and unconscious on the ground. Arganan, kneeling by his side and trying to shake him awake.

And there was one familiar face she didn't expect at all.

She heard Zael gasp from behind her. "Da—"

"They'll be fine." The other's low voice interrupted. "Therius just passed out, that's all. And that Ulrica is dead, by the way."

Calista's lips pressed thinly together, before she bit her lower lip, unsure of what to say, or do. Doing her best to stay composed, despite the smell of drying blood, she inhaled deeply before speaking.

"How are you here?"

A smug grin rested on Dagran's face as he turned to face her, his golden eyes meeting her blue ones.

"Same way your uncle and Therius did, of course. How else am I back?"