I: Rebirth

"Mistress. It is time", I hear. I look. I smell. I can almost taste the creature that addressed me. It smells of death. I look at it. It's pallid and hunched, with bristles of course hair and a cruel face. It looks like a horribly deformed human, only with awfully sharp blackened teeth and claws for hands. My look makes it step backwards, fearing me. I can hear its breathing and even its heartbeat. It beats quickly but without a clear rhythm. How can I hear that? It makes no sense at all.

"Time for what?", I reply, putting all my haughtiness into my voice.

It frowns, almost in surprise but then fear takes over again: "Your Mightiness, for the assault. The sun has fully set".

An assault? What is this nonsense? I'm not going to assault anyone or anything. But still, I stride towards the door. There, heavily armoured warriors stand ready. There is something chilling about them even aside from the fact that they are dressed in rusty medieval armour. And then I see it, under their helmets. There are no faces, only smiling skulls. I feel myself freeze, my eyes drawn to the red light shining from within dead sockets.

The warriors are dressed in faded blue and their midnight blue shields depict a skull with elongated canines. I swallow when they start to move, forming up a protective cordon around me. It is then that another creature like the one who had addressed me earlier approaches, guiding a towering black horse by the reins. Steam rises from its nostrils and it is covered by blue barding with the same colours as the shields.

As soon as the horse reaches me, the creature scuttles off. I look at it go, suddenly realizing that it's night and that I can see as if it was day. I look down over myself. I'm dressed in gilded armour made of dark plates. The gilding is obvious and from what I can see, it depicts scenes of slaughter. I wear a deep blue cape that billows behind me and have a sword at my side.

The sword is another curiosity. The crossguard is shaped like bat wings with another fanged skull in between them. And between the fangs there is a shining gem, the colour of blood. I close my steel-gloved hand around it and feel a spark from there. There is great power in this weapon.

Not knowing what else to do, I decide to mount the towering horse. It behaves perfectly and I easily balance myself in the saddle. Finally, years of riding pay off. I smirk to myself and can finally see beyond the warriors who had been surrounding me. Ahead, I see the walls of a city and can make out people on those walls. And more than people. There are guns there, cannons it seems like and more men with them with lit fuses.

Looking beyond, I see countless figures lined up. Many are skeletons like my honour guard but others are shambling. All of them dead aside from scuttling groups of degenerates of the kind that serve me. I watch it all and looking back at the city, I can almost see the fear in those people. Even children have been drawn up to repulse this assault. My assault.

I spur my horse, slowly moving forward. My guards follow but the rest of the army remains still. I imagine them moving with me for a moment, and then they move. Thousands, tens of thousands even, all marching forward. I'm startled and they stop. Is all this under my control? I can't tell but I will the army to keep in place and they do. Even my guards remain behind as I ride on my own.

Slowly, I approach the city walls. What am I supposed to do now? I don't want this battle to happen but I'm not sure if I can just take the army away. Are there others there? Ones who actually think for themselves and would cause a problem?

"Halt, monster!", a voice calls out from the battlements up ahead. I look up, seeing a man in steel armour who wears an impressive moustache and a brightly coloured beret with big feathers. I can almost feel the beating of his heart and find myself imagining the flavour of his blood.

Somehow, he doesn't seem to be scared. He seems more resolved. I stop, remaining silent for a few moments as I take him in. Him, and those around him. Mostly professional soldiers by the look of things, with slashes sleeves and armour. And one more figure. Dressed in red robes under heavy armour. He is bald, but the twin-tailed comets embossed on the armour tell me where I am.

I would have gone pale if I could go any paler. I'm in the Old World and judging by the army. My army. I'm a vampire and a necromancer. How do I get myself out of this mess? I don't want to be hunted down. I also don't want to be a mass murderer. Not more so than I guess I already am.

Just to seem less hostile, I move my hand away from my sword and finally speak, hoping to try to hide my confusion and fear: "I do not wish to destroy you. I do not wish to shed the blood of all the people of this city. My wish is for peace and prosperity for all".

A voice in the back of my head whispers that it would be so much better for this world if I were to be in charge. I know so much more. And more importantly, I know better than these squabbling lunatics. It would be oh so simple. I could send in my hordes and force submission. And perhaps, perhaps I could even feast on their blood.

Somehow, I push the urge away and continue: "And that is my offer, peace!"

The priest is the first to reply: "Foul monster from the deepest pits of darkness you come and by the will of Sigmar, you will be returned there!"

"What he means to say", the commander adds, "is that we will never surrender to you. We will never be your slaves!"

Why do they have to make this so hard? I just want to make peace. "I don't want slaves. I want friends. I'm sure that whatever this is about, we can just talk out our differences and make peace!"

I was met by laughter and I felt a deep rage starting to boil up within me. That startled me. I wasn't used to such feelings but I kept it under control. The commander called back: "And you want us to believe you, fiend? Take your unholy hordes back to where they belong and…"

He paused, making be frown. And then he smiled: "And you are so stupid. Fire!"

Thunder struck and before I could process it, I was falling. It hurt, my whole right side hurt. I flew back and after a few moments I hit the ground. I looked and screamed. There was a gaping hole in my chest, blasted right through my armour and tearing out through the other side. It was large, so large. It hurt more than anything had ever hurt.

I put my hand on it, but the wound was larger than my hand. I could see the fragments of my ribs and shreds of flesh there. But, I was conscious. I could feel it but could move. The men up on the walls were laughing. Mocking me. Thinking I had been bested. I groaned and in my mind shouted to my armies with their one command. To attack. To kill them all.

Slowly, My right arm however wouldn't move and it was easy to tell why. The inner part of my upper arm was gone as well. I let go and slowly pushed myself up on my remaining functional elbow and watched my army advance. Slowly, they moved past me. Many were cut down by firearms, but many more kept going, putting ladders to the walls.

It was then that I heard a voice, from just behind me. It was a woman's. An old woman's: "Mistress, are you injured?"

I looked up. It hurt, tearing at my impossible wound. I saw a woman wearing dark grey robes. They were worn and patched, not belonging to someone wealthy. Her face was gaunt and her hair thin and grey. But her eyes, her eyes were young and so were parts of her skin. Who was she?

"I, I am", I grunted, "as you can see".

She didn't smile at my joke but shuffled closer. The sounds of gunfire were lessening. Either they were running out of ammunition or they were being overrun. The woman looked at me and said softly: "Yes, but fortunately, you are still with us".

Something about her scared me. It must have been the way she looked at me. The woman held a staff from which bones dangled. Fingerbones. They moved as if by the wind and she asked: "Can you stand?"

I felt deeply suspicious of her, but was helpless. I needed her and shook my head: "No, I think, I think it also hit my spine. I can't move at all".

Suddenly, she smiled. Half her teeth were missing but that didn't matter: "Good. Then finally, it is time for my reward. Don't you agree, mistress?"

The pure menace in her voice was obvious and to accentuate it, she pulled a dagger from her belt and came closer. She looked at me, avoiding my eyes and put the dagger at my neck. I felt suddenly cold and whimpered: "Why? I, I would have given you everything. I still will".

"That's what you said", she said, "six years ago. And now, still nothing while my body is wracked by the spells I wrought for you. But now, now you're going to give it to me, not willingly, but that's not my problem, is it?"

Her smile widened, showing more of her poor teeth. She pushed the dagger, cutting into my throat. I gasped and with a speed I didn't know I had, I drew my sword and cut into her. She screamed. A scream that sounded like music to my ears and she fell. She was struggling for breath and lost all colour, but that wasn't what had my attention. What had my attention was the pain in my chest.

It was a fresh pain and I looked down, seeing the wound closing as bone and flesh returned to their rightful place. The hole in my armour however remained. The bent edges of the damage pushed into my exposed skin around my breast and arm. I pushed myself up, feeling a fresh strength and looked at my sword and the faint red glow coming from it. Strangely enough, there wasn't any blood.

I looked down at the woman I had killed. I was a killer. A murderer. And worst of all, I didn't feel a hint of regret. I only felt the cold wind and wrapped my cape around myself before looking back to the town. There were screams and shouts, but the fight was over. I froze. The fight was over but there still was shouting. My army. They were in there. Slaughtering everyone. I paused, commanding them all to stop as I walked to the walls.