Chapter III: Mental Anguish
Jay picked up the sack that Elrohinile had left behind and slung it over his shoulder, he turned to me and said, "all right from here we cross to the mainland, I trust you know at the very least a levitation spell." He cast a winged-flight spell on himself, I followed suit, though trained as a fighter, I learned a number of spells to aid me. "Well now, I had expected you to know far less about magic than this, you may yet make a fine student." He flew off at speed that was difficult to keep up with; it would only take about an hour to make the Larodai coast at this speed. I was unable to speak for the duration of the flight due to the extreme focused required to hold the spell at this speed, it was painful and I had gained a headache by the time we landed.
We landed in front of a large hut in the middle of a large grassland field; the field had little in the way of vegetation, although the hut had a small garden growing near its rear. There were a large number of high hills creating a crescent-like shape around the field. The hills seemed to be home to a small group of eleven rangers or druids; they were well taken care of and seemed to have many moonblossom plants. Jay directed me in the direction of the hut, I walked hesitantly towards the hut, it seemed to sturdy in design, a roof of clay tiles, walls of stone, it had one large rounded door, and several circular windows. I pushed the wooden door open with some effort and found that it was extremely heavy. It opened to show three large rooms, the one on the right seemed to be where meals would be both eaten and prepared. The room to my left was a sleeping area, it had three large beds of straw and feather, and covered with various furs, there were to large dressers one on each side of the room. The center room was the largest, it was a wide and long room that contained a single alter at the front, the floor was padded halfway into the room, and the rest seemed to be a polished wooden surface.
"Zamieon this will be your new home, pick a dresser and bed, get settled as quickly as possible, I want to start your practice as soon as possible. When you finish I will be waiting for you in the center room, and please take your boots off before you enter it." Jay removed his footwear and entered the center room, he let the sack he had been carrying hit the padded floor with a satisfying thud, he made his way to the alter.
I removed my boots and left them to the side of the door, I walked into the sleeping chamber and walked to the dresser on the right side of the room, I opened its large doors, inside there was five shelves large enough to place full suits of armor in. I removed the sack attached to my belt and began rummaging through it for the clothes that I had taken with me, it took a few minutes but I had manage to find most of it and loaded all the clothes minus one pant and shirt, I decided that I wanted to change before I went into the center room. As I removed my shirt, the fabric dragged against my face but I did not feel the wound, I assumed that Elrohinile's recovery spell had fully healed it. Once I had my clothes off I cast a cleansing spell upon myself, a simple spell that cleaned my body as a good soak in a river or bathhouse would. I put the clean clothes on and then put my armor back on as well as the long coat.
I entered the center room silently and caught sight of Jay kneeled before it almost as though he were praying to it, I slowly approached him, which is when I heard him, he did not speak but I heard his voice echoing in my mind. "Let me make something very clear Zamieon, for the rest of your time here we shall not speak, I will expect you to learn telepathy. Now I do not want you reading or wandering in others minds, I just need you learn to speak to others in their minds; now come up here." As he finished his sentence he waved his right hand for me to join him, my headache was bad enough without having him speaking directly into my mind.
I approached the alter my feet sank lightly into the padding of the floor; the polished floor was slippery and cold beneath my feet. I kneeled beside Jay and began to examine the alter; it was a heavy metal worked alter with a fine marble top, I guessed that the piece was mad by Dwarven craftsmen, there were carvings of battle scenes on the metal and marble. Jay's voice echoed once more within my head, "Now the trick is to become intoned with you surroundings, feel the spirits that are all around us. The spirits of the air, of the wood, of the fire, of the water, these spirits are ever constant, brining with them life and death, one always trading for the other." He turned his head to face me, "have you ever meditated before young Malanchite?" I shook my head by made no sound this seemed to please Jay. "Good, you remembered that you are also not aloud to speak, being able to communicate feelings and ideas without words it the first steps to being able to mind speak. We do it every day with gestures, or facial expressions, the way we present ourselves with our postures and the way we walk. It is being able to both send and receive these clearly that one must first conquer. I've seen you be able to read people's body language as well as their faces, this is not much harder."
I was becoming dizzy, nausea began to pass over me, my mind was being over exerted, I fought back the feelings and held my composure as best I could, I felt confident enough in my abilities to continue. Jay turned his eye from mine and stared in front of him, "Now clear your mind, thoughts are impure, impurity must be cleansed. Breath deeply but slowly your mind must be focused on itself, ignore your body, allow your mind to find itself. Your mind sees your body at all times, hears every sound it makes, feels all that it feels, it ignores itself until it has drained itself and leaves you mentally exhausted. Your mind must find itself to find another's mind, now try letting yourself fade, you shall hear my voice but not my words, I will speak and you will hear it, but you shall not comprehend, you must let your mind get past the concreteness of our existence and stretch into the abstract."
I closed my eyes, my heart rate began to increased, my breathing increased, but I knew that I must focus I had no time to worry about how much pain I felt. I closed my eyes and regained control over my breathing; I cleared my mind forgetting about my heart rate, forgetting the pain, Jay's voice began to fade away from me his words blended, making a mesh of nonsensical phrases. Soon all I could make out was the sound of his voice no words, just the sound far in the distance, silence and darkness surrounded me, peace began to fall over me. Then I felt wind blowing through my hair, the smell of death surrounded me. I opened my eyes and found myself standing in the middle of my village during the battle, I could see the slaughter, hear the screams it was a nightmare. I felt a hand grasp my shoulder; I turned and found Jay standing behind me wearing a ridiculous grin.
"Well, well got it on the first try huh? Not bad, usually it takes months just to get to this point; I'm quite impressed with kid."
"My father taught me how to meditate; it helped with my magic lessons, focusing the mind to become synchronized with the elements, this isn't that much different." I was lying; the amount of focus was putting an unusually large amount of strain on my mind, luckily, while I was in this state, I couldn't feel the strain. Nevertheless, one could tell that I was under it, the world created by my mind shook, and swayed, the images blurred and swirled. I needed to talk to Jay to keep myself grounded here, "So why is my mind showing me this?"
"It's what your mind is subconsciously focused on, it's not something you want to remember, but it is something that will always be here. Now you got to this point quite quickly, but your focus is not yet strong enough to cross minds. For the next few weeks, this is what you will be doing the time you wake until nightfall; I will have meals ready while you do this. At night, we will have fighting practice, both martial, and with weapons, I will teach you some ancient techniques long forgotten by time. But for now you should come out of here and go to sleep, I just wanted to know how much work you would need." With that Jay vanished from my mind, I was alone, screams echoed through the village, bodies fell but I just closed my eyes.
My headache began to return, slowly at first, the pain was tolerable for about ten seconds, and then it hit me at full force. I opened my eyes only to see the floor moving towards me at an incredible speed, thud, my head hit the floor and hard the room around me began to spin. I tried to sit up but every move I made caused my head to swell with pain, I felt Jay's hands grab at my left arm and aid me to my feet. He walked me to my bed and at the exact moment that he released my arm, my body fell onto the bed, and I fell into a deep sleep.
The next few weeks past in much the same way, I'd wake up early in the morning, about an hour after daybreak, walk outside to the well and pull a bucket of water. I'd wash up, and cast a cleansing spell on my clothes, and head to the kitchen. Jay would cast a creation spell to create food; I would eat quickly and hurriedly and make minor repairs to the weapons and armor that were damaged the night before. Immediately after I finished I would begin my "awareness" lessons, for about a week and a half I was unable to go more than two hours before I would either collapse or black out from the pain, however, by the second week I was able to hold it for the full four-hour session before the second meal. By the fourth week I was able to skip lunch and would no longer awaken with little and sometimes even no headache. Then we would have the third meal after the eighth hour of meditation we would have the third meal, following that Jay would teach me armorer techniques that originated from the ancient Arzonian clans that once held control over the world, this lasted for about three hours. By this time, night would have fallen and Jay would begin to train me in the fighting arts of the West, it was a test of physical longevity and control, often I was unable to last a full two hours.
After four weeks Jay intensified my training, he began to teach me mind walking, an incredible experience that left my mind exhausted. Jay would revitalize me and make me continue, after about three weeks I was able to mind walk freely. Once this happened Jay would have me do physically strenuous activities and mind walk. In addition, I was becoming very talented in the western fighting styles, and began to train in it more heavily. Eventually Jay taught me a spell that revived my mind, body and spirit. So basically I never had to sleep, with that occurring I found that I was able to not only train but study the books that I had taken from my village.
Months began to pass and I could mind walk freely at any time while doing anything; I had mastered all the fighting styles of the east, several obscure styles of the Arzonian's, and a style called "gro-gial-frab" an orcish monk style that favored strength over speed and agility. An intense training routine would leave my body bruised and bloody after the first half hour. Jay would switch styles constantly so that I would become familiar with all of them. It took time but after nine months I was able to match Jay move for move, blow for blow, I was able to match the speed of a vampire.
After the first year of training I no longer was weighed down by sleep or pain, the spells Jay taught me took care of my need to sleep and my wounds to heal quickly. I spent any time not practicing studying the spell books I took from the village, I was beginning to learn the magics within, and soon I hopped to be able to master them. Jay also began to teach me a way with the blade that was lost to the world long before the hunters came, an ancient art that had been used by the legendary Culsafray; angelic warriors that fought in the war of dominance. They say that the Culsafray settled on earth and slowly died out, but it would seem that they did not die out the vampires had gotten them.
It seemed, as the years slowly past that every time I was able to master something Jay would start to teach me something new, and each time the lessons would bring more pain to my body and my mind. It happened sometime during the third year of training that I found myself nearly unable to continue the training, my mind collapsed upon itself, the strain of three years without actual rest, the constant pain and agony of it all had broken me. I found myself alone wandering in the darkness that was my mind, pained screams echoed in the vast darkness. I wandered through shadows, alone, my only company the echoes and the muffled screams, always reminding me, reminding me that I survived while others died, I was never not allowed to die at my time. Maybe that was the key maybe it truly was not my time and that is why I was spared, yeah right, maybe. However I didn't believe that I was alive when it happened, when I awoke the day after the battle I had wished that I had died, but wishing didn't make me dead, it just made me less alive.
There was something in the screaming that at first I was unable to understand, the words jumbled together, and nearly inaudible a message that I knew I had to hear and yet one that I could not hear. Time passed, hours seemed like days, and there was no light, only me, I was not sure if I was even in that dark place, but I remember it so I must have been. Slowly the voice would grow louder, bits and pieces began to come through, eventually I managed to decipher the words, they were some of the last words Orlaendric had said to me, "You must choose whether or not to become one who exists outside of time." I still did not understand those words, but since it seemed that, I would be here for quite some time I decided to think about those words. I had no idea where to start, or where the finish would be, out side of time, those words together made little sense.
I concentrated, within my own mind I focused myself, began to meditate, to call for someone to aid me, what I was not prepared for was what would answer. The cawing of a raven echoed in the distance, growing faintly louder with every passing second until it was upon me. It landed at my feet, its hauntingly black eyes seemed to peer through me, I do not know how I could see the bird in the blackness nor did I care. Munin seemed to await me to speak to it, I had difficulty finding the words within me, to find the part of me that could ask for help. I asked Munin to summon his master here, I pleaded to the bird to fetch Odin to aid me, for I felt as though I were in more danger here than I was at the hunter camp during the hoards attack. Munin stared at me with intent eyes as though to ensure that I had finished, when the raven seemed satisfied it took off flying back to the darkness from whence it came.
When it left all sounds stopped, no screams, or cries or repeated messages, just silence, silence and darkness. I waited for what seemed like hours for a reply to my message, I began to fear that no one was coming that I was stuck here, but from the darkness, a flash of light appeared and washed away the darkness. The Darkness was replaced with a bright white light that seemed to emanate from all around me, and there he stood, Orlaendric, dressed in extravagant robes, an amazing gold crown circled his head. He was smiling, his one eye shone a bright blue, and the socket of his missing eye glowed a deep green.
"Here I thought you had completely forgotten that you had a decision," Orlaendric crossed his arms his eye glaring at me, a giant smile across his face.
"You knew that I had forgotten didn't you, that's why I'm here isn't it?"
Orlaendric pointed to his nose, "correct, I knew that you would have given it little if any thought, you just needed a little prodding. Besides I thought that perhaps you could use a little rest from your torment, I mean training." Orlaendric laughed, and walked over to me and put his mighty arm around me; he motioned behind us with his head.
As I turned around the emptiness was replaced by a wondrous garden, filled with trees, flowers and hedges, unseen birds sang tuneless songs. A small stream ran along the eastern side, Orlaendric led me up a small green hill and stopped as we reached the top, he removed his arm from around me. He walked in front of me and turned to face me, "Zamieon," he began his tone was serious, "for everything there is a price, there is no such thing as a free deal, no good thing comes without a price weighing it down, some are heavier than others. Take myself for instance, I gained limitless knowledge, I was given the knowledge of all that was and all that would - all that could be, but in exchange I gave my eye, and a small portion of my power."
"What is my choice?"
"Yours? Whether or not to exist out side of time, though I suppose that is a vague description, I guess that I could tell you what that means. First, the consequences; if you deny it you will be unable to defeat your enemy, to gain revenge for your people, though you will live a normal life, and die as nature intended. On the other hand, should you accept you would have the time in which to gain your revenge, as well you could see every one of their kind killed before you, however, you will become hunted, loathed and feared by more than just the vampires. Zamieon, what I will offer you is immortality, for as long as vampires live, I would bid you to hunt them. I know that it is a difficult choice, but I want you to take your time and think about it alright?"
I was shocked, immortality, never to die, is not that what humanity has always sought. "You mean that I would never die?"
Orlaendric shook his head, "no not quite, you can die, however your body will revive so long as either you heart and lungs are not destroyed or at least your mind is undamaged. Should your head be cut off, it could regenerate a new body, or your body could regenerate a new head. Of course if your body is incinerated than the game is over, you are done. So be careful alright."
"So you're going to leave now?"
"I see no need to stay any longer, you have less than two years to think about what you shall do, as well you still have quite a lot to learn from Jay, farewell and good luck to you young Malanchite." Orlaendric snapped his fingers and was gone.
I sat up the room around me spun for a few seconds and the sunlight blinded me briefly. I shook it off as quickly as and saw jay standing in the doorway arms crossed, his hair a mess and his clothes sticky with blood. His voice gently moved through my mind, "you're lucky I'm here hunter, or you'd be dead. A small group of vampires attacked last night, came after me, seems my betrayal is known, looks like I may be sticking with you a little longer than I had anticipated." He walked over to the bed and put his hand on my forehead, "well at least your fever is gone, I don't know what happened to you but you had me sweatin'."
"Sorry it seems Odin borrowed me for a while," came my reply, even though I had not used it for some time I could still mind-walk. I must have been under quite the spell even a vampire raid had not woken me, and it seemed Orlaendric's power is not just legend. Jay went to get changed and cleaned up, I dragged my heavy body from the bed and began to ready myself for training once more.
The next two years were hard, harder than the first three, but it was worth it, I learned much more than I could ever have imagined anyone could learn. It was summer; my twenty-first birthday was approaching, as was the day that I would make the decision. I weighed my options carefully. On one hand, I had vengeance, freedom from the fear of death. Powers that I could learn, I could free the world from the terror that is the vampire hoard. However, I began to wonder whether I would actually come to fear it more in time, maybe letting nature take its course was the best thing. Maybe the world would progress fine without me; the different races would unite and face the hoard together. I heard Jay approach from behind me; he moved quietly, it seemed that the grass itself failed to notice him approach. He looked over the field with me, glancing around nervously for the arrival of Orlaendric. "Jay, you seem tense, can I get you something?"
"Yeah you could get me some water from the well, and if you wouldn't mind could you bring me one of the hens?"
"Of course, I had forgotten when the last time you fed was, I apologize." It seemed that a vampire that doesn't drain the life-force of a creature gradually gets weaker, feeding on chickens and cattle may have been able to tide Jay over it was not enough, he needed something stronger. I wondered how long it would be before Jay returned to feeding on humans, elves and any other beings that he could get his hands on, but I knew he would not kill. I returned to Jay with the water and the chicken, he grabbed the chicken from my hands quickly and began to feed off its life-force. He placed his free hand over top of it, a faint blue light appeared around the chicken that slowly began pass into Jay, as the light was drawn the chicken began to become weak, feathers slowly fell off of it, and soon it went limp, Jay let it's corpse fall to the ground. I offered the water, Jay nodded and drank slowly from the bucket, and he finished quickly, wiping the excess water from around his lips. He seemed less jumpy after feeding, even so he shook and swayed form time to time, he said it happens when a vampire goes to long without a good feeding, sometimes it can lead to vomiting and other sickness, if a vampire were to go to long without draining the life-force from something it could result in death.
Jay walked back into the hut and finished packing; he assumed we would be leaving as soon as Orlaendric told us what the next move was to be. I had finished packing the day before; I leaned against a large stump that stood in front of the hut. The wind blew gently through the tall grass that swayed like waves in the ocean, that is when I was it, a body wearing a garment that blew in the wind; maybe a cape, or a cloak. It was neither of those things it was a long coat.
I noticed traces of gold blowing in the wind, I was in near disbelief, I pushed my self away from the stump and broke into a full run. My heart started racing, she was far away, barley visible but I didn't care I could reach her in no time. As I drew nearer to her, I could make out her eyes, blue clearer than any water, deeper than all the oceans combined, and a blue that would make the sky jealous. My voice came pouring out of me, joyous, "Elrohinile!" It had been the first word I had spoken in a long time. I increased my pace, I saw her beautiful elven head rise to look at me, she stopped moving for a brief moment, her eyes lit up brighter than before, she smiled her wondrous smile and ran towards me. Though I could not hear her, I knew she was calling to me, I mind-walked to her saying, "I had missed you," what surprised me is that I received a response.
"And I you, my Malanchite." I had forgotten that she was telepathic and was capable of mind walking on a level that I could not imagine. As we drew close she jumped at me, surprisingly not only did I catch her but I was able to spin on my heal as I drew her closer, she pulled me tight, using what I thought was all her strength to hold me tight. I could feel tears of joy rolling down my face, as our eyes met I saw she was to. She drew her hand over my left cheek to wipe it away, she smiled as she spoke, "guess some things just aren't meant to heal, huh."
"Wha-" she was talking about the scar, "I decided to keep it, a reminder so that I never forget just what I am after." I think that I found more of what I was after in that moment than I had the other five years, companionship, something more than friendship. "Come on, we should get up to the hut, Jay's waiting, Orlaendric should be here soon." Elrohinile tugged at my arm and wrapped hers around it, "what is it?"
"Call Jay, tell him to meet us at the cleft of rupture about forty kilometers south, and not to worry about packing Odin Will take care of it."
"Odin? Oh right Orlaendric's other name."
"He prefers it, more worlds' use it to refer to him, oh and Munin will no longer be with you."
"O.k. I'll let him know hold on." I mind-walked and it seemed that Odin had become impatient and already told Jay. "Jay already knows, we better hurry or we'll be late." We both double timed it, and surprisingly this time it was Elrohinile who was falling behind, in the end it took under an hour to arrive, and as it turned out we were the first to arrive. Jay arrived about five minutes after us, and Odin appeared immediately after, for what I could assume was dramatic effect. We were standing next to the Cleft that ran around the thousand foot deep area.
Odin turned to me and said but one word, "and?"
I looked around Jay and Elrohinile who sat motionless their eyes fixated on me, I then turned to Odin, I took a deep breath and answered in one word, "yes."
He smiled and extended his arms in front of him, there was a flash of light. As the light faded I could see that Odin was holding a spear, he extended the tip towards me. "This is Gungnir, no bargain, no deal no words spoken upon its blade can be broken, so to you Zamieon I ask it again. To swear to hunt the vampires down, to kill them all, to live until your task is completed?"
"I do."
"To you swear that you will do my bidding, to answer when I call, to head the advise I give?"
"I do."
"To these things I hold you Zamieon Malanchite, last true hunter, and future hero of this and many other worlds. In addition, to you I pledge my aid, whatever I can give I will give, whatever I can spare shall be spared. On the blade of Gungnir I swear that this agreement shall last as long as I draw breath." Then the Spear was gone and Odin approached me and lay his hands upon my head, "take a knee friend," I complied. "For the spirits of the dead shall not see you, Farbanti and his boat shall not help you cross the river of the dead, you will not see Hela, her voice you shall not hear, death will not take you. By all the power I poses I take away that which makes you man, I take away your mortality."
A strange feeling came over me, a feeling that crawled down my spine and spread throughout my body, it left me cold, and shaking, as thou the temperature dropped to near freezing. Then as quickly as it came it was gone and Odin released my head, he smiled deeply at me. "You will make me proud."
"Thank you my lord, I shall not fail you."
He smiled and turned to Jay, Elrohinile, and myself, "from here I want you to head over to the kingdom of Karod'Zileah. You will find a renegade vampire toying with these people, he has set himself up as the court adviser and had made the king is his puppet. You must free the people from this vampire I want to see him dead. Consider this a test, to see how well the three of you can work together, oh and squeeze him for information; he will lead you to your next target, good luck to you all." With that Odin vanished, he left us there to make the trek to Karod'Zileah, a kingdom to the north-west.
It would be a long journey, typically tacking about two months; the problem was not getting there it was what to do once we got there. Jay stood up, "well no time like the present, no telling what this vampire might be up to."
"You have a plan?" I asked Jay, who already seemed excited to go.
"Yeah, we get there, find this vampire take him into a dark ally and slowly skin him while rubbing salt in his wounds till he tells us what we need to know, sound good?"
"At the very least it's a start," Elrohinile piped in her voice was too happy to match the conversation.
Jay reached into the sack he was carrying on his back, he handed me my breastplate and coat, and we each looked at one another and without another word began to make our way to the kingdom of Karod'Zileah.
Jay picked up the sack that Elrohinile had left behind and slung it over his shoulder, he turned to me and said, "all right from here we cross to the mainland, I trust you know at the very least a levitation spell." He cast a winged-flight spell on himself, I followed suit, though trained as a fighter, I learned a number of spells to aid me. "Well now, I had expected you to know far less about magic than this, you may yet make a fine student." He flew off at speed that was difficult to keep up with; it would only take about an hour to make the Larodai coast at this speed. I was unable to speak for the duration of the flight due to the extreme focused required to hold the spell at this speed, it was painful and I had gained a headache by the time we landed.
We landed in front of a large hut in the middle of a large grassland field; the field had little in the way of vegetation, although the hut had a small garden growing near its rear. There were a large number of high hills creating a crescent-like shape around the field. The hills seemed to be home to a small group of eleven rangers or druids; they were well taken care of and seemed to have many moonblossom plants. Jay directed me in the direction of the hut, I walked hesitantly towards the hut, it seemed to sturdy in design, a roof of clay tiles, walls of stone, it had one large rounded door, and several circular windows. I pushed the wooden door open with some effort and found that it was extremely heavy. It opened to show three large rooms, the one on the right seemed to be where meals would be both eaten and prepared. The room to my left was a sleeping area, it had three large beds of straw and feather, and covered with various furs, there were to large dressers one on each side of the room. The center room was the largest, it was a wide and long room that contained a single alter at the front, the floor was padded halfway into the room, and the rest seemed to be a polished wooden surface.
"Zamieon this will be your new home, pick a dresser and bed, get settled as quickly as possible, I want to start your practice as soon as possible. When you finish I will be waiting for you in the center room, and please take your boots off before you enter it." Jay removed his footwear and entered the center room, he let the sack he had been carrying hit the padded floor with a satisfying thud, he made his way to the alter.
I removed my boots and left them to the side of the door, I walked into the sleeping chamber and walked to the dresser on the right side of the room, I opened its large doors, inside there was five shelves large enough to place full suits of armor in. I removed the sack attached to my belt and began rummaging through it for the clothes that I had taken with me, it took a few minutes but I had manage to find most of it and loaded all the clothes minus one pant and shirt, I decided that I wanted to change before I went into the center room. As I removed my shirt, the fabric dragged against my face but I did not feel the wound, I assumed that Elrohinile's recovery spell had fully healed it. Once I had my clothes off I cast a cleansing spell upon myself, a simple spell that cleaned my body as a good soak in a river or bathhouse would. I put the clean clothes on and then put my armor back on as well as the long coat.
I entered the center room silently and caught sight of Jay kneeled before it almost as though he were praying to it, I slowly approached him, which is when I heard him, he did not speak but I heard his voice echoing in my mind. "Let me make something very clear Zamieon, for the rest of your time here we shall not speak, I will expect you to learn telepathy. Now I do not want you reading or wandering in others minds, I just need you learn to speak to others in their minds; now come up here." As he finished his sentence he waved his right hand for me to join him, my headache was bad enough without having him speaking directly into my mind.
I approached the alter my feet sank lightly into the padding of the floor; the polished floor was slippery and cold beneath my feet. I kneeled beside Jay and began to examine the alter; it was a heavy metal worked alter with a fine marble top, I guessed that the piece was mad by Dwarven craftsmen, there were carvings of battle scenes on the metal and marble. Jay's voice echoed once more within my head, "Now the trick is to become intoned with you surroundings, feel the spirits that are all around us. The spirits of the air, of the wood, of the fire, of the water, these spirits are ever constant, brining with them life and death, one always trading for the other." He turned his head to face me, "have you ever meditated before young Malanchite?" I shook my head by made no sound this seemed to please Jay. "Good, you remembered that you are also not aloud to speak, being able to communicate feelings and ideas without words it the first steps to being able to mind speak. We do it every day with gestures, or facial expressions, the way we present ourselves with our postures and the way we walk. It is being able to both send and receive these clearly that one must first conquer. I've seen you be able to read people's body language as well as their faces, this is not much harder."
I was becoming dizzy, nausea began to pass over me, my mind was being over exerted, I fought back the feelings and held my composure as best I could, I felt confident enough in my abilities to continue. Jay turned his eye from mine and stared in front of him, "Now clear your mind, thoughts are impure, impurity must be cleansed. Breath deeply but slowly your mind must be focused on itself, ignore your body, allow your mind to find itself. Your mind sees your body at all times, hears every sound it makes, feels all that it feels, it ignores itself until it has drained itself and leaves you mentally exhausted. Your mind must find itself to find another's mind, now try letting yourself fade, you shall hear my voice but not my words, I will speak and you will hear it, but you shall not comprehend, you must let your mind get past the concreteness of our existence and stretch into the abstract."
I closed my eyes, my heart rate began to increased, my breathing increased, but I knew that I must focus I had no time to worry about how much pain I felt. I closed my eyes and regained control over my breathing; I cleared my mind forgetting about my heart rate, forgetting the pain, Jay's voice began to fade away from me his words blended, making a mesh of nonsensical phrases. Soon all I could make out was the sound of his voice no words, just the sound far in the distance, silence and darkness surrounded me, peace began to fall over me. Then I felt wind blowing through my hair, the smell of death surrounded me. I opened my eyes and found myself standing in the middle of my village during the battle, I could see the slaughter, hear the screams it was a nightmare. I felt a hand grasp my shoulder; I turned and found Jay standing behind me wearing a ridiculous grin.
"Well, well got it on the first try huh? Not bad, usually it takes months just to get to this point; I'm quite impressed with kid."
"My father taught me how to meditate; it helped with my magic lessons, focusing the mind to become synchronized with the elements, this isn't that much different." I was lying; the amount of focus was putting an unusually large amount of strain on my mind, luckily, while I was in this state, I couldn't feel the strain. Nevertheless, one could tell that I was under it, the world created by my mind shook, and swayed, the images blurred and swirled. I needed to talk to Jay to keep myself grounded here, "So why is my mind showing me this?"
"It's what your mind is subconsciously focused on, it's not something you want to remember, but it is something that will always be here. Now you got to this point quite quickly, but your focus is not yet strong enough to cross minds. For the next few weeks, this is what you will be doing the time you wake until nightfall; I will have meals ready while you do this. At night, we will have fighting practice, both martial, and with weapons, I will teach you some ancient techniques long forgotten by time. But for now you should come out of here and go to sleep, I just wanted to know how much work you would need." With that Jay vanished from my mind, I was alone, screams echoed through the village, bodies fell but I just closed my eyes.
My headache began to return, slowly at first, the pain was tolerable for about ten seconds, and then it hit me at full force. I opened my eyes only to see the floor moving towards me at an incredible speed, thud, my head hit the floor and hard the room around me began to spin. I tried to sit up but every move I made caused my head to swell with pain, I felt Jay's hands grab at my left arm and aid me to my feet. He walked me to my bed and at the exact moment that he released my arm, my body fell onto the bed, and I fell into a deep sleep.
The next few weeks past in much the same way, I'd wake up early in the morning, about an hour after daybreak, walk outside to the well and pull a bucket of water. I'd wash up, and cast a cleansing spell on my clothes, and head to the kitchen. Jay would cast a creation spell to create food; I would eat quickly and hurriedly and make minor repairs to the weapons and armor that were damaged the night before. Immediately after I finished I would begin my "awareness" lessons, for about a week and a half I was unable to go more than two hours before I would either collapse or black out from the pain, however, by the second week I was able to hold it for the full four-hour session before the second meal. By the fourth week I was able to skip lunch and would no longer awaken with little and sometimes even no headache. Then we would have the third meal after the eighth hour of meditation we would have the third meal, following that Jay would teach me armorer techniques that originated from the ancient Arzonian clans that once held control over the world, this lasted for about three hours. By this time, night would have fallen and Jay would begin to train me in the fighting arts of the West, it was a test of physical longevity and control, often I was unable to last a full two hours.
After four weeks Jay intensified my training, he began to teach me mind walking, an incredible experience that left my mind exhausted. Jay would revitalize me and make me continue, after about three weeks I was able to mind walk freely. Once this happened Jay would have me do physically strenuous activities and mind walk. In addition, I was becoming very talented in the western fighting styles, and began to train in it more heavily. Eventually Jay taught me a spell that revived my mind, body and spirit. So basically I never had to sleep, with that occurring I found that I was able to not only train but study the books that I had taken from my village.
Months began to pass and I could mind walk freely at any time while doing anything; I had mastered all the fighting styles of the east, several obscure styles of the Arzonian's, and a style called "gro-gial-frab" an orcish monk style that favored strength over speed and agility. An intense training routine would leave my body bruised and bloody after the first half hour. Jay would switch styles constantly so that I would become familiar with all of them. It took time but after nine months I was able to match Jay move for move, blow for blow, I was able to match the speed of a vampire.
After the first year of training I no longer was weighed down by sleep or pain, the spells Jay taught me took care of my need to sleep and my wounds to heal quickly. I spent any time not practicing studying the spell books I took from the village, I was beginning to learn the magics within, and soon I hopped to be able to master them. Jay also began to teach me a way with the blade that was lost to the world long before the hunters came, an ancient art that had been used by the legendary Culsafray; angelic warriors that fought in the war of dominance. They say that the Culsafray settled on earth and slowly died out, but it would seem that they did not die out the vampires had gotten them.
It seemed, as the years slowly past that every time I was able to master something Jay would start to teach me something new, and each time the lessons would bring more pain to my body and my mind. It happened sometime during the third year of training that I found myself nearly unable to continue the training, my mind collapsed upon itself, the strain of three years without actual rest, the constant pain and agony of it all had broken me. I found myself alone wandering in the darkness that was my mind, pained screams echoed in the vast darkness. I wandered through shadows, alone, my only company the echoes and the muffled screams, always reminding me, reminding me that I survived while others died, I was never not allowed to die at my time. Maybe that was the key maybe it truly was not my time and that is why I was spared, yeah right, maybe. However I didn't believe that I was alive when it happened, when I awoke the day after the battle I had wished that I had died, but wishing didn't make me dead, it just made me less alive.
There was something in the screaming that at first I was unable to understand, the words jumbled together, and nearly inaudible a message that I knew I had to hear and yet one that I could not hear. Time passed, hours seemed like days, and there was no light, only me, I was not sure if I was even in that dark place, but I remember it so I must have been. Slowly the voice would grow louder, bits and pieces began to come through, eventually I managed to decipher the words, they were some of the last words Orlaendric had said to me, "You must choose whether or not to become one who exists outside of time." I still did not understand those words, but since it seemed that, I would be here for quite some time I decided to think about those words. I had no idea where to start, or where the finish would be, out side of time, those words together made little sense.
I concentrated, within my own mind I focused myself, began to meditate, to call for someone to aid me, what I was not prepared for was what would answer. The cawing of a raven echoed in the distance, growing faintly louder with every passing second until it was upon me. It landed at my feet, its hauntingly black eyes seemed to peer through me, I do not know how I could see the bird in the blackness nor did I care. Munin seemed to await me to speak to it, I had difficulty finding the words within me, to find the part of me that could ask for help. I asked Munin to summon his master here, I pleaded to the bird to fetch Odin to aid me, for I felt as though I were in more danger here than I was at the hunter camp during the hoards attack. Munin stared at me with intent eyes as though to ensure that I had finished, when the raven seemed satisfied it took off flying back to the darkness from whence it came.
When it left all sounds stopped, no screams, or cries or repeated messages, just silence, silence and darkness. I waited for what seemed like hours for a reply to my message, I began to fear that no one was coming that I was stuck here, but from the darkness, a flash of light appeared and washed away the darkness. The Darkness was replaced with a bright white light that seemed to emanate from all around me, and there he stood, Orlaendric, dressed in extravagant robes, an amazing gold crown circled his head. He was smiling, his one eye shone a bright blue, and the socket of his missing eye glowed a deep green.
"Here I thought you had completely forgotten that you had a decision," Orlaendric crossed his arms his eye glaring at me, a giant smile across his face.
"You knew that I had forgotten didn't you, that's why I'm here isn't it?"
Orlaendric pointed to his nose, "correct, I knew that you would have given it little if any thought, you just needed a little prodding. Besides I thought that perhaps you could use a little rest from your torment, I mean training." Orlaendric laughed, and walked over to me and put his mighty arm around me; he motioned behind us with his head.
As I turned around the emptiness was replaced by a wondrous garden, filled with trees, flowers and hedges, unseen birds sang tuneless songs. A small stream ran along the eastern side, Orlaendric led me up a small green hill and stopped as we reached the top, he removed his arm from around me. He walked in front of me and turned to face me, "Zamieon," he began his tone was serious, "for everything there is a price, there is no such thing as a free deal, no good thing comes without a price weighing it down, some are heavier than others. Take myself for instance, I gained limitless knowledge, I was given the knowledge of all that was and all that would - all that could be, but in exchange I gave my eye, and a small portion of my power."
"What is my choice?"
"Yours? Whether or not to exist out side of time, though I suppose that is a vague description, I guess that I could tell you what that means. First, the consequences; if you deny it you will be unable to defeat your enemy, to gain revenge for your people, though you will live a normal life, and die as nature intended. On the other hand, should you accept you would have the time in which to gain your revenge, as well you could see every one of their kind killed before you, however, you will become hunted, loathed and feared by more than just the vampires. Zamieon, what I will offer you is immortality, for as long as vampires live, I would bid you to hunt them. I know that it is a difficult choice, but I want you to take your time and think about it alright?"
I was shocked, immortality, never to die, is not that what humanity has always sought. "You mean that I would never die?"
Orlaendric shook his head, "no not quite, you can die, however your body will revive so long as either you heart and lungs are not destroyed or at least your mind is undamaged. Should your head be cut off, it could regenerate a new body, or your body could regenerate a new head. Of course if your body is incinerated than the game is over, you are done. So be careful alright."
"So you're going to leave now?"
"I see no need to stay any longer, you have less than two years to think about what you shall do, as well you still have quite a lot to learn from Jay, farewell and good luck to you young Malanchite." Orlaendric snapped his fingers and was gone.
I sat up the room around me spun for a few seconds and the sunlight blinded me briefly. I shook it off as quickly as and saw jay standing in the doorway arms crossed, his hair a mess and his clothes sticky with blood. His voice gently moved through my mind, "you're lucky I'm here hunter, or you'd be dead. A small group of vampires attacked last night, came after me, seems my betrayal is known, looks like I may be sticking with you a little longer than I had anticipated." He walked over to the bed and put his hand on my forehead, "well at least your fever is gone, I don't know what happened to you but you had me sweatin'."
"Sorry it seems Odin borrowed me for a while," came my reply, even though I had not used it for some time I could still mind-walk. I must have been under quite the spell even a vampire raid had not woken me, and it seemed Orlaendric's power is not just legend. Jay went to get changed and cleaned up, I dragged my heavy body from the bed and began to ready myself for training once more.
The next two years were hard, harder than the first three, but it was worth it, I learned much more than I could ever have imagined anyone could learn. It was summer; my twenty-first birthday was approaching, as was the day that I would make the decision. I weighed my options carefully. On one hand, I had vengeance, freedom from the fear of death. Powers that I could learn, I could free the world from the terror that is the vampire hoard. However, I began to wonder whether I would actually come to fear it more in time, maybe letting nature take its course was the best thing. Maybe the world would progress fine without me; the different races would unite and face the hoard together. I heard Jay approach from behind me; he moved quietly, it seemed that the grass itself failed to notice him approach. He looked over the field with me, glancing around nervously for the arrival of Orlaendric. "Jay, you seem tense, can I get you something?"
"Yeah you could get me some water from the well, and if you wouldn't mind could you bring me one of the hens?"
"Of course, I had forgotten when the last time you fed was, I apologize." It seemed that a vampire that doesn't drain the life-force of a creature gradually gets weaker, feeding on chickens and cattle may have been able to tide Jay over it was not enough, he needed something stronger. I wondered how long it would be before Jay returned to feeding on humans, elves and any other beings that he could get his hands on, but I knew he would not kill. I returned to Jay with the water and the chicken, he grabbed the chicken from my hands quickly and began to feed off its life-force. He placed his free hand over top of it, a faint blue light appeared around the chicken that slowly began pass into Jay, as the light was drawn the chicken began to become weak, feathers slowly fell off of it, and soon it went limp, Jay let it's corpse fall to the ground. I offered the water, Jay nodded and drank slowly from the bucket, and he finished quickly, wiping the excess water from around his lips. He seemed less jumpy after feeding, even so he shook and swayed form time to time, he said it happens when a vampire goes to long without a good feeding, sometimes it can lead to vomiting and other sickness, if a vampire were to go to long without draining the life-force from something it could result in death.
Jay walked back into the hut and finished packing; he assumed we would be leaving as soon as Orlaendric told us what the next move was to be. I had finished packing the day before; I leaned against a large stump that stood in front of the hut. The wind blew gently through the tall grass that swayed like waves in the ocean, that is when I was it, a body wearing a garment that blew in the wind; maybe a cape, or a cloak. It was neither of those things it was a long coat.
I noticed traces of gold blowing in the wind, I was in near disbelief, I pushed my self away from the stump and broke into a full run. My heart started racing, she was far away, barley visible but I didn't care I could reach her in no time. As I drew nearer to her, I could make out her eyes, blue clearer than any water, deeper than all the oceans combined, and a blue that would make the sky jealous. My voice came pouring out of me, joyous, "Elrohinile!" It had been the first word I had spoken in a long time. I increased my pace, I saw her beautiful elven head rise to look at me, she stopped moving for a brief moment, her eyes lit up brighter than before, she smiled her wondrous smile and ran towards me. Though I could not hear her, I knew she was calling to me, I mind-walked to her saying, "I had missed you," what surprised me is that I received a response.
"And I you, my Malanchite." I had forgotten that she was telepathic and was capable of mind walking on a level that I could not imagine. As we drew close she jumped at me, surprisingly not only did I catch her but I was able to spin on my heal as I drew her closer, she pulled me tight, using what I thought was all her strength to hold me tight. I could feel tears of joy rolling down my face, as our eyes met I saw she was to. She drew her hand over my left cheek to wipe it away, she smiled as she spoke, "guess some things just aren't meant to heal, huh."
"Wha-" she was talking about the scar, "I decided to keep it, a reminder so that I never forget just what I am after." I think that I found more of what I was after in that moment than I had the other five years, companionship, something more than friendship. "Come on, we should get up to the hut, Jay's waiting, Orlaendric should be here soon." Elrohinile tugged at my arm and wrapped hers around it, "what is it?"
"Call Jay, tell him to meet us at the cleft of rupture about forty kilometers south, and not to worry about packing Odin Will take care of it."
"Odin? Oh right Orlaendric's other name."
"He prefers it, more worlds' use it to refer to him, oh and Munin will no longer be with you."
"O.k. I'll let him know hold on." I mind-walked and it seemed that Odin had become impatient and already told Jay. "Jay already knows, we better hurry or we'll be late." We both double timed it, and surprisingly this time it was Elrohinile who was falling behind, in the end it took under an hour to arrive, and as it turned out we were the first to arrive. Jay arrived about five minutes after us, and Odin appeared immediately after, for what I could assume was dramatic effect. We were standing next to the Cleft that ran around the thousand foot deep area.
Odin turned to me and said but one word, "and?"
I looked around Jay and Elrohinile who sat motionless their eyes fixated on me, I then turned to Odin, I took a deep breath and answered in one word, "yes."
He smiled and extended his arms in front of him, there was a flash of light. As the light faded I could see that Odin was holding a spear, he extended the tip towards me. "This is Gungnir, no bargain, no deal no words spoken upon its blade can be broken, so to you Zamieon I ask it again. To swear to hunt the vampires down, to kill them all, to live until your task is completed?"
"I do."
"To you swear that you will do my bidding, to answer when I call, to head the advise I give?"
"I do."
"To these things I hold you Zamieon Malanchite, last true hunter, and future hero of this and many other worlds. In addition, to you I pledge my aid, whatever I can give I will give, whatever I can spare shall be spared. On the blade of Gungnir I swear that this agreement shall last as long as I draw breath." Then the Spear was gone and Odin approached me and lay his hands upon my head, "take a knee friend," I complied. "For the spirits of the dead shall not see you, Farbanti and his boat shall not help you cross the river of the dead, you will not see Hela, her voice you shall not hear, death will not take you. By all the power I poses I take away that which makes you man, I take away your mortality."
A strange feeling came over me, a feeling that crawled down my spine and spread throughout my body, it left me cold, and shaking, as thou the temperature dropped to near freezing. Then as quickly as it came it was gone and Odin released my head, he smiled deeply at me. "You will make me proud."
"Thank you my lord, I shall not fail you."
He smiled and turned to Jay, Elrohinile, and myself, "from here I want you to head over to the kingdom of Karod'Zileah. You will find a renegade vampire toying with these people, he has set himself up as the court adviser and had made the king is his puppet. You must free the people from this vampire I want to see him dead. Consider this a test, to see how well the three of you can work together, oh and squeeze him for information; he will lead you to your next target, good luck to you all." With that Odin vanished, he left us there to make the trek to Karod'Zileah, a kingdom to the north-west.
It would be a long journey, typically tacking about two months; the problem was not getting there it was what to do once we got there. Jay stood up, "well no time like the present, no telling what this vampire might be up to."
"You have a plan?" I asked Jay, who already seemed excited to go.
"Yeah, we get there, find this vampire take him into a dark ally and slowly skin him while rubbing salt in his wounds till he tells us what we need to know, sound good?"
"At the very least it's a start," Elrohinile piped in her voice was too happy to match the conversation.
Jay reached into the sack he was carrying on his back, he handed me my breastplate and coat, and we each looked at one another and without another word began to make our way to the kingdom of Karod'Zileah.