Chapter XXXVI: History Lessons
"How old would you say I am?" Lynza asked innocently, reclining in her throne.
The elves met eyes for a moment.
"Eh," Celebdraug offered, "Thirty?"
The vampires burst out laughing, exchanging bemused glances.
"Give or take five-thousand," Lynza giggled.
"Wow," Mordae said in disbelief, "Not bad looking, if I may say so."
"Says the seven-thousand year old who looks better than most twenty year olds," the vampire said with a teasing smile.
"True," Mordae acknowledged with a slight nod, bringing a few chuckles from the assembled Tvhesta.
"In any case," Lynza continued with a nod, "My point is that all of this history is first hand.
"At the beginning of the Second Age, after the fall of Udun, the vampires rose from the ashes of the darkness. We were not, contrary to popular belief, created from the Darkness or by the Darkness; we were of our own accord. Brought into existence by Illúvatar himself to combat that which originated from the menace of the Dark Lord; the Lychens.
"At the beginning of our lives, we resided in relative secrecy and peace. We made sparse contacts with few and selected men and elves, but very limited. At the time, we did not drink the blood of sentient creatures. However, because we have no blood of our own, we must consume it to sustain ourselves. Thus, we hunted wild pigs, Stoors, orcs, other creatures as such, but rarely men, and never elves.
"After one-thousand years of this life, we encountered the Lychens for the first time. The creatures were bred by Morgoth in Udun to serve as insurgents in the armies of men. They were able to venture into the light in their 'human' form, while transforming at will into terrible wolf-like monsters; dark, and full of malice."
"And they smelled bad," Draylen added.
There was scattered of laughter from the elves and a few of the vampires, but they were silenced by a slightly venomous glare from Lynza.
There was a long pause, then, Draylen motioned for her to begin, again drawing muffled laughter.
Lynza shook her head, sighed, and continued.
"However, being of Morgoth, they were deceitful by nature, convincing us that they were our friends and allies. After drawing close enough to us that we would never be prepared with any sort of opposition to an invasion, the Lychens attacked us, during the day, in 'human' form."
She held up a hand to stop the inevitable questions.
"We cannot reside in the light, at least, not without extreme pain. We do not die from it, but it causes our skin to burn and weakens us greatly.
"The Lychens, however, can survive in daylight without any pain at all in 'human' form. Therefore, we were helpless; it was a massacre. They would have crushed us were it not for two brave lieutenants that brought a massive counterattack that utterly broke the back of the Lychens for the next two-thousand five-hundred years. You may know them, as a matter of fact."
The elves raised their eyebrows.
"Vrayon was one lieutenant, and I the other. We called upon Illúvatar to save us, and through his strength, we beat back the Lychen army."
Lynza leaned forward, and her eyes shone with the memory of the glory days of the vampire kingdom.
"All was well for another six-hundred years, as Vrayon and I brought our troops to victory after victory against evil men, orcs, and Lychens. It was a glorious time for all."
Many of the older vampires in the circle nodded in agreement, their eyes all containing a far-off look as they once again traveled the forests in peace and harmony with their brethren.
Lynza continued. "Then, about five-hundred years ago, something happened. We did not know at the time, but Vrayon came in contact with a man. A Drow, to be more exact."
"Maneva Mornië," Celebdraug murmured.
"Precisely," Lynza hissed angrily. "Mornië had been watching the two of us, and had seen that Vrayon was power-hungry and rash. Under the Drow's direction, Vrayon began advocating the drinking of captives' blood. It made our soldiers more powerful, but lowered their intelligence, and therefore their resistance to orders."
The vampire sat back, her eyes dark with rage.
"At first, most were appalled. But as word of the success with the new 'Lic'za', blood-soldiers, spread, more and more began to follow Vrayon's ways. Soon, it was discovered that by drinking the blood directly from the victim, it would transform them into a sub-vampire, retaining their knowledge of battle, but with even less self-will.
"It was at this time that the assassins came. They were mysterious, black robed figures that would come silently in the night and leave no trace that they, nor their victim, had ever existed. They called themselves the Halda'ohtar, I believe."
Mordae and Celebdraug leaned forward at the sound of a familiar piece of knowledge.
"Dilotè Linta," Mordae muttered. "Captain of the Drow."
Lynza gazed questioningly at the elf, compelling him to continue.
"She is Halda'ohtar. Excellent warrior, very high sense of honor."
The vampire nodded. "It is said that the Halda'ohtar would not kill unarmed victims, and would often leave family alone, taking only the target and any who bore weapons."
Lynza continued with her chronicle of the vampire history.
"As more and more of my supporters disappeared, falling victim to the Halda'ohtar, I began to lose followers. It was at this time that Mornië revealed himself.
"To say he is charismatic is a drastic understatement; he borders on hypnotic. Our people would hang on his every word. He promised, in return for our allegiance, that he would bring an end to the Halda'ohtar. At the time, we did not realize that he was in charge of the Halda'ohtar, and had been ordering the assassinations himself.
"And so, the majority of people grew to love him. After a few years, he presented us with the Remnant plan. He would build us, in conjunction with the orcs, Drow, and Lychens, who were under 'new leadership', into a great army that would take over Middle Earth.
"When the argument was posed about cooperating with the Lychens, he gave a very well worded speech, in which he promised that the Lychens and the orcs were merely rungs on the Ladder of Power; we would use them to climb higher, then, once past, forget about them and throw them down with the rest. All lies, of course. However, my people did not see this. They joined Mornië and practically worshiped him as a god.
"After five years of tension, the dam finally broke. Mornië and his followers rose up against me and my soldiers in a bloody war that lasted for another four years, until finally, we were forced to withdraw from my country and move to the mountains."
Lynza sighed, and her gaze drifted to the nearby Misty Mountain range to the east.
"There, my followers and I resided until, about fifty years ago, it was discovered that Rivendell had emptied. Thus, we made our home here. And that," the vampire exhaled and collapsed back against her chair, "Is where we stand today. Any questions?"
The elves were silent for a moment, then, Celebdraug spoke.
"When we were in New Edoras, we saw Vrayon shoot some crazy red-misty stuff from his hands, and Mornië just...disappeared...from in front of us. Do you know what that was?"
Lynza nodded. "The za'vryn. It is an ancient traditional story, practically legend, that the ruling family of the vampires in the beginning of our time constructed a system of transportation with two gates, one in each of our major cities. Entering these gates would cause you to be transported to the next, by virtue of your unique blood signature.
"Those who are direct descendants of the royal family have direct access to the gates wherever they are, and can give others entrance from any point as well. Each member of the family has the power to create one new gate wherever they so chose; this has resulted in over one-hundred gates, all around Middle Earth."
"Why have we not seen any before?" Mordae asked, absently running his fingers up and down the etchings in Gandalf's throne, which he sat in.
"All except the original two are not substantial. They are more of...metaphysical."
The elf nodded knowingly.
There was another long pause.
"Well then," Mordae finally spoke, "What exactly is your business as of now?"
Lynza smiled broadly, revealing her long fangs. "I thought you would never ask.
"I am to meet with Vrayon tonight. I sent a very convincing letter to him, ordering the immediate ceasing of military action against us, and the surrendering of all Remnant information I wish. I will meet him in Lvrast, alone, where he will give me everything I want."
"And what makes you think that?" Celebdraug cried. "How has Vrayon ever shown that he is trustworthy?"
"I have one playing card he cannot battle with," Lynza said with a smirk.
"And that is..." Mordae gestured for her to complete his sentence.
"None of your business."
"Secrets are very much discouraged in the Tvhesta," Mordae countered.
"Well played, Mordae," Lynza admitted with a slight nod, "But I fear this is far too big of a secret for any to know. As far as my knowledge reaches, only two others know of it. Vrayon, and Draylen. And they will not tell you, either, correct?"
Lynza shot a venomous glance at Draylen, who appeared to be intently studying the arrangement of the tiles on the floor. There was a long silence as he continued to ignore her; that is, until Celebdraug elbowed him sharply in the ribs.
The vampire looked up with a start. "Uh, yes, yes Lynza."
She glared at him.
"I mean no."
Her gaze did not waver.
"I will? I didn't? I won't?"
There was a long, uncomfortable silence, and Draylen went back to studying the floor.
"He's probably forgotten anyway," Lynza finally muttered, to the amusement of the other vampires and the elves.
"And the dwarves," Celebdraug continued the discussion, "What of them?"
"I will tell you once I find out from my meeting," Lynza said. "Any other questions? Officers, anything?"
No one spoke.
"Well then, may the moon smile upon our next meeting. Get rest today; we may have a battle tomorrow, and I'm sure none of you want to miss it."
With that, the assembly slowly broke apart and faded back into the shadows of Rivendell. Outside, the sun began to rise.
