World of Alvarra: Rise of the Vampire Lord

Chapter 32: Katherine

Katherine Umbra sighed again. A true exhalation of all her pent-up annoyance of everything that happened and all the shit she had to deal with at the party. Just thinking about what happened made her want to sigh again.

"Gods damn you, Karen. You really had to do it didn't you? I honestly thought there was some hope for you too." Katherine shook her head and sighed once more. She looked out of the carriage window enjoying the slow transition from one landscape scene to the other. From farmlands and villages placed far from each other to a more urban layout with larger and larger towns getting progressively closer and closer together as she traveled further west and towards the coast where most of the Alcrave's population was.

"Thankfully... despite everything... they were still willing to hear me out. But now I wouldn't be surprised if we owed such a small house a huge favor. In fact... we probably will have to give a lot if we want to convince them of helping us." she mused.

"It was especially terrible about what happened to that poor boy. A real shame too. He was really cute. I was hoping to get to know him better... and his cute bride... maybe even the both of them together..." a small smile played at her lips as she thought back to their first meeting. How despite being a male, the sheer gall of talking to a woman, especially one of such high rank as Karen like that, in defense of his future spouse. Made her think highly of such a man, almost like a reverse of all the stories about knights saving the prince in distress, and instead, it was the prince saving the women. The mere fact alone that such a flip on societal views happened right in front of her gave her much to think about and amuse herself with.

"Such an interesting boy. Even if it doesn't work out with the parents. Perhaps we should at least try and get him roped into our plans? Once he's older of course..." her thoughts trailed off, looking back at the changing landscape outside.

A few weeks later she finally saw the outskirts of her home. Zanabrae. A massive city with millions of inhabitants and the heart of the progressive faction and the face that most outsiders see of the vampire lands.

The city seemed to dominate the landscape. Reaching out like a strange creature trying to devour every inch of land it could grab. All, as long as it was with the city walls of course. Which has been extended constantly until the city's boundaries ran haphazardly all over the place. Then as if giving up on trying to constantly push the walls out, they instead started to stack up high. With buildings reaching several floors high being the norm and buildings with only three or less being very uncommon.

The southern part of the city consisted of factories, workshops, and more. The smog and smoke they produced, thankfully downwind of the residential areas as was designed, as well as a few magical force fields to prevent it from blowing into the inner city. The factories and workshops consisted mostly of undead watched by their summoners. The undead would produce cheap goods at all hours of the day. Constantly churning out products from the resources that arrived from the harbor.

The harbor was almost as big as the city. Titanic metal and wooden ships docked and unloaded tons upon tons of goods and resources and in turn, would load just as much if not more and ship them out to the wider world. A large gothic-like airship floated lazily over the harbor. Watching to make sure everything was on the up and up and nothing was out of place.

Finally, castle Zanacrae, the seat of power of house Umbra. A massive superstructure-like building that seemed to stare down on even the largest of buildings like a giant amongst ants. Its sharp dark angles and general design imposing its will open its lesser brethren.

Katherin watched as her home loomed in closer as she made her way through the multiple gates of her city. Taking pride in the bright lights and technological improvements her home has made compared to the rest of Alcray. It was as if the stars in the sky decided to come down and paint themselves onto the city's landscape.