Red Glass

39. Current State

Blood scroll 7

The bells rang.

The murder of the Dark priestess echoed through Vatala like a flood spreading chaos through the immortal ranks. Whispers slithered through the castle walls of betrayal for power and treachery.

The glorious king and Queen

For many she was a woman to be feared, to many she was he mother of our nation but to all she was a dangerous twilight•

She was a leader, an example to follow with ambition that overshadowed all other from compassion to devotion. Murdered in cold blood, the immortal King and Queen have not returned from her tomb, they mourn as the kingdom burns• Ravens encircle Falls Garden, wolves howl from the forrest and frozen ground craves blood as the bell rings through the whistling winds of war• Rumours tell of a pact against the king with the dragon people, a rumor they feared her power enough to have her erased• People suspected keeper and shay were secret lovers so maybe it was jealousy that drove him to treachery, perhaps a lust of power? With royalty out of the way the throne lays empty• Cries of leadership tear the black banners down and candidates raise like embers from fire. Amongst the ashes of chaos arose two; Battlemage Keeper and General Vatalis.

The bells of the turmoil rang

The dark powers of the Priestess far exeeded her subjects, even the courts battle mage. She was the the vessel that brought immortality to the kingdom from the claws of dragons. Many embraced the gift, enjoying the power while many hated he curse. Under rule of King Vladamir none would dare complain, however, things had changed. Keeper was hailed a revolutionary by those who despised what they had become. Of the armies chosen warriors, most thrived on strength but with only the weak to prey on it seemed pointless• Keeper was an obvious choice for leadership amongst those who admired strength above all else•
Whispers through the castle halls echoed of how all who met Shay easily fell prisoner to her web: man, woman it made no difference except Keeper who had been able to resist her spell• Those who called themselves Claw saw Killing the Priestess as no betrayal but a display of power and courage that brought great esteem• Of all attributes streath is the most important because without, non of he others can be implemented. Upon it Empires are built, honour is preserved, reputations are founded and justice is served. Power is what separates us, it is what will carve us into eternity as we sculpt through, smashing and crushing all opposition.

The bells of power rang

The sun shall fall before us one day

Amongst the immortal were those who found the gift a great blessing. Living without fear of death, without aging, it changes people. Patience ripened over time; values changed and many found new meaning in honour. In a world only temporary, food, money, circumstances themselves never last. What was hatched one moment is slaughtered the next in barely the blink of an eye. Mortality is constant in it's pursuit of fading away to nothing. Nothing effects perception like life span. With time comes knowledge, understanding and wisdom. Priorities change. The young regret what they did while the old old regret what they did not. Armies, relationships and religion are forged in loyalty; the one thing money cannot buy. Money can pay for mercenaries, what they do but not what they believe. To be disloyal to your leaders, partners and prophets is to drown in the ocean of disgrace. The fang did not negate the use of deception in warfare but treason is a line never to be crossed.

The bells of honour rang

Those loyal to the throne followed

General Vatalis whose loyalties and leadership made and an exellent candidate to receive the honour as the new king which had decided amongst the torn kingdom to call themselves Fang•

he for the dragon people.

After the leaders of immortality were swallowed by the

After the King and Queen of  immortality took to the tomb of Shay, new leadership was sought.

The kingdom had been torn between   General vatalis, third in line of the throne, loyal to the king and queen and  Those who had chosen to follow the former general had decided to call themselves "Fang" to be distinguished from those that followed the opposition. Becoming leader he showed the damned that they could become even more powerful than what the gods had made them.

Many liked the idea of not needing to take a human life to survive, some also regretted embracing the dark gift and saw this as a way to seek power towards being able to see sunlight again after so long and hopefully a release from the thirst. For example, he showed that humans were not suitable prey for their kind. By his measure, hunting humans was equivalent to lions hunting chickens. Many of the turned had years of war experience and had been considered bloodthirsty monsters long before the change, but that was a reputation earned in the times of war. Claw began to hunt not just for survival but for sport. Fine armour, suits and cloaks were stripped to bare chest, leather braces and greives with only helmets of steel.

The bells of bravery rang

In response to the change in how their brethren had began to change they stopped wearing helmets and wore long overcoats in place of armour for a more civilised look. The higher fabrics served fang better, combining fabrics with steel plates allowed for the best

The horn of the hunt blew

They began to hunt the jötnar (giants) about 8 times the size of a normal man. Stronger than mammoths and more dangerous than any human. No vampire would dare attempt to battle jötunn (giant), not alone anyway. Learning to hunt together these omega predators became one under Keeper as the alpha.

The blood and shadow magic was still bare a match for the jötnar, for jötnar were magical beings they were able to not only defend themselves but also kill the vampires because of their magical properties. Something the pack did not anticipate.

Together they fought the jönar. During the battle, the true extent of the keeper's power was exposed. They all knew he possessed the same abilities as Shay but drill nobody knew what this meant. In the lowest stage of the battle, Keeper transformed into a dragon of smoke and lightning. Far greater than his regular form, with those he led they were able to defeat the blue-eyed jötnar.

The cheers of victory echoed

Many had been lost that first battle but those who survived felt something they had not in a long time: Alive.

Through the battles, they became bigger and stronger themselves and had formed a telepathic connection. Their addiction to blood evolved into an addiction for battle.

The howls of blood lust prevailed

Eventually, the jötunn walked the lands of Vitalis no more. Hungry for the hunt, humans could no longer satisfy their needs. The hunters became in need of new prey, the most dangerous species they knew of and could find; wolves and bears.

Over time the sons of Loki began to change in ways they had not predicted: they had become no longer cold-blooded but had boiling blood pumping through beating hearts. Their eyes changed from glowing embers to a cold burning white. Eventually, they became immune to sunlight but had lost the strength they originally possessed as creatures of the night.

They could no longer class themselves as the same as their cousins and had pride in how they had overcome the dark curse through courage and conflict rather than stealth and guile.

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