Sun and Moon (First Draft)

꧁ Chapter Three: Chaos Rising ꧂

Finally, they were arriving at their destination. The filthy vampires' real manor, in Upper Crestovaig.
Their castle was on a high plain and looked strangely similar to their fake manor in Cheshinishire. Here, it the snow fell faster than rain.
But something felt off to General Oris and Lord Krys.
The castle seemed like the same one in Cheshinishire. It was as though this was some sort of illusion or trick.
It felt just as cold and barren as the other one.

Sceptical, Krys turned to Mars in questioning. "Where are all the vampires?"
"Patience, we'll have to get passed the doors first." Mars said, and so the elves followed him and his vampiric niece towards the large double doors that gave way into the manor's main hall.
But as time progressed, this seemed to look more and more like a set-up. An unfunny joke.

Mars swung the doors open to the manor as though he owned the place, but inside was a dimply lit main hall with only one elf stood at their grand horse-shoe-shaped table. Leftovers were lingering on the table, and the faint stench of blood and flesh could be made out beneath the scents of the lavender-scented candles that were sat in each corner of the hall, with three on the grand dining table too.

"Ah, well, if it isn't my favourite human being," a male vampire said, smiling at Mars while approaching him, ignoring the elves' presence.
The man did well to hide it, but he was in fact deeply offended at the elves' blatant temerity to just walk inside their manor like they even had any semblance of a right to.
It was insulting.
But the vampiric man was tired of letting the elves hurt his feelings, so he tried his best not to pay them any mind for the time being.

"Terrok," Mars happily greeted as he swung an open palm his way before he took it and the two shook hands merrily. "it feels like I haven't seen you in eons my friend."
Terrok sniggered at that. "Please, you humans don't live anywhere as long as we do, so stop teasing yourself. You wouldn't know what an eon felt like even if you were a ghost."
The two laughed, before he caught sight of Miri, who made his smile even wider.
"My niece!" he yelled, embracing her briefly. He was Miri's mother's brother. Late Queen Serodana's younger brother. He was thus Mars' brother-in-law as Mars was Miri's father's younger brother.
King Velorak.
A vampiric tyrant. An infamous one, and a sworn-enemy of the elves.

"And as for you," came Terrok's sudden, harsh tone.
Mars clearly did not think about what they would do if they simply walked in through the main doors. But he had realised that conflict between these two races was inevitable, and so attempting to avoid such conflict would be pointless and a waste of time.

"Terrok, please--." Mars tried, but it was no use, he was dismissed with a mere wave of the hand.
"Silence, brother-in-law," he said. "Leave these buffoons to me."
Krys stepped forward, with his men Bree and Oris positioned behind him like guards. Krys sneered at the vampire.
"The mere sight of you sickens me." Krys spat, repulsed by Terrok's demonic appearance.
"Believe me, there is nothing more repulsive than your presence, elf."
Miri backed away, sensing the imminence of conflict easily as though it had become second-hand-nature to her at this point in time.
Before things escalated, she took her leave and strode down a corridor that veered off to the left.
"Now state your business. Or leave." Terrok demanded, his golden eyes fixated on Krys who was a significantly tall elf, while his left hand caressed a dagger of his.
Terrok usually used a crossbow, despite the fact that human beings in the older eras used that very weapon to hunt their kind.
Terrok had not let them turn crossbows into a symbol of fear for his race, so he instead took the weapon on and taught other vampires how to become skilled crossbow combatants since.