Severance: Sword and Fang

Sword and Fang {P.VIII}

Saaryn looked from the dwarves, to Cerysipha, to the door, and returned to the sorceress. Her anxious gaze remained pressed into him, nervously anticipating the decision that would change their lives.

The mercenary retreated into deep contemplation.

Limitless power, should Emric be telling the truth, was not appealing to him. Power did not motivate the mercenary in his life as it did so many others. However, the vampire was not wrong, he could not face his enemy as he was, he needed a distinct advantage to overcome her power that he could not acquire on his own. This vampiric mutation may be just what he required. In contrast, he could walk away from it all right now. He doubted prince Lodron was sincere with his proffer, but if he was all Saaryn needed to do was leave the fate of the dwarves, Cerysipha, and the innocent denizens of Glesh to the callous, sadistic motivations of a vampire, and not look back. 

Cerysipha recognized the look in the mercenary's eyes, he had his answer. She held her breath. 

"Neither." Saaryn finally said. 

"What do you mean 'neither'?" The calm in Emric's voice fractured.
He faced the vampire and met his eyes once more. They were teeming with contempt now, his friendly expression palliated by malice. 

"I'm going to kill you." 

Now the vampire's demeanor fell apart entirely. As if his tongue were paralyzed, he was unable to speak for a long moment.

He quickly regained his composure, however, and tugged on his robe to straighten it. 

"Why is that? Don't tell me you believe I'm evil or immoral, or that you care for the lives of some dwarves you've no relation with, not for the people of Glesh who are unaware of your existence, and won't remember any pointless, needless sacrifice you make in the name of their liberation. Is the pursuit of knowledge immoral? I only seek the same as you. I wish only -" 

"Enough." Saaryn sliced through the vampire's prattling, again shaking his composure. 

"You talk too much." 

The mercenary unlatched the strap across his chest, dropped his fur coat, and drew his sword again. Cerysipha found herself listening for the whistle of death she remembered so vividly.

It called out, but this time it was somehow more profound.

Emric Lodron heaved a sigh embedded with sincere disappointment and with a shake of his head surrendered his attempts of coercion. 

"Very well then. You disappoint me, Unburned, but I shall at least allow you to witness ascendance before you die." 

 The air became exceptionally bleak in that instance, and the sudden shift in temperature stole the breath from Saaryn and Cerysipha's lungs without warning. Emric unfolded his arms and extended them, palm and fingers splayed, to his sides. He tilted his head to the ceiling and closed his eyes. Intense shock waves of magical energy began reverberating outwards from the vampire, emitting a copious amount of heat that made the air battle over hot and cold, and a faint, transparent crimson glow emanated around his figure, emasculating the vampire in a sanguine aura. Then, beginning at the base of his feet, black wisps in the form of malefic tendrils manifested and spiraled around the sorcerer, producing a supernatural barrier of magic ebullience. The transmuted properties of the blood coursing through the vampire's veins took effect, transmogrifying Emric's physique in a disgusting procedure. His musculature expanded with the unnatural addition of artificial mass and his muscles bulged beneath his now stretched and strained garments. His fingers, now clenched, elongated several inches, which in turn mutated into fiendish claws with terrifying length. His once palely pigment flourished with color now, giving the mage a darker gray complexion. Sprouting from his shoulder blades through a gruesomely audible process, tearing painfully through both skin and fabric, were a bloody and featherless pair of jagged, wicked wings reminiscent of talons in appearance, spanning little more than a meter in length. The vampire's narrow face morphed in shape as well, his jaw and cheekbones extending to adjust for longer, and sharper, teeth.

When the metamorphosis was finally complete, what once was the Merchant Prince Emric Lodron stood a head and a half taller than Saaryn. 

 The vampire lowered his head and opened his eyes once more. They were glowing radiantly now, completely scarlet. 

"Gaze upon ascendance, Unburned." The monster's voice was inhumanly deeper than before, beastly in tone, resounding clearly off the chamber walls.

"This a power beyond the limitations of nature, beyond what even the most esteemed sorcerers and scholars believed possible. Witnessing it first hand, do you still believe you can best me?"

Saaryn did not answer the fully fledged vampire. In response the mercenary only raised his long sword and held it parallel with his cheekbone, the ingrid steel edge hovering just above his skin, and crouched low into a combat stance that was foreign to any Cerysipha had seen. 

"So be it." 

The vampire understood clearly what the gesture indicated. It reminded him of the cutthroats that had robbed and nearly killed him.

It infuriated him. 

He did not take a stance. Instead he simply stood in a casual posture, as if the threat of harm was non existent. He truly did put all of his faith into this newfound power. The monster smiled sinisterly in anticipation, revealing a pair of horrific fangs that thirsted for blood.

Saaryn's expression, on the other hand, revealed nothing. Neither fear for his adversary nor determination for victory were written across his features. His countenance was utterly indifferent. 

His only focus was death. 

Cerysipha did not know which disturbed her more: man or monster. 

"Shall we begin?" The vampire provoked one last time.

Saaryn tensed.

Then man and monster lunged towards their fate.