The First Beast (Vampire Verse..All Ships)

Chapter 15 - Camp

///I like to think of Encre as the type of person who is super manly, but at the same time can still blush like a school girl.///

Early that morning, Rufous, Encre and several other forces began to make their trek across land to where the first camp was being held. The young artist had made sure to wear a long trench coat that day, since the weather was even colder at dawn and so he would have many hiding places for Bird to rest in.

He had gotten no sleep the previous night, and was unable to feel hungry when his stomach was twisted around from nerves. Rufous had also barely slept, because every time he would even doze off, the disntant sounds of gunshots would ring in his ears, forcing him wide awake.

Despite the bags that hung under their sockets, the two men made sure not to show any other sign of drowsiness. They were well-respected soldiers, and had to keep a good influence on the others.

"How many did you count?" Encre spoke under his breath, not taking the risk of speaking louder at the chance that someone else did speak the same tounge as him. He kept his eyes forward, adjusting the shoulder straps of his back pack.
"I would have to at least say there are at least thirty soldiers accompanying us, along with maybe eight or nine Vampire Hunters."

Encre had to hold in a laugh at that. If there were Vampire Hunters pretending to be regular soldiers, then they weren't doing a very good job of it. "Their training methods have changed these past few years. They have grown soft with their teachings."

Rufous arched an eyebrow at that, questioning as to how exactly he was able to tell that just by looking at them.

Encre gave a small smile before tapping the other's shoulder and pointing at a certain group of well-dressed guards, who were marching one after another.
"With the hell that our Drill Sargent put us through, we at least were given the ability to not get scared shitless until the actual battle started, correct? Well, just by looking at these men and women, you can tell just from their faces how terrified they are. And we haven't even made it to the camp site yet."

Rufous gave him a shit-eating grin, "how much you wanna bet that one of them pukes when we get there?"

Now that peeked Encre's interest.
Closing his eyes and tapping the bottom of his chin, playfully mimicking that of thoughtfulness.

"I bet you a sum of two silver pieces, that they'll end up pissing themselves instead."

"Deal."

This made the two of them chuckle, now in slightly better moods.

It wasn't so bad, Encre had thought to himself. Sure, they were potentially about to go start another war, people could die, he might never get to paint again, and to top it off the two of them were being blackmailed... but overall this was a lot more pleasant than he assumed.

The sun was rising just above the trees in the distance, making the dark sky turn blue. There was fog that seemed to dance across their crunching footsteps, the smell of crisp  morning air filling his nostrils.
A blue bird...singing a sweet song in the morning as she gathered food for her hungry newborns.

Overall it was just...beautiful.

Taking it all in, a spark of inspiration electrified the skeletons pupils, making his eyes seem almost luminescent.
Oh God, how he wishes he could just paint right now.

Rufous had noticed his friends change of mood, but simply smiled and continued to trek forward. He wasn't much of an artist and couldn't draw for shit honestly, but becoming friends with someone like Encre really made him look at it in a different perspective. So whenever Encre got that same look in his eyes, he would go through this sort of 'drawing-high' that would make him go on a painting frenzy.