Guardian(Part IV): Revelation

Chapter 28: John

I found Petruchio, Haera's son, in the underwater cave that Haera told me about, right on Camnora's western border, and he used an Alear glyph to warp me to his sister's location on the border of Camnora and Illondas. On the way to Petruchio's tomb, I had to fight through what felt like an entire army of vampires of all kinds, along with their thralls to get to him, which was hard enough without being underwater. I could only imagine what guarded Bianca's tomb. Petruchio's glyph set me down on the slope near the top of a mountain that had an aura of darkness hanging over it. It didn't come from demons. This was just like the aura surrounding Petruchio's tomb. I was up against vampires. I formed my aura blade and stepped towards the entrance to the crypt. The vampires who came after Bianca had already blown their way through the door to gain entrance. They must have had a few hours against me, so I needed to act fast. A flight of stone stairs led down from the gate, into a passage that I couldn't see the end of. It was pitch black. There were sconces on the walls, but they weren't lit. I threw flames at them to light them, and the entire passage lit up, revealing a spiral staircase leading down into the depths of the mountain. I calmed myself down, then went down the staircase, following the aura of darkness hanging over the entire mountain. I went down the stairs as carefully as I could, and once I got far enough, I began to hear voices. A man and a woman, who I had no doubt were vampires.

"I still can't believe Lady Haera actually buried both of her children," the woman said.

"I can't believe she actually disobeyed Lord Kazimir," the man argued.

"Well, that is simply foolishness," the woman agreed. "He's much stronger than any of us. He's the strongest of us!"

"I can't even imagine what went through that woman's head when she decided that disobeying her husband was a good idea," the man admitted. "He would have killed her and both of their children."

"Well, he did not send us to kill Bianca," the woman reminded. "We're to bring her back to the castle."

"So her father may kill both her and Petruchio," said the man. "I suppose they would be dying for the good of the rest of our kind, however."

"Besides, two less stuck-up purebloods in this world isn't necessarily a bad thing, is it?" the woman asked.

"Well, when you put it like that, I suppose not," the man agreed. "And what's two in comparison to thousands, millions?"

"Exactly," said the woman. "Now, focus. We're supposed to be on watch."

I made it to the bottom of the spiral staircase, and saw the two vampires who were conversing. The woman wore a long dress that looked like it was made from the scales of a snake. At Petruchio's tomb, the ones wearing scales were constrictors. The man wore what looked like chitinous armor. He was a tangler. I would have to fight them both, since there weren't any places for me to hide and sneak up on them. I would at least be able to catch them by surprise. None of Kazimir's vampires had dark aura shields or any other kind of protection, so an unsuspecting fireball would have a serious effect. Maybe even kill them instantly. A well-aimed single fireball would even cause a large explosion and incinerate them. That's what I would do. I faded my aura blade, then put my hands together, igniting a large orb of fire between them, then I launched it at the two vampires. An explosion erupted from between where they were standing, engulfing them both in flames, and turning them to ash. I formed my aura blade again and went further into the tunnels. The vampires further into the tomb weren't as easily surprised as the first two. I had to fight through tanglers, constrictors, howlers, gliders, and even chompers, before I reached what I was looking for. In the darkest depths of the tomb, I found a sarcophagus, exactly like Petruchio's, that had the name "Bianca" etched into its lid. It was her. It took all of my strength to push its lid off, revealing Bianca's "corpse". She had long, blonde hair, and wore a long, silk dress that had a color as dark as the night sky with red trim on the shoulders and ends of the sleeves. Now that her sarcophagus was open, I had to wake her up with the same rite I used to wake up her brother. It was in the Ancient Tongue, which was a nightmare hearing me try to speak, especially in the intended accent. I managed to revive Petruchio with it, though, and I could wake up Bianca. I recited the spell to the best of my ability, including the accent, but Bianca didn't wake up. I tried a second time, but I must have missed a letter or said the entire word incorrectly.