Revenge of the Sorcerer King 3 - 20

Good Morning everyone!

Chapter 20

Alessa

While the others worked on hunting the scouts from around the army, I was talking with Helena about meditation. The process was simply enough from what she explained, but if it was really that easy, than everyone would be doing it. She wanted to see if it would help me control myself in times of stress, like during battle.

Thus, there we were sitting on top of the rocking carriage with our eyes closed trying to tune out everything around us. Sounded easy when said, but once I tried, I found it impossible. For one, I was a vampire. I could hear things several kilometers away. Put thousands of undead wearing all manner of armor around me, there was an almost constant noise. Throw in my other senses, I just wanted to give up.

“That’s the point!” Helena said smacking me over the head. “With all this ruckus, you have to actually try unlike those monks that hide away at the top of some mountain. If there’s nothing there, you might as well be cheating.”

“Easy for you to say, but every time I close my eyes, my mind wanders to the nearest sound or smell almost against my will!”

“You lack discipline, or rather self-control. This is common to the undead and darker races. Most try not to control their desires instead choosing to drown in pleasure and greed.”

“Then I’ll do that,” I said throwing my hands up in the air.

“And become a monster?” Helena asked with a snort.

“I’ll just transform using my vampiric ability,” I replied sticking my nose in the air. This was stupid. Like she said, I lacked the patience and discipline to do something like this. When I was a human I forced myself to hold back on a lot of things. When I became a vampire, or even before that when I met Oberon, I finally didn’t have to hold back. Was it wrong for me to want something from this world that took so much from me?

“I’m not sure I can help you then,” Helena said with a sigh. “From what your Familia told me, you were quite powerful transformed. It may get to the point that no one short of an act of god might be able to stop you. What are you going to do then?”

“We should have to worry about that, right?” I said waving the suggestion away. “You’re going to let Oberon practice removing the sins from some of your vampires. Once we no longer have to deal with it, I’ll be free to do as I will.”

“That might be true, but that might as be wrong,” I heard from under me. Looking over the edge, I found Oberon had opened the window.

“Eavesdropping doesn’t suit a king,” I commented leaning over and sticking my tongue out at him.

“I can’t be blamed when you’re talking on my roof. Anyway, if the affects set in too much like that new curse you’re sporting then even after I remove your sins you might lose yourself. There are plenty of things that can’t be called good or evil. Creatures that desire nothing more that to consume the natural world.”

“Is that much different from the undead?”

“The undead can be classified another race. While our characteristics are all over the place, undead such as vampires can breed. I know of certain other undead creatures that can have offspring as well. Such as the highest forms of zombie, for example.” Oberon explained. “These creatures are things that you never want to meet, no matter how powerful you’ve become. When I accidently trapped myself in the astral plane, I encountered one. Thankfully, the goddess rescued me in time, but I knew without a doubt in my head that no army on this plane could defeat it.”

“Well… I see what you’re getting at, but that doesn’t solve the fundamental problem. My senses are just too powerful. Closing my eyes only hinders me.”

“Then don’t. There is a set-in stone method to meditation. If it helps, lay back and stare at a single point in the sky. Let that point draw you in until nothing else exists.”

“That sounds easier than trying to tune absolutely everything out,” I admitted leaning back.

“Meditation is a tool. Use if for what you need. The monks tune everything out to gain a better understanding of the universe beyond ours, the astral plane. You need it to anchor yourself. It is better to gain a firm connection such as this.”

“Okay, I’ll give it a try,” I said feeling better and falling back to lay down.

“I was going to get to that method next. You barely let her try!” Helena hissed at Oberon in a whisper.

“Better to just drop a futile approach before you waste a lot of time,” Oberon said then I heard the window slide closed. I chuckled despite myself.

“Eavesdropping runs in the family, it appears.”

“Vampire,” I said simply, before doing as Oberon instructed and focusing on a single point. It felt much like when I was a child and I would stare at something for so long that everything at the edges started to blur. As a vampire, my vision was a few hundred times stronger than that and I literally zoomed into the sky.

I’m not sure exactly I eventually did it, but I managed to lock onto a single spot above me. The spot was so high that even with us moving, I had no problems staying on it. I slowed my breathing like Helena had first instructed and thought only of the spot. Before I realized it, the little light that was above the clouds had vanished and it was pitch black.

I blinked coming back to myself and realized I had never felt quite so… relaxed in my life. Everything about my body also felt better than normal. Like weights or chains had fallen away from my shoulders. I took a long breath of the night air, while mortals might say this air was horrible given that it was tainted by the undead. I enjoyed it quite a bit.

“I was worried you wouldn’t come back,” Helena said when I stood up and stretched.

The words reminded me of Jade’s comment. “You’re joking right.”

“No. It’s been three days. We’re almost to the city. Oberon said you were fine, so I left you alone.”

“What the… It only felt like a few hours!” I cried rubbing my temples.

“Check your status, make sure nothing weird is going on,” Helena suggested and I nodded.

Name: Alessa Darkfeather

Age: 15

Race: Pureblood Vampire

Royal Daughter – “A gift for the birthday girl. From your friend Siateth.”

Level: 134

[Basic Sneak: Master] [Basic Magic: Expert] [Magic Resistance: Major] [Necromancy Magic: Expert] [Vampire Forms 2:3] [Blood Magic: Expert] [Hand-to-Hand: Expert] [Telepathy: Novice] [Telekinesis: Adept] [Dimensional Stomach] [Poison Creation]

[Servants:5] [Ghouls:100] [Family:73] [Followers: 4241]

Sin: [Pride: 37%] [Greed: 26%] [Lust: 25%] [Envy: 0%] [Gluttony: 88%] [Wrath: 74%] [Sloth: 61%]

Curses: Ancestral Curse. Undying, Ruler of Gluttony

Boons: One with The Darkness. Bottomless Pit

I rubbed my eyes and checked it again, not sure I believed what I was seeing. After several minutes, I could only let out a long sigh and accept what I saw. “It looks like all my sins lost ten percent.”

“That’s amazing!” Helena exclaimed but I just shook my head and she looked at me curiously.

“My Sloth went up by roughly the same amount that I lost,” I said deadpan.

Helena just stared at me. I guess she had never heard anything like that before. From under my feet, I heard Oberon burst out laughing. Not able to take the embarrassment, I leapt from the roof of the carriage. I wanted to kill something.

Oberon

I watched with my mana sight as Alessa did as I instructed. There were hundreds of methods of meditation to choose from. Some work better than others depending on the individual. The girl had a strong desire from how she had grown up. It was hard from such a person to let go of the world. This way was better for her since it tied one to the world around them much more firmly.

It took a while, but her mana which always resembled a storm to me started to calm down. When a full day had passed, I checked her with all my sights, but found nothing out of the ordinary. Though, when the third day came and went I was starting to worry. I mean the girl, even as a vampire, had her eyes open for three days straight.

Then when she did wake, it looked like her Sloth was the cause of the extreme reaction. For whatever reason, she was easily influcneed by the various sins. A small part of me was interested in seeing whether she could harness that power. The sins were greater than any one mortal after all. She could potentially become something truly amazing, her vampire body allowing her to live through it.

“The birth of a goddess or a devil?” I mumbled. Alessa had been with me since I woke up. Even if that was only a few months, I wanted the girl to become powerful.

Maya shifted next to me, but when I checked, I was sure she was asleep. The child refused to leave me side during the entire trip. Not that I mind for the moment. However, when the battle at the capital started, I would need to find a safe place for her. I couldn’t be teleporting around the city with a ten year old girl latched onto me.

I chanted a quick spell and looked into the distance. “Lenora. How goes the preparations?”

“Well. You were right. They didn’t even suspect me.”

“Mortals are always fooled by beauty. That is why the angels can get away with so much. Obviously if they are beautiful, they can do no wrong.”

“That is the truth of the world. Everything will be ready by tomorrow morning.”

“Good. Make sure you are clear.”

“I will be by your side as soon as I complete my mission.”

“I look forward to it.”

I closed the communication and tapped my chin as I looked out the window. Even with sending Lenora to the city and preparing a Grand Spell, I doubted they would just roll over and die. There was no where for them to run after all. If we were mortal, they might surrender early on, but with us being undead they will likely try to fight until they are all mostly dead. I frankly didn’t care either way, they were just a steppingstone for my objective.

The night passed quickly for the marching undead. With my perpetual storm, the last spell I did before we left the influence the lay-line array, they were able to march continuously until we reached our destination. A two-week journey became four days.

I climbed out of the carriage and took in the sight of the city. It was a lovely city with stone walls that climbed thirty or forty meters into the air. Large buildings grew from the center and slowly lowered as they got closer to the outer walls. There appeared to be six districts with equal or higher walls with each step in.

A beautiful palace and keep sat in the center. A blue stone making up the walls and a large garden that was nearly a small grove sat in front of it. If a commander knew what they were doing, they could defend the city with a small well-trained force once you got to the fourth layer. It was a city built with defense in mind.

It sat on a plain with the mountains in the distance. If it were me, I might have built the city against the mountain, but I knew such things grew naturally and by the time such a thing would matter, the city was usually past the point of changing it. I gestured to the undead generals and they began surrounding the city with my forces.

“Rachel. How does it feel to be home?” I asked with a chuckle. The woman moved next to me and bowed her head. As a higher level undead, she possessed a sort of twisted version of her memories. Where she might love a man or have a family in the city, now that she was undead, she wanted nothing more than to make them join her in the afterlife.

“Nothing, master. I feel nothing.”

“I figured but is there nothing in that dead heart for the people you once claimed to protect.”

“No. I shall drink their hope and slaughter them in their sleep.”

“I see. That is ever undead of you. What about your compatriots?”

“They care even less than I. I want to walk in there to bring them hope, while I single-handedly rip their throats out.”

“Interesting. I would let you do that, but I have other plans. Maybe next time.”

“As you wish master,” Rachel said bowing and moved behind Maya.

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