Chaos & Order: Dawn of Chaos

Chapter 12

Walking down the stairs into the vampire lair, the black stone felt gentle on Athelia's eyes compared to the bright sun outside. Athelia followed Drake as he led her past the blood pool and down another flight of stairs. As a set of doors opened at the bottom of the stairs, Athelia saw the giant throne room. There were long wooden tables leading to a platform where the throne was raised with another long table in front of it. The throne itself was black stone with veins of red running through it, and Drathus was sat observing those around him. Hanging from the stone arches around the room, banners of the red phoenix were hung proudly on display.

Sitting at the tables, vampires of all kinds talked amongst themselves, and many glanced at Athelia and Drake as they entered. As Athelia looked around at the vampires, she saw the lower ranking vampires were sat together on the other side of the room from where she stood. Their skin was as pale as milk, and their eyes a constant red. On the table closer to where she stood, Athelia recognised the two from when Alexis attacked her, and they were sat with higher ranking vampires. Their skin more alive, and their eyes were natural colours. Standing from his throne as he saw them, Drathus walked down an aisle between two tables to meet them.

"Drake reassures me you are settling in well." Drathus spoke as he led them out of the throne room into a long corridor, "I believe it is time you learnt a bit about our history."

Athelia didn't reply, but continued following them into another room, which Athelia noticed was called The Archives. The room was filled with shelves rammed with books and collections, and there was a wooden table in the middle that had a few books stacked on it. Drathus went straight to a bookshelf behind the table and pulled out a crumbling book. Placing it gently onto the table, Drathus opened the first page and gestured for Athelia to look.

"This is our family's history." Drathus began to explain, and Athelia stepped closer to look at the pages in the book, which were written in an old language Athelia didn't recognise.

Two thousand years ago, I lived in a place called Blackreach, a city in a kingdom ruled by vampires. My father was King Maudin and my mother was Queen Zaphine. I also had a younger sister, Princess Varity, and an older brother Prince Greyson. Greyson was banished many years before and was likely killed.

Drathus quickly flicked through the pages to skip the part about his brother.

My father, however, was greedy and believed there was no power that could match the power of vampires. He began to expand the vampire kingdom, but the nearby kingdom of mages disliked that. Personally, I do not blame them, my father was cruel, and he killed many innocents in horrible ways in his strive for world domination.

As a result of his greed, and ignoring the warnings, the mages retaliated and pushed my father's armies back. Refusing to back down, father was pushed back to Blackreach, where the mages attacked to end vampires for good. Father was killed, and mother distracted the mages while me and my sister were taken through a secret passage from the castle. We heard her die... but we got away safely.

I was crowned King of Vampires far away from Blackreach, and I eventually settled peace with the mages. However, we were never able to return to Blackreach, and us three are the last Blackreach vampires left.

"How am I a Blackreach vampire?" Athelia interrupted, leaning on the table as she listened, "I was born human."

Drathus replied, "That is true, but the amount of venom that was used on you is unquestionable. It will take time, but eventually you will be just as strong and powerful as me and Drake."

"...and why can't you go back to Blackreach, why do you stay here in Vandor?" Athelia questioned, confused from the story, "They hate anything nonhuman here."

"That is also true, but Blackreach was completely destroyed and remained under mages rule for well over a thousand years. It is just wasteland now." Drathus explained, "I rule the whole of the vampire kingdom from here, mostly because it is so safe. If you have money, those in the courtroom will never question you, but you know that bit already."

Athelia nodded shamefully, "Yes."

"I also get to listen in on what the rest of the world is doing in that courtroom, which can be very useful." Drathus added, closing the book and carefully putting it back on the shelf.

"What you just heard is also partly why the others are cautious about you." Drake spoke, leaning on a wall nearby.

Athelia sighed, "They will never not hate me."

"Give it time." Drake reassured, "Most of them are very old, so it will take time to convince them."

"What happened to your sister?" Athelia questioned curiously, watching Drathus walk towards the door.

Looking hurt and irritated by the question, Drathus stopped to reply, "That is a story for a different day."

As the door closed behind Drathus as he left, Drake spoke, "I suggest you avoid asking him about his past. What you just heard is all he ever speaks about."

Feeling bad for asking, Athelia looked down and replied, "It was so long ago, I thought it would be safe to ask."

"Something you will learn is vampires will hold grudges for a long time." Drake sighed, stepping away from the wall he had been leaning on.

"How old is he?" Athelia asked, glancing at Drake as he walked around the table, "He said that happened two-thousand years ago!"

"Yes, but he was very young when it happened. You must remember vampires age very slowly." Drake answered, scanning over the books on the shelves, "It also gets hard to keep count of the years after so long, so I would guess just over two thousand?"

Athelia nodded, "What about you?"

"Four hundred and twenty-two." Drake replied before laughing, "You ask so many questions."

"Is it not better to be curious than live in the unknown?" Athelia asked, half sarcastically.

"Curiosity is the death of some." Drake replied, stepping away from the shelves.

Athelia thought for a moment before pointing out, "Yet, it is the success of others."

***

Thunder crashed in the sky, deafening Athelia as she tried to see through the thick rain that plummeted to the ground. Having been told to practise fighting in the rain, Athelia gripped the wooden sword and waited for Lexi to attack. Feeling her soaked clothes grip to her skin, Athelia tried to block out the uncomfortable feeling along with the deafening thunder and attempted to focus on the imminent attack.

Hearing Lexi move, Athelia dived out the way as Lexi swung her sword from behind. Sliding past Lexi, Athelia kicked the back of Lexi's leg. Screeching as she fell to the floor, Lexi grabbed her leg in pain.

"Oh, are you okay?" Athelia asked, lowering her guard as she heard Lexi's leg snap back into place from where she broke it.

As soon as Athelia lowered her guard, Lexi leapt to her feet and slammed her sword into Athelia's stomach. As Athelia bent over from the impact to her stomach, Lexi kicked her to the ground from behind.

Gasping for air as her chest hit the ground, Athelia slowly got back to her feet as her body repaired itself from the harsh impact. Getting back to her feet, Athelia glared at Lexi who was grinning victoriously.

"That was cruel." Athelia snapped.

"It happens." Lexi brushed off Athelia's frustration, "You are too nice, and everyone knows it."

Feeling a burst of determination, Athelia gripped her sword and darted towards Lexi. As Lexi blocked Athelia's attack, Athelia jumped back, and Lexi slipped past Athelia. Spinning round as she saw Lexi shoot past her, Athelia dodged the attack and slammed her sword onto Lexi's back. As Athelia's sword splintered from the impact, Lexi tensed and fell to the ground. Hearing Lexi groan, Athelia dropped what remained of her sword to the ground.

"Better..." Lexi groaned, pushing herself back to her feet, "Next, we shall fight without swords, but that can wait."

As Lexi put her sword into the barrel ofpractise sword nearby, Athelia hurried towards her room to get out of the wet clothes.