Obsession is the height of passion, but what does one do when they find themselves enthralled with their enemy. Talamayas Sol loses his mother when he stumbles upon a mage in the deserts of his territory, and he is plunged into a despair he's never...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"Wren, are you sure you don't want us to come with?" The hunting party asked, and Wren looked over to them.
The bright red hair and grey eyes of his people–the Songs–met him, but they were all tired from their last skirmish with the Sols that had pushed them into Valk territory. Some had scratches and other aches from wounds that had been sealed with magic but needed time to recover fully. Those Sol vampires were bred monsters and they avoided them if possible, but treading the borders between their territory and the Valks wasn't much of a choice for safe travel.
Both burned them alive. It was just a matter of with which medium: Fire or Lightning.
The Sol deserts weren't safe but neither were the Valk mountains. At least the desert was open so vampires couldn't drop on them from the trees. Even in the daytime when the monsters were weakened, the things still roamed their borders to watch for intruders, and they pounced on light magic with no intent other than to savage and drain blood. Humans were just beverages to those grotesqueries, and he would kill every last one if he had to.
"You go on ahead. I need to finish scouting to map the borders. It's only around the end of the canyon, so I should join you in less than thirty minutes." Wren was their strongest, their leader, so it was his job to take on the most difficult tasks. Sweat beaded his brow even in the waving evening sun, and it reflected off water and sand alike, making it hard to see much. More men didn't make the job easier.
"Watch yourself, general!" the younger men said with a wave, and he nodded as they disappeared into a spell to go home. The light magic would normally attract vampires but down here in the gulley, it blew by with the wind, obscuring their exact location.
Wren walked down the river and marked the curve of the landscape as he progressed, the cool wind from the ripples of water flowing against his back in an easy sigh. They needed to know the lay of the land if they were to infiltrate. Nothing like running into an unknown cliffside to end up in death. The edge of the canyon was just up ahead, and relief flowed over him in a wave that eased his tense muscles. On the other side, the desert climbed up to the peak of the canyon and the Sol Territory stretched forth. This side of the river was Sol territory, but the vampires didn't venture into the green ravine often. At the same time, the Valks wouldn't cross the river on their border to come into Sol territory, so it was the safest path for charting.
Marking the extent of the cliffside, he rolled up the parchment and headed to the edge to peek around. It was expected that it was a steep incline up to the ridges, but he needed to make sure before he departed. There was no point in trying to map the Sol territory as it was strewn with anti-magic pillars that blocked transportation magic. Venturing in there was death, but they could map around it.
Gripping the rock, he pulled himself forward to look, and the brush of dark magic was immediate. The ridge had blocked it, just as it had blocked his light magic and he came face to face with the red eyes, tan skin, and dark hair of a Sol vampire. Instinct took over, and he breathed the tune of his spell into place immediately.
