Monsters

by Viktor Zólyomi

  `So, I died. But how come I'm speaking to you here if I'm dead?'

  `You did not die, Flora.'

  `But my armor...' she says, pointing to the chair nearby.

  I turn my head towards it, and I see a pile of what appears to be rotting leaves. Only now do I notice the strange smell in the room. It comes from that pile.

  I remember, that when I put her in bed, I undressed her, and put her armor on that chair. An armor of unparalleled beauty. An emerald green, elven magical armor, seemingly made out of leaves, which was given to her many years ago as a reward for something from an elven mage.

  `That armor...' she says, `was tied to me magically. A... symbiotic link, or what. Yes, I think that's what the mages always told me. A symbiotic link. That armor was alive. As long as I lived, it would always patch the holes that it suffered in battle. Heal itself, so to speak. But after my death, it would die with me...'

  I keep staring at the rotting remains of her once majestic armor and can't help but recall Aurach's words, his dilemma about life, death, and undeath. She died, it would seem, even if she now lives again as... something else... Something other than what she was.

  `I died, Jase.' she tells me. `Vampires bit me, you say. That explains it all. I'm elven. The vampire's bite is lethal for my kind.'

  I turn back to her and look at her face, trying to look her in the eye, but she avoids my gaze.

  `Flora, you are not dead. There is something you must know...'

  `How can I not be dead?'

  `The vampire bite did not kill you. It transformed you.'

  `Transformed me?' she asks, confused. `Into what? A vampire? I'm elven. I cannot become a vampire. My kind is not able to...'

  `Flora... When you got here, you were dying. And... I begged Kurt Aurach to save your life. He told me the same thing as you are telling me now.'

  `So... I am dead.'

  `I pleaded him more, and he promised to try. Try to save your life. And he did.'

  `He... did? How?'

  `He tried to cure you, but that failed. Then, he somehow helped your body to live through the transformation. It was the only way for you to survive.'

  She slowly turns away, and stares ahead blankly.

  `So... I'm... a vampire now?'

  `Yes.'

  She slowly turns her head back towards me.

  `It's impossible. My kind cannot... What kind of magic did he use? How...?'

  `It's black magic, Flora. The Dark Arts... It was the only way to save you.'

  `Save me?' she asks after a long moment of silence, and then she shakes her head. `If what you say is true, if I am a vampire, the first elf that ever became a vampire... Do you realize what I am? Do you realize how my people will look at me? I am a monster now, Jase.'

  `He could not help you survive any other way.'

  `Then why didn't he just let me die?'

  `Because I asked him to save your life. Don't blame him for anything, I urged him to do it. I didn't want you to die like this, so meaninglessly...'

  `Yet I died. Don't you see? If what you say is true, then I'm an undead monster now.'

  Then she turns away from me.

  `Please leave now, Jase. I want to be alone for a while.'

  I slowly nod, and stand up.

  `I will bring you new clothes. They'll be in front of the door.'

  I silently leave her room, and close the door. For many long minutes I wait outside her door, waiting for her to call me, but hear nothing. Not even a whisper. She is apparently sitting in complete silence, and who knows what's going through her mind now.

  Slowly I begin to understand... that I may have damned her for eternity...

  *

  Back in my room I've been staring outside the window, into the night, for at least two hours. The full moon high in the sky is shining bright into the room, robbing me of the soothing darkness I so desire.

  What happened to Flora weighs heavily on my mind. It makes me think back to all the things that happened in the past fifteen years of my life. So many lives I touched... So many lives I ended. Just like the Rider. The Rider of the Black Horse, whose name I bear. My name means one with the Rider in an ancient language of Kh'Tal. Like it or not, all my life I've acted such that I seemed to have earned my name. Death followed wherever I went, one way or the other.

  Once again, death followed me. Flora, the one person in all of Arghard who was good to me all my life, died and was reborn into a creature of darkness, all because of me. All because of what I am...

  Guilt would consume me if I had any emotions left inside, but all I have left is my desire for revenge. Flora's fate is now just another reason for me to march forward, to kill Jenathar and destroy Th'Mesh. Or die trying.

  As much as I am filled with guilt over what happened to her, it does not depress me. Instead, it empowers me. Empowers me to hunt them even more ferociously than before, to...

  Suddenly, I am startled, as I hear a knock on the door.

  `Come in!'

  The door opens and Flora enters, wearing the clothes I left in front of her door. She has changed greatly. She is still a creature of striking beauty, but no longer is she an elf. Her skin, pale white. Her hair, jet black. Her eyes, troubled. She closes the door behind her and sits down on my bed.

  `I spoke with our host. He seemed sad.'

  `He did not want you to become...'

  `I know. It's not his fault. Or yours.'

  `It is mine...'

  `No, Jase... I never should have ventured so far, alone. I should have listened to you. I brought this upon myself.'

  `I brought you here. To Kh'Tal.'

  `To save me from Jenathar's wrath. You brought me here to help me, don't blame yourself for it. I chose to come with you. I chose to help you when Jenathar's mages tried to kill you.'

  `I'm sorry it had to come to this, Flora.'

  `I know.'

  She stands up, and comes to me. She looks out the window.

  `At least I could see a part of this world. It is beautiful. I never imagined such a place could exist. I heard many stories of Kh'Tal, but... they all pale in comparison next to what I've seen here.'

  `Yes, this place has a unique beauty.'

  She nods, and then turns silent briefly.

  `Aurach tells me I must feed soon.' she says finally.

  `He is probably right.'

  `It feels... strange. I feel a thirst inside, but I do not know what it is I yearn for. I never drank blood. Not even when I cut my finger as a youth. I don't even know what it tastes like.'

  `Think of yourself as a predator, Flora. It will make it easier.'

  `A predator?'

  `Yes. You need blood to survive. When you go out there, you will kill to feed. Like a predator.'

  `Kill to feed... Yes, Aurach told me what would happen if I didn't kill the creatures I fed on. It still feels wrong... I just don't want to do it.'

  `Seek bandits. They roam the roads. You won't feel regret killing them.'

  `Perhaps you're right. But still...'

  `Did I ever tell you of my mentor, the one who taught me how to fight?'

  `No.'

  `His name was Doorn. It was his name I wore as a disguise for many years. He always told me to hunt wild creatures to test my skills. I didn't want to. It felt wrong. Instead, I hunted bandits. Even that felt wrong to do, knowing that I killed them not to make the roads safer, but merely to train myself, and to feed the demon within me. But I felt no regret killing them. Knowing what they were.'

  `There is a good reason my people despise vampires. We respect life. All life. We only take life when necessary. I was a hunter, and they taught me this well. They taught me to look carefully when I search for game, to seek older animals, so as not to take many years from the younger ones. Even in self defense, I was to avoid killing, if possible.

  You know, if I think back to the night when we killed those mercenaries... It's hard to believe, that I and my four friends did that. And you, of course..
. but for you it was a job. We desired to do it. We, elves, who respected life, wanted to kill them. For revenge. That was the only time I ever wanted somebody's death. I often killed because I had to, but that night, I didn't just need to. I wanted it. For my fallen brother.

  Perhaps that's what you felt a few days ago in Gatestown, isn't it? You said that was the first time you wanted to kill.'

  `Other than Jenathar and Th'Mesh. Yes. It was the first time. The only time.'

  `I've thought about that night often in the past two years. Of how we killed them and why. Now, that I must kill to feed, I just keep thinking of that over and over again...'

  She steps close to me, and looks at me.

  `I think of what I must do, and whether it is better, or worse, than what we did that night. What do you think?'

  `I don't know. I've lost my ability to care for others. Especially for the likes of them.'

  `Yet you seemed to care for me, Jase. You pleaded Aurach to save me... And back then, two years ago... You jumped in front of a spear to save me. I never asked you why...'

  She leans close to my face, and she kisses me. Our lips touch just slightly, and she pulls back slowly. She puts her hands on my shoulders. Her body feels colder than before.

  `Once you said you were empty. But I don't believe so.'

  She embraces me tightly, and kisses me passionately. I kiss back, and feel her sharp teeth with my tongue as our lips separate. She then kisses my cheek, and then moves to my neck, while I hold her tight to me.

  Then suddenly, I feel a sting in my neck. A sharp little pain. Barely noticeable. I choose to ignore it, and kiss her ear, her neck. I hold her tight, caress her hair.

  Then, the pain slowly begins to change. It intensifies slightly. It feels like a sharp needle just pierced my neck, and the needle is being moved around in the wound.

  Then I understand it...

  The thirst got the best of her. Her instincts overwhelmed her. She sunk her teeth deep into my neck, and now she is sucking out my blood.

  It still hurts, but just barely. And I am confused as to why the demon has been so calm all along. As she takes more and more of my blood, I suddenly sense the demon in me.

  It is amused. I swear if it could look at me it'd be frowning.

  Then I realize why...

  Flora doesn't stop. She keeps drinking my blood, and I'm starting to feel weak. She is slowly draining me dry. What will happen then, I wonder? Can I die like this? Can she kill me?

  The demon is amused. It laughs at me, at my predicament. Its laughter tells me that if Flora won't stop, I'll perish.

  Is this how it shall end then?

  So be it.

  I am too weak to struggle now anyway... If the beast in me won't bother, why should I?

  Flora just keeps feeding from my neck. While I just feel weaker and weaker...

  Do it, Flora! Do it! Finish it... Let this end, here and now! May my blood give you strength, may my curse end by your hand, and may your life be long and prosperous. Release me, give me the gift of eternal darkness...

  I close my eyes...

  *

  `The blood... So tasty... So wonderful... So full of life...' she says ecstatically. I hear her voice, but it sounds like she speaks from a mile away. I have fallen to the ground, I didn't even feel it when she released me. Still, darkness engulfs me.

  But I hear her voice...

  `No... Jase! What... what have I done?'

  I feel as she pulls me up from the ground, helps me on the bed, and leans me against the wall. I feel her concern in her voice. I slowly open my eyes.

  My vision is blurred, but I see her. She looks scared, but so full of life. My blood has given her strength. I'm glad.

  `Jase... I'm so sorry...'

  `Don't be.' I tell her. I feel my strength slowly coming back. It seems the demonic essence will bring me back from the brink of death, yet again. I feel that the demon inside is still amused. Like it was thinking: Why, you didn't think you'd escape so easy, did you, fool?

  `I almost killed you...' she says, her voice full of sadness and guilt.

  `Almost...' I tell her. She doesn't realize what I mean with that.

  She looks at me for a long time, and I can feel the sadness in her stare. Suddenly she stands up, and slowly walks to the window.

  `I should have died, Jase...' she says, looking outside.

  `That's not true. You are young, you have so much ahead of you.'

  `I almost killed you...' she says slowly.

  `I'll be fine. I'm hard to kill.'

  `That's not the point, Jase... I almost killed you. I almost killed you...'

  `Flora... It's just your instinct. In time you'll learn to control it.'

  She doesn't reply. She just stares outside in silence.

  `I wonder...' she says, breaking the silence. `Would I die if I fell from this height? It's at least thirty feet down...'

  Before I could even reply, she steps back from the window, and delivers a spinning kick to the glass. I've seen her do that kick before. She was a true master of unarmed combat already two years ago, and she has only gotten better since then. She performs that kick with perfect precision.

  And with untold power.

  The glass is thick, yet her kick shatters it completely. Vampirism has given her great strength, even in this early stage. I admire her skill and newfound strength so much, that I do not realize what she's about to do...

  She turns towards me for a second, and then she jumps.

  `Flora, no!'

  Too late...

  I get up and stumble to the window. I am still weak...

  I look down. She is unharmed, and is looking up at me. Her body is tremendously strong now.

  She speaks something to me, but I can't hear it. I can only read her lips.

  `Farewell, Jase!' she says.

  Then she begins to walk away.

  Without even thinking what I'm doing, I jump after her. I use a simple spell to slide down the vertical wall, and arrive at the bottom swiftly and unscathed. She's still not far. I run, or rather, stumble after her as best I can.

  `Flora! Come back!'

  She stops briefly and turns back towards me. The sadness I see in her eyes stops me dead in my tracks.

  `Flora...'

  I walk closer and reach for her hand. As I touch her, she is startled, but she doesn't toss me away.

  `Stay, please...'

  `No, Jason...' she says. `I must go! You must understand... I don't want to hurt you. I don't want to end up killing you...'

  She slowly pulls her arm out of my hand, and backs away.

  `Farewell, Jase...'

  She turns around and runs off into the night, and I, for a minute, think of running after her. Bringing her back, into the safety of Aurach's castle. But then I think back to the night two years ago, when the demon almost claimed her life.

  Could she kill me? Perhaps... And I wouldn't even mind.

  But would she be safe from me here?

  Out there, she will constantly be in danger, but her newfound vampiric abilities can keep her alive there. Those are dangers she can face. I am worse. Much worse. She is safer out there...

  So I choose not to follow her. I let her go, and just stare ahead, into the dark woods where she disappeared.

  `Farewell, Flora. Farewell...'

  Elven no more

  On the southern shore of Lake Yeren, Kh'Tal, present day (1 year, 3 months, and 20 days before Twilightfall)

  Lake Yeren. Such a beautiful sight at night. I often return here, for this is truly the most magnificent place I have ever seen in this dark world. It was named after some warrior who slew a powerful beast by the shores of this lake to protect the people of the small town by the northern shore. At least that's what I heard from a traveler some time ago. I haven't been to the town itself yet, I've avoided the towns and villages so far. Instead, I've been roaming the wilderness for almost a year by now. Ever since that vampire bit me, and I myself became a
bloodsucker. But often I come back here, to the southern shore of Lake Yeren, just to admire its beauty, and to enjoy the tranquility in this place.

  As I stare into the water of the lake, I realize how little I knew of vampires before coming to Kh'Tal. I heard many legends, most of which are, it seems, untrue. For example, I was always told that vampires had no reflection in the mirror. Yet as sure as I am standing here, I can see my reflection in the water. I see my still elven features, I see my pale skin, my long dark hair, the magical set of armor I received from that son of a bitch Belwor some months ago... I must admit, if I knew not what I am, I, too, would be fooled into thinking, that I am staring at the image of a night elf.

  Night elves... The pale skinned bastards... It's hard to imagine that they and wood elves are in fact the same race. Once, long ago, we were all the same people. Then, several thousand years ago, something happened. Black magic was discovered. The Dark Arts, as some call it. The magic of devouring souls... Most of us defied it. We respected life, and once we realized that black magic inevitably involves the destruction of the souls of the black magician's victims, we knew that we didn't want to have anything to do with it. Yet, some of us felt otherwise.

  They chose to accept it. They chose to embrace it. They chose to study black magic and gain as much power from it as they possibly could. So they abandoned our people. They left the forest of Endarryn and traveled south, beyond the desert of Envorryn. They built fortresses on the shore and dedicated their lives to the study of black magic. As centuries passed, their skin began to turn pale, and in time, we all spoke of them as a new sub-race among elves. The name night elf came natural, as they lived a life by night, and they slept by day. This was necessary for them. Black magic functions well only in the dark. Therefore, they had to practice it at night to gain as much from it as possible. Many of them often made long journeys into the world of Kh'Tal, where darkness reigns. This lifestyle turned their skin pale, and turned them more sickly. But in the end, it somehow made them hardier. They somehow became experts of combat, they became genuine martial artists. Was it the constant fighting they had to put up with in Envorryn that made them so well versed in combat? After all, the monsters of the sands constantly besiege their fortresses to this day. Or was it the Dark Arts that made this possible? Perhaps it was their black magic, but I don't think so. Most of them abandoned the practice of black magic two thousand years ago, only they know why. But to this day they are fierce fighters.