Cyprien's dissension

[Land-based AE]

An eruption occurs in the Volcarren wasteland and the bright glow of the newly-spewed lava lights the dead flesh of the vampire Cyprien. High in his fortress tower he oversees his land. It is a brutal world, one mortal man had feared to tread upon.

Had feared...

Cyprien looks down at his torso once again and sees the gash between his third and fourth rib. The wound will heal in time but he was clumsy. He wraps his cloak around himself as another eruption carries off in the distance.

Through his window he can see the battlefield below him, littered with the bodies both servant and foe. The whaling began an hour ago, as dead flesh rose again and the zombie ranks were bolstered. All of this will benefit Cyprien should an enemy ever attack his fortress again. Cyprien knows they will. The fear that this place once caused in man has disseminated.

Everything is changing.

"What is this that troubles my husband?"

From the shadows behind him a figure steps into the fire light, it is his wife Sonya, every bit his mirror image save for a slighter, more feminine form.

"Nothing," Cyprien rasps.

But Sonya approaches. She has always seen through him, as though he were nothing more than a mortal. "A conquered army lies dead at the walls of your fortress and a Daimyo is fleeing for his life and yet my husband carries a heavy burden." she says. Her husband stands stiff, glaring out the window and so she coils up next to him, wrapping her arms around his closed totem like a spider weaving web around its prey. "What troubles you my lord?" she asks again.

Cyprien whirls on her and at once her appendages, that had begun to encircle him, are splayed off. "Don’t call me that," he growls. "I am no dark lord. Not here. Not ever."

For a moment there is shock on Sonya’s face. It is a strange emotion, one she is unfamiliar with. "What are you talking about... master?" With her husband turned and open she can see the wound in his side. She had a wound of her own but healed herself on the damned.

He hasn’t eaten, Sonya realizes.

Cyprien looks at his wife, then down at the wound before turning back to the window, and surrounding himself in the sanctity of his cloak once again. "I am starting to believe we have been deceived," he says flatly as though he is speaking to the scorched world outside.

"What are you talking about?"

"This war is not going as Utgar promised," Cyprien says. "The Kyrie lord said the Valkyries Einar and Vydar would join us before long and together we would crush our enemies. But Utgar was wrong, the Jandar alliance with Einar and Vydar has never been stronger. The walls before my own castle are littered with the bodies of soldiers carrying the purple banner. Those should have been ours."

Sonya steps forward and as she does the whaling of a new, freshly-born zombie begins. "I believe they will be," she says.

But Cyprien continues as though he has not heard her. "The alliances promised to us have failed and instead Utgar continues to turn to these Marro to fight his war. More and more Marro. I would rather keep zombies in my castle, they are slow but at least their horde movement is predictable. These drones, I never know how many will fight. Look at them," he says, casting a vindictive hand across the battle field below. "Hundreds dead and still more wandering aimlessly. This is the best Utgar can bring to our cause? My skeleton army should have come here to Vahalla long ago."

Sonya moves towards her husband again and her limbs entangle him once again. "This isn’t like you," she says. "A victory and you worry about the future. Celebrate the present." She looks at him. "You are wounded. Let’s go to the dungeon and feed before the zombies claim it all for themselves. What do you feel like, Greek or Japanese?."

Cyprien smiles, but it is a smile that will chill a spine before it warms a heart. He looks down at the wound in his ribs that still aches. "Japanese," he says. "Most certainly Japanese."

[goaliescaper]

Cool write more!

[Chardris]

Seems like a good start for a series.

[Gold1]

WOW! I like your style. Great storyline too!

[FOOTBALLDUDE88]

I love heroscape stories like this. Please write more. I would +rep you but it would only be neutral so it wouldn't really do anything.

[ICEMASTER]

Your a pretty good writer. Well done.

[Land-based AE]

Thanks for the compliments, I'm working on the second chapter right now.

[Land-based AE]

Here's Chapter 2


Anieli waited for death with his head in his hands. At this point, he was looking for any type of release.

From the corner of his ear the moaning continued.

“Shut up ”

It was one of his commrades, a member of his Sacred Band, who shared the cell with him. But Anieli wasn’t sure which one. There were five of them in this cell. At least there had been.

“Shut up Shut up Shut up ”

Anieli looked up to see Anker yelling at the prison gate but it wouldn’t matter. Their keepers on the other side didn’t care.

The cell had a different shape than that which Anieli was used to. There was no enclosed brick room with a wooden door and a tiny, barred hole. Instead this cell was more like a cage, with bars on three sides. It seemed to be what their keepers preferred.

The zombies outside their cage numbered five or six now, two more had come since Anieli put his head in his hands. He guessed there were five but their may have been a sixth. With their bodies packed together so tightly, it was tough to tell where one began and another ended. He couldn’t see all of their heads, but he could see their arms, reaching through the bars for he and his Sacred Band members, trying to grab one of them and bring him close to them. They were the perfect guards. They would never leave their post. They would never need to eat, to sleep, to rest. Instead they would sit there, until the end of time, reaching through those bars and hoping, just hoping for a chance to feed.

“Shut up ” Anker yelled again and he took a swing, hitting one of the zombies in the arm. The blow had no effect and Anieli was not surprised. You had to take them out in the head, that was how Anieli had killed two zombies on the battlefield. Before he had been captured.

Why had he surrendered? If he had known what this cell would have like, he would have preferred to die on the battlefield. We never should have followed the Diaymo into battle, Anieli thought. We are nothing without Paramino.

Anker turned to him and, realizing Anieli was awake, spoke to him. “They just don’t stop,” he cried.

“They never will,” Anieli said. “They’re only goal is to feed and right now, the best chance they have of that is in this cage.”

“Give me a sword and I’ll give them something to feed on,” Anker said.

Anieli nodded, even if he disagreed. Anker could handle one zombie, two perhaps but three or more and he would simply end up as one of them.

“Just give me a sword,” Anker muttered again under his breath before stepping away from Anieli to a quiet spot in the middle of the room, as far as possible from any of the bars.

Anieli looked around his cell. Anker and he were the only two awake, or at least it seemed that way. The other three in the cell, his other band members were lying on the floor, perhaps playing dead or simply hoping this was all a bad dream and they would wake up in their homes in Greece, far away from Vahalla and these undead things that existed here.

In the corner he could see one of the men lying lifeless against the wall safely away from the zombies. This didn’t seem fake to Anieli. He thought about standing up, getting out of his crumbled position on the floor and checking on the man, but then he decided against it. He knew how the situation looked. Walking over there would only make it too real.

“Do you think they’ll come back,” Anker said.

Anieli knew his battlemate wasn’t talking about the Diaymo or any foolhardy attempt at a rescue. Anker wasn’t the best warrior but he was practical. And Anieli knew when he said “they” he was talking about the vampires.

“I don’t know,” Anieli said.

Anker was standing, he had moved closer to the gate now, just out of the reach of the zombies, their fingertips just brushing his tunic. “It was terrible,” he said. His voice flat and devoid of emotion. Not even the endless droning of the zombies could rattle him now.

“I looked away,” Anieli said.

“I should have,” said Anker. “I watched them come down here. You knew something was coming because these stinking zombies actually buckled and broke rank. It’s the first time I’ve seen them leave the fronts of these bars.” The zombies extended their reach even more, as though they knew Anker was talking about them. “Yeah, I saw them come and the big one, he looked at me and he had the worst look in his eyes. It sent a chill through my body, I thought I was going to die right there. And then they just strode on, down the hall and into the cell where they must be keeping the Ashigaru. I could hear them in there. Those poor fools trapped alone with those monsters. I could hear them calling out in there.”

“I don’t speak Japanese,” Anieli said, doing his best to suppress a memory that was already far too real and too horrible.

“I don’t either,” said Anker. “But you didn’t need to understand them to know what was going on in there. I just heard the screaming. And then I heard the footsteps and I knew they were coming back. So I buried my head in my hands and hid. But even then, I could feel that vampire looking at me, staring at me, staring through me....”

Anker’s voice cut off as the pair heard the grinding of steel on the stone floor. The sound was so loud and so penetrating that it forced even the mindless zombies to cower, as though they were being attacked by a force they didn’t understand.

Anker crouched and covered his head and Anieli did the same. The screeching side continued and as both men listened, they could tell it was coming closer, down the hall.

“It’s them again, they’ve come back,” Anker cried.

But Anieli shook his head before mumbling under his breath, “No, I think it’s something much worse.”

[Kutless]

wow,very good.

[Gold1]

What could be worse than vampires I wonder? Great job Land-based AE This was another excellent chapter that was very interesting to read.

[Land-based AE]

Chapter 3


Cyprien didn’t need the cries of the duchess to tell him what he already knew – something was very wrong in his fortress.

Outside the wailing and the transformation of dead into zombies continued. Inside, fed by the blood of the Ashigaru, Cyprien’s wound had nearly healed. And yet there was another danger, Cyprien felt it as a tickle down the back of his neck, a small headache that wouldn’t go away. As a vampire he did not commonly feel such things. They only came about in the presence of a certain set of others. And as he felt it again, he knew one of them had come to his tower.

“He’s here,” Iskra said as she rushed into the room. The nervous tone in her voice belied her vampire heritage.

Cyprien did not look at Iskra but kept his gaze out the window. He couldn’t bear to look at her when she embarrassed him. “I know,” he said flatly. “I feel him.”

His wife Sonya, always to his right, looked up at him questionably. “Who is here my master?” she asked. “I have felt nothing.”

“You will,” Cyprien said. “His powers are focused elsewhere now. But soon he will turn his attention to us and you will know of his presence. I felt him when he and his ilk first stepped inside this fortress. He was supposed to be leading the battles in the northern forests, unless Utgar has deceived me... again.”

Cyprien turned, and, seeing the confusion on Iskra’s face, said, “Don’t worry about it, I will deal with him. And keep your pets away. Or they will be his forever.”

Iskra nodded as her master strode past her towards the dungeon once again. Sonya took two steps to follow her husband but Cyprien called back to her. “Stay here,” he said. “I will deal with him myself.”

The two watched Cyprien disappear into the shadows, knowing their master would return to them, but unsure in what manner.



As Cyprien floated down the long, spiral staircase into the dungeon, he could see the jagged etchings in the stairs where a great blade had been dragged. There was a break and then a gouge where the blade had hopped the stair before burying itself into the next one. It wasn’t the hardest tracking assignment he had ever had, but that was fine. Right now he was in no mood for sport.

The ringing in his head and the sensation against his spine were intensifying as well. The jail door was only a few feet away and all was silent on the other side. Cyprien would have expected nothing less. He landed in the doorway and found his adversary in the middle of the room.
The warlord Ne-Gok-Sa held a member of the Sacred Band in his crude left hand. This was Anker, though Cyprien would never know the name. Inside the cell, three of the other four Greek captives watched in horror. A fourth lie motionless against the floor.

Ne-Gok-Sa raised Anker into the air and shifted him back and fourth crudely, as though he were admiring a priceless vase. The Greek kicked and struggled but his efforts were helpless against the power of the warlord.

And then Anker began to scream.

He’s taking him, Cyprien thought.

Around Ne-Gok-Sa were a cluster of six drones, they all watched their master with mindless satisfaction. The zombies that Cyprien had left down here to guard the prisoners were standing motionless to the sides like statues. He’s already taken them, Cyprien thought. That’s why he hasn’t been able to take more of the Greeks. He had to mind shackle the zombies first.

Anker let out one final scream, a death nell as Anker the man disappeared forever and Ne-Gok-Sa set Anker the human-like drone back on his feet. The thing that used to be Anker promptly stepped back from his new master and joined the drone ranks, its hands at its sides, waiting for an order.

The first of his new subjects indoctrinated, Ne-Gok-Sa dragged the great blade on his right arm across the floor and lifted it to throw the cell door opened once again.

“Enough ” Cyprien bellowed.

The Marro warlord turned with a calm demeanor that suggested he may have known Cyprien was there all along. But the vampire could never tell with these marro. Their eyeless sockets and mesh-like mouths left little ability to display emotions.

Cyprien stepped into the room. “Enough warlord,” he said. “You trespass uninvited into my fortress, enter my dungeon and mean to steal my prisoners and my subjects for your liking?” He was within 10 feet now and the first two drones stepped forward to protect their master. The drones raised their spears and crossed them over one another, forming a barrier to block Cyprien from the warlord. But the vampire was not so easily dissuaded. He approached both drones, reached up and placed one hand on each of their shoulders. Both died instantly.

Ne-Gok-Sa was unmoved by the death of two of his footsoldiers. Considering he had already taken over six zombies and one Greek, this had been a very good day for his ranks.

Cyprien closed the gap with the warlord. They were an arm’s length apart now. He guessed he could draw his sword and have it buried in the Marro’s side before Ne-Gok-Sa could life the gigantic blade on his right arm. “These are my prisoners,” Cyprien rasped. “And I will deal with them as I see fit.”

Cyprien stared into that ambiguous mound of flesh that seemed to be the Marro’s face and then the sensation in his head intensified again. It felt like a wasp was inside his skull, stinging his brain. “Get out of my head,” he rasped and drew his blade, driving it for the creature’s mid-section. But the warlord was quicker with his own blade than Cyprien had expected and the weapons hit one another with a spark and a metallic clash.

Cyprien stepped back and at once he could feel the pain inside his head subside. “You are not welcome here warlord,” he said. “I don’t care what Utgar thinks of you, to me you’re nothing but an abomination not even worthy of being food.”

The Marro swung its great bladed appendage again and Cyprien met it with his own sword. There was another spark and then a roar of flame.

A roar of flame.

Cyprien and the warlord stepped back from one another and the gust of fire roared outside once again. “What’s that?” Cyprien asked, speaking only to himself.

It was Iskra who answered him, running down the stairs, so flustered she had forgotten to fly. “We are under attack ” she cried. “And they’ve brought a dragon ”

[Kutless]

Really good.Can't wait For more