ArantChronicles

This chapter was brought to you by Psycholor!

Cardon was sitting in the airship being berated by the creature that deemed itself his superior, “Why, why would you offer your opponent your blood? What are you trying to accomplish?”

He had not been ordered to answer so he refrained from doing so, an action that only made the tiny man angrier, “You know what? Fine. We were trying to give you a bit of leeway, but if you’re going to behave like this… well we’ll just have to tighten the leash.”

Cardon ignored the blustering fool and turned his attention out the window and off into the distance. Due to carrying the vial of blood he had given them, Cardon had a rough idea of where Lei was; he had not disclosed the ability to sense his own blood to his current masters, and mental senses he had acquired through feeding on Lei had only heightened this sense. Though it was still rough and difficult to use, he was already beginning to consider ways to apply the ability.

“…Did you hear me? I gave you an order.” With a start, Cardon glanced back at the man.

“…No.”

“Well, in your next fight, you will operate in the best interests of the Sage Order and take no action that is in any way detrimental to us.” Cardon glared at the man but did not respond. He would like nothing more than to eviscerate him where he stood and bathe in his blood but one of the first orders he had been given was to never harm a member of the Sages unless ordered by a higher ranking member. All he could do was stew in his anger, “…I understand.”

Eventually, the airship arrived at the large mansion owned by the bitchy girl that was serving as a base of operations for the Sage fighters. Stepping out, Cardon winced as the sunlight struck him. Not wanting to linger outside for long, he soon turned and headed for the entrance to the mansion. As he took the first few steps however, an annoyingly sharp voice called his name… sort of.

“You there, tick, what exactly were you trying to pull!? Huh!?” Turning, Cardon was much irritated to see the tiny figure of the bitchy girl. Making no attempt to hide his displeasure, he answered her; it would be over faster if he played along.

“I was not ‘trying to pull’ anything that I can recall.” His tone was a tad sharper than its usual calm, a testament to exactly how much this creature got on his nerves. In his long life, he could nary remember another mortal that was as full of itself as she was.

Unfortunately, the taciturn non-answer set Natalie off, and she flew into a rage. Summoning her demon arms, Cardon found himself being squeezed in a vice grip, “You gave the enemy more power! From the reports I got on the way back, we have a distinct advantage. Not that it matters in the end, but how dare you give them hope! Do you want to be crushed!? Well do you!? You overgrown leech!”

Cardon merely glared at the child throwing a temper tantrum. If he was at full strength then being crushed, even to a pulp, would be but a minor setback. In his current form though, it would be extremely irritating and take an inconvenient amount of time to recover from, “Go ahead then. I won’t be present for the next fight though.”

The retort caused Natalie to tighten her grip to the point that his ribs made an audible groaning sound before she dropped him unceremoniously on the ground, “Grovel. Grovel at my feet and apologize!”

Despite his present station, Cardon had no desire to go along with that. He was, after all, a true immortal. A being far superior to the human in front of him. Though it was sickening to him, it was not the first time he had been given such an order. It seemed that Natalie enjoyed placing herself above others, and to have an immortal beneath herself was something she found hard to resist.

Out of near habit, Cardon resigned himself and dropped onto his knees, merely taking solace in the fact that he knew he would outlive her many, many times over. As he prepared to apologize, however, he realized the absence of something that had been nagging at him near-constantly since he woke up. He had been barely cognizant when he was enslaved, at the time feeling only the urge to feed. Ever since regaining his senses, he had the slave curse engraved into his mind.

While imperfect, going against it was still outside of his ability. Until now. Now, the ever-present itch compelling his obedience was greatly lessened. While he still felt it, he was no longer bound to obey. Internally, he felt gratitude towards Natalie. Not enough to elevate his opinion of her, but gratitude nonetheless. If not for her pointless order, it may have taken him longer to notice.

Slavery magic was, in a way, similar to mind magic; grafting itself onto your core, it bound itself to the target’s essence. In theory, changing your essence would free you from the magic-enforced slavery. It didn’t take a lot of consideration to figure out how this had happened; Lei was responsible. During their mental duel, Cardon had allowed Lei to land a single hit on him.

At the time, he had done it to demonstrate to them the gap between their self-image. To cause them to fall into despair. But after subsequently diving into their mind, and coming to respect their tenacity, it would seem Cardon had managed to alter his core identity to some extent. While some may be distraught at learning this, Cardon was thrilled. For an immortal, changing their core was similar to being reborn. It was one of the few things that could break up the monotony of eternity.

A smile spread across his face, and he raised his head to look up at Natalie. Barring his fangs, he apologized. While he was more or less free now, it wouldn’t do to let anyone know just yet, “My apologies my lady, I had not considered the ramifications of my actions.” He maintained eye contact the entire time, imagining all the ways one could break a human’s body while relishing the fact that her head was far too up her own ass to recognize the danger she was now in.

“Well, do not make a mistake like that again.” With a conceited “Hmph!” she pushed past him and into the manor. Cardon held his position until she had left and then got back to his feet. He was free and would move to exact revenge on the Sages. He could likely return to his former strength in short order and utterly destroy them, but that would lack finesse. Killing them was simple; far better to demonstrate the gap between their existences by utterly humiliating them. Cardon resolved to himself that he would ensure that not a trace of the organization would remain, not even in memory. To be forgotten was the ultimate punishment that could be inflicted on a mortal.

 Dusting his knees off, he caught the gaze of Ocene, the only fighter of the Sages he had any respect for. While she had kept things private, Cardon suspected she was in a similar position as he, though in her case bound by family rather than magic. He resolved to speak with her once before leaving; she had married a Vampire that was distantly descended from one of Cardon’s blood relatives, and as such, he felt mildly protective towards her children.

Such was his intention when he entered her room that night. As expected, he found her awake. Meeting her eyes in the dim light, he waited silently. Before long, Ocene spoke, “You broke the curse I take it and have come to offer to protect my family?”

Cardon nodded, “I feel an obligation to your husband and children as distant kin. I am willing to move to shelter them, but out of respect I will not act without your permission on the matter.”

Ocene let out a sigh and after a moment shook her head, “No, I will deal with things on my own. I do not want to lose my family; if they go with you, they may as well be dead to me. It would defeat the purpose.”

Cardon nodded solemnly, he may disagree with her logic but he had every intention of honoring her wishes on the matter. After all, any relation between him and her spouse was incredibly distant, and her children one generation further. As he turned to go, she called out to him once, “If we meet in battle, good luck.”

Pausing briefly, Cardon nodded without turning around, “To you as well, Seakin.”

 Such it was that Cardon found himself in a small tavern several days later. Sitting at a table a bit removed from him was the androgynous figure of Lei, his recent opponent. They were much paler than he remembered, though that made sense; he had been incredibly surprised when he lost the sense of the blood he had given them.

Even more so a few hours later when a thought connection opened giving him a vague sense of Lei’s location and condition. They were incredibly sick; feverish, dehydrated, and in a great deal of pain in their muscles and head. All symptoms Cardon recognized. Lei had actually accepted his gift to them and was in the process of turning.

Cardon had mixed feelings on the matter. In his long life, he had only offered the gift thrice; once to a long-forgotten king, more recently to the Hero Gizha, and most recently to Lei. Lei was the first to actually accept, and as such, they were now his first kin. It was a disconcerting notion after so many years of solitude, and unexpected given Lei’s feelings towards her family.

As an immortal in her own right, she would likely outlive them. Though she could offer them the gift as well, there was no guarantee they would accept, and as second-generation vampires, they would only gain extended life, not immortality as Lei had. Cardon could turn them, but it was unlikely he would be able to meet the requirement to do so; it required a certain degree of affinity with an individual before it was possible to give the gift. He could count on only two hands the number of people he had achieved that with.

Still, the fact that they had accepted his gift was in a way a boon; it seemed that the mind sensing he had acquired from feeding on them had mixed with the Kin-Sense, and he was much more able to pinpoint their whereabouts by focusing on the connection than he had been when tracking the vial of blood.

In anycase, Lei was sitting across from another figure that Cardon recognized from his trip through their memories. This one was their younger brother, though he had not bothered to remember the human’s name, he resolved to make an effort to do so now that Lei had joined his family. Standing, he approached the table where he was mildly amused to see that Lei was attempting to chew a practically raw stake.

He would need to teach her a few things it would seem; animal blood would sate a vampire’s thirst, but raw muscle tissue itself was unpleasant. Not that it couldn’t be eaten, just that doing so was pointless. Better to drink the blood and cook the meat to be more palatable. Arriving beside the table, Cardon pulled out a chair without asking and seated himself across from Lei and the human.

“Greetings, Lei, it has been a short while. I must say your actions were unexpected.”

Rather than the expected response, Cardon witnessed as Lei attempted to jump to their feet in a panic. Unfortunately, their chair had been pushed in; this resulted in them colliding with the table and then falling back to the floor. Extreme distress and terror rebounded across the mental link, causing Cardon to wince. It would seem that their encounter had traumatized them. Now confused, Cardon stood and offered his hand, “My apologies… I mean you no harm…”

Lei looked at his hand and then glanced quickly at their brother. If not for his own long years of experience, he would have missed the look as quick as it had been. Taking several rapid and deep breaths, the feelings of fear subsided and Lei shakily took his hand. He could not tell if they believed his claim of meaning no harm, or if they were only putting on an act due to the presence of their brother. Likely the latter.

“W-what, what are you doing here?” Their voice was still shaky, confirming to Cardon that they were merely putting on an act for their brother.

Cardon frowned, “You accepted my gift, why would I not come to at least see you once?”

A flash of comprehension crossed Lei’s face, followed by a painful look, “I didn’t… mean to…”

Now thoroughly confused, Cardon stared at them, “You didn’t mean to? How did you accidentally become my first kin then?”

Lei glanced away, their eyes shifting to various objects. Anything other than Cardon, “I… well, you see… I sort of… Yea.”

Cardon felt a headache beginning to come on; a remarkable feat considering his unique constitution. Thankfully, the male human came to the rescue, “They didn’t realize what was in the vial and drank it by accident.”

Cardon collapsed back into his chair in disbelief. His first kin in a lifetime that spanned the eons of time immemorial, and they had become thus by an accident. He waved down the tavern-wench and handed her a large gold coin.

“Whatever the strongest ale you serve here is, the entire barrel if you would be so kind.”