That's it, I was done with the first mission. It took me eighty hours of unsealing and rest before I was able to do so, but I was done, they're all free. But I was not really done, I had to facilitate the creation of my coven, problem is I have no idea how to do that, and the only person who can give me an answer should be Asha. I made my way outside of my apartment and went towards the center of the tower's first floor. Asha, Xaseah and Varsessa were huddle together and whispering about God knows what. Hopefully I was not the one being discussed.
"Asha, I need your help with something." I said to her as I came close to her.
"Huh! Okay, what is it?" Asha asked actually startled by my sudden
appearance. Which was funny considering she was an elder, and she should have seen me coming.
But one of the side effects of being a vampire and the master of this tower was a sort of stealth mode. I'm practically invisible inside of it.
"So how do I create a coven?" I asked.
Asha had her eyes widened as she looked on surprised. But she was not the only one as even Xaseah and Varsessa looked surprised by my sudden need for such an information.
"My lord please forgive me for speaking out of turn, but isn't a little too early for that. Besides to carry out such an endeavor would expose you to the pit, and everyone would know you're wake. And should Adein find out you're unsealed, he's going to attack this place with every guard at his disposal, it would be suicide." Varsessa said with subservient voice.
I was a little stumped, I really didn't consider all those other angles. I guess this mission was not as simple as it looked. I thought breaking all of the seals was the hard part, but not just establishing a coven, but the backlash from such an action was not something me and my people would be able to handle yet. But still, I really had to know how to create a coven, at least so that I can know what to expect in the future.
"I didn't consider those other factors Varsessa, and I think you're right about the risk and the dangers involved. However I still want to know how we can be recognized as an official coven." I explained to them.
Asha nodded her head and leaned back on her hands, crossed her legs and looked up at me with a smile. Sitting beside the pool at her side, made her look so beautiful, a d the current environment just seemed to enhance her beauty in ways I couldn't understand.
Vampires were alluring creatures, and no matter how bad looking a vampire was, there's always a sense of mysteriousness and a sort of magnetic pull that would just want to draw a person straight into their arms and their waiting fangs. This was just her natural charisma, and I was so affected even though I was a vampire too. I dread to imagine what I might do if she used the allure.
"Well there's no need to worry about a coven at the moment since we've not met all of the requirements. But I'll tell you none the less." Asha said to me. With that same smile still on her face.
But why was she smiling, is there a running joke I was missing or something. The worst part of her smiles, were the fact that it was infectious, I could see it on both Xaseah's and Varsessa's face, and in no time at all I also had it stretched across my lips. Damn it, love made me act in strange ways.
"To officially register a coven, you would have to attend the tri annual coven conference, with at least a hundred followers. And then you would submit your coven's information, where you will tell the elder council what your coven can offer to the vampire community, and you would have to bribe them. Which means you will need to pay a lot of money to the bloodline elders.
After that if they accept your coven's bribe and what you're offering, they would allocate a trial of fire to you and nine others of your coven. Ten trials in all, and you're expected to pass six out of it, or your request will be rejected and you would have to come back in three years time. After the trial, your strength would be tested by undergoing a series of back to back battles with the chosen talents of the six bloodline clans and their covens.
Six fights that is meant to just impress upon you the sovereignty of the six bloodline clans, by having their younger generation beat the crap out of you one after the other. That would be their way of telling you to know your place. After the beat down, you would have to show a crest or symbol that members of your coven would be known for. After that the name of your coven would be added into the registrar.
After all that is said and done, the other covens will begin to compete among each other for a chance to gain resources and annex rival covens. Those fights usually end up a bloody affair, so you might not need to worry about it unless you want to grow in strength after we've become an official coven."
Wow, that's intense. I was silent for a while as I digested the information Asha just gave. Apart from the fact that this coven conference was just an exhibition to show forth superiority of the six bloodline clans, this would probably be another way for the other covens to gain fame, resources and attract members into their fold.
"When is the conference Asha?" I asked her with my hand under my jaw as I became lost in thought.
"In three and a half months, just days before your twentieth birthday." She answered.
It was as if an explosion went of in my head when she said that. The conference was so close, but so was two decades of living in Shearath and this universe as a whole. But when I think about it, I don't see anything too important about being twenty years old, it was just one point in the thousands or millions of years that I would probably live if I don't die prematurely.
"That's just around the corner. We need to attend that conference." I said, completely ignoring the fact that Asha just told me I will be turning twenty in the next three to four months.
"But you would be exposed! Such a course of action would...…" Varsessa was complaining before Xaseah cut her off.
"He's well aware of the dangers Varsessa, but as we are do you think there's no amount of danger we won't be able to face. Besides this conference happens in three months, I dare you to imagine how strong we all could be by the time it rolls by. I'm sure he already has a plan in place." She said with a conviction that surprised even me.
Even I did not have that much faith in myself, but Xaseah seemed so sure about me that her trust made me feel somewhat invisible. Also the gaze she was giving me left me burning in places that I should not be burning. I couldn't meet those colorful orbs of hers, there was an intensity to them that set off fireworks in my brains as the image of a naked night elf came to the forefront of my mind.
Asha began to chuckle as Xaseah looked at me with a raised eyebrow and her lips tilted at an angle. I almost didn't know why they both had such peculiar expressions, till I remembered I was tethered to both women mind and soul, and my mental image had been seen clear as day in high resolution. I was a little upset that I couldn't keep my naughty thoughts to myself, but I was not embarrassed, it felt normal to me having two other individuals living inside my head just as I lived In theirs.
"Well I do have a plan, or a series of plans in place before the conference." I spoke up, going back to the matter at hand.
"First of we need to expand, not just the tower alone, but in terms of members or followers. But it needs to be as rapid and as quiet as possible. I don't know how we're going to do it, but in three months I want to have five hundred vampires unsealed and serving me, since you ladies feel it's best if I only unseal people willing to serve. So what you guys should do is get you trustworthy friends here, have them swear the oath of servitude, and they in turn can tell their friends. We can see where we can go from there.
And as for those who have been unsealed, they would all need to be trained, not just in the way they use their new skills and abilities, but also give them real combat experience. Which means within the next three months, I will be organizing a few extermination campaigns to the black district. That way I can kill two birds with one stone, by training the vampires, and securing biological materials for the tower."
We all kept quiet for a while to analyze my plans and poke holes at it for any inconsistencies. I appreciated that, even though all my memories of my first life had returned, more than 90% of my memories as Kael were still missing. So I had no idea if I was a good leader or not, which was why I really needed the help of someone more experienced than me. And Asha had that experience, but Varsessa and Xaseah would be able to analyze and see things from a whole other different angle.
"It's a good idea, and it's something we can safely attempt. But we're under equipped. We need to be outfitted with weapons and armor, not to mention new clothes that can cover the fact that we're all unsealed." Xaseah suggested.
Only a woman would think about factors like clothes. While we've touched that subject before, it's been mostly ignored. And I had to admit, I looked nothing like the noble I once was, or like the leader I envision myself becoming. But also, only a woman as fierce as Xaseah would think about the need of weapons and how important it would be for us. Xaseah was most probably fit to be a general or something.
"aren't you a blacksmith Xaseah, you should be able to make weapons like that yes?" Varsessa asked.
"I am, but the use of weapons are heavily monitored in the pit. It's the one thing the guards are most rigid about. You need a permit to own a weapon, and those permits cost a lot." Xaseah explained.
"But money is not a problem, we have enough to get those permits and then some change left for anything else we have planned." I explained to Xaseah putting out options on the table. But Asha spoke up.
"It won't work like that. If we purchase permits for multiple vampires at once, we would be under scrutiny. And even though we could use various third parry means, those weapons would all still be traced back here. We can't go through the proper channels. We're going to have to smuggle it."
I felt seriously inadequate, on their own Asha and Xaseah were really smart. Though Xaseah was more oriented to punching first and asking questions later, she still knew how to use her head. But Asha, she was a politician through and through. A strategist, and someone who thought ten steps ahead in all of her plans and moves.
"If we're going to smuggle it, we won't be able to do it ourselves. Which means we have to commission one of the gangs to do it. And it has to be one with a good enough power base. However doing so would give that very gang leverage over us, and information we would rather keep secret. I would say let's choose a gang we can trust, but in the pit, there's no such thing as trust." Varsessa offered.
Asha and Xaseah however looked at me with a knowing gaze. From the moment we suggested smuggling in the weapons, we already had options available for it. But Varsessa did not understand as she turned her head from one person to another and asked.
"What?"
"You don't have to worry about that Varsessa we already have a candidate to carry out the smuggling operations." Asha said to her.
"you do? Who?" She asked in surprise
"Lukas and the Night Wraith gang." Xaseah answered.
"Are you sure you can trust him! There's quite a lot of rumors going around about that devil." Varsessa Said with skepticism
"We can't trust him. But we can buy his silence." I said to her.
Then I turned to Xaseah and said to her.
"Sweetheart can you do something for me?"
"Anything" she said back to me.
"I need you to reach out to your old employer. Get him here for a meeting. Even if we have to become a coven, I think it would be necessary for us to establish a foothold in the Pit's underworld. There's no harm in expanding our Influence beyond being a coven." I said to her.
She nodded her head and got to her feet. Asha and Varsessa followed her out. Seems like all three ladies would be going to see Lukas together. I somehow fell sorry for him. After they had left, I turned my gaze to a white screen with flowing gold script that had sprung up in my face moments before I sent Xaseah to Lukas.
[MISSION: In One Month, Establish A Foothold In The Criminal Underworld Of The Dancing Caves Of Noxis Nyx/ REWARD: 500 Essence Points, New Soul Rune, 5% Of Missing Memories.]