I fell down onto a solid slab of earth, hard enough that I felt a few of my teeth shake loose from my gums. And they grew back almost immediately. I looked down to see what I had hit to discover granite, for all intents and purposes, tarmac, it was a freaking motorway. I looked at my side, taking notice of the huge building that stretched upwards towards the sky as it's shadow fell over me.
I looked ahead to see that similar buildings stretched onwards for quite a distance till they disappeared into the horizon in a stream of light. Great, I was in a city, and depending on how real all my previous encounters with seals and their rune circles has been, I was definitely in for a treat.
As with all my previous forays into seals, I knew each seal had a specific key to unlock it, of course sometimes you simply had to kill all the soul beats within the seal, or follow some disjointed clues like follow the rabbit, or suffer immense pain and torture.
But in a city like this what ever it is I had to do, would no doubt have to be big. I took a more detailed look at the city and the street I was in, and noticed it was very advanced, like a futuristic city, rather than Manhattan in 2017.
3D holographic displays could be seen on the windows of some the buildings, airships cruising leisurely, and floating traffic lights working overtime. But one thing that was very obvious, was the fact that this city was deserted.
I knew for a fact that I was going to hate very single moment of this unsealing. I picked a direction and just started walking towards it.
I was moving in a straight line, because I knew going left or right into other streets would just be a fruitless if not painful undertaking since every seal I've been in has been nothing more than a straight line, and endless loop forcing me to go round in a circle.
But after moving for quite a few hours and seeing nothing I got really bored, in fact it did not look as if I was going in a circle as every building I've seen so far were different. It was frustrating, and I was getting impatient.
Then suddenly the entire world shook, and the sky dimmed a bit, cracks appeared on the tarred road and snaked across it's surface, splitting and releasing copious amount of brown colored soul energy. One of the displays on the windows of the buildings flickered, and words appeared on them.
[Find Him, Find The Elder.]
That was weird, but I'm not going to pretend I don't know what it meant, it was trying to be vague with it's message, but it's obvious that Malek was somewhere in this city, he was also in this seal with me.
Of course it might just be that my guess is terribly wrong, and I'm about to be eaten by some sort of elder soul beast. But the thing is, this seal looks and feel a lot more different than the normal ones I've experienced so far, to me it seems as if it's bigger, way, way! Bigger.
I had no idea where to start looking for Malek, or whatever or whoever this elder was. I looked around, and noticed a parked hover bike by a side walk, in front of a café.
It was the first vehicle I've seen on the ground since I came in here, rather than the airships that I've seen flying in the air since I arrived. I moved towards the hover bike and got on it, and then I realized I had no idea how it worked.
There was no keyhole, just some sort of display panel in front of me that gave no reaction no matter what I did. I shook the bike, raised it up, kicked it, but still nothing.
It seems it was nothing more than a prop like most of the other things in this seal. But seriously "Why won't you START!" and lo! and behold!, the silver bike came to life, and rose up about a meter off the ground.
I was caught of guard by the sudden hum and vibration from the hover bike, and the light that lit up on the display panel showing the words 'Welcome Rider' before fading into digital displays of the speedometer and power cell displays.
So it was not a prop, in fact I was not so sure that most of what I've seen was a prop either, I had this itchy feeling that I really am; in. A. City...Fuck.
..........
.........
GUS TERSOLON
TELEPATH
I didn't want to tip the sirens off that I've noticed them, Since they were positioned quite close to one of the exits out of the arena. As if on cue they picked up the tempo of their music, it was nice, soothing, but it was distracting. It made me want to shift my attention away from them and focus on things like dancing or the big fiery barrier that now surrounded Kael and elder Malek.
But this sea witches were seriously underestimating me. A subtle approach was out of the works, and it left me annoyed; subtle was my forte after all. But it seems I have to take a page out of Kael's and Asha's play book. I have to go wild, and be loud.
The true essence of a blood child's ability lies in blood. And it's part of one of the reasons vampires are so feared. Apart from the skills we developed due to our classes, Vampires like some very rare races have access to what is known as racial skills.
Skills that are born from the bloodlines in our body, and this are skills we can use very easily, like an extension of ourselves, with a quarter of the energy spent on other skills, and with less than half the effort to master, and ten times more powerful in our hands than if it was learnt from a class.
And for a blood child vampire, the control of blood is always at the core of our capabilities, and even after we've ascended to a higher rank we never loose this ability, for some it becomes weakened, for others it becomes very strengthened. But right now, in a party for vampires, filled to the brim and overflowing with blood, I was in my element.
Of course it would be stupid to underestimate my opponents, so I had to let them know I meant business, and since there would be no room for mistakes, there can be no room for sentimentality.
By now most of the vampires had gathered around Kael, observing with shocked gazes as he tried to unseal elder Malek, it was the perfect opportunity for the sirens to slip out, and their music was making it so that no body was paying attention to them. I spread my awareness and felt a connection to the blood in my body, I felt it's self sufficient flow, and it's path through my body.
Without a beating heart, the blood in a vampires body is supposed to stay still and coagulate, however the darkness that makes vampires; vampires, makes sure our body still functions like normal, using the blood in our body as fuel for everything.
Which is why we're always so bloodthirsty, every vampiric ability from speed, strength, resilience, and healing is powered by the blood in our body, making it the most important and the most powerful weapon in our arsenal.
I spread my awareness to encompass the blood in the arena, from every bowl, plate, cup and goblet, every jug and every spilt drop on the ground. As a telepath my control over blood is more refined than most other vampires would expect. After all, the power of my mind is definitely on a whole other level than other vampires could compare to.
Then I raised my hands up, bearing with the strain of controlling such a huge amount of blood. The blood floated up into the air in individual droplets, before gathering four meters above the top of the arena as a massive blood river that was currently rotating slowly.
By now my display had drawn the attention of other vampires, and even the sirens too had taken notice of the river of red floating above their heads. Their music stopped, and their spell was broken.
Eventually all eyes in the arena floated to my tiny frame and out stretched hands, I could have sworn I heard someone asking who is that kid? And someone replying that I came in with Kael.
I felt satisfied with that, this was good, it was better for them to know who I served, to see the power we wielded as a family, as a pride and as a coven.
I had to make a big bang, as loud and as crazy as I could. I had faith Kael could deal with the seal, and Asha and Asare were currently protecting him.
They could help me deal with the sirens, but apparently they already decided that this was my battle, and were confident I could handle it. I rather not disappoint them. I turned my gaze to the sirens and asked them loud enough so that everyone in the arena could hear.
"Is there anyone else you would like to murder before you leave?"
And so it begins.
.........…..
.........…..
The city was in fact a city. I could move through streets, enjoying the different sights as I focused on looking for this so called elder. This place really wasn't like all the previous seals, those rune circles were all elaborate tunnels or hallways in different settings or with different designs.
But there was no reason for this seal to be any different, and I'm sure it's not. The only difference here is that this rune circle was bigger than the others, it really was a city.
For the past thirty minutes I've tried to drive this hover bike higher into the sky, to get to the top of one of the buildings, or at the very least get to a good vantage point where I could monitor and see everything in the city at a birds eye view.
The only problem was that the looping factor of rune circles that I've experienced before, a scenario where I kept going round and round in a circle did not manifest itself on the ground and in a straight line like the others, it was upwards.
The higher I went, the taller the buildings became, until I suddenly find myself three meters off the ground, back where I started, and the sky still as far away from me as it was seconds ago.
But I've grown quite a lot since the last time I've been In a rune circle, I just have to be patient and keep looking. Eventually something my efforts would be rewarded.
"BOOOM!"
A loud explosion shook the city as more cracks appeared on the buildings, streets and even on the sky. There was a massive crack in the sky that spewed out brown soul energy, thick enough to create a cloud that covered that particular area of the city. But with that explosion, I was able to hear someone yell out in anger.
It was quite far from where I was, but I was in this seal as a fully realized vampire, rather than one who also had his physical abilities sealed. I could hear, see, smell or feel things at a level that gave me chills. It was enough for me to pinpoint the location where the yell came from.
I focused on both my hearing and smell, this world was a bit upside down with noise after the recent 'World quake' so it was hard to filter sounds with every thing trying to stabilize itself after the whole shaking. And for the life of me, this damn place had no scent, not a single one.
But it was better to listen, so I did. I could hear car alarms blaring, windows cracking softly, but it was loud enough to me it sounded like someone ripping apart a sheet of metal.
The hiss of air, the fall of loose concrete, the screech of a strange creature, and the grunt of someone running; Bingo! And just like that everything fell into place and I smelt sweat, I smelt dirt, and something that I'm becoming more and more familiar with.....fear.
There was no time to waste, so I shot the hover bike towards that direction. Whether I find Malek, or someone else, or a trap, one thing I know is that following that sound is the only way to find the key to unlocking this seal.