In the southern part of Pale-Blood castle two children could be seen walking past the castles farm. "Look at that round orange vegetable, it's huge." " It's called a pumpkin Godfrey," said Aria giggling. "Ohh so that's what it's called, it had a familiar smell, I smelled it all the time when I would have soup."
One must know that Vampires have a keen sense of smell, almost like the blood hounds that serve them. They also had good memory regarding remembering who or what the smell belonged to. "Thanks for letting me know what it's called Aria. We are the same age, yet you're so much smarter than me." "I'm just here to help you your highness as it is my duty as a servant."
" I told you to stop calling me that, everyone else treats me different, I don't want you to be the same. Remember, we're friends, right?" "Yes, your M- I mean Godfrey." " Good, I'm glad you can call me by my name now."
A few minutes later the duo walked past the farm into the castle gardens. These gardens where large in size, about 400 or so feet in length and 100 feet in width. Many regular herbs and spirit herbs can be seen throughout the whole garden. None of which the duo could recognize with their limited knowledge.
Walking by, they saw a few gardeners diligently taking care of the herbs, making sure they were in good health. The duo waved to them as they passed. One of the gardeners smiled and waved back until he saw who it was, he immediately bowed down and shouted, "Your Majesty." The others saw this and immediately followed suit.
"You may rise," Godfrey said while dropping his hand. He turned to Aria and let off a long sigh, "Why does everyone react like that when they see who I am?" " Well you are the Dukes pride and joy, so naturally his subjects are going to show you their upmost respect." " I get that, but I'm starting to think it's fear more than respect."
"Fear is good too in some cases, people are less likely to betray or disrespect you if they fear you. But they are also likely to betray or feel hatred towards you as well. Said Aria, " So basically it's a double-edged sword?" " You are absolutely right Godfrey; it just depends on the people that serve you." " You finally called me by my name without a reminder,' Godfrey said with grin on his face.
Aria smiled taking Godfrey's words as a compliment. The duo moved away from gardens onto the marketplace where a lot of people could be seen moving around. Most of these people where regular citizens of Pale-Blood castle, while some were merchants and adventures/bounty hunters. Two small children could be seen navigating through the crowd of about 5,000 people, slowly squeezing their way in between people much taller than themselves. "Cultivation Manuals for SALE!!!, get em cheap while you can." A shifty eyed old man could be seen yelling at the top of his lungs waving some thin paper books in his hand. If one looked closely, they would be able to see the books had a lot of tears and dirt marks. No one in their right mind would buy those manuals once they got a clear look at them, but the old man seemed to act as if he were giving away treasure.
"I want to go check out those manuals over there." One of two children said to the other, more specifically the male of the duo. The two started walking closer to the old man yelling and waving his hands.
"can I see what manuals you have for sale sir." The shifty eyed old man looked down to where the voice was coming from and saw a little boy with red hair and a little girl with purple hair looking up at him. 'This boy does look like has some money,' thought the man inwardly. 'He probably thinks these manuals are genuine, poor thing doesn't even know when he's being swindled.' The old man thought back to how he found these manuals…
One night while taking a trip to and from the 2 dukedoms while transporting some wine and various luxury goods, he came across and abandon hut in Deity forest somewhere near the outer edge. He and his team of merchants and mercenaries searched the place while making camp for the night. After the search was completed, they only found 3 manuals near a fireplace tattered and dusty. Shortly after finding the manuals some howling could be heard coming from deeper in woods, getting closer and closer. Before the caravan of merchants could pack up and move to a different location dark shadows could be seen swiftly moving through the night towards their location. "DEITY WOLVES!!!," Someone in the mercenary group yelled. Deity wolves where a common wolf species in Deity Forest, they usually travel in large packs of 500 to a 1000 in a fully developed community, normally there are only groups of about 100-200. "B-B-Bloodline Strengthening Stage Wolves!!!," A person with keen senses bellowed out from the mercenary group.
"We're doomed!" cried out one of the merchants. "Awwwoooo!!" Blood thirsty howls filled the surroundings as more shadows could be seen running at top speed towards the Caravan. The caravan consisted of about 60 merchants and about 150 mercenaries, which consisted of only 50 blood strengthening stages. "Ru-Run!" Panic gripped the caravan members hearts as they frantically began fleeing away from the forest. The shifty old man, there as well, saw an opportunity in the chaos and grabbed the manuals found then began casting some magic while running in a direction different than everyone else. Slowly his presence began disappearing completely from the world. A massacre commenced at the edge of Deity Forest, painfully wails could be heard along with screaming and howls. Metal and harden claws could also be heard clashing with each other. This lasted for about 30mins, then silenced gripped the area, the only thing that could be heard were rustling of the bushes as the wolves made there way back to their den with their prize for the night, a feast. The only other noise that stood out was frantic beating of a heart.
About an hour after the massacre a shifty old man could be seen slowly coming back into existence as if he appeared out of thin air. His face pale with cold sweat dripping down his back. "lucky thing I payed a heavy price for this invisibility magic spell." The old man could not help but shudder at the thought of him almost not buying the spell before he left. The Invisibility spell was a rare magic spell that would erase one's presence from the world essential making them invisible. This magic spell has a catch though, you must be standing still in one place without moving for it work completely otherwise powerful beings or ones with keen senses can find your location easily. The shifty eyed old man looked around the camp that was assembled for the night to see if he could find anything he could salvage before he made his way to the Pale-Blood Dukedom. To his bad luck everything was pretty much in shambles expect for a few goods, he then made a makeshift backpack out of some pieces of cloth then preceded place all the non-damaged goods he could carry in it an took off in the direction of Pale-Blood. Looking at map he found in the camp located where he was at, seeing how far he was from the dukedom he could only sigh. "Looks like about 500-mile journey, but it's better than getting eaten by wolves." Slowly the shifty eyed old man made his way towards point he marked on the map….
Thinking back to how he got these manuals sent shivers down his spine. A week into his travel to the Pale-Blood Dukedom he had a good look at the manuals to see if any of the three where better than his own cultivation technique. To his dismay not one of the manuals worked for him and no matter how hard he tried, he just could not gather any spirit energy. Thus, he deemed all three manuals as fakes and tried his best to sell them. But no matter how low he brought the price down not one person would buy the manuals seeing how shabby they looked most likely thinking they are fakes too. Now that he found a 'big fish' he would try his best to sell the manuals. "So, you're interested in these manuals little one? If you have the money, I can show you the titles of the manuals for you to choose from." The small boy reached into his pocket and took out a gold coin with a small red ruby engraved in center. "Is this enough?" the innocent looking child said with an uncertain expression on his face. 'A-A Gold Valren Coin! Where did this kid get such money from?' inwardly thought the old man. "Hehehe... It's enough, plenty enough." Said the old man while rubbing his hands together. One must know that was 1,000 silver Valren coins, 50 silver coins could feed a small family for a year much less 1,000. "Take a look at the manuals and see if any takes your fancy little one.
The little boy took the three manuals from the old man and looked at the titles: Flowing Shadow, Reapers Dance, Fiend Legion. "Wow these manuals sound really good, I wonder what they do." Said the little boy after checking out the titles. "Ah ahh you can't read them before purchasing the goods." Said the shifty eyed old man. "That coin that you have is just enough to buy these manuals." 'Hehehe I knew he would find that the titles sounded powerful, so did I.' The little boy quickly handed the coin to the old man who also quickly received it before the child changed his mind. After completing the transaction the little boy and girl duo continued on their tour of the castle heading to the last location, Pale-Blood Lake located in the center of the castle grounds, All the while two shadows on the left and right side of the marketplace were watching the two children as they made their way through the crowd…