[Sulphat Superhighway, Duchy of Grahm, Dalycon Union of Duchies]
(29th, Black Sea Moon (VII), 644 ASY)
A dark figure rises into the air. Daniel is still laying on the ground, watching as this vampire rises into the dark sky. The figure suddenly dives out of the sky, heading straight for where Daniel is located. A burst of air and dust announces Daniel's escape as he blasts himself out of the way. Standing up some meters away, Daniel stares at the thing that he had just attacked. Maybe in his late teens, a neatly dressed man, around three-fourths of Daniel's height faces his back. His eyes are glowing crimson, able to be seen even without the sun's light. The sight of him tickles something at the back of Daniel's head, but he puts those thoughts on hold. The Vampire opens his mouth.
"What are you doing here, Demon?" A dark voice spews forth. The cold voice tries to grip Daniel's heart with fear, but he nonchalantly brushes them aside.
"I'm not sure I know who you are addressing. I certainly don't see any demons nearby," Daniel makes small talk as he transmutes a handgun into his hands. While anything that isn't silver, gold, or mercury won't be able to damage the vampire in front of him, it still hurt if they get shot.
"Not very funny. I'm not sure why you didn't blast away with those overpowered magiks of yours, but you are not fooling anyone!" The vampire yells. He changes Daniel, wings spread out. To Daniel, this is a stupid display. Tucking in his wings would have allowed him to travel faster. Daniel calmly unloads the full fourteen-round magazine into the vampire. This causes the vampire to stagger off to the side. While he is off-balance, Daniel summons metal bands from deep within the earth to wrap around the vampire. The metal is still hot after coming from within the ground, and it sizzles as it wraps around the hapless vampire.
"Now tell me, who the hell are you, and what do you want- Aiya!" Daniel notices a massive hole in his rip in his shirt. "Also, was this you?" He points at it.
"Are you that forgetful? I'm Walter of Dalmatia, one of your generals! I'm not sure why Plutarch wanted me to keep you away from Altia Mechacania! Also, no, that was you. I think you caught a branch when you were crawling," Walter shakes his head. Daniel stares at him.
"Come again? One of my generals? I don't ever remember meeting a vampire, never mind creating an army. I think you have me confused with another person," Daniel's eyes bore holes into Walter.
"I'm sure that it's you, Lord Xacont…"
"Great, now that thing has taken my form as well as my knowledge…" Daniel spits. "Tell me, Walter of Dalmatia, do you want to die?"
"W-What? Why do- No I don't!" Walter yelps.
"Then leave. Leave me, us, alone. We will go wherever we wish. Now go, before I get more impatient," Something stirs within Daniel. A feeling of impatience, a long streak of annoyance. He feels that he does know this vampire, and he had carefully cultivated a relationship with him. A voice in his head screams out against him, but he quickly shoos it away. Yet it keeps returning. Something deep, something subconscious. A different person, insistent on an agenda that doesn't match with Daniel's. Daniel loosens the metal bands and lets Walter go, but not before reloading his pistol with silver bullets. Walter immediately takes off into the sky, away from the dusty savanna, towards the direction of the Capital, Glorya. Daniel could no longer ignore what that little thing in his head said anymore. He needed to investigate this, and soon. Something wasn't right. From the missing pages of his journal, his new ability to use spells, and now a person telling him that he was his murder. This would require more time to unravel. Daniel sighs. He hasn't been in the greatest of shape before this anyhow…
\\Memories//
[Merchant's District, Knifotla, Greyvan Kingdom]
(35th, Green Rose Moon (VI), 644 ASY)
Daniel wakes up in a fit of cold sweat. His heart is beating a hole through his chest. His vision finally comes back to him. His breath slowly returns to normal after the fright of its life. His throat is an arid desert, and his face an ebony mess. He sits up, his mind racing. Sitting next to him is an extremely beautiful face that could match the face of the goddesses. Angelica is reading a book but is startled by Daniel's abrupt awakening.
"H-Hey Daniel. I see that you're awake," Angelica stutters, her voice slightly slurring. Daniel simply stares at her. After a long couple of minutes, Daniel responds.
"Where are we? Did we make it out safely? Did the protocol activate? When are we? What did I miss? Did Xacont escape? How much did we hurt him? Is he dead? How are Ernst and Frederick Karl? Did they make it out?" A flurry of words tumbles out of Daniel's mouth, barely forming coherent questions. He seems to be thinking as he asks the question as solves the answers to the questions while asking them.
"Uh-Which question do you want to be answered?" Angelica asks. After a brief moment-
"Where are we? What did I miss? What happened to Xacont? What happened to Ernst and Frederick Karl?" A revised set of questions are asked.
"We are in a hotel in Knifotla after we barely managed to deliver a fatal blow to Xacont. It did cost your life, though. Well, one of your lives. We're not sure what happened to Xacont, and Ernst and Fred are both still in Dalycon in their previous positions as spys," Angelica answers.
"Good, good. Then I guess the Reincartaion Protocol worked?"
"If it didn't we'd have to fish your soul from the ethereal realm," Angelica snorts.
"Hmmm… Perhaps not…" Daniel mutters to himself, remembering the conversation with 'it' that he had before he came here.
"Perhapse not what?" Angelica asks.
"No, it's nothing. Just the mumblings of a crazy man," Daniel sighs. "Anyhow, back on track. We're in Greyvan right now, yes?" After seeing Angelica nod, he continues. "Then we should head back to Dalycon immediately. That way we can capitalize on Xacont's current weakness. We'll take him down this time for sure!"
"There might be another problem with that…" Angelica sighs.
"What would that be?" Daniel tilts his head towards Angelica.
"We met another Demon while escaping," Angelica informs him/.
"A Demon? That's rare. I though Xacont didn't having infernal allies,"
"Not technically a Demon… He's a Fallen Angel. Plutach, Devil of Authority, to be precise,"
"That's new. I've heard of the name before, but what is he like? Did you get a chance to talk to or observe him?" Daniel rubs his chin. "On second thought, is there any more information that you've discovered sinec my death? If so, please tell me everything."
"E-Everything? We've found a lot,"
"Yes everything. I need to be prepared for what's to come,"
"O-Oh, alright," Angelica sighs. "While he is a Fallen Angel and aligned with other Demons, Plutarch isn't outright evil. Since he repersents 'Authority', he isn't actively seeking to make people's lives worse. Simply put, Plutarch is only a tool. If used by a saint, you will achieve rosy outcomes. If used by someone with evil intentions, not so much."
"So he simply works for Xacont and doesn't argee with what he's doing?"
"Not quite. I would say he turns a blind eye to Xacont's activities,"
"He's indifferent?"
"I would say so,"
"That's generally not good when Xacont is involved,"
"Yes… Moving on, Xacont seems to have gotten himself multiple lieutenants,"
"Oh ho? That's going to make things ever more difficult,"
"Indeed. There are four vampires and three necromancers of unknown race,"
"You weren't kidding when you said multiple. Heck, seven is less of multiple and more of many…"
"But it's more than one?"
"No, it's nothing…"
Angelica tilts her head in confusion before continuing, "We weren't able to get the names of two of the Vampires, but the other two are called: Bellisarius Mattayio and Andreus Graham. They are Arch and Greater Vampires respectively. Even though they are-huh? Are you ok?" Daniel bends over spikes of pain piercing his stomach and he coughs. Crimson stains his white bedsheets as he doubles over, in immense pain. His vision flashes once more, and he can barely hear the sounds of Angelica's worried words as he slumps forward, his face stained by his blood...