Flashback.
.. 900 years ago..
Akotal could be seen pacing around. The anger and rage exuding his body made the place seem like there are no other existences in the dark cavernous hall.
But there's.
Dozen vampires are in the hall with him, including the legendary hunter, Aro.
"Lord Akotal," a vampire bowed before him.
"Have you found the healer?" A growl from Akotal followed.
The vampire trembled. "I- he's comi-"
The vampire was interrupted when his head flew into the air. His headless body dropped on the ground, watched by the wide, trembling eyes of the other vampires in the hall.
"Lord Akotal," Aro called, calmly. "I think you should calm down, the healer is already here."
In a flash, Akotal appeared before Aro. "You shouldn't be saying this Aro. Look at my face." He pointed at his face, Aro gazed at it. It's burnt and his features are mashed into one another. "A second delay and this is permanent."
The burns on his face were caused by a flame of a foe. A foe he was hell bent on destroying. Lead Skull and his subordinates of skull vampires. They were fighting and he was having an upper hand, due to the curse running through the veins of the leader of the skull Vampires, but at the last minute, the old Primordial unleashed flames that burned the unprepared Akotal's face.
The burns aren't the problem now, but what Akotal feared is that he is not healing from the burns and it's been weeks already.
The mere thought of the burn not healing is driving him crazy. He's a Primordial vampire for God's sake. An apex in the vampire World yet he isn't healing, this troubled him greatly and he feared because he knows how poisonous the Skulls could be. The burn might be something else considering that it's a Primordial Skull that inflicted it on him.
Bang!
The towering double door of the hall tore open as the healer was escorted in.
The healer rushed to Akotal and bowed, the trembling in his movement was enough to tell how terrified he was.
"My Lord," he said.
"Now, you will get this off me."
The healer raised his head to see the burns on the face of the Primordial vampire Lord before him. His face paled in shock.
Akotal's dark fangs shone in his eyeballs and he was brought out of his shock automatically. His head will be rolling if he doesn't get things done in a second.
He moved closer to Akotal and dropped his antique box. He clicked the lock and opened it. Several tools were in it but he only grabbed one.
A lens.
He brought it to Akotal's face, trying his best not to make eye contact with him, as he scrutinized the burns.
What he saw made him tremble. Thin, black veins could be seen through the lens. Inconspicuously writhing in the burns.
Poisonous. Parasitic..
His legs wobbled as he moved back. He could literally hear his own heart banging. Not because of what he saw. But because of what would be his fate if he tells Akotal what he saw. But regardless, he has to tell what he saw. Because if he didn't, he would still die anyway.
"Tell me what you saw, I can feel your fear even from your hairs. It's bad news, isn't it?" Akotal's voice was like a calm ocean, as he lingered around the healer. His red eyes were blazing with barely concealed insanity.
Tears were now rolling down the healer's cheek by now. Then his lips parted. "The flames, what type of flame is it?"
Akotal smiled, humourlessly, as he circled the healer, with his deep red eyes piercing every single part of his soul. "Black, it was like the dark lake of Fangora in the plains of Nineveh."
The healer trembled when he heard the comparison Akotal used. Then he knew his fate was sealed. The dark lake meant the lake of death, not only for the one who saw it, but also for the ones who heard it.
"The dark flames had poison. It devours the flesh, diminishes the soul and incinerates the power of the supernatural. It has no remedy, my Lord, only rituals to prolong its effect."
Akotal was silent after hearing this.
The healer could feel his pee in his gown. Akotal's behind him but silent. That kept the healer in suspense.
"That's relieving." Akotal's voice boomed then his figure appeared before the healer whose eyes widened when he saw the burning red eyes of the vampire Lord.
"M- my Lord, pl- please spare my life." The healer said, crying.
"No, no. I don't want that." Akotal moved closer to the healer and his pallid hand raised and wiped the tears off his cheek. The healer shut his eyes at the cold touch of Akotal's. "But you're not leaving here."
Akotal dropped his hand, then turned to a vampire, in whose hand was the staff that had a wooden three-eyed bat on it. The vampire bowed under the lingering eyes of Akotal's. "I want the healer to be thrown underground. He should be fed once a week. After every hundred years, he should be taken to another dungeon, deeper than the former."
The vampire stamped the staff on the ground and said, "it shall be done, my Lord."
Akotal turned to Aro, whose emerald eyes were on him already.
"What to do now?" Aro asked.
"We're hunting, Lead Skull dies no mater what it takes."
Aro nodded in affirmative and his eyes glowed even more. "It will be done."
****
Meanwhile, a figure staggered through the woods. It growls alone scared away even lions and other dangerous creatures. Every step it takes was with struggle, and every step it leaves behind is damp from its own blood. Black and it showed how dead the figure is.
It's the Lead Skull.
He had been running for months now, going from forest to forest. He couldn't go to any town or village, or he would be bringing death into their midst.
He knows himself, the ones pursuing him won't spare the villagers.
It wasn't like this years ago. He was the powerful, feared leader of the Skull Vampires. Even among the Primordials. He was feared. He's a born Primordial of the Skulls descent. A very powerful tribe of Primordial Vampires. They were left on their own even when war thrived among the vampires in battle for dominance, they weren't disturbed.
But everything went into jeopardy when a Tribunal vampire went against him and the skulls. Akotal.
If he had come straight to them, it would have been easy. Even all the Tribunals, joined by another Primordial vampire tribe, still won't have enough power to face the skulls in a head-on battle.
But Akotal didn't face them head-on. He had them cursed with a rare curse.
The Ostagian curse. It kills a supernatural slowly, no matter how powerful the supernatural is, he will surely fall. And the most dangerous part is that the curse burns through the veins of a supernatural and makes then go mad. No supernatural has even survived it. There has been no known cure for it, in the past and up till now.
The Lead Skull and his vampires were in their castle when the effect of the curse struck. They all went crazy and began to kill themselves.
Lead Skull was confused, utterly confused, he wondered what could be happening while his other men who were powerful enough to withstand the burnings in their veins, struggled to quench the chaos. One day, the chaos was successfully quenched after a very gory battle among the kinsmen, and it was done by killing all the crazy Vampires, a predicament which is a very painful to Lead Skull. But he could do nothing to avert it. Even he is getting weak, just as the skull Vampires who are still in control of themselves.
A healer was called in. The healer pronounced it as a curse. Lead skull could still remember, vividly, the grave expression of the healer as he explained.
It's a curse. A dark curse made by the Dark Witches. An Ostagian curse.
The healer couldn't say it all when he suddenly went quiet, his eyes bulged and his mouth opened wide. The Lead Skull and the skull Vampires present were still wondering in surprise what is happening to the healer when he bursted into thousands of pieces of flesh and bones.
Then the assault came. The one responsible for the curse. The Tribunal, Akotal.
He bought his army along and a full assault was launched on the Skull castle.
The skulls were even weak to fight and they were all wiped out.
But the Lead Skull escaped after having a deadly fight with Akotal, during which he burned Akotal's face. The flames burn bought him time to escaped.
And now, here he is, running in the woods. He could feel his body dieing every passing second and the wounds inflicted on him by Akotal still not healing, even after several months.
As he went the thick forests, he came across some men, on whom he fed and sustained himself.
It was until he got to a forest, filled with gigantic walnut trees.
After walking for days through the forest, he emerged from it, onto a land. As he gazed, weakly, with his eyes barely open, he could see a young man. The young man was sitting underneath an olive tree, staring at the silvery moon the color of his hair.
He was heading towards the man, dragging his feet along, with his blood which had turned dark, forming trail behind him.
All of the sudden, he stopped, sensing the young man's alertness, He sped with all his might and hid from sight.
The young man with his trademark silver hair snapped his head to the area, his eyes were constricted to the size of a needle and his hand unsheathing his sword. The young man looked around but he found nothing.
All of the sudden, the Lead Skull appeared to him. He saw the Lead Skull and the confusion in his eyes spoke volumes of how lost he is as he gazed at the fangs and claws.
Perhaps, he had thought for a second, maybe it's an animal. Or- but no animal is humanoid. Even monkeys that's said to be closely related to humans is still distinct in nature.
The Lead Skull shut away all the thoughts of the young man when he attacked him. He completely overwhelmed the young man and it's natural. He's a Primordial Vampire and not an ordinary vampire. Despite being wounded, he's still a Primordial. But the young human struggled for his life.
He stabbed the Lead Skull's neck when he was drinking from him. The leader of the skull vampires staggered and lost his stance as he fell beside a stone, resting on it, as he watched the young human come at him with his half shattered sword.
Then he felt a slash on his neck, and his head fell into total darkness. But the Lead Skull felt no loss as he gave in to death.
He felt no loss at all.
Then the young human fainted that day.
**
Days after the event.
A throng of bodies, clad in dark cloaks got to the spot. One of them was holding a staff with a three-eyed bat on it top.
The one at the front lowered its hood. It's Lord Akotal.
His face was vicious as he gaze at the olive tree. He turned as a voice called him.
"My Lord."
"What is it?" His red eyes flashed as he asked.
The vampire didn't say a word as his wide eyes turned to a direction.
Akotal followed the trail and found it. What he had wanted all his life. And what he had wanted the most, lately.
Laying beside a rock was the red Skull.
But the young human wasn't there anymore. He had been taken. But how are they gonna know any human was there?
In a flash, he appeared there and squatted before the skull.
Even in his dream he would still recognise this skull. The red skull. It belongs to only one person.
His eyes roamed the vicinity of the skull. He could see ashes on the floor then a hysterical laughter broke outta his lips.
"Hahahaha!!!!! Of course, it's the Lead Skull."
***
End of flashback.
The Dark Witches castle.
Akotal's eyes blazed as he took his hand off the Lead Skull's red skull. He was in the middle of a magic circle with the three Dark Witches surrounding him.
They were the ones who casted the spell which took him back to hundreds of years ago so as to see how a skull vampire was born despite wiping them all out.
The Dark Witches stopped and retreated four steps as Akotal made the red skull disappear.
He turned to Aro as he muttered. "He turned him. Lead Skull turned him himself."
"But he doesn't bite to turn, Lead Skull's venom could kill even an already weakened Primordial vampire," Aro said with a frown.
Akotal's red eyes slowly constricted to the size of a needle as he muttered, "There must be a reason he turned him. That cunning dead vampire definitely had a reason."
***************