"...And that concludes today's lecture. Make sure to dress formally for your awakening ceremony."
"Yes Professor Scholar!"
All the kids left gleefully as they bumped into one another while trying to leave through the chokehold of a door.
Roan waited along with his buddies as they watched outside the window to tell the time.
The sun finally fell off the horizon and introduced the landscape to its vibrant dark blue hue as it set over the city.
When the barriers of the Glumhaven seem the thinnest that allows the moon to penetrate through to illuminate the streets.
The stars were beautiful as they blazed with all their glory, with science they will never be able to comprehend in completion for future generations.
The class was nearly empty when they decide to stand up to leave, Roan finished packing and he and his friends began to leave.
"Must be a wonderful day for you isn't that right, Young Klaus? Or should I start calling you Young Deumontae?"
The professor stayed seated as Roan was nearly walking out the door, his friends already passed and waiting just beyond. Roan stopped mid-strut and continued the argument.
"It truly is Professor Ramedes."
Ramedes was in the process of reading a ledger when she waited for his friends to leave.
"I could remember the days you were just a fledge at the start of your education."
"Ah…yes, I do remember being a little runt. I challenged all your theories and historical accuracies"
She snickered, "While most of your claims were baseless, your questioning did allow me to break a few more breakthroughs in those ancient historical contributions I made before."
Ramedes was his third professor and the one that truly cared about his academic prowess. It was something Roan developed to become attached to his instructors in daily life, none of which he received from his biological father but he digressed.
Roan knew of the work ethic needed to be seated next to the regent of the city, the amount of paperwork to make sure bureaucracy flows at a smooth pace is a taxing job. Get it?
'Who is that talking in my head?'
"It was a pleasure for you to be in my class."
It took him a second to process what he meant, it disturbed Roan's peace of mind for the day.
"You make it sound like I won't remain here til I graduate Professor Ramedes."
"Because that's what I'm exactly telling you."
"Huh?"
This was the first time Roan heard of this.
"What do you mean?"
"Oh, you haven't heard? Your father is planning to take you in under his tutelage. You'd be reporting to the castle as from now."
Thousands of thoughts went through Roan's head, but he couldn't be discourteous to the Professor about his issues.
"Alright, thank you for notifying me."
"My pleasure for having such a wonderful student in my class."
Roan simply nodded his head and opened the door.
'Another problem after another.'
"Hey Roan, what did he talk to you about?"
Hartman and Jason were resting on the side of the wall near the door as it lay.
"Oh, Just about my class performance."
Jason's expression changed into something a bit more perturbed as to notice the dissonance.
Roan went to pick Hartman up from the floor as Jason also stood up.
"Roan, you do know you're bad at lying right?"
"Heh, nothing gets passed you."
"It's easy to see if it's coming for your head."
They all began walking to the entrance as the light of the stars illuminated some of the environment.
There stood a wall of stone and granite as the regalia of the Deumontae family passed. It was the side sketch of a black panther with its jaw left agape, its eyes jet black as a single drop clung to its canine. All of it was set on a shield plastered in white and purple, with a scroll of paper going across which read.
[Aldecus Viche Dou]
The phrase was made during its founding from the neverending bloodshed, though today they don't suffer the same conditions as their ancestors, it was a way of remembrance of their ways so they don't fall apart.
'Noble and true.''
That was the modern interpretation of that phrase and had been taught that way for years.
Though this city dated back up to 200 years, the famed Deumontae had been around since its founding millenniums. And with the upcoming Ceremony, they would all be new members of the Deumontae family.
A sense of pride welled up in Roan but his family lineage held him back to be truly content.
Ever since he was born everyone around him spoke praise to those who would partake in the ceremony, all would then be cladded with the Deumontae name and proudly represent themselves in the six respected houses.
'All this and it would finally be achieved today.'
"Are you paying attention?"
"Yeah- huh?"
Jason chimed in to appear in his peripheral when Roan was in another deep-thought episode.
"We're going home to get dressed up for the big thing, we were just saying that we'd meet up by the restaurant just down to the Academy."
"Morton's?"
"That's the one."
"Yeah, I'll be there."
"Cool! See you there."
They both ran ahead and lived around the same street. Their parents were both officers for the city guard so they all became friends.
This left Roan alone however as he stared off into the distance.
The streets became even more packed as people from the surrounding villages came to visit to sell or drop off some goods. Maybe perhaps also buying goods for their own sake as well.
Carts were being wheeled around with the coachman beckoning to the crowd to be careful or bickering about them.
The intense smell of horse manure, sweat, and musk wafted into the air as the wandering salesman yell about their wares in these busy streets. People going on their daily life and the occasional beggar too drunk off a tavern's mead a few steps away. This scene could be overwhelming to anybody who thought about their existence in the grand scheme of things. It took a short bit for Roan to recollect himself to remember what he must do before the ceremony.
'Got to get dressed at home and feed Kila.'
He took another few steps as he was interrupted again by the scenery.
Just up ahead was Mehringer's Square, a central part of town just off to the side that is often used for peddlers to set up shop and local performers to either sing hymns or stage dancers.
But today seemed to be more unique to happen on the day of the ceremony.
An execution.
The streets were crowded as they all came to watch as a small bell brought by a city guard stood around the spacious center.
A carriage with barred windows was just to the side as it awaited its turn for the event to occur.
A line of guards on foot and horses soon dismounted and walked through to make sufficient space for the execution to be held secure. He could see Hartman's father amongst the guards as officers stood around and talked about recent events.
The same man with the bell rang the bell again in three rapid motions, this time to issue the crowd's silence and also to tell the guards that it was time.
The small cluster of guards dispersed in an orderly manner as they formed a barrier around the assembled scaffold, as a stone table protruded from its floor. Runes were inscribed around it as it glowed faintly akin to embers.
The door of the carriage finally opened as the darkness of the carriage grew more apparent. Some people in the crowd tried to inch a bit closer and had their hands above their eyes to try to catch a description of the man. Others seem to see clearly though, and it wasn't due to a simple case of bad vision. His face was covered by a sack and wore nothing but cloth pants. His skin had passed being just pale as it practically appeared greyer than the norm. His body was once fit but starved as the muscles had gnawed on itself.
Roan could also see clearly in the dark and the grim and disgusted expression he had on his face as the man finally stepped out with the assistance of the guards.
The man's skin was pale as it resembled the moonlight sky, his bones peaking from his forearms as well as the rest of his body. His eyes were bloodshot red and fangs protruded out of his mouth, not retracting at all as the man fearfully walk towards the pedestal.
A new man appeared on the scaffold without any warning or observed movement, baffling some of the crowd once more.
His stature was noble as he stood tall to watch over the man in his attire. He was for sure the one in charge of watching over the execution as he wore all the uniforms to match. Wearing a chainmail hauberk, a cloth detailing the Deumontae Insignia as well as the insignia of this specific Glumhaven was shown to show where his allegiance was under. The Glumhaven Insignia was a pale yellow crescent moon that had a lonesome grey tower built on the surface of the inner curve of the moon. This was the insignia of this Glumhaven called Berikas, Roan's home and the home to its plentiful citizens. The man also dawned on a chivalrous helmet with a red feathered scale, which showed his power and pride. This was only provided to those who were taken in by a Glumhaven Knight as a squire. The hatch was opened up to show his face as well.
The man cleared his throat as the guards stopped the prisoner by putting him on his knees.
He cleared his throat before he began to usher in the words of this person's fate.
"I, The Captain of the Berikas City guard, Mathias Velcht, will represent the court of the city in the sentencing of…"
The captain took a scroll of parchment out of his back belt and unwinded it to reveal its content. The scrunching of paper was barely audible as he shifted his posture to take a step toward the man.
"Laurent Silvio."
Mathias nodded his head up as the two guards lifted him to approach the stair of the scaffold.
They were not careful in any way in dealing with the guilty as they placed him firmly on the previously explained runic protrusion. The glow became even heavier with the radiance of the sun.
"For the murder of five humans and two vampires. And last but not least the unlawful drinking of human blood."
The executioner signaled to the guards, just as they shoved the man from his kneeling position. The lights of the torches and the runes reveal what monster lay beneath the shadows. Gasps of shock and dismay came around the masses as Roan paid more attention to Laurent's physique.
His face and head were clean of all hairs and his cheeks caved in, with what little skin he had on his thin body, it almost felt as if he couldn't close his mouth fully.
His ears were pointy and his eyes glowed white despite being seen as pure nothingness, void of color and only black.
His fangs protruded from his mouth as he could not close it fully. Roan read it up in class and knew exactly what was occurring in front of him.
'He had devolved into a ghoul'
"Under my decree bestowed upon me this fortunate day, I hereby sentence the immediate execution of Laurent Silvio via Runic Cleansing."
The ghoul didn't appear to be sentient and had reverted into a more savage state, but once hearing of the method of execution, it appeared to be more aggressive. It growled and tried to pounce forward as his chain remained resilient as it also glowed a blue hue.
"You will not receive your last words as reprimanded by the grieving families."
The blue hue seemed to subdue Laurent as he struggled against the clenching grasp of the two guards as they dragged him closer to the rune. His legs dragged against the ground as his final act of defiance as the guards finally dropped him near the feet of the pedestal where the floating rune lay.
The two guards hastily retreated and merged with their ranks as Sir Velcht proceeded to grab another scroll strapped to his belt strap.
He unwinded the paper and began to chant the language of spells as the rune began to audibly make a humming noise and unravel its contents.
The language seemed strange yet inaudible, vague but making words. Laurent's face finally realizes the weight of his present as he lay here.
The floating rune continued to separate, the runic symbols seemed to rip away from the rock it was inscribed as it began to bud.
At this point, Velcht stopped when one would assume he was near the finish of the spell as the rune which appearance seem close to the edge of nearly exploding but stopped at no mention of its construct.
"May your body remain husk and willowing demons consume your soul…"
[Kaethun]
The final word echoed and signaled the end of the spell.
The floating rune was stripped clearly between the runic symbols and the mass as the stone began to bud like a flower and then…
All went to white for a clear half a second. But only half a second was needed to show the damage done in that time.
Laurent's skin was burning at a near-rapid rate as he howled in pain.
He tried putting it out with his strapped hands but to no avail, the fire continued to slowly travel up his body.
Some of the crowd were afraid of what happened and others seem to take joy in the death of a major criminal. Almost as if it was their first time seeing such a demonstration when they entered the city.
It was pure agony, the screams were like nails to a chalkboard as they went into different ranges, to a low growl and the highest howls.
The fire though burning bright red seemed to do no damage to the restraints as his body continued to smolder black, the supposed ashes of his skin slowly being wisped away in the wind as his body returned to finite embers.
The screams soon died out as his body diminished slowly until only the collar remained.
Safe to say he was in agony for the entire time he was exposed.
But that nearly meant the end of the execution as Velcht and a couple of others began chanting deactivations to the rune to recollect it and the order to disassemble was heard synonymous to the guards and the onlookers.
Those that stayed were soon ushered away by the guards including Jason's and Hartmann's father.