The world faded to black.
When I woke up, I was in my bed.
My room seemed perfectly fine, no signs of battle anywhere.
Had it all been a dream?
Judging by the sun, there were at least ten minutes before the monastery would wake up.
Clinging to hope, I got myself up, but each step I could feel my heart sinking deeper and deeper.
I opened the door.
Empty.
The whole monastery, empty.
I opened the rooms around mine, but they were all empty.
I fell to my knees, crying, but whenever I closed my eyes, images of that fateful night flashed in my head.
The vampires mocking us, crushing us as if we were insects.
Desperation soon turned to anger
'I'll avenge you all'
I murmured, then repeated it over and over, until a fire started buring in my soul.
I never had a clear goal in life, but now every thought in my mind had a singular purpose.
Revenge.
I steadied myself back on my feet, and started going towards the armory.
'Morning already?'
A voice came from the library, Sasha's, she was sleeping on the ground, surrounded by books.
'What are you doing still here?'
'Reading? then I got tired, I guess'
'I'm not in the mood for your jokes'
'Look, about yesterday, I'm-'
'Gather your things, we're leaving, I'll get you to the closest town, and then we're parting ways'
'And then what?'
'I don't care, do whatever'
'I was talking about you'
Her voice softened up, but I couldn't notice her kindness, blinded as I was by my own rage.
'And why would you care?' I snarled back
'Because you look like a person who's about to do something very stupid'
'Stupid?! Do you even realize what happened here?! My mentors, friends, masters, all dead! Because of him! But I will make him pay'
'Do you even hear yourself?! Vorakir killed everyone here and you think you can not only kill him alone, but all his serveants, and live to tell the tale! If that's not stupid, well, I don't know what is'
She was on the verge of tears, she was preoccupied for me, so much that it pained her.
But she also knew his name, I could take no chances.
'And how would you know that name?'
My voice was barely a whisper, filled with hostility
'You were muttering it when you collapsed, and I remember stories of a vampire with that name back when I was a child'
'Impossible, we were told that it just recently surfaced, we were hunting a fledgling'
'Vampire Lord Vorakir Causiel, terror of this region, according to stories, ruled these lands 400 years ago, but no story can agree on why he disappeared'
Her face hardened a bit whenever she mentioned the vampire with what seemed disgust, even.
'But it makes no sense...'
As I started to realize the hopelessness of the situation, desperation took hold of me.
'To a creature that doesn't age, what's a few hundred years? He probably waited, but for what I cannot tell'
'He tricked us all...'
'Trickery is but one of their strenghts. We are talking about a creature that has been surviving for a millennia, their plans might last for centuries'
'Even so, I have to kill him'
Or so I said, but I was starting to doubt my very words. I had lost everything, and I was going against a creature that killed veterans with ease.
This was going to be beyond suicidal. But I could see no other option.
'I can agree that he cannot be left unpunished, but let's think it calmly for a moment, charging in right now would only get you killed, nothing more. I'd say to deceive him instead, disappear for a couple years, train, find his weaknesses, and return, powerful enough to defeat him and his underlings'
I took a moment to think things through.
She had a way with words, and while I wasn't completely convinced, it was enough to calm me to the point where I could think rationally.
Her idea, on the other hand, had some poetic justice in it, and gave me purpose to continue living.
'You... might be right'
'Took you long enough. I'd say we strike the iron while it's hot, how about a friendly spar?'
Her face switched back to its usual smile, but I could see she was just trying to cheer me up.
'I... why now?'
'My father used to say that exercising clears one's head, helps him find balance again'
'But against you? Are you even combat trained?'
'Who do you take me for? Ever heard of the adventurer "Dancing Spear" of the "Wandering Bunch"?'
She stopped to pose heroically.
'... Can't say I have'
Her satisfied grin vanished
'Ah, I guess a mere hundred years is enough for people to forget... No matter! Come, we must train enough to slay a Vampire Lord'
'We? I thought you were the almighty "Dancing Spear" '
At first I found her attitude annoying, especially now, but her cheerfulness was strangely contagious. And comforting.
'Don't try to be smart with me, kid. I don't think that there are many adventurers anywhere capable of defeating a monster that powerful'
'What happened to...' My face grew darker as my throat refused to say the rest.
'I buried them. It wasn't an easy job, but I had time on my hands. Most of them got kidnapped'
Just now I realized she was clearly lacking sleep.
'So this are your training areas, I was expecting something more... Refined?'
'Wooden sticks are weapons in the hands of great soldiers, training dummies teach you to be a trained dummy, nothing beats an open ground and a real adversary'
Reciting perfectly one of the first teaching I had when asking the exact same question three years ago, I handed her a long staff, while getting myself a training sword
'Ready?'
'I don't need to be ready against a greenhorn like you'
She was right about clearing my head, as I got into my stance, wooden sword in hand, my mind emptied, focusing entirely on the fight.
I adopted an aggressive stance, meant to break through her attempts to keep me at range, against spears and staffs the hardest part is to get close, but once you do, the fight is as good as over, "Dancing Spear" or not.
But she wasn't taking any stance, lazily leaning on the staff with one hand and complaining about the sun being in her eyes.
I charged, annoyed at her lack of seriousness, sword held high for a downward strike.
She looked at me, dodged the attack at the last second, and then made me trip over my own feet, hitting my back with the staff to make sure I fell.
I managed to recover, rolling and then going back on my feet, going back into the fight with a wide swing at belly height.
She parried it with the staff, but instead of stopping the sword, she followed the movement by lowering her body and letting the sword slide on the staff, she then responded with another strike at my legs, with the staff this time around, that almost sent me flying into the ground.
I then received a kick to the stomach which I managed to absorb with my left arm, but the blow from before left me unsteady, and I fell backwards.
She too had to take some time to recover her balance, allowing me to get back on my feet.
We continued sparring like this for some time, neither of us managing to force the opponent to surrender, but I did roll on the ground a fair share more than her.
In the end we were both fatigued from the prolonged encounter, but I noticed that her style was focused on counters, and that she rarely took the initiative by attacking.
While I couldn't find any openings, I had to create one, so I opted for a feint with my sword, which I would then follow up with a shoulder rush.
I was about to excecute my feint when she danced around my blind spot, going behind me, then hitting the back of both my knees with her staff, and for the finishing strike, she danced to my right, using the other side of her staff to hit me on my shoulder, hadr enough to make me fall.
Before I could understand what happened, she was on top of me, left foot blocking my right arm, who was still holding my sword, and her staff pointed to my neck.
Standing proudly above me, she declared with short breath
'I have to admit, you're a tough one, but victory is mine'
She helped me off the ground.
'What's the plan, now, miss adventurer'
'You wait here and recover, I'll be back soon'
She darted off, leaving me on the ground, unable to respond in time.
I now realized how tired I was, but how was she still so lively?
Did she held back? No, her fighting style was clearly meant for energy conservation.
But she sure had lots of endurance.
'So, ready to hear my grand plan now?'
Sasha said while returning, her arms full with traveling rations, and started splitting up the goods
'Did you raid the kitchen?'
The Quartermaster would have scolded her to Hell and back, I thought.
But he was dead, as were all the others.
I wondered how long would this fact pain me? Forever?
'Better us than the wild animals. So, my glorious plan, wanna hear it?'
'I... don't know anymore, fighting with you I realized how much I need to learn. But I also realized that those monsters, they don't fight under our same rules, there's no amount of training that will compensate that, even your skills pale in front of even one of the three vampires I saw'
'Alright, a hundred or so years of being captive might have dulled me, but then again, you handed me a staff, my signature weapon is a halberd'
'Isn't your title "Dancing Staff" '
'It's "Spear", for starters, and I was given that name by a companion of mine to mock me. He said that "Dancing Halberd" didn't sound right.'
She also muttered something about remembering names, looking annoyed.
'And what about the captivity? You said a hundred years, was it really that long?'
'About a hundred, yes. Before I used to travel the land alone, surviving on what I could find'
'Why?'
'I had... reasons'
'And the group you formed?'
'They found me as I travelled, we had a few adventures together, but nothing too grand. Just a bunch of small kids with big dreams. Maybe I'll tell you some, one day'
'Now that I think about it, the vampire that captured us, that wasn't Vorakir, nor did it seem one of his underlings'
'And you would be correct. I could tell you her name, but you wouldn't recognize it'
' "Her"?'
'Well, we had a hundred years to socialize, I managed to learn a few things'
'Such as?'
'Well, for starters she's called "Annette Fouchess", and according to her, she had been turned more than a thousand years ago'
'A thousand years... and why did nobody know of her?'
'She probably lived as a recluse in her own castle, surviving on what she could capture. Maybe we could find something about her in some ancient book, but a thousand years is a long time'
'And what does she have to do with Vorakir?'
'I've no idea, I've met few other people while captive, but they didn't... last long... If I had to guess, she either has a deal with Vorakir, or he's a vassal'
'What makes you think so?'
'Vampires are extremely prideful, they respect the eldest amongst them almost blindly, and she's older by at least a few centuries, if what I know is accurate'
'You are very knowledgeable on the subject'
'As I said, you learn a lot about a person in a hundred years'
'I'm surprised you managed to endure it for that long'
I said softly, without thinking
'Ah, but I managed to convince her to give me some time to wander outside each day. And books'
'Now I'm just curious'
'About the books? Boring reads, honestly, wouldn't recommend a si-'
'About the time you were allowed outside, you said she lived alone, so why didn't you just flee?'
'She just kept watch over me.'
'In the sun?'
'Vampires old as her are immensly powerful, and while not immune to the sun, it would take an entire day in the sun to really kill one. I tried escaping once and I paid for it'
'An entire day?'
'Probably, but the sun weakens them, removing most of their dark powers, our best bet would be to use an aswhood stake while exposing it to sunlight. Holy water too, if possible. Or we could find a magical wand capable of shooting concentrated sunlight, but they're so rare'
We finished eating while making small talk here and there.
'I've noticed you're a picky eater'
I said, her plate had most greens still intact.
What was she, a child?
'Live for as long as I did and you'll discover that it's better to appreciate what little good life throws at you'
I decided it was easier to just let it go.
'As long as you don't complain later about being hungry'
'Promised. Ready to hear my perfect plan now?'
'Do I have any other choice?'
'You always have a choice'
'I made mine long ago'