“No sense in getting bombastic now,” Samuel replied, “We’ve still got a few thousand more to go, and they’re all just like him—.”
A faint roar broke their discussion and the two men found themselves peering into the darkness down below. It was a deep rumble— distant, yet powerful. It echoed out of the abyss and with a thunderous explosion, it caused the very ground beneath them to tremble.
“Did you hear that?” Steven asked.
“Felt it, too,” said Samuel, veering away from the edge, “I don’t know how our fortunes can get any lower… and I’m not looking to find out.”
Elsewhere, near the steps of the temple, Fiona and the vampire queen were locked in a vicious battle from which neither had yet emerged the victor. Amata was faster than her adversary, and much more powerful, yet Fiona was determined to see Ava avenged and pressed on with her assault.
“You’re passionate,” Lady Amata said to Fiona as their steel clashed against one another, “Strong… forceful… resilient… I could use someone like you on my side.”
“I’d rather be werewolf chow,” Fiona replied with a spit to Amata’s face, “You may think your façade is working, but I see through you. I see you for the wretched monster you truly are.”
“Tell me, Fiona,” began Lady Amata, wiping the spit from her face, “Where’s your master? Why does he do nothing while I cut off his right hand?”
“He… He…,” Fiona faltered, “He knows what he’s doing.”
The vampire queen seized the opportunity before her and sent Fiona tumbling to the ground.
“Ah, yes,” said Lady Amata as she disarmed the fallen Fiona, “I’m sure that he does. He knows when to run—.”
Another roar broke out from the abyss, only this time much louder and more pronounced. Whatever was coming from the dark depths below, it was approaching at a furious pace.
A glowing white serpent emerged from the blackness, hundreds of feet long and clutching the body of what appeared to be O’larg within his many rows of teeth. It was a Leviathan, straight from the nether and burning with the anger of the last summoner. With the creature’s elongated and bottle-nosed snout, it gnawed on the bridge and the countless men caught within its grasp.
“What that hell is that?” Steven asked as he dashed towards the temple with Samuel right behind.
“Like I said before,” Samuel huffed, “I’d rather not come close enough to finding out.”
The few lucky ones managed to get out of the gigantic monster’s path, but the rest were burned alive from contact with the Leviathan, forced to throw themselves off the ledge to avoid another second of the creature’s touch.
They clamored for forgiveness, repented for their sins— all in the hope of surviving the monster’s destructive path.
“We didn’t know any better!”
“We didn’t mean to anger you, oh powerful one!”
“Please forgive us, fish god!”
The Leviathan listened little to their pleas of mercy as it used its tail to trash violently against the ground beneath the horde. It shrieked and growled in vehemence as it continued its rampage through their ranks.
Lady Amata watched in horror as the creature ripped her army to shreds. The sight of her army crumbling had disrupted the flow of battle long enough for Amata to forget about the danger that lay on the ground before her. Everything she had worked for, torn apart or in the process of being so, an end of times for her people.
If she was to have any chance now, it would be with the death of the summoner. Amata moved from atop the beaten Fiona and started her ascent up the hill towards the Temple of Prometheus.
Only there would she find that one last hope she had of ending the war and retaining some of the power she still wielded. The death of the summoner— a task proving increasingly more difficult with ever encounter.
* * * * *
Atune Samora Marrosh Vesti
The twin dragons engraved onto the floor of the inner sanctum watched over the proceedings with anticipation, two inanimate objects given life by the power of the summoner’s of old. They weren’t just a symbol for her people— they were her people, infused with the same white aura that coursed through Emily’s bones.
Selune Trelunda Jakar Vesti
With hands pressed and eyes closed, the summoner chanted in her native tongue, endowed to her in a moment of clairvoyance while she lay on the floor. Her body may have stayed on the floor of the Temple of Prometheus, but her mind had traveled to a place much farther away.
Marlo Retunda Zabesh Vesti
Far past the edge of the galaxy and the universes that lay beyond, through realities and parallel dimensions. Her people transcended all of that, and where she believed to be alone, now realized she was one in an existence of trillions. She wasn’t human, at least not any more.
Vesti
A summoner was the manifestation of pure energy, an avatar of celestial and cosmic magnitude, sent to watch over life in all its many shapes and sizes. While her people might’ve ceased to exist in this world, they thrived and lived amongst more stars than possible to count. They were everywhere, calling out to her and sending Emily their strength— strength she would see put to good use.
Vesti
And with the ritual’s final words, the bright light that encased Emily ceased to be and she was brought back down to the inner sanctum where Xander laid waiting. He looked worried about the summoner, but was hesitant to step closer, having just witnessed but a fraction of the summoner’s power.
Outside of the temple, the vampire queen was still on her way towards the long hallway before the inner sanctum. No one could stand in here way now. Her victory was finally at hand. Or so she was led to believe.
A blinding white light burst through the temple’s exterior walls and engulfed the entire cavern in its aura. At once, the collective paranormal realm cried out in agony, the blaze of light burning them from the inside out. It wasn’t just the caverns that were illuminated by the summoner’s aura, but the whole paranormal world. Hundreds of thousands cried out in unison as their bodies tore apart, molecule by molecule.
“What the hell’s happening?” Steven asked, oblivious to what was transpiring, “They’re all just… flopping around and screaming out in pain.”
“I think it’s working,” Samuel said with an arched brow, “Come, we should get to the temple immediately.”
The two vampire hunters couldn’t see the blinding light that encased the cavern; close to the paranormal realm, yet just outside its otherworldly presence. They were human, and as such, immune to the effects.
Elsewhere, closer to the steps of the Temple of Prometheus, the vampire queen fought through the pain and rose to her feet. She had never felt anything like this, but with each step she took, the pain seemed to subside slightly. It was happening. She was beginning to be that which she feared most. She was becoming insignificant.
Amata didn’t have much time, and most likely she was already too late, but she had to try— it was in her blood. She might not have been a vampire queen any longer, but she was still royalty. Born and raised to bow to no one. Amata would fight, until she couldn’t fight anymore.
“I hope you didn’t forget about me, my liege,” a woman’s voice said from behind, “I think the playing field just got leveled.”
Lady Amata turned around sharply and was struck in the face by a now-human Fiona. Blood rushed from her nose and splattered in every direction as she hit the ground with a thud.
“I believe now it’s your turn to beg for forgiveness,” Fiona said as she grabbed the former queen’s sword and pressed it against her chest, “Beg for me.”
“I’ll get nothing from me,” Lady Amata whispered through blood-stained teeth, “I die on my own terms… not yours.”
“Good,” replied Fiona, removing the steel from Amata’s skin, “You’ll live… though I fear it’s a fate far worse than death, milady.”
Her life spared, the former queen of the parano
rmal shrieked in frustration, her entire world having crumbled around her. Death would’ve been a release for her, the sweet satisfaction that she wouldn’t be forced to live as one of them, wouldn’t have to be insignificant ever again— a release now taken away from her and never to return.
In the brightest of flashes, the world changed forever. A collection of races lost to the world, each with a history that surpassed even the humans that replaced them. Not that its human populace even batted an eyelash while the change occurred, but it would be felt through every facet of their life, whether they realized it or not.
And finally, back in the inner sanctum of the Temple of Prometheus; an empowered, but drained summoner was still trying to make sense of the projections she had seen in her mind. It was a wealth of information, but perhaps too much, and she found myth impossible to separate with fact.
Protector. Guardian. Summoner. They were all just words, but they resonated within Emily and gave her the strength to see herself off the ground and back towards the door.
Xander was still with her, having refused to participate in the war that raged only a few hundred feet from his present location. He was a warrior, bred for battle and wise in its ways, but still he refused to lift a finger, even to protect his own kindred— vampiric children that he no longer held parentage of.
“Is it over?” Emily asked as she stumbled towards Xander, “Is the war finally at an end?”
“Yes, my dear,” said Xander, running to help support the summoner, “It’s over… I can feel it.”
“Then the vampires are gone?” Emily inquired with her head hanging low, “Along with the werewolves and trolls and all the other ungodly creatures that have been chasing us? They’re all human once more?”
“Yes. The horde is no more.”
Emily sighed in relief and allowed herself to think of the home she left behind. It had been months since she let herself go back in memory to the place she grew up. Those thoughts were short-lived, however, as she came across a harrowing discovery.
“Xander,” whispered Emily, “I can’t feel your heart beating.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Your heart,” Emily restated, “It should be beating, but it’s not.”
“Yes, I guess it should,” Xander said, “You see, had you of time to read Mitra’s scrolls thoroughly, you would’ve undoubtedly come to the realization that the ritual has no effect within the temple’s walls.”
“What are you saying?” Emily asked.
“That I owe you my life, dear summoner,” Xander replied with fangs bared, “I’m the last of my kind… and a new order will be born from my bloodline. I couldn’t have done it without you, and for that, I’m eternally indebted to you.”
With Xander’s true nature uncovered, he grabbed hold of Emily and sunk his teeth into the summoner. They were both the last of their kind, locked in a struggle of dominance that only one could survive. His plan, decades in the making and now finally unraveled for the world to see.
The true villain had emerged— a vampire king to replace the deposed queen.
Chapter Eight
She could feel the blood drain from her body, the hue flee from her skin and her knees quiver from the weight of her bones, getting all the heavier as the blood escaped through the fangs lodged in her vertebral arteries.
She should’ve seen this coming, not that such thoughts would do her any good. Not now. Emily had failed to listen to her mother’s dire warning, and now was paying with her life.
“I’ll fight you,” Emily whispered, “I’ll fight you to the ends of the world.”
“No, you won’t.”
“I’m stronger now… strong enough to stop you,” said Emily, gathering her strength, “I’m not the same girl that was once so easily taken in by your charms.”
“Yes, you are.”
“Are you so sure?” asked Emily as she lifted her head. Her eyes burnt bright with infinite power, and while her blood may have been draining from her body, she found her summoner heritage unspoiled and ready for channeling. “Would you bet your new order on it, Xander?”
Xander cried out in pain as a bright azure aura swallowed up Emily’s entire frame. Caught red handed, Xander was burning alive and unable to free himself.
Emily raised her hands and used the particles in between Xander and herself to form a bond around him and used it to catapult him across the chamber.
He collided with a snapping of bones and spraying of blood, broken by the summoner’s will and raw power. His ruse had been carefully crafted and expertly positioned, but he failed to understand the power he was playing with. In the end, he learned. Xander lay there, slumped against the limestone wall, motionless and unable to defend himself.
“Emily!” shouted Steven as he pushed open the massive stone doors to the inner sanctum, “You’ve done it! You’ve won the war!”
Steven and Samuel charged through the door, faces beaming and removed of their steel and armor. They hooted and hollered over their victory, all the way over to Emily, where they propped her up into the air and cheered for their champion.
“I was cut, stabbed and almost impaled,” Steven jeered, “But it was all worth it to see that look on the vampire queen’s face as Fiona popped her in the nose!”
“How the heck did you summon that massive creature?” Samuel asked, “The thing must’ve been as long as a football field!”
“And where is Fiona?” asked Emily as she was tossed around by her friends, “Esther, as well. I don’t see either of them here.”
“I don’t know,” Samuel said, “I just assumed she made it here before us.”
“Good,” said Emily, motioning for them to put her down, “I would like to see them as soon as possible.”
“Hey,” an alarmed Steven asked, “What happened to Xander? I thought he was in here with you the whole time?”
Emily’s sight when to the location where Xander had fallen, but only the blood exhumed from his body lay present. He had escaped when eyes had been averted, cast back into the darkness once more.
“He… he has…,” Emily wavered, “He has no more place with us. Our paths have taken a far different course, though I’ve no doubt they’ll intersect along the way. We must prepare for that day... for I plan to give him hell!”
The three unlikely victors walked side by side out of the Temple of Prometheus and surveyed the destruction caused by the now overthrown vampire queen. Bodies littered the cavern, bridge and entrance to the temple, hundreds upon hundreds that were felled by the blades of their enemies. It was a horrific sight, but even more disturbing was how many were missing from the scene.
“Where did the horde go?” Steven asked.
“They slinked back into the night, no doubt,” Samuel said, “It seems our temporary allies have fled, as well.”
“So they were using us?” Steven inquired, “What was the point of it all?”
“Xander played his part to perfection,” Emily said, “He has become the last living vampire, and with it, he will create a new family… one where he reigns supreme.”
Xander. Gone. Fiona. Gone. Lady Amata. Gone. They were all gone, save for those unable to survive until their withdrawal. All except for one, wounded, but still very much alive.
“Oh my god,” said Emily, running down towards the bridge, “Samuel, come quick!”
Emily spotted the wounded woman, covered in blood and struggling to lift herself upright. She had been savagely sliced open, but luckily was able to heal fast enough before the temple’s aura ended their immortality. It was Esther, and she had been left behind, disregarded and forgotten, a weakness that needed to be cut from the new vampire tapestry.
“We have to help her,” Emily said as she applied pressure to the wound, “There’s got to be something we can do.”
The vampire hunter ripped off his sleeve and formed a makeshift bandage, which he promptly wrapped around her waist.
“She’s going to be all right,” Samuel
said, “She just needs some time to recuperate.”
“We should leave her,” Steven said adamantly, “They played us for fools… they used us to further their own sadistic agenda… and you’re actually considering saving her life?”
Emily looked up at her brother with a sadness that stemmed from both the known and the unknown. She had followed her feelings, her vision, and her connection to the summoner’s that came before. They had led her astray, or rather; they allowed her to lead herself astray.
“We save her, Steven,” said Emily, “We’re not like them… and we’ll never be like them. We save her… because that’s who we are.”
The summoners could’ve warned her, she tried to tell herself, but they already had once before. It wasn’t their fault that she was too blind to see the truth, wrapped in a cloak of darkness and calling itself a friend.
A Moonlit Night - The Complete Saga Page 26