Fallen Ambitions

by Vann, Eric J.

  “Of course not, Pierre,” Sophia said as she loaded another bolt into her crossbow.

  Pierre only hummed sarcastically in reply. “That was a good shot, though,” he said, but everyone suddenly leapt into full alert as his innocent hum continued, reverberating around the room and bouncing back against the walls.

  “What’s going on?” Sophia cried, panicked.

  “Hush,” Nevani commanded as she spun slowly in place, her usually dim red eyes shining brightly in the darkness of the room.

  Valery was doing the same. The humming was coalescing into a single voice, a feminine one, but the sound seemed to come from everywhere at once: the floor, the walls, the furniture.

  “Where is it coming from?” Pierre asked as he stabbed his blade into the other three corpses for good measure. None of them reacted.

  The hum had a tune to it, an eerie sound, but then then the hum morphed into words. Valery frowned.

  “Is tha—?”

  “Be silent,” Nevani hissed, cutting her off, and the slave band tightened around Valery’s throat. In the silence that followed, they could all hear the voice speaking now:

  “Born he was to wealth and gold,

  Praise be, a king was home.

  Twenty years had come and gone,

  With love and strength, he led his own.”

  “Empress…” Sophia said, as she moved closer to Nevani. “Who is that?”

  “The reason we are here,” Nevani replied as she moved to the door ahead and pulled it open, her footsteps once again echoing through the palace.

  Valery and the two vampire escorts followed, then stopped short only a few steps into the next room. They had entered a vast hall—a ballroom, Valery thought. The voice continued:

  “But when he heard my voice of woe,

  His pride forced his hand to foe.

  The last hope of Cael went deep,

  Deep down to a place of old.”

  “Empress!’ Pierre cried out as he and Sophie positioned themselves in front of Nevani. Valery hadn’t noticed the other figures before, and she gasped.

  There were eight pairs. All wore elegant evening dresses and suits. They danced slowly in the center of the room. The voice continued unabated.

  “The brave rose up to meet his quest,

  They followed their liege to the darkest depths.

  Twenty days had come and flown,

  ‘til the praised king emerged alone.”

  “This is—” Sophia began.

  “I know what it is,” Nevani interrupted, the venom in her voice causing her two escorts to focus on the task at hand instead of speaking.

  Valery followed the group as they kept to the edges of the vast hall, making for a doorway at the far end, with Sophia and Pierre positioning themselves between Nevani and the dancing pairs at all times. As they drew closer, Valery could now see these people for what they were.

  Corpses. Just like the others they had passed, they were wounded, some still bearing knives or arrows.

  Just as Sophia had claimed, these people also had red eyes, very similar to those of Valery and the other vampires. She would have Inspected them, but she had been ordered to not use any of her skills without permission, and the slave collar would not let her break those orders.

  “With pendant in hand he spoke and spoke,

  A tale of death and hopeless notes.

  Upon his throne he pushed his own,

  Until they fell and he stood alone.”

  Pierre reached out to grip the handles of the doors—and as if waiting for that signal, all the dancing corpses stopped and turned as one. None of them blinked. Their eyes focused on Nevani, blood still dripping from some of their mouths and wounds.

  Sophie unleashed her bolt, no doubt thinking they were under attack. The bolt sank into the closest man’s chest, piercing right through the heart. But other than an unsteady step backward, he didn’t seem aware of her blow. He only stood there, silently staring as the voice continued its tale.

  “By blood he summoned them up once more

  They rose with sword and shield for war.

  Brothers, sisters forced to fight,

  Some for hope, and some for life.”

  “Leave them,” Nevani said as she entered the next room. “They are but puppets.” The voice continued to hum the tune, as they all entered what Valery realized was the throne room.

  Unlike the rest of the palace, this room was far from preserved. Great lines and streaks of blood painted the walls, floor and ceiling. They were symbols, Valery realized, but she couldn’t decipher what they meant.

  There were more bodies here—mostly soldiers, but one stood out amongst them. The corpse of someone everyone in the Empire knew. There he lay before his throne, bloody and cold.

  “For many years the nation fought,

  Ceaseless pain and death they wrought.

  The troubled king was put to death,

  Upon his sword a final breath.”

  Nevani moved to him, wearing an expression Valery had not seen on the Empress before. She was… upset.

  Slowly, tenderly, Nevani placed a hand on the forehead of the king of Cael, the last emperor of the Eternal Caelian Empire, her father. Like the others, his eyes were blood-red, but he did not move.

  The sound of footsteps startled Valery from the scene, and she turned just in time to witness a wave of corpses shuffle into the room, blocking their path back. There must have been hundreds of them. Servants, soldiers, nobles.

  “Empress,” Sophia said, her crossbow held at the ready as Pierre took a defensive stance with his sabre. “If they are as fast as we are… we won’t be able to take on this many.”

  Nevani didn’t reply as she continued to stroke her father’s black hair. The voice, which had remained silent for a time, now continued its story.

  “Vala’s wrath came swift and known,

  His tears rained down as bloodied stone.

  His own kin were forced to rise,

  To stop their Prime and his fatal cries.

  The silver phoenix fell to ground,

  His fall brought the darkest—”

  “Enough!” Nevani cried out, her gaze finally leaving her father’s face to glare at a small amulet hanging innocently from the throne’s left armrest. “You’ve had your fun.”

  Valery glanced nervously between the growing crowd by the entrance and the amulet. The piece of jewelry was simple in its make: a small silver chain attached to a black spherical crystal. For a moment, Valery thought it might have been a necrotic mana crystal, but then the crystal’s color began to shift.

  It was as if a liquid within it was churning. Slowly, the black turned to amber, and a small eye formed to look back at them.

  The voice chuckled. “Nevani, you return. Have you come to fulfill your part of the bargain?”

  “I’ve come to claim you for my own,” Nevani said as she stood.

  The voice chuckled once more. “Your father went mad eventually, when he tried to use my power. But that does not matter, you have yet to fulfill your part of the bargain.”

  “I came—”

  “You would be dead if not for me. Well, more dead,” the voice interrupted in a menacing tone. “Or have you forgotten the frightened girl, holding on to her father’s corpse as his killers circled around her? Have you forgotten the knife’s sting as it pierced your own body? Your former friend and most loyal confidant looking down at you with such malice as you bled?” The orange eye shifted to look at one pool of blood amongst the others, but this one lacked a body. “There she lay, weeping, begging for help,” the voice continued.

  Valery glanced at Nevani. She had always thought the princess had escaped her father’s fate… but from the look of things, she had been wrong.

  “You turned me into a vampire,” Nevani snapped back.

  “I gave you my gift. A gift which helped you and your guards survive. It even gave you the strength to beat back your attackers and escape.”

 
Nevani looked at the entrance, then at the amulet again. “I want my Empire back,” she said, sharply.

  “That was not our deal. You agreed to spread my gift to a list of people I provided throughout these long years. And you promised me a bond, and I shall have it, or I will reclaim my gift and turn you and your flock into more puppets to play with.”

  A list? Valery thought just before Nevani took a step closer to the throne.

  “Every person you asked for was given the Blood Curse—whether they survived it or not I did not check nor care for. I don’t know what you hoped to achieve by bestowing random peasants all across the land with your gift. As for the bond: help me reclaim my rightful place,” Nevani said, looking down at her father’s corpse again. “Do not think I am unaware how you whispered into my father’s ear. Ever since he returned from the Underdark with you, he grew paranoid and unreasonable. All that aranite you told him to retrieve from the Great Wilds, building that ridiculous palace in the mountains… It drained the Empire. And for what? Nothing. The treasonous slut was able to infiltrate it, loot whatever she could from the outer chambers, seal the outer gate and cave in the tunnels for miles. She took everything my father built because of you, before coming here to slay him.”

  “Is that how you remember it?” the voice chuckled. “What befell your father is none of my concern. But you misunderstand, Nevani. I simply showed him the truth. How small and insignificant you all are, squabbling over dirt. It was he who decided to build up that tiny retreat in the Wilds to create Rolani Palace, to safeguard those he held so dear. I only directed him to gather materials and store them there. The ignorance of your own people brought his demise. All he did was try to prepare the perfect offering and await the return of the Sovereign—my beloved Master, the true lord of this realm. To put your Empire squarely in his good graces.” The voice chuckled again. “Despite his fate, he played his role well.”

  Nevani’s lips twisted. “I care little about your petty games. You owe me an Empire.”

  “Owe you? No… I owe you nothing. Breaking that troublesome shield has freed my senses. I see where the blood of fate flows once more, and one of those random peasants you spoke of has walked the path I foresaw. The task I gave you has borne its fruit. The Sovereign is free and walks Kadora once more.” The crowd of blood puppets began to drop one after the other, and with each corpse the enormous blood symbols which covered the throne room began to come alive.

  The voice let out a dark laugh. “Oh, how amusing. How things have changed during my isolation.”

  “What are you talking about?” Nevani snapped, making no effort to hide her displeasure.

  The pendant’s amber eye shifted from Nevani to the other two vampires, then landed on Valery. “Her. I choose her to bond with.”

  Nevani looked at Valery in shock. “Her? She is my slave.”

  “She is the only one likely to be spared from Reaper’s hunt, and Reaper never fails to catch his mark.”

  “Reaper?” Nevani asked, furiously. “Who is this Reaper?” Valery very much wanted to know, too, since this conversation had suddenly and unexpectedly shifted to her.

  The pendant did not respond to Nevani. Instead, it addressed only her.

  “Come, Valery Novaul,” it said, “daughter of Lord Dullumar Novaul. Bond with me.”

  Valery tried to speak, but the power of the collar interfered again.

  The pendant blinked, and Valery felt the constricting band around her neck tighten—then crumble to pieces. It took her less than a moment to elongate her claws and charge at Nevani, who was in too much of a state of shock to react. But just as her claws were about to gouge the Empress’s throat out, Valery’s body froze in place.

  Pierre and Sophie had turned to attack her, but now they also froze. And from the way Nevani was scowling, she could not move either.

  “Behave, little children. Nevani is not your kill to make, Valery Novaul. Even I won’t take Reaper’s prize from him.” The eye switched to Nevani. “Your pet dog comes, Nevani. He brings dire news.”

  On cue, Sukan ran into the throne room, accompanied by three other vampires. They all looked worse for wear. “Empress, we must leave,” Sukan announced.

  Valery’s body moved of its own accord, bringing her closer to the throne and the pendant hanging from it. Nevani and her two escorts were also freed, their attention turning to Sukan. “What is it now?” the empress snapped.

  “Bhaar comes. The rest are holding for as long as they can.”

  “The golem of light will slay you all,” the pendant said calmly, “unless you bond with me.” Its gaze focused on Valery once more.

  “Death couldn’t come fast enough,” Valery said fiercely.

  “Ah…” the pendant said in an amused tone. “But then you wouldn’t have the chance meet your dear older brother, if you were truly dead.”

  “What?” Valery said, the statement catching her off guard. “My brother died in an accident a long time ago.”

  “That’s what they tell everyone whose noble sons and daughters are chosen for secret assignments, don’t they, Nevani?”

  Nevani glared at Valery, then at the pendant, but did not say a word. At the same time, heavy footsteps sounded from the direction of the entrance of the Eternal Palace, followed by a deep, rumbling voice. “Aurora,” it echoed, and the same green and blue light which had lit the skies outside now washed over the ceiling of the palace, including the throne room.

  “Time is running out,” the pendant said, then chuckled. “I can only bond with the willing.”

  Valery bit her lip, her claws digging into her palms as she squeezed her fists closed. Vhal’nuel was alive?

  She remembered her older brother. He had read her stories until she slept, took care of her when she was sick, and escorted her to school each morning. Her mother had passed away during Valery’s birth, and with her father so busy among the nobles and her sister holding such a high title within the faction, raising Valery had fallen to her brother—at least until he was taken away, leaving her alone at such a young age. As the second born of a noble family, he was promised to the Imperial Family service.

  Weeks later, they had been notified of his death. An accident, the officials called it, but would not elaborate. She had mourned for him; the whole family had. Her eldest sister had tried to find out more, but if she had succeeded, she never told.

  “Is he really alive?” Valery asked as the heavy footsteps came closer. Sukan and the other vampires were taking up defensive positions around Nevani, who had moved to a corner of the room to avoid the fingers of light beginning to form above.

  “Mmm… alive is strong word,” the pendant drawled. “As alive as you?”

  He was undead, then. That made some sense—not even elves could have lived for so long. Valery’s mind was made up in that instant; how much worse could it be than what she had experienced so far? At least now, she might meet Vhal’nuel again.

  “I agree to the bond.”

  “Perfect,” the voice said as Valery snatched up the pendant and quickly put it on.

  At first, nothing seemed to happen. But then she felt it: waves of power flowed through her, her vessel expanding to several time its size as the very fibers that made up her body began to morph and change—to strengthen.

  Red lines and swirls formed all over her skin before settling there as tattoos. She could not believe the intense amount of mana coursing through the markings. It was as if her very body had been enchanted. Valery closed her eyes, enjoying the intoxicating sensations… until a worrisome notification formed before her.

  Warning, registered threat detected. Cease all action immediately and await Overseer evaluation.

  Ignore it, the voice said, but this time it was only in her head. If they dared to face us, then dear Geskian would be here already. In fact…

  “They?” Valery asked, just before her entire body felt like it had been set on fire. Her blood was boiling within her. Valery clenched her teeth as she raise
d one arm, the burning beginning to accumulate in one area. Her mark.

  The diamond shape bubbled and liquefied, before it turned black and fell from her body. It hit the ground like a drop of black ink. Valery felt power explode within her, as if heavy restraints had suddenly been broken off her. “What is this?” she asked, dazed but full of excitement.

  You have much to learn, my host, the voice replied with a chuckle. I can hear your thoughts, so you need not speak aloud.

  “Oh,” Valery said, before noticing her mistake. I mean… she thought instead.

  I’m going to have much fun molding you… the voice said. But first, we have an Ascended to deal with.

  Valery extended her arm in front of her, examining the blood-red tattoos. She was still getting used to the energy and power coursing through her. At this moment, she felt like she could take on an army. Even so, the idea of fighting off an Ascended still gave her pause.

  Why am I protecting Nevani? she thought as she glanced back at the Empress, who glared back at her with so much malice Valery thought it might actually cause her physical harm. If you won’t let me kill her myself, at least let Bhaar take her.

  Forget about Nevani for now, the voice replied, and just then, the doors to the throne room were smashed open. A figure tall enough to tower over Valery stepped inside, its entire body made of a yellow and white polished rock. It raised two thick hands, and the fingers of light which hovered in the air above them began to stretch further toward the ground.

  “You enter this cursed place uninvited,” Bhaar said, his voice exactly how Valery imagined a throat made of rocks would sound.

  Unfortunate he has no blood… the voice in her head murmured. No matter, I will be taking control now.