Killing Monsters

by R T Islington

  It’s not known what Valour spent his life doing or teaching but what Is known is he led his necromancers to a place on the map they could call their own, a place located at the northern section of Centre Plate. At first this area was abandoned due to the infestation of wild beasts that patrolled the surrounding wilderness and killed any passers-by, but the necromancers crushed these beasts with the might of their dark magic then settled here. They decided to name their settlement ‘Boneyard Valley’ a name inherited from the bones of beings they had slain in battle and displayed as skeletons along the long walkway which lead to the entrance of the settlement. Raised undead skeletons were also used as guardians to this settlement and would kill intruders on site. Necromancers began collecting dark stones and bringing them back to their new home, years later their power was used to construct a giant dark pyramid in the centre of their settlement which was named ‘The Black Pyramid’ as it was made up of dark stones. This giant pyramid glowed a dark purple at night and became the heart of their territory. The sight of the glowing black pyramid at night filled the hearts of all beings with dread and due to this, very few would approach them.

  To this day nobody ventures to Boneyard Valley and nothing is known regarding the necromancer’s views on the current wars being fought.

  Vampires

  Who are they and where did they come from? These are the questions that helpless victims would ask before being slaughtered or when in hiding. Very few races appear with a mystique shrouded in unknown origin, but one thing is for certain, when the vampires showed up, Dragons Continent itself shook with fear.

  The vampires started appearing around the year 195 near the northern sections of the East and Centre plates of Dragons Continent, small groups of them appeared and would be seen stalking small villages and settlements at night. They spoke the native language of humans but with a strange twang, unheard before by all of Dragons Continent, and from the day they emerged they stalked all living things as if they were figuring out how to interact, though the truth was their intentions were much darker. The vampires would stare right through wary beings with soulless eyes, as if their very stare itself served a purpose, the truth was it did, they were studying their prey. Many villages and settlements of humans, elves and dwarves began meeting regularly to discuss these sittings to try and ascertain where these new unnerving creatures where coming from, however when patrols were sent out to make contact, the vampires would seemingly vanish during the day and reappear at night and upon being chased at night they would disappear as if they were swallowed up by the night itself.

  The looks of these new creatures were menacing, both the men and women of this unseen race shared the same traits. Their skin complexions were pale and white, no different to the shade of white that one turns when dead, their hair was black and long and would blow gracefully during the cold night breeze. The eyes of these beings were completely black and soulless, and they had sharp pointy ears much like bats and red lips. Their teeth were flawless and pearly white with sharp fangs on either side of their mouths and their fingernails were razor sharp and of a blood red colour. The height of these beings varied much like humans and so did their body types from slim, fat, muscular and athletic builds being spotted. The mysterious beings had the ability to levitate and fly high out of sight, much to the shock of those who would witness this with no other beings on these lands being able to do this. It was common when being stalked to feel the presence of some kind of evil and upon turning and catching a glimpse of these soulless creatures, they would merely give a smile that reeked of evil before flying off or disappearing into the black of the night. The vampires only dressed in black, white, and red clothing with the women sporting glamorous dresses and tightly fitted leather which suited their perfect physiques and the men wore traditionally tailored outfits. After the vampires seemingly spent considerable time stalking and watching, it became known that in actual fact, they were marking their prey!

  Grisly discoveries were being made in villages and settlements where these evil looking beings were watching, and dead bodies would appear in the mornings with multiple bite marks and puncture wounds. Elven biologists were called in by humans to inspect the dead bodies, they revealed that no wild beasts had been doing this, the bite marks were of a human shape and there were puncture marks usually around the neck, lower arms or inside legs, typically in places where main arteries were. The elves also discovered that despite these grisly and painful deaths, the bodies were further drained of blood, as if some entity had drunk them alive.

  These new discoveries were terrifying to the people of Dragons Continent and were made worse when children started to go missing then show up dead days later with the exact same wounds and traits of previous victims. In the smaller villages, entire families were disappearing, their remains would also show up days later with the same horrific evidence to prove they died due to similar attacks. As time went on, the races of Dragons Continent grew more and more fearful of the fate that awaited them at night, until one evening a note was found stuck to the door of a family home that was occupied by a group of elves that had been slaughtered, the note was stuck to the door by the blood of the victims and simply read,

  Meet us at Dark Wood Valley.

  Dark Wood Valley was a small woodland located at the northern section of Centre Plate. Uninhabited and dark most of the time, the woodland boasted small caves and adjoining waterfalls, the trees grew so high here they would block out the strongest sun rays which created a permanent dark environment. The people of Centre Plate were confused, scared and weakened by this grim note, furthermore, they were anxious, as it came to light that the two young sons of this recently slaughtered elven family were still missing, with only the bodies of the parents and the eldest daughter being left bloodless and dead on the floor.

  The people were almost frozen with fear due to these revelations and began contemplating retreat, until a brave dwarf called Adrik rose up to rally the people. Adrik, though small like all dwarves, had bags of energy and bravery! He cursed, he was tough and his dwarven pride would not let him back down, for he is forbidden to bring shame to his proud people.

  Adrik spoke gallantly to the people of this settlement whose fears had unified them, he roared and addressed them all. “People of all races listen to me! This is our land forged by our hands, our crops, grown by our care and our homes built with our skill! We will not surrender to any evil!”

  People began to listen, empowered by the bravery of this small dwarf. Adrik continued, “If you value your loved ones, your children, your friends and family, then join me! I say we take the fight to these bastards and show them they face free people of free land here!”

  The people cheered, they were cheers of both anger and hope. This newfound hope and roar captured an elven girl's respect who was prolific with fire magic, her name was Herenya. She marched to Adrik’s side using her staff to create a blast of fire. “You’re a bit small to take on an evil like this, I guess I’ll give you a hand.”

  Adrik laughed at the young elves joke. “You cheeky fucker!”

  Somebody shouted from the crowd, “Where is Jake the famous spearman?”

  Jake was a fearsome human warrior who had superior combat skills and was alleged to be the best spearman on Centre Plate. Jake did not appear.

  Trying to not allow the people to feel disheartened, Adrik declared, “I wouldn’t expect a human to help, selfish bastards, they're probably running away already or planning on saving themselves!”

  Adrik’s insult caused some jeers amongst the humans in the crowd, until a tall man covered in a cloak appeared and pushed his way through the crowd and stood in front of Adrik. He revealed his face and smiled. “As if I’d let a little prick like you get all the glory!”

  The people cheered once more as the man was the famous spearman, Adrik and Jake laughed then the three individuals backed by a mob of empowered vigilantes headed to Dark Wood Valley.

  The band of would be justice seek
ers arrived at Dark Wood Valley, there was an eerie silence deep within the wood, until whispers were heard.

  “Halt!” Jake whispered to Adrik and Herenya who then signalled the others.

  They stood at the entrance of a small cave where the whispers got louder. A figure emerged from the cave, tall and slim, dressed in black with matching black lifeless eyes and cold evil smile. The mysterious man spoke with a soft evil tone. “Welcome, my little piglets, and thank you for giving yourselves to me.”

  More of the mysterious creatures emerged from the cave to stand behind the mysterious man who was clearly the leader, their eyes were also black and soulless, and their smiles seemed to increase by an excitement of what was about to follow.

  Adrik stood forward. “Who the fuck are you people?” he couldn’t control the sound of fear in his tone.

  The tall man’s smile widened as if he was turned on by the fear of his prey before its demise. “Do not fear. I will tell you everything. Consider it a parting gift before your life gives me life. My name Belial.”

  Belial clicked his fingers and another one of the unknown creatures appeared, cradling one of the missing sons from the slaughtered family. The boy was presented to Belial, much to his pleasure.

  “I want to go home,” sobbed the child.

  Herenya shrieked, “You’re a fucking monster, give him back!” She created a fire ball in her hand which seemingly scared the creatures.

  Belial shouted back defiantl, “He and his brother’s lives are in my hands. Do be careful!”

  Jake restrained Herenya and moved closer to Belial. “What are you doing and what do you want?”

  The smile on Belial's face began to disappear, and an expression of spiteful anger emerged. He spoke again. “What do I want? I want life!”

  The little boy shrieked as Belial bit into the neck of the child, seemingly tearing his small head off and drinking the blood! Herenya dropped to her knees and Jake froze as if the horror of what they had witnessed paralysed them. Adrik began to tremble with rage and grabbed his hammer.

  “Not so fast!” another ghastly creature shouted whilst bringing out the second missing child!

  The creatures started to laugh and whisper to one another, pointing at different people in the mob of vigilantes, openly discussing who they shall feast on first. “I bet that little dwarf tastes divine.” was shouted openly.

  Upon finishing his evening feast of child’s blood, Belial regained his composure and called the second child over who was covered in a black cloak, the cloak was removed by Belial to reveal the child who was now different. The child’s skin was white, his lips were red, and his eyes were now also black and lifeless. The child shrieked like a wild beast then jumped onto his dead sibling, licking and feasting on the little blood Belial had left. The mysterious creatures laughed hysterically at this sick sight.

  The child looked up at Belial. “I want more,” he groaned innocently.

  Belial responded soothingly, caressing the boy’s cheek. “Very soon.”

  Belial began to levitate and hover closer to Adrik, Jake, Herenya and their mob with an eerie sense of power, he then stopped, meters away from them, he puffed out his chest and tensed his muscles screaming loudly which shook the leaves on the trees and then a tearing sound was heard. To everyone’s shock, a pair of huge bat-like wings had sprouted from his back, the wings were black and seemed to shine in the darkness and Belial’s physique and muscle mass had grown as if he had tapped into an ancient evil and unknown latent power.

  Belial smiled again and menacingly addressed his perceived victims. “Allow me to explain who we are and how you shall all serve!”

  With Adrik and his newly assembled team seemingly at the mercy of these new creatures, Belial took his time and delight in telling them of their origins. They had come from lands far north of Dragons Continent, shattering the world of which Adrik, Jake and Herenya knew of, as surely there were no lands other than Dragons Continent!? Belial explained in their native lands they are referred to as vampires and live on seclusive islands in giant castles, only ever leaving to feed on innocent victims. The blood they feed on gives them life and enables them to live for hundreds of years enhancing their powers. They occasionally leave their islands to colonise and take over new lands. Humans and other beings are nothing more than cattle and kept and farmed to create endless supplies of blood. It was further explained that they do not just kill, when happy to do so they can secrete a toxin from their fangs that turns those bitten into vampires or ‘New Bloods’ as referred to in vampire culture. This is done to increase their numbers and pass down this viewed gift to those who are deemed worthy. They had actually left their lands some time ago and had been secretly building a colony on a deserted island just north of Centre Plate before venturing deeper into the centre and eastern plates in search of blood supplies. Belial revealed he was nothing more than an explorer whose job it was to search for new lands and serve his superior lords. He boastfully informed Adrik and his people that as strong and powerful as he was, they had only seen a small example of vampire might. Belial was happy to continue talking until he was interrupted by one of his fellow vampires.

  “ENOUGH!” was shouted by one of his followers.

  “It’s time to feed,” was also shouted.

  Belial turned to Adrik, Jake and Herenya and warned, “I think I’ll turn the three of you. It will be good to have new bloods native to this land, however your friends . . . are cattle, and I’m still hungry!”

  The vampires charged and moved menacingly quick! One of Adrik’s people stabbed at a vampire, it had no effect, the vampire laughed and snapped the neck of his victim. Adrik started swinging his hammer wildly, knocking away the vampires and breaking bones but they got back up. The archers started to fire their arrows, they missed due to superior vampire speed and those that did hit, caused little damage. Jake charged at Belial with his spear, he missed with every strike as Belial laughed. Jake landed a thrust directly into Belial’s stomach impaling him firmly, it was merely a wound to the powerful vampire and Belial un-impaled himself whilst Jake looked on in horror.

  Belial bellowed loudly, “Can’t you see, you're NOTHING!” and with one uppercut Belial sent Jake flying across the floor with Jake dropping his spear and landing on his back.

  Belial snarled, “Can’t you see, we are the perfect race!”

  Jake looked around to witness sheer horror, they were being slaughtered. Adrik was wounding as many as he could with his magically imbued hammer, but it was not enough as the vampires continued to kill with proficiency. Belial marched forward to land the finishing blow but stopped dead in his tracks. A ray of sun managed to find a way through the woodland which burned Belial's skin, much to the relief of Jake!

  Jake smiled and taunted Belial. “You cunt! So that’s why you hide in the fucking shadows!” A vampire screamed as it was burned alive by a fire attack from Herenya. As like all elves, Herenya was fierce with magic and she was smart! She quickly discovered fire can kill the evil foreign creatures, she began firing off more pyro energy blasts Jake shouted to Adrik, “The trees! Knock the trees down! It’s the sunlight they fear!”

  Upon hearing this, Adrik used his might and started knocking down the trees with his mighty dwarven hammer! More and more sunlight shone through, burning the skins of these wicked beings.

  Belial charged towards Jake. “You’ve said enough you pest!”

  As Belial lunged, Jake reached for his spear and turned whilst hoisting the spear upright which pierced straight through Belial's chest and through his heart.

  Belial started to bleed from his mouth and his skin started to crumble away like dried soil. “Impossible . . . this can’t happen. I’m . . . a . . . Vamp.” Belial whispered no more and crumbled away.

  “The hearts! Aim for the hearts!” Jake shouted frantically.

  The battle was ongoing, but it seemed to be too little too late, as Adrik grew tired and couldn’t lay down any more trees. Herenya’s fire magic
grew weak and she began to fatigue and as the vampires looked to secure victory, howls and roars were heard! The vampires stopped their attack as the howls and roars got closer.

  Adrik was now exhausted and slumped over, he looked into the woodland, he then smiled. “BLOOD MAIDENS! . . . WOLFMEN!” roared the dwarf!

  The blood maidens crashed into the battle on horseback, stabbing at vampires with their magnificent golden spears, they were led by the bringer of freedom, the mighty Akihiro Ena! The wolfmen followed behind, led by Briar, the giant beastly wolfmen transformed and became rabid, tearing, slashing and biting into vampire flesh. The new unified alliance pushed the vampires back to the edge of the wood and out of the cover of darkness. One by one the vampires dropped and were burned by the sun!

  Herenya screamed, “keep one alive!”

  The battle ended and the vampires had been defeated, impaled through their chests by Jake and the blood maidens spear techniques, burned by Herenya’s fire, torn to pieces by the wolfmen and engulfed by sunlight thanks to Adrik’s dwarven hammer. The battle was won but no celebrations were heard as the one vampire they kept alive was the poor child turned by Belial.

  Akihiro approached the child sympathetically. “Poor boy, this is a fate worse than death.” He drew his sword and whispered solemnly. “I will end this for you boy.”

  Herenya roared, “NO!” she came to the boy’s aid and Akihiro paused. Herenya mercifully pleaded with Akihiro. “This boy is an elf like me so I will end it, but he must see the grand dragon first. Storm must see this.”

  Akihiro agreed and left with his blood maiden women, the wolfmen also left and marched back to Wolf Head Rock and Herenya, Jake, Adrik and their mob returned home with the new blood vampire child.