The Dagon Archives VII

  • The Dagon Archives VII

    The cave's chill goes straight through your bones. The walls are covered with cold, enormous ice blocks, slowly dripping as you radiate heat. You decide to wait a second before descending down the icy cave. Each breath is like a small mist of a bone-chilling freezing sensation. You start to descend down the cave, sliding down the slippery, wet slope. You accidentally fall onto your bottom and get your lower garments wet and soggy. As you approach the bottom on you hear the crackling of fire, someone or something must be close. The bottom of the slope is greeted with a huge slam, almost snapping you tail bone. The sound echoes through the hallow cave, you know now that if there is anything in here that it sure as hell knows it's not alone. You get up quickly, and unsheathe your blade knowing that any minute now you might be in open combat. You hide behind a nearby wall, right next to the corner of the wall that leads to an open space. You let out a small peek to see what you are up against. You think there will be a dozen in their but to your surprise there is no one, no one at all. You walk away from your cover and sheathe your blade. You examine the open space. There is a lit fire with enough wood in it to last a whole night, chairs and a long table filled with enough food for a dozen lords and nobles. You look at the food on the table, there is: 3 loaves of long bread, wine, apples and juniper grapes. The table was paved with a clean and fine silver cutlery, something from the imperial palace, and golden goblets that had small jewels on the rim of every single one. As you walk up and down the table, examining everything for a trace of a clue as to who or what was or is here, you see a diamond jewelled goblet filled with red wine at the top of the table. You grab it, feeling for saliva on the rim but find none. The wine looks awfully tempting to drink, you fail to resist and take a sip.

    Instantly you spray the revolting liquid out of your mouth, looking like a wet mist of blood. The red wine tasted bitter and dry, you start gagging to try and get rid of the despising taste. Violently trying to get rid of the taste you do anything to rid your mouth of the taste of the poor wine. Suddenly, you hear skittering echoing through the cave from somewhere deep within. You drop the goblet and instantly and unsheathe your steel long sword and go forth into the inner depths of the cave. You walk with a stance of a saber cat ready to ambush a wandering traveller. At every turn you take cover and check for signs of the source of the echo. Finally you see something struggling, a pink worm wiggling under a snapped table. You put your sword on the side and decide to lift the wreckage to free the pink worm, only to discover it is in fact a small, harmless skeever. As soon as its tail is free it hastily skitters to a cheese wedge and vanishes into the inner depths of the cave. Ignoring the response of the unappreciative rodent you retrieve and sheathe your Great sword. You walk around to eat the bread in hopes it is not as despising as the wine.

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    The walk up to the icy, slippery, gentle slope up to the long table was a great annoyance. At the peak of the slope you see the table with the extravagant food and approach so that your hunger can be filled. Without warning a loud, fierce hiss is projected behind you. You turn around in an annoying fashion, thinking that it is just the skeever “repaying” the favor. You blink slowly, expecting to see the skeever in a pouncing position but as your eyes open you see a figure. The figure is lean but too far into the darkness to see its features.

     

    “Who’s there?” you ask the dark figure.

     

    There’s no reply, then out of the middle of nowhere the ominous figure casts a red ball of pure magic. You fail to dodge the ball of black magic and get hit by the black magic; you collapse. You start to pass out; the figure seems to teleport closer at every blink to complete unconsciousness. First blink it gets closer but still in the darkness; the second blink and the figure is out of the darkness, you see his pale white face wearing a deathly grin; the third blink darkness starts to consume your vision, the figure disappears. You wonder where it went, when all of a sudden fangs come into your view, you turn to face them only to see it is the pale man. You see his long black hair stacked on top of his head, and you realize he is a Breton and… a vampire.

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    His fangs enlarge to the size of saber cat teeth. Then he tries to feed but you kick him off with miraculous strength. The vampire flies into the air for a brief moment only to come crashing down and skid across the icy floor. You take this time to flee to the main area. You look back and see the vampire still lying on the frozen ground but looking at you with a deathly grin. You keep on running; you quickly turn a corner and slip a bit but get back on your feet in a second and keep on going. You look back and see the vampire casually turn around the corner you just passed; if u didn’t know better you would say that he didn’t know you were there. But then you see him give you a deathly glare that pierces your soul. There is a moment where you and the monster just stare at each other. You break the abomination’s hypnotic glare and keep on running to the open area not far away. You turn and weave around corners, every glance behind you see the vampire walking closer and closer.

    You turn around the last corner and see the slope that leads to the main space. The run up the arctic slope is difficult as the lack of frictions causes you to slip and slide. As the shadow peers down the last passage, you realize that you need to hurry up or you will become a vampire snack. You slip down the slope and take a few steps back and unsheathe your blade. You use the distance to run up the slope, you swing your blade into the ice sheet that makes up the floor. With the momentum you swing up the slope with a few easy steps. At the top you try to dislodge your steel Great sword from the thick sheet of ice. You see the shadow getting smaller as the vampire slowly approaches. You move the sword back and forth but it’s as if something is pulling it down into the ice. You focus all your strength on releasing the weapon but have no luck. You put your foot on the floor with a steady stance and start to lean back and pull, you almost fall due to the angle you are pulling at. You start to kick the sword, hoping a bit of a knock will make it budge. The sword doesn’t give so you leave it knowing that the monstrosity will be close in a matter of seconds.

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    You make a quick run of the rest of the slope. As you reach the top you glance behind you while continuing the ascent expecting to see the Breton vampire casually stroll around the corner with his deathly grin. Your expectations are instantly demolished. The vampire is not even close, isn’t even there nor is his daunting shadow, peering down the corner. You stop immediately, confused as to where he went. There is no evidence as to where he had vanished off to. No footprints, no blood marks, not even scratches on the ice sheets. Then it hits you; you remember that vampires have the ability to turn invisible. Without hesitation you turn around and sprint towards the main opening, knowing the vampire could be anywhere.

    Luckily you are only a few steps away from the main opening; and see the fire, long table and banquet; maybe there is something you can defend yourself with. Suddenly a hand comes out of thin air with a death grip on your neck. In a moment the vampire follows. Though the vampire is smaller than you, he lifts you off your feet. The long nails of the vampire is almost piercing through your skin, he is chocking you. You don’t speak, knowing you need to conserve your air. All you can do is glare at his bright, blank, yellow eyes; your gaze locked to his. The vampire ends the lock by talking.

    “You are very unlucky, finding yourself in my lair; the future lair of the strongest vampire clan in Tamriel!” 

    “Good luck”, you manage without releasing much air.

    “YOU DARE DOUBT ME!?” The vampire shouts, you can feel his nails dig deeper with anger.

     

    “NOTHING CAN STOP ME, NOT WHEN YOU HAVE A PACT WITH A GOD!”

     

    You gasp in terror, knowing that this is no ordinary vampire. You start to choke; the gasp having released all your conserved air. You start to struggle, trying to escape the death grip.

     

    “You want to escape?” the vampire asks rhetorically

     

    “Well here you go!”

     

    The vampire throws you forward onto the thick icy floor. Upon contact you skid across the hall, towards the cave entrance. You lie paralyzed from the trauma of the last few moments. The only movement is being able to move ever so slightly to see the vampire, whom is grinning with the excitement of some sport. The vampire heads towards the table; grabs the diamond jewelled goblet that you had drank from beforehand and takes a sip.

     

    “Mm. I love noblemen blood, so sweet” the vampire says in an indulging manner. The monster realizes you aren’t going anywhere and decides to continue talking.

     

    “You have no idea how hard it is to get noble blood. They always have their guards protecting them, such a nuisance.”

     

    “I… bet.” You manage to say sarcastically.

     

    “SILENCE! You only speak when I allow it.” The vampire quickly snaps back.

     

    “You are in the presence of the most powerful vampire in Tamriel. Too bad you won’t be alive to see it, for you see for my plan to work no one can know of my whereabouts. I’m truly sorry about this.”

     

    The vampire starts to come towards you, in the same fashion as before. He knows that there is no one who is going to come and save you, though you wish anything will come to save you. Anything! You would be glad even if those demons come and save you right here, right now but that fate is too good for you it seems. The vampire comes ever closer walking towards you as if coming to greet you. You manage to turn onto your back; at least that way you might be able to defend yourself from an attack. The vampire stops a few metres away from you, gives you a deathly stare; then says,

    “Time to meat your end”

    The battle cry is followed with a hiss, like a serpent readying to kill its prey, and a great charge towards you. The vampire approaches, but suddenly a powerful surge runs through you. Time slows down to a fraction of its speed and a ringing in your ears starts to occur. At the same time, it is as if a small blood vessel in your eye pops, your eye feels with a blood red color; the transition looks the same as dye diffusing into water. You think to yourself,

    “Not again…”

    Your body feels different, like it is enhanced. Automatically you are free from your winded paralysis. The vampire is still charging at you with his fangs enlarged but at a drastically slow rate. Even though you are freed from lying hopelessly on the group you aren’t able to separate yourself from the floor. Your movements are slowed down but not as much as the approaching vampire. Still lying on the floor on you back you don’t know what to do, even with your enhancements. Then, as if performing a ritual, you put your hands together; channel an unknown power between them. Suddenly you feel a small ‘bubble’ or ball of power create in between your closed hands. Slowly you separate your hands, a small flame is revealed. You separate your hands further into a dish like position, the magical flame hovers in the middle of your hands. You can see, in the background of your view, the vampire’s expression changes from aggressive and blood thirsty to confused and dazed. You don’t pay too much attention to him, instead focusing your power on the fiery sphere. Suddenly an extreme power surges through your body. You channel the power into the ball of fiery magic; it starts to slowly enlarge in magnitude. It grows from a small flame to a mega fireball. As it does this it illuminates your surroundings.

    You can see the vampire look on in horror as his face lights up. He stays frozen in his place above you. Time catches up to normal pace and the fire is burning quicker. You examine the magical burning fireball for a brief moment, marvelling at the power you have created. You and the vampire both stop for a second. It is broken the second the vampire realizes that he can use this moment to strike a deathly attack. As he leaps forward your extreme reaction time kicks in and fires the flaming ball of doom. You push your wrists forward, levelling your palms, in a synchronized fashion and aim the fireball into the vampire’s legs. The vampire makes his jump as his clothes catch on fire his fangs bared for the kill. He is heading towards you even as he burns, soon the fire touches his skin it and begins to disintegrate. The light devours his body and the fire soon follows. A trail of ash follows his burning body still coming towards you. The flaming vampire is directly above you, now burnt to less than half his original size but is now desperately trying to kill you before he dies. The vampire looks down as it heads towards your juicy neck. You look up to its face and see it burn from the inside out; his eyes glow brighter from the light emitted by the fire. The vampire is just a head now, his fangs are on your neck ready to feed but before he can puncture in they disintegrate into ash.

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    A coat of the ash from the incinerated evil vampire falls on top of you. You cough, as you get rid of some inhaled ash. You get up from the floor and brush yourself off from the monstrosity’s remains, deciding to keep a bit of the vampire dust, knowing that it has magical potency. Your eyes are still blood red and you are still boosted, you quickly eat a loaf of bread on the long table. As you are enjoying your bread an otherworldly voice projects its voice saying,

     

    “Et  Cess Oht Meht Eken  Lyr Iya Bedt Ekem Roht Ayum Tayum Oht Roht!”

     

    You look to where you think the source of the voice it is coming from; the tunnel leading to the inner depths of this frozen cavern. You drop your bread and head for the tunnel. On the way down you see your steel Great sword still lodged in the ice sheet. With one hand you dislodge the blade, give it a few swings and then sheathe it… 

    Now you are ready to fight!

Comments

2 Comments
  • David Mayer
    David Mayer   ·  March 13, 2013
    *thanks not that
  • David Mayer
    David Mayer   ·  March 13, 2013
    That Bilal, when I said "the vampire knows that you have nowhere to go" I was trying to show that it was obvious that you don't want to go back from where u came.