Chapter Forty Eight: Arriving at the Capital and the 12 Realms

Another week passes by in the blink of an eye. Eris spends this week being tutored in the ways of Rimore's culture by Serena and also training Serena in combat with her subordinates. The encounter with Colton opened Eris' eyes. She now realizes that Serena is still nowhere near as powerful as she needs to be. Along with the thought that Reogradia might still have more of those black crystals, Eris now knows that there are at least six individuals that can easily stand toe to toe with the young vampire noble. She also learns many interesting things about the vampire nation.

For one thing, many of the items that were available to vampires in the game are completely unknown here, such as artificial blood generators and magic energy engines. With the artificial blood generators, vampires will not need to hunt monsters or humans for blood. And with the magic energy engines, Eris will be able to light the streets of the cities of Rimore. With her army of shades, creating these items around the entire country will be an easy task.

However, there's still the lingering threat of Reogradia eating at Eris in the back of her mind. After Colton's escape, Eris is concerned that the theocracy will get a better understanding of her power, and so, she is eager to take the vampire kingdom.

Eris is currently standing outside of the ruins, facing the entrance to the ruined city. In front of her are Hadrian, Chrono, Lucina, Serena, Rose, and another individual. The woman beside Hadrian has long, brown hair, tan skin, long, pointed ears, and yellow eyes with sharp pupils similar to those of a venomous viper. but her most noticeable feature is the thirty foot snake tail that starts from her waist. The scales on the snake tail have python-like patterns all along it. She wears dark red armor on her chest and forearms as well as thin, black gloves. Her stomach is completely exposed but she wears a dark red skirt that would go down past her knees if she had legs. Behind Eris is a massive army of shades.

"Well, the preparations are pretty much completed. How are all of you feeling?" Eris asks.

"I'm excited," says Serena in a cheerful voice.

"I'm the same as Serena, Empress. I can't wait to see the looks on those vampire's faces when they get a glimpse of your awesome strength," says the snake-tailed woman.

"Taila, we're going to the vampire kingdom to peacefully take over it. The key word here is 'peacefully.' Hopefully the mistress will only have to show her power during her fight with the current vampire king," explains Lucina.

"Then what are we bringing ten thousand soldiers for?" Taila asks.

"It's an extra layer of protection. Plus we're not going to flaunt them around. They'll be hiding in my shadow in case the vampires don't receive us kindly," Eris answers.

"Alright then. When we get to the capital of Rimore, we'll go straight to the king. Once you prove the progenitor and kick his butt, you'll be the new ruler," says Lucina.

"Sounds like a plan to me. By the way, Serena, is there anything else I need to know about vampire customs before we set out?" Eris asks, looking at the younger vampire.

"Nothing that I can think of. I've basically taught you everything my parents taught me so you should be alright," she answers with a smile.

"I'm glad. Alright, Shades, come to me!" On Eris' order the shades seem to sink into the ground, into their own shadows. Those shadows then fly towards Eris', merging with her own. There's now nothing behind the vampire and her subordinates, as if the army was never there, "Now, let's get going."

"Right!" they all answer.

With that said, Eris summons Thanosaur, and all of them climb on and begin their journey towards the capital of Rimore. On the back of Eris' massive, three-headed dragon the trip takes four days. They make sure to avoid any of the small towns or cities along the way, as Eris does not wish to make contact with the people until she's taken the throne. Finally, they arrive at the edge of a large hill that overlooks the capital.

Escelon is around the same size as the ruins that Eris and her group came from, if not a bit smaller. It also has a similar layout. There are four roads and four sections with a large building in the center. The four sections are divided into the northeast, southeast, northwest, and southwest while the roads are into the four cardinal directions and form a maze when inside the city walls. Most of the buildings seem to be made out of dark stone and straining her eyes, Eris sees that they have a sewer system in place. The vampire can also see street lamps with stones that brightly light up when night passes.

The building in the center of the city isn't as large as Eris' castle, but it has the same gothic theme. It's made out of very dark grey stone, and the center tower is the tallest on the castle. There's also a strange, dark blue light at the top of the tallest tower, which intrigues Eris.

"Serena, what is that light on the top of the tower?" the vampire empress asks.

"That's the portal that leads back to our home world," Serena answers.

"Your home world?"

"Yep. Didn't you come from it too, Eris? You were born on Necron, weren't you?"

Eris' eyes widen in shock at the young vampire's question, "Wait, Necron?! Necron exists?! Not only that, but they have a portal that leads to it?! Does that mean that the other realms exist as well?!" Eris clears her throat, "Yes, I was born on Necron. But, why did the vampires leave?"

"After the great war between the gods, Necron became infested with undead monsters. Vampires can't get nutrients from the blood of undead. We, as well as the ghouls, dark elves, chaos elves, demons, and anti fairies had no choice but to travel to the other eleven worlds, including this one."

"But if you've had so many conflicts with the other countries in this world, then why do you stay?" Eris asks.

"Most of the dark worlds are infested with powerful monsters. The original vampire king thought that we could talk things out with the beings of this world. However, that failed, and we were attacked. We were severely weakened after the first war. As it stands now, if we go back to Necron or another of the four dark worlds, our race won't be strong enough to survive. However, the current king has declared that if the humans should attack again, then we will escape back to our home world."

Eris places her hand on her chin as she thinks, "So all the twelve realms that were in the game exist here. Does that mean that the game was modeled after the world, or was the world modeled after the game? Moreover, they travel between worlds? If Necorn really does exist then why the hell is my castle, my army, and myself inside this world?!" she then asks Serena, "So which world is this?"

"This world is Grenar," she answers.

"Grenar is one of the neutral worlds. If I recall, it does not grant any boosts or negative effects to any race. However, it seems that there are some radicals in this world. I haven't even heard of a god or goddess called Reogradia. I wonder what I would find if I went to Necron and explored. Oh well. I'll put that on the 'to do later' list." she then turns towards the rest of her subordinates, "Alright. Let's go."

After saying that, Eris recalls Thanosaur and she and her group walk down the large hill and towards Escelon. Walking through the maze-like streets of the city, Eris takes notice of how developed their technology is. The technological level seems to be similar to that of the middle ages, if not a bit older. The roads are made of light grey stone slabs with sidewalks made of almost black stone slabs. The street lamps that light up the night are pitch black with a red stone.