And What They Offered

Werf Town no longer existed.

When Walter arrived at the foot of the mountain he once dwelled in... he didn't see anything, no remnants of the place that used to exist.

Perhaps it had been destroyed by a calamity, a plague or simply the people chose to move away–but what mattered to the Blood Servant was that it was already gone.

He was not used to thinking for himself.

He had slept for so long that his mental capacity might have been reduced to only orders.

But after five centuries of no use, Walter looked around and then started to walk past the town that he once grew in and followed a trail that he saw.

He walked and walked barefoot.

He walked for so long that the moon already formed once more in the sky and stars glittered in the night sky and after five hundred years inside of a cave, he would be able to see them again–if only he had looked up.

However, he didn't.

Walter walked for so long that his muscles ached, but he didn't stop until he arrived at a place that wasn't Werf Town but it might have helped him with the orders given to him by his Master.

A guard located at the village pointed his spear in fear at the sudden incoming individual that walked out from the darkness–until he saw Walter and then even grew more wary.

"Who are you?"

Walter blinked and spoke. "Walter."

The guard blinked and didn't know what to say. The man didn't seem bothered with the weapon directed at him, there was no flinch at all and neither did he try to introduce himself further.

"What are you doing here?"

"Information?"

"About what?"

"Golden Order... general news," Walter said.

If the guard was any more wary, if he had come from a city or even a town that was more used to strangers and difficult people that seemed untrustworthy then he might have attacked, captured the man and then requested help from a superior.

However, the guard had a problem and he saw that Walter was barefoot, his fingernails were broken and actually still had dirt in between them and there was such a faraway and distant look in Walter's eyes–a man that was physically there and yet not mentally present.

The guard knew what that was like. He once saw his grandfather, a good man–a humble butcher raise his family with his own hands, blood, sweat and tears–then disappear as he reached the end of his life.

When the man who once served as the patriarch of their family became a burden to his family. When his own daughter did not wish anything for him but to die.

"Um, I'm William." The guard introduced with a pained smile and lowered his spear. "If you want information about the Golden Order? Well, I don't know much, not much news arrive here in Ferlker Village... but maybe I can help you get settled down and I'll help you tomorrow?"

Walter heard the words, 'Golden Order' and 'help' and dimly grasped what the man said. So he nodded.

"Good, I'll just change shifts with Markus and I'll bring you home, Walter."

–-

I had chosen to stay in the room and not leave–I had almost finished checking the conditions of all ten of my relic rings and they were all functioning, so the black obsidian ring didn't have any problems that prevented me from communicating with people.

Instead it simply meant that those I wished to communicate with were unavailable.

Black Obsidian Ring, Communication

Blood Red Ruby Ring, Blood Servant

White Pearl Ring, Mind Protection

White Diamond Ring, Magic Absorption

Green Emerald Ring, Health Regeneration

Orange Topaz Ring, Defense and Shield

Purple Amethyst Ring, Magical Amplifier

Yellow Sun Stone, Greater Protection from the flames and sun

Brown Ring, Greater Storage

The last one I needed to check was... the Blue Sapphire.

I didn't know why I chose it last, but as I tried to turn it on–something appeared in front of me. It wasn't strange to see something appear, magical sigils, traces and runes could appear when you wanted to cast magic and ensure that they were able to be reused. Or portrals.

However, what I didn't expect was to see something that was so familiar and yet foreign at the same time.

Name: Cassius Blackwell

Race: Vampire

Level: ???

Strength: ???

Dexterity: ???

Constitution: ???

Intelligence: ???

Wisdom: ???

Charisma: ???

Vampires did not have such a thing.

Vampires were supposed to be beings who couldn't have something like this... that showed details and statistics about them.

What was great about Vampires was the fact that their natures granted them the ability to be stronger than the others and this was–my headache returned and I dropped the ring to the ground.

I didn't know when it happened, but I hit the ground as a torrent of pain swirled around me and penetrated my mind.

I didn't know whether I screamed, but the next thing I knew, the doors swung open and both Rose and Eleanor appeared beside me.

"Lord Blackwell?"

"Stay away from me!" I pushed the one who dared touch me–and belatedly realized that I didn't hold back my strength and so I watched Eleanor fly back into the walls–luckily reinforced walls now, so only her body dropped into the ground like a ragless doll.

"Eleanor!" Rose's voice cried out and before I knew it–a terrible cut of wind blew towards me, but the diamond ring in my finger only flashed and protected me while I continued to grimace in pain.

It was annoying, terribly annoying to be reduced to this state that I knew I needed to discover the truth.

But first I refocused on the brown ring and took out a health potion–I hadn't used one in a long time, but then I threw it into Rose's direction and saw how the wind caught it before it hit her.

"Use that on your princess–that's a good quality potion," I said as the pain started to recede and I was able to function more or less the same than when I had used the Blue Sapphire Ring.

When I finally looked up, I saw what I had done–Eleanor's body was on the ground and compared to her servant, that simple push had reduced her to that state and there was no wind to negate the damage.

Rose was in tears.

The difference between them and me was too wide of a gap for them to share the same room as me