The garden was magnificent, it wasn't too big and somewhat overgrown but I personally felt like that added to its charm. Roses, magnolia's, orchids, hyacinths and narcissus, everywhere I looked I saw a colourful flower basking in the sunlight. Despite the literal magic I witnessed in Oddin, nothing compared to the beauty of nature. I made a mental note to perhaps settle down in Gadriar one day if I ever lived long enough to retire.

After admiring the soft petals of a dark pink rose, I focussed on my priorities and started looking for Ophyr. It didn't take me too long to find him, hidden behind a big rose bush, knees tucked up against his chest as he took deep breaths in and out.

Once I approached the other I slowly got down to sit beside him, glad that he wasn't yelling at me to leave. I copied his position, not saying a word, just adding to his company.

There we sat, in silence, listening to the sounds of birds chirping in the background and the distant laughing of children.

From what I had seen Ophyr was a very composed man. He didn't allow a lot of things to bother him and often times kept his feelings to himself. Even after he found out that his sister was planning on essentially murdering him and restarting the war, the Vampire king had curtly wiped away his tears, straightened his back and had gone back to being his usual undeterred self. The things Winnie revealed to us however had obviously broken right through that unyielding barrier and I couldn't blame him.

"This is all a lot to process" Ophyr brought out, staring at the grass in front of him and extending a hand to pick up a small spider that had crawled onto his boot. I nodded in agreement, glancing over at the vampire king who was still avoiding my gaze.

"I am not my mother, and you are not your grandfather- but why does it still feel like betrayal? Why does it still feel like I've just been stabbed?" He said, voice starting to tremble. In comparison to me, Ophyr had never been openly hostile towards Appollis or those who ruled it. I was most often the instigator of our fights in the past and though Ophyr obviously did not see me as a friend - did he now? Was I looking too deep into it? It had only been a week of us meeting again after all- he had never blamed me for the vampire deaths caused by paladin soldiers during the war. Perhaps he saw me as a potential ally, someone who just had to see the light and would eventually bury the hatchet. Had that day come?

"Or am I just overwhelmed by the fact that- ... I can actually cure them, Arrin. I can cure my people" at this point his words weren't above a whisper and I knew that soon enough Ophyr wouldn't be able to keep his eyes dry.

I gently wrapped an arm around his shoulders, feeling him tense for just a second before he relaxed into my embrace, leaning his head against me as the tears started to flow. I couldn't imagine the sheer amount of relief he must be feeling. After witnessing so much suffering, he could now put an end to it all.

"It's a lot" Ophyr laughed, voice thick with tears as he wiped away the red streaks that ran down his pale cheeks. There was something so eerily beautiful about the way that vampires cried, to most it perhaps looked horrific to see streams of blood slide down a ghostly figures face, but to me- there was beauty.

A soft smile slid onto my lips as I turned to look at the other, taking his face in my hands and wiping my thumb over a sanguine tear. I'd never been a talkative guy in situations like these, well- in general I was more of an action taker than a diplomat. Comforting people had never been a talent of mine at all, yet for some reason just sitting next to Ophyr and to take his face in my hands felt so natural.

I slid my hands down, moving them to the back of his neck while we still locked eyes. The collar unlocked and fell onto the grass with a soft thump. Ophyr visibly swallowed and I could see that familiar spark return to those gray eyes. There was nothing I could say. Right now, actions spoke more That words ever could.

His hands came up to touch mine.

"Thank you"

with those words Ophyr averted his gaze, letting go of my hands to wipe the rest of his tears away before getting up. He extended his hand to me, helping me stand and brush some grass off my clothes.

There was a new found trust between us, something I had never guessed I'd ever share with the vampire king, yet here we were and honestly I loved it.

——————-

We had to return to Appollis as soon as possible.

Of course that was easier said than done. It still was a two day ride and we still had no idea when Lyliane was planning on taking matters into her own hands and attacking the land of Paladins. The only thing we knew was that starting the war was impossible until she was the official ruler of Sareth, luckily for us I was still very much alive and unless she could successfully accuse me of treason she had no foot to stand on.

We left Oddin as soon as possible and though Winnie offered us a room for the night we declined to use those last few hours of the day to travel. Camping in the woods wasn't a super safe thing to do, but neither was attacking an armed paladin king and a vampire.

Before we left, Winnie gave us a bit of special powder that would help our horses travel faster, causing us to reach those same woods Ridrick had attacked us in by nightfall. I was pretty sure that Arrin and I were more than prepared to just keep on riding through the night, but poor Kai and Mira needed some time to rest.

We found an open spot with a few logs placed around a little circle of stones where a previous campfire had been lit. Judging by the fact that the logs were already sunken into the ground a bit and the nearby sound of a bustling river, this probably was a somewhat popular camping area. I wasn't used to sleeping on the ground, I was a king after all and basking in luxury was part of my everyday life. But well- I wasn’t going to bitch and moan about something so insignificant right now.

Arrin on the other hand seemed completely comfortable with the arrangement. He was a paladin king after all and he had told me during our journey that even kings were expected to enrol in regular training camps or schools. It didn't matter if you were a royal or not, you'd be living, eating and sleeping in the same facilities as your fellow paladins. You'd be treated the same way as the citizens of Appollis and judged without hesitation. After four years of training the Paladin king had gotten used to more 'uncomfortable' living conditions.

"So- what do you do after gathering the wood?" I asked, watching Arrin adjust the pile a bit before pausing and looking up at me. He seemed confused at my question before smirking when he realised something.

"My oh my, the great vampire king ,who is smart enough to rebuild his entire kingdom from near scratch and hold deep conversations about the great mysteries of life, doesn't know how to make a campfire?" He chuckled, getting up and dusting off his hands.

My face went red and I huffed, crossing my arms as the other searched for some rocks. "It's not as if I often find myself needing such information..." I mumbled feeling embarrassed to say the least. Arrin shot me a mocking "oh really?" while searching, Picking up a stone and holding it up to the moonlight before shaking his head and tossing it to the side. What the fuck was this weirdo doing?

"I'm looking for ignissium" Arrin explained as if he could read my mind, turning to me "it's a type of volcanic rock that's pretty common in these regions. It'll help us start the fire-" he cut himself off with a soft 'ahah', standing up and showing me two black rocks that had tiny bits of red embedded within them. Interesting, I thought, slowly nodding when Arrin walked over to the pile of wood and started hitting the rocks against eachother. Two strikes and I could see sparks flying from it. My eyes widened when the sparks hit the wood and instantly made it smoke, before long watching a flame appear. It spread without hesitation, grasping at the air and growing with conviction as it hungrily ate at the wood. My gaze drifted over to Arrin who was smirking at me in amusement, his coffee brown cheeks illuminated by the light of the fire, his golden eyes holding the same life and magic as the flames he had just created. Somewhere in the depts of my chest I felt my heart warm.

The paladin king laughed and stood up, running a hand through his blonde curls and stretching his arms. I averted my gaze, trying to make sense of what I had just felt. Arrin was attractive, that was no secret and I'd be a big fucking liar if I even dared to deny it. Though he was still the king of Appollis and though we perhaps no longer saw each other as mortal enemies and even trusted each other to a certain extent, that bond wasn't strong enough just yet. Though I was admiring his beauty by the fire right now, it still didn't erase the fact that just a few hours ago I had found out that his grandfather had poisoned my kingdom. I was prepared to work towards a friendship, something more however? I'd need more time to even consider that.

Arrin took a seat next to me, leaning his back against the log and letting out a deep sigh. I glanced at him as he closed his eyes and enjoyed the warmth of the fire. It was interesting how humans required heat to survive. Sure, a vampire wouldn't fare well in the Arctic, but we would have a far better chance of survival than people like Arrin.

"I had a dream last night" the king mumbled, his tone however sounding grim. I frowned.

"The lich-"

My muscles tensed.

"He was near, he was searching for me- for us-... I couldn't move" Arrin brought out, opening his eyes before shifting his weight to look me straight in the eyes. Concern laced his face and I had to repress the urge to reach up and touch his cheek.

"Do you... we can use the ring to check on the castle. Maybe we can learn some more information about his and Lyliane's plans. If he's trying to find us then we better get a head start on what he knows" I suggested. Arrin paused for a second, it was obvious that he didn't want to face the lich so soon again, but our mission was to protect our kingdoms. Even if we're had to put our own comforts and wellbeing aside for that.

Arrin slowly nodded and I shot him an encouraging smile, reaching for my ring and holding it in my hands, tapping the right stones and watching the familiar portal form.

The castle seemed- empty. Silent hallways and dark rooms was all we saw for a while until I suddenly heard the soft sound of a distant crowd.

I frowned. "The balcony" I said under my breath.

I quickly slid the portal to the aforementioned area, clenching my teeth when I was met with Lyliane standing on the balcony we used to address the people during big events.

"Loyal people of Sareth" Lyliane's voice silenced the crowd, making heads turn. I held my breath, feeling Arrin shuffle closer to watch the portal.

"It is with great pain that I have to inform you all of a most horrendous and disgusting truth"

Lyliane paused, not a drop of emotion visible on her pale visage.

"I have been informed about the name of the monster who poisoned our water with Blackrye all those years ago, we always thought that it was a simple paladin or a stupid Appollonian who wanted to prove themselves. Our humble speculations however were far from the truth as it was none other than Caryan of Appollis"

The crowd gasped and roared in disbelief and anger. Vampires who had lived through the war and mortal borne's pleading for revenge.

I felt my blood run cold, Arrin stiffened next to me. How did she know? How did she find out? Was the lich watching us? Could he read our minds?

"And to my dismay... Ophyr, our king and my brother- ... has formed an alliance with Arrin of Appollis, the grandson of the monster who doomed us all!"

Suddenly I understood what she was doing and I could feel my throat tighten. I shook my head, distraught that I couldn't do anything. It was just a seeing portal, nothing more, I couldn't stop her, I couldn't intervene and I couldn't clear my name.

"Due to this betrayal, the royal advisors have declared that Ophyr no longer is the rightful ruler of Sareth and I shall take his place instead. The time of sitting back and doing nothing is over! As your new Queen I declare that once the Blood moon rises during the night of the sanguine sky, we attack Appollis! And destroy the kingdom that has humiliated and tortured us for far too long!"

I felt numb.

My sister had done it, she had found a way to kick me off the throne in a few days and was planning a second blood war, all while we had just figured out how to defeat the lich.

The only thing that brought me hope however was her promise of attacking during the blood moon. I wasn’t an expert on it but during my royal studies I had come across a book detailing the basics of the fenomenen. It was a night when the blood moon negated the power of Apollo so it couldn't reach the paladins. They wouldn’t be able to access their abilities, rendering them as defenceless as mice being hunted by cats. Though her timing was unfortunate for us, it did have one benefit and that was that - if I remembered it correctly- we now had a three month time slot to bless the sword and prepare Appollis for battle.

I deeply exhaled and was about to close the portal, that was until something dragged the portal away from our previous view on Lyliane and into a dark hallway only a few feet further.

It all happened so fast.

"What's going on-"

Arrin was caught off by a pair of hollow sockets staring right at us through the portal.

No.

"I. Can. See. You."

Panic shot through my body and I jumped up, soon followed by the paladin king who reached for his sword as the lich reached his hand forward. In complete disbelief I watched a bony graying claw breach through the portal, skin so old it was akin to parchment paper and the wraps of mummy's.

In the distance I suddenly heard the rustling of leaves, gurgling sounds and the putrid smell of rotting flesh penetrating my nostrils. Our horses, anxiously neighed, not liking the new bone chilling atmosphere that had wafted into the open spot like an invisible mist.

It didn't take long for the first undead creature to reach us and I vaguely recognised him.

"The bandits we killed" Arrin whispered, eyes wide as he raised his sword and got into a defensive stance.

He was right.

The bandit was accompanied by the three others that we had defeated, all in early stages of decomposition, stumbling towards us. I saw the man who's stomach I had ripped open near Arrin, using one bloated arm to keep his organs in his torso cavity while reaching the other out to the Paladin king. Immediately Arrin slashed his sword and followed it with a quick stab effectively beheading the being and stabbing it through its rotting heart.

It didn't stop.

Arrin and I exchanged a fearful look, especially now that the undead were starting to become less slow. Their pace increased, nearing the speed of a normal living person as their unintelligible gurgling continued.

My frantic gaze suddenly fell upon the seeing portal that still hung in the air, the arm of the lich reaching out and controlling the dead. My eyes fell to the ring I had dropped and in a moment of pure desperation I picked it up, looking at Arrin before chucking the thing into the fire. The rubies and silver wouldn't melt just by the heat of a pathetic camp fire, but the magic it held was more fragile.

The portal started to flicker and we could hear the lich hiss, a sound similar to flames being killed by a splash of water.

It would still take time to break te ring, time we didn't have.

At this point Arrin was full on fighting two of the four bandits while the other two had reached me as well. I kicked one back as hard as I could, sending him flying through the air before the disgusting creature hit a tree and fell to the ground distracting me for just a second too long, enough for the other bandit to grab my wrists and throw me down. I didn't have time to think or even move before the man was ontop of me, pinning me to the cold dirt and snarling. I saw that half of his throat was missing and remembered how I had ripped it out.

Apparently he did too.

A cursed grin slid onto his face before he bared those crooked teeth and went for my neck.

———————

It all happened so fast.

A heavy pant fell from my lips as I kicked one of the zombies back and sliced the other in two with one fell swoop of my sword. It was no use, they kept on coming back.

Perhaps if I kept cutting them up they'd be too immobile to reach me again but to my horror I saw the one I had beheaded pick up it's head and with the necromantic magic coursing through its putrid veins, attach it back on.

I was about to attack again when I suddenly noticed Ophyr on the ground out of the corner of my eye, heart stopping when I saw one of the undead lunge for his neck.

The speed with which I ran over and drop kicked that motherfucker off was near vampiric, watching the creature slam into a nearby tree and break its spine. That ring was taking too fucking long to break.

I had a temperament, that was a very obvious trait and right now I was seething. Something about seeing Ophyr about to be ripped to shreds had made something in me click and suddenly I was really tired of playing with these decomposing skin bags. I saw the lich's hand still reaching out from the flickering portal, the undead around us charging towards us for a group attack we certainly wouldn't survive and I had seen enough.

I raised my sword, gold runes lighting up and sending energy through my veins.

And in one slash,

I hacked off the hand of the lich.

An ear piercing scream sliced through the forest, black blood spurting out of the portal as the lich retracted the stump and his twitching bony hand fell onto the grass.

The undead froze in place, eyes going glassy before they collapsed and turned to ash.

As on cue the portal closed, enveloping the world in silence aside from the sound of our laboured breaths, leaving me and Ophyr alone in the woods.

I ran over to him, throwing my sword to the side as I fell to my knees and checked if he was ok. The vampire king seemed confused over my over dramatic concern but he seemed just as relieved to be alive.

"Fuck- that's was messed up- that was so messed up ,oh Apollo" I panted, hands trembling while I helped the vampire king up. Ophyr wearily nodded, dusting himself off as he looked around the open spot and at the piles of ash that were now slowly being carried away by the wind.

"This experience is going to haunt me for the rest of my life" he bluntly mumbled, running a hand through his long black hair before absentmindedly placing a hand over his neck. I saw him shiver and I bit my lip.

Ophyr's gaze fell to the lich's hand, laying still in the grass. I saw his eyes darken and with one sharp kick he got it flying into the fire. We watched it burn, slowly being consumed by the fire and turning to ash.

"Thank you"

Our eyes met and I saw Ophyr's cheeks turn a deep shade of pink.

"for saving me"

How did I respond to that? You're welcome? Just doing my job? Now you owe me a date? Wow, hold that last one and calm down Arrin, you guys just survived an attack by the undead this was not the moment for thoughts like these.

An awkward smile and a painfully unconfident sounding 'yeah, you're welcome, no biggy, just lookin out for you' had to do for now as I slowly started to realise how impulsively had acted. It wasn't out of character for me to do something like that, it was near standard, but the level of conviction with which I had moved could perhaps raise some brows. Luckily Ophyr didn't question it and when he was able to calm himself down began looking around our camping area.

"Well, with the portal gone he can't come and attack us anymore as long as he's not near us" the vampire king said stating the obvious before sighing and walking over to the horses. I watched him comfort Mira and even give Kai a loving pat before returning to me with two blankets and head rests that we had packed just in case.

Maybe it was fucked up to just go to bed right after having nearly died, but Ophyr was right in his thinking. We needed the rest and the sooner we slept the sooner we could get up and leave this cursed area.

So without further or do we made our makeshift beds near the camp fire. Both of us really trying to forget the horror that we had been through for now. I thought that I wouldn't be able to sleep after that little 'event', but surprisingly the second my head hit the headrest I felt fatigue overtake me. My gaze slid over to the vampire king who had already dozed off, softly smiling at his sleeping form before clutching my sheathed sword to my chest and drifting off.

Falling asleep to the sound of snapping wood fibres caused by dancing flames.