I teleported back into my main room and frowned after the conversation with the princess.

We exchanged blows and yet despite the magnitude of my power, the verbal spar seemed like it was in her favor.

"That was a fruitless conversation, regardless of how you dress up a princess, she still remains the same way she is." I shook my head.

I needed to get my act together–pull myself back and be like how I used to be before. A Vampire Lord feared by all.

Instead of spending my time with the two humans, getting pulled into how they thought and saw me–trying to make me bend to their side, I needed to remain vigilant.

My gaze fell on the coffin and the golden chains that were still on the floor, untouched because they could still actually hurt me to some extent. The holy power imbued in them still inflicted me with damage.

What I did was check the contents of my coffin for items that I had with me.

"Let us see, what do I have here? Ten different types of relic rings, one for each finger... a bit of an overkill in this situation, and if worn incorrectly might kill the user due to the mana implosion possibility but still more than appropriate," I said as I slipped them on. "You didn't live long without failsafes."

I continued to speak as if I was explaining something to someone, which was annoying since I was alone but it was able to help to stave away my annoyance.

Once upon a time, this manor was filled with more of my people–so it actually made sense that I'd talk as if someone was with me. Someone always tended to hang around behind me, like an annoying but adorable Pixie who fed on every word that I said.

If I tried to imagine, I could almost feel the shadow of a man, his shadows far more looming than mine and silent–as if he never spoke his mind. He chose to speak less than me and his intimidation factor was the fact that his silence got to you and infiltrated your senses–and then you were consumed whole.

If Lady Reinhart was here, she'd simply jab at Lord Hawthorne and then mention how she herself had once stolen a tiara from the Dwarven Princess and how it was great to steal from them as they were the best at enchanting and blacksmithing.

Their absence was felt.

At first it was easy to pretend that they didn't exist, haven't existed at all–but when I saw that portrait, I remembered.

The black obsidian ring's jewel reflected my face, hollow and blank before I rubbed it over. "Communicate."

A Spell that granted the ability to converse with people no matter the distance, linked to each person I conversed with personally... and yet there was no response. The stored power took the coordinates and flew out to their possible directions, but nothing returned but dead empty silence.

It meant that either the person did not wish to respond or had hidden themselves from me, the obsidian ring was broken or that they were gone.

Despite the fact that I assumed more than a thousand years had passed–

"Five hundred years is still a long time," I silently said. "A kingdom that I didn't know was suddenly formed, the Alchemist I know has already died–and the Golden Order is already known as the most powerful Paladin order? What happened to all of you?"

If Vampires were no longer known by even the most humble person, if we did not haunt people by our presence alone then it meant that my people were all in hiding or the Golden Order managed to vanquish and defeat a great number of them when I went to my Eternal Sleep.

I wanted to believe that we were in hiding–that we had sequestered to further lands in order to regain our strength once more before we attacked.

However, that didn't seem to bid well with me.

"What happened to Rune then?" I frowned. "Surely, even if I was gone–he would have done something. Or did they get to him and his own people?"

Vampires were proud creatures, we didn't simply choose to hide away and I didn't know what the Golden Order might have had that changed the circumstances for them.

We believed in hierarchy and knew we stood above humans and other lesser races–and though the Golden Order also had members from other races, they were mostly a human order.

Something must have changed that turned the tides.

"Information, I need it–but I do not wish to talk with either of them."

I contemplated going out by myself, possibly traveling to another city–but it reminded me that I did have one newly minted agent I knew that was still alive.

"That Bouw Boy, I can talk to him... though I do not think that he knows a lot," I said as I looked down at the ruby ring, it shone with a hint of blood. "Someone else."

Espionage, infiltration and puppets were something that I had also taken into. "That small town of Werf should still be around? And I left that puppet in a cave."

–-

He slept because he had no purpose, he slept because his Master had gone to sleep and he was not released from the bonds that inexplicably bound them together.

It was a terrible thing.

People wanted power and so it had its price.

He wanted to live forever, and he gave up something.

His freedom, his thoughts were no longer.

The Master didn't give him the same gift as he granted to others, he was still... human–but only so he could operate in a day and do the man's bidding.

After what felt like forever, Walter felt his blood stir within him and his eyes flashed open. He looked around and found himself in an already eroded cave. An earthquake or landslide must have trapped him here but because he was much more than an ordinary human–he lived despite everything.

"Master?" He called out tentatively.

'Ah, so you haven't rotten yet, good. The blood I gave you was supposed to last you for a long time.' Lord Cassius Blackwell's voice communicated with him directly into his mind.

"Master you have woken up–"

'I have no time for idle chit chat, Walter. You're still around the town of Werf, right? I need you to gather information about the Golden Order among other general news that I need to catch up with the world.'