After another day on the Continent of Schon, it was dark and Trevor was riding on his Blackhawk, flying through a fjord. After receiving reports of a Kingdom deep within the forest, he decides to go there and take a break and maybe even learn more about the land. The four other players with him, leading the squads were a bit tired from the endless fighting, everyday, facing one beast to another. They’re black uniforms were drenched in blood, the men could only hope that this normal looking Kingdom could give them some semblance of peace.

The helicopter quickly jolts to its side after reaching the end of the fjord. It turns on its searchlight to illuminate the forest and the doors slide open, Trevor with his Operators immediately drops to the bottom of the water and slowly walks to the shore.

“Faceless to Nightstalker, how many klicks are we from the Kingdom?”

“A good ten to twelve klicks, over.”

“Copy.”

“Bravo to Delta are all set, forest is clear, over.’

“Roger that, we’ll drop in a few minutes.”

“Copy on all. Out.”

Though the rain was coming down hard, he was still able to hear the forest. He puts his hand down to grip his gun, he makes a gesture to move forward and the troops immediately put their weapons up, the sloshing of the water could be heard as their feet reach the forest and into the dark of the night.

After about an hour of fighting and moving, the squads started getting more and more hammered by the ever so higher numbers of enemies. Ranging from seven legged hellspawns to demonic deers with sharp swordlike antlers, after a while they started encountering flying troglodytes wearing armor and using spears, General Trevor starts calling in close air support from the AC-130 Spooky II gunship, it’s 25mm Gatling miniguns accompanied by the 40mm Bofors autocannon make quick work of anything that tried to get close. The 105mm Howitzer also started firing, bringing down small pots of trees from its sheer explosive firepower, the trail of bullets and shells could be seen as it traveled to the ground.

It was a sight to behold, the aircraft orbiting them was eradicating everything that tried to get close, its bullets pierce through the rainy sky like a laser and its shrapnel looked like tiny fireworks. Trevor gestures for his men to make a dash to the strange Kingdom trapped in the forest, surrounded by what seemed to be extremely dangerous monsters and demons. The gunship continually orbited them till the beasts finally learned their lessons and left them be.

“Nightstalker to Faceless, we’re currently yellow to red on all munitions and fuel.”

“Copy Nightstalker, keep it up as long as you can. Don’t push it though, we’ll need you again.”

“Roger that Faceless. Out”

Reaching the forest near the Kingdom, the team encounters a group of Knights scanning the bushes. They quickly took cover behind the trees, all of the Knights seemed to be wearing chainmail while others were in full steel plate armor with Longswords, Short Swords and round Shields. Little did they know they had lasers trained at them from the railings of the guns only seen through Night Vision goggles. The large torches they had were a bit blinding but were too far to hurt their sight.

“Bravo one to Faceless, what’s the job here?”

“Wait one, I’ll try to talk to them, over.”

“Copy that sir. Be careful, out.”

Trevor emerges from his cover, his assault rifle slinged down to his chest. The Knight sees the two crimson glowing eyes of the general, piercing through the dark forest like a knife hitting his eyes. Without a second thought, a Divine Arrow flies into the general's eyes. It burns as his immense dark energy out levels the holy munition.

He bolts back to cover with the arrow still embedded in his left eye. Quickly pulling it out, he orders his men to retreat, knowing that they’ve been perceived as a threat.

“Nightstalker to Faceless, are we cleared to open fire? Over.”

“Negative! They’re humans! Unless you want to be murderers I suggest you tell us the best way to exit this place!”

“Copy, West of you should be relatively clear of contacts apart from some beasts scattered here and there.”

“Roger, we’ll be heading there. I want you to load up smoke rounds on that Howitzer and give us some cov-”

Before finishing his sentence, the Knight he met eyes with ambushed him behind cover. Before he could even look, the guy was shot by one of the mindless skeletons they had. It was a direct headshot, as soon as he dropped and bled. Screams of other Knights could be heard as they charged onto the soldiers.

“This is Alpha! We’re opening fire!”

“Bravo to Faceless, we’ll be firing!”

“Charlie to Faceless, RoE disregarded! Opening fire!”

“Delta here, providing covering fire while you guys make a run for it.”

“Faceless to all teams, do as you will! We’ll be running to the West. As you heard, Nightstalker will start firing smoke rounds at our front!”

The Knights were brutally cut down by gunfire. The large torches they brought plop to the ground and a fire quickly starts in the forest. The light created by it reveals the faces and body of the skeleton men they’re fighting. Clad in black Kevlar body armor and tactical equipment, with the only part of their skeletal body seen is their crimson eyes.

Trevor on the other hand could see the Knights, mostly young men and teenagers. He tries to look them in the eyes as he shoots, but inadvertently looks away knowing that the people who still haven't seen the best of life are dying, using Swords and Lances against people with guns. The AC-130 Spooky II gunship quickly fires smoke rounds from its 105mm Howitzer, enveloping the forest near the Kingdom.

Running as fast as they can, the soldiers dash through the dark forest, leaving the area as if they were never there. Trevor on the other hand couldn’t shake the feeling that someone there is immensely powerful. The one who shot the divine arrow, though not high enough to kill him. It was still very holy, noting a possibility of a Saint or Holy Magus in the Kingdom.

A few meters to their front, tracers from the gunship orbiting them bounces the ground as it shoots the beasts blockading their way. A large fireball is quickly hurled at the aircraft, it performs a quick yaw to the left to avoid and it fires off flares.

“NIGHTSTALKER TO GROUND! WE’VE RECEIVED ANTI AIR FIRE!”

“Copy! Return to base and rearm! Get out of this AO immediately!”

“Roger! Nightstalker is RTB for rearm and refuel!”

The flares depict a beautiful angel as the aircraft flies away into the distance and disappears as the mountains cover their view of it. Feeling like they’ve avoided the Angel of Death, the Knights breathe a sigh of relief as the plane flies away.

After running for a few miles, Trevor and his men settle down. The forest seemed endless, they’ve been running for a solid thirty or forty minutes and they’ve encountered nothing but dense forestry crawling with beasts. It was after a while they found a small opening and created a campfire to rest and take in the situation.

“Alpha, What’s the situation with our ammo?”

“Yellow sir. My backpack’s so light.”

“Bravo to Delta, give me sitrep with our ammo.”

Back at the Continent of Dragovh. Paul and his party are resting under a tree, quietly cooking a steak on a campfire they’ve created. He was doing his usual nightly check on the group chat, seeing if he’s needed back on base. So far it’s been silent. Only players of Eldwood chatting and memeing, he stands up and checks on the food.

“Ohhh! Sehr gut!” He adds in a pint of more spices and the beef’s smell becomes more alluring. Bahamut has been guarding the piece of meat, standing completely still while drool comes out of her mouth. Ready to pounce the moment it is ready to be eaten.

Meanwhile the Countess was sitting on the ground, looking like an extremely bored child. Paul wants to entertain her, but is busy looking at the chatbox, making sure he’s presence is not needed back at the city or someone requiring his supervision. After some arguing with himself, he turns his head at the silent woman.

“Hey Vampire, wanna make yourself useful? Cook the meat, just move it around and flip it after a minute or so.”

She looks at him with absolute contempt but after a second, drops the face and starts flipping the steak. Paul could only smile at the scene, a beautiful woman wearing a gown cooking a piece of meat on a campfire.

“You’re enjoying this aren’t you?”

“What? Absolutely not. Just keep cooking, I’ll keep checking if anyone needs us and Bahamut. Don’t you even dare.”

The Dragon isn’t fazed by his threat and is still staring down the meat being cooked. He could only sigh and go back to looking at the chatbox. After some time, the vampire leaves the food to cook and sits next to him.

“What is it?”

“Just curious.”

“Curious about what? I don’t think leaving our food to that Dragon is a good idea.”

“Don’t worry, she might be hungry but I don’t think she’d go that far.”

“Whatever you say.” He returns to looking back at the chatbox, smiling a bit at the hilarity of comments and replies on their Guild.

“I’ve always been meaning to ask what your history is.”

“I have none, I’m just a dude who likes wearing cool armor and swinging swords and shooting guns.”

“And what about your history with your group? Knights of Eldwood.”

He scratches his head as if to recall the past and pick the memories that mean the most.

“Was a solo Knight, one day this large group named the Knights of the Sun came and attacked the region I was in. Had to stand up, fight long and hard that I leveled up multiple times. I was surrounded and this Death Knight teleported out of nowhere and saved me. Long story short, that was Muhammad or Hassan as you know.”

“As a lone Knight. What work did you do?”

“I did odd jobs, killing Goblins and delivering important goods. It was a good run, people usually prefer the immense firepower and armor of Eldritch Knights than the Holy and Divine healing and specialty of “Saint” Knights.”

“And that armor you wore? Where did you get it? It seems to be highly protected with magic and is made of some material from the Underworld.”

“It is, I had to mine and grind for the materials while fighting the Abyss and it's heralds. It was the biggest pain of my freakin' life.”

“Huh, I’ve only heard stories of people going into and back from the Underworld.”

“Maybe here, but in my world we call it the “Late game stage” where you get most of the important materials and equipment you can use. Most of my stuff came from there, including my Longsword and Shield.”

“Then what’s your sword's name? I sensed its power and immense magical energy when we first fought. It could’ve killed me if the wielder was more trained..”

“Name? Uhhhh… have I ever given it a name? I just found it from a Throne. From what I remember, it’s named the Sword of Belial or something like that.” He summons the sword and checks its edge and sharpness.

“May I hold it?”

“Uhhh… sure. Here.” He gives the sword to the vampire and she carefully inspects it.

“Hmmm, before attaining this sword, did you have to fight someone?”

“Yea, I had to kill a boss. One of the Kings of Hell, pretty hard. Died multiple times, cheesed it and won.”

“You might be more powerful than I expected. You aren’t lying too, after using my appraisal, this sword is stacked with enchantments and some powerful ones attaining to killing Divine.”

“I actually went out of my way to get that sword. You usually need a party of four high levels to clear the Hell King. Let’s just say I found some guides that exploit his moveset which I did and defeated him.”

“Take good care of this sword, it’ll come extremely handy in big fights.”

“It already came handy twice, I hope it’ll help me again in the future.” The Countess gives the sword back to him and he places it next to his leg.

“Any questions about me?”

“You? Ahhhh, I haven’t met a Vampire in my entire life so I don’t really know what to ask.”

“We’ll be together for a long, long time. It would benefit us both if we were to know each other’s strengths and weaknesses.”

“I guess that thousands of years of living came in handy huh?”

“Of course, We Vampires tend to accumulate wisdom that no mortal man has ever reached.”

“Well, I guess I’d like to ask what your life was before fighting me. From the way you speak, act and present yourself. It’s pretty obvious you were having a good life.”

“I won’t call it a good life. It was nice, but there comes a time when it becomes boring. I’ve been living the same life of Nobility for a thousand years now, and being one of the Purebreds. My command was always absolute, hence I don’t usually hold back with my words and orders. I took up the job at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, I went out and talked to the Kingdoms about forming trade markets and such. But I also love fighting, it's more fun here as I get to experience the beauty of combat and attain much needed knowledge.”

“I’ve always wondered, is death and pain something trivial to your kind?” The Vampires eyes open and widen. As if she’d seen a ghost.

“....”

“Uhh, Hello? Miss Alana?”

“Y-yes?”

“You went quiet.”

“I apologize, I just had a sudden rush of emotion.”

“Take it easy, as you said. If we want to survive, we must know one another.”

“Indeed, well. Any more questions?”

“Yea, I just thought of one. Should I look out for any exes or possible vampires that are out to marry you seeing that I just literally stole you from them.”

“There is, about four or six. But I highly doubt they’ll go as far as to visit this Continent. They might have some purity in their blood. But only one of them has experciend war.”

“Four or six and with what? Pure blood? Alright, I’ll take that into consideration, seeing that we might visit the Demon Continent as it's the oldest one and might contain answers I’m seeking. With or without experience in war, they still have that pure blood running in them, it’ll be extremely difficult to fight or kill them if the time ever comes.”

“I could just command them to stop.”

“If the time ever comes, yea. Do that, no way I’m gonna waste my time on them. I can already feel it getting old fast.”

“Mhm, don’t worry. I got your back!” Like an elder sister, she puts her thumbs up and makes a big smile.

“For an extremely pretty woman, I never knew you’d have a girly side.”

Little did the two know Bahamut has already eaten the Steak and has put a second one into the Pan and accelerated the fire with her magic to cook it.

“Of course, even I was a child once.”

“How did you become a Purebred Vampire anyways? Wouldn’t you have to be born on a lineage or something.”

“I was, I had a good family with good parents. When I entered the mature world, things were more different than I had imagined. Hence why I got called the Queen of the Night. I mostly become active when the night sky is out, hunting and preying upon those unlucky enough.”

“I see, so you went on some killing spree or something?”

“Of course not, well maybe a bit. But I also killed Vampires alike. In the end, there’s not much difference between you Mortals and me. Aside from the Immortality and power, there’s still a human inside us. Same emotions, feelings, and love. It’s just the age that makes things hard for one another. Of course, it’s different for creatures like me, who weren't human in the first place but we still share the same kinds of emotions.”

“I never really knew Vampires would be this in depth. Not gonna lie, in my world Vampires aren’t real aside from Media and Entertainment. I always thought depiction of your kind has been boring, but to actually talk to one. I can see some points, but at the same time. Things must be very hard for your kind. Lonely too.”

“Very lonely, I went out into the world because of that reason. I’ve gotten tired of the politics and all these things I must uphold as a Countess. I needed a break from it all. Hundred years later, I’m still a part of the Council but also a field commander, leading the Foreign Legion and talking to the Kingdoms.”

“What have I done? Well… I run a company. A small one, I run these things called Busses and Trucks. Transporting goods and people from place to place. It’s not much, but I’ve always loved machines. Maybe a bit too much.”

“I’m guessing because you're not the kind to socialize. Am I correct?”

“Correct. We humans are mortal beings, I know we don’t have long at all. But fitting in has never been my style. I prefer to be who I am no matter what. Problem is, not a lot of people like who I am.”

“In all my years, I’ve only met three or five who have the same mindset as you. All of them I considered marrying.”

“Woah there missy, I’m human, your Vampire. Let’s not jump the hoop here.”

“I don’t mean that! I mean that your the kind to be genuine and very dumb at occassion!”

“Ah, is that a compliment? I feel like that is one.”

“Ugh.” The vampire just facepalms with a big smile on her face. “It’s a bit of both. But what I’m saying is that men like you tend to bend at the most important times, usually out of naivety.”

“Well that has happened, but we’ll see. Let’s eat. We still have a long way to go and I’m sure Bahamut has already eaten two pieces of steak. C’mon.”

After a good meal, the party once again set off, coming out of the forest and going back to a dirt road on horseback.

“Alana, you remember what that guy said right? There should be a village a bit up north of this path.”

“I do, but they haven’t had contact with it for a while now. We must be careful, it might’ve been overrun or attacked.”

“I know, Bahamut. If you sense or smell anything. Say it.”

The Dragon nods and they continue on, to the direction of said village. After a while, the Sun was slowly rising, it slowly shines on some medieval buildings in the distance. It’s the settlement they’ve been looking for. It has no walls at all, and no security. The villagers all seemed normal and nothing was wrong with the place. But other settlements hadn’t had contact with them at all.

“Master, I feel something’s wrong.” The vampire muttered to Paul as her horse straddles along his.

“I know, keep your heads low. Bahamut, any thoughts?”

“There’s an immense presence in this village. We just haven’t seen it yet, maybe at night we’ll see.”

“Mhm, okay. Let’s just check around and maybe buy some stuff for Dinner since we’re not gonna be staying here.”

The two nod in agreement with him. They immediately come across the town's general store. After securing their horses. Paul, Alana and Bahamut head inside. It was a quaint store with some sort of red stain on its sign outside, inside produce is in the middle. Meat inside salt bags on the left and on the right are extras for eating and cooking. The Clerk is an old obese man with a calming smile. His happiness was over the roof with the biggest emotion showing.

“Whatcha' need?”

“Spices, and maybe some extra beef.”

“No problem. To your right are some of our meat from cattle and I have some spices in the back.”

“Alrighty, I’d like some of those. How expensive are they here?”

“Depends on the Spices.”

“Ah I see, well. Let me see them.”

After buying some supplies, the party checks around the Village a bit more. The people seemed normal, happy even. It was strange and Bahamut knows this.

“M’Lord, I suggest we come back here at night. Something is lurking underneath this settlement, maybe at the Mansion and it’s not good at all.”

“Alright. I guess we’ll come back tonight.”

He signals the Vampire to follow him and they rode on, about five hundred meters from the Village, they made a left turn into the forest and waited till midnight. Paul immediately sits underneath a tree and puts his fedora over his head. Showing that he doesn’t want to be bothered. Bahamut climbs to his shoulder.

“Paul, have you noticed something else?”

“They’re weird. Is there some sort of happy magic over them?”

“No, not that. The lack of little ones.”

Inside his Fedora, Paul’s eyes open up.

“Now that you mention it, I have not seen one child at that Village. Well, it might be because some well dressed foreigners entered their place don’t you think?”

“No. And the sign of the General Store, have you not noticed the blood?”

“Yes but isn’t that normal? Maybe a fight broke out or something, I’m happy they use symbols though.”

“We must quickly act if we want to save the little ones.”

“What makes you think they’re still alive though? We have no idea what we’re up against Bahamut.”

“But we can do something.”

“Okay.” Paul collects himself and calls on Alana who was busy guarding the dirt road.

“Yes?”

“We’ll scout ahead, since you're a Vampire, stealth should be one of your fortes right?”

“Of course.”

“Bahamut, fly and scout out the place. Look for any signs of the children, we must save them at least. The Sun is still up so we have lots of time to do this. Any questions?”

Both stay silent. He takes it as a No and starts walking to the direction of the town while Bahamut immediately flies upward. Upon seeing the buildings, he crouches while Alana simply disappears into nothing.

“What? You can do that?”

He moves around the town and approaches the Manor on top of a Hill nearby, the people seemed calm and normal. As if nothing was out of place even though the Village has no signs of children. He scans the large palace, he notices the Iron fence of the building has pointed arrows on its tip.The Gothic and intimidating structure leaves him an impression that scares him.

After some time, he starts thinking about using teleportation magic as going around the place, it seems extremely closed off, he looks up and sees that Bahamut is flying down to him in her smaller form. She lands on his shoulders and the Countess who was invisible reppears behind him

“What’s up?”

“Behind the Manor’s garden. I smelled multiple young ones in a shed deep inside the bountiful forest.”

“Alright, let’s make haste.”

They run around the Manor, not stopping for anything when they see this large black shed. Worn and torn from the years, without stopping. He smashes through the large front door and immediately gets jumped by a child wielding a knife. His impulse came, and quickly grabbed the kid's hand and with his other hand lifted the small man.

“Calm down kiddo! I’m here to help!”