“This isn’t looking good partner.”

“I assumed you must have died. You went quiet after I left the room.”

“I'm a dungeon core partner, I often go quiet. I should invite you over to my soul partner, once I’m finished doing some refurbishing.”

“I can do that? And don't think you'll have it easy. You better be worth all the mana you're getting.” I said.

“I haven't heard that word since the seventh age partner. Just who are you.” Djinn said. He pauses, then asked, “And how are you able to touch the souls partner?”

“You can see that?”

“I can partner; I’ve been trying to figure out why you get so little energy from the souls.” Djinn said.

“I do? Look, we will have to talk about this later.” I said.

“Sure, call me if you need my help tonight then partner.”

The sound of Thea’s decline onto the stone floor broke the silence in the room. I hear the reverberation of her daggers as she withdraws them. The ray that pours through the manhole from above did little to brighten the room. I discern the blue glow around her, but the room is too dark to see her body. That is not a major obstacle, since the glow outlines her, and I have admired her more than enough times to recall her figure. However, it is challenging to identify the others, with the exception of Isabella and Cassandra. They are the only two female vampires in the group. This ambush is poorly planned. They did not take into consideration what I actually am. I only grow stronger with more souls, and if these are not the best of their best, then they have failed. I should have expected an ambush from thieves and assassins.

“Lord Laoch.” I hear Thea whisper to me, in a serious voice. I already know what she is planning to say. Her eyes must allow her to see the people in the room. Maybe it is similar to my own. If I survive this, I’ll have to get to know Thea more, she is too interesting, and beautiful to ignore.

“I know know” I said, I reduce the sub thread that controlled the volume of the weave, which made it turn into a whisper. I was not paying much attention to the speech spell, and I formed two of the same threads by mistake. The light coming through the manhole illuminated us in the darkness perfectly. I hear the sound of bow strings being pulled back, or is it crossbows?

“Archers!” Cassandra shouts.

I pick up the sound of a finger snap, my skull turns to find the origin. The torches on the wall ignite all at once, illuminating the limestone walls. The room is circular, and has a high ceiling; high enough to support scaffolding, which archers and crossbowmen use as their vantage point. There are vampires in a triangle formation in front of us, with black with padded armour. Humans in greater numbers than the vampires, are scattered all throughout the room. The humans wear leather armour over their chainmail, and all of them look like they are carrying daggers or short swords. This would be as good a time to start a spell, I need something with serious crowd control.

Thea’s right hand moves forward in a blur towards my face, as projectiles whistle through the air. Sparks fly off the edge of her blade, as an arrow hits it. I can hear the scream of Cassandra mixed in with the shouts of agony from the vampires in our group. I turn to Thea, to examine her for any wounds, surprisingly none of the arrows hit her.

Cassandra has two arrows protruding out of her arm, and a bolt from a crossbow in her chest. Isabella is riddled with arrows all over the front of her torso, and a bolt through her throat. The four other vampires in the group have comparable injuries to Cassandra. Except for one, who is dead, from the three arrows protruding through his face. He was one of the younger ones. Thea observes my hand as I reach out to grab the soul with my hand. Is she just following my hand? Or does she also see souls?

Thea’s movements cause all the Flutes to draw their weapons. The glow that surrounds the vampires are all similar, their burgundy glow is not as intense as Cassandra or Isabella; this must be because they are too far down the family tree, and too young as well.

The vampires rush forward all at once. I waste no time; I move Thea out of my way, and push one my vampires aside, then I sweep both Cassandra and Isabella out of my path with both my hands. The spell is much like a speech spell combined with a sound grenade spell. However, this is more powerful that is worth three souls, human souls that is. They will feel the wrath of Laoch, the skeleton mummy.

I take a deep breath, my lunges strain to inflate. It feels like I’m sucking air through all the holes in my skull, since I have no nose. It is a really an odd sensation. I suck in as much air as I can, I don’t have to, it would just look better with the spell if I am actually shouting

I unleash the spell, letting out the first sound I have ever made through my mouth I have no tongue, so my voice has little use other than screaming, but the sound itself is terrifying. But, it doesn’t last long, since the sound from the spell drowns out my own screaming.

A high pitched scream burst forth from the spell, it is so loud that screams around began to erupt from anyone in its path. The vibrations from the scream are strong enough that small cracks open in the floor. The sub-threads of the spell have been modified to be unleashed at a forty-five-degree angle; anyone not in the range of the spell would only feel mild vibrations, they would not even hear the sound.

The vampires tumble and fall to the ground, many dropping their weapons. They scream and shout for mercy, while everyone in the room stood still, too shocked by what is happening to move. Some of them were strong enough, and attempted to get back up after they fell, only to fall back down again. The spells last for five seconds. Five seconds of being nailed to the ground be an ear defending scream spell. Three souls for five seconds of a spell like this. You would think that three souls are worth more than a single spell. Well, it is worth more than that. I believe Djinn was right when it said I only absorb a small amount of mana from a soul.

At least a third of the vampires are now unconscious from the sound, the others are trying their best to get up onto their feet. The Flutes regain themselves, coming out of their stupor. My body weakens from the spell, and I take several steps backwards, so I can put some distance between the charging Flutes and myself. My movements are comparable to a snail when I try to step back. Already we are being circled, an arrow whistled past me from behind, and penetrates the skull of the nearest vampire.

My head turns, and I see Cassandra nocking another arrow to her bow. Despite her body being peppered with arrows, she fires a shot, and another Flute dies. The weakness from the spell starts to wear off and my body once again feels feathery. I take several steps back in haste. I spot one of Thea’s daggers sail through the air, to embed itself into the chest of a Flute.

The three Shrouded vampires were also giving just as much pain as they received. I had only taken a quick glance behind me, but their swords were cutting skin and flesh like butchers. Isabella uses the opening created by Thea and Cassandra to unsheathe her sword, and in the same motion penetrate through the skull of a vampire trying to get up. She kills another vampire on the ground, pinning his head to the floor with her curved sword.

Thea dashes forward, rolling on the ground, and removing her dagger from the man she just killed. A whistling arrow speeds pass me from Cassandra, another Flute screams as he dies from an arrow. Thea’s red hair dances as she moves, I would never expect such dexterity from her. Thea sticks her dagger in the side of a man’s neck, she tries to take a quick step back, but before she could, she received a well-aimed kick to her side from one of the Flutes’ vampires.

I can hear Thea’s grunt even with the sound of dying screams. Some of the men have gone deaf from my spell. The deaf men look confused, and some even began to talk gibberish in hopes of hearing themselves. They walk, and try to attack, but fall over repeatedly, which only caused more problems for their allies.

After kicking her, the vampire rushes pass Thea, she is still holding her side from the kick. Two other vampires also use the opening to enter our circular formation. I immediately knew that their target is either Cassandra or myself. I draw my khopesh as Cassandra shoots an arrow through the eye of one of the vampires, leaving two left.

I use Sea of Light; drawing my sword as I use my momentum, I trust my khopesh under the jaw and into the brains of one of the vampires. My arm raises, to block the short sword of the third vampire swings at me. The dagger scrapes against my steel gauntlet. I push the short sword back onto the vampire’s chest, then trip him with my right foot.

I was about to impale the vampire through his head after tripping him, but Cassandra jumps on top of him before I kill him. She fires an arrow directly in the centre of his, killing him. Her black and red gown twirls as she moves, as if she is dancing.

I whisper voices of command to the dead souls of The Flutes, using my willpower to make them come closer. They obey me, but with reluctance. If this is a traditional dungeon party, then Isabella would be the tank. She is absorbing all the stabs and slashes like a sponge of made to suck in pain.

Thea is quick, though her movements are not as graceful as Cassandra’s archery, or as smooth as Isabella’s swordplay. However, she is efficient at killing, and little of her movements are wasted. The only problem is that she is no vampire; she has to retreat several steps so that Isabella can once again become the centre of attention, when that happens, she rushes in to kill those attacking Isabella and retreats again. Despite this probably being their first fight together, they are well suited for each other.

Thea takes a lot of risk. Again I see her risk her life, just to kill one of the Flutes. Her mistake leaves her open, and she receives a gash across her arm. I cannot heal her, not during all this chaos.

The three vampires behind me would be the high DPS. But, they are taking too many hits from the humans behind. Eventually a lucky human gets in with a stab to the eye, and another one of my vampires is dead. One of them is worth seven men, but even they will fall when overpowered. Isabella is frantically trying to hold off the hoard of weak vampires and the occasional human. Her clothes are damp with blood, and I could not find a single dry spot on her. She has been impaled so many times, that her blood pools on the ground around her. It is funny in a way, because now some of the vampires are slipping on her blood.

Cassandra has shifted her focus to the archers and crossbowmen on the scaffolding. They are easy pickings for her; since they cannot shoot without risking the chance of hitting their own people. But, Cassandra could shoot take them down one by one. However, her quiver is running out of arrows, and we are being push back and killed.

I need more time, and I need more souls. I muster all my willpower, but just like with the books in my soul, I can only command a limit amount of them.

My bones grow stronger, and I feel my body become lighter as I absorb more and more souls. I absorb some by squeezing them with my hand, but most just force their way into my reservoir. Many souls escape through the ceiling. I grow angry at the loss of my fallen vampires, despite being strong, I feel weak and I hate the feeling so much that it made me hungry for souls. I start to absorb the souls with haste. Until I finally feel that sensation again. Twice so far it has happened, during the end of the battle, and after I absorbed Vicktor’s soul.

I know what it is now. It is the sign that my soul has reached the maximum amount of mana my body can hold. I stop absorbing the souls in the air. I know what is going to happen next.

The world slows. No, the world is not slowing down, it never did. I am just moving at such a rapid speed that it appears to be slow. I am not sure why having a high state of mana does this, but I am grateful.

I dart pass Thea, and slammed my Khopesh into the chest of a man who stabbed Isabella. My sword slides through his leather armour and chainmail like a hot knife through butter. My movements were swift, and they were like sheep ready to be slaughtered. My khopesh decapitated heads as I swing it, before the blood of my last victim even touch the floor, I am already killing another. More, and more fall to my blade, like wheat.

I kill without care, and I lost count of how much I have murdered. I even slaughter the unconscious one on the ground. Their reactions were slow, and I was always three steps ahead. I felt as quick as Victor, maybe even quicker. I wonder if this is what it felt like to him when he fought.

I feel my body slow once again, going back to normal. I am feel, and my mana level is now back at where it was when I first woke up earlier. I grab a few souls that have yet to escape, and absorb them to help regain my strength. After the carnage, not a single spot on the floor did not have a body on it, or is covered by blood. Swords need to be able to stay sharp for long periods of time, but I have not to use this khopesh for more than two weeks, yet its edges have become nicked and dull.

A blade impales me from behind, I feel the cold dagger puncture my flesh and slide between my ribs. I know I did not kill everyone, but who could be so stupid.

“I killed the mage! Guys I killed the mage! My father will be...” I turn around to look at the boy. Well, he was not a boy, he is probably a bit younger than me. Maybe eighteen or nineteen years old. The room was silent. The only people still alive were the archers atop the platform, and only six of them remained, three vampires were still alive, and about eight of the Flutes’ cutters. Anyone else is most likely dead. This was probably not their best, I sure hope it was, I enjoy easy fights and easy souls.

The boy watches the dead bodies, and the stunned and defeated faces of the remaining men. He takes two steps away from me, trips over a dead body. Maybe the fact that I’m not dead, or the piles of dead bodies, made him react badly. He tries to quickly get up, frantic about what could have made him fall. He reaches for what tripped him, and sees the guts of another man around his legs. He gives off a weak scream, then his body convulses as he vomits. I watch as he looks up at me, and starts to cry. It is not even a good cry, no tears, just a weak whimpering.

I found the young man to be relatable, this would probably be me if I was still human, and back on Earth. I would have piss and shit my pants. If this happened I am sure that I will have more souls to consume before the night finishes, I would not have to kill this boy. Besides, he may be worth more alive than dead. Actually, they could all be worth more to me alive than dead right now. I’ll need some traitors.

“Oh it’s been awhile since I had myself a young boy. They always cry the first time. The first time they die that is. Don’t worry, I’ll be gentle. I’m like it rough when I’m with Master.” Isabella said, as she looks towards Thea, who is still standing holding onto her bleeding hand. Thea turns her head and rolls her eyes in response.

Isabell drops the body she was sucking blood out of, and began to walk towards the crying boy. She is still damp with blood, droplets of it drips off her chin, she looks like a walking nightmare. I start to weave a speech spell, and cast it before she could reach the boy.

“Stop. He lives.”

“But he knows what we are now. It-” Isabella stops whatever she was going to say. I think she knows that I am not fond of having to repeat myself. However, she is right, by now they surely know that Isabella and maybe even the rest are vampires. Or some sort of monsters at least. Honestly, I did not care.

“As you say Master. However, can we at least kill them.” Isabella says as she points to the three vampires who are slowly creeping back against the wall, so they can slide out of the room. The remaining vampires stop when Isabella points at them. They lost hope as their faces become even more pale than previously.

“I agree with Isabella. They are a disgrace.” Cassandra says. I turn to the see her plucking one of her arrows out of another vampire, blood covered her mouth. She had obviously been snacking on the man before taking her arrow out of his head. It does not bother me that no one asked if they could drink the blood. I am okay with it, once it did not become an inconvenience.

I turn towards Thea, she is still clutching onto her arm. That is not good. I walk towards her, and move her hand away from her arm. I take a quick glance behind me, to see Isabella blocking off the door, so no one could flee back into their headquarters.

“What do you say.” I ask Thea, casting a quick speech spell. I want an answer before I start to heal her arm.

“I shall accept whatever you decide Lord Laoch.” Thea said with great effort, the wound caused her excruciating pain. Watching her arm again, I know why, the cut was deep, and still bleeding like a fountain. The wound looked like it cut all the way down to the bone.

It is not like I really care what they said. If I was to rule over these bunch of outlaws, then making them think they had a choice, while keeping an iron fist over them is something I will have to do. I like manipulating people. It makes me feel more powerful than casting a spell.

I began to weave bone and repair threads. I am not sure if Thea’s bone is damaged, but best not to leave the bone thread out, just to be safe. I weave the stop thread after, then a stitch thread. The spell slowly begins to pull her flesh together after I cast it. It would take a while to fully heal, and the pain to stop, but she would live. Of the four vampires I brought along, two were dead, the other two were busy sucking up blood from the same body. They notice my feet on the ground next to them, and slowly look up to see me. They quickly stop, and stand up to fix their shirt and wipe the blood off their mouths. Their voices are deep and apologetic. I can tell they are sincere.

“Apologies Master Laoch.”

“It would happen again sir.”

I nod my head, and walk away from them, going back to where the crying boy is. I raise a ginger by my mouth, his crying is annoying me now. He is smart enough to listen. I use the khopesh to cut away the guts tying his feet together. I expected him to stand up after, but he remained on the floor. I can feel the tension in the room building, the remaining Flutes looked scared and horrified. I start to cast a speech thread. I am delicate while making this, since I want it to be the perfect tone.

“The Shrouded is recruiting tonight. You pass examination and you live. You fail and you die. Anyone who kills those three,” I raise my hand, to point at the vampires. ‘Gets to live.” By now they must know what they we have vampires, and suspect what we are. I am still unsure who knows, and who does not know that vampires exist in the city. I will have to ask either Cassandra or Isabella about that.

“Don’t listen to him, we can still win this they are-” A vampire shouts, but is quickly cut off by an arrow that slams into his chest.

I heard the snap of a bow string go off, as one of the archers fired a shot at the talking vampire. The vampire yells out in pain, gripping the arrow, and slowly pulling it out of him.

“Sill!” An archer on the platform blurts out in a shocked tone.

“What! You just saw what he did. You can die, by yourself. I’m taking my way out.” The archer named Sill said. He was the same one who just shot the vampire. He nocks another arrow to his bow.

“But-” The archer next to Sill was about to dispute, but is cut off by the shouts of the other archers and Flute cutters on the ground.

“I’ll join!”

“Same!”

“Fuck this, I’m in.”

“Hell, I’m just here for the money, I’ll join. T’was happen when you mess with magic.”

“Sill is right. I ain’t dying for no one. I respect Razan, but this was a bad fucking move.”

The Flutes on the floor said start to shout one by one, as they turn their daggers towards the three vampires. I want to smile, this is quite an interesting turn of events. The remaining Flutes advance towards the vampires. Five arrows plunge into the three vampires, causing them to erupt in shouts of pain. The Flutes start to stab the vampires as they trapped them in the corner of the room. The vampires tried to fight back, but they were overpowered. They were not fast like Isabella, or strong like Cassandra. The only ability they seemed to possess is being able to be stabbed, or impaled and not die. But enough brain damage and they are dead like any other human.

“Ooh, this is fun. Don’t forget to aim for the head boys, a nice stab in the head will get them kicking.” Isabella says as she giggles.