In my combined thirty years of life, I have witnessed many things regarding death and bodies. I’ve seen people dead or dying in war, limbs missing from explosives or energy-based weapons. I’ve seen people burned to death from fires that can’t be put out. Or those beaten to death with bare hands or what happened to a planet after a weapon of mass destruction went off.

Even as a slave, I have seen people in the worst conditions I thought possible. I believed that, unfortunately, I had just seen all of the depravity and terrible things a person could do to another person. But once again, I found myself in this new world being proven wrong.

This was somehow the new worst thing I had witnessed. And I couldn’t even begin to fathom a reason behind it.

Lin, King Maxwell, and I all stared at the mutilated Vampire in silence as he stared back at us with his dead crimson eyes. He was the weakest Vampire I had yet to see, with only two red rings. Either way, the Vampire’s head was at the bottom of the crate, pinned down by a Blood Iron spike through the neck.

“He’s somehow still breathing. What should we do, Your Majesty?” Lin asked in her garbled voice, breaking the eerie silence.

It looked as if he was drinking his own blood that was pooling beneath him to survive because, as my Dragon eye and Lin confirmed, the man was still alive. How he was, I had no idea.

“I’m afraid I don’t know where to begin with this. Never in my life have I seen something so cruel and heinous,” King Maxwell said in disbelief as he looked away. “We will start by securing the area. This—”

All of our heads turned to the sound of a fight that had gotten close. It must have been short-lived as a man gave his final death scream, followed by a body being flung down the path. A Human woman with graying brown hair sprinted out of the darkness with a blooded hand axe and headed straight forward us. She looked like quite the menace with a blood-stained cloak as well.

I prepared for battle at that moment, but King Maxwell rested a hand on my shoulder, and the woman’s fiery expression softened upon seeing us. She ran straight for us and stopped, entering a deep bow.

“Your Majesty! I knew you were here! Your people are trying to kill me, damn it! Don’t they recognize me?! Especially those three women, the one in all black, you know that one?! She nearly cut my head off! Please tell them to stop!” she belted out while still in a bow.

This voice…it’s… familiar. And her soul. It’s one of the Adventurer Guild’s council members. She was the voice on the right side.

“Yes, I think it will be okay now, Elora,” King Maxwell said with an awkward chuckle.

Lin and I exchanged quick glances. I couldn’t see her face at all, but I felt her acknowledgment. It was King Maxwell. Was he being awkward? What was that? Why does he seem embarrassed all of a sudden?

Well, whatever, that’s a thought for another day. We have far more pressing matters.

Elora left her bow and looked ready to launch into conversation again. Her attitude was completely different from the time I met her, although it was brief. But her excitement and relief to see the king vanished as she wrinkled her nose and her eyes drifted over to the opened bloody crate.

Her face scrunched up in disgust, and she asked, “What is that?”

“We don’t know what to make of it either. Please stay here and help us secure the area, Elora. I’ll make sure you are compensated fairly,” King Maxwell said seriously.

Elora grinned but only slightly, her eyes not looking away from the Vampire. “You know me well, Your Majesty. I’ll—”

She stopped herself mid-sentence and looked right at me. Elora narrowed her eyes and sighed. “Listen, I don’t know anything about your stupid little promotion, so don’t even ask me!”

“How did you know?” I asked curiously.

She crossed her arms and shook her head. “Like I would forget you! You can hide your face but not your aura and body! I mean, come on! Dragons! Real Dragons came, and one even attacked you while the other saved you! And you are here with the king and his weird little assassins?! Don’t take me for a fool! I’ll never forget you! You must be some kind of bait for trouble!”

Well…I don’t have anything to say about that. Is it that trouble finds me or that I find trouble? Probably a little bit of both.

The conversation was short-lived as my mother barreled down the hallway and stairs again. She did indeed look ready to kill some more people as her outfit was splattered with fresh blood, and her swords crackled with lightning. But the moment she saw us casually standing about, she stopped.

Elora pointed her finger at my mom. “That one! She’s the one that nearly cut my head off! You better stay away from me!”

Mom’s golden eyes turned to me, and I just shrugged. There was no point in saying anything else as my mother had grasped the situation quickly. And it wasn’t long before Sylvia and Cerila came through the hole that the king made in the ceiling. They, too, were covered in blood.

It only took them a moment to take in the horrible sight. Cerila recoiled slightly as I imagined the putrid smell was far worse for her than any of us. Sylvia just stared into the box and then back at me. I shook my head, as did everyone else.

“Should I try?” Sylvia asked me.

“If you think you can. We are at a loss for what to do. I don’t take it you’ve ever seen this before?” I responded.

Sylvia shook her head, and her single blue eye looked on in concern. “No, never in my life have I seen something so awful. But I’ll try my best…”

My mother and a reluctant Elora went to watch the entrance and chase down any stragglers. In the meantime, Sylvia stepped up to the crate and, with her sword, began separating the Blood Iron spikes with swift slashes. Unfortunately, it was unavoidable that she would hit the Vampire. But he didn’t even flinch, let alone grunt. There was no reaction from him at all, which made it all the more eerie.

The smell of fresh blood mingled with the stagnant stench of filth. It was awful, but somehow not the worst thing I had smelled in my life. The Vampire’s flesh, bone, and body regenerated in real-time in front of us, which in the state it was in…was just awful. It seemed the body knew if a piece of flesh was too far gone or, for another reason, just simply decided to regenerate a fresh one.

Sylvia cut his limbs free until she reached the few spikes pinning his spine. She worked her way through them until only the one at his neck remained. She let out a deep breath and looked over her shoulder at me. I nodded a single time and readied my weapon, as did everyone else.

The reason we didn’t see the Vampire as a patient was relatively simple. It was also the reason so many people feared them as a race. It was because we all had read, heard stories, or maybe even witnessed what happened to a Vampire that did not drink the blood of others. Personally, I had never seen it as I had only heard stories or read about it in a book.

And it was undeniable that this Vampire had not had fresh blood in a very long time. He looks as if he is starving, with nothing but skin hanging on his bony body.

It seemed that fear was warranted.

Sylvia stepped back and slashed, but she was too slow. Whether it was because she hesitated or was caught off guard, I couldn’t be sure as I didn’t even get a chance to warn her. The Vampire’s fist impacted straight into her stomach, sending her flying across the room.

The Vampire let out a blood-curdling screech as Cerila, and I lunged forward, weapons ready to strike. Her sword sliced off the Vampire’s entire arm in a single attack, but the Vampire did not even hesitate. He continued to swipe directly at me, and I brought up my spear to block it. My bones creaked, and I was pushed back.

What raw strength! This Vampire looked ready to die with a gust of wind! How can someone manage this much strength—

The Vampire snarled and tried to rip my throat out with the intensity of a maddened animal. I moved my head back just in time to avoid his bite. Cerila plunged her sword into his spine. Frost began to spread across the Vampire’s body, but he pushed himself off her sword only for a purple blur to come flying across my vision.

The Vampire’s head was gone, and a disk made of purple crystals crashed into the wall behind me. King Maxwell was already on top of the Vampire as he ripped both its arms off.

“Freeze it—!”

King Maxwell couldn’t finish his sentence as Sylvia jumped in. She sent her sword straight into the Vampire’s heart. The body that was still resisting and thrashing, even without a head or arms, went limp and fell over, lifeless. It did not regenerate either.

I let out a sigh of relief and walked over to Sylvia, who just stood over the now-dead Vampire. Researching the Vampire might have been a better idea, but a corpse would have to do. Besides, there was no way that the Vampire would ever regain its senses. That much was certain.

And…I understood why Sylvia did what she did. I had done it before and even witnessed it myself. It was better for it to die than to be captured and studied like a lab rat.

It was the most humane thing to do. It has suffered enough. That’s what I think, anyway.

—

I sat on a bench in one of the more secluded and private areas of the villas. It was only a place high-ranking nobles could go to freely. Of course, I was invited by a princess so it wasn’t a problem.

Last night’s events replayed in my mind over and over again as I absent-mindedly watched the flowers sway. The rain storm had passed on just like my mother and Cerila said it would. I didn’t sleep well that night. Neither did Sylvia, and I had a feeling nobody did.

There was no doubt that Vampire was what Deguzman wanted me to find. It was so unexplainable that none even had a clue where to begin. Was it torture? Some kind of retribution against Vampires? Or was it just some sick noble’s idea of a good time?

We didn’t know. Lin’s people were looking for answers from the survivors they captured, but just as the logs suggested, that crate was an unknown factor. Who was behind it? Why would they do something like that?

There were so many questions and not even a whiff of an answer. We could only speculate. It was almost better to assume that it was a one-off deal, but…with Deguzman involved, there was no way that was the case. That Vampire would signal something in the future…

We could only hope that we found what it was before it was too late.

“Sorry, were you waiting long?” Ren’s voice asked me, calling me out of my daze.

“No, not all. I just came out here early to relax. Are you ready to begin?” I asked.

“Yes, of course!” Ren said excitedly as she skipped toward me.

I stood up from the bench and stretched my shoulders. While I did so, I asked, “How are you feeling? Have you recovered completely?”

Ren nodded and sent me a warm smile. “Yes, thanks to Sylvia, I recovered in just a few hours!”

A few hours? That’s not so bad. But during a battle, that could very well mean that Ren would die. An ability that rendered you crippled for hours was not one that could be trusted.

Not that I’m one to say that…hah.

“Is something the matter?” Ren asked as we sat on the ground together.

“No, just thinking to myself, sorry. Now, let’s start. May I see your sword?”

Ren handed her white katana to me, and I unsheathed it. I scrutinized the blade but found nothing amiss. It felt good in the hands, the blade was sharp, the material used was high quality, and the craftsmanship was of the highest quality. At surface level, the sword was just a sword.

Yet…even with my Dragon eye I don’t see anything special about this weapon.

“Kaladin, do you really believe that I can master this weapon in only two years? It must have taken my master decades for him to grasp it,” Ren said, unable to hide the worry in her voice.

“That’s because your master didn’t have me. I can see things that he can’t. And with your talent, I’m sur—no, I’m positive that you can do it. But do you mind if I try to use it? Just for a reference?” I asked.

Ren nodded, and I recalled what she did during her match. I formed the spell core and guided it into the blade, almost like when I enhanced my spear or sword with lightning or fire magic. I tried again, then again, then another time, but nothing happened.

Huh, I could have sworn this was how Ren did it. Maybe I need to see it again?

I handed the sword to Ren and told her to start forming her spell core. I watched the small orb snowball into a massive blurb of mana, then told her to stop and slow down the process. The orb disappeared into nothingness.

I wanted her to do it again, not for my sake, but as a baseline for her. If she always gave it her all and formed the largest and most powerful spell core to feed the sword, she would also take on the maximum amount of burden. But saying that was easy. Doing it was another thing.

Altering spell cores always came at a cost. But Ren was well practiced in mana control, and with some concentration and focus, the invisible spell core formed again and was much smaller this time. I watched as Ren fed it into her sword, and a very minuscule amount of mist appeared at the blade’s edge.

Ah, I see. The way she forms her spell core is different. It’s close to the way Mom showed me.

“Breath in the mist for me,” I said.

I wanted to see what it looked like up close and not from so far away. Ren brought the blade to her mouth and sucked in the wispy white clouds. Through my Dragon eye, I watched to see what would happen, and I was surprised.

It did nothing at all. It was like…huh…it was like her body rejected that small amount of mana. Was it just not enough?

“Did you feel any different, Ren?”

Ren shook her head and handed her sword back to me. “No, I felt nothing special.”

I nodded and re-concentrated on forming the spell core the exact way that Ren did it. I tried over and over again, but the sword just did not respond to me at all. No matter how hard I tried, no amount of mist would appear. It felt like it was rejecting me and my mana as my spell core disappeared upon contact despite my maintaining it. But I felt nothing and saw nothing in my Dragon eye.

How is this sword responsible for gathering ambient mana, but when it disperses, my mana—disperse? Disappear? What if—

“Ren, get ready. I want you to feed a small amount of your mana into the sword the moment I hand it to you, understood?”

Ren sat up a little straighter and nodded with a determined look. I summoned the spell core once more, and the moment it disappeared from me trying to combine it with the sword, I tossed it back to Ren.

It only took her a moment, but despite the small spell core she applied to it, the sword sent out a tidal wave of white mist. I took a deep breath in, but the clouds avoided me like the plague. Ren was wise and did not breathe in at all, letting the mana-filled mist evaporate harmlessly.

This blade…it’s not just consuming ambient mana and feeding it to Ren upon a trigger. It’s consuming all types of mana. But for some reason, only Ren can use it.

“Kaladin…what does this mean?” Ren asked as she watched the last wisps of mist disappear.

“It means I don’t know how this weapon actually works. Something beyond my sight and understanding is at play here. What did your master tell you about this weapon?” I asked.

Ren resheated her sword and laid it on her lap. “I—don’t know. And to be honest, I’m not sure my master knows for certain either. This sword is clouded in mystery, and the only thing we are sure of is that it was forged a long time ago. I’ve only just begun reading and understanding what your grandfather transcribed for me. The origins of the sword are not in the book my master left me.”

“I see…have you had someone else look at it?”

Ren shook her head. “My father, you, your grandfather, and my master are the only people I know who have held this sword.”

“Then, when we get back to the capital, I have someone in mind. Would you care if I had them take a look at it?”

“If you think it will help, then…yes, I’ll trust you, Kaladin,” Ren said as she looked me directly in the eyes.

Ren’s unwavering and resolute trust in me brought a smile to my face and a warmth to my chest. I might not understand how her sword worked, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t help her master it.

“Thank you, Ren. Now, let’s get started, shall we?”