The Attack

The Attack

Light from the nearly full moon shone in through the colored glass adorned above the throne. Xentros and his father occupied the throne room by themselves.. Having caught up on the events that had transpired since their last time together, they were merely enjoying each other’s company, planning what they would do once they were fresh in the morning.

They weren’t expecting a soldier to rush in through the entrance into the room.

“Sire, I apologize for the intrusion. The Southern section of the city is under attack! We aren’t sure what they are, but they are inhuman!” The soldier then keeled over from blood loss, and It was clear upon further inspection that there was almost none left in his body. Both Vexus and Xentros rushed to the aid of their home.

In the streets of Illiu soldiers were felled by unseen foes. By the time Xentros arrived (he had been running faster than his father) the patrol force was almost entirely wiped out. With the light of the moon blocked out, and a need to alert the people of his home, he shot a great fireball into the sky. When it exploded glowing sparks of dark magic escaped from the center. This was the emergency signal of Illiu, as it was performable by almost all members of the military, visible from nearly anywhere in the capital, and easy to recognize.

The light of this magic cast shadows upon the ground caused by creatures that resembled humans but moved in such a way that would have been impossible for a mortal. They shielded themselves from the light and moved towards the source. Xentros quickly found himself under attack from multiple sides, with no chance to draw his blade. He began dodging as lashes of clawed fingers and kicks from legs obviously stronger than they appeared flew past his face. His responses were blasts of fire that nearly always hit, but cause a nearly insignificant amount of damage compared to how much force he tried putting behind them. The attacks finally let up for a moment and he saw these creatures for what they were.

Vampires.

Thinking back to his lessons he remembered learning vaguely about vampires. He knew they were beings that hunted only at night, for sunlight caused them immeasurable amounts of pain and death if exposed for long enough periods of time. He also remembered reading about the effectiveness of light magic against these monsters and prepared himself accordingly. He drew his sword and empowered it with light and fire magics. He readied his mind and sunk into his battle stance.

The vampires charged again, this time with more organization and a stronger intent to kill. Creature after creature jumped towards Xentros and was cut down, some too close for comfort. One vampire had gotten behind Xentros without his knowledge and would have sunk his teeth into the prince, had it not been for Vexus leaping in and cutting the beast in two. He took a position behind his son and brought his sword to the ready position. “I’m not as spry as I used to be,” he began. “sorry for being late.”

Xentros half smiled as his father cast light magic on his own sword, so as to have it’s damage be permanent. The vampire Vexus had cut in half already began to heal and looked infuriated. “As long as we put these things down, it doesn’t matter.” With that, they leaped on the offensive for once.

Vexus had some difficulty with keeping up with his enemies at first but picked up his pace as the adrenaline reached his muscles. He roamed through the battlefield slaying as many as he could while taking minimal casualties. Whether or not he was weak by a King’s standards, he was still a King, and as such a powerful fighter.

Or so he thought. Two vampires grabbed his arms and were about to tear into his neck until he was rocked by a shockwave of magic. He turned his head and saw his son with his arms outstretched as he was glowing white. “He really has come a far way.” Vexus thought before rejoining the fight. He saw his military arriving, led by Sheila and his war general, shortly before another vampire was in his face.

Xentros spared no being that dared attack his home. As he slaughtered vampire after vampire he felt his blood boiling. His vision was growing sharper with each kill he made, and he noticed all too late that he was losing control of himself. He tried to emanate holy magic through himself to let him retain his personality, but it failed. However, as opposed to usual, he didn’t black out. He stayed conscious throughout the whole battle, watching his less-than-normal-self eviscerating the unholy creatures before him. “What is this?” He thought to himself. The body he was accustomed to controlling lunged at a vampire and stabbed it straight through the chest. His left arm reached into the cavity created by his blade, even as it began to heal. He ripped out with a strength he was not used to seeing from his body and watched as the cursed monster split in two. Black energy leaked from both of his hands and into the two halves of vampire and worked itself throughout the both parts.

Abruptly, his form was engulfed in fire, including the monster in his hands, and then the beast exploded. Every tiny chunk of it landed, still smoldering and letting off black wisps of dark magic. Everyone in the area stopped fighting and looked towards the source. Xentros’ body was hunched over and laughing, looking at the fear evident on the faces of his enemies, before he rushed towards them again. His hand became outstretched, formerly holding his sword which had since been discarded, and began glowing an odd, bright purple. It was unlike the dark magic he was used to seeing, as it normally took the color black or dark purple. The energy formed into claws, and the first vampire to get in the way new full well what the energy was capable of as it tore through him and he began to lose his ability to stand before he keeled over. Dead.

The remaining invaders in the area turned to flee from the charging form of their enemy. But one by one, before any of them had even reached the empty space between the wall and the first buildings, they were shredded, decapitated, or in some other way debilitated and slaughtered. The final vampire stood her ground and brought her sword up in-between the one that would undoubtedly murder her. She saw a sadistic smile form on the face of the one who killed all of her clan and was filled with uncontrollable fury. She moved towards Xentros’ form and felt as though she outran her legs. This feeling lasted until she smashed into the ground and landed upon the claws of her former comrade, feeling them penetrate her stomach.

She was kicked onto her back by Xentros who was holding a ball of the strange purple energy in one of his hands. It was then that she noticed she had been dislodged from her legs. She looked up once more to see the eyes of her killer and saw the vilest and twisted soul she could ever imagine behind the glowing red orbs. Her next thoughts were lost in the nothingness, as Xentros plunged his hand down and ended her existence.

The on-lookers were too shocked to move a hand, as the attack was single-handedly repelled by the body of their superior. Vexus let a tear slip out of his eyes at the state of his son and was the first to rush to calm him down once the destruction of invaders had ceased, with Sheila close on his heels.

The sun broke the horizon as they moved, and as the sunlight touched the corpses of the vampire forces, they burned into smoke and ash.

No one noticed the silhouette of a man slip out of the castle under the shadow of the building.