Chapter 1104 - Changing the future
On the planet that never saw sunlight, preparations were being made. Ever since learning that Arthur would be coming for him eventually, Bryce had been more focused and determined than ever before.
Right now he was in the throne room while Kazz stood by his side.
’I did everything I could to finally obtain the King’s seat. Others might just enjoy having fulfilled their grand ambition, grow lazy, while letting things play out until it would be time for their final rest, but how can I?’ Bryce thought as he clenched his fist and the veins on his hand showed themselves.
’How can I give up, when the Punisher, that bastard responsible for killing my family, is still out there? Fortunately, I won’t have to go out and find him, now that I know that he will be coming for me!’
Kazz couldn’t hear what her father was thinking, she could only see him act restless, making her worry for him. However, over the years she had grown somewhat used to it. She was aware that around a certain time of year Bryce would act like that. At some point he would proceed to enter the room where the dreaded paintings were and come out more determined.
She was unsure whether he was going there to remind himself what he had achieved so far, or if there was a deeper meaning behind it. Whatever the case, what used to seldom occur, had become far more frequent in recent times.
Today was another such day and she no longer knew what was the right thing to do.
"Don’t you think it will be beautiful?" Bryce asked as he started to walk forward. He suddenly stopped as the shadow of an item went over his face. "When Arthur comes back to exact his punishment, his very own powers will be used against him."
Stroking his hand over the wall in front of him, he could feel how smooth it felt. With how perfect it was, aside from a few missing pieces here and there, it was hard to believe that the wall used to be full of cracks.
"That kid must have taken part of the wall with him." Tempus said, moving from behind the wall. "Using my ability the whole thing should have returned to what it once was, but it doesn’t seem to all be here."
Kazz didn’t say anything. She was one of the people who had gone in with Quinn, but she had never expected her father to raid the Punisher’s castle after his disappearance. When they found the wall, Kazz had never seen a creeper smile on her father’s face before.
"Don’t worry, it seems we have been able to decipher enough information from this to figure out a few things, bring them in, Kazz." Bryce ordered, and she quickly left the room.
A few moments later, she returned with three vampires, all of them looked tired, exhausted. Sweating nervously, they were afraid of what was going to happen to them.
"Your Majesty, I think you will be quite pleased with our results, today will be the day that we are able to show you something." One of the vampires said as he remained on the floor with his head bowed down.
"Are you sure this is a good thing, your Majesty?" Tempus questioned. "If they learn the ability, it also means that Arthur will be able to use them in some way as well."
"Show me what you have learnt." Bryce ordered, ignoring Tempus’ warning.
The three stood up, and stayed in position for a short while. As they closed their eyes, soon the shadow underneath their feet started to move, and then it could be seen hovering over their back. Finally, weeks after discovering the tablet, it looked like they had learnt how to use the Shadow ability.
The tablet that had been left in the fourteenth castle, which showed one how to learn and use the Shadow ability, had been moved to the King’s castle, and now Bryce had his first set of shadow users.
However, even though Tempus had agreed to help the king, he was unsure what the other was thinking. Why would he be creating his own shadow users? One of the main abilities of the Punishers were that they were able to travel to each other with their shadow as they wished,
"You three have done an excellent job, the vampire race will be proud of you, and your names shall be forever remembered." Bryce said, as a sudden blood spike appeared from Bryce’s stomach piercing the other vampire’s stomach.
At the same time, from his forearms two more blood spikes had come out, killing the other two vampires as well.
When Bryce let go of the one in the centre, he fell to the floor and a shadowy mist started to spring from their bodies.
"Vampires have existed for a long time, but we did not always have abilities." Bryce narrated as he carefully watched the smoke make its way towards him. He then pulled out a clear transparent crystal and the mist started to enter into the crystal. Soon the clear colour started to fill up.
"The world is a complicated thing, and even we don’t know all of its secrets." Bryce continued. "But it looks like the gods are on my side, and wish for me to achieve my goal. Kazz, bring me more people. We must gather and teach the shadow ability to as many people as possible."
However, even though her father had ordered it, she was frozen in fear. Was that her father’s plan? Raise more shadow users, only to then kill more of his people? Sacrifice the lives of his own vampires just to store some strange shadow in a crystal?
She had seen him go too far at times but this was far beyond anything before.
’God’s on your side, you say?’ Tempus wondered.
———
While stuck in his throne room, trying to clear his head, he had received a certain surprise visitor, one that smelt like a human, a strange thing in the Vampire World to say the least. Being able to make it to him without being stopped, was the best evidence that the girl was not normal.
"I won’t waste your time by introducing myself, just know that I have come to help you." The girl had told him cryptically. "There is great trouble in your future and without help you will only fail. As such I have brought you a gift. The origins of the shadow will originally wish to return to the place where it came from."
The girl had pulled out the clear crystal, and placed it on the ground. In the few seconds Bryce’s gaze had been on the crystal, she had already disappeared, leaving the Vampire King with an empty crystal and a ton of unanswered questions.
For a day or two, he had tried to ignore this mysterious meeting, but eventually the lack of any solution, as well as curiosity, got the better of him and he decided to verify how powerful the crystal was. Just from them using the shadow powers there was no such reaction, the crystal was on Bryce at all times, but then a sound, as if something was calling to him told him what he needed to. The test with the shadow users and crystal wasn’t over yet.
———
Not too far away, the very person that Bryce was prepping for was thinking about him as well. He was sitting on top of a large building with the night sky, although there was another man behind him.
"We are meeting here again, I guess you have finished with your preparations and It looks like you have made your choice. It’s time for you to move, isn’t it" The man told him.
"I still couldn’t find him, but he is definitely out there, but I can’t keep looking. Indeed, there is no better time. But shouldn’t you worry about your own side? It looks like to me things haven’t gone the way you thought they would. I told you that you would have troubles with them. You shouldn’t have underestimated them." Arthur replied with a cheeky grin.
"I hate to admit it, but you’re right. Make sure to not repeat my mistake, I would hate to lose you. Who knows how strong they have gotten since we have been away." The man cautioned Arthur.
"Strong? No, the way I see it, they have just gotten weaker...well, maybe not all of them." Arthur corrected himself, as he stood up.
"Once everything is over, remember to keep your promise!"
******
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