Chapter 487 A Fair Trade
"So you’re saying they forced you, turned you into a vampire! But no one gave you their blood?" Said Fex, surprised at what he had heard so far. The whole story was interesting, to say the least. He felt that word was a bit of an understatement for what they had learned so far.
"Yes, I’m unsure of what the vampire did to me that day. As I said, it was all a blur the minute he looked at me with those red eyes." Arthur replied. "But my bloodline was not considered to be from one of the thirteen. In a way, I was considered a first like them, or at least an artificial first."
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Felling the burning sensation on his skin, Arthur quickly realized it was from the sun. At first, he thought it was just a hot day, but he decided to go through some tests and for some reason. The sun was indeed the cause of his pain and fatigue.
It wasn’t that he couldn’t go out in the sun, but that it made him sluggish, extremely tired, and he was less than half the man he used to be.
"Is this what those demons meant. They think I will seek them out for some type of cure?" Arthur said in anger. He felt even more frustrated as the pressure to make a decision of what was about to happen was pending on him.
Trying his best to avoid the sunlight as much as he could, he had finally and it to night time. Never did he think he would wish for the sun to go down, but for the first time he had, and that’s when he started to notice some differences.
His movements, not only were they back to normal, but they were better, he was faster, stronger and more agile than before but that wasn’t the best part. The best thing was his vision. He could see just as if it was the day.
But you see, Arthur was selfless, he wasn’t thinking about himself at this point and time but thinking about how he could use this to their advantage. He could see in the dark from miles away, if they were to fight in the night, with him commanding the army they would have a huge advantage.
Exited by his new idea, he decided to hold a training session in the outside court, right now while the dark was out. It was the king’s command, so of course, the others would follow and listen. When they had arrived outside, they could see the big smile on his face and they felt like Arthur had a plan.
He decided that he would spar with the other knights one by one, so they could get first-hand combat experience. Some of them were new recruits and if a war was to come, it would be their first time doing battle, but this was also an excuse just to test his skills.
He fought knight after knight and won the fights with ease. On top of this, he was going easy on them. But the amazing thing was he didn’t seem to tire, and the others and the knights watching were impressed. They started to think that Arthur was beyond a human being, someone who was blessed by the gods.
However, in one fight, Arthur had gone up against a skillful young knight. He showed promise and it caused Arthur to use a bit more power than he was used to. The body felt practically new to him and he wasn’t in complete control and an accident had occurred.
Swinging his blade forcefully, he had smashed the other’s sword in half. As it flew through the air, it went past the knight’s knee and grazed it with the edge of the blade.
At that moment, a sweet-sweet smell had entered his body, All of his senses felt like they were on high alert and they were tingling. ’What is this sensation?’ His nose led him to one place and his eyes were glued as the blood dripped from the knight’s knee.
"Your majesty, did I do something wrong?" The young knight said in a shaky voice.
Hearing it had briefly made him snap out of his trance. When he had come to, he realized he was now standing right in front of the boy and could see the young knight was shaking. All of the other knights had remained silent as well.
But there was a stranger look in his eyes as he approached the boy.
"The training session is over, everyone have a good night’s rest." Arthur said as he quickly left to return to the castle.
’What was I about to do to that boy? Is this what they were actually talking about. Have I become a demon like them?’
Although Arthur would have liked to think he would have held himself back when seeing the boy, deep down he knew it was an urge he couldn’t control. Even now in his room, his mind kept going back to the image of red, and the smell. And as more time passed, it was getting stronger and stronger.
But there was one will of Arthur that was stronger than anything else. And that was the fact he never ever wanted to harm those that chose to follow him. Those that were loyal to him.
Ultimately, this is what had led him to the decision to head back to the cave, and confront the so called "Vampires" that had done this to him.
A king couldn’t leave his post so easily, but leaving in the middle of the night, with his eyesight and new body without being seen was an easy task. He went through the forest and finally saw the cave that the three robbed men had mentioned.
’They are all counting on you.’ Arthur thought. Just in case he wasn’t to come back, he had left a detailed plan for the others, the best course of action, but Arthur was sure they didn’t want to kill him. Otherwise, they would have done so back then.
They needed him for something, for what, he did not know, but he was going to find out. Just like they had said, when going through the forest there was a point where the smell was leading him to a different place. It wasn’t hard to find the cave because he knew where it would be.
Entering the cave, he walked and walked, and then a fire could be seen not too far in. Voices could be heard, and finally, Arthur could see them. Thirteen figures, all dressed in black robes. It was a larger amount of people than he was expecting, and for some reason, Arthur could tell each one of them were as powerful as each other
"So who’s throat did you rip out before coming here?" One of them said as they started to laugh.
"No one, I came here to get you to undo such a thing. In return, I will do as you wish." Arthur replied.
"You see, there is a bit of problem, first of all as we currently know, there is no way to undo what you have become." One of them said. "As for the second, we need you to become one of us for our goal."
The words they said had struck Arthur hard in the heart. He would never be able to be normal again, to see the sunlight, without feeling weak. What had these people done to him, why?
"But, we can make it as normal as possible for you. We can teach you our ways, teach you how to wean off blood, and we have special items that will make you just as strong as you were in the sun, as you are now." One of them explained.
Looking at them, Arthur started to think about his people once more. No, it wasn’t good enough.
"I see no upside for me in this. You guys suddenly turn me, put a curse on me, and then you treat it like you are some kind of savior by helping me. It might fool others, but it won’t fool me. If you won’t help me, then I will do it without you."
Some of the vampires were angered by his words, they thought it was useless to convert someone who was so headstrong to do this task, but one of them had heard Arthurs plea, he had said "help us".
"Why don’t you tell me what you want, Arthur." One of them said with a smile on their face.
After much discussion, the vampires and Arthur had come to a deal. They had yet to tell him what they wanted him to do, as they wanted to see how things went for a while.
As for Arthur’s request in all of this, he had asked them to fight by his side. He knew their strength, and it turned out there were more than thirteen of them. They were just the strongest of the bunch. In return, Arthur gave them all a place to live.
He had even created a separate establishment, hidden from all the other towns and cities, for people of their kind. The vampires kept their promise in showing him how to wean of blood; they showed him skills and how to use his powers.
Eventually, the world came to know Arthur and his thirteen knights and called them the knights at the round table. They went into battle and mostly fought at night, giving their army a huge advantage. It was a good relationship.
But then the time had finally come. The vampires wanted Arthur to hold up his side of the deal, and there was something important they needed him to do.
They were to go and visit the first vampire king’s grave.
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