The Coldharbour castle, a structure that had been there for ages, was now crumbling by the enemy's attack. Hephas was outside, fighting against an army of bloodthirsty vampires who wanted him dead.
Arthur's bedroom abruptly opened, and a vampire he knew well was there. It was the same one he had followed.
"Come, quickly. There is a secret passage for you to use and leave this place alive! Hephas sent me here to make sure Shyvana left this place with her life!" He said.
"Where is this secret passage? Can you tell me?"
"Huh, it's the one by the west watchtower."
When Arthur heard what the vampire said, he made his move. Then, with a swift movement, Arthur dashed toward the vampire, using his long sharp claws to pierce through his chest, right in the heart.
All the blood from the vampire's body flew toward Arthur's body, making him stronger and changing his personality! For a brief second, Arthur's eyes turned completely red, and all he wanted to do was kill everything in sight, but only one victim was not enough to make him go crazy.
After a deep breath, Arthur returned to his usual self.
"W-Why? How did you know?"
He could not believe Arthur had seen through his disguise, but that was only understandable. Hephas was sure at least two of the four vampires were traitors and that one appearing out of nowhere in his room was suspicious enough. But what made Arthur sure of it was about the secret passage.
Yes, one led out of the castle, but it was not in the west watchtower but inside a room where Hephas stored his wines. Perhaps the west watchtower also had a secret passage — the castle was full of them — but it was not the one Arthur was looking for.
Arthur looked at Jane, Wisa, and Shyvana and said, "there is no time to explain. He is one of the traitors who made this attack possible. Come, follow me."
Wisa and Jane had no idea where they were going after they left the bedroom, but Shyvana knew that passage but did not want to leave her father alone in that fight, even though she knew she couldn't change the outcome.
"If I go there, then my father will die in vain," Shyvana thought, and that thought was what gave her strength.
The insides of the castle were a mess, and all the servants who weren't vampires wanted to leave. Seeing Arthur and Shyvana, two people they knew well, gave them hope!
"Shyvana! Can you help us? We cannot help with the fight!"
Arthur looked at them and said, "follow me, but if anyone hinders my movement, then there is nothing I can do. It is everyone for himself now!"
He wanted to help them, but only to the extent that it would not harm him or his wives. All the servants agreed to what he said, and they also knew Arthur barely knew them, so just showing them a passage out of the castle was more than what they could ask for.
With quick steps, Arthur, his wives, Shyvana, and around twenty servants made their way to the room where Hephas stored his wines.
Once inside, Shyvana took the lead to open the passage for them. Hephas had shared it with Arthur beforehand, but he only heard it, and Shyvana had been there before, so she did things way faster than he did.
It was a sequence where one had to pull a few fake bottles of wine from the shelf, so it was pretty challenging to find it, and the whole place was hidden behind magical formations, making it even harder.
Shyvana did the sequence flawlessly, making the shelf move to show a narrow tunnel that could only fit two people side-by-side.
"Done! Everyone, go!" Shyvana said, gesturing for the servants to go first.
Arthur disliked it, as he wished to go first to ensure his wives were safe, but Shyvana probably knew those servants for years, and she wanted to keep them safe!
All twenty servants went through the tunnel, with Arthur and his wives following closely behind. After they went inside, Shyvana closed the passage again to ensure no one would follow them.
It was dark inside, but with some magic, candlelight brightened their way, making it easier for those servants who did not have the luxury to see in the dark.
"How far is this tunnel?" asked Arthur.
Shyvana was the only one who knew that, so she said, "this tunnel goes underwater and ends in a forest away from the nearest town. I assume this goes about... 50 kilometers away from the castle."
"50 kilometers!" Arthur gasped.
That was a short distance for him and any powerful mage, but traveling through a tunnel was not the same as traveling outside.
They were there to keep themselves hidden, so using too much mana to increase their travel speed could alarm their enemies, making their plan to waste.
So, it would take them at least a day to traverse through the tunnel. Still, Arthur tried to think positively. "A long tunnel means we are farther away from the castle; thus, it is safer."
~~~~
"Finally, we are out of here!"
Only the servants were almost passing out, unable to keep moving again. Arthur was alright, and the tunnel led them to a snowy forest away from the castle.
But what should they do now to make sure those servants were safe?
"Come, there are some carriages my father positioned here in case we needed for a run," Shyvana said, retaking the lead.
It seemed that Hephas thought about everything in case something happened in the castle. Sure, he never believed another vampire family would do that, much less that it would happen so soon, but Hephas made sure to have the precautions if needed.
Not that far from where the tunnel ended, hidden behind a magical barrier that made all the things inside invisible, there were a few carriages!
The horses had runes on them, making them way more powerful than normal ones, eliminating the problems of weather, thirst, and hunger!
"This is quite useful. These horses stayed here for a long time, yet are okay because of those runes. I don't remember seeing anything like it in the central continent. Maybe I should write it down?" Arthur thought.
He had his notebook ready when they all went inside the carriages and left the area.
"Where should we go?" Arthur asked.
The general area was not a knowledge he had, and Arthur hoped Shyvana had that in her.
"A town nearby is not in the territory of any vampire family. That is the best place for these servants to stay."
"How long till we get there?"
"Around two days."
"I hope everything goes well..."
~~~~
The Coldharbour castle did not live to see another day, but all of it got demolished, but the rank four mage was not happy, yelling like a madman.
The only survivors were the lizardmen, who saw the situation getting severe, so they jumped in the water and fled.
"Where are the fucking journals? Fuck, fuck, fuck!"
Sure, they found Sybille, someone who belonged to their family and was supposed to be locked away, but what about the journals?
They needed them to help them find the next part of the inheritance, as their spy had only leaked some information, but not all of it! The only person who knew all of what was inside the journals was Hephas, but he was now dead!
Dead? Sort off.
Inside an unknown dark room, a man coughed blood.
"My avatar is dead, but this gives me the advantage of surprise! These bastards will pay with their lives for what they did with my family!" Hephas said as he looked beside him to see a woman's body, completely frozen.
~~~~
They made their way to the town where all the twenty servants left the carriages and could not thank them enough. It would not be easy for them to start over, but it was doable, and the most important part: they were alive!
If you have health, no matter the difficulties, there are always ways to bounce back. Also, they had some money from the time they worked for Hephas, who paid them well, so they would be okay.
Now Arthur, Wisa, and Jane had a new task: find the next part of the inheritance, and get stronger to find Sybille! Well, that was the goal of Arthur and his wives. As for Shyvana, she wanted to get strong to kill those who attacked her family!
"Are you sure you want to part ways?" Arthur asked.
"Yes, I do. You have your own journey, and I have mine, but I hope you come to help me kill those bastards when the time comes."
"I will, absolutely. Hey, Shyvana, take this. I did not have the time to produce many of them, but this should help you reach rank three."
Arthur had produced a few potions which would help Shyvana — Hephas had asked him that, but there was not much time to prepare more potions, so he only had three.
"Really? Thank you, Arthur. I will never forget what you did for me."
Shyvana had a strange feeling inside of her, one she could not pinpoint what it was, but one thing she knew: she did not want to part ways with Arthur, but she had to.
In a little town amidst the snow, Shyvana left, looking to find her own adventure, which could only end when her family's killers died.
On the other hand, Arthur was starting a new one to find the cure to his madness, get stronger and ultimately rescue Sybille!
But he did not know that his rage would only get worse...
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