The cursed blood., Chapter 1: The celebration. Options

[minque]

Yes, what treydog said just about sums it up! I hope you´ll continue!

[mplantinga]

I was intrigued by the part about the sword containing the soul of Aureus. I'm looking forward to learning more about that.

[jack cloudy]

Glad you all like it. I don't know how to add more about Aureus' sword that hasn't already been said. Oh well, said sword still has a role to play in the end.
Now, a very short update. Man, I'm really slowing down.



Chapter 4: end of the dream

,,Right, now the mountain reacts to the life detection spell and will masque any sign of a vampire. Be careful and stay calm. By the full moon, we don’t want them to notice us.” Jalin whispered as they crept through the snow. Luper had surprised everyone by being quiet while a plan was being made. Maybe there was still hope for him.

Slowly, the mountain grew bigger till they finally found themselves a stone’s throw away.
,,And now, be quiet.” Jalin whispered, motioned for the others to stay where they were and crawled further. When he reached the entrance, he rose up to his full height and closed his eyes. With only his hearing and sense of smell to guide him, he noticed two vampires waiting around the corner. They obviously hadn’t noticed their guests. That was good enough for him.

Jalin slowly raised his crossbow and loaded the weapon. He pressed the lever and the bolt shot forth, bouncing off the wall and drilling right through the heads of both vampires. Jalin peeked around the corner before waving to his companions and entering the mountain.

They slowly walked in further through the constantly shifting corridor. It really looked like they were inside the bloodstream of some huge silvery creature.
,,Now this is freaking me out.” Luper muttered. He was constantly looking at the walls, the ceiling and the floor as if it could suddenly grow a tentacle to grab him.

,,Don’t be such a coward. It’s not that bad. In my dreams, the whole mountain always explodes. This is nothing.” Jana whispered back in an attempt to bring some confidence back to the Nerevarine. In reality, seeing this so-called hero getting frightened was rather scary.
,,See, that is what I mean. Knowing my luck, today just happens to be the day that this mountain thingy explodes.” Luper grumbled, becoming even more depressed.

Jalin stood still and raised his hand. He then raised his crossbow and fired another bolt that bounced of the walls.
,,All clear.” He whispered. When they rounded the corner, another body of a death vampire lied on the floor.
,,How do you do that?” Jana muttered and promised herself never to make Jalin angry. He could be a brilliant assassin if he ever felt something for that profession.
,,I’m a werewolf. Same thing with my parents and Amarie, my adopted sister. With Lycanthropy comes keener senses, and the ability to turn into a werewolf during the full moon. Aureus gave my family a set of amulets that allows us to transform at will and retain full control while in our werewolf form. Thanks to my hearing, my sense of smell and years practicing with the crossbow, I can take these vampires down easily enough as long as they don’t notice us.” Jalin explained with a small hint of pride in his voice.

[minque]

Ok..short, but nevertheless a very good one! I like the way this story moves, continue please!

[jack cloudy]

Funny, the closer I get to the end, the harder it is to do some good writing. Yup, time to tie up a loose end.



A few corners later, they saw something very peculiar in the winding corridor. A sturdy wooden door was placed in the side of the wall. The doorframe was clearly not connected to the walls and held down by a few heavy rocks. Still, the door effectively blocked the way for anyone who wanted to see what was beyond.
,,A finally, something to kick in.” Luper muttered and kicked in the door. A bolt shot over his head and dug into a vampire.
,,Great, Jalin. Why did you have to ruin my fun?” Luper complained before walking through what was left of the door.

Inside the room, there was a stone table. On top of that table, lied Aureus Lucis. His features had changed since the last time they saw him. From an old man, his appearance had turned into that of a pure vampire. His clothes had been torn away, revealing the silvery armour that flowed around his body as a second skin. Right were his heart would be, the Living Steel had flowed away and formed a circle around it, as if something frightened it. The visible skin on his chest looked like it had been decaying for a while.

,,What in the name of Akatosh happened?” Jana whispered to herself. This was definitely not what she’d expected. The fact that Aureus wasn’t even tied to the stone table made it clear that he couldn’t do anything, which only made the whole situation even more frightening.
,,Observe and draw your conclusions. One thing is sure, I really don’t like this.” Luper answered and took off one of his Dwemer gauntlets.

The Nerevarine moved closer to Aureus and pointed a finger at the man’s chest. A thin stream of fire reached out and cut into the sick flesh, causing a horrible burning smell to fill the room. He then reached into the hole he’d created with his bare hand. The expression on Luper’s face showed that he didn’t like what he was doing. After a few seconds of moving his hand around inside Aureus’ chest, he pulled back. In his now blood-soaked hand he was holding a dark stone of some kind.
,,Alright, my theory is that this thing drains his life and that all of Aureus’ power was being put into maintaining that life. Now that I’ve removed it, he should be able to heal and grow a new heart.” Luper explained while he looked at the stone in his hand.

,,You again. You are becoming quite annoying.” A voice spoke from behind them. Everyone spun around to watch the vampire who had managed to sneak up on them while they were all focussed on Aureus.
,,Don’t you know? I am known all over Tamriel for being annoying. Now I am still angry for that paralyzation spell you used on me in Mournhold. So, any body parts you’d like to lose first?” Luper told him and put on his Dwemer gauntlet again while the stone he’d taken out of Aureus’ chest slipped into a pocket.
,,I’ll handle this guy. Why don’t you go ahead and save the second person on our list?” Luper told the others and took out Chrysamere.

,,Come on, girl.” Jalin said while he quickly dragged Jana out of the room. He’d have preferred to stay and help, but they would have to hurry now that they were found out.
If his sense of direction was correct, they were getting close to the center of the mountain. And it was well known that the master always preferred to be right in the middle of things.

[The Metal Mallet]

Well now, hopefully Aureus makes it. Being the crafty demi-god that he is, I'm sure he will. Keep it up!

[Tellie]

I am so sorry for not having kept up with your story Cloudy....and as you still follow mine, I promise that I'llget back to read the entire thing, and regularly reply on it

To saty on topic, I love the way teh story have developed, and I cant wait to read mroe...:lickinglips:

[DarkHunter]

Whoa... so much happened since last time
I check you're story...

Keep it up!

[jack cloudy]

Oh boy, the final battle!
Enjoy the update.



Living mountain, inner lair

Athus was sitting on the floor with his eyes closed and his legs tucked underneath him. He could feel the itching of his missing hand. The vampirism had revealed itself, and he knew he could simply grow a new hand. He’d chosen not to, his plan didn’t include anything that required two hands. They’d also given him blood to drink. The taste still plagued his tongue.
,,Get up, Athus. I shall now make your soul mine. Don’t think that you’re special, I do this with all of my vampires with the exception of my right hand, who can keep his soul.” Gerinj spoke in a casual tone.

Athus opened his eyes. Now that the moment had arrived, his soul was calm. Already he could feel the power building up inside him. While Athus remained calm and without expression on the outside, he smiled inside. He had lived as a free man, and he would end his life as a free man. Athus walked over to the vampire and kneeled before him. He could feel the first sting of pain coming from the flesh he was consuming to fuel his spell.

Gerinj’s face darkened. ,,Fool, did you really think that you could destroy me by turning your entire being into an explosion of raw Magicka? By force or without it, you will be mine. In the meantime, thanks for the charge.” The vampire smiled evilly as he cast a spell on the Dunmer before him. Athus gasped when the pain increased in tensity and he felt how his Magicka was being drained by the vampire, thereby preventing his spell from reaching lethal proportions.

Gerinj reached out into the mind of the Dunmer who was now completely drained of his Magicka. The vampire felt for the essence of the man’s soul and prepared to destroy it. He was interrupted when a sharp pain erupted in his neck. The vampire sank to the ground unconscious and with a bolt sticking out of his neck. Athus was knocked off his feet when something flung itself around his neck.
,,Jana? What are you doing here?”

,,I followed you. Do you know how much you had me worried? That’s not nice of you.”
Athus laughed at the response of his daughter. He pulled himself out of her embrace and got up.
,,Mind if I borrow my sword again for a moment?” He said and didn’t wait for an answer before taking the Ebony broadsword of her back. He then walked over to the fallen vampire.
,,This was too easy. Get up, monster.” He commanded in a grim tone.

,,Oh, now I’d really hoped that you all fell for it. Well, I suppose I shouldn’t have expected to fool a vampire hunter of your status. As for the Werewolf, did he really think he could kill me with a bolt through the neck?” The vampire laughed and rose up into the air. He easily caught the next bolt.
,,And now, you shall all die.”

Aureus’ chamber

Luper eyed the vampire cautiously. If he was right, this vampire was about 2000 years old, nearly twice as old as the oldest enemy he ever fought.
,,Wow, why do I always have to fight the old guys? I hope that I’m in such good shape when I become that old.”He calmly waited for his enemy to move. In battle, Luper was almost the opposite of how he was normally. Instead of a loudmouthed jerk, he was focussed and never uttered a word once the battle had started. Finally, the vampire charged and Luper brought up his sword to deflect the first blow.

The two blades clashed and Luper found himself having to step back from the blow.
,, Those stupid Nordic vampires and their muscles. Lucky me.” He thought while he swung around his sword.
He did notice that he had more skill than the vampire, which compensated somewhat for his foe’s speed. The two blades clashed a few more times before the vampire suddenly spun around and kicked at the Redguard. Luper jumped to the side and managed to prevent the boot from smashing in his face, but caught it with his shoulder instead. He flew out of the door and landed in the corridor.

,,Do you give up, Redguard?” The Vampire asked from the doorway.
,,Sorry, but they never told me the meaning of the word.” Luper responded with a small grin.
He raised Chrysamere’s blade and used the sword’s enchantment to deflect the incoming spell back at his opponent. The fireball managed to slightly scorch the vampire’s clothes before being dispelled.
,,Interesting. So you wield the Paladin’s blade? I know people who would kill for that weapon.” The vampire whispered.

,,You know what, I did kill for it.” Luper snapped back. This vampire was beginning to annoy him. It was when he was annoyed, that the Nerevarine was most dangerous.
The Vampire bared his teeth.
,,I see. This shall prove to be….interesting.”

[minque]

Uj uj.......brilliant Mr Cloudy! Fast moving, intriguing .yay I´d say...Moore please?

[DarkHunter]

how will it end?!? Must see ending.....

[The Metal Mallet]

I forsee an epic battle... of course, wouldn't it be ironic is they suffer a heart attack or something. Or they have an enchanted shin ala Mr.Burns (Lord Montymort for that episode) from the Simpsons?

[jack cloudy]

No update yet, sorry. This is a battle I want to think out properly instead of just improvising along the way like I usually do.

I just wanted to drop a note that I recently visited the main site again and noticed something called "My Chorrol" that involved a lovely 51200Kb or something of filespace to use. (51200 kb= 51.2 mb! ) I plan on making good use of that space by uploading all my stories there. I'm cleaning up my old Oasis story, removing spelling errors and stuff. Once done, I think I'll put it there for testing.

This post has been edited by jack cloudy: Jun 21 2006, 09:49 PM

[jack cloudy]

Finally the update has arrived. As for the posting of Oasis thing, forget it. There wasn't a text section included. Oh well, too bad. And Mallet, someone in this update does suffer a heartattack. (sort of.)




Luper flashed one of his grins.
,,Oh, but I just happen to be a good dentist. Allow me to remove you of the problem your teeth are causing you.” He said and went back into the offensive with Chrysamere. Despite his best efforts, the Nerevarine couldn’t match his opponent’s speed and was quickly forced into defending again.

,,A dentist? Do you think you’re funny? Unfortunately, but your sense of humor makes me burn!” The vampire shouted and released a stream of hot fire. Luper used his sword to deflect the flames which crashed into the walls, making them glow from the heat. But the vampire continued releasing the stream of fire and Chrysamere was soon heated to the point that Luper had to drop it and rely on the shields in his pauldrons and gauntlets instead. Slowly, the flames ate their way through the shields and came closer to burning the Nerevarine alive.

,,Brilliant, I hate it when the bad guys have the advantage. I can’t move out of the way or I’m history. I wished I was a Dunmer, at least then I could handle the flames a bit better.” That thought gave Luper an idea and he rummaged with one hand around in his pockets till he took out a scroll. He cast a worried look at the scroll that began to smoke and slowly burn.
,,Venio Corpus Flamma!” He shouted as the scroll burst into flame. Instantly, a rip to Oblivion was formed in front of the man and a Flame Atronach stepped out, harmlessly adding the vampire’s flames to its own substance as it guarded Luper from the deadly stream of fire.

Luper grinned while he used his amulet of Shadows and merged with his surroundings. The Atronach was sent back to its own plane a few seconds later by a large blast of ice, but Luper had already turned invisible.
,,Where are you?! Show yourself, coward!” The vampire snarled and looked over his shoulder. All invisible enemies preferred to attack from the rear. A sharp pain erupted in his chest and he stared down to see an ominous black stone wedged between his ribs by a barely visible hand.

,,Surprise. Don’t you love it to have your own device of torture used against you?” Luper spoke as the life-draining powers of the stone began to effect the vampire.
,,This should teach you not to replace the hearts of old men with weird rocks. And remember I said I was a dentist?” He continued and janked out the vampire’s teeth before knocking him to the ground. He picked up Chrysamere and separated the vampire’s head from his body.
,,Now I would love to see you suffer, but I don’t have time for that and someone might get the stupid idea to help you. So unfortunately, I’ll settle for decapitation.”

Luper cast a quick glance to the entrance of the room containing Aureus. He was sure that the old man would be fine now that the black stone had found a new chest to sit in. Luper turned around and headed for the central chamber.

Central chamber.

Back in the central chamber, the battle against Gerinj didn’t go well. Though the vampire was outnumbered three to one, he proved to be very hard to beat. Hard was a bit of an understatement, impossible would be closer to the truth. Jalin had long since fired off every single bolt he had and was now using his Wakizashi together with the claws he received from his werewolf form. The frustrating thing was that even with all three of them attacking at once, the vampire managed to evade every blow without even trying.

,,Well, what do we have here?” The Vampire muttered when he suddenly swooped down from the ceiling and lifted Jana off the ground.
,,I knew there was something familiar about your smell. You are a vampire, of my clan.” Gerinj’s tone became darker during those words.
,,So my right-hand has decided to start a clan of his own. He must be trying to replace me. I’ll deal with that after I..” The rest of his words were interrupted by a loud and angry hiss when Jana sank her teeth in his arm.
,,That was not nice, girl.” He growled and threw her to the floor.
,,You are all becoming quite annoying.” He spoke as he conjured a large ball of lightning in his hand.

[The Metal Mallet]

Wooo!!! Semi-heart attack action!!! I loved it!

It's looking like things are becoming dire for our heroes though, hopefully they can pull this off, without casualties.

[DarkHunter]

Ooooo... The evil dude (I'm not good on typing names out) isn't allowed hurting the girl! Hurry Luper!

[jack cloudy]

Update! The battle continues! Who knows, I might add a second update later this night.


He was about to release the spell when his eyes were drawn to a rolling head that came to rest right in front of his feet.
,,I regret to inform you, but your friend lost his head.” A mocking voice spoke from the shadows. Gerinj laughed.
,,I had to take care of the traitor anyway, so no problem. Now I suppose you think you can defeat me together with your friends? I can’t die, so why do you even try?” He responded with his face turned into the direction from where he’d heard the voice.
,,You know what? That’s almost exactly what Dagoth Ur told me. I haven’t seen him around ever since I messed him up. So what makes you think you’re anything different?” The mocking voice said again, from a different direction.

There was the whooshing sound of something moving through the air. The vampire moved to the side to avoid it but still saw how part of his robe was cut open with a small stream of blood trailing the almost invisible blade that had caused it.
,,Impressive. So you claim to be this man they call the Nerevarine? I’ll give you an offer. Join me, take that traitor’s place and you’ll live for eternity.” The vampire spoke while his wound healed.
,,Sorry, but you can’t bribe me with vampirism. I don’t age even without your pointy teeth.”

The vampire finally released his spell now that he’d managed to locate the Nerevarine. He saw how the bolt wrapped itself around the invisible blade and remained there for a few seconds, visibly bending the sword. Then, the bolt was hurled back at its caster. Gerinj smiled when he absorbed his own spell. He began laughing when the others suddenly decided to attack him while he was distracted. He raised a shield around himself and then created a shockwave to send everyone up against the walls with enough force to break a few bones.
,,The difference between me and Dagoth Ur is that I am not even trying to defeat you. This is all just a game for me. And I don’t have a vulnerable object that is the source of my powers.” He laughed when he strolled over to the still invisible Luper.
,,And finally, I have recently obtained a sword that is much better than the Paladin’s blade.” He whispered and swung Aureus’ ghostly blade.

The sword seemed to meet resistance for a second before continuing along its path. A clattering sound, and the blade of Chrysamer became visible on the floor.
,,Aw man, this can’t be happening. You broke my sword, now I am really angry!” Luper shouted and sent a barrage of spells towards the vampire that were all stopped by the shield without causing damage. He then lunged at the vampire and began punching with his Dwemer gauntlets. Gerinj avoided the first few punches before grabbing the Nerevarine by his throat with his free hand and lifting him up from the floor.
,,As I said, I am merely playing with you.” He whispered and began to apply pressure to Luper’s neck. The creepy sound of bones beginning to break echoed through the room.

Suddenly, he shouted in pain and dropped both Luper and Aureus’ sword. Gerinj looked at the gaping hole in his chest that already began to close. He began to laugh.
,,That was an interesting trick. Put your hand on your opponent’s chest and then summon a Daedric sword, brilliant! If you took the chance to aim for my throat, you might actually have managed to kill me. Too bad for you that you didn’t. Now I think I’ll finish you quickly before you come up with a trick that might kill me.” He said and bent to pick up the sword he’d dropped.

This post has been edited by jack cloudy: Jun 27 2006, 09:31 PM

[The Metal Mallet]

Time for me to sound really cheesy....

DUN DUN DUNNNN!!!

The suspense will kill me I swear. I can't wait for your next update which will hopefully come later today.

I should really work on updating mine... but these good fanfics are quite distracting

[jack cloudy]

And another one. A cheap ending, but I've been hinting at it throughout the story. Enjoy. Oh yeah, this isn't the last update by the way. I still need to do an epilogue.


The tip of his fingers touched the handle when the sword began to move and suddenly flew across the floor. The vampire followed the sword with his eyes till his gaze settled on an old man who was leaning against the wall. Aureus looked like a corpse, with the gaping hole in his chest still there and with his armour still trying to avoid the decaying flesh. Gerinj shook his head.
,,Aureus, so nice of you to join us. Like your friends, you don’t know when to give up. Didn’t you try this before? Your sword can’t hurt me!” He shouted. The calm expression of the Imperial was making him nervous. Despite the pain he was suffering, Aureus managed to smile.
,,Through the ages, the Silver Eye clan was cursed with a single, never ending dream. The dream of the mountain. My sword cannot hurt you, but there is a force that even you fear, a force you haven’t seen for so long that you no longer remember it. I am about to bring the dream to its conclusion. You have miscalculated my target.” He whispered and plunged the ghostly blade into the wall with all the strength he had left.

The mountain began to tremble and glow when the sword touched it. The Living steel of the mountain sensed the bare soul in Aureus’ sword and was drawn towards it. But together with the force that made the mountain collapse in an attempt to merge with the sword, there was a second force that tried to make the mountain expand. When these two forces collided, the mountain began to shake, and large waves of Living Steel washed across its surface. Then, the mountain exploded in a glowing shower that swept everyone off their feet like a massive storm. The shower extended upwards in all directions, smashing a hole in the clouds before beginning to shrink till only a small silvery puddle remained on the ground where Aureus had been standing.

With the clouds gone, the sun’s light could reach the ground. As soon as the light of the sun touched the old vampire, his skin began to burn. Gerinj hadn’t drunk blood in a long time in an attempt to increase his powers as a vampire. But with his powers came a price, he had lost his ability to survive the sun. His skin began to burn and boil faster than even he could heal. He burst into flame and with a last scream from his lungs, he turned into a small pile of ash that was swept away by the wind.

Chapter 5: A new day under the sun.

When he awoke, he had an awful headache, a couple of broken bones and his neck felt like it had snapped.
,,Brilliant, I thought I was on vacation. Then why do I feel like a Dremora has stepped on me?” He mumbled to himself. He then remembered where he was and tried to open his eyes. His vision was blurred but he still managed to recognize the figure that loomed over him.
,,Oh, hi girl. Say, what time do we have breakfast?” He muttered and tried to make a smile.

,,Geez, don’t try to be the hero till the end. Now hold still.” Jana responded and forced the Nerevarine to drink a potion.
,,There you go. If the Lich knows his job, you should be back up in no time.”

As she’d said, Luper felt good enough to sit up a few minutes later. He noticed that he was the last one to have regained consciousness after Aureus blew up the mountain.
,,I wish Aureus was there when we beat up Dagoth Ur and his gang. Having him blow up Red Mountain would make things so much easier. Where is the old guy anyway?” he said and actually managed to produce one of his trademark grins. That grin quickly faded when he saw how everyone looked at him.
,,Death? I can’t believe it. This is just not real.” He whispered. A glimmer in the snow caught his attention and he wandered over to it. He bent down and picked up what turned out to be the blade of Chrysamere.

,,Hello, old buddy. Sorry about this, but I’ll fix you up someday. As for the old man, goodbye…friend.” Luper muttered as he got up again and returned the blade of his Claymore to its scabbard.
,,Let’s just go to an inn and get drunk in Aureus’ honour.” Surprisingly, there were no objections this time to the Nerevarine’s plan.

[The Metal Mallet]

Woo! Nice ending of the conflict, poetic for Aureus to sacrifice himself and all that.

Hopefully your epilogue is understandable, sometimes drunk people are hard to understand