Chapter 120 – History Lessons (Patreon)

“Dawn? May I come in?” Night asked, politely knocking on my door.

I fell back, scrambling to get away from the door, away from the thing on the other side, an inscription providing light for the room throwing crazy shadows over my face.

“No! You can’t enter!” I yelled out, trying to remember my vampire lore.

“That’s how it works right? I don’t give you permission and you can’t come in right?” I asked, only before realizing the monumental stupidity of asking my enemy for advice on his weaknesses.

I heard a deep sigh from the other side of the door.

“I am not entering because the place is yours, and I value your privacy. I would not intrude upon you, especially when you are distressed. Would you at least be willing to discuss the latest events with me, so I may understand what has transpired?”

“I’d feel a lot better with more people around!” I said, suddenly feeling like a hostage negotiator. Except I was also the hostage.

Ok, think. There was one door to the area. If Night went through the door, I’d be able to get Radiance beams on him, no trouble.

Except he was so high level compared to me that he could probably just shrug it off, even if I went for the eyes.

The realization was almost freeing.

I was a dead woman if Night wanted me to be a dead woman. My only chance at survival, at freedom, was to make Night happy.

System, oh System, hear my prayer. Give me a skill to make Night happy with me, give me a skill to help me survive this!

[*ding!* Congratulations! You’ve unlocked the General Skill [Tasty Blood]!]

You have got to me kidding me.

I rejected the skill. I was hoping for something more social, like [Silver Tongue] or something.

[*ding!* Congratulations! You’ve unlocked the General Skill [Tastes like Chicken]!]

No way.

[*ding!* Congratulations! You’ve unlocked the General Skill [Mid-Night Snack]!]

This clearly wasn’t helping. Back to hostage negotiations.

“How do I know you won’t just eat or kill me at the end?” I said, starting to think a bit more.

More silence from the other side of the door. Night’s habit of long pauses between speaking was going to be the death of me.

“I am Night first. I am the leader of the Sentinels second. Protector of humanity third. Guardian of Remus fourth. Patriarch of a vampire lineage fifth. You are Dawn. You are a Sentinel, one of mine. I place you, and your well-being, above one of my idiot descendants.”

What.

“What?” I said, confusion clear in my voice.

More exasperated sighing.

“Could I please come in, or could you please come out, and we can discuss this face-to-face? It is difficult speaking to a door.”

Fine. Operation ‘Make Night Happy In A Way That Doesn’t Get My Blood Sucked’ is a go.

I opened the door to find Night a respectful distance away, clearly trying to not spook me. He looked me up and down, and discreetly coughed.

“Ahem. Would you like a few minutes to straighten yourself up?”

Mmmm. He had a point. I was a hot mess.

I ducked back into my room, splashed water on my face – my suite had everything, luxurious bed, a living room, a fully stocked bathroom with a small bath and everything, basically a penthouse suite on Pallos, magical inscriptions providing all the luxuries.

I probably would’ve had this life, or a similar one, married to Kerberos. No wonder my parents had thought it was good for me. He was dead now, and I had it anyways, on my own merits. Much better.

I finished washing up, changing into a new, simple tunic. I put my dress away somewhat carefully, unsure if I’d ever wear it again. Good memories and bad linked to it.

I left the room, and found Night in the central living room, having claimed a large, plush chair for himself. I took a recliner on the other side.

“First, while you are clearly upset, I would like to check – you are physically ok, correct?” He asked.

I shot him a withering look.

“I’m a stupidly powerful healer. Duh I’m ok physically.”

“If I may pry, what has occurred to make you so upset?”

I glared at him, then realized he had no way of knowing.

“Vampire. Tried to take a bite.” I sourly said, expecting some sort of retribution.

He hissed, and I realized why it had sent such deep fear into me the first time I’d heard it, when he was mad. He was an apex predator, and I was his prey.

“Which one of my idiot progeny tried to take a bite out of one of my Sentinels?” He hissed in anger. “Edward? Vlad? Lincoln?”

I blinked. I hadn’t realized there were so many – but then again it made sense.

“Jaclyn.” I said.

Night blinked. Then blinked again.

A long silence stretched between us, much longer than usual. Shit. Was she a favorite of Night’s or something?

The silence continued to stretch on. Had I somehow broken Night?

“Right. Ahem. Regardless of how you feel, yes, Jaclyn.” He said, normally smooth words slightly stuttering.

Wait. Did I just throw Night off by having gone on a date with a woman?

“First off, did you get bitten?” He asked.

I shook my head.

“Good. It’s not the worst thing to have happen, but it makes things less complicated. Now that we’ve established you’re ok, will I need to be burying a body – or did you not leave a body?”

“Crippled her shoulders.” I said. “Blew through both of them, disabling her arms. She ran off after that.”

More damned silence. I was never going to play cards with Night, not with that poker face.

“Thank you.” Night said. “While you would’ve been justified in removing her after her affront to you, I must confess I never enjoy hearing about the loss of one of mine – Sentinel or otherwise.”

“Normally, I dislike your approach, and I was the one who instilled the lesson in Artemis – do not leave threats behind. Granted, she’s taken that lesson further than I believe is reasonable, though not out of bounds, but she is a discussion for another day. However, today, I am thankful for your restraint.”

“Does everyone else know about you?” I asked. He seemed awfully unconcerned that I knew.

“Yes. It’s one of the things you and Commander Julius were to be educated on in a few days, along with a number of other critical pieces of information. Normally, the terrors of the skies are also part of your education, but you came to us knowing it already.”

I didn’t know what to say to that, and it felt like tumbleweeds were rolling through the room.

“I have decided. You deserve a history lesson, a full one. You may tell the others, but I’d prefer you didn’t. Call it my own desire for privacy.” Night said.

I nodded, eager to hear more, my curiosity and desire for stories getting the better of me.

“What year is it?” Night asked, out of the blue.

I had to think about it for a moment. It wasn’t something we used every day.

“4798.” I replied.

“Yes. And what does that number represent?” Night asked.

More thinking, back to System Day at the temple way back when.

“Years since creation?” I ventured a guess.

“It’s pretty close. Off by a few decades.” Night said. “But it’s close enough. More accurately, it’s how many years since Herculix was born.”

[*Ding!* Congratulations! [Learning] has reached level 213!]

Wait. Vampire. Spoke of ancient events.

“You-“ I said, not daring to finish the sentence, not daring to believe.

“Yes. I was not born.” Night said. “I was created, at the dawn of time, when the big five gods and goddesses saw fit to create Pallos, and populate the planet with all manner of creatures.”

“It was the worst moment of my life. One moment I didn’t exist. The next moment, I was. A full adult, head crammed full of useless knowledge. A full language. Without the information of what language was, or how to use it. I didn’t even know how to stand! I had no history, no practical knowledge, no memories. A bundle of poorly thought-out instincts. I fell to the ground, twitching, as I tried to process what had happened, what was going on. Beams of light were coming down from the heavens as I did this, as the gods kept their cruel experiment going, creating all manner of creatures, of horrors.”

[*Ding!* Congratulations! [Learning] has reached level 214!]

“The gods were new to creation. Pallos and its natives were their first attempt. Or rather, if it wasn’t their first attempt, I shudder to imagine what their first did look like, what ungodly horrors were created and unleashed to justify a purge, a mulligan on creation. Regardless. I was blessed, lucky to not die in those first few days as so many tens of thousands did, killed by their own body, killed by the gods forgetting something as fundamental as a mouth, misshapen, bloody things that only existed for a few brief moments of agony then died.”

[*Ding!* Congratulations! [Learning] has reached level 215!]

Ok, you know what System? Shh. I’m listening to the ancient vampire talk about creation. Let me know what the gains are at the end.

“Some were plain unlucky. I saw a creature created next to me, only for a larger one to be created directly on top of him, instantly crushing him to death. One body I came across was clearly just the gods having figured out eyes, then trying every single type of eye onto a single being, simply to experiment. Nothing but flesh and eyes, dead mere moments after having been created, all for the gods to learn more, to seewhat would happen, how different types of eyes worked.”

“The world was hard and rocky, lava spurting out from the ground. The gods figured out that we needed soil, and the great soiling occurred, burying every creature in feet upon feet of the stuff.”

“Most small creatures were created or re-created after the event. Myself, I had to dig out of it. For all I knew at the time, being buried alive was a frequent occurrence. I spent weeks making sure I was always high up, such that when a repeat of the event occurred, I wouldn’t be buried again. More fragile plants were created then, damning those who had been able to survive in the lava fields to being buried.”

“But the gods were improving, steadily creating better and better races as a whole, as a rule. I’d like to think Vampires were one of the later races, as we were blessed with an immortal lifespan, fantastic physical prowess, and strong racial traits from the System.”

“Sadly, we vampires have some of the worst leveling I’ve ever heard of. I’m nearly 5000 years old, and still have yet to break level 500. Part of it is my role as a guardian, a defender, but more significantly was the fact that we are simply a failure from the gods.”

“My belief is the gods found a template that somewhat worked, and decided to continuously improve upon it. That is why so many creatures and monsters are human-like. Or, as the gods would put it, that is why so many creatures and monsters are elf-like.”

“For the elves were the god’s last and greatest humanoid creation, their peak, the pinnacle. Blessed with endless lives, rapid System growth, as much knowledge as they could give them at the start. The gods also cheated. Every other species was spread all over the planet, scattered to every corner, to see who and what would survive, and what would perish.”

“Not the elves. No, they were all created in a single area that the gods cleared ahead of time, given advantages no other species were.”

“Thanatos, the God of Death, made his greatest creation around this time. Black Crow//White Dove. An endlessly flipping coin. Two as one, you will be visited by only one, but both are always present.”

“White Dove takes those who go willingly, while Black Crow drags the unwilling away.”

“White Dove saw that many, many races, species, and yes, even some individuals she would never meet, for age does not touch them. She cursed them then, cursed them all.”

“I do not know what each race got. I know that we vampires lose access to our System-granted skills and stats when under sunlight.”

“Hang on – is that why you don’t go into sunlight? Not your [Oath] or whatever?” I asked, feeling lied to.

Night grinned at me, like Prometheus after he stole fire.

“No – I figured, while I’m already bound to not show up in the sun, why not take a restriction skill, formalize it, and gain power from it? The curse isn’t from the System after all, I am permitted to double-dip.”

I blinked. He was just cheating!

“The curse felled most of my fellow vampires, becoming prey during the daylight hours when most beasts roamed. Most of my brethren have taken a similar restriction skill, although a fire mage one was so dumb as to declare he’d burst into flame should sunlight ever touch him.”

“The idiot burst into flames three decades later when the gods decided to experiment with a second sun.”

Night shook his head at the memory.

“It was humanity, who offered us a place at their fire. Humanity, who was willing to guard us during the day, as we guarded them during the night. Humanity, who protected us, as we were cursed to level so slowly, our early years being some of the hardest of them all. Humanity, who tolerated us at level 20, 25 when they were already leaping forward, some of the earliest, strongest pushing 300, 400 as the cruel world created amazing opportunities. Humanity, who saved what I believe were the last three vampires, the progenitors.”

“I am one of them. And I am eternally grateful.”

We paused a moment for me to digest.

Wow. Just.

Wow.

Night wasn’t just old, he was old.

I was still trying to process the rest as he continued.

“They allowed us to occasionally feed from them, to take what we needed from them. They sheltered and protected us, and we helped them in kind, expanding their tribe’s territory and influence, meeting other tribes in turn, banding together for survival. Petty disputes mean nothing before the beasts and monsters out there.”

“Once the gods finished elves, they turned their hand towards other creatures, winged beasts of the sky, leviathans of the deep. I believe that they felt they perfected the humanoid form, so they reached still higher, for a greater form.”

“Thousands upon thousands of beams of light over the oceans and seas, populating the depths with creatures still unknown. I will not set foot over the ocean.”

“For that matter, there is some great monster in the Nostrum sea – a massive plant, stretching across the entire depths. Anything too far from shore gets grabbed and pulled down by thorny vines. I have been working on a solution for a few centuries, but have nothing so far. That’s one of the secrets, the creature in the depths, the reason we are shore-faring, and do not directly cross the Nostrum Sea.”

“Blessedly, it prevents anything large from forming in the Nostrum, keeping the threats minimal, compared to the size things could grow to unchecked. The only price is being unable to directly cross. The price, so far, has been worth it. Hence not spending too much time on the issue, compared to the Formorians.”

“Back to the skies.”

“Rocs. Golden Crows. Quetzal. Thunderbirds. Griffins. Phoenixes. Tapajaras. Wyverns. And so many more. Each one greater, fiercer than the last.”

“A flying island showed up, but as to what’s going on with that, I haven’t the faintest idea.” Night shrugged.

“Then, their final creation. Only a few dozen beams of light lit the sky that night, but the terrors of the sky, the overlords of creation were created.”

Dragons.

“Their reign of terror was immediate and brutal. Our only saving grace was, at first, they were just as content to murder and main each other as the rest of creation.”

“After some time, they ceased fighting each other, and turned to the rest of us.”

“One in particular saw fit to attack the lands where humanity was struggling to eke out an existence. For what purpose, I have never found out. Perhaps it simply enjoyed sowing mayhem and chaos, reveling in destruction, at watching all of creation flee before it, groveling before its might.”

“There was nothing we could do but pray and supplicate ourselves before the overlord, who didn’t care for us in the slightest. No, if anything, us calling to it and offering sacrifices seemed to offend it, speaking its name seemed to enrage it. It is why the name, and the knowledge, is taboo, although informing new team leaders once every two years or more doesn’t seem to be enough to provoke its wrath, and let us clamp down on any idiots who find ancient records and get ideas.”

“We could be wrong about it hearing us when we speak its name. I am unwilling to risk it or test it.”

Night paused, collecting his thoughts.

“What I am about to tell you is speculation from me, only some of which I have seen.”

“I believe, as they continued to oppress all of creation, a number of beasts, monsters, and beings from around the planet decided to fight back. I only know of one, but as Etalix engaged with the annihilator, none of his kind came to assist. Etalix summoned storms, throwing massive bolts of lightning at the destructor. Great blasts of ice and acid came from the ocean, spatial tears ripping the very fabric of the world, skills of a level I can’t begin to dream of assisted him.”

“The fight was, at best, a draw. At worst, a loss for Etalix, but either way, they were no longer an omni-present feature in the sky.”

Night reverentially bowed his head.

“I do not believe he was fighting for us. Nevertheless, he is our Guardian, the reason we still exist today. That fight is the reason we venerate him, place a statue of him before every temple.”

“At this time, yet another band of humans left, to follow and praise Etalix. Among their number, just another face in the crowd, was Herculix. I do not know what transpired, only that many decades later, there was great rejoicing from all humans, as he accomplished some great feat that even the System recognized, permanently making him a part of humanity’s record.”

Wow. That’s why we worshipped Etalix.

Yup, I was going to offer more than a few prayers to him, giving thanks, even though prayers to him didn’t drain mana the same way praying to the gods drained mana.

“Anyways. The great battle carved out two more sections of the Nostrum, nearly connecting it to the Ocean in some places, a permanent scar of the battle. It wasn’t even an aim of the winged being to do so, they were simply missed shots. That is the scale of the power of those beings, rearranging the surface we live on with little more than an idle thought. The landscape was scarred in many other ways.”

“Time passed, humanity recovered, and began to expand. Many times, humanity has decided to do something dumb. Often, I’ve been tempted to intervene, to correct them and set them on the right path.”

“I have refrained. I have seen too many warlords, too many powerful humans who thought they knew better, crushing the rest under their heel. At times, choices I believe were wrong turned out to be right. It forced me to face the truth – I am a warrior, not a leader. I would end up being nothing more than a petty warlord, and I have seen the fate of every petty warlord.”

“As such, I took the role of guardian. After Gideon founded the Sentinels and Rangers, I took my place with them, and have stayed here since then, providing a guiding hand, remembrance of fatal mistakes so they are not made again – at least, not made without several words of caution in the ears of those who would make them.”

“Eventually, the edge of humanity’s expansion reached the edge of the Formorian expansion, and we began to skirmish, then battle, then war. One day, like an Inscription activated, they went from a stream to an inexhaustible tide, seemingly throwing every body they have at us.”

“We have tried all sorts of manner to slay them, but they are unending, unceasing. Many times, people have gotten the brilliant idea to cast some large-scale skill. Usually, it works the first time, so they attempt it a second time, a third. Inevitably, one of the skills hits our lines, breaks our walls, and they flood in. I stop potentially species-ending stupidity like that, along with any Classer too powerful for another Sentinel – or occasionally a Sentinel himself who’s gone rogue.” Night said.

“But that gets off track. Know this. I have an unending, undying debt of gratitude towards humanity, and consider myself one of their guardians – as well as you. If a conflict should emerge between my kind and humanity, between vampires and Sentinels, I shall alwaysbe on the side of Sentinels.”

He stopped, the massive flood of words over. I was still soaking in them, trying to remember and process everything he said.

No wonder he took so long before saying anything. Anything he heard, anything he did, had to be catalogued, processed, checked against nearly five millennia of knowledge and experience.

And bless his habit. It let me do a boatload of processing.

I’d never thought that creation was, well, creation.I’d been told it, but it never really processed, never really hit. I’d never thought what it’d be like to be one of the beings created, suddenly placed upon the planet with no frame of reference.

And creating! Gods weren’t perfect, and their early creations were clearly subpar. Given what I’d seen, given what I knew, I strongly suspected after some time they decided to just plagiarize successful models from Earth, and possibly from other locations.

Made sense why so many things were humanoid though, just the gods saying “well this seems to work, let’s keep trying!”

But that casual cruelty, of creating and forgetting, of throwing a bunch of beings into the pit and seeing how it shook out for their own amusement jived exactly with what I’d felt from Papilion, who’d happily stripped my memories and threw me into the world.

I must’ve spent an hour or more processing, thinking, going through everything Night said. He waited. He was patient.

He literally had all the time in the world. No wonder he was so unconcerned with the passage of time.

“Thank you.” I finally said, having wrapped my head around most of it.

“Now that you have a light background of me and mine, we can hopefully address last night’s unpleasantness.” Night said. “Generally speaking, we can feed on blood in one of a few different ways.”

‘Light background’ my ass.

“The first and most common are slaves, who get their debt paid off exceedingly quickly in exchange for not asking too many questions as to what’s going on.”

“The second are animals, foul, not particularly tasty, the experience is so tiny even against our vast needs as to be ignored, but we can survive consuming them.”

“The third, sadly, are people like you. People who appear weak physically, but have a high level. Strong vitality makes feeding harder, while higher levels are, somehow, tastier.”

“I strongly discourage this practice, and Jaclyn will be experiencing my extreme displeasure later on for trying.”

I did not want to think of what creative tortures a nearly 5,000 year old vampire could come up with.

“When a vampire feeds, they can do it in one of a few different ways.”

“The first is to inject a substance that causes – or maintains – sleep. This is how we feed on our slaves without them knowing, being able to return them back to civilization proper once we are through with them without them spreading the word about us.”

“The second is to attempt to turn the person we are feeding upon, and this is how more of us are created. I carefully limit who can turn, and when we turn more to our kind, and I make sure the person is always, always willing. More than a few Vampires have seen fit to challenge me on this. They do not survive the challenge.”

Yeah, pissing off the 5,000 year old vampire who survived creation is a good one way ticket to the afterlife.

“If we expand too much, too far, it is inevitable that humanity will see fit to exterminate us, for you do not have the same memory that we do, you do not remember us guarding the fire at night, all those millennia ago, nor do you remember my – our – years of service defending Remus against all threats.”

Night shrugged.

“Before I ask my next question, a few more points.”

“First off, Jaclyn will be made to apologize to you, in-person.” He thought a moment. “If she hasn’t been tended to by a healer by then, I’d be eternally grateful if you fixed her up.”

I rolled my eyes. I’d have to once she was in front of me anyways.

“Sure, can do.”

“Second off, I’ve heard that your parents plan on moving to the capital, to be closer to you. As recompense, I’d like to offer them a house in the central district.”

I blinked. Wow. That was- wow, that was a lot of money to throw around.

I suppose when you were around when the city was founded, you had a lot of assets from centuries of accumulation.

“Um. You’d have to ask them. Um. I think they’d love that though!” I said.

Night nodded.

“Very good. And now, to my question.”

I saw him hesitate, then maybe, possibly, change his mind with lightning speed.

“Would you be willing to heal my brethren when the need arises?”

[*Ding!* Congratulations! [Learning] has reached level 240!]

[Name: Elaine]

[Race: Human]

[Age: 18]

[Mana: 50400/50400]

[Mana Regen: 44496 (+3360.72)]

Stats

[Free Stats: 8]

[Strength: 236]

[Dexterity: 203]

[Vitality: 560]

[Speed: 480]

[Mana: 5040]

[Mana Regeneration: 5092 (+1435.944)]

[Magic Power: 4636 (+46591.8)]

[Magic Control: 4636 (+46591.8)]

[Class 1: [Constellation of the Healer -   Celestial: Lv 240]]

[Celestial Affinity: 240]

[Warmth of the sun: 198]

[Medicine: 202]

[Center of the Galaxy: 235]

[Phases of the Moon: 240]

[Moonlight: 240]

[Veil of the Aurora: 212]

[Vastness of the Stars: 139]

[Class 2: [Ranger-Mage - Radiance: Lv 180]]

[Radiance Affinity: 180]

[Radiance Resistance: 180]

[Radiance Conjuration: 180]

[Radiance Manipulation: 180]

[Sun-Kissed: 141]

[Blaze: 180]

[Talaria: 160]

[Nova: 180]

[Class 3: Locked]

General Skills

[Identify: 136]

[Recollection of a Distant Life: 159]

[Pretty: 134]

[Bullet Time: 189]

[Oath of Elaine to Lyra: 201]

[Sentinel's Superiority: 190]

[: ]

[Learning: 240]