Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead

"I don't want to sound like I am proclaiming defeat or failure already, but that place is hardly manoeuvrable at all"

"Oh please, it's just a bit of water and man-eating swarms of monsters, we have seen worse! Or is the younger generation getting cold feet at the thought of getting wet?

I can feel it in the depth of my soul and flesh, this place, it must have something to do with him, his filthy blood- Only the blood of the original can possibly be used to discover a remedy!" Abraham took hold of Échalas, shaking him.

"I can not allow this opportunity to fly by, this ruin… I didn't tell you but it's showing signs of sinking deeper, the water is only as high as our waist right now, but if we wait too long, we'll have to learn to hold our breath for a while to hope to get anywhere, Échalas, listen to me, we just need the regular repellent to get rid of those fishes, we can delve into this place easily-"

Échalas removed the hands of the older vampire hunter from his collar, sighing, knowing that there was no dissuading the old man, he would go in, alone if needed, and even if unofficial, Échalas was regarded as the leader of the vampire hunters, most legendary caste of the death hunters.

Abraham was the oldest of their ranks, an illustrious figure many looked up to, few knew of why he was a hunter to begin with, of his obsession with the vampire of foetid blood, forefather of the nosferatus.

"And what are you going to do if you find him inside of here? We act as a group, because alone we are incapable of putting a dent into their undying ranks, you'll just die without accomplishing anything"n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

"Are we supposed to make ourselves small in front of them? Are we going to bow our heads to our undead overlords?! Don't give me this bullshit Échalas, you and I, both of us are fighting for the same reasons! Those bastards encroach upon us, spreading their vile blood wherever they see fit!

Infecting our brothers and sisters, parents and loved ones, dooming them to a life in darkness, they were not meant to become eternal undeads, their minds can not handle the endlessness and feelessness-"

"Of course, obviously we aren't going to allow them to terrorise us, but you are not getting anywhere closer to this ruin Abraham, and those that will, will not engage into any sort of combat, this a scouting mission, nothing else, at the smallest sign of any danger, retreat will be immediate, and especially if the one of the foetid blood appears in person, am I making myself clear?" he raised his voice, directing it at other death hunters that had been listening on their conversation not so subtly.

"Only the swiftest and most adept at sensing danger will go in"

Échalas looked at the sinking construct, an old monument of the past that seemed to have emerged from the depth not so long ago, as if inviting them in, as though it was an old beast rising up from its sleep to feast before returning to its slumber.

"No one here is faster and more perceptive than I am" Abraham spoke, hands on his knees as he sat on fallen log, the vampire hunters had erected a camp all around the perimeter of the ruins, many of them were already throwing objects into the water, others fastening it to the side of the ruins.

"We both know well that if the price for a cure to vampirism was blasting your own head off, you would do it without any hesitation, again, you are not getting in here, and once the scouts retreat, whether we got any good intel or not, we are blowing this thing to pieces with life bombs, Rummy improved the previous design, I don't have a single clue what the lords of the dead are like, but it should at least tickle even that" he gestured toward the various round objects being thrown and tied about.

The sheer quantity of them was enough to make anyone nervous, even if he called them life bombs, they were very much explosives still, the second word of their names did not stop them from blasting someone to red bits of flesh.

From what they had gathered, the visible part of the monument was but a minuscule part of the entire thing, even larger than the majority, if not all palaces and castles of today's royalty, the purpose of this edifice was unknown, but it could not be good.

"By the way, where is Rummy? Was she not coming as well?" Abraham shook his head, questioning the absence of his student of sorts, she was not the sort to miss the oncoming fireworks, in fact, she was not the sort to want to miss anything relating to old undead ruins.

"She has found her own leads, she seems convinced that there is something great to be discovered about the bat-faced vampires, come and help me gather the best team we can, I'll lead it myself-"

"Sir Échalas, no need to involve yourself physically, this is too dangerous to risk our leader" another hunter expressed without having to think.

Their leader wanted to retort, but looking around at his fellows, it was clear that all agreed with this line of thinking.

In this case, Échalas would simply make use of his innate ability to guide the few that would venture into the unknown dark dampness of this ancient structure.

These men and women all had names, all vampire hunters knew one another personally, they were friends and even more, Échalas was going to send them all into potentially deadly deepness, they knew this, but did not show fear.

"If all of you feel in your best condition, I would say to get over with it as quickly as possible"

Dousing themselves in hefty amounts of repellent, the same substance preemptively dumped into the water as well to make sure the annoying swarms wouldn't start nibbling on the vampire hunters, they stepped inside, the water reaching up to their waists.

With his ability active, Échalas was able of having an overview of the scouts even as they went well outside of his direct line of sight, even capable of communicating with them in their minds.

"Say, was that thing there the whole time?" Abraham spoke aloud pointing at the object of his wonder, the other hunters following the direction his finger aimed at, all raising eyebrows and growing suspicious as they too, hadn't noticed this very odd thing. Continue reading stories on empire

"What are you talking about?" Échalas stopped his ability for a moment, having the same reaction as everyone else.