It all started with a death. Which for anyone else in the land of Fallax, this was nothing uncommon. Blood ran the streets everyday. Cries of agony and woe were heard throughout the night. But for those who sat in the lap of luxury, such trifles fell on deaf ears, and wine laced with blood would drown away any possibility of moral responsibility that was to be had. So when the society of the rich and privileged woke up one morning to find one of their own dead in the streets, we knew this was the first domino to fall.
If it was anybody else it would have been fine. If it was a different vampire, the outcry for justice and revenge would have been different. The knights would have followed leads, pinned it on some unsuspecting wolf or human if they couldn't find the killer...and life would go on. But this wasn't somebody else, and this wasn't any ordinary vampire...it was his majesty the prince.
Prince Alexai, first heir to the throne of the Kingdom of Taifera, had a reputation that proceeded him in several kingdoms across the globe. At age 5 when he first met the emperor, His Highness Hecatae Mateo, he was the only one bold enough to tell him that he looked like a girl he saw dancing at a brothel. At 13, he had seduced three other kings daughters, had sex with them, and turned them all away...claiming innocence and virtue whenever confronted. Known for his rivalry with Taifera's High Chancellor, the two men shared a secret they held dear, which in turn, only caused their public rivalry to grow more vicious. Yet all in all, even though the Prince was a savage lecher, a pompous ass, and a vicious killer of human couples...his family and friends loved him dearly.
So when the king was brought news that his pride and joy was brutally stabbed, the kingdom fell into an absolute state of upheaval. The King, Denmus Krai, lashed out at his own captain of the guard for his insolence. Demanded that the killer be found...or else the heads of randomly chosen citizens would roll in blood atonement. Captain S'know, of the seventh vampire brigade, and the kingdoms guard, would find himself lost in his own mortality with this burden. The killer left behind no clues. And there was barely a struggle. He would find himself feuding with his own guards as well as the princes bodyguard. Because even if the King didn't say it, everyone knew...he would be executed within a short time if he didn't bring results.
After several more days, the kingdom slowly pulled itself out of its grief and life carried on. People ignored the urgency given by the guard for their help, and death became even more apparent to the guards who had never faced it from their King. And then, in the darkest moment before the King was primed and ready to strike, a slave came forward with information. Her Mistress had seen a rogue Elf in the town market. An elf that was know for killing royalty in other kingdoms a few years back, one that was never caught.
With an assembled team, the Lieutenant of the guard "Odd Vesper," tracked the criminal to the black forest. For close to an hour they fought with the elf and his traps in a deadly battle. And where they intended to bring him back for questioning, he hung himself instead. However, not before killing the ex-bodyguard and revealing that he was hired to kill the prince by a human, named Aiyayah.
After grieving for days in a drunken stupor, the honorable Vesper and his team, once again ventured out. It was in Ethrill's Tavern that they found the human...waiting for them. Much to their surprise their was no fight. He merely wanted to be heard. His audience cheered as he condemned the vampiric race, and they cried as he tried to express how irrevocably screwed the lives of his people were. Admitting to being a member of The Shadows, he drank one last beer and turned himself in. Finally, Odd took a sigh at having brought justice to his Princes death, when right there in his arms...Aiyayah died. Having drunk a vial of poison...it would appear Odd would walk away empty handed again...until the man uttered a word with his dying breath. Claiming that he was paid by the High Chancellor Nazriel to find someone to kill the prince for him.
Reporting back to the royal family, the King and Queen would take solace in believing the speculation. There was enough suspicion to suspect the chancellor guilty. And so, as a new day dawned...a warrant was made for his arrest. If captured...he'd have his magic siphoned away, and be banished to a life of peasantry as a far greater torture than death.
Unfortunately however, things don't always go according to plan...
-- Edited by OnyxDelphi on Tuesday 28th of July 2009 07:41:45 AM
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