Whatever happened to Kaleb for the time he had been away?
No one has bothered to ask, although, that's understandable since it's Kaleb we are talking about here. But this will be a moment to rewind back, or simply look for Kalebs journal. Yes, even the most sinister carry a journal to write about their exploits.
It took me two weeks to find this fucking place. The minute I get here, someone is already trying to steal my glory. The clearing in which I found the cretin in was littered with the bodies of dead, or soon to be dead soldiers. Men riding into battle atop oversized Lions as mounts were crushed under the weight of the Hydra's foot. I couldn't help but remain out of sight, and watch. It brought a smile to my face to see the creature of such a massive size lay waste to this army with grace.
They had already severed two heads. And four had grown in place of the two it lost. A total of Seven head loomed over the battle field, watching its back and side to make sure it wasn't flanked. A scribe a short distance away from me sat there drawing furiously at a scene captured in his mind. As I think about it now, laying here over the dead body of this beast... I should have kept the scribe alive to draw out my moment of glory with the monster. But at that point in time I was hungry too..
A week passed and the battle began to fade. Stragglers made into quick meals trebuchets demolished with the swing of one of its many heads. Those who survived retreated with their tails between their legs. Except for one. Sir Conrad was all he gave me as a name. A Vampire Knight, who entrusted his life to his life long friend and mount Sergio, a beast of a Lion.
I approached him like any other warrior.. With the promise of glory. So, yes, I lied. We spent the next two nights conversing of our exploits. He grew wary when I told him I was the last living member of the band of three. But he would have to deal with me if this Hydra was to die. The Kingdom he declared fealty to was only a days ride away. The Hydra threatened everything the local royalty had worked so hard to attain. Trade was non existent, no longer did weary travelers cross the Kingdom of Jumaru for a place to stop and rest. The Hydra had become a blight, a weed that needed plucking before more had arisen.
This meant they had been tracking it. I asked him for its lair, where it goes to feed, to drink, even to shit. The leech looked at me as if there was a man-sized mosquito engorging on my lifeblood as it sat on my back. The first thought was shot to hell.. Fighting it head on would not work. Especially since the damned thing had seven heads. So I went another route. Restraining his mount by rendering it unconscious with a well placed boulder to the noggin. I dragged Conrads slumbering body into the clearing. Hanging his rather heavy ass even without his armor off a cliff that overlooked the forgotten battlefield. When he had awoken suspended in such a precarious situation I could only smile at the curses he proclaimed where specifically towards me.
After all.. We needed bait..
In the eve while the creature slumbered I had found the area where it decided to mark as territory. A pool of urine lay before me. Most men would abhor the idea of hiding ones scent, but as a tracker for the Band of Three this was just another day.. I've rolled in worse. Hydra's piss will stay warm hours after the creature had relieved itself. It made your nose run from the burning sensation, and your eyes water from the heated vapors. I won't go into further detail...
Come the morning I was still soaked. Conrad's yelling had awoken the Hydra, and it was already showing signs of hunger. I lay hidden above that cliff. The moment one of those heads surged forward. Its mouth agape I flew forward freefalling 20 feet before I had noticed my error. The other head had caught sight of me. My ribs rattled from the impact of its head. To make it worse I became the target and not conrad. Its mouth opened once more around my body after I collided with the side of the cliff wall. The sudden gnashing of teeth felt against my torso. The pain, numbing, and at the same time overwhelming to my nerves.
But a moment presented itself. Teeth opening to come crashing down for a second fatal taste. Removing myself from itstoothy grasp and ejected myself further into its mouth Nefarious released as she plunged herself into the cretins throat as I was forced down its esophagus. The Fire Bat tome I was given by the elf Aion was put to use when I plunged into the creatures belly cleaving my way through its stomach and towards its chest. My body moving without though as I clung to its heart and the tome caused my body to ignite like a harvest festival Fireworks show.
The heart although twice my size was burned to the point the monster seized up. Saving Conrad form its bought of hunger. What had taken out an entire army was slain in a matter of minutes for me. I lost the tome when the creature began to topple. Forcing my body to bound off the heart and slam agaisnt its ribcage further damaging my own. It was likely in that instance the tome fell from its hanging position on my belt. But my return would be a glorious one for me. Little did I know that I have been forgotten by my fellow Taiferans, who now think me a ghost?
Let them... It'll make them shiver every time I pass by them... Everytime I look them in the eyes they will know Death. As I write this I am currently stuck in this bed, dwelling on the past as my future mate huddles close to me for warmth. My body broken to an almost irreparable state. But I will pull through. I will persevere. I am Deaths hand, and there are still many souls to be collected.
