The First Legacies Of Zion: Omaye

Battle Against The Vampire

ESTHER

In all of her life Esther had never seen a thing or a person like this. On one side of the vampires face, he was badly burnt. So burnt that everything on his right was blackened and seemed one step away from turning to ashes. But then on the other side of his face, he had the most handsome disposition Esther had ever seen. This dude was handsome, like sexy, supermodel, TV star handsome. But with the way his face was it was hard to factor in a proper mode of acceptance over his appearance.

“Oh don’t looked so shocked people, I have been this way for quite a number of years. Your ingenious vine can not cause this amount of damage in a thousand years, or maybe less. My name is Antoine Vladimir, and I am very, very hungry.”

This bastard had every intention of toying with them. This was a person who was quite sure of his own strength, and knew there was nothing much they could do against him that would be a major threat. The only thing they could do was to take a proactive stance, whether they had to talk with the vampire or fight him, the main gist was that they had to stall him. Esther was sure, well maybe about sixty percent, that someone or a whole bunch of people would be greedy enough for the rewards that could be gained from killing Antoine, and come searching for him.

“Okay Antoine, nice to meet you, now what the hell do you want?”

Esther felt the need to wince in annoyance, Faith had a voice not suitable for a fourteen year old. Even if she says good morning to you, it gave off the feeling that she was looking down on you and the world. Using that tone of voice with a vampire than can kill them all in seconds did not seem like a good idea.

“Well my beautiful young lady, I here to eat you guys.”

Faith looked at him like he had grown a second head and then asked with her face turned up at him.

“Seriously?”

“But of course, if I was not serious would I have let my self be burnt by those vines of yours hmm. I’m sure all four of you would be quite a delicacy.”

This time it was Nathaniel who spoke up, and his was worse than Faith, but it gave Esther an idea of what was truly going on here.

“Did your mother never teach you that it was bad manners to bite or in this case eat people. She must be so disappointed in you.”

Antoine took up a posture of contemplation as he placed his hands beneath his chin to ponder on what Nathaniel just said. If Esther did not know the vampire was acting and just playing along, she would have thought he was really pondering on what her brother had said. But in the end it seems as if Faith and Nathaniel got what they were aiming for, they got his attention.

“Well my mother did teach me to be a nice little boy, but how unfortunate for her, because I killed her and her oaf of a husband. That was one of the best kills in my life, the pleasure of tasting them as fear coursed through their veins was so enticing it drove me crazy. I’m sure you guys will taste better.”

Esther had to say something, at least to keep the ball going. And make their lives last longer.

“Or you can decide not to kill us……. We could be your servants, your own personal maids. I’m sure a big strong man like yourself has missed the taste of a woman, and my brother here can be your own personal guard. Hmm what do you say.”

“You don’t need to offer me your body, though it was quite a sight watching a servant of the celestial try to seduce me. It was refreshing. But your body belongs to me now, I can still have you, and then eat you afterwards, no pun intended. Or do both at the same time, it would be dinner and a show.”

Esther looked at her siblings, she was the eldest and she had too look after them both. For some reason their father has not been able to say anything the entire time this confrontation was going on. But among the three of them, there was nobody who was not scared, but there was also no body who would leave this clearing without the other. They came into this world together, and if they have to leave it so soon, they will be doing it together. Esther turned her gaze to the vampire and said to him.

“It seems there’s nothing left to say. So I mean this from the bottom of my heart when I say, go f**k yourself. [BLESS]”

“ARHHHHH”

The smell of burnt flesh wafted through the air as the startled vampire clawed at his burnt face. The rest of them did not stay idle as Nathaniel used his [VINE HOLD] to keep the vampire trapped. Then Esther quickly used blessed on both Faith and Nathaniel and sat back completely devoid of energy.

Then Nathaniel raised his hands to the sky and brought it down, there was a crash of thunder as rain began to fall. The peculiar thing about this rain was that it could only fall within a vicinity of a few meters, but it was more than enough to cover all three of them and the vampire.

Then Faith shot an arrow from their father’s hunting bow, she did it with such finesse Esther wondered is she has ever had any prior training with a bow. The arrow went into the vampire’s eye, calling forth another round of screaming from him.

But suddenly the vampire burst into a cloud of bats and swept its way towards Nathaniel, the sudden change startled all of them, but only one person was able to react in time, and that was their father.

Even with his injuries he was still able to get up and push Nathaniel out of the way, then the cloud of bats crashed into him, and carried his body to the edge of the clearing where he was slammed against a tree. When he crashed down to the floor they all forgot that they were in the middle of a fight and went straight for their father.

Esther was frantic as she checked him, his wounds were now bleeding again and Faith’s herbal paste had already been knocked off when he was attacked.

“Oh such love, this is what I’m talking about. A father ready to sacrifice everything for his children. Touching story.”

At first his voice came from the cloud of bats that was still hovering over their heads, then slowly the bats all converged a few meters away from them, one by one they came together to form his still injured body. The light from the somehow still lit camp fire cast his shadow over the floor.

Contrary to what most stories said about vampires, in Zion this i***t had a shadow, the only difference was that it was not human. It was just a roiling mass of darkness and smoke.

Before Antoine attacked their father they were prepared to fight as hard as they could just so they could survive long enough for someone to come and lend help. But the Vampire made a mistake, even though it was a scenario that was unavoidable as they were in a fight, but hurting any member of this dysfunctional family, would get you the wrath of every member of this dysfunctional family. Now they were going to fight with death on their mind, it was either his or theirs. A known secret about the Omaye’s, from the mother, to the father and all of the three children involved. They had serious anger issues. However it seems like Antoine was in the mood to talk.

“A Herbalist with a bow, a cleric that seduces, a wounded hunter and a fresh faced druid with no idea of the power he could wield. That’s quite an awkward combination, but I don’t get it. What possessed you poor fools to come gallivanting in the forest of lost cities. I might have been gone for four or is it five hundred years, but I have rained enough terror on this land in the past that my legend should have been enough to make this forest forbidden.”

Then he paused as if to think about what to say next. He paced around a bit muttering to himself about something Esther and her siblings could not hear. But when he turned to face them again, he was faced with an arrow shot from Faith’s bow, but the vampire was equally as fast as he moved his head to the left a bit and the arrow passed by his head.

“Seriously you guys sho……..”

But he was interrupted from completing his next train of speech as Nathaniel wrapped him up in vines again. But even with all of the extravagant actions they were all taking to hold him and do damage, he just brushed it off with a smile on his face and stood there like a statue allowing them to attack him. This vampire might think he was invisible, but not taking them seriously was a big mistake.

“I’m telling you don’t bother att………”

He was not allowed to complete his sentence again as Nathaniel had made a vine whip from somewhere, since it looked like the vine was growing from his hands. Nathaniel used the whip to smack against Antoine face, pushing his head to one side and distracting him long enough for Esther to use her next attack. She ran towards the vampire prince and placed her hands on his neck, and the vines currently holding him. Then she used her most powerful skill, her level four [HEAL] spell.

“Graaaaasrrrrhhhgggg, hhhaaaaaaaa. I’ll kill youuuuuuu”

The vampire was trashing in pain and agony, but Esther held on tight refusing to let go. Then Nathaniel came close and placed his hands on the vampire’s head, and then he used the skill shock, drawing the electricity from his own body.

The vampire began to shake and vibrate in intense pain, his body began to glow an intense red light. His roars echoed through the forest and his rage was palpable. But Esther knew should they let go of this vampire, then that would be the end of their lives on Zion. And so she struggled to push through, drawing more and more power from the Celestial realm. It put a strain on her as she felt pin pricks of pain behind her eyeballs.

She felt burning from the soles of her feet as the power required to keep the level four heal spell active was beginning to wane and she was drawing too much energy from a narrow tube and into a conduit that was not strong enough to contain it. But she had to push through the pain, Nathaniel did not look as if he was doing any better as veins began to appear and his dark brown skin began to have a pale glow to it.

Then suddenly the red light on the vampire’s body began to glow and shine at an increased intensity than they expected, then all of a sudden there was an explosion of red clouds, bats and broken vines. As Esther tumbled through the air, she had no idea which way was up and which way was down, lost in that red haze everything hurt for a moment, and then it all became dark.

SOMEWHERE DEEP IN THE FOREST

ESTHER

When she woke up the first thing she noticed was the coffin in front of her. It was made of a kind of black polished wood that gleamed under the moonless sky, and then she felt the cold draft of the night wash over her naked body. It was cold and she felt goosebumps appear allover her skin as she shivered.

She noticed she was tied to a pillar in what seems to be a ballroom. There was an altar made of metal, it looked like something from a steam punk movie, there were bronze metal pipes connected to each other, glowing buttons and levers around the altar. Opposite her was another pillar and Faith was hanging from it, thankfully she was still clothed, but from her breathing Esther could see she was alive, just unconscious. Esther breathed a sigh or relief, before she looked for Nathaniel, but he was no where to be found. There was not a single trace of her brother in the ball room, and Esther could not help but fear that the worst has happened.

Then a system prompt appeared in front of her.

SYSTEM ALERT: SKILLS

[YOUR SPELLS HEAL AND BLESS HAVE BOTH REACHED LEVEL FIVE, PLEASE CHOOSE A NEW MASTERY OR EFFECT FOR BOTH SKILL]

[BLESS: > BENEDICTION: BESTOW ALLIES WITH HOLY ENERGY, GIVING ALL THEIR ATTACKS +30 HOLY DAMAGE FOR SIXTY SECONDS]

[BLESS:> FAITHFUL: GIVE ALL ALLIES +20% TO ALL STATS FOR SIXTY SECONDS MAKING THEM SUPERCHAGED WITH GREAT FAITH TO WIN BATTLES]

[BLESS: > HALO: GAIN A HOLY CIRCLE OF LIGHT AND GOODNESS, RESISTANCE AGAINST ALL DARK SPELLS +30%, +10% TO ALL HOLY SPELLS, +30% DAMAGE TO ALL CREATURES OF THE DARK.]

[HEAL: > RECOVER: RECOVER 30% OF ALL LOST ENERGY.]

[HEAL:> ANTIDOTE: DISPELS ALL STATUS AILMENTS DURING THE HEALING PROCESS. AND GRANTS +20% RESISTANCE TO ALL STATUS AILMENT FOR 150 SECONDS.]

[HEAL:> DISTANCE TOUCH: HEAL FROM A DISTANCE OF FIVE METERS, +20% TO HEALING,]

If it was not already obvious, the passive skills [HALO] and [DISTANCE TOUCH] were what she chose to go with. It seemed like passive skills were a whole lot better than active skills in Zion. As such this meant they were probably rarer too. So Esther chose both passive skills, hopefully she would be able to get a chance to choose the other effects. But for the moment, it was as if this passive skills she received were specifically tailored for the unfortunate situation she now found her self in. It seems God was still looking out for her. Esther was fully recovered from the previous fight, her energy was full to the brim. However for some reason she couldn’t use her spells and she didn’t know why. That’s when she heard the footsteps.

“Oh you’re awake. Good. Well then my lovely cleric and wife to be, welcome to my home.”

Esther looked like she had swallowed a frog. The only thing she could say was

“Wetin you just talk now now.”