Fates of Grenora: Return of the Night

He had only killed one Vampire before, but he had never experienced the sensation he felt when he witnessed the execution. Not only had he felt the flicker of life in the Feral Vampire vanish. It left him feeling hollow on the inside. Now he wondered what he would find at the end of the tug in the locked rooms of the library. Would he find more Vampires or would he find zombies instead? Each could be catastrophic events, especially given the location. He needed to return to the inn and inform Jared and Pierre about the dark underbelly of Lor-Vold and the potential corruption of the Queen herself and her Court.

He hoped that Pierre would gain access to parts of the Research District to uncover the secrets held within after acquiring the Profession. With an unknown threat on the horizon again with hope for a cure as well, Aldrin dreaded if he would have to save the city or save himself. That permeated his mind on his way back to The Gleaming Marigold, pondering the choice presented to him. He thought of what his parents would do and what his brother would do. Both thoughts brought painful memories with them, memories Aldrin buried.

After avoiding the patrolling guards by traversing the rooftops again, Aldrin made it back to the inn in record time. The sunrise began to crest the horizon, announcing the new day ahead. He paced in his room, thinking about the implications. Soon there was a knock on his suite door. Something inside told him it was Pierre.

Opening it, he ushered them in and closed it quickly behind them, getting confused looks from the both of them.

"It's worse! It's so much worse than we realized!" Aldrin began fumbling with his words.

Pierre frowned, "Slow down, what are you talking about?"

"If they get loose or they can't be contained, this city is doomed! The world is doomed!" He rambled, the reality of the situation lightly breaking his mind.

Pierre smacked Aldrin, making Jared gasp at the action, but it got Aldrin to focus as they both stared at each other for a long moment.

"Thank you," Aldrin conveyed, blinking a few times.

Pierre nodded, "Now what happened?" settling to stand next to Jared again.

"Feral Vampires," Aldrin said, making both of them stand more attentively.

So Aldrin explained his nightly escapade that resulted in the discovery.

"What do we do then? We can't trust the Queen to do something since she's in on it and we can't trust city officials because they might be in on it too," Jared reasoned.

Aldrin shrugged, "We probably can't trust anybody."

"Let's not jump to conclusions here. It may only be a select few and all the guards at the Research District who know," Pierre placated their thoughts.

"I'm pretty sure there would have been a huge revolt if the entire city was working on it," he added.

Jared crossed his arms, "And if they are?" He seeded doubt again.

"This country's leader is letting her people be subjugated into slavery AND allowing crazy Alchemist run experiments on Undead! Vampires nonetheless! You and I have seen firsthand what one can do already! There is no telling who supports her and who doesn't!" Jared argued, jutting his head in Aldrin's direction.

"No offense Aldrin," Jared quickly added.

"None taken. If I was in your shoes, I would be worried too. No, scratch that, I am worried actually," Aldrin admitted, running his fingers through his curly brown hair.

Pierre sighed, rubbing the bridge of his slender nose. "I'm not saying we shouldn't do anything. I'm just saying we are the small fish in the ocean right now. Yes, if push came to shove, Aldrin is strong," He pointed to him, "We're strong," he then gestured to himself and Jared.

"But we aren't taking on a nation strong or even taking a city strong either. It's out of our hands and I'm sorry. The best we can do is alert someone official who can get it to the Lord or Lady of this province." He finished as each of them looked on.

Jared still looked heated at the mention of turning this in, but he understood that they had no power to make a change. Still, Aldrin felt the remnants of a pull from the Research District, but something else, something off in the distance further out from the city, pulled along too. He had wished that being a Vampire came with instructions and how-to's because he was flying by the seat of his pants hoping for the best with being one.

Snapping his fingers, "We tell Adeline, my sister!" Aldrin brightened up. Jared perked up as well at the thought as Pierre took the time to think about it.

"Would she believe it?" Pierre skeptically asked.

"In a heartbeat! She fought at Vaultstrand with my brother when the first outbreak happened," Aldrin winced from the memory.

"That's - What? The third time you mentioned your brother? What happened to him?" Jared cautiously asked.

"He died. That's it." Aldrin clammed up.

Pierre walked up to him, placing a hand on his shoulder, "We understand it's hard to talk about it but when you're ready we will listen," He sympathized.

"We just can't let this be another Vaultstrand," Aldrin quietly said.

"And we won't let it. I'll go see about getting your sister to come while Pierre gets his Profession. I should be back within a few days if I take one horse we escaped with," Jared offered.

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"I'll learn more about this tugging sensation while you both are gone," Aldrin said.

With goals in mind, they set out, "Oh! Here you go!" Jared threw another blood vial at Aldrin, who caught it and gave him a grateful smile in return.

Now with an empty suite again, Aldrin figured he would need to leave the city in order to tune out the hustle and bustle of it all. Donning his cloak, ventured downstairs to the rest of the inn where he spotted the Bugbear and Giantess from before. Seeing Aldrin come down, they both raised their mugs to him before resuming their hushed conversation. Aldrin caught the brief action of the Bugbear's hand brushing against the Giantess' hand when he placed his mug back down on the table.

A small smile graced his lips at the intention as he walked past the two, giving a wave to Thakheam on the way out the door. Pulling his hood up to block the uncomfortable burn from the sun, he ventured through the Residential District and onto the busy production streets before finally being let out of the city by the High Guards at the main entrance to the city.

He kept his head down as he walked past the various groups of people, eagerly awaiting to get into the city. A few dogs barked at him as he passed a merchant caravan coming to restock on potions. The owners of the dogs apologized to him for their behavior after calming them before going on about their business.

He came to the intersection and read the signpost that was pointed in each of the four directions. The sign that pointed back in the direction he came from labeled Lor-Vold. To the left was the village of Karvendal. The right was to the provincial capital of the Western region, Yeshur, and if he were to keep straight, it would be the shortcut to what used to be Bonehills.

Closing his eyes, he focused on where the second strand pulled him, which directed him to Karvendal. He needed to see where this strand led him, so he walked along, rationing the blood vial Jared had given him. Luckily, the village wasn't that far from Lor-Vold and he guessed it was the city's food production based on the endless fields. A few Farmers were out and gave him a friendly wave, which he returned. As the village entered eyesight, the tug angled in a different direction off to the side, where the rolling plains and hills rolled into one among the horizon.

"Why can't anything ever be easy?" Aldrin groaned, dropped his head after looking at the miles of plains and hills before him.

Stepping off the path, he walked, encountering a few Level 10 Horned Wolves that ran off after getting a good look at him. Unsure if he should be happy or sad that the wildlife didn't bother him, the pull he was following suddenly stopped. Now more alert, he looked around, only to see nothing but mounds of dirt. Parts of the earth looked disturbed, as if something or someone had been trying to make a hole. There were a few of them all placed at random places to make it look more natural, but whoever attempted to do so failed miserably.

Looming closer to one mound of earth on the ground, the tugging pull now screamed at him that wherever this was, this was where he was supposed to be. Bending down, he touched the earth, feeling that it was still soft after being dug up from the moisturized ground. Hoping that the advantage of having Daywalker active would allow him some protection with the help of the sun, he began to scoop away the dirt mound with his hands.

That proved to be unneeded as the mound began to move, forcing Aldrin to jump back in surprise. Not only was the dirt mound he touched moving, but the rest started to move too, forcing Aldrin to call for his steel sword from his Inventory.

Being away from the city allowed Aldrin to breathe in fresh air along his little walk to this location. The very same air he enjoyed was soon overlaid with a horrid stench that made his eyes water, forcing him to quit breathing again. A rotten human hand punctured up from the mound first, struggling to find purchase among the earth to drag itself further out. Another hand rose, then another, and another, and soon the mound of dirt was now a pit of wandering rotten hands.

The mound of dirt began to shift more and sink inwards, revealing a cesspool of zombies all intertwined. Moans and groans accompanied them as they started to haul themselves out one by one. All of whom were in various states of decay with milky eyes that were clouded over from death. Aldrin lost count after the fifth mound he could visually see, became hidden behind the sea of bodies that dredged themselves out. Flies were soon upon them as they grazed on the flesh of the dead, some of which housed maggots that squelched with each step the zombie took. The tug in Aldrin's chest quieted down as the zombies looked at Aldrin with interest.

"The horde greets thee Midnight Lord," A chorus of voices echoed in Aldrin's mind, making him Inspect one of the zombies in front of him.

"We have come for our losst brotherss and sisterss!" The horde's unified voice groaned again in his mind.

"Will you aid us, my Lord?"

Aldrin stared at the new Quest in front of him, sneaking glances at the tamed Zombie Horde that stood at attention. Soon, the ground began to shake. Aldrin turned to see what he thought was a small hill move as dirt fell off in clumps, revealing the form of a sleeping Zombie Giant rising to wakefulness.

Aldrin gaped at the Giant Zombie that was missing half the flesh on its face as it peered down.

"I lead the horde," it spoke into the mind of Aldrin.

Aldrin took one look at the horde arrayed in front of him as another Giant Zombie unearthed itself further back, standing tall amongst the horde.

"More of us come every day, growing the horde," It spoke again.

"How?" Aldrin only managed out.

"Something changed, thoughts clearer, you," The Giant said, grappling with the mass of thoughts from the horde.