Myths of Power

Richard entered the Physician's building. The door had been rubbed thin by the sheer number of his patients. The hinges were barely holding on to the wood strapping that made up most of what was left. Scavenged pieces were attached where they could be to give it some more life. To Richards surprise, there was no noise as it opened.

"Hmm. I guess not everything was left to rot away." he thought.

It seemed as if the entire refuse of the city's population was either sleeping of dieing in his waiting area, which admittedly, took up most of the ground floor. People were shifting and moaning and Richard could smell the decay and death that was hanging, curtain-like, in the air.

A small frail girl wondered around the menagerie, handing out wet cloths to whoever needed them. Richard motion to her and she slowly worked through the maze of bodies.

She was thin, too thin for such a young girl, although her face had seen enough pain and torment for many lifetimes. Her blond hair hung limp from her scalp and her skin had a sickly yellowish complexion.

"You'll have to wait your turn sir..." Even though her voice was harsh and croaky, Richard could still hear a faint echo of the life that she once knew.

Richard reached into his cloak and pulled out a small box. He placed his hand on the girls should and handed it to her.

"Go tell him I have arrived and give him this..."

She gently caressed the box and looked up at Richard with a small excited smile. Her face bubbled over with suppressed emotion. Richard was sure he heard a slight girlish giggle as she ran up the ramshackle stairwell. The sudden change in her attitude did not go unnoticed by the others waiting in the near vicinity. Curiosity was peaked in a few, who managed to stand and make their way to Richard, trying to recognize in him what the child did.

Not wanting to draw too much attention, he pulled his hood past his face and slowly made his way closer to the stairs, when the girl bounded hallway down and started beckoning him to her.

"Come, come. He's been waiting for you." Her eyes seemed to be brighter and full of life.

Richard carefully climbed the stairs, taking care to miss the questionable ones. The second floor was quite brighter and, relatively speaking, much cleaner. In the corner, behind an examination table bound together with spit and hope, was the Physician.

"Coltan, where is..."

Coltan raised his uninjured hand. "He's fine Catherine, he's fine. Your friend from last night took him to the physician."

Catherine's face strained with worry. "I should go to him, help him..." She moved quickly to the door before Coltan grabbed her shoulder.

"What he has to do, he must do..alone, Catherine." He moved her to the bed and she sat down.

"I'm so confused! What happened last night? What happened to me?"

Coltan sat beside her. "I'm not sure if I could, or even should tell you. It's a complex thing and I'm not even..."

Catherine turned and held Coltan's injured hand. A slight twitch caused her to to let go. 

"Sorry. I NEED to know Coltan. With Richard off on his own thing, he's left me here all alone..." Tears start to well up in her eyes.

"Look child, I'm not...really...good with emotional people..." He nervously gave her back a half-pat.

"Here's what I know about your kind. You are creatures of the earth that are sustained by the earth. Beetles, worms, and other...things..." He shivered visibly. "Newly reborn rev's like you only have a small reserve and when you got upset, it almost got used up."

"So I could have...what...re-died?!"

"Not sure if you could call it that, but a bigger problem occurs when the reserves get used up beyond a certain point."

"Then what?"

"Wildlings. Uncontrollable, devastating, and damn near unstoppable."

They both sat silent for a few minutes.

"I don't remember anything like that..."

"Be glad about that. We got you up into the room and Richard performed a type of ceremony that transferred some of his reserve to you. It took a lot out of him."

She turn and stared at Coltan through her tears. "But he'll be alright though, right?"

He couldn't look at her. "I'm told that a rev's reserve can only be filled a certain number of times. Richard is VERY old. I don't think..."

Catherine stood up and slapped Coltan's face. "Don't you even DARE think such a thing..." Realizing her reaction, she turned away and sobbed in her hands.

Coltan stood up, rubbed his cheek and embraced her softly....

Catherine rubbed her eyes as she woke. The room was bright but her vision was blurred.

"hmmm.. What happened? Joseph?..."

She grabbed her head. A dull thud kept repeating in her ears, like approaching thunder. She closed her eyes tight then opened them again in an attempt to clear her vision. She was in the bed, the blankets covered her haphazardly and were partially ripped and rotted.

"Were they like that when we got here?" she thought, unsure of herself still.

She stood up and started to walk to a water bowl that was across from her. As she walked, she tripped slightly. Looking back, she saw that there was a large area of floorboards that had half-softened with decay.

Ignoring that for the time being, she washed her face and looked into an adjacent mirror. Everything seemed okay. But she felt...

"..lighter. I think that's how I feel. What did he do last night... and where is he now?"

There was a faint tapping coming from the door. Panic embraced her and she glaced around, picked up a dagger that Joseph must have left behind and held it tight to her side, fearing whoever it was on the other side of the door. As she stepped cautiously, the door knob turned and the door opened slowly. Heavy fingers wrapped around the edge of the door.

The fear now rising to her skin she quickly lashed out and caught the tip of one of the fingers. A low muffled yelp came from the hallway as the door burst open and Coltan stepped in to the room, sucking on his index finger.

"WUF DE HELL WAF DAT FUR?!"

Catherine dropped the dagger and pulled Coltan in towards the wash basin.

"Oh ...I am.. I am so sorry, Coltan. I...I didn't know it was you!"

Catherine quickly rinsed and washed his wound.

"That's...ow...okay...ow ow, watch it, ow... I'll be fine...ouch." Coltan tried to pull his hand away as she was causing more pain trying to help than the wound itself, but she had become very strong overnight.

"Hmmm, looks like it worked."

Catherine looked up at Coltan. "Looks like what worked?"

Catherine released her grip and he managed to rescue his hand.

"Hm? Oh.. nothing, nothing......" He held up his hand. "My hand..see.. all better... no blood."

He dried his hands with a towel that was under the wash table and thought to himself, "Well what do I do with her now?"

Joseph quickly backed against the wall.

"Come out where I can see you then." His eyes darted from one side of the room to the other. There was still nothing there.

"That would be a little hard."

"What's so hard about showing yourself?"

"Firstly, keep you voice down or the guard will hear you. Secondly.." the voice trailed off a bit.

"Secondly, I can't come out because I'm not really here, per se."

Joseph started turning his head trying to pinpoint the source." What do you mean 'Not Here'?"

"Tell me...What do you know about Vampyres?"

" 'pyres? Blood-sucking, pretty strong, can take a lot of damage...look look...what does this have to do with you 'not-being-here'?"

"Calm down Joseph..."

"And how do you know my name?" Joseph began to scratch at the bricks in the wall looking for some type of hole.

"Here's the thing Joseph. Most of those things are true. However..."

Josephs eyes tightened. He knew something bad was going to come out.

"In every clan there are two or three that are, shall we say, different."

Joseph managed to place his head in his hands and shack it. " You're really starting to get me mad and this damnable collar will kill me if that happens so ,please, just explain yourself."

"My apologies. These 'special' vampyres look act and have the same abilities as the others except for them to survive, they don't just drain a victim of their blood."

"I don't understand...."

"Normally blood draining can keep a vampyre alive forever. That's not enough for the others. It may keep them alive for a longer time than a normal human, but not much more. At some point he needs to perform a blood-transferance."

"What, by the gods, is that?"

" They tranfer all of their blood into a new host body, which is then transformed into a new 'special' vampyre."

Sweat began dripping down Josephs brow. "What are you telling me?"

"I'm so sorry Joseph, I never intended this to happen." The voice slowly changed to a more familiar one.

Joseph's eyes widened fully. "MEYLISS?! What the HELL?!?"

"Some of my blood must have mixed into your body during our first fight...turn away from the bucket."

Joseph quickly turned to his side and vomits anything that was in his stomache, and spits. "What have you done to me?"

"While my host body was still alive, i was surpressed, but after those wilds...I started becoming aware."

Joseph laughed. "So your timing is just great! Maybe you can take me over before they hang me!"

"That's another problem."

"Oh fantastic...what's next?!"

"Well, none of my kind have ever been able to take over another faerie kind. Just humans, so this is new to me as well."

"Well I'm glad to be the first." he said sarcastically.

"The good news here, Joseph, is that only a small amount of blood-transferance was done. I don't think I COULD take over your body, even if it was possible."

Joseph falls back onto the cell wall, drained by the realization. With a flick of his leg, the bucket is thrown across the cell.

"I'm sorry Joseph, I'm so sorr.."

"Just shut-up...just shut-up and let me sleep."

".....sorry....."

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: I wasn't liking the style that I was using so I have switched to something more common.**

--The Dungeons of Haladan--

Pain shoots up and down Josephs arms. The darkness was deafening.

"Wake up" the voice echoed in his ears. "Wake up, now!"

Joseph head slams against the wall as he bolts awake.

"Arg!" He tries to raise his hands but is stopped by heavy chains." Well that's one way to take my mind off my arms."

He squints and looks around trying hard to take in any light.

"Who's there? Leland?"

"No." the voice sounded close. Joseph leans and looks around into the room.

"Where are you? I can't see."

"Don't worry about that now..Do you still have that collar on?"

Joseph felt up towards his neck and his fingertips met up with cold, hard iron. The pain shooting through his body was stopping him even feeling its' dead weight. Before he could answer, the voicemused, "Well, I guess that will stop you from changing."

Josephs eyes were slowly begining to soak in some excess light. He couldn't make out much, but he was aware that he was in the dungeons. He looked around for the source of his new found friend but there was still much hidden in darkness.

"You seem to be able to see well enough in this bleak...I presume, dungeon. Who are you? Where are my friends?"

"Who I am is not important right now. You must find a way to remove your shackles and collar.The guards here don't take well to your kind."

The comment made the hairs on the back of his neck stand and he could feel the collar tighten. "MY kind, huh." Joseph had heard this comment all through his life. It was as if the person saying it was treading him under foot.

With this the voice took on a more apologetic tone. "I'm sorry. I did not mean it in that way."

Jospeh turned and grabbed one of his shackle chains in both hands and began to pull.

"I'm used to it, unfortunately." he pulled the chain taught a few times and released it.

"Doesn't look like these are coming out of the wall any time soon. You didn't answer me, you know."

"As I said, My name is not.."

"I mean about my friends. Have you seen them?"

There was an uncomfortably long silence. "I have not."

Joseph sniffed the air. "Hmph. Hiding your answers like you hide in the dark huh?"

"I'm not hiding Joseph. At least not..."

Before the voice could finish, a lid at the top of the cell slid open. A guard leaned over the top.

" Quiet down there you animal."

Sounds of pouring liquid and solids echoed above followed by the banging of block and tackle. Joseph eyes were half blinded by the light but through his squinting he could see a bucket being lowered.

Laughter screamed from the opening. "Ha ha ha...enjoy you dinner, dog!" The cover slid across but the lowered rope prevented it from fuly closing alowing light to stream in. As Joseph's eyes became used to the light, he took a look around for his cell mate. And found no one there.

"I told you I wasn't hiding Joseph."