Venatores Noctis: Selfless Self-Destruction: Chapter 2 – Pitiable Self-Made Kings

Chapter 2 – Pitiable Self-Made Kings

Along the way to his destination, Claudius feeds pieces of the bread that he has to the animals he comes across and then to a wandering blind priest who he eats the last of his bread with underneath a cloudy night sky.

“Thank you for the bread, young man. You are a gift from God,” the priest says.

“It’s the least I can do. Penitential priests like you inspired me to do the same as you,” Claudius says.

“Are you a blind penitential like me?”

“No, but I do fast and practice self-flagellation like you. I took up these practices to purify my soul and do penance for many on my quest.”

“What quest is this that can allow you to take on a similar penance to mine in addition to it?”

“The quest to live up to my grandfather, Nevar Aurora’s, legacy by slaying the vampires in the upside down Tower of Blasphemy. He destroyed the tower on the surface, but the lower tower is still beneath the earth and has been monitored by the Church for decades. Now, I go to destroy the lower tower as my grandfather destroyed the upper, especially since Rome hasn’t heard back from those that monitor the tower in some time and reports coming from this region tell us that the vampires' serfs are out kidnapping the poor.”

“This quest is great and too large for you to embrace similar penances to mine. You should fill yourself with food and stop whipping yourself so that you’re at full strength when you face the enemy.”

“I fill myself with whatever God gives me and deny excesses.”

“Are you sure you’re not denying yourself gifts that God has given you to help you along the way?”

“I’m sure of it because I follow your example.”

“My purpose is one that not many should follow just as your grandfather had his own purpose that only he could do. I’m assuming you prayed and meditated for a long time on your purpose like I do?”

“Of course.”

“Then I hope to God that you’re following God’s will rather than your own.”

“If I was following my own will, then things would’ve been easier.”

“Just know that not everything that’s harder to do is essentially holy and be open to correction. Keep your pride in check and remember that we all still sin and make mistakes. Even though I’m blind, God leads me to priests so that I may make my confession every week. Few blind priests that I know have the same blessing.”

“Then I am really glad that I got to speak and share a meal with you. It seems that very few people understand the value of penance the way we do. I find it hard to talk to anyone about it.”

“I’ll keep you in my prayers, brave knight. May God grant you victory over the evil powers in the world.”

Claudius continues forward guided by the copies of maps that he has of the area, which he took from a command center in Rome. The maps show him that there is supposed to be a town guarded by the Church’s soldiers in this area, however, all he finds is a ghost town with no signs of life to be seen. Dried blood can be found on some of the buildings along with slashes and places on the stalls and homes that seem to have been hit by a blunt object. Further in the town, Claudius finds numerous inhuman footprints that suggest that a beastman was recently here. Thunder roars in the distance as it begins to rain.

“Excuse me, sir? What are you looking for?” someone in a cloak says from behind him.

“I’m tracking whatever destroyed this checkpoint. Who are you?” Claudius says.

“Just a friend of one of the people who lived here. My friend forgot something here and I quickly came to pick it back up.”

“It’s dangerous to be out here alone, especially at night. Where are the knights of the Church?”

“They got orders to move closer to the site of the lower Tower of Blasphemy while the townspeople were ordered to live elsewhere. You should probably leave since you’re by yourself as well. It only gets more dangerous from here.”

“I know about the dangers, but I didn’t know about the soldiers nor the townspeople having to move and I would know about it being from the Aurora family.”

“An Aurora?” the stranger says in shock.

“Yes, and I’d like to know who you are and what happened here. There are many signs that this place was attacked particularly by beastmen. Their vampire masters can’t be too far from here. In fact, I think there might be one near us.”

In the blink of an eye, Claudius takes out his whip and whips the stranger’s legs off to reveal that they are a beastman or rather an apeman to be specific.

“You-you would cut a stranger’s legs off?”

“Even if you weren’t a monster, I’d punish a dishonest man.”

“Monster? It’s funny you say that-”

Claudius whips near the beastman’s face.

“No more nonsense. You will tell me what happened here plainly and simply.”

“We were tired of the monsters that were the leaders of the Church and their slaves and decided to do something about them. The serfs from the underground tower gave us that opportunity. Those who accept it were freed while those who didn’t were forced to be free, and believe it or not, I was one of the forced, and thank them for doing that. Is that simple enough for you?”

“Yes. I’ll allow you a minute to confess your sins to God before I put you out of your misery as a serf.”

“There’s no need to. I haven’t sinned and…I’m …already dead…”

The apeman appears to have died, but he springs to life and screams in pain when Claudius whips the beast’s last arm off.

“I’m no fool. I know that beastmen don’t die so easily. Be thankful that you have enough pain to offer up as your penance as you slowly die.”

Leaving the serf to his slow death, Claudius heads out on his horse to the next nearby checkpoint in the hopes of finding people who haven’t turned against the Church but is met by a band of vampires and serfs before he reaches it.

“You killed our messenger? How cruel are-” a vampire says before Claudius whips off their head.

He circles his whip around like a man-made tornado while tearing through every enemy that he comes across. This tactic works until his enemy start firing arrows at him one of which hits his horse in the head killing it. Using the trees as cover, Claudius runs from the arrows and incoming enemies until he reaches another checkpoint town that is like the last one. Running inside the house and taking shelter, he catches his breath and tries to think of an effective way to kill all the vampires and serfs. The thought of running away doesn’t even enter his mind since he thinks that no enemy of the Church should live.

“Hey,” a woman whispers as she exits a closet in the room.

In his heightened state, Claudius immediately whips and destroys the closet, but the woman manages to barely dodge his attack. The woman then shows herself clearly in the light with her hood off and arms up.

“Look, look! I’m purely human!” she says.

“How can I be sure of that?” Claudius asks ready to attack again.

“I solemnly swear to God! I didn’t accept the serf’s offer nor is my body altered in any way! Uh…look if you must.”

The woman reveals her body to Claudius who sees that she is clearly normal and then looks away.

“Okay, okay. You can cover yourself,” he says.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know how else to convince you.”

“Shush. The beasts are approaching.”

Going to the window to see what’s happening, the two peak outside to see what the beasts and vampires are doing. They begin to search the houses and break into them from below and by jumping into the buildings through the roof.

“If you are a decent man of faith, let’s talk and perhaps you can leave us alone,” a serf says, “We were forced to work jobs that underpaid us for jobs that worked us to the bone because they said they were protecting us from the inhabitants of an underground tower, but it was those inhabitants who gave us more food and more wealth than what the Church gave us. Those so-called beasts gave us freedom and returned us to the comfortably secluded lives that we had before the Church overexerted her power over us.”

“Damned fools,” Claudius says as he begins to get up.

“Wait, it’s too dangerous to do anything,” the woman says while bringing him back down.

Seeing that she’s right, Claudius begrudgingly sits back down.

Continuing on, the serf says, “Even those loyal to the Church agree that we’re in the right. In fact, most do since we were loyal to her, to begin with. All we ask is that you leave us alone.”

The serf motions for the others to come back to him and they follow his orders. To Claudius’ surprise, even the vampires retreat back.

“These beasts are telling a half truth,” the woman whispers, “They do want to be left alone and the Church did overwork us for very little compensation, but they also-”

“I don’t need to be convinced to act. I’m just looking for an opportunity,” Claudius points out.

This opportunity soon comes as the vampires and beasts let down their guard and walk away from the town.

“Why don’t you just let them go? We can use this opportunity to escape,” the woman says.

“They’re evil, sinful creatures that need to face justice and I am their executioner”, Claudius says before leaping into action and decapitating several beastmen with one sweep of his whip.

He then goes for the archers killing one after while dodging their arrows. The vampires and beastmen throw themselves at him in an attempt to overwhelm him with numbers, however, Claudius slashes and spins his whip around him in such a dangerous manner that the woman almost gets caught up in it and the fast movements of his whip act almost like an umbrella with holes in it that stops the rain from touching where it goes. Once the last enemy falls, Claudius looks around before exhaling. It is then that another vampire comes out, but this one has three living bodies attached to it. A female’s face to the vampire’s along with her body while one male body writhes on the vampire’s other side and another male resides on the vampire’s chest.

“You’ve killed my friends and those I was trusted to protect,” the vampire says.

“So what?” Claudius says as he immediately attacks the vampire.

This hybrid of beastman and vampire is quicker than the others. It dodges every one of Claudius’ attacks until it is able to close the distance, cut him twice with his claws, then throw him into the side of a house. Since he is used to pain, Claudius doesn’t let it phase him for long and counterattacks as he lets the vampire get close again although it leaps back into the air in fear as his attack is about to land.

“No, no! I won’t let you harm them!” the vampire says. It rubs the face of the suffering faces on its body. “This woman is my true love, this on my side is my father, and this on my chest is the first foe I beat in battle. They are all very precious to me. I had to sacrifice an infant to each just so we can be a singular vampire together.”

“You’re a monster whose blind to their suffering!”

“No, no I’m not! They’re alive and they’ve always supported me in everything I did!” Claudius continues his attack and tries to anticipate the vampire’s movements by attacking in places that he expects, and yet, the vampire still dodges his attacks even as he continues to talk. “I combined them with my body then became a vampire so that we can be together forever! You’re the heartless monster who won’t leave us alone!”

It is then that Claudius thinks of a way to throw the vampire off.

“Did they really agree to combine with you or did you force them?”

“I-I-I it was their decision. Kind of. They said…but I know they always wanted to be with me. They said it themselves!”

“But did they want to be with you in that way? When’s the last time you looked at their faces or are you too afraid to look at their horrified expressions?”

“Yes-no-sort of! I-I-I-”

Claudius’ words get the vampire to slip up allowing him to wrap his whip around the vampire’s throat.

“You’re nothing more than a pathetic creature. You’re no lover to be treasured, no son to be proud of, and no worthy foe to be conquered.”

“St-stop! You’re hurting my wife!”

“Cease living already and go to Hell where you won’t see the people you claim to love.”

To end the fight, Claudius uses all his strength to break the neck of the vampire killing it and freeing the people who were trapped in its body. Though the fight is over and the rain stops, he waits, kneels, and listens for any more possible dangers.

“That was amazing! You killed-woah!” the woman says before again almost being whipped by Claudius. “Stop that!”

“Stop putting yourself in danger.”

“We’re not in danger anymore. Any other serfs or vampires will probably run away now that you killed the lord of this area.”

“That was a lord? It was pathetic.”

“It also looks like it beat you up.”

“Regardless, I’m surprised the knights here couldn’t handle it.”

“It’s probably because they didn’t think to insult him since we knew him from before, but I’m sure you don’t want to hear his story.”

“It’s unimportant and will be forgotten about by God anyway.”

“How did you make that whip of yours so powerful? I thought holy and blessed weapons are only effective against vampires.”

“That’s because this is no ordinary whip. This is the same whip that whipped the back of Christ and has been in my family, the Auroras, for generations. I’ve made it even stronger by wrapping it around a blessed chain and bits of the cross Christ was crucified on to add to its already awesome power.”

“Hold on, so if you’re an Aurora then, why are you out here by yourself?”

“My grandfather faced the vampires alone, so I will face them by myself as well.”

“Don’t you have any backup? You’re part of a royal vampire hunting family after all.”

“No, though they shouldn’t be too far behind me since I told them that I would leave and achieve my God-given purpose. If you see them on your way out of here, you should slow them down.”

“What are you talking about? You can’t continue on by yourself. Are you crazy?”

“Are you? If they interfere with the will of God, then who knows what calamity could happen because of their sin.”

“This insane challenge of facing the vampires by yourself can’t possibly be the will of God.”

“My grandfather achieved it and he was said to struggle with cowardice. If you think this is crazy, then find the approaching force and get them to move faster. They wouldn’t want to miss me prove them wrong.”

Claudius walks away in the direction of the tower leaving the woman stunned by his stubbornness and resolve.