The Storm King

“What are you hoping to find within the records of vampire attacks?” Antonius asked Leon, his brown eyes slightly narrowing in muted frustration. Being around Leon made him more than a little nervous, like being around someone with a sword hanging over their head; he didn’t want to be in the splash zone if Leon’s identity was made public and the sword over him finally fell.

“I went on a hunt a few days ago to deal with a werewolf…” Leon began, quickly giving a condensed version of the events of that mission.

“That… is quite the story…” Antonius muttered, his anxiety about Leon’s presence swiftly fading from his mind with all this new information. “A werewolf with a demonic core within its body, a powerful vampire that claimed to own that core, and anecdotal evidence of said vampire serving the same demon as another vampire you encountered months ago…”

Leon nodded along, confirming that Antonius had gotten the details correct.

“So, then, you’re looking for more information on recent vampire attacks in connection with your suspicion that this demon has been attempting to infiltrate this plane?” Antonius asked.

“Something like that,” Leon replied. There was the possibility that his own connection with Xaphan could be exposed with him looking into these matters, but he also couldn’t allow such a powerful enemy to continue on in the shadows, just as he couldn’t allow those that had killed his family to keep doing what they were doing. However, unlike the latter case where he had Trajan doing a lot of the legwork, he had no one to assist him with this vampire situation.

“Have you taken this matter to the Legions?” Antonius inquired, not truly believing that Leon had hidden it, but having to ask anyway.

“I have, and they were brushed off by Sir Caelestius,” Leon answered.

Antonius frowned. “I’m not familiar with the man,” the Prince admitted, “but I don’t think you’re lying, and if there is indeed a demon making moves within our Kingdom, then we have to do something about it. Wait here, I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

“Yes, Your Highness,” Leon said, causing Antonius’ frown to momentarily deepen in displeasure. However, the Prince didn’t say a word about it, instead hurriedly making his way to the door. He slowed down a bit as he approached Anzu, but when the griffin didn’t make a move to stop the Prince’s approach, Antonius sped back up and walked out the door.

Leon spent the next twenty or so minutes crouched down beside Anzu by the door, absent-mindedly running his fingers through the albino griffin’s pure white fur and feathers until Antonius returned.

The Prince walked in through the door pulling a cart filled with huge stacks of papers and thick leather-bound tomes. Leon instantly stood up to assist the Prince, even though as a fifth-tier mage, Antonius didn’t really need the help. Leon started unloading the cart onto some free space on one of the nearby tables while Antonius set about clearing it of the stacks of scrolls that covered it.

“All of this,” Antonius said once the contents of the cart had been spread out across the newly-cleared table, “are the records for the past century regarding vampire attacks within the Kingdom. They’re not necessarily the most complete, I grabbed only what I could find on such short notice, but this is a good place to start.”

“What sort of information was recorded?” Leon asked as he grabbed the nearest book and started flipping through the pages.

“Everything,” Antonius replied. “From the first reports of suspected vampire activity all the way to the reports of the knights that were dispatched to deal with them. All the details of these missions were recorded and filed with the Royal Archives, though as I said, there are probably a substantial amount of records that I wasn’t able to find in my cursory search.”

“You still seemed to find quite a few,” Leon observed. The book he had grabbed had hundreds of vampiric incidents recorded, and there were fifteen more books of similar size on the table. There were also the stacks of papers that Antonius had brought back, which seemed to be additional reports that hadn’t been indexed from what Leon could tell by quickly skimming over what he could see.

“So, then, we’re looking for vampires associated with a fire demon,” Antonius stated. “Unfortunately, most of the vampires encountered within the Kingdom are quite weak, so it’s not always possible to know what kind of demon they are associated with. That being said, I’d be willing to bet that most of these reports have the demon’s element reported.”

“Good,” Leon said as he began to start looking at the reports in his hand in earnest.

The two stayed there, silently flipping through hundreds of reports, taking notes, and occasionally confirming something with the other. It wasn’t until three hours had passed and most of the reports had been scrutinized that they finally called a break to go over what they had learned with the other.

For his part, Antonius’ face was ashen, and his legs shook as he stared at his notes. Leon, on the other hand, having largely expected his results, wasn’t nearly so distressed. The extent to which Amon had infiltrated the Kingdom was astounding—or at least, the sheer number of vampires that had made pacts with fire demons was staggering.

“More than half of mine were fire vampires,” Antonius said as he collapsed into a nearby chair. The implications of an immensely powerful fire demon so deeply entrenched within the Kingdom were beyond terrifying.

“I’d say almost three-quarters of the reports I read through had fire vampires associated with them,” Leon stated as he faced the Prince and leaned back against the table.

“How… how hasn’t this been seen, yet?” Antonius wondered aloud. “If there are so many fire vampires running around, how hasn’t this been addressed yet?!”

“How often is it that people come and go through the records of previous vampire attacks?” Leon asked.

“No clue,” Antonius replied. “I don’t really associate with the scholars of the Royal Archives much, I prefer to be left alone to my own research…”

“Well, given how quickly Sir Caelestius brushed off my concerns, I’d say that there aren’t many people who come and closely scrutinize these records after the reports have been made,” Leon said as he rested his chin in his left hand, propping the arm up with his right. “I can’t imagine anyone who looks at those records as a whole could miss that at least two-thirds of the total vampires that have surfaced in this Kingdom had contracts with fire demons, so that must mean that after the reports have been filed, they get stuck here and forgotten. Or at least, I hope that’s what’s happening…”

“What do you mean?” Antonius asked. “Are you suggesting that there’s someone covering this up?”

“I’m not suggesting anything,” Leon replied. “All I’m saying is that it’s a possibility, and that I hope it isn’t reality.”

Antonius clenched his teeth and said, “I have to tell Uncle Trajan about this. This sort of thing can’t be ignored!”

“That would be most helpful,” Leon responded. “I have already told His Highness about my concerns, but in the absence of conclusive evidence, he couldn’t bring himself to believe me.”

“I… I suppose I can understand,” Antonius conceded. He didn’t believe Leon either until he actually took the time to look at the records. The Prince then grabbed a few pieces of paper and a pen, then began to hurriedly scrawl a preliminary report as quickly as he could and not have it be illegible. He was finished in minutes, and he handed the report to Leon. “Find my uncle, give him this.”

Leon nodded, then took off for the main palace complex with Anzu at his side. The receptionists gave him a strange look as he passed, but neither said a word to him; even if they had the inclination to try and reprimand him for bringing Anzu into the Royal Archives, the serious look on Leon’s face prevented any attempt to stop him.

As soon as he was outside, Leon started running. There was enough evidence to suggest a possible vampire conspiracy within the Kingdom, and since it was starting to directly threaten him instead of the Kingdom itself, Leon didn’t care about maintaining a dignified image.

When he returned to the main courtyard, he again noticed Lapis’ absence, but he couldn’t stop and look for the giant. Instead, he continued straight for the Royal Palace’s front doors, to the slight concern of the four guards standing outside of them. There were other guards around the courtyard as well, though none of them were in Leon’s way.

“Slow down!” the strongest guard shouted. Since he was a fifth-tier mage as well, Leon complied, though he couldn’t help but scowl. As Leon closed the distance between them at a more reasonable pace, the guard ordered, “Identify yourself!”

“Leon Ursus, a knight in Prince Trajan’s retinue!” Leon growled back.

The guard was about to ask for proof of I.D, being more than a little put off by Leon’s running toward the Royal Palace, but as he opened his mouth, one of his subordinates, a fourth-tier mage, said, “I remember him, Sir Ursus went before the Royal Court a few days ago, Prince Trajan did affirm his status.”

With an endorsement from a Royal Guard, there was little to stop Leon from entering the palace, and he did so with a brief glare at the guard who had cost him a few precious seconds, and the guard responded in kind. Once inside the atrium, though, Leon had no idea of where to go to find Trajan.

“Can I help you, Good Sir?” asked one of a number of nearby receptionists. There were thousands of people who worked in the Royal Palace and thousands more who had business with people within. As a result, she was used to seeing people walking in with little idea of where to go.

Leon approached the desk she was behind—one of two on either side of the doors—and said, “I’m looking for Prince Trajan’s office.”

“I see… and your name?”

Leon identified himself, but he had to use his I.D card for verification. As soon as he showed the receptionist his Heaven’s Eye I.D card, there was no more waiting around, the receptionist instantly told Leon where to go. It didn’t matter that she didn’t ask him what his social status was—she was only a second-tier mage, so she couldn’t see through Leon’s power, and since she didn’t know he was a fifth-tier mage, she couldn’t then assume that he was a knight—and it also didn’t matter that she didn’t ask Leon about his relation to Prince Trajan. All that she needed to see was the Heaven’s Eye I.D and the impossible to fake magical markings upon to give Leon the information he requested.

At the least, she knew that Leon was affiliated with Heaven’s Eye, as no one else would have their I.D issued by them, and any representative of Heaven’s Eye would, of course, be qualified to speak with the Prince.

Not to mention, if there were any shenanigans going on with Leon, then she was sure that the palace being full of the best warriors and most powerful mages in the Kingdom would stop him.

Not even five minutes after walking into the Royal Palace, Leon arrived at Trajan’s office. The Prince’s secretaries recognized him and immediately informed Trajan of his arrival and the Prince had him shown in.

“Leon!” Trajan said with a wide smile on his chiseled face. He looked as tired as Leon had ever seen him, his skin had lost all the color that the ride from the Bull’s Horns had put into it, and he didn’t seem to move with the energy that Leon was used to. And it had only been a little over a week since they had arrived in the capital.

Leon walked further into the office as Trajan rose to greet his young knight.

“It’s good to see you up and about, boy!” Trajan exclaimed. He waited a few moments for the door to close before he pulled Leon into a brief hug and then directed the younger man into a nearby chair. “How are you doing?”

“I’m doing much better than I was a few days ago,” Leon said with a smile. “I’ve come with some troubling news…”

“What do you mean?” Trajan inquired, his face turning serious.

Leon answered by handing over the note that Antonius had given him, and Trajan accepted it with a look of apprehension.

Trajan quickly scanned the document, but he was so taken aback by what he found within that he had to read it again just to process the information.

“This…” the Prince quietly muttered, at a bit of a loss as to how to take this information. However, that indecision lasted all of about two seconds; Trajan sprang to his feet and said to Leon, “You and Antonius are going to tell me everything you know about this situation. Right now.”