CHAPTER 22: Final Lesson

The weeks went by faster than expected and Milas was two weeks away from his admission to vampire school. His body had undergone vast improvements and his resistance was on another level when compared to other vampires. Milas was clueless to this fact as Deogratius pressured him to improve even more. Milas was under the illusion that the training he underwent was common for vampires.

Today, he was standing in front of the mirror and putting on the light armour that was provided. Deogratius had mentioned a test to see his previous improvement. The armour was given to him along with dual swords, a dagger and five flasks of blood. The swords were strapped to his back and the dagger to his right lap. A small bag hung onto his waist and allowed him to store the flasks together with somethings he might need.

He met Deogratius at the courtyard and they walked to the stables. Two stallions with pitch black coats and thick, lustrous manes were saddled and ready for the journey. Milas got onto the tall creature and they rode through a tunnel that opened up to a thick forest. The horses were used to traveling on the undergrowth and the journey was smooth.

The sun had risen for a few hours and Milas was glad that the canopy blocked most of the light. His resistance to sunlight allowed him to stay in sunlight for half an hour before the effects began. He was also able to control when the resistance activated despite it taking his full concentration and a few minutes to manifest.

They had traveled for hours and arrived at their destination at dusk. The place was a large cave that would allow the horses to walk in side by side. This was possible but the horses had refused to budge no matter what Milas did. Deogratius on the other hand, was writing something on a piece of paper and handed it to Milas when he was done. Milas immediately read the message.

"This is the final lesson I am giving you. Learn how to survive while depending on yourself. Although having comrades isn't a wrong, it also increases the number of knives aimed at your back. Unrestrained trust becomes a whetstone that sharpens these blades. Ensure that you have an armour that is prepared for such occasions.

Your test is to enter this cave and not leave till you obtain five crystals from the beasts living inside. The crystals are necessary for crafting a ring of shade that allows vampires to roam in the sun. The higher the tier of crystal you provide the better the effects. Complete this before two weeks to ensure that it can be crafted before you leave for school.

This is a direct command from your master. Once the test is complete, head to the vampire academy. I don't care if you don't know the way to there. You will introduce yourself as Milas De Viers which is my family name. This will solve your little issue of not knowing your own name. From here on out, you have to depend on yourself to live."

Milas didn't hesitate as he walked into the cave with confident steps and he dropped the note a short distance into the cave. Deogratius watched him leave till he disappeared from view. A heavy sigh left his lips and he slightly shook his head before leaving with the horses. "I hope the lessons I gave you will be enough. Like the hate you have for me has given you the will to get stronger."

Milas had been walking in the cave for minutes and it was getting smaller. He was at the point where his shoulders would touch the sides of the walls. The cave suddenly transformed into a gigantic cavern with stalactites hanging from the ceiling. Some of them were as wide as tree trunks and about a meter above his head.

Milas saw the presence of stalagmites but some of them were broken, a clear sign that something lived here. A roar echoed in the cavern making it impossible for Milas to tell where it was from. He drew the dagger and held it between his teeth before leaping onto the closest stalactite.

Milas' fingers easily held onto the relatively smooth surface and his vampiric strength kept him in place. He patiently waited for the beast till he finally saw it. Milas was about to drop on the dark figure when he heard a low growl nearby. A similar figure walked towards the first one and brushed its body against it. Milas finally made out the familiar figure of two Darklands leopards.

He wrapped his legs around the stalactite and sheathed the dagger before silently drawing a sword with his right hand. Growls of pleasure sounded below him as the beasts began mating. Milas positioned himself directly above them and dropped down like a bird of prey on his unsuspecting prey.

The sharp blade coupled with the weight of his falling body beheaded the male and partially sliced the female's neck. The female tried to escape but the weight of her still attached mate restrained her movement. Milas was forced to roughly finish his beheading attempt.

The bodies of the two leopards were stuck in their blissful position with black blood cascading from their necks. Milas cleaned the sword with the fur of the leopard and pulled out the dagger to gut the leopards. The task was messy and Milas was cursing himself for not packing any water. He also took some meat as he learnt that although vampires don't need to eat as long as they have blood, eating allows them to go for longer without blood.

Milas stored the crystals into the small bag on his waist which was weightless despite carrying multiple items. He explored the cavern after marking the path he had come from. He knew that getting lost would be the worst outcome as he would starve to death.

Milas discovered multiple paths and decided to follow the one with no footprints. He needed a safe place to rest during the time he might spend in the dark and humid tunnels. The tunnel was long and had many turns and ended in a wide room.

Milas froze and held his breath. He had not expected to meet a beast due to the lack of footprints but it now made perfect sense. There were no footprints since the beast had no feet and it looked to be hibernating. The serpent was huge. Much larger than the one from the tournament.

It was coiled up in a pile that was almost as large as Milas was tall. Its scales were jet black and had faint, blue, diamond patterns. A single, horn like scale was at the tip of its nose. The scariest thing were the glowing scales of its eyelids. They were bright yellow with a black vertical slit in the middle. This gave the illusion that it was awake which Milas had seen through with his sharp eyesight. He knew that any other creature with weaker sight would shit themselves if they saw it.

Milas quietly backed away from the beast. He walked backwards for sometime before turning around and stealthily walked away. He resisted the urge to run for fear of it sensing his presence.

Milas was back in the cavern and was debating whether to take another tunnel or wait for beasts to show up in the cavern. He eventually decided that the smartest thing to do was wait. He decided to pass time by testing the stalactites that could hold his weight. The serious testing soon turned into him leaping from one stalactite to another like an agile monkey.

Milas accidentally leapt onto a weak one which broke off and crashed to the ground. The rock had crushed his toe and a blood spread out in his leather boots.

"Fuuucckk!" Milas let out a loud curse and his voice echoed everywhere. Roars, grows and other beastly sounds formed a replying chorus. Milas was panicking and it worsened when he heard the scrapping of scales against rock.

It was approaching too fast for Milas to hide and running was compromised by his recovering toe.