4 Chapter 4
Step by step, Atlas followed his maker up the winding stairs to part of the ancient castle he had never been allowed before – The dark library. The castle, like most vampires, had been around for centuries seeing the rise and fall of kingdoms and had inevitably collected rare tomes of knowledge that were safely stowed away. Atlas has been desperate to explore it, however his maker had restricted him until his skill at arms wouldn't embarrass her. Sophia Von Carstein had a dislike for magic; she much preferred to be close enough to taste her enemy, and was not impressed by Atlas's seeming excitement to study it.
Sophia was from a direct line of Vlads which gave her the privileged position of being castle lord of Eschen in Eastern Sylvania. While its history and depth of power couldn't be spoken about in the same breath as Castle Drakenhof, it stood as a bastion to creatures of the night to slip into the mortal lands and drink their fill. Eschem also was renowned for one product that all vampires craved – blood wine.
Blood wine, as Atlas had learned as Sophia had put him to the arduous task of refining it, was the product of combining alchemy with necromantic runes. It took blood, the essence of life itself, and reduced it down to the core elements that vampires required while preserving the product indefinitely. As unproven as Atlas was, he had not been deemed worthy of consuming blood wine; even if rumours suggested it would accelerate his cultivation.
Stepping around the bleached bones that littered the stairs, he eventually made his way into the tower room. A lone window let a chilling wind blow through rustling ancient parchment. The was framed with dark wooden frames that housed an assortment of books, tomes and loose parchments. Decades of untouched dust covered each in a thick layer like it had decided to snow indoors. The books themselves seem untouched by time as the leather covers emit the faint pulse of magic preserving their existence.
Atlas ran his hand across the spine of a book – 'Grimoire of the Winds of Death' - leaving a clear trail where his cold fingers had been. The leather felt different than any other he had touched before. Even in the body's memories, Atlas had read many books in his father's study but none were like this.
Then he realised. The leather was not from any cow or other beast. It was something far more gruesome – human.
"Within these pages lies the wisdom of many before you. Take solace in their whispers." Removing a thick tome, Sophia handed it to him as if weighed no more than a feather.
"Beyond the grave – Incarnations to raise the dead," Atlas mumbled the title as he read it barely believing that this was happening. He had continued to impress at his martial training and had been granted the right to learn one of the most valuable spells in the Lore of Vampires – Raise Dead.
With this spell, he could transform a corpse or even long-forgotten skeletons into warriors to serve his will. It was one of the vampire's most formidable weapons, few wanted to risk attacking a vampire, only for their own dead to rise up and join the enemies' ranks.
"Tha…"
Sophia cut off his platitudes with a swipe of her hands. "Learn what you can dear one. We march to join the main host in three days." Her silky voice weaved its way into his ears as if she was crouched on his back. Sophia eyes hardened, her affection for her new pet forgotten. "You will continue your martial training." Her command was like an iron cage, capturing and forcing his will to submit to hers.
Atlas lowered his head in a forced action.
"As you wish. My lady." Atlas finally managed to say through gritted teeth.
As Sophia descended the stairs, leaving Atlas alone with a library to exploit and magic to learn; he got to work.
"AI Chip – Scan and record."
Beep!
Giving the command, Atlas levered open the tomes to reveal flesh-coloured pages. Stamping out his disgust, he cast his eyes over the page for a second before he heard a …
Beep!
Turning the page, he repeated the motion until the AI chip sounded its completion.
It took several minutes to complete the scan in the entire book however he wasn't done – not nearly.
"AI Chip – establish task – Collate and upgrade raise dead spell."
Beep!
*Task Established.*
*Estimated time to completion – 0.4 hours*
Not willing to waste the opportunity before him, Atlas returned the tome to its place on the shelf and drew another. This one was not in the language of Reikspeil that he was familiar with, however he didn't let it stop him. Page by page. Book by book. Atlas started to record more magic, more runes to channel magic through, more records of great battles. Nothing was left out.
As the database of the AI chip was being populated, he noticed that the time to completion for his raise dead spell wasn't decreasing but now sat far higher at over 14 hours. Letting out a small smile from his lips, knowing the extension would only improve the end result.
From what he (and the AI chip) could decipher, there weren't many complete spells in the library he could use, with the knowledge inside more a collection of different lores of magic taken as battle trophies. Atlas knew Sophia would have a private collection however he didn't want to imagine what it would take to convince her to let him browse it.
The other spell he did gain was 'Vanhel's Dance Macabre' which could empower himself or other undead. An advantage he planned to keep to himself. Once the AI chip was finished, he planned to add this spell to be processed and even optimised.
The final advantage he gleaned from the Eschen library was cultivation methods. It seemed Sophia had dedicated more energy to collecting records of methods not only from different vampire clans but also from the Empire, Bretonnia and even a few from the immortal lands of Ulthuan (home of the elves).
As a vampire, he had been given the Von Carstein cultivation method that taught him to circulate energy, extracted from blood, around his body through certain pathways to build strength.
By repeating this process, Atlas could ascend to higher levels of power. He had some experience with it as the memories extracted by the AI chip showed Atlas learning the secret methods of his family to grow strong. He could still remember his father's booming voice.
"All races have their methods to cultivate, son. It is our human ingenuity that has led us out of the dark ages by giving us the tools we need to breach beyond what fate determines for us. Our house method has been refined over generations so we may stand tall above the peasants. If Sigmar, bless his name, can become a God then so can one of my blood!"
Atlas knew that as a fourth-generation vampire, he wouldn't be blessed with access to the true method used by Vlad; which would speed his rise. He had to settle with the watered-down version gifted to him by Sophia which was significantly less effective. However, a thought had been planted in his mind that refused to budge, sprouted forth a wild idea.
What if he could combine knowledge of different race's methods into something new? Something better. Something that will give him another advantage in the wars to come.
Letting the small smile on his face morph into a full grin exposing his wickedly sharp fangs, he started to give the AI chip its instructions.
Beep!
