Vampires vs Vandals and The Hooded Man

The vampires and the vandals brutal war across Europe eventually ended in a triumph for the vandals. Even though they were less powerful on average, the vandals were ultimately able to work together more successfully and with other species which is what gave them the advantage. The vampires more chaotic personalities, didn't exactly endear them to other species of even demons.

By the start of the 12th century, the vampires had more or less been beaten throughout Europe, though the vandals had not merely crushed their blood sucking rivals, but had arguably conquered Europe itself. However unlike the Romans, the vandals ruled from behind the scenes. They did not want to follow the same mistake and make themselves a target for the oppressed. Furthermore when working from behind the scenes, a leader or even a political system could be more easily replaced or scapegoated by the vandals.

Still the vampires weren't completely defeated yet. In the 12th century, England would get not just one, but two vampires on the throne. Richard the Lionheart and his brother John.

Richard was originally approached by a vampire leader who had managed to flee the vandals in Europe with the Book of Khastran. The bloodsucker concealed its own identity and claimed that the book could help Richard protect his people from the demonic threat of the vandals. The young Richard was foolishly drawn in by the vampires promises and his own ego. He didn't know what the book of Khastran was to be fair, as virtually no one did back then, but he should have known at least that it contained demonic power. After becoming a vampire, Richard who arrogantly assumed that he could control any potentially dark supernatural force. Instead was overcome with blood lust to such an extent, he killed his own father. The history books later rewrote this as Richard's father dying from an ulcer, but those of us who know better, know why blood was dripping from his mouth.

Richard vowed to make amends. He was not driven by guilt however, as such emotion is alien to most vampires. Instead it was his own ego. Refusing to believe that a righteous, proud man such as he had been corrupted beyond hope by a demonic force. Richard sought to prove that he could still be a man of god, to the point that he took part in the Crusades to try and purge his soul. He once claimed that the work he did in the Crusade would allow him to one day touch the cross again without it burning his flesh.

In his absence. Richard's brother John took over, and the same vampire soon approached him. John was somewhat easier to corrupt, as he wanted to hold onto the power he had. John also felt angry and bitter as he was in some ways a better statesman, yet nobody took him seriously compared to his brother, who essentially looted the country for his war. John not only hoped to hold onto his throne as a vampire, but potentially rule forever such were his delusions. Sadly however any even remotely positive qualities John had as a ruler were naturally purged as soon as the book of Khastran changed him

Just as the vampire wanted. John spread the curse of vampirism throughout England like never before in just a few years. Vampires were placed into positions of authority, and literally bled the smaller towns and villages in more ways than one. Many of their citizens were rounded up to feed the vampires, or be hunted for sport or tortured to satisfy the vampires sick desires. Others were used as slave labour to build new magical weapons to use in the war against the vandals, or as test subjects. Only the richest who were able to pay the vampires were spared, though some noblemen and even some corrupt abbots who had no problem serving the vampires were given elite positions without too much expense to themselves, as their influence could prove useful. The vampires used the money they taxed from the people, not just for their own hedonism, but to buy weapons and gain allies throughout Europe to hold the vandals off from their shores, and eventually strike back at them and claim Europe.

John's two main accomplices during this time were the vampire Robert Vasey and the werewolf, Guy Rathbone, later given the title of Sir Guy of Gisbourne.

Robert Vasey had come from a poor background. His town had been unable to pay the vampires and were forced to flee into the woods as a result. Knowing they couldn't flee for long Robert sold the survivors of his town out including his own wife and son (both of whom he had often physically and mentally abused in frustration for his own failures.) Robert however didn't just sell them out in exchange for his own life. It was also to become a vampire. Robert had always been ambitious and hoped to rise through the ranks. Not caring one bit about damning his soul. To be fair he didn't have much of a soul anyway it would seem, or at least he never seemed to let it bother him. The vampires turned Vasey simply because of his slimy nature, feeling that he would make an effective member of their kind. The darkest, most twisted and bitter humans always made the most notorious vampires.

Within two years of becoming a vampire, Vasey rose through the ranks to become the Sheriff of Nottingham. Whilst John was in charge, the Sheriff was the one to organise most of the plans for running England and taxing villages, as well as rounding up which of the poorest villagers to feed the vampires, be tortured for amusement or hunted for sport etc. Whilst John was far more insane, hedonistic and unpredictable. The Sheriff who remained completely fixated on power, and was far more petty and vindictive, proved to be even more ruthless and cruel in dealing with the smaller villages.

Prince John and his twisted regime of bloodsuckers though ruling for 5 years were opposed and ultimately brought down by the sorcerer Herne the Hunter, and his protegee. Robin Hood. Herne who had great psychic abilities, had foreseen a dark time for the world. If the Prince was able to continue ruling England and rally his army together (with the Sheriff's aid of course.) This vampire army would not only devastate England, but reclaim certain areas in Europe, leading to a vicious war that would last centuries. Neither the vampires nor the vandals would win. In fact Europe would become a no mans land with the vampires, demons, vandals and other creatures ravaging the continent. Eventually however the leader of the vandals, driven insane by the loss of his empire, would use an ancient weapon created by Ares centuries ago to bring about the end of the world of man. Even the war god had never dared use the weapon as it would have destroyed the entire surface of the planet, and him along with it. Ares was not able to modify the weapon, before he was finally driven from the earth (with the other gods being unaware of its existence as naturally Ares didn't want them to use it against him in the future, though he was also unable to return to to the earth to get it.) The weapon which became known as the hand of Ares was later unearthed by the vampires forces during the Trajan war, with the bloodsuckers similarly being terrified of it. Trajan after defeating the vampires hid the weapon beneath the centre of Rome. Neither he nor the vampires were aware of the full extent of its power, but both knew that it contained incredibly potent dark magics. The hand of Ares remained under Rome even after it fell, with seemingly no one else knowing about it except for Herne, and the vandal leaders who had similarly kept it hidden for their own sake. However if history were allowed to go down the path Herne had foreseen, then the wickedest of the vandal leaders out of desperation not to lose to his enemies, would ultimately use the hand of Ares and turn the earth into a barren wasteland.

According to Herne's prophecy the only man who could stop this future from happening, was Robin son of Locksley. Sadly however Herne later discovered that he wasn't the only one who had received this vision. A group of low level demons known as Xascers, had also foreseen that they would actually benefit from the eventual destruction of the surface of the earth. The prophecy gave them the time and the knowledge to create a force field to protect themselves underground. They would then emerge after the last human survivors had died and become the new dominant creatures of the earth. They had also foreseen that without this timeline coming into effect, they were destined to be killed off under the rule of the vandals.

These demons attempted to murder Robin's parents on the night of his birth, but Herne saved them and gave Robin's family refuge in a very remote village in the woods where they lived a desperate existence for years afterwards as their son grew up. Prior to the demons attack, Robin's family had actually been Lords.

Eventually 20 years later when the vampires took over, the small village Robin lived in was overtaken by the Sheriff, forcing him to flee. In the process the Sheriff not only butchered both of his parents, but Robins first love. The huntress named Clorinda. Some have speculated that Herne actually led the vampires to Robin's village in order to inspire him to fight the undead, but either way Robin subsequently gathered a team of vampire slayers, bandits and robbers together known as his merry men to overthrow the Sheriff and his bloodsucking allies.

Herne also gave the merry men guidance and help on occasion, though Robin was always the unquestioned leader of the merry men. Robin slew hundreds of vampires during his battle against John and the Sheriff, though he also stole from the vampires and gave their money to the deprived villages, and destroyed the weapons the vampires had been building too.

At first whilst his hatred of the undead drove him, Robin later began to have doubts about slaying the phoney vampire king of England simply due to the fact that the vandals would take over. Herne however lied and told Robin that he could guide him to stop the vandals afterwards as well. In truth Herne's prophetic powers were limited and he had no idea what would happen after Prince John was slain other than that the bad vision of the future with the hand would be prevented.

Robin's most important ally during his battle against the vampires was Maid Marian. A witch who was originally the lover of Sir Guy. Marian had used her first spell to cure her ailing father from a local flu outbreak. Sadly however the villagers suspected her of causing the outbreak as a result, and tried to burn her and her father, who died getting Marian to safety. Alone and in the woods she met Guy, who had similarly been chased out by his village (and even his own family) after being infected with the curse of Lycanthropy.

The two became lovers and protected each other in the woods of England for a few years, until the vampires took over. Werewolves by that point were rare in England, and the Sheriff offered Guy a place in his ranks as a result.

At first Marian and Guy were only too happy to go along with the vampires, as both hated the rest of the England for the way it had treated them. Thankfully however Marian unlike Guy still had at least some semblance of a conscience and later turned on the vampires after seeing the extent of the suffering they inflicted on their victims. Guy however ultimately chose the new position and security the Sheriff offered him over Marian. Whilst he had some regrets over this, it was never enough to make him turn back.

Sadly for Sir Guy, whilst he was given the chance to inflict revenge on his former home village and his family, all of whom he slaughtered without mercy. He was still often forced to endure Prince John and even the Sheriff's cruelty. To be fair Prince John treated everyone around him with the utmost cruelty, except for the Sheriff, who was too valuable and also his own pet demonic snake. Even then however as John fell deeper and deeper into madness, some of his servants did observe him sometimes attacking the snake, claiming that it was talking to and even mocking him for being a coward.

Marian meanwhile soon found Robin and his merry men, and her knowledge of the black arts proved most useful to Robin's team. Whilst Marian was not exactly the most skilled witch, she had managed, just before fleeing, to steal several of the Sheriff's most prized books on the black arts which proved to be one of the Merry Men's most useful weapons.

Another member of Robin's merry men was Friar Tuck, an expert on the occult who helped translate much of the magic in the book, though Marian was always the one who performed it. Having been the last friar from a group who had devoted themselves to hunting vampires. Tuck had been on the Sheriff's most wanted list even before joining Robin.

Still whilst the book may have been Robin's most powerful weapon, His most common and trademark weapons, were his bow and arrows. Robin was a highly gifted archer even before the vampires attacked his village, having enjoyed practising his aim with Clorina in the woods. Meanwhile Friar Tuck's guidance on the weaknesses of the vampire as well as Marian and Herne's knowledge of the black arts, allowed Robin to create arrows from several different substances, such as wood, silver and iron, to pierce the hearts of all the vampire species in England as well as numerous magical arrows to fight any demons or renegade witches they came across too. (There were dozens of different vampire breeds in England with the Sheriff belonging to a different breed to Prince John alone. The Sheriff's breed were particularly useful as they could walk in the daylight.)

After 5 years of being an outlaw, Robin finally managed to slay both Prince John and King Richard, after the latter returned from his crusade. Sir Guy was slain by the woman he once loved, Maid Marian, who by that point saw him rightfully as nothing but a monster. The Sheriff meanwhile, though stripped of his position after John's death, nevertheless escaped. Vowing revenge on Robin not just for costing him his position, but also cutting off his arm and burning out his eye when he threw holy water in his face during a confrontation. The archer had managed to do this quite early on in his feud with the Sheriff, forcing the vampire to wear an eye patch, as well as a wooden hand, though the Sheriff later replaced it with a more demonic arm afterwards.

Sadly however not long after the vampires were overthrown, the vandals claimed England and eventually Scotland and Wales as their own. Robin subsequently received no help from Herne, who fled to Europe, causing Robin to curse his former mentor, believing that he had been an agent for the vandals.

Whilst the vandals may have seemed more benevolent on the surface to the people of England. Robin still distrusted them for good reason, and continued to rebel against the demons. Sadly however having lost many of his followers in the final battle against the vampires. Robin was no match for the vandals and was eventually forced to flee England to escape. Vowing to bring the vandal power base in Europe down. Robin gathered a new team of heroes on the continent. He and Marian meanwhile who had fallen in love during their adventures against the vampires were forced to split, as she was too busy trying to help her fellow witches in England survive the vandals. In time Marian founded a coven that worked independently of the vandals, throughout their entire reign, aiding many warlocks and witches over the centuries,. Marian became one of the greatest witches of them all. Her power and exploits became so legendary over the centuries that some may day festivities and cults throughout England even began worshipping her as a pagan goddess.

Robin's new team meanwhile included Snow White, a creature known as the Beast, the famous wolvron hunter, Red Riding Hood, Morgan Le Fey and Pinnochio. All of these creatures and heroes in the ensuing centuries were written off as fairy tales, or mythical characters. In truth they were among the greatest if somewhat unconventional heroes Europe ever saw.

Snow White was the latest in a long line of strong witches, whose power had been rendered dormant through the years. Her lineage in fact stretched right back to the time of magic. Regina her stepmother was aware of the proud lineage Snow came from, thanks to an ancient artefact she had discovered years ago, which contained the soul of a criminal from the age of magic that had been imprisoned within a small pocket dimension (that resembled a mirror on the outside.) The artefact had been buried underground for hundreds of thousands of years, but when Regina discovered him after an earth quake. The criminal slowly corrupted Regina, hoping to use her to inflict his vengeance upon mankind and find a way to free him. However he greatly underestimated Regina whose corruption soon took him by surprise to the point where she kept the criminal prisoner, carrying the device his pocket dimension was contained in around with her and threatening to bury it again unless she helped him.

With her "mirrors" guidance. Regina infiltrated Snow's family and killer her father. His blood however was too old and weak, and so she attempted to harness Snows, with the aid of one of the greatest supernatural hunters in the land known as the Huntsman. When he took pity on Snow however, Regina cast a spell that placed Snow into a coma in order to leech all of her unique magic. Regina ruled for a few years whilst Snow was asleep, where she proved to be an unfit, corrupt and ruthless monarch. Her people disparagingly dubbed her the Evil Queen as an insult.

Ultimately Regina's plan failed thanks to an agent of the vandals. Prince Charming. The vandals wanted to claim Regina's kingdom, but she had managed to hold them off with the magics she had stolen from Snow. The vandals however gave Prince Charming a spell that could reverse Snow White's condition after which he could then use her to topple Regina, before taking down Snow too. At first Prince Charming agreed to help simply because his own kingdom had been overrun by the vandals. Charming infiltrated Regina's kingdom with the promise of an alliance (as his kingdom had previously been the most defiant to the vandals, with Regina having no idea that they had been overrun.) Unfortunately for the vandals however, whilst Charming's deception was successful against Regina. He soon found himself falling in love with Snow for real. Together Snow and Charming overthrew and imprisoned Regina in the tower, and despite Charmings initial deception which he admitted. He and Snow soon developed a genuine relationship together. Snow and Charming as well as ironically the Huntsman that Regina had initially hired to kill Snow, subsequently all worked together to try and help both their kingdoms. Sadly however after a few years, the vandals ultimately overthrew both of them. Charming and the Huntsmen were killed in the final battle defending Snow's castle, whilst Snow was forced to work with her wicked former step mother in order to escape. Both were then forced to go on the run from the vandals whilst continuing their bitter feud.

Snow sadly despite her best efforts had not been able to master the magics inside of her as well as Regina had, though over time she did become a very powerful witch. It was sadly too late to save her kingdom.

The Beast meanwhile as he was known, was once a handsome young prince, but at the age of just 22 he and his brother were attacked by a wolvron on a hunt. Their parents did all they could to try and find a cure, and whilst they were obviously unsuccessful. The magics and resources the brothers parents had access too, whilst not preventing the change physically at all, allowed both to retain their personalities after becoming wolvrons to some extent.

Sadly however for the Beasts brother, this proved to be even worse. The brothers previously kind and honourable personality was twisted by the poison of the Lycans to the point where he became a sadistic killer, with a greater intelligence and capacity for cruelty than the average wolvron. In time the magics also caused him to grow larger and stronger than any ordinary, even white wolvron. The brother later became known as the "Big Bad Wolf" one of the most feared and hated creatures in Europe from that time.

The other brother who was known simply as the Beast after his transformation meanwhile initially shut himself off, the more he felt the poison of Lycanthropy affecting him. However he was later ironically given the courage to fight it by a kind hearted young woman named Belle, who he had initially only taken on as a servant after saving her family from the vandals.

After Belle's death, the Beast was inspired to continue to fight his nature, and the supernatural all over Europe becoming a hero in his own right.

Red Riding Hood meanwhile ironically was inspired to hunt both wolvrons and the supernatural after the Big Bad Wolf hunted and killed her grandmother. She and the Beast clashed, as even after all this time. He still wanted to try and help his brother control the demon within. Still at the very least they had a common enemy with the vandals.

Morgan Le Fey was from an attempt to build a magical kingdom after the fall of Rome that was known as Camelot. It had been built by one of the last dragons on earth, that had returned after the others had fled, believing that he could still guide humanity. The dragon in question named Kilgharrah, hoped that Camelot could take over from Rome as the new major power in Europe. Sadly however it collapsed due to Morgan Le Fay's own son Mordred. As much as Morgan Le Fay loved her son, Mordred did not care much for her, and fell under the influence of the malevolent Queen Mab instead. Mab originated from the magical realm, and was an old enemy of Kilgharrah. The two had first met when the dragon left the earth and travelled to her realm. At first the two were allies with Kilgharrah even helping Mab overthrow the previous, cruel fairy queen of her world. However the two became the bitterest enemies when Mab started to drain the life essence of entire worlds in the natural realm to postpone her own planet's death. (As the previous fairy queen just before being overthrown had cursed Mab's planet to a slow lingering death purely out of spite for Mab.)

When Kilgharrah found out what Mab had done, she was unapologetic. Believing that no natural world mattered as much as a magical world, as magical planets could potentially exist forever, whilst natural worlds and creatures all die eventually.

Kilgharrah stopped Mab's plan, which sadly led to the death of her world and people. Kilgharrah wanted to find an alternative way to save them with Mab, but as she did not want to even talk about it out of fear that no solution could be found, and with potentially hundreds of natural worlds about to die. Kilgharrah had no choice, and Mab vowed she would make Kilgharrah suffer. After he left the magical realm (via a portal which manifested itself in a large lake, just outside where Camelot was later to be built.) Mab followed the dragon there, unknown at first to him and worked against Kilgharrah's attempts to build a perfect magical society on earth, at one point nearly luring Kilgharrah's protege, Merlin away from him which finally alerted Kilgharrah to his nemesis' presence.

Mordred however unlike Merlin fell under Mab's influence and proved to be the key in Mab tearing down Kilgharrah's perfect civilisation. Sadly however Morgan Le Fay also played a huge part in Camelot's downfall as she released her son after his treachery was exposed to Kilgharrah and he was sentenced to death. In spite of what Mordred had done, his mother still loved him, and Mordred's escape allowed him to put the final part of Mab's plan into action which destroyed Camelot from within. Kilhgarrah's greatest wizard and protege that he loved like a son, Merlin met his end. The greatest loss however was arguably Camelot's greatest king, the magical warrior Arthur, whose body was sent to the world of Avalon within the magic realm afterwards to possibly be revived.

Morgan Le Fey was overcome with guilt and vowed to make amends and personally hunt down her monster son. Sadly whilst she did do many great things, both with Robin and on her own. Morgan Le Fey's name remained forever synonymous with treachery for what she had done to Camelot.

Pinnochio finally was an attempt to transform an inanimate object into a living being and whilst it seemingly worked when he was a child. As Pinnochio grew older, the magic began to fluctuate until he eventually became a strange, magical creature with unique powers.

Together these heroes battled the vandals, and many other monstrous creatures and sorcerers, including the Horned King, Maleficent, the demonic Coachman (an old enemy of Pinnochios) an invasion from giants through a bean stalk (in reality a portal to another realm.) The Gingerbread witch and even Kilgharrah himself, who after the fall of Camelot had become bitter, hateful and twisted. Kilgharrah had also taken on another ward, a young dragon named Aithusa, whose egg had been buried in a special chamber during the dragon/god war and then abandoned. Numerous other dragons eggs existed within these chambers, as they were designed to serve as a back up for a decisive battle in case the dragons lost. The magic that was to revive them would also have aged them to fighting age right away. Thankfully however when Kilgharrah discovered it and Aithusa he put a stop to that magic and allowed all of the baby dragons in there to grow at their own rate. This led to a brief explosion in the dragon population on earth, with among the others that were unearthed including the savage renegade Vermithrax and the benevolent Draco.

Whilst Kilgharrah raised Aithusa to despise humanity, Morgan Le Fey convinced the younger dragon there was another way, and it soon developed a special bond with the witch as a result.

Kilgharrah was furious with Aithusa's betrayal at first, hating Morgan Le Fay perhaps more than anyone on earth at that time and cut off all contact with Aithusa. However he later came out of his depression and was redeemed somewhat, ironically after he was saved from the vandals by both Morgan Le Fey and Aithusa. He was genuinely moved by their clemency and forgiveness and even became something of an ally for Robin and his team afterwards. The dragons faith in humanity was not completely restored however, Truth be told it would never be what it was in the days of Camelot. Still just a few centuries later Kilgharrah took a major role in humanities affairs a second time when he established a new magical school, Scholomance, along with the former king of hell Mephestopheles. The two reached an agreement wherein they would train several humans with their powers and allow said humans to use it however they wanted. However one out of every 7 students they would keep as their own slave, to influence the world as either saw fit. Kilgharrah felt this was for the best, as he believed that evil could never be stamped out, but as long as he was controlling it to some extent through his alliance with Mephestopheles then it couldn't triumph. He also believed in giving most humans their free will after the disaster with Camelot too.

Through Scholomance which endured for centuries, Kilgharrah ended up having his greatest influence over humanity, both for good and for worse. Among Scholomance's most famous students, included Professor Fang and Dracula, though more on the latter later.

Robin and the others most persistent enemy however was still the former Sheriff of Nottingham, Robert Vasey who not only gathered a small army of vampires and other renegades demons from the vandals, but an elite group made up of Robin's new friends archfoes. They included, the Big Bad Wolf, The Evil Queen Regina, Mordred as well as the sadistic, renegade Goblin, Rumplestiltskin.

The former Sheriff not only wanted to make Robin suffer, but also hoped to find a way to bring the vandals down too through any means necessary. Having always been the calm, manipulative and level headed one of the unholy trinity of the Sheriff, Prince John and Sir Guy. The vampire was a lot more noticably unhinged after his fall from grace, and was more prone to psychotic, childish tantrums than before, which even his lackeys weren't always safe from. He was still a formidable enemy however and responsible for many more tragedies in Robin and the others lives.

The Sheriff's main plan was to construct a weapon, that could eviscerate a persons soul completely, to the point where they were even denied an afterlife. This could not only be used to destroy his human enemies, but also the vandals who fed on souls. The Sheriff constructed it over several years, using magics he had looted from Prince John's castle ( magic that had been handed down by generations to protect kings) and magics stolen from vandals. He also performed horrific experiments on ghosts and vandals too, slaughtering and torturing hundreds of ghosts in the process. Among the spirits that suffered greatly under the Sheriff and his sick vampire minions included that of Prince Charming and the Huntsman. Sadly whilst Snow was able to save Charming, the Huntsman's spirit was destroyed after he sacrificed himself to save Snow and Charming.

That said however the Sheriff also suffered arguably his greatest humiliation during this period too, when he came into conflict with a beautiful witch named Jadis.

Also known as the white witch. Jadis came from one of the alternate earths created by the gods, just before they left. This version of earth was known as Charn, and magic had become the most dominant force on the planet, though still not to the same extent as the age of magic.

Jadis' was part of a royal family, though she was not the next to inherit the throne. That honour fell to her equally vile sister. Jadis however, much like the Sheriff was completely consumed with an insane lust for power and along with her teenage, spoiled, nasty son travelled to our world. Hoping to find some form of magic on this other earth that her sister was not familiar with to use as a weapon against her.

As soon as she arrived however, Jadis was left weakened through unintended side effects of her spell. Her presence also created a great magical upheaval, that the vandals, Robins team and the Sheriff and his followers all sensed. The Sheriff however, through his willingness to sacrifice more of his vampire lackeys against the others, managed to rescue Jadis and her son first.

Low on power thanks to the unexpected consequences of her trip. Jadis was forced to join the Sheriff's group and seduced him, with the two becoming lovers. She was extraordinarily beautiful. Indeed all the people of Charn were thanks to their magics. The Sheriff normally wasn't interested in women however. To be fair most vampires are largely asexual, caring only about the hunt. The Sheriff even used to regularly scorn and mock Sir Guy for his feelings for Marian. Nevertheless Jadis' beauty, power and the fact that she had been royalty, all enticed him in a way he didn't even think possible. He absolutely did not love Jadis of course. She was simply there to boost his ego. To show how he was a true king who had won the queen of Charn's heart, to boast about to his enemies etc

For the period Jadis and the Sheriff were lovers, she played up to being his idea of the perfect companion too. IE someone who worshipped him, agreed with him on everything, told him any mistakes weren't his fault etc.

The vampire though skeptical at first, actually came to believe Jadis loved him more than anything, his ego was so great, which allowed the white witch to double cross the Sheriff and steal the soul destroying weapon he had spent years building.

Jadis wrecked absolute havoc in Europe using the Sheriff's soul destroyer, killing scores of people and vandals, before Robin and his followers, forced into an alliance with the Sheriff and his team were only able to barely stop her from slaughtering millions. Jadis was killing so many simply so she could use their hollowed out corpses afterwards to create an army of zombies to reclaim Charn, and from there other versions of the earth too. After learning of their existence she wanted them all under her rule. Jadis had found a greater use for the weapon than even the Sheriff. He simply wanted to use it to kill, she realised that a corpse with no trace of a soul, which all corpses had even after death were easier to revive, and therefore she could create potentially the greatest army of zombies of all time with this weapon.

After the power to the weapon was drained however by the Sheriff with Robin and the others help. Jadis destroyed it spitefully to stop the Sheriff from having any use afterwards.

The Sheriff was utterly humiliated, though he gained some small measure of revenge against Jadis by slaughtering her son. For anyone else that would have been the worst thing the Sheriff could have done, but whilst Jadis was upset, she ultimately didn't care that much for the vicious little brat. Indeed the Sheriff literally held a knife at her son's throat, just as she was about to return to Charn, threatening to cut him open unless she surrendered. Jadis however didn't even look back. Instead she instantly jumped into the portal without a word, with the Sheriff subsequently killing the boy in a fit of rage and hate.

Jadis had only had her son in the first place so her legacy could live on through him once she had seized the throne, but Jadis plans since learning of the other earth's grew larger. She knew she could never rule them all in one life time, and therefore sought literal immortality, which had been forbidden even among the corrupt monarchs of Charn. Her time on earth meanwhile was not a complete waste for her. Whilst with the Sheriff, Jadis had also learned from him the truth about the hand of Ares, which the Sheriff had earlier tortured out of Herne just before Jadis' arrival. (Jadis was the only person the Sheriff had told, such was his foolishness at being taken in by her beauty.) After her plans on earth failed. Jadis soon made plans to try and find the hand of Ares counterpart on Charn.

Herne meanwhile after escaping the Sheriff, warned Robin that his arch foe now knew about Ares hand. Despite his hatred of Herne, Robin thankfully heeded his warning and would do all he could to try stop the former Sheriff. Especially as after Jadis had destroyed his weapon, the vampire became more eager than ever to get the hand. The Sheriff obviously did not want to set it off. Instead he wanted to use it force the vandals to surrender, though if they refused, then he absolutely would be willing to use it to ensure that his enemies lost. He had not planned to commit suicide, hoping he could just flee to another earth, having learned of their existence via Jadis. He also planned at some point to use it against Charn to make Jadis suffer.

Over the course of Robin and his teams battles with the Sheriff, an unexpected romance developed between Regina and Robin, which led to Regina betraying her team. Granted this wasn't simply because of her love for Robin. It was more because of her hatred for the Sheriff who she always thought was a pathetic fool. She had only joined him in the first place out of desperation, but after the debacle with Jadis she lost any tiny bit of respect for him she may have had. Still ultimately Regina underestimated the Sheriff, who not only learned of her betrayal and used it to capture Robin and the others, but then had Regina tortured by placing her in searing hot, metal shoes. He even forced the Evil Queen to dance in them before throwing her outside to die in the cold. The witch however survived through her sheer will alone and was rescued by Robin and the others who nursed the Regina back to health.

Regina then briefly joined Robin's side to get back at the Sheriff. There were naturally tensions between her and Snow White. In the end however Regina proved vital in helping to stop the vampire from stealing Ares weapon.

Though the vampire and his followers did find the weapon buried beneath Rome. At the last minute the Sheriff was betrayed by another one of his supposed followers Rumple who similarly despised him. The vampire killed the Goblin in response but ironically Rumple's betrayal gave Robin's team the time they needed to blast the hand of Ares, that could not be destroyed otherwise into space using a combination of Regina and Snow White's powerful magics. There the former war gods weapon remained, floating harmlessly through our solar system for over 1000 years, until the Hylexan war, though more on that later.

The Sheriff was forced to go on the run afterwards with his team having completely disbanded. He remained in hiding for years becoming a shell of his former self, whilst Regina stayed with Robin for a long while. Among the threats she faced with Robin and the others included her old "Mirror". After the vandals overran Snow's kingdom the mirror fell into their custody. The spirit was able to trick the vandals into releasing it after which it rampaged throughout the continent, hoping to regain its former power and make Regina pay. Ironically it was Snow who finally was able to harness the magics within her completely (albeit only for a short time.) That saved Regina's life and destroyed the evil spirit once and for all. Sadly however whilst this could have been a turning point for Regina, her lust for power eventually turned her against Robin and the others.

Robin's team meanwhile a few years after Regina's betrayal, had another battle with Jadis, who back on Charn had managed to overthrow her sister and hoped to lead her new army to conquer our world.

Jadis army proved to be such a big threat, that Robin was forced to work with the vandals to keep them at bay. (The Sheriff meanwhile wisely kept completely hidden throughout the entire conflict. Whilst Jadis may not have cared much for her son, she still referred to learning about the hand of Ares as coming at a terrible price for her, indicating at least some feelings of regret. No matter how fleeting.)

In the end Robin and the vandals were only able to beat Jadis with the aid of her vile sister who subsequently reclaimed the throne on Charn, with Jadis then being forced to retreat on her home planet.

Unfortunately however, Jadis later rebuilt her forces on her homeworld and Charn was caught in a civil war for years afterwards. At first both sisters swore not to use magic simply for their own survival, but when Jadis' sister broke that promise, Jadis followed suit. Jadis had learned more about the hand of Ares on her second visit to our world, to the point where she was able to find where it's counterpart was buried on her own earth. She then fused the destructive spell to her body, ensuring that it became a part of her. This meant that its magics could not harm her, though it could also only be used once as doing so again would burn her up. All Jadis had to do to set it off was speak a particular phrase. The harshest magical curse in her language which would only amplify its power. She referred to it as the deplorable word. Jadis finally used the word when her sister won their decades long war, and broke into Jadis throne room. Having killed the last of her loyal men, Jadis' sister declared. "Victory". Only for Jadis to coldly reply. "Yes, but not yours." After which she spoke the deplorable word, that activated the hand of Ares and killed every single life form on Charn. Jadis in her own twisted way had won, but she was now queen of a dead world.

The only thing Jadis regretted was that the weapon had unexpectedly depleted Charn's magics to the point where the witch did not have enough power left to transport herself to another reality. Trapped on this dead planet, Jadis used the last of the magics to place herself into suspended animation until someone from another world arrived.

That would happen over 800 years later, when two children from another version of earth after performing magical experiments with their uncle Andrew were inadvertently sent to Charn. Jadis used them to piggy back to our world, where she soon escaped and went on another rampage through Europe, eventually becoming part of the Third Reich's supernatural army. She caused much more pain and suffering before the two children and a repentant Andrew tracked her down and used the same magics to send her to another alternate earth. Narnia. There however Jadis continued her reign of terror, coming into conflict with Aslan, a god who had attempted to help guide this version of earth, though that is a story for another time.

Not long after Jadis army were defeated on earth in the time of the vandals. Robin's team finally split apart for various reasons, namely the fact that the vandals power became more absolute and the rebels situation became hopeless. The former archer himself later joined the 7th and final incarnation of the Circus Family. Ironically his old enemy Rumplestiltskin was also part of the Family at this stage, having been resurrected after his death by one of his many protege's. The goblin enjoyed abducting children from wealthy families and raising them to be outlaw sorcerers for his own amusement, having made many children murder their own families as adults without the children even realising it. Whilst the two clashed at first, to their surprise as they shared many incredible adventures together that shocked even them, Robin and Rumple soon found themselves developing a strong, albeit extremely grudging respect for each other.

After travelling through time and space for years, Robin finally returned to England in the 12th century. A little over a decade after he had first left England for Europe.

There tired of being on the run, he reunited with Maid Marian whose coven gave Robin protection from the vandals. The two soon resumed their relationship and were happy for a few decades. They even had a son named Roger. Sadly however Robin and Marian's archenemy the vile former Sheriff, eventually re-emerged. The vampire who after recovering from his breakdown over losing the hand, had since continued to stir up trouble for the vandals though he wasn't able to muster up anything like the army he had before. He was shocked to learn that Robin was even still alive, with the archer having kept a low profile. The Sheriff only found out thanks to an old enemy of Marian, a former member of her coven named Mortianna who had been kicked out for abusing her magics. Mortianna had initially bonded with Marian, due to having come from a similar background (with Mortianna having been kicked out of her village for similarly using magics to help her family.) Mortianna however after learning from Marian, went too far in cursing the entire village to an eternal torment, with Marian renouncing Mortianna and believing her to be no better than Guy.

Fittingly Mortianna in response then sought out Guy's old ally the Sheriff to help make both their enemies pay. The Sheriff was also aided by a coven of demon worshippers who had come to view him as well as the deceased Prince John as heroes for liberating demon kind during their rule. (Even if that wasn't quite what either did during their time. Even demons it seemed needed comforting lies.) Whilst Mortianna kept Robin and Marian distracted, the Sheriff with the aid of his new followers, abducted Roger and used him to lure Robin into a trap. Tragically along the way, the Sheriff sired Roger, and when Robin tracked down the Sheriff's new lair. The archers now vampiric son stabbed Robin through the stomach and left his father to slowly bleed out on the Sheriff's orders. The Sheriff then forced Robin to watch Mortianna torture Marian who she had captured, promising to kill him slowly only once Marian had died.

With his last ounce of strength however, Robin wounded his now vampiric son and finally killed the Sheriff with an arrow through the chest. This was no ordinary arrow however. It had been infected with powerful magics during Robin's time on the continent and literally burned the Sheriff alive from the inside. Robin's actions also distracted Mortianna and gave Marian enough time to turn on and finally slay her former protegee too, whilst their demonic son escaped.

Unfortunately as Marian had used the last of her power to defeat Mortianna, she was unable to heal Robin. It took hours for her power to recharge, which Robin didn't have and they were too far away from her coven with no hope of contacting them. With no other options, Marian took Robin to the nearest priory, Kirkless priory. Unfortunately, the prioress was one of the Sheriff's new followers. In fact she was a vampire and drained Robin of his blood. The archer however managed to stake her just before he died. Most accounts state that he died at the priory not long after in Marian's arms, but some more romantic accounts state that he had enough strength to meet Marian in the forest where he fired one last arrow, telling her to bury him where it landed. Given his weakened condition however, this seems unlikely.

After his death, Robin's real role in history was edited somewhat in subsequent decades by the vandals, with the true nature of his enemies being left out. In time most came to believe him as nothing more than a folk figure, though at the very least tales of his exploits have continued for centuries.

Robin's legacy however was ultimately so much more than the folk tales. He inspired a lineage of vampire killers known as the Hooded men who continued to battle the supernatural for centuries to come. The first of the Hooded men had been trained by Robin himself. Named Jason. Robin in his later years was less willing to risk his life to battle the supernatural, due to his advancing age, and ironically he also did not want to drag his son into it. However the stronger the vandals grip became, the more he realised he had to ensure that there would always be people to fight them and other monsters and began training protege's in secret. Jason proved to be his greatest protege and Robin trained him in his final years very closely, with Jason in many ways being as much of a son to Robin as Roger had once been. The Hooded men all not only mastered or at least attempted to master the same archery skills as Robin. They passed down the secrets of his magical and unique arrows that he had developed over his life, some of which even contained magic from other worlds (that he had picked up on his travels with the Circus Family.) The Hooded men's greatest adversary meanwhile, was ironically Robins own vampiric son, Roger who went on to become one of the most legendarily evil vampires throughout the history of Britain.

Following Robin and the Sheriff's deaths near the end of the 12th century. The vandals hold over Europe was absolute and remained for the next 400 years until the early 17th century, and in the next article we shall explore this period of history.