The Blood Of Vampire: Chapter 3 - The Serpent's Whisper In Aerthos
In the capital city of Aerthos, beneath the pristine white arches, Elder Kael received the coded, panicked reports. He sat in the private garden of Charles Hendry, the human Chancellor of Syldavia—a man of ruthless political genius.
Hendry, composed and refined, poured tea, his eyes never leaving Kael. "A spiritual suicide and a vanishing, volatile child. Elder, you Vaelanar are so dramatic."
Kael ignored the political mockery. He was focused on the spiritual breach. "The girl, Aeliana, performed a full, self-destructive Blood-Echo. Jatex's Weave is an Aethyr-wound. He is a walking, chaotic anchor."
"An Aethyr-wound running toward the Wards of Syldavia," Hendry corrected, his voice dangerously soft. How does the human know about the Wards? Kael stiffened. The Wards—the spiritual seals holding back the chaos of The Sleeper—were Vaelanar secrets.
"The boy is a threat to the spiritual order," Kael conceded, rising. "But his Stain is too volatile; annihilation could trigger a catastrophic collapse. He must be contained."
Hendry smiled—a small, clinical expression that chilled Kael. "Containment is my area. I've dispatched General Commander Vorlag. But the containment needs to be complete."
Hendry leaned in, his voice dropping to a near-silent whisper, a true Serpent's Whisper. "The boy is the key. We need the Wards sealed, but if he collects all three, he provides us with something even better: The Key and the Vessel, simultaneously."
Kael's eyes narrowed, his internal Shadow-Blood signature flickering with cold fury. "You propose to use the boy as bait for The Sleeper?"
"I propose to let the boy collect the dangerous items for us," Hendry corrected smoothly. "You contain his spiritual trajectory; I control the physical environment. Let him become the monster he is destined to be. We are merely the audience, Elder."
Kael realized he wasn't just tracking an errant child. He was now a piece in the Chancellor's complex, political game—a Shadowed Pact that used Jatex's spiritual horror as its foundation. Hendry was playing a grander, more lethal game than any Vaelanar had ever conceived.