The Blood of Vampire: Chapter 6 - The Price of the Promise
Jatex moved through the lowlands, hugging the shadows of the old trade routes. He was hunting for the ancient maps that revealed the Wards' locations, which were hidden in the deepest, most sealed vaults of human history.
His spiritual silence was absolute due to the Stillness effect of his controlled grief, but Elder Kael was a master of the hunt. Kael didn't track Jatex; he tracked consequence.
Kael began attacking the emotional anchor points Jatex was forced to leave behind. First, he annihilated the Northern Citadel, claiming Jatex's lineage was a shame to be purged. Then, Kael began a systematic purge of anyone associated with Aeliana—tutors, childhood friends, even servants.
Jatex saw the news clippings: silent disappearances, unexplained fires. He understood instantly. Kael was cutting the emotional ties, removing the source material for Jatex's power.
You consume your own pain, Jatex. I will consume your connections. Soon, your **Grief** will have no anchor point but dust.
Kael's telepathic echo was devastating in its simplicity.
Jatex raged, but the rage was instantly consumed by the Thirst, turning into a massive spike of power that terrified him. He was a machine, and rage was merely fuel.
He found his target in the ruins of an old, forgotten university library: The Cartographer's Eye, a book bound in preserved dragon skin, detailed the geomantic history of Syldavia.
Inside, beneath layers of human preservation spells, Jatex found the truth.
The Wards were not merely artifacts; they were cosmic seals created by ancient humans to contain the initial eruption of The Sleeper's chaos.
The book listed the three seals:
The Gem of Frozen Tears (The Seal of Stillness)
The Chalice of Silent Light (The Seal of Truth)
The Scepter of the Deep Forge (The Seal of Law)
The book also contained a promise, scribbled in a margin by an unknown, desperate hand: "The Wards are the prison bars. To gather them is to open the cell. But one who wields the Sanguine Stain may also wield the Key."
Jatex looked at the map, tracing the line toward the Dragon's Claw Mountains—the location of the first Ward. He was committed now. He carried the Stain, the chaotic prison-fragment. He had to believe he was the Key, not just the unwitting cell opener.
He ripped the critical pages, left the rest to ash, and headed toward the mountains. He had paid the price of the promise: the complete isolation of his soul.