Chapter 207. The Ravine. Part 3. The Coffin.
Several hours later.
Severus dropped the twentieth bag of crystals into the spatial artifact, smiled with weary satisfaction, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and straightened up. He turned around and let out a low whistle of mild surprise. The starting point of his walk was no longer visible, and the walls behind him were completely bare, as though not a single mineral had ever been embedded in them.
That should be enough. And if I need more, I can always come back.
"Are you done?" came Nagini's exhausted voice. She had, to put it mildly, grown tired of watching this entire process. Sleeping properly wasn't an option either, since Severus kept walking, raising and lowering his arms, crouching, and so on without pause. She hadn't wanted to go into the container with the other creatures. She was afraid that if she did, he simply wouldn't let her back out and would leave her inside until they returned to the hotel.
"Yes, we can move on." Severus nodded, stretched slightly, then turned and touched one of the remaining crystals to replenish his core. A few seconds later, a gust of wind lifted them both. "Hold on. We're about to pick up speed."
"Understood." Nagini exhaled with relief and did as she was told. "Ready."
Severus gave a silent nod, and in the next moment launched himself forward at high speed, not at his full speed, to give himself time to examine the ground below and not miss anything important, whether passages, unusual formations, or anything else worth noting.
Now Shafiq can focus entirely on the materials I actually need and stop looking for those crystals. That should speed the project up considerably.
"Severus."
"Hm?" The thin barrier surrounding them deflected the airflow smoothly enough that conversation was no problem.
"I wanted to ask about the bones. Didn't you find them strange?" She kept glancing downward with a note of unease at the blurred white objects below. Two thousand-odd years had given the ravine plenty of time to accumulate the remains of unlucky explorers and creatures alike.
"Yes. Suspiciously clean, and there's no smell of decomposition either, even though it should have soaked into the walls and fabric by now. No traces of blood either." He gave a small nod in agreement, then continued through the link between their minds: You're thinking along the right lines. There genuinely is something here. I've felt someone watching me for the past couple of hours, though I can't locate the source yet. That said, I can't rule out the possibility that it's the place itself, not a creature. For instance, if the walls are absorbing magic, they might be absorbing life force as well. That would explain why only skeletons remain. As for whoever is watching us, it might be the creator of this place, since I'm not sensing any active presence. Either way, stay alert. Your instincts are far more developed than mine. You'll sense an enemy approaching sooner than I will, especially if they're using concealment charms. Nagini responded with an expression of unusual seriousness and gave a firm nod. "In short, stay sharp. We don't know who might come at us," he added aloud, "or who might be listening."
"Understood. I'll do my best!" She nodded alertly, scanning their surroundings with focused eyes, which, despite everything, lifted Severus's mood slightly.
They didn't have to fly for long. Within a few minutes, their speed dropped and they came to a stop several meters from a strange door at the top of a short flight of stone steps. What caught Severus's attention was the arch of carved stone skulls framing it, and the designs on the door itself. Besides unfamiliar symbols, there was a human skull wearing a headdress that resembled leaves, like something from a shamanistic tradition.
Something about this entrance reminded him of a burial chamber he had once robbed with his only friend and fellow student. They had cleaned it out entirely, taking every artifact and book, and made a decent profit from it. The tomb had belonged to no minor figure either, a so-called Great Archmage. He had set up defenses, but getting through them hadn't posed any serious difficulty.
And now, standing before this door, Severus felt exactly what he had felt that day: an unpleasant, heavy sensation from the aura of death that hung in the air. He hadn't felt it anywhere else on the way down, despite the skeletons lining the entire route. By rights, this place should have been saturated with it. The absence was too deliberate to be accidental, and something told him things were not as simple as they looked.
Nagini shared his feeling entirely. She felt no fear or panic. She trusted Severus, even if he did occasionally do things that were genuinely baffling and reckless, the recent jump being a prime example, one that had nearly sent her heart straight out of her chest. So his next words came as no surprise.
"Shall we go in?"
"Even if I said no, you'd go in anyway." Nagini gave him a flat look. "Am I wrong?"
"Who can say?" Severus simply shrugged. He stepped up to the door, pressed his palm to it, and began releasing magic at a rate faster than the walls could absorb. Without much difficulty, he was able to sense what lay inside. His eyes narrowed. A moment later his usual composed expression returned, and he opened the door without particular effort.
What greeted him first was a modest heap of gold, a very large amount of it, actually, concentrated especially in the left corner, where it rose in a pile that reached the ceiling. The chamber itself, judging by the sarcophagus standing at its center, was built in a standard medieval style. Several columns supported the ceiling, one of which had collapsed long ago.
Severus let his gaze pass over the gold with complete indifference and looked at the stone coffin. Then he looked lower, and for just a moment something close to mild surprise crossed his face, nothing more. A sword appeared at his hip, and his hand settled on the hilt.
"I think you've had long enough to pretend you're asleep. Come out and greet your guest. Or if you can't manage it on your own, I can help."
Silence filled the chamber for a long moment. Then came an unpleasant grinding sound, and slowly, like something from the finest horror film, the stone lid began to slide aside. A hand appeared on the edge of the sarcophagus, completely white, but covered in skin, which was a genuine surprise. Severus had expected bone, having assumed at least a Lich at the peak of Magister rank, on the reasonable basis that it would have had centuries to absorb the death energy and residual magic from every skeleton in the ravine.
A lich couldn't have preserved itself this well. Even with Eileen, he had to work considerably to keep her from becoming a skeleton. But if not a lich, then... The answer arrived a moment later. Blood. There wasn't a drop of blood anywhere on that floor. Not a single trace, as though every body had been drained completely dry.
A figure rose from the coffin. The first things visible were pointed ears, dark hair reaching the shoulders, and skin of absolute white. When the figure turned an indifferent gaze toward him, Severus could take in the rest: a vampire. Sharp, fine-boned features, thin brows, pronounced cheekbones, smooth skin, and a pair of green eyes. The figure standing before him looked like a genuine aristocrat, almost a second Lucius, but roughly twenty years older.
"A human." The voice was languid, almost bored. The vampire rose slowly to his feet, brushed off his dark clothing, stepped out of the sarcophagus, and moved to a window from which light was coming, as though the outside were in full daylight. "I haven't seen a living person in quite some time." He turned back and began studying his visitor with open interest. "I'm surprised you were able to use magic. You're a very interesting specimen. I've been watching you since you landed."
"Remember when I said you reminded me of a vampire?" Nagini hissed very quietly. Severus gave the faintest nod. "Forget I said that. Take it back. You do look a little similar, but this one is far more terrifying than anything in those films."
"And?" Severus raised an eyebrow with calm detachment. A Magister at the peak of his rank, almost at the point of reinforcing his core to its maximum level. And that's without considering that these creatures are far stronger physically than humans and true masters of Blood Magic. His effective strength is comparable to that of a peak Magister. I didn't expect to find an opponent this interesting down here.
"And you've caught my interest. How would you feel about becoming my servant? A stronger body, enhanced magical ability, and of course, eternal life."
"I think I'll decline that generous offer. I have a counter-proposal. You become my servant, and I help you become human again. What do you say?" His brazen smile did not provoke the undead creature to anger. If anything, it produced something resembling a smile in return, though it looked more like a baring of teeth.
"A shame. You would have made a fine Vampire."
"And you, a fine human."
"It seems this isn't a question we can resolve in words." He fixed Severus with a dangerous, narrowing gaze. His fingernails were slowly extending into claws.
"I doubt it. I have a strong dislike for bloodsuckers of your sort." Severus drew the sword from its scabbard with a slight smirk. "I'll send you to join the rest. Get ready."
"I understand. Good luck to you." Nagini, uncharacteristically, chose not to push back. She knew perfectly well that facing this Vampire was simply beyond her, and that she would only be in the way, no matter how much she wanted to stay. "Just..."
"I know. But don't worry. I'll be fine. Don't you remember those visions? And besides, I can't afford to lose my life before I give you back your human form." His words and the steady confidence in his smile sent a genuine storm through the heart of the small snake.
"I. I believe in you."
The moment Nagini was transferred to the artifact, that was the signal. The Vampire's eyes went red. He vanished and reappeared directly in front of Severus in the same instant, arm raised, long sharp claws poised to take his head off in a single sweep.
But to his stunned disbelief, he barely had time to register what had happened before the boy's sword was already nearly buried in his chest. The Vampire's expression twisted. He threw himself sharply backward, dodging the blade by a narrow margin, the strange sense of danger radiating from the weapon making the decision for him.
Severus didn't stay put. He threw himself backward through the open doorway into the ravine, where there was considerably more room to move a sword properly. He also had no interest in accidentally destroying the place. The Vampire made no attempt to stop him. He had no desire to lose his home either, one he had spent centuries building.
Once both of them were outside, the sword in Severus's hand lit with a warm, steady light, the kind any ordinary person might have found reassuring. The Vampire's face curled in open revulsion.
"I've been wanting to test my swordsmanship for some time, and a target this fast and this strong is an ideal candidate." Severus rolled his shoulders. "But enough talk. Come at me."
"I've changed my mind. I won't make you my servant. I'll kill you outright and drain you dry. I expect there's a great deal of life force in you." The Vampire lunged, jaws open, fangs out, already anticipating the human's next move, already positioning to dodge and drive his teeth into that throat.
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