Symphonic Odyssey
: Vol. Three: Dark Sarcophagus: Verse One-Hundred and Fifty-One

Cypher and Alex ran as hard as they could. Nothing could even slow them down. The pits? They leapt over them in a single bound, not even caring to use the shabby bridges. The newly spawned undead? Completely ignored as the two blew past them. The traps? Had they not already been sprung, they would have been completely avoided thanks to the unreal speed these two were currently capable of.

Twists and turns came and went as they shot through the dank halls with the desperation of those clinging to a quickly fading life. An immensely dark and oppressive aura spread quickly behind them, and it eventually overtook them as a scream echoed out all around them.

The noise was coming from all directions and could only belong to one man. Armond was surely dead at this point, and if they didn’t hurry, they would be next.

Three more chambers!

Two more chambers!

The two ran as fast as possible for their level, and Cypher was so terrified that he was tempted to leave Alex behind. Only his iron-willed determination stopped him from sinking so low, he wouldn’t leave Alex behind again, and certainly not like that.

However, fear still radiated throughout his entire being. A primordial terror was rising up within him and he knew that it grew within Alex as well. Bright sunlight filled their vision and forced them to squint their eyes. Escape! It was so close! However, an icy cold, iron grip clutched the napes of their necks and threw them back into the darkness of the catacombs.

A black cloud of blood mist swirled around them stealing their sight, and then, the doom stood before them in all its pale, nightmarish glory.

There was no doubt that this was an undead being of unrivaled strength. It was as if death itself stood before them and their fear erupted at last. Alex vomited and blanched as he stared on, his clothes ruined as he beheld true terror.

Cypher too lost control of his bladder and his stomach quivered as pure terror rattled his bones. There was no escape. There was no salvation. Nobody was coming to save them. Hell, Cypher doubted that anyone even could at this point.

All his dreams and aspirations fell away in the wake of this being. Nothing he could do could match it and he knew it. Even at full power in the prime of his life, he would be next to nothing against this monster.

The creature stood unmoving and glared at them with a curious gaze, its head tilted slightly. It was humanoid in shape. Long silver hair hung from its head and glittered in a dark light. Its eyes were a deep, vibrant crimson with vertical slits for pupils, and they were completely devoid of any and all empathy or mercy but held a look of deep amusement. Two pearl-white fangs could be seen protruding from its upper lip, which itself was curled into an evil grin.

It wore luxurious robes that seemed to match the sparkling of the night sky, and a gold-lined, black cape hung from its shoulders. In its grey-skinned hands, a blood-drenched skull and spine hung limply. A few pieces of flesh still connected the vertebrae and a single bloodshot eye sat unmoving in its socket.

This horrific sight was impossible, improbable even. There was only one title a being like this could possess. Only one name came to mind when observing such a majestically terrifying creature. Long had they been extinct on the continent of Demilnoxis, for humans had struggled desperately to remove their last true natural predators.

This being was the sole reason humans worked so hard to preserve and appease the dead. This being was why humans kept hubs of negative energy as devoid of living tissue as they could, and why they hunted relentlessly the monsters that still spawned in such areas.

Nobody dared to dream that one of these beings could return. How could they? Public records of them had been stripped away and destroyed. All memory of them had been forcibly removed from the collective human psyche, and only scattered and incorrect myths told of them now. Not only this being but all who fell under the same category.

In his library back home, Cypher had read a few mentions of beings like this. They were an ancient plague, the bane of not only the living but specifically humanity. His ancestors had long battled against these creatures and there were more than a few warnings of them riddled throughout the tomes of the Ceraunus library. It was from these tomes that he knew they were a race known throughout all of creation as the Minus.

Of course, they had their own personal titles, as they came in many variations. But as a race, the Minus stood united against humans for reasons that had been lost to time. Millions had died while ending their reign of terror upon the world. Countless efforts had been expended to gather them all together and put them down once and for all.

These weren’t simple monsters or undead. A Rank-One undead like a zombie was just that and nothing more. But when it came to the Minus, a Rank-One was far more than the current scale could represent. It was the full potential of that level of power, and one could even say that the current, “Rank-Two” represented it much better.

Such a disparity in power was not only insane but simply unfair, especially when you considered that the power gap between ranks only increased as one climbed into higher ranks, and it was specifically because of this that humanity had been as one in their goal of eradication of these creatures. Through countless sacrifices and spells of such great power that the world itself shook, their efforts had finally paid off. The Minus, a threat that not even the Guardians had been willing to deal with had been wiped clean off the face of the earth.

This was why, for Cypher, it was all the more terrifying. Alex couldn’t know the ramifications of this development, but he didn’t need to. His instincts were telling him all he needed to know. It was a fear that had been encoded into the very DNA of humanity.

Before Cypher and Alex, appearing in the presence of humans for the first time in thousands of years, stood the scourge of humanity.

A Minus Vampire Lord.

“Now, now mortals. There is no need to leave in such a hurry. I have words for you, and you will listen very, very carefully, for I shall not say them twice.” said the Vampire. His voice was silky and much smoother than any Cypher had ever heard. It was accented and carried within it elegance, power, respect, and a terrible dread all at the same time.

“I am Louis Balistane, and I really must thank you for providing me with the means to return to this world. It has been many millennia since one of my kind has stepped foot upon this sacred ground. Who am I to thank for this? Certainly not the fools who sought to revive their dead leader.

“They may have orchestrated the beginnings of my revival, but they are not responsible for it. No. Indeed that glory falls to you two.” Louis inhaled deeply through his nose, and let out a shuddering sigh. Ravenous, endless hunger flashed across his gaze before it was quickly subdued.

“It has been so very, very long since I smelled something as delicious as the two of you. It was that… Mmh, exquisite scent that brought me back from within the void of nothingness, yours especially.” Louis said, pointing at Cypher.

“However, it would appear that today is your lucky day. My ages-long hunger is somewhat satiated for now thanks to those pitiful fools, and one mustn’t indulge in dessert after such a long sleep. No, I shall not devour you, and in exchange, you will deliver a message to your kind.”