[Chapter Size: 2600 Words.]
Third Person POV
Cintra.
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"Well, so you're traveling to Toussaint?" Regis said, a little excited after seeing that those two were extremely friendly, even knowing that he was a vampire.
They ended up making a campfire and eating some pieces of meat, which Regis had no idea where they had gotten from, but they were there the next moment, already seasoned, ready to be eaten.
Regis had the impression that they somehow already knew him — at least the boy did. The girl seemed a little down the entire time, with a sad look directly on the ground, and from what he could deduce, it was because of the city and the result of the war.
As for the boy… despite all of Regis's instincts screaming at him not to challenge him — and in this case, not to enter into conflict with them, all his instincts told him to simply run away — fear still gripped his heart in the overwhelming presence the boy gave him.
He didn't know who Madara was. He seemed to be just an 18-year-old young man, but Regis believed he was much older than he looked. After all, no one that young should be so dangerous to the point of making a centuries-old vampire like him feel threatened, and usually boys were more foolish, but this one was very indifferent.
At least that was what his long life experience indicated, since he used to be a very wild vampire 500 years ago, and very experienced in battle, and for him to feel so threatened, few things could do that to him.
And surprisingly, the boy was friendly to him — at least in his somewhat indifferent way — and Regis could feel that Madara had no ill intentions toward a vampire. Still, it was ironic to think that he would meet a being with the appearance of a young human so threatening on this night, just when he expected only to spend a quiet night, and his curiosity to hear the ghostly screams in the distance changed that, but it seemed to be a good decision in the end, for being able to meet new people.
And Ciri was still clinging to Eira beside Madara. Even though she was listening to the conversation, she kept her head down, still shaken by the things she had seen in the city.
Madara heard Regis's question about their destination and nodded. "Yes, we're going to Toussaint. At first we were going at night, but in the end, we'll only get there at dawn," Madara said.
Ciri still wasn't very comfortable, but he wanted to see Toussaint during the day. She might have been shaken by what she saw, but it was something she also needed to learn to deal with. Her life would never be a bed of roses, and Madara had been trying to protect her until now from horrors that could truly shock her. But she needed to learn too, she needed to prepare for the future and for the dangers out there.
"I see. Toussaint… I have a residence there, it's a wonderful place." said Regis, while Madara thought about that old cemetery where Geralt visited Regis in the game.
"'I want to see if I can buy a vineyard there. Speaking of which, how are things? Who rules it now? Because the last time I saw, it was Anna Henrietta alongside her consort, Duke Raymund…' Madara asked, no longer having many recent updates. Some of his clones should have arrived there already, but they still hadn't passed on that information.
'Anna Henrietta rules alone now, since her husband tried to kill her and was exiled a few months ago. And since there is no other successor, she's the official guardian of Toussaint. The emperor of the Empire also supported her,' Regis said.
'Dandelion will find that interesting to hear...' Madara commented, knowing that Dandelion was Anna's lover and was exiled by her after she discovered he had more lovers besides the Duchess herself, and was threatened with death if he returned to Toussaint. The fool would die one of these days because of his sexual adventures, Madara wondered how he hadn't died yet after so long...
Ciri had lifted her gaze, feeling a bit disgusted when she heard the vampire mention her father.
She felt disgust and fury. 'Where is the emperor at this moment? Can you tell me?' Ciri asked, interrupting Madara and his conversation with Regis with a tone full of demand and hatred.
Regis raised his eyebrows, noticing the heavy tone in her voice. He might not know everything, but he wasn't a fool — he understood very well what that question meant given that the girl was sad about the destroyed city.
'I don't think going after the emperor for revenge is a good choice, even if you're very powerful,' Regis murmured. He also felt the danger coming from the girl, but not as much as what emanated from the boy, maybe because she was shaken.
'He is my father… but I want to kill him right now!' Ciri simply said. Madara raised an eyebrow and touched her hand beside him, making her blink a few times and look at him before realizing she had spoken with too much emotion.
Madara only sighed and turned back to Regis, who still seemed to be absorbing what he had just heard, completely shocked with his mouth slightly open.
'You're not going to tell this to anyone,' Madara said. Regis still looked, speechless, at the girl and then at Madara, feeling a cold shiver at those words.
'If it were someone else, I would have killed you right here. But I believe you'll keep your word, Regis. So I'll trust you. Just don't make the mistake of saying you met the emperor's daughter in these areas,' he said.
In truth, Madara could simply cast a genjutsu on Regis and erase his memory. He could do it easily, even with the vampire's centuries-old mind. Regis wouldn't be able to resist the power of the Sharingan at Madara's current level. And also, no one would believe the emperor had a daughter, even if Regis said so. Only the emperor himself and Vilgefortz — dead — knew the truth.
It would even serve as a test to see if Regis was truly trustworthy, since Madara expected to meet this vampire again in the future."
"'Alright… I'll keep my word,' was all Regis said, not wanting to get into a conflict despite Madara's implicit threat. Thinking about it, if that were true, the girl in front of him would be the heir to the Empire. And her husband, beside her, would be… emperor consort? Something like that. And she wanted to kill him? Regis didn't understand, but he also didn't want to dig deeper. He didn't intend to get involved, whatever it was that was happening there.
He didn't say anything else, but he did answer the previous question: 'If you want to know where the emperor is… it seems he went south. He's in the Imperial capital. I heard the Nilfgaardians are preparing something quite big for the next few months. So if you seek revenge — even if he's your father, or whatever you meant by that — be careful,' Regis murmured.
'My wife is just a little affected tonight. This was the land that used to belong to her family. Seeing that the people were massacred that way, to the point of creating ghosts we had to exorcize personally… I think it shook her a bit. But nothing a few hours of sleep and rest won't fix,' Madara said, looking at Ciri, who only sighed, not wanting to comment about it.
Regis nodded. 'Well… if I may comment, it seems you're quite used to talking to vampires…' Regis couldn't help but notice how comfortable Madara seemed with him, so he presumed he had met some vampire before, although Madara was only like that because he knew Regis — meeting another vampire wasn't wrong.
'You could say that. After all, we were working with a vampire until a few weeks ago,' he said. It had been almost two months since they last saw Eleanor, after the vampire went to the Continent.
'Really? You worked with a vampire? May I know more about that?' Regis immediately became curious.
'Yes, we were hunting a certain mage and found her along the way,' Madara began, which was ironic, considering Vilgefortz had killed Regis in the canonical future of the books. Now, the sorcerer was no longer a threat to the vampire in front of him. Madara told Regis the story: he, his wife, a witcher, a sorceress, a druid, and a vampire — all together searching for clues about the sorcerer they were pursuing.
In the end, Regis clapped happily. 'Wow… what an incredible group! And that vampire you mentioned got her revenge in the end! I'd like to meet her someday,' he said, excited. Ciri seemed calmer and even joined the conversation a few times while Madara recounted his experience in Skellige.
Regis tried to guess who they were. Even though Ciri and Madara were extremely unusual — in appearance and in the sensation of power they emanated — he had no idea. Not even when the girl said she was the emperor's daughter and at the same time wanted to kill him. He didn't know she was the princess of Cintra, nor that Madara was the man capable of destroying an entire army by summoning a giant during the last war."
"It would be far too dangerous to pressure these people on this night.
'She must be somewhere on the Continent now. I don't know what she's doing either… but we'll see her someday,' Ciri murmured beside him.
Regis nodded, but he didn't stop looking at Madara. 'But about her transformation… what you told me, I also have doubts… I don't know how she could turn into a vampire like that,' he said, while Madara agreed.
Eleanor's transformation was very unusual. She became a vampire after dying, for one. Chaos itself changed her body, turning her into such a creature, resurrecting her no longer as a human. Given the hatred she had for the vampire who killed her husband and then killed her, she seemed to have been given a chance for revenge.
'Eleanor could have even turned into a vengeful ghost, like what happened here in this city to many people, because of the hatred she felt for the vampire who killed her husband and then killed her. However, chaos had different plans for her,' Madara commented.
'I can't say I understand how everything works… but it is certainly very unusual. It would intrigue even an ancient vampire,' Regis said.
'Speaking of that… do you know where there are ancient vampires?' Madara asked suddenly. Regis almost jumped at the question. Ciri looked surprised at her husband, who was already lying with his head on her lap.
'Don't get nervous, I'm just curious. I know there's one in Toussaint, I even know where the entrance to his hideout is,' Madara revealed, making Regis break into a cold sweat. 'But I want to see others.' Madara simply continued.
'You know how dangerous they are, right? It's not wise to meddle with an ancient vampire,' Regis murmured carefully.
Madara smiled. 'Don't worry about that. You must have noticed the strength I have right now. I'm hunting something far worse than an ancient vampire… which is a demon. I want to see if I find a few more of your kind along the way,' Madara said.
'A–a demon?' Regis stammered when he heard that. He had never heard of such a thing except in stories.
'Yes. It marked us, and we have to destroy it. We must protect ourselves, and also the child who is growing in my belly,' Ciri replied, lightly touching her own belly.
Regis looked, and even though he did not know exactly what a demon was, it certainly shouldn't be anything inferior to an ancestral vampire. He looked at Madara and saw that the boy was serious.
'I'm not sure, but I heard there is an ancient vampire… in some castle above Kovir, in the northern mountains… he guards one of the portals that lead to the original world of vampires,' Regis said.
Madara stopped to think. If Regis didn't say where it was, it was because he didn't know the exact location. But as soon as the vampire mentioned Toussaint, Madara already knew there was a vampire guarding a portal there as well.
'How powerful is an ancient vampire?' Ciri asked, curious. She had never tried to ask something like that, and Madara almost laughed."
"He is so powerful that Geralt wouldn't even stand a chance. The moment he reached for his sword, Geralt would already be dead." That was the answer for Ciri — and Regis, now knowing that Geralt was a witcher, as he had heard in stories, could only agree with Madara.
"I would be dead if I even tried to think about anything that could have bad intentions, we vampires must bow to their will... They are above our hierarchy..." Regis said in the end.
Ciri would certainly keep those words in mind, silently, to be careful if she ever encountered an ancient vampire in the future — even while being close to Madara.
"Anyway, we're staying here. Are you going back to your camp? Or, if you want, you can stay in a house next to ours," Madara said, standing up while Ciri woke up, picked Eira up in her arms, and stood as well. It was already time to sleep and leave before dawn for Toussaint, as Madara had discussed with her by the fire.
"Well, I'll go back to my camp. It's already set up there. It was good meeting you. I hope this won't be the last time we see each other," Regis said, also standing and brushing off some of the dust lifted by the night wind.
Madara nodded. "If you meet a witcher named Geralt someday, or even Eleanor, tell them you met us. They'll probably be friendlier with you, as long as you're not a threat to any of them," Madara said.
Regis nodded, pleased with the tip.
Regis was about to ask what the boy meant earlier by "house," when he saw him walk a few steps away and bring his hands together. The ground began to crack and tremble with deep snapping sounds. In the next moment, roots began emerging, twisting and expanding, forming the structure of a huge house right there, in the middle of nowhere, created from wood that rose from the soil.
Regis watched that for a long moment, completely stunned, as he saw Madara, Ciri, and the unicorn entering the newly created house without looking back.
He scratched his chin. He believed the boy might be some kind of sorcerer using extremely complex magic — although the way he joined his hands didn't resemble any chant or common spell. In any case, he shrugged. The night was already too strange for him.
Regis returned to his small camp in the distance, running faster than the wind, parts of his body assuming a vampiric form. As he disappeared among the shadows, he repeated mentally the most sensible conclusion:
Avoid messing with those two — or with anyone they know. Even having spent only a few hours with Madara and Ciri, it was clear that it wasn't worth being their enemy, whether you were a vampire, a powerful sorcerer, the emperor of Nilfgaard himself, even an ancient vampire… or even a being as dark as a demon. They didn't seem afraid of any of it."
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