Electric blades fall from the sky. The snow sets a dread of wonder. A single lonely pyramid stands in silver and silence.
In a soothing bar full of barbarians and Vikings. Their animal hides make them part of the wilderness. Their heavy blades make them too menacing on the surface. But they are the kindest people in the land.
One lady even thrives in this bar as a bartender. The neon reflected each and every magic user in the bar, which were only the barbarians and Vikings.
"One whiskey, Suzan!" Sham said.
Sham is full of muscles and has a large fluffy long black beard.
"Tell me, Sham... How are you barbarians and Vikings even able to withstand the high alcohol-infused liquor? You don't even drink a little—you just gulp it like a jug of juice, eh," Suzan said, raising one eyebrow in curiosity.
Her formal female attire with a mix of jean-gloved hands makes her look tough.
"..."
"Hahaha! Oh please! We barbarians and Vikings are hunters and raiders. That means we have most likely eaten one of the meats from the Dracula wolf," he said, his laughter echoing with the others.
Suzan puts one hand on her hip.
"With you guys drinking so much whiskey you should've been dead by now, your liver fried. So you are saying this Dracula wolf is the source of you guys surviving, you say," she said, a sly smile curling up in wonder and curiosity.
"Precisely! You see, think of Dracula—everybody knows his origin is not from him suddenly being a vampire from a curse but rather a disease. It was the mysterious case of the Madam's mansion, a husband who married a very rich woman suddenly had an unfolding sickness. Firstly he thought it was the flu, as it got worse they thought it was something more deadly, something caused by a parasite maybe. The man did love food, so it's likely he absorbed a parasite unknowingly..." He takes a deep breath before continuing.
"Over time, for about a few months, his skin got pale, and his eyes turned not red but yellow, a mucus-yellow. His tongue turned into a veiny green. After that... well, he got into a coma all of a sudden, not a usual coma, but a coma whereby he hears, he feels, but his mind is not aware—as if he didn't have a brain. One night, two of the maids came in to check up on him, and he was not there on his bed but just standing. Just standing, looking blankly ahead. Skin very pale, like if snow had an illness. He seemed larger, taller, more... hostile. His breathing ragged. And the next day, the wife, the maids, and the butler were found drowning in their own blood," he shrugged.
Suzan was listening with her chin resting on her palms.
"How come I have never heard about such a story before? It sounds so interesting and yet sad. I'll admit I am a bit freaked out. So no one knows what happened to the man?" she asked, blinking.
"No, not at all. But they assume that the cause of bloodthirsty strong creatures, so-called vampires, is because of him. Because the moment he disappeared, the vampire conspiracy became a thing and then later a truth, a reality," he said.
Suzan stands up straight and finally fulfills the request of pouring more whiskey into the barbarian's jar-cup.
"Thanks! Oh Suzan? I heard you have been trying to get inside the pyramid across the spruce forest near the mountain. I mean... I don't like to underestimate one's ability to do something, but even going through the forest to the abyss rivers is as dangerous as the snowy plains," he said, his deep eyes full of concern and a bit of challenge.
Suzan rolls her eyes, crossing her arms under her chest.
"I know, I know. It's just that it's been something I have been planning to do—to discover the ancient allure of it. I am not a magic user. Who knows, maybe I can become more powerful by discovering what's inside," Suzan sighed.
Her right arm trembles slightly, at first from the cold but then from the suffocating whispers from the spruce forest and rivers she has to get through to reach the pyramid.
"Mhmmmm... In my life, honestly I've never seen such a woman commit to such an ambitious goal. But tell me, what kind of plans have you been making," he gulps half of the jug of whiskey, his eyes focused on Suzan's mind.
Suzan puts her hand on the brown smooth table, glistening from the magma roof lights and part of the neon pulses. It was like a club mixed with a bar. Although it was just a bar.
"Well... I have been setting up some gear. And I may not have magic in me, but I know that weapons can. So I asked the town's blacksmith to make me a chainsaw that gets hot under pressure and some glasses that I can use to spectate the blizzard. I may not have glasses now, but sometimes in this weather I can't see without artificial specs, especially at night. The test I prepared for myself, like the resources to set camp," her face lights up almost like a child.
"I see... Well, since you are this bar's bartender and our friend, I will give you my axe. Don't worry, not my large one but a suitable one for you—the one that my father gave me when I was a struggling teenager with the challenge of building muscles," he said, his face almost gleaming with nostalgia.
Suzan widens her eyes slightly.
"Wait what? Struggling to build muscles. You? Why? No way!" She grins with amusement and surprise.
"Yeah well, it's true," he shrugs, face lowered. His eyes smolder with memory.
"I developed this condition that couldn't allow me to grow muscles, even through hard work. I was a skinny motherfucker. But... my father decided that I should go to my mother, who was at the time at her sister's house to take care of her. My mother was a doctor and an alchemist, and she is the one who managed to make a potion for my condition. It took 10 times for her to get it right—it was complex, as she said. But HEY! I am here now, strong, and living the life. Not saying my life is perfect, but it is something I couldn't have imagined," Sham said, smiling brightly.
Suzan smiled back.
"Okay, okay, no need to be emotional, I get it pal. But hey, good for you. And I don't know why, but I feel proud for some reason. Also, I am grateful for you offering to give me the axe you used and still kept as a teenager," she said, eyes wide with motivation.
"But because of your story as well! You have inspired me to not doubt my goal!" She said, laughing proudly.
Sham gulps the remaining whiskey.
"Do not get too cocky. I may have traveled some raging seas, battled in heavy sweat wars, but all of that was actually brutally... painful... tragic. Just a lot of mystery that you thought you figured out, but no, you didn't. So I leave you with this advice: the mystery you will unfold and spectate will never reveal the complete information. If it does, that's what it wants you to think," he said, his eyes narrowed seriously.
Suzan's bravado subsides but she nods.
"Yeah, of course, and again thanks Sham," she smirks with gratitude, her brattiness dimmed for seconds then returned.
For hours the bar was filled with clicks of glass and music that made one think about the future and the heat of the unknown world.
In the morning, the barbarians and Vikings leave, setting their ships for sail. Decks filled with barrels and thick ropes being untied in preparation. They wave away as they disappear into the freezing wind at dawn.
Suzan waves back, holding the axe suitable for her, that Sham left as he promised.
The axe fit well in her hands and although a bit rusty, it was still strong, which could be the result of the "Calcite Nicole" material. A mineral that exists between the depths of mines and near water body areas underground, interacting to create one of the strongest minerals in the world.
Sham and the crew headed north from the town, Zil. Suzan turns to look at the silver pyramid, glistening in the morning, its silver steel dancing with the cold.
Suzan turns back to the bar, she leaves the manager a note and closes the bar.
She returns back to the town, just a few blocks away. She sets in her simple two-room house which she bought with a modest loan. She takes off her clothes and sets in a bath, surrounded by smooth stones, not the most luxurious but still warm and relaxing. After she has bathed, she wears long tight jeans and a jacket.
In this town, urban style is compelling, but that's as far as Suzan knows.
"Need to check everything is ready," she murmured.
She checks each and every material and resource on her list.
She places the note down after analyzing her preparations.