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Post by Lady Elexa B'Shera on Oct 10, 2009 13:46:30 GMT -5
Elexa chuckled slightly at her Captain's fumbling attempts at socialization. As the night wore on, and the vampires of her court mingled amongst one another, a lone figure approached the dais.
"Milady..." she began. "...please, we have been wondering, but... forgive my impertinence for actually asking..."
Elexa tilted her head. "Yes, Lady Sera?"
The kneeling figure squirmed. "Is... is it true what they say? That now that the Heroes from another world are here, Nerezza will fall along with all of the Sumata alliance? That Trucido will abandon us to the Heroes, and save only the humans? That even your own human Captain Princel has betrayed us?"
Her words were full of anger and fear. Elexa stood, then kneeled in front of the kneeling vampire, placing one hand on her shoulder. A murmur of shock ran through the court.
"Lady Sera... No matter what happens, I, as your Queen, will protect you. Nerezza will not fall. Trucido cares not for our kind, but we have always lived on our own, our own way. The Heroes will not touch a single man, woman, or child, human or vampire, so long as I still sit on this Onyx Throne. As for Captain Princel..." She stood, bringing Lady Sera to her feet along with her, "...it is only betrayal if it is against my wishes, which it is not."
Another shocked gasp wen through the room, but with a wave of her hand, Elexa dismissed it.
"I'll not speak more on this matter - just know that you are all safe under my rule. Now... do any others have requests or petitions?"
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Post by Ludro "Ace" Gamblington on Oct 10, 2009 15:22:36 GMT -5
Ludro faced towards Elexa, watching her being the ruler she was meant to be. He brought up nothing, because he was still amazed by the fact that here were others like him.
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Post by Lady Elexa B'Shera on Oct 10, 2009 15:54:07 GMT -5
"Well, Ludro?" she murmured to him as a petitioner left. "What do you think? This is the only place where we may openly gather in this era. We are a hidden society, living scattered throughout this land, some of us fearing the humans, others hating them, others simplay attempting to live with them as well as they can. And for those like you, who never knew about our Court... life can be painful."
She looked over her subjects once more.
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Post by Ludro "Ace" Gamblington on Oct 10, 2009 16:28:11 GMT -5
"I think this was a wonderful Idea." He said as he watched everyone else leaving. "So how long has this court been active?"
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Post by Lady Elexa B'Shera on Oct 10, 2009 16:37:49 GMT -5
"For as far back as we have records," she told him. "The royal family of Nerezza has always been the royal family of the vampires, as well... it's just been so long since the last Hunter War that most people have forgotten. Many have also forgotten the true reason for the animosity between Santo-Luce and Nerezza as well, putting it down to the differences between light and darkness..."
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Post by Ludro "Ace" Gamblington on Oct 10, 2009 16:41:27 GMT -5
"The true reason? May I hear that story?" He asked as he lean forward. He had always thought they fought for the land that is now the Crepusculum kingdom.
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Post by Lady Elexa B'Shera on Oct 10, 2009 17:18:29 GMT -5
"Of course. However, the story starts long before the first war between our lands..."
Now that the rest of her people had left for the night, she could tell the story with relative ease.
"A long time ago, back when people first began to settle these lands, a small group of brave humans decided to cross the dark border into the eternal nighttime of our land to start a village. Just as they had heard, Nerezza was filled with monsters, demons, and creatures they had never seen before. Here, where no crops grow, they had to learn to forge their own way in a hard life that brought few rewards. Still, they managed well, learning, in time, the secrets of the dark world... and more settlements were created.
Still, no matter how much they knew, their lives were hard... things would come in the night and take people, never to be seen again. Sometimes, a stranger would wander through town, and when she left, there would be a villager who either died or lived the rest of his life with a strange scar. Finally, one village became fed up with the mess, and followed one such stranger back to her camp. They demanded retributions.
Cornered, the stranger confessed that she was a member of her people's royalty. She bargained with the villagers for the life and safety of her people - the vampires and the humans who had come before the settlers, who now lived in the mountains with them. If the villagers would acknowledge the sovreingty of the vampires, and allow them to live their ways in peace, the vampires would protect the village from all harm, including the creatures that threatened their village. The villagers, impressed with her kindness, generostiy, and seeming humanity, convened a council, and agreed. Immediately following that, they quarried stone from a nearby cave, and built this castle for my ancestors. In a short time, all the villages within the Dark Border had signed similar contracts, and formed the country of Nerezza.
However, as with any society, there were those who hated life within the Dark Border, and, later, disagreed with the agreement. They left and settled on the other side of the Dark Border, some settling in with the settlements already there, and some fleeing even farther, to the bright land beyond... this is the land we now call Santo-Luce. Later, much later, after Nerezza acknowledged the rule of the vampires, those who fled to Santo-Luce brought tales of our people's terrors, of our superhuman strength, of our need for the blood of others to survive. These ones also knew our weaknesses, and some dedicated their lives to learning of these weaknesses, and hunting us down, attempting to 'free' Nerezza from our rule forever.
One particularly tragic year, the King of Santo-Luce died, leaving only a daughter of sixteen behind on the throne. Human inheritance, at least at the time, being dependant upon the male line, the girl was forced to marry quickly, so the kingdom could have a king. The man she loved was one of the Hunters. Slowly but surely, he began to make treaties with villages in the Twilight area, creeping his way towards Nerezza. He meant to use his newly gained army to take what parts of our land he could by force, and use his specially-trained Hunters to 'free' us from the rule of my family.
The Hunters' War, as we call it, was long and bloody, and, I must admit, both sides comitted terrible acts in their anger at each other, only strengthening the hatred. In the end, we drove the Santo-Lucians not only from our land, but Crepusculum as well, officially taking control. That sparked the hatred between our countries... and we have been fighting between each other ever since."
She fell silent, her face thoughtful. "It's sad, Ludro... because everytime I think of it, I realize that, truly, all these years, it hasn't been Nerezza fighting Santo-Luce... but Nerezza fighting it's own lost children."
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Post by Ludro "Ace" Gamblington on Oct 10, 2009 17:46:48 GMT -5
"Whoa..." Ludro said. That is all he could say, to this sad story. "...So, how was your trip to Earth?"
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Post by Lady Elexa B'Shera on Oct 10, 2009 17:59:30 GMT -5
She smiled. "Better than I could ever have hoped." Her eyes sparkled with mischief-making and secretive glee. "Can you keep a secret, Ludro?"
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Post by Ludro "Ace" Gamblington on Oct 10, 2009 18:01:48 GMT -5
"Like as if you are telling it to nobody." He said as he lean in closer. "What is it, my queen?"
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Post by Lady Elexa B'Shera on Oct 10, 2009 18:07:22 GMT -5
"As Lady Sera claimed, Lana has joined the Heroes... however, Ludro..."
She smiled.
"So have we. Trucido would, indeed, have abandoned all but his goal in the end, and killed each and every one of the Sumata in his plans... but now we have allies powerful enough to stand up to him. There are others working against him, as well... and I have seen that Trucido may not be as powerful as everyone fears."
She laid it all out before Ludro as plainly and simply as if she were outlining the plans for another wing of the castle.
"What do you say, Captain?"
She turned to meet his eyes.
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Post by Ludro "Ace" Gamblington on Oct 10, 2009 18:19:13 GMT -5
"... I will follow you and your Decision." He said plainly, then he looked into her pretty purple eyes and asked something that was on his mind every since that day, after Elexa had left to go to Earth. "So, does this mean that Lana will not be punished? That we do not have to put a bounty on her head?"
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Post by Lady Elexa B'Shera on Oct 10, 2009 20:18:08 GMT -5
She smiled.
"Of course not. Lana is, and always will be, a Nerezzan Captain, no matter what happens..." There was something... strange in her tone, as though she were thinking about something she didn't want to consider.
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Post by Ludro "Ace" Gamblington on Oct 10, 2009 23:28:50 GMT -5
"... Did something else happen on Earth, that I should be aware about?" He asked after she paused.
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Post by Lady Elexa B'Shera on Oct 11, 2009 9:58:55 GMT -5
She paused for another moment, thinking.
"I... am not quite sure. It appears, however, that Lana has finally found someone else to protect with her life, someone who she guards as fiercely as she has guarded me... She may soon be faced with a difficult choice."
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