Vanier lowers his once triumphant arms in bitter melancholy defeat, the flame in his eye dwindles down to a to a small spark. Vanier brings his hands to his face, masking his face from the outside and he slowly lets out a sigh,
"Well, I shouldn't have expected things to be this easy, it is the rifts after all….
Vanier turns his head lazily and looks that the deceased guard, Vanier's eyes light up with a slight glitter and a faint but devilish smile encroaches upon his face, Vanier kneels besides the man, and slowly and sweetly mutters,
"Hey Mr.Radulus… uhhh.. Mr.Radulflus….uhh… Mister….Radulfus, ahh yes it was Mr.Radulfus, so since your not all the way here you wouldn't mind me "inheriting" your belongings right?...
Vanier sneakily cups the man's head from behind with one hand, and moves his hand up and down to puppeteer the man's head to make it look like the man coldly nodded, Vanier jumps up with excitement and clasps his hand and shouts excitedly,
"Perfect, Thank you for your benevolence Mr.Radulfus…
Vanier proceeds to rob the man of all his belonging, only leaving the man his underwear and his last shred of dignity.
[YOU HAVE OBTAINED COMMON KNIGHT'S CHESTPLATE]
[YOU HAVE OBTAINED COMMON PANTS]
[YOU HAVE OBTAINED COMMON WORKERS BOOTS]
[YOU HAVE OBTAINED WATER FLASK]
"WATER!"
Vanier greedily drinks all the water from the flask without a second thought, after gulping down the last drops of water, Vanier's brain finally started thinking,
"Ah shit, I should have saved some for the journey ahead…. Oh well shit happens…
Vanier overjoyed by his thirst being quenched, picks a random direction and starts strolling without a second thought. He gauges his surroundings as he strolls, but he is met with the same repeating walls, it seems unending as if it goes on for eternity, only torches illuminate the way. Vanier walks for what feels like an eternity and just before he is about the let the doubt win, he notices a small light at the end, it's a bit dimmer than the torches but it is visible. Eventually Vanier walks out of the prison, he looks up to see dark gloomy clouds which covers the sky in a black veil.
Vanier looks around him,
"Woah, it like a dark fantasy medieval city, but why do I feel so creeped out by it?.."
The city was build by dark stone, not the dull colour of a city in ruin nor the colour of city which had been burned down, but instead a deep unnatural colour of black. No banners fluttered in the wind nor was even a single lantern present within the keeps of the city. No other colour was present except the suffocating colour of the black.
Vanier felt a cold chill run down his spine as he took in this unsettling sight.
But it was not only the blackened atmosphere that made him feel so uneasy, cites were meant to breath, live and be a symphony sounds of footsteps, the laughter of children running among the streets, the conversations of people, the faint signs of life behind every corner. But this place it was empty, devoid of any signs of life. Its was empty but not abandoned.
The streets were unnaturally clean, not broken stalls or scattered belongings, no signs of struggle or decay. It was as if every living soul vanished just moments before he stepped out. As if some unseen hands had neatly arranged everything just for his arrival.
At the heart of the silent city stood a colossal staircase craved from the same black stone, leading up towards a floating castle suspended high above the ground. The castle was large, oppressive and astonishing.
The castle shared the same abyssal colour of the city, but somehow a darker shade of it, looking at the castle made Vanier feel a bit scared as it had a sense of evil permeating from it, a feeling similar to looking into the eyes of a monster.
Vanier takes some deep breaths before walking towards a house, then he notices it, no windows, looking around he sees that all the houses have no windows.
"A bit creepy, no?...
Vanier knocks on the door,
"Hello, any one home?...
No response,
"Oh well, excuse me I am coming in…
Vanier reached for the door, his hand stopped mid action. A sudden sickening weight pulled at his stomach. In the corner of his vision … movement. Vanier didn't move, well he couldn't, the fear had paralyzed him.
He focused on his peripheral vision to see what it was, A figure with red crimson eyes and a wide yellow grin not something a human could make. The thing lingered in half inside the darkness, it was enormous at least twice the size of Vanier. It didn't step out, it didn't need to either, it simply leaned forward, tilting its head with a slow curious motion.
Vanier pupils' skunk, his head felt light and his knees felt weak. Vanier suddenly out of a burst of adrenaline, griped his sword and turned his body towards the thing. It was staring right at him for a moment after he turned and then it vanished behind the wall. It did not seem it was late to react to Vanier sudden turn but instead it felt like it wanted Vanier to see it.
Vanier steps back still gripping his sword in a desperate hold. Looking back at the large staircase he begins to run towards it, he knew that if that thing is roaming around the city, he will never be safe in such a closed of area, so he ran towards the big staircase where he could get a better view of his surroundings so he could at least try to fight it off with his sword.
Vanier in his heighten state of fear runs up all the stairs without any breaks. He reaches the top of the stair case panting and huffing completely out of breath. He turns around staring at the city down has he takes a small break,
"What the fuck was that? it looked like the devil."
After a bit of rest Vanier slowly gets up and approaches the large gates of the castle, without any input of Vanier the large gates begin to creek open, inside he sees a luxurious interior with marble pillars and soft carpets but the trend of black had not changed, everything was still in shades of black, but this time with the singular exception of blue lanterns hanging around which lit up the entire room in a shades of blue and black.
The sight was actually quite serene and mesmerizing, causing Vanier to walk in unconsciously. Then a sudden heavy booming thud, Vanier immediately looks back to see the door had shut close behind him,
"SHIT shit shit…
Vanier slammed himself against the door trying to push it back open, but to no avail,
"FUCK!"
Vanier silently looks arounds the castle and the only path available is the a straight path padded by soft carpet. Vanier tries for a bit longer, trying to open the massive gate. But in the end he could not make the gate open. After exhausting all his options Vanier moves along the path and eventually ending up in a fork in the path. On the right is a hallway leading to a small door and on the left side, it leads to a corner which extends right.
Vanier makes the decision to go right, he walks down the short hallway and reaches the small door, Vanier takes a look back to make sure nothing was behind him, and then he carefully opens the door.