After spending the rest of his life on another continent in order to avoid the Arch-Illager’s army, he comes back a little while, for vacations I guess.
Aot was supposed to be taking his classes like every day, but instead he was in another of his treasure hunts and this time they did not settle for the small and boring tombs of the valley of the kings, but a secluded tomb in a forbidden place, the valley of the nameless kings. Kings whom once practiced magic, an art prohibited by their nation.
Once they arrived at the entrance of the sanctuary they were going to loot, and before entering, they took the bothering to see the architecture of the place, which like any building in the desert, was beautiful. Hieroglyphs on every corner of the walls too old to decipher for the average citizen, but for Aot, it was like reading a children’s story.
“Wow, how the hell did you find this place?”
asked inheret, Aot’s personal guard-and secret boyfriend-even though they were both men themselves, the sincere love they felt for each other was genuine and even though they both knew their relationship was wrong and would never be accepted in their society, the two of them couldn’t live without each other.
“From a map I found in the basement library.” Said the prince without any remorse.
“You’re not allowed to be there!” inherent claim.
Aot just turned his head at inheret’s direction and instantly they both started laughing.
“great, another one of your weird maps.” Said the soldier sarcastically as he redirected his gaze to the temple in front of them.
Aot smiled at that comment.
“What? Scared?” Said the prince between laughs.
Inheret shook his head at him, smiling.
“you wish”. He exclaimed.
They both laughed and after a few moments inheret was the first to open up, he went inside the temple, took a few steps forward and when he didn’t felt Aot’s presence behind then inheret turned around only to find that Aot was still in the mouth of the temple with a look of concern that he tried poorly to hide. Inheret just laughed.
“What? Scared?” Those words seemed to snap Aot out of his trance and shaking his head he responded.
“You wish!”
With that said Aot reluctantly entered the temple and then the two of them made their way into the bowels of the temple.
Inheret’s pov:
sometimes Aot do that, even though his body was there his mind was somewhere else, usually it just took a little jolt to snap him out of his trance but lately that’s been happening to him too often and every time I try to ask about it, he just avoid the subject. I wonder what he thought, it must be something strong to put him in such a state.
Aot’s pov:
I froze again, that had happened before, but I had never felt fear entering a place like this, it’s not like the dead will rise from their graves, right? If it wasn’t that then there would be no reason to be afraid, but I still froze. Lately I have heard a voice, something that calls me, although I always attributed it to the wind, it always blew very hard and sometimes its sound can be interpreted with voices. But today at the mouth of the grave I could hear it again and THIS TIME it was crisp and clear no longer like that occasional whisper. I haven’t talked to inheret about this, I don’t want him to think I’m crazy, I don’t want him to worry about me.
No one’s pov:
once the sunlight was dissipated by the darkness, inheret took two torches from his inventory and lit them, giving one to Aot. now with better visibility they were able to better appreciate what their surroundings looked like and like outside, the architecture inside was beautiful, both were amazed at the work of art that was the walls of that sarcophagus. Of all the hieroglyphics carved on the wall, one particularly caught Aot’s attention. A large, imposing figure towered over a crowd kneeling at his feet, subdued. The man seemed to be holding a green orb-shaped object.
“Isn’t that great?” Aot said without taking his eyes off the drawing on the wall.
“Wha-”.
“I mean, imagine having that power? What i could do with it… I would be the most powerful person on the island continent.”
“But, it’s magic.” inherent object
“and?”. Aot replied.
“Magic is evil, it corrupts people, it takes away your identity making you just a soulless vessel.”
“but it gives you power, that’s the only thing that matters.”
Aot looked at Inheret firmly and Inheret just shook his head in denial.
“Well, if you say so”.
when he finished saying that, he just continued forward passing Aot on the way.
“tsk, killjoy” Aot whispered to himself and stood behind inheret in silence.
Both continued to advance into the dark corridors of the sarcophagus that each time, became colder with each step they took.
Aot’s pov:
why is he not able to understand? With that kind of power… We would have everyone at our feet, we could be together freely, nobody would tell us what to do or how to live, we would be… -the most powerful beings in the world?…-.
No one’s pov:
Aot froze, that voice again. It had never been so clear, echoed in his head like a buzzing bee.
“come close then”
Aot heard the voice growing stronger in his head again.
“Aot.”
The voice repeated his name with more and more force each time.
“AOT!”.
Suddenly Aot snapped back to reality only to find Inheret in front of him, calling out his name.
“I’ve been calling you! You froze again! Are you okay?! Maybe we should go, I don’t like this place at all!”
Aot just looked around, he is no longer in the corridor, in fact now he was in a medium sized room with 3 other corridors, an old trick to catch looters that Aot knew well, only one corridor was correct the other two would only take you to certain death, do I walk while in a trance?
“Aot?” replied inheret waiting for an answer from the prince.
“Huh? Oh… Yeah… We have to go… Yeah.”
They both started to go back, he had had enough of that place And above all Aot, who was distracted still thinking about that voice, he was distracted enough not to see the thin but strong and firm rope on the ground near the exit until he was already on the ground. A loud crack could be heard from within the walls of the temple. To Aot, everything was happening very fast for now on, at one moment he was on the ground and the next he was being dragged by inheret, trying to escape from the site that was collapsing at their feet, but Aot’s gaze was still fixed on that room they had left. out, a green glow began to be seen from the walls that were collapsing before him. Aot just narrowed his eyes… Thinking, was that thing always there? There wasn’t enough time to appreciate glitters appearing out of nowhere, Aot had to concentrate on escaping or else he would be buried, so he ran with all the strength he had. Time went from fast to slow for him, Aot couldn’t believe how big that place was and how much the two of them had advanced. Hope lit up Aot and inheret’s eyes when they saw the light from outside so they gave their last effort until they finally reached the outside once more, they had never felt so happy to feel the embracing warmth of the sun on their skin. And there they were congratulating each other for escaping alive as they looked at the grave that now lay on their foundations that was now not even a shadow of what it used to be.
Vampire Archie had already been lost and alone for two years when his grandparents finally found him. His joy and relief lasted only a few hours though, as the Heroes attacked and killed Matias and Fiadh; weapons stealing their souls.
Had his family not been taken right in front of him after such an ordeal, the Orb wouldn’t have made a connection.
But in this, forgiveness will never happen. The Heroes took too much and robbed Archie of his only chance at having a family and loving home again.
If they hadn’t, Archie could have formed a friendship with time. But in this scenario, he never will and never could. No amount of apologies or acts can change his mind.
I love all the AU’s people have come up with and love how in some Archie bonds with the Dungeons Heroes. But for this story, friendship and forgiveness cannot exist.
I’ll be doing a story later where the Heroes befriend Archie and are even introduced to Matias and Fiadh– eventually forming a bond.
Love this au so much.
V!Archie development is so good, and it is not just i’m a monster so i’m evil. He had a reason to be and I just love it.
It had been weeks since the last time Archie had eaten something substantial and he had grown desperate. The occasional fallen apple or mushroom would no longer suffice in keeping him alive. He needed to eat real food, and soon. so with the little strength he had left he made his way to the nearest place where he could plead for food.
A settlement was up ahead…
Archie hurried towards it, feeling a slight bit of hope. It was crushed very quickly.
No one had the heart to share even a single crumb.
Archie was at a point of desperation that he decided that he would not ask for food but only take it. He knew this was a risky move. If he were to be caught stealing; it could bring about a terrible punishment for him, but that did not matter to him anymore. Archie decided he would go to a nearby bakery. The delicious baked dough lying on the counters made him drool.
Taking a quick look he was able to notice whoever was running the place was absent. He also found a blind spot where he could grab a piece of bread without being seen near the front door of the building.
Archie hurried to his hiding place and without hesitation, grabbed a large piece of bread and went to sit down.
Things went horribly wrong from there.
Before he could nibble on his food, a man grabbed him by the arm and swung him roughly forcing Archie to face him.
The man was a rather old Illager who began to hurl insults at Archie who was desperately trying to explain himself. Unfortunately, the man didn’t care to listen. The man, with several coordinated blows and pulls directed Archie towards the oven inside the premises, where he took a chain and tied both of Archie’s arms with one end, leaving another end free, which the man took as he went to the other end of the oven, positioning himself right in front of Archie who was begging the man to please just let him go.
Of course the man didn’t pay him any mind as he just pulled on his end of the chain causing Archie’s hands and part of his arms to come into contact with the flames of the oven. Archie screamed in pain at the contact with the fire and only when the skin on his arms was severely burned did the man let go of the chain.
Archie, without hesitation, ran out of the bakery and then out of town. He sat in a tree and cried as he looked at the chains that had melted and soaked into his skin. A strange feeling ran through Archie’s head at that time, anger, hatred, revenge, it was the only thing the little Illager could feel. If only he were bigger, stronger maybe, only then he could make him pay.
