Bite of the Mosquito (loss to Vampires)

[Nicholas Nitro]

"Even the Golden Glades of Athel Loren have seen shadows," she told the children. "It is important you know this history, as our kind has suffered greatly against such fallacious thinking. This world is a beautiful place, and to live as we do here is truly an end in itself. We exist for the pleasure of doing so, with only our experiences to guide us. Virtues are the actions that maintain beauty in life. To compromise that beauty is to compromise yourself. Horrible as they were, the fools of this story did just that. Let me tell you about the Season of the Mosquito."

The impossibly beautiful creature brushed her blond hair to the side. The Bretonnian children sat crossed-legged on a small hill before her. For the first times in their lives they were well fed and clean. The elf girl took satisfaction in their attentiveness; this lesson was important. The girls would later be returned to share this wisdom with their fellow savages.

"Their once was a race of men no different from your own," she told them. "They lived in the sands far south. Their isolation could have afforded them a peaceful existence, but they did not have my people to guide them like you do. So instead they killed one another over minor differences until only one king was left rule the tattered nation. With no real enemies left to challenge him, the paranoid king forced his starving people into labor; building massive stone monuments in his image. He thought that this would dissuade talk of rebellion, but when old age beset the foolish king he was terrified. Having lived for prestige rather then pleasure, the concept of death mocked his life choices. He would die, the statues would crumble, and he would be forgotten. That realization would have led a wiser man to attempt redemption, but the cowardly king choose to plead into the darkness. With the cruelest irony he was granted his wish; he would feast upon the living and live among the dead. He was forever cursed to exist in the same parasitic manner that he had in life.

"So his kingdom soon became a blight upon the land. Crops wilted and live-stock starved but the king did not mind it, he turned his farms into grave yards and his farmers into chattel. By this point all the smartest of the desert people had fled north, and the mad king had shared his curse with his closest relatives and advisers. It wasn't long before they had no natural living men left to prey upon. Although they were creatures of death, they still feared it. The perverted way with which they altered themselves had changed the nature of their existence into a bitter contradiction. They did not seek to improve the quality of their own principle, they did not intend to define their own sense of beauty. These "Vampire Counts" sought life at it's most successful, to fed on any source of vitality they could find in a futile attempt to replace what they had forsaken. Yet with such a need for constant destruction, they had removed all possibilities for pleasure and contentment within their existence. They could never be virtuous. They traveled out of the desert, not men but monsters."

The elf woman paused to observe her students. Higher thinking could be difficult for man, whose inherit flaws were the moral of this story. She found it strange that a creature with powerful rational facilities could so easily succumb to such weakness. The children sat in silence, obediently hanging on her every word. It was good that the elves took these gifted Brettonians young. Early guidance was key, as their potential to learn seemed to decrease with age.

"With the consumption of life as their only purpose, it was inevitable that they would come to Athel Loren. Lining up at our western boarder with the bones of your people for slaves, the air stank in a way it never had before. A horde of zombies stood on the far right flank, led by a necromancer who's deviant activities are not tolerated by civilization. To the far left was a squad of black knights, once your people's finest warriors, now slaves serving those who killed them. The vampires took position between them, hoping to use the expendable corpses for cover. Calling themselves blood knights, they were led by the eldest of their kind. Dark magics swirled around their filthy armor. They marched toward the forest.

"Cowardice is not suffered by the spirits of Athel Loren. To survive here is to embrace your nature and live your life to perfection. To be happy and content in this world one must be free to utilize themselves as they are best able. To this end, it is the individual who is responsible for maintaining all that is good. Our minds are the only tools we have to guide us. Only a creature terrified by the prospect of failure would be willing to forsake themselves to live off of the actions of others."

One of the children, a male, interrupted the elf to proclaim his confusion. Though she wouldn't tolerate this lack of discipline with an elven child, today she overlooked the boy's indiscretion. These girls would someday be the neighboring nation's sole practitioners of magic, and it was crucial that the proper philosophy guide their people into the future. The elf knew that if her kind couldn't teach the humans the correct way to live, evil would be the only heir to the earth.

"Many kinds of creatures call this forest home. Though it may not seem like it, there is an order here that they all must obey. This is especially true for my people as well," she said. Holding out her palm for the children to see, a small insect gently landed in the center. The children recognized the pest immediately, a mosquito! Much to the children's surprise, the woman did not crush the bug, nor did it attempt to bite her. The ancient truce between the creatures of Athel Loren was something beyond human comprehension, the she-elf continued.

"This mosquito is a parasite that annoys it's victims. It drinks a small amount of blood before flying off to feed its young. It has an important role in the balance of life here, so many animals eat these pests that we wouldn't want to live here without them. The trout we caught yesterday, for example, would starve without bugs like this one.

"Now I want you to imagine a mosquito that killed everything it bit," she demanded. "Such a parasite could not exist in any environment, it would quickly destroy its own food sources and starve. It might try to migrate, but it would leave behind only death in it's wake. Even if they were successful with every conquest, such a creature is still doomed by it's very nature.

"So it was during the Season of the Mosquito, and the terrible battle that resulted. My people focused three volleys into the vampires, their enchanted arrows pierced the rotting hearts of all but the eldest among them. Surviving to reach our lines, it was an act of unprecedented irrationality. The ancient vampire commanded his dark forces to strike out, instantly slaying my people in droves. With that the battle was over, the surviving elves retreated into the forest.

"Though many of my people were lost, the vampires had nothing to celebrate. Cursed to feed on the living, it shouldn't have been a surprise when they were left with naught but death. The Blood Knights were decimated, and the remaining vampires went thirsty. They had no choice but to move on in search of an easier meal, with their foul smelling horde following."