Nosferatu stood facing a dreary landscape. The desolate, blasted rock and the eternally darkened skies wrapped his surroundings in a thick blanket of melancholy. Muted lava flows ran like tears down the mountain, washing away any plants that had struggled to the surface to choke on the ashen air. Nosferatu would be barely visible in this gloom if it weren’t for the purple cloud ring glowing at the top of the volcano.
This all would be very depressing to Nosferatu, if he had eyes. Nosferatu, like other Vitae, does not have face. No eyes, no ears, not even a mouth. Instead the Vitae are able to sense energy in strange way that allowed them to get along better then sight or any other senses would.
One of the Magi had once tried to cut open a Vitae’s skull to see how the brain worked and processed this information about energy but accidentally cut into a nerve and was fatally shocked with approximately 12 billion volts.
The Vitae are not just strange within, but they also have their oddities without. They are skeletal in appearance, the have long, narrow arms and legs and there torso is just as thin except for a large lump of an upper chest. They have long sloping heads with, as previously mentioned, no faces. At the top are long thick strands of metallic hair.
Nosferatu, was not a normal Vitae. He stood at seven feet tall and had thicker limbs then most Vitae. He had dark lines running from his neck down to his fingertips which faintly glowed the same purple as the clouds above. His hair was completely silver instead of the metal medley particular to his race.
In one three-fingered hand he tightly grasped a silver staff as tall as him. Four thin steel wires ran along the length of the staff. Despite not having a face, Nosferatu had an air of determination about him that frightened enemies and inspired allies.
Right now he was watching two groups of Vitae skirmish with the Magi. He was relaying information for the two groups so that they could focus completely on fighting. The vitae were excellent fighters but the Magi were full of tricks. The Vitae appeared to be outnumbered but many of the Magi they fought weren’t real. Nosferatu wondered how they could orchestrate the attacks of the illusions while fighting.
Nosferatu didn’t have time to dwel on this, however, because Vitae in one of the groups wer winking out. He let the second group know he was heading down and charged towards the other group. He was almost there when he caught a glimpse of movement infront of him for a fraction of a second and then was suddenly on his back. Nosferatu wondered what could be so fast as to defy vitae senses. He quickly rolled foreward and hopped up swinging his staff in front of him. He felt it connect and sensed a vaguely Vitae figure sprawled on the ground. Before Nosferatu could focus to find out who it was the form leapt to its feet and disappeared. Nosferatu called for the others to fall back. The vitae quickly complied and Nosferatu concentrated, drawing energy from the heat of the volcano. Those with eyes could see little red lines of energy flow from the ground up into Nosferatu’s legs and spiral up his body slowly changing to purple as they went. The energy seemed to build up in Nosferatu’s clenched fist and when he opened it several bolts of lightning flew from his fingertips carving deep rows in the valley and several of the Magi as well. Some Illusions mimicked the howls of agony of their masters as they received no further commands and the rest fled with their owner’s covering their retreat. After a while Nosferatu clenched his fist back and the energy dissipated through his body.
One of the Magi remained. Nosferatu thought about the second group and the others went to help. The Magi hissed loudly, “Ludek, I need asssissstance!” In a few seconds the vitae Nosferatu had been knocked down by appeared at the Magi’s side.
“Definitely Vitae, “ Nosferatu thought, “But not anyone I know.”
“Don’t call me that!” Ludek thought back at Nosferatu angrily, “I am not one of you butchers!” Now one must understand that they didn’t actually have words in this communication. Ideas and pictures and emotions were shared between these two Vitae. The only time words even intruded into the world of the Vitae was when others like the Magi coerced or forced them to except spoken language.
“Capture him!” the Magi shouted. Ludek nodded in reply and disappeared from Nosferatu. Nosferatu spun around looking for any kind of energy trail left by Ludek but only the heat of the volcano and the Magi showed up. Nosferatu started swinging blindy with his staff and the Magi laughed.
“You think you’re better then usss becaussse you don’t need eyesss to ssee? A lot of good your sssensssesss are doing you know! I’ve given Ludek the ability to hide his radiant energy so you can’t find him, and he moves too fast for you to respond to his kinetic energy!” The magi began hissing gleefully. Nosferatu was suddenly knocked to the ground again. As he fell he noticed movement along the ground. “The rocks!” he thought. He got up and watched the streaks of movement on the ground.
“Given up already?” the Magi thought this time instead of hissing, “Fine take the fun out of this.” As the movement moved towards him Nosferatu calmly took a step forwards and brought up the heavy end of the staff under his chin and carried him and his momentum up sending Ludek flying in an arc above their heads.Nosferatu grabbed Ludek’s ankle and slammed him into the ground. The Magi cursed loudly at Nosferatu as his hands began to glow purple and he grasped Ludek’s face. The magi took off in fear while Nosferatu drained Ludek of energy and then dragged him back to the camp.