Vittorio Intaglio, Heir-Inquisitor

The world seemed to narrow around me, my vision grew focused but distant all the same. Images blurred together and colors became duller. I fell back down onto my butt silently, my sword falling to my side as my racing heart ground to an icy pace. What was that thing? What had I done to it? Was it human? My mind was a storm of errant thoughts and ringing noises. The meaty hacking repeating and repeating as the shadow of my actions interlaced my cloudy vision.

I sat there for what felt like hours, the only thing scattering the fog was the flickering of lights ahead of me. Or was it? No, it was Cecco’s hand, and his voice as well came flooding in alongside it. The symphony of wet slashing broken up by his endearing voice. But then, suddenly.

“Come on, snap out of it!”

Whap!

The clouds in my mind scattered, my thoughts rushed back to their proper place, and my cheek stung quite badly.

“Ow…” I said, clutching at my cheek and idly rubbing it for a second.

“Are you okay, what the hell was that?” Cecco dropped down to his knees ahead of me, cupping my cheeks to stare me in the eyes. I began to blush hard, pulling myself away from him.

“H-hey, hey!” I shouted, shaking my head. “I’m fine. Don’t touch me like that. Come on.” I added as I pushed myself up off the ground, patting the dust off my butt and picking my sword up off the ground, slapping it back into its scabbard.

Cecco stood there for a second. “Come on, are you okay?” He sighed.

I nodded. “Yes, I think so, just got ahead of myself.”

“You were out for at least 20 minutes there, you know.”

I smiled. “It felt like longer, but.” I clenched my hands into fists and placed them ahead of me, shaking them a bit. “We have a job to do, right? Ever-onwards.”

Cecco shook his head and sighed once more, withdrawing the map from his satchel and unfurling it. He spoke as he began walking. “Was that your first?”

“Mm?”

“Kill, you killed that th-“

“Yes, I’m aware.” I interjected. “That was my first.” Did I come off as short?

“It gets easier.” Cecco said, placing a hand on my shoulder.

I shimmied my shoulder a bit to get him off. I didn’t quite feel like being touched right now. Cecco ducked his head a bit before quickening his pace. We continued on for a little while longer, the artificial planes of agriculturalism giving way to sparse woodlands lit by intermittent lanterns. We stopped at an opening in the woods with a dirt path heading down the way.

“It’s down this way.” Cecco said, jabbing a finger towards the entrance. “If you want to stay, you can. I’m used to working alone.”

“I’d rather not have you fighting off those… Things alone.” I said, sighing. “And like you said, it gets easier. I’d rather never feel that way again. I need the practice.”

Cecco grinned. “Now you’re catching on!” He said, wrapped an arm around my neck and pulling me close to him as he made pace down the path. His free hand grabbed at his helmet and placed it on his head. I did the same, withdrawing a helmet from a hook at my hip and planting it on my head as I freed myself from his grasp.

After a startlingly long walk down an unlit, densely wooded pathway we finally came upon the location of this bloodsucker, presuming what we killed before wasn’t in fact it. It was an old building, seemingly made of carved white bricks detailed with larger red stone trims. It was in poor repair, barely recognizable as something used for work. Vicenzo must’ve been fibbing a bit, or he gave us the wrong map.

Cecco came up to the door which seemed to be held tight. He pulled at the handle a few times to no avail. “Stand back.” He said. I obliged.

Bam! Bam! He kicked at the door a few times before it finally came flying off its hinges. Something squealed inside as the door rumbled, leaned against something on the floor. thrashing, bony legs could be seen kicking underneath. Cecco cleaved his greatsword downwards and severed its feet from its legs in a single swing. It howled with pain before throwing the heavy door off itself and into cecco, smashing him into a wall.

I dived forward, unsheathing my blade and swinging it down at its head. It reached up, parrying with its bare hand. Shards of bone came spilling from its bloodless grasp as my sword hacked down to its wrist. It withdrew that hand and clawed at me with the other. I swept my blade up, severing that hand and doubling back to carve into its skull. I cut a clean line from forehead to chin. I kicked my boot ahead, sending it flying backwards into the wall. A loud crunch heralded its skull breaking open against the brick.

A loud wail came from deeper within the building as something scampered on four legs. It bounded into the entry hallway and leapt towards me. Cecco thrusted forward from his position at the wall, slamming it into the wall opposite of him and bringing his right hand back. Icy crystals danced between his digits as he curled them into a fist and slammed it ahead. As his fist struck the beast’s cheek, they emerged from the other side following a hail of severed teeth. He struck again, this time in the temple as his free hand clutched at its neck. He threw it to the ground and stomped on its head, charging forth into the building.

“On me, Vittorio!”

“Got it!” I shouted, hanging close behind him.

The fog that crept off Cecco’s body seemed to reach through every hallway we passed and filled every corridor we visited. He was acutely aware of everything that dwelled in that fog, pivoting on his feet to level gruesome cuts at the most effective spots well into his blind spots. He was truly a being of ice, no mere spellsword. Cecco seemed to be handling most of the beasts as we went, I was simply there to cover his flank.

We approached a double door which cecco met with his lowered shoulder, shattering his way through the plank that kept it locked shut. Atop a pile of pale corpses stood a gray-skinned human with glistening red eyes that pierced the fog. It stood up, flourishing a curved, serrated saber.

“So the time has come.” He said, wet squishes heralding his descent down the pile of hollowed bodies. They twitched as he treaded over them, as if alive. “If not House Volkheim to find me, then what of some Ascadian hicks with a death wish.” He spoke, his free hand gesturing as he went. It flew forward, a deeply unnatural speed behind its charge. Cecco barely had time to respond as his sword smacked into his wrist. Shards of flesh seemed to flake off cecco as if he was a sculpture made of ice, he was unphased.

Cecco gripped at the center of his blade and pivoted the pommel forward, smashing the saber-wielder square in the jaw and sending him spiraling down onto four arms. Cecco dived ahead, attempting to lodge the tip of his blade into the beasts forehead as it rolled away, grasping back at its saber and twisting its body to cleave into Cecco’s back. Cecco screamed out as his body smashed into the floor. He flipped himself over, his fist moving with the momentum of his body.

“Vampire!” Cecco shouted.

“How astute of y-” It was cut short by an icy fist colliding with its jaw. As it fell to its side I raised my greave and kicked into the other side, fully dislodging it and leaving it to hang slack. It turned to face me, driving forward with its saber before cecco grabbed at its shoulder and pulled it back, slamming it into the floor and hammering his fist into its head repeatedly.

My heart raced as I anticipated what to do, the dense fog was limiting my vision, and this beast didn’t quite seem to care about Cecco’s repeated blows.

“Vittorio, the mound!” Cecco said as he railed blow after blow into the Vampire’s head. The fog cleared to reveal the twitching mass giving way to several animated bodies. They staggered and groaned as they dragged themselves free of the pile of meat. I ran ahead, my free hand clenching into a fist. Fire twisted around my wrists before consolidating just ahead of my hand. As my fist met the fireball a jet of shaped flames surged ahead. A hole the size of a cannonball was bored directly into one of the monster’s chests. I twisted my body, carving my sword aside and lopping the head off of one not yet fully freed from its meaty prison.

Meanwhile, Cecco was still tarrying with the vampire which had now thrown him off, it was visibly slower than it was before, and it let out this horrific groan as it swung at Cecco and barely missed. Overcommitting to its strikes, its saber repeatedly met furniture and support pillars as it hacked wildly at its target.

As I cleaned up the last of the thralls that freed themselves from the hideous pile of meat I broke into a full sprint, chasing down the Vampire to the other side of the room and hacking my blade into the back of its head. It screeched, reaching its hand back and ripping the blade free, scattering it aside. It twisted its upper body like the head of an owl, carving its sword back at me and catching my elbow plate, breaking it free. The Vampire, seemingly overwhelmed, let out a loud howl and leapt through one of the windows nearby, shattering the glass.

Cecco gave chase, and I followed. Dingy hallways gave way to the dense woods as we erupted from the back door of the sweatshop. As Cecco nearly reached it, a loud crack echoed out and smoke bellowed from the tree line into the opening we occupied.

“Clear hit. Well done.” A raspy voice said. Three pairs of glistening eyes peered out from a shrub. The tallest of the three emerged, heavy black armored trimmed with gold adorning his frame. A long beard trailed down from his chin, white, which he idly stroked with a clawed gauntlet. A rifleman emerged shortly after, holding what seemed like a metal barrel atop a wooden pole.

“Karlov, retrieve the corpse. Viem, leave the two.” He said, gesturing with two fingers, swirling them overhead. The rifleman began to clean, clear, and reload his rifle as a third vampire emerged from the brush. It grabbed at the dead vampire and hoisted it over its shoulders.

“Lord Ivaes will be pleased.” The armored vampire said, cackling as he vanished back into the brush.

Cecco was speechless, as was I. The three vampires were gone within minutes, they payed no mind to us whatsoever.