The Fallen Vampire

Abbott Tang slowly opened his eyes and let out a groan that came from deep within his old bones.

Before he could even sit up on his own, he had a flurry of concerned sect members all hovering over his head and trying to help him up.

"T-Take it easy, Abbott!"

"You may have a knot on your head, sir…"

"Where's our medic??!"

"…"

Abbott Tang lashed out with his cane and struck the three disciples closest to him on their heads.

"Hmph! I'm not some bumbling old man who needs the coddling of whippersnappers like you lot! Make room!"

The disciples begrudgingly cleared the way for their grandmaster as he shakily got to his feet. Everyone merely pretended that they did not see him wobbling.

Except for one man that is.

"HA! I see the last hundred years haven't been kind to you, Tang-Boy!"

If the Abbot thought his day couldn't get any worse, he was about to learn he was sorely mistaken.

A shadow passed over the deck and the thunder clan cultists looked up to find a familiar face.

An old fallen man was held up in the air by a pair of great oily black wings. His nose was an orange beak that was somehow sharp enough to put any knife or sword to shame.

He appeared to be in around his late fifties, with long black hair the same color as his feathers.

His eyes were unendingly amused, as if he were the kind of person who could find joy in just about everything. Even when the situations absolutely did not call for it.

To the trained senses, one wouldn't notice anything particularly ominous about him.

But those with more heightened talents of awareness would notice it immediately. The fact that his body had no odor.

"Do I strike you as someone who is in the mood for your childish games, Gu Mu-Sung?! If you do not give me an explanation for your childishness then don't blame me for not sparing you!" Abbot Tang roared.

The flying man, whom Abbot Tang referred to as Gu Mu-Song, nearly stopped beating his wings when he was suddenly accosted out of the blue.

"...What are you on about, you dodgy old coot? Has qi deviation finally grabbed hold of your mind and treated it like a back alley whore?"

"Do not try to play the fool, even with your extensive experience in the subject! It will not save you from me today!"

Gu Mu-Song scratched his head in confusion.

Did he do fucked up things? Yes. Habitually in fact.

But he hadn't done anything of late, and certainly nothing to earn this kind of reaction from the Abbot of all people.

As he wracked his brain for answers, they came to him in a manner in which he least expected.

*Tweet!* "Mate!" *Tweet!*

An adorable red breasted bird suddenly circled the flying man who she seemed to be trying to coax into being her mate.

Gu Mu-Song felt his jaw drop all the way to his knees.

He slowly pointed at the bird while checking with the Abbott for confirmation. "Tang-Boy... Did you hear this bird just talk...?"

Abbot Tang's intense aura dissipated.

"...You were not the one responsible for this?"

"What are you implying, you deluded old fool? Do you think just because I have these wings I can make birds talk?!"

Abbott Tang shrugged.

"Well I can't!!"

"You're both idiots." A new voice said.

The men looked over at the other ship docked on the beach and the 100 cultists who were disembarking in an orderly fashion.

At their head there was a man in sophisticated looking white and grey robes.

Despite his regal aura, he had a roguish looking face complete with a bright auburn beard and hair. He wore a pair of silver lined glasses that didn't quite match his aesthetic. Perhaps in a bid to make himself stand out more.

...And when you're a dwarf who stands at 5'0 tall, you kind of need all of the help that you can get.

"This is obviously some sort of new phenomena... The qi within the air feels saturated even more than usual somehow... by my estimate, I would say it is around 1.5 times more potent than normal. I am hoping the Gentle Brotherhood will provide an explanation for this occurrence."

Abbot Tang and Gu Mu-Song looked at each other, and then the newcomer.

Gu Mu-Song: "Obviously we knew that."

Abbot Tang: "We don't need you to sit in our faces and attempt to make us feel stupid, Grandmaster Hideyoshi."

Gu Mu-Song: "That's right. Mind your manners, you fucking dwarf."

Abbot Tang: "Okay, too far."

Grandmaster Hideyoshi merely shook his head and continued leading his sect off their boat. "Barbarians..."

Together, the three sect leaders led their sects each consisting of at least 100 men onto the island.

As they traveled further and further inland, they encounter more talking animals.

And not just birds either.

They crossed paths with many curious deer, some irate species of primate, around a dozen hungry squirrels and too many animals in heat to count.

The sects tried a number of times to communicate with the animals and ask them why they could talk, but none of them gave a clear answer. Over 65% of them didn't know words beyond their basic instincts and desires.

The valley was located so deep inland they it took the sects around an hour to reach it even at their fastest speeds.

They expected to find the valley just as immaculately beautiful as it had been for the past thousand years or so.

But they were in for a large shock when they found that every flower, blade of grass, and stone for 600 yards had been turned into an ice sculpture.

Was it beautiful? Undoubtedly.

But that didn't make it any less jarring for them.

"Esteemed guests..."

As always, the Gentle Brotherhood appeared silently without so much as a gust of wind to announce them.

First Brother lead the group with a respectful cupped fist salute.

"Abbott Tang Gyeoksan of the Thundering Cloud Sect. Grandmaster Gu Mu-Song of the Purple Haze Sect. And Dan Master Hideyoshi of the Profound Pill Union. It is an honor to be in your prese-"

"Spare us all that useless flattery, eunuch! Why is the whole valley covered in ice?? It's 72 degrees outside!" Grandmaster Mu-Song complained.

"Ah... This was an event outside of our control." First Brother shrugged. "Three days ago, one of the Dai-Shi had a breakthrough and released a unique energy with it. The plants here froze and the animals nearest to him at the time developed the ability to talk."

The three sect leaders, as well as the aides closest to them, all had comically different reactions.

But among them, Abbot Tang was the one who seemed the least confused and most excited.

"So they really came then?? I was worried that they were both just being polite!"

"Indeed not, Abbot. Both of the Dai-Shi have been inside with their family for the past few days. They have yet to complain or ask for anything, so we can only assume that they are comfortable."

"Wonderful! Get my men settled in, will you? I'm going to exchange my greetings!"

Despite being an old man with a frail look to him, Abbot Tang showed some surprising pep in his step as he made a beeline straight for one of the surrounding manors.

"I assume you gave them Setsuka's old dwellings, yes?" He called without looking back.

"We did indeed, Abbot."

"Ha! Wonderful! Just wonderful!"

The two remaining sect leaders slowly blinked their eyes in confusion.

"Curious... It seems there has been a development we've not been made aware of." Master Hideyoshi raised a brow.

First Brother faltered for a moment before he eventually decided that there was no reason to keep the secret any longer than necessary.

"Abbess Satsuma and most of her disciples perished around fifty years ago. The sole survivor and her husband have decided to rebuild the sect together in her memory."

Murmurs dried throughout the individual sects of 300 men and women.

All of the grandmasters were thought to be invincible by their pupils. The revelation that an entire sect had fallen five decades ago without any of their knowledge was like receiving a sudden left hook from a bear.

"Impossible." Grandmaster Mu-Song shook his head. "Who could have even been overzealous enough to wipe out an entire sect like that?"

First Brother did have the answers that he was looking for, no matter how badly he wanted them.

All that he could do was offer one small piece of advice that would hopefully alleviate their curiosity.

"Perhaps you can ask the Dai-Shi themselves when you meet them. But I must encourage you to exercise a bit of-"

"Show my men to their quarters." Grandmaster Mu-Song stormed off before First Brother could finish his warning and headed straight for the Black Myth palace.

And after only a moment's deliberation, Dan Master Hideyoshi decided to follow behind him too- his curiosity finally getting the better of him.