I continue fighting the urge to cry over losing Klein in battle, and I wonder to myself not wanting to accept that he's dead.
"this can't be real."
Celeste puts her hand on my shoulder and says sniffling.
"Katie is not breathing, I think she's dead."
I respond with a quivering voice.
"how about the others?"
she replies.
"they'll be fine, as long as we take them back to Rozlania, and let the healers take care of their wounds."
I reply sniffling.
"okay then, open up a portal, I'll make sure they get healed."
"what happened?"
I answer, avoiding making eye contact with him.
"we lost."
he asks, suspecting that something wasn't right.
"how bad was it?"
I take a deep breath and reply.
"all of you guys got wounded while fighting the vampire lords and then, we lost Katie, Aktosh and Klein."
he stares at the ground and responds while clenching his hands.
"damn it, I failed you again, Collin."
"no you didn't, we made the mistake trying to take on too many enemies, when we shouldn't have."
Celeste says to me.
"Master Collin, the portal is open, we should going."
I then ask Ying.
"can you stand on your own?"
he replies as he stands up.
"yeah I think so."
I look to both of them and say.
"alright let's get our people the help they need, and see what we are going to do next."
we carry all of our injured through the portal, including carrying Katie's lifeless body, and as we cross into the other side, where the kings were waiting for our arrival, King Dave notices the condition everyone is in and shouts.
"get the healers here, we've got wounded!"
the other kings stare silently, fearing what fate came of the Klentrak Kingdom, I look to King Dave and say.
"Klentrak has fallen, and even though we managed to save a few citizens there, we ended up losing in battle against the vampires."
King Dave asks.
the Dwarven Kings began to apeak amongst themselves as King Dave asks.
"how bad was it?"
I respond trying to keep my composure.
"they raised an army of vampires, that seem to be in the thousands."
Ellena's father, King Lexur asks concerned.
"are you sure, they managed to raise an army of that size?"
I answer.
"yes, and we must recruit as many abled body, individuals, so that we can match their numbers."
all the kings look ate each other and agree with my suggestion, I then say to King Dave.
"I'll be back, so make sure you take care of my people."
he asks curiously.
"where are you going?"
I answer, as I leave the meeting room.
"I'm going to pay Leonard a visit, to see if he has made any progress with the device."
as I make my way towards Leonard's private quarters, I take a few moments to pay my respects to Klein, and his bravery, I then think to myself, feeling guilty.
"I should have been the one to stay behind."
I knock on his door and as Leonard opens the door, he asks annoyed.
"I'm busy, what do you want?"
I reply.
"I'm here to check on your progress with the device I brought you."
he lets out an exasperated sigh and answers.
"fine come on in."
I enter his room, and as I sit down on the nearest chair, I ask him.
"so did you figure it out?"
he adjusts his glasses, and responds.
"yes, but there is a catch."
I ask.
"well what is it?
he replies as he holds the device in his hand.
"I can bring back the sun for short while, but that's about it."
I ask confused.
"why?"
he answers sighing in frustration.
"well I haven't completely figured how to restore the sun."
I look to the ground and ask myself, losing hope.
"is this our end?"
Leonard then says.
"but don't worry, I've come up with a plan."
I ask.
"what is it?"
he answers.
"if you can get all the vampire lord gathered out in the open at once, I can activate this device and
end this war before it starts."
I then ask.
"what about afterwards?"
he answers dismissively.
"ah it's fine, I'll figure it out eventually."
he stops to clear his throat and asks with a serious tone.
"so tell me, do you think, you can gather all the vampire lords out in the open?"
I reply unsure.
"um sure, I'll come up with something."
he adjusts his glasses and chuckles.
"good then this world can still be saved."
I then ask him.
"should I tell King Dave and the rest about your plan?"
he answers.
"obviously."
as I stand up to leave, he stops me and says.
"before you leave, there is something else I figured out, that might freak you out."
I think to myself.
"I've encountered many strange things in my adventures, so whatever he says won't surprise me."
I then ask.
"what did you figure out?"
he answers.
"when the pre cursors were still alive, they used to conduct many experiments."
I ask a bit intrigued.
"where are you going with this?"
he responds.
"one of the experiments they invested a lot of their time in, was eternal life."
the words eternal life reverberates in my head as I remember Abigail saying that, I then ask him feeling uneasy.
"does that mean, the existence of vampires were their doing?"
he answers.
"not only that, I have reason to believe that, the vampire lords are pre cursors themselves."
completely surprised by this revelation I ask.
"are you sure about this?"
he nods.
"yeah, I stumbled across this information when I was looking for any references regarding the device."
I ask.
"so how are the device and vampire lords connected?"
he answers.
"they successfully figured out eternal life, but it came at a cost, they no longer had a beating heart, they acquired a taste for mortal blood, and
the sun became their natural enemy, so they created a device to block out the sun, but they were stopped by other pre cursors before the sun was blocked."
I sigh and reply.
"hold on, this is a lot to process."
he replies excited.
"yeah I know, this discovery I made is both terrifying and incredible."
I respond.
"yeah I guess it is."
as I leave his quarters, I say to him.
"I'll let the kings know about your plan, and if they like it, I'll come get you."
he replies.
"alright, while you do that, I'll keep on studying this device and see if I can reverse the effects permanently."
I walk down the spiral staircase, feeling completely overwhelmed with information and emotions, that I just sit down on one of the steps and silently sob to myself for a good thirty minutes, I then stand back back and give myself some words of encouragement.
"keep your head on straight, Ellena and Hope are still depending on you."
I walk back to the meeting room with all the kings who are arguing about where we should meet the vampires in battle and I ready myself to explain Leonard's plan to them.