The Vordannen Manor (Ying Zheng) CLOSED

The Vordannen Manor: 5:00 am

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Kai was awake again, it was before the sunrise and he still couldn't sleep. He kept on dreaming of the House of Taiza he'd killed, he could still see their blood spilled on the floor, it scared him. He sat up, and got out of bed stretching. He still lived without a wife, his mother lived in another part of the Manor, but it was huge with many different buildings, seperated, it was more of a castle then a manor, with it's huge walls, and buildings, although the main gates were currently opened, the palisade gate that was at the front of Kais house was closed, and guarded They had owned this piece of land for centuries yet it was still full of lost and ancient mysteries left undiscovered.

And to think a few years ago it had almost been destroyed by the Taiza House, until he had ended the siege by beheading the head of the Taiza, Sol Mingh. He wouldn't be able to get sleep for a while. He walked out of his room and into his hallway, there were many doors on each side. Some were full of shelves, and closets, and others had small reading rooms, or places of rest, and some full of extra rooms. Then he came to the main part of the house, and the strangest in architecture. A fork came broke, three doorways lead three ways. The on in the middle contained a spiraling stair that stretched up and down, there were some platforms that came suddenly in the middle of the stairwell, round metal disks with gaps in the edges to let the stairs through, and doors on the sides. He went down these stairs he remembered so well, after all this house had belonged to his father before him, but after his father died his mother couldn't bear the sight of the house anymore, and moved to the other side of the manor, so many memories were here. So many empty rooms, left to gather dust in the silence and shadow, it was seemed gloomy now that it was not full of the sounds it had once been full of. All his family members did not wish at all to occupy it. Kai felt so lonely now, he needed a wife, he needed children. The wood stair handle felt cold, compared to the warmth it had hallowed once. Finally he was down the stairs in the main hall.

At once time this hall was lit by a crackling fireplace, but now that fireplace was always left unlit. Kai bent some fire, and lit the smouldering remains of wood that were left in the fireplace. If crackled, and burned a small flame, he shivered, it would never burn the same as it once had. It shined light on the carpet in that hall, a long rug spread over a long carpet armchairs on the sides, now empty, but filled with the ghosts of his past. He walked through it in his robe barefoot. The carpet seemed so filled with patched of dirt. The fire created shadows on the walls, and one in particular stretch into the corner, and at first he thought it was a trick of his eyes, but after staring into the shadow for a while, he swore he saw eyes there, and... a being. Someone had broken in.

"Who's there!" he yelled out. The shadow didn't move, the eyes just kept staring at him, glaring. It sent a chill down his spine, he didn't want to accept this fear but he had to. He stared right into its eyes, it stared right back, then he thought he heard a voice say, "You...you killed me." it said. Kai began to shake, until he couldn't stop shaking, in his fear, he threw a ball of fire at it. The fireball arched gracefully, the eyes still sat there as it flew, until the fireball hit the shadow. He heard nothing when it hit but a crackle, but he swore that in that crackle he heard a shriek. The wallpaper burned there for a while, and Kai allowed it to for a few minutes. It didn't smoke. He put it out with a wave of his hand, and approached the corner.

There was no body, nothing, it was all in his head. "Wake up Kai" he said to himself. He turned and entered the dining room of the house, it was small and round, and ornately decorated. The turtle shell tiles on the floor gave it dazzling beauty, however in its state it looked... haunting. Suddenly, another chill went down his spine. Then he saw them, eyes out of the window. At first he stared at them, and then they blinked. I'm still here." he heard something say. He grabbed a broken piece of one of the tiles and threw it at the window, it broke with a loud crackling sound. He sat there for a while, staring at the window shaking more then ever, the shaking stopped when he heard the footsteps of his guards, they were coming from behind him. "Sire are you all right." one of them said, as they ran in swords drawn.
"Yes, yes I'm fine." Kai said. He was in a state of shock, his face was a pale white. "Clean this mess up, and go on moderate alert, stand by." he said.
"Yes, sir." the guards said, they both left, one to get one of the servants, the other to warn the guards. Kai sat down at his table, and grabbed one of the cups, it still had water in it. He sipped it. Dirty like the rest of the place. He looked in it there was a small cloud of dirt in it, off the ceiling perhaps. He threw it on the ground, watching it shatter. A few minutes later a servant was in the room cleaning up the glass.

Kai climbed up the ladder to the watch tower, that was by his gate, he was dressed in uniform now, and it was 5:00. His guard saluted him. "At ease soldier." Kai said. "Your off duty soldier." he said, "I'll take this shift."
The guard smiled. "Yes sir." The guard climbed down the ramp. Kai leaned on the balcony. Staring down at the manor below. He could see his mothers house far away from here, of course her window was the one encompassed by trees, she didn't want to see this house from her window. Then he saw a shadow walking away from her house near the main gate. Kai shivered again, he looked around for the guards binoculars, and finding them looked through them towards the figure. this was no spirit, it was a real person.

He looked towards his mothers house, the lower window by the door was glowing from the lamps lit within, then shut off. He put the binoculars down, Why would someone be knocking on doors this early? he thought. The shadow was walking towards his house now, what did this person want. Information, possibly? About what? Kai would have to wait for a few minutes, it was a short walk from his mothers house to his own. He grabbed the hilt of his dagger Taika, clenching it in his hand. Calm down, Kai. he said to himself, he let the hilt go. Calm, he had to be calm.