To Seek a Vampirate

It was the year 2127 and the locket was still all he had left of her. For years, Ezra Smith had opened the heart-shaped locket and stared at the picture of the two children it depicted, himself and his sister, Genevieve, “Jenny” to Ezra. Jenny would be about eighteen now, three years older than Ezra.

When the pandemic of 2119 started, their parents, like so many in Metropolis North America North East, or METRONANE as it was commonly known, became sick within a week of the outbreak being declared a global pandemic and were dead a few days later. Hospitals were overrun and healthy children were quickly sent to government-controlled islands to quarantine.

The siblings were separated when they were assigned to different vessels heading to different islands. Ezra went to Quarantine Island Beta 9 and believed Jenny to have been sent to Quarantine Island Alpha 5 but was not certain. The evacuation happened so fast; it was hard to be clear on who went where.

Six months into his stay on Quarantine Island Beta 9 martial law was declared after contact with the government was shut off and an outbreak occurred on the island. Ezra survived the tumultuous times while Beta 9 and other islands stabilized. Eight years later, Ezra had established himself as a capable sailor, mechanic, and electrician. He sailed throughout the islands known as “The Betas and Gammas” – islands that were known to be free of disease and in open cooperation with pandemic survivors on the other respective islands with Beta and Gamma designations.

Ezra opened the heart-shaped locket each morning and prayed he would see Jenny again. As he went through his day, there were always moments he would call Jenny to mind and see his situation through her eyes. He would imagine how she would take in the experience, what she’d do, and what she’d say. It was like she was still with him in those moments.

Ezra knew where Alpha 5 was but it was not part of The Betas and Gammas. Alpha 5 was one of seven islands in the Alpha chain. The Alphas were all manmade islands and were also the ones closest to the mainland, visible from the tallest buildings in METRONANE. As a result, survivors on The Alphas have scavenged the mainland the most and have the most guns and ammunition. Rather than seek peace with The Betas and Gammas, The Alphas resorted to piracy and steal the resources they lack. The Alphas are strictly off-limits to those from The Betas and Gammas.

Ezra had a made himself a sailboat with a solar powered electric motor which he knew could get him to from Beta 9 to the Alphas. But he knew, he’d have to go to one particular island first. An island that no one from The Betas and Gammas went to – “The Island of No Return”.

Ezra wanted to go to The Island of No Return because that was where the Vampirate Lord was said to live. The Vampirate Lord was called such because he was understood to be the Lord over The Island of No Return and because he was said to be an immortal vampire. It was said the Vampirate Lord knows all who venture through the seas and knows all that they know. If you wanted to know something, the Vampirate Lord was the one to seek out. However, if you sought the Vampirate Lord out at the Island of No Return then one of two outcomes were certain: you would not return and if you did you would return minus one eye and never wish to return to it again.

Amber Joats was such a one-eyed person who had come from The Island of No Return. Amber came to Beta 9 seeking refuge from the Alphas. Ezra had rescued Amber from her makeshift raft. Amber it turned out was the perfect person to learn about The Island of No Return from and the so-called Vampirate Lord.

Amber was born on The Island of No Return which she explained was actually called “Montfelia” by those who lived there. Amber knew the Vampirate Lord as “Kaius” though many of the inhabitants called him Lord Kaius by reference. Kaius was not a vampire, but a vyken, a magical creature that could create and control vampires, was immortal, and did not suffer from the restrictions and vulnerabilities of vampires. Vyken, like vampires, had hollow fangs. Kaius was able to use the blood of humans and animals as a source of magic. Further, Kaius could take a human’s eye into his fangs and then “see” everything that person had seen with their own eyes. If Kaius allowed that person to live, further, he was forever capable of seeing whatever that person saw through the remaining eye.

Amber’s parents were the descendants of Africans that had been sold into slavery and were intercepted by Kaius’ pirate ship, the Darkwing, on its way to the slave market in Charleston. No one in Montfelia knew how old Kaius was but it was widely known that Montfelia as a settlement began with Africans rescued from slavery by Lord Kaius and that Kaius had lived for at least six centuries.

Over a five-hundred-year period Montfelia became a flourishing community filled with people who had been rescued from some form of bondage by Lord Kaius. When Kaius rescued people they were given a choice, settle in Montfelia where they would be provided for so long as they never left, or they could give Kaius their eye as payment and seek out whatever life they chose. Those born in Montfelia were given the same choice; if they wanted to leave Montfelia they could never return and had to pay with an eye.

Amber Joats was the first resident of Montfelia in a generation to desire to leave the island when she made the decision to leave the life she had known and seek a new one. Her parents cursed her and declared her a fool. They resigned themselves to a future without her. Kaius on the other hand was very understanding and wished Amber well as he deftly plucked out Amber’s left eye with one hand and placed it between his fangs and popped a glass eye into Amber’s empty socket with his other hand. Her eye between his fangs glowed bright white until it disappeared in a magical poof. “It’s a big world we live in,” Kaius acknowledged, “I don’t blame you for wanting to explore it.”

Amber had never been lucky. She was especially unlucky in making her decision to leave Montfelia only days before the 2119 pandemic exploded. She went from having every need met to a daily struggle to survive. She’d eventually taken up with some pirates of the Alphas. She told them of The Island of No Return and the Vampirate Lord. Soon, one by one some they would disappear. One by one they’d return with an eye-patch and one fewer eye.

Often the pirates seeking out the Vampirate Lord were unhappy with their knowledge and having one fewer eye. Amber had created enemies and so she fled. She was constantly on the run in the Alphas and now she found refuge in Beta 9.

Amber was grateful to Ezra and wanted to thank him. When Amber noticed Ezra’s heart-shaped locket and Ezra explained about his lost sister, she knew she had to tell Ezra about Kaius and Montfelia. Sure enough once Ezra heard Amber’s tales, he was determined to go to Montfelia. He left within days of Amber's revelation.

Back at Montfelia, Kaius happened to be viewing through Amber's eye as she was rescued by Ezra. Kaius' ability to see through the remaining eyes of those he bargained with was aided by the wearing of helmet which allowed Kaius to focus into a trancelike state and to then see visions captured by his eyes as he looks through the ocularium of the helmet. Kaius could see from the point of view of an individual or navigate visions from the eyes were like satellite images, overlaying. Being crowdsourced, they could be obscured from a hazy fog in areas.

Kaius had extensive surveillance over the Alphas and Betas and in particular the area that Ezra's sister had been sent to. In fact, Kaius' power was such that seeing the picture of Ezra's sister allowed him to find her in his vast repository of visions. He saw her clearly as he peered through the ocularium.

Dawn was breaking as Ezra sailed into what was known as “Hope Harbor” in Montfelia. Raising his telescope, Ezra could see him, the Vampirate himself, Lord Kaius, standing on the dock looking right back at Ezra.

As Ezra climbed onto the dock, Kaius greeted him.

“I know why you’ve come,” Kaius said.

Ezra reached for the heart-shaped locket hanging around his neck. “You do?” he asked.

“Yes. I do. I could see you speaking to Amber. Sit down.” Kaius gestured to the edge of the dock.

Ezra sat. To his surprise, Kaius sat down next to him and put an arm over his shoulder. Ezra turned to face Kaius and noticed tears seemed to be forming in Kaius’ eyes.

“Ezra,” Kaius began, “your sister died from an outbreak of the disease on Alpha 5 two months after arriving there. I’m so sorry.”

Suddenly a dagger of pain shot into Ezra’s stomach. His insides felt like they might all suddenly exit his hind end. A wave of nausea rolled over him as he felt Kaius’ arm around him contract, steadying Ezra.

“Ezra, your grief is unavoidable. I cannot do anything to stop it. It is the price we pay for love. What I can do is remind you that your sister has lived in your eyes these many years and there she will continue to live. The love you shared is forever.” Kaius reached out and grasped the heart-shaped locket with his fingers, “Love does not die, people do.”