GREED: ALL FOR WHAT?

There is a lot of distance between alive and dead. A lot can happen in that space between them. He is also an undead with a body that can heal very well. So that distance is very wide. It can contain a lot of painful things and excruciating experiences. She has made her stance clear that she won't take no for an answer. He probably won't be allowed to turn back and leave without facing resistance from her.

He looked at the vampire smiling innocently and sighed. It is displaying facial expressions this time. Its smile is natural but it is not a good sign to him.

He thought to himself, "It is not your fault. You're like the ant feasting on the supple flesh of an elephant that has been brought low by a pack of lions. You feel like you can take advantage of me because I have been brought low by circumstances. It is not your fault at all."

He has been brought low. He was once a Sovereign. He was weak but he had the respect of one. Then he became an origin god and achieved eternity. Now he is being bullied by a Sovereign. She is basically exploiting him. The deal she is offering is not fair. It is not fair at all. He either has to take it or be refused refuge. But it is not her fault. He is weak so he can be cheated. He feels gravely insulted more than cheated.

But he smiled in return. "I have no reason not to sign the blood writ. My promise was sincere. I would do anything to prove it to you even though you don't believe me."

He didn't delay anymore. It is best to do something painful quickly and get it over with as soon as possible. So he cut himself and smeared his blood on the parchment. His blood sank into the paper and created a connection between him and the Oath. He felt it settle on his unstable existence like a heavyweight.

He thought to himself, "I am certain that the demon god has something to do with this. They probably hope to use my promise to force me into conflict with the wood elves."

Honestly, he is not surprised that he has been strong-armed into making an unfair deal. He expected something like this to happen when the demon god made the devil's pit his only option for safety. If not for the fact that there is no time limit on the contract for his promise to be fulfilled, he wouldn't have signed it at all. He would rather take his chances with torture. At least, he would still be alive no matter how bad things get. 

"Thank you very much," the Vampire said after taking away the blood writ. "I am just doing this so that you will feel at home in my devil's pit without fear. Now you know that I will do my utmost best to protect you. You can be rest assured of your safety."

"Right. You are very magnanimous," he said while trying his uttermost best to keep the sarcasm out of his voice.

"I think so too," the Vampire agreed.

They resumed their journey to the devil's pit. The two of them moved at a very fast speed. The world blurred past them as they weaved through the blood trees. The Vampire continued to make small talk. She informed him of the things going on in the plane.

"I heard that the wood elves are contemplating an agreement with the Warrogs. The fountain of life wants a cease-fire between the races," the vampire told him.

"I have heard about it. The demon god told me. Apparently, there is an Emperor out there that is my other pair. She is also very strong. Her existence is single-handedly bringing back the glory of the Warrogs. It is understandable that the wood elves will feel threatened. It will be very difficult for them to come to a peaceful resolution with the Warrogs considering their history."

The vampire shook its head. "There are a lot of reasons why the wood elves will be against the Warrogs. But they don't have a choice right now. A force that can threaten them is a force that can threaten us, which is a force that they can use. Their cooperation is just a matter of time. At most, they will fight each other after the Vampires have been destroyed."

"You were a dark elf when you became a vampire. I expected that you will hate the Warrogs," he observed.

"I don't hate the Warrogs. Maybe some dark elves hate Warrogs, but most of us don't hate them. Dark elves have always been pragmatic. We wanted to use the Warrogs to strengthen ourselves. But the fountain of life refused. It didn't want us to use our divine abilities that way. The Warrog paragons are the best candidates for power siphoning, but they are not the only ones we had our eyes on."

"We wanted to take power from other elves too. The fountain of life didn't like it at all. The disagreements caused a lot of problems which eventually led to the separation of our races. It is the wood elves that still hate Warrogs. They continued to protect the Warrogs despite their hatred. That hatred has festered over the years within their bloodline without an outlet. It is like protecting someone whom you want to kill without getting compensation for your efforts. You will be pissed off too."

"Right," Ragnarok drawled.

He ignored the small jab that she just took at him and thought about the real reason why dark elves are different from wood elves despite being of the same race initially.

Both the dark elves and the wood elves have the same divine ability. This is because the tree people as a whole were blessed by the fountain of life. The blessing increased their simple ability to communicate with trees into an ability that made them closer to nature and enabled them to bind themselves to living things.