Chapter Lessons from the Last Sage On the Six Manes of Blood
Lessons from the Last Sage
On the Six Manes of Blood
After they emerged from the abyss, Varos the Night Lion and Yonas the First Sage battled, drenching the land in blood and the sky in smoke.
Equally matched, neither could vanquish the other.
Finally, it was old age that parted them.
Mortal, the First Sage died but not without passing his teachings and will to his beteseb and the Mot Zebeyas.
Yet Varos lived on. Century after century, he fed on the land, turning it to nothing but black rot. A stain on the earth, Varos transformed five lethal warriors into vampires. Together, they became the Six Manes of Blood.
These are their names:
Varos the Night Lion
Ralonar the Venomous Lion
Helenik the Horned Lioness
Demasus the Fanged Lion
Lidia the Split-Tongued Lioness
Nira the Silent Lioness
Only a single Mane of Blood is well-known today—Demasus the Fanged Lion. So much so, most believe Demasus, not Varos, birthed the vampires. The others hide so well they’ve dissolved into myths.
Demasus was Varos’s third creation, the one who would betray him in the end, choosing to work with me and create the Three Binds.
It is our single purpose to ensure the binds never shatter.
To ensure Yonas’s will is inherited from child to child.
And that the sacrifice for such power continues to be paid.
*Accurate to the myth found in Ye Abyssi Tarik, pages 35–37.