The ninth immortal

Vishnu couldn't believe what he was hearing and seeing. He was sitting with men who are deathless, and he was being told he was deathless too. If this wasn't the strangest night of his life he didn't know what was.

"I know this is a bit disconcerting, Vishnu. If this takes a little time to sink in, let it. I don't want to force anything on you", Barker said
"No, please go on", Vishnu said, he wasn't feeling well.
"Do you know what Devdatta saw on your thigh?"
"I don't know"
"Tell me Vishnu, have you never seen it?"
"What?"
"The scar"
Vishnu remembered suddenly that he indeed had a scar on his right thigh, it was a birthhmark.
"Yes, but what about it? Why is it so important?"
"Before I answer that question I must tell you what we are"
The silence in the room seemed stifling.
"We are vampires. Descendants of the house of the Noble Zaroud", he waited for some sort of reaction from Vishnu but there was none.
"Thousands of years ago, the vampires were united, and our clan was ruled by four elders, the wise Zaroud, Amarande the warrior, Corbin the princess, and Risika the slayer. The vampires were the most powerful force on Earth then. Not even the Gods could stand up to us. We enslaved almost every powerful force on earth, the werewolves, some human tribes and some other carnivores, they used to build our castles and strengthen our armies. The world then, was controlled by powerful leaders, mostly human. But we were the only immortal race, and hence the most powerful. But we were too few in number, compared to the human forces we were fighting. They had the power of magic and science, and we had only our strength. Then one day, a great magician named Araknot devised a way to kill vampires. Our foremost strength, our immortality was gone. Till then it seemed like the world was ours for the taking, and suddenly our power was being taken from us. The lichens, the werewolves that is broke free and declared war against us. They united under their leader Romolus who was previously a slave. Their soul purpose was to terrorise the vampires. They would hide near our castles and kill those who passed their way. Soon we had to send enforcements with every caravan or carriage. Risika, the elder vowed vengeance, and she and her small troop would venture into lichen strongholds and kill their armies, and their women and children, she spared noone. The hatred between vampires and lichens grew even deeper", Barker paused to rest
"The humans on the other hand were growing stronger. Eight human kings had voluntarily sacrificed their lives, and the magic of Araknot had turned them into the undead. They were led by Lucius who ruled over the Kingdom of the North, and controlled winds that blew from the north, the others ruled the seven other directions and the winds that prevailed there. One day under the leadership of Lucius they united and rode on seven dead horses to the world's end to seek the help of Bahram, the God of Creation. Upon hearing that Zaroud, Amarande, Corbin and Risika too started a journey to the world's end to seek the favour of the great Bahram before the undead Kings reached", he paused again.
"Meanwhile Araknot raised the Demons of the North, West, East and South and under those demons he began forming huge armies, massive sentinels of destruction. War still had not been waged with the humans, but one couldn't be avoided for too long. But however, to our advantage several human tribes driven by their lust for immortality agreed to join forces with us, they were turned to vampires, like us, and their bloodthirsty armies became our own. For the first time the vampires were divided. Four clans, each ruled by one elder and the army of that clan controlled by a human king. Even though they had been turned into vampires, we never considered them as one, the distinction between pureblood and halfblood remained. We lived in castles and were protected by them. They were the warriors and we were the Nobles. The vampire-lichen war still continued and Romolus grew powerful each day, and their numbers multiplied rapidly. However something miraculous happened, and like us vampires the lichens soon got divided too, and their other faction was willing to cooperate with us, in exchange for power. And they were given power. All this time, in the absence of the elders a confederate was formed, and they took the decisions. Although humans and lichens had joined the Vampires, we still continued to rule over our clan and our armies and there were no human or lichen in the confederate. It was a peaceful arrangement, they never wanted our power. Meanwhile, due to the division Romolus' army grew weak, and they gave up their fronts and went into hiding, forming secret brotherhoods which still exist. The world was now divided into two main forces, the humans and the vampires. The erstwhile peace between us seemed threatening, war was like a dormant volcano waiting to erupt", Barker's face was lit with passion, and Vishnu was mesmerised by the story.
"So what happened next?", Vishnu asked
"The elders and the undead reached Bahram almost at the same time. Bahram was floating on the lake of eternity, meditating. They waited on opposite sides of the lake waiting for him to wake up. They waited for weeks and suddenly Bahram, who was floating through the universe creating planets realised that he had company. He woke up and looked at the vampires first and then he looked at the humans. He instantly realised what they wanted. He told them, "I know what you have come for. Though I do not support war I shall give you both a gift each. And to prevent the war that may happen I shall curse you both", he looked at the vampires and said, "The four of you shall be truly immortal, no force can ever kill you, and you will be joined by five other immortals of your race who haven't been born yet. They shall each be marked by a number on their thigh and will be born into humans, your job is to find them, they shall renew the glory of vampires. However, this is your curse, the four of you will return to your kingdom and tell your brethren of these five other immortals, while they search for them, you shall be turned to stone, and you will only be awakened when the ninth one is found." He turned towards the humans and said "You too shall be immortal, and you will be joined by a ninth immortal who shall be the most powerful of all of you. He shall rule over the humans for one thousand years after he is born. He will be a king, the king of all kings, though he shall not be born into royalty, he will be marked by the mark of the King on his forehead. He need not be found, when it is time, he shall reveal himself to you. And as your curse, the eight of you cannot go back from here until he is born. You will stay here till you are summoned by him, and then you will go join him under his rule." Saying that Bahram went into meditation again, and the vampires rode out of the valley, and as they rode out, the ground started shaking and huge mountains arose and surrounded the lake of eternity. The elders rode back to their castle, and in the court they sat down on their thrones and turned to stone. Bahram's prophecy spread among vampires, humans and lichens alike. New human Kings arose to take the place of Lucius and his fellows, the vampire confederacy was formed, the great war was avoided. The vampires waited for the last five immortals. The confederacy took an oath to remain hidden from the humans to avoid a war, peace was forged with the humans and they agreed to leave us alone. The lichens were too weak to take advantage of the situation, so a complete human rule was established on the world. The vampires started mingling with the humans and living human lives. Our existence was soon forgotten. Araknot disbanded his army, and the demons were returned to their realm. Peace was finally realised", he smiled
"However, to this day our numbers have infiltrated human governments and all other sources of power like the army, we still have control over the world. We signed peace, we didn't lose the war", he smiled
"And the confederacy still exists. Infact since our numbers are spread throughout the world, and the fact that we are still united under the confederacy, we are still the most powerful, although operating behind the scene. Although this peace may not continue for long, after the ninth human immortal is born and the eight kings are summoned, we may after all be fighting the great war that was avoided then"
"But how will they manage to unite the humans again?", Vishnu asked
"That is a question that time will answer. Because, I myself do not know. I personally don't believe that the humans can ever rise as a united force again"
"So that leaves us with the lichens", Vishnu said
"Them and Araknot, legend has it that he still survives"
"So I am the ninth immortal?", Vishnu asked, remembering the scar on his thigh
"Yes, the last one", Barker smiled
"So we can...",
"Celebrate", Barker laughed, he was joined by the others in the room.