As soon as Jadon Morgen left, a member of the group he came with stepped forward, "My name is Kayne Morden. Shall we continue?"
He led them to a comparted room in the hall where several young female vampires dressed in maids' attire were waiting for them.
They bowed when they noticed the appearance of the vampires, "Welcome young Mr and Miss."
On each of their hand was a delicate robe made of a silky material that resembled that of a noble vampire's hair. It was folded perfectly so it would get ruffled.
Kayne addressed the confusion that was growing in the air, "Please allow me. To progress further, you are required to strip and dress up in these robes. You are allowed to retain your underwear. I'm sure you have no problems with that."
He didn't give them any chance to retort as he was very convinced.
'Well, he is not wrong,' thought Rei.
Vampires were also known as a licentious race. They had no shame when it came to exposing their body parts. They were degenerates to the extreme.
Very often, in the Az Manor, Rei would walk around naked. He was as comfortable without clothes as he was with one.
He quickly stripped himself bare and covered himself with the silky robes. The robe felt quite comfy.
After he was done, he had to wait for the others to wait. In that very room, there seemed to be no distinction between male and female genders.
Privacy was also non-existent. Rei noticed that Kayne paid very special attention to each of them. If one of the vampires showed signs of nervousness, his expression would become neutral. It was a sign that he was deep in thoughts.
Understanding this, Rei came to a conclusion, 'The baptism has already begone. This is the first test. A test on the innate traits of a vampire.'
In a few more seconds, the rest of the young vampires were done and Kayne smiled at them, "Brilliantly done. Now, shall we proceed?"
He took them to a dark corridor. In there, the human eye would be unable to pick up on any lights. Yet, the vampires walked freely in this darkness.
Rei assumed that this was another test. If the previous one was about the sexual openness of the vampires, this one was about one of their most popular traits; the Night Vision ability.
It was self-explanatory. The ability to see through the dark. As vampires, this was an ability that was possessed by each one of them, no matter their differences.
A while passed and the group finally escaped the corridor of darkness. They appeared at a large hall with multiple doors on each side. The hall was empty which was quite strange.
Kayne led them to the center of the hall and spoke, "This is the Hall of True Darkness. It was built when the first generation of vampires migrated to Tascar. I'm sure you can all feel it, right?"
Now that he hinted, people began to notice a strange feeling welling up in their innards. It was as if they were being absorbed by the dark pigments of the hall.
Some of them fell to their knees as they threw up lots of blood. While a small portion of them directly passed.
Even Rei found it hard to control himself. He remembered his mother's training.
He could see her face as she told him, "To a vampire, the body is only a shell. Disregard it. Exploit it. If it disobeys, cut it!"
As that scene played out in his head over and over again, Rei's eyes turned strangely green. It beamed fiercely and he used his pure will to resist the influence of the hall. However, he was not successful. Nonetheless, he was able to save himself from passing out.
Meanwhile, Kayne brought out a pocket watch from his pockets and looked at it, "It's time."
He lightly tapped his foot on the ground and the young vampires were released from the hall's influence mysteriously.
He followed his strange action with a clap. The maids rushed into the hall and took away the passed-out vampires. It was unknown what would happen to them but it was safe to say they had failed.
Kayne then smiled after the maids left, "Let's continue."
He gave no explanation to what had just occurred….only dissolving everything with a single smile.
Rei had a few inclinations of the purpose of the strange test. If he remembered correctly, he had felt like he was being swallowed by a deep darkness. It was extremely horrifying.
Yet, when he looked back, something felt wrong. Vampires were agents of darkness. How could tell be swallowed by it?
It was as if the hall was peering at the intrinsic qualities of a vampire all at once. Resistance and Innate nature were some of the things that it tested.
"Behind each door is an experienced nobleblood. Pick any door. There is no unique meaning for each one. You have a minute to pick," told Kayne.
Since he said there was no difference in each door, Rei decided to pick a random door. There were about five hundred doors.
Looking at the numbers of young vampires left, he reckoned they would be enough.
So, he used his spare time to spy on Kayne. Kayne was his cousin. He was part of his sister's generation. He even attended the baptism as hers centuries ago.
"Time's up!" alerted Kayne.
The vampires calmly hurried to their chosen doors but they didn't open them. Instead, they waited for confirmation from Kayne.
"It seems we are all ready. Young vampires, it has been pleasurable taking you through the first few stages. We shall meet again," spoke Kayne.
He lightly bowed and took his exit like a true noble.
'I guess this is it,' sighed Rei.
Behind the door in front of him was the man that might decide his status as a vampire. It was certainly exhilarating.
Just as he was taught, Rei stilled himself and opened the door. The first thing he saw was a sharp blinding light...…..