The cold stone beneath Reyah bit into her bare legs and knees, her skin raw from the bindings that bound her wrists and ankles to the stone beneath her. They were Soul-Binding Shackles that prevented her from channeling her Soul Essence or Energy, rendering her helpless in her current situation. It prevented her from moving as she sat on her knees beside a throne in the great hall of a castle. All she could do was sit there beside a throne in the great hall of the castle, on display for her captor's pleasure.
The white negligee that her captors forced her to wear did little to cover her pale blue skin. The two thin straps of fabric running up her chest and connecting behind her neck covered only her nipples and left everything else fully exposed. Still, even that wasn't enough, as the edges of her areolas were visible, and the sheer material of the tiny gown left very little of her curves to the imagination.
The stale, dust-filled air reeked of blood and sex as the wet smacking of skin grated on her ears. She did her best to ignore her vile captor and one of his mistresses on the throne beside her. The wretched bastard's grunts and the bitch's moans were just loud enough that they drowned out the cries of pain coming from the dungeons beneath their feet.
"Come now, Reyah De' Altan. There's no reason to resist me anymore. Drink my blood willingly and join Keyvarah here as one of my wives. Look," the man said as he yanked the chain connected to a metal collar around her neck back, forcing her to look at their depraved state. "This could be you, delighting in the pleasures of the body. All you have to do is willingly submit to me."
Infuriated that she could do nothing to the man, she just glared at him, not even bothering to waste her breath on him.
How had it come to this? She swore to herself that she would never be in this position ever again. Never to be someone else's plaything.
Before, she had little choice in the matter. A Vampire's Blood Magic was a powerful, mind-warping ability that stripped her of her free will. Turned and enthralled, she could do nothing but want to please her master's every desire. No, not wanted, but craved it. It was only through her master's death that freedom returned to her.
Now, exiled from her family because of the vampiric blood flowing through her veins, she wandered the lands of Yvestar. Cursed with a thirst for blood and a hatred for her kind, she had spent the past century hunting Vampires. That was what led her here, to the kingdom of Lysia and Castle Dumar, where Lord Hivengel Dumar, a Noble Vampire, resided.
The intelligence she gathered told her he was a solitary Vampire who preyed on travelers passing through the Voldan Forest. But that information had been false. He wasn't alone. He had an entire coven of twenty-three Vampires operating out of Castle Dumar, wantonly attacking villages and travelers alike. Had she known this, she wouldn't have stormed the castle by herself and ended up captured.
Reyah rolled her eyes as Keyvarah moaned exaggeratedly like a tavern wench before throwing her a devilish smirk. "I don't know, my Lord. It looks to me like this little Ulthari needs to be taught her place around here. If she won't happily drink your blood, then maybe another helping of your seed will convince her otherwise."
"Perhaps another lesson is in order," Hivengel said, smacking Keyvarah's ass.
The chains slackened, giving Reyah room to look away as Keyvarah hopped off his lap and he rose to his feet. However, before they could do anything else, the entire castle shook as a dense and powerful Aura descended upon them. They both fell to their knees, the chain slipping free from Keyvarah's grip, while Reyah remained unaffected, but she could feel the immense power behind it.
The Aura then suddenly vanished as quickly as it had appeared, and the doors of the great hall flew open and slammed against the walls with a resounding crack. A man then instantly appeared beside Hivengel, falling to his knees. "My Lord! We're under attack!"
"I can see that, you dullard! Who dares to attack us?" Hivengel shouted, rising back to his feet.
Keyvarah rushed to retrieve Hivengel's pants for him, and he slipped into them as the newcomer continued. "Forgive me, my Lord. I do not know."
"Useless Thralls!" Hivengel roared, backhanding the man, sending him flying to slam into the wall.
"If only you would submit, then I wouldn't have to rely on this rabble," Hivengel said, bending down to caress Reyah's cheek. She shuddered at his poisonous touch before he continued. "I could have conquered Lysia with you at my side. But it seems like that'll have to wait for now."
She watched him rise as a spear appeared in his hand, and he readied himself to face the attacker. She prayed to her grandmother, Grand Matriarch of her house, and one of the Twelve Ascended, that Hivengel would not survive this encounter.
___________________________________________________________________________
Yisha stirred the pot of soup as members of the Shining Arrow Guild scurried about the makeshift camp. They had set up camp in a clearing just off the dirt road, next to the Voldan Forest. She had experience roughing it out in the wilderness, actually preferring it to city life. A natural disposition because of her mixed blood.
But living out in the wilds was far too dangerous. The monsters were too powerful, not to mention the Vampire, all of which was more than enough incentive for her to remain within the protected walls of the city. However, most of her people didn't have that luxury.
"Mamma, look!" Draxxus said, running up to her with a tiny Greshtian Beetle in his hand.
She smiled when he ran up to her, his fluffy golden tail swishing behind him as he held it up for her to see.
One of her fox ears twitched as she gave him a stern look. "And where did you find that, my little cub?"
The tone she used immediately caused his ears and tail to droop, and his eyes dipped to the ground. "The woods over there." He pointed to the nearby treeline. "But Uncle Vern was with me, so it was okay."
She bristled when he mentioned Vern. The man had been propositioning her for sex for the better part of a year now, and it had only escalated since. He thought that just because he was a noble, she'd happily bend over and let him have his way with her. The thought sickened her, reminding her of darker times. But those darker times had also led to the light of her life, Draxxus.
"Stay away from Vern, okay?" she said in a softer tone, bending over to be eye level with him. "He's a very bad man."
"Is that so?" a voice said from behind her.
She stiffened, recognizing who the voice belonged to. No one else but Vern had that slimy, conniving voice. She straightened and turned to find him right up in her personal space, far too close for comfort.
He wore his full set of iron armor, with his greatsword strapped to his back. His bulky form dwarfed hers as he loomed closer. She took a few steps back, instinctively reaching for Draxxus. But Vern stepped in time with her, maintaining the distance between them.
"Now, why would you say that?" Vern said with a lascivious smile.
He stepped around her so fast that she had no time to react. By the time she turned, he was kneeling in front of Draxxus, with that disgusting smile still plastered to his face. "It's bad of your mother to spread such devious lies."
He then stood and turned to face her. "I'd have to report to the Guild Master that you're spreading false rumors about me, and she'd be forced to kick you out of the Guild on the grounds of perpetuating bad morale."
A shudder ran down her spine as the slimy smile on his face widened. "Or. You and I can have a nice chat about it in my tent… All. Night. Long."
Her skin crawled listening to his every word. That wasn't the first time he'd threatened her, and she knew it wouldn't be the last. It was nothing but words. He was too much of a coward to do anything more than that. He had an image to maintain. She just had to endure it for a little longer. She was a few months away from saving enough to open a tavern. Then she would no longer have to deal with him.
"Come, Draxxus," she said with an outstretched hand.
Draxxus made to step around Vern, but the man moved to block his path. "Come now. There is no reason to deny me. I am Vern Dumar, second son of Lord Ravengel Dumar. I can protect you. I can provide for you. If you become my woman, you should want for nothing. Why are you making this more difficult than it needs to be?"
She was on the brink of exploding, but held her composure. Attacking Vern would serve little more than to give him a reason to push further than he already had. However, she hadn't needed to worry as Vern's shadow shifted just before a woman popped out from it. Before he could react, the woman twisted mid-air and sent him flying away with a kick straight to his side. He bounced and rolled across the grass before other Guild Members caught him just as he was about to crash into a tent.
The woman landed with the grace of a cat and turned in Vern's direction; her face seething with rage. "Fuck off, Vern! Take that tiny prick of yours to a whorehouse! No one here wants to see it!"
It all happened so fast that Yisha almost didn't see it. One moment, Vern stood hovering over her, then the next, he wasn't. Instead, a beautiful woman, who was an entire head and a half taller than her, stood before her.
"Thanks, Merriam," Yisha said, stifling a laugh, but her three swaying tails gave away her amusement.
Merriam turned, her green eyes landing on Yisha, and flashed an enthusiastic smile. "Any time, Yisha!"
She then placed a lithe yet muscular arm around Yisha's shoulder and held Draxxus's hand in her other. "What's for supper?"
"I made Teskaverian Boar soup seasoned with wild green stalks, black cloves, and a hint of chime," Yisha said as Merriam led them back to the boiling pot of soup.
Leaning down, Merriam savored the aroma of the soup before releasing a moan of satisfaction.
"And I've got this," Yisha said as she pulled a warm loaf of bread from her Spatial Bracelet and placed it on the nearby table. "Freshly baked Weldermold bread."
Literal drool dripped from Merriam's lips as she stared longingly at the meal before her. Yisha giggled and told her to dig in before calling the rest of the company over for supper.
After dinner, she and Draxxus climbed into the tent they shared with Merriam. Draxxus immediately fell asleep, but Yisha didn't, just lying in her bedroll, sleep evading her. The altercation with Vern lingered in her mind, its claws digging into her like the man would do to her if he had his way.
Just a few more months, she repeated over and over, trying to stay positive. Rolling over, her eyes landed on Draxxus's cute little face. A slight whistle escaped his mouth as he slept in peace, ignorant of the horrors of the world. Her eyes hardened. She planned to keep it that way, at least until he was old enough to understand how the world really worked. She took his hand in hers, pulling it close before giving it a light kiss. Time slipped by as she lay there like that, and before she knew it, exhaustion overtook her and she fell into a dreamless sleep.
High-pitched screams of terror and death startled Yisha awake. She scrambled out of her bedroll, only to find Draxxus missing from his. Glancing about the tent yielded nothing as more screams and cries for help came from beyond the sheets. Slowly, she opened the tent flap and found a gruesome sight before her. Many of the Guild Members lay dead on the grass as silhouettes rushed about the camp, attacking what remained of their company.
"Mamma!" Draxxus's muffled cry came from her right, and when she turned, her blood froze at the sight.
A woman in a refined red dress held Draxxus aloft by the hair as a man held Merriam's limp body from behind. Blood trickled down his mouth as his jaw clamped tight around Merriam's neck.
"Cease your feeding!" the woman said, kicking the man. "We need some of them alive."
The man released Merriam, his fangs on full display, as she fell like a lump of wood to the ground. "I quite like this one. She'd make a great Thrall for our Lord."
"Take it up with our Lord. Just keep her alive."
He bent down and bit his wrist, drawing blood, before feeding it to Merriam. "There. All ready for the Lord's decision."
The woman just rolled her eyes at his comment.
Vampires? And more than one. How was that possible? The information they had purchased mentioned only one Vampire, not an entire coven. How could the information brokers, who prided themselves on providing the best intelligence, have gotten this wrong?
Yisha's mind raced. Despite that, the more pressing issue was that these Vampires were more than a day's travel from the castle. What were they doing way out here, and why would they risk traveling during the day?
However, the woman called out to her, interrupting her train of thought. "You there! Is this your pup?"
She held Draxxus up like a prized Molian she had just caught. That analogy actually held more truth than Yisha wanted to acknowledge as she nodded.
The woman sneered and pointed to the ground at her feet. "Here! Now!"
Fueled by terror, Yisha crawled out of the tent and ran to the pair, her bare feet stained red with the blood that bathed the campsite. When she arrived, she fell to her knees and prostrated herself.
"Good," the woman said, pleasure dancing in her voice.
She stepped on Yisha's head, adding a little pressure as she bent low and whispered. "Be a good little Vysh and stay where you are."
"Hey!" Vern's voice bellowed, cutting through the cold night air.
The pressure disappeared as the woman removed her foot from Yisha's head. Yisha had never been happier to hear that man's voice than now.
"That one's mine!"
Yisha turned slightly to look at Vern, confused by his choice of words. He had his greatsword drawn, and it was pointed right at her. Then the reality of his words sank in, dashing any hope she had.
"What!?" the man roared. "We need all the cattle we can take!"
The woman pushed him back as he tossed Draxxus onto the ground beside Yisha. "Come now, little Lordling. It's as Brakken said. We need more food for our stores since your father has forbidden us from taking your wares."
Vern, however, shook his head. "The deal was I would lead this group to you in exchange for her." He pointed at Yisha, then to Merriam. "Besides, she's the Guild Master's sister. The Guild Master would stop at nothing to retrieve her sister. They're bound to send more to rescue her."
Brakken growled and narrowed his eyes, but did nothing more before turning to the woman. "What do you say, Agana?"
She sighed before turning away. "Fine. Take her." But before she walked away, her form blurred, and the next moment she held Draxxus in her arms again. "But we'll be taking this one."
"Even better," Vern said with a wicked laugh.
"No!" Yisha screamed as she tried to lunge for Draxxus, but the butt of Vern's greatsword slammed into her back, sending her sprawling.
"It's about time you learned your place, you Vysh bitch," he said as he pressed a foot into her back.
She clawed at the dirt, trying to free herself, but could not do so as Vern increased the pressure on her back. Breathing became difficult, as her voice refused to cooperate, and her vision darkened. Then, suddenly, the pressure disappeared altogether.
Yisha heaved a heavy breath, turning to find Vern suspended in the air by a woman who held him by the throat. Yisha had a hard time placing the woman. She looked like an Althori, except she wasn't as tall or muscular. She had a slender frame with silky pink hair, dressed in clothing made from hides. Yisha's eyes then flicked to her ears and found them elongated but not to the length of an Althori's, which were twice as long.
Stunned, she watched in horror as Vern struggled in vain against the woman's grip. He swung his massive greatsword, but to the utter shock of them both, it shattered upon hitting the woman. Yisha covered her ears as a cacophony of screams erupted. An inferno erupted around her as the Vampires ignited into howling balls of flame.
What was happening?
She flinched when a voice spoke from behind her. She turned and frowned. A strange-looking man stood there, with long dark hair blowing in the wind and his sharp, piercing gaze fixed on her. However, she sensed no malice in his eyes—only kindness. He also had unusual ears; they were short and rounded, something she had never seen before. A full beard covered his face, yet she could tell he had a strong jawline. Her heart fluttered at his rugged handsomeness, but when her eyes drifted to what he held in his arms, her heart nearly leapt out of her chest in relief.
"Draxxus!" she cried, scrambling to her feet.
Hearing his name, Draxxus lifted his head from the man's chest and turned, looking for his mother's voice.
"Mamma!?" Draxxus said when he found her, his hands reaching out for her.
She collided with the man, surprised she hadn't knocked him over, and pulled Draxxus into a tight hug. The man let go of Draxxus and stepped back, giving them space as she embraced and kissed her son, tears streaming down her face. In the mess that she was quickly becoming, she caught sight of the man for a brief moment, which confused her. His face had morphed into an expression of unbridled rage that he quickly masked when he saw her face. What had she done that could have caused such anger?
June emerged from the Dungeon Gate hand in hand with Quin. The sensation of traveling through space in an instant was quite riveting, to say the least. He gleaned insight into the Concept of Space from the experience and was confident in recreating the process himself. He just needed to put the destination in mind, and he could open a portal leading there.
"Is this…the real world?" Quin asked, gazing up at the night sky slightly veiled by the tree branches, tears brimming in her eyes.
"Yes," June said, squeezing her hand in reassurance. "We've finally made it out."
June glanced about, searching for a notable landmark that he might recognize. A forest of pine and cedar with thick underbrush surrounded them. His heart jumped at the familiar sight. Maybe the Dungeon had opened onto Earth. He dared to hope, but Sarah's words quickly threw that hope out the window.
This planet isn't Earth, June.
June frowned as he released Quin's hand and leapt into the air, soaring high above the treetops to get a better lay of the land. He hadn't needed to go far; the second he broke past the branches, it became obvious this wasn't Earth. At first, he struggled to comprehend what he was seeing before it all clicked. What he had first thought to be Earth wasn't actually a planet at all. Rather, it was a moon that orbited a giant planet.
Giant swaths of blue gas swirled on its surface, radiating a cool glow that illuminated the world in a perpetual twilight. It took up a considerable portion of the sky, blotting out all starlight in its vicinity. Beyond that, a foreign blanket of stars lay before June, not one familiar constellation present. If the giant planet wasn't clear enough, this confirmed that he wasn't on Earth.
So where am I?
Sarah went quiet, most likely analyzing their location.
This planet is called Syrova. It's situated in the outer sectors of the Andromeda Galaxy.
A mirthless chuckle escaped June's lips.
The Andromeda Galaxy, you say? Well, I'm sure as shit far from home.
Quin flew up beside him, overwhelmed with the sight before her. "Is this Earth?"
It never ceased to amuse him whenever she experienced something for the first time. The child-like wonder in her eyes remained even after everything they'd been through. From fighting off demon spawns to surviving in literal hell. That life had tempered her into an indestructible yet refined blade, but it hadn't changed her heart of gold.
He fought to protect that innocence, but he knew that one day she would face the darkness of reality. She should be ready; he had prepared her, but he also knew that they could never truly prepare for what life threw at them. Sometimes, reality was more sinister than what they'd imagined.
"No," June said, shaking his head and giving her a wan smile.
She turned to him, sadness in her eyes. "I'm sorry, Father. Would you be able to find—"
However, she stopped mid-sentence as distant screams reached their ears. They both turned toward the noise. About ten miles out, at the edge of the forest they flew above, a camp of soldiers was under attack by what June assumed to be Vampires because several of them fed on the fallen soldiers.
Without a moment's hesitation, Quin rocketed toward the slaughter, fury blazing in her eyes. Unfazed, June appeared above the camp in an instant, moving so fast that it looked like he teleported. Quin dove, going straight for a hulking elven male who pinned a—fox woman?
June didn't know if he could even call that man an elf. By his estimation, the elf must have been well over seven feet tall. The elf's wide frame, under all that armor, hinted at a body rippling with muscle. But the most distinguishable feature of the elf was that its ears were twice as long as Quin's, at about six to seven inches long.
June's face scrunched up when he saw this. Were there different species of elves that existed out in the greater universe? That wouldn't be too far-fetched an idea, considering there used to be different variations of humans on Earth alone. Thankfully, Sarah provided him with an answer.
All sentient lifeforms in the universe are just variations of the primordial race known as the Ashtorim. You've all evolved, splintered apart because of your environments—
June then interrupted her, finishing her explanation.
In other words, the planet from which we originated affected our evolutionary path.
Yes.
So then, are we—humans—descendants of the Ashtorim, or were we created by them? I understand what you said about evolution and different planets, but we could still have been created in a lab before being placed on Earth.
No, to the latter. Humanity, like every other sentient species out there, is just another genetic offshoot of the Ashtorim.
And the Ashtorim, where are they now?
Sarah became quiet before speaking again.
I don't know.
June frowned, watching Quin grab the male elf by the throat, lifting him and slowly squeezing the life from him.
What do you mean by you don't know? Shouldn't the System know?
Sarah's sudden and angry retort caught him off guard.
I don't know because the System itself doesn't know. The earliest info I have dates back to when the System first came online. Its prime directive was to defend reality from the Dwellers in The Abyss, given to it by its creator, Karvanul Ophalin, Chief Engineer of Ashtori Prime.
Wait. So you're telling me that the Ashtorim created the System, then just disappeared? I highly doubt that. More likely than not, the Dwellers had a hand in their disappearance.
That is the System's assumption as well.
June sighed as he placed a barrier of Kinetic Essence over the area.
And those things, are they Vampires?
Of a sort. They are not like the traditional Vampires you'd be familiar with. While they do feast on blood, that is not what sustains them.
It's our Soul Essence and Energy.
Correct.
An angry shout erupted from the forest as someone tried to break his barrier but failed miserably. In an instant, he appeared behind them, and a female elven Vampire holding a small fox boy spun around to face him. She was taller than he by six inches, with long, golden-blonde hair that curled over her shoulders. Her face bore sharp, red eyes, high cheekbones, thin lips, and a straight nose. Her well-muscled body accentuated her chic, red dress, which featured spaghetti straps that left much of her chest exposed. It looked more like something one would wear on a runway rather than on a hike in the woods.
She was actually quite physically attractive—he admitted to himself—but the wild hiss she released as she clutched the boy, using him as a living shield, shattered that illusion. Spittle flew from her mouth as she said something in a guttural foreign language he didn't understand. But her actions came across clearly. Stay back, or I'll kill the boy.
What language was that?
That is Elythra, the primary language spoken by the Althori people.
And she is an Althori?
Yes.
What about the fox woman?
She is a Vyshtani. The Vyshtani are the result of interbreeding between the Thavari, a race of anthropomorphic animal people, and any of the other races on Syrova.
Okay then, give me a quick rundown of every language spoken on Syrova?
She did as he asked, and he literally learned every language within a fraction of a second. One benefit of ascending to the Divine Realm was that his mind operated at a thousand times the speed of an advanced supercomputer back on Earth. So, learning a few languages was nothing too complicated for him.
June looked her over once more, this time actually looking with his Soul Sight, which allowed him to truly gauge her strength by gazing at her Soul. She was weak, only at the peak of the Sovereign Realm. Without any effort, June severed both her arms at the elbow with Space Essence and flickered in front of her, catching the boy before her arms even hit the ground. She blinked in utter shock before shrieking like a banshee and falling back into the barrier to slump on the ground when the pain registered.
June knelt before her, the boy cradled in an arm, and gripped her jaw tightly with his free hand, forcing her to look him in the eyes. "Where's your nest?"
"Nest?" she spat, confusion marred her face before realization hit. "What!? Do you take us for some beasts!? No! We are not!"
June lightly slammed her against the barrier, shutting her up. "Okay then. Where is your coven?"
That silenced her as she threw him a hate-filled glare.
"Fine," June said, sighing. "We'll do this the easy way."
He injected Psionic Essence into her mind and rooted around in there, searching for the location of her coven. He had no compunction about invading someone's mind, especially if they were an enemy. A castle roughly 1000 miles to the east appeared in her mind. He dove deeper and found that twenty-three Vampires lived there, ten of whom were in this hunting party, with a dungeon filled with enslaved people and…
June froze as an image of another Vampire, a woman who wasn't a part of their coven, appeared. His mind went blank for a moment when he saw her face. It was the same pale blue elf whom he had seen in the vision the Dweller had shown him. The surrounding air shook as his Aura slowly leaked from him. If she existed, that meant that there was a high possibility that the visions were real. He needed to return to Earth now!
He retracted his aura before it could harm the boy and crushed the Vampire's head in his grip. Her body thudded to the ground as June cleansed his hand of the gore with Fire Essence. June encased the boy in a layer of his True Soul, shielding him, before the pair vanished and reappeared in the campsite, behind the fox woman. The scent of charred flesh was heavy as Quin still held the male Elf by the throat, slowly choking the life from him. No Vampires remained in the camp, reduced to nothing but ash.
"That's enough, Quin," June said, drawing the gazes of both women. "Torturing the man achieves nothing besides self-gratification. If you're going to kill the man, just do it."
Without a second thought, Quin snapped the Elf's neck. "Sorry, Dad."
The Vyshtani woman turned, exclaimed something, probably the boy's name, and rushed to her feet. The next moment, she crashed into June, clutching her child in a tight hug as tears of joy streamed down her cheeks. She rather took June aback. Not with her reaction—that he expected as a parent—but rather her height.
She had been on the ground the entire time, so he had a difficult time gauging her stature. Now, though, standing tall before him, she matched his height, maybe even taller if he counted her ears, which stood straight from the top of her golden locks. His blood froze as if an ice age had just hit him when he fully took in her appearance. Her face belonged to the decapitated head from the vision the Dweller had shown him.
His world began to slowly crumble as the grim reality the Dweller showed him came closer to existence. Hate-fueled rage boiled, nearly cascading over him to once again drown him like it had in the Dungeon. The failures that the Dweller thrust upon him had once driven him into a mad frenzy, but not this time. This time, he would defy that reality, that future. This time, he would save his family.