Chapter Thirty Three: Comfort and the Voice

Eris teleports away, and Serena and Hadrian are left by themselves, "That was… terrifying," says the younger vampire as she shivers in Hadrian's embrace.

"Indeed. I've never seen Empress Eris so angered before. I'm sure that we weren't the only ones to sense her bloodlust. I'm sure that you must be mourning your parents, but please allow me to show you to your quarters," answers Hadrian.

Serena nods solemnly and the two of them set off towards a room in the castle. Meanwhile, Eris is back in her room laying down on her bed with a severe headache. The voice that once echoed through her head left behind pain as it stopped. Not only that, but she is also filled with anger. In her life, her parents never cared about her at all. But Serena's parents did care about their daughter. She's learned a lot over the past twenty four hours, but most of the information that she's gathered indicates that change is coming to this world.

"This is so messed up," she whispers to herself, "First that thing that brings me here dumps me in the body of my game character. Then I get info that my entire species on this world is about to get wiped out. And now I have a voice in my head. Then there's also that thing about the prophecy. I did have the progenitor title inside the game. Does that have something to do with the prophecy in any way at all? But I didn't come here to save the vampires or take over the world, I came here because I didn't want to die without actually doing something constructive in my life. But all of my subordinates do see me as some kind of great and powerful empress, and Serena sees me as some kind of all-powerful savior. And to top it all off, there's probably an army on its way here to end me."

Eris sighs and decides to rest for a few hours. Later, Chrono kocks on her door, enters, and gives her a wine glass full of blood. She drinks it down, and much to her relief, the headache quickly fades away.

She looks at Chrono and asks, "How is she doing?"

"She was mourning for a while. But I believe that she is sleeping at this point."

"It's horrible," says Eris, "Losing one's parents at her age. Parents that actually love and care for their children. I can't imagine what she's going through."

"What about your brother, Empress?"

Eris' eyes widen and she glares at Chrono, "How… do you know about that?"

"It was in the legend. Aesira gave birth to two Eclipse Vampire Gods, one male and one female, did she not? According to the legend, the male was killed in the war with the other gods."

"Huh? Hm… that's right… I believe." she says before thinking to herself, "That is how the story goes. I thought he was talking about Arthur for a second. Hold on, so does that mean that he thinks I'm the same vampire that was born from Aesira? Weird. I don't remember programming him with that idea."

"In that case, Empress, I believe that you should be the one to comfort her at this point."

"Most of you have experienced just as much loss as I have," she says before thinking, "I did program some pretty tragic backstories for most of them."

"Even so, your highness, you're also a vampire. So it's my opinion that you are the one that she can most relate to."

"I guess you're right about that. I'll go and visit her. Make sure you and the others keep a lookout for the enemy forces," Eris orders.

"Understood, your highness. She's currently in bedroom number five on the tenth floor."

Chrono teleports away and Eris stands up from her bed. She thinks of the room number and the floor and uses her own teleportation magic to appear in front of the door. She knocks on the door twice, but does not hear an answer. She then grabs the handle, and then slowly turns it, opening the door gently. Inside she finds a large, luxurious room.

The room itself is red in color with hardwood floors and no windows. On the left side of a room there's a dark wood desk with a mirror on top as well as a full-length mirror beside the desk. On the right side of the room there's a wooden door that leads to a bathroom. On the other side of the room, opposite to where Eris entered, there's the bed with Serena sleeping on it. The bed has crimson colored blankets and light brown sheets with a white pillow and a dark wood frame. Eris silently gets closer to the bed and notices tear marks on her cheeks. As she looks at the sleeping child, she feels empathy, but also a feeling similar to that of a maternal instinct. She wants to take care of Serena in the absence of her parents.

"I wonder if this is what Erica felt whenever she saw me?" she whispers to herself.

Then Serena stirs in her sleep and slowly opens her eyes to see Eris standing over her, "Great Progenitor?"

She chuckles, "You can call me Eris, you know?" Serena sits up on her bed and Eris sits down next to her, "How are you feeling?"

"I don't really know. There are so many emotions."

"Sadness, anger, pain, regret. I know what you're going through, trust me. It feels like all of those emotions are just boiling inside of you and tearing at your heart."

Serena nods her head, "Did you lose someone?"

"I had a brother once. When he died, I was devastated just like you are now."

"How did you get over it?" she asks with saddened eyes.

"By remembering that there are still people in this world that care about me. There's a quote that I remember from the place that I came from. It says that we're given our lives because we're strong enough to live them. Your parents sacrificed themselves so that you could live on. Of course, you're also still young, and the only daughter of your family, so you can't go on like this alone just yet. You remind me a lot of myself. So that's why I want to be there for you. Your parents may be gone, but I'm here. And I promise to protect you in their place."

At that point, tears start to emerge from Serena's eyes. Eris places her hand on her head and gently pushes the younger vampire into her shoulder. Just as Alexia had once done with Erica, Serena cries into Eris' shoulder while being embraced by the older vampire. These are tears of both happiness for Eris' promise, and sadness for her parents death.

"Thank you so much, Eris." she says between her tears.

"You're welcome," she answers with a warm smile, "You should get some rest. The enemy will be here soon and you'll need to prepare to avenge your parents. So get some sleep."

Serena lays back down in her bed and Eris pulls the covers over her. She stays with the younger vampire until she falls asleep and then silently leaves her room. Eris eventually makes it back to her own room and sits back down on her bed to think.

"They took everything from her. This is horrible," she whispers to herself.

Suddenly, a voice echoes through her head, "Indeed it is."

Eris instantly stands up and looks around to find no one, then realizes that she's heard this female voice before, "You… when I got angry. Who are you?"

"Does that really matter? You should be focused on how you want to annihilate the enemy forces coming this way. I bet you can't wait to sink your fangs and claws into their flesh."

"What are you talking about? I'm not some vile monster! I only kill…"

"Because you want to!" the voice finishes, "You were angered and you killed that disgusting human priest because you wanted to. Are you sure that you're not a monster?" Suddenly, Eris' fierce headache resurfaces. She grits her teeth to bear through the pain, but she doesn't know that while all this is going on, her pupils are becoming sharp again. The fierce headache seems to increase with the voice's words, "Are you sure that you're not some beast just like that book described?"

"Shut up!"

The voice snickers, "You've always had that feeling haven't you? Inside that little game, whenever you destroyed your foes, slaughtered your enemies, you felt waves of pleasure and ecstasy running through your body. And you also had a sense of belonging. As if you were born to create bloodshed and death."

"I said shut up!!"

"Hahahahaha. Alright then. We'll be chatting again soon."

The voice disappears just as suddenly as it had appeared, and her pupils return to their circular shape, but the extreme migraine remains. Eris then sees a glass of blood on the table next to her bed, and drinks it. Drinking the blood gives the vampire a sense of relief but the headache is not completely gone.

She breathes a frustrated sigh, "What in the world even was that? Oh well. I need to focus on one crazy thing at a time. We need to get ready for that stupid army."