11

Eduardo

Radiated lands

City of ruins

Kingdom of Ashtarium

September 30th 6414 

We were running out of synth blood, no sign of life was visible in the ruined area of the salted lands. The City of Ruins was what they called where they had stopped for the moment. After the incidents with the Demonic beasts on the way out of Zellux, we had traveled on foot, using our incredible Vampire speed to go in and out of shelters and also resting in the meantime. We mainly rested for Carmen due to her just being a newborn and could hardly keep up with us. Our kind did not suffer from exhaustion nor from stamina loss but we do expunge energy, which then required us to feed or else suffer hunger or mental strain. The more energy we expunge, the greater the burden on our minds. I could go on without feeding for two months but I did not want to risk Carmen going into a blood frenzy while we traveled. It would only alert the Demonic Beasts to where we were. We were resting in one of the ruined buildings on top of the hills, alongside the main roads that led into the Old City. Most of the roads had been consumed by the sea of golden sand- a result of the Energy strikes that nearly destroyed the world six millennium years ago. I had heard stories of how Ashtarium looked like before the war had spread from the Old continent, to the new continent. The war had changed what was once an empire to a shadow of itself, most of it's lands lost due to the poisonous radiation that infected the land. And yet, the Ashtarmel did not lose their power nor did the King had the time given up. Thanks to the formidable war hero that they had produced, the former empire had contributed so well in the war, that their name began to elicit fear and respect from the whole world. They survive the loss of their lands, and from the ashes, they rose up stronger than ever. Though the danger of radiation was gone, the presence of the Demonic beast made it difficult to take back their land. But I knew that the Ashtarmel House had a dream of expansion. The building they were resting at now was a yellow bungalow- at least it looked like it had been yellow. Most of the roof had caved in, and the moonlight from the moon ran through the hole, bearing down on us. There were no stars in the eternal night, though the power from the darkness of the night flourished the strength within my very bones. Just one more rest, then we could travel a whole night to the Nexia borders and try to get into the Region. However, I still haven't figured out the part about how we were going to sneak in. All passage from the Zellux region to any other Region in the Ashtarium Kingdom had been shut down. The Hyper train rail line that connected both regions was gone, and airships would be shot down if seen from above the Dome that covered the region. That was how bad the situation between both lands were. I gritted my teeth in frustration. This wasn't going as planned. I took a peek at Carmen to see how she was doing. She was resting on the other side of the room, her back against the wall, glaring at the moon. She seemed to be ok. I got up, picked up the last synth blood bottle, and threw it at her. She caught it, raising an eyebrow at me.

"My Lord, this should be for you. I can not take the last blood." She said bowing to me.

"Take it," I said coolly. "I can't have you feeling hungry while we travel."

"But what about you.."

"I've gone a whole month without feeding and nothing's ever happened to me," I said. "Right now, be concerned for yourself." I stared right back at what once used to be a road that was used to access the old city. Jose stood by the edge of the hill, keeping an eye for anything. He had his polearm ready, the silver blade set to cut anything happened. We hadn't come across any Beasts, but I suspect that we may encounter some on our way through the old city. The entire land had been leveled like most of the salted lands in the world, which meant it was a stalking ground for those abominations. When I think about the Demonic Beasts born from the Crimson plague, I feel a small lump of revulsion and pity for the creatures. Before the war, Demonic Beasts were rare, only existing in Magic Towers of Sorcerers that were hidden from the World summoned by them from another dimension or so my mother used to tell me when I had been young. These current monsters were the results of evolution and magic mixing together, creating the plague that had turned the ancient world upside down. A plague that few still believe exists to this day. I never paid much attention to my history lessons growing up, about the civilization before the war, but I did know that the Crimson Plague had been the lit that had caused the War of Race. After the worldwide Energy strike, most of the humans who had been infected by the plague were eliminated while the rest succumbed to a mutation that had occurred from the radiation. Abominations that could not control the urge to feed. Unspeakable monsters that spread disasters were ever they go. They were controlled by their bloodlust and attacked anything, even Manaborns. Some Vampires believed that the Divine mother had abandoned them, that they were no longer to be considered worth saving but abominations. Monsters that needed to be put down. The truth was the Crimson Plague's existence was an unnatural phenomenon that should never have existed. The mutated Beasts should never have existed in the first place. And neither would you. A part of my mind spoke to me. My Father, the Great King of the newly united Xibalba, Juarez Gomez, had become a vampire from being infected by the Plague. Another effect of the mutation. A result that saw the increase of the Manaborn race. For a new-blood vampire, he had been blessed with great Vampiric abilities. Abilities that I did not inherit. I calmly collected the anger that comes with thinking of my Father, shoved it into a box, and locked it up. I would not let my emotions rule my actions.

"Time to move," I said. Carmen dropped the bottle, now empty, picked up her weapon, and moved to my side. There was more color to her skin than there was an hour ago, so I hoped she could maintain her hunger till we got to Nexia. We leaped from the top of the hill, the wind rushing through our body, gravity pulling us back to the hill. My foot connected with the ground, and then my hardened muscles pushed me from the ground and back into the air. We leaped like that till we got to the road, and began to vamp through the border. It wasn't long till we reached the ruined cities. We didn't stop to marvel at the fallen buildings, the damaged architects, and the designs that had been created by ancient humans. Among the fallen structures, were monoliths that had risen after the war. They were the Dungeon towers, the mysterious structures that had appeared after the worldwide Energy strikes, a few years after the Long war. If my memory served me right, after the War, and as soon as things had settled down a little within the newly established nations, there was a period of time when capturing the Towers had become a thing. A race to secure the resources within the towers. Now presently those towers had become ruins that were breeding grounds for Demonic beasts. That era of fighting for the relics and treasures within the tower was known as the Relic wars. More nations fell during that time. It was also the time in which the treasures of the Dungeon had helped Ashtarium construct the Domes that protected their regions. Jose and Carmen were keeping an eye out for Demonic Beasts while I led us through the city. By the time we had reached the demolished town that was contiguous to Nexia, something was bothering me. We were positioned on what used to be a highway, an interstate that had run through the ruined city to the one in Nexia. From where we stood, I could see the huge towers- plucked firmly into the ground- that provided the mysterious invisible force field that acted as a Dome. A marvelous work of creation that took centuries to make. The moonlight that stemmed from the moon, was refracted by the dome, changing its direction towards mostly where they were, dispelling most of the darkness from the night.

"Stop," I whispered. They automatically stopped at my command, though Jose did not look too happy about it.

"Why are we stopping? Nexia's not too far from us." He whispered.

"The Prince has spoken. It is not your place to question him." Carmen snapped at him. I ignored their squabbling back and forth as I watched the surroundings. Though some corners were covered by darkness even with the moonlight, I could see through it, and the emptiness was what made me suspicious.

"Silence," I said. And they stopped, Jose, glaring at both of us. "There have been no Beasts occurrences."

"So," Jose said.

"So the Beasts are known to stalk salted grounds," I said. "Especially when there are Ruins around. We haven't come across one not since we got into this part of the ."

"That's right," Carmen said. She closed her eyes, and I knew she was extending her senses beyond. "No sign of them."

"Maybe they're gone," Jose said. " I mean, what's to hunt here, besides themselves? It's not like back home where the humans try to survive in the salted land." True, but then again, I had heard from my cousins that there were mutated animals that roamed the salted Land. The Demonic Beasts hunted them down and fed from them. One of the reasons why these creatures have existed for more than a millennium."

"Move out and investigate," I said. I didn't like it. If the Beasts had been eliminated by something, I did not want to face whatever it was."

"You don't need to." An old man appeared from behind a building covered by brownish vegetation. The deeper we got into the city, the less sand we had encountered. Now almost every building was covered by the strange greenery. The old man was dressed in a black cloak, his grey hair covered most of his face, wrinkles hardened his expressions, and a sniper rifle hung on his back. Jose and Carmen froze, still like a statue. I on the other hand began to check the surroundings behind this man for anyone else. How had this man sneaked upon us?

"What makes you so sure," I finally said.

"Because we killed them." The man said. He turned around and began to walk away. Then he stopped and faced me, his eyebrow raised. "Aren't you coming?" He went back to walking. I turned to the others, who shrugged and we followed him inside the building. I sniffed the air, the smell of human blood pushing my hunger straight to my mind. The last thing I had fed on was synth blood and to be honest, it hadn't helped with the disorientation from the verbena in the truck. Two male humans were cuddled against what looked like a fire, one of them placing their hands against it. The night must have been really cold if they had made a fire to keep warm. They all wore the same black cloak, rifles slung over their back. And they were both young. What were humans doing out here?

"I don't get it. What happened to the Beasts? And what are you humans doing out here." Jose said. The old man sat down on the fallen debris from the ceiling. He nodded to the makeshift seats of debris, close to the fire, and barked something in a weird language to one of the kids. The other one was eyeing us, probably his first time seeing a live Vampire.

"The Beasts are gone because we killed them all." He said. One of the boys brought over a can to the old man with a spoon. He opened the can and began to eat from it. "So what brings a group of Alukah here into the salted lands? It's not often we see your kind out here." I didn't recognize the word he used to call us, and I wasn't sure why we had followed this human to whatever this place was. It wasn't strange to see humans out in Salted lands. There were settlements of them back in Xibalba. So I didn't find it strange that we had come across them. But for a trio of humans to have gotten rid of the Wild Demonic beasts within the immediate area...They couldn't be ordinary humans. Out of the ten Manaborn races, humans were the weakest by far. The amount of Mana they could convert from their Spirit energy was the lowest, their bodies were also frail without Mana so one had to be careful when dealing with them. But after the mutational change from the plague and radiation, the increase in ambience mana in the world had given rise to some special cases of humans. I was beginning to suspect this might be the case with this group.

"We're traveling," I said. "I have to say I'm surprised you managed to kill all the Demonic Beasts. I assume there's more of you three."

"Maybe," The old man said. He was staring at me, but I could see his eyes dancing through the three of us.

"Do your group travel around," Carmen said. The old man paused, looked at us, and barked at the same boy again.

"Forgive my manners. You three must be hungry. After all that traveling."

"No, we're fine," I said noticing that the man had ignored Carmen's question. "We don't need to eat." Though, I would love to drink some blood. I could feel the itch in my throat getting stronger.

"I'm aware of that. We have some of those synth blood you Alukah love so much." He said. "Used to use it as bait for some of the Demonic beast, there's more of them coming over from the south." The boy gently placed a bottle of synth blood beside me, then went on to give the other two. Hmm. Strange. Though this was the boy's first time being in the presence of a vampire, he did not show any sign of fear. Sure he had avoided looking me in the eye, but the smell of fear was not on him. I noticed the other boy wasn't afraid either. If anything he was curious about us. The Old man I get, but these two young boys. Were they so experienced with fighting Demonic Beast that they didn't feel fear from us? I opened the can and the smell of the blood made my hunger roar in pain.

"So, who are you people," Carmen asked, sipping her blood.

"Ah, Forgive my manners. Name's Anton Yvich and these are my boys Jeremiah and Saul." The old man said. Strange names. I took a sip of the synth blood, noting how stale it tasted...and something else. Something mixed in it. How old was this blood?

"We're part of a nomadic group who live out here in the Salted lands."

"Is that so?"Jose said. He had finished drinking his blood, his expression told me he had not enjoyed it. At least he was polite enough to drink it all.

"Yes. My people have traveled around the world for a long time. We've been to every Salted land in both the Old Continent and the New Continent." Anton said. The Old Continent was the continent on the other side of the Salt Mountains and Ocean. It was said that the worldwide energy strike had hit the ocean and the aquatic inhabitants had been mutated from the radiation. It was not wise to travel through the Salt ocean.

"We only settled here not long ago. Do you want more blood?" He directed that question at Jose, who shook his head.

"And you were all able to kill the Demonic Beasts," I said. "That's.. impressive."

"Most of the beasts in this land are wild and rabid." The man said. "Not as Intelligent as the ones in the Old Continent."

"That's because of the radiation in this part," I said. "The Mana concentration is dangerous and unpredictable. Which is why I don't understand why you and your people would settle in a place like this." Carmen had finished her blood and was getting another one. I still hadn't finished mine. Something about the blood did not feel right. Though it was stale, it was still recharging my body. I didn't want to seem ungrateful, so I drank more of the blood. But not too much of it. With the power of the night, I should be able to replenish myself.

"My people have a special connection with this land," Anton said. "Like the F..eys...o....f Ele...noir forest-." Was it me or did it sound like he just slurred his words? I shook my head, there was a fuzzy sensation within my head that did not feel good. Wait...was my vision blurry...no that can't be it. I heard a thud and whipped around to find Carmen and Jose on the floor. There was no stake attached to their back... wait...something was wrong. The speed of my reaction to them falling did not... I lost my train of thought, unable to even comprehend what that meant. I tried standing up, but then it felt like the whole building had been turned upside down. Anton's face appeared, coming in and out of my vision. Fuck it!

"What di..d yo..uu do?" I tried to growl at him but it came out as a whisper.

"Giving you a chance at Salvation." He said. I could barely grasp what he was saying as something..the hilt of his blaster perhaps, hit me in the face. For a moment, my head gave in to the drug, nearly falling unconscious, but I was an Old Blood Vampire. My body was stronger than these humans could expect. With all my will, I was able to push past the daze and roared with all my strength. But the Humans were ready for me. Their Blasters were set at me and they began to fire at me. My senses had sharpened, though not as strong as I would like them to be. But it was enough for me to be able to move out of the way of the lasers, my movements inebriated, my system trying to fight off the drug's influence but whatever drug they had used, it was strong. I growled as I still managed to avoid the shots, sliding out of the way of danger. My body felt heavy, my sight was moving in and out of the darkness. It was only my will, the strength of my mental state that kept me going. The two boys, Jeremiah and Saul, sprinted after me with their weapons, their Blasters leveled at me. I shot right at them, growing out my nails into razor-sharp claws, my true face out for them to see but even that wasn't enough to scare them. They moved in a synchronized manner, and then one of them was ahead and then got behind me, while one positioned themselves in front of me. I snarled, knowing that they were trying to pin me down. I was up in the air, exerting much more force as my foot got the one behind me in the face, sending him flying. A Blastershot and then a stinging pain in my shoulder told me the one in the front had shot me. He loaded his blaster again and fired more at me. I danced around the lasers, and then closed the distance between us, grabbing him by the throat as I plunged my fang into his neck, but then a flash of white light and I felt myself go through the wall of the building. My body crashed fifteen feet away from the building we had been in, the night sky staring down at me, as my head swarmed with pain...What the hell just happened? I got up from the ground, only to see the old man, his rifle behind him staring down at me with a nonchalant expression. He took the rifle from his back and threw it to one of his sons.

I stared at him, not wanting to believe that this man had managed to kick me with enough force to send me out of the building. I tried to gauge whether he was using Mana, and sure enough, I could sense his cultivation. He was a Master rank cultivator. One rank higher than me. Regular humans couldn't manipulate mana, and what he did to me was prove that this Old man could utilize it. The Old man fell off the hole and landed nicely on the ground. He began to walk towards me, his face calm and collected while my head was struggling to keep me awake.

"Forgive me, Alukah," He said. "I did not ask for your name,"

"Eduardo. Eduardo Gomez," I said spitting out blood. It was then that I felt it. A sliver of fear in my spine as the man got closer to me. It was invisible, invisible even to my enhanced sight, unable to be perceived by the five senses. But it was there, a faint presence of power that covered the old man's body, and sure enough, it was...

"Battle aura," Anton said. "That's what allows you to resist the drug," He was right. While I had been born with no magical capacity and didn't even possess my family's bloodline ability, I had trained myself to develop my Battle power. For five hundred years, I had steadily cultivated just to reach the Expert rank. Unlike humans and Warlocks/Witches who had an easier time cultivating their souls, natural-born Immortals like Vampires or Lycans had a harder time cultivating. Our process takes a long time which is why even humans of the same rank as us were still weaker when it came to physical prowess. Even though this old man was a master rank, I should still be stronger than him, but this drug was wearing me down.

"I could say the same for you old man," I said. "It seems you're capable of manifesting Battle aura" It would explain why even though I had been incapacitated, his two kids had been able to keep up with my movement. And why he had exhibited super strength within his kick. The bastard was using Battle aura to augment his physical abilities. Battle aura. It was the result of one form of Mana manipulation that enhanced the physical and spiritual power. There were many layers of Battle aura that one must master to raise their cultivation rank. The Old man in front of me seemed to have mastered it to the point that he had reached the Grandmaster rank.

"The fact that you underestimated us shows how ignorant you are of the wider world," Anton said. "I told you that my people have been around the world, we have seen things, been witness to things that even you can't fathom, experience what true power is," He pulled out a wooden blade from his pouch by his waist. The blade seemed to have been carved from what looked like Rowan wood and was engraved with numerous runes on it. An enchanted blade. Mystic grade. As an Old Blood Vampire, my current rank made me immune to the blade which made me guess the old man's intention. The bastard wasn't planning on murdering me. He wanted to put me to sleep since the drug wasn't doing its job. I shifted my left foot, thinking of the only thing left for me...

"I won't let you retreat," The man said. He blitzed right in front of me, the blade coming for my chest, but I moved away from it, somersaulting away from the old man, and yet the bastard was fast enough to catch up to me."Leaving your comrades behind," Anton said.

"They understand that our mission is more important than their lives," I said, weaving in and out of the man's attack. My body was getting heavier and heavier, the drug making it hard for me to even focus. I was barely able to move, barely able to see the mortal's movement. I felt a deep well of rage at this insolence. That I, an Immortal, a superior being was being brought down to the level of an inferior. If Father was to learn of this...if he was to know...I could only imagine the punishment the bastard would have for me. My emotions...My Will propelled my strength further, making me able to parry each of his slashes with my clawed fingers. I concentrated on making the aura around them harder... but the man was not weak, his aura responded by getting stronger too. His breathing was calm as he tightened the sharpness of the blade. I could feel it cutting through my flesh, blood spilling from my fingers. Damn it...I was too weak to make my defense stand out. That thought messed with the circulation of my mana, giving the Old man the chance he needed. He closed the distance between us, and with the blaster in his other hand, he was able to shoot my toe. The pain was swift and just, sending a guttural howl from my lips. I swiped my bloody claw fist at his face, all reasons gone due to the pain, and then my fist was blown away by another blast. I let out a whimper, a full-size hole in the middle of my palm. My aura was too weak to defend me against a laser. Seriously...the Old man's blade swiftly pierced right through my chest.

"You bastard.." I called out to him. I tried to pull his arm away from my chest, but my strength was fading. My body was shutting down, not even my battle aura could protect me from the eternal sleep. "....when I wake up, the first thing I'll do is.." but I didn't get to finish it cause the bastard then proceeded to snap my neck, knocking me out.