Back In The Hall

The next page of the book offered more information on what he had become, and what the future held for him if he was unable to reverse this transformation.

Fledglings

Fledglings only have the basic form of vampyric abilities.

These include enhanced strength, speed, and a rudimentary form of healing.

They are also vulnerable to sunlight. Burning under direct exposure to the sun.

Within a fledgling's body, is the Blood Pouch, the organ that stores the blood that is consumed.

This organ, fueled by the consumption of blood, slowly develops and matures.

At this stage, the fledgling can barely control their hunger and are extremely vulnerable.

Consuming blood is crucial for the maturation of the Blood Pouch.

Each feeding fuels the transformation, but it also increases the fledgling's hunger.

A fledgling must carefully manage their blood intake, finding a balance between staving off the hunger and avoiding overfeeding.

Overfeeding leads to an addiction to blood, a loss of control and a descent into mindless predation.

Feeding once a week is the recommended regiment, and the amount of blood in a full-grown adult is sufficient.

Some fledglings mature quickly, while others take a longer time. The average time spent as a fledgling is a year.

Once the Blood Pouch reaches full development, the fledgling becomes an full-fledged vampyre.

'So that's what this persistent itch I feel in my gut is. Although it is not as unbearable as this book describes. It's definitely annoying, but it's not anything I can't handle. Maybe it gets worse gradually, and even at that, I feel like it's something I'd be able to resist. I guess time will tell.' 

He flipped the page to continue reading, but there wasn't much there, just the word "Elites" written across the top of both pages.

'Is this what the book meant by the stronger I become, the more help I would get from it? So, I must become an Elite before I get more information. That's one way to incentivize a person to continue down the path of the Vampyre.'

Silax shut the book and began contemplating what his next steps should be. The were other people waiting on the other side of those doors. He didn't know how he was going to explain what had happened in here, and he didn't want to. He was going to keep this transformation a secret, vampyres weren't exactly welcomed by others.

That in itself brought its own challenges, being a vampyre meant a life lived in isolation. Although the changes he had gone through weren't obvious, when it came time to leave this place and he couldn't step out into the sun, questions would surely be raised.

'If this itch I feel in my stomach does become worse and uncontrollable, that is another way I could be exposed. Can I even eat regular food anymore?'

He looked to the spot where he had dropped his bag and decided to get something to eat from it, so as to test whether he could stomach normal food.

As soon as he stepped off the dais where the lectern had once been, the floor began to tremble, something was rising out of the ground at the center of the hall.

The doors to the hall began to swing open, realizing that the others would be coming in at any moment, he rushed to his bag and immediately stowed away the chalice and the book.

He was just in time before the doors opened and was able to catch a glimpse of the others.

Once the door opened, Elara was the first to rush in, followed by Kal who strolled into the hall in a leisurely manner. Not far behind him were Tommy and Alarynn, Chad was not with them.

Elara rushed towards Silax and called out to him, panic evident in her voice.

"Silax, are you okay?"

As soon as she got within five meters of him, Silax could hear the blood pounding in her veins, an intoxicating scent washed over him.

He stretched his arm out to stop her getting closer.

"I'm fine, just a little disoriented."

Elara stopped herself just before reaching his arm. His reaction startled her a little, but she wasn't offended. Even though they had spent the last couple of days together and she felt a fondness for him developing, they still couldn't be considered friends, they didn't know each other well enough.

"That's good." Elara said as she breathed a sigh of relief.

Kal had already gotten closer to them. He looked at Silax in a suspicious manner, then looked around the hall, he noticed that the lectern was missing.

"What happened in here? Where is the stand that was at the end of the hall?" Kal asked while pointing towards the dais.

"I'm not sure exactly. After you were all blown out of the hall, the light that was shining down left me frozen for a while then faded. I searched around the hall for a way out, but couldn't find one. The only thing of interest was the lectern.

"I was reluctant to touch it at first, seeing as that seemed to have been what had unleashed the ghouls initially, but I didn't have a choice. Written on the lectern was a riddle that took a while for me to figure out the answer, but I eventually did.

"It was blood, which seemed fitting as we had just fought a bunch of ghouls. Next thing was to figure out how to answer it. The only other thing in the room was the chalice, so I sliced my hand and filled it my blood."

He raised his left hand, showing the bandage he had wrapped the cut he gave to himself.

"Nothing happened, I waited for several minutes but still there was no reaction, so I decided to search around the room once again, that's when the change occurred.

"As soon as I stepped of the platform, the lectern and the chalice broke into motes of light then flowed towards the pattern that was inscribed on the floor in the center of the room.

"The room began to shake and then that thing rose up out of the ground, that's also when the doors opened."

Silax briefly narrated what had happened, changing some details and keeping majority of what had happened to himself.

"Are you sure that is all that happened?" Kal asked, his gaze bearing down on Silax questioningly.

"Yes, it is. I have nothing to gain from hiding anything from you."

Silax answered in a calm manner, his attitude not changing. He wasn't bothered by the accusatory question.

"Well, it's not like I want to doubt you, but from your answer, it doesn't seem like you spent long in here. Unless the riddle posed by the lectern was difficult and it took you hours to solve, because that's how long you've been stuck in here." 

Silax was shocked by what Kal had just said, and he didn't try to hide his surprise.

"Hours? That's not possible. I've in here for around forty-five minutes, one hour at the most. I think I would know if I had spent hours trying to deduce the answer to a riddle, a riddle that frankly I didn't find too difficult."

Kal kept his gaze on Silax, his eyes were hard to read. Silax couldn't tell whether Kal believed him or not.

"That's why I'm asking if that's all that happened, because we've been waiting outside those doors for over three hours, in a few more hours it'll be morning."

It was at this point Elara decided to intervene in the discussion, giving a possible explanation to the difference in time. 

"Maybe it was the light, Silax remained frozen for a while after we got locked out of the hall. It's possible that it was longer than he thought, but he couldn't perceive the flow of time due to the influence of the light."

Kal turned to look at her, then he smiled and shrugged his shoulders.

"Well, it doesn't matter. We're back in here, and there's something new for us to discover in this hall."

He approached the object that now stood in the middle of the hall, red light reflected off it's surface prominently. The rest of the group followed behind him.