Ch 82:- Painful Awakening

Cia woke abruptly, sitting upright and gasping for air. Her head throbbed violently against her skull, and her body felt as heavy as a lead weight, remnants of pain still lingering through every nerve and fiber of her being.

Ignoring the horrible sensation, she blinked through the pain, attempting to focus on her surroundings. Everything appeared as a haze, a cloud of disorientation, as she opened her eyes and tried to recall what had happened.

The room slowly materialized in front of her; it was neither her dorm room nor her actual room. The entire place resembled an amalgamation of a laboratory, a nursing room, a blacksmith workshop, a library, and a bedroom. It was both chaotic and awe-inspiring, a marvelous creation of the human mind.

"Where am I?"

Before she could fully comprehend what was happening or marvel at the rest of the place, a singular word shot through her mind: Vampire, evoking a strange sense of unease and déjà vu.

Her hand clenched onto the sheet tightly as memories rushed back, fragments of what had transpired replaying in her mind like a disjointed movie reel. She drew her eyes from the surroundings; her vision now focused on herself, revealing a horrifying display—her body naked and exposed to the environment, caked in her own dried blood. Her clothes were barely intact, reduced to nothing but rags; the sheet on which she was lying met a similar predicament, torn and shredded, covered in crimson red with her own blood, with a bunch of strands of her hair scattered all around.

**Switching to first person POV**

Gingerly, I raised my hand, looking at them covered in a thick layer of blood, with skin and muscle tissue lodged in my nails. A wave of nausea rolled through me. Hurriedly, I swung my feet over the bed and rose to my feet, screaming and stumbling as a broken shard of glass from the IV flask stabbed through my feet, drawing blood.

Carefully, I dislodged it and watched in morbid fascination as my feet healed almost instantaneously. Half running, half walking, I made my way to the bathroom, flinging the door open with too much force. I stood before the mirror and took in my reflection. An audible gasp escaped my lips as I took several steps back, my back hitting the wall. There was no hint of clothes left on my body other than the rags; blood was everywhere, as if I had taken a dip in a pool filled with it. My hair stuck to my body and looked a lot less than usual.

Shocked at my appearance, I stumbled into the shower, turning on the faucet to hot water and letting it wash away all the blood and filth that covered me. A river of red water flowed down the drainage as I fixated my gaze upon it, looking at it with fascination before taking some emergency shampoo and body soap, trying to scrub my body clean.

By the time I finished the shower, I stood before the mist-ridden mirror, watching my reflection with fascination. My previous shoulder-length raven hair was now jet black and so long that it almost reached my waist. My eyes looked several shades darker than before, and my skin appeared much paler, with a rosy tint highlighting my cheeks and body.

Quickly drying myself with a towel, I exited with the towel still wrapped around my body, realizing I didn't have any clothes to wear. "He could have at least left behind some clothes for me," I grumbled in annoyance, looking around to see if there was anything for me to wear. Finally, I found a half-sleeved black-colored shirt with golden patterns and smudges of blood still sticking to it, giving it a rather majestic and bloody vibe. I begrudgingly wore it, securing me from the cold that I was feeling. I still didn't know what was going on, and Rayne hadn't left any kind of note behind, so I decided to stay until he returned.

Wanting to engage myself in something, I went to the library section and decided to go to his personal section. Now, I wasn't feeling any pain or backlash that I used to feel whenever I tried to touch his belongings or thought ill about him without his permission.

I debated whether I should go and tell everything about him and the others to the leader, hoping for a promotion and the freedom I wanted. However, now that I had become a vampire myself, reporting them would be like reporting about my unique existence. I couldn't let that happen, imagining dark scenarios where they might experiment on me. I quickly shook off those thoughts.

Sighing, I picked up a book named "Fundamental of Qi and Mana" written by Leonardo Da Vinci and settled down at the table where he usually sat. I read through what was written in it.

"So, Qi is the vital energy that every living being possesses, giving martial arts masters the ability to perform feats of superhuman capability. Qi is further divided into two parts: true Qi and Qi. Martial arts masters focus on the latter, mastering and increasing it through rigorous exercises.

Mana, on the other hand, is the world energy borrowed from outside and can only be used by mages who possess a mana core. Both mana and Qi are fundamentally the same type of energy with different functions, according to Leonardo.

But according to Rayne, Qi and Mana are the same. A person with enough insight could use both, or in this case, use mana as Qi and Qi as mana. The most effective example is how he himself uses the Flame Scripture, a technique that needs energy feeding for someone to utilize it. Another example is the Song of War 1st stance—Way of Water. It is a technique based on the fluidity and flexibility of water, and, as the name suggests, with high enough mastery and Qi control, one could incorporate and manipulate atmospheric water into their fighting style. From this, he also concluded the possibility of creating skills that would allow one to fully manipulate the blood of others without the help of any additional racial ability like absolute blood control. He also talked about the possibility of creating...

Suddenly, the hand of someone slapping hard onto the desk woke her up from her reading trance. As she looked up, she came face to face with Rayne, his eyes glowing an ominous crimson red, boring into her body, fangs peeking from under his red lips as he practically growled, looking at her ravenously, eyes full of hunger. Cia was paralyzed with terror. Her heart raced, and her mind was filled with a mix of fear and curiosity.

Her heart pounded against her chest as she gulped nervously, desperately trying to think of ways to calm down Rayne. But...but his expression was no longer human; it was of pure animalistic hunger, and all of it was directed at her. She felt like prey trapped in the eyes of a predator.

Before she could even speak, Rayne had her pinned to the floor, his hot breath brushing against her skin, sending shivers down her spine. She wanted to reason with him, to bring him back to reality, but all that was futile as he let out a guttural growl, silencing all of her attempts. In that moment, Cia realized that Rayne had lost all control, consumed by his bloodlust.

She struggled against his vice-like grip, her body trembling with fear and adrenaline. But the more she fought against him, the more she realized how hopeless it was against

his strength. She bit her lips until they started bleeding and let out a faint whimper as she begged one last time, tears streaming down her face and her voice cracking barely above a whisper:

"Rayne, please no."

For a moment, he seemed to pause and loosen his grip slightly. But then, without warning, he dug his nails into her skin, drawing blood. Cia's world spun as she felt herself being thrown onto the hotel room floor, staring up at the familiar ceiling in shock.

It took a few minutes for her mind to catch up with what just happened and come to her senses before she sat up and said:

"What the fudge just happened?"

"This can't be real," Cia said as she looked at herself.

"Did I just survive from getting myself eaten?" Cia said as she clenched and unclenched her hand.

"I still can't understand why I was so fearful at the prospect of him drinking my blood, like it is normal for a person to feel like that, but this one felt more primal, it was as if it was coming from within like if I let him drink even a small sip, he will devour me whole if that even makes sense. The whole experience was something I don't want to experience again." Cia shivered as she thought about it while looking at her ceiling.

Before quickly drifting into sleep as the mental exhaustion caught up to her.

**Meanwhile, with Rayne**

"Fuck, I was inches away from tearing her throat apart. What just happened to me? I thought I had it under control, then why… why did it act up now of all time?" Rayne exclaimed out loud, gritting his teeth, fangs digging into his lower lips as he punched the pillar nearby, leaving a deep impression on the pristine obsidian-like surface.

"Can it be because of the nightmarish parasitic that I removed… No, that is not possible at all. Those creatures are not strong enough to affect me, at least I think they are not…"

[If you may, do you wanna hear my opinion?]

"Yeah, why not tell me what you want."

[I have two theories, both intertwined with the flaw you received when you first activated your soul force.

Theory One: It is possible that your lack of blood consumption due to your frugal diet was a contributing factor to your loss of control. As we both know, your flaw of Gluttony may have been weakened but it still remains a part of you. This, combined with your hunger and the prolonged period without feeding, could have tipped you over the edge.

Now, onto Theory Two - which is rather bizarre but also holds the most possibility. As you are aware, even though you are a vampire native to this world, your vampirism has been highly mutated due to your experience in the nightmare realm and the influence of your soul force. This mutation has caused you to resemble vampires from that plane of existence more closely. So my theory is that what you experienced was a form of cannibalistic behavior seen among vampires in that region. They become drunk on blood, often consuming other vampires to grow stronger. And as you have only encountered one other vampire before - the one you defeated at the start of your time in the nightmare - and ultimately devoured alive due to zero self-control, it is not surprising that your body would instinctively respond to Cia's presence as she shares similarities with your unique type of vampire. My analysis also indicates that her magical affinity after the transformation almost resembles those found in vampires from the nightmare realm.]

"That… is a very valid point. I didn't think about that possibility before but what do you mean by that her magical affinity almost resembles that kind of vampire, don't tell me can she… " Rayne asked.

[You heard it right, but there is a reason why I said almost, it is because even though she had the potential of awakening and forming a soul core, she couldn't do it, however what she could do is…]

"Form a mana core?" Rayne finished its word.

[Yes, you are right, which you would also have the potential of developing if not for your damaged soul core, because how similar both are. One is diluted divine energy while the other is the world energy. You understand right?]

"Yeah, yeah I understand it is just… a whole lot to take in, first she somehow was affected by the nightmare parasite which shouldn't be possible, but she still somehow had contracted it, I just couldn't think… it is just too much and now she had become something or like something which shouldn't be even possible. Do you think it is my fault what if the harrowing corruption that was spreading in the nightmare realm somehow makes its way here through me through my blood after all her precognitive ability only developed after I enthralled her and gave her my blood," Rayne let out a shaky breath as he contemplated on the decision he had made, has he done the right thing?

Seeking for some solace and answer he teleported to the top of a lonesome jagged snow-covered mountain top shrouded by a veil of darkness, starring at the vibrant star.

"What do you think Mina," Rayne said with a small smile forming on his face as he stared at the ever vibrant stars. "Maybe I was meant to be always alone from the starting only."

***************