45: Interview With The Vampire

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They brought me to a cave and asked me to wait for his father to wake up…

I never thought he would sleep for 8 months!

In the end, the piercing mana bullet was the only spell I managed to learn. Since, even though I increase my mana considerably during this time, it's still not enough for the others spells Teresa tried to teach me.

But I guess learning a new spell is better than nothing.

Today, after so long, it finally looks like I'll be able to talk to Teresa and Gideon's father, and I'll finally know what he wants from me.

I'm a little nervous as I cross the stone threshold that serves as the entrance to the old vampire's room. The one who apparently has to decide whether I live or die.

I enter a room with plain walls and no decoration in which there is no furniture. The only exception is a chair, heavily ornamented with reliefs representing wild animals.

I see Regis sitting in the chair and I approach him.

His features are extremely pale. He seems to be a young man of small size and a simple appearance.

But his appearance is betrayed by the dense aura of power that his body exudes.

If when I first met Teresa and Gideon I felt like a rabbit in front of a pair of wolves, now I feel like an ant in front of a gigantic dragon.

I feel Azur trembling with fear on my shoulders. He doesn't seem the least bit pleased to be in the presence of this man.

"As I'm sure you've heard from my children, my name is Regis. And I know your name thanks to having probed Debi's memories" says the old vampire with a pompous and paused voice when I approach, while a smile appears on his face "However, it is normal to introduce ourselves when we talk to someone we have never seen before. So, let's follow this ancestral ritual of introducing ourselves, even if we already know our respective names. Hello, my name is Regis and I wanted to talk to you because I have never seen a person with a blessing with so much potential."

"Blessing?" I ask cautiously, intimidated by his aura.

"That's what I call them, for lack of a better name. Since the holy scriptures don't name or mention them" he says in the same pompous and relaxed tone as before, waving his hand dismissively.

"Holy scriptures?" I ask again, increasingly confused.

"Ahh, right" he says and sighs with a look of deep sorrow on his face "Sometimes I forget that, lately, the rulers of the races have decided to eliminate that part of our history..." as he speaks, he pronounces the word 'eliminate' with obvious disgust "In the beginning, each race had a book. A guidebook that gave us direction and taught us how to live in the world. The contents of this book varied from race to race, to take advantage of racial talents. That's why the Dwarves are much better blacksmiths than the rest of the races, and you humans work so well with leather and furs."

"And what happened to that book?" I ask, surprised by the information.

It's the first time I've heard of actual proof that there is some sort of entity guiding our actions, other than the messages from my interface.

"It has been hidden. Intentionally," he says and as he pronounces the word 'hidden' I notice again the tinge of disgust in his voice "When the war ended, the church of lights appeared. And it forbade the reproduction of the book and confiscated all copies, including the originals."

"And why is that?" I ask quizzically.

I don't understand why the church would hide such obvious proof of divine existence. Rather they should do the opposite.

Curiosity is gaining more and more ground on the feeling of intimidation.

"The book encourages the races to climb the labyrinths, and this naturally causes the military power of each race to increase over time, which the church takes a dim view of. They think this would make it difficult to maintain peace between the races. They had only managed to sign the peace because of a pseudo divine sign, and the fact that the four races had lost more than two-thirds of their population in the war" he sighs "At the time, even I believed what they preached, but now I know the truth..." he says, with hatred and disgust returning to his tone as he talks about the church "The point is that no one knew what would happen when the populations of the races prospered again and increased their military potential. So, they decided to ban the book and strictly control the military power of each race."

"And if it is something these holy scriptures call for? Have you ever tried to complete the labyrinth? do you know what's at the end of it?" I ask anxiously and hurriedly.

I'm sure that with their powers they can surely reach the end.

I finally will be able to find out why my parents had to die!

"No, because we would probably do far more harm than we would help" he sigh "I am too weak to my bloodlust. I've been alive for a long time, so long that many things no longer have any meaning to me. These days I hardly need to eat or sleep… The only thing that could grant me some pleasure would be people's blood, but I fear that if I were to indulge that urge I would end up being a far worse monster than Debi. That's why I keep myself secluded in this cave and hardly go out. And that's why I forbade my children to try to climb the labyrinths, as I think they will eventually get to be in the same situation as me" he says and I notice the sadness in his voice, as he sighs again "I don't know what will be at the end of the labyrinths, but I'm sure it's something for the four races, and we can't consider ourselves humans anymore. No, I prefer to occupy the role of guide. Thanks to the church of lights, a lot of knowledge that was common in the old days is now lost and forgotten. I explain to people like you the importance of climbing the labyrinth and try to help them become stronger, but that's as far as my role goes."

"Hmm, ok. I guess it's your choice" I say, and I think it's probably for the best. If the momentum of his thirst is that terrible that he had to sleep 8 months to get it under control, and if Debi could have a village dancing on the palm of her hand with only a few months of experience, I'm horrified at what someone with Regis's power could do if he decided to impose his will on the world "And that book.... who wrote it?"

"No one knew about the author when I was living as a human, and I don't think anyone knows about it now" he says with a blank stare at his memories "I remember it was signed as 'the hive', but there wasn't much more information. Why are you interested in the specific name?"

"Because I received messages from something called 'the hive' twice already? And by what their messages say, it seems they call singularities what you call blessings" I tell him, as I feel a little indebted for all the information he has shared with me.

"Interesting... I've never heard of a... singularity getting messages from them..." he says thoughtfully as if savoring the information. "It's been a while since I've discovered anything new. The holy scriptures promised that climbing the floors of the labyrinth would reveal all the secrets, but as far as I know, nothing was ever found… What a refreshing feeling!"

"And these singularities… is it normal that they can be passed on?" I ask, thinking of Teresa and Gideon.

"No, it rarely happens" he says looking distracted "My children met a singularity that could transmit its abilities by biting its victims. But that was the only case, other than ourselves, that we know of with the ability to pass on the benefits of a singularity to another person"

"And how do you guys... Reproduce?" I ask curious, but a little uncomfortable because maybe he might think my question is indiscreet.

"In our case, the power comes from blood. But when the change occurs the person loses access to their natural abilities" he says and his voice suddenly takes on a tinge of sadness "Teresa, for example, could use healing magic before the change...I think losing that ability has hurt her a lot, although she never told me..."

"and... Did you ever encounter any abilities that affect the bearer's loved ones?" I ask in a strained voice.

Regis and his family seem to have observed many people with singularities. I guess if I want to find out about my 'supposed curse' there is no one better than them.

"No, not at least because of the ability. Why do you ask?" says Regis looking at me intently, inquisitively.