『 First meal 』

〚 Story by: AyyyZelos 〛

In a gloomy graveyard without a soul in sight, a pale blue mist enshrouded the vicinity.

All of a sudden all of the mist was sucked into a grave forming a spiralling vortex before receding into a falling glow surrounding the tombstone.

The mystical tombstone began to float upwards before slowly cracking and emitting a pale blue spectre from its fissure.

A ghastly shriek was heard from the spectre before rebounding off the walls and echoing.

The pale blue spectre spun around in the air with a feral look on its face, snarling at the environment before pausing and looking towards its left.

In the silent graveyard, there was but a single sound that could be heard after the spectral apparition let out its cry, scratching.

To be precise, the scratching of fingernails against wood.

The ghost floated over to the source of the sound before pausing, as the feral look on its face grew increasingly more twisted and vicious and it dashed into the grave where the scratching was coming from.

Directly colliding with a young human male who was buried alive in a coffin, desperately attempting to escape the confines of its wooden prison.

As they collided the ghost's mouth created a sucking force that visibly drained the young man and caused him to shrivel up with a pale blue mist leaving his mouth and entering the ghost as he let out a soundless scream of pain.

A few moments later the ghost appeared in the air above the grave once again, this time without a menacing facial expression and a rational gleam in its eyes.

It seemed calmer as if contemplating something before it spoke. "So that little meal was from the Dragis family, huh?"

From the memories it had received from the boy's soul the ghost had discovered that his name was Adam Dragis and he was a member of the Dragis family of Towshire moors.

They were a patriarchal noble family led by Count Liston Dragis.

Adam was count's 4th son who was not looked upon with many good feelings due to his wasteful nature.

The most talented of the count's many children while also being the least hard-working often abusing the power granted by his family name to steal from people and humiliate them for no reason other than to gain pleasure in the misfortune of others.

The fact that he was the weakest of the Dragis family line also didn't help his image when paired with his disrespectful attitude to everyone including his own family which eventually resulted in him being beaten up by his younger siblings who he lorded over and buried alive in the Larksedge burial grounds.

A place that got its name from the small birds that usually migrated to the area when it was warm.

The graveyard was far enough up the moors that most people wouldn't visit it very often, which probably factored in his siblings' decision to let him suffer by burying him alive since he wouldn't be found by anyone.

It was currently winter and there was a heavy snowfall gathering on the nearby ground so trekking uphill to the burial grounds would be even more of an inconvenience for normal people.

However the Dragis family were not normal people, they were spirit warriors.

The count himself was a spirit controlling rank warrior which allowed him to be the undisputed overlord in the area under his reign.

The count made his living from the local blazite mine that was under his control and the unique potions created with some of the plants that grow in said mine.

The only group who had even thought of contesting his rule over the area of Towshire moors were the Fyrefeet raiders led by Kane of Aarikstead, a spirit imbuement rank criminal with a bounty of 10,000 gold coins.

This group of bandits was known for their special fire magic that creates a jet of flames beneath the feet of the caster propelling them forward. It was with this that the bandits could instantly surround merchant caravans with their tremendous speed trading any forms of stealth for high single direction movement speed.

The bandits were known for their boisterous attitudes of showing off their abilities and making a dramatic scene before robbing their marks.

They had evaded the Dragis family for quite some time due to them always being on the move and somehow knowing when their bases would be ambushed by the Dragis family guards.

But that's none of the ghost's immediate concern, now that he had a rough idea of the situation of his surrounding area he had to plan his next steps starting with deciding a name for himself.

"Hmmm… kill, kiil, keel, keal… Sounds good, Keal it is then." Thinks the ghost, now going by the name of Keal.