The Book of Nightmares

"Let me tell you a legend. A legend as old as the First City." X began. "As all vampire legends worth knowing, it all began with the progenitor."

"Whoever he is, details have been lost to time. No one remembers his name. No one remembers where he came from. No one remembers where he lived. One of the few things we know about him is that he was once human."

"Wait. So, you're saying that with how old vampires are, you can't even remember the dude who turned you all?" Ezra couldn't help but ask. X might be his enemy, but this was valuable information.

"It's not a matter of memory. It's about design." X laughed. "Those old enough to have conversed with the true ancients say that the lack of information was by design. The progenitor erased all that information himself. Besides, most vampires are not as old as you think. The Death Wave did a number on us."

The Death Wave? That's a question for later.

"Before he became a vampire, the progenitor had a human family. He loved them a lot and when he became a vampire, the first people he turned were select members of his family." X continued. "He had two family branches. The vampire branch reigned during the night and the human branch reigned during the day. Centuries passed and his line flourished."

"I know the legend is quite riveting but would you continue? We're on a time limit, you know." X told Olivia who turned back to decoding the page. Her attention was still on the legend though.

"Yeah. Where was I? Yeah! The progenitor." X clapped. "It was said that the progenitor was planning to visit a distant land. A journey that could only be undertaken at a very specific time."

"The progenitor also had a human descendant whom he loved the most. The descendant was quite close to his heart. The progenitor loved the descendant so much, he decided to keep him alive as a vampire forever, install him as king over all vampires and come back one day to take him to the land he was going."

"As preparation for his eventual turning, the progenitor decided to create a grimoire called The Book of Daydreams. An incredibly powerful grimoire sealed with the blood of the descendant in which each page will grant great power in the form of monster tattoo. The book was said to contain fourteen pages. It was meant to be a gift for his human descendant."

"When his vampire descendants heard the news, they became blinded by jealousy and greed which festered into hatred. Before long, they wanted the grimoire for themselves. When the book was halfway completed, the vampires stole the blood of the human, killing him in the process."

"What a bunch of idiots." Gen muttered.

"Well, judging by the fact that they pulled it off, they definitely weren't idiots." X laughed.

"They did?" Gen asked incredulously. "How? How did they deal with the fallout?"

"Easy." X answered. "You use the tools the progenitor created. The vampires used the blood of the descendant to open the Book of Daydreams and stole the completed seven pages, leaving seven blank pages behind. They hid from the progenitor using the pages they stole."

"What did the progenitor do?" Gen asked.

"Obviously, he was furious. It was said that his rage split the heavens. He searched high and low but couldn't find the guilty vampires. After his rage calmed, he was filled with grief."

"The time of his journey grew near and with no criminal to punish, the progenitor hatched a plan. He took the seven blank pages in the Book of Daydreams and fashioned a new book. The Book of Nightmares."

"He created a grimoire in which all seven pages contain seven monster tattoos that can perfectly counter each page on the Book of Daydreams. He also included a special curse in which every wielder of a Nightmare page will always feel a pull to seek out the weapon in which they counter. This way, he was able to ensure that the wielders of the Book of Nightmares would always seek out the wielders of the Book of Daydreams and kill them."

"To make sure that each page will go to exactly one person each, not just anybody but the best and brightest vampires, he tore out the pages from the book and hid them all away."

"The legend goes that the first page was hidden by the seashore."

"Seashore?" Gen asked, again.

"The second page was hidden at the bottom of the sky. The third page was hidden where the winds meet the Abyss. The fourth page was hidden in the tomb of his descendant." Olivia, Gen and Ezra shared confused glances. Are those actual places or made-up places?

"The fifth page was hidden at the space between red and yellow. The sixth was hidden on the tip of his tongue. And the seventh he hid at the Last City." X sighed in excitement. "Of course, most people haven't been able to puzzle out where those places actually are but people have stumbled upon the pages from time to time."

"Which page is this?" Olivia suddenly asked.

"It's the fourteenth page of the Book of Daydreams. The seventh page of the Book of Nightmares."

"Wasn't it hidden at the Last City? How did Count Solomon find it?" Gen asked.

"It's quite simple." X chuckled. "The Last City is our city. First City."

"Oh." Olivia made a sound of realization. "Hundreds of years ago, First City was called End City. According to the old texts, end could also mean last. At the time, it became the oldest city still standing. It was regarded by historians as the first city of the new age, so it was renamed from End City to First City. At the time, it was first created, it could have been the Last City."

"Exactly." X nodded. "I'm sure the vampires of old scoured the city in search of it. However, most knowledge of vampire lore was lost following the Death Wave."

Another reference to the Death Wave. Was it some kind of vampire disaster?

"After hiding the pages, the progenitor left on his journey and hasn't been seen again. At that time, his remaining descendants swore that he travelled to another universe. What is it the young ones call it? Isekai?" X scratched the chin of his mask. "Who knows if it's true?"

The sound of pen scratching on paper ended and Olivia straightened. "It's done."

"Perfect." X laughed in delight. "Let's see what the seventh page holds."