The New Continent

The following day, Raven woke up feeling entirely reborn. His whole body brimmed with energy. Feeling this, he couldn't help but ask Lex the reason.

"The reason you feel stronger and more energized is because, even though you haven't transitioned to a vampire, the ascension has provided you with enough energy to continuously nourish your body even in its human form," came Lex's reply.

After knowing this, he couldn't wait to reach Gaia. If this was simply the result of residue, how would it feel after he became a vampire?

Putting those thoughts away, Raven decided to look through the news to see if they had already published anything. Just as he expected, there was no news. 'They must be trying to get a head start or maybe they are trying to verify the validity,' thought Raven.

He decided to stay home for the day and wait until it was time to go to Gaia. He binge-watched some of his all-time favorite movies and relaxed, something he hadn't done since his mom's death.

It was only when Lex told him that he could travel to Gaia in a few minutes that he realized it was already night. After a long time, he enjoyed some free time. Now, he was about to shift his entire life to a whole new genre, from a tragic slice of life to a fantasy.

With a few minutes left, he washed his face and put on an old jacket over his shirt. He took a look at himself in the mirror, then walked back to the living room to wait.

Just like that, the last few minutes trickled by. When the time was right, a new screen popped up in front of Raven.

[Travel to Gaia Yes/No]

Without a second of hesitation, Raven pressed yes. Just then, the usual white light surrounded him, sending him off.

When he opened his eyes, he was standing in space surrounded by pure darkness. Yet he seemed to have no problems. When he looked down, he saw a huge plane with multiple large landmasses and numerous small ones. There was also a huge body of water. He quickly assessed a few things. Even though he didn't have any solid proof, his gut told him that each of those larger landmasses was the size of Earth. But what truly shocked him was the second thing he noticed: the lands seemed to defy all logic he ever had. Some lands seemed solely focused on some elements, like one with a fiery glow in its entirety. There were also lands floating in the sky and those entirely shrouded in darkness. While he wasn't able to assess the plane in its entirety, he still understood that this magical plane was where he would have to establish his foundations. This was Gaia.

"This is Gaia. The land of wonders. All those lands and seas are currently entirely devoid of intelligent life. And that itself is the first privilege to the progenitors," came Lex's voice, waking Raven from his daze. Lex continued as Raven focused on him. "The progenitors are allowed to choose a land where they can establish their races. They could create tribes, kingdoms, or even empires with the assistance of Gaia."

After saying that, Lex came in front of Raven and stretched his bat wings. In response, a sandbox replica of Gaia appeared. It was an exact replica down to the weather conditions and unique features.

Looking at this replica, Raven asked Lex, "So I can choose a place for myself and maybe create a kingdom or something, right?" To which Lex nodded. Raven closely examined the sandbox. Since he didn't have much information to go on, he decided to ask Lex for an opinion. "Lex, where do you think I should choose? Maybe someplace where not a lot of other races will be present."

Hearing this, the bat put on a thoughtful face. After some time, he pointed at a particular landmass. While it wasn't the largest, it was definitely big. Then Lex explained, "This continent would be quite suitable for you since it's unique in that sunlight won't ever reach there. While you as the progenitor won't have a problem, other vampires may be affected by sunlight, and this place could help with that. Also, due to this, many other races won't choose this place either."

Listening to Lex, Raven couldn't help but agree. Sunlight was seen as poison against vampires in many myths and stories, so it was better not to take any chances. Still, he needed to ensure this place could sustain an entire race.

"So, could you tell me some other things about this place?" Raven asked Lex.

Hearing this, the bat seemed happy and started explaining how the entire place was covered by black or red soil and how it was always night. He also mentioned some other life on the continent, which surprised Raven. But what caught Raven's attention was the fact that this island held a deposit of some ore not found anywhere else on Gaia. While Lex didn't go into detail, from what Raven heard, he felt it wouldn't be a bad place to lay his foundations.

"Lex, let's go with that continent," said Raven, deciding to choose that place.