A Gift

Having finished his work with the villagers, Xue Yang went to the promised meeting spot.

As he walked up to the lone tree, his hood got blown off by the wind, revealing his white as-snow hair.

He became illuminated by the moonlight as a sombre expression painted his pained face.

'Sigh'

Despite just arriving, Xue Yang felt he already had enough after seeing the dark village below.

He turned to leave, but before he could move, something caught his eye.

Hidden inside the tree, he could spot a medium-sized wooden box.

Xue Yang grabbed the box and opened it.

Inside was a note and what looked like clothing. 

Opening the note, Xue Yang saw it had nothing on it but a drawing of a stickman with vampire-like teeth.

He could tell this was Li Qing's way of teasing him about what happened between them. 

This meant that this was a gift she had prepared for him. 

Deciding to take a better look at his gift, Xue Yang took it out of the box.

It was a robe meant for Xue Yang. It was white with black spider lilies embroidered, rising from the bottom like a wild flame.

Putting it on, Xue Yang saw that it fit him perfectly. He didn't know how it was possible, but Li Qing had perfectly guessed his size.

Xue Yang wanted to get new robes sooner or later, so this was not only a thoughtful but a practical gift to him.

He knew that the Li family didn't have much money. Despite this, he was wearing a robe meant to be a gift.

'Li Qing must have used her entire savings for this,' He pondered.

It wasn't an expensive robe, but Li Qing had used her precious wealth to do something nice for essentially a stranger.

Having received the robe. Xue Yang felt emotional. His anger, grief, resentment, everything just came flooding out.

Looking off into the distance at the grim village, Xue Yang let his feelings free.

"Thank you for the gift. I will be sure to put it to good use. I don't know where you or your family is, or if you're even alive… But I can't help but feel like this is my fault. I don't know what happened for things to turn out this way, but I promise to set things right."

Xue Yang wasn't one for speeches, so he kept it short and brief. The only thing on his mind was setting an example of his own.

"It's time, my lord."

Behind Xue Yang, a voice echoed, followed by feral roars.

Xue Yang turned to see a familiar yet different face.

It was the boy he had met not much earlier, yet he was different.

He became slightly taller while his muscles became more defined. He still had the same dark brown hair he had before, but now, instead of tranquil blue eyes, he had crimson rage-filled ones.

Behind the boy, gathered up, were large feral-looking creatures.

They resembled humans but had vital differences. Their once natural-looking skin had turned pale blue while all their hair fell out. Their eyes became entirely black while their teeth became razor sharp.

They had an increased height and size, and all looked exactly the same shape and size.

Xue Yang had fed the boy his blood, turning him into the first vampire other than himself, while to the remaining villagers, he did something far more deplorable.

If not for his family's actions, the boy might have had a different ending to his night, but there was another reason Xue Yang turned him.

He planned to use the boy as a distraction. He would have him command the beasts standing behind him in real-time.

He didn't need to do it, but the boy would look like the leader if the worst came and there was a witness.

At that point, Xue Yang could simply end the boy's life and become hailed as a hero.

The creatures behind him were ghouls, or rather, they were Xue Yang's version of a ghoul.

In this case, ghouls were beings created from corpses that were fed Xue Yang's blood.

Once someone was fed Xue Yang's blood after death, their body would reanimate with two primary functions.

The first was to listen to whatever the progenitor commanded. Ghouls were loyal troops through and through. They could only be created by other ghouls or with the blood of a Divine vampire and the blood of a progenitor vampire.

Yet only the progenitor, in this case, Xue Yang, could control them.

Their second function was more fundamental. They would simply attack any living beings in their surroundings.

This was to feed themselves and prolong their lives. Ghouls survived by eating fresh flesh; without it, they would wither away and die.

Once their numbers dwindle to a certain amount, their survival mechanism will kick in, and they will attempt to turn those they kill into ghouls by forcing their victims to consume the ghoul's flesh.

A single ghoul created from a mortal's body was powerful enough to easily fight ten grown men.

Yet here stood over 200 of them. Roaring in hunger as they awaited their lord's command.

With this army, Xue Yang would assault the town of Travellers Rest, slaughtering everyone within it for their sin of supporting such a place.

Once he was done, only the ruins and the mangled remains of those who crossed him would remain as the town would become a den of monsters.

Realising he had no time to waste, Xue Yang walked past the boy, not paying him any attention and disappeared into the sea of ghouls.