“You called for me, Grandpa?” said a young woman with her dark hair neatly pulled into a bun.

  A stone fireplace cracked and popped as the woman stepped further into the room. The embers of the fire slowly faded, barely illuminating the room. The green eyes of the woman did a brief scan as she looked for the form of her grandfather. She saw his brown coat draped over his desk before looking towards the window where her grandfather stood.

  “I did Adeline,” the white-haired old man said, looking back at her with the same colored green eyes, the only resemblance shared between them.

  Adeline’s face scrunched up as she took in the office she was in. Her grandpa wasn’t always the most clean, but this took a whole new level. The small office was cluttered with old wine bottles, ashes from the fireplace that he refused to sweep up, reports sprawled out all along his desk, books cracked open while others were not put back but rested against the bookshelf. A broken [Scrying Glass] lay shattered against the stone wall, prompting Adeline to really look at her grandfather.

  “Grandpa, what's happened? Is this about the system notice about the new progenitor?” Adeline worriedly asked.

  Her grandfather’s shoulders sagged like all the weight in the world had finally collapsed upon him. He slightly turned to her, the light from the window behind him illuminating half his face, revealing dried tear streaks and bloodshot eyes. Immediately, Adeline stood and moved around the wooden office desk, wrapping her grandfather in a tight embrace. He wasn’t a feeble thing anymore since coming to this world. It had given him new purpose and life, which translated well into his Vitality points he invested, saving himself from death’s door. However, as she held him now, her head buried in the crook of his neck, he felt feeble again.

  “What happened?” She pulled back, holding him at arm’s length.

  “Aldrin, he-” He started.

  Adeline searched his eyes. “Aldrin what?” She asked, dreading the answer.

  “His ring broke,” He admitted, putting his head down.

  “What do you mean?” Her voice edged towards breaking.

  “His ring broke!” He looked into her eyes as more tears spilled out.

  Her own tears threatened to flow, but she knew better than to grieve until she had seen a body. “I will go find his body and hunt down those who killed him,” Adeline said, her voice hard and laced with anger. She let go and paced around the room, her hands clenching and unclenching at the possibility that her brother, Aldrin, might be dead. One brother almost broke her, but with both dead, she didn’t want to even broach that train of thought until she had done everything she could.

  “I tried to find them already! All I get is darkness and not even a whisper or glimpse to give a clue to his last moments.” He slumped in his chair, defeated. His weathered features showed prominently, reminding her once again of his age before coming to this world.

  “Last location?” She demanded, turning her emotions into focus points.

  “He and his group were doing the Bonehill cleanup,” He said, running his hand along the many papers strung about on his desk looking for the task team for the week.

  “I will take my seekers and start there,” she said as she stormed out, leaving her grandfather.

  She walked down the elegant white marbled halls of the headquarters for those who serve the light, The Aurora. Priests, Knights, Aspirants, and the few Clerics walked up and down the large hallway in hurried steps, each saluting or greeting Adeline. She paid them no mind as she marched to the end of the hall to her second in command that was in gleaming silver armor with a white cape that came down to his armored boots. He had short, cropped blonde hair, strong gruff looking features from the many battles he had been in, granting him a scar that ran down the side of his face.

  “Orders ma’am?” Adeline’s Second asked.

  “Find my brother’s killers and we start at Bonehill Barrows Dungeon,” Adeline said without missing a beat. Her second in command stumbled slightly before frowning in rage.

  “I will rouse the men; they will want to partake in the hunt for Aldrin’s killer immediately,” Her Second said before splitting off down another hallway.

  “And Ingram,” Adeline paused.

  “Yes, ma’am?” Ingram stopped, turning to look at her.

  “Thank you,” Adeline said, looking him in the eyes.

  Ingram simply nodded and walked off to get the rest of the men. Adeline kept moving straight down towards the large open stone doors. The glint in her eyes made others move around her, avoiding any sort of contact. She checked her status one last time, limiting it to show only the basics.

  Her hunt was on, and she wasn’t going to rest until she ran her blade through all of her brother’s killers.

  Meanwhile, outside Bonehill Barrows Dungeon, Aldrin awoke gasping for air he no longer needed. His System Alert dot in the corner of his vision was furiously blinking red. Recollection of the events in the dungeon shot back to him in an instant. He looked around for the bodies of his friends, but only the moon illuminated an empty field where they first delved into. There were no signs of what really happened, as even the dungeon entrance had disappeared like it never existed to begin with.

  Aldrin whipped his head back and forth, albeit inducing a severe case of vertigo looking for even the smallest detail. Doing so made his head throb maddeningly, with pulses behind his eyes in rhythm with it. His teeth were sore and hurt to touch with his tongue. The nauseating burning sensation in his stomach came back with a vengeance this time; crippling him as he clutched his hands to it in hopes of alleviating some of the pain.

  With no armor, weapons, or his potions, Aldrin stumbled away from the now nonexistent dungeon entrance and onto the main road. The nauseous burn in his stomach grew angrier with every step. It kept him from focusing on the more important things, like the blazing campfire and the laughter that surrounded it. Subconsciously, his body directed itself towards the campfire, hopeful of finding help. The laughter and jeering stopped as one of their own called out to point at the shambling corpse resembling Aldrin.

  “Hey fellow! What’s got ya?” A man with forest green hair and eyes with pointed ears rushed to him.

  The others cautiously got up. “Ah Johnathan, he don’t look right,” a bald-headed woman with tattoos on her face called out to the Elf as the hairs on the back of her neck stood. Her Danger Sense skill starting to tingle through her body.

  “What do you mean? He needs help!” Johnathan said with his back to Aldrin, who was only a few steps away.

  Grunting in pain, Aldrin felt the burning feeling flush out to the rest of his body, igniting the feeling in his body all the way down to the nerve endings. His teeth popped out, filling his mouth with blood as new, sharper fanged teeth replaced his old ones. The little sanity he had left slipped as the thought of hunger and thirst brayed against his mental fortress as the most enticing smell, the smell of his mother’s caramel apple pie, wafted off the Elf in front him.

  Unluckily, that’s all it took for Aldrin to lose the mental war with himself. His fingernails grew into sharpened dull black talons, his ears elongated to resemble bat ears to hear the smallest pinpricks of the cicada near the campfire, his usual copper skin faded to light gray as his shoulder-length brown hair reduced itself to dark brown scruffiness and fuzz on top of his head, and his forest green eyes illuminated as his vision clouded over into dark gray. The people in front of him turned into white silhouettes with a red dot around their chest that thumped in rhythm.

  Their heartbeats sung to Aldrin, beckoning him to take them in his hands, to gorge himself on their life. Mentally, whatever primal urge and hunger wanted Aldrin to take these innocent people’s lives, he fought back against it as it continued to be whipped into a frenzy. His control slipped as the green-haired Elf stepped closer to him.

  Johnathan waved off his companions and turned to face Aldrin, “Now friend let-” He began to say before Aldrin latched onto his neck with his fangs. His blood tasted exactly like how his mother’s caramel apple pie would taste. Aldrin snarled with contentment as the warm liquid tingled his taste buds.

  Aldrin adjusted to tighten his grip on Johnathan with his taloned hands, holding him in place, draining his life force, turning him into a husk. The euphoric feeling pleased both Aldrin and the Beast as they both roared from the thrill of it all when he finally let go of the remains of Johnathan. The companions of Johnathan looked on in shock as his dried out husk of a body fell in the grass with a dull thump. His skin wrinkled and clung to his bones. His eyes were milky white like he had gone blind, his hair had turned white and fell out in clumps around his head, and no muscle or definition from who he once was.

  “A fucking vampire! Quick Identify it!” The bald-headed tattooed woman yelled out, igniting her battle ax in fire. The others readied their weapons in response.

  “I can’t! I get scrambled letters whenever I try to!” A heavily armored Dwarf called out.

  The tattooed woman looked at her Dwarf companion in horror. “Shit! Run!” Taking off in a dead sprint away from the vampire.

  The quick movement alerted Aldrin’s predatory need to chase, fighting against the need, he snarled. He looked towards the others around the campfire as another took two steps backward and bolted off in a different direction. Soon the others followed suit without a care for any of their belongings they left behind.

  Aldrin gave chase to the Bard first, or at least that's what he thought he was based on the lute slung over his back. He screamed in terror as he heard Aldrin’s growls and snarls behind him grow closer. He didn’t care which direction he was going, he just did not want to die by the thing that was chasing him now. Choosing to do the one thing you’re not supposed to do, the Bard looked behind him from over his shoulder and screamed more as Aldrin was gaining on him, bulldozing his way through all the plant life.

  He rounded an outcropping of rocks, hoping the sudden change in direction would throw off the monster. He kept running until he saw a cave to take shelter in. The cool night air and the sound of his raging heart are all that greeted him once he settled down in the cave. The vampire that was chasing him was nowhere to be seen. He took out a [Scroll of Communication] and tore it in half. White dust swirled around to reveal an outline of a hooded man. “Speak,” the hooded man said.

  This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  “Vampire, scrambled letters, near Bonehill Barrows Dungeon, 1 death so far,” the Bard listed breathlessly.

  “Knight-Templar Seeker Adeline has been dispatched earlier to that area. She will be there. Just hold tight.” The hooded man said and cut off the transmission.

  “Fuck, we aren’t going to make it until she gets here,” The Bard ran his hands through his hair. The opening of the cave echoed with the sound of stomping and curses as the armored Dwarf made his way through branches, making the Bard freeze.

  “Finston! Is that you, boy?” the Dwarf asked, his two hammers in his hands at the ready.

  “Arlock?” Finston said, coming from deeper within the cave.

  “Thank the Progenitors! I’m glad to have found you!” Warlock bellowed back.

  “Where are the others?” Finston asked, stepping out into the cave opening to meet Arlock.

  “Dunno, got separated as soon as that thing ripped into Johnathan,” Arlock said, taking in the disheveled appearance of Finston. Twigs and leaves stuck out in multiple directions from his blue-black neatly styled hair, his white and black velvet clothes had holes and tears with green stains or Arlock hoped it was green with the limited light he had from the moons.

  “It chased me here, then I lost it when I found this cave,” Finston said, gesturing to the cave behind him.

  “Well, no point in staying here. We have to keep moving closer to the nearest outpost,” Arlock pointed away from the cave. Finston’s eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets as Aldrin stepped out from the copse of trees he ran through earlier behind Arlock.

  “Arlock,” Finston said, his fear barely allowing him to go above a whisper as a shaky finger pointed behind Arlock.

  Arlock whipped around, his two hammers at the ready as he flourished them towards Aldrin. “Finston, boy, run to the nearest outpost and do not stop,” Arlock gruffly said, as he adopted a fighting stance. “Show them this,” Arlock threw his [Seal of Authority] to Finston, “and then head to the Holy Order and report - Well fuck me,” Arlock growled out when he inspected the Vampire in front of them again.

  “Change of plans Fin, run immediately to the Holy Order and report that-” Arlock was cut off as Aldrin rushed in, his claws raised, teeth bared, and full of hunger and thirst.

  Arlock sidestepped the lunge by a hair’s breadth. Finston saw them blur with movement with the dull lighting. Each time, however, Arlock looked the loser of the clash. His armored chest heaved up and down as the Vampire eyed him down. Arlock shot a quick sharp look to Finston, prompting him to turn tail and run.

  “Aye, godspeed boy,” Arlock watched from the corner of his eye as Finston disappeared into the brush. The Vampire called his full attention back with a snarl that would put a bear to shame. It rushed him again, this time his breath left him as the Vampire slid underneath his swing to hit Arlock in the stomach, sending vibrations throughout his body.

  “Come on, you son of a goat!” Arlock bellowed out, rushing the monster and wheezing from the blow earlier. He intended to do a feint, but the Vampire smiled greedily as the opening presented itself. It swiped with its claws at the leather gloved hand of the Dwarf, severing it from him. The Dwarf blinked once, then twice, before looking at the bloody stump that used to be his hand. He felt the phantom of the limb at first, then came the nerve shattering pain as he dropped his other hammer and buckled under the pain of his lost limb. He cradled it with his other hand, trying to stop the river of blood that flowed as he stared wide eyed up at the monster that would take his life.

  “Please, I have a family!” Arlock pleaded as his mortality came upon him.

  Aldrin, or whatever was left of Aldrin, gently cupped Arlock's face with a clawed hand. Pressing lightly enough on his cheek to draw blood. Freshly cooked french fries wafted off the blood, driving the hunger and thirst up the walls. Aldrin gripped the Dwarf by the neck, lifting him from the ground while he tore off the chest guard the Dwarf was wearing. He plunged into the Dwarf’s neck, gulping down the taste of the fresh fries and finally his spark of life. He dropped the dried out husk of the Dwarf while searching for his next prey.

  Two heartbeats echoed out, signaling the hunt to begin again. Aldrin ran towards them, blurring past trees as he came upon another clearing. The two were in the middle of it, looking directly at him like deers caught in headlights. One of them was another Elf man that smelled like vanilla ice cream, but this one was dressed in green priestly robes and held a large staff with an octagon in the shape of a star at the top of it. The other was a Human woman that smelled like raspberries; she was dressed in leathers and held a shaky spear pointed towards Aldrin.

  “You will do no more harm, you foul creature! Be- Wait a minute?! What the fuck?! It’s a Progenitor!” The Elf stammered before running away, leaving the woman to fend for herself.

  “HEY! YOU COWARD!” The woman holding the spear screamed at him as Aldrin stalked towards her, indecision plaguing her mind. His blood-soaked face held a menacing grin as he closed in on her. He leapt towards her, but she held her spear and adjusted to him, letting him impale himself. The pain made Aldrin roar, waking the sleeping birds in the trees to flee. He struggled as the spear was stuck in his shoulder from going clean through. The woman lost her nerve and let go of the spear as Aldrin continued to thrash around.

  Finally, Aldrin snapped the front of the spear and stood hunched over, gazing at the woman as she backed away. The woman blinked and in that moment Aldrin held her heart in his hands. The woman coughed blood, then looked down at the gaping hole in her chest before crumpling lifelessly to the ground. Aldrin lifted the heart above his head, tilted his head back, opened his mouth and squeezed the heart, making all the blood it contained wash over him. Then he threw the remains of the heart next to the woman’s body as he tracked the Elf priest.

  Luckily for him and unlucky for the rest, the Elf and another were on a fast track to intersecting each other. Aldrin ran towards them, rocketing himself forward with each step. He caught up to the Elf, decapitating him before the Elf even had a chance to scream. Aldrin changed his direction and ran towards the one that was bound to intersect with them. Aldrin stopped at the right point, just in time for the tattooed woman from before to come tumbling out of the bushes. She looked haggard and out of breath as Aldrin watched her fall to the ground with her chest heaving up and down. Slowly and quietly, Aldrin walked up to her, stepping on a twig on purpose.

  The snap alerted the woman as she scanned her environment with practiced ease, the tiredness from before nowhere to be seen. She knew she was being hunted, and it displeased her as she spat on the ground. Gathering her wits, she reminded herself she was a Tier 1 Warrior Maiden on the path of the Valkyrie and no creature of the Dark would scare her.

  The tall form of Aldrin revealed itself as he stepped closer to the woman, coming out into the open. The same fire engulfed battle axe from before, appearing in her hand. Aldrin’s gaze looked at the flames warily, then flicked back to the woman, who seemed to grow confident. She lunged, bringing the ax in an overhead swing. Aldrin sidestepped as his reflexes were at their peak, the trailing flame from her ax illuminating his bloodied face that grinned at her.

  She continued to swing her ax in all directions, each time barely missing and Aldrin’s grin getting wider. However, she took him by surprise when she flung a glowing white sword at him that materialized from thin air. It plunged into his stomach, throwing him back and pinning him to a tree. Aldrin let out a vicious roar as the sword of light burned to the touch. The Warrior Maiden charged her way towards Aldrin, her ax glowing hotter and brighter to an almost blinding degree.

  The Beast that was Aldrin heard his system alert chime, then felt his limbs tear and shift into bats before his body became a swarm and his consciousness became the mind of it all. It was a sudden, disorienting feeling. He felt his body become phantom limbs and moved them accordingly, which made the rest of him move in that direction. Thinking with that train of thought, he moved his swarm away from being pinned to the tree and orient himself to the Warrior Maiden that stopped her charge. If feeling his limbs turn to bats was disorienting, then returning to his body was worse. The feeling of vertigo came over him as he fell to his hands and knees. The tattooed Warrior Maiden did not waste the opportunity of weakness and charged forward.

  Aldrin caught her flaming axe by the handle as he heard another system alert chime. He felt his reflexes and strength increase even more. The sense of vertigo eased away as he became more in-tune with himself again. He felt thuds against his chest as the woman punched him. He threw her back a few feet as the sensation of strength finally peaked. The woman turned the throw into a roll as she bounced back up in time to see Aldrin backhand her, dazing her into seeing black spots. Her body worked by instinct, but her mind was foggy and sluggish as she tried to reach for the ax.

  She saw it within reach and tried grabbing it. Aldrin flipped her over and punched her chest slightly, denting the armor she wore. She wheezed as blood spewed out of her mouth from the earlier backhanded strike. Aldrin looked at her as she struggled to clear her head and breathe. A part of his mind screamed at himself that what he was and has been doing was wrong; but the other part, the other part that subsumed control, delighted in the hunt. Surveying his surroundings, looking at the tree trunks until he spotted what he was looking for. He grabbed her by one of her ankles and dragged her towards a tree trunk that looked thick enough. The Warrior Maiden struggled to crawl away as Aldrin tested the tree trunk.

  Aldrin didn’t let her struggles go unnoticed as she was beginning to come around. She turned over onto her back and flung another sword of light at Aldrin. It pierced him through his shoulder. Grunting, he stalked forward as she continued to pepper him with swords of light. He grabbed her by her legs and swung her into the tree, forcing her to almost wrap around it. The crunch and pop of her ribs resounded pleasingly in Aldrin’s enhanced ears.

  Her eyes were enormous and her mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water as her dented armor squeezed. Aldrin dragged her away and straddled her, looming above her as her fear rose within.

  “Please,” she gasped out, unable to move from her broken spine.

  He paid no attention to her pleas as he inched closer, his mouth opening, revealing the fangs that dripped with saliva. She screamed, but Aldrin kept inching closer, elevating her fear so her blood would pump faster. Finally, a bloodcurdling scream rang out into the darkness as Aldrin latched onto her neck, draining her of life.

  Her screams died down to gurgling, drowning in her own blood, then to weak attempts to break free, and finally stopped as the strength left her and death welcomed her as Aldrin kept draining her of life. Satisfied, the Beast that took over Aldrin receded, making his mind and his features return to normal. He collapsed next to the lifeless body of the tattooed woman whose milky white eyes were still open, frozen with the last moments of terror she felt.

  The night vision granted to him still held as he stared at his shaking hands that were caked in blood and dirt. He tried to wipe them on his tattered clothes that were ruined from the Dungeon and from the swords of light. Tears streamed down his face when his chest tightened as he struggled to take in air into his lungs. A hoarse cry escaped from Aldrin’s mouth when reality truly began to sink in. His system alerts chirped at him again from the corner of his vision, but he didn’t care about that right now.

  Aldrin curled into a ball, letting the events of the night work their way through his mind. He tried his best to stop the acts that were committed by him, but no matter how much he tried to regain control, he couldn’t. Whenever he felt like he was making progress, he would feel himself meet a brick wall before being pushed back to where he started.

  A migraine hammered its way into Aldrin’s head, each thump making his body shake in return as his body tried to adapt to its recent changes. The soreness from the change frayed his mind at the edges, beckoning him to sleep. He wanted desperately to give in, but the sun would be up in a few hours and he was in the middle of the woods. The newest part of him urged him to seek cover from the sun. Knowing he needed to find a cave and fast, he picked himself up with struggling attempts at first as he took feeble steps forwards with his mind on autopilot.

  “A cave is all I need, then I can rest and recuperate,” Aldrin thought to himself. It was the thought that he repeated in his mind like a mantra. Torn clothes, blood everywhere, and a half-dead look to him. Aldrin felt and looked like a walking corpse. Technically, he was a walking corpse, to be exact.

  Stumbling for however long, his skin started feeling the effects of the sunrise crest on the horizon. It wasn’t uncomfortable yet, but there was a slight itch to his skin. He continued to trek towards the cave where the Dwarf and he fought last and let the Bard escape. Albeit an escapee wasn’t the best outcome, but Aldrin was at least glad to be back in control of his mind.

  By the time he reached the cave, the itchy sensation turned into his skin, trying to run off his body as the sun shone through the tree canopy. It was an uncomfortable feeling but also a weird feeling, to feel your skin come alive and try to run off on its own. It was a disorientating experience, to say the least.

  Aldrin sat against a rocky wall that was deeper in the cave, away from any hint of sunlight. Whatever creature had made this its home probably caught a whiff of Aldrin’s true nature and bolted as soon as it could. Not that they were to blame, as anyone coming face to face with a hungry vampire will do their best to run and hide, animals included. With the cave secured, Aldrin could finally go through his system alerts after he rested.

  “Finally, I can sleep some,” Aldrin groaned before passing out.