Finston collapsed along the road as he fought to keep air in his lungs. His legs burned and blisters formed on the bottom of his feet from running through the night. His mind kept replaying the moments from the massacre of his friends as sleep tried to lure him into its embrace. Each time he felt himself drift off as he got control of his breathing, the brief glimpse of fangs welcomed him in his mind, jolting him awake.

  “Gotta keep running,” He told no one, willing himself up as his body protested the movements.

  Thundering hooves came barreling down the road, alerting Finston to them. He quickly stood and flagged them down. Joy and relief flooded through his body as the realization that the nightmare had finally come to an end.

  “Halt!” One of the armored riders said to Finston as he rushed up to meet them.

  “Please sir! I need to get to the Holy Order! I have urgent news!” Finston replied.

  “Well, whatever it is, you can report it to me as I am a Knight-Templar Seeker,” a woman with green eyes and dark hair done up in a bun said as she strode forward in between the ranks.

  Finston had never laid eyes on anyone he thought more beautiful than the woman in front of him. His jaw went slack and his eyes went wide as his brain turned to mush at the sight of her. She held a no-nonsense aura about her as she stared down at Finston, waiting for him to answer.

  “Well Bard? Say your piece,” Adeline said.

  “Well… uh, there was this… uh, vampire?” Finston stammered out.

  “A vampire? Where exactly?” Adeline’s hard reply shook Finston out of his trance as she sat forward on her white warhorse.

  “My companions and I were attacked by a vampire that came from the direction of Bonehill Barrows Dungeon,” Finston said.

  “It slaughtered everyone I knew,” He quietly added as the horror from the night began to replay in his mind, clouding his vision with the events that burned fresh still.

  Adeline looked to Ingram, who sat astride his own massive warhorse. The same train of thought circled in his mind when he looked back at her and then at Finston.

  “How long ago was this?” Ingram asked this time.

  “Last night, sir,” Finston said as he subconsciously tugged at what little was left of his muddy black cloak for protection and comfort.

  Ingram nodded at Finston, then turned to signal a few men behind him before he led them ahead on their horses. Finston watched them go by, paying no mind to Adeline that continued to stare at him.

  “You are safe now,” Adeline finally said, making Finston's soul nearly leave his body for the countless time less than 24 hours apart.

  Finston solemnly nodded as he held his head down. The fear from last night finally left his body, but not without leaving a little present behind, as he uncontrollably shook. Adeline dismounted from her horse to place a hand on Finston’s shoulder. A light from her hands followed by a warm feeling rushed into Finston as the adrenaline abated. He felt the aches and bruises he accumulated throughout the night subside until it felt like they were never there to begin with.

  “We make camp here until Ingram reports back!” Adeline bellowed out, “You, what is your name?” Adeline asked him.

  “Finston ma’am, but Fin for short,” Finston said, a lopsided grin replacing his gloomy features from the touch of her hand on his shoulders.

  “Sit with me and tell me exactly what happened and leave nothing out,” Adeline said as she guided him towards the rest of her unit as the men dismounted their horses to look for a suitable campground off the road. The fear that overtook him again replaced Finston’s giddiness.

  “But that would surely take all night and an important woman like you must have important matters to attend to then to talk with me,” Finston tried to avoid reliving the nightmare again.

  “No matter is more important than the sighting of a Vampire on the main continent. It could cause trouble for us all if I let it fester,” Adeline said, not missing a step.

  “Then I will pull out some wine and we can discuss it in your tent tonight?” Finston said with hope to be as close to safety as he could get.

  “No, we will discuss it here and now without the wine,” Adeline said as two men were finishing moving a fallen log into a makeshift seat. She unclipped the sword at her side, unclasped the cloak she wore and sat it down on the log before sitting down herself and crossing her arms and legs.

  “Begin,” Adeline said expectantly.

  “Shall I sit next to you then?” Finston asked with hope again.

  “You are a Bard no?” Adeline shot back, a frown beginning to form.

  “Well, yes-” Finston wrung his hands together.

  “Then you are accustomed to being the center of attention?” Adeline pressed.

  “Yes-” Finston meekly replied.

  “Then we will sit across from one another so everyone within earshot can hear your tale. Begin please if you would,” Adeline said without no room for argument.

  “Can I at least get some food and water, then?” Finston tried to argue.

  “Yes, someone will bring you food and water, BUT you will stay here and tell me and everyone what happened while they prepare,” Adeline gestured towards one of her guards, who then ran off to find the stores of food and water.

  Finston sighed, then sat down on the forest floor across from her and told her about the events of last night.

  Later that evening, when the sun dipped on the horizon, Aldrin awoke to insects crawling over him in the cave he found. He brushed them off of him as a pounding headache threatened to hammer his head in two. Worry coursed through him as the thought of having to go through another mindless killing spree plagued his mind. Slowly standing, he felt great, better than how he had originally been not counting the headache. However, he knew that was because of his newly altered self.

  Begrudgingly, Aldrin braced himself for the slew of system alerts that were waiting to be released. He opened his System Interface, checking to see if there were any changes to it. However, everything remained in the same order luckily, Notifications, Character, Skill Trees, Inventory, Quests, and Settings. With a shaky breath, he willed the system alerts to pop up in his vision.

  Aldrin took a deep breath as he read over the notifications from the prior events. He sat with himself as he read over the notifications back and forth, the tier 6 quest chain issued sticking out the most. His mind couldn’t comprehend what had happened to him as he then stared at the quest. Dreading the next part, he opened his status to figure out what to do next.

  Aldrin whistled when he got to the end of the notifications.

  “Maybe there is a cure for me?” Aldrin said to no one in particular as he looked onwards.

  Aldrin blinked at the personal quest notification, wondering why he had never received one before. He added a mental note to ask around about it after he had found a cure for himself. He also chose not to invest his points into himself, knowing that it would be redundant when he learns the whereabouts of a cure.

  He continued to look at his status in disbelief, more so at the 55 Skill Points he had accrued. Doing the math, knowing full well his Profession netted him 1 Skill Point, SP for the short version per level which made up for the 24 Skill Points. He knew he had bought both Shapechanger and Blood Rage for 4 Skill Points total during his mindless rampage, taking that away from his Profession level. That left him with another 27 Skill Points unaccounted for. His Racial level was at 5, meaning that it gave him 7 Skill Points per level.

  Aldrin whistled to himself again after doing the brief mental math. “If I didn’t have to eat people to survive, this wouldn’t be half bad to have,” He said as he continued to stare at his character sheet. He moved to the third tab of his system interface titled Skill Trees.

  Opening the Vampire Skill Tree first, he perused through the skills, letting reality sink in once more. He didn’t realize that unlike Humans, Vampires have their own unique skill tree.

  Aldrin detested the skills presented to him as he read through them all. It only elevated the further reality that Vampires can’t be left alone, otherwise their gains in power would become a snowball effect. He shuddered to think about choosing a class and the nasty skills that would come with whatever class he chose, let alone whatever the Vampire Progenitor Skill Tree presented itself with. Closing out of the Vampire Skill Tree interface, he mentally opened his profession skill tree.

  Aldrin breathed in a sigh of relief as his profession skills didn’t reset since to gain the perks of a Profession required actual usage of the perks you wanted. With his Profession being a gatherer, he needed to venture out into the world to gain the perks, whereas someone who holds a crafting Profession, a Blacksmith for example, only needs to work in a workshop to level the perks wanted. Next on the list was looking at the new sub-tab called the Unique Skill Tree

  Aldrin blanched when he opened it and read the skill. His stomach chose that time to make itself known as the pinprick feeling from before it started to rear its ugly head again. Without anything around, Aldrin feared losing control again, succumbing to whatever plagued his mind the last time. He wanted to chalk it up to him being a Newborn Vampire, but a part of him knew that whatever lurked beneath his subconscious was always going to be there if he didn’t find a cure.

  Trying his best to ignore the rising pin prick feeling that was forming in his stomach, he moved onwards to view his inventory. His heart froze and despair took hold as he looked at his now empty inventory. Nothing was left, no money, no food or water not that he needed it, none of his own weapons and armor, and to top off the kick in the balls there were no spare clothes to change into from the bloody rags he now wore.

  “Fuck!” Aldrin banged his head back against the cave wall he was sitting against, closing out of the Inventory screen.

  With a deep sigh, he opened Quests from the tab, enabling him to see his two quests he had which were to Find A Cure for your Vampirism and the Tier 6 Chain Quest, Return of the Night.

  With no concrete idea of where to start, the quest given to him didn't provide any clues on where to begin. He debated on contacting his sister and grandfather to let them know what happened. On the other hand, the more he thought about roping them in, he did not want to put them in a position that would ultimately put them in danger from himself. He sighed into his hands coming to that conclusion, then moved onto his first goal, which was to cure himself and then contact his sister, at least.

  Another realization of horror struck him as the feeling of the cold silver band around his finger was no longer there. Meaning the Enchanted ring that was meant to let each other know if someone was in danger or died had crumbled, leading to the realization that he really did die and was reborn in the body of a monster that looked like him.

  "Adeline is definitely on her way here and if she finds me or her men find me, I am dead for good," Aldrin resigned himself.

  The system chime alerted him again to a choice he had to make, snapping him out of his depressive thoughts that spiraled and consumed his mind.

  Out of sheer curiosity and nothing more, he viewed the disgusting new variants of Classes.

  "Oh, definitely rest in pieces to me. I'm a dead-er man for sure with these options," Aldrin lamented as he closed out the Class option.

  Throwing himself a pity party for another five minutes, he slapped his cheeks to regain focus. He recalled a city that housed many of the world's Potion distribution, the city of Lor-Vold. His best bet would be to at least start there, but the worry of traveling during the day had caused him to pause. He would have to wait for nightfall tomorrow and hopefully make it to the nearest outpost town to "grab" some clothes and a weapon.

  He stepped out of the cave, glancing at the three moons that loomed above. His breath caught in his throat as he could see the clarity of distant space and the stars that dotted the dark expanse. It reminded him of how far, far, far away this was from the Earth he briefly knew. Judging from the direction and orientation of the moons, he assumed it to be at least 3 in the morning. Grumbling to himself, he stomped back into the cave, debating with himself if he should scout for the next cave or wait.

  The burning, gnawing sensation in his stomach made the choice for him. He needed to hunt and feed, a thought that made him flinch at the thought of draining someone. He has killed people before, bandits mostly, but it was over as quick as it started with little fanfare.

  The idea struck him as his mind went back to bandits. Aldrin assumed that a few bandits dead wouldn't harm anybody but help as they wouldn't be causing any problems. His mind set on hunting bandits in the area, he strutted out of the cave with a newfound purpose, only to be struck with the sudden horror that he had no idea what to do with his new abilities.

  "I guess it would be just like riding a bike?" Aldrin thought aloud as he explored the new abilities his new Race granted him as he began walking away from the cave.