“Ouch, that hurts Livia! Be a little gentler will you?!” Jake whined in pain.

“Huh?! I didn’t even grace your cheek!” she complained and patted the cotton on Jake’s wound.

You just couldn’t get your condition get any worse, could you?! Stupid…! Livia felt strongly, feeling it throughout her mind.

“Heh, I’m fine you worrywart… let me rest for the night.” Jake gave her a gentle smile. She turned her face and sulked.

“Geez, I told you not to peek in my mind! Meanie!”

“Hahaha, you’re funny…”

Both the dark figures moved and giggled in the dim light, conversation naturally flowing in. Jake sat on a cosy sofa while Livia stood behind, leaning forward and caressing his cheek wounds. The light from the dim lamp nearby gave a faint detail of his face. Livia closed her face to his, tending to the wound, her hand patting his shoulder slightly.

“Hm? What?” He asked, turning his face, confronting with her face, almost touching her lips.

“Ah, n-nothing! I-I-It’s nothing, really…!” she twitched in surprise. Whoa…! That surprised me…

“Hmm? What did?” he asked, feeling her hands on his shoulder with his fingertips. She pulled back.

“Y-You need to rest now… I’ll be going to bed. She struggled through the stairs, stumbling a bit on the way, holding the wooden rail along.

Geez, what’s with her? A thought crossed his mind.

Jake stood up and started towards the dark hallway. There was a crash just outside the door. Thunder rumbled outside, followed by lightning and ascending needles of rain.

“Oh? Judging by the condition that would be…” he trailed off as he gave a sigh and creaked open the large furnished birch door. A figure stood cramped by the knees, holding something in its hand. It moved forward, knelt down under the burning lamp, revealing a thin and slender figure of a man, holding a bottle.

“Jakie…! My boy, I’m so… very unhappy!” he clung to him after revealing his face. But suddenly, Jake encountered a very unwelcoming smell that nearly had him unconscious to his feet, burning his nose hairs. He clenched his teeth, holding the arms of that man tightly, giving off a murderous aura with a menacing look on his face…

“Sat… You. Reek. Of. Booze!!!”

He fisted the drunkard on his face, causing him to fall down. “How many times did I tell you not to stay up late till the bar closes!” he grunted and lifted him up.

“Aw, you know… that was… not me, ah.” He dozed off as Jake gave his shoulder and dragged his feet along. Jake carried his weight and thud the door behind him, gaping with the thunder and into the darkness of the mansion, dimly lit with candles. The wheezing breaths of the ‘drunken’ Dark Lord sounded through the hallway as Jake carried him along the stairwell to his room. Peeking at the dazing man’s sleepy face, he couldn’t help but smile himself, sighing it off.

“I guess some things never change…” he murmured to himself.

“Hmm… Spaghetti wolf! ...nm, nm…” Satan Snapped open his eyes and then narrowed out again.

Jake put him under the blanket, without leaving a trace in the air, as if something not physical, was never physical. His crystal eyes gleamed in the darkness, causing his figure to blend with it. He missed the shine of the moonlight, yearning to watch it for endless nights. He stepped out of the room, shutting the door with almost no sound. His pupils narrowed, his hunger growing rapidly, the urge for blood taking over his body. His skin turned milky white… he needed to drink the liquid.

“No… I can’t. Not now.” He said to himself. He had no more control over his body. His feet dragged themselves to the roof shaft, through the trap door in the end of the hallway. Urgh, st… stop…! He begged himself through.

He slapped open the trap door, huffing and struggling to get to the rooftop. His eyes diluted to a golden-red with long slits, his body becoming slender, fangs bulging out of his gums painstakingly. The ladder rattled as he hurriedly climbed, grabbing its hinges hard with his needle-nails. The urge intensified. He grumbled through the pain inside and finally set foot on the plated flat roof. The wind instantly engulfed him in its clutches. The rain felt like tiny pieces of glass on his skin. But that wasn’t enough to divert him from his burning hunger. His knees weakened and made him kneel down on the surface, hard. He grabbed his mouth.

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With struggling, narrowed eyes, grabbing his mouth, he waved his hand in the whirling air. Please… clear out for now! He intuited hard. The wind suddenly changed its direction, fastening rapidly towards the gestured direction, clearing the sky from the darkest corners. He shut his eyes, pleading for the weather to clear out.

The sky turned dark blue, stars started appearing from nowhere. The stormy clouds faded away. The roof was wet and slippery… and so was he. He rubbed his silver hair up and down his shoulder-blades.

There was a sound of flapping of wings from a distant tree, heading towards his direction. He opened his eyes. It was a flock of pigeons, flying by close to the roof. Unconsciously, his fit dug into the concrete roof and threw his body forward with incredible speed, almost disappearing. There followed the sound of struggling of wings as Jake grabbed a pigeon with his nails beard and dug his teeth into the poor creature’s chest area under the wings.

Blood flowed out of the bird’s body and Jake made sure to drink every drop of the rich liquid. His clothes became bloody, hands soaked red, and rubbed his chin and lips to dry off the leftover blood. He finally stood with ease on his own, feeling sated from the urge to suck blood, even if for a little while.

He breathed the clean air after the rain and stared into the bright starry night…

He closed his eyes.

I suddenly remembered…

“Jake! See that? It’s so beautiful…!”

I think it was Wanda…? But why...? Why do I remember something, so trivial? A memory that I in particular don’t want to get onto… why?

It was during the summer nights when the fireworks festival was in full session. When the nightingales sang, when the stars gleamed as if in a dream, and I was having the happiest moment in my life… after a long time.

“Hey, come on! We’re going to miss the show!” Wanda squealed in excitement. I couldn’t help but feel along her mood, that was her day. Footsteps of more than a thousand people echoed through the concrete path towards the shrine. Folktales of mysterious logics showed through people’s art.

Then it started… the fireworks, the big boom of the year’s brightest night. With a swish sound, a flame went up the sky and burst into different colours. It was beautiful. I stood by her, her appearance mysteriously hazy. I couldn’t remember her well wearing a light dress. Something related to light maybe?

“Aww, you look like you’re having no fun at all! Come on, be a little wild for tonight?” she tilted her head and asked me out of the blue. I turned my head, witnessing a bright pale and beautiful clear cut face of her in the light of the flowery flames up in the sky. She was smiling. That was all I wanted. I gave her a gentle smile as she put her hands around my arm.

“You’re warm, Jake… I like it.” she said those words with a hint of hesitation. I had no issue whatsoever.

The booming sound of fireworks ended, and all the people departed through the shrine-way, flooding out of the place. The field after a moment was empty, with just the two of us left. We stood, staring out into the vast open landscape without saying a word to one another. I loved this scene—a starry night, cool breeze flowing through the meadows, gracing my cheek and making my adventurer’s robe lifting up, the sweet smell of cherry and the damp monsoon advancing from the west…

I could see lights flicking up far away in the middle of the mountains by the large lake, valleys going through. The town brightening up with the light of lamps, folks joining in their idle conversation, business merchants chanting out their wares of precious jewelleries, the thumping sound of armour as the Knights of Hollowness marched through the lively town, patrolling during the night.

Courteous elves-kind women and men flirted around the corner, teased by the small whiff of the wind. Beastkin generals rested in the balconies of their mansions, drinking some of the finest teas. Dragon riders pulled the reins of the non-winged dragon beasts, causing them to cause quite a bit of commotion among them. Horses were irrelevant, rarely sighted.

All that lively things happened in the town as I roamed around during my starting days.

Wanda looked at me, her cheeks flushed red for some reason and closed her eyes.

“H-Hey, what are you up to…?” I stuttered in my voice, definitely seeming suspicious.

“Huh?! What type of question is that? I just…” she trailed off, feeling about something else entirely. “…-pid.”

“Hm, what?”

“I said Stupid!”

“W-What’s that supposed to mean?!”

We burst into laughter. After some alone time, the Black Guardian of Night chased us, driving both of us into the country road, full of meadows, bathed in the moonlight above. Streetlamps flamed along the way as we headed to town…

“That was a blissful night… hah, I don’t even remember her face now.”

Jake muttered to himself in the chilliness of the moment. The night seemed long, time seemed to be flowing slowly. He grabbed his front hairs and put his another hand on his waist, letting the wind flow through his body. He felt light as a feather, like a burden lifted off of his chest. He sighed.

The moon ascended higher towards the sky, almost in the highest part of the sky.

“Hey! What are you doing up there?! Get down, now!” someone shouted from below, on the civilian path—a Knight of Hollowness, holding a spear in his hand in a majestic position.

“Oh… pardon me mister.” Jake jumped inside the hole he came up, stepping down with ease, as if nothing heavy. But…!

He landed on something soft as he swiftly descended down the ladder. And something went wrong. It was surely a person, but he could only see legs.

“Ukkyaaahh?!”

“Huh? Oh, Livia? You didn’t go to sleep? And why are you wearing a beige unde—“

“IIyyyyaaahhh!!!”

A large bang sounded in the hallway of the second floor of the mansion.