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“How long has it been since I’ve talked to my children?”
She had been resting inside her coffin for years now.
Since the birth of her daughter Camilla and finding out she was also a Dhampir with a defect that made her strange to others, Teressa has fallen into despair.
She was exiled by the man that she once thought loved him, and after having lost the Blessing of the Evil Gods after her second child, she believed her life was over at that moment.
The Iron Blood Empire was a nation of great disciples amongst the noble families, and also of excellency; the Emperor desired the strongest children, blessed by Evil Gods and with amazing talents.
Only those with all of those traits could ever compete for the throne, which he would give away the moment the strongest of his children stood amidst a mountain of the corpses of their siblings.
“I gained this crown through violence, and it shall be taken from me with violence.”
Because Vampires did not age and had no lifespan, they would only die when they were directly killed, not out of old age, or even from diseases, most of the time.
There was no concept of “inheriting” the throne to someone else willingly; the Emperor raised assets, weapons, and also assassins that would come after him.
As a battle-loving warmonger, there was nothing more exciting for him than his own powerful children coming after his head.
As wicked as it was, this was how the imperial family of the Iron Blood Empire worked and how the Emperor wanted things to be.
Because of this, when Vlad was born as a weak, sickly dhampir, unable to walk or even develop any magic or power, and weaker than even humans, she immediately knew that a weakling like him wouldn’t please her husband.
Teressa cared for him, taking care of her child and seeing him slowly grow up, in the hopes that he would one day recover, but he never did. Vlad remained sickly and pathetic, and she felt frustrated with herself.
She blamed only herself for this; she had the duty to give her husband a worthy opponent, yet she could not even give birth to a decent warrior.
Her second child was her hope, yet Camilla was born a dhampir as well; her blood was cursed, some said, to give birth to two dhampirs. The result of a vampire bloodline that had grown too thin was often mocked by the nobility, even though it was quite a normal occurrence for the commoners.
To the high society of vampire nobles, this was a terrible thing to happen; many of the other concubines called her cursed and even a monster in disguise. The Emperor still held some sort of mercy, giving her the smallest, poorest territory of his country, Elderbridge, a small city riddled with crime that had three weak dungeons inside.
Falling from grace, Teressa was exiled, moving to a run-down manor with only three pathetic butlers, whom she always suspected to be spies of her rivals, the other concubines of the Emperor.
Her son was always in bed, being given medicine to alleviate the agony of his existence, and his daughter, whom she tried many times to heal her strange mind, simply ignored everyone, always going around alone, as if she were in her own little world.
She talked alone and would oftentimes ignore her mother’s words entirely, making Teressa more and more frustrated.
With no family to go back to and only her miserable life, Teressa decided to sleep, because only in her dreams could she have a better life, one without disgrace, dishonor, and two children that only made her ridiculed and a laughingstock.
She cared for them to an extent, leaving them a lot of money, but she couldn’t take it anymore and simply decided to run away from her reality and from all her problems.
Yet…
The more years went by, the more she felt guilty for what she did. As she slept, she dreamed constantly of her children, of the days they were born, of their little selves, and of their cute giggles.
Vlad, as sickly as he was, was such a bright, adorable boy; she remembers how he often grabbed her hands only a few days after being born, always curious about the world around him.
And her Camilla, as pretty as a doll, was so cute and small that she wanted to always hug her and protect her. She was never able to understand her, unlike Vlad, but she often hoped for the day she could address her mother.
And as her dreams started to change, becoming memories of her disgrace, her ridicule, and the imperial family that always mocked her beloved children, she couldn’t help but grow frustrated.
“Why… Why do I deserve this treatment?”
“My children… They’re my precious children.”
“I don’t care what they are or how they are... They didn’t deserve to be mocked like this.”
“If only I had the strength to stop running away.”
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“If only…”
As she cried while sleeping, something happened.
RUMBLE!
A huge tremor made the entire city of Elderbridge shake. Her eyes opened wide, waking from her sleep that had lasted four years. She felt the presence of Camilla in the room next to her, but Vlad was nowhere to be seen, nor were the butlers.
“Heeelp!”
“What’s going on?!”
“Dungeon Break!”
“Run!”
The screams of the commoners down below quickly forced her to kick open her coffin and slowly walk out of it, slightly dizzy after having slept for so long.
“W-What day is it? How long have I been asleep?” She wondered, looking through the window. “What’s… AH!”
Her crimson eyes widened in shock as she glanced at Elderbridge’s capital plaza, where the three dungeon portals were located. Two of the portals had turned deep red, and cracks across the empty air opened, making them three times as large.
Red crystals and flames spread out of the portals, and strange monsters covered with these same red crystals and crimson flames emerged endlessly from them, by the hundreds!
Some Players and Hunters were trying to hunt them down, but the monsters, which were supposed to be weak monsters at Tiers 1 to 2, had become several times stronger now; even the Players struggled against their big numbers and explosive flames!
“What is happening?! This has never happened before, nor even been reported.”
She glanced at the sky; the red moon was soon to lose its light for the next moon to shine brightly above the night sky.
“I have to go!”
Her long, silvery-white hair waved by the wind as she opened the window, her Blood Aura surging endlessly, shaking the foundations of her house.
Despite being raised as a priestess of the Red Moon Goddess, Teressa had achieved Tier 6 of her Blood Core, being considered decently strong; she was perhaps the strongest inhabitant of Elderbridge at the moment.
The reason she was worried about the Red Moonlight was because her Magic as the Priestess of the Red Moon was amplified and showed its true power beneath its moonlight.
In less than twenty minutes, the Red Moon would cease to brighten the night sky.
“Camilla…!”
However, she wasn’t reckless; thinking about her only daughter, she rushed towards her room, which was actually Vlad’s room.
BAAAM!
She opened the door and saw her daughter sleeping over her brother’s bed, which was empty.
“Camilla! Wake up, Camilla!”
She started to quickly try to wake her up, moving her around gently.
“Hmm… W-Wha…? Mama?”
Camilla slowly opened her eyes, recognizing the face of her mother, which she had not seen for more than four years now.
“Mama is awake.”
She slowly sat down, looking at her mom.
“I missed you, mama.”
“C-Camilla?!”
Teressa was suddenly hugged by her daughter, the cold, distant daughter she always thought didn’t love her.
"Mama, I missed you.”
“Y-You did? But… I thought you didn’t like me?”
“I-I thought mama didn’t like me.”
“I… No, of course. Of course not. No matter... what you are, I will always love you, Camilla.”
Teressa had to pause a bit as she decided to hug her daughter and tell her what she had been dreaming of for years. Her precious daughter, whom she had abandoned because she felt so ashamed of herself,.
“Really?” Camilla wondered.
“Yes, really.” Teressa nodded gently, kissing her forehead. “I’m sorry for not being there for you... Mama was too disappointed in herself. I wanted to run away from everything. I am a bad mother.”
“Mama, there’s a burnt smell,” Camilla said, looking into the window. “What’s happening?”
“A big crisis...” Teressa sighed. “Something I have never seen before or that has ever been reported. In Dungeon Break, monsters are invading and burning everything. Mama will have to go solve this. Or die trying.”
“Eh? But what about Big Brother? Where is he? He’s strong. Big brother could help!” Camilla said.
“Strong?” Teressa wondered. “Vlad is very weak; he can’t even stand! What are you talking about, Camilla? Do you know where he went? And what about the butlers? They didn’t... they didn’t kidnap him, right?!”
“No, the butlers disappeared,” said Camilla. “but brother… He went to buy me blood. I helped him with my powers!”
“Powers? What powers?” wondered Teressa.
“These…”
Camilla pointed her little fingers at the bed beneath her as it suddenly started floating.
“W-Wha…?! That’s… Telekinesis?!” Teressa gasped. “Camilla! You awakened as an Esper?!”
“What’s that?” Camilla tilted her head.
“Ah, no, we don’t have time for this! I’ll go outside, look for your brother, and try to solve this. Please, go to the underground; there’s a bunker there where you should hide!” said Teressa. “I’ll bring you there myself!”
“N-No, wait, mama! I want to help too.” Camilla said.
“Help?! You must be insane! You’re going to die out there, Camilla!” said Teressa.
“B-But…” Camilla muttered as tears fell from her eyes. “I don’t want the city to burn... I want to help Mama! Buuaaaah!”
She started crying because her mother was screaming too loudly. Camilla had always been bothered by very loud noises and would often cry because of them.
“B-But…!”
As she was about to knock her daughter out to bring her to safety, mostly driven by the ruthless nature of Vampires, she suddenly noticed something.
Several magic rings lie over the bed, attached to a string, alongside a little bracelet and a small, black steel wand.
And a note.
“What’s this?”
She read the note.
“For… Camilla from her brother?” she muttered. “I made these things for you... Once you wake up one day, wear these magic rings and use this wand; they will help you amplify your Psychic powers and have more Arcana?! What? Since when has Vlad been a magic crafter?! And the quality of these items is incredible! What’s going on?!”
“For me?! Big Brother is so nice! See mama?” Camilla quickly equipped all the rings and held the wand.
Surprisingly, the immense aura of Arcana emanating from them didn’t affect her at all.
Espers were especially talented, gifted people born with innate psychic powers.
The ability to wield an element through psychic powers was much better than any spell casting.
Among them, the most coveted Esper abilities were Telekinesis and Telepathy.
“Perhaps… It wouldn’t be a bad idea to bring you along then. Come, Camilla, mama will carry you,” Teressa held her daughter in her arms.
“No, mama, I don’t like it!” she said, suddenly moving away from her mother. “I will fly; look.”
FLUOSH!
Little Camilla suddenly floated in midair, surprising her mother even more.
“W-What…?”
Vlad had suddenly become an incredible Magic Crafter, and her daughter was now an incredible Esper.
Just what had happened? Years ago, both children couldn’t even communicate with their mother properly.
In four years, everything changed so much that she was having a hard time believing it.
“Hah… We will need to talk about all of this later, Camilla.” Teressa grew a pair of large, bat-like wings made of her Blood Aura “Let’s go! Please, PLEASE stay by my side at ALL times, okay?”
“Okay!” Camilla nodded but immediately flew out the window.
“Camilla! Be careful!” Her mother chased after her, and the two were greeted by the plaza of Elderbridge burning.
And two gigantic beasts roamed around.
“Don’t run away, my little flames!”
“Embrace the flames; become one with the ashes!”
“All of you shall return to the primordial fire!”
“You will burn, and you will die!”
“What’s there to be afraid of?”
And they were talking.
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