Prologue
Deep in the wilderness, there was a mountain. The mountain was a very quiet one, surrounded by trees, yet not a single beast was present. Out of the mountain, from the depths deep within, a dreadful and horrendous energy seeped out. This energy prevented even the strongest beasts in the forests to go near it. Somewhere on this mountain, there was an area that looked like it had collapsed. Behind the piles of rocks that formed this area, there was a cave. The cave was shrouded in darkness, making it nigh impossible to see anything. Deep within the cave, there was a chamber. This chamber had a faint, blood red glow to it, making it the only place inside the cave with any light. There was also a blood red mist inside the chamber. In the center of the chamber was a cocoon, a blood red cocoon, fitting well into the theme of the chamber. The cocoon sat there, quiet and calm. It had been there for a very long time, standing completely still and quiet, yet inside it wasn’t as calm.
As the cocoon sat there, quietly waiting, days passed. Then months, then years. Years turned into decades, and time flowed. The cocoon sat there, undisturbed, unperturbed. But then, after countless years, something changed. The time of peace and quiet was over for this cocoon, because in this moment, it was torn! A dark grey claw pierced through the cocoon, then the rest of the hand followed, then the arm. Soon an entire, pale grey arm pierced out of the cocoon. As the arm had gotten free, it started tearing the cocoon apart, hoping to free itself from this age old prison. Soon, a tall, dark grey monster stood in the room.
The monster was over two meters tall, and had two large, blood red wings protruding out of its back. The wings were made out of crimson feathers, and when stretched out, they were over twice as long as the monster itself. The face of the monster was humanoid, and portrayed a certain beauty to it, but its eyes were glowing a deep, blood red colour. It also had long, white hair, which reached down to its waist. On the top it’s head, there were eight small horns, curving upwards to the center of it’s head. Together, these eight horns formed a crown. The arms had spikes protruding out of the elbows, and had long black claws. The feet were comprised of four long black claws, as well as a dewclaw on the back of the foot.
The monster looked around itself, while growling deeply. It started mindlessly wandering about, with an empty, almost half asleep look in its eyes, until it eventually arrived at the old entrance to the cave. It stood staring at the collapsed entrance, without a single thought going through its head. But then, after standing there for who knows how long, its eyes flashed.
1st person, Isaac Coldblood.
I had been wandering around this cave for what seemed like an eternity, yet I had no idea whether it was a thousand years, or just a single hour. But that wasn’t important, for I had finally remembered. Remembered who I am, what I am. I stood in the darkness, as I examined this new body of mine. It was very menacing looking, but I liked it. It also felt much more natural than I ever felt before, as if my previous body had just been a shell, and I had finally found my true body.
I turned to the old entrance, then with a wave of my arm, I cleared the path to the outside. When I got outside, I spread my wings to a circumference of around six meters. With a flap of my wings, my body soared into the skies. I tried flying around for a while, testing out my wings. I found that I was able to fly much faster than ever before, and my body was stronger. I found that I had entered the early stage of ranks S. Just how long had it been? This was in my mind, and it was making me anxious, but as I was worrying, I suddenly saw a flash, then my surroundings changed. I was a realm of darkness, pure darkness. Not even I could see anything, it was just black. But then that shadow shape I saw once very long ago appeared.
“Isaac, you’ve done well. Vampires now have a real presence in the world, or at least this part of it, and its existence hasn’t been revealed. Now, you might be wondering why I summoned you suddenly. It’s just to tell you a few things. First, how long it’s been since you fell asleep. This might come as a shock to you, but please remain calm. It has been four hundred eighty six years.” Gebados said. I could only stare at him in shock, as my anxieties came true. I had been worried that it might have been a very long time, worried about what could happen in those years.
“Don’t worry Isaac, not much has changed, and nobody important died or anything, although those kings from before were destined to become normal vampires, but it will be possible for you to change that in the future. I won’t say anything, as you will discover how yourself when you gain that ability. Now for the second thing. I want you to leave this place. You should go to the other continents, since you’re already the most powerful being on this peninsula. So I want you to go and experience this world. Also, I don’t want you to take everyone with you. If all the powerful ones leave, then it will leave this place in a weakened position, so I will allow you to take one companion with you.” Gebados said. I could only take one person with me? I was slightly unwilling to do that.
“Don’t worry, you don’t need to leave right away. You can spend another hundred years or so here, if you want. Now, enough chit chat. Go back to your friends and family, they’ve missed you. And one last thing. This new form of yours is the true form of vampires. After living for some time, all vampires will enter the cocoon and evolve, although the amount of time is different for everyone. You waited the shortest amount of time, but you also spent the most inside it. There will also be small differences in appearance. Goodbye for now.” Gebados said with a smile that should be indistinguishable, since he was made of shadows. Then, my surroundings changed again. I found myself at the same place I was at before, just falling. I flapped my wings, to prevent myself from creating a crater in the wilderness, then set out towards home.
With my newfound strength and huge wings, I flew faster than ever before. It didn’t take long before I saw my castle in the distance. It looked more aged than it did before, the stone bricks were slightly darker in colour, but it was clearly bustling with activity. The old town surrounding the castle had turned into a city. It had grown far larger than before. Once more, I flapped my wings, causing a sonic boom, as I zoomed towards Sanguine Regis. I wasn’t being particularly stealthy, so I was noticed by some of the stronger beings of the castle. I decided to land on a large balcony.
It took only a moment before I was surrounded by familiar beings, but they were all staring at me in fear. One man decided to stand forwards, the ever same Erwin.
“What are you?!” He shouted at me. I could only smirk at their wariness.
“You don’t recognise me?” My voice resonated. Everyone was startled, including me. My voice was gravelly and deep, very unlike my normal, crisp, yet deep voice.
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“Well, I am still in this form.” I said. Suddenly my body was covered in blood, while it started shrinking slightly, and my wings gradually disappeared. As the blood disappeared, my same old body appeared. I was even wearing same old, torn clothing and armour I was wearing before. As my form had appeared, everyone was taken aback. Tears appeared in some eyes, and my lovely wives were almost crying. Amongst my four wives, Amelia fell to her knees, losing all strength in her legs. It only took a moment for her to start crying.
“Five hundred years! You were gone for almost five hundred years! Where were you, we didn’t even know if you were alive! Every semblance of a connection to you was lost, the magic in the life seals disappeared! We thought you died! We thought that you quietly succumbed to your injuries! I missed you! I missed you with all my heart! The only reason I’m still alive is because Joan kept me alive!” She cried out. Her tears were running like the flood. I slowly walked to her, then knelt in front of her, as she cried in relief. I took her chin in my hand, then gently kissed her.
“Don’t worry my dear, there was no danger. I just evolved, shedding my old shell. That’s the reason the connection was lost. But Amelia, you must promise me one thing. If I was to one day die, then you cannot kill yourself! Only after you lived such a long life that there isn’t any worth to living may you die!” I said, a stern look on my face. Amelia looked at me for a while, as she calmed her crying, but she couldn’t get herself to say yes to my request. In the end, all she did was nod.
Then I stood back up again, and turned to look at my large family. There were a few new faces around. Apparently, Kato and Lilia had a child not too long ago. He still wasn’t full grown. Little Isaac was still his young self, and beside him was that young girl he turned. So much time had passed. That little girl was over five hundred years old now. I myself was five hundred eighty six years old, this year. I was very much conscious of how much time had passed, as I had in fact never been fully asleep in my cocoon. There had always been that tint of awareness, which very much made it an unbearable hell. While I was in the cocoon, I didn’t know who I was, what I was, but I did that I was. That I existed, and that I was there.
“Everyone, it has been four hundred eighty six years since I disappeared. All these years I spent in a blood cocoon, evolving from a larva, to a butterfly. That form you saw, was my true form, the form which all vampires will take after a certain amount of time. For me it was on my one hundredth year of life, but for you it will a bit longer, although you won’t spend as much time in the cocoon as I did.” I informed everyone there.
After we were finished on the balcony, we went to one of the living rooms. There we talked about the affairs of the last half a millennia. All of the original Purebloods had long entered the A rank, and the weakest of them were at the late stage. On this entire continent, not even deserving a real name, we were now by far the strongest power. My plans of increasing the natural energy levels in Kalderon and Tabarut had succeeded, and had expanded to the two other countries which had joined my sphere of power. The four kingdoms had also fused into one, becoming The Sorcerer Empire of Marestir. The population was around 70 billion, and covered about 1.1 billion square miles in land. It certainly was the largest power on the continent.
Now, the next goal would be to unify the continent under one banner. This was a large task, but the Sorcerer Empire of Marestir was more than capable of it, as its military strength was already the strongest, with the help of increased natural energy. It now held largest quantities of natural energy, which hugely confused the other kingdoms and empires, and even more frightened them. The four kingdoms of Kalderon, Tabarut, Graywich and Vasaal, were known as the weakest kingdoms, with the puniest natural energy. Especially the central kingdoms of Kalderon and Tabarut, but now those four kingdoms, turned empire, had the largest amount.
Shortly after the founding of Marestir, a few other kingdoms had marched past the wilderness to silence the fools, but they had been met with total devastation. Reports told of three four fearful beings leading a small army of crimson clad knights. According to the reports, the four generals had all been legendary beings. One was the legendary Valkyrie, two other were the horrifying Dread Lord and Dread Knight, while the other was the fearful High Demon. The native forces had been outnumbered by at least twenty to one, but the invading forces were still devastated. Of course, the four generals were present with me now as well, and were in fact the source of the reports.
“Everyone, now that we are finally together again, I want to tell you something. After I woke up, I met Dread Father once more. He told me to leave this place, in the name of experiencing the real world, and I’m only allowed to take one companion with me. Of course, it’s only temporary, we will all meet again. As for who that one companion is, it will the one who’s been with me the longest, the first person I ever met after being reborn, the first person to love me for what I am. Amelia, you will be the one coming with me, on this journey of ours. Then, let it be known! On this day, one hundred years from now, I will leave!” I announced. Everyone was surprised, and unwilling. Amelia was the one who took it the best, but she was still hesitant to leave everything behind.
“Everyone, you are my family, and I know you are unwilling, but these were the direct orders of Gebados, the God of Death, Darkness and Shadows. I do not have a choice, so let’s just enjoy these one hundred years we have together. And besides, I’ll probably only be gone for a few centuries or a millennia. We are immortal, so time means nothing to us.” I said. Everyone was still unwilling, but they accepted it, and decided to enjoy the time we had left.
“Alright Isaac. You’re like a brother to me, and I will miss you, as I did these last four hundred something years, but so be it. For now, come here and meet my son, the first Pureblood born vampire! His name is Emanuel, and he’ll be four years old soon.” Kato told me. I knelt down next to the little boy and pet his head.
“Hi there little Emanuel. I’m your Uncle Isaac, as well as your progenitor. So you could say I’m your grandpa as well!” I said. Emanuel looked at me with wide eyes. He had heard the tales and legends, but he’d never seen the Great Me before, so he was excited.
“My name is Emanuel, Uncle Isaac. It’s great to meet you!” The little boy said, slightly shyly. I couldn’t help, but to smile at him. He was a very cute boy. After our reunion was finished, we had a huge feast, to celebrate my return.
End of prologue.
And there we have it. The prologue to book 2. Did you like it? The planning for that other novel is also going forwards, so you can expect it in the near future, I hope.
Anyways, thanks for reading, and please review and rate :)