Undead City-Altraud

Inside the dungeon.

Under the moonlit sky, a group of four black wolves jumped towards a puddle of red blood near a tall tree. Quickly slurping a large portion of the puddle with intoxicated eyes they sniffed around to find clues about the origin of the blood but before finding any results a gut-wrenching pain assaulted them, forcing their knees to buckle.

The beasts tried to howl in pain but before they could, an arrow pierced through one of their skulls.

Stunned, all the other wolves stared at the top of the nearby tall tree with furious eyes and spotted an undead firing another arrow towards the group. The arrow rushed towards the wolf nearest to the tree. It tried to evade but the pain from its stomach reduced its speed significantly causing the arrow to hit its throat and end its life.

While the other two wolves were distracted by the undead, the blood drops around them morphed into sharp daggers and pierced their chest ending the hunt.

Arya emerged from a rabbit hole and peeked at the dead wolves. Sighing she dragged them into the hole.

It had been 8 hours since they escaped from the hoard of beasts. After rushing away from that place Ervin quickly spotted a rabbit entering into a hole near a tall tree.

Following his directions the group entered the area and after travelling through a few meters of narrow passage underground, found a spacious chamber occupied by tiny rabbits.

After some deliberation, Arya refused to kill them and instead just scared them away. With the rabbits gone, the group rested for a few hours and then set a trap to kill some wolves to obtain food.

Peter's eyes shone in excitement as he stared at the dead wolves.

"We are having roasted meat today " he uttered in joy while quickly snatching the meat away from Arya.

Ervin too jumped down from the tree and entered the chamber while holding a bundle of sticks in his bony arms. He passed the sticks to Peter and sat beside Arya.

"Do we need to roast it? Let's eat it raw" she suggested with a worried frown while awkwardly glancing at the wolf meat around her.

"You don't want it?" Ervin stared back, confused while nimbly moving his arms around the dead wolves and using his arrows to dissect them.

"I prefer raw meat," Arya said with a sigh and quickly pocketed a handful of dissected meat.

"Don't worry, I am good at this" Peter reassured and collected the remaining meat from Ervin. Finishing his work Ervin glanced at Arya

"Give it a try, if you don't like it then give it to me. I eat a lot"

Arya nodded at his suggestion and moved to help the duo.

With their combined effort, food was ready in no time. Peter and Ervin quickly picked up the meat and brought it closer to their skull but Arya didn't look too enthusiastic about the meal. Her stomach churned as she violently pucked out its content.

"Are you ok? " Peter asked while the duo rushed towards her in worry. Ervin gently patted her back and helped her to stand.

"I...you guys continue" she suggested and strolled to a corner of the room. Peter glanced at her and the food in worry.

"Ervin, did I do anything wrong?... Is the teacher ok?"

Ervin too stared at her but after some time shook his head, " No, it's not your fault, let's leave her alone for some time"

Peeking at his downtrodden look he sighed and nudged him towards the meat,

" Eat first and then we will talk to her".

Peter nodded at the suggestion but his skull was still focused on Arya.

Arya sat in the corner and swallowed the raw meat she saved for this exact reason. She peeked at the worried undead and released a tired sigh. Forcing herself to move near the roasted meat, she sat next to Peter and gave him a tight hug.

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"It's not your fault, I just hate rats and cooked meat "

"But- " Arya stopped him before he could continue " No buts, It will take some time but I will eat your cooked food, promise. Now finish your food " Peter stared at her "It's a promise " he echoed and received a nod from her. Brightening a bit he munched his portion of the meat which melted in his mouth and turned into energy.

'Do undead digest the entire meat in their mouth' Arya wondered but kept her mouth shut. An awkward silence surrounded the group as they ate but suddenly Arya heard a loud howl from a distance.

"The pack head" Ervin muttered while hurriedly grabbing his bow. Peter jumped in fright and warily looked around him.

" What's that? " Arya asked, curious.

"Wolf pack head or pack head in short is the leader of the wolves and one of the two direct underlings of the dungeon boss" Ervin explained and found her eyes glow like a star.

"Let's go fight" she announced with a cheerful smile and rushed out of the rabbit hole before Ervin could stop her.

"Wait, it's dangerous " Ervin screamed to stop her but it fell on deaf ears as the girl restlessly passed around the grasslands in search of a large Wolf.

"Damn it" Ervin cursed and hurriedly picked Peter up. He climbed the nearby tall tree and held his weapon searching for any danger around her. His gaze drifted towards a large silhouette of a large dark black Wolf near the outskirts of the forest.

The wolf was twice as large as the regular wolves, towering over them with an impressive presence. It had two horns on its snout and a large scar ran over its left eye. With just one eye, it scanned the grasslands and quickly located the fast-approaching Arya.

Howling out loud it directed the wolves to begin the hunt while grinning viciously at the approaching girl.

**************************

Vampire territory

Inside a large Palace of the imperial capital

"You look like you swallowed a bug. What did you find out? " Sirius asked while glancing at Veld and lazily stretching his arms.

Veld massaged his forehead and sighed " I...found a lot of things and one of them is that I am incompetent"

Sirius just rolled his eyes "I already know that, what else did you find?"

Veld ignored the jab and proceeded to answer,

" After a day of torture, the maid broke down and told about everything they did for the past four years. It all started when I killed my brother. With his death, Selena lost the only person she loved. She wanted me to feel the same"

he paused to take a deep breath and continued,

" She conspired with the humans and obtained a poison that affects people's willpower. She bribed a few maids and secretly mixed the poison in Victoria and Arya's food"

"So, it will cause them to suffer from illusions and nightmares" Sirius concluded with a clenched fist and received a nod from Veld.

"Yes, Victoria already had a weak heart because of her daughter and then she was forced to see her worst nightmares every night. In the end, she lost the ability to express her true emotions" Veld recalled the day of her death. It was painful.

He held back the falling tears and went on, " Arya resisted the poison and her special ability made her immune to poisons but it was not all good. With Victoria gone corruption spread in the city. Selena made use of it and bribed each and every maid, killing the loyal ones in the process. Her first order to the corrupt maids was to keep Arya alive"

Sirius frowned, her order didn't make sense, guessing his friend's doubt, Veld elaborated with gritted teeth.

"Selena wanted to keep her alive to make her suffer a bit more, she ordered the maids to…Lock her in a dark room for months giving her only the bare minimum of food"

he paused and stared at his trembling hands, shaking his head he pushed on,

"They gave her rat meat as food...roasted rotten rat meat...and maybe a bit of snot and dust. Among the many things they served, that was the best dish. It all pushed Arya to commit suicide until she met you and learned to hunt on her own. She ate the raw meat from the hunted beasts ever since " Veld smiled at his friend

" Thank you, without you, she would be dead," Veld said with tears running down his eyes,

"I hope she gets to eat good food" he muttered amidst the sobs.

Sirius quietly stood up from his seat and walked towards the doors. He turned around after reaching them,

"What did you do with those servants?"

"Wanted to do a lot but anger got the better of me. They are all dead"

Nodding at his friend's answer he exited the room, not having anything more to say.