Chapter 1

I Failed My English Essay

1300 years ago, the extinction of the vampire race was soon arriving. Their shrivelled throats burn for every swallow they make. With no blood to drink, the vampires have resolved to drink their own. It was bitter and cruel. But desperate to live, they had no other choice. This era was known as the age of cruelty.

During the age of cruelty, a young vampire rose in his dying village. He sought to live. To gain food and never starve. He was a dreamer. Unlike the other vampires who had given up a long time ago, he was willing to go past the limits set by the chieftain of their village. He loved his parents, but his ambition was greater than his love and so he ran. And ran. And ran. Never looking back. Never to return.

As he continues to run, he stumbles upon an ancient structure. The structure resembled a door-like feature but it was made with stones. It was as tall as a two-floor story house. Not knowing what it was, he let his curiosity get the better of him. Upon touching the structure, he heard an angelic voice.

It said "...Paradise is just up ahead..."

The ancient structure began to emit a bright light. The young vampire covers his eyes until the ancient structure stops emitting light. Beyond the ancient structure, there was life. Animals, grass, trees, and all other things that do not exist in the vampire world can be seen. The young vampire was taken aback by what he just discovered. He looked back to tell his parents. But they weren't with him as he had abandoned them.

The young vampire stepped inside the new world. He touched the grass and saw the bright sun for the first time. But the sun burned his skin as soon as he stepped outside the shade. Moments later, feathers fell from the sky and another bright light emitted.

"...Vampire...." It spoke. The young vampire wanted to run away but he knew that nothing was awaiting him behind.

"...You have reached the human world... Here, your race will never starve...Tell me young one, do you wish to never starve?"

"Ye-Yes."

"Very well... I will grant you your wish...From now on your bloodline shall never need blood to survive. But all the others shall continue their hunger..."

The young vampire was astonished. He did not have words to say to the light. All he was able to feel was gratitude. He did not know what it was, but it granted him his wish.

The young vampire would, later on, be known as Revelator, the first king of the vampire world. His story was passed down through every generation of vampires. He discovered the gate for livestock.

His descendants would split the vampire world into multiple kingdoms. But four kingdoms stood out the most. In the North, the kingdom of Norlands ruled. In the South, the kingdom of Soulite claims the land. In the East, the kingdom of Earls governs the land. And in the West, the kingdom of Westalis ruled over their land. These four kingdoms ruled 80% of the vampire world while the remaining ones are ruled by the small kingdoms.

Some gates are easy to find and some were harder. The four kingdoms had their own gates which allowed them secret access to the human world. They used this as a means of getting food source, but there was great risk about the gates. The gates can be used vice versa, which meant that humans are also able to use the gates for their own gain. But gates are hard to find especially in the human world as vampires use their noble or royal arts to conceal the gate.

The estate's system has been used for generations in the vampire world. The first state consists of anyone of royal blood. The second estate consists of noble blood. And the third estate is the commoners.

The commoners are blood-lusting vampires. They are vampires that are always thirsty for blood. They are also unreasonable as all they think about is blood. The nobles are not as bloodlust as the commoners. They can go for a week of no blood, but after that, they need to drink or else they perish. The nobles could also use noble arts. The royals, on the other hand, do not need blood to survive. They only need blood when using noble arts, royal arts, and noble phantasm. They are the highest form of a vampire and the most powerful one.

Noble arts are a type of blood magic. Noble arts could do many things such as constructing one's blood into a type of weapon or sealing their identity when integrating into human society. Noble arts could be used by noble blood and royal blood. Royal arts are a much more powerful version of noble arts. They could only be used by royal blood. Royal phantasm is the ultimate move of every pure-royal blood vampire. Each one is unique and devastating. Half-royal blood does not have royal phantasm but they can use royal arts and noble arts. The commoners cannot use either.

When a commoner vampire, or a human drinks the blood of a royal vampire, they automatically become a noble vampire. When a noble vampire drinks the blood of royal blood, they won't starve for two weeks. The effects may vary depending on whether the royal blood is pure one or a half one. If a commoner vampire or a human drinks a noble vampire's blood, the human will become a commoner vampire while the commoner vampire will not starve for a day. If royal blood drinks either the commoner or the noble vampire's blood, no effects will befall them, it will only taste bitter.

These are the basics that all royal and noble blood vampires need to learn.

3 weeks have passed since Ellie's funeral, and life has returned to normal. The vampire that killed her was caught by the hunters shortly after I left the site. I did not kill him, but simply knocked the vampire down unconscious. It wasn't my first time seeing a friend pass away, her death didn't affect me all that much. I was mostly concerned by the essay that I failed. It was inevitable as Ellie's death was told to us the next day which was the day I had to write an essay. I had to make a choice. I either had to support my grieving friends or write an essay I didn't have time to prepare for. In the end, I decided to do both.

It did not end well as I thought it would. I was now failing English and my friends are mad at me for doing such a thing. I do not expect them to understand me. I had always placed school as my top priority above other things. I need to do well to get one step closer to my goal. Without it, my life would become meaningless.

"If you needed more time you could've just asked..."

Ms. Melan(my English teacher) came and asked me to meet her after school in her classroom.

"If you want a rewrite, I could schedule you for next week after school. You should've just told me that your friend passed away." Ms. Melan said.

"Oh...I'd like that essay rewrite, please. Thank you."

I definitely need to apologize to them...

After my conversation with Ms. Melan, I decided to contact my two remaining human friends. I knew I was wrong and it's only proper to apologize for my mistake. I told them to meet me at our usual cafe. But I was left on read.

Ok... I'll just go to their place.

"Sorry, Nate... Mary just left to go to the supermarket." Mary's mother said in front of their door.

"Oh...ok. Thank you," I said.

As I was about to leave, I noticed something. It felt like a person's gaze was upon me. I looked on the second floor where Mary's room window was. Behind the curtain, a shadowed figure resembling a woman, gazed upon me as I stood still in front of the house. Those eyes reminded me of a person saying "Leave, I don't want to talk to you..."

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Message received. She's still mad at me. I'll just go to Carl's place then.

As I walked to Carl's place, I decided to text him a message.

"You better be ready to open that door of yours or I may accidentally tell Mary that you've had a crush on her since elementary." I texted.

Mary's full name is Earlyamary. The reason we call her Mary is because it's much shorter than saying her full name all the time. Carl and Mary had been friends since they were born. They could be considered childhood friends. Carl has had a huge crush on Mary since elementary, and I took advantage of that fact. Mary on the other hand doesn't seem to be interested in a relationship at the moment, so Carl has been waiting since then. The two live pretty close to each other. I befriended Carl and Mary in the first month of our junior high. They were in the same class as Ellie and me, so we saw each other every day. It took us a few weeks to hit it off but we eventually did.

"What time will you be arriving? Do you want snacks? What drinks do you want? Do you want me to massage you? I'm sure you must be tired from all the walking." Carl texted back.

I couldn't help but smile a little. I knew that he was just joking and I was too. I'm sure Mary texted him to not talk to me but we have a bro code. The bro code is something that only we two created. Mary and Ellie are supposed to not know but Carl became a simp one time and told them what the bro code was. Of course, all of us just laughed it off. Good times.

"You seem like you're enjoying yourself there kid."

Hm? Is someone talking to me?

I looked up from my phone and saw her. She wore a long dark coat and underneath was a white shirt. She has blue jeans and a pair of white sneakers. I couldn't quite figure out whether I like her style or not. Her hair was long and wavy and resembled the light blue sky. She has a lit cigarette in her right hand and an eyepatch on her right eye hiding away her emerald-like eyes. She continues to lean on the light pole and if I were to assume, she would be in her mid-20s. She was the human hunter I met during the night Ellie died.

"Oh...it's you. Is there something you want with me miss?" I asked.

I didn't want to be sidetracked so I planned to make the conversation quick.

"You didn't have to be that unhappy to see me...Anyways, are you free? I simply wanted to thank you for saving me."

"You don't have to thank me. I simply did what any upstanding human would do. I also already made plans with my friend so..."

"I see, some other time then..."

"Yeah, some other time...Goodbye."

As I was about to pass her, she suddenly stopped me by putting her right hand on my shoulder. Her cigarette was right on my face and she stinks like a smoker.

"By the way kid, do you know where the reaper is?" She asked me with a serious look on her face.

The reaper? Is she talking about him? Does she know my connection with him? Calm down... Of course, she doesn't. She's obviously just testing me. But in all honesty, I absolutely have no idea where that old man is.

"Reaper? Do you mean the most powerful human hunter in history? Sorry, but I don't think I would know something about him. Excuse me miss, but I really have to get going."

"*Sigh, alright."

She let go of my shoulder and just when I thought I was freed, she said "Nathan Fausil... that's a pretty name kid."

Eh? Well, crap. I was now on the hunter's radar for helping a hunter. Just when everything was about to be better she just had to come and ruin everything.

"Eh?"

"The name is Risa Ann, it's only natural for me to do some research on the person that saved me. Otherwise, how could I have found you? I get the feeling that we'll see each other again kid. See ya."

Yeah, I get the feeling as well.

She and I headed in opposite directions. I did my best to stay calm but sometimes unexpected things are just hard to deal with.

It didn't take me long to reach Carl's house. It was just a 15-minute walk from Mary's house to his but it took longer than that because of that woman. I rang the doorbell and quickly heard stumbling noises near the door. Well, that was fast. The door opened and the first thing that welcomed me was Carl's cute little sister, Jian. She was still in 6th grade and according to Carl, he found her annoying. But she looks fine in my book.

"Ugh... it's Nate."

I take back what I said. She's annoying now.

"Brother! Nate is here!" Jian yelled.

"I hope I'm not intruding," I said as I take off my shoes inside near the doorway.

"You kinda are... Brother!"

The last time I was here Jian was acting cute but now... she's like a typical annoying, rude, and not cute little sister. I may have come at the wrong time.

Moments later, Carl came stumbling down the stairs. He quickly grabbed my arms and dragged me to his room. In a matter of 5 seconds, I was sitting in his room. His room didn't change that much since the last time I visited. His bed was still on the opposite side of the door and close to the window. And beside his bed is his desk which he uses for studying, I think. Judging from his closet barely holding up, he may have put all his trash in there and done a quick clean of his room. It's easy and efficient to make it seem clean for a guest so it was fine.

"Did I come at the wrong time? I could just come back another time," I asked, anxiously.

"No, no you don't have to do that. As long as we're up here we should be fine. My parents are just having an argument that's all." Carl said.

I knew it. I did come at the wrong time. I'll just come back another time then.

"Oh, I see. I'll just stop by tomorrow,"

I got up and was about to leave the room when Carl stopped. He told me to sit back down and that it was fine. I knew that wasn't fine. I shouldn't have come today...

"Have you ever considered joining the Hunters?..." Carl said with a serious look on his face.

He's joking, right? Joining the hunters? If I did I'll be dead.

"Cut the crap... You know joining the hunters is dangerous and I'm too lazy for that."

I tried putting it off. I got the feeling that he was considering joining and he wanted me to go with him... And I was dead right.

"Well yeah, I guess your right. My dad actually wanted to sign up for the upcoming civilian self-defence program by the Hunters organization. And my mom is against that so... yeah. It was because of Ellie's death you know."

"Oh... I guess I could kinda understand your father."

That's a pretty good reason actually.

"And... to add to the flame, I kinda suggested enrolling to the nearest hunter's academy in my third year of high school. You know, to fight off the vampires and stuff. Ellie's death has been... yeah. Jian sided with mom and well I kinda sided with my dad."

Huh?

"Are you insane! Ellie's death has indeed been an eye-opener, but that could be interpreted in another way. And that would be that vampires are dangerous and should be left to those strong enough to handle them like the hunters. Don't you want to be a doctor? Becoming a hunter is the opposite of that." I said.

If Carl goes to become a hunter, then the chances of him dying would be even higher. I'm sure that's what his mom and his sister are concerned about. If Mary were to hear this then maybe she would change Carl's mind.

"I know that... I already told Mary and she said that if I'm going then she's going as well. We still have 3 months before the registration for next year closes down. Who knows, maybe I'll change my mind by that time. I just wanted to let you know and to make you consider going."

Mary! What the hell! I was relying on her to change his mind.

"I'll think about it... I guess this explains why Jian was not acting cute as usual. Anyways, have you heard about the upcoming character? I get the feeling that she's gonna be good."

I changed the topic to the game we're addicted to as it was getting quite awkward. I came to have fun and I wanted to stick to that.

"Could you not lewd off my little sister? Honestly, there's nothing cute about that annoying monster. But yeah, I've heard about the new character. She looks stunning and her attack animations are... juicy!"

"Yeah, I know right!? I'm definitely gonna grind my ass off to try to get her."

"Me too man, me too."

We continued to talk about games, our crushes(I don't have one), and school pain. His mom brought some snacks halfway and Jian annoyed his brother for a short while. I've always been jealous of the family he has. Having a mother to be worried about you and a sister to annoy. A father that wants to protect his family sounds quite great. I've always imagined having one of my own.

After the moon settled in, I decided that it was time for me to leave. I still had work at midnight after all. I need a bit of sleep. I went to their living room and said my thanks and goodbyes to his parents. I also said goodbye to his little sister. As I was putting my shoes back on close to the door, Carl and I had our final quick chat.

"By the way, Mary and I might come to your place tomorrow. You know, so that you two could make up. And to make sure you're not hiding some vampire in that empty place of yours." Carl said as a joke.

Mary and Carl are unaware of the fact that I'm a vampire. It was best for them to not know as I'm sure they will turn their backs and hunt me like every other human. I've always used my royal arts to hide my left vampire eye. My right eye was a human eye so I didn't have to hide it. But lately, my royal arts have been losing their effectiveness as I haven't drunk blood for about 6 years.

"Sure! I'll do a quick clean tomorrow to make it look presentable at least." I answered.

"Huh? What is there to clean? You literally have no furniture in that apartment of yours."

"Calm down, dust and stuff still randomly spawn out of nowhere," I said as I opened their front door.

"True...Anyways think about it alright? Remember we have 3 months until registration closes down."

"Yeah, yeah. I'll think about it. See ya."

"See ya tomorrow Nate!"

As I left Carl's house, I decided to quickly stop by a store to buy myself dinner. The nearest one was by a gas station so that's where I went. As I walked, I reflected on our conversation about becoming Hunters. It was a bad idea and I needed to find a way to change their mind. I don't want them to end up dying like Ellie. It has become my mission to stop them. Or so I thought.

Honestly...Why did Ellie have to die? It's affecting my life more than I thought it would. Maybe I should stop denying the fact that it didn't affect me...Tsk, I hate it when that old man is right...