~Victor~
My eyes opened and I stared, confused as to why my ceiling looked like the sky. After blinking away unconsciousness, I glanced around in a panic, realizing I was in fact not in my semi-comfortable bed in my way too expensive 1 bedroom apartment. My eyesight which was barely 20/20 at best, was now so sharp it could make eagles jealous. In fact, all of my senses were superhuman.
I could feel the most subtle of breezes, my hearing was sensitive enough to hear a mouse sneeze across the city, and I had a sense of smell that could put bloodhounds to shame. I gagged as I took a deep breath, finally coming back to reality and remembering where I was. Yep, that was a mistake. The pungent sourness of the alley was compounded with the stench of the corpse lying in front of me. Who just so happened to void his bowels. I blinked owlishly, corpse?
I jolted in shock. In front of me was a nearly headless corpse lying next to the unconscious form of the woman from last night. Wait, what? So, it wasn’t a dream? I was freaking shot? I frantically grabbed at my chest. There was indeed a singed hole in my work shirt, but it was flawless skin below that. I did mean flawless. My skin was smooth with not a freckle, mole, or scar to be seen. I frowned at that. I liked the scar I got when I had my appendix removed. I told the ladies it was a stab wound, heh. Though there was that one time where it turned out I was hitting on a nurse and she called me out on my BS. Wait, focus Victor.
I grabbed my head in confusion, pulling my long white hair from my eyes. Hold the fuck up? My hair, which was once cropped short and light brown, was now so long it draped towards my hips when I stood up. Its color is a brighter white than fluorescent light. As I played with my hair, I realized my ears were pointed and slightly longer than natural, the hell? Was I an Elf or something? Gasp! Was I played by Orlando Bloom? Get it together, process now, mental breakdown later.
I was not going to complain, though. I went from a slightly pudgy dad-bod with some muscle from my job to a ripped and lean Adonis. I mean, I wouldn't say I was overweight, my now occasional trip to the gym for martial arts prevented that, though my diet had a lot to be desired. Now, however, I had a freaking eight pack. I looked up to the sky to ask whatever god may be listening to explain what the fuck was going on when any potential prayer was caught in my throat.
I always loved it when the moon was visible during the day, just like today. Only thing was that there were now three freaking moons. One was the same ol’ moon that stood vigilance over Earth for millions of years. About four feet to the west of the moon from my perspective was a new satellite that was about 4 times larger.
The green moon had an enormous crater on the upper right hemisphere that took up about 60% of its surface. Whether it was so much larger than the moon due to its size or distance from Earth, I couldn’t tell. The other new moon was a similar color to the original moon and only slightly bigger, but it had a visible ring not unlike Saturn. This moon was just barely visible below the massive moon.
I could only see this moon because the building in that direction was now a pile of rubble. How the hell did I sleep through a collapsing building? I shook my head and turned to exit the alley to get some help for the still unconscious woman and hopefully some answers when I then took another blow to my sense of reality. There was now a mountain towering above Nashville that put Mt. Everest to shame. At least I assume so, as I've never been to Everest, but I really doubt it was this freaking big. I wonder if Olympus Mons is this big.
My spiraling descent from sanity was interrupted by screams and mayhem cropping up around the city. I was once again amazed that I could hear all of it, I could even hear snippets of words as though they were merely shouting from down the street. I could even smell a tang of something that I instinctively knew as fear coming from the two officers who were now waking up. Alrighty sleepyheads, time to protect and serve.
I ran over to help them up. They had weapons and if a minor plague like Covid got people freaking out, then this shit show was going to have people going postal. I grabbed the female officer’s hand and pulled her up only for her to gasp in horror and fall backwards when she looked into my eyes. I was confused, and a little hurt, and I opened my mouth to say something snippy when she pulled her gun on me. The male officer followed suit, though it was clear he didn’t know why as I had my back to him. Need me a ride-or-die like that.
I held up my hands, "Ooh-kay, no touchy-touchy, gotcha."
“What the hell are you?” Asked the female officer, I glanced at her name tag noting her name was Rodriguez. “Back the hell up.”
I was honestly confused, “What do you mean? I’m just a guy? Is something wrong with my face?” I really hope whatever happened to me didn’t make me so ugly people would pull their pieces on me. God, now I know how SpongeBob felt after eating that onion sundae.
Before Rodriguez could respond, I smelled something odd, something dangerous. I couldn't figure out what it was and Officer Rodriguez quirked a brow at me as she saw me sniffing the air like a golden retriever who smelled kibble. Finally, I figured out that the scent was strongest behind us. Right as she opened her mouth, likely to ask what drugs I was on, I twirled around and my eyes widened in shock.
It was just in time to see some thing had landed on the back of the male officer, tackling him to the ground. It appeared to be a Labrador sized mantis with razor sharp scythes instead of the serrated claws normal mantis's had. Its abdomen curved like a scorpion tail but instead of a stinger, it had two sharp looking pincers. It was like the unholy offspring between a mantis and an earwig which then had an inbred child with its own siblings... I am going to make a therapist very rich after this.
One of those blades proved how keen their edges were by lopping off his right arm off at the shoulder. Blood spurted from the wound as he cried out. Thankfully, he had his pistol in his left hand as he shoved it in its clacking mouth parts and pulled the trigger. I'm not sure what happened. I mean it did kill the giant bug, but instead of ejecting a round through its brain, it blew off its entire head along with the officer’s arm down to his elbow. He at least didn’t suffer the brutal agony as shrapnel from the decimated gun pierced his head, killing him instantly.
The officer, trained as she was, stood stunned only for a moment at the horrifying visage before shouting, “Richard!” and running over to him.
I took a step to join her when I felt an impact on my back. It was heavy, but not enough to bring me to the ground like it did Richard. It was another mantis monster. Its pincer pierced either side of my lower torso causing me to cry out. Its sharp claws grappled me, and it bit deep into my shoulder. Blood welled along with tears as rage filled me. A pressure in my chest expanded as I flexed trying to get a hold on the monster. I couldn’t get my arms away and the more I struggled, the deeper the blades bit into my chest. I roared with fury and did the only thing I could think of, I jumped and angled myself to land on my back.
Too distracted by pain and anger, I hadn't noticed that I leapt nearly 15 feet in the air. With a bone rattling thud, the mantis was crushed below me. Exoskeleton crunched and the acrid stench of bug blood covered my back. The impact managed to dislodge it from me. I took the chance to stand and I twirled around to face the beast.
The creature scrambled to its feet and hissed at me. It was severely wounded, gray-green goo leaked from the cracks in its thorax. I ran to it, startled at my speed. I could tell that I would be a blur to another person’s point of view. I was so thrown off, I missed my target with the kick I was about to use to punt the fucker. My full force kick went straight towards the brick wall behind the monster. I braced for the possible broken toes that were coming at me, instead, I kicked straight through the wall. I tried to rationalize that maybe the wall was already weakened from when the building collapsed, but no, I shattered the bricks not just knocked them loose.
I sneezed as a plume of dust billowed out and tried to steady myself. Using my awkward position to its advantage, the mantis leaped at me. More out of reflex than conscious thought, though if anyone asks I’ll say I did it on purpose, I grabbed the little fucker’s head mid-leap and smashed its head into the wall, splattering it and coating myself in its gooey blood. I grimaced in disgust and pulled myself out of the wall.
I wiped my face best I could and called out, “Officer Rodriguez, we ain’t safe here. There’s a woman passed out in the alley, we need to grab her and get somewhere safe.” The officer glanced back at me, tears running down her face and nodded sharply.
She grabbed Richard’s remaining ammo and stood. She activated her radio and called, “Control-49, I have an officer down and need additional units.” She waited a moment but there was no response. After clicking the radio again she said, “Control, 10-33 please respond.” Again, silence. “Shit.”
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The sound of movement caused both of us to face the alley, the officer with her gun raised and me striking a combat stance. “I wouldn’t do that, unless you want to end up like your partner there.” It was the woman from last night, except now the sense of deja-vu I experienced was much stronger. Now that my mind was clear and I wasn’t dying from blood loss, I could get a clear view of the woman.
She was drop dead gorgeous, unnaturally so. She had long deep red hair that flowed elegantly down to the dip of her back. The ends were slightly curled, and the left side of her scalp was cut short, nearly buzzed clean. Her eyes were an endless reservoir of blood-red and glistened in the sunlight. She had luscious bee-stung lips that had a perfect amount of pout. She was tall with shapely legs, an hourglass figure, and an ample bosom. It was like Jessica Rabbit joined a punk rock band.
For some reason however, I couldn’t bring myself to feel anything other than mild interest in her beauty. I had the capacity to recognize that she was the most beautiful woman in the world, compared to any that I have seen at the very least, but that was the end of it. It was as if she was a sibling and no matter how pretty she was, the thought of anything more was just disturbing.
“You realize threatening an officer is a felony, yeah?” Rodriguez’s eyes narrowed.
She cocked her hips and rolled her eyes. “Like I give two shits about your laws, Human, but if you want to lose your hand, be my guest, pull the trigger. Its just that you look like a lady that enjoys having two hands." She had an exotic accent, it was like British mixed with Middle-Eastern. She then turned her gaze to me, and spoke in a foreign language. I had absolutely no clue what it was. After a moment of me staring blankly, confusion and worry filled her eyes.
In English she asked, "You didn't understand that?" When I shook my head no she sighed and said, "Master, something happened when I woke you. There is a crazy amount of mana in the air, more than even back home. It looks like everything is infused with mana including the gunpowder in that pistol."
She rolled her eyes at the bewildered looks on our faces, "Having mana inside materials makes them much stronger than their mundane form. Even more so than home, looks like. Odd."
She pointed to the extra moons and then the mountain, "Speaking of home, I recognize those moons and that mountain range. That’s Alara and her sister Thera; and that is the Khora mountain range. If I were a betting girl, I’d say our two worlds merged, Master.”
She finished the last sentence looking at me. I glanced side to side before pointing at myself, “Me? I’m not really into that ‘Master’ kink stuff and- what the shit?” I had turned and noticed my reflection in a nearby window.
That officer definitely didn't think I was ugly. I mean, I wasn’t too bad before, but this was some Calvin Klein model shit. I could still recognize my face, so I knew I was still in my own body, just… changed. The most striking change was to my eyes. The iris of my left eye was bright red like fresh oxygen rich blood. My right eye had the same color, but instead of having one pupil, I had two. They were nestled inside a twisting snake design in the shape of an infinity symbol. The serpent was swallowing its own tail. I knew what this was, Uroboros, the symbol of wholeness, cycles, and the infinite. God that was freaky looking.
The woman grimaced, “Ugh, no Master, don’t be gross. No, I mean we are soul bound, basically I'm your familiar. We will have time to go into things when we are safe.” A sad look darkened her face, “It’s unfortunate, but it's clear that you have not recovered your memories. Whatever happened to our worlds, it looks like it affected your awakening. Seems like at least some of your power has awakened. My guess is that the power inside you caused a feedback loop that interfered with the awakening process. Or something, no clue really."
“So you did have something to do with this?” A surge of anger welled up within me, “This is your fault? This is fucking great, some random ass woman comes out of the blue, makes me drink her blood and now I’m apparently some type of monster, the world as we know it has ended, there are murderous giant bugs running around.” As my tirade rose with my fury, the air around me began to tremble, as if I was surrounded by a heat distortion.
“Calm your tits, Master. I didn’t mean for this shit to happen, okay? How the hell was I supposed to have the slightest clue this would happen? I awoke your soul multiple times in the past few centuries, and this is the first time this,” she gestured to the mountain, “had ever happened. It doesn’t matter, this is our reality now and nothing can change that. Look, if our worlds fused together, then we need to find a city from our original world, they’ll be the most prepared for the current state of the world."
Our screaming match was interrupted by Rodriguez, “I don’t have a clue what you two maniacs are talking about, but we need to get to the station, it is fortified and much safer than here.” The streets begin to have more people emerging from buildings and crashed cars. Confused and fear filled outcries echoed in the area. People attempted to use their phones to record, or contact loved ones only to find them inoperable. Some tried to start their vehicles giving credence to the woman’s claim when they instantly exploded causing even more panic.
Rodriguez curses and tosses her gun away down the alley before dropping her ammo clips. “So how the hell are we supposed to defend ourselves from the monsters?”
“Melee weapons and bows for now until people can create enchanted weapons or acquire them from areas from our world.” She turned to me, “Since you obviously don’t recognize me Master, I am Asha Qi. We come from a world called Veru, you died there, and I followed your soul when it reincarnated on Earth instead of on Veru. Oh, and we’re Vampires. I was going to ease you into this, but the situation changed.”
“Yeah, no. Wanna run that by me again?” Before I could receive explanations from that half-assed explanation, the screams and general panic in the streets reached a new fervor. We looked at where the terror appeared to be coming from. Down the street to our left hound like creatures were bearing down on people and tearing them apart. Several pitch-black wolves with streaks of orange throughout their fur stalked the crowd. They had shorter snouts like boxers yet were the size of a small car. There were three of them that I could see.
“Shit, Hel-hounds. I should have guessed since we’re so close to the Khora mountains. Well, those mortals are fucked. We need to get out of here Master while they’re distracted.” She grabbed my hand and began to lead me away. At least, she attempted to. To her, it was as if she was trying to pull the big ass mountain itself. I was too busy glaring at the hounds to notice.
“We can’t just leave them to die. You said we're Vampires, yeah? We can take them. I kicked a hole into a brick wall just now, I'm pretty sure I could beat a cheetah in a race.” I told her.
“Master, I just got you back, we can’t risk losing you. Who knows how many years, how many centuries could past before your soul finds another vessel. Look at you, you don't even have a mana core, how can you cast spells? All you have is your racial skills.” she begged.
“Got me back? I. DON'T KNOW YOU, LADY. Fuck it, I don’t need your permission. You call me your master? Fine, then I order you to take out those monsters. I’m going with or without you. Rodriguez, you try to get people heading to safety and keep your head down until we get you weapons that won’t blow up in your hands. Now, Asha was it? How do I use these so called racial skills?” When she didn't immediately answer I prodded, "You want me to live? Might as well tell me how to Vampire or I'm going in blind."
With reluctance she said, "It's instinctual. Just focus within and you'll feel the intrinsic magic within your soul." Doubting it was that easy, I did as she said and jolted when information suddenly filled my head. I could indeed feel it, it was like having a muscle I always had but only just learned how to use.
I had a few, but I could vaguely sense some more. For some reason they felt shrouded like trying to remember the previous night after killing my liver with booze. Worries for later. The three that were revealed to me were interesting. The first ability was some type of pocket dimension for the blood I consumed. I felt a connection between this, my body, and my powers, this was my fuel. It was nearly empty right now and I realized I was famished. I was confused until I remembered the bloodless remains of Rico's goon. I forced myself not to dwell on the implication.
The next was blood manipulation. I could interact with blood that wasn't in someone's body. The final skill was blood formation, I could convert blood into objects, though there were limits. I didn't know what they were yet, but I could sense innately that I couldn't form a functioning gun or something that complex. I could also feel a connection to the shadows, but I ignored it; now wasn't the time for stealth.
I glanced at the dead bugs and felt a faint connection to its blood. Not like it was a part of me, but more like it belonged to me, that it was my sustenance. Their blood was unappetizing but was still recognized as blood. It would have to do. I tugged at the skill and the blood flowed towards me and turned into a red fog that entered my mouth. Funny, since the bug juice was a pale green. Oddly enough, it didn't enter my stomach, but that pocket dimension. I tried not to let the fact that it tasted good if a bit stale bother me.
Without another word, I sprinted towards the Hel-hounds. I dodged people who were fleeing the monsters. I focused on on the manifestation skill and some of the blood I absorbed drained to form a weapon. Blood welled in my hand and a dark red broadsword took shape in my clenched fist. I grinned; this was honest to God magic! It was like remembering to ride a bike despite never having ridden before, I shouldn't have this knowledge, but I did.
It took seconds to reach the panicking crowd, I dipped and dodged the fleeing people, careful not to trample any. Within moments, I reached the first Hel-hound, the scent of sulfur burning my enhanced sense of smell. It looked up at me, a poor bastard’s entrails in its mouth. It snarled at me as I brought the sword down. Turns out, you actually need some training to use a sword. My edge alignment was off, and the dense fur deflected the blow. The strength of my hit was enough for it to yelp, a crunch of cracking bone could be heard. Instead of chomping my head off, the impact limited it to snapping at my arm. Its powerful jaws clenched down, and it tossed me to the side, ripping my arm off.
Agony burned from my stump of an arm. My scream was cut off when the air was forced from my lungs as I broke through a car door. The force was enough to tip the car on its side. I was dazed and heard the muffled sound of Asha cry, “Master!”. New plan, I need something with reach. The fuzzy sensation in my head made it difficult to think. Am I going to die? How long does it take to bleed out from a dismembered arm? I could feel death’s scythe creeping towards me. Then clarity struck with a spike of adrenaline along with a bloody toothed smile. Yeah, that’ll work.