A quick snack later, Ray left the now empty room, but soon stopped short. He wasn’t sure where to head next.

While he did learn some convoluted human practices of the Bloodborn, it just gave him a headache, and even more questions. The useless human couldn’t even tell him how deep the Underground was, or how many slaves lived in it.

Maybe he should question a Bloodborn instead, or go under one of those nine enormous buildings to question a slave who served there.

No, he couldn’t bother with slaves anymore. If he found some Warriors in that Blood Mountain, he could do with them however he wished. They would just be assumed to have been killed by those Blothcraad. While it wasn’t late into the Night yet, he also didn’t know how long he would be away from his human if he went into the mountain now. He would go tomorrow, after he brought back some blankets for Kei.

He aimlessly wandered through the corridors, taking turns to go in the general direction of those nine buildings. He could at least observe them close up. They were uncomfortably close to where that man presumably resided, but far enough that Ray dared to approach.

There were many passages that led up to the surface, not just into buildings, opening onto hidden corners of the streets. While the convoluted mess of the Underground was hard to navigate, he managed to keep himself oriented enough that when he finally surfaced, he found himself between the cliff wall, and one of the nine buildings.

He climbed a great, tall tree, and found a comfortable spot to sit on. He had a perfect view into the third floor, but he was taken aback as he looked through one of the tall windows.

“Oh, I see. Well, that explains that.” Vorm suddenly said.

Ray considered whether to ignore Vorm or not, but then his curiosity won. Explains what?

“How they are perfectly healthy while being so inbred.”

Inbred?

“Well, I guess you wouldn’t have noticed, and you hadn’t gotten close enough to them since. Those sacrifices whose blood were used to create your body? They were all closely related.”

So that ritual they are doing now?

“A Conception Ritual, but… I wouldn’t have expected that to see it in a world like this. Their ritualistic magic is more advanced than it should be, to be honest.”

Why do you think that is?

“You would probably find the answer in that Blood Mountain. Or from the Patriarch, but I assume you’d rather try the mountain. Or that human of yours.”

He has a name, Kei, not just a human. Ray felt strangely defensive for some reason, but he was more occupied with questioning Vorm. Come to think of it, shouldn’t you already know everything?

“As awesome as I am, even I can’t know everything. Don’t be delusional.”

No, didn’t you say you collected those memories they were discarding? Shouldn’t you know them then?

“Ah… that. No, that’s not how it works. I would have had to eat them and that would have been a sure way to get us discovered.”

Discovered by who?

“Don’t worry about things too big for your pretty little head to understand. Just know that if I interfere too much, we are both done. I’ve already done more than I should have when I slightly derailed that ritual. I don’t dare to do anything more, I can’t even scan that damn mountain, and it’s going on my nerves.”

Ray felt quite pleased that there was something even Vorm was afraid of. Or someone. Actually, that was quite scary, he disliked the feeling of being just a speck of dust on the grand scheme of things. But Vorm seemed weirdly interested in the mountain.

And why do you care about the mountain?

“It’s not just a mountain.”

What is it then?

“I don’t know, and that’s why it’s annoying,” Vorm answered with rare trace of annoyance in its voice.

Ray recalled something. Hold on. You’ve told me before that you knew it, but wouldn’t tell me.

“No, I’ve said ‘considering what’s under the surface’, I have never said I knew exactly what it was. It’s not my fault you read into my words.”

…Whatever. Also, you are making me less inclined to investigate it.

“I also suspect the way to complete your body is down there.”

Yeah, sure. No, you are just telling me that to make me go in.

“Fine, maybe there’s nothing that would help you. But maybe all the answers you need are down there.”

Ray looked towards the gate of the Blood Mountain. Vorm was right. But he didn’t want to leave Kei alone. He would go another time.

He looked back towards the humans conducting that ritual. He guessed this was why their population seemed to be so low, considering they had to go through an elaborate ritual each time.

The humans seemed to be done as the limp woman was carried out, and the two who looked to be priestesses left. Only the man stayed, already deep asleep. Maybe that ritual was quite taxing. It gave Ray a bold idea. He was sick of being ignorant.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

One of the windows were slightly open, he easily jumped to it from the tree. No one seemed to be around as he silently approached the man.

These humans really liked to waste space. The vastness of the chamber made him feel uncomfortable, even the ceiling was like a dozen meters high, way too high.

As he approached the sleeping man, something stirred in his Blood, and he couldn’t help but be pulled forward.

This was how that man must have felt when looking down at him. Ray knew the human before him was bound by Blood to serve him. These so-called Bloodborn were more shackled than the slaves themselves. And so was he…

He pulled a chair next to the bed, sat down, and prepared for a lengthy exposition. Then woke the man up.

*

Ray was back in his hideout, sitting on the ground while playing with Kei’s hair. He didn’t forget to bring back blankets this time, and wrapped his human tightly in them.

He had gotten back late, Night was soon ending.

It was ridiculous. He had been wrong about everything.

As the man had kept speaking, of the Patriarch, of the Family, of their duties and obligations, their convoluted practices that shortened their lives… yet… they willingly did it all, willingly sacrificing themselves on the altar of the Family.

Their motto, “Blood Above All” was seared into their whole beings, forever enslaved by it. The slaves they farmed for bloodstones had more freedom than the Bloodborn themselves.

At last, his suspicions about about what they needed so much blood for were also confirmed. They created bloodstones from them. Human children were thrown into the Blood Lakes where they were forcefully nourished into adulthood and kept alive for ten years, siphoning away their blood, until their body completely broke down. Then new toddlers were thrown in.

Ray had to admit it was quite efficient. Bloodstones then were either used to keep the city running or traded with the outside.

Even so, in his opinion the slaves had it better than the so called Sire who talked about the Family with fervor. 90 Sires forming 90 Bloodborn Broods in the nine Hatcheries. Even the names were derogatory, yet the man did not seem to mind.

High-Bloodborn, the Sires were called. The daughters and sons of that man, the Patriarch, were all High-Bloodborn. Those born to the Sires were Low-Bloodborn.

As the man had kept talking Ray’s thoughts had wandered. A city of prison and the higher authority one has, the more enslaved they are—

He had jumped up and the man shut up in fright. Wasn’t that man the most enslaved by it all?

Ray had left without a word, running through the Night. He hated that he knew where to find him. He recalled the scene in detail.

*

“Have you realized?” asked the man without even turning.

“Who is the warden of this city of prison if not you?” Ray must have lost his mind for coming here. But was sure he was right.

Standing high, on the highest peak of the Crimson Palace, the Patriarch turned towards Ray with a exhaustion etched into his face. “Long dead. The Founder set it all up a thousand years ago, but we remain prisoners.”

“You can’t just leave, can you? Even if you hadn’t told me I still wouldn’t be able to leave, would I?”

“No, you would be able to. But you would die. Just like the rest of us. The Trading Post is as far as we can go and even so, we die even there if we stay too long.”

Ray did not feel any better as he growled what bothered him the most, “Why haven’t you told me the truth before? Why go through the theatrics?”

“I did not now what we have created. I wanted to see what you would do on your own. You did not disappoint.” He looked down at the city, and added, “They are too brainwashed by ideals and lofty notions to realize anything, but you are different. I’ve given you more Bloodright than anyone else ever had besides the Patriarchs.”

“Bloodright?”

“The source of our power and our curse.”

“I want you dead. Then I’ll destroy this cursed city.”

The Patriarch bitterly laughed. “The Succession Ritual would activate, forcefully turning one of the Sires into the next Patriarch. Except, they would be ignorant of the truth and would bind you to their will. So go ahead, kill me if you so wish.” Turning towards Ray the man spread his arms wide.

Ray considered the man. He seemed so powerless. It annoyed Ray. The man he had feared amounted to just this much.

“What if I kill all the Sires first then? What if I kill all the Bloodborn?”

The Patriarch dropped his arms and shrugged. “I don’t know, but it wouldn’t work. Bloodright is never lost, it only accumulates. Around two hundred years ago Elziindreil theorized that once the accumulated Bloodright reaches a threshold, the city would be drained of life as the Founder resurrects. That was why she went into the Blood Mountain, looking for answers, but she never came back. None who had escorted her returned. It was only a decade ago that we found her research, and the ritual she had created that you had gone through, hoping you would be the solution to save us.”

“You think I’d care about saving any of you?”

“No, but you would save yourself. If you kill us all after that? So be it. Either way, this madness would end.”

“So you are telling me, this Elziindreil had gone into the Blood Mountain and then two hundred years later her research magically resurfaced? From the very same mountain that is suspected to keep this whole place imprisoned?”

“Yes.”

“Don’t you realize how suspicious is that? What if this all is part of an elaborate scheme by that Founder?”

The man snapped back,“Even so, what else could we have done? Generations after generations… You know nothing. Nothing of how each Patriarch takes a Sanguine Wife day after day, knowing they would die after childbirth? A 100 sons there has to be. The ten most promising of them chosen to be Blood-Sons at the age of 15 to then fight to the death at the age of 23 and the last one who remains becomes the Bloodborn Heir.”

The man’s tirade was unceasing, finally letting everything he had to keep buried all out. “Day after day, he’s surrounded by Priestesses sucking his life away into those accursed rituals. It’s not as easy as the rituals the Sires use, the one to conceive High-Bloodborn are more demanding. He’s barely alive by the time the 100 sons are conceived, hoping luck to be on his side to have less daughters. Then the Patriarch takes him to the depths of the Palace to the Succession Ritual. The Bloodborn Heir then inherits all the power as the old Patriarch dies and he becomes the new one.”

Anger and hate burned within the man’s voice, as he pulled something out and held it up. It was a small, blood red stone with sharp edges. “This is a bloodstone, made from a whole cubic meter of slave blood.” He pulled something else out. It was slightly bigger, and Ray could feel the condensed power within. “A Bloodgem. What do you think it’s made of?”

Ray just quietly watched without saying anything. It was a rhetorical question, they both knew the answer.

Finally, the man pulled out and held up one more thing. It was dazzling even in the dark. “A Bloodcore.” His tone was grave, the sadness in his eyes bottomless.

Putting them all away again, he sighed. He seemed so small. “It’s never ending. The system we have now is because it births less suffering. Many Patriarchs before me tried to stop it all, but it all ended in misery. As they”—he gestured below—“cannot disobey you, and you cannot disobey me, I cannot disobey either. We are all bound by Blood, slaves to the design of the Founder.”

Ray had heard enough. He left without a word.

*

When Day arrived and his powers slumbered, Ray continued to sit there, listening to Kei’s quiet breathing.

Eventually, he fell asleep.