It had been a few months since the breaking, and no matter how many times Van asked, his parents refused to tell him about it, saying they will talk about it when he was older.
Van was now eleven years old though he looked like he was twelve or more, and had gone through his mind awakening. Every so often his brain would throb but he was assured that it would go away with time. His parents had moved up his training, something that has been a little hard on him. Thankfully after the awakening, he was given two months of leave from training so that his mind can adjust. Something he was only too happy to do. Sadly, that didn't excuse him from studying.
He spent that time learning aura control and meditation with his father, mana control, alchemy, and magic formulas, as well as some of this world’s magical and mundane science from Lorenzo, and history and herbology from his mother. Van had his days full, but as time went on, his ability to memorize and calculate increased. His mental bank of information grew, and the rate he picked up on things did the same. Soon he could memorize what was taught to him with ease and with great recall, making him feel like he had an eidetic memory.
It was a few months into this endless studying session when he was told that a special guest would be arriving.
“I have a fiance!?” Van shouted in surprise, eyes wide with disbelief. He was sitting down for morning breakfast with his family, Lorenzo was there too of course since he was considered part of the family, almost like an uncle to Van. Anna was patiently waiting and doing her task of clearing and setting the table like the other maids. But even she was taken aback by the revelation that Alvaroz said.
“Yes, you do. Did we not tell you this before?” Alvaroz asked, confused.
“No! You didn’t!” Van started to panic a little when the thought of being wed to a complete stranger occurred to him “I can't believe you guys never told me I had a fiance!” then paused as a thought came to him. “Why Do I even have a fiance?” he asked, genuinely curious.
“Do you remember my story about how I went on a journey to explore the world?” Alvaroz asked. Van nodded and waited for him to continue. “Well, Thea was my fiance. But a few things happened and well… it was called off for a time. Her daughter is the one you will be marrying to help bring the two families together as it was supposed to be. She is a pretty girl, who is just one month younger than you. It was already agreed upon that you will be the heir of both our houses should we do this. It's in writing and everything.”
“Wait. why both of the houses?” Van asked
Alvaroz winced a little as if he remembered something. “Let's just say that that's just how it worked out. You see, no one wants Thea’s daughter to Inherit the house of Moonshadow…”
“Why?” Van asked, now more confused and nervous than ever. Especially now he was told that he was not only the heir of a barony but of a large county as well.
Alvaroz sighed and realized that a short explanation wouldn’t do. His wife reached out with a hand to comfort his own, giving it a small squeeze making him look kindly on his wife before turning to look Van in the eye and answer his question.
“Luna Moonshadow. Your fiance. Has elf blood.” Alvaroz said as if that explained everything.
Van’s eyes widened. Young though he may be, he learned enough history to know that the vampires and elves loathed each other. Ever since the elves killed the first, and so far the last, Vampire lord in history and pushed what was to be the Alcrav empire into the vampire lands of modern time. The killing of the Vampire Lord broke the vampires into the squabbling little territories in the vampire lands they are today. As the vampires fell into disarray the elves didn’t dare push further even as the vampires broke down even more into the many large and small factions they had today. They knew the dangers of fighting vampires on their home turf. So instead settled for keeping the vampire's pend in.
“I see…” Van said quietly “ and that’s enough for her not to be an heir?”
Alvaroz nodded “yes… it is. I know it's hard to understand, being young, but there is great animosity between our two races, no doubt it was all Thea can do not to have her child killed for being elf blooded let alone an heir.” he said sadly.
Van was silent on that, not sure what to make of how some could see killing a child just because of their blood would be justified.
Alvaroz saw the look on his son’s face and decided to move the conversation along. “Thea and her daughter will be coming over to stay for a while. She already knows what's going on with you and your need to go through a soul awakening. So they will be staying until you pass the ritual unless something happens that will make us leave early. After this, we will all be moving to her castle for the foreseeable future. Luna, of course, will be staying with you.”
That brought Van out of his thoughts. “Wait, why is she staying with me? Shouldn’t she have her own room?” Van asked.
“Well, she is your fiance.” Alavroz said as if that explained it “so it just makes sense to put you two together. She also really needs a friend and I'm sure the more time the two of you spend together the better.”
“Okay. I guess.” Van said a little unsure, then a thought came to him “if Luna is staying with me. Where will Thea be staying?”
“With us of course,” Alvaroz said
“No I know with us but which guest room? I had thought Luna a Thea would have been staying together since, well... now that I think about it? I haven’t seen any other guest rooms in the castle. Though I guess all we have to do is just find an empty room and turn it into a bedroom?” Van said unsure.
Alvaroz and Lillia laughed a little at that. “No, I meant she will be staying with us as in with me and your mother in our room.”
Van paused as he tried to process that. “She's staying with you two?” he asked, more unsure than ever.
“Of course,” Alvaroz said matter of factly as if it was the only logical thing in the world.
Van turned to his mother “and you're okay with this?”
“Of course, why wouldn’t I be?” Lillia answered a little confused by her son’s question.
Alvaroz, seeing the confused look on his son’s face had a light bulb moment as something occurred to him. “ I think I see where some of this confusion is coming from. You see, Thea never stopped being my fiance, it was just put on hold until we can get both our houses in working order. I had always planned to marry her later.”
That didn’t help Van’s confusion at all. And by the look of his mother who was nodding alongside his father as if that explained it all. Didn’t help matters either, so instead, he just decided to change tack. “Okay… but what happens if you and Thea get a child?”
“Don’t worry, you are still the heir, as per the contract signed between our two houses,” Alvaroz said as if trying to assuage Van’s fears of being replaced. Which wasn’t the case at all.
Van just played along and thanked his father. Soon they went back to eating their meal. But Van couldn’t shake the deep nagging thoughts in his mind. “The way they acted was as if it was completely normal. But then again it probably is? Lorenzo and dad did say that some of my past memories will affect my mind in a subtle way, making it seem that what is normal to me is not for society as a larger whole or even for this world. And that I should be careful not to confuse myself.”
As Van continued to think, he thought about the gender roles of males and females. “Now that I think about it, I never once saw a male goblin work for us, but I always presumed that was because of reasons. Not to mention there are far more women workers than male ones. Is that normal?”
Van looked up from his plate as his family enjoyed their meal and talked about this thing and that. “There is so much I really don’t know. I hope it doesn't come around to bite me. I should just try and go along with it, that probably would be for the better.”
Then Van thought of something. “Umm. when is Thea and Luna coming?” he asked quietly.
“Hmm? Oh! Did I forget to mention?” Alvaroz asked. “They're coming later today. They left a few days ago, so they should be here sometime later in the afternoon.” Then he gave a big toothy smile and laughed a little “are you excited to see your fiance?”
Van was stunned by the suddenness, wide-eyed and all until he shook himself out of it. “Uh. yea. That's a lot sooner than I was expecting. Shouldn’t you have told me earlier so that I could've prepared for it?” Van asked a little nervously.
Alvaroz smiled “ but then it wouldn’t be a surprise!”
“More like you forgot to tell him” Lorenzo interjected trying to hide his smirk. Which earned him a glare from Alavorz as Lillia tried to hide her own smile at the exchange. They both then got into a little fight about things the other forgot. With Lorenzo coming out the clear winner and Lillia trying not to laugh.
Some of the tension in Van flowed out. But he still was a little nervous about the sudden guests that will be staying with them. And by the link he shared with Anna, he wasn’t the only one. Thought for probably different reasons.
After their meal was done. Alvaroz got up and addressed Van. “ since it's a special day today, you can take the rest of the day off. Just be ready to come when called so that we can introduce everyone.”
Van nodded, thanked everyone for the meal, and went to his room instead of the library or the meditation room like he usually did in his free time. Van wanted to make sure that everything was prepared for their guests and that nothing was out of place for their arrival.
Entering his room he saw the two Annas that were left behind just doing their own thing. One was cleaning and the other was just lying on the bed trying to take a nap. Van realized that he didn’t really have to worry about having to have a nice and tidy room since it was usually taken care of by one of the Annas. Nor was it like he had any toys or anything in his room. So he wondered what else he should do with his free time.
“Perhaps I should just go and read in the library, there really isn’t anything else to do.” Van thought, turning and making his way towards the library. It didn’t take long considering his room was nearby the library and soon he was surrounded by books.
The library was fairly large for only being one large room. Van had read most of the contents of the library, or at least that was what he liked to think. For his part, he read most of the books he felt were important and ignored most of the books that didn’t interest him, such as math books. Lorenzo himself said that he didn’t need to learn any more math, considering that math, no matter what life or lives he lived, was mostly the same, and with his mind being awakened, his ability to calculate and compute increased drastically.
“Perhaps some ancient history, maybe on the Nilfan Empire before it collapsed and gave way to the Alcrav Empire.” Van mused taking out one of the old tomes on the shelf and opening it up to do some quick reading and summarizing what the book said.
“The Nilfan Empire practiced evil necromancy and that helped give birth to some of the intelligent undead and the proto vampires that modern-day vampires stem from today. They used slaves and when these slaves died, they raised them into undead servants.” Van read ahead “the Nilfan didn’t realize they had a problem until it was too late. Their society was already collapsing and the once obedient undead was usurped by the new race of vampires. The vampires then slowly and systematically wiped the Nilfan out.”
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Van continued to read, already forgetting the time. “The war raged for decades and the Nilfan were pushed towards the far east of their former empire. The last few years saw the use of extremely destructive and potent curse magic that caused the birth of what we know as the tainted wastes of today. Where mindless and uncontrollable undead rise and cause havoc. It is said that the great capital of the Nilfan empire still stands today at the center of the wastes and that there are still some Nilfan left. But nobody has ever been able to reach the old ruins in thousands of years. To this day, the border wall between the lands of Alcray and the tainted wastes are still man’d to this day. To protect not just us but the world from mindless hordes of undead.”
Van put the book down, giddy with excitement and fear. “ I can’t wait to see it for myself, one day I’m going to see the whole world!” Van thought to himself, the library was always his favorite place to learn new things. He was already putting the book away and looking for something else to read. “ perhaps I should reread Common Herbs and Herbology, or maybe the Monster Encyclopedia volume one, or even the Book of Monster-kin Races?” Van thought long and hard on which book to read next when he was suddenly interrupted.
(“master”) a thought entered Van’s mind from one of the Annas who he sensed was outside. Over time he and Anna had gotten better at sending mental messages, but only within a certain distance from each other. (“ your father asked me to tell you that our guests have arrived early. Please make your way down.”) with that, the connection ended and Van looked outside and was surprised by how much time had passed.
Van made his way out of the library and downstairs. Soon he was in front of the double doors that led into their home and waited alongside his father and mother who gave a small smile at his presence. They waited there as the gate to the castle walls opened up and allowed three carriages to pass on through. Four women on horseback protected the front and back of the small carriage train as it slowly made its way towards us. As they drew closer it was clear to see that the last two carriages were leaden with both people and items for their stay.
The last two carriages broke away to move towards the side, then began to offload, while the lead carriage moved on until it finally stopped in front of Van and his Family. The carriage was far more ornate than the other two, it had better wheels and from what he could see, even suspension so that every bump on their long journey would be lessened. The driver got down to open the carriage door to allow the occupants outside.
The second the driver opened the door to the carriage, a blur shot out and practically tackled his father. It then proceeded to give a deep and passionate kiss and locked one of its legs around him as the force of the momentum almost knocked Alvaroz to the ground. It then reached down with one of its free hands to grab between Alvaroz legs and seemed for all intents and purposes to be ready to do it right there and then.
Alvaroz tried to push the person who glomped him off. “Enough! I'm happy to see you too, but please, not in front of the kids!” Alvaroz said
“But I missed you!” said a sultry voice. “ You don’t know how worried I was when I heard that a breaking happened right over your home, I was scared sick! By the time I was ready to send my forces to help, you had already taken care of the problem! And didn’t even bother to send a letter that you were okay.” she pouted at him. Alvaroz rolled his eyes while Lillia, off to the side, and tried not to laugh at the scene in front of her.
Van was completely stunned and flabbergasted. He was pretty sure that a strange woman from nowhere just ran up and sexually assaulted his father right in front of everyone and instead of outrage, it was met with amusement? Looking towards his mother she seems perfectly fine with this, in fact, she seemed even a little happy. “What the hell is going on?” Van thought to himself.
Alvaroz gave a small cough as he pushed the women off and turned to Van “Van this is Thea Moonshadow. My fiance and ally. She was one of the first people to join me on my adventures outside Alcray to explore the wider world. she is a very dear friend to me.”
“You forgot to say lover and love of your life, but I suppose that introduction could do to.” the woman, now known as Thea, said as she smiled at Alvaroz. She then gave a smile towards Van. “I heard a lot about you from your father.” She then looked at the four Annas waiting behind Van, two from the ones that always follow him, and the other two from being the ones that called him down. “I also heard some about your friends. Do you mind if you all get along with my daughter?” she smiled down on them. “She could really use a friend.”
Van was still a little bewildered by all the things he had to wrap his mind around all at once. But his mind awakening helped with that and any confusion quickly dissipated. He took a mental step back to take a clear look at the women in front of him.
She was very beautiful, like his mother. But while his mother was elegant and slender, this woman was busty and slender. Large breasts and an almost hourglass figure with a narrow waist. Her body also looked a little toned, as if she worked out. She had black hair and blue eyes, something that he was realizing that most vampires had. Her hair was wavy and cut a little below the shoulder. She wore a black dress with a large cut on the side that showed nothing but skin and was clearly tight around her body.
Van used some of his training to still his mind and straightened his back. “ It would be my pleasure to befriend your daughter,” he said in a controlled voice.
“Oh my! What a gentleman!” she said, then to Alvaroz “You really outdid yourself Alv. Your son is so mature! Just what I expect from you!” she then proceeded to hug and give him more kisses much to the amusement of Lillia.
“Nothing I did, it was all Van’s doing!” Alvaroz said as he accepted his fate of being hugged and kissed since it seemed she wouldn’t get off anytime soon.
“So humble too.” she murmured, which actually got a small laugh from Lillia.
“Perhaps you should introduce your daughter?” Alvaroz desperately said in order to move things along. “Where is she exactly?”
“Oh! Of course! Luna dear do please come out and introduce yourself to Alvaroz’s son, Van. he is going to be your new friend!” Thea said towards the carriage.
No movement. The carriage had blinds on, so the inside was relatively dark, but Van could still see a shadow of a person still inside.
“Excuse me for a moment,” Thea said, a little embarrassed. “She’s a little shy.”
Alvaroz smiled “I remember.”
Thea gave a small smile before turning and walking her way towards the carriage and sticking her head inside. Soon hushed voices were heard, but not anything anyone could make out. A minute passed, then another, and it was sometime before Thea finally was able to take her head out of the carriage to address everyone who was waiting.
“Well everyone I would like to introduce my beautiful daughter, Luna! Say hi Luna!” Thea said, turning her back towards the carriage, only for a small person to smoothly move and hide behind her. “Come on dear, there really is no reason to be afraid,” Thea said pushing her daughter into the light for all to see.
Alvaroz and Lillia gave a welcoming smile and wave while Van was left stunned for the second time today.
In front of Van was the most beautiful person he ever saw. Looking just a tad younger than him with the youthful appearance of a fairy was his fiance Luna. She had perfect clear sapphire blue eyes, with the barest hint of black makeup around them to make them pop out, and making them larger than they were. Stunning white hair cascaded down her back and looked like pure silk that reflected the sunlight. her skin was smooth and soft without blemish. She wore a pure white dress that brought out her beauty. Her body looked small and slender. Yet It was clear to everyone, despite her youth, that she was going to take after her mother and even surpass her in the looks department.
She looked at him now, with those large expressive eyes, as if he was the only person in the world in them at that moment. It took a mental knock on his mind from Anna to bring him back to his senses.
Luna blushed a little at being forced in front of everyone but managed a small yet shy “h-hi” for everyone to barely hear. She then looked towards the ground, a sad expression on her face that seemed to contain a hint of... fear?
“Please forgive her. She’s been through a lot.” Thea said sadly. She then bent down towards her daughter. “Luna dear, it's fine, you can trust these people... you remember Alvaroz right? He missed you very much!” she said motioning with her eyes.
Luna looked up towards Alvaroz only to again and look away.
Alvaroz had a pained smile. “Luna? Dear?” he said to get her attention. Luna reluctantly turned her head back towards Alvaroz.
“There are few people I want you to meet. I promise you that they will love you just as much as I do. Would you like to see them?” Alvaroz asked in a gentle and patient manner, not wishing to force Luna to do something she didn’t want to do.
Luna hesitated and looked Alvaroz in the eye as if trying to gauge his sincerity. Slowly she gave a nod but hung on more tightly to her mother as a consequence.
Alvaroz smiled down at the child and turned towards his wife. “That's my wife Lillia. Just like your mother, I and her have been through a lot together. She is very kind and gentle, I know for a fact that she will love you just as much as I do. You’ll soon be her daughter too, so you’ll be family with both me and her, and like I told you before, family always loves and trusts each other, so you can feel safe with her too. Okay?”
Luna slowly nodded.
“Hello Luna, it’s nice to finally meet you. My husband has told me so much about you. I hope to become good friends with you.” Lillia smiled at Luna with pure happiness. For her it was just like getting her very own daughter.
Luna nodded shyly in answer to Lillia.
Alvaroz then turned to Lorenzo “ this is my best friend, Lorenzo, though sometimes he goes by Lorenz or Lore. When traveling he sometimes had some crazy ideas, but they tend to work out. He helped me and your mother out more times than I could remember when we were traveling. While you're here, he’ll help teach you magic and other things. Despite his attitude, he’s actually very kind”
“What attitude!” Lorenzo shouted indigently and yet in an obviously comedic tone, trying to lighten the mood. “And if we are talking about crazy ideas, why don’t we talk about yours! I have a list, and I’m not afraid to use it!”
Alvaroz coughed “let's move on” making a small smile creep on Luna’s face a little at the antics of the two.
Alvaroz smiled at that and turned to Van. “this is my son, your fiance, Van, and his maid, Anna. Van is a very sweet and kind boy with a heart of gold. A hard worker, he’ll grow up to surpass me, I just know it.” he said with pride. “They also have their share of problems, but they continue forward, and it’s an amazing sight to see. The three of you will get along great, I just know it.”
His father’s praise made Van blush a little, but he contained it. He straightened his back and decided to put his best right foot forward and introduce himself. “Hello Luna, my name is Van, A pleasure to meet you,” he said with a smile, trying to look inviting.
His introduction was followed by all four Annas, who gave a curtsy and introduced herself as well.
Luna stared at Van, her sight unblinking, slowly a blush formed on her face, but she still didn’t look away. which was beginning to make Van a little nervous.
Thea looked between the two, a smile growing on her face and everyone else's face. she walked up to Luna and gently picked her up. Surprised, she allowed herself to be carried by the waist and moved in front of Van. “why don’t you take Luna and show her around? Get her used to her new home and show her where she will be staying? The rest of us have to talk about a few things, so go on without us.” sharing a mischievous glint with the other adults, she then slowly started to push the outstretched Luna onto Van.
At first, Van was a little confused at the display and just went with the flow and soon had a Luna in his arms. Her legs wrapped around him and her arms on his shoulder while he carried her. Her face was right in front of his, and he couldn’t help but realize that her breath smelled nice. He tried very hard not to blush and was thankful that he was still too young for that.
“Umm, right,” he said unsure “let me show you around,” he said, as Luna acted like a baby koala that was attached to him. and with that, he began the awkward task of carrying and showing Luna around the house. Where the kitchen was, the library, courtyard, storage, and etc. Van had to endure the looks he got along the way, but he was adamant on getting through all this and so schooled his expression the best he could. Finally, they got to the room she will be staying in, his room, which she seemed to be particularly interested in.
Once that was done it was time for lunch, Luna still refused to get off of him so it was a bit awkward but he dealt with it. But even he wasn’t expecting to have to deal with it for most of the day. It was only when nearing the end of the day that Luna finally decided to walk herself, though he was sure it was because she was just tired from clinging on to him for so long, which was just fine with him because his legs almost gave out near the end. It was later agreed that she will have two of the Annas follow her just like they do with him. For her benefit and protection.
After a long and surprisingly exhausting day, they finally went to his room to go to bed. Van and Luna were both a little embarrassed by bathing together but he figured he would get used to it like he did with Anna. Van was happy that she didn’t comment on his body, in fact, they were both pleasantly surprised that they were both missing belly buttons! Something they even bonded over a little. Thought quietly to himself, Van was happy she still had nipples, since he thought it would look weird if she didn’t.
What Van wasn’t happy to see was that her skin was clearly rubbed roughly until it looked red, or that it seemed she had scars on her back. She refused though to tell how they came about, or who she got them from, only that she was assured that her scars will heal in time. Van and Anna assured her that she would never have to worry about something bad happening to her like that ever again so long as they were with her. Luna seemed to almost break down in tears upon hearing that, and they had a bit of a hug out. They then talked about other things as they washed up, to put their minds off the previous distressing topic.
When they went to sleep that night, he was in for another surprise or perhaps not so surprised at this point. Just like Anna, Luna didn’t wear underwear with her clothes and slept naked. Van decided it was just something he was going to have to get used to. And once more he was used as a body pillow, Van decided to accept his lot in life and went to sleep.