The sound of a door creaking open echoed as Zeres pushed an old wooden door.

"H-help me!" He heard a trembling voice as soon as he stepped in, his head snapping towards the sound.

An incorporeal woman was bowing before a massive cross filled with thorns.

"Ahh~ the God hasn’t abandoned me yet! " the woman smiled hysterically, the woman’s head made a sickening sound as it twisted backwards.

"I can finally become a vampire! "

"What the fuck are you spouting? " Zeres brow arched. He had finally realized why there was some weird statues—this woman had tried to turn herself into a vampire but she failed and died; she might also be the one the merchants are describing in their nightmares.

"Too bad I don’t have a light affinity" Zeres clicked his tongue, he wanted to exorcise the woman who had turned into a vengeful spirit, but he doesn’t have a light affinity.

"Enjoy your time then" He bowed slightly before he locked the door.

"Atleast this place is isolated enough for secrets" he laughed lightly, then he continued to check every room.

There was nothing, only dust covering the whole places.

"Hmm, I’ll take care of this place sometime" he was about to head upstairs when he heard the sound of chains crashing against the ground.

"Tsk, I won’t be able to sleep, is that it? " he clenched his fist as he started blending with the shadows beneath his feet.

_________

The sound of chains crashing against the ground echoed as a woman with long black hair walked across the hallway slowly.

"Where are they? " the woman mumbled, her head bobbing up and down.

’What’s even in this basement? ’ Zeres sighed while leaning against a hard wall. That woman also looked like a vengeful spirit, but not completely—her feet looked like that of an octopus.

’Mutation? ’ Zeres thought. Mutation was a rare occurrence of the dead turning into forsaken—it was caused by a deep sense of hatred or sadness, an emotion so deep it brought them back; but not the same living creature anymore. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

"If she’s another freak, I’ll just invite someone with light affinity here sometime." He sighed as he removed his stealth, hands in his pocket as he went upstairs.

"H-help me"

Zeres halted on his steps, that woman—it was grabbing on his legs, the chains on her feet made a sound as she dragged herself.

"What do you want? I’m not a kind person" he said coldly, claws forming itself on his fingers as he flexed it slowly.

"I just want for you to hear my story" the woman replied, then she sat on the staircase.

"This house has been built seventy-years ago" the woman began, her shoulder visibly trembling. "And I was one of them—one of the lab rats."

"I was a vampire, but a hybrid; I’ve lived my whole life trying to conceal that I have the blood of a vampire flowing through my veins. But fate wasn’t satisfied at my misfortune, one day—our village was attacked unlawfully by noble’s knights. It was miserable, none of us were able to fight back. My parents made me run, but it turns out—my family was their target all along."

"My mother was the vampire, she had never once killed humans, she was even the one who defended our village from the threats of bandits and monsters. But even her effort wasn’t enough, there was someone that tipped us off in the capital. All my family was massacred, and I was brought here—I became a rat where the mad human alchemists all did unspeakable things to me. In the end, I gave birth, three times—

Her voice cracked.

"And I hope that they weren’t even born. The moment they were born, those mad alchemist treated them just like they treated me—a species they need to research."

Zeres felt his nails digging into his palms.

Yet Aloria continued speaking as though she had long since grown numb to the pain.

"It was hell, every day, I was treated like a pig. Until eventually, that day came; the church had found out that they were hiding a vampire here. Honestly, I was glad, I was happy my hell would finally end, I thought I can be finally free of this pain if they killed me—but, my delusions were shattered when the priests started doing things I could never imagine from someone who called themselves servant of god.

"I begged at them to stop, and they only laughed at me. It was then that I put everything on the line, I prayed for our god, the god of vampire who we have believed abandoned us, but the god did not; amidst my pleading, our god bestowed me a power. With that power, I destroyed all the vile and filthy things here, and I also killed myself here."

Zeres stayed silent, his expression grim.

"I’m not telling this to you just so you’ll take revenge for me. I’m telling this to you as a piece of advice for you to know how rotten the humans are." The woman smiled faintly, her form blurring every second.

"My name’s Aloria; it’s nice to see my own kind in a good state" a genuine smile tugged at her lips, her form became clear for a moment. A beautiful woman with crimson eyes and a long blonde hair appeared before Zeres’ eyes.

"So that’s how it was" Zeres mumbled, the basement had become silent—devoid of the chains crashing and the weeping of childrens.

"Fucking humans" Zeres clenched his teeth, his hands bleeding as he gripped his fist tightly.

He didn’t know why, when it comes to matters relating about his kind, he could feel a strong emotion hurried deep inside him. A hatred for humans.

"You shouldn’t trust even a single human" Aloria whispered to his ear as she hugged him behind, before her form shattered, replaced by glistening dusts.

The warmth of her embrace vanished instantly, but the hatred she left lingered.

"Fuck, is this really the same novel I know? " he cursed under his breath, his chest heaving up and down as he breathed in shallow breaths.

"Aloria, whether you want it or not. I will hunt the legacy of the one that did this to you" he said coldly, the strong wind made his long white hair luttered on his back as he gazed at the serene surroundings.

The bright street illuminated by the street lights gave it a lively feeling. But Zeres felt like he was slowly drifting away from the storyline.