Elves. For as long as humans told stories, they were the world's beautiful excuses—long-lived, proud, unbearably elegant. Up close, they were just bones wrapped in arrogance.
Two of them stood at the cave mouth, sunlight sketching their outlines. They moved like they owned the dawn.
I lowered Lilith onto the rock. Her breathing was slow but steady. "Stay here," I whispered.
She nodded, crimson eyes half-lidded. "Don't die again, Master."
"I don't intend to repeat mistakes."
One step. Two steps. A silent leap. I landed behind a boulder, unseen.
I drew on the blood still humming in my veins. Two small daggers spun from the air—thin, glistening, obedient. They hovered beside me like waiting hounds.
"Nothing here," the male elf murmured in the bright tongue of his people. "Just old stone."
"Your senses dull, Arlen," the female answered. "If the scouts were right, ghouls have crossed from the Dark Continent."
I almost laughed. So they know we exist now.
The male crouched. "Tracks. Two sets."
"Then be quick. The sun rises soon."
I raised my hand. "Fly."
The daggers hissed through the air.
Shwoooop—shwoooop.
Two neat holes bloomed in their skulls. The male's bow clattered; the female's body collapsed forward, hair spilling like silver thread.
"Well," I murmured, stepping out, "that was cleaner than expected."
Lilith stirred, eyes brightening. "You killed them already?"
"They were slow," I said. "Arrogance weighs more than armor."
She joined me at the entrance, gazing at the corpses. "They look… almost peaceful."
"Perfection rarely screams." I knelt, letting their blood slick across my palm. "Useful blood, though. Watch."
I mixed their crimson with mine. The air thickened.
[ Ability Unlocked: Sunproof — Kin Granted ]
[Lilith Nocturne: Primordial Protection (Partial) — Active ]
A faint warmth passed between us. Lilith inhaled sharply. "I feel… light. Like the sun's heat is only warmth now."
"Good," I said. "I don't like carrying corpses."
She smiled faintly. "You sound almost caring, Vale."
"Practicality can resemble affection," I said. "Don't confuse the two."
We left the cave before noon. The jungle opened onto a rutted road. A caravan approached—three wagons, six humans, their laughter thick with greed.
Lilith tilted her head. "Humans. You wish to test our hunger?"
"Observation first," I said. "Killing without study is waste."
We watched from the trees. One of the guards wiped sweat from his brow and muttered, "Bloody forest gives me chills."
Another laughed. "You're scared of shadows?"
"Shadows bite," I said softly, and dropped from the branch behind them.
The nearest man spun. "Who—"
His word cut off as my hand found his throat. "Quiet." Blood gurgled through my fingers.
Lilith emerged beside me, eyes gleaming. A woman screamed from the wagon; Lilith silenced her with a quick twist of steel.
The merchants scattered, shouting prayers.
"Demons!" one cried.
"Close," I corrected, stepping through the chaos. "Something older."
A burly guard lunged with a sword. The blade scraped my arm, tore cloth but no flesh. I looked at the wound as it closed, slow and deliberate, just to let him see it.
He dropped his weapon, trembling. "Mercy—please—"
Lilith laughed, a sound too bright for the scene. "Do vampires grant mercy?"
I met her gaze. "Only once. And only to prove we shouldn't."
She slit the man's throat with a single, graceful motion.
Blood misted the air. Its scent coiled into my lungs like music. My body reacted before thought. I seized the last merchant by the collar, pressed my lips to his neck, and drank.
Warmth flooded in—sweet, metallic, alive. Every swallow tasted of greed and fear. It was intoxicating.
Lilith watched, fascinated. "So that's how it feels?"
I released the body and wiped my mouth. "It feels… accurate. The world always feeds on the weak. We've only joined the correct side."
The system chimed.
[ Quest Progress: Humans +3 ]
[ Blood Purity Increased ]
Lilith knelt beside a corpse, tracing a finger through spilled crimson. "It's strange," she murmured. "I remember being human. It never looked this… beautiful."
"Beauty is what power makes of decay," I said.
She looked up. "Do you ever miss being one of them?"
"No. I remember what they did with mercy. They sold it in stores."
Silence fell for a time, broken only by the crackle of cooling blood.
I pulled the bodies to the roadside. "We'll move before more travelers come."
She nodded, wiping her blade. "Where to now, my lord?"
"East. The system whispers of a settlement—Fort Edran. Low danger. Perfect for practice."
She smiled, fangs catching the fading light. "Shall we disguise ourselves?"
"Later," I said. "For now, we learn their habits. Their markets. Their screams."
Her laughter was soft. "You're terrifying, Vale."
"I'm organized," I corrected.
We walked until dusk. The forest dimmed, the road twisting through old ruins. She walked close beside me, brushing my shoulder every few steps.
"Why do you stay that near?" I asked.
"I was alone for too long," she said simply. "Now I'm not."
For a moment, the admission almost meant something. Then the system chimed again, slicing through the quiet.
[ Quest Hint: Fort Edran — Human Settlement 2.4 km East. Suggested Strategy: Subterfuge. ]
Fort Edran. A node. Nodes become webs when you pull them in the right pattern. If we are to raise blood purity, we need more than random kills. We need assets—numbers, influence, fear.
I could feel something ascend inside me then, not flame but geometry. An empire begins as a ledger. You collect names, then doors. You make people owe you by removing their choices. Each kill, each conversion, is a small mortgage on the future.
At night I slept—sat in the hollow of a rock with Lilith against me—and dreamt of maps with inked borders. I tasted blood on my lips once more in the dark and understood the word the system had already given me. Lord. Not a petty title. Not mercy. Dominion.
I am Vale Crimson Ravencrest now. I am a name and a promise. The world had cast me aside once. Now it would learn the cost.
(Chapter End)