I felt a tug in my heart like it was made from strings. The mont his tiny body hit my chest and I felt that soft fur, sothing inside cracked open. I didn’t even know why I felt emotional. We hadn’t been together for that long, this tiny creature... yet he was my family. My nose stung, my eyes watered on their own, completely uninvited.
"Oh... Beelzebub... how I’ve missed you." I pressed the tiny, squeaking fluffball against my chest, and he answered with those happy little chirps that always sounded like he was gossiping about sothing important. His warmth cald everything inside .
Then, from below, a voice carried through the wind.
"Beatrice!"
High-pitched, loud, but gentle... like a flower unfolding in spring sunlight.
"Elira!?" Her na slipped out of before I even realized I’d spoken. I hadn’t seen her in what felt like forever, all because of ... all because of my hunger, my stupidity, everything I kept ssing up.
Relief finally washed over , loosening every knot inside my chest. The tension I had been forcing myself to hold for sleepless nights and endless days just lted away. For the first ti in so long, I felt like I was ho. Even if this wasn’t a house, even if these were nothing but wild lands with no roof, no walls... they were here.
I’m ho...
At that thought, and with a happy tear sliding down my cheek, the darkness washed over . My vision blurred, my head spun, and... nothing. I don’t rember anything after that.
The next ti my eyes opened, a canopy of trees greeted . Blue sky peeked between the leaves, softer and brighter than I rembered. It felt different, almost unreal, like everything before this mont had been a strange dream. My body felt light, as if I had fallen asleep on a cloud. Even the air felt gentler.
The first thing I heard was birdsong drifting between the branches. Then the rustle of leaves, brushing together in the cool wind. I lifted my arm toward the sky, wanting to hold onto that sense of connection for just a mont longer... only to pause when I saw my own skin.
Pale. Almost translucent. As if the blood had drained from my arm while I slept.
Before I could question it, the air around shifted. A gentle swirl ford above my head, and a system window shimred into existence, glowing softly against the morning light.
This one was different. It surprised .
[You have received a new quest: {To the Lands Far Away} Objective: Explore the Shadowlands in the far north and retrieve the Fire Core stolen by the Shadow Emperor. Absorbing the core will double your level and complete the quest. Ti limit: Six months. Failure will result in the system being stripped from the user.]
Ah... of course. Give it a pretty title, then add sothing that has nothing to do with it just to make suffer. Fine. Fine. Six months, huh. More than enough.
A sound of crunching leaves pulled my attention to the left. I turned my head, and not too far from where I lay, a familiar figure walked through the clearing.
Elira.
"Beatrice! You’re awake?"
She dropped the bundle of twigs in her hands without hesitation. Her feet skimd across the ground, and the next mont she was on her knees beside . I barely had ti to blink before she wrapped her arms around my neck, clinging to as if she thought I would vanish again the mont she let go.
This silly girl... I gave in and wrapped my hands around her arms, allowing myself to sink into the warmth of her touch.
Soft hiccups escaped her as tears poured freely down her cheeks.
"I... I thought I’d never see you again. When you disappeared, I didn’t know what to do." Her words trembled, soaked with fear and relief. Each one felt like a knife sliding into my chest, twisting guilt deeper inside . "I searched, and Beelzebub did too, but we couldn’t find you. Then one day he felt you, far, far away, but it was impossible for us to leave the giant gates... we... we..."
Giant gates? What is she talking about?
I tried to push myself up, but the mont I moved, pain surged through every bone in my body. My muscles trembled and forced back down.
She couldn’t say more. Her tears wouldn’t let her.
"Elira... I missed you a lot too. But what giant gates are you talking about?"
I tried to piece it together. There were only a few places with gates tall enough to be called giant, and none of them were anywhere near where we had last been. How could she and Beelzebub possibly end up on the other side? None of it made sense.
She pressed a gentle hand to my shoulder, pushing down before I could sit.
"They were dark and... and tall as a mountain. We only passed because a woman in black helped us. She guided and Beelzebub through the gates, and then we found you and brought you back. She said this place was safer."
My heart dropped to my stomach.
"A-and how did you end up there in the first place?" My voice trembled more than I wanted.
"That... I don’t rember..." Her brows knitted, as if the mory slipped away the mont she reached for it.
A soft crunch of leaves ca from my right, but I didn’t dare turn. My instincts scread. My blood ran cold.
"Ah, she’s here. The one who helped us." Elira’s face brightened with relief.
And my heartbeat almost burst straight through my chest.
"Beatrice, I’m so glad you’re alright and alive... mmm... how I’ve missed you."
I turned toward the voice I had hoped never to hear again.
Crimson hair glowed under the sunlight. The stolen bloodline. The very lineage that let vampires walk under the sun. The legacy that should have belonged to Beatrice alone... but flowed in her veins instead.
I hated her for that. I hated her for letting Beatrice die in the story. And now she wanted to smile at , pretend to be so caring ntor, as if I should be grateful.
Was she here to "guide" again? Or just to make a ga out of my life?
"Lyssandra..." Her na scraped out of my throat, trembling with anger and dread. Of all people... She was the last one I ever wanted to see.
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