I expected the library to be almost empty, considering nighttime was edging closer. The red light as the sun hid behind the walls of West Utsa City gave the building a sense of serenity. But as I walked in I was surprised by the number of people. As I entered there was a receptionist desk to my right, a small hall leading to the rest of the library. Even though I couldn't see the full width of it, it was enough for me to notice the long line of benches, filled with people. Must have been at least 5, reaching from one end to the other, definitely 20 meters long, maybe 30. The receptionist looks up at me from whatever she was writing.

"Welcome. Please," she exasperated. "Pay the entry fee, and go browse our assorted range of scriptures." She then blinked and saw I was a child.

"Oh, I'm sorry! Didn't realise who I was talking to." She smiled. Definitely forced, but not because she didn't want to. I hope. "Ahem. Welcome, please pay to enter and read some books. I can help you find some children ones!"

"How much is it?" I asked, innocently.

"Oh, that'll be 20 Copper. I'm sure your parents can take care of that for you."

…20? 20 Copper. I blinked. 20 Copper!? Was this a restaurant?! Was I paying to enter one of the most esteemed establishments of the city?! Sure didn't seem like it!

"Sorry, I need to go ask Mum!" I said as I exited. 20 Copper was enough money for a month! Not a nice month by any means, but good enough! 20 Copper was how much money my Mum made in a week! How the hell was I supposed to get that? I looked out over the bustling mass of people before me, and my eyes twinkled.

Sure this world didn't have vending machines (as far as I knew) but they did have clumsy people, or rich people. I wasn't planning on pickpocketing; I might get my hand chopped off, or a mark on my cheek, and it's not like I had the best dexterity. No, what I planned to do was scavenge. I'm sure if I look hard enough I would be able to find some coins. I walked into the mass, immediately moving up to the wall, and looked at my feet. I walked for 2 streets before I found my first copper, shining in a small corner of a building a few centimetres closer to the road than the rest. I picked it up, almost kissed it before I dropped it into the side of my left shoe. The metal was cold against my ankle, but I ignored it, instead searching for more. Half an hour passed before I found another. The amounts of people outside increased, specifically closer to a more… adult section of the city. I had followed the largest groups here, hoping to find more money laying around. I was right.

I realised that this is the best place to find discarded currency, with all the money being given, thrown and mishandled, as well as the swathes of drunken men and women. The copper was sitting next to the wall, covered in what I hope was dirt. I brushed it tightly with the outside of my shirt just in case. A few minutes later I found another. Then another. And another. I hit the jackpot! I quickly walked down the road, searching vigorously for more shinies, when I walked by an establishment titled 'Coven of the Night', which mainly harboured to women, given by the high number of them waiting in line. I brushed past them when I saw a copper shining in front of an alley sitting next to the club, or brothel or whatever. With this one, I had hit 7 coppers, all within a few hours! I picked it up and smiled. Then I turned to look in the alley. A group of five, wearing tattered, ragged clothing that was once expensive, and smirking sat in front of me. I immediately noticed one, a short woman, or girl, at the front holding something in her hand that glinted in the lantern light which lit the roads. A knife.

I held out the copper quickly, adrenaline making my hands shake. I held it between my thumb and forefinger, showing it to them glint. Before flicking it high in the air, looking up at it as it spun. They looked as well and as the coin landed they decided to laugh, perhaps at me giving them money, or me doing it so quickly, but it stopped when they realised I was gone. There was no way I was getting shanked over a copper coin. I ran down the road, to the left, left again, a right, took another left at the inner wall and kept running. I leaned against a wall of an alley as I recovered my breath. I held my side as a stitch seemed to want me to stop. My legs ached, down to the bone and my breathing was ragged. I looked around but there was a lack of people, even this close to the inner wall. This street had no businesses on its sides, and it seemed nobody really walked here as when I looked down the road there were only 4 people the entire length. 5 including me.

I slumped down the wall, using my left hand to search my shoes. The 6 Copper coins were still there, and I breathed a sigh of relief; they hadn't fallen out as I ran. I closed my eyes and leaned my head back. It was calm and quiet, small conversation taking place between the infrequent shoppers. I opened my eyes. It was nighttime, I just realised. I had spent so much time looking for coins I hadn't even realised. It was a full moon. I stood up. A full moon. A branch descended and I immediately flinched as my eyes darted to it, but it was nothing. A goblin, 2 walked down between the forest, on a path well-trodden. My stomach sank and I stepped back, the shoppers glancing at me. I retreated but a root grasped me and I tripped, roughly landing on the wet, dry ground. I stood, kicking at the bucket before doing so.I stood, my breathing ragged. I had just run after all. I ran once more.

Left, right, left, right, forward, onwards, between the trees, over the roots. I charged into the horde, seeing the cartographers and immediately spun around. I ran quickly, hoping they won't realise I was there. I was dead if they did. Right, left, right forwards, onwards, out of the forest, past the trees. I saw my house, the walls were in sight. I slipped on the wet grass and fell onto the muddy ground. I stood up quickly, brushing my hands to clear the dust on them, and kept running making sure not to trip. They might be behind me, watching. A chill went down my spine as I finally reached the door, hand on the handle. I then slumped down on the step, letting go and putting my hands on my face.

I sat there, palms on my eyes for a minute. Then I shook, a hic-up almost taking me off the step. Then another. I wiped my eyes, then my hands, to dry them, before I placed my head on my knees and breathed in, letting in that pressure, pausing the tears, before breathing out, releasing the pressure, those thoughts, and I wiped my tears. Breathe in then out. In and out, in and out, just like before.

Like before.

I quickly stood, keeping the thoughts at bay, and made sure I was presentable, checking once then twice. A small trembling almost made me miss the handle, but I managed to grab it and turn it. It didn't open. I turned again, but it didn't open. What, why, but- before I took a second, much shaker breath, I had already procured the backup key from my other shoe, having taken it in case I stay late, like now. I opened the door quickly, almost letting it slam against the wall, before shutting it, locking it and leaving to go upstairs. I sniffed.

I'd rather remember the goblins.

…

"Look at him run!"

…

I awoke, the echo of the dream, if you could call it that, already fading. I sat up off the bed, Mum was sleeping in another room again so I was alone. I looked out of the window and saw it was still early morning. I shook my head to clear my thoughts. I wonder how Olivia was doing? She was at least 2 years in a Knight academy by this point, had she learnt any more sword techniques? Perhaps tactics? And Otto, he had been going to an academy while I had been going to school. I should ask how they are during the summer holidays. Yeah, I should do that. I tucked back into bed and closed my eyes drifting into unconsciousness.

Or so I had hoped, but a small part of me was scared.

…

I stood up the whole night practising, manipulating my mana, going into my muscles my bones, my stomach, liver, small intestine, large intestine. It was definitely interesting seeing all of this in such detail, but I was feeling a little queasy, nausea beginning to set in. I finally rolled out of bed when I saw the sun was high above the horizon. I guessed it was 8, or 9 am. Now, what should I do? I had 6 copper, meaning I needed 14 more. Should I ask Mum? No, she takes almost a week to earn that much, I couldn't. But I didn't want to scavenge for copper. Perhaps, I should ask Septem?

"Uncle Septem?"

"What is it?" He called from the kitchen.

"Can we go to the library?"

The was a small silence.

"Come down here and help me." I walked in and saw him washing the dishes, muscles rippling as he cleaned plate after plate faster than I thought someone of that size could. Or someone of any size for that matter. He handed me one of the plates.

"Stack them in the cupboard."

I opened it and sat the first plate down, quickly taking the second, then the third, which was stacked on a small pile, then the fourth. Even though I worked as fast as I could, Septem still washed quicker than I could pile. I finally finished and closed the cupboard, surprised that someone could wash and dry plates so fast. But the person had left the kitchen. I went to the main room and saw him lay down on his chair, book in hand. He peered over the top of it at me.

"The library?"

"Yes."

"Why would you want to go to the library?"

That's true. Why would I? We had plenty of books at home, one even had magic in it, even if it was only Heal, and the rest had been interesting reads. All of these books were good for adult me, but for a child me?

"I wanna read stories!"

Septim seemed to want to say something, but gave up, instead standing. He placed the book away and huffed.

"Alright, wait outside."

"Yay!"

…

3 hours. After 3 hours of searching, I finally found a book explaining not only the city but also the nobles. It was only published a year ago, apparently. I had taken it off someone who had seemed to know more about the book than I knew about anything. I simply followed her as she placed it back, and took it. You couldn't take out a book. The library allowed you to read any book within it but not take it out. I had read through around 2 hours of riveting geopolitical talk I was thankful to every deity that I only half understood before it got to more clear parts. Such as the harbour. West Utsa City had a river, specifically, the Utsa river, divide it. I hadn't been near it, mostly due to the fact it only cut away a quarter of the city. Apparently, just before the river entered the inner city, there was a harbour that the different noble families owned. Something about conflict blah blah blah, not paying inner city taxes blah blah blah. I didn't really care. I looked up to watch for Septem, but he seemed to still be trying not to cry, even though he was redder than a tomato and his face was scrunched up, not a single drop fell. I had a children's book ready just in case, specifically one about a Knight. It was familiar, to say the least. I bookmarked the page and went to get a map, I returned and opened the much thinner book to see the city in black and white.

I noted the place of the harbour, planning a route for my trip. It was quite far away, but nothing I couldn't manage. The Wave was taking hostages, people of all ages and seemingly backgrounds, mainly female. They were probably taking those with the largest mana cores, but why? And why were they getting so close to the city of they didn't attack? They didn't seige it, considering it had been a few months and nothing was out of the ordinary. They were also travelling south and to the west of the city. The Utsa river flowed down from the south and entered the south part of the city before exiting to the east, taking a sharp turn. It isn't high fetched that they could send supplies to any allies in West Utsa and help them take the city over. Now, why mana cores? Vampires drank blood, but maybe in this world, they didn't? Then why would a disease, which is related to vampirism, be called Blood disease? It wasn't because it is transferred through blood was it? That'll be silly.

I closed the map and placed it back. I read the rest of the book, trying to see if I found anything, but it didn't mention anything useful, something about war and that but I was barely paying attention really. I was more entranced by Septem's attempts at not crying. It seemed he had calmed down, not being as red as before, then he turned a page, got halfway down it, and began his transformation into a tomato again.

I went to find another book, one with more information on a certain family: Susoino. It had been mentioned quite a bit in the other book, they seemed to be 3rd place in the noble family race. But the girl, whom I was sure I had gotten blood disease from, was from the Susoino family. I found nothing. We left after Septem finished the book and took a 10-minute break to calm down. As we left, you couldn't even tell he had been trembling at a book for 3 hours. We had begun walking through the more busier streets when a sudden commotion occurred. We turned to look at it, only to witness the crowd being split apart by guards armed with halberds, escorting a group of finely dressed individuals. My eyes widened. In that group, behind a short moustached man and a large woman, were 3 people. 2 of which I recognised. One was Erin, or whatever his name was, and behind him, holding his shoulders, was the girl who pushed me down the stairs. My vision seemed to tunnel. I stared unblinking at them, their laughing and waving and talking drowned out by the crowd. I didn't even realise that Septem had moved me out of the way until I was staring at them leave. I blinked and everything seemed to come back into focus. I let out a breath I didn't know I had been holding before quickly taking some in. I had been holding my breath without realising, and it took me a few minutes to get back to normal. Septem lead me to our house, seemingly knowing the way off by heart. We entered and he went to the kitchen.

"Want some tea?" He asked.

"No." I walked upstairs, down to my room, opened the door, closed it, then fell on my bed.

How were they in the sunlight?! How was the girl in the sunlight, she had given him Blood disease! This didn't make sense! Maybe only the girl was turning, but then how is she fine? Maybe they also healed her, but then why would the horde capture mainly higher magic people? Why get so close to the city, why go South? Because magic tasted good, or felt good, maybe to avoid some things, and because they got everything to the north?

…

But… but I… was the nobility… were they not vampires? Was this all just a coincidence? No that didn't make sense! No, it did. I just didn't want to accept it. The nobles weren't vampires, they were clearly in the sunlight. But the girl gave him blood disease. Maybe she had it too and got it cured. But the girl, how'd she get it? Maybe vampires weren't the only way to get it. But then… no, there are too many coincidences, something must be going on here. Something has to be. I tucked myself into bed. Right? But… what was I supposed to do?

Reality hit.

I am a child, or in a child's body, what am I supposed to do to vampires anyway? And there aren't vampires, the Susoido family walked through sunlight no problem. I'm safe, my family is safe. There is no need for me to do anything. I'm a child, after all, I can allow the adults to handle everything. Even if the other noble families are vampires, the Susoido family isn't, so there's hope. And the horde is being handled by the Royal forces. I didn't need to handle anything. Didn't need to save anyone, because everything was fine.

I stood up from my bed. I pointed a finger upwards and light began to dance upon it, before moving by its own volition, drawing a star. I then wrote around it before a second circle filled up. The pentagram pulsed and I filled it with mana before activating it. A small fire burned upon my finger, not hurting me. I moved it in between my fingers, twirling it, twisting my hand, pinching and swiping. The flame never strayed far from its origin on my fingertip. I flicked it and it zipped to the candle on my nightstand. There was something I had wanted to do, since first getting to this world. That is to do magic. Become a Mage. I had trained my magic, my core, my breathing, my body, but most of all, my mind. Something wasn't adding up, the world said 2+2 but I got 5. I was missing something. Magic.

I smiled, nay I laughed. Magic cured my blood disease; Why can't magic help some vampires shield themselves from the sun? Magic could do basically anything, as far as I could tell, so what if the vampires are using the captured to help them against the sun. If there was one thing that was on point about almost everything that happened, it was my intuition. Nobody will deal with the vampire problem, because nobody knew there was a vampire problem. They are nobles, they can hide and reveal whatever they please. And to the public, they couldn't be vampires, because they walked in the sun. And even if some found out, nobody will believe them, the Church will hear everyone else's story, and do nothing. And they were also rich enough that they could provide whatever the Horde needed, and the Horde paid them back. But there was only one way to know for sure: get to the harbour and find out for myself.

"As for now," I swing open the door, going downstairs and outside.

I needed to go to church.