Aragonsha was like any other kingdom in this world, a mixture of modern, medieval and gothic elements with fantasy sprinkled on top. There were magic mirrors that were used as equivalents to televisions and smartphones. There were also castles among skyscrapers, and cottages. All technological elements operated with magic.

This world is unlike any regular one, magic is a reality of daily life. Although, some prefer not to use it for a variety of reasons, ranging from religious to cultural. Aragonsha’s discussions with the county of Macrani had been most successful as of late, so the country was quite cheerful as a result. However, today the people seemed on edge. There had been troubling news coming from the royal palace... The king was dead.

Derek Valtaheim was also at a loss. The news from last night having had a dreadful effect on the king’s friend and steward. Derek was a 129 year old vampire who stood at 193 cm tall. He had neat, slicked back ginger hair, pale skin, pink irises, and wore a white suit with a belt around his left arm.

The belt was charmed to keep him from dying in the sun. All vampires in this world have something to keep them alive during the day. He made his way down the sidewalk as vehicles proceeded on their way along the roads. He was on his usual walk towards an Inn that had a bakery when you first walked in. It had, in his opinion, the best bread he has had for almost two centuries. A bell rang when the door was opened, letting the vampire inside. The establishment had barely changed despite all the years of it being opened.

Still rustic, but with an undeniable charm. The only visible changes were the technological improvements of the new age dotted here and there. The automatic weighing-machine was used for weighing produce and dough. The magic mirror was often used to entertain guests with the local news or sports.

Derek could still remember what it was like years ago. The late owner’s son, now taking up the mantle of his mother’s business. She, now, enjoyed a blissful retirement, greeting the clientele. Derek’s memories of that place were always warm like the bread of Madam Lazira.

“Derek! Young man, it is good to see you again.” said the old lady who was sitting in her rocking chair.

“Hey there! You look as young as ever, Madam Lazira.” Derek, despite being the embodiment of noble privilege with his status and upbringing, still socialized with the humbler townspeople.

He never much cared about the elitist and limiting behavior displayed by the majority of nobles, which he was often pressured into by his parents. Derek decided to ignore such ignorant practices.

“Same as usual, Derek ?” asked the young man behind the counter with a welcoming smile.

“Yes, Druzian, if you wouldn't mind.”

The old lady tapped the vampire on his shoulder with her walking stick. “Don't encourage the boy to let it go to his head, now.”

“Please, mom. Like I’d ever let that happen. I’ll go get your order Looord Derek.~” commented the man behind the counter as he walked to a room deeper down in the Inn.

Unlike most Inns, Madam Lazira’s had an attached bakery, an idea her late husband had made true to attract more patrons. Derek missed that crafty old man.

Madam Lazira’s time was usually spent watching whatever she could on the magic mirror. She would change what was shown based on her customers’ preferences at the time. Since the vampire was currently the only one present, she was watching something she desired.

“It has been months, Derek. You never visit, you never call.” said the comedically wizened woman.

“Work’s been very demanding lately. Spare time isn’t as available as it once was with Macrani and now… with King Rigal...” He paused as he spoke the name of his late friend.

“I’m so sorry, Derek. He was a good king.”

“It wasn’t your fault, Lazira. But thank you for the sentiment. If there’s a good side, it’s that I should have much more free time to come by as heir, chosen by the king, himself. My responsibilities will increase, but I’ll make sure everyone in the kingdom finds out about your delicious honey rolls.”

“Thank you, Derek. Malion would have liked that.” said the old lady, almost in a reminiscent tone when she spoke her husband's name.

“It’s the least I could do.”

“You’ll be a fine king, Derek.”

“Here’s your order, Loooord Derek~. Six honey rolls.”

“Thanks, Druzian.” he said with a slight chuckle.

“Got to be ready for a drought. You never know when you can come by to get some more.”

“Trust me, Druzian. I’ll have a lot more free time from now on.”

As he opened a pocket dimension portal to extract the pay for his delectable, neatly packed prize, the reporter on the magic mirror spoke. “Breaking news! New developments on the murder of King Rigal. As of late, the only indicators to the King’s despicable murderer that remained, were the two bite marks on the king’s neck. The tool responsible for the many stab wounds on his majesty’s body is missing and assumed to have been taken by the killer. That is to say, until later this afternoon when our intrepid investigators found the murder weapon.”

The mirror’s screen proceeded to show an elaborate knife with several intricate details, gold linings and several jewels. Derek’s reaction was that of sheer unbridled panic. He immediately froze on the spot as he realized what that weapon was. The newscaster continued…

“Reports are still unclear as to who this knife belongs to. Our investigators are still on the case to determine who would have been the owner of such an elaborate instrument...”

As the newscaster appeared to receive new information on her earpiece, she seemed confused and surprised.

“Well, here is your pay, Druzian. Keep the change. Madam Lazira, I gotta go, now.”

“What? So soon? And just as they’re talking about the king’s killer.”

“Yeah, I really gotta go. Maybe I’ll help with the investigation or something.” said the vampire with his package, quickly dashing towards the door.

“Goodbye, Derek.” she said as he slammed the door in a hurry.

“I don’t think he heard me…” she said to her son who merely shrugged.

“Attention all Aragonshan citizens.” continued the newscaster, now with a much more concerned expression.

“After the discovery of the Valtaheim Crest and an engraved signature, the knife seems to be a Valtaheim Family heirloom belonging to Count Derek Valtaheim, Steward Councillor to the king, himself, and heir to the throne.” she said, aghast, surprising both the mother and her son as the mirror showed a frontal picture of Derek’s face.

“We don’t currently know what could have sparked this violent altercation, but from what we know, Count Derek is considered armed and dangerous. Avoid him at all costs and contact the nearest authorities to apprehend this...” she paused…

“...King Killer. We’ll keep you posted for any new developments.”

Both the mother and her son stood there, conflicted and afraid. The son with his mouth wide open looked at his mother.

“Excuse me…”

The utterly shocked pair hesitated as they looked at one of their tenants.

“I would like to pay for our last day at your Inn please…” said the woman with a tannish complexion and stunning green hair. Along with her tall companion who sported a reddish brown full beard and long black hair with blue tips as they passed what they owed.

Derek arrived at his home as fast as he could in his bat form. The house had been in the family for generations, and with his parents long gone, it had been passed down to him. He looked at a painting of his parents while reminiscing. He still had not gotten over their passing. His sister, riddled with grief, simply moved somewhere out of sight and out of mind. Derek was not surprised, she had always been a bit of a recluse.

The fugitive duke did not have much time, yet he kept pulling things into his pocket dimension, reminding himself of everything he still possessed in it. Most of his fortune was kept there on hand at all times and would surely assist him in settling wherever he thought best. After all items he deemed fit to bring along were added in, he started hearing footsteps approaching his room. The royal guards truly did not waste time coming to his ancestral home.

“OPEN THIS DOOR!” a loud voice from the other side demanded. Derek did not think twice and proceeded to jump out of the window of the mansion’s room, breaking the glass. Just as the guards broke into the room, they saw the noble in the middle of his dramatic escape.

“STOP HIM!!” commanded one of the guards as they all proceeded to take positions on the windows and fired at the recently transformed Derek.

The silhouette of the vampire’s bat form flew far away as the guards frantically fired in vain attempts at hitting their mark. One of the bullets came close to grazing one of his wings. But, they were too late. Derek was gone, flying away towards the afternoon horizon.

He flew towards the ocean. His best bet was to fly towards whatever new land he could find after traversing the ocean.

“This might take a few days, I'll have to take plenty of breaks somewhere safe… I can't stay in this form for very long...” he thought to himself.

On the second day of flight over the Sorephic Ocean, he wondered who would have known how to find his knife. It had been in his family for centuries. Not only that, how could he have lost it? He had always kept it in his mattress, away from anyone. He pondered this question throughout the entirety of his voyage.

On the third day, he had finally reached land. He had to settle here now, to find out about the lay of the land and remain out of sight to prevent a scandal. He had no other choice.

✽ ✽ ✽

A year later, he’s in a new luxurious yet remote home in the kingdom of Bosneria. A kingdom across the ocean, far away from Aragonsha. He had established himself as a simple advisor to a very successful business owner. He also went by a new name: Estelos Astelira.

His new persona seemed to add up. He had done so much to look different from his previous look, even styling his own hair differently. His garbs were now scarlet and had a high collar. Given how Derek didn't know how to style his hair since someone always did it for him, it had a messy look to it. He grew a goatee as well. He almost looked like a wealthy hermit.

Things had been peaceful since he moved. He made sure he rarely went outside. He was relaxing on his couch when he heard a knock at the door. He was startled by the sudden knock, wondering who it could be.

He took a deep breath and went to the door to open it. He looked around but didn't see anyone. But before he closed the door, he heard crying and looked down. There it was, a small child. A baby in a basket to be exact, abandoned by whoever dropped her off.

Derek looked at the baby in confusion. He wondered why this baby was here and who dropped her off. He also wondered why someone would do this to an innocent child. Not wanting to leave her out in the cold, he picked her up and took her inside. Despite how kind he made himself look to the locals, he never would have expected something so out of the blue like this.

“You know, I should probably give you a name.”

Noticing the pink birds on the blanket she was wrapped in, he knew exactly what to call her.

“I’ve got it! I’ll call you ‘Raven’!”

Derek kept Raven, fed her, and waited for the person who dropped her off to come and get her, but no one ever came.

With having to take care of this new adopted child, Derek’s plans to avenge and even reclaim his throne and clear his name were slowly forgotten within the time he acted as this child’s father. He had grown accustomed to it in the coming years. After 18 years, Raven stood at 157 cm with green curly hair, fierce ghost blue eyes, and beautiful purple fairy wings.

Her fashion was simple compared to others, wearing a purple sweater with the shoulders cut out and her sleeves went all the way down to her knuckles with a hole for her thumbs. She also wore gray plaid pants and black calf-high boots that had straps and white accents on them.

It was about 9 AM, Derek and Raven were eating breakfast. The aroma of sausages and eggs permeated around the room. As they enjoyed their food, they were watching the news. Nothing was really happening so far.

That morning was like any other, Derek had been working as an advisor for Garadon, a successful businessman to make up for the finances that had dwindled in the 18 years which had passed. He had become quite well regarded in such an occupation. Not surprising, given his past as a steward. His family also helped out here and there, understanding that what happened in Aragonsha didn’t add up. However, it was not meant to last when their magic mirror suddenly displayed urgent news.

“Breaking news! Our king, Rafael Caswaal, was murdered last night. The royal family has sent out a bounty hunter to find the culprit and bring him back dead or alive. If you see this man, please call the authorities immediately…” said the reporter.

As she said this, an amateur sketch of Derek appeared on the screen. Derek’s eyes grew two times their size. With nervousness in his face, he quickly shut the mirror off and stood up.

“Not again...”

“Raven, pack your things, we have to leave. Quickly!” he demanded.

Raven, not paying attention, looked at him in confusion.

“What?? Why???”

“Just hurry and go. We have to leave, now!”

“Okay, Okay. Jeez…”

She went upstairs while Derek silently panicked.

“I can’t believe this happened again... It’s been 19 years since the last time this happened. I thought this whole thing was over, but I guess not…”

Two hours later, Derek and Raven were headed towards the boating docs. Derek, of course, was wearing a disguise. He was wearing a dark blue cloak with a hood that shielded his face. Raven looked at Derek with concern in her eyes.

“Dad...?”

“Yes, Raven?”

“Where are we going?”

“To the next kingdom.”

“Why? I have so many friends here…”

“You’ll make new ones…”

Raven, irritated and confused by her dad’s words, silently looked away. They reached the boating docks and tried to board one of the ships. The ship was beautiful. It was made of wood and had gold accents. The sails were big, white and flowing in the wind. While Derek and Raven climbed onto the ship, the captain spotted them.

“Hey! No stowaways! Get down from there!” he demanded.

Derek looked down. “Sorry, sir. We desperately need to get on.”

“No! Get down!”

Raven and Derek continued to get on the ship and the captain furiously climbed up after them. Once on the ship, Derek and Raven were sitting on barrels while the captain paced back and forth, interrogating them.

“Why do you two need to be on this ship and why should I allow it?”

Derek paused for a second, thinking carefully about every word he’s about to say.

“We’re on the run. The reason why isn’t important, but we could be very useful to you and your crew.”

The captain was unsure about Derek and Raven, yet more help didn’t sound that bad to him especially if they seem this desperate.

“I don’t know… I’m still not sure. You kinda look like that guy who killed two kings.”

“That’s… that’s definitely NOT me. I couldn’t kill anyone even if I wanted to.”

The captain thought about it for a second.

“Alright, then. You can stay. Under one condition.”

“And that is...?” Derek asked, feeling pretty suspicious of the captain.

“Well... Quick question, how old is she and is she single?”

Raven, feeling disrespected by the question, protested.

“What?! The hell kinda question is that?!”

“Kid, I’m joking. I was never interested. You will, however, have to work for me as part of my crew.”

“Don’t call me kid…”

“Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. I’m Ezra Wolfshine. You can call me ‘Ez’ if you’d like.”

Ezra was a 22 year old werewolf. He was very handsome in his humanoid form and stood about 185 cm tall. He also had lean muscle on his body. His hair was curly and blonde and his ears were the same as they would be if he were in wolf form. He had a big fluffy tail and emerald-green eyes as well.

His fashion consisted of a black jacket with red accents, gray baggy pants, a golden ring with a green gem on his left index finger, a silver lip ring, two silver earrings, and black boots with red accents.

“What do I call you two?”

Derek, who was staring into space, deep in thought, jumped to attention. He knew he could not tell him his real name.

“Oh. I’m Estelos Astelira and this is my daughter, Raven.”

“Astelira, huh? You’re not from around here, are you?” “Oh. No, not at all.”

“Well, then. EVERYONE, PREPARE TO SET SAIL!”

The ship began to move away from the dock. The water was calm, only rocking the boat from time to time. Raven and Derek were satisfied and grateful that Ezra had let them stay, albeit suspicious of such a generous act. Raven stood up and walked up to Ezra.

“So, you’re letting us stay just like that?”

“Yeah, we are shorthanded as is, so you’ll be a good help, I suppose.”

Raven got closer, standing on her toes to get to his eye level. Ezra backed up a bit.

“I see that you must be smugglers, yes? Pirates even? You’re not gonna rob us, are you?” asked Raven, who had become much more cautious of trusting people over the years. Raven’s wings glowed as her eyes grew sharp and fierce. She got even closer.

The werewolf, while nervous, wasn’t afraid of her. He was however a bit awkward about having a girl so close to him. He cleared his throat.

“N-No. Why would I do that? We're really short handed like I said and could really use your help, especially given where we're going. I'll explain everything, just bear with me.”

Raven, not believing him, still decided to give him the benefit of the doubt and sat back down. Ezra noticed the sun setting. The sky turned into a beautiful gradient of reds, yellows, and pinks.

“Oh, would you look at the time, you guys should hit the hay! …You sleep down there.”

He pointed to a trapdoor that lead below deck. Raven looked back at Ezra.

“We have to sleep down there?” she asked in visible disgust.

“Yeah, of course. Haven't you ever been on a ship before?”

“... No.”

“Well, get used to it. Go down there.”

✽ ✽ ✽

Later that night, the crew was asleep, except Raven. A noise, sounding like footsteps, coming from even further below deck grabbed Raven’s attention. She wondered who could be making that sound. She decided to investigate. As she went downstairs, Derek was tossing and turning in his sleep. Whatever he was dreaming about did not allow him to sleep peacefully.

In Derek’s dream, he was walking down a dark hallway, the walls were made of bricks painted white. He could hardly see anything in the dark and the floors seemed to be a marble material. He walked through black curtains and ended up in a dark arena with a wrestling ring in the middle. He climbed into the ring and a hologram-like image appeared in front of him, showing a girl with long green hair, standing there with tears in her eyes. Her eyes glowed orange sporadically as a deep voice said over and over “You did this.”

Derek, frozen in fear, frantically wondered what was going on and where he was. He backed up a bit and all of a sudden, another version of himself ran at him, coming from behind the hologram and running through it. Derek got knocked over while everything went dark for a moment until Derek opened his eyes and saw himself staring back, except that this Derek had deep black eyes with white glowing dots instead of irises and pupils. A smile took up most of his face with razor sharp teeth. He was a lot more pale than the real Derek. Nightmare Derek started choking the real Derek. He felt every ounce of pain like it was actually happening.

He started fighting back, punching Nightmare Derek in the head, trying any and everything to break free. Nightmare Derek let go and a spotlight came on, shining down on Raven who’s wearing a white sundress. The sundress seemed oddly familiar to Derek. She appeared unconscious. Nightmare Derek noticed and crawled over to her, stood up and picked up Raven. Derek watched in horror as Nightmare Derek took his daughter away, disappearing into the darkness.

Derek jumped up out of his sleep, gasping and wondering what the hell just happened.