Higher Cliffside... (Eve’s POV)

“I don’t want to go home…” I whispered into Rayne’s ear. Sitting on his lap as the solution of an argument between him and the teacher, I had the ease of access. The setting sun bathed us in its golden red light, alone in the room.

“Then stay with me. Don’t leave me again…” He whispered back, the intensity of his words only matched by his grip on my waist. A smile spread across my face. I had missed these words, this grip, this feeling.

I missed him. But just those words couldn’t match up to the feeling in my chest. This was the person who had cared for me all my life, bearing the weight of even death to protect me a second longer. The person who spoiled me with anything I wanted, even if it meant sacrificing his own money. My family. My brother. My everything.

I relaxed my body further, releasing my hold on every muscle, every tendon, every ligament. I didn’t need them in his arms. He was waiting for my response, his heartbeat racing against my back.

“Of course. Promise.” My voice was even quieter this time, but still the loudest thing in the room. The sun was nearing the horizon in the distance, time rushing away like a flowing river. But the river was long, giving me seemingly infinite amounts of freedom.

The silence between my response and his next words was long and taut, stretching to the point of breaking.

“Would you follow me there? To hell and back? Even… Even if I was no longer human?” He seemed distracted. Distant, even. His heartbeat had gotten even faster, awaiting my answer like a piece of iron awaits the blacksmith’s hammer. My words would decide our fate here.

“Rayne. What do you believe is the strongest being in this universe?” I asked, awaiting his answer. It was short and quick in coming.

“The gods.”

“Then, Rayne. I ask of you, would you abandon me if the gods themselves were attempting to kill me?” His heartbeat was slowing down, a good sign.

“Of course not.” The response was instant, shooting down my doubts as if they never existed.

“Then I shall follow you. The full powers of hell and heaven may try to split us apart, but I will still follow you. Being human isn’t a problem in this discriminatory trash pile,” I spat out my words with venom, disgusted at this world. “But, even if you were below everything else in the social structure, I would reach down a hand and pull you back up. If that was not possible, then I would drag myself down just to be with you.” My words conveyed much more than they should have, dragging out even my most hidden feelings.

There was silence for a while, this time my own heartbeat being the one I felt speed up. I felt a hand remove itself from my waist, tracing a line up my side to my neck.

“What do you know about vampires?” Rayne asked me, a slight bit of humor tickling his words. I chuckled softly as I realized what he was talking about. I leaned into his hand, tilting my head the other way to reveal all of it to him.

“Go ahead…” My voice wasn’t quiet this time, trying to show my resolution to be with him through volume.

I felt something other than a finger trace a small line on my neck, going back and forth a few times. A blush formed on my face as I realized he was licking my neck, his breath chilling the skin slightly. My body tensed a slight amount before his other hand began to hold mine. I relaxed once more, awaiting the moment when his teeth pierced me.

It was much more than I had expected. All the references from vampirism showed their victims screaming in pain, but that was not what was happening here.

As he bit into me, my skin showing little resistance, it felt like somebody had injected me with adrenaline. My blood raced through my veins, my skin tingling like electricity was coursing through me. My breathing came in ragged gasps, each one creating a small puff of white vapor in the air. Everything around me seemed to have cooled down quite a few degrees, while I heated up. My face flushed, drool running out of my mouth from the overproduction of saliva. My hand clamped shut like a bear trap, every muscle in my body tightening far more than I should have been able to manage.

All in all, it was quite erotic, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Not much was taken from me, but I held him there for a minute or so after he was done, forcing him to give me more of the feeling. My body spasmed lightly every few seconds, just a small tremor rocking through me. Dopamine and Oxytocin were produced in tandem, quickly sending pleasure waves through my body.

I breathed out heavily, leaning forward slightly. His tongue licked the bite marks, causing another spasm. I tried to recover quickly, but it seemed that my body wasn’t up for that. Neither was my brain, to be honest. It had pretty much gone blank at the time.

A blue window appeared in front of me, my eyes seeing but not reading. As I just said, my mind was a bit… addled. After maybe five minutes or so, I had recovered enough to read the window. Although, another one seemed to have popped up while I was recovering.

New Title: Deserter of Humanity

By deserting Humanity of your own free will, you have gained the title: Deserter of Humanity.

When equipped, all humans will have an instinctual feeling of disgust towards you. All other races will welcome you. Also, gain +6 vitality.

Since no other titles are equipped, this title has been.

New Title: Fulfilled

By having no more wishes left, you have gained the title: Fulfilled.

When equipped, all stats increase by 10% per wish you have. Up to 10,000%

A title is already equipped. To change your title, visit the nearest shrine.

Status

Name: Eve

Level: 4

Experience needed: 1050/1200 (12.5%)

HP [580/580]

MP [122/122]

SP [1018/1018]

Race: Human

HP [0.7/sec]

MP [.054.sec]

SP [5.41/sec]

Satiety: 83%

Strength

386

Endurance

350

Luck

24

Perception

214

Dexterity

573

Agility

487

Intelligence

102

Wisdom

142

Leadership

12

Vitality

58

Faith

28

Willpower

78

Skills:

Mana Transfer (3/50)

Transfer mana between any two compatible storages.

Clairvoyance (1/100)

Chance to predict the future correctly.

Spellbook (Max)

Permanently memorize any spell that your body uses.

Transmute (1/~)

Use mana to change one thing about something.

Effects:

Deserter of Humanity

+6 Vit. Fear from Humans. Welcoming from all other races.

Mana Body

All Spells deal 20% more damage.

Otherworldly Vision

Immune to ‘Blinded’. Reading is 3x as fast. Semi photographic memory to sights.

Titles

Deserter of Humanity ★

Fulfilled

Let me explain some things here. Three of the skills, minus [Mana Transfer], are original skills. I made them by experimenting with my mana and/or powers.

[Clairvoyance] allows me to ‘see’ slightly into the future, in the form of visions. This was something I got for thinking I would meet Rayne at school. How that works, I have no idea, but I got the skill for it so I was good.

[Spellbook] came from me memorizing each and every spell that I had used, somehow ending up with a skill that did it for me. Each spell now appears as a sub-skill for it, allowing for me to be able to just say its name and it will cast. Really saves time, if I have my hands behind my back or something.

[Transmute] is the complicated one. There was this one flower in the windowsill at home, but it was dying. It was really pretty when it was blooming, so I fed it some mana on impulse. A few days later, one of the petals had grown to full health. I fed it enough mana for the petals to turn silver, and the skill was gained. That flower now blooms all month long and feeds on ambient mana in the air. At least, that’s what I gained from watching it.

The effect: Otherworldly Vision, refers to my eyes. As soon as I was old enough to use mana (about 3 days old), I enhanced my eyes. It was probably just me getting a bit drunk on the ability to see things, but it worked out pretty well. It takes 1 mana from my maximum, but that’s fine with me. I can easily take the mana out at any time, but I can see so much more now. I can zoom, see mana with a little bit of concentration, read books at insane speeds, memorize nearly everything that I see, inspect people, see through clothing, etc. Alright, scratch that last one. I can’t see through clothing. Although, I would like to see how developed my brother is…

I swiped the windows and the delu- thoughts away. A small scowl showed on my face. I was picking up my brother’s habits. Looking back to the person in question, he seemed to be looking at something in front of him. Waving my hand in front of his face, he blinked twice.

“Brother? What’s wrong?” I asked, honestly confused. He didn’t have his normal thinking face.

“Ah? Oh, I was looking at the stats I gained from that, as well as the title. Pretty cool stuff.” He seemed to be evading saying anything about them with some skill. I narrowed my eyes at him, knowing that he must be concealing something important if he didn’t share it with me.

“And those are?” I questioned, trying to sound as innocent as possible. It worked, temporarily.

“The stats I gained were 6 endurance, 3 strength, 5 dexterity, 2 leadership, 1 vitality, 12 perception, 4 intelligence, 10 wisdom, and 2 faith.” He responded, reading it off in monotone.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t catch the title’s name, could you repeat it for me?” I asked sweetly, knowing full well he didn’t say it.

“The title… The title’s name is… Its name… Arahh! I can’t say it! It’s too embarrassing!” He yelled to the ceiling.

I was quite surprised. He never showed himself embarrassed in front of me. Actually, nevermind. His voice is the exact same pitch. I would have never been able to guess that he was embarrassed without seeing him.

I turned, straddling his lap. Staring into his eyes. My arms wrapped around his neck, loosely draped over his shoulders. His golden eyes, a perfect reflection of mine, shone with a strange light. A thought popped into my head, one strange enough to give me pause.

“We… aren’t blood-related in this world, are we?”

Rayne flinched, before looking almost as surprised as I felt. “You… You’re right… So that wouldn’t make it incest…” He finished with a whisper even I barely heard. Trying to understand what he meant by that, I could feel my face heat up. I moved closer to his face, staring into his eyes. That shocked him back into focus, which may not have been the best of ideas.

He flicked his eyes to mine, and something strange happened.

The pleasure I had felt before, from his fangs, came back to me. A single look into his eyes was all I had to do. It slammed into me like a tsunami, rocking my body forward. My chest pressed against Rayne’s, my eyes still not leaving his. Slight, shallow breaths were all I could take. His breath beat down on my willpower as it rushed over and into my mouth. My back arched, pressing me even further into his embrace.

His golden eyes became my world. All I could see with my newfound eyes. All I could imagine. All I could think about. Deep and mysterious, with the small little light of happiness shining through.

His hands ran through my hair as my eyes got blurry, tears filling them as I was overwhelmed. I felt revitalized, energy coursing through my veins. His head tilted to the side a small amount, a smile hitting his eyes. I could see so much in them that I know he would never be able to get across with words. His joy. His hesitation. His guilt. His doubt. Everything was there.

But I focused on the one emotion in his eyes that I couldn’t get enough of. His love.

Five minutes passed, about the same amount of time that he sucked my blood. His hand, the one that was previously running through my hair, pulled my head into his chest, breaking me out of the erotic trance he had put me in.

I panted, attempting to relax. It worked much less than I wanted it to, my mind being unable to get off that feeling.

“I’m sorry… It wasn’t my intention to do that.” Rayne whispered in my ear, causing me another spasm. It didn’t really surprise me, this time, how much I liked it. What used to be a sibling’s love, is quite quickly changing into something else.

“It’s… fine…” I responded between recovery pants. A crazed look in my eyes? Probably not, but close.

I… wanted something very badly at that moment. It actually broke my heart to settle for just a few-hour-long hug. But I would never tell him that I wanted him. After all, I’m his sister (In another world).

Over The Abyss… (Rayne’s POV)

I didn’t go home that night. I stayed at the school, holding Eve with all my being. She wouldn’t let go of me, even when she finally fell asleep, but I didn’t mind. I carried her into the Studyroom and made her a bed from my mana. Knowing I didn’t have the concentration to keep two beds active at a time, I made one slightly larger bed and slept with Eve in it. Quite embarrassing, especially after what just happened. I didn’t mean to use my skill on her, but I couldn’t stop once I had started.

It was even worse that I thought it was fun to see her reactions. I actually kept using the skill on her for a minute after I could have stopped.

My mind continued to replay some of the scenes that I remembered, half against my will. Eventually, I went back to the conversations we had before that.

“The gods. Heaven and Hell. Fate. The empire.” I named them, one by one, in a small voice. I had said that I would protect her from anything, but it was just now that I was realizing the meaning of my words. I needed to be stronger.

Strong enough to beat anything that tried to hurt Eve. It coincided with my curse quite nicely. Doesn’t mean I want the curse, but it doesn’t seem all that bad now. I would have to absorb some stats from those gods.

I remembered before, back on Earth, when I told her I would protect her. Just what was I protecting her from then? Myself? Others? Herself? I don’t remember. It was all so long ago, and so much has happened since then.

A sigh escaped my lips, blowing a small bit of hair out of Eve’s face. It was only a few inches from mine at the moment. My little fox was under my right hand as always, but now it had another body near it.

Why was Rose so… odd? She never showed signs of being a yandere, did she? I didn’t pay much attention to anybody else during this first month. I would have to fix that. I can’t let somebody harm my family again.

It was bad enough when my mother died during the birth of Eve. After that, Father left. I somewhat blamed Eve for that, but I made sure it never showed.

Should I take Eve to my home? Make her a part of the family, one way or the other? Or should I go with her to her family? Which one is the better choice? Or, do we go with the third option, run away and live together like last time? I don’t know anymore. I would have to ask her.

I think I need to take an hour. Just an hour to think. Don’t meditate. Don’t increase mana reserves. Just think. Sort out my brain. I can do that here, in the embrace of the person I love most.

Eight hours later, I still don’t know. I don’t understand so many things. Seeing the sun begin to rise, I shook Eve awake. Seeing as that didn’t work, I began to whisper in her ears. Nonsense really, I didn’t exactly care what I was saying. My mind was still quite solely focused on sorting itself out.

She awoke with a start, looking at me with startled eyes. She brought herself closer, cuddling into me like she was scared.

“Don’t leave… Don’t ever leave me…” She spoke, the sound muffled by her tears and my chest. I held her, whispering words of reassurance. I’m not sure they reached her, but I knew she was comforted by something. Her tears slowed to a halt. Her breathing steadied but didn’t fall into the depths of sleep. I held her. It was addicting. The warmth radiating off her body heated me to the very core, like drinking hot cocoa after being outside in the snow for a few hours. Sure, I only had it once, but that memory stuck in my mind.

Eventually, after the sun had risen, I pushed her lightly away. She reluctantly let go of me, letting herself be lightly slid across the mana weave on the ground.

The fox awoke next, brushing its fur across my arm. Eve pet it lightly, having met it briefly yesterday.

Another thing I need to do. Make sure I know where this damn fox is at all times. It escapes my notice so many times a day it’s not funny.

I found a few things during my little thinking session. My short term goal at this moment is to study each and every god until I’ve memorized their information. Another short term goal is to meet the king. Or queen, whichever is in power right now. I don’t really care. I just want to ask for a favor. Or a few.

I stood, stretching each of my sore muscles as I unwound my mana. After I was done, I quietly and quickly went through each and every book on the shelves. That included the bookshelf in the Classroom. I found a single book on a god. Or goddess. It was the Ice goddess, Hana. I studied the entire book, writing notes and focusing wholeheartedly.

She would be the first of the Victims. I didn’t want to hurt her without notice, but I had to at least take back that stupid god’s powers from her. I knew the seal, brand, whatever on my chest is supposed to make sure I help him, but I’m not sure how it does that. Does it just begin to burn me? Does it shift my thoughts unconsciously? Does it bring events to me that would cause me to end up with them anyway?

That last one would be cool, then I wouldn’t have to find them. Although, I probably wouldn’t be prepared for it.

‘The Ice Goddess, Hana. A lover of all things cold created as a mix between the water goddess, Lezarath and the light goddess, Adalina. Friendly with all other deity tier gods, does not like any race but the beastkin. Will attack humans on sight, uses a mix of freezing traps and icicles. The best course of action when getting on her bad side, prostrate yourself in front of the goddess. She has been known to let people go if she is in a good mood. If you run, she uses mostly ranged attacks so she will kill you without hesitation. Praying to her allows you to use…’ ~Deity God book, subentry 8, written by Afrah Lakila.

The door opened. I looked up, expecting the teacher or a student. But it was somebody I could never have expected. I didn’t know them. After all, I hadn’t seen the queen’s personal guard before.

They saw me and began walking. I pulled Eve closer to me, putting a hand out. My mana bracelet began to vibrate violently. I used it to create words, the guard reaching for his sword as he saw the mana rise. I made sure it was liquid mana this time.

‘Who are you?’ I asked, not risking speaking.

“Ah, my apologies. You are but a child. The queen has asked for you to visit her. It also seems that you are dangerous, so we were requested to come get you.” The guard explained, holding up something that looked eerily similar to handcuffs.

‘May I take her with me?’ I asked, realizing that I was getting to accomplish one of my goals so soon.

“No, you may not. She has not been requested.” The guard had no hesitation in his voice.

But I didn’t have any in general. ‘I’m sorry, it seems you are confused. I’m taking her with me.’

The guard froze. It seems it had been a long time since somebody spoke to him that way. I didn’t exactly care since I was not going to budge on this matter. Eve would be coming with me, whether I had to kill every single person who tried to stop me or not.

“I shall speak with the queen about this. For now, I shall relent to your decision.” How polite of him. I like him already.

I pulled Eve closer to me, ready to begin walking until I heard a slithery sound of metal on metal. A sword was flashing through the air, aimed at Eve. Blistering speeds could only be matched by something faster. Like, per se, me.

My hand reached up and caught the blade, the mana bracelet forming into a clamp of sorts to help protect my hand from the blade. The guard pulled on the blade, attempting to get it out of my hand, but I barely felt it. I hadn’t even begun to turn into my vampire form, how was this guard so weak?

Then I felt Eve’s hand on my elbow, her mana flowing into my muscles. I used a single point of mana to see exactly what was going on with that. After seeing it for a bit, I mimicked it with some more. Devilish talent, one might call it.

My strength, in that arm at least, skyrocketed. The blade crumpled in my grip, making a large shattering sound.

‘Let me repeat myself.’ ‘She will be coming with me.’ Two points in each letter, making them pulsate slightly.

“Alright. I promise on behalf of my comrades as well this time, she will be allowed until the queen or other higher power dictates otherwise.” Very wordy as well. A simple nod sufficed as a response.

Outside, the guards began walking down the steps, cursing lowly. I laughed, making them turn to me. ‘Weak’ was the last thing they saw before I leaped off the 399th story, Eve screaming as we fell. I laughed. 20 mana wasn’t enough for both of us to get a mana cushion, so I aligned Eve above me before cushioning myself, letting myself cushion Eve. How confusing.

I coughed as my chest and stomach were slammed upon with 399 floors worth of momentum. Quite a lot, in case you couldn’t tell. Even my endurance barely managed to stop me from breaking a rib. I think I did fracture it. My mana soaked back into my body, the bracelet forming at the same time. Eve and I were left on our feet, standing on solid ground.

I sighed out heavily, wanting to do it again, while Eve barely managed to keep from passing out. I hugged her for a second, making her shoot to awareness, before looking around. I didn’t actually know the way to the palace. Another sigh, but this one from exasperation. Well, Eve needed some rest as well. I sat down near the gate, my eyes fixed on the flaming horizon. It was indeed quite the beautiful sunrise.

Ten minutes later, the guards come running down the steps. I hear them before I see them, but I wave once they see me.

“Strange child, aren’t you. We had assumed we would be collecting a body for the queen by now.” The original guard spoke.

I just grinned and made a motion towards the gate. The guard sighed as I had, before beginning to walk.

Some thirty minutes later, long past school starting, we arrived at the palace. It was a huge distance away from the school, going through many twisting paths and alleyways. I suppose so that it is more difficult to get an army through? I wouldn’t know.

The palace was still probably visible from the school, as it was nearly as large. Maybe 380 stories tall, 6 times as wide, and it had a dome shaped roof. Towers jutted out everywhere. The only I could wonder about, enough to ask the guards, was ‘What do they use all that space for?’

The guards all chuckled, giving knowing looks to each other.

“They do everything in that palace. They have balls every ten-day, formal dances, feasts, many royal workspeople have places of their own in there. There’s actually a basement underneath all of that, for even more room.” They seemed to enjoy when they had answers. I’ll have to ask some questions that they know, then.