Chapter 2: Happiness.

“Father won’t be merciful? Like I give a damn about him. I stopped caring about what they thought when they kicked both me and mother out of the palace. Do they think that I still long for their approval?” Kalon complained to himself as he kicked pebbles along the ground on his way back home.

He clutched his ribs for a moment as a sharp pain ran throughout his entire body. He took a deep breath before carrying on his way.

“They never cared about me so why should I care what they think about me?” Kalon asked himself while trying to convince himself that he didn’t want his father’s attention.

He walked through the town centre gaining cold stares from the townspeople as he passed them. The stares made him feel unwelcome wherever he went but at least no one was thinking about eating him.

Kalon was the youngest son of Emperor Dorian Tavos but also a human living in an Empire that was made for people of monster races. Werewolves, Orcs, Beastmen, and Trolls were all a regular sight within the Empire. But there was one type of monster that stood out above the rest for both its speed and power. Vampires.

Although Vampires were low in number. The fear they instilled amongst the other monsters was unlike anything that they knew. Ever since the empire was founded it was a rule that a vampire would have to become the emperor since they were the only ones capable of uniting the other races.

As the longest-lasting line of vampires, the Tavos family had sworn to always produce an heir to lead the empire and therefore they would only marry other vampires to keep their bloodline strong and pure. It was the kind of elitism that was expected of a noble vampire heritage. But then why did the current emperor have a human son?

Dorian was a cold and heartless man who seemed to only care about raising a strong heir to inherit his empire. But that wasn’t always the case. When he was a younger Dorian used to be a kind and caring man who would help people regardless of their race and species out of a sense of duty as a noble in the Sylton empire.

The monsters in the Sylton empire looked forward to the day that Dorian would take the throne like his father before him. But that all changed when his wife and love of his life was murdered by a human.

Upon hearing the news of his wife's death. The once gentle and kind vampire exploded with an eruption of rage that drove him to take over the Empire of Sylton by killing his own father and then waging war against the human kingdom known as Ysaven.

The peaceful days of the Sylton empire were gone in an instant and they were forced into a relentless conflict that produced an unbearable hatred between the monster and human races.

Dorian was unable to forgive the human that took the life of his wife so with the power he had gained by becoming the emperor he swore to destroy their whole kingdom to make up for what they had done. But his plan didn’t go as he expected.

Although the monster kingdom was stronger in physical abilities. The human race specialised in a mysterious power they called Qi. The power of Qi wasn’t something exclusive to the human race. It could be used by gathering life energy and storing it within the dantian which was a small space below the navel that contained the life force of all living things.

The monster race however didn’t have a dantian. So instead they focused exclusively on physical strength rather than spiritual strength.

Despite the loss of his wife Dorian had to produce an heir to inherit his throne. But Vampires were few and far between. He decided to break the oath he had sworn in the name of his ancestors to keep his bloodline from dying out.

He fell in love with many different species over the years but whatever he tried he couldn’t produce a child. The anatomy of monster species wasn’t compatible with his so each time the woman would fail to conceive. Until he met a woman from the werewolf race called Aela.

Aela was a sweet and caring woman just like Dorian’s previous wife so he immediately took a liking to her. They fell in love and over the next few years produced a daughter and two sons. However, during pregnancy with their youngest son Aela began to feel sick often and declined to a bedridden state.

Dorian had no idea what the cause of it was until the day of his son’s birth. Aela took her final breath the very moment that Prince Octavian was born and the reason why she died became obvious immediately. The other two children Aela had given birth to took after her. They were also werewolves.

But as Octavian opened his eyes for the first time Dorian knew that his worries about having a strong heir would no longer be a problem. The infant Prince Octavian also had glowing red eyes the same as his fathers. That was the distinguishing feature that only Vampires had.

Although Dorian was satisfied with Octavian being born, he was a man after all and would often fool around with women. Until one day a convoy he had sent out to the human kingdom brought back a handful of slaves they had taken from the Human kingdom. That is where Dorian met the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

Michaela Grayson, an ordinary human woman and the mother of his youngest son. Kalon Tavos.

Kalon arrived home at his house far out in the forest. His house was a small wooden cottage with three rooms in total which would have been enough for just a mother and son if the circumstances were different.

“Mom, I’m home!” Kalon shouted with an excited expression on his face as he came in through the front door. He couldn’t wait to show her that he had gotten all of the medicine that she needed. As he entered the dining-room he saw his mother sitting looking out of the window.

Despite being in her late thirties Michaela looked much younger than she was. She had long brown hair and shared the same emerald green eyes as her son. But as he entered the room she didn’t make so much as an effort to look at him.

“I brought you your medicine.” Kalon smiled happily before placing the bag down onto the table and then took another step toward her.

But as soon as he took another step her head turned slightly to look at him. Her face scrunched up slightly upon seeing her son, with disgust at what she saw.

“Monster…” The words left her lips and cut deep like daggers right into Kalon’s heart. He could take the teasing and insults given by the kids in the town but the harshness in his mother's voice was all it took to bring tears to his eyes.

“Haha, Okay mom, I will see you later,” Kalon said before leaving the house and sitting down on the step at the front door.

Tears streamed down his face. The only thing he ever wished for was to see his mother smile but in his whole twelve years of life, she had only shown him that same expression of hatred.

It was another reason why he hated his father. It was all his fault that his mother felt this way and there was nothing he could do about it.

Kalon did everything he could to please her, He cooked, cleaned and even went out to buy her medicine whenever she needed it but she never once said anything nice to him.

A few minutes of silence passed as the wind blew gently through the trees creating a calming sound for Kalon’s mind to rest.

“I guess I had better get back to work.” He got up to his feet and wiped away the tears from his face and then walked over to a clearing in the trees.

He first took off his shirt revealing a small and thin but slightly muscular body that was covered in scars from the countless fights he had been involved in. He knew he could never stand a chance against the boys in the village since he was only a human.

But he was determined to see the day where he could walk through the town without anyone picking a fight with him. And the only way he could achieve that was if he became strong enough to fight back against the people who wanted to see him fail.

Kalon walked over to a tree trunk that looked like it had recently knocked down and picked up two long strands of red fabric before wrapping them around his hands. He looked down at the fabric wrapped around his hands to see the result of his determination.

Little bits of white showed through on the fabric which made him smile. He knew he would have to work harder. He looked up at a tree that was about the same diameter of the tree trunk he had taken the fabric for and then began to strike it with his fists.

Over and over again the sounds of his knuckles beating against the hard wood of the oak tree rang out through the forest like a drum until he collapsed from exhaustion. Nightfall had already crept up on him without realising.

Kalon looked up at the tree to see the red marks that had formed against the rough bark. He then looked down at his blood-soaked hands and decided that was done for the night.

“If I carry on at this rate I should be able to knock it down by the end of the month!” He said excitedly and then began to unwrap the fabric from his hands.

The blood had bound to the open cuts on his knuckles making him wince every time he tugged at a stubborn scab to get the fabric out from underneath.

“Ouch ouch ouch. It hurts!” Kalon yelled as he pulled the fabric as hard as he could to release the last part that had gotten stuck underneath the dried blood.

He then ran over to the old stone well next to his house and plunged his hands into the bucket of water to soothe the pain. He looked over to the house to see the faint light of a candle and the sultry face of his mother looking outside. She blew out the candle and then turned away before vanishing into the darkness.

“She waited up for me,” Kalon whispered with a smile in a brief moment of happiness. Before wrapping his hands in fresh bandages and heading inside to sleep.