《Vampire Reborn》Chapter 18: Campfire Stories (1)
Advertisement
Deep inside the cave unnoticed from the outside, the sound of crackling filled the otherwise sombre, windy air. And from that crackling was a fire the lit up the otherwise dark, damp cave and gave off a smokey, succulent, meaty smell that nearly reached the outside forest.
On that lit flame were two pieces of meat completely lacking blood, one much larger than the other, suspended from wooden, rotating sticks. Around the lit fire, holding these branches of wood were two figures, calmly sitting down on opposite sides waiting for their food to finish, an armoured pale man with white hair, bloody fangs, and deep-red piercing eyes and, a little flying naked fairy with purple hair and wings.
Slightly off to the side of them were two dried bodies completely devoid of any blood, bite marks on the neck. One was of a small, lime-green bear and the other one looked almost the same, only much larger and more ferocious. Parts of their fur were skinned off and chunks of their meat were removed, which was now probably on the fire.
"Should be about done now… Have a taste…" Alucard spoke, calmly removing his massive slab of meat from the fire.
"Oh! Don't mind if I do!" With a smile, Luck lifted his own much smaller slab of meat off the flames and dug in.
"Hmmmmmmmmm! My lord! This is delicious!"
What was in front of Alucard did not look at all appetizing, however, Luck's reaction seemed to have slightly elevated his expectations.
However, as he bit into the meat, it was exactly as he expected.
'Disgusting…' He thought at the back of his mind, yet he still chewed down and ate it with no visible complaints.
It seemed like his taste buds were still used to high-class, at least seasoned human food and not wild bear— yet, he was certain he would get used to such things in due time.
"My lord! What you did out there was amazing! I couldn't even move against those two ladies but you scared them off with your stare! And you're far from full power!"
"Don't think about it too much, I did what I had to to survive…" Alucard took another bite of his meat before the sudden realization hit him about Luck's words.
"Far from full power you say… How do you know that? Do you know what my full power is?"
Luck stood still, deep in thought, not taking another bite of his meat.
"..."
"I don't know… I just had some sort of feeling… Like you were much stronger before we came to these strange lands… Me too actually now that I think about it..."
Advertisement
Alucard sighed at the response he was expecting. It seemed like the amnesia was truly affecting him yet not to a full degree. In many ways, Luck was Alucard's saviour. Yet, that did not stop him from questioning and doubting him despite all that he had done so far being good.
"Let me ask you a different question… Why are you so loyal to me? So far I've done nothing to warrant your respect."
"..."
There, just like before, there was another long pause of silence, the wind crackling the fire slightly more before he finally spoke.
"I… I really don't know… Like I told you, I almost don't remember anything… It's hazy... I don't know who I am or where I came from… All I know is that I am Luck, a fairy and you are, or were, Balls, my vampire master… It's hard to explain… Ummmm… It's like we've gone through thousands of adventures over and over again, a lot of repeats, yet I can't remember exactly what they are… I just feel like I have a deep-rooted connection with you…"
Now, it was Alucard's turn to sit and ponder. But, the more he thought the more his mind came back to the same conclusion that only served to give him more hints yet confuse him even more. This Luck seemed to truly be the NPC he always knew. And, he seemed to possess some recollection of their adventure within the game.
It seemed like his characteristics, flavour text, along with his loyalty had transferred along with him and come to life. What was truly worrisome was if he had ever done anything bad to Luck back when he was an NPC and if so, would he remember and begin to hate him if the amnesia were not there? Had the amnesia saved him...
"Hey Luck, you did great back in the village. It almost seemed like you had everything planned… What did you really do and why did you come to save me?"
That was when the confused, gloomy look on Luck's face turned bright as he smiled and puffed his chest out in pride and a hint of embarrassment.
"I saved you because we were a team of course! But… It was my fault you were in that situation in the first place..."
Alucard really had the urge to lift his eyebrow up in confusion yet he decided to stay quiet to listen to what Luck had to say.
"If it weren't for me stupidly getting injured, you wouldn't have been forced to go to that village to get me healing in the first place… I truly apologize,"
Advertisement
"Oh, it's really no big deal," Alucard waved it off.
"Thanks a lot, my lord!"
Alucard didn't know what to say other than to just roll with what Luck claimed. He was unsure if he simply thought that he could have dodged the fireball or he was burnt so badly that he had forgotten what happened…
"I'm sure you already knew that we fairy's regenerate fairly quickly. After I was unconscious, I suddenly woke up in a shaky world, and, the next thing I knew I was in your bouncing pockets."
"I chose not to scream and panic as I heard the voices of guards outside and quickly assessed the situation, realizing what had happened. So, I escaped from your pocket when the voices were distant and I felt that there was no one watching and flew up to see where I was at. There I saw your unconscious body at the foot of a barracks and in the middle of a village. And, from that moment forward, I knew I had to get you out…"
"So, I came up with a plan. From the ways the guards were treating you, it was clear that they hated you yet didn't want to kill you, and, I used that to my advantage. So, the first thing I did was swoop down and cast my sleep powder on you to keep you sleeping and not immediately killed or tortured as soon as you woke up,"
"I explored the entire village and took note of everything I saw until a sudden plan hit me. So, I explored the area around where our previous cave was and I managed to locate those same bandits or soldiers that we saw earlier that day. And, from the looks of it, it seemed like they were headed towards that same village you were in!"
"So, using my amazing estimation skills, I managed to predict when they would arrive. And, in those days, I snuck inside the prison, which was much harder than you would expect, and cast my sleep powder on you, even more to keep you sleeping until the time was exactly right! That was also when I spent time to think of the best escape route and plan for when I get you out still, you still had to be the one to save us both."
Luck took a small pause to chuckle at his comment before continuing.
"However… In the end, when the time came, my calculations were slightly off, so I had to insight something in those bandits to make them speed up a bit. It was really risky and I barely managed to make it out alive… That was why I was a little late to help you… And you know the rest since we lived through it..."
Alucard, who was really impressed and thankful suddenly raised an eyebrow, interrupting him.
"What exactly did you do to them…"
"Oh! It's really nothing my lord!" He laughed in an upbeat tone.
Alucard could not help but take notice of Luck's attitude. Unlike him, Luck seemed to have been accustomed to life such as this and was tougher than he expected. However, he also did notice how he always liked to stay positive yet not naive when the time came to it. It was a breath of fresh air in his otherwise gloomy perspective on life.
Luck really went that far just to help him, he could not help but feel warm on the inside hearing how deeply he planned and endured for his sake. There was no reason for Luck to save him yet he did it anyway. It seemed like he truly did care about him and felt some sort of trust. It was definitely more than anyone would have done for him in real life for an incentive other than money.
"Hey Luck, thanks for all of that… It must have been tough, it really means a lot," Alucard casually spoke with a smile, eating a large chunk of his bear meet with his eyes closed.
"Oh! But, you were only in trouble and suffered because of me… It was the least I could do… There is no need to thank me, my lord!"
"..."
"Call me Alucard…"
Luck's eyes suddenly grew wide, almost like he wasn't able to believe his ears.
"Lord Alucard?" He asked, only leading to the man in front of him to smile and finally open his eyes.
"No… Just Alucard… I'm getting tired of hearing 'My lord this and my lord that,' It really does get annoying… So, just call me Alucard…"
Luck looked completely stunned with a hint of nervousness on his face as he looked down with slightly rosy cheeks.
"Ummm… Okay… Alucard…"
Advertisement
Moonblood
Five moons rise over Evanir, each in her own cycle, and each moon is also a god, one of five sisters. Many gods create spirit attendants and companions, brought forth fully-formed. Long ago, the moons worked together to create a lineage that are, instead, humans transformed by the mingling of blood. They intended them to be long-lived and to draw their strength directly from the light of the moon who chose each individual. The five sisters had different goals in mind – one wanted it to be a blessing for scholars and artists, to give them more time and fewer physical distractions; another wanted them to have an animal form, different for each, to keep them more in tune with nature so they could serve as guardians of the wilderness. There are drawbacks to their children having human lives and personalities before being chosen: not all share the goals of their divine mothers, and some choose to put their gifts to darker uses. Those carrying the blood of one woman, fleeing the corruption in search of a quiet life, take a different path. -=-=-=-=- Moonblood isn't so much a novel as a series of adventures of varying length. They involve a core group of people, which does grow over time. They take place in a fairly low-magic world, but despite that, our core cast are directly connected to the moons and have various abilities, including limited shapeshifting to a single individual animal form. As with all my work, unless gender, orientation, or other aspects of sexuality are explicitly stated, I suggest not making assumptions. Probably most significant, I think, is a major trans character who appears about 80K words in - no spoilers, just a note for those who care about that one way or the other.
8 133Curse of the Reaper
The Void, mother of all that was, created two sons, Order and Chaos, to bring substance to her. A war will be sparked off between the twins that will, in the end, consume their mother. Out of the ashes of her corpse, the third and final Plane, that of physical existence would be born. Here they would wage a war that would span eons and worlds, until it would finally fall upon a seemingly insignificant planet. Bearing the name of its immortal caregiver, the Grim, Order fashioned him to defend this bastion of life from the hands of Chaos. His brother would play on the infant immortals fear of annihilation, and tempt him into the sacrilegious act of mating with mortals. When Order scrambles to try to right the injustice and preserve the balance, it is thought that all is well, but sins will always come back to haunt the Father. Now it will be up to another of his sons, many millennia down the road, to answer for his Fathers wrongs, as the race for the Throne of the Underworld begins in Book One of The World of Grim.
8 199Cursed Genesis
Hundreds of years ago, a natural scourge appeared in the world of Nyana, Horrors. Horrors corrupted the lands and killed humans, feasting on their fear. Hundreds of years later they were still a problem, but a small group had dedicated their lives to hunting down the Horrors for generations. They were raised by the Master, and they called themselves the Cursed. Ilon is the youngest of the Cursed and had thought that Horrors were a natural part of the world, that is, until he comes across an attempt to transform a living human into a Horror. The only clue he has to uncovering one of the biggest secrets of the world is that it was done by someone with violet eyes. Follow Ilon as he seeks the answers to the mysteries of the world. What exactly are the Horrors? What causes them to form? What are the Cursed? And who is the person with violet eyes? Schedule: M W F [participant in the Royal Road Writathon challenge]
8 126False Hero (Kiritsugu M Reader x Shield Hero)
Brought into another world on accident from a foreign goddess, Y/n, the False Hero is inserted into a battle for the safety of the new world. A place similar to a medieval, rpg game he used to play back in his old home. How will Y/n fair in a new environment with the weight of the whole world on his shoulders.
8 159Chronicles of Rathia - The Era of Blood
Welcome to the Chronicles of Rathia. Contained within is a trilogy of stories which are all set in different time periods and with different characters. Each story has its own era from The Era of Blood, The Era of Magic and The Era of Demons. Read along the first in the series which is The Era of Blood where magic is still in an infant stage and where swords can dominate the battle field. In The Era of Blood, you follow along the first main character who had his memories wiped clean except for the most basic things in life. It is up to him to find out how to get his memories back and why they are gone. (If you don't like the story layout or characters, I suggest either just reading through or wait till the next one in the series is being released. With how it's set up, you can enjoy any of the three in the trilogy but of course reading in order will help give a better understanding of the world.) (Side authors note - I'm currently reworking the first several chapters as they are lacklustre to myself since they were originally a draft and not concrete at first. This note will stay here until all the chapters I wanted to fix up are done.)
8 196Percy Jackson, son of Voldemort
Perseus Jackson was left in an orphanage in London when he was just one years old until a man with cold red eyes and a snake as a familiar came and took him away.What will happen to the world's most loyal hero? will he create his own path? Or will he rule the wizarding world as the heir of lord Voldemort.#PLEASE BE AWARE THAT I WROTE THIS LITERALLY AGES AGO AND SO THERE MIGHT BE A LOT OF GRAMMAR ISSUES AND PLOT HOLES, I SUGGEST SKIPPING TO THE THIRD BOOK IF THAT'S SOMETHING THAT BOTHERS U#
8 173