The sun flaked into the small stuffy room. The smell of dust and old wood aroused her mind, forcing her lungs to expel the foul material. The force of the cough woke her, making her eyes dart and explore her surroundings. Her breathing was labored and difficult, her heart-rate elevated. It was as if she had awoken from a terrible dream, and still in the throes of its powerful emotions.
But I am not human anymore, how can I still have this effect, she pondered to herself, examining her new enclosure. She was strapped down with metal claws clamping upon her wrists, ankles, and each knuckle in each finger of her wings. She could barely feel her appendages, the tingling sensation crawling up her arms, legs, and down her back. The room beyond was small, but designed effortlessly as an experimental lab; several vials of strange liquids and gaseous elements bubbled and gurgled; the quiet hum of electricity completed the ambiance for the room.
Aside from her, the room was void of humanoid creatures, though she assumed her captor was human, at least once before. The surge of power after she defeated him made her wonder whether she was in another universe where humans revived as more powerful beings after being killed.
Or it was purely coincidental.
She sighed, she began to feel homesick; closing her eyes to envision the ravaged land that was her home world, volcanic ash spreading throughout the sky, the ground trembling with surges of magma revealing as lava. The smell of sulfur and burning cinder briefly tugged at her nostalgia.
A loud clang of a heavy door closing echoed through the small room, making her open her eyes and look toward the sound. It was the young man from before, except this time, someone else was following behind him. He also had a strange aura about him, she could barely taste his power, as if he hadn’t grown into it just yet.
The younger man with glowing red eyes gazed in her direction, she resisted his call, as so many other times those eyes brought on panic and anxiety. She had almost lost the battle for control several times because of his interference. The first time was because of Haute. But Haute didn’t know. He was a lesser demon.
“You are not going to lash out and attack us?” The young man questioned while she averted her gaze. She looked back to respond, her eyes glowed a fair bit brighter.
“I would not lash out at you, that was not my intent. I cannot control what has a stronger grip upon my—” she hesitated, beginning to sound as if she would burst out in tears, Veron watched intently curious as what was happening, thinking back to when he had first encountered her, but that was before he changed.
She seemed to fight an internal battle, but on the outside, she sat slumped forward, hanging lifeless almost. Veron could tell she was losing…
“Begin your research father, send for me once your testing is done, she should not be able to break—,” Veron was ordering his father, but was interrupted by a strange voice.
“You cannot escape the inevitable, I will have your world for my own,” the voice was dark, guttural and inhuman. And it came from the creature chained against the wall. Veron gazed back and realized her eyes were no longer their purple vibrant color, but rather void, full of power and malicious intent.
It continued, seeming to look at Veron, forcing the creature to contort her head in intimidation and instill fear, “Your little band of vagabonds and misfits will be wiped from existence, including that pitiful entity you consider a demon. I will show you what a real demon is capable of, little one.”
A small cackle escaped her lips, the sound growing louder until the flickering of lights and cracking of glass haunted its stop, the room dimly lit as she slumped once again, the being seeming to relinquish control.
Days had passed, and little progress on studying the creature was made, considering she seemed to be unconscious the entire time which was hindering the progress. Vlad was beginning to get used to his new lifestyle, after Veron released his trance from him and explained how he became a Vampire.
He didn’t tell the truth, of course.
Veron’s story of the encounter was they had received a request to expel demons found in a forest. The demons were being controlled by a master Vampire, who seemed to outwit the entire party. All had been killed except him and his father, both of whom dispelled the demons and vanquished the master, but became infected in the process. Because it was a master Vampire, it was inevitable, and thus Vlad had decided to hide the nature and still be monster hunters when called. The creature that was brought back home to study was found within the depths of the master Vampire’s forest and deemed worthy for study, as this type of creature had never been experienced or documented before.
This apparently was sufficient enough that Vlad accepted it as his own decision and recollection of the memory. Veron secretly sighed to himself as the fib was harder to contemplate than the spell he put upon his father.
As they continued to study the creature, they discovered her entire body was concealed elegantly with an extremely dense and strong chitin, almost the same kind of material found from insectoid carapace, except strengthened tenfold. Her wings and claws of her hands were sharpened to a point and beheld muscle fibers that were intensely forged to behold powerful force when exerted.
As another day of studying her passed, Veron received a letter from the local courier, it beheld the same symbol as the one he received from priest Tenzin a few weeks earlier. It was the Order of the Rose. He opened the letter, and began reading:
“Veron,
I hope this reaches you post-haste, we are in need of your assistance. I will explain when you arrive.
Damian Azure”
Vlad was watching Veron as he read the letter, and noticed his sudden worried interest.
“What’s wrong, son?”
“I met a group of people a while back, and they’ve summoned me for help with an issue, and it seems this is worse than before. I might have to stay there a few days,” Veron vaguely answered back, preparing to leave by gathering his usual items.
“Alright well, I will send you a letter if anything goes wrong here. If you need more help, you’ll have to fend for yourself. The last hunters haven’t answered back my summons, I’m assuming they no longer wish to band with us,” Vlad sighed, going back to his study room.
Veron retrieved his horse from the stable, and began the journey to Terrasylvae once again. Perhaps he can ask what Haute can make of the strange new demon controlling the creature he had given him.
