Inside a dark room, Evelyn was testing her latest theory on teleportation magic. There was nothing in it except for a wide magic circle with intricate drawings. Putting a glass of water in the center, she crouched down and touched the formation with her hand. Taking a deep breath to ready herself, she took one last look at the stack of papers besides her that contained her formulas and chanted the invocation. The white lines started glowing blue as she continued chanting the spell. The intensity of the light increased until it illuminated the whole room. The moment she was done, the circle let out a blinding flash that forced her to cover her red eyes with her free hand. After a few seconds, the light faded which allowed her to take a look at the glass that she put in the middle of the circle. Half of it had melted off.

“Another failure…” [Evelyn]

She put a hand to her forehead and wearily closed her eyes. She lost count of the number of times that she failed, that her expectations were crushed. After two hundred years of continuous research, she had refined her teleportation magic. She was confident that it would have worked this time, yet the results didn’t change at all.

“Maybe I’ll never succeed…” [Evelyn]

Those words slipped out of her mouth as she bit her lower lip in frustration. Her fangs dug into her skin and pierced her flesh as blood started flowing out of the fresh wound.

“If you believe that, then you never will.” [???]

A voice sounded out at the door which made Evelyn quickly turn her head to look. There stood an old man with short gray hair combed to the back and red eyes similar to hers. The light from the hallway showed his tall figure dressed in a high-class black robe with white linings. Although he looked old, one could feel great vitality from him. He closed the door behind him, plunging the room in the dark once again. She didn’t know when he opened the door or entered at all.

“Must you always sneak around like that, Lord Daniel?” [Evelyn]

She jokingly asked her long-time friend and guardian while acting calm to gloss over what she said before. But, he didn’t let it go so easily.

“It’s a habit I got from your father, so it can’t be helped. But, that’s not what’s important, is it?” [Daniel]

She kept quiet and stared at her magic circle. He started to walk around the room, looking at the walls and ceiling as if there was something interesting to see.

“Why don’t you ever work with some light? This place is so dark I can barely see you.” [Daniel]

“Don’t tell such an obvious lie. We vampires don’t have trouble seeing in the dark.” [Evelyn]

She replied while standing back up and dusting off the long skirt of her dress. It was a simple black one-piece that revealed her shoulders with a red rose that was attached in the middle of the chest.

“I work better like this. It makes me think faster.” [Evelyn]

“I see… Then, will you stop thinking?” [Daniel]

Daniel turned and looked at the magic formation, the result of countless trials and errors. He turned his gaze to Evelyn who furrowed her brows when she heard his words.

“… You’re that eccentric man’s daughter. If there’s one person who can do this, it’s you.” [Daniel]

She looked away and held her left arm as she remembered that sleepy-looking man’s face. He had taught her all that she knew and it was his stories that she based her theory on, stories about other worlds, unknown beings and immortality.

“… I’m not my father… And he said it himself… You can’t do everything.” [Evelyn]

She said in a pained voice to which Daniel immediately answered back while raising a finger in front of his face.

“But you can sure as hell try. THAT’S what he said, isn’t it?” [Daniel]

He looked at the sorrowful girl with concern. On that day, his friend had asked him to take care of his daughter and he didn’t plan on letting him down.

“You know, if you give up now, you will never see him again.” [Daniel]

He said so as he turned around and started walking towards the door. His words made her shudder as if a chill ran up her spine.

“If you never see him, then you’ll never be able to apologize to him.” [Daniel]

The old vampire continued as he grabbed onto the doorknob and stopped to look over his shoulder. She was looking the other way so he couldn’t see her expression, but her fingers were digging into her arm and her shoulders were trembling.

“If you never see him, then his last memory of you… will be of when you killed him.” [Daniel]

He opened the door and quietly left. After the room was completely dark again, Evelyn sharply looked up, took a deep breath and crouched down to look at the stack of papers again. She reviewed her work, trying to find any mistakes or anything that she could have done differently.

“I’ll find you…” [Evelyn]

A strong will burned in her eyes. There was no way she would stop.

“No matter what…” [Evelyn]

Even if it took a thousand years, she would definitely see him again.

“Ryner…” [Evelyn]

As the crowd parted and Ryner approached him, Charles was doing all that he could to hide his fury. He had been played. Although too late, he realized his scheme. This otherworlder edged Ryan to fight him and lost on purpose. He probably told his slave to make the hero challenged him again so that he could win and get back his gun. Between his earlier loss and his arrogant behavior before the kingdom’s champion, Charles accepted to wager the weapon as a prize without much thought. He had fallen for his tricks and could only grit his teeth in anger.

“Your majesty, I’ll have my rifle back.” [Ryner]

As Ryner demanded while stretching his hand out, the king thought about the pros and cons of simply kicking him out of his castle and keeping the gun. Though he doubted it could take down a dragoon, but perhaps increasing its power with magic would do the trick. There were so many possibilities, he couldn’t let them go. While he was deep in thought, his wife spoke up from beside him.

“Dear? What is this ‘gun’ he speaks of? Is it what Sorko is holding?” [Jillian]

She gestured at the alchemist who was protectively hugging the rifle as if it was his child. Hearing her made him freeze up. When his family asked him what the commotion was about as the group left for the training grounds, he had told them that a traveler had been challenged to a duel by the hero Ryan Wayer. He didn’t bother explaining the details to them mostly because of his wife’s personality.

“*Cough* You see… It is a special weapon that-“ [Charles]

“It is my weapon that his majesty forcefully took from me, your highness.” [Ryner]

Seeing the king’s reaction, he had an idea of the type of relationship between them. Before he could finish, Ryner had rudely cut him off which caused a stir among those gathered. Charles, instead of being angry, was panicking and wanted to tell him to be silent, but it was too late.

“Ohhh… I haven’t heard about this. Dear, are you hiding something from me?” [Jillian]

“*Cough cough* Um-I-uh-no! Of course not!” [Charles]

“You see, your highness, it all started when…” [Ryner]

Ignoring the incoherent king and everyone else around him, Ryner took a few minutes to explain everything to the queen. Once he was done, he glanced at Charles and for a moment, he smirked at him before sporting his sleepy expression again.

“(He knows!)” [Charles]

A sudden pressure enveloped the area as people started taking a few steps back from the cause.

“Dear~? What is the meaning of this?” [Jillian]

Although she was smiling, everyone saw some sort of dark aura leaking out of her. The king turned blue and was shaking like a leaf when he saw her. Although he loved her, this was the one thing he didn’t like, or rather, dreaded. She was scary as hell whenever she got angry.

“Did you go too far again?” [Jillian]

She didn’t sound mad at all, but her voice caused a chill to run down everyone’s spine. Her husband would always, plainly put, take drastic measures when it greatly benefited the kingdom. Charles tried to defend himself in a trembling voice as he took a step back.

“D-don’t be ridiculous honey. Why would-“ [Charles]

“Did you forget the time when you forcefully enlisted the help of some adventurers for a dangerous mission?” [Jillian]

“N-no I-“ [Charles]

He took another step back.

“Or when you imprisoned someone that didn’t commit any crime because it would, as you said, be better for your authority?” [Jillian]

“T-t-that was so that-“ [Charles]

He raised both hands up as if to try and soothe her. The knights and heroes that were supposed to protect him have all distanced themselves from him.

“Dear~?”

“Y-yes?” [Charles]

The queen’s eyes narrowed to slits and she wore a predator’s smile as she looked at her trembling husband.

“I’ll have to punish you tonight. Don’t try to escape, alright?” [Jillian]

“…Yes…” [Charles]

Hearing this sentence, all hope left his eyes as he weakly dropped his shoulders and looked at his feet.

“Li-Li-Lillian, mother is scary~!” [Carl]

Carl had tears in his eyes as he hid behind his older sister while trembling.

“D-d-d-d-don’t worry! I’ll-I’ll pro… Alex will protect us!” [Lillian]

Lillian did her best to reassure him, but her voice was shrill and she looked even more scared than her little brother. Pushing the entire burden on her older brother, she looked at him for help, but he started panicking when he heard her and shook his hands in front of him.

“Me?! That’s impossible! I didn’t train to fight mother! She’s a total mons-“ [Alex]

“I’m what exactly?” [Jillian]

Their little conversation was heard and Jillian turned her gaze on them. They all started shaking while sweating a lot and only managed to shake their heads in denial as no word could come out of their mouths. They saw a grim reaper standing behind their smiling mother. During this entire time, no one dared interrupt the queen or say anything. Some of them gulped loudly, hoping that her wrath would not be turned towards them. Although King Charles ruled over Elea, they all knew who ruled over the royal family.

“… The force is strong in this one.” [Ryner]

That was all that leaked out of Ryner’s mouth as he watched how well his little revenge against the king went.

“Stop!” [Ryner]

Ryner shouted as he ran in a dark space. In front of him were two figures with their features hidden in the dark. One of them was someone he could call his friend as well as a comrade. He couldn’t see that skirt chaser’s annoying face since he was hidden by the shadows, but he knew it was him. He knew because he was on his knees and a man was standing before him with a sword raised over his head.

“Please stop! Don’t!” [Ryner]

He desperately begged as he ran with all his might, his hand stretched out as if trying to reach his friend. But no matter how much he ran, the distance didn’t shrink at all between them. The sword then came down and Ryner could see it in slow motion. His friend looked at him with a wry smile right before the blade hit his neck.

“Where were you when I needed you?” [Friend]

His head was cut off and spun in the air as blood spurted everywhere. His headless corpse slowly fell to the side in a pool of blood.

“NOOOOOOOO!!!” [Ryner]

As Ryner tried to rush to the dead body, ropes appeared out of nowhere and attached themselves onto his limbs.

“NOOOO! NATHAN! NATHAN!” [Ryner]

As he kept shouting his friend’s name with tears rolling down his cheeks, the ropes pulled him backwards, making him fall down as they dragged him into the darkness. While crying, he tried to claw forward which caused his fingers to bleed. He stretched his hand out towards his deceased comrade as he got farther and farther. Eventually, both Nathan and his killer disappeared from his view and he found himself tied to a tall wooden pole. His human appearance was gone and he was back to his real form: white feathers for hair, a golden right eye with a slit pupil, a black horn on the right side of his head and black clothes with a long coat.

“Nathan?! Nathan!” [Ryan]

“KILL THE MONSTER! KILL THE MONSTER! KILL THE MONSTER!” [???]

Looking around with teary eyes, he saw a group of villagers surrounding him with torches, pitchforks and knives.

“MONSTER!” [Random villager]

“DISAPPEAR!” [Random villager]

“BE CLEANSED WITH FLAMES!” [Random villager]

All of them had fire in their eyes and every breath they took released smoke. A woman approached the pole with a torch in her hand. She was the only person who looked normal in the group as she had short brown hair and blue eyes.

“Agnes…” [Ryner]

He remembered that she always looked so beautiful whenever she smiled at him, but now she was looking at him with horror in her eyes.

“To think I actually loved you! How could you trick me?! You monster!” [Agnes]

She shouted with anger and disgust in her voice.

“It-it wasn’t! I did love you Agnes! That was a never a lie! I-” [Ryner]

“KILL HIM! KILL HIM! KILL HIM!” [Villagers]

His desperate words fell on deaf ears as Agnes silently threw the torch at the pole while looking at him with disgust. It instantly caught fire and Ryner’s body was engulfed in flames.

“AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!” [Ryner]

He screamed in agony as he felt even his insides burn. The villagers cheered upon seeing him in pain and raised their weapons up high in triumph. They shouted even louder with a mad voice as Agnes walked back into the group and disappeared from Ryner’s sight that was filled with orange fire.

“KILL! KILL! KILL!” [Villagers]

“AAAAAAHHHHHH!! A-Agnes! AAAAHHHH! I-I lov-“ [Ryner]

“KILL THE MONSTER!!!” [Villagers]

Ryner woke up while yelling. He was clutching the luxurious sheets of his bed with tears in his eyes. Sunlight passed through the windows and was beaming down on him. Gasping for breath, he looked at the white ceiling and remembered that he was in one of the guest rooms of the castle. As an apology, the queen had offered them to stay and rest for the day to which he accepted since he wanted to talk to her in a more private setting. After he took back his rifle from the sad-looking alchemist, he was shown to his room with Maya staying right next to his.

“The usual… This is just the usual.” [Ryner]

While rubbing his eyes, he slowly sat up from his bed and it was then that he noticed a presence in the room.

“Then… does this happen often?” [Maya]

Maya was standing right in front of the door, looking at him while smiling.

“… You’ve gotten really good at sneaking around.” [Ryner]

He said tiredly while looking away. All of their tracking and ambushing training paid off. If she had gotten any closer, he would have sensed her and woke up right away. Maya knew this, which is why she was staying by the door. He could have detected her right away the moment she turned the doorknob, but she needed to release bloodlust.

“What are you doing here anyway? I thought we agreed you wouldn’t approach me while we sleep.” [Ryner]

He said while wiping off all remaining traces of his tears, still not looking at her.

“We didn’t agree to it Master. You just ordered me not to.” [Maya]

She slowly walked towards the bed that he sat on.

“Then why are you disobeying me? Don’t you remember what-“ [Ryner]

“I know. I get to follow you so long as I follow your orders. But, you lost and I am no longer your slave.” [Maya]

She stood right in front of the bed as she softly smiled at the sad man who was stubbornly showing her his back.

“I’m pretty sure that you said that you’ll still be my slave.” [Ryner]

“Yes, I did. But, you lost so I am no longer your slave like from before when I agreed to always obey you. Now, I am your slave that doesn’t need to listen to your every order~.” [Maya]

“What’s with that messed up logic? Are you sleep talking” [Ryner]

She playfully said to which he retorted with a bit of surprise in his voice. There was no way he was going to let her follow him if she could do whatever she wanted.

“Sleep talk? You mean like what you were doing just a moment ago.” [Maya]

She casually brought up what he didn’t want her to see, what he didn’t want anyone to know. He kept quiet and decided to ignore her until she left. A minute passed with the two of them not moving at all, the room was filled with silence. Eventually, Maya broke the stalemate. She got on the bed and softly placed her hands on his back. She could feel him tensing up, ready to react to anything and this pained her. It told her that he didn’t trust her, that he believed that she would suddenly attack him. Although she had a vague idea as she spent more time with him, she always thought that he would warm up to her sooner or later. However, seeing him screaming in pain and hearing his words in his sleep, she knew that it wasn’t something so simple.

“I have nightmares too…” [Maya]

Her smile was gone and she softly whispered to him.

“That day… when we met… It keeps coming back to me.” [Maya]

She had to try harder if she wanted to close the gap between them. She had to trust him if she wanted him to trust her. She had to tell him her darkest secrets if she wanted him to tell his.

“The bandits… their faces… My lost to them…” [Maya]

So, she slowly told him about the nightmares that would often come back to haunt her. Although she became much stronger and the wounds from that day healed, there were still scars… large scars.

“They… they had their way with me… those bastards… whatever they wanted…” [Maya]

Her voice was strained, her shoulders were trembling and her hands tightly grasped onto Ryner’s shirt. Tears were starting to gather at the corner of her eyes as the memories from that time vividly came back to her.

“… Is that why you kept flirting with me? You wanted to forget?” [Ryner]

He finally spoke up and asked her in a soft voice. He should have known that traumas couldn’t be healed so easily. He of all people should have known that.

“No! It wasn’t just for that…! But I did think that… If it was with you… Then maybe I won’t see them again.” [Maya]

She quickly denied it while raising her voice slightly. She didn’t want him to think that her feelings for him weren’t real. She did want to forget, but there was no way she would ever do it with someone she didn’t like. She was attracted to his strength, she was attracted to Ryner. That wasn’t a lie.

“… You want me to make you forget?” [Ryner]

Without moving, he asked her to which she replied in a barely audible whisper.

“… Yes…” [Maya]

While trembling, she put her forehead on his back and clung to him as if he was all that she had.

“I need you… Master.” [Maya]

She sounded like she was going to cry as she made her desperate plea. Even after all her hard work, she couldn’t change herself and her clan threw her away. In this vast world, the man before her really was all that she had. A minute passed, then another, and then another. No one moved nor talked, except for Maya who was still trembling as tears threatened to fall from her eyes. Finally, Ryner broke the silence.

“… From now on, let’s sleep together… Just sleep together ok?” [Ryner]

He declared while scratching his head. Hearing his words made her look up with surprise as her animal ears rose up, but her expression quickly turned into a warm smile and she couldn’t stop herself from blushing. Maybe, just a bit, her feelings reached him. Wiping the tears out of the corner of her eyes, she passed her arms around his chest and hugged him tightly.

“Really~? Don’t you want to do something more than just sleep?” [Maya]

Her voice went back to the usual playful tone and she asked him while resting her chin on his shoulder. Her big breasts were pressed against his back and he could feel how soft they were even through the clothes.

“No. Don’t try anything while I’m sleeping. That’s an order, understand?” [Ryner]

“I refuse~. I don’t have to listen to your orders anymore, remember~?” [Maya]

He turned his head slightly so that he could finally look at her since they started talking and was just about to warn her one more time. However, he couldn’t help but stare at her face for a few seconds. Looking away again, he sighed loudly before thinking to himself with a wry smile.

“(Oh well. This isn’t so bad.)” [Ryner]

With reddened cheeks and her tail happily wagging left and right, Maya had a beautiful smile on her face that bloomed like a flower as the sunlight shined down on her. If any man saw her now, they would be mesmerized by the sight.

“Please keep looking after me, Master~!” [Maya]