When I woke up Asare was standing across from me with a thick book in his hands. It seemed ancient and antique, and with the precarious way he held it, you would think any wrong move would crumble it to dust.

I had no idea what the book was for, Asare said he was going to be teaching me all I needed to survive, but I had no idea what a book had to do with survival. Our eyes met and I couldn’t help but shudder at the look in his eyes, there was such focus and determination it was nothing short of impressive.

I had not had the urge to rip his throat out in recent days, maybe weeks as I can’t be sure of the passage of time in this cell of mine, but one thing I know however that any wrong move from me will earn me a hit from that silver glove of his.

He threw the book at my feet, raising dust into the air as he said with a calm voice.

“I trust that you can read. Learn everything you can from it, memorize those stories, understand the people within it. Right are now you are nothing but an mound of clay, dry and hard. What you learn from that book will make you wet and ready for molding, what you become after is up to you.”

And then he left without saying anything more. I couldn’t understand what he meant by calling me clay. But I was honestly exited by the prospect of exploring something new. I picked the book up, with its sheer size I expected to weigh a bit. But when I carried it I couldn’t feel any weight at all, it was almost as if I was holding a feather.

When I opened the book a few grains of dust flew into the air, I wave my hand a bit as I took a closer look. Written in bold handwritten letters were the words THE COMPENDIUM AND HISTORIES OF SHEARATH. I had no idea what Shearath was but it seemed I was going to find out.

I spent hours reading that book, days upon days as the weeks passed me by. I was enamored by it, entranced and lost in its pages as it regales me about the history of this world, the history of my world. The book spoke to the first sun, of how mankind was born from the dust of the world at the discretion of the WAY the mystical scroll of power that guided the strengths and abilities of all living things. It spoke of how the elves were born from the leafs of the world tree, how the dark elves were born from within its roots.

It spoke of the birth of the dwarves, how spirits of the earth wanted to take form like the man that came from their cradle. It spoke if the birth of the Gods, of how they were the first men, the first dwarves, the first elves. And then the earth birth its children, on the dawn of the day she first lived. Born from the culmination of spirits and the tender care of man. She gave them trees, she gave them animals, she gave them wonders the likes of which they had never seen.

All was at peace in the land, the Gods walked among their fellows as the enjoyed the peace and protection mother earth offered them. And guiding them all on this journey was the way. It showed them how to live, and how to harness the power of the ether. And from then on the first mages, were born, the first warriors, wizards witches and many more masters of the arcane art. And from that advent the way understood that it had given the key to Shareath's own destruction. And so it was that the first sun came to an end, and from it the darkness rose, and it gave birth to its own creatures, monsters. From its hunger the Vampires were born, from its rage the werewolves, from its heart and mind the first Gods of the dark walked on Shearath.

They were accepted, welcomed for the way did not discriminate them of their origins. But they were all children of the dark, the could not thrive with light and so they sought subjugate it. The children born of the time of the first sun were good, bright and just.

But the dark had made beings with the first capacity for violence. And so it was that on the whims of a dark child death was born and blood flowed. The light children with no idea how to survive or express violence we’re helpless. Until the first Human warrior, the God Batik learnt war, and the first mage the sacred elf goddess Saleil made the moon to keep a light that held sway over the dark children.

And so the first war began, and it has been so for centuries as heroes and monsters arose for both sides of the spectrum to assert dominance. The Way tired of the blood shed but un able to help without being forced to choose a side broke the world, it spilt mother earth into multiple pieces and forced all the races apart. And the it split itself, shared itself among every living soul on Shearath so that they can forever have the chance to grow.

But it did not work, with growth, came improvement and mankind lead the front. I genius and the most capable of all the races the learnt and built away to bridge the gap between the continents. And with this bridge war came again, but this time non were as good at it as the humans, and so the struggle continued. The Gods left, and the spirits choose sides. War continue to rage, and it would continue to do so until the day that light and dark learn to coexist together, or the destroy each other of the face Shearath for one can not survive without the other.

As far as I was concerned it was an impressive story. It told me a lot of things and filled my head with wondrous sights as I imagined the time of the first sun and the birth of the first moon. The book did not just hold the story of the beginnings of this world. But also of the histories and events that came years later. Not to mention it also gave a detailed explanation of all the races.

It was from there I came to understand what I really was, why I loved the taste of blood and why it was the only thing I have been fed since I first woke up. I am a vampire.

I had no idea what to really feel. The book painted the children of the dark as evil and bloodthirsty monsters who lived for the destruction of everything good and pure. I was certainly blood thirsty, but I did not think I was evil or wanted to destroy the world. And since I have known nothing but my cell since I woke up I couldn’t tell what other vampire’s were like.

I spent my date after that reading, studying and contemplating everything the book had to offer. It gave in depth study on the cultures of each races and explained the hierarchy of their society. Like the dark elves, their race is known as matriarchy. There were ruled by women, much to the chagrin of a lot of old fashion races who believed man should always be the head.

However the book seemed to love and embellish about how great the human race was. As far as I was concern the author was a genius for putting this together but he was a little racist for me.

But I learnt everything I could and committed them to heart, I had more time than I realized and it enabled me to go through the entire material in the book. So the day Asare came to take back the book I was more or less prepared. Though it has kept me company in recent weeks I knew our companionship will eventually come to an end. But when that day came Asare did not come alone, it was a welcome surprise at the time as I was excited to meet someone knew, I was wrong.

Asare was standing at the door of my cell in the company of another human. Unlike Asare who looked even with all his unkempt appearance a stellar example of what a human man should look like, this new addition was short stocky and fat, well not that fat. But it was hard to differentiate whether his size could be attributed to muscles or fat.

“So this is the defender?, the noble son of house Cor and an activist of racial equality.”

I had no idea what he was going on about, or why his words had such disdain. But before I could ask him why he was being so hostile he spat in my face. I was shocked, and then I was livid, the rage that I felt was palpable and it showed in my eyes. For the first time since I woke up I felt my fingernails elongate until the became sharp claws, my incisors painfully protruded out of my gums as the became sharp pointed fangs.

“what the hell is wrong with you?” I asked in unrestrained rage.

My answer was to receive a cut from a whip of pure silver, the attack was so sudden that even with my superior speed and senses I couldn’t track or follow it. I felt it leave a shallow cut on my chest as I was exposed to the same burning sensation I was subjected to every time I had attacked Asare.

But this time it was worse, I could feel the cut burn and bubble almost as if I was being cooked alive. My feet couldn’t support me as I tumbled to the floor in a heap screaming my self hoarse in unbearable pain. And through it all Asare stood there watching, doing nothing to help me or even berating his fellow human for his cruelty.

“Let me tell you something simple traitor. You are now the lowest of the filth, trash not fit to even clean my toilets, and you live and die at my discretion. So if you want to have a relatively easy life, keep you your traitorous garbage racial equality crap out of my prison and you would live a life of misery without the pleasure of torture. Now let me leave you with a parting gift.”

With his piece said, I head him shuffle his trousers down as he released a stream of yellow liquid on top of me. I knew exactly what it was but I was powerless to stopping him.

And as my body was still shaking in pain, he leaned down until his face was close to mine and said.

“Now you smell like how you look. And as an afterthought I will leave my name with you. They call me Adein the lover, and pray to all the Gods that may have not forsaken you that I should never find a reason to show you some love.”

I felt him get up as he turned to Asare.

“He has already completer the turning, his claws and fangs are already out, so you can put him with the rest of the trash. And remember no funny business or you could quite possibly be joining your former liege lord in the mines.”

And then he left, taking Asare with him as they left me behind, angry, hurt and scared, very scared.

***********************************

The very next day Asare came to my cave with a pair of shackles. He had already taken my book away so there was nothing left in that cell. He locker them around my wrist and motioned for me to move out. As angry as I was, I was grateful Adein was not here, the man who I suspected to be the warden had left my an unexpected gift after out introduction yesterday.

Apart from the fact that I smelt like piss, a burn scar ran across the dark brown skin of my chest, it was healing, but slowly as every movement I took that caused friction between my skin and my soiled shirt left me with such pain I almost passed out.

Asare led me by the hand outside of my cell, and for the first time since I could remember I was standing outside of it. I was scared, terrified. My cell was the only source of solitude I have ever known, and the very idea of what lay beyond scared me to great lengths.

I stopped moving. For the first time I heard my heart beating, it was slower than what would be expected of a normal person. But it did not change the fact that I was frightened. I felt Asare put his hands on my shoulders and I flinched. I was angry with him, I was angry that he did not do anything to stop Adein from humiliating me yesterday. I knew it was not his fault though, even though Asare and I might have had a master servant relationship from a past I couldn’t remember I knew he did not have a choice.

But my anger at him was the only thing I could focus on right now to keep my fear at bay. I felt him put more pressure on my shoulder in an attempt to make me move, but I resolutely stood my ground refusing to move a single itch.

Asare may be stronger than expected, but I was still a vampire, and it would take a little more than that to move and he knew it.

“I am sorry” I heard him say

“what for?” I asked him in an emotionless tone.

“for yesterday, I am sorry I could not protect you from Adein, but my position is important if we are both going to stay alive here.”

I shook my head and let out a sigh of defeat. I wanted to be angry, I really do, but I felt it was to childish and unfair. With a boss like Adein the lover I doubted he could do much.

“why do they call him Adein the lover” I asked as I took the first step forward.

“believe me Kael you don’t want to know” he replied.

We were walking down a hall with metal gates on both sides. Rows upon rows of empty cells, some of them had bones, bleached white by time while others had rotten corpses that somehow could keep the smell from escaping.

As we moved I noticed symbols and tattoos like the same on my hand painted on the walls and the steel bars, not all of them we’re moving, but some moved just like my own.

“Asare what is that?” I asked pointed to the symbols as best as I could with my manacled hands.

“those are seals.” He replied, as if that was supposed to automatically make sense.

“what are seals?” I asked again.

“seals are the language of the way” but this time he had learnt his lesson so he continued the converse.

“seals have extraordinary properties, they give the power to affect reality in ways the arcane art can not. Like the one on your wrist, it is called a blocker and it prevents you from accessing the way.”

I was confused. So I kept on asking.

“what do you mean by accessing the way, I thought that it split itself years ago and was not seen anymore.”

Asare looked at me like I had grown a second head before he sighed and continued.

“I forgot the book does not have recent history from after the Dark elves rebelled and became a matriarchy. The way, also known in recent years as the system, is a supernatural scroll of power that give a detailed analysis of your powers, abilities and capabilities. It different for every one, as the way presents it self differently to each individual. You however and every single one of the five and the half million dark elves and vampire prisoners in this place have a blocker to prevent you from gaining access to the way. You are all helpless, so the only thing you can do is survive.”

The system sounded like something of great wonder and power, the fact that the loss of it has made me and almost six million other people prisoners only showed how much of an importance it carried. I looked at my wrist in wonder and thought about how this tattoo had turned out to be another thing that I would be bound to hate.

We eventually walked out of the hall way, and into a vast cavern that had a network of caves each labelled differently. Some said mining area, another said residence, the tunnel from which I just came from read solitary.

“This is the cross roads, the absolute center of the entire prison. All this different caves leads to different sectors of the mine, so you shouldn’t get lost. But there are some places you would not be allowed into, after all you are a prisoner.”

As we moved towards a cave marked vampire residence, I could hear loud grinding sounds of rocks scraping against each other, and right before my eyes I saw the caves move and change the directions. I stopped moving in surprise, before the sight of people coming out from different parts of the caves shook me out of stupor.

I saw people with pitch black or purple skin and elongated ears and the tell tale purple eyes that showed that they were dark elves. There was a lot of them here, and they all carried baskets or pushed carts, even children were not spared from it.

I spotted vampires from their red eyes and the fact that they had what you would call a normal skin color. But that did not change the fact that both groups of people we’re haggard looking and covered in dust. Some of them were so lean and emancipated that I felt a little gust of wind would be enough to blow them away.

And right behind them, in guard uniforms and looking ferocious were massive bipedal wolves. With their human like structure I knew right away that this new addition are werewolves. Humanities very own guard dogs.

As Asare led me towards the now stable cave, a lot if not almost the entire group of dark elves and vampires were looking at me, a lot of them even bowed and I could not even understand the reason for it. I bowed back, and it was as if I sent a ripple through their ranks.

A lot of them began smiling and even a few of them cheered. I turned to ask Asare why they were all looking at me as if I was some messiah who could walk on water, though I could not see why a messiah would need to walk on water, weird.

But Asare had gone pale, it was as if he had seen a ghost. He pushed me forward his steps more hurried than before as we went through the cave marked vampire residence. We came up into a system of tunnels that split in five different directions, we took the one at the extreme left and began to make our way down into the darkness. It was right about now that I noticed seals, like the one binding me we’re written all over the walls of the tunnel, and they provided a bright yellow glow that served as the illumination for the tunnels. We walked for what was most probably two hours or even more, before we came to another cavern. This one however stretched to as far as the eye could see, all the way to the horizon. And its landscape was dotted with massive and wide pillar like structures that stretched to the very top of the cavern ceiling which even with my enhanced vision I had to stretch my eyes to see. Then I heard Asare speak.

“This prison is called the dancing caves of Noxis Nyx. And this place would be your home for the next foreseeable future. This cavern however has a different name. Lord Kael……..welcome to the pit.