*** Lucius ***

"Hello Lucy, do you have a moment?"

Taking my eyes away from the arcane vortex, I notice a shadowy figure emerging from the ceiling. As the shadow starts collapsing upon themselves, a beautiful middle-aged woman descends in front of me.

"April. No, not really. Come back another time."

'She is injured.'

Ignoring her, I refocus towards the live-feed depicted on the screen above. There, somewhere a couple miles away from the mountain range, a young vampire is hand-to-hand fighting against an ursadin.

"I've been heavily injured."

Seeing that I have no intention of listening to her, April approaches my throne, getting down on one knee. To see the proud and conceited High Priestess of the Church of Dawn acting like this is without a doubt something worth remembering. But this doesn't mean that I'm going to help her.

"I told you before not to spy on people." Giving her an icy stare imbued with my aura, April shivers with fear written all over her face but more than anything, determination.

'Cough' 'Cough'

Out of nowhere, she sprays blood on my freshly cleaned carpets.

'Not again…' For whatever reason, things like this keep happening… My "family" keeps coming to me when they are injured or cornered and usually end up staining everything with their blood… Or other even worse fluids. But when they have no problems that need to be solved, no one cares about old Lucy over here.

'Bunch of ungrateful assholes.' Still, I can't let them die on me just for that…

"This is the last time, April. You've been warned." With a flick of my finger, an arrow of frost flies towards the kneeling April, impaling her.

Stunned for a second at the unexpected situation, April looks at me and, with a relieved smile, collapses on one side.

…………………………………..

*** April ***

Waking up still on the cold floor stained with blood, I can see Lucy preoccupied with his oracle spell. Allowing the shadows to cover me, I notice that the blood energy that has been ravaging my body is no more.

'That was closer that I feel comfortable with.'

At first I thought I could suppress it using the countless formations within my domain, only to realise that I was nothing more than a fly struggling in the spider's web. When the energy deemed me to be at my weakest, it attacked, taking hold in my heart and slowly infecting the rest of my body. My spells and formations had little to no effect on it at that point.

Never have I encountered a situation like this where just a strand of someone's blood energy could bring me to the edge of death. Unexpectedly enough, that is not even the most surprising thing. Instead, the simple that a blob of modulated mana could possess a certain amount of consciousness, plan ahead, adapt, and overcome obstacles in order to take me down is far beyond my wildest fantasies. Unless it was not modulated but free mana, but that is impossible.

'If only I could get my hands on some of that blood, I might even buy back my place in the Church of Dawn.'

"Don't even think about it!" With a distant voice, Lucy, who was now looking down at me from his throne, warned. "I told you April, this is the last time I'll help you... At the very least until you become a proper member of the family!"

Although I hate to admit it, without Lucy's backing I would never dare to do some of the thing I've been doing recently… But it looks like I've tried to bite more than I can chew this time and lost my backing. Of course, I know that, if push comes to shove, he would still save my life, although the price I would have to pay afterwards would be far beyond anything I am willing or capable of giving.

Redirecting my attention towards the oracle spell projected above his throne, I notice a rather grotesque scene of an ursadin mauling to death a young boy. Despite the beast looking slightly injured, it's obvious that the human doesn't stand a chance.

"Aren't you going to do something about that?"

"No need." With an amused voice, Lucy points towards the boy and the image zooms in.

"Huh?" Noticing a familiar figure stuck between the jaws of the ursadin, my mind goes blank… "Why…" Why is a monster who almost killed me with a strand of his energy getting played with by a little ursadin that even a normal human with a spear could kill?

"He has been at it for the past couple of hours."

…

I... I have no words… I thought he was weak at first. Then I almost died because of him and now I'm witnessing something like this. Is his weakness just an act? A ploy maybe?

"He isn't acting." As if reading my mind, Lucy answered the question that I didn't even dare to ask least I embarrass myself.

"Come." Rising from his throne, Lucy signals for me to get by his side as a teleportation matrix springs to life around him. With a sudden gust of wind and a blinding flare of light, we appear outside, close to the absurd fight that makes no sense. Behind us, a couple kilometres away, the seven mountains stand tall in all their splendour.

"Need some help, neighbour?"

Barely pulling himself away from the beast, the vampire waves at us while opening his mouth in order to answer, only to be slapped back into the ground by the ursadin's front paw. Then the beast sinks his sharp teeth into his back while pressing him down. Unexpectedly enough, no blood can be seen. From the looks of it the ursadin is simply incapable of penetrating his skin.

"Hey neighbour. I'm fine… Just having this fluffy guy give me a massage." Turning his head to the side, the vampire answers while the beast still tries his beast to devour its victim.

'They are really stupid, aren't they?' Ursadins are known to have such low intelligence that they have even attacked dragons in their lair. Their survival instincts are non-existent. The only reason they are still around is because they can passively absorb mana from the air, which means they don't need to hunt, not that they aren't trying. Because of that natural aptitude, their population is always extremely high.

"Of course… " replies Lucy in an irony tainted voice "And the real reason would be…"

"Mmf-cause the dwarven bloof mgff disgusfun." Answers the vampire in a muffled voice, which is not surprising considering that his head is halfway down the beast's throat.

"Say Tony, can I ask a slightly more personal question?"

"Hit me!" replies the vampire while pushing the ursadin's paw away from his chest and pulling his head away from the powerful jaws.

"Have you lost your memories?"

In that instant, the vampire, Tony, went limp, to the delight of the ursadin. It looks like Lucy's question is straight on point.

Now that I think about it, that would make sense. Being powerful while pretending to be weak, having no aura while containing tremendous power within his body… When you connect the dots, it becomes obvious, doesn't it?

"Something like that…" answered the vampire after a brief break.

"That sounds suspicious." Expressing my doubts, I can feel a swirl of mana materialising in Lucy's hand.

'Swish'

In the next instant, an ice arrow passes through the ursadin's body, ending the beast's life. From underneath the massive corpse, the vampire crawls himself out.

"I had that. He was already tired."

'Ha ha ha.'

…

'Did Lucy just laugh? And it felt genuine.' Despite joining him over seven years ago, I've never heard him laugh even once. And that is only natural considering his nature. He might be a weird Lich who enjoys doing some of the most useless stuff, but he is still a Lich… He should be unable to laugh.

'Lucy might have emotions.' Coming to that conclusion, I feel my heart almost stopping from the sheer shock. It must be mentioned that Liches should not be able to feel anything. The icy embrace of death makes sure of that. They are rational, cold beings who live with clear goals in mind.

'Lucy is far more powerful than I imagined.' In the past, I assumed that his weirdness was just an act. While working under the banner of the Church of Dawn, I witnessed similar situations, so it wasn’t that surprising.

But! What if Lucy acts weird simply because that is who he is? That would mean that he has regained his humanity. Which is unheard of.

"Are you unawakened?" pressed Lucy with another even more insane question, this time with a bit of incertitude in his voice.

"Maybe…" replied the vampire, while avoiding our gazes.

At that exchange, I almost lost my sanity.

'Losing memories I can understand… Being unawakened while possessing this much power is absolutely preposterous.'

"Are you an outer?"

And there it is… The one plausible explanation for everything.

"A what?" answered the vampire with confusion written all over his face.

"How old are you?"

That… That is a weird and seemingly irrelevant question.

"I'm not sure…" taking a long breath, he finally met our eyes. "I was born in the same year when the dwarven revolution against the sanguine empire begun."

"The what?" And with that I can confirm that he is without a doubt an outer, as the vampires and dwarves have never been at war.

"Are you by any chance talking about the dwarven emperor Radur Daregnoik the third?" asked Lucy with hesitation.

"Yeah. That's the one!" replied the vampire with relief.

Not to mention never hearing about this Radur, the family name doesn't even match with the name of the one and only royal dwarven family to have owned the Divine Forge from the beginning of the epoch.

"Lucy, who is that?" Unable to hide my curiosity, I ask him.

'He is a Lich. He is old. Ancient even. If he knows about that name, then most likely that emperor existed.'

"The Daregnoik family have been the first royalty of the dwarven kingdom after their liberation from the Sanguin dominion, at the beginning of the previous epoch, over one and a half million years in the past… Or that is how it was described in the legends."

With that explanation, both me and the vampire were stunned on the spot, with our mouths open and eyes wide.

Over a million years… That is a period that exceeds even the history of the Church of Dawn.

"Th-that's not possible…" Mumbling incomprehensibly under his breath, the vampire seems to be on the verge of a mental episode.

And I might not be far from one either… The history of the previous epoch has been lost during the grand catastrophe.

He is even older that Lucy. He is also powerful and dangerous. But… For the first time in years, my scholar spirit started burning again. Meeting a survivor from that time could shed light on so many questions. Who cares how he got here? The important part is that his knowledge is something I've been dreaming about since I was just a young apprentice, learning the secrets of the world under the care of Alven, pope of the Church of Dawn.

As if betrayed by my own instincts, my body moves on its own towards the vampire. Eyes shining, hands ready to touch and feel every nook and cranny of his body, I approach him, despite Lucy's cold gaze that feels like it's about to freeze my soul. Fortunately, I stopped myself… I feel like if I were to ask him questions right now, I might really die today.

But no matter. There is time. Licking my lips in delight, I can see the vampire taking a step back with a look of horror on his face.

"Calm down!" Under Lucy's mana infused voice we both shudder back to reality. "There will be time for everything, April. Tony, right now you should focus on your awakening. That is the most important thing!"

What would happen if a vampire possessing the power of, let’s say, a duke were to be unawakened? The answer is simple: his mana would start rampaging and he would face a wretched death. In reality, him being unawakened also explains my recent brush with death.

"Take this." Throwing one of his tokens to the vampire, Lucy casts a long range teleportation spell on top of him. "I will send you to a Dome that is under my protection. There you will find a Sanguine Academy. Show them that token and take part in the awakening ceremony!"

Without warning, I could feel my body being pulled towards the teleportation circle.

"April, make sure that everything goes smoothly." With absolute authority in his voice, Lucy doesn't even give me the chance to protest, not that I would have, before activating the spell.

With a flash of light, we disappeared from the spot emerging over 200 kilometres away, in a tiny private residence within a Dome. By my side, the vampire is still stunned by the fast spatial relocation. Taking the opportunity, I retract every mote of mana from my right hand in order to avoid another unfortunate accident and grab his gluteus maximus, squeezing just a pinch.

'Ferm skin. Average muscles. Rapid blood flow. Cold to the touch.'

Taking a step back in shock, the vampire takes a second before extending his hand towards me."Tony!" With a dumb smile on his face, he introduces himself. "Thank you for the little mouse. And you can feel my body any time you want. I don't mind."

Feeling something between fear, relief and excitement on my face, I take his hand and shake it.

"April. It's a pleasure to meet you, neighbour." Smiling back, I prepare myself for what I can only assume is going to be a rather interesting experience. "As for that last part, I really hope you are ready to take responsibility for it." A *really* interesting experience.