Everything seemed so nice after the world went dark for me, no more aches, no more responsibilities; I was even ready to let go of that want for revenge for a moment. All to keep that peaceful nothing wrapped around me, of course that would've been too nice; my peace was interrupted by a loud Ding followed by some sort of notification.
[ Ego assimilation complete. ]
Without hesitation my eyes opened and I observed the room I was laying in, the feather bed I'd found myself in was comfortable so that was a plus; if not for the fact that I couldn't remember how I'd even gotten into the bed. It was comfortable in a vaguely familiar way, and despite the lack of light in the room I found myself opening the curtains to let in the morning light in a routine fashion.
"What time is it?"
I'd quietly thought to myself while yawning and running a hand through my hair, a finger got caught on something rough attached to my scalp. Thankfully there was a mirror next to what seemed to be a closet full of nobleman's clothes. The mirror showed me the charcoal black confused face of a golden eyed devil child with his hand caught on one of his horns. I laughed at myself and noticed the sharpened canines just hidden between my lips and at the thought of, 'What am I?', multiple notifications popped up.
[ Character Information ]
>Name: Alestar Dracul<
>Age: 14<
>Race: ???<
[ Stats ]
>Locked until assimilation is complete<
[ Abilities ]
>Locked until assimilation is complete<
[ Current assimilation has 75% left until completion ]
Despite any curiosities I may have had towards understanding this new phenomenon just thinking about the assimilation gave me a headache that caused the room to spin until I closed my eyes. After gathering my thoughts I opened my eyes and decided that before anything else I would find out what life this 'Alestar Dracul' led.
As I walked through the silent corridors of the Black stone, unknown memories passed through my mind; I could remember my younger self playing in these halls with my brothers and sisters. I could remember them all clearly, just as I remembered laying down to sleep last night; but the Alestar that woke up today was a different person entirely. It was a shame I held little to no emotional memories regarding my family. The youngest son of house Dracul, a member of the Ten Great Demons, Alestar is, or I suppose I am, the only son of Lord Dracul's fourth wife. I racked my mind for anything else among my 'other' memories that might be helpful, but the silence in the hall had started to go against what I knew should be the norm. 'Too quiet.' Usually there'd be noise from a few of my siblings, or if nothing else a maid or two would be up by now.
Any noise would've been welcome as I made my way to the kitchen, but the mansion remained silent; I couldn't help my mind's eye creating all kinds of scenes from the nightmares of this kid's past. As I tried to push past the shaking in my hands did I hear the notification for my assimilation rate.
[ Assimilation rate raised to 50% ]
The new notification didn't bring another headache so I'd worry about the assimilation after I found out what was going on in the manor.
My shaking stopped as the door opened to reveal old Bertrand, the family chef hunched over his table sleeping with his arms crossed over his large chest. A nice memory of the old ogre helping young Alestar keep his list of secret hiding spaces around the manor safe. Bertrand always had a serious expression on his face whenever I visited the kitchens as of late but I could remember the few times he'd crack a smile when he thought I wasn't looking. "Don't you know a few visitors is no excuse for you to sleep in old man." I'd decided it would be best to wake him up with a joke before I shoved him with a laugh.
My laughter cut short when Bertrand's heavy body fell to the ground with a loud crash that shook the entire kitchen, but the strangest part was when his head fell in the opposite direction of the rest of him landing right next to my feet. Cold droplets of blood hit my feet, and stained the sleeping linens I wore. I stood frozen, staring at Bertrand's dead eyes as my mind attempted to make sense of what I was seeing. 'If Bertrand was dead wouldn't that mean the food last night was...' My train of thought couldn't continue as another headache hit me, I'd gone to bed early due to feeling ill, last night was the most pain I, as Alestar, could recall; it felt like my body was burning from the inside out and my heart beat so much that I thought it might explode. It was obvious then that I'd been poisoned and the rest of my family were in danger as well.
I ran from room to room searching for anyone but the manor was empty, as if I'd been living there with ghosts for the last few years. It took more than a few minutes for my mind to pull itself from panic and I found myself crying on the roof in search for clear air. Up there I finally realized my mistake from when I woke up, that light from earlier hadn't been the sun, it was a fire.
[ 25% until Assimilation is complete. ]
I could smell them before I saw their bodies in the pit of flames, a small part of me found a sickening fascination for how quickly the abnormal green flames burned away at the corpses of my siblings. If I had anything left inside me I may have thrown up, but as fate would have it I wouldn't be given an excuse to take my eyes off of the horror scene in front of me. Servants, and house soldiers alike were stripped of their flesh and made to pose in a most morbid fashion while a group of tiny imps plucked strings of muscle causing a few of the living corpses to howl in pain. Their screams wouldn't reach me though, not as I watched a blur of black energy surge past my head, clashing with a soldier surrounded by a red aura. The beast soldier stood at three meters tall with a golden mane behind its head, it's yellow eyes glared at the black cloud that hovered just out of its reach. A roar of challenge that shook the manor was cut off short as a javelin shot out of the cloud piercing the beast soldier through its heart.
[ 15% left until completion ]
I stared at the black cloud as it hovered above the manor, looking over the chaotic scene like an eye made of ethereal pitch. My father, one of the Demon Lords of Hex that worked directly underneath The Demon King; if anyone could help it would be Father. A set of screams brought me back to reality as down in the courtyard my mother was desperately clinging onto the young girls as a cyclops towered over her. The beast didn't wait, instead it brought it's club down on my mother's shoulder with enough force to raise a dust cloud.
As the dust cloud settled I could see an arm covered in shadows holding up the club while the other hand was stretched out towards my mother and the young girls huddled around her, before I could blink a large shadow shot out from the arm and enveloped my mother and the girls. In the next moment they were gone and even though I couldn't see my father's face I could still see the bitter smile on his face behind his shadow armor. 'They won't have your greatest treasure eh Father?' I laughed despite the things around me, because I could feel my past memories merging with Alestar's to the point where I felt the emotions he would've. I watched my father fight off four assailants with the prowess of a seasoned warrior, I felt the pride in the warrior's blood surging through my veins
[ 10% until completion ]
I watched the battle, wishing that I could do something, anything to help my father; but in the end even I knew I'd only get in his way. Of course I'd been spotted long ago after standing on the roof but I'd completely forgotten about minding my surroundings. I was blindsided by a large tentacle and soon found myself flying through the air; for a moment I thought it wouldn't be too bad to hit the ground and perhaps save Father the trouble of worrying about me. As I neared the ground though my vision went black and I felt someone catch me out of the air. "Alestar..." His voice was heavy with worry and I could tell his battle had taken up what little energy he had left after transporting what was left of our family away to safety.
"I-I'm sorry Father..." It was a pitiful apology but it was all I could do given the circumstances. When I finally took my eyes off my father I saw that six beings emitting powerful energies were standing a few meters away. Three of them belonged to the humanoid beast type tribes, the lion had regenerated his heart and was now standing at the head of the group snarling, following close behind him was a some type of bird that stared at the shadows warily; the last beast type creature was a smiling dark purple lizard. Next to Smiley was a small blonde haired girl with two small horns protruding out of her forehead, a tall dark haired woman with bored eyes and a face devoid of emotion. Finally there stood a figure in crimson red armor, they held a golden long sword in one hand and in the other there was a red aura burning with enough heat to cause their companions to step away from them.
"Esteemed Lord, I apologize for our lack of decorum, but my employer wanted either your compliance, or your silence; failing that I'm ordered to raze house Dracul until not even the Black Stone remains." The red soldier spoke eloquently, seeming to actually mean what they said, they even bowed slightly in apology to my father. "Think about what it would mean for your final heir if you choose to fight us here Lord." The threat was there, no matter how courtly the soldier spoke and Demon Lord couldn't leave a threat unanswered, and with clenched teeth I saw my father step forward, his shadows seemed to roar hungrily, as if the beasts of the abyss were calling out through his shadows.
The crimson soldier shook their shoulders before a spear of that wild red aura formed from their hand. The soldier threw the spear with such force that the ground beneath their feet split apart, and in the next moment the spear met the shadow armor with a loud Thoom that jarred my brain. I held onto the fleeting hope that my father's strength would hold out, but soon even that hope was brutally crushed as the spear pierced the shadows and followed through my father's chest. The wind, and heat from the spear seemed to eat away that the shadows long after the spear had passed by. Through it all my father didn't fall not until all that remained of him was a charred skeleton that refused to fall. Seeing his corpse standing resolutely against his enemies still I felt angry tears fall from my eyes. Why did my family have to go through this? What had we done to deserve to be betrayed like this? It was all just so...unfair.
[ Assimilation Complete... Loading inquiry. ]
[ Alestar Dracul, do you desire to right the wrongs done to your family? ]
What?
[ Do you want revenge Alestar? The power to bring all who've betrayed you to ruin? ]
Slow down, this makes no sense.
[ Will you accept the power of the Betrayed heir? Decide quickly, your life will end shortly depending on your answer. ]
I want revenge. I want to kill them all.
[ Title: Heir of Betrayal given. ]
[ Quest: Road of vengeance has started. ]
[ Stat and Ability lists have been unlocked ]