[Aarick's Pov]
Once again I was surrounded by that very familiar darkness that I had endured for so many years before, swimming around an endless sea of nothingness. But now, it didn't feel comfortable anymore.
No, it did carry with it some sense of home, but my home was no longer the same. Because there was no now one to share my home with. I was... alone.
I had been abandoned once again, left by a woman who had fooled me to believe that she would always stay at my side. This time, however, I wanted to trust the words that she had left me with, telling me that she would be back.
'But I'm scared...'
For the first time in my life, I was truly scared.
****
[Dona's Pov]
After a long night of making sure this incident wouldn't cause any trouble, I could finally sit myself down on my couch, thinking about the white-haired youth now sleeping in his room. After his little demonic tantrum, he had fallen asleep due to the overabundance of energy that had consumed him after Lucifer had forcibly activated his ascension, putting her in a deep slumber to recover her powers.
Luckily, as he had emptied the extra reserves of power inside of him, the risk of him losing control like that again was once again lowered to a more normal state. Even if it meant that he wouldn't be as powerful as back then, there was no question about the benefits weighing heavier than the downsides.
'That woman...'
Lucifer, the fallen god who was the origin of all demons who in her anger towards the other gods created the first demon, who was also the first of the Nozferatus. The beginning of what was often called the Divide. Because a lot of gods decided to follow Lucifer down into hell and created their own kin.
Unfortunately, this was just the beginning of where the real issue began. Due to Lucifer's greed, she couldn't help but try to get back to the heavens, and that meant that she had to begin with infiltrating Earth. And the one she sent to prepare the stage for her ascension, the reason behind the word for demons rise in ranks, was Khayman.
Unlike all the other races, the original Nozferatu didn't need help from his fallen god to convert humans into demons, which meant that in his passion for his god, he dutifully created a family around him that would serve his master.
And then, in response, the other fallen gods followed suit, also sending their kin to Earth, kin who often wanted nothing more than to live their lives as freely as possible, with no regard for law or order.
So, being the seniors of the demonkind, the Nozferatus forcibly took hold of the demons, ruling over them, and due to the fact that their numbers could increase infinitely thanks to Khayman, they became the nobles of the demons on earth.
In contrast to the fallen gods whose influence was limited on Earth, Khayman who wasn't a god wasn't shackled by their constraints, and could instead do exactly as he saw fit.
This was the beginning of the war between humans and demons, as well as the reason why the gods made sure to influence humans to the point where they wouldn't allow us to exist. Because the gods felt threatened by the risk of allowing Lucifer back into heaven.
Although I had to wait for Aarick to tell me what his status panel said, I was certain that he had now become part of the race that could be said to stand at fault for the condemning of demons today.
"Haaa... But, I can't just kill him... He didn't choose this life..."
"I didn't choose what?"
Having been stuck in my own mind, I hadn't noticed the young boy standing right outside his room, wearing clothes that were now too small to fit his new body. Even if he was still quite short compared to his peers, there was still no way that his old clothes would fit him now.
Smiling at him, I just waved my hand.
"Nothing. But you should try to sleep a bit more. After you... After what happened, your body needs all the rest it can get."
However, he didn't turn around and for the first time since I met him, he just blatantly ignored my words. Instead, he slowly dragged his feet forward, keeping his head on the floor while doing so. Then, when he arrived at the couch, he simply sat himself curled up beside me, leaning his body against mine.
"Can I just... stay here for a bit?"
The usually strong-willed Aarick suddenly looked so very small, smaller than he had ever looked even before his body grew. A strange mix of emotions surged inside of me, a mix of empathy, guilt, and... disgust.
Empathy because I truly felt sorry for the boy who had to face these kinds of absurd challenges, guilt because I felt like I could have prevented it, and finally a small seed of unadulterated disgust.
Disgust because a part of me couldn't accept that there was no part of him that felt even a bit stressed about what he had done to the other students. No, the only reason why he had been so incredibly distraught had been because Lucifer had disappeared.
It wasn't hard to figure out that Aarick probably hadn't been the one who instigated the incident, but even then... shouldn't he at least have been a bit worried about them? Shouldn't he at least ask me if they would survive?
Gazing down on the meek boy who looked at me with red eyes that still seemed to reek of blood, I forced myself to shake it off. Putting my arm around him, while resting my head on his, I knew that it would be foolish to get lost in my emotions.
"You can stay here for however long you need."
With his body trembling slightly in response to my words, he closed his eyes and in a matter of seconds, he had ventured on to the land of dreams, leaving me behind having to try and sort out my thoughts about everything.
Sadly, there was yet another emotion that ravaged my mind, an emotion that only grew stronger when I looked down at the face of the, now, sleeping demon. Because behind those thin lips that were slightly parted to make sure he would get the oxygen he needed, I couldn't help but look at the two long fangs that were hiding.
Two fangs that were the symbols of what he had become, fangs that had come to symbolize Khayman himself.
Those were the symbols of someone who was destined to stand above all, the symbols of the demons that at one point held the whole world at their fingertips.
The fangs symbolized the birth of a ruler, but they also symbolized endless solitude.
****
[Aarick's Pov]
Waking up, my whole body felt as if I had been run over by a truck, while at the same time feeling more refreshed than ever before. Though I could somewhat remember what had happened yesterday, it was all still a muddled mess when I tried to process it.
Then, interrupting my attempts at sorting everything out, Dona walked out from the kitchen, holding the two cups of coffee that she so often did in the mornings.
"Are you awake?"
"Mm."
"Here you go."
Putting a cup of coffee in front of me, it was hard to not feel embarrassed about how I had acted with her, so there was nothing that could be done about the fact that it was hard to keep eye contact with her. Instead, I just chose to talk for a second to talk with the fallen god inside of me.
'Lucifer, what happened yesterday?'
Yet, she didn't answer. As I knew that she sometimes just didn't answer until I tried a couple of times I was just about to try again when I remembered. Everything.
'Fuck...'
Feeling as if the walls were closing in on me, I tried to shake it off, knowing that she had already told me she would just be sleeping for a bit. Just like she had done so many times before.
'Yes... she told me she would be back. There's no way she would just leave me. She isn't like my mother... She wouldn't do that...'
Taking a deep breath, I somehow managed to stabilize the emotions running wild inside me, forcing myself to believe that she would be back soon. She would absolutely be back soon.
Thankfully, I had someone to distract me sitting on the couch on the other side of the table.
"Now that you have finally ascended a rank, we need to make sure you know as much as possible about yourself before tomorrow."
Though she was just wearing a white tank top and a pair of black sweatpants, which should have made my blood pressure rise, I was too focused on the matter at hand to even react to her appearance.
"How do I do that?"
Giving me a bit of a cheeky smile, probably understanding that I was impatient to find out what I actually was, she told me how to go about it.
"Just open your status."
And so, I did.
===Status===
Name: Aarick Laupier (Dhampir)
Rank: E- [Potential S]
Strength: E-
Agility: E-
Stamina: E-
Intelligence: E+
Mana Capacity: D-
Blessing: Gravitational Bond - Level 2
Elemental skills: [Inherent gravity], [Pull]
Bond skills: [Blood Frenzy]
==========