I was baffled at the sight of vampires and werewolves drinking and singing around like they've been friends for a long time through thick and thin. The vampires I knew had a deep flowing feud with the werewolves because their patriarchs each wanted their own family to prosper but the moon, their main source of energy and power was something they both coveted for themselves.
But now seeing them being so close to each other was pretty weird for me. I went up to the bar and sat down while the carriage-rider decided to not come because vampires were as unpredictable as the werewolves and them being drunk doesn't help either.
I ordered a glass of water and almost everyone in the palace froze and slowly turned their heads towards me as if I'd something that was a taboo. The bartender said "sorry sir but we do not have water, there's drought going on in this land and we only offer blood and meat from the great 'roots of Dionesium'. Anything other than is not allowed in this village. If we did eat, then we'd be cursed to revert back to taking blood from other species. (in a loud voice to the other guests) I apologies for our new guest and as he doesn't realize our situation and also because he's just a traveler passing through (as he gives him a side eye) our village so do not make trouble and continue on with what you were doing."
As soon as he said that, everyone went back to singing and dancing. Something was definitely wrong here. Dionesium is supposed to be the patriarch of the vampires and supposedly the only vampire who never needed blood. Among all his progeny and descendants, only half-breeds managed to survive without blood and in the sun but half-breeds were also heavily ostracized during times of war because of their powerlessness compared to pure-bloods.
I decided to spend the night in the carriage while the carriage-rider spent it with the horses in the stable. I told him it was ok to spend it in the carriage with me but he insisted. We stationed the carriage right behind the horse-stables which was in a corner of the village quite far from the palace tavern magic shit.
I woke up with a kick to my stomach. It hurt like hell dammit. My eyes were still blurred out from just waking up with the sun flashing on me. Then another kick across my face left me spitting out blood. When I could see properly again, I saw that I was also tied up and dirty with dust and mud. Luckily it seemed as though only I was caught while the carriage-rider was nowhere to be seen. In front of me stood a vampire and a werewolf each with an executioner's axe in hand while on the stage across the land stood another pair of vampire and werewolf. Then I realized that the werewolf was the bartender but I couldn't recognize who the female vampire beside him was yet.
I could've easily conjured up my envelope energy but I decided to not do so which may have been a bad decision but well I was preoccupied.
A guillotine was set up in the centre of the plaza and I was being pulled up there. I could've easily cut through these binds and escaped but I decided to stay and know why I'm stuck in this situation in the first place.
My mouth was stuffed with some kind of hardened resin which tasted like tree sap so talking was not an option. Then the vampire stood up from her throne on the stage. "You, why do you have the 'necklace of Dionesium' around your neck?" Well, I understood now why I was caught. I had forgotten but, on my birthday, my mother had gifted me this necklace and told me to keep it on me.
I wondered why my mother gave this to me with so much kindness in her eyes, well it had come to bite my ass now. When I saw this necklace, it was quite simple. Made from moonstone which was a pretty common rock in the northern regions. It had a circular pendant with the words written as small as possible saying 'sun, athanasia and blood.' Which wasn't a lot but other than that, it also functioned as an energy reserve. Energy reserves exist mostly in the body of every living being and for those that cultivate their energy, their energy reserves tend to increase and help in holding energy for strenuous conditions.
There also existed artificial energy reserves outside the body which took the shape of jewelry because seemingly most human's desires consisted of becoming rich. These external reserves only form in rare conditions where there's a heavy concentration of energy which is then used up by itself. Yes, its non-sentient being but it can build itself up to form a reserve.
Then once a human finds this external reserve, if he inserts a small amount of his energy inside it. It's then considered as a bounded item as no other form of energy can enter it. The reserve is unbounded only in two conditions. When the energy inside the reserve is completely purified without a trace of its previous owner, or if said owner dies as then the cultivated energy disperses back to its original form.
I thought my mother had just given me this for training and to help me in the future but I guess she didn't realize the load she'd be giving me along with this necklace but whatever. "I found it at an antique shop" I lied but well, I was bad as hell at lying cuz they instantly found out and the vampire came gliding to cut my throat but the bartender stopped her. In response to her blood thirst, I had ripped apart the rope tying me down and I jumped back to a spot where the vampires and werewolves weren't standing.
The vampire said "stop lying, you ugly fuck. I can see that you're speaking lies with my eyes. I've handles all sorts of humiliation from the Verion duchy, I didn't do anything when they manipulated the trade of our village, I didn't do anything when they forcefully conscripted our people to their army, but sending someone with the necklace of Dionesium, that violates everything we stood and fought for." Her hatred was familiar, for a moment as I blinked, everything went black and all I could see was a dark red heart in the place where the lead female vampire stood. Everywhere else, the color was light red or orange. I couldn't figure out what had happened so I was attacked again. But this time I couldn't dodge it and her hand was holding my neck high. I was being choked and I couldn't summon my sacred guard or Magna.
fuck, I had no way of dealing with this shit.