Chapter 1. Awakening.
P12: Leyla's mystery.
Cecilia and I were concerned for Leyla, for the past few days she had been going off-campus while class was not in session and did not want to speak about it.
It came as a surprise to know that she was engaged to Ronald Cranos, a highly respected noble.
Leyla invited us to her home where she wanted us to meet a certain someone, if that someone could shed light on her mysterious situation remained to be seen.
"That's all for today," Edmar said, closing his textbook and leaving the class.
Me, Leyla and I also got up from our seats and left the class.
"Are you both sure that I don't intrude by asking you to my house?" Leyla said with slight guilt.
"Of course not," Cecilia replied with a friendly tone.
"She's right…we help where we can," I replied.
We made our way off campus and headed for Leyla's place.
We walked and walked for a little while at first we thought we would walk toward the capital centre but this was not the case.
We headed away from the centre and as we did the buildings and living conditions became worse and worse.
We walked until we ended up in an area of the capital that was painful for me to see.
Homes were in poor condition; cracks within walls showed that they had not been well maintained.
I saw people of all ages dressed in nothing but dirty old rags and dirt covering their faces.
"What's going on here?" Cecilia said in shock.
Leyla turned us.
"This is called the slumps. In the area where the poorest of the poor live, the nobles call them peasants and trash," Leyla explained.
I looked around me and noticed even young children sitting on the streets begging for food who had deep cuts and bruises because their bodies were not nourished enough to regenerate those wounds.
I couldn't stand the sight of this any longer.
I focused the magic spell of healing rimiel in my eyes and they began to glow green.
"What are you doing?" Cecilia asked me.
"Just helping those people out," I replied.
In an instant, everyone in my sight was healed free from pain and fatigue.
"I feel better,"
"What's going on?"
"It's been so long since I didn't feel pain,"
The people being healed showed immense joy.
"Who or what did this?" The people asked.
I didn't want them to know that I did this to avoid attracting the attention of Dracula.
"Thank you, young man," One person called out to me.
Beside me stood an old man with a cane he had a long grey beard and was of small stature.
"I don't know what you mean," I said as he shook my hand.
"I saw your eyes healing us," The old man said.
"Please don't spread it around," I kindly asked.
"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone," He replied with a smile.
"Thank you," I answered with a smile.
I didn't just use the standard variant of Rimiel, I used the advanced method.
This method heals other people around them.
For example, when those healed children returned to their parents, the parents would be healed also.
"Thank you," Leyla expressed to me with gratitude.
I nodded with a smile and we continued to follow Leyla.
We stopped in front of a small house that was in extremely poor condition.
Leyla opened the door and led us inside.
"I'm home!" She yelled.
"So this is where you live?" Cecilia asked.
"Yes I live here with my mother," She replied in sadness.
Looking at the interior the walls had many cracks, there was barely any furniture and the floor was in such poor condition that it creaked loudly with every step.
"Please follow me," Leyla led us up the stairs.
The stairs creaked even louder than the floor, and the railing was also on the verge of breaking to bits.
Leyla walked inside a room with me and Cecilia following closely behind.
Inside the room was only a single bed with a person with her eyes closed lying on it.
"Who is this?" Cecilia asked with concern.
"She's my mother," Leyla replied, holding onto her unconscious mother's hand.
The woman also had long purple hair and similar facial features to Leyla; it was obvious they were mother and daughter.
"What's wrong with her?" Cecilia asked in worry.
Leyla took a deep breath.
"I don't know, I tried countless times to use Rimiel but it had no effect. The doctors won't see her because of her status— I'm at wit's end," She said with tears coming out of her eyes.
"What about your father? Cecilia asked, putting her hand on Leyla's shoulder for moral support.
...…..
Leyla remained silent for a few moments.
"My father won't help us…He's busy with his other family," Leyla said quietly but with great anger.
"Why won't he help you?" Cecilia asked curiously.
"To answer that I need to tell you something about my mother's past," She said.
Taking a deep breath she began to tell the story.
"My mother was a maid for the Haverous noble family," She said, the Haverous family was also one of the noble families who served me in the war, they focused on weapon manufacturing and inventions.
"At the time the head of the family Sir Longford Haverous wanted a child but his wife couldn't bear children so per his order he and my mother conceived me as a result," She explains with her head lowered.
"So that means you are a noble," Cecilia remarks.
"That would also explain why you are engaged to the heir of the Cranos family," I said.
"But I was born with a major disability," Leyla said, closing her eyes.
"Disability?" Cecilia asked.
Leyla lifted her upper lip to show us her teeth.
"I see now," I said.
"That's right…I was born without fangs," Leyla explained, lowering her lip.
Leyla always made sure to not show her teeth every time she smiled now I knew why.
Being born without fangs is looked down upon by Vampires, it makes those no different humans in their eyes.
"My father hated that about me and his actual wife kept abusing me asking why I was born, my mother was the only one who showed me love," She said while her tears ran down her cheek.
"Years later his wife miraculously gave birth to a boy, my half-brother Lennie Haverous," She said.
"We got along so well, and I loved no love him dearly," She said with a smile.
"Then one day my father exiled me and my mother. My Mother couldn't find work and we were forced to move to the slumps, over time my mother became sicker and sicker and I couldn't find out why," She said, placing a wet towel on her mother's forehead.
"Then one day when I lost all hope I got an invitation letter from the academy, and with that, I could perhaps gain a well-paying job to help my mother," She said while sitting on the bed.
Listening to her story made me emotional on the inside.
Leyla and her mother struggled through so much pain and hardships but never gave up.
It truly showed how strong both of them are.
"I'm so sorry Leyla," Cecilia went to hug Leyla who couldn't stop sobbing.
*sob*
*sob*
"All I wish is to see my mother awake," Leyla said.
"Then I will make that wish come true," I told her.
Leyla looked at me, her eyes were stained in tears.
"Can you really make that happen?" She said with a hopeful tone.
"What kind of a King would I be if I couldn't save my friend's mother," I told her.
Cecilia turned to me.
"What King?" She asked in confusion.
"I'll tell you when the time is right," I explained to her.
I walked up closer to the bed.
Looking at the Mother it was obvious why Leyla's healing did not work.
"Both of you step back," I told both of them.
Leyla and Cecilia moved away from the bed behind me.
I faced the mother.
"Will you leave her essence willingly or must I drag you out?" I asked.
Leyla and Cecilia were confused about whom I was speaking to.
"I know you heard me, I won't ask again!" I said with a firm tone.
Leyla's mother's body began to shake and her eyes opened.
Her eyes were pitch black nothing but emptiness.
"This body belongs to me," The mother's body said in a deep voice.
"What's going on?!!" Leyla asked in panic rushing to her mother.
"STAY BACK!" I yelled at her.
Leyla stopped in her tracks.
"Your mother is possessed by a demon and that demon is slowly consuming her essence for power, your mother getting sick and weaker over time was the demon slowly eating away at her essence," I explained.
"This can't be real," Leyla said, about to collapse from the stress.
"Can you do something?" Cecilia asked.
"No need to worry," I told them.
I walked to the mother's bedside and reached into her essence.
"What are you doing?" Cecilia asked.
"Don't worry, I didn't harm her physically," I pulled out a light in the shape of a sphere from her body.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" The demon asked using the body of the mother.
This light was blue and black.
"What's that?" Leyla asked.
"That's your mother's essence. The black parts are the spots where your mothers essence had been consumed by this demon," I explained.
Moments later the demon jumped out her body and wanted to grab the essence out of my hand.
I caught the demon by the throat choking it.
"How can you touch me?" The demon asked.
Demons don't have a physical form which was why the demon was surprised.
"I thought your master forbade you Demons from possessing other beings?" I asked.
Demons can't cross over from hell with usual means, but they can by consuming essences to gain power and control of a victim.
This was forbidden by the ruler of hell herself, which was why it was strange to see this happen twice.
"HAHA, you can't do anything to me," The demon said.
"Wanna bet on it?" I said with my eyes glowing orange.
"You can't kill me, Demons aren't alive nor dead," The demon smirked.
I had no time for this since Leyla's mother was not safe yet.
I fired a disintegration beam from my eyes at the demon.
"W-What?! AAA!"
I erased the demon and put a stop to this.
"Mother?!" Leyla ran to her.
The black spots on the essence faded away but the parts that were consumed left holes in her essence.
"What's going to happen to her?" Leyla asked.
Leyla's mother began to slowly fade away into none existence because her essence was not inside her body.
"Don't worry, I can reconstruct her damaged essence using the remaining essence as guidance," I explained.
My hands began to glow orange and the holes began to fill in with the blue colour of her essence.
With the soul essence fully restored, I put it back inside her body and she stopped fading away.
Moments later Leyla's mother woke up looking much better.
"Leyla?" She asked quietly.
Leyla was smiling and hugged her mother tightly.
"Mother!" She yelled in excitement.
"I'm so glad you are safe," Leyla's mother said while stroking Leyla's hair.
"Thank you so much!" Leyla hugged me tightly.
Cecilia was overcome with joyous emotions when Leyla hugged her also.
Her mother was still weak and it will take time for her to fully recover.
"It's getting late, we should go," I told Cecilia it was best to give them some space.
"I also need to head back soon," Leyla said with disappointment.
"You should stay, don't worry about patrols later, I will use magic to make them think you are sleeping in your dorm," I told her.
"Thank you again," Leyla said with gratitude.
Inside my dorm, I thought about the second demon incident and I wanted to get some answers.
"Looks like I need to visit hell again,"