Chapter 2 - Two

Ariella

Thornhill, Vankar island

Northern Isle 

Kingdom of Kuria

October 11th 6414

3:55 am

"Run Ella! Run!" Those were the last words that Ella's Father ever spoke to her. Words that still echoed deep within her inner consciousness. It was the same as always. She fled as her father had demanded of her, leaving him with the bodies of her brothers that had been burnt to cinders. She didn't want to leave her father behind but it wasn't like she had any choice in the matter. She had been forced out of the Great Hall by the ring of fire surrounding him. She knew that was the last time she was ever going to see him again. Her mother was gone. Her siblings were killed in front of her in the most horrific way for their kind. Fear ultimately made her flee. Away from the burning Hall, the wretched smokes that had impaired her throat, passed the fights that had sprung up out of nowhere...Thud! Thud!... They were gone... Thud! Thud! ...everyone dead or being killed at the moment... Thud! Thud!...she tried not to look at their faces... Thud! Thud! ...to block it all out... Thud! Thud!... because in the end, only one face mattered... Thud! Thud!.....she only mattered. And it was to her that Ella fled towards. As long as she was alive, everything was going to-

Boom!

The sound of thunder woke me up from my usual nightmare. There was a flash of white light and another thunderclap, the sound of the rain splattering against the windows cut off by it. I yawned as I got out of bed to take a glance outside. The sky was dark, the storm looked like it still had a lot of fight left in it. It had been raining since we got to town, and the weather was not showing any sign of changing."I wonder why they can't just change this weather," I muttered. I was tired of the rain and the moodiness that it brought with it. It was one of the reasons why I was glad that we had fled the Kettlia Region. I lunged for the basking of sunlight on my skin, the scorching heat that reminded me of home. But home was gone. Taken away from me by those I had once held dear to me. Instead of thinking of my extended family, I thought of this new town that Sanders had bought us to. Thornhill. Growing up, I had heard so much about this town and how it was an attraction for Dungeon Raiders. I couldn't help but feel excitement at the idea of being in a town with a Dungeon. Dungeons were mysterious structures that had appeared throughout the world millennia years ago after the War of Race. After the war changed the Old civilization and a new one began to sprout, these buildings of great power and resources became a significant part of our world. I had heard of how so many lives and circumstances were changed because one was able to explore and gain treasures from these ruined places. Of course, along with the Dungeons came the advent of Demonic Beasts. Demonic Beasts were a species of monsters that seemed to be created by the Dungeons to act as a deterrent against intruders that entered the Dungeons. As such being a Dungeon Raider was a very dangerous occupation. Still, the upside of entering the Dungeon was greater than the downside. This time...I have to enter the Dungeon. Thud! Thud! Thud! There was that sound again. I shivered, wrapping my hand around my shoulder as I left the room that I had taken for myself. It had gotten chilly, more so than it was before. The hallway was pretty much covered in darkness, only the flash of thunder from the windows brightening the space around me. Thud!Thud! Thud! My head twisted around at the sound, trying to pinpoint where it was coming from. Ever since my awakening, my senses have increased tenfold from what they used to be. It had been disorienting, having everything about me heightened, my emotions, my senses, and my Physical capabilities. But thanks to Sanders, thanks to his guidance, I was learning to control it. So right now, I focused my hearing to pick out that perplexing sound that had woken me up from sleep. I sighed as my ears picked up nothing.

"Hello, is anyone here?" I called out. No answer. I looked up at the next floor on the stairs, where Lil's room was. She had decided to take the room above her. "Lil is that you." THUD! THUD! THUD! The sound got louder, bouncing from below. I continued walking down the stairs, slowly in apprehension. I should go back to bed. Nothing was wrong. Everything was alright... But a chill had raised the hair on my arms- a chill that had nothing to do with the weather. It kept me going down the stairs. Though there was no light in the hallway, I had no problem finding my way in the darkness. One of the benefits of having heightened sight. There were portraits, old and tattered arranged around the wall that led to the upper floor. It was hard to truly appreciate the drawings with how hard it was to see the full design of it. Again I wondered who had once lived in this mansion that Sanders had mysteriously bought. He refused to tell me how he had made the sale and with what money he had used. It wasn't like they were living off the Royal treasury that I was accustomed to but ever since we made our escape from Yorkside, Sanders had been able to afford...how do I put this... things that runaways should not be able to. The sound of a door slamming brought my attention back to why I came down in the hallway. The sound... it seemed to have come from the kitchen door. I reached out to the handle, my fingers hesitating around the knob. My senses were firing on all cylinders, my instincts trying to warn me of danger. But what could be so dangerous? I wondered. I pushed the door open, expecting to see the kitchen like it was the last time I had been in it. And in a way, it kind of was. The shelves of pans and pots lined up, untouched like it hadn't been used in a long time. A shape by the oven caught my eye. It was covered in the shadows but then it stepped out and I realized that it was just a little boy. My eyes widened in shock as I took in the boy's appearance. He was young, probably around the age of nine or ten. He wore a brown cardigan sweater and grey shorts. I sniffed the air and smelt the rusty sting of blood, which was spilling out of the slash by his neck. My heart stopped breathing on its own, the smell of blood still fresh on my nose. The boy was pale, his brown wavy hair streaked with blood... Wait... was he kind of translucent? The boy stepped forward, his hand stretched out to me. What the hell was going on? How the hell did this kid get in here?

"Ariella." Lily's voice cut through the fog that had gathered in my head. I jumped and turned around to see her standing by the kitchen door. She was wearing a white T-shirt with black shorts. Her midnight black hair was spread across her back.

"Lil," I muttered. " Do you see him.." I turned back to the boy but he was gone. Even the smell of blood that had been in the air was gone. What the hell? Where had the boy run off to? "Did you see that Lil"

"See what, Ella. Are you alright?" Lil said. She walked over to the fridge and opened it. "Really." She drew out a blood bag from the fridge, a frown on her face. " Hector is aware that not only Vamps live in this big mansion." She put the blood bag right inside, the slight look of frown on her face disappeared as she turned to look at me. "Guess I have to go shopping for groceries."

"Sorry about that. I'll speak to Hector to be more mindful of you." I said.

"Yeah, don't worry about it." She said. Lil closed the fridge and walked up to me, her eyes hovering all over me. I concentrated on making sure that my mind was cut from hers. One of the things I was grateful for my Vampirism, was that Lil couldn't read my thoughts so easily anymore. Though she was human, I had realized long ago that she wasn't your average human. Lil was different. Special. Maybe even more than me...

"Are you alright? You look like you've seen a ghost." Lil gave me a look before she began glancing around the kitchen. "What are you doing down here anyway."

"Nothing. Couldn't sleep." I said. "Thought I heard voices down here." Lil smiled- the light pale scar under her lips was more obvious when she smiled- and took my right hand into hers.

"Having a hard time sleeping again." She said. I nodded, my cheeks brightening as she pulled me towards her for a hug. She placed her forehead on mine. Her scar went all the way down to her jawline. The scar was a strange thing on Lilith's face. For as long as I knew her, she had always had it. Even she didn't seem to remember how she got it.

"Do you want me to stay with you ?" I pulled my head away from hers to see if she was serious. Lil and I hadn't shared the same bed not since we've been on the run. As children, we would occasionally have a slumber party for the two of us and we would sleep in the same bed. As we grew up, it became a monthly thing that we did. But then she stopped sharing the bed with me. A part of me had wondered...no don't go there. I was just glad that she had asked.

"Sure." I yawned. I was ready to leave the kitchen and get back to bed. Ready to forget what I had seen here. Lilith led the way back to my room and once again, I was grateful for her presence. I was not comfortable being alone in the room.

"Are you awake, Lil?" I asked. I turned over to the left side of the bed just as Lil turned to face me.

"Unfortunately, I'm awake," Lil said. " I don't think I can sleep in this house."

"Is it your headaches?" I muttered. She moved her body to face the ceiling. I could tell that she was feeling a bit off. Lil's headaches were the only times I was reminded that she was human. Humans suffered from ailments that we Vampires did not. It took a while before she answered me.

"I can't sleep with this storm." She said. She resumed her former position on the bed. She put on a smile, her attempt to hide the pain that she was feeling.

"You should get some sleep," Lil said. She brushed my hair from my face and tucked it behind my right ear.

"What about my night-" I yawned as my eyelids began to slith close. For some reason, I wasn't scared of my dreams. As long as Lil was close to me, I knew that nothing could hurt me.

*

I awoke to the smell of fresh synth blood. Standing in front of me was Hector with a tray full of what looked to be breakfast. He bowed to me before placing the tray on my lap. There was a glass of synth blood and beside it was a plate of egg and sausages. Lil was gone from the room, the side of the bed looked like no one had slept on it though I could still smell her scent on it. My throat burnt at the strong smell of blood wafting through my nose. I sipped the drink to ease the pain and pushed the tray onto the bed.

"Thank you, Hector. Have you seen Lil?" I said. I bit into the sausage while I grabbed my robes from my bedpost and wore it. Hector made a grunting noise as he glanced at the window. I went over to it and poked my head out the window. It had stopped raining though there was still a dark gray curtain of clouds over the sky. Which shielded the dome from sight. Lil was on the grounds. She wore blue jeans and overalls with a white T-shirt inside them. It looked like she was working on some kind of vehicle that looked like a motorcycle.

"Where did Lil get that Bike from," I asked Hector.

"The Garage of the building, My Lady," Hector said. "It seems the Kain girl was exploring the building when she found it."

"The bike looks to be pre-war," I said. Even after four thousand years separated our civilization from the Old one, there were still remnants of that world within our own. I moved away from the window as I went back to my meal. I ate one of the scrambled eggs. It tasted better than the eggs that they had while they had been in the South. I hadn't had a decent meal like this not since everything had happened.

"It is very dangerous that contraption. Can you believe it has no self-driving features?" Hector said. I smiled. Sounds just like Lil to find something that would irritate Hector.

"So I take it you went shopping for groceries this morning," I said. I poured myself another glass of synth blood after I was done with the first glass.

"Yes, My Lady. As much as I wanted the Kain girl to starve to death, I had to consider you as well." He said. "You can't just live off synth blood. You don't want to be one of those skinny girls from the capital."

"You do remember that I'm awakened," I said to Hector. "I don't need mortal sustenance like before." However I had to say that I loved Hector's cooking more than anything in the world.

"Yes, I remember."Hector smiled. "And I also remember how much you loved my cooking."

"HECTOR!" Sanders' voice called from below. Hector bowed at me before exiting the room. I gulped down the blood before making my way to the bathroom. Hector had offered to unpack my stuff for me but I had refused his help, instead, I had done my packing with Lil's help. Over the past few months, I had gotten used to not having Maids attend to my every need. Though I still had Hector, I had learned to do things myself. If Lil could do it, then I could too. However, there were still times that I missed being a princess. My toiletries were all unpacked and arranged already so I took a hot shower. Nothing like the feel of hot water on one's skin especially when my skin was more sensitive than it had been in all my life. I was still getting used to being awakened. I was blow-drying my hair when there was a knock on the door.

"Come in," I said. The door opened and Lil stepped in. She froze when she saw me, her cheeks turning darker. I still had my towel around my body.

"Should I come back another time?" Lil said. She was still wearing the overalls she had worn while she had been working on the Bike. There were dirt stains all over her.

"Don't be silly," I said. I walked over to my bed and took off the towel. My clothes were on the bed neatly arranged by me. I had chosen a v-neck sweater along with an A-line skirt. "Can you get me my boots for me? It's in the closets." She opened the closets and swore at me.

"I still don't get how you can have all these shoes," Lil said. I smiled at her as she handed me my favorite knee-high boots. It had been a gift from Lily on my Fifteenth name day. She had called it a gogo boots. A piece of clothing from before the Long War. That was Lil's hobby. To shop around old stores that still sell stuff like it. That was one of the things I loved about Lil. Her obsession with archaic objects. I had always found it odd, a strange peculiarity for a human to have. But I came to love it. And I had loved the boots as soon as she gave them to me and it was all I ever wore. It was what I wore when we escaped from Yorkside, the Capital region. It was what I wore even after Sanders had bought more boots for me.

"You know what I always say about clothing, Lil," I said cheerfully.

"You can never have too much." She muttered. "So Hector is still bringing up food for you." She picked up the glass of synth blood that I had finished after showering. "Must be nice to have Hector's cooking for once." I giggled taking the cup from her hand and placing it back on the tray.

"It makes him feel good attending to my needs," I said. "That's all."

"Speaking of needs. How are you feeling." Lil said. Her expression was guarded though I could smell her concerns for me. "The hunger."

"It's not as bad as I thought it would be," I said. "Though a lot different from what I had imagined." Lil raised an eyebrow. "It's like this itchiness right at my throat. The more that I focus on it, the more it itches. The training helps with the pain."

"I still don't like that you awakened too early," Lil said. My awakening tests had indicated that I would have awakened later down the line. But at the beginning of the fall, my awakening had happened. I was glad for it. Glad that I could begin to rank up my Awakened soul by cultivating the Etherious power within me. I grabbed her hands with mine and brought them up to my lips.

"I'm sorry that we moved here because of me," I said. "I know you were getting used to Kettlia and now we are here."

"Hey!.... Wait up. You know It's not your fault we're here." Lil said. "Stop it with the blaming games."

"Lil-"

"Besides, I was getting pretty sick of the city too." She said. "Look at it this way, the R.E.T.U will never think to look for us here." A part of me shuddered at the thought of the R.E.T.U searching for me. The royal enforcement taskforce unit had a reputation for being ruthless and unforgiving. Even to former princesses they were supposed to be loyal to.

"Thanks for that," I said. "So I was thinking that we should go out to town and check it out." Lil pulled her hand from mine. She shook her head, making me smile.

"Yeah, no thanks." She said.

"C'mon. I bet you've fixed that bike already." I said. "We could take it for a spin. Check out what the town's got. See how many Adventurers are in town."

"Yeah, It's fixed up. Wasn't that hard, to begin with." Lil said. " Though I'm not sure if it's a good idea to go out there yet. We've only just got here. We should wait to scope out the area, see...." I squinted my eyes in a pleading way, knowing she would fall for it as usual.

"Fine. whatever. It's not like I have anything to do." Lil said with her arms up in surrender.

"Ok. So go take a shower and wear something decent." I said. "I'll meet you in the kitchen."

_

Royal Palace of the Sulimon family

Yorkside Region,

Pandaemonium,

the Capital of the Kingdom of Ashtarium

August 3rd 6406

6:25 pm

The family was gathered around the dinner table, the only time of the day that Rafael, the King was able to see his entire family. His duties to the kingdom drove him away from them. But he had insisted to his Royal cabinets that dinner time was to be his personal time. Any royal business can be put aside for the next day. Sitting across from the King, on the other side of the dinner table was the Queen. On the side of the table were his children. His two eldest sons were discussing the trade pact with Xibalba, the kingdom on the southernmost part of the continent with their cousin, Isaiah. The third and fourth sons were being entertained by the King's youngest brother. And reading her book at the dining table, ignoring everyone was Delilah, his older brother's second child. Sitting next to the King was his favorite out of his children. The King's little daughter Ariella Ashtarmel was only at the age of eight. She was still mortal, alongside Delilah. Her awakening would not happen for a long time and the King loved it. He loved watching her grow, seeing her healthy. Her safety was the only thing that he cared for most in the entire world. As a king, Rafael had no choice but to exclude strength and power. Weakness was not something that was allowed. But in the night in his room, alone with his queen, Rafael still had nightmares about Ariellas' birth. It had not been an easy birth. Birthing was not an easy thing for their kind, especially those that were New-blood like his love. The sterility rate for Vampires had increased over the years. Ariella was fair skin like all of them, her silver-blonde hair and indigo eyes, a signature of the Ashtarmel family line. Although her size was something that she had inherited from her Mother's side. The girl called to Delilah, her dagger- her name-day gift from the king- was in her hand and she began to play with it. It was impressive the way she handled the knife at her age, showing off the skills that she had begun to develop. On her name day, Rafael had decided that it was time for Ariella to learn how to defend herself. The queen had objected to it but he had insisted on it. It was better for her to gain some skills before her powers would awaken and she began her Cultivation journey. And Ariella seemed to love the training sessions.

"How did I do Papa," Ariella asked turning to him.

"That was quite impressive, my Little one." The King said. "It seems your time with Sanders has been productive."

"Papa, where is Sanders," Ella asked. "He's been gone for a while-" The door to the dining room opened and Nehemiah Ashtarmel waltzed inside. The general was rarely seen without his all-black military uniform. But during dinner time he would always change into a more informal attire but it seems tonight was not the night. He had on his military uniform and the expression on his face seemed to be serious. Ariella loved her uncle. He was the only one except for her Father- who didn't treat her like she was a little princess that deserved to be handled delicately. He went over to his brother and whispered in his ear. Ariella didn't like the look that was on her father's face. The king did his best to hide all concerns but in truth, his family knew him too well.

"What is it, my love." The Queen said. She had been eyeing the way Ariella had been playing with her dagger while pretending to listen to the latest court gossip from her sister-in-law, Yelena while the woman had been feeding her youngest child, Chloe.

"Nothing to worry about." The king said as he stood up. He was a tall man- If you could even call him a man. Rafael Ashtarmel was not your standard Vampire. As a member and the second son of the great Ashtarmel bloodline, Rafael was a veteran of the Long War, one of the oldest and most powerful Vampires in the kingdom. You could see it in his appearance, the way he moved so elegantly and otherworldly. Ariella was always amazed and awestruck whenever she looked upon her father. It was her dream to grow up and be like him. But the girl knew that she would never rule the kingdom. That job was for her eldest brother Elijah, who father was grooming to take over from him whenever he decided to retire. "Just the package I was expecting arrived sooner than later. Come with me, Ariella." The entire room froze, all eyes on the king and the girl. Ariella was sure that she had heard her father call for her instead of Elijah. She did not waste any time and jumped off from her chair to join her father at his side. The girl was about to wave goodbye to Deliah but the queen was faster, grabbing the girl's hand before she could even move to the King's side.

"What does Ariella have to do with court business." Queen Marie Ashtarmel said. The King took the queen by her other hand and kissed her.

"This has nothing to do with court business, my love." The king said. "This is for our daughter. Trust me." The Queen looked down at her only daughter, the girl staring right back at her mother. And finally, she let her go to her father."

Just be careful with her. She's still a child." The Queen said.

"I will, my love." the King said. "I always will."