"Wake up, Lesley, it's time to plant," said a familiar voice as Lesley awoke in a desolate environment. The place was as empty and desolate as the night, with neither breeze nor air. The sole light source was a sizable sphere that had liquid-like visuals that looked to be veins that circular pattern, surrounding a small nucleus, the light continued to pulse like an organ.
Despite sounding like a heart, the beat was calming, enticing to the ears, and the sphere was visually appealing. It almost put him into a state of hypnotic relaxation but he shook it off. Brandon moved across the dark, sand-colored surface of the area that was lit up by the pulsating ball in the center.
As he approaches the orb and extends his hand to touch it, his body is pulled into the shadows, and a voice can be heard saying:
"Don't touch anything in this place unless you are sure that you need to touch it, out of you own will"
Brandon questioned, "Who said that?" as he got to his feet, put his body in a combat stance, and turned to face the evening shadows.
"Put down your hands and lower your guard, son of the stars. I'm not attempting to hurt you"
"Son of the what?" he inquired, looking calmly about the surrounding darkness to see where the sound had come from and in what direction.
Before he could say anything, Brandon noticed the pulse sound changing into an aggressive tone, and the orb slowly rotating whiles making the surrounding space quake, when the orb continues to rotate in the same pace.
Speaking, the voice continued, saying:
Son of stars, you don't have much time left. The power that will be bestowed upon you is a curse rather than a blessing. But don't worry, I'm here to help; I apologize for getting you into this problem. The rats weren't enough; we needed a body. Alright, don't pay attention to that object ignore it; otherwise, it will see and trust me you don't want that.
"I have to close my eyes then?" Brandon enquired.
"I will grant you the chance to use the curse's boon, yes, even though they have already tainted the Factor Core. Not many people know about this secret; only those in the Lost Age knew about it.
"Are you from the Lost Ages?"
"I was; I'll tell you my name later. "Close your eyes or suffer a painful death."
"Gosh, that's so creepy," exclaimed Brandon as he followed the instructions.
Brandon closed his eyes, felt his body tremble, and his skin felt hot by a sudden heat that inflicted his body with small burns as he fell to his knee from the intense heat. Brandon wanted to yell at himself to get out and wake up.
However, he managed to keep his composure without any difficulty, and as the searing abruptly stopped and became insignificant, he seemed to be experiencing no pain anymore.
"You can open your eyes now; they have taken their gaze away from you." They'll return, but we'll have more time to plant."
"What exactly did I need to sow?" Brandon inquired, his voice trailing off.
"Sow some seed, time to garden" said the voice in beaming manner.
The part of the darkness that was speaking solidified and appeared as a clenching hand. The voice stated, "Take it; it will help you become stronger over time."
Brandon extended his hand, and a small black object with an odd shape that pulsed with purple energy was dropped by the darker hand, which dissipated into embers that bonded with the darkness.
"Is this a seed?"
"Yes, this is a curse control factor seed. When you put it in this dark spot, it will flourish even in the absence of rain. But it still needs the light, and that is the orb in the center of the gloomy space; just plant the seed, and I will take care of the rest.
Brandon dug a little hole in the ground , feeling a little scared and confused as he stared at the place's black soul. He wanted power, of course, but not the kind that would eventually poison his body and soul.
"Tell me something voice?"
"You could ask," the voice said.
Brandon exhaled and sighed.
"Am I making a deal with a dark lord?"
With a little laugh, the speaker continued,
You would be consuming a sacrifice like a cannibal if I were. I am not the dark lord, nor do I serve him; I am simply a wandering being with no home, and I do not want you to end up like me, Forgotten and lost to the power.
"From the sounds of things, you have a tale to share. Allow me to endure and determine whether the benefit is worthwhile."
At this point, the voice gave the command:
"You have to close your eyes while planting the seed before doing that. Making this power your own is preferable to it breaking your chains, like the tattoo on your back. Being shackled sometimes takes away the opportunity created for you by the gods and ancestors; cherish this boon and plant it."
Despite not knowing this individual, Brandon followed the voice's instructions because he considered him as a potential threat that he would have to deal with in the future. He had been a patient man when it came to those he did not trust.
He would gradually learn from them while cultivating means to expose or control them as he progressed in life. Lesley Dorn remained, his body rotten and broken, but his spirit was intact, and he had made a promise to Brandon Wilson's fleeting memory.
And for one reason only—he hasn't yet lost—he will honor that pledge and keep on. Brandon placed the seed with his eyes closed, pushing back the soil and completely burying the seed, when the voice spoke:
"Now touch that place where you planted the seed and out stretch your hand toward the orb with the intention to guide the orb, guide the energy to purify what is been put here"
Brandon followed instructions without hesitation, and as he did so, a tiny flare progressively made its way into his hand from the pulsing orb.
The flare trailed off and disappeared into the dark surface of the place, leaving Brandon feeling both hot and revitalized. Brandon backed up a little distance from where he had planted the seed as the flickering light caused the earth to tremble. The seismic activity ceased, causing the dirt containing the seed to burst out. A dark seedling emerged and gradually rose, accompanied by branches and leaves that eventually developed into a sapling and, eventually, a mature health tree.
The tree was a mix of purple and black as it shimmered in the darkness; then, the orb pulsed again, producing a flare that softly made its way to a tree leaf, which shone purple. The leaf was bathed in light as it succumbed to the embrace of the light, and as a result of this bizarre phenomena, fruit grew instead of the glowing leaf.
Brandon grabbed the fruit without thinking. The purple fruit resembled a peach and had a transparent feature that allowed Brandon to glimpse swirling energy within.
The voice responded :
"You pick things up quickly, so I shouldn't be shocked at all. All right, so you've completed the first phase, known as the sowing of the seed (3). I'll explain when we are no longer in danger.
You need power right now to get away from that beast, and he will arrive shortly. We're short on time, but at least you picked things up quickly. Who knows what may have occurred if you hadn't sown quickly enough?
Okay, you've built your first curse attribute, the anchor, which allows you to control the power within.
All you need to do now is consume the fruit you picked from this tree to gradually anchor yourself and gain safe control over your boon. Now, shut your eyes once more and consume the fruit, enjoying its flavor without worrying about opening them until you've finished eating it, okay?
"All right," Brandon said, taking a deep breath, closing his eyes, and biting into the fruit.
The taste was fleeting and lifeless. Brandon felt as if he was back at his boyhood home, and his mother had discovered that he was constipated, so she offered him a medicine, telling him that it was from Africa, her country. It was a mixer that tasted like water with some flavorless salt, which caused him to relax a little and end up soiling his pants within seconds of drinking it.
Brandon was chewing and eating the fruit, but his tongue couldn't reach the seed, so he swallowed half of the fruit whole, disgust written on his face and body as it shivered slightly. He swallowed it whole, and then he heard clasping noises, and the voice sounded like an A.I. in a cybernetic tone:
"You have eaten forbidden fruit from one of the trees of sacred"
"You have gain an ability"
"Active ability"
"Curse Body"
"This ability allows you to have an equal chance at combat with the enemy"
"Use well and don't die"
Brandon felt the dark area quaking and trembling as he stumbled to keep himself up and stable with nothing to grasp on to.
He collapsed to his feet as the voice resounded:
We apologize for the inconvenience, but we must end our meeting early. I'll meet you soon, son of the stars, and be carefully and good luck."
Brandon's body felt as light as a feather as the place twisted to the point where he was dazed. As it sucked him up and carried him into the unknown, as he collapsed on the ground, swallowing him.
Brandon awoke in amazement as his eye opened wide.
Brandon would have excused the dark place as a subconscious dream until the creature crawled into his mouth and caused him to faint. He felt the urge to touch his head reflexively, just like people do when they awaken from a bad dream or experience a headache.
As if he had finally found something that had been lost for a very long time, Brandon experienced a strange yet familiar feeling. He went to his dominant hand, which was on his right, and was stunned and surprised to find a hand on his missing piece.
His hand was replaced by a dark brown wood arm limb formed from roots, resulting in a hand that did resemble Pinocchio's sculptural body but with green leaves as nails. The hand seemed hollow and light, unlike any other body limb he previously had.
He then looked to his left and noticed the same dark wood arm limb; subconsciously, he sat up to examine it more closely and witnessed a miracle in a twisted comedy. His arms, hands, legs, and feet were all back, but in a state that made him look like a wooden puppet, so he went to touch his face with his hands.
He could feel the contact of his skin with his hands, just as he could feel it when he touched himself to wipe perspiration from his brow after a workout or when he splashed or washed his face.
With slightly clinched hands, he continued:
"It wasn't a dream at all, did I plant myself some new limbs and what is that dark place?" He asked himself jokingly as he wanted to jump in the air with newfound happiness. Suddenly, his world changed as the surrounding darkness and visible colors in the cylinder turned purple and blinding, except for a red blub that appeared to depict a quadruplet creature looking for something.
Brandon sharpened his eyes as blub got closer to him, and he saw it clearly: that brawny man in his vampire monster form, sniffing the ground. He smiled as he glanced at the moving red blub of heat signature.
Harrison von Yin is a brawny guy from the Von Yin family, an ancient house of noble vampires that practice the creed.
A vampire must follow certain rules when existing in society, such as not attacking unless provoked or feeling threatened, only drinking the blood of a willing victim or subject, not entering a house without permission, and so on.
The creed is a special agreement.
Everyone adhered to and accepted the creed; those who do not are labeled as heretics, dishonorable, or monstrous. Harrison had transformed into a vampire, unconstrained by any particular belief and free to pursue his desires without fear of retaliation from both his own kind and outsiders.
A criminal on the run is called a fugitive. Eventually, he became employed by Agent 6 as a cleaner—someone who cleaned crime scenes where Agent 6 personnel had committed unsavory acts that no one should be aware of or associated with.
He appreciated this venture since he could feast on the liquids from the victims; it was a nice gig for a vampire looking for food without relying on the creed.
Over time, he became weary of receiving free food and desired to hunt it down for himself, much as in the past, when their race was the predators and the rest of the planet was their prey.
As a result, he left the cleaning service and joined the executive hit squad, which was tasked with eliminating the organization's weak points.
He observed that some lost ends were fine prey and chased them down with his squad of four; he wasn't a commander, just a soldier who followed instructions to hunt, kill, and feast.
He felt terrific until he was assigned a boring duty involving some kids who wanted to go.
So his crew was tasked with punishing them and eradicating the lost ends for good, which made Harrison feel bored again. With a look of both boredom and bewilderment on his face, he left the hard work to his crazy companion, who beat, tortured, and taunted the poor children as they drew their final breath.
When they finished their work, Harrison observed the wolf's crime scene from a distance until he was informed that the elf's body had vanished, leaving only signs of where it had gone. Harrison went to the crime scene and discovered remains of a vampire's reverse blood weaving method.
Which perplexed Harrison for a moment but piqued his interest in hunting down this elf, who he subsequently discovered to be a half-breed between a human and an elf, which confused and excited him even more.
After two days of searching, he discovered an address and planned to pay him a visit. Fortunately, he happened to spot the small half-breed wandering about with a market vendor, which intrigued him to follow the child and murder him somewhere to finish his mission—of course, for his own amusement.
The husk, which he had assumed would flee like prey being pursued, soon reached the pinnacle of his satisfaction.
The prey grew cunning and moved toward the roofs using skills he had never seen done without the aid of the energy within to boost speed and movement; he used his surroundings in ways that made him wonder if the prey was fighting back or still fleeing.
Harrison was intrigued and wanted to see more of this boy's abilities, so he baited him as if he was about to catch him to see what he would do next, to relieve his boredom.
So he proceeded to make certain that he had to step into a trap and see how the youngster would escape; to his amazement, he thought the body had chosen suicide, only to understand too late that the boy had lured him into a move from which he did not escape and wanted to see how it ended.
He was pushed through the alley surface, creating a hole that swallowed them whole and plummeted them into the sewers; his body was damaged and weak because he had entered his monster form, which he couldn't control yet; and the shape came at a cost: uncontrollable hunger.
He could handle the situation for a while until he located a decent meal for himself. Broken and hungry, Harrison followed his nose and instincts to Brandon's sleeping body. Not wanting to succumb to the hunger, Harrison ripped Brandon's legs and sealed the wounds by crystallizing the blood, preventing him from bleeding out. But the legs weren't enough, so he went for the arms and drained the blood before eating the meat and crushing the bone.
He left the boy hapless and broken as he went deep into the tunnels to vent his frustrations and anger on the cobblestones, which cracked slightly as he punched and kicked it with controlled strength as he had just lost his prey; he was startled out of his reverie with the sound of a soft chuckle, the prey had awoken.
As he went to taunt the shattered and defenseless husk child, he thought, "Maybe the game can go on again." His earlier steam reliever retaliated by exploding, and water filled the tunnel; he dropped the prey into the water, jumped onto the tunnel ceiling, and went on the hunt once the water receded. He used his blood magic to manipulate the mice into looking for the husk.
He had found the husk and was on his way there when he noticed a faint odor and sniffed the air to determine what was causing it.
He knew it wasn't sewer filth; unlike the Were Race, Vampires can only detect the odor of a bleeding prey since blood is seductive and addictive to them.
He hurried and followed the smell of what appeared to be blood, which had a strange lasting effect that piqued Harrison's interest in what he would find at the end of the tunnel.
He approached the end and saw a glimpse of the moon's ray, indicating that he was at the Cylinder.
Harrison rose up and walked erect until he reached the edge, where he noticed tunnels pouring little amounts of brown water into the Cylinder, which gently dripped in a manner similar to a small waterfall. Harrison stared down, his eyes widening in amazement.
A young man with white hair with black fragments around the edges of his hair stood there with prosthetic limbs fashioned from tree bark or roots.
He had a torn shirt that exposed his abdominal region, was barefoot, and his eyes were flashing purple as they pulsed like a beating heart. The young man smiled slightly as he added, with a sinister tone in his voice:
"Let's play shall we?"
As he said this, Brandon ran for the cylinder walls, using them as a booster to reach the upper tunnel where Harrison was. He jumped, making it appear as if he was one with gravity, and entered the upper tunnel.
Still in mid-air, Brandon clenched his wooden fist and aimed at the beast. Harrison was still startled by Brandon's situation; he assumed he had left him helpless and vulnerable, as most victims should be.
He didn't notice the speed with which Brandon utilized to jump here; his warrior instincts instructed him to block rather than withstand the blow. Brandon's wooden arm extended and grew into a big fist, shoving the astonished Harrison back into the murky tunnel of garbage and rubbish, which had become more roomy because much of it was now water.
Brandon extended his other hand as he securely entered the tunnel, looking into the darkness with the same delighted yet terrifying smile Harrison had given him. With his teeth exposing the gap of craziness that wasn't obvious in his deep purple eyes, he opened his mouth as purple smoke began to pour out of it, indicating he had become a vengeful spirit with unfinished business in our mortal realm.
Author's note: When I refer to someone as a dark lord I want to guys to picture, an entity made out of darkness. Just evil