Just as he did so, Zeke was there behind him. The vampire stared into his eyes menacingly, and his pupils contracted.
"Forget about whatever you just saw. It is of no concern to you." He commanded.
The man nodded and trembled slightly, before fearfully running past Zeke. Abel looked cautious as he had seen this happen, and looked back to Zeke, who also had a similar look of worry.
"Was that supposed to happen?" Abel asked.
"No, he's resisting the compulsion." Zeke replied.
Abel's eyes widened with shock, and he walked closer to Zeke with surprise.
"How he's doing that?" He whispered, looking back to the man, who was running in the distance.
"I'm not sure. I don't think he's strong judging from attire but he could also be using special herbs to resist it." Zeke proposed.
The running man returned home and began to write a latter across a sheet of parchment. He wrote it swiftly, and with emergency.
"Dear Arwin,
I am saddened inform you that I have noted a case of a vampire within Nudra. I believe that this situation requires immediate attention."
After writing a full letter detailing what he had seen and what to do going forward, he rolled up the parchment before leaving through the shoji behind him to return to the streets.
Handing off the mail to a courier, the man who was on a special horse was ready to go. He had large bags that were being mainly held by the horse, that had silver fur and very large muscles.
"I shall get a response back to you by tomorrow. Nightcrawler! Be on your way!" He shouted, thrusting two whips up and down.
The horse was almost revitalised by the whip and began to gallop away at super high speed, reaching higher than even 100 miles per hour.
*****
Abel, after so many shifts in his homeowner's restaurant, was starting to save up quite a lot of money. He had been used to living a life of sparingly using his resources, and with the lordship still granting him monthly payments, he was earning more than he should've been.
With 6 gold coins, which were worth 600 silver coins, and an extra 250 silver coins, he felt as if he was loaded. He had never seen this much money at one time before. It was almost unreal for him to believe that this money that he had received was now in his possession.
Him and his friends had organised a get-together to buy some of their first elixirs. Unluckily, Zeke didn't want to use his compulsion to get any elixirs. He knew how weird it would see for other people in the market to see him basically cheating sellers for elixirs.
The market for elixirs was very competitive and anybody would shout out if they saw him getting an elixir without paying the right amount for it. He couldn't compel everybody that would see that happen, and he was also worried about that man they had seen the day before.
Zeke had never had a problem with his compulsion after leaving Nudra, and that event was starting to disturb him quite a lot.
Abel could tell that, even though he was trying to act happy and normal, the previous day had bugged him a lot.
'Just what is he so scared of? Are these hunters really that strong?' Abel wondered, looking at his friend.
The three of them gleefully entered the bustling market. At their feet, was a cloud of dust lifted from the continuous steps of those that traversed the market in all directions.
The air was filled with the screams of hawking merchants, and they could see vibrantly coloured, luminescent elixirs all around them.
They had all entered this part of the city, but almost internalised the fact that they wouldn't get much from it. Duncan wasn't very poor and should've been able to save up to buy an elixir, but his family weren't very supportive of his growth.
They were much more willing to hand over resources to the more promising members of their family. So, Duncan pretty much had as much money to spend as his friends did.
"How did you get that much money, Zeke, that's like 500 silver coins worth!" Duncan asked, looking into the leather pouch that he opened.
"I have my ways." Zeke said, before giving a glance to Abel.
Abel couldn't help but laugh hearing this, and Duncan did the same. It was always great to spend time like this with his friends.
There was always pressure from those around them. They constantly saw people stronger than them and took a look at the poor living standards that they had to endure.
With this, all they could think about was cultivating as hard as they could to have a better life for themselves. On Zeke's hand, he didn't really have these same struggles but was still distressed about the man who was aware of vampirism.
Now that he knew that he was a vampire, he was inevitably a target. It even made him question leaving Nudra, and the protection that came with it as not only a vampire in Abryssia, but an heir to a throne.
'Just don't think about it for today, Zeke. Just relish in the moment.' Zeke commanded himself, taking a deep breath.
The three friends walked through the isles, taking deeper looks at the stalls at hand. It was almost impossible for them to choose, and they went through serious choice overload.
This was most pleasing to Abel, who was the poorest out of the group and had never seen things like this. His parents had passed away when he was young when venturing beyond the city walls, and he was left with rations worth of money to get by.
This entire world of consumerism wasn't something he was able to indulge in.
The two had stopped at a stall they were particularly interested in, then Duncan caught a glimpse of someone in the corner of his eye.
He looked almost frozen, and his skin turned pale. His body began to slightly tremble, and he even caught the eye of one of the merchants at this stall.
****
In the forests of Fragan, a young Duncan was running around with the typical joy of a naive child. Beside him was a boy that was slightly smaller than him, with short, messy hair. They both had dark grey-blue hair and Duncan was chasing after the other.
Suddenly, this younger boy stopped moving and stuck out one of his legs, making Duncan hastily try and slow himself down.
However, he was caught in his trick and his foot clipped onto his leg. He was sent rolling over his foot and slammed into a tree trunk while this other boy laughed childishly at his tumble.
"Haha, I got you! You couldn't even tag me!" The boy laughed.
Duncan continuously groaned in pain, while holding his elbow. He slowly raised up to his feet, and clearly wasn't amused by this joke of his.
"That hurt, Arwin!" Duncan barked back in anger.
"I'm sorry, I was just playing around. I really didn't mean to, I promise!" Arwin insisted, trying to calm down his brother.
Duncan was too selfish and childish to reply. He simply turned his head away and stormed off, not giving another glance to him.
"Duncan! Duncan, where are you going?" Arwin asked, before taking a look at his surroundings.
There was nothing but tall, flowing trees, and the tense silence. He felt chilled by the slight breeze, and his hairs stood on end as he stood there, frightened.
Duncan was now where his parents were, who were conversing with other adults in the forest. His father didn't seem very pleased by his presence and continued to try and have his conversation, but Duncan was persistent with trying to get his attention.
"What is it, Duncan?!" His father, Vance, asked.
He replied in a way that showcased his clear annoyance, and Duncan showed him his bruised elbow.
"Arwin made me trip up and hurt my elbow. It hurt really bad, and he did it on purpose!" Duncan replied.
Vance gave the wound a quick inspection, before seeming indifferent toward him and his injury.
"It doesn't look that bad. I'm sure he didn't mean it." He replied, before listening to what one of his friends was saying.
Duncan felt isolated, seeing not even a single person give him a glance. This was what his parents would usually do. They showed clear favouritism to his brother, merely due to the lack of talent that he had.
He was making much less progress than usual and was projected to have below average talent in using qi.
He wanted to answer back in response but could see the number of other adults present. He held his tongue, and just turned away to begin walking off.
"Where's your brother? Did you leave him alone?" Vance asked.
Duncan didn't reply, scared to stand up to the wrath of his father. His lack of reply gave away the truth, and Vance rose immediately.
"Arwin! Arwin!" He shouted.
There was no reply to his call as it travelled throughout the forest, and several birds lifted off their branches into the skies.
Upon being met with nothing but silence, his face started to show more concern.
"ARWIN! ARWIN COME BACK HERE NOW!!" He roared, getting the attention of the other adults.