"Finally! Vacation time! I can smell the freedom! Now we can kick back and relax, don't you think, Daniel?" Exclaimed a tall, muscular young man with black hair as he approached his friend.
Daniel, unimpressed by the enthusiasm, responded with a smirk.
"Relaxing? I bet you will spend your entire two-month break glued to your games, Ariel."
"Hahaha, you know me all too well, my friend. I am heading home now, but if you're up for it, drop me a message later tonight, and we can get into some League of Legends," Ariel said, laughing out loud.
"Okay, okay, I'll call you. Bye-bye!" Daniel said, waving to Ariel as he headed toward the exit.
After parting ways with Ariel, Daniel continued on his way home, lost in thoughts of his upcoming vacation. He knew he would try to enjoy it, even if it felt like a doomed effort. Life always seemed so dull to him—an endless cycle of monotony.
'Maybe I should find a new novel to read.'
Daniel thought to himself. Lost in his thoughts on the way home, he unknowingly strayed from his usual path and found himself in front of an antique shop. His eyes were drawn to an old, worn book resting on an unremarkable shelf.
'Huh? How did I end up here? I'm sure I took my usual route home. Maybe the stress has gotten to me.'
As Daniel stood in front of the old, titleless book, a friendly-looking elderly shopkeeper approached him and said.
"Ah, young man, has this book caught your eye? it has been in our store for hundreds of years. It has been passed from generation to generation in our family, but has never been sold."
"What?! That's impossible. This book does look old, but not that old. If it were written hundreds of years ago, it would have disintegrated by now."
"Hahaha, a bit skeptical, aren't you? This is an ancient legend passed down through generations in my family. It is said that when a child destined to bring peace to the world appears, this book will guide them in fulfilling his destiny," the shopkeeper said, chuckling to himself.
"Oh, and how much would this book cost?" Daniel asked, intrigued but unconvinced by the shopkeeper's tale.
The old shopkeeper chuckled softly and replied. "Unfortunately, it's not for sale. But it's available to anyone who wishes to try their luck in claiming it. Why don't you take a look at it, young man?"
"Right, right. So how do you find out whether one is the destined child or not?" Daniel asked, half-jokingly.
"If you can read anything in this book, it's yours. For those not destined to possess it, the pages appear blank. At least, that's what my father and grandfather told me—who knows if it's true or not."
"Oh, that's it? Alright then, I'll give it a try, if you don't mind," Daniel said, giving the shopkeeper a puzzled look.
"Go ahead, young man," said the old man smiling at Daniel.
Daniel, still not believing a word from this eccentric old man, decided to humor him. With nothing better to do and since he was already there, he picked up the old book and opened it, more to entertain the shopkeeper than out of any real curiosity.
To his surprise, when he opened the book, words began to appear on the first page. Daniel was stunned, his eyes wide as a chicken egg. He tried to process the impossibility of words being written in real time right before his eyes.
'Could this book truly be magical? Could the legend be true?' Daniel wondered as he began to read the words that materialized before him.
When the world is on the brink of collapse, the destined child who will achieve the impossible will emerge, and the heavens will rejoice at his arrival.
As Daniel finished reading the book, his vision started to darken, and he felt a strange, unfamiliar sensation as if his soul was leaving his body. At that moment, a blinding light emanated from the book, spreading throughout the entire city. The flash lasted only twenty seconds, but when it faded, both Daniel and the untitled book were gone. They had been transported to a distant realm known as Alastor.
—
Alastor is a dangerous world, infested by animals and plants that evolved with the help of a source of colorless and intangible energy, present in all things and all beings.
Mana!
This is the name of the vital energy that permeates the universe. Warriors and mages dominate it to become powerful and extend their lifespan.
Alastor is a world dominated by the strong, with a planetary radius at least 10x greater than that of planet Earth. Several intelligent beings reside there, such as elves, humans, dwarves, and ogres, but only one race is sovereign, the vampires.
Immortal beings seemingly crafted to master mana, vampires are said to possess a divine affinity for it. They wield mana as effortlessly as if it were an extension of their limbs. However, their low birth rate poses a challenge. Unlike tales from Earth, they cannot transform humans into vampires. For generations, they have been a noble and exclusive race, with only a handful within their ranks.
In Alastor, vampires had long been regarded as the strongest beings—at least until the demons arrived. Emerging from portals scattered across the realm, these demons came with an insatiable hunger to devour and conquer
Although demons were slightly weaker than vampires in individual strength, they had a significant advantage due to their high birth rate. This gave them an overwhelming edge over vampires and other races. Gradually, over thousands of years, demons began to dominate the world.
Two decades after the demons first appeared in Alastor, the vampire king known as 'The Prophet' made a prophecy. He foretold that in the time of greatest need, a child who excelled in both magic and swordsmanship would rise to bring the demons to their knees and save Alastor.
Magic and Sword! Those two words together have never appeared in the same living being. It's been proven through the ages that a person can only attain substantial gains in one path. There are two paths to harness mana: the Warrior and Mage paths.
The Warrior path channels mana throughout the body, enhancing physical strength to deliver powerful blows. The Mage path, on the other hand, focuses on strengthening the mind and creating a core to contain, manipulate, and transform mana into various properties, enabling the caster to perform extraordinary spells.
The part of the prophecy that spoke of wielding both magic and sword was kept secret, known only to a select few. It was decided that this knowledge would be shared exclusively with the vampire royal family and their trusted allies, the Bloodriver family. This secrecy ensured that the demons would not discover the identity of the destined child or sabotage his growth.
Thousands of years have passed since The Prophet died fighting the demons. The hope of the destined child coming to save the world has long faded from the minds of the common people, and with each lost battle, what little hope remains continues to dwindle.
It was at this moment that four children, destined to change the course of history, were born.