"All great changes are preceded by chaos."
– Deepak Chopra
"You're saying…"
"Yes!" Asta said, proud, as if delivering a decree. "You have ascended beyond the frail lowly species you once belonged to. You are now a vampire."
The room spun, and my chest tightened. I stumbled, searching desperately for a mirror. When I finally caught my reflection, it didn't look like me—no, it wasn't me.
Red eyes, deeper than any imperial. Dark aura, two massive wings behind me. My already pale skin—now white as frost—almost translucent.
"Who… is this?" I muttered. Shaking.
Asta chuckled. "Is this not what you desired?"
"I remember…" My hand gripped the edge of the mirror. "My bones… melting. I was dying."
"As expected. Your weak, mortal body could not endure such royal transformation. You blacked out during the process."
"Tell me, Asta—what happened?" My voice raised out of desperation.
"Lower your tone, mortal—"
The door slammed open. Theron strode in with a tray of food in hand, only to stop dead. Plates clattered to the floor.
"Nyx! We have an intruder!" His sharp voice echoed as he began chanting under his breath.
"—wait its me" I interrupted. He recognized my voice just in time.
His eyes narrowed as he took a cautious step closer. "Nyx… do you see this?"
"This is your room?" I asked, startled.
"Yes, it's… really you?" Theron's voice dropped to a whisper, confused. "I sneaked you into the palace while you were unconscious. What… happened to you? In just nine days."
"NINE DAYS? I had been asleep for nine days?"
"Yes nine fucking days! I carried my own meals to the room as even servants could not know of your arrival." Theron complained.
I ignored and turned to Asta, "explain now."
Asta sighed, his tone regal yet condescending. "You drank my blood—a foolish act that should have killed you. But something intervened. A radiant force prevented my soul from consuming you. Instead, a fragment of me remains within you, bound to your blood."
"You're saying I have two souls?"
"Yes. One is yours. The other—mine. You are an abomination: a vampire laced with whatever that force was!"
Theron looked at me, eyes squinted, "who're you talking to? Have you finally lost it?"
"You can't see it?"
"HEY! Address me carefully." Asta grumbled.
"See who?" Theron asked.
I inhaled deeply, recounting everything to Theron. His expression darkened as he leaned against the wall, arms crossed.
"This is absurd, and impossible."
"The radiant force could be my divinity, perhaps they both failed to exterminate each other and now co-exist."
"But how did you become a vampire? Also divinity fails to co exist with even magic—let alone existing inside a graveborn. It cannot happen, logically."
Asta intervened, "it clearly can. My soul merged with his blood, reshaping his mortal body into something… more. A vampire was the only form fit to survive such power."
"Theron can't hear you Asta!" I sighed.
"Lucian. Did your divinity exhaust itself? Or has it survived this… transformation?" Theron stood, his voice sharp.
"It's still there," I said. "My divinity, the vampire's blood, his soul, my soul—everything is inside me."
Theron clicked his tongue and sat down heavily. "So, you're just this whole… mess?"
"What's wrong?" I asked, he looked disappointed.
"This concludes our deal then," he said coldly.
"What?" I snapped, confused.
"You're something else entirely now. You don't need me. Hah! And frankly, I doubt you'd still want to learn magic in exchange for what I want from you."
He was wrong—so wrong. Learning magic was vital. Magnus could crush me in an instant, and I needed every weapon at my disposal.
"I still intend to become a mage," I said firmly.
Theron blinked, surprised. "You're insane."
Theron seemed different from how I wrote him, at times I found myself questioning—does he hold ulterior motives—could he really be only wishing for his mother's body?
But again—he changes completely after that event in the story. And it hasn't happened yet.
I shrugged. "This leaves us only one option," I continued. "A grave sin. One of the eleven sins from Sacrum Codex must be committed to rid me of divinity."
"No," Asta interrupted.
"Why not?"
Asta laughed softly, the sound rich with confidence. "If divinity and vampire blood can coexist in this wretched body, why should mana be impossible?"
Theron's expression shifted after I told him what Asta said. He sneered "Hah… HAHAHA! You're a monster, Lucian. A complete and utter freak!"
"Have you lost your mind now?" I asked, exasperated.
"No!" Theron grinned, standing again. "It's terrifying. Thrilling. But terrifying. When temple would learn their the only saint has turned into a graveborn, I wonder what face they would make."
"I do not even want to think about it—''
Before I could respond, a dagger sliced through the air, thrown by nyx, the moment he got closer.
"Scent… scent…" his voice loomed inside the room, taking even astaroth off guard. His eyes void of sanity—as he stared inside my soul.
"Nyx! Stop it!" Theron yelled.
The dagger left a deep wound, and as I pulled it out, Nyx lunged. "Her scent… Miss Eira…" his voice almost a growl.
Theron with a piercing gaze, commanded, "Nyx, return to my shadow."
His face, made of void still showed expression—one of pure disdain, as he blended in with Theron's shadow. Disappearing.
Nyx could still smell Eira's scent after nine days had passed since I last saw her. Saving her had been reckless—foolish even.
"What the hell is wrong with him?" I snapped, but my voice faltered as the wound in my wing healed itself almost instantly.
The room fell in silence, even Theron stared in shock.
"AHAHA" asta broke the tension—at least for me, only I could hear him after all.
"Ah so that's the case."
"What?" I questioned.
"Your divinity is protecting you," Asta explained. "Your body is not only eternally youthful like a vampire's—it heals itself with divine power."
"This never happened before, I've had divinity since ages." I said, frowning.
"Vampires hold some degree of self healing—your divinity has increased it to an unimaginable level."