6 Months Earlier…
The night city was unnaturally alive. People brimming out of bars with alcohol streaming through their veins and minds, taxis and cabs around every corner and workers on their ways home from long days of work.
A young man, no older than 19 was on his way back home after a long, boring day of university. His appearance above average, hair short and shaggy, eyes blue and ocean like, tall with a decent physical build but nothing else that seemed interesting about him. His clothes composed of comfortable trousers, black trainers, a white t-shirt, blue hoodie and thin green jacket. He wondered into the sub-way station and waited patiently, letting out a long, quiet and bored sigh.
“Another day of misery.” He thought to himself, still wondering when the train will finally arrive, he had just finished a lecture in advanced politics. “Whoever thought of students needing extra credit deserves to suffer like all those students, I hate politics.”
The tired young man pulled out his phone clicking on an app in particular, ‘Divine Unbreaking’, the console game had been the only thing that made him smile, made him actually happy without the pretending. He didn’t have friends, not any he knew in person at least, his parents had been divorced for about 7 years now and he didn’t like either of them.
“Another message from mum…and it’s another generic slop of lies of ‘love you’ and ‘wish you were here’ again” He thought to himself. “Probably too busy with ‘Darren’ and his kids again to actually say something meaningful.” He remained quiet as his thoughts drifted to his father, leaving only begrudging sympathy and deeper hatred, “At least she pretends to care, unlike that drunk bastard I have to call ‘Father’.”
His work was slightly better, only slightly better however, working at a supermarket had only certain perks. The downsides of boring or outright weird co-workers, weirder and sometimes aggressive customers.
“I have work tonight…just another dump of weirdo co-workers obsessed with economics and managers with perfection and god complexes”, at least worker discount could help with home expenses. As for his education, he was keeping up, kept his head down and made sure to have his assignments in on time, not that he had anyone to interact with, just the way he liked things, or at least that’s how people thought about him. “If I’m put with Sarah, who can’t get off her phone for more than two minutes or kyle who can’t stop flirting with every woman there, I might just put my two weeks in.”
But looking down at his phone, he saw a woman staring back at him, a woman of supernatural vampiric beauty. Her skin was porcelain smooth, crimson red like the warm heart, black hair that absorbed the light in the room and fangs, sharper than the greatest of blades. The majestic woman wore a black bodice with red trim, matched with black trousers tucked into knee high boots that clicked against the smooth yet cold stone floor and her pitch-black cape flowed down like her hair, almost reaching the floor yet missing it by a few inches and the inside was a warm red that matched her eyes, almost as if to warm the cold hearted woman in the chilly stone walls, the cape held onto the alluring woman by a thin yet durable rope, and a small pendent rested in her chest, a beautiful diamond shaped ruby that observed his very soul.
Zerinia Valenhart, the Blacklight Vampire. His custom player character he created completely from scratch, one he liked very much and worked very hard to create when starting the game, ‘Divine Unbreaking’. A fantasy game where people can almost be someone else, a good person with a good life could commit the most horrific and evil acts a human can think of, or a nobody bully victim can be a great hero looked up to by all the people around them. This idea first allured the guy and ever since, he had been invested, he frequently paid a good portion of his monthly work payments to this game, his own little ‘thank you’ to the developers for their hard work and helping make him happy.
“Zerinia Valenhart…I can imagine it now, no irrelevant education modules, no crappy coworkers, no annoying classmates, no frustrating managers, no uncaring parents…just me and the guild.” He thought, his guild, ‘Ravenscroft’, the guild of his comrades he considered family. It had become the strongest guild in the world under his occupation, many different kinds of people in a guild of villains, outcasts who found solace with one another and bonded over shared loneliness, love of villainous ideals and a lot of dedication. The lonely guy subconsciously saw them more of his family than his actual blood relatives.
Then, smashing of a glass bottle, laughing of other men around his age, perhaps four to five around the ages of 18 to 21. They stumbled and wondered down the subway stairs, they obviously meant trouble, the young man quickly turned off his phone and hidden it in his jacket pocket, he just wanted to go home and get on with his day, not have to deal with the nonsense of drunk delinquent classmates.
“Hey mate, you have a light?” One said, he had short black hair, blue eyes, scruffy clothes and a half-asleep face, clearly drunk beyond words can describe.
“Uhh, no sorry, I don’t smoke.” The young man replied quickly, wanted him to just move on move onto someone else.
“Really? Ahh sh*t man…can I borrow your phone?”
“Ugh, just leave me alone already.” The young man thought to himself, he knew that a drunk mind was an unpredictable mind, he knew that from his father whenever he would visit, it was always more of a caretaking than a father and son visit. “Sorry, I forgot to bring it with me, it’s at my apartment right now so-“
“Shut the f*ck up with that bullsh*t!” The drunkard man yelled, the other 3 started closing in too. “I saw you put it in your pocket, so just give it to me.” He said, his voice slurred with alcohol and rising anger, placing his own hand in his pocket and pulling out a switch blade.
“Woah there, I don’t want to get hurt, okay?” The young man said, very much uninterested in getting himself stabbed on a random Friday evening in a subway station. Instead of responding, they all ran towards him at once, causing the young man to defend himself, and for a while he managed to fend them off, his self-defence classes as a child and their drunk minds along with their slurred movements made attacking the young man difficult.
There was only so much he could do however, the ringleader with the knife ran at him with the knife aimed at his stomach, stepping back at the last minute, he lost his footing and slipped off the platform. Falling onto the tracks, time seemed to slow down, he turned his head to his left, only to see a train barrelling towards him, no signs of slowing down, it was going to hit him if he didn’t move, he had to do something, but there’s only so much you can do while falling midair, and then…dark silence.
Then, there was a light, a few scattered around him, as he slowly opened his eyes, he could slowly start to make outlines, shapes, and images around him. “What the…was that a dream? Is this?” he thought to himself, he soon realised he was laying down on a very comfortable surface, looking down, he noticed it was some kind of royal bed.
“Woah…” he barely muttered, he was still unable at his full senses and not yet fully capable of noticing how he had changed. The young man glanced around the room, the wardrobe had intricate patterns and details along the brown surface, a desk next to the bed had a small mirror on top, a circular and gold pattern to it and on the other side of the room, a window that overlooked the beauty of the outside world.
Slowly standing up, he noticed how his clothes now felt much different, tighter and his body softer and stronger yet delicate at once. His footsteps made a satisfying clicking sound against the floor as he approached the window. The sunlight shone through the closed window, the forests outside empty and vast for miles to come.
Turning to the mirror, he approached to further investigate the room, his reflection shocked him completely. Staring back at him was his avatar herself, Zerinia Valenhart, the vampire queen. Shocked, he lifted his hand and the woman in the reflection did so too, mimicking his movements perfectly and impossibly. He, or rather she, was not the young human man in university, this was the Leader of the Ravenscroft Guild, the Blacklight Vampire, the Vampire Queen, Zerinia Valenhart.