The midnight sky parted, unleashing a lance of electric blue moonlight that sliced clean through the gloom. In the upper atmosphere, a vast colony of bats drifted and dippled, ruling the darkness with the same effortless freedom of starlings greeting a human dawn. When the celestial light struck Cassius, it transformed him into a focal point of shimmering silver, forcing his gaze upwards.
He widened his eyes in sheer disbelief, the water of his human tears trembling and crawling unsteadily across his pupils as he strained to comprehend the view.
There, hanging in the open expanse of the upper atmosphere, loomed a colossal sky-city. At its heart sat a massive fortress of weathered black stone, its sharp, archaic towers radiating an oppressive, ancient power. Cassius gripped his chest with his other hand, his heart hammering against his ribs as he took in the sprawling, impossible architecture. Yesterday, there had been nothing but empty wind. Now, a kingdom of shadows reigned overhead, leaving him to wonder what cosmic force could tear open reality in less than twelve hours.
Back in the human world, the nights had always been anchored by a profound, heavy silence. The wind was the only master of those dark hours, its low hum serving as a familiar nightlight that blanketed the earth in peaceful grace. It was a world built on simple, honest rhythms- where everyone slept soundly, exhausted but content, after a long day of working their fields under the fresh daylight. But here, the weird-looking vampires were still awake, roaming all around this unrealistic city at this time.
Swallowing his fear, switching his tensed and shocked facial expressions to a dead serious, alert expression in his emotions, Cassius continued into the unknown. His fingers tightened around the heavy metallic device controlling the chained queue of vampire women dragging behind him. The terrain ahead was choked by an endless procession of the black-eyed vampires. Just as he had theorized, these creatures were treated as mere beasts of burden, dressed in matching, shredded garments of dull beige and mud-brown. Their predatory fangs were exposed, and massive, unsettling bat wings folded tightly against their backs.
The entire column moved with the eerie, synchronized precision of clockwork machines, driving toward a massive lake a few miles away.
Under the direct assault of the blue lunar rays, the vast water sparkled with an intense, electric blue. Thousands of these winged black-eyed slaves stretched into the horizon, every single one of them walking with their dirty feet exposed to the sharp pebbles and stones not on a muddy or flat ground but on a weird charcoal-like floor covered with sharp stones and thorny plants coming out of it, bent double under the crushing weight of bloated, stained jute bags. Despite the agonizing labor, an unsettling silence hung over the horde, broken by a collective, slow-paced but rhythmic hiss. Thousands of throats chanted in perfect, spine-chilling unison: "Lord Vilucious is great! We are the servants of his young sky."
A sudden, brilliant realization broke through Cassius’s panic. He scanned the freezing landscape and found no overseers watching him. The winged slaves around him were hollow shells, blinded by their narrow, single-minded tasks. Because of his remarkably different, pristine attire, he realized he looked like someone of authority- a master, not a servant.
Seizing the sudden window of opportunity, he pivoted back toward the three vampire women tethered to his wrists. The heavy chains had taken a brutal toll; raw, green bruising and torn flesh covered their bodies from the constant, unforgiving tug of the iron links. His heart broke at the sight. Ensuring no one was watching, he leaned in and breathed a desperate whisper: "I am not like them. I promised myself I would heal this broken world. To me, you are still alive."
A sudden memory flashed through his panic, cutting through the freezing air. He had just emerged from a deep, subterranean cave (the caged cabin aisle) system- a cavernous tunnel carved entirely out of rough sedimentary rock. Turning on his heel, Cassius dragged the heavy chain in his hands back again to walk towards the massive stone gate sealing the cavern. Steeling his nerves, he threw his voice into the gloom, shouting:
"For your lord Vilucious! I order you to open the gate!"
As soon as he shouted this, the two black-eyed vampires, who were standing at the corners of the gate, chained to it at the threshold, didn’t hesitate; they started to pull the gate forward with the force of their bodies to open it, allowing him back into the shadows of the cave aisle carved in a horrific style. Once inside, Cassius scanned the sedimentary walls until his eyes caught a metallic, cubic glint embedded in the stone in the glistening of the blue fire flambeau that was attached to the walls of that aisle in a few locations- ’Galena ore.’
Even after being a vampire, he had a plus point: he was a genius, and his human memories were still working well enough to fight any dangerous situation. With the stake of his knowledge, he already had a plan ready with him for his actions that he was going to perform after risking his own life to save those vampire women slaves. He rolled the iron chain that he had in his hand around his waist, so that he could easily work with both of his hands. He knew if he used that heavy iron chain to dig the galena out, he would have drastically injured the women vampires chained with it at once.
Desperate, he dug his bare hands directly into the crevice at first, tearing at the stone in a frantic attempt to break it free. But the ancient sediment held fast against his grip. Panting, he scanned the ground and grabbed a sharp, heavy fragment of broken rock.
The vampires who were chained through his waist were growling hard, as if they were crying from the bloodlust like Cassius had felt before. In his mind, one of the theories was working well right now; the sharp noises that they made were not enough to distract any other vampire because of the multitasking flaw and the absence of the bastard lord’s cry in their voices.
AAGHH- With a heavy swing, he slammed it against the wall, successfully breaking off a large piece of the rocky shell. Using the shattered chunk as a makeshift hammer, he began to hit the stubborn vein with targeted blows, shattering the surrounding crust until he successfully extracted the ore.
Sweat stung Cassius’s eyes as he pried the final cluster of galena from the heavy, damp sedimentary wall. The metallic, cubic glint of the ore offered a flicker of hope, but his heart nearly stopped when a harsh, familiar voice echoed down the tunnel- the cold, commanding rasp of the vampire assistant general, "LORD VILUCIOUS CONCERN! WHO IS THERE?"
Terror seized him. Keeping the ore safe in the pockets of his outfit, he unrolled the heavy iron chain grip from his waist and, gripping it around his hands to make the vampire women slaves walk with him, he started to rush towards the heavy stone gate of the aisle that was common for entrance and exit. Spreading his palms against the cold metal, he whispered the lord’s name under his breath, praying the ancient seal would yield.
The massive iron gate groaned open by the black-eyed vampire slaves, who were chained to it from inside. Cassius gestured frantically, ushering the clanking, terrified thralls through the threshold. The distant footsteps of the assistant general grew sharper, ringing against the stone floor like a death knell. As soon as Cassius stepped out, intense panic roaming all around his tired body, he started looking all around the weird vampire city to find a solid place for hiding. Desperate for cover, Cassius nudged the slaves toward a massive, soot-stained mound of unburned charcoal near the far cavern wall. They crouched together in the suffocating dark.
A last hope left in Cassius’ eyes, which directly started to glance into the eyes of those growling women, and while controlling his heavy breath and holding his wounds with his other hand, he said in a lowered voice, "I would feed you! Stop growling just for this once, trust me!"
To his surprise, that worked; the horrific-looking vampires followed his orders and turned silent. Holding their breath as the suffocating stench of sulfur and carbon pressed around them, the four of them sat quietly.
A few seconds later, a silhouetted figure glided into the chamber. The assistant general paused right beside the towering heap of charcoal, his head tilting slightly as he stretched his unnatural senses into the stillness, searching for the faintest pulse of his life. The reflection of his shadow due to the sharp blue electric moonlight was falling right beside the place where Cassius was hiding with the slaves.
He gulped the dry air in his throat, drenched in sweat overall, as he noticed that.