Foreword
In the year 1901,
It was night, a dark one. Adrian ran behind the bastard, who dared to do something no one dared in his realm. His breathing was labored, having made to run longer distances. But he was catching up, his agility and light form an advantage to dodge through the dense trees of the jungle.
His men scattered around the forests, hunting behind the same man. The pitter-patter of light rain against his Sword of Fury was nothing compared to the raging fire of pure hatred and anger coursing through him.
He skipped over dead tree trunks, his boots falling heavily on the hard-packed wet dirt, before flying off the ground in inhumane speed. Adrian knew he can outrun the bastard. He just needs to feed more later.
He narrowed his eyes to look at a distance. A movement, a silhouette hid behind a gnarly trunk for support, remaining motionless. Ha, so he grew tired after all.
Adrian saw his men from the corner of his eyes, signaling a shush for them to be quiet. They crept up to the quivering old vampire, with his heavy breath breaking the silence of the dark forest.
In a quick succession of motion, Adrian kicked himself off the ground, using a tree trunk as a support wall to jump further into the air, and pounced the man hidden behind it, swinging his sword to the man’s neck, slicing it horizontally, decapitating his head from his body. He left a thin slice of skin on the front of the neck, to allow him to collect the head neatly.
Blood gust out from the capillaries and vessels, some splashed into Adrian’s black shirt, staining it a darker shade. Adrian took the decapitated head, staring into his eyes, which was laced with fear and loathing, and a little hatred for good measure. (Exactly like how you’d capture an image using a camera, but in my case, there is no camera ).
`Good work comrade’, Patrick patted Adrian’s back. `Let us present his head to our leader. I am sure he will be proud of your accomplishment’,
Adrian gruffed an okay.
Adrian stood on the wet ground, immobile for a few seconds, allowing the rain which had thundered to a steady torrent to wash the dirt and grime away. He stared at the body of the man which needs to be disposed of soon. He sat on his haunches, his hands moved to the dead body, searching for any valuables. His hand touched a cold item from deep within the dead man’s pocket.
It was a spherical ball, a small ball made of Jade, a color of green so pale it almost looked white. Adrian continued his search until he was satisfied dead man held no more valuables.
He took one last look at the man, before turning himself away to disappear into the forests, his men following in his footsteps.
They appeared at the King's mansion, Adrian leading the way, holding the dead man’s head by the hair. Wordlessly he placed it on the floor, thick droplets of blood dripping on the floor, smearing the white marble crimson red.
`Task accomplished. Let us head to the said location’, a deep velvety voice belonging to King Alexander Volt spoke loud and clear. He is the elder brother of Adrian, acknowledged his younger brother with a nod, raising his hand, fingers together, pointing towards the door.
Once again, Adrian made his move, leading his pack of vampires to a house where he assumed the tear to be. After a short walk of 10 minutes, they circled the house, going towards the backyard. Adrian glanced around, his heartbeat raised slightly to see a shed covered in dark cloth, pinned securely to the ground, like a closed tent. It was a weak attempt to hide something so powerful, in plain sight with pieces of cloths. What was the man thinking?
This is it, he thought. This is the gateway that was tempered.
His hands rubbed the jade ball inside his pocket, the coolness of the ball giving him solace. Adrian did not waste time, knowing fully well his brother was an impatient man. His eyes spoke to his men to yank the cloth up, Adrian chin jutting upward, tilting his head to the left slightly. They did just that.
An audible gasp escaped the crowd, a considerable vampire backed away slowly, all the time maintaining their gaze at the exposed thing below the cloth. Adrian sucked a sharp breath, his eyes falling at colorful lights that were bursting through a thin vertical line in mid-air as if someone placed strings of rainbows stripes illuminating in the air. He had never seen anything like it before and it left him astonished.
King Alexander inched closed, his footsteps made crunching sounds on the gravel, standing next to his younger brother. He has seen something like this once in his lifetime, eons age when his great grandfather accidentally tinkered with science and broke the barrier of worlds. It was similar to what he was seeing now.
His great grandfather, being an adventurous man ventured into the portal with several young brave vampires, and he made it back in one piece with his men. But he was full of regret and remorse for his actions. He managed to close the seams of the universe, never to speak about it again. Despite numerous attempts and even death threats, he kept quiet about it, only shaking his head downcast whenever he was prodded for an answer.
Rumor has it that he wrote his experience in a journal, but the mysterious book was never found and it remained a legend until now. No one had seen the journal until news of a vampire doing the same thing occurred again. King Alexander made a promise to keep his great grandfather’s wishes to never open it again, so he decreed a death warrant to the vampire who did so. Though one question lingered in his mind, how did he do it? Did he find the rumored journal? If he did, where was it?
`He forced it open. The edges seems unstable. We do not know how to seal it completely, gather your men around, build a strong fort around it’, King Alexander Volt ordered Adrian.
`Yes, your highness’, Adrian folded his right hand in a fist thumping it to his chest, bowing his head to his brother.
`Patrick, get our resident scientists to find an away to contain the seams, put up notices everywhere we are looking for healthy young vampires who are willing to go for an adventure out of this world. Compensation will be given for their families in case things don’t go well.’
`Your highness?’, Partick was stumped at the sudden U-turn of the king to allow vampires to venture in. He thought King Alexander was against the idea? Then why did he order the decree to kill the vampire who opened it?
`Did I stutter?’, King Alexander narrowed his eyes at Patrick.
`No, your highness. I will do as you wish’, he bowed as well, fisting his fists, thumping to his chest as well, before turning away to start with his task.
I am going to seek answers.
I am going to ask my people to see what lies on the other side of the broken seams between the universe.
I am going to break the promise I made to my great grandfather.
I did the right thing to kill the man with the knowledge to open the barrier. Had he shared his knowledge with another being, it would undermine their entire civilization of vampires as I know it.
The dawn of a new era, new changes, and a new beginning will be etched forever with my name, King Alexander Volt on it.
