"Ah, yes the years of my twenties how vividly I remember them, I was younger, energetic, and ready for anything. Well, almost everything." -Edward Richtofen

My induction into the Templars of the Ancient Powers was the midpoint of my journey into my "transformation". The four of us were sent to Northern France to a church that housed a site of this "ancient power". Leopold came with us and showed us the tunnels that ran for miles with strange runes and carvings written upon the rock. The main room was the one that was most appealing to us as many craftsman were inside with huge slabs of stone, chiseling away. He'd told us that we were actually the first to be inducted into this sect and therefore we deserved a way of honoring our choice to defend this great power.

The stone slabs would later become statues of myself, and the ancestors of Takeo, Nikolai, and Dempsey (which I have to say is really creepy that they look so much like them). It was here that I had my first real encounter with the glowing stone that would later become known as element 115. Originally dubbed Divinium by Leopold and continued through me (rather unsuccessfully, stupid Maxis) he stressed that we had to avoid long-term exposure or risk turning into inhuman beings. Upon investigated the matter further Leopold responded with a harsh warning.

"Should you meddle too long in the affairs of the otherworldly powers you shall fall beyond grace and beyond the grasp of reality."

How foolish I was back then, of course it was all mysticism and superstition back then. When humanity was ignorant of the whole world around them, myself included, for a time anyway. The four of us guarded the ancient place with utmost vigil for nearly three years. I was twenty-five when the craftsmen finished the statues of us. No doubt you seen them, shocking how one tends to stay that way after the "transformation".

It was also when I was twenty-five that the time came. Upon making my rounds around the village of which the ancient place was located I was ambushed by ungodly creatures. I snapped immediately and remembered from my childhood that things that I faced were werewolves. There were three of them and they snarled at me with hunger and lust to tear into some fresh meat. I fought as much as I could, but these were no mortal men, these were animals of the most feral kind.

Chainmail and plate armor would not suffice against their iron bending jaws and their flesh-rending claws. I had only managed to injure one of them so that he would retreat into the woods, but the other two had me beat. I was bleeding profusely, just barely able to hold my blade in my hands. As the werewolves lunged at me I knew it was useless to fight them off anymore, they would kill me easily now, that was until a blur of a human figure dashed in front of me and brought the beasts to the ground in one swift motion. I recognized it as Leopold, but how could he have stopped these beasts of monumental strength.

Two other people I'd never met joined the fight against the furred demons and fought them off into the forests. I had collapsed a long while ago as they fought, and I was very weak as they carried me off to some place I didn't know. I went unconscious before I got there and I was awakened by the familiar voice of Leopold. When I got up I noticed that I was healed back to perfect health, and I was definitely curious as to how and why. When I asked him his eyes betrayed a sense of fear, but nonetheless he told me anyway.

His words were this (translated from the old format of speaking and Deutsch) "We did not induct you into the sect for just any reason Edward. We've been watching you for a very long time, even in the Holy Lands we watched you. My kind and I have deemed that you and the other three are worthy of becoming one of us."

At first I had no idea what he meant, but as he explained more and more I thought back to my childhood once more and the old stories I was told then. Superhuman strength, unnatural charisma and for heaven's sake they were all pale as ice, why didn't I see it before. They were vampires, and they'd watched "me" of all people and deemed me as fit to join them. I couldn't believe it at the time, but Leopold gave me time to think all of it through. But my choice was heavily influenced by the fact that if I didn't accept the offer to be turned into a vampire he'd have to kill me.

It was a done deal, but Leopold gave me time to prepare for the event. It was a week later that I entered the church near the ancient place and there was Leopold who revealed to me that he was the vampire Prince of the area and that he'd been waiting for someone worthy to sire. We were not alone as three other vampires of great age joined to spectate the ceremony of the Embrace. I was given many revelations that I had no idea about in my life.

The fact that I had been fed on by Leopold since our arrival to the ancient place unnerved me a bit, but at least he'd done it in my sleep so I wouldn't take notice. The assassin I had killed back in the Middle East was turned into an Assamite assassin (an elite core of vampire contract killers) and that my sister had also married a vampire (yes, Wilhelm of Wulfsburg was indeed a vampire, though he was turned after he had the two daughters). He'd also gone through the basics of living as a vampire. No going into the sunlight, no revealing my true nature to humans, hunt with caution and with care, the works.

After the mandatory oral speech by his highness, the real process began. The process of the Embrace has been embedded in my mind ever since then, and I can never forget how it felt. To feel all of the blood in your body being drained while being put under the euphoric pleasure of the Kiss is maddening. And I really died, but the wonders of vitae (the vampire term for their blood) brought me back to unlife. All my organs had failed, my heart was no longer beating, but I was alive somehow.

Alive and severely hungry for blood, it all happened so fast after that. The cries of a false priest in terror as I lunged at his neck and drained him completely of the new sustenance was all so foreign, but now so welcome. Leopold, my sire, would keep me under his wing for ten years, before letting me out into vampire society on my own. But during those ten years the other three I was with refused the offer to become vampires, but instead of killing them Leopold erased their memories of ever having been in the ancient place or ever having meet Leopold and I at all.

When I left Leopold's domain to return back to the village in Heidelburg he gave me all the help I could ever need, including a few ghouls as lackies for daytime work and errands.

"Looking back on it now, I believe that it was a confused decision, back then I was elated to become an immortal creature of the night, but as time drew on I realized just how naive I really was." -Edward Richtofen