Hey! bestknight32 here! I recently asked Tim to make an outline for the Lungmen section! I thought it was good so I hope everyone will enjoy it! :) Id like to thank dahliingg for making the base of the story and Tim for making this chapter you two are legends! okay thats all until next time! "Did you know only 0.0001 people can make it to the next chapter? :O"
THE PAST
Kazdel
Ada Church
Our home was an old one. The large stone mansion above ground had once been an architectural beauty, but now it crumbled with both the wear of centuries and the bombardment of catastrophes. Once-elaborate gardens and a hedge maze had become overgrown, and the fountains, with statues depicting lurid scenes of bloodlust, were dry. Yet no matter the forces assaulting it, no matter how damaged it became, the home stood proud, as if in defiance of time. And in defiance of the horrible family who resided there. Us.
The family crypts beneath the building above were truly ancient, far more so than the latest residence above ground. They had long been home to vampires, the original people of Kazdel and the world, but who now only controlled a half-forgotten backwater country that was mostly known for strife, civil wars, and wanting to murder every non-vampire on the planet. They despised non-vampires as alien invaders who'd come from another world many generations ago, and it seemed like nothing would ever change. The fact that those other people had taken over the planet and far out-populated us was, in prideful, selfish, Kazdelian eyes, unforgivable.
The Church family, my family, was secretive, mysterious, highly conservative, and devoted to both the Kazdelian King and the restoration of vampires as the dominant force on the planet. We kept non-vampires as slaves, though they were officially servants, and the family's only goal in life seemed to be revenge for the horrible crime of…immigrating from another world. Before anyone alive had even been born.
I remember being on the upper, third floor of our mansion one day, a young girl playing in her bedroom. I was about six years old at the time, and while my intelligence and potential were already well-regarded, my interests, however, were definitely not.
The briefest knock sounded on the black-painted bedroom door before a tall, spindly, and terrifying figure opened the portal and stepped into my room: my grandfather. He was as imposing as any depiction of death, his skin corpse-pale, with two black horns jutting up from his forehead and a long, black tail trailing out from under his lengthy, red silk robes. He had those tell-tale red vampire eyes that seemed to pierce the soul with hate. His fingernails were needle-like and half as long as his fingers, seemingly capable of ripping a six-year-old's throat out. Which is what he seemed to want to do, given the expression of disgust and anger on his face.
I froze with my hand in the air, about the put the final piece of the puzzle into place. Instead, I gulped. Discovered.
My grandfather scowled and stepped closer. "More puzzles?" His eyes flashed over the stack of books on her night table. "Books on engineering that I've already banned you from wasting time on?" His voice rose into a shout, "Are you back to this stupidity?" He stomped over, kicked the nearly finished puzzle across the room, scattering pieces in every direction, and then stooped and brutally backhanded me across the face, sending me reeling into the foot of my bed.
The back of my skull cracked against the metal frame, and I yelped from the pain.
Grandfather Venrig spun and howled out into the hallway, "Maidservant!"
My head was spinning. It took a moment before I realized the danger, but then I tried to push through the stars in my vision and sit up. I panicked and desperately raised a hand in protest. "Wait!"
The maidservant, Jenli, came running, halting in the doorway and trembling. Her fox ears drooped in fear, and her red tail pointed down in submission. "Yes, master?"
"Puzzles? Books on mechanical garbage? I expressly forbid any more of this nonsense!"
She quivered, barely able to speak. "I…I'm sorry, master—"
He stalked over and grabbed the front of her black-and-white maid uniform before effortlessly slamming her into the wall next to the door. Despite looking so frail, he was unnaturally strong.
Jenli's eyes widened even more in terror. She dared to raise her hands in protest. "P-p-please—"
Ignoring her begging, Grandfather Venrig bent down and mercilessly sank his teeth into the woman's neck.
She tried to scream, but it came out more of a gurgle as her blood drained into the cruel old man's throat. She weakly fought back, fingers clawing at his arm, no but no match for him.
My heart stopped, and I couldn't move. I was as scared as ever of the bastard who ruled the household with an iron fist. He wasn't really my grandfather, but an ancestor much, much older, over a thousand years of age, and one even my parents treated with reverence and never dared defy. I knew he would hurt me, he was often violent, but as I saw my beloved Jenli begin to weaken, I couldn't stand by, no matter the cost. I staggered to my little feet and rushed over. I pounded my fists into the back of my evil grandfather's legs and screamed at him, "Stop! Let her go, you monster!"
He ignored me for a long minute as he drank. When I refused to give up and even started trying to climb up his back, he backhanded me once more, sending me tumbling. When I tried a second time, he stopped feeding just long enough to kick me across the room so hard I couldn't breathe.
It was all I could do to try and painfully suck air into my young lungs while my body tried to refuse. And watch as he bit the fox woman again. My only ally in this horrid household. My only friend. The only person who treated me with kindness.
Jenli grew weaker and weaker. Her eyelids drooped, and she gasped a few last breaths, then her entire body went limp.
Grandfather Venrig raised his head, blood on his lips, then spitefully cast her aside like an unwanted rag doll.
Jenli's corpse landed on the spot where I had been building a puzzle only minutes before. The maid's eyes were half closed, never to fully open again. Two wounds gaped from where Grandfather Venrig's teeth had punctured her skin. A few drops of red blood trickled down her neck.
I gasped and went into shock. I had begged her to bring the puzzles and books out from where my parents had hidden them away at Grandfather's orders. Jenli had protested but given in, understanding my passion and loving me despite how poorly the rest of the family treated her. She had known this might happen, yet she'd defied Grandfather's orders.
It was my fault that Jenli was dead. I'd been careless, using these forbidden things in the open instead of keeping them secret. My frail little body shook with a deep sob, and tears burst forth.
Grandfather Venrig ignored my guilt and pain as he always ignored whatever he wanted. He loomed over me and it seemed like he would kill me, too. Then he raised a hand toward my books. Black and red liquid Arts shot out and enveloped the tomes. In moments, the books were gone, destroyed. He glared down at her. "That is true power. That is what you should be studying, along with practicing your natural-born abilities. You are a vampire noble, not some filthy alien mechanic." He reached down and grabbed my face. "The Arts are the key to our family's — and our people's — vengeance." Then he screamed down at me, "Nothing is more important than that!"
I whimpered as I was lifted up into the air, held up by the strength of his fingers on my jaw, crushing my face.
Red eyes with pinpoints of black bore into my own. "Defy me again, and it will be the last time." He dropped me to the floor and then swept out of the bedroom.
Unable to bear the sight of Jenli's dead body, I turned away and curled up into a ball of guilt and pain.
I hated this family. Now, I also hated myself.
THE PRESENT
Rhodes Island - Medical Facility
Harsh white light filled the treatment room, along with the hurried pandemonium of many shouting voices as multiple people rushed, bumping each other and stepping on each other's toes in the small space, everyone intent on saving a life.
"Keep her cold!"
"I'm trying! I can't keep this up forever!"
"Where's the analysis on those foreign substance samples?"
"We're running low on ice."
"Grab more!"
"The kitchen's out!"
"Fetch a dozen bags from the blood bank."
"You're going to try a blood transfusion while she's encased in ice?"
"I'm going to try feeding it to her when we stabilize her. She's a vampire, and she'll need fluids."
"Just what the fuck kind of Arts was that?"
"Someone move this damn machine!"
"Will you please hurry? I can't keep freezing her like this forever. Do something!"
"We're trying!"
"Heat fluctuation!"
"Cold bath's ready. Now!"
Icy water splashed on the floor as multiple people lowered Closure into a basin that quickly froze over. The red glow coming from the cracks all over her body stopped growing. For the moment.
Aurora collapsed to the floor, panting. Chest heaving, she looked nearly spent from using so much of her Arts.
"Gah!" Ansel jumped back from the ice bath, shaking his hands in pain. "Damn, she's getting hot again already." He looked up. "Breathing tube inserted." He checked the monitor. "It's working."
Hibiscus snapped, "Aurora!"
"All right, all right." She groaned and picked herself up. With a grunt, she summoned her Arts and froze the entire bath solid. With Closure breathing through a machine, they could turn the water around her into an ice cube.
Ansel watched the monitor next to him. "Still breathing."
A note of hope in someone's voice as they called out, "Temperature's going down."
Amiya fretted. "Great. But now what? How do we save her?" Her communicator beeped, and she lifted the screen.
A voice spoke, "Amiya. There's something you have to see."
"Can it wait?"
Hibiscus put a hand on the bunny girl's shoulder. "There's nothing you can do here. The medics are on it."
Amiya's lips firmed in frustration, but she spoke into the communicator, "On my way. I'll be back in HQ in a few minutes."
"Actually, the situation's outside. Sending you a livestream now."
Amiya frowned. Then the live feed appeared on the screen of the communicator. It showed the outside of Rhodes Island, the mobile base lit bright by the sun. Along with the message scrawled in giant letters along the side of the mobile base in red letters:
STAY OUT OF LUNGMEN
Amiya spat a wicked curse that caused others in the room to look her way in surprise.
Hayden, racing into the room, paused at Amiya's side and looked over her shoulder with concern. "What is it?"
Amiya scowled. "A message." She tilted the screen toward him.
Hayden nodded. Then he gestured with his head toward the ice bath where Closure lay. "It was all a message."
"They attacked Engineering to tell us to stay out of Lungmen?"
His voice became grim, "No, they wrote the message on the base to tell us that. The attack on Engineering is a threat meant to tell us that they can get to us anywhere, even where we're supposed to feel safest."
THE PRESENT
Lungmen Mobile City
The lighting in the small conference room was dimmed but for warm light over the center of the table, illuminating the attendees and giving the space a sense of intimacy that helped them focus on each other.
At one end of the oval table sat Wei Yenwu, the political leader of Lungmen and a member of the Yan imperial family. The dragon-like figure was dressed in orange and black robes and held a long pipe in one hand. His face and grin were wolfish, and bright orange antlers protruded from his head. The widely respected, natural-born leader confidently sat back in his chair, pipe wafting smoke, and looked impossible to ruffle in any way.
At the other end of the table sat Kal'tsit. Stern, her posture rigid, the doctor and leader of Rhodes Island looked far less relaxed. Her voice revealed her frustration, "Our intelligence is sound. You've seen it for yourself."
Wei easily nodded. "I have. It's not the intelligence that I doubt."
"Then what?" The doctor frowned at him. "You've already been infiltrated, and more agents are coming. Reunion isn't just on their way, they're already here. You're their next target, and if you don't act now, they're going to tear Lungmen down from the inside."
He took a casual puff from the pipe and blew three concentric smoke rings before finally answering. "Forgive me, madam, but this isn't entirely news to us. We have our own very capable intelligence service as well."
"Which is all well and good. But the fact that Reunion already has agents in Lungmen means you could use our help."
"As I said, I trust your information because it already lines up with what we know. It's Rhodes Island I don't trust."
Kal'tsit opened her mouth in shock before finding her voice, "How could you possibly doubt our motives? I'm sure you're fully aware—"
"Of your organizational philosophy? Yes, of course. Admirable. Your actual capabilities, on the other hand?" He shrugged. "Of that, I'm not so certain of. Some of your recent…operations haven't been very inspirational."
She arched a brow. "You've been keeping close eyes on us?"
"Oh, now and then. Like now, for instance. It seems that Rhodes Island itself is currently under attack. Isn't that why you've been checking your communicator so much?"
Kal'tsit clenched her jaw. "We're handling it."
"Here you are offering to help us protect our home when you can't even do the same for your own. Doesn't inspire much faith, does it?"
She struggled to come up with a response to that.
THE PAST
Somewhere outside the borders of Kadzel
Ada Church
I was sixteen when my family decided I was old enough to accompany them on raids.
Our nation, Kazdel, was not at war. At least, not officially. Unofficially, according to my grandfather and most of the older vampires, "We are always and forever at war with the vermin who have infested this world."
I didn't want to be there. I wasn't a fighter. I was sickened by the idea of killing anyone, let alone some innocent whose only crime was looking a little different from me. But I had no choice. I reluctantly slunk through the shadows of the forest in the wake of my parents and one of my much older brothers. My grandfather hadn't accompanied us, though his 'encouragement' was always on my mind. (Read: threats of a painful death for disobedience) This was not a strategic strike on an enemy target, just a small raid, a way for me to 'cut my long-teeth', they'd told me.
They were sick of the way I acted. It was about time to 'make a vampire' out of me.
A point of yellow light appeared in the darkness ahead of us.
Our family of vampires halted at the edge of the tree line, invisible in the night, and watched the sleepy town for movement.
I didn't know the name of this place. It was a lakeside village with not more than forty or fifty buildings located outside the Kazdel border, yet not quite under the protection of the Great Yan. It seemed to be a poor place, the people mostly farmers and fisherfolk. The people were not vampires. That was important. They were 'only' Lung.
The eternal enemy.
My mother, slightly taller than me with a face that was pretty but cold, pointed to a large farmhouse a bit further from the other buildings. A bit more isolated from the rest. "That one."
My father silently led the charge. Athletic and a vicious fighter, he'd been hand-raised by Grandfather Venrig to be a…well, not a leader, because Grandfather would never allow anyone else to have true power in the family. And as we were such a long-lived people, there were plenty of uncles, aunts, cousins, and the like around who also bore titles and positions of influence, though my fraternal grandparents had died in a political event decades ago. But I guess my father had become a well-regarded lieutenant.
I hesitated to follow, but a slap on the back of the head by my brother forced me into motion. I wanted to hang back, to avoid this with all my heart, but my family would not allow that. Tonight they would kill their ancient enemies. We'd drink their lifeblood. And I would become an adult at last. It was our way.
Swift and without sound, the four of us crossed a recently-seeded cornfield. There was no electronic surveillance here, no defences, nothing to warn the family asleep inside of death rushing down on them.
A sharp twist and the knob of the front door broke the mechanism, allowing entrance to the farmhouse. Four shadows stealthily merged with the darkness within.
My heart pounded, and not just from the run. I slowed in the main living room and stopped before climbing the stairs leading up to what were presumably the bedrooms.
My parents eagerly sprinted ahead.
My brother, bloodlust on his eager face, raced behind them, his desire to feed so strong he temporarily forgot about me.
I was alone.
I trembled and thought about running. But before I could find the courage, my parents returned with whimpering prey in their arms. It had happened so fast.
My smiling father held a middle-aged man in a headlock, one hand over the Lung's mouth to keep him silent.
My mother dragged the farmwife along by the throat, the younger woman's heels loudly bouncing on the stairs; there was no longer any need for silence.
Then…my brother appeared, also descending the stairs. In his arms was a baby, not a year old. My brother grinned at me, his eyes cruel. "Look what I found."
The mother of the babe tried to cry out, but my mother viciously squeezed, the supernaturally strong grip on the other woman's throat cutting off both sound and air. She sneered at her prey. "Silence, freak."
Most Lung have dragon-like features, which are easy to admire, but a few have fish-like characteristics. These were roundly mocked in Kazdel, the people laughed at and bullied for the way they looked.
The other three stood around me in the dark living room, the only light coming from the curtained windows. Not that vampires needed much light to see.
My brother held up the baby by one leg and laughed as the poor child wailed in fright. "Look at this thing. I can't tell if it's a little person or a big fish. Look. Fins? Are these gills?" He laughed. "Gross."
The baby's parents both fought, but it was useless. They were far too weak.
My father's face showed his contempt for the farmer as it impotently struggled in the vampire's arms. "Pathetic. It's hard to believe our people lost an entire world to inferior mongrels and freaks."
My mother snorted and looked down her nose at her own captive, who was beginning to panic from shortness of breath thanks to the fingers gripping her throat. "They breed like the rodents they are. And like mice in the barn, if you give them a chance, you'll soon have a huge problem on your hands."
My father nodded. "They must be exterminated." He looked over at me. "You're an adult now, Ada. It's time to start behaving like one."
I found some shred of dignity and defiance at last and shook my head. "I can't."
"You will."
"I can't kill someone."
"You must!"
"No."
"They're not real people. They're Lungs!"
My brother stalked over and thrust the baby in my face. "Drink."
I eyed the screaming infant with pity and horror. The thought of hurting the poor thing turned my stomach. "I can't!"
My mother sighed with a sense of long-suffering. "Or for the love of blood." She pressed a sharp nail to the farmwife's neck and sliced open the artery on the side. Blood spurted. Dragging the woman close, she shoved the bloody neck in my face. "Stop being such a disappointment for once in your life. Drink."
Despite my aversion and mental disgust at the sight and scent, I felt my hunger surge. A powerful part of my nature wanted to drink her fill. But I forced myself not to move.
My mother's eyes were cold. "You're sixteen. And you're no fool. You know full well where we get the blood you drink."
I cried out, "From animals!"
My mother shook the dying woman, spraying blood everywhere. "These are just animals!"
"I won't!"
"Drink!" My mother reached forward and grabbed me by the back of the neck. She pulled me forward until my face was directly in the bleeding wound.
I felt the warm liquid wash over my lips. It smelled divine. They had starved me for two days prior to this event, thinking it would make me more likely to participate. It took all my willpower not to open my mouth and savour every fresh drop. It was all the rebelliousness I could muster.
After a couple of minutes of the farmwife's blood pooling uselessly on the floor, my mother had had enough. "Oh for— You stupid child." She jerked the victim away and buried her fangs in the half-dead woman's neck.
I glanced over at my brother. While distracting, the infant's wailing had ceased.
The baby was already dead, silent forever. My brother held it up overhead, the last few red drops dripping down into his open mouth. Then he discarded the tiny creature, tossing it behind a couch. "Not much in babies. And I swear, is it just my imagination, or does it taste fishy?"
The farmer, helpless in my father's farms, sobbed as he watched his baby and now his wife dying.
My father snapped the man's neck and dropped him to the floor without feeding. He stepped over the body and stood in front of me. Then he slapped me across the face. Hard.
I gasped.
His voice was hard and unforgiving. "You are a disappointment. To your heritage. To your grandfather. To us, your parents." He pointed at the farmer. "These people are your enemy!"
In fear, anger, and hate, I raged back at him, "They're not my enemy. I don't know them. They've never done anything to me!"
"They took your world!"
"I wasn't even born when they came here. You weren't either! This is insane." I hated my family, but it still stung to hear them call me a disappointment to my face, to be bullied and assaulted by them. Hating myself for showing weakness, I started crying.
He shook his head at me in disgust. "No. What's insane is how childish you are. How can someone so innately intelligent continue to be so foolish and weak? When are you going to grow up?"
THE PRESENT
Rhodes Island - Medical Facility
"We're losing her!"
"Her? If she explodes, she'll take all of us and the entire medical facility with her!"
"Along with every other patient we have."
"We shouldn't even be treating her here. You've put everyone here in danger!"
"Well, with that attitude, you can get out."
"Agreed. That's not how we operate at Rhodes Island."
"I…sorry. I'm just…"
"Scared. So are we. Don't give in. Fight it."
"Aurora, we need—"
Aurora, chest heaving, panted from where she lay on the floor against the wall. "I can't. I'm spent."
The red glow in the water steadily grew stronger. It hadn't taken all that long for the solid ice bath to melt again.
"We need more ice!"
"They've emptied every freezer in the cafeteria to make more, but it takes time for water to freeze."
"Wait. Why don't we just move her to the caff and put her in one of the freezers?"
"And what? Cut off her legs so she'll fit? They're not walk-in freezers."
The entire tub glowed red. All the ice vanished, and the water started to bubble.
The voices grew panicked. "Shut! Up! Will you idiots shut up and think of something? Now!"
THE PAST
Kazdel
Ada Church
My fingers flew over the keyboard like it was an extension of my body.
I was holed up in a small, rusty garage used for long-term storage. It was cramped and dark, and the junk stored here was now piled high between my desk and the door to give anyone coming in the appearance of the place still being used as intended. It wasn't, of course. The owner was long dead of some disease. A few doctored records and a fake account auto-paying meant, as far as the storage company who owned this place was concerned, the owner was still alive and paying their bill.
I paused in my mission and savoured the moment. My surroundings were humble. I was poor and alone. But for the first time in my life, I was free. Free of my oppressive, violent family and their conservative, traditional ways. Free of the pressure to think the way they thought and do what they did. Free of their blind desire to reclaim something lost so far in the past by ancestors so long dead that it had no bearing on current reality.
Free to be my own person, to learn what I wanted to learn, and to follow my own dreams.
My smile turned into a grin. I leaned forward and hit ENTER. The server network for Black Heart Information and Security, an infamous private Sarkaz spy and military company, went dark. I'd just force-fried the entire system. Every hard drive, including backup systems, would be irreparably damaged, and that crappy, pro-vampire, murder-happy company would be incapable of launching strikes against innocent targets for a while at least.
I pumped a fist in the air and spun around in my chair. "Woo! Take that, sludge brains!"
Dozens of messages began scrolling past in the private chat window on my second monitor:
Whoa! They did it. They actually did it!
What a supreme talent.
Another blow for justice and freedom!
You are truly Destroyer of the Kazdel Information World
You're the best. Thanks for this!
Fucking warmongering pisspots. This should slow down their racist terrorism for a while.
I kicked my feet up onto the desk and leaned back in my chair, feeling satisfied with myself. Snatching up a can, I downed the last of my energy drink. I tried to suppress an upswell of pride in myself, not wanting it to go to my head. I didn't want to bear any resemblance to my family, a bunch of self-superior egoists whose whole lives revolved around pride. Then I pushed that emotion aside. "Screw it. I did good. Damn right, I'm proud." I was wise enough not to let that pride define me.
A sound came from the door, the scratching of metal on metal.
I sat bolt upright, a fresh rush of adrenalin hitting me, this time accompanied not with excitement but with fear.
The lock turned. That should not have been possible.
I swore and jumped up, panicking. Had someone come to check on the garage? Or had the authorities tracked her down?
The front roll-up door made a screeching, rusted racket as someone on the other side of the junk pile raised it up.
I tried to back up, but there was nowhere to go. And no second exit, so there was nowhere to run. My heart raced.
Someone knocked aside a pile of boxes.
I briefly caught sight of the kind of helmet and armour a SWAT team might wear before harsh light blasted me in the face, blinding me and making me cover my eyes.
More junk was pushed aside.
A calm female voice chastised, "Please. You're scaring her. Back up."
A deeper, male voice answered, "Ma'am, respectfully…"
"Back up. She won't hurt me."
"Again, respectfully, I don't think—"
"I wasn't asking, soldier."
"…Yes, ma'am."
"And please do something about those lights. She probably can't see a thing."
The lights dimmed and turned aside so that they illuminated without blinding.
Oh hell. I nervously swallowed and then lowered my hand to see just how much trouble I was in. Because it definitely looked like the authorities had found me. It wasn't just cops; it was the army. I was done for.
Of course, after the long list of things I'd done since running away from home two years ago, it was no surprise they'd finally caught up to me. Guess I hadn't been as much of a hotshot rebel hacker as I'd believed. Maybe I'd been too prideful all along. As my hand lowered, I saw the woman who'd spoken.
She was beautiful. She wore a long white dress with black highlights, and her long white hair was tipped with red, her horns rising out of the sides of her head. The woman smiled. "Hello, Ada Church. Or should I say, Closure? That's the name of the woman who's become rather infamous online recently, yes? It's a pleasure to meet you at last."
My jaw dropped. This wasn't just any woman. It was Theresa, the King of Kazdel, the most powerful person in the country. In shock, I sagged back against the desk behind me and spoke without thinking, "I'm so fucked."
Theresa laughed. It made her even more beautiful. "Actually, Ada, er, sorry, Closure, I'm not here to arrest you."
"Y-you're not?"
"Do you really think the king would show up in person for the arrest of a hacker, no matter how disruptive?"
"Uh…now that you mention it…" I blinked. "What are you doing here?"
Theresa, King of Kazdel, bowed. Then she raised her head and smiled. "I'm trying to save the people of Kazdel. I want to rebuild our nation into a place of peace alongside all the other nations and peoples of the world. And I want your help."
I asked Tim for more flashbacks since i liked the Mephisto chapter so I hoped everyone enjoyed this one! If anyone is confused you could say Closure life is flashing before her very eyes. Sorry in advance if we missed anything regarding Closure's Past. Also thank you everyone for reading!
