Dark clouds suddenly formed in the sky and rain showered down on them, producing fog and making it harder to see.

"It's an Abnormal!" Andromeda heard a human shout from the left side of the group.

Another bang, together with screams. The noise was everywhere. She had heard such cries before. 200 years ago, a band of humans decided to take on the vampires of Aurum. Of course, they failed. Instead of killing them on sight, the vampires put the foolish humans inside a room and tortured them while drawing and drinking their blood. Andromeda could hear the same cries now.

Something dropped in front of her, startling her mare. "Whoa!" she calmed the horse down and looked at the object through the fog. It was the decapitated head of one of the humans in the group. Fresh blood flowed from its severed neck, its white bone jutting out. She frowned. Silly creatures. They knew that the forest was teeming with titans. Why uselessly fight against something so powerful? "Hi ya!" She led her horse toward the front. She must first make sure some humans were still alive. She needed their blood after all. Vampires preferred to drink the blood of living humans. No one likes spoilt food.

"Hey!" The man with blond curly hair called her. Andromeda was surprised he was still alive. He rode his horse faster, trying to match Andromeda's pace. He said, "Stick with the group. We're the soldiers handpicked by Captain Levi. We're the strongest. We'll keep you safe."

Again, that confidence.

But, wait.

He called themselves soldiers.

Ah.

They're the soldiers in this world.

Andromeda looked around but she could only see white. The fog was covering everything, making them almost blind.

But Oluo was not panicking. "Stay on the course. If you see a titan, ride faster." He spotted something or someone. "Derek!"

"I'm here!" The other soldier looked too young to be in this kind of journey but he led his horse toward them with the same confidence as Petra and Oluo.

Oluo asked the boy, "Why are you here? Aren't you in Hange's squad?"

"I got separated from my group. Look out!"

The three looked in front of them and saw a titan running straight toward them.

"I'll take care of it. Guide little miss here back to Squad Levi." Oluo balanced himself atop his horse. As she and the boy ran away, Andromeda watched Oluo lunge toward the titan using the long, sturdy wires from his equipment. As before, the vampiress was fascinated with the device. Oluo used the few trees around him to maneuver until he was able to land on the titan's back and slice its nape. Red blood squirted from the deep wound and Oluo was momentarily covered with it. But the blood did not stay on him, it immediately dissipated into white smoke.

Curious how things worked in this world.

"Oluo-san!" the boy soldier exclaimed, happy the giant was killed and his senior was okay.

But Oluo just shouted back, "Run, Derek!"

Another titan, this time a lot bigger and bulkier, jumped toward them with so much speed that strong gusts of wind almost knocked them from their horses. Andromeda held on to the rein and looked at Oluo while running away. He was trying to fight the titan but it seemed more clever than the others. It expertly dodged his attacks and tried to grab Oluo.

At last, it succeeded.

Damn.

Would another one of her blood bags be killed?

No, not this time, Andromeda thought. Enough pretending scared and weak. Immediately, she guided her horse back to Oluo, ignoring Derek's loud barks. Through the fog, she squinted and searched for the titan's feet. With her strength and insurmountable speed, she sliced the ankles of both feet of the gigantic creature. It groaned and set Oluo free as it fell to the ground. The vampiress took Oluo's blade, climbed the body of the injured titan while dodging its hands, and cut a large portion on its nape. Blood showered on her, dirtying the uniform
given to her by Petra. But, she did it. The titan was dead.

From where he lay, wounded and bloodied, Oluo stared admiringly at his savior. "Angel," he muttered.

Andromeda flipped her hair. She needed to brush them as soon as the group settled in somewhere safe.

Her brown mare approached her and she climbed on its back. Oluo whistled to call his and he, Andromeda, and Derek continued to run back to the group. They were now in the part of the forest littered with too many trees. They heard a bang but they couldn't see where the smoke from the signal flare was rising. Andromeda had good hearing though and knew it came from somewhere on their left.

"They're not too far, come, let's go," said Oluo who rode before them. "It's from the left." Andromeda's brow shot upward.

After a few minutes on horseback, they saw the rest of the soldiers. The vampiress noted that they were quite fewer than they were less than an hour earlier. They were ordered to cross the forest at full speed. It was hard, though. With the large trees and rocks all around. Some of the horses were injured but more so were the humans. Plenty of them were wounded and bloodied, missing an arm, or a foot, or whatever they could lose. But they pushed on, hurried to the other side of the forest and into that town called Adelheid.

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Andromeda hadn't cried for centuries. She didn't cry when her pet bird died. Didn't cry when being punished by her father after her misdeeds. Didn't cry when her mother lost her mind and killed herself. Absolutely didn't cry when she accidentally killed humans while feasting on their warm, warm blood.

Their group had reached Adelheid and in the torch-lit garrison, humans trembled and cried. They called the names of their dead friends, lovers, and comrades. They looked ugly with rivers of water staining their cheeks and snot flowing from their red noses. How unsightly. In a war, you must expect casualties. In this "expedition" that they were going through, they should've been mentally prepared to lose lives.

Andromeda rolled her eyes and went back to Squad Levi.

"I'm telling you, she was amazing." With a bit of exaggeration but quietly, Oluo told the squad about how Andromeda killed a titan earlier. "She swung the blade over her head and sliced off the titan's feet! Then she gutted it and took its head off!"

"I'm pretty sure that was not how it exactly happened," Derek countered, choosing to stay with Squad Levi rather than with his own. Andromeda noticed that the two squads didn't lose any of their soldiers. But despite acting fine, the humans' eyes were surrounded by shadows and they were obviously just acting like they were alright.

"Yes, it did!" Oluo crossed his hands near his chest. "Go on, ask her." One palm opened in Andromeda's direction.

The vampiress sat on the floor near them. These humans should learn to trust her, so she would act like she was opening up to them. Being friendly. "I just got lucky," she shrugged. "Oluo-san did a better job when he killed the other titan. He was exceptional!"

The man blushed but nodded his head. "You heard her."

Andromeda succeeded in steering the conversation away from her. Suddenly, her prowess in fighting was a bit forgotten. Good.

Oluo told the group how he battled with the titans in the forest, but the others seemed bored at his retelling. In the middle of it, the woman named Hange approached her and said, "Oh, you're okay now! So, you can speak! You can now answer our questions! Where are you from and why were you outside Wall Rose?"

All these talk about walls. Andromeda didn't have any clue about them. She noticed that Oluo had stopped speaking and both Squad Levi and Hange's group were looking at her and expecting her reply.

She shook her head, and with a slight smile offered, "I do not have any memory about what happened. Honestly, I cannot remember much. I just woke up in the middle of the forest and then I ran and I ran..."

Hange looked like she wasn't convinced. "What do you remember, then?"

"Just my name."

"Which is?"

"Andromeda."

"An...dromeda?" The woman cocked her head and then suddenly smiled and grabbed both her hands. "Andy, then! We'll call you Andy."

"Andy?"

Andromeda wanted to protest but Hange was already announcing to all the soldiers: "Hey, everyone! She's called Andy! Our mysterious miss is called Andy! She can talk now!" Her voice was lively, but her eyes looked red from crying.

Despite the fear and grief surrounding them, the other soldiers were able to greet her and call her name.

They were being kind to her, like how they should be. It was time to get information about this world. "Can I ask a question?"

Hange replied, "Of course."

"What was it about those walls you were talking about?"

The humans looked at her like she was some strange creature. "You even forgot about the walls?" Petra asked.

Andromeda nodded. "I must've hit my head."

"You must've hit it hard," Hange said. She sat closer to the vampiress. "I'll tell you all about it." Then she told her everything they knew about the humans in this land: how they built walls to protect themselves from the titans, how their government worked, and how their security was breached just a couple of years ago. A colossal titan kicked Shiganshina's gate and another, an armored titan, blasted through Wall Maria's gate. Now, there were titans inside Wall Maria. After saying this, Hange started talking about the soldiers' duty and about the titans.

Andromeda noticed that the other soldiers were quietly leaving her alone with the Section Commander.

And she later on realized why.

Hange became too passionate when talking about the titans and the Scout Regiment's experiments on them. The woman actually talked to her almost all night!

Finally, Andromeda faked a yawn and stopped Hange from talking. "I'm really sorry but my body already needs to rest. Too many things had happened." She started standing up.

"But I haven't talked to you about-"

"I must rest. We'll talk again, Hange-san." She gave the soldier a smile and walked out of the room. She strolled along the dark, cemented halls and looked for an empty room. Which were plenty. There were only a few of them who survived after all and she knew they would be fewer still when the expedition ended. Aurelius was right, humans were really scarce in this land. She needed to make sure her food supply wouldn't be closer to extinction. She sighed. Such a task that was. It'd be easier if she was to be Queen, though. She would know better how humankind would survive in this perilous world. She would be better than their current King, she was sure.

Ah, at last, she found an empty room with a bedding to her liking. Very unlike her fluffy bed with red and golden drapes, but it was better than nothing. When she was younger, she had been to war so she could tolerate being away from comfort, but only for a little bit of time.

She remembered the war. Another vampire tribe had wanted to conquer Aurum, but they were defeated by her mighty kingdom. The Savages, they were called. Some said that these Savages were once vampires from Aurum exiled by her great-grandfather. They came back for revenge but failed. Now, they were the lesser vampires living inside the land and continuously opposing the King's commands. Many of them were anti-humans and Andromeda knew that if left unchecked, they would wage another war against the royals once more.

"Father, just kill them! Why don't you just kill them all?" she remembered the young her asking Aurelius as he sat on his throne.

"Death is not always the answer, my pearl," the King had told her.

Andromeda shook the memory away and laid on the hard bed. She closed her eyes. She didn't know she was this tired. Inside the cold garrison, if she listened closely, she could still hear the voices of the human soldiers.

So deep was her slumber that she didn't hear the soldiers' escalating cries and didn't smell the thick dark smoke filling the large structure.