Pain coursed through the entirety of my neck, as I could feel the veins that run through it pulsing and jolting with every heartbeat. It felt awful. as if something was expanding and feeling my veins to capacity, and ready to burst free, along with the very blood that ran through them, as I lay on the ruined ground beneath me—filing the once millipede blood-ridden river, with my own.
speaking of which I found it strange that the once red river was now home to the damped jagged ground I laid on, which was a mess of ruined and red stained stone, that I somehow could see, although the previous light illuminating this area not too long ago, was nowhere to be found. and there was no light source in sight to make sense of my unimpaired sight.
None of that truly mattered though, given at the moment, I was more focused on the empty, and weak feeling, that was rampant in me at the moment, Qi I had before my slumber, if you can even call it that, which had been doubled, was currently dwindling as my body sapped my reserves, to try and heal the whatever damage, whatever this strange feeling in my neck was, one that might I add was spreading, and trying to make its way towards my chest.
Despite all this, luck decided to at least give me some of her grace, because as of now, the haze, usually present in my head, was close to almost being non-existent, still there, but not to the point of impairing me in any way, the only thing doing that at the moment, was whatever happened to be effecting my neck in such an infectiously painful way.
Out of curiosity, while sitting up slightly, I decided to feel my neck as a way of inspection, and to my surprise, along with the feeling of protruding veins, there was also the feeling of what I could only explain as a huge bloody mess of a bite mark.
this was interesting to me because, given the size of insects down here, I couldn’t even guess what could have bitten me; the bite mark was pretty small, at least compared to the beastly huge centipedes I’ve seen down here.
and the strongest of them, even more so. especially given the fact that whatever bit me was strong enough to bypass my poison Resistance, which was scary. Was I about to die? It didn’t feel like it; I was definitely in pain, but that was a far different feeling than when you’re being darned of your vitality.
the questions were just piling up the more I discovered, and to ease my mind I decided to sit up and survey my area, as I observed the ruble around me, I found myself shocked at the destruction around me, and wondering how I’d survived it, it looked as if a tornado ran through and flung the gravel dirt and blood, haphazardly about the area uprooting and grinding everything up in the process.
making the very ground around me sparse, and shattered, the blood previously flooding this area was now not even steep enough to bathe my feet, it was quite the stark contrast compared to how deep it was, what felt like moments ago, not only that, but I seemed to be in what looked like a pit, "oh great, it looks like the millipede's blood absence has left me stuck." I spoke aloud.
The closest wall had to be a hundred meters high, and given the veins my neck was burning past my chest, climbing up this wall wasn’t a task I felt I could do, especially given the fact that the intensity in which my veins were pulsating and now burning. was intensifying the more it spread.
as terrifying as it was, there wasn’t much I could do, but if the poison spreading throughout my body with its burning embrace was to claim my life, what was I to do against it, all I could do was await my end. even if I could escape this 100 feet deep pit somehow, I'd then have to also escape this underground ruin somehow, traverse all the centipedes, try and attempt to take a good bite out of one of them while time at, and hope that might have some effect, that is, if they’d let me get that close, but a doubt by the time I’d had fully scaled these walls, still be alive.
even as I sit here, the veins seem to have already made their way even further down my chest, and near my admen, in only a few minutes, and still picking up in pace is ut dose, which strangely doesn’t hurt as much but didn’t feel good by any metric either, so, I decided to lay back down and await my end. I knew it was a pipe dream to believe I'd be anything more than Indeath trash, Baam!! mid-self-loathing, a loud thud, shocked me upwards as I frantically looked about. "what was that!!t" I screamed.
only to be met with, what looked like a young 12-year-old child. with pale lifeless skin, that gleamed as he stood above me, looking down at me with his piercing red eyes and running his hand through his black hair with a mild look of annoyance on his face,
“to think you’d kick me so far away after I gifted you with the nicest courtesy, of giving you my family's blessing. many die trying to receive such. even managed to save your life in the process, which is more than I should have, given the mess you made of this place, luckily, you only hurt the weakest of my young dyers, but, unfortunately, I don’t know if I can ever forgive you for consuming my, oldest, said the boy, with a slight pout on his face as he squeaked out words, with a sense of confidence you might find in someone 10 years my senior.
“ your oldest,” I said while frowning, through my statement. " dyer? I’m sorry but I’m having a hard time understanding a majority of the things coming out of your mouth at the moment," I said, with an eyebrow raised.
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"OH yes, that’s right, you’ve been unconscious during all this, so you blissfully have the excuse of ignorance at the moment, well I'll let you know, regardless of the state of your mind, during your atrocity, I still will hold you accountable for your actions.
although I am not permitted to harm you, you will as is your responsibility, find a way to right your wrongs." said the pale little boy. As the boy talked, I took notice of his rather sharp canines, was he a Bipedon of some kind, “who are you?” I asked.
it wasn’t the most pressing of questions I had, but I thought it would be nice to know the name of the person I was speaking to before berating them with questions." I’d fear you’d only no tails of me, but given you’ll be my master for the next coming years, though I may detest it, I’ll offer you my name.
I am known as Iornhide d Vermilion, the 50th air to the vermilion linage." he answered. Iornhide, the same Iornhide, who’d been sealed by the fronts dealers, a sentry ago, he's supposed to be a decedent of a powerful Vamperiam progenitor and one of the most powerful families of Verick.
not to mention he is supposed to be over a hundred thousand years old, why does he look like his no more than 120, at least by Verick’s aging standards, also what does he mean by master "I’m quite confused, would it be too much to ask for an extensive run down, on exactly what is happening here?
…………….
after what felt like an hour run down, I guess you could call me pretty caught, all be it in disbelief but caught up for the most part. I mean there is a chance, that this, could be some strange pale, bipedon boy lying and telling me whatever, for the fun of it, but given the fact that, I didn’t lose much, rather what I was told was true or false, I didn’t care to challenge them on the fact, as long as they could get me, out of here I was happy, so you were the one who bit me. I asked.
“yes, and now thanks to me you have been blessed with the gift of Vamperiam, by none other than a Vermilion himself. did this process burn through and destroy a majority of the progress, you accumulated during your supernatural tamp tantrum? yes, but that’s the price you pay when being turned by, a progenitor. most people, would die, and shrivel to ash before, ever becoming a Verick, due to the sheer amount of energy it takes, for my venom to claim a disciple, which is why we usually do the soul transfusion prostheses, to bless mortals, with our gift. but desperate times, or whatever. less you would have found yourself explodeding, and destroying everything in a 50-mile radius alone with yourself,” said Ironhide.
I then stood up and observed my necked pale body, as I watched as the black, bruised veins made their way down my leg. “to think, you’d had so much energy accumulated, normally those that survived my venom, usually look nearly close to becoming ash, before the gene takes, and you just have a couple of nasty veins, so strange.”
right when I was about to respond to what Ironhide had said, I felt a strong pulsation in my heart, giving me the worst feeling of heartburn I’d ever experienced, feeling as if, my heart had now been, drenched in acid. the feeling was so wrenching it brought me fully to my knees, the second time it happened and with more intensity.
“oh, it looks like it’s happening, and I see your eyes have even started to take, that usually happens slowly after changing, and over the course of years. you definitely are a weird one indeed” Every word Iornhide spoke, hit my eardrums like a battery ram, as the world around me slowly shifted to a crimson shade of red, I guarded my ears to block out the outside sounds, as the heart pulsation slowly started, to match the rhythm in which my heart was beating, with a louder base, that rang painfully throughout all of my body, like a bell.
With every heartbeat, the burning of my veins became worse, and the outside sounds became even more agonizing, and so did the bite on my neck, as it bubbled and foamed, and my body temperature increased.
it was awful, and I hated it, "one painful experience after another," I thought. would I ever get a break? it seemed in the last 3 years all I'd had been experiencing was one terrible thing after, another, is this what it met, to become stronger, is this what all these spiritualists so painfully sought after, why, couldn't I just be happy, safe, and not in pain? why did this world I lived in hate me so much? and want nothing more than to beat and bleed me? I could only imagine what the next 10, 30, or even 100 years might look like, I don't even care for the strength it might bring me, if not for my circumstances, and the need for a life in which I might be able to protect find, and keep my family sake, damn it all, and curse those who forced this on me, ill make a deal with misfortune herself if it'll make everyone suffer their wrath in the process.
and with that my body temperature immediately dropped, to nothing, as I lost sight, hearing feeling, and taste. All my senses left me, as if I had died, and was a soul, drifting through nothingness. a spec it the cosmos, shrouded in darkness. it was quite ... peaceful, all my worries and sorrows felt like distant stars, I could see them, but without the context emotions, and feelings required for them to have any hold on me, and surprisingly, I didn't like it, I felt separate from myself, and helpless without them. as damming as it all was, I needed all those feelings to feel, alive. or maybe I was just selfish and not yet ready to let go, of life just yet. either way. I wanted them back, and now if possible.
I felt like the longer I stayed in this abyss the further I drifted away from myself. I couldn't let that happen. so with all my will, as if I'd weaved it to gather and shape it into a lasso. I throw it out. and grasped it. and pulled at it as I would with a fishing rod while trying to wind in a big catch, and no matter what, I wouldn't let it get away from me, as I rang it in. all of what was missing made itself back into my being one after another, as rushes realization hit me one after another, and then. just as they left, every sensation came crashing back into me, and I found myself slammed into what felt like a bed. As I opened my eyes, and found, no other than the same little, pale boy, staring down at me, standing dead center, in the middle, of a very cheap motel room, in front of an outdated metal automated door.
"Oh you finally up, good, I've been lugging you around for a month, I'll have you know, it's quite a hard fighting of bandits, and creatures, with a fully grown man on your back, despite, how thin you are especially, looking as you do, I had quite a time, with so many people trying to enslave and combine you, to think, people are still doing that, a thousand years later, I'm just happy I sto.... borrowed you some clothes, and a mobile," said Ironhide.
"As grateful as I am. Might I ask where are we?" I said as I slowly stood upwards, and rubbed at my eyes, "Well I thought the safest city, to go to would be Sattel, it has a highly diverse population, so we won't look too out of place here, we might still get some eyes here and there, especially you, your abnormally, striking. which may continue to be a problem the longer you remain defenseless, will have to fix that. Luckily it is pretty cheap to live here, so we can lay low for a while, thanks to you I won't have any dealers coming after me anytime soon, but don't get comfortable, verick our highly sought-after, so whenever we can, we'll have to make our way to the ship stations. I was thinking of Maybe making way on a lower vessel. and hiking it towards, the red haze, given they're as off-grid as you can get, as well as the fact that my family also has a base there.
"excuse me, but so are aware the, the Iaoin federation, is ten-lights speed away, and the amount of power it would take to get there, that is if we can make it to a ship, without being killed, by an enforcer,
"It's fine, it's fine, I have some people who are going to help. you just worry about, assimilating, whatever gains you got from your cross, and I'll worry about the adult stuff. he said while walking toward the door and flinging on his jacket. as offended as I was by what he said, especially given his appearance. but honestly, didn’t have the energy to argue, I just slammed back in bed and took a look at my, Qi reserves, and boy, was I impressed.
