Kaine tried to sit up and immediately discovered two things: first, his wrists were chained to stone brackets embedded in the wall behind him. Second, the chains felt more like mild suggestions than actual restraints.
"What the hell?" he muttered, looking around the room he'd somehow woken up in.
Gone was the industrial warehouse with its meat hooks and refrigeration units. Instead, he found himself in what looked like a medieval dungeon that someone had tried to turn into a gentleman's club. Thick stone walls were covered with expensive tapestries, and leather furniture sat arranged around a fireplace that crackled with actual flames. Crystal decanters filled with dark liquid sat on mahogany tables, and the whole place reeked of old money trying to class up a torture chamber.
[DISPLAYING PROFILE...]
NAME: Kaine Cross
RACE : Lich
CLASS: Grave Knight
LEVEL: 1
ATTRIBUTES:
•STRENGTH: 25 (Human Average: 10)
•SPEED: 30 (Human Average: 10)
•ENDURANCE: 35 (Human Average: 10)
•INTELLIGENCE: 18 (Human Average: 10)
•CHARISMA: 16 (Human Average: 10)
•HEALTH POINTS: 350/350
•MORTAL ESSENCE: 0/100
SPECIAL ABILITIES: [LOCKED - COMPLETE TUTORIAL]
INVENTORY: [One item found]
"Well, that's new," Kaine said, staring at the floating blue text. "Either I'm having the mother of all hallucinations, or I'm looking at some kind of supernatural character sheet."
The numbers were impressive, he had to admit. Strength and speed more than double human average? That would explain why the chains felt flimsy. He gave his left wrist an experimental tug.
The metal links parted like they were made of paper clips.
"Huh." He freed his other hand just as easily, the heavy shackles falling to the stone floor with a metallic clatter. "Note to self: significantly stronger than before."
Before he could examine the strange floating display further, voices drifted through a heavy wooden door across the room. Two people arguing, their words echoing off stone walls.
"—told you to be more careful with the feeding schedule," a familiar voice was saying. "Look at this mess."
Kaine's blood went cold. That was Marcus. The bloodsucker who'd put five holes through his chest and left him to die on a warehouse floor.
"I'm sorry, Master Marcus," another voice replied, higher pitched and nervous. "The thralls got excited when they smelled fresh blood. They didn't mean to damage the merchandise."
"Merchandise that cost us three months of planning and forty thousand dollars in bribes," Marcus snapped. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to acquire premium stock in this economy?"
Kaine stood up slowly, his mind racing. He should be dead. Marcus had literally torn his heart apart with his bare hands. So why was he standing in what looked like the vampire's private lair, stronger than he'd ever been in his life?
And why did his reflection in the polished surface of a nearby decanter show someone who looked like him but... different?
His skin was paler now, with an almost luminous quality that made him look like he'd been carved from marble. His hair, previously dark brown, had turned an striking light grey that was almost white. The change was subtle but unmistakable, like someone had drained just enough color from him to make him appear otherworldly.
"Who the hell dyed my hair?" he muttered, running fingers through the silver strands.
But the strangest part was how good he looked. Not just healthy—better than healthy. His jawline seemed sharper, his features more defined. Even his scars from years of hunting had faded to thin silver lines that looked more like battle decorations than damage.
The voices were getting closer now, footsteps echoing on stone as they approached the door.
"—should be awake by now," Marcus was saying. "The turning process usually takes forty-eight hours, and it's been three days."
"What if something went wrong?" the nervous voice asked. "What if he didn't survive the change?"
"He survived," Marcus said with confidence. "I can smell his awakening from here. Strong blood, perfect constitution. He's going to make an excellent wight."
The door swung open, and Marcus stepped into the room with another bloodsucker trailing behind him. The vampire leader looked exactly as Kaine remembered—expensive clothes, red eyes, and an air of supreme arrogance that made smart people want to do stupid things.
When Marcus saw Kaine standing free of his chains, his face lit up like Christmas morning.
"Perfect! I knew you'd be exceptional." Marcus spread his arms wide in a gesture that might have been welcoming if it wasn't coming from a monster. "Welcome to your new existence, Kaine Cross. You should be honored—very few hunters survive the turning process intact."
Kaine stared at him for a long moment, processing what he'd just heard. Turning process. Wight. The changes to his appearance, the impossible strength, the fact that he was apparently alive when he should be very definitely dead.
"You turned me," he said flatly.
"Of course I did!" Marcus looked genuinely pleased with himself. "Did you think I'd waste talent like yours? Twelve years as a Shadowguard operative, countless successful hunts, and that magnificent fighting spirit. You're going to be—"
Kaine stopped listening. All he could see was Marcus standing there, talking like they were having a casual conversation instead of discussing how he'd been turned into the very thing he'd spent his adult life killing.
The rage that filled him was unlike anything he'd ever experienced. It wasn't the controlled anger of a professional hunter—it was something primal and absolute, burning through him like liquid fire.
Marcus was still talking, something about loyalty and servitude and the glorious future they'd build together.
Kaine moved.
One moment he was standing twenty feet away, the next he had Marcus by the throat and was driving him backward into the stone wall hard enough to crack the ancient blocks.
"Holy shit," he breathed, staring at his hand wrapped around the vampire's neck.
The speed had been incredible—faster than anything he'd experienced as a human, faster than he'd thought possible. He'd crossed the room in what felt like a single step, moving so quickly that Marcus hadn't even had time to react.
[TUTORIAL CANCELLED - LEARNING THROUGH EXPERIENCE DETECTED]
[TIP: Sometimes the best education is a good old-fashioned beating]
"Get off me!" Marcus snarled, his red eyes flaring with supernatural light. "I am your master! You will obey!"
"The only thing you are," Kaine said, tightening his grip, "is dead."
He threw Marcus across the room like he was tossing a baseball. The vampire hit the opposite wall with enough force to spider-web the stone, then crashed to the floor in a shower of dust and debris.
The other bloodsucker tried to run. Kaine caught him before he'd taken three steps, grabbed him by the head, and twisted sharply. The neck snapped with a wet pop, and the creature crumpled to the floor.
Marcus was already back on his feet, moving with the fluid grace of a second-generation vampire. "You don't understand what you are now, wight. Your will is mine. Your strength serves me. You cannot—"
Kaine appeared in front of him again, that impossible speed making the world blur around him. His fist connected with Marcus's face like a sledgehammer, sending the vampire spinning backward over a leather couch.
"Can't what?" Kaine asked, following at a more casual pace.
Marcus wiped black blood from his split lip, his expression shifting from confident to confused. "This isn't possible. You're my creation. The bond should compel absolute obedience."
"Well, your bonding process sucks."
They traded blows across the underground chamber, vampire strength meeting whatever Kaine had become. Marcus was fast and experienced, but Kaine was faster and completely unhinged. He grabbed a crystal decanter and shattered it across Marcus's skull, then picked up a heavy wooden chair and used it to club the vampire to the ground.
Marcus rolled away and came up with claws extended, raking them across Kaine's chest. The cuts opened up his shirt and drew blood, but the pain was distant and manageable—more like paper cuts than the crippling agony he'd expected.
Even more surprisingly, the wounds began closing almost immediately. Within seconds, they were nothing but thin red lines that faded to silver scars before disappearing entirely.
"What did you do to me?" Kaine asked, grabbing Marcus by the front of his expensive jacket and lifting him off the ground.
"I gave you power!" Marcus gasped, struggling against Kaine's grip. "Immortality! Strength beyond mortal limits! Why are you fighting this?"
"Because I liked being human, you piece of shit."
Kaine slammed Marcus into the stone floor hard enough to crack the blocks underneath. The vampire tried to roll away, but Kaine was on him instantly, raining down punches that echoed through the chamber like gunshots.
Marcus managed to get his claws around Kaine's throat, squeezing with enough force to crush a normal person's windpipe. But Kaine barely felt it—just pressure and mild discomfort, like wearing a tie that was too tight.
"You're supposed to serve me!" Marcus snarled, his grip tightening. "I made you! I own you!"
[WOULD YOU LIKE TO EQUIP NECRO-BLADE: SOULREND?]
[Y/N]
Kaine blinked at the floating text, then thought 'Yes' as clearly as he could.
Smoke began pouring from his right hand, coalescing into a familiar weight. Soulrend materialized in his grip, its curved blade gleaming with that distinctive red glow.
"Now that's more like it."
He drove the cursed weapon through Marcus's chest in one smooth motion, the blade punching through bone and sinew like they were made of butter. Marcus's eyes went wide with shock and pain, black blood bubbling from his lips.
"Impossible," he wheezed. "You're just a wight. You can't—"
Kaine twisted the blade. "Yeah, well, I've never been good at following rules."
Marcus's body went limp, his red eyes fading to dull black as whatever passed for life in a vampire finally left him.
Above the corpse, a translucent figure began to rise—a ghostly image of a number that glowed with a soft blue light.
[MORTAL ESSENCE DETECTED: 75 ME]
Then the notifications began flooding his vision:
[FIRST KILL ACHIEVED!]
[ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: Patricide - Kill Your Creator]
[BONUS REWARD: +5 All Attributes]
[LEVEL UP! Level 1 → Level 2]
[+10 Health Points]
[QUEST COMPLETED: Destroy Your Maker]
[REWARD: 100 Experience Points]
[MORTAL ESSENCE ABSORBED: 75/100]
But the last notification made him stop cold:
[WOULD YOU LIKE TO AWAKEN DEFEATED ENEMY AND CONVERT TO HOLLOW?]
[Y/N]
Kaine stared at the floating text, Soulrend still buried in Marcus's chest.
"What the fuck is a Hollow?"