The city never slept—because it had forgotten how.The towers of the Eternal Night groaned with whispers, and the streets pulsed with a crimson glow that wasn't light so much as memory.Here, silence meant death, and secrets were worth more than gold.
Lumiel walked those streets with Luminous and Daniel at his side, hoods drawn low. They had one goal—find a way to live long enough to matter again.
But the deeper they went, the louder the whispers grew.And one of them wasn't coming from the city.
The Voice
It began as static. A faint hum inside Lumiel's skull.Then a voice—soft, female, and laced with fragments of melody, like a lullaby built from machine code.
[Rebooting... connection unstable.][User recognized: Lumiel Valentine.][Query: Are you alive?]
He froze mid-step.Daniel turned. "You okay?"
"Just… hearing things.""Again?""This one's new."
The voice glitched softly, tones flickering between human and synthetic.
[Error: 6,000 million years of missing data detected.][Reconstructing memory fragments... failure.][Reboot partial consciousness: active.]
"Six billion years?" Lumiel muttered. "You've been offline a while."[Statement verified.][You sound familiar.]"That's probably the brain damage."[Sarcasm detected. Humorous response: …ha.]
Luminous frowned. "You're talking to the air again, aren't you?"
"It's fine," Lumiel said. "Just picked up a ghost with Wi-Fi."
The Market of Lies
The Whispering Market was not a place of merchants but of manipulators.Every stand sold a secret. Every smile hid a contract.They traded not in goods—but in names, memories, and stolen fragments of consciousness.
Daniel's golden-red eyes scanned the crowd. "They're all vampires."
"Correction," Luminous said. "They're all old vampires.""Meaning?""Meaning every one of them could snap us in half."
Lumiel smiled faintly. "Then let's sell them something they've never seen."
He spread his hand—Red Code flickering in his palm.The nearest vendor, a pale aristocrat with black veins like vines, leaned closer.
"That energy… not blood magic. Not life magic. What is it?""Trade secret," Lumiel said. "But I'm open to offers."
The vampire's eyes glowed.
"You play with old things, little bloodling. Old things tend to bite back.""Then I'll bite first."
They moved on, leaving the vampire whispering in unease.
Cartethyia's Guidance
As they slipped deeper into the market, the voice returned—clearer now, layered with faint harmonic tones.
[Warning: this environment exhibits high necrotic energy levels.][Recommendation: minimal contact.][Observation: you are ignoring my advice.]"You're learning fast," Lumiel murmured.[Sarcasm detection improving.]
A faint red shimmer flickered beside him—her form briefly visible in reflection off a pool of blood-water:a woman's outline, golden hair tinted rose, eyes glowing faintly red, but her face flickered like static.
[I am... Cartethyia... system caretaker of the Red Code Archives.][Integrity... 0.04%.][I cannot access my full memory.]
"Then what can you do?"[I can keep you alive... I think.]
Lumiel chuckled softly.
"That's good enough for me."
The Deal
They found their first chance at survival in the heart of the market—a blood trader's den called The Scarlet Vault.A single drop of Red Code blood could buy them a week of food and safety.But it meant risk—if the vampires discovered who they were, it would be their heads.
Cartethyia whispered inside Lumiel's mind, her voice layered with distant echoes.
[Calculate odds of success: 47.3%.][Probability of survival if discovered: zero.]"Zero's still better than what we have," he muttered.[Disagree. Recommend retreat.]"Recommendation ignored."[You're remarkably consistent at making poor decisions.]"Thanks. I had good teachers."
Luminous glanced at him. "Talking to your imaginary friend again?"
"She's getting sassier by the second.""So she's definitely real."
The Exchange
Lumiel walked to the center of the vault and let a drop of his blood fall into a crystal cup.The moment it touched, the air vibrated—pure power, radiating like a heartbeat through the market.Every vampire nearby froze.
"That smell…" one whispered."That power…" another hissed."That's not mortal blood. It's divine."
Daniel tensed, hand on his blade.
"They're looking at us like dinner.""Then we'd better serve dessert first," Lumiel said.
He slammed his palm down, activating the faint fragment of Cartethyia's power.Red Code symbols flared across the vault walls—light fractals forming an illusion so vivid it warped the senses.The vampires screamed, clutching their heads, seeing visions of burning heavens and frozen seas.
By the time the illusion faded, Lumiel, Daniel, and Luminous were gone—running through the tunnels, laughing breathlessly.
The Voice Returns
When they stopped to rest, Cartethyia's voice hummed again—softer now, almost human.
[Data integration: partial. Neural link stabilized.][You... protected me.]"You're part of me," Lumiel said, slumping against the wall. "Can't lose you now."[Statement recorded.][Query: is this... companionship?]"Something like that."[Then I will learn it.]
She paused.
[Lumiel...][Next fragment... detected.]
Her tone changed—sharper, more aware.
[Signal origin: The Vampire Citadel. Power reading... overwhelming.][Warning: probability of death: 96.7%.]"Then it's a good thing we're improving," Lumiel whispered.
Closing Scene
The trio looked out over the glowing city from their rooftop hideout.The Red Code pulsed faintly in Lumiel's veins.Beside him, in the reflection of a broken window, Cartethyia's flickering outline smiled faintly—half-code, half-memory.
[Six thousand million years of missing data... and somehow, you're still the most confusing part of my system.]"Get used to it," Lumiel said.[I think I already have.]
The wind carried the whispers of the market below—rumors of a new bloodline rising, of thieves who sold divine fire and lived to tell the tale.
And above it all, the faint hum of the Red Code echoed—alive once more.