The hood of the woman fell to the side and the cloak followed, dragging her hair along with it. Weaving a flow of many strands of golden hair into a grandiose fabric painted by the crimson sun.
The thin fabric translucent enough to let through the deep crimson rays, yet bold enough to highlight the grim circumstances of the moment.
Falling to the side of her face and framing an awkward smile, the haze of heat began to set in.
The woman continued forward towards the man, making no effort to hide her intentions, or her stare. On the side of her head were two pointed ears, and on the top of her head a singular horn.
As she got closer more details began to reveal themselves. A small scar across her face. Scar tissue filled into an obviously bad wound wrapping around her eye. A tattoo of sorts around the woman's neck, similar to runes the man had seen once before. And lastly a small pendant, reflecting the crimson light across its gem-like surface.
Most notably... she was beautiful, beyond that even. The most perpetual beauty that the man had ever seen. She looked like a statue.
The woman took a final step. Stopping just shy of the man's face, and leaning forward towards his neck.
"What are you doing..."
The woman did not seem to have any bad intentions, however now that she was closer the man could see that the garments wrapped around her body had now been stained a bright red color. Not from the sun, but from something more ominous.
The woman spoke in a soft voice behind the mans ear. "Why are you still here?"
The man was obviously startled, stepping back to distance himself.
"What do you mean... weren't we left behind"
"I guess it does seem that way, huh?" She responded intently.
"What do you mean, seems that way" He paused. "Is that not what happened?"
The woman seemed to recoil from those words. As if she knew something he did not.
The man did not miss this queue, a slight shift in her pattern of speech, the wandering of her gaze. But decided not to pursue it. Afterall he was pretty sure of what had happened, or rather what had not happened.
The woman took a step back, giving more thought to her previous plan.
'Its not time to kill him yet...' 'We both need to get out of this place alive anyway.'
"We should work together to get back"
The man looked at the woman, many thoughts entering his head, 'there is no chance I can make it on my own, although I'm not sure it would be safer to travel with this woman either'
'Ahhhhuh, why is it always like this'
'Ever since that day, nothing good has come out of my life. Everyday feels like it'll be my last. It all started then.'
Ten years ago, in a small temple, on the edge of a bustling town, a small boy around the age of ten mysteriously... DIED.
Or so the world thought.
His parents held a funeral, with a body, in the middle of an evening that stretched on for all those affected. All except for the dead boy.
After a long evening, he was put to rest. A hole was dug and the boy was placed in a makeshift coffin, covered with dirt, and finally, forgotten.
However, after he was buried, something unexpected happened. The boy woke up.
And then he died. Again, and again, and again, and for many years after that. He would simply revive, suffocate, and again, he would die.
This went on for half a decade before something happened.
Half a decade spent suffocating in an enclosed space, gasping for air that stunk of death, and held on the brink of madness while enduring it all knowing there was nothing that could be done to stop it.
That was until a unique figure appeared in the light of a red sun. Standing over the boy, he held a shovel. But beyond that was a nervous look, one of both knowing and of unknown caution. Staring at the boy with keen interest the figure bent down to help the boy. Offering a hand to the living corpse that lay below.
However, it did not move like it was supposed to, instead a mysterious glow surrounded the barely living boy.
"A vampire?" The mysterious figure stumbled back.
'It's common knowledge that the last vampire had been killed over a decade ago.
After the Red Purging no vampire was allowed to exist. Under the law they were all hunted down and exorcised. So why?'
"Why is there a vampire here?"
The man started to back away, terrified of what he may have unleashed, but to his surprise nothing happened. He waited a moment, still nothing. He sat up and glimpsed over the cusp of the hole he had dug. A mound of dirt obstructing his view causing him to get closer than he wanted to.
The boy still sat lifeless, alive, but without the traits of someone who was living. His skin was white as bone, his eyes lifeless and dull red, and among everything, a set of fangs poked out beneath his sickly face.
Smaller than one would imagine, but there was no mistaking what the boy was. It was common knowledge after all.
The man reluctantly took the boy in. Feeding him with his own blood and raising him as his own. Leaving no room for error as he hid the existence of the young vampire boy. Even going so far as to file his fangs down below his lip line.
All to keep him safe.
Many years passed like this.
And eventually the man became a vampire as well. However his fate was not a lofty one.
One night a man that he had once trusted with his life, sold him out. The hunters were alerted and the man and child were forced to flee.
This only lasted for so long, as after many sleepless nights the man was cornered in broad daylight. Weakened and unable to fight, the only thing the man could do was protect the child in his care.
As the man lay dying, sprawled out in a pool of his own blood. The man had only one regret.
That he had left his boy behind.
The child was able to escape through the efforts of the man, but his unfortunate life had only just begun. Thrown into despair over his caretaker's death, the vampire boy went to sleep.
A sleep that lasted many years, a sort of sleep that could only be described as a hibernation.
After awaking, the boy had lost all memory of being a vampire. The only thing that he could remember was what had happened to his guardian and who had done it.
The moment he awoke his senses purged all activity as the boy froze in awe. Standing before him was not the world he knew.
The world that the boy awoke in was different than it had been before. The trade between the two major continents had bolstered technological advancements.
The people he once knew had moved on, and the makings of his home no longer held. The boy lay on the dirt in a long abandoned part of the city. Partially buried in soot and rubble. Surrounded by what used to be the houses of those that he once got along with.
Everything had changed, but at the same time the boy felt as though something was missing. Something important to his very existence, something that could not be seen.
A mysterious weight that while he couldn't place, still held.