The cold hard ground was burning Adui’s body. But he didnt care about it, his whole attention was on Vampas before him and the human mass that the creature had in its mouth. As if it were a chewing toy, the creature moved its head from left to right, swaying the human in its mouth. Ben, whose lower torso was stuck between the Vampas’s mouth screamed with pain, but the creature didnt stop.

Blood started getting sprinkled in the surroundings, Adui also got wet in that red rain. The red and warm liquid when trickled down his face, he understood that this was not a dream, this was really happening. Seeing his best friend in the world getting dismembered was a very horrifying sight for him. The sheer horror that he was facing, glued him to the ground. Even though he knew that this was not a dream, he was a having hard time digesting the fact that his best friend was being murdered before him. Just like that.

But it was then the mouth of the Vampas lit up, the white light flooded its mouth. It let go of Ben and ran away with its mouth on fire. Crawling, Adui swiftly made his way to Ben, who seemed to be on his last breath.

“Did… you see it.” Ben asked, in a weakened, voice, “I saw it.” Adui said.

“I fucking kicked the butt of that mutt!” Ben said the sudden exclamation made him vomit blood.

“Dont speak. Dont.” Adui said with tears trickling down his eyes, “Save your energy, my friend.”

With tears trickling down his face, Ben opened his mouth, “Good b…” Ben was able to complete his sentence, as his eyes became lifeless.

It was then the dam of tears that Adui had been holding off till then broke free. He started crying his heart out, not caring about the noise that he was making. He didnt know when Clair came and hugged him from behind, he didnt know when the sun’s light fell on him. But when he regained consciousness, he found himself in the lap of Clair, he had seemingly fallen asleep under a nearby tree.

He looked around, the girls were sleeping on either side of Clair, while Clair herself was asleep. Remembering the last night, Adui’s heart ached. It was just too painful to see the man that saved him from the pit of fiery inferno die like that…

It was a miracle that no Vampas came to attack them then while they were sleeping. He figured that the creatures must have figured out that the sun was about to rise, which is why they scattered all around.

After getting his bearings, Adui then woke up Clair and the girls. After tucking the girls in one of the empty houses in the village, they made their way back to Ben’s body. There was plenty of firewood gathered by the villagers, and after slowly transporting them one by one, they made a pyre for their friend. By noon, Adui finally said his last goodbyes to the man and burned his body.

Tears once again started trickling down his eyes, as the pyre got hotter, but he didnt bawl his eyes out like before. Silently he weeped, thinking, it should have been me, it should have been me…

Only when Clair had finished her prayers, did Adui start thinking about the question that had been bugging him for some time.

What should we do now? Adui knew that they could not reach Geojule Pass without horses. And based on the attack and worsening weather, he didnt know what he should do. He is a crippled man, which meant that he was in no condition to walk all the way there. Clair would surely die if she went alone there, along with her two kids.

“What now Adui?” Clair asked, breaking his train of thought.

“I dont know,” He answered truthfully, “We cannot reach Geojule pass on foot. Even if we eventually reach it, the chances are that the ship or ship captain would be waiting for us there. No man in their right mind would wait for us,”

Clair looked scared, “What should we do now?”

He thought for a moment, and then answered, “Survive. That is the only thing that we could do.”

“How? And where?”

He thought about it for a moment, and then replied, “The innkeeper said that there was a guest house of a noble just outskirts of the village. You take the girls and go there. Based on supplies that we have, and if you scavenge the supplies of all the dead villagers… I think you would be able to live for some time,”

Clair was taken aback, “Why are you speaking..” She then realized the meaning of his words, “Are you not coming with us?”

He nodded, “I cannot. Those Vampas last night targeted me. If they come after me again, you and your girls lives could be in danger.”

“Adui” she breathed, tears forming in her eyes.

“This is something I would have to do. If I am correct, then there is a chance that those monsters would not come after me. If that happens, I will happily join you there. But till then…” Adui paused, “Also, you should hurry. The sunset is very far away, but the same could be said for the potion’s effect. The girls could wake up at any moment now.” Clair showed some reluctance to leave him there, but ultimately she went away…

As the sun set, Adui sat down in a house. He tucked himself into a warm and cozy blanket and closed his eyes. His thoughts were riddled with scenarios from last night. He kept thinking about what he could have done to reverse the situation. Spells that he knew, the knowledge that he had gained throughout his lifetime failed him last night. The worst part was, that he couldnt even think of one scenario from which he could have handled the situation in a way in which they all could have gotten out of the situation unharmed.

Berating himself for being weak, Adui didnt know when he fell asleep. He woke up the next time when he heard a thudding noise. When he opened his eyes, he realized that there was something or someone in the room beside him. He took his blanket, grabbed his crutches, and pushed himself up.

By the time he stood up, he saw a Vampas was now standing in the doorway of his room and the other room. As if smelling him, the Vampas slowly came towards him while its talons made holes in the wooden floor. The creature started smelling him, with its gills opening and closing while being pointed at him.

He just closed his eyes. If death was what was written in his destiny, he would gladly accept it. He let go of his crutches, opened his eyes, and stared at the monster before him with animosity. The beast moved closer to him, its gills sucking in air around him. After taking in some sniffs, the monster then broke the adjacent wall and went off into the village.

The Rose blood works. It seems that because of the smell of Soul Stone, those Vampas attacked me. But why these Vampas were so attracted to it’s smell?

From the notes of the Franc, Adui knew that the stone was some sort of an alchemic product that the Black Mage made all those years ago. But the books didnt mention why the stone emitted the smell of Rose, nor how it was made. According to the theory, Frac believed that if this stone were to be inserted in an intelligent being, like humans, then this stone would change the whole structure of the living being and convert them into a Vampas. A intelligent Vampas…

Adui then knelt down to the ground to pick up his crutches. And came out of the house, from the hole that Vampas created. It was a full moon night, and under the light of the moon, he saw that most of the village had Vampas crawling in and out of it. Some of them turned their heads towards him but then went back to sniffing the air and paying no attention to him. With heavy steps he started walking around, his eyes searching for the Vampas that had a burned mouth, the one that killed Ben.

While walking and looking around he eventually ended up on the other side of the village. But he couldnt the one matching the description. But he did find a beast, which was even bigger than the Vampas that killed Ben. The beast was double the size of the largest bear that Adui had ever seen in his life. This beast was lying on the other side of the village, on the spot where he fought the first Vampas the other night.

Adui figured that this big fellow would be the leader of the group. To test whether these Alphas of the Vampas could smell the Souls Stone on him or not, he came closer to the beast, thinking that it would attack him. But to his surprise, the beast just simply ignored him.

So these ones could not smell the Soul Stone. It seems that the smell of Soul Stone must have vanished since last night.

As the beast was practically ignoring him, Adui looked at the creature with interest. Its white skin seemed to be devoid of any fur, as mentioned in the books. Just like the book mentioned, the bigger Vampas seemed to start growing a tertiary pair of limbs on their back when started to reach adulthood. This tertiary pair turns into a pair of bat-like wings, and are able to lift the whole beast in the air when it reaches full adulthood.

Adui noticed, how muscle-packed the creature was, there seemed to be no fat present around underneath the skin of the creature. According to the books, these creatures dont have any gender per se, they just excrete an egg once in a while and that is it.

Thinking about all the perks that these beasts have, Adui couldnt help but think about Demonization, and whether it would be worth it. If he goes through with it, there is a chance that he will become mindless beasts like these before him. He would lose his humanity forever. Franc had insisted many times in the books that he was not certain whether one would be able to hold their individual identity after the process, which meant that Franc himself didnt know what would happen if he went through with the Ritual of Demonization.

Adui then turned around and confidently started heading towards the guest house of the noble, while his eyes still scanned for the injured beast that killed Ben…