The door was opened slowly, a pair of innocent eyes peeked in, hair like silk swayed to the wind as a girl trodden in. The room was chilly. It seemed the window was smashed open. Suddenly she stopped in her tracks and noticed Fawr curled up in a foetal position. He lay covered in glass and blood on the floor, forming a puddle.

 

"Fawr!? Fawr!!? Wake up. What's wrong? What happened?" The girl ran up, seemingly shocked, tugging at Fawr and calling him in a frantic tone. She was shaking the poor guy into a stupor. Just as the girl was seemingly prepared to give him CPR, he woke wide awake, staring at the girl as if he saw a ghost.

 

"Holy crap, why are you so close to my face?" Fawr blushed heavily. This lass was his neighbour, with her having no clue about his familial feelings for her. Seeing her face up close got his blood rushing as he got embarrassed, to the extent that he could feel it go around his body several times, giving him an itchy feeling.

 

"I was here to wake you up. Today is the massive announcement regarding the change in the curriculum. You will be fined for not attending. Wait, hang on, why were you sleeping on the floor in your blood, with the window smashed open? What happened?!" Questioned the girl in a concerned tone.

 

"None of your business. Leave quickly, you will be late for class. I got to go sort some things out," replied Fawr while caressing the pendant in his pocket. Fawr did not have the time or interest to explain.

 

The girl was adamant about staying, and although unwilling, she finally left, not before tidying the place up a bit. You could see the look of pity in her eyes. Fawr lived alone with nothing to his name. Getting harassed and bullied, all the while keeping his head up and not taking it to heart. She had a soft spot for him. Fawr knew this but only saw her as a sister figure.

 

"Good Morning Lord. Have you slept enough?" Tian questioned. Fawr was confused for a good two seconds before realising he had some humanoid living inside him. The mere thought irked him, but he felt something, a connection to the guy. Honestly, he didn't seem too bad the more he observed the guy he seemed…

 

"It seems you have some feelings towards her. Hmm.. not bad.. not bad at all. She is curvy and would surely mother some splendid heirs," commented Tian with his chin resting on his hand.

 

"What the, shut up! Aren't you meant to be some nobility from the Scarlet line? Don't go teasing me about every girl you see. Plus, I only see her as a sister," muttered Fawr. He could tell by Tian's appearance that he was probably someone who got a ton of ladies.

 

"That can change, ha-ha… Well, I looked through some of the fragments of your mind. I didn't expect Humanity to develop in such a direction. My kind hasn't had a chance to delve into human society. This is none of your concern, but I am intrigued by these three focus aspects. Very interesting indeed," contemplated Tian mulling over what was revealed before him.

 

"Hang on, what are you?" Asked Fawr, mortified that an alien had set afoot in his mind but relieved that it wasn't a human. Imagine explaining that to someone. That some old raisin was residing inside of him. It made him feel slightly better. 

 

—At least he's not a human. It would feel wrong having some old geezer in my mind. Didn't he just say he looked into my mind a bit? Does he not know privacy?

 

"Emperor, I am a Vampire. We are an offshoot of humans. I think you call them mutants. Our progenitors were not demons as they were human born," as if responding to Fawr's thoughts, he explained. "Hey, don't read my mind without asking. It's seriously creepy, and it doesn't help that you are human too as now it feels even weirder," complained Fawr. *Cough* Tian continued, ignoring the complaints. "Vampire was just the name of our clan, a clan of humans who had delved into the blood arts. Our powers were immense as we established the Eternal Scarlet Empire. Due to unforeseen circumstances, the Empire was devastated by a higher power. There was a significant split in our legacy, with the light fading into human society and the dark side in society's shadows,” explained Tian. He continued further with a sad expression.

 

"Some with higher ambitions delved into shady practices to achieve more power, gaining infamy. We could only go into hiding and lock ourselves away, not to face extinction. Only during the enlightenment were some of us finally awakened. Along with us, though, came the awakening of the ancients, another headache to deal with," Tian said in much detail. This successor had much to learn, and he would slowly reveal the world's secrets to the lad.

 

"Hold up, that's too much information... so what they say online is true. Elves, fairies, and Dragons do exist! Are Vampires not part of the Ancients? They are just Humans with evil abilities?" Asked Fawr, intrigued.

 

"The Ancients are legends to us old Vampires. Humanity has suffered through many calamities before this. All the past eras of Humanity are quite strange and distant. What the world has uncovered is the tip of the iceberg. Our Blood arts reached the highest heights of Humanity but were eventually suppressed by the world like many other legacies. Don't get me wrong, the Ancients are also the losers. They, too, had tried to go beyond the pinnacle. We learned that they were waiting for the fabled Enlightenment period," mentioned Tian in a cumbersome tone.

 

"Humanity has had a couple of eras of significant growth. There was blood, cultivation, magical, and technological eras. Many other eras will probably reveal themselves in time. The calm before the storm has only just begun. If you don't use this time to get stronger, you will get washed away by fate," rambled Tian, returning to his extreme views on fate.

 

"The blood abilities of vampires are not evil. We had a balance of life and death in our control. However, to keep our legacies safe, they had to be split due to the prophecy. The light focused on vitality and life, it had no real attacking capabilities, and it would muster a stronger body, a healthier demeanour and eternal life. The ones with the light slowly assimilated into society, forgetting their origins and abilities. The Dark side delved into attacking, draining and controlling the underworld. They were nefarious. Still, without vitality and life, we could only resort to stealing the vitality of other life forms. Animals are fine but reaping the vitality of humans would give you immense power and pleasure, almost like a drug. We could not contain it, so we sealed ourselves before we became rabid animals feasting on other humans," Tian mentioned in a mumble, all this seeming like gibberish to Fawr.

 

"All I care about right now is getting through school. Only if I do well will I get a chance to explore beyond this backward town," Fawr was seemingly overloaded by the information Tian gave him.

 

"Better get ready for school then. You only have a short while before class starts. A lord cannot be late to an occasion. Think about your image, tsk," reprimanded Tian, Fawr was not bothered about it and quickly changed into uniform, intending to have a quick shower in school instead as his house was particularly chilly.

 

After a mad rush from home, Fawr went to school on time, but people gave him weird looks due to his rough appearance. He never had the time to shower and smelled like a dead fish. Last night, the incident caused him to dispel some impurities from his body. He hurried to the changing rooms to clean himself up. Although he had no reputation to speak of, being looked down upon due to his bodily odours was not something he wished for.

 

As he swiftly went through the corridors, he accidentally bumped into one of the girls in school. You could see her concern as his belongings were strewn across the floor. While sorting through his things, the smell was too hard to bear for her, and Fawr could see it. He quickly sorted his things and ran off into the distance in a frantic manner cursing his luck. The girl stood there while holding her nose before scooting away to class.

 

—Little Tian has such a strong scent and blood aura. Why would it be on this little boy? I should watch out for him when we are sent to the Lunar Realm Academy. Things are about to get quite interesting. 

 

The young lass had her hair strewn across her eyes, hiding bright and vicious pupils that only a killer would have. An inverted cross with a snake coiled around it could be seen on her neck.

◆◆◆ 

"She got a strong whiff of that, ah-aha", laughed Tian to poke fun at the Lord. Fawr was not too pleased. He finally reached the changing rooms and quickly hopped in the shower.

 

"Fawr, tell me more about this school of yours. These establishments were only ever for the rich in my time. Does every school focus on these three aspects?" Tian questioned while Fawr hummed away in the shower.

 

"As far as I know, this is the new curriculum the high council of Humanity pushed for. According to the news, they implemented a new agenda to focus on these three study aspects. I swear the schools are becoming more military-based. All the other subjects are now optional courses with no real value. If it weren't for these changes, I would have been the best in my year. I have no clue why they changed these things in times of peace," Fawr answered the curious Tian.

 

—With this guy asking so many questions, my mind will get fried. I should let him find the answers he's looking for by letting him snoop around my mind a little. I don't have anything embarrassing to hide. 

 

Fawr convinced himself. "Hey Tian, you can go and read my memories. I feel like you can understand the situation better this way. Just don't go too far with it, OK?" whispered Fawr, with a bit of blush on his cheek. Tian was at first caught off guard and then intrigued.

 

 —This guy has a cute side, after all. I shouldn't tease this little emperor too much. At least he's warming up to me. 

 

With a smile, Tian acknowledged what Fawr said and looked through whatever he thought could be helpful.

 

While Tian browsed through Fawr's memories, it also stumped him how the focus was on combat ability in this age of peace and tranquillity. There wasn't foreboding calamity from common knowledge. Humanity was trying to train its populace to become stronger. After looking at Fawr's memories further, there were rumours that not everything was peaceful, but it was covered up quite well. Only a couple of posts here and there were speculating about such events. The world has changed in the last few thousand years. The land masses have almost quadrupled several times over, with the overall climate improving and life expectancy climbing to nearly a thousand years, surprising even Tian. The world has settled into an eerie calm as if something was about to break. Pandora's box was fracturing, failing to contain the calamity or hope sealed within.

 

What intrigued him was the unity and power humanity achieved in these last few decades. Tian was almost confident that certain bits of information were kept in the dark. This wasn't a shift in Humanity but the world. Even though he could feel that the world was changing for the better development of Humanity, good things don't tend to last long.

 

He then set that thought aside; the main point was to get Fawr to the best condition possible. The Shapeshifting and DNA manipulation caused him great interest. The lad was very suitable to inherit the accumulated fortune and legacy of the Eternal Scarlet Empire.

 

"Are you almost done looking through my mind, old man? You better not be looking through anything too personal?" Fawr was almost driven mad by this leech. He couldn't kick him out or teach him a lesson. He knew he wouldn't cause any harm but being read like an open book was a bizarre feeling. Even though he gave his permission, he almost lost the will to live. Luckily Fawr was a good kid and had a somewhat innocent mind, which even Tian was disappointed by as he didn't have any material to tease Fawr with.

 

Fawr hopped out of the shower and quickly got into the school uniform. He was already late to class and had to rush about. With his hair still wet, he ran out, seemingly leaving behind his undergarments in haste. Tian watching this could only smirk, not letting the fool know of this.