With hasty steps, she moved to one of the hallway's entrances, grabbing the closest vampire by his sleeve.

"Katherine?" 

Her mouth opened wanting to tell him of what she saw. But would he believe her? Worse yet, could he do something about it?

She stood still for a moment, realizing her conduct to be rather rash and even bashful, far more than usual.

"What's wrong?" The woman became the focus of his full attention, going as far as to grab her shoulder softly. He could tell something about her was off, more so than her typical distress about this place and the rules they followed to please the guardian. But with Theseus gone and with everything becoming an uncertainty, he couldn't find it in himself to judge her.

Everyone could tell their lives were undergoing something and it wasn't necessarily a positive change.

"Please stay by Alice's side and keep her safe for me, will you?" Her pleading gaze drowned him with the sole choice of agreeing. Whatever was going on, seemed important enough for his brain to scream for the reason behind her demeanor, willing to know more. But for her sake, he held all of its urges.

"Leave it to me," he walked towards Alice as the woman stood behind lost in thought for an extended while.

'Can anything be done?' Her feelings were more in the line of changing the future. Would something like that be possible? And how far ahead had she seen? There was also the question of who that young man was. Why did he hold a crown and seemed so powerful? Why was Alice happy by his side?

And there was that scary girl on top of the mountain. She didn't seem to be an enemy since her lantern pointed at the danger beyond. But the aura surrounding her scared every fiver of Katherine's vampiric immortal body, almost as if the lantern was capable of killing her like it was nothing out of the ordinary.

Katherine understood that compared to her ancestors she could live forever. But that was only if she survived the dangers of the world. Without the floor's guardian, there seemed to be many.

She began feeling like a change was necessary, one that needed to start with her.

The woman's young hand reached out for the nearest spider leg and she headed to the various rooms before reaching this place's exit.

She was tired of dwindling around knowing nothing.

Thus, she and two others decided to check the entrance of the floor underneath. If it was possible to find a way to the outside, perhaps they could live in a better place than these suffocating mountains. 

Little did she know that her weakness to sunlight would probe such a dream to be rather difficult.

Yet, it had been her choice to attempt a ritual to become more than what she once was. All for the sake of a future that her bloodline did not offer.

With shaky steps, the three of them ventured through the downward pathway.

Meanwhile, Alice woke up, finding herself guarded by one of the vampires. 

A yawn escaped her rested self, feeling the laziness coursing her body. It made her feel like she truly had done a lot.

And for a child, many were the completed tasks her body undertook to the point of exhaustion.

She wondered if today would be more peaceful.

'No monsters for a day would be nice,' she giggled grabbing the young man's attention.

"Forgive me, my lady. I didn't realize you were no longer asleep."

"It's okay. Thank you for," her eyes hovered from her spot to the entrance before finishing her wording. "Defending me."

"No need to thank me. It's part of my duty and I do it gladly," within the villagers there had been a group who wanted to aim higher. Together, they composed ten. Its members focused on all kinds of rituals.

Alice's blood had successfully changed seven of them as the rest didn't have much luck.

No one knew the reason why it hadn't worked just as they didn't know why it did. Their rituals were made up of the many beliefs and delusions of their ancestors. Being stuck inside a cave had made many of them go crazy.

Alice stretched her body here and there, finding out that she was feeling rather good. It felt like she was fully rested and that her muscles were at their peak performance.

Quickly she got up, surprising the young man who thought she'd stay resting for at least a tad more.

"You're too tall."

Upon hearing what he thought was a complaint, he dropped to his knees causing the child to feel awkward, smiling briefly.

Yet, she recollected my words, taking a firm decision. 

Just like before her hands landed softly on the man's cheeks, causing him to tremble from shock. Only when her lips touched his forehead that his shivering came to an end. And when her sweet low voice entered his eardrums, it was as if he had reached nirvana: feeling enlightened and at peace.

 "From now on, your name is Viktor."

She felt a portion of her energy vanishing. There was nothing visible that could make Alice think it was being sucked by the figure in front of her, but she knew that if everything followed the same steps as last time...

"I've received your most humble and precious gift."

Alice grinned at his wide smile, resounding with his own happiness.

"Do tell me more about it."

"Of course my lady," his face adjusted to proper height, detaching from her slender hands.

Quickly, his dark eyes glanced from one side to the other, returning to where they were a moment before and descending a level.

Taboo Art: The ability to create some objects from dissected corpses. The materials' characteristics may influence the final product. One day cooldown. Requires crafting facility.

"Oh..." a cute mutter followed by a breath of fresh air left Alice's small lips.  

She had seen this piece of information somewhere before, but where?