Fae Serums are tiered on the basis of the source, the Fae used as the raw material for their synthesis. Fae-humans, the chosen souls that wield their power, are titled by their Faetality, the capacity to handle the essence of stronger and powerful fae, in order of the Greek alphabet. From Alpha, the lords of the new world, to Iota, the unchosen.

– An excerpt from “Introduction to FaeTech” 35th Edition, mandatory learning at Da Vinci Corporate Training College.

***

Since the dawn of the splintered world, the Kindred and the Wurkan, agents of Destruction and Creation, have waged a cosmic battle of worlds beyond, down here on Prudhuvi.

– A nonsensical piece of torn paper discovered on a rotten fae carcass, and promptly thrown away.

***

Prime Delta.

The very peak of the Delta tier.

Miles had a difficult time believing it, but he happened to be well-versed in the capability and potential of Faehumans.

The lowest Faetality tier that could exhibit the speeds he had just witnessed were Delta, Prime Delta. A Faetality magnitude that nearly reached 100,000! That was already over a hundred times his own!

It was no wonder why even the weakest Delta faehuman, with a decent enhancement serum build and Fae ability could easily overpower a standard natural-tech military unit. After all, if nat-tech had been truly effective against the more potent fae serums, Lykaon Industries would not have had to bend over backwards for some scraps from FaeTech.

Regardless, what was above the Lykaon estate were Aethercrafts, meaning these two creatures could not possibly be Faehumans. Rather, highly probably, they were Fae. Types of Fae he had never seen or heard of before…

Well, the pale man could be some half-breed elf, but with a hulking wolf added into the mix Miles was not so confident.

Suddenly the Lykaon insignia ring blinked, the light unusually dimmed and instead of Cadmus’s voice, a small rectangular projection of text manifested over the ring.

ALERT!

UNIDENTIFIED INTRUDERS DETECTED WITHIN THE MANSION!

UNKNOWN ENERGY FREQUENICIES DETECTED!

WARNING: ALPHA-RING HOLDER PRESENT IN VICINITY. EXTREME DANGER LEVEL PREDICTED.

Miles couldn’t help but curse, ‘FUCK! Now you tell me?’ but his anger was short-lived as his eyes widened in realization, ‘Holy Hells! I understand! They were so fast, so much so that the sensors failed to register them as intruders until the moment that they stopped!’

Shaking off the shock, Miles forced himself to focus. Whatever the case, he was not safe here.

Before the two creatures could notice, while they were focused on each other, he had to leave. Miles began to sneak back, avoiding any debris that could make undue noise–

He barely took two steps when the pale man’s head snapped to the side, his eyes locking onto…

‘...My hands?’

Miles couldn’t help but feel threatened by the man’s enraptured interest, as he caressed his hands protectively, bloodied fist and all.

Thankfully the man’s interest shifted, finally focusing on Miles, seemingly considering him for the first time. And barely a second behind, so too did the behemoth of a wolf turn.

Their heads swiveled with the unerring accuracy of predator sensing prey, eyes boring into Miles.

The wolf’s eyes burned bright gold, unyielding and relentless, seeing beyond. The pale man’s gaze was akin to an abyss, an abyss that was not content with staring back, but yearned to pull him in.

Their combined gazes sent a chill shivering down Miles’ spine.

‘Fear?’

Yes. He was afraid.

It was a foreign emotion, one he had cast aside long ago. Fear made one weak, pathetic. But as much as he wished to, Miles could not refute what his very essence was telling him.

These were predators…

And he was prey.

Miles had to smother the instinctive urge to flee, quelling that primal response that would lead to nothing but an early death as he focused on his breath, clearing his mind.

Considering the insane speed these two Fae had shown, if they truly were on par with Delta faehumans, there was very little he could do on his own.

However while he was personally weak, he was within the Lykaon Estate. He was the heir of the Lykaon, and far from helpless.

With only a moment to gather his thoughts, he shouted into the ring, “ACTIVATE ALL INTERNAL DEFENSES, SHOOT ANYTHING THAT MOVES!”

Ka-chak! Crack! Pu-chack!

The once-majestic paintings may have been reduced to tatters, but they still served their purpose.

By his command they pulled into the wall, sliding into the sides as the hidden mechanisms activated. Hidden behind had been heavy artillery and cold iron machine guns that propped out at this moment. And from above, concealed panels in the ceiling slid open, revealing four plasma rifles that descended from each corner of the grand hall.

All the guns shifted in unison, reticles targeting the two strange Fae.

However, despite the several dozen guns trained on them from multiple possible angles, the wolf and the man were unfazed.

Fortunately, they did not move either.

Miles could not help but swallow, his mouth feeling dry.

There was a reason he had not commanded Cadmus to fire and instead to shoot only what moved.

He knew what these monsters were capable of, he knew they could dodge every single gun he had brought out. His only hope was that they would prefer to avoid getting shot at if given the chance.

Forcing himself to sound confident, Miles spoke out, “You two may keep doing whatever it is that you were up to. Don’t mind me. I’ll just leave and deactivate the weapons.”

The pale man’s lips curled, revealing the hints of two unusually sharp canines, “How amusing. An actually passable strategy. But what will you do, child of the Lykaon? When I say I have no faith in your word? That I refuse your paltry suggestion?”

‘He knows who I am?! Then are they here for me?!’

Miles shivered.

The pale man had a dozen guns on him, but he still had the audacity to grin.

Something about the man, despite his mostly unassuming appearance, shouted at Miles, no, it screamed, to drop everything and run for his life. That he was in over his head. That this was a monster wearing human skin.

Nervousness intensifying, Miles tried to steady his voice, “N-No, the Lykaons have always kept our word, and I swear I will follow tradition. Even a fae-oath is possible, if you could just give me a moment to prepare.”

At that, the pale man’s lips twisted into a proper grin, “Ah so you are the Lykaon child. I was not entirely confident but you have my gratitude for the confirmation. As for the fae-oath I’m afraid we may have had a bit of a misunderstanding. There was not,” a proper grin of contempt, “and never will be, any negotiation.”

Miles was taken aback as he cursed himself, ‘He did not know? How the hell did I fall for that?!’

The pale man licked his lips as if savoring something in the air and spoke, almost to himself, “Ahhh, I do so enjoy when the weak grasp at what little power they can, facades of strength walled around them. That one moment when the lie collapses, shattering like glass, revealing the soul begging for release, trapped in the web of lies it had spun for itself, that… is… pure… ecstasy–”

As if suddenly realizing where he was, with a sudden switch in tone that could not have come from an entirely sane mind, the pale man focused on Miles, “Tell me child, do you think yourself different?”

The wolf’s snarl echored through the air, its throat rumbling like an earthquake, drowning out the pale man. It spoke, surprisingly with the voice of a woman, “Leech! Leave the andha child alone! This ends between us - you will not see a drop of his blood, while I still stand!”

Miles inadvertently took a step back, ‘Leech? Drink my blood? Wait, wait, wait! I remember reading about something like this! Pale skin, sharp canines, drinking blood, could he be… a freaking Vampire?! Like Count Dracula? Could Vampires be some undiscovered type of Fae?!’

His gaze shifted to the lady wolf, ‘By the Sidhe! Then does that mean she is a Werewolf or something?! Those actually exist? Beyond pre-fae fiction!?’

The realization was astounding, more so than the fact that two Fae on par with Delta faehumans had crashed into his ancestral home.

The Vampire smirked at the enraged wolf, words laced with disdain, “Oh? Pray tell, what will an overgrown mutt do to stop this noble one? Shed on the perfectly good floor? Bitch, please.”

And stepped forward.

Bang! Hum! Bang!

The deafening sound of gunfire erupted, as half of the weapons unloaded their magazines and energy cores into the Vampire that had dared move.

Bullets rained down upon his convulsing figure, piercing deep inside. Some ripped right through, tearing apart flesh and leaving gaping holes that revealed innards and bone. The cold iron rounds no doubt, ever effective against the supernatural fae. Chunks of severed flesh splattered onto the floor in a rain of wet, grotesque slaps.

All that was left behind was a Vampire shaved of much of its mass, but somehow remaining standing.

Injuries of this level would have been the death of an ordinary faehuman. Even a human prime delta would have been heavily injured, unless they possessed a regenerative healing factor or similar ability.

But all this Vampire, or what was left of him, did was show off a careless grin that revealed two sharp canines.

Mangled flesh hung loose from his body, barely held on by ripped flaps of skin. Throbbing veins were exposed to the air, bone and sinew visible through the wounds. But the Vampire stood tall, his grin growing wider by the second. There was not a shiver in his body, not a grimace or a grunt, no obvious sign of pain, and–

That was when Miles noticed. None of the wounds, despite their obvious severity, bled. Just like the injuries he had seen beforeNot a drop of blood to be seen, anywhere.

The exposed flesh seemed to be wriggling…

And a rain of metal pattered onto the wooden floor. It was a discordant tune, eerie and unnatural.

These were bullets, the ones that had failed to pierce through the Vampire, falling onto the floor, seemingly pushed out of his body by some inhuman force.

Flashes of red, thin lines that Miles barely noticed, blurred around the Vampire.

‘What-?’

Miles blinked.

To his horror, the splattered flesh, every sinew, muscle and flap of skin on the floor had vanished.

He found them back where they had come from, returned to the Vampire’s body, seemingly retrieved by some unseen force. The bullet holes had already begun to knit together, lost flesh repurposed as wounds scabbed over and healed at impossible speeds.

Everything was as good as new.

Miles had known, in fact he had expected, that weaponry would be useless against a Vampire.

But it was one thing to expect and another thing entirely to see it; a real ‘undead’ Vampire in action.

He had never heard of such an impossible regeneration factor, not among any of the registered Faehumans in any public record, not even among the Fae for that matter. So intense that bullets were pushed out, torn flesh returned, and all wounds healed nary a scar remaining.

The Cold Iron may have been more effective than the ordinary rounds, but loads of good that had been.

Miles was confident that this Vampire could have dodged most, if not all of the bullets, but there had been no need for it. In fact he suspected that the Vampire had chosen to allow the bullets to hit.

It was insane to let oneself be shot, even if they could handle it, but he had to admit that such strength was… enviable.

Noticing his enraptured gaze, the Vampire grinned. His abyss-like eyes glowing with scarlet light, returned in a gaze that bore into Miles’s own.

And with that single glance, Miles lost himself, finding himself transfixed and lost in the sight before him.

A lake, no, an ocean, no, a world– no, a cosmos of red water, unusually thick, filling his vision with an oppressive presence.

A heavy scent lingered in the air, of iron and life, of agony and death…

A chill ran down his spine as he understood what this was– Blood.

How many souls had to have been sacrificed to fill this blood-drenched abyss? How much death was needed to fill this vast, endless expanse?

Yet, for all its horror, he could not bring himself to turn away. Terror held him in an unbreakable grip, trapped within an endless cycle of fear and disbelief.

But, whatever that manifestation had been, it vanished as soon as it had appeared.

The effect however did not.

‘I-I can’t! I can’t do this! …run? Run! I need to run!’

A single vision had crushed all of Miles’s self control, any thought of mustering a fight thrown away, as that primitive desire to blindly flee grasped a narrow victory.

Every fiber of his being wanted to run away, to escape, but the very same gaze that had terrified him beyond measure held him prisoner.

Miles could not, he would not move. His being, his very essence, was frozen in place.

He could not struggle, not scream, not even shout. The mind was willing but the flesh refused.

The Vampire’s grin widened, just a hint, as he beckoned Miles over with a jerk of his head.

A moment of clarity, logical thought returning, ‘Huh? What? Ha! Even if I could, I’d neve–’

Those eyes he had been doing his best to avoid, flared blood red.

A gust of wind knocked Miles off his feet but he never fell. The wind continued to rush into him, his skin burning, his body feeling all sorts of wrong.

His confusion and shock did not help to make sense of it. To figure out what the hell was going on.

Only when those razor-sharp fangs began to grow larger in his vision did he realize. He had somehow moved, been moved, dragged through the air, right into the waiting jaws of the vampire.

The one that would drink his blood, feed upon him, until he was but another drop in that endless world of blood.

The Werewolf seemed to have been paying no attention to what had happened, her hands clasped together above her chest, eyes closed in a peaceful prayer incongruous with her bestial visage.

But she was obviously not unaware, for a sudden brilliant white light erupted from her and rushed through the grand hall, enveloping the walls and weaponry.

Instantly all the guns that had been trained onto the Werewolf shifted their aim to the Vampire.

BANG! HUM! BANG!

Without a moment wasted, every single gun let loose a barrage of bullets, the previous intensity effectively doubled, smashing into the Vampire and grinding his movements to a halt.

It may have been harmless but they were more than enough to buy time.

Thankfully for Miles, despite the obvious hijack of Lykaon weaponry, the core rule of defending the alpha ring wielder remained predominant, such that all guns paid special notice to avoid him.

The Werewolf finally opened her eyes, white light blazing, a fierce yet hopeful glow that managed to pull Miles out of the blind terror that had paralyzed his mind.

He thought he saw her lips move, his ears heard nothing, but he still did, “Pay my due, Dhaivaya.”

Miles blinked.

The Werewolf had vanished.

And as Miles searched for her, wondering if she had left him to his fate, the Vampire’s cocky demeanor crumbled, his face twisting into one ugly rage, “YOU BITCH! YOU WOULDN'T DARE!” and rushed forward, struggling against the storm of bullets and plasma bursts that continued to rain down upon him.

A faint whisper rang within Miles’s mind, the tone and volume wavering as if uncertain. Even without the momentary shock of telepathy, it took him a moment to match the sorrow in this voice to the former ferocity of the female werewolf.

“Forgive me human cub. No, more than a cub, more than just a human, a noble among the andha humans, a potential future nayaka.

But forgive me. You were never meant to be involved.

All I can do is free you of the suffering and pain that awaits, save your aatma from eternal damnation, and protect the world from another of Vinasha’s kin.

Should you happen to survive this ordeal, I shall take you under my tutelage. But should you not, fear be free, for I will pray for your aatma to find peace in the embrace of our great earth mother.”

And her jaws clamped down upon his shoulder, rows of razor sharp teeth tearing through skin and flesh with brutal efficiency.

“AAARGHH!” Miles screamed in pure agony, as not one but two creatures bit into him, one from each side.

On his right, the Werewolf’s jaws had impaled flesh. The skin and muscle around the wound throbbed with bulging white veins spreading and expanding at alarming speed.

On his left, the Vampire who had managed to arrive just on time had plunged his fangs deep into Miles’ neck, thin black veins flowing around the bite, pillaging his blood for consumption.

‘T-They bit at the same time?!’

The pain came with a semblance of clarity. But that was of little comfort, if clarity at such a time was comfort at all.

The Vampire laughed a heartless laugh, his fangs consuming, “A mutt through and through! Did you truly believe you could poison his lifeblood before I fed? The moment your toxic slobber reaches this side, I shall stop. However should you dare let go and attack, I shall consume the child in its entirety! Either way, I will recover!

It is checkmate as they say! What say you, bitch?!”

The Werewolf snarled in rage, hackles rising, but her silence and inaction was enough of an answer for Miles to realize that the Vampire had spoken the truth.

But despite being told of his eventual fate, Miles could not– no, he did not move.

This was different from when the Vampire had controlled his body, forcing him to stay still or into motion.

Then he had been helpless, held against his will. But now, Miles didn't even feel like mustering a fight.

Something made him want this.

It was a seductive, hypnotic lure, calling him to be free, relieved of the burden of existence.

Be consumed, become prey.

Comfortable, desirable, easy.

Freedom, relief from all that he had to do, wanted to do, tried to, but had failed at, would fail at. All he had to do was just give in.

‘It would be so easy. Throw it all away and be free, right…? Just give in to the inevitable. Would that really be so bad?’

And he almost did, until he started to feel sick.

Miles’s head began to pound as if being repeatedly smashed in by an unseen mallet, from the inside. His organs burned as if being boiled within a pool of lava, searing pain that made him shiver to the tune of his own agony. His skin grew deadly pale almost on par with the vampire, while his stomach churned with a sickening gurgle of protest.

He felt as if his body was tearing itself apart from the inside, a confluence of things that did not mix, a tincture of fire and ice.

He felt horribly sick, as if his very being was revolting against him.

It was then that Miles noticed the white and black veins spreading across his body had finally converged at the center of his neck and chest.

A hacking cough spewed a dirty globe of congealed black blood out from his throat.

‘It hurts! It FUCKING hurts so much!’

Miles shivered, spasming in silent pain as his blood burned and his flesh wriggled. Every inch of his body was consumed by agony, as if his body was rejecting itself, becoming its own poison.

The Vampire noticing his pain shook with laughter, but the werewolf flinched, in pity, regret or surprise, Miles could not say for she remained silent.

To be honest a part of him had been excited at the prospect of being bitten. If he remembered the old age fiction his father had recommended him read, those bitten by a Vampire or a Werewolf would become one themselves.

If he could become half, just half, as strong as these two, even if he never reached 1000 in Faetality, he would not have to be so helpless in the matter of Lykaon Industries. That was what he had thought.

But now, as Miles felt his life slip away, he wasn’t so sure. He didn’t think he would survive if this continued.

‘Damn it all! I never wanted to die! I CAN’T die like this! I refuse, I REFUSE to fail my parents… old Zhan, and everyone else!’

But as his trusted butler would say whenever Miles was in a particularly lazy mood, if he truly wanted something, he would have to get it himself.

Instinctively knowing he was in no shape to find a solution, Miles channeled his focus onto his breath, trying to reach that familiar state of perfection, of mental clarity, to clear his head enough to think.

This was easier said than done.

The pain was overwhelming, akin to a barrage of blades and bullets that struck with merciless ferocity, pushing him backwards on the path that led towards that elusive state of focused mentality

The agony was beyond what he could handle, what any ordinary un-enhanced individual could, but Miles’s continued practice, consistent repetition for over a decade had created a seed. A seed of mental fortitude, lying hidden beneath his psyche waiting to sprout in a moment of dire need.

And now as he fought against this pain while almost at the brink of death, that seed burst, spilling out in a beacon of light that pushed him forwards in a roar of wind, almost to the very edge of that path.

Miles still was not there entirely, but he could see that familiar, pristine world, his second home, the endless sky mirrored in the still water, far in the distance. He could see it and that was enough.

His mind cleared, the pain and the agony of his failing body becoming an obscure echo in some distant background far detached from himself. His fading, weakened breathing held his focus.

This was enough, just enough to give him a miniscule chance of survival instead of certain death.

Miles’s mind began to work in hyperdrive as he sought inspiration. A way out, a miracle.

For a moment, his eyes fell upon the damaged floor, the goylean marble riddled with cracks, about to shatter at any moment.

He looked at the guns in the grand hall now emanating a strange white hue from when the Werewolf had bypassed Cadmus and hijacked them. They would not be of any use.

‘Think Miles, think! What can I do? What can I use?’

Boom. Boom.

That was when Miles heard the faint booms outside. He glanced at the cracked floor once more.

‘The cannons outside! They’re still shooting down the Aethercrafts these monsters came on! I can’t use them, they will be unable to target the inside of the mansion but…’

Grasping onto the thread of hope he had just managed to uncover, Miles used every shred of willpower he could gather and forced his thumb to move, somehow managing to tap twice on the Lykaon ring.

Immediately he let loose everything he had managed to gather, “REMOVE ALL LIMITS ON WEAPONRY! CRASH THE TARGETS!”

The Vampire and the Werewolf were momentarily stunned, not having expected this sudden outburst.

KABOOM! KABOOM!

Two bellowing explosions rang out in the sky above as heavy plasma cannons and dread-class weaponry, including and not limited to obsidian storms and pseudo-dragon-fire missiles, were added into the mix. They combined with the original artillery and let loose upon the Aethercrafts.

The Vampire chortled in amusement, “You let loose your anger upon the vessels we used? The final screams of a dying pig–”

THOOM!

The two vessels of aether made manifest careened into the garden in a massive crash, unleashing the aether within, causing the entirety of the reinforced mansion to tremble and quake.

And that was enough. Just enough to be the straw that broke the camel’s back.

The cracks on the floor spread, widening into miniature chasms.

Miles did not know whether this would change anything. Whether he was merely delaying the inevitable.

But what he had hoped was that this could give him a chance, a fighting chance, and it seemed like it would.

A pained smile rose upon his pale face, “And–” as he mustered out a faint whisper of prideful defiance, “–fall.”

The floor shattered, collapsing into a massive hole that gave way beneath them.

Perhaps it was too sudden or perhaps it was too shocking, but the previously fast monsters were unable to escape or dodge. They remained unusually frozen.

And as Miles had spoken, they did.

A human, a Vampire and a Werewolf, down the chasm they fell.