In between the second and third Cataclysm, I had met her.
Marie Rosalyn Scarlet, the first Vampire Queen.
A mother who searched for her immortal son, who was currently kept captive within the Vampire King's Castle. He has been used for over a century now, for extracting power and then supplying it to the humongous Vampire castle, despite not really being kept there.
Well, interestingly enough… the first time I realised that Lucia was using me was through her... It was the very first Vampire Queen, Marie Rosalyn, who told me that Lucia was planning to kill me, as she was dying right in front of my eyes. Things took strange turns and I ended up meeting her son in the most unexpected place from there onwards.
From what I remember, she told me about how she fought the Vampire King in her realm, only to be lost and then her powers taken by the King. However, she didn't allow the vampire King to use her power only until he told about the situation of her son.
She was enraged… but she had already lost once.. Yet she fought again for a brief moment before she lost pathetically. Once she was defeated, she was kicked out of her fragile immortality and was made to continue living as a 'normal' vampire.
Then one day after barely surviving, living as a normal vampire, she finally met me. At that time, I was on my own, travelling as a lone wolf with Lucia still being in the vampire king's castle.
"Lucia is planning to kill you," she spoke to me while laughing as if she had seen the joker of the year. I looked at her, enraged at her words and moved to threaten her into explaining what she meant by that.
From there, I and Rosalyn fought for over a week, before I finally defeated her. I then asked her to explain, and she laughed again before speaking,"what do I get in return?"
Hearing her words, I said,"you get to live."
"Ha! This worthless life? You really think I want to live like this? Forget about it! You can't do it, anyway. Kill me! I don't have much time left anyway," She spoke to me and I observed her with a slightly complicated look.
'She is insane,' is what I thought, but then I asked with slight curiosity,"what is it that you want?"
She turned her head towards me and said,"oh! Are you interested now? Well… I might have ignored you without telling you, but since I don't have anything better to do… how about I tell you a story?"
'What's with this quest introduction scenario?' I thought with a wry expression, but still didn't say anything. Ignoring my expression, she began telling me the tale of her origin and about her son.
......
Once upon a time there lived a Queen in a castle so huge that the people would need months to completely see it with their own two eyes. However, while the others envied her, she did not like to stay at that place for one bit.
One day, out of pure irritation and annoyance, she escaped to the outside market to see what the outer world feels like. However, to her surprise, she still did not find anything interesting there. She roamed around the city every now and then in search of some entertainment but to no avail; she did not find anything.
However, one day she saw a fight outside the gates of the city and, with curious eyes, she went to see the fight. What she saw outside really opened up a new world for her. She saw a blonde-haired woman fighting against her own army without holding back. Even though she was losing, she was still trying her best.
There were fights and battles within her own castle, but nothing compared to the fighting skills which that blonde woman was displaying. As if by instinct, the Queen herself jumped into the battle, used her never used skill and began fighting alongside that blonde woman.
Finding the Queen extraordinarily powerful but lacking in any skill and experience, the blonde woman looked at the Queen with curious eyes but still didn't hold back.. Instead, she displayed all of her skill set. The Queen was about 100 times more powerful than her, but the gaps between their skills was so obvious that the blonde managed to fight her at an equal level.
The army, finding their own Queen fighting, took a step back with dumbfounded faces. They had no idea what they should do. In the end, they just stood there watching their Queen fight to her heart's content cause that's all they could do. If they interfered now, they would die.
The Queen fought with the blonde for over a week until the blonde lost all of her mana and stamina, finally falling on her knees.
She looked at that Queen glaring at her as if she did not like being defeated by someone who didn't have skills. The Queen, however, smirked at her victory and spoke,
"Go back."
Hearing her words, everyone, including the blonde, and the army, looked shocked at the Queen. However, before they could speak anything, the Queen spoke again,"Come back when you are stronger, I will be waiting for you." Before moving away from there with a satisfied expression.
The blonde stood up with a glare in her eyes before speaking,"What's your name?"
The Queen then spoke without turning,"Marie Rosalyn Scarlet," and then got away from there.
"Aelia Laurentz," spoke the blonde before looking at the confused army around her and then slowly getting back to wherever she came from.
From that point onwards, Aelia attacked the castle every other month or so, with a new skill that was more powerful than before, while the Queen herself indulged in learning fighting skills and wielding weapons.
Time passed and so did the years, as both of them exchanged more blows against each other. However, one certain day, Aelia came… but she did not come in her battle gear but a completely ordinary dress with a dead child in her arms. The Queen had talked to her during their fights, so she knew a bit about whatever was going on with Aelia.
Presumably, Aelia's parents were killed by Rosalyn's army and that is why she came to fight her. Then she married a certain man she knew and not long after that gave birth to a child. That certain man was of a rank lower than her, and a higher noble, who, fancied Aelia, felt disgusted that she married someone lower than him. The rest was more or less understandable.
So instead of fighting, Rosalyn took her into her castle as she saw the dead child in her arms. The army, who knew about the monthly battle of the duo, saw the child with saddened eyes. Even though she was their enemy, they couldn't help but feel bad about the child. After watching their battle over and over for more than a year, they kind of understood what kind of person Aelia was. Many times, they tended to her wounds and sent her back to her home.
"Rosalyn… is there any way… to bring my son back?" Aelia asked with a crying face, as if she tried to collect whatever strands of hope she could.
"There is one way," spoke Rosalyn, as she looked at Aelia with a serious expression. Aelia looked at Rosalyn with a blank expression before almost jumping at her as she spoke,"what is it?" There was a hope in her eyes. Her dead looking eyes were replaced with a fierce one that told that Aelia could fight even the devil himself if she had to.
"Come with me," Rosalyn spoke as she took her to the basement and Aelia followed her without even a trace of doubt in Rosalyn's words… or perhaps she did not have anywhere else to go.
Down in the basement, there were records. Ancient records that contained magic that the world hasn't even seen. Aelia looked at the records with a fierce gaze and Rosalyn, who was standing there, took off her clothes, revealing her naked body.
At first confused by what Rosalyn was doing, Aelia looked at her with slight complication, however when her eyes landed on the red gem at the centre of Rosalyn's chest, her eyes widened and she took a step back as she understood what that meant.
"Rosalyn… you are a… monster?" Aelia spoke with disbelief in her voice. She looked at that gem over and over again, however the gem was still there.
"I am more of an experiment between a human child and a monster… though a failed experiment, to be honest. I will die in about a year or 2 from now on. However, looking at my only friend's situation... I think it is about time. I vanish from this world," Rosalyn spoke, making Aelia even more confused than before.
"Listen, Aelia, possess my body and let your life force flow into that child. Use my mana core as a medium for the channel of transfer. I was thinking of my mana core as a gift to you before I die, but since it has come to this, I guess.. This is how it is," Rosalyn spoke with a slightly melancholic smile and Aelia began breaking as tears began flowing out of her eyes. She tried to make Rosalyn change her mind, but Rosalyn activated the magic.
Aelia, still not giving up, tried changing her thoughts and that created a complication in the magic. By the time Aelia realised what was happening, the mana chant was already completed. Her soul began flowing out of her body and Rosalyn's soul vanished along with her core. At this point, she had a choice: either get back to her body… or go into Rosalyn's body.
In the end, Aelia chose to respect Rosalyn's sudden sacrifice and chose to take over her body, while bringing her son back from the dead. However, both Rosalyn and Aelia did not know that the spell on being disrupted became incomplete.
In the end… there were two complications that were born out of the incomplete magic:
1. The birth of the first vampire. Marie Rosalyn Scarlet.
2. The birth of the first immortal, her son. Marielle Laurentz Scarlet.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from fre𝒆webnove(l).𝐜𝐨𝗺