Chapter 482: The Harsh Past
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It is often said that no Vampires have a peaceful past. Their lives are forged with tragedy and pain, enough for them to take such a harsh decision as becoming unliving beings, locked in the age they become Vampires and cursed with the weaknesses of not being able to walk at day and having to hide in their manors when the sunlight is out.
Vampires are extremely vicious, cursed with the tremendous thirst for blood they possess, they are often seen as beings that cannot possibly be like people. They are seen as powerful predators that seek delicious blood and more… or well, that was how it was perhaps 500 years ago, although now Vampires had modernized accordingly to this world.
Nonetheless, everyone had their own past to follow up, some more than others. Nonetheless, the motives behind this mysterious man standing here, holding a staff and with an expressionless and tired face were nothing different from another person whose past was perhaps seen as tragic.
Gustavo was one of the oldest Vampires there was within this clan, his stoic and tired face and his old expression didn't came with age, Vampires didn't age.
This meant that he became a Vampire at a very old age, and for some unknown reasons.
Usually, vampires would be younger than him, Vampires want to recruit youthful and strong youngsters to become locked at a good age where they're always at their prime, however Gustavo wasn't like this, his past held many mysterious things, and his eyes, tired, held a strong presence that made those that looked a bit terrified.
It was as if such a face held something deeper within him, his tired eyes looked at the two girls in front of him. Unlike Dan, who was very talkative, Gustavo hadn't said a single word. He wasn't a talkative man. However, his mind felt confused as he glared at the two girls, with youthful and beautiful appearances, which reminded him of his past, hundreds of years in the past.
Dan is over 500 years old, he was born in 1463 in a small village of Italy, where he barely survived everyday with his family, farming grains and wheat, his village barely scratched every day with barely any food. Cows and cattle animals were expensive, nonetheless, they still had some chickens and cows where they got their milk and eggs.
It was a simple life where they lived at the limit, the young Gustavo was a spirited young man who traveled across the vast grasslands and hunted wild rabbits within the nearby forests to bring his family some good meat that didn't involved sacrificing the cows which were precious for their milk.
He had four more siblings that he had to take care as a the eldest son, while both of his parents worked in the farm all day long, while he took care of them and hunted rabbits at day, but most of the time he had also to help his parents get the farming done, although many times would grains not grow properly due to the infertile grounds, or get infected with fungus when they left them for too long in the dirt, there were many things that would occur to a farmer in such ancient medieval times.
In those times he liked the fairy tales his mother told to him and his little siblings, his two little an adorable sisters always asked him to tell these fairy tales which he memorized every day, and sometimes he even improved upon them or changed them to please their hunger for entertainment.
His two other little brothers were striving to grow strong and tall like he was, to help him hunt rabbits and attend the crops with his beloved parents. The life was harsh and dark, but Gustav and his family knew no better than this and were used to such harsh lives as there was the only thing they knew about since they were born. Accustomed to it, they lived happily and entertained themselves with whatever they could find.
Sometimes as the months passed and rain became scarce while the sun got too strong, the crops would dry out and there wouldn't be food for months, these days of struggle included Gustav desperately hunting rabbits and picking up any kind of edible mushroom or wild berries he could find, hunting wild birds and picking up their eggs, and more. He became experienced in foraging, hunting, and gathering from a young age, and went with his two little brothers to take care of such things, while the two little sister sand their mother stood at the house cooking, sewing, and cleaning.
His father, when there weren't many crops to take care of, would travel to the nearby Duchy to sell chickens born from the eggs laid by his hens, or also sell fresh cow milk, which he had to bring his own milk for the task.
Such commodities made him a fine amount of money, but the trip was too big, and sometimes he risked being attacked by wild wolves or even worse, bandits.
However, the man knew the safest routes after years of experience, and traveled through them for years, however, everything was always a game of chance, and a fateful day, Gustavo's father never returned back home.
Attacked and ravaged by wolves and then plundered by passing by bandits, his father's corpse, or whatever was left of him was found in the road several days later, most of his flesh rotten as Gustavo and his mother could barely recognize the clothes of the horrendous sight.
Left heartbroken to have lost his father to such a young age, Gustavo felt the urge to cry a lot that day, but seeing his little siblings and his mother, he could not possibly show such weaknesses to them, he was the oldest man in the house and had to take on his father role as the breadwinner and also as the one to guide the youngsters. Holding upon those tears, his reason to live and improve was found within his beloved family, as he strived forward for better times in this harsh world…
But disease and infections began to spread across Europe faster than he could pave his own future.
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