Life in a new Kingdom

I am the spawn of the Devil. Born from a vile creature whose heart is blacker than tar. However, he didn't have a heart at all. An empty void of a monster hellbent on playing God. All I remember from my early childhood is pain. Strapped to a table, knives digging deep into my flesh just to see me heal my wounds. A child who had no mother to love him. A despicable and vile monster that wouldn't be fair to call a father.

The one who created me... One of the great Vampire Lords to reach the status of Messiah. Messiah Cethric. Using the research gained from various Lords including Cornelius, his aims to create the ultimate hybrid of Human and Vampire. Using Necromancy and the corpse of a virgin maiden, he created life with his own blood and essence to manipulate an undead woman's pregnancy. Who was she? I never found that out. I don't care; whoever she was, she wasn't my mother. And he isn't my father either.

For years, he would push me beyond my limits, break me in ways no one should endure, and his expression..? Disappointment. All of his cruelty and brutality left him only disappointed in a child who didn't show any of his ambition of creating the perfect lifeform. I wasn't human nor vampire—an abomination born from the darkest depths of hell.

I could hear people's hearts beating in their chests, the sounds of rats moving along the floors, and even the grass moving. Darkness was as bright as day. The sun was bright and warm to the touch. Everything seemed to be slower than they actually were.

As a child, my hunger was plenty. Rotting piles of flesh and bone were all I was fed. The taste was revolting. I would be starved for weeks at a time to induce a blood frenzy. If any of the "meals" I ate couldn't go down, but up, I had to lick it from the floor. Beyond filthy and reeking of the rotting corpses I feasted upon.

After ten long years, showing nothing like he wanted, he intended to dispose of me. Using a servant to take me away and let me die in the woods. Yet that boy he left to die had only one thing driving him to keep on living despite being skin and bones.

Revenge.

Hatred.

Malice.

Rage.

My freedom was a chain itself. Before I could remember, I hated him. I didn't understand those feelings until I killed a little girl who was playing with her father. She wanted to play with me, and all I could think was to sink my teeth into her throat and rip it out. It sickens me every day how sweet she tasted that her face wouldn't leave my dreams. The father's scream echoes in my mind every waking moment until the sounds of gargling on his own blood fill those empty halls. There's blood everywhere; it's beneath me, on me, in me. The anguish and tears on their face never leaves you.

Her name was Rys. The name he shouted when he witnessed me devouring her. I wish I knew his name. After coming to my senses, I cried for hours; I hated myself for what I had done. I didn't know what I did; I didn't know what this world was or who really lived in it. All I knew was I felt broken and upset. But it was that moment of regret and misery that I realized that I hated my father...Cethric... I didn't hate him for what he did to me. I didn't hate the pain he inflicted, the flesh he cut, the bones he broke, the constant feeling of painful hunger, all of it. What made me hate him was creating me. An abomination. My hatred for making me into a monster that killed a little girl and her father on a typical bright sunny day.

And when I wanted to end it all, the blade couldn't even cut deep enough before the wound would close and revoke the blade from me. I had no purpose, no reason; not even death wanted me. The hunger never stopped. Feeding from myself it only made me sick.

Spending weeks, I wandered from town to town to pick up scraps just to survive. Temptation around every corner drove me mad; I feared another frenzy. After running with his moldy bread, I scarfed it down. My throat was dry, and I couldn't swallow it properly. Slurping the murky water in the streets just to hydrate myself, only then I curled up into a sobbing mess...

"Is this the child?" A deep-voiced man spoke. My eyes fluttered open just enough to see the silhouette of a large, burly man with a long trench coat and hat. His hands and face were covered in scars. His gray hair was kept in a small ponytail; he was speaking to the leader of the town.

"Yes! Please! Remove this riffraff from my streets. He has caused enough problems with stealing, but he also assaulted some people in a tavern after they caught him sneaking off with their food." The tall man stroked his graying beard and looked at me with curiosity. He turned to look around before kneeling down to get a better look at me. I was too frail and weak to move.

"A kid his size and half starved to death? I doubt it."

"One of the men lost an eye!"

"Lost his eye?"

"This child-no creature scratched it out with a single swipe of his hand when he was caught. Do something!"

"Alright..! Shut your mouth... I'll see what I can do." He scoots closer and speaks again. "Hey, kid, did you scratch the man's eye out? Or is this yapper saying the shits?"

I coughed a bit before responding in a raspy tone. "I...was hungry...he wasn't going to eat it...so I took it..."

"And he grabbed you, and you took his eye? Did you strike at him first?"

"I was scared..."

"Adults can be scary, son... But if you-"

"Not scared of adults... Scared of myself..."

"Scared of yourself...?" Piqued his interest, he reaches into his pouch to pull out a piece of dried salted meat. "Want some?"

I instinctively reached for it, but my arms slumped to the ground. I haven't slept well in weeks, barely any food or water. Moving was impossible.

"What are you doing?!" The town leader raised his voice only to be stopped by the man's hand.

"Just wanting to see something... Here, you can take it. But if you don't want it, I can-"

"I...want it..."

"Then take it. Grab it from my hand." Waving it around like a prize for a baby, he taunted me with the meat.

"B-bring it closer...my hand...can't move..." Tried with all my might I wouldn't budge.

"Well, that is too bad. Guess you don't want it. Rot there for all I care." He swipes it behind him and prepares to leave me in my sorry state. The hunger had gotten the better of me. A well of rage filled in my stomach. Urging for sustenance.

"Give...me...IT!" I leaped for his hand to grab the meat. He sidestepped and grabbed the back of my neck, holding me in place as I reached for it in a feral state. My eyes dipped into a hue of red, my nails grew sharp, and visible fangs passed my lips. Growling like a beast, I struggled to free myself.

"So that is what you are..."

"A..A MONSTER!? KILL IT!" The town leader panics and shouts, causing a commotion. Everyone around turns their attention to view what is going on. People whispering to themselves as the sight of a child going rapid in the hand of this tall mysterious man.

"A Vampire withstanding the sun? I must look into this before I go."

"G..Grrrraaahhh!!" I lost all sense of my humanity for a single strip of meat. It was pitiful and grotesque of a display. I flailed my claws around and even tried to attack the man, but he kept me from reaching him.

"I'll be taking this child away from here, don't worry. I'll handle these matters."

"Burn the creature!"

"He is possessed by a devil!"

"That child is evil! Get rid of it!"

The shouts of the townspeople caused little for concern for the man. He held me up, rolled me to his shoulder, and began moving toward the exit gates. I constantly struggled in his grasp but never could free myself even a little with the strength I had.

"As part of the Hunter Association, I, Tharon Harkas, shall handle this matter. I swear on my name and the Association." He didn't speak another word. The entire town had grown quiet after his declaration. His authority was strong. He carried me for a long way before throwing me to the ground. I used up most of my energy struggling and could barely hold myself up.

"What are you, kid... Human or Vampire? Surely, you would be struggling to even breathe in your current state if you were a human. But if you were a Vampire, the sun would have made you suffer greatly from the pain of it.

"Just kill me..."

"Huh?" His face grows annoyed by my response. His demeanor wasn't as serious as before. "Come on, kid, I am not heartless to kill you unless you gave me a reason to."

"Fine... then just kill me and let me suffer in my place... I killed two people...ate them just to satisfy my hunger..."

"Are you talking about the missing father and his daughter...? They have been gone for a month..."

"I killed them... I didn't want to...but I did..." Tears welled in my eyes. The memory of that nightmare was anguish to relive.

"I see..."

"If only if I wasn't made like this... If I didn't continue to live..."

"Enough of that... If you want to die, then die."

"I can't...nothing I do..."

"Just let your body shut down. Let it all end right here."

"My body won't let me! Don't you hear me!" Lifting myself to my knees, I looked on with regrets. "No matter what I do, I always live... I am tired of living this nightmare... Please, just end it here... End my suffering!" The moment I say those words, he draws a blade. A curved scimitar. He swings the blade, intending to decapitate me. I close my eyes with glee, hoping for it to be the end.

But it doesn't arrive. My eyes open to see my hands holding the blade. Blood flowed down the silver steel to the hilt.

"W-Why...?"

"Because you want to live. No one who says they want to die really wants to die. They just want an excuse for someone to punish them. I won't punish you. You've done enough yourself."

"I...I..." My words became tangled in between the tears flowing down my cheeks.

"Instead of searching for a punishment, you can atone by living. Living and letting me train you to be a Hunter. I don't have long for this world... I can feel it. I need to pass on my knowledge otherwise it would be a great loss to this world and for future generations if I don't at least have a student graduate."

"A student...becoming a Hunter...?"

"That is right. I'll let you in on my ways of killing all types of creatures."

"Can I...kill whoever made me into...this!"

"If that is your way of atonement, then yes. I shall give you everything you need to know to kill the bastard who created you. Granted, I am skeptical of myself on this, but... I have a feeling you won't disappoint."

"If that is what it takes...Then I will!"

"Good answer... Now... What is your name, boy." His eyes were stern and filled with a bright fire. I felt obligated to tell him...

"My name is...is... I don't... I never... I..."

"What is your name."

"Its...A...ah..."

"Last time... What is your name..." My breath stayed still. I didn't let my mind panic. I had to be strong if I were to prove myself to him.

"My name...is Rys... A name that I won't ever forget..."