After leaving the young vampires puzzled at her words, Izora Vrers took her seat and allowed her husband to lead the ceremony.
Her husband gracefully stood up and moved closer to the edge of the floor. His eyes glinted in red lights as he closed his eyes to feel the vile nature.
Suddenly, he opened them and they were the deepest of green. Green enough to fool any man. Green enough to make the holder be mistaken as an agent of nature.
His mouth widened quietly. He seemed to be speaking. However, there were no words coming out of it.
Out of nowhere, a devilish voice rampaged in the hall, "For millennials, we, vampires, have been a prime race. One worshiped as being the close to true evil. Yet, the glory of magic sunk our light! The discovery of an artificial path to the stars was enough to tip the scales of many things, including our status. Thousand years passed by and we still did not possess the ability to wield magic. We were hunted, used as mere slaves to the biddings of dragons, fays, and the titans. Thousands of years. Thousand of years!"
His voice was rough, instilled with the very cold of the night. Yet, he managed to evoke emotions in the hearts of the apathetic vampires.
This was their origin, the tales of the forebearers.
"Thousand of years and we were cast to damnation! However, that will not be the case for eternity. We allied ourselves, built a new structure of balance. We couldn't allow ourselves to be buried in the sands of time like the other ancient races. Hence, we looked at the abyss and it looked back at us. To kill, one must be prepared to be killed. To be stained is to be previously white. To journey is to be poised to arrive."
His last few statements were familiar to Rei. His mother had said the same thing to him. They were the closest thing to a vampire creed that he had been taught.
They all meant the same thing…..two things at that. As vampires are vile beings, they should be prepared to be dealt with as vile beings.
The second meaning was the most important. Vampire maintained the principle of origin. All clans believed that to find the second is to find the first. This could be seen by the phrase, "the blackest light."
The concept of duality. Rei could understand what Jadon was speaking about. Most poison masters always say a cure is found at the base of the poison!
"Since our birth, we had terrorized the hearts of men. However, Tascar did not like it. Tascar gave the men magic. Tascar forbade us from using magic. Tascar granted magic the ability to hurt us. Some of our brethren clans could use magic but not Tascar magic. Tascar's magic ran away from us. With no way to access it, the foreign clans devolved. They became the same as the native vampire clans."
Tascar's Magic. Brethren Clans. Tascar as an entity. Magic.
It might have sounded confusing to the mortal's ear but Rei comprehended his words easily.
It was a general fact that vampires could not wield magic. Nonetheless, magic was the imitation of natural phenomenons. It was a gift and vampires could never hold this gift for unknown reasons. However, it had to be noted that this was probably because most vampire clans weren't native of Tascar.
Clans like Morgens held well-detailed records of their experience with magic outside Tascar. It was written that a pure-blooded Morgen was a dominator of magic.
Yet, the magic of Tascar was surprisingly inaccessible to them.
This led to the Winnowing, an event that saw the mass slaughter of vampires.
"Haha, Tascar magic is an illusion. It was simply magic in the domains of Tascar. It was simply just under the authority of Tascar. Magic was free just like us. It could never be chained. And we sought that common uniqueness. We sought what other races had failed to find; The Source!"
Getting to this point, Rei raised his eyebrows at what Jadon said. His parents had never told him about that. He wondered why they would deem it unnecessary. This was The Source they were talking about.
The Source is the mystical and hypothesized origin of all magic. It is said to be where the magical energies originate from. Though, it was still a theoretical topic.
"We found it after lots of failures. We are the only race to have found the Source and we are the only one to dwell in its raw power. As a price, we were cursed. But it doesn't matter if we can wield its power," concluded Jadon Morgen.
He clapped his hand and rumblings occurred in the hall. From below, Rei could feel the very earth shift and turn as if an earthquake was before them.
Out of nowhere, a hole opened on the ground floor. It was circular and covered in purple miasma. The miasma revealed thin voices whispering to all who had ears.
'It...is...here.'
"Feast….on it."
The enchanted voices entered the vampires' minds. They surely invaded Rei's mental palace and replaced his inner desires. He was almost tempted to jump into the hole.
No, he was fully tempted!....that was until he heard something bubbling in the hole.
A great mass of dark liquid rose up from the hole and stopped at its tip. It moved like the waves of a sea, not calming one bit.
As soon as this wretched hole was filled, it suddenly resembled a pool. A pool that very much smelled of blood. The liquid illuminated at every chance it got and the scent it gave….Oh, it was heavenly in the worst ways possible!
Jadon's voice broke them out of their mentally enslaved state, "Behold, our vice, the blood pool! The blood pool is something unique to only us. It is what our forebearers designed after millennials. The blood pool is what connects us. Enter it and seek ur darkest self!"