Rain slicked the streets of Nox Arcadia, turning every puddle into a fractured mirror of neon lights. Pink, violet, and cobalt holograms danced across skyscrapers, flickering over the city's endless sprawl. Drones patrolled silently above, their sensors blind to the secrets moving beneath. In the Veil—the shadowed undercity where the forgotten and the forbidden thrived—shadows had a life of their own.
Lucien Ardent stood on his balcony, long coat clinging to him in the downpour. Born to nobility, he had wealth, influence, and expectation pressed upon him—but it had never been enough. His amber eyes scanned the city with a hunger that could not be sated by gold or titles. Rumors whispered of an ancient vampire, a being who walked both the living world and the digital expanse, whose power surpassed anything human. Many feared it; Lucien desired it.
The city's pulse beneath the circuits called to him. The Veil was a network of secrets, magic and code intertwined. Digital spirits haunted abandoned servers, and bloodcraft flowed through the veins of the city like electricity. Somewhere within it, the vampire moved—unseen, omnipresent, a predator that blurred flesh and machine.
He flexed his fingers, feeling the thrill of the hunt. Every obsession demanded a price, yet he did not hesitate. Risk, death, compromise—these were tools for those brave enough to transcend humanity. Tonight, the barrier between worlds felt thin, almost tangible. The vampire's presence whispered through networks, shadows, even dreams.
A flicker of movement caught his eye below, a figure slipping between the neon-lit alleys. Human or not, prey or predator, it reminded him that Nox Arcadia did not forgive curiosity. Lucien's lips curved into a faint smile. He would pierce the veil. He would step into darkness.
The city throbbed with secrets, circuits, and spirits entwined. The vampire waited, and so did destiny. Lucien Ardent drew in a cold breath, feeling the storm, the neon, and the heartbeat of the city in his bones. Tonight, the hunt began. He would not turn away. Not now. Not ever.
The rain fell harder. Neon shimmered brighter. And the shadows whispered.