Hiraeth ⚕ Seungjin

Prologue

There are worlds like the one we live in. Where the good and bad in humanity balance each other out. There are worlds that have reached a level of technology beyond comprehension. There are worlds that haven't felt even the essence of technology. There are worlds where humans possess abilities only heard of in our stories.

Then there are worlds where humans aren't the apex predator. Where humanity has to live alongside, if not under a stronger, worse enemy. Where to live, the other has to die. Or had to, if not for the cleaving.

Vampires. Viscous beasts. Ones as thirsty for blood as the redness of their eyes. There was a time, a millennia of years ago, where their hunger was...disastrous. If you could survive the night without being bled dry in your sheets, you'd wake up the next day finding everyone you'd ever loved gone. They argued it wasn't their fault, but the fault of their delirium that hit them at the ripe age of 25.

Then came the cleaving. A treaty. If such crimes were to continue, where humans were bred then leeched to sacks of bony skin, humanity wouldn't last much longer. It is said that a unity of the bravest of humans created a spell, a deal, between both species.

Each vampire would be bound to a human at birth, becoming mates. The bond would only appear at the age of 25, when the blood delirium awoke. The human would be married off to the vampire, becoming their blood bank. Magic was involved, deep sorcery that turned humans into a thing of near immortality once married.

Some vampires never find their mates, instead choosing to marry any human rather than become the monster they were born to be. As soon as they would taste the chosen human's blood, a bond would form. Weaker than the real deal, yes, but better nevertheless.

If a bound human were to die, the bond would snap. Shatter. And the vampire would have less than half a month to find another human to marry before their delirium awoke... That's why bound humans are... locked up. Not in an abusive way, but more like a 'to use, protect, and nurture' kind of way.

Marrying a human was one thing, but...intercoursing (im sorry 😭) with them was another. Some vampires kept the ideals that pure bred vampires were of higher quality. So they married humans, and kept vampire consorts who also had their own humans. Other stayed loyal to their mates, creating a half breed that was also able to be delirious, yet didn't have powers as strong as the purebloods.

And so, the cleaving was made. Peace came. Humans signed the contract. So did vampires.

Or at least,

Most of them.

There were vampires who... refused. Denied the attempt at peace. Why would they restrict themselves to a pond when there were streams, rivers, oceans? Who were these humans to deny them their rights? Their instincts? Their power?

Vyrins. They called themselves Vyrins. They were hunted down, abducted for court trial, and executed. Yet some stragglers escaped, leaving the forming civilizations of humans and vampires and hiding in the unoccupied shadows of this world.

And they never stopped.

Never stopped slaughtering humans and bleeding them dry. Never stopped being a horror, a nightmare, for every human who knew they could be next.

It was how it was.

Kingdoms began to rise. Dynasties were forever recorded in books. The Vyrins were never fully wiped out, so kings and emperors took it to their advantage. They hunted some of them down and made them their slaves. Their bloodhounds. Used to assassin oponents, enemies, rivals, and rewarded with...blood. In disgusting, secretive ways.

Yet time never stopped moving.

Inventions were created. Technology appeared. True, the ruling rein of kings and queens never ended, yet humans and vampires never stopped evolving, improving...

Which brings us to the current times. In the Maxident kingdom. Ruled by his highness Hwang Yu Min and her highness Hwang Seo Jun, one of the strongest kingdoms in the Asian continent, and one of the most hated.

Rivals and foes exist everywhere around you, and Maxident kingdom was no exception. Let's just say...

Your back was never too safe to be stabbed.

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A/n: I'm really sorry if the chapter is short, they will be getting gradually longer as we progress. But since I have noticed that the kingdoms x technology trope seems to annoy alot of readers, I would like to make it clear that ; yes this book will have castles and kingdoms, yet recent technology will also be there. I will try to balance both themes together. If you've read the book 《Red Queen》 then this will be much easier to wrap your head around, since the book is in modern times (and therefor technology) yet has kingdoms, castles, and relative themes of these things. I hope this made sense and please enjoy 😭🙏