endless path, infinite cosmos

chapter 144

The girl, Evangeline, sat down in front on Vahn with a relieved expression on her face as she said, "Indeed. Since this is primarily my fault, I'll begin, unless you'd like to say anything first?" She stared toward Vahn with her clear blue eyes and he could see the coldness she had in their previous meetings had largely faded. Vahn thought for a moment with his eyes closed before asking, "Which form is the real you?"

Hearing his question, Evangeline released a sad sigh as she explained, "This is my true form. My adult form requires mana to sustain." Vahn nodded his head because he noticed that, while she was in her child form, her aura had become more stable. He continued in a questioning tone, "You said you were a vampire, is that why you tried to suck my blood?"

Evangeline heard him mention his blood, and she was somewhat surprised with how casually he brought up the subject that seemed to have set him off previously. She furrowed her brows a bit and explained, "Yes, ever since I was turned into a vampire I had developed the ability to absorb the energy contained within people's blood. I don't need it to sustain myself, as I'm what is called a Shinso, or a True Vampire. However, in my current form, I don't have a way to easily restore my magical power. I was hoping to use your blood as a substitute while you slowly develop your combat skills against me."

Vahn thought about her words, and it made a bit of sense if that was really the case. Since she didn't have a real physical body, there was no way for her to regenerate her mana. There was also nothing within the space, so there was little chance she would be able to find food or resources to replenish her energy. While he was thinking, Evangeline asked in a low tone, "Can I ask why you were so angry after I sucked your blood? You said something about not being the tool of others..."

Seeing the sorry expression on her small face, Vahn released a heavy sigh and began explaining the matters about his past. He couldn't tell her the whole truth, but he told her a very close version. As he narrated his story, she continued to listen quietly and he could see various emotions like sadness, melancholy, and painful reminiscence. Vahn remembered her earlier words when she talked about how she was 'turned into a vampire', and noticed she had a similarly sad expression.

After he finished his story, Evangeline looked at him with a sad expression on her face as she said in a soft tone, "We are very similar, you know that? Much like the people that experimented on you and your blood, I was also the victim of a madman that wanted to conduct research on immortality. On the eve of my 10th birthday, that evil man used a powerful magic to turn my body into that of a Shinso Vampire. In the bout of madness I suffered after 'awakening', I ended up killing one of the servants in the castle and fled in fear."

Vahn could see a hint of tears beginning to well up in her eyes as she continued her story, "I didn't even know who had turned me into a vampire for a long time, but later discovered it was a man known as 'The Mage of the Beginning'. He was a fiercely intelligent and powerful mage and pursued the secrets of Immortality until he eventually became a 'ceaseless' entity. I was just one of his experiments, and the only reason he had chosen me was that I looked like a doll..."

She rested her head on her knees and hugged her legs tightly as she said with a slight crying voice, "Just because such a stupid reason, my entire life was ruined. I had to flee my home and spent hundreds of years being treated like a monster. If I hadn't been immortal, I would have died countless times. Even then, that would have been better than the suffering I had to experience as people hunted me down. It wasn't until I increased my magic to a frightening extent that I was finally freed from their pursuit. But, no matter how long I researched and increased my strength, I could never break free from this curse."

After her words, she peeked up over her knees and stared at Vahn with moist eyes, "I'm sorry if you felt like I was treating you like the type of people we both hate. I have spent so much time in this space with only my memories and regrets, focused entirely on the purpose of why I was left behind by the original in this orb. I'm not very good at dealing with people, and I needed blood to sustain my magic for future battles..."