For Eternity - Edited Version

Chapter One - And So It Begins

All was lost. There was truly no reason for living anymore... except for one thing. Hope. Hope was the only thing keeping yourself and others alive. You see, many years ago a war broke out between humans and those horrid creatures of the night, vampires. The war seemed to be in favor of the humans winning, for they had a surplus population compared to the vampires and more advanced military planning. However, all it took was one night to turn the world upside down.

The humans, oblivious to an approaching Blood Moon,never could foretell the tragedy about to befall them. This was in part due to the last Blood Moon having happened over a millennium ago, and all who had witnessed that devastating night had either died during it or passed years after, taking the knowledge of that moon with them. During the time of the Blood Moon, the vampires took the upper hand. Much of the human population was eradicated. Out of the billions of people at the beginning of that night, only six million survived. Many of the survivors saw capture and worked as servants for the vampires. Each servant was used as a typical house servant or as a designated food source for their newfound "master".

The humans who managed to escape hid themselves way in underground societies they built bit by bit from the beginning of the war. They only came out from their safe havens during the day, when the vampires were locked up in their darkened houses, to hunt. Of course, there were always the strange disappearances that would occur every so often during the hours of daylight. A few humans were brave enough to become military trained vampire bounty hunters, who would venture out on nights when dozens of vampires flocked to the woods, hopeful to discover the entrances to their hidden cities. The bounty hunters would capture a few of them and bring them into the city. Some were questioned, though no answers were ever given. A handful of the captives were used as test subjects for scientists to perform endless experiments, both chemical and physical, in hopes of finding what gave them so many inhuman qualities. Again, no answers were ever given. Centuries passed and the human population still hovered in the lower millions. No matter how hard they tried to repopulate, the vampires would somehow think of a way to lower their numbers.

Eighteen years ago you were brought into the world. In those eighteen years you had been alive, you had learned much about vampires and their way of life, as it was mandatory for all humans to know. Why you needed this information, you never quite understood, but you rolled with it. You were fresh out of high school and still trying to figure out where you wanted to take yourself in life. There were so many professions to choose from, and you just couldn't decide. As of now, you just ran errands for cash. These errands would occasionally lead you to the surface world. This was one of those times.

You mumbled to yourself as you walked through the forest. The morning summer sunlight shone brilliantly, beams passing through the gaps where green leaves were absent.

" 'Collect the Atamis stones. You'll be fine by yourself,' they said. For their sake, I better be fine by myself," you said to no one in particular.

You grumbling continued on as you neared the entrance to the Atamis cave. Your usual happy attitude wasn't with you, seeing as though you were woken from your peaceful sleep rather early. It was only seven twenty-five in the morning on a Saturday after all.

"Those scientists better pay me good for doing this. They know I hate going in here alone," you said, turning a small Atamis stone in your hand. "I wonder why they need so many of these. They're just rocks, right? They've never come across any findings. At least not that the public knows of anyway. I don't think that the bounty hunters brought in any more vampires last night anyway. I could be wrong though..."

You couldn't help but think of the fine powder that these stones could create once crushed. The way the powder felt could only be compared to silk. The plus side to powdered Atamis was that it could dissolve instantly in any liquid-like substance, and it's taste had a strong resemblance to iron. It was perfect to dissolve in blood and for some reason, vampires couldn't tell it was even in the blood given to them in the testing facilities. Shaking your head, you snapped out of the trance-like state you had been in for quite some time and continued to collect the translucent stones. Not long after resuming your silent collection, you began to hum a tune to try and brighten your day. That humming turned to singing in time, blissfully unaware of the danger that lurked in the inky blackness of the cave.