Maledictus Nobilitatem: Cursed Nobility

Fateful Encounter

"The path to paradise begins in hell." - Dante Alighieri

...

In a distant region the Salam clan are celebrating their Bonfire Helios festival. Families gather together and give thanks to Helios. Helios who is the brightest star in the sky is their source of life.

" Darkness looks at you in the eyes before it indulges you. Charms you into not screaming. Your fear causes your pulse to race. Evil has a smile on its face. Darkness is always watching you. Your soul is as luminous as a burning inferno. Your blood is it's only desire. Red, warm glorious fire. So run and hide. Do what you must do before Darkness comes and catches you."

People were dancing around in a state of ecstasy, whilst some of the children were telling stories and running around.

After the rituals that were performed by the elders, two youths; a short cute girl with curly, bouncy hair and a tall broad shouldered boy were standing aside talking to each other.

" I thought this Bonfire Helios festival was meant to celebrate us, not praise the dark dwellers... Mike, last night I had the same vision again. "

" Which one? The one of the Dark Dweller walking in the sun? "

" Yeah, and it always ends with his blood in my hands and he's frantically pulling off a thorny vine that is spread throughout his blood vessels. "

" Mel I know you don't want to hear this but I think you should tell the Shaman. You have had us going to that tavern everyday for a month now and we've seen nothing. You need a different interpretation and the Shaman is the only human cultivator that can help us."

" No Mike, we have to keep going to Johan town. I will keep going with or without you. "

"You're just as stubborn as mum, I promised her that I'd always be by your side protecting you. Fine, we'll go tomorrow at sunrise Mel. But promise me you'll tell the Shaman. People from high society like us aren't meant to be with-"

Before he could finish, a glare from Mel shut him up

"Yes Mike I promise"

As Mike was brooding his sister’s conundrum with his hands crossed together on his wide chest, Mel’s subtle eyes were stuck to the flames; bright embers reflecting of her pupils. Just like her dreams, her future was shrouded in mystery.

...

Constrained in an unfamiliar environment, Malachi felt confused with all his human aspects coming to life, he was hungry, thirsty and full of perplexing emotions.

After waking up in the unfamiliar place he had been dumped in, he started wandering around aimlessly for many hours, he arrived at a tavern in Johan town, a town just outside the city of the night. His home, or rather it was.

After facing what he felt was a betrayal, Malachi was an empty shell of the man he was, and he had no qualms about acting like one.

Malachi had nowhere to go and didn't know what to do, so he simply followed his instincts, or what was left of them in his current condition.

Malachi gazed upon the humans and sat by the bar oblivious and indifferent about his surroundings, all that existed in his heart was emptiness, while his mind was plagued by a void, but it was a unique kind of void, one he was unfamiliar with due to his new constitution. It was human hunger.

"Can I get you something to drink? ’’ asked a young woman as she chewed her gum with one hand on her hip and the other playing with her ponytail.

"Uh well yes, I am parched," said Malachi uninterested focusing solely on his own despairing thoughts. He was willing to do anything to get his mind off what had occurred.

This can not be happening to me, banished from my own coven. Cursed to live a life of a mortal. I am a fallen angel. Fallen from grace, forced to enter a life of living when I was once the firstborn son of the dead!

The barwoman stood at the bar looking at Malachi with a brow raised, there was an awkward silence. Suddenly annoyed, Malachi said "Are you going to just stare at me or get me something to drink?"

"Umm sir, you to actually have to make an order from the bar in front here," said that barwoman pointing at the all beverages in front of them.

"What will I enjoy?"

"I don't know, pick something and I'll tell you if it's good or not, you can either have bourbon, OJ , beer, we have it all. "

He looked at the brown substance, then saw orange, and green and was perplexed. He c****d his head to the side then decided on the colourless one.

"What is that? " he pointed cautiously, Malachi could feel his body getting weak in a way he had never felt before and was wondering what was causing it, but he was not about to show anyone that he was feeling weak. Though his body might have been weak his pride was as strong as ever, in fact, the weaker his body got, the more his pride grew. It was this pride that was keeping him going, and it was this pride that was the core of his being. Even if the glass is shattered, it is still glass.

"Bottled water." Replied the barwoman keying Malachi.

"What does it taste like? " He asked, looking at the barwoman.

"You're not funny, I'm not having this today, take your prank somewhere else." complained the barwoman as she walked away.

"Ay, what's going, you don't walk away from a customer." said the manager as he caught her walking away.

"I've been pulling 14-hour shifts, I'm too tired for an i***t to be playing with me, asking me what water tastes like." said the barwoman as she chewed her gum.

"It's okay, I'll handle this." said the manager in a cool manner. As he heard what his employee had said, a light flashed in his eyes, and his calm temperament changed. Malachi knew this type of feeling all too well. This was killing intent.

"I suggest you get the hell out of my tavern you night creeper." howled the manager.

Malachi looked at the manager with a look of disdain.

Night creeper? Wait till I sink my teeth into you and turn you into a puppet and make you feed on your family, you inbred.

Malachi's thoughts were filled with hostility as he gazed at the manager. He used to treat such people like ants, yet now one had the nerve to call him a night creeper.

Everyone looked at the manager as he was gritting his teeth at Malachi, anger pouring from his veins, he continued and howled "Your kind promised not to come around here or else I'll cripple you and pull your dead heart out of your chest."

At the corner of the tavern, Mel and Mike were sitting on a round table, whilst they were having their drinks Mel almost spat out her drink in shock.

"Mel what's wrong? "

"Mike, it's him. I swear that's him, he's the one in my visions, we have to help him, do something quickly. " pleaded Mel.

"Are you sure?" asked Mike swirling his beer.

"Yes I'm sure, it's weird Mike, I can sense his aura."

Mike sighed in resignation and agreed to Mel's request as he walked over to the bar casually and said to the manager "I am really sorry, we'll be out, he's just a puppet, he was charmed by this sire to pull this prank, we'll be out. "

Mike's hand gripped Malachi's shoulder with the strength of iron, Malachi wanted to react but Mike whispered into his ears and said,

"I want to help you, if you do not want to die, then follow me."

Malachi sensed no hostile intent from Mike, even though his shoulder was under an iron grip. Malachi knew full well that right now he was weak, so he resigned himself to Mike's advice and the duo went out of the tavern into an alley, where the shadow of the roof covered them.

When they arrived, Malachi noticed that a girl had been waiting for them, seemingly nervous from the way she was tapping her foot on the ground.

"What are you doing? Are you trying to start a war?" Said Mel frantically.

"Oh please, I only need a finger to deal with that lot." bragged Mike.

Malachi looked at the two people before him, still baffled about all that had been happening to him, from his exile out of the palace to his perplexing curse and now this.

"Why do you care? Besides, you are mere humans," replied Malachi with a hint of arrogance.

"And you're a dark dweller," said Mike sarcastically.

"I've been having visions about you, and why can I sense your aura, vampires don't have energy." asked Mel " What are you?"

" I am about to feed on you," said Malachi.

" No you're not, look, we are here to help you," said Mel.

"You know what Mel, this was a bad idea" said Mike balling up his fists. Mike could tell that Malachi wanted to feed on them, though he seemed to have the body of a human, the look in his eyes and his hair said otherwise.

"Listen, we don't have much time, you can trust us, you have energy, you're human" said Mel, although she didn't even fully understand what she was saying.

"No I am not a mortal," replied Malachi with annoyance in his voice, barely having the strength to argue.

" Yes you are, you have energy, dark energy. "

Malachi was feeling weak, he knew he could not fight in the state he was in, he had to feed.

" I need to feed, now." Demanded Malachi as he barely held on to his consciousness. His staggering figure made Mike relax his guard a little bit, but only a little.

"No you need food, you're weak cause you haven't eaten and you're dehydrated. Let us help you " pleaded Mel. There's something about him, he's different. She thought to herself.

" Fine. I don't care what you do just do it now." Said Malachi with the last of his strength.

"Mel what are you going to do, you will have to help him cultivate a little, humans our age don't have gray hair, only the elderly do. Not to mention his eyes are silver and freaky," Mike said looking at Malachi.

"Okay give me a minute. I know the perfect spell for cloaking appearances."

After breathing in and out slowly to focus her mind. Mel walked over to Malachi pulled him out of the roof's shadow into a corner where the sunlight was shining, she looked him in the eyes chanted something Malachi could not understand, however, the results were instant. His eyes became blue and his hair became a wave of shiny, thick jet black hair, making him look mystical.

"What kind of cultivation is this." asked Malachi curiously as he touched the strands of his hair. An energy he had never felt went through his body and changed him in ways he could not understand. It also gave him the strength to support himself. Malachi had been a blood cultivator for centuries, but he had never felt so....alive.

"It's human cultivation, we cultivate using spirit energy, helios is our source of energy ."

" How is that possible? Half the sun has been eclipsed," said Malachi as he eyed Mel suspiciously.

"Yeah no thanks to your kind," said Mike agitated.

Mike grabbed Mel by the elbow and pulled her aside.

"Okay so now what? " whispered Mike whilst eyeing Malachi from the corner of his eye.

"We have to take him with us, " replied Mel.

" No ways, and bring a night creeper into our clan" Mike argued.

"He's weak and needs a place to lay low, besides I have a strong feeling, we need him as much as he needs us." Said Mel.

Mel had a weird feeling when it came to Malachi, she didn't fear him. She felt connected to him in a way. Mike looked at Malachi who looked like a fragile human and said to Mel.

"How ironic, the Darkness needs to hide. "

...

The trio arrived by an outstanding white brick wall that was obviously meant to keep unwanted guests out, it had a silver iron gate, that looked antique yet very potent. Which only created a curiosity within Malachi.

What exactly is being protected?

No sign of any form of life was evident from where the trio stood. This was Malachi's first time in this city called Ndalo, he had always desired to come to this city, his father always spoke about how it was full of life and that soon the Van Locke family was going to conquer it. He always prepared for that day seeing it from a distance but up close standing next to this outstanding wall and iron gate, he was more ecstatic to know what this city had to offer.

In the Continent of Sahyun there are two grand cities, each populated with human tribes. The first city is Goudstad; the city of gold. Even though it is primarily known as the city of gold, it is also rich in numerous minerals. This is the city where Malachi and his coven is from. All vampires from every rank live in this city but at the same time there are a few human tribes that dare reside in Goudstad, it has been said that some of the human tribes and wanderers have made a treaty with the vampires to cohabit in the city of gold, exchanging a taste of blood for power and mystic minerals.

Then there's the Ndalo city, where nature and science thrive abundantly, hundreds of years ago the first humans chose this city as their home for their cultivation. This is a city of chaos there is always war within Ndalo because every tribe wants to protect its own and have enough land for survival, the humans want to be surrounded by nature, even though most humans have lost the ability to cultivate like their forefathers, their cultivation is at a minimum level because half the sun has been eclipsed by powerful vampires.

The humans in Sahyun are constantly being attacked by vampires because their blood makes vampires euphoric, their blood is a drug to vampires, a drug that is on-demand. Sahyun is a dog eat dog type of world, where only the fittest are worthy of survival.

"I'll use my pass so we can get through the gate," said Mel nervously, her hands were shaky as she took a metal pass out of her black backpack, she inhaled a deep breath to try to calm her nerves down but it proved to be fruitless, she eyed Malachi who somehow through all this still managed to remain composed, and godly, he had a smirk on his face, a curious look in his eyes, his face always showed his feelings, it must have been a side effect of him not being able to control his emotions, he couldn't hide them either, so as dark as he was, he was very transparent.

Odd. I thought vampires were supposed to be cold and emotionless. especially to 'mortals'.

"Just follow my lead. " She instructed to Mike and Malachi. Mike nodded with a look of uncertainty whilst Malachi still kept his attention on the antique gate. Mel began to walk closer to the gate and the other two followed right beside her. They reached the gate, and Mel put her pass inside a slot and an identification screen appeared, she pulled her pass out of the slot and touched the screen and pressed on it, then on the screen popped up a man who looked directly at her.

"Melissa, are you alright, you pressed The Code. What is going on"

"Y-yes Sir Chad, I'm with Mike, we're fine. We found a human in Goudstad, we need to help him, he was attacked by night creepers..."

And before she could finish, the gate began to open

"Get in Melissa, all three of you, go to security to get cleared" commanded sir Chad

They walked through the gate, where a group of armed men were waiting for them, all dressed in black. One man grabbed Malachi, whilst Mel and Mike were instructed to walk through a scan where they disappeared. Malachi began to get anxious, he had no idea what was going on he began to feel like an unwanted guest.

He was led past a similar-looking scanner that Mike and Mel went through, when he walked through he was put into a white small room and was forced to sit on a chair by the man who had grabbed him.

"He cleared security sir," said the man on a walkie talkie. A minute later the man on the screen walked in together with Mel and Mike.

" This is Malachi," said Mel as she walked towards him.