VRMMORPG: Rise Of The Blood Paragon

The lady barely acknowledged Lionel, who was sulking nearby, and brushed past him. Her black gown grazed his body as he looked around nervously.

She approached the clearing where a beast lay on the ground, battered and withered. Alison knelt down, inspecting the creature. She sniffed the air and touched a few spots on the beast before standing up again.

Lionel, who had been feeling down for some time, finally gathered himself. His eyes followed her movements, the hairs on his neck standing on end. Why was he so afraid? He couldn't pinpoint the reason, but he knew the lady wasn't someone to take lightly.

"Prince, what happened here?" Alison's voice rang out as she stood a few feet away from Lionel, dusting off the hand she had used to touch the beast.

She looked at the beast again and with a simple wave of her hand, the beast vanished.

"How did you do that?" Lionel's eyebrows shot up.

Playing fantasy-themed games for the first time had left him curious and full of questions. But as her eyes bore into his, he realized he shouldn't have asked. The look she gave him could have killed.

Alison's face hardened, her arms crossed as she raised her voice slightly. "I asked, what happened here?"

Lionel scanned the clearing, trying to piece together what had occurred. It was strange—he had no memories of the prince, no sense of how to act. More than that, he was irritated by the woman ordering him around, but what could he do? She was a mythical beast.

"I don't know what happened here…" Lionel finally muttered after brooding for a while, his voice stiff as he added, "I just found the beast like this when I arrived."

"You found it withered?" Alison pressed. Lionel now had an answer to that, but should he be honest?

He wasn't sure how to proceed. He felt like a stranger in this place, an outcast living someone else's life.

As he weighed his options, he rubbed his chin, choosing his words carefully. "No... I kind of drank from it…"

"Taking so long to respond is a sign you're lying," Alison said, moving closer to Lionel.

She unfolded her arms and began rubbing her hands together. "Or in your case, hiding something."

She glanced from the darkened spot on the ground back to Lionel. "Tell me, what are you hiding? Did you drain that beast to its last breath, or does a trace of blood essence flow within you?"

Lionel mouthed, "Oh…"

He wasn't entirely sure what to do, but from the way she was acting, it seemed like he had done something wrong. He hadn't intended to mess with anything in the world, so he tried to explain.

"I mean... I'm not hiding the fact that I drank and absorbed blood essence from the beast. I found it dead and used the opportunity."

Alison's eyes narrowed as she listened, her gaze sharp. She walked closer to Lionel and stood in front of him, her eyes locking with his.

Lionel felt uneasy as he kept staring into her eyes. They seemed like an endless sea—one he wanted to fall into. Before he knew it, he broke the gaze, quickly squeezing his eyes together.

"What was that?" Lionel asked, amazement in his voice.

"What?" Alison asked, feigning ignorance.

"The thing with your eyes. You're not a vampire, so how do you have manipulation abilities? I thought only vampires had those…" Lionel said, his words trailing off, his face a mixture of amazement and confusion.

"You'd be surprised by the many wonders of this world," she muttered, her words coiling like a snake in his head.

Then she whispered, her voice soft yet commanding, "Now, bring them back!"

"I…" Lionel found his words stuck in his mouth as his head turned unwillingly, his eyes meeting hers once again. The endless void beckoned him.

"So, I asked what you did with that beast, and your answer was fascinating."

"You, a useless vampire prince with no sharp fangs—weak and foolish—actually drank from a beast, absorbed its blood essence, and became a cultivator? How did you manage such a feat? Are you not as stupid as you appear?" she asked, her gaze still fixated on him.

But Lionel couldn't answer. It wasn't that he didn't have the answers—his thoughts and senses were simply locked into Alison's gaze. He felt himself floating, pulled into a sleep.

What he wanted most in that moment was to sleep, but something deep inside him resisted.

"Just sleep. Everything will be fine. I'm not your enemy, I just need to make sure you're not a threat to the vampire lineage," Alison whispered soothingly.

Finally, Lionel was lured into sleep.

As his eyes closed, Alison created a dark fog around them both, placing her hand on his head. Her eyes shut as she accessed his memories.

Scenes unfolded before her eyes, and a smirk spread across her lips as she thought, 'How did this huge talent escape my notice?'

___

Lionel felt himself floating in the clouds, being transported to different places, his body rolling in an endless void. Then he arrived in a place surrounded by pools of blood, where pale-skinned figures with fangs, long nails, and stakes through their hearts lay fallen.

Suddenly, Lionel was thrown into the scene.

His eyes fluttered open, and he found himself kneeling on the ground, soaked by rain. Water pooled around him, washing away the blood from corpses littering the area. A sword pressed against his neck, preventing him from moving.

'Where am I?' Lionel thought, taking in his surroundings. Most importantly, he noticed his hands. They looked smaller than before.

He saw his reflection in a nearby puddle and furrowed his brow.

"Who is this boy staring back at me?" Lionel muttered, raising his hand to touch his face. Before he could, the flat surface area of the sword slapped his hand away.

That's when he realized the situation he was in. He looked up and winced as the sword nicked him slightly. The man's face was twisted into a scowl, anger simmering beneath the surface. One word stuck in Lionel's mind about him: unknown.

As he brooded over what was happening, a voice pierced the air.

"Your Highness, you must not kill the young prince!" a high-pitched voice called from behind him.

'Is someone saving me? Or rather, saving this boy? Who am I exactly, and what is happening here?' A flood of questions filled Lionel's mind as his eyes remained glued to the ground.

"Why?" the man holding the sword growled coldly, his eyes devoid of emotion.

Footsteps approached, and Lionel caught sight of bloodstained boots. A figure clad in black appeared, but he couldn't see their face.

The words that followed, however, were anything but pleasant.