It had been a couple of days since the duo fell into this era, and despite the hidden danger they had uncovered, there was little they could do to stop it.
There was no clear cause behind the extinction of the vampires and none that justified the fall of an entire race, let alone their primordial Lord.
"Hmm… nothing here either." Seraphine let the book titled History of the Great Vampire Race slip from her fingers, a hint of boredom crossing her face.
"Let's keep searching a little longer… it's not like we have anything better to do here," Ashen replied absentmindedly from across the table. He held a book titled Vampire Evolution and Ranks, his gaze fixed on its pages in quiet concentration.
For the past week, the two of them had shut themselves inside the castle's grand library, sifting through records in an attempt to understand this era and, if possible, uncover the cause behind the looming catastrophe by identifying any force capable of opposing the vampires.
So far, they had little to show for it.
Within the empire, the vampires stood just beneath the elves, their status earned purely through strength. Yet the records showed no true hostility between the two races — only occasional disputes among their younger members, often tied to the peculiar allure of elven blood.
Even so, it was clear the elves lacked the means to erase the vampires so completely, and more importantly, so silently. They were ruled out.
The same conclusion applied to the other demi-human races.
That left humans as the next plausible candidates. But they were in no position to act. With the Narkals constantly pressing against them and their own system absent for over a millennium, humanity could barely sustain itself, let alone orchestrate the annihilation of an entire race.
The last possibility was the Narkals themselves.
Both of them dismissed that almost immediately. The Narkals were anything but subtle; their methods were guaranteed to be loud and brutal, and thus impossible to miss. An extinction carried out in utter silence didn't fit their nature in the slightest. Besides, the vampires' territory lay far from the borders; there was no conceivable way for the Narkals to reach it unnoticed.
"Lemme see!"
Boredom had clearly gotten to Seraphine. As usual, she defaulted to her favorite remedy whenever Ashen was within reach: bothering him.
He watched it unfold almost in slow motion; her fingers stretching toward the book, inching closer… then, in a swift motion, snatching it from his hands before she dropped her full weight onto his lap.
He could have stopped her at any point. He simply chose not to.
Despite the faint exasperation he always showed, Ashen secretly enjoyed her antics far more than he let on.
"Vampire hierarchy? Is that what has you so focused? Huh?" She teased, flipping through the pages until something caught her interest.
"Yeah. I've never seen this mentioned in any historical records from our time, so it stood out."
"Hah, what a nerd," she muttered with a quiet snicker; though the way her eyes lingered on the page made it clear she was already hooked.
"Alice was saying the same thing last time. What's your problem with nerds, both of you?" Ashen scratched his head in genuine confusion.
"Nothing, really. Maybe we just have a thing for nerds now since our man appears to be one." Seraphine smirked.
Before he could retort, she exclaimed in wonder, and he swallowed his complaints and leaned over to see what had caught her attention.
"Oho! So you're at the top of the food chain based on this… good for you… and I'm stuck being a helpless human here."
In the text, it read clearly in bold lines:
The Evolution of a Noble Vampire~ Newborn → Mature → Elder → Ancient → Primordial
Beneath it, the text elaborated on the purity of the bloodline, which directly influenced one's potential to ascend. And judging by the recorded feats of Primordials, it wasn't an exaggeration to say they could toy with humanity's Sin Lords.
Ashen wasn't entirely convinced. The concepts his predecessor had wielded were gone along with his soul, leaving behind only what had been refined into the body itself. Still, considering the sheer volume of mana coursing through him now, the claim didn't feel entirely unfounded.
"You're not just any helpless human," he said lightly. "You're the consort of the man at the top of the food chain. Don't forget that." His hand came down to pat her head, more out of habit than intent.
"Don't get too smug about it…"
"And if I do? What are you gonna do about it?" He tilted her chin up between his fingers, playfully turning her face side to side as if inspecting a delicate doll. "Who're you gonna complain to, huh?"
Seraphine narrowed her eyes… and retaliated immediately!
Both hands shot up, grabbing his cheeks and stretching them without mercy. "Take that!"
"Kekeke…" Ashen laughed like a cartoon villain, entirely unbothered, before escalating by pinching her nose between his fingers.
"Mmm—! You brute!"
"Know your place, little consort~"
"Nnnh… I'll show you!"
Thump… thump…
A flurry of light swats followed; fingers playfully crossing over each other's faces, and before long, the two were at each other's lips again.
"Mmm… ah."
"...eung."
"...no biting."
The kiss was mixed with breathless laughter and playful nibs, then turned into something more earnest as they got lost in each other. It was only stopped when Ashen felt tickles of mana leaking from Seraphine's body. Even then, they didn't leave each other's embrace.
He briefly entertained the idea that her Chastity restriction might not apply here, since she wasn't technically in her own body. He dropped it just as quickly. Chastity was etched into Seraphine's soul; consequences would follow her back regardless.
"Let's… go back to the books," he said reluctantly.
"But books are boring~. I wanna kiss more."
"Don't say that. Look at this, it's actually interesting." Ashen tapped the open book beside him, ignoring her complaint.
Seraphine pouted, then leaned in anyway, curiosity winning out. What could possibly outshine her charm?
The page spoke of the very first vampire.
In the beginning, it wasn't even a vampire, but a bat.
Not an ordinary one. A sacred beast.
Sacred beasts were native creatures that had undergone seven metamorphoses, each evolution bringing them closer to something greater, until at the end, they acquired a concept. When they did, they took on a demi-human form.
Of course, it was only in form.
They bore no real relation to modern demi-humans. If anything, they were their distant ancestors.
According to the text, there were only two ways to become a sacred beast. One was to survive long enough to evolve through all seven stages and awaken a concept.
The other was to be born as one.
Noctari was such an existence. He was born complete. His essence that of a bat, and his concept of blood.
When humans emerged, he took a liking to one in particular. Her blood was unlike anything he had ever tasted, and so he kept her by his side, even though, as a sacred beast, he stood at a level akin to a god.
Yet he did not treat her as prey.
He cherished her.
And, in time, he loved her.
From that love came seven Primordial vampires.
Ages passed, and eventually, the woman he had granted immortality through his blood was claimed by something the text simply called Darkness. From that moment, the once-benevolent Noctari withdrew from the world; before ultimately succumbing to that same Darkness himself.
"Any idea what they mean by 'Darkness' here, Sera?" Ashen asked.
"No idea…" She tilted her head, then frowned faintly. "But… oh. Poor little bat."
Ashen immediately clamped a hand over her mouth.
"Don't go around saying things like that. Noctari is their first ancestor; they revere him above everything."
"Mhm." She pulled his hand away, unbothered. "So what if they hear? It's not like I'm leaving your side anyway. You'll protect me, right?"
"Ah, now that you mention it—" Ashen paused, and then it settled over him. He was the big boss around here. No need to be jittery.
"Alright, say what you want. Just don't wander off."
"Aye, sir!" She saluted, far too pleased with herself.
"But from this," she went on, glancing back at the page, "you can kind of see where their obsession with humans comes from. They're just copying their first father… in a very twisted way."
"Most likely."
"Still…" She bit lightly on her finger, frustration creeping in. "Interesting as it is, none of this brings us any closer to why they all just… disappeared overnight."
Ashen reached over and pulled her hand away, bringing her finger to his lips and licking away the faint bead of blood.
"Don't stress. We've barely scratched the surface of this place. Worst case…" he shrugged lightly, "...I grab you, and we run."
"What a terrible primordial I ended up with…" she teased.
"You're more important to me than every bloodsucker in this castle combined," he replied without hesitation. "It's not even close."
"Hah, flirting will get you everywhere! Don't test me!"
He answered with a quiet smile.
If not for the shadow of extinction hanging over everything, this might have felt like a holiday.
But he knew it wouldn't be as simple as running.
Who was to say that whatever was coming wouldn't give chase? And who was to say he could even run in the first place?
He didn't even know who his enemies were yet. And unknown Darkness was the most frightening kind of all.