Vampire Reincarnation

The air filled with the scent of cheap candles and dead flowers inundated Kai’s nostrils, his nose twitching as he slowly woke up. His blurry vision turned cleared, albeit blinded by the bright chandelier hanging just above his head. The bed creaked as he moved, covering his gaze with one hand and letting out a light grunt. Panic quickly set on his face as he realized that the mask had disappeared, and he frantically got up, rapidly observing his surroundings. A light sigh soon escaped his body as he noticed the masked standing on a nightstand next to the bed, and he leaned against the bedframe with relief.

He quickly scanned the room - a bunch of small beds next to which lay a small nightstand, separated by cheap, ruined, and torn curtains. The color of the walls didn’t do it any service, as the bright green decorating them shot rays of pain straight into his soul. Squinting, he looked in a far corner of the room, where he noticed another person’s silhouette lying unconscious right behind the curtain. By deduction, it could only be Sverik, but they didn’t dare risk awakening the other guy. Turning to the side, he felt every muscle in his body ache, scream for help and relief. Ah- What the However, a gentle force pushed him back down into his sheets, the feeling of the magic much too familiar to Kai. “Aina?” He whispered as soon as the woman’s figure showed itself from who knows where. “Where am I? What’s going on?”

Aina sat down next to him, smiling softly. “You’re in the… arena’s ‘infirmary’, if we can even call it that. Elizabeth and I brought you and Sverik here shortly after you collapsed, and this was the only place where we could quickly let you recover. Although the quality of this place is… missing.” After hearing the explanation, Kai let out a light chuckle, groaning in pain as he did so.

“Looks like I won… serves him right haha- Ouch…”

“You’re such an idiot…” Aina sighed upon glancing at Kai’s right hand. “You could have lost a finger, or worse.”

“I had to do it, I could barely breathe… and my stamina had almost run out. I can barely compete with someone in possession of a core… I need to train harder…” And to research more… I need to find a way to recycle my mana core! One month, that’s the amount of time I have left until I’m ready to form the body core, that’s a hard time limit but I can do it… No! I need to do it. He clenched his fists, ignoring the pain and causing his wounds to open again.

“Tsk-” Aina clicked her tongue and lightly tapped his head. “Don’t worry too much about that, you’re basically ready, we just need to make sure your mana veins are strong enough.”

“I know,” Kai rubbed the spot where Aina had hit him. “I’m just tired of being so… weak.” The last word he uttered turned into a sigh, and his pupils trembled softly as he looked up at Aina. “I need to become stronger, and I need it fast…”

“Kai, you’ve already advanced faster than any other student I’ve ever had, and that is without magic or potions… granted the pills had a tremendous effect, but they only got you back to ground level.” She ruffled his hair, a smile creasing her lips. “And you beat Sverik, you may not know it but… he’s really strong for his age.”

“Yeah- I don’t have actually anyone to compare him to besides myself, or Euphridia… but she’s a monster, doesn’t count.”

“Pffft…” Aina chuckled. “You may be right, she truly is a monster. However compared to the people at the academy… she’s like a water snake to a wyvern.”

“Ah?” Kai exclaimed in surprise. Are the people there really that strong? Speaking of, do you think Sverik has any chances to enter the academy?”

“Hmm, I’d say so, especially after that fight with you. In fact, I think you helped him quite a bit…”

“How so?” Kai straightened himself, groaning in pain. “Wouldn’t he get accepted either way?”

“Well…” Aina’s gaze turned away from the boy, blinking rapidly as she took a deep breath. “There is a special program within the academy for gifted people… and Sverik got recruited into it. The representative talked to Zarman about it and I overheard. I knew about the program but I never expected someone from here to be accepted there. That basically means he can attend the academy before the age of fifteen, although it’s just a preparatory period.”

“What?!” This time, it was Kai’s turn to be shocked, as he had never heard of such a thing. Didn’t Arthur say that he cannot get me in through backdoors and that I have to wait? Now Sverik can attend before me?

“I know what you must be thinking but… as it stands you have no talent, Kai. To be honest I’m not sure what the inspector saw in Sverik either, he’s strong, sure, but not exceptional…”

Kai let out a light sigh, glancing in the direction where Sverik supposedly rested, and whispered. “Do you think this is the headmaster’s doing?”

Aina nodded silently but didn’t say anything more than that, but instead took Kai’s wounded arm and cast a healing spell over it. However, she made sure to only close the wound, and not fully heal it. “You must learn that recklessness has consequences, I won’t always be there to babysit you.”

Hearing that, Kai forgot to breathe for a second. Lowering his head, he let out a soft sigh and said in a voice barely above a whisper, “I know…”

That’s right… if I just sit here and be trained by Euphy I’ll never be able to fight properly, I may as well just give up… and never leave Evicario.

The two sat in solemn silence until the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps quickly brought them back to reality. Aina quickly strapped Kai’s mask over his face, the smell of dried sweat making his eyes tear up slightly. God, I need to remember to wash it regularly… or change it.

“Kai!” Elizabeth’s voice rang in his ear like thunder, not because he feared her, but because her voice almost caused his ears to bleed.

“Shh!” Aina brought a finger to her mouth, signaling for the new guests to keep it silent. “Sverik is still sleeping, we don’t want to wake him up.”

“Right, sorry.” Elly apologized and stood next to her mother, Zarman following close behind, and looked at Kai with a relieved expression in her eyes. “You’re such an idiot! Do you know how dangerous grabbing a sword is?!”

“It’s fine… I knew Sverik wouldn’t put all his strength into that, otherwise, I would have never done something so reckless.” Kai tried to explain himself, however, the ‘I don’t believe that for one-second’ expression on both the women’s, and Zarman’s faces left him at a loss. “It’s true tough…”

“Boy, even for… your race… I didn’t think you’d be that stupid.” Zarman said, trying very hard to hide the contempt within his voice. “I guess you must have taken after Ray…”

“Hey-” Kai wanted to protest, however, Aina’s light chuckle stopped him before he barely said a word.

“Yeah, I guess he does. I always thought the take after Elena more… but I see the similarities now.”

“But-” Kai tried speaking again, however, Zarman was the one to interrupt him this time.

“Why did you put that mask back on? It must be disgusting and filthy…”

“I-”

“It’s because you two aren’t the only guests I’m expecting.” Aina once again stopped Kai from speaking, causing the latter to simply sigh and give up. “Speaking of-” She turned around, spotting the man from the Magic Academy right as he entered the room.

“Ah, there you were.” His amber eyes stared at the group, giving Kai a good look of inspection while walking closer to them. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you.” He said, turning to Zarman, however not before politely greeting Aina.

“Nice to finally meet you, Mistress Aina… The headmaster said a lot of things about you.”

“Oh? I wonder what that old sack of bones said?” She teased with a chuckle, not expecting an actual answer. The inspector knew that as well, however, he couldn’t help but frown at her comment.

“Well, he praised your healing abilities and magical aptitude… But leaving that aside, Mr Zarman-”

“Yes, I know… I already accepted, what more do you want me to do? Sell my kidney?” The dwarf said, interrupting the man mid-sentence. “Just give me some time to get him ready.”

“Thank you for being understanding, however, I would like to speak to Sverik as well, where is he? I can’t wait any longer, it’s already been one day since he was hospitalized.”

“He should be waking up soon, especially with all the noise going around,” Aina interjected, glancing in the boy’s direction. “I’ll go check up on him.”

“Please do.” The old man said, however, he jumped slightly as Sverik’s voice rang in his ears.

“No need, I already heard it all… I woke up a few minutes ago but wanted to go back to sleep.” He said, dragging his feet toward Kai’s beck. “I dreamt I was the strongest man on the continent, man why do you need to be so loud?”

“Anyway,” he continued. “Pleased to meet you Mr…?”

“You can call me Stefan.”

“Mr. Stefan, I don’t know what my teacher agreed to, could you please tell me?”

“Yeah, so you see…”

The man from the Magic Academy explained everything to Sverik, who took a seat next to Kai due to the fatigue and soreness from the earlier fight still being present in his body. His heart raced with excitement as he listened to the details, and his breathing involuntarily hastened before the man could even finish.

“To put it simply, this preparatory academy for gifted students will guide you in your path to joining the academy. You need at least a Five Star Body Core to be eligible, and a Three Star Mana Core. So, during these four years that will be our priority. If you can reach that earlier, you are free to do as you please - Leave, keep studying, or you can ask to be associated with a guild and learn under them. The sky’s the limit.

But you have to remember that this does not grant you entry into the official academy. You will still need to take the entrance exams and get admitted.” Stefan finished with a sigh, happy to see that at least Sverik was happy with the proposal, unlike Zarman whose frown deepened the more he spoke. “I understand it’s a difficult decision and I advise you to talk it over with your teacher, after all, you won’t have many opportunities to return home.”

Hearing that, Sverik’s excitement faded slightly, and the smile on his face disappeared as he turned to Zarman. The old man’s face greeted him, a complex, yet saddened expression on his face.

“I’ll be back within a few months, you can give me your reply then,” Stefan said, getting up and leaving after bidding farewell to Aina and Zarman.

The room fell silent as the pupil-teacher duo looked at each other, complicated emotions manifesting on their faces. Zarman’s pupils shon with pride, regret, and reluctance as he looked at Sverik, the boy he had raised since he was six. “Kid,” the old man’s raspy voice echoed in Sverik’s ears. “I’m proud of you, my boy. Feels like yesterday that I found you outside, in the rain. And now look at you, about to become a student at that prestigious academy full of pricks…” A tear threatened to form in the corner of his eye, however he held strong. “I will miss you… very, very much boy. But I know this is what you want, this is what you must do to achieve your goal, whatever that may be. You’ve always been smart, so don’t make a joke of my name when you finally get there.”

He chuckled slightly before letting out a soft sigh. “I did my best to teach you, and I… I consider you my son. The son I- the son I wasn’t allowed to have.”

Sverik’s expression changed, tears trickled down his chin as he looked at Sverik with widened pupils. The man before him had never been so emotional before, he’d never seen him display so much affection. A warm feeling spread from his heart throughout his body, and he jumped down from the bed into the man’s embrace. Zarman accepted him wholeheartedly, spreading his arms before tightly wrapping them around his small body. No more words were needed to be said as the two hugged, ignoring the three pairs of tearful eyes looking at them. Kai turned his head toward the two women next to him and a sudden wave of sadness washed over him.