The pair worked through the early morning, skimming through papers and documents and sorting them out as per Naciv’s instruction. Folders stacked upon one another in different columns and colors to signify which to keep, throw away or in need of thorough checking from the Guild.

  Arlene sat flipping pages upon pages, skimming throughout the information on it. They were maps, monsters, dungeon layout and predictions on its changing layout, logistic stockhold and much more. Outdated info was useful for study in the Adventurer’s Guild.

  The one regarding misinformation she had to consult Naciv—whether it should be kept for study or throw away with the rest. Naciv would argue personally they should be kept regardless, but professionally the guild stance demanded few of them to be burned to cinder.

  It was a hassle to walk the thin line of the Guild on which to throw away and which wasn’t. Arlene didn’t look away from the papers she was skimming through. “Naciv,” she called to him, “Not to question you but how do you know what the Guild want to throw away?”

  Naciv was sat on the floor, laying out papers like they were deck of cards. He was skimming through all of them instead of flipping per pages. He too didn’t look up to her. “I just do… I guess from my times with the Guild—enough times to know.”

  She returned the question with a bit of light snarky tone. “Ok, then what do you know?”

  “I don’t know how to explain it… Let’s say there’s two papers regarding the same category; Map. They both have the same layout and same date presented by two individuals.” He eyed the stack of throw away columns before glancing back down to his work. He had thought explaining with visual would help, but the thought of having to go through the stack to find them were a hassle.

  Regardless, he continued. “The only difference the two have were different hypothesized monsters’ strengths and positions.”

  “Hypothesis? Why are there hypothesize item in a map about dungeon layout?”

  “I don’t know. Probably the scout didn’t do a good job, but that’s just it. Anyway, one has monsters all over the layout while another argues it’s only near the end of the Floor. Obviously… both are wrong data, but the Guild accept them nonetheless since they were at least useable for the time being. Now Floor Forty is cleared and adventurers can go past it without getting mauled. They are throwing away all bad info maps in favor of actual scouting.”

  “Wait. I don’t get it… There are scouts that actually map the floors right? Before I and Watty arrived.”

  “Yeah,” He shrugged, “like Rinea but I dunno. Guild was desperate and just doesn’t care about righting the wrong.”

  “Right… so why not throw away both of those maps? You’re implying they kept one of those?”

  “They want to keep the one that show spread out monsters in the floor. It’s to show the scout at least did something and give a credible info rather than pining one part of the floor to be full of monsters. A show of bravery that the scout went through the entire floor… or something like that?”

  “So… it’s just bureaucratic pride then?”

  “Pretty much.”

  She set the scrolls aside in its own set of bundle. Her work was done, but his wasn’t. It was strange though, why was he the only one working on this? “Naciv, why are you the only unfortunate soul working on this?” She asked still with a teasing tone.

  She rested her elbow on the table nearby. “I don’t see why only you work on such a tedious task. That sleeping guy is just there… sleeping. Why isn’t he helping?”

  His head turned to that sleeping guy. “Hecruz? He’s the Guild Official. A supervisor of sort.”

  She mimicked an air quote. “So shouldn’t he be ‘supervising’?”

  “Maybe, but he spent the entire night prior doing paperwork rather than joining the celebration. I think he deserve it.”

  “What a splendid person you are, Naciv.”

  “E-Eh? I… just think it’s fair.”

  “Sure. Do you need help on your end?”

  “No no,” he waved off. “You already agreed to help me and done on your ends. I’m almost finished with mine… just a few more minutes? Ten minutes?” He eyed the decks of paper laid out. “Uhh… twenty ish? I’ll be done by then and I’ll tell you everything I know.”

  She leaned back on the chair with her arms crossed. “Alright… Tell me if you need help. I’ll just watch you.”

  “Please don’t… I don’t like being watched… I feel anxious about it.”

  “Well, get used to it Naciv, and you still didn’t answer the question. Why only you?”

  “I’m just.. efficient? They trust me I guess.”

  “You guess?”

  “I don’t know! I’m not the Guild! I’m Naciv, an adventurer.”

  “Hmmm… Ok, we’ll leave it at that.”

  Some time passed, Naciv was finally done. He stood and stretched out his limbs as if he was going on a job. He glanced over his shoulder. “Thanks for waiting… I’m done. That was the quickest ten minutes I ever worked.”

  However, the look of Arlene’s face said otherwise. The cold winds brushed against her through the flap of the tent eased her into a soothing lullaby to sleep. She allowed herself the fleeting moment of rest. Her eyes barely opened, yet her relaxing posture had that aura she was still awake fully.

  “Ten minutes? Naciv, you took an hour,” she spoke deadpan. “If that was your ten minutes, I wouldn’t want to know what an hour look like.” She stood now.

  “Hey,” Naciv threw his arms up. “I couldn’t help it okay? You were looking at me working. I felt anxious.” st

  “Is that so?” Her eyes squinted at him before walking away, beckoning him to follow. “What if Hecruz was watching you? Would you feel the same?”

  Naciv followed her. “Hecruz is different,” he excused. “You and him are worlds apart?”

  “How so? Isn’t he your supervisor?”

  “Yes when I’m doing guild’s paperwork like earlier, but here’s the difference. He’s asleep most of the time.”

  “Ah. So you utilize the overworked official’s sleepiness to justify your anxiety? I think,” she paused as she folded her arms behind her, “you should just get used to people looking at you while you work.”

  The two exited out of the tent, and saw the sight of the Hub becoming more alive. People were out and about moving equipment around. There weren’t any signs of cleaners or of sort. No signs of Xylia’s spinning her broom around too. Another sight was that of groups forming—adventure’s party. It seemed they were eager to venture and beat that dungeon now that the monster in Floor Forty was cleared.

  A few passersby recognized the Chosen One gave small nods and waved. Of course, she waved back whilst putting on that formal smile.

  “So,” she knew Naciv was behind her enough to hear, “Where in the Hub you consider to be private enough for you? You know the Hub’s traffic better than I do, right?”

  Naciv step up beside her and pointed awkwardly outward. “There should be an isolated spot near the supply carts. Should be empty till noon.”

  “Supply carts? Naciv,” her hand gestured to all the moving people in front, “People are moving equipment. Wouldn’t there be someone accidentally hearing you?”

  He shook his head and already started walking. “We’re going to the very spot they took equipment from. It’s all weaponry and assorted materials related to weapons. Once taken out, they wouldn’t bother to come back until noon for stocktaking. Perfect spot.”

  “Right, you been keeping an eyes out?”

  “Kinda have to, I guess.”

  “Lead the way then.”

  Amidst the rustling winds disturbing the trees, amidst the sounds of bird chirping just past the wall, the supply carts rested right in the corner of the Hub. Wagons full of crates or just rusty or chipped weapons laid out inside. True to Naciv’s words, there weren’t a hint of people even coming close anymore. Numerous footprints on the dirt showed most recent were that of leaving.

  Arlene leaned onto one of the wagon stalls. She tilted her head, leaning onto the wagon. “So,” she began, “how would you know no one will come here? What if… I don’t know, a straggler or some sorts came here to check or take something?”

  Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

  Naciv chose to sit on the floor. His legs sprawled out as he leaned onto the wheel—barely dodging the few lights penetrating through the canopy. He gazed to all the footprints then to Arlene. “I just do. People wouldn’t want to just hang around in this stuffy place with no other purposes. They’re adventurous bunches, they’re not going to stay here and wait for something to do.”

  Her eyebrows raised, “yet they still return here in noon?”

  “It’s procedure of the Guild.”

  “Right. If you’re sure about it…”

  Few moments of silence passed between them. Only the sounds of distant adventurers shouting to recruit a party or officials ordered rang to where they were. She could see Naciv was scratching his own legs and chests, then to his arms. It was like the man himself had ringworm if it wasn’t for the fact those were where his injuries were.

  Her eyes softened with a sigh. “Sure you’re doing okay? Need me to cast healing on you, just for safety measures?”

  His head shot to her and shook feverishly. “I’m okay!” It came out rushed. “I just… well it is what it is. It’s like phantom pains… or something. Also, I don’t need healing.”

  “Oh come on,” she scoffed. “It’s just healing no? Should be fine.”

  “It’s not that. It’s… I can’t get healing from magic, at least the kind of healing magic mages normally use.” He slumped down his entire body, leaning harder on the wheel. He glanced all over his surrounding one more time then stopped with an exhale of relief—like the burden of secrecy was weighted off in this moment.

  “It’s vampire physiology. I just don’t get healing unless it’s blood magic or… well anything related to blood.”

  She studied him with all his scratching. “Then how did you heal back in the dungeon? You were literally slashes incarnate—“ she paused thinking back. That werewolf was injured, even she could see it clearly enough amidst the Delirium. “Did you bite the werewolf?”

  “What?! No! Did I look like I jumped and clamped down on it?”

  Her head shook. “No,” she answered with a slight sarcastic tone. “You look like you were thrown around like a bamboo ball.”

  He feverishly nodded his head, but his grip on his own shirt tightened. “Exactly! I can’t even get a single bite on it—not not that I would bite someone! I swore to never do that.” He relaxed after. “I healed from all the blood dripping from that werewolf. A-Wattyson wounded it with his fire and silver sword.”

  His hand started mimicking a gesture of casting magic. “I was laying on the floor, couldn’t move an inch. I had to exert myself just to get all the blood to crawl to me and make it way to my mouth.”

  He could still feel it—how blood traveled on his skin. The liquid brushing against the very microscopic layer of his skin—how it crawled like a worm wiggling its way yet at the same time it felt like a centipede coiling around every small cracks on him.

  “Naciv,” she raised a hand. “Can I ask something intruding?” She ended in a confused tone. “I don’t know if it’s intruding… I guess personal? What did the blood taste like? For you since you’re a vampire?”

  His lip curled as he bit down on it. Hands tightened into fis threatening to wrinkle his entire outfit. He didn’t dare to look at Arlene. “I… hated it.” He said with intense prejudice. “I… hated the fact I loved the taste of it and craved more. I wanted more to the point I felt I wasn’t myself anymore.”

  Even now he was pouring his heart out to her, he still couldn’t bear to tell her how Rinea was almost a victim of his bloodlust. It was a shame he couldn’t confide in her. His lip curled even further. Eyes darted to anyway that’s not her.

  However, for her, she slid down to his level. “Naciv,” there was hesitation in her voice. She pointed to the bottom half of his lip. “You’re bleeding. Stop it.” She placed a palm on his shoulder firmly. “You’re doing okay. You recognized it was a bad thing, and… you had no choice. You needed something to heal right? Werewolf’s blood is potent, I think? What matter is you stopped yourself for more.”

  Such warmth and forgiving nature only made him felt guiltier. Arlene was kind and compassionate, that much he knew. She didn’t know he, Naciv, was about to bite down on Rinea in the pursuit of more blood—chasing that sweet, sweet nectar of life. Still, he couldn’t bring himself to be honest about it.

  “Thanks,” he replied quietly almost shy. “I-I’ll try my best.” The tension on his grips was there, but loosened slightly. “…Sorry, you’re here to ask about vampire right? I… should let you do the questioning.”

  A smile played on her face as she got back up across him, leaning against the wagon once more. “Well, if you say so. I want to ask something regarding what you do—like as a vampire.”

  The question caught him by surprise. He thought Wattyson would’ve told her everything already. It seemed Anathema still hid secrets—feeding her only small bits at a time. “I… Hmm,” he paused to ponder on how best to answer her. “I will need to explain vampire society in general. Do you know about them?”

  She gave a small nod. “I know about their clan system and how their society emphasize secrecy. Also something about… vampire eating vampire? Watty only mentioned it in passing.”

  Wattyson really only fed her small bits. However, Naciv already decided to answer to the best of his knowledge. “The clan I’m from,” he looked to her while his hand absentmindedly drew a circle on the ground, “is specialized in information gathering. S’Shide is my clan name. What I do is that—information gathering.”

  “Is that why you hang around the Adventurer’s Guild enough they trust you to handle their paperwork, or… is there some kinds of vampire magic at play?”

  “No,” he scoffed at the thought. “The vampire detests that… at least the major faction of vampire society in control right now. They rather mingle with the mundane people normally rather than any vampirism.”

  “Faction?” The word caught her attention. “They’re different from clan? How so?”

  “Well, they’re like uhh… ok, vampire society is unified and connected in one thing—the need for secrecy. Hence so they have like a summit or something like that. There are three major one. My clan is part of the Aeudys.” He scratched the back of his head. “They’re like the moderate group. They ensure every clan in the society does not reveal themselves.”

  Her eyes squinted. Moderate faction implied the other are more extreme. “Tell me about the other,” she asked but it sounded like an order. She didn’t mean to.

  “R-Right. The two others are Vindicapire and Ubolis. Ubolis is like the Aeudys. They agree with Aeudys’s rule but hate how tight and strict their policies are. The Vindicapire on the other hands are like a bunch of supremacist that want to rule over humankind—they see those as cattle. They want to reveal themselves.”

  “That’s… worse than the Dark Lord.” She gripped on her forearms. “I fought the Dark Lord. The tales spoke of the hero’s party fought with swords and magic for three days straight against the Dark Lord himself, but it was more than that. We engaged in war of words in that Citadel. He wanted to end the humankind but… the way he explained it—a quick death. Yet now… there are even worse forces that want to enslave us as cattle.”

  Her back slid down on the cattle until she hit the ground. “This is worse than I thought… and people like Watty been keeping them in order?”

  “I-yes,” he curled his legs up to rest his head on. “There are hunter organizations in the world in every continent. The one’s active in this part of the Avalevd is the Aracanum. They have a base somewhere in Toulasi too. I can never figure out where it is.”

  “Naciv, can we go back to the vampire faction thing? I want to understand it better. How does its summit work?”

  He didn’t answer immediately. He just stared at her with a pondering expression—likely thinking how to word it right. “Uhh… It’s like a bunch of old people trying their hardest to stay civilized while in reality they want to just kill and eat each other. Pompous people.”

  He paused for a bit, realizing she wanted to know how it work exactly, not what it’s like. “It is attended by all clans in each faction. Representative of each clan with a few cohorts so you can imagine the entire summit is like a massive opera theater. They come and discuss about laws, policies, executions and of course a lot of accusations and blames on each other for how far the vampire society has fallen since the beginning of the Dark Lord’s War to now.

  For six hundred ish years, it was mostly how to hide from the mundane world and the Dark Lord’s Legion. They are neutral after all… though I heard tales of some vampires joined the human’s Salvation Army just to feed on dead people.”

  She nodded, taking in everything he said—even watching his lip so she wouldn’t mishear. “Naciv, are there any good faction or clan in the vampire society?”

  That got Naciv to wave his hands and shook immediately. “Haha, no. All vampires feed on humankind and any other humanoid beings—adjacent like Neko kind. Everyone look down on human as lesser, it’s just Vindicapire the highest extreme to the point of domination-centric.

  He gazed to his own hands. “Though… there are some vampires wanting to stay human on the inside. We are trying… but it’s hard.” He quickly added, “No need to pity me. What you said earlier… means a lot to me.”

  He giggled to himself. “I didn’t expect you to just ask me about vampire politic like factionalism.”

  “Well,” she retorted much lighter in tone. “It’s hard to ask something when I don’t know full well about the supernatural. Ok, I got one.” She lowered her tone as if she was planning a conspiracy. “Do you like able to recognize another supernatural from just seeing it or like gut feeling?”

  His eyes blinked rapidly. “Uhh,” he stammered. “I think the answer will disappoint you. No. No I don’t or rather I just can’t? It’s not like supernatural has a hidden detector for another of the same kind.”

  He jerked a thumb to the populated Hub. “There could be dozen of supernatural in there and I wouldn’t know. They wouldn’t know either. I could only know unless I saw them in a meeting like let’s say a fellow clan member in the chantry or I met them personally and we reveal to each other.”

  She stroked her chin. “Hmm, then how do you find out if… I don’t know, a werewolf is in the vicinity or another vampire?”

  “I just do detective work,” he shrugged. “Unless they show sign of transformation like a werewolf using whatever Gaia’s magic or another vampire expressing strengths and feats only a vampire capable of, I and anyone else wouldn’t know. Hence it comes down to me knowing the usual behaviors of supernatural.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “And do you?”

  “Barely! I barely kept up with how vampire should act to pinpoint it out. I wouldn’t know of other supernatural.”

  “Ughh,” she groaned, rubbing her own eyes. “So like, is every supernatural a detective or something? Isn’t it bothersome not to know?”

  “It is… I don’t know if anyone or anything listening or probing in. That’s why I want us to come here since I know there wouldn’t be any. It’s… so tiring. A world built on prey and treachery. I… desire to stay human, but if I wasn’t and you had approached another vampire. If you and it have a conversation like this, it wouldn’t consider you as a friend tomorrow. You’ll probably be on its feeding list.”

  She gulped. “I understand. Watty had told me about it—that world of yours.” She stood up. “Are you… still going to report to Watty?”

  “I am,” his eyes stayed with hers. “I rather not get hunted by the Anathema himself. I want to live.”

  “By the way… are you only reporting to him on supernatural activity or?”

  “Mostly… also something something corrupted blood. There’s not much info here in Toulasi.” He had a thought now. “Say… if you want to know more about the supernatural, why not go to the Aracanum? Hunters like to hoard knowledge.”

  Her eyes rolled. “You think I know where it is if you don’t?”

  “Maybe Watty do?”

  “He’s retired and exiled or something… how would he know?”

  “He still… or was a hunter, he should know where it is like signs and uhh postal box? I don’t know, he probably knows!”

  Her head shook playfully. “Alright, I’ll try. Naciv? Can I come to you again… to learn more?”

  The thought of wanting to continue talking never crossed with him. He thought after she and Anathema left the hub, she wouldn’t keep in contact with him. “I,” he began softly, “I don’t mind. I don’t know much… I’m only fifty-nine years old but I do know enough about the supernatural. I’ll tell you the best to my ability.”

  “Fifty-nine?! You look like you’re twenty-six!”

  “I’m a vampire! I don’t age!”

  “Right. Of course, immortal being. Sure.” She waved him goodbye. “I think Watty is done with the Bavasr’s official. I’ll be going now… take care, Naciv.”

  Naciv waved back awkwardly. “Thank you and… you too.”

  “Naciv?”

  “Y-yes?”

  “You’re doing great to stay human. You should be proud of it.”

  He watched her walked away and disappeared from his sight. The words still played in his mind—that he should be proud of himself. “You,” he murmured, “you don’t know how it feel to be told that... by the Chosen One herself.” He shut his eyes. “Thank you… truly.”