The hall was silent. No one said anything for a long time. Then Elora looked at Kadyn and asked, “Does that mean sister Cecelia has left?”

 Kadyn smiled bitterly and just when he was about to nod, a sound of footsteps came from the entrance. A figure walked towards them and said, “Who said I left?”—who could it be other than Cecelia?—”I just wanted to ponder about a few things in silence. Who knows, you guys have already outcast me.” As she spoke, her gaze remained on Kadyn.

 “Eh,” Kadyn scratched his head awkwardly and said, “You didn’t say anything before leaving so I thought—”

 “You thought I left for good?” Cecelia said, then went on. “Well, now I have returned. Why are you guys staring at me? I’m hungry, sister Rayna—”

 Suddenly Nefia jumped from the couch she was sitting on and embraced her tightly and started to cry. “I thought you left me. How could you even think about that? You wanted to leave me?”

 “Who said I left.” Cecelia gritted her teeth as she pierced at Kadyn who laughed awkwardly and started to look here and there.

 —

 Kadyn walked towards the Meditation Room; but at this moment, he felt something and turned around. “What are you doing here?” he asked.

 “I wanted to thank you,” Cecelia said.

 “Thank me?” he stared at her, then asked, “For what?”

 “For making me realise that there are more people who care about me,” she said. “After my family was slaughtered, I became alone. I was a small girl at that time, covered in blood. I was on the brink of death when Nefia found me. I thought I would leave after recovering but as time passed we became closer and closer like sisters. It was strange for me, being a vampire, to associate with a human emotionally. The same human whom we considered nothing but food.”

 Kadyn remained silent as she continued, “Though I considered Nefia as my friend, sister even, I never trusted anyone else. Humans are greedy and vicious. At least we vampires do everything openly, and we admit ourselves as an evil race. But humans? They are hypocrites. They would act all friendly and righteous, but would turn far vicious than even vampires—”

 “That’s what you learned when you were with vampires?”

 Cecelia stumped at his abrupt question and then said, “Well, yeah, but I have seen all kinds of treacherous acts in the Castle of Orddono.”

 Kadyn smiled. “I won’t deny all of your claims. Humans are vicious and greedy, but every human is not the same. Similar to you—you aren’t like all other vampires who treat humans like nutrition. Similarly, all humans aren’t the same either. 

“There are people who could die for others; there are also heroes who sacrifice themselves without asking anything in return. I don’t claim myself a hero who would sacrifice for others, but I would also let nothing happen to my friends and family when the time comes to fight.” He looked at Cecelia. Then said, “You guys are my family. Always remember that. Alright, go back now. It’s already late.”

“Hmm,” she nodded, turning to leave.

“Wait a moment,” Kadyn stopped her abruptly. “There is one more thing I wanted to tell you. Actually, it’s about Nefia. I wanted to tell her by myself, but I don’t have the courage.”

“What do you mean?” Cecelia frowned.

“Actually, her father is… dead.”

“What?!”

She froze on the spot. Her eyes went wide in shock, her body started trembling. She clenched her fist and gritted her teeth. Soon her face turned red in fury as the bloodlust crept out into her eyes. “I will slaughter them! They would beg for death but death won’t come easy for them!! Fucking bastards!”

“You don’t need to do anything.” Kadyn knew she was talking about those vampires. “They are already dead.”

“Dead?” Cecelia eyed him with a bewildered expression. “What do you mean?”

Kadyn took a deep breath and explained what happened in the Magic Alliance. Cecelia was silent for a few seconds. Then she asked, “So your parents killed all of them?”

“That’s what I heard,” he nodded. “Though I have yet to confirm if they are my parents.”

“Alright,” Cecelia all of a sudden felt tired. “I will tell Nefia, but I don’t know when.” She always wanted to kill her enemies. She had been hiding from them since very young. Who knew they would kill Nefia’s father? She wanted to scream, to shout her frustration, of not killing her enemies herself. She wanted to cry on behalf of her friend. “Tired. I am too tired. I will talk to you tomorrow.”

Kadyn watched as Cecelia vanished into the house. He sighed and entered the meditation room. “I have already built around thirty per cent rune. I think I will be able to finish it more than forty per cent by morning.”

“How useless can you be?” Suddenly a voice came from the right side. He found a beautiful bird, gazing at him with eyes full of contempt. 

“What happened now?” he asked.

“What happened?” the bird gritted its beak. “You are so useless. You have completed just thirty per cent rune. I thought you would be able to complete it in a few days.”

“What does it have to do with you?”

“Do with me?” it said, as it fluttered its wings in fury. “It has everything to do with me. Because of you, I can’t progress anymore!”

“What?” Kadyn eyed the bird confusedly. He didn’t know what the hell it was talking about.

“You have fucking signed a contract with me!” she shouted, in a voice, full of indignance. “Now I am connected to you, and you are useless. So it’s normal for me to become useless—” the bird abruptly stopped. “What the hell!?” it suddenly cursed. “How could it be?!”

Kadyn frowned and then realized that it was staring at his hand fixedly. “You,” he said, “recognise this hand?”

“Recognise?” the bird shook its head. “I never thought I would meet someone of such a great lineage in this lower world. Great great, hahaha.” And before Kadyn could ask anything, it vanished. He looked at his hand and frowned. He knew that his hand had a special origin, but he never thought someone like that strange bird who had come from the upper world would be able to recognise it. But then he sighed and sat down on the floor.. He would know everything eventually when the time comes.