****

“Where am I?”

There were green fields all around Atlas as his vision returned. The sky was also very beautiful, covered in clouds.

As far as the eyes could see, only beautiful nature was visible. There was a river in the distance, filled with clean and fresh water. Some fishes were also swimming in the water, occasionally jumping out. The distant mountains stood tall and proud, only making the scene even more majestic.

Gentle winds kept brushing against his skin as he stood still, seemingly confused.

“How did I end up here?” Atlas let out, seemingly confused. He remembered being constantly hit by the guards before his vision had turned dark. And now he was here.

“Hmm?”

As he was lost in thoughts, he felt someone’s soft hand holding his hands. Curious, he looked down, noticing a fair hand. There was a beautiful blue bracelet on the hand. Atlas could recognize that bracelet anywhere! It was the bracelet of Misella.

He raised his gaze and looked to his left, noticing Misella standing right beside him.

“Y-you are alive?” Shocked, he swiftly stepped forward to hug Misella. He had never been as excited as he was now.

“Argh!”

It was fine when he was standing still, but as soon as he moved his body, a terrifying pain spread all around his body as if all his bones were shattered. The world started turning vague. Misella freed herself from Atlas’ grasp and started walking away as her figure turned blurry.

She stopped in the distance and turned back. Atlas couldn’t even see her face clearly at this point, but he heard what she said clearly.

Misella only said one word before she disappeared. “Live…”

The world completely turned black as everything disappeared. The pain still remained in his body. Even more sensation returned to his body as Atlas felt his hand and his legs tingling. His breathing was slow. He was also having difficulty in breathing. He was in so much pain…

Despite the physical pain, what was worse for him was the emotional pain as he realized what had happened.

‘That was… A dream?’

Atlas slowly opened his eyes, seeing his actual surroundings.

He found it sad that even in such a perilous situation, he was able to see a dream. Probably because he wanted to see her safe one last time? Or maybe because he had no control over his mind since he had lost consciousness after being beaten badly back in the canteen.

He did try to fight back, but he couldn’t take even one guard out. Apparently, real guards were more skillful than the old man and the doctor for him to defeat.

He was not only defeated swiftly, but he was also thrashed badly. He could still feel the pain whenever he moved his body. He didn’t even know how many of his bones were actually broken, but if he were to guess, he would’ve said all his bones were damaged.

He found himself in a dark room. The walls were rotten and looked really dirty. The room wasn’t very big either. The square room was only three meters wide. Moreover, the metallic door had no opening to let even the air pass. It was a completely sealed cell.

“I, argh.”

He tried speaking, but that was too painful for him. His lips were also swollen and bleeding even now. He also felt that some of his teeth were missing. It was like he had gone through torture.

He wondered how long he had been unconscious for. He did remember the guards talking about arresting him instead of killing him. Since he killed an important person in the palace, they wanted him to be punished by the Vampires.

The Vampires were engaging with the guests, so he was probably tossed here to wait for them to be free.

There was no surprise for Atlas. He knew what was going to happen next. As soon as those people came, they were going to kill him. Then again, he felt that it might not be too bad. Death might be better at this point for him as he could reunite with her…

“Live…”

Just as he was thinking that death might be better, he remembered the last words Misella said in his dreams. The words kept echoing in his ears.

He knew that it was something she would have said if she was alive as well. She would have always wanted him to live. Unfortunately, Atlas didn’t think he was strong enough for that.

‘Can a weakling like me have any place in this world? Can I even make any change?’ he thought.

‘No! I can’t give up! I already spent my life in darkness, waiting to see a glimpse of light. I can’t give up now. I must live, so she could see the light with my eyes. I must live so I can bring peace to her soul and get revenge one day!’

‘It doesn’t matter how long it takes! I have an entire lifetime to plan revenge, as long as I can get out of here. I also need to take her body back!’

Placing his left hand on the ground, he tried to push his body up.

“My legs… They are broken too? Argh!” he exclaimed, frowning. He couldn’t even move his legs. Fortunately, his hands were still working to some extent.

‘As expected, the pain wasn’t ordinary. The guards kicked my legs so brutally that they are probably broken already. I can’t even stand up. There is no way to escape like this when I can’t even stand.’

He could only push his body back and sit with the support of the wall. Sitting at the end of the room, he stared at the gate. “Can I only wait for death? What a life it had been….”

The new clothes that were given to him by the old man were already covered in blood from top to bottom.

He found this entire situation kind of amusing as well. He already thought he lacked the blood, but now that he looked down, he realized that so much of his blood had been spilled today, and he was still alive. He really underestimated himself.

Other than the blood on the ground, there wasn’t anything except some dirt. It was a place that was impossible to get out of. And he wasn’t stupid enough to think that he could break the door without any help. He knew his weakness all too well.

He weakly rested his head on the wall, reminiscing his past and how things could’ve been different if he had attempted an escape with his sister before today. Even though the chance of getting caught and killed was high, it was still better than the inevitable death that just occurred.

Grrr~

As soon as he placed his head on the wall, something happened. Something which changed everything, including his present and his future.

The part of the wall where he rested his head moved back slightly with a grilling sound.

Following the grilling sound, the old yet strong wall started moving. It kept going down and down until the wall had entered the ground completely, revealing what appeared to be a secret path behind. Right behind the wall, there were stairs that were going down.

As the wall moved down, Atlas dropped to the ground. He rolled his body and looked back.

“Secret passage? Why would something like that be in an underground cell?”

” It doesn’t matter! I can’t waste a single second! If it’s the way out, I must take it!”

As he couldn’t walk due to his broken legs, he started using his hands to drag his body down the rough stairs.

A trail of blood was left on the stairs behind him as he kept dragging his weak body without stopping. The chest pain was only increasing, but it wasn’t time to think about it. He needed to get out. In his head, he kept repeating that he needed to live!

His head was also spinning, and everything seemed like a dream as he started feeling dizzy, but he didn’t stop.

Unlike the walls outside, the stairs looked particularly clean. There were, however, some spider webs in places as if the stairs weren’t cleaned or used in a long long time.

Atlas heard the sound of stones rubbing against stones again as the wall behind him moved up again, blocking the path. Everything returned to the way it was before. The only difference was that he was on the other side of the wall now.

He was happy that it happened. That way, even if the Vampires came, they couldn’t know where he went if they didn’t know about the secret passage. He really hoped that was the case.

The only way for them to know was if they knew about the secret path. And even then, it was better for the wall to stay as it was before.

‘As long as the Vampires can’t put the pieces together, they are going to think that some guard messed up and helped me escape. I can only hope that they aren’t going to find me downstairs.’

He could rest here and hope to heal before attempting an escape. However, he also knew that it was unlikely that he could stay here for long. He still needed food. Without food, he couldn’t survive. There were too many factors at play here. Moreover, he had too much blood loss already.

As he kept moving, he lost more and more blood. His vision had once again started getting blurry, but he kept dragging his body. After dragging his body for close to ten minutes, he finally reached the end of the stairs.

However, he also couldn’t take it anymore. His vision was completely black at this point, as if he was blind. His body had also grown weaker, and the pain had reached an unbearable level. Even his hands gave up.

Before long, he lost consciousness. His blood covered hand landed on the ground along with the rest of his body. At that time, he didn’t even know if he was ever going to open his eyes again… For a moment, he even thought that it was his end. This was finally the day he was going to die.

****

Atlas didn’t know how long it had been, but he finally regained his senses. He could once again feel his body. However, for some strange reason, there was no pain anymore. The heart-wrenching pain was gone as if it was never there.

Atlas didn’t realize what had happened at that time. He didn’t know that it was that moment where it all started… The true beginning of the end…

The new era… An era of his ascension… The era of an Accidental Vampire that was never meant to be…