the timeless Vampire

The lab's air thickened with dust as Kael and Lira fled the hidden refinery, the acrid scent of monster syrup searing their lungs. The awakeners' ambush drove them into a narrow escape tunnel, Kael's vampire strength splintering a steel door as wraiths clawed at their heels. His hunger gnawed, fangs throbbing from the syrup's proximity—his blood had bubbled where a drop splashed him, hinting he was a failed awakener experiment. Lira, gasping, clutched her blade. "They've been using that stuff on more than just volunteers," she rasped.

Emerging into the ravaged city, they stumbled into a shadowed ravine. A figure loomed—tall, scaled, with glowing amber eyes. Not human, but an intelligent monster, its voice a low rumble. "I am Zorak, kin to those you fight," it said, claws retracting. "The awakeners hunt us for their syrup. Join me—protect my kind, and I'll offer a cure for your hunger."

Before Kael could respond, two awakeners burst from the mist, gauntlets sparking. Kael ducked a pulse blast, but the second grazed his side, searing flesh and drawing a cry. He staggered, blood pooling, as the first awakener charged, slamming a fist into his chest. Kael crashed against a rock, ribs cracking. Lira slashed at the second, her blade sparking against the baton, but the first turned on her. Desperate, Kael grabbed a fallen beast's corpse, its black ichor still warm. Hunger overpowered him—he tore into it, drinking the monster blood. A surge of power coursed through him, wounds knitting, strength flooding his limbs. His eyes glowed crimson as he rose, tackling the first awakener with unnatural force, shattering its gauntlet. Lira disarmed the second, pinning it, but Kael's enhanced might flung the first into a wall, knocking it out.

The power faded, leaving him dizzy, but the fight won. Zorak watched, unfazed. "Consider my offer," it said, vanishing into the mist. Kael's hunger pulsed, the book glowing: "Allies may rise from the forsaken." His father's lesson—empathy for the strange—lingered, tempting a new path.