4. Awakening

February 26, 1998, The Kingdom of Rimore.

People of Rimore from different cities and towns hid in their homes. They were afraid to step outside due to a natural phenomenon. Based on the news they saw in newspapers and television, the total solar eclipse would start around five past twenty-seven in the afternoon.

They believed that if they went out of their home, they would be exposed to bad luck, as the solar eclipse was thought to be a bad omen. So they would rather spend their time hiding and praying to all different kinds of Gods to protect them from harm rather than watching the eclipse and hurting their luck and eyes.

Every time it happened, not only humans were hiding, but even vampires were hiding too. However, not all vampires hide.

While commoners were hiding in their homes, in the royal palace, a man was sitting on a comfortable couch watching the news about the solar eclipse phenomenon. He did not know, but somehow, he had an inkling that something would happen. The feeling was so strong, and he could not shake it off his mind.

"Silas," He called to the man standing beside him.

"What?" Silas replied carelessly.

"Watch your tone. I am your king." The man warned with a stern voice. He gave Silas a sharp glare.

"No one is here, Levi. And my king is sleeping peacefully at the back of this palace." Silas took the remote control and turned the channel to another that showed something more interesting than news about the solar eclipse.

"Talking about the king. It's been more than five hundred years since he left the throne." Levi said as he reminisced about the past.

In the past, Levi was only a butler to the king. He had served as the king's butler since the palace was built again after the fire incident. He did not know what exactly happened that led to such an accident.

The king took Levi with him when he came back from Stormsire; at that time, Levi also met Silas. Levi was only seventeen when he started working with the king, and Silas was ten. And neither know anything about serving the king. But fortunately, they learned fast, so their necks were saved from the king's sword.

Levi had to accept that the kingdom was not properly governed during the former king's reign. However, he heard from people who survived the fire that after the king married, he worked hard to make everything right in his court.

What surprised Levi was that the king married a human when the law forbade marriage between vampires and humans at that time as it would sully the pureblood. But the king ignored the plea from the high council and still proceeded with his marriage.

Back then, Levi thought the king must really love his wife. But it changed since the king never mentioned his wife; it was as if he had forgotten about it. And Silas also warned him not to talk about the king's wife. Even the people from the palace never tried to speak, and there was no painting of the king's wife as well. So, he concluded that the king's feeling for his wife was only a phase, and it had passed the expiration date.

"Hey, Silas, I've been curious. What was the king's wife's name?"

"I don't know." Silas lied. He won't forget his mother's words that he should not mention the woman anymore.

"I feel like you are hiding something." Levi squinted his eyes. "You see, it's weird since everyone who had seen her was afraid to talk about her.

'They should be. They let their king's wife die.' Silas grumbled. However, he did not know the whole story. But after his little investigation, when he reached the palace for the first time, he discovered that the workers were paid not to help Nevea when someone killed her.

Silas still remembered the expression on their faces when Zach came back to the palace. They were pleading for their life with horror on their faces. But since the king did not remember about his wife, they were saved. And everyone rejoiced in their heart and agreed to pretend it had never happened.

At that time, Silas was confused about why they did not leave the palace before Zach returned. Later he found out that several people did choose to escape, but the rest were gambling with their life because they had no place to go.

The first week after Zach's comeback was chaos since he had killed four Lords from the high council without clear reason. So, the rest six of them protested nonstop. And guess what? The king decided to behead them for disrespecting him.

After that, Silas and Levi worked to help Zach with everything. Eventually, Zach turned them into vampires and asked Levi to be the new king. Then, Zach went into a long sleep since nothing excited him anymore.

Before Zach went to sleep, they asked when he would wake up. But Zach only said, 'When I want to.'

Suddenly, the light did not pass through the glass windows. Silas and Levi averted their attention and found that the solar eclipse had started.

When they were too engrossed watching the phenomenon, they did not know that in the large house at the back of the palace, the light was out entirely, giving the tense atmosphere.

On the four-poster bed was the former king, Zach. His eyes moved slightly, but it seemed like he was trying to force himself not to wake up.

'Zach….'

But the voice that had been calling his name did not stop. Instead, it grew louder and hopeless until it dominated his senses.

'Come to me, Zach.'

The soft voice kept ringing, luring him to open his eyes. And he did. His eyes opened wide, and his eyes changed between golden and red until, eventually, the golden color faded, leaving the red ones blazing like an inferno.

He woke up like he was compelled and moved to follow the soft voice. The voice was faint, but its effect on his heart made it palpate hard against his ribcage.

Zach left his resting place in a hurry and let the voice lead his way. He was running to reach the place where the voice came from.

Silas and Levi accidentally saw Zach's figure through the windows. Their eyes enlarged like they did not believe what they had seen.

"WHAT THE FUCK?!" They said at the same time. And Silas immediately moved to follow his king while Levi went back to check Zach's resting place.

Silas was left behind; with his power as a half-vampire, he could not outrun Zach. His only choice was to depend on the faint smell of Zach to guide his way.

Zach did not know how long he had been running, but he never stopped. The voice was getting louder as if he had almost arrived at his destination.

The voice stopped abruptly, making him halt in front of a medium-sized building with several people wearing white coats and something like a snake on their necks. Zach blinked; he took in the surroundings that seemed strange to him.

"Your Majesty." Silas finally managed to catch his king.

Zach's brows elevated in question as he saw Silas, then he asked. "What happened?"

Silas's face contorted with confusion. If Zach asked, then whom should he ask?

"You suddenly woke up, Your Majesty, and ran to a hospital." Silas glanced at the small hospital in front of them. "Are you thirsty, Your Majesty? I can get you blood if you want. You don't have to haunt in the hospital."

'Especially a hospital far away from Grouver.' Silas added in his head.

Silas was surprised to see that Zach had been running from the capital city to Vuyshire. Considering how much time had passed, he was astonished that Zach could find his way into this town.

"Did you wake me up? I told you I would wake up when I wanted. How dare you, Silas!" Zach screamed, making several people jerk their heads in his direction.

"I wouldn't dare, Your Majesty. You woke up suddenly." Silas took a step back when Zach's face showed an irritated expression.

A frown formed on Zach's forehead. He closed his eyes to think again why he woke up. And he remembered the soft voice. It was why he was running barefoot like a crazy man, but when he arrived, the voice disappeared.

Zach rubbed his face in annoyance. At the same time, Silas could only watch Zach from the side, with anxiousness filling his heart.

Feeling a sudden thirst for blood, Zach wanted to sink his fangs into several necks, and he momentarily forgot about the voice. "I am going for a hunt." He said and was about to run when Silas grabbed his hands.

"I see your courage has grown over the years." Zach eyed the hands that Silas held.

"It's not like that, Your Majesty." Silas denied, "It's against the law to hunt for blood. So, I will bring the blood to you."

"I want fresh blood. And to remind you, Silas. Law is nothing to me, so let go of my hand while I am still nice." Zach's voice dropped lower.

Silas's mouth twitched, but he braved himself to talk again. "No, Your Majesty. How about this? I will bring you the human. But please don't kill them after you are done."

Zach pondered for a second, then agreed. "Okay." He would still kill the human to satisfy his urge, but Silas did not have to know that.

"Oh, before I forgot. Look for someone in this building who might know me."

Silas doubted someone from the hospital would recognize the former king. Yet, he still complied, "Understood, Your Majesty."

After that, Silas saw a taxi, and he led Zach to enter the car. He knew his king was probably confused, but he would explain everything later when they arrived in the palace again.

***

At the same time, the sound of the baby crying could be heard in the delivery room.

A woman took hold of the baby from the doctor. She watched as the baby wriggled in her arms. She felt sad to let go of the little princess, but she had to. The woman stroked the baby's chubby cheeks tenderly.

She had carried the baby with her for nine months, yet she had to abandon it just because of a prophecy from her family's shaman. Her tears fell, and her heart hurt so much.

The shaman told her mother that the baby would bring disaster into their life if they kept it. At first, she did not believe it, but when her pregnancy reached seven months, her baby's heartbeat stopped, and it saddened her. Then suddenly, when she was about to remove the baby from her belly, the heart started to beat again.

She was happy, of course, but the shaman lured her whole family into believing the prophecy. With the baby coming alive again, their beliefs grew stronger. So now, she had no choice but to give up.

Her tears fell uncontrollably, and she gave the baby to her husband. "At least let her have Nevea as her name, please." She pleaded, and her husband nodded.

She sobbed as she watched her husband leave the delivery room with her newborn baby. After this, she would never see her daughter grow up as she would leave Vuysire to start over like a blank canvas.

She could never hear her daughter's first word, and she could never witness her daughter's first step. Instead, other people would see her daughter's first moment.

"Goodbye, Nevea." The woman bid goodbye to her daughter in silence. She hoped her daughter could grow up in happiness with her new family.