Vampire Nightlife

"Is that enough to gain your trust?" Lukas asked. There was a confident swagger in his motion as he looked at Philip.

Philip's lips pressed down together into a thin line, but as he looked at Matthew again, his shoulders sagged and he nodded.

"Yes, it's not enough to earn my complete trust because it's clear that you're hiding how you know all of those things… but I trust you enough to know that your intentions aren't bad. Not that's actually enough…"

"It's more than enough for me." Anthony declared. "You helped us out of the Dark Forest, killed the giant spiders and somehow even made Matthew get new powers. Sure, it sucks that you're the one at fault for that Dream Eater that killed two other Vampires—but it's not like you meant for it to happen, right?"

"No." Lukas frowned. "Of course not—I don't want that."

"Then that settles things, right?" Anthony said.

"You're being too casual about this, Landel." Philip groaned and looked at Matthew. "This is death on his hands. That's supposed to mean something. I don't know who those people were, but you can't dismiss that fact. Matthew, help me out on this."

"It is terrible that their lives were lost, we have to acknowledge that…" Matthew nodded firmly. "Just because Lukas helped me get stronger doesn't mean that I'll turn a blind eye to it, but I think Anthony is right that we need to focus on the situation we're in now. Pointing at each other and trying to find faults isn't going to help us survive our current situation."

"Yeah, you should have seen that camouflaging wyvern."

"Camouflaging wyvern?" Matthew frowned. "Please don't make things up. There are wyverns in nature, and I can see that we're not at the Dark Forest anymore, but that doesn't mean that you can make things up since I was asleep."

"We saw it for ourselves, I'm not lying." Anthony shook his head. "Right, Lukas? Philip?"

"Yes." Lukas nodded.

"He's right on that matter." Philip agreed. "We haven't seen anything like it before, it wasn't discussed during the workshop so it's probably supposed to be in workshop part two, or this is a new unidentified species."

"Numerous Vampires have been traveling past the Dark Forest and Ilstad Mountain for a long time now. Surely, news would have spread if some dangerous near invisible wyvern plucked unsuspecting victims beforehand." Lukas said. "And that means…"

"That means what?" Philip frowned. "You aren't suggesting—?"

"We need to climb up, wyvern or not. Let's just stick to the trees and hope we stay safe—and then we'll find our way up." Lukas said.

"It's gonna be bare rocks, trees don't naturally grow sideways in the mountain's incline." Philip pointed out.

"Then you're free to remain here. That's alright. I already said that earlier, haven't I?" Lukas said and glanced around the vicinity. "It should be safe here. So what about the three of you stay together and I climb up by myself?"

Philip knew that it had been a stupid idea for them to come back into the Dark Forest when they had a chance to leave, but they came back because it seemed that it was better to not leave anyone behind in case they had a death wish.

However, it was clear from the way that Lukas carried himself that this was not an issue whatsoever.

"Okay, sounds good to me. Stay safe." Philip said.

"Wait, for real? You're just going to make him climb up by himself?" Anthony protested.

"Do you want to face a heard of wailing goats that can make your eardrums burst? Regeneration or not, that's going to hurt and not all of us have the same capacities." Philip said and then straightened slightly. "In fact, I'm sure that Lukas here probably thinks that we're slowing him down. We're obviously holding you back, aren't we?"

"That's…" Anthony frowned then glanced at Lukas. "Your blood can somehow make us stronger though."

"I don't think there's enough time for any of that." Lukas turned away from them and started to walk deeper into the forest. He didn't look back at them even once. "All of you need to stay conscious if anything were to happen… Philip's right, I do think you guys are holding me back. Stay put and stay safe. Bye."

"Matthew." Anthony turned to the younger man for support.

"… Please come back in one piece, Lukas!" Matthew shouted.

"You're really agreeing that we should stay back?" Anthony said, slightly distressed. "If… what about you come with him? You've gotten stronger."

"Let's respect his wishes."

***

Lukas thought it was a silly thing, stepping away from them as he held the dagger of the Sanguise House in hand. He stared at the weapon and tried to sense for a connection, something that ran deep into his blood—but somehow there was no response.

"I'm really on my own. Not that's much different from how I lived before." Lukas chuckled and picked up his pace. He dashed past the forest at breakneck speed, wind flying through his face and pulling back his cloak's hood.

Shadow Stepping all the way until he reached the end of the forest, and then he stepped out. The sun temporarily singed through his skin, a flash of pain that made Lukas' blood pump faster.

He pulled the hood back on and glanced up towards the mountain. In the corner of his vision, a path was clear cut through him in a visual map.

However, all of a sudden, something flashed again.

[Sky Changing Wyvern]

It dropped down for at him like lightning.

Lukas held in his position for a moment and then swerved to the side. The ground trembled at its impact and Lukas clutched his dagger, knowing that he should aim for the kill.

Blind it.

'If I don't stop it now, it's going to chase me all the way up anyway. So…' Lukas frowned at it, but didn't move an inch.

The Sky Changing Wyvern unfurled its wings, throwing him into the mountainside.