Niya

Era of Order, Year 538.

Lightning tore through the darkened sky like branching golden boughs.

Heavy raindrops plummeted, splashing muddy water across the sodden ground and filling the air with the cold, damp scent of earth.

"Get out! You useless piece of trash."

A frail figure was violently thrown out the door, landing heavily in the muddy water. Sludge instantly coated her tattered clothes.

Niya wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth and slowly staggered to her feet.

Her father was a vampire, and her mother was human.

Her mother had poor adaptability to the vampire bloodline. After becoming a familiar, her extended lifespan was relatively short, and she passed away after two hundred years.

Her father quickly found a new lover, leaving Niya as nothing more than a redundant burden in the household.

Amidst the torrential rain, Niya curled up into a tiny ball, as if this posture could offer her a little more warmth.

But the freezing rain continued to relentlessly sap the heat from her body.

Once the pain eased slightly, Niya slowly climbed up from the ground, looked around, and slipped into a narrow alley.

Where should she go now?

She was too young; nowhere would take in a half-blood child, let alone offer her suitable work.

Except for those filthy places... Niya shivered and forcefully suppressed the thought. She would rather freeze to death in the rain than sink into that kind of mire.

The howling wind whipped the rain, scouring the narrow streets, refusing to offer even a single overhanging eave for complete shelter.

Niya huddled in a corner, gazing up at the leaden sky, her eyes filled with a hollow gloom.

Suddenly, an elusive shadow, as fast as an illusion, flashed past the churning dark clouds.

Niya froze for a moment.

The next instant, the figure plummeted straight down, landing silently right in front of Niya.

Silver hair remained completely still in the gale, like solidified moonlight. Crimson eyes gleamed with a dangerous luster even in the dim curtain of rain. Her face was too flawless to be mortal, exuding a suffocating pressure that belonged to an ancient bloodline.

Niya swallowed hard. She knew what this meant, the person before her was an incredibly noble pureblood vampire. Icy terror intertwined with an inexplicable palpitation, freezing her in place.

Aina stood in the rain, quietly observing Niya, as if waiting for her to speak first.

An invisible force field surrounded her. The dense raindrops quietly slid away just a moment before touching her, leaving absolutely no trace on her body, as if she were merely a phantom in this chaotic, rainy realm.

Niya felt the blood throughout her body heat up slightly. Under the gaze of those crimson eyes, she could not move, and even her breathing became cautious.

A long silence ensued, accompanied only by the clamor of the rain.

"Nowhere to go?" Aina finally spoke.

Niya, as if jolted awake, nodded vigorously, shaking drops of water from the tips of her hair.

"Come with me."

Before Niya could reply, the blood-red cloak behind Aina suddenly billowed, enveloping Niya like a living creature, and the two shot up into the sky.

The muddy streets below instantly turned into blurred patches of color retreating rapidly. The feeling of weightlessness made Niya dizzy, her heart pounding madly against her ribcage. She bit her lower lip hard to keep from screaming.

Before she could even recover her wits, warm, dry air mixed with the scent of incense rushed toward her. Niya had already been brought to a spacious, brightly lit hall.

Beneath her feet was a thick, soft, and valuable carpet. Water and mud dripped from Niya's soaking clothes, spreading into a small, dark stain.

Niya was instantly at a loss, lowering her head in shame.

"Lady Aina." Feina came forward to help Aina take off her cloak, which was also stained with muddy water.

"Have someone take her for a bath, then send her to my room." Aina didn't react at all to such a trivial matter.

"Yes."

Send her to the room? Niya's mind was a mess. Even though Lady Aina was a woman, the order still made her feel an inexplicable sense of nervousness.

In a daze, Niya was led by the maids to the bathhouse. She took off her clothes, and the warm water enveloped her freezing body. The maids gently and efficiently washed away the mud and her wretched state. Niya remained silent throughout, letting them handle her, and then changed into a new dress.

When Niya stood before Aina again, she could barely recognize the clean, neat, and even somewhat delicate girl in the mirror.

At this moment, Aina was sitting at the table, upon which a tall stack of grimoires was piled. The lamplight illuminated the esoteric text on their covers.

Niya didn't know many words, but she could still make out terms like flesh, heart, and fusion on the covers of the grimoires.

"You have a good foundation." Aina looked up at Niya.

"My Lady." Niya knelt down in a panic. She knew that her fate now rested entirely in the hands of the person before her.

Aina glanced at the bruises on Niya's exposed arms. "Do you want to go back?"

Niya shook her head desperately.

"Then stay here. If you learn well, you'll work for me; otherwise, you'll be a maid. If you can't even accomplish the most basic tasks, then go outside and fend for yourself." Aina's tone sounded completely devoid of emotion.

Niya immediately bowed deeply, her voice trembling with the relief of a survivor. "Thank you for taking me in, Lady Aina."

"You're not entirely stupid." Aina's gaze returned to the pages of her book. "If there's nothing else, go find Feina. She'll tell you what to do."

Niya turned as instructed. Her hand had already touched the cold doorknob when she suddenly mustered the courage of a lifetime to ask, "Lady Aina, may I ask... why would you help someone like me?"

Aina's fingers paused slightly as they turned the page.

"My husband is a kind-hearted do-gooder. If he saw a little one like you, he definitely wouldn't sit by and do nothing."

Niya: "If I ever have the chance, I will definitely thank him in person for his mercy."

"He's already dead." Aina's voice was extremely calm, but it dropped like an icy stone into Niya's heart.

"I... I am so sorry, Lady Aina!" Niya's face turned deathly pale, wishing she could swallow her words.

"Alright, you may leave."

Niya practically fled the room. The heavy door closed silently behind her.

Inside the room, the lamplight remained steady, and Aina's fingertips gently turned the pages.

"I have to get him a suitable heart... otherwise he won't be able to bear the power of his current body..."

Aina's gaze lingered on the yellowed parchment. Her fingertips unconsciously traced a line of complex runes and paused on them.

She seemed to think of someone again and became slightly lost in thought.

"Honestly, he can't even behave after he's dead." Aina sighed with a hint of bashful annoyance, and continued turning the pages in her hands.

"Xia Lun..."