ACT 0 - THE KOKKINA MATIA
In a dark empty void..., a subtle noise can be heard as someone continued walking through the pitch black never-ending land, suddenly... this noise woke a large presence up as two massive red eyes can be seen opening..., they kept scanning the black void as a body-shaking deep voice said "who dared to interrupt my slumber...?".
The presence kept scanning the place and suddenly, he noticed red circular glasses and white fangs as a feminine voice said "yo... great mage-san...", the presence rolled his eyes and said with an uninterested voice "oh... it's you... huh...? what do you want...? didn't i tell you... you're not welcomed here anymore...".
The wide smile faded out as the feminine voice said with a serious yet sad tone "I'll be going out soon..., so... i wanted to hear one last tale..., please...?", the presence had a frustrated face while looking away, meanwhile... the feminine voice continued asking "please...!! please...!! look at me... hey.... hey!! Mr. mage... stop ignoring me...!!".
The mage let a frustrated sigh and said "humph... how persistent you are..., very well... i shall tell you a tale... About the last days of a great ancient kingdom..., the kokkina matia..."
- 1020
For the past 800 years, vampires lived in peace, harmony, and love..., but it wasn't always like this, in fact they had to earn it, because it was nothing but war after war, massacre after another... and everyone nearly saw the end of it all, in the legendary sacred war that took place 800 years ago, Where all the different species, from mighty gods to tiny fairies were gathered to face the biggest threat in existence: demons...
These hideous creatures which of whom our knowledge only scratches the surface, were brave enough to challenge all the other species, and enter a war that changed the world as we know it, all for the sake of perfection.
In this war... the ignorance of the demons' ability was a deciding factor in turning this war on its head, they absolutely demolished the elves, dwarfs, even giants and gods couldn't stand the sheer power shown by demons.
It was a war, where the demons surpassed the other side, both in terms of numbers and raw power. Even the mighty gods and giants, who were proclaimed to be the most powerful creatures in the nine realms, the ones who were named the celestials, even them..., suffered..., because they were the only ones who were able to fight neck to neck against demons of Helheim.
And so, they suffered the most, millions upon millions of lives were lost in this exhausting, terrifying war, and as we were heading toward an absolute crushing victory for the demons, and as death began lurking around them from every direction, a string of hope showed in a distance...
At the first glance everyone knew who were they: red fiery eyes, black hair..., they were vampires:
Creatures made out of darkness, the same as demons, they're known to be battle hungry, and they believed in honor and worthiness, but at the same time refused to show themselves to anyone.... Everyone started questioning, wondering what side did they chose to take.
For other species... vampires were these unknown creatures that can be seen once in a life time, no one knew who they were truly, but one thing gods and giants were sure about: the vampires were angry, really angry..., suddenly and out of nowhere, vampires started attacking..., gods and giants, even elves were ready to fight against this ginormous wave of enraged vampires, but... for some reason they passed by them...
The gods kept watching these thousands of vampires passing by, not causing them any harm, they were heading straight toward demons, slaying them left and right and giving gods, giants, elves a huge boost in morals to go through this harsh war....
Vampires were a turning point in the sacred war against the demons, the war that was called ultimate battle of "mount Olympia", because it was held in the old home of gods "mount Olympia", the vampires showed acts of honor and unmatched bravery and power while fighting the demon king "Satan" himself..., the overlord and the ruler of the realm of the dead "Helheim" and his commanders "the princes of hell".
The highlight of the war was the incredible battle of the demon king and the future king "Vlad Dracula the 6th, "drake" as he like to be called, a battle engraved in history, and will be told for generations...
It was this battle against the demon's lord, that put the vampires on the map as one of the strongest species in the nine realms, this battle was what forced the gods to change their homeland from mount Olympia to the new land of "Asgard", because of the destructive nature of this war.
The battle ended with the death of the demon's lord, the recognition of "drake" as the new... undisputable king of darkness, the strongest holder of the legendary symbols, and the 2nd ruler of the new home of vampires "kokkina matia".
The acknowledgement of the vampires as the new celestials alongside the mighty gods and giants, forming what it's became known as "the big three" , and finally the start of a new era of peace that extended throughout the past 800 years as the relations between the different spices "giants, gods, vampires, elves, dwarfs...", and their life became better by time.
At the other end of the spectrum existed the humans who spent the last 800 years in utter chaos, declining when compared to other species, because when the other kinds were living together in harmony, human tribes continued killing each other for land and power.
Advanced civilizations for the time kept getting destroyed by greedy rulers and poor management, but all that changed for the past 300 year, when humans decided to leave tribes for kingdoms and cities, and leave killing each other and coexist with one another.
They started multiplying in numbers as living condition kept getting better and better, and for them.., they found peace when they started worshiping god....., accepting that what happened is a part of history, that they can't change destiny, and what will happen is a part of a their fate.... but this wasn't enough to solve all their problems...
For humans...,
The most terrifying things were "monsters" as they're called : dragons, ghouls, demons and goblins roaming the realms..., but for the past 800 years, myths started circulating across generation that it exists human looking monsters with red shiny eyes and terrifying long fangs, others that combines parts from humans and animals, awful creatures that kill who find them, they called them "bestiary".
These rare encounters sparked the birth of a new generation of people that sacrificed their life and abandoned their families just to see a glimpse of these mythical creatures, they call themselves "adventurers", but people call them "monster hunters",
They formed gilds all over the continent and sparked a new era in human history, an era filed with adventures and exploration, an era where human can become the hunter and not the prey...
As humans started becoming more civilized, they started developing new skills: practicing magic and learning spells.
This happened because of various reasons: one of which... was the skyrocket in the demand for magicians and witches with the embracing of gilds in every major city, the economics got its fair share of development as products started being exchanged between different cultures....but it's not just all nice and lovely, because even though the humans got more powerful, all the fear from the other species that accumulated across centuries, turned into hatred.....
Some humans started practicing "black magic", the magic that can be acquired by following the teachings of demons, the magic... that was strictly forbidden by the gods for corrupting the mortal human's minds that can't handle it.
The humans practiced it just as a sign of challenge to their rules, they even started using it to assure dominance over other species living with them in the same realm.
As a direct consequence, the humans' numbers started skyrocketing, making the other species look like minority..., a minority that was still so much more powerful and respected, because unlike what humans used to fight (brainless, primitive monsters).
Vampires, giants, elves, and dwarfs stayed out of the human's way for so long to the point where they became myths and legendary creatures that humans dreamed of meeting.... But with the new era, humans got carried away and started dreaming of becoming on the same level as them.... and maybe surpassing them...
The past 800 years were calm, peaceful... and thriving..., but... a new danger started looming in the horizon, a danger... that will disrupt the peace everyone fought hard for..., but... that's a story for another day...., and maybe... that day is so much closer that anyone ever imagined....