History

After what seemed like an eternity Cassius was finally ready for his first day at university, it was much harder styling his outfit and hair by himself. The hair dryer was a noteworthy adversary and Estefan's morning was quite amusing with the mismatch of outfits Cassius had displayed. In the end Cassius wore a sports tracksuits unzipped exposing a black t shirt matched with running trainers. His double layered chain peeking through matched his multiple ear piercings. Although his original Crimson crested earing remained untouched on his left ear. 

'All university students dress like this, unless there is an occasion there is no need to dress up.' Estefan explained trying to defend the outfit.

 'Well, it definitely is more comfortable than my usual attire' Cassius replied as he put on his light weight jacket and headed out.

'Sire! Don't forget these.' Estefan handed over a pair of what seemed to be stylish framed reading glasses. 'These should negate the influence of your charm.' he explained.

Cassius inspected the glasses using his crimson eyes and identified some writing imprinted on the glasses. 'Interesting type of magic.' He smirked. 

'It's called science now… Sire.' Estefan corrected.

Humanity had progressed over the last 500 years and were able to replicate the magic of the past known today as science. Although they still can't crack the magic runes of advanced level spells, experienced Coders -what used to known as magicians have come up with creative ways to use and create their own programmes –formally known as spells to their own advantage. 'Looks like I will learn a great deal from University.' Cassius laughed to himself as this period continues to surprise him.

Reaching the campus was an easy enough task now that Cassius was already accustomed to public transport thanks to his crimson eyes aiding his information processing. This time Cassius was prepared for the surprise and the grand scale of a globally leading university didn't amaze him, well as much as one should anyway.

Although what did interest Cassius was the lack of Vampire scent in the area, considering how large the campus was while he was exploring he thought to himself 'It seems we do not integrate with human education despite being public.' Cassius still hadn't decided how he was going to react when interacting with humans, whether he would outwardly introduce himself as a vampire or not? He found it quite refreshing to even have these thoughts. After being alive for an eternity have new thoughts and experiences are a luxury that Cassius didn't take for granted.

However, before Cassius could live in the thought a figure came running from behind, he purposefully shut off his instinct to dodge and let the man grab his shoulder. 'Bro, how are you walking around screaming you're a first year!' the figure laughed out loud.

The man looked to be of a similar age to Cassius, the most striking feature of his was his shaggy white mop haircut that contrasted his darker skin tone. 'You are a first year right?' He hesitated doubting if he made the correct deduction.

'Was it that obvious?' Cassius enquired with an innocent smirk on his face.

'Yeah ha! You look like a tourist in the city for the first time.' The man replied noticing how handsome Cassius was but thanks to the glasses he wasn't effected by his charm. 'Name's Ashin, ain't you lucky you ran into me if you keep wondering around you're going to be late to the orientation lecture.' Ashin smiled as he ushered Cassius to walk to the right.

'Cassius. Please do lead the way.' He replied as he followed beside Ashin. Cassius wasn't sure why he decided to so willingly follow along he seemed to just get caught up in Ashin's pace.

'What major are you? Media or Code?' Ashin asked.

'Media, how did...'

'It's the only two courses that people come to Alpha Uni for ha, nice you're with me then.' Ashin responded pointing to himself before Cassius could finish. 'We're in the red building over there next to orientation, made it easy for us, this place is too big.

'Red building, ironic.' Cassius mumbled under his breath with a sly smirk.

Ashin noticing his gesture couldn't help but comment 'You're definitely gonna be popular with the girls... maybe boys too jhahaha.' He laughed out loud pleased with himself, he was also very pleasing on the eyes in a more rugged and free-spirited way than Cassius, slightly taller than him as well, the pair were a pleasure on the eyes for bystanders. 'I'll have better chances with the girls with you... sorry I know I'm a bit much.' Ashin said with a weary smile as he did indeed know himself well and his energy didn't always mesh well with others. For some reason Cassius didn't find it troubling and was happy to go along.

'I don't mind it for now, still deciding however.' Cassius replied with a soft smile.

'Haha dude, I love the way you talk... like an old soul.' Ashin said as he mimicked Cassius' demeanour in a low vibration tone, which Cassius couldn't help but laugh at. Most people wouldn't dare approach him in such a friendly way as humans were usually too enamoured by his charm and vampires respected the power difference, potentially why Cassius felt so at ease with Ashin.

After orientation, Cassius could feel his boredom rising taking in new information was draining when he wasn't interested in the topic, in that aspect he seemed like the typical university student. He and Ashin found their seats towards the back of the first actual lecture of the day and Cassius started to drift off into his own world while the students chattered away in the background with Ashin.

'HEY ASH!' A loud voice called out as he walked up to Ashin in a friendly manner. Cassius quickly snapped back to his surroundings as he felt a change in energy around him. He turned to Ashin to find him emitting what he thought was bloodlust... no, it was more like pure disgust, like a cockroach just touched his hand and he wanted to rip it off to crush the insect with.

This caught Cassius by surprise to the point he had to forcefully deactivate his crimson eyes before anyone noticed but more than anything the pure thrilling excitement tingled through his body as it was an energy that he'd never felt from a human yet was not completely foreign. 

'It's Ashin, don't call me that.' Ashin's tone was void of his usual positivity in fact it lacked any sort of emotion, whatever it was, it scared the student to the point he couldn't even face Ashin. Ashin turned around trying to forget the whole thing only to find Cassius' creepy fascinated smile greeting him. 

'Eww Dude! Don't stare at me like that.' he pushed Cassius away in a jokingly manner returning to his usual demeanour.

Cassius made a mental note to ask him about this after lecture as the professor had now entered and was ushering the students to quiet down.

'Yawnnn.' Ashin whispered in Cassius' direction and for once the pair were on the same wavelength. The lecture was a light introduction to what they'll be learning for the year and although it was useful for Cassius he was just simply disinterested. Cassius smiled at Ashin's efforts to entertain him.

'Among other topics we will be looking is the use of media to control the public as the Vampire community have used over the last 3 centuries.' The professor continued. Cassius' eyebrows perked up in anticipation as he listened more intently.

'Hmm only three centuries, things are still fairly new then' Cassius thought to himself. 'Although that may have been eons ago for us if there were any vampire students here today that would be quite recent for them' the lecturer smiled at his own remark.

'Ha!' Cassius let own a small laugh involuntary amused by how predictable he was as a vampire in the eyes of humans. This echoed through the entire lecture hall and all heads turned in Cassius' direction. He looked to Ashin who had his head buried in his arms on the desk trying to muffle his laughter at the situation. Thankfully due to the glasses Cassius was wearing the class moved on, but everyone had now noticed the handsome student seemingly unfazed by embarrassment.

'Well that was a new experience.' Cassius thought to himself as he'd never really experienced an embarrassing situation before.

'Ehem... despite what you all may believe about this topic now, Vampires were indeed publicised over 200 years ago. With our advancements in coders, regular humans began defending themselves more, vampires struggled to feed and conflicts were intensifying, they were forced to come to an agreement with the United Nations to avoid global extinction. But what we will be focusing on is their use of Media to quieten their presence in today's world to a point where some of you now think I'm speaking about fairy tales ha ha!' The lecture scoffed at his own joke.

However, in the back of the lecture hall there was a shift in the mood, apart from Ashin who was next to Cassius no one could have noticed as he did well to subdue his presence. 'Are they going around showcasing vampires as weak?' Cassius thought as his eyebrow twitched 'Are we allowing this?' He scowled 'Not possible! Were we actually on the verge of extinction because of mere live stock!' His expression now turning in to a villainous smile. The only thing keeping him seated was his curiosity to find out more.

'Now we won't get into the specifics today but we will be exploring the roles of the three major families in this - the Dusk, Crows and Crimsons as well as how it played a part in the Crimson family's demise.'

'THE FUCK!' Cassius shouted in his mind; it was a newly learnt expression that felt natural to express his boiling contempt. The only thing keeping Cassius from ripping the professors throat in pieces in front of the entire lecture was his surprise that those names were even known to the public.

'Looks like I will need to pay the council a visit after all.' Cassius mumbled to himself.

Before Ashin could even turn to question what he said, Cassius had already left. Ashin tracked his eyes to the door that was already closing shut. 'When did that happen?' He thought to himself.

Arriving back to the Crimson family mansion Cassius' anger continued to grow, despite not having an active role in vampire politics since his first slumber Cassius was still the founding member of his family and couldn't control his frustration about the state of things. As he stepped inside his residence he released his suppressed energy. Usually if left alone such energy would greatly harm humans and Cassius didn't feel like leaving a trail of bodies on his way home, not yet anyway. Estefan felt the pressure from the west wing and was in front of his master in mere moments, greeting him hoping to calm his anger.

'I've learnt some interesting things today Estefan.' Cassius tilted his head towards him in a ghost like manner, his smile growing more unpredictable.

'I see.' Estefan chose his words carefully as he knew anything could set his master off. 'Perhaps you'd like to see the live aide to quench yourself before we discuss your queries.' He suggested. The tension in the air slowly started to dissipate. 

'Ahhh, you know me so well Estefan.' He exhaled.