Requiem Act III: A Crimson Confession

I look into the mirror every day…and yet I no longer see my reflection.

All I see is a monster.

Day after day…the same, pitiful image staring back at me.

Not mine—but theirs.The one the Gods gave me.

They granted me the curse of self-awareness,so I could watch the decay of my own soul.

Every day, I wake and wonder:

"Why am I still alive?"And every time, the answer is the same: "Because they fear me."

Not because I'm loved.

Not because I'm worthy.

But because the humans believe that harming memight anger the Gods.

"Don't touch that monster…Who knows what wrath will befall us if she dies…"

Those words were whispered like prayers…while I was still a newborn.

Yes… a child.

But even then—I was already aware.I remember their voices.

Their disgust.

Their fear.

As if the Gods themselves had cursed me with memoryfrom the very first breath I ever drew.

I wasn't a miracle.

I wasn't a gift.

I was a mistake.

A cosmic joke.

A monster born once every thousand years.Some said I was a demon's child.

Others claimed I was a tool of divine amusement.

And the truth?

I don't know anymore.

But it makes me laugh now…A bitter, hollow laugh.

After I was born,my family was cast out from the village.

My mother…she loved me.

She held me close.

She whispered songs to me,even as the world turned its back on us.

She was my only light.

My only comfort in the darkness.

But my father…he was afraid.

Afraid of the mark on my belly.

Afraid of my silence.

Afraid of me.

My sisters were taken from us.

Adopted by another family.

Their names were forbidden in our home.

I grew up alone,but for my mother's embrace.

Until…

Until the day he took me to the church.

I was eight.

He said they would "cleanse me"—purify me—of the evil.

He said it would make me normal.Make me loved.Make me worthy.

But instead…

They stripped me bare.They chained me down.

They etched spells into my skin with blades,burned incense that scorched my lungs,and tried to erase the markthat they called

"the seal of the beast."

They told me I was the prophecy.

The devourer of mankind.

The child of the Abyss.

And I…I was just a little girl.

I didn't understand.

All I knew was pain.

Pain so deep it fractured my soul.

Pain not just of flesh…but of essence.

They weren't trying to heal me.

They were trying to kill me.

Every day was a ritual.Every night, a new torment.

No voice spoke my name.

No arms held me close.

And I never saw my mother again.

I still wonder…Did she search for me?Did she scream my name in the dark?Or did she fall silent the moment I vanished?

Years passed.

Years of abuse.

Years of breaking.

But they never succeeded.

They almost did.

Until… the demons came.

Drawn by the energy pulsing from my cursed mark,they tore through the church like shadows made of fire.

I watched from my chains,as they slaughtered my tormentorsone by one.

And then…they took me.

They brought me before their master.

An aristocratic man with two yellow snake eyes, long black hair and two big horns on his head.

I remember his throne.

So elegant, so scary.

He looked into my eyes,touched the burning mark on my belly,and said only one word:

"Awaken."

And I did.

My body changed.

My blood boiled.

My fangs grew.

And I became the first.

The first vampire.

The mother of the night.

The progenitor of a race meant to conquer the living.

That was my destiny.

To destroy humanity.

To build a kingdom of darkness.

But…

I didn't want that.

I didn't want to rule.I didn't want to drink.I didn't want to kill.

I only wanted…

happiness.

They couldn't control my mind.

But the curse burned inside me.

The thirst.

The endless hunger.

I wandered, hiding who I was drinking when I had to.Pretending to be normal.

Years passed.

Decades, maybe.

I returned to my village once more.But nothing remained.

My mother… long dead.My father… forgotten.My sisters… married, gone.

And me…I was alone.

Alone with power that could shatter cities.

Alone with hunger that no blood could ever satisfy.

Until…

Until I met Mark.

He didn't see a monster.

He saw a woman.

He saw me.

And for the first time…

I believed that maybe I wasn't what they said I was.

Maybe I was never meant to be a monster.

Maybe…

I could be loved.