The Lunaria Empire

Victor stepped out of the restroom with his clothes wet and bloodied. His destination was the library.

All the girls and boys stared at him. Some snickered, and some scowled their faces in disgust.

Victor didn't turn his face to anyone; his face was straight toward the door, leaving outside of the corridor.

Suddenly, a murmur echoed in the hall, as the name of Lyla in the whispers of boys fell on Victor's ears.

A girl with blonde hair and pale blue eyes stood before him, stopping him in the middle. She was wearing a light pink small frock and dark blue jeans.

All the boys' eyes looked at her with clear desire.

Her face resembled Zack's and was much more suitable on her body.

Victor raised his eyes; in his vision, she stood with a smug smile; his face became flat. He sidestepped, trying to bypass her.

But she moved right before his face again, cutting his path.

A light smile tugged on her face as she crossed her arms.

Her sweet sound fell on Victor's ears. "I heard that you awakened at the last minute."

He felt nausea hit him from inside, as he heard her voice. His face scowled as he glared at Lyla.

A flat and hoarse sound came, "Don't worry, you didn't miss any chance, I wasn't able to awaken the System with Goddess Gaia's blessing." Victor retorted

A giggle escaped from Lyla as she quickly covered her mouth with her hand.

All the boys' breath stopped at her action.

Victor didn't wait; he moved to the other side of Lyla and passed her. He continued moving toward the door.

"Victor, maybe we can date in the future, if you get enrolled in the Military Academy. After all, you are the only pretty face in Elarion City."

Victor froze, his fist clenched, nail piercing his palms, and pain flaring from the injuries, calming his mind.

He stepped forward without looking back, with glares of almost all of the school's boys piercing his back.

In Victor's mind, a war was going on: I was very stupid back then, even in this type of miserable life, I harbored a thought of loving someone like her.

Not only that, but confessing to her and getting humiliated, and making the whole school my enemy.

Lyla, the cruel and sadistic witch.

How can I love someone like that? Was I blind?

Victor shook his head to come out of his thoughts and stepped toward the library.

The door of the library creaked open, and Victor quietly slid inside without anyone's notice.

The smell of books and the refuge from his harsh life.

He always liked the warm air and quietness of the library.

His shoulder relaxed, and he moved toward the aisle of old books.

He roamed around, searching for anything related to the Lunar Empire.

After an hour of searching, he found an old book, neatly tucked in the corner of the shelf. Hidden from the eyes, with its black cover, and only the moon stood above the word 'Lunar' written in the center. There was no author's name written on it.

He took the book, found the chair nearby, and sat down.

He started reading, but there was nothing in the book.

Only about the Moon and how it changes from the New Moon to the Full Moon.

Victor sighed with defeated shoulders and started closing the book in frustration. As he closed the book, his eyes fell on a page at the end of the book. The title 'Lunar Empire' of the chapter caught his eye.

He started reading…

"A thousand years ago Lunar Empire was ruled by the Lunaria Royal family of Vampires. The Empire was considered one of the strongest and prosperous in all of the Neero world.

Its flying city, the City of Dracula, was the hub of activity. People used to come and see it from all over the world.

Everything changed on one moonless night; all of Lunaria's Royal family was massacred, and their loyal army Shadow Moon clan, vanished.

It became the Crimson Empire, and the floating city vanished from the eyes of the world. Like it was never there in the first place.

Now People think that there was never a floating city.

After the Lunaria Empire fell, shortly after the Chaos race invaded our world.

Crimson Empire fully supported the invasion, and they caused more destruction aligned with the Chaos race.

People used to say that Vampires were hungrier than hunger-driven Chaos aliens."

Victor put down the book and muttered, looking at its cover, " I don't think most of this is true, but …"

Victor looked around at the dimly lit and quiet library. Few people were reading under the yellow-lit lamps.

 He muttered quietly, "Lunaria Empire may have ended this way, but there is much more hidden behind the simple truth."

Ding!...

 The crimson panel appeared before his eyes.

[Quest Complete]

[Lunaria Empire Knowledge acquired]

[Reward: 1000 CP]

"Awesome!" Victor exclaimed.

" Now I can shop at Celestial Shop when it opens". Victor smiled, rubbing his hands together.

All people turned to him with glares, some even signaling for silence with a finger to their lips.

Victor scratched his head awkwardly and looked away from them. He lowered his head and started reading about the Swamp Forest.

The swamp forest is the forest located at the outskirts of Elarion city, connected to the Black Sea.

The Black Sea is a completely corrupted sea, with all the animals living in it corrupted from chaos energy. And its influence caused the Swamp Forest to be completely corrupted, too.

As Victor lost himself in the search for everything about Swamp Forest, time flew by, and the library became quieter.

He stood up after he was done gathering all the knowledge about the Swamp Forest and left the library, moving toward his dorm room.

As he reached his dorm room, he slumped on his bed.

Muffled groans escaped his lips as the pain flared from his broken body.

Victor looked at the faded ceiling of his dorm room and muttered, " Swamp Forest may prove to be my death trap, but it's better to die trying than not trying and dying here."