Prologue

A glimpse of the future and the story itself leads up to this point. It contains spoilers and is not manditory to understand the story. A type of preview of the story.

Kuran slowly regained conciousness. His eyes remained closed, but he could feel his feet dragging behind him against a cold stone floor. Freezing hands gripped both of his arms tightly. Hesitantly, Kuran opened his eyes only to be met with more darkness. His eyes adjusted to the dim light of small flickering flames on torches that lapped the at the side of the wall. Walls of stone surrounded him.

 

It was an eerie hallway that looked oddly familiar to Kuran, but he was too disoriented to place it. "Wh-where am I?" he asked weakly. A twisting ache in his stomach tightened with each word. Kuran winced at the sudden jolt of pain and closed his right eye. It was a struggle to keep from crying out. "Heh, foolish brat.
" A gruff voice growled at Kuran viciously. Kuran glanced around to find the speaker.

 

To his left there walked a well-built man with a scar that was sliced down his cheek. The man stared back at Kuran with dull red eyes that contained a sort of vile gleam. The man's large hands tightened around Kuran's arm. Kuran looked away from the black-bearded man as more pain tore through his body. "Hn..." Kuran grunted in reply. Kuran looked over at the man holding onto his right arm.

 

This man was smaller than the other, but many scars ravaged his left arm and there remained a hollow where an eye would normally reside. Both men were unfamiliar and appeared fiercely dangerous. However, the smaller man had a younger looking face and refused to make eye contact so he didn't appear to be quite as deadly.

 

With that Kuran let his head fall limp and closed his left eye. Kuran struggled to move his arms and legs, but his effort was rewarded only with more searing pain that shot through his body in protest. What is all this pain? What...? Kuran thought pitifully. The two men dragging him suddenly stopped walking. Kuran looked up to see what was happening.

 

The younger man moved one hand from Kuran's arm and placed it on a barred door. The older man tightened his grip even more on Kuran, yanked him back out of the other man's grip and shoved him into the cell. Kuran yelped in agony when he force of the shove caused him to land hard on his right arm and bounce onto his back.

 

Kuran grinded his teeth as hard as he could to keep from crying out again. "Damnit Rion! Your not supposed to kill him!" the younger man snapped at the older one. Rion glared daggers back at him "Shut up! He's gettin' what he deserves! The damn traitor! Some Prince! He should be dead already! Runnin' away 'n being caught with the enemy don't work too kindly with me!" Rion snarled furiously and shoved his way past the other man after slamming the celled door shut.

 

The younger man growled something under his breath and locked the door. With one solitary glance at the Vampire Prince he sauntered off after Rion. Kuran lay in a mangled heap on the floor, barely aware of what the men were arguing about. One word stuck out to him though above all else. "Prince?" he murmured in confusion. The the word reminded him of who he was and what had recently taken place.

 

Several months had passed since he had fled from the royal family of Vampires. Kuran had gotten his loyal magicioan to cast a disguising spell on his closest friend. "Tonami..." Kuran murmured in a voice barely audible. Tonami had been his first friend. He had taken Kuran's role as heir of the Vampire royal family.. It seemed so long ago since he had left.

 

Kuran's eyes shot open in horror. Tonami! he shouted in his mind. If Tonami had been caught as an imposter, the ultimate punishment was all that could lie ahead. Hours passed, but to Kuran it felt like an eternity. His body had become stiff and a numbness had spread through him. Oddly enough, the damage that had been inflicted on Kuran refused to heal. Kuran lay on his back with an arm resting on his chest. During the eternity of silence he had noticed that some of his ribs had been broken.

 

Out of the quiet darkness came the light clapping of foot steps on the hard stone floor. Every step was followed by an echo from the narrow hallway. Kuran glanced over to the door of his confinement. "Kuran, get up!" A demanding voice of a woman cut through the air. He recognized the shrill voice right away. Mother... he thought bitterly. Kuran did not even twitch in response. "Get him." she ordered sharply to someone.

 

The door of the dungeon creaked opened and a man walked in. The man grabbed Kuran by his left arm and jerked him to his feet. Kuran struggled to stand. He fought back a wince as another shot of pain ripped through him. Kuran looked at his mother with dull blue-green eyes. His mother stood before him in a tight-fitting red dress that hugged every curve of her thing body and widened in frills at the botton. Her blond hair was put up into a tight bun by black chopsticks. A black shawl draped over her shoulders.

 

Her piercing green gaze was locked on her son. "You fool." she shook her head with mock disappointment. Kuran remained emotionless under her scrutiny. They were silent for a moment before his mother grew impatient. "Bring him." she ordered the man with a wave of her hand. The man briskly nodded and dragged Kuran out of his cell. They followed a few feet behind his mother.

 

"You should be happy my son. You get to witness that filthy wretch Tonami's death. Impersonating a Jinkun will not be taken lightly." Kuran's mother mused as they reached a pair of large doors. Kuran's hand twitched at her comment, but kept silent. The man dragging him opened one of the doors for Kuran's mother and then followed not far behind.

 

The new room was huge, but equally as dark as the corridoors to get there. It was an arena-like stadium surrounded by glass windows. The glass was of a special type, it allowed no form of light to pass through it and was perfectly clear looking out. Kuran's eyes widened after observing his new surroundings. In the center of the arena was a small, motionless form inside a cage. Kuran immediately recognized the soft face and messy blue hair. Tonami! he thought painfully.

 

All of Kuran's thoughts were now focused on the form in the arena. So much so that he took no tonice of a cuff being locked around his ankle. The cuff lead to a chain attatched to a large metal ball. When he finally found the strengh to look away from his friend and redirect his gaze at his mother. She smirked at him and waved her hand. Suddenly he was tossed over the man's shoulder and carried down into the arena. What's going on?! he thought frantically.

 

The man threw him to the ground with the metal ball chained to his ankle. Kuran coughed and cringed on impact. He tried to ignore the nearly unbearable pain he was in now enough to push himself up. He looked at the ball. It was no ordinary metal. It was a special kind of metal that sapped the wearers strength. Kuran shook his head and noticed the man had already fled the arena. He drew in a sharp breath and glanced over at his friend in the cage a good distance away.

 

There was a loud slamming of doors and a strange creaking coming from the ceiling of the arena. Kuran looked up in time to see the roof of the arena split and start to pull back from the outside. "No!" Kuran managed to shout weakly as hot midday rays streaked into the clearing. Due to Kuran's Jinkun blood he had no fear for what the rays might do to him, but Tonami had no such luxury. He was a member of the lowest class, Dorei, which meant he would inevitably burn alive.

 

Kuran stretched out his hand toward his friend whom of which remained motionless. Kuran was at least a metre out of reach of his unconcious friend as he pulled himself closer. Suddenly, Tonami's eyes shot open as the first slivers of light reached his legs. He hissed in fear and pushed himself against the side of his cage. Tonami's eyes were wild with alarm. "Tonami!" Kuran cried. Kuran's plea went unheard to Tonami as he bared his fangs at the sunlight. His screech rang out as his body became bathed in sunlight.

 

Kuran watched helplessly with his inability to move. Tonami's skin grew dark as he writhed around desperately inside his cage. His skin had become inflamed and his panicked screeching was losing strength. "Tonami..." Kuran cried again helplessly. He could not beleive what was taking place. It was worse than any nightmare he could imagine. Tonami's charred body collapsed as his struggle ceased with a last sputter of smoke and ash.

Author's Note

Sorry it's so long. It was important, but not exactly part of the story to start with so it had to be all in one shot. ^^"
Note: The prologue is not in the same time frame as the rest of the chapters. It is in a sense a taste of what's to come

Reviews

[Sseoni]

Wow, that was cool! I love vampire stories so much! This is great so far! It seems to have a great start so far! The plot seems good, the drama is amazing, and the creativity is fantastic! Great job so far!