The moon hung like a jagged blade in the midnight sky, casting a ghostly pallor over the ancient, crumbling cemetery. A cold, biting wind moaned through the skeletal branches of the towering trees, the only sound in a silence so thick it felt like it was strangling the air.
Kaelen was on his knees. His eyes were veiled in shadow, staring at the fresh mound of earth he had just finished digging. He had buried his mother with his own hands.
As he stood, the wind whipped his hair across his face, but he didn't flinch. Slowly, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a shell casing. It wasn't metal—it was carved from white, polished bone, still stained with his mother's drying blood.
His knuckles turned white as he gripped the casing. "Whatever beast owns the bones this shell was made from... I will find it. And I will snap every single bone in its body."
He began to walk back, his shadow stretching like a dark omen behind him. He looked up at the moon, tears stinging his eyes despite his burning rage. The Fog Spirit had already stolen his father, turning him into a Reaper. Now, another Reaper had torn his mother away.
As he walked through the village, the silence of the survivors was deafening. Out of ten houses, only four remained intact. The rest were graveyards.
"Cowards!" Kaelen roared at the bolted doors. "You hide like rats while they harvest us! You deserve this silence!"
Suddenly, he froze. From a nearby house, he heard it—the sickening, wet crunch of bone being gnawed.
Kaelen didn't run. With a heart of ice, he approached the door. The sound grew louder, more frantic. He pushed the door open.
In the shaft of moonlight sat a girl. Her hair was a tangled mess, and she was hunched over, chewing on the femur of a fresh corpse. She didn't stop when the door creaked.
"Stop... what are you doing?" Kaelen's voice trembled, a flicker of primal terror surfacing.
The girl stopped. She stood up slowly, her tattered clothes dripping with gore. As she turned, her face remained hidden behind her matted hair. She took two predatory steps toward him.
"Stay back!" Kaelen recoiled, his breath hitching.
She stopped. Slowly, she brushed her hair away, and Kaelen's heart nearly stopped. Her eyes weren't human—they were massive, glowing orbs of crystalline blue. Two razor-sharp vampire fangs glistened behind her blood-stained lips.
"Are you... a Reaper?" Kaelen gasped.
In a blur of motion, she vanished. Before Kaelen could blink, he felt a sudden warmth against his back. She was standing directly behind him, her breath hot against his ear.
"You have a fire in you, boy," she whispered, her voice like velvet and broken glass. "A fire unlike any other. I'm going to give you a System. In exchange, every five days, you will bring me the corpses of two Reapers."
Before he could protest, she grabbed him with supernatural strength. Her fangs sank deep into his neck.
Kaelen's eyes flew wide. He expected pain, but there was only a terrifying numbness. Then, as she withdrew, a searing heat erupted in his veins—like molten lead being injected into his soul. His body went rigid, and as he began to slip into unconsciousness, the girl caught him, cradling him in her arms before vanishing into the silver moonlight.
Kaelen's eyes snapped open to a sun-drenched room. He bolted upright, clutching his throat. The girl... the biting... the pain. "Where... where am I?" he muttered, looking around the unfamiliar, lavish room.
The door creaked open. A woman stepped in, and Kaelen's face instantly turned a violent shade of red. He grabbed the bedsheets, pulling them up to his chin.
The woman before him was the definition of Lethal Temptation. Her hair was a vibrant, shimmering crimson, and her lips were painted a daring, midnight black. Her outfit was barely there—a single black strap strained across her ample, high-set chest, while her arms were draped in tattered, decorative lace. Below, she wore nothing but dangerously tight, micro-denim shorts, the front button left provocatively undone. A leather belt was strapped high on her left thigh, holstering a sleek, lethal blade.
She sashayed toward the bed, her movements fluid and teasing. She laughed, a sultry, melodic sound. "Oh? Are you going to be the one to do all the blushing for the girls in this world now?"
Kaelen squeezed his eyes shut. "Put some clothes on! Then we'll talk!"
Suddenly, he felt soft, warm hands cup his face. He opened his eyes to find her inches away, her scent overwhelming.
"You're staying with me now," she whispered, her eyes dancing with mischief. "You'd better get used to this."
Kaelen pushed her hands away, his heart hammering. "Who are you? What are you doing?"
She stood up, smirking as she crossed one toned leg over the other on a nearby chair. "The name's Ailza. I'm a rogue Slayer from the Fog Spirit world. I came here looking for a human who hasn't turned... someone with an O-Negative blood group. And that's you."
"How do you know my blood group?" Kaelen demanded.
Ailza's smile widened. "I have Evil Eyes, darling. I see through walls, through clothes, and deep into your veins. I've seen every inch of you, inside and out."
Kaelen's face felt like it was on fire. "You... you saw everything?"
Ailza let out a raucous laugh. "Oh, I saw it all. And I must say... for a sixteen-year-old, you're packing quite a 'weapon.' It's much bigger than I expected."
Kaelen buried his face in his hands, mortified. "How can you say that to a kid?!"
Ailza's expression suddenly turned sharp and serious. "Enough games. I gave you the CRIMSON OVERLORD SYSTEM. It will activate the moment you taste Reaper blood. The rest... the System will explain."
"You wanted two Reaper corpses every five days," Kaelen remembered, his voice turning cold. "Why?"
"That's a long story," Ailza replied, her eyes flashing with a hidden agenda. "But know this: if the Reapers aren't purged, they will wipe out what's left of humanity. So, get ready. You're going to hunt them all down."
The mention of the Reapers ignited the furnace in Kaelen's soul. His eyes burned with a dark, vengeful light.
"I'll kill them," Kaelen said, his voice dropping to a lethal whisper. "Every single one of those fuckers. And I'm starting with the one who took my mother."