Darkness. Not a gentle, comforting void, but a screaming, tearing abyss that had ripped Adrian from… from before. The memory was a phantom limb, an echo of a life that felt centuries lost, though mere moments might have passed. Then, sensation returned, not as a trickle, but as a flood.
His first breath was a rasp, dragging air into lungs that felt simultaneously too large and too new. The air was cold, sharp with the tang of ozone, the heavy perfume of unknown blossoms, and an undercurrent of damp, fertile decay. He lay on something rough, unyielding – exposed rock, littered with sharp detritus. Pain, a dull throb behind his eyes, pulsed in time with a frantic, unfamiliar rhythm in his chest. A heartbeat. His heartbeat. But it felt… different. Stronger. Faster. Hungrier.
He forced his eyelids open. The light was a shock, not because it burned, but because it didn't. Above, a sky of bruised violet and angry crimson swirled around a sun that blazed with an unnatural, greenish-white intensity. It was day. He was exposed. Yet, there was no agony, no searing disintegration he might have instinctively associated with his… condition. What condition?
Fragments of the Voice—the Overseer's decree—crashed through his mind: New life… new world… Genesis… Grow. Expand. Conquer… Vampire…
Vampire.
Adrian pushed himself up, a feat that seemed to require less effort than it should have. His limbs, though feeling alien, responded with a fluid power he didn't recognize. He looked at his hands. They were pale, almost translucent in the strange daylight, the fingers long, tipped with nails that looked thick, sharp, almost like claws. He flexed them. Power, raw and untrained, coiled within him.
A groan nearby drew his attention. He turned, his head swiveling with an unnerving, predatory smoothness. Four other figures lay scattered within a few yards, stirring amidst the rubble of what looked like shattered, obsidian-like rock formations. A fifth was already pushing to a sitting position, their back to him.
As they moved, Adrian recognized the same pallor in their skin, the same subtle yet undeniable predatory grace beginning to assert itself as they awoke from the same violent transition he had endured. They, too, were like him. Vampires.
The one sitting up, a woman with a cascade of hair the color of midnight that seemed to drink the alien light, finally turned. Her eyes, the color of smoldering rubies, widened slightly as they met his. Recognition flickered there – not of a past life, but of a present, shared state of being. She had the same fangs, subtly prominent, that he could now feel pressing against the inside of his own lips.
"The… the Voice," she rasped, her voice a low, melodic contralto that still carried a tremor of shock. "You heard it?"
Adrian nodded, the motion feeling strangely precise. "We all did."
The other four were stirring more fully now. Two men, one lean and sharp-featured, already scanning his surroundings with an intensity that spoke of a deeply ingrained vigilance, the other broader, his brow furrowed in a mixture of pain and dawning anger. Another woman, slighter than the first, was clutching her head, her breath coming in ragged gasps. The last, a man whose eyes seemed to hold an old soul's weariness despite the newness of his form, was staring at his own hands with a kind of detached horror.
"Vampires," the vigilant one stated, his voice flat, devoid of inflection. He pushed himself to his feet, his movements already efficient, his gaze sweeping the bizarre landscape. Jagged peaks of an oily, black rock pierced the horizon, framing a forest of colossal, fungal-looking trees that glowed with a faint, internal luminescence. "What does that even mean here?"
"No sun-sickness," Adrian observed, looking up at the hostile greenish sun. "That's… unexpected." He ran a tongue over his teeth. The fangs were undeniably real. A new sensation was also making itself known – a deep, gnawing emptiness in the pit of his stomach, a dryness in his throat that no amount of saliva could quench. A thirst.
The broader man, who had a raw, physical power emanating from him even in his confusion, growled low in his throat. "Thirsty. Gods, I'm thirsty." He swallowed, a pained expression on his face.
The first woman, the one with the ruby eyes, pushed herself to her feet, swaying slightly. "And what do we thirst for?" she asked, her gaze drawn to the pulsating, vein-like patterns on the giant fungi in the distance.
It was a question that hung heavy in the alien air. The Overseer's mandate to "grow their race" felt distant, an abstract command when confronted with the immediate, visceral needs of their new bodies and the utter desolation of their shared awakening.
Adrian felt that strange, subtle interface the prologue had hinted at, the one that had shown him his rudimentary status. He focused inward, a flicker of intent, and information bloomed in his mind's eye, clearer now, more defined.
[Name: Adrian (Retained)]
[Race: Vampire (Original Progenitor)]
[Lineage: Pure Crimson Blood (Nascent)]
[Condition: Weakened, Blood Thirst (Moderate)]
[Level: 1 (Growth Stage: Rudimentary)]
[Attributes (Provisional): Strength D, Agility C, Endurance D, Intellect C, Perception C, Charisma C (Human Baseline C)]
[Innate Abilities (Original Vampire):- Sunlight Resilience (Complete)- Heightened Senses (Vision, Hearing, Smell - Tier 1)- Natural Weapons (Fangs, Retractable Claws - Tier 1)- Blood Healing (Minor - Locked/Requires Sustenance)- Progenitor Blood (Allows creation of Pure Blood Vampires from suitable Original stock; Allows conversion of other races into Turned Vampires - Locked/Requires Understanding & Power)]
[Companions (5/5): Vampire (Original)]
[Group Name: Unassigned]
[Territory: None]
[Civilization Rank: Rudimentary (Collective)]
[Global Mandate: Grow. Conquer. Reign.]
[Current Objective (System Assist): Assess immediate threats. Secure a temporary shelter. Address burgeoning Blood Thirst.]
The information was overwhelming, yet it confirmed their nature, their shared "Original" status, and the chilling reality of the "Blood Thirst." The "Progenitor" tag next to his race felt significant, heavy with unspoken responsibility. His attributes, a messy mix of letters, seemed to indicate their current, unrefined state, yet hinted at a potential far exceeding a human baseline.
"The Voice… it called this a Genesis," Adrian said, sharing a fragment of his thoughts. "We're Originals. The first of our kind here." He looked at the others, seeing the same dawning comprehension on their faces as they likely accessed similar, if not identical, information. "And we're apparently progenitors."
The weary-eyed man finally spoke, his voice quiet but firm. "If we are to be progenitors, we first need to survive this day. This… thirst." He gestured vaguely at the alien forest. "Does anyone see anything that looks like… sustenance?"
The vigilant one, who had been pacing the perimeter of their small, rocky alcove, shook his head. "Nothing familiar. Nothing that screams 'food source.' But the air… it's thick with life. Different kinds. I can smell… movement. Creatures. Not too far." His eyes, a startling ice-blue, narrowed. "And something larger, further out. Something that smells like old blood and damp fur."
A shiver, not entirely of fear, but of a strange, predatory anticipation, went through Adrian. Old blood.
The woman with the ruby eyes, whose name he didn't know but already felt a strange connection to, met his gaze. "Shelter first, perhaps? Before we go hunting what we don't understand?" Her tone was practical, a counterpoint to the raw physicality of the broader man and the hunter's focus of the vigilant one.
Adrian nodded. "Agreed." He scanned their immediate surroundings. The cluster of shattered obsidian rocks offered some broken cover, but it was exposed. The fungal forest, while unnerving, was dense and might offer better concealment, or at least a defensible position. "That forest seems our best bet for now. We move together. Stay alert."
The five newly awakened vampires, linked by a shared cataclysm and an even stranger rebirth, exchanged glances. Fear was still present, but now it was overlaid with a grim resolve, the first sparks of a desperate, nascent unity. The game of gods had begun, and they were its newest, hungriest players.
Adrian took the first step towards the glowing, alien woods, the others falling in around him, a fledgling coterie of the night, stepping out into a hostile, unknown dawn. The thirst gnawed, a promise and a threat, driving them forward into the endless horizons of the Crimson Genesis.