“Ah, it’s way too early,” she murmured and yawned, gently rubbing the sore eyes with the palms of her hands. Seira turned around several times and covered herself in her blanket, only to throw it away the next second. Finally, after ten more minutes of pointless rolling around and wincing, she stood up and closed the curtains, pulling them shut until the hotel room was submerged in perfect darkness. “Much better,” a sigh of relief escaped her lips and the vampire happily opened her eyes and took a look around the room. She still had to get used to the different situation she found herself in and Seira had not quite figured out how to do so yet. The young woman was very much a newborn vampire, a baby vamp so to speak, and as a result of her transformation she had to learn how to make her own environment as comfortable as possible. She still wasn’t completely and solely night active and even though it was much easier for her to move around during the late hours, Seira decided that the rest of mankind would move on without her if she only spent time outside during the night—not to mention that this sort of behavior was somewhat suspicious as well—and as a result she had picked up several new hobbies to help her adjust to this new life of hers. One of them was staying up until the morning hours until the sun rises and sleeping in very, very late till the afternoon. That way the vampire could avoid the sunrise, the hot midday sun and still go buy her business as usual. In a large town like Magnolia coming out of the house a little later wasn’t exactly a problem and most of the shops opened until 8 or 9pm, which made life alot easier for her. Seira, however, had yet to get used to the small things, such as closing the curtains properly so she wouldn’t be blended by the light when she woke up. Those were merely beginner’s mistakes and she knew that. Over time she would become much better at this and Seira, for someone who had been turned into a blood sucking monster, was relatively calm in spite of all things. There had yet to be a note from Bianca, the woman who turned her, and at this point Seira seriously doubted that she would ever see her again, which was fine with her. Of course she had a ton of questions, but the woman was doing fine on her own and if life continued to be so.. simple, then she had nothing to say against it. There were clues, of course, and Seira knew she would be following them. She had to if she wanted to find out the truth. The woman had a tattoo on her tongue, somewhat hidden but pretty obvious once she opened her mouth—the insignia of the Phantom Lord guild. An infamous guild, to say the least, and very well known.

[502/3000]

Everyone across the country knew about them—or at least every wizard did. They were a threat to all the light guilds and although Seira had only heard rumors, it had been said that they were stronger than most and a serious threat. It was only natural for them to be that way, if they had vampires among their members especially. Nothing could surprise Seira anymore, or so she thought, and after doing little research she found out that their main location and building was in Oak Town. Seira rarely ever got that far up north and the farthest she had been in the north so far was Orchidia Town, a relatively neutral place. She had plans on visiting Oak eventually, but not after she felt actually ready to do so. God knows what was awaiting her on the other end of the world and right now she very much prefered the calm and friendly south of Fiore. She had already made plans to visit Hargeon Town again, the place where it had all began, only to do some more potential research and perhaps find some jobs. Seira was eventually going to run out of things to do in Magnolia Town anyways and she prefered to be on the go before people started asking. In spite of that she also didn’t want the people she currently lived with, the owners of the inn, any reason to worry about her strange and changing habits. Eventually Seira had to steal blood bags from the hospital and she knew she couldn’t do such a thing every day without having to worry about being caught. If she wanted to keep her race hidden she had to make sure that nothing was too obvious and everyone who knew about vampires knew that they depended on human blood to survive. Of course she could have been a much worse example by drinking directly from the vein and leaving bodies scattered all across the town, but Seira sure as hell wasn’t that stupid.

The young vampire eventually got out of bed and walked into the bathroom where she would get dressed. She had fed on a blood bag last night and felt no hunger whatsoever. So instead of doing the usual by going into the lounge and ordering a meal from the inn’s restaurant, Seira simply left the inn to take a walk around town. It has been a while since she had done that the last time and she very much enjoyed every step she took through the beautiful city center of Magnolia. The people were quite lively and very friendly and Seira almost wouldn’t mind spending more time with others if it wasn’t for her antisocial nature and their delicious scent. Ever since she’d become a vampire humans started smelling good. And that could lead to very awkward situations, needless to say. But as long as the woman wasn’t starving she was perfectly capable of controlling herself so there was no need for her to worry about anything right now.

[1006/3000]

As Seira walked through the streets she saw a few familiar faces, but none stood out in particular. It were mostly the shop owners of the places that were close to the inn she had been living in for quite some time now and Seira made it a habit to friendly greet those people, but otherwise stay away from them and not build any personal relationships. She was on her way to a certain location right now anyways, so there wasn’t time for that. The young girl was on the lookout for some jobs, perhaps something she could do before she left to Hargeon Town. The request board was the perfect place to find random job offers and she had the option to choose something after her own liking. Usually there were a bunch of flyers pinned to the board and you could simply pick out one quest you liked and then contact the client. Since most quests were scheduled for the same day or merely a day later that made things alot easier as well. When Seira arrived at said request board she wasn’t alone. About a handful of other wizards, some guildless like herself but some also from Fairy Tail as she guessed, since that was the local guild here in Magnolia, were checking out the board for quests. Seira stood around until it was her turn and started skimming through the fliers, hoping to find something she could work with. She was in the mood for something slightly mysterious with a good amount of jewels involved so when she saw one of them having Guard Captain Devon as a client she immediately picked it up. The matter seemed to be secretive, at least a little bit since he stated that he wasn’t able to exactly explain the matter of the situation in the flier but wished to meet whoever was willing to take this quest on anyways.

Devon was, as his name suggested, the Captain of the guards in Magnolia. He was someone who took his job very seriously and as a result he was relatively well known in the town. If he asked outsiders for help it meant that it was probably something his guards couldn’t do, which was rare but it happened. As a result the pay would be good as well so Seira decided to meet the man immediately. Seira knew where his headquarters where so that’s where she headed to immediately. With the flier in her hand she was let in and sat down on a table with the guard captain to whom she introduced herself to. “Thank you for coming, Miss Navillera. The reason I have called you here is simple, but at the same time it’s not a job a guard of mine can do simply because it will be too obvious. A neutral source from the outside, someone reliable is necessary to accomplish this task and I’m sure you will be able to help me and assist us. Of course money is not something you have to worry about!”

[1515/3000]

“Please give me the details as to what exactly it is that you want me to do for you, Captain,” Seira said politely and crossed her legs. “Well, lately I have heard a few rumors. Rumors that caused me a lot of concern regarding the safety of the citizens of Magnolia. It would be highly embarrassing if something like that got out of hand, but at the same time I am having a hard time investigating the matter.” Seira frowned. “What are those rumors about?” The man sighed, almost unwilling to spill the beans to her. “Cults. They are about cults. There have been rumors about cults existing in Magnolia, forbidden underground organisations involved in black magic, illegal trade and god knows what. I don’t even want to know what these perverts are up to but if something like this really exists here, we need to stop it immediately. Cults and Magnolia simply doesn’t go well together and I don’t want outsiders to think that they can simply settle in our town like that. They represent danger and must be removed, you understand.” Seira nodded. “Of course I do. I suppose you want me to find out the truth and investigate said cults.” He nodded. “I don’t have the time nor manpower to do more than I already have. Once we have more information I will be able to handle, but right now I am powerless. If you could seek information for us so we can either confirm or deny those rumors, you would do us a big help. I will assign guards to you that will keep an eye on you while you are out there so nothing dangerous can happen to you.”

Seira stood up from the table and walked to the door. “I can do that for you, just give me a little bit of time. I will be sure to notify you once I have found something.” With that being said she left. It was getting dark outside and Seira felt as if this was the perfect timing to start her investigation. She went through the streets of Magnolia but rather than the center of the city, she chose a somewhat downtown location to start asking around. Finding people who belonged to cults was extremely difficult since with most people you could hardly guess that they were part of a cult in first place. They knew how to hide that fact extremely well and they appeared as normal citizens of the town, just like anyone else. It took quite some time for Seira to advance in her search and as she asked around as politely as possible, not trying to stir up confusion or suspicion, she quickly learned that most people simply denied ever having heard of a cult or having anything to do with one. Most people straight out denied the whole cult idea, even admitting that they heard of the rumors but simply did not believe in them and honestly, Seira couldn’t blame them. A cult in Magnolia seemed like a ridiculous thing.

[2024/3000]

Asking around like this was also already starting to get a bit awkward since Seira was receiving quite a few odd looks from the people who clearly had absolutely nothing to do with cults. It was only understandable and in this situation couldn’t really be helped. The fourth person Seira asked directly was a young man working at a weaponry store and upon noticing her apparent interest in cult something on his face changed and caught Seira’s attention. “Why exactly are you interested in cults?” He responded to her seemingly innocent questions and Seira figured that she might have actually found something. “Well, you see, I’m not sure if I can talk openly about it, people will give me weird looks. But I am not from Magnolia, I’m from a small village near Oak. Things were.. different there but ever since the military in this country has expanded things haven’t been the same,” she wasn’t exactly sure what she was talking about since Seira had never had any business with cults, but she was trying to be as convincing as possible. “What I’m saying is, I’m basically looking for something new since my old experience was ruined by something we could not control,” she said, lowkey hinting at the rune knights and the magic council. If someone was to destroy cults, it would probably be them.

“I understand, well I guess that can’t be helped. But don’t worry about it. How about you come meet me at the store around the corner later tonight. The one that sells fruits, in about 2-3 hours? I might have something that could interest you.” Seira’s ears perked up. “Yeah, I have freetime later tonight.” The man nodded. “Good, when you are at the store just knock on the door and say the password, which is Illucifan Nagar. Repeat it, Illucifan Nagar. It will grant you entrance and solve all possible questions for the ones waiting for you. But don’t share this information with anyone else, come alone!” Seira nodded. “Illucifan Nagar, got it.” Seira left his store and was quite pleased with herself. Since she still had plenty of time to pass she decided to catch up with the captain after making sure that she wasn’t being followed. She decided to give him the information she had been able to gather. “There is a fruit and vegetable store on the 34th street in downtown Magnolia, right around the corner is a weaponry store. I am supposed to show up there in two hours with a password at the door. It’s Illucifan Nagar, sounds pretty culty to me to be honest.” The Captain seemed convinced, somewhat pleased but also very worried about her discovery. “I see. Do you think you can do it on your own?” The woman smiled. “Of course I can. I can defend myself if I have to so don’t worry about me. What I cannot promise, however, is that they will trust me and give me the information you need.”

[2524/3000]

“..but at least I will be able to get a better picture of their location for you. After that you have to act fast before they move around and remove their traces.” Seira explained to the man and he nodded in agreement. “I can defend myself if it comes down to it so please do not worry about it. Once it is all over I will meet you again here and expect my payment.” They agreed on that and Seira waited for another 1,5 hours before she returned to the shop where she was supposed to meet the people. It was nighttime now, very dark but that wasn’t a problem for the vampire. She went to the wooden door and quietly spoke the two words that were supposed to grant her entrance to the cult. “Illucifan Nagar,” once the password was out she was granted entrance and the door opened for her. Seira was led through the main room, that looked like your typical grocery store into a backroom. She felt a bit weird, but so far she didn’t expect anything threatening to happen to her. There was a makeshift tunnel near the wall and with that she knew that she was in the right place and this was most definitely some sort of cult. Seira followed the man, who was dressed in a black cloak with his face covered by a hood down the tunnel that led into some sort of cavern that was fairly large. She figured that about twenty people could fit in here and the place was clearly built to worship something down here which made it pretty clear that she had indeed discovered a cult. Seira was then approached by another man and he began asking her questions, questions that were of similar nature to what she had been going through earlier today while wandering the streets. Once again she did her best to answer those questions while appearing convincing and although he seemed to buy it at first, it didn’t take long for the man to realize that something was going very, very wrong. “SPY!” He cried out and pointed at her and Seira delivered a quick kick into the man’s stomach before dashing out of the room, all the way up the tunnel where she had come from. She could probably take them on, but she wasn’t interested in doing so, so instead she went for the run. As soon as Seira was back out on the street she regained her advantage and being able to see in the dark and move quietly without making a sound was thankfully very simple. For a moment Seira even considered feeding on one of them, hoping that it would all go down in the heat of the moment but she decided to let it be and after successfully escaping she returned to the guard captain instead. She told him everything she found out in detail and carefully described the location of the cavern. Then he paid her and Seira left.

[3029/3000]