S.P.E.C.T.O.R – [A Sci-fi space adventure with fantasy elements]

“Do you know these two, Lady Celeste?” The male Brood asked nervously.

“Sure do, they came over to do some business with me,” Celeste replied.

“Is what they claim about meeting the progenitor true, then, Lady Celeste?” Another Brood randomly asked from the crowd.

“It is,” Celeste replied while nodding before continuing, “Uncle Vlad came to visit me while these two happened to be meeting with me for business.”

“So it is true,” Another spectator said in surprise.

“Then the guy in the cheap-looking armour had a point. If the woman wanted to be turned, why wouldn’t she ask the progenitor instead of accepting this random guy who approached her?” A spectator asked, making the male Brood tuck his neck in with embarrassment.

“Maybe she did and he refused. You know the progenitor no longer agrees to turn anyone anymore, as he got fed up with people asking him.”

“That’s true, I guess she might just not have any interest in being turned.”

“I don’t understand why no one would want to gain immortality.”

“To each their own, I guess.”

“I, I see, well, if you will excuse me,” The male Brood said before turning away and trying to walk off.

“Excuse me, aren’t you forgetting something?” Adam asked.

[Gunlovergirl (Earth): Oh yeah, here we go.]

[RealOtaku (Earth): Spoiled brat embarrassment time. At least that shitty author Sweeper can do something right.]

[1000yearsofdeath (Earth): Kekeke.]

“Excuse me?” The male Brood asked in confusion.

“You come and interrupt our private conversation by standing in front of my friend and blocking her way, yet you don’t even think an apology is necessary?” Adam asked, making Rowena and Celeste smirk as they watched the show.

“Yes, yes. I suppose you’re right,” The male Brood replied before turning to Rowena and saying, “My apologies.” After which, he quickly walked away.

[1000yearsofdeath (Earth): …]

[RealOtaku (Earth): WTF was that? That’s not how the script’s supposed to go.]

[Gunlovergirl (Earth): What a let down. I wanted a fight where the streamer killed that guy.]

[OfficialLorelie (Felinia 7): The streamer can’t go around killing everyone. Besides, it’s probably not a good idea to kill a Brood at their most important festival, remember.]

[OracleRomy (Elysium): He probably would have complained and argued back more if the Brood progenitors’ name hadn’t been brought up and Celeste wasn’t present.]

“Well, that ended in a rather anticlimactic fashion,” Celeste complained as she watched the male Brood slink away through the crowd.

“Agree,” Rowena replied before looking at Celeste and asking, “So why are you following us?”

“Can’t I also step out to enjoy the festival like everyone else?” Celeste asked defensively.

“Naturally, you can; the only issue is that no one else is trying to sneakily follow us,” Rowena replied.

“So I got curious about who would attack Stacey, sue me,” Celeste replied.

“So you planned to sneak into the Nosferatu family estate and observe?” Rowena asked with a grin.

“Yup,” Celeste replied.

Rowena turned to look at Adam, who shrugged and said, “She’s your friend and it’s your family estate.”

“Fine, you can come, but remember that you can’t interfere, no matter what,” Rowena warned.

“I know, I know. You’re worried that if you interfere and prevent the attack, the future will change. I got it,” Celeste replied before asking brightly, “Shall we go?”

“Why are you so excited about this?” Rowena asked as the three resumed their trek towards her family estate.

“Well, when was the last time the two of us got to hang out? Even if the pedo guy is here.”

[OfficialAphrodite (Felinia 7): 🤣]

“Ever since you returned to Darah Five, you’ve barely had any time to come visit or hang out, and if you did, you always brought Philip along.”

“If you wanted to hang out so much, why didn’t you contact me and ask?” Rowena replied.

“Because Philip never left your side. You two were… are so much in love that you do practically everything together,” Celeste explained before adding, “Wow, it’s awkward talking to you like it’s the past when it’s not.”

“I guess it’s different since for you it’s the present, but for us it’s the past,” Rowena commented 

The group of three continued on their way while Rowena and Celeste discussed ’the gold old times’, only the old times were older for Rowena until they finally reached the Nosferatu family estate.

Universal Year 3247

Vlad sat on his throne, surrounded by the pool of blood within the Temple of Blood, as he rested one elbow on the arm of his throne, while his hand supported his chin.

As Vlad stared into the pool of blood that surrounded his throne, humanoid shapes, many with wings, formed out of the blood that began to walk around and act as if they were sentient.

As Vlad focused on one of the humanoid-shaped blood people in particular, he said aloud more to himself than anyone else, since he was alone, “If my calculations are correct from the information Rowena told me back then, she and the pureblood should be in the past right now. Once Rowena learns the identity of Little Stacey’s attacker, the Nosferatu family is going to be thrown into turmoil.”

As he continued to watch, he saw another of the humanoid-shaped blood people sneak up behind the first before a sharp object appeared in its hand and it stabbed it into the back of the first, right where its heart would be on a normal person, causing it to collapse to the ground while the second ran off.

“I promised myself in the past that I wouldn’t get involved in the family feuds of my children. If I were to intervene each time they got into an argument, how would they learn and grow? However, if the situation is serious enough to threaten a large number of my children, or an unknown variable takes action,”  Vlad paused here as he saw three more humanoid-shaped blood people rushing towards where the first had collapsed and his eyes focused on the only male shaped one of the three before adding, “I may have no choice but to intervene.”

Universal Year 3229

Adam, Rowena and Celeste stood on one side of a road that traffic travelled along, while on the other side of the road was a wall that marked one edge of the Nosferatu family estate.

“How big is your family estate?” Adam asked in shock as he looked one way along the street and then turned to look the other way.

The wall marking the Nosferatu family estate ran so far that it left the range of his vision, even with his artificial eye.

“Well, our ancestor, Kavita, was kind of a big deal in the universe back in the day,” Rowena remarked with her signature grin.

“A big deal? I can’t even see where the wall ends,” Adam replied before asking, “Kavita’s supposed to be in what you Brood call Eternal Sleep, right? Is she hidden somewhere on the Nosferatu estate?” 

“That’s correct. The Nosferatu has a special family temple on our estate where the elder Brood go to enter Eternal Sleep when they are tired after living for so long and need to rest, or they just don’t like the current state of the universe. Kavita is sleeping within that temple right now,” Rowena replied.

“How does one awaken from Eternal Sleep? Does it happen after a set amount of time, or what?” Adam asked curiously.

[StealthAssassin9 (Earth): Maybe she needs to be fed blood like in Underworld.]

[Celebrityhunter69 (Earth): That actually makes sense coming from that idiot. I mean, Brood do feed on blood like the vampires in that movie.]

“That’s not an easy question to answer,” Rowena replied before looking up to the sky as if trying to think of the right answer, before finally shaking her head and saying, “I can’t give you a definite answer on that since I honestly don’t know, as I have never entered Eternal Sleep. 

I can only give you the same answer I received when I was young and asked this of one of my elders. They told me that every Brood that enters Eternal Sleep has a specific reason for doing so and that their subconscious somehow knows when it is time for them to awaken again. Whether it be because they are fully rested after being too tired, or that the universe has changed enough that it wasn’t the same as before when they didn’t like it.”

[Justiceistruth (Earth): … That like tells us nothing.]

[CEOHopkins (Earth): Well, she did say that she didn’t know.]

[Justiceistruth (Earth): Yeah, but isn’t she like supposed to be an important member of her family and all?]

[OfficialAphrodite (Felinia 7): And she is. But do you know how long the Brood race has been in existence? Stupid question, of course you don’t.]

[Whostolemyduck (Earth): We know very little of the history of the universe’s races and how old they are. All we have really learned is that the Deverinian and Nonpareilus progenitors were the first beings to be born into the universe and that they are twins.]

[OfficialAphrodite (Felinia 7): Ok, well, shortly after Lord Omniel and the Demon King came the races capable of subspace travel, such as the dragons, Levithen or Scorpos. Then, after them came the first progenitors.]

[Noobkiller9000 (Earth): Wait. You’re saying that the progenitors have existed since the start of the universe?]

[OfficialAphrodite (Felinia 7): Yes and no. The progenitors are not like Lord Omniel, the Demon King and those of the subspace races that were the first of their kind. The progenitors of each race have appeared at different times throughout history. It’s almost as if the universe suddenly decided that a new race was needed.

Anyway. While he wasn’t the first progenitor to appear in the universe, the Brood progenitor was among the first three.]

[Emojisonly (Earth): 😱]

[AlamoMatador4thewin (Earth): He’s that old?]

[OfficialAphrodite (Felinia 7): Yes, he is. So, as I was trying to tell you, Rowena might be over 2000 years old, which in your eyes is extremely old. But in the eyes of the universe and how long her race has been in existence, she is still very young.]