And please don’t tell me to stop being hard on myself, it is the truth, like ladies, gentlemen, and whoever else is there, this situation is just like that damn COVID. People, my people are dying for god’s sake.

Alright, I'll quit now. Here’s what happened next: humans or whoever finds this could be aliens for all I know.

January 8th 1726

The emperor sat in his office, rubbing his temples; dark circles were clearly visible under his eyes. Anyone could tell that he had been pulling all-nighters to figure out some sort of cure behind this. 

There was a knock on his door.

“Come in!” Desmond said, looking toward the door.

“Your majesty, you called?”

“Yes, any updates, Xavier?

“Unfortunately… there is no good news; the only news I have is about the horrible situations in the empire.”

Desmond let out a heavy sigh. “Alright, give me the details on that.”

“The streets are covered in blood, everyone is staying home as advised—we are currently picking up dead bodies from all over the empire. More than fifty percent of the bodies that have been collected are so disfigured that they can not be identified. Furthermore, we still can not figure out why they refuse to attack us.” Xavier spoke with a tone devoid of emotion, as if he were reciting items from a checklist.

“Oh god… when will this end?” Said Desmond, rubbing his temples.

“...I don’t know what to tell you, your majesty…”

“How’s Kael doing?”

“His Highness Prince Kael has been recovering quite well. He is back to his usual self of bossing people around and calling me a human, no matter how many times I explain my past to him.” Xavier smiled, but the expression didn’t reach his eyes.

“So he’s causing trouble again…”

“You said that, Your Majesty, not me.”

Desmond sighed. “Are there any updates from our researchers?”

“Unfortunately, no, your majesty, they can’t figure out how to stop this—after all, this is the Emris that we’re talking about.”

Desmond slammed his fist onto the desk, anger and despair burning through him.  “Damn it! So there is no way to even go after it!”

“...No, your majesty…” Xavier said softly, lowering his eyes to the floor.

“I’m failing our empire…” Desmond muttered, rubbing his eyes with a weary hand. “If only Kiara were here. Somehow, my daughter always knew what to do… even when I didn’t.”

“It isn’t like that, your majesty… even if she were awake right now, I don’t think she would know what to do either. The matter of the Emirs is a mystery, so… there may be no answer for anyone to find.”

Desmond lightly slapped both sides of his face with his hand, trying to pull himself together. “You’re right, Xavier…  you’re dismissed. Inform me at once if anything changes.”

Xavier bowed his head respectfully. “As you wish, your majesty.”

Without another word, he made his way towards the heavy doors of Desmond's office. As soon as he stepped out, he let out a deep sigh, rolling up his sleeves.

“This shit is eating everyone up…” he grumbled. “I am tired.”

Xavier kept walking the dimly lit hallway. He didn’t know what to do next, and he didn’t know where he was walking. As much as he wanted, he couldn’t go to Kiara just yet; he didn’t want to face her like a failure. So he went to the next best place, her room.

Her room looked exactly the same as the day she first fell asleep. Nothing had been moved, nothing had changed. It was filled with shades of red—her favourite colour.

In the corner of her room stood a tall bookshelf, neatly lined with novels she once spent hours reading. In the centre of the room, a large window overlooked the palace grounds. In front of it was a cushioned seating area where she often sat with a book in her hands, lost in stories for hours at a time. 

Xavier had been in this room countless times—both when she was still here, laughing and alive with energy, and in the quiet years since she had fallen asleep.

The silence now felt heavier.

He walked slowly to the bed and sat down on its edge. The soft mattress dipped slightly beneath his weight. After a moment, he leaned back and lay down, his legs still dangling off the side of the bed.

His eyes wandered to the canopy about the bed, tracing the familiar patterns in the fabric.

The room was quiet, too quiet.

Memories lingered in every corner, yet the one person who had filled the room with life was nowhere to be found.

Without realising it, Xavier’s eyelids began to grow heavy. The long days and the sleepless nights finally caught up to him. His breathing slowed as he stared up at the ceiling.

Before he even noticed it happening, exhaustion pulled him under.

And slowly, quietly, Xavier drifted off to sleep. 

“Xavier~, how long are you going to sleep?! My love, wake up!!!”

“Huh? Who…? Are you…?” Said Xavier, looking at the blurry figure on top of him.

“Hey! It’s me, Kiara, are you messing with me again!!!”

“Why can’t I see your face…?”

“Xavier!! Stop messing with me! Look closely!!”

Xavier lifted his hand towards her blurry face, his fingers stretched through the haze of the dream. Just as he was about to reach her, he woke up.

“Oh… it was a dream,” he rubbed his eyes.

“How long was I asleep for… It's time for work, I guess.”

Xavier slowly pushed himself up from the bed, the last traces of the dream still lingering in his mind. For a moment, he sat there, staring at the quiet room, as if expecting something to change.

But nothing did.

He took a deep breath and stood, casting one last glance at the bed. Then he walked towards the door.

The handle clicked softly as he opened the door.

Stepping out into the hallway, Xavier gently closed the door behind him. The corridor stretched long and empty before him, lit only by the faint glow of the place lights.

His steps echoed on the polished tiles.

Step.

Step.

Step.

Then suddenly—

A sharp blare shattered the silence.

Alarms erupted throughout the palace, loud and piercing 

Xavier froze for a second, his face hardened.

Something was very wrong.

“What.the.fuck.” he spoke through his teeth.

He ran with all his might, reaching the command room just in time.

“What the hell is going on?” He yelled.

Immediately, one of the imperial knights spoke up. “We don’t know, sir! But it seems something is interfering with the barrier that separates us from the humans, sir!”

“What?! How the hell does that happen?!”

“We don’t know, sir! There is not much information about the barrier.”

“Oh my god! Does anyone here know anything?!” Xavier yelled. “First the Emris, now this!” He took a sharp breath. “Show me what's happening.”

“Yes, sir!”

The knight hurried Xavier into the command centre and pointed towards one of the main control panels. Displayed on the screen was the empire's barrier—and a deep dent pressed into its surface.

The distortion was growing. Slowly but unmistakably, the protective field was weakening.

The reason why humans don’t know the existence of vampires is because of the barrier that separates them. Without the barrier, the whole empire would be visible to the humans, and the vampires might go on a bloodthirsty rampage.

“Do you at least know what is causing this?!”

“No, sir…”

Right at that moment, his majesty emperor Desmond entered the room. Everyone in the room stopped and bowed respectfully.

“All rise,” he spoke in a weary tone. “Xavier, what's going on?”

“Your majesty, it seems that something is intercepting the barrier.” Xavier pointed towards one of the control panels. “As you can see, the dent is growing larger by the second.”

“What?!”

“I know it's hard to believe, your majesty, but is there any record in history of this ever happening?”

“No! This has never happened before.” Desmond said, bewildered.

“What are we supposed to do then, your majesty?”

“Find the source behind this and gather anyone living near the border to the capital of the empire,” commanded Desmond.

“Yes, your majesty-”

Suddenly, the alarms grew louder.

The piercing sound flooded the command chamber, vibrating through the walls and drowning out the murmurs of the knights. Red warning lights began flashing across the panels, casting frantic shadows across the room.

“What’s happening?!” Yelled Desmond.

A knight ran up to him, holding out a portable panel. “Your majesty! A third of our barrier has been breached!”

For a moment, no in the room moved.

The words seemed to hang in the air, too heavy to process.

“W-what…?” his knees gave out.

Gaspes rippled across the room.

“Your majesty!” Xavier quickly rushed to his side to prevent him from falling. “You must stay composed!”

“How am I supposed to stay composed… we have lost everything…” Desmond mumbled.

Around them, the alarms continued to scream.

Panels flashed warnings. Knights shouted orders across the room. The once orderly command center had dissolved into chaos.

“Citizen! Citizens are our priority!”

“R-right, do as I ordered you.” The words left his mouth, but his voice was hollow.

They all did their best and gathered the civilians at the capital of the empire. Even the emperor and the empress showed up to try to calm the crowd down. It seemed like they had somewhat gained control of the situation, but that was until random, lethal blasts started blowing up the civilians.

“Protect the civilians! Do not let anyone else die—do you hear me?! Move them to safety! Oh god…”

Marliene held his hand and spoke softly, “It will be alright, love… you're doing great.” She smiled at him.

Desmond’s eyes filled with tears. “Why is this happening to us…? What the hell is this, Emis?! Why is the barrier going down?! How is any of this fine…?”

“I know love, nothing is fine, but we must stay strong, it is our duty…”

Suddenly, a terrible silence fell over the area.

And then—

BOOM.

A sharp, metallic bang shattered the calm. It echoed like thunder, louder than any weapon they’d used, rolling through the cracked sky from the direction of Cadell palace.

The sound stopped everyone cold.

Xavier, who was guiding the citizens to safety. His head snapped towards the direction of the palace. His blood ran ice-thin, ears ringing as that single, echoing boom reverberated again, like a knell splitting the sky in two. 

“No,” he whispered, already moving.

Marliene gasped shaply. “Kiara!” she shouted, sprinting towards the palace with Desmond rushing after her.

One by one, they rushed in, all arriving at the scene at nearly the same time. The room was perfectly fine; however, Kiara wasn’t inside her coffin.

“K-Kiara…?” Xavier’s voice shook, his hands trembled. “Honey, where are you?” He questioned as he looked around.

“Don’t bother with that,” a voice spoke from the shadows. “She belongs to me now…”

Xavier clenched his fists. “ Who the fuck are you!” He said, frantically looking around.

“Doesn’t matter, you guys should focus on escaping. The barriers going down the empire is going to crumble, people are going to die.”

“W-what?!” Mumbled Desmond.

“You know what, I'm feeling a little more evil, so choose number one or number two? I’m asking you, Desmond. The clock is ticking. Give me a quick answer.”

“We will not be playing you stupid games! What have you done to my daughter!” Marliene cried out.

“Aww~ that’s cute, however, we don’t have time, choose! Come on, Desmond, pick a number!”

Desmond hesitated, his face tightened with worry. “If I choose… will you tell me where my daughter is?”

“Sure~!”

“Okay then… two?”

“Oh my, how heartless,” they mocked. “Killing your own wife rather than your poor orphaned nephew.”

Xavier opened his mouth to speak. “What?!”

Before anyone could react, a sudden force of unnatural gravity slammed into Marliene. The air around her thickened, crushing her chest and limbs. She let out a strangled scream, which was instantly silenced by the force.

Her body distorted and then… blood. Blood covered Xavier’s and Desmond’s faces. What was once a grown, beautiful woman was now nothing but blood, flesh, and bones.

Desmond’s voice trembled. “N-no…”

They both stood frozen at the sight before them.

A chilling laugh echoed through the chamber, low and cruel at first, then rising into a full, haunting cackle.

“Ha… ha… ha… ha!” The voice rang, each note dripping with malice. “Tottles~ you are not getting her back anytime soon.”

Footsteps echoed. “Where are you guys-!” Kael froze at the sight before him. But he couldn’t stay frozen for long; they needed to run. Kael needed to make sure the only relatives he had left were alive. So he quickly grabbed the shocked males and began running towards safety.

—

And that’s how our empire crumbled. You might think it’s an exaggeration, surely the stone isn’t that powerful. And maybe you’re right; however, to us, the stone and how our empire came to be were unknown. If our emperor had pushed research on such a topic, our empire would still be here. Here’s a lesson: readers never leave the unknown to be the unknown.