Divine Empress of Blood

Mmm, is it time for more experiments again? I yawn as I open my eyes.

“No dear, that inhumane treatment is over. I’m getting you out of here.”

Oh, great. The voice in my head again. I truly am going insane aren’t I? My eyes scan across the familiar room to see the operating table again. Or that’s what my brain thought I would see. I’m sitting in the middle of a lake. With the blue sky across me, clouds slowly drifting by as the rays of the warm sun run across my naked skin. I’ve gotten used to being naked over the past couple of weeks, as they want “access” to my entire body and don’t want any other elements intruding upon their experiments. Wait, how am I sitting in a lake? Wait no, I’m sitting ON a lake?

“Yes, I tried to recreate a calming environment for your soul, but I forgot mortals can’t exactly walk on water, well except that one man, but he wasn’t technically a mortal. Oh well. Hi.”

Um, I didn’t say anything? Oh right, in my head. Of course I can read my own mind.

“No. I am not a figment of your imagination. My name is Athena.”

Athena? Like the Greek goddess? Hahahaha I’m fantasizing about being greeted by a man-made goddess, a mere myth.

“Haaah. I suppose I’ll have to do this the hard way.”

“Athena” walks towards me. This is the first time I’ve gotten a good look at her, me, her, me? Her hair is rose gold, and her eyes are silver. Oh, her, mine, her, my pupils are weird. They’re in the shape of a diamond shaped square, with a cross hanging from the bottom. My imagination is truly weird. She bends towards me and pinches my cheeks. Oww, it hurts. Wait, it hurts?

“Do you believe me now? I am not you, well, not yet anyways. Let me explain. Around a month and a half ago your world, Earth, warped back into its original place. See, haven't you ever wondered where all the myths, legends, gods and goddesses originates from?”

Huh, now that she mentions it. I always thought it was just a weird rumour going around through word of mouth in ancient times, and then people added onto the story before they became figures of divinity. The thing that always bugged me is the concept of reincarnation, heaven, hell, purgatory. How did we come up with those concepts?

“Yes. See, human history is a bit weird. Earth used to occupy another space in another dimension, one connected to the Realm of Gods. Earth was originally created by the gods, for reasons we don’t remember. Anyways. A few millennium ago a rogue god wanted to sever our connection to Earth, so the rogue god shifted Earth to a parallel dimension, effectively cutting off all contact to divinity. While some of the rules regarding reincarnation applied, unmonitored by anyone. The rules set upon the world created a mask to cover up the connection, thus creating religion. Don’t ask me how it works, I don’t know.”

Wait, does that mean you are the Athena? Greek Goddess of War and Wisdom? Oh, I just realized neither of us have spoken a word, haha if I didn’t know better I’d believe it’s all in my head again. Oh, I’m rambling, sorry.

“It’s quite alright. Yes I am that Athena, although your history is a bit affected due to the severing. While I am not a greek goddess, I am a goddess of war and wisdom, one of the major ones, at least I used to be. We gods have been in a semi-dormant state since the severing. I woke up not long ago, I didn’t know what for until I felt my connection to Earth coming back. Anyways yes, your world is back in its original place, which connected our descendants to our divinity again, giving humans back their traits and powers. Most of what is portrayed in fantasy books is based on reality, Elves, Demons, Dragons. All those races used to wander across the Earth, but they were turned into dreams and weird memories upon the severing.”

I haven’t really read any fiction.

“Oh well, it doesn’t matter. Now that Earth is reconnected, there is going to be a war upon Earth. The gods are going to try to create contracts with the avatars whose qualities aliken to the origin of the varying gods, and they’re going to vie for dominance upon your planet. You see, that is going to be quite a problem for me.”

How so?

“Oh, let’s get back to that later. We don’t have that much time left, so I want to let you know what you are, since your subconsciousness is screaming in my head trying to figure out what’s going on with your body. You’re a vampire. Probably the only one in existence, as we purged all vampires and it’s source of origin after they tried to make gods their vassals, something they actually succeeded in. Anyways. You are for all intents and purposes, immortal, undying, everlasting. The only way for you to die is for a being of divinity to erase you from existence. It doesn’t matter what happens to you on Earth. You can be burned, impaled, shredded down to the molecular level, yet your body will always rewind to its current, perfect state. I don’t know if you’ve taken a look at yourself, but you rival gods in beauty.”

Huh, she’s right. It hasn’t really been important for me over the past, what did she say? Month and a half to pay attention to my looks. I stand up and look towards my reflection in the lake. My hair is blood red, like a white canvas dyed in blood. Not crimson, or deep red. It’s just the colour of blood. My eyes are a deep verdant green. It reminds me of the vegetation in a lush forest. My pupils are as weird as Athena’s. With pupils shaped in the silhouette of a tree and it’s branches. I’m a bit taller than I used to be, around 170 cm? My body shape has also been altered, it’s like it’s tailor made for seduction. Like the golden ratio and all laws of beauty has been applied to create a shape all sentient beings finds irresistibly attractive. Wait, vampire? Seductive? Does that mean that weird craving is blood? Do I need blood to live now?

“Yes and no. You won’t die without blood, but you will eventually go into a feeding frenzy, seeking out the nearest source of blood. You won’t crave animal blood, but human blood, or well, former humans. There are a lot of non-human races across the world now. One thing you have to be careful about is not sucking someone dry. If you drink too much they will shrivel into a husk of their former selves, and die. Normally that’s not going to be a problem. While you do draw out the essence called “life force”, it’s something all beings have. They do regenerate life force over time, and as long as you don’t feed on the same being every day, they’ll be fine. I don’t exactly know what your species entails, as it shouldn’t exist anymore, and I’m fairly certain you are the only one to be changed into a vampire.”

Okay. Vampire. Frenzy. Life force. I think I got it. You mentioned that war on Earth is going to be a problem for you? I sort of assume that’s why I’m here, talking to you?

“Yes, I’m glad you are so smart. It’s one of the qualities I like in you. See you and I are very similar. We both just want to live our lives and enjoy it. I want to get away from my father trying to marry me away, or gods forcing themselves upon me. You want to live a normal life, go to school, have friends, live by your own rules. I want to offer you a contract.”

A contract? A contract of...equals? I’m still new to all this parallel dimension Earth, gods, divinity, but I also get a feeling we’re quite similar.

“Yes and no. For all intents and purposes it’s as equals. I will help you mask your vampire side, give you my blessing, essentially making us, hmm, twin sisters? You will gain access to my knowledge and skills, and be provided the means to defend yourself, well, more than you already have. What I want in return is for you to help me kill or otherwise incapactitate any potential avatars. See, an avatar for the gods, like yourself, can be monitored by the gods without themselves knowing it. What I am going to do is try to keep track of all of them, and then relay that information to you so we can kill them. That’s honestly all I want in return. As I said, our goal is the same. We both just want to live freely, by our own rules. I will truly consider you my sister, and I hope you will do the same.”

Hm. Honestly I don’t see a downside to this, you’re telling me I can live the life I always wanted. Free from the confines of the military. I’m assuming your power will help me escape from this place I’m currently in?

“I’ll do you one better. See there’s currently an issue with your soul. You have been “killed” multiple times before your soul could integrate with your new, let’s just say race. This has weakened your soul and it’s currently unfit for a contract, it would break your soul and that would be true death, no coming back. What I’m going to do is take the souls of all the mortals in your current location, slay them and use them to repair and strengthen your soul. So basically, we enter a contract, you go to sleep, and when you wake up you can simply just waltz out of that location.”

This honestly sounds too good to be true, but for some reason I just know I can trust you. Weird, what is this feeling? Athena doesn’t respond, she just simply smiles at me.

“One warning, you will essentially gain two forms. Your, let’s call it “goddess” form will look like I do, as you’d be my identical twin, in both soul and body. You will also have access to your vampire form, your current appearance. While I will make it so your “goddess” form retains the immortality aspect, it has a couple of drawbacks. If you die in that form, you will revert to your vampire form for your “resurrection”. You will also have your fangs and claws hidden, yes you have those, just focus on them. Anyways you will still crave blood, but you will have to change form to feed. Which in my opinion is a boon, as you will essentially have two identities that cannot be linked unless witnessed.”

Oh wow, she’s right. I do have claws? Weird. My nails can expand to around 25 cm, and they feel really really sturdy. I can also feel my canines growing into hollow fangs, like they’re designed for sucking blood. Which, well, they kinda are.

“Anyways. We’re out of time. We will have a mental link so we can communicate when you’re in the Earthen realm, but I might not always be available, as I’ll be quite busy with tracking potential avatars. If you try to contact me and I’m unavailable, I’ll be notified. You can think of it as a call log. Okay. You just go to sleep now, and when you wake up you’ll be free to live your life. Have fun, sister.”

Yet again I can feel my mind releasing me from lucidity, and with the face of a smiling Athena, I fall asleep.