At that moment the remaining warmth in his heart died too and was replaced by a never-ending coldness, numbing him as he blinked several times at the beautiful princess whose heart was full of malice and uglier than his mother’s. For she was two-faced, at least his mother didn’t hide her hatred for him.

The crowd in the hall began to murmur and snicker. Everywhere he glanced people threw dirty glances at him. The cold stares, wrinkled-up noses, murmurs and malevolence on their faces mashed up and got absorbed in his heart, to remain there forever.

"How dare he come here?"

"Did he really try to touch our precious princess just now?"

"How did he even get in?"

Mean words, heart-shattering words, and gut-wrenching words were thrown at him. They didn’t comprehend him as a living being, they didn’t seem to understand he had a heart which was being pierced because of their actions and words.

In reality, Princess Elsaine had earlier asked her guards that everyone from the Wilfrid family be let in, she wanted to humiliate him in front of everyone.

Armaros saw his brother approach the princess with his charming smile, fakely plastered on his handsome face. The beauty that was a standard to be considered desirable, his brother possessed it, but he didn’t.

Robrick extended his gloved hand and bowed his head before requesting:

"Allow me to compensate for the sins of my brother, Princess Elsaine. Will you honour me with a dance?"

Princess cast one disdainful final look at Armaros as guards arrived and dragged him out of the hall. She accepted Robrick’s hand with a haughty smile, finding his looks to be of her taste. She snickered as he led her to the dance floor.

Armaros was taken to the dungeon. It was cold, dark and reeked of piss. His heart thudded so loudly in his chest as he struggled to get himself free from their rough hands. But they were too powerful and he was weak.

He was chained up along the wall and whipped until his skin peeled and began to bleed. His screams of pain echoed in the dungeon but were answered by none.

Once they had whipped him enough, they removed his chains and throwing him on the cold floor, beat him up. He curled up like a ball on the floor while they kicked and beat him up with their staffs.

His head received a deep gash and blood splattered on his clothes and matted his hair. His right arm broke as he used it to shield his face. The pain radiated in every part of his body and he whimpered and begged for them to stop.

Today not only they broke his heart but also his body. Mostly they chose to ignore him but today they chose violence and Armaros found himself helpless, at the mercy of elves who didn’t approve of his looks.

Once they had beaten him enough, he was thrown outside the palace gates like a discarded piece of dirty cloth. He fell on the hard ground and tried to get up but his body refused to budge because of the beating he had received. Soon, darkness engulfed him.

Amonidus found him. Armaros had earlier told his friend that he was going to the palace, the princess had personally invited him. Amonidus always had doubts because he knew the princess would never accept someone like him. He had seen her aversion for their kind, but he didn’t want to break his friend’s heart and Armaros was headstrong. He wouldn’t have listened to his warnings anyway. He was deeply in love with the princess.

Amonidus took him home and bandaged him up. His family was less hostile towards him and had come to terms with accepting him better than most families did. So he didn’t face hostility like his friend did.

Once Armaros opened his eyes he found himself in Amonidus’s house lying on his bed.

"You alright?" he sat on a chair near him drinking a glass of blood.

His head and body hurt but most importantly his heart ached from the events that had transpired earlier. Amoi offered him a glass too, seeing he appeared so defeated and had lost a lot of blood.

There was this grim look on his face and those warm eyes of his were no longer warm, they were frosty.

"I have to be somewhere," Armaros dragged himself out of bed and headed for the door.

"Where are you going? It’s the middle of the night," Amonidus asked, seeing his friend wobble and caught him as he was about to fall.

"To tip the scales in our favour. I am done with elves and their biasedness against us," he breathed out.

"Rest for tonight, you are in no position to anywhere. Regain your strength first," Amoi dragged him back to bed and tucked him in. Armaros stayed with him for a few days until his wounds healed to a certain level. But the scars they left would never fade and would result in toppling the balance of their world.

Armaros knew about the witch and he was sure she had some kind of power which had triggered something in elves to make them birth another species. But his species was weak, weaker than any other species on their planet. They couldn’t even lift their hands or defend themselves against elves and humans. Who ridiculed and bullied them daily. He decided to visit her.

Dawn was breaking when Armaros reached her cottage. She was up, watering the plants while holding her big belly. Hildara was pregnant with her first child. She and Rilias had gotten married and were expecting a child together. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

Flowers automatically bloomed as she touched the plants, she carried so many gifts and so many powers within her, she didn’t know them herself.

She heard footsteps and found a young boy standing just outside her small garden. His arm was wrapped in a white bandage cloth and he appeared dishevelled and lost.

"Can I help you?" Hildara put down the watering can and gently asked.

"Are you Hildara? Did you curse the elven race?" he asked without blinking. Those eyes of his were vacant and it made her shiver. She was taken aback at his direct questions.

"I am but I am not sure I have such a power to curse a whole race," she softly answered.

"Elven people have wronged me my entire life. They find my existence abhorrent and filthy and I am nothing but a speck of dirt," tears spilt out and fell on his cheeks. There was so much sadness in the boy’s eyes that Hildara could feel all of his emotions.

"Come inside and tell me everything in detail," Hildara invited him in and he reluctantly followed.

Once inside she prepared a nice cup of hot tea for him and offered it to him. He took it and began to take sips.

Armaros sat in the small room which acted as the sitting and dining room, near a small fireplace. Since the weather was chilly, Hildara had a fire going.

The blue-eyed boy then narrated his life story to her and asked if she really had powers or magic, she should do something to help them. Because this new specie had been suffering, they were considered pests and nothing else.

Hildara’s heart broke hearing how the kids were being treated. It reminded her of herself and she feared that her child might have to go through this.

The more he spoke, the more troublesome Hildara’s mental state became until she couldn’t take it anymore. She screamed so loud that Armaros feared his ears would malfunction. The powers hidden inside her shot out like a ripple of waves and spread far and wide. They hit Armaros and slowly and steadily spread throughout the kingdom, giving all the vampire kids a random power, along with heightened senses and speed.

Since Armaros was sitting closest to her, he acquired two powers and both of them were deadly. No one even realized what had happened, they only felt overly energized. All the wounds on Armaros suddenly healed and he began to hear so many sounds at once that he had to cover his ears with his hands.

Hildara’s heart seemed to be pounding in his ears and her scent was so inviting that he wanted to dig his canines into her. His eyes darted to her and he could even hear the heartbeat of her unborn child. Not wanting to hurt her or the child he scampered away and fell on the ground with a thud, his eyes wide in shock.

"What’s happening? What did you do? Make it stop," he screamed as all his senses overwhelmed him and he bent over. Hildara was stupefied. Not understanding what she had done or what had happened.

"What’s wrong?" she stepped closer to him but he yelled and held out his hand.

"Stay away or I won’t be able to control myself," with that he sprung to his feet and sprinted out of her cottage, with so much force that her door got uprooted and she almost fell back. Her eyes widened in horror as she whispered:

"What have I done?"