The Second Otherworlder

His eyes gleamed with hope, and he prayed that he could reach his friends in time. With a sprinter's start, Jason pushed off one leg and ran in the direction that Eve and Karl had gone. Despite not knowing where his friends were, Jason screamed their names in desperation and begged for their forgiveness, kicking up dust with every step.

"Karl! Eve! I'm sorry!" the hate reader shouted blankly into the roaring wind, his voice still hoarse from the night before.

Jason's fast twitch muscle fibers contracted, and he pushed explosively against the ground. Feeling the wind brush against his face, he shot forward through the air as he followed the guiding white orb of light.

'I will apologize properly,' he thought to himself. 'I just pray that they give me the chance.'

Running thirty percent above his top end speed, Jason glanced down and watched as his muscles tore beyond repair and miraculously recovered step after step. From his blood control lessons with Vlad, he had learned about the superior regeneration of royal vampires and theorized a potential delimiter that would allow him to break the confines of his physical body. Though he had been afraid to test his theory before due to unforeseen side effects, now, there was no longer any time to waste.

Without breaking a stride, the hate reader continued sprinting for several minutes until he felt a tingling sensation in his stomach.

He slowed to a walk, and his mind began to drift in and out of consciousness.

"BLOOOD!" he screamed savagely. "I NEED BLOOD!"

Jason bared his fangs to the world, his eyes flickering blood red.

When he finally drifted back into consciousness, Jason smacked himself on the head and rationalized his thoughts. The sharp pain in his stomach had prevented him from thinking properly, but even as his vision blurred, he continued to walk in the orb's direction.

Jason glanced down at his lower body and stumbled in shock. With a ghastly look, he watched as his regeneration slowed significantly and observed the blood oozing from his legs, turning them purple, lifeless, and limp. With the last bit of energy that he had, Jason gathered his remaining blood cells and created a cone in the shape of a megaphone.

He screamed with all his might, his voice echoing across the plains, "Karl! Eve! I want to travel with you both! I can explain everything! PLEASE!"

Famished and dehydrated, the hate reader fell to the ground with a thud and grabbed his parched throat with a tight grip. He prayed that he would be able to see his friends again, but as a wave of slumber rushed over him, the hate reader felt his eyelids grow heavy and at long last, gave in to the temptation of sleep.

— In the City of Atlantis —

"Mother?" a stunning mermaid cried anxiously as her clear blue scales shone under the moonlight.

"Hmm, Neris?" her mother replied warmly. "Did you have another vision?"

"Yes," she said excitedly as she blushed, her cheeks burning red. "I caught a glimpse of a tall and handsome man walking in our direction. He has dreamy black hair, muscles, and a sharp jaw line, but…"

She paused a little and held her breath.

"I've never seen a man so full of hate and also so full of love. He seems to cherish life and yet, his purple eyes reek of death. What do we do?" she asked hesitantly. "I-I think that he might be from another world..."

Immediately, a sharp killing intent spread throughout the palace, synchronized with the sounds of loud crashing waves and strong ripples in the sea. The elder mermaid bared her sharp teeth and summoned a beautiful golden sword.

"One wasn't enough? The first one didn't plague our family enough, so you send another?!?" she hissed toward the gods, her voice poisonous and sharp. "Stay away from him, Neris! You know it's best for you."

Neris stood silently and watched her mother slash furiously through the water, her golden blade illuminating the ocean city behind them. She didn't know much about her mother's hatred for the otherworlders, but she knew that her father had been one, and she silently cursed the man for deserting their family.

The sapphire-scaled mermaid swam toward her room and peeked under her coral reef, revealing a tiny leather notebook. On the cover were the faded words "To my Love," and Neris had found it by chance many years ago, stowed away neatly in her mother's bedroom. Opening it, she flipped rapidly to her favorite page, and her eyes lit up with joy. For the hundredth time, she read about the flying metal creatures that rumbled through the air, fire that could started with twist of a knob, and even boxes that could record the sounds of the world, but what surprised her the most were drawings of tall glass trees that stood in the city like a concrete jungle.

Her curiosity soon took ahold of her, and she hurried to the backdoor, not wanting to miss the opportunity of a lifetime. She glanced back toward her mother once more and gently slipped away, gliding toward the shore with a sharp flap of her tail.

From her visions, Neris knew that the guy seemed kind in nature, and she was certain that she could win against him in a fight if it ever came down to it. To her angry and stubborn mother, the man's sudden appearance was a curse, but to the naïve and adventurous mermaid, it was a blessing.

Hearing the gentle melody of her daughter's splashing, the elderly mermaid took a deep breath and calmed her senses.

"Oh Neris, my silly little daughter, you really should learn to cover your tracks better if you're going to sneak away," she said, shaking her head with a slight smile.

She sat down gently on a stunning structure of iridescent coral and crossed her legs with a sigh.

"Why don't you ever listen to your mother?" she said with a hint of pain in her voice. She gently massaged the breast area near her heart and exclaimed, "I just never want you to feel the same pain I do."

With a flick of her hand, she cast her hand in a grandiose motion. Bubbles floated towards the moon, and a wave of water came crashing down on the city.

"No matter," she said with a snarl. "We, the proud daughters of Poseidon, will never make the same mistake twice."

With newfound determination, she clasped her hands together and called for her most trustworthy aide.

"Nami, my dear?"

Immediately, a floral beauty dressed in pink and blue popped her head into the room. She rubbed her dark pearl-colored tail as rose-colored coral stuck to her arms.

"Y-Yes, my Queen?" the pampered pink mermaid replied as she thrashed on the floor like that a fish out of water. "Teehee. I seem to be stuck. H-Help me please."

"Nami, you need to transform to your human form when you're in the palace. I've told you this so many times before," the queen responded with a sigh.

"Sorry hehe," Nami replied with a chuckle, completing her human transformation with a striking rose-colored dress. "I forgot."

"It's okay but listen to me seriously now. I need to ask you to work," the queen commanded in a deep and commanding voice.

"Work?" Nami replied tilting her head, her expression turning cold. Immediately, the water around her froze into human-sized ice statues and cut the air with a deadly silence. A chill ran down the queen's spine as the rose-colored mermaid curled her lips in the smile.

"Who is it?" she asked curiously, slowly carving away at the statue's face with her claws.

The queen murmured as gentle as the evening tide, and with a shout of glee, Nami nodded her head in understanding.

Licking her lips in anticipation of her next target, the rose-colored mermaid sliced and diced the ice statue with her baby blue claws until it resembled a handsome creature with black hair. With no trace of the once clumsy girl left on her face, the mermaid queen's best assassin snickered to herself and said,

"Of course, my lady. His life…I will certainly take."