Hidden City

In the midst of looking around, there was a sudden clanking noise behind me. I turned around and spotted the same man who I followed just moments ago.

"Who are you! Show yourself- " The vampire emerged from behind, holding a bloody machete.

"Woah, calm down. Just here to admire your... interesting collection." I gestured at the nosferatu.

"...Eric Pendragon? What are you doing here?" He said as he recognized my face under the light.

"Do I know you?" I asked.

"No, but I do know you. You became the talk of the city; I even went to watch your matches. The way you took down that imperial bastard, that was so satisfying." He grinned.

"Mind explaining what's all this about?" I asked.

His expression suddenly turned wary.

"Answer me, why did you follow me. Are you here to rat me out?" He slowly raised the machete, as if preparing for battle.

"No of course not, why would I do that? I'm just curious as to why you are keeping these nosferatu here."

After hesitating a while, he placed down his weapon and motioned for me to follow him.

"Come, this is no place to talk."

Passing through the dungeon, we entered a small room. It was surprisingly clean and cozy. Examining the room, I found several pictures of the vampire and a woman. They were all placed on his desk.

Taking a cup of coffee, he began telling a story.

"A hundred years ago, I was but a simple thrall. My mistress took a liking to me, and gave me the opportunity of the lifetime, to become a full-fledged vampire. Of course, I took it immediately, there was no questions asked.

The mistress, she was a vampire noble, although she was fond of me, her husband on the other hand, hated my guts. He would find every opportunity to inflict pain and torture me. In the end, he forced me out of the household.

Fast forward fifty years, I found the love of my life. That woman you see in the frame? That's my wife. We spent many happy years together, until that bastard found out about her. I thought my days of suffering was over but that was just the beginning. He tore her from me and did many... unspeakable things to her, he even called in his noble friends to join in. I begged them to let her go, but they just laughed in my face. After they had their fun, they dragged her in front of me and killed her.

I was a pathetic weakling who could not even raise a finger against them. But now, it has changed, now I can finally avenge my wife and tear those noble fuckers apart, piece by piece."

His eyes turned red from the extreme emotion that his memories bought up.

"So, what? You just kidnap humans off the streets and forcibly turn them into nosferatu to exact your revenge?" I asked.

"No, do you think me some kind of monster? I was once a thrall; still have some humanity left in me. I got these creatures from a contact."

"A contact?"

"Yup, a contact from the black market. He somehow knew about my situation and gave me these nosferatu in exchange for sowing chaos in the city."

"I see. Well I don't care what you are going to do with these nosferatu, but I'll need a few."

"What are you going to do with them?"

"I need them to distract the guard from the sewer entrance."

"You need something from the slums? To tell you the truth, the slums is actually just a front. There is an enormous city underneath the 'slums' run by the Black Hand. He's the overlord running the underground biz. All the black dealings, the dirty information, he controls it all. It is also where the Black Market is located."

"Thanks for that information, now then, you won't mind me taking a few nosferatu do you?"

"Are you kidding? After you beat that little prince to a pulp, of course you can!" He replied enthusiastically. "Oh yea, do you need help at controlling those creatures?"

"It's alright," I shook my head. "Good luck with whatever you're doing."

I exited the room and returned to the dungeon. Hearing my footsteps, the sound of growling increased. Opening a door to one of the nosferatu, it raised its hackles at me.

"You dare bare your fangs at me?"

As soon as I revealed my dragon eyes, the effect was immediate. Under the presence of a greater predator, even a mindless beast knows fear. It whined and started burrowing its body into a corner like a scared puppy. I did the same with a few others. Soon, they left their cages and followed me up above ground.

'Let's put these beasts into action.'

Leading them to a nearby residential area, I let the nosferatu go. The sounds of screaming and wailing soon echoed in the dead of night. The commotion soon reached the ears of the guards stationed at the sewer entrance. I creeped closer to the entrance, ready to enter it as soon as they leave.

"Fuck this job, at least now we have an excuse to leave this trash area," one of the imperial guard said.

"You right, I'm sick and tired of standing in this dump, let's go," another one said.

Right after they left, I slipped into the sewers. When I entered the sewers, I thought I could maybe see directions heading to the underground city, but the tunnels seemed endless and repetitive. I felt like I was walking around in circles.

After wandering for almost 2 hours, I finally found evidence of life. There were a few wrapper scraps on the ground, and footsteps imprinted in the mud. Following the trail, I quickly encountered a few lurkers in the shadows. When I approached them, the one that looked like their leader stepped out.

"Are you here to enter the underground city? There is an entrance fee you have to pay ya know?" The goon said, grating his cleaver against the wall.

"Bug off," I replied, I didn't have time to play their little games.

"Oh, you hear that?" The goon turned around and said to his companions. "He told us to fuck off-"

~Swwwwwish

His words trailed off as his head flew through the air. The rest of the goons watched as the head flop onto the ground lifeless, their mouths open in surprise. As they came to a realization that their leader just died, they gripped their weapons in anger and came at me.

But these lowlifes were no match for me. After I swiftly dealt with them, they laid on the ground, with mouths and noses were filled with sewage sludge, slowly dying from suffocation.

Out of the corners of my eye, I spotted a shadow flitting away. He disappeared before I could catch up with him, so I ignored it and continued on my way. After a while, I saw light at the end of the tunnel. That was probably the entrance of the underground city.

Exiting the tunnel, I found myself at the back of a store. Making my way to the front, I saw a scenery that was completely different from the city above ground.

"Welcome to Dreamless City, a place for the damned! I haven't seen that face of yours before, you new here?" The shopkeeper spoke to me as he saw me got out from the back.

"Tell me, where can I obtain information."