In the centre of a fern and flowers lay a pale figure glowing in soft ethereal light. Gabriel walked closer as the lights dimmed slowly revealing a woman lying on the ground unconscious but still breathing. He lowered himself to her level and peered at her curiously his heart beating hard in fear and curiosity. She wore a floor-length coat of black velvet lined with deep crimsons silk that shimmered like droplets of blood in the candlelight. An intricate silver embroidery coiled around the cuffs and the hem decorated in ancient symbols of runes and embroidered thorned roses.
Gabriel noticed the patch of silver blood welling up at the side of the black velvet coat. He quickly tore a piece of his shirt and began pressing it to her side. "She must be some sort of royalty." He thought to himself as droplets of the delicate silver blood began to trickle into his hands. He tried pressing his hands closer trying to clot the blood and a time ticked by the trickle of blood had stopped completely.
He sighed in relief and pulled his hand away and he could see that her breathing began to stabilize. He got up to go collect some water from the small stream near the ferns quickly taking a handful carefully trying not to spill a drop. He gently cradled the back of her head lifting it with trembling hands the water sloshed in his hand. "Come on…" He gently pressed his hand to her lips carefully letting droplets of water into her mouth. Some touched her mouth and trickled down, some escaping down the chin, or lost to the stone floor of the sewer.
Gabriel gently let the rest of the water trickle into her mouth just enough to wet her tongue. After making sure she wasn't choking on the water he set her head back down onto the ground and waited. His stomach growled in protest hunger picking at his stomach urging him to go find something to eat. Gabriel searched around the area trying desperately searching for something edible.
At this point the sun had set and the moon began to rise slowly from the east casting shadows over the sewage area. The glowing mushrooms were much more vibrant in the dark glowing pale blue and green the spores floating around them. Gabriel sat down next to her unconscious body in defeat and pulled out a singular matchstick from his pocket and picked up a small clump of dried ferns. He scraped the matchstick onto the stone floor of the sewer, the tip of the matchstick lighting up blazing with life.
He sets the dried clump of ferns on fire and began feeding it small sticks as it began to grow. It wasn't just flames it was hunger made visible. As the fire grew it writhed and roared a living beast of light and heat, devouring the wood and clumps of fern slowly. Golden tongues licked the air casting shadows in the dark sewage area. Sparks crackled and popped into the night sky, and smoke began rising slowly in soft tendrils of grey.
As the flames began to grow he felt a hand on his shoulder and he turned around to see two glimmering crimson eyes staring into his eyes. She sat now awake in the shadows motionless yet the moment her eyes met his, the would went still. Eyes like liquid rubies shimmered beneath long dark lashes, her gaze piercing and unblinking, as if she saw not your face but into his soul and found it wanting. Her beauty was ethereal, sculpted from moonlight and midnight, cold and flawless. Skin pale as porcelain caught the light of the silver moon glowing faintly like snow under starlight.
She didn't blink nor did she breathe. She watched him with a hunger too gracefully to be human. There was no fear in her expression—only curiosity and the faint lingering amusement of a predator observing its prey with a final moment before pouncing. Gabriel felt her leaning closer to him her soft breath brushing against him ticking his ear in a teasing manner. "Wait…" Before he could respond he saw a flash or ivory white and two sharp canines sunk down onto his neck.
The breath in Gabriel throat caught unable to escape he felt her cold hands on his shoulders as she fed off him gently sucking blood from his neck. He felt dizzy and his body began to fall into darkness as he felt his consciousness slip his body growing heavy from exhaustion from the work he had endured that day and his body went still. The last thing he saw before he fell into darkness were the flames extinguishing in smoky coils…
Gabriel woke with a sudden start as rays of sunlight were pouring down from the grated opening of the sewer system he felt dizzy and still very much hungry as his stomach growled loudly. He looked around his surroundings realizing that he was still in the same place. He groaned softly as he tried to sit up and his eyes locked onto two glimmering crimson eyes as he went still with fear.
A low and husky voice rang from the corner where the ferns were thicker. "Well it seems like my saviour has woken up." Gabriel looked at her in fear his hand unconsciously touching his neck feeling the bite mark that lingered on his neck. "W-what do you want?!" She gazed at Gabriel with small smirk. "Come here and I might tell you what I exactly want from you."
"You expect me to trust you after you bit me like that?" Gabriel looked at her with fear still lingering in his voice. "What if this is all a trap and you're going to kill me?!" She looked at Gabriel with an amused look as if he were a toddler complaining about something he didn't understand. "Trust me cutie~ you wouldn't have woken up in the first place if I intended to kill you." Gabriel flushes with embarrassment and he got up still a bit weak and walked over to her. "What do you want?!"
"Well I say there is no need to rush things hm? I think we should have a little self introduction first don't you agree?" She gently ran her nails along his shoulder teasingly. "Well my dear cutie~ you may call me Octavia." The name sounded rather odd and unfamiliar. Gabriel inferred that she may come from another kingdom. "Now enough about me tell me about yourself."
Gabriel looked up at her cautiously and nodded. "My name is Gabriel… Gabriel Shepherd." She smiled gently grazing his ear with the tip of her nails. "Well I apologize for suddenly latching onto you last night. I wasn't able to control myself and I was feeling rather weak… also you were the closest thing near me." She leaned in her breath caressing his ear. "Plus I had a feeling you would forgive me rather easily for my brazen actions." She flicked his earlobe playfully teasing him and making him blush.
"Alright I wont beat around the bush cutie~. I want to thank you for saving me back there and well… generously 'donating' some of your blood to help me." She pulled out a small red velvet pouch hidden in her coat and handed it to him. "I won't say much… but I suggest you make up your decision after you go through everything in that pouch." She cautiously lowered her tone and whispered into his ear. "I want to be 100% truthful with you… I can sense a crazy amount of potential in you and I don't want it to go waste in this 'common' town."
Gabriel cautiously poked at the pouch and then looked up at her. "I want to trust you but how am I supposed to trust someone that I barely know anything about?" Octavia gave him a thoughtful look. "Well cutie <3 let's just say our fates somehow aligned together and it resulted in our encounter." He looked at her sceptically but nodded. "Will we ever meet again? If what you're saying about fate is true?"
"Well it's hard to say cutie~ but I'm sure that fate will allow our paths to cross again very soon." She winked at him and a with a faint smirk curving her lips, she turned her head slightly, casting a final, knowing glance over her shoulder. Then without warning her body began to unravel into smoke and wings, a hiss of wind rushing through the sewage area. The edges of her form dissolved first, fingers fading into the flicker of leathery wings, her silhouettes breaking apart like shattered glass caught in a gust.
In a sudden flurry, a thousand bats exploded outward in a vortex of chaos and grace, swirling into the night sky. The echo of her laughter lingered in the air the swarm spiralled into the shadows disappearing into the darkness leaving nothing but the rustle of wings and the silence of her exit.Gabriel stared into the shadows wonderingly and he quickly turned his attention to the small pouch and wondering what it had in store for him.
The pouch was warm in his hands no less bigger than an egg but it felt special. There was a lingering scent of something intoxicating and unsettling at the same time. He reaches into the pocket with his finger and felt that there was much more space than the pouch actually looked. He searched around and pulled out a parchment of paper it read in fine print "Welcome to your future at the Noctis academy."