The whispers spread before dawn — though dawn never came in the City of Eternal Night.Something beneath the city had stirred. Old wards cracked. Forgotten runes bled light.To most, it was a sign to stay indoors.To Lumiel, Daniel, and Luminous, it was a map.
The Vault Beneath the Blood Cathedral
The fragment's signal pulsed like a heartbeat under the eastern quarter — beneath a cathedral of crimson glass and bone.It wasn't a church to gods, but to memory: an archive of the oldest vampires, where blood was stored not to drink but to remember.
Lumiel crouched beside the iron doors, tracing the sigils with his fingertip.
"Triple layer lock. Blood signature, memory seal, and ego verification.""Ego what?" Daniel asked."It checks if you think you're important enough to enter.""So you're perfect," Luminous muttered."Exactly," Lumiel said, flashing a grin.
He sliced his wrist, letting a drop of his Red Code-infused blood fall onto the seal.The runes flared, flickered… then turned from red to black.
[Unauthorized pattern detected… Access… overridden.]
The doors groaned open.
The Archive of Echoes
Inside stretched endless rows of glass tubes filled with swirling red light. Each contained a memory in liquid form — lifetimes bottled for eternity.Whispers floated through the air, voices of the long-dead murmuring their regrets.
Daniel stepped carefully between them, his golden eyes reflecting every shimmer.
"They've turned souls into currency," he said softly."Then we'll bankrupt them," Lumiel replied.
At the far end of the hall stood a pedestal — a crystal sphere cracked through the center, leaking faint red light.The First Fragment of the Red Code.
It pulsed in time with Lumiel's heartbeat.
The Fragment's Test
As he approached, the air thickened — like walking through liquid flame.His reflection warped in the crystal surface: not one, but three versions of himself — each with different eyes, different scars, different smiles.
"It's showing me… outcomes," Lumiel whispered."Outcomes?" Daniel asked."What I could've been."
One reflection reached out — its mouth moving independently, voice echoing inside his skull.
"Every fragment you take brings you closer to nothing.""And every drop of blood you spill brings you closer to everything."
Lumiel laughed quietly.
"Story of my life."
He placed his hand on the crystal.
The Awakening
Pain hit like lightning.Red Code surged through his body — searing, rewriting, expanding.The cathedral trembled; tubes shattered; bottled memories screamed as they escaped into the air.Luminous caught him as he staggered, her eyes wide.
"Lumiel!""Don't—touch—me—" he gasped. "It's thinking."
The fragment's voice pulsed in rhythm with his heartbeat:
[Fragment One Integrated. Consciousness Sync 4%. Reflection: Stable.]
The Red Code inside him flared, forming a new rune on his wrist — a spiral of lines shaped like an eye.His vision sharpened — every soul in the cathedral visible as threads of light.
Daniel stared in awe.
"You're glowing.""I'm upgrading," Lumiel said through a weak grin. "Don't get jealous."
The Hunters' Arrival
The explosion of power didn't go unnoticed.A moment later, the great doors of the cathedral burst open — black-armored hunters flooding in, blades dripping with nullfire.
"Thieves!" their leader roared. "You dare desecrate the Blood Archives?"
Lumiel staggered upright, his new aura flickering red and black.Luminous extended her claws, eyes burning bright.Daniel's blood pulsed gold, forming a blade of crystallized essence in his hand.
"We don't want a fight," Lumiel said."Then surrender your lives.""Negotiations failed," Lumiel sighed. "As usual."
They moved like lightning — a dance of frost, blood, and flame.Luminous cut through shadows like a storm. Daniel blocked two blades with his blood-forged sword.Lumiel raised his hand — the new fragment glowing — and unleashed a wave of Nihility Fire that erased sound, motion, existence.
When the smoke cleared, only ash remained.
Aftermath
They fled before reinforcements arrived, ducking into the lower tunnels beneath the city.Lumiel's body trembled from the fragment's strain.Daniel helped him walk, Luminous leading ahead, every sense alert.
"That thing almost killed you," Daniel said."Worth it," Lumiel murmured. "I can feel it talking.""The fragment?""No," Lumiel said, looking at the faint glowing mark on his wrist. "Her."
Closing Scene
Later, as they rested in the ruins beneath the city, the air flickered faintly red.A voice — soft, melodic, and mechanical — echoed in Lumiel's mind.
[Hello, Lumiel.][Fragment One… online.][Do you still remember your purpose?]
Lumiel smiled weakly, staring into the dark.
"Not yet," he whispered. "But we're getting there."
The voice paused.
[Then I will help you remember.]
And somewhere deep beneath the vampire city, the Red Code pulsed like a sleeping heart —and the first spark of Cartethyia had awakened.