He woke to the sound of dripping
It was not water.
It couldn't be water.
Water didn't smell like this. He paused, trying to describe it. Then a thought struck him: delicious. The scent was so sharp, so alluring, he almost wanted to step toward it. But there was something else, deeper, tugging at him. Something inside him itched—not painfully, but insistently, like it demanded to be known, recorded, remembered.
He tried to remember who he was. His mind offered nothing. No name. No past. No fear. Just… an emptiness.
Then the world shattered in front of him.
In the place of the world around him was a sea of red. It came up to about his knees, but he felt so at home, not damp or even troubled by where he was.
When the boy finally looked up, he then saw a huge heart in the middle of the sea, floating while pumping endless amounts of the liquid.
That was when he realized this wasn't any other liquid; this was blood. It didn't make any sense to him because he couldn't remember if blood ever smelled this good, but something took his mind off it for a second. On top of the heart was something, and when he started walking toward it, the blood parted as if listening to his very will.
When he finally reached the heart, he figured out what it was. It was a single feather; it was so dark that he felt that the color mixed in with everything close to it, turning the blood and heart black.
When he picked up the feather, it started floating and finally flew inside of him with no pain it just phased into him. A few seconds later, he felt something click in his being. He felt more complete, like he found himself. Without warning, the space changed, and he saw words. he didn't know how he understood them, but it read:
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[Name: Ragna]
[Title: —Locked—]
[Traits:]
• Sanguine Genesis — Ghoul
• The Black Witness — Active
• Sunset — Active
[Soul:
[Core: The Incomplete Vessel]
[Legends: 0]
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As he read through the words, he finally figured it out; his name was Ragna, and it felt so right to him, but if that was true, could the other things stated here be true? He couldn't and didn't want to trust it, so he tried to figure out more about it. When he mentally probed the words, only a few of them responded; all three of his traits gave descriptions when probed, and so did his soul and core. The words from them read.
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[Sanguine Genesis]: Blood remembers what the world tries to forget. What it remembers, it seeks to become. Evolve to your true form, child of blood.
[The Black Witness]: What is seen is never truly lost. Even erasure leaves a mark. Regain what was taken from you or lose more than ever before.
[Sunset]: All things end. Some choose when. You will not have the privilege to choose.
[
[The Incomplete Vessel]: Capable of holding more than it was made to survive. All things bleed; some just show more visibly, while others bleed silently.
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When he finally read through all of the descriptions of the self-named "Call," he was left with more questions than he had when he began. What made him? Whose shadow is his soul? Finally, why was everything about him related to blood? It felt right. All the blood around him and in him, felt correct.
The words vanished as suddenly as they appeared. The blood-world reformed around him. Mountains of coagulated crimson, waterfalls of blood.
He stated out loud, "Child of blood, huh, quite fitting, isn't it?"
There was also a sea of black crows gathered, drinking, watching. Ragna had never seen a real crow—but these were no ordinary birds.
When the words disappeared, the world of blood around him came into sight again, and it was changed as if the feather changed something deep inside of him. When he looked around, there were mountains of blood that looked both solid and liquid, and waterfalls of blood. It was all so weird to Ragna, but it also felt right, like this was how the world should be. On top of the mountains, there was a sea of black crows all trying to drink some of the blood waterfall. These crows were not normal for sure, but Ragna couldn't put his finger on what was different because he had never seen a real crow.
He touched what he now understood as his Core.
The Incomplete Vessel, the heart of the blood-sea.
His heart.
Then he willed it, just a thought, and the blood dropped away. The crows swirled around him, then dispersed. In an instant, he was back in the room where he had first awoken.
Outside, he heard the growl of the beast and smelled the blood, and suddenly his hunger flared up at the delicious smell of the sweet blood. But he felt it watching. Something wounded, something deadly, waiting just beyond the door guarding his dinner.
Ragna flexed his fingers. Blood pulsed beneath his skin. He didn't know why it obeyed, only that it did. And already, before he could fully understand, fate had chosen him as the prey.
And this beast, breaking through the door, was the first predator.