The Petite Dungeon Explorer 4 Five Years Later

My delicate round and mismatched golden and green eyes stare back at me. It was an odd sensation to look at myself, it was a strange contrast. I'd defiantly lucked out on the genetic gene pool; both of my parents are something out of a modeling catalog.

It looks like they'd pa.s.sed that onto me.

Smiling, I run my hand down the front of my dress, it was simple and a deep black, it flares at the bottom and has a tight bodice fit around my upper body. A pair of polished short black boots graced my feet, a jade necklace hung around my neck, a silver medallion hanging from the jade strand.

Embedded onto the silver was the Silver Lion of Fate. It was the family sacred animal. Each of the n.o.ble Vampire families had an animal that represented their family and traditions. Our was the Lion of Fate.

Sighing to myself, I pressed a hand to my chest, I was indeed still flat as a board. It was hard to be a woman, in the body of a child. Although, being able to now move was a huge perk, I was thrilled to not be a baby anymore.

However, being a small child was not only a small step up. It was indeed a step in the right direction. Mobility was all I could ask for at this rate.

"Young Miss, you look beautiful," Herma, my maid, gushed as she claps her hands together.

She was the closet maid to me at the moment, there were a few others in the room, but they all kept their distance from me. Herma was the only one that was close enough to pat my head. She'd been with me since I was about two, she was the only one that my Mother would allow near me.

Her sky-blue hair was curled into a bunch of curls. Her eyes were almost always closed, but it never seemed to impair her, she was always smiling. I'd never seen her in anything but a smile.

I'd quickly taken a liking to Herma, she was just a kind soul, some of the other maids and butlers had their own motives to be by my side. Not that all the other maids and butlers weren't likable, but I knew that she was the best maid ever.

Which had quickly resulted in her being the head maid, underneath of her are the three other maids that are a.s.signed to care for my every need.

That was a thing that I had to adjust to, I'd never in my old life gotten this must treatment. Or this much care, by someone or by my Mother and Father.

Turning away from the mirror, I brush a hand down my face and walk towards the door. The maid closet to the door opens it and I head out of the room.

Today was a special day, I had to attend a ceremony for five-year old's. It was something that no matter what race you were as a child you had to attend and head to the pantheon of the G.o.ds. This was a way of not showing favoritism to one G.o.d or G.o.ddess.

Rubbing my hand over my face, I keep heading down the hallways. The halls were decorated with paintings. Looking over out the window, I glance up at the ash-covered sky, there was no sunlight in the area that my family lived in.

Glancing behind me, I look at Herma, she was smiling and keeping pace with me.

"Herma, how was your ceremony?" I ask her, as we round the corner and head towards the main stairway.

"It was amazing Young Miss, there were so many people and different races, I'd never even seen before. The priestess that unlocked my life page was beautiful, otherworldly, she was a Priestess of our G.o.ddess Muehia," she spoke with a slight twinkle in her eyes as she looks off into the distance.

Her rea.s.surance was nice, but it didn't do anything to cover up the uneasiness that I felt in the moment. The G.o.d of Life had said that he'd given me three skills to help with my transition into this world, I was quite excited to see what I would get.

That in itself was enough to make my stomach knot a little bit. Then there was the whole bit about me being a reincarnated person!

It turns out that there weren't that many reincarnated people, the few that were reincarnated were either monster that had turned out super strong. Or they'd been prosecuted by their perspective race, it seems that the Vampire's hadn't had any Reincarnated individuals.

They were already a pretty strong race considering the others, my father had told me that the humans in this world had once killed a reincarnated being. It was a sad day, considering that the humans in this world didn't care for the other races.

Either out of some sort of delusional belief that they'd been the chosen race or maybe it was the delusions that their G.o.ddess had instilled in them. The humans were the creatures created by the War G.o.ddess Lotasia, she was a mad G.o.ddess as some called her.

Apparently long ago she found that her own creations had come to lack in physical aspect towards the other races, although, her creations were able to flourish in terms of population growth. They weren't as advanced as the Dragons, nor had the longevity of the Vampires.

Leading her to do some pretty dramatic measures, she'd started to experiment on her creations. Turning some of them into grotesque monster-like creatures, losing all sense of reasoning and thought.

Which resulted in the other races to step in and to slaughter these abominations that had been created by the War G.o.ddess, but that was just what she wanted to happen in the end. With the slaughter of their brethren the other humans, began to rise up and seek to advance themselves, although it wasn't as fast as the other creatures, they were masters of another form of combat...war.

Perfectly fitting of their creator's ideas. The humans refused to work with other races to get to the bottom of the world dungeon, instead, the humans seek to carve out more land for their expansion.

Of course, there are always exceptions, some humans indeed were friendly with the other races. Although, outcasted by their own brethren they are accepted by the other races with open arms, for the most part.

Within my mother's city, there are very few humans, because it was on the outskirts of almost all territories. We sit on the frontier land; my mother's city was the last conquered dungeon tower for hundreds of miles. Plus, we're are at the edge of the Vampire Clan's borders.

I'd have to thank that air-headed G.o.d of Life; he'd given me a pretty laid-back life. With the infinite life span of the Vampires, I had all the time in the world. My Mother and Father are living proof of that, this year was actually my father's three thousandth birthday.

My Mother was slightly younger than my father, weighing in at only two thousand and seven hundred and four. I was excited for my Father's birthday my three other Brothers were coming home to visit.

They'd all been pretty busy, resulting in them not being back home for my birth, but that was fine. I was too small to do anything other than to have them treat me like a child, but now at five, I was able to walk around and do things for myself for the most part.

They were coming back though; I felt a little nervous at the idea of meeting them for the first time. I'd never had family reunions in my previous life, it had always just been me by myself.

Lost in thought, I didn't notice my father creeping up behind me, until it was too late.

"Hol! My darling little girl!" My father's loud voice sent me jumping as he quickly picked me up and twirled me around. I couldn't help the small yelp that left my mouth.

I could see Herma laughing quietly to herself to the side, I felt a crimson blush crawl up the side of my face.

After twirling me, he places me down and I turn to look at my Father. He's dressed in a black suit, with a golden unders.h.i.+rt and a neckless almost identical to my own around his neck. Every time I saw my father I was always in a bit of awe.

"Father!" I couldn't help but yell at him.

He was a giant of a man, his shoulder is wide-set, but the rest of him was also hulking. Yet, he could sneak up on me without making nearly any sound at all.

"Yes, my darling little girl?" He smiles, his pearly white teeth showing at his excitement, with his one eye was twinkling with amus.e.m.e.nt.

I frown, I was going to scold him for sneaking up on me, but he looks fair to please with himself for me to do that. Swallowing my words, I turn away from him and begin my descent down the stairs.

"Wait! Hollis, Daddy didn't mean to upset you," he panders to me as he quickly follows behind me. His big body casting a shadow over me as he reaches and grabs me again. This time I knew it was coming.

He places a huge arm underneath of my b.u.t.t and basically creates a seat for me to sit on.

"Father, you're really handsy today aren't you?" I ask him with a raised eyebrow.

A flash of surprise flickers in his eyes at my words.

"Darling, where did you learn that word form? Your Dad just wants to enjoy his daughter while she's still tiny, soon you'll be grown up and out the house," he pretends to wipe a tear from his eye.

I roll my own eyes at his acting.

"There is a long time before that," I sigh as I brush some hair behind my ear.

"Not enough time, you're already rejecting the ride from your daddy, what's next you wouldn't want your dear daddy to play with you anymore," he says pitifully.

Herma gives me a small smile, and I sigh.

"It's okay, Father, I'll still always be your little girl," I tell him patting his face with my tiny hand.

A huge smile breaks out onto his face as he grins like an idiot at me. We'd reach the bottom of the stairs when the air in the house had turned chilling. Looking away from my idiotic smiling father, I see my mother waiting at the front of the entrance. A few dozen servants surrounding her as she's waiting.

She was dressed in a long ball gown, that was skintight and curled around her like frozen water, the gown was the color of silver and ivory, it looks ethereal as the color seems to blend in with her flesh.

The inky black hair that falls around her shoulder and reaches down past her b.u.t.t, gives her an even more ethereal ghost-like look. Her emerald green eyes are giving my father a slightly annoyed look.

My father coughs into his free hand and bends down to let me down onto the ground. I chuckle inwardly, at the exchange between the two.

I walk over to my Mother, who had bent down slightly and had her arms outstretched, I quickly dart into her arms. Smiling, she picks me up with ease, as if I didn't weigh a drop.

"Ah, my little doll you look stunning," she tells me as she rubs her nose against mine. I couldn't help but laugh slightly, my Mother looks a lot like a cold ice queen, but she was quite doting on me.

"Blood Plum, you look stunning," my father's voice drifts from behind me, but my mother turns her nose up at my father, and promptly turns and walks towards the door with me still in her arms.

The servants quickly grab the door and open the two-door wide open for my mother to walk out. I could see the sour expression on my Father's face at my Mother's rejection of his compliment. The only thing I could do was shake my head at the antics of these two, it was almost childish.

Walking towards the carriage, I glance at the two bat-winged horses, that are both midnight black. Their red eyes are wild, but within control, as they waited to draw the carriage.

Standing beside the carriage was my brother, Salem, he had a glum expression on his pretty face. Although I'd grown used to the expression, I couldn't figure out the cause of the expression. Sometimes I wonder if he even knew how to smile at all.

With the lack of smiling excluded, he was a perfect older brother. His attire was similar to Father's, although, he wore a silver unders.h.i.+rt rather than a golden one. His wavy blonde hair was styled casually. And he pulls the carriage door open for me and mother.

"Mother, Hollis," he gives a small bow, I frown at him. He'd finally started calling me by my name, but I wanted him to call me sister. I tried to get him to call me that, but he'd been so tongue-tied that I had dropped the subject.

It was almost like he was trying to create a small distance between us. I'd yet to be broken by his apathetic expressions though, I'd get him to call me sister if it was the last thing that I do!

"Salem! Can you tell me what your Ceremony of Five was like?" I ask in a chipper voice, as mother sets me down on the front step of the carriage and I climb in. She follows and then Salem, Father didn't get into the interior of the carriage.

The inside of the carriage was not lacking in decorum, it was beautifully designed with red velvet colored cus.h.i.+ons and deep black color, the windows are tinted to prevent any harmful rays of the sun to enter.

Although the general area that we lived in had been artificially created to resemble the time of twilight, there was no harmful ray, one couldn't be too careful. However, being a pure-blood vampire, I didn't have to be extremely cautious about sun exposure, the most it would do was scare me, if I stayed outside for a long period, I would be burnt to a crisp though.

Of course, if you got strong enough, you could get a skill that would allow you to walk under the sun without injury.

Sitting down on the velvet seat, my mother takes the spot next to me, and Salem sits across from us.

"It wasn't anything special, the priest unlocks your status and that was that nothing more and nothing less," he says with a rather dull expression as he crosses his leg.

With that, we start to move forward and soon we exit the estate area, pa.s.sing through a large gate area.

"Hollis," my mother clears her throat," I wouldn't worry too much about your Ceremony of Five, I'm sure that you've been blessed with my and your father's strength. Even if you aren't strong, you'll never have to worry about anything, your mother wouldn't ever allow any sorrow to befall you," she spoke as she reaches a hand and brushes some falling curls from my face and pats my cheek.

I smile at her warmly, she was the embodiment of a warm mother.

"However, no child of mine hasn't been anything but extraordinary," she continues as she gloats with joy.

I'd quickly learned that all four of my brothers are accomplished adventures, my oldest brother had conquered three dungeon towers for the Vampiric race, while my second brother also accompanied him, in his party.

Salem being the third brother had been in a famous party, that was working its way to clearing the world dungeons 46th floor. But when my mother had gotten pregnant with me, he'd come back home to help her out.

Then there was the case of my youngest brother, he'd been referred to as a genius since his birth. It was these three enigmatic brothers that I was going to meet very soon, I couldn't help the small bit of worry that was cooking in my stomach.