Maledictus Nobilitatem

His Hand

"The mind is its own place and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven"- Lost Paradise

...

" Sir Chad, I'm not from any clan, I'm a wanderer, from Yohan town in Goudstad city. I was with my brother when a night creeper attacked my brother and me, we separated and I've been looking for him ever since" Just the thought of using the term night creeper made Malachi sick to his stomach, and now he had to say it, it made his very being quiver with anguish, such a derogatory term placed upon superior beings."

"Oh Goudstad, that explains why you seem a bit different. I hear you, young man I'm sorry, you can stay with us, however, you must adhere to our way of living, I understand that Goudstad is very different from Ndalo, it's almost as if we're worlds apart, just try to adapt to our system and we'll do our best to help you adapt.

We've hosted many refugees. We'll give you food, a place to sleep and to earn your right here, you must work, but I'm sure you're exhausted so we'll discuss all that tomorrow morning. Malachi, I'll assign Mel as your keeper, she's like a daughter to me, she'll help you with anything that you need. "

Malachi looked at his surroundings and nodded indifferently. Mel took Malachi and they walked out of the white room.

" You see, that was very easy" whispered Mel with a smile on her face

"Oh yes that's why you were shaking uncontrollably throughout the whole time, I almost thought you were going to faint," said Malachi rudely

Mel ignored his comment feeling proud of herself.

" So I've been instructed to show you around but first you'll have to go clean up and get dressed. Also Mike you don't have to follow us around"

"Well I don't trust him to leave you alone with him, Mel have you forgotten what he is." gritted, Mike

"Keep your voice down, and stop talking like that, or else we'll all get into trouble, just chill okay," said Mel as she pushed Mike aside.

She instructed Malachi to follow her and they went to a washroom, it wasn't an actual room, it was an outside river that was covered by brick walls which created a wash section. Mel left Malachi to enter into it, he took a natural shower, the cold water hit his skin so softly, he could feel each drop of water hitting his body, when he finished, he saw clothes that were put out for him, a pair of jeans, and a white t-shirt, and some black sneakers.

He wasn't used to this kind of dressing, being of royalty, he usually wore formal clothes, with his velvet cape. But for now, Malachi was no longer a noble, he was a hopeless wanderer.

Malachi left the washroom he saw Mel sitting on a wooden bench waiting on him. He noticed that everything in this tribe's territory was built using natural materials, they were very hipster. He sat next to her and started to notice that Mel herself looked even more hipster in her environment, her curly natural brown hair that fell effortlessly on her shoulders, her thick brown eyebrows, and the way she crouched her legs even though she was sitting on a bench.

She had an odd marking that covered her left shoulder but Malachi couldn't make out what it was exactly.

Her skin was so golden brown, you could tell she spent most of her time marinating in the sun. Her skin was nothing like Malachi's pale, sunless skin. She had natural beauty, a soft sense to her.

"Mel, well my curse makes me become a vampire at night, do you think you're cultivation will work when I'm a vampire, it's almost nighttime," said Malachi as he looked up at the sky, as a vampire he had no appreciation, in fact, he didn't care less about the sun but somehow he felt this longing for it, cause he knew where he was Helios was the cornerstone of the cultivation that was keeping him there. He needed Helios, Malachi, the son born of darkness who needed light.

" Don't worry we still have time, let's go have supper first after that we'll discuss how we'll do this, just be confident, I've noticed that you wear your emotions on your face, try not to do that. Don't talk to anyone, eat and keep to yourself In the dining hall," said Mel softly as she smiled assuredly at Malachi

They both stood up and Mel led the way to the dining hall, it was late noon, But the sun had not set yet. This gave the hopeless wanderer some hope. He stepped into a large dining hall that was full of people already, some were already seated and others were lined up to get their food.

Malachi followed Mel close by, she told him that for today, he'll eat using her pass, so they stood in a line, people were staring at Malachi, whispering to each other, this made Malachi feel uneasy, he loved attention but right now he just wanted to blend in and not stand out but that wasn't possible, the others were looking at him because he was strikingly handsome, his black hair that added a mystical essence to him made him look even more striking than he originally was.

They got their food and a bottle of water and went to go sit next to Mike who was with a group of youths that were noisily laughing hysterically.

"What's so funny, what's going on guys?" questioned Mel curiously as she and Malachi sat down.

"Nothing really, guys this is Malachi, word of your arrival has travelled fast," said Mike as he took a big gulp of his water.

Malachi looked at his plate and was perplexed as to what was in it, he gave Mel a look that said 'what is this?' Mel who was seated next to Malachi giggled and whispered

"This is rice and those are potatoes and that's broccoli, it's really yummy, it will boost up your energy and take away the hunger, just put it in your mouth and chew"

Malachi picked up the broccoli and chewed it and scrunched his face, he had never in his life tasted anything so revolting.

"Mel this food is disgusting" spat Malachi, everyone on the table saw his reaction and began to laugh.

"Hey you're the new guy from Goudstad, unfortunately, we are people of nature, there's no meat here, I'm sure you're used to eating meat, but that green abomination down and eat the rice and potatoes, my friend, by the way, I'm Alex"

Malachi looked sideways and there sat a young little girl with two missing front teeth but she still smiled as though they were still there.

'She should be Alex.'

Alex reached out a hand to shake Malachi's hand, Malachi greeted Alex and continued to eat the rice and potatoes which tasted better than the "green abomination" that he was given.

He enjoyed the water, it made him feel less parched, it was like drinking blood that had no flavour. Mel urged Malachi to eat quickly, she wanted to sort out the next level of their issues, they had no idea if her cloaking spell would hold out till nighttime.

After eating Mel, Mike and Malachi all went to a field where there was an inner cave. Mel said it was a secret place she and her brother would often play in when they were children. The sun began to set and they all stood there waiting to see what will happen next.

As the stars began to take their nighttime shift and the sun began to lay rest. Malachi's appearance also took a shift, he went back to being a vampire, and the cloaking spell was no longer working just as he had predicted.

"Okay well it's not that big of a deal, you can do your vampire cultivation stuff and cloak yourself right," asked Mike

" No I can not, blood cultivation no longer runs through my veins," explained Malachi.

" You're going to have to learn how to cultivate like a human then, I'm not strong enough to suppress your curse," said Mel as she put her hand on her forehead trying to think of a solution.

She walked over to Malachi, picked up a sharp pebble, took his hand cut his finger. After that she spoke words onto the cut, and closed her eyes to meditate. When she opened her eyes Malachi's hair was jet black again and his eyes were brown.

"Oh, the pretend human is back. Geez Mel you're getting good at this," said Mike amused.

"What did you do? " asked Malachi.

"I used dark magic, to suppress your nature, I had to speak to your blood, to make it cultivate since I couldn't cloak you. Tomorrow we'll have to go to Shaman so he can teach you how to cultivate, you'll have to learn human cultivation using nature," said Mel as she let go of Malachi's hand."