[Main Pov]
Here I am, running home after a hunt. The mission this time took me far from where I live, and now I've got a long way back. Thankfully, I can run incredibly fast—faster even than most vampires.
As a hybrid, I'm not affected by the usual vampire weaknesses in the same way. For example, I can eat human food. And thanks to that ability, I only need to feed on blood every now and then. But these days, human food doesn't really taste the same… it's just not as appealing anymore.
At least it's still edible. The sun also affects me differently than it does regular vampires. When I'm out in the sun, I emit only a faint shimmer—so faint that, with the right clothes, I can avoid drawing attention. Thankfully, I don't sparkle like some damn disco ball.
Another thing that sets me apart is my hybrid brain, which is way beyond the capacity of even the greatest minds that ever lived. My brain is so powerful I can learn new languages in just a few weeks. And to top it off, I have an eidetic memory. Thanks to that, I've managed to learn most of the Greek dialects: Aeolic, Arcado-Cypriot, Attic-Ionic, Doric, Locrian, Pamphylian—even the not-yet-developed Homeric Greek.
Only after fully understanding all these dialects was I able to piece together and learn Epic Greek—which technically doesn't even exist yet. Back in my past life, there was this old guy named John who lived next door to my tiny apartment. He was a huge fan of epic poetry, and now… here I am: the only living being on this planet who knows how to craft true epic poetry. One day, I plan to cash in on that. Poetry and money—those are going to help me build my own sphere of influence.
Money and influence are the greatest powers in the world. Another major advantage of being a hybrid—and I'm still not sure whether this is thanks to the vampire part or the reincarnated part—is that my eidetic memory isn't limited to this life.
That's right: I can remember things from my past life too. So even though I was just a teenager back then, I can recall every single class—History, Chemistry, Physics, Philosophy, Sociology, English, you name it. Every little detail is still up there in my head.
As for my powers, these last seven years have brought unbelievable progress. At this point, my powers have far surpassed anything Shoto could do. Thanks to my much stronger body, I can control ice with overwhelming force—I can freeze massive areas and get dangerously close to absolute zero. Maybe, if I used my fire powers more often, I'd be even stronger. But I still fear Aro's influence… and what he might do to me if he ever found out just how powerful I really am.
Even without using my fire powers that often, they've still evolved quite a bit.Maybe I can't pull off the same massive feats with fire as I can with ice, but my control over it is insane. In fact, I'd say I control it even better than ice. I've always had to use it in secret, in extremely limited situations, and that's what forced me to develop such ridiculous precision—like igniting a flame inside someone's mouth and guiding it to burn them slowly… or even cloaking my whole body in fire without getting burned.
But I have to be careful not to let my secret weapon be discovered. That's why I only use my fire powers on distant missions, where there's no one around. Outside of those moments, I stick to ice. Thanks to that, people started calling me the "Emperor of Ice"—honestly, a pretty cool nickname.
Something snaps me out of my thoughts, and I mutter,"Shit…"
I just realized I'm lost. It happens a lot. I get super distracted—I start thinking about life and future plans, and I spiral into those thoughts. Eventually, I forget that I'm running at a crazy speed. Thankfully, with my enhanced sense of smell, I can easily find my way back, and I head home—which will be the Volturi's residence for a while, but that's a story for another day.
After a while of running, I finally arrive. For some time, we lived in villages, but due to my accelerated growth, we had to move every few months. Because of that, we decided to live in the forest, at a safe distance from the villages.
We live in a beautiful house deep in the woods. It suits my refined taste—or better yet, my future-savvy sense. The house is built entirely from stone, like a medieval castle. Actually, that was my idea.
It looks more like a fortress than a normal house. It was fully designed with secret passages and defensive features in case we were ever attacked by humans, vampires, Children of the Moon, or shapeshifters.
My father, Marcus, and I built the entire place with our own hands. Aro's a good carpenter, and Marcus knows a lot about stonework. Add in my future knowledge—and the fact that we're all vampires—and yeah, the construction was pretty manageable.
Even so, working together day and night, it still took over a year to finish. Probably because my architectural model was unlike anything they'd seen before, and a lot of what I asked for didn't even exist back then. So, they really had to create everything from scratch.
While thinking about all that, I walk into the castle and am surprised by a woman's voice."Hey, Morpheus. You took so long I started to worry. You really can't take this long on your trips. Your aunt and I were getting anxious. Your father needs to stop sending you on these dangerous missions. You might look grown up, but you're still only seven. So please, be careful—and don't take so long next time!"
I glance at the woman who said it, smirk, and reply while locking eyes with her:"I'm fine, Sulpicia. I've told you a hundred times—it's all going to be okay. You and my aunt shouldn't worry about me so much. I'm already big enough to take care of myself."
In my head, though, I'm thinking: I'm not just strong. I'm really strong. I could easily take down four vampires using only my ice powers. And if I combined them with fire? Maybe even ten, maybe twenty… wouldn't stand a chance.
Even so, their concern still comes off as endearing.
As I finish speaking, the air begins to chill, and my right eye starts to glow blue. With that glow, the whole room starts to freeze slightly. Just a little show of strength.
She notices, but isn't fazed. The same power that had made a psychotic vampire tremble with fear just hours ago… didn't even make this 5'6" (1.67 m) human girl take a step back. In fact, she looked even more confident. She stared me down and said:"You might be strong, but even if you were the most powerful person in the world, I'd still worry about you, you idiot."
Her response was cute. Paired with her natural beauty, it was fatal. And that's where the danger lies—which is why I try not to think about Sulpicia too much.
Truth is, she really is stunning. Long brown hair, flawless pale skin, a breathtaking face with those beautiful brown eyes. A beauty that, in modern times, would totally belong on runways all over the world.
I get lost in my thoughts for a moment, reflecting on how gorgeous she is, then say to her as I look her way:"I get where you're coming from, my dear. And yeah, we've had this talk a bunch of times. Which is exactly why… I'm going to ignore you again. Sorry in advance, and see ya next time."
I speed away from her with my super speed. Since she's still human, all she sees is a blur. She stays frozen in place, visibly annoyed, and I can still hear her yelling from a distance:"MORPHEUS, GET BACK HERE! I KNOW YOU CAN HEAR ME!"
I pretend I didn't hear a thing and crack a smile as I reach my room.
Taking advantage of my escape and the fact that Didyme isn't around, I lie down. Her scent isn't in the house, so I figure she went to the nearest village. Over time, my aunt stopped being such a nag and became more of an overprotective mom. That's why she's always arguing with Aro—she hates my missions, and it drives her crazy.
And nobody wants to see my aunt mad. Even the gods would back down from her fury… imagine a simple vampire like Aro. I keep going on these missions because I want to see the world, grow stronger, and honestly… staying home is just too boring.
But unfortunately, every time I come back, I have to sit through one of her lectures. And now that Sulpicia's here, I get a second one from her, too. She's a great person—but for me, she's trouble.
My dad brought her here a few years ago. She was a 15-year-old orphan. And speaking of orphans… I start to think about Lyka—and what her future will be like now that I killed her father. From what I'd heard before the mission, Dion was a good man, with a kind wife and daughter.
But their paradise ended the day Dion was turned a few months ago. The vampire who bit him was just some random bloodthirsty monster and never taught him anything.
On top of that, after being turned, Dion completely lost control and ended up killing his own wife, leaving Lyka alone beside her mother's pale, lifeless body.
That also shattered Dion's sanity—and from there, the story took its course.
Lyka… she'll be okay. I tell myself that one last time—until I hear Sulpicia yell again, and my thoughts return to her.
I really enjoy talking to Sulpicia—actually, she and my aunt are the only people I have to talk to. And for the longest time, I'd have rather talked to a demon than my aunt. Thankfully, she changed. But since I spent so much time with Sulpicia, we got really close.
And that was great. For a while, I was genuinely happy. My powers grew a lot, I got along well with everyone, and Aro didn't seem all that evil. Things were so peaceful that even my aunt became a reasonable person. That peaceful life lasted... until a few months ago. That's when everything changed—and that's why I try not to think about Sulpicia anymore.
A few months back, I started noticing something different in how she acted toward me. A subtle shift—but I picked up on it. And it just kept getting worse until my aunt finally told me what was going on. She said Sulpicia had fallen in love with me. Maybe she thought that after hearing that, I'd try something with Sulpicia.
Huge mistake.
When I heard that, I nearly lost it. Knowing someone as stunning as Sulpicia had fallen for me? Yeah… it made me a little happy, I won't lie. But the moment I pictured Aro finding out I'd been involved with his future mate? I got chills.
What terrified me even more was realizing that Aro probably already knew how she felt… and still hadn't done anything about it.
The uncertainty of the whole situation left a bitter taste in my mouth. And because of that, I pulled away from Sulpicia as much as I could. I started doing other things, going out more often. One of the things I began doing was hunting vampires and humans who abused children or raped women.
Luckily, I managed to wipe out some of the filth plaguing the earth. It was the year 1000 B.C.—and the number of vile people was so high that I could find one just about anywhere. Because of my hunts, a legend started spreading. They said that if you dared to lay a hand on a woman, force her into anything, or harm a child… hellish cold would come for you, freezing your body until death.
I used Aro's techniques to protect the weak. He taught me a few useful things over the years. One of them was:
"Nothing controls people better than fear."
I don't pretend to be a hero. In fact, I'd rather be something better than a hero.
I want to be a Baba Yaga. I smirk, thinking of the term used in John Wick, then reconsider: maybe Dark Knight… hmm, Frozen Reaper… Dracula… Ice Scythe… God, I'm terrible at naming things.
A sound pulls me out of my thoughts—and I go check it out…
To be continued...
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[N/A] If you've read this far, thank you! And since I'm terrible at handling compliments, please, insult me instead!