Chapter 1: The Boy No One Saw
The morning bell rang at St. Dominic's College, echoing like a cruel warning.
Adarsh slipped through the gates unnoticed, head down, his thin fingers gripping his backpack as if it could protect him. His shirt was faded, too big for his small frame, and his eyes were tired from another sleepless night. In a place full of laughter and life, he walked like a ghost.
He was the boy no one wanted to be.
Weak.
Quiet.
Alone.
---
As he turned the corner, a familiar voice stopped him.
"Oi! Vampire boy!" yelled Vikrant, the biggest bully in college. "What dark spell are you reading today?"
Laughter erupted. Adarsh didn't flinch. He kept walking. That made them angrier.
A shove.
Books fell.
Another kick, just for fun.
But he didn't cry. He never did anymore.
---
After the chaos, Adarsh gathered his books and limped into the library — his one sanctuary. His mind, sharp and restless, devoured books faster than most professors. He read about history, biology, astronomy… and lately, strange things: bloodlines, full moons, ancient myths.
Something inside him felt… different.
Like a whisper, barely audible, had started calling to him. But he didn't know from where — or what it meant.
---
That evening, Adarsh returned to his broken home on the city's edge — a dim, two-room apartment shared with his elder sister Priya and their cold, uninterested uncle. The air always smelled like dust and leftover sorrow.
Priya was at the stove, tired but smiling.
"You're limping again," she said.
"Nothing new," Adarsh muttered.
She walked over and touched his cheek. "One day, things will change for you."
He nodded, not believing it — but needing to hear it anyway.
She worked two jobs — as a receptionist during the day and a night shift cleaner — just to keep him in college. She had dreams for him, even when he had none for himself.
---
But fate doesn't wait.
That night, Priya left for work as always. Adarsh stayed up, eyes on the clock, waiting for her return. Midnight passed. Then 1 a.m.
His phone rang.
A number he didn't know.
"Is this Adarsh?" a calm, cold voice said.
"There's been an accident. Your sister… she's alive. But barely."
---
The hospital lights were blinding. Machines beeped steadily. Priya lay motionless, wrapped in bandages and pain.
Doctors said her spine was damaged. She might never walk again.
Adarsh didn't cry. He sat beside her, motionless, his heart cracked in silence.
"I'll protect you now," he whispered. "No matter what."
That night, he walked home alone.
Under the blood moon.
---
Something was… wrong.
The wind howled unnaturally. His heart raced. His body ached like it was tearing from the inside. He collapsed in the alley near their home.
And then came the pain.
White-hot. Unbearable.
Bones shifted. Skin burned. His senses exploded — he could hear footsteps a block away, smell blood in the air, feel the moonlight crawling under his skin.
His eyes snapped open — glowing crimson.
His hands — claws.
His voice — a growl.
He screamed — but it wasn't human.
Then he blacked out.
---
When he woke up the next morning, curled in an alley with shredded clothes and blood on his lips, he gasped for breath.
"What… am I?"
Then, as if from a dream, a voice echoed in his mind — deep, ancient, commanding:
> "Awaken, child of the blood moon… last prince of the hybrid throne. Your destiny begins now."