Season 2, Chapter 11: "The vampire who trusted again"

  [Present]

  Lightning arrived at the central clearing, where he used to meet the others. His face reflected peace.

  He didn't say anything.

  He just smiled.

  There were still no signs of Valterion, and the atmosphere was silent. Each member of the group was in their own corner of the world.

  Elizabeth had left with the maids to a place that no one else knew. A mystery, even for Juan.

  Lightning, on the other hand, was not looking for everyone.

  I was looking for someone specific.

  As he walked among the trees, a thick, dark and ancient energy stopped him in his tracks.

  A black aura like the night expanded among the leaves, like a vortex of indomitable mana.

  The young man followed his instinct.

  He advanced slowly, and when he reached the origin of the presence...

  There was Charlotte, standing in the middle of a circle of magical energy that floated and revolved around her.

  His eyes closed. His breathing calms.

  As if it were connected with another dimension.

  "Charlotte...?" Lightning asked, doubting.

  There was no answer.

  He took a step further. The air seemed to bend.

  Then, Charlotte opened her eyes.

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  Lightning retreated by reflex. That look had centuries on it.

  "What do you want?" I'm busy. - Charlotte said, without taking her eyes off her spell.

  "I came... because I felt your energy." It's... powerful. Almost aggressive. Are you okay?

  Charlotte barely nodded.

  —I try to make an ancestral spell. I'm close... finally close.

  "How long have you been trying?" Lightning asked, swallowing saliva.

  Charlotte sighed.

  —In human years... ten thousand times.

  Lightning almost fainted.

  "D-TEN THOUSAND?! That's crazy! And why do you want something like that?

  Charlotte looked down for a second. And then, he started talking...

  ?

  [Past - Charlotte's Flashback]

  "I was always linked to this power... but I didn't feel ready.

  "There were people who didn't want me to have it." They locked me up. They sealed me. They locked me in a tube as if it were a mistake.

  Charlotte clenched her fists.

  "I was there... for years." I accepted that that was my destiny. To be alone. Forgotten.

  Everything was darkness. Until...

  "One day... I heard a rumble." A sound like war.

  And then...

  The tube broke.

  The first image he saw when he opened his eyes was strange and warm at the same time.

  A young man with torn clothes, dirty, exhausted...

  And a giant in black armor standing next to him.

  Juan and Valterion. In its early days.

  Adventurers. Brothers of cause.

  Charlotte fell unconscious.

  When I woke up, I was no longer in the tube. They were in a forest.

  A lit bonfire.

  Juan and Valterion watched her in silence.

  "Who are you...?" Charlotte asked, weakly.

  Juan smiled.

  "I'm Juan." He is Valterion. We found you trapped.

  "And why... did you save me?"

  Juan scratched his head.

  "The truth... I don't know." I just felt that there was someone there. And when I saw your face, I knew I couldn't leave someone so beautiful locked up all my life.

  Charlotte blushed.

  Valterion, with respect, spoke:

  "Miss, maybe you see us as strangers... but I assure you that my lord was the best person who could have rescued you.

  Charlotte, smiling softly, nodded.

  "I know." I felt it.

  That night they ate, laughed...

  And for the first time in centuries, Charlotte felt part of a family.

  ?

  [Return to the Present]

  "Charlotte!" Charlotte, are you okay?! - Lightning shouted.

  She blinked, coming out of the trance.

  "What?" Oh... yes. I stayed... looking at little stars.

  Lightning looked at her confused.

  Charlotte smiled sweetly.

  "Thank you, Lightning. You reminded me of something I had forgotten...

  "The reason why I must awaken this power."

  Charlotte approached and kissed him on the cheek.

  "Thank you."

  Lightning turned red like a tomato.

  "O-hey!" That cheek is reserved for one of my interplanetary admirers! You can't...!

  Charlotte just laughed.

  And his dark aura shone, more serene.

  It was no longer a power to dominate it.

  Now, it was a legacy that belonged to him.

  And this time... I was ready to claim it.

  End of Chapter 11.