The Fallen Vampire-Chapter 254 - Chapitre : Trapped In a Box

Jordan woke up when she noticed that her room was quieter than normal.

When she opened her eyes, her bed was completely empty.

She sat up on her bed and rubbed the sleep out of her bright green eyes. "Babe..? You up already?"

Jordan waited and waited, but no answer came from the bathroom.

She expected Corey to poke his head out of the behind the door, but when he didn't come out she became a bit confused.

Climbing out of bed, she pulled on her clothes and a pair of socks to look around the room.

It seemed that Corey really wasn't here. But it was completely unlike him to just wake up in the middle of the night and then leave her without saying a word.

She wondered if she had annoyed him by accidentally punching him while she slept again.

Vowing to apologize to him later if she saw him, she started to leave her quarters and head to training.

Almost immediately after stepping into the hallway, Jordan realized why she couldn't find Corey this morning.

He and twenty-five others were already gone. The doors to their quarters were wide open.

Jordan bit down on her lip to keep it from trembling.

She knew that this would happen. She prepared herself for it.

After much internal deliberation, Jordan decided not to sign the paper confirming her participation in the new training.

Jordan liked getting stronger. Truly.

But she didn't love it to the same extent that most of the other cultists did.

Training was already incredibly hard for her, and she probably wouldn't be able to go through with it if the cult didn't have a literal magic lake that healed fatigue and injuries.

Jordan was more interested in the more niche fields of cultivation. Like pill concocting and array formations. Those didn't require broken bones or getting beat on.

And so even though she feared potentially being left behind, Jordan decided it would be best for her to stay at home and continue her studies.

But at least she wasn't the only one.

She and a handful of others walked in silence side by side until they arrived at the training hall.

As they slid open the doors, the group was surprised to find a familiar place waiting for them in place of Taira and Aveena.

"Cutting it a little close, aren't we? I was afraid I was going to have to play bad cop on my first day."

Jordan and the remaining cultists cupped their fists and bowed deeply.

"Second Lady." They responded at once.

Lucia smirked confidently as she leaned against her massive sword.

"Enough standing around, everyone. Let's get things started, shall we?"

The remaining cultists were about to learn very quickly that just because they could abstain from the harsher training did not mean that they were free from it altogether.

And since this was their first day back in a while, they were forced to endure their own little slice of hell.

-

Corey opened her eyes with a start.

For the first time in his life, he thought that he had gone blind in his sleep.

The entire room was pitch black and cold as hell. There wasn't a single light source or a source of warmth to be found.

He only wore his training pants. His back was pressed directly against a frigid, hard ground that was so uncomfortable it was a miracle he could even sleep on it in the first place.

Pacing around the room, he ran his hands along the walls holding him in place while looking for an exit.

He felt his surroundings from high and low angles, but it appeared there was no way out of here. Unfortunately for him.

'Cold..' he thought.

Corey sat back down and immediately started circling Qi through his body to warm himself.

However, he immediately noticed that his cultivation had been partially sealed. His core wasn't putting out nearly as much qi as it should have been. It was almost like he was a faucet reduced to only a drizzle.

Keeping warm would be… way more difficult.

Corey sat cross-legged on the ground and began meditating immediately.

Not to cultivate and force a breakthrough. But to hopefully keep his body from falling into hypothermia.

Ordinarily, such a thing would have been extremely difficult to achieve due to his practice of body cultivation, but this room was so dammed cold he could freeze within a few hours if he wasn't careful.

'Even the Dai-Shi's foxfire isn't helping… but I wouldn't be surprised if he took it back when he moved us.'

Corey let his mind dip out of complete consciousness and focused on the maintenance and promotion of his body.

He concentrated on the flow of every blood vessel. Every strand of nerves. Even the follicles on his hair.

80% of the human body's heat is lost through the top of the head. If he promoted his own hair growth, he had a way better chance of keeping warm.

Corey continued his work diligently for a long time. Though he wasn't particularly sure how long.

But eventually, he could feel a panging in his gut from having gone through an extensive period with no food or drink. He ignored it, lest he lose all of his progress.

While meditating, he physically felt the seconds tick by but lost any hope of counting them after the first day.

He only knew that he had been in his position for days. Probably weeks.

All that he knew was, the moment he heard a heavy door creak open.

Light finally petered into the dark room. Corey snapped out of his hypnotic state and shielded his eyes.

He wasn't a vampire. Wasn't an asanbosam either.

After all of this time, his eyes were adjusted to the darkness. If he was suddenly exposed to bursts of light, then he was more than likely to go blind.

For the first couple of minutes, he only stole glances at the light bit by bit.

When he was better adjusted, he finally stood up and wandered out while being careful not to look into the light source directly.

When Corey wandered out into the hallway, he noticed exactly what kind of structure he had been vacationing in.

One made entirely of black ice.

A torch was lit on the wall furthest from him. It's blue flame illuminated the silhouettes of familiar figures who were leaving their own individual cells. Corey hadn't even sensed that they were that close.

Rather than jumping into chitchat with each other, they instead gave each other solitary nods to let each other know that they were okay.

But for the most part, their gaze was affixed to the wooden table sitting underneath the torch.

Sitting on the table were 25 sets of two items. One small burlap pouch and one manual.

Himari was the first to wander forward and check out the contents of both. After all of this time, her hair had grown so long that it dragged behind her along the floor.

First, she pulled open the drawstrings on the pouch to see what was inside.

To her relief, it was an assortment of nutrient-dense grain balls.

"T-There's…" After so long spent in silence, Himari's voice was naturally hoarse so she cleared her throat and tried again. "There's food."

She was glad that hunger wouldn't be a problem anymore, but remembering the taste practically killed her on the inside.

Right now, she would have given her arm for some of Yem's sweet and sour pork with stir-fried bok choy.

"And the manual?" Shakti asked from the back of the room.

Wiping her chin of drool, Himari picked up the manual and read the title aloud.

"Still Pond Breathing Technique." She said. "I guess we're supposed to learn it?"

One by one, the group took their own items and cracked open the manuals.

A small study session took place while the cultists chewed on the crunchy balls of grain.

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Fifteen minutes later, whether they had fully committed them to memory or not, the books suddenly went up in flames.

Behind the table, a final heavy door lurched open, and a wave of fresher air entered the room.

Along with a new sense of danger.

Vaal narrowed his eyes as he took point in front of the group.

All of his senses were telling him that… he was about to find out exactly why this training had been optional.

"Stay sharp, everyone. We're heading out."