2: THE GIRL AT THE BOTTOM.

She opened her eyes, unfamiliar with the sensations she's receiving. Above her the twin moons shine brightly at opposite ends of the night sky. Wait… twin moons?

Suddenly, her head aches as memories start to flood in, memories of a man she doesn't know, who died at a wedding in a place very unlike this one.

"My head." she croaks as she sits up. She is lying naked in the snow, the scraps and tatters of what was her clothing are all around her. She is covered in blood and other fluids as she also recounts what happened to her body.

Two lives are fighting for control within her mind, and right now the only thing she's sure of is that she's very tired and in a lot of pain. She rises up on shaky legs, wrapping herself in the rags that she found on the ground then she stumbles away. The throbbing of her head and body is intense, what she needs right now is somewhere safe to rest. She pushed through the pain, drawing from her experience as a soldier fighting on enemy territory, and also drawing on the memories of living on the street, with shelter not far from where she is.

She forces herself to remain conscious and she makes her limbs to move through the pain as she treks through the snow. As she walks, she is unaware of what is happening to her from within, the fact that she has already begun to mutate.

Hours later, she finally regains consciousness. She is in a small shed that she vaguely remembers. She feels less tired, less in pain, and tries to process what happened previously.

"I was raped?" she surmised as she recounts the recent experience that her body suffered. But she also remembers that she was murdered at a wedding. There are two lives worth of memory in her head and she remembers all of it.

She feels different now, the memories of her body and her soul are in her mind, she feels connected to both of them, yet disconnected from them at the same time. She is someone different… something new.

"This must be the shelter I remembered," she surmised. She looks at the broken mirror at the side and take the moment to take in her reflection.

In the mirror she sees that she has chalk pale skin with freckles sprinkled across her nose, her fiery red hair was up to her shoulders, wild and tangled, what caused her the briefest pause was her eyes, they were unnaturally blue, almost glowing sapphires, and the sclera around them, which should've been white, were pitch black, a beauty mark was dotted underneath her left eye. Her teeth also felt weird, her canines have grown sharper and were now longer than her other teeth. Looking down at her body, she found she was small and thin, barely 5 feet tall, she was still filthy, covered in blood and other fluids from her rape, but her wounds didn't seem as bad as she thought and they were already healing. the last thing she notices was the blood red markings on her right shoulder, contrasting against her complexion.

"What am I?" she asks as she inspects herself.

She takes a breath, she has two lives in her and both are fighting for dominance. They both make up her existence and she needs to establish her own identity before either of them completely overwhelms her. She sits back down on the mat she used for a bed and began to meditate. She didn't even know she knew how to meditate until she recalled it from the memories of the old man whose soul she now possessed. As she did that, she reviewed the two lives that made up her being. The soul used to belong to an old soldier who then became the head of a fairly successful family business, he had built the family into a great empire, but was killed because of some upstarts. From this life, she acquired the knowledge of intimidation, business and strategy, several forms of armed and unarmed combat, and leadership. This body used to belong to a street urchin, she ran away from her abusive family years ago and was actually older than she looked, she found various ways to survive from stealing to street performances, she even learnt how to be a mechanic by working at a garage for a few years, she was resourceful. She had dreams of exploring Hyperion space.

Is that's where she was now? Hyperion space? That explained the twin moons.

She had died when she got caught trying to pickpocket some rich entitled assholes who were walking through the town drunk. It had turned out that those rich assholes were actually vampires and were easily able to track her down in an abandoned alley, where they decided to gang-rape her, before feasting on her blood and leaving her for dead, but she was just alive enough to get infected by their venom. She was now a newly born vampire, which explained her eyes and teeth. From this life, she learned how to survive on the streets, basic mechanics, several ways to make money and the history of this place she found herself in.

The injustice suffered in both lives burned deep in her mind. She wanted revenge.

"I don't know where this 'planet Earth' is located, so I can't hunt down the Macciano family," She reasons to herself, "But I can get revenge on those vampires that raped this body,"

Formulating plans and setting goals for herself helped to solidify her own identity, but she was still missing something.

"What should I call myself now?" she mused, she wasn't either of the people who made her up anymore, and she couldn't in good confidence use their names, or at least her semblance of a moral code wouldn't let her. She needed a new name.

As she contemplated this, she looked around, there was a broken piece of a packaging with writing on one side. It looks insignificant, but she read what she could of the alien language,

"Nh-eey-ah? Nya?"

She considered it, it sounded appropriate.

She then looked into her mirror again, practicing the name, and saw the strange markings on her back and its vibrant crimson color, the same color as her hair.

"Nya Crimson?" she mused then shrugged, it sounded good. Intimidating and awe-inspiring.

"My name is Nya Crimson; I have the lives of two people wrongfully murdered in me, and I will have vengeance."

* * *

Using her body's memories, she reviews what was known about the vampires of this place. They were a race of long-lived superhumans, one of several that were classified as 'omen'. Omen were genetically-enhanced creatures generally regarded as monsters.

Vampires were basically superhuman, with greater physical abilities, advanced regeneration and senses. They were infamous for their thirst for blood and love of killing. They were pretty strong, and the vampires she was up against were superior to a beginner like her, at least physically, but if she applied her combined knowledge and skills, she could be able to outmatch them.

She spends the next several hours preparing, she knew she had time; those vampires were staying not too far from where they raped her, they had told her so. She first needs to understand how strong she was before she can learn to control that strength. Experimenting with the limits to her vampiric physiology can't be as extensive, but it does prove informative, albeit to a limited capacity. One of the things she found out about herself was that newly turned vampires couldn't last long without sustenance, so she had to go out and hunt. Her first prey had been an alien cat –or what could be compared to a cat— then she let her new-found instincts take over as she drained all blood out of the felines body. After that, she discovered that 'feeding' temporarily increased her strength. She also discovered that vampires were extremely photosensitive, almost aggressively so. Brief contact to light from the alien sun caused her sever sunburn that took a while to heal.

After gaining a sense of her capabilities, she then proceeded to arm herself, crafting makeshift knives using sharpened scrap metal and cloth she was able to scrounge up.

Now armed and ready, she waited until sundown before she made her move, figuring that it would be when those vampires also became active. As she left her shack, she set it and her past connection to it on fire.

"No turning back now," Nya said as she ran up a wall with the quickness and nimbleness of a cat, "it's either kill or be killed." She determined

Using her enhanced senses, she finds the scents of the other vampires rather easily. As it turned out, they were pretty active that night and had actually and raped another street girl after her, Nya had found her, lying in the snow and clinging to life, like she was, and decided to put her out of her misery. Tasting human blood for the first time sent pure ecstasy coursing through her and she can still remember the sweet taste that lingered on her tongue.

Shortly after midnight, she finds the vampires as they are on their way home from a bar, the three of them were completely drunk and are laughing and shouting joyously, devoid of any guilt for the crimes they have done. Seeing them so jolly infuriates Nya, but she keeps to the shadows, observing them from a distance. She follows them all the way to their destination, a two-story guest house. When she observes no other people come or going from the house, and there seems to be no other person inside, she makes her move, breaking in through an upstairs window.

Inside, she can sense that they are all downstairs in the living-room. She is sneaking towards the stairs when one of them speaks loudly,

"We know you're there, you've been following us for a while now, why don't you come down now?" hearing this language for the first time she notes how it was similar in some way to English, the language spoken on Earth, but was completely alien, she recognizes it as Neo Van'xi, the universal language in Hyperion space.

So much for the element of surprise, she thinks, sighing inwardly, there is no point in sneaking around anymore.

She proceeded down the stairs to the large living room where the three of them are sitting around a sofa, looking up at her, expectantly.

"Who is she?" one of them asks, he had a shaved head. As she looks at them now, she notices that the three of them are rather good looking,

"She looks familiar," the second one commented, he had blond hair tied into a ponytail, "maybe she's one of those strippers?"

"Why are you here," the third asks her directly, he has short dark hair and sharp eyes

"You raped this body, and left it for dead in an alley" she said, "I thought some payback was in order."

"I remember you!" the blond ponytail exclaimed, "You're the bitch who tried to pick my pocket yesterday. I was sure you were dead after we were done with you."

Her eyes glow, something she discovered happens when she was upset, she forces a smile on her face, exposing her fangs.

"Ha! Well, fuck me!" the dark haired one laughs, "You actually turned? That is hilarious!"

"So… what, you came to submit?" the bald one said, "Very well, who did the deed? Which one of you is your sire?"

Nya looked at them. Sire?

"Oh, you don't know, do you?" the blond ponytail said, "Vampires have dominion over the lower vampires they created, like you. Since you have our venom in you, it gives us sway over you, so bow." He said, putting a strange authority in the last two words.

Nya felt her body tense, as it instinctively tried to comply, but she still remained standing.

"Tough little bitch, aren't you?" He sighed, "It isn't me, Shame,"

"My turn," the bald vampire said as he smirked, "I'm gonna make you into my personal slut, strip for me." He ordered

Once again, she felt a pull on her body to submit, but she forced herself to remain in place.

"Damn, she's one stubborn bitch," the bald one hissed, "I guess she's yours then, buddy," he says as he pats the dark haired one on the shoulder

"You came here after we left you for dead. That's some serious loyalty, girl. On your knees," he orders, looking right into her eyes

This time, she dropped to her knees, her body completely obeying his will.

"Ha, ha, look at that. I've got myself a thrall!" he boasts

His gloating over how he's going to make her a sex slave and how he's going to share her with all his friends infuriates her. She was once at the top of the food chain; she can't lose to bottom-feeders like these. Mustering all the will the both her past lives can give her, she rises to her feet.

"What do you think you're doing?" the dark haired vampire demands, "kneel."

She can still feel her body wanting to obey, but she is more than just her body and she stands her ground.

"What are you doing?" the vampires snarl,

"You wondered why I would come here after you left me for dead?" she asks, "You thought it was to swear loyalty? To you? Losers, drunks and rapists? You are beneath me."

Her words enrage the three of them, but she continues,

"You may have turned my body, but you will never own me!" She declares as she runs the dark haired vampire. She pulled her knives from her pocket and jamming it into the side of his neck.

"Oh god, what the hell is she?" one of the others said in shock. "no lower has ever rebelled against their sire."

In one quick motion, she rips his throat open, his blood spurting our violently from the fatal wound all over her face. Covered in blood, her vampiric urges took over and she licks it, which spurs her to bite into his neck and suck him dry, the second she gulps down the vampire's blood, she feels a surge of power electrify her entire body, stronger than anything she's ever felt.

As her vision goes red, she sees the other two horrified vampires, trying to decide between charging her and running away.

She doesn't allow them the choice.

When she comes too, she is lying on a bloody sofa, completely naked. The three vampires are in pieces all over the room.

"What the hell happened?" she wonders as she looked around. The sofa she was lying on, as well as the rug underneath and... pretty much everywhere, are spattered with dried blood, it's a varitable crime scene. Curiously, though, her body is unsoiled, not even a smear of blood on her pale skin.

In the decorative mirror, she gets a good look at herself, she had changed slightly. She was slightly taller now, about 5" 4'', and she had filled out, her hips were slightly wider. The most obvious change was the blood red markings, still displayed prominently on her back, but it now shifted and swam along the surface of her skin, altering itself and forming different patterns as it went.

"What are you?" Nya asked it

The red markings shrank, forming a symbol at the small of her back.

"A Prime Crest?" she said, somehow knowing instantly what it was even though none of her previous lives had ever seen it.

As she wonders about the crest, a message flashes in her mind;

[ERROR! YOU HAVE NOT MET THE NECESSARY CONDITIONS TO ACCESS FULL CAPABILITIES!]

In response to this, the crest hisses in her mind, followed by a screeching in her head that left her with a headache and bits of information that she suddenly knew.

"I triggered my phantasm, my special omen ability, and went into a frenzy. I killed my sire, and absorbed his essence. Does that mean I'm a rouge vampire now?" she wonders, how did she know that,

"My phantasm is called Blood Reaper? Sounds nice and intimidating." she replied. Instantly, the information about her phantasm and all its abilities were at her disposal.

Information was flowing from her subconscious mind, too fast for her to process. With a thought, the infromation organized itself and, in her minds eye, now appeared a digital window;

[SUMMARY]

Name: Nya Crimson

Age: 19

Condition: Standard

Alias: N/A

Titles: N/A

Classification: Omen

Species: High Vampire

Rank: N/A

Phantasm: Blood Reaper; ability to assimilate abilities from the blood matter of other beings.

[Notice: You have been designated a 'Special Existence; REGIS' whose choices may shape the fate of the cosmos. More information will be available at a later point.]

She read the details on the window intently, she didn't know how, but she knew that this window was now part of a much grander network that she had access to.

As she contemplated on this, she realized something,

"Oh, I have access to the memories and knowledge of the vampires I killed now… it's not as substantial as the memories from my past lives."

The markings hissed again, 

"Urgh," she grunted as she held her temples, her head was throbbing from all the screeching going on in her mind, "My head is killing me. Why does it hurt so much? Goals? Well, I've killed the three vampires that raped this body, so she's been avenged. I know that there are other inhabited planets out there in Hyperion space, but I don't know whether any of them is Earth where I can find the Macciano's who wiped out the family of this soul."

The markings hissed some more.

"Regis? I saw that on the Status window but I don't know what that is." Nya said. Even with the information that was available through the Status, there was still so much she didn't know… but she was going to find out.

* * *

For the next few days, Nya was living in the vampires' house. She had to get re-accustomed to her body, which had become about twice as strong in the span of a night.

After going through their memories, Nya had discovered that they were actually nobles of vampire aristocracy, who were on holiday. This briefly worried her, but she soon dismissed it, opting to focus on immediate concerns. She has also discovered that the vampires had brought weapons with them. They each carried with them a combat dagger, and what she assumed to be weird handguns. She tested her proficiency with both kinds of weapons, and found that her past expertise as a soldier made her proficient with both.

Further snooping discovered that the vampires were getting ready to leave soon. They had even booked passage off world in advance. They weren't really using it anymore, so she would inherit it.

After her first experience meditating, she found it very relaxing and even rejuvenating. Meditating once again, discovered that not only did she absorb the memories of those three vampires, but also their phantasm; the first had the ability of perfect stealth, the second had a hypnotic ability and the last actually had the ability to bend space. All were moderately impressive phantasms and were completely wasted on the three assholes that previously had them, she would put them to much better use.

Practicing with her new abilities revealed that perfect stealth was permanently active, and was structured in such a way that she could hide her presence when she wanted and became inconspicuous. Another function of her phantasm was that she could also synthesize abilities, improve them with enough concentration; she didn't really have much use for hypnotism, but if she concentrated, not only could she bend space, she could fold it and create pocket dimensions.

[ALERT; SPATIAL SINGULARITY DETECTED! YOU HAVE CREATED AN ALTERNATE SPACE! YOU ARE NOW LINKED TO THIS SPACE!]

* * *

A few days before she was set to leave, she walked down to the living room, where she still kept the vampires' heads lined up on the coffee table, like ornamental decorations.

She sat down on the couch and started watching the TV –or what her two previous lives concluded was a TV.

Suddenly a thought forced its way into her mind. "What is a Regis?" she wondered, it had popped up in the info dump she received and the voice in the dark place had said it to her right before she first woke up here.

"Regis, is an old word for king, or something. It's also connected to my phantom crest,"   

The crest hissed at her and information found itself in her subconscious.

"There are other Regis out there, I can almost feel them, and they can feel me. We're all connected… like a network."

From the days she's spent meditating and the information being forced into her head, Nya had discovered that Hyperion was a vast region of space, spanning over an entire galaxy and was always in a constant state of political flux. It was primarily populated by two distinct classifications of beings; the omen and the fae.

Within Hyperion, aside from achieving technological advancements, there was another way of attaining power; through magecraft given by mana. Mana was a mysterious energy that permeated through all creation, tapping into mana granted you incredible abilities. Those who were mana-sensitive are known as adepts and had access to near-unlimited psionic abilities.

Territories all over Hyperion are constantly being fought over in search of origins, ancient artifacts from a far superior race billions of years old; technology that harnessed primordial forces of the universe in ways that were beyond current understanding. Even dormant, origins were incredibly powerful and dangerous, the only ones who could activate and fully control origins were the individuals known as Regis.

There were currently a dozen or so known Regis in Hyperion, and each Regis possessed an entity known as an echo, a virtual consciousness that existed within their crests, that allowed them to interact with origins. Not much is known about the original –the mysterious beings who made the origins— but it was understood that their entire civilization was completely wiped from the memory of the universe, with the exception of the origins. Most of the known origins that have been identified were discovered within ancient ruins and world lost to time. 

A noise from the TV drew her attention, and she turned back to the TV to find it displaying a particularly graphic sexual scene, she had subconsciously tuned to a pornographic channel.

Watching the scene greatly aroused her and she could feel her pussy tingle, this was the first time she had felt arousal this intense. "What's happening to me?" Nya demanded, "I shouldn't be this horny all of a sudden"

Her crest hissed into her mind

"Psychic feedback?" She asked, she then put it together, "Of course, those vampires had so much libido that it might as well been a dominant personality trait, when I assimilated them, it all got compounded with my own. I need to watch out for that in the future."

Following memory and experience on all she knew about female pleasure, she proceeded to masturbate to relieve the building sexual frustration.

"That was interesting," she panted as she came down from her climax. She briefly wondered how actual sex would feel like.

Her crest hissed at her,

"If I don't properly manage the blood I assimilate, who knows what could happen to me next time, I need to be careful."

Nya turned off the TV, tired of looking a porn, and proceeded upstairs, she still had much to do before her trip off this planet.