The first thing he knew was the ceiling.
'No, that's not quite right.'
White marble, carved and vaulted, with etchings he was unfamiliar with.
Once more, his mind is a blur. The last thing he remembered was making it to the abandoned campsite.
Hero groaned, rolling his head on the stiff pillow, "What is it with me waking up with no memory?"
He breathed in the air. It was nice, crisp and cold with a hint of incense, he could even smell humans nearby, but this time he felt no hunger, his throat was adequately wetted.
He pulls up his status to check something.
[Satiety: Well-fed]
'Huh.'
Now there were two ways he could've been sated.
He succeeded in his blood frenzy and "acquired" some blood from humans.
Or.
For some reason a human was feeding him blood whilst he was unconscious.
'I hope it's the second, wouldn't be the best first impression to drain someone dry.'
But if it was the second option, then who, what, where and why?
Hero sighed, the answers will come, surely.
He was laid in a narrow bed, the blanket was scratchy but clean. He could see his red robe and arm wraps laid neatly on a cabinet across from. Light filtered through a tall stained glass window, painting fractured blues, yellows, and light reds across the polished marble floor.
This was no forest, thankfully. And if it was it was the strangest forest he'd ever seen.
But there was no stink of rot, no gnashing wolves, no trail of carcasses or hunched figures.
This was orderly. Man-made. Walls and stone meant for healing, not hunting, or at least that's what he figured.
He sat up slowly, his joints stiff and head foggy. He just sat there taking in the little details for a moment, watching the fractured lights dance around the room and breathing.
"This is nice, despite the uncanny situation."
Creak.
His ears twitched as he turned to see the door opening.
In came a woman with silver hair dressed in a deep green robe, with golden trimmings and embroidery.
She closed the door behind her, upon looking back and seeing Hero upright, "Oh you're awake!" She gasped, a bright smile appearing on her face.
"It would appear that way." Hero nodded.
She took a seat on a wooden chair next to his bed, resting her arms on her knees, leaning forward. "I was starting to think you weren't going to wake up, it was my first time tending to a starved bloodspawn so I didn't know what to expect!"
"You were out for two weeks... which Anders told me was quite unusual, normally meaning you'd been starved for many, many years..."
Hero's brow furrowed, "Sorry, but do you reckon you could fill me in on what happened? My name's Hero, by the way."
'No clan name? They always state their second name.' She wondered.
It was her turn to crease her brow, as she hurriedly wrote something on the book in her hands, "Memory loss... possibly due to head trauma or starved state..." She muttered before closing the book and putting it on the end table.
She stood up and curtseyed toward Hero, "My name is Freyja Werner, a priestess posted at this Temple of the Bell. It's... a pleasure to finally speak to the person who saved me."
"...Pleasure's yours. I can't remember so I can't say the same." He says bluntly, chuckling dryly, "Plus I was most likely trying to kill you, the fact that you're living proves I'm quite a shit vampire."
Freyja scratched her cheek awkwardly, "Well, yes. I have no doubt it was far from your intent. But for someone like you to say you're a shit vampire..." Her mouth curved into a wobbly smile.
"Here's what happened..."
She explained everything to Hero, their quest, the people in the party, the unexpected enemy, Garrick's death, up until the arrival of Hero and his power.
Hero's eyes were wide when he heard what he'd done.
"You're saying I conjured a sword the size of a house, collared the massive undead wolf with it's own blood, then tore it in half? That's what you're trying to tell me." He asked incredulously.
"Y-yes. I was in shock at the time... but I'm sure of it. And Celiac reaffirmed it, and he doesn't care for theatrics." She sighed, "You must be quite a high tier to annihilate a Expert-class necrotic beast like that."
Hero stared at her blankly. "I'm Tier 0."
Freyja's face stiffened.
"...what?"
"I'm Tier 0." He repeated. "The highlight of my career so far is making a puddle wobble."
"B-but! You showed the power of at least a Tier 6!" She stammered, clasping her hands, "Y-you were starved sure, b-but that should only increase your strength marginally... how long were you starved?"
Hero lifted his shoulders, "I have no idea."
She looks at him in silence, thinking. "I don't really believe you."
"You don't have to. I can prove it."
Hero bites into his own hand, his fangs digging a gash into his palm.
Freyja looks in shock at him, "W-what are you doing!?"
"Watch." Hero says deadpanned.
He imitates that feeling he had in the forest. This was his blood, and he felt a sense of control akin to the flexing his own muscles. He stilled the pool of blood in his palm.
Closing his eyes, the blood slowly started to lift into the air in ropes.
Feyja watched with seriousness. What she saw was something she'd expect any bloodspawn to be able to do, moving their own blood how they willed. Not to mention Hero was not any bloodspawn but a vampire.
But she could tell, Hero was an amateur. The fact the blood was rising in roped strands and not like a flowing river was proof of that. Hero had to close his eyes and focus on envisioning the blood rise, showing that it seemed slightly unnatural for Hero to do, whereas any respectable vampire doesn't even think about manipulating blood.
In fact, if he was Tier 5 or even 4, the blood would act proactively, moving before the vampire even called upon it.
It was the most basic ability of a bloodspawn, and Hero was struggling.
With his own blood at that.
She sighed. "I see, I was mistaken, that is truly unfortunate."
"You seem disappointed." He breathed out as he let the blood down.
Freyja nodded, "A little. We were hoping you could continue to help us with the crypt, but a level 0 can't help really."
'Every high tier we get, the less good people die, people like Garrick...' She thought, frowning slightly in grief.
She shook her head, "I shouldn't be bothering you with all this just after rising. I'll tend to your hand wound-" She cut herself short.
As on the hand Hero had bit. There was no wound, more than that, there was no blood. No sign of anything at all.
"W-where did the wound go?" She stammered.
Hero cocked his head, "Uh... It healed?" He said as if it was a given.
Freyja grabbed his hand. "H-healed? How is that possible?"
'She has quite soft hands.' He noticed, this was the first time he'd touched a person.
"I don't know, it's just what the body does. Doesn't everyone heal?"
"Not instantly! And what about the blood?!" She yelled.
He was left perplexed, "You are very emotional, it's almost impressive how often you change mood."
She glared daggers at him, "I am only like this because you are out of the ordinary!"
"So normally people take a lot of time to heal? That seems awfully inefficient." His brow creased as he rubbed his chin.
Shaking her head at him, "It's like you know nothing of the world you live in."
"I don't." He said frankly.
"What?" She asked.
"I don't know anything about this world besides a brief history lesson I got inside the forest. My memory is completely gone. I woke up by a tree on the same day you met me. Besides that and killing a ghoulish wolf and talking to an insane hunched person, I cannot tell you anything else. You are literally the first human I've ever met, to my knowledge." He explained.
Simply put. Hero lacks common sense, he can only go off of what he has experienced so far since awakening under that tree.
Freyja's grip on his hand lingered longer she meant to, her silver brows knitted tight, "You're saying these things like it's normal, but healing so quickly is unheard of even for most bloodspawn. Not even saints blessed by Goddess Bell have that privilege."
She let go, folding her hands in her lap, a little ashamed by her outburst. "You're a little frightening, Hero. And I don't know whether to be scared or excited by your potential."
Her voice softened slightly, "It can't be easy having no memory, not knowing the world around you or even who your parents are." She said with empathetic eyes.
Hero looked at her, she was quite emotional, but he could tell that for some reason she cared, maybe, he wasn't too sure.
"Well. When I was out in that forest, I never really thought about much. My only real thoughts in the forest was that I need blood, and to be safe. Everything else? It could wait."
"What about now, how do you feel? What's your next step?" She asks.