The Empire of Eclipsia was very ancient,full of dark and bloody history. Past generations of royals had not been lenient with their subjects or their enemies.

It stretched for kilometers,to the north it bordered the Region of Arcadia,land of the werewolves,while to the south there was a desolate land of the Kingdom of the Cursed,where the souls of ghosts and damned people haunted the days. To the West was the State of Neutrals and Defenseless,a neutral place where the various species met for territorial agreements,while to the East there was the Nation of Salem,where the witches lived.

The capital of the empire –Vampirya– was a Gothic-style city dating back to the Renaissance. It was a large city that had breathtaking architecture with huge buildings full of arches and windows,the streets looked freshly paved,full of complicated intersections and secret passages. It was divided into 2 parts:
The upper part,where the imperial residence was located,together with the palaces of power and residences of high-ranking nobles or of the court;
The lower part,where the subjects were,living in the comfort of their homes and the eternal night of the empire.

The current imperial family was different from the previous ones,they didn't have the same desire for blood and war,but wanted peace for their subjects. For this reason the emperor and the empress were always travelling to try to mend corroded relationships with the peoples of other regions.

The city of Moonstruck was a very important historical center of the empire. That's where the entire history of the vampire race was located with all its most private secrets. And in the Forest of the Forgotten,past the Black River,far from the bustling life of the place,stood the Riverfield Academy.

The Academy was one of the first educational institutions to be founded,to allow promising vampires to develop their powers in a safe space that encouraged them to discover their potential. It was once open to anyone,but over the centuries and with changes in the judiciary it had become a private facility,frequented only by the children of the empire's elite.

Once you enter,you can never go back.

☪︎

┏━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┓
   𝓡𝓲𝓿𝓮𝓻𝓯𝓲𝓮𝓵 𝓐𝓬𝓪𝓭𝓮𝓶𝔂
  𝐻𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟: 𝒦𝓌ℴ𝓃  𝒥𝒾𝓎ℴ𝓃𝓰 '𝒢-𝒹𝓇𝒶𝓰ℴ𝓃'

     𝘋𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘧𝘶𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴,

     𝘞𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘨𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘙𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘪𝘦𝘭𝘥 𝘈𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘺. 𝘋𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘺 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘱 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺. 𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘯 1𝘴𝘵 𝘚𝘦𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳,𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘳𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘫𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘶𝘴. 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘥𝘦𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦,𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘙𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘶𝘱𝘰𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘭. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦,𝘢 𝘨𝘶𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘴,𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘵𝘴,𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘴,𝘭𝘪𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴,𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘹. 𝘌𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘦𝘹𝘹𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘤𝘵,𝘴𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘵𝘩,𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘺,𝘙𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘪𝘦𝘭𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘴. 𝘗𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘺 𝘳𝘶𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘐 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘵𝘰  𝘮𝘦𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘭 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳.

  𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘚𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘺,

  𝒦𝓃ℴ𝓌  ℬℴ𝒶𝒽 'ℬℴ𝒜'
  𝒟ℯ𝓅𝓊𝓉𝓎  ℋℯ𝒶𝒹𝓂𝒾𝓈𝓉𝓇ℯ𝓈𝓈 ┗━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┛

☪︎

Heeseung found the letter on the clean desk in his room. He had been sorting through his sheet music for some time and was surprised to find he had forgotten something.

He read it calmly as a smirk appeared on his face. Maybe this new school year wouldn't be as boring as he thought.

"Heeseung! Our mother and father have returned from their trip abroad. They have brought back some interesting things that they want to show us."
His older brother's shrill voice made him chuckle.

"Coming! Tell them not to start without me,I want to see what they brought from Romania this time"
He put the letter in the desk drawers,and left his room,to welcome his parents.

꒷꒦︶꒷꒦︶ ๋ ࣭ ⭑꒷꒦꒷꒦︶꒷꒦︶ ๋ ࣭ ⭑꒷꒦

Jay was in his room playing his guitar when he noticed a glint on the parquet floor. When he moved the guitar he realized it was a letter,he crouched down from the bed and picked it up.

He smiled when he saw the famous logo of the prestigious school. Maybe this time his efforts would be rewarded.

A knock at the door distracted him from the letter.

"Young master? I wanted to inform you that lunch is ready."
One of his servants –Kim Jinho– warned him of the time.

"Thank you Jinho,I'm coming"
Jay left the letter on the bed,going to open the door and diving into the corridors of his villa.

꒷꒦︶꒷꒦︶ ๋ ࣭ ⭑꒷꒦꒷꒦︶꒷꒦︶ ๋ ࣭ ⭑꒷꒦

"Mom you don't need to worry,I'm just going to take Layla for a walk. I'll be back before dinner,believe me."
Jake closed the door to his room,avoiding hearing his mother's arguments.

While he was looking around for the pink leash (Layla's chosen color) to take his dog out,he noticed a rectangular shape on the bed.

He took it and excitement showed on his face. This year was going to be great,he could already imagine it.

"Layla,girl,can you believe it?"
He happily showed her the letter,but she looked at him as if he had offended her.

Jake sighed before placing the letter on the shelf above the bed.

"Ok ok,walk first,letter after. I understand your priority"
Layla barked as if she was pleased while Jake shook his head in resignation.

꒷꒦︶꒷꒦︶ ๋ ࣭ ⭑꒷꒦꒷꒦︶꒷꒦︶ ๋ ࣭ ⭑꒷꒦

"Sunghoon are you ok? If you can't continue the routine because of tiredness,it's ok. We still have time before the start of the Grand Prix,you can rest"
His coach –Lee Jyhoon– patted him on the shoulder and Sunghoon sighed.

He hadn't slept a wink for a couple of days already,so he might as well take a break and skip the remaining hour of training.

He skated gracefully out of the ring,taking off his skates and putting them away in his bag.

He made his way into the locker room,wanting to change his clothes, which were now soaking wet from the cold of the ice rink.

When he entered the room and opened his locker he found what looked like a letter. He gently placed his backpack on the bench and began to read.

"Riverfield huh? Sounds fun...."
Sunghoon already knew that this would be a different year,and he was ready for the change in his monotonous life.

꒷꒦︶꒷꒦︶ ๋ ࣭ ⭑꒷꒦꒷꒦︶꒷꒦︶ ๋ ࣭ ⭑꒷꒦

"Mom,you'll never believe it!"
Quick footsteps came down the stairs accompanied by a cheerful voice.

"One second dear. Sunoo my baby,what happened so wonderful that got you smile like this?"
His mother placed the phone on the expensive glass table,giving him her full attention.

"Guess who got accepted into Riverfield Academy?"
Sunoo said showing the letter to his mother that gasped from surprise.

"Oh my god! This is amazing! I'm so happy for you my sunshine. I knew you could do it!"
The woman rose from her chair to hug her son tightly,happy with his success.

"We need to celebrate this milestone! I'll order a 5-tier cake of your favorite flavor,how about organizing a small reception with your friends? Uh,maybe we can book a swan dance..."
The boy burst out laughing at her flashy ideas,but he didn't complain. He was his mother son after all.

Sunoo couldn't wait to see what interesting things this new year would bring him.

꒷꒦︶꒷꒦︶ ๋ ࣭ ⭑꒷꒦꒷꒦︶꒷꒦︶ ๋ ࣭ ⭑꒷꒦

Jungwon was returning from his training when he noticed that there was a scroll in his bag.

Intrigued,since he had no memory of putting it in his bag,he took it and unrolled it.

A gasp of surprise came out of his lips as he reread the contents of the letter several times.

"No way....this is the same school that Jeonghan hyung went too..."
Just the thought of going to the same school as his hyung made his head spin.

Jeonghan –his cousin– had disappeared after he was accepted and had never heard from him again. Most likely he had immersed himself in his studies and forgotten about the rest of the world. He did that some time.

Jungwon quickly walked the rest of the way to his residence,happy to be reunited with his favorite cousin in a short time.

꒷꒦︶꒷꒦︶ ๋ ࣭ ⭑꒷꒦꒷꒦︶꒷꒦︶ ๋ ࣭ ⭑꒷꒦

"Your Highness!"

"Your Imperial Highness where are you?!"

"My prince can you hear us!?"

"If the emperor and the empress find out we lost their child they will kill us!"

"We are all going to die!"

Riki watched as his personal servants run back and forth across the garden frantically panicking.

An hour ago he had asked to play hide and seek with them because he was bored and they had decided to just use the garden as a playing field.

Riki laughed from where he was hiding. He had chosen this spot carefully so that he could be the last one left in the game. He enjoyed watching his servants worry about their lives when he was just 5 meters away.

A noise made him stiffen and he shifted his gaze to his right. Not far away a golden paper was resting on the lush green lawn.

"Strange,that wasn't there before...."
Riki furrowed as he decided to move closer to see what the fuss was about.

He hoped it wasn't some new idea from a group of criminals who wanted to kidnap him. This week alone had happened 7 times,and it was only Wednesday. His parents really had to step up his security team.

Once he was close to the object,and confirmed that it was not a threat,he picked it up and began reading it in a low voice.

His eyes widened once he finished reading,and he covered his mouth to keep his squeals of excitement from being heard.

Riki laughed brightly as he clutched the paper in his hands.

"This year is going to be fun!"

In the background the servants were still running back and forth trying to locate him as best they could,but Riki had blocked their attempts and taken refuge in his space.

This year was the right year. He would have made sure of it.

꒷꒦︶꒷꒦︶ ๋ ࣭ ⭑꒷꒦꒷꒦︶꒷꒦︶ ๋ ࣭ ⭑꒷꒦

On the top floor of the academy building a black figure had risen from his desk chair and approached the window. Another figure was sitting at the desk while leafing through a file.

"I saw the list of this year's chosen ones. They are very talented and have great potential,especially with their powers...."
The seated figure said,as she scanned the papers of each first-year student.

"I know. Some of them might exceed our expectations. It all depends on how they will be able to integrate."
The figure answered as he scanned the cloudy sky. A storm was approaching.

"....I didn't know we would have so many important nobles this year... Jiyong,exactly,when were you going to tell me that the imperial prince will be with us this year?"
The woman groaned,closing the file and dropping it on the desk.

"Patience bears fruit Boah. Also,the future heir to the throne is very talented,we shouldn't be held back by his status as ruler."
The headmaster replied,not turning around even when he heard the woman snort.

"Alright,altright,you and your secrets. I'm going to start preparing registrations for the various courses before the start of the year."
The headmistress got up from the chair,leaving the office.

With the mahogany door closed,the headmaster remained alone in the room. Drops of gray rain began to hit the clear glass and slowly the ground was soaked by the storm.

"I really hope this year will be different and that nothing will happen."

꒷꒦︶꒷꒦︶ ๋ ࣭ ⭑꒷꒦꒷꒦︶꒷꒦︶ ๋ ࣭ ⭑꒷꒦

"So? Do you have it?"

In the dungeons of the school,two hooded figures found each other.

One of them held a lantern that illuminated the ancient walls with a dim purple light,while the other held a dusty old tome.

"Yeah,I found it in the place where you told me. This will allow us to finally begin our plan."

"Give it to me,let me see"
The figure with the lantern snatched the tome from the other one,who made an indignant noise.

He leafed through the yellowed pages until he stopped on a page with a blood-red title.

"This. This will be perfect!"

Sinister laughter came from the school's dungeons,this school year was going to be the year they finally got back what they had lost.

☪︎

The start of this school year seems busier than usual,who knows what secrets will be revealed. But remember carefully,once you have passed the silver gates of Riverfield Academy there is no going back.