A story started by me to take part in Writathon.

Writathon April went by with 77,815 words. Hopefully, the next time will be better. Thank you to everyone who followed and has shown interest in the story. I do appreciate it, and it keeps writing long stories from feeling like screaming soundlessly into a void.

The plan is to quit my job and move to a deserted island, hook up a bicycle generator and a lawnmower battery or something for some electricity and swim over to land when I need to fill up the old WiFi tank. It's good to have life goals.

You will find some information about the story under this sentence.

It doesn't take much for Alucard to have a good morning. A soft bed, someone to light the fireplace so his toes don't freeze when he gets up, maybe a platter with some good wine and cheese to fortify the body for the coming arduous task of walking around in daylight. A fresh chamber pot and any lingering companions shooed away. No, not much at all.

This is why waking up at the bottom of a newly dug mass grave only clad in a dirty, blood-soaked robe while having someone throwing dirt on his face was liable to make him slightly miffed. To make matters worse, one of the few things he remembers is his dearest aunt having shut off his access to the family funds. It would not stand. He would have answers!

There is also the slight matter of having become one of the Awakened. Anyone else would have been ecstatic, but to him, it only seemed like more unpleasant work.

However, there is a ray of sunshine on the horizon. If he can keep his Awakening secret from polite society for a year while setting himself in a position of power, he is more likely to survive whatever had put him in the grave the first time and maybe take back his rightful place as the head of his house. It can't be too difficult since most do not even have any affinity to awaken before they turn sixteen, right?

Follow Alucard as he slowly learns what his power is connected to, the dangers of leaning on it too much and why not everyone is a ray of sunshine about him having acquired it.

The story will take Alucard from being a discarded corpse to solving mysteries around the sordid past of humanity and how his particular power connects it all.

Things to be aware of before reading:

The protagonist is Op for the situation he finds himself in, but only if he doesn't create too many waves and those with true power come knocking.

The protagonist is not a good person. He has character flaws that may make him unlikable to some, even if recent events are forcing him to begin reevaluating his values.

This is not necessarily a feel-good story, even if I try to get some moments in.

Trauma is an unfortunate part of life. Not all characters will have a happy past or a good future. Life is cheap.

I do try to make the story flow, but certain things have to be rewritten before it makes it to RoyalRoad. If you catch a transition that is too jarring, please yell at me, and I'll fix it. No part of the story I have on my PC or the story posted on RoyalRoad is published anywhere else, so you are not missing out on reading this version. It is a lot more family-friendly than the first draft I made. When it's done, I'll consider posting the full version somewhere else and keep the nice version here if enough people are interested.

The cover is Ai generated. I will one day commission an artist to make them for me if my stories start paying for themselves.

Hope you will enjoy my work for Writathon. Again, please do engage with the story. It does help to get it out there. Peace.