"I'll spread a bed on the ground." the old man said and walked out to the small shed.
Nicolai still was dazedly sitting there.
"There, there young lad. You don't have to worry. You can stay with us. In fact, we were searching for a farmhand. If that's okay with you…"
Nico silently blinked. He had no experience working on a farm plus…. He was still in shock. He needed a little more time to get used to these changes.
This made him wonder. When he was briefly staying in the coven he had met a few of the elders there.
Some of the vampire elders had arisen from a hundred-year-old slumber like this. All the time the elders needed at least a year to get adapted into the new environment.
He used to joke as a kid.
Some elders were ever so saddened that they decided to slumber even more. That's how bad it is to adapt to changes.
For a vampire who lives eternally change should be a part of our lives. But in actuality, they too had felt like any human would.
They would feel the loss of their loved ones. Loss of their house or a pet.
Hell, some even cried that they missed their favorite restaurants that were no more.
Vampires had deep attachments toward people and things than they made it seem like.
Nicolai understood all that only now.
He woke up from a nine hundred-year-old sleep! Nine hundred! So much time had passed and so many things had changed.
There was no technology whatsoever all around him.
No cell phone, no laptop, no TV… nothing. Not even electricity..
He would die for a cheeseburger... or spicy ramen..
Their world had changed a lot. They might not exist anymore.
"ma'am…" he whispered softly to the woman who was busily rekindling the fireplace.
"Ah, the lad does speak. For a moment, I thought you were a mute. It's okay. We would have been okay with a mute farmhand as well." She handed him a bowl of water. "Wash your face and body well. The bedding is new. We don't want this mud you have on your body smear on it, yes?"
Nicolai peered at her kind brown eyes. "Can I ask you something?"
She sat down comfortably on the chair.
"Can you narrate to me what happened during the nuclear war.. nine hundred years ago? My father used to narrate bedtime stories of the war.. I want to hear them again,"
The lady handed him a blanket.
Nico wrapped it around his body.
"Nine hundred years ago.. it was such a long time. Many things have been forgotten, but everyone here remembers the devastation of the war. It destroyed the world. We had earthquakes, tsunamis…. The world was in ruins. Then one man came out and restored it to what it is now."
"The Alpha king." Nico whispered through gritted teeth.
"Cold?" the lady handed him a cup of hot water. "The Alpha king saved us all. After that, us humans live in peace with the werewolves,"
Nicolai couldn't handle hearing praises about this man. "He ... he was the one who started the war,"
"Oh no, some say the war began the day he was born. The werewolves back then were to… impulsive.. I guess. Now they are all good people. We trade with them often. In fact, the arctic tribe is just past the sea are our frequent buyers. We sell our livestock and in exchange, they provide us with other things."
Nicolai silently drank the water. "The arctic tribe is close by?"
"Yes. Just a ferry ride away. But it will take at least three days on calm seas."
Nico silently peered at his own reflection. His sullen cheeks and his hollowed eyes were reflected. His hair was still in the same state, but his body was reduced to a skeletal form.
There is a high chance his father brought his coffin here and left him here for his own safety. That old man really took it upon himself to protect him and coddle him. He did not need his protection. He was a grown adult and he can make decisions for himself.
But his father still could not comprehend that simple fact.
'He might have returned home. If I go back would he be there. He must be. He never actually disappointed me before.'
He tightly gripped the warm cup. 'The arctic tribe lives close by…. How is this weather so pleasant.. it's very close to the arctic? Even if it's the northern regions of Canada, it is supposed to be covered in layers of ice. This place is not even cold. What happened.. How did the climate change so drastically …'
Given it has been almost a thousand-year… the continents might have shifted just as the climate changed.
He was really curious why his father chose this place to awaken him. It must have been a really great reason why.
Nicolai licked his wet lips and peered at the old woman.
"I've spread the bedding. Go on lad. Time to sleep. If you stay up any longer, you will collapse," the old man dragged him over to the hall close to the fireplace.
He had spread a thin bed. There was a blanket and a pillow.
"Ah ah, wash before you sleep," the old lady gave him a look. "we'll be out of your hair now. Wash and sleep young lad. I don't wish to be washing away mud all day,"
"Yes, ma'am."
He took the bowl of water and wiped his body down. His torso was already red with few scratch marks from the rough material of the shirt. His hands and legs were covered in small cuts.
He made sure to clean them well and dried the spot with the small towel the lady handed him.
Nico gently rinsed the shirt he was wearing when he awakened. It was his usual black t-shirt, but it looked worn out. Just immersing in water, it started to come apart.
Lifting the torn shirt, he sighed. "This is what happened when you try to wash a thousand-year-old shirt…" he tossed it out the window and laid down in just his pant.
Thankfully, the jean material handled being buried with him well.
He unbuttoned the pant and laid there peering at the ceiling.
Tears started to drip down on its own. When he was talking with the couple, he was distracted.. He forgot his fate.
Now that he was all alone, his mind raced with thoughts.
He gently caressed his own palm. Just a few hours ago, he held his beloved, who was just a baby.
To him, it was just a few minutes ago. But the world did not stop for him. It went on.
His beloved must have lived so sadly.
The mate mark his beloved left behind on his neck started to itch again. He scratched it hard whilst silently sobbing.
"He left his mark on me.. Without me he must have had a very sad life."
For one, he knew that wolves go crazy when they are separated from their marked mate for a prolonged time. to think his beloved lived like that for his whole life hurt his soul.
He burrowed his head on the soft pillow and silently sobbed. "I'm sorry… I'm sorry I wasn't there with you… I'm so sorry…"
His beloved, just like any other, must have been deeply involved in the war. He must have been killed by the other wolves for being mates with a vampire.
It was all the werewolf clan's fault.
"No… it is the Alpha king's fault… I will kill you, fucker…"