Fourth Night of Eriton, Midwinter 464

Last eve, while 'twas snowing and I was looking out from my small windowsill, Loriana came into my chamber and presented to me this book. It is made with dark red-coloured leather and is tipped with gold on the edges of its creamy-white pages. I must admit I was quite taken with surprise. I put my hand to my mouth and exclaimed, 'How lovely it is! But, why, dear sire, have you gifted this book unto me? 'Tis not even my birth-day.' Loriana smiled at me. Like all childe-ren, I think my sire the most beautiful creature in the world, and she truly is, with her long golden hair, red lips, and eyes the colour of a sapphire. I love her like human children love their mothers, and possibly more. Loriana spoke, 'Listen, childe, when I was but a fledgling childe of your grandsire, Tilfrey, I kept a logue of each night, back when our kind could run free. I have long since finished it, but I still carry it with me because I love it so. Write down your innermost thoughts and feelings each morn or eve. Paper 'tis a place where, though you are bound, you can run free.' 'Thank you very much, Lori. I shall treasure it.' This seemed to be not the right thing to say, though. 'The point, innocent childe, is not to treasure it,' Loriana said, 'The point is to use it, to write in it.' 'But what shall I say?' I asked her. 'I know you have ideas up in that mind of yours, childe, if you're a true Vyristian. To start with, tell it who you are, what your life is like. 'Twill get easier the more you write,' Loriana said, 'Do not worry about spelling, or being formal in it. I feel that this 'twill be something you enjoy very much.' I thanked her one more time, and gave her a transirrianne kiss on the cheek. She left for her own chamber, and I wrote my first entry. I do hope it is some good. But as my hand is tired, I will continue tomorrow eve.

Val'ere Cienne Loriana Vyristian Transirrian

Fifth Night of Eriton, Midwinter 464

I am still not entirely sure how I should be doing this. I feel as though I am a heroine like Bethienne from the Booke Gal'mir, keeping a logue to tell others of war's horrors. How long ago my days in the peaceful moonlit Vyristian Grande Library seem! I could sit for hours and read the manuscripts, records, and Bookes; I could escape to other lands in that library.

Loriana said I should tell about myself, and it certainly does seem fitting to begin a logue. My name, as you already know, is Val'ere Cienne Loriana Vyristian Transirrian. Val'ere is my given name, given unto me by the Elders, meaning Blessed Dark Childe. 'Tis fitting, with my long, slightly wavy black hair and dark eyes. Cienne means Snow Blossom, the name given unto me by Loriana when I was but a babe. Naturally, I took my sire's given name, Loriana, which means Candle Light. It fits her well, but not me so much, I'm afraid. Vyristian is my Order, the One True Order that Transirrian himself named. The name means United Power and symbolizes the might of my beautiful order, which alas, has now fallen. I remember it with pain in my heart, and I will leave the story for another time when I am not so burdened and weary. Transirrian the name of my kind. It means 'Blooded Ones.' The common folk, humans, call us vampires, and even fail to acknowledge our separate orders. Their hatred of us in unfounded and baseless, except for their silly myths and legends. They say we are killers, but no Transirrian has ever killed a human. We take what we need and leave, leaving them with plenty of life and strength. The humans are nothing more than farm cattle. When one stands up and says something, no matter how senseless and cruel it is, or untrue, they all follow. The humans will all kill each other one day, Loriana says. 'Tis

true. They have persucuted each other , made war, killed each other, not out of neccessity, but out of pure hatred and apathy. No Transirrian would ever do that, turn on his kind or order, but the humans do it all the time. A little doubt or fear can make them lose faith and turn into raging animals. They claim we are the killers, but do they ever stop to wonder about the animals they breed, raise, then kill for food? We take out of neccessity their blood, and a few of their children to replace the Transirrian lives they take. The humans are evil creatures, but even so we treat them with as much respect as we can.

Loriana says we must forgive them for their sins, because they know not what they do. I do not understand this, but I respect her goodness. I find it much harder, because in my short life I have seen far too much of the humans' apathy. We, the mighty Vyristians used to inhabit the beautiful land of Transirria with other orders of Transirrians. We Vyristians co-existed fairly peacefully with the people of the country Morin next to our borders for over one hundred thousand years. I was born in Morin as a human, and taken from my 'family' by Loriana, who cared for me until I was one year old and had my Birthing Ritual. I was named, given my first transirriane kiss, and therefore changed into an Tanire-Childe, a stage in my life where I am invulnerable to all disease, injury, and death. I will be a Tanire-Childe until I am twenty years old, when I will be changed into a fully-grown Transirrian, immortal, but not invulnerable. The first six years of my life were simple and happy. I lived in the grand city Chanira in the Vyristian portion of Transirria. Chanira, nestled in the Transirrian mountains, was the most beautiful and most scholarly of all cities. 'Twas called the City of Bells. The Vyristians were famous for their love of music and in particular, bells. The bells were not the simple, one-note bells humans create, but musical and joyous. The Vyristian Grande Library was at the heart of the city, a glorious building of marble and stone in which bells tolled from its sweeping bell tower at every hour during the night. Four Iritoriums, which were the Transirrian equivalent of the humans' churches, were located on the rims of the city and hidden in the forests. Iritoriums were where Vyristians gathered every morn to worship, not the Devil as the humans thought, but Our Mother Earth. Chanira was snowy, but never cold, in the months of Winter, and gentle sunshine and beautiful moonlight shone in the Summer months. Another misplaced human myth about us Transirrians is that we can't survive in sunlight. Of course we can, but we are nocturnal by nature. The morn is reserved for worship of Mother Earth, and the lazy afternoons are for sleeping. I, as a small child, spent my eves studying and learning and my nights, or the time after midnight in the Library reading. The blissful days of childhood were very fleeting, however, and as it is getting early, I will continue this story another eve.

Val'ere

Sixth Night of Eriton, Midwinter 464

Loriana was pleased when I told her I had made two entries in my book. 'Do you like it?' she asked me over meale- a small rabbit. There is never any real food anymore. I did not know how to reply to her, quite honestly. It is not exactly the most enjoyment I have had, but it is certainly not disagreeable. If I can get past the rather painful introductions, perhaps 'twill be more enjoyable.

I read my words I wrote last eve, and alas, they are still true. The blissful childhood days were very fleeting. When I was almost seven years old, whispers grew in Transirria of an invasion in our neighboring country of Morin. We paid little attention to it; let the humans make war while we make happiness. But alas, the war could only be shut out for so long. The humans who invaded our nearby Morin were barbarians. They took the Morins and tortured them, made them their slaves. And for what purpose? To expand their empire, which already stretched over the whole continent of Eunus.

The peaceful Morins were now under the control of the Arrasers. During all this, Loriana decided that this was a n excellent learning oppurtunity. I still remember that day. She took me by the hand and led me through the great streets of Chanira to the Vyristian Grande Library. In the olden days I would have been able to walk there myself, but as Loriana explained, things were different than they were before. Now that I look back on it, I perhaps did not fully comprehend what was going on at the time. Seven is a young age for a child of any species, much less one that lives forever .

I still have what I wore that day with me. Frivolty was obviously in style then, as I had ten petticoats on, a frilly red dress, a black overlay, and a gray woolen coat. I have worn the coat for as long as I can, because 'tis the warmest thing I have. I remember putting them on, that day, along with a warm red and black knit cap and matching mittens. How beautifully I was dressed, for what turned out to be an awful day!

We went to the library, my hand in Lori's, and she told me about humans, about the history of the world. I know exactly by heart what she said, and I will write it here:

'Humans are barbarians, my childe. At the creation of the world, there was one species, along with all the animals in the world. For an unknown reason, the species split into two categories: us, the Transirrians, the wisest of creatures, and the Chantirrians, the Elves, who were the fairest of all creatures. We were peaceful creatures, but Mother Earth Earth decided that something was missing. She took an ape from the ground and let him evolve into a human. Then, she took the Human and gave him to us. 'Now you will not be lonely anymore. I have created the perfect playmate for you.' She gave the feminine version to the Chantirrians and gave the masculine version to us. We were very happy with our pets, for that, in the essential, is what they were. But something happened. The humans saw the power we had and sought to steal it. They tried, and organized an army with sticks and stones, but we put their rebellion down gently, and thought nothing of it. However, the humans surprised us. The Chantirrians' pets stole the Elves' magic and stole our knowledge from our Tree of the Garden. Our pets joined in. Together they drove us out of our own homes. We didn't know how to fight, but the humans taught us a sad lesson that day. Mother Earth was displeased with her children, the humans, and sent a huge flood to kill them. While this was going on, the humans attacked us. Though the flood had wiped out a large portion of their species, the humans were animals and bred quickly, growing to more numbers than they had before. The Chantirrians and Transirrians were scattered, and humans grew and became a little more advanced. A few humans showed remorse for what they did, but still flourished throughout the earth . The Chantirrians have died out. The humans wiped them all out. We, on the other hand, resisted. We felt Mother Nature had given the humans to us, so

we would feed off them. Not enough to hurt them, just so we could stay alive. It has been that way ever since.' Lorinana finished the tale and the air seemed to hum. I had heard the story before, but only in bits and pieces, and Lori's interpretation was better than the Elders'. (Or so I thought, as the Elders' version seemed to be mostly of dates and battles half-forgotten.)

I do not want to recall what happened next, so I will leave it here for now. 'Tis a terrible tale, and leaves me much disheartened as I go to sleep for the afternoon. Farewell until next write.

Val'ere