Paying a Debt

It will do you no good, but, since that is what you want, I will tell you the truth as I know it. Simplified details aside, for the sake of fit this conversation in the time we have.

Our Universe is pretty much as they taught you in school. Billions, over billions, over billions of galaxies, some larger some smaller than this one where our star is, more stars than your imagination can portrait in each galaxy, more galaxies than that in this Universe. Bunch of floating spheroids, not spears exactly, but closer to that than to flat disks, around our star. Some smaller ones orbiting bigger ones, all orbiting the star that is where most the mass in this system is. So, etc.

All that is inside a box. Along with a handful of other Universes, some much older than this where we are. I cannot tell you anything about what is outside that box, I never left the box myself. Along with the Universes here with us there are some smaller pockets and a lot of empty space where more Universes can be created and expand in the future.

Nothing in that system is spontaneous, it is actually a creation in the Theological sense. Someone made all that, with a purpose. Not one individual, but a race. They are the only ones that move in and out the box. We call them “Creators”, they call themselves “The Society”. You do not deal with them, if you can avoid. If you pray for anything, you pray to never be the focus of the attention of anyone of the Creators.

They limit each other, by rules they must follow, but from our point of view they are the closest thing to omnipotence that we can ever find. Is not possible to bargain with them, flatter or insult them, whatever they tell you to do, you do.

Bellow them there are the Messengers. You can think about them as angels and demons, I ratter describe them as daimons. A concept popular among Classic Greeks that has a bit of both and would apply to either group. They come in many packages, and have their hierarchies, but broadly speaking they deal directly with the Creators and administrate their interests inside the Box.

They are the most powerful beings we can actually communicate with, understand and be understood by. If you ever have the chance to do one a favour and get something in return, hold on to that. Because they have access to a scale of resources hard to imagine and can rescue you from about any bad place in your moment of more extreme need. Choose carefully your words when you ask them anything.

Bellow the Messengers there are in all linguistic species some individuals and groups blessed with the means to contact the system of communication and inter-dimensional transport used by the Messengers. They serve as informants, and work indirectly for the Creators.

Among the humans on Earth they call themselves Wizards, and among the vampires those who do that task are called Clerics or Priests. Like the Messengers themselves they are limited in what they can use their immense advantages for, since they have privileged access to inter-dimensional powers only to keep the general landscape according to the plans of the Creators. In theory, they can do a lot, in practice, they seldom do anything more than observation.

Bellow this people, on planet Earth, specifically, next layer of power are the heads of the most important vampire families. Those who control many Nocturnal Courts from the darkness behind the shadows, behind the thrones.

With or without the official position of head of the family. Most of them are actually officially retirees. We are talking about vampires between 4 and 7 million years old, the ones who are born on planet Earth and turned into vampires here. More a very restrict group of 5 who came from other galaxies and are up to 20 times that old. Vampires never decay with the passage of time, all their basic capacities keep improving, including their memory.

Vampires have always better memory than humans, anyway. It only improves over time.

Anyway, all those Head of Family I am talking about have another thing in common, aside being immensely old vampires. They are all Kings or Queen, Royal Vampires. What means they have the power to turn humans into vampires. There is a bond of supernatural loyalty, of subservience, between a Royal and everyone who was blessed with vampirism by him. That’s what makes vampire families so constant and hard to destroy.

The vampires are the main power in our world. Unlike the previous categories they do not answer to no one. They know their place in existence well enough to obey when the Creators tell them to do something, but that almost never happen. Most the time they get small gifts and favours from small services, negotiating with the lowest Messengers through the Clerics in the Nocturnal Courts.

Bellow the vampires, you have a cabal of oligarch families. Human families so rich and well connected that they are above nationality, law or morality. They deal with honest and criminal business without distinction, and cannot be touched by any layer bellow their own circle.

They don’t have supernatural powers, or access to the kind of technology and information available to vampire families, but they usually have some special contacts, information and ancient artefacts that help to consolidate their position above the rest of humanity.

Next, you have this people you know about. The chiefs of govern, the leaders of the largest churches with global relevance. Supreme Courts, the military forces of nations.

Bellow that, the most powerful criminal organizations that are still small enough for the classification of them as “criminal” to make sense. Also, the larges terrorist movements in process of turn themselves into national institutions. The richest oligarchs you may have read about in the news. That sort of people.

Would make little sense to keep going down, the layers bellow that must be familiar enough to you. Governors, mayors, agents of police, small business, both legal and criminal, etc.

I will mention a few relevant groups that are not necessarily powerful in global scale but deserve to be mentioned.

Outside the Nocturnal Courts there are the so called “lowlife vampires”, individuals that don’t belong to any vampire family. Some few are old enough to be powerful, but by vampiric law they all must be destroyed at first sight.

Some of them are “feral”. A feral is a vampire who lost its capacity to think and use reason, bestial predators. Many things can cause that, one way to end up as a feral, without a doubt, is to stay too long without human blood. Drinking only the blood of lower animals. Some Noble Vampires fall in that state too, not only lowlifes, but civilized vampire society has therapies to cure the condition. Restore intelligence and reason in a feral vampire.

Finally, there is a subculture of humanity dedicated to hunt and destroy vampires. The Vampire Hunters have two main branches. One is the religious, and they are surprisingly open to brothers and sisters of any religious inclination. As long as the fellow hunter accepts the premise that they all are vampire hunters first and foremost. Even during wars, religious Crusades and similar, vampire hunters of religious orders protect each other, regardless of the conflict between their religious groups.

The other branch is less organized. Agnostic or Atheist vampire hunters, those who for one reason or another avoid any affiliation with a formal organization. They still help each other, and still see their activity in most practical aspects and a holly mission of sorts.

All who identify with the subculture hate vampires on principle. I never met any one of them who knew those things I just explained to you.

They seem to believe that humans are part of nature, or of whatever is supposed to exist. While vampires are not. Vampires are something else, something that should not exist.

Eventually the most capable and intelligent among the hunters understand that clean Earth from all vampires would be impossible for humanity. Even if all human governs decided to embrace the cause of hunting vampires into extinction.

So, that is the universe as I know it.

There is no afterlife, death is the end. Even the Creators, powerful as they are, immune to the passage of time, they can die. In fact, that’s one reason why they came here. Since in their world, outside the box, murder is a crime. Inside the box, is basically a free zone for duels to the death. Whenever one of them die in their fights, death is final. They are gone for good.

Same applies to us, I’m afraid.

Closest thing you get to reincarnation is the existence of repeated paradigms through different Universes. People that look so much like you that you could confuse their experiences and memories with yours if you had the chance to read their minds. However, they are still different people, with their own points of view and identities. They are not you.

This box, and its content, was not made to satisfy our urge for personal continuity or meaningful existence. We are a secondary element in the background, of our Universe, from the perspective of those who created our existence. We are not the reason why our world exist, and no one is taking note of our actions to pass moral judgement on our small and big actions. Because, we are not that important.

We are exactly right the way we are, as we are supposed to be, no matter what we do or don’t do. Everything that feels important to anyone of us, in the large scheme of things, is irrelevant. For good and for bad, we are the only final judges of our own actions. Morally speaking.

You are a still young human, of common and ordinary birth. With no special access to means of improve your position in this picture. Prey to even the lowest vampire. Subject to abuse by both the organized criminals and the legal authorities of your country.

Having this rare chance to improve your situation. Instead of asking for that you decided to satisfy your curiosity.

Let’s hope you never regret that choice.

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