When Patricius Draculesti started his journey he knew of two things. The first thing was that his mother was out there, somewhere, living her life away from him and his sister. The second thing was that his father, Vladislav Draculesti, never spoke of her. Never brought her up, never uttered a sound even when asked about the mare who gave birth to them. He would never answer any questions or even react to Patricius’ questions.

As a young colt, which seemed so long ago, Patricius began getting curious when his aunts and other extended family would come to visit. He would wonder why his mother wasn’t with them. Had she died giving birth? Had she left of her own free will? Was she found incapable of handling motherhood? Did she downright abandon him and his sister when they were still in their baskets? When he was younger, he didn’t really know how to formulate this questions, at least, in a way that made enough sense.

His aunts would tell him to leave the subject alone, that he was a Draculesti and that’s what truly mattered. And yet, when his cousin’s were born, when the family extended into further generations, Patricius couldn’t help but feel a pit in his small stomach watching his other family get what he didn’t. The love of a mother. That wasn’t to say that his family didn’t love him enough. They absolutely did. Patricius felt blessed for what he did have. But there was this undeniable deep longing for a mother’s touch in his life. He couldn’t deny the desire to feel her warm breath on his cheek in comfort when he would wake up from a nightmare. He couldn’t deny the desire to speak with her, to learn about her, to learn about who he was outside of being of noble blood.

That was why, in the early evening on his coming of adulthood, Patricius Draculesti came to the conclusion that he couldn’t deny his desires anymore. He desired to find her, to meet her at least, and learn who she actually was. Was she just as crazy as his sister whom had been locked away by his father due to her bloodlust? Or what she this angelic being that didn’t have a dark bone in her body? Patricius wanted answers to all his questions, ones his father didn’t provide to him. And it was in that early evening light that he decided to take leave temporarily to find her.

Patricius didn’t tell his family what he was going to do. He didn’t want to burden them with his decision. He wasn’t sure if he father would approve. He wasn’t sure if it would have even been allowed. But Patricius knew he was an adult and could make his own decisions. Whether or not they were good ones was up to interpretation. But as the saying would go, one reaped what they sewed. He was going to make his bed and lay in it regardless of the consequences. At least, if and when he met his mother, he would get his answers. He just hoped that she would accept him and all his faults.

So, as the stallion looked over a high cliff, his demonic eye shifting ever ominously in his chest, taking in the vast lands outside of his family herd lands, having been on his journey for a number of months, Patricius felt a stirring he hadn’t felt in awhile. Something that he hadn’t realized he was missing. Hope.