The Desolate Mountains (The Divine Elements Book 2) (26 page)

“Elder, what is wrong with him?”

Whispers of someone talking could be heard in the silent room.

“It looks to be a rare case of crippled meridians. I’m sorry, Xardoth, but your son will never be able to cultivate or awaken to an element for the rest of his life.”

A low and ancient voice stated in a severe tone.

“Is there truly no cure for him?”

Xardoth asked, as he tried to control the trembling of his voice.

“There might be a few pills in the human continent that could possibly cure him, but even then, we can be never sure. Besides, the human alchemists will never sell their wares to beasts like us…”

The Elder sighed, and left the room, leaving the father and the sleeping son alone in their company.

“I will never let anyone hurt you, Ran…”

Xardoth muttered, gripping the soft and furry paw of his only child.

……………….

“Are you telling the truth, Ran? Show mommy quickly!”

Denela hurried over to her son, swiftly transforming back to her humanoid form and grasping Rebran’s little shoulders.

The eight year old lion’s eyes lit up with happiness, and he slowly raised his paw and summoned a bright ball of light.

Looking at the ball of essence floating above her son’s palm, Denela started weeping with tears of joy on her face and hugged Rebran’s tiny form against her.

It was clear from the essence that her son had awakened to one of the rarest elements in the entire continent: the element of light.

However, before the elated mother could revel in the feeling of hope, her son abruptly cried out in agony and collapsed onto the ground. The ball of light dissipated in an instant while Rebran’s body twitched uncontrollably on the floor.

“XARDOTH!”

Denela shouted in panic, as she quickly dropped to the ground and checked her son’s pulse.

…………………..

“This does not make any sense! If his meridians are crippled, how did he awaken to an element!?”

The Griffin King furiously yelled.

“Hush, Xar, he is starting to wake up…”

A woman’s soft voice sounded out from next to Rebran’s ear.

“Mo…ther…”

Rebran wheezed, his eyelids fluttering to open.

“Ran! How are you, sweetie? Does it still hurt?”

Denela asked while lightly stroking her son’s cheek.

“What is… happ…ening to me?”

The little lion breathed out, gazing into his mother’s eyes and seeing the traces of worry there.

“Everything is fine, Ran. Don’t worry… mother will not let anything happen to you.”

Denela whispered with a smile, but even the little lion with his hazy vision could see the tears streaming down her face.

…………………..

*Shua*   *Shua*

The sound of powerful waves crashing against each other reverberated within Rebran’s ears.

It sounded like the waves in the ocean.

“Open your eyes, Rebran, and see what is in front of you.”

A familiar voice sounded out from behind the lion.

Slowly opening his eyes to a crimson world filled with blood, Rebran gawked at the sheer pressure that the waves emitted.

“That is the source energy of our legacy, and it is also where you will draw your strength from.”

Calron’s voice breezed in the vicinity of the source pool.

Glancing around, the young lion could not detect any traces of him, so he guessed that Calron had some kind of mental connection with this place.

“It’s beginning, get ready…”

The voice stated, as it gradually grew quieter towards the end.

Huh? What is beginning?

Rebran pondered while continuing to gaze at the crashing crimson waves.

Suddenly, his heart started to rapidly pound against his chest. Rebran had no control over it, and was utterly befuddled as to what was happening within his body.

*swoosh*

A small bridge smoothly rose up from the blood ocean and attached itself to the source pool. In the next moment, tendrils of bright white essence coiled around the bridge, illuminating it with a celestial glow.

Rebran felt an inexplicable urge to go towards it. It was somehow connected to his soul, and he could feel it calling him.

“I will explain all of this later, Rebran, but we simply do not have enough time. Let’s go!”

Calron sent out a mental shout, forcefully pulling the lion out of the legacy’s source pool and back into the real world.

“haaah, haah, what in the heavens was that?”

Rebran gasped with astonishment as he awoke from his slumber, and saw a nervous Calron staring back into his face.

Seeing that the young beast was fine, Calron heaved a quick sigh and began to hurriedly shape-shift back into the golden bird.

“No time to explain. Get on my back, we need to find your father!”

Truthfully, Calron had been anxious throughout Rebran’s inheritance of the Blood Legacy, as he did not know how the legacy would affect a beast, and whether or not he could actually pass the legacy on.

Even right now, Calron did not understand how he did it. If it was simply coating the blood on someone’s face, then his blood had been on others but did not cause them to inherit the legacy. Maybe, there had to be a will of the Prime Inheritor to pass it on?

Pushing away all these thoughts, Calron urged Rebran to hurry so they could get back to the city.

“Hey, can you at least tell me what this thing is called?”

Rebran asked, as he scrambled on top of Calron’s scaly back.

“It’s known as… the Blood Legacy.”

Calron whispered with a powerful flap of his wings, and rushed towards the city.

He could only pray that nothing disastrous would come out of his decision today. With these pressing thoughts surging within his mind, he even forgot to check whether or not the young lion was finally cured of his disease.

…………………

“WEIR! YOU DESPICABLE BASTARD! BRING OUT MY SONNN!!!”

A gigantic griffin charged towards the city’s gates, as his soul-crushing bellow echoed in the entire area.

With mighty gales of wind surging around his body like a series of mini hurricanes, the Griffin King spread his enormous wings as he furiously searched for his enemy.

“I do not know what you are talking about, Xardoth, but this is foolish. You have as much to lose as me, if you continue to pursue this idiotic war.”

A calm and tranquil voice thundered above the air, as a colossal silver dragon descended down from the clouds above.

His scales shone with a brilliant metallic luster, and a mysterious silver mist escaped from both his mouth and nostrils. The sight of the striking dragon was enough to cause a seed of fear to take root within the hearts of Xardoth’s troops.

Dragons were an elusive species that never ventured into the outer ranges of the Desolate Mountains, and their tribe was said to be one of the most powerful among the beasts. Seeing the savage aura circling around the Dragon King, none of the troops on either side of the war doubted his statement.

However, at this moment, the Griffin King was not any less impressive with a brutal and murderous aura surrounding him, and an elite squad of armored griffins hovering behind.

Gradually, a few figures treaded out from the city’s gates and some of them flew up and joined the silver dragon, while the others calmly continued to walk towards the front of the army.

The Nobles had finally come out.

“DON’T PLAY DUMB WITH ME, WEIR! I WILL DRAG YOU BY YOUR SCALY ASS IN FRONT OF YOUR CITIZENS AND CHOP EACH OF YOUR LIMBS UNTIL YOU TELL ME THE TRUTH!”

Xardoth showed no signs of calming down, and instead his fury continued to increase like a hot furnace.

“You truly do not know when to stop, Xardoth…”

Weir whispered with a deathly iciness to his voice, as wisps of frosty air erupted out from the dragon’s maw.

It appeared as if the Dragon King had finally lost his patience.

“CHARGE!”

With a domineering command, Weir ordered the Nobles to draw the first blood of the war.

Multiple bestial roars resounded in the land, as some of the most powerful beasts within the kingdom prepared to kill and fight.

Within seconds, the entire land outside the city had turned into a bloody battlefield as beasts on both sides took part in the carnage.

The two Kings stared into each other’s eyes as they remained motionless in the sky.

This was a battle taking place in the soul realm.

*puchi*

A trail of fresh blood splattered all over Jarken’s face as he savagely ripped out the windpipe of an enemy beast.

“Uleron, cover the left flank! One of the griffins has managed to penetrate our defensive line there!”

The dark panther roared at the nearby towering golden gorilla who was currently engaged in combat with two enemy beasts.

Hearing Jarken’s commanding voice, Uleron swiftly grabbed the two beasts by their necks and smashed their heads together into a mush of flesh. Nodding his head at the panther, the massive gorilla pounded his fists against his chest as he let out a fearsome cry.

The body of the golden gorilla started to rapidly expand until he reached a height of twelve feet. Furthermore, two ivory tusks slowly emerged from his bottom jaw. Bending his thick knees slightly, Uleron used his powerful legs to jump up high into the sky and towards the crumbling line of defense at the west part of the battlefield.

“How long are you going to sneak around?”

Jarken coldly stated to his right once Uleron had left.

“Haha, so you did discover me. Although I do not wish to fight this war, I must heed the orders of my king. Prepare yourself, panther.”

Orpen softly responded, as his figure gradually became visible. He had been using a secret cultivation technique to alter the light waves around him, but it still failed to escape Jarken’s sharp senses. With a mellow, white glow emanating from his body, Orpen spread out his wings and instantly charged towards the dark panther.

“A cultivator of the light element? Looks like we were fated to clash from the very beginning.”

Jarken chuckled, as he released his own essence, and clouds of dark smoke began to revolve around him. In the next second, the dark panther nimbly rushed towards the griffin while his emerald eyes flashed with an ominous glint.

Jarken let his pent-up bloodlust out into the open, inciting an abrupt shiver of horror from the surrounding enemies.

This kind of bloodlust only followed those who continuously bathed themselves in the blood of countless massacres.

…………………

“What in the heavens is this…”

One of the late arriving Nobles muttered in shock upon seeing the scene below.

It should have only been a few minutes since the war had started, and yet the ground was already stained with dark crimson blood.

Weir’s forces were clearly being overwhelmed by the greater number of troops that Xardoth had brought. If it were not for the Nobles fighting at the front line, then the city would have already fallen within the first few seconds.

Regardless of how powerful the Nobles were, they were gradually starting to take injuries while they kept slaughtering the common beasts from the enemy’s camp. It seemed like even the mighty Nobles would eventually get exhausted under the constant consumption of their essence.

Meanwhile, Weir and Xardoth remained hovering in the air as their eyes locked onto each other. Theirs was a battle that could only be seen by them.

In a different and ethereal realm, a ghost-like draconic figure was mercilessly slamming its body against a grey smoky barrier.  

Inside the soul cocoon was Xardoth, as he adamantly braced himself and endured the dragon’s onslaught.

“Give up, Xardoth, you cannot win against me.”

Weir mentally spoke to the enraged Griffin King.

This was a world where only the minds of the Saint stage experts could travel and any damage sustained in this plane would have a much severe effect in the real physical world.

“Don’t feed me your lies, Weir, where is my son!?”

Xardoth bellowed with fury, staring right into Weir’s eyes through the soul barrier. Droplets of sweat rolled down from his forehead while his body slightly trembled under the force of the silver dragon’s barrage of attacks.

“Heavens have mercy! Have you gone mad? I told you already that I do not have your son, in fact, I did not even know you had a son until you came roaring into my city asking me to hand him over! I will stop attacking if you promise to calm down and think straight.”

Weir suddenly stopped midway in the midst of his next attack and solemnly stated to the unreasonable griffin.

“I know he is here! This was the last place that he came to, and if not you, who else could take him away? Don’t tell me that you are so pathetic as to not even know what goes on inside your own city?”

Xardoth goaded the dragon, as he instantly withdrew the soul barrier and sent a surging wave of soul energy towards Weir.

“If you are not willing to listen to reason, then do not blame me for what happens next.”

Weir spoke in an icy tone, livid at the inability of the griffin to think rationally.

“Haha, before you make any threats, shouldn’t you look more closely at what is happening on the battlefield?”

Xardoth laughed with madness, taunting Weir even more.

A trace of dread creeping into his heart, Weir momentarily turned his attention back into the real world.

“Oh no…LARIS!!!”

…………………….

“Delicious. I never knew griffins tasted this good.”

Jarken sinisterly whispered, his tongue flicking at the specks of blood splattered across the corner of his mouth.

“You bastard! What kind of a beast are you?”

Orpen murderously rasped, as streams of blood unceasingly flowed out from his injured chest.

After the first initial clash, Orpen knew that something was not right with his opponent. Although both of them were at the first rank of the Saint stage, Jarken had instantly overwhelmed him and swiftly bit out a chunk of his flesh.

This level of savagery and brutality was not something that Orpen had expected, and he was afraid that his initial error might now lead him to his death.

“You are still talking? I thought the poison would have numbed your muscles by now.”

Jarken darkly stated, as his body quickly darted behind Orpen and grabbed the wounded griffin by his neck.

Poison? When did inject me with poison!? No… he never injected me with poison… he is the poison himself!

Orpen’s thoughts helplessly raced, when the sudden realisation hit him that he was going to die.

Gazing into those stone-cold glowing emerald eyes, he finally knew why this panther had so easily defeated him.

It was because he possessed a special bloodline!

“My king, I am sorry that I have failed you.”

Orpen breathed out the words just before a steely jaw locked onto his throat and crushed his windpipe.

“Yet another beast dies today under my jaw…”

Jarken morosely whispered while glancing up at the passing clouds.

The sky was so peaceful and blue, but the earth below it was tainted by the blood of their beast kind. A sorrowful expression flickered across the panther’s face, a stark contrast to his previous behavior with the griffin.

“It’s the way the world runs, Jarken. There is nothing that we can do to change that fate, and only hope that we survive to see the next day.”

Laris softly consoled her friend, as she treaded towards the griffin’s corpse. From her bloodied armor, it appeared as if Laris had already killed a few enemy beasts on her way here.

“Fate, huh? Something which I have been running away from since the beginning of my life.”

The panther said in a mysterious voice.

“WATCH OUT!”

Laris abruptly shouted, sensing multitudes of projectiles heading their way.

“Dammit, when did they surround us!?”

Jarken roared, seeing a group of griffins closing down on them as they launched a series of essence imbued spears at him.

Rage and fury was etched all over the griffins’ faces when they saw their captain lying dead on the ground.

Around twelve spears were headed towards Jarken, and it was clear that he would not make it out unscathed. The griffins wanted revenge for their fallen captain, and their main target was the dark panther.

“Hang on, Jarken!”

Laris yelled, summoning an aqua shield over the panther’s body and reinforcing it with another shield of ice.

Only a second remained until the spears were about to hit.

However, in that brief span of a second, an armored griffin suddenly flashed right behind Laris and pierced his sword straight through her back and out of her stomach.

“Argh!”

Laris spat out a globule of blood, as she looked down at the rapidly spreading crimson color across her stomach and the tip of the blade sticking out.

With her arms lifelessly falling to her sides, Laris slowly toppled onto the ground with the sword still pierced into her stomach.

……………….

Soon, a giant golden bird flew over the battlefield with a rider on top of it. His silky white fur fluttering in the wind, Rebran scanned the area for his father.

“I see him! Over there, Calron!”

The young lion abruptly shouted when he noticed two figures hovering in the air in the middle of the battlefield.

One of them was his father.

“FATHER!!!”

Rebran’s juvenile voice resounded throughout the city’s outskirts.

None of the beasts fighting below on either sides paid any heed to his shout and the war continued to take more lives.

However, the Griffin King sharply turned his head towards that voice. How could he not recognize his own son’s voice?

“Ran…”