Crimson Core

Back at the Marshall Manor...

Chelsea was lost in thoughts; she had not told her father what happened. She was sure he didn’t know. Or did he?

“Chelsea…”

“…”

Lord Marshall called out but didn’t get an answer from his daughter, who was seated in front of him.

“Chelsea!” Lord Marshall screamed her name, snapping Chelsea out of her daydream.

“Yes! I am sorry, Father I didn’t see you there; I apologize.” Lord Marshall didn’t want to drag on the matter. He smiled at Chelsea as he sat down beside her and held her hand.

Lord Marshall looked into Chelsea’s eyes for a few moments before looking forward into the horizon, enjoying the view of the garden in front of them.

“You have been thinking a lot lately, child, Care to share the burden?” Lord Marshall was very calm, loving and dotting. He was so gentle, the perfect father.

There was only one thing on Chelsea’s mind these few days: The feeling, her ecstasy, his care, his size, the fact that they did it in her room... They were not even married. Chelsea felt like a bad girl.

"Father, it’s nothing, I will take care of it, I will tell you soon.”

Marshall looked at Chelsea with a smile. ‘My baby is a woman now; I can only tease her.’

“I sensed him come into your room the other night.”

The moment she heard those words, Chelsea knew that her father knew; he was a peak layer, Lord mage after all. “I am sorry... I didn’t—”

“Shh...” Chelsea wanted to explain but her father stopped her. “tell me, how was it?”

Lord Marshall asked with one eyebrow raised and a smug smile.

“Father!! Don’t ask me that; it’s girls’ stuff!” Chelsea was red, and her face was flush. She had never in a million years imagined that she would be having this conversation with her father... Of all people.

“you won’t not tell me?” Lord Marshall feigned getting angry.

“I… I will.” It took a lot of time for Chelsea to muster the courage to talk about this… Her first time.

Lord Marshall listened carefully, as though his life depended on it. He wanted to use this opportunity to get closer to his daughter... It worked… Kinda.

Chelsea and Lord Marshall spoke for a few long minutes. During those times, her face kept burning up… Multiple times.

“Father, I wish to raise a question.”

“Ask away, my dear child.” Lord Marshall looked at Chelsea intently with the loving eyes of a father.

“Father… Why is it that you hold Kai in such high regard?” Chelsea was greatly concerned and confused. Her father was a strict person, and he had a reason for everything, even for liking someone or doing something.

Before he gets fond of someone, it would take a lot of effort... Literary. But for some reason he got fond of him after a few days; it wasn’t even up to two months.

“I wonder how you would take it,” Lord Marshall looked visibly distressed. “But I will tell you now, I think you are old enough.”

“I am all ears, father,” Chelsea was very attentive to hear her father’s words.

“Look at it this way... You read books a lot, right? You must have read of the dark epoch, right?”

“Yes, I have read about it. But how does this concern the question I asked Father?”

Lord Marshall kept quiet for some time before responding; he seemed to be in deep thought. “Look at it this way; do you know why the water mages are in decline?”

Chelsea thought for some time before answering back. “I think so; it’s because of the evolutionary war at the end of the dark epoch.”

“Your grandfather, Mason Marshall, was alive during that period. He was the right-hand man to king Salinger during that period.

Chelsea could not hide her shocked expression; it was all coming together now. A portrait in the mansion of her grandfather clad in armour that had the blood clan’s crest boldly engraved in the front.

Whenever she asked about it, it was always brushed off, with the words that her grandfather was passionate about the blood clan... Or something like that.

“He was the Nobel leading the water mages. They were loyal to him and that’s why we are where we are.”

“But that’s…”

Chelsea wanted to tell Lord Marshall that that’s not what she wanted to know but Lord Marshall was already in his zone; he had that look.

“Kai comes in here; when I was born, I was assigned to be the right-hand man of the next king. Sadly, the clan was wiped out, leaving only Kai, but he got lost two thousand years ago.”

Chelsea could not explain how shocked she was. Her lover was two thousand years old, and her father was even older. This was weird for her. Her eyes almost popped out of its sockets.

Mages lived long, but not that long. At most, a powerful mage could live up to eight hundred years, but this was... Surreal.

“Hahaha, let me explain... Blah blah blah.”

Lord Marshall explained that his father had undergone what was known as the blood ritual. In the secret ritual of the blood clan, the clan’s patriarch, King Salinger, was rumoured to be immortal; he could live forever if no one killed him.

King Salinger used his blood to perform the ritual, enabling Noble Mason to have a taste of it. When Noble Mason had a child, the blood ritual seemed to affect his son but it had mutated somewhere as a result, making him nearly indestructible. Letting Lord Marshall live this long.

“Did mother know about this?”

Chelsea was simply curious, this was all so new to her, she had never heard nor read of this blood ritual of the blood clan.

“I think she found out some time before you were born.” Lord Marshall said with a nonchalant expression.

Kai had walked through the grassland; by this time he had killed 10 mage students. He was getting used to his new powers and was coming to an understanding of something profound... His limits.

He was powerful; that one was without a doubt true, but nobody was perfect. Kai had come to the understanding that he had to absorb blood essence from mages to keep his body running. If he ran out of essence, it would be deathly risky for him, worst if it were in a fight.

The number of skills he had when activated would begin to drain the blood essence within him. He still hadn’t learnt how to use the blood essence within him to fight, but what he had now was already antagonizing the amount of blood essence within him.

Right now Kai could only activate the gauntlets of the gods for at most an hour… But that was enough for him; as far as he never came across a noble mage, he should be fine.

“So it’s like this.” Kai had just finished with one of his victims. The dead human was an earth mage; she was strong but not strong enough.

It had been long since Kai felt this good; he felt stronger and more powerful as the blood essence of his victims coursed through his veins.

There was something wrong though... It might have been his overthinking and paranoid nature but he felt as though he was being watched; even with God’s eye, he still could not find anything. Although the god’s eye was passively activated, it still took a tiny chunk of the blood essence within Kai.

But still, using this skill for a long time would turn overwhelming. He still could not shake off the feeling of being watched, even after walking for a long time.

Three days later...

Kai could still not shake the feeling of being watched; this felt all weird to him.

—WHOOSH, WHOOSH—

The sound of air being pushed around was heard; it sounded rather far away. Kai’s senses didn’t pick up the presence of what he was seeing until he heard the sound of wings flapping and saw the magnificent being in front of him.

{Hello, young one…}

The being seemed to communicate with him through transmitted thoughts.

{…You are very eye-catching, you know?}

By the way, this was a dragon in front of him. With at least ten meters wide wings and a twenty-meter-long body, the beast in front of Kai made him look small. Minuscule even.

‘How did I not sense this?’ Kai was in shock; the dragon in front of him could only be described by the most extreme of words.

But looking at the dragon, one word came to mind: Magnificent. Its scales screamed magnificence, shining with a luster that seemed not to be of this world. It was beautiful.

The dragon was pitch black; its blackness could only be compared with Kai’s abysmal eyes. Its teeth sticking out of the side of its mouth as one could see, it was nothing but razor sharp, it exuded the sharpness of a sabre forged by master craftsmen.

Just looking at the dragon in front of him, it was clear which one it was. The dragon could be said to be a dragon amongst dragons... Dragon royalty. This dragon in front of him was none other than the Legendary Vilholin.

The dragon species had already gone extinct or so it was recorded in history. During time immemorial before there was civilization in the human race, the dragons were the rulers of this realm. If ever two dragons fought, the sky would tremble and the earth would open up; their might was not to be trifled with.

And here, in front of Kai, stood tall a dragon... One of royalty. This dragon was believed to be a myth. Even in times immemorial.

This was because this dragon was said to have been born to two royal dragons, Aska and Belzu, the rulers of the dragon race. Sadly, no one ever saw it; those who did didn’t have any evidence except for the images that they described.

“Who are you?” Kai asked.

{That’s disrespectful; no matter how old you are, I am your elder. Nonetheless, I find you amusing so I will answer your question.} The dragon seemed to grin. {…I am Vilholin}

Kai heard the dragon’s voice as though it was a whisper but was still loud enough to shock the shit out of him.

Although Kai was scared, he seemed to not sense any hostility from the dragon before him. Heck, even his senses were not telling him that anything was before him. The eye of Horus even seemed defective now.

“What do you want from me?”

Although Kai could not sense hostility from this beast, he still had to be wary of him. Kai wasn’t sure what the problem was, whether it was the effect of the land or maybe this being before him was even more powerful than he could imagine.

{You seem wary of me... Let me fix that.} The dragon walked towards Kai slowly and Kai subconsciously retracted. Well not because of the dragon but because of the phenomenon occurring in front of him, the dragon’s huge body oozed out a white fume. It was thick; Kai could almost touch it.

In a few moments, the dragon was covered in the white fumes, and then it stopped walking. Or so it seemed to Kai because the clouds of white smoke stopped moving.

“Hey, Vilholin…. Are you still there?” Kai was just curious. To a normal man, he would run, at least for his dear life, but Kai was curious. He wanted to see what would come out of this.

“My good friend, apologies for my imposing aura.” A deep masculine voice was heard in the fume of smoke and the sound of someone walking on the grass was heard.

Someone?

A young man with dark skin stepped out of the clouds of white fumes. This young man exuded an ambience of wisdom, which was most likely gathered over the years. This beast was born during immemorial times... It was older than the dinosaurs.

The young man was 190 cm tall, with lean chiselled muscles, and his black hair was spiky, making him stand out from the normal black man. His face exuded untouched masculinity.

He and Kai would almost not be told apart, not for Vilholin’s skin colour and height difference. It didn’t take much time for the cloud of fumes to disappear.

“This is better, right?” Vilholin asked.

“Yes, that’s better. You were too big, but you still haven’t answered my question.” Kai decided to say.

“Hahaha, I like you. I don’t like this place Let’s leave.” Vilholin placed his hand on Kai’s shoulder.

“You have read my mind, but where are you taking me.” Kai asked, trying not to seem uptight or something like that.

“Where else? To where I live, you’ll join me for dinner.” Vilholin was visibly happy that Kai had agreed.

—Swoosh—

Space distorted as they disappeared. Vilholin flew at a speed that only gods could comprehend; even the wind didn’t feel itself being cut through.

—BOOM—

Thunder boomed and lightning struck right where Kai and Vilholin had stood.

“What just happened?” A male mage somewhere in the trees sighed. He was relieved; he didn’t know if Kai didn’t feel it or maybe he was as strong as the dragon, but the sinister aura exuding from him was only comparable to the aura of a noble mage when he was angry. He had seen it only once.

“Phew… If he wanted to kill me, I wouldn’t even be able to know how I died.” The crest of the Silver Wing faction was boldly engraved on his amour as he flew down from the tree. The mage sat down on the grass and tried to catch his breath; he had never been this scared before in his life.

—Swoosh—

Vilholin and Kai had travelled at least ten thousand miles in the blink of an eye.

“Welcome to my humble abode.”

The abode was a cave. Although made of stone, the place was truly exotic. The source of light in the cave was unknown; Kai could not even trace it.

The floor was covered in marble, and the ceiling was chiselled smoother than that of the imperial palace; it was black, giving the whole place a gloomy aura. The whole place was befitting for a king.

“You live here?” Kai asked, as he could not hide his astonishment whilst looking around.

“Yes. Come, dinner is almost ready.” Vilholin led Kai to what seemed to be a dining hall... Yes a hall; it was simply huge.

‘How did all this fit into this place, Where are we?’ Kai asked himself, this place was simply enormous The table there was at least three meters long but there were only two chairs.

‘It’s as if he had been expecting me,’ Kai felt uneasy.

“Please…. Sit down.” Vilholin gestured for Kai to sit beside him.

Kai had no choice but to sit down, He sat down but there was no food on the table. It wasn’t as though Kai wanted to eat real food but this seemed suspicious.

Somewhere beyond the confinements of the laws of nature in a place where time was non-existent, space could be manipulated by even the least being there.

It was the home of the gods; it had no name; everyone knew of its existence but not the directions to get there.

“Hahaha…. He has met him; it’s only a matter of time before the games begin.”

These words were weighty. The being who spoke this seemed to be the king of the gods, and the entire room was filled with the air of his authority.

All other beings in the room could only look at him in awe; he was Amal. The King of the gods.

Amal came down from his high throne; his height alone was imposing. He was at least two meters tall; he was full of majesty, and the air of arrogance lingered around him. He had to be arrogant; his power could carry it.

He alone was powerful enough to kill every god who stood in his way; he was a tyrant king. His muscles were bulging; they rolled as he stood from his throne, and his dark skin had a glint to it, not to compare to other gods who sat in front of him, but they could not hold a candle to Amal in any aspect.

Even the so-called god of masculinity could not compare, nor could the god of strength, nor could the skin of the goddess of beauty compare to that of Amal.

He was a walking, living, breathing piece of perfection. Amal walked from his throne to the cage beside it. The bars were thick and strong; each bar of the cage could pass off as a god-level treasure. This cage was forged specifically for the being within.

“My dear, you don’t seem too happy.” Amal had a sinister smile on his face; he was happy to break her spirit.

“You are evil!”

Syther had bloodshot eyes as she spoke to him; Amal had broken her spirit and her will to live. She wanted to die, only that she couldn’t even if he wanted her to... yet.

The few elder gods who were in the throne room could only gasp as they heard Syther’s words. Amal was known for his savagery, but no one had the guts to tell it to his face.

“I am conscious that I am evil... That applies to you as well.” The moment Amal said this, the elder gods almost died from stupefaction. Amal the tyrant god was smiling at the person who had called him evil.

Only one thought was collectively going through their minds: ‘Amal is love-struck.’

It was no secret that Amal and Syther were lovers. Nonetheless, it was a secret to the lower-level gods why they didn’t love each other as much as they did when they were younger.

Four thousand years ago...

There were two gods, Amal and Syther. Amal was the Prince of the god realm, and Syther was to take over from the former God of death.

Their paths were never meant to cross; Amal was a prince and Syther was to take over a powerful but despised office. Gods in this realm got their power from the belief the humans had in them.

One day Amal was taking a stroll and saw someone... No, a goddess. She was extracting the soul of a deceased old man to the underworld; she hadn’t noticed him.

Seeing her was all it took for Amal to fall in love. The Amal then was too shy to talk to such a beautiful girl. Even though he was the only son of the king and soon to become king of the gods, he was still a boy by god standards.

It didn’t take long for Amal to find Syther; it was relatively easy for her to fall in love with him. Or so he thought. Amal had forced himself on Syther. She had to choose; he could not reject him, he was the king’s son. His only son.

Although she had that fantasy of marrying a prince, she already had someone she had a soft spot for... A human prince. It sounded crazy but she had eyes, Salinger; the amount of despair and hatred seeping out of him had attracted her attention.

In a twisted way, she fell in love with him, prince Salinger. She was planning on meeting with Salinger but she found that he was already in love with Isabella.

That was how an unsuspecting human girl became a god’s rival in love.