Crimson Core

Darcy and Samantha had just gotten to the front of Lord Marshall’s manor; the atmosphere was not right; they had noticed that the air seemed dense and heavy, and nobody was smiling; these were indeed dark days for the Blue Dragon City.

The two girls stood at the gate for almost half a day, but no one was willing to talk to them, not to talk of throwing them a glance.

It was almost evening time, and they were both tired.

“Why don’t we go to an inn and rest? I am sure I can get some information at its tavern.” Samantha suggested. She was sure of herself. She had grown up in the ghettos of the central continent, and of course, she knew a way to get information from drunk men.

Darcy agreed, and the two women walked to an inn.

“Beautiful ladies, what can I do for you today?” The inn’s receptionist asked them with a smile.

“your best two bedded room, and a meal to be sent up to the room. Thank you.” Darcy replied with a weak smile.

Hearing that, the receptionist beamed; his commission was sure to go up. “Please come with me.”

He led them up to the inn’s penthouse, and after some time of looking through it, Darcy was satisfied with what she saw.

“How much is it?”. Darcy asked.

After sizing her up, the receptionist wanted to butter her up before telling her the blown-up price he had set.

“Don’t worry… Just tell me, no need to justify it.” Darcy had noticed. She had heard stories of unscrupulous innkeepers, but she was too tired to banter with this lowlife in front of her.

The innkeeper’s face flushed red as he heard those words.

“I am sorry for wasting your time... The bill is 300 crimson stones.”

Lady Darcy threw a bag of crimson stones to the innkeeper and the left with a bow.

“I have struck gold!”

The innkeeper skipped through the hallway; the full price of the room was at most 150 crimson stones but he had made double of it and it seemed she was willing to pay more.

Meanwhile…

Down at the tavern, Samantha was having the time of her life. Samantha had the alcohol tolerance of ten men; she knew all the best booze there was.

Presently she was at a table with four men, each big enough to rough-house her… If you know, you know. But they all kept their hands to their cups of booze and looked upon Samantha as a queen with the utmost respect.

But there was an unspoken law for all those who drank regularly at any tavern or bar; it was known as the drunk’s rule.

The drunken rule stated that at a table in any tavern or bar, whoever buys drinks for those at the table would be given respect and treated with the maximum care.

No one knew how this rule came about, but one thing for sure was that it wasn’t going to change any time soon.

“So… My good man, I wonder? Why is the city’s manor in such distress?” Samantha asked a man sitting beside her at the table.

The man looked up at her with a shocked expression and eyes red, as though she had just said the most ignorant thing ever. In the end, he just sighed.

“You must be new here; the city's Lord’s daughter is very, very, I’ll some say she is dead.”

Hearing this, another man at the table chipped in. “it was said that a meteor of stone and lightning fell into the Marshall manor the day Lady Chelsea fell sick. I hear that the meteor had a part in what happened to her… But you didn’t hear it from me.”

The sinister-looking man turned his face the other way and behaved as if he had not just said anything to Samantha... That’s weird.

“What’s up with him? Why is he acting all weird?” Samantha asked the other man she was in a conversation with before the strange man chipped in.

“You are truly new in this part of Klinestra.”

The man explained in detail that this topic was a sad one and that even Lord Marshall seemed to be locked inside his manor. He hadn’t come out, and no one had seen him since the incident.

So the topic was a sensitive one, and most people, out of respect for their Lord, decided not to speak of it or discuss it.

After some time, very close to midnight, Darcy heard someone rap at the door; she had just stepped out of the bathroom, only the towel she had on her as the barrier between her and the cold embrace of the night’s breeze.

Her hair was tied up in a towel. A strip of her hair by the side of her face had escaped the towel’s grip and was dripping wet and clung to the side of her face.

She was truly stunning; the steam coming out of the bathroom made her look even more divine.

“Who is that?” Darcy called out as she walked towards the door.

“It’s…me, Sam.” Darcy opened the door and saw Samantha, who had lost touch with reality. She had taken too much alcohol, even for her. Her face was red with intoxication; it was a wonder how she walked up to their room.

Darcy helped her inside and laid her on the bed. It didn’t take long; Darcy gave Samantha hungover tea to drink.

Even the hungover tea didn’t seem to help; Samantha was still dwelling in her intoxication. Darcy could only hope that she wouldn’t have a dreadful headache by the time she woke up tomorrow morning.

Heck, Samantha hadn’t even eaten.

Back at the imperial palace, Kai was now bored out of his mind. King Sullivan hadn’t been very cooperative, but Kai knew how to deal with him.

Now and then, King Sullivan would let out muffled screams as Lord Marshall covered his mouth every time he wanted to shout, but it seemed all too easy. Sullivan was strong; at least if he could not fight, he could run.

But here he was taking the torture and telling the two men what they needed to know. It didn’t seem fishy to Marshall, who seemed to be enjoying himself, torturing the trash of a man before him. King Sullivan’s muffled screams were like music to his ears.

Eventually, after almost half a day, Sullivan had told them of the way to go. They had to go to another kingdom and find the temple of light.

The thought of going to another kingdom seemed like a crazy thought to them, Marshall and Kai. The two men had never stepped foot outside the borders of Klinestra. At least that was what it seemed like.

The kingdom of Klinestra was surrounded by water on all sides. As a result of this, everybody thought that the world ended after Klinestra and that there wasn’t any more land outside of it.

Sullivan said he had been there, and their land was simply more prosperous. Their elements were more irregular and abstract.

Rare elements like sound were normal in this continent “Thank you for being such a dear,” Kai said as he stood up from his seat.

“Please leave my palace; I don’t want to ever see the likes of you again.” King Sullivan said as he tried to drive them away.

Kai walked beside Lord Marshall to the door but stopped.

“On second thought... Let’s make this more fun.” A sinister smile was drawn on Kai’s face. Suddenly an eerie sound was heard, and a black door formed under king Sullivan.

Sullivan fell into the open door before he had time to evade the mishap coming to him.

“Aaaahhh…!” Sullivan screamed as he tried to stop himself from falling but couldn’t.

“Let’s go have fun. You can have your revenge!” Kai declared as he tugged on Marshall to come with him through the door as well.

Sullivan fell for what seemed like hours. He kept falling and falling. It seemed to go on forever, until it didn’t.

—CRASH—

Kind Sullivan fell to the ground. Hard. Surprisingly, something cushioned his fall.

“Took you long enough.”

The hot sun assaulted Sullivan’s royal skin. With those words, he sprang up to look at the direction it came from.

Not to be too surprising, it was Kai who had said those words. No one knew where Kai had gotten two wooden beach chairs, but that was what they were sitting on.

“What’s going on? Why did you bring me here? I could have your head for this.” Sullivan said as he looked around. Sullivan was Teleported to the beach. The vast blue sea, the white sand, the short coconut trees... It seemed like paradise. But someone was going to die there today.

“Yeah… Sorry about that, but I am the one who decides those things,” Kai said with a smile as he looked at Marshall to go have fun.

Before the interrogation with King Sullivan started, the two men had a conversation. Lord Marshall wanted to avenge his wife; he wanted to take King Sullivan’s head. Kai could not agree more.

Lord Marshall walked towards Sullivan with a sinister smile on his face that said. “I have waited so long for this.”

Sullivan took a few steps backwards; the killing intent oozing out of Marshall was enormous; Kai could even see it.

“Please die for me.”

The sea behind Marshall started to rumble, rise, and crash. The waves of the sea were violent.

Lord Marshall held his hand out, and a medium-sized sabre was formed out of nothingness. He moved with the speed and agility of a seasoned warrior, his movements fluid and precise.

The sabre glinted in the light, reflecting the fierce intensity of his gaze. At that moment, it was clear that Lord Marshall was a force to be reckoned with and that Sullivan was about to face his greatest challenge yet.

Sullivan was taken aback at the intensity with which Marshal came at him, but he had been in a lot of fights before. It didn’t take a lot of time for Sullivan to get his bearings.

—BOOM… CRACKLE—

Thunder boomed and lightning struck. A huge bolt of lightning, having an orange hue, fell from the sky into Sullivan’s hand.

“COME AT ME!” Sullivan screamed. Marshall was now very close to Sullivan.

—Swing—

Marshall swung his water sword, but it didn’t hit anything. Sullivan had disappeared.

“You would have to do better than that if you want to have a chance at cutting me.” Marshall almost fell over; it was as if Sullivan was playing with him.

“Come again.”

Sullivan taunted and Marshall darted towards him, this time more ferocious than the last time.

—swing... SPLASH—

This time Marshall fused the element of water into his swing, compelling water to come downwards at where Sullivan stood formally.

The force of the wave would have rendered Sullivan immobile if it had hit him. Sullivan was faster and more agile, giving him an edge over Marshall.

Sullivan planned to wait for Marshall to wear himself out and then finish him without a dent in his stamina. He knew that if he killed Marshall, Kai would not let him go easily, so he had to be prepared.

“If I was standing there... I can’t even imagine what would have happened to me. YAWN, I am getting tired of your bad aim.”

Sullivan was visibly pissing Marshall off. The point where Sullivan stood was not far from where the attack from Marshall had landed. It made it seem like Marshall had a bad aim.

“Sigh… Am sorry.”

Marshall said as he looked up into the sky. Marshall brought his face towards Sullivan; his eyes had a scary resolution behind them.

The moment Marshall’s gaze landed on Sullivan, he subconsciously gulped down hard saliva.

“Let’s finish this.”

Marshall made another sabre materialize out of thin air. He was serious; Sullivan could feel it.

—KZZT—

In a flash, Marshall’s sabres collided with Sullivan’s lightning. The sound of two elemental swords colliding filled the whole island.

The mere impact shook the entire island, and the birds in the trees flew out of them in fear.

“That’s more like it...” Although Sullivan was smiling as he said so, the struggle in his eyes was evident.

“Let’s take it up a notch, shall we?”

The pressure coming off the water sabres was enormous; the beach sand was not helping. Sullivan was sinking it to the ground.

The aura around Marshall had changed; Sullivan seemed to be fighting a demon. The colour of Marshall’s eyes had changed to blood red; he was burning his blood essence to kill Sullivan.

Marshall really wanted to make this end quickly, but not too quickly. It didn’t take long for the pressure to push Sullivan down to the ground; his knees were the only thing supporting his body.

‘I can’t die here,’ Sullivan thought as he vanished from under Marshall. “Did you really think that you could kill me that easily? I am a demigod. I am your king!”

Sullivan was up in the sky; he was covered in lightning, and his every move made the heavens shake and thunder boom.

This was Sullivan’s final form; this was the form he had killed Salinger in two thousand years ago.

“Let’s finish this.”

At this moment, Marshall’s skin began to change colour, and his body grew in size. The clothes he was wearing could not withstand the pressure and tore to shreds.

A tail grew out of Marshall’s cervix, and he kept increasing in size. Two golden ears grew out of his temple. All this was going on within a split second. It didn’t take long for Marshall to finish his transformation; he had become a Blue Dragon!

“Eh… No wonder his city is called the Blue Dragon City.” Kai shrugged and spoke to himself from the sidelines.

Although Marshall had not grown into the full potential of a dragon, he was still a dragon.

“You are a dragon?!?” Sullivan sounded shocked. He had never fought a dragon before. He had heard stories; the only dragon he had ever seen was Vilholin, the son of that god.

“Anyhow…I will kill you today.” Sullivan said as he began to collect lightning into one bolt.

“You are free to try.” Marshall urged Sullivan.

Mason, Marshall’s father, was a crippled dragon; he had fled during the dragon wars and stayed under the radar and waited for every other dragon to die. He waited a long time, slowly losing his powers as a dragon. At least that’s what was known.

Then he infiltrated into the human world in his human form and wanted to have a normal life. That was his want.

But bad habits die hard. The moment Salinger called him into his army to fight under his wing... The urge to rule over these puny humans overcame his sense of judgment.

—CRASH…CRACKLE…SIZZLE—

Sullivan had thrown a lightning bolt at Marshall. The blue dragon, who was formally Marshall, didn’t even move. It made no provisions to dodge the attack and just let it hit him.

Sullivan thought he had won until the lightning bolt seemed to disperse as it hit Marshall’s scales.

“Try again.” This time it was Marshall who urged Sullivan to attack him.

Marshall floated in place, waiting for Sullivan to attack again. Sullivan had been dominated, but he could not take it any more. He formed another bolt; this bolt packed more lightning elements than the last one.

The heavens had darkened, and the sun had disappeared. This was the ultimate lightning bolt.

—BOOM—

The bolt landed on Marshall. A cloud of black smoke formed from the impact; he was sure that this was the one to do Marshall in.

“Hahahahaha… That actually hurt me!”

From within the cloud of smoke, a loud gruff laughter was heard and Sullivan’s heart sank. The smoke cleared to expose a perfectly fine Dragon. The only blemish it had was a huge cut on the dragon’s torso.

Another thing made Sullivan sink even deeper in despair. The huge cut was healing at a speed visible to the eyes.

The dragon species had a scary regeneration speed. This scared the shit out of Sullivan.

“That’s two attacks... I doubt you have any more.” Marshall started flying around Sullivan’s figure, intimidating him.

“Have one of mine,” Marshall gave Sullivan a bit of distance. “Here it comes!” A huge number of water arrows formed around Marshall’s dragon form.

—Slew, slew—

All of the arrows had one target, Sullivan. In an instant, Sullivan was riddled with the arrows, his body full of holes. He could do nothing about it.

His time of reckoning had arrived. Sullivan fell from the sky slowly.

Before Sullivan could fall into the water, Kai caught him and brought him up to shore. “Nice”

Kai could feel the blood essence surging within Sullivan. Kai could not absorb blood essence from just any dead mage. He loved to kill his prey; he hated taking something that wasn’t his.

Sigh…he had to discard his pride and take in the essence of this corpse.

After some time, Kai stood up from the dead Sullivan. The corpse could no longer be defined as a corpse; Sullivan was now just a sack of bones.