Crimson Core

Kai had found his way into Lord Marshall’s chamber. The two men were having a conversation; they looked like the perfect father and son.

Lord Marshall’s chamber was simply magnificent, it was fit for a king. The high white walls seemed to scream splendor and seemed to coerce who ever stepped foot into the room to feel awe.

The artwork on the ceiling simply represented Marshall’s aesthetic nature as well as a hidden fantasy of his. The paint in was that of the creation of Adam.

“How are you feeling?” Kai sat at the foot of the king-sized bed Lord Marshall laid in.

“I am doing well,” Marshall sat up in his bed and looked at Kai with a bit of tension in his eyes. “…who were those girls?”

Marshall could still not keep his heart and mind at rest after seeing the two girls in his living room. He would not lie, Chelsea had almost no chance with them around.

“Oh, I thought I told you they are my subordinates, part of my new family and nothing else.” Kai said matter-of-factly.

“You seem so sure of them, don’t you?” Lord Marshall had traces of concern in the gaze he gave Kai.

“Not entirely, but they are allies I can trust.” Kai was sure of what he told Lord Marshall. The loyalty scale on the both of them had just reached an all-time high of ninety per cent for Samantha and ninety-seven per cent for Darcy.

“mhm…if you insist. So, when are you going?” Marshall did not need to spell it out, the intention was clear, and the message passed.

“About that,” Kai paused, he did not know how to tell Marshall that he had something else to do before going to the realm of the gods.

Kai pause seemed to go on forever, it was wrecking Marshall’s heart. “Well???” Lord Marshall was simply losing patience.

“I have some places to go. I can’t battle Vilholin’s father in my state. I need to get stronger.” Kai had a spark of determination in his eyes as he spoke.

“So, it’s like that. In that case please do get stronger and bring my daughter back. It breaks my heart to see her lifeless body.” The pain of a losing his only daughter was evident, Lord Marshall’s begging eyes were enough to send the message to Kai. He understood the assignment.

Kai leaned in and held Lord Marshall’s shaking hands, “I promise, even if it kills me, I will bring Chelsea back.”

The possibility that he could never see his daughter any more, was like a gloomy shadow that brooded above him. The assurance Kai gave him went rather a long way to soothe the old man’s aching heart. “Thank you very much.”

“I think I would leave you now to have your rest, get well soon. Be rest assured I will keep my promise.” Kai said as he stood up from his sitting position and walked out of the room.

“I will rest well,” Lord Marshall heaved a sigh of relief.

He had always looked up to Salinger when he was just a little boy. The nights that were spent with stories of Salinger’s exploits, told by his father seemed to stick even till his old age.

‘I will need to think all this through. I don’t have to rush into this.’ Kai was lost in thoughts as he walked towards Chelsea’s chamber. It turned out that most of the books there were all related to all he needed to know about the known burial places of a few Blood Mages.

Over the few days Kai spent most of his time either training, with an intensity as though there was a war coming, or in Chelsea’s chamber reading about the blood mages. Kai tested the limits of his powers every day but the limits seemed to be nonexistent. He just stopped when the time allocated for training was up.

The power of the Gauntlets seemed to be slowly diminishing, now almost on par with Kai’s bare hands. His pale skin was delicate yet tenacious; the amour present in the Blue Dragon City was utterly useless to him.

Not minding all these, his potential seemed untapped. The prospect of looking for his limit everyday seemed to be the reason Kai woke up every morning.

It wasn’t long before the vacation was over. The Nyx brothers had to go back to the Central Academy as third-year student mages.

This night Adrian and Damien were having a long talk with their father. It was supposed to be the normal parent-to-departing-children talk, but this one felt off. Something was different; the atmosphere was a bit tense.

“Blah, Blah… Make sure…Blah.” Patriarch Lemuel made sure to drill his words of fatherly advice deep into the heads of his two sons. All his effort in bringing them up would be lost if one of them died or got severely injured; it would hurt the future of the Nyx family.

“So, with that being said, I want to say this last. Listen to me; make sure to bring that boy Kai for me. and no excuses this time.” If eyes could kill, Patriarch Lemuel would have murdered his son with his sharp gaze.

The words, the way he said those words, the way he looked at them... It sent shivers down their spines.

—Gulp—

The two brothers swallowed hard saliva as they spoke up, "Yes, father! We promise not to bring shame to the family name!” The two sons kowtowed twice before their father.

“it’s alright, I trust you. You are the sons of your father.” Although Lemuel said such words, his facial expression seemed to tell a different story.

“Sigh… I would leave you to prepare,” Patriarch Lemuel walked out of the brothers’ room.

After their father left the room, the two of them kept silent. The walls on their room seemed very intriguing to them as their gazes were fixed on the wall.

“Sigh…” Adrian was the first to break the silence. He fell back on his bed, he looked exhausted.

Adrian sighed once more, and again. It was clear that he had something in mind; he was visibly troubled by something.

Damien had finally gotten enough of this. “Oh, what is it? What bothers you so?”

The brothers had separate beds that were positioned side by side. Adrian still stayed in his laying position.

“How do you plan on finding Kai? Because I have no ideas on how to go about it.” Adrian seemed rather concerned; he feared his father’s wrath.

Damien, on the other hand, kept silent after hearing what his brother had said before replying, “I really do not know, but we can try. Let us just get to the academy; we would see how things turn out.” Damien was rather sage-like as he spoke those words.

Adrian adjusted his body such that he lay fully on the bed. “I guess what you said is true. Sigh…”

Soon the brothers begrudgingly set off for the central academy. The ride to school was long and endearing; it served as a short relief. During the ride to school, the brothers cleared their minds of every distraction and just focused on the landscape from the carriage window.

After that steamy night, Martha and Xavier had grown even closer. The next morning Martha was sore all over, but she loved that feeling. What’s more, she woke up in the arms of the man who took her.

Martha felt her chest swell with fuzzy feelings and her stomach full of butterflies when Xavier carried her into the bathroom. The two of them were stark naked.

During her body washing session, she noticed something; Xavier was all smiles. The warm smile plastered on his face made her heart flutter; she had not made a mistake by letting him into her life, for real this time.

Martha had to take a few days off from office work to spend some more time with Xavier. The news spread like wildfire, but at the same time, the knowledge of the new couple was treated as sacred. The fact that Martha and Xavier had become a couple was an open secret.

Soon Xavier persuaded Martha to get back to work. Her position as the head of the purple-fanged sect could not be jeopardized. Xavier and Martha had put in a lot of effort into getting to where they were now, and although it meant almost nothing to Xavier, he knew how important it was to his woman.

Two months later, Kai and the girls were set for their first adventure. Surprisingly Kai did not tell them anything about where they were going. The two young women seemed to trust his words.

A few hours before they departed, Kai and Marshall were in the city Lord’s study. The two men were having a seemingly casual conversation.

“When would you be coming back?” Lord Marshall asked. He was more concerned than curious If Kai did not come back on time, or maybe was held back by something, what would become of his beloved daughter.

“I am not entirely sure, but I have to travel to four places. They are very far apart, so it would take a bit of time for me to come back. I promise I would definitely come back.”

Kai seemed wise, like as he spoke those words, even a child could see that he meant it. Kai hardly cried but it seemed as though that he would anytime soon; the glisten in his eyes were evident of that fact.

“Sigh… I can only believe you and hope that you will be true to your words. By the way, you still haven’t told me where you are going.”

In actuality, no one knew where Kai was going; he hadn’t even told Lord Marshall where he was headed.

“Oh, I did not tell you? We would be headed to the eastern continent. There is something I have to check out.” Kai said.

“Be safe out there.” Lord Marshall wanted to say more words, but he was not really a man of many words. The expression of anxiousness and concern on his face was enough to finish his sentence.

The day before, Samantha and Darcy were given the authority to go into the Blue Dragon City armory. They went in to pick weapons and armor.

“The things we picked yesterday was supposed to come today, right?” Samantha asked; she was kind of anxious.

“You think so? Don’t worry, you made good choices,” Darcy assured her. Lately, for the past month or so Darcy, Kai and Samantha had been at it; they had been training non-stop.

Darcy had a stable foundation, so it did not take much before she left on her own to train and study. Samantha, on the other hand, just entered into the world of magic and elemental manipulation; she had no foundation.

Darcy felt really bad that she could not train with Kai. Oh! How much she wanted to train with him.

Time flies when you are having fun. It did not take long before the month was over, but they had grown immensely. Now it was time for them to test out their strength.

—Knock knock—

“Come in.” Darcy called out as she heard someone rap at the door. Soon two mage guards stepped in to the room. Each guard was carrying a big blue chest. The sign of the Blue Dragon City was proudly displayed in front. “Lady Darcy… Lady Samantha.” The first mage guard bowed.

Samantha was a bit taken aback; she had not really gotten used to this title yet, but she liked it.

“Where shall we drop it?” The mage asked.

Darcy pointed out where they were to keep the boxes. Though out this time, her expression didn’t change. She had this stone cold expression; she was a noble after all.

“If there is anything you don’t like, please let us know. We would be taking our leave now,” the second mage that had been silent all this time finally spoke up.

Darcy simply dismissed them with a wave of her hand. The two mages saw this gesture of hers and bowed before they left the room.

“I really can’t imagine how important those two are that Lord Marshall would grant them permission to the sacred armory. It just does not make sense to me.” The second mage said.

The first mage that had talked the most seemed to be silent for a bit of time before responding, “It troubles me as well, but our Lord has never made a wrong judgement. He must have use for them. I heard that they were the people meant to go and bring medicine to heal Lady Chelsea of her curse.”

The moment the second mage heard of the curse and of Lady Chelsea, his expression seemed to dampen. Ever since lady Chelsea had been cursed, the Marshall manor had been gloomy; no one heard cherry laughter in the hallways any more, even the sun seemed to dim out. She was truly the ray of sunshine in the manor.

“I hope they can bring her back.” The second mage said, this time with an air of understanding.

“Eee!!!” Back in Samantha and Darcy’s room, Darcy’s countenance had changed from sophisticatedly high and mighty to overly excited.

Darcy had grown up to love fighting, as well as instruments of fighting. Buying amour gave her more joy than buying clothes; buying a sword gave her more excitement than buying a necklace.

Darcy was a total freak for war instruments; it was her odd obsession. The two young women rushed to their chests; anticipation and excitement were high in the air.

It did not take long before the chests were emptied. The two women were surrounded individually by different ranks of instruments of battle; something felt rather odd.

Samantha was not entirely happy. The weapon she had chosen was not in the chest. “Uhh, Darcy…”

Darcy was so close to being lost in thoughts as she inspected her armor, but she was whisked out of her train of thoughts by Samantha’s voice.

“Yes.”

“I can’t see the weapon I chose.” Samantha complained.

“That’s rather odd; what was the name of the weapon you chose?” Darcy was concerned; it wasn’t normal for the guards in charge of the armory to make such a lousy mistake.

“I think it was the blade of the seven heavens; its a scythe.” Samantha was rather sad and distraught.

—Knock, knock—

Darcy was about to comfort Samantha and tell her that she would make sure that she got her choice weapon when someone rapped on the door.

“It seems that they are here already— The door is open!” Darcy called out. The two girls were expecting a guard or someone who carried the weapon that Samantha was missing as well as an apology.

“How is your preparation going?” Kai said as he walked into the room.

“W—well, its going well.” Darcy spoke up.

“Samantha, what is wrong? Your face is gloomy.” Kai noticed that Samantha’s face was not bright; he just had to ask.

“its nothing; its just that the weapon I wanted, I did not find it in the chest.” Samantha was really sad about that.

During these few months, Samantha had only trained with the scythe. Secondly, the entire Blue Dragon city had only one high-ranked scythe, the blade in the seven heavens.

The blade of the seven heavens was a mid-level gold-ranked weapon. Lord Marshall had obtained it in a duel between him and another City Lord. The blade in the seven heavens was the family heirloom of that city's Lord’s family.

The blade in the seven heavens was a beautifully crafted scythe. It had different engravings on its handle; the blade at the top was made by a grand master weaponsmith.

The blade at the top of the scythe was almost a meter long; its sharpness could be felt by just looking at it. The scythe had taken the blood of hundreds, if not millions, of mages; its blood thirsty nature emanated from the blade. But Samantha resonated with it.

Kai threw a warm smile at the young and dejected Samantha. “That’s why I came.”

“Oh…” Samantha was extremely elated. The thought of him coming to her room because of her weapon made her excited.

“Yes, I brought this for you.” Kai extended his hands to expose a tiny object. The tiny object was none other than the scythe that Kai had forged from King Sullivan’s blood.

“You can take it; I see that you are hesitant. This is a gift from me to you. You have to take it.” Kai urged as he still had his hand outstretched.

Samantha was hesitant at first, but she could not reject a gift from Kai; she just couldn’t. “Thank you,” Samantha said as she accepted the tiny red object from Kai’s hands.

It did not take long for Samantha to get fascinated by it, but she still did not know what she was supposed to do with it. “But what is it?”

Kai seemed rather amused; he had a warm smile, the type he always had when he was with her.

“It’s a surprise; you just have to put a bit of blood on it. You need to enter a contract with it.” Kai had a smirk on his face as he said those words.

Kai’s request was not odd to Samantha; they had been through a lot of things. Samantha just sighed as she bit her thumb.

She applied pressure to the cut to let blood come out of it. It did not take long before the object in Samantha’s hand reacted. As soon as Samantha’s blood landed on the object in her hand, it began to quiver.

As Samantha held the object, she couldn’t help but feel uneasy due to its intense movements. The object pulsated rapidly in her hands as if it had a life of its own. However, after a few moments, the movements slowed down and the object came to a halt.

Upon closer inspection, Samantha noticed that the object was emitting an eerie radiance, almost as if it were glowing from within. The radiance was so intense that it illuminated the room, casting an otherworldly glow on everything around it. Samantha couldn’t help but wonder what kind of object she was holding in her hands and what kind of power it held.

The room was rather silent. The air was high with anticipation; they wanted to see what would come out of this.

“Unite with it.” Kai said with a light smile on his face.

“Alright. I will try.” Samantha gave a little nod before she closed her eyes and pushed her consciousness into the object in her hand.

Within the enclosure of the object within her hand, Samantha felt oppressed. Her consciousness had gone into the object in her hand; the space within it was rather small.