The Messenger of Death

"Nowhere fath – I mean sect master. The door handles looked dusty and I wanted to clean them, I was afraid that you would have some kind of allergic reaction to the dust."

"Shut up Amir." The sect master commanded.

Amir couldn't move due to the invisible force that has wrapped itself around his body. He knew that the sect master would be running his hands through his beards now, and also thinking of what to do about the problem at hand.

-Whoosh!

Amir and the sect master had disappeared from the room.

They reappeared in a garden filled with flowers and plants of different kinds and nature. The sect mater stared at the flower that stood out the most in the garden.

It was a red rose surrounded by red-colored beads, 45 of them. Just floating randomly around the red flower. It was the overseer and the seeds of Midas.

Every plant in the garden benefitted from the overseer, and because of this oddity in their sect's garden, they could grow rare and difficult miracle fruits and plants. It was one of the most prized possession of the sect given to them a long time ago by Midas.

He counted the petals left on the overseer and it had 8 petals left. The sect master counted the seeds of Midas, and they're all present.

At first, he thought that one of the beads must have been stolen and replaced with a falsified one, but after thinking about it he remembered that the uniqueness of the seeds couldn't be imitated or recreated.

His gaze landed on the 9th petal of the overseer, it was laying on the ground not far from where the overseer was.

"Amir."

"Yes fath – sect master?" he cleared his throat after he had almost slipped again.

"What is the appointed time that the Midas flower was said to have matured after its appearance?"

"4 months from now sir."

"If the petal has fallen then it means that its QI has been absorbed or taken from it. Someone found a petal without the seed of Midas."

"But how?" Amir asked.

"That is what I would also like to know. Go and summon the senior elders of the sect, tell them that if they haven't gathered in the judgment hall in the next 30 minutes they will hate being late."

The sect master released Amir from the invisible force that had held him captive.

…

In the judgment hall, there was a long rectangular table made of unknown material that stretched into the distance. The table looked like it didn't have an end from one part, only a beginning.

The sect master was seated at the beginning of the table and the senior elders of his sect were seated around him.

"Sect master, why have you summoned us here?" One of the elders questioned.

"A petal from the Midas flower overseer has fallen…" The sect master wasted no time in announcing the unforeseen problem that had happened earlier.

"What!?" The elders in the room gasped.

"How is that possible?" The elder that had asked what the reason for their summoning was, questioned again.

"That's what I would also like to know. But first, we need to decide if we are going to hold the ceremony of handing out the seeds, earlier than the appointed time.

If we delay it and another petal falls, then it would stir a lot of trouble that we don't want on our hands. The royal families might even get involved in it." The sect master mentioned.

The elders kept quiet for a while. Later on, one of them spoke.

"I vote that we hold the ceremony earlier than the appointed time."

"Same here." several others seconded one after the other.

"I object." One of the elders raised his dissatisfaction with their decisions.

"Tuck, your objection doesn't matter because the majority has voted that we proceed with it."

"Sect master, think about it. The guardian of the petals must have been present when the petal was taken. If it wasn't meant to be then he wouldn't have let it happen." Tuck, the elder that objected stated.

"I have thought about it already. If the guardian wasn't against it then that only means that we should continue with the plan. If he isn't against that person obtaining the petals without having a seed with them, then that means that the individual can get the other petals before we even have the chance to give the seeds out.

What do you think will happen then?" the sect master explained his reasons for making such a suggestion.

"I-I just think that the tradition shouldn't be broken over one single unforeseen event," Tuck said.

"It is because it is unforeseen that I have to disregard the tradition for it!! Since the overseer and the seeds were trusted with us, this has never happened. None of the previous sect masters faced this kind of issue. It has been over 500,000 years since it was entrusted to us.

If the petal was meant for only our sect, then I wouldn't be this worried. But it is meant for everyone, in every realm, just as long as you can obtain a seed – then you would have a chance to compete for the petal. We cannot be hardheaded about this."

"I understand, sect master." Tuck bowed his head.

"We will proceed with the ceremony in 2 months, send the invites out, and create an investigation team for this matter. We need to get a hold of this individual and see what is so special about him or her."

The sect master stood up from his seat and the elders followed suit.

They all bowed their heads in respect towards their leader.

"One more thing, the news about a petal falling shouldn't leave this room, not even your families are allowed to know. If that happens, then the punishment will be severe." The sect master threatened.

"What about Amir, my lord? He knows about it too." One of the female elders inquired.

"Do not worry about Amir, he is many things, but not a tattletale." The sect master finished and disappeared from the judgment hall.

**********

BACK IN THE LOWER PLAIN REALM.

Alex was still knocked out cold, he was lying down in the corner of a tent with white bandages around him. He was wrapped like a mummy, all alone in the tent.

"No." He whispered.

"Don't leave me, Sheila, please. Don't leave me." A tear dropped from Alex's eyes. He was having a dream about Sheila.

"Please." That was the last word he uttered right before he woke up from his sleep. Alex gently opened his eyes and looked at the roof of the tent.

"Ahh." He groaned in pain.

His mind was assaulted by a migraine.

"I feel like my head is going to split open." He said hoarsely.

Alex started to recall the incidents that had taken place before he passed out, as his migraine started to subside slowly.

He remembered almost everything. From the crimson light to the magic circles and the voices that he heard after he saw those visions. He could also remember the voice that told him to drink from the white bowl.

['Guys, are you here? Xander.']

Alex called out to his alternate personalities.

['Alex, how do you feel?'] Lex questioned.

['Like I was run over by a Benediction hovercar.'] He attempted to chuckle but only ended up grunting in pain.

['If you have the strength to make such jokes then you must be feeling quite alright.'] Al spoke up.

['Xander?'] Alex called out again. He was somewhat worried that Xander wouldn't respond.

['I am here.'] Xander answered.

Alex sighed in relief.

['I thought we had lost you for a minute there.'] Alex said.

['I was knocked out. I don't know about anything that took place after that.']

['Oh, so now you care about us?'] Al uttered playfully and Alex chose to ignore him.

['Do you guys have any idea why that happened?'] Alex was referring to the things that took place when he was suppressing the berserkers with his bloodline.

['Not entirely, but I do have an idea. Remember what Grace and the Dragnel brothers said about using the bloodline that we awakened? That it was going to get us killed.'] Lex pointed out.

"That's true, but. I didn't expect it to be like this. Did you see and hear everything that I saw and heard?"

['Yes.'] Al and Lex replied at the same time.

['It was, terrifying. Very terrifying.'] Al mentioned.

"Using my awakened bloodline is really out of the question. I have to avoid it at all costs." Alex recalled the feeling he had when the crimson light materialized and he saw and heard all those things.

The pain he felt in his soul. It was something that he never wanted to experience again.

"Ahh," Alex grunted as he used his hands to support himself up from his laid position.

"Huh?" He felt like something was wrong and he checked himself well. He probed into his core and found out that his cultivation rank had dropped down by 2 ranks.

"What the f*ck? My cultivation rank dropped down by 2 ranks." He was stunned and confused as to why this had happened.

['Why did that happen!?'] Lex Wondered.

['Remember when we were about to merge with Dragnel's blood and they said that after merging with it we would be at the Nirvana realm?'] Xander questioned.

['Yes, what about it?'] Lex answered.

['After we merged with the blood we were only at the origin realm, instead of the nirvana realm. Our awakened bloodline cut us short by a few realms. Experiencing a backlash after using it might have caused our rank to drop.'] Xander finished.

"F*ck me." Alex uttered.