The Desolate Mountains (The Divine Elements Book 2) (20 page)

“A human who can transform into a beast… don’t tell me, is he actually a Beast Emperor!?”

Laris suddenly exclaimed out loud, as she tightly gripped onto the bark of the tree next to her.

But that’s impossible! If there was another Beast Emperor within the Desolate Mountains, then the current Emperor have already detected him. Ev-

Before Laris could finish her train of thought, she was interrupted by another familiar voice.

Girl, it is not good to try to spy on others. Leave now, before the little birdy notices your presence.

A calm and gentle voice echoed within Laris’s mind. The voice contained a profound level of wisdom and soothed the heart of any that listened to it.

This was the real voice of her master and teacher, the second Elder of the city, Tarnila.

“Teacher, who is he really? Weir wants to talk to him…”

Laris started, but was once again stopped by Tarnila.

Weir will be fine on his own. If that brat would ever stop rejecting his own draconic heritage, then the city would not even be in this mess. This human boy is interesting, but even more interesting is the little wolf pup that he carries with him. Tell Weir that I will keep my promise and bring the golden bird to him once he is ready.

Tarnila firmly stated and broke off the mental connection with her pupil.

Although many thought Tarnila was crazy and acted irrationally, Laris knew that her master was actually one of the most powerful beings throughout the entirety of the Desolate Mountains except for the Emperor himself. Even the first Elder would not be able to defeat her once she brought out the full powers of her fearsome lightning.

During the beginning of her training with Tarnila, Laris had once asked her why she behaved like a “crazy lady”, and her master had simply laughed while petting her hair.

“Why? Because it’s fun!”

Thinking back to her fond memories, Laris unknowingly had a wide smile plastered on her face. Tarnila was always a fun teacher, and was more of an ‘aunt’ figure for her than an actual master.

“Sigh… you say that, master, but you know that Weir would never bring out the power that was left to him by his father…”

Laris sadly exhaled, and slowly turned around to depart from her master’s home.

…………………

Meanwhile, Avi had her tongue sticking out as she barked in delight when the air rushed into her open mouth.

With the warm and furry raccoon seated behind her, Avi felt a lot more comfortable flying on Calron’s back and started to enjoy the feeling of being in the sky.

“Gahaha, you are really enjoying this aren’t you?”

Tarnila chuckled while securely clutching the energetic little beast, and ruffling the fur under her soft neck.

Avi’s throat thrummed in pleasure as she leaned back against the raccoon.

*SCREEEEE*

When Calron had previously glanced back to make sure that Avi was alright, he had unexpectedly found the wolf pup cheerfully playing with the annoying raccoon. It appeared that Avi was simply afraid of being alone on his back.

Hmm, I need to figure out a way for Avi to be more comfortable while I’m flying. Teacher, any suggestions?

.

.

.

Teacher?

Calron called out again.

Careful kid, someone is coming!

…………………………..

“King Xardoth, the troops are ready.”

A humanoid figure with a black lion’s head solemnly conveyed, as he knelt down on one knee.

A colossal beast slowly stood up on its two powerful front claws along with the two muscular feline legs on the back of its body. With his two wings raising a torrent of gust around the series of tents, Xardoth let out a mighty roar that elicited an equally loud cheer from the thousands of beasts camping in the area.

With the lower half of the body of a giant lion and the upper body of a towering eagle, Xardoth belonged to the extremely rare species of the Griffin beastline. Although, his cultivation was slightly lower than that of Weir, with just the special abilities of his beast heritage alone, Xardoth was more than a match for the Dragon King.

“Excellent! I have been itching to bring down that arrogant dragon ever since we clashed in the last war. What is the report from the scouts?”

Xardoth inquired, as he smoothly folded his wings and glanced towards the direction of the distant city.

“The scouts reported that King Weir had actually left the palace quite recently. However, he quickly returned within a few hours. As for where he went, the scouts couldn’t discover without risking entering the city, so they left.”

The black humanoid beast replied in a deep husky voice.

“Where is Rebran? I did not see him return with you.”

Xardoth asked with a frown on his face.

“He…he decided to enter the city, your highness.”

Drops of sweat began forming on the black lion’s face, as he answered with a trembling voice.

“You let him leave?”

The Beast King asked in a frosty tone.

“He told me he was going to take a piss, but before we knew it, he had already left our camp area.”

The warrior lion shivered as he felt the cold gaze of the king on the top of his head.

“Take the royal guards with you and bring him back to me at once! If you return without Rebran, then I will annihilate you and your entire family.”

Xardoth whispered in a deathly voice, as his sharp avian face bore into the depths of the black lion’s soul.

“Y-yes, your highness.”

The lion quickly nodded his head and rushed to a tent of armored beasts and rapidly yelled out a string of commands.

“Rebran… my foolish son…”

Xardoth sighed, as he looked up into the sky and lamented.

…………………………….

“Hmm, interesting shape and texture… what is this used for?”

A small four foot lion asked the shop vendor, as he slowly rubbed the object with his soft white paws.

“Uhh… that is just a toy for kids. It’s called a ball and kids just bounce it around.”

The canine vendor awkwardly replied while scratching his head.

He was just about to close his shop and go home to celebrate his wife’s birthday, when suddenly this strange little white lion popped up in front of his toy shop.

“A ball… an exquisite name for such a wonderful marvel of a creation!”

The little lion exclaimed with an excited glint in his eyes.

What the heck is wrong with this kid, getting so excited over a ball? And, where did he learn those words for his age?

The vendor thought, while observing the bizarre fascination of the young beast with the ball.

“Hey, little whitey, I have to close the shop early today, so you can just keep that ball and go nuts with it.”

The vendor shooed away the white lion out of the shop, and quickly locked the entrance behind him while rushing off into the distance.

“Heh, this dummy left me a treasure!”

The lion said cheerfully, as he grasped the ball between his jaws and scurried off to an empty alley.

“How fun would it be to bounce this ball in air?”

A strange flash of light darted through the white lion’s emerald eyes, as he glanced at the blue sky above. With a slight smile tugging his lips, two large wings suddenly extended from his back.

Unlike his father, Rebran only had the pair of wings which signified his connection to the bloodline of the legendary Griffins, but the rest of his body was completely that of a lion.

Matching the pure white of his fur, the feathers on the pair of wings were equally as divine.

“Let’s see how long I have before father takes me back.”

Rebran grinned as he took off into the air with the ball in his mouth.

“This ball is so stupid! It’s flying away!”

Rebran yelled while glancing up, as he chased the small ball in the air.

Initially, when he flung the ball into air, he had thought that it would come straight down back to him, but the small ball had projected into a new path and was falling down towards another location. The wind had simply carried it away, and the young lion was adamant on retrieving his small treasure.

“Wuwu, my wings are starting to hurt… hey ball, come back!”

The little white lion cried out, his wings started to slightly tremble with exhaustion.

It was right then that the young lion heard the screech of a mighty predator.

*SCREEEEEE*

Turning around his head, he gazed at the mountainous golden bird rapidly approaching him. Rebran felt his soul shaking with fright when he looked into those cold azure eyes. He was not sure whether he was hallucinating or not, but Rebran also thought he saw a puppy and a raccoon flying on the giant bird’s back.

Compared his own puny four-foot height, this scaly bird was monstrous in size, and just its wingspan alone was enough to completely dwarf him.

Looking into the sharp and cold azure eyes of the predator, all traces of willpower left Rebran’s body and his wings dissipated under a flash of white light.

My new ball…

Those were his last thoughts before his body began tumbling towards the ground.

………………………………..

Is that… a flying lion?

Calron wondered when he saw a distant figure within his sight.

Not sure, but it appears to be a variant species since it has those flashy wings on its back. Just avoid any contact and turn around. This might be a trap from the Dragon King.

Ezkael cautioned, urging Calron to not get involved.

After getting accustomed to Calron’s personality, he deduced that the boy would be too curious to leave the foreign beast alone and this tendency had already gotten them into plenty of trouble in the past.

Wait, something’s happening to it… it’s falling down!

Calron burst into flurry of motion, as he rushed below towards the tumbling beast.

This brat never learns…

Ezkael sighed, withdrawing away from his student’s mind.

“AWOOOO!”

Avi screamed in delight when Calron suddenly charged ahead, causing the gust of wind to graze past her fur. Both Tarnila and Avi were seated behind the golden bird, so neither of them had yet seen the young white lion ahead and thought Calron was simply fooling around.

Twenty yards away.

Fifteen yards.

“Shit! Not fast enough!”

Calron cursed out loud, when he saw that the lion would collide against the ground within the next thirty seconds.

Hearing Calron shout out loud, both the raccoon and the wolf pup quieted down, realizing that something serious was occurring.

Now that is a beast I’ve never seen before. He is unconscious at the moment… that is a problem.

Tarnila pondered, while using her lightning abilities to investigate the foreign beast.

“Calron, bring out your essence and circulate it throughout your wings. Not a trace of essence should leak. Do it… NOW!”

Tarnila bellowed from Calron’s back, quickly capturing his attention.

“I can’t channel my lightning right now. If I do, Avi will get caught in the middle!”

Calron frantically replied, as he continued to race down to the ground.

Ten yards.

“I can shield her, you idiot, so hurry up!”

Tarnila lashed out, while a semi-translucent golden shield formed around her and Avi.

“woof, woof?”

Avi barked in confusion, sensing that her play time was coming to an abrupt end.

Unexpectedly feeling a bond of trust form between him and the crazy raccoon, Calron closed his eyes and forcefully pushed all the essence from his core into his metallic wings.

Sparks of lightning darted around his scaly body, as he struggled to keep the lightning strictly within his wings.

The Will of Lightning.

Those words once again reverberated throughout his mind, rousing the memories he had of his ancestors.

“Command the lightning on what you want it to do…”

Calron muttered under his breath, as a faint glow began emerging from his wings.

The lightning around his body vanished, leaving only a few occasional sparks around his wings.

What!? He was able to comprehend it so quickly? I thought that just the notion of circulating lightning without letting it leak would be too difficult for him!

Tarnila’s eyes widened in surprise when she noticed Calron’s wings glowing.

That glow signified that a torrent of essence was coursing throughout his wings, and almost none of it was leaking out of Calron’s body.

“What now?”

Calron bellowed with urgency in his voice. Only a few precious seconds were left until the young lion hit the ground and there was still more than five yards separating them both.

“Discharge all of that lighting from your wings in a single moment for a tremendous boost in speed. Since this is your first time trying it, I would prefer that both me and the little wolf here be as far away as possible. Good luck, little birdy!”

Tarnila stated, as she hugged the tiny pup to her chest and leapt off of Calron’s back. With golden lightning flashing underneath her feet, the raccoon whizzed down to the ground. It almost appeared as if she was walking on air.

If Calron was not so preoccupied with the drastic situation at hand, then he would have begged the annoying raccoon to teach that move to him.

“Alright, let’s do this!”

Calron slowly closed his eyes and took in a long, deep breath.

He felt the violent wind crashing into him, and the smell of earth gradually wafted into his nostrils. His golden scales glimmered under the light of the sun, and time itself seemed to slow down.

Silence.

In a flash, Calron opened his eyes and traces of golden lightning darted across his azure pupils.

DISCHARGE!

Roaring into his mind, Calron commanded the tsunami of lightning coursing through his wings to unleash itself into the outside world.

KABOOOOM!

The sound of a sonic explosion echoed in the entire vicinity, as the sound of thunder erupting filled the surroundings.

Waves of adrenaline rushed into his brain, and the distance between him and the white lion became nonexistent, as Calron found himself staring into the face of the young beast.

Swiftly opening his beak, Calron gripped the lion by the scruff of its neck and flapped his wings to quickly slow down their descent.

*whoosh   whoosh*

Landing with a crouch, Calron gently placed the young lion on the ground and tried to shake him up. However, the beast remained motionless.

Sensing something strange going on with the beast, Calron sent a trickle of his essence into the lion to wake up him.

“This… “

Calron immediately understood why the white lion was not waking up.

“Such is the cruel fate of this world. Some are meant for greatness, while others are left to be stranded in the shadows.”

Tarnila spoke out from behind Calron, as she slowly walked towards the unconscious white lion with Avi wrapped around her neck.

“Just leave him be, he should be waking up soon.”

The raccoon softly said when she arrived next to Calron.

“Can it be healed?”

Calron whispered, while gazing at the innocent face of the little lion.

“His crippled meridians? No. The fact that he even awakened an element is a miracle on its own, but he will have to forever live with his current cultivation of the first rank of the Spiritual stage.”

Tarnila replied back as she placed her claw on top of the lion’s forehead.

The whiskers on the young beast quivered slightly, as his chest began to rise and fall.

Both Calron and Tarnila let out a sigh of relief when they saw it happen.

Soon, the little lion started to mutter something. Curiously bringing down his face closer to the beast’s mouth, Calron tried to hear what he was saying.

“My… ball…”