The Desolate Mountains (The Divine Elements Book 2) (27 page)

*splash*     *splash*

Within a small pond, two little beasts played together as they splashed water onto each other’s faces. Sounds of giggling and laughter filled the air, enlightening the dark atmosphere within the mountain valley.

“Hehe, you are so slow, Weir!”

A little girl’s laughter echoed while she agilely dived under the water and popped up behind a small silver dragon.

“Not fair, I’m still learning how to swim! Besides, I don’t have those webbed limbs like yours…”

The small dragon complained, as bubbles burst forth from his snout and he tried to paw the childish figure behind him.

Upon closer inspection, the little girl actually had translucent film that stretched between her fingers and toes. Smooth gill lines covered the side of her neck, and her skin dazzled with countless tiny blue sparkles.

Just based on her physical appearance, it was clear that she was a very rare beast.

“Hey, what’s happening to your claw?”

The little female beast asked, as she climbed on top of the dragon’s back and held his paw within her tiny hands.

When Weir had tried to playfully attack her, the human-type beast had noticed that there was a strange symbol glowing on the back of his paw.

An eerie and cold aura exuded from the symbol once it was out in the open.

As soon as Weir realized that the symbol was showing, he immediately brushed his paw away from the girl’s grasp and tucked it under his chin. An irritated expression flickered across his face and the little dragon began swimming back towards the shore.

“OY! Wait for me!”

The blue-skinned beast yelled out in confusion, as she hurried to catch up to her friend.

Stepping onto the dry grass, Weir shook the water off of himself and glanced below at his paw. Heaving a sigh of relief, he turned his head to face the incoming nagging of the little blue girl.

“Weir, you are so mean! I just wanted to look at it!”

The girl pouted, but continued to try to catch a glimpse of the mysterious symbol on her friend’s paw.

“Leave it, Laris… It’s not what you think it is.”

Weir abruptly stated in a dark tone.

Seeing the rapid change in her usually easy-going friend, Laris stopped her fooling around and nervously stared at the silver dragon.

Realizing that he had upset one of his only friends, Weir gently nudged his nose against the girl’s stomach in reconciliation.

“Haha, that tickles!”

Laris giggled, attempting to push away the dragon’s head.

“Climb on my back, let’s go see the flowerbed again.”

Weir cheerfully suggested as he lowered his body to the ground.

Excited at the notion of seeing the pretty flowers once again, Laris enthusiastically leapt onto Weir’s scaly back and patted his neck to let him know that she was ready.

“C’mon Weir, hurry! It’s starting to get dark and then you’ll have to leave.”

“Alright, hang on tight!”

Spurring into motion, the little dragon bolted deep into the empty valley while a single thought enveloped his mind.

I’m sorry, Laris, but this thing living in my body is a curse that I inherited from my father. The curse of all the Guardians…

………………….

“LAAARISS!!!”

Weir let out a savage roar when he saw the woman that had stood by him all these years suddenly fall to the ground in front of his eyes.

*kacha-kacha*

A deathly chill spread out from his body, as the silver scales on his body began to freeze at a rapid rate, and a layer of frost started to cover them. An icy grey mist expelled from the gaps in the Dragon King’s jaw and a sharp cobalt-blue light burst forth from his right paw.

A sinister and murderous aura twirled around Weir as his eyes intensely bore into the nearly Griffin King.

“I never thought that you would be the one to force me to use this cursed power, but you leave me with no other choice, Xardoth. Come, let me part your head from your body!”

Weir frostily whispered, the dangerous glint in his eyes momentarily suppressing Xardoth’s strength.

What is this deathly feeling?

Xardoth frantically thought, while glancing back and forth between his son and the enraged dragon. This was the first time that he had seen Weir this angry, and even during their previous fights, the dragon had never come close to losing his calm.

That must have been his partner. Fuck!

Xardoth mentally cursed, conflicted between the urge to rush towards his son to embrace him, and the instinctual fear that was telling him to run as far as he could from this twisted energy emanating from the silver dragon.

However, before he could contemplate it any further, Xardoth felt a chilly breath on his neck, sending shivers all over his body.

“Pay for your sins, griffin.”

A mad and nefarious voice proclaimed into his ear, and in the next instant, a loud cracking noise could be heard throughout the battlefield.

“AARRGGHHH!”

Xardoth screamed in agony, wobbling in the air as one of his arms dangled in a twisted position.

The two armies below instantly stopped fighting when they heard the piercing cry of a Beast King and looked up to the skies in shock.

The stalemate had finally been broken.

……………..

Quick, bring her to me. The others are coming to stop the fight.

A calm voice resounded in Calron’s mind, shaking him from the awe of the battle above.

He immediately knew who the voice that contacted him was, and rushed forward towards Laris and Jarken, leaving Rebran to deal with his father.

Calron’s job was accomplished the moment the two family members saw each other.

“Hurry, take her to the Elder before she loses more blood!”

Jarken hoarsely yelled out to Calron the moment the golden bird swished down towards the injured Laris on the ground. It appeared as if the old raccoon had already made contact with the dark panther as well.

Even though Jarken did not know why the Elder placed so much trust in this stranger, he dare not delay any further.

Gazing down at the fluttering eyelids of the blue-skinned woman who had just warmed up to him a few hours ago, Calron felt a range of various emotions coursing through him.

“Stay with me, Laris.”

Calron bent down and whispered into her ear.

“So…rr..y…”

A feeble voice came out from Laris’s mouth.

“Hush.”

Calron consoled the beautiful beast, gracefully scooping her between his claws and flapped his powerful wings.

Take care… brother.

Calron sent out his thoughts to Rebran, shooting a quick glance at him before disappearing with Laris into the city.

…………………

“Hahaha, this is absolutely glorious! Keep fighting, my little puppets!”

A sweet melodious laughter filled the air on top of a high cliff.

With her red hair dancing in the wind, a woman chuckled mirthfully while observing the aerial battle between the two kings.

“I guess it’s time to finally put the plans in motion.”

A vicious giggle echoed in the silent cliff.

“Father…”

Rebran numbly whispered, feeling an overwhelming amount of rage bubbling up inside of him.

Anger…. ignite!

Fury…. burn!

Wrath…. consume!

Tendrils of crimson source energy began coalescing around the white lion, gradually seeping into his eyes and turning the pupils into a shade of deep red. This was the first time that Rebran had ever felt the power of the Blood Legacy, and it was beginning to corrupt the weak-willed mind of the young lion.

“GAAAAHHH!”

Letting out a savage roar, Rebran charged towards the massive silver dragon who was more than ten times his size. Streams of red liquid penetrated into his originally translucent wings, and thick veins of blood popped up all over his body.

He had lost all traces of rationality.

Sensing a violently fluctuating energy drawing close to him, Weir took a glance behind him and noticed a tiny figure rushing straight at him.

“Pesky animal.”

Ignoring the injured Griffin King, Weir lifted up his maw and shot a ball of frozen gas towards the nearing Rebran.

A long trail of grey mist followed behind the smoky ball, as it froze the very air around it.

*sha-sha*

An explosive sound resounded in the air when the frozen gas collided with the figure of Rebran.

“GRAAAH!”

The young lion seemed to be incapable of forming words, letting out his scream of agony. However, upon closer inspection, one could see that wherever the frozen gas touched Rebran’s skin, it simply evaporated away with a sizzle.

This was not surprising, as the young beast’s body was burning up its own blood to fuel his rage and use the power of the Blood Legacy. Webs of blood capillaries within Rebran’s body burst open and even the muscle fibers in his limbs began to be eaten away by the legacy.

Unlike Calron, Rebran did not have the same mental fortitude as him, and the Blood Legacy was destroying the young Inheritor’s mind and body.

If this continued on for any longer, it was uncertain whether or not Rebran would live to see the next day.

Enough! Come to your senses, Rebran!

A familiar voice bellowed inside the young lion’s mind, rousing him from deep within his consciousness.

Cal…ron?

Rebran hoarsely muttered, memories of what transpired slowly returning to him.

He felt thirsty for some reason.

I have forcefully withdrawn all the source energy from your body. Do not try to activate the legacy again until I tell you to do so. This is partly my fault, as I did not explain clearly what this legacy entailed but after this mess is cleaned up, we will talk.

Caron explained in a hurried tone, and Rebran got the sense that something seemed to be occupying the mind of his protégé.

B-but, my father!

Rebran protested, unwilling to leave his father to his fate.

Do not worry, someone is coming to stop this madness.

Caron did not explain any further and retreated from Rebran’s mind.

Just at that moment, a powerful voice thundered in the middle of the battlefield.

“Two Kings fighting like dogs in front of their own people… disgusting.”

“First Elder!”

The Nobles on the ground all cried out, the moment they saw the authoritative figure enter the battlefield from above.

…………………..

“Damn this kid, he nearly kills himself the very moment I leave his side.”

Calron grunted to himself after stopping the flow of source energy to Rebran.

To be fair, you never warned him exactly how dangerous this legacy was.

Ezkael interjected, as he materialized next to his student.

After months of not coming out in the open, Calron could finally detect some striking changes within his Teacher’s appearance.

No longer was his body obscure and smoky, and traces of his Teacher’s actual form could be seen through the dark mist. If the previous Ezkael was more like a ghost, then his current form was more akin to a semi-solid body of a man.

“Teacher… your…”

Calron gaped at the appearance of his Teacher.

“I’ll explain later. By the way, you think she will be alright?”

Ezkael brushed off Calron’s amazement with his current form, and instead gazed at the hut behind them.

“I don’t know… but I reall – Come out, whoever you are!”

Calron abruptly stopped mid-sentence and shouted towards his right, while sparks of lightning cracked around his fingertips.

“Hahaha, impressive! Only at the Vajra stage, and yet you were able to locate my presence. I was wondering who this talented person was that had managed to completely put my plans into disarray.”

A smooth and silky voice echoed in the distance, as a graceful red-haired woman sensually walked towards Calron.

Adorned in an equally bright red dress, the woman’s features would easily put her as one of the  most beautiful women that Calron had ever seen. However, the closer she got to him, the greater a sense of danger began to evoke inside of him.

RUN.

He felt the same fear that he did back when he was eight years old, and the three assassins were trying to kill him. He was helpless back then, and this same feeling arose at this moment while the red-haired woman continued to draw closer.

“Such a handsome young man… and a human no less! I wonder how you got so deep into the Desolate Mountains without anyone discovering you. I’ll forgive you for interrupting my plans, if you tell me your secret.”

The woman laughed seductively, her emerald eyes boring into Calron and freezing his heart still.

Her plans were merely postponed for the time due to the sudden intervention of one of the Elders, but Calron had not truly affected them. The red-haired woman was simply curious as to how a human could manage to enter a beast city within the Desolate Mountains.

Plans? When did I ruin her plans?

Calron frantically thought, as he desperately tried to move away from his location. Even his mental connection with Ezkael seemed to be broken.

He tried yelling to alert the old raccoon inside, but discovered to his horror that no sounds came out from his throat.

“No one will disturb us… Just stand still and let your mind be taken over by me…”

The red-haired woman whispered into Calron’s ear from behind, while softly brushing his chest with her hands.

Gradually, one of her hands slowly traveled towards his neck and started to creep near his ears.

NO!

Caron had an uncanny feeling that if he let this dangerous creature into his mind, his very existence would cease to remain.

*CRACKLE*

“UGRHHH!”

A shrieking scream emerged from the red-haired woman’s mouth, and she immediately let go of Calron and stared in terror at her scorched hand.

“Impossible…This can’t be! You cannot be one of them!”

The woman’s voice turned into a mad shrill when she turned her gaze towards the center of Calron’s chest.

Bolts of Azure Lightning violently surged around Calron’s body, as the symbol of his father’s locket glowed in front of his chest. The bird in the locket seemed to be almost moving, drawing the azure currents deeper into it.

*SCREEEEEEEE*

An ear-piercing screech sounded in the vicinity, a cry much more powerful and overbearing than Calron could ever manage.

Calron remained in a daze, but he could still see the expression of terror on the woman’s face.

“House Raizel…”

The woman rasped, staring in shock at the bolts of Azure Lightning darting around Calron. Her lips slightly trembled, and her feet started to subconsciously retreat away from him.

Wait! How do you know that name? DON’T LEAVE!

Calron roared within his mind, frustrated that his voice was still under the control of the woman. This red-haired woman clearly knew about the Azure Lightning, and moreover, from her words it seemed as if there were more members of the House of Raizel!

How could Calron remain calm after this knowledge?

With her eyes in a panic, the red-haired woman whispered a few words and instantly vanished in front of Calron’s eyes.

“NOOOOOOO!!!”

Words finally came out of his mouth, but it was too late by then.

His mind was in shambles.

I actually might have family left in this world… a family!

The bird-shaped locket gradually disappeared from his chest, along with the last vestiges of the Azure Lightning.

His eyes started to close, just as he saw a glimmer of grey fur and a hazy image of a raccoon picking him up from the ground.

Darkness.