《Taran'Kha》 Chapter 0 Prologue Chapter 0 ¨C Prologue It was a rainy night. Big drops of water were escaping the heaven and falling on the world. There was no sound except of the splashing water. A man slowly wandered through the streets, wearing a black coat. He was already soaked, but he didn¡¯t seem to care about it at all. His eyes were dead. This man was Drake, a former soldier who returned to his country after a long war. After the war he didn¡¯t really find back into the normal life of a citizen. He just couldn¡¯t after the things that happened. Originally he had 3 good friends, you could say they were brothers. All of them were young and wanted to see the world, so they signed up voluntarily to go to war. It seemed like a good idea to them, they thirsted for adventure and action. They completed their military training and went to war. Everything went fine, they fought for their country and killed soldiers of the enemy nations. They felt like heroes and Drake even got a medal for his services. But it came the day when everything was destined to end. It was supposed to be an abandoned village without any enemy activities and at first sight that seemed to be true. Drake, who was the leader of his squad, decided to simply walk into the village, because he thought it was save and after lots of long hard missions with blood he wanted to give him and his squad a pause. As they went into the village, suddenly a loud shout could be heard! Everywhere around them were soldiers jumping out of holes and standing up on rooftops. They all pointed their weapons at them and started to fire their guns. Bullets were flying faster then the eye could see and explosions could be seen behind them, cutting off their retreat. Two of Drakes brothers instantly got riddled with bullets, until you couldn¡¯t even recognize them anymore and fell to the ground screaming. Drake reacted fast and jumped behind a wall and tried to return fire, but his last remaining brother got lacerated with a grenade. Drake stopped firing his gun and just started lifelessly on the spot where his first brother turned into pieces. He was done¡­he couldn¡¯t fight anymore¡­he just wanted to die. So he stood up and walked around the corner, into the bullet rain¡­.and was hit by three bullets. He dropped to the ground, thinking that he would see his brothers again soon, and everything went black. After that you might think that he died, but he didn¡¯t. The soldiers who attacked him found him barely alive and decided to take him with them to interrogate. The treated his injuries just as much that he wouldn¡¯t die and locked him into a prison. Everytime when he would wake up, a special soldier, a torturer would come and torture him until his voice was gone and he couldn¡¯t speak anymore. He forgot how to form words, he couldn¡¯t point his finger anymore and he forgot most of his memories. That continued for over 3 years and after that his whole body was full of scars and open wounds. He was so thin that he could fit between the cellbars, but his mind was broken. He didn¡¯t even think of escaping and even if he did he was too weak to even walk 5 meters. Someday the enemy union which he was a prisoner from got annihilated from another country and all the prisoners were freed. That included him and he got transported with the others to the winning country. He didn¡¯t even know which one it was, but it was not important. He couldn¡¯t really think¡­only feel and the pain stopped. At least the pain on his body, but the pain in his heart stayed. You could say that he became crazy. That was a year ago. He now looked like an old man, even though he was just 24 years old. He would just wander through the streets everyday like he did now. He didn¡¯t have a purpose in his life anymore and his thinking was limited to things like ¡°where can I get food¡± or ¡°which people are dangerous¡±. He wasn¡¯t sure why he didn¡¯t kill himself long ago, but something seemed to not let him go. The only thing that he would have pleasure in was watching people getting tattooed. He didn¡¯t know why he did this but his subconscious seemed to consider it important. The Tattoo artist was a good man and let him watch as much as he wanted. He even showed Drake how to tattoo, if he had the time to do it. Drake didn¡¯t understand or memory anything of the things that happened around him¡­he was just like a puppet who gets control by strings of an almighty being. In this night he had walked into an area where he didn¡¯t belong to. All the buildings were luxurious and expensive cars were standing on the sides of the roads. He didn¡¯t realize where he was and even if he did, it probably wouldn¡¯t mean anything to him. Suddenly a whisper could be heard first silent but becoming louder and louder until it was almost like the roar of a mighty lion. No one could hear this sound except of Drake¡­but he didn¡¯t care, nothing was important anymore in this world. The roar grew louder and somehow managed to break into his head. Drake started screaming! It was like something was trying to split his head into pieces! He threw his hands against his head and pressed as hard as he could but it didn¡¯t help. The pain was getting terribly hard to bear and he collapsed on the ground, still screaming. No one seemed to care about his screams, every house kept being dark. Drake lost consciousness. It was like he was in a dream¡­no black, no grey. There were colours again and he could see something huge in the distant, which looked like a dragon. As he tried to look harder at it to confirm his idea, the being opened a giant eye and stared directly into Drakes eyes. Drake felt like he was being stabbed by a sword out of ice. The Dragon looked at him and said with a majestic but calm voice: ¡°It is time¡­!¡± Drake woke up immediately and screamed out of horror. He was still lying on the ground where he collapsed, the rain was dropping and the houses were still dark. Everything seemed unchanged, but there was actually a really big change. Drake could think again¡­something broke his depressive lethargic trauma and pulled him back into the world. As Drake realized that he heard a voice inside his head: ¡°¡­follow the silence¡±. These words were almost whispered but he could still understand them and he immediately recognized the voice. ¡° You are the Monster that awakened me..!! Who are¡­forget it WHAT are you??!¡±. Silence. ¡°Of course ... so how am I supposed to follow the silence¡­its not like I can see it¡­¡± he muttered and started walking in a random direction. He hadn¡¯t walked long when he felt that something was not right. He turned around and tried to go in another direction but the feeling was still there. ¡°Strange¡± he thought. He turned to the 2 other directions and felt the same¡­this was not the right way it seemed. ¡°It can¡¯t be right? No that¡¯s impossible¡­¡± he said and watched carefully up into the rainy heavens. Still the feeling of being on the wrong path, as if he forgot something. ¡°Thought so¡­¡± he sighed. His hope was that the being was god and he was a chosen one, but that was obviously false. He started to think that he might be hallucinating, but that wouldn¡¯t explain how he could get a clear head again. He tried to feel inside his body, tried to get the feeling to tell him where to go. Somehow he managed to activate something and the feeling turned down to the ground. ¡°Nah¡­I don¡¯t want to go to hell thanks¡± he muttered and started going away. ¡°I don¡¯t care about this voice anymore¡± he thought. As he walked for ten minutes he found himself exactly on the same spot where he left from. ¡°Impossible¡­what is this? Magic? I refuse..!¡± Drake said loudly and again prepared to walk away. To his dismay he couldn¡¯t move. ¡°What the hell is-..?! he started shouting but the ground opened up beneath him swallowed him into the depths of the earth and closed right after as if nothing happened. Drake screamed in terror and his only thought was that he didn¡¯t want to go to hell after all the things he went through. ¡°How did I deserve this??!¡± he screamed as he was sinking deeper and deeper into the planet. All of a sudden everything stopped. Drake looked carefully around, but couldn¡¯t see anything except of an orange glow in the distance. He seemed to be in a cave. ¡°Well whatever its not like I can go back up on my own anyway¡­you got me hell¡­but you cant surprise me anymore!!¡± he thought and walked closer to the orange glow. He stepped around an edge and before him presented itself a giant lava sea with bubbles of lava flowing up. A giant heat wave hit him and burned his entire hair. His skin turned red. ¡°Holy shit!!¡± he shouted and tried to hide behind the wall again. He turned around and walked straight back¡­into a wall. The path where he came from wasn¡¯t there anymore, and it seemed like the wall was getting closer and closer. ¡°¡­does everything want me dead? What is wrong with this world?¡± The walls were getting closer and the only thing he could do was going near the lava sea. Every step he took brought him closer to the edge of the sea and every time more of his skin started to burn. ¡°WHY DOES THIS WORLD WANT TO KILL ME WHAT DID I DO TO DESERVE ALL THIS????!!!¡± He screamed while walking forward. ¡°If I have to die here, I swear to all the gods if I reincarnate I will kill, kill, KILL EVERYTHING THAT¡¯S IN MY WAY!! NO ONE WILL HAVE THE STRENGHT TO FIGHT AGAINST ME, I WILL BE A GOD RULING OVER EVERYTHING!!!¡± This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.With these words he jumped straight into the sea of lava not even hesitating a little bit¡­his whole life was a failure and he wasn¡¯t really alive for a long time now. Drake splashed into the lava and sank down, first slow then faster. His skin and flesh was burned to nothingness his eyes melted his blood evaporated and mixed with the lava. Only his skeleton and his brain remained intact as if a magic shield was protecting them. As he sank deeper the unimaginably hot magma turned colder and colder. Slowly red light started to gather around Drake¡¯s skeleton. The light grew brighter and covered all of his bones. After several hours of time the bones started to turn silver coloured as if they got strengthened by the red bright light. Even his brain started to glow lightly in a golden colour and this light too, changed the thing it was surrounding. His brain turned from light pink into pure white. Drake didn¡¯t feel any of this because he lost consciousness the moment he jumped into the sea of molten stone. If he was awake he wouldn¡¯t believe any of the things happening. After all of the bones turned silvery a green light replaced the red and flesh, muscles and skin started to grow on the skeleton. The flesh was looking exactly like a normal humans flesh, only if you would watch extremely closely you would see small silvery layers engrave themselves into the flesh. The muscles were shot with long strings of silvery threads. His skin was forming over these two things and its colour was bright silver, it looked a little bit like scales. Soon the whole body was covered in skin, flesh and muscles and Drakes body colour returned from silver to normal. If you would look closely you would notice an inconspicuous silver layer over the skin which was almost invisible. The body wasn¡¯t overly muscular but a normal person could not compare to it. Next the face and other important things were built. The green light formed two eyes that were small, a little skew, spaced evenly apart and sword like eyebrows above it. A straight nose grew out of the middle of his face, and a sharp mouth formed underneath it. A sturdy jaw line formed underneath his skin as his bones moved. He had a prominent chin, which let him look determined and a little bit arrogant. He had normal ears they were a little bit pointed at the end. His face looked handsome with a touch of a wild look, as if he wasn¡¯t entirely human, but the mix of two different races. Long black hair sprouted on his head and was flowing down his back until it reached the lower half of it. His whole body got even taller then it was before and he was now almost 2 meter big. As the last change on his body was finished, the light slowly faded away. Suddenly there were distortions in the unnatural cold lava around him and a bright red light flashed. A portal looking just like the gate to hell opened up underneath his body and he was transported out of the sea into a cave again. Drake couldn¡¯t see anything¡­everything was black around him and no sound no smell nothing was reaching him. It was like he was dead. It seemed like an eternity in which he just floated in the darkness and think nothing. Then a voice called out to him: ¡°Wake up¡­.¡± the voice said. Drake didn¡¯t react. ¡°WAKE UP DRAKE!!!¡± the voice roared inside his head ¡°I haven¡¯t much time left..!¡± Still, no reaction at all. For a while nothing happened, but suddenly accompanied by a deafening roar a red thunderbolt flashed inside Drakes body and he was jolted awake. His eyes opened abruptly and you could see that they were ice-blue with a faint touch of red around the pupil. ¡°¡­where¡­where am I¡­.what¡­.why am I alive?¡± he coughed trying to get air into his lungs. The first thing he noticed as he looked around was that he was totally naked, the second thing that he had no scars, no wounds and overall a completely different looking body. He felt like he could break stone with his bare hands. All of a sudden he heard the voice again. ¡°Come¡­¡­¡± the voice whispered. ¡° Lets see who did this to me¡­.¡± He said and stood up. As he stood up he realized that his body was unbelievably strong compared to his old one. Even when he was still a soldier his body wasn¡¯t nearly as strong as it was now. ¡°Unbelievable¡­.what happened?¡± he thought when the voice once again sounded in his head ¡°Come¡­.I will explain¡±. Drake started walking in the direction his ominous feeling was telling him to go. He walked nearly an hour and started wondering how huge this cave must be, because he could still see no end, when suddenly after a turning the tunnel ended. He was standing on the edge of a giant crater which was filled to the brim with flames. ¡°As if I would go into that¡­¡± he muttered and turned back, but once again a wall appeared behind him. ¡°¡­I should start thinking and not walk in every dumb trap there is¡­¡± he thought upset. ¡°Don¡¯t worry¡­.¡± The voice said. ¡°How the hell am I supposed to not worry if there are flames all around me¡­you do know that I am human right?? Humans catch fire fairly easily!¡± He shouted. A deep growl could be heard and suddenly a giant wave of flames flew in the direction of Drake, surrounding him. ¡°Wait...NO!!¡± he screamed and tried to duck away but here was no escape and the flames ate him whole. Drake started screaming and hitting all over his body to put out the flames but they wouldn¡¯t go out. ¡°Dumb Human¡­¡± sighed the voice ¡°Can¡¯t you see that the flames aren¡¯t hurting you?¡± The voice seemed to be a little upset. Drake felt around his body and, really he wasn¡¯t in pain at all. ¡°How is this possible¡­?¡± he asked with a shaking voice ¡°How are any of the things that happened so far possible?? What are you? Why am I here? And why the hell do I have a new body¡­although I have to admit that I like it¡­¡± ¡°Breathe in the flames boy¡­you will understand and all your questions will be answered¡­trust me¡± the voice said with a calm tone. Drake noticed that he could hear the voice for real now, not only in his head. ¡°You are here, show yourself!! I at least want to know with who I am talking!¡± he shouted. A sigh could be heard and the voice answered ¡°alright¡­¡± Suddenly a lot of the flames from the surroundings were absorbed in the middle of the crater which was not visible for Drake before. A flapping sound could be heard and a big golden shadow leaped out of the burning flames towards the place where Drake was standing. Drake couldn¡¯t even react, so fast was the golden shadow and from one moment on another he was standing face to face with a gigantic golden Dragon, which was breathing flames out of a dangerous looking mouth full of sharp teeth. ¡°Satisfied¡­?¡± END OF THE PROLOG If you liked it i would love to see your comments on this, as i am a really new writer and this is my first try :) Criticism please always constructiv, otherwise it doesnt help me. CptGrim Chapter 1 - Legacy This is the first official chapter and I hope you like it :) as I said I am german and english is not my main language so please point out what i wrote wrong. 2nd chapter propably coming thursday because I have to work wednesday. Chapter 1 ¨C Legacy ?Satisfied?¡° the dragon asked with a slightly amused voice. Drake was shocked to death because of the sudden appearance of this monster. ¡°What the hell¡­what are you? A Dragon??¡± he shouted loudly and with a little fear in his eyes. ¡°Dragon¡­hah-¡° the monster sighed angrily ¡°Dragons are just mindless creatures who can¡¯t do anything except of sleeping and eating! I am not a Dragon I am a proud member of the Taran¡¯Kha!!¡± the last words were shouted to the ceiling of the cave. ¡°A Taran¡¯Kha?¡± Drake asked doubtfully ¡°To me you look exactly like the Dragons I read in fantasy novels from!¡± The Taran¡¯Kha slowly returned his view to Drake and said ¡°These lousy creatures are just imitates of my race! They can¡¯t compare in the slightest!¡± he puffed a big cloud of smoke out of his nose as he came even nearer to Drake. ¡°The Taran¡¯Kha were the Gods of every beast! No beast was a match to us and even Gods from other races weren¡¯t strong enough to threaten us! We ruled over this small part of the universe¡­! Countless worlds worshipped us and we were satisfied with this!¡± the being said and his voice got louder with every word. ¡°Were¡­?¡± Drake asked quietly ¡°Yes¡­¡± the Taran¡¯Kha sighed sadly ¡°Were¡­we are not anymore. I am the last of my race¡­unbelievably mighty beings descended one day and started killing my brothers and sisters. My love was brutally impaled by a spear of dark light right in front of my eyes. I couldn¡¯t save her, I couldn¡¯t save anyone of my race, even though I was the strongest out of all of us! After I saw my beloved dying with pain and helplessness in her eyes, something clicked in my mind and I entered a blinded mode of rage¡­I killed everything in front of my eyes and managed to wipe out a large amount of the evil gods!¡± he said and with every word his voice turned darker until it was almost hoarse. ¡°The almighty beings noticed my power and decided to capture me¡­I was impaled by three of these evil dark lights and couldn¡¯t move anymore. The pain was the worst I have felt in my entire life. The almighty beings just laughed at me and shot more of these spears into me. I was going crazy from the pain and lost consciousness. When I woke up I was on a different world, chained to the ground. The Evil creatures captured me to study my body and discover my secrets. The examinations were cruel, almost like torture. The pain was unimaginably high. The worst thing was that every time they sliced my belly open or broke my scales apart these parts healed almost immediately. They tortured me like this for a very long time¡­I couldn¡¯t think anymore and the only thing I felt was pain and the urge to die¡±. The words shocked Drake. He had an unreal feeling and without him noticing, tears started to flow out of his eyes. His story was unbelievably sad and Drake understood the Taran¡¯Kha, because he suffered from a similar experience. He felt like the mighty being before eyes wasn¡¯t the least bit scary anymore. The only things he felt were unbelievable sadness, pity and rage at these unknown evil creatures. ¡°How did you escape¡­?¡± he asked with a hoarse voice almost whispering: ¡°At some point these creatures started to lose interest on me and someday they impaled me with hundreds of dark light spears and left me to die on this foreign planet¡± the Taran¡¯Kha said with a growling voice ¡°I lay there for an eternity, at least in my mind it was. After a long time slowly my consciousness returned and I could think again¡­I pulled every single spear out of my body and the pain was even more terrible than the pain I¡¯ve felt before. My only thought was revenge but the years and years of torture and lastly the removing of the spears let me pay a high price. I lost almost all of my power and I could not cultivate anymore. My power couldn¡¯t be regained and it leaked more and more with every passing day. It was like my soul was ripped to peaces. I couldn¡¯t find revenge myself so I wandered through the universe searching for a compatible successor¡­my power is almost used up completely now and I can¡¯t even fight weak gods anymore, which was like a piece of cake to me before¡­¡± The Taran¡¯Kha slowly laid down on the ground and another cloud of smoke accompanied by a small flame escaped his nose ¡°Then¡­someday¡­ I found you, a being that lived through similar experiences as I did¡­ your mind was already broken when I first set my eyesight onto you, but slowly I repaired your soul. I woke you up and guided you to me¡­¡± ¡°Guided? What do you mean I didn¡¯t even have a choice¡± Drake thought quietly but chose to not say anything and listen ¡° I let you pass through the Soulfiregate¡­something that normal beings can¡¯t survive, but I knew you could do it. The Soulfiregate is meant to cleanse the body and reform it, making it stronger. This was a secret of my race and I didn¡¯t know what it would do with your body but I had to gamble, because you shall be my successor and inherit my legacy!!¡± the last words were almost roared accompanied by flames coming out of the mouth of the Taran¡¯Kha. ¡°Why¡­why couldn¡¯t I become your successor with my old body?¡± Drake asked after some time of thinking. ¡°Your old body was destroyed, you wouldn¡¯t have live past 30. Also no one ever imparted the power of the Taran¡¯Kha into a human being. I wanted to make sure that it will succeed and the person who crosses the Soulfiregate will get the best possible body to cultivate magic power or martial arts. Without this new body you wouldn¡¯t be able to bear the power of my bloodline!¡± the golden creature said. ¡°Soo¡­if I would agree to be your successor and inherit your legacy, gain your bloodline and so on¡­what would I get? And what is the hook in this?¡± Drake asked with a sharp look. ¡°These are good questions¡­for the first one I don¡¯t know¡­no one ever tried to impart their legacy and bloodline to a human, at least not from my race. I can only say that you will become a lot stronger¡­and if you train hard you will rise up to be a god and maybe even a true god¡­!¡± the Taran¡¯Kha said ¡° And for the purpose of imparting it to you¡­that is that you have to take revenge¡­you have to kill every single follower every worshipper of these evil creatures and lastly the creatures themselves!! I know that that is not possible in the short term, but you will get the power slowly, rise up in rank and become strong enough to threaten them! Aside from that you can do as you wish. I know you always wanted to be a pirate when you were small¡­It happens to be that the planet we are on right now is almost only water¡­the kingdoms and empires are island states, so it would be perfect to fulfil your dream¡­¡± the Taran¡¯Kha said with a small grin, which looked really scary. ¡°Wait¡­how do you know what I wanted to be as a child?¡± Drake asked confused. ¡°I saw all your memories when I found you¡­I know everything that you know¡­didn¡¯t you wonder why you could understand me even though I am firstly from another race and secondly form a whole different part of the universe?¡± the creature answered lightly ¡°Wait¡­wait..wait¡­you saw everything? Are you a freak or something? And, by the way that is a major break into my privacy!!¡± Drake shouted. The Taran¡¯Kha sighed and said: ¡°That is of no importance¡­the important thing is the question if you will succeed me and inherit my legacy?¡± Drake started to think. If he inherited the legacy and became the successor of this dragon, what would he get? Strength and power to protect what is important to him and the strength to kill everything that stands in his way. The downside was that he would have to fight against evil creatures that were countless times stronger than even a mighty golden dragon. ¡°Oh¡­I almost forgot¡­if you inherit my legacy and gain my bloodline you can¡¯t die from age anymore¡­you will be immortal¡­¡± the Taran¡¯Kha interrupted Drakes thoughts ¡°you can still die from everything else but you can¡¯t die from age, which means you would¡¯ve the time to do anything you want as long as you want. And you have a lot of time to train and become strong. Only after that you have to get revenge for me and my race!¡± Drake looked up into the eyes of the golden creature and excitement could be seen in his own ice-blue eyes. If he could live forever, than didn¡¯t that mean that he could wait for thousands of years before he waged war against the evil creatures? And to be honest which human being wouldn¡¯t want to be immortal? And he would get magic powers¡­his decision was set. Stolen story; please report. ¡°I, Drake, swear by my life that I will inherit your legacy and bloodline to fulfil your revenge. I shall be unbending, killing everything that is evil, rising up to be a god and be merciless to my enemies. Do you, mighty Dragon, accept this oath?!¡± Drake swore with a stern and determined look. ¡°What Dragon¡­do you see a dragon here?? Ah nevermind then I will accept your oath and let you inherit my legacy and bloodline!¡± With these words the Taran¡¯Kha stood up and spread his wings to both sides. He cut open the scales in the middle of his chest and golden blood started to drip out of the wound. A vase appeared out of nowhere and slowly floated under the cut. The golden blood dripped into the vase until it was almost full, then the wound closed. The vase floated to Drake who took it out of the air and with a determined gaze he started to drink the blood. Big mouths full of golden liquid entered his mouth and were swallowed by him until the vase was empty. ¡°I don¡¯t feel any different¡± he said doubtfully while looking up into the eyes of the Taran¡¯Kha ¡°Don¡¯t worry you will feel something soon¡­¡± the being said and without a warning opened his mouth. A long breath was heard and air was sucked into the mouth, then a bright white light could be seen in the mouth. From one moment to the other Drake was bathed in bright white flames dancing wildly around his body. As soon as the flames touched his naked body he felt unimaginable pain inside his body. He looked inside and saw how his soul left the place in his dantian and moved upwards while constantly reshaping. The flames were the soulflames of the Taran¡¯Kha and they were changing his soul together with the blood, which changed his organs until all of them were white. Slowly Drake¡¯s soul melted and tried to merge with the white flames. At first they were rejecting each other but the breath of flame from the Taran¡¯Kha held on and after some time the two different soulshards merged together. The whole time Drake was screaming as if he was in hell. After an hour the pain suddenly started to lessen and as Drake looked at his soul again it was almost completed. Five breaths later the last bit of flames merged with his soul and the soul started to transform completely. At first it looked like a ghost but then it reshaped and looked like a human, then it changed again looking like a mighty dragon and at last it changed into a ball of white flames which danced wildly in the middle of Drake¡¯s chest. As his soul finished merging a pattern was slowly forming on Drakes back. At first one couldn¡¯t see what it was supposed to be but after some minutes the strange pattern turned into the shape of the golden Taran¡¯Kha. Soon a mysterious dragon formed out of scars on Drake¡¯s upper back. It looked like a withe tattoo. As the tattoo finished, suddenly something emerged out of the face of Drake, covering his mouth, his cheeks and his nose. It was a completely white mask, seemingly out of bones. The mask looked like a demons mouth and was grown together with his face. It seemed like it couldn¡¯t be removed until one used great force. The mask settled itself quietly and a few breaths later Drake opened his eyes. A silvery light flashed in his eyes and he now had a wild and unbending gaze. His long black hair that was falling plain on his back before was now forming a new hairstyle. It looked like dreadlocks but the hair seemed to be alive like snakes. That was only an illusion of course, but it made him look even wilder and a little bit fierce. Drake stood up slowly, feeling the changes on his body. As he tried to rub his eyes his hands touched the mask and he almost jumped from the edge out of shock. ¡°What the hell is this¡­?¡± he asked with a hoarse voice and looked to the Taran¡¯Kha. To his horror the former mighty golden dragon who seemed like he could destroy a planet by himself, was now almost brown coloured and his eyes were dull. ¡°What happened to you¡­?!¡± he asked alarmed and jumped down near the Taran¡¯Kha. ¡°I bathed you in my soulfire¡­that is equivalent of stabbing myself with a knife until I¡¯m bled out, but a little more painful. If I hadn¡¯t done this you would¡¯ve never gotten the chance to get revenge¡­! Take this¡­¡± The Taran¡¯Kha said slowly and under pain. He bent his claw and a silver chain with a small statue of a dragon connected to it could be seen. ¡°This is the Chain of the Dragongods¡­the last remaining treasure of my race¡­we originally had a human friend and we forged this chain as a sign of our eternal friendship, but he died before we could gift it to him. The chain has 4 stages, first the opening stage, secondly the stage of arrogance, third the stage of enlightment and lastly the stage of ruling. You are not qualified to even get to the first stage yet, but this chain has another use. It can store almost an infinite amount of things in it. Only living beings can¡¯t survive in it. This will be my gift to you¡­! Never lose it¡­..¡±. The voice was getting weaker. Drake took the chain with trembling hands. He understood that the Taran¡¯Kha had sacrificed his life to him. Tears were slowly rolling down his face hitting the mask as put the silver chain over his head on his neck. ¡°One last thing¡­you aren¡¯t in the real World right now¡­.you are in a plane created by me, specially for you to train. There are a lot of monsters in this plane to help you get stronger, I captured them from all over the universe. They will all try to kill you and some of them are almost on the level of a god. You can get to the first stage of the Dragon god chain while killing a lot of beast and consuming their powers. You will have to depend on yourself all the time, although there are some Beastman tribes inside this plane. You should try to recruit them if you are strong enough, the are naturally born killers. To leave this plane you have to reach the opening stage and learn the dimensional incatation inside it. After you have learned it you will have a safe harbour and can come and go with your ships on this world as you wish. As for the mask¡­.you can never remove it yourself. You will get you full strength for ten breaths of time but after these breaths you will die! I once saw a¡­similar¡­.¡± The Taran¡¯Kha said and his voice was getting lower and lower until Drake could only hear it in his head. ¡°You shall be named Drake Cal¡¯anar, as I am named Cal¡¯anar, the cursed one¡­it was an omen¡­.may you have a better ending as myself Drake¡­.¡± These things were said in a whisper in drakes head. Suddenly the flames in the crater all vanished and the body of the dragon started to turn into dust. Sadness was seen in Drakes eyes as he noticed that Cal¡¯anar was already dead. He bent down on one knee, put one of his hands over the place where his soul was and the other one on the ground. ¡°Thank you¡­! May your journey be peaceful¡± Drake said under tears and with a trembling voice. He remained in this position for almost halt an hour, with closed eyes, tears streaming down his face. Slowly his eyes were opened and Drake looked up. A tunnel had opened and at the end was daylight. A determined gaze coupled with rage and sadness locked onto the light. Drake stood up, bowed a last time to the place where the Taran¡¯Kha laid before and walked with a straight back into the tunnel. His destiny starts here. Btw I dont know why the writing is as big as this I hope you don''t mind^^ Chapter 2 - Strange World Chapter ¨C 2Strange World Drake walked through the dark tunnel, which lead straight to an opening filled with bright daylight. As he got closer to the exit of the cave, he could hear water splashing and birds singing. He stepped through the exit and was confronted with a beautiful view. Drake was in a giant valley filled with various kinds of trees, stones, plants and animals. It looked absolutely stunning. Drake sat down and took a deep breath, letting all the happenings of this day pass his mind again. ¡°I am the successor of a dragon¡­and this dragon wants me to get revenge for him and his extinct race¡­hmmm it seems like I have to start get stronger¡­but how do I do this? I don¡¯t know anything about this world, hell I don¡¯t even know my own body yet! What is this mask¡­did I got cursed? Is it against the rules of ¡®God¡¯ to become the successor of a dragon¡­no wait am I even human now?¡± He said to himself. ¡°There are definitely too many questions to answer right now. Well¡­.its not like I could answer them, even if I would sit here for 3 days and think about it¡­I should get going and learn more about my body, which is something I can do.¡± With this thought Drake got up again and started looking for a way down. He found a small path, leading down into the valley and started walking down. On the way he saw countless birds, flying all around in this valley, but something seemed off. The birds were awfully big, not at all like the cute creatures his knew from his old world. ¡°Ahh..¡± he sighed ¡°I forgot¡­the dragon said that he made this plane especially for his successor and that he brought countless magical beasts from all over the universe into it to train him¡± Drake carefully watched the birds and decided to observe them. He jumped off the path, and slowly started to sneak near the birds location. The birds were flying crazily in circles and crying a sharp shrill cry. It seemed like they were trying to fight something, but Drake couldn¡¯t see what, because some bushes were blocking his view. As he got closer he smelled something. ¡°Decay¡­I know that smell¡­¡± he thought bitterly and remembered the days in prison where every day people died but no one cared. As he got closer to the birds the smell started to get more pervading. He sneaked into the bushes and could see the birds flying around a giant corpse. ¡°What the hell¡­?!¡± Drake thought as he observed the dead creature. It was an unknown beast, looking a little bit like a cow but with big teeth stuck in its mouth and two horns on each side of its head. There was a giant pattern, looking like a tattoo on the stomach of that beast. It was obviously dead, the whole throat was punctured. It looked like the beast was killed with just one stab. The birds were still flying nervously around the corpse, trying to attack something behind the dead cow. Drake slowly moved around the corpse, still hiding in the bushes. He saw a giant scorpion, as big as a dog. The scorpion was fully black with a long tail. Drake watched closely and saw that this monster also had a pattern similar to a tattoo on its back. ¡°It seems like Magic beasts are abominations of normal animals¡­and all of them have this strange kind of tattoo¡­hmmm if I think about it now¡­the dragon also had a pattern like this on his wings¡­¡± Drake thought. Suddenly a loud cry was heard and he was ripped out of his thoughts. One of the birds got hit with the tail of the scorpion and instantly fell down. As the bird died Drake could feel something rushing in his body. ¡°What the¡­¡± he thought and observed his body closely. The strange energy flew through his body straight to the place where his soul was. As it reached the soul it started to melt and slowly a small puddle appeared. The puddle was located directly under the soul and was pearl white with a small silver glint. It was glowing and seemed a little bit alive. Drake found to his surprise that he was feeling a lot stronger now. He didn¡¯t know exactly what happened, but it seemed like he absorbed something from the bird in the moment it died. ¡°Interesting¡­!¡± Drake thought excitedly. ¡°Is this what the Dragon meant with training myself while killing these beasts?¡± Drake was excited to test his thesis, but he was obviously not a match for the scorpion at the moment. He had to find weaker beasts. He also had to find a weapon, which was a bigger problem. He didn¡¯t know how to fight with swords, because in his old world guns replaced the swords a long time ago. ¡°Well¡­.its not like I will find a sword in this environment.¡± Drake thought. He carefully sneaked backwards, away from the scorpion and the birds. Unfortunately he stepped onto something, which made a loud cracking noise. ¡°Damned!¡± he screamed in his mind and looked up. To his horror the scorpion had vanished and even the birds were no where to be seen. ¡°Shit I have to leave fast!¡± he muttered and started running in the opposite direction of the corpse. ¡°Shit¡­there is no way the strange beasts didn¡¯t hear me¡­!¡± he thought while running when suddenly a big black shadow jumped onto him throwing him to the ground. All the air got pressed out of his lungs and he coughed. When he looked up he was almost shocked to his death as the giant black scorpion sat on his body, the long tail ready to sting. Drake panicked. ¡°WHAT THE HELL ?!¡± He screamed and mobilized all the strength in his body to push the scorpion away. Surprisingly the scorpion got thrown away and crashed into a tree with a loud noise. The tree crashed loudly onto the ground, with a totally crushed stem and the scorpion got buried under it. ¡°What¡­the¡­¡± Drake thought disbelieving while observing his hands. ¡°What is going on here¡­?¡± he said but before he comprehended the happenings the tree got pushed a little and the black scorpion jumped up from under it. Its tail trembled dangerously and a loud rattling noise could be heard, like that of a rattlesnake. ¡°Hah¡­are you angry now?¡± Drake asked while laughing. Somehow he didn¡¯t fear this beast anymore. He was strong. He wanted to find out his limits and fight to his hearts content. So before the scorpion could even move Drake jumped up and started running on to the scorpion while roaring. He was incredibly fast and as Drake realized that an excited laughter could be heard, almost maniacally. He always was a battle maniac. But after his friends died this urge got suppressed and he was even tortured and his mind broke. But now, after the dragon granted him a new life and power, this trait came back again. With a loud roaring laughter Drake rammed straight into the scorpion, which didn¡¯t even know what was happening. The scorpion got blasted away and crashed through several trees before falling on the ground. Some of its legs were broken and stood up in different directions. It struggled to get up while hissing and small black eyes stared fearfully at Drake, who was still laughing while observing his hands again. ¡°Ha¡­unbelievable¡­this is awesome¡­!¡± He said while laughing. He looked straight into the sky and roared: ¡°I AM STRONG!! AND I WILL BECOME STRONGER UNTIL NO ONE CAN POSE A THREAT TO ME!!! EVERYTHING IN MY WAY WILL BE CRUSHED!! BE PREPARED!!!¡±Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. After he vented his feelings into the heavens he slowly shifted his view back to the scorpion, which was trying its hardest to get away from this crazy creature. A cruel light started to shine in the eyes of Drake and he slowly got closer to the struggling beast. ¡°Everyone who tries to kill me will perish¡­¡± he whispered while smiling, grabbed the long rattling tail of the scorpion and pulled with all his might. With a loud cracking noise the scorpion got ripped into two pieces. The black eyes looked up in dull despair. Drake, with the tail in his hand looked down on the scorpion and while sighing crushed its head with his foot. White blood splattered everywhere and parts of the beast brain scattered on the ground. Another batch of strange energy entered his body and moved straight to the puddle under his soul. Drake was excited as he was never before in his life. He had the strength to kill monsters with his bare hands, who wouldn¡¯t be excited? And he was getting stronger with every beast he killed?! He laughed loudly with his head pointing to the sky. The laugh turned maniacally and was getting scary after some time, but soon the laugh was getting lower and suddenly no sound was heard and tears were rolling out of Drakes eyes. ¡°If I had this strength before none of you would¡¯ve died¡­we could still be together¡­my brothers¡­¡± he thought quietly. His brothers were the most important part in his previous life. It was not like he didn¡¯t want a girlfriend but it was like he was cursed¡­every girl he got to know would leave or even die in the war. It was strange, like he didn¡¯t meet the right one yet and the heavens would only allow him to have her not anyone else. ¡°I will search for brothers again in this world¡­and together we will fight for our believes!¡± he said determined. ¡°And¡­maybe I will find the girl destined to be by my side in this world¡­¡± he thought silently. He was ripped out of his thoughts as he moved his foot, which was still on the crushed head of the scorpion. He stepped on something hard and sharp. He squatted down and carefully took something out of the blood and brain remains. A sharp crystal came to light. It was as long as half of his hand and totally black. A dim light was slowly blinking inside of the crystal, which was formed like a small scorpion. ¡°A crystal¡­? What is this?...it looks a little bit like a needle¡­.hmmm I have an idea but I will try that later, it is not save here!¡± he thought and wanted to put the crystal in his pocket. That was the moment he realized that he didn¡¯t have clothes on. ¡°Oh¡­I totally forgot¡­shit¡± he cursed. ¡°Where can I get clothes from¡­?¡± He thought and suddenly he got an idea¡­didn¡¯t the dragon say that the dragon god chain was a mighty magic treasure? Wouldn¡¯t it be normal if he could take things out of the treasure? ¡°Ha¡­like one of these novels I read online¡­what did they call it¡­¡¯storage rings¡¯ or something like that¡­hah I can only try¡­¡± he muttered amused and tried to access the chain with his mind. To his surprise it worked and in his mind he could see a vast space with countless things flying around. Most of the things seemed useless. There were like stones and wooden branches flying there, but after some time he found some cloths. ¡°Only trousers¡­.hmm better than nothing¡± he thought and grabbed the trousers with his mind. ¡°So¡­how do I make them appear in the real world..? Do I just think of them in my hands or¡­¡± as he thought that suddenly he felt something in his hands and as he opened his eyes and looked down he saw a pair of trousers. They were black and had a sturdy feeling to them. They almost felt like the combat trousers back in his old world. ¡°Well¡­I should stop standing around naked, shouldn¡¯t I?¡± he said while laughing at himself. Drake put the trousers on but he realized that theses trousers too had no pockets. ¡°Hmm¡­well if I can take things out of that chain space then why not put things into it?¡± he thought and put the scorpion crystal before his eyes. He closed them and entered the space. Then he thought of the crystal needle in his hands. He wanted it to appear in the dragon god chain. Without a sound the crystal vanished from his hand and appeared in the chain space. ¡°That worked¡­¡± he laughed. He turned around and watched the birds which came back some time ago. ¡°It¡¯s time to train!¡± At the same time, somewhere outside of the Dragon God plane on a small island. A big city was on top of the island which covered it almost whole. On top of a small mountain stood a beautiful palace, overseeing the city. Suddenly a loud human cry could be heard and the former quiet palace came to life as a lot of maids were running around excitedly. A important looking man was lead to a room. He seemed nervous and was sweating all over his body. This was an important day for him. He entered the room and saw a big white bed with a beautiful woman on top of it. The woman was pale but had a happy smile on her face. Her eyes were watching a little thing in her arms. A baby was lying there crying loudly, with wide opened eyes, which were coloured in a beautiful green. The woman looked up and met the gaze of the man who entered the room. ¡°Dear¡­it¡¯s a girl!!!¡± she said excitedly while smiling from one ear to the other. The man hurriedly rushed to the bed and embraced the woman with the kid. He stretched his hand and carefully touched the hands of the little cute creature in the arms of his wife. ¡°My dearest wife we did something wonderful!¡± he said while embracing the woman even more. ¡°We created a human being¡­look how beautiful she is?!¡± he said excitedly and with a broad smile of happiness on his face. ¡°Yes darling, we did good¡± the woman said happily and also touched the hands of the small girl in her arms. ¡°What will her name be..?¡± she asked while watching how the little girl was observing everything around her. ¡°She will be a beautiful flower with a fiery temperament later on¡­she will be named Caelia¡­looking like a beautiful fairy but she has the soul of a dragon!¡± The man said and looked very proud. ¡°What a beautiful name¡­so be it from this day onwards you will be called Caelia!¡± the woman said and kissed the head of the baby. ¡°You will have a great future¡­!¡± the man said and looked joyfully onto his little family. Chapter 3 - Mysterious Crystals Chapter 3 ¨C MysteriousCrystals The wind was swirling through the trees, almost sounding like whispers. Suddenly a loud shout could be heard and a giant boom. A dust cloud was rising up from the ground. As the dust faded a muscular figure could be seen, dreadlocks, only wearing black trousers and with a giant dragon tattoo out of white scars carved on his back. This person was obviously Drake, who was currently fighting a huge black scorpion. The scorpion was almost triple the size of the first scorpion he fought and it had white tattoos instead of the washed out black ones. The scorpion was already in a miserable state, contrary to that the figure of Drake was almost overflowing with vigor. One could almost see an aura around him, so strong was the feeling he was releasing. He had small wounds all over his upper body but they weren¡¯t deep. He didn¡¯t lose much of his strangely silver-red blood. If the weak poison from the body of the scorpion wouldn¡¯t keep the wounds open, they would¡¯ve healed a long time ago. Luckily he always managed to avoid getting stung by the scorpion tail, because in the ten days he was fighting and observing the scorpions he had seen that every time they would sting something that creature would die instantly. Honestly he was fighting for his life. It didn¡¯t seem like a fight for survival, because the only danger was the stinger of the scorpion and Drake could easily avoid that as long as it was only one enemy. This was, because with his new body and after the bloodline transfer he wasn¡¯t entirely human anymore. He had much faster reflexes, a very strong instinct for danger and the strength of more then five fully trained humans. It seemed weak in comparison to the mighty Taran¡¯Kha which gifted him with these powers, but he couldn¡¯t fight with his full power because of the mask. And so he had to stake his all every time he would fight a creature, because this was the only way to become stronger. And he became stronger. In the ten days he almost fought without a pause and had accumulated a lot of soul energy inside his soulsea. He also got very experienced in fighting the black scorpions and the grousers. He named the birds grousers because he would often find them fighting for the prey of other beasts, mostly scorpions. With a low roar Drake kicked the ground and catapulted himself three meters into the air. He seemed like he was flying as he flew eight meters through the air, landing on the back of the scorpion. It looked like it was easy but in reality, Drake had to try countless times with other scorpions before, to find their weakness. The scorpions couldn¡¯t sting in a straight line. It had something to do with their bone structure. When they stung, they always would turn a little sideways or even turn around. The back of the scorpion was the only safe place. But you had to beat the scorpion until it would become dizzy before you could jump on its back, because it could still sting up. Drake rammed his fist in the neck of the scorpion with all of his strength and pulled it out right after he grabbed a small hard object. Then he jumped down of the back of the scorpion. A loud noise could be heard as the scorpion fell to the ground lifelessly. Drake turned around and saw the tattoos on the body the scorpion slowly fading away until they were no where to be seen. He had watched this phenomenon countless times already as he had killed almost a hundred scorpions in the past days. It was bugging him that he couldn¡¯t find the connection between the tattoos and the crystal. He only knew that the crystal was not the soul of these creatures, but a whole different thing. It seemed like the crystal was the essence of the scorpion, the being itself. Drake implied that the creatures had no real soul only a weak shadow, which he would absorb when he killed one. ¡°Wait¡­what if the crystals are similar to the blood of Cal¡¯anar? Wouldn¡¯t that mean that I can get power from these things?¡± he said and opened his hand to study the crystal in it. To his surprise the crystal was different from the almost a hundred other crystals he had stored in the Dragon God Chain. I was entirely white with a black scorpion light in it. It also was a little longer as the normal crystals. ¡°Strange¡­it seems like the stronger creatures have also stronger essence, if my guess is correct!¡± he thought and played a little bit with the crystal. ¡°I wonder what would happen if I swallow one of these¡­?¡± he muttered and let a black scorpion crystal appear in his other hand. ¡°Hmm¡­no too risky¡­what if it has poison? That would be a fast and very unpleasant end for me¡­!¡± he thought while putting the two crystals back into the chain space. He then started walking in a certain direction. In the ten days, he was roaming in this world he found out that he was only in a small valley right now. The beasts were fairly weak and there weren¡¯t many different species. There seemed to be a lot more of valleys like this, some bigger some smaller. The Taran¡¯Kha had planned everything to the smallest detail. But it never came as planned and Drake had found some individual beasts that were way stronger than the scorpions or the Grousers. He wasn¡¯t strong enough at the moment to fight them so he had to target the scorpions and Grousers. Unfortunately the Grousers didn¡¯t have a crystal inside of their bodies, which seemed strange. It could be that the Grousers he met this far, were only babies and hadn¡¯t developed any bloodcrystals. But that was just his speculation. Drake was walking very fast, as he knew the way in this small valley. Soon he arrived at a hole in a hill. It was a small cave, which he found on the third day. It was more or less save inside it, but it seemed like there once lived a species unknown to him. There were bones on the ground and some patches of fur. Drake went inside the cave and sat down in the middle of it. He started to think. ¡°What if these tattoos can be copied to myself? Could it be that I can get the power of the scorpions through this method?¡± Drake took one of the crystals out of the chainspace and observed it carefully. The scorpion light inside the crystal seemed alive and sometimes it moved a little. It didn¡¯t seem like it could endanger him, but Drake wanted to be sure. Unfortunately he didn¡¯t have an animal to test his thesis, so the only one remaining was him.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°I believe with my strong body, I can endure it if the crystal really is poisonous as long as I don¡¯t swallow it¡± he said thoughtfully and suddenly with a determined look he inserted the sharp end of the crystal inside his right forearm. A feeling rouse in his body, similar to the feeling when he drank the dragon¡¯s blood accompanied by the flames. It was a lot less painful, but painful enough to let Drake groan a little. After some time he removed the crystal tip from his arm. He observed his forearm carefully, but strangely there was no wound. Only a black dot could be seen on the place where the crystal stuck. The black dot looked a little bit like ink. Suddenly information streamed inside his brain. He didn¡¯t know from where he got them but countless tattoos and tattoo arts were spinning inside of his mind. Drake got excited. ¡°If I can succeed in tattooing myself with the crystals of the scorpions, I would get powers wouldn¡¯t I? I have a feeling that I have to risk it!¡± he said excitedly. ¡°Before I start I have to barricade the entrance to the cave, so that nothing can disturb me!¡± Drake thought and quickly got up. He walked out of the cave and searched for a boulder or a stem, to block the cave. Soon he found a big black boulder out of an unknown material. Drake just assumed it was stone and lifted it up. Unexpectedly the stone was a lot heavier as he had anticipated. He couldn¡¯t even lift it a meter in the air. ¡°What the¡­alright¡­well why would there be a normal stone here¡­what did I expect?¡± he muttered angrily. ¡°I¡¯m still going to use you, stone, and you can¡¯t do anything against it¡­!¡± He said loudly. Everything was so different compared to his old world and he hadn¡¯t really gotten used to it after short ten days. Slowly and accompanied by loud curses the stone was carried to the entrance of the cave. Drake crawled into the cave and, again with a lot of cursing, dragged the stone in front of the entrance. ¡°Pff¡­.finally I can start¡­!¡± he said while breathing heavily. With a plump sound he sat down on the ground and started to concentrate on his breathing. After some time, his breathing became normal again and he took out all of the scorpion crystals from the chain space. With a concentrated look he put the sharp end of the crystal on the same place he stuck it last time and slowly started to draw. At first it was like he was a feeling like he was sitting too close to a fire, but after he moved the crystal for the first time the feeling got washed away as he entered a trance like state. It was almost as if he was a fish in a giant ocean just swimming everyday not knowing how much time passed. As he was in trance the crystal moved on his arm and a mysterious feeling was suddenly present in his body. The crystal seemed to glow and move on its own. Slowly a tail formed, winding around his forearm. More and more crystals were used in the process and turned into dust, while the tail got more visible. Drake couldn¡¯t feel anything and his gaze was locked to the tip of the crystal on his arm. Even if he wanted to look at something different he wouldn¡¯t be able to. It was as if an ancient technique was used for the first time since ten thousand years and a sacred aura spread inside of the cave. Finally, after an unknown time, the tail was almost completed and the only crystal left was the white one he got from the scorpion with white tattoos. Slowly his hand reached out and the white crystal floated into his hand. He moved it onto his hand and started to work on the last part of the tail: the stinger. This took a lot longer than the rest of the tattoo, as the crystal was a lot more powerful. But even if it would take countless days, Drake wouldn¡¯t notice it in his special state. After an unknown amount of time the stinger slowly was becoming more and more complete. With a trembling hand the last stroke was drawn and the white crystal turned into dust. A ghostly green-white glow could be seen on his forearm as he finished the tattooing. Slowly Drake awakened from the trancelike state, still observing his arm, which was glowing. He carefully stroke over his arm and the glowing suddenly vanished. An unbelievably lifelike tattoo of a scorpion tail was left after the glow subsided. It looked like it could really sting, and it seemed to move a little. Suddenly a wave of exhaustion came over drake and he almost lost consciousness. He listened inside his body and to his astonishment he could see that the soulsea under his soul was almost empty. He could also see that it was refilling extremely slowly. ¡°It seems like I can use this power, now that I finally have a completed tattoo!¡± he thought. He had tried to channel the soulenergy into the dragon tattoo before but had failed. It was like there was a barrier, hindering him. Drake channelled a little bit of the remaining soul energy into the winding scorpion tail on his forearm. Unexpectedly something happened! The tattoo flashed in the ghostly green-white light again and Drake had to blink because of the bright light. When he opened his eyes again, instead of the tattoo there was a long greenish-white scorpion tail floating above his forearm. Drake moved his arm and the tail moved together with it. Drake suddenly got an idea and thought of the tail stinging into the unbelievably heavy stone, which was blocking the entrance. As soon as he thought this the sting struck fast like lightning, straight into the black stone. With a huge crashing sound the stone turned into rubble and soon after the parts melted down into nothingness. ¡°Holy¡­.it seems like I struck gold!!¡± Drake said with an astounded laugh ¡°And it even is poisonous¡­I wonder if I could resist the sting of a normal black tattooed scorpion now¡­?¡± He stopped pouring energy into the tattoo and right after the tail turned back into the black tattoo winding around his forearm. Drake decided to rest inside of the cave until he had full soulenergy. Basically he just went to sleep. After some time he woke up again and realized that his soulsea was only half filled. ¡°Well¡­.I really want to test this new power¡­.I think half will be enough!¡± he thought and stood up. He passed the destroyed rock, which was still making sizzling noises, because of the poison and stepped out of the cave. Suddenly a loud growl could be heard and as Drake looked up the hill, a giant creature jumped down. It landed directly in front of him and roared loudly, as if it was challenging him. It was a bear, but like the other beasts, something was abnormal. It had long canines, like a saber tooth and the fur was dark red coloured, almost looking like blood. A complex tattoo was visible on its forehead and its eyes were blood red. It watched Drake with a cruel, bloodthirsty gaze and got ready to pounce onto him. Drake was shocked at first, but after a moment he chuckled lightly and with a excited look he poured energy in his scorpion tail tattoo. With a flash, which blinded the bear for a short time, the tail appeared again, floating around Drakes arm, seeming like it had a mind of its own. ¡°Perfect timing!¡± Drake said and shot an equally cruel look to the beast, while slowly getting ready to fight. Chapter 4 - Vicious Beast Chapter 4 ¨CVicious Beast The bear was roaring loudly and pounced straight onto Drake. Drake tried to dodge, but he underestimated the speed of the blood red bear. He felt like he got hit by a giant boulder, when the bear crashed into him. Luckily, Drake had avoided the claws and didn¡¯t get wounded severely. ¡°Shit¡­¡± he thought and tried to think of a way to kill this beast. ¡°I have totally underestimated it!¡± Drake said while putting all the soulstrength into his scorpion tail tattoo. With a flash, which blinded the bear for a short time, the ghostly tail appeared above his arm and he instantly stabbed it forward. The stinger pierced through the pelt of the bear, but couldn¡¯t stab deep enough to inflict serious wounds. ¡°What the hell is this thing?! How can it be that hard?!¡± Drake thought shocked. He ripped the tail out of the body of the bear and tried to jump out of range. Unfortunately he wasn¡¯t fast enough and one of the claws stripped his head. He managed to pull his head back out of instinct, but he still got hit and a long cut was bleeding visibly across his right eye. To his luck, his eye didn¡¯t get damaged, but the wound across his eye was bleeding rapidly, blocking his sight. ¡°Why isn¡¯t it healing?!¡± he thought panicked but he didn¡¯t have time to think more about it as the bear as ready to attack again. ¡°You managed to surprise me! I will kill you!!¡± He shouted into the face of the bear, which seemed not impressed. Drakes eyes started to turn slightly silver and a faint layer of scales emerged from his skin, covering parts of his body. ¡°Watch out beast¡­!¡± He said with a growling voice and a dangerous light flashed in his eyes. The bear didn¡¯t seem to care and jumped straight onto Drake again. This time Drake was prepared and avoided the bear with a turn of his body. He kicked the ground with all his might and catapulted himself against the bears body. With a loud, surprised roar the bear sent away and slided a few meters on the ground. It slowly stood up and his angry and confused gaze was searching for Drake. Unfortunately for the bear, Drake had already vanished from his sight and suddenly the bear felt a stabbing pain on his hip. He turned around and saw a big hole inside his body, with blood spraying everywhere. Drake was already on another position, he was like a berserker running around and stabbing the scorpion tail inside the body of the bear. Countless holes appeared on the body of the bear, as he was stabbing him continuously. His eyes were burning with a silver flame and the faint scales on his body were slowly changing colour, turning white. He looked like a savage beast, a beast which could take on the heavens. A strong aura was emitted from his body and small stones in the surrounding started to melt. It was like a heatwave was pouring out of his body, powered from his anger. The ghostly tail floating over his arm slowly became bigger and the stinger was getting longer. A sharp white light was enveloping the tail and with an even faster speed then before the tail stabbed numerous times into the body of the bear. Every time it ripped out of the body blood would splatter everywhere and it seemed to get stronger with every wound it inflicted. The bear couldn¡¯t stand anymore and fell to the ground with a loud noise. The poison from the scorpion tail, which was enhanced by the battle state of Drake was rushing through the veins of the beast and it became weaker with every minute. Drake slowly returned to his normal condition, the scales vanished and his eyes became blue again. He watched the bear as it tried to stand up again. ¡°Now¡­who is the beast here?!¡± he asked while laughing lightly. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t have tried to kill me¡­¡± Drake said and walked closer to the creature. Suddenly the seemingly almost dead beast roared with anger and swiped his claw as fast as lightning. Drake couldn¡¯t react in time and got sent flying. On his stomach there were four claw stripes, blood and parts of his organs were spraying out of the wound. ¡°Shit¡­! I underestimated you again!!¡± Drake coughed in pain and slowly stood up. A normal person wouldn¡¯t be able to even say something with this kind of wound, but Drake had endured countless sessions of torture. He knew pain more than any other being on this planet. He seemed like he was almost immune to the pain of external wounds. In actuality he could only suppress the pain for a few short moments. No one could get used to pain. It was impossible. But you could build up a faint resistance to it and Drake had built it over 3 years of endless torture. He slowly made his way to the bear, which was lying on the ground one hand holding the wounds on his stomach, the other curled into a fist. The bear didn¡¯t have any strength left. He was poisoned and countless wounds were on his body. The strike was dealt with the last bit of strength his body had and now he could only wait for death. Drake stopped in front of the head of the bear and gathered every last bit of strength from his body. He channelled every drop from his soulsea inside his fist and together with the might of his muscles he directly struck the head of the bear with all he had. The bears head burst, like it was a ripened watermelon and brain parts splattered everywhere. Drake didn¡¯t even care about this as he desperately searched for something inside of the head. After some minutes he slowly exhaled deeply and pulled a big dark red crystal out of the head. He didn¡¯t have time to celebrate, or think about what he should do. He handled instinctively and stabbed the crystal into the wounds on his stomach. He pressed with all his might and lost consciousness. The crystal was pressed against the life threatening wounds on his stomach and slowly it started to pulse with red light. Blood was sucked out of the wound and slowly Drakes body seemed to lose all the blood. Suddenly the crystal stopped sucking and with a bright light it trembled. Slowly bloody was flowing out of the crystal, back into the body of Drake. The blood looked a lot more pure than earlier, it was even more silver now, with a faint golden shine. After an unknown period of time the crystal started to melt and entered the wound together with the last drop of purified blood. The edges of the wounds started to melt together and soon four vicious looking scars were seen. Even the cut across his eye healed and built a scar. His body looked even more wild and dangerous now. Vaguely a day later Drake slowly opened his eyes. ¡°I am not dead¡­¡± he said slowly and suddenly he started to laugh. He laughed for almost two minutes, then as the laughter slowly subsided he sat up and looked around. Next to him, there lay the corpse of the giant red bear, with a crushed head. ¡°This was a close fight¡­.I was careless. Something like that can¡¯t happen again, or I will die! I can¡¯t always be as lucky as this!¡± he sighed and a determined look once again flashed in his eyes. ¡°I have to become stronger..!¡± he thought and slowly stood up. Drake slowly strokes the scars on his stomach and turned around to the forest and the faint cliff, that marked the border of this valley. He activated the Dragon God Chain and stored the corpse of the blood bear inside of it. Then he moved into the forest, still stroking the scars and slowly whispered ¡°Strength¡­¡± with a thoughtful gaze. Loud steps were echoing through a forest, accompanied by a dragging noise. After some short breaths a big figure could be seen walking quickly through the forest while dragging a giant corpse. The figure¡¯s muscular body was covered in black scales and it had the head of a monster. A long mouth with countless sharp teeth in it and bright red reptile eyes, with an incredibly intelligent gaze. It looked a bit like a crocodile, except it was walking on two legs and wearing fur. It had no weapons, but his sharp claws were covered in blood. It seemed like he had slain the beast that was dragged behind him. This creature was Hekth¡¯Sai, a warrior of the Du¡¯Shalan tribe.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. ¡°I can¡¯t believe I managed to kill one of the Mal¡¯ma¡¯s on my own, without even sustaining any injuries!¡± he thought and looked proudly over his back onto the corpse of the beast. It was a big creature with a mouth full of sharp brown teeth. Its pelt was in a muddy green colour and it had hooves. Four horns were on top of its head and it looked incredibly fierce. ¡°Normally not even five strong warriors are able to kill a Mal¡¯ma and they would all be wounded!¡± he thought and a small grin was parting his long mouth, which gave him a scary appearance. ¡°It seems like the old man said the truth, when he told me that my bloodline is unusually strong. He said that I am destined to become the strongest of all the tribes! I am beginning to believe him¡­¡± he laughed lightly in his mind and a low growl was emitted from his mouth. The tribes were communicating through telepathy, gestures and facial expressions. They couldn¡¯t form words with their tongue even if they wanted to. They would growl or roar sometimes, while talking or thinking, but that was not intentional, it just happened. As Hekth¡¯Sai was thinking about his tribe, his mood suddenly turned bad. A dark look was on his face as he thought of the countless warriors that once were protecting his tribe. It was only two years ago as almost all of the warriors vanished one after the other. They came back after some days, but all of them had changed. They became bigger and stronger, but the price was their mind. They began to attack their friends and their eyes became cloudy and lifeless. It was like they were puppets and someday, like they were commanded all of them left what they were doing and entered the forests. They never came back after this day and the Du¡¯Shalan tribe was left with only eleven warriors. An elder mentioned that he could feel that the bloodline of the warriors who left were strengthened by a strong external power. But the power was not complete and the beastmen affected by the strengthening were all turning mad at first and lifeless after. The tribe listened around and talked with other tribes and found out that they were having the same problem. Boiling rage mixed with helplessness was storming inside of Hekth¡¯Sai¡¯s mind as he couldn¡¯t do anything against it. The warriors left and now he and the other ten warriors were responsible for the tribe. It was almost impossible, because the work of a thousand warriors was now shifted onto the back of eleven young tribe members, who became warriors after the real ones left. They weren¡¯t weak and were growing with every task they completed, but they just couldn¡¯t hunt enough food. And first of all they didn¡¯t have any bloodline training. They were fighting with raw strength, because that was the only thing they knew. Hekth¡¯Sai sighed. It wouldn¡¯t do him any good if he thought longer about the mysterious power that turned his tribe¡¯s warriors into puppets. ¡°One day¡­I will kill the creature that is responsible for this¡­!!¡± he swore with a determined look in his eyes. But the tribe was coming first and they needed food. While Hekth¡¯Sai was thinking he had already travelled for almost three hours. In two hours he would reach his tribes village and could relax again. But now he needed to concentrate, the forest was dangerous. He travelled fast and paid attention to his surroundings. Everything went fine as suddenly, when he wanted to pass a giant black boulder, a growl was heard. To Hekth¡¯Sai¡¯s horror the black boulder was slowly standing up and turned around. It was no boulder. ¡°I am dead¡­.¡± Hekth¡¯Sai thought and a long growl came out of his mouth. A giant mouth was slowly coming towards his body and he could now see the creature fully. It was a Zecais, a giant Stonebeast formed in the shape of a lion, but with sharp spines on its back. The Zecais were the ruler of this valley. There were only ten or so of them wandering through these forests, but they were undefeated vicious beasts. Nothing was their opponent. They didn¡¯t have any fur, the whole body was looking like stone. The skin was as hard as obsidian and nothing from this valley could crack it open. Hekth¡¯Sai slowly dropped the Mal¡¯ma which he was dragging and wanted to walk backwards. Shocked he realized that the Zecais didn¡¯t even care for the huge corpse of the Mal¡¯ma, instead it looked onto him and started to get ready to struck him with his claw. ¡°Why am I so unlucky??!¡± Hekth¡¯Sai shouted in his mind and a low roar was emitted from his mouth. The Zecais growled loudly and struck as fast as lighting. Its claw was flying throught the air and a loud whistling noise could be heard. ¡°Am I going to die? It seems like the old man lied to me¡­I¡¯m not destined to become great¡­¡± he thought and started to close his eyes. Suddenly something hit his head from behind and scratched a small wound into it. It was a small wound but in Hekth¡¯Sai¡¯s mind it felt like a mountain collapsing. Faintly tattoos, which were not visible before started to appear on his head, forming a mysterious pattern. It looked almost like a dragon, but without wings. A strong power shot through his mind and he felt like he was reborn. Faint feelings were streaming in his head and his mind automatically merged with them. Suddenly his half closed eyes shot open with a faint noise. His former bright red eyes were now almost orange and the tattoos on his head were glowing faintly. He looked very brutal. ¡°I¡­.DON¡¯T¡­WANT¡­.TO DIE!!!¡± He roared in his mind and opened his mouth. He never roared on his own before, because it didn¡¯t come into his mind, but the strange feelings told him that something would happen. He inhaled deeply and burst out a roar that was countless times stronger then the roar of a bear. The nearby trees trembled slightly and leafs started to fall. The soundwave from his roar was almost visible, so strong was it. The Zecais was startled as he had never heard a roar like this before and his claw strike slowed down for a short moment. This moment was enough for Hekth¡¯Sai, who kicked the ground and pushed himself into the air. While still roaring he curled his fist into a ball and struck it with all his might onto the nose of the Zecais. A loud bang was heard and right after that two faint cracking noises. Hekth¡¯Sai¡¯s hand was broken in an instant and his eyes returned to their red colour. He felt weak, no strength was left in his body. While falling he turned his head and observed the spot he hit on the nose of the Zecais. Slowly a small part of the skin crumbled and dark blue blood was faintly flowing out. ¡°Hah¡­I did it¡­!¡± Hekth¡¯Sai thought with a proud gaze ¡°Now I can step in front of my ancestors with pride and strength!¡± With a ¡®thumb¡¯ noise he fell to the ground and looked up. The Zecais slowly licked the small crack on its nose and its eyes became furious. Something managed to wound him. It was a proud and arrogant creature and couldn¡¯t tolerate things like this. It roared loudly and in its eyes were bloodlust. It would tear this lowly creature apart. With a fast slash the body of Hekth¡¯Sai was sent flying, his scales cracked and wounds all over his body. The whole time he had a challenging and proud look in his eyes, which made the Zecais even more furios. It slashed out a second time, even stronger and Hekth¡¯Sai flew through some tress and crashed into a hard stone boulder at the end. He couldn¡¯t breath anymore but his gaze was still the same and his whole body, which was covered with wounds exuded and aura of pride. ¡°I am worthy of my ancestors!¡± He thought and laughed lightly in his mind. The enraged Zecais steadily came closer. It decided to eat this lowly creature whole, as it couldn¡¯t stand the gaze of Hekth¡¯Sai. The mouth cam closer with sharp, long teeth starring dangerously, but he still had the same gaze. Pride and Challenge. That was his innermost character. If he had to die, he would do it like a King! The teeth scrapped over the scales with a scratching noise and Hekth¡¯Sai could feel his end coming nearer. Suddenly a loud boom was heard and with a cracking sound countless trees were crushed, as a shadow was flying right through them. The shadow was incredibly fast, even faster than the Zecais and it rammed directly into the side of it with terrible force. The Zecais howled and was sent flying. It crashed through countless trees and ended lying on the ground. Its whole side was caved in and blue blood was leaking everywhere. It tried to stand up, but couldn¡¯t . Slowly Hekth¡¯Sai returned his gaze onto the shadow, which had such a terrifying strength. It was a strange creature. It had fur on its head, which was curled and a big dark red pelt was draped around his back. It wore a black unknown pelt around its legs. The creature had a very muscular body and a sharp aura was emitted from it. Slowly the creature turned around and Hekth¡¯Sai was directly pierced by a gaze from ice blue eyes, which somehow had a faint silver light in them. A scar lay across the right eye of the creature and four giant scars were on its muscular stomach. What shocked Hekth¡¯Sai was that the creature had something pearlwhite infront of his mouth and nose covering it. On the pearlwhite thing a demonic mouth with sharp teeth was making a grimace. It looked almost like it was grinning. Suddenly the creature opened its mouth and said something, which he didn¡¯t understand. It sounded strange: ¡°You did good¡­friend!¡± What was that supposed to mean?? Hekth¡¯Sai couldn¡¯t understand. The creature seemed to understand something and nodded lightly then it laughed and with a green flash something appeared above its arm. It was a big scorpion tail, shining in a green and white light. The tail was trembling and shivering as if it was alive and eager to fight. It looked very dangerous. ¡°BLOODLINETECHNIQUE!!¡± Hekth¡¯Sai almost died from shock as he saw this and suddenly excitement appeared in his eyes. The creature in front of his eyes was a real warrior! He watched the creature walking towards the Zecais, as if it was as easy as killing insects. ¡°This man¡­is incredibly strong!¡± This was the last thing he thought before he fainted. Chapter 5 - Blood Chapter 5 ¨C Blood Drake slowly walked towards the creature, which was looking like a lion out of stone. Anger was seen in his gaze. He had observed the fight almost from the start and he felt respect for the crocodile man. Even though the crocodile new that the beast was way stronger than him, he stood tall and proud. His gaze was filled with pride, challenge and the will to fight. This was a real man, a man Drake could relate with. So he decided to help him. After two years of constantly killing beasts, he knew that the stone lion was absolutely no match for him. It was simply too weak. It was a lot stronger than the blood bear, true, but he had two years of further experience. He wasn¡¯t as weak as before. Countless beasts had found their end, pierced by the scorpion tail or smashed with his fist. The scorpion tail, which was only faintly glowing before, was now almost completely visible. It looked a lot more lifelike and it exuded a strong aura of power. With every beast he killed with the tail, it grew stronger. After a year, he discovered that he could even change the poison inside of the stinger, with just a thought. He then only used paralyzing poison which worked slowly. With this he would surely win the fight, but the beasts could still try to fight back. He learned a lot with this tactic and his moves got more refined. Even though he became stronger, he realized that he simply had no knowledge of fighting, except for the basic military combat training. And this training was designed for man versus man fights not for killing beasts. In his old world, guns were the weapon of the world. The most important training was the gun training, but this new world didn¡¯t have guns. So Drake decided that it was time to find a remote place to train and maybe develop his own kind of martial arts technique. He believed that with his body¡¯s strength and the scorpion tail he was definitely able to accomplish this. Drake stopped in front of the body of the stone lion, which was desperately trying to move, but couldn¡¯t. Slowly he raised his hand into the air and curled it into a fist. With a low chuckle and a disdainful look his fist sped down. A loud crack could be heard as the head of the stone lion got crushed. Blood and brain parts splattered everywhere, except on the body of Drake. After the two years of killing the soulsea beneath his Flame soul had become a lot bigger almost looking like a real sea and he learned to control it. He could now shield his body with his soul energy. The shield wasn¡¯t very strong, only protecting him of rain and other things like that. He tried to condense stronger shields, but it seemed like his understanding of the power wasn¡¯t good enough yet. It was kind of useful though, because he always had to crack the head of the beasts to get the crystal. Without the shield he would¡¯ve needed to bath every time he killed a beast. Drake didn¡¯t like being bloody. He didn¡¯t mind killing beasts in the most brutal way, with blood and organs spraying everywhere, but he didn¡¯t like it when the blood was spilling on his body. He searched quickly inside of the crushed remains of the head and soon found what he searched for. A mat grey long crystal, with a proud looking lion inside of it. He activated his Dragon chain and the crystal disappeared from his hand. Inside of the Dragon Chain there were hundreds of different crystals. Drake hadn¡¯t used any crystal since the fight with the blood bear. He faintly knew that he could create more tattoos on his body, but he hadn¡¯t even fully mastered his scorpion tail tattoo, so he decided against it. He decided that he would first try to create some techniques with the scorpion tail and with his body, before he would create the next tattoo, although he knew that with every tattoo he would become a lot stronger. He wanted to fully experience countless life and death situations, because he believed that he couldn¡¯t grow stronger otherwise. Also he felt like his mind couldn¡¯t bear another tattoo at the moment. Suddenly a low growl came from behind him and Drake, who was standing there with half closed eyes, got ripped out of his thoughts. ¡°Shit I forgot, the crocodile got wounded!¡± Drake yelled and hurriedly rushed to the side of the creature. The crocodile looked really fierce with clack scales and the dangerous mouth. The whole body of the creature was covered in deep wounds and Drake could see that the crocodile man wouldn¡¯t live much longer without help. ¡°Well¡­I¡¯m not letting you die, friend!¡± he muttered and started to think again. The proud look in the gaze of the crocodile let him remember a face. It was a human with the exact same look inside of his eyes. Drake felt that the face was very important to him, but he couldn¡¯t clearly remember why. ¡°Strange¡­¡± he thought. They had the same look and Drake was full of respect for this crocodile- like creature. He felt that if he managed to help the crocodile, he would get something unbelievably precious. He didn¡¯t know where this feeling came from, but he trusted it. Even if there wouldn¡¯t be a feeling like this, he would still try everything he could to rescue the crocodile. The creature had deeply impressed him. ¡°How can I help him¡­? I don¡¯t have any healing abilities and strangely I never met another one of those blood bears¡­¡± he thought and continued to observe the crocodiles body. He saw how deep red blood flowed continuously out of the wounds of the creature. ¡°Wait a moment¡­blood?¡± he muttered and remembered something. ¡°Didn¡¯t the dragon give me his blood to drink, so that I can become his successor? Can I possibly do the same, but in a slightly different way? ¡° he thought excitedly. ¡°But what if I vanish, just like the old dragon did¡­?¡± he remembered the dragon, as its body slowly turned into dust. ¡°Its no use to think more about it! I have the feeling, that if I don¡¯t save this crocodile, then I will regret it for my entire life! Fuck it¡­I have to try it!¡± Drake muttered and a determined look appeared in his eyes.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. With a fast move the scorpion tail slashed a long cut on his chest, right above his heart. He tried to imitate the actions of the Taran¡¯Kha. With a thought a vase appeared out of thin air and Drake put it under the wound. Drop for drop silvery blood started to drip out of the wound and into the vase. The blood was a lot more pure than the blood from the rest of his body. It was almost completely silver only a little red was mixed within it. Drake felt weaker with every drop of blood, but he still held on and slit open the wound every time it tried to heal. Slowly the vase filled until it was almost half full. Drake let the wound close itself and the scorpion tail disappeared. He brought the vase over the body of the crocodile and turned it around slowly. The blood started to flow out of the vase, directly onto the body. When the first drop hit the creature, it started to glow in a faint silver light and the drop of blood flowed on its own inside one of the many wounds on the crocodile¡¯s body. Soon more drops entered different wounds and all of them started to glow in a silver light. The wounds began to close slowly . Suddenly a bright flash blinded Drake and after a moment the faint patterns on top of the crocodiles head started to burn with small silver flames. Slowly the pattern changed and the lines bend in different directions. A new pattern was built. Drake was shocked and couldn¡¯t believe his eyes. The pattern changed in form of a Dragon. It was not the same shape as the tattoo he had on his back, it looked kind of familiar. He felt very familiar with the tattoo, as if it was a tattoo of his soul . Suddenly the Dragon tattoo on the head of the crocodile was completed. The dragon started to move its head and stared directly into Drakes eyes. With a loud ¡®wooosh¡¯ sound Drakes vision turned black. After a moment of panic, pictures started to appear and Drake concentrated on them. He saw a small baby crocodile with black scales crawling on the ground, observed by its parents. The scene changed and he saw a slightly older black crocodile playing with his brothers. The black scaled crocodile was happy and Drake felt happy with him. The scene changed again, this time he saw how the brothers of the black scaled crocodile were coming back into the village with animals dragging behind them. The small black crocodile was almost worshipping his brother¡¯s, they were heroes who hunted for the survival of the tribe. Drake felt the same. The scene changed and the black scaled crocodile was a lot older now. In front of his eyes the hero brothers eyes were dull, without any intelligence. The parents of the black scaled crocodile and his brothers were talking vehemently to the three older brothers, but they seemed to not hear them. Suddenly bloodlust crept into their eyes and without warning they attacked the parents. Drake saw, together with the black scaled crocodile, how his parents were ripped apart by unbelievable strength and the blood splattered onto the black scaled crocodile and Drake alike. Drake could feel despair, helplessness, anger, shock, horror all at the same time. Tears started to stream from his eyes as he watched how the brothers turned away from their dead parents walking out of the tent, ignoring the screams and tears of their younger brother. The black scaled crocodile followed them and saw the same scene everywhere in the village. All the warriors of his tribe came out of the tents at the same time, covered in blood. They all turned around to the forest and started walking towards it with lifeless eyes, as if someone was controlling them. The black scaled crocodile fell to his knees and bloody tears started to drop from its reptile eyes. The scene changed again and the shocked Drake watched how the small crocodile trained his body for years until it was so strong that he could go hunting. The crocodile never paused and a deep determination and anger was visible in his eyes. Drake felt that anger and determination the same way and he understood. The crocodile wanted to take revenge, he wanted answers. The scene changed again and Drake watched how the black scaled crocodile, which had become a really big and muscular creature, fought against a big hooved creature with four horns on top of its head. Drake struggled together with the crocodile and when he finally killed the hooved beast he felt triumph. This was a true warrior! Then he saw how the crocodile dragged the body of the hooved beast behind him and was discovered by the stone lion. Then everything became black again. Suddenly information streamed into his mind. At first he didn¡¯t understand any of the things, but after a few seconds the things became clear. It was a language, which was spoken from mind to mind. It was the language of the beastmen. Something clicked in his mind and his eyes opened automatically. He was really weak and he felt that the blood inside his body had become a little less pure. He gazed down and was surprised to see the crocodile man fully healed. Not only was it healed but a faint silver tattoo of a dragon was visible on top of its head. It also became a lot bigger, almost two heads, and the former normal black scales had turned into a black deeper than the night. A faint silver glint was shining on the scales and Drake could faintly feel, that they had become a lot harder, almost comparable to his own body. Suddenly a bright red flame ignited on the tattoo of the crocodile and Drake felt a sharp pain on his chest. Slowly a bright red, flaming claw mark burned itself on the right side of his chest. It felt like lava. He could see a similar mark appearing on the chest of the crocodile. Slowly the burning subsided and with a cracking sound a barrier broke apart inside of his mind. Behind the barrier he could feel¡­life. Another intelligent being was connected with his mind. ¡°It must be you¡­it seems like we have become connected by blood. But can you become my brother?¡± he whispered with hope and doubt filling his eyes. Suddenly, as if the crocodile man had heard his words, his former closed eyes opened with a loud click sound and they stared at each other. Chapter 6 - Memories Chapter 6 ¨C Memories Sai was surrounded by darkness. It was like he was floating in the night sky, but the stars were missing. Suddenly a bright silver flash and Sai could see something. He was inside of his own mind and still surrounded by darkness, but a picture appeared out of nowhere and Sai gasped surprised. ¡°What is going on¡­?¡± he thought and decided to observe the picture. As he took a closer look, the picture suddenly shot into his spiritual body. With a flash the picture turned into reality and Sai could see four children running around an almost ruined house. They were having fun, laughing and playing. They seemed really close. The scene changed with a flash and Sai saw that the children grew older. They were currently fighting a big group of children, who were more or less the same size as them. After minutes they barely managed to win and started to cheer loudly while embracing each other. Sai felt bitter, as this scene kind of reminded him of his older brothers, who killed his parents and were now missing. The scene changed again and the four friends were standing straight, while watching an older man roaring something. Around the four friends were countless other creatures like them, every single one was concentrating on the older man with green-golden clothes. All the creatures were wearing identical clothes and after the roars of the old man ended, they all roared something back, while punching their chest with their fist. Determination, anticipation and the desire to fight could be seen in every single gaze. Sai didn¡¯t understand a word, but he could understand the meaning, without knowing the language. These people were going to war. They were warriors, just like the warriors of his own tribe. Suddenly the scene changed and Sai was on the battlefield. The four friends were shooting something out of long black sticks. Every time they pulled the trigger a small fire dragon shot out of the end of the black sticks. Countless enemies were hit by strange metallic looking balls and the four friends laughed loudly. Pride was filling their eyes and they were grinning all over their faces. ¡°That is, what a warrior is supposed to be, even though they are using these black sticks, which is really kind of cowardly!¡± Sai thought and felt respect. The scene changed, a village could be seen and the four friends were walking straight into it. Sai¡¯s instincts told him, that there was something fishy here. The four friends stepped into the seemingly abandoned village, as suddenly huge balls of fire were exploding behind them, blocking their retreat. ¡°A shaman?!¡± Sai thought shocked and was observing concentrated, but he couldn¡¯t find anyone with totemic powers. He only saw countless creatures appearing from the roofs and out of hideouts in the ground. All of them started firing these strange black sticks and two of the four friends instantly died. The blood splattered everywhere, as they were falling to the ground, screaming. Sai watched in horror, as one of the friends jumped behind a wall, trying to get cover and the other remaining friend exploded in a giant ball of fire. The last remaining friend watched everything and suddenly his eyes became dull and lifeless. He stepped around the corner and was almost instantly hit by three of the strange black projectiles. The last remaining friend fell to the ground and rage and a little bit of relief appeared in his eyes. The scene changed and Sai saw a man, who was tied to a strange four legged metal thing. This man was the last remaining friend. ¡°He didn¡¯t die¡­why did they let him live??!¡± Sai thought confused. The man was surrounded by some other men, who were torturing him, cutting wounds in his body, burning him, laughed at him. His body was covered in countless wounds, but no one cared. ¡°Disgusting¡­those people are no warriors!!¡± Sai thought in horror and tried to turn around. The scene changed, showing the man being freed from his shackles. A long time must have passed, because the body of the man was full of scars. The last remaining friend was, together with other similar looking people, transported to a giant village. ¡°What is this¡­.how can something be as big as this??!¡± Sai thought shocked and his gaze tried to cover everything at the same time. The scene changed again and Sai observed how the man walked through the giant village, with a broken gaze, without a sign of actual life. He was walking through the city every day, every night, for countless days. Every day was the same, and Sai could feel the emptiness inside of the body of the man. Someday, something changed and with a bang the broken mind of the man was turned into one entity again. The eyes of the man became clear again and he turned around and shouted something, which Sai couldn¡¯t understand. Suddenly the ground beneath the man opened up, swallowed him and closed without a sound. The man got pulled into the earth, while screaming.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. The scene changed again and Sai was shocked as he witnessed how the man jumped into a sea of molten stones while shouting something to the heavens. ¡°This man¡­is incredible¡± Sai thought, as he saw the prideful and determined look in the eyes of the man. Somehow this man seemed familiar. The Scene changed, showing a big crater with countless patches of flames everywhere inside. The flames were burning with a faint golden light and seemed wild. Sai turned around and to his surprise, a man stood there. It was not the same man, who jumped into the sea of lava. The man in front of his eyes was a lot more muscular, no scars were seen on his body. Long black hair floated from his back and his eyes were coloured ice blue. The piercing gaze of the man was concentrated on the surroundings, as he shouted something again. Suddenly with a strange flapping sound, something jumped out of the most concentrated flock of flames in the middle of the crater. Sai couldn¡¯t spot what it was until it landed directly in front of the man. ¡°DRAGON!!¡± Sai screamed shocked in his mind. ¡°How can there be a dragon¡­I thought they were long since extinct¡­the elders said that the dragons got hunted from some unknown godly beings¡­.how can this be?!¡± Sai asked himself and observed how the dragon and the man were conversing. The dragon talked for a long time but afterwards tears could be seen in the eyes of the man and they seemed to come to an agreement. The dragon presented something on his claw, which the man took with a doubtful gaze. It looked like a chain. Sai couldn¡¯t recognize it, he had never seen something like this before. The dragon summoned a vase out of no where and with a quick swipe from one of his magnificent claws, he cut a deep wound onto his chest. Blood started to flow out and the Dragon put the vase underneath the wound. The blood flowed into the vase and after some time, the wound closed. The blood filled vase floated down to the man again. The man stared deep into the eyes of the Dragon and after a moment, a determined look once again appeared in his eyes. He put the vase towards his mouth and started drinking the blood, as if he was dying of thirst. After a moment the dragon sighed deeply and a giant wave of white and golden flames shot out of his mouth enveloping the man completely. It looked really painful to Sai, but he could only feel excitement from the man. After an unknown period of time the flames stopped and the whole vase was empty. With a bang flames started to come out of the body of the man, surrounding him and his body started to change again. The former long black hair, curled up into a little into a strange looking hairstyle. The body changed from skin to white scales and back. The flames started to flicker in a silver colour. The most striking change was the white thing, seemingly coming out of the man¡¯s face. ¡°I see¡­.it is a face above another face¡­¡± Sai thought. Slowly the flames vanished and the man opened his eyes. A silver light flashed in his eyes and he looked a lot more dangerous and wild than before. ¡°This is the creature that jumped into the side of the Zecais¡­then¡­are these parts of his memories? What is happening¡­.?¡± Sai thought. The scene changed, showing the man with the second face hunting magical beasts. Sai was getting more and more impressed by this man. After the man killed a big scorpion he witnessed him drawing a strange pattern into his fore arm. At first he couldn¡¯t determine what it was supposed to be, but after some time he recognized a scorpion tail. Sai was getting excited ¡°This is the technique to inherit bloodline techniques¡­??! How come no one tried this before?!¡± he thought and tried to watch every single step. To his displeasure he couldn¡¯t memorize even one of the moves the man made, to make this pattern. It was as if someone was erasing the movements from his mind. The scene changed and a fight was shown. The man was fighting with the ghostly stinger floating above his arm. His enemy was a giant blood red bear, who looked extremely dangerous. The fight didn¡¯t take long and the man was barely able to win. The scene changed again and again, countless times and every scene would show different beast species fighting with the man. He was visibly getting stronger with every kill. Sai was surprised as he saw himself fighting with the Zecais. The man was watching him with interest. At first he wanted to turn around, because it seemed like Sai wouldn¡¯t fight back, but after Sai roared he turned back around and watched the attack. Respect was in his eyes and he decided to move, straight in the right time. Suddenly everything became black again and Sai was back in the starless night sky. With a loud cracking sound something inside of his mind broke. ¡°What is going on¡­?!!¡± Sai thought alarmed and tried to find the origin of the noise. He couldn¡¯t see anything, but his instincts let him feel into his mind. And to his surprise he could feel something. He could feel his soul melting together with something that looked like silver flames. His former dark red soul became a bright silvery-red ball of fire and underneath it emerged a blood red sea. Sai felt full of energy. ¡°How¡­!?¡± he whispered. All of a sudden something broke into his mind, settling itself in a corner. It was not tangible, Sai couldn¡¯t determine what it was, but he felt life coming from the strange phenomenon. He also felt a slight connection with this mysterious thing and as he tried to observe it closer, countless memories streamed from the mysterious thing into his mind. It was a language. More importantly it was not a language spoken telepathically but through the collaboration of the tongue, the vocal cords and his mouth. It was magical. No beast had ever tried to talk with his mouth, not because they couldn¡¯t possibly do it, but because no one had the idea. ¡°So his species is human¡­and the second face is called mask¡­interesting¡­!¡± Sai thought excited and got ready to explore more of the new language, when suddenly he was woken up with a flash. He abruptly opened his eyes and stared directly into the eyes of the ¡®human¡¯, who was studying him similarly. Both said something at the same time: Sai with his mouth and the ¡®human¡¯ telepathically. ¡°Who are you?!¡± Chapter 7 - Brothers Chapter 7 ¨CBrothers ?Who are you?!¡° Drake asked mentally and watched the corocodile man on the ground. At the same time the crocodile opened his mouth and asked the same question with a deep, growling voice. Both of them looked stumped as each of them had used the newly learned language and way of speaking. Drake changed to his own language and asked: ¡°Lets speak in my language!¡± Unfortunately at the same time a growling voice said the same in his head. Once again they were shocked and looked at each other unbelievingly. All of a sudden amusement appeared in the eyes of both of them and they started laughing. ¡°Lets talk in your language then¡± Drake said mentally and grinned. He felt a strange familiarity with the crocodile. The crocodile man nodded approvingly and directly started to talk. ¡°My name is Hekth¡¯Sai, proud warrior of the Du¡¯Shalan tribe, which lives in this valley! Somehow I feel familiar with you, so you can call me Sai!¡± the crocodile said and a proud look appeared in his eyes. ¡°My name is Drake Cal¡¯anar, you can call me Drake! I am the successor of the last Taran¡¯Kha and a proud battlemaniac! It is an honour to meet you!¡± Drake said and his gaze was equally proud. ¡°Its an honour! Did you have the same dream as me?! I think I saw your past¡± Sai said and nodded lightly with a questioning look in his eyes. ¡°Yes I saw your past too! It seems like we are somehow connected now¡­¡± Drake said. ¡°Thank you for killing the Zecais and saving me, but how did you do it? I was sure that I would die!¡± Sai asked. ¡°I¡­well I kind of imparted my bloodline onto you¡­I think?¡± Drake answered awkwardly. ¡°WHAT?! How can this be, you can impart your bloodline?! This is impossible I¡¯ve never heard of something like this before!¡± Sai shouted and leaned forward in excitement. ¡°It was the only thing I could think of and I kind of paid a price for doing it, my blood concentration is a lot weaker now! The faint pattern on top of your head changed into a dragon from something unidentifiable! Also you grew almost a head bigger and you seem stronger!¡± Drake said defending. ¡°THE PATTERN ON MY HEAD CHANGED?!¡± Sai roared ¡°Doesn¡¯t that mean that you can teach me bloodline techniques?! And by the way how the hell did you manage to get this scorpion tail bloodline technique?!¡± ¡°The ghostly tail? I made it myself¡­wait didn¡¯t you see my memories?! And unfortunately I can¡¯t teach you any bloodline techniques, I haven¡¯t even managed to get my Taran¡¯Kha tattoo into the shape of a normal tattoo!¡± Drake answered truthfully. ¡°Yes I saw your memories, but the part in which you carved the pattern into your forearm is kind of blurry and I can¡¯t remember much of it. Would it be possible to use your blood, or this technique to impart bloodlines into my tribe mates?!¡± ¡°I won¡¯t use my blood again¡­I lost enough already, although you became a lot stronger. I can try to use the technique on your tribe mates, but I don¡¯t know if it¡¯ll work and besides that I don¡¯t think they will get such an upgrade as you¡­by the way did something change inside of your body?¡±Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. ¡°Hmm¡­maybe we should still try. They can¡¯t become weaker. Well now that you say it, something indeed changed in my body. My former normal red soul is now looking like a bright red ball of flames and a sea of blood lies underneath it, moving, as if it is alive¡­¡± Sai said. ¡°Your soul changed into a flaming ball?! And a sea appeared underneath it?! Wait lets try something¡­! Try to move the blood energy from the soulsea into the dragon pattern on your head¡­maybe something will happen¡­¡± Drake said excited and as soon as stopped talking Sai closed his eyes and tried to feel his blood energy. After some time the bright red sea started to move and a small string started streaming towards the tattoo. As it reached Sai¡¯s head, the dragon tattoo started to glow in a red light and Sai abruptly opened his eyes. Slowly the shine from the tattoo spread over his back and on his arms. All of a sudden with a ¡®suuu¡¯ sound sharp red glowing spikes appeared out of no where and connected themselves with the back and the outer arms of Sai. There were five spikes symmetrically on his back and three spikes on each arm. The spikes were looking very dangerous and as the last spike finished condensing, Sai¡¯s reptile eyes started to glow in a fiery red light. He looked extremely intimidating and cruel. Sai roared and punched a nearby boulder with the spikes on his elbow, using all of his strength. With a loud ¡®boom¡¯ the boulder was crushed into small pieces and powder. Dust swirled around the figure of the crocodile and when he turned around excitement and the urge to test his strength appeared. ¡°DRAKE!! I am strong¡­! LETS FIGHT!!¡± he roared loudly and the nearby trees bend from his voice. Drake started grinning and started channelling his power into the ghostly tail tattoo and his body. With a crackling sound white scales emerged on his shoulders, chest and legs. A dangerous light entered his eyes, which had turned silver and as the ghostly tail appeared above his left arm he laughed lightly. ¡°You have guts to challenge me!! I will show you what it means to be strong!!¡± Drake shouted with a growling voice and the urge to battle shone brightly in his eyes. Both of them kicked their leg into the ground, pushing them into the air and towards the other. Sai¡¯s body, which was almost double the size of Drake¡¯s made a loud whistling sound while travelling through the air. He roared again and rammed directly into Drake. Both of them got blown away, without any injuries. They looked at each other and started laughing again. While still laughing both of them sped up and directly ran towards each other. They hit in the middle and tried to push with all of their power, but no one could move the other one. Suddenly Sai swiped his arm and Drake dodged the red glowing spikes closely. Directly after dodging Drake tried to stab Sai with the ghostly tail, but this move got blocked by Sai¡¯s crossed arms. The ghostly tail couldn¡¯t penetrate the black scales! Both of them didn¡¯t give up and tried to hit the opponent with their attacks. If a master of martial arts would watch, he would have died in shame, as none of the two fighters got any martial techniques. Both of them were just punching, defending and reacting. Even though none of them really had a fighting technique Drake was a soldier and he had killed hundreds of beasts in two years. Moreover his soulsea was a lot better developed. After countless traded and blocked hits Drake somehow managed to punch the chest of Sai, who was sent flying for some meters. Sai directly rolled around in the air and landed on his feet while sliding for some steps. His gaze directly locked onto the position where Drake stood before, but he had vanished. Suddenly Sai sensed extreme danger and turned around as fast as he could. He couldn¡¯t keep up with the speed of Drake who was moving like lightning and his head got hit by a hard fist. He was knocked to the ground and lost control over his soul energy. The spikes and the red glow in his eyes disappeared and his scales which unknowingly had turned a lot harder turned back to normal. ¡°HAHA!! That was an impressive fight!! Drake you are worthy to be called my brother!!¡± Sai roared laughingly while standing up. ¡°When did I call you my brother¡­?!¡± Drake muttered quietly but satisfaction was in his eyes. Sai was truly strong and they would be a lot stronger when fighting together, so Drake didn¡¯t hav anything against becoming brothers with him. ¡°We are already connected by blood, so why not become brothers? Lets make an oath!¡± Drake said and gazed sternly at Sai. Sai¡¯s gaze too, got more serious and he walked towards Drake. They stood in front of each other and looked the other in the eye. Drake solemnly lifted his left hand and placed it on his chest. The other hand got stretched out and Sai, who mimicked Drakes movements grapped it with a firm grip. Drake started talking and Sai repeated the verses. ¡°I, Drake Cal¡¯anar, successor of the last Taran¡¯Kha and battlemaniac swear on my strength..-¡± ¡°I, Hekth¡¯Sai Du¡¯shalan, warrior of the Du¡¯Shalan Tribe and battlemaniac swear on my strength..-¡° ¡°¡­my life¡­-¡± ¡°¡­my life¡­-¡° ¡°¡­and my future love that I will be your brother of life time¡­-¡° ¡°¡­and my future love that I will be your brother of life time¡­-¡° ¡°¡­fighting countless enemies side by side, protecting your back, until I die!¡± ¡°¡­fighting countless enemies side by side, protecting your back, until I die!¡± ¡°With this we are now sworn brothers, who will roam undefeated through the universe, never bending our heads, never surrendering, We Are Brothers In Life And Death!!¡± ¡°With this we are now sworn brothers, who will roam undefeated through the universe, never bending our heads, never surrendering, We Are Brothers In Life And Death!!¡± The first sentence was said in a solemn voice, but with every part their voices became louder until they roared the last sentence into the heavens, as if they were challenging the universe. Both of them were trembling in excitement and the claw mark on their chests started burning in a dark red light. They both felt that they had done something incredibly good and important. It was not obvious, but it felt right. They were brothers now and in both of their proud looking eyes tears started to appear as each of them thought of the brothers they lost. ¡°Lets go¡­I will take you to my¡­our village¡­we are brothers and you are now formally a member of my tribe. You full name will from this day on be: Drake Cal¡¯anar Du¡¯Shalan!¡± ¡°Yes little brother¡­lets get going! As I got the name of your tribe you will get the name of mine, even though I am the last member of it. From this day onwards your full name shall be: Hekth¡¯Sai Cal¡¯anar Du¡¯Shalan and I believe we will some day stay on top of this world!¡± ¡°Wait why am I the little brother¡­.¡± Sai started to protest but immediately remembered the memories of Drake. Drake had lived a longer time and he equally had experienced a lot more hardships. ¡°Well¡­alright but can you at least call me brother¡­its not like I just hatched¡­.¡± Sai said somewhat grumpily. ¡°Haha alright brother¡­you are right we are equals and we will call each other the same! Lets go I am eager to start training and maybe develop my own martial technique!¡± Drake said while laughing and started walking. Sai laughed, quickly overtook Drake and started to lead towards his village. Chapter 8 - Crisis Chapter 8 ¨C Crisis Drake and Sai were walking quickly through the forest. Occasionally smaller beasts would try to attack them, but they posed no threat to them. Sai was constantly playing with his new found power, activating and deactivating it. ¡°Could you stop that¡­?!¡± Drake asked annoyed as Sai once again activated his red glowing spikes, which almost stabbed into Drake¡¯s face. Sai turned around and laughed cheerfully, like a small child. Suddenly a dangerous glint appeared in his eyes and without answering Drake he dashed straight towards a big tree. Without stopping he smashed with his body against the tree and the stem burst on numerous places. The tree, that probably stood there for a hundred years, slowly fell to the ground. ¡°What the hell was that for?¡± Drake asked while slowly getting angry. He should¡¯ve let this lowly crocodile die. Then he wouldn¡¯t have to bother with this useless thing. Drake had thought about it for some time now. He did save the crocodile and apparently his blood gave him a huge amount of power. What if his decision to save him was false? What if, one day, Sai decides to betray him? If it was now it would be no problem if Drake used his real power without holding back, but how strong would Sai be in ten years? On the other side, if Sai really became his brother, from his heart and soul and not only through a simple oath, wouldn¡¯t he become a huge help to fulfil his task of revenge? And before that wouldn¡¯t he gain something he had yearned for in the last two years? A friend! It was a dangerous situation and Drake didn¡¯t know if he should trust Sai or not. He sighed. It was no use to think about it now, as he couldn¡¯t change the granting of his bloodline and he neither was willing to kill the crocodile man. ¡°Well¡­It¡¯ll be faster that way!¡± Sai said. He carefully observed Drake, who seemed to be deep in thoughts a moment ago. A dangerous glint had appeared in his eyes, but as soon as Sai spoke to him it disappeared. ¡°I will think about it later!¡± Drake decided in his mind and got ready to walk. ¡°How long do we have to walk until we arrive at your village, Sai?¡± he asked curiously and turned around to look at the crocodile, which was still standing near the fallen tree, watching him. Sai¡¯s thoughtful gaze disappeared and he looked towards Drake. ¡°It won¡¯t be long if we use my technique!¡± Sai said with an amused and excited glint in his eyes. He infused his body with his soul energy and started running into Drake¡¯s direction, quickly passing him. Drake didn¡¯t think much of the thoughtful gaze Sai¡¯s and followed closely behind. Two figures were moving through the dense forest. One of them was a giant black scaled crocodile, which had red glowing sparks on his body and was walking on two legs. The other one was a small creature with long black dreadlocks, a mask on the lower half of his face and a blood red pelt as a cape. Both of them exuded the sharp sensation of extreme danger as they dashed through the forest, one loudly trampling everything in its way, the other one silently following, like a small shadow. They were extremely opposite, but if one would observe them closely it seemed like they would be undefeatable opponents if they worked together. Drake was following behind Sai, trying to no get hit by the countless splinters of wood the giant crocodile was whirling up. Everything in Sais way was trampled as he ran with his full strength through the forest. No beast dared to attack them anymore. Soon the dense forest around them became clearer, as the ground became stony. Sai stopped and Drake, who was running behind him, almost crashed into the dangerously glowing spikes on the crocodiles back. ¡°Bloody hell! Why did you stop all of a sudden?!¡± Drake shouted angered and stepped around Sais body. They were standing on a cliff, underneath them was a small valley, filled with even more trees. The valley was surrounded by high stone cliffs and rocks. A small river was flowing through the valley starting at a hole in one of the cliffs and ending in a pond. In the middle of the valley was a relatively large settlement, consisting of tents and cooking fires. There were no fences or other measures of protection and Drake could understand why. ¡°This looks¡­peaceful¡­¡± Drake whispered and Sai who heard him nodded his head. ¡°This is the village of the Du¡¯Shalan Tribe, my home!¡± Sai said proudly and watched the settlement in the valley. ¡°I think I can endure staying here for some time¡­¡± Drake muttered and a relieved feeling rose in his heart. Now he finally would be able to train his techniques and develop his own fighting style, without having to worry about the sudden appearance of a dangerous beast. ¡°Well¡­let¡¯s go d-¡­¡± Drake wanted to say as all of a sudden a sharp, shrill cry resounded in the valley. The two raised their heads and gazed into the sky. At first there was nothing to see. Abruptly, accompanied by another cry five giant birds descended from the sky. They had three long, sharp looking, black claws on each of their feet. Their feathers looked like someone ignited them, with small flames all over their body. Sharp black beaks lay directly under black eyes, which were on the side of their heads. They looked like fake phoenixes. Drake thought that they were looking kind of familiar. He suddenly remembered the small birds, which he had named grousers. ¡°It seems like they really were not fully grown¡­¡± Drake thought and observed the birds as they floated closer and closer to the ground. ¡°What are these birds, Sai?¡± He asked and turned towards the crocodile. To his surprise Sai¡¯s face was distorted and he could feel rage, helplessness and horror in his eyes. Sai was curling his hands into fists and crunched his teeth anxiously. The birds got closer and closer to the village and Drake, who was confused before, finally understood what their goal was and why Sai was anxious. They wanted to eat! Sai looked at the village, then he looked at his hands that were curled into fists. Suddenly a deep growl was heard from his body and his eyes started to burn in raging red flames. ¡°It is enough¡­it is enough¡­.it is enough¡­..ENOUGH!!!¡± Sai shouted and returned his gaze to the village in the valley. The birds had landed in the middle of it and were trying to grab one of the crocodiles that were running wildly through the village. Sai breathed in deeply and spit out a roar infused with his soulenergy and rage.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. ¡®GROOOOOOOOOOOAR¡¯ The whole valley seemed to tremble, the trees were bending and losing all of their leafs. Small rocks started to fall from the cliffs, landing in the valley with crashing noises. The roar lasted for almost a minute, until every living being in the are had either hidden itself or fled. Sai closed his mouth and the echoes of his roar were resounding all over the valley, reflecting from the cliffs. The birds, who originally just wanted to take a snack, were bombarded by sound, which confused them. They lost their sense of orientation and momentarily stopped their pursuit of the Du¡¯Shalan tribe members. Sai didn¡¯t think long after roaring and directly jumped from the cliff. Drake understood the danger of the situation and followed behind. Sai landed with a loud sound and the ground beneath him shattered, forming countless small cracks. Drake who followed behind landed almost silently and stepped next to the raging crocodile. ¡°Let¡¯s slaughter!!¡± he said with a cruel look in his eyes and dashed into the dense forest that was between them and the village. Sai immediately followed and an equally bloodthirsty look appeared in his eyes. Drake was moving fast and he heard wood breaking close behind him. In a few short breaths both of them reached the village and saw how the ten ¡®warriors¡¯ from the clan were trying to fight against the giant red flaming birds. Their bodies were charred by the flames and big claw wounds were everywhere on their bodies. They had no chance against the birds, as none of the crocodiles had a bloodline technique. Hell, they didn¡¯t even have a proper bloodline. As Sai saw his tribe mates and friends getting hurt he immediately started to run again, pushing all his soul energy in his body. Drake, who didn¡¯t want to just watch was directly behind him. In the blink of an eye Sai reached one of the birds and rammed straight into it, pushing it to the ground. With a loud roar he jumped towards the flaming bird, which was trying to stand up, grapped its neck and twisted with all his might. The red flaming bird, which was strongly trying to break free cried loudly as its whole head got twisted around. At the end of the twist Sai pulled with all his strength and severed the head from the body. Blood sprayed everywhere and the body of the bird slumped to the ground, trembling and twitching. Sai roared triumphantly and dashed to the next nearest flaming bird, no wounds could be seen on his dark black scales. The warriors of the Du¡¯Shalan tribe were watching this giant black scaled warrior killing the giant flaming bird as if It was as easy as killing a chicken. They all were shocked and dumbfounded, as they looked at the severed head and the wildly spraying blood. Unfortunately they forgot in their shock, that they were fighting three other flaming birds. The birds, which were kind of intelligent, directly used this chance and jumped enraged towards the ten warriors that were standing before them. The warriors were still in a dazed state when they heard the shrill cry of the birds and turned around again, only to see three giant black beaks flying towards them, ready to crush their bodies. Despair filled their eyes as they realized that one simple mistake would cost them their lifes. One of the wounded warriors fell to his knees and watched the sharp beaks coming closer with lifeless eyes. He had given up hope. All of a sudden a small blood red shadow passed the warriors as fast as lightning, unseen by them. Drake, who had watched the battle of Sai finally decided to act. He kicked the ground with all his strength and charged towards the three flaming birds. He collided with the first bird in mid air, pushing it back a few steps. ¡°Those birds are pretty strong¡­it seems like I have to go all out!¡± he thought and with a blending green flash of light the scorpion tail appeared above his forearm, trembling in excitement. ¡°Lets try this first¡­¡± he muttered and dashed towards the bird he had pushed back. In a short breath he appeared in front of the dazed flaming bird and leaped on its back. With a thought he gathered more soul energy in the ghostly tail and with a movement of his arm he struck towards the head of the bird. A loud bursting noise could be heard and the head of the bird was crushed into peaces, blood splashing everywhere. Before the bird fell to the ground Drake had already jumped towards the next bird, which didn¡¯t even know what was happening. It couldn¡¯t even react as Drake jumped in front of its head and, seemingly floating, delivered a punch with full strength to the head. The head immediately exploded into bloody pieces, which scattered everywhere in the village. The warriors couldn¡¯t believe their eyes. What was happening?! Who were the two terrifyingly strong individuals that killed the flaming birds so easily and where did they come from?! They couldn¡¯t think of an answer and just watched. Sai was fighting a fight of pure strength with the second bird he attacked. Both of them were trying to push the other to the ground with all their strength. No one seemed to have the upper hand and Sai, who was getting impatient, growled loudly. ¡°If this goes on, I won¡¯t be able to kill this chicken!! I will try something¡­¡± Sai thought and closed his eyes. He searched for his soulsea and, with a thought, commanded all of the remaining blood red flaming energy to condense in his arms. He had never tried this before, but he got the idea after fighting Drake. The spikes on his back and elbows vanished, as he channelled all of the soul energy into his lower arms and hands. His arms started to glow in a faint red colour, it looked like ghostly flames were dancing wildly on his arms and he reached back with both of his hands, destroying the balance of the bird. Before the bird could react to the new situation, Sai¡¯s two arms pounded with all of his strength into its chest, caving it in. The birds shrill cry echoed through the valley as splinters from its rips pierced through its hard, killing it painfully. Sai coughed a little and blood filled his mouth. ¡°It seems like I have overused the power¡­¡± he thought ¡°Drake will have to do the rest¡­¡± and with a chuckle he sat down on the ground, powerless. Drake, who had killed two of the three birds charging towards the ten warriors, watched coldly as the last remaining birds feathers ignited into giant red flames, throwing a wave of heat onto him. The flames were incredibly hot, but to someone that inherited the lineage of a dragon god, it was not much more than a tickle. He looked at the bird in contempt and before it could try any other moves he darted towards it, the blood red cape fluttering behind him. A short breath later Drake and the bird collided with a loud crashing noise. Drake, who didn¡¯t feel any threat from the flames hit the birds body with his fist and scorpion tail countless times until the flames on the body vanished. The bird fell to the ground and Drake, who got ready to deal the finishing blow, stepped directly in front of the head of the fallen beast. Suddenly the bird opened its black beak and screamed. The scream was extremely loud, even louder than the roar from Sai and accompanied with by the shrill sound of the scream was an invisible power. Drake was sent flying, crashing through countless tents and trees until he finally stopped in a crater on the ground. ¡°What the hell¡­alright¡­now you¡¯ve got it¡­!!!¡± Drake shouted with a loud growling voice, different from his normal voice. He stood up, rage and bloodlust in his eyes and white scales emerged from his skin, covering his chest, shoulders and upper arms. His ice cold blue eyes were slowly turning silver and he seemed to grow a head taller. His appearance was extremely scary and a huge aura of bloodlust hovered around him. ¡°PREPARE TO DIE, WORM!!¡± Drake roared with a voice, sounding like that of a giant dragon, growling, deep and strong. The frenzied human figure moved his foot for one step and suddenly he disappeared. He appeared directly next to the bird, which was still lying on the ground and slowly his hands, which were curled into fists before, were now loosening up and forming claws. The tips of his fingers, which normally looked like humans, were now exuding a pale silver-white light, which faintly looked like real claws. With an almost unnoticeable move of his arms the claws slashed through the air and into the body of the flaming bird. Blood sprayed everywhere and two huge, bloody wounds appeared on the body of the bird, splitting its feathers. Drake didn¡¯t stop and slashed faster and faster. Soon the whole body of the beast was covered in wounds, it didn¡¯t look alive, even though it was. Suddenly the slashing stopped and the cruel looking, silver eyed Drake moved his hands on the two wings of the bird. With a ripping sound he severed the wings from the bird, directly shredding the wings into pieces afterwards. Then he kicked the ground, leaped high into the air and with his bare feet pointed to the ground, he fell as lighting towards the back of the bloody flaming bird. ¡®BOOOOM¡¯ The birds body exploded into lots of smaller parts, blood and organs splattering everywhere and a huge crater appeared around the place of impact. The whole crater was covered in blood and flesh, making it look like hell. Drake, who was standing in the middle of all this destruction and terror, had not a single drop of blood on his body. He was just standing there exuding an ancient and extremely dangerous feeling aura. Chapter 9 - Tribe Chapter 9 ¨C Tribe The noise from the explosion was still echoing in the valley. Sai and the other members of the Du¡¯Shalan tribe were looking at Drake in shock. Never before had they seen someone as strong and more importantly more ruthless then the wild magic beasts. It was like they had never met a true beast before, as they watched the blood dripping from the edge of the crater. ¡°Blood and bones¡­!¡± Sai whispered in shock. He had underestimated Drake. He hadn¡¯t thought that the, on first sight, weak looking creature was this ruthless and cruel. ¡°He is even stronger than I thought¡­If he decides to become our enemy¡­.¡± Sai thought and a cold shiver ran down his back. He turned away from Drake and looked at his tribe mates, which were all watching the destruction caused by Drake in shock and horror. To his surprise Sai realized that they were not only looking at Drake as if he was a monster, but on him too. It seemed like they weren¡¯t recognizing him and warily tried to move as little as possible. ¡°Guys! Its me, Sai!¡± Sai said to all the surrounding tribe members while slowly standing up from the ground. As soon as he moved, half of the surrounding crocodile men hurriedly jumped back a few meters. Sai looked at them in surprise and decided to try it again. ¡°It really is me¡­I got¡­well you could say I got a blessing, which changed my body slightly. This small dangerous looking guy over there with the silver eyes, well¡­how can I say this¡­he really is not an evil creature! He even saved me and we swore an oath afterwards! You have to believe me!¡± Sai explained and a loud growl came from deep in his body. No reactions. It was like he had talked to a wall. All of a sudden, Sai heard a faint crackling sound behind him and turned around. Drakes silver eyes had become blue again, which in fact, wasn¡¯t even a little bit better than the silver eyes and the white scales slowly merged into his body again. After a few moments there were no more scales on his body and Drake looked around him with a low chuckle. ¡°It seems like I might have overdone it. Slightly¡­!¡± Drake said with a low voice, but because he was talking in the language of the tribe, everyone nearby could understand him clearly. Gasped were heard everywhere in the crowd and the eyes of the observers got even bigger and more fearful. What was this strange small creature?! How could it be so strong?! Almost all of them stepped back again as Drake leaped out of the crater, landing next to Sai. Both sides were looking at each other, no one broke the silence. If someone would see this, he would think all of the people were unbelievable lifelike statues. ¡®Drip¡­drip¡­.drip¡­.¡¯ The dead birds slowly bled out and the dripping of blood was the only sound that could be heard. After a moment, which felt like an eternity, a smaller crocodile slowly split the crowd, walking to the front. The crocodile stopped three meters in front of Drake and Sai, observing Sai carefully. Drake, in turn, also observed this crocodile. One couldn¡¯t really say that it was small, as it was at least a head taller than Drake and had a lot wider body. The scales, which covered its body were pale grey and dull. The eyes were filled with wisdom. A few breaths later, the old crocodile seemed to discover something and an excited and hopeful glint appeared in his eyes. ¡°Sai! Are you really¡­him?!¡± the old crocodile said slowly and doubtfully, squinting its yellow reptile eyes. It seemed too good to be true, as the tribe had thought that he had died already. It was not that they wished his death, but that Sai was just too reckless. He wanted to become strong. So he had left the tribes village to hunt on his own. And everyone knew that one member of their tribe, even if it was Sai, was no match to the countless evil beasts in this world. They had long since believed that he ended as food for a bigger beast.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. ¡°Yes¡­! I am me! Sai! I went out to hunt and you probably declared me dead, but I really slayed a Mal¡¯mar! Unfortunately, on my way back to the village, I got attacked by a Zecais¡­-!¡± a huge gasp was heard from the surrounding crowd and horror and shock could be seen in every single pair of eyes. The Zecais were the rulers of this valley, no one could rival them, except the flaming birds. The birds wouldn¡¯t bother with the Zecais though, which meant their undangered ruling over this place. ¡°..- and almost died! I managed to hurt it, but it was not enough and as I was ready to meet my ancestors¡­he appeared out of no where, ramming the Zecais away from my body!¡± Sai talked excitedly and pointed at Drake, who was watching the surrounding crocodiles calmly. The old crocodile shifted his gaze to Drake and observed him closely. He had never seen a creature like this, small but muscular body, curled fur on its head and a face with a strange white thing on it. It looked like the creature had an open bone on his face, with a demonic grin engraved into it. What was even more unusual and surprising, was the tattoo on the creatures fore arm, which looked like a scorpion tail. Somehow the pattern seemed to be alive and as the old crocodile watched it closely, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his eyes. With a shocked gasp he jumped back. ¡°Bloodline¡­technique? No¡­.impossible¡­this creature doesn¡¯t look like a scorpion at all¡­¡± the old crocodile muttered and Drake, who heard the voice of the old man, willed his soul energy into the tattoo, activating it with a blending green flash. The crocodiles, which couldn¡¯t see it clearly during the fight, were shocked as they realized that the ghostly tail, floating above the forearm of the strange creature, seemed indeed to be a bloodline technique. ¡°I engraved it into my arm myself¡­It is in fact a bloodline technique!¡± Drake said calmly and watched the old crocodile. ¡°That is not possible! You are not a scorpion! And first of all¡­what do you mean ¡®I engraved it myself¡¯?!¡± the old crocodile said and sat down on the ground as he was too shocked to stand longer. ¡°You are right! I am not a scorpion, in fact I am not a beast either. I don¡¯t really know what I am now, but I once was human¡­¡± Drake said and knelt down in front of the crocodile. ¡°And to the question of engraving it myself¡­I really did it! I won¡¯t tell you how though, because to tell you the truth, I¡¯m not really trusting you yet!¡± he said in a low voice. ¡°Its true! I saw¡­-¡° Sai started to talk, but remembered the strange memory transplanting and more importantly, the imparting of Drakes bloodline to him. He decided to change his sentence and for the time being, he would conceal the things that happened with Drake. ¡°¡­- I saw him engraving! And even more, he gave me power too! Look!¡± Sai said and with a thought the red glowing spikes appeared on his back and elbows. ¡°Holy shit¡­¡± the old crocodile whispered and almost fainted. He had already seen something glowing red on the body of Sai during the fight, but he took it for the flames of the birds. ¡°I am very sorry I doubted you, stranger! Let me introduce myself: My name is Tysahisscyth-Ita Du¡¯Shalan and I am the elder of this tribe!¡± the old crocodile said while standing up and patted his chest in greeting. ¡°Tysah¡­what?¡± Drake asked confused and tried to remember the strange name the crocodile told him. ¡°Hah¡­you can call me Ita then, as everyone does¡­¡± the old crocodile sighed and looked slightly sad. ¡°Very well Ita! My name is Drake Cal¡¯anar Du¡¯Shalan and I am the successor of the Taran¡¯Kha!¡± Drake said with somewhat proud voice while patting his chest. ¡°You are named¡­Du¡¯Shalan? How come?¡± Ita asked doubtfully and a little angered. ¡°My bad, my bad! Drake and I swore the oath of brotherhood and I gained his clan name and he gained mine! We are technically brothers¡­¡± Sai said hurriedly and twisted his big mouth into a somewhat proud smile, which looked slightly disturbing. Ita, who looked at Drake in a strange way, nodded and the anger in his eyes vanished. ¡°So be it¡­from this day onwards you are a member of this tribe! Seeing how strong you are, you will directly be appointed as a warrior!¡± he said and a sly grin appeared on his face. Drake somehow had the feeling that he got cheated and his gaze turned somewhat bitter. At the same time a warm feeling swarmed through his body, and Drake felt like he was in the right place. Perhaps this tribe can become his home, his family. ¡°Well¡­its not like I have anywhere to go anyway¡­I might as well stay in this tribe¡­¡± he thought and slowly lifted his hand. He placed it on his chest and looked into Ita¡¯s eyes. ¡°I, Drake Cal¡¯anar Du¡¯Shalan, vow that I will protect this clan with all I have!¡± Ita looked surprised at the actions of Drake, but shortly after he smiled again and looked relieved. Before he could say something to Drake the whole crowd of crocodiles behind them roared loudly and as they turned around to look at them, they saw excitement, hope and pride in the eyes of the tribe members. ¡°Hahaha! That¡¯s the spirit! You are now a full member of the Du¡¯Shalan tribe! Welcome!¡± Ita laughed loudly and happiness appeared in his eyes. With Drake and Sai, who were extremely strong, the tribe wouldn¡¯t have to fear total annihilation anymore and could grow. And if Drake really could engrave bloodlines¡­then the Du¡¯Shalan tribe would grow unimaginably strong. ¡°Let¡¯s start rebuilding this place!¡± Ita said and wanted to turn around, but Drake held him back. ¡°No¡­let¡¯s move to a completely new area¡­This place is filled with blood and bad memories! This place is unsuitable to become our tribe¡¯s home! We have to move one, finding a place that is suitable to our needs!¡± Drake shouted and the former happy atmosphere instantly vanished, leaving only silence behind. Ita slowly turned around to Drake and looked him sternly in the eye. ¡°How?¡±