Chapter 8

The Awakening- Part 4

Pride, pride was a strange feeling to Klaus. It was like a knife that had two blades on it. One pointed at the world and one pointed at one self. Should you exert too much of it on the world you would start hurting yourself with the other end. Klaus had pride. He had pride in his achievements, his hard work, the trophies he won for the school in various sport activities and his school acumen. He had pride yes, but he never felt arrogance, he never thought of himself as better than others.

The people that were around him were too rich and powerful for him to be. Although he had discovered how vast the world was- to a degree, he still knew that those in power could influence many. He was not foolish enough to believe himself special or above anything else.

After stabbing the heart of Sephiroth and bathing in its blood, everything became a blur. He remembered waking up where he was, but Lust was there and for a moment he could have sworn she was naked. The moment of lucidity was short lived for she had something in her hand, which had given him a great fear. Something in him instinctively knew if he drank what she held, he would never be the same again. Not that he would be after what he had experienced before, but he knew what she wanted to give him was different. He could smell it and even though it felt like every cell in his body was shouting for him to take it. His mind was objecting.

He felt betrayed when he struggled and she forced him. He tried to fight back. Tried to struggle, but the woman was just too strong even though he could feel new strength was coursing through his veins. When the blood entered his mouth, he still struggled. Even while his body was rejoicing and he was filled with euphoria that could only be explained as pure bliss, he still fought and then it was over.

Whatever she had given him was finished and he could feel it. He could feel it inside him and for the first time in his life Klaus felt a sense of being complete. Like there was something missing from his very soul and it had now been given back to him. The thought scared him, but the feeling of fear was soon pushed aside by something that seemed to overpower his every thought, pride.

He had never felt it more than at that moment and as he watched them close the vault he could smell their fear. It excited him. ‘You are right to fear me!’ He wanted to shout, but instead what came out was a roar. He did not even think about the strangeness of it. He loved it. Feeling that a being such as him should roar, he should roar for he is a ruler of beasts and men. A god amongst insects and they were right to fear. They were right to run!

Klaus felt himself get up on wobbly legs like that of a new born and in truth he was-of a sort. He looked at the vault door. Its mere sight offended him. The fact that they could even believe that he could be locked up. The fact that they thought him so weak was an affront to his very existence. So he roared his indignation and charged and as he did, his mind went somewhere else.

He watched through eyes not his own, at a sky he did not know. Beneath him forests and mountains stretched into the horizon in every which way he looked. The sun was just starting to set and he could see a purple planet with a ring around it. Flying as he was, he felt he could just reach out and grab it. The wind felt like heaven over his scales, but he had a mission. He had to hunt; he had to feed so he could grow stronger and if anything mattered- being strong was it.

He could already feel the strength his body held, the muscle underneath his scales felt like nothing he had ever experienced. The magic coursing through his every vein, which sprouted from his heart, was intoxicating. He wanted the world to know of his strength, he wanted to roar and proclaim the world his own, but he was no fool. A hunter’s greatest asset was stealth. He did not wish to give the lesser creatures a chance to escape him. If he were to roar they would scurry into holes and hide till he caught something else in their place.

That would be unacceptable. He banked to the left; his enhanced heat vision had picked something up. He scoffed it was too small, barely a snack. It was not worthy of being hunted by him. The search continued.

Lilith just got through the small door when the vault door burst open. She slammed it shut behind her and made a bee line for Pain. “What have you done!”

Her anger was palpable; it was present in her every movement. Pain could see that if he did not answer the woman would attack him damned be the consequences. He sighed. ‘Why did master give me this job?’

“Speak demon, or I swear I will-“

“You will what? You have no idea what I am capable of, do not threaten me girl.” Pain pointed at a door to the side. “You will find the answers you seek through there.”

Lilith looked at the door and then at Pain. Her distrust was clear to see. Pain felt it demeaning, but he opened the door first and stepped through into a room with various screens arrayed around them. On them, Lilith could see the cavern. At the moment it was filled with the blood mist and she could barely make out a thing. She gave Pain another look that could kill and took a seat behind a monitor that showed the now crushed vault door lying on the ground. The blood mist was spilling from the inside of the crystal and covering everything.

She saw a shape move. It was big, but not large. From what she could make out it was just a bit bigger than a horse.

She leaned closer. “What is that?”

Pain sat down next to her and zoomed in on the shape. He let out a sigh of relief and muttered to himself. “He is eating.” After confirming what he needed, he turned to the obstinate Lilith who even now glared at him.

“That is the young master.”

Lilith, grit her teeth. ‘I want to punch this thing in the face and rip its stupid hat off.’

“Why is he like that, what did you do?’

She saw Pain look at the monitor and for a moment she thought he would refuse to answer. In truth, he was thinking whether he should kill her or not.

“My master, his mother gave us… a tonic in order to awaken his true potential as she called it. The crystal was also given by her; otherwise Klaus would have been killed by the laws of the Secret World.”

This caused Lilith to frown. A crystal that could circumvent the laws, she could not comprehend how such a thing was possible and why would he be killed? To her knowledge only certain things were outright killed without breaking the laws. Gritting her teeth she muttered. “How and why?”

Pain panned the camera following the figure. “As you know jewels can store magical energy. That is why the families collect them. They are used as fuel for the portals that lead to the other worlds. We discovered that if enough magical energy was released into a mortal world the Secret Worlds’ laws could be bent, to a degree. The magical energy also needed to be neutral and not come from someone such as myself or you. It also needs to be additive and not influence any mortals."

Lilith blanched. “So you are telling me that crystal is a jewel of some kind.”

Pain nodded. “It is a diamond to be exact. The vault was not only built to keep the young master in- although that clearly failed, but to also keep as much of the magical energy inside as possible. Using it we could give the young master a proper awakening.”

Lilith snorted. “So what you are saying is that what I e and the rest of my family experienced for the past hundreds of years was not proper awakenings?”

Pain smiled. “That is exactly what I am saying. You were never meant to be on these worlds. The magic here is lacking; there is barely anything in the atmosphere as it has been cut off from the ether by the Secret Worlds, the little that is here is just enough to sustain life, hence the laws.”

If bloodlines capable of using ambient magic were to use too much, living organisms would start to die. “Awakenings are the exception to the rule, but the people going through them are afforded only a stipend to do so. That is why they sometimes gain the bloodline stigmata, which comes from experiencing memories locked away in their blood. The ritual we held was a way to stimulate that. It afforded the young master an opportunity to unlock as many abilities as possible. It could have all been a waste despite our efforts if the ancestor of the young master was a farmer or something else mundane. Clearly that was not the case. The extra amount of magic in the air has given him more time to do so.”

Lilith listened with rapt attention many of the things he said, she had no clue of but it made sense. Her niece had unlocked a stigma through her awakening, or so she heard when Boeithia gloated. The woman had always had a grudge against Lilith since the two of them were from the same generation and Lilith was given more attention due to her later awakening.

Pain had no idea what she was thinking and honestly did not care. He thought at first that keeping her around would keep the young master calm and compliant, but he later noticed that the boy had placed great trust and affection on the woman, why he did not know and he honestly did not care as long as she did not try and manipulate him before the awakening. Before the awakening she could have held an influence, but after… not a chance. Just thinking of how carefree and unconcerned his master was. She was as fickle as she was powerful it caused them many problems.

Lilith rubbed at her temples and looked back towards the monitors. “What was in the vial and cup you gave him? Why did he change like this? Will he change back?” Lilith was shooting off questions like a machine gun, worry on her face clear for all to see.

Pain had then given her his trademark smile. “Well, we should hope he changes back, after all if he doesn’t- the laws will kill him. Or perhaps once the magic in the air starts to dwindle it will force him back into his human form?” He put a gloved hand on his chin and contemplated for a moment. ‘Would it hurt to tell the woman? She could not possibly do anything now unless all this is an act and she can fool my ability to see into her heart. Unlikely, I could always kill her later once the young master leaves. What he does not know can’t make him angry at me.’

“The first vial contained the heart’s blood of Sephiroth and the cup blood was from his mother.”

Lilith, could not believe his words. ‘Heart’s blood of Sephiroth? He said it like it was one entity and not a family.’

Pain could see in her heart that she did not believe him. “How little you know, how naïve and uneducated you are. The tree of life… that is what Sephiroth is. The family now known as Roth guarded it for millennia and they were then betrayed by all the other bloodlines and their patrons. The tree sacrificed itself and gave those that guarded it, its power, its very heart. It also gave them a new hope. Four seeds or so the legend goes. These seeds would be planted and bring balance back to the Secret Worlds and make the forsaken worlds whole again. It would make us whole again.”

“Demons?” Lilith watched as Pain showed emotion other than that horrid smile for the first time since she had met him.

He snarled and turned on her. “Yes, us demons those you have damned along with the forsaken worlds. We were once like you, normal inhabitants of the Secret Worlds, but the death of Sephiroth led to us becoming broken and twisted creatures that craved to be whole again. That is why we kill. That is why we murder you. When we consume the flesh of others we feel whole again, we feel purpose return to our lives for just that moment and then it is gone again. It is a consequence of your ancestors’ actions along with others. It is the hope of our kind that the young master can continue the quest that all Roth are supposed to undertake. Even now his mother and father are doing so.”

Lilith was caught off guard by the zeal and passion that Pain spoke with. She was shocked by the words he spoke. She was taught the forsaken lands were brought about by the demons. It was their corruption that spread and infected the worlds, turning all the creatures on them into monstrosities, which then spread to the next worlds in an unending cycle of destruction. She thought back to the mural painted on their hotel ceiling. All the creatures and races locked in battle while reaching out towards the tree. She could not help but feel the demon’s words were true.

“Why?” She asked swallowing hard. “Why would they do it?”

Pain snorted. “Why would any of the bloodlines do anything? They wanted more power. Sephiroth was a fountain of life energy, it supplied the Sacred Wolrds with it. The other races thought that it meant that its power was compatible with everyone. So they wanted to take it for themselves. Klaus’ ancestors fought them, but it was a losing battle from the start and as a last ditch effort to at least keep some life energy in circulation the Roth were given its heart, but it was a poor comparison and many Worlds fell to the blight.”

“Then why don’t we know, why don’t we work together to restore the worlds it woul-“ She stopped halfway. Even to her it sounded stupid and naïve. It would not surprise her if the truth was hidden on purpose.

She would have to confirm some things before she truly believed the demon, but it sounded plausible. The day she met Klaus’ father she was in a forsaken world. Someone she had thought was her friend and lover had betrayed and left her for dead while taking what they had gotten in the world. He was from another bloodline and she believed they were in love. She had seen how torn up he was about it, but it still did not stop him from going through with his despicable act.

She fought the feelings welling up inside. During the years watching over Klaus she never really faced her emotions regarding the issue.

For a moment silence reigned while the two sat and dealt with their emotions.

Lilith finally cleared her throat and said in a milder tone. “So what is he?”

Pain smiled, also returning to his normal self. “You will see in a moment.”

Klaus circled once more, he had spotted his prey. It was a brown bear double the size of a garbage truck. He could see the blight had caused a mutation on the beast, the coat of the beast was laced with dark green, making it harder to spot amongst the age old trees that stood like towers.

He could sense the creature’s agitation. It knew it was being hunted. Klaus huffed causing a plume of smoke to sprout from his nostrils. Its actions were futile and despite it being on guard and cautious, it had never once glanced up. Why would it, there was rarely anything large and strong enough to attack it from the air.

With one last circle Klaus decided to act. His heart started to pound with the thrill of the hunt. His wings tucked in close, he started a silent dive. The world seemed to warp and bend around him as magic started course through his every limb strengthening and empowering it. A sound rang like the clap of thunder as the air seemed to break around him. His prey whipped around to look, but it was already too late.

Claws extended and grabbed onto its neck while all of Klaus’ momentum crashed into the beast. The crack of bones and blood filled the air as the bear was crushed into the ground. Klaus opened his maw and bit down on the already broken neck and he twisted splintering and destroying it even more. Experience had taught him that you always made sure of the kill. Blood gushed into his mouth. The beast’s heart was struggling, hammering away to keep the blood feeding its muscles with oxygen and adrenalin going. Its heart was still preparing for a fight, never realizing the fight was already over.

Klaus still kept his hold of the beast’s neck, feeling the pounding heart grow slower with every beat and then it stilled. A roar filled the mountains, a roar of victory and successful hunt.

He then started his feast, going for the animal’s core first; a jewel hidden in its heart. He swallowed it down and got shivers from the power that spread through his body. It was a good catch; he would only need three more similar catches to be full for the next two weeks or so. He avoided the bones and skin, tearing into the flesh and organs only. It was not because he was a picky eater, but because he wanted to avoid creating a pellet which then needed to be regurgitated. There was another way, but that meant he would have to sleep for long periods of time while the bones and skin were being digested. It was a great method to harden his scales and make his hide tougher, but he simply did not have the time.

Since he had saved the Roth-human-thing from the tree as per the agreement he had made with the strong-human-Roth-thing, he was too busy helping them rebuild and stopping the tides of crazed beasts and animals from swarming over the other worlds. ‘Besides, it would not do to show my ugly side to the guests. I am a lady, or so the Roth-human-thing calls me.’

The vision started to blur as panic struck Klaus in the cavern. ‘Lady!’

For a moment he saw through his true eyes. He was gorging himself on food. His head whipped down to look between his legs. ‘Still there.’ He never once noticed or cared about the strange state he was in.

At the thought his panic subsided and he got sucked back into the other world.

At the thought of the human-roth-things sadness gripped his heart. He had been a friend to the tree for many ages. They had spoken of many things. The tree always understood his maiden heart. The vision started to blur, but remembrance of the previous time kept him from completely breaking it and it soon settled.

Not only was the tree a loss. He was also forced to kill six of his kind that had gone crazy from the imbalance. His kind was especially sensitive to magic so he had to watch as they started to deteriorate. Out of Pride most of them demanded he take their lives before they completely lost themselves to the blight. It also meant that all of their strength had become his as was their way. The increase in power had nearly killed him, but it also saved him from the blight and made him a divergent, a power that has never been seen in the Secret Wolrds. Not to his current knowledge at the least. If he had to describe it in a word- it would be chaos. At the thought he breathed out a flame.

In its centre it was black as night but as the flame branched out, it became purple ranging from a dark almost black purple to violet, much like his scales. Where the flame touched, it did not burn it simply destroyed almost as if disintegrating what it touched. He had experimented and found that the flame could also do other things, like summon sharpened spears of black and hardened earth that sprouted from the ground wherever the flame passed. It did the same with living tissue, but that disgusted him. The things would spout growths and become blobs of disgusting meat.

One of the dragons had died that way. Not because of the flame he used. No, he would never give one of his kind such a dishonourable death. Fafnir, simply did not want to die- he was too obsessed with his riches and told Klaus that he would not look after it properly and in the end he turned into such a blob.

He did not know if there were any more of his kind left, which meant that chances were high that he had no mate. It left another option, one which he found distasteful to the extreme. He would have to learn how to take humanoid form in order to give mate. ‘Even imagining myself in such a demeaning and ugly form is simply distasteful. Although, I sometimes do wonder what my wonderful ladylike form would look like in the twoleg-ugly-human skin. I can wait a few hundred years before deciding.’

The thought was enough to force Klaus out of the dream and he fully came back to himself. The first thing he did was look between his legs again. ‘Still there, but.’

He noticed his legs were scaled and a lot thicker than they were, his stomach was the same. ‘What is, what?’

Lilith and Pain watched as the mist started to clear and as it did Lilith could make out what Klaus was. They watched as his new form reared up on his hind legs. His wings splayed out and his head darted from one claw to the other.

A strange sound came from his voice, to Pain and Lilith it almost sounded questioning.

Klaus was trying to say. “What the hell happened to me?”

It was not as if he was displeased. In contrast he rather felt proud looking at his new claws. ‘These claws are… well they are. I don’t know I just feel great about them.’

He went back down on all fours and something caught the corner of his eye. ‘Something dares sneak up on me?’

He pounced, but whatever it was moved out of the way as he did and he came crashing down on nothing. He let out a roar. ‘It thinks it can escape my claws. He took a deep breath and felt his heart fill it with power in his lungs. Jaws opened and a purple black and purple flame leapt forth. It destroyed anything it touched, the food surrounding him, the plates and even the rock these things stood on. What remained was a smooth as glass.

He was fascinated by this, until the thing caught his attention again. He was just about to pounce once more when he realized. ‘Oh, it is my tail. No wonder it could evade me. Only a magnificent tail such as mine can do it.’

He paused then. For a full five seconds he just stood there stock still and frozen. Another roar rang out in the cavern. “What am I doing and when did I become an idiot?”

He looked around the cavern. ‘The food must have been placed here by someone. He remembered being locked up in the vault and the offense that gave. ‘They knew this would happen, hence the food. That should also mean they are monitoring me.’ He growled and turned to look around, his eyes naturally going into heat vision. ‘They better explain this.’

Lilith and Pain watched the creature flail around in silence. It then stood still and suddenly started looking around. “What do you think he is doing?” Asked Lilith.

Pain looked at all the monitors and froze. It was looking directly at him through one of the monitors. A claw lifted and pointed at the monitor and then turned palm up. One claw curled outwards and then inwards again. Pain sighed.

“If I had to guess, it was looking for us.”

Lilith followed his gaze and froze. The humanlike gesture gave her goose flesh.

Pain got up. “Stay here, it may not be safe.”

With that he exited and she saw him appear on the camera screen a few seconds later and give a deep bow.

Klaus, or what he was now did not attack. That was enough for her and she headed down was well.

When she stepped into the room, she froze. It was one thing seeing him on a black and white screen, but in person. Her eyes raked over his body. His scales were predominantly black. Here and there she could see dark purple like on his belly as he sat. He had four horns on his head. Two small ones on the left and right of his jaw that was a pure white and two black ones that protruded from his temples they were thick and curled outwards and up before curving back. There were nubs on each one, which suggested that they would split if he grew older or bigger.

His back also had small spikes running along his spine. They shortened and then elongated where his tail started. His tail was a bit longer than his body itself. It had two fans on the end on either side, but like his wings they were retracted at that moment. His tail looked like the most dangerous thing. The spikes that ran along his spine seemed to come to a point and then fuse into a white bone like blade. It had widened and then sharpened to a point, much like a sword, but broader at the base. Through the bone white ran veins or cracks that looked violet and in the next moment green.

She accidently kicked a cup and it went clanging along the floor. She turned to look at it and when she looked back she nearly screamed. Klaus’ head was right in front of her. She looked into his eyes and saw recognition in them, but also something else. She wanted to break her gaze away, but it was held locked in place. Her instinct told her to be very careful.

Pain gestured to her behind the dragons back. When he saw her looking, he mouthed the words. “Praise him.”

“Klaus, you… you are a dragon now.”

He huffed at her and she saw pride in his eyes. Pain was basically doing a dance behind the dragon now. She looked and he once more mouthed. “Praise him, you idiot.”

“You look mighty and powerful; all dragons should wish to be such a fine specimen as you.”

Klaus for his part did not want the praise, he wanted to know what had happened to him, he had to admit that the praise did make him feel good though.

He fought the feeling down. ‘I need to be serious here. What could this mean for my normal life? Would I be able to turn back? Do I want to turn back?’

He nudged Lilith with his snout and gave her the same stare. She stopped halfway through another string of praises when he did and looked back into his eyes. She was once again caught in his gaze His pupils were slits like that of a cat, but that is not what made them mesmerise her so. It was the colour. Around the pupil it was blue like his original eye colour; it turned darker and became purple. Around it were what seemed like flecks of shocking green.

“Klaus, I am going to try and connect to your mind, so we can speak-“

Pain rushed over before she could even finish speaking and was about to tackle her. Klaus tail swiped out at blinding speed and connected solidly with the demon, sending him flying.

He nodded.

It was a strange experience for Lilith. She had to put all her strength experience into it and it just barely worked. Klaus brainwaves or thought as he called it were completely different. It was alien to her, but she managed eventually.

‘What did they do to me?’ Was the first thing Klaus asked.

Lilith considered how to answer and decided to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. ‘They gave you some of your mother’s blood.’

Klaus reeled back nearly falling over. ‘My mother, did they hurt her?’

She saw his eyes dart around and look for Pain.

Her hand grabbed he jaw and she felt surprise at the warmth that emanated from them. ‘Be calm, your mother is fine and if I am not mistaken she is a dragon too. She is also the one Pain calls master.’

She then proceeded to tell Klaus everything that happened and what he had been given. She was surprised to find that he understood when she spoke of Sephiroth’s blood.

At the end of it all Klaus realised he was stuck in a pretty bad situation. ‘So if the jewel runs out I could die unless I learn to turn into my original self?’

Lilith looked deep into his eyes and answered aloud. “Yes.”