A few months has passed by as Raiz sets about his tasks. With the energy he gathers his eyes have grown explosively, his vision expanding and evolving as it not only allows him to see clearly near and far, but also lets him detect hints of a person’s aura. Perhaps more accurately he can see the wisps of energy emanating from them, where previously they were invisible to the eye. With such strength his Insight has grown exponentially, to the point where its passive drain has become almost negligent. Although Raiz can’t keep it on permanently, he can use it for at least an hour without stopping.

Having studied the specimen during this time he has discovered a few things. The gelatin-like creature’s two halves, its symbiotic relationship, is more akin to the concept of a shared space. They’re two completely different things twisted together in an unnatural way. Right now they’re so jumbled up that he can’t determine much abut what they are. Only by finding a way to separate them could he learn more. So he had to put it to the side for now, instead choosing to hunt for more specimens when he goes out looking for energy. As of now he’s already accumulated five of the strange things.

He had more luck with the riddle. A huge pile of books can be seen near Raiz where he had discarded them after reading through them. They’re all books on biota, Raiz unwilling to even let the books on plants and trees go in his search. In his words, ‘just in case’. It is in one of these he found what he was searching for; dragons and phoenixes. Those were what he saw that day on that cave’s entrance.

The info is scarce, but it briefly mentions that both creatures share what is called a celestial bloodline, a sacred and powerful origin. Though it goes on to say the creatures mentioned in the book contain a much weaker version of that bloodline, being incomparable to true phoenixes and dragons. Raiz quickly realised the answer to the riddle from that information.

We were born of it, and we will be ended by it.

Blood. If he can get enough blood from either a phoenix or a dragon, he’d be able to open that cave. The thought of discovering what’s inside excited Raiz, making him want to open it right this second. He immediately sets out again, leaving through the library’s grand door. He pauses in this moment and takes a second to look between the six different areas before setting his eyes on his birthplace, the magma-filled land.

Treading onto the ashen ground, Raiz quietly searches around the place until he finds what he’s looking for; a small, red lizard. Taking it in hand he uses his knife to cut into it slightly causing it to bleed, ignoring its squirms and small cries as he does so. His eyes glow softly as he stares into the blood, slowly breaking it down piece by piece. Thousands of different bloodlines mingle together in a chaotic, disorderly mess inside of the blood.

All sorts of aspects blur inside of them as Raiz’s eyes search through the individually until he rests on a particular one; filled with a deep red, tinged with the slightest streak of gold. This tiny strand inside of the blood is exactly what Raiz has been looking for. The bloodline of a dragon. With this guesses confirmed Raiz quickly heads back into the library.

He leaves again to quickly gather bits of firewood and races back inside, rummaging around in the junk corner until he finds a stand with a beaker. Placing them down he throws the firewood under them and rummages again to find some flint and a rock, quickly igniting the firewood. A sense of satisfaction emanates from him as he watches the beaker heat up. Of course, if he had considered the potential consequences of lighting fire inside of a library, perhaps he wouldn’t be standing there calmly.

The beaker looks like its become hot enough so he pours the blood he had collected inside. As he watches it start to boil he falls into thought again. After a brief moment he grabs his knife and turns to a nearby item, made of a bronze metal, and shaves slivers of it off into the beaker. He had read that bloodlines are strange things, and react differently depending on what they touch. If he finds the right material, it can invigorate that bloodline while leaving the others still dim, so that when the blood is boiled down only that bloodline remains. Finding the material is easier said then done however.

Raiz watches the beaker for a long time but is disappointed as the blood fades away until it turns to nothing, dissipating. Soon a methodic process is followed. Raiz heads out to gather energy for his eyes, hunt lizards and search for the gelatin specimens, and then heads back to test different materials in the blood before repeating the process. He also makes sure to read at least a few books a day, going through the good parts in them before discarding it in the now very large ‘done with’ pile.

Half a year passes like this as Raiz is consumed in his project. By now he has 21 specimens of those strange creature. Raiz’s eyes have started to develop even further, allowing him to see tens of meters ahead of him clearly and even slightly pierce through normally concealed phenomenon such as fog. Though his eyes are much stronger now he hasn’t once looked at the specimens, instead devoting his whole time to figuring out how to separate the blood. After a few weeks Raiz has even figured out that he can boil the blood outside, no longer leaving his life up to fate. A true miracle.

And finally that devotion pays off. Raiz had hunted far into the magma-filled land and happened upon a strange red metal. It pulsates slightly with the aspect of fire and scorches his hand as he touches it. He brings it back and shaves a sliver of it inside the boiled blood, causing a strong reaction to occur. The blood almost explodes as it bubbles up ferociously, the beaker itself shaking so hard that Raiz has to press his hands down to hold it in place.

The blood this time immediately starts to reduce, its speed visible to the eye. As it does so the beaker shakes even more and a strong heat blows out of it, starting to burn Raiz. Still he holds on and slowly that intense heat and movement dwindles and finally disappears. With a sigh of relief Raiz releases his clenching hands from the beaker and peers inside of it.

His breath catches for a moment. It’s only a small amount, a few milliliters blood, but it glowed. A red deeper then any other. The tiniest sliver of gold traced through out. Raiz found it beautiful. Fulfilling. It had taken him a long time, but he had what he needed. A small, accomplished smile flitted over Raiz’s face. Now he just has to go hunting.