Chapter Three

In an unknown territory

Emptiness. Unknown emptiness was all Skye felt when he first opened his eyes in a place he never knew existed within him. He tried exploring the uncharted territories but all he saw was infinite nothingness. Then an ignite lit the room followed by a blinding light. A golden flame erupted beneath him. He jerked his hands towards his face to somewhat shield himself from the impending doom.

But nothing came. He felt no heat nor pain from the flame that was enveloping his body. The flame was like cold water splashed on your face to wake yourself up from a recent nightmare. He felt at ease and he thought it would be great to stay here. Yet something was missing. He never knew what it was but he was missing something. A unsatisfiable void demanding something greater than the holy flame enveloping him. So he stepped out of the flame and never looked back.

* * *

Continent of Sin

Thousands of spiritual beast run amock through the Mountain Forge. Each and every beast trying to flee away from an aura that they have never felt before, their instincts were telling them same thing "run or get killed".

"Why do I have to this again?"asked a boy in an annoyed tone.

"Spiritual rings" the woman said calmly while letting a black ring etched with red runes appeared out of nowhere "are accumulated by spiritual beasts that can naturally harness the ambient essence of Herald like us. When a spiritual beast dies a ring like this will hover on its corpse for someone else to take. The longer the spiritual beast lived the higher the spiritual essence it has gathered, of course that makes the ring harder to assimilate with. Aside from the spiritual essence, you also gain an ability similar to the beast that you have killed. That's why I am here to guide you with which beast you should kill" the woman explained.

"Since you've reached the 10th rank that means you get to assimilate with your first spiritual ring. And every other ten ranks you achieve you can have an additional spiritual ring. Now how about we hunt a five hundred year old beast with a good flame affinity?" the woman asked.

"Why can't I have a hundred thousand year old one like yours?" the boy asked.

"You lack the spiritual essence, my child, your body can't handle it yet. A five hundred year old ring is the highest a rank ten spiritual master can handle" she explained.

"Sounds good to me" the boy replied as his form started shifting. A scaly tail emerged from his back getting larger every passing second. His hands now covered with dark-red scales. His eyes turned to the golden slitted blue draconic eyes that it used to be, as a smoke puff through his nose.

Minutes later a roar that has not been heard for ten centuries echoed through the magma filled mountain.

An hour later, an orange ring hovered on a dark-phoenix's corpse. A naked boy meditating beside it, trying to assimilate with his first spiritual ring. A white dragon coiled around the boy and silently muttered "Kids grow up too fast"

* * *

City of Trênt

Hundreds of knights gathered in the middle of the city to power the new warding scheme Lord Vjorn provided. Each and every knight being a rank sixty spiritual master.

"Byrnn! What the fuck are you waiting for? Your mom's birthday? I need everyone on formation now!" a dwarf with a long beard shouted.

"Yes sire!" the knight replied

"Come on folks! Your fucking city should be more well defended than this! Hell! Why the fuck would humans build stone walls? Orichalcum would be atleast acceptable, but stone? What is this? Year of the Old Stone?" mocked the dwarf

"Joumir, stop mocking your Lord's city. You're the best at offensive warding so lead this men now! Lord Grey signaled to go on the offensive!"

"Fucking senile elf" muttered the dwarf under his breath

"Ward of Scrying at the Frontier now!" commanded Joumir. An small eyeball peeked in front of the Frontier to scout the enemies movement. Hundreds of what it seems artillery spiritual masters are getting to position while more than thousands are waiting for the signal to start the siege. Each forming a fifty by ten formation often used for a brute strength siege and not a coordinated one.

"Thirty men power the barrier ward to maximum in case the enemies retaliate!" shouted the dwarf. Within seconds thirty knights begun pouring their spiritual essence to the barrier ward to reach its maximum capacity.

"The rest of you power the Lightning Retribution ward that I will erect now!" the dwarf commanded as he created dwarfish runes in the thin air. An ethereal ward came to existence as the remaining spiritual masters began pouring their spiritual essence to the ward.

"Scrying team, coordinates!" the dwarf asked as beads of sweats began forming on his forehead.

" 41 24.2028, 2 118.48 " replied a silver haired elf.

"You heard the man! Help me plot" shouted the dwarf. Seconds later a dark cloud formed out of thin air as hell striked their enemies.

* * *

Thousands of lightning rain upon the artillery spiritual masters that would be most valuable for the siege. Hundreds of bodies were blown apart, chainmails were pierced while those who were lucky enough to withstand the initial barrage of lightning were soon burnt to crisp as the aftershock ignited within their bodies.

"My lord, a ward specialist is within the city. Most if not all our artillery spiritual masters died with the surprise attack, not even my greatest scouts noticed the spiritual essence fluctuation"an entity reported. As if on queue another barrage of lightning came upon their frontlines as dozens of aegis were raised.

"Bowmen! Draw... Nock" a frontline commander shouted as thousands of spiritual masters dropped their stealth.

"Loose!" thousand of spiritual enhanced arrows flew to the city only to be blocked by a golden dome. The barrier didn't even waver through the series of attack. More arrows came but like the previous attacks did not even scratch the somewhat impenetrable barrier. Another barrage of lightning came this time targeting the rear of the army this time not as strong as the first barrage but triple the coverage. Archers panicked while healers tried to re-enforce themselves. Hundreds if not thousands fall into the relentless lightning barrage. More minutes passed and nothing can be heard except the moans of those who are still writhing in pain and then an eerily silence came. The tanks in the frontline should be always prepared to defend their rear yet this time there was nothing they could do but watch as most of their comrades fell in despair.

"My lord, your orders please" the entity almost beg as he watched the man just watch as thousands of his subordinates die in battle.

"Order them to retreat. Let them have their small victory for now but before that let me present them a gift" the man replied as a grin formed in his face.

* * *

In an unknown territory

Skye walked through the blinding corridors of light for what seems like an eternity yet he did not feel tired at all. He continued walking as if something lies at the end of the corridor that was calling unto him. He felt like a part of his soul seeks what lies beyond. Out of nowhere the floors beneath him caved as he was suddenly falling in an incredible speed. He panicked for a second but felt relaxed when his connection to his soul seemed to be at ease on what's currently happening. After an hour of falling through the bottomless pit, he felt he was approaching something. Water. An ocean of water greeted him as his body plunged to the liquid. Ripples were formed but a second later the waters calmed like nothing has happened. Skye allowed himself to be dragged further into the depths of unknown. He didn't know for how long he let his body delve through the ocean of water but it started getting darker like light was no longer able to permeat the surface. Deeper and deeper he goes until nothing could be seen again. Nothing but darkness.

"The boy has chosen" an other-worldly voice came from nowhere to disturb the tranquil state that he achieved by being enveloped by darkness.

His eyes opened and this time he saw his mother and father together with Lord Drow with their mouths agape.

"What's happening?" he questioned

* * *

House of Vjorn's Manor - City of Trênt

"Indeed what is happening?" questioned Ahria to her husband, somehow he felt that his husband knows something about the incident.

"The Tales of the Dragon God" Cai whispered to himself.

"Tales of what?" the confused Ahria asked

"Nothing, my love" Cai immediately answered " I was just talking to myself"

"I know you know something, and it is the utmost important that you tell me right at this very moment or i'll swear to every God Cai Vjorn!" Ahria threatened

"If you'll both excuse me, my Lord, my Lady" Lord Drow bowed before he left the room.

"The Tales of the Dragon God" Cai started

"Every soul in this continent knows that in every millenia or whenever the fates desired someone will be blessed by the Herald with raw power rivaling a dragon hence called Fated by the Dragon" he continued "House Vjorn was blessed to assimilate with Jiaolong a horned serpentine dragon which allowed our bloodline to get more chances in being "Fated". My eldest brother had the same fate but was killed shortly after his awakening. My father ran a deep investigation on the matter and it seems like that every person to be "Fated by the Dragon" was killed shortly after their awakening" he said as he cleared his throat. His wife's mouth widened but nothing came out of her mouth.

"So i'm gonna die right?" asked Skye calmly

"No!" Ahria almost shouted

"No son I won't ever let that happen" Cai answered reassuringly "The reason why I founded the Vjorns of Dragon was to protect every person who was "Fated" but everytime the organization behind this was always once step ahead of us, but now that I am here i'll protect you with every fiber of my being, my son" he assured his son while dropping to his knees and kissing the back of Skye's hand.

"But thats not everything right?" Ahria interrupted with one of her eyebrows raised.

"My love, not everything should be discussed in front of a child" he said with fear in his eyes. She almost mistaked it as fear for incurring her wrath. Then he realized his husband feared his own son. His own son! Ahria cleared her throat and said "Let's go to our room then"

Before they could leave the room a large amount of spiritual fluctuation put an alert to Cai's senses, then he realized even his wife could feel it. Another question was raised, a question that would be more oftenly asked in their household. "What is happening?" asked Skye and Ahria in chorus.

* * *

City of Trênt

"Next coordinates!" shouted a dwarf

"43 24.2028, 2 11.5418" replied an elf. After a few minutes.

"Next one!" the dwarf commanded.

"No wait! Lemme modify this one.. I got an idea" the amused dwarf said despite being drenched in his own sweat.

"All of you I want you to concentrate and mantain your spiritual essence as I have instructed or we're all gonna die here" he said laughing. The knights were shocked with the statement but began once the dwarf commanded.

"NOW!" the dwarf shouted

Half an hour later an elf reported "They are retreating"

"Thats a ward specialist for ya!" the dwarf chuckled as he let the ethereal ward disperse.

"Oy! You! how about some ale for this old man. Felt like decades since I experimented on my wards" he chuckled lightly.

"A Gift. For all of you" a voice amplified by spiritual essence was heard throughout the city. Moments later a massive spiritual fluctuation was sensed even by the normal citizens.

"What the hell is that?" an elf muttered under his breath. All of the combatants in the city was looking up to the sky as a massive boulder half the size of the city was descending at a slow pace. Flames started to engulf the massive rock as it slowly approached.

"A meteor, if you can't tell" said the dwarf rhetorically as he gulped the bitter ale in one go.