Chapter Four

City of Trênt

As the meteor slowly approached low leveled spiritual masters started fleeing for their lives while others were too dumbfounded to move.

"Do not panic!" a voiced echoed inside the city as a golden armored man ascended to the skies.

"Vjorns of Dragon on me! Drop whatever you're doing. I need every man I can spare!"commanded Cai to his troops. "Anyone who is under the 50th realm provide support to the shelter. Everyone else join me, we got a meteor to destroy".

Just as everybody was to take action eight spiritual rings flared to existence hovering at the back of Cai "Herald's Eigth Morale - Tranquility" he chanted "Herald's Fifth Morale - Hope" he added. Light descended from the skies to bless every person within the city. With a blessing under the name of Herald every troop started following their orders as their hope was revitalized by the Lord Founder.

"Artillery Spiritual Masters!" Lord Holt commanded as a hundred of men formed a ten by ten square.

"Gravity magics, do we have any?" asked the Lord Commander.

"Aye" ten of the current men forming the square answered while five of which were not in position yet.

"Form another line!" he commande as the men quickly formed a line.

"Buy us some time please" he added. Spiritual rings of different color appeared while the gravity shifted, slowing the descent of the meteor.

"Fire, Water, Earth, Air destructive magics in that order"he said and the troops arranged themselves.

"I need group coordinated magics! We need to help the Lord Founder as much as we can. Any other spiritual master who deems themselve worthy to atleast lessen the mass of the meteor, join the party!" he advised the troops.

"The remaining ones help power the offensive wards" he asked as he garnered a smile from a dwarf. "Battle maniac" 'he thought himself as he let out a smile of his own. Holt let all of his six spiritual rings flare to existence as he slowly ascended to the sky.

"Lord Vjorn, do you have a plan?"he asked as he hovered near Cai.

"My plan is simple. I'm pretty sure I can lessen that boulder to the point our barrier can defend against it if I use the Sacred Art" Cai answered.

"My lord! You cannot do that.. Even if you escape death. Your cultivation.." Holt stuttered between his words.

"Do not worry my friend, I will not die. It will only lessen my cultivation rank by a bit" Cai answered with a chuckle.

"But you're the only reason why this city is standing if word spreads out, anything can happen. Another siege like this and we won't hold" Holt reasoned.

"I know. I know. But I feel like whoever did this won't attack anytime soon. However powerful they might be, summoning a meteor is still straining except for a dragon which im sure they are'nt" Cai replied

"But-"

"No more buts Holt! Surviving this is more important than me or my cultivation if we get through this... Skye will... Skye will lead us to a better future" Cai interrupted Holt "I'm sure of it!"

"Now will you help me deal with that meteor or you're gonna talk all day?" Cai asked

"As you command my Lord, stay safe please" Holt said with a hint of worry in his face.

"I will not die Holt. I have to see the new era my son will lead" Cai said and looked at the meteor slowly approaching. Holt nodded while descending back to the ground.

"Lord Founder will use the Sacred Art to save everyone!" he shouted "He said he will survive and I want to make sure he will. Let's assist him the best that we can and let's blow that motherfucker to bits!" he shouted emotionally.

"Yeah" the soldiers shouted in unison.

Thousands of spiritual rings appeared in a span of seconds. Elemental spiritual masters chanted for a mass destruction magic. "....Tellar Azeur mi Filleum" "Wind of Carnage" the group chanted. A massive blade of wind soared to the meteor taking a small chunk of it. Meteorites began to hit the meteor helping minimize it's size. Water magic engulfed the meteor to lessen it's momentum as it also extinguished the fire it is currently on. Lightning magic came after taking quite a bit of chunk of the meteor. Then thousand of fire lances came to lessen the burden of the Lord Founder. Two more cycles of the same magic later Cai sensed that everyone was out of spirit essence.

"Thank you" he muttered while giving a glance at the city below.

"It's my time to shine is'nt it?" he looked directly at his son who is watching the spectacle. "More reason to look cool" he said.

Eight spiritual rings started layering on top of each other. "Herald of Perfection" he said as space was distorted and an other-worldly entity possesed his body. His hair was now like flames dancing on top his head. His eyes was like the star itself. Golden aura enveloped his whole body. The entity flexed his hands to get used to his temporary vessel. "Willing to give your life for others, deserving to be the first one to summon a part of me in centuries" Herald spoke with delight. "in honor for your courage I won't take your life demi-human"

"Now what the heck is this rock doing in here? Quite big isn't it? What to do? I don't want to consume all of this man's spiritual essence" Herald spoke in a concerned manner "Fine, i'll lend you a hand this one time"

The God gathered all of the ambient spiritual essence combining it with Cai's own as he waved his hands forward. "Holy Judgement"the God said. A pillar of light descended from the sky and obliterated the meteor to pieces. Hundreds of debris came falling to the city. "I guess they have to hold their own now as you can no longer sustain this state or will you help your new wielder too, Devourer?" Herald said "Just when things got interesting my time runs out. Till we meet again Cai Vjorn" the entity left his vessel as Cai's body fell from the sky.

* * *

House of Vjorn's Manor - City of Trênt

Skye watched as his father's body fell from the sky.

"Father" he screamed as he tried to run to his direction. A couple guards stopped him before he could even reach the gate.

" My Lord, don't worry the Vjorns of Dragon won't let Lord Founder fall from those heights and even if he did, he'll only sustain minor injuries"a guard assured him.

"Then let me go! I need to see my father" Skye replied.

"I'm sorry my Lord but in case the city barrier won't hold we have the strongest barrier in the city. My orders are to keep you safe" the guard said.

"Skye!" a voice called out from the manor "Your father will be all right, he's a strong man" his mother kneeled before him and pulled him to a hug.

"You alright now?" her mother asked the Skye. The boy just simply nodded

"Let's go check the manuals your father left you okay?"the boy nodded again as his mother accompanied him to the training grounds.

"There are million of cultivation paths but only few of them are understandable nowadays. Some of the languages that they are written in were lost during the Year of the Old of Metal. War errupted during that time between the continent of Ellos and Welsh. Later on the Continent of Sin decided to support Welsh while our continent supported Ellos" Ahria began her lecture as tremors from the outside interrupted her every now and then. "Lots of Noble Houses fell during that Era as losing the war means total annihilation. Welsh overpowered Ellos while Nies was only capable of keeping Sin in check, meaning pretty much we lost the war. Citizens of Nies fled to the cold North to-" "Boom" an explosion can be heard from the distance cutting Ahria's lecture off "Ignore that Skye" she said with a hint of worry in her face. "As I was saying most of the citizens fled to the North to seek refuge but we all know what lies ahead North of North, The Grand Wilderness, anyone who dared to wander in it was never to be seen again. No one knows what is in the wilderness, all we know is that high-tier spiritual beasts claimed it as their territory and we demi-humans or any other race should never step in it. But this was not any other time, this was desperate times so our ancestor the Great Ice Witch Lissandra wandered in the forest to ask for refuge. The camp outside the forest were cold, hungry and in despair of what was recently lost. They believed that Lissandra was no more. But one day she came back with a serpentine dragon in tow, the Final Frontier of North- City of Trênt was founded and the rest was history" her mother finished as another tremor shook the manor.

"Mother, so when many cultivation technique were lost how did Nies continue to exist?" asked Skye.

"There are still those from different houses that survived and some created their own with their own high tiered cultivation techniques but this time around low level cultivation techniques were shared like the Fire-Serpent Technique or the Iron Claw even to the commoners" his mother answered

"That means that our house has high tiered cultivation techniques right?" Skye inquired.

"Yes. Jiaolong the horned serpentine dragon was kind enough to share with Lissandra his cultivation techniques and was then on passed in her family, the House of Vjorn. Of course there are no guarantees that the cultivation technique would suit everyone in her bloodline so then dragon gave her another gift the Dragon's imprint. Ahem " she cleared her throat and continued "which allowed everyone with her bloodline increased understanding of the Draconic language. Every cultivation technique Jiaolong knows of was gifted to Lissandra but was all written in Draconic language. Up until this day, there are only ten spiritual masters who can comprehend the simple tomes while only four were able to comprehend any of the rare thirty six tomes.And your father was one of them" she said proudly.

"Really? Do you think i'll get to comprehend the rare ones?" Skye asked in a gloomy tone.

"Of course, your father said you are special. That you will be even stronger than him in the future. So held your head up my child" Ahria replied with a smile.

"But im not good at swordsmanship or hand to hand combat or horse riding or spiritual magic" he said with a sigh

"But you were always good at literature and archery and meditation" Ahria rebutted.

"But those are lousy things. I can't use literature to fight nor meditation. Archery is only useful if you have distance from the enemy. I'll get killed immediately if they get too close to me" Skye resigned

"Look at me, young man. Nothing about you is lousy. You're a Vjorn. I'm sorry for sheltering you all this years but I promise you this. After all this mess, you can attend any school you want. Explore all you want. Adventure all you want. Have confidence in yourself my child, you are better than you what you think you are. And promise me this. That whatever you do and every decision you make. Think, think like how I taught you for the past seven years okay? " Ahria asked with conviction in her eyes.

"Yes, thank you Mother" Skye answered with determination as he hugged his mother.

"Come, how about we take a look at what form your spiritual essence has taken?" Ahria asked.

"Okay! " Skye said with a smile.

"Now that's the spirit" Ahria smiled back.

* * *

The Grand Wilderness

"Kieran!" a voice boomed in a cave like system. But unlike ordinary caves this one was constructed to look like a home for both humans and dragons.

"How many times do I have to tell you that you don't use your spiritual ring abilities just because you want to!"a massive serpentine dragon lectured the youngling.

"But Gramps! It's so boring here compared to the outside! The only thing that I can do is practice and cultivate and then practice and cultivate over and over again" answered the young dragon circling around the room while acting like he's losing his mind.

"Then go play with the young ones" replied the dragon.

"No way am I going to play with those kids. They can't even transform yet!" whined Kieran.

"Then revert back to your dragon form" the dragon told him.

"But I don't look like them. Im an Eldritch kind I have wings and they don't. I'll look weird" he told the Patriarch.

"Then transform" the dragon instructed him.

"I told you i'll look-" Kieran was interrupted as the serpentine dragon shifted to an Elder Dragon.

"Weird" Kieran finished his sentence with his mouth agape.

"How did you do that? Can I do that too? Can you transform to a cat? Wait! How about a rat?" Kieran asked in succession.

"Keep calm young one!" commanded the dragon.

"The education system is failing" the dragon sighed "Shapeshifting my son is not an easy task to accomplish but you did it at age ten which is simply unheard of. I thought that with your shapeshifting being so advanced, they would be instructing you on this matter already but it seems im expecting too much" the dragon ranted.

"Come Disciple Kieran, you'll be under my wing" the dragon proclaimed

"Yes, Master Jiaolong" Kieran replied with a smile.

"What do you think is essential in shapeshifting?" Jiaolong asked his disciple.

"Uhmm..." Kieran muttered "Control over the spiritual essence"

"You are partly correct but not entirely. Think again" the dragon instructed.

"I don't really know" Kieran answered.

"Answers don't randomly come when you ask for it, does it?" Jiaolong asked. The boy shook his head. "Then think" he simply said. Jiaolong started shifting from a deer to a wolf then a lion, a cat then a kitten. Then a white kitten to a black kitten to griphon then back to his original form.

"Inagination!" Kieran screamed his answer.

"Yes young one" Jiaolong said with a smile on his face, not that it's noticeable through his draconic features. "When one shapeshifts the very base of it, is understanding what you want to imitate. You don't simply imitate a bird by just thinking of a simple beak, wing body and claws, you have to think of what kind of bird, what kind of eyes do I use, what kind of wing, what is the color of my wing, how slender is my body, how long is my beak, how can birds fly, how do they eat, how do they drink. You should know every minor detail then shape your essence and let the spirits do the work" the dragon lectured.

"But why don't I have to do those when im shifting to my human form" Kieran asked.

"It's instinctual to enlightened dragons on how to transform to human form. It is the most easiest form we can take. Feels natural like our dragon form" Jiaolong answered.

"I see" the boy muttered as he silently took a mental note on the basics onhow to shapeshift.

"Then here comes the hard part, controlling. Once the details ars formed in your mind, you start copying the details. If imagination is the basic and most important. Control is the hardest part. How good is your control boy?" asked Jiaolong.

"Not too good" Kieran answered.

"How bad?" he asked

"I can't concentrate my essence in one point yet" Kieran embarrasingly admitted

"What?" Jiaolong shook his head

"Sorry" the boy muttered.

"You should be. Then let's start practicing your control" Jiaolong said as he tossed a rock to Kieran.

* * *

City of Creesè

"My Lord, the Herald has been summoned to stop your gift" a shadow hiding in the darkness.

"I know, I sensed that filthy creature in this realm. There is nothing we can do. My essence is still in a rampage it may take 4 years for me recuperate. If I had known that man had a Secret Art in disposal I won't be that reckless." the man sighed furiously "Now all are plans are in ruin and the boy still lives!" he said while punching the table to ruins.

"Send your scouts to the city. The warding schemes should be destroyed, let me know every detail of the aftermath. I want that boy killed the moment he steps out of that manor." he commanded

"As you wish, my Lord" a voice rang as the shadow joined the darkness once more.

* * *

City of Trênt

"Lord Vjorn" Holt whispered to himself as hundreds of meteorites came falling from the sky. He saw Cai's body descending in an incredible speed.

"Let the Lord Founder pass" he commanded the troops powering the barrier.

"You mean his body" said one of the soldiers who garnered a lot of glares from the troops.

"He wouldn't die just from that" Holt exclaimed. The barrier let Cai's body pass while a wyvern rider retrieved his body.

"I need atleast five layers of the barrier now" commanded Holt.

"Yes, my lord" the knights answered as four more ethereal wards were created.

"First ward at maximum" shouted one of the knights.

"Second at max" shouted another one.

"Third and fourth too" another one exclaimed.

"Fifth not enough spiritual essence, maximum is at seventy five percent" shouted the last squad.

"Nothing we could do but hope for the best" Holt muttered.

"That should hold right?" a knight asked.

"I hope so, I hope so" someone else answered.

Seconds later, the first meteorite collided with the barrier as the ground shook at the impact. A dozen or more meteorite later. The fifth layer broke into pieces.

"Fifth layer collapsed" a guard reported

"That's fifteen meteorites for a seventy five percent barrier, the barrier won't hold" Holt calculated "If were lucky the city would be hit by 10 meteorites if not I hope 20 would be the maximum or.." he was cut off by one of the guards "Fourth layer has collapsed too, Lord Commander"

"We hold on till the last barrier is broken" Holt said firmly "and if a stupid rock hits us after.... May Gods have mercy and grant us an honorable death" Holt whispered but all of the knights heard it. But instead of cowering in fear the knights puffed out their chest with pride. Dying to protect the Last Frontier would be an honor to every knight.

"Capreze" Holt called out to one of his knights "I heard your daughter will be born in Winter" Holt inquired.

"Yes, Lord Commander" the knight answered.

"Go take Lord Founder to the manor, i'll replace your position here" Holt said with a smile.

"With all due respect sir, I have to say no, I have reached the limits of my cultivation a long time ago and I won't be able to defend the city in the future in case if it still stands after this" Capreze said "but you my Lord can, please go take Lord Founder in the manor and make sure we don't die for nothing" the knight said with conviction in every word.

"What?, no" Holt said

"Please Lord Commander!" Capreze said

"Let our deaths have a cause if the city does not stand after our fall, then it is all for nothing" another knight reasoned.

"Please Lord Commander" the knights chanted.

"All right you fools, i'll be back once im sure Lord Founder is safe" Holt said as he mounted his wyvern with Cai's body in tow.

"Make sure you're all alive till then" Holt said as his wyvern took flight.

* * *

House of Vjorn's Manor - City of Trênt

"What the hell is that?" Ahria thought to herself. Earlier in the training grounds she was testing Skyes' spiritual essence form through a crystal of divination. What greeted her was an abyss serpentine dragon that moved as if it has a thought of it's own.

"Mother, is there something wrong?" asked Skye with concern.

"Nothing's wrong my child. It's just that I haven't encountered this spiritual essence form yet. Let's just ask your Father once he's home alright?" Ahria convinced her son with a smile. Ahria was one of the top scholars of the continent yet in the past few days a lot of things she encountered was not included in any tomes she studied.

"Shall we look on what your cultivation level is?" Ahria asked to distract Skye but was interrupted by a guard sounding the horn once. His husband is home.