Chapter Eight

City of Trênt - House Vjorn's Treasury

Skye struggled sustaining his current form to comprehend the basics of Eternal Ice to start his cultivation path. When he first tried sharing his body with the dragon a year ago he nearly died, the only thing that kept him going was his determination and massive regeneration he shared with Dejvra. This time though he has his father by his side. He continued to push away the pain he was feeling, concentrating in the first chapter of the tome. "Condense, intergrate, time..." he continued to mutter to himself as he tried to translate the draconic language in front of him. "Arghh" Skye vomitted his own blood as his insides were being destroyed and reformed at the same time. Cai couldn't bear to watch anymore as he casted healing magics on his son. "Herald's First Morale - Love" he chanted as Herald rooted Skye in place whilst rejuvenating his body. Skye was alarmed at first but relaxed once he felt his pain subside a bit by being embraced by the wooden roots. He let his spiritual ring flare to existence hoping the troll's regeneration abilities might help even just a bit. An hour past by as his insides are being destroyed and reformed at the same time. He cried, smiled and winced in pain but continued at the task at hand. "I'm almost there, almost there, almost..." he chanted to himself to not lose his mind. Aside from the overload of information being dumped by the God artifact,the pain just keeps multiplying by a hundredfold every passing minute. He might have a resolve of steel but the pain was no longer something he can easily push at the back of his mind. The dragon might have sense that Skye is in the verge of collapsing that he coiled around Skye's body even tighter. "Good child, we're almost there. Just a bit longer" he tried to comfort the boy. He received a toothy grin in response. He might have considered the grin as a sign that Skye could still keep up but blood was leaking out of his mouth. Not a good sign at all. As if on queue Skye's mind went blank for a second. "No, no, no" Cai panicked sensing the sudden changes in Skye's mind. "So close yet so far" the dragon said almost silently as he stared at the last page of the first chapter of the tome. Sudden streaks of light invaded the room as a Golden Tome hovered above the three of them. An ethereal figure rushed to Skye's side "My grandson" she whispered as she touched Skye's forehead. As sudden as she appeared, a spatial rift began to form. "You cannot intervene in my realm" Herald said in anger as a spatial rift sucked the ethereal figure to nothingness but before it did she spoke "Open your eyes my child, for the knowledge you thirst is the knowledge you will get". The spatial rift closed and Skye's eyes opened and made a gasping sound. Like a boy waking up from a bad dream. Without any further instructions he read the last part of the chapter and immediately assumed a meditative pose. As soon he read the last part Dejvra delved back to his own realm to not burden the child any longer. Cai looked at the spatial rift that just have closed then he spoke "Thank you, Mother". Then looked at the boy who is currently meditating. He formed water using his spiritual essence and started cleaning all the blood that covered the boy. "You did well son" he said as he kissed the boy's forehead.

Skye delved into the deeps of his soul while trying to apply the knowledge he gained from the Artifact. "I lost my mind there.. I didn't know sustaining that form for long will burden my mind. I always thought my mind was the strongest part of me too"

"It is straining for a normal person but it was not noticeable on your part since your a demigod of Wisdom. The stress on your mind piled up until your mind suddenly broke" Dejvra said as he coiled around the boy's neck.

"Good thing I followed that Lady else I would be lost forever"

"That Lady is your grandmother, she brought you back to us" the dragon said.

"That was my grandmother? No wonder she looked like mother. So thats how a Goddess looks like huh?"

"Guess it is" the dragon answered.

"How long was I out for?"

"A second or two. Then came your grandmother to the rescue. Herald was so mad, it was funny. Banished her from this realm. Im guessing she can't help us anytime soon"

"Hmm.. " Skye mused seemingly lost deep in his thoughts.

"Don't think too much child, rest for a bit then focus on creating the first path of your cultivation. You had a long day"

"Okay" Skye said as he tried to gather spiritual essence and relaxed in his soul realm.

* * *

Frozen Tundra of Nies

Meanwhile at the Tundra a dozen of Frost Trolls were enraged by an unexpected visitor in their icy cave. The intruder just smiled while waiting for the trolls to take action. The first troll took the opportunity and tried to smash the intruder to pieces but with a quick fluid dodge he evaded the swing. Another troll joined in the fight and recklessly swiped its club horizontally in hopes of hitting the intruder but the club didn't make contact to anything. The frustrated troll let out a deafening roar but the intruder just stoically stood in front of it. More enraged by now an ice spike materialized in the icy floor to impale the intruder but didn't connect to anything but this time as the boy dodged the spike, the other trolls move in to strike. The trolls swing their wooden clubs at the icy floor as tremors could be felt in the cave, ice splintered to the surrounding as a fog of some sort covered the area they just pounded to pieces. As the fog cleared cracks in the floor were visible but the intruder stood perfectly fine with a massive greatsword that was enveloped by a golden light in his hand shielding the damage that he should have taken. The cloak that the intruder was wearing now revealed the flaming red hair of the boy and his contrasting blue eyes. Kieran's smile widened as he felt his arms swell from blocking the trolls joint attack. Kieran dropped the golden greatsword as it shrink in size. The sword now look like a one-edged thin blade with a slight curve. Katana as the people of Essos called it. The katana was then filled by golden light as Kieran put it back to its sheathe. The dumbfounded trolls have recovered by now and was about to resume their flurry of attacks but as quick as light Kieran drawed his katana and then sheated it once more. As his katana made a clinking sound to indicate it was fully sheated, two troll heads suddenly dropped from their bodies. Rolling and leaking blood on its trail. Their beheaded bodies dropped to their knees as blood and gore spurted almost everywhere. The suddeness of the death of their comrades and mates lead the trolls to unceremoniously watch the scene before them in long silence. Then the moment of realization that the intruder could kill them anytime he wanted, hit them so hard they went to a state of frenzy. A troll summoned dozens of ice spike as another one let out an icy breath. The other trolls decided to not care about damaging each other as their regeneration will heal them almost instantly. Their attack proved to be effective as Kieran had to give his all to dodge the incoming projectiles and swings from the trolls, what he didn't expect was the icy breath is actually hindering his speed. He was distracted by dodging the flurry of spikes he didn't notice a troll moved in from his behind and delivered a spiritual essence enhanced blow at his body. He felt massive pain as the frozen club made contact to his body. As a result his body went flying before crashing to one of the cave walls. A bit of the cave gave out and buried Kieran's body under it.

"Fucking hell! That hurts so bad" he cried as he winced in pain. A mini elder-dragon came to existence and lectured him "That's what you get for underestimating your opponent. If this was a real life and death battle you could've died!"

"I know, im sorry. Im just trying to see my limits without using the holy light you know"

"Fine, go ahead and finish what you started this time, go all out"

"Yessir" Kieran chirped as his flaming red hair became golden with streaks of silver while his blue draconic eyes turned to cosmic radiance. Holy flames of gold and silver enveloped his body as the ice that buried him started to melt. Steam rose up as he ascended from the debris.

"Round two motherfuckers!" Kieran shouted as he unsheated the katana. The katana grew in length spanning at almost three meters, as Kieran swiped it horizontally. The trolls that were not quick enough to duck lost their heads in the process. Before they could recover Kieran already move across the room as the katana shifted back to its original size. Halfway through the process the katana shifted once more turning to a regular double-edge sword. Kieran slashed horizontally splitting the trolls body in half. He then blinked to the nearest troll and performed the same action. As he started to blink to the next troll, it was ready for him. The troll was already in smashing motion as it predicted where Kieran will appear next. The trolls intuition was right as Kieran appeared where he aimed his attack. Kieran was quick on his feet though and attempted to dodge but as he realized he can't avoid the swing, he took his ethereal light form as the icy club just went past through his ethereal body. He then materialized himself once more and swiped his sword to the troll's neck. The troll anticipated where Kieran will attack and created a thick layer of ice in it's neck. Kieran realized what the troll was doing and he smiled at the action. The troll braced for incoming impact but nothing came. Kieran's sword took an ethereal form and went past through the the troll's neck, halfway through the action he withdraw the sword and started a slashing motion. Before the troll could react he materialized the sword once more splitting the troll's body in half.

"Eewww" he said as blood and gore spurted on him. "Should have shifted back to katana before cutting this guy in half, it's more clean that way" he thought to himself. As he was lost in thoughts he sensed the same troll sneaking up on him. "You think you could use the same trick twice on me" Kieran growled as his sword shifted to a greatsword swelling in size, Kieran struggled to turn around but managed to meet the troll's club in the nick of time. As the weapons collided with each other shockwave started spreading to the area. The troll lost its advantage and Kieran attacked once more the troll decided to block but as it made contact with the greatsword, the club splintered in half as the troll lost it's head afterward. "Any other challengers?" Kieran mocked at the remaining trolls. His lips curved upwards as the trolls charge to him. "That's the spirit!" he said happily as he took a defensive stance. His greatsword shrunk in size as it shifted back to a katana. The golden katana lit up the whole cave as Kieran took one swipe and turned his back around, making his way to the exit. "That was fun while it lasted" he said as the remaining trolls lost their lives.

"How about the rings?" the holy dragon yawned in his mind.

"Nope, not what I have in mind" Kieran replied as he shifted back to his dragon form. "What's the plan?"

"Winter Wolves, your close combat is a bit better now but you need to be a better spiritual mage. You could've burned those trolls alive with our cultivation path" the holy dragon replied.

"School? A human one at that?"

"Do not underestimate humans they almost annihilated the demigods for a reason"

"Yeah almost forgot that one. Winter Wolves it is then" Kieran replied as he flew towards the City of Trênt.

* * *

City of Trênt - House Vjorn's Manor

Three days after comprehending the God Artifact.Skye woke up in his own room Cai must have moved him while he was deep in his soul realm. He manifested an ice arrow and was happy to see the results of his hard work considering he almost died doing it. Instead of the crystal like appearance it has now a dark hue in it. It's not completely abyss in color but hey, he just started. He then tried to break the arrow by brute strength but it didn't do any damage on the arrow at all. He tried pouring spiritual essence and a minute later cracks began to appear in the arrows surface. "Wow!" he thought to himself "That's super sturdy". "I could even use this a weapon. He willed an ice to become a spear but had trouble doing so. "Weird" he said.

"Your control sucks" a dragon appeared at his bedside said. "Huh?" Skye was confused on the statement. "The reason why you can't form a spear is because you can't control your essence as good as you think"

"But I can form a bow and arrow even a quiver with just a thought" Skye offered

"That's because you've been doing that for a year. Practice makes perfect. Doesn't mean your control is good though" the dragon answered.

"I see" Skye assumed a meditative pose and began controlling his essence. It was a little hard at first since he didn't know how to will it however he discovered that the essence doesn't need commanding. He observed the essence around him and sensed that there was a certain flow to it. Like a format they had to follow. "That's it!" he realized "You're never in command. You just have to guide the essence's flow to whatever you want it to be". Skye began guiding the essence to form an ice lance, like a mathematical problem Skye began calculating the movement of the essences. He took note on how the essences move. He tried to comprehend the difference between each essence and their functions, like his mother he was so engrossed on his research that another day has passed without him noticing it. "Yes! Got it.." he chirped as he reached the state of enlightenment in the very existence of the spiritual essence. He willed one of the "leader" essence to call upon other essences to form an ice lance. He called it a leader essence because it seems like the other essences follows it's lead. Whenever he tries to call upon his essences it would be the first to respond and first to assume it's position. The leader essence called upon a dozen of water and air essence combining them together and forming a lance. Of course, all of this process is happening in a split second and the only reason he could see this process was because of the enlightenment he received.

"Weird" the dragon stated "I can't unsee that".

"Hey, be more accepting you know. Even though they don't have mind of their own. They were programmed to sacrifice themseves for others. I actually respect that" Skye lectured.

"You're such a weird kid too" the dragon answered. Skye just rolled his eyes at the dragon's comment.

"Anyway my control improved by leaps and bounds. It also lessened the essence required by my magics, that includes time and space magics too. Thanks to the ever sacrificing essences they're kinda romantic don't you think?" Skye mused. "Sometimes I forget that he is still a kid"Dejvra thought to himself as he delved back to his own realm. Skye then kept the God Artifact at his mini dimensional realm together with his bow. "Is it just me or my realm got bigger?" he thought aloud as he observed his space magic improved too. The previous 2" by 2" square was now 7" by 7". "Maybe I could store food here too for my travels? Or would that be strange for other cultivators?" he asked.

"Spatial rings are uncommon but not that rare I think your father will give you one if you asked him. You should reserve that space for combat related things" the dragon answered directly in his mind.

"Will do"he replied as he began to head to the baths.

After taking a bath and eating to his fill, he visited his father who is currently at the Vjorns of Dragon Pagoda. It serves as his office and headquarters for any business with the organization. Skye was taking his time to reach the pagoda as he saw a familiar face. He decided to approach sneakily "Selena!" he called out at the girl who is too engrossed at her book. The elf girl almost killed him as a thunderbolt went past through him. "Gods! You scared me! I could've killed you, you know" Selena unamused at the boy's prank.

"Sorry, couldn't help it. You look so serious while reading that book" he said apologetically.

"Yeah because it's serious! It's my job you know." she said faking her anger.

"What's the book title?" he asked.

"Paranormal Historical Events" she answered simply.

"Read that one before nothing particularly interesting aside from the dragons being mentioned sometimes during the Age of Old Gods I think"

"When did you read this? Library has been inaccessible for a month now"

"Four years ago" he answered simply.

"And you still remember it?"

"Yeah. I remeber all of the books and tomes i've ever read unless they don't interest me. I could just summarize that for you if you want?" he offered.

"How old are you again?"

"Twelve? You?"

"Twelve too" she said meekly. Selena was one of the prodigies of the Winter Court. At an early age she was capable of comprehending even the most complicated languages. At the age of eight she was labeled as one of the greatest scholar in all of the Courts. She was proud of her knowledge and she knew no one could outclass her in her age bracket yet here is a boy claiming to remember the details of every book and tome he ever read. Impossible! No one could ever do that except Lady Ahria, of course it is understanble if its Lady Ahria. Lady Ahria is one of the greatest scholars who ever walked on Herald and her ultimate idol. But this boy? He maybe Lady Ahria's kid but that doesn't even give him a bit of credibility at all. Pressumptuos! She was almost at the end of the book and she remembers every detail of what she read so she decided to test the truthfulness in the boy's word.

"Then can you summarize the book for me please?" she said

"Of course but that would take too much time. How about you tell me what you're looking for and i'll tell you if there is something in that book that will help you" Skye offered.

"Okay, how about dragons. I'm looking for dragons"

"There are only two records of the dragons appearance in that book both at the Age of Old Gods. One of abyss dragon and a holy dragon both appeared at a somewhat weird location. The abyss dragon appeared at Hylos while the holy one appeared at the City of Bexter both dragon vanished without a trace" Skye summarized for Selena.

"No way" Selena thought to herself as she heard the summarization from Skye. "What if he's fooling me? What if he just read the book last month and pretended to be four years ago" she thought but before she can continue Skye interrupted her train of thoughts.

"So? Did you take an interest in those dragons? I could cross reference that to all the books I read from the Library?"

"You can do that?" the girl said in shock.

"Of course, I told you I remember all the books i've read. I read all the books at the Library"Skye said as the girls mouth went agape.

"So aside from that book, there are eight more books that mentions both the abyss serpentine dragon and a holy elder dragon. Six of those mentioned the appearance of both dragons while the two books mentioned the dragons seperately. Would you like me to recite the information for you?" Skye asked. The girl just nodded her head as she can't still believe what she's witnessing.

Book: Diary of Alexus the Great Explorer

Age of the New Gods

I don't remeber the exact day. He saw a holy dragon took off to the sky and suddenly vanished.

18th day of Winter. He saw a golden serpentine dragon that suddenly transformed to an abyss one. The dragon vanished too.

Age of the Old Stone

Book: Astronomist Ronan: The Unknown

"Wait thats the same description, but in a different age" Skye was shocked at the revelation. "That's a third time now"

"Age of the New Stone, Age of Metal, Age of the Dragons and Age of the Lost Dragons"

"All of the ages there was an abyss serpentine dragon and a holy elder dragon taking off to the skies. That can't be a mere coincidence right?"he asked noone but received a reply from Selena.

"Are you sure about that?"

"Of course nine different books, nine different authors, seven different Ages but points the same thing over and over again. Why had I missed this all along?" he asked himself.

"Like history repeating itself over and over again" Selena said in a whispery tone.

"Im sorry but if you could excuse me" Skye said as he opened a spatial rift to his room. It drained his essence even with the reduced cost but this was utmost important. Selena just stood in place dumbfounded by the magic the boy displayed. Even an expert space mage couldn't just open a spatial rift without a proper chant but the boy did so without batting an eyebrow. "Skye Vjorn" she said as he recalled the boys appearance. "Interesting" she said with a hint of jealousy.

As the spatial rift closed before him. Skye pulled out the documents he asked from Lord Grey. He searched the file on the day he lost conciousness.

Report: As Lord Skye Vjorn awakened in the middle of the City of Trênt. Light filled the entire city as a golden serpentine dragon took the sky and transformed to an abyss one. The dragon suddenly vanished.

Skye just looked at the document for minutes not knowing how to react on the things he had just learned.

"Do you know anything about this?" he asked Dejvra.

"Yes, but im binded to not reveal anything until the right time" the dragon said.

"Who binded you?"

"I cannot answer you directly as it will cause my death the moment I answer. But no one can bind me except one"

"I see" Skye said "Nothing I could do for now I suppose. But i'll need to find more about this later and I need to find the other one"

"Maybe we should go visit an old friend of your family" suggested the dragon.

"Who?" he asked.

"Who else but the Horned Dragon himself"

* * *

The Grand Wilderness

Jiaolong smiled as the vision in his lake blurred as the waters turned back to its original crystal clear color. "He has my blood and a God's. Seems like a good combination, the boy is extraordinary"

"Kieran on the other hand is as special. I wish I have more time to see them grow but fate won't allow it. In time I need to lay down my life for theirs and when that time comes. I will make sure they won't suffer the same fate as their ancestors before them" Jiaolong said aloud "Watch me as long as you want Gods! I'll ignite the end of you and your never-ending curse!" Jiaolong laughed heartily as slithered his way back to his cave.

* * *

City of Trênt

Two weeks later

Skye and Selena watched as the fields burn to the ground. "Is this really happening?" Selena asked as she rubbed her eyes. "I thought that dragons ceased to exist for centuries now"

"They're supposed to be, yet here is one" Skye materialized an ice arrow as he withdrawed his bow from his dimensional realm.

"You're planning to fight that thing? Are you out of your mind!"

"Maybe I am but I feel good about this one" Skye answered. Skye nocked his arrow and concentrated on getting the dragon's attention. I just havee the right tool to do so.

Hell was the only thing that could describe the fields that are currently on fire. Nothing could extinguish the flames even the mystical waters. A flurry of ice arrows came and in an instant, Hell became Winter Wonderland. The dragon smiled to himself. An epic duel is about to begin.