Deep within the magical forest of the Northern Continent, the ground beneath the large oak began to stir. The blood thorns above the grave had wilted as if their life force had been drawn from them. The pillar with the magical array inscribed in blood began to glow a golden color, and the stone crumbled, dispersing into the earth. A hand reached out from the grave, covered in dirt and blood. Cracks could be seen running deep along the slender arm, and an unearthly darkness forced itself out from the very bones of the body.

The woman known as Rin was no more, but her memories and body still remained. She dug herself out of the grave and looked around hungrily. A nearby stone lion had just caught a rabbit and was distracted while eating it. The woman blasted a long spear of black into the neck of the stone lion, and dragged the body over to her. She drank the blood of the stone lion, and her body looked remarkably better. The cracks in her arms had healed considerably, and her complexion looked more human than undead.

Rin had not lied to Räel about transcending the fate of the visions. Though the visions had come to pass as the seers had seen, Rin was never supposed to come back to life. The magical array on the stone pillar, drawn from the blood of her unborn child was unknown to the seers but was essentially a resurrection spell. Although she was resurrected, her soul had already been taken and another wandering soul had instead entered her body. This fate was completely outside of Rin's control as she had no idea how the spell worked. She was only gifted the spell from a mysterious masked man one night and was told of its power. She never believed him, until she saw the visions of the seers.

The body of Rin drank the rest of the blood from the stone lion, then consumed the flesh and bones of it and began to chant a spell. The body slipped into the darkness of the night and shifted her into the looming shadow of the royal palace. The spell itself took alot of energy out of the half dead body, but this did not bother the user. The body quickly walked down a side road and consumed a little orphan girl. She snapped the girl's neck and drank her blood as if it was from a chalice. When she was done, she ate the flesh and bones and made her way toward the congregation of people at the training ground. The sounds of fresh swishing blood within all of them compelled her to go in that direction and seek out her next meal.

The body of Rin had almost completely returned to its original beauty. Her complexion, though dirty, was almost completely healed and also showed signs of life. The soul however was unsated, more blood was needed in order to return to its former glory. She marched into the training ground and looked at the people currently fighting inside the ring.

They had the strongest blood compared to the nobodies surrounding the training ground. Especially the one with the bone rapier, his blood looked especially delicious. It flowed with unending vitality, as if no matter how much was drunk it would never end. The soul searched Rin's memories and found a connection to this man. It was her previous lover and the blood connection to the child of the resurrection spell.

The soul knew it could use this connection to draw blood from the man and attempted to walk into the arena. As the body walked forward, guards attempted to halt its advance. It used darkness magic to engulf their body and drained their life force, further fueling its power.

Inside the arena.

Räel burst forth from the point he seemingly had been fixed to. He sped toward the couple holding hands and sent a gust of wind generated by a swing of his blade. The couple was easily blow off the arena floor and incapacitated before even being able to show their skills.

The elder son of the clan of the Blue Dragon finished transforming into a fifty foot tall dragon before blasting the training ground with a long line of electricity. Räel deftly avoided the lightning but is caught off guard by the young boy of the Blood Gaze clan.

The young boy placed his hands directly on Räel's body, shocking his mind and forcing him to relive the nightmares of his past. Räel was caught in a nightmarish attack, where his memories of not being able to save his wife Calista bombarded him with feelings of guilt. His deepest darkest fears of not being strong enough or smart enough or quick enough hit upon the very core of his soul, thrashing at him until he was almost completely hollowed out.

He was able to snap back to his senses and shrug off the young boy with a wave of magical force, but the effect had taken its toll. The banshee wailed and a magical force split the ground as if an earthquake had hit it. Räel rushed toward the banshee and using just physical strength elbowed her in the diaphragm, forcing the air out of her lungs and the banshee's wail to stop. She crumpled to the floor and began to foam at the mouth. Such a brutally oppressive attack would most likely mean she would take a few months to recover.

The only three left to fight were the Burning Viper clan, the Blue Dragon Clan, and the Green Tree clan. The young master of the Green Tree clan was still casting his spell, as if he was nurturing a small sapling into a great willow. The clan master of the Burning Viper clan lunged toward the The King, poison dripping, and from the other side the Blue Dragon swiped its huge claw.

Räel dropped to one knee and began to form hand signs. He looked haggard, but continued to undo seals from deep within his body, as if unlocking something. The magical force inside his body burst out of every pore in his body, condensing into a red sphere. The sphere expanded to twenty feet, then thirty and finally forty. As the attacks came crashing onto the sphere, it warped but did not break. From the sphere, a red arm grew and grabbed onto the head of the Dragon. Another red arm grew from the other side and grabbed onto the viper. Instantaneously it threw both huge creatures to the ground, slamming their heads into the earth with enough force to kick up a dust storm. From the dust, only two figures could be seen still standing.

The Green Tree young master had finally finished his incantation, and his body began to transform. First, his arms turned into branches, and his torso formed the trunk of a tree. He began to change and grow, forming a great willow tree. Soon his form was big enough to cover the sun, and the earth shook in his presence. The young masters body could be seen vaguely at the base of the tree, though it had been stretched and warped. He began to chant and a green barrier formed around the main body. He performed hand signs and sprouts grew from the earth before forming brown tendrils of wood to assault the King. The King had exhausted almost all of his magical force unleashing the blood sphere, and did not have much to defend with. Before he could muster up the strength to attack, he saw from the corner of his eyes someone enter the stage.

The young master of the green tree clan stopped his final attack before looking over at the beautiful young woman approaching the King. He bellowed forth from the depths of the roots. "This is not a place for your to trespass, return to the crowd if you fear death."

Still the woman approached the King. She gave a slight smile, as if she was meant to be there. The King finally recognized who she was, and he began to cry while holding his arms out to embrace her. She accepted the embrace and the crowd became deathly quiet. Suddenly the roots again began to move and went to attack the couple.

"If you seek death so much, you can join each other in the afterlife!" The young master took this chance to end the match.

Though the crowd was ashamed of how the young master fought, they said nothing. To distract oneself in battle was a death sentence itself, and even more so, no one in the crowd had the power to stop him. The great seven clans did not make a move, and watched as the roots drew closer to its intended victims.

Suddenly, black flames began to form around the King and the beautiful woman. The King looked on shocked, but dared not release his grip. He had used up almost all of his strength, and the only thing he wished in the end was to hold his beloved one more time. She, however, had different plans altogether. The black flames danced around them in a circle and as soon as the roots reached the flame they burned to ash instantly, unable to pass even a little bit.

The young master looked on in horror as the roots burned with a beautiful incandescence. Blood spilled from the depths of the burning roots, and the young master coughed up a mouthful of blood. The roots were a part of his body, just as the tree was. Normally nothing could hurt the tree, and thus nothing could hurt him. However the black flames that the woman emitted directly bypassed the protective shield and struck at his roots.

Then, as if to add fuel to the fire, she began to chant a spell. A huge flame burst forth, that looked a lot like a beginner spell of fireball. However the fireball was easily four times the size of the beginner spell, and had a small aura of black around it. It flew forth from her palm, and hit the shield of the great tree. With little resistance it pushed forward and set the tree ablaze, much to the chagrin of the young master. His body burning, he relinquished the spell and quickly reverted back to his original body. Though he had done this in an effort to dispel the black flame, it still clung to him. It burned a hole into his chest, right to the bone. He called out to the young woman to stop the spell, but it was too late. The fire made its way through his veins, igniting his blood and sending him to his death. After ten seconds of horrific sounding pleas for relief, the young master finally died. His body burned to ash and then seemingly drifted along with the wind.

The King looked at the beautiful woman as if it was all in his mind. Due to the psychic attack from the Blood Gaze clan and the exhausting of his magical force, he though he had passed out and this was all but a dream. She gently placed her thumb in between the brows of the King and emitted a penetrating force of pure black into his mind.

She began to warp his memories to depict them being together this entire time. She erased the memory of her death, and replaced it with the spell actually working. She however did keep the idea that humans needed to be killed, but altered it so that they must be brought to the palace for the royal adviser's experimentation. She then began to alter his memories further, making herself the Royal Adviser and the seers her attendants. She continued, altering the fight to depict them fighting together, and winning the match hand in hand. After she was done, she infused some magical force into him and whispered into his ear.

"My love, it is time to announce our victory. Then we will retire to the palace so I can continue my experiments." She kissed him softly on the cheek.

The King used the magical force provided by the soul and announced their victory. The crowd cheered and the seven clans stood there in shock, as they could not protest. They sent their strongest fighters and he took out six of them. The Green Tree clan looked angrily upon the stage where their young masters body was, but said nothing. The elders lead the clans away cursing the King.

Days passed and new decrees were sent from the King daily. Humans were no longer killed on sight, they were to be brought to the capital for experimentation.

Also, the Royal adviser was now the woman from the challenges, and was to be treated the same as the King.

Mysteriously, some men and women who came to greet the Royal adviser and offer their services did not return to their families. They were only left with a message from their lovers that the Royal adviser had sent them on a mission and they would not return for a while.

Finally, the King announced that an offensive would be launched against the humans that have taken residence in the Mountains of the Northern Continent. All who participate will be rewarded with whatever they wish for as long as they are victorious.

This is officially the last chapter about the king of the magical beings for at least a little while. I know alot of you guys don't like him, but I felt it necessary to show exactly why he was doing what he did. Also, to those who don't already understand, the King is not making decrees, but is controlled by the Soul in Rin's body. To that end, he was and most likely always will be a puppet and a blood bag for the love of his life. Also the soul taking over Rin's body has access to all of Rin's magical ability (Primary Fire and Secondary Earth) and now has the power of Darkness magic because of the resurrection (and the soul living in afterlife so long he naturally absorbed darkness magic). Hopefully the depiction of the strong (but mentally weak) King did not deter everyone from the story.