Chapter 28: A New Form – Beginning of Volume 2


    The echoing booms of thunder rang out across a pitch ck sky, rumbling the air itself. Chaotic gusts of wing rattled off against a dark, forbidding castle, set atop a lonely teau.


    The teau protruded alone from an enormous ocean, the only visiblend for dozens of miles. It wasrge, spanning seven or eight miles in width and length, and several hundred meters up above the sea below.


    Huge waves crashed to and fro near this teau, frothing waves that tried to wear away the stone that had stood for tens of thousands of years.


    Atop the dark teau was a small, dark forest, and arge, expansive castle made out of a strange, ck material, glistening even through the dark, overcast sky above. Severalrge spires shot up from the castle, giving it a magnificent appearance.


    In a room at the center of this castle, the sounds of the outside world could barely be heard. Only a few faint rumblings indicated the presence of thunder at all, most of the noise smoothened out.


    This room was well lit, contrary to the dark exterior of the castle. Arge, stylized wooden table at three meters acrossy at the center of this room, its circr shape resembling the shape of the room itself, arge circle.


    Ornamental sets of armor decorated the sides of this chamber, interspersed betweenrge tapestries depicting scenes of battle. Overhead several chandleries were set in the ceiling, glowing and giving off light.


    Atop the round table at the center of the room was a massive chart, covered with tens of thousands of small circles, and tens of thousands of lines, drawn from circle to circle.


    A man wearing a smooth pair of ck leather pants, and a rxed grey vest with a white undershirt stood, with a ss of wine in his hand, staring at this map. His handsome face, with a smooth jawline and piercing green eyes, made him look the very picture of elegance. His long white hair was wrapped up, atop his head in a bun, with an ornamental needle keeping it in ce.


    The man smiled, drawing a sip from the ss of wine in his hand, revealing two sets of pointed teeth.


    “Ahh. A most excellent vintage. Is it from Touranat?” Marcus Aurelius, the Head of the Aurelius Family, said aloud, staring at theplex map.


    “Yes, milord, first created 936 years ago, by the Petruscent Kingdom’s finest winemaker.” From the shadows that covered the edges of the room, a woman emerged, wearing a tight, form fitting red dress. She had brilliant ck hair that rolled off her shoulders, carrying herself with an elegant and powerful air. She smiled as she spoke, her beautiful lips warming while her purple eyes gleamed.


    “But…” The woman said as she stepped forward, giving Marcus a light bow.


    “But?” Marcus turned slowly, the very picture of a powerful Vampire ruler. His eyes gave off a sense of endless mystery, a dark stranger in the night.


    “But you really should consider your health, milord. Drinking so much in the evening is bad for your livelihood, I’ve heard from the humans, and don’t you remember what happened on the Vixoriant when you got drunk and destroyed half of the Augustus Ancestral Castle-” The beautiful woman began, her eyes earnest.


    “Julia.” Marcus cut her off, still maintaining his powerful image.


    “Milord, I’m just saying we really should consider th-”


    “Julia.” His voice contained iron in it as he spoke again, turning to re at her,


    “Woman, I just- you know what- okay. Okay. We’re doing this again.” He gave her a second re,


    “Go, off back to the shadows with you.” He waved his free hand at her dismissively, motioning for her to step backwards.


    Julia rolled her eyes as she turned around, and marched back into the darkness at the edge of the room. She stood at the very border, still in in sight.


    Marcus sighed deeply, and then looked back down at the map before him. He slowly moved the wine ss in his hand, sinking in to the mood of the moment. A majestic air seemed to gather around him as he leaned forward, dignity wrapped around him like a cloak.


    He slowly raised it to his lips, drinking it slightly, his movements full of calm assurance.


    “Ahh. A most excellent vintage. Is it from Touranat?” He said, his eyes studying the map before him.


    “Milord, do we really have time for thi-”


    “WOMAN! I AM 7,000 YEARS OLD, I HAVE TIME FOR EVERYTHING!”


    Marcus red back at the darkness, and then gave up on the moment, turning around and setting his wine ss down with a small smile. He wiped the smile away from his face as he turned around and gave Julia another re for good measure.


    “Alright,e forth. What’s thetest?” He asked, his voice calm. All of a sudden, a powerful, almost overwhelming Aura seemed to flow around his body, tightly constrained. Authority rolled off his voice as he spoke, any faint traces of mirth dying offpletely.


    “I’ve just heard word from Brutus on his and Gaia’s investigation of the Anomaly on Hasnorth.” Julia began, rubbing her nose slightly askance at Marcus,


    Marcus frowned, folding his hands together,


    “They survived?”


    “Indeed, though Gaia had her soulbound Blood Beast destroyed.” Julia responded.


    Marcus nodded, his eyes shing, a hint of pleasure in them,


    “That’s what happened to Galeria on Paxtol, and Septimius on Yabound. These Anomalies really do possess the ability to destroy anything rted to blood.” Marcus picked up the ss of wine, swirling it lightly in his hand.


    “Almost as if they are our natural predators.” He contemted the thought for a moment,


    “But how did these two survive?” He had received previous reports unfolding over the past week, of the investigative teams he had dispatched meeting terrible ends. It had only been a preliminary investigation, and the teams were only to take action if they felt confident.


    Yet these vile creatures had destroyed them without mercy. He silently grit his teeth, a seed of anger long since nted.


    If he had known they were this powerful ahead of time… it was a moot point. Who could have expected this?


    “It was a very odd situation, sir… The Anomaly in question apparently let them go.” Julia responded with a shrug.


    “It… let them go?” He looked at his assistant and Spymaster, taken aback.


    “Yes sir. It also scared off a group of humans before, and didn’t take action unless provoked. This is all ording to the report Brutus has sent and sworn by.”


    “It showed mercy… Huh. How very odd.” Marcus swirled the ss of wine again.


    “Julia.” He spoke aloud, abruptly,


    “Yes, milord.” She responded, focusing on him.


    Marcus’ voice took on a grand air as he began to speak, a sense of majesty flowing from him,


    “Send out mymand. The Reavers are to appear to the castle the first thing tomorrow morning. I refuse to ept that we vampires, the dominant species, the protectors, have a natural predator. Fate may twist in their favor, but even Fate cannot stop overwhelming power. A river must bend and flow, at the will of thend around it.”


    A small breeze blew out as he finished speaking, the needle holding his long white hair up falling out, setting his hair to flutter like a godly phoenix shaking its feathers. His eyes pierced forward with the resolve of a unstoppable lion, powerful and mighty.


    Julia sighed,


    “Milord, this world is trapped in eternal evening and has no morning.”


    The Vampire Highlord seemed to dete slightly,


    “Ah, then have them arrive first thing in the evening.”


    “Milord… It’s always evening here… there can be no first thing in the evening…”


    “…”


    “…”


    ..


    Far away from the trapped in eternal evening, a hulking, four and a half meter dragon stood tall, shaking its luscious green scales. Its long, spiked green tail shined brightly in the morning light, giving off a deadly gleam. A set of wings stood attached to its body, long enough to glide with, but too short to achieve true flight. The dragon had a pair of muscr, scaled arms ending in sharp looking ws.


    This dragon was currently standing atop a small cliff, overlooking arge, widespread savanna. The odd thing about this savanna was that if one looked off to the left or right, instead of directly forward in the direction Dorian was looking, very gradually, the world seemed to curve.


    The sky above this savanna was even odder. At first nce, it appeared like a normal, everyday blue sky. If one studied it, however, one could see odd distortions permeating the air. Sometimes small ripples would appear, almost as if the sky above was constantly being torn apart and then almost immediately repaired.


    Dorian took a deep breath, tasting the morning air with a hint of a smile.


    It felt good to be alive.


    Sure, he had a lot of things weighing him down. But, right now, he was alive.


    And that was a thing to celebrate.


    He smiled wider.


    ‘Alright Ausra, give it to me.’ He said, continuing a discussion he’d been having with the genie in his Soul Spell Matrix.


    ‘It is possible tobine your Red Smander bloodline with your Myyr Dragon bloodline. However, the Myyr Dragon bloodline reaches its growth potential in the Grandmaster ss, whereas the Red Smander maximizes at very peak of Sky ss. Your own Red Smander form was only able to reach Master ss due to your Master ss Soul.’ Ausra continued,


    ‘Combining such a low level Bloodline with your Myyr Dragon form will almost certainly weaken it, and result in a waste of energy.’


    Dorian mulled over the words of the genie, and eventually nodded, hisrge draconic head bobbing up and down.


    What Ausra said made sense. There was nothing particrly rare or powerful about his Red Smander form. It had a decent amount of strength and regenerative abilities for its level, but it was nothingpared to his Myyr Dragon form.


    He couldn’t fault the Smander for that, however. Without the first Red Smander he found, he’d never have been able to create his current strongest form, and might not even be alive today.


    ‘Hmm, alright. Let me see my status once more.’


    –


    Dorian – Soul Status


    Soul Stage: Grandmaster ss (Middle)


    Health: Perfect


    Energy: 97%


    –


    ‘And my Growth Stage.’ He mentally added.


    Another screen popped up in his head.


    –


    -Myyr Dragon – Growth Stage: (4/4) Elder Myyr Dragon-


    Growth Progress – 6,232/0 –


    –


    ‘Alright.’ He contemted what to do for a few seconds before making a decision.


    ‘My Red Smander form isn’t good enough to work with, and my Myyr Dragon form is maxed out.’ He began, thinking it through,


    ‘It’s time to choose a new form to Evolve to.’


    ‘Ausra, pull up a list of all the bloodlines I have, minus any useless or worthless ones.’


    –


    – Bloodlines Stored –


    Red Smander


    Forested Ancient Snake


    Hollow Lizard (Degraded)


    Brown Treasure m


    Myyr Dragon


    Golem Wolf


    ck Mire Wolf


    White Rain Wolf


    Virulent Wolf


    True Vampire


    Titan


    Human


    –


    He was presented with a long list of bloodlines, far too many for him to simply focus on all at once.


    ‘Ausra, show only the Bloodlines that have the potential to naturally evolve to the Lord ss.’ He ordered, his heart hopeful.


    ‘You have no bloodlines with natural Lord ss potential stored.’


    Dorian sighed, and then shrugged, an odd motion in hisrge draconic figure. It had been worth a shot.


    ‘Fine, show only Grandmaster ss bloodlines.’


    The screen in his mind blurred for a moment and then reappeared.


    –


    – Bloodlines Stored –


    Myyr Dragon


    True Vampire


    Titan


    Virulent Wolf


    –


    Dorian looked over the choices.


    ‘Ausra, can you give me a general definition of each bloodline?’


    Instead of responding, several screens appeared in Dorian’s mind, answering his question.


    –


    – Myyr Dragon –


    A creature renowned for it’s lustrous green scales. It is a draconic creature, with a draconic form. As an adult, its height normally reaches around 4 meters tall, not including its flight-incapable wings. At its highest potential growth stage, it reaches the Grandmaster ss


    – True Vampire –


    A powerful humanoid being, renowned for its powerful sense of perception and innate talent in regards to Blood Magic. True Vampires possess powerful regenerative properties, as well as a strong physical form. At its highest potential growth stage, it reaches the Grandmaster ss.


    – Titan –


    A powerful humanoid being, renowned for its sheer physical strength, and its unique Ability known as Condense. Titans possess mid to strong regenerative properties, as well as an enormously powerful physical form, rivaling Pseudo-Lord ss beings when Condensed. At its highest potential growth stage, it reaches the Grandmaster ss.


    – Virulent Wolf –


    A resilient wolf-type creature, renowned for its incredible regenerative properties and its unique healing Ability known as Restore. These wolves have an incredibly powerful life force. Valued for their rare bloodline, these creatures are often harvested and used in magic spells. Virulent Wolves possess incredibly powerful regenerative properties, but weak physical strength, and are easily captured. At its highest potential growth stage, it reaches the Grandmaster ss.


    –


    Dorian looked over all the information he had been presented with, and then nodded his head, making a decision.


    ‘Alright, Ausra, I’ve made my choice.’