The Divine Elements

“Elder, what is wrong with him?”

Whispers of someone talking could be heard in the silent room.

“It looks to be a rare case of crippled meridians. I’m sorry, Xardoth, but your son will never be able to cultivate or awaken to an element for the rest of his life.”

A low and ancient voice stated in a severe tone.

“Is there truly no cure for him?”

Xardoth asked, as he tried to control the trembling of his voice.

“There might be a few pills in the human continent that could possibly cure him, but even then, we can be never sure. Besides, the human alchemists will never sell their wares to beasts like us…”

The Elder sighed, and left the room, leaving the father and the sleeping son alone in their company.

“I will never let anyone hurt you, Ran…”

Xardoth muttered, gripping the soft and furry paw of his only child.

……………….

“Are you telling the truth, Ran? Show mommy quickly!”

Denela hurried over to her son, swiftly transforming back to her humanoid form and grasping Rebran’s little shoulders.

The eight year old lion’s eyes lit up with happiness, and he slowly raised his paw and summoned a bright ball of light.

Looking at the ball of essence floating above her son’s palm, Denela started weeping with tears of joy on her face and hugged Rebran’s tiny form against her.

It was clear from the essence that her son had awakened to one of the rarest elements in the entire continent: the element of light.

However, before the elated mother could revel in the feeling of hope, her son abruptly cried out in agony and collapsed onto the ground. The ball of light dissipated in an instant while Rebran’s body twitched uncontrollably on the floor.

“XARDOTH!”

Denela shouted in panic, as she quickly dropped to the ground and checked her son’s pulse.

…………………..

“This does not make any sense! If his meridians are crippled, how did he awaken to an element!?”

The Griffin King furiously yelled.

“Hush, Xar, he is starting to wake up…”

A woman’s soft voice sounded out from next to Rebran’s ear.

“Mo…ther…”

Rebran wheezed, his eyelids fluttering to open.

“Ran! How are you, sweetie? Does it still hurt?”

Denela asked while lightly stroking her son’s cheek.

“What is… happ…ening to me?”

The little lion breathed out, gazing into his mother’s eyes and seeing the traces of worry there.

“Everything is fine, Ran. Don’t worry… mother will not let anything happen to you.”

Denela whispered with a smile, but even the little lion with his hazy vision could see the tears streaming down her face.

…………………..

*Shua* *Shua*

The sound of powerful waves crashing against each other reverberated within Rebran’s ears.

It sounded like the waves in the ocean.

“Open your eyes, Rebran, and see what is in front of you.”

A familiar voice sounded out from behind the lion.

Slowly opening his eyes to a crimson world filled with blood, Rebran gawked at the sheer pressure that the waves emitted.

“That is the source energy of our legacy, and it is also where you will draw your strength from.”

Calron’s voice breezed in the vicinity of the source pool.

Glancing around, the young lion could not detect any traces of him, so he guessed that Calron had some kind of mental connection with this place.

“It’s beginning, get ready…”

The voice stated, as it gradually grew quieter towards the end.

Huh? What is beginning?

Rebran pondered while continuing to gaze at the crashing crimson waves.

Suddenly, his heart started to rapidly pound against his chest. Rebran had no control over it, and was utterly befuddled as to what was happening within his body.

*swoosh*

A small bridge smoothly rose up from the blood ocean and attached itself to the source pool. In the next moment, tendrils of bright white essence coiled around the bridge, illuminating it with a celestial glow.

Rebran felt an inexplicable urge to go towards it. It was somehow connected to his soul, and he could feel it calling him.

“I will explain all of this later, Rebran, but we simply do not have enough time. Let’s go!”

Calron sent out a mental shout, forcefully pulling the lion out of the legacy’s source pool and back into the real world.

“haaah, haah, what in the heavens was that?”

Rebran gasped with astonishment as he awoke from his slumber, and saw a nervous Calron staring back into his face.

Seeing that the young beast was fine, Calron heaved a quick sigh and began to hurriedly shape-shift back into the golden bird.

“No time to explain. Get on my back, we need to find your father!”

Truthfully, Calron had been anxious throughout Rebran’s inheritance of the Blood Legacy, as he did not know how the legacy would affect a beast, and whether or not he could actually pass the legacy on.

Even right now, Calron did not understand how he did it. If it was simply coating the blood on someone’s face, then his blood had been on others but did not cause them to inherit the legacy. Maybe, there had to be a will of the Prime Inheritor to pass it on?

Pushing away all these thoughts, Calron urged Rebran to hurry so they could get back to the city.

“Hey, can you at least tell me what this thing is called?”

Rebran asked, as he scrambled on top of Calron’s scaly back.

“It’s known as… the Blood Legacy.”

Calron whispered with a powerful flap of his wings, and rushed towards the city.

He could only pray that nothing disastrous would come out of his decision today. With these pressing thoughts surging within his mind, he even forgot to check whether or not the young lion was finally cured of his disease.

…………………

“WEIR! YOU DESPICABLE BASTARD! BRING OUT MY SONNN!!!”

A gigantic griffin charged towards the city’s gates, as his soul-crushing bellow echoed in the entire area.

With mighty gales of wind surging around his body like a series of mini hurricanes, the Griffin King spread his enormous wings as he furiously searched for his enemy.

“I do not know what you are talking about, Xardoth, but this is foolish. You have as much to lose as me, if you continue to pursue this idiotic war.”

A calm and tranquil voice thundered above the air, as a colossal silver dragon descended down from the clouds above.

His scales shone with a brilliant metallic luster, and a mysterious silver mist escaped from both his mouth and nostrils. The sight of the striking dragon was enough to cause a seed of fear to take root within the hearts of Xardoth’s troops.

Dragons were an elusive species that never ventured into the outer ranges of the Desolate Mountains, and their tribe was said to be one of the most powerful among the beasts. Seeing the savage aura circling around the Dragon King, none of the troops on either side of the war doubted his statement.

However, at this moment, the Griffin King was not any less impressive with a brutal and murderous aura surrounding him, and an elite squad of armored griffins hovering behind.

Gradually, a few figures treaded out from the city’s gates and some of them flew up and joined the silver dragon, while the others calmly continued to walk towards the front of the army.

The Nobles had finally come out.

“DON’T PLAY DUMB WITH ME, WEIR! I WILL DRAG YOU BY YOUR SCALY ASS IN FRONT OF YOUR CITIZENS AND CHOP EACH OF YOUR LIMBS UNTIL YOU TELL ME THE TRUTH!”

Xardoth showed no signs of calming down, and instead his fury continued to increase like a hot furnace.

“You truly do not know when to stop, Xardoth…”

Weir whispered with a deathly iciness to his voice, as wisps of frosty air erupted out from the dragon’s maw.

It appeared as if the Dragon King had finally lost his patience.

“CHARGE!”

With a domineering command, Weir ordered the Nobles to draw the first blood of the war.

Multiple bestial roars resounded in the land, as some of the most powerful beasts within the kingdom prepared to kill and fight.

Within seconds, the entire land outside the city had turned into a bloody battlefield as beasts on both sides took part in the carnage.

The two Kings stared into each other’s eyes as they remained motionless in the sky.

This was a battle taking place in the soul realm.