Bernard and Caspian strode down a long hallway within BlackHole Coliseum. Bernard frowned at Caspian, noting the nervous glances that kept being sent his way. It was hard to ignore the fear obviously plastered across his features, the young man sweated profusely, clenching and unclenching his fist repeatedly as they walked toward the penthouse.
“What’s wrong with you all of a sudden? You look like someone is walking you toward the gallows,” Bernard said, snickering.
“I’d honestly feel safer in a situation where I’d be hung by my neck with ropes than what we are currently doing,” responded Caspian, quaver in his voice.
“You’ve obviously never been to an execution, they dangle you by your skull, by plunging hooks into your eye sockets and let you hang there until either, you die, or your skull gives under the weight and your face is ripped off. What kind of soft hearted gallows are you talking about?”
“What backwater realm are you from? They stopped killing Cultivators that way almost 1000 season cycles ago or more in higher realm layers. Even hangings are frowned upon. The punishment of execution is completed through mana evaporation these days…” the questioning look Caspian gave Bernard made him feel old, but he brushed the thought aside, knowing that his age was showing not because he’d lived a long life, but how long he’d slept.
“Yeah yeah yeah, whatever. Put on a strong face. Showing weakness to GG will make this harder on us both, trust me.”
The pair strode up to a door as large as the door that led into the coliseum, and Bernard felt the spacial magic thrumming all around them. He’d suspected that much of the Coliseum’s majesty was achieved through the use of pocket dimensions, stretching the limits of what was possible, but knew it for certain the moment the incredible doors opened up in front of them, and mana gushed free of a room the size of an entire floor of the coliseum.
“Oh my if it isn’t my favorite Grandson,” said Carter Omni. Bernard chuckled at the sign of Caspian’s audible gulp beside him before he glared quickly at the younger man and back toward his Grandfather.
“I’m surprised you still feel that way, GG. I’ve been resting on my laurels for quite some time now,” Bernard said laughing but very serious. He felt this more than ever before after what he’d experienced in the Tournament of Scions, the very same tournament that he’d placed second in when he was Caspian’s age.
“Ah, don’t be so hard on yourself.” Carter Omni waved the pair inside the room and both the young Cultivators looked around.
The penthouse was designed like a lavish garden. The ceiling above non existent, leaving the night sky completely visible, yet the room still felt as if sunlight bathed the area in illumination and warmth.
Carter sat on a lush bed of grass, almost enclosed on all sides by fruit trees. A direct path led to where he sat, fenced off on both sides by flowing channels of water that also wrapped around the trees.
Bernard strode straight toward the man, and Caspian froze at a distance, not knowing the best way to show the monolithic Cultivator the appropriate amount of respect. He looked back at Caspian in confusion, before he rolled his eyes annoyed by the fear still stretched across Caspian’s face.
“Come on, you softie, remember what I said.” Caspian looked between Carter, whose brow rose in question, and Bernard who glared at him. Caspian nodded slowly and closed the distance. Bernard could almost feel the younger man’s heart beating at a distance.
“Caspian Coin greets you your magnificence, I mean my lord, sire, venerable one, I mean—“ Bernard slapped Caspian up side the head.
“Just sit down.”
“Be kind, can’t you see the young man is about to wet himself,” said Carter.
“I don’t care what he has going on. He’s not going to make me look bad,” Bernard said, still glaring at Caspian as he sat down in front of Carter. The young man slowly following his lead.
“Don’t be so hard on him, my boy. They don’t make them like they used to,” Carter said with a chuckle. Bernard nodded, finally looking away from Caspian and toward Carter.
“I’ve come to claim my favor, Grandfather. I hope that that is okay…?” The elderly man waved a hand, beckoning Bernard to continue.
“I, and this one over here, have come in contact with an entire rake skeleton, and without a Cultivation method to ingest the materials, I’m afraid the valuable materials will be wasted,” explained Bernard. Carter nodded, thinking to himself for but a moment, before he started asking questions.
“Dragon grade?”
“Lowborn.”
“”Element type, no never mind that, you brought me a bone of course, where is it?” Bernard handed over the deep orange bone and Carter smiled.
“You may have lucked out boy, it may be lowborn but it's sunlight- based element, maybe even illusionary, I’m assuming you want an affinity, but what does he want,” Carter asked pointing a finger toward Caspian.
“Absolutely anything I can gain would be nice…. Sir!” Carter nodded and Bernard rolled his eyes.
“Well that shouldn’t be too difficult, just depends on how much pain you two are willing to live through,” Caspian and Bernard shared a glance. Caspian was glad that he wasn’t the only one showing obvious fear. Yet when Bernard gave him a nod, Caspian returned the gesture and smiled, lifting a fist and extending it toward Bernard. Although small, a gesture like this had been extended to Bernard since his sister was alive and well, and he had to force down the sudden urge to shed tears as he raised his own hand for a fist bump, looking away from Caspian as he did so.
“So I take it that you two would like to begin as soon as possible?” Both young men looked toward Carter Omni and gave the man a nod before they spoke at the same time.
“Yes, sir.”
…
Almarine stood in the center of the BlackHole Coliseum’s stage and raised her hands. Power built at her fingertips and the runes of the stage were changed to suit her needs. Xani may not have been aware, but the runes she’d taken from Almarine’s office had once been hidden in a vault, but the Orphan Mother knew the young woman’s tendency to roam her many scattered offices in search of knowledge.
A storm of runes fluttered to life around Almarine. Words of magic she’d sworn to never again touch or dare even think of were brought back to life. Knowledge thought forever lost to all used as simply as a casual turn of phrase.
Almarine knew aspects of Uni-Vare that some of the eldest Cultivators only dreamed of witnessing, let alone having direct access to.
How the young walk paths they do not understand… Almarine thought with a sigh.
The safety perimeters that had been set in place were changed in a matter of breaths. The system made to protect, distorted to allow mortal injury and beyond as Almarine ripped away large sections of formations carefully interwoven throughout the entire stage.
They would figure this out Almarine knew, but knowing who’d caused the… malfunction, would never occur. The seeming accident may stir more trouble than Almarine wanted for Arson and many of her other orphan children, but she knew if she wanted to disrupt the plans of Tempest, that this was a piece of her plan she had to complete.
Where she currently stood, under the effects of the runes Xani used, her position was the one place that Tempest could not witness her actions. Actions that would result in the potential deaths of many important scions, the blowback on the realm guaranteed to bringing more repercussions than the CityNation of Maelstrom had ever experienced.
The tournament of scions was supposed to be an opportunity to unite cultures. Bring enemies together through competition and the display of power and skill, yet for Almarine’s plans this stage would become a burial ground, a place that would be remembered as the scene forever tied to peril and loss.
Almarine finished her sabotage with a sigh, and dropped her hands to her sides before suddenly being rushed by her new pet. The pure white drake now named Vision rushed her the moment it’d seen her complete the strange series of hand movements through the air. No longer enveloped by symbols of power and multi-colored light.
The creature tried to bull rush her. The attempt to knock the woman over failing completely. Vision bounced off the Orphan Mother like a rubber ball tossed at a wall, rolling end over end. The sight made Almarine chuckle as the drake shook its head vigorously as if dizzy.
“What, was that supposed to be frightening?” The drake growled low in frustration, still struggling with not being the dominant force between the pair, as all of the other individuals it had played with since being born had at least been moved by its large body, even Arson who’d originally tamed the creature.
Almarine tried to push aside the feeling of betrayal she felt splutter to life in her chest, but couldn’t. A mortal sensation of acid filling her throat spawned not in reality as she no longer had the chemical makeup of a mortal, but purely brought to life by her emotions. Her perception powerful enough to make the impossible, possible.
“Don’t look at me like that, I have enough to feel bad about,” Almarine said, affected by the drake's seeming frown. Only for its immediate blitz once more to bring a smile to her face, as Vision settled on licking her face voraciously, and chewing on her hair without a care in the world.
“Come along, we have more work to do.”
…
Bernard and Caspian found themselves standing within a formation. A literal ring of runes spun a slow circle around them, but a foot from the floor. Where normal Cultivators would need to etch the powerful symbols into the ground, using the ambient mana from the planet, or available resources linked to the formation through various intricate means, Carter Omni simply waved a hand and spawned them outright, he himself serving as a power source.
“Are you two ready?”
Both young men nodded and Carter smiled. With another wave of his hand, the drake's skeleton rose from where it had been placed in between Bernard and Caspian, giving the impression that it had just stood. Almost as if it was still alive and well.
Both young men gasped when light twisted about them. A flood of ambient mana surging toward the drake's body until it appeared as if an entirely living creature stood between them. The pair grew excited, and Carter continued.
“For this process, you must be completely open to the changes it will bring into your lives, you must acknowledge the potential for failure, only to crush it as if it is an impossibility!” Both young men nodded, and a second ring of runes was created above the first separated by just under a yards worth of space.. The young men shared a look at the words, and the appearance of even more intricate runes.
“This is not to be taken lightly as this is the only determinate of how successful the ritual will be,” continued Carter.
“Yes sir,” said the young men, confirming that they understood. Carter smiled and nodded as he continued.
“As someone who completed this same ritual with a primordial being as my own catalyst, I can say that neither of you is truly ready for what you are about to undergo, but I am excited to see how this experiment goes for you both…” The young men shared another look, in which Caspian mouthed, experiment to Bernard, only for Bernard to shrug with a raised brow of his own.
A third and final ring was formed at eye level for the pair, and the ritual began in full. The drake between them lifted its head and roared before its entire body disintegrated into thin air. A surge of scattered particles spinning around the pair before both the young Cultivators experienced what it was like to have an entire beings remnants enter their body through their pores, integrate its mana into their minds, and empower their souls with the life force left hidden within the bones of the dead meant to feed planets slowly over time.
Carter’s eyes widened when a secondary roar could be heard. The image of a far larger dragon enveloping both young men. Its slightly transparent form that of an Ancient dragon, and not the drake they used for the ritual.
“What’s happening GG,” Bernard yelled as a vortex of power thrummed to life, a true dragon's call emanating so loud that it could be heard throughout all of Maelstrom for the briefest of moments.
Illusionary drakes appeared in the air all around them, diving from the air above and toward the body of the massive ancient form at the center of the formation. Even Carter beginning to feel a strain on his power as the ritual continued.
Carter raised both hands and a fourth ring appeared, then a fifth, a sixth, and even seventh.
“Hold on, my boy, this may get ugly!”
Power flooded their bodies, and a pure elation overwhelmed both Caspian and Bernard in that moment. Both felt so good that neither could think of anything but the orgasmic sense of mana that pushed their Cultivations to an entirely new level. Time passed, but to both young men it felt like only a few breaths. By the time the energy stopped flowing into them both, Bernard and Caspian blinked, the immense light that had once enveloped them both receding to a feint glow that emanated from their skin.
They were both affected in different ways. Untold changes made to their physiques, mana systems, and souls.
Bernard was finally able to take in the sight of his grandfather, and was shocked to see him on a knee, gasping for air. He’d never seen the man look this way, almost as if he truly were a frail old man, but as he watched color return to Carter’s face, he sighed in relief. He tried to take a step to give aid to his grandfather, but then found he couldn’t move at all, his grandfather speaking up for the final time as he rose to his feet in front of the young men without the need for assistance.
“It seems that the bloodline of the drake used was that of an original, my boy,” Carter said with a labored breath. Bernard tried to speak the flood of questions that entered his mind but nothing came out. He tried to look at Caspian, but his head wouldn’t move. He tried to move once more, and felt his entire being sway.
“I’m sorry to tell you this, my boy, but this is going to be far worse than I described…”
Bernard felt his knees give out and heard twin thuds as his and Caspian’s bodies struck the floor. The sound of screaming reached his ears and it took Bernard a moment to realize that both he and Caspian were screaming violently. Pain unlike anything he’d ever experienced tore through his entire being as if a full body pull was being executed on him by dragons, only for him to be restored in a flash, and the process started from the beginning.
Carter strode over to the pair, and although Bernard couldn’t turn his head to look into Carter’s eyes, he still was able to see his grandfather looking between him and Caspian. The Ancient man shaking his head in dismay before speaking up for a final time.
“Good luck, my boy, you are going to need it.”