Bernard slept peacefully in his sister's crypt. Unbothered by the passage of time; the worries of civilizations long dead, or by the wishes of his family for him to reign supreme in the realm they’d left behind for him.
He lay upon a black blood fountain, bobbing peacefully within the equivalent to a geyser overflowing with purified demon blood.
Blood spilled from beings with corrupted cores would have long ago filled the crypt he rested inside if his own body had not thirsted almost eternally for the substance. A substance that could and finally had completed his own core in full, linking his mind to his body, and his soul to his life force.
“It is time to wake up.”
Bernard stirred, his sleeping mind perturbed by any possible interruptions, yet as he woke he felt the process increase, his body’s hunger for mana given power and influence by his waking consciousness.
He rubbed his face and yawned. The action more a quiet roar than a slow inhale. He’d thought he’d heard a voice, but as he opened his eyes and looked around he’d witnessed no visible presence within sight. His draw on the fountain grew, and Bernard felt the power fill his completed core in a way that it never had before.
So even as the flood of energy that triggered his awakening grew in immensity, it was barely even noticed to the young Cultivator of 700 season cycles.
For the first time since its creation, the black blood fountain was emptied, and the access point that connected all the energies was returned to the wielder of the plague itself.
Every demon across the Under-City of Maelstrom that had hunted for Bernard turned to ash in an instant as his pull took back the power that animated them all, with the exclusion of a dozen or more he couldn’t access anymore.
Still his power drank greedily to the point that he found his back touching the mana stone that had blackened from the wellspring of power’s dark affinity. He took a deep breath and the realm itself reverberated. As he sat upright, a notification flashed within his vision, and Bernard scoffed at the sight.
*Realm Ruler Ranking: Current position: 8th.* Bernard Clicked the list mentally and the top ten names for the realm rankings and the list unraveled before his eyes. The list consumed his concentration to the point that he couldn’t see the destroyed state of the crypt around himself, only a list of names he’d been trained to prioritize above all else.
“1st: Almarine Ikarus, yeah right, that’s like naming yourself The Maiden, who does this upstart think they are,” said Bernard to himself. Yet as he read the names below he begun to wonder at what had occurred since he’d been asleep. A sleep he was told he wouldn’t wake from without the consumption of incredible amounts of mana.
“2nd: Carter Omni, why is GG in concession over the rule of a lower realm like Maelstrom?” His great Grandfather only held claim to realms that were truly considerable in the stakes of karmic balance and the growth of mana throughout creation, so why the ancient was in conflict in a minor realm confused him.
“3rd: Elizabeth Amorra Carter…”
Is this list real…?
From what Bernard could gather from the list so far, was that since he’d slept his realm had been taken control of by two ancients, and the heiress of crime herself. Then he read on, and knew something was amiss.
“4th: Draphen LightLord, the bloody scion of dragons?” Arson’s father, the King of Dragons had long ago shed the minor title for a position far higher than Bernard remembered him to have last had.
“What would bring so many people…” Bernard looked back toward the top name and gulped at the mere thought that any of the Ikarus line was within the realm, and thriving. For unlike many alive, only a rare few knew how dangerous the founding three families of the 21 HonorBorn were, and of the Omen, Omni, and Ikarus. The latter were the most difficult to deal with.
“At least their hub on this realm was destroyed, I don’t have to worry about another invasion,” said Bernard, teleporting free of the fountain with a step, still consumed by the list of his perceived opponents.
“5th: Tempest StormPinnacle, how a bloody core is higher ranked than me is absurd but we’ll push pass,” grumbled Bernard. Agitation at what he was being shown made the sleep he was told he may never wake from seem small in comparison. As Bernard knew what control of realms came with, and wouldn’t allow any beside his own blood to receive the boon of realms. A power his family had been bestowed nearly since the creation of the realm of Maelstrom itself.
He teleported across large spans of space with each step, passing the long dead and hibernating Cultivators of his family. Each member floating in rich pools of various liquid and light based manas. The fountains filling the enclosed space for as far as the mortal eye could see.
“6th: Seneschal Nexus,” said Bernard. His deep voice speaking the name in experiment in hopes to trigger his memory. The name held here unfamiliar unlike the others. Yet when he read the next name Bernard froze. Words from a long dead Cultivator springing from the depths of his mind with the alacrity of lightning and wind.
“With the king of all skies' return comes a storm to unite the endless seas.” The words came out as a new quest popped into Bernard’s vision. The first he’d ever been offered directly from the system, rather than shared by his older sister. Bernard read and moved with purpose toward the exit. The crypts private dimension filled with stars that lit his path and powered the cells that sustained the meditating, imprisoned the guilty and wrongly accused, and even preserved the dead. Bernard shocked by what he was being tasked with.
“Climb the chains of leadership: As an Honorborn scion, and Heir to the realm, you have a rightful claim to the legacy of the realm, will you climb the hierarchy and rule, or be ruled by those who lack your blood right? Target #1: Rank 7th: Troy Mana. To increase your rank, you must kill, suppress, or surpass rank 7 in any and all ways.
Bernard nodded to himself and cracked his knuckles as he approached a dark hole that was held in the sky like a mirror made from shadow held in place by invisible strings.
“Well, cousin, it seems your days of luck have run out…” thought Bernard as he took in the name, assuming as many others before him that the name belonged to a young man. Bernard may not be able to bring down his grandfather and any other Ancients… yet, but with time there was nothing his power couldn’t overcome. It had already overcome a mortal wound considered to be as formidable as death itself, a corrupted core. Where his core once fed on mana and life-force, it now fed upon sin and chaos. A personified catalyst of the once elementally aligned cultivator’s hunger for emotional connection, turned into a power source. Directed by pleasure and the immediate urge, the new Bernard Maelstrom was a walking carnage that would be heard.
His body burst into a flock of crows, and ascended into the hole above. The birds moving at speeds that were comparable to flickering shadows, moving through millions of miles in a few breaths. He emerged like a deadly storm cloud, the swarm of ravens exiting one of many giant holes held inside a trash dump, the sight filling Bernard with a rage he hadn’t felt in centuries.
Ravens exploded into all directions, the birds able to travel across the land and nearby skies in blinks.
Then he saw it and knew his sister's vision of a bright future had been met, but wondered at the truth of the thought when he saw the gaping hole in the land below. His ravens explored the scar, only to find a more familiar place, hidden below. Confusion and rage mixing to even deadlier levels of rage within the young Cultivator. The more questions he had mentally for what had occurred and was now happening, only led to more assumptions.
Did you give your life and they still not learn to cherish what they have been given sister!
“Don’t worry, I will remind them,” said Bernard. The young man spoke as his body reformed atop a roof of a building with a view that could reach the ends of the CityNation. The name RaidCorp stylized down the side of the monolithic tower was consumed in shadows by the swarms of crows all converging.
“I will give them reason to cherish what they have, built from the peaks of our achievements. I will show them the power of our foundation.”
…
Troy looked at the woman in front of her and shook her head. She hadn’t wanted to be rude, but this was her third teacher this morning that had decided to bless her with their presence in hopes to gain a disciple, and though Troy had wanted many to ask her earlier on, now she was settled in the fact that her lack of direct master came with the attention of many who either intentionally or unintentionally offered more guidance due to the fact that she was seemingly gifted and untethered.
The only doubt Troy herself had was that she was gifted, still comparing herself to a young man who’d shown her much in their short time together. Troy, wishing she felt less fear and more ambition, hoped that the head light professor would ask her to be a disciple. Yet Troy waited, the teacher more and more attentive in her direction with each passing day.
That was the challenge of the school at its base. The teachers' classrooms moved with each day that passed, put into more and more precarious locations that forced students to both overcome certain physical obstacles, and tread across the paths of nearby monster dens or battlefields from competing territories held upon the school grounds.
So the longer Troy continued to show up promptly to each of the woman’s classes, more the woman allowed her fondness for Troy to show. The woman had accidentally shown Troy how to turn invisible during class one day when speaking freely about an advanced subject matter that went over the heads of many of the students in the class, and since then Troy admittedly found herself asking questions that had nothing to do with the current lesson at all. Since then her reputation had been sullied by any student that wished for the attentions of any of the light affinity teachers and professors, including many of the shadow attuned students whose teachers now sought her out.
“Are you sure young woman? Do you even know who I am?” Troy nodded at the woman and smiled.
“Yes ma’am, you are Lady Caspian Silver, drinker of moonlight and stars,” said Troy without a pause. The woman blinked in surprise of her own, as her identity was a tightly held secret within Adroit Academy, though not many secrets were kept from Troy as she was now.
“Do you know how many have tried to become my direct student, as well as many of the other teachers you have turned down as of recent?”
“A few,” answered Troy, who could, but knew she should not give an exact answer to that question.
“And am I to presume you have been caught up in the allure of our illustrious affinities head professor and her gravity. Trust and believe, you aren’t the only student I’ve seen fall short of gaining that woman’s attention, myself included,” said the beautiful woman in front of Troy. Many teachers roamed nearby the pair that had taken up a corner table within the dormitory Troy had last made it safely inside. Any who saw Troy there wanted to approach, until they saw the powerful guest beside her that rarely taught classes for the art of illuminatory assassination. The woman’s ability to sever both the mortal and supernatural coils of life that was the soul through the use of mere light, wouldn’t help Troy’s reputation any time soon, but she was glad to have found a small group of friends within the school that showed her a great deal of loyalty and respect unlike her other fellow competitors attending Adroit Academy. Yes, all students there were in direct competition, but a few didn’t take the pressure set upon the students by the environment to dire levels, and had instead looked for like-minded Cultivators like Troy.
“I have been, and I am not ashamed to admit that to you or anyone who confronts me about that. I have seen her clone herself, not make a copy, but clone herself, fly, teleport, split light, create endless lightning systems which is supposed to be impossible, and yet she created a living example the size of your head in an instant. No, I am here to learn from her, not that I won’t attend the classes of other teachers, but only few people in my life are more powerful than that woman, and they all have their eyes on another. This is my opportunity to bridge the gap between me and him,” rambled Troy. Excited, and caught up in the amazing things she’d witnessed recently Troy’s veins started to glow with a multi colored light. Its presence hummed as it was tapped into with each breath she took. Adrenaline pumped with the beat of her heart at the thought of what she may learn next.
“Hmm, it seems we lost another good one, hopefully you are the one to make that old lady come out of her shell, as every member of the current light affinity teachers on staff was once a student like you, and any who follow in her greatness never rise above this place,” said the woman with a bowed shake of the head as she rose and left the table, leaving Troy to once more look over the view of the chaotic dungeon all around them. The open balcony just beyond the table offered Troy a view unlike any she’d ever seen before.
“I wonder if you are okay, my love?” Troy's thoughts drifted to the last time she’d seen a view like this, how Arson had dangled a man by the neck from a similar ledge, trying to find a bounty’s location at RaidCorp’s entertainment park. She laughed to herself, but still felt off. A normally vibrant sensation of warmth that she’d grown accustomed to had dimmed, and Troy knew not why it had occurred or how to fix it.
“You still love me, don’t you dude? Honestly thought you’d be here by now,” said Troy to herself. It was hard to push the thoughts aside, but as she stood and rose to her feet, it became easier not to worry.
“You better be okay…”
With a single glance over her shoulder, Troy confirmed that no one was looking in her direction, before she turned invisible, and charged toward the balcony’s edge.
She hadn’t picked this corner of the dormitory for any reason, and was glad that Professor Silver had left when she had, or Troy would have had to wait for the storm cloud she’d just jumped over a railing and dove toward to reach to make its full sweep of the dungeons perimeter again before she would be given another opportunity.
A giant cloud of slow moving light warped the air around itself. Reality testing the available mana as space was distorted alongside time and even the laws of physics.
Troy shielded herself in a shield of light that reflected all spectrums of light in any form, slipping through the space built to test the acuity of a light user's ability.
Once inside Troy entered the true classroom of the head light professor, falling through a ceiling made entirely from HardLight and mana. The structures of Uni-Vare were far more malleable for users of light, and those with the affinity to ingest it would find it overwhelmingly more sensitive an energy to interact with in the room she phased into than any other within the dungeon.
Troy would have been bothered by the words of Caspian Silver, if the professor had ever truly become a disciple of her current master. Troy knew that none who had remained in the school had ever achieved this, nor any who had graduated or even those who had ascended into the port of Heaven itself, had caught the eye of the master, Zeal Chanter.
Troy smiled at the woman who beckoned her to hurry up, time operating differently inside the teacher’s classroom. Though Troy had made one of the earlier rotations the woman’s hidden class made through the skies inside the dungeon, it had still most likely been days in wait for Troy to enter.
“What’s on the list today?” asked Troy as she ran toward the clear stage in the center of the empty class meant for far more students. Yet Troy wondered if many of the others attending in her season cycle cluster would even come close to passing the tests left hidden by the heads of each elemental department. Troy felt her own passing was a fluke, yet with every day that passed, Troy shredded more and more of her self-ridicule and habits of internal loathing, and explored what her true limits were.
“Nothing at all, child. I’m going to show you the inside of a star cluster, and show you what happens when light mimics systems formed both by and for darkness,” said the woman simply. Her arms spreading wide as a ripping sound could be heard in the air above them both. The sky tore open to reveal what looked like images of galaxies photographed from a distance. An explosion of mana flooding the room and almost knocking Troy unconscious as it washed over her.
“Are you ready? Hurry up and jump in!” Troy looked between the woman and the expanse of space that threatened to suffocate Troy with confusion.
Why do I feel like I would die if I jumped in there…?
“Don’t waste time, hurry up! The Primus cluster only passes through our realm once every…” the woman trailed off as she thought of the span of time.
“Lets just say a long time, and I need you to ingest a certain volatile strain of void light for me to be able to show you how to grab darkness,child. Now hurry up!”
“What?” The hole in the air spat violently as the woman struggled to keep the rip in space open, its energies fluctuating as stars could be witnessed speeding passed the opening. Troy stuck in a continual double take between space abroad and the professor.
“Are you sure it's—“ Troy was cut off immediately.
“Hurry… Up…!” Troy took one final look at the hole and back toward her master. Yes, it had been a struggle to wait for the teacher, so in the end Troy hadn’t. Instead, she’d asked the woman for guidance, been tested and now stood with a path that led toward the exploration of all creation itself, her heart threatening to beat free of her chest.
“Are you sure…?”
End of Vol 5.