“Of course you can,” said the nameless black haired boy, showing the princess a confidence in their last moments that she wasn’t expecting. Aurora gulped, taking a deep breath and spoke the words she was told never to share with anyone.
“My family’s bloodline is dormant, the power that once gave us the might to rule the kingdom as a whole is now suppressed, it is honestly to the point that we the royal family don’t even know if we truly are the rightful rulers of Imp—“
The air was stolen from her chest in a flash. Her heart stopped beating, and her blood went cold.
Aurora felt the moment her soul was sucked from her core. Her body went limp, and the energy that was her entire mind and soul was stuffed into a pocket within her brain. Felt every aspect of her body being possessed by a stranger; her mind, her body, and the core of her being that once held her soul, all taken to serve the will of another.
The priest finished his speech, signaling for the stone connected to the man across the trench to be dropped within the catacombs, and the screams began in full.
A cheer went up through the gathered crowd as the guard kicked the stone into the abyss below, and the first in line was yanked off his feet. Violently. Yet Aurora could only hear them distantly as her entire perspective shifted.
What is happening to me!
The eyes of her body went vacant as if she’d been momentarily lost in thought. A clone of herself manifested outside her body like that of an astral projected duplicate; the secondary form hovering a foot off the ground,.
Her new position gave her a view of everything occurring around her; her senses growing to envelop an expanded dome of space in 360 degrees.
Her ability to see now transformed in a way that aloud her to see behind herself without the need to turn her head. See above herself, orLook up, without a glance or the need to raise her chin. As well as sense everything beneath where she currently floated, as if she had the ability to use a completely mental sonar.
Before Aurora’s physical body could fall, she watched an immense energy surge from the sky above, thrusting itself into her core through her solar plexus.
All of this took a fraction of a mere blink, but Aurora was forced to witness it all in what felt to be a prolonged span of time, making her believe she was forced to behold every bit of what her decisions had ensued. In the next instant the light that briefly left her eyes returned, somehow even more vibrant than it had been previously, Aurora now watching herself as if she flew a few yards outside of her own body.
She heard herself take a deep breath, straightening as she did so, but could no longer feel her body in the slightest. A notification popping up before her mind’s eye, as she watched her body move of its own volition, looking around slowly before she felt the oddity of hearing herself speak as if from another’s ears, the sensation instantly striking her as wrong.
“Mother Fucker!”
Aurora couldn’t help but notice the changes to her body, as her hair shifted, flickering between blonde and her normal pitch black. At the same time one of her eyes transforming from crimson to a glimmering gold. The notification her only clue as to what was happening to her.
*Notification* - Bloodline Awoken - Guardian of Travelers, status unlocked - Through your noble sacrifice you have provided a vessel to a child of Omni. Now you must help this traveler grow to bring great change to the lands of Imperial and any other realm meant to be touched by their significant fate. Ready yourself Guardian, trials and tribulations of great difficulty lay before you. Only your soul stands between the end of all.*
What the fuck!
…
Drake felt everything around her slow. A rage filled her chest and her mind began to thrum in a way that she’d only ever felt when she fell short of a goal. This was an emotion she only ever used as fuel, a sensation she often felt necessary to push herself beyond her current limits.
It was easy to create mental boundaries when running across the rooftops of abandoned complexes, or diving out the windows of apartment buildings well above ground level. However, the more she couldn’t achieve any given challenge, the more her heart pumped wildly, and the more furious she grew at her perceived inability to succeed.
Until endless tenacity and practice lead to accomplishment, and finally she tasted the only drug she would ever need.
The adrenaline was intoxicating, and the anger was even more inviting in its offered power. In that moment as she prepared to fight against the circumstances she found herself in, she wanted to roar. Bellow toward the heavens in defiance to show her fury.
This time… I refuse to be controlled by expectation! You wanted me to die here! I’ll show you… I’ll show you all, roared Drake mentally as she chuckled aloud, drawing the eyes of those around her.
“I can’t die here, I just got here…,” said Drake softly, smirking.
She looked around and her vision narrowed, taking in her situation, even as the number of bodies between her and the fall diminished rapidly.
Some sort of guard stood but a few feet behind her, sneering in her direction. The man looking at her as if she were some parasite that needed to be cut from the world of the living.
Hmm… no armor, just a spear…
She looked down, noting the length of chain between her and the boy whom stood next to her, the young man wearing a strange wide eyed gaze in her direction.
Why is everyone looking at me like that, am I ugly or something, damnit, not only am I about to die, but I probably look beat up too! Son of a bitch, not now Drake, focus!
She turned around quickly and whispered toward the wide eyed boy beside her.
“We don’t have time, when I move, get as close as you can to give me slack on these fucking chains, got it?”
The young man’s brow furrowed, but he nodded slowly.
“What happened to your—“ Drake ignored the boy and moved, turning around in one fluid step.
Drake spread her legs as far as she could, lowering her center of gravity, smiling as the nearest guard frowned in her direction.
“What do you think you’re—“
Drake charged, rushing the man, ignoring the sharp pains that ran up the lengths of her legs. The man raised his spear to lash out at her, but Drake was ready.
The stab of his spear came right toward her eye, and she dodge, only a few inches between her and death; Drake uppercutting the man in the gut as hard as she could.
She wasn’t a skilled fighter by far, but what Drake did know how to do was control her body.
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The boy she was chained closest to rushed toward her as quickly as his pained shuffle would allow, and as the guard she punched bent at the waist in pain, Drake dove forward, performing a handstand, threading the man’s head and neck between the chains around her ankles, and her legs.
“Got ya,” said Drake, using the man like a pull up bar as she did a sit up mid air, angling herself to look the man in the eyes as she squeezed.
She’d wrapped her legs around the man’s neck in a chokehold. Completing a triangle. The wrestling maneuver she had only ever seen done a handful of times, and that was in movies, or by professional UFC fighters.
“Unlock my chains or your coming with me bucko!”
The man’s eyes went wide as he realized what Drake had managed, trying to lift his spear.
“No the fuck you don’t buddy,” said Drake, clamping one hand around the spear point end of the man’s weapon, and smashing her palm into the bridge of his nose with the other.
“Give me the key or die with the rest of us,” screamed Drake, continuing to smash her palm into the man’s face, swiping at his free hand every time he tried to punch at her flailing form.
“Get her,” screamed another nearby guard, just as the man Drake choked began to struggle to breathe, dropping his weapon in the process.
“Give me the key now!”
The man fell to his knees, and Drake turned his spear toward him even as her back and head was smashed into the ground below, momentarily causing her to see stars.
She blinked away the daze just in time to see another guard close in, thrusting her stolen weapon into his gut as he lifted his own spear in a two handed grip above his head. The second guards weapon dropped uselessly from his white knuckled grip, clattering to the ground at the feet of the boy.
“Now,” roared Drake as she returned the spearpoint to the first guards face. The second guard stumbling backward as blood flow free from his midsection.
She heard a struggle beside her, glancing to see the boy had picked up the dropped spear, and started swinging it wildly about at any who dared approach.
finally the guard she battled pulled a small rectangle from the pocket of his cloth pants; the glimmering item shaped like a credit card. The guard swiping the tool made of light across the chains against her feet. The pain disappeared from around her ankles,, making her realize the object was the key she’d been demanding; Drake turning the spear she still held around, stabbing the blunted end of the weapon directly between her captive’s eyes before she let him go.
She grabbed at the card the man dropped, swiping it against the boy beside her’s ankles. The boy gasping as he was freed; Drake scrambling to her feet a mere instant before the woman beside them both was pulled into the darkness.
The woman’s screams were that of nightmares, showing Drake just how close she was to dying. The area around them became an embodiment of chaos. The citizens either freezing in place before being trampled by their peers as they fled, or fought to get closer to the violence. Screams booming through the crowds as panic grew.
“What now,” yelled the boy, and Drake looked around. Alarm gripping her heart as five guards formed a half circle around them.
The sound of water touched her ears and Drake glanced to see the trench, water rushing over the edge, giving her a meager hope. Drake further enraged by the irony that she had just escaped being dropped into a hole, only to have no other option but to jump toward those very same unknown depths to escape.
Rather jump than get stabbed by spears!
“Follow me,” she yelled before yanking the boy by his arm, and pulling them both into the trench at a run. They jumped, and splashed into the frigidly crystalline waters, the boy screaming as they resurfaced. Both swept away by the powerful current, and pulled into the darkness below.
…
Aurora was horrified. Not because she watched herself kill guards. Nor because of the smile she saw cross her bodies face, and not even because of how she cheered for what she knew to be an invader within her own body.
She was horrified by the sensation of calm she felt. The attraction she felt. An outright urge to help this invader succeed in anyway she could filled the entirety of her being.
Her soul felt at rest. Complete even. Almost as if her entire short life she’d been searching for a purpose, that she’d now found.
Is this what my bloodline was meant to be…?
She watched while whomever had taken over her body moved with a decisiveness that she herself wished she’d had achieved whilst still alive. Her attitude as a princess had always been cocky and confident, but the facade was one that often left her feeling childish. Yet Aurora knew instinctually, seeing the look in this Traveler’s eyes, that whoever had replaced her was truly fearless.
Aurora wasn’t tall, but the Traveler’s gaze made the young princess seem dangerous. An aura emanated off of her presence that filled the area with a towering ferocity, making even Aurora feel as if she stared into the maw of a dragon.
The Traveler wore a smile from the moment she charged, to the moment she dove into the water.
The invader, or Traveller from what the system named the being in her body, had even managed to have the boy Aurora had kissed help her escape. A favor that was immediately reciprocated when the Traveler freed the boy, dragging him along with her.
Aurora was shocked by the duo jumping into the trench, only to be further surprised when she too was dragged through the air, soaring at incredible speeds behind them. Pulled by an invisible tether that kept Aurora but a handful of yards from the Traveler, that she now knew she was meant to guard and guide.
Even though she had no clue exactly what role she would play, how to interact in a world she now felt was intangible to her, or why she was having such thoughts while plummeting into the depths of the Catacombs.
She felt herself screaming as the traveler and the boy were sucked deeper into the depths, feeling as if they’d truly been dropped into the abyss.
Matters only made worse when she saw an extended ledge below the pair, protruding out just far enough that she knew inevitably that neither would be able to dodge. The jagged rock face was treacherous, and unavoidable being pulled through the downward current as fast as they were.
Twin snaps rang out through the air, Aurora forced to watch as both slammed into the stone and were pulled down further nearly in the same instant. Both of the fallen’s faces showing screams silenced by the prominent rush of the waterfall they were dragged through.
Eventually they both emerged through a massive hole at the top of a cavern. Aurora relieved to see them both splash into a large body of water below; the rush of the current pushing both of the pair’s floating forms to the smoothened edges of a nearby shoreline.
The only problem was, neither woke. Both buffeted endlessly at the edge of the water by small waves. Neither looking as if they were breathing.
To make things worse, Aurora swore that she heard the sound of growling incoming. Unable to pinpoint which direction the noises were coming from, she looked around. Noticing that the color of the pool they were in was shifting.
Blood was poring in from small channels to either side of the waterfall, filling a pattern carved into the rock that surrounded the pool. Each rune lighting up as it was completely filled, causing the entire area to shake with power.
Wake up!
Aurora began to scream over and over, growing more frantic with every breath that passed.
Wake up!
…
Drake woke to the frigid sensation of water splashing up against her lower half. The sound of a distant scream and the sensation like that of an earthquake, boomed throughout her being. She felt like she was trapped in her mind, as if she’d been yelling in her sleep and been shaken in an attempt to wake her up.
“Owww…”
She immediately tried to roll over, finding that one of her arms wasn’t moving no matter what she tried.
“Not again…,” groaned Drake. The pain was familiar, telling her that she’d broken her arm. Problem was, this was her dominant arm, rather than her off hand as it had been when she was younger.
This ain’t good.
Using her offhand she slowly managed to push herself upright, feeling as if something was wrong with her vision.
No matter how many times she blinked, her vision stayed foggy, until she closed her eyes, rubbing them furiously. She then blinked rapidly, which caused her missed notifications to pop into her line of sight, clearing up the lens that seemed to blur her vision.
“That’s new.”
*Notifications* - Updates to Status - Condensed while under imminent threat.
Bloodline Unlocked: Vampiric Sovereign of Dragons / Sunlight Guardian of Travelers.
Skill unlocked - Drinker of Skills - As you have faced death, what had once slept within you, has now awoken. Your soul thirsts for more, and with every taste of the bloodlines of Cultivators, Demons, and even monsters, you shall grow. Let your hungering rage guide you to the summit of power child of Omni. For your fate is limitless.
Innate Ability Unlocked - Limit Breaker - Due to your Skill Drinker ability being unlocked. Your skill count maximum is no longer capped by your class’s normal range, but instead is limited by your total System attribute. Point value. 10 skills for every 1 point allocated to the System Attribute.
Soul transplant successful - You now share this Vessel with its previous owner, granting you many abilities normally locked to all those ranked below Immortal grade by the system.
Current Rank - Unranked.
Break through first attribute barrier to become ranked within the world of Cultivation.
Name: Aurora “Drake” Imperial.
Rank: Unranked
Age: 13
Race: Cultivator
Bloodline: Vampiric Sovereign of Dragons
Class: Locked
Innate Abilities: Limit Breaker*
Techniques: None
Skills: Drinker of Skills*
Current Attributes =
Offense: 0.1
Defense: 0.1
Systems: 0.1
Achievements: First kill before skill.
+0.1 to System (Awarded for, first kill before skill*achievement)
“Okay, wish I knew what any of that shit meant,” said Drake as her stomach rumbled. Her eyes narrowing at the emptiness she felt growing in her stomach.
“Damn I’m hungry…”
Drake started to look around as an odd noise began to brush faintly against her ears, as if she heard someone yelling her name from vastly far away. She felt something brush up against her foot and jumped, screaming in alarm before she realized she’d been touched by half of a spear. The broken weapon bobbing softly up against her foot.
She reached for the weapon, grabbing it in her off hand, using it to pull herself to her feet, flattening the splintered end against the stone floor as she rose.
It wasn’t until she stood that she saw odd markings on the ground all around her beginning to glow. The characters of the unfamiliar language illuminated just enough to show the boy that had helped her escape laying on his back a few yards away.
His eyes were open, and at first Drake thought him to be dead, until she approached and heard him murmuring something repeatedly. The words were spoken too softly for her to hear at first. Until she dropped to her knees by his side and leaned in, watching his distant eyes as he seemed to stare off at nothing. His gaze not even flickering in her direction as she leaned over him.
“I have a skill, I just needed to face, death, I have a skill, I just needed to face death, I have, a skill I just needed to face death.”
He spoke the words over and over until Drake watched his eyes seem to sharpen, his focus locking onto something in the distance before he screamed, bellowing uncontrollably in absolute terror.
Drake looked up to see what had filled the boy with fear, feeling her heart skip a beat at the sight before her.
Holy…!
Slowly climbing from what looked to be a rectangular shaft carved deep into the wall beside the pool she’d just managed to pull herself from, was a skeletal creature of white bone armor and rippling black muscle. Its crystalline heart looked as if it was made of a liquified ruby,, as was its brain, both thumping rapidly to a visible beat that spoke of chaotic power.
Yeah Drake, world of magic, great fucking choice, maybe should have thought about the potential of there being monstrous fucking creatures before agreeing to that!
She stared into the eye sockets that swirled with a black light that felt as if they could see right through her. The eyes of the creature pulsed with energy and Drake’s first instinct was to run, until she looked down at the boy, a box popping up in her vision as she looked him over, wondering why he wasn’t getting up to run.
What’s wrong with him…? Is he…
*Scan* - Cultivator
Name: Vanish BaneBorn
Rank: Unranked
Age: 13
Class: Locked
Average Attribute Level: 0.2
Scan Result:
State of shock: Mental faculties diminished while panicked and struck by overwhelming fear.
Broken spinal cord: Paralyzed from the neck down.*
Drake sighed as she stepped over the boy she now believed to be named Vanish, and lifted her broken spear.
Couldn’t have just been shock, maybe could have slapped you out of it, but you broke your fucking spine … Your lucky you helped me kid, or I’d be getting the fuck out of here.
“Well, looks like its me or you buddy,” said Drake, sucking her teeth in annoyance, widening her stance as she raised the broken spear in her off hand.
“Bring it on!”