CHAPTER 7: THE ORDER PAID IN BLOOD

After freeing both elves, I was able to successfully return to master’s side before the time limit he set up for me ran out. I was lucky that those sisters didn’t try to pursue me. Just in case I hid the core before helping them out, but I’m sure that if they tried it wouldn’t be hard for them to catch me. I was able to make a temporary bag for the soul core from some spider web near the shadow lurker’s lair, and thanks to it, it was much easier to carry it with my injured shoulder. Master commended me when I told him I was able to kill that monster.

“Welcome back Malakhay, how was your small mission?” Master wanted to know when I returned to his laboratory on the seventh morning still injured and tired.

“I was able to do what master asked.” I said proudly, showing master Korpus the pouch with the shadow lurker’s poisonous fangs. I also quickly presented the soul core I so rigorously obtained from the creature.

“This is…” Master was quite astonished when he saw the core. “Do you even know what you killed Malakhay?” He asked me studying the round, mirror-like sphere before him.

I, thinking I did something wrong, stayed silent.

“This is the core of a shadow lurker with a bloodline.”

Still not understanding I looked at him with a surprised look.

“Sit, I will explain.” Master commanded and showed me to an empty chair. When I quickly obeyed he continued. “Monsters with bloodlines are very rare. They are much bigger and stronger than normal ones and often have very powerful abilities. There are a few ways to obtain a bloodline but all of them are quite hard to achieve.

The easiest one is to kill other monsters with bloodlines and with a progressive accumulation of their soul cores, one is able to create a new one, unique for himself. But you will still need a strong body as a vessel for it. Otherwise it will tear you apart from the inside. The second option is obtaining a lot of experience and mastering other skills to a high degree with time. Then, when you start to understand how your body and the powers you possess really work, you are able to combine them and create a new unique bloodline for yourself.

Lastly, one can be born with a bloodline, but if I’m not mistaken, this didn’t happen in a long time. Even now some people try to give birth to creatures with bloodlines by pairing parents with one, but it is without any success. Only in ancient times were creatures with a bloodline being born, so I personally think that something what made it possible has already vanished from this world.

So now knowing this I want to ask you, how were you able to kill it?”

Quietly listening to what master said I have a bad feeling he won’t be pleased if I told him about the elves. But claiming I killed it alone is also no good. I will need to improvise.

“I didn’t do it alone master.” I told him honestly while starting to sweat.

“I’m listening.” He told me, interested in what I have to say.

“When I arrived and found its lair for the first time I thought I wouldn’t be able to do what master wanted, but returning right after that also didn’t sound like a good choice. Not knowing what to do, I stalked it at night. I thought, maybe I can find its weakness with a little time. Then, on the third night, a wolf got caught in one of its webs. While preying on it the whole pack showed up. Maybe thinking they could take it down while it’s busy they attacked it. While fighting fiercely the whole pack was killed but the shadow lurker was also injured quite heavily. I just took advantage of that and ambushed it. It still wasn’t easy and it still almost killed me, but in the end I was able to kill it.”

After a few minutes of silence master finally spoke: “I see. It’s not what I intended but I’m proud of you Malakhay. Not everybody can kill a shadow lurker with a bloodline, even if it is injured. But next time I send you somewhere and the enemy is above your ability just come back to me. I don’t intend to use you for suicide missions. After all I have a lot of undead for that job around.”

“Master, can I ask about the bloodlines?” I wanted to know more, now feeling more secure knowing he trusted my story.

“Of course, ask what you want freely, after all I promised you that I will teach you.”

“Where can I learn more about bloodlines?” I wanted to know thinking: “Having something like that would surely help me survive.”

“Hahaha, you are a greedy one Malakhay, after all even if you are young and weak you are still a demon. You don’t need to worry I will teach you, as I’m too one with a bloodline.” Master said smiling with his eternal smile. “I was able to obtain my bloodline after four-hundred years through experience and experiments. Only a few people know that I have it and even fewer what it is. Who knows, maybe later I will tell you, but for now this is enough about me. Let’s return to you.”

“Yes master.”

“Let me tell you the reason why I wanted you to obtain that soul core. You are new to this world and you weren’t born but summoned, so you will need that core for creating a link with this world. You demons are special existences which aren’t normally connected to this world, but to your original one, Phanthasmos. Actually I don’t think calling it world is right. It’s more like another reality or realm, or plane of existence if I must be correct. This link I’m talking about is called Status. Everybody in this world creates it unconsciously the moment they are born. The only exceptions are summoned creatures like you.”

“So I will use it to create my own Status?” I asked looking at the core thinking about what master said.

“Yes you will, but that isn’t the end of it.”

“What else will I get from it?” I wanted to know.

“With Status you can finally start to learn new skills and spells. It will show you your progress as you train and learn, and help you tremendously. Rumour says that the Status of the Realm Walkers is different from the one the others have, they see a lot more information with it and through levelling and gaining experience they can supposedly even change their bodies. This should be the reason why they can become so powerful so quickly, but in my opinion they depend on it too much. This causes that they don’t really understand the skills or spells they are casting and that becomes their greatest weakness.

Also, with this ritual you will gain a soul core of your own. That’s more important than Status as all our power and mana comes from it.”

Listening to master has made me very excited with anticipation.

“I can see you can’t wait.” Master said visibly amused by my reaction.  “Be patient Malakhay, I have yet another important thing to explain to you.”

I silently looked at him, waiting for his next words.

“Before obtaining Status you need to learn what the soul core is and how it works.” He started the explanation with importance showing in his calm voice. “So, what do you think a soul core is?” He asked me suddenly.

Not being certain about an answer I stayed quiet for some time and thought about it, but in the end I didn’t know.

“I don’t know master.” I said truthfully, hoping I won’t be punished for my ignorance.

“The soul core is the most important part of every monster you will ever meet. The information it contains represents your whole being. You can think about it like about a book which has been written about you.” Master tells me, lifting the soul core of the shadow lurker from the table. “Everything you learn and experience is accumulated inside of it. The same goes for our power, it all comes from the soul core. When you kill a monster and devour its soul core, yours will decompose it and absorb its power. This way you become stronger.”

“Master what about humans and other races different from us?” I asked remembering him saying that only monster races have a soul core.

“I see you are attentive.” He commended me, satisfied with my good thinking. “Humanoid races don’t have a soul core as I said before. They only have their Status. A weaker version of the one the Realm Walkers possess, as they can’t alter their bodies directly through it. With fighting and completing tasks they gain something called experience points, or shortly called expi. These points are absorbed by their soul and make them stronger. They can’t gain power from soul cores directly, instead they use them as catalysts in magic, alchemy, enchanting and a lot of other things.

For all races, that aren’t defined as us monsters, the power they gain this way is represented by levels. With their Status they can recalculate our power and see it in a similar form of level they use. Our Status isn’t capable of this calculation. We need to rely on our instincts when we try to guess their power. But don’t worry I think it’s just a rough number estimate and it’s not as accurate as many think. I had seen a human defeat a monster which was supposed to have a higher level than him and vice-versa.”

“Master can I ask something?”

“Of course, ask anything you want to know. This is important, so you must understand it.”

“Do we, I mean monster races, not gain anything when we kill a human? You said that from another monster I can devour its soul core, but what if I kill a human?” I wanted to know, because if so, it’s useless to try getting stronger by killing them.

“Good point,” he said as if remembering something he forgot to mention. “When you kill a human for example, you will get part of his experience points. Try to think about it as a dusty carpet. When you hit it, some of the dust will fly off. This dust is experience points and monsters automatically absorb them. I don’t know how it works exactly, it’s like these points remember who killed their master and just transfer to him of their own volition. The difference between us and them is that monsters won’t get all of their previous expi, only a very small portion of them, maybe because their souls don’t stay behind in the form of the soul core, but moves on. Also, monsters can’t gain expi from killing other monsters, only the power from the soul core.”

Trying to think about everything master just taught me I hear him quickly chanting something. When I looked at him I could see the shadow lurker’s soul core getting smaller and smaller till it doesn’t look like some black candy or marble.

“Here, I compressed it so you can easily devour it.” He said giving me a now small soul core. “It’s a very basic spell I will teach you, so you can store or devour them more easily.”

“Thank you master.” I thanked him ready to finally eat it.

“One last, very important thing,” he stopped me before I had a chance to put it inside my mouth. “You, as a member of the true demon race, are an exception about some of the before mentioned things. Why do you think you can exist right now without a soul core?” He asked not really expecting an answer from me.

“I said you are a member of the true demon race. Only summoned demons are of the true demon race. Humans call a lot of monsters demons, but that isn’t correct. What they call demons is the demonata race. They are only descendants of ancient demons who had an offspring with other races, so their blood isn’t pure. True demons are very rare in this world and have been either summoned as you were, or were born between two true demons with pure blood.

But let me get back to you existing without a soul core. All true demons are special because they are born with a soul and later on gain a soul core. This means they are the only race that has both a soul and a soul core. This can make you very powerful as from killing monsters you will gain both expi and soul core.

But enough with explaining. I can see you are becoming confused. Go on and eat that soul core, we shall finish this lecture later. Oh and let me warn you, the first time eating it will be very painful and unpleasant.”

As I listened to master I slowly put the soul core in my mouth and swallowed. For a few seconds I thought it will be fine and not as bad as master mentioned, but then the pain came. It is excruciating. I can feel like my body is being torn from the inside, ripping pain coursing through me like powerful waves accompanied by a burning sensation. I can’t even stand anymore as I’m thrashing on the ground gripping my heart, but nothing of it is helping me. Then inside of this pain a new feeling is born and something new started to form in my chest. I’m certain that it’s my soul core. After some minutes the pain slowly faded and I could breathe normally again.

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“That wasn’t so bad master.” I said to him now standing up again with sweat forming on my whole body. A pulsation came from my newly created soul core and it beat like a second heart. Only now did the real pain come, unimaginably stronger than before. Burning blood started to flow from my nose and ears and I can tell that my bones are starting to crack. My skin is rupturing around my whole body and my limbs are bent to wrong angles by some external power that is taking a hold of me. I can’t even hear my creams anymore as I sling myself to the ground not really caring if I will hurt myself more. As I slowly started to lose consciousness I could hear master laughing.

***

“I knew I shouldn’t have agreed with them going to meet that spy. They are too young to be doing this kind of work.” The elf said storming through the tent, with a worried expression plastered over his face.

“You are too overprotective of them Ailluin. They need to see that the world is crueller than it looks.” Another elf, who was comfortably sitting on one of the chairs, tried to calm his friend down.

“Maybe Vestaan, but better be overprotective than dead. Knowing this I would have tied them to a tree until the whole thing with those wretched undead is finished.”

Ailluin was the appointed commander of the elven forces dispatched to deal with the spreading corruption and undead legion. The elders gave him this task knowing he had plentiful experience from the previous war. Being born a warrior with a height of 1,9 meters and a body covered in slim muscles, he dedicated his life to defending their homeland for almost 300 years now. His long silvery hairs were braided so they don’t hinder him in the upcoming battle.

Elves, being very dextrous and mobile, preferred hit and run tactics which were their specialty, especially in forests, but they could quickly adapt to any rough terrain. As a nation with strong magical powers their warriors could use magic to boost their bodies to their utmost limits. Making themselves quicker and stronger they never used heavy class armour and strongly preferred middle class leather armour with a dodging style of fighting.

Most of their warriors were trained as blade dancers. They used two light short swords with a single cutting edge and a long tapering point. The whole length of the swords was only around 70cm, the blade being 50cm long. These weapons were called Twin Fangs and were used mainly for cutting and stabbing. Blade dancers merged them with their quick acrobatic fighting style and created a deadly combination with these light weapons.

Another exceptional thing was their archers. Using long ranged bows they could effectively shoot a target from a distance of 500 meters. Every bow was made by the archer himself and had the same height as its wielder for maximum efficiency. Archers often used wind magic to support their shots to add power and speed to them and in extreme cases of mastery even guide them in flight.

Lastly, but also a very strong force of their army, were mages. Wind, water and earth magic being their specialty. With a higher mana pool than most of the other nations they could cast for a long time.

Tensely studying the map in front of him Ailluin could hear the flaps of the tent opening.

“Ailluin, your daughters are back.” One of his messengers reported, shoving a smile on his face.

“Are they injured? Quickly take me to them.” He commanded, grabbing his twin fangs and almost running from the tent with Vestaan in his back.

“Not injured, only exhausted.” the elf tried to calm him down as he guided him through the camp to the healers.

Finally reaching the healing tent, he went inside without any further waiting. Seeing both Hiravii and Niila sitting on the bed and drinking hot soup from a steaming cup he sighted in relief.

“Finally you two, what took you so long? Don’t you understand the more time it takes to purge those undead the more serious the corruption will become! This isn’t a game or some training! When you finish that soup I want to hear a detailed report about the undead forces.” He was happy to see them alive, but as their commander he needed to scold them. Vestaan was right about this, they must understand that in times of war nobody will pamper them.

Not waiting for their response he went back to his tent.

“Don’t look so angry. He is telling the truth.” Vestaan warned them when seeing their restless looks.

Both young sisters, knowing he is right, gulped down their prepared comments and started to look apologetic.

“Don’t make us wait long. I’m also curious about what could have delayed you for so long.”

“You probably won’t believe us when we tell you what happened.” Hiravii said smiling, glad she made it back alive.

Standing before their father, Hiravii and Niila just ended their report. Numbers, positions and other detailed information about their enemy, they remembered it perfectly. They also shared their small adventure with the imp who saved them and enabled them to return. Their father, now staring at them incredulously, probably had a hard time believing that they were saved by a demon.

“You really want to make me believe that some random imp, living in our forest, saved you from an overgrown shadow lurker? Do you even know how silly it sounds?” He still thought they were humouring him.

“Calm down Ailluin.” Vestaan tried to help the sisters. “You know them well enough to tell they wouldn’t lie so blatantly.”

“It’s the truth father.” Hiravii once more confirmed her previous word, quickly remembering the small imp.

“Right now I’m not your father, but commander and you would do well if you remembered it.” Ailluin warned them with a harsh tone. “Whatever. Let’s forget about the imp.” He just put it out of his mind, concentrating on more important things. “You can both go and take a rest. We need to prepare the attack.” He dismissed them with a wave of his hand.

“What do you think?” Ailluin asked Vestaan after they stayed alone.

“They were lucky to survive. Not many are captured by a shadow lurker’s trap and live. But weren’t you too harsh with them?”

“As I said, they need to learn that this isn’t a game. Lives are at stake, every single decision they make could end up with their death and their mother will have my skin if something happens to them.” Ailluin trembled slightly from the thought.

“Hahaha, mighty Ailluin, commander of the elves is afraid of his wife.” Vestaan laughed at the picture.

“Enough.” Ailluin stopped him. “I will talk to them again later. What are your thoughts about the undead?”

“They shouldn’t be a problem looking at their numbers. If this information is correct there are only 200 of them, too few to pose a real threat.” Vestaan commented now with all seriousness.

“Exactly my thoughts, but it could also be a trap.”

“That shouldn’t be the case. I know our spy and he never even tried to feed us with false information. I think this just proves that the undead still don’t know that they have a spy in their ranks”

Ailluin nodded to Vestaan’s words saying: “So our biggest problem is Korpus, the Smiling Death. I remember that monster from war. He is cunning, wicked and powerful, able to kill hundreds with minimum effort. Such a big shot being here means this is important for their queen.”

“Still, I think we have enough magicians to manage him safely. With caution he shouldn’t be such a threat.”

“Yes, I have decided. Vestaan please go and let everybody know to get ready, we are marching towards the undead.”

Preparations didn’t take long and the elves were now in positions to start their attack. They stealthily approached the camp of the undead legion and were successful in killing all enemy sentries without being noticed. All that was left was to kill Korpus with his necromancers, some remaining undead forces inside the camp and then they would be able to start with the healing of the forest.

“Is everything prepared?” Ailluin asked one more time before giving the final order.

“Yes, everybody is waiting only for your word.” He heard Vestaan’s whisper.

“Do it.” Ailluin nodded his head in approval.

In that moment all elven forces tried to attack the camp as quietly as possible, fully using the moment of surprise on their side. Archers fired arrows in quick succession at the enemies who had the highest possibility of alarming the rest of the camp about their ambush. Blade dancers, swiftly and quietly as a wind, approached the undead, their weapons drawn. All mages stood in the back rows, preparing their defensive spells against the necromancers. Ailluin, with Vestaan on his side, was in the head of the charge. Just when they finally approached a lone death knight, somebody sounded an alarm.

“We are under attack!”

Ailluin, seeing one of the necromancers shouting, appeared behind the death knight and without waiting for his enemy he chopped the knight’s head off in one swift motion. Not minding his lost head the death knight turned around and tried to slice him in two halves with a two-handed sword. Seeing the sword coming at him Ailluin quickly ducked, evading the blow and not waiting for his enemy jump-somersaulted to the knight’s right side. The death knight not having a big chance about such a quick and tricky movement tried to block Ailluin’s next attack, but without success. Ailluin chopped off his right hand near the shoulder, the knight dropping his fearsome weapon. Quickly taking the chance the elf kicked against his chest, sending his foe flying a few meters. As he heard the cracking of broken bones, he stomped on the previously chopped off head, crushing the skull with still some of the rotting flesh attached to it. The death knight’s body still tried to move, but without the aid of a necromancer it was now harmless.

Ailluin looking around himself could see many of his fellow blade dancers slaying the undead. Be it skeletons or death knights, both were being suppressed too quickly with only minor injuries on the elven side. Phantasms did some damage, but with their prepared mages it was minimal and they too were being quickly defeated. It was when he started to think that everything is going too perfectly that he could feel an oppressive, fearsome aura approaching them.

Finding the source, he could see a group of necromancers coming, with Korpus himself in their command.

“Vestaan tell to mages to be ready!” Ailluin shouted his command.

Korpus noticing him pointed his staff at him and chanted: “Sümük xəncərlər, cındır. [Bone daggers, rip.]” In that moment the bones of a nearby defeated skeleton formed six sharp daggers and they flew towards his chest.

Ailluin being surprised at Korpus’s speed of chanting couldn’t even react. Just a moment before the sharp daggers ripped him to shreds Vestaan kicked his feet from under him. Falling to the ground, the daggers missed him and hit the elf mage standing nearby.

Korpus, not shoving his anger about missing his target, started to chant again: “Qullarım yüksələcək sizin, yuxu yüksəlməyə və mənim üçün öldürmək. [Rise my servants, rise from your slumber and kill for me.]”

Korpus’s eyes shined strongly with a cold blue hue as a lot of mana could be felt from him. Not waiting for an invitation, defeated skeletons and death knights started to rise from their death and readied to fight anew. The elves, surprised at the quick change of the situation, started to defend against previously slain enemies. But being inside the camp with slain undead all around them didn’t help. A lot of blade dancers found themselves in a situation where they fought two enemies at once, only for a third to unexpectedly revive behind them and attack. Being pressured so hard, the elves slowly started to be killed and killed ones were instantly raised under Korpus’s spell to fill the rows of undead anew.

Elven mages were trying to defeat Korpus with their spells, but they were blocked by the necromancers around him. Elven archers were able to kill a few of them, but the process was too slow. At this pace even if they won, they would probably still be almost wiped out.

“We need to do something and quickly. I never imagined that Korpus alone would be able to match our attack power.” Ailluin said, while fighting again with the previously slain death knight.

When it finally seemed like the mages would be able to break the necromancers’ defences, Korpus laughed.

“HAHAHA, good, good, try and struggle all you want. I shall show you despair.” He said in elven language so his enemies can understand him. “Olan lichaes gəlir və yaşayış üçün aclıq və nifrət qidalandırmaq və bu zaman mənə xidmət. [Liches from the netherworld come and feed your hunger and hatred for the living and serve me in this hour.]” As he chanted again the necromancers that were so painstakingly killed started to slowly move again. Their flesh started to rot, their bones became visible and their empty eyes gained a light blue hue similar to the one Korpus had, only weaker. As they rose in their new forms, they chanted again to strengthen the defence around their master yet again.

“How can he be so powerful? At this rate he will kill us all alone without taking any real damage and after we are dead he will just build a new legion from our dead bodies.” Vestaar said visibly frightened from Korpus’s power, still fighting undead forces around them. Defeating undeads wasn’t a big problem for them, but with their revival only taking a few seconds it became a vicious cycle and as more of them died, more of the undead came back. Even if they shattered their bones, they just assembled again.

Just when Ailluin wanted to sound a retreat something happened and the skeletons stopped reviving. A loud shout was heard from the centre of the necromancers and the liches slowly collapsed.

“Aaaaarrgh. What is the meaning of this Malthazar?” Korpus shouted, his anger clearly visible. “You treacherous little bitch, I will have your sorry life for this.”

Not paying attention to him Malthazar stabbed Korpus from the back with a long dagger right through his soul core in his chest.

“No you won’t, as you will die right now.” Malthazar said satisfied with himself. “Let me tell you a secret ‘my master’, I have been an elven spy for years now and this forest will be your final grave. This was a very long quest and I can finally complete it with your death.”

Korpus being surprised at what he heard said: “Quest? What are you talking about?”

“You still don’t understand Korpus? Even when I mentioned it was my quest?”

Then Korpus finally understood. “I see, you are a Realm Walker.” Being stabbed through his soul core he had problems staying conscious. “But don’t think I will go down so easily.” Korpus started to gather his dark mana again. Malthazar surprised by his strong vitality backed away in fear he will be caught in some of his last spells.

Grabbing something in his pocket, Korpus silently chanted again. The mana feeding his spell was so great that his staff broke while channelling, frightening everybody around. When finished he tossed six small objects looking like some animal fangs. It didn’t take even a few seconds when six beings appeared with the fangs as their core. Six shadow lurkers in almost transparent ghost forms. Not waiting for Korpus’s command they attacked the elves. Korpus, satisfied with the chaos he created, shattered one of his rings and vanished from the scene.

Malakhay’s whole body still hurt. It was not as bad as it was in the moment of creating his soul core, but he could still feel like he has broken every bone. Also because of a high fever his head was like dipped in fire. He never thought it will be this bad when he ate that soul core. As he was lying down on the bed in master’s laboratory he could suddenly feel the presence of Korpus appear out of nowhere.

“Get up Malakhay! Quickly! This is very important and we don’t have enough time.” Korpus shakes roughly with his body, trying to wake him up.

“Yes master.” Malakhay tried to sit up, feeling intense pain in his body.

“I know that you still need the rest, but right now it isn’t possible. We have been betrayed by Malthazar and he helped the elves to attack us.” Korpus said with a weird voice as he tried not to lose consciousness from his serious injury.

Finally understanding that his life is also in danger Malakhay opens his eyes. Looking at his master he can see a dagger piercing his soul core.

“Listen to me and listen well, because I will be able to tell it to you only once.” Korpus warned him, not having time for long dialogues. “I already told you that I possess a bloodline. With it I can remove the content of my soul core and transfer it to another body. You must never tell anybody about this ability of mine, or I will kill you without a second thought. Right now this body I have will certainly die, but you will serve as my vessel. I can’t control your body through this ability and I will be unconscious most of time. So I need you to go to the queen and tell her that I will need a new body. Also as soon as you see her deliver a message: Malthazar is a traitor and a Realm Walker. Do you understand?” Korpus asked in a hurry, preparing to transfer his consciousness to Malakhay.

“Yes master, Malthazar is a traitor and a Realm Walker.” Malakhay repeated the message. “But master where should I go? I don’t even know a way out of these woods. How should I find the queen?”

“Don’t worry about that. After I complete the transfer you will devour my soul core. It’s a big gamble as it could easily kill you, because your body still isn’t stabilized after yesterday, but we don’t have a choice. After devouring my soul core a part of the knowledge I have selected will be transferred to you. This should give you all the information you will need. I didn’t have enough time to prepare so there is high chance that you will learn some of my spells, but I don’t recommend to you to use them. You are too weak and they could kill you. Now go! Our lives are in your hands and I promise if you will be successful there will be a great reward waiting for you.” As Korpus finished his explaining he started to chant a complicated formula. His eyes lost all of their blue light and now looked like two endless black holes. Through his unmoving, slightly open mouth something like thick, black mist escaped. After being freed from his body the mist flew to Malakhay and without waiting for his permission it went down his throat. It was a very strange feeling for him, like trying to swallow something too big whole. After choking on it slightly the mist disappeared.

Now only a fragile skeleton lied before Malakhay. As it was ordered to him, he wanted to take out Korpus’s soul core, but it was too big and bones on the skeletal chest prevented him from getting it out. Thinking quickly he grabbed a hammer from the working table and tried to break the bones that were in his way. It took him some time, which seemed like eternity right now, before he finally held the old soul core of his master with the size of a human fist. Not losing any time he put the whole thing in his mouth and swallowed hard.

This time not waiting what the new soul core will do with him, he grabbed his cloak and daggers and escaped through the window. Running to the forest the laboratory behind him exploded, the pressure throwing him few meters away. His whole body was in pain and he could tell the feeling from eating a previous soul core was coming back. Also a lot of new information just started to pop up in his head. Not really understanding what’s happening he just tried to stand up and continue running. Finally moving again a sharp pain assaulted his left shoulder. He gripped it tightly, only to find an arrowhead coming out from it. Malakhay knew he must run or he will die.

Making a few steps, his sight became foggy, but he still tried to move on. Not noticing a steep downhill, he fell. Rolling down, the pain from the arrow became unbearable and after finally smashing into a tree he lost consciousness.