Mortal Realm.

The pellets of rain passed through Adriana's phantom-like body. Her ghost had moved with diligence, taking apparent shortcuts to wherever it was headed. She had eventually begun to examine her location, as probing her spirit had proved to be futile. Travelling to an unknown location, Adriana flew through the thunderous storm, reminiscing about the war and if she had taken those other bastards with her. The silent tears and whimpering were drowned out by the rain crashing against the ground, not knowing if she were even able to form tears.

Re-affirming her resolve, she knit her semi-translucent eyebrows. She realised that she was in the Mortal Realm, but her body had never passed through a portal from the Immortal Realm. A multitude of questions raced through her mind repeatedly. Was her spirit able to pass through the two Realms of its own volition? Either way, why had it taken her to the Mortal Realm specifically? Adriana felt false beads of sweat appear on her scales and neck as she came to a realization. The only conclusion she was able to reach was that the Emperor's gift had saved her life and that her soul was searching for a body for her to possess.

Even so, she was in the mortal human territory as she had noticed passing multiple villages, surely she wouldn't possess a revolting human, right?! Especially not one without a Dantian! No, her soul would simply pass right through this human area into a dragon hybrid, a Skaron would be fine as they were descendants but a human?

She shivered just thinking about it. A species that joined hands with the Demons to wipe us out. Looking over to a suspicious location in the distance shrouded in a darkness that one would be hypnotised with and easily miss she scoffed. Her mental barriers were far too refined for such measly tricks. Abruptly, her direction turned hypotenuse facing the short bumpy hill and her soul began heading towards it.

'You gotta be kidding me...'

Stopping above the tiny hill, a cellar was hidden underneath plastered with arrays from top to bottom. Slowly, her body descended into the hill as her semi-translucent figure seamlessly passed through it. Taking a look around, Adriana for a moment felt nauseated. Hundreds of human infants were placed inside small pods filled to the brim with moloch fluid, used by the demons to raise their own.

Their flesh and blood were left to be raised on their own in little tanks, with no enjoyment, no parents, and no sweet memories would be created; merely Immoral savages would be formed as a result. Adriana's non-existent body trembled in built-up rage, the humans truly were not redeemable, her spirit began to slow down to a walking pace though she continued to hover mid-air.

Passing by a child, Adriana glared into its lifeless eyes, while the others were crying, this one was dead silent, it made her heart ache.

Despite despising humans, she always had a soft spot for children, their gleeful temperament and cheeky nature mixed with an innocence untainted by any other conceptual biases. She believed children could be easily molded with guidance into ideal beings.

As a result of their childhood, they could either turn out to be mass-murdering psychos or lovable saints whose whole purpose is to further others' dreams and aspirations. Before the war Adriana didn't have a title as a guardian of the Vanadium Empire, she was simply known as Adriana.

She was eventually given her horrendous title by the humans and demons during the war as she never tolerated the harming of her children and fellow dragons, ripping to shreds all who dared to even think such things. Because of this, she was called Adriana the merciless. Not bearing to look any longer at them, she was eventually pulled away by her spirit out of her control. Beyond the room there was a narrow metal corridor with numerous human doctors passing by, some carrying infants, others rushing to a particular room in excitement.

Adriana was far too large to pass through the tight corridor, only her head fit through the hallway as she lay there horizontally most of her semi-translucent yet invisible body going through the walls around her as she moved farther down the hallway.

She wasn't able to transform into a smaller form as she couldn't control her spirit. Arriving at another room, this time a much smaller room - an operating room - her spirit slowly began to enter a seemingly dead child's body that was laid on a concrete bed.

'Despicable fiends, they've lost a child due to their pathetic skills. Once I take control of the child, I must kill them. Luckily, this child contains a dantian. Losing one of their own that possesses a dantian as well is disgusting.'

Entering the body, all was dark as Adriana's consciousness began to connect to the body.

"Who the fuck are you?" Adriana's mind snapped back to her spirit as she was forced out by an unknown force.

"What the! Impossible! Who's there? How are you in this body as well?" Adriana interrogated while losing her breath in surprise.

"More like how are you in my body, lady? Are you a ghost attempting to possess me?" Adriana's mind dug to find a reason for this occurrence and what was happening.

'The child's body was supposed to be dead... Is someone else's soul attempting to possess this body?'

Before she was able to question, Alexander's tired and lifeless voice took the initiative.

"Well, go ahead, ghost or whatever you are, just get it over with and possess me. Frankly, I've had enough of this place. I don't understand anything, I don't know why I'm here, how I'm here, and who the hell put me here."

At a loss for words, Adriana sympathized with the mysterious man's words. Clearing her voice, Adriana exclaimed, "My name is Adriana from the Immortal realm."

"And my name is Alexander, and I'm from planet Earth. Maybe you shouldn't role-play in such a predicament."

Confused but still following along with what she was saying, Alexander added amusingly whilst realistically stating what was obvious to him out loud. It was obvious the 'Immortal world' was something from her fantasy, but hey who was he to judge? He was just glad he had someone to talk to regardless of who or what they were.

Suddenly, Adriana realised that he was speaking a language that she had never heard in all her 3 millennia, and yet they could understand each other.

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"Interesting... It seems feasible for him to at the least not be lying."

"Yeah, why would I lie?"

"Huh!" Adriana said, shocked at realizing she could hear his thoughts and he could hear hers.

Adriana was bewildered. She quickly discerned that if they could hear each other's thoughts, there would be no way to lie to each other, and so they wouldn't have to worry about each other's motives. Adriana wanted to ask more questions, but pushed them to the back of her mind as she heard what the doctors on the outside of the body were discussing.

"Dr. Hallow, I have reported it to the higher-ups."

A doctor rushed back into the room, panting heavily, beads of sweat trickling down the sides of his head. Hallow turned his back to Alexander, facing the doctor and crossing his brows.

"Then? What was their decision?"

"I regret to inform you that they denied permission for any further experimentation."

"Tsk." Clicking his tongue, Hallow's face turned sullen in disappointment. Eventually, he nodded and instructed the other doctors to bring anaesthetics as they had finished with the experiment. Adriana became alert as she recognized that they had to leave before they were put to sleep.

"All right... Let's discuss this later! It appears the human doctors wish to put us to sleep."

Hearing the doctor's not-so-pleasing discussions, Adriana wanted to depart from the place as soon as possible. With Alexander not fighting back, she slowly took command of the body. It was far more difficult than she anticipated as she had never done it before and since Alexander had been in the body longer than her it was more naturally merged to his soul. Exerting the last bit of energy she had stored away in her consciousness a cacophony of sounds began to come from Alexander's body.

Alexander had frankly just wanted someone to converse with, as all this time of being by himself had taken a serious strain on his consciousness so he did what Adriana asked him to do.

-Shhhiii

Alexander's body began to glow as Hallow sensed enormous energy erupting from him, his attentiveness and alertness could only be seen on his face as he ascertained what was about to so suddenly occur. Sensing the dangerous energy his face grew solemn.

"SHIT! MOVE!" Pushing and knocking the young doctor out of the way into Alexander, Hallow sped through the others and got as far away as he could in a hysteria.

-BOOM

The blast distorted the walls of the room and created an almost perfect oval through the ceiling to the surface, Alexander lay in the charcoal black crater and was left speechless by the feat.

'Come on, almost got it!'

Adriana on the verge of consciousness created a mushy trampoline-like concrete beneath them as if she had manner manipulation and threw Alexander's body into the air out of the underground bunker and cellar as the room was filled with a myriad of shocked and injured doctors.

Some being practically on the verge of death while others on the verge of passing out. Adriana made sure to only damage the cellar up to the entrance of the room filled with children. Wishing them luck within her heart.

Flying through the air, a translucent purple ball formed around Alexander's body, flying the air, the little arms of his wiggling about and landing on the hip of a nearby mountain, that once was covered in luscious green plants but now had a massive crater by its side. Alexander's body had been destroyed. Having trouble breathing from the damage done to his lungs, Adriana swiftly and expertly healed his body before passing out completely.

*****

Ally and Nicholas waved back to the villagers, the home Ally had resided in for her entire life, six years, she was leaving. At first, she reckoned she would be homesick at the mere thought of leaving for an unknown period but on the contrary, she felt alive, free and unconstrained. She had her mentor and master Nicholas by her side and for all she knew, no one could match him in terms of prowess, her image of him remaining a golden shield repulsing any vile beast that dared look her way.

With him, she felt invincible. Her uncle, on the other hand, was uncontrollably sobbing, balling his eyes out and wiping at them in embarrassment. Her mother held him tightly; a large, burly man who could once take on a bear with his bare hands was now being held like a toddler. The image of her uncle's indestructible figure was completely bulldozed, but maybe that wasn't a bad thing.

"Bye, honey!" Her mom called out one final time, cupping her hands around her mouth to direct her voice farther with more precision.

"Bye, mom!" Ally proclaimed back with the most determined and comforting voice she could muster. Nicholas stooped next to her, his hands behind his back, and a change of robes taken out of his space ring. It was a green ring with a tungsten-looking stone in the center carved in an oval protruding outwards. Space rings were rare and expensive, not being able to store living creatures, only objects with a specific amount of space crafted for them to hold.

Only artifact crafters could create such rare pieces of equipment, and they were rarer than Immortals themselves.

Nicholas whispered in Ally's small peach ear, "It's time to go..."

With a measured nod, Ally acknowledged Nicholas's plan and turned to mount him, her form merging with his in the traditional piggyback position. Together they launched skyward, their bodies cutting through the air with increasing speed. As they soared, Ally's gaze was drawn to the sun, its radiant heat smudged by the rolling clouds below. She shifted her weight, urging Nicholas to ascend even higher, until they broke through the cloud cover and emerged above the skies. The wind, raw and untamed, whipped through her tresses, stripping away the dirt and debris, leaving her hair a wild mane of beauty.

Leaning closer to Nicholas's ear, she shouted above the roar of the winds, "When shall we reach the Sect?"

Nicholas inclined his head, his gaze meeting hers in his periphery, but was suddenly interrupted by an enormous eruption. "In about-"

-BOOM

Abruptly slowing down his flying, Ally pointed in a direction towards a mountain that was enormous, flourishing with life, a quarter of which might've just died. Smoke was rising from the other end, to which Nicholas soared, descending towards the mountain.

"What is that?" Ally squinted, not being able to make out what it was.

"It's a child..."

Nicholas's vision was beyond exceptional, so he was able to make out the injured boy with ease.

"We have to save him!" Ally exclaimed.

"No... It's most likely already dead," Nicholas replied, shaking his head and shutting down Ally's idea straight away, not giving her enough time to think of something foolish.

Unfortunately, it was for naught as she continued, "We have to try!"

Pulling on Nicholas's hair, Ally relentlessly jumped around on his shoulder and back, attempting to dive forward without any regard for her own life. Nicholas began to have a headache. She was far too weak to harm him, but she could annoy him.

Raising his voice in irritation, he said, "Stop it, you crazy basta-... What the hell."

Glaring back at the boy, Nicholas realized the boy was healing. Confused at his sudden change in temperament, Ally looked at where he was looking but wasn't able to see anything.

"Mm? What is it?" she asked.

"The boy is healing his catastrophic injuries at a tremendous rate, it's as if he hadn't been hurt at all," Nicholas replied, now curious.

Nicholas dived similarly as Ally had suggested, much to her discomfort and sudden shock. She held on for dear life as they landed. Nicholas crept up to the boy and was shocked to realize that he had a dantian as well.

Stumbling back, Nicholas realised this may have been what he was looking for all this time.

Not an object to cure his curse or a plant to save his soul but someone to assist him.

'The boy was able to heal such injuries instantly, could this be some kind of unique trait of his? Maybe... Just maybe, this boy could one day do the same to my curse.'

Glaring enthusiastically at Ally, Nicholas declared. "I think I just found our new disciple."

Ally looked back at Nicholas shocked as Nicholas took his chance to continue.

"Meet your junior brother, Uhm..." Not being able to think of a name, Nicholas began to stumble on his words.

Ally taking this as her opportunity joined in to finish the sentence shrieked "Deno! Let's name him Deno."

Facepalming and coming to the conclusion that the boy really doesn't have a name and was almost left for dead by someone or something, practically left here to die.

He let her name him not being sure if Deno would despise him in the future for it.

'Letting it be was for the best.' Nicholas thought.

"All right, Deno it is."