Jack woke up in a bed in a house that he didn’t know in where it is, by the noises it seems to be the elven village but he doesn’t know in what part of it, he also doesn’t know from who is this house or even who is the person! At least he is still in elven form so he decided to rise from the bed but when he did it a door the door was broken into by a human boy with brown hair and eyes that jumped at him saying:
- Father, you are okay!!!! – The boy said making Jack fall in the ground with the boy in his lap and hugging him – I am so glad that you are okay, I was so worried – He said while almost crying.
- Please calm down, first tell me who you… - Jack was saying but felt a connection with the boy like the one with Garuda and when he started to read this connection he felt surprised – Bjorn?!?!
- You can teel who I am!!!! – The boy, Bjorn, said excited and happy – Yay, I am special to father – He said hugging Jack stronger.
- Wait, why are you calling me father? – Jack asked feeling confused since he only cleansed, improved and named Bjorn but he wasn’t the true father of Bjorn but the system disagrees:
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The moment you improve a being or create a being that being becomes part of your family
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- Are you kidding me??? – Jack shouted in his thought to the system.
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The system doesn’t play around
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- Ok… So, you can be considered my son… - Jack said to Bjorn while patting Bjorn’s head – Do you know where we are? – He asked since Bjorn seemed to be awake since some time.
- We are in the house of that elf that was with you – Bjorn said.
- So we are at Rod’s place… - Jack muttered rose up and exited the door but hasn’t found anything, it is a normal house with elven style. Instead of just searching in the house Jack decided to scare Rod so he spread his senses to locate him. In the end he located him but there is something strange so Jack decided to hide in the shadows and see what happened, he sneaked in the room and instead of Rod he saw an elven girl dressed in a robe that was talking alone.
- Roddin why did you bring them here? – The girl asked but Jack couldn’t see anything but suddenly became surprised when her body changed and became that of Rod.
- Leela, Aragorn fainted and I couldn’t leave that boy, that seems to be Bjorn, there so I could only help them – Rod said also talking to himself and them his body turned back to the elven girl.
- But what if they found out our situation Roddin? – The elven girl, Leela, asked to “herself” and then turned back to Rod, Roddin.
- We already know some of his secrets, that he can cure corruption, that he can make beasts evolve, that he can create ego items, that his body can absorb powers, et cetera et cetera – Roddin said trying to defend Jack and Bjorn and then turned into Leela.
- But we don’t even know if he is from the family of the usurper – Leela said saying something that Jack didn’t understand, then she started to change back to Roddin but suddenly the door was broken into by Bjorn.
- Father are you here? – He said but when saw Leela transforming into Roddin he became awestruck – What? What is this? – He muttered while pointing to Roddin – Wha, how, whe – Bjorn tried to form words but couldn’t even think of what to say but then he sank in the shadows and Jack rose from them which made Roddin surprised.
- Sorry about him – Jack said feeling a little ashamed.
- Since when you were here? – Roddin asked trembling.
- Since Leela asked why you brought us here – Jack said lowly.
- You even know her name… - Roddin muttered.
- I will be honest: I don’t care about what the situation that you are in is, I only care about why did you lie to me about your name – Jack said since he is in a similar situation since he can lose control of his body depending in his emotions since he entered the capsule.
- Wait… You saw I changing into a girl and talking to her and her talking to me and changing back to me and don’t care about it? – Roddin asked feeling that something is strange.
- At least it seems that both of you can talk to each other – Jack said – I am in a similar situation: depending on my emotions I just lose control of my body and it seems that another me take control and do something that it falls into what I want to do but in a different way – Jack explained remembering the time when he just started fighting his neighbors like they were nothing more than just enemies that he needed to deal with.
- …… - Roddin doesn’t even know what to say, he can see that Jack is serious so he only felt grateful that Jack shared something like this to him.
- Now can you tell me why did you lie to me about your name? – Jack said already feeling the problems that this could bring since Leela talked about an usurper, he is two being in the same body and he hide his true name.
- You probably already know but my true name is Roddin and the other elf that is in my body is named Leela, we began sharing the same body fifty (50) years ago when her family, the royal family of this land, ended being almost all exterminated by her uncle that desired the throne made a coup d’état and usurped the throne, I used a fake identity to not be found by the usurper – As Rodin explained Jack expression became somber from dreading the situation that he found himself in – To save her I, the royal researcher, tried to use an experimental magic that I created that would fuse her body with mine and, as you can see, it worked out – He said proudly.
- Please, tell me that you are kidding, I didn’t want to deal with lord Ardryl and now I am involved with the royal family of this land – He said with a voice full of dread – And how no one noticed, is everyone in this land disloyal enough to not care if a coup occurred? – Jack said trying to think of ways to make the story that Roddin said appear to be false since he doesn’t want to be involved in big things.
- Wait, you are involved with lord Ardryl? – Roddin asked surprised.
- Sigh, it ended happening – Jack said like it is nothing – I don’t want to deal with complicated things like this so when thing got to complicated I just ran – He said remembering the situation.
- You ran away from lord Ardryl? – Roddin asked awestruck – HAHAHAHAHA, this is too much, HAHAHAHAHA – Roddin laughed like there is no tomorrow – Ok, it seems like you is some kind of runaway noble – He said joking.
- Maybe it would be best if I was something like this maybe things would go smoothly – Jack said melancholic and from the way that he talked Roddin could see that something is wrong here and Leela also noticed that since she switched with Roddin.
- From your situation so far it seems that your situation may be worse than mine – She said this while thinking that something is strange from the information that Roddin gathered from observing Jack and from what he told them.
- I will be honest, sometimes I just wished that I haven’t involved myself in this mess – Jack said without saying what the “mess” is which made Leela suspicious – Ok, since I am already involved in all this shit tell me your plan to recover your family throne or at least tell me why no one found it strange when suddenly the royal family changed – Jack said accepting the fact that he can’t run from these things forever.
- …….. okay – Leela said skeptical – To the noble families it was told that a disease took over my family and we were quarantined so they will only start to find flaws in this explanation after at least more one hundred fifty (150) years and those of my family that survived can’t wait so much time – She explained – But for a plan….. I couldn’t think of any and all the plans that Roddin proposed for me seemed almost like betrayal since they involved asking for someone’s help like lord Ardryl, but as a member of the royal family I can’t “ask” for help, even with my situation being a bit weird now – She explained but felt strange when looked at Jack’s face.
- You are really dumb, do you know that? - Jack said which infuriated Leela but before she could say anything more Jack said – In your situation you don’t have space for pride, your familiar could be in the worst situations possibles, like being forced to work on a brothel, and here you are worrying about your miserable pride – Jack said and as he said that his iris changed to a golden color like that of the “Imperial Flame” but this color is stronger and more opaque while from him a fire started to spread, a fire that someone can even feel the will to submit to Jack – You never should leave your family members waiting for salvation by something as meaningless as pride, even if you are from some shit like a royal family – “Jack” said and with each word the aura that he emanated changed from his previous one to a more authoritative one and filled with hate from Leela’s perspective on the situation and his next words hurt Leela the most – Only those who have some kind of power can dream on having power – He said with a voice that contains authority and then he fell in the ground exhausted and back to normal while Bjorn jumped out of Jack’s shadow.
- Father you shouldn’t make such an effort – Bjorn said hugging the exhausted Jack.
- He, this happens sometimes – Jack said with a more playful tone but then he noticed that the system has a message for him:
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The Titan has unlocked a new element the Emperor’s Fire
Emperor’s Fire: The fire that only emperors can wield, it has all the glory and power of the most powerful empires in the world
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- So back to the core of the matter: how you will deal with the problem of not having a plan? – Jack asked Leela but she didn’t answer since she is still “hurt” by the truths that Jack spoke so Bjorn intervened:
- Well, if she needs to have power there is power over numbers and in the forest there are lot’s of beings that are in the same circumstance that I was, corrupted, so if we could cleanse them they would help us – Bjorn said.
- I don’t think I can think of so many names – Jack said thinking at how difficult for him is to create names.
- Father, I understand that you don’t want to leave one of us without a name but I could feel when you named me, it takes too much energy from you – Bjorn said remembering the feelings he felt when Jack improved him and them after Jack named him, he felt Jack’s energy flowing into him even with Jack using the life energy transformed from corruption and then only named him.
- But I feel that it isn’t right to leave any of you without a name – Jack said remembering Alli and his other beasts, that now he knows, are basically his children – I feel that I MUST name those who I change and not just leave them to anyone’s fate – He said thinking that those he improves could be a good prey for hunters: new species or improved species, in the black market they would probably fetch a good price in the black market and just thinking of that makes Jack’s blood boil – I can’t let any of you get in danger because I was careless – He said emanating the “Emperor’s Fire”.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
- …….. – Bjorn couldn’t even make a single sound after this display and could only feel grateful for having such a caring “father” – Ok, this plan can’t be easily done but we could at least cleanse them so they won’t be in pain – Bjorn said remembering the times he was corrupted: his mind wasn’t his own, he always felt hunger and cold, never could get in contact with members of his own species since those who weren’t corrupted won’t stay near someone corrupted and those who are corrupted will just fight. He was lucky for maintaining his consciousness partially.
- But what about the converted life energy? – Jack asked since he doesn’t want to take something that is someone’s right.
- Father, even if we beasts have the opportunity to improve and our doorsteps like this most won’t accept it so easily without paying something for the opportunity, some will try to pay by gratitude alone others because they feel suspicion about kind heartedness just from it, even if they were cleansed by the same being who is offering them the opportunity – Bjorn explained the beast way of seeing things.
- It is a solitary life – Jack said sadly after hearing what Bjorn said.
- Well, this is the life of a best – Roddin said after shifting with Leela that is still stunned – But it is a good plan, instead of killing or running from the corrupted we could cleanse them but… won’t you get too tired? – He asked remembering Jack fainting.
- That only happened because I improved and named Bjorn here – Jack said patting Bjorn’s back.
- So you can cleanse as much corrupted beast as you want?!?! – Rodding asked surprised.
- Yep – Jack said in a playful tone.
- So let’s go!!!! – Roddin said excited but was quickly interrupted by Bjorn.
- Father, before that I think that we need to discuss what you will do with the converted life energy – Bjorn said bringing a problem that sometime they would need to deal with – I think that you should use on yourself since your energy capacity is too low for you to even name me – Bjorn said remembering how worried he felt when Jack fainted.
- But I can use it in you – Jack said not understanding that even his others abilities need his energy.
- Father, for now I am strong enough so you don’t need to worry about me – Bjorn said hiding some things from Jack.
- Ok… - Jack said resigned while Roddin only listened and wrote down every thing that Jack and Bjorn said.
After this little chat all of them walked to the forest but with Bjorn transformed in his bear form to not attract attention, which didn’t work since a bear larger than four lying men and higher than three standing men can’t be discreet in the middle of a village or any habituated place but they still managed to go out of the village without incidents. When they arrived at the forest they walked in the direction where they found Bjorn and from there on they searched for any corrupted beast which they soon found two of them fighting with murderous glee, this made Jack worried for their safety so he immediately used both the “Alchemical Life Fire”, to cleanse them from the corruption, and “Miracle Fire”, to heal them, and from them came such an amount of corruption that Jack wondered if how this much corruption was in their bodies, even if he doesn’t know anything about corruption.
When the corruption came out of them, they looked at each other and ran away leaving Jack stunned.
- They just ran away… I couldn’t even talk to them… - Jack said surprised and a little sad.
- I told you that we beasts don’t easily trust others father – Bjorn said feeling Jack’s desire to be friendly.
- So why did you come to us so easily? – Jack asked feeling that it was strange the beasts acted this way even if Bjorn didn’t.
- Well, I was one of the few who had managed to retain part of my consciousness and even if I am relatively new to my species standard I was powerful, so I could feel that you, father, would be the one to save me and the other beasts – Bjorn said explained a little about his situation before he met Jack – And this is why I want for you to become stronger, for your own benefit and to save those in need and, from my connection with you, I know this is what you want too but you won’t let yourself gain all the possible benefits from this if I don’t explain this – Bjorn said demonstrating that even if he usually is childish, or at least this is the way he acted most of the time since Jack awoke, and this isn’t much time, he can be serious about situations like this.
- Wait, you could FEEL that Aragorn could save you? – Roddin asked surprised since he never heard of anything like that.
- I thought you could feel it too and this was the reason you brought us to your place – Bjorn said naively – Someone’s place is their most sacred spot where they can be themselves and, if well hidden, be secure – He explained the beast way of thinking.
- No, I… I just thought that if I followed him I… could discover more secrets of the world… - Roddin said but with each part of what he said he noticed that without noticing he began to trust Jack and help him even with they knowing each other for such a short amount of time. He made himself think that it was all because he wanted to discover more secrets but, in the end, he ended even putting his primary mission of protecting the princess at risk – Aragorn, I think that maybe the power inside you is more powerful than I initially thought… - Roddin said understanding that he is also being affected by Jack’s power like Bjorn was but, instead of seeing what he NEED from Jack, he is seeing what he WANT.
- Now let’s end this and let’s father improve himself – Bjorn said while Jack contemplated how he could best use this energy, the best way would be to make his energy pool, whatever energy it is filled with, bigger, but then if he ended exhausting himself it would be harder to refill it so he should improve his regeneration but then another problem came, he should increase his resistance to exhaustion, so even if he got exhausted and recovered quickly he would be able to resist the effect of the exhaustion. In the he decided that since the first time he put all the energy into increasing his energy pool he will put in a 1:2:2 ratio of size, regeneration and resistance regarding his energy pool, and so he did.
The energy entered Jack like a train, it even made him stumble, and he felt his horizon expanding but he couldn’t determine why so for now he accepted it and decided to investigate it later.
After this ended Jack could feel himself recovering in real time, even if he haven’t used much energy, so he wanted to test his new state and his wish was fulfilled when the two beast from before came running but with a lot of corrupted beast following them. This scene made Roddin tremble in fear and Jack jump with happiness who then cast the “Alchemical Life Fire” in all of them, from the corrupted beasts came such a quantity of energy that maybe Jack could create an entire creature from this, but he decided against it since he is here to improve himself and to this with a 1:2:2 ratio again but this time the train was much bigger and it only got bigger since Jack is at the same time using the energy and converting more energy.
After a certain point he decided to try to change with what he is using the energy with: this time he will improve his precision in dealing with energies, his affinity with energies and his body potential in a 2:2:1 ratio and this time he felt the difference much more heavily since his precision is linked to the brain, and the affinities and body potential is related with the entire body so this time instead of his own energy capabilities, which he didn’t even now with what they are related, being improved it is his body that is being improved and this made him feel his entire body itching.
After some time all the beasts were cleansed and all bowed to Jack while he fell in the ground feeling relieved from not feeling the itch and just said to them:
- I am happy that you are all healthy again – He said in a tone that contained his desire for them to be healthy – But you don’t need to bow before me – He said feeling a little ashamed from being treated like this but then the system reacted to this situation:
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The “Emperor’s Fire” is reacting to the beats’ will
The “Emperor’s Fire” is empowering the Titan and those who follow him
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After the system informed this the “Emperor’s Fire” enveloped Jack and all the beasts, even Bjorn and Garuda in his shadow, and in their bodies appeared marks and from them their bodies were filled with energy that strengthened their strengths and diminished their weaknesses making all of them stronger by leaps and bounds. The only ones who weren’t strengthened and are in Veritas are Roddin an Leela who doesn’t think of him as their leader.
Jack’s mark, which is on his back, is the most peculiar of all of them, a double eclipse, a Moon covering a Sun and a Sun covering a Moon and both events are interconnected by something that looks like roots but it isn’t physical, it is pure energy and the mark pulsed with pure energy that is directly transferred to Jack’s body. Seeing this situation only made Roddin more excited which led to him writing down everything he saw faster than ever before:
- That was similar to the Flame that you used before but stronger and with more diverse powers, can you tell me what it was? – Roddin asked trying to satiate his desire for knowledge.
- It is called “Emperor’s Fire”, it seems to be similar to the “Imperial Flame” but it has more depth to its power – Jack explained thinking that maybe Roddin could help him analyze the powers of this new fire.
- This is interesting… - Roddin said and then he had an idea – Why don’t you try to create an item? – He said already imagining the power of the item.
- Good idea! – Jack exclaimed and tried to use the “Crystalize Element” card using the “Emperor’s Fire”, he tried to create a circlet since a crown would be too much for someone like him who want to go unnoticed but as he put the energy in it he felt his energy being drained at an absurd pace, like this circlet is a bottomless black hole that only wants to suck his energy, and everyone near him, even the beasts, noticed that something is off because the energy is so big that is starting to create a fire tornado. Seeing that this would make everyone here be in danger Jack decided to cut his energy flow so it wouldn’t be fed to the circlet but it was difficult since he already activated the card so instead, he made his energy go wild inside his body injuring him but cutting the energy flow.
- Father, what happened? – Bjorn shouted worried approaching Jack but without knowing what to do.
- It is just that the “Emperor’s Fire” is more energy demanding about energy when it involves creating an item than I thought so to not faint I decided to do this to cut the energy flow – Jack explained what happened to ease Bjorn’s worry.
- It is one way to do this but couldn’t you just stop feeding it energy? – Roddin asked since from what he know from Jack he has an extremely delicate control over energy and because of this he could easily cut his energy flow.
- The fire was sucking my energy directly like it was a normal animal that has gone days without drinking almost anything – Jack explained without using the black hole metaphor since he doesn’t know if here in Veritas they have the concept of black hole.
- Interesting… - Roddin muttered writing down these information – It is best if we return to the village to rest and to search somethings – He said noticing that it was getting late.
- Yeah, this would be best – Jack said and then had a sudden panic attack when he remembered about his mother and his sister and how he should explain an alligator and a fire snake in his house, and the panic attack only worsened when he remembered how many hours that he was here and the times he fainted which should make everything worse – Can we go to your house? – Jack asked Roddin since he doesn’t know if how he should explain the situation of him going out of Veritas to Bjorn.
- Sigh, I guess that it doesn’t have any problem with that since you already know my and Leela there is no problem with you staying there – Roddin said and then they started to walk back to the village but were stopped when Jack noticed one thing:
- Why are the beasts following us? – Jack asked to Bjorn who made the face of someone confused.
- They are following you because they see you as their leader and savior father – Bjorn explained – And since they even received a blessing from you in the form of those marks that improve them they see you as their hope to get stronger – He explained from the perspective of the beasts.
- So, they will follow me to wherever I go? – Jack asked hoping it isn’t this.
- Unless you command them to go to another place they will stay in the same place and you tell them to go to another place there is even a chance they will never stop until you ask them to come back – Bjorn said.
- You beast are crazier than I thought – Jack said thinking about what would happen if someone cruel appeared here – What if the being that they are following decided to turn on them? – Jack asked worried about their wellbeing.
- Hehe – Bjorn laughed a little – Depending on the situation they would run, fight or accept the situation - He explained how this type of situation would impact the beasts but he became surprised when Jack hugged him tenderly and said:
- Now you won’t need to pass by this – Jack said to Bjorn and then he turned to the beast letting his true feeling fill his words and from them the beasts could feel it which made them even more grateful.
Seeing this Roddin became astonished by how bad is the situation that the beasts need to live with – It seems that for beasts life is much more cruel – He said and then shifted back to Leela:
- Maybe if I could take the throne back, I could help them have an easier life… - Leela muttered having recovered from the shock of Jack’s words.
- So you are back – Jack said but with a different tone of voice – Do you want to finally accept your weakness and do what you can or do you to hold onto your pitiful pride and in the end lose everything?– He asked while a mantle of the “Emperor’s Fire” formed around him.
- You, who are you? – Bjorn asked preparing to attack Jack when he saw the changes in Jack’s aura but stopped when he noticed something – You… You are and aren’t my father – He said raising his guard.
- What do you mean? – Leela asked without understanding the situation – Isn’t he Aragorn? – She asked feeling that Bjorn’s reaction is strange.
- He isn’t my father – He said without taking his eyes out of Jack – My father has an aura of someone who wants to understand everything that it interacts with but this being has an aura of someone who wants to conquer everything that it interact with – Bjorn explained examining Jack - Who are you? – He said preparing to do something at a moment’s notice.
- He, you are a good boy – “Jack” said and then turned back to Leela – Will you ask for help or not? – He asked emanating an aura of sovereignty and then, in the sky, a vortex was formed then descended to the ground forming a tornado that landed behind Jack.
Seeing this Leela became awestruck from the sheer demonstration of power but also understood her position here: she could ask for help or she could ignore this and follow her path but it is as “Jack” said, if she doesn’t ask for help she will lose everything so she admitted – I am weak, I can’t do anything alone so please help me – She begged “Jack”.
- Good – “Jack” said and from the tornado came two hands but dissipated before doing anything which made “Jack” say – Oh, it seems my time here is over – He said and then he started to come back to normal but he said before fainting – I wait for the time when He will be strong enough to not rely on us – “Jack” said talking about the real Jack and then fainted without a single drop of energy in his body.
- Father! – Bjorn shouted running to Jack desperate and taking him in his arms.