Kai wiped the tears from his eyes with the sleeve of his tunic, stumbling backward from the glowing crystal. His heart thudded against his chest, but not from fear, ecstasy surged through him like wildfire.
"I… I did it," he whispered to himself. Clenching his fists.
Before the tall man behind the crystal could speak, Kai was already out the door.
"Wait, I need to record your nam…."
But Kai had vanished.
The sun still stood high in the sky, it was only the middle of the afternoon. Kai dashed through the hall's polished floors and burst through the front gates of Azure Arcanum Hall, ignoring the confused glances of the guards and scribes. His boots struck the stone beneath him with urgency as he sprinted to the nearby stables.
His brown horse neighed upon seeing him. Kai leapt into the saddle and gave a gentle but firm nudge with his heels. The horse understood.
With a spirited whinny, it galloped through the busy streets of Azure City, weaving between wagons and vendors. Shouts followed him, but he paid no attention to them.
He had to share the news. He had to tell his parents.
That he was a magus.
As he rode through the rolling hills toward the Drakkor estate, the daydreams began. He imagined his father's proud smile, his mother's silent embrace, the elder's astonished reactions. He'd be the first magus in their clan's history.
They'd never fear other magus again and can live their life in luxury. He would train in the arcane arts, travel to ancient halls, and…..
He paused. The estate was still distant, but something was off.
The stone walls of the Drakkor estate walls he had seen every day of his life were not upright.
They were shattered. Like the walls were obliterated not even trace of them was left.
His chest tightened. His dream broke.
"No..." he muttered.
He kicked the horse, faster now. Trees blurred past him. His heartbeat matched the pounding of the hooves.
As he reached near the gates, the full horror came into view. The entrance was nothing more than a blackened hole. Rubble lay strewn across the once peaceful path. Smoke curled from what used to be houses. The banners of the Drakkor clan were torn and burning.
There were corpes everywhere but they were not intact they were shredded. Kids elders everyone of them.
Kai's face agrew darker and darker. His fingers trembled on the reins. He barely managed to halt the horse before leaping off.
He ran.
"Mother! Father!" he screamed.
His voice echoed across the desolation, but only the wind answered.
He scrambled through the ruins. Where once stood tidy homes and training yards, there was only ash and blood. His boots crunched over charred wood and shattered tiles.
His home. Where he was born. Training grounds where he sparred with his father. Kitchen where his mother served him food with a silent smile.
Gone.
"No, no, no..." he chanted, refusing to believe what his eyes showed.
He ran toward the remains of his own house. It was obliterated. Half of the outer wall was missing. The front courtyard had collapsed inward.
Still, he pushed through.
He ran here and there in search in hope that he can find anyone, but there was no one.
Then he climbed over anothed rubble then he slipped.
There was something under his feet.
Something soft.
He looked down.
A severed head was staring at him.
It was his father.
His father's face still held traces of fury, as if he had died fighting. His eyes, though lifeless, gazed up at Kai. One side of his cheek was burnt beyond recognition.
Crack.
A sound echoed inside Kai's soul. Something shattered. Whether it was his heart or his mind, he didn't know.
He couldn't move. He couldn't think. His legs gave out.
Then he heared low hum.
He turned.
There, beneath a pile of scorched beams, layed a body. It was struggling to get up. Blood pooled beneath it, staining the dirt.
"M-Mother...?"
That was his mother.
She shifted slightly, her face could be seen. It was a mess, half of it missing, her jaw was not there, blood was coating every inch of her body. Yet her eyes opened, just for a moment.
She saw him.
His breath hitched.
"Mother!!!" he yelled and rushed to her side.
But she raised her trembling and blood covered hand to stop him.
Kai froze.
With agonizing slowness, she reached for the ground and began to draw something with her blood.
It took him a moment to realize what she was doing. With her blood, she traced a square. Inside the square, triangles. Layer upon layer.
Its final form was a star.
An ancient summoning symbol. After it was finished a green orb surged out from her body and was absorbed by that symbol.
"Mother... what are you...?"
Her hand dropped, lifeless, the moment that symbol absorbed the green orb.
Then suddenly the blood-drawn star lit up, faint at first, then bright like a dying flame's last burst.
A shimmering glow emerged from it. In the center of the pattern, an black egg size of human head slowly materialized. It hovered for a second before gently touching the ground.
Her mother had used her life force to summon him a familiar this was his mother's final act.
Kai didn't move for some time. He didn't care about the egg. It was meaningless. His mother was dead and he can't do anything to save her.
He knelt there, unmoving, staring at the blood soaked ground.
Minutes passed. Or hours. Time had stopped for him.
Eventually, something broke within him.
He stood, gently picked up his mother's body, and carried it to where his father's head lay. He dug with his bare hands, clawing through the dirt. His hands bled. He didn't stop. His nails came out from their place.
He didn't stop.
When the hole was done, he laid them together. Thaleic's head beside Shasha's ruined body.
He buried them. The people who raised him, the clan who cherished his friends who played with him, gone in just one day.
Then came a sudden the storm.
The sky cracked, and rain fell in heavy sheets.
Kai dropped to his knees.
He screamed, he screamed so hard that even his throat began to break, he didn't want this, he didn't want any of this.
He started crying.
His voice rose above the thunder, raw and broken. He struck the ground with his fists. Again. Again. Until his knuckles split open.
He punched walls of rubble.
Again and Again and AGAIN.
He kicked what remained of chairs, tables, tools.
He wept.
He howled.
He started banging his head on the wall. He was like a madman.
His voice echoed back at him, swallowed by wind and water.
Thunder boomed, but he couldn't hear it over his own sobs.
"I'm alone... I'm alone..."
His screams faded to whispers.
He clutched his chest. And layed down in the floor besides the grave. Blood was dripping from his forehead, tears were running down from his face was getting washed away by rainwater.
He started to fall asleep. He remembered his father's words and his mother's reassuring smile. He closed his eyes.
Then something changed.
The air around him trembled. The rain seemed to pause midair for a heartbeat.
A pulse ran through him.
His eyes shot open. His orignally black pupil started changing and turned blood red.
His brown hair darkened to pure black. There was some kind of red air forming around him.
A violent, silent power surged from within him. His bloodline had awakened.
But it wasn't like his father's calm affinity to nature. This was chaos. Wrath. Fury incarnate.
He stood slowly, no longer sobbing.
His breath became in cold, slow gulps.
His hands clenched.
His gaze fixed on the distant horizon.Whoever had done this... would pay. Even if he had to scan the whole world. He find them and kill them. Even if he had to become a demon.
The rain stopped.
The egg pulsed faintly behind him, forgotten for now. But its presence remained.
So did Kai's grief.
And now his fury.
He started analyzing his bloodline. He need power. He needed strength.
After some time like some blessing or say inspiration, information started surging in his mind.
He started laughing. His laughter grow dimmer and dimmer.
"Perfect." he said smiling.
The inforamtion was:-
This boooldline absorbs essence released by dead. "Death Essence." No living can contain death but this bloodline is different not only it contain death it also enhances user essence capacity, and fighting prowess. But it's holder's body can only cultivate by death essence.
Kai was very sorrowful that cultivation would be slow if he uses orthodox method of cultivation taught by his father but he was not he going to use that.
He knew he had to kill people, and many at that.
"Sigh" he sighed emotionally. He was just laying there.