Chapter 26

Chapter 26 - LOT

Lee Hiro, Liren’s uncle, frowned as he looked down the active volcano, standing at the top of the mountain side. The magma down below moved sluggishly, giving off heavy emanations of heat. A thin layer of blue Spirit energy covered Lee as he stepped off the side of the mountain into the air, and began to descend inside the volcano.

As he floated downward, the air around him distorted slightly, and a very minor, invisible wave of force spread out, allowing him to sense the surroundings.

The air was extremely hot, and charged, filled with powerful energy. Lee could sense very faint spatial fluctuations coming from within the earth, indicating the area was unstable, unnaturally so.

In the past, a Space Gate had existed nearby. It was one of the receiving Space Gates, one utilized by the Space Clan for transport and trade. While this Gate had long since been destroyed, other Gates still had the ability to transport things to this area.

The unstable fluctuations coming from down below were one of the side effects of uncontrolled Space Gate transportation. Volcanoes were hive minds of natural energy in this world, and typically unstable. Heavy space energy fluctuations, like that of uncontrolled space transportation, would have rippling effects, and increase the instability to the level he sensed.

“One of the old Gates must have been found, and used.” He muttered aloud, his voice deep. Around him, magma shot tendrils of boiling heat into the air, small flashes of fire crackling.

As he said this, he paused, looking at a spot towards the center of the volcano. He frowned, his face going pale.

“Is that the aura of a Gem Beast?”

..

..

Jack stepped outside the Time Sealed chamber, letting it lock behind him. The gem rested in his pouch, safe and secure, while he held the letter in his hand, scanning over it again. His eyes were drawn off to the side, towards the shouts and yells.

Roughly 200 meters away, Jack made out a trio of warriors fleeing towards him. After looking again, he noticed that one of the warriors was carrying the second in his arms. As they drew closer, Jack saw that they were all actually quite young, just a couple years older than him.

As Jack noticed them, the fleeing fighters noticed Jack.

The one carrying the downed fighter had long blond hair, and a long red scar on his face. Jack felt a strange affinity the moment he saw him, the cross shaped scar on his own face twitching.

A look of helplessness entered the blonde haired fighter’s face as he yelled at Jack,

“WATCH OUT!”

Jack was already in his Slowed State. The ball of Time Essence in his Soul had recovered to allow him 2 seconds of movement, but he didn’t draw on it yet, looking at the warrior in confusion. They were running away, but from what?

A moment later, Jack felt an odd premonition, as if a creature was approaching him rapidly from behind. For some reason, this feeling seemed to originate from the golden sword at his waist. Immediately he covered himself in a layer of protective Spirit, hardening his body.

Jack then spu-

*WHAM*

Before he could fully process the attack, a massive force slammed into Jack, knocking him through the air towards the fleeing fighters. Sheer shock and confusion flooded his mind as blackness took him, and he fell unconscious, not even able to see what hit him.

..

..A few moments before this

Liren looked at Bale and Evan as they escaped from the Crimson Golems, a happy expression on his face. The two fighters perfectly complimented each other, and were able to smoothly work as a team with him, despite their low status and training.

In the Fourth Conclave of the Space Clan, status was everything.

Liren was a grandson of the current Grand Marshal of the Fourth Conclave, Igor Black, and a descendent of one of the Great Three Space Kings from thousands of years ago. His bloodline purity extremely high, and Liren had managed to fully Awaken at the age of 6, the same age as Hidron Black, their legendary ancestor.

Despite all of this, however, Liren’s status in the Space Clan wasn’t actually high at all. And that was entirely his own fault, Liren acknowledged.

At the time of the Great Betrayal, so many thousands of years ago, the Space Clan was almost entirely annihilated. Of the Seven Conclaves, five had fallen, destroyed by the Void. Only the Fourth Conclave and the Fifth Conclave survived.

After this great destruction, both Conclaves had pledged to never interfere in matters of the mortal world again, focusing only the fight against the Void, entirely by themselves. The Space Clan became a clan of hermits, disguised and hiding away from the rest of the world, fighting a secret, thankless battle.

That wasn’t to say members never broke these laws, or acted out, however. Indeed, in the past ten thousand years, many times a powerful warrior had bucked these restrictions and gone out into the world, dreaming of bringing the Space Clan back out into the open.

Alas, time and time again, these warriors inevitably died. Hunted down by their fellow humans.

For, the Space Clan was labelled one of the traitorous Clans. At the time of the Great Betrayal, for inexplicable reasons, several Space Clan members had turned to the Void, and became Corrupted Ones, beings twisted by the darkness beyond. Over time they slaughtered and caused great devastation among the other clans, the powers of the Void and Space Clan combining to create an incredibly deadly force.

Something similar happened to the Time Clan, though only to a single member.

While most of the Space Clan was innocent, the rest of the clans didn’t see it that way. A purge was announced, and any member of the Space or Time Clan was cast as an enemy of humanity.

The Time Clan was entirely wiped out. The Space Clan decayed, weakening gradually over time. The Fourth Conclave, where Liren lived, had around twenty five thousand members left alive, in a world where other clans had millions.

Despite their low numbers, the Fourth Conclave was a happy, determined place. Every year, there would be festivals celebrating young warriors facing off against creatures of the Void, traveling to the danger zones of the world to fight against the unnatural beings.

Every year, Liren grew up watching men and women he respected die in a thankless, pointless war against an enemy that never ceased.

He hated that. He hated the Void. He hated those that forced his family, his entire clan into hiding. Most of all, he hated the future he saw for his clan.

And he refused to accept it.

He had just recently turned 15 years old, a few weeks back. That was the day every member of the Space Clan had their Coming of Age ceremony. Liren was someone with a bright future in the clan, as a direct descendent of the head of the Conclave Council, and of their greatest ancestors. His father was one of the strongest warriors in the clan, his mother a leader among the women.

The celebration for him was naturally one of great cheer. The entire council turned out, as did hundreds of members of the clan.

And it was then Liren announced his dream. That the Space Clan would one day walk under the light of the sky with other humans as equals, not hunted down and hated.

Perhaps he should have seen the reaction coming. A small part of Liren’s heart acknowledged that he had seen it coming, and didn’t care. He would follow his own path, not one others listed for him.

Naturally, the members of the Conclave Council were outraged. Liren was stripped of his status as an elite member of the Space Clan, dropped down to an ordinary member. Liren’s own parent’s berated him in disappointment, trying to convince him to give up on his dream.

When he refused, his father had cast him out in a rage, striking him down. The long red scar was healed over now, thanks to medicine from his uncle, but the pain of his father’s strike still lingered.

If it wasn’t for his Uncle Lee graciously arguing in his favor, Liren would be in a cell right now, instead of out leading a small expedition.

Liren shook his head, clearing his mind. Right now, he needed to focus on his mission. This was a good opportunity for him to practice leading independently.

“Bale, Evan, let’s begin to fan out, around a eighty meters away from me. Send out Spatial Waves to see if you detect anything odd. We’ll sweep through the valley.” The Natural Ability of the Space Clan was one centered around being able to use a special type of energy known as Spatial Essence. Using this energy, one could manipulate the very fabric of space itself, granting the user incredible abilities.

Spatial Waves were one of these abilities. A small ripple in space controlled by the creator, they could use this technique to detect anything within range, especially things that gave off spatial fluctuations.

Bale and Evan could each reach a range of around 30 meters away. Liren could reach a range of nearly 60 meters despite being a year younger.

“Yessir cap’n!” Bale replied with a grin.

“Aye, aye cap’n!” Evan grinned as well.

Liren rolled his eyes as he watched them scamper off. The fight with the Crimson Golems had helped them shake the slight nervousness that came with any expedition outside the conclave.

Abruptly, a cut off shout rang out.

“Wha-“

*CRASH*

Liren froze, his eyes flashing as he saw Bale’s body fly through the air, sailing over the scarlet stoney ground of the pavilion, almost slamming into one of the few large blood colored trees. He watched in disbelief and confusion for an instant before he launched himself forward, yelling,

“Evan! We’re under attack! Look alive!” Liren went all out, causing the space to ripple as he blasted towards and caught Bale’s body, trying to spot the enemy.

The valley around them was empty. He checked Bale’s status, seeing a crushing wound on his right shoulder. The warrior was unconscious, groaning quietly.

The hair on the back of Liren’s neck stood up. He spun around, Bale’s body in his arms as he looked behind him.

A few of the large red trees spread out in the valley behind him, amidst dozens of boulders and stones, rocky scarlet sand. As Liren stood watching, he saw the figure of a black and red streaked wolf stare back, from atop a small boulder. It cocked its head as it watched them, a powerful aura emanating from it. A small, pulsing vermillion gem was visible on its chest.

As Liren watched, a layer of black and crimson scales began to appear on the wolf, and a powerful, fiery aura began to concentrate.

Liren’s face paled as he saw this.

“EVAN RUN!”

The duo turned around, Liren still carrying Bale as they fled from the valley, moving at a top speed. They both made use of their bloodline to enhance their speed, running away. If they could get far enough away, perhaps the beast wouldn’t follow. Or perhaps his Uncle could arrive and save them.

The only way to live was to get away. A Gem Beast was far from something they could handle.

And, a short few moments later, Liren spotted a young warrior in the valley. Before he could finish warning the bystander beyond a quick "WATCH OUT!", or even wonder what someone so young was doing here, the deadly Gem Beast had already appeared behind the warrior, slamming into him and sending him forward.

Liren’s eyes were grim as he saw the body fly through the air. He carefully tossed Bale’s body to Evan as he went out to catch it, noting that the young fighter was even younger than he had thought.

He then turned to face the strange wolf, only to find that it had disappeared once more. Liren’s face turned even paler as he desperately tried to figure a way out of the situation.

..

..

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to all, Jack’s sword, Wyrmblight, began to emit a strange, golden light. This light slowly rippled out of the sword at Jack’s side, and began to meld with his body…