Timeless Prominence

Though Rein had been forcefully ejected from the world within the book, with an impending battle between the Harvest Devil and the Uni Sect advancer before his eyes, he realized that he had failed to obtain critical information from Dragonknight Zelli.

He quickly locked his sights back on that secret book and placed his lips beside the binding.

“Wait, Miss… O great Dragonknight Zelli. Why did you obscure your origin ability? How should one obscure your origin ability?” Rein was naturally quite desperate for some guidance from this predecessor of his.

Luckily for Rein, Dragonknight Zelli deigned to reply, her whisperings entering his mind.

“Advancer arts can be grafted onto armaments and weapons. My son, Xune, made that possible.  As for why I obscured my ability… A beautiful woman should never rely on her allure to achieve merit in life. For then to some degree, she will fail to cultivate other aspects of herself. And if one day, that beauty is no longer as resplendent…”

“It must also be said that the soul is easily corrupted by absolute power.”

The book then lit aflame, rapidly crumbling into an ash pile, its internal world and the echo of Dragonknight Zelli within forever destroyed.

Rein sighed. The situation was rather unfortunate. He had so many more questions, but it seemed that the echo of Dragonknight Zelli had decided this to be the limit of her guidance. Unless… he searched out all other echoes that this ancient dwarf left behind. An arduous task to be sure. Would he even gain much from such effort?

Rein refocused his mind and began flipping through the preserved books within the library. He was, of course, attempting to collect any ancient blacksmith knowledge of the dwarves. Some may have deemed this knowledge not universal enough for modern day humans, but who was to say if he might have a use for it?

While sweeping his eyes through a book about some random ancient monster, Rein discovered Suey’s body iron-wrapped around his arm.

He certainly appreciated the embrace of her soft and tender flesh, but now was hardly the time.

“Who was that?” She whispered ticklishly in his ear.

“An unimportant… sort of ghost.” Rein naturally took precautions to avoid revealing any connection between himself and some ancient figure. Though… the connection between him and Zelli wasn't of much consequence.

Now, as for his connection to Gent-- such a link, if known, could be the end of his life. After all, the draconic metamorphose bead should have a rather exceptional status.

Rein finally found the section filled with knowledge on dwarven blacksmithing techniques, and he began emptying his spatial pouch of some of the less valuable ingots he had previously filled it with.

For him, trading some Halls’ contribution points for this ancient smithing knowledge was worth it. After all, some of these forgotten techniques should allow him to obscure his origin ability within an armament.

Suey similarly pursued her query. She kept herself wrapped around Rein this whole time, and began loosening the sash that tightened the Hall of Heroes’ robe around Rein’s body.

She also loosened the knots of Rein’s typical jet-black half-shirt half-jacket. She slipped her dainty hand in and began roaming Rein’s muscular chest with her hand before sliding lower down towards Rein’s crotch.

“Tell me please~” Suey pouted cutely and batted her eyelashes.

Rein was distracted by her actions for a moment and he himself wrapped an arm around Suey’s lithe form and kneaded the minx’s perky right breast a few times before regaining control of himself.

He activated the ‘Sole Cauldron’ Art. Though this art connected the two through the soul, by no means was this art capable of mind or soul control. Still, it allowed Rein to deliver differing sensations to keep the bearer in check.

The current situation was hardly the time for such ‘fun’, and thus he controlled the ‘Sole Cauldron’ Art to deliver a tinge of pain to the misbehaving minx.

Suey exhaled at this sensation but seemed to draw even more pleasure as her eyes grew hazy. Rein realized his mistake, and wincing internally, forced himself to raise the sensation of pain to an intolerable amount.

When he finally saw Suey flinch and cease her actions, he instantly disabled the ‘Sole Cauldron’ Art.

“Behave yourself, kitten,” he glared at the woman with a lovely dash of cerulean blue paint over her right cheek.

“I… I just need to know… my celest, please!” Suey dropped to her knees before Rein. An action that astonished Rein.

“Why?” he asked incredulously. He did not understand Suey’s desperation.

“I… the more accurate information I have, the better I can peer into the future…”

Rein sighed. His connection to Zelli was of no consequence. He lifted Suey’s chin before leaning down, and the two shared a sloppy kiss.

“Very well,” Rein whispered into Suey’s right ear. “Dragonknight Zelli. Her voice called to me from within the hidden book space.” A half-truth, but valuable information nonetheless.

Suey’s eyes widened.

“I…I must …perform the magical art… now!” She stuttered.

Suey stood back onto her two feet and once again pressed herself into the right of Rein’s chest. She then grabbed Rein’s right wrist and pulled his hand underneath her clothing to her crotch!

Rein was bewildered by her actions, wondering if he needed to discipline her once again.

“Please, my celest…” Suey’s dole-eyes peered up at him. “I… I’ve struggled to use the art after seeing the many futures where I ended up… enslaved. I… I need this…”

Rein sometimes felt as if he was taking advantage of this woman’s inner struggles. Perhaps he was. He could only promise himself that he would take extra care of the beauty currently in his arms, if their future paths aligned.

He carefully slipped a finger into her love tunnel, only to discover that the woman was already dripping wet.

“Slut kitten,” he lambasted before jamming a total of three fingers deep into her love tunnel with his hand in a curled hooking shape.

Suey blushed but made no efforts to suppress a moan as she clenched down around Rein’s thick fingers.

She closed her eyes and began forming many different hand gestures in combination with verses from her lips, of a language unknown to Rein.

Naturally, Rein could not resist swirling the three fingers he had inside the beauty. Suey’s concentration was broken, and her flow of hand gestures and words ceased. Yet she only purred as she bit her lips and worshiped Rein with soft eyes and a daring smile.

When she attempted to continue her future-seeing art again, Rein twisted her insides with his fingers again and his kitten cooed and grinded herself in response until her body shuddered with a small release.

Having satisfied himself somewhat with ‘bullying’ his kitten, Rein kept his hand stationary within Suey’s crotch and returned to chucking multiple books on dwarven blacksmithing into his spatial pouch with his free left hand.

He could already hear the beginnings of a battle between Ailehr and the other advancer outside the library.

Just as he finished emptying the blacksmithing section of books, Ailehr was thrown crashing into the library, her body crushing many shelves as well as the knowledge they carried.

“Still, you do not give up the dwarven treasures which you have stolen?” The man spoke as he leisurely glided into the library.

Rein could see the symbol of the Uni Sect-- thirteen swirls coalescing into a single singular orb-- upon his white robes that occasionally glimmered a rainbow hue.

Ailehr regained her feet and staunchly glared at the Great Sect orthodox advancer before her.

“Unrepentant, I see. Very well. Allow me, Bienze, to demonstrate powers beyond the telekinetic realm,” the Uni Sect advancer declared. “You fallen devils should know your place!”

“I came upon the inheritance of one who became a powerful god. Though I can only master part of his inheritance due to my current lowly telekinetic realm… I have mastered parts of his knowledge.”

“Transformations! Gods can transform their bodies into various beings, making their bodies far more effective for certain advancer arts.” Bienze’s shoulder suddenly expanded as an extra two oversized burly arms grew on both sides of his body! The man now had six arms!

Though Ailehr had no intention of dying this day, her expression wavered as Bienze withdrew six swords, one for each arm.

One sword lit up in a fiery blaze, another coated in a soft water glow. A third had sharp stones swirl around the blade, a fourth had a soft green flow accompanied by the whisperings of a wind blade. The fifth carried a dark iron hue, while the sixth sword shockingly faded into invisibility before Ailehr’s eyes.

“Consider yourself lucky to witness these godly arts before your death,” Bienze grinned mockingly.

“Hmph!” Ailehr’s eyes darted around in desperation for a half-chance as she spat, “if not for the Great Sects attempting to infiltrate this realm, you and your predecessors would have been forced to become fallen devils after being exiled by the Minhr Nation as well!”

“Pathetic,” Bienze replied. “There is no use in discussing hypotheticals of a past long established.” He promptly threw his six different swords into the air. Well… five in Rein’s eyes. However, he knew that there must be an invisible blade somewhere.

Rein immediately sought to protect himself and the muttering Suey in his arms. The beauty gasped in pleasure as Rein’s movements inadvertently delivered delight to the woman’s crotch. However, she maintained some awareness of the surroundings and as such kept her eyes closed and focused on her magical art.

Both Rein and the other Iron Ant Team members picked up dwarven stone slabs as they hid themselves in a corner of the library. The one-armed Rein certainly needed a bit of help with the stone. These stone slabs might be useless if Bienze wanted their lives, but their proven durability should suffice against any wayward magical arts from the battle.

Ailehr swept an arm and a wave of ghostly figures flew forth, their mouths chomping to devour the swords. Some of them hilariously bit upon thin air.

Rein knew what Ailehr was attempting to do. Quite some time ago, Master Yirn had demonstrated to him the difference between outer advancers and telekinetic advancers.  In his eyes, Ailehr was probably testing if Bienze truly had telekinetic control over all six swords, and thus was trying to break any uniquely hidden aurae tendrils.

“Fool,” scoffed Bienze. “They are like arms and legs to me.” The five visible swords formed a pentagonal formation and spun to deliver a multi-colored aurae beam at Ailehr.

The Harvest Devil yelled as she concentrated her aurae to form a skeletal giant carrying a thick shield with a large demonic face on its surface.

The demonic face opened its mouth wide and sucked in the multi-colored beam. It failed to consume the full length of the beam, and the giant skeleton shattered into a loose cloud of aurae as the remnant beam struck Ailehr.

The woman grunted as she took the attack. To Rein’s eyes, she seemed to have successfully whittled down the primary force of Bienze’s attack.

Bienze scoffed and his body warped. He transformed from his six-armed form into a flat-shaped horned eel that, no doubt, could slip through the narrowest of crevices.

The horned eel’s scales shimmered as it faded into translucency.

Though Ailehr had gained temporary telekinetic powers by consuming a magical pill, she had weak understanding and control of telekinetic powers.

She spread aurae tendrils in her surroundings to search for the hidden horned eel form that Bienze had taken. Her attempts were to no avail.

Ailehr then engaged her temporary divine sense, and detected an eel-like form a few arm’s length in front of her.

“Hah!” she hollered as she sent an increasingly solid wave of skeletal ghost soldiers swooping towards her target.

The eel was revealed as the ghostly wave struck its body. Yet, that eel crumbled into nothingness upon Ailehr’s attack!

Upon noticing this, Ailehr immediately dodged sideways as Bienze’s eel-form stabbed through her previous position. Bienze then warped back into his six-armed burly form and engaged in melee combat against Ailehr.

Meanwhile, five differently-aspected swords flew around the two. The invisible sword was hidden somewhere, no doubt.

Ailehr knew she was about to meet her doom. Her attempts to defend against six arms with her two was absolutely laughable. Already, she had received a number of punches all over her body, and she had to swallow down blood that had risen to her throat.

If not for the protection of the inscriptions upon her dark robes, she would have long lost her life from Bienze’s attacks. Already, the light within the inscriptions of her robes were fading.

Bienze had yet to even fully employ the swords spinning around in the air!

That was when Ailehr spotted Xeeseir. Her eyes suddenly lit up with hope. She released a full wave of a ghostly army that temporarily held off Bienze, and darted towards Xeeseir. As a quasi-telekinetic devil, her speed was too fast for Rein to track, but Bienze was ready as his five swords flew to strike at Ailehr.

The Harvest Devil twisted her body like a flexible ragdoll as she dodged the first, the second, third and fourth. The fifth metallic aspected-sword grazed her robes, and it was so excessively sharp that it broke through the protections of the armament and nicked the skin of her left thigh.

She could only grunt as the invisible sixth sword stabbed through her abdomen. She had failed to detect the position of this sword! It must be hidden by unique telekinetic methods!

She ignored the pain and forcefully overpowered the telekinetic will within and pulled out this invisible blade. By now, she had successfully captured Xeeseir through pure speed, and made sure to only employ her physical strength to grip onto Xeeseir’s neck. 

Onlookers might chuckle at the sight before them. The slim devilish beauty Ailehr was holding up a rather hunky man in the air by the neck. But all advancers present knew of Ailehr’s much higher realm.

For the members of the Iron Ant Team, this was no joke. They were already holding onto the heavy dwarven stone slabs, and lacked the speed to respond to Ailehr’s move. Nothing but ants.

Bienze controlled his swords to once again fly forward at Ailehr, and the devilish woman held up the struggling Xeeseir to defend against the aspected swords.

The aspected swords froze midair just before striking Xeeseir.

“Hahaha!” Bienze laughed uproariously with his head tilted upwards and two of his six arms placed upon his waist. “Interesting. Interesting!” He was no fool. The Great Sects are quite aware that a man with an incredible origin ability had entered the Halls’ ranks.

At this moment, the other devils and Great Sect advancers finally caught up to Ailehr and Bienze. Many of the devils had followed, curious if they could gain some benefit from the conflict. After all, they weren’t strictly on Ailehr’s side-- not when they too suspected her to have somehow emptied the dwarven treasure vault. Only one with her powers could accomplish such a feat!

Unfortunately, this boded ill for the Iron Ant Team. Specifically Rein, for Beincen and his crew, was after his life.

Suey finally finished her magical art, and she glanced at Rein provocatively. Rein attempted to remove his hand, but the minx squeezed her thighs together to trap his hand.

“Behave,” Rein growled. Only then did the woman release his arm, turning serious as she, too, noticed the arrival of Beincen accompanied by the Larne elders, supported by a few disciples of the Sun Sword Sect.

“Leave!” Xeeseir croaked despite being held at the neck by Ailehr. “The situation will only worsen if you stay!” Rein knew that this middle-aged man was speaking to him. He also understood the man’s words.

If the Iron Ant Team stayed here, they might all perish. It needed to be said that Ailehr now had a rather effective shield-- Xeeseir and his origin ability, ‘Rebound’.

Moreover, the Halls are not exactly on good terms with the Great Sects. Speaking of which, why haven’t the truly influential members of the Halls arrived at these ruins yet? That query flashed through the back of Rein’s mind as he thought of an escape plan.

Rein now dashed towards the exit with a stone slab and the rest of the Iron Ant Team followed. It was not just Chirh quaking in his boots now. The other members were similarly filled with fear. Rein could only lament Xeeseir’s sacrifice in his heart.

Only Rein, with his unique tempered body, was able to continue holding the unique dwarven stone slab while traveling forwards.

Most of the Great Sects advancers and the devils paid no heed to the Iron Ant Team. If anything their eyes were fixated on one another. Quite a number of these two sides had already fallen to one another’s surprise attacks while forcing their way up to this level from the treasure vault.

To the wonderment of all present, it was another Halls member that sought to stop Rein!

“Stop him!” Zehz rushed towards the Iron Ant Team as he pointed at Chirh. “That wimp must be punished for selling us out!”

Hunzkr, the outer Convergence Sect advancer initially considering blocking Rein, chortled as he enjoyed the show of inner conflict amongst the Halls’ members.

His glee soon vanished as five swords danced through the air and impaled Zehz one after another!

Zehz did not even have the chance to scream as he was slashed multiple times by the blade of wind, followed by the blade of water drowning his figure in a hovering bubble of water. This bubble of water was then heated into steam by the blade of fire, first scalding Zehz’s body before setting it aflame. Metallic sand then melted and coated his body in molten heavy liquid before a rush of stone buried the corpse on the very spot.

“I apologize,” Bienze said in the air. “His voice sounded like someone I hated many years ago. A rather traumatic experience, you understand?”

Many gawked at Bienze’s interference, but who were they to deny the words of one of his strength? They could only nod and hum in agreement.

The Xuere group could only swallow their displeasure in silence.

Hunzkr was now nervous. Was this Bienze’s signal to allow this group to leave? His eyes followed the traveling form of Rein with hatred.

“Worry not,” the Sun Sword Sect elder named Jekcen informed him. “My underlings are already on it.” The Sun Sword Sect had stood beside the Convergence Sect through thick and thin. They naturally had a good relationship.

Yidahr and his fellow disciples now blocked the exit alongside Beincen and Larne elders.

Rein was grim, but not because of his situation. Rather, he was uncertain as to whether this might be the end of Xeeseir. He might not have the strength to fight head on against this collection of individuals, but perhaps, he could escape. Or even find an opportunity to isolate Beincen and finish him off for good.

Xeeseir only injected another wave of sorrow into Rein’s heart as he began firing all of his many unique-aspected arrows at the ones blocking Rein’s exit. This man was literally being held at the neck, shifting to and fro as Ailehr hid behind the man of ‘Rebound’. Still, he had found the opportunity to forcibly fire his arrows to assist Rein.

Rein roared and timed his own attack perfectly. Immediately after the various basic elemental explosions of Xeeseir’s arrows, he gathered all of his physical strength, placed his palms on the dwarven stone slab, and activated his ‘Frog Leg Release’.

The Sun Sword Sect disciples and Beincen’s group dodged Xeeseir’s rather errant arrows. Upon seeing the dwarven stone slab fly towards them, Yidahr rolled sideways to avoid Rein’s attack. Unlike Yidahr, one of his fellow disciples foolishly laughed and activated a blazing sword in an attempt to slice the dwarven stone slab in half.

This foolish disciple’s sword art failed against the unique alchemically-augmented dwarven stone, and he screamed as half of his body was crushed under the slab’s weight.

In the blink of an eye, the Iron Ant Team left the library and sped towards the spiral stairs to the lower levels of the ruins.

“After them, you fool!” Jekcen was incensed at his disciples, but he finally understood why his descendents in the Green Trout City requested his assistance. It had been a long time since he had come across one with such a powerful physical body as Rein’s.

Seeing as none of Halls’ advancers had arrived, Jekcen decisively chose to participate in the pursuit. The advancer world has unsaid rules-- such as those of higher advancer realms not bullying those lower… but such rules can only truly be enforced when both sides have powerful advancers present!

Jekcen immediately spread his aurae tendrils outwards, only to discover that the dwarven stone of these ancient ruins obstructed his tendrils! He swore inwardly. He knew that the extinct dwarves were master craftsmen, but not to this extent! His form immediately flew through the exit behind Yidahr and Beincen’s groups.

Rein’s mind was spinning as to their next course of action. The initial entrance should be defended by many Great Sect members. He had absolutely no idea where other exits could be. How troublesome.

He believed that their only chance at survival was to split apart, and hide in the most unique of holes. Eventually, the number of Great Sect members present should diminish. Eventually, the Halls should arrive. Plus, he is the primary target. Once alone, he should be able to escape with his origin ability without drawing future threats. The others on the team may even end up safer as a result.

“We split,” he ordered.

“No!” Suey hissed. “You can’t do this.”

“This is the way,” Rein commanded. He wondered if Suey had seen this part of the future, or something else entirely. Or perhaps her visions were simply too vague and uncertain.

“Sister…” Jory whispered. “Let’s do that.”

“I…yes. I should not fear using such methods,” Suey replied as her lips hardened in determination. She knew Rein’s mind would not be changed.

The twin ladies held their hands as a pink mist rose from their bodies. They cooperated and eventually forced the aurae mist out of the bodies, filling the entire spiral stairs in a pink cloud as they traveled downwards. They both swallowed pills after forcefully expelling such an aurae mist, a skill incredibly taxing for those still in the inner realm.

Dahk stepped out first on a level. Suey and Jory then exited on another. Chirh left at the middle-level, the floor where the entrance was. Rein did not blame him for that.

They continued downwards and Wilo left to hide herself next. As for Rein, he had decided to travel to the depths of the ruins. As for why? He wished to give the others a chance at escape. If he could cause a ruckus to attract attention down to the bottom, the others higher up should have a better chance at escape.

And he, with his origin ability, might still be able to save his own life, perhaps at the cost of becoming a hunted prey of the origin ability research organizations.

Plus, the Halls might very well protect him!

Yidahr and Beincen’s groups found themselves assaulted by a pink mist and their visions of one another became warped.

Yidahr’s form, ahead of Beincen, transformed into Beincen’s mother! Beincen’s heart welled with passion as his mother exposed a bare shoulder alluringly by slipping off a side of her crimson gown, gazing backwards at him coquettishly.

“M…mother?!” Beincen muttered. A harsh slap from his uncle Noahr spun his head, but it was too late. Many surrounding heads stared at him wide-eyed. They experienced the same effects as he did under the mist, and were naturally aware of the mist’s effects.

Beincen dared not meet any of their eyes, but inwardly seethed. He must kill this motherfucking… Rein!

“Clear your mind,” Jekcen intoned from behind. “I will employ my outer powers to search for that troublesome little ant.”

As they proceeded down the spiral staircase, Jekcen used his aurae tendrils to disperse as much of the pink mist as possible.

They paused at the first exit.

Jekcen slapped his hands together and closed his eyes, hovering cross-legged in the air. He was attempting to sense the aura of Rein, something that outer advancers are able to use when tracking down targets.

Jekcen grunted in astonishment when he attempted this skill. Only now did he realize that the pink mist wasn’t placed with intention to bewitch or humiliate. It seems whoever had used the pink mist intentionally augmented the bewildering and illusionary effect within the mist to obscure and disrupt one’s perception of aurae.

Jekcen had never come across such an odd effect before. Upon attempting to sense Rein’s aura, that illusionary effect indicated that Rein had exited at this level.

As for why he knew his senses were being fooled? He detected that a number of Rein’s aura had continued down the spiral stairs! What an odd illusion. He might be able to figure out the nature of this art and break its roots, but that would take too much time given that he had never encountered this type of soft-handed, difficult-to-detect effect of an advancer art before.

The others looked at Jekcen questionably, and the outer Sun Sword Sect advancer felt the very same hatred as Beincen developing for Rein and his allies.

“They have split apart into separate floors in search of an escape, no doubt.” Concerned that a few of them might actually escape if given time, he ordered the same course of action. “Split apart and hunt them down!”

Beincen was naturally disappointed, feeling that this outer advancer, supposedly his great, great and more great? Grandfather of his was lacking. However, he dared not voice out such an opinion.

He could only consider which Rein might have gone. Where would he go if he was Rein?

“I will head to the very bottom!” he declared. “He is certain to sacrifice all his fellow members in an attempt to survive.” At least, Beincen thought that to be reasonable. Cast an illusion, bait the following enemy into canvasing every single level from top down, while biding his time at the very bottom.

“I will check the very middle floor from which we entered,” Jekcen now wished to lop off this troublesome foe’s head himself. He was certain that this Rein would attempt to sneak past the Great Sects’ blockade with some unique art.

The rest picked their floor and went forth in search of Rein and his allies.

As for Rein? Once at the bottom, he began exploring the level. This bottom level had much more than the treasure vault. Previously, the others had no interest in the other passageways. Ailehr had assumed the bottom level to be a deadend.

As Rein darted into the many different passageways, that initially seemed true. He continued exploring, attempting to memorize the map of the many dwarven-symboled smooth stone passageways into his mind. Once he begins causing a ruckus to draw attention to this level, having a map of these routes would give him the best chance to escape with his origin ability.

“Huh?” He noticed a grate on the floor after a random turn. Of course. The whole ancient structure needed some method to drain water when required!

He bent down and despite his likely bronze-ranked tempered body, needed to exert nearly his full strength to lift and detach the grate.

He peered down and only saw darkness.

Rein withdrew and activated a light orb as he decisively dropped his body down this dark tunnel fearlessly.  He fell straight down the darkness for what must be more than sixty heartbeats before the metallic pipe curved and leveled out.

Once he slid to a stop, Rein stood back up and raised his light orb in an attempt to determine the nature of his surroundings. He was overjoyed to hear the faint flowing of water and the soft whispering of wind! What luck!

If he caused a ruckus here, he should be able to escape without even revealing his origin ability. Perhaps the fallen gods are on his side after all.

He walked forth to find a deep chasm before him. He brought the light orb close to the ground and quickly determined that water once emptied down the metal pipe and flowed like a waterfall off this ledge into the chasm below.

He turned his ear down towards the chasm, and his observations were proven true. The sound of water came from the depths of this chasm.

He rummaged within his spatial pouch and found the rope that the Iron Ant Team had used to cross the Demon Ink River. He found a notch on the ancient metal pipe extending down to this ledge and secured the rope.

He then lowered himself down into the chasm. That turned out to be completely unnecessary. The darkness caused Rein to think that the chasm was much deeper than it actually was.

This miscalculation caused Rein to bump the tail of his spine uncomfortable against damp pebbles. Somewhat embarrassed, Rein stood onto his feet and raised the light orb.

His mouth opened and closed like a goldfish as the orb illuminated the bottom of the chasm. The pebbles his bum had squelched onto? They weren’t pebbles, but ancient limpite and lumite coins! Under the light of the orb, these two types of coins casted an ethereal jade glow upon the walls of the chasm.

A sheen of clear sparkling  water flowed through the middle of the chasm, maintaining the cleanliness of these precious materials.

It was then that Rein realized. The contents of the dwarven treasure vault must have somehow ended up here.

He was about to step forward to further examine the place when a guttural rumbling voice sounded behind him, accompanied by the call of his internal orange lightning dragon within his heart.

“Father… It has been so many years since I last felt your presence in my dreams.  You abandoned me. To be hunted by the Allfather. I’m… I’m sorry… I…” the rumbling descended into incoherent gnashings.

Rein froze, not daring to move a single muscle. He repeated the words in his head a few times, and finally decided that whatever behind him must be asleep.

He slowly turned his body, the scraping of the coins beneath his feet like thunder in his ears.

He raised his light orb high, and his eyes gazed upon the closed eyelids of a onyx black-scaled dragon head, wrapped in thick wisps of dark aurae.

He promptly deactivated the metallic light orb.