Lucian exited the Sky Reach World. He didn't look back.
The gateway would collapse in a day… maybe less. And he had the key now, if he ever wanted to return he could.
Especially, on his own terms.
Ahead him had multiple being, his eyes scanned the crowd, hundreds mortals and fiends jostling for space, bickering over territory, fighting to sell wares or be leaders to claim relics. It was like a cloud waiting to burst.
It seem most, had no idea what they were stepping into.
If things escalated anymore, the world would be overridden. Worse, the relic might be lost… and fall into Silas's hands.
Suddenly, Silas emerged from the Sky Reach World.
The moment he appeared, silence spread like wildfire. His mere presence froze the crowd in place. His cold golden gaze swept the landscape like a blade.
He didn't see a crowd, he saw sins.
Still, he could no longer see Lucian nor anything that could trace the fang.
His jaw tightened. "Where are you? Why run like a coward?"
As a moment passed. He rose into the air atop his massive cross, scanning the horizon from above like a vengeful angel, scaring and shocking all thoses below.
There you are. This is your final stop.
Far below, Lucian blended into the moving crowd… He had no longer felt Silas was chasing, thought his locked remained.
"He gone… but I won't be for sure unless. I get far from here, he won't get this fang, even if he wouldn't sent his most powerful attack."
He glanced down, he gaze settled on the fang in his palm, he couldn't help but wonder how powerful is it really. Who did it even come from, that a vampire fang was pull out able to use for power.
He had encountered, multiple vampire over a hundred just that the most powerful that could previously match his strength, were rare in the world. It was on of thoses things, were he could have easily challenged Silas he won't rum from a battle.
In the mist of his thoughts, he felt a sudden sense tingling. The moment he glanced over his shoulder, a blinding golden light exploded against his back.
"Ahh…!"
Lucian was sent flying, his body skidding violently across the dirt, before finally slamming into a tree. Vision blurred. Blood filled his mouth.
Looking up, there was two tree twirlig before him, his vision was blurry, even blood filled his mouth.
Through the haze, he saw Silas descending toward him.
"You've wasted enough of my time." Silas growled, his voice booming trying to attack his mind.
Lucian coughed up a mouthful of blood… He looked at his left shoulder… a small glowing cross slowly faded into the air.
If he were still a vampire… that would've torn through his chest.
Damn it. Why does he want the fang? What is it to the Church? Doesn't matter.
Their weapons can't stop me. Their walls can't hold me. As all paths lead to power! Where anything must be done to ourself even through destroying out minds.
He was never the one to do it for power. But currently, he couldn't let Silas get any closer or he will have the under hand on him, using his strength.
Silas felt something was off, he found Lucian to quiet… He's lost someone to vampires before, but no one dares mention it. The last person who did, spontaneously combusted in their sleep.
As he was about to question his motives for the Relics.
Suddenly, Lucian's body sank into the tree.
Silas's eyes narrowed. "More spells, vampire? Hide all you want. I'll tear through every root and stone."
His golden gaze lit up. From above, he spotted Lucian's body gliding underground.
"…Earth magic. Hmph. How many escape spells has he learned?"
He quickly took to the sky once more, chasing him.
"Run all you want," Silas roared, voice shaking the sky. "Let's see how long you can breathe beneath the earth!"
Lucian tunneled deeper, the soil parting around him with each breath.
His limbs ached his power weakned. He was quickly reaching his limit.
I can't keep this up… not against him.
His eyes darted around, a couple meters ahead was darkness and dirt. Behind him was Silas divine fury, he couldn't slow down for his goal he was more worried about the fang than Lucian.
As a couple minutes passed. Suddenly, his senses screamed. He didn't hesitate this time, he glanced back only to see another blinding light.
From above, Silas both hands rose above his head.
In that moment, a golden radiance surged from his body like a storm. Sacred sigils spiraled across the sky, as a massive jagged cross began to form… its edges glowing like a blade reflected light.
Even the clouds recoiled from the energy.
At the same time, Silas's voice thundered through the land. "By divine judgment… let your sins be buried beneath the wrath of the Heavens!"
With a thunderous gesture, Silas brought his hands down.
Immediately, the massive cross descended like a divine execution. Light exploded outward, banishing darkness from the world, the ground began to crack open, swallowing everything in its path.
But just as the holy cross struck earth… Lucian vanished.
No cry. No blood. Only silence.
Silas hovered above the smoking crater, hus golden eyes narrowed around, as ash billowed upward, and glowing embers floated in the air… Lucian was no where in sight.
"Run all you want. You carry my relic, and with it, my mark. I will find you, vile vampire… and when I do, I will drag your cursed soul into the light and exorcise you myself!"
Does Silas believe his divine mission makes him righteous… or is righteousness the lie he tells himself to live with the blood on his hands?
Far below, deep beneath the ruined surface, Lucian emerged, submerged into a suffocating darkness.
"That spell… it would've split me in two if I was even a second late," he muttered, breathing hard. "Silas isn't just trying to kill me… he's trying to erase me. Like I never existed."
Around him stretched a forgotten tomb of
bones. Countless human remains. Skulls with hollow sockets stared from the stone floor, jaws frozen mid-scream.
What is this place…? Hundreds no, thousands of corpses. This isn't just some forgotten tunnel. This is a graveyard… a mass burial site.
Lucian's fingers tightened around the vampire fang, feeling the cold pulse of power still humming against his palm
"No more running," he whispered to himself. "If I don't figure out what this fang is… if I don't gain something from this… then I'm already dead."
He closed his eyes, slowly down his breathing.
Let Silas chase ghosts in the ashes… I need answers.
He stepped cautiously over brittle ribs and collapsed skulls, brushing through cobwebs.
Suddenly, a faint light, appeared ahead. A glow barely visible in the dark.
Lucian swiftly stepped forward.
Before him, nestled in the remains of some ancient beast, was a massive skull, nearly ten feet wide. Resting beneath its eye socket was a stone platformed he used as a seat.
The first thing he took out was the stone slab, he had taken from the Yellow Mountain.
It pulsed, faintly. Like a heartbeat muffled in stone.
It looked ancient, weathered. But still… alive.
He brushed away the dust, beneath symbols etched across its surface glimmered faintly, none of them familiar. At the center was something unsettling… an emblem shaped like a closed eye or maybe a sealed mouth.
"This wasn't locked away for no reason." Lucian muttered.
Without hesitation, he bit his thumb. Blood welled to the surface, and he pressed it to the surface.
At that moment, the stone trembled, it even began to hum.
However, before he could react as he was lay down as nothing happened… It slammed into his chest.
"Ggh…!" Lucian staggered back, his eyes widened. The stone melted into him like hot iron sinking into flesh, vanishing beneath his skin.
He gasped for breath, his body trembling.
"What the hell was that?!"
Panic surged through him. He closed his eyes, forcing his mind inward… diving into his inner of his mind.
Within the void of his consciousness… floated the stone slab… It hovered around darkness, surrounded by relics he had on himself. The vampire fang, a cracked bone talisman. A sealed vial of black mist. Each relic drifted in orbit… anchored to him.
"That vial… it's still sealed. Even after all these years. I stole it from the Alchemists of Vorthuun. Said it contained a living whisper from the Void Beyond… That talisman, I took from the throat of a Bone Speaker during the Siege of Hollowgrace."
So it's a vault. No a hidden sanctuary.
"It's was alive. Bound to me now."
From the corner of his eyes that caused them to widened. He saw something off to his side, half-shrouded in mist.
A shiftingdarkcloud, pulsing slowly.
Inside it… a red light flashed in a unnatural rhythm, even sounded like lightning.
Lucian stared at it in silence, before his gaze dropped finally turning away.
Pulling himself out his mind, he opened his eyes. The silence of the bone chamber greeted him once again.
Now, he was holding something powerful.
And for the first time since entering Sky Reach…
He felt like he had a chance.
Why did he hesitate to look into the pulsing red light within his own mind? What is he afraid he'll see… or accept?