Short Story First try. All authors are requested to leave a review...plzz

Title: Eccentric Master.


Genre: Action,Adventure,Mystery, Xuanhuan.


Synopsis:
A boy one day found his parents lying in a pool of blood, his mother revealed their mysterious family secret in her dying breath.

Follow along Ren Siyu in his roller-coaster adventure of finding meaning in his predestined life and trying to forge his own path.






Ps- this is just testing my skills, this might get long, a lot of errors and a few plot holes, so i ask anyone with patience to read and give a honest critic, cause i want a third person view on how my style is, this one is just like CN, but i still need someone's opinion.

the story picks up in chapter 2, I request to read at least till there.





pls don't be too hard.

 

chapter 1.

Spoiler

A mind-numbing thunder rang

BANG!!

The down pour of water from the heavens flooded the roads of Mustafir city, the Royal capital of Felling dynasty was once again tormented by the monsoon rain. It did not help that the city was geographically situated in a yearlong wet area, the sun had only two months to itself here.

"Dammit !!, I swear once I make 500 tren I'll move out of this godforsaken city."

"hahaha, Denrir first you should start with not spending every tren in Heaven’s gate"


"Hmph! Great sage you are, I've seen you hanging around with the mistress in the lobby Chris, why did you still not get in her skirt? Hahaha"


Two red armoured guards chatted away inside their station, the station was just 2 miles from the Mistim palace, it acted as an entrance to the common public and a buffer zone to secure the royal palace.


"Uggh, let's not talk about her. Hey how long do you think that boy is going to wait for? "


" Hmm, I bet ten minutes"


"I won't bet, but I wonder if he's really related to his highness".


"Well we've informed the royal guards; we just need to keep an eye on him. But I don't think the councillor did right to harass the boy like that"


"Aye, poor kid must've been fooled into thinking he's royal. It's a pity he irritated that psycho".



The boy they were talking about was standing right Infront of the huge metal gates, his head dropped low, his drenched cobbler clothes torn in some places. The four and a half feet stature had his arms tightly clenched to his side's, the nails biting into his delicate palms.



He looked like a grieving helpless kid being tormented in rain.


But if one could see the face hidden from skies, there they would find two purple furnaces staring into an endless inferno. One would even assume that rage is what keeping the fragile body warm and shivering away in that rain.



Ren Siyu kept his anger from exploding, he didn't want to ruin his objective more than he already did. The scuffle with that obnoxious councillor was unfortunate, but he had to hold himself, he was here to ask for help, and for that he was determined to swallow anything.


Time passed on, and the rain continued its carnage on the city and on our Ren.


An hour passed.



Deep in the forest that lay behind the station there was a sudden sonorous sound, and a black carriage zoomed in from the sky. It was pulled by five pitch black rhinos.


The two guards Denrir and Chris heard the sound and scrambled to get to the gates first.


"Open the gate!!, The Black troops have come"


"Open the bloody gates"


Then there was a disturbing sound of metal scraping. The gigantic gate that seemed immovable, moved inwards quicker than minds could believe.


The Black carriage appeared right when the gates fully opened. The carriage seemed to flash and eerily appear right in front of Ren.


Ren who was ignorant of the sound before, suddenly felt a hot breath on his hair. When he looked up, he was starring right into a red glistening horn that was just inches away from impaling his head.


Ren subconsciously took a step back and forced himself to swallow the scream that was coming out.


The odd rhino with its red horn tilted its head to get a better look of Ren, it snorted twice and did not bother after.



The rest of the herd were silent as corpse, almost making it look like puppets if not for the hot breath that drew steam in the rain.



The door slammed open, four black cloaked figures calmly stepped down on the ground and walked over to Ren, they each placed themselves such that Ren couldn't run even if his life depended.



But Ren wasn't here to run, he knew by heart he wouldn't be killed here, harmed? Yes, but not killed. And that was because of his eyes.


He got himself to compose, he took back the step he had lost and lifted his head to assess at the four figures.


" Young master, would you please show your full face?"


The flat deep voice came from the shortest black figures, his hood covered till his eyes and a cloth covered the rest of his face. It was a mystery if he could see.



Ren squinted his eyes, he didn't move his drenched hair just yet, he was judging whether his opponent was a male or a female.


'looking at the waist she seems like a woman, but something isn't right'.



" Young master please show your face, we can't take you in without confirming first"


The short figure repeated with much colder tone, and an invisible pressure fell on Ren.


Ren suddenly found it difficult to stand and slowly felt his back cowing down. He tried resisting but felt it a piercing pain inside his head.


He finally could not take it and moved his trembling hand to remove the wet strands of hair from his face.


When his face was clear, the short figure could see the pale coloured oval face, his unblemished skin made him look like a cute innocent child. If it wasn't for the narrowed eyes and the cold stare.


'A cub acting haughty, Ha-ha'


The short figure found it funny when the little kid tried looking threatening, but there were more important things to do, so the short figure focused on his eyes.



" Eh, it's purple indeed. Young master please follow us, we will be seeing his highness now"


' it's so faded, guess our highness is last of pure blood.'


The short figure felt pitiful inside, but the usual indifference was kept.


The four figures walked back to the carriage; they showed their gloved hands to indicate Ren to get in first.


Ren couldn't help being cautious and took slow steps and finally got on the carriage.


Inside the carriage Ren could see twenty-six seats placed parallel to the walls, and all ten of them had another set of black figures seated in a stiff posture.


He quickly found the corner seat and sat down.


The four figures then walked in and seated themselves.


"Rere!! Back to home! "


The short figure gave a low shout to the front of the carriage.


The pompous red horned rhino neighed and turned back towards the gate and galloped instantly into the sky.



somewhere above the skies of the two-mile forest, the black carriage was zooming with its thunderous sound.


Inside, Ren looked around at the fourteen figures, they all had their faces hidden under hood and cloth. But the defining points were their physic, some were bulky and some stream build, there were three with sickly thin bodies.


None moved a muscle, even the supposed leader short figure had his arms crossed and head rested back.


'is it sleeping?'


Ren had decided to call the figure 'it' based on how it was hard to judge it's gender.


The short figure twitched and seemed to sense Ren's stare, he turned his head lazily and tilted his head slightly back just enough for a line of skin to be exposed, half exposed green eyes stared back at Ren’s purple eyes.


Ren was scared and surprised, surprised to find another with variant eye colour, but the frightening part was the shape of the pupil.


It was like an hourglass made of two triangles.


Ren quickly looked away and looked out the only window inside. He could see the path they left. The huge gate was still visible, and the forest kept running away from view on the ground, but it seemed to have no end to its body.



" We'll reach in half hour, young master need not worry, his highness has tasked us with your safety, even if a horde of earth titans ambushed, you'd still be safe"




" If I was worried about my life I would've hid under a rock. And if the infamous black guards couldn't guarantee my life, I don't think I'm safe anywhere on Celestia"



"We are honoured by your words young master"



The short figure gave a slight bow of head, if one didn't focus one wouldn't even see it.



Ren who had his head looking outside brought his lips to a sneer, he didn't see the bow. Even if he did, he knew it was just out of courtesy and not respect.



Exactly half hour into their journey, the carriage now was above a long stretch of garden with intricate paths, the paths looked like purple veins running along in the lush greenery.


"Why is it purple?"


Ren for the first time asked a question, he was asking the short figure who seemed to be the only one alive.


" The pathways are built by Regi stones mined in Moons cave, they have a unique property of showing the colour of the viewer's eyes, so it has another alias of eye mirrors"


Ren found it odd for a stone to be that way, and inkling doubt whether it was related to the bloodlines.



As if he could read Ren's mind, the short figure added


" Young master need not think deeply, it’s a common stone in the Elven lands, it's just an ornament, it provides no use to bloodline holders".


Ren gave a slight nod and continued his watch.


What he could not see was that right in front of the carriage a gigantic palace was drawing close in seconds.


The part that was visible from the front of carriage had white pillars stretching into the skies, the rain and thunder clouds looked like it is ceiling and the lightning it's lamps lighting the world.


To say it was intimidating would be an understatement.


There was a vague outline of a door on the wall, its top was again covered by the clouds, but what could be seen was enough to let anyone wonder what titan was living inside.


If Ren could see it, he would doubt whether he had mistakenly entered the fabled Titan heavens.


The door and the wall where of the same white colour, there were inscription etched out on the door, it was barely visible, but it could be seen to fill the entirety of the door.



The Black carriage seemed not to slow down, it galloped towards an eminent crash with the door.


And the moment Rere's red horn touched the door, the expected didn't happen, but the horn mysteriously went inside the hard stone.


And in a blink the whole carriage followed suit.


Ren suddenly felt the world darken and then outside the window he could see a white wall full of inscriptions moving away, but the shocking part was that there was no more rain, the sunlight created a clear view of the door he had just entered, the ground was still the same garden with purple veins


Ren stretched his head up to make out the full size of the door, and as expected he could just see it stretching into the clear skies, on either side of it a white wall ran equally to the west and east, and even they had their top hidden in heavens.


'How can something so monstrous be hidden? this should've been visible from hundreds of miles!!'.


He turned to the short figure, he hoped it would answer without asking like it did before. But the short figure ignored him and shouted lowly


"Rere, to the orchids!"


Suddenly the carriage seemed to have gained new energy and bolted several times faster than it did outside, and it was still accelerating!


The inside was calm as before, only the view from the back window become streamlined and hard to make out.


"If this could be so fast, why did we waste time outside?"


There was a hint of anger in Ren's voice, he didn't mind being treated bad, but being played around like a fool was little too much.


"Young master isn't aware, there is a restriction in the outer garden, the speed is limited by one’s authority and status. if we hadn't picked you up the royal guards would take a day to reach here. And the common folk won't even be able to fly, they'd have to tread the path laid for them."



"Young master, we've reached his highness's private quarter, please disembark, there will be an envoy to take you to see him".


Ren had more questions, but he knew it was not the time. he got up and walked to the carriage door, it automatically opened, and Ren stepped out slowly, taking in the breath-taking view ahead.



There were lanes and lanes of varied plants in a circle, the carriage was landed in a marbled patch, there were uniform circular paths in-between the lanes of plants.


some plants towered above like trees without trunks, and some like vines growing out on ground, there were in all shapes and size. Some even had multiple colours.


And at the end of the straight path in front of him, he could see a wooden house, it had a trapezoid tiled roof, the front doors were open sideways.


This was quite different from the wood house Ren had seen. It had a regal look which he found odd to come from a wood house.

Suddenly a white robbed old man appeared in front of him.

"You must be Ren Siyu son of Madam Yen Shen Felling?"

Ren was astonished at the old man's arrival and didn't register his question immediately, and jumped back unconsciously,

After a second of calming down, he gave a deep bow and stayed there.

"That would be me, your Highness, it is an honour to be able to meet you at last milord".

"eh?!!"


"Hahaha, I'm not his highness, I’m just a simple gardener, I’ll be taking you to see his highness."


The Gardener was shocked for a second by being mistaken, then laughed and cleared Ren's misunderstandings.


Ren was shocked again. 'If even this godly grandpa is just a servant how strong is uncle?'.



When Ren saw the Gardener could teleport, he for sure thought this was his legendary uncle whom he had heard about from small age. But only to recently have learnt of his connection to him.

 

chapter 2

Spoiler

The Gardener ignored Ren's thought and walked briskly towards the wooden house. when Ren was walking behind the grandpa, he turned his head around to take in the view of the mesmerising flora around him. there was a continuous waft of different aromas when he passed each lane of plants. Ren could not help wondering what heavenly powers laid in them. he couldn't suppress his curiosity and asked the grandpa.


" Are these the mythical plants that can grant godly powers?"


'If I could get to eat even one of these, I’m sure I’ll be able to take my revenge!'


"These are just perfume plants, they aren't mythical grade, but its application as transitory materials in some epic grade can bring them to epic grade. But their real use is to let their natural scented aura penetrate and sublimate the lands, even if a century of drought fell here, it would still be fragrant. its other use is to ward off any divination, curses and malicious intents"



Ren was disappointed to learn they were not his key, but he was shocked by the grandpa's weird priority. But thought it would be rude to question his views so he just nodded and followed quietly.



Once they reached the house the Gardener went up the two steps and stopped just inside the door.


"Your highness, I've brought your nephew as commanded. I'll be going back to the medicine garden; the night berries have started to act up"



There was a moment of silence and then a sweet deep voice was heard behind the room at the front end.


"Don't make me trouble your work old man, go on I’ll see to my nephew's comfort"


The doors slid open and a black and purple-robed man walked out.


He had a tall stature, towering at six and a half feet, his kimono-style robe had a dull shade of black and purple mixed in a wavy pattern, a black with gold stripes belt tied his robe together, his bare feet showed his pale skin, but the muscular undertone dismissed any thoughts of illness.


Coming to his top, his robes fitted perfectly to his athletic build, his sides were rolled up and he had his arms behind, what was visible of his biceps showed an unusual amount of muscle groups popping out, they didn't seem grotesque but instead looked smooth and well placed like an art.


his face had a diamond shape with sharp jaws visible from his short beard, The most eye-catching feature was his eyes, the sclera was matte black and the iris had two concentric designed black circles revolving, the pupil was a deep purple with thin threads of golden strands connecting to the moving iris. He had short black hair that filled his forehead and the sides trimmed to just cover his scalp. He looked to be in his thirties.


He wore a glaring red earring on his right ear, it was shaped like a red snake biting its tail.



Tron Belliord Felling, or to his title, Divine Supreme Tron, the king of Felling dynasty and a demi-god level cultivator. He reigned absolute power in his country, only the other five demi-gods ruled kingdoms could threaten him. And even among his peers, he was nicknamed "The purple devil".



Of course, Ren only knew of his king title and his mysterious powers, he had not walked in the path of cultivation at all, so he was oblivious to it all. But it did not affect him being instantly shocked by his uncle's appearance, his magical moving eyes and his eerily fluid walks made him look fictional and scary. He doubted whether he was even human.


'I'm sure he is some magical demon in human form, dammit mom! what kind of family is this?'



Tron looked at the small figure hid behind the old man, he kindly smiled and called Ren affectionately with his right hand.


The old man gave Ren a final look and vanished.



Ren was not shocked anymore, he took a deep breath and walked swiftly in, as he was just in front of Tron, he bowed deeply with his right hands on his chest and devotedly saluted


" Your Highness it’s my honour to meet you, at last, this humble subject is here to ask for your grace milord".


"Nope, I am a pure human, but just not the pure type you are aware of. And our family is the last of the Regal bloodlines in humanity, and it’s the one with the longest history among them."


'eh? is he answering my thoughts?'


Tron lifted Ren and riled his wet hair with his right hand, it instantly dried up and a never lustrous shine came up. He took Ren up in the air in both arms and shook him once, the drenched clothes dried up and even the torn clothes looked crisp and ironed.


Tron brought Ren close to his face and took a good look in his eyes.



Ren was stupefied by his uncle's action and didn't react till he was brought too close to his face.


" it’s indeed Felling bloodline, sigh if I found you before, you could've been purified a bit more to get the true strain of bloodline. Anyhow it is a delight to see a family at long last, hahaha".


Tron made a round spin in delight with Ren in his arms like a cub. Tron brought him closer again and gave a kiss to Ren's forehead.


Ren had no words; this was totally against his expectation. this uncle of his should have been sophisticated and strict, this was like a fatherly figure instead!


'My uncle is so lovely huh? guess then half my work is done, now I just have to ask for a present to help my revenge, hehe'


Tron gave a tight hug and placed Ren down. he patted his head and bent over to look him in the eye,


" Hahaha, hmhm I’m very happy to see you, but unfortunately I can't help you. "


"What?!!"


Ren finally lost his composure, he even failed to realise his uncle was able to read his thoughts.


"What is Unc...Your Highness saying?, I’m just asking for a path in cultivation, I won't even stay here and trouble you, I..I... I will surely pay back your help, in fact, I’m ready to do anything in the world to get your help. "


"hmm?"


Tron looked deep into that determined and adamant eyes, a sudden thought came to him and a slight smile came over him.


" First of all, you should call me uncle, and second just follow me"


Tron got back up and walked back to his room, in the end, he went in and sat on a sofa made of some soft material that just looked ethereal.


Ren took a breath and walked in, he could see that the room was plain, except for two sofas and a table, there was just the lamp in the ceiling and an urn in a corner with two pairs of burning incense.


The ceiling light was made of a blue fluorescent stone that was cut smooth like a glass, the incense had no scent but Ren could feel that it was the reason for him to suddenly feel light and calm minded.


"Sit down Ren"


Ren gave his uncle a look and sat down on the only seat, he felt lose and relaxed as soon as his body touched the cushion, it felt like sitting on soft flesh.


"it’s made from the cloud whales that dwell above yellow carp ocean, its softness is incomparable in the world. did you like it?"


"yes, your Hig...Uncle"


"hmhm lets first eat then talk"


"yes uncle"


Ren was anxious inside, but he did not show it in his face, a continuous thought of what could happen played in his mind. but then he seemed to realise about the past incident of his uncle answering his thoughts and wryly looked at his uncle, he had some nasty thoughts of whether he would be killed or a horrific image of him being molested. Ren's mind was going haywire in trying to make sense of this danger.


"I’m not reading your mind now, it is bit irritating to do it always and ruins fun, but looking at your expression it seems I’ve missed something hahaha"


"No uncle, I was just thinking about my empty stomach that's all"


Ren just came up with a lousy excuse and quickly swatted away any awkwardness on his face.


"hmhm? hahaha, what would you like to eat Ren? just ask away, even if its phoenix and dragon's meat your uncle isn't poor, haha"


His lively tone made Ren finally think about food,


' Hmph, just days before I had to eat stone bread meant for the stone race, thrown roots of herbs. I endured all that for me to avenge my mother. But I really wonder why mother said not to ask for uncle's direct help'


"it's because I would've refused, your mother should've been from the direct descendant of my great grandfather's half-brother, the family back then was torn inside and. sigh. first, let’s eat, I’ll answer later".


"Uncle? did yo"


"Ren, let’s eat, here have this, it’s from my favourites"


Tron stopped him and swiped his hand on the empty table, a dozen of plates appeared with each filled with a delicacy of either a meat dish, a desert or a salad of berries and stringy leaves.


Ren swallowed his saliva and threw the question away. he picked up the pair of fork and knife and dived into the grilled meat dish that was closest to him, he ripped it quickly and placed it in his mouth, he failed to register the taste has hunger took over and he quickly hogged without any care.


Within minutes half the plates were empty, and Ren finally slowed down, then he embarrassingly looked at Tron and with a half-filled mouth


"impf Orrry, ichhgg baaan ruooo rayss".


Tron who was enjoying the show found it funny when Ren tried apologising with his chubby face filled with grease and a full mouth, he just waved his hands and signalled Ren to complete the rest by pointing at the remaining dishes.


Ren didn't hesitate and gobbled two more plates before stopping.


"Hmhm, I’ll keep the rest for you to finish later. Now take this and wash it down and clean yourself too"


Tron threw a leather loose bottle to Ren's hand; Ren hurriedly caught it and quickly opened the cap and took huge gulps of whatever was inside.


Ren felt a thick and smooth sweet slurry slide down his throat, it was like an ice-cold cream with a very sweet taste. Ren instantly fell in love with this divine nectar and took several gulps, only when he heard a cough did he stop, he looked front and saw a wet cloth hanging in mid-air, he kept the bottle on the table and wiped his greasy face clean.


After wiping himself with the fragrant wet cloth he found his face felt a little heavier than before and his eyes felt like cold water had been splashed on his face.



"I dipped the cloth in nether water, it should keep you from drowsing away after that heavy meal for a while, and if you want to know what’s that divine nectar, it’s the blood of ice fairies, especially a collection of ten thousand young virgin queens' blood, seems you loved it very much eh? hahaha"


Ren suddenly felt like he had sinned and could almost feel the retch coming to his throat.


' it was blood!!, and a young kid’s blood!!, yuck why did you do this?!!'


knowing his uncle could read his mind, he just stared at his cynical uncle with a wronged face, holding his hands on his stomach, trying to press down the vomiting sensation.


Blllllaaghh!


He could not hold it in, the bile-filled his mouth and was almost about to come out, when suddenly space froze around, and time seemed to move backwards.



Ren came back to when he just wiped his face and wondering about the magical effect of the cloth and the divine nectar.



Whereas Tron seemed to show a disappointed look for a second and changed back to his smiling face.


Ren looked up at his uncle and felt something odd, something deep inside him was telling him something was wrong.


'Am I poisoned ?!'


Tron faced changed for the first time and he looked mildly shocked, ' seems it’s a bit purer than expected, did someone go through purification on that side? how could he be in this state if there was someone with true felling bloodline on that side? hmm seems father's action didn't help them much, they should've been hunted down by others'.



"no, you are not dying, it’s just the northern giant bee nectar is too much for your body, don't worry the nether water which you wiped on your face will help in slowing its breakdown"



Of course, the nectar was the ice fairy queens' blood, Tron learnt Ren was yet to be strong-minded enough to take in reality, so he lied.




'It seems I really must go through with it, sigh, well it should help him wake up earlier.'






Ren did not mind the retort to his thoughts, and he did not seriously think he was poisoned anyway, Tron answer just cleared the doubt. He then seriously looked at the man that held his future and spoke clearly what he felt in his heart


" Uncle, you should have learnt by now why I have come here. I do not know why my mother lived separately from her brother; I do not have any discontent about it. I only want your help to avenge my mother’s death. she told me in her dying breath that we were related to the royals and the king is my uncle, she said that we were a branch that was strong as the main one but for some reason we lost all our strong fighters. The House of Rage Horn killed my father and mother, why? I still do not know. She told sniff...sniff told me to ask for shelter and a chance to peaceful life, bu.. but I cannot rest easy till I see the House of Rage Horn burn to ashes. So, I ask Uncle to take consideration of your sister's death and please help me."



At the last parts, Ren could not hold his tears and had to force hard to not burst out his yearlong sorrow.



He had run for a year to reach the capital, from the day he found his father’s corpse and his mother’s naked slit body his world was collapsed if uncle Donghun didn't find him and if he didn't help him reach the capital Ren would've died way earlier.


He still remembered Uncle Dong's words " Never show your pain little one, it will only worsen the wound, hid it well until you've grown strong enough to solve it. Don't cry, it will make you forget the ones you did this, don't let them win by giving up,"



Donghun was trying to teach Ren how to hide from his enemies, if he had not, Ren could have made a blunder of giving himself to his pursuers early on. He acted as a mute and worked his way in the merchant wagon that was coming to the capital, he found many posters stuck with his happy face. But he had changed drastically, his skin had become paler, he always had a dirty face, his body was thinner and his hair dropped down to cover his eyes, he wontedly hopped around, making it look like he had weak leg, his amateur undercover skill worked, mainly because House of RageHorn didn't think he was any trouble.


Why would they? Ren's father was just an initiation level and his mother was a mortal like him, it would have been weird if they did. Of course, if they knew the kid, they thought was nothing was, in fact, a true bloodline holder it would have been a different picture.


Tron still kept his smiling face; he closed his eyes and shook his head.


" Your mother isn't my sister, she should be my great-grandniece, I let you call me uncle because it sounds nice. Long ago our family was huge and was one of the Pentos Circle, an alliance of five great true bloodline families, it was the true core of humanity, but due to several wars and a certain event three of the families vanished, and just our Felling and Morojon families survived, but just barely. At that time, a rift opened up between two half-brothers who were the pillars of the family, one lost and was banished, a curse was put and stopped any of the main branch members from helping them out and even had effects of forcing weaker members to kill them on sight. This continued till my father came to power, he managed to reverse the curse halfway to not force anyone, he ordered all pursuits off on the hunt and all records of the side branch destroyed. Now I am the sole survivor of the main branch, it has been over five hundred years and I had thought your side should have died out. Still, now I am trying to lift the curse, though it is not harmful now, it will stop me from ascending. So that is the reason I cannot help you with avenging, I would immediately fall back a realm because of the backlash. Even now, feeding you is activating the curse.



If I give you a path to ascension, then the curse would act worse than killing RageHorn. I seriously can't help you any more than letting you live a peaceful life".

 

chapter 3

Spoiler

"Uncle please don't say that I’m willing to do any deed for your help, anything! even if you want my soul, you can have it!".



"Anything? I’ll warn you, I hate those who don’t follow their words, if you refuse to my wish then I’ll turn you into oblivion"


Tron opened his eyes and asked playfully.


"Yes uncle, anything at all"


Tron seemed to be in deep thought and suddenly brought his left leg on the table and pointed at his barefoot.


"Simple, you've got kiss my feet and place it on your face. Beware that it will leave an everlasting foot mark on your face, but it will help you defend against one attack from a soul integration expert. I'll even add a cultivation manual with it."


Ren was first hopeful, then he felt like a fool, anger boiled from his pained heart, all his hopes on his uncle shattered and his face contorted in anger, and he shot up in blinding rage.


"Tron Belliord Felling!!!, You might be a god, but that doesn't mean all men will play to your flute, if you had thrown me out I would've walked away, even if you killed me, I would be free from this suffering, but you! you are mocking my pain and misery cause of my weakness!, I don't need your help!, I’ll find my own path!!, I’ll show you what a true joke is when I crush that fake face of yours under my feet!!."



"hmm?!"


Suddenly, it felt like an ice mountain on top, Ren felt his body give away, his knees buckled, and his head was drumming with reverberating pain. Ren collapsed on the floor, he was still conscious but he couldn’t move a muscle, nor could he think clearly, A horror and fear of death crept in, he had never felt like this before in his entire life, even if he faced a demon beast he could still breathe, but this pressure was like a literal mountain being thrown on his head.


And when he could focus back on Tron, there he saw the usual smile had vanished and an indifferent and condescending gaze peering into his soul.


“There are men who won’t play by my flute? Is that right? How about now? Do you still think god is nonsense? Let me tell you another fact, I’m just breathing out the breath I held in to keep you from dying, even now its just half breath. Do you truly believe you have a choice? I had warned you; I will not take no for an answer. You’ve failed to comprehend the meaning of anything, you are still a kid who hasn’t hit puberty yet, and you will make me a joke? That is the biggest joke of my life hahaha. “


“Kid you can’t even handle drinking blood, and you wanted to watch bodies burn. You think the death of your parents made you strong eh? Hahaha, I hoped it too, but it seems it simply blinded you from the harsh truth, there is no destiny written for your revenge! You don’t have fate to eternal glory! Everything needs to be taken.


I would have let you off if you refused when I warned you, but now hee-hee, you will die an agonising death, I’ll take your soul burn it for seven days, I’ll take your parent's soul from the yin river and throw them as well Hahaha, it might bring some closure eh? hahaha.”




Ren never believed in devils and ghosts, but now he knew the one in front of him was a devil in the truest sense, he didn’t doubt whether he was able to bring his parent's souls, cause right behind Tron a mirage appeared, it was filled with ghostly images of humans, creatures he only heard in myths and some of them looked almost material, all of them were wailing and screaming in torment, he felt their gaze pleading him for death, a release from that eternal torture.



Ren realised something he hadn’t thought before, that was Pain! He from the depths of his soul didn’t want that pain, his very essence was revolting against his wishes, he slowly reduced the priority of revenge or any other matters, now he wanted to live. Even if it meant to live under a rock! He truly felt for the first time that life was the most precious thing he had.



The mournful wails filled the room, the smaller ghosts roamed around everywhere, some tried entering Ren, but just when it seemed to touch him, an invisible chain pulled them back.



Ren thought quickly.


“Please Uncle I want to live! I’m sorry, I..I...I will never disobey again, I’ll kiss your feet, I don’t even want the power, please just let me live.”


Even though his thoughts weren’t clear, Tron who was keeping a watchful eye understood clearly.


‘Was it too much? What if this made him a coward? No, I will have to change this’


“Just because you beg, you think I should leave you? I was willing to help free before, there wouldn’t have been any karma between us then, but now you’ve offended my divinity, killing you is more useful than keeping you, tell me, why should I let you go?.”


“Uncle I don’t understand what you are saying, please let me go, I’ll really do anything.”


“Coward! And to think you had my bloodline, puu! What a waste, I wonder what your mother will think when she finds out how useless you are now! Hahaha, I am sure if she were alive, she would kill herself in shame, hahaha. Revenge! You were not even ready to sacrifice your dignity for it, and now you are begging just because of pain!!, you still have not understood death, but you are already giving up! That RageHorn should’ve killed your worthless sack, your very existence is a sin. Maybe it was you that caused your parents death by your weak will. Puu! Go die! I’ll make it quick”


Tron had still not gotten up, from his seat he lifted his left hand and a similar hand appeared way outside in the skies.


“I’ll erase your true soul, your fate and your karma. From today, Celestia won’t have Ren Siyu Felling!”



He slowly brought his hands down gripping his palms like a claw. There were faint red and black lines visible suddenly from Ren’s body. Ren felt another layer of threatening pressure, he intrinsically knew those threads were his very footprint, in reality, if that disappeared then he was truly gone, deader than dead.



But at the same time, Ren Siyu felt something click inside his head, and everything seemed to slow to a halt.



Ren Siyu felt his vision darken, when it came back, he was in a dim-lit room. It was European styled, there was a workbench in the middle, with a long stretch of papers lain, and there was a scholarly man bent over checking the papers, he looked serious and devoted in his work. A few strands of grey hair showed his ageing body. “Dad!”


“Dad, it’s me Ren, Dad!”


Ren ran without a thought and hugged his dad from behind, his tears bursting out again.


“Dad, why did you leave me! I hate you! Dad mom’s family is screwed up, there is a madman. No, a mad Devil as the king, he is too scary dad. Dad, please don’t leave me dad, dad why aren’t you answering?”.


That’s when he felt the coldness in his touch, he looked up to his dad’s back, and tears slowly flowed down.


“what are you scared of Siyu?”


“ eh? Me Bahahaha I’m not scared of anything dad”


“Everyone’s scared of something Siyu, even if it’s a god.”


“ha-ha then I’m greater than gods, ouch ok ok, I’m scared of mom”


“you stinky brat listen, son, one day you will know what you are truly fear, then I want you to promise me one thing. Will you Siyu?”


“hmhm, say it, dad, this over god will grant any wish”


“I don’t want anything, just know that fear is what proves that you are alive, it should fuel your drive to move ahead. But promise me Siyu, you will never be scared of fear. Our existence is to etch our marks, but it doesn’t mean you give into madness. Don’t be scared to be afraid but use it to achieve your goals.”


“blablabalablabla, ouch hahahaa…”



An echo of laughter woke Ren from his stupor, hearing his dad’s voice once more brought a joy and a thought which he failed to consider flashed across his mind ‘ souls were real, dad and mom are still there!, I could ask... no, I will do it on my own.’.



He vaguely understood his dad’s words now, “I was too scared of losing what I had that I was blinded to my goals. I need to think of a way to convince uncle, I still recall that he was about to cut my threads off.”


“mom, can I see you once?”


There was utter silence. Ren did not know what space he was in, but it surely helped him living his memories with dad again, he hoped he could hear his mother’s soothing lullaby again.


“No, this is right, now I’ve one more thing to fight for. Yes, Fight, I will not live anymore more and definitely not survive, I will fight”


He clenched his small fists hard and clenched his teeth too


“Till my last breath, till my blood runs dry, till my name exists in Celestia I will fight!”.




What words that seemed too big to be spoken by a thirteen-year-old, were the very words that made the big change needed for Ren Siyu to metamorphose from his old weak will to a burning fire that fought every second with the air.


A literal grey fire appeared way above his head, it looked to be in the centre of this weird place. And sparks flew from its tongues and edges, like a metal grating against metal.




Ren felt a new vigour inside him, and the world darkened again. When he got back his vision, he saw the faint red and black threads were still trembling and his uncles’ hand was still slowly descending. He then thought loud and clear Inside his mind


“Uncle! I promise to cure the curse of our bloodline! Let me live, I’ll be a loyal soldier who will do your bidding, a second Felling bloodline holder would surely strengthen the kingdom! And you could wholeheartedly devote yourself to cultivation”.



“ehh?! You have awakened your will?”


“what’s this? Uncle, are you talking inside my head?”



Tron was too shocked by the change and innately spoke from his spiritual sense. It wouldn’t have worked if Ren was the same, but now Ren had taken the first step into cultivation without any arts, his will had manifested in his soul, still, in the immaterial world it had limited use, but it could now slowly help Ren’s soul affect the real world, he could now take in celestial Qi, and start nurturing his body to break the mortal limits.



Tron quickly disbanded the Nihilating nine heavens technique.’ Damn what a surprise, originally, I wanted to bring him to the very last particle, every living thing fights back at that point. But guess I don’t need to. Hmm his voice seems different as well’


“First tell me what happened “


Even though he was delighted from inside he didn’t show even a sign of it, instead, he vanished and appeared right in front Ren’s lying body.


‘uncle I move let me’


“oh yeah totally forgot”


A gust of warm air flew in and the cold and threatening pressure vanished in the wind. Ren could finally breathe in real-time, he got his thoughts together, and astonishingly found out he could think faster than before, and the numbing pain seemed to slowly recede.



“Now tell me how you entered initiation without any guidance, your bloodline didn’t help you, instead it should’ve been a shackle in the breakthrough.”



“So, uncle is saying its harder for bloodline holders to breakthrough? Then why are we so revered and sought after?”



Ren found it odd for there to be such a contrasting dilemma.


“it is a wrong way to think, it is exactly because of our speciality and powers that it is more difficult. No even this is wrong. At age-old antiquity times where true bloodline was just common blood, this was the natural state of cultivation, only when some of them reached higher realms did they discover ways to fasten their cultivation, And the widespread thought was ‘purifying’ blood would do that, but in fact, it was diluting the world Qi integrated in their blood.”


“so higher world Qi means harder breakthrough?”



“sigh no, it’s a long correlation, if I let you live, I might teach you someday. Now, why don’t you start answering me before I lose my patience”.


Ren wryly smiled, but he held no shame in his heart, he then moved his muscles which were slowly coming back to his control, he took the support of his two hands to lift him into a sitting posture.


He then patted away the dust on his hands and went on to wipe the sweat off his face, but when he reached his temple he felt some sticky goo, when he saw what was stuck on his hands he was revolted, it was a reddish-black slime, there were bits of hair and whatnot, there was a strong stench of sweat and blood that made him nauseous.


Suddenly a drop trickled down on his lap and he used his other hand to touch his nose, he felt a cool sticky fluid, when saw his hand, he saw it had blood, a bright red and thick drops


‘is it because of the pressure I went through? or the breakthrough?’.


Ren then thought back to his uncle’s question and worked out how to reply in a moment.


“ I don’t remember much, uncle when I saw the threads appearing I felt truly scared and fainted, then when I woke up I found myself in a black space, There I kept screaming to be let out but nothing happened, then I started running to the black space, when I was almost giving up I took one more step and something changed the whole view, then I suddenly found myself back here”.



“Hmhm, it should be your inner space, very rare for a mortal to end up there, even in life and death time. It’s weird a gag reflex in some souls when it feels threatened it locks itself inside itself, fooling oneself into safety.”


“I only knew it brought an irreversible comatose state to the soul, this enlightening effect worth studying”


‘Pity it’s too dangerous and nigh impossible to control, this could have a new branch of cultivation instead.’



“Don’t try to open that space again, at least not before reaching the late stage of soul integration. It has no use to you now and is more of a problem.



Now coming to the second question, what did you decide on how you were worth to me?”.




Ren duly took note of the precious pointers, and any notion he had of meeting his father’s memory was dumped. Then he without hesitation proclaimed.


“I Ren Siyu Felling swear to obey Tron…”


“Stop!!”



“When did I allow you to make an oath? Just answer my question you fickle thing, stop jumping around with your thoughts.”



“Uncle it was just to show my sincerity if it was insulting please forgive me. I stand by my words, I will help uncle solve his curse even if it costs me my life, and once I’m strong enough will help uncle in reducing his diplomatic burdens”.



“eh, good marketing, but sadly I have no need for both the products.”


Ren was scared a little, was his uncle going to kill him again? He didn’t have anything else valuable to give.


“I’ll give you two choice, one is to become my disciple, two, die and meet your parents in yin river.


And this will be the Dorken contract, that is me being the master will hold power over your life, even if you one day surpass me, I can still restrict and weaken you. Any ill-intent thoughts will hee-hee.


Need I remind you of the ghosts?”.


Ren thought and ran through several scenarios that could happen with his choice, none of them ended good, but most of them lasted longer than today and those were in him choosing the contract, so didn’t hesitate,


“yes, I’ll be your disciple, master”.



“Good, this the attitude I wanted, here place a drop of blood from your forehead onto this horn, use the tip to draw the blood.”.

 

chapter 4

Spoiler

A plain greyish white cow horn fell on Ren’s lap, he took it and examined closely its texture. It felt no different than normal cow horn, its tip though had a red tinge.


Ren took the horn and stabbed it at his forehead just enough for it to pierce the skin. A red drop flowed out from the wound and was instantly sucked up by the horn like a sponge. Then Tron waved his hands, the horn vanished and appeared on Tron’s palm.



There was a sudden “no!” sound that came from the wall behind Tron’s, Tron’s didn’t find it surprising and with a laugh bit his thumb and splashed a black glob of blood on the horn.



“I’ve chosen Ren Siyu has my disciple, and it’s the only way he and I had”


“now Ren Siyu, it’s time for you to lose your bloodline and name, I can’t move ahead with your identity as my rival bloodline.”



Ren was shocked by this twist and took two solid seconds to give an answer


“hasn’t the contract been done? Is removing my bloodline necessary? I will become useless to master without it right?”


How could he let his innate gift be taken so easily? That was his paddle to drive his boat, without it he would be at the current’s mercy. He couldn’t and wouldn’t give up.



“I know but trust me, Ren this bloodline is only useful when it is purified back to its true strain, now your body is in imbalance, the bloodline could even be taken as an impurity.


If you were five years and younger, I could purify it, but now its too late and even if I force it, it won’t be up to mark. But don’t worry, now I’ve decided to take you in as a disciple, it would be an insult to me if you didn’t turn into a genius.”


There was a heartfelt sincerity in Tron's voice, and for the first time, he seemed in a hurry to finish this ceremony.



Ren listened and thought long and hard, he knew he couldn’t refuse no matter how much he wanted to, this was a lesson he learnt the hard way. The strong preyed the weak, there were no exceptions.


Ren stared at Tron eye to eye, one faded and one mystical the two pairs of purple eyes locked onto each other, and after what seemed like an eternity later, Ren nodded his head slightly.


“I trust you master”.


The line told how much Ren was giving in to trust him. Tron smiled, “it’s going hurt, twice as much at least when you were under my aura, so be ready and remember to stay conscious no matter what”.



Ren nodded again without delay, and he suddenly felt his body lighten and his vision blackout, when he could see again, he was on a white bed and dark red room. Tron was seated in mid-air right next to his left side. His eyes were closed but the two circles of his eyes seemed to glow under the skin, he turned his head towards Ren’s body and a ray of black beam hit Ren right in his solar plex.


Ren felt nothing, but then his body glowed black and then vivid purple black symbols floated out of his body, they created an enchanting ensemble above him, the kept changing their forms continuously and seemed to be resisting the pull.


Ren found something familiar amid the symbols, there were thin lines of red and black lines running through the symbols, like a thread holding the gems on a necklace, only the whole ornament was jumbled up and the gems kept on changing their colours.

‘These! Weren’t they the ones that came up back then? Why is it brought again? I heard master talk about it being karma and fate, is this truly my karmic ties and my fate line? How godly is master’.



“No, this useless master of yours isn’t godly enough to truly manipulate karma and fate. I can at most cut them. The one in past were only a few strands of your karma and fate, even if I had cut them, you would not have suffered much.


This is different, now I’m attempting to only remove the strands from your bloodline, it’s changing your very existence, if I fail, there will be no more Ren Siyu but a deformed spirit zombie.”



This was done directly into Ren’s mind, and Ren quickly added in his thoughts, “master isn’t it easier to remove the bloodline from the strands? why the other way around?”.


Tron lifted both his hands from his lap and made quick signs that brought forth more black beams from his eyes.


Without breaking his movements, Tron replied through spiritual sense, “ Can’t manipulate the Qi prints, its something the world keeps in tight check, I can’t manipulate it without a backlash from the world, the collective of the floating Qi prints is the bloodline. “.



‘then isn’t master manipulating fate and karma?’


“No again fool, sigh, imagine cutting off flesh from bones, I’ll be cutting off the connection to the Qi prints. This is enough, I’ll be starting now”.



A shocking change happened to Tron’s body, a new pair of hands emerged out of his back and quickly descended onto Ren, they seemed to meet no resistance on his flesh and quickly submerged in.


Ren felt like a rat being loose inside his body, he screamed to the ceiling, he tried jumping off, but invisible chains held his two arms to the bed and a ball suddenly plugged Ren’s mouth. But Ren could still bite into the ball and scream, but there was no sound heard outside.


The extra arms kept searching for something in his body and the original arms kept making signs and the black beam from his eyes kept intensifying, this was the most important part, he had to get even the most minute Qi prints out, if there was any residue it would backfire when he completed the master-disciple ceremony.



And there was a reason for why he let Ren draw blood before this.


‘I just hope Droken contract will work even with half completion’.


While Tron was bringing out the Qi prints from Ren’s body suddenly there was a sharp pain under his skin, and tattoos of spiked purple chains appeared all over his body.


Even his enigmatic face was suddenly chained within these purple tattoos, and the black beam was instantly half-ed in its intensity.


‘Finally, it activated huh, guess it was foolproof. Just a few more minutes and I should have the complete bloodline, now you just go back to sleep’.


Tron did not flinch cause of the curse acting up, he just spat a dull green ball out of his mouth, the ball quickly went to his forehead and attached itself right in-between.


It seemed like a green rock was pushed into his skull, there was black blood trickling down the edge, and if one could listen, they could hear soft cracking sounds from inside his head. And it changed to crunching sounds and then silence.



When the green ball quietened down the curse tattoos slowly dimmed and vanished in seconds, then there were purple faces seen on the green ball etched in Tron’s head, all of them were human faces, with contorted expressions, they seemed furious by the green ball’s audacity, they kept struggling to escape, and moving their lips in inexplicable language.



Tron ignored their appearance and their struggle; he was completely concentrated on getting out the bloodline.


After an hour, Tron’s face had become sickly from exhaustion, his eyes and sunken, there were signs of grey hair in his sides.



Ren, on the other hand, had fainted long ago, even though he gave his all, he still could not withstand the pain of his body mangled from inside.


Suddenly the black beam flickered and vanished, Tron ignored the fainting feel and changed his hand signs to different sets, and he slowly withdrew the other two arms from Ren’s body. Above Ren there was a black version of his body, it was fully made of the Qi prints and red black threads.

 

If you are planning to make more of this, I would just suggest putting this on www.scribblehub.com

You can get ratings and reviews too over there.

Don't take it too hard on yourself, will ya.

 

i'm not sure if i will, thats why i posted here to test first. i don't want to ruin the first impression if i really do it later on.

 

Honesty, it could use some fixes but it is not bad, quite enjoyable

 

thought the same thing after posting it.
i just zip lined what came to my mind.