I should start uploading quicker ^^, The battle between Deeproot and Veiled comes to a conclusion in this two-parter.


Chapter 16: Bloodline part 1

Two wolves ran side by side towards the Veiled city of forests, with the sky thundering above their soaked heads. The black and white intricately marked male hummed a silent tune while his smaller companion kept her golden eyes on the great mount ahead of them. Under her paws she felt the earth shudder, and after a few seconds of delay the sound followed. She looked at him and he nodded with a silent understanding, he jumped onto a tree trunk and propelled himself up into the canopy to get a further few. Part of the maintain crumbled down in a landslide of rock, mud and fauna as it seemed like something bulldozed through it closer to the top of its apex. He heard his companion running again and he followed above her. They reached to mountainous wall and he lowered to a branch where she could see him.
“The entrance has been revealed, the barrier has dropped. We have to expect the worst then, since this can only mean Rin has turned into his Guardian form” he said, looking up into the sky, listening. His companion that was much smaller than what he was lowered her head slightly. She was a light brown color with white streaks in her fur, and bright apathetic eyes. “I can hear Vox crying above the storm of blood and death” he continued.
She stepped into the cave; “Raven must survive” she started running again, the cavern trembling under her feet.

- - - - - - - -

The 1st seat of Deeproot jumped out of the crater he had just created, he growled some words under his breath as he feared he had just killed his opponent. It was true that Orion wanted the waterwolf dead or alive but Arturo preferred him being alive, it would please the king more, and a body that can walk on its own is much easier to transport. The Forest Guardian stood motionless with its giant tendrils of roots into the ground, it was hard to see what he was feeling through the façade of branch undergrowth but dread would be relevant since he just witness Raven being massacre in a whim. The forest around them swayed restlessly as if it cried out in rage, the trees cracked and snapped as the branches roared out while hitting the trunks – Arturo looked around in bewilderment, he realized that he has angered the forest. Suddenly the forest went quiet and only the rain and wind could be heard. Elder saw Raven standing with his eyes closed and face lifted towards the rain, he was still in one peace.

Next to Raven the Elder manifested from the ground in his smaller form again, he was about to say something, until Raven opened his eyes. He tilted his head towards Elder and his face twisted into a scowl, “Are you the first to die?” he said. His words sounded nothing more than a murmur, for Elder was fixed on Raven’s black eyes. They were totally voided of color and within its depth only evil could be sensed. Two grey pupils appeared from the darkness, and Elder’s spirit froze as its gaze was staring right into him, looking past his Guardian exterior.
Arturo only allowed himself to admired Raven’s endurance for a second, but when he saw the Elder manifest in the distance he took it upon himself to eliminate his larger body while it was a defenseless husk – he doubt the old wolf had enough power to grow another one. He charged for the large creature and slipped into it. From within he set of an explosion that shattered it, sending every part of it into different directions. When the Elder’s spirit was occupying it he could barely damage it, but without him he destroyed it with ease. Raven lost the hold on the Elder’s spirit as his smaller Guardian form collapsed to the ground, the leaves that formed his body faded in color and some were withering and falling off. Raven figured the explosion up ahead caused this. He looked down into the face of the mess that lay under him.
“You are Raven’s Bloodline, aren’t you?” Elder whispered.
“I am uncomfortable with how much you know about the Bloodlines” he hissed and stepped on the head of the Guardian, it crumbled away like a pile of dry leaves. “It would seem like the real fun lays with that guy” he laughed and walked over Elder towards Arturo.

- - - - - - - -

Raven was drowning in his own spirit; the once solid floor of white liquefied and started to pull him in once Blood Raven walked through the mirror portal. His own spirit struggled to recognize who the real Raven and who the foreign entity was, and since one escape and one was left inside, Raven was seen as the virus. The cement like substance ran into his mouth as he tried to breathe and swim up through the thick waves. He tried to manipulate it as if it was water but it only hesitated for a second until it refused to acknowledge him as the true wielder. Soon Raven lost all his energy and his body gave up, he sunk in deeper and choked as he couldn’t breathe. He started to lose awareness, his mind was clouded and fading away quickly – he realized once he lost consciousness he will never wake up again, and he forfeits control over his body forever. He felt pressure on his body, as if he was being crushed – he wasn’t going to be allowed to drift off peacefully, obviously there would be pain.
There is always pain.
…Pain?
“Why would there be pain if I’m not in a physical plane” Raven said, he opened his eyes and could see as if he were under water, there were no more thick substance. “Why would I need to breathe if there were no air?” his mind cleared up, “I shouldn’t feel fatigue when I am a spiritual manifestation in my own core” his fatigue went away, he started moving his legs as if swimming. He focused hard on his spirit as if he was drawing it out to manipulate water, but he went in deeper. Glowing currents flowed around him as if it finally started to recognize who he really was. The room he was in previously was no more, only water surrounded him, it was how it should be, he thought to himself. The currents that flowed around him turned into mirrors, he could see what was happening outside through the eyes of his physical body, but it moved on its own. Actually, it was moving to the will of Blood Raven.
Raven saw the Elder looking right into the mirrors, as if he could see him. And then there was an explosion behind him and the Elder collapsed. He saw his paw lift up over Elder; Raven’s eyes widened in horror as he witnessed his paw go through the head of the Forest Guardian.
Raven howled out in a mix of emotion and swam into the mirror, but he was blasted away. Only one of them can be on the outside at a time. So he knew he would have to get Blood Raven back in, before he took down any more of his companions.

- - - - - - - -

“This fight has been going on for longer than I am proud of. I don’t understand how you can withstand so much damage, but I am going to start becoming serious now” Arturo narrowed his eyes.
Raven opened his maw and revealed all his teeth in a dark laugh, he charged towards Arturo, about to show him how serious he can be. Arturo charged a small bubble of compressed air under each of his paws and crouched down. He set off the explosions and rocketed towards Raven. The two forces collided but only one was sent off flying – Raven flew backwards and his body rag-dolled painfully in the momentum of the impact. He lay broken in silence for half a minute and then unleashed a blood curling laugh; he pushed himself up while his gore regenerated.
“This shouldn’t be possible…” Arturo hissed “Is this your Bloodline power? Would explain the eyes”
“I am the Bloodline, fool!” Raven barked out and was about to charge again, but as he placed his paw on the ground, the bone inside nearly pierced the skin. The regeneration was slow. The rain around Raven froze in air, and then started to circle around him, but fell out of his control after a few seconds. Raven screamed out in rage, “Weak! Weak! Weak!”

Arturo didn’t know what was happening, he is the bloodline? He opened his mouth and shaped a compressed air ball in it, he lifted his face up to the sky and the rain and air conformed around him as visible currents went into the ball.

Blood Raven could feel Raven’s presence grow within him. Somehow he was holding back his spirit so that the Bloodline couldn’t control it to the extent it wished. Blood Raven was going to die by the power of Arturo if Raven kept interfering. Raven was willing to kill himself, rather than allow a demon to take reign in his world.

Blood Raven did the only thing he could at that point – he detached himself from the spirit core and reigned over the body with his own soluble power. He wasn’t going to last long on his own, he needed Raven’s spirit to sustain himself, but without it dragging his power down, he would be able to face Arturo on par, if not overwhelming him completely. Blood Raven didn’t know the true extent of his power, but his lust for violence plagued his reasoning.

Arturo was satisfied with the power he gathered in the wind sphere, it was on the point where it would explode in his mouth if he didn’t release it. He sent out an explosion under himself that propelled him high into the air, and then he shot the ball with another mini explosion towards Raven. Blood Raven stood motionless and stared at Arturo as he focused on his spirit. The sphere hit him straight in the face and unleashed a spiraling explosion of light than took out the terrain in a 100 meter radius. It was Arturo’s ultimate ability, which left him panting in exertion when he landed awkwardly on the ground. He waited for the dust to settle and the terrain to pacify. When everything settled a giant crater was exposed with Raven standing in the centre, totally unsullied. Arturo could see his body was healed again and his compressed air bomb didn’t affect him.

Blood Raven stared at Arturo through his messy blue hair with a dark smile on his face. This was where his unrelenting power was going to be displayed. He swayed from side to side, and then suddenly disappeared, leaving a mould in the rain where he stood for a split second and a tunnel when he appeared behind Arturo. But the speed was too much for his new body to handle, and it sent him stumbling into a rock as the momentum was too much. Arturo jumped around in fright when he heard the crash, his eyes widened in shock as he couldn’t follow to speed of Raven’s movement at all.
“Body flicker” Arturo whispered in frustration and awe.

Blood Raven got up and shook the dirt off his fur, “This body’s weaker than I expected! I’ll fucking torture you for all eternity, Raven! Weak piece of shit” Arturo was already on his tail, forming a vacuum around Raven that made him slide toward him on the mud as he stumbled, and then he head butted Raven with all the strength he could muster. The strength of the impact between their foreheads sent out a blast of force – but neither of them flinched. Arturo now truly saw up close the darkness within Raven’s eyes, and it sent out a chill through his spine.
“Let’s see what we can do about that pesky air barrier of yours” Raven said, Arturo quickly flinched as he felt a shock of fear; Raven’s eyes sent him in a state of disdain.
“You can use Spirit Augmentation…” His voice stuttered, “Just what are you?”
“I am death”
Arturo dashed backwards, but Raven quickly grabbed him by the throat. Arturo’s wind Barrier burned on his tongue as he tried to bite through it. It was as hard as diamond. Purely concentrated air. Raven was in slight awe when he tried to fathom the amount of concentration it would require to keep the barrier up at all times. Arturo squirmed in Raven’s grip and tried to detach himself with tiny compressed explosions, but he needed a lot more concentration to manifest more powerful spheres. He was at a complete disadvantage – but he didn’t doubt his barrier, it was impenetrable, the ultimate defense.

Blood Raven took it as a challenge, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to break it with this body. He needed more of his power, and that was exactly he was busy focusing on as best as he could as Arturo fought against his grip. Two points of power burned on his shoulder blades as he drew out more of his Bloodline spirit. He knew exactly what needed to happen when his power manifested there. He closed his eyes, and then mumbled a yell of pain – two spears of blood penetrated his skin and protruded from his shoulder blades. More of his blood came out of his body and contorted oddly above him, until it seemed to take the form of large skeletal wings. He felt light-headed and released his grip on Arturo, stumbling backwards as his body burned with a strange sensation. Arturo retreated backwards as he didn’t understand what he was seeing.

The blood went into a spastic fit for a few seconds and then suddenly it shot out straight as it looked like it hardened. The sheer size off it was astounding; each skeletal wing had the span of two of Raven’s body lengths. It turned into a crimson-black color as the rain dripped off its sharp edges.
“You truly are a demon” Arturo whined as Blood Raven had crouched down with his arms over his head, the burning sensation turned into overwhelming pain, but when the wings hardened, it suddenly stopped and Raven unleashed an evil laugh from within his arms. He slowly lifted his head, revealing a toe curling scowl and two lines of blood-stained fur as the blood streamed from his black demonic eyes. Arturo stumbled backwards when he saw the sight. He turned tail and ran, but Blood Raven appeared in front of him.
“Retribution” Raven smiled as he raised his skeletal wings, pointed towards Arturo.
“Please don’t”
“You expect mercy from me, while this land is stained with the blood of the innocent? You are a bigger demon than me!” he laughed and sent out a flurry of hits with his wings. The speed of it was overwhelming and the sharpness and strength would be enough to break Arturo’s barrier, if he had not focused majority of his spirit on fortifying it. Raven softened the blood on one of the skeletal spears on his left wing and wrapped it around Arturo’s back leg. He picked Arturo up with ease and hit him into the ground; he lifted him again and did it again.
“How long can you keep this up this up, wind demon?!” Blood Raven shouted as he kept hitting Arturo into ground over and over. Arturo couldn’t have replied, even if he could. The sheer force of the impact pushed his barrier tightly against his body, at this rate he was going to be suffocated and crushed within his own defense. Raven hit Arturo into the ground one last time, and then threw him into the air – his skeletal wings fortified by his spirit and poised up towards Arturo. When he came down, Raven unleashed a flurry of bone shattering hits with his wings that kept Arturo him place with a blur of black spikes moving faster than the average eye could follow.

Arturo’s perfect defense shattered within seconds, and Raven let him fall to the ground in exertion. It took every ounce of power to quickly reform his barrier as the unstable air fluctuations were expanding. If the air in his barrier were to expand too quickly, it would set off an explosion that will annihilate everything in a 500 meter radius, including himself.

Arturo sat up and smiled at Raven, he shook his head “I did not expect to be beaten tonight” his blood streamed down his arms from where one of the last wing spears pierced his chest, “I don’t regret coming here, not even for a second. Now I’m finally free from Orion’s grip, even if it means through death”
“And you took hundreds of lives along with you”
“Hmph… My soldiers die with pride within their spirits”
“Do they murder the innocent with pride as well?”
“I admit, it was unfortunate that we had to wage a silent war against this place of myth, but it was all for your capture, you are the harbinger of death, I am merely the tool”
“You speak to me as if I’m Raven” He walked to Arturo with his wings aimed at him, “Raven is no more, Windwolf. And if your king threatens my existence, I will kill him and everything he worked for” he thought about what he said for a second, “No. I changed my mind; I will go to him right after I cleansed this forest city. Why wait, right? Waiting is no fun… No amount of waiting will spill blood onto the ground!”
“I am glad I face defeat at the paws of a monster bigger than what I’ve been portrayed” Arturo said and faced the ground with closed eyes. The ground around him blew apart as he vented out the pressurized air of his barrier from a few focal points on his body. Blood Raven knew he was disabling his compressed air barrier. Arturo stalled for time while he was talking to Raven so that he could gain control of the volatile barrier after the previous relentless attack. It was the safest way to disable his barrier without setting off an explosion that will kill his allies, even though his own death would have been much quicker and honorable.

Raven quickly swooped in; ready to attack again, he wanted to make the air explosion happen – it would prove to be an entertaining method to clear a large area of Veiled, and he was certain that he would survive it due to his regenerative spirit. Just as he was about to make contact, his wings went into a spasm above him and his legs collapsed under him, “Not now!” he growled.

- - - - - - - -

Blood Raven focused on his Bloodline spirit as saw he was withering away without contact to the core spirit, he was at his limit with how long he could be independent. He attached himself to Raven’s spirit again, but he slid of it like a rock on ice.
“What the Fuck is happening?” He snarled, “Raven, are you doing this?” he asked, but no answer. “That would be impossible, I immobilized him…” He tried again and again to attach himself, but he was too weak and too small to make an impact on the giant force of light.
“If this is your doing Raven, then you should know if I die you also die. My spirit will poison this body and you won’t live to see the storms end”
The core spirit engulfed the Bloodline and next thing Blood Raven saw was Raven floating in front of him with an enraged look on his face. Blood Raven was about to make a snarky comment, but then he realized he couldn’t breathe in this spirit water. It was just as he assumed on the outside – he had no control over Raven’s element anymore. Somehow Raven assumed control. He fought against the water, tried to swim up, but his struggles went to no avail. Raven manifested two visible currents and knocked one into his gut and one into his head, that propelled him towards where Raven was swimming steadily.
“What will happen if you die within my spirit? Is this how I am supposed to tame you?” Blood Raven looked at him through his fringe, and then he smiled darkly. “You are trying to manipulate me…” Raven snarled. The water around them shifted and formed tides that made them sway back and forth.
“The instant you detached yourself from my spirit, I regained full control. Stupid demon, how foolish you must feel right now! If you could act upon reason and not bloodlust, you probably would have gained control of my body permanently” the tides shifted and turned to Blood Raven from all sides. It engulfed him in a radiant blue light and swirled around him. When the tides settled it revealed Blood Raven drifting in an air bubble half filled with water. He coughed the water out of his lungs as he struggled to get to the air as he stood on his toes.
“This is my prison now?” he gurgled with the water running into his mouth.
“It is where you belong”
Blood Raven laughed. The water stirred around him in a cyclone as it turned to blood and flowed into his body, making him stronger and come off as more elegant. Raven watched him with a stunned expression.
“You’re mistaken if you think this prison will hold me. The longer I am in the centre of your spirit, the stronger I become. What don’t you get? I feed on your life force!”
“Then I will lock you even deeper. Fortify your prison with all the power I can muster. Hide you away in the deepest darkest corner of my spirit. A part I’m unable to grasp at this point of my training, but accessible through my spirit tides”
Blood Raven laughed, “I see you are more familiar with your spirit now”
“I have to thank you for showing me the inside of my spirit. I can see its true form now. I can recognize the flow of my tides. I finally get what Elder has been trying to tell me these few months, all thanks to you” The image of the Elder’s head being crushed under his paw clouded his mind for a second.
“You can’t hide me away, Raven, it doesn’t matter how far down you suppress me. My power will leak through this crystal prison and corrupt your spirit, I will poison you from the inside. You were born with me and you will die with me, there’s no getting rid of me. I am you, you are me – together we are Raven, two sides of a coin”
“I see that now” Raven admitted reluctantly, “It is why you were able to manipulate my spirit before I asserted my dominion, you are part of my core”
“Yes! And when I’m stronger, I will take back control!”
“Then I will become stronger as well!” Raven accepted the challenge.

Raven weaved signs in the water with his paws and the water moved to his will. Illuminating blue tides appeared again, but this time around he poured more of his spirit into them. He thrusted his arms forward and the tides broke over the crystal prison like a wave over a rock – The aftermath of the waves formed the solid white substance that he fought against previously. The substance covered the prison and became thicker and thicker. If the bloodline were to seep through the prison without Raven’s consent, it would have to fight with everything it has.

“I will become stronger, using your power”
“It is our power, and I want you to take it all.” Before the white substance became solid, a soft murmur of laughter was heard, “…with a cost”