Chapter 17 - Raven Kar Blackthorne?

"Our immortality exists in blood bonds—the lineage. The clan will always stand. Eternal we are, Children of the Damned."

Raven furrowed his brows at the lady's response. 

Should he take that as an affirmative or not? 

'I wonder what is consider as immortal,' Raven sighed. 

Immortality was too much of a broad term to define. Every culture has its own take on the profound concept. It could mean anything!

"Welcome, Last One, to the ancestral home of the Circle of Velkor. I trust that the wildlands have treated you well." The ancient lady approached him with a beautiful smile as her silver hair cascaded down, dancing with the wind.

Raven looked at her and retreated slowly. Her celestial appearance wouldn't fool him. 

His eyes darted around and his mind went on alert.

"What's wrong? Do I seem scary? Weird… I could have sworn my beauty was unparalleled," chuckled the lady. "By the way, impressive. It is wise to be apprehensive, but not to me… not to family."

Her words triggered a reaction from Raven. Looking at her with a weird gaze, Raven wondered just what she was playing at.

"How has the wildland treated you?"

Raven spoke briefly, "Hostile."

"...ergh!! Really?" The lady's expression turned to shock.

"I was hunted by spider ninjas."

The lady placed a hand on her chin and mused, "Spider ninjas? Ethereal maleum spiders. From my understanding, they are barely a threat. If you feel pressured by them…"

The lady chuckled and said nothing more. Ethereal maleum spiders were the bottom feeders of the wildlands. They were practically food.

"I wasn't prepared," Raven retorted.

"I'm sure that was the case."

'Oh my, who would have thought the last one of us would be so weak?' She thought to herself and examined the young quiet boy.

Despite all that, she didn't despise his presence. The Circle believed that weakness was a sin. But it could be beaten out of the sinner.

'He is still young and malleable. The grove will adore him.'

She snapped her fingers and said, "Oh, where are my manners? I'm Mavre Kar Rezia Velkora. What name do you go by, little one?"

"Raven… just Raven."

"Hmm… Raven, do you know why you are here?"

"I was kidnapped across space and time," Raven said with a deadpan expression.

He still could not believed it. All he wanted to do was return home, yet he was abducted by an esoteric force. He wondered who he should blame for his bad luck.

"Oh… it couldn't be that bad. Most people would kill to be in your place. The act of traversing planes is nothing mere."

Raven narrowed his eyes slightly until he sighed. The experience was fun and all, but the toll it took on his mental state wasn't worth it. One thing he hated the most about the entire ordeal was his lack of knowledge. It gnawed at him deeply. Going by the flow and depending on bad luck—those were really shitty!

'I don't want to be in a situation like this ever again! If it wasn't for Amethyst's intervention, I would surely have died.'

"Why am I here?" Raven asked.

"You already know." 

"I don't know what you are talking—"

Mavre held Raven by the face and looked him straight in the eye. She could see the defiance spirit swirling behind his grey eyes. A smile etched on her face. 'It seems the Last One is promising, after all.'

She repeated, "Say it, Raven."

"Say what?"

"Don't hide it. You are smart. Already, you have figured it out. Why would someone like you be summoned here?"

"I don't—"

A tense pressure descended on the world. Raven's body froze in shock as he saw a primordial aura dance around Mavre. The ground quaked, moaning in pain, and the air cracked as though flared by the terrifying aura pouring out of the ethereal Mavre.

Raven felt a wave of agony coursing through his body. His skin burnt under the aura and a fire lit across his face.

"Say it, Raven. Tell me why!"

Raven shouted, "What are you doing?"

His eyes sharpened as rage built within him. 

"Time is going, little one. You have one last chance. Tell me why you are here."

Mavre's sharp fingers dug into Raven's face as she yelled. Blood spilled onto her fingers but her face remained the same—raging cold.

"T-Th-This is home. Our home, alright!" blurted Raven.

Suddenly, Raven blinked, and in the next moment, he found himself seated on the vine throne. Opposite him was Mavre with a pleasing smile on her face. There was no sign of any terrifying aura around her. No sign of the desolation she had wreaked on the world.

'It was all an illusion! How terrifying. I thought I was going to die!'

He would be a fool to not have understood that by now. The entrance test was concerned about bloodline. Passing it meant he possessed the right bloodline. In other words, he was directly related to this ancient lineage, as well as Mavre.

'That explains the cult aesthetic. It's most likely an elitist clan.' Raven furrowed his brows.

Ironically, he didn't like it here. Growing up, Raven was told of how ancient his family was. His mansion held an inventory of relics that was invaluable even in current times. However, Raven wasn't ensnared by this attractive history. Lineage be damned.

'Almost everyone in my family was born crazy. Not to talk of Father! I don't have any family other than Kase. Blood means nothing. It's a damn lie.'

Raven controlled his emotion and said to Mavre with a sharp gaze, "Can I go now?"

"I'm sorry for the nasty play. It was the only way to get you to open up. This is your home. You need to acknowledge your heritage. Raven Kar Blackthorne, member of the 40th generation. You are velkoryan."

According to Mavre, every other velkoryan was either dead or dormant. The ancestral grove had sensed his mind and summoned him instantly. It was desperate to revive the Circle and carelessly pulled Raven across space and time.

"I don't understand. If that's the case…" Raven glanced at Mavre.

What did she mean by 'reviving the clan'? Wasn't she the perfect person for that mystical task?

"Yes, I'm dead. The me you see now is nothing but a mirage. A waning mirage." A hint of melancholy appeared in Mavre's eyes. The dissipation of her mirage was getting progressively worse, and it would only last a few more years before she disappeared.

"As the last velkoryan to access the ancestral grove, I denied my right to pass on and remained as a mirage to welcome the one after me. Centuries passed and I began to lose hope, but then, you showed up. I apologize if I made you feel unwelcome. It was never my intention."

Raven's face softened. He didn't want to admit it but he could feel the genuinity in Mavre's tone. She had waited centuries for him.

Was it worth it?

He sighed, "What do you want from me?"

"The lineage must go on. Thus, you are the spark that will reignite the great flame. We do not require anything from you other than to live on."

"That's all?"

"That's all, Raven. We, velkoryans, do not fear death. It is merely another step in our journey. However, what we fear is leaving nothing behind."

Legacy was the important aspect in life for velkoryans. They could accept passing on, but their teaching, their philosophies, their way of life must survive. To them, that was immortality!

After a minute of pondering, Raven reluctantly said, "...What's next?"

"Perfect! Follow me, Raven," happily replied Mavre.

She took him to the centre of the ancestral hall where a circular ice platform slightly rose above the ground. The frozen ice wavered as they approached it. After a brief second, it parted sideways, unveiling a series of steps that led to the dark space underground.

Following Mavre, Raven descended into the dark space.

A wave of nausea hit Raven suddenly. He staggered but shakily retained balance as he continued climbing… climbing?

Climbing?

'What the hell?'

Something strange had occurred in the moment his mind wavered. The last thing Raven remembered was descending into the dark space. So, how was he now ascending?

'It's like space inverted…?'

A familiar chuckle reached his ear. Raven gazed at the silhouette of Mavre at the end of the steps. The light originating from the bright space above illuminated the steps brightly.

She hollered, "The astral realm cannot be defined by the physics of any material world. Hurry up."

Raven quickly reached her and his mouth gaped at the scenery that presented itself in front of him.

"It is marvellous, isn't it?"

"Yes," mindlessly responded Raven.

The world around him sprawled into an endless labyrinth of caverns that extended upwards majestically. Connecting the caves were gigantic green vines with illusory steps supporting the network of vines. 

He heard a solemn heartbeat which made him look further past the network of vines. What he saw next was nothing short of breathtaking. At the core of the network, a humungous arboreal heart thumped rhythmically. 

"The vines… they are alive?!"

"Took you long enough," smirked Mavre.

The center of a felled tree loomed directly beneath the heart. It was designed like an office… if the office existed in a magical world.

Raven muttered as realization dawned on him, "The ancestral grove…"