BLOOD EXCHANGE RITUAL 1

Outside the hospital, Christian was delighted of the fact that he was able to breathe in fresh air here into his lungs freely without inhaling the lingering scent of antiseptic and drugs in the air unlike inside the hospital that felt suffocating to him.

A few steps ahead, a luxurious looking hovercar built with the same design and layout of a limousine belonging to the old world was parked in front of the building

They walked towards the hovercar and Alric was the first to step in followed by both boys. The ride through the city was a quiet one as each of them where silently taking in the city's grandeur and exquisiteness with their eyes glued to the windows of the car

The Wall as it's popularly called is the first wall that was built when humans were making their last stand against the titans until the introduction of dust, and now over the years with the formation of other 'Lands' 'The Wall' now serves as a beacon of hope and a symbol of power strengthening the entire human race, because when all hopes were lost 'The Wall' is the place that birthed a new hope and future for the human race.

'The Wall' alias refugee's camp is a huge city that measured up to 4,225,067,600 acres of land, with tall buildings that rose up high to reach the sky, on top the walls and outskirts of the city, soldiers camps were set all over with different arrays of weaponry system set up, alongside extremely cautious security measures, in short, this city was indeed the most secured and protected in the entire world

The streets were filled with individuals going about their normal daily routines unseemly bothered about the events happening in the outer lands beyond these walls. And why would they? 'The Wall' is practically a haven on Earth when compared to most other places now on Earth and their safety is a hundred percent assured, so in a way these people had every right to live carefree as they did because they all pay for it and all deserves it

Seeing as both boys were invested in sightseeing as the hovercar sped through the streets, Alric suddenly spoke up ordering the driver to head towards the city's centre

"Christian you still need some new clothes and other items right?" Alric asked rhetorically then continued "how about we stop at one of the malls at the centre to get you some?"

Christian couldn't bring himself to refuse the offer as he was indeed in need of these things and had not a single means of obtaining them.

He cheerfully smiled and bowed deeply towards Alric offering his gratitude "thanks Uncle, for thinking about me"

"Sure, sure no problem and there's no need to thank me" Alric replied smiling brightly exposing his white full set of front row teeths

Christian smiled faintly at him then turned to face the window once again, viewing the spectacular sights the city had to offer

Few moments later....

The trio arrived at the city's centre and alighted from the luxurious looking hovercar. The ride from the hospital that was meant to take them to the Jones mansion changed directions abruptly and ended up on the doorstep of the 'Military Mission assigning hall'

The building of the mission assigning hall is a very large skyscraper that has a height of 829.8 m (2,722 ft, just over half a mile) and built in somewhat like a castle style, similar to the Burj Khalifa building in dubia of the old world

The building was so high up that it was impossible to look upwards and see it's rooftop

Few seconds later after Sam's father, Alric ended his phone call, some agents rushed out from the building all at once to welcome us and guide us throughout our entire time there. That just shows of how powerful and deeply connected the Jones are within the entire six lands as they were a name known globally

"Welcome sir" four agents bowed deeply in greeting before Alric that paid them no attention and just waved at them to come over with us as we made our way towards one of the malls available on the street

"Aren't we going inside the hall?" Sam asked as he walked alongside his father and Christian surprised by the sudden change of directions

"It was never my intention to step in there before" Alric replied calmly "by the way you boys have no business in such place, at least for now" he added still heading towards the direction of the mall

Sam couldn't refute what his father had said, so he followed behind us both, wordlessly dragging his feet across the floor with his shoulders slumped down.

*****

Their shopping spree soon came to an end when the sun's color changed to a golden brown and was about setting over the horizon

"Uhn, it's this late already?" Alric asked as he stood still with shopping bags in both his hands staring at the setting of the sun. The look on his face was calm and serene as if he had just taken a calmness potion and was extremely relaxed

"Yup, so can we head home now? Am really famished" Sam said as he leaned on Christian hanging his right hand over his shoulders, and as if to prove his point of him being hungry his stomach let out a begrudgingly rumble while his eyes that seemed to say 'my stomach is aching and it's all your fault' were locked on his father

"Alright, alright... You've won" Alric said raising his hands up in defeat.

"Christian are you also hungry like your glutton friend over here?" Alric asked as he shifted his eyes to look towards Christian who was about shaking his head but got cut off by the sound of his grumbling stomach and said

"seems like it uncle" quietly as he bowed his head, slightly embarrassed by the loud sound his stomach just made

"Well then let's head over to the diner over there then" Alric said leading the way towards the restaurant.

Once inside the trio placed their orders and were swiftly attended to by the restaurant attendant. Afterwards they shared a peaceful meal with the father and son duo bickering away at times while laughing heartedly to their own jokes as Christian watched with a slight hapless smile on his lips that both Sam and Alric failed to notice.

Once they were done with the hearty meal they headed back to the hovercar waiting on them outside the restaurant and headed straight home after having quite the eventful day.

On their arrival Alric excused himself to head upstairs as he had a few important matters that needed his attention partaining to the company. After Alric took his leave both boys headed to one of the guests room they prepared in advance for Christian and as he stepped into the room ahead of Sam, he was taken aback by the familiar sight of a travelling bag that laid on top the bed.

"How did this bag get here?" He asked as he turned to look towards Sam standing at the entrance to the room staring at the bag quizzically. By the look on his face Christian already knew that his friend had no idea how the travelling bag ended up here

"I will check with the butler to see who delivered this here and to whom" Sam replied turning to leave the room but came to a halt when he heard Christian's next statement

"It's my travelling bag there's no mistaking it but how did it get here?" Christian face crumpled as he thought of all the possibilities but none sounded ideal to him

"Oh, now I remember" Sam said facepalming himself

"the soldiers retrieved it from the streets I found your mom's body that's close to your house and brought it here suspecting it was yours as it was within the vicinity" he added as he studied Christian's reaction

Christian's mouth formed an 'O' before nodding his head several times indicating that he understood all that might had transpired now during the time he was unconscious and how the bag got here

"There isn't much need for it now anyway, it might just contain some of my old worn out clothes. But thanks anyways" Christian said as he settled down to lay on top the bed

"You're welcome" Sam replied cheerfully sitting down on the edge of the bed next to where Christian lay

"Uhn Sam, can you go somewhere with me?" Christian asked out of the blue propping himself on his elbow staring intently at Sam

"Where to?" Sam replied looking back at Chris like he has grown three heads all of a sudden 'where could he possibly know around here that he wants to head to' he thought raising a brow at him

"Just come along and don't ask any questions or do anything no matter what you see" Christian replied wearing a serious look on his face

"Okay now you are just freaking me out" Sam exclaimed standing to his feet looking dumbfounded at Christian

"Just say yes please!" Christian pleaded with Sam as he rose up from the bed to hold Samuel's hand

"I promise it's nothing serious or dangerous, but you'll understand when you see it and we are going to be perfectly fine"

"Ok, let's say am agreeing to go with you, but how are we going to leave this house because we can't without taking permission from my dad" Sam deadpanned smirking to himself thinking he was successful in convincing Christian against the idea

"How about you let me worry about that and just come along" Christian asked Sam still with pleading eyes

"Alright fine I'll go with you" Sam sighed as his plan didn't quite work out as expected

"Alright" Christian beamed brightly at Sam as he held his both hands tightly and released dark mists from his body shrouding the entire room then dispersed as quickly as they came leaving behind an empty room

"....what" Sam spat out as his jaw slacked down leaving his mouth wide open as he gazed at their current surrounding that was a stark different from the room they were in earlier

"How__ just how did you get us here so fast?" Sam asked still astonished by what he just witnessed Christian do

"We are still far from the wall" Christian said staring towards the edge of the city not minding Samuel's dumfounded state.

Grabbing his hand firmly again Christian used his ability 'dark teleportation' once more as they both disappeared and reappeared several times getting closer to the wall

'dark teleportation' is one of Christian's dark ability skill that enables him teleport over long distances, the skill is more effective when used in a dark environment or at nighttime, and the distance traveled by the user corresponds to how far and wide his perception can cover

"One more time" Christian said as he unleashed his mists once more and reappeared several hundred meters beyond the wall with Sam on tow.

Sam was scared out of his wits as he had never been outside a wall before and was filled with dread as he had only heard of the gruesome fate that met with the few ones that dared to venture outside the walls

"What__ what are we doing here'?" Sam asked quietly stuttering

"why did you bring us so far outside the wall?" He asked again as his face crumpled unsightly and he wore a frightened look on his face that had gone pale and was as white as a sheet as if all the blood in him had sucked out in the mere seconds of him being here

Clearly seeing the frightened look on Samuel's face Christian felt bad for having to drag his friend into his personal affair, but he was scared, scared of having to face what he was about to do alone and he knew it was selfish of him but he just didn't want to go through this alone and needed him here

"Am really sorry Sam but like I promised earlier nothing is going to happen to us and I need you not to get involved in whatever you are going to see soon got it?" Christian asked raising a brow at Sam who could only nod his head fervently slightly agitated and looking from side to side to detect if danger laid anywhere closeby

Christian shook his head at the paranoid Sam. Pursing his lips into a thin line, he backed away from Sam, creating some distance between them. Sam fixed his eyes on Christian staring quizzically at him probably thinking about what he was up to.

Several meters away from Sam, Christian stood still as he took in and let out several deep breathes before stretching out his right hand upward

"summon" he yelled as he curled his hand into a fist

Almost immediately his dark runes drifted from his body and hovered behind him slightly above his head as they began twisting and wrapping around themselves hastily before revealing

'the dark dragon' once more

Sam's jaw slacked down completely as his eyes went round ten times it's normal size in shock, and he shivered uncontrollably in the presence of the dragon. He fell to his knees as he suddenly became limp and fell to the ground laying there unmoving