Manifestation

Bastian ran over to the quivering V, she looked like she had just had her worst nightmare. This sight was one Bastian never expected to see in his lifetime. The Inkume were trained to fear nothing, even death. Yet here before Bastian, was one scared out of its wits.

As soon as Bastian got closer, he crouched next to her and started soothing her, or rather he tried.

I am not good at this sort of thing. Wait, is my voice slightly different?

Bastian was not used to comforting others, so he was rather lost. He also detected that his voice sounded different. It sounded more... coarse. Due to the current circumstances, he had to put this thought at the back of his mind.

After spending five very difficult minutes getting her to calm down, he asked her what had happened.

V sighed in resignation. She did not want to recall what had happened but she knew that Bastian needed to know.

"I was standing over you whilst you were cultivating. I expected you to fail quickly, so I held no hope for you but you surprised me. You spent a few hours meditating and nothing happened, it was almost as if you were in a trance, as if you were properly cultivating."

Bastian observed her face as she spoke, he saw a hint of a smile on her face at the thought of him cultivating. That was when her face suddenly became grim.

"That is when it came out," said V. It looked like she was about to start quivering again. Bastian started rubbing her back in another attempt to comfort her. V regained her composure and continued.

"Red and Blue smoke started coming out of your body very quickly. A lot of it came out, until it virtually covered the sky. The smoke then took the shape of a large dragon with two heads. One head was blue and the other was red. Its body was purple; it had two large horns on each head and a pair of very large wings. The purple dragon was so big that its body went on for as far as my eyes could see.

Its gaze was domineering, cold and vicious. I have never been so scared in my entire life," V took another deep breath and continued, "I felt the urge to prostrate myself to it and I did immediately. Even though I could no longer properly see it, I could still feel its overbearing presence, as if death was standing right there, next to me...No. That was not right. It could not be death, because if it was, I would not have been afraid. No, it was something far worse.

All over my body, my blood was boiling, I could feel that whatever this beast was, it was far superior to me, and this feeling was deep, as deep as my soul. It was almost as if my bloodline was happy, as if being subservient to the beast was my reason for life.

That is when the beast gave out a massive roar. It shook the earth and distorted the skies. Wild winds came forth and purple lightning started striking. Rain started falling, whilst the skies were blotted out by clouds. This earth's shaking roar scared me to complete and utter submission.

I started begging for my life. The fear that had seeped into my blood had made me lose my sanity.

Then all of a sudden, change in weather caused me to be scared even more. That was when I...lost control of myself as you can see." As V said this, Bastian clearly saw the look of shame on her face.

"Then as suddenly as it came the dragon left. It did one last earth shaking roar and placed one of its giant feet on the ground. After it did that, it started going back into your body. The clouds, the rain, the winds and the lightning withdrew with it.

After that, everything went back to normal and you woke up...as you are." V looked at Bastian with a strange look in her eyes. She moved her gaze up and down his body, then up again, stopping at Bastian's eyes.

Bastian stood up and looked at his own body to see what was so funny. Then he realized that there was indeed a change. His hair had grown so long; it was almost touching the ground. Not only that, but its color had changed slightly. It was still purple, but it had a darker and slightly more reddish hue to it.

Just like the body of that dragon!

This realization rendered Bastian speechless.

"That is not all," said V as she stood up. That is when Bastian realized another interesting fact about his new body. He was taller!

He never noticed until V herself stood up, he was now an entire head taller. He was always taller than V but it was always only by a small amount. Now she was only as tall as his shoulders.

"Whoa! My shoulders!"

Bastian realized that not only had he grown taller but he had also become more muscular. His shoulders were broader, his hands and feet larger. Touching his own face, he could even tell that his face had changed.

At this point, he also acknowledged that his voice sounded different. It sounded manlier.

"Bastian, look into my eyes," said V. Whilst Bastian was busy checking out his new body. V moved closer and looked up, until her face was only inches away. By reflex, Bastian was about to move away, when he noticed something in V's eyes. His eyesight was now enhanced so he could clearly see what was reflected by her dark eyes.

It was his eyes. They were hetero-chromatic; each eye had a different color. His right eye was azure and his left eye was vermilion. It could only be described with one word.

Freaky, this was freaky!

Bastian was mystified by his own eyes. He also got to see his own face. His face was at that moment, even more handsome, to the point where it could even be described as being beautiful.

"I look like a girl! What the heck!"

Bastian was dismayed. He looked extremely feminine. His expression became downcast. Bastian wasn't really one who cared much about his appearance. When he even had the body of a child, he did not mind much but this change however, was far too drastic.

"Sebastian, we have bigger problems," said V in a serious tone.

"Hhmm? What do you mean?" questioned Bastian. He really could not think of anything worse than looking like a girl.

"You were not there so you did not notice but that dragon was very big. I don't think I was the only person who saw it," said V. The very thought of remembering the beast sent shivers down her spine.

"How big exactly?"

At that moment, V grabbed Bastian and with her inhuman strength, spun around a few times and threw him as high as she could into the sky. Bastian started panicking. This act was too sudden, and in Bastian's opinion uncalled for.

Just how strong is she?

Bastian knew she would not harm him, so he was able to calm down but still, it was easier said than done. He kept going higher and higher, till he reached a point where the city they were staying in, was the size of a pebble. That was when he saw it.

Next to the city was a giant hole. This hole was more than a hundred times larger than the city. In fact, Bastian could not see the end of it. As he got higher and higher, Bastian finally realized that it was not a large hole.

It was a footprint!

.....

Inside Bastian's body, in the space with the table, that had his Mark.

The Mark once more transformed into a man. This man knelt onto the ground, with a silhouette forming in front of it.

"Greetings master. I have urgent news to report."

"Speak." The silhouette waved its hand.

"My host has gone from having 2 Claws...to having 5!" said the kneeling man.

"What? How?" said the silhouette, sounding shocked.

"At first he went from lower 2 Claws to middle 3 Claws, I could not tell what caused this. Then he jumped from that to lower 5 Claws. This was caused by a Bloodline Awakening." reported the kneeling man quickly.

"Oh, impressive, what Bloodline did he awaken?" asked the silhouette.

"I don't know Master. I have never seen such a beast before. All I know is that it's a dragon," said the kneeling man honestly.

"How amusing, you are an avatar that was instilled with all the knowledge related to this continent. If you do not know what this is, it must have come from another continent, and a dragon no less, those have the most powerful bloodlines. Your host is quite lucky... ok, describe the beast to Me." commanded the silhouette.

"Yes master. It was a two headed dragon, one head was azure and the other head was vermilion. Its body was a strange shade of purple, one that was dark with a tint of red. It had massive wings which generated turbulent winds. Purple lightning was striking all around it. There was only water beneath it and the sky mostly had clouds with a moon in a strange shape."

The silhouette gasped. After thinking for a few seconds it lifted up its hand and said, "Did the moon look like this?"

A two dimensional image of an azure and vermilion taijitu appeared.

"Yes master! Exactly like that!" said the kneeling man enthusiastically.

The silhouette suddenly materialized. It was a friendly looking scholar. He was the one who talked to the emperor who had thrown the spear, then turned into a dragon, which in turned attacked (or perhaps) saved Sebastian at the mountains.

With a wave of his hand, the kneeling man disappeared. Almost as if he was wiped from existence. Instead, the scholarly man was there, smiling.

The Tyrian Double Headed Storm Dragon, the Primordial beast that was given sovereignty over water and fire and determines balance and chaos. If it really is that Bloodline, then the owner of this body and I are truly blessed.

The scholar then turned into the Mark, returning to the table. As if nothing had changed.