1 The Journey Begins

"Finally, I've created a specimen that can rival the old beasts. With this breakthrough, humanity can overcome beastmen and take back what is ours." Crazy laughter erupted from a man in his thirties. He had a scrawny figure with black circles under his eyes, clearly indicating that he hadn't slept in a few days. His hair was long and disheveled, his eyes were bloodshot and he held a quill in one hand, furiously scribbling down notes in some kind of tome. With excitement, he looked at the scene in front of him.

The room was in chaos, all kinds of alchemical reagents were littered over the floor. In a corner was a pile of dead snakes and other animals, all of them drained of their blood. Each of the corpses had some sort of mutation, whether it was an additional limb or a horn growing out of their heads. On the table near the scene of carnage stood a vial rack full with various vials. The liquid inside these vials was clearly blood, though the shades of red were varying between each vial.

On the ground in front of him was a magical circle drawn in blood. There were thousands of complicated runes that seemed to spin around each other, but as the man shouted about his success, the runes began to flicker and slowly fade. After a few moments, the circle was completely gone and one could make out that in its place stood a small snake.

The small snake's mouth was open as it hissed and started thrashing on the ground, clearly in pain. Around him were numerous thick strands, appearing like multiple red ribbons, slowly being drawn into the snake's body. Moments later, the pain was gone from its eyes, the snake flickered its tongue as if it was content and its eyes started to glow with a shining light before disappearing.

The snake stared at the shadowy figure in front of it with its blue eyes, showing wisdom and intelligence. Once more, it menacingly hissed at the man and bared its long and sharp fangs, feeling a myriad of expressions it had never felt.

"My greatest masterpiece, I shall name you Orou!" The man said while looking at Orou. Orou knew that it was pride that the man was feeling, though he didn't understand what any of this meant. Orou flickered his tongue in response to the man's words and started shifting about in the man's palm.

After the wave of adrenaline had passed, the man carefully examined Orou, observing his behavior, his own two eyes meeting Orou's. As the man held him up, he coiled up in the man's palm before all of the sudden, a wave of exhaustion hit Orou. The last thing he felt before he fell unconscious was something warm inside him pulsing, throbbing.

The man murmured something to himself before going off to a separate room, where he placed Orou down and went off, occasionally chuckling along the way. Days flew by like the wind. The small snake continued to lie there, unaware of the changes his body was experiencing. While unconscious, his body twitched and stilled all throughout the day.

Orou slumbered through his exhaustion and lifted his small, scaly head up to survey the room he was residing in. He looked around but couldn't find the man that he had seen last. Orou shook his head and slithered out into the laboratory. When he did, he saw that the room had completely changed. What was once a messy, dirty room was now in pristine condition. After the ritual, Orou didn't have much time to look around, but now that he did, he saw that the place he was residing in was huge. Slithering over and looking outside the window, he could see that he was high in the air. The ground below him was covered with numerous flowers and herbs, the structure he was in was made of stone and was shaped in a circular fashion, going up a few more floors above him.

As Orou slowly explored the giant tower, he went into various rooms, only to find most of them empty. Disappointed in the lack of new things, he slithered into a peculiar room. What he saw was a total contrast to the things before. The room was covered with numerous blood-red runes, all pulsing with power. As he approached closer and closer, he could hear faint, ominous chanting coming from the other side of the room.

In the middle of the room stood a jet black stone the size of a fist raised on a dais. When he slithered around the dais, he saw what would horrify any regular person. There were numerous people tied up and bound by a blue rope that seemed to stretch endlessly, binding all of them in place. Those that weren't unconscious and still had the courage cursed at the sorcerer, but most of them were crying or screaming, pleading to be released, pleading for their children to be spared.

In front of them stood the same man from before with a small, jet black dagger in his hands. He sneered at the people in front of him: "You should be thankful that your lives are being used for the greater good, now be quiet and don't struggle," He forcefully grabbed one of the prisoners, which made the blue rope around him disappear.

The man stared into the prisoner's eyes, his eyes becoming bloodshot. The prisoner screamed in terror before suddenly becoming quiet, bowing to the man and speaking to him in a mechanical voice: "Master." The sorcerer brandished the dagger and stabbed it into the prisoner's chest, quickly carving out the prisoner's heart with seemingly practiced ease. He took the still beating and fresh heart out of the man's body, before placing it next to the stone. The heart dissipated without leaving a single trace of blood behind as the rest of the prisoners watched in horror. Some fell silent and accepted their fate, while others screamed even louder.

The man proceeded to offer up every single prisoner and stacked the bodies onto a pile. With every heart offered, the stone became darker and darker until Orou could practically hear screams from the stone. The stone itself looked like the abyss with dark mist swirling in it. Orou found himself staring at the stone and before he noticed, he was entranced by it and couldn't take his eyes off the scene. The man finally finished the process. He wiped the blood from his dagger, put it down near the stone and slowly walked towards Orou.

"Good, you've finally woken from your slumber. Right now you might be weak, but in the future, you'll be the king of them all." The bloodied man whispered to Orou in a sweet tone, while laughing in a diabolical way. As the man walked forward, Orou couldn't resist but to follow him, charmed by him. They quickly made their way to the laboratory, where the man previously conducted various experiments before creating Orou. He went into a separate room where he took a small needle and returned back to Orou.

"This won't hurt at all," saying that, he took the needle and skillfully extracted some of Orou's blood into a vial. The blood in the vial was the deepest shade of red imaginable. The man left the room after looking at Orou for a few seconds and showing an emotion foreign to Orou.

Orou stood there like a statue for a few moments before regaining his previous vitality and activity. He quickly chased the man, and with his two blue eyes, he stared at everything in sight with renewed curiosity. Even though he had been here before, everything still seemed so new and fresh to him.

As the man resumed his experiments, Orou slithered up to a window and looked outside, wondering if he could discover something new. He saw the boundless blue sky and a sea of green surrounding the tower. Further in the horizon, he saw the land extending endlessly.

"Dun, Dun, Dun, Dun." While Orou listened carefully, he could hear some kind of thumping. It sounded like the beat of a heart, steady and unshakable, like the pulse of earth's core, ever penetrating.

Gradually, Orou began to see men appearing in the distance. Every single one of them was clad in steel armor from head to toe. The front lines held purely longswords, all made out of high-quality steel. Some of the men at the back had exquisitely made wooden bows with quivers of arrows on their backs. Soldiers that were marching in the front all held steel shields with the image of a black, coiled dragon on it. The image looked fierce, giving one the impression that the dragon could leap out of the shield and attack their enemy at any given moment.

At the very back of the army, Orou saw soldiers that were dressed strangely, each wearing white robes, inscribed with various runes, similar to the ones in the sacrifice room earlier. They held wooden staves with glowing crystals on the top in their arms. There were hundreds of these men and the crystals in their hands were radiating a light which made one's soul feel comfortable and peaceful.

The man performing the experiment also perked up but didn't stop what he was doing. He murmured to himself, "I don't believe that those lousy fools can break my Blood Barrier. I spent countless days and sacrificed thousands of people to create that barrier. Not to mention this army of ten thousand, even if the court mage came out here from the capital, he would be unable to break it."

Once the man finished talking, he went back to his experiments. Although he said all of that, his actions betrayed him. He immediately quickened his work and finished it within a minute. It ended with him letting the blood he had taken from Orou fade. The man then hurried down the tower, with Orou following on his heels.

After a quick jog, they arrived at a room similar to the sacrifice room. The room was covered from the ceiling to the floor with various runes that sucked one's soul in. At the middle of the room was a levitating orb, emitting all kinds of lights. It looked very chaotic and disorganized, but within that chaos, Orou could sense boundless power.

The robed man walked briskly to the orb and only stopped only when he arrived right next to it. He slowly touched the orb, chanted words in an unknown language and traced various symbols on the orb, while slowly sinking into the orb.

As the sounds of the marching army became louder, the actions of the man become quicker. Orou could feel the ground trembling, almost resembling a solemn song. Finally, the man finished tracing the last rune and let out a huge sigh of accomplishment. Following that, the earth began to shake even more and the world around Orou turned blood red. With each second, the world around them glowed with a deeper shade of red. Orou looked at the man responsible for this and saw him acting as if he was intoxicated with power. His wrinkles disappeared and he changed, looking younger and healthier each second, his face flush with blood.

The man looked outside the window and cast a spell on himself, grew blood-red wings and took flight, heading outside the tower. Orou surveyed the situation and only now noticed that the tower was pulsating, sending out red waves to the edge of a barrier. The barrier extended a few hundred feet around the tower and it resembled a huge dome surrounding the tower.

The man began to take on a demonic appearance, growing more sinister by the second, "YOU FOOLS, YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE COME HERE. BOW DOWN AND OFFER YOUR SOULS TO THE ALTAR," an imposing voice resounded through the area, chilling the souls of everyone who heard it. His voice was like the voice of devil itself, crushing all opposition and hopes of winning just by speaking.

The army stopped dead in its tracks as some of the soldiers started to tremble, an unnatural fear gripped their heart as the idea of fleeing became more appealing. Just as they started to turn around, a wave of light washed over them. The chanting of the men at the back grew louder and the staves in their hands shone with a bright light. The wave carried with it a soothing effect, washing away the fear in the hearts of the soldiers.

"This cannot continue any longer you fiend! We've come to stop your tyranny and to put an end to your meaningless bloodshed!" these words came from a woman standing at the front of the army. She had flowing blonde hair and the appearance of a saint, inspiring courage and bravery into everyone who saw her. She wore plate mail made out of adamantine and held a sword forged out of mithril. Her voice was amplified to a deafening extent, but it only boosted the courage of the men.

"What you've done can't be forgiven you blood fiend, prepare to face your doom!" While the woman was addressing the man, the Blood Fiend was soaring through the air, looking with contempt at her and chanting to himself.

"Face your end, demon!" with these last words, she held up her longsword, which was like a shining beacon in the darkness for the soldiers. The front line raised their shields and started to march forwards with unyielding determination. The archers in the back notched their arrows, drew their bows and pointed them at the fiend.

As the hand of the woman fell, countless arrows were unleashed at the same time, flying into the barrier like a raging bull that was planning to take this fiend's life. The men at the back held up and thumped their staves to the ground, while the light of the crystals on top of them dimmed.

The woman at the very front held a crystal in her hands. If one could make out her expression from the distance, it would be one of melancholy and sadness, as well as resolution. "Let the light flow through my veins, let me power in me consume me from within to allow for the last burst of a radiant light."

Following the woman's chanting, her body began to shine. One by one, beams of light broke out from her body, seemingly shattering her body before reforming once more. The light crashed into the barrier with boundless majesty, but as it did, the impact made no sound, not even ripples in the air. After a moment of standstill, the entire barrier cracked and broke into countless pieces. It shattered just like a glass dome and dissipated in the air.

The light itself continued to shine down and instantly arrived before the fiend. Just as it was about to hit him, the tower sent out a pulse of red. This wave, however, wasn't normal. For a moment, it turned the world back to normal, the light was pushed back for just a split second before the sky was soaked in red and the earth started to charge outwards with the wave, making it denser and bigger. It clashed with the light with an earth-shattering explosion that shattered everything aside of the fiend in front of it, including the light.

The arrows were just like sticks in the wind, breaking under the red glow and slowly crumbling apart, disintegrating. Every single front line warrior held up their shields, calmly looking at the scene in front of them, having faith in their commander. If one could look down on the shield formation, their shields formed an enormous black, coiled dragon. What covered them was a black barrier, which resembled the scales of a dragon.

The soldiers holding the front line took their swords in hand and swung them out simultaneously. The light that was covering them dimmed as each of the swords absorbed a bit of it, launching countless crescents of light towards the man. Joining them was another volley of arrows, this time, each of the arrow was brightly scintillating. The men in the back chanted ceaselessly, while the archers were constantly firing volleys of arrows that struck the waves of blood that were coming in their direction, which grew weaker with each pulse.

For once, the fiend felt as if he has underestimated his opponents, especially the woman that created the light. He pointed all ten of his fingers in the direction of the army, having finally finished chanting his spell. Blood red strings came out of his fingers and shot out towards the army. After finishing the spell, he immediately began to chant another one, this time while holding the sacrificial dagger in his hand and pricking his thumb.

The ten seemingly harmless strings approached the barrier of the soldiers. They seemed to possess a mind of their own as they weaved themselves together and coiled around the entire army. The strings started to tighten themselves tried to bind the army but were stopped by the barrier that was holding on with all of its might. The phantom image of the dragon felt the threat of these strings, roaring before sending out a shockwave in hopes of stopping these strings dead in their tracks.

While this deadlock continued, the endless barrage never stopped assaulting the fiend while he was chanting some unknown spell. The shining knight at the front let out a howl. Her armor began to change in a mysterious way, she grew wings and the sword in her hand was replaced with a golden one, radiating an intense and blinding light.

She didn't waste any words and charged towards the fiend, leaving behind a shockwave simply by flapping her wings. The fiend was forced to stop his spell half way and defend by crossing his arms. The sword arrived in a flash and chopped downwards, trying to cleave the fiend in two.

The demonic figure simply stood there, receiving the blow in full force. No metal could resist this strike, but the fiend's arms were harder than any metal could ever hope to be. The sound of clashing overpowered even the roars of the dragon. The woman didn't retreat in the slightest and continued to strike the fiend with the reinforcement of the sword lights and arrows behind her. Although the fiend blocked every single attack thrown at him, sword bit deeper into his flesh with every strike.

Knowing that his life might end if he didn't do anything, he retreated while a wave of blood held the woman at bay for a moment. He took out the athame and pierced his heart, screaming out in pain, "You forced me to do this."

His screeches assaulted the army and served as a distraction for the fiend's last move. The woman immediately recognized the danger she was in and took out a scroll, coughing up blood on it. The scroll melted in her arms and from it came an enormous white-striped tiger. It made no noise as it pounced towards the fiend, hoping to end him for good.

Seeing the woman's desperate attempts, the fiend pushed his dagger all the way through his still beating heart. He focused on his hands, seemingly forgetting about the battle unfolding. His hands were emitted a dark light, one which was only found in the deepest layer of hell.

He knelt mid-air and from his back emerged a phoenix. It wasn't one made out of flames, but one that was clad in blood and covered with darkness. It saw the tiger, but looked towards the women, not putting the tiger in its sight. The phoenix flapped its wings and crashed into the white-striped tiger. Time almost seemed to freeze as the two figures started to melt together into a strange abomination. Before it could completely fuse, something cracked and running down the middle of this creature was a crack. Following that was an earth-shaking explosion, in almost an instant, the surrounding features were erased, leaving behind a huge crater.

The shockwave from the explosion arrived soon after and hit the tower with full force, shattering its foundations and toppling the entire structure. Orou pried himself away from the gory sight and quickly fled out of the collapsing tower. As the dust settled, he could only see a single person in the distance. It was the fiend, which had turned back into his human form and was lying on the ground. He was the only person in sight, as everything that was once here got turned into a barren wasteland.

The man looked at Orou and squeezed out a few last words, his eyes looking at Orou with love. "Come here. Even though I won't be able to help you on your journey, I know you'll do just fine. My life is going to end right here, so I hope you can preserve my legacy." The man said these words as he mercilessly ripped out his own heart and presented it to the snake.

"With this, I can die happy, knowing that all of my effort wasn't for naught," he said those words and took his last breath and closed his eyes with a smile on his face. Behind them, the tower crumbled down fully, turning into nothing more than rubble. The body of the man melted into the earth, not leaving behind a single trace.