Alarm Bells

Far far far away from Harlston

Far from the Edin empire...

A dazzlingly beautiful girl with pitch-black hair and skin as smooth as ivory lay tossing and turning on her bed.

Her presence radiated like a celestial beacon, captivating the hearts of all who were fortunate enough to lay eyes upon her.

A faint blush emphasized her rosy cheeks and her lips, plush and inviting, seemed to hold the secrets of a million whispered promises.

Most eye-catching of all, however, was a mysterious golden symbol etched onto her forehead. It glowed even in the darkness, the messages it was trying to impart a forever mystery.

Despite her tender age, the girl had an hourglass figure, graceful and exquisitely sculpted. She was, in every sense, a symphony of beauty, and forgive me for being a little presumptuous but any man... or woman, would be lucky to have her.

At this moment in time, the girl was sweating profusely and her shut eyelids trembled from time to time.

Surrounding her bed was a forest of trees and vines that shook violently and swayed turbulently from side to side in tempestuousness.

Suddenly, with a piercing scream, the girl's pitch-black eyes sprang open and in that split second of clarity, all became calm.

Trying to catch her breath, she slowly sat up on her bed and as she did, ink-black, long, silk-like hair cascaded down her head, effectively concealing her face, and, the teardrops that soon rolled down her cheeks.

Quiet sobs could be heard all around the space and the vegetation, almost as if compelled by millions of invisible strings, slowly and magically crept over and around her... almost as if... in consolation.

She had had that dream again, or more accurately... that nightmare. The very same that had plagued her every day for the past week.

In her dreams, the girl was being chased by an unknown entity. She would run and run but the thing chasing her was relentless in its pursuit... she could never escape it.

Whenever she tried to face it head-on, she would suffer agonizing and unbearable pain, like her body was being torn to shreds, over and over again such that her only solace would be to keep on running.

The dreams had started about a year ago and whenever she was near forgetting, they would return to haunt her. They would keep on recurring consecutively for days on end until they were almost engraved in her head. Only then would they recede.

The dreams always ended in the same way- the thing chasing her would catch up and she didn't know how... but she would die.

'Wait a minute!' The girl exclaimed in her head.

She had suddenly remembered something!

Quickly wiping off her tears, she brushed back her long black hair and jumped off her bed.

From underneath it, she grabbed a journal in which there were drawings of various kinds of peculiar plants. She tore off a page and on it, began to scribble something as her heart drummed in her chest.

The dreams had always ended the same way... except for today. Towards the end, she had seen something different. No, rather... someone.

10 minutes later, the girl stared apprehensively at the sketch she had drawn, a sketch of someone she had never met or known... a sketch of an unknown male with dark red hair and deep brown eyes.

...

Harlston

Standing in the center of the Greycastle main hall were 2 elevated golden thrones. Inscribed all over the two thrones were layers upon layers of mysterious engravings, or rather, to be more precise, runes... magic runes.

Well, whatever the artifactual thrones' purpose was, nobody knew. It was a closely kept Ronen family secret that even Dedric and Bartholomew did not know.

Save for the two thrones in the center, the hall did not have any other seats or furniture. It was almost as if the place was designed to make visitors feel unwelcome.

Currently, Castus sat upon the larger of the two thrones, and seated to his right was his beloved wife, Isabella.

It was mesmerizing how the contrasting auras of the two seemed to fit together in perfect sync. Isabella's gorgeous smile seemed to add color to Castus' black-and-white dystopian plane of existence.

Before them, stood a man dressed completely in grand sparkling white robes. His poise and the way he carried himself made it seem like he was some sort of national treasure.

Internally though, the man in white, Novin Oakenheart, was freaking out. It was taking all of his willpower just to try to act sane and not lose it. After all, he knew just what kind of place he was in...

Novin marveled at just how much the rumors he'd heard about this powerful couple were true. Castus Ronen was even more impressive (not to mention scarier) in person than the rumors implied.

The Dragon Lord of Harlston cut an imposing and domineering figure, one that demanded fealty from everyone who met him, and deservedly so.

Castus Ronen was one of the most powerful men in the empire and even perhaps the entire world and he largely owed this to two main reasons.

One, his formidable individual strength was absolutely nothing to scoff at. The man had a law so unique it was practically one in a billion.

That said, it was the second reason that had made the Ronens the feared family they were today...

There was a seed of terror that was automatically instilled in people when they heard the title that came with Castus' name... To put it simply, not for naught was he referred to as the Dragon Lord...

Due to this same reason, Greycastle was the second largest castle in the empire, only falling behind the Imperial Palace.

This very castle in which Novin was standing housed one of the largest and most powerful magic beasts to ever make a soul pact with a human, the black High Dragon, Vartan Earlshade.

Even now, Novin could feel subtle vibrations in the huge walls. The vibrations were like those made by minor earth tremors, or most likely, those created from the breathing of a monstrous creature.

Novin tried, by all means, to avoid looking at Castus Ronen in the eyes. They said what a man saw... his familiar beast saw as well.

Novin then switched his gaze to the stunningly beautiful woman sitting next to the governor. The lady had an easy air about her, a calm and peaceful aura, one that made you unconsciously want to relax around her. However, Novin was not naive. This enchantress was just as dangerous as her husband, if not even more hazardous.

Novin had to make sure that he never, never even for a second lowered his guard around her... lest she toyed with his mind.

Yes him! A powerful Sage class practitioner in his prime!

Suddenly...

*Whoosh!*

A very thin and very short bald man appeared from thin air to stand next to Lord Ronen... The baldie whispered something into his lord's ear all the while gawking at Novin as if to say, 'I'm watching you.'

Novin, however, was no coward. The bald butler was more or less the same rank as he was. What made him think that he was someone who could be looked down on in this way?

Novin narrowed his own eyes and returned the bald man's stare with a glare of his own.

"The young master will be right with us," Bartholomew informed the visitor while shrugging off the stare.

No sooner had he said that that the doors to the hall opened abruptly and two people entered.

Naturally, Novin's attention fell onto the larger of the two newcomers, a very tall and muscular man with a goatee on his chin.

This man had piercing black eyes that glared at him as if they wanted to glance into the very depths of his soul.

'Another Sage class expert!' Novin marveled yet again. Since when were experts this common?!

It should be said that the probability of meeting a Sage class practitioner was one in a million and yet... here in one castle two of them were, playing house like it was nobody's business!

It was safe to say that Novin was amazed. However, unlike the mysterious butler, he could somewhat gauge the giant man's strength.

'Most probably late Sage class,' Novin approximated. That was a stage above his own mid-Sage class.

For some reason, Novin got an inkling that if he and the large man were to fight, the large man would undeniably come out victorious.

This was a very puzzling speculation, to say the least.

Fights between practitioners of the same rank were anything but predictable. The only way a practitioner could dominate an opponent of the same rank was if there was a massive gap between their abilities.

Did that mean that the large man was so much stronger than him even if they were both Sage class?

...Novin had never felt so small.

To worsen the blow, it seemed as if the giant man had also reached the same conclusion since after just a few seconds of staring Novin down, he proceeded to ignore him as if he were never there.

Novin gritted his teeth. How long had it been since he was looked down on in such a blatant manner?

"Father, mother, you called?" Hade asked as he curiously eyed the man in white. They seldom had visitors after all.

Novin proceeded to regard the young man, the true goal of his mission.

'Pretty boy,' that's what first came to his mind but that notion almost immediately changed after he regarded the boy closer.

There was one constant that hadn't changed ever since Novin had stepped into the domain of the Ronens. It was the constant feeling of danger.

Novin had felt it when he first met Castus and Isabella Ronen. He also felt it with the two Sage class experts. What the hell?! Even the castle itself was giving him the jitters.

However, to his greatest shock, the boy also gave him the same feeling! Yes, a boy of 17 years, just awakened!

Novin was perplexed, to say the least. He then proceeded to make eye contact. That was when it happened...

Time seemed to freeze at that moment. The boy's eyes drew Novin in, no, they sucked him in!

'Those eyes!'

Alarm bells rang inside Novin's head as his danger sense screamed at him.

...Deep brown, they were almost an exact copy of the mother's, but, there was something different.

Something hid behind the young man's eyes, something vile, something fatal, something that could seriously threaten his existence!