Dragon Blood Qi Pool (V): Blood Dragon Mask

Alex had grown to a point where pain had actually become a regular thing in his life, but this? This was something else entirely. Blood was liquid, but it was completely unlike what could be considered normal for a liquid and that's because of how thick it was. And this was dragon's blood, or rather a pool made from hundreds of it. It was thicker and much more viscous, which meant couldn't swim out of it, he had no choice but to be dragged down the six meter deep pool, helpless against the chill that assaulted his bones and the freeze gradually creeping into his heart.

Alex felt panicked and at that moment he sound have done anything to make the pain stop, but you can't always have what you wish for. Alex ran out of breath way faster than he imagined and opened his mouth to take a deep breath, only for the blood to rush into his body, going through his nose also. But unlike when the blood was just touching his skin and Alex was trying to use it's energy to temper himself, this time it rushed into his body, and what it brought was not cold, it was best and ridiculous amount of flaming burning heat.

But this feeling was not alone in it's assault, as Alex felt the heat and the feeling of his internal organs being melted, the blood still in contact with his body sent a heavy chill into him, causing just as much pain and suffering as the blood within his body. Contrary to expectations, the two feelings of extreme heat and cold did not counteract each other, they just happily ran rough shod through and over Alex's body. But through it all, Alex was surprisingly not frowning or even passing out; the pain was constant yet he was unable to escape into his mind to find reprieve. He was feeling every single inch of pain this blood pool could muster, and then Alex hit the bottom.

The moment he did so, he began to hear whispers, and not just hear them, he began to feel movements around him. His limbs suddenly felt to heavy for his body as his heartbeat began to slow down, it was like he could feel death knocking and drawing ever closer to him. But even with that, the whispers became louder and so intense that it was all he could hear, infernal sounds of eldritch promises and cajolement. And then it became clear what it was he was hearing.

{{Let us in young hatchling! Let us fly within the streams of your veins and give you power the likes of which you've never seen, give us your mind and give us your soul, and give us your spirit. Yessssssss, yessssss let go young hatchling...…GIVE US YOUR BODY! GIVE US YOUR LIFE! GIVE...…}}

Alex had found himself stuck between the waking world and a world of deep slumber and darkness. He wasn't sure what this thing was, or what they were, but they were taking over. They were becoming everything that he was, and everything that he is now, they were trying to destroy him, to take over his life, his dreams, his hopes, his Anya!

*BOOM!*

A loud explosion sounded out from within the depths of the blood dragon pool. Alex might not have known how long he has been down there, but ten whole hours have passed, and the formerly restricted area was filled with leadership of the sect, along with a distraught grandfather, mother and uncle who were not so sure how a platform, much less Alex's particular platform would develop a fault and send the young boy plunging into what they were all very sure was a painful death. At the moment they were just waiting to dredge the pool for his body when the pool exploded outwards.

Alex's body as floating in the air, half awake and half unconscious. The blood dragon pool was floating around his body in a vortex, or to be more exact blood dragons formed from the residual consciousness of the dragons who's blood were a part of the pool. There were hundreds of them, and they were all trying to get into his body. But with each attempt they tried to make, a made green shield would show up over Alex's body and prevent them from going in.

"He's still alive?!" Lu Wan who had been given permission to observe what was happening asked out in shock and he had very much expected the young man to be dead. And with the tone of voice he used, he didn't sound to happy about it. But no one was paying him any attention as even his father himself who was there was watching everything with a stoic but still shocked expression.

"His legacy must be protecting him!" an elder with a full beard observed. It was already common knowledge in the sect, especially amongst the higher ups that the grandson of the sect head had a strange legacy that was neither attributed to Qi or Mana and could summon the spirit of a god and fight with it's power. This was probably the only reason why he would have been able to survive in a place as volatile as the Dragon blood Qi pool.

But while this discussion was going on, a massive change was going on within Alex's body. His chest released a piercing white light and a mask shot out of it. It was a blank white mask without any holes for eyes or mouth, but the moment the mask appeared a sort of pressure was released that left everyone watching feeling very uneasy. Then under their shocked and confused based, the mask began to absorb all of the blood dragons currently flying around Alex.

But it wasn't just absorbing them, it was also rapidly combining them into one collective consciousness as opposed to hundreds they were. If as if absorbed the blood dragons, red lines and scale began showing up on top of the mask. From one to two to four and eight and sixteen. The mask kept on absorbing the blood dragons until there was nothing more than just Alex covered in blood and still floating in the air while his mask changed.

The blood on Alex's body seas pulled up into the mask, which now looked like the mask of a dragon, and not a painted dragon, it was like someone carved the face of a real life dragon and made it into a mask. And then the mask fell onto Alex's face, causing a massive draconic roar to resound within the cavern as the illusory form of a massive red dragon showed up behind Alex. It flew around his body, glaring with all it's might at the people currently looking at it.

All over Alex's body, tiny red scales could be seen, and his head was no longer that of a human, rather he looked his face had merged with the very life like mask, making Alex seem like some sort of dragon man. The blood dragon flew one final rotation around Alex's body and then gave a short before flying right back into Alex's body. However the moment it went into Alex's body, Alex opened his eyes, and the fury within his bright yellow serpentine eyes was enough to make every single person watching feel chills. It was as if they were looking at a real god of death.

But ultimately they could see that Alex had now gained a second mask along with his first god mask. And they all saw as it formed, having a small understanding of what Alex's ability was like. Either way a new mask had been born, whether it was good or bad that's still remains to be seen, but as of today a new mask had been formed with Alex's mantle. (The Blood Dragon Mask.)