The Desolate Mountains (The Divine Elements Book 2)

by Daman

  Meanwhile, Ezkael patiently watched the scene unfold below him.

  “Something is wrong… his power should not have increased by this great of a factor… “

  Ezkael muttered to himself as he observed the energy fluctuations around his student.

  “The Blood Legacy… I’ve never even heard of it in my realm… to think an existence such as that could exist in the mortal world. I will need to take a deeper look into it.”

  Ezkael mused.

  There was no strength in this world that did not have an equal price for its boons. The Divine Perception was a technique that eroded the minds of its user if not controlled properly, and the Azure Lightning could damage the internal body if used excessively.

  However, the Blood Legacy appeared to deviate from this pattern.

  Ezkael had recently observed that Calron could instantly use the legacy’s abilities without much backlash, and even the Titan’s Fury that would have once destroyed his body, no longer seemed to discomfort the boy.

  “It might be due to Calron’s own strength and cultivation advancing, but something tells me that there is something more profound about this legacy…”

  Ezkael speculated as his smoky body scattered into the wind.

  ………………..

  A low whimper suddenly sounded out from behind Calron.

  No longer channeling the Blood Legacy’s domain, Calron slowly turned around to face a tiny wolf pup quivering on the ground as it let out mournful sobs.

  His heart throbbed with pity when he saw the tears pouring down the little beast’s furry face.

  He did not know when, but he had come to see these beasts just like he would humans. Calron wanted to pick up the tiny pup from the ground and comfort it, but he did not wish to frighten it, so he simply watched in silence.

  The little wolf pup slowly stepped towards its mother’s body, as its tiny limbs shook uncontrollably.

  With a small whimper, it gently nudged the giant wolf’s snout.

  Seeing that its mother was not waking up, the little beast once again nudged the giant wolf with its furry head.

  “Awwooo”

  The wolf pup raised its tiny head and let out a heart-broken howl, as it mourned to the world about the loss of its only family.

  Chapter 23 – Hope for the Future

  A gentle breeze drifted above a small forest, causing the wilted leaves to slowly rain down onto the ground.

  The entire forest seemed to be holding its breath, as not a single sound echoed within the area besides the faint whimpering of a small beast.

  “How long are we going to stay like this?”

  Ezkael asked in an exasperated tone within Calron’s mind.

  For hours, his student has been silently sitting below a tree without making a move to leave. Calron simply watched the wolf pup and continued to stare at the little orphaned beast.

  “The dead bodies will soon cause other beasts to arrive at this location, so make your choice right now.”

  Ezkael firmly stated when he saw that the boy was not responding back to him.

  “I don’t know what to do, Teacher. Do we take her with us and risk her life, or do we leave her here to fend for herself against other beasts?”

  Calron softly whispered with a sorrowful expression on his face, as he gazed at the little wolf pup attempting to burrow herself within her dead mother’s embrace.

  “Kid, if we are to continue on this path, then we will have to deal with more cases like these. Are you planning on taking in every orphaned beast we encounter?”

  Ezkael inquired in an even tone.

  “I know that I’m being unreasonable, and it is probably foolish of me to think that I can save everyone, but I can’t seem to force myself to leave her here.”

  Calron replied as he leaned back against the tree behind him.

  “Good! I just wanted to test your resolve. You don’t need to have the answer for everything in this world, Calron. Sometimes, taking risks are what makes life worth living. We do not even know whether travelling with us would put her in danger, maybe it will be safer for her or maybe not, but you have to take the chance.”

  Ezkael affectionately conveyed as he materialized next to Calron.

  “Just when I think you want me to do something, you immediately switch it around.”

  Calron lightly laughed as he slowly stood up.

  “I think I know just what might cheer her up.”

  Calron muttered to himself as a slight smile spread across his face. Just as Calron was about to turn around to begin the task he thought of, Ezkael suddenly voiced out within his mind.

  “Calron?”

  “Yes, Teacher?”

  “You’re a good kid.”

  Ezkael murmured with a smile before dispersing away.

  ……………………

  After an hour, Calron returned back carrying a large perfectly roasted bird within his right hand, and a small wooden structure within his other one.

  Placing the cooked poultry on top of a nearby flat rock, Calron sat down next to it while gently bringing the small wooden structure closer to his lips.

  It was a flute.

  Since he had given his previous wooden flute to the little beasts, Calron had quickly constructed another one so he could play for the wolf pup. He secretly hoped that music was something that all beasts enjoyed and not just the baby beasts he had met on the outer ranges.

  Although the current wooden flute within Calron’s hand was not as refined or smooth as the one he had made before it, as long as it achieved his goal, it did not matter to Calron.

  “I hope this works… ”

  Calron murmured to himself and began closing off his eyes.

  Lightly breathing into the flute, Calron started with soft and gentle notes on the instrument. It was neither a happy beat nor a fast one.

  It was a slow, and sad melody.

  Calron knew that playing a happy song would not work on the little wolf pup, as the tiny beast needed something to understand its pain, rather than something to cheer it up. Calron had gone through those same emotions, so he knew exactly how the wolf pup felt.

  Calron put his entire being into the music he was playing. He conveyed the tragedy that happened in his life, the injustice wrought on by those with power, and the deaths of his family members.

  Deeply immersed within his emotions, Calron momentarily forgot about the wolf pup and simply played the flute with his soul.

  He wanted to tell a story.

  A story about him, and a story about the people in his life.

  He played about his entrance into the Red Boar School, and meeting someone for the first time who both understood him and accepted him. His Master, Elias.

  He played about the first friend he ever had, a brother willing to give up his own life for Calron’s sake.

  He played about the silly times with Fatty, training with his Master, and even the childish crush he had on Lora.

  Soon the sad melody began to morph into a song about hope and living for the future.

  Unknown to Calron at that moment, a small figure was standing in front of him with its large, innocent purple eyes staring into his face.

  ……………………

  Avi did not know who this human was, but she saw that it was the same human that had fought the beast that killed her mother. It was also her first time seeing a human.

  This human was nice.

  He played music that Avi liked, and she wanted to listen to it more. The little wolf pup did not understand how the human was making the sounds, but she definitely sensed the emotions of pain and loss from his music.

  It was because she felt the same way.

  However, the human soon changed the melody and played a different song. This song made Avi’s heart tremble.

  It was because the song was about hope.

  ……………….

  Once the song ended, Calron slowly opened his eyes. Gingerly touching the wetness o
n his cheeks, Calron realized that he had unknowingly shed tears while playing the flute.

  At this moment, he felt like a huge burden had been lifted off his shoulders, as a tranquil peace took place within his heart.

  Suddenly, Calron sensed a lump of weight sitting on his lap. Tilting his head downwards, Calron came face to face with the tiny wolf pup.

  With its large purple eyes gazing upon him, the wolf pup placed its soft furry paws onto his chest and stood up on its hind legs, as it began licking Calron’s chin.

  “Oi! That tickles, stop it!”

  Calron laughingly protested, as he gently nudged the tiny pup’s head.

  Happy to see the little beast warm up to him, Calron tenderly petted its soft fur as he whispered to the wolf pup.

  “What’s your name, little guy?”

  *woof*

  “Avi!”

  The tiny pup cutely barked as its eyes shined brightly.

  “Avi… Well, Avi, are you hungry?”

  Calron asked as he eyes darted towards the roasted bird next to him.

  “Avi!”

  The wolf pup excitedly barked again as a line of drool started to seep out from its mouth when it saw the delicious cooked meat.

  Calron ruffled the pup’s ears while chuckling, as he tore off the bird’s leg and placed it in front of the little beast.

  Looks like she’s even younger than I thought…

  Calron silently pondered when he noticed that the wolf pup only knew her name and nothing else. According to Calron’s guess, Avi was only a few weeks old!

  Knowing that she had lost her mother at such a young age, Calron felt another pang within his heart.

  However, it soon disappeared when he saw the little wolf pup adorably gnawing on the bone while letting out cute tiny growls.

  Glancing up at the sky, Calron reveled in the feeling of the cool breeze darting past his bare skin.

  “It’s finally time to use the Divine Perception to find the city…”

  Calron silently muttered while closing his eyes, as a wide smile spread across his face.

  Chapter 24 – The Piercing Eyes

  Slowly tearing off another chunk of meat from the roasted bird, Calron placed it in front of the little pup.

  Seeing more of the delicious meat, Avi quickly dropped the small bone in her jaws and eagerly rushed towards the human with an excited glint in her eyes.

  Soon, tiny munching noises filled the air.

  Now that the little beast was occupied, Calron momentarily closed his eyes and triggered the Divine Perception. He was still slightly exhausted by the earlier fight, but not to the extent of being completely unable to use the technique.

  The wolf pup froze for a second when it sensed something unusual, but it soon resumed chewing on the meat when it glanced up and saw that nothing was wrong with the human.

  To find the beast city, I need to search for a vast area with a large number of beasts wandering around.

  Calron inwardly thought, as he gradually opened his eyes to the white and grey world.

  With his grey irises glowing unnaturally, Calron turned his head towards the sky and sent his consciousness in a random direction. Whenever Calron used the Divine Perception, it felt like his mind was severed from his physical body and given an ethereal form.

  It was almost like travelling as a ghost, where others were unable to see you.

  Unlike looking for the thunderstorms, this time there were no residues of lightning essence to track. As a result, Calron had to blindly search for the beast city in every possible direction.

  He only prayed that he would locate it before his strength ran out.

  Surprisingly, the forest that he had initially thought to be small was in fact much larger, stretching out for countless miles.

  By using the Divine Perception, Calron’s consciousness could travel for miles in an instant, so whenever he felt like there were no signs of a city in his current path, he would immediately switch course to explore a new direction.

  Wait a minute… If I can see the lightning within the beasts, what if I go as far up in the sky as I can, and see which area contains the highest amount of these mini lightning bolts?

  Calron suddenly thought, as he abruptly stopped in his tracks and swiftly charged further up in the sky.

  He soon came to a point where he neared a layer of clouds and stopped there, as Calron sensed that if he went up any further, his vision started to became hazy and distorted.

  Scanning the scenery below him, Calron surveyed the various illuminated figures within his sight. There were currently several large beasts slowly nearing his and the wolf pup’s current location, probably due to fact that there were two dead corpses near them.

  Ignoring these beasts, Calron turned his sight even further away. He detected a small number of glowing lights steadily treading in a group. Calron could deduce their exact number as some of the glowing lights meshed together, but he estimated that there were around six or seven of the beasts.

  Suddenly sensing another group of glowing lights, Calron immediately swerved towards their direction and began scrutinizing the new group. This was a much larger group of beasts than the ones he just encountered a few seconds ago.

  Closely following behind them, Calron raced ahead once he concluded the general route they were planning to take. Unfortunately, these beasts were all just heading back to their small village, and not a city.

  Shit! This is leading me nowhere. I don’t have much time…

  Calron cursed, when he realized that his search for the beast city was to no avail. Furthermore, he sensed that his strength would soon be depleted within the next few minutes, and he would be forced to end the Divine Perception technique.

  “Go back to that group.”

  Ezkael suddenly interjected within Calron’s mind.

  “Huh? Why?”

  Calron curiously inquired, while already shifting his sight back to the small group.

  “What you failed to detect, my dear student, is that some of those previous beasts had travelling packs underneath them. Can you think of any reason why they would be needing those?”

  Ezkael asked in a smug tone, and Calron was sure that his Teacher was probably smirking right now. Since their souls were connected, Ezkael could easily see through his student’s own eyes

  “What if they’re just travelling to another village, or location?”

  Calron questioned, but traces of hope already started to bud within his heart.

  “Just scout their route ahead, kid”

  Ezkael sighed, but was secretly pleased with himself, especially after the earlier blunder of him getting Calron lost in the middle of nowhere.

  Zooming in on the previous group of beasts who were moving at a steady pace, Calron flew above them as he observed the general direction that they were treading towards.

  The group of beasts seemed to belong to a breed of buffaloes, but Calron could not tell for sure since they simply appeared as moving white glows with the faint outlining of a buffalo-type beast. Soon, he discovered the lumps of blackness underneath the beasts’ bellies. Since the packs did not have essence, they appeared as black forms to Calron’s sight.

  “That’s a really strange place to tether their packs… ”

  Calron silently muttered.

  Suddenly, he felt the pressure of the Divine Perception start to send shocks of pain to his brain. Calron immediately became serious, and concentrated on the path as he whizzed ahead.

  Calron soon found himself entering deeper and deeper into a mountain range.

  After a while, the number of trees began to dwindle down, as the path on the ground become more like a road.

  This is it!

  Calron exclaimed in excitement.

  He did not have to wait for long, as a towering fortress gradually came within sight. However, at that moment, he felt an agonizing jolt of pain wreck through his nerves and knew that it was time to end the technique.

  In a la
st attempt to glean information of how the city looked, Calron burst into the sky and gazed at the city within.

  Before he could admire the view, he suddenly felt the glare of an omnipotent being!

  The pair of dark vicious eyes instantly pierced through Calron’s vision, as the powerful being’s words echoed within Calron’s mind.

  “Interesting… Cal… ron… ”

  ……………..

  *cough* *cough*

  Calron returned back to his physical body, as he spluttered out a mouthful of blood on the grass.

  *woof*

  The little wolf pup nervously crouched to the ground, as its large purple eyes worriedly glanced at Calron.

  “It’s okay, Avi. See, I’m completely fine.”

  Calron said in an assuring tone, as he gently scratched the pup’s chin.

  Hearing the human talk, the little beast gradually calmed down and began making sounds of contentment while Calron continued to stroke its fur.