Hatchling

by Lupine King

  Unfortunately, most people would never open any of them. Only cultivators could make any true use of them. What energy would mortals store? How would they store it when they could not control it? Even the majority of cultivators would only ever open one. Under normal circumstances, humans could only have one force so only that aperture and it energy pool would be open and active.

  In addition to this, the earliest the mind pool could be opened was in the King tier. About sixty percent of cultivators never surpassed the first tier. How many could reach the third? As such, there were very few who knew that the pools were even connected. Those who did could never know what that felt like. The others would be forever closed to them.

  Only the top level powers at the pinnacle of the King tier or higher would benefit from the knowledge or even the benefits of having more than a single pool at their disposal. Well, people like them and people like Valerian. Those who had dual forces would have two open, usable pools at the very beginning. They were also the only ones that stood a chance at opening all three. The benefits of this, a rare few knew. Valerian certainly did not.

  At best, he knew that could monitor both pools at the same time and he did so. He looked into the qi space and arcane space and found himself looking not at the seas of energy that once filled them but rather at empty space. There was nothing in them. Nothing save two colossal crystals and two sparks hovering over them.

  His arcane space held three of them. Two were familiar to him, they were his elemental cruxes. Each was a ball of essence gathered from his environment, an effect of his Manifold Incarnations. The last one, an arcane crystal, had not been there the last time.

  The thing in his qi space worried him though. Instead of a crystal, there was a large gold pearl. He could clearly sense that that was his qi core but from what he knew cores were crystalline. Essence formed crystals when compacted. It happened both in nature and in cultivation. Why did his qi form a metallic pearl?

  Oh who cared?

  He would find out later. Right now, Valerian was beyond ecstatic. He had attained the first tier for both his forces. He had formed cores and each was a dozen times bigger than the first qi core he formed. Plus, he finally knew the source of his legacy and it was one to be proud of. Anything else could wait. He could not wait to show his family.

  As if on cue the essence in his sphere run out. Opening his eyes to the darkness, Valerian enthusiastically pushed outwards. The walls cracked and fell apart, letting him out. Light came rushing in but his eyes did not even have to adjust. He spun around, eventually spotting Avery at the entrance of the cavern. It felt like it had been years since he last saw the man. A smile sprung up on his face. He had so much to tell him. To show him. However, when he moved in his direction he saw the man take a step back, terror on his face. He nearly even fell over himself in his attempt to get away.

  “Avery! What's wrong?” he asked worriedly.

  AVERY HAD BEEN WATCHING the golden egg for nearly an hour and he was prepared to wait forever if he had to. There was no way he was going back without his young master. A full day passed and he was beginning to worry. He even sent one of the soldiers ahead to get help from DaleGuard.

  None of them had any transmission talismans with the range necessary to call for help. The best was given to the fastest soldier. All he had to do was get in range and make the call. When he did so, Steelborns would land in less than an hour. That was their current lifeline. Avery did not know what else to do.

  Thankfully, he caught the cracks forming on the shell. Anticipating Valerian's return, he made his way closer. Then, the egg all but exploded. Seeing this, he nearly run forward to check on his charge. Unluckily, out of the dispersing egg shards came a daemon. Now, Avery could not get away fast enough.

  The most eye-catching feature was the wings. They were enormous metallic things that sprung open, spreading to reveal a six-metre wingspan. They were made of gold but the thing they unfurled to reveal was even stranger.

  The daemon was outlined in an intense golden energy but Avery could make it out. It was humanoid and naked, only with large steel spikes emerging from its shoulders, elbows, knees and heels. Its toe and fingernails glinted in the light revealing a grey metallic sheen. It did not have hair; just black, needle-like bristles that stuck out its scalp with a feathery golden crest at the top. From somewhere behind it came a veritable waterfall of golden essence that cascaded for close to half a metre in the form of tail feathers.

  Avery did not know what it was but every instinct and sense he had told him to run. If he was lucky, it would not have noticed him yet. If not then he was already dead. Too late! It turned and saw him. Backpedalling hastily, he almost tripped over himself. That was when he heard its voice.

  “Avery! What's wrong?”

  Stunned, he took a closer look, finally registering its familiar facial features. His instincts were still blaring at him to get away but taking a chance he asked.

  “Young master! Is that you?”

  END OF BOOK ONE

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  About the Author

  LupineKing is someone who writes under a bad translation of the pet name his grandmother gave him because his real name is eleven syllables long and unpronounceable to speakers of the English language.

  He began writing at the age of ten but after a classmate rightly pointed out that his book was uncomfortably similar to The Hardy Boys, he put prose aside and focused on poetry for a good while before coming back to it. At one point, he took thrillers and crime novels from his number one spot and put epic fantasy there instead. Admittedly, this had to do with him getting lost in Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance books in his early teens.

  After getting swept up in the serial web novel craze, LupineKing finally produced his first complete work, Hatchling, the first book of his popular web serial, Heavenward on Golden Wings. Since then, he has written more books he is preparing for publication including a new serial, Dungeon Core/Realm Heart.

  When not writing, he spends his time reading or engaging in what he calls contemplation which is basically him reviewing books, events, philosophical topics, etc in the privacy of his own head all with musical accompaniment. A keen lover of music, he is appreciative of genres of hip-hop, jazz, metal and rock.

  He lives in Accra, Ghana with his family and their many dogs.

  Read more at Lupine King’s site.