Chapter 12: Master and a Contracted Beast (2)

Dmitri simply threw his sight towards Ketu who instantly nodded as though telling him, he should do the talking.

He cleared his throat.

"As far as we know, Ertheon was separated into two realms. However, from the past ages, these two different entities were originally forged in a piece with only one Supreme Ruler."

Taking a brief pause, Dmitri sighed and flopped his bottom on the cavern floor, crossed his legs into a seat.

And he continued.

"He's nourished the world with his ever-graced ability. In fact, his authority was rather unparalleled as if he'd no weakness at all. No one dares to overthrow his power."

His lips were pulled in a smile but were immediately overshadowed by his seemingly sorrowful eyes.

"Not until the very first non-pure blooded child opened his eyes in this world. And in just a blink of an eye, every nook of his domain bore these same children. He just realized he'd lost control over the pure-bloods sieging over the weak and dawned the birth of the Blood Lineage System. He'd no choice but protect them as it became his selfless weakness over the strong."

Gazing on the cavern floor scattered with fractions of spirit stones, he gently leaned on the slate scales that stood behind him.

"As a consequence, a terrible war emerged. His incomparable power was far beyond the rebels but he couldn't unleash it by protecting his subjects. Bit by bit, rebel pure-bloods pushed over the Supreme Palace. By that, just at the brink of the massacre, he'd no other choice but to use his Innate Ability 'Creation'."

He threw his sight on the young 'prince' (Ziro).

"…don't tell me…"

"Yes. He created the two realms separating the pure-blooded from the rest… only at a cost of his life. But because of that, his blessed vessels, treasures, and contracted beasts lost their one and only master."

"…!"

The young 'prince' seemed lashed in a realization as 'he' rushed 'his' gaze towards Lady Ketu.

Dmitri's gloomy eyes went half-closed.

"It was as you think it is. Lady Ketu, was one of the seven Contracted Beasts of the Supreme Ruler."

The young 'prince's eyes slowly widened, and 'his' head drooped.

"…it must've truly hurt to lose such kind master."

"… I just know, it really is. By then, all the seven Contracted Beasts were flung on the lower realm; each carried the Seven Pearl Treasures of their master and guarded it with all might. Eventually, they became known to be the Seven Sacred Beasts in the mortal realm."

******

The ambiance floated a heavy air which made all Dmitri's words quite dramatic.

The longer Ziro hears it, the more complicated she felt. Her fear not long was overly crunched by her new emotion towards Lady Ketu.

She pitied the monstrous beast upon her. Truly, an immeasurable power only weighs the tremendous cost. She already felt to lose someone important. It was truly painful as if she couldn't continue to live, and even pulling her lips to show a faint smile, she couldn't force herself to do it.

Once more, she waited for the swordsman to continue.

"But, due to lack of mana source, they tend to be in a long slumber. And once the full moon shines every half a hundred years, it'll brim tremendous amount of life force… and those were the time Lady Ketu and the rest tend to lose control of their well-being."

Faint creases on Ziro's forehead formed. Why this story was seemed quite familiar to her? Was it in former Ziro's memory?

But it wasn't. Pondering for a few seconds, she rummaged inside her head in regards to her query.

When the puzzle came to stick together, her furrowed eyebrows were pulled straight, lifting her eyes into a wide shot.

"They'd turn into a moon-eating beast."

"…they did."

Even though the swordsman's reply was at centipede's length, Ziro felt the ominous sorrow of Dmitri from his voice.

Moon-eating beasts! From her previous life on Earth, this belief was really an interesting story amongst elders as their ancestors believed in the beasts that devour the moon during its extreme luminosity, they said.

Ziro was taken aback and bore a quick glimpse on Lady Ketu. She quickly caressed her scalp, couldn't believe this is what a moon-eating beast looked like.

Drunk with execration, the swordsman parted his lips with a dragging sigh.

"As from then on… mortals feared them. Some hunted them in search of the Pearl Treasures. It's just frustrating. The lower realm should be glad. They're saved and yet, the last remnants of the Supreme Ruler were snared instead, as though making it a pricey item rather than a savior's treasure."

Dmitri forcedly clenched his fist punched on his lap.

"…"

Ziro watched the swordsman bared his molars.

Was this the reason why Dmitri was extremely bitter towards the royalties? She thought. Looking back on Lady Ketu, she could not rack her brain on how come this gentle-looking giant serpent-lady becomes a monstrous beast.

Her thoughts only resorted to an agreement with what Dmitri said.

"Where are the other sacred beasts?"

When the scared beast heard what she asked, Lady Ketu smiled wryly…

~Separate. One in Fugao. Other in Eleseiya. As for the rest, I don't know.~

…and immediately answered inside their heads.

Fugao, a country-sized tribe in the edge northwest of the Pearl Continent, right after the mountain ranges of Ruzas and several miles above a colossal trench.

But… the other one…

"In my home country?"

"No need to fret. Although, one of the sacred beasts was there, he was still asleep. Besides, Your father firmly protects the sanctuary against the hunters and collector. Well, of course, together with the formidable general Lixardo."

"You seemed to know a lot about my father. In fact, not just him, but about me too."

"I owe him the greatest depth."

"What is it?"

"…"

No reply came. Instead, Dmitri just replaced it with a sigh.

"It'd be better if you don't know. In any case, he's one of the kings I truly respect."

Truly respect? Did they know each other?

When a long blew of Dmitri's breath spewed, Ziro didn't pursue even further as she thought they might end up arguing the same thing as before.

"Jumping to the main point. Lady Ketu's life force had already been depleting in the last decades. We feared the protective wandering forest might not be able to hold hunters finding this place much longer as it consumes too much of Lady's energy."

"So, what do you suggest?"

"I'm not the one who had that right."

Dmitri pushed himself up and dusted his armored trunks. Simply bearing a glum look, he shifted his eyes on Lady Ketu.

~It is I. I am seeking the right keeper, the protector of the Pearl Treasure, a person who can wield tremendous power and guard this item. And it is the Wandering Forest who chooses that rightful person.~

Lady Ketu's sweet voice rang once again.

"…"

Ziro compressed her lips when the funniest thought came knocking inside her mind.

The sacred beast said that the Wandering Forest chooses a powerful person but as she was thrown over inside this cave, it could only mean that she was the chosen one.

Butterflies fluttered in her stomach. How come she thinks of that preposterous assumption?

She almost popped her lips into laughter.

She couldn't be the keeper. She's hell weak. Only that, a simple reason could end up this discussion at an instant – she's a cripple. How the hell would she protect that treasure if she couldn't even protect this new body she has?

~And with the greatest luck ever given, you were the one chosen.~

"…"

Damn it! It was as she thought. Her face crumpled in a second and dug her fist on her bone chiseled chest.

"I am very sorry to disappoint you, Lady Ketu, but here onwards I couldn't guarantee that I'll agree with what you'll say anymore because… this is just impossible."

She paused for a second, thinking of a better argument, and continue…

"That… that treasure is just too big of a responsibility and I think you've chosen the wrong person here. Giving me that pearl might as well mean shattering it in this exact moment. I… I can't protect it, I am sorry. I am… I'm just not fit for the job that's all."

Yes. This is the right decision. She thought. She already had mountains of worries to be taken care of, and never in her mind will she dump another sack of problems upon her.

If this situation actually happened in the future when she has already broken out of her crippled body, she might consider Lady Ketu's proposal.

But regardless of what she said, Lady Ketu's expression seemed not disturbed, but rather stretched up in a smile.

~Your stand is rather opposite of what you've attained. If it chose the wrong person, then why would you be here standing in front of me, still in whole flesh?~

Ziro's glabella seemed to twitch slightly.

"Dmitri saved me, I guess."

~You don't quite understand, young one. I was pertaining upon your entry in the Wandering Forest. My shadow servant only saved you inside this cave; it was completely a separate matter from the outside. Did you even ask yourself how you ended up in this cave?~

"With no disrespect, I was just about to ask that, in fact, I purposely came here with Dmitri because of that matter."

Ziro said in a straightforward manner but in a solemn tone.

~Well, you had it wrong after all.~

Lady Ketu raised her nimble arm and caressed a spirit stone snugged on her chest and continued without waiting for Ziro's reply.

~The answer doesn't lie within me. It resides within your deepest self. The forest only served as the gate that searches for the key. And I am only a guard that only served the Pearl. Then, only this matter will suffice, you're the one who opened the knob.~

Ziro held her ground for the time being as a faint pain suddenly pierced her forehead. This confusing arrangement seemed to bring her into another level of annoyance.

"Meaning to say, you can't open the gate."

For such speech Lady Ketu had, that's the heaviest issue she ever got. Being transported inside this Cave of Death, she initially thought this was some kind of summoning a chosen person, but this was completely reversed into an unexpected predicament.

~It is you, young prince, who had the capacity to do it.~

"C-capacity? This -"

Ziro immediately bit her lips. This no good, if she hasn't calmed herself in this instant, she might regret it afterward when her unstoppable lips would explode.

If Lady Ketu, a powerful Sacred Beast, couldn't open the gate, how could even she do it?

Heaving a short sigh, she regained her former bearing.

"Lady Ketu. I might sound imprudent about this matter, but I just can't… I never had that capacity you're aligning on me. I… I'm a cripple."

******

"…"

Lady Ketu was stopped from her tracks of convincing the young 'prince' towards reigning as the keeper of the pearl and turned silent for a moment. At a second, she almost put up a smirk when she thought the young one was holding a lie, but…

Ziro wasn't even lying. She thought.

She knew for herself, those impeccable eyes with traces of thirst and sorrow, at a speck, Lady Ketu's mind was changed.

Just to be sure.

Lady Ketu dawned her jade eyes towards the young 'prince', exactly below 'his' chest and above 'his' abdomen.

Peering for seconds, her sight eventually pierced through Ziro's body as though it turned transparent revealing dull and grayish omnidirectional circuit lines running from Ziro's toes up to 'his' head.

Trace of shock could be seen on Lady Ketu's eyes as she saw how Ziro's mana vessels hasn't been used a single time, making it an ash gray in pigment.

From her thousand years of existence, Lady Ketu met countless mishaps and misfortunes, from her journey beside her supreme liege, up to this very moment where she's curling her jade serpent tail inside this Cave of Death.

She already met Commoners helplessly surviving within the populace of blessed blood people, powerful assassins who lost their humanity from being deprived of their rights and cripples who had a pitiful life within the abyss of the Blood Lineage System.

Every one last of them had countless life and death survival, and the different perceptive stand that account, but this was her very first time meeting a crippled royal prince with the first blooded lineage of dragons.

Just how did this young 'prince' manage to survive being with the royalties? She already sailed within this echelon when her former contractor was still alive, and even though, the Supreme Ruler was beyond powerful, Lady Ketu felt that her master was still struggling to survive. Yet this young 'prince', she couldn't just imagine what hardship 'he' overcame.

But leering further down to the young 'prince's soul ocean, Lady Ketu's eyebrows suddenly twitched…

Drroom!!

'…!'

At an instant, she lost her grasp of air when her whole body fell into a suffocating shadow that enveloped the cavern into a lifeless monochrome.

Sweat trickled down to her spine while her eyes were only laid on the young 'prince's very root of all the mana vessels intertwining at every node of 'his' joints – an ominous black ball, carelessly bobbing at the very center of 'his' soul ocean.

'This is…'

At an instant, Lady Ketu was lost in thoughts.

******