Crimson Core

Lord Marshall was seated in the garden looking into the flower field, that he called a garden.

“Chelsea, my dear, care to join your father for a pot of tea? It is your favorite, cinnamon tea.” Lord Marshall invited Chelsea to a seat at his side.

“…and mothers too.” Chelsea said as she sat down beside her father, who poured her a cup of tea. “Thank you.”

“Is this view not beautiful?” Marshall asked looking into the horizon.

“It is.” Chelsea replied.

“You know your mother grew this garden herself.” Lord Marshall’s eyes glistened as he recalled the sweet, sweet memories of his precious Irene.

“Yes; You remind me of it every time.”

“She was the most stubborn woman I ever saw,” Lord Marshall laughed softly. “It’s a shame she did not get to see you grow.”

“Father, do not be stumped. She is happy wherever she is.” Chelsea consoled.

“I am not, I have you…I see too much of her in you.” Lord Marshall’s voice became shaky and hoarse.

“Father, you are breaking my heart.” Chelsea was on the verge of breaking down and letting the water works flow. Her hands trembled in a manner that expressed suppressed sadness.

“I am sorry about that my child. You know, I never felt as much pain in my life as seeing your mother lifeless in my arms, Chelsea I do not want to feel that pain again…” Lord Marshall looked intently into Chelsea’s eyes as he spoke those words.

“Father I do not understand what you are saying…” Tears had already started to fall on Chelsea’s face, out of her eyes.

“Do not cry my child.” Lord Marshall used his hands to wipe the tears before he continued talking, “You are being too adventurous, too curious, too stubborn…you are becoming more and more of your mother. Promise me that you will not put yourself in danger.”

At this point Chelsea was already in Lord Marshall’s arms “I….promise.”

“That’s my daughter… So with that do not ever go down to that tomb again.” Lord Marshall said whilst patting her head.

“Father, how did you know?” Chelsea could not look up to meet her fathers eyes.

“I have my ways. You know you made me worry for you.” Lord Marshall whispered, ‘She does not have that sinister aura… Did she bring someone else down there? Was it Kai?’

The father and daughter stayed that way for some time; it had been a long time since Lord Marshall held Chelsea so close. Lord Marshall wanted to go and deal with this suspicion of his but Chelsea had already slept.

‘She looks so much like her mother…’ A large smile filled with the warmth of a proud father was plastered on Lord Marshall’s face. ‘Oh…. I can’t do this. Kai would have to wait.’

Lord Marshall and Chelsea stayed that way till evening before he called a servant to send for Kai to meet him in the mansion observatory.

“Father…” Chelsea called out, sometime after she had woken up.

“Yes my dear.”

“Can I go now, am feeling all better now.” Chelsea requested.

“That’s good…Thank goodness I am strong; if not my hands and legs would have fallen asleep.” Lord Marshall said as Chelsea came down from his arms.

“Father!! Are you saying that I am fat?”

‘This daughter of mine, you are so much like your mother.’ “He-he…” Lord Marshall laughed nervously.

“No, I am saying that you have grown into a big girl. I wonder when you will get married?”

“Father! I am not ready yet!!” Chelsea blushed hard and ran away.

“Hahaha, such an innocent child… Oh!” Lord Marshall tried standing up and felt his leg become all weak and wobbly. “…I am getting old.”

He had to sit there till evening before he could wake his legs up.

In Kai’s room as a result of the intense training he put his body through in the morning, he had slept from the morning till late afternoon.

Kai’s eyes shot open, ‘I don’t… I don’t feel pain anywhere. Deity can you explain this?’

‘The thing is your body is changing, you are now a blood demon, not just a simple blood mage… You will get it along the way.’ The deity responded in Kai’s head.

—Knock, knock—

“It’s Chelsea…. Can I come in?”

“I do not see why not,” Kai readjusted to a seating position.

Chelsea opened the door and entered. The Kai she saw was alluring. Not minding the fact that he was shirtless; she had seen him without a shirt before and she did not feel this way.

A huge lump formed in the back of Chelsea’s throat; she was short of words. She wanted to say something but could not just find the right words. Her thoughts were incoherent at that point.

“My lady, you know if someone walks in here, they will have weird thoughts.” Kai’s words snapped Chelsea out of her trance to see that she was already on Kai’s bed.

“Ahem…. I have to go,” Chelsea’s face went from normal to beet red and back to normal. Chelsea bolted out of Kai’s room only to bump into a male servant at the door.

“Milady…” The male servant bowed.

“Yes, now out of my way,” Chelsea hid her red face as she rushed out of the room.

The male servant walked into the room and saw Kai sitting on his bed in a very provocative manner. Kai’s facial expression changed fast from a smug smile to a death glare.

‘He saw Chelsea’s blushing face; A MERE MORTAL!’ Kai didn’t know why he thought this way nor why he felt anger so strongly. his mind was engulfed in rage, this was really unlike him.

“Young sir—”

The servant’s words were cut off by Kai’s glowing red eyes. “You. Will. Forget. That. You. Saw. Lady. Chelsea’s. Blushing. Face.” It was unnecessary but he did it anyway. It just felt natural to him.

“I will forget Lady Chelsea’s blushing face,” The servant repeated in a monotonic voice.

“Now what brings you into my chamber… Unannounced,” Kai’s eyes returned to normal.

“Yes, young sir, Lord Marshall sent for you, You are to meet with him in the observatory.”

“All alright, wait here,” Kai stood up from his bed.

He walked to his changing room and changed his clothes. It wasn’t long before he was led by the servant to the observatory at the top of the mansion.

Lord Marshall stood in the observatory looking at the sunset. Out of nowhere he felt the pressure to kneel, it was slight but he felt it.

—Knock, knock—

There was a knock on the door of the observatory.

“Enter.”

The servant entered and bowed, and Kai entered behind him. “Leave us,” Lord Marshall said, waving his hand.

“Yes milord.” The servant turned around and left.

“Lord Marshall you sent for me?” Kai didn’t bow nor did he make an effort to.

The sinister and devilish aura flowing from Kai was discomforting to Lord Marshall. Normal people would not have this experience when they came in contact with Kai; Lord Marshall was a special case.

“You are king Salinger’s son…?” Lord Marshall did not give Kai a chance to respond as Lord Marshall fell on one knee. “You—You are him…”

Lord Marshall was on his knees, with reverence overflowing from his expression.

Kai was less conflicted than expected. “Lord Marshall, you are making me nervous.”

Kai’s voice and face expressed different emotions, Kai had a vicious smile plastered on his face, the scene looked sinister. Lord Marshall could not see Kai’s face as his head faced the ground.

Nonetheless, Although Lord Marshall was kneeling, his smile was even more sinister than that of Kai. The reason for Marshall’s sinister smile was mind bogglingly unexpected.

“Young Lord please do not patronize me… Shall I rise?”

“Yes, please do.” Lord Marshall stood up he had tears in his eyes, happy tears.

“Please come with me” Lord Marshall led Kai to a balcony where two chairs were placed with a small table in between.

“The view is beautiful, do you not think so?” Kai held the handrail and looked over into the horizon. he wanted to say something to calm the tension in him. The normal Kai would never say something like that especially to lord Marshall but for some reason he did.

“Well yes, the view is amazing…” Lord Marshall came forward and held the handrail. “… Let us talk over some tea.”

Kai turned around and sat down and Lord Marshall followed behind and sat down beside him. “You called me up here, why?… Thank you.” Lord Marshall handed a cup of warm tea to Kai.

“The reason I sent for you…well that’s because of the thing that happened last night…” Lord Marshall paused to drink some tea, his face was not as purely expressionless as always, but this time with traces of happiness and fear. “My father’s grave got exposed.”

“And?” Kai asked with a nonchalant look, it all felt normal to him to respond that way.

‘So much like my Lord…’ Lord Marshall thought. “Well the thing is… It could only mean two things, that King Salinger had come back to life or his descendant went down there.”

“Where are you going with this?” Kai asked.

“I did not know this would turn out this way, but if you would not mind I want to show you something,” Lord Marshall was already standing.

“Could you sit for a while, I need to finish this cup of tea…By the way, what flavor is this?” Kai had his eyes looking forward into the dark skies. His thoughts were running wild, this was something he would not normally say or do. 'what is happening to me!?'

“It’s cinnamon-flavored, Do you like it?”

“It is good but too strong, I would like something mild next time.” Nonetheless, Kai still drank it. ‘Can’t let good tea go to waste, can I?’

Although kai thought that way, he still felt like he was possessed by something. He felt like this was not the real him, or was it?

After some time, Kai finished the tea and was ready to leave. “Lord Marshall let us go.”

“Yes, please call me Marshall when we are alone.”

“It alright, Marshall lead the way.” Calling him Marshall still felt off in his mouth, it sounded weird.

“Of course, please follow me.” Lord Marshall led the way out of the observatory and walked to his study.

“Have a seat,” lord Marshall gestured for Kai to sit down.

Lord Marshall walked to a framed portrait hanging on the wall, The person in the portrait looked a lot like Lord Marshall but had a deep scar running by the side of his face, he looked menacing compared to Lord Marshall. It had to be Baron Mason, Lord Marshall’s father.

Lord Marshall moved the portrait out of the way to expose a wall with something like an engraved hand print, which he placed his hands on. The wall around the engraves glowed red before turning blue, and a weird sound was heard.

—Whizz, whuuui—

The wall caved in to expose a black wooden box. Lord Marshall carried the box over and placed it in front of Kai.

“Marshall…”

“Yes,” Lord Marshall responded.

“What happened? Your father was a Baron and you are a city Lord, How?” Kai asked.

“Well, young Lord, the thing is during the war my father was killed. He gave my father’s territory to one of his generals. That bastard had plans to kill me ten years after the war, but his sister-in-law fell in love with me, and she saved me…”

Although Lord Marshall seemed very sincere, Kai still didn’t believe his story; not that it mattered to him that much.

Lord Marshall’s eyes glistened a bit, as tears gathered in his eyes; he paused for a while before continuing, “She saved me but I could not avenge my father because that bastard used dark art magic to seal my essence bringing me down from a 6th-rank mage to a 4th-rank mage, I could only fight for a slightly bigger land by waging wars on cities, but Chelsea’s mother, she had a baby for me so I had to stop for the sake of my daughter.”

Lord, Marshall paused before he continued, “For her sake, I stopped the mindless wars. Ten years after Chelsea was born she got kidnapped by Sullivan for petty revenge, turns out that his son got obsessed with my daughter. My wife, Irene went to confront him and ticked him off but she saved her on the condition that twelve years later she would be his son’s wife. We thought all was done until she got ambushed by the night crawlers on her way home and only Chelsea and a few guards survived.”

“When Chelsea came back she had lost her ability to become a mage…”

At this point, Kai was already boiling in anger imagining what Chelsea went through in the hands of King Sullivan.

It seemed Lord Marshall had noticed the change in Kai’s countenance so he brought Kai’s attention to the box in front of him. “The box...”

“This box was passed down to me by my father he told me about it and hid it where I could find it; in case king Salinger ever came back, but you are close enough. Even I do not know what the box holds; you have to pour some blood on the box for it to open.” Lord Marshall was already seated by the time he was done with his explanation.

“You have not told me why I should trust you?” Kai did not even take a glance at the black box.

“Young Lord, you know I would never deceive you. You may not remember but I am the little Marshall, supposing you read that book in my father’s tomb.”

“Right... I will do as you say.” Kai, after hesitating, brought his thumb to his mouth and bit off some skin, letting blood flow out of it. Kai raised the bleeding thumb over the box and let his blood fall on the box.

—Plink, plink, plink—

Sounds of Kai’s blood falling on the box filled the room as both Kai and Lord Marshall held their breath in anticipation about what the box held.

—Shiiiii—

The box gave off a soul-wrenching sound, not loud but very audible. White smoke escaped the box as its lid popped open. A very exquisite pair of black gloves with purple claw-like marks laid inside the box.

‘Hey, deity what am I looking at?’ Kai communicated to the deity.

‘That’s the gauntlet of the gods, It may not look like much but, you’ll get its use soon, it’s a surprise. I am shocked you found it so early.’

‘I’ll talk to you later.’ Kai informed the deity.

‘Take your time, I need my beauty sleep…’ The deity’s voice died out.

“Marshall, what is this meant for?” Kai asked. 'If the deity won’t tell me, I guess I will have to get limited knowledge from Marshall.'

“I don’t know, my father gave it to me on his sick bed. he said I should give it to king Salinger if he ever came back. You can wear it let’s see,” Lord Marshall urged Kai on.

“All alright then.” Kai picked up the gloves, it was surprisingly very heavy for gloves, They were made of a strange kind of leather, and the only special design they had was the purple claw marks.

After Kai wore the gloves, the sinister aura seemed to diminish, and Lord Marshall’s face visibly gained a bit of color. Being comfortable now, Lord Marshall looked into the box to see a white piece of paper and read it out to the hearing of Kai. “…Bring hands together to activate.”

Kai heard this and decided to try it out.

—Du, Du—

As soon as Kai’s hands hit each other twice, the purple claw marks glowed. it seemed to protrude through the knuckles as red blades. Instead of being rigid, the red blades were flexible and covered his fingers. After a few moments, the leather became harder and less flexible, it looked so menacing and baleful. One more thing occurred when Kai activated the gauntlet of the gods, his locked aura exploded, almost suffocating Lord Marshall.

Its effect was visible as Lord Marshall’s nails dug into his hardwood table to prevent his falling and disgrace. Seeing that Lord Marshall was having a hard time, Kai deactivated the gauntlets.

—Dum, dum—

“I will be taking my leave now, Have a good night Marshall.” Kai was already at the door.

Marshall remembered something, “One more thing…” Kai stopped at the door and turned around slowly.

“Yes,”

“You are to report to the academy tomorrow.”

“I will be there, Good night!”

Before Lord Marshall could reply Kai was already out of the room. “He has changed so much within one night, he is now more like my master…”

Lord Marshall was already smiling, only that his eyes were not showing any form of genuine happiness. “Father, where ever you are I hope you are happy now?”