I couldn't figure out the answer to that question. I didn't even know that there was such a situation that would warrant that question being asked. "Why was I afraid to let loose my killer instinct?". Didn't I already have that killer instinct, after all, I had spent countless amounts of time within the rune circles rune killing soul beasts, and even though it was not the same, I have killed enough of them to be said I had that killer instinct.
I couldn't figure it out, so it would probably be better for me to take care of this later, the answer would come to me eventually. But right now, the tower was about to complete the previous task I had given it, so it was about to undergo a qualitative change.
The tower was rumbling so much that even I felt the need to go out an wait it out. Though it was risk, considering that I was supposed to still be in a coma, however I don't think it will matter if my own tower came crashing over my head. I filed outside with everyone else and as a precaution we each covered our heads with some thick blankets, that way it would be hard to know who was who unless you had the observe, inspect or analyze skill, and it had to be in really high levels too. As we made our way outside the lighted interior of the tower to the blue gloom of the blue district, the tower shook even harder as we filed out faster.
The environment surrounding the tower was very much unchanged and still the same. Grey boulders and tiny rocks and stones as big as fist were littered haphazard around the environment like the wasted materials used when building a house.
The next tower was almost a hundred to two hundred and fifty meters away in any direction and it looked quite drab and lonely. Sector 5 area 7 looked desolate, this really was the edge of the pit, cut off from any other community, like I was some sort of outcast...….maybe I was, after all I doubted there was any one of them who could relate to me or the things I've been through, much less the responsibilities I had to fulfill.
I had a path in front of me that was complicated, and even though I will have people walking beside me, helping and pushing me forward to succeed, In the end this was a path that I will inevitably walk alone. But it was okay though, this was a path I chose to walk, and I'll take the loneliness and solitude that comes with it, after all, this was for the greater good.
I looked at the tower and for the first time since the previous task was completed and saw the massive double gates at the entrance as they slammed shut due to the intensity of the tower's rumbling. I could see the family seal/crest of my family.
A roaring lion surrounded by four dragons, it was boldly emblazoned on it's surface, with the multi colored dragons looking so life like it was as if they were really moving. Four dragons each representing one of the four basic elements of water, fire, earth and air. I'll have to change that later to include the dragons of soul, magic and mind.
But I never got this crest or what it meant. A dragon is supposed to be a supreme existence, the emperor of the skies, lofty and in a position that many other supreme existences yearn to reach. So it was quite audacious for the Cor family crest to have four elemental dragons surrounding a lion in an almost subservient manner. It was puzzling to me, so much so that both Xaseah and Asha felt it and turned to look at what was making me troubled.
"You don't remember the story behind your family crest do you?" Asha asked.
I shook my head no as Xaseah exclaimed.
"There's a story behind that crest?"
"Indeed there is lady Xaseah. All family crests have a story if not an underlying meaning to it, to showcase the power and belief of that particular family." Asare interrupted and answered.
I turned to Asare expectantly, if there was anyone who would know what this crest really meant, it would be him. After all, he has served me since I was a child, that much at least I knew and somewhat remembered.
"Dragons are the emperors of all beasts, but they're lofty existence, solitary and very anti social. They have great pride and abilities, that covers and encompasses the basics of every element. In a time when the dragons let their pride run rampant bringing destruction to Shearath, one creature refused to bow. Born of earth, fire and blood the lion was the very personification of pride, majesty and grace. The first of them all, the Lion King now God, Panthera Leo was a being of pride who didn't like being looked down on.
But the dragons mocked him his inability, however, on land he might be fearsome enough, but what could he do to them who were lords of the skies. Enraged he went to the great wise eagles of the northern Horus mountains and asked them to teach him how to fly. In other to prove himself worthy to them, he was put through several tests that forced him to developed in ways no one ever expected, growing in mind, body, spirit, and soul, becoming a true lion king and one step away from the threshold of a god.
The eagles agreed to teach him how to fly, but in exchange any time he wants to fly he would loose his head and two front limbs, replacing them with those of an eagle, becoming an entirely new creature. Leo agreed, and so he took to the skies, born anew as the very first griffin. And with his new wings came control over the elements of air, sunlight and moonlight and lightening. His pride grew stronger, making him the only creature capable of challenging the dragons on their own turf.
But that was not enough for him to challenge a dragons supremacy. Even though dragons were lords of the sky, they were not born from the sky, but rather from the sea. And with their prowess and supremacy over the sea, he was challenged again as his so called pride was trampled all over and his faith in himself waned. Leo despaired, was it that the WAY, only meant for the dragons to be the only supreme race in the universe, how was this fair. Was this fate or destiny, Leo never knew, but what ever it was, he was going to fight and find a way to bring those lofty dragons down from their spot at the top of the world.
So he went running to the eastern sea, discarding his powerful wings and eagle head for his strong body, regal mane and fierce claws. When he got to the sea, he met and befriended a strange passive creature called a dolphin. It was quite baffling for others how their friendship came to be as the dolphin was a creature that would normally be the prey of the lion. But the dolphin was more than just an ordinary passive creature, but an entity connected to the very spirit of the ocean.
Fearing for a challenge to their supremacy, the dragons schemed against the two friends, and the lion was deceived into eating his one and only friend. He was punished by the spirit of ocean to become a creature that was an amalgamation of his kind friend and of his ferocious nature. And so the sea lion was born, popularly known as the seal. Leo was angry, frustrated and in pain at his foolishness and the loss of his friend.
A thousand years he went through his punishment until he had enough and jumped into the sea, killing and eating everything in his path until he got back to land. It was there his curse ended and he returned back to his first form, as the lonely king of the beasts who wandered the world alone. The lion endured the ridicule of the dragons for thousands of years as they mocked his broken pride, his loneliness and his failure at challenging them.
Leo wanted to beat the dragons, he wanted a method in which he could challenge them that they would never be able to compete against him in. And so he went on to study his opponents, and discovered many secrets about the dragons and their great weakness and strengths. The dragons for all their power, pride and treasures were alone. They were feared not loved, envied but not respected. They had no friends, no one close to them. They flew the skies, and swam the seas their whole lives alone, always alone.
And that was when Leo recognized his and their weakness, it doesn't pay to gain the whole world when you have no one to share it with. And so Leo went around having descendants with every willing creature in the land, sea and air. In no time at all thousands of griffins filled the sky, hundreds of seals swam the oceans and the land had all varieties of lions who roared their supremacy to the skies.
The dragons felt threatened but they could do nothing, all they could do was watch as the lion they toyed with, went on to become the true king of the beasts. The dragons will forever fly the skies as emperors, regal lofty figures at great heights that people aspire to reach but can never get. They were rulers of nothing and no one but themselves,
But The Lion discovered his pride once again, his people, his subjects, those who believed in him and trusted him to keep them safe. They were spread out across the horizon, birds, and beasts of all shapes and sizes, many of them his very own children.
They were his pride, his true power, because as long he had them he knew he would never be alone and there's nothing he wouldn't be able to face. It was his reason to live, and that's why the creed of the house of Cor stands strong to this day.
The King Lives For The Pride, And The Pride Lives For The King"
As soon as he finished speaking, the tower stopped shaking and a transparent silver screen sprung up over the surface of the tower. Then from where I was standing a system message from the tower came into the view.
COMPLETED TASKS:
• EXPAND BASEMENT 1ST FLOOR: 100% COMPLETED
• IMPROVE BASEMENT FARM GRADE: 100% COMPLETED
• CONSTRUCT SECOND FLOOR OF TOWER: 100% COMPLETED
• CONSTRUCT TOWER PLUMBING SYSTEM FOR FIRST FLOOR AND BASEMENT {ALTER FIRST FLOOR FIRST}: 100% COMPLETED
• REINFORCE FIRST FLOOR OF TOWER{CREATE FORCE SHIELD, SECURITY SYSTEM}: 100% COMPLETED
• CREATE BEAST FARM/DUNGEON{SUB-BASEMENT ROUTINE}: 100% COMPLETED
I suspected that the silver screen that was now on the surface of the tower was the shield that was generated. It didn't look like much from here and looked as thin as a hair, I honestly doubted that shield could withstand any serious blows at all. As the shaking had stopped, it meant every task assigned to the tower had been completed.
The lion and dragon crest on the front gate looked even more vivid to me now that I knew the origin of the crest and the creed behind it. I now understood what it meant, those dragons were not being subservient to the lion, rather they were pressuring him, they were challenging him. But he was roaring out in defiance, because he knew his pride would never let him down, and that there was nothing he couldn't face as he was never alone.
His defiance made him look bigger and the dragons smaller as their majesty died in the face of a soul who didn't know the meaning of giving up. A king who lived for his pride, and in turn his Pride Lived for him. I turned to everyone else and said to them.
"Well it's done. Let's go in. Our Den awaits"