"Seven years ago you assured us that the last of their clan was dead, so why is it that we still can't blood bind their damn Inheritance Dammit!!" a large unruly man slammed his fist on the table shattering the wood into bits and pieces.
"Only for their Inheritance did we seek to collaborate against them and you useless bastards couldn't even kill the last one!"
Having heard enough a hooded man in the back stepped forward, " Varc you weren't the only one there that day, I lost a brother and..."
" And I lost a son!," without letting him finish Varc stepped forward and pointed at the hooded man.
"We all lost kin on that day but what did we gain? We gained shit! We cannot access their Inheritance unless there is no one of their bloodline left to inherit it and we let one get away, you let one get away Talon, it's a bloody shame I ever trusted you and that brother of yours, to begin with"
"Don't cross that line Varc, there are some things you say that you can never take back, especially if you're dead, " Talon pointed the palms of his hands towards the ground causing the earth to rumble.
Seeing these actions as a clear threat Varc drew the enormous broadsword from his back as he stared at Tallon and smirked, "If you and that worthless brother of yours couldn't even end Therol, then what chance do you think you have to end me?"
"Say another thing about my brother and I guess we'll find out soon enough"
The tension in the room started to increase as the followers of the two men reached for their weapons, waiting for someone to make the first move.
Aside from the two men arguing against each other, there was another person in this room who, until this point, had been sitting and listening to the conversation intently, seeing the situation worsen he spoke in a calm voice.
"Cease this useless bickering, there is a problem at hand and we are here to solve it, not to cause more of them. From what we know, Talon, your brother destroyed his own Inheritance in an attempt to kill Therol, is that correct?"
Hearing the old man finally talk both Talon and Varc both stopped their actions and turned towards him with their heads bowed. A clear gesture of submission.
"That is correct Imperator, there were waves of their clansmen blocking us from getting to Therol, my brother alone got through their blockage but at a cost of many injuries. Then in his fight with Therol, knowing he would lose he heroically chose to forcefully destroy his Inheritance in order to kill him, in which he fell short. Nonetheless, the wound he left him is not something Therol can recover from and will eventually die, it's just a matter of time now."
After replying, Talon glanced at Varc who was similarly looking back at him, their expressions full of hostility.
"An Inheritance isn't a plaything of a child, even with one of your clans' caliber that brother of yours couldn't take Therols' life who was right next to him, worthless."
Varc looked at the Imperator
"Imperator, allow me to send my armies through the lesser worlds, it is the only place where he could go."
"I implore the Imperator to wait some time, my brother's sacrifice was not in vain, Therol is a dead man walking, merely searching for a suitable grave."
They both made their cases and waited for a favorable response.
The old man they referred to as 'Imperator' stood up.
"Therol will eventually die and we don't have the leisure of sending armies out to search for him without raising suspicions. We've already waited seven years and we'll continue waiting."
------
"Inheritance? What is that father? "asked a confused Jedan.
"The blood that runs through me was passed down to you, likewise I got my blood from my father and mother, so on and so forth. Within the blood that is passed down is something we call an Inheritance. A blessing given by the gods. According to the records, this wasn't always the case, as I have told you before Jedan Twenty-four hundred years ago there was an incident in which many worlds around us turned to ash, devoid of life."
Jedan already knew of this event as it was something that had left him speechless when he first learned about it.
"Along with the destruction came rewards. Unknown stones spread out throughout the land ranging in size, the bigger ones being more powerful than the smaller ones. The stones brought with them unique abilities which gave people power on par with, or even exceeding, naturalists. The stones, once obtained, would become hereditary and the only way for someone else to obtain that power is to kill all the people which spawned from the original possessor's blood"
Therol spoke these words with pain throbbing in his heart, even thinking about what happened in the past was enough to give him shivers.
What good is this power of mine if I can't use it to protect my loved ones? There are hundreds of thousand people out there slaughtering families to obtain power, those godforsaken stones, which will bring upon nothing but destruction
"Why are you suddenly telling me this father?"
Although this information was extremely shocking, it only increased Jedans desire to see the world above and at the same time confused him due to the seriousness in which his father had told him this.
"Earlier today you awakened your Inheritance for a brief moment "
Shock appeared upon Jedan face as he stared at his father motionlessly.
I have an Inheritance?
Jedan got lost in thought as he tried to remember when such an incident had occurred and recalled when he was at the 150th and 151st juncture. Time had seemingly slowed down for him, which in turn had allowed him to somehow make the leap.
"For the next month besides the bare necessities, we will indulge in training where I will teach you how to wield this power".
"Yes father"
Jedan replied after recovering from his initial shock, his father had always been clouded by mystery and seeing him talk about something personal he knew this wasn't the time for questions.
"Bring your sword and meet me by the waterfall"
Saying that Therol disappeared from sight.
After picking up his sword Jedan made his way down to the waterfall to the beautiful scenery which he was all too familiar with, he made way his way towards his father who was standing next to the waterfall.
"A power inherited is fundamentally different from a naturalist, instead of drawing power from nature we draw it from our blood, there are many mysteries that lie within inherited blood which we do not know of."
Therol motioned Jedan over to the waterfall.
"Look at the platform beneath the waterfall and try to cancel out all unnecessary noise."
This was easier said than done, the waterfall was constantly crashing against the rock platform making ear-wrecking noises which made it hard to even hear his father who was standing right next to him.
Yet thinking back to the events in which he had, according to his father, briefly awakened his inheritance he remembered that at that time noise around him had been canceled out and his sight had been abnormally focused.
"The most basic aspect of any Inheritance is called Tranquility, if perfected, it allows our perception to focus in a target and by doing so one's hearing will cancel out any extraneous noises and eyes will focus on a specific object blocking out any peripheral movements."
Jedan nodded to show that he was listening. He now understood that he got to the 151st fissure due to this phenomenon. By putting all your attention on a single object it would allow him to block out any unnecessary movements or obstacles and by heightening your senses your corresponding strength would increase for as long as you were in this trance.
"You will stay here and focus on this platform until you reach this trance, this is something that cannot be taught and must be comprehended by yourself. Only after you are capable of reaching this state will we proceed." after he was done taking, Therol took his leave.
While listening to his father, Jedan had already started to focus on the platform yet couldn't figure out how to enter this state. He took both his hands and covered them over his ears,
"Maybe if I can physically block the noise I could focus more".
After a few moments, Jedan abandoned this idea due. The deafening noise of the waterfall wasn't something he could physically block out.
'Perhaps the water could help me concentrate.'
He got up and dove into the water.
After 30 minutes he exited with a dejected look.
'That just made things harder and adding on to that...I'm now wet, that's just great but at least it got my blood pumping'. Jedan returned his attention back to the platform and focused his eyes.
Realization struck Jedan.
'Wait that's it! Blood! Father said that inheritance is activated by blood and I remember hearing my own heartbeat when I was entered Tranquility earlier.'
Jedan immediately focused his attention onto his own body trying to hear his own heartbeat, slowly the noise of his heart beating became louder and the noise of the waterfall decreased eventually getting to the point of being nonexistent.
Although the noise was drowned out, his sight still had much work to be done on it, no matter how much he tried to narrow his eyes and focus his vision, he was still perceiving the surroundings of the rock platform.
'It's going to take some work but now that I know the basics I have a way of training this.'
The hearing aspect of Tranquility was relatively simple to obtain. Yet the sight aspect of it was a bit difficult. So in order to train his vision, Jedan sat as close to the rock platform as he could so his vision was limited to only that and slowly made distance to improve his focus. Three days went by in a flash when undergoing this process, Jedan now sat 100 feet away from the platform.
'Let's try this again.'
Jedan let out a sigh and listened for the noise of his heartbeat "Dum, Dum, Dum" the noise was now much louder than it was a few days ago due to his training.
His pupils dilated as he focused his eyes upon the platform, the surroundings turned into a blur and the platform which was 100 feet away seemed as if it was within his grasp, all the fine details were now easily visible, some which he would have a hard time finding even if he was on the platform.
Jedan averted his gaze to test the limits of the benefit being in the Tranquility state brought him. He focused in on the waterfall and found out that when using this ability on moving objects it made time seemingly slow down.
While his focus was on the waterfall he felt a sharp pain inside his head and immediately lost focus.
'It seems that focusing in on moving objects can only be done for so long'
The pain in his head eventually subsided as he walked back to the wooden houses.
Arriving at his father's house he noticed, to his surprise, that there was no one in there so he headed over to their usual sparring area which was the only other place his father would be at.
Along the way, he saw hints on blood on the ground, although they were only traces.
Jedans perception had improved over the past several days so he managed to notice them, he sighed inwardly as continued walking.
No matter what he said, his father wouldn't listen to him when it came to his health and for the past couple months every time he saw his father's injury flare up he had a foreboding which he couldn't seem to shake off.
Jedan arrived at the location and saw his father sitting on the ground cross-legged with his eyes shut.
Sensing his presence Therol asked, "Have you managed to enter Tranquility?"
"Yes," replied Jedan
Hearing this, Therol was a bit surprised. It had only taken him three days to recreate that trance. Back in his youth, it had taken Therol a month.
Due to his injury acting up frequently he wasn't able to keep watch over Jedan all the time.
'All my remaining strength and time will be spent on helping you train your Inheritance'
He slightly smiled and picked up a rock the size of a palm.
"Good, Then let's begin"