***
Back at the grand castle in the Fire Elemental Realm, the God had paid Mhata a sudden visit in regards to Elric's true identity and purpose.
"Speak bird. Who and what really is that human?" floating majestically above the figure of the Phoenix, the God of the Elemental realm demanded.
Mhata, on the other hand, had a resistant look on its bird face. Despite facing the God of the elemental Realm, she refused to give in to its request and reveal more information about Elric.
"Aren't you a God? How come you don't know? Is it perhaps, that weak looking human almost defeated you? And you really called yourself the God of this realm?" Mhata replied with a mocking tone.
Hearing this, the God of the Elemental Realm flared up in fury and suddenly appeared just inches before Mhata. Without hesitation, the God grabbed the neck of the flaming bird and with a furious glare, he asked:
"I dare you to repeat what you just said little bird."
Not budging to its intimidation, the Lord of the Fire realm replied,
"You want to kill me? Go ahead. If not for my foretelling, do you think you would reach that strength that you currently enjoy? Is this how you pay me back?"
These words hit the cold spot of the God as if being hit to his true weakness. In resistance, he squizzed his grab even tighter, inducing a pleading gasp from the flaming bird.
His mad eyes looked at the firebird as if incinerating it with his gazes alone. Mhata, on the other hand, remained calm as ever despite having difficulty in breathing.
Calming down, the God released his grip and proceed to swing his right arm behind him.
Swing~
BOOOM!~
The grand castle of the fire elemental realm located in the middle of its fire kingdom was cut in clean half. The mad power of the God of this realm brought this unexpected destruction with a simple swing of his arm.
In return, the nearby various creatures of fire elemental fleed to different directions, trying to save themselves from the collapsing towering structure above.
Mhata remained calm despite witnessing the destruction of its grand castle. Its flaming beady eyes looked at the figure of the God as if looking at a mere pawn - a hint of ridicule crept in his beak.
As much as he wanted to, the God could have destroyed everything in the Fire elemental realm, however, for what reason? Is it because Mhata was saying the truth that he almost lost his battle against a human with dragon powers? Or is it because his pride as a God did not allow him to accept such reality?
Sighing deeper, the God looked at Mhata with a serious look.
"Tell me. Why did you bring this human and why have you not informed me? If not for the powerful fluctuations of power emanating from him when I saw him crossing the azure, I would have never figured out that such a threat had been looming in my realm."
However, Mhata refused to reveal any words to this God, even when he waited patiently.
Irritated, the God added, "Or perhaps, you want me to get that answer myself the hard way?"
"Oh God, I would love to see you try." replied Mhata with a confident smile, she proceeded to move its head closer to the face of the God and added, "You may be able to scare the other Lords with your so-called divinity, but not me. I know you and your inabilities. If you destroy me, you will never find another one like me. Broke into my memory? I think you forgot who I am."
Suddenly, Mhata's figure transformed that to a certain human. A figure that the Lord of the Elemental realm does not dare lay his hands on. A certain face that brought him to drop down all his guard and pride.
"You..." The God suddenly released his grip to Mhata's neck and an indignant look quickly swept in his face.
The transformation got the God of the Elemental realm off guard. Mhata's new look pricked a sensitive part of the so-called God and the former smiled confidently.
"That man will soon come back. Until then, I hope you have what it takes to defend your position. If I were you, I will continue to let me live and listen to my advice. Only then you will be able to save yourself from that man's return."
The God looked at Mhata's mysterious figure with full of questions and doubts - mostly for himself. He has been a God for such an unknown time that he almost forgot who originally he was - a normal Void Elemental.
Meeting the flaming bird once and getting the idea to reach Godhood was something he will never forget. Despite him losing almost all his memories along the process, he still managed to retain a little bit of his past which seems to cause him to be unable to fully achieve full omniscience.
After careful consideration, he finally spoke.
"Tell me, Mhata. What should I do?" The God said, kneeling before the beautiful figure of a certain human with a gentle voice.
A smile crept in at the face of the beautiful woman. Her mysterious eyes reflected the bowing figure of an Elemental God. Her small lips suddenly opened - replying to God's plead.
"Simple. All you need to do is..."
***
SPLASH!
"Daddy I caught one!" A perky and energetic voice of a young girl suddenly awoken her dad's snooze. The father, with his cowboy hat and a beardy face, hurriedly grabbed on the little girl's fishing pole and took over reeling the fish in.
This man's name is Romeo, a single father of five children. He lost his wife due to complications during the delivery of his fifth child - Angel. They are both fishing with their fishing pole atop a small fishing boat in the middle of the river. The sun was shining brightly above them.
"Am I a good girl daddy? Do you think we can catch it?" asked a little girl beside the father, her small figure and chubby cheeks complimented her incredible cuteness.
Angel is an American girl at 7 years of age. Her turquoise eyes revealed a beautiful innocence that can easily melt anyone's heart.
"Haha! This is a big one Angel! Good job girl!" Romeo laughed happily as he continued reeling in the resisting fish. The splashes only grew stronger and stronger the closer he reeled the fish in. A famous Texan accent can be obviously heard from their tongue.
After a few more minutes and a couple of boat rocking moments in the middle of the river, they finally managed to get their hands on the three-foot-long carp.
"With this, our dinner is served!" Said the father with pride.
"Yeheey!" Angel on the other side cheered happily while clapping in celebration of their huge catch.
However, their happy moments only lasted for a few seconds when suddenly...
KRAKABOOOM!~
"Kyaaah!"
"No-na-na-nooO!"
SPLASH!~
A powerful boom of thunder caused the father to startle and lose his grip on the fish and dropped it back at the river.
The rumble was too sudden and really caught them off guard. It was so loud and powerful that he started to think that it was aiming at them at first place. Angel, as expected of a child, cried out of mere shock from the loud boom.
"G*d dammit!"
Now that the huge catch is gone, the father glared at the sky with a furious stare only to realize that the sky has actually turned dark gray - covered in black cumulonimbus clouds which is a sign of heavy rain or storm brewing.
It was quite unexpected considering that Romeo double-checked the weather that day. Making sure they would enjoy the best weather during fishing with his youngest daughter.
"Are you okay baby?" Romeo asked with a concerned look for his little daughter. He patted her small sobbing head as Angel replied with a gentle wipe on her tears and flashed a wide cute smile - it says she is okay.
"Baby, let's get ready and go home. I'think a storm is coming." assured, the father added.
"Yes daddy, sniff sniff" The little girl replied obediently, calming herself down and positioned herself at the front of the boat.
It didn't take long for them to leave the area and headed to the shore riding their boat.
"But daddy, what are we going to eat later?" Asked Angel.
"Don't worry baby, we can just go get some steak at the Porky's on our way home." The father replied calmly.
"But I want to eat fish today. Meat taste no good." demanded by the little girl. Her big, teary eyes glanced at the father.
"Since when did you go vegan baby? Anyway, we will do it some other time baby. The sky has darkened really quick and at this rate, I doubt we would reach home not wet from the rain." The father replied, revving up the engine to go faster.
BOOM!
Splash!
Suddenly, a falling object created a huge water splash not far from their location. Angel, who noticed it first quickly pointed it out.
"Daddy! Daddy! Something fell over there!" Angel pointed curiously.
"Must be some meteor peeble or somethin." The father replied without sparing a look from the huge splash.
Angel, on the other hand, saw it all. A human figure has fallen from the sky!
After a few seconds, Angel's sharp eyes noticed an unconscious human body has emerged out of the water.
"Father look! Its a human!" Angel shouted, not forgetting to grab her father's face to force him to look at the direction of the huge splash.
Finally seeing what his daughter saw, Romeo quickly turned the boat around - hoping to save the floating body.
Gasp.
Both the eyes of the young girl and the father went to surprise as they saw how badly wounded the floating body of this young man was!
His scarred face was facing the sky and revealed his handsome and smooth skin. His wound-covered boy laid floating around as some blood started to scatter in the water. He looked to be around his twenties and has a perfectly toned body. His white T-shirt is badly ripped as well as if he had gone through a thousand furious whips! With the reddish hue on its skin, they could tell that the man is still alive!
Splash!
Romeo unhesitantly dived in and rescued the unconscious human. With all his might, he pushed the body into his boat with the help of the Angel grabbing the arms despite her minuscule strength.
Thud.
With all their strength, they managed to move the unconscious man safely in the boat.
"Is he dead daddy?" asked Angel innocently.
"No, he still has a pulse and seems to be breathing normally. Proly, guy's must have gone through an accident while skydivin' or those flying sports thingy."
"I see, can we save him?"
"Of course we will. Guess we goin to the closest hospital baby. We need to help this man, that's what we should do." Romeo replied as he started to engine again.
"Yes, daddy. He's bleedin really bad. Should I call the others?" asked Angel, holding the hand of the unconscious man. Her eyes revealed incredible concern to the bloody man.
"No need. Just dial 911 quick and an ambulance should meet us at the shore. Let's just send him to the hospital and we should be good to go." Romeo replied firmly. His eyes locked to the distant shoreline where their minivan is parked.
The sound of the engine reeving continued to ring in his ears when Angel suddenly spoke.
"Daddy..."
"Yes?"
"The man. his wounds..." The little girl stuttered in reply.
Noticing the change in his daughter's tone, Romeo glance at the unconscious body only to caught himself in shock.
The wounds from the guy started to heal themselves at a very visible rate. Like magic, the tissues reconnected as if being reconstructed by a miraculous spell. Including the seemingly broken bones inside, they started to move on its own, reconnecting damaged parts and the muscles moved as if having a life of its own. The slight pale on its skin had also completely dissapeared and now, he looked as if he had never had been to a deadly condition.
Not even a scar was left behind!
In just a few minutes, the guy is back to its peak state except for his consciousness.
"Daddy..." Romeo was snapped out of his surprise as the sound of Angel interrupted him.
"I am scared" the little girl added.
"Don't worry baby. Daddy is here. Not letting no dead man touch you nor hurt you, hear me?"
"Um!" The girl nodded cutely with a gentle shake of her ponytails, she moved to hide at her father's back.
"We might have lost a big fish today but it seems we have caught somethin a thousand..no a million or perhaps billions times better." Romeo smiled excitedly after some realization.
"What do you mean daddy?" The little girl asked, confused.
"This guy might be one of those. No, I'm pretty sure he is!" He added confidently.
Realizing what her father meant, the little girl's eyes grew wider.
"Do...do.. you mean..." Angel stuttered.
"You are friggin' right baby. We just found a person with a God Blood! Those healing abilities are only possible if this guy has a God Blood! I am friggin sure of it!" The father excitedly shouted in celebration.
"Wow! Does that mean..." The little girl cried happily.
"Yeeeeehaah! We gon' be f*ckin rich!" Romeo bellowed with a great celebration on his moving boat. The little girl also clapped in their utmost joy.
Their boat continued to move towards the shoreline, leaving a white cascading lines of waves, together with an air of joyful celebration.
They thought that they have found someone with a God blood. A rare breed of humans who's blood is sought after by the richest people in the world.
They are known to have blood that, if consumed, would extend the life of an ordinary human together with the extraordinary increase in their strength, senses and so forth. Its supernatural effects also include visible healing of wounds and smooth and perfect skin. It is due to its miraculous effects that they are called God Blood because one would felt as if he had just consumed the most miraculous blood of all.
No one really knows where these humans with God blood really come from, or so according to the public.
What the public did not know, is that God Blood is actually a Dragon's blood. However, the existence of the Dragons is greatly hidden by the Ancient humans and so learning about them is close to impossible at the moment; except for some few selected powerful humans whom the Ancient Humans allowed.
An ounce of God Blood is sold for more than a billion dollars in the black market and public stocks rarely last for more than ten seconds in private stores. It was the most sought after product ever since the information leak about this certain blood ten years ago.
Realizing that jackpot they have caught floating around the river after a strong thunder, Romeo thought that the time has come for them to be finally blessed.
Who cares about a three-foot-long carp when we found a gold mine?
Little did they knew that what they found is not just an ordinary person with God blood. Compared to all the known God blood currently recorded in the market, Elric has by far, one of the purest and most powerful Dragon blood that currently existed in the whole world. A hundred times stronger than a King Dragon's Blood to be exact.
Happily, Romeo and Angel celebrated their unexpected catch. They strongly believe their lives are about to change for the better...
Or so they thought. They are unaware of the trouble brewing with them; for this is when they witnessed a thunder they will always remember.
(End of the First Arc: Life Of The Dragon")