Peter woke up in a beautiful garden. It had a miniature sun fifty feet above the floor, colossal statues of ancient beings and a cracked, red crystal coffin in the middle of a pond with silver waters.
He saw Valerian alone near the pond, his eyes closed and crossed legged, deep in meditation.
"I am glad you are awake." Valerian stated without opening his eyes. "Welcome to the inner most chamber of what some dared to call my tomb."
Valerian's word held no emotion. He simply continued his meditation while speaking.
"Do not try to stand. Your body is evolving." Valerian opened his eyes and looked into Peter's eyes. "I incapacitated you, stopped your heart and you died for a minute while I did what needed to be done but now, you are reborn."
"Stopped my heart? Reborn as what?" Peter asked.
"I released my complete killing intent on you, you were weak and unprepared, your body was sent into shock. You need to strengthen your will. You have lived like a worm all your life, so ready to die and too weak to put up any fight. This is no longer acceptable.
"An altered version of my blood is flowing through your veins, you were neither human nor vampire so only time will tell, perhaps you will still be a halfbreed or you may become a vampire but definitely something stronger than you were before." Valerian smiled then closed his eyes again.
Peter could feel his body changing. He wanted nothing more than to know what had happened to him while he slept but he released that he could not ask.
"In this mountain you shall be taught history, divine mathematics, science, magic, art, etiquette, smithing, warfare, languages and whatever else your tutors deem necessary."
"I will have tutors?" He was surprised by this.
"Of course you will. I promise you they will be hard on you. They are supreme beings, my Princes of Abaddon and you already met one of them, Uriel."
Hearing this, Peter gulped. Uriel was terrifying and held a deep prejudice against him.
"Fear not," Valerian spoke as though he had read the boy's thoughts, "You are now one of us, a much, much younger version, the next generation and the only pressure they will give you is to be a being worthy of my blood."
Val began to chuckle. "I suppose that pressure will be worse now that I think about it."
The Princes of Abaddon were beings created to be superior and were viewed as such by those beneath them but the one above them was Valerian himself who they viewed as an absolute and infinite authority in their world.
To raise and educate a pupil to not only surpass them but even to be worthy of being called his son would be their greatest honour but also their biggest challenge.
"I must tell you that you are no longer Peter. From now on, you shall be known as Nameless, the Inanis. As you have become my ward, my possible son, your name will change as well but only when you become worthy and that will be when you are acknowledged by your tutors." Valerian said this as a fact and not as a point of debate.
"What shall my name be from then on...father?"
Valerian arched an eyebrow but still kept his eyes closed. He had not expected the boy to call him father so quickly.
"Your name shall be decided when you succeed, be strong Inanis but first you must be acknowledged, child." Valerian did not open his eyes but directed his next words to the people behind Nameless.
"Asura, Uriel, Gabriel, Lilith, this is the newest member of our family."
Inanis was stunned. He turned his head and was utterly frightened by the four beings he saw.
Two men and two women, all clad in either eerie black or shiny silver knightly armours.
The helmets they had were modelled after the faces of male and female lions and were tucked, military style, under their left arms.
Their eyes were orange and fixated on the boy in front of them. The boy that would be their master if he overcame the challenges ahead.
Their pressure was so intense that Inanis could not believe that he had not sensed them before.
He scurried away out of instinct but he did not get far as a whole different pressure, immeasurable to the one he had received from the four knights began to crush him and the pain from his changing body tore through him.
"Fool! I recall, our Lord telling you not to move!" Uriel shouted with great annoyance in her voice.
A handsome man, who looked to be in his twenties with golden hair that looked as through it were made from rays of a yellow sun, grabbed Nameless by the collar and dragged him back to the original spot he had been in.
"Thank you, Gabriel." Valerian said, his eyes still shut and his tone indifferent.
"I only wish to serve you more, my Lord." Gabriel responded with a smile of satisfaction.
Nameless began to breathe properly again and the pain subsided.
"What...happened? I felt like...I was...being devoured by chaos itself." Inanis asked while trying to catch his breath.
"I cast a protection charm on that spot to ease the pain of the evolution you are undergoing but when you left that spot, you felt both the pain and the mana pressure left over from before I awoke. I was in here for a long time. This place is saturated and you are too weak to withstand it."
Valerian spoke with lack of interest and a little annoyance.
"My Princes, approach me."
The four beings walked past Inanis as if he were nothing yet each synchronised step they took made him feel as though the continent was shaking.
They went down on one knee in front of Valerian and put their right fist on their chest and bowed their heads.
"We, the Princes of Abandon, knights of the Seraphim Order of Valeris, Lords of Ordered Chaos, and supreme beings under the absolute One true Celestial Star, see and greet Your Dark Radiance." their voices were like a choir of celestial beings. Respect, authority and humility were found in their words.
Unfazed by their words, Valerian continued his meditation and then spoke, "Lilith, my mad scientist, what news do you have of your brother, Jack?"
A female with raven black hair and sultry beauty spoke. "My Lord, our brother has been found in the Netherworld. He presides over the souls of those who have not made it into those childish spirit's realms."
The childish spirits she spoke of were actually the gods of Idris.
Valerian opened his eyes and focused them on Lilith. "Speak further."
"He has become bound by the laws of this world and cannot leave as he has absorbed too much divinity from slaying the foolish so called gods that challenged him. He has fallen from Your Dark Grace and become one of the Primordial Gods that rose when you went to sleep."
Valerian stood up and looked into the silver waters in the pond. There were beautiful, multicoloured fish blissfully swimming in those waters, utterly unbothered by the goings on of the world outside their pond. Truly at peace.
"His loyalties?"
"He continues to pledge his allegiance to the One True Celestial Star." Lilith said.
"Speak freely." Jata ordered.
"Yes, my Lord. Jack Reaper truly seems to be loyal to you but one cannot blame him for falling since he had no connection to you. He knew you were not dead but in your slumber, your presence in this world could barely be felt and the doors of your resting place could not be opened till you awoke. He seems more like an abandoned child than a traitor."
Lilith's word cut deep. Valerian clenched his fist and for a brief moment, his aura flickered in and out of existence, greatly exciting the four supreme beings.
"I failed him. I failed our people. I failed." Valerian sighed.
"Your Radiance did not fail our brother and you did not fail us!" Lilith spoke up immediately and full of passion.
The man, with black hair, who could only be now known as Asura, rose up from his kneeling position. He was equally as handsome as his brother and sisters but he looked more like a battle freak than a knight.
"Forgive me for speaking out of turn, my Lord Jata but Jack chose to remain in this world to safeguard your interests. His fall was a necessary consequence of that choice and one I am sure he took with pride and a heavy heart but also with joy knowing he would feel your radiance once again in future."
"You are right, brother." Uriel joined in, "You do speak out of turn...yet so do I when I say that you are also not wrong."
Inanis who was hearing all this was unable to follow what was going on but he knew, as a Nameless One, he had no authority to speak.
"I have heard you three, but what of you, Gabriel, my first Seraph warrior, what say you?" Val spoke, knowing Gabriel had control over his zealous admiration and worship of Valerian and would always speak the truth.
"I agree with my fellow Seraphim. Jack made a choice. One we cannot fault him for. It was our selfish choice to be near you while Jack made the harder choice to overseer the world but even he could not do it alone. If anyone failed, my Lord, it was us."
These were the words of the man that saved Inanis from being crushed by the ancient pressure that surrounded the massive chamber.
"Thank you, but I must bear the responsibility alone. I need time. Take Inanis into a world without time. Train him there. Bring him out when he can claim his name...or dies. Whichever comes first."
"My Lord, can we not take turns tutoring the boy? You cannot be alone. The Demon Lord without a Knight of Ordered Chaos is unimaginable." Lilith protested while the others agreed.
Val turned around and smiled. "My loyal and cherished subordinates, I walked this world alone long before I brought you into existence, I will be fine. Take it as more incentive to train the boy faster. The sooner he is ready to stand in this room and speak to me as my son then the sooner you will be able to rejoin me." He finished speaking and looked at Inanis.
The four supreme beings turned their heads and looked at the boy as well. Their orange eyes danced with flames as if they were ready to attack.
He was the only thing standing between them and walking the earth with their sovereign lord once more.
"You may begin now." Valerian waved his hand and space shifted, time stopped then the five people that had been in front of him disappeared.
Alone, with the fish, Valerian had a coughing fit and bit of his own blood tainted his lips.
The blood disappeared the moment it came into contact with the air but for Valerian, a moment could be an eternity.
"I am poisoned." he stated with a weak smile then went back to his meditation.