As Runaan was being laid into the bed inside one of the vacant bed chambers reserved for foreign diplomats, he had opened his eyes again. Runaan's questions fell onto only the guard's ear and a singular maid he found to lead him to an open room.
"Huh, what's going on? Where am I? Where's Carri?" Runaan opened his eyes again in an extremely unfamiliar place from where he had last remembered he was before. Only to see that his best friend who was supposed to be beside him was missing, with a guard standing over him and a woman in maid garments trying to wipe away something from his face.
"WHO ARE YOU? WHY AM I HERE? WHATS--- OW OW OW!" As Runaan started to yell his questions out and struggle under the guard and maid's grip to start feeling a throbbing pain throughout his body.
The pains were coming from his body being forcefully bound to a kindred spirit before he was physically able to handle the bonding. Most people had needed to at least awaken their souls before their kindred bonds influenced their bloodlines. But Tyros had already melded his spirit with Runaan's body, awaiting to bond himself to his soul.
Tyros holding a spiritual form now, was able to bind himself into Runaan's body allowing himself to watch over this young child, allowing him to grow at his own pace. This was the limit Tyros could do as interfering with humans was a fundamental rule that could not be broken within this universe.
The ability to kill humans was only allowed in terms of defense, if beasts were able to rationalize or feel the need to defend themselves from the influence of a human, retaliation was allowed. The direct change to a human's ability to cultivate was also impossible.
The only thing that was allowed to happen with the human paths of cultivation was beasts could be used for connecting their souls to humans through the kindred bonds ritual contracts, bolstering human strength and ability to use aspects of certain beasts.
Kindred beasts allowed for the capabilities and strengths the beast held to be used and gained by the human contractors, improving their ability to cultivate and strengthen their bodies and magical capabilities.
Kindred spirits summonings could be used to summon beasts at random that are willing to and be able to be bound to a contractor. This was often used by impoverished people of various nations, grasping at the slim hope of gaining a better bloodline because the summoned beast would be considered the most suitable to that person.
But the kindred beast spirits could also be forced to become kindred spirits through the kindred bond ritual. It was through the specific ritual that allowed people in higher levels of nobility to select higher levels of kindred beasts, binding them to their souls and altering their bloodlines.
This was used to mostly keep people within the same bloodlines, but to also convey the unreasonable importance nobility placed on certain bloodlines and further to certain beasts.
The kindred beast was able to reside within the humans' souls and be released into the world at will. This was only if the kindred beast held a spiritual form. As such there were some people who held elemental spirits as their kindred beasts.
However, the summoning of the kindred beast posed threats to humans. As a spiritual beast binds its soul itself to the human's soul. When the spirit dies outside of that human's body, the human will die with it.
The same will happen to the spirit if the human dies. Though the transfer of the kindred beast's capabilities happened easier if they're spirits, the risks were extreme. This didn't occur with kindred beasts who maintained physical bodies.
Craftsmen and blacksmiths would often attempt to conduct the kindred ritual to bind fire spirits or other beasts that were adept at using elemental flames. The strongest beast that was capable of utilizing fire, besides the dragons, were the Salamandras, though they didn't hold spiritual forms.
There had only been a few blacksmiths in the history of humans to have bound a Salamandra to their soul. The capabilities that Salamandras held over elemental flames were second to none, even over fire spirits. Though that was only after the dragons were exiled.
There was only one blacksmith family alive today that held a Salamandra as a kindred beast. The Blackforge family held the position of Duke within the Heraldus Kingdom, an antagonistic state in the East of the Crownsman Empire. It was this family alone who supplied their military state with weaponry and armor.
The weapons and armor that were produced by this family were the finest in the world, there were only ancient dwarven weapons lost to the dwarven ruins in various forbidden lands that had a higher quality than theirs.
The dungeons were great sources of wealth for adventurers who had been able to leave them unscathed, for others, it was their graves. The Grand Erebus Dungeon of the terra nullius lands was one such place.
The Grand Erebus Dungeon earned its name from its significant artifacts that were contained within it while being positioned within the death mountains that separated the Crownsman Empire and the Heraldus Kingdom.
The mountains have long been designated as no man's land by the two countries for the deadly creature that lived within the mountain range, and the dungeon's monsters and traps that seem to have no end to them.
The two countries place great significance upon this particular dungeon as it functions as a way to gain advantages over the other country. Every usable artifact to come from this dungeon has been considered legendary items, akin to those of the royal heirlooms in both countries.
Legend tells of a sword within the furthest reaches of the Grand Erebus Dungeon that was forged in the fires of Tiflos herself and crafted by the dwarven master smith Vulcan Ironblood. This sword, Lazarus, is said to be the sole item that was left behind by the dwarven master.
It is said the sword is in the Grand Erebus Dungeon because it is in reality an ancient dwarven ruin; carved into the continent's only volcano. Surrounded by mountainous valleys and cavernous ravines, the ruins used the volcanos natural magma flow as life's blood to the dwarven smiths.
This mountain range was one of few landscapes that weren't able to be manipulated and shaped by human hands. The mountain range was hand-sculpted by the Duranas, God of Earth as was the rest of Alterra.
However, this mountain range was made of incredibly dense and durable materials, unable to be utilized by humans, as the technology the dwarves used to carve away at the adamantine rich rock, was lost to the tides of time.
Adamantite was the strongest ore found in Alterra's crust, only able to be melted within the depths of the planet's core using the incredulous heat and pressure generated by the magma and the gravitational forces of the planet.
The dwarves were blessed by Duranas and it has remained a mystery to the humans as to how the dwarves, who were favored so much by a god, have gone missing from the world for longer than the dragons were missing.
The last remains of any dwarven ruin or dwarven city have been left to decay in the ebb and flow of time for nearly 10000 years. The only beings who have interacted with the dwarves of old are the dragons and the gods themselves.
With the reemergence of the dragons and the pure mana that flowed into the planet from the portals, the ruins around Alterra began to stir once again. The mana began to pulse in the depths of the ruins, and the race to the dungeons began in full force once again.
With the dangers the dragons brought, the ruins around the world were the first places that were sought out for the ancient weapons they held; and there was no other dungeon as sought after as the Grand Erebus Dungeon.
Not only did the dungeons begin to show signs of revitalizing from the influence pure mana had on the world, but so did the greed and desire for strength form again. People were no longer accepting of their weak lives with the emergence of the dragons.
One person in particular who could not accept his newfound place in the hierarchy of the world was none other than Alexandros Crownsman. Not only did he feel the absolute insignificance in the face of true power, he felt the reinvigorating feeling of desire again.
Although he was already one of the strongest humans alive on Alterra, he could no longer feel content with his position. With the dragons' return, others may be able to form contracts with dragons to be able to harness their strength, just as Runaan has the opportunity to do.
The powers humans could gain from their bloodlines that were changed through their kindred bonds. The bonded beast could be the strongest creatures on Alterra, such as the dragons were, however, the only strength they can offer to their contractors is limited to their own capabilities.
Talent was what ruled the world. Talent to gain strength, talents to develop strength, and the talents to use those strengths. Just because a person had contracted with a kindred of a certain kind, if they lacked talent, they were doomed to live mundane, uneventful lives.
Within the Holy City of Lights palace, Alexandros was contemplating on how he would be able to develop himself further as a cultivator. Having already gone through two tribulations, he needed to weigh his options of trying to advance further from the noble rank to the king rank.
If his tribulation fails, he could lose his life within a matter of moments, there were certain legendary soul-saving artifacts that could prevent the damages caused by the tribulations, but there has only ever been one found.
The artifact was called 'God's Grace' by its user, Ulric Heraldus, the current king of the Heraldus Kingdom. After his use, he was able to survive his ascension to the King rank but even he wasn't left unscathed.
When Ulric ascended his rank, his flesh and bones were burned away and reformed for days on end during the tribulations. The very landscape in the surroundings was destroyed and reduced to ash and dust.
The artifact, though named 'God's Grace,' was more of a cursed item. Even though his life was spared from the tribulations, his mind was not. Ulric's mind was shattered and twisted with pain and anger, as he was forced to live through his body being deconstructed and reformed for nearly a week.
The tribulation broke down every single cell within his body to be rebuilt, making it able to sustain the capacities required to survive the overwhelming might the king rank necessitated. Living through the torturous process of what humans considered to be the final tribulation had been unimaginable.
When Ulric's mind was twisted and barely held together by the artifact, his ambitions were clouded by his rage and unforgiving attitude. After ascending, Ulric would kill his own people for minor transgressions, turning the once beautiful country, into a military dictatorship.
Even his own children weren't spared from his tyranny. His eldest son was even murdered for voicing his discomfort with the treatment of the commoners, who after Ulric's tribulation, were seen as nothing more than livestock.
After Ulric killed his eldest son, his mind further decayed, setting his sights on neighboring lands to vent his rage. With the death of his son, he began to harass and skirmish with the Crownsman Empire, who had been historically more prosperous for their abundant agricultural and luxurious resource.
The Heraldus Kingdom was situated upon a harsh rocky landscape that was most abundant with strategic metals used in weapon refining. As Ulric's mind decayed, he sought to fill his kingdom with spoils of war, and the closest target had been the Crownsman Empire.
However, due to Alexandros being at the Noble rank, who also specialized in earthen magic that was further strengthened by his bloodline of the giants, Alexandros held the capability to change most landscapes and strategically change battlefields to his advantage.
As Alexandros had little capability or talent for attacks, his ability to change battlefields was not to be underestimated. As such, Alexandros had earned his title as the Ironwall from the other neighboring kingdoms because of his overwhelming defenses and strategic maneuvers.
However, because Ulric was blinded by greed and anger, regressing further into madness with every loss and stalemate, Ulric would attempt to further his conquest into the Empire, only to lose soldiers time and time again.
After 10 years of stalemates and losses, never gaining anything over the Crownsman Empire, he placed his sights elsewhere for the ultimate weapon. Ulric set his sight on the fabled Lazarus sword within the Grand Erebus Dungeon.
It was only after the dragons returned that he felt the resurgence of pure mana would allow for long enough expeditions within the ruins to find the sword. The pure mana that flooded into the world gave Ulric the sliver of hope he needed to try and find the only weapon that could break through defenses as strong as Alexandros'.
However, it was still unknown to Ulric, the powers contained within the Lazarus sword couldn't be harnessed by corrupted beings. It was still unforeseen the disastrous effects of the power the sword held when harnessed improperly.
It was only a matter of time before the war of the millennia was to begin, and in order for everyone to survive this, drastic measures needed to be taken.