After an hour or so, Quinn was being led by Aaron through an underground tunnel that led straight to the city's main underground teleportation station. The two of them would play it off as they had been transferred to Nyxterra due to a war on a planet that had been turned into a battlefront.
They had a more than sufficient amount of beast cores—other than the ones Quinn had in his [Dimensional Storage]—so living in the largest metropolis, such as Vastoria itself, posed no issue to the two of them. Additionally, they would only get more benefits if Quinn were to be accepted into the Royal academy.
Both, Quinn and Aaron, were running through the tunnels, and the former was adjusting his pace to that of Aaron, who was—by a large margin—slower than him. Aaron had already disguised himself as another person: a Huma. Sensing that he had some way to cover till they reached the end of the tunnel, and could see a teleporter set in place for them to use, Quinn thought of talking to Void.
'Say, Void; the Divine Relic that my parents stole... it was this Ring, right? What exactly is it? There are no Shadows among the Divine Candidates, as far as I'm aware. So, what is this Ring, what's its purpose, and why did the Vampires have it in their possession? Who were my parents and why would they steal the Ring? Who... am I?' Quinn asked hurridely.
After a moment of silence, Void finally replied: 'You... will uncover the truth soon enough; just know that, unlike the other Divine Rings, this one is not made by any heavenly being. It is... once again, something created by the Third King of the Shadows; its purpose: to awaken the one most suitable and compatible with their immortal, Shadow Heart.
'Originally, it was made for himself, to combat something that even I am unaware of. Frankly, I do not know what the purpose of its creation is; nor do I know why it activated your Shadow Heart. But, I do know that the Third King was an entity full of mystery. I had only been manifested for a few decades when the Third King disappeared; I am not claiming to know him, but we were acquaintances, and he spoke wisdom beyond myself at the time. From what I have learned from him, I can postulate that there was something he was defending everyone—even us Shadows—from; it was simply beyond us, and he thought that the burden: he could bear alone, without anyone else noticing.
'I am sure that you can uncover the answers to your questions yourself. As to why the Vampires have it in their possession, we can only assume that it was a task given to them via a Divine Decree, stating that they ought to be the ones to seal it away from ever seeing the sunlight ever again. There is no better explaination; but, then again: as to how the Higher Will got the Shadow Ring... I cannot say for sure. It is my guess that they managed to alter it slightly such that their System could be placed in the Shadow Ring instead of the activation of the Shadow Heart—this could be why the System encountered an Error when your existence as a Shadow prevailed, resulting in the Shadow Heart activating with the help of the dormant power within the Ring.
Thus: all them more reason to unearth the mystery surrounding the Third King's disappearance.'
The end of the tunnel was in sight now; there was a teleporter that would transport them into the underground teleportation station. Quinn looked at Aaron who simply gave a nod, and the two of them walked through the teleporter.
Crossing the teleporter and arriving a whole new place, Quinn looked around the area. His eyes caught glimpse of the magnificant mural and depiction of a woman, beautiful beyond belief. Her right hand reached to the heavens and glowed with a rainbow coloured spectrum of lights: it reminded Quinn of his Origin Energy. It seemed to him as though she was the only important figure in the murals.
'Ahh, it is Scion,' Void spoke, quite happy to have remembered a familiar name, 'Hmm... indeed. She might know more about the Third King. Scion was the Original and Primordial Vampire; an existence close to the average King of the Shadows. She used to visit Nowhere to challenge Kings to official duels—if not so, then in private. True madwoman, her; we were all surprised when we saw that she survived against the Third and Eleventh King's attacks.
'However... she has long perished... . Such a... truly a pity. I am sure that she would find your company enjoyable; if you do miraculously meet her though, just try and not die when she attacks you, hahaha. Although, somewhat detestable, she was mortal at a metaphysical level—beyond her immortal and divine origins—and sought to fulfil her selfish desires as any other mortal; she is, in a way, similar to yourself. Even the Shadow community was dishearted after hearing of her passing; killed by her own Kin as welll... . A trully unbefitting end. Damphirs are the bane of the Vampires, after all.'
'Hmm. From what I'm hearing, she got killed by her own kid—of sorts—who was a Damphir? Most of them were Vampire Hunters, right? But, why? What do they have against them as a whole species that they so despise them and want to eradicate them?' Quinn wondered. From what little he had learned from Aaron was that Pure Blooded Vampires were able to create Lesser Vampires, or Thralls. Thralls are individuals who serve a Vampire in various capacities, often willingly or unwillingly, due to the Vampire's influence over them. This control could be exerted through various means, including Blood Bonds, hypnotism, or magical compulsion; the most common being a Blood Bond.
Thralls could be a myriad of creatures, ranging from ordinary Humans—which was illegal and severely punishable—to other supernatural creatures: Strigoi, Chupacabra, Aswang, Jiangshi, and hundreds more; most of them, being sentient and intelligent lifeforms, while some, out of control and only compliant when supplied with the blood of their masters or their specific diet.
Damphirs were an exceedingly rare type of Vampiric specimen which possesses traits of both Humans and Vampires, eliminating the only weaknesses of the latter, and thus, becoming a natural born weapon of destruction if aimed towards them.
'These Damphirs have unexplainable and unpredictable supernatural urges, boy. We cannot understand their working through normal, technological means like you mortals try to. It could be seen as a curse. Also, you might have hypothesised this already, but that power is indeed Origin Energy; her's was a power hundreds of times greater than your Origin Energy. It was to the point that Creation was possible for her.'
"Hmm. We are in the teleportation station and in position. Well, I suppose we just wing it from here. Listen close: we are to leave the the room through that giant door; and when we do, we will be surrounded by Black Knights—guards of the underground city. Do not panick... actually, you may panick, but do not act aggravated or try to fight them. More importantly, do not use your full strength. After they successfully thoroughly search our bodies and equipment, they will take us to the Sensory Chanmber: a place where the magick readings of the person and their atrefacts are taken."
———
After the Black Knights of the underground teleportation station had contacted with the two of them, and confirmed their identities, the two of them were being escorted by the leader to the Sensory Chamber. 'I suppose I need to let out some Shadow Energy and change its property into that of magic or whatever?' Quinn asked Void, just to be safe, 'But, what about the Ring...? I know I don't really undo the cloaking, but can they detect it?'
'For the former, yes, it is as simple as that. As for the latter, you need not worry about it; these Sensory Chambers or whatever will not be able to detect the Shadow Ring. It is not something Divine-made, or something that is governed by magic; nor is it something that emits or produces it. It simply is; and I do not know of its true nature,' Void explain in brief.
'Hmm. If my memory serves me right, I believe I heard a voice similar to yours when I first got the Ring and the System booted up. It was you, wasn't it?' Quinn wondered, remembering what he had been through since he got the Ring when he last visited his apartment building. 'Hoh? What could you be talking about? I was wandering the realms before I was called upon by the cosmos to assist you by possessing you—something had never happened in aeons. I had never interacted with or watched over you before. This voice... could have been the creator of the Ring: the Third King, for all we know. Only Shadows have this kind of... unique voice, tune or whatever. Say, what did it speak of?'
'It asked me what I... desired,' Quinn replied as he arrived before the Sensory Chamber room's door. 'Hmm. And, your response?'
'Well, I said I wanted power and I sure as hell got it,' he replied, causing Void to scoff slightly.
Entering the room with Aaron and the Black Knight Commander, Quinn saw an old man sitting at the desk with a rather messy desk of a few glass plates, wiped clean of food, and a half empty cup of coffee that smelt like at least 10 sugar cubes. Other than that, the desk was decorated with small projectors that were displaying reports.
Lazily lifting his head from the table, the old man spoke after a long yawn: "Step into the uhh, Chamber, kid. You can go in after him, when I tell you to," the man turned to Aaron.
Quinn nervously got into the Sensory Chamer even though he had already released his Energy and morphed it and altered it to match the frequency of magic. However, regarding the fact that the Shadow Ring could not be detected, he was pretty believing in that part, and did not worry. This was for the first time that he would actually be encountered with and understand that his morphing, altering and transformative powers are impeccable and most definitely, the real deal.
...
After a decent amount of time, both Quinn and Aaron were done with the examination and were free to either enter the city or the incredibly well-built, catacomb-like, underground city. However, the latter definitely did not sound as fun as the former. And thus, following the Black Knight Commander, they took the following and parting tunnel on the left.
Reaching the end, the Commander opened a giant door at least four times his size. Alas, the two of them were not greeted by the otherwise beautiful interior of the city, but another laboratory full of teleporters and equipment. The commander signalled the two of them to stay still as he entered the room and unlocked a teleporter via a password.
Throwing the teleporter on the ground, it took no more than a second to power up and manifest a portal. The Black Knight Commander stood beside the teleporter and held out his hand, showcasing the teleporter, "It will transport you to the Church of Origins, where the people working there shall help you with your queries if any, and then, will you be allowed to set foot into the city. They shall also help with the exchange of beast cores if you have any, so that you can have an easier time next time you try and undergo the procedure.The Church will be responsible for you as long as you are in their custody, so try not to cause them any trouble."
After the brief explanation, Quinn and Aaron stepped through the teleportal. Having gone through enough of portals in his lifetime, Aaron was not nauseous the slightest bit; it was the same for Quinn, with his multitude of Passive Skills and natural resistance. Opening their eyes, both of them were standing in the middle of the inside of a Church, in front of the altar, behind which, was the magnificent and glorified statue of Scion, the Original and Primordial Vampire. It looked life-life beyond belief.
"Welcome; to the most esteemed Church of Origins, dear sirs," both Quinn and Aaron heard the voice of an elderly man to their side. Sitting to the side of the altar, by the walls of the church, below the stained glass windows, was a wise looking old man, dressed like the Pope of the Church.
One of his eyes' iris, glowing with a rainbow coloured spectrum of lights, appearing to almost be a glowing and divine white.