*Anos's POV*
*Thunk*
With a heavy thump, Zephyr placed something in front of me and for a moment I almost opened my eyes to check if I had really gone blind.
I had seen it. In books, in legends but never like this. It was Raw. Raw Power, Raw Strength, and Raw Pride.
"I went over the blood of every creature I could find, your blood only mixed with two," Zephyr said as he began chanting.
I couldn't hear him, my eyes were fixed on the Heart. A Dragon Heart.
Black and Gold, almost like a stone. The Gold seemed transparent while the Black of the Heart was Obsidian, merging into a very, very crude shape of a heart.
"It's 180Kg, the best I could find that wouldn't kill you from its own weaknesses. Your body will have to adapt. It'll be painful." Zephyr said as the Obsidian heart floated right above my head.
Hovering there gloomily.
"It'll start soon. It all depends on you now." Zephyr said and stepped back.
A minute or two of anticipation and I had forgotten about the blood slipping out from the patterns across the top of my chest.
*Tap*
'Fuck.'
Heavy didn't begin to describe it. My shoulders creaked and bones ached so much that it sounded like fingernails scratching a blackboard.
*Tap*
The second drop came too soon, it knocked the fucking wind out of me and the Golden liquid washed down from my hair to my forehead and I could just see Alucard looking at me with his back to a pillar.
My head was too blurry to focus my vision on anything let alone his expression.
*Tap*
The golden came down to my eyes now, covering every bit of them and the last thing I saw before my head was covered with Golden was the Golden liquid from the pillars creeping up the Altar.
*3rd POV*
The Temple had remained unused for decades, it's looks anything but weary somehow. If one stepped into its White walls they would be surprised by the Fae chanting spells and the Vampire playing with his needles.
If they had focused away from those two creatures they would've seen another. This one was covered in Gold that didn't shine but was Gold nonetheless, dripping down its white hairs, to his eyes, down his face, down his chest before stopping at the altars foot. Waiting.
"How long." The Vampire said to his teacher, not looking the least bit worried.
"Depends on him. My best estimation would be 3 Hours. Enough time for 2 Strong and 1 weak Affinity, maybe another 3 for the burning of the others." Zephyr answered as his hands kept moving and the Golden dripped down from the Dragon Heart.
*2 Hours later*
'He's adjusting well. Too well.' Zephyr was puzzled, there was the barest moment inside the gold so his student was alive at least but no sounds were made of Affinities being burned, the reason they came in the first place.
His thoughts were correct, there weren't any being burned, severed, or destroyed. They were being assimilated. Into a body that was meant for them.
It took another hour to draw that conclusion.
"Bad Blood," Alucard said surprised.
"Curse the Gods. Alucard get the Talisman from my bag, the red ones." Zephyr said panicked and unsure.
The Affinities weren't being destroyed, they were gonna destroy the body to make room for each other.
Alucard handed him the talisman and he did his best to stick one on each of the seven pillars before chanting.
The White pillars turned red and for a moment all was Golden.
*In an Unknown Place*
Void. That's what he saw. An empty void devoid of anything, the stars, the planets, or light for that matter.
He didn't know how long he was there before a thought came up to him. Anos. His name.
As if answering the void moved and from its infinite darkness appeared a Beast.
With Shadows as its scales and the Galaxies as its wings, it looked down at him through eyes that you could fit planets in.
"You. You have my blood." The Beast spoke, its voice hoarse and the listeners' mind even more so.
"Yes." Anos found his voice and answered on instinct.
"Good. At least you don't deny it. Now, why did you come to my domain?" The beast spoke again, voice hard as grating volcanoes.
Why had he come here? Anos asked that question to himself and the answer came slowly, muddy with thoughts that would not do to be spoken.
" I was dying." He answered and the beast gave something of a growl.
" So you were afraid of the hands of Death?" The beast asked its tone garnering disappointment.
Anos thought of an answer, he wasn't afraid of disappointing the creature he didn't even know but a few moments ago. No, he was afraid of disappointing someone else.
" No, I'm not afraid of Death." He answered and the Beast's silver tongue slithered in interest.
"Oh, really? Many humans say so but a few carry those words out like they should. So you're not afraid of death and pain, is it? Good." The Beast's mouth stretched into a horrible imitation of a smile before, Pain.
The pain passed through his body even though he knew it didn't exist.
It lasted for a millennia, or eons he didn't know before slowing down. Either it stopped or he became numb to it.
" Good. That's 2 done. Now, what Are you afraid of?" The beast asked more to itself than him.
"If Death doesn't make your skin crawl then the opposite perhaps? Unending torture? Unyielding pain? Losing your sense of self? Killing and Forgetting those you might've held dear?" The beast talked, its sense of self-being pure shadows.
Somehow Anos heard every word and every intention. He would've loved to think more about it but the Beast somehow needed attention. It seemed to love bathing in it.
"Ahhhh, that. That should work." The Beast said before all was Dark.
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Author's Note: We've got amazing, official Artwork for the story people! Woohoo!
It's on the most recent post on my Patreön.
Patróon.com/Ashara
I'm fucking jubilant. The artwork features Anos as well as Harriet, including the House Symbol so I recommend checking it out for easier visualisation.
Don't worry the post is public and can be seen by anyone. If you wish to you can join the Patreön to get access and snippets into these things first while enjoying early chapters.
Hope everyone has a nice Day/Night and don't forget to check out the Art on my Patreön!