I found myself floating above the sand in front of my cave, only now, there was no boulder covering the entrance. I could hear the trembling of the ground beneath me, I watched as the particles of sand clung together tossing about like angry waves assaulting the coastlines of Australia, Hawaii, California, a surfer's paradise.
However, this spectacular surf was forming from obedient particles of sand not water. What next? Perhaps I should have listened to Atilla. Like it or not, I knew I had passed the point of no return. This is your life Draven Youngblood.
The perfectly formed waves of sand parted leaving in their wake a smooth level circular area fully exposed beneath my observation spot. A deafening roar surrounded me, forcing me to look down into the center of the circle. Transfixed, I watched as a misshapen demonic form burst through the opening.
My skin or what should be skin on a mortal being, was hosting an outer covering straight out of an ocean nightmare. Me, this original me looked like a Halloween character who had pasted red fish scales onto a human like frame from top to bottom except for a loin cloth which hung loosely around my slim hips.
So, I popped out of the core of the earth formed like a full-grown entity with red scales and a skimpy loin cloth. The past me was not the curated man clothed in the current fashion of 2005 who had just left Las Vegas. Like it or not, I had committed to being an audience of one watching this journey. My journey.
During this time, my past self, had no memories or knowledge whatsoever. It was like when your consciousness woke up when you were three years old, and it felt like you just came into existence.
Right after that I felt an urge, an urge that I couldn't resist. I couldn't help myself; I was drawn straight toward the outcropping of rocks as if I were a human magnet being lured to some unknown but very specific destination. I didn't see the cave opening at first. Relief washed over me when an opening appeared in my vision. Even more compelling, something or someone was guiding me, urging me to walk forward, deeper into the darkness.
I had no danger instincts so I just naturally wanted to follow it and see if I could gain knowledge. I was destined to follow my younger self. Furthermore, it was instantaneously evident that a mere human would not be able to see. I kept walking without incident, following the exact path my red scaled self-clad in a skimpy loin cloth. Fortunately, it covered my exposed male identifiers. That made me feel better. I didn't know why it felt better but I had a feeling that it should stay covered up.
By the way, I am not a mere human. Without hesitation I moved directly into a space which, strangely enough, was becoming smaller and smaller. Before too long if I kept up this pace, I'd be bending halfway over to keep going. Suddenly and with much relief on my part, I saw a dim hue of light plus I was able to straighten up a bit. A sense of surprised relief washed over me. How could I have doubted this outcome, a lit cavern broke the suppressive narrow, dark landscape which had previously engulfed me. The revelation staggered my mind. This was my cave prior to two millennium's worth of improvements!
There was a fireplace. No throne. Big boulder.
An unattended medium-sized fire blazed in the middle of the cavernous
cave. I could feel the heat. Wait! Next to the blazing fire stood a humanoid form. Probably ten feet tall, about four feet taller than my normal six-foot past and present 2005 self. Even with the flickering fire, I could see that he had red skin, hmmm, perhaps they were refined scales like my birth self? Short black hair and perfect white teeth. He beckoned me (my younger self) forward.
I watched as the young me walked up next to him. Transfixed, I watched his manicured hand, also covered in refined scales move toward young me and gently place his open palm on my head. I instantly collapsed to the ground.
My past mind was overwhelmed, flooded by knowledge flowing from his hand into my mind in one cataclysmic dump. After about ten seconds, I had no idea WHY I knew this timeframe but for whatever reason, I was able to comprehend, catalog and understand all the knowledge imparted. Just imagine half the internet being absorbed into your head a once. Now luckily for me I was able to wrap that knowledge and quickly understand it.
I then blinked. The tall figure was gone. I also knew who he was and why he had appeared in this specific cave, MY cave.
The knowledge dump allowed everything to fall neatly into chronological order. This entity with the scales created me. How do I know this? Because of a prophecy given to the masses by another powerful entity who was destined to have a powerful son born just a few years into the future not far from this cave. The town known as Jerusalem. Furthermore, the two sons, one from God and the other from Lucifer, would become arch-rivals and oddly enough, the red scaled entity wanted the fight to be fair. You can guess based on the red scales who it was. I had just glimpsed my father, Lucifer! Lucifer Youngblood is his whole name.
I left the main cavern, walked through the smaller cave and as I stepped out into the clear desert air, I stopped short and looked up. Six beings stood like statues; one resembled a dusty ghost complete with cobwebs! I knew they would not harm me, in fact, they would prevent me from dying, permanently at least.
A strong looking man called WAR stood to the left. He was an impressive 8 feet tall; I already knew that when he was ready to fight, his entire body became metal, stronger than any substance known on Earth.
Standing immediately to the right of WAR is DEATH. His face, well, he had no face, just a skull atop a skeleton which switched back in forth from skeleton to human.
Next in line beside DEATH stood the ghostly figure appropriately known as the PRIMARAL GOD PROTECTOR. His job description: protect the PRIMARAL gods when they find themselves in trouble. Basically, his power is such that he is able to control the various energies around him to create constructs of people dead or alive including a chunk of their powers for a certain period of time.
Next in the line-up is LUCK. He has golden eyes, brown hair, and smooth golden skin. He is the leader of the PRIMARAL gods. He is able to manipulate "luck" so that it can go his way. Even when he is not controlling luck, he is constantly lucky, go figure! Just for good measure, he also possesses a small amount of Demonic power. Overpowered you may say, and I would agree with you. And, ironically enough, the entity standing next to LUCK is, DEATH DEALER!
Death Dealer is the god of any form of magic including magical deals. Death Dealer clad himself in dark robes spun from the finest materials of the era. His eyes were mesmerizing. They sequentially changed from red to orange, to yellow and back again. Counteracting the bright colors of his eyes, a field of dark black energy surrounds his hands in continuous swirls.
Last but not least of this illustrious grouping standing next to Death Dealer is ELEMENTAL. From his shoulders upwards one sees viscous storm clouds. His chest and shoulders are a nondiscriminatory mix of fire, ice and water. His right arm is fire and his left arm a mix of ice and water which keeps melting and refreezing. His legs, well, they look like dirt from a local garden center. His eyes are pure glowing fire. He has the power to control all of the Earth's elements including fire, water, ice, earth, wind plus the nature of the sky. If that wasn't enough, he possesses a little bit of magic. He can control all of the metals on the
Periodic Table but at a much lesser extent.
As I studied each one, I knew that I could control them. They are connected to me in a way whereby they would obey if I gave them a command, yet they will still have their own thoughts and feelings. Along with this group of gods, my future Generals, and myself share an exclusive bond referred to as the Lüxe Bond.
This bond follows a failsafe protocol which prevents us from permanently dying. If you happen to die, if there is at least one of the Lüxe Bond members still alive, you will resurrect within a certain time parameter designated. For example, my resurrection time will be six hours; the Generals, twelve hours; and Primaral gods, six months. At the point of revival, they will respawn somewhere nearby a Lüxe Bond member. I also have an ability called an Ajax. This seems to be the only ability where I slowly lose my power the more I use it, but I'll eventually recover it. I don't think I'll use this ability just yet.
As if on cue, they all bowed and vanished. My sole thought was that I needed to spread out my reach, expand my territory but first, I needed to look like a human not a newborn six-foot-tall red scaled sea monster. My first mission was to find a suitable human form.
I watched my newborn self turned and jumped upward twenty feet onto the outcropping of rocks above the cave entrance. I moved a few feet further up onto the top of this hill and, wow, I spotted an Oasis. What luck. There it sat, formed like a dumbbell, two pools of water connected by a straight narrow canal. Grass, about one-hundred feet surrounding this dumbbell of water. Truly a small piece of paradise deposited into the middle of a wasteland for my convenience. I smelled something different. A human, a man, not just any man but a handsome man. Perfect!
The stranger was tall, about six-two, hard and lean in all of the correct places. His chiseled features were outlined in the bright moonlight, an aquiline nose, strong chin and jaw line. His piercing blue eyes glanced about. Tanned olive skin and layers of thick raven black hair once tucked out of sight beneath his burlap hood had been freed the moment the burlap hood had been thrown back. Cool night air filled the Oasis and surrounding desert.
The man was sitting there resting after a long trip. He was wondering how long it would take to see his family again. Little did he know that he will not see the next sunrise again.
In the blink of a human eye, I had silently run down the outcropping of rocks, crossed the grass and sank my teeth into his hot, sweaty neck and hungrily drank his warm slightly salty sweet tasting blood until there was no more. I retracted my teeth, a tiny droplet of blood trickled down his still warm neck. I let go of him. His magnificent body fell to the ground, dead. I stood perfectly still, my red scales were still in place and concentrated, my vision blurred, my cold scales faded, I found myself looking at my reflection in the smooth mirrored surface of the Oasis. I looked like him! He was me; I was him.
Then without warning everything went black.
Something unexpected happened and I found myself looking at huge circular city that rose slowly out from within the impenetrable darkness. It was in ruins. There were so many people but some of them showed fangs of all sizes, ages, men and woman standing shoulder to shoulder were fighting for their lives and in most cases their deaths. Bodies were strewn all over the barren blood-soaked earth beneath them. More often than not, those still living and fighting ended up tripping over those already slain.
Out of nowhere a dark figure was floating in front of my line of vision, completely obscuring by view of the ensuing battle. I could not discern any features but somehow, I knew he was five feet ten inches tall. His booming voice blocked out the screams of the dying, the moans of the wounded, the crying. Crisp and clear, I heard the sound of a baritone voice say,
"You did this to yourself Draven! Your people take too long to revive. Guess what dear boy, they won't be able to help you." He paused the added in a voice laden with contempt, "Once I permanently kill you, I will reshape the World in my image! I image where Vampires don't exist."
I came to, still in the same place and time even after I got sucked into it. I stared long and hard into the pool, still savoring my new image. I was still handsome, and I loved it! I smiled, I even had perfect white teeth. Back to business.
I spent the rest of the day just looking through my mind of all of the knowledge I had gained. The water in the Oasis was calm, the night air held the chill of the evening. The blistering heat of the day had long since evaporated.
The vision clung like glue. The only visionary power I possess is to see into the future, my future. It's a blessing and a curse. My immediate task would be to stop this cataclysmic threat to my World. I knew what I had to do; it was as clear as the day dawning before me. I would insidiously infiltrate Empire after Empire. I had all the basic tools for this mission. My father gave me the knowledge that I needed. I successfully morphed into one heck of a spectacular human form. Now, I shall go forth and create my personal Army of conquerors.
This was the birth of an Empire, my Empire. This was my first step. This is how it all began. The infiltration of an Empire. Here, only a few miles from the city of Jerusalem on this day of 28 June 45 B.C.
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Chapter 1 through 5 will be posted within 2 days then every 7 days I will post 1-3 chapters. Thanks for reading! Save for later.