Written in Blood

A Choice with a small dose of Regret.

Ao Ruang awoke in his head throbbing and his vision blurred. Growing up he had heard about the effects of alcohol, but never had it himself, but he imagined this is what adults called a hangover was. His eyes blurred as they adjusted to the still dark room as the blinds had not been opened. Just small bits of light peered through. Even that little bit of sunlight had a minor effect on his stamina and he had not even done anything yet. It seemed that whatever he was afflicted with had an even more significant impact on him than he initially thought. He was glad he didn't end up having to fight yesterday or he would have been quite embarrassed.

Looking around lazily he noticed the slumped over body on the floor fast asleep Ding Liling was pale and shallowly breathing. It was clear he had taken far more blood than normal. All thanks to that woman from after the assessment. It seemed that the hunger for blood was triggered not just from being full, but from scent as well certain scents seemed to trigger it far easier.

Ao Ruang knew he needed to figure out how to control this hunger or his dark nature would be revealed for all to see and there was no telling how people would react considering human’s had a natural apprehension to anything not seen as human. He doubted they would embrace him even so called dark martial arts practitioners distanced themselves from the dark races from the past. The little Ao Ruang knew of the history of this continent was that the dark races had once been dominate, but due to humanity which included any race that was considered part of the category "humanity".

Ao Ruang didn’t know much about these races, but what he did learn was they were the dominant force for many thousands of years prior to the rise of humanity. In fact humans were often the slaves or even food of these races and by all accounts based on his small knowledge about this it appears that he had inherited the legacy of one of these rare or extinct races. As for what it was specifically...he was hoping the Ghostly Whisper sect’s extensive books and tomes would give him more information.

Ao Ruang knew that he needed to use the blood essence in his dantain to increase his cultivation, but he didn’t know if there were other uses yet and he needed to do some experimentation once he learned more about Ki at the sect and how to harness it.

Getting up and quickly washing off the blood from his clothes he tidied up his messy hair and threw on a fresh pair of clothes they were nothing to look at. He only was able to ask Ding Liling to purchase some clothes for him while he was out yesterday.

Ao Ruang looked at Ding Liling fondly as he left; he had no idea why she desired to be with him when all he did was take and not give back. He would buy her a pretty scarf to hide any signs of what happened behind this doors.

…

The Ghostly sect was smaller than what Ao Ruang expected; many of the buildings had grand and well built entrances, but the reality was those were just the entrances to vast underground complexes and caverns that spanned nearly a quarter of Firedawn city. The Ghostly sect was considered dark users focusing on Ki attributes that leaned toward Yin or the darker nature of Ki.

So being located underground helped those who needed to use the dark and cold and damp to cultivate. Firedawn was an odd place for a dark sect to establish itself due to the immense amount of Yang energy it gave off due to the Firestone tiling so many of the roofs used which naturally absorbed the sunlight and reflected it back. It made Firedawn highly desirable for Yang natured Ki users. Despite this, the Ghostly Whisper sect thrived here as one of the top powers in Firedawn. No one really knew why.

Deacon Ru An waited for the youth that Lady Feng had recruited while he wasn’t a fan of; he couldn’t deny the boy’s talent and extremely rare and different Ki attributes. Watching down the road his eyes swiftly spotted the handsome young man. His plain clothes quickly informed Deacon Ru An more than he knew previously. This wasn’t a wandering rich kid from a rural yet rich family clan. This boy was self trained in a small village somewhere probably extremely poor.

This caused Ru An’s opinion of the boy raised slightly as most talents died in the cradle depending on where one was born. So any one who could raise above their lot in life was often someone who had good character, but there still was something he had not found comfortable with him. Lady Feng had long ago saved his family from a band of Arachnae who had intended on feasting on them...the look in their eyes were the same look that Ao Ruang had when he looked at Lady Feng.

As Ao Ruang approached the same eerie aura of a predator rose off the young boy almost like a strong stench. “I see you finally made it. You will be following me to Lady Feng’s quarters where she will introduce you to the rest of her disciples.”

“As you say senior!” Ao Ruang said enthusiastically.

Ru An only nodded in approval as he turned and led the boy into the entrance of the Ghostly Whisper sect which descended deep until the light was swallowed up by darkness.

…

The Ghostly Whisper sect Ao Ruang’s first choice so when he was given the opportunity to join by Lady Feng he couldn’t refuse. He had many questions and few answers and Lady Feng seemed to have few questions about his background which was even more useful.

The Deacon Ru An had met him at the front entrance to the sect, but it didn’t seem like he was very interested in himself; the man’s face was hidden behind a mask and his eyes were stern and unyielding. Perhaps it was the nature of Yin based users to be cold like the very attribute of the moon itself.

The descent into the darkness of the underground sect wasn’t as difficult as he had thought. Ao Ruang could see nearly as clear as day in the dark his eyes seemed to adapt almost instantly. This was of course something that would surprise most as the dark underground of the sect was often quite difficult to navigate for first timers, but then again Ao Ruang wasn’t a normal human anymore as far as he could tell.

After several minutes of descent the hallway opened up into an immense cavern with beautiful carved buildings hanging on the sides of the cavern and spiraling staircases and archways attaching each other to hanging homes. Blue flames lit the pathways and students seemed to be walking to and from openly for the most part. Only a few bothering to spare a glance as Ao Ruang passed by. He could sense many of them had Ki many times more strong than his own. A sense of excitement built up in him for the first time since he had been bitten by the mysterious person near the riverbank cavern.

After nearly twenty minutes they finally came to a large building with twin doors that had half a skull with a rose in the mouth.

“Go in I will be standing watch outside. Be sure to bow before Lady Feng; she is an elder of the sect even if you are a personal disciple.” Ru An warned in his same dry voice.

Ao Ruang was slightly surprised in his village an elder was most senior and powerful person there "Lady Feng must be extremely talented considering how young she is!"

Ru An nodded affirming Ao Ruang's conclusion "Lady Feng is one of the top talents in the entire Kingdom let alone Firedawn."

The door creaked open as Ao Ruang entered and found a much different environment than he thought before him sat between 20 and 30 other youths ranging from fourteen to eighteen. The male to female was slightly skewed towards the male side and none of them seem particularly pleased to see him.

A few seconds passed as Ao Ruang stood there awkwardly before a thick, but well muscled boy stood up and approached him.

“Welcome to Lady Feng’s courtroom!”

Eyes nearly pierced through Ao Ruang as many of the youths sized Ao Ruang up.

“Don’t mind them! All newcomers to Lady Feng’s court are looked at with suspicion. The more disciples the less attention she can afford to give everyone else. My name is Liu Gu from the Liu clan, the imperial city.”

“No one cares!” a soft spoken voice said smugly. “The Liu clan is a minor clan of the Imperial capital which is why you are here and not in some super sect there.”

Ao Ruang’s eyes caught the speaker who was a handsome youth around two years older than Ao Ruang himself. His face was long and hawk-like. Standing up he approached Ao Ruang.

“My name is Shao Ti, but that isn’t important, let's move past formalities and hear what we all would like to know.. What is your age, rank, and attribute and from which family clan do you hail from?” he said bluntly.

Liu Gu frowned, but didn’t respond to the other youth who had attacked his family; he knew that he was right.

Ao Ruang already didn’t like the Shao Ti character, but he also didn’t want to make enemies on his first day in the sect, particularly of those who are also disciples of the same master. “Err I am 13 years old and do not have any family clan. I attained the Iron Warrior rank 8 and my attribute is blood.

Shao Ti nodded along with a smug face until he heard the blood attribute rank 8 was pretty common among elite disciples of the sect and particularly among Lady Feng’s chosen, but blood attribute was a extremely rare attribute in fact most assumed it had long gone extinct as most rare attributes can only be passed down by blood lineage. Moreover it manifested in a kid who wasn’t from any major clan at all.

“Well it is nice to know some talent has finally arrived; it has been awhile since our Lady brought anyone worth mentioning.” Turning around Shao Ti went back to his seat.

Right as Ao Ruang was about to take a seat himself a familiar mature and womanly voice came from the front of the room.

“My disciples I see you all had a chance to meet your newest brother...Ao Ruang.” From the shadows behind the large stone chair that sat at the head of the room raised above the floor to give it a dominating presence.

Lady Feng emerged wearing similar attire to what she had worn previously with Ao Ruang.

Taking a seat she delicately crossed her legs and looked at one of the boys who looked around 15 years old. “Lin Yi darling. Please attack Ao Ruang...oh and Ao Ruang do your best not to be beaten black and blue.”

Ao Ruang stood slightly dumbstruck as a youthful boy stood with a sadistic grin on his face. “With pleasure my lady!”

With a roar he charged at Ao Ruang. Ducking below the first fist and standing back up before Ao Ruang could react, a foot struck his stomach sending him flying backwards knocking any breath he had out.

Snapping out of his shock Ao Ruang stood up and got into a defensive position to fight. Just as he had gotten up Lin Yi had already descended on Ao Ruang ferociously. Blocking the first attack he tried to throw a punch back before it hit nothing, but air where Lin Yi’s face used to be.

Ao Ruang could feel he was going to lose this fight even when he first heard of it.