Nightmare’s Call

The entirety of the stone gate, aside from the child-like doodles and graffiti on it, looked fairly quaint. Along its edge were overlapping patterns in the form of text.

*Knock, knock.*

Lin Sheng knocked on the door with his fingers.

*Clack.*

Strangely enough, Lin Sheng had not used much force at all, and the door actually shuddered a little before opening by itself.

Lin Sheng then stared at the slowly opening stone door.

He was trying to control the door.

In theory, he could control any rock and soil, but a powerful resistance prevented him from doing so.

Without a sound, the door had opened by itself upon him knocking it, revealing a dark and silent tunnel within.

Lin Sheng stood before the door and peered into it, it seemed like a totally different world behind the door, as the torrent of seawater was warded off.

As if there was some invisible barrier that was blocking the doorway.

Without any hesitation, Lin Sheng took a step into the door.

Behind the door, was a dry, refreshing, waterless environment and a tunnel extended all the way downwards seemingly without an end.

Lin Sheng looked at the top of the passageway and saw a bizarre black dragon head being engraved on the wall there.

A wyvern, a special existence amongst the dragons.

They were not dragons, but more like dragonkin.

As they are very powerful, and were loyal to the dragons, they were always used as guardians of the dragon’s hidden realms.

*Hummm…*

The black engraved wyvern suddenly opened its eyes and looked at Lin Sheng.

It seemed to be checking something as it stopped all movement.

And soon, the wyvern returned to its original appearance and looked as if it was a real sculpture.

“Did it recognize the Crag Dragon blood within me?” Lin Sheng guessed.

Upon entering the stone gate, the crushing water pressure disappeared, and the air was warm and dry as if he had just left the bottom of the ocean and gotten into a dry cave on land.

Lin Sheng hastened his pace, as he followed the passageway down.

Soon, he had reached the end.

At the end of the passageway was a vast hall.

In the hall, a massive bone monster lay silently with its mouth wide open.

Within the monster’s mouth, was another new entrance.

Lin Sheng looked at the monster, and felt the fellow’s shape and form to be very familiar.

“A dragon?” He suddenly realized.

This massive monstrous skeleton was actually a curled-up dragon.

And the dragon’s mouth was wide open, leading into a new unknown location.

“You are right, sweet child.”

Suddenly, a hazy female voice rang out behind Lin Sheng.

He was surprised and took a few steps forward before turning back in alert, as he looked behind him.

On the spot where he stood originally, a blonde woman in a black corset dress was standing there.

She wore a gentle smile on her face, and her beautiful and noble air hid a deathly pallor, as her eyes were sunken, and her skin dull.

Aside from her beautiful figure, and golden blond hair, the lady before him was seemingly losing her beauty.

“My child, don’t be afraid, this is the dwelling of the dragons, a hidden place belonging to the dragons alone.” She said gently.

“Who are you?” Lin Sheng asked coldly.

“I’m the Sin Dragon Matriarch, a poor dragon specter locked here due to sins of the past.” The woman smiled.

“The Sin Dragon Matriarch.” Lin Sheng became even more vigilant. The other party was not hiding her identity at all, and that meant only two possibilities.

Either the opponent did not even care about his strength or the woman was truly bearing goodwill to him.

“Don’t be afraid, your coming here is an instinctual call.” The Sin Dragon Matriarch smiled.

“An instinctual call?” Lin Sheng repeated. “Then what can I get here?”

The Sin Dragon Matriarch did not answer immediately, instead, she turned around.

“Follow me.”

Her figure suddenly faded and reappeared beside the edge of the dragon skeleton in a blink of an eye.

“And that is?” Lin Sheng quickly followed and appeared beside the Sin Dragon Matriarch.

“A fool who had tried to break out of the prison very long ago,” she said.

“Come with me, I have not seen our kind for so long, so long. I have something for you to see,” she said as she walked towards the dragon maw.

Lin Sheng’s eyes moved slightly beneath the armor, and he quickly followed suit.

…

A massive downpour rained down like a waterfall from the heavens.

The ancient Olron city of Fusath was welcoming the annual Bath Festival.

Everyone wore black tight-fitting clothing, as they sang and danced in the heavy rain while they shouted loudly, venting out all of the anger and dissatisfaction pent up over the year.

Normally, the Bath Festival itself was already quite the crazy festival, and this year, it was even more manic.

Perhaps the coming of the Blacktide had caused much stress within everyone, and many were crying as they knelt on the ground, seemingly recalling their loved ones lost to the calamity.

At the top of an old water tower in the city.

Mi Yue wore a large thick red cape, as he was clad in delicate silver armor, in his hand was a similarly delicate purple-red flower.

“Are the preparations done?” He whispered.

“Everything is ready. The second ceremony can be carried out at any time.” The voice of his subordinate rang from behind.

“Very good.” Mi Yue gave out a confident yet savage smile.d “Which organization is in charge of protecting this place?”

“Tower Master, it is the Lorenz family, we have already infiltrated and held this family fully under our control. You may be assured of that.” the voice behind him responded swiftly.

“Splendid…” Mi Yue gently raised the flower in his hand and threw it down.

The fuchsia petals scattered in the air and were disintegrated by the heavy rain.

*Hiss…*

All of the petals spontaneously ignited, leaving only black ashes.

The rain still poured as it covered the entire ancient city.

At least one-third of the population were venting their emotions in the rain.

The ground was flooded to the ankle-level by the rain, and the whole city became a massive puddle.

And right at the edge the puddle, was a bright red ghostly serpentine shadow was slowly crawling along as it quietly turned into countless blood strands as it swam towards every single person in the rain.

No one noticed anything odd, as the suppression effect from the vast difference in level rendered all of the Darksiders in town could not sense any danger.

And slowly, the blood strands silently crept its way into the body of every person in the rain.

*Dhum.*

*Dhum.*

*Dhum.*

A rumbling drumbeat echoed abruptly across the ancient city.

And it was so clear that it suppressed the sound of the pouring rain.

The people in the rain were already in emotional flux, and with the accompaniment of the drumbeats, they grew more and more manic.

Their movements became more and more exaggerated and intense.

Some even started frantically bashing their heads against the wall and ground.

Some even used their fingers to dig into their throats.

Some even went on all fours as they knelt and cry, blood slowly flowed out from their eyes and into the rain.

The people were getting ever crazier and manic.

As the rain fell, black blood started flowing out of the various crevices of their body, as the blood was washed away by the rain, and blended into the puddle beneath their feet.

“It is done.” Mi Yue let out a pleased smile.

“It is all thanks to you, Tower Master, that the ceremony could formally proceed.” the man behind him said.

“Go, complete the third ceremony.” Mi Yue gave the blood-soaked ancient city one last look, before turning to leave.

The rain above him did not even wet his cloak, as if he was walking under the sunshine, all warm and fuzzy.

And in a flash, he disappeared into the rain.

With his disappearance, everyone in the ancient city slowly faded away and disappeared into the rain.

They were cheering and yelling just moments ago, and now the ancient city fell silent, with only the sound of rain washing the earth.