Azian Prince of Dragons
Chapter 26 — Secrets of the Balance

Michael's POV

"Once you tell them what I've told you to say, they will not hurt you," Peanut had said.

Next time I see that bastard I was going to give him a piece of my mind.

I can't believe they actually tried to slit my throat. Well, they did, and I bled out.

Never been more thankful for the fact that I was immortal.

Dying for the second time in my few years of life. If I had not been immortal, I can't imagine how Anna would feel losing me for the second Time.

I hoped she was okay, wherever she was.

Sighing, I dusted myself off standing up, I was currently in a cage. Yes, in a cage, like an animal.

The dragons don't take well to outsiders, and hospitality was obviously not there strong suit.

I was lucky I was at least given a set of new clothes which hang loosely on my body.

The dragons were taller and larger than any other supernatural being in the sup realm.

Especially that Tar, I believe is his name, I overheard one of the guards gossiping about him.

The legendary beast of the fire dragons.

The title definitely did him justice.

Well, Azian was right, Tar was indeed rather large, scary large with his bushy eyebrows, tall frame, and huge biceps. I could tell the moment I was face to face with him, that he was a force to reckon with and had absolutely no mercy to show to anyone. Which led me to wonder how Abigail survived two whole weeks with that beast.

Then the king, he honestly did not look as scary as I thought he would, granted he did look fierce, but I was shocked to see how frightening his demeanor changed as soon as I mentioned the Vampire king.

He definitely was a wolf in sheep's clothing.

The Queen in herself was a sight, beautiful and strong, it was definitely no lie when the legends said the Dragons were a beautiful race. The men included.

I sighed taking a seat on the hard ground watching as some dragon soldiers passed by.

Some passed by running in small groups with their leaders, glancing up at me as if I was a strange sight, or some mysterious creature.

The cage rattled and I looked up to see who it was.

"Here" a guard said throwing a bright red apple in my direction.

I caught it, glancing at him then the apple unsure of it.

Maybe it was poisoned?

"You're immortal, there's nothing in the twin realms that can kill you," the guard replied.

I looked up at him. Had I said that out loud? No...it had just been inside my head.

The man sighed taking off his helmet, letting his light brown locks fall down to his shoulders, "obviously, you hesitate because you think its poisoned" he reasoned.

I recognized him as the leader of the troop that found me in the forest and brought me before the king.

I took my gaze away from him and bit into the apple.

"My names Yohan," he introduced.

My eyes snapped back to him, but kept my mouth shut.

I couldn't fall for this. He being nice was a definite joke.

"I heard you saying your name was Michael...a witch?" I remained quiet.

He run a hand through his golden locks sighing heavily.

He was quite handsome, looked like he was in his early twenties, quite young compared to the other dragons I've seen.

I knew dragons could live for centuries, so could witches who practiced the dark arts.

"The barrier has been up for thousands of years; how did you manage to come across?" He asked.

"Why are you speaking to me guard?" I countered bluntly revealing my irritation.

He grinned, "Yohan, and I'm speaking to you, because unlike the rest, I yearn for more than the truth"

He breathed lowly squatting down to my level, "I want to learn of what's beyond the barrier, how the world out there works, how the people have improved, their weapons, religions, there's a whole new world out there," he paused glancing back at me, "And only you can tell me just how big it is"

I eyed him carefully.

There was something about this lad.

Couldn't put my finger on it.

Maybe it was the fact that he was the only one who cared if I had eaten, which I hadn't, and was actually starving, or maybe it was the look of wonder in his eyes.

But somehow I felt like I could trust him.

Rely on him.

I bit into my apple studying him.

He paused eyeing me, before he slowly nodded and stood up.

"The world has changed, but I assure you, the safest place to be is here," I began as he prepared himself to walk away.

He turned back to look at me as I took another bite.

"My names Michael, I'm a witch, a middle witch"

"What kind of witch is that?"

I grinned, this boy wanted knowledge, knowledge is what I would give him.. But first..

"Do you have another apple?"

He nodded opening a little pouch he had and throwing me another apple.

I caught it examining it for a second.

"I will answer one question pertaining to the knowledge of the world outside. One per day, so choose wisely"

There was a silence as the young man thought for a second, his dark hazel eyes resting on mine.

"I would like to know about the people who attacked our king"

Clever lad. He wanted to know his enemies first, the most dangerous species.

"Vampires" I began, "blood sucking soulless creatures who want nothing more than power and once they obtain that, they want more"

I spread out my legs in the small cage sighing. I had never met the king of Vampires personally, but Abigail would often tell me stories about him.

"Their current king is King Alec Diarnov the fifth, a pure blood vampire"

"Pure blood?"

"Yes, meaning pure bred with no form of ancestry other than vampires, as a Diarnov he is quite powerful. More on that late," I sashayed taking another bite. "Vampires" he repeated as if tasting the word on his tongue, "but how do they live if there soulless?"

I grinned chewing rather loudly, "well, there's this quote, from a good book, I read once 'what is it to a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul?' The answer is what they have become, thriving on power and riches, but after a few thousand years of nothing but money, money, fame, and more money, you get kind of tired, that is why, although power is what they all crave, a soul is what they desire the most. And if they can't replace theirs they become bitter and angry and most importantly, dangerous"

"What do you mean if they can't replace theirs?"

I grinned, "let me tell you about Vampires, unlike the stories you've heard, Vampires were created as warriors, agents that thirsted for blood, in the olden times, they even served as protectors, of course then, the Goldens used to rule, and nothing ever really was a threat."

"I don't understand"

I sighed, eyeing the boy who was looking at me in wonder.

I guess though he was a dragon he didn't even know how powerful his own race was.

I wondered how much he even knew about the others species.

It's a Scary thing to be ignorant.

No wonder he craved knowledge.

I debated if I should tell him of the origins of the true blood vampires, I myself was one of the lucky few who possessed this knowledge after Abigail, Anna and I uncovered an old book in the former great witch Emma's, library. Secrets of the Balance.

Written in the ancient tongue of Liria a language close to Latin, old in itself.

I shook my head slowly.

I felt a touch on my shoulder and looked up to see Yohan's pleading eyes.

"Yohan!" Someone called.

He glanced behind him, his face turning sour with sadness.

"Tell him" a voice said inside my head.

Did it sound like peanut? (Death).

I looked around, and I could have sworn I saw his light brown eyes staring back at me from outside the cage before it disappeared into nothingness.

Yohan grabbed his helmet fixing it on, preparing to get up but I took a hold of his leather armor nudging him gently "Come back tonight, I shall tell you of the secret" I spoke softly.

He turned to face me with wide and grateful eyes before standing up and walking away.

"It better be for a good reason, peanut" I muttered as I watched him leave.

After three hours, I was as board as hell, my head leaning against the cage as I picked at my fingernails.

Very soon it would be night fall.

Suddenly it darkened and I looked up to see a tall figure looming over me.

I shuddered adjusting my eyesight to see who this beast of a man was, blocking my sunlight.

I came face to face with my murderer.

That's right, the one and only Tar, or so they called him who slit my throat without mercy.

I gulped slowly as his eyes seemed to burn through me, trying to read into my soul.

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"My son," he began.

I nodded 

He paused, "Abigail, she will take care of them won't she?" He asked solemnly, his eyes unreadable and his face not bearing any emotion.

"I've never seen Abigail care or love someone as much as those two little boys. They are more than safe with her," I assured him.

He studied me for a second, his hands behind his back as if trying to see if I was telling the truth.

A few seconds later he walked away without saying another word.

I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding.

An hour later, I had my dinner, surprisingly it was bread, some cheese and warm milk, which I was more than grateful for.

As the sun set, it grew colder and darker, I was then transferred to a cage in a tent.

I guess that was their idea of being thoughtful.

Nevertheless, I counted it as a blessing, at least I was out of the cold.

I was currently dozing off, my head against the bars when I heard someone walk in the tent.

I figured it was probably another guard checking to make sure I was still in my prison.

Someone cleared their throat, and I immediately opened my eyes.

Yohan.

He was holding some blankets and a think jacket which he handed over to me.

"Thank you guard," I replied slipping into the warm fur jacket.

"I'm not a guard, a soldier, head of my troops actually, and again the name's Yohan," he returned sitting down in front of me, with a slight smile.

I nodded, "a soldier, I will be sure to remember that," I paused eyeing him carefully, rubbing my hands to create heat.

"Let me" Yohan offered.

Suddenly the room grew warmer.

I raised an eyebrow at him.

"Fire dragons can release substantial amounts of heat," he explained.

"You're a fire dragon?"

"A sub species of it, yes, I can breathe fire, but unlike other dragons, I can survive damp conditions, and breathe under water,"

"What kind of species is that?"

"Loch, my dragons rare, the only other is my little sisters,"

I nodded as the heat traveled up to my icy fingertips.

"You want to know the origin of the vampires?" I asked

He nodded, his eyes holding excitement.

I chuckled, "well then I might as well start from the beginning,"

He growled as if to say yes as he watched me in anticipation.

"Much like we witches, vampires were quite human, in the early ages during the days of the Balance, or the Golden age, when the golden dragons ruled, we, our ancestors roamed free and without abilities.

We were all quite human, just like those in the Neut realm, more in twine to nature but still mostly human.

Back then, there was a clear demarcation between Good and evil, the golden dragons were good, and the demons and devils were evil.

However, the balance of good and evil in this realm was relatively equal.

There were less wars, less deaths than of now where the balance has been destroyed, where death is common, and people go to bed with one eye open.

Nevertheless, in the times of the Balance, though good was plenty, the demons and the devils caused havoc, raiding villages here and there looking for souls and blood?

One village in particular lived a certain boy known as Gavin Diarnov, he was the only survivor of the demon raid on the village, his friends and his family had all died, and he was the only survivor.

Taken under the wing of the first golden dragon Feron, he was brought up in combat, his life dedicated to training and serving the Goldens and later as a protector, to help other villages against meeting the same fate as his own had. And he did, serving faithfully, his goal, to eradicate all demons from the realm. It became his obsession.

His purpose was almost fulfilled until one day, during a battle against a higher rank demon, he was badly injured, his life laying in the balance between life and death.

He cried out to the Goldens for help, but it was his time to die, hopeless he lay there awaiting death until he was visited by a devil who saw opportunity.

Alas, the one thing that he feared, was death, leaving this world, alone like the way he was left when his family died.

They say the devil was hades himself, striking a deal with him, a life of an immortal gifted with unimaginable power from the place of darkness in exchange for his soul. Now they are levels of souls, those that have great power, ones we call pure souls. A soul like that of Gavin's yielded great strength for its bearer.

This however was not known to him as he accepted, in a bid of a life or death, most choose to live..

And he chose to live forever.

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So, his soul was taken and corrupted, turning its pure divines into darkness creating the first true pure blood vampire, a Diarnov.

What the demon had not informed Gavin of was since he did not have a soul of his own anymore, his spirit was left broken, his Trinity destroyed.

"Trinity?"

"The three parts of a being. Spirit, soul, body, if one is taken the others fail to function as should be, his spirit needed a soul, in order for him to live on"

I shuffled in my seat; I get uncomfortable with these sort of things.

"So in order to sustain himself, he needed a soul, of course he couldn't just get a soul, no instead he had to drink blood to sustain him, staring first into the eyes of his victim, to take a glimpse of their soul, which he yearned to have and then take a piece of it, nothing large, but enough to sustain him for his next kill.

Going for days without blood drove him crazy his spirit in search for his lost soul, making him go on a killing spree, a term now described as blood lust, something that happens especially to the newly turned Vampires. After they lose their soul, there spirit searches desperately for its other half which of course is gone, sucking the life out of its victims, in a desperate attempt to recover its soul.

However, turning a human to a vampire was more rewarding as you get to in some ways steal there soul from them for a short period that way cooling you blood lust for weeks.

But drinking blood in itself has side effect, anything to do with blood, whether in ritual or any place else has a connection to the darkness.

As he drank, the more power hungry he got, the more jealous, greedy, and evil he molded himself to be.

Turning and sucking locals here and there, promising them the power to defeat the demons with their unearthly strength, abnormal speed, healing, and immortality.

Many were turned, all seeking power, all corrupted, it became an epidemic, until enough was enough, the balance was slowly shifting, causing the golden dragons to replace a solution." "The dragons? How did they help?" Yohan asked clearly intrigued by the story.

"The Goldens were beings of immense power, but you do know where their power comes from don't you?"

Yohan nodded, "the sun,"

"Yes, arguably the mother of the gods, the first god, so speaking. The light. Erania meaning "

"Grandmother" Yohan replied absentmindedly.

I nodded, "The vampires had been deceived by the darkness, and the only thing that could help them, save them from eternal damnation was its counter, the light. Diarnov rose against the Goldens, but lost utterly, his descendants and newly turned spread across the realm.

He was banished, away from this realm to another realm, taking yet another piece of his Trinity, his body so that his spirit was left to wonder the other realms, harmlessly.

But still they were other vampires he had turned, all overrun by blood lust, those who couldn't handle their rage became rogue killing for fun.

Till a solution was given, by Erania, through the first golden dragon, her son, Feron.

They managed to somehow duplicate the lost souls of all the vampires that were turned, and those being turned.

These souls were placed in bodies without spirits, and all their lives they roamed the earth looking for their counters.

They called these beloveds, many translate these as soul mates but in truth, these are the replacement souls, the only true chance of a vampire's redemption.

Once they replace there beloveds, a vampire dedicates his life into guarding his soul with all his might.

If their beloved dies a vampire's alternative is death, because a spirit cannot take losing its essence twice. Those that live on are the pure embodiment of evil. They have no redemption. The most dangerous kind.

However once they have their beloved, most vampire's stop their evil ways as their spirit intertwines with their beloved unless the soul is soiled, with darkness already.

If not, vampires do not need blood from anyone else but there beloved, hence their beloved becomes there life, without their beloved vampires become ruthless and cold, and the longer they take to replace their beloved the more dangerous, and sour they become."

"So, the king of these vampires has not yet found his beloved?"

I chuckled, "unfortunately, it is unheard of for a pure blood vampire to have one, Gavin was banished, and his body taken away from him, there has not been any record of any true vampire with a beloved.

Fall in love, they might, but not to the other with their identical soul, it is quite hard to replace a pure soul, you see, but luckily pure breeds have more control over their blood rage than normal leeches." I explained leaning my head against the

cage.

He nodded, "so no one's heard of Diarnov since?"

I sighed, "I wish, if it were so, the vampires would not be selfish, and there wouldn't be new freshly turned vampires running through the realm, legend has it he stumbled across a realm with beings close to us"

"The human world"

"Yes, the bastard, created deals with the people who were dying from numerous amounts of diseases, turning them by masses, rabies to mention one, the first he turned was a man called Ambrogio, another pure-bred vampire clan." "How many are their?"

"Three to be exact, Diarnov, Ambrogio and Grossowa"

I yawned stretching.

"Is that all?"

I looked up at him, "of course not, I am not a vampire expert but there are still a few things you must know, however since the basics have been covered we must save it for another time"

He agreed, "The werewolves?"

I laughed "one at a time boy, you learned something today, treasure that"

He grinned getting up, "I must leave you to rest then. You must be tired"

I nodded. My head nodding off.

"Goodnight Michael,"

"Goodnight.... Yohan".

I breathed out watching as he slowly he walked away just as my eyelids closed.