Chapter 78 – Conflict

As the dark clouds continued to loom over the sky, Calron remained lying on the ground with his eyes closed and a peaceful smile on his face.

*thud* *thud*

The violent tremors of the ground suddenly woke up Calron and caused him to be on alert.

“What is happening?”

Calron muttered quietly as he keenly observed the direction from where the sound was coming from.

He did not have to wait long, as a massive figure soon appeared within his sight. It was a beast.

After a few seconds, the beast’s shape was slowly revealed to be that of a red bear with flaming fangs. By now, there were only several yards separating the beast from Calron, when it abruptly stopped charging and simply stared at the human boy.

“Who are you?”

Calron yelled fiercely, as a strange unease began to spread over his heart.

The red bear did not say anything, and simply started to step towards Calron.

“Looks like simply talking things over won’t work, eh?”

Calron sighed, as he took on an offensive stance and prepared to engage the beast.

However, just as the bear was a yard away from him, its body started to slowly distort and writhe until it transformed into a humanoid shape.

Within the blink of an eye, a tall red-haired beauty stood in the place of the massive bear!

The woman’s green eyes flashed with a strange light, as she slowly approached Calron. She was just a few inches shorter than Calron and appeared to be around the same age as him.

Prowling sensually around Calron, her finger trailed across his shoulder, as the woman heatedly whispered into his ears.

“Kiss me…”

Calron’s heart skipped a beat the moment he heard those words. His brain seemed to be both confused and excited with the thought of kissing the red-haired beauty.

“Um, uh you see, I d-don’t know who you are, so that won’t be a good idea to k-kiss you…”

Calron stammered out his words, as his heart began to pound against his chest.

“Aww, you are so cute.”

The woman breathed out her words, as she lightly licked Calron’s neck.

“Oh, and one more thing….”

The woman started, as she languidly looked up into Calron’s dark eyes.

In a flash, a dagger suddenly appeared within her hands, and she viciously pierced it straight through Calron’s chest!

As blood seeped out from his mouth, Calron’s dull eyes bore into the woman as he rasped out his words.

“Why?”

The woman stated in a frosty voice, as she coldly glared at the dying boy.

“The Lannisters send their regards.”

~End of Book 2 of TDE~

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Author’s note:

Hahaha, JUST KIDDING! XD

That was the april fool’s joke that I planned for you guys :P I knew everyone would be expecting it on friday and would have their guards up…. and that’s just not fun. So, instead I decided to do mine a few days earlier! I hope you guys enjoyed it, and the real chapter is below (^.^)/

P.S – I’ll be keeping this section up later in future as well, so new readers can go through the same stroke as everyone before them :P

Hearing the loud roar of a beast, Calron immediately sprung back onto the ground in a low crouched position.

“Huh?”

Calron dumbly stared at himself as he realized that his reflexes were abnormally fast, almost instantaneous.

“Interesting… ”

Calron mused, and wondered what other changes his beast side brought to his body.

*RAAWWWRRR*

With an ear-splitting roar, the massive red bear charged towards the human as the orange flames around its fangs transformed into a dark molten lava.

*thud* *thud*

Noticing the large red bear rushing towards him, Calron’s eyes suddenly grew serious and he began to release his essence.

“Sh*t!”

Calron cursed when it occurred to him that his new core was completely empty of any essence.

“I guess I will get to experience the strength of a Vajra stage body sooner than I thought.”

Calron muttered quietly as he slowly stood up straight, and keenly awaited for the red bear to approach him.

Just as the massive bear was two yards away from him, it abruptly stopped and glared intensely at Calron.

“The bird seems to have disappeared… that makes it easier to deal with the human.”

Chief quietly muttered as he noticed that besides the naked human in front of it, the large illusion of the golden bird from earlier had completely vanished.

The dread within the bear’s heart slowly faded away when it realized that it would not have to go against that unearthly being.

“I wouldn’t underestimate me that much if I were you.”

Calron stated with an amused grin.

He did not know whether it was because of his acceptance of his beast heritage, or flying for the first time, or simply talking face to face with his Teacher, but Calron felt a new confidence surging through him.

“What!? You can understand me?”

The red bear asked in an astonished tone while its eyes widened in surprise.

“Yes, I can understand your grunts and growls. Now, why are you trying to attack me? I don’t recall ever offending you.”

Calron inquired as he continued to remain alert against the bear’s movements.

“You are a human, isn’t that reason enough?”

Chief growled, as he opened wide his maw and shot out a ball of molten lava at Calron.

“That’s kind of cool…”

Calron admired the ball of molten lava as he prepared to dodge it.

*crackle*

Suddenly small bolts of golden lightning bounced around his legs just as Calron was about to move.

*zzzzt*

In a blink, Calron was several feet away from his original location.

“The essence… it’s in my muscles!”

Calron realized when he felt the lightning coursing through his legs. Although he was not as fast as when using the Blood Mist Step, he was definitely faster than without using his abilities.

Unlike the Blood Mist Step, this did not affect his essence quantity and he could move like this as long as he had the stamina. However, because he had been continuously shape-shifting for the past hour, his current stamina was dangerously low..

I need to finish this fast.

Calron thought as he rushed towards the red bear with his hand formed into a fist.

“Why are you doing this?”

Calron yelled as lightning flickered across his entire arm.

“Your kind hunts us indiscriminately, and if you are here, then it means that there must be other humans nearby. I cannot let you stay so close to our mountain.”

The red bear grunted as its green eyes glowed with a burning rage.

“This doesn’t make any sense. It has always been you beasts that attacked me wherever I went!”

Calron retorted as hints of anger started to seep into his face as well.

“Humans are selfish and greedy. You kill our children and families just so you can take our magical cores and sell them for money!”

Chief bellowed into the air when Calron’s lightning covered arm struck his shoulder.

“I have seen your kind ruthlessly kill humans as well. My father was killed by one of your kind!”

Calron cried out as the bear’s jaw savagely latched onto his arm and drew blood.

“My tribe has lost four members within the past month to the human soldiers that hunt in these outer mountains. Because of you, we had to engage in the territorial wars against the other Mountain Rulers to move deeper into the Desolate Mountains.”

The red bear panted, as the two opponents stepped back to regain their breath.

“It must be Regis’s men… shit!”

Calron breathed out, as he looked down at his bleeding arm.

Gazing at the scorched mark on the bear’s shoulder, Calron calmly addressed the bear:

“Let’s end this right now. I do not wish to fight with you anymore.”

Calron bore no grudge against this bear, and it was clear that the beast was just venting his rage against him on the account of its fallen tribe members. The bear most likely saw Calron as a threat and assumed he was one of Regis’s men coming here to scout for more beasts to hunt.

“The fight will only be over when one of us dies! Besides, I can tell that your body is already drained of its strength.”

Chief laughed out loud, as bright orange flames erupted from his long fangs.

“Why are you staking your life for this battle? It means nothing!”

Calron asked in confusion when he saw that the red bear insisted on continuing to fight.

“What would you know about struggling to live every day and having to constantly fight in wars just to keep your home?”

The bear spat out, as a low growl resonated within its throat.

Knowing that there was no other choice, Calron forcefully drew forth every drop of strength that remained in his body for a final shape-shift.

“You are fighting the wrong enemy here…”

Calron snarled as golden scales began to slowly cover his entire body.

“W-what is happening? You can’t be… ”

Chief stuttered as he wracked his brains for an explanation to the scene unfolding before his eyes.

*chi-chi*

Calron’s mid-section slowly bent forwards as he started to take the shape of a golden scaled bird.

*SCREEEE*

Calron let out a piercing cry into the sky, as he jumped into the air and flapped his metallic wings.

With his bright azure eyes penetrating the shocked red bear, Calron’s screech echoed within the entire surroundings.

“I am one of you.”