Chapter 2747: Story 2748: The Missing Blood

The enormous eye stared directly at Ronan.

His red sword trembled in his hand. The symbol carved into its blade darkened until it became completely black.

“What do you want from me?” Ronan shouted.

A voice rose from beneath the mountain.

“WHAT WAS STOLEN.”

The chamber shook violently. Lyra grabbed a broken pillar as stones rained from the ceiling. Elias shielded Aren while Darian’s violet crown flickered above his head.

Cael stumbled backward.

“No,” he whispered. “It cannot be.”

Ronan turned toward him. “You know what that thing is?”

Cael’s violet eyes fixed on the abyss.

“I thought the fifth blood had been erased forever.”

Kael tightened his grip on his weapon. “Erased by whom?”

“Your mother,” Cael answered.

Ronan froze.

“My mother?”

“She discovered that the fifth blood possessed something none of us could control. We could command the dead, destroy kingdoms, seal ancient prisons, or inherit power. But the fifth blood could command the source of everything.”

The eye narrowed.

“RETURN MY BLOOD.”

Suddenly, Ronan’s sword tore itself from his grasp and floated above the fissure. Black veins spread across the blade, and a woman’s whisper escaped its steel.

“My son, remember the night you were born.”

Ronan gasped.

His mother.

A vision consumed him.

He stood inside a burning chamber. His mother cradled a newborn while his father fought something beyond a shattered doorway. Five cradles surrounded them, but one had been broken apart.

A child lay inside it, wrapped in black cloth.

His mother pressed her bloody palm against the infant’s forehead.

“You must never remember him,” she whispered.

The child opened his eyes.

They were identical to Ronan’s.

The vision shattered.

Ronan fell to his knees, breathing desperately.

Lyra rushed beside him. “What happened?”

“There was another child,” he murmured. “My mother knew him.”

Darian approached, violet light gathering around his fingers.

“Was he the fifth blood?”

Cael shook his head.

“No. The fifth was never truly one of us.”

A terrible cracking sound emerged from the fissure.

Cael’s expression drained of color.

“It wore a child’s face so our mother would protect it.”

Elias raised his hands, black energy swirling around his arms. “Whatever it is, we destroy it.”

The abyss exploded.

A colossal armored figure rose from beneath the mountain, wrapped in ancient chains. Its pale armor was covered with symbols identical to those carved into Ronan’s sword.

Every dead soldier bowed.

Even the enormous creature lowered its head.

Darian’s crown burst into violet sparks.

The armored stranger extended one hand.

“MY BROTHERS.”

Aren’s silver light vanished. Elias staggered as his black energy disappeared.

Cael dropped to his knees.

Ronan retrieved his sword and pointed it toward the stranger.

“You are not my brother.”

The figure slowly removed its white mask.

Beneath it was Ronan’s face, older and scarred, with hollow eyes that burned red.

The stranger smiled sadly.

“I am what remains when the fifth blood awakens.”

He stepped forward.

“And this time, little brother, I have come to kill you.”