Chapter 23: True Earth Resonance Art, Sinful Mane: Greed Moon

Kren found himself back in the darkness, much the way it had gone the first time he met King Gamade and learned the Summon Spirits of the Wind spell. The same flickering fire he remembered from before still burned in front of him — but this time, he wasn’t alone.

Seated across the flames were two figures, a man and a woman. They bore a striking resemblance to each other, and an even more striking one to Kren himself. He had no idea how many generations separated them, but he knew instinctively that these were his ancestors — blood of his own bloodline. He bowed his head in respect.

"This young one is Kren, last of our household and bloodline. I humbly greet you, ancestors of N’kora."

The man smiled — warm, steady, a quiet stability radiating off him that the darkness around them couldn’t touch. The woman rolled her eyes and clicked her tongue.

"This is neither the time nor the place for pleasantries. You’ve come seeking an art or spell of the darkness and earth affinities." Kren nodded in agreement. She hissed softly.

"I’d call you a fool outright, if I didn’t sense the sheer power already sitting inside you. That’s what’s brought you back to us so quickly — barely any time at all since you learned what might be the single greatest wind spell in existence."

The man frowned at her. "Aren’t you being a touch arrogant? The N’korans are mammals. You have no idea what spells the avians carry — they’re the uncontested lords of the sky and everything within it." The woman frowned right back, then simply ignored him.

"The summoning spell — the only summoning spell the N’kora line has ever held — wasn’t bestowed by the crest. Not by the avians, either. It was given by the Prime Elemental of Wind itself, the spirit that governs and embodies the element. So if I say it’s the most powerful spell in the world, then it is the most POWERFUL."

The man looked ready to argue further, but wisely held his tongue. Both of them turned their full attention back to Kren, and the moment they did, he felt suddenly self-conscious, almost small. The terms they were throwing around were staggering. No one had laid eyes on a Prime Elemental in eight hundred years. These ancestors of his had lived in a world entirely different from his own.

"Ordinarily, each of us would set you a trial before granting you anything from the crest. But you are the last of our bloodline. Should anything happen to you, the N’korans cease to exist, and the crest passes to another feline bloodline entirely — one that would then become the new sovereign of all felines."

Kren’s eyes went wide. As if he’d needed another reminder that he was the last of his line. If he died, someone else would inherit the mantle of feline sovereign — and though neither of his ancestors said it outright, Kren understood the implication clearly enough: it might not even stay within the felines. The dragons. The snakes. Anyone. If he’d needed one more reason not to die, he had it now.

"So we will teach you what we can, and the crest will handle the rest. From there, mastering what we impart falls to you alone. But understand this — the crest will grant you no further art or spell after today. Not until you reach the Second Awakening."

Kren’s eyes went wide again, and this time he visibly shook. The Second Awakening was myth — a realm spoken of only in whispers, said to lie beyond even the Beast Sovereign realm itself. Only eight Beast Sovereigns existed in the known world. To suggest something existed beyond even that felt absurd — two thousand years of speculation since the dragons first touched these shores, and here it was, apparently real. Kren wanted to ask a dozen questions. He needed answers.

"Enough talk, young prince. Now you learn. Keep your focus — we will not repeat ourselves. Let us begin."

Kren lost all sense of how long he spent in that space, this pocket the crest seemed to carve out for the spirits of those who’d come before him. It made him wonder, distantly, what the crests actually were, and how they’d first come into being. In two thousand years, it seemed, no one had truly bothered to ask. But philosophy would have to wait for another day.

So Kren learned. From the man, he came to understand the nature of earth itself — its finality, the absolute trust one could place in it. Earth did not shake or shift its shape; it remained constant, no matter what form it was forced into. It was solid, unyielding — which made the art he was being taught something of a paradox. He had to learn to sense movement through the very stillness of stone. To feel the vibration running through dust, rock, and buried iron. To see without eyes, feel without touch, and turn those same vibrations into a weapon against his enemies. The moment the lesson ended, the system confirmed it.

[Earth Aura Art Acquired: True Earth Resonance]

[The earth is an ephemeral, unshakable entity. It has formed the basis of countless faiths, and now it forms the true basis of your power. True Earth Resonance is an art that makes you one with the earth — able to sense, resonate with, and release its vibrations. This art has three stages of mastery. I. Earth Sense. II. Earth Resonance. III. Resonance Reversal. Mastery allows you to sense your enemies through vibration, cloak yourself in the tremors of their own movement for defense, and finally, project those vibrations outward — triggering localized quakes or channeling them into your weapons for devastating attacks.]

This wasn’t remotely what Kren had expected. Much like his first spell, he’d received what he needed rather than what he’d asked for. He’d been hoping for something with straightforward offensive power, but this — paired with his summoning spell — carried an unexpected, and dangerous, versatility. He felt the knowledge of the art settle into place, along with a strange, persistent itch to kick off his boots and let his bare feet touch the earth directly.

His next lesson began far more confusingly. The woman started by asking about his life — about their bloodline, about the current state of things. Then the questions turned personal: his goals, his hatreds, his wants, the things he loved. Strangely, it felt almost refreshing to talk to her.

For Kren, it was like speaking with a grandmother he hadn’t seen in years — someone calm, kind, resonating with some part of himself he hadn’t known existed until now. It made him wonder, idly, whether his father was out there somewhere too. And if he was — why hadn’t he shown up, either the first time or now? But there was no use dwelling on things outside his control, so he gave himself fully to the lesson instead.

And she opened his eyes. Darkness as an affinity wasn’t unique — plenty of beast tribes carried it, most beasts being nocturnal by nature. But she made him understand that the N’korans, even as a sovereign bloodline, were something different entirely. There was no recorded sighting, anywhere in history, of a black lion living in the wild. Albino lions existed — pure white lions, in fact, a clan that still thrived far to the east, under the rule of an empire governed by the White Dragon bloodline. But black lions were something else altogether.

Apparently, the bloodline had come into being when one of their earliest ancestors chose to accept, and become one with, the darkness inside himself. It made no sense to Kren until she explained further. The darkness inside every person, she told him, was rarely acknowledged, let alone embraced. The black lions didn’t run from sin the way others did. They recognized it as simply another part of themselves — and rather than deny it or pretend otherwise, they chose to embrace it, to master it, to hold the reins themselves. What she offered him was a spell that could summon that very darkness — the darkness within his own soul, within his inner beast — and manifest it into the world.

It drew the darkness in his heart outward and gave it shape as a trait of his inner beast, letting Kren pull pieces of that beast into reality even before he reached the Beastform realm. It seemed almost absurd that such a spell existed at all, but he took the lesson in stride, absorbing everything he could until the system finally acknowledged the gain.

[Darkness Aura Spell Acquired: Sinful Mane — Greed Moon]

[No sovereign stands above sin, or above their own desires. It is in mastering these vices, not denying them, that a true sovereign is forged — for if you can command yourself, you can command anything. This spell draws on your own insatiable hunger for power, empowering your mane with the strength of the Greed Moon. In or out of combat, your mane gains the ability to drain Aura from enemies, allies, and beasts alike. Greater mastery grants autonomous control over the mane itself, turning it into a living weapon of darkness.]

"Your Majesty, are you all right? It’s time for the watch change."

Kren blinked, jolted back to find himself exactly where he’d been sitting, Toa’s hand on his shoulder shaking him awake. His eyes felt dry, and he blinked hard several times to clear them, looking up at Toa in genuine surprise — it had felt like no time at all had passed inside the crest.

"How long was I out?" Kren asked. Toa frowned at the question but answered anyway.

"A little over two and a half hours. Are you... all right, sir?"

Kren huffed, pushed himself upright, and stretched until his back let out a series of satisfying pops, followed by a small groan of relief. "I’m fine. Go wake Aki and Fima for their watch, then get some sleep yourself. I’ll do the same. Something tells me we’ve got a long day ahead of us."

He walked off toward his tent without another word, leaving Toa watching after him, still no closer to understanding the man he now found himself bound to serve. Kren, for his part, pulled up his status page the moment he ducked inside.

SYSTEM STATUS

Name: Kren N’kora Blackmane

Cultivation: First Awakening — Mid Grade (50,000 SP)

Bloodline: Black Lion — Mid Grade (100,000 SP)

Inner Beast: Royal Black Lion

ATTRIBUTES: First Awakening

• Physique: Peak Grade (5,000 SP)

• Mind: Peak Grade (5,000 SP)

• Aura: High Grade (10,000 SP)

KNOWLEDGE:

• Military Arts: Low Grade (5,000 SP)

• Agricultural Arts: Low Grade (5,000 SP)

• Crafting Arts: Low Grade (5,000 SP)

• Commerce Arts: Low Grade (5,000 SP)

• Medical Arts: Low Grade (5,000 SP)

• Love Making: Low Grade (5,000 SP)

AFFINITIES

• Wind: Mid Grade (25,000 SP)

• Earth: Mid Grade (25,000 SP)

• Darkness: Mid Grade (25,000 SP)

TECHNIQUES

• Aura Arts:

I. True Earth Resonance — Low Grade (10,000 SP)

• Aura Spells:

I. Summoning: Spirits of the Wind (North, East, South, West) — Mid Grade (25,000 SP)

II. Sinful Mane: Greed Moon — Low Grade (10,000 SP)

BLOODLINE TRAITS

• Pride Bond: Dormant

• Feline Sovereignty: Active

• Beast Tongue: Active

SOVEREIGN POINTS: 4,000

Two spells and one art. It might not be enough to stand against everything waiting ahead of him — but it was a start, and a formidable one at that. For now, Kren allowed himself to be satisfied, holding onto the hope that it would prove enough for whatever came next. It was that same hope he carried with him as sleep finally, mercifully, took him under.