A Blood Heir

Chapter 1- Dead End

Place: Krystan

Memories were the soul tormentor of Hunter Rudolf Dragon. Even when he tried, he could never take away their power over him, they were his worst kind of enemy.

Sitting on the throne in the vast throne room, legs straight, hands resting on the manchette, back against the splat, he endured the pain as his father and two brothers’ faces swirled through his mind. It was three hundred years since his youngest brother Teague died but it felt like yesterday. For a semi-immortal, the loss of his family would torment him for all eternity, that’s if Marek wouldn’t hit him with a poisoned arrow, or maybe the coward would be male enough and kill him the old-fashioned way, chop off his head.

His thoughts trundled him to the beginning of his anguish, five hundred years ago, when his father died from Death weed poisoning. A weed that had been prohibited and eliminated twenty-five centuries ago, apparently it hadn’t and had found its way to Marek’s hands.

Hunter cursed nature for letting that plant be the Krystanians’ weakness. He didn’t agree with the old ways of using the Death Weed poison to execute criminals but it was better than using it to kill Krystan’s heirs. Everyone deserves to live their semi-immortal life to the fullest, even criminals. Only Krystan’s crystal could decide when one’s semi-immortality was long-lived by rejecting their body.

The crystal was the source of his people’s power. It was their semi-immortality life source. Their blood and body siphoned its power to acquire supernatural abilities. Without it, for a couple of years, one’s metabolism would become like that of a mere human.

He sank deeper and deeper letting his worst failure eat him up. He hadn’t been able to protect his younger brothers after his father’s death, and now, the only family he was left with was his mother.

He considered all his subjects as family. Their loyalty, respect, and love for him had earned them that accord but they could never fill the void.

A burst of energy shot off his heart and flowed through his veins. With a determination that would take death over failure, he vowed to protect his mother at all costs. He vowed he would fight to his last breath to ensure Krystan never fell into the wrong hands.

Hunter channelled the bad memories and his father’s teaching to help him keep going.

Have the spirit of a child, yet the nobility of a true warrior, always protective and kind. Stay on the road that is empathy and compassion. Be determined, brave, and love with all your heart.

But one fear refused to depart from him, the fear that the Dragon family line would die with him, and the attempt on his life two days ago wasn’t helping. The mystery of the Krystanian females’ infertility was making him sleepless. Specialists said the planet’s climate had changed and affected females’ fertility. Their effort to solve this problem wasn’t bearing any fruit.

“Stay alive,” he muttered under his breath. Until his plan fell into place, this was his slogan. He didn’t have to wait for long now, he was almost drowning this fear. That’s the reason he was sitting under this canopy, surrounded by elaborate pomp, on the chair carved of fine oak, and crested with an image of a dragon. He was waiting for news from Cade.

From the raised marble surface with steps, Hunter watched the pair of four-meter-high oak doors on the furthest end of the throne room fling open. The doors revealed the figures of two of the three Krystanians he trusted most.

He watched them hit the marble floor as their feet ate up the long distance between them and the throne. Large pillars supporting small balconies with numerous windows stood on each of their sides, these pillars ended a few meters from the throne. Above them, the roof stood high with large gold and crystal chandeliers hanging from it. To their background were golden-coloured walls.