Chapter 16: [Bloodlines]
After the Gherda's match, there were no more interesting fights to watch. Nameless looked patiently for someone he knew from the Sorrow but found nothing.
'Maybe they will appear during the finals…' He thought and quietly left the arena. It was already the evening but still there was some time to go for some sightseeing around the city.
After some deliberations Nameless went for a local library. He had some doubts to clear. – "Ok, you know where our inn is, right? Be careful of thieves, and ice spirits." – Advised Gherda.
"Ice spirits?"
"Yeah, amalgamations of pure cold energy. They usually try to possess their victims…" – Explained the woman. – "But it's impossible to meet one inside the city."
'Now that you've said that, I'll certainly meet one of those things…"
Somehow Nameless became gloomy. 'If something weird and improbable could occur to me, it probably will.'
"See you later."
[…]
There were still some people on the streets but not so many as during the daytime. Also, a lot of warriors after loosing left the city: some by their own feet and some inside a coffin.
Gherda previously explained to Nameless how to arrive to the library so he quickly followed her indications and after a few moments a huge stone building appeared in front of him. 'Oh, it was so close to the inn.'
He entered inside and was greeted by rows upon rows of bookshelves.
'Very fitting for a library.'
"Hello?"
"How can I help you, young man?" – A amiable old voice attracted his attention towards one of the rows. A short and skinny figure appeared from the darkness filled with knowledge.
It was an extremely old man. He was wearing a long scarlet robe. His face was covered by wrinkles and Nameless couldn't figure clearly his feature. Only the old man's eyes could be seen perfectly: black with blood-red pupils.
Once he stared at them for a moment, he found that he could no longer look away.
They were hypnotizing him. Some obscure words appeared inside his head. Suddenly something snapped inside of him. A refreshing wave of energy woke him up from the bedevilment.
"Interesting." – Said the old man. – "My name is Salazar Execrable and I'm the keeper of this small temple of knowledge."
Nameless noticed that he was wet from cold sweat and shivered from a cold sensation on his back. – "I don't have a name. But I'm here to read some general information about bloodlines." – He paused. – "Obviously if you have this kind of information."
The old man looked for a whole few minutes at him. The whole thing became awkward.
Then he slowly opened his mouth. – "This type of information…is something that is usually explained at schools…Even small kids know it. I presume that you have some…particular background to don't know such…basic information."
He was talking with long pauses and meanwhile he extended his hand towards a particularly old book which suddenly flew in his direction. He opened it at the first page.
"If you want, I can explain everything about bloodlines myself or you can read this book."
Suddenly Nameless, while observing the book and the words on the cover, noticed a huge problem with his initial plan. 'Do I know how to read? Yes…but…not in this language…'
"Well…" – He had a somehow embarrassed expression. The old man interrupted him. – "You don't know how to read?"
"I know how to read…" – His voice slowly became mumbling – "But not in this language."
The old man raised one eyebrow. – "Well, what language do you know?"
Nameless unwillingly extended his finger and wrote in the air a few symbols. Unconvinced old man suddenly became tense and glanced at the boy in front of him. After a few moments he could only sigh. 'Such an impossible thing actually happened here...A boy who knows such an ancient language…but this lad was able to free himself from my [Soul Reacher] so…'
"Ok, I'll explain for you some basic things about bloodlines."
Nameless was surprised. 'So, the language I can speak actually exists?!' But after a few seconds he discarded this thought. 'No, he probably just had some pity for me…'
"Everyone who was born in the Broken Ocean has a bloodline. The bloodline is transmitted by parents to their children. I don't think that you're interested in the explanation about the origin of bloodlines so I will tell you only some practical information."
Since the book was unnecessary now, he made it flew back on the shelf.
"A bloodline normally has two phases: static and awakened. Newborn babies usually have a static one. Under normal circumstances it's very difficult to advance to a second phase."
Nameless immediately interrupted him. – "How does one awaken his bloodline?"
"Don't interrupt. I was just about to talk about it." – He scolded the boy then continued. – "Trauma! Trauma is the key to awakening the bloodline."
'Trauma? That's sick…' Thought the boy.
"Only under high pressure, when every single bit of your potential is gathered can you advance." – After that the old man raised his hand and a cloud of black gas appeared on top of it. It was continuously moving until it formed an eye. – "That's a so-called blood manifestation. Everyone has a one and it represent the essence of one's power."
He suddenly closed his hand vanquishing the manifestation. – "The bloodline can grow stronger with time, but one can also specifically train it."
A sudden question made Nameless interrupt the old man again. – "The bloodline is the only power one can have?"
This sudden question made Salazar smile. – "Obviously no! There are so many foreign races in our World, and they have their own power systems and abilities."
"So, what was I talking about? Ah, yes, training. After many years of research there were invented the so-called mantras. Mantra is special technique created to train bloodlines. Well, if you awaken one day you will understand better how it exactly works."
Salazar clasped his hands. – "That's all you should know about bloodlines, boy."
[…]
When he exited the library, it was already dark outside. 'Fortunately, the inn is near.' Thought the boy but a sudden thought made his complexion a bit gloomy. He quickly went towards the inn.
"Ice spirits…where are you? With my outrageous luck you should attack me now…"
Suddenly three hooded man appeared from a nearby dark alley. – "We're not ice spirits, but for you this won't make any difference."
Nameless was strangely calm. 'Just like I thought…well thieves are not ice spirits, but still…' His thoughts were interrupted by some hissing sound from behind the hooded men.
"Booo…diieee…shhhh…Fleeeeshhhhh…"
"Gi…ve…shhhh…your…so…oul…shhhhh"
Three men suddenly turned around but in the next moment a ghostly white flash hit one of them. He fell with a painful scream. Nameless saw a ghostly white skeleton on top of the man. Its bony hands directly entered the man's body freezing the area around the points of contact.
The other two men immediately, without even looking towards their fallen companion, ran in the opposite way.
[…]
'Really? Both in the same time?'
Even if he never saw an ice spirit once he heard the hissing, he was ready to run. Then the spirit attacked, he was already running as fast as he could.
After a few minutes he stopped and went behind the corner of the of some building. 'Maybe they aren't following me but still…'
In the next moment he heard someone's breathing. Nameless cast a quick glance towards the street and saw one of the hooded people running in his direction.
Nameless pulled out his dagger.
The man was some steps away from the building Nameless was hiding behind.
Once the thief appeared in his line of sight…
*SWIISH*
The man heard the sound he was extremely familiar with. One produced than a blade sliced through the air. The next moment acute pain under his ribs made him lose balance for a moment and it nearly made him fall.
After stabbing the man once, Nameless pulled the dagger out and stabbed the man's unprotected neck. The blade penetrated the flesh like a hot knife piercing a piece of butter. A fountain of blood spurted out but Nameless was already running towards the inn.
Only once inside he could let out a sigh of relief.
He went towards the room and opened the door. The first thing he saw was an undressing Gherda.
She turned in his direction. – "Ah, it's you. Everything's ok? Found what you were looking for at the library?"
"Yeah. Some thieves tried to attack me on the way back, but everything went for the best."
"That's a relief."
[…]
On the street a ghostly skeleton slowly approached a dead body on the ground. It stopped just before the corpse.
After a moment the skeleton entered the body.
Few minutes passed and suddenly its hand twitched slightly. When the thief stood up. Two deadly wounds were covered by a thick ice membrane.
He clenched his fist.
"I…ha…ve…retur…ned…"
The voice was very hoarse and didn't came out from the man's mouth.
"I have…to…thank…that boy!" – This time he used the body he just possessed to speak.
An extremely creepy and stiff smile slowly appeared on his face.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone