[Reward: Clear the Bandit Stronghold (1/1): +0.1 Speed]
[Reward: Defeat the Bandit Boss (1/1): Blood Ring]
"Blood Ring?" Ali thought as his sharp eyes narrowed. The name glinted on the interface like a mystery begging to be solved. His gaze flicked toward the chaotic ruin of the blood-soaked hall, where torn limbs and crumpled corpses of slaughtered bandits still painted the broken floor. Oddly, the item hadn't materialised in his inventory like most others.
'There's not even a description…' Ali thought. He navigated his interface again, swiping through for any hidden detail—but the Blood Ring remained a blank entry. No stats. No class. No grade. Just a name.
That's when something odd caught his attention.
His eyes scanned the floor more deliberately this time, looking through the crimson wash that drenched the stone. 'There should be more blood…' he mused silently, his brow furrowing. 'Did Shadow drink it? That gluttonous bastard…'
Ali stepped forward slowly, his boots crunching lightly on bone and debris, and then crouched.
There—just beyond the edge of a broken ribcage—was a glimmer of faint gold, barely visible through the congealed crimson puddle. His fingers reached down and brushed it clean.
He plucked it from the blood with two fingers.
The ring was light. Simple in form. But it radiated something undeniably ancient.
His black eyes focused on the carvings etched into the golden band—ten engraved symbols in total, each one almost microscopic, yet so intricately carved they seemed more grown than made. Of the ten, nine glowed a faint blood-red. Only one remained dark.
Still, no information from the system. The interface remained stubbornly silent.
Then—BURN.
Ali's right wrist suddenly flared with searing heat.
His eyes sharpened instantly. 'It's the ring…' he realised. 'The Origin. It's coming from this thing.'
As he moved, the ring's glow shifted subtly. It was reacting to direction—like a compass drawing toward something unseen. When he turned his body toward the throne at the far end of the ruined hall, the burn intensified.
Ali rose, gripping the ring more tightly as he slowly approached the towering red throne wrapped in tattered banners and soaked fabric. With every step he took, the heat on his wrist climbed higher, until it was no longer just pain—it was pressure, screaming for his attention.
He stopped just in front of the bloodstained dais.
The sensation reached its apex. The ring in his hand began to shake violently—then glow with a deeper intensity. The nine red-lit symbols began to liquefy before his eyes, turning into molten blood that crawled around the ring's surface with supernatural speed.
That blood pooled toward the tenth symbol—the dormant one—and ignited it.
STAB.
Without warning, a razor-thin spike of hardened blood erupted from the ring and stabbed directly into Ali's palm. The strike was surgical—precise. A single drop of his blood was extracted instantly.
It was so fast, even Ali didn't react in time.
But it didn't end there.
His body locked up mid-movement, his mind racing to catch up. The ring had moved faster than his battle instincts. Faster than even the Force sense could predict. It was drawing his blood—controlling it—like it owned it.
His eyes widened slightly. 'This is wrong…'
Time slowed in his mind, and the thoughts came crystal clear:
'I'm fucked.'
He didn't blink. He didn't breathe. He just stared at the ring—still pulsing now with a heartbeat of its own.
The red light surged.
RED.
Every symbol on the ring turned blood red.
"BLOOD RED—" Ali's mind screamed—
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM
The explosion rocked the fortress.
A crimson shockwave tore through the air, bursting out from the throne in a circular blast of raw power. The blood in the hall lifted off the ground like it had been magnetised, spinning in a violent spiral. The stone beneath the throne cracked and fractured. Vibrations traveled through the foundation of the castle, causing shattered weapons and bones to tremble and collapse across the floor.
Outside, birds scattered from the nearby forest canopy. A gust of red air surged from the clearing and into the trees, swaying trunks and shaking branches.
At that exact moment, far outside Fort Stork, something else stirred for the first time in a long while.
A black carriage, pulled by two immense black horses with red-dyed manes, rumbled its way down the worn path leading into the village. The wheels creaked under the weight of the reinforced cabin, and twin banners hung from its corners, stitched with a crimson emblem—one too faded to immediately identify.
Behind the carriage, two armoured knights followed on horseback. Their black-plated armour reflected the midday sun in sharp glints, and their visors were down. Even from a distance, their posture screamed one thing: nobility.
The villagers, in the midst of rebuilding homes with sweat on their brows and tools in their hands, turned with surprise. Some climbed down from rooftops; others looked on in confusion. It had been ages since any noble set foot in these lands—much less a procession of this kind.
Children peeked out from doorways, and women paused their work helping their husbands with the rebuild.
The figure inside the carriage, hidden behind a half-pulled black curtain, observed the humble settlement.
Not a single word escaped from the hooded silhouette's lips.
The Knights, proud bearers of the insignia of House Nolan, surveyed their surroundings with a daring glint in their eyes. They were near the pinnacle of power in these parts, both level two aura knights.
At the gate, the three brothers exchanged nervous glances. They were unsure of what to say to the waiting knights, fearing that if they tried to force entry, the knights might kill them.
'If we let them inside without hindrance, Lord Ali might kill us,' Tel thought, torn between two options.
A creak echoed through the air, and the gate opened. A hooded figure emerged, causing both knights to instinctively reach for the hilt of their sheathed swords. They cautiously studied the figure, their senses on high alert.
"I can't sense any aura from him," one of the knights whispered to his comrade, who nodded in agreement. Despite their lack of aura, both knights couldn't underestimate the danger emanating from the figure.
"Lord Ali is away at the moment," the figure spoke to the knights. "You can speak with his advisor or return at another time."
One of the knights approached the carriage and reported to Lady Nolan.
"I'll speak with the advisor," Lady Nolan replied, her smile polite.
"The Knights do not enter the Fortress; they remain in the courtyard," the hooded figure declared, his voice unwavering. Blue aura gathered on the hilt of both knights' swords, and small air shockwaves spread out from them.
"You dare?" one of the knights shouted, but he was interrupted.
"My knights will wait outside," Lady Nolan answered, stopping her knights from causing a scene.
The hooded figure turned around and pushed open the gate into the courtyard, where Sarina waited with the young maid at the fortress's doors. The carriage stopped, and the coach opened the door for Lady Nolan to step out in her elegant dress, leaving the hood in the carriage.
The knights looked at her, their eyes showing disagreement with waiting outside. However, they would never refuse her orders. Lady Nolan was known to be feared even more than her husband, the Lord of the house.
"My lady, it is an honour to welcome you to Fortress Stork. I will take you to meet the advisor," Sarina told Lady Nolan, who was surprised the maid didn't bow to her.
"Oh, thank you," Lady Nolan replied and followed the two maids into the old, crumbling fortress.
'It's amazing how it's still standing… Why would any lord in their right mind purchase this land unless they had ulterior motives…,' she thought to herself, having imagined many scenarios on her way here.
"Maid…," Lady Nolan said once they were a step away from the office room.
"Yes, my lady?" Sarina replied.
"Do they not teach etiquette in these parts of the kingdom?" Lady Nolan couldn't remain silent in front of multiple instances of actions she saw as disrespect from the two maids along the way to the office. From the way they stood upright to her to the way they walked, there were many other unacceptable actions from a maid to a lady of high status.
"I apologise, my lady, but Lord Ali doesn't allow certain etiquette with anyone other than him, and I have to follow his words," Sarina answered, and Lady Nolan's eyes sharpened.
"I see," she replied and walked up to the door, which Sarina opened for her.
'He rules with fear and has a large ego. He also doesn't respect those of higher standing,' she made assumptions about Ali without even seeing him.
She walked into the office and was surprised by what she saw. Sitting in the seat behind the desk was a beautiful woman, her beauty eclipsed anyone she'd ever seen before. Next to the office, a small wooden cradle held a sleeping baby.
"Welcome to my office, Lady Nolan," Fiona spoke in an elegant tongue. She exuded an air that surpassed anything Lady Nolan had – the air of someone born high up in society and raised in that environment.
"Of course, forgive my loss for words," Lady Nolan replied. "I wasn't informed that Lord Ali was married with a child, and to such a beautiful lady." She complimented Fiona, who didn't smile and looked at the older woman with her serious gold eyes.
"We're not married, and she's not his child," Fiona replied. Lady Nolan's eyes shot up. 'The situation gets even more complicated,' she thought as the two women began to talk.
Below in the torture chambers, Miles was unconscious in the ice tub, but his digital form watched the camera in the office and listened to the conversation.
[Ali, the wife of Barron Nolan, is at the Fortress speaking to Fiona. Do you want to speak with her? I have a recording of their conversation if not.]
[Ali is everything okay?] Miles sent a second message after Ali didn't respond in ten minutes, which was out of the ordinary for Ali.
[ALI? Do you need help? What is your situation?] Miles sent message after message, but there was no response from Ali.
Up in the clouds, Eldora was swimming in the clouds. Her elemental connection to the winds of this world was growing stronger slowly, but then her eyes dilated, and she used all her strength in her wings to fly towards Ali's direction. Her instincts were burning, and she could feel Death's hand reaching out to her master.
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