Chapter 468: Choice
Elion pursed his lips, and a worried look flashed across his face. "How is she doing?"
Dorian gave Elion a curious look. "She should be fine," he said. "But she is undergoing something important right now."
"The bloodline trial?" Elion asked. "She told me about it already."
Dorian raised a brow. "Oh? She told you about it, you say? Perhaps I underestimated how close you two are. But is that all she told you?"
Elion frowned. "What do you mean?" He immediately asked. He had a feeling Dorian was only saying that to gauge his reaction, but he could not help responding.
Dorian smiled. "No need to give me that look. She is in no immediate danger. I am simply trying to find out if you understand the gravity of what this trial means to Celeste and to my people."
Elion folded his arms in front of his chest. "I will admit that I do not know," he said. "Now, by all means, please, enlighten me."
Dorian let out an amused chuckle at Elion’s casual tone.
The boy really was not taking him seriously. At least, that was how it looked from where Dorian stood. Maybe this was simply how he was.
Honestly, Dorian would have been tempted to try his luck. Ever since the red moon appeared not too long ago, he could feel an overflowing amount of power coursing through his body. It made him feel as though perhaps, just perhaps, he could match a Saint as he was now.
But as someone who had never reached that lofty realm himself, he did not want to risk it. He did not understand the depths of that rank.
And more importantly, the demon woman had not shown outright animosity yet. As long as that remained the case, he would try to solve this cordially.
Talking things out was the wiser path.
"Explaining can be quite difficult," Dorian said. "So why do you not come and see for yourself?"
Elion’s eyes narrowed slightly, but Dorian continued, "You have caused quite a stir, you know. You cannot impregnate the heir of our vampire clan and not bear the responsibilities that come with it."
"And what responsibilities are those?" Elion asked.
Dorian shrugged. "As I said, explaining can be quite a chore. Why not come with me and find out?"
His eyes settled on Elion’s face. "Do you not want to see how your beloved Celeste is doing?" Elion did not answer immediately.
"I would be lying if I said I am not tempted," he said at last.
As he spoke, he scratched a particular spot on his neck that had started feeling strangely itchy and hot for some reason.
"However, I still have things I need to do here. I was already planning to come and look for her within the next week, so is it fine if we wait until then?"
Dorian’s dark eyes narrowed as he focused his attention not on Elion’s words, but on the spot he was scratching. "She marked you?" Dorian muttered casually.
Elion’s hand paused. "Hmmm. What are you talking about..?" Only then did Elion realise that the spot he was scratching was indeed the same place Celeste had bitten and marked him during her bloodline awakening back at the academy.
He lowered his gaze slightly, using a thin reflective sheen of water to look at his neck. His eyes narrowed into pinpricks.
Two small, concentric punctures had reopened on his skin, and they were glowing a bright red light that burned from the marks, almost like tiny flames flickering beneath his flesh.
Dorian stepped forward. "Why is your mark reacting like that?" His voice had lost some of its earlier amusement.
Dorian did not have a partner’s mark of his own. The romantic life had always eluded him, after all, but even so, he had seen enough vampire marks in his lifetime to understand that this was not normal.
He had never seen a reaction like this.
Elion suddenly groaned as the burning sensation intensified.
His legs weakened slightly, and Zenith immediately caught him, helping him down to one knee with a worried expression.
"What is wrong?" she asked.
"I do not know," Elion said through clenched teeth. "I just feel suddenly weak for some reason. And it burns."
Of course, he was referring to the mark, but what kind of heat would it take to burn someone like Elion?
His physique was already on another level. He was actually a humanoid dragon now, though in part. Any sort of heat should not have been able to affect him easily.
The problem was that this heat was coming from within, and it was not only the mark. His whole body felt like it was on fire.
The system suddenly chimed in his head.
[System suspects that the owner of the mark is undergoing a bloodline awakening.]
[System also has reason to believe that the previous phenomenon of the red sky and sun is related to Mistress Celeste.]
[No need to panic. The effects should subside once the awakening ends.]
’Who could have guessed,’ He thought inwardly as he groaned again, then forced himself to ignore the pain.
"I am fine," he said, slowly pushing himself back onto his feet. "It should go away soon."
Zenith’s hands remained on him, but she still looked at him worriedly, as she used her own senses to scan his body, making sure that he was really fine.
Dorian was now standing right in front of them, studying the mark carefully as well. His expression had become grave.
Elion’s mind was already spinning: Was Celeste’s bloodline evolving again?
Was this red sky really because of her? And if so, did that mean she had successfully completed her trial?
The thought sent his mind reeling. He suddenly became much more tempted to go with Dorian.
If Celeste was undergoing something so powerful that it painted the sun and moon crimson across the world, then waiting another week might no longer be an option.
Dorian seemed to read the change in his expression. "You feel it now, do you not?" he asked quietly.
Elion looked at him.
Dorian’s eyes remained fixed on the burning mark.
"I do not fully understand what is happening either, but if that mark is reacting to her from this distance, then whatever is happening to her at this moment cannot be so simple. If the bond between you two is as deep as I suspect, then I see no reason for you to hesitate and delay for an entire week."
Elion clenched his jaw and looked up at Dorian’s enigmatic abyssal black eyes. He knew the man was right, and honestly, he agreed with his logic.
All it took him was a moment to think about it. It wouldn’t be a problem for him to take the others with him; they could just stay in the Ark.
He had just had to hope he wouldn’t be kept for more than five or so days since he had to go back to Silver Grove for his duel.
Zenith’s fingers curled lightly around his arm.
Dorian lifted his gaze. "So, boy," he said, his tone far more serious than before. "Will you still tell me to wait a week?"
Elion did not answer immediately as he felt the burning mark pulse again, but his choice had already been made.
"Fine," he sighed deeply, "Take me to her."
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