"Lad, is it true you are the great priestess, Mother Phoebe's son?" asked Ancestor Zak Bond. Ancestor Lucas Queen supposedly leaked this information to him when he was still adamant about surrendering.
Bobby didn't reply straight away. He took another sip of the wine and said, "Maybe. Still, I haven't met my mother yet."
Placing the wineglass on the side, he added, "Alright, let's come to the major business."
After listening to the sincere response, Ancestor Zak Bond sat down on the golden chair and responded, "Good. I'm all ears."
Bobby winked at Elizabeth.
Understanding his signal, she nodded and served a wine cup to Ancestor Zak. After that, she rushed out of the hall with Princess Gracie, interlocking their arms.
Now, only the two remained sitting inside the hall.
After a long silence, Bobby opened his mouth, "Ancestor Zak, I'll cut to the case. I come here for only one thing: the blood crystal."
Ancestor Zak almost jumped up and asked, "So you want me to open the portal to our Forbidden Realm?"
"Exactly," replied Bobby. He saw Ancestor Zak's wearied expression, which he quickly hid in the next second.
"Well, if you're here for the Blood Crystal, you're late by three centuries," Zak said and sighed heavily.
"What do you mean I came late by three centuries?" Bobby asked, knitting his brows. "Did someone have already taken it out?"
"No-no, it's still there, but in someone else's hand. And he is not someone I could afford to compete in terms of strength." Zak replied vaguely.
"Senior Zak, I need more than that," Bobby said, insisting to explain further.
Zak hesitated a bit but swallowed down his saliva twice and continued after deciding, "Well, let me start from the beginning. As I believe, you have already heard about the blood ceremony performed by Priestess Phoebe to us four brothers and two sisters a long, long time ago. That was how we became the Six ancestors of the Six Olden Families. Even after we somehow gained these strange powers, it wasn't smooth for us, as we had gone through a hellish trial; fighting to survive every day from the hunts of Dragons and Phoenix."
He continued looking at the ceiling as if reminiscing about the past. "For a decade, we ran from them and took another decade to understand and hone our abilities to the limits. After that, we went out and waged a war against those mythical beasts; killing each one of them we encountered. And this time, the hunter became hunted and unable to be content with us, so they fled. We even crossed to their worlds, following them, and for fifty years, we terrorized them in their land. One day our youngest brother, and also the fiercest one Noah Darhk came bringing us information that the mythical beasts we were facing here were just some small fries as he had accidentally stepped into an ancient teleportation array and landed in a world that had 450 times the gravity of the earth and he had seen Dragons and other mythical beasts infesting in that world. He returned to break the news and suggested that we should go there. But, but,"
"But what?" Bobby asked briskly.
"But we denied, claiming we should stay to protect our families on the earth, and this was what Priestess Phoebe wanted us to do. So, Noah left alone for the world he found, and from that day onward, he never returns and still does not know if he is alive." Ancestor Zak replied in a moody tone.
"Humph, stop bullshitting with me. I've just come here after meeting Noah." Bobby sneered.
Ancestor Zak laughed dryly and responded, "You're wrong there, my young Lord. That's his clone, not the man himself."
"What?!" Bobby stood up in shock.
"Yep, he left the clone in order to protect his family and the earth." Ancestor Zak further explained, "But it is not just a clone at the same time. Because we clearly show him cutting his left hand and developing it into another version of him using a blood ritual sacrifice, and he even severed one-third of his soul and planted it on the clone. So the clone has everything he has; memories, bloodline, strength, and appearance. And before he departed, he left Six Keys to each one for us, including his clone."
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a rusty iron medallion and said, "This key!"
"The key to open the Forbidden realm!" Bobby added while the latter nodded in agreement. "But why are you refusing to open a portal linking to that realm?" (1)
"I'm coming to that." Zak spoke in a deep tone, "I don't know about others' forbidden realms. But for me, I have zero control over that exoplanet. Ten times bigger than the size of the earth and I have explored only 15% of the land. During my explorations, I encountered two intelligent species known as the Rakshasa Tribe and Nag Tribe.
Nag species were hybrids of upper human bodies and snake bodies below the waist, whereas Rakshasa tribesmen possessed the same features as humans, the only difference being their tan skin and protruding canines. And there are humans there too in the realm which they enslaved and bred for food, labor, and sports.
Yes, three centuries ago, I found a tomb and ventured into it. Because of passing through tons of trials, I got my hands on the Blood Crystal.
Upon exiting the tomb, I met a male Rakshasa and a female Nagin. It is likely that they were married. Anyway, I fought with them for three hours and soon I realized they were getting the upper hand. So, I fled. But they were relentless. Coming after me and another group comprising five Rakshasas also joined the fray to capture me. In their eyes, I was already their slave. So, having no choice, I brought out the Blood Crystal while escaping and observed them.
Having learned that, they were more interested in the Blood Crystal than me, so I threw it at them, and they all fought among themselves for it, so I slipped away, returned, and stopped using the key to open the portal linking to that place from that day forward."
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