House of Blood

The shadow-thread coiled around the bedpost like a silent viper, rising toward my throat.

’Don’t blink,’ Wren’s voice echoed in my mind, razor-sharp. ’It’s a Soul-Carved Shadow Probe. If it touches your skin, it will read your mana flow and report your awakened core straight back to its master.’

I didn’t panic.

I didn’t even draw a blade.

Instead, I focused a microscopic drop of my freshly awakened dragon blood into my right index finger and tapped the wooden frame.

Tick.

A tiny, invisible ember of black flame—courtesy of Wren’s entity status—transferred from my skin to the wood.

The moment the shadow-thread touched the ember, it didn’t explode or hiss.

It was silently swallowed whole, devoured into nothingness.

” FOREIGN SOUL-MANA CONSUMED ”

” TRACKING CONNECTION SEVERED ”

Miles away in the Sec estate, whoever held the link just experienced a sudden, painful burnout of their scrying spell.

”They’re getting impatient,” I muttered, pulling my hand back. ”Garren knows my baptism is tomorrow. He wants to confirm I’m still a dud before I enter the subterranean lake.”

’Then let’s make sure tomorrow shocks him to his very marrow,’ Wren purred from the blindfold.

---

The next morning, the air deep beneath the central estate was thick enough to choke an ordinary human.

The Blood Crucible was a subterranean cavern cut from black volcanic rock.

Down in the center lay a vast, bubbling basin of crimson dragon blood—the very lineage of our ancestors.

Every child of the Prim family was brought here at ten years old to endure the baptism.

Those who survived absorbed the ancient blood, unlocking the first stage of the Blood Weapon Art: Dragon-Vein Ignition.

In my past life, my soul-curse acted like a steel wall.

The blood couldn’t enter my veins, burning my flesh to a crisp while leaving my core empty.

I was dragged out half-dead and disgraced.

Not today.

”Are you certain about this, Valerian?” Vespera’s voice echoed softly in the cavernous gloom.

She stood beside me on the stone ledge overlooking the boiling lake.

Behind us stood my five other siblings, their heavy auras creating a protective perimeter around the cavern entrance.

”I’m sure, Sister,” I said, my voice steady despite my small frame.

”If the pain becomes too much, scream,” Caelum—my second eldest brother—called out, his massive arms crossed over his chest.

His red eyes flickered with genuine anxiety.

”Don’t try to be a hero, kid.”

Vespera placed a hand on my shoulder, her fingers trembling slightly.

”Go. We are right here.”

I took a slow breath...

...stepped off the ledge...

...and plunged straight into the boiling red lake.

SPLASH!

The heat hit me like a physical hammer.

It felt like liquid fire trying to force its way into every pore of my skin.

In my past life, this was where the agony began.

’Open the gates, kid!’ Wren’s voice roared in my mind.

’Don’t fight it! Let me channel it!’

I unsealed my inner core.

Without the Medeis soul-curse blocking my spiritual veins, the boiling dragon blood found an open floodgate.

It rushed into my body like a surging river.

” ABSORBING ANCIENT DRAGON BLOOD... ”

” PRIM SANGUIS LINEAGE RESONATING ”

” DRAGON-VEIN IGNITION: 20%... 50%... 90%... ”

My lungs seized.

My veins bulged against my pale skin, glowing with a bright, incandescent red light beneath my flesh.

My heart—already carrying three times the blood volume of a normal human—began to beat with a thunderous, heavy rhythm.

Every beat sent refined dragon blood surging through my newly awakened veins.

” DRAGON-VEIN IGNITION: 100% SUCCESSFUL ”

” BLOOD WEAPON ART – STAGE 1 UNLOCKED ”

BOOM!

A shockwave of dense crimson aura erupted from my body, blasting the boiling lake outward and crashing against the cavern walls.

The crimson waters spiraled into a violent whirlpool with me at its center.

Dragon blood poured directly into my skin, rapidly draining the ancient basin.

When the mist finally cleared...

...I stood alone upon the drained stone floor.

Steam curled from my shoulders.

My heartbeat echoed through the cavern like the slow strike of a war drum.

I bent my knees—

—and leaped.

My ten-year-old body shot thirty feet into the air before landing silently on the ledge directly before my sister.

Vespera stared at me.

Her crimson eyes widened.

Her lips parted.

”Valerian...” she whispered.

She dropped to her knees, grasping my arms as dense heat radiated from my core.

”You... you absorbed the entire Crucible.”

”I told you, Sister,” I said softly, giving her a faint smile beneath my blindfold.

”I’m not weak.”

Tick.

Tick.

Tick.

My newly ignited bloodline senses caught a subtle vibration running beneath the obsidian floor.

It was a delayed soul-carved rune.

A Medeis demolition spell hidden inside one of the Crucible’s primary support pillars.

” WARNING: UNSTABLE SOUL-MANA DETECTED ”

” STRUCTURAL COLLAPSE IMMINENT ”

” DETONATION TIMER: 10 SECONDS ”

Garren hadn’t just come to watch my baptism.

He had rigged the subterranean cavern to bury the entire Prim bloodline beneath the mountain in a carefully staged ”accident.”

I tightened my grip on Vespera’s silver chestplate.

”Sister,” I whispered.

”The pillars are rigged.”

”We have ten seconds.”