Damon grinned despite himself. "Now that’s the stubborn old man I know."
Sylvara let out a choked laugh that sounded suspiciously like a sob. She quickly wiped her cheeks, nodding rapidly. "Thank you. Thank you," she whispered.
Damon uncorked the vial with a soft pop. Carefully, he tilted it and let three shimring drops fall into Artimius’s mouth. The old man’s lips moved as if tasting thunder.
Then Damon lowered the rest of the vial to Artimius’s chest, just over his sternum. As soon as the liquid touched skin, it evaporated into threads of pure light and slipped beneath the surface, vanishing like mist into dry earth.
The change was instant.
Runes not of any earthly language flared across Artimius’s chest and arms, burning white one mont, then deep gold the next. Damon could feel sothing rippling outward from the old man’s body.
Artimius arched, his eyes rolling back for a second as golden filants laced through his aura. His body trembled. But this ti, it wasn’t death clawing at him. It was life, dragged back from the edge and stitched into place with ancient threads.
After what felt like an eternity held in a single breath, Artimius slowly opened his eyes. Not pale. Not glazed.
Clear. Focused. Alive.
"Well damn," he croaked, flexing his fingers. "That tasted worse than anything I have ever put in my mouth, but it seems to have worked."
Damon exhaled a long breath. "Glad you’re alive, old man."
Sylvara collapsed beside her grandfather, gripping his hand like it was the last anchor in the world, her tears this ti of stunned relief.
Damon stood slowly, glancing down at the empty vial in his hand. La Rocha’s voice smugly sounded in his head. "You’re welco."
Damon’s face darkened but he did not care about this bastard right now. His gaze shifted to his family at the distance. There was still the matter of his family. Right now they were all extrely open and vulnerable.
The ice guys were not the only ones running around with blessings. In fact they could be considered the weakest and technically what Robert had probably wasn’t even a blessing.
The sa couldn’t be said for the other big families. Damon would be a fool to believe that their strength was at the sa level as the strength of these people. Except for Artimius, there wasn’t a single talented person in the entire family. Or maybe there were but Robert went ahead and killed everyone before they could fully develop.
Surely, the other families would have sensed so disturbance here and would probably soon co here to investigate in one way or the other.
And Damon did not want to entangle with them just yet. The mories from a few minutes ago were still clearly etched in his mind and heart. There were many things in his world that were beyond his control. He needed to play it more carefully.
The enemy right now could be several tis more powerful than himself. It was not ti yet to face them in the real world. At least not until he figured out when he was going to get his mana core in the real world.
Now that mana was freely available and he was even able to talk to his item spirit, what was going to happen? Was everyone going to get super powers? Was everyone going to awaken in the real world as well? Was the ga world and real world going to rge sooner than expected?
There were so many questions and he did not have answers to any of them. This was definitely not the ti to face any of the other blessed ones.
Damon quickly made up his mind and then spoke to La Rocha again. "Say... since you want to help and all that, perhaps you can do a little sothing for ."
"Of course, what do you need?" The item spirit enthusiastically asked.
Damon grinned. "How about..."
It was La Rocha’s turn to be shocked and gobsmacked. The item spirit shivered inside. "No. No. please don’t do this to . Anything but this. Please. Please. Rethink carefully. I can make everything a lot more luxurious and convenient. Just please don’t make do this."
However, Damon did not budge at all. He was very firm on what he asked.
After a couple of minutes of more begging and pleading, La Rocha gritted his teeth and eventually agreed after Damon snapped at him for wasting his ti.
The item spirit’s gloomy mood was wide in display as the tallic fortress suddenly appeared in the real world. Except this ti, the tallic fortress wasn’t exactly a tallic fortress. It was a castle.
Towering spires jutted upward like obsidian stakes driven into the sky, each crowned with bat-winged gargoyles whose eyes glowed faintly red, watching the surroundings with silent nace.
The central keep rose like a jagged tooth from the earth, its walls etched with runes that shimred a dark crimson whenever mana brushed against them.
Black iron gates shaped like interlocked fangs groaned as they sealed shut, and a bridge ford over the moat that connected the main gate to the entrance. The moat was of course filled with roling blood that filled the space with pleasant blood energy.
The castle was a typical vampire castle through and through.
Possessing such a thing had been the longest dream of Damon and right now the dream was coming true right in front of his eyes. He had created the first bastion of magic in the real world.
He couldn’t stop the grin from spreading across his face. It wasn’t just a ho. It was his fortress now. His sanctuary. His kingdom!
Damon let his hand trail along one of the outer walls as he stepped onto the bridge. The blood moat shimred below, reactive to his presence, rippling with excitent like it could sense its master. Even the gargoyles tilted their heads ever so slightly, acknowledging the one they were bound to guard.
It was perfect!
***
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