The Drogen's Law

Fate (Linden)

The crack in the air spread like a hammered mirror. The crack bulged towards Lindon. A pair of small, glowing white hands emerged from the bulging crack. The two hands tore the very fabric of reality apart. An oval-shaped hole hung in the air that led to eternal darkness. A translucent white female spirit stepped out of the hole in reality. The spirit was no bigger than Lindon's palm, but she had a human figure even though she mildly glowed with white light.

Lindon let out a breath he had been holding for who knows how long. He couldn't help but tremble. A spirit had accepted his summons even though it took its blue moon. 'Thank the heavens.'

The spirit wore something like a shirt and skirt, made from, it seemed—her own essence. His spirit was beautiful, even if she was slow. Why did she have to wait so long before accepting his summons? Lindon felt a tinge of anger brewing within him. He didn't want to be petulant, but he couldn't help it. He had been so scared for a minute there.

"Well," the spirit said in a distant, echoing voice. "What are you waiting for? We don't have all day."

Lindon had a powerful urge to grab the spirit by his hand and twist her apart.

Linden scowled. A vampire could not go past the Transition realm without a bond with their spirit. If not for this simple fact, he would never bond with a spirit. He liked working alone. If your achievement and strength did not come from you and you alone then there was no point in trying to grow strong.

Linden stepped forward. He took the needle handed by his father. Using the point of the needle he made a small wound on his forefinger. It was time to bond his spirit.

Linden poured a drop of blood into the spirit's mouth.

"I, Lindon li'Morgan, son of Iroh li'Morgan—sect master of Aether Sect. Son of Freya li'Morgan—Matriarch of Aether tribe, bestow you the name, Riot, and accept you as my bonded spirit."

"I don't know what the name Riot means, but I like it. It has a certain... spice to it," the spirit said.

Lindon just glared at her.

"Ahem! Sorry. I was so excited. I, the hidden spirit of fate shall retain the name you have bestowed me with and accept you as my bonded vampire."

Several gasps rose around London as the spirit finished the ritual. Now that the bonding ceremony was over, showing emotions was no longer blasphemy. Linden himself wanted to hang himself. It was better than what was about to come his way. More assassination attempts. Why couldn't the spirit have waited longer? Perhaps another spirit would have come his way and he wouldn't be in this predicament.

Linden looked around the ceremony hall. Everyone's faces were horror-struck. He groaned. Why did he always have to suffer from the most horrible outcomes?

Bonding a faith spirit was like inviting death to kill you. Having the power to gaze into fate was too dangerous. If the enemies of the Aether Tribe learned about this, every one of them would be out for his blood. Not that they were not out for his blood before, but they would be more tenacious now. He had barely survived a few assassination attempts. How would he even survive hordes of them?

"Father," Linden said in a trembling and very high-pitched voice. "What do I do now?"

"What do you mean by that?" The spirit said.

Linden ignored her.

Linden wanted to dig a Hole and bury himself embarrassed at his high-pitched voice. But perhaps they did not notice how he had made a mistake considering the stupefied faces of the people in the ceremony hall.

His father coughed twice before answering. "I do not know, my son. Father turned towards the ancestor of the tribe and bowed deeply. We will have to seek guidance from the sage of the hidden transformation."

The sage scanned everyone with his eyes to gain their attention. "There is but one thing we can do. We must make an oath pact to hide the nature of Linden's spirit."

Everyone in the hall gave voice to their agreement. Linden let out a breath he did not know he was holding. Hiding the nature of one's spirit would not be too suspicious. Vampires, especially, children of important vampires hid the nature of their spirit. Such a secret could help them win their battles.

"The oath will be tied to our lives." The sage said.

The ceremony hall erupted into voices of disagreement and refutes. However, the sage's next word shut them up. "What? Were you planning on breaking your oath?" Once again, the sage scanned everyone in the room. "Good."

Sage used his spiritual sense to cover his own core before speaking the oath.The oath was simple. If he revealed the nature of Linden's spirit he would die. Everyone followed the sage's example and began to speak the oaths one by one.

Linden was exempted from taking the oath, of course. After all, they were doing this to protect him. One day his life might depend on revealing the nature of his spirit. Besides, it was his life in danger, not theirs. He wouldn't just go announcing the nature of his spirit. He did not have a death wish.

"I cannot believe they are making a death oath because of me. I have never been so flattered before." The insufferable spirit giggled.

Linden did not know whether to laugh or cry.

The elders left the ceremony hall one by one, eventually leaving him and his father alone. His father clasped his shoulder rather painfully and leaned closer to him. "Be careful my son, these are perilous times. Our enemies lurk everywhere. Just... be careful." Father heaved a long sigh before continuing on. "Now that you are 15 you can cultivate. I will have the blood core sent to your room. Cultivate well. I need you to reach the peak of the foundation realm as soon as possible and break through to the transition realm."

"But father I..."

Before Linden could finish his words his father turned and left, hands behind his back. Linden cursed.

Mumbling to himself like a madman Linden followed his honour guards. His bonded spirit Riot zipped around him like an irritating mosquito that you can not catch between your palm no matter how hard you try.

"This is so exciting. It's been so long since I have been to the material realm." Riot said, before sitting in his head, her legs dangling between his eyebrows. "I missed the physical beings so much especially, the animals. Animals are much more funny when you scare them. Once I scared a chicken, and it jumped around crying like a rabid animal as if I was going to butcher it. It was so funny."

Riot rolled on top of his head laughing. Her legs kept on rolling from his one eye to another. It was very disconcerting.

"Why are you still in my head?" Linden said. "It's not a nest and you are not a bird."

"I wish I was a bird," Riot said in a dreamy voice before coming back to her usual self. "I like the height."

"Why don't you go fly off higher then?"

"How can you say that?" Riot said, trying to sound offended, Linden did not believe her tone for one second. "I cannot float around all day long. I tire, I'm a spirit, not a God. So, I will take the highest vantage point I can get without tiring myself. Which, of course, is your head.

"Then why don't you just leave my head and sit on top of the sect building? No one is going to miss you anyway."

Riot cursed at him but sadly didn't leave his head.

"At least, tell me you are invisible to others."

"Of course, I am," Riot said in an exasperated tone. "Otherwise, it would be too difficult to scare people."

Heaving a helpless sigh, he followed his honour guard the rest of the way to his room without saying a single word.