The Cliff

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2 power stones to go for a bonus chapter-

***

Flashes of fragmented images danced before my eyes—shattered mirrors, pools of blood, an abandoned palace, and ominous black flames. The images faded as the beast's roar jolted me back to reality.

I struggled to make sense of those visions. They felt important, but their meaning eluded me. The more I thought about them, the emptier I felt, as if a part of me had been stripped away by those fleeting glimpses. Frustration overwhelmed me. I glared at the beetle, agony and anger twisting my expression. This was my breaking point. I felt detached from everything, as if nothing mattered anymore.

In my current state, I wanted nothing more than to unleash my powers and kill this filthy beast. If I were thinking clearly, I'd realise I lacked the courage to see the beetle as weak, much less imagine killing it. But the aura of nobility I sensed in myself seemed to dismiss all my doubts.

I closed my eyes, focusing once again on that haunting feeling. It was something I had once feared deeply. The beetle, intrigued by the irregularity in my powers, watched me with a mix of curiosity and anticipation.

As I regained some control over my abilities, the beetle's insides seemed to churn in response. I was shocked to find that I had finally managed to tap into my powers again. The insect, sensing my shift in strength, began to focus on its internal state, perhaps underestimating my capabilities.

From an outside perspective, one might think the beetle was foolish for lowering its guard. But it recognized the absence of a bloodline in me and felt confident given the power gap between us.

I felt my face grow pale as I struggled to manipulate the blood inside the beetle. My efforts to consume it proved futile. Realising that this beast was beyond my current abilities, I ordered my tentacles to attack its hind legs with all the strength I could muster. The beetle winced in pain as the tentacles jabbed at its tough skin and retreated, wary of the boy with strange powers.

Determined to escape, I dashed deeper into the forest, moving swiftly and glancing at the sky. The beetle, now in a frenzy, charged at me with reckless abandon. I spotted a cliff in the distance and steeled myself for another confrontation.

I slowed my pace to ensure the beetle remained in pursuit, preparing to launch another attack with my tentacles. Although killing the beetle seemed unlikely, I couldn't simply give up. I knew that while it was improbable to make the beetle fall off the cliff, I had to try.

The beetle closed in on me, and with a powerful headbutt, it sent me crashing into a boulder. My surroundings blurred as I lost track of everything. We were on the edge of the forest, in a rocky area with scattered stones and sparse greenery. It was noon, but the moon seemed to hang overhead, in a surreal sight.

The beetle's once-shiny shell was now scratched and battered, while I was left nearly naked and caked in mud. Despite my wounds being minimal thanks to my healing abilities, I was exhausted. Consuming blood had allowed me to heal and regain clarity, but I was nearing my limit.

As I lay there, pain coursing through my body, I wondered if it was time to give up. The thought of surrendering was tempting indeed-

***

The relentless anxiety had consumed me since I first stepped into this forest. My body and mind were pushed to their limits, leaving me in a state where even groaning felt like a distant luxury. I closed my eyes, trying to steady my breathing as I braced for the beetle's inevitable approach.

I surveyed my surroundings, noting the cliff in the distance. It was a dead end, but in this dire situation, it was the only way I could think of to end this madness quickly. I struck my tentacles against a nearby boulder, then sprinted toward the cliff, hurling stones at the beetle to obscure its vision.

The beetle, driven by a primal instinct or perhaps a sense of impending danger, followed me to the cliff's edge. Its survival instincts kicked in as it tried to turn away, but my tentacles continued their relentless assault, pushing the beetle closer to the precipice.

As I emerged from the woods, I focused all my energy on my blood-consuming powers. I directed the blood leaking from the beetle's injured wings toward myself. The beast roared in agony as its strength waned, its body weakening with each drop of blood lost.

With the beetle finally succumbing to exhaustion, it collapsed at the edge of the cliff, its consciousness slipping away. I dropped to my knees, gasping for air. My mouth was dry, and my lungs burned with every breath. My body seemed to have a limit to how much blood it could absorb, and I was on the verge of collapse.

I lay there, feeling my strength drain away. My chest heaved, and my limbs grew numb. I forced myself to calm down, but my thoughts were a jumble of frustration and exhaustion. I checked my system status, hoping for some sign of progress, especially regarding the potential awakening of my ancestral bloodline.

"Was I wrong to believe that consuming blood would help me awaken my bloodline?" I wondered aloud, my gaze drifting to the beetle. I approached it with a blank expression, contemplating the connection between my dreams and the reality before me. "Will I finally understand the meaning behind my dreams of Aanya Astaroth?"

As darkness enveloped the forest and storm clouds gathered overhead, I stood before the beetle, its once-glossy exoskeleton marred and battered. The beetle's eyes opened one last time, glaring at me with a mixture of hatred and resignation.

"Farewell," I muttered, and with that, my blood-red tentacles burst forth from my back, smashing the beetle into oblivion.

The beetle fell quickly, and I waited, hoping for something—anything—to happen. The system status flickered, displaying errors and then a grim message: "No bloodline found."

The storm broke, rain pouring down in torrents, washing away the impurities of the world. The rain mingled with my tears and my anguished screams, but it couldn't cleanse the sorrow that consumed me. My legs gave out, and I knelt on the wet ground, defeated.

In my early days, I had woken up in an abandoned house with no memory of my name. It took weeks, maybe months, to learn about my parents and the fact that I had been abandoned. I survived on my own, eventually naming myself Caedes. I struggled with a strange obsession for blood and was later adopted by a therapist named Theodore.

I clung to hope, even as dreams of another life haunted me. I thought my bloodline and these dreams might be connected. But now, all my hope of awakening a bloodline was shattered. All I wanted was a normal life.

"Why?" I croaked, my voice barely a whisper against the storm's roar.

"Just—WHY!!!" I screamed, my voice echoing through the forest. My nails dug into the wet soil as I demanded an answer. I couldn't live like this; it felt worse than death.

I couldn't comprehend what I had done to deserve this. Why had I been born if I was to be abandoned and left to suffer? This was not the life I wanted.

As the rain battered me and the wind howled, I looked at the sky with bloodshot eyes, supporting myself with trembling hands. Despite the storm's fury, I stood my ground.

My eyes lost their light, and an ethereal aura seemed to envelop me, signalling a change. My shoulders straightened, and my trembling ceased. It felt as though I was no longer the same person and soon, I felt my consciousness fading away.

***