Lars woke up in a harsh jolt, his head felt like throbbing. Tirana who stood by immediately went to the couch where he was laid and offered him a glass of water. Lars gulped the whole thing like his life depended on it."Are you alright?" Tirana asked."I'm not sure how to answer that," Lars said. He looked around and noticed an absence. "Where's Len?""Went out to get some food. You've been out cold all day, Lars. It's 8 PM now."Lars just stared in disbelief. He didn't remember much of what happened during the divine encounter, but he did remember what was being said to him. The experience might be quite taxing for him, but at least Lars had some answers."Does the name Alt'ma mean anything to you?"Tirana was quiet for a while, thinking. "Not at all. Why do you ask?"Just when Lars about to explain, Len had arrived with some plastic bags in hand. Lars gave him a smile for reassurance but Len rushed to his side either way. Tirana instinctively took over the plastic bags

Three weeks prior to meeting Lars and Len, Tirana Al - Samarrai was seething with rage. She had just arrived in Antares, exhausted from tidying up her childhood home's basement workshop, and she knocked a vase containing the last supply of ground black orchid she needed for her synthesis.Black dusts were all over the floor and Tirana was a hair thin from losing it. She tried to calm herself, reciting istighfar over and over. Tears of frustration welled up in her eyes. She knew what she wanted to do was wrong and against the teachings of Islam that she devotedly follows, but she was too far gone to turn back.Margaret's death was the last straw for Tirana. She couldn't bear the idea of accepting her best friend, someone who had been with her since childhood, died because of a rampaging VEIL and not a single VERSE agents are deployed to deal with her killer, to avenge her.Though Tirana did spend her childhood in Antares, surrounded by family of alchemists with deep ties to VERSE,

The First King of Blood Moon was a folklore figure renowned by the Antares tribe of La Shania Mirepa. He was called as such because he was the first that settled in Antares, arriving under the blood moon. The First King was benevolent and blessed with mystical gift that he uses to protect people from turbulent disasters and bloodthirsty monsters. The King was greatly revered that the ancient Antares tribe would often place offerings in a small shrine by the ocean dedicated to him.The sacred offerings were various, from farm crops, leftover food, animal meat or even a small bowl of blood collected from chosen tribe members. The bowl of blood is deemed mandatory to be offered every full moon, and those chosen to offer their blood for the First King were considered as blessed with great honor and called themselves blood bearers.The honor of becoming blood bearers are determined by a series of trials that was done every specific phase of the moon. The trials were conducted in spirit

Lars, Len and Tirana made their way back to the more crowded area of shopping district. They kept looking back and around to identify the potential watcher, but found no clue. Lars had mentioned it could be the old man who just wanted to see the ritual but Tirana wasn't going to risk it."I think we're safe now," Lars said, "now let's find this blue door thing.""Not just a blue door, any door with runes on it," Len added."Okay, but where should we look?"The three craned their necks to every direction, looking for something remotely blue or any possible candidate for the door. They did see the only place in the area with the most blue in it, but it was a place that they deemed highly unlikely to meet an old god."The mall, really?" Len said, voicing the others' mind.Lars audibly exhaled. "At this point, anything goes. Let's go."Lars, Len and Tirana entered the mall with the lowest amount of expectation, but since they didn't have the luxury of clearer clues, they just

The surge of newfound strength in Lars' flaming white aura made him capable to leap twenty feet off the ground. The mermaid - whale monster met him halfway, along with spreading rush of scorching blood. They clashed in midair, creating another shockwave that break them apart.Lars propelled backwards in the air, but he didn't fall. He regained his balance and levitated, stunning the onlookers; Len, Tirana and the monstrous opponent. Lars held out his hand and just then really took attention of the intense aura that shrouded him like a second skin. He felt pleasant warmth of it all over his body, giving him strength like he never imagined before.Lars pointed his sword forward and focused his energy towards it. The sword gained tremendous amount of white flame blazing across the blade. Lars knew what to be done with it, a familiar presence guided him through his evolving instincts. He knew he could do this like he was born with it.Lars let out a battle cry and his sword unleashed