The Ancient Genes

"Crackle"

Darks could cover the sky, and lightning flashed through the sky painting the ground white for an instance. Strong winds blew around, and the only thing lacking in the chaos was the onset of rain.

"The weather sure got nasty pretty soon.." Blinken muttered with a frown as he and Max braced the wind and continued to move ahead.

"Yeah, it all seemed to be calm until a few minutes ago..this sure doesn't bring a good feeling.." Max nodded with a slightly grim face.

"Roar!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Suddenly, a thunderous roar erupted through the opening of the Volcano, and it shook the land and sky alike. Even the thunderclaps sounded like a mosquito's buzz in front of it.

"Aaah!!" Blinken let out a painful groan holding his ears. It was so terrible that his knees couldn't even resist and immediately gave in.

Max on the other side, too, felt a similar pain. But, he immediately released his domain to fight back, managing to decrease the pressure by half.

'It hurts like hell..' Max gritted his teeth as he tried to endure it, and reached out to Blinken to get him under his domain. He knew how destructive this pressure which was crashing down on them was.

But, there was one more thing which Max felt here. There seemed to be another kind of gentle aura which was actually protecting them from the direct impact of the pressure. If not, they would probably be not lucky enough to be even screaming right here.

'The cemeteries really aren't easy to deal with….' Max muttered inwardly as he continued to endure the pain. He knew that the cemeteries liked to test the inheritors. Hence, he knew that giving up now would might as well as end their chances of finding the cemeteries.

After all, Max didn't believe that it was a coincidence that they had just happened to find some clues coming here for the first time when others couldn't even in a thousand years.

He believed that the Cemeteries chose their own candidates too..

It was probably the same for his mother, him, or even the Old Man Sun who was given the artifact.

After all, it didn't make sense that the Ancient Families who had somehow managed to find and take control of the cemetery's gate never had anyone who could successfully go through it and return.

Forcing was probably not the right way, but fate probably was…

'Yeah, now that I think about it..wasn't the entire concept of being Primal Human, and the energy related to fate? At one side, you follow fate and at another you defy it..the two are different sides of the same coin…they are one with another…and incomplete with another...even defying the fate is like a fate in its own..'

Max's knitted brows seemed to ease all of a sudden. In this moment of pain, he seemed to have realized things which he never before had. It was really odd, but life never gave you what you wanted.

Surprise is all what life is about..

And, one sure came today in the most unexpected situation..

In that moment of realization, Max suddenly felt the pressure on him decreasing, and the door which was the way towards the next level began to slowly open up little by little.

His Flow energy which was vigorous and had liquified for over a long time in his body, seemed to react with the changes, and began to revolve around in a crazy manner.

A strange light seem to slowly engulf Max, and a hole seemed to start opening up in the dark clouds above. It looked like a scene from myths.

'Stop, you are not there yet kid, don't rush it..'

A voice suddenly rang out in Max's mind, and he was immediately pulled out of the state, and even his progress came to a stop all of a sudden and the strange phenomenon in the sky immediately disappeared.

When he came back to senses, Max realized that his entire body was drenched in sweat. The roar of the beast was gone, but Blinken was still on the ground groaning in pain.

"Uh.." Max suddenly felt the strength leave his body as he tried to take a step ahead, and collapsed on the ground.

"What the hell was that?" Blinken asked with an exhausted look on his face as he slowly tilted his head to look at Max who was not so far away from him.

"Something we can't handle…." Max replied with difficulty as he tried to relax and regain his energy.

"Even I know that…if we met that thing, it would be our death.." Blinken sighed, "I can't believe something like that has been living so close to us without our knowledge.."

"Want to give up on it?" Max asked as he looked at the sky which was still flashing with lightning.

"I want to, but I won't. I have actually felt a strange feeling from childhood. It was as if something had been calling me all along. And, today, I feel that I am about to discover it. Even if it is risky, I don't think I will give up now. Because if I return now, I will die out of curiosity.."

"It's good then, the worst waiting for us will be death too…so, there isn't much to lose on either side.." Max laughed at it, and Blinken too accompanied him on the fun.

'I can't find what is so funny about talking about your deaths..' Andriel's irritated voice sounded in Max's mind, and he almost bit his tongue.

'I forgot she was here..' He almost wanted to cry inwardly.

Can't a guy have some alone time with his dark jokes. It was not like dark jokes were meant to hurt someone, it was just a joke. It was not like he really was planning to wait for death.

"I know what you are thinking..'

'Stop reading my mind!' Max protested.

'Then promise, you will not speak of death so lightly..'

'Ok..I won't..' Max promised her with a sigh. He could hear from her tone that she was serious about this. And, he too didn't want to mess with her own the topic about life and death. She after all had her fair share of troubles over matters concerning life and death.

'I will be keeping an eye on you..' Andriel still left a warning before going silent.

Max could only let out a bitter laugh at this event.

"Ah! I can get up now.."

Blinken's voice sounded in Max's ear, and he saw that the guy had managed to pull himself back onto his feet.

Blinken then turned his head towards Max, and asked with a smug face, "Are your legs still too weak? I can carry you if you need me too.."

Max's face twitched a little, 'This guy..'

"No thanks..I can help myself.."

Max obviously wasn't going to lose face to the guy, and he too pulled himself up before the two suddenly seemed to have started a sprint to see who would reach the top first.