The Bloodbath Odyssey; I reincarnated to become the cursed

Simma, Sarah, and then Lucy, who had decided at the last minute to follow them, had now stepped out of the citadel.

Simma had never been out of the citadel, not even to the atrium where they stood that evening.

All he knew was that it was a glamorous sight. The open space before the gate that led into the city was busy. To the left were cars that Simma would not believe existed even if he was told they did.

The car was a great masterpiece, its frame smooth and seamless. It shimmered with a faint blue hue under the sun.

The tires, oddly inverted, didn't touch the ground; instead, they hovered mid-air, spinning silently with a faint hum as if drawing energy from the very atmosphere.

Those that weren't on were still floating noiselessly while people worked to them.

Right at the very center of the atrium were young people, very young, almost kids, dressed in black and some in white.

They were fighting each other in training. Black fought white, and all wielded glowing white staffs. Whenever someone was hit, no matter how hard, they didn't feel pain.

Instead, the staff flickered red, and the person hit seemed to lose energy, a function performed by the suits they wore.

They walked toward the gate leading into the city, but then Sarah saw Gwen. She was helping Mr. Chau attend to the horses. Sarah was very happy to see that, since she had tried to cut her eye the last time they met.

And Mr. Chau, a bald-headed short man who walked in hobbled steps, was the last person anyone would like to walk with.

Lucy was still surprised at how he managed to take care of the horses while being half their size and how he had managed to do his job amicably.

He might be short, but he was a Xenon-ranked Fader, and therefore, he could easily appear astride on top of the horses.

He didn't fight in the tournament, but his devotion to his work had earned him the rank up.

Gwen hid her face from them. She had begged her dad, who was a Sentinel, to help clear out her punishment, but it appeared her father respected laws and what Gwen would call his affluent mundane values more than he respected her.

"Pathetic," Gwen would say.

The three walked out of the gate into the city. Simma's eyes shut wide open. The atrium they had just come out from might have been busy, but the city was far more alive.

The street was full of movement, noise, and color. Vendors lined both sides of the narrow road, their stalls overflowing with goods, vibrant fabrics hanging like banners, stacks of fruit glistening under the sun, and trinkets that sparkled with promise.

Marketers shouted over one another, voices raised in a chorus of bargaining and invitation:

"Fresh apple! Two for one!"

"Come, brother, best quality here, at cheap prices!"

Buyers flooded the shops, and passers-by did their best to weave through the crowd. Houses, both big and small, were perfectly aligned, and above them were cars.

They glided on invisible highways, their engines humming with low magnetic pulses.

Some zipped past in flashes of chrome and blue flame, while others descended onto floating platforms and sky-docks tethered to mid-air buildings. Their routes were only visible to those driving them.

They kept squeezing through the crowd until they reached a less busy area where people didn't have to struggle to pass through.

Rows of cozy houses lined the winding streets, each with its own patch of green, carefully kept lawns trimmed and edged. The homes were a mix of brick, wood, and glass, and children's laughter could be heard distinctly.

It was nicer and cooler there.

They kept walking until they reached a signpost that read, "Mind what you see."

"I think we're here," Sarah said, stopping suddenly at the post as Lucy read it aloud.

"Mind what you see… Cozy."

The house was small and wooden, especially when compared to the houses around it. The lawn was neat, and the outside was well maintained.

Sarah ignored Lucy. She felt like she didn't want to come here but had to.

They walked through a small pathway flanked by short rows of well-aligned flowers and went up a few flights of stairs before knocking on the door, which creaked like squelched wood.

Someone opened it slightly, peered through, and then swung it wide open.

He ran his eyes over the three of them. His expression was unsettling.

"Well, after all, she decides to come," he said.

His voice was light and didn't match his tall structure. And his words were allusive and implicit.

His hair was blonde, and he wore a black robe girdled at the waist with a red ribbon.

"Nice to see you too," Sarah chirped.

Simma stared at her. Her expression was ice cold, and he was surprised how it had changed so suddenly. The man's lips curled in a way Lucy didn't like.

"Who are your friends?" he asked, leaning on the doorframe.

"This is Lucy, and this one here is Simma," Sarah replied, gesturing to them. "Can we come in, please?"

"Yea... "

"Thanks," Sarah said before he could finish.

Simma hadn't expected much. The house wasn't big, but it felt comfortable and warm. The couches were in perfect order, and the fireplace, though off, was designed as a moulded gargoyle. Its open mouth served as the fireplace.

The three of them sat on one couch while the man sat opposite them. It felt like a therapy session.

"What do you want?" asked a voice from beside the couch, startling Simma and Lucy.

To their surprise, it was still the man. His blonde hair and black robe were unmistakable.

Sarah didn't seem shocked. It was as if she were attuned to him. She stared at him with a tipsy expression.

"Can you not just scare my friends, Cinzel?" Sarah said bluntly.

The Cinzel that sat in front of them asked, "What do you want then, Resh?"

Simma was surprised. Why did he call Sarah that? Something weird was going on, and he couldn't shake the feeling. If it overwhelmed him, he would ask.

"I want you to help my friend with his Within Beast," Sarah replied.

Another voice spoke, but not from the one who sat opposite them or the one who stood at the door. Another Cinzel stood at the far end of the house, by what looked like a kitchen.

"The Azrax of the Beast… oh, how lovely."

"…And how hard it must have been for you to come and ask," said another Cinzel, standing by the fireplace.

"We're not going to do this here, Cinzel," Sarah said.

"Do what exactly?" Simma pondered. He and Lucy looked at each other, confused. He wasn't sure what they were talking about now had anything to do with the Within Beast.

"But shouldn't we, though?" said another Cinzel, now smirking from beside their couch.

A door to an inner room opened, and yet another Cinzel stepped out.

"Your friends here can be judges," he said.

Simma and Lucy were now seriously confused.

How many twins does this guy have...thirty? Simma wondered. And how are they completing each other's words like that?

"ENOUGH!" Sarah yelled, breathing furiously. "Please". she added calming down

"Are you going to help us or not?"

"Very well, Resh," the Cinzel seated before them said, as the others vanished.

It struck Simma then, those were clones, not the real him.

"Brilliant," he muttered.

"Follow me," the real Cinzel said, leading them through the same door one of his clones had used.

They descended a long staircase into an underground basement. From the house's exterior, it didn't seem like there'd be such a thing.

The basement was a wide, empty space, lit by faint yellow lights affixed to brick walls.

On the floor at the center was a large star of six edges, with candles placed at its six edges. An eye was etched at the center of the star.

Cinzel turned to Simma and, in a calm voice, said,

"Sit."

Simma walked to the center, where the eye was, and sat with his legs crossed. He wondered what kind of ritual this would be and what effect it might have on him, or whether it was a test.

Sarah and Lucy said nothing. They just watched as another Cinzel clone carried a goblet, handed it to the main Cinzel, and vanished.

"Drink," Cinzel said, leaning over Simma and feeding the goblet to Simma's mouth.

Simma expected it to taste awful, but it was surprisingly pleasant, on the tongue. But not in the eyes. Suddenly, he felt dizzy. His body flushed with an odd feeling, Goosebumps rippling across his skin. He stiffened and could no longer feel himself.

Then, like a man possessed, his head jerked upward. His eyes opened wide, but he couldn't see through them.

Then… relief.

He brought his head down. He was no longer in the basement.

He was somewhere else... or maybe nowhere.

Darkness wrapped around him. Cumulus-like smoke churned thickly in every direction.

He placed his hand down to rise and noticed the floor, black, glassy. His reflection stared back at him, though his face was obscured.

He stood up. No one was there.

But then something was in the smoke it was moving, it was alive and it was huge.

Simma shivered. He couldn't tell what it was, but it wasn't human.

It came closer.

The figure moved closer and closer just then he notice it was a shadow that was silhouette to the smoke and its figure was something else.

It looked like it had horns and then wings, huge wings but simma didn't hear its heavy footsteps not t all at least a creature of such massive structure should shake the ground as it moved.

He just hoped this was a fair test because he has no weapon to fight a huge beast, and he had never fought one before all he did at the Haydes was fight people like him.

As the shadow drew closer it now enlarged and girded over simma, its silhouette stretching out from the smoke which showed that the figure was drawing closer.

The shadow was now cast on the floor its darkness blending with the floor simma closed his eye not wanting to see how he was going to die but….

But... nothing happened.

Rather, a gentle growl. A squirming noise.

He opened his eyes.

A little creature stood before him.

He looked at it with a deep consternation it was beautiful, its little wings with little horns at the edges. Little horns that were on its scaled and ugly forehead.

Its serpent like body that looked smooth and slimy and then its pitiful eyes that was azured with blue glow.

A baby dragon.

Simma realised it now, it was just that the shadow was cast in a way that it appeared big, no wander he heard no massive steps.

Slowly he walked towards it stretching his hand to touch him, the dragon backed out snorting as sparks flew out of its mouth.

"Hey, hey, hey… It's okay. I'm not gonna hurt you," he said softly.

The dragon stared, then allowed him to touch him.

It let out a light growl showing he like it, he short his eyes as simma caressed its neck.

"You're so beautiful," Simma whispered.

But then, the dragon's eyes shot open.

And what happened had happened so fast. The man simma had been seeing in his dreams seemed to had flickered by, the man he nicknamed the 'suited guy'.

He came as if he was a flash of memory and in an instant the dragon had enlarged evolving until it became treacherous and with a loud outburst of roar poured flame at simma and…

"Nghhh!"

Simma bolted upright.

Sarah and Lucy rushed to his side.

"What was it?" they asked. "What did you see?"

Simma looked at them, stunned.

What he had seen was his death by his own Azrax, and it meant that he didn't know how to control it yet.

"A dragon," he said.

They stared, aghast. And… stunned.

"What? What is it?" Simma asked.