**IMPORTANT**
The writing here is all my own. I have definitely taken inspiration from other works, and so you might see some elements from other literature in this story. However, all concepts for Blades of Blood came from my own imagination, and any resemblance to existing people, places, or stories is unintentional and purely a coincidence.

Okay, all seriousness aside . . .
ENJOY!

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A Guide to the Realms
~
Izaver, The Land of Stone
Terrain: a seemingly endless maze of caves and stone tunnels; habitat of rhesola, aardvarks, and cobralions
Dominant species: rhesola (sing: rhesola), creatures similar to humans, but they have impressive physical and although rarely, magical abilities; aardvarks (sing: aardvark), burrowing creatures with long snouts used to scoop up insects, most have magical abilities such as danger locating and healing powers; cobralions (sing: cobralion), golden-scaled creatures with shaggy manes and long tails, most are carnivores and have supernatural abilities such as levitation and invisibility
Ruler: none

Earth, The Green World
Terrain: a wide open realm, open to the sky; habitat of humans
Dominant species: humans (sing: human), creatures similar to rhesola, but they do not have the magical or physical abilities of neither rhesola, aardvarks, or cobralions
Ruler: different rulers command small parts of this realm

Haxurath, The Celestial Realm
Terrain: an arrangement of golden mountain peaks, a beautiful sun-streaked sky; habitat of aeroleans and Haxuranian Pearleyes
Dominant species: aeroleans (sing: aerolean), creatures with pale complexions and golden wings, they have the ability to create light; Haxuranian Pearleyes (sing: Haxuranian Pearleye), dragon-like creatures with shimmering scales like opals and semi-transparent wings, strings of pearls around their horns
Ruler: Queen Aerilyn

Ariadore, The Flooded Isles
Terrain: an underwater realm, believed to have once been a collection of tropical islands; habitat of aquacuda
Dominant species: aquacuda (sing: aquacuda), creatures that bear a resemblance to the upper half of rhesola, aeroleans, and humans, but the bottom half is a long, fish-like fin, can breathe underwater
Ruler: Queen Atlantis
~

Prologue: Jasper

Somewhere in the depths of a forest, a human was trying to hide.
Jasper still wasn’t sure why, but something about the . . . thing in front of him made terror surge through his veins.
“SHOW YOURSELF,” the hooded figure roared, shaking emerald leaves off from their mighty branches. The humanoid figure took a few steps farther into the clearing. “SURRENDER OR FACE THE CONSEQUENCES, HUMAN.”
Human? Jasper climbed a few more branches up, though he wasn’t sure if that would help. Does that mean that whatever it is isn’t human? He shivered. He did not want to follow that line of thought.
“COME OUT!” it bellowed suddenly. Its hand reached into the folds of its cloak. “DO YOU DARE FACE THE WRATH OF THE RHESOLA?!”
The rhesola? What in the—
“YOUR FATE HAS BEEN DECIDED. BE PREPARED TO MEET YOUR DOOM.”
“Alright!” Jasper yelled from the treetops. He scrambled down the trunk as silently as he could. “I surrender!” He slowly moved into the clearing in front of the thing— the rhesola.
The rhesola let out a thunderous laugh.
“VERY WELL, HUMAN. YOU MAKE THIS EASY FOR ME.” The rhesola whipped out two gleaming blades and advanced on Jasper.
“Oh,” Jasper said quickly, “sorry. Would you like it to be harder?”
He turned and sprinted off into the undergrowth.
The rhesola roared in outrage behind him. Jasper ran faster, darting between trees, trying not to make his path obvious. He knew wouldn’t have a chance if the rhesola got less than twenty feet away from him.
Jasper ran as fast as he could, but soon he could hear the pounding footsteps of the rhesola behind him. He zig-zagged through bushes and towering oaks, his clothes snagging on thorns and branches.
After a while, the footsteps behind him slowed and eventually stopped. Jasper kept running, though not as fast as he had before. Strangely, he didn’t feel tired at all. He felt like he could keep running like that for at least another couple hours. Maybe his fear had been powering him.
He skidded to a stop in a large clearing. He took a moment to catch his breath and looked around.
The clearing was empty except for a few strewn branches and a small cluster of scarlet flowers. Jasper paced back and forth, suddenly wary.
Who on Earth (or perhaps not on Earth, his traitorous brain added) were the rhesola? Were they some type of mutated humans? Or were they a long-thought extinct species of humans? Or was the rhesola just bluffing? Or maybe—
ARGH, WHY IS MY BRAIN SO MESSED UP?! Jasper mentally screamed.
He did not want to think about these rhesola or why the heck it was after his blood or WHY IT WAS EVEN THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE at all.
He was so preoccupied with his thoughts that he didn’t notice when the moonlight shifted.
Out of the shafts of moonlight, a girl appeared. Her skin was as pale as the glowing moon and her silvery hair seemed almost liquid. A shining golden spear was in her hand, her fingers wrapped around the olive-green hilt.
“I’m impressed,” she said, her pale blue eyes fixed sharply on Jasper. “Are you sure you aren’t part rhesola? Hmm . . . although Amoux isn’t quite the fastest rhesola in Izaver,” she mused.
“Wha—” Jasper goggled at the girl. “What are you talking about? What’s this rhesola business?”
“Oh, you haven’t heard yet?” she asked, tipping her head. Something about her made Jasper nervous, and the spear didn’t exactly help. “What a shame.”
“Well, aren’t you going to tell me?! You can’t just say one thing and not the other!”
To Jasper’s surprise, the girl threw back her head and laughed.
“You,” she wheezed between peals of laughter, “are courageous. Nobody’s talked to me like that for ages. I can tell you’re going to be an interesting warrior.”
Jasper didn’t even know what the girl was talking about, but he was relieved that she hadn’t skewered him with her spear or anything. She looked a little unpredictable.
“Why— what do you mean that I’m going to be an interesting warrior?” he demanded. “This is— I—” He sputtered, trying to put his thoughts into words.
The girl smiled.
“Ah, I’ll have so much to teach you,” she said affectionately, twirling her spear like a baton. Jasper was half-worried that she’d stab herself with the point. But then again, who cares, anyway? “Oh, and by the way, what’s your name?”
“I’m Jasper,” he said slowly. Well, I suppose there’s nothing horrible she can do with my name. “What about yours? Wait— are you part rhesola? Also, it would be nice if you could explain what a rhesola is anyway.”
The girl stopped playing with the spear and planted the bottom into the soft grass.
“My name is Ivory,” she replied, leaning on her spear. “And no, I’m not part rhesola. Funny that you think I am, though.” Jasper decided not to ask about that. “And— rhesola. Rhesola are a species of intelligent beings, not too different from humans, except that they have more physical abilities than we do. Plus, some of them have magic powers.” Ivory took a deep breath. “There’s actually four realms, including Earth. The rhesola— well, most of them anyway— live in Izaver, which is kind of like a labyrinth of stone tunnels. And yeah. Rhesola 101.”
“Oh . . . alright,” Jasper said, realization dawning on him. “So the rhesola guy that was chasing me? He came from Izaver?”
“Yeah, probably,” Ivory agreed. “If he came from Izaver, which he most likely did, then he came here through the Mirrors, which are these portals that go between the realms. Otherwise, there’s no way to get from one realm to another.”
“Why was he here, though?”
Ivory sighed, her eyes darkening.
“Well, that’s a long story,” she said after a pause. “For a long time, the rhesola and humans coexisted peacefully. But then, about a hundred, maybe two hundred years ago, we sort of decided that we were better off without a similar species right next to us that was definitely more powerful and could take us out at any moment, I guess. There was this huge, bloody war, and finally, the rhesola got driven into a realm populated only by aardvarks and cobralions: Izaver. So we think we’ve won and that the rhesola are gone forever, but they don’t forget. They’re still bloodthirsty and hungry for revenge. They send rhesola out all the time to try to . . . well, wipe us off the map. Luckily, they haven’t succeeded yet, but . . . you never know. Everything could be different tomorrow.”
“How do you know all this?” Jasper asked curiously. “I’ve never heard about this war or Izaver or anything.”
“I’m one of the small percentage of people who know these things,” Ivory replied darkly. “You see, the rhesola wiped everybody's memories so nobody remembers the war. I have no idea why I know about it. Most people don’t even know what’s happening. It’s dangerous for them, to not know that they might die the next day if they’re not prepared.” Jasper suddenly felt cold. “So,” Ivory continued, “I’d suggest if you want to live, come with me. The rhesola already know who you are.”
She turned and headed off between the trees without waiting for a response. Jasper considered his choices.
He could decide that she wasn’t worth listening to and go back to his life in the woods. But then he’d always be haunted by the story of the war, and he still wanted to know more about rhesola.
Or he could go with Ivory and learn how to be an “interesting warrior”. Sure, he’d have to leave his hideout shelter, but then again, he’d never had a home or a family or anything to even miss.
It didn’t take long for Jasper to make his decision.
Without another glance back at the clearing behind him, he followed Ivory into the trees.

~
Chapter 1: Alyx

Alyx had never known anything more than shadows. Everything in Izaver seemed to be shrouded in gloom, dark like obsidian. She had never seen anything brighter than the occasional flame weakly flickering in the cracks of the rocky walls that surrounded her every waking moment. She had never glimpsed the wide open sky, cobalt blue and shimmering gold like it was in Haxurath. The only thing above her head were the wickedly sharp stalactites and the stone ceiling pressing down ominously, threatening to collapse on her. It was dangerous, she knew, just living in such a barren and desolate place, but still . . . somehow she stayed hopeful.
Maybe it was just her imagination, but it seemed to her that there had to be something other than tunnels of rock and rigorous battle practices in Izaver. Most of Izaver was caves and subterranean passages, she knew, but she couldn’t quite wrap her head around the supposed fact that the realm was just a hodge-podge of caverns. Surely there had to be something else . . .
“Alyx!”
She turned, gripping the green hilt of her dagger.
“Alyx . . .” said the voice severely. Alyx blinked, trying to locate the source of the sound. “Stop daydreaming. If you don’t want to get killed— I mean, in trouble, then you have to be alert and on your guard every single moment. Do you understand?”
“Yes, I understand.” She didn’t understand why the guards always asked her if she understood. Of course she understood, and even though she was sort of daydreaming, she still felt it was sort of unnecessary to ask her if she understood. “Uh, Blythe? Could you, um— ”
“— stop being camouflaged?” interrupted Blythe, sounding vaguely bemused. A ripple passed in front of the main tunnel. “All right. Sorry.”
“It’s fine,” she replied, slipping her dagger back into her scabbard as the air shimmered and a tall figure slowly materialized. “Is there any reason— ”
“— why I’m here?” Blythe broke in yet again, now in her normal voice. She frowned down at her heavy iron armor with disgust. “Yeah, there is. You’re not going to like this, but, uh, Master Theon wants to see you . . .”
“Oh.” Alyx tried to squash down her terror and dread. “Uh, right. Er, just me? When does he want to . . . . um, see me . . .?”
“I dunno. Hale just told me that he heard Leatrix say that she heard Cithara say that she heard Chantz say that he heard Evreux say— ”
“Ohhh, so it might not be legit,” Alyx said, attempting to sound optimistic. “ . . . Right? Since you didn’t actually hear from Master Theon himself . . .”
“— that he heard Mannix say that he heard Cygnus say that he heard Eudoxia say that she heard— ”
“OK, OK!” she said loudly, waving her arms wildly. Blythe blinked at her. “I get the point. You don’t actually know.” The guard nodded, breathing heavily. “So there must be something else that you need to tell me.” She scratched her neck, which had started to prickle. “But what?”
Silence filled the cavern as Blythe stared down at the rocky ground.
“Tell me.” Alyx prodded the guard.
“Alright, fine. Soo . . . there’s a new recruit, according to a very bad-tempered Master Theon. And she’s supposed to be in your dorm . . .” Blythe lifted her gaze from the stone, running a hand through her matted blond hair.
“OK. That doesn’t sound too bad.”
“Yeah, but Master Theon was sounding kind of . . . how should I put this? Nervous, maybe, about her— ”
“GRUNT.”
“Huh?” Alyx frowned. “Nervous about her grunt?”
“What?! I didn’t say that. I thought you did!”
“When have I ever interrupted somebody to say ‘grunt’?”
“Uhh . . .” Blythe scrunched up her brow, evidently thinking hard. “Just now?”
“I can’t believe you actually genuinely thought that I ever did that, Blythe.”
“Whatever. Anyway, He was acting sort of edgy, I guess. Rumor has it that she has magic powers or something like that. I’m not sure if it’s true though . . .”
“Oh.” Alyx felt strangely disappointed. Maybe it was the fact that everybody in her dorm was a little boring, or maybe it was because she didn’t know anybody yet that had real magic powers, other than Blythe. Master Theon always claimed to have them, but Alyx was rather skeptical about that because for one, he never showed them and second, if he did have amazing powers, nobody really had actually confirmed that before, not even any of the guards. “When do you think— ”
All of a sudden, a blur of gray shot out of the main tunnel. The thing scrambled towards her, its snout bobbing rhythmically, and clambered up her arms. Alyx yelped with surprise.
“Arden!” she cried, accidentally dropping her dagger as she cradled the aardvark.
“GRUNT,” Arden replied, nosing his way into her dark blue hair.
She laughed and pet him gently on his muzzle.
“Um, sorry to interrupt your nice little reunion,” Blythe said loudly, “but I’M STILL HERE, REMEMBER?!!”
“I remember.” Alyx scratched Arden quickly behind his ears before setting him down. “So, about this new recruit?”
“Um, about her? I don’t have too much information. All I know is that . . . let’s see, I think Chantz is supposed to be her guard, since his recruit was sent to the Realms a couple of weeks ago. And about her powers? I have no idea. Master Theon was super paranoid. He wouldn’t tell us anything. At all. Believe me.”
“I believe you,” she told her. She chanced a glance at the main tunnel. That wasn’t a shadow in the tunnel, was it? She shook herself, trying to ignore the feeling that she was being watched by something . . . unearthly. “It’s just, well, if this new recruit can make Master Theon nervous, then . . . I guess I wonder if there’s more to her than what he’s told you.” Blythe tipped her head thoughtfully, tapping her toe against the ground. “Do you know anything else? Like, maybe at least her name?”
“No. I actually don’t. Can you believe that? I was like, ‘what do you mean you don’t know her name?’, and Master Theon was all ‘be quiet, Blythe, and don’t talk out of turn, blah, blah, blah’, and then I was like, ‘but I bet she wouldn’t be happy if we didn’t know anything about her, and you wouldn’t like that’, and then he was like, ‘DON’T QUESTION YOUR MASTER!!!’, and then I was all ‘whatever, but you know that I— ”
“What in the— never mind.” Alyx sighed. “Come on, Arden.” She picked up the aardvark, who contentedly cuddled up in her arms. “I have to get to combat training.”
As she left the cavern, she couldn’t help but feel even more sanguine than ever as she sauntered through the dark tunnels.
There is something else. It’s not just Master Theon and his gloating, or just tunnels and caves. There’s something else in Izaver, in all the realms, and this is the beginning of the search.
I will find it.
And I have a feeling that this new recruit will be part of the journey.

Chapter 2 coming out soon! Make sure to follow the discussion, and don't forget to comment, too

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Sorry for not posting in a while! Working on Chapter 2 rn

~
Chapter 2: Viserion

Viserion had never been satisfied.
He knew that he’d had a better life than some recruits. Some of them weren’t wieldy with weapons. Some were prone to injury. Some died. It was the cold and hard truth that every recruit had to face, whether they liked it or not.
He knew that when a recruit turned eighteen, they would be sent to the Zultanite Mirrors, in the heart of Izaver. There they would enter into the Green Mirror, a portal into Earth.
And then they would never return.
But Viserion had never been surprised by this. He knew that everybody had to do it. He would do it on the dusk of his eighteenth birthday, just after the moon had risen. He would travel to the Zultanite Mirrors. He would enter the Green Mirror and into Earth. He would slay each and every human until any threat of the scrawny creatures dissipated into nothingness.
But even that smugly pleasing prospect didn’t satisfy him. He always felt as if he was searching for something, and that he would never be complete without it. He always felt as if he was missing something, like a door without a key to unlock it. He had been searching for it ever since he had been admitted into the training camp, but he’d hadn’t found it yet.
But the problem was that he didn’t realize what was happening until it was too late.
He didn’t know until the training camp was thrown into an upheaval and his world was thrown upside down.
“Viserion!” His guard, Eudoxia, raced past him, her black hair flying behind her as she yanked her bow off her back. She reached into her quiver and pulled out a handful of arrows. “Get to the main cavern as soon as possible! Master Theon’s having a meeting!” She drew an arrow and darted away, leaving Viserion in a cloud of dust.
“Okay, fine!” he yelled after the dark shadow flitting up the tunnel. He hacked a cough and pounded the nearest stalagmite. “I’m going! You don’t need to KICK UP A CLOUD OF DISGUSTING FILTH, TOO!” He glared at her retreating shape. “Stupid guards and their bossy know-it-all attitude,” he grumbled under his breath. “SOME PEOPLE HERE DON’T EVEN NEED GUARDS, DID YOU KNOW THAT?!” he roared, slamming his scythe into the wall for good measure.
“And some people here have anger issues,” Eudoxia called over her shoulder.
“At least those people are better off than those useless guards!” he bellowed.
He stomped off towards the main cavern, seething.
When he arrived at the main cavern, all the other recruits were already gathered there. Every head swiveled towards him as he stepped into the room, wide-open eyes regarding him with curiosity. He scowled and heaved his scythe off his back.
“Viserion,” said Master Theon in a bored voice. “Please cease to act like a threat to some of our . . . younger recruits. Go stand next to Alyx.”
Viserion glared at him but tromped over to stand next to Alyx and her stupid grunting aardvark.
“Now,” Master Theon said smoothly, “there is an important matter to discuss. Guards?”
A line of guards marched out from the main tunnel, their iron armor gleaming. Viserion was somewhat displeased to see that Eudoxia was among them, looking as pristine and condescending as always, even after facing his RAGING FURY AND WRATH.
“Thank you, Master Theon.” A heavyset guard stepped out of the line, planting his curved sword into the thick stone ground. “May I explain this ‘important matter’ to our recruits?”
A cloud passed over Master Theon’s face.
“Certainly, Sandor,” he said icily. He adjusted his cream-colored robes, which was supposedly a sign of opulence, but really made him look like a pigeon about to be butchered, if you asked Viserion. “Begin.”
“Er— yes, sir,” Sandor answered quickly, taken aback.
“Now,” he hissed menacingly.
“Yes, sir,” said Sandor hurriedly. He shifted his gargantuan feet. “There’s a new recruit that’s coming from the heart of Izaver. We don’t know a whole lot about her, but we think she has magical powers, at least according to the training camp in the heart. Also, we don’t know which powers she has— ”
“SANDOR!” Master Theon bellowed suddenly. “Quit YAMMERING and GET TO THE POINT ALREADY, or else I WILL! And I assure you that it will NOT end well for YOU.”
“Y-yes, sir.” Sandor’s face paled. “Uh, we hope that this new recruit can assist us in our knowledge of the heart and the Zultanite Mirrors, which, as we all know, are vital in our conquering of Earth.” He paused and glanced at Master Theon, who shot him a fiery glance. Sandor rushed on, giving the master nervous looks every now and then. “Plus, if the recruit does have powers, that will also be beneficial for both the camp and our annihilation of humans.” Master Theon nodded approvingly. “Er, anything else to add, sir?”
“Yes. The recruit will be the key to the final defeat, if she gets the proper training. Chantz, you will be the recruit’s guard until she reaches the Zultanite Mirrors . . .”
The meeting droned on and on. Even Alyx, who usually looked alert and annoyingly interested in everything, seemed to be drifting off. Viserion narrowed his eyes at Master Theon, his hand moving towards the scythe on his back.
I bet he doesn’t even care about us, he fumed, glowering at the master. He’s just a stupid aardvark-faced jerk and he doesn’t even care one iota about what happens to his recruits.
Not like he needed anybody to care about him, though, anyway.
“. . . and we can use her powers, too, can’t we, sir?”
“Without a doubt.” Master Theon’s oily voice echoed through the cavern. “Her powers will be of use to the camp, so that we can beat all those cocky other training camps. I’m sure you will agree, Chantz.”
“Yes, sir,” Chantz said slowly. “I do. I will do everything in my power to prepare our new recruit for her journey.”
“GRRR,” Viserion growled under his breath. He stomped his foot impatiently. “Why is this taking SO LONG?! Just say ‘okay, there’s a new recruit with powers’, DONE! FOR THE MIRRORS’ SAKE, he probably just likes hearing his own voice. THIS IS VALUABLE TIME THAT WE COULD BE USING TO TRAIN OR BEAT YOU UP, YOU KNOW.”
“Yeah,” a voice whispered, right next to his ear.
Next to him, Alyx jumped and her stupid little aardvark grunted loudly in indignanation. Master Theon’s head whipped towards the gross leathery animal.
“Alyx,” he said brusquely. “If you cannot behave, you will be dismissed from this meeting.”
“I— yes, sir.” Alyx scooped up her noisy thing and hurried out of the room. On her way out, she leaned towards a slab of rock wall. “Blythe . . .” she hissed as she side-stepped out.
Viserion frowned suspiciously at the chunk of seemingly empty space.
What is Alyx hiding? And why don’t I know about it?
Suddenly, the air beside him moved. It was a small shift, a tiny movement, but it was enough to make the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.
“Who’s there?” he snarled, hefting his scythe.
Now he could hear it, too: a huffing sound, faint enough that it could have passed as any aardvark rummaging around, but with something unmistakably rhesola about it.
Blythe. He tried to remember who this Blythe was. A guard, maybe, or perhaps one of the professors . . .
He remembered Alyx’s expression when they had first heard the voice. Blythe . . .
“Now, our new recruit will be arriving tonight.” Viserion was jolted back to attention. “I need someone to clean the main cavern after our meeting . . .”
He scowled again.
“ . . . any volunteers?” Master Theon surveyed the audience carefully. Viserion narrowed his eyes even more. No WAY am I going to be doing THAT. “Thank you for volunteering, Viserion. The rags are in the cupboard. Meeting adjourned!”
The recruits flooded out of the cavern, hurrying as fast as they could out of Master Theon’s sight.
“Oh, and once you’re done,” Master Theon said in an unctuous manner, “make sure that you’re in your dorm. I will personally hunt you down if Eudoxia discovers that you are out of your dorm.” He regarded Viserion warily for a moment, then wheeled out of the room, his pigeon robes whirling.
Viserion growled and kicked open the cupboard door. Rags about as oily as Master Theon’s voice were piled up inside, exuding a horrible aardvark-like smell.
Stupid overblown pig-head, he thought furiously, flipping rags out of the cupboard with his scythe. He still didn’t understand how somebody so idiotic could be so infuriating. If only he just left us alone. I know I can train myself, thank you very much.
He threw a gray rag across the room in frustration. It hit the wall with a dull smack! and collapsed in a limp heap on the floor.
“UGH,” he grumbled, stomping over to pick the rag up. “Will the torture EVER END?!”
Maybe bashing Master Theon’s head is the key to satisfaction, he thought as he flung more dirty pieces of cloth out of the closet.
Or maybe I could just get out of this stupid place and destroy those humans by myself.
Viserion smirked, his eyes glinting wickedly.
Yes. If he escaped, he could conquer the world.
By himself, with no need for any dumb sidekick or pompous, arrogant training master.
If he escaped, the world would be his.