บท 3: ECLIPSE OF DOOM.

***The Eclipse of the Ocean is one of the five first-order continents located on Planet Gieă.

Gieă is a Planet whose ecosystem is driven by power and a deadly hierachy. It know no mercy towards the weak not would vthis ecosystem willingly bend in submission towards the strong.

Some may consider Gieã as a fantasy like world filled with intelligence creatures that rules not just their various portions of the world but also various portions of its energies.

The mystical elves are known for their affinity towards life, earth, fate and nature. Elves are known for their shift from mortality as well as for their noble purity.

Atleast those with enough power to protect this purity remains pure as even among these 'pure' creatures there is a distinct status order and gap between the powerful and influential compared to the lesser parts presents an awfully tilted scales.

There were high elves who are high in ancestry status and power, there are true elves who have very high pure elf bloodline concentration, there are Elven Kins who are species that aren't exactly elves,.. there are hybrid elves who are despised by most other elves and lastly there are lesser elves who aren't even viewed as elves but rather slaves with pointed ears,.. a pure embarrassment to the lineage!.

Apart from the elves, another creature who rules a portion of the planet Gieã and stands as their rivals yet allies are humans.

The humans aren't known for special affinity to any of the elements nor do they have any explosively powerful bloodline lineage but even with these disadvantages, the humans still managed to become a major power in this dog-eats-dog world and its all sums up to a single ability,.. accommodation.

The humans are the only species on the vast plant Gieă known to be able to accommodate other base elements, bloodlines and affinities with the highest of fluidity and flexibility. They have the highest numbers of successful hybrids and sometimes even tri-brids of elements and races.

Due to this blessing, humans have much more choices from a variety of elements, cultivation techniques and even spiritual arts compared to other races. Humans can pursue their pathways without as much worry of stagnation or incompatibility as the other races who have limited paths.

A less talented human with enough resources might be able to accommodate the affinities of both wood and fire but this does not apply for a wood elemental elf.

A wood elemental elf would have to be extremely talented with dual cultivation techniques, excess resources and guidance in order to successfully accommodate both the fire and wood elements.

Even with this accommodating advantage in humans, there is still a notable percentage of failure and rejection which would lead to backlash, stagnation of cultivation and in worst cases,.. death.

The elves are notably more powerful than the humans in their elements but the humans have much more diversity,.. this near difference in advantage creates a near equality in power which in turn has kept the balance between both parties for Millenniums.

The Continent 'Eclipse of the Ocean' is one fundamentally ruled by humans or rather, the Imperial Court. On this vast lands, the Imperials were the highest ruling authorities that determines the rights and wrongs and the Imperial also possesses enough powers to hold and maintain this authority.

The Imperial Court is made up of seven major hands and at the top of this power mountain stands the true Imperial Family that carry the surname – 'Andruv -ö- Niel' with clear pride and responsibility.

This Imperial Court and Family are the first and last line of defence of the Continent Eclipse of the Oceans against other Continents, powerhouses, dark raids and so much more.

Although there is hidden and unhidden racial discriminations in some aspects of things, the continent 'Eclipse of the Ocean' is know to be open to all other races on paper. About ten percent of Eclipse of the Ocean's population is made up of foreign races and another good thirty percent of this vast continent is made up of human hybrids.

The person at the current throne of power is a Mountain of a man with the name - Andruv -ö- Niel Tyrea. He wears the crown and holds the overpouring authority to the Continent (Kingdom) even though the throne had never belonged to him in the first place.

He isn't a son to the previous empress but he is a rather an overly talented son of the previous Emperor's third Imperial consort.

Born with a high concentration of the family's 'Eclipse flood dragon Linage' as well as his mothers pure 'Ash Phoenix bloodline', Andruv -ö- Niel Tyrea had immediately caused a state of unrest across the Continent on the day of his birth.

His Father(The previous Emperor) had seen in him a protégé. His father had seen him as someone who may one day be worthy of competing for the throne and so the previous Emperor had kept him under a safety net despite the countless attempts to snuff out his life before even the age of three!.

At age fifteen, Tyrea had unlocked a celestial physique and even though he was not born with one, Tyrea was lucky enough to bound himself with a willing and powerful shadow warrior.

Shadow warriors are one of the biggest blessings that can be inherited by anybody born in the imperial linage. It is one of the gifts of the Imperials powerful bloodline which involves fate.

Few rare members of the Imperial household are born with their fate already bound with their shadows but the rest aren't so lucky as they would have to settle for a weaker bond with the most talented and willing shadow warrior they can find.

Imperial family members born with bonds to a shadow warrior would have a bond with them like no other.

They would be able to use and share the powers of a instinctively loyal and incredibly powerful shadow warrior.

In the deeper bonds, the Master and the shadow would have synced spirits that would double and sometimes even triple their rate of cultivation. The master-shadow would be able to master cultivation arts learnt by their shadows by transfer and even share life-force and energies in life or death situations.

Most deeply bonded shadows are loyal enough to die for their masters without even giving it a thought and in a world filled with power struggle, loyalty like this is worth more than anything.

Sitting in a seemingly relaxed meditating position, a unique presence settles his soul. With his body stays enveloped in layers of distinct Gold, blue, red and black robes, the Imperial Emperor gently takes in soft and barely noticeable breaths as he sits still at the centre of a stary galaxy-like circular array that spans as wide as two hundred feet in radius.

The room he sits in seems to have no walls and small fog like energy rests lightly over the surface of the array.

A few abstract fog can be seem in different spots of the array and a gently wing seems to carry faint multi-coloured flames over the surface of the starry array.

Still sitted in deep meditation, the Emperor hears a calm voice in his head. "Your Eminence, Imperial 13th Consort Tamara has given birth to a princess. The Princess born has the star signature almost identical to your Eminence, My lord."

Hearing this, The Emperor's formerly closed eyes slowly opens while revealing a set of sharp yet deep-cold blue pupils that seem to have almost invisible dark stars scattered in them.

Without a need for response, the person on the other side immediately recognises what is needed as he continues speaking, "..The Princess star signature reads the Trojan Horse, the Last Man standing and finally The Eclispe of Doom.".

Hearing this, The Emperor's cold visuals shifts into a small frown. The first two star readings of the newborn princess were identical to the Emperor's own as the first one means an occurrence not supposed to happen: similar to him becoming Emperor and the second one meaning a strong orientation towards survival just like he had done despite the hardships.

The first two star reading doesn't faze the Emperor much though the last star reading(Eclipse of doom) is one that have only been seen just four times within the last three millennium.

Every time this star reading appears, something completely unpredictable occurs because this particular star reading is one of the few star reading s without a clear meaning. infact, it has countless interpretation but three possible main interpretations..

The first possible interaction means someone that would bring doom to a setting. The second likely major interpretation means someone that would block doom from a setting and the Last possible major interpretation means someone who would block doom from a setting but would bring darkness instead.

Although star readings are nothing but inaccurate predictions, the fact that there's a strong probability for these prediction s to happen makes the cultivation world to take it very seriously.

It is of no surprise that the world would dislike the appearance of such a possible wild variable thus leaving the Emperor in thought for a second.

"Does she have a shadow?.", The Emperor asks evenly with his voice laced with calm authority and majesty.

"She does, your Eminence and she is,.. I dare say as talented as you are.".

The Emperor casually raises a bro at this comment as he suddenly considers such a daughter an interesting figure worth nurturing.

"Put her under a net of protection for now and make every one know that I favour her. I will deal with the rest after my cultivation session.", The Emperor calmly orders before closing his eyes once more.

"Yes your Eminence.", The voice responds into the space before drifting off to silence.