Darkness.

Surrounded by an endless abyss of darkness, Calron closed his eyes as he searched for the one who he was looking for.

“Where are you?”

Calron muttered as he spread his consciousness as far as he could.

Slowly, a small ember of light flickered at the corner of his inner vision. Normally, It would be too miniscule to notice, but contrasted with the complete blackness of this s.p.a.ce, the small light shone like a beacon.

“Found you.”

Calron flashed a grin, as he rushed towards the tiny light.

*Whizzzz*

The sudden ray of sunlight instantly blinded Calron.

Squinting his eyes, he scanned the area that he had just entered. The place seemed vaguely familiar to Calron, but he could not recall where he had seen it before.

*Chirp*   *Chirp*

A small baby bird abruptly landed in front of Calron, as it curiously tilted its head up to look at him.

“Chirp?”

The golden bird inquired with a flap of its soft wings.

“We finally meet… do you know who I am?”

Calron asked as he crouched on the ground and brought his face closer to the small golden bird.

“Chirp…”

The little bird nods its head sadly while turning around and preparing to leave.

“Hey, wait! I don’t hate you.”

Calron loudly exclaimed when he saw the dejected expression on the little bird’s face.

“Chirp chirp?”

The golden bird abruptly stopped moving, and glanced back at the human with hopeful eyes.

“Sigh… it was wrong of me to reject my beast heritage when it’s just as much a part of me as my human heritage. I’m sorry for making you feel rejected… but I promise to trust you from here on out.”

Calron said softly as he extended his arm towards the little golden bird.

“Friends?”

Staring at the outstretched arm of the human, the little bird’s azure eyes shone for a brief second, until it hopped forwards and touched its tiny wing against Calron’s hand.

“Haha, are you ready to do this?”

Calron asked with a wide smile on his face.

“Chirp!”

The golden bird enthusiastically nodded its head, as its body began to brightly glow with a golden hue.

“It’s time to finally embrace my beast heritage.”

Calron whispered as the little bird exploded into golden spheres of lightning and charged into his chest!

Tranquility.

His soul felt refreshed, as if he had just been born again. His body felt new, almost foreign and strange, but Calron had a feeling that this was how his true body was supposed to be like.

He sensed something coursing through his veins. It was the bolt of lightning, and it was hot.

However, it did not hurt him anymore.

Slowly opening his eyes, Calron reveled in the feel of his new body. Clenching his hands… no, his claws, Calron slowly stood up from the ground.

The bolt of lightning racing around inside of him finally came to a standstill, and gradually entered into his core.

*crack*

Suddenly, the exterior of Calron’s core began to crack open and traces of the golden essence poured out through the thin line of opening.

Streams of the golden-azure liquid flooded into his muscles and bones, creating tiny bolts of lightning within his cells. Even his blood morphed into a golden-azure liquid as it pumped the essence throughout his body.

*CRACKLE*

Ma.s.sive bolts of golden lightning darted across Calron’s scales as his body continued to absorb the essence.

BOOOOOM!

The whole ground underneath Calron exploded in a burst of smoke and dust and enveloped his entire body.

Monstrous waves of golden essence wildly surged around Calron’s scaly body, as faint sounds of gla.s.s cracking could be heard in the background.

Inside Calron’s body, the surface of his elemental core had completely shattered, revealing a much smaller and denser sphere.

The new core was devoid of any essence at the moment, but Calron knew that even though this new core was much smaller than his first one, once he cultivated his essence again, his strength would soar by leaps and bounds.

Calron really wanted to test out his newfound power of the Vajra stage, but he still had to conserve his strength if he wanted to complete his first shape-s.h.i.+fting.

“Hey, little bird, are you ready?”

Calron laughingly asked the golden bird within his consciousness.

“Chirp!”

“Then, let’s fly!”

Calron roared into the dark sky above, as he called out to the ma.s.sive golden bird in the sky!

*SCREEEEE*

The giant avian came piercing down through the sky as flashes of lightning danced around its wings.

As it charged towards the boy, the golden bird slowly transformed into a thick golden arrow and was just seconds away from striking him.

Calron’s eyes blazed with an excited intensity as the reflection of the golden arrow appeared within his eyes.

BOOOOM!

The arrow penetrated straight through Calron’s chest and firmly lodged itself within his heart.

“Trust the beast within your body, as it will never betray you. Do not fight it. Do not fear it. Simply, accept it as a part of you. Do you understand, Raizel?”

*chichi*     *chichi*

Two large scales suddenly shot out from Calron’s back, and continued to expand as numerous smaller scales spread out to form a pair of colossal golden wings.

Even the scales on Calron’s body started to slowly vibrate as they twisted and rotated, allowing them to perfectly fit his physical form.

Raising his head, Calron let out a savage shriek as his face distorted into that of a bird, while his mouth slowly morphed into a sharp beak.

*SCREEEE*

Calron’s cry echoed out within the rumbling sound of thunder.

No longer appearing human, the current Calron greatly resembled the golden bird from earlier.

*SCREEE*

With a flap of his golden metallic wings, Calron attempted his first flight in air.

He hovered for a few seconds, but soon toppled to the ground.

Hahaha, that was so thrilling! One more time!

Calron thought in excitement as he clumsily flapped his wings again.

I think I could get used to this…

Calron let out another bird cry, as his azure blue eyes flashed with lightning.

*pant*   *pant*

“That was exhausting… Hahaha… I can’t believe I just flew!”

Calron panted as he tried to get his words out.

Adrenaline was still running through his veins, and his heart continued to pound against his chest.

With his chest rising and falling with each breath and sweat dripping from all over his naked body, a silly grin remained plastered on Calron’s face. He did not even care that his one piece of loincloth was destroyed during his first shape-s.h.i.+ft.

If it was not for his stamina and strength running out, then Calron would have continued to fly as the golden beast.

It was not truly flying, as Calron could not rise more than a few feet above the ground, but to him, this was the best feeling he had ever experienced.

“I really am a beast…”

Calron whispered with a happy smile as he stared at the dark thunderclouds above him.

Unknown to Calron, a large figure was approaching closer and closer to his destination.

The ma.s.sive red bear continued to charge towards the human, while his fangs glowed a bright orange color and bursts of small flames erupted around them.

It was not aware of the changes that had occurred to the human while it was travelling down the cliff.

The Bear Chief was only a few yards away when he noticed the human casually lying on the ground as he heavily panted.

“You are a danger to us all, human. I cannot let you continue living.”

The red bear solemnly promised as it raised its head and let out a rumbling roar.