The Ancient Genes

Scarlet Mansion, Ocien.

The Previous night..

Erina sat in her room with a frown on her face. She had already gone to her father a dozen times throughout the day, but he kept delaying the issue of her meeting her mother. And, now it was dark outside.

She was starting to get worried if everything was fine or not.

"Knock!"

"Knock!"

Erina turned her head towards the door on hearing the knock.

"Miss, the Lord has called for you…" The servant's voice came from the other side of the door.

Erina got up and followed the servant. But, instead of bringing her towards the Lord's chamber, he took her outside towards the parking lot where her father was waiting for her.

The Lord had a calm look on his face as usual, and gave Erina a look before commanding, "Get inside.."

He then opened the door, and both of them got inside, before the Car left the Scarlet Mansion.

Erina was a bit taken back. She had never thought that her father would send her mother outside of their house. After all, if it was treatment, they could just get it done at their house. After all, who in the Ocien dared to say no to them.

It took them a few minutes before they arrived at the place.

It was actually within the mountainside of the District. Not very far from their home. These mountains all belonged to the Scarlet House. She had never visited this place before but had heard rumors about it.

Apparently, the Scarlet House was established on this mountain for the first time. This was where it all began. No one knew why it was built in such a hidden location. It was almost as if their founder was trying to hide them from something.

But, as they grew in power gradually, they expanded out and came to their current situation of being an overlord of an entire region.

The car suddenly came to a halt below the mountain.

Erina looked around, and found nothing but wilderness all around. There was a narrow path ahead though. But, it was probably for people who came on trekking.

"We have to walk from here.."

Erina looked at her father in confusion as she followed him and got out of the car as well. She had no idea why her mother was sent to such a place.

The Scarlet Lord took the lead, and moved ahead.

Erina immediately followed behind as the two of them, travelled through forest moving up the mountain in the shade of darkness.

"Can you follow behind?" Her father asked.

Erina raised her head to look at her father's back.

She somehow felt that there was still that gentle father of hers there. But, she had no idea if it was illusory or something else. If he was really there, why was all of this still happening?

Their journey continued for an hour, the mountain for some reason much bigger than she had expected.

"Wait there!!"

A voice suddenly rang out, and the Scarlet Lord came to a stop with Erina behind her.

Erina felt a chill climbing up her spine as she looked around. Even though she could not see clearly, she had a faint feeling that they were surrounded by a lot of people. She could catch a few shadows in the bushes and on the tree all around them.

"It's me.." The Scarlet Lord spoke.

But, the shadows still didn't let their guards down.

A frown appeared on Erina's face. She was really getting a lot of surprise this time. First everything that Max had told her about, and now this. There were people who actually dared to deny her father's existence.

The Lord suddenly raised his hand, and clenched his fist. His nails dug into his palm, and blood began to drip down his fist.

"Father!" Erina called out with a worried look on her face. But, he just signaled her that it was fine.

One of the figures from the shadows stepped forward with a disc in his hand. As soon as the blood of the lord touched the disk, it lit up and gave out a blue glow. This immediately seemed to ease the shadows shoulder a bit.

But, he then turned his eye towards Erina.

The Scarlet Lord frowned at this, "She is my daughter.."

"Well, I might be in trouble if I check her.." The person sighed helplessly, and then beckoned the two to follow.

Erina clearly had no idea what was going on.

The next second her eyes widened when a strange scene appeared in front of her. The man who was leading them disappeared, and her father followed in his steps and disappeared too.

It didn't take long for Erina to realize what was going on though. As soon as she took a step ahead, she felt her body go through a strange energy fluctuation. And, the next instant, the night sky in front of her brightened.

The whole word suddenly seemed to have changed.

"Roar!!!"

Erina was suddenly frightened by a beast's roar, and looked above to see a squad of flying beasts up ahead in the sky. There were human figures riding above those beasts.

The shadow-like figure which had led them up here was now very clear to Erina. It was an aged man in a trench coat. He seemed to be well equipped, and was exuding an aura of a veteran who had gone through thousands of battles.

The man waved his hand with a round crest. There were some simple words engraved in it, but they gave out a strange aura and spelled Crimson.

The flying beast squad immediately came to a halt, and two of them descended down.

"Whoosh!"

The red dragon-like creature flapped its wing as it descended, sending gales around. It wasn't as huge as dragons in fiction, but its body sure was covered in scales with sharp claws which seemed to be strong enough to tear apart metal.

There were two horns on the beast's head, and its eyes were sharp and menacing.

"Let's go.." The man in trench coat spoke as he leapt up on the beast's back, and so did the Scarlet Lord.

But, Erina couldn't bring herself to do it. She still stood there with dazed look on her face.

"Don't worry little lady, they won't do anything. They are well aware of the scent of Crimson Blood. They won't attack, one of our own.." The rider spoke with a smile, and the beast snorted as it lowered its head towards Erina.

Erina stood there dumbfounded and in disbelief.

She had thought that nothing was going to surprise her anymore, but she was wrong.. It seemed the surprises had yet to end.