The Deep Lands

Author's Note: For Those of You Who Have Been Waiting and So Patiently Anticipating The Sex Scene Between Anton and The Jurad, I'm Sorry But It Won't Happen This Chapter. My Apologies But I Hope You'll Enjoy This Chapter All The Same! - Marcus

As Many of You Now Know, Anton has been hiding a secret... A secret even he didn't know and that is that he is Descended from an Ancient Line of Elder Bloods.

What Exactly Are Elder Bloods Some of You Are Asking?

For those of you that aren't familiar with the term, An Elder Blood is a member of a race so ancient that even the Gods themselves are said to be able to trace their ancestry back to them... It is also said that from their blood has sprang every monster that walks the earth. They possess a wide range of possible abilities but among them are prolonged youth and an extended lifespan along with incredible physical strength and vitality, accelerated healing, near inexhaustible reserves of stamina and endurance, and transformative capabilities when under **** physical and/or emotional stress. However, Their most potent ability is the power to subjugate both God and Monster as well as their own Mortal Descendants.

Elder Blood is something passed down through untold eons and is known by many as The Wellspring of Life... Some have even called it The First Matter or The Ultimate Energy. It is a fickle thing and may reside in a single member of a family line regardless of that line's size. The reason for that is because contrary to it's name Elder Blood is not actually blood at all. It's nature and properties are difficult to define except to say that it is a Physical-Metaphysical Substance that can only be found in those either capable or worthy to wield it's Tremendous Power.

Anton was rapidly reaching not only his physical breaking point but his psychological breaking point as he watched every brutal detail of his wife and daughter's final moments, and he saw his unborn child's life flash before his eyes... All the moments and memories they would never share.

Being **** against his will to watch the horrific and utterly senseless deaths of his family... The pleasure this foul creature derived from their deaths and forcing him to watch as she **** his mind and body, Something inside Anton stirred from it's long sleep and roared.

The full silvery moon began to eclipse as if it were a child hiding it's face in it's Mothers dress from something it didn't want to see and a blisteringly cold wind blew down from the North freezing everything in its path even the watch fires in Tower Keep. The sturdy Iron Oakwood Trees in The Black Forest groaned from the cold and from the **** of the winds which caused many of the ancient trees to splinter or fly from the ground with their roots desperately clutching huge boulders and tons of soil.

With all the pleasure the Jurad was experiencing, She barely noticed what was going on around her but no pleasure lasts forever especially after she saw Anton's mind flash back to years long past before he left his homeland of Reichs'var when his father and three of his siblings were killed by a hungry Klyst looking for food and not feeling choosy about where it came from...

The Jurad watched with amusement at first as Young Anton running toward the Klyst to defend his family was swatted like a gnat by the Enormous Creature into a nearby tree breaking it in two and even laughed as she watched the Klyst attack his Father who tried to fight off the huge beast with three of Anton's older brothers but the Klyst was too big and too powerful, and easily tore through them with it's powerful jaws and claws. Anton watched helplessly as the Klyst devoured them while they screamed. In Time, All fell silent and the Klyst was enjoying it's first meal in days... That is until the earth began to rumble with terrible **** and the snow rose from the trembling ground as burning steam. The Klyst raised its head and sniffed the burning air and shook its head, snorting and stomping one of it's feet on the ground.

From a stand of Arctic Ceders came a terrifying wailing that made the Jurad freeze in her thrusting... She watched seemingly hypnotized as Anton emerged from where he had been thrown, his battered and broken body could be seen standing amongst the growing inferno as tree after tree caught fire and was consumed. Anton's tiny body was left untouched as he stood there watching the Klyst with eyes of endless dark, red lightning sparked all around him and darkness unfathomable rose from his shadow to become a terrible void consuming everything within reach. As Anton walked forward, Every step was like thunder and the ground shook violently. In all it's life, The Klyst had never seen anything like the creature that was walking toward it and after all the years of being a top predator it felt something it hadn't since those long ago days when it was a cub... Fear.

With every step Anton made toward it, The Klyst made a frightened step back but it was too late. It took the survival hardened Klyst only a moment to realize that only one of them was going to walk away... A split second later the Klyst shifted its weight preparing to attack but Anton was already in front of the enormous animal.

The Jurad recoiled in terror and screamed in utter disbelief "Elder Blood" as she saw the then 8 year old Anton effortlessly kill the enormous and powerfully muscled beast with his bare hands. By the time she heard the deep, jarring growl and the tearing of her webs it was already too late. The realization of what was going to happen next and what she was dealing with having come far too late for her to escape... She quickly found herself being **** onto her hands and knees by the snarling beast that Anton had become.

The Transformations that an Elder Blood could undergo under stress were as different and varied as the individuals themselves and this one was large and powerful like the man it had once been only more so.

Aside from his greater physical size... Anton's body was now not only incredibly large but bore the combined characteristics of several animals: For one thing, His face resembled that of a Lion with bone-crushing jaws, saber fanged teeth, a flattened nose and a cleft upper lip. His body resembled that of a bear only much, much bigger with a thick black coat, his tail was long and serpentine ending with the head of a snake, his hands and feet were massive ending in thick, naturally sharp claws capable of tearing through metal as easily as flesh. He even had a mane like a lion only black tinged with red and shimmering like a blood splattered starry night. He even had ears like a bat and what appeared to be wings nestled into a spot on his back.

Though excruciatingly painful, The transformation had been relatively quick. Anton had never felt such pain except during the Jurad's sadistic telepathic **** peepshow but now the pain was gone and his body felt as though it were partially submerged in warm water or something like it... Almost as if he were in a womb of some kind about to be reborn but while his body experienced one thing his mind was experiencing something else... Anton's Mind was floating through a Soft, Dull Grey Sky filled with vibrantly colored streams of multi-colored light and energy, similar in appearance to an Aurora but diverging and rejoining like thousands of tiny rivers and each of those rivers flowed from the primeval source of the Elder Bloods... The Origin Seed, which manifested as a Giant Pillar of Light with branches like a tree, connecting every Elder Blood to The Origin Seed and through it to each other.

These unbreakable and intangible connections or paths which transcended time and physical space, While always present are invisible in the physical world, and can only be seen upon entering "The Deep Lands," where Anton now found himself... The Metaphysical Birth Place of all Elder Bloods regardless of their humble Earthly origins, A place where time was irrelevant and non-existent and where matter and physics were supplanted by strange rules and insane logic.

Anton floated through that Cold Grey Astral Landscape for hundreds of thousands of millions of years but as I said... Time had no meaning in The Deep Land... A second was as good as an Eternity and an Eternity as good as a second.

Beyond the endless expanse of Dreary Grey Sky were stars beyond counting in colors and shades that no human ever dared imagine existed... Each star represented an Elder Blood whose time had come and passed, and each was connected through the 'Paths' across time and space with the paths acting as transportation channels for not just thoughts and memories but energy and flesh as well.

As he floated on and on without end, Anton became aware of someone or something watching him. Floating above him was one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen with long shapely legs and large, full breasts but as he looked he saw that she had a set of golden ram's horns, long blood stained red hair, her face while beautiful looked as though it were made of cracked porcelain, her eyes were as yellow as the sun and her body was cloaked in the shadows of the First Night.

Anton couldn't bare the weight of that unblinking stare but as **** to get away from those eyes as he was... Everywhere he turned they were there... Waiting. Turning to his right he saw the same woman but this time whiter than the perpetual snows of his homeland and to his left was another only this one was bathed in the blood of a thousand worlds. This Enchanting triumvirate of unearthly female beauty were "The Regents," The manifestation of an Elder Blood's power. Anton could feel his sanity beginning to erode like the banks of a swollen river vanishing into the rushing torrent and then the three as one spoke in a hollow, repeating genderless voice, "We Have Been Waiting For You, Anton!"

"Waiting For Me?," Anton struggled to speak without allowing the panic that gripped him to seep into his voice.

"Yes! We've Been Waiting! Waiting Longer Than This Small Little World Has Been Alive!" Anton was amazed that he could understand what the voices were saying even though they weren't speaking any language he knew.

Anton was shaken from his panic momentarily when he felt a ice cold hand on his shoulder but when he turned he saw nothing but the same midnight cloaked beauty as before only this time he was unable to look away as the empty space directly in front of The Regent above him twisted and distorted turning into a curved, mirror smooth reflective surface which became a window into previously unknown worlds. Anton couldn't see much at first but as what he was seeing became clearer and clearer he caught a glimpse of what appeared to be a Dark Haired Man judging from his height and build but he couldn't be sure since 'his' back was to Anton, The Man was dressed in black and in a fashion Anton didn't recognize. Anton could feel an overwhelming sense of dread bearing down on him as the Man turned.

As the Man slowly turned in Anton's direction he could see that he was young and incredibly handsome with smooth chiseled features and cheekbones typical of Northern European Nobility, and skin so pale and lacking in color that it made fresh fallen snow look black as night But most unsettling of all were his eyes which glowed like Molten Gold.

"Who Is THAT?," Anton uttered unthinkingly with Awe and alarm as he shook his head trying to clear it.

"You Gaze Upon The Sun, Newborn. He Is Not For You! He Is The Future Yet To Come... The Culmination of The First and Most Ancient Line!"

Anton tried desperately to wrap his mind around what he was hearing as the Eerie voices continued, "You Too Are From This Line But As Powerful As You Are, You Are Not It's Ultimate End. You Are Merely One Tiny Stepping Stone In The Path!"

Just as the Man was about to turn completely toward Anton the images in the portal changed. Anton saw a brief flicker of some unspeakable horror moving through the shadows between worlds and then in the blink of an eye Anton saw The Jurad being attacked by some tremendous creature...

"I-I-IS-IS That Me?," Anton stuttered in disbelief.

"This Is But One Possible Form... It Is The Form of A Child.," The Regents spoke still in unison and still in that same featureless voice and ancient speech referring to the Nascent Form of Anton's Elder Blood Self.

"W-W-Was I NEVER Human.," Anton questioned looking down at his own hands in disbelief.

"You Were Born Human But You Are Also Something Else. Something Greater!"

"Now Choose!"

"What Do You Mean... Choose?," Anton asked not sure what to make of the strange beings demand.

"Choose The Path Your Life Will Take!"