Chapter 269: A Fateful Meeting

(Roughly One Week Before The Emperor’s Court, Riven’s POV)

KABOOM

FLASH

Riven was lying inside his bedroom at the White Castle when a heavy downpour began outside, accompanied by deafening thunder and brilliant flashes of lightning that illuminated his room at irregular intervals.

Although he had retired to bed several hours earlier, sleep had refused to come easily, as he continued tossing and turning beneath his sheets while the storm outside grew increasingly violent.

’Rain... I hate the rain.’

Riven thought miserably, pulling his blanket closer as another thunderclap shook the windows of his bedroom.

For reasons he could not entirely explain, the sound of heavy rainfall had begun making him increasingly uncomfortable ever since the tragedy at the Imperial Academy, as whenever it rained, strange memories that did not belong to him started to surface within his mind, leaving him deeply unsettled.

No matter how desperately he tried to distract himself, he could not escape those visions, as the faces of his dead friends inevitably appeared before him, their expressions frozen in terror while an unseen assailant hunted them through the Northern Forest.

He had experienced something similar once during the previous week, although the visions had quickly subsided when the light downpour ended, leaving him with little time to understand what he had witnessed.

This time, however, the storm was considerably stronger, and the memories unfolding within his mind seemed far more vivid than before.

Rather than merely recalling the lifeless bodies he had discovered after the massacre, Riven now found himself witnessing the horrifying events that had supposedly led to their deaths.

He saw his friends unable to even draw their weapons as a shadowy figure chopped them down with terrifying speed.

The figure moved like a ghost, appearing behind one unfortunate student before disappearing again, leaving another lifeless body collapsing onto the bloodstained ground.

Riven tried to scream a warning, but no sound escaped his throat.

He attempted to move towards them, desperate to intervene, yet his body refused to obey him as the horrifying spectacle continued unfolding before his eyes.

And then, amidst the chaos, he saw Mary.

She was standing several paces away from the mysterious figure, her face pale with terror as she desperately attempted to retreat.

’Mary! Run!’

Riven screamed within his mind, struggling against the invisible force that held him in place.

However, before she could escape, the shadowy figure suddenly appeared directly before her and wrapped one hand around her throat.

Mary struggled desperately, clawing at the fingers crushing her neck while her feet gradually lifted from the ground.

Her terrified eyes widened as she gasped for air, and Riven could only watch helplessly as the figure raised her higher.

Then, with a casual movement of its arm, the mysterious assailant hurled her into the air.

"MARY!"

Riven screamed.

His eyes snapped open.

"Huff... Huff..."

He panted desperately, sitting upright in his bed as cold sweat trickled down his forehead and soaked through the clothes clinging to his back.

For several seconds, he remained completely still, struggling to distinguish the nightmare from reality while the sound of thunder continued rumbling beyond his bedroom windows.

’It was a dream...’

He thought, pressing a trembling hand against his forehead.

’Just another nightmare.’

However, just as his breathing began to settle, a brilliant flash of lightning illuminated the far side of his room.

And Riven froze.

Because sitting comfortably upon a chair beside his bedroom window was a man he had never seen before.

The stranger appeared to be in his thirties, with dark hair falling loosely around his face and a pair of unmistakable emerald-green eyes that seemed almost identical to Riven’s own.

He sat with one leg crossed over the other, gazing towards the storm outside as though he had been enjoying the scenery for quite some time.

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!"

Riven shouted, scrambling backward until his spine struck the wall behind his bed.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING IN MY ROOM?!"

The stranger did not respond.

"ALICIA! RONAN!"

Riven screamed, desperately calling for one of his maids and the Chief Palace Guard.

"GUARDS! SOMEBODY GET IN HERE!"

Yet despite the volume of his shouting, no footsteps approached his bedroom, nor did anyone respond from beyond the closed doors.

Instead, the stranger slowly turned his head towards him, his emerald eyes carrying an expression of unmistakable boredom.

"Save yourself the shouting, boy."

He remarked casually, sounding almost irritated by the disturbance.

"You haven’t really woken up yet. Nobody can hear you in this place."

Riven stared at him in disbelief.

"What the hell are you talking about? What do you mean I haven’t woken up?"

He demanded, glancing towards the bedroom door before returning his attention to the mysterious intruder.

"And who the hell are you?"

The man sighed.

Rather than answering immediately, he uncrossed his legs and slowly rose from the chair.

And the moment he stood, Riven felt something change.

An overwhelming pressure suddenly descended upon the room, so tremendous that the very air seemed to grow heavier around him.

Riven’s breathing faltered.

He had experienced the terrifying presence of powerful Ascendants before, including the pressure Duke Drew had released moments before striking Chief Imperial Inquisitor Jack Sullivan.

However, what he was experiencing now existed on an entirely different level.

Compared to the stranger standing before him, even his father’s overwhelming presence seemed insignificant.

As the man began approaching the bed, Riven felt as though an entire raging ocean had somehow been compressed into a human body, with every step bringing another crushing wave of pressure towards him.

His instincts screamed at him to escape.

Yet his limbs refused to move.

He pressed himself harder against the wall, desperately wishing that he could somehow crawl through the solid stone and disappear from the stranger’s sight.

However, unfortunately for him, there was nowhere left to retreat.

The man stopped several steps away from his bed, studying him with an expression that gradually shifted from boredom to disappointment.

"Are you really a descendant of mine, boy?"

He asked, his voice carrying an unmistakable note of disgust.

Riven blinked.

’A descendant?’

"You must be, considering you managed to access this place."

The stranger continued, shaking his head slowly.

"Although looking at you now, I almost don’t want to believe it."

His emerald eyes narrowed.

"Since when has my bloodline weakened so much? Since when have my descendants become such pathetic, frightened little creatures?"

Riven opened his mouth, intending to respond, but the overwhelming pressure surrounding the man made it difficult for him to form even a single coherent word.

The stranger appeared thoroughly unimpressed by his silence.

"Look at yourself. Trembling like a frightened animal, desperately calling for someone to protect you."

He remarked, taking another step forward.

"Is this what has become of my bloodline? Is this the legacy my descendants have inherited?"

Riven gritted his teeth, feeling humiliation mingle with the terror gripping his heart.

He wanted to protest, to tell the stranger that he had no right to judge him without knowing anything about what he had endured.

However, before he could gather the courage to speak, the man’s expression suddenly hardened.

"Storm fears no one."

He declared, his voice growing deeper as the pressure surrounding him intensified.

"The world fears the storm."

Another thunderclap shook the bedroom, although Riven could barely hear it over the violent pounding of his own heart.

"Do you understand me, boy? Have you ever witnessed a village welcoming the arrival of a devastating storm without fear?"

And have you ever witnessed a storm hesitate because it feared the village standing in its path?

The storm destroys whatever stands before it, and those unfortunate enough to stand in its way can do nothing but endure its wrath."

Riven swallowed nervously.

"Who... who are you?"

He managed to whisper, but the man ignored the question.

"Feel it."

The man commanded.

"Feel the storm inside you. The power flowing through your blood, the power your ancestors carried long before this pathetic age of Ascendants."

He raised one hand, and countless tiny arcs of electricity began dancing across his fingers.

"Stop treating it like some borrowed weapon that you must carefully learn to wield. It belongs to you, boy. It has always belonged to you."

Riven stared at the crackling electricity, feeling something deep within his body stir in response.

"Use it."

The stranger ordered.

"Show me improvement. Show me that you’re worthy of carrying my bloodline."

His expression turned murderous.

"Because if you continue disgracing my legacy with this pathetic display of weakness, I swear that when we meet again, I shall personally end your miserable existence before you can bring further shame upon my bloodline."

Riven’s eyes widened.

The threat was delivered with such absolute conviction that he instinctively understood the man was not bluffing.

And as the stranger leaned closer, bringing his face within an inch of Riven’s own, the overwhelming pressure surrounding him became almost unbearable.

Riven felt his consciousness beginning to fade.

His vision blurred, while his chest tightened so severely that he could barely draw another breath.

"Remember this, boy."

The stranger whispered.

"Storm fears no one."

Then, without offering any further explanation, he raised his index finger and pressed it gently against Riven’s forehead.

And everything changed.

An unimaginable torrent of information suddenly erupted inside Riven’s mind, flooding his consciousness with countless images, sensations, and concepts that he could neither recognize nor comprehend.

He saw lightning branching across endless skies, violent winds tearing mountains apart, and vast oceans rising beneath storms powerful enough to swallow entire continents.

Yet beneath those images existed something far more profound, an overwhelming understanding of the Storm Element that seemed to bypass ordinary thought and carve itself directly into his consciousness.

"AAAAAAARGH!"

Riven screamed as excruciating pain exploded through his skull.

It felt as though someone had forced an entire lifetime of knowledge into his mind within the span of a heartbeat, stretching his consciousness beyond anything it was capable of enduring.

He desperately tried to pull away, but the stranger’s finger remained pressed against his forehead.

And then, just as the pain threatened to overwhelm him completely, the world suddenly vanished.

"HAAAAAH!"

Riven jolted upright in his bed.

This time, however, something was different.

The chair beside his window was empty, the bedroom door remained closed, and the familiar furnishings of his room stood exactly where they belonged.

Outside, the storm continued raging.

Yet Riven barely noticed any of it.

Because brilliant arcs of electricity were now erupting uncontrollably from his body, racing across his arms and shoulders before spreading over the bedsheets beneath him.

Crackle! Crackle!

Riven stared at his trembling hands in disbelief, watching the violent currents of Storm Aether surge through his fingers without any conscious effort on his part.

His heart pounded violently as fragments of the stranger’s words continued echoing within his mind.

’Storm fears no one.’

And although he had finally awakened from the nightmare, the terrifying knowledge that had been forced into his consciousness remained.

Every last fragment of it.