SSS Awakening: All My Clones Have Divine Bloodlines!

To the east of Ravenhold stretched a long mountain range, and beyond it lay the Beast Kingdom.

This territory, opposite to that of humanity, was dominated by beast races, both wild and civilized.

What had once been a savage wasteland where creatures fought day and night simply to survive had, over the millennia, become a governed territory, shaped by species whose intelligence had grown alongside their power until they were strong enough to found nations of their own.

It was ruled by five dominant races.

Dragons: The rulers of the Beast Kingdom.

Phoenixes: lords of the skies and of fire.

Beastkin: humanoid beasts, the most numerous and widespread race.

Krakens: masters of the seas, and by extension of every marine species within them.

Nine-Tailed Foxes: foxes whose unique lineage made them a nightmare for every other race. Masters of magic, illusion, and cunning, their control over mana was second only to that of the dragons.

These were the five races that stood at the apex of the food chain, races whose intelligence and raw strength had made them powerful enough to build civilizations.

The Lord and Emperor class beasts that occasionally appeared in human territory were nothing more than stray remnants of these races.

Had it not been for the restrictions imposed by the leadership of both sides, large-scale conflict would have already broken out, just as it had in the past.

Within the Dragon Kingdom, in a particularly fertile region, there stood a valley surrounded by towering mountains. At its center spread a vast area of small forests and lakes, and rising from the middle of it all stood an enormous castle.

It was the residence of the Dragon King.

Once vacant, no dragon had dared claim it, even in the absence of a ruler, it had now returned to being inhabited.

Unlike the other fortresses of the dragon race, this one was built far closer in style to human architecture. That was because the Calamity Dragon preferred it that way.

On one of the upper floors was a spacious chamber, furnished with a level of care one would hardly expect from a dragon’s castle.

The walls were lined with smooth dark stone, but the details, the heavy curtains framing the arched windows, the clean-lined furniture, the rugs that softened every footstep, carried a human quality that made the place feel strangely familiar. It wasn’t the hall of a predator. It felt more like the private quarters of a human ruler.

At the center of the room, on a bed large enough to comfortably fit three people, a girl lay sleeping.

Dark hair spread across the pillow. Her expression was calm.

Peaceful.

As though her soul had finally found rest after who knew how long.

It was Luna.

Evangeline had brought her here after she lost consciousness, and she hadn’t woken since.

Then, after nearly a full day of sleep, the girl finally showed signs of life.

Luna opened her eyes.

The unfamiliar surroundings gradually registered in her mind.

The ceiling above her was unlike anything she had expected, high, arched, covered in intricate carvings that resembled nothing she recognized.

Slowly, she sat up and looked around.

A room. Well furnished. Completely unfamiliar.

’Where am I?’ she wondered, her mind still somewhat hazy.

"You slept for almost an entire day."

A voice suddenly echoed from nearby.

Luna turned. Through the arched windows, past the curtains shifting in a light breeze, she could make out a balcony. And on the balcony, leaning against the railing with easy grace, stood Evangeline

Luna pushed herself to her feet, legs still slightly unsteady, and made her way to the balcony.

The view stopped her.

Below the castle stretched vast, meticulously kept gardens, hedgerows, fountains, tree-lined paths of pale stone winding through the green. Beyond the ordered landscape, lakes gleamed in a blue so sharp it almost looked artificial, reflecting the sky above with the fidelity of a mirror.

It was beautiful. Almost too beautiful to seem real.

"This place..." Luna began.

"It’s my little paradise," Evangeline said without turning around. There was a hint of nostalgia in her voice.

"I used to come here when I had nothing else to do. It’s been centuries since I last set foot here."

She paused.

"And yet it’s exactly as I remembered it."

Centuries had passed, and still the place remained unchanged, partly due to the particular nature of the location itself, and partly because the dragon race would never have allowed it to fall into ruin.

Someone came periodically to tend to everything outside the castle walls. The castle itself was off-limits to everyone, regardless of who they were. But the gardens, the lakes, the rest, those were maintained with the same devotion that had always been reserved for this place.

Luna was quiet for a moment, then glanced sideways at her.

"Are you some kind of princess of a kingdom?"

Evangeline laughed. It was brief and genuine, with something genuinely amused in it.

"No," she said. "Not a princess."

She turned to face Luna, and for a brief moment, that ancient quality hidden within her surfaced once more.

"I am the ruler of the Dragon Kingdom."

Luna stared at her.

For perhaps the first time since arriving, her normally expressionless face showed a trace of surprise.

The Dragon Kingdom.

She had heard of it before. How could she not?

the beast kingdom was humanity’s primary enemy, before and after the Abyss. The war between the two races for territorial dominance had always been fierce, and it had taken millennia of conflict before something close to peace was reached. Humanity confined to one corner of the continent, the beasts to another, and the Fallen Lands, feared by both sides, left untouched by them.

Luna didn’t know much about the history of this Kingdom, but she knew something of the dominant races. She knew the dragons stood at the top.

And Evangeline had just said she was their ruler.

It was unexpected, even for her. She knew Evangeline was powerful.

Absurdly powerful, but beyond that, she had never truly understood who she was.

Only now did she realize just how extraordinary this woman really was.

She couldn’t help but wonder why a being of her standing would spend her time following someone like her.

Was it because of her bloodline?

Obviously not.

Perhaps because she was a Half-Hollow?

Probably that, she thought. Evangeline had mentioned more than once that she too had once been a Half-Hollow, something that had always left Luna quietly thoughtful, but never bothered investigating.

At the time, she had been too focused on her revenge.

And speaking of that.

’What do I do now?’

The weight she had carried for so long had been lifted, and in its place she found something she hadn’t expected, a strange, quiet emptiness.

Evangeline noticed the change in her expression but said nothing.

She had followed this girl because of her particular nature, yes, but also because she reminded her of herself. Different species, similar circumstances. And if there was someone who had managed to save her from void corruption, that being might be the one she had been searching for, or at least connected to them. She wanted to know. That was reason enough to help this lost little bird find her footing.

Hm?

At that moment, she noticed another change in Luna.

One she couldn’t quite understand.

Luna had fallen silent again.

Her eyes remained fixed on the scenery ahead, but her thoughts were elsewhere.

In just a few seconds, countless memories flashed through her mind.

Her life after her parents’ death.

Raising Emily.

Losing Emily.

The period when she no longer cared whether she lived or died. And then finding the thing that gave her a reason to keep going.

Evan.

Someone who had found a particular place in her heart. Someone who had given her the possibility of living differently, of changing what her future was supposed to be. Someone she was connected to in more ways than one.

A bond that had given her a quiet kind of comfort even when she traveled alone, even before she had met Evangeline. Something she had grown so accustomed to that its presence had become background, invisible the way only familiar things can be.

But right now, that bond wasn’t there.

An unease rose in her, followed by a restlessness she didn’t know how to name, one that only grew the longer she sat with the absence.

"Hey, are you alright?" Evangeline asked, having noticed the state the girl had slipped into.

Luna didn’t seem to hear her.

’Where...where is it? Why... why can’t I feel him anymore?’

Her thoughts were beginning to spiral.

The absence of that connection bothered her far more than she wanted to admit.

A feeling of dread slowly tightened around her heart.

She considered countless possibilities.

Then suddenly remembered something Evan had told her the night they formed their Soulbound.

"The bond breaks when the owner chooses to sever it..."

she murmured.

And as those words resurfaced, another piece followed, the other condition. One she tried immediately to push away from her mind, and couldn’t.

Her body seemed to tremble for a second.

"...or when one of the two parties dies."