《Ashura Vale》 1. A start that brings about an end Earth; a thriving, civilised planet situated on the outskirts of the milky way galaxy. Quite unremarkable from afar, but up close it¡¯s a wonder to behold, being one of the most unique and beautiful planets amongst the known universe¡­ Well at least that¡¯s what the humans who inhabit this planet believe, while they are quite advanced considering how long they have existed for, but they are still a far cry from the other races scattered throughout the universe, who have had millions or even billions of years to thrive before humans even began to walk the earth. On this peculiar planet, there exists a rather unremarkable young man, no special attributes to speak of, just perfectly average, average height, average looks, average physical abilities, simply someone who you could easily miss if not paying attention; this young man¡¯s name is Ben, 21 years of age, standing 172cm tall, long brown hair, slightly overweight, and a scar ridden face as a result of numerous years of acne, if there was anything even resembling a striking feature, it would be his bright blue eyes, and his smile, which seemed to garner the attention of others. ¡­ ¡°As much as I love the rain, I hate being caught in it!¡± Ben¡¯s sighed to himself, having spent most of the day hanging out with his best friend, playing games and exploring the local city, Ben begrudgingly journeys home in the dark while riding on his bike and is caught in a sudden rainstorm, being unprepared for it results in him being soaked to the bone within minutes. Exerting more force into his cycling in an effort to warm up, he gradually gains more speed ¡°I seriously wish they¡¯d do something about these potho-!!¡± CRASH! In the effort to warm up, Ben¡¯s speed goes against him as he hits a deep pothole covered by the rain water, causing him to fly over the handle bars and land in one of the puddles with a thud. After landing Ben rolls onto his back and lies there for several seconds in an attempt to calm his frustration, several seconds pass until he begins to climb to his feet. ¡°Hah, thankfully there¡¯s nothing serious¡± he scans his limbs with his eyes and pats himself all over to check for any damage, but sighs in relief when he only finds some scratches and the start of a bruise on his left knee. he approaches his bike and lifts it up from the floor to inspect it ¡°ah, Goddammit! Of all the times for it to break, it had to break here?!¡± After noticing the badly damaged front wheel, Ben throws his bike several feet away from him, being cold, wet and now with a broken bike how could he not explode in frustration? After several seconds he takes a few deep breaths and calms his mind, and proceeds to walk over and pick up his bike once more. ¡°at least it can¡¯t get any worse than this... I should have a spare tire hidden somewhere, I¡¯ll replace it when I get home, guess I¡¯ll have to walk the rest of the way¡± after a closer inspection of the damage and a small sigh he begins the walk home. Almost as if his words had an effect on the world, less than 10 seconds later, a police siren accompanied with bright flashing lights appeared from the adjacent street, perking his head up Ben looks in the direction of the sudden event, screeching tires enter his ears and blinding lights block his sight ¡°What th-?¡± Taking a step back he lifts his arm to try to block the sudden light from hurting his eyes, as he steps back his unfocused mind forgot about the numerous holes littering the road, with the sudden surprise of losing his footing, his body loses all balance and tumbles backwards towards the ground, all the while the blinding lights and screeching tires are getting closer and closer. Realising what¡¯s about to happen Ben¡¯s instinct¡¯s kicks in, midway through falling, rather than fighting it and trying to right himself, he uses the momentum of his fall and kicks off the ground with his only foot still connected to the floor, acting similar to a spring, his speed increases and instead of falling towards the floor his body was rapidly propelled towards the edge of the road and out of the way of the speeding vehicle... that¡¯s what should have happened, but his fate was already sealed, as a result of the previous fall, his knee was more damaged than he realised, as he used his left leg to push himself away, his knee buckled under the pressure and caused his body become suspended in the air directly in the path of the fast approaching vehicle, while he did managed to react in time, there was nothing else he could but wait for the vehicle to take his life and hope it did so painlessly. The moment Ben realised what was about to become of him, his body and mind became filled with a sudden bout of energy and his surroundings began to move in slow motion, his brain started to operate at an exceedingly fast pace, fuelled by the absurd amount of energy now pumping through his veins; as a result even the raindrops seemed as if they were suspended in mid-air. ¡°Is this really happening right now? I never thought my life would end up ending in such a crappy way, couldn¡¯t I have at least gone out while trying to save someone?¡± a burst of anger ran through his body, he did not wish to die, and to die in such a way only infuriated him, though it wasn¡¯t long before his mind cooled and wandered towards a more pressing matter. ¡°My parents, my friends, my girlfriend, looks like I¡¯m never gonna see them again...¡± a long pause followed, the realisation of his current predicament began to overwhelm him as he began to inwardly cry, as no tears would fall. ¡°well I¡¯ve had a good life, I have some regrets but that won¡¯t matter in a few seconds...¡±. In this state of limbo, Ben didn¡¯t think of a way to survive since he knew that was impossible, he couldn¡¯t move any part of his body apart from his eyes and mouth, nor was his body even capable of surviving the impact, no, instead he reminisced about his life, since he seemed to have a near perfect memory in this state he attempted to re-trace his memories and re-live his entire life a second time, enjoying and remembering every second, from birth, to childhood, through his teenage years in high-school and finally his last few years in university leading up to now. ¡­ After what seemed like an eternity his closed eyes slowly opened to reveal a pair of eyes that didn¡¯t resemble their previous dull sheen, instead they shined with a dazzling light reminiscent of a star, almost as if they were polished to perfection, all the while possessing an unfathomable depth that could be compared to deepest trenches of the world¡¯s oceans; even with opposing qualities of light and dark, they created a feeling of serenity; a perfect equilibrium. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. After opening his eyes, his mouth spread into a bright, satisfied smile, in that moment he could be said to have reached a sort of enlightenment, no one who saw this scene would believe that he had embraced death. ¡°I¡¯m still here?¡± Ben suddenly brought forth a question, after having come to terms with his death, he was still, for some reason, stuck in this limbo state and had no idea how to release himself from it, he couldn¡¯t move or talk, all he could do was think... once again after what seemed like another eternity, no matter what he tried, he couldn¡¯t find any method to try and get himself out this frozen state. Having so much free time at his disposal Ben managed to work out that while time seemed frozen it was still moving, although it was extremely slow; The time difference turned out to be much more than he expected, using a simple method he roughly calculated how far the vehicle had moved and having a rough guess of its speed he started counting, starting at seconds, turning into hours, then days, then weeks until it finally clicked, for every one second of real time, equals about 120 days within this frozen state! With how fast the vehicle is going it would take about another 2 seconds to kill him in real time meaning having to wait around 240 days, or about 8 months before he died, while this doesn¡¯t seem like a bad thing because he gets to live for another 8 months, it is also extremely horrifying, even Ben himself realised it as soon as he figured out his remaining time left. He would have to experience excruciating pain for 8 months... After counting the time difference the vehicle had now moved closer, it wouldn¡¯t be long until it finally hit him; his current position was similar to a bridge pose with his right arm extended as a result of him trying to launch himself towards the road side, the best scenario is that there is no pain while in this state, but that was unlikely since every one of his senses was still in working order, so he would still definitely be able to experience pain. Because of the huge time difference, he would experience the pain of every single bone breaking, tendon snapping, muscle tearing and organ crushing and there would be nothing he could do to stop it. As the days ticked by the vehicle finally made contact. The initial hit did not hurt very much at all, at most it could be described as a constant light pressure, like lightly pressing against a wall, but as time progressed the pressure increased, going from uncomfortable itch, until finally sharp pain. After several days, being able to pass out would have been a luxury but it never came, the only thing that he could feel, or even think about was pain; the skin on his arm began to split, the muscles and tendons started to stretch and slowly tear themselves apart, the bone had yet to break but he could feel it bending under the intense pressure. ¡°AHHHHH!!¡± All Ben could do was scream within his mind, no sounds could escape his mouth, and no attempt could be made to alleviate the pain, although something did come of this situation. CLICK! ¡°Ah? Wait... It doesn¡¯t hurt anymore?¡± All of a sudden, an audible click sound echoed within his body, although he did not hear it since an immediate wave of euphoria swept through him the moment the pain disappeared. even though he could see his arm had been reduced to a mangled mess of shattered bone and flesh, he could no longer feel it ¡°I know I have a fairly high pain tolerance, but isn¡¯t this a bit too much?¡± Trying to think of a reason for this sudden change, there was one conclusion that suddenly popped into his head ¡°is my body adapting to the pain?¡±. Ben came to this conclusion after recalling events of humans achieving incredible feats under extreme circumstances ¡°maybe the pain was so intense it overloaded my brain? Don¡¯t tell me I have brain damage now¡­ the car hasn¡¯t even touched my head yet¡± After a sudden revelation he recalled the moment the pain stopped and the sound of a click that followed ¡°would that work?¡± he conjured the image of a switch being flipped with his mind ¡°Ahh!!¡± the moment the switch produced a crisp click, the pain immediately threw his mind into turmoil, the sudden introduction of severe pain sent his body into shock and almost knocked him unconscious, it took him several days to recover enough before he managed to turn off the switch. Ben had attempted to flip the switch many times during that time but to no avail until now, it must only be able to activated when he¡¯s in a suitable condition ¡°note to self: never touch that switch again¡± ... ... ¡°I hope this ends soon, even though the pains gone, it ain¡¯t nice seeing your body being mutilated in front of you¡± with grim smile on his face Ben stared at his mangled body, it¡¯s now been just a bit over 7 months, with less than a month to go before his head is completely crushed, relief began to show in his eyes ¡°it¡¯s almost here. I wonder what¡¯ll happen to me when I die, it¡¯d be nice if I could reincarnate but looking at the state of this world I doubt there are any gods that even care about this place anymore¡± with a sigh he resigns himself to his fate and closes his eyes, spending his last month in peace. All the while he¡¯s been in this painless state, he can still feel everything that¡¯s going on, every tear, break and rip of skin, bone, and muscle, and unbeknownst to him, every single cell, bone, muscle, tendon, organ within his body had been flipping small switches within his mind, unlocking the hidden potential of his body and granting him control of every single component within his body, the reason he missed all these things was because of his comatose state, without being able to move any part of his body, all of the changes went unnoticed. The final days approached, the vehicle had finally reached Ben¡¯s head, and his cheekbone had just began to shatter under the force ¡°This is it then, ah, I already knew but human bodies really are pathetically fragile aren¡¯t they? It¡¯s so easy to kill us, who knows I might get lucky and come back to life as a water bear, it¡¯d be nice to be indestructible, haha¡± with a chuckle Ben ponders his potential future, but he knew how it would really end, with him as a pile of ash in a hole in the floor. Staring straight up into the night sky and towards the numerous stars dotting the sky, a smile appears on his face ¡°it¡¯d be cool to see the universe too, who knows how many other species are out there¡± one of his lifelong dreams was to become an explorer of the universe, meet aliens, experience extremely advanced civilisations, and immerse himself in all the wanders that dot the empty space. ¡°Well that¡¯s not happening, this is it for me... I¡¯ll see everyone of the other side¡± Sending another beaming smile toward the sky he lets nature take its course. The vehicle finally smashed through his skull and ruptures his brain tearing it to pieces, his vision blurs and slowly fades to black, time once again returns to normal speed and his body is sent flying across the street in a broken mess and collides with the floor in a pool of blood. 2. That Merlin? ¡°Huh..?¡± ¡°I¡¯m still alive?¡± Although his vision was still covered by darkness, Ben could still feel his mind operating as normal, no pain, no discomfort, and he could even feel himself freely moving his limbs, and from the feel of it he was currently standing up? ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± [Hoho, he actually passed the test!] [Indeed, he did, doesn¡¯t this make him our first?] [What took him so long? the test only lasts a month] [That guy didn¡¯t mess up again did he?] ¡°Erm, e-excuse me! Who are you? what¡¯s going on? Why can¡¯t I see anything? Where am I?¡± Noticing that people were having a conversation not far from him, Ben shouted out to get their attention and get some answers to his current situation. While he couldn¡¯t understand their speech, he was hoping they could at least somewhat understand him. ¡­ A long silence rang out throughout the unknown space, before finally someone spoke up. [Ah... he¡¯s awake?! Isn¡¯t he supposed to be unconscious for at least a year before he wakes up?] [That¡¯s what Merlin told us; he did say there were some special cases but even then the earliest one to wake up was still 7 months...] Amid the panicked voices, a loud rip sounded out, followed by a new voice. [My students wouldn¡¯t happen to be slandering me again would they?] [Ah! We juniors greet master Merlin!] x3 After hearing a new voice join the conversation, the three strangers suddenly became quiet and voiced their respect. Even though he didn¡¯t understand the language, the rules stayed the same; all names were pronounced the same no matter what language you spoke, and a shockingly familiar name appeared, wild thoughts began to sprout up within Ben¡¯s mind ¡°Merlin¡­ that Merlin? There¡¯s no way... right?¡± While the rest of the words were incomprehensible, the name Merlin stood out clearly as did the respect in their voice. Still hoping to get some answers from these strangers Ben once again spoke out to them ¡°Hello? Is there anyone here that can understand me? Hello?¡± After his voice sounded out, he finally heard a response, although it was not from any of the three younger sounding voices. [Oh? English? Now that¡¯s a language I haven¡¯t heard in a while] An older sounding voice emerged from the distance and entered Ben¡¯s ears, but this time it was in English, but it was rather strange, it was almost like he had no accent to his words, each one was perfect, and crystal clear, as if he was speaking directly from his mind rather than his mouth, and while it might sound trivial, it was a rather surreal experience to hear a word with perfect clarity, almost as if one word carried the meaning of entire sentence. Recalling the moment he heard the voice he became incredibly shocked as he realised the speaker only verbally voiced the letter O ¡°H-how did you do that? Who are you?¡± Fear of the unknown made his voice crack, but the excitement and curiosity of who this man was far overshadowed this fear. ¡°...What are you?¡± After several seconds of silence another question emerged from Ben¡¯s lips, after just this small exchange with the man in front of him, he began to realise this person might not be human, no human could carry such power in their words alone. [Hmm... my aren¡¯t you a smart young man... well you made it this far and my students still need some time to mature so I¡¯ll walk you through it this time, first let¡¯s open those eyes of yours] ¡°Huh? But I¡¯ve tried, I can¡¯t ope- oh¡± before finishing his sentence a small breeze swept past his eyes, almost immediately after, the faint sound of glass shattering resounded in Ben¡¯s ears and his eyes shot open, only to be instantly blinded by a dazzling white light, after taking a few seconds of squinting to adjust his eyes to the striking white light stinging his eyes, he slowly opened them until he could see clearly and began to scan his environment. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Infinite white. That¡¯s all that could be used to describe the room he was currently in, everywhere he looked was simply white and there seemed to be no end to it, no matter where he looked he couldn¡¯t find a single seem or shadow to show the presence of a wall or door, it was just simply white space with nothing inside, with the exception of a small, simple wooden table and chair set, and finally Ben¡¯s eyes fell upon the four other people in front of him. The first one he noticed was one of the three students, this man¡¯s appearance was the most striking of all those present; he could almost be called the personification of fire, he looked to be a middle aged man in his 40¡¯s with rough, dark skin and a Cross-shaped scar covering most of his left cheek, and even possessed a set of dark red eyes that flickered with bright red light. His stature was¡­ unexpected, the other two students were all sitting down but he was standing beside them... and he was still shorter than the shortest of the other two, making him less than three feet tall and almost as wide as he was tall, with such a stature anyone would accidentally let out a burst of laughter but that was quelled by his most predominant feature, his hair; his hair was rather long, flowing over his shoulders and stopping just short of his waist, on closer inspection you¡¯d realise his hair was made of pure fire, blood-red fire, constantly moving as if it had a mind of its own and possessed a fierce heat that Ben could feel even though he was over ten feet away from him. Dragging his eyes away from the strange man, Ben peered towards the other two students, who were for the most part relatively normal, apart from the hair colour of the only female of the four which was a vibrant green that seemed to all radiate some form of light and even reflected light in a similar manner to metal. Finally placing his eyes onto the oldest member of the four, he was the most unremarkable of them all, simply having the appearance of an old man, with an oddly long beard and simple grey robes, reminiscent of a magicians cloak from the majority of fantasy movies. BOOM!! The moment Ben¡¯s eyes met his, an explosion resounded throughout the white space, originating from the old man¡¯s body, and immediately after the space was filled with a strange, blue-white, cloudy substance, one that could be seen but not touched or manipulated, but the moment Ben inhaled his body was instantly refreshed, he felt completely revitalised, almost completely forgetting about the horrendous experience he just went through, but strangely while Ben was feeling better and better, the three students behind the old man began to keel over and heave like they were suffocating, sweat pouring down their faces and their complexion turning a shade of white nearly matching the space they were in. Ben could only stare at them in confusion, he couldn¡¯t tell if they were putting on an act - if this substance could make him feel so refreshed, why were they suddenly acting like they were being strangled? [Ho, you truly are a remarkable young man, that didn¡¯t even phase you, it actually became beneficial to you instead] the old man suddenly flinched and then proceeded to let out a sigh [looks like I¡¯ll have to take you up to the Glass court. Come, let¡¯s be on our way!] Ben could hardly react before he was dragged away by the old man, only managing to steal a quick glance to see the three students manage to regain their composure after the old man retracted the strange substance back into himself. The surroundings suddenly became a blur and everything seemed to distort as the old man gently waved his hand in a downward motion causing a large crack to appear in the air before jumping through it with Ben being dragged behind him; in the next instant Ben¡¯s vision blurred momentarily before refocusing and with a quick glance he realised he was now inside what seemed to be an extremely luxurious room, intricately carved animals such as wolves, and birds were carved to perfection from both the golden ornaments and wooden furniture, each one looked incredibly lifelike; a beautifully woven rug spread across the floor perfectly combing with the various colours of wood and metal to create a truly comfortable atmosphere. While Ben still stood in awe of the room features, the old man had already walked ahead and sat down next to one of the several tables within the room, choosing to sit upon a chair that resembled a sleeping dragon, before giving Ben a gesture to come sit with him. 3. Void Core? After Ben sat down the old man spoke once more. [We have some time before the council is ready for you, so while we wait I suppose we should have a chat, I do apologise greatly, everything¡¯s moving rather fast so it¡¯s probably confusing for you] The old man flashed a kind but apologetic smile towards him, Ben answered in kind ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, it¡¯s confusing, yeah, but I¡¯m usually quick to catch on¡± with a polite smile Ben extends his hand for a handshake and as the old man grips his hand Ben introduces himself ¡°I¡¯m sure you already know but my names Ben, nice to meet you!¡± After a brief pause, he continues ¡°excuse me for asking but... are you really Merlin? The one from the legends?¡± [Legends?... Hahaha!] The old man suddenly bursts in a fit of spirited laughter after a moment of silence, leaving Ben in a state of awkward confusion ¡°Did I say something wrong?¡± Ben asks with a hint of concern. The old man finally calms down from his laughing fit and starts to explain himself. [Ha, sorry about that, I completely forgot about that guy so I couldn¡¯t help the laugh... but no I¡¯m not THAT Merlin, but at the same time I am¡­ you see that guy was just a small experiment I was conducting, I was observing the Earth, searching for a certain substance, but I wasted all those years for nothing!] ¡°Wait! Your saying Merlin was actually real!?¡± Ben couldn¡¯t believe what he was hearing, how could this simple looking old man be someone who only existed in myths? [Yeah, he was real, just a simple copy of me, but you, you are the best result I¡¯ve ever seen in all my years of experimentation, and to think it was my students who caught you, haha well¡­ anyway! Getting off track, I¡¯ll start answering your questions, I really should control my rambling!] Merlin knocks himself on the head with his fist after reprimanding himself, before continuing. [First, this place you are in is what we call the ¡®Index¡¯, all the souls of all monitored worlds are siphoned and then collected and sorted through the index, if a soul is deemed worthy they are then given the chance of being reborn, if they are not worthy, they are then processed and turned into a form of energy, which we then use to fuel this entire system. Don¡¯t worry you are indeed worthy, just by the fact you are sitting here with me is enough proof of that.] After hearing the brief explanation, an indescribable amount of excitement rushed through his body, but there was one thing he couldn¡¯t shake from his mind. ¡°What do you mean that I¡¯m ¡®the best result¡¯¡± Ben asked with a perplexed look on his face, [Ah! I really did say too much didn¡¯t I?] Merlin slaps his forehead at his own carelessness [Well you¡¯ll find out sooner or later so may as well tell you now since I¡¯m the one who caused all this] ¡°Wait! you¡¯re the one who made me suffer for 8 months in that god forsaken state?!¡± Ben slammed his hands down on the table in anger and glared at Merlin, it was only natural to be aggressive towards the one who made him suffer for all that time. [What are you talking about? Even in the most extreme cases the time should only be slowed down for just under a month, even with my power I can¡¯t slow time for any longer than 27 days, it¡¯s impossible for it to last that long... wait... how long did it take for you to wake up?] ¡°Wake up? the moment I died everything went black but I was still conscious, I just couldn¡¯t open my eyes, but I could still move freely¡± Ben started to calm down slightly once he realised even Merlin himself was confused about the situation. Merlin eyes immediately popped open in shock when Ben finished speaking, with a snap of his fingers the green haired student from before appeared out of thin air and they began to converse using that strange language, once they finished speaking Merlin¡¯s breathing started to become erratic, with another snap of his fingers the woman disappeared once more and Merlin jumped up from his seat and ran towards Ben, looking at him with the eyes of an excited beast. [You¡¯re Perfect! Hahaha!] After a period of manic laughter Merlin sat back down and calmed himself, he then spoke. [Hah, I never imagined I would find someone with a ¡®Void Core¡¯ within my lifetime] ¡°Void Core?¡± Ben tilted his head slightly at the term, clueless as to what Merlin meant. [Right, a Void Core, you are from earth so it¡¯s natural you wouldn¡¯t know - I¡¯ll have start from the beginning] Merlin adjusted his robe and cleared his throat before continuing. [With the exception of earth and very few other inhabited planets, every world, galaxy, and universe is filled with a substance known by many names, most commonly referred to as Void or Vapour. This substance is what I subjected you to earlier, or rather a by-product of it; I believe what earth refers to it as is ¡®Dark-Energy¡¯? it is practically everywhere but remains invisible to everyone including me and all other civilisations, it is a limitless source of energy that almost everyone can use, but no one has yet to witness its actual form, we just simply have the ability to absorb its energy and use it to create other substances such as fire, and water. There are near endless applications and uses for it, and one who wields such power are known as Void Gazer¡¯s. For one to be able to absorb the void¡¯s energy and collect it within themselves, they require a sufficiently strong soul, while all living beings have a soul there is a large percentage of them that can¡¯t use the void¡¯s energy simply because there soul is not strong enough and it would kill them if they were to attempt to use it, Do you understand everything so far?] Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. ¡°It¡¯s a bit much to take in, but yes, and I assume i am able to absorb it because of the little test you did in that white room? I do have some questions though, why did your students start suffocating, but I felt energised? and what type of substance was that white cloud? Was it some sort of healing element like water?¡± Ben was becoming rather excited after hearing about the void, ¡°if this is all real then maybe I can harness this ¡®Void Energy¡¯!¡± This thought made his whole-body flush with excitement, all those years of watching fantasy movies and reading stories, maybe he could finally get a taste of magic for himself! [Very good, yes you are able to absorb the void energy and you are incredibly efficient, since you¡¯ve never been exposed to the energy before your body has naturally become like a dried up sponge so it will happily absorb the energy much faster than the average person. To answer your question, yes, it was a water element, it¡¯s quite impressive you could recognise it despite never seeing it before] Merlin gave a nod of approval before continuing his explanation. [The reason my students were effected is because they are still in training, so when they were surrounded by such a large amount of energy it caused them to become overwhelmed, as they are natural born spirits one of their main ways to absorb the void is through breathing and if it is too concentrated it is similar to being drowned. More importantly, I am quite surprised it did not have any adverse effects on you.] ¡°Ah, I guess that makes sense¡± a grin appeared on Bens face when his mind began to wander, exploring ways he could have fun with these powers in the future. [Ok, carrying on¡­ a soul can be likened to that of a conductor, the better the conductor, the better it is at absorbing and transferring energy within one¡¯s body, if the conductor isn¡¯t strong enough to harness the energy then it will disintegrate as a result, also destroying the person in the process. There are those with naturally strong souls that possess incredible strength, but ultimately they all possess a flaw of some kind, whether it is being unable to convert void energy into certain elements, or forcing them to focus on simply one element or school of study, but you, you possess a Void Core, a perfect soul compressed to the absolute limit, in other words, it possess no flaws, not only does this allow you to use any element you wish as long as you practice enough but it also allows you to harness almost unlimited amounts of void energy within you.] Merlin briefly stopped his explanation and looked at Ben to make sure he was still paying attention, seeing him staring back with an excited and curious gaze, Merlin Smiled ¡°with such a curious nature this boy could go far¡± Merlin had never evaluated someone so highly before, he could see a bright future ahead of this young earthling. After his assessment he continued with the explanation. [Souls are similar to a water bucket, once full, no more energy can be put inside unless some energy is expended, but your perfect soul is more like an bottomless well, never full and always wanting more, and it is still only in its juvenile state, as you raise it to become stronger it will allow you to perform more and more astonishing feats... although that doesn¡¯t mean you will be able to, you may possess a perfect soul but learning to use it to its full potential is another thing entirely, unless you possess sufficient talent you will never attain much strength] As Ben was still trying to digest all of this information, a light sound rang through the room, looking to his right Ben saw an enormous door fade into existence, appearing out of nowhere, it stood 30 meters tall and had carvings covering its entire surface depicting a large scale battle between two races unknown to him, and in the very centre stood a large image of an orb, one half was pure black, while the other was a glistening white, while simple in design the orb seemed to exude an aura, possessing a rather domineering presence, making most people feel some form of oppression, but to Ben It felt comfortable to look at. [Looks like those guys are ready for you, I won¡¯t be able to come in with you but just keep your cool and you¡¯ll be fine!] After giving Ben a firm pat on the shoulder Merlin said his goodbyes and once again waved his arm and vanished into the mysterious crack. ¡°Why does it seems like he¡¯s running away?¡± a sudden thought flashed through Bens mind, but he dismissed it almost immediately. 4. The Glass Scholars Turning his head back toward the door, Ben watched as it began to open, bright light bursting through the slowly widening divide, using his hand to cover his eyes, Ben waited several seconds before the door was in its fully opened state, with his eyes now beginning to adjust to the blinding light he began to hear and feel thundering footsteps heading towards him. ¡°Hm?¡± Ben moved his hand from his eyes to reveal a large figure standing before him, standing at least 13 feet tall, with a strong body to match his stature, covered by a simple plate armour. Other than his body he possessed no other outstanding features, with another glance over, Ben noticed a humongous great sword on his back which was almost twice as long as Ben was tall, as well as being around 3 feet wide and several inches thick, if it didn¡¯t have its sharpened edges it wouldn¡¯t even resemble a functioning weapon. The giant man looked down at Ben, meeting his eyes, he then raised both hands, forming a fist with his right, and a palm with his left before launching his fist into his palm, creating a small shockwave and bowing his head lightly; he greeted Ben with a warriors salute. [Hello, young one, you must be Ben, correct? I am General Morn, one of the 10 saint generals that guards the Index, I have been tasked with delivering you to the Glass Scholars, please follow me] With a deep, booming voice that shook Ben to his very core, General Morn, introduced himself. Quickly composing himself Ben returned the salute as best he could ¡°Thank you General, though may I ask why someone of your standing would be asked to escort me?¡± Ben found it strange that a high level military commander would be tasked with such a simple escort duty. Seeing Ben return his salute, General Morn nodded with a light smile ¡®it¡¯s good that he knows respect¡¯ with just that simple gesture Ben had gained the Generals acknowledgment, taking note of his name for the future. [It matters not why I am the one to guide you, just know you are in safe hands, now follow me, we mustn¡¯t keep the esteemed scholars waiting] With a wave of his hand he indicated for Ben to follow him. General Morn performed a swift turn and began to walk into the sea of white within the open doors. ¡°He seems like a good man¡± Ben thought before hurrying after him, having to jog alongside as the sheer size difference made the Generals strides much larger than the average human, making it difficult for Ben to keep up. To Bens relief it was no more than a minute before the General came to a stop. Before Ben could even begin to take in his surroundings he saw General Morn lower himself onto one knee, clearly showing respect to someone. [General Morn reporting, I have escorted the requested individual to the esteemed scholars, please excuse me, I will now take my leave] [Mm, very well, thank you for your services] As The General finished relaying his report a serene but slightly mechanical voice sounded out, sending the General on his way as he quickly disappeared into the white passage. Ben took a few seconds and began to scan his surroundings before landing in the direction of the serene voice. Ben¡¯s current surroundings were quite the spectacular sight, as well as being quite a simple one, it wasn¡¯t a very large room, it was even smaller than the waiting room he was just in, but this space was made from a material that could only be glass, and perfectly clear glass at that, besides the seams from the supports, you wouldn¡¯t be able to tell anything was even there. However the glass walls allowed for quite a spectacular view, the room seemed to be submersed within a nebula, home to millions of stars and a vivid array of colours, a scene that would calm and stimulate the mind just by observing, a truly wonderful spectacle. Ben stared wide-eyed and slack-jawed at the available scenery ¡°I really hope this isn¡¯t a dream¡± even pinching himself to check if he was asleep, Ben breathed a sigh of relief when he found he wasn¡¯t. ¡°hah, I don¡¯t think even heaven would look this good¡± a wide grin appeared on his face from his excitement, he then recalled the voice from earlier and span his head to face the centre of the room there were fifteen chairs placed in a semi-circular pattern, and seated upon these chairs sat fifteen strange beings. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Each being possessed a similar quality, while also being slightly different from each other, their bodies were almost completely transparent, similar to lightly tinted glass, their eyes sparkled like gemstones and the most prominent feature hid within the insides of their bodies, although they all possessed the exact same body, the insides were different. Within each glass body was surprisingly a small galaxy, a moving, swirling galaxy filled with stars and bright colours. Each being had their own galaxy and each galaxy pertained to a different colour and shape, creating a beautiful array of colours, vivid, but not overly bright. The majority of the colours were red, blue and yellow, with ten of the fifteen possessing one of these colours, although they were a different shade, shape, and intensity from the others, making each one unique. The most prominent colours were the other five beings, which were situated in the centre of the fifteen perplexing beings. Besides the centre most being, the others were, green, purple, pink, and Orange, these four had a much greater presence than the others, only being outshined by one other. The centre-most being was the most perplexing of the fifteen, while all others followed the same rule of emitting a colour depending on their galaxies light, the centre-most being did not emit any light, instead light seemed to bend around the being itself, because of this strange phenomenon, the galaxy inside it seemed to accentuate it even further, while it possessed a perfectly white body, the galaxy itself had no form, the only thing that could be seen were the stars that used to make up said galaxy, all the other beings had their galaxies fixed in place, while this white being was covered in pitch black wandering stars with no recognisable pattern, this contrast of light and dark created and incredibly surreal scene, even when sat next to other similarly strange beings. ¡°What the hell are those things? how can something so strange exist?¡± The more Ben studied these beings the more perplexed he became, every detail of these beings was strange, incredibly strange, something like this shouldn¡¯t be able to exist! Ben even started to become slightly frightened at the prospect of these being sentient creatures. [Greetings to you, young human, we are the Glass Scholars, it is a pleasure to be able to speak to another being after all these years] ¡°Pleased to meet you, my name is Ben. What do you mean, did you not just talk to General Morn?¡± Ben replied not with his voice, but his mind, when the scholars spoke to him, they spoke through telepathy rather than verbal speech, and strangely it instantly became second nature for Ben to converse in such a way. Ben was confused by their words; he had clearly heard them speaking to the general mere moments ago? [Ah, yes, you are new to the index are you not? I, Verda, the speaker for the Glass Scholars shall answer you. We are not of the mortal realm, we are but simple souls, souls that have been compressed and crystallised upon the death of our old mortal bodies. only those who possess what is called a Void Core, or perfect soul can achieve this form after death, although it comes at a great cost. The fifteen of us were geniuses of our time, a time when a Void Core was not all that rare, but alas, it has been more than eighteen Billion years since the last of the perfect souls disappeared from existence, it is comforting to see the emergence of another after all this time. As for General Morn, what he and you heard was a mere recording, we cannot speak to those that do not possess a perfect soul, as it could result in the destruction of their soul] ¡°Eigh-Eighteen... Billion... years? How is that possible?¡± Ben didn¡¯t know how to react to this statement, one moment he was shocked, the next bewildered, and then finally a look of disbelief appeared no his face ¡°that can¡¯t be true, the universe hasn¡¯t even existed for that long, it hasn¡¯t even existed 14 billion years yet¡± Ben¡¯s mind went into turmoil trying to understand how these scholars could say that 18 billion years had passed with such a casual tone, there¡¯s no way it can be true, right? 5. Monster After watching Ben go into such a bewildered state, Verda released a chuckle. [I guess that was a bit too much information for you, I won¡¯t go into detail but in short, I can tell you that this universe has indeed only existed for little more than 13 billion years, but before it existed, another stood in its place, though that is unimportant... We wish to see your Void Core, each core possess its own unique ability, and being the first Core to appear after so many years we would like the honour of identifying it for you] While still in a small state of shock he realised this Verda no longer wished share information on the subject of the universe so he quickly reorganised his thoughts to focus on his current situation ¡°See my Void Core? How am I supposed to show you it, isn¡¯t it inside me?¡± [That is a simple process. Extend your arm and face your flat palm to the sky, place your other hand onto the bottom of your rib cage, then clear your mind and simply imagine your Void Core being pulled out with your hand and then placed onto your palm, once the process is completed your Core will Appear before us] Ben followed Verda¡¯s instructions, placing his right hand on his body and extending his left arm with his palm flat, after completing the stance, Ben instinctively cleared his mind and simply focused on the process of pulling his Core out of his body and placing it onto his palm, although when he started to do this he became bewildered by the sight, as his hand slowly submerged into his body he felt a small smooth orb, he grabbed it and slowly pulled out, now holding it out in the open Ben found the small orb was accompanied by eight others, one sat in the centre while the other eight formed an octagon orbiting the centre orb. Each outer orb shone with a rainbow of colours, constantly pulsating and changing its colour every second or so, the centre orb was three times larger than the other orbs, roughly the size of a bowling ball, but only possessed two colours unlike the myriad of colours projected by the other orbs. This centre orb was perfectly divided in the middle separated by the two colours, one side possessed a matte white and the other side possessed a matte black, neither side radiated any colour, it simply looked like a painted ceramic ball, but even so when Ben was holding it in his hand he felt a completely unfathomable power deep within it, a power that made his mind go numb for several seconds, almost dropping the orbs in the process. Ben recovered himself and discovered that he could move each orb independently and pull it away from the formation without anything strange happening, but once he realised his grip on the orb, it would immediately shoot back into place like it was attached with an elastic band. Although he wished to experiment with it more, he had more important things to do first; he finally placed the central orb onto his outstretched hand, when he did so he opened his eyes and came back to reality to see his Void Core floating above his hand ¡°This things pretty cool, what can I do with it?¡± Ben threw out a simple question, he was incredibly intrigued by his Void Core, he had never wanted to study and investigate into something as much as he wanted to now, so he was hoping to get more information out of these scholars. Moving his head away from his Void Core, Ben looked towards Verda once more to see if she heard his question, but upon seeing them his mind froze. Verda, as well as the other scholars seemed... weak? That¡¯s the only word Ben could think to describe what he saw, all of the scholars who were previously shining with vivid light, now could be likened to a small candle flame that could be blown out with a light breath. This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. Ben rushed over to the scholars with a look of worry on his face ¡°Verda? Everyone? What¡¯s wrong? are you ok?¡± Ben spoke quickly while inspecting every one of the scholars only to see them become weaker and weaker. Panicked by this sudden turn of events, Ben reached out his free hand to touch Verda but as his hand approached, Verda suddenly let out a scream and tried to run away, falling out of their chair and scurrying into the farthest area of the room away from Ben. [Get away from me you MONSTER!!] ¡°M-Monster?¡± after seeing Verda react in such a manner Ben immediately began to break out into a cold sweat, he had only tried to make sure Verda was ok, why would they call me a monster for trying to help? Wait... unless... Ben looked towards his right hand and watched as his Void Core continued to lightly hover above his palm... this can¡¯t be the reason, can it? After this sudden epiphany Ben tried to put his Core back within his body and to his relief the process was the same as bringing it out, just in reverse, allowing him to quickly withdraw his Core. The moment the Core vanished the fires of life within the scholars shone with vibrancy once more, returning them to their previous state. Verda visibly calmed down, but still remained cautious while they ventured back to their seat. Once seated Verda spoke with a weak voice. [I apologise for my actions... but I must have you know they were justified, if you had touched me, I would have died... it is a scary thought to think I am even able to converse with a person of your Calibre] Once Verda finished speaking, silence descended upon the room, after a long silence, someone spoke up. [No need for the pretence anymore, Verda, I¡¯ll take over from here] [Of course, your majesty] Immediately after an unfamiliar voiced resounded, Verda and the other Glass Scholars bowed their heads and went silent, clearly someone of higher status than the scholars had made an appearance. ¡°Your majesty?¡± Ben voiced his confusion, he thought the Glass Scholars were incredibly important in the Index, such that even Merlin seemed to regard them highly, who is this person that can even make them bow their heads? [Indeed, little one. I am the king of this place. Please, call me Allon] The voice sounded out once again, the moment it entered Bens ears he had the sudden urge to bow and prostrate himself before this unknown being, the sheer power emanating from just his voice was enough to scare Ben witless. After the voice resounded throughout the room, a white mist materialised out of thin air, after a substantial amount of mist appeared, it began to collapse into one point incredibly quickly, turning into a small white ball the size of a tennis ball, once all of the mist collected itself into this ball it then suddenly began to expand, slowly morphing itself into a humanoid figure, growing arms, legs, fingers and finally a head. The moment the head formed itself a small wave of air rushed outwards from the body, blowing Ben off balance and falling back onto the floor. Ben looked on in amazement; someone calling himself the king of the index had appeared in front of him, the figure had no skin or facial features, it was simply a white glowing substance formed into the shape of a human. 6. Whats the catch? Ben once again calmed his mind, although a large amount of excitement mixed with fear still bubbled inside of him. Before he became too distracted by the spectacle before him, ben quickly collected his thoughts, he moved his body to half kneel, and blurted out in a slightly panicked voice. ¡°This Lowly one greets your majesty!¡± almost as if by instinct Ben shouted out a phrase he never planned to say nor planned to ever say in his life, but not more than a second later found the reason, this being in front of him possessed an indescribably powerful strength, giving him an aura that made everyone¡¯s primal instincts force them to submit to him. [Ah, my apologies little one. It has been many centuries since I last materialised, so my power became momentarily unrestrained. Please, stand. One such as yourself should not bow before one such as me.] Before King Allon¡¯s speech ended, the pressure on Ben¡¯s body was lifted, and a gentle pressure surrounded his body forcing him off the floor and onto his feet. ¡°What do you mean?¡± back on his feet Ben looked towards the King, the last few words from the king confused Ben, he thought to himself ¡°Why does everyone seem to put me on such a high pedestal? I¡¯m just a normal guy¡­¡± [You underestimate yourself little one. You are far beyond being ¡®normal¡¯, even I dare not offend you, haha] ¡°Far beyond? Can someone please tell me what¡¯s going on?¡± Ben was becoming more and more confused as time went on, why did everybody treat him like an important figure, he¡¯d never done anything worth such respect, this couldn¡¯t all be because of his core could it? [That is something you must find out for yourself; I can only tell you that you possess a core that shouldn¡¯t be able to exist, and as such, even we do not know what it is capable of] Ben could tell he wouldn¡¯t be able to get any more information out of them so with a sigh he sought to find out what was going to happen to him next. ¡°I guess it can¡¯t be helped then¡­ so, what do I do now?¡± Ben looked towards King Allon with curiosity in his eyes. ¡®This boy¡­¡¯¡¯ King Allon praised Ben¡¯s ability to keep a calm head despite his current situation. [Well, that choice lays with you, little one; You may stay within my domain, and train among many other young aspiring Void Gazer¡¯s, or on the other hand, you may pass onto your next life, being re-incarnated upon a random world¡­ Which shall you choose?] Ben already knew he would be sent to another world sooner or later, but he became surprised when told he could stay and train, Merlin never mentioned that he would be able to stay within the Index to train. The benefits of even some basic training would help Ben immensely, giving him a better start in the next world, but something about it seemed fishy to him, so he tested to see if his instincts spoke true. ¡°What¡¯s the catch?¡± [Pardon?] King Allon became confused over Ben¡¯s question. ¡°About training here, what part aren¡¯t you telling me?¡± looking at the king¡¯s confused expression, Ben began to doubt his assumptions. That doubt became short lived, after Ben re-phrased his question, there was a violent fluctuation of power that birthed from the king¡¯s body, although it only lasted for a split second it was enough to scare Ben, making his face turn pale.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. [Mm, you really catch on fast, don¡¯t you? Looks like I was too hasty] Somehow a disappointed expression appeared upon the king¡¯s featureless face, making Ben¡¯s fear level rise once again. [Indeed, there is a catch. Training in the index requires one to surrender their soul to me, essentially leaving their lives within my hands, you truly are a sharp one, I would have liked to have you, but it looks like it is not to be] the king let out a deep sigh as he finished his explanation, causing a chill to run down Bens spine, giving him the feeling that he¡¯d just escaped a calamity. Before Ben could speak the king spoke up once more. [It is time for you to leave, your only option now is to re-incarnate unto another world, much to my displeasure, maybe one day we will have the chance to converse once more] Before Ben could respond, the king clicked his fingers causing a black sphere to appear before Ben¡¯s body, it quickly engulfed his entire body before shrinking into nothingness. A long silence befell the room before a sigh resounded thought-out. [He¡¯s interfering again] The kings body exploded into millions of motes of light before fading into the surroundings, as his body faded away his voice once more sounded out. [No-one is to know what has occurred today] [Yes, my king!] ¡­ ¡­ [Hey! Wake up!] With a crisp slap to the face, Ben¡¯s body jolted up and his eye¡¯s shot open as he let out a scream. ¡°Ahhhhh!¡± though it was quickly silenced as another slap crossed his face, he looked around and caught the familiar old, wrinkled face of Merlin, causing a wave of relief to roll through his body as it slumped back down to the ground. [You¡¯re lucky I like you¡­ I managed to pull you out before you passed through the Ignition gate] ¡°W-what happened?¡± Still in shock from what happened Ben stammered his words as he tried to calm himself down, but to no avail, he had never experienced anything so terrifying in his life, he may have already died, but the fear he just experienced had already taken root in his mind, wiping away his past traumas, only to be replaced with a new one. Heavy breathing could be heard as Merlin spoke, a clear indication that he had just performed some sort of strenuous action, most likely being the act of pulling Ben from this ¡®Ignition gate¡¯. [It¡¯s¡­ complicated, I¡¯ll explain later but for now I need to get you somewhere safe] Like before, Merlin gently waved his hand, creating a tear mid-air, grabbing Ben and once again walking into the open space. Ben¡¯s eyes blurred then refocused to see himself within a garden, if he could call it that¡­ if he could use anything as a reference it would be the ¡®Eden Project¡¯, a large man made conservation area, covered with hundreds of vibrant plants and home to numerous small creatures, but this ¡®Garden¡¯ was on a much larger scale, it easily covered several hundred square miles, thousands of plants and trees he had never seen before littered the area, and situated at the centre of it all sitting atop a large hill, an incredibly large flower resembling a lotus in full bloom. Each leaf was larger than a house, and coloured the purest of white, the tips were coloured blue and blue glowing veins ran throughout each leaf, almost like an electric current pulsed within the leaf¡¯s structure. Seeing Ben stare wide-eyed at the scenery, Merlin became proud as his work was being admired, letting a small smile crawl onto his lips. He raised a finger and pointed towards the giant lotus. [That there is my pride and joy, as well as what will keep you safe, the flower of the tree of origin, or more accurately, Gaia¡¯s Lotus¡­ Allon will not be able to find you here] ¡°Gaia¡¯s lotus¡­¡± Ben muttered the name of the flower softly as he quickly wound down from his earlier predicament, it seemed this flower could not only block King Allon¡¯s senses but also calmed and soothed the mind. [It would be a shame to see one so young to pass on in such a way, so please, accompany this old man and stay here for a while, I¡¯ll make sure you are prepared for when you cross over] The tone of Merlin¡¯s voice softened slightly when talking to Ben, he seemed to have become attached to this young man before him, making him want to try his best to nurture him into someone who will accomplish many great things, although that will take a long time to achieve. [I must rest for the time being, pulling you from a stream containing trillions of other souls isn¡¯t easy to do¡­ since you will be here for a little while go and explore, familiarise yourself with the place] Before he left Merlin pointed towards the Hill which the Lotus sat upon, and situated underneath one of the many petals was a simple log cabin which he called home and told me to call for him if I required anything, after which he once again opened a tear and stepped through. 7. Merlins garden Ben sat on the ground and glanced at the scenery around him while his mind was busy doing backflips from all of the recent events; He had gone from a simple guy on earth to being summoned into an otherworldly place, met the legendary Merlin, was called upon by strange beings called the Glass scholars and discovered his Void Core was extraordinary, then the King appeared and tried to trick him, and even tried to kill him! He could no longer tell if anything was even real anymore, but if it was, he needed to get used to it, and fast. ¡°hah¡­ I hate how calm I am right now, isn¡¯t this the part where I¡¯m supposed to have a break down?¡± Ben couldn¡¯t tell if being this calm was a good or bad thing right now, but staying calm was probably the best situation he could hope for. ¡°Well, I guess I should go on a little adventure¡± Picking himself up off the floor and picking a direction, Ben began to explore the local area. Besides the wide variety of flora and small flying creatures inhabiting this garden, there didn¡¯t seem to be much to do; Ben had been exploring for over an hour but even with the beautiful scenery, with nothing to do, it soon started to become a bit boring, the only redeeming feature being the fruits he had managed to find throughout the garden, after chancing upon the first deer-like creature he had seen, he followed it carefully, trying not to scare it, but while doing so he found it to be eating particular fruits, while avoiding others completely. It was simple, too simple actually, there were only two colours of fruit throughout the garden, Vibrant Blue fruits resembling apples, and blood red fruits resembling grapes, though he avoided them all as he didn¡¯t know which were safe for consumption. After following the deer-like creature, he saw that it only ate the red fruits, with a great deal of curiosity he worked up the courage to eat one of the many red fruits and almost cried in happiness, this fruit seemed to be the ultimate food item, whatever flavour he desired as he bit into the grape like fruits would manifest as the juices exploded within his mouth, anything from apple juice, to roast chicken, it even gave a slight feeling of euphoria as the juice slid down his throat giving him an eating sensation he had never experienced before, making his eyes tear up in delight. With the abundant amount of red fruits throughout the garden, he had no need to pocket a few of them, as he could simply grab one whenever he wanted from the various trees. After making such a surprising discovery, Ben¡¯s boredom subsided and he decided to see if he could find any other surprises hidden within this garden, his next goal was to try and make contact with the various fauna within the garden, the first being the deer-like creature. Ben once again began stalking the deer-like creature, this time he intentionally tried to make himself known to the creature, as a result it noticed him almost immediately, but unexpectedly did not run away, but instead began to approach him, it slowly walked until it was less than five feet from him, allowing Ben to get a much clearer look at the creature. As he thought, this was a creature that resembled a deer quite closely but at the same time was completely different, he couldn¡¯t tell from first glance but now that it was up close he could see everything; The Antlers growing from the creatures head had a similar shape to a deer¡¯s but instead of being made from bone, these antlers seemed to be made of a beautiful multi-coloured crystal, similar to opal, that shimmered in the sunlight. The Deer¡¯s eyes were also strange, it didn¡¯t possess pupils of any kind, just a pure white iris that resembled a smooth gemstone, none of these features scared or surprised Ben, he was just in awe of the beautiful creature in front of him, and when the creature began to walk even closer, he noticed another peculiar aspect, this deer made no noise when it walked, instead it seemed to lightly hover several centimetres above the ground.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. The moment Ben realised this deer could hover, or maybe even fly, the deer no longer hid it¡¯s ability, it lightly kicked it¡¯s hooves and rose higher off the ground until it became eye level with Ben and began to stare into his eye¡¯s while only being less than a foot from his face. Ben unconsciously raised his hand towards the deer¡¯s head, once he made contact the deer¡¯s eyes closed and lightly nuzzled its head into the palm of his hand before performing a light bow and then almost instantly disappearing from his view with the exception of a white streak of light as it disappeared. ¡°That was¡­ strange?¡± after the deer left Ben became bewildered, the moment he made eye contact with the deer he seemed to have fallen into a trance, although it didn¡¯t seem to be one with any negative effects, he still felt slightly fearful of how easily he became enthralled. ¡°Is there anything else?¡± Ben¡¯s adventurous and curious nature finally appeared and burned brighter than ever, his fear quickly dissipated, and he decided to venture further into the garden to find more surprises. As he made his way deeper into the garden, sitting atop the lotus was the deer-like creature staring at him from afar, a tear appeared, and Merlin stepped out beside the deer. [How is he?] Merlin turned towards the Deer-like creature and waited for its answer, he seemed to be quite familiar with the strange creature. [I do not know] Merlin¡¯s Brows furrowed at the deer¡¯s answer, clearly, he was not expecting such an answer. [What do you mean?] [I cannot measure him] Merlin¡¯s body swayed wildly as he nearly fell to the ground, he eyes nearly popped out of their sockets as he stared dumbfounded at the deer. [Even Gaia herself cannot gauge him?] Merlin asked this question with a very serious but cautious tone, he did not wish to offend the entity before him, but he also could not contain his curiosity as he asked his question. [No, I cannot. I do not understand. He should not exist. He is an anomaly] [I paid such a heavy price to call you here, and yet, it was all for nothing] Merlin¡¯s eyes dropped as did his mood, he had used almost his entire fortune to call upon the spirit of Gaia, and yet, he got nothing in return, no answers, only more questions. [My business is done. I shall take my leave] [Of course, thank you for your assistance] Merlin gave a deep bow towards Gaia¡¯s Spirit as it began to dissipate into the air, and eventually disappearing after several seconds. Merlin relinquished his bow before once again looking towards Ben¡¯s direction and letting out a deep sigh of regret. [I cannot guide this boy; he must find his own path¡­ and hopefully it¡¯s a good one] [MERLIN!!} Merlin¡¯s body froze on the spot, his face turning a shade paler. The garden began to shake violently, looking up, a bright, white line streaked across the sky and began to slowly open, ripping the sky asunder. Merlin hurriedly opened a tear and rushed through, appearing beside Ben, grabbing him and rushing back through before any protests could be made, Ben¡¯s vision blurred and quickly readjusted to see the inside of Merlin¡¯s cabin, which turned out to be just an empty room with a fountain residing in the centre, just a simple stone fountain, no special carvings or engravings, with the exception of the vivid purple water flowing through it. Ben had several questions run through his head, what¡¯s going on? What is this fountain? Why are you rushing? But none of these would be answered as with a light swing Merlin through him into the air towards the fountain, crashing into the water. [I apologise, but I have no other choice, you must take your own path, and maybe one day we will see each other once more] Ben¡¯s body filled with confusion as he quickly sunk down into the water, which seemed to be drawing him towards the bottom faster and faster as if he was falling through the air, thirty seconds passed before Ben became short of breath and started to panic, trying to swim upwards but to no avail, it only made him sink faster, and before long he was forced to inhale causing his lungs to instantly fill with water making Ben scream out in desperation towards Merlin, he had done nothing bad towards anyone but all of a sudden there had already been two people try to kill him, and this time it was even someone he trusted. As his mind began to fade, a bright light appeared at the bottom of the abyss, Ben¡¯s vision had already begun to blur, and his body began shutting down, even if he wanted to react to it he couldn¡¯t, all he could do was await his death for the second time, his vision gradually darkened until it faded to black and his body went completely limp as it floated down towards the light. His body finally made contact with the light and with a bright flash he became engulfed by it, disappearing from view. 8. Demon! ¡°Waaaahhh!!!¡± A baby¡¯s cry resounded throughout the spacious room as the scurrying of feet clicked against the wooden floor accompanied by numerous excited voices. [***] ¡­ [***] ¡­ Ben¡¯s mind and body jolted into action as he began coughing as an instinctual reaction to recovering from drowning. ¡°Wait¡­¡± Ben suddenly realised he was no longer submerged in water and began to try and understand his surroundings; his eyes darted around the room he was currently in, spotting several strange humanoid creatures circling him, although he couldn¡¯t completely make out their features as his eyes were still adjusting to the light after being submerged in absolute darkness for what seemed like decades. His eyes gradually cleared up and he looked down to inspect his body and found himself lying on a bed stark naked, with his first thought being ¡®Ah! The cold water shrunk him!¡¯ though he quickly realised that this body was not his own, with a small chubby frame and not a single strand hair to be seen besides the soft tuft of hair on his head. ¡°Great¡­ I ended up as a useless human ag¡­ wait¡­ i-is that...¡± Ben mustered all the strength he could in his infant body, raising his arm and grabbed at his target, wrapping his tiny fingers around it and bringing it up to his face to inspect it. ¡°¡­a tail?¡± The wriggling object within his tiny hands, was indeed a tail, but having previously been a human Ben found this simple feature to be completely bewildering, especially after following the length of the tail to find it seamlessly attached to his lower back, and he could even control it if he concentrated hard enough, but otherwise without seeing it he would never have known it was there. Putting aside the strange tail, something even stranger was happening, Ben could actually feel his body gaining strength, he didn¡¯t know how such a thing was possible but with every passing second he could feel the strength in his muscles increasing, to the point he could now move his own head independently, with his new found strength he used his arms to slowly prop himself up into a sitting position to better observe his surroundings once more. It was at this moment that Bens brain finally recovered from the shock of drowning and returned his hearing, with all the new stimuli Ben had completely failed to recognise he couldn¡¯t hear anything, but suddenly his hearing kicked in, flooding his brain with new and strange sounds. Ben turned his head straight towards the strange noises and saw the strange humanoid figures he saw previously, they were speaking in a language unknown to Ben and seemed to be in the middle of a heated argument, it was at this point Ben heard the cry of a baby, and with no others babies in the vicinity, the source must be him so he quickly controlled his vocal chords with his newfound strength and closed his mouth to finally put a stop to the annoying wail. With his eyes clear once more Ben was able to get a good look at these creatures, and only one word came to mind when he saw them - Demon! They stood roughly 8 feet tall, their skin varied in colours with black, brown, and green being the main colours, although others possessed different hues of these three colours, along with the unusual skin colour they all possessed a red glow that seemed to ripple across their skin with random patterns. Their hair was even more unusual, the creature with the largest frame had hair that didn¡¯t seem too out of place, being blood red and flowed down to below its shoulders, the rest were not so ¡®normal¡¯ with one creature having purple and yellow hair, another having green and orange, one of the creatures even had seven different colours strewn throughout their hair.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. And last but not least were their tails, unlike Ben¡¯s tail they all possessed strange shapes on their tips, one had a tip resembling a coiled spring, another had a rather simple one with it being what seemed like a perfect cube; though the one that caught Ben¡¯s eye was owned by the largest creature, its tail had a vicious looking scythe which had been stabbed into the ground, most likely to stop it from accidently injuring anyone. The sudden and abrupt stop to the baby¡¯s cry caused the arguing creatures to go quiet and look towards the new-born infant, wanting to find out what made the child stop his crying. Ben¡¯s heart almost stopped as he watched the creatures suddenly stop and turn to face him. What they saw made some of them make strange faces, a mixture of confusion and fear; what they were looking at did not seem to resemble the face of a baby, there was no emotion¡­ not fear, not curiosity, Nor joy appeared on this child¡¯s face, it was strange, and those who looked into the piercing sky-blue eyes of this baby felt an unpleasant chill run down their spine causing them to become fearful and no longer dared to look into his eyes. One creature in particular walked forward from this group and stood in front of Ben. Lifting his head upwards to look at the face of this creature, Ben felt a strange connection within him, his blood seeming to resonate with this creature, being unable to speak their language he had no choice but to convey his confusion with his body, tilting his head to the side and sending a curious gaze towards the creature. Seeming to understand Ben¡¯s confused gaze the creature let out a chuckle before speaking some words to the those behind him, a smaller creature walked out and produced a small red orb and placed it into a dark metal goblet, presenting it to the creature that Ben could only assume was the leader of those present. Grabbing the goblet, the creature proceeded to use its sharp blue-tinted teeth to bite down into its tongue and then spat the blood into the goblet, Ben was astonished by this series of actions, he didn¡¯t understand what this creature was trying to do, to further add onto his astonishment, the tongue that had a hole pierced through healed rapidly, so much so the wound had completely healed within several seconds. ¡°I hope it doesn¡¯t make me drink that¡± Ben grimaced at this thought. After giving the goblet a few swirls the creature gave a nod and reached out to hand Ben the goblet, looking into Ben¡¯s eyes and giving a second nod indicating for him to drink the goblets contents. ¡°Ah, it¡¯s really making me do it¡± Ben¡¯s emotionless face stared at the creature, meeting it¡¯s eyes before shaking his head from side to side, and using his arms and legs to push himself backwards, away from the creature, clearly showing he was wary of both the creature and the questionable drink presented to him. Surprise painted itself on the creatures face as it stared at the child in front of it, it couldn¡¯t believe that a new-born infant could possess the intelligence and awareness to become wary and distance itself from the unknown, generally children were extremely curious, always wanting to explore and experience the world around them, including everything that could be eaten or drank. Instead of being angered by the child disobeying it, the creature broke out into a bright smile, it lowered its huge frame onto its knees beside the bed to become eye level with the small child, this action caused a commotion within the group of creatures standing further away, the creature ignored this and placed the goblet down onto the floor, then it lifted its arm and slowly reached towards Ben. Ben was surprised at this action, not knowing what to make of it, but with the amicable smile on the creatures face as well as its slow but cautious hand it didn¡¯t seem it was intending to harm him, so he patiently waited for the large hand to reach him, while also maintaining his curious gaze with the creature, only glancing at the incoming hand. The creatures eyes lit up and smiled even brighter when the child didn¡¯t seem scared of it, after several seconds it¡¯s hand came to rest atop Ben¡¯s head giving his hair a playful ruffle, when his hand stopped, it was lowered and the creature extended a finger before poking Ben in the chest very lightly as it did so it said a single word. [Aris] After doing so, the creature retracted its hand and then pointed towards itself, again saying a single word. [Evest] After it said the word ¡®Aris¡¯ Ben became confused, having several questions flow through his mind, until it pointed to itself and spoke another word, Ben immediately understood ¡°Aris, huh, I guess that¡¯s my new name¡­ Aris¡­ I like it¡± Ben broke out into a warm smile hearing his new name, he didn¡¯t know if it had any special meaning in this creature¡¯s strange language but for some reason it made him feel warm inside. 9. Im not normal, am i? Looking back into the creature¡¯s eyes, Ben gave his first smile since entering this new world, pointed at himself and spoke his name. ¡°Aris!¡± Ben¡¯s voice exploded outwards, with his high pitched baby voice and his low control of his vocal chords he screamed his name, causing the creatures to cover their ears in discomfort; Ben showed an embarrassed expression from shouting his name out in excitement so he tried once more, this time controlling himself. ¡°Aris!¡± Ben¡¯s voice came out once more but this time it was the pure, soft voice of an excited child. All the creatures in the room including the presumed leader looked on with wide eyes and shocked expressions, Ben was almost afraid that some of their eyes were going to fall out. Ignoring their expressions, he pointed towards the larger creature and spoke its name. ¡°Evest!¡± The creature¡¯s eyes opened even wider, along with its jaw almost hitting the floor, it took several seconds for the creature to compose itself before its eyes began to lightly tear up, quickly reaching its arms out to wrap around Ben and bring him in for a hug, squeezing him against his chest, this caused Ben to feel like his bones were being crushed, as well as the air being pushed out of his lungs and before long he was performing a tap-out like he¡¯d seen in wrestling on earth to try and stop this creature from crushing him. Noticing Ben¡¯s discomfort, the creature stopped its hug and placed Ben back down on the bed with what seemed like an apologetic look on its face, after waiting for Ben to recover his breath the creature once again picked up the goblet from the ground and took a small drink of it in an attempt to show Ben it was harmless. Seeing the creature try and get him to drink the blood drink again, Ben thought ¡°Might as well, it doesn¡¯t seem to want to hurt me¡± Before pointing at and slightly opening his mouth as an indication for the creature to feed the drink to him, since the goblet was half the size of Ben there was no way he¡¯d be able to lift it to drink from. The creature smiled brightly once more and lifted the goblet towards Ben¡¯s mouth slightly tilting it to allow him to drink from it. Ben tried to finish the drink as fast as possible to reduce the horrible taste of the blood, but against all of his thoughts, the blood drink was unbelievable sweet, only being able to compare it to Golden syrup, except it was much less viscous and much easier to drink, this prompted Ben to happily gulp down all of the liquid, though strangely there was no red orb in the drink, most likely having dissolved in the blood. Ben finished the drink and gave a happy burp and patted his belly with a satisfied expression on his face, making him look like a middle-aged man. [Can you understand me now?] Ben¡¯s eyes quickly darted to the source of the voice being greeted again with the face of the large smiling creature, Ben responded automatically with a simple ¡°Yes¡±. [Hahaha! Good, very good, it is only natural for my son to be this incredible!] With a booming laugh the creature revealed itself to be Ben¡¯s father, although the part of being incredible confused Ben ¡°I know humans can¡¯t talk or move when they are this young, but I¡¯m not a human anymore?¡± Ben thought to himself, although what he thought and what he said were two completely different things, he started with the important things first. ¡°You can understand me? because of the drink?¡±If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. Ben¡¯s vibrant blue coloured eyes stared innocently at the creature that he would be calling father from now on. [Yes, that¡¯s right, this drink is known as ¡®Phonetic inheritance wine¡¯ using a parents blood and a flavoured catalyst like the ¡®Red Orl pearl¡¯ I used to alter the taste, we make the wine to allow our new-born children to understand our language without teaching them by inheriting the parents knowledge, making a child learn the language at a young age is much more beneficial to their growth, although this is only for normal children, even those children labelled as prodigies are not able to speak before they even an hour old! Haha!] While Ben was marvelling of the miraculous effects of this ¡®Phonetic inheritance wine¡¯ his ears picked up the frenzied chatter in the background. [Why is he acting so normal, this isn¡¯t a situation to act so normal, is it?!] [This child¡­ ive seen strange things throughout my life but this¡­] [Ahhh, another strange one has appeared] [A strange father with an even stranger child¡­] ¡°Strange this, strange that, I¡¯m not that abnormal, am I?¡± Ben almost started to cry internally, being called strange so many times was mentally draining. Ben¡¯s Father finally stopped ignoring these other creatures when he noticed his son¡¯s gloomy expression and turned towards them with a fierce glare [If all you can do is slander my son then GET. OUT. OF. MY. HOUSE!!] Ben¡¯s father spat out these words one after another each one getting louder and more vicious than the last, this caused the other creatures to freeze up in fear, sweat pouring down their faces, one of the creatures even collapsed onto the floor as a result of their legs being drained of strength. Ben¡¯s father removed his gaze and returned his beaming smile towards Ben, removing all traces of the previous deadly gaze he held only seconds before. This caused Ben to become conflicted, he felt genuine warmth from the protectiveness of his father but at the same time, his Father¡¯s explosive temper also scared him, but this was thrown to the back of his mind when he noticed that the other creatures had quickly withdrawn from the room the moment his father¡¯s gaze had been retracted from them. [Do not care for them son, I would sooner take my own life than allow anyone to defame my only child] Evest sent another beaming smile, which Ben returned in kind ¡°Thank you, father¡±. Hearing his son call him father for the first time Evest made an embarrassed expression before making a little boast [Of course! It¡¯s only natural for a father to protect his son!] Ben released a childish giggle watching his father acting so childlike; after all this commotion, and finally being able to communicate, he decided to start digging for information. ¡°Father, what am i? where am i? and where¡¯s my mother?¡± These questions had plagued Ben¡¯s mind since he first arrived here only several minutes ago, he still didn¡¯t know what he was, he clearly wasn¡¯t human, he had no idea where he was, most likely not earth, and finally where was his mother, being a new-born child shouldn¡¯t his mother be besides him, not his father? [Ah¡­ this¡­ it¡¯ll be easier to see for yourself rather than explain everything. can you walk yet? your muscles should have developed enough by now] In response to this Ben shuffled his body around onto all fours before pushing up with his hands and balancing on his legs, after some shaky steps and almost tripping over trying to adjust his balance, before a minute had passed Ben had managed to gain enough balance to take his first steps, though during all of this he couldn¡¯t help but be amazed at what he was currently doing, a baby doing its first steps within a hour of being born, he knew of nothing but wild animals that could achieve this but now he had too. Going by what his father had said, this was normal for his species, he had a lot to get used to. Evest looked on, watching his son attempt his first steps, although he had said he should be able to walk by now that was merely a test, he wanted to see just how incredible this son of his was and he wasn¡¯t disappointed, his son managing to walk somewhat steadily within a minute, it was nothing he could have imagined possible, the only reason he had told his son those words was to make his son see these things as ¡®normal¡¯, if only exceptional feats were considered to be normal by his child then that would only accelerate his growth. [Good, very good, lets go, it¡¯s time to show you of- show you the outside world! Haha!] Evest gave a nervous chuckle after his correction hoping his son wouldn¡¯t notice¡­ ¡°He wants to show me off. I guess I¡¯m not normal after all¡± It didn¡¯t work. All of Evest¡¯s hard work had gone down the drain. Evest lifted Ben off of the bed and placed him on the floor, being a hard surface it made it easier to walk than on a soft bed, so Ben quickly managed to fully adjust to walking in his infant body before following his father out of the house. After walking through several corridors Ben finally arrived at the door leading to the outside, although before he left, he couldn¡¯t help but comment on how huge the house was ¡°is this really our house? Why is it so big?¡± but all he got was an egotistically reply making Ben roll his eyes. [Because your father is a super important person!]