《Supreme Truth of Chaos》


 Chapter 1: Nightmares

    His back was drenched with sweat. His heart was racing so fast that it felt like it was going to break though his rib cage. He was gasping for air like someone had punched him in his chest. David Knox had another nightmare.


    "Damn", David cursed out loud to himself as he sat on the edge of his bed. He looked over his dark room and felt around on his nightstand for his cell phone. The bright light of the phone practically blinded his eyes as 3:17 a.m flashed on his phone screen.


    His one bedroom apartment was no more than 250 square feet. The room was also very quiet except for the humming of the air conditioning unit. That quiet was one of the reasons he had settled for this hellhole of a building nine months ago when he moved to Three Rivers City. What had surprised him was the silence. Usually in the movies, the cheap places in big cities are located by the train tracks or airport. He hadn''t expected to find a cheap quiet place when he moved here.


    This city was one of the largest in the country. David had moved here to work at a small architecture and engineering firm that specialized in the design of wildlife habitats and zoo exhibits. The three rooms in his apartment consisted of his bedroom, a small bathroom and one open room that included a small kitchen and a lounge area. He had a table in the lounge area by the kitchen that served as an eating place, hangout, or a work desk for his take home architecture work.


    "Do I stay awake and go get some work done at the table in the other room or do I try to go back to sleep?", he questioned himself. Sitting there staring into the dark room, he chuckled at himself for thinking of such a stupid question. The real question was if he wanted to be tired at work or subject himself to possibility of another nightmare.


    These vivid dreams have been tormenting him since he was a child. His life''s struggle was to properly deal with these dreams. The horrid dreams affected his sleep which in turn affected everything else in his life. He had figured this recent move to the big city was going to be his chance at breaking out of the rut he was in back in his small hometown.


    He knew one thing for sure. The move hadn''t made his dreams any better or any worse. Tonight, he had lived out a dream with an ending that he knew wouldn''t be pleasant. David has had this one particular dream multiple times before tonight.


    In tonight''s dream, David was still around 12 years old. David was playing outside his grandma''s house in the front yard. The sky was free of clouds and the sun was shining brightly. He could even smell the fresh cut grass. Looking at this dream, it would have been absolutely perfect if it wasn''t for what happened next.


    While he was running around the yard and having a good time, a doglike beast appeared in the neighbor''s yard a few houses down. The beast looked his way and fear and panic struck David all over as he instinctively knew that the monster will be coming after him in a few seconds. To keep the vicious beast from getting a hold of him, he sprinted to the front door of his grandma''s house but the door is locked. He decided to try his mom''s car parked at the curb on the street.


    "It shouldn''t be able to get me if I hide in the car," he had thought to himself in the dream.


    He decided to make a run for it and dashed across the perfectly mowed lawn towards the street. At this point, he could hear the dog-like beast galloping toward him making the loud panting and growling sounds of threat. He just knows that the dog will rip his body to pieces and kill him in a brutal manner. His hand stretches to reach the handle of the car door. The car door is locked. He turns around and the monster hits him hard with teeth latching on to his face. Then, he had woken up.


    He had that dream over a hundred times now over the years. Every time was the same. Starting off running in absolute fear then ending with a beast dog''s jaws swallowing his face. He would have the same internal thoughts, try the same things, and have the same results. The crazy thing is that the more times he had the dream then the more realistic it seemed. Tonight he could swear that he actually smelled the dog''s saliva and felt the teeth painfully dig into his face before he awoke.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.


    There are about thirty other dreams that run themselves in repetition to ruin his nightly slumber. Those are the special "repeaters", as David calls them. If it is not a repeat dream then it is something new. Those new dreams can go both good or bad. Usually bad.


    An odd thing for David was that each time one of the dreams was repeated something special seems to happen. The repeat dreams gets more detailed and in depth but the outcome always remains the same: death in a violent manner. They have even progressed to a point that he actually feels the pain the moment something bad happens as he starts to wake up. Although the terror of a nightmare is unequaled when in such dramatic detail, the dreams always end shortly after the pain starts. And they always seem to wake him up between 2:30 and 3:30 am.


    At this point in his life, he has been through being mauled by just about every creature imaginable and died in all the worse ways imaginable. Beaten, burned drowned, crushed, chopped, eaten. If you can name it then he has probably experienced it in a dream at some point.


    Still sitting there on the edge of his little bed, he realized just how mentally exhausted he was feeling after being startled awake.


    "Work is going to suck today if I don''t try to get a few more hours of sleep", he thought to himself.


    He stood up from the bed, picked up his glasses off the nightstand and walked straight ahead into his apartment''s bathroom. He always had this weird residual feeling lingering around in his body as a side effect from the intense nightmare. David had always thought that this must be the adrenaline from the scare. He didn''t like it. It made it hard to go back to sleep.


    Putting his glasses on, he walked up to the door of his bathroom. He hesitantly switched on the light in the bathroom before entering. The only reason for hesitation was because he has another regular nightmare that takes place in the bathroom. No ghosts appeared and locked him in as they creeped out the walls. He was actually thankful for being awake and not going through another nightmare tonight.


    "Thank you", he said to himself. He was glad this wasn''t just another dream and is actually reality. Sometimes just after he woke up from a nightmare, he would have trouble judging if he was in a dream or reality. Tonight wasn''t one of those nights thankfully.


    "Maybe a piss and a sip of water will help get me back to sleep", he had thought to himself while entering the bathroom to do his business.


    After washing his face off with some warm water, he proceeded head back into the bedroom and climb back into bed. Disappointingly, he went on to lay in a semi-awake state for about 3 hours before his morning alarm blasted from his phone at 6:30 a.m.


    "Guess I made the wrong decision.", he thought realizing he had just wasted time he could have been working. He could of went ahead and gotten started on the new exhibit building design for the Three Rivers City Zoo. This project was a big local attention grabber that needed the utmost care in design. A few extra hours in reviewing the proposal notes and the client''s background would be helpful in the project kickoff meeting on Thursday of this week.


    "Damn, today is going to suck," he thought again, "A stereotypical Monday."


    After begrudgingly climbing out of bed, David jumped in the shower to try to wake himself up. The shower was freezing cold in an attempt to startle his body awake. After years of unfortunate sleep, he has developed a few methods to help himself get through the work day. An ice cold shower will get him up and going until around 10:00 am. It was one of the only easy fixes available to help him get out of the house after a nightmare filled night.


    After the shower, David got dressed in his usual work attire: khakis and a dress shirt. The stereotypical uniform of an architect. Looking at himself in the mirror, he couldn''t help but frown. No matter how nice he dressed he still looked like the definition of a sleep deprived human. Slightly pale skin, heavy eyes, muted facial expressions, a yawn that pops out of nowhere, and a tired posture. David looked pretty rough. Good thing he didn''t have any client meetings today.


    After the quick peek at himself in the mirror, he walked to the kitchen and made himself breakfast. He always felt so worn out after having one of those intense nightmares. He quickly inhaled a cream cheese laden bagel and packed up another for his commute to work. He also decided to bring in his lunch today in order to free up a few extra minutes of work time. It is always a lot quicker to just bring a lunch then waste the hour and a half needed to go grab something from a restaurant in the heart of the city. He just didn''t have the time today so he quickly made three sandwiches. One more sandwich than usual. He was hungry when he woke up and was expecting to carry that hunger throughout the day.


    He packed his lunch and few notebooks he had left out into his backpack. For the hike to work, he uses the backpack to keep his stuff together journeying to and from work. After walking to the door and flipping off the lights, he locked up his apartment and left for the long walk to work.

 Chapter 2: The Idea

    When he walked out of the apartment building, David had originally felt lucky that the morning rainstorm had already passed. That was until he steped into a puddle that was deeper than the usual and got soggy feet. The worst of it all was that he had fumbled his extra bagel onto the ground.


    "Damn pothole", he had cursed as he stumbled around to keep his balance in the crosswalk. Guess he was going to be hungry the rest of the morning.


    Three Rivers City had a population of around 350,000 people and those people knew how to beat up the infrastructure. Imagine the perfect downtown cityscape, then imagine people so busy they don''t pay attention to how they are treating things around them and the devastation that their haste causes. Bent street signs where cars clip them pulling too close to the curb. Potholes created by the repetitive beating that the large number of delivery trucks zooming around all day. Smells of what appeared to be bodily fluids and booze all over the sidewalks near the local bars that seem to be spread throughout downtown. Thankfully, the crime didn''t seem to be that high in the areas David frequented and the taxes were relatively low. Three Rivers City wasn''t a bad place at all. If it had to be summed up in one word: busy.


    After navigating the labyrinth of streets on his usual 1.5 mile route, he arrived at work a few minutes before the majority of staff arrived. He managed to squeak and slosh his way through the building and arrived at his office. Just as he was opening his office door he could hear his boss talking down the hall. Guess the meeting tomorrow was just too important to be straggling in for those with the company involved with kicking off this new project.


    The Carmine Corporation must have been looking for a tax write off because they donated 10 million dollars for the development of a "Creatures of the Night" building at the Three Rivers Zoo. The concept was for the building to house the standard nocturnal animals: bats, owls, bugs, reptiles and an assortment of amphibians. His design firm was very lucky to be selected as the architect and engineering service provider for this project. The client meeting needed to go very well. If the meeting flopped, the chances of the project being pulled from the firm were pretty high. Everything must be perfect.


    While the team members managing this project may have been amped up, those in the office that didn''t have involvement were still their typical Monday selves. After about an hour of working, the office''s notorious coworker, Jeff, decided to make his rounds to tell everyone about his weekend exploits.


    These exploits usually consist of some story about the random women that Jeff manages to swindle into hooking up with him during the weekend.


    After peaking his head into David''s office, Jeff immediately started on this week''s weekend story.


    "This chick I met this weekend was crazy. She scared the shit out of me. We were about to get at it when she stopped, got all serious and asked me what my safe word was. From jokes and shit on TV, I knew what she meant but that''s one hell of a thing to ask a guy when you just got him back to your place, you know?," he continues,"I mean, I''m standing in front of her half naked with a rager of a hard-on and she pops this kinda question. Good thing I had a few drinks in me cause it ended up being one hell of a night."The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    After listening to Jeff''s breathless raving of women conquering, David finally looked up from his desk at Jeff. To David''s annoyance, Jeff took the acknowledgement as a sign to continue the story.


    He went on, "I even woke up this morning screamin ''yellow'' over and over again. Yellow was my safe word by the way. She said she enjoyed me too so maybe this will be the start of something cool."


    "Good for you, Jeff. I hope you can finally meet the right one and settle down." David said while thinking, "because if you get married you won''t need to interrupt my work with these woman conquest stories."


    "Let me get back to work, we have that big client meeting this week and everything needs to be on point", David gave Jeff the heads up on the situation so he didn''t get himself in trouble wondering the office with his stories. Seemed like the passive warning went in one ear and out the other though.


    While Jeff made his way to the next office to rattle the same story off, David started working on a few concepts for the conceptual design and general layout of the night exhibit. The next two hours continued at his desk, solving problem and managing his other projects. With a gurgle of his stomach indicating his hunger, David decided it was time to go eat his lunch.


    The TV was blasting the sounds of applause when he walked in to find a spot for lunch. Oddly no one was sitting in the break room eating. He looked over at the time clock and realized it was only 10:45 a.m.


    "Damn pothole", he cursed again as he continued to slosh around the break room. Sitting at the table, he pulled his lunch out of the bag.


    The TV in the break room was already running with one of those standard daytime talk shows. A magician was on the show standing in front of the audience with hands spread wide and doing some over exaggerated ''magical'' finger movements. He built up the anticipation with the audience telling them that they would see a box disappear when he said the magic word, "Kazamm". Sure enough, the trick was a success. The magic word made the box disappear.


    Bored with watching the show, David quickly choked down his three sandwiches and walked back to his desk.


    After having a big lunch, David actually started to feel physically better but was struggling to keep his eyes open at his desk. Other than the drowsyness, the rest of the day went fairly quickly and he was totally immersed in his work. Diligently working in his office, he realized that he must be the only one left in the building when he got up to go to the bathroom.


    Since it was late, he decided it was time to pack up and start the walk back home. Since he ended up being the last person in the office, he had to lock up for the night by setting the alarm and walking out a specific door that locked behind him. Just as he was about to exit the building, David realized that he forgot his wallet and keys sitting on his desk.


    Thankfully, he remembered his stuff before the door shut. If he would have been locked out, he would have had to call his boss to come unlock the building. With the big client meeting coming up, the boss would have been pissed for getting his evening disturbed.


    David ran back upstairs only to be assaulted by the screaming alarm system. Only thing worse than calling the boss to open the office is having the boss called by the police, so David was quick to run to the alarm panel and shut it off the alarm.Grateful that he managed to get the sirens turned off he stood by the secretary''s desk waiting fo the follow up phone call. Within a minute, the phone rang. Quickly picking up the phone, David heard on the other end of the line,"Guardian Alarm Systems, please state your code word." "Cadillac", David responded immediately with the password to let the security company know that everything was alright. "Thank you for your response. We will cancel the calll to emergency services," the operator on the security line said emotionlessly.


    Running back to his office quickly, he grabbed his keys and wallet from his desk and went through the exit routine again.


    Walking back to his apartment, a random idea popped into his head as he was reflecting on his day. "Wouldn''t it be nice if I had a safe word, a magical word, a passcode that could get me out of my bad dreams," David thoughtfully fantasized while walking home.

 Chapter 3: Dream Action Plan

    The idea to get out of having bad dreams seemed to stick with David and the thought occupied his mind for the entire walk home, his evening meal, and all of his activities gearing up for bedtime.


    As he laid down for bed, he pulled his night journal out of his nightstand for his daily review. Writing out his thoughts was a good way to unwind from the day and David had picked up this practice after reading that it can help with sleep. Putting pen to paper, he began to write his thoughts on the day.


    In the process of reviewing his day, he kept coming back to the idea he had on his walk home. Perhaps out of desperation from his lifetime of sleepless nights, he had managed to draw some odd conclusions based on the random occurances from the day.He had further developed the idea on the walk home. His coworker''s story, the magician on TV and the alarm company''s phone call. All of them had a ''magic'' word that resolved the threat in the situuatuon. What if he created a special word to help him get out of his bad dreams before they go bad and wake him up. It would so nice if he could just continue sleeping after a dream instead of waking up.


    Laughing at himself, he finally realized how desperate he had become to get a good night''s sleep. David had been tormented for years by these nightmares and they continued to get worse. If he didn''t have to worry about being tired all day, then he could only imagine the amount of work he could get done. He would be an all-star employee and really make it big time.


    "Why the hell not?", David said to himself while closing up his journal and tucking it into his nightstand. Then, he was left with his next thought, "How will it work?"


    After that he spent the next thirty minutes thinking over the idea. He kind of felt a little childish for actually acting on the weird idea, but he managed to start forming a plan for tonight''s sleep.


    If a nightmare would come, he would say his ''magic'' word to get out of the dream before the nightmare forces him to wake up and ruin his sleep.


    Now he just needed to pick a word.


    Something memorable and simple, but not something that he would use frequently. This decision ended up being pretty difficult for something that seemed trivial. After about twenty more minutes of thinking, he decide that that when a dream went sour then he would face the situation head-on and simply say "terminate" to end the dream. Why terminate? The word sounded cool, means to stop and isn''t a word that he says on a regular basis. He actually chuckled at himself for such a stupid choice.


    In order to implement his plan, he focused on the idea of having a word to end dreams as he laid down for bed. In the past, he had tried this strategy of focusing on a particular thought before going to sleep in an effort to direct his dreams with some limited success. Most of the time, the focus would just slightly change a dream or add a different element but it wouldn''t change the nightmares much at all. Sometimes, trying to focus his thoughts would even make the nightmares worse. After that happened a few times, he had stopped trying.


    All he needed to do tonight was change the dream by a word, so it seemed reasonable that it would work. He countinued focusing on the thought while mentally thinking the word terminate over and over again. Surprisingly, it didn''t take him long before he started to dozed off to sleep and into a dream.


    After he dozed off, David found himself back on his grandma''s lawn playing and having a good time. This time he seemed to realize he was in a dream a bit more than usual. He had always found that this weird feeling seemed to be due to having the same dream two nights in a row. It didn''t happen often. The odd feeling that awareness in a dream provided was different. The feeling made his whole body slightly tingly in sensation. Honestly, it felt like he appeared in a movie scene that he had watched before and was living the life of one of the characters.


    David was semi-aware that this was a dream but the feeling was foggy. The semi-aware feeling was similar to being really drunk. He was not totally in control of even his own movements. The details in the dream were still as real as the last time if not a bit more.This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Knowing what was going to happen, David looked down the block to see the large beast standing in the neighbor''s yard. As usual, the panic and fear hit him as the doglike beast started to move his way. In the mist of the fear, he had this nagging sensation that he needed to do something. The same as list time, he first ran to his grandma''s front door only to find it locked. With the door locked, all he could do for protection was try to hide in his Mom''s car. He sprinted through the grass to the car.


    Glancing sideways, he saw that the beast was only 20 feet away. He knew that he wasn''t going to make and the urge to take action was getting stronger. Almost not really understanding why, he stopped in his tracks, stared the beast in the face and managed to quietly say, "Terminate."


    David immediately sat up in bed very disappointed that the plan didn''t work and he had woken up. Although the plan didn''t work, the intense pain of the dog beast attack didn''t seem to happen like every other night. He also felt much better than when he is usually awoken by a nightmare. Then, the odd sensation of being semi-conscience hit him again.


    "Damn, it feels like I am still in a dream," he managed to string together in a thought, "Holy shit, the magic word must have worked."


    After a few seconds thought, he felt the urge to go to the bathroom. "Oh, this is the ghosts in the bathroom dream," he thought feeling a chill run through his body.


    David seemed to feel much more aware in this dream than the previous one. He was slightly more in control of his actions than the last dream. Since he knew how this dream went, he immediately turned in all the lights in the apartment.


    "How can ghosts get you if the whole apartment is lit up like a spotlight? You never see ghosts during a sunny day", David had thought to himself.


    The dream had always been so dark and spooky. With all the lights blazing, it just didn''t seem that bad. The dream always went downhill once he went into the bathroom and closed the door.


    For some reason, he seemed to be fully aware in this dream. It was really weird. Like his normal thought processes were accessible. Usually in a dream, he has little to no control.


    Since he had some freedom, David made the decision to go about doing things in his dream apartment instead of entering the bathroom. Those bastard ghosts could get him if he never went in the bathroom.


    Having an dream with some control was pretty awesome. David walked around his apartment for awhile. Sometimes, he felt a hundred percent aware while sometime he was semi-aware and had to fight the urge to go in the bathroom to pee.


    While he was aware, details of his apartment were clear. He could read his work notes at the kitchen table. He could empty the dishwasher. It was like he had free range of this dreamworld.


    The experience was amazing; however, good things don''t last forever. Eventually, the urge to enter the bathroom became overwhelming. Off the success of the previous dream, he decided to go into the bathroom to see what would happen.


    Entering the bathroom, he couldn''t help but be slightly nervous. This part of the nightmare was always one of his worse dreams. The ghosts would come out of the walls and scrape and peel at his skin off of his body until he awoke.


    He walked into the bathroom. Setting the goal of excaping this dream too, he reached for the doornob. As the bathroom door closed, the lights started flickering on and off. Aberrations started to appear around him. Then the ghosts started to come out. Just as the first wraith dove for him out of the corner of the room, he ducked down to the ground and shouted, "Terminate."


    He awoke in his bed with splitting pain in his head. The pain was so intense that it made tears build up in his eyes. This headache had to be the worst he ever experienced. He trashed around his bed for about a minute while holding his head.


    "What the hell?", he thought as the pain started to reduce. He felt nauseous.


    As soon as the pain settled down,he was asssulted with the intense urge to go to the bathroom. Worried that he was going to puke and piss himself before he made it the ten steps to the toilet, David quickly got up from bed. The urge had hit him so hard that he hadn''t had a chance to figure out what that crazy headache was all about.


    After flipping up the toilet seat, he immediately started to take a piss feeling a overwhelming sense of release. He really had to piss. After a second of peeing, he was blindsided by an obnoxious stench coming from the toilet. Looking down, he couldn''t help but shiver as he looked at the dark brown urine coming out of his body.


    "What the hell?", he repeated to himself, "Guess I held my piss in too long by staying away from the bathroom in that dream. I hope I didn''t mess up my bladder."


    He finished up going to the bathroom and flushed the obnoxious mess down into the sewer. He walked back into his bedroom and picked up his phone.


    "7:30 in the morning," he read in elation.


    Then the realization hit him. David had managed to have the first good night sleep that he could remember.


    "Hell ya, the crazy idea worked and I managed to get a wonderful nights rest for the work today. I''m gonna have to do this every night," he thought as he started his morning routine of getting ready for work.

 Chapter 4: Client Meeting

    The morning was absolutely wonderful and he felt like he was a new person. David''s expectations of the outcome of a good night''s sleep were underrated. The actual experience was so much better than anticipated. He had never felt this good. The great feeling carried him from his house to the office, but as soon as he walked through the door he had to readjust to the intense mood. The client meeting is a two days away. David sat at his desk steadily working to prepare for the big meeting.


    Tuesday''s workday had went by great. So did Wednesday. It was all thanks to David''s newly found strategy for dealing with his nightmares. He couldn''t help wish that he had thought of this sooner. He still had the nightmares every night. But the nightmares were like they had been tamed. David would just bounce around from dream to dream until he woke up naturally. He still ended up with a splitting headache when he woke up, but it was getting better.


    This morning''s headache was pretty mild. Thursday had come pretty quick. The day of the big client meeting.


    As David walked in the office, everyone present was in their best appearance and the office looked busy and productive. Even Jeff was sitting at his desk instead of walking about storytelling. All employees knew how important this meeting was for the small company. While everyone may not be directly involved, the fee for this project could cover operation costs for the firm for two years. The project was like job security for everybody.


    Since David was the lead architect for the project, he would be one of the four firm employees in attendance. The others included the lead engineer the company Chief Executive Officer and the company Chief Marketing Officer. Two technical people and two salesman. Hopefully everything would go as smooth as rehearsed. The CEO and CMO would lead a presentation and David and the lead engineer would be around to answer any technical questions from the clients.


    The meeting was scheduled from 10:00 a.m. until 12:00 p.m., so they had two hours to review the notes as a group before the clients showed to the meeting.


    At exactly 10:00 a.m., the clients waltzed into the building. The Carmine Corporation lived up to its reputation as a top class business organization. While the company had its hands in just about every industry, their main business sector was consumer products focused on the health and beauty.


    In almost a reflection of their main business sectors, the four people walking into the office were specimens of human beings. The first sight was an abnormallly large man leading the way. He was very alert and looking around the office as if he were some sort of special agent. The two women that followed looked like goddess sisters. One of the sisters eyes practically glowed with intensity while the other looked around at the office in a very observational manner. The fourth and final person was an older man that had the presence of a king. William Carmine, CEO of the Carmine Corporation, surely had the appearance of one of the top businessmen in the country.


    They filed into the room with the large man taking a seat away form the meeting table near the door. The other three walked forward and began their introductions.


    "Hello, I am William Carmine. The CEO of the Carmine Corporation. I look forward to hearing your firm''s presentation on the new Creatures of the Night exhibit for the zoo. The two exceptional women are my daughters. They are the two that are the main drivers for this project so I hope they will like what you have to present. I''ll let them introduce themselves."This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    The tall beautiful woman with the cold expression steped up to the table and began, "My name is Karine."


    There was a slightly awkward pause before the other sister began her upbeat response, "Sorry for my sister. She doesn''t really like talking with strangers," she continued, "My name is Sonia Carmine. Nice to meet you all."


    Oddly the man by the door never spoke and wasn''t even acknowledged by the three Carmine family members.


    "Must be a bodyguard. People with money have bodyguards", David pondered before realizing everyone had introduced themselves and it was his turn, "Hi, I am David Knox and I am the lead Architect for the project. I hope to have the chance do provide a great project with some innovations that make the exhibits world class."


    The welcomes were warmly received by most of the room and the presentation quickly got underway. Almost immediately, David could tell that this group of people had sat through a lot of presentations before this meeting. The two daughters seemed to lack interest but sat there attentively. Mr. Carmine sat there with a look of disappointment in his eyes. Honestly, David also didn''t think the presentation was anything special. They had presented before to clients but the scale of the projects were much lower. David felt bad for the two presenters from his company but they were totally outclassed by their clients.


    As the presentation wrapped up, the firm''s CEO opened the floor to questions. After thinking for a few seconds, Mr. Carmine spoke, "David, you had mentioned innovations before in your introduction but I didn''t really see anything innovative in the presention. What sort of innovative ideas do you have?"


    Caught very off guard that the first question following the presentation was directed at him. While he had said "innovation" in his introduction he really didn''t have any specific innovations prepared for the presention. In a bit of a panic, he decided to go out on a limb with an idea that he had been bouncing around in his project planning.


    Closing his eyes, he started to imagine the scene he wanted to present.


    "Imagine an exhibit that fullly captures the wilderness at night. The smell of dew drenched soil, the buzz of insects in your ears, the quiet of the night and the sounds of unknown creatures moving about in the woods," David paused,"Now imagine an exhibit that fully captures those experiences and others and incorporates them into the design. An exhibit that not only lets someone experience the creatures of the night but the night itself."


    David opened his eyes and caught the now interested faces of the Carmine family so he continued, "The method of achieving this task is what is going to set the bar high on innovation. The presentation was really just the basis for the building itself but the actual visitor experience will be where the innovation of the design will occur. How do you capture the essence of the night in an exhibit that is meant for public viewing of animals? How do you instill the feelings that a night in the woods brings while inside a building? How do we make people see and enjoy the night? These are the questions that the design will answer."


    "I have already started my research into the luminosity of moonlight, bioluminescent organisms and similar features. The main design problem is going to be making the creatures in the exhibit visible to the visitors. I believe with our firm''s team and feedback from the Zoo and the Carmine Corporation that these issues can be solved for a very successful project.", David finished up.


    After a quiet few seconds, Mr. Carmine broke the pause, "Thanks for clarification, Mr. Knox. You have really made this whole design a little clearer. A building is just a building, but the actual experience will be what defines the project"


    "If my daughters agree, I would like to congratulate your firm on being authorized to proceed forward with the project. What do you think girls?", Mr. Carmine asked the two beautiful women.


    "I think it sounds great. The idea of capturing the essence of the night in the exhibit really appeals to me. How about Sonia and I delve more into the design details over lunch with Mr. Knox and his associates. Since we are committing so much money, I would like to have some input on the way the final project will be achieved", said Karine Carmine revealing a smile.


    Appearently, her comments and smile were unexpected because even the man by the door had an odd look on his face not to mention the other two Carmine family members.


    After her moment of what appeared to be shock, Sonia agreed, " Great Sis! Let''s go discuss all the details. I haven''t been to lunch with you in ages."


    "Alright girls.  Enjoy the lunch. I will see you back at home this afternoon. I will send Charles with you," Mr. Carmine said before saying his goodbyes and directly leaving the office.


    As the group was discussing the details of the lunch plans, David could help look across the room at the cold and quiet woman whom had sent a smile his way for a second. He couldn''t help feeling a slight tingle in his heart.


    "Damn, that woman can take your breath away when she smiles," David thought before leaving the room to head to lunch.

 Chapter 5: Progress

    Over the four months since that first client meeting, David had never had such a good time in his life. Oddly, it wasn''t because he got to work with a gorgeous women (or two) on an almost daily basis as the newly assigned lead manager on the project. While that interaction and work was a wonderful addition to his daily life, the majority of this good feeling came from finally feeling rested.


    David''s little trick with his dreams had helped him get a new lease on life. He finally felt like a 26 year old in the prime of his life instead of old man. That wasn''t all. His skill with dreams seems to have expanded. About a month after using the ''magic word'' method to escape his nightmares, David realized that he could now sort of edit his dreams. He could add things to the dream or take stuff out.


    However, he was limited to how much he could revise the nightmares. David had realized the more effort he put into changing a dream then the greater his headache when he woke up. He had found that out the hard way.


    David had dreamed of being trapped in a room that was continuously shrinking. This was a repeater that he had always dreaded. He had also just realized that he could change a dream slightly. Getting crushed alive was one of the worst ways to die and just a fraction of the pain realized into real life was horrible. David had sat down in the center of the shrinking room, closed his eyes and imagined into existence some supports that kept the room from shrinking. If he would have left it alone after stabilizing the situation, everything would have been fine.


    Since he was now sitting in a room having nothing to do, David had started imagining into existence all sort of stuff. A hot tub, a couch, a trampoline. Whatever he could think would be fun. Then, he had woken up to a headache that felt like something was trying to break out his skull from the inside. It was so bad that he got sick and had to call in to work to miss two days. Missing work wasn''t something he normally did. Karine Carmine had even called to check on him the second day.


    After that incident, he had tried a few things and found a good middle ground between the nightmares and the headaches caused from changing them. He would just change to different dreams that requires a physical resolution using his magic word. The ghost, building collapses, meteor stiles, and other odd dreams... those dreams were hard to fix by changing a few things, so he had no choice but to swap the dream out.


    For nightmares that had physical threats, David found that one way to ''fix'' a nightmare was to ''summon'' protection in the form of weapons into the nightmare. That method had been quite enjoyable.


    He couldn''t help but reflect on the dog beast dream that had started the whole process a few months ago. Last time he had the dream, David had imagined a hand cannon type of pistol and shot the creature in the head when it was trying to attack him. After the beast was exterminated, David was actually able to wonder the neighborhood for a while. Eventually, he managed to get inside his grandma''s house to have a nice dinner with the entire family like nothing crazy had happened outside. The nightmare had been converted into an odd mix of battle and happy memories. It was awesome.


    This method didn''t always work though. He had a reoccurring nightmare of getting in a car accident and flying off the road in the car into a river. No weapon or contraption would save him from that one. In that case, the dream got to be more of a puzzle solving problem. Instead of panicking and drowning to death, David could now retain some calm over the situation. The last time he had the dream, he managed to get out of the car and start swimming to the surface before he had to tap out with his magic word. He had a feeling that the next time he had that dream then he could just get out of the situation like it wasn''t a major issue.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Besides the lack of tiredness, his skill at manipulating his dreams had a few other odd benefits for David. He started to notice that he could handle real life situations different then he would have in the past. Events that would have startled him before now seemed to be much easier to cope. Like his real life ability to handle traumatic occurrences was increased because he had learned to patiently navigate his nightmares while asleep.


    Last week was the craziest. David and the Carmine sisters were making an early morning site visit to the zoo. They were walking through the zoo when all of a sudden the situation went downhill. A jaguar had escaped an exhibit. The staff had not noticed the escaped animal until a keeper found a group of dead llamas in another exhibit. From what David heard after, the jaguar had went on the predator''s equivalent of a drunk human''s joy ride and slaughtered as many other animals as it could throughout the zoo. Imagine working at the zoo and then a voice comes over the radio to let you know that a jaguar murdered a bunch of other animals, is unaccounted for and freely roaming the zoo. It could be hunting you right now and you wouldn''t even know. The usually calm zoo staff was scrambling around like a bunch of lunatics.


    Instead of panicking like the staff, David had went on high alert. He had immediately flipped the ink pen around in his hand. In a second, he had went from an architect taking project notes to a killer ready to stab something to death with his ink pen. He actually felt kind of goofy afterward, but he had developed a weird reflex to responding to frightening situations.


    Although the group had seen the jaguar run by in the distance as keepers chased after it with tranquilizer guns, they never were really threatened. David''s change hadn''t gone unnoticed either. The ever present bodyguard, Charles, had looked at David oddly for a while after the brief scare. David had also noted a few things from the experience also. The two women had seemed completely unconcerned. Like no threat of danger could get to them.


    Other than the increased ability to deal with stress, he had become a lot more productive at work. The design of a project of this scale doesn''t happen over night. They were current planning the start of construction in around four more months.


    During the design process so far, a lot had happened over that time. David realized that Karine Carmine was one of the main driving forces behind the project. The cold and detached woman seemed to only show emotion when developing details for the project with David. At this point, they were working on design elements on almost a daily basis. Sometimes her sister, Sonia, would be present and sometimes she wouldn''t be around. David has felt that it wouldn''t be inappropriate to say that him and Karine had become friends due to working together on the zoo exhibit.


    Today, they were attempting to sort through the difficulties of odor in the exhibit. Karine and David were sitting with a plan in front of them in the office conference room. Charles was seated outside the room as usual.


    The topic of the day: How were they going to make the exhibit smell like the night? Well, Karine and David had decided how they wanted the smell. They were aiming for an earthy, dew sort of smell. How to achieve that effect was the problem.


    After thinking for a while, David finally had an idea.


    "Karine, how about making all the exhibits with some sort of bioactive soil substrate, then just venting the exhibits into the walking areas? The smells from the soil, greenery, and animals would drift out into the pedestrian areas and give them the full odor of the night," David proposed.


    "Wow, David. I think that would work well. However, we may still need to vent some exhibits to the outside. Remember, we decide to include some skunks in one of the exhibits," Karine replied.


    "Ha ha," David smiled and laughed, "I completely forgot about that. We wouldn''t want to have the whole exhibit smelling badly."


    Karine was sitting across from David smiling right back. Their eyes met for a second and Karine shied her eyes away.


    Looking down at her notepad, she asked, "Hey David, what are your plans for this weekend?"


    David stopped breathing at the question. As typical, David couldn''t help but have a little crush on this beautiful woman. And she had just asked him what he was doing this weekend.


    "N-nothing," David stuttered.


    "We are having a business get together at our house on Saturday night. Would you like to come over?", Karine asked.


    David didn''t know what to say at first, but he quickly recovered.


    "Yes, I would very much like to go", David replies while making perfect eye contact with Karine.


    "Okay," Karine responded with a blush, "I''ll text you the details this afternoon."

 Chapter 6: The Party (1)

    Saturday morning had come pretty quickly. David was excited and nervous for the event tonight.


    Karine had followed up their last meeting with a message giving the party''s details. The gathering was more like a festival with all sorts of entertainment. There were going to be stage performances, a live band, and even a exhibition mixed martial arts competition. The attire was cocktail casual.


    "What the hell type of dress code is that?," David thought to himself. He understood casual attire and he understood cocktail attire. He had no idea what the two combined meant.


    A quick search on the internet and the dress code was slightly less ambiguous. He needed to dress nicer than he would at work and more casual than a cocktail party. Sounds like just wearing work clothes with a nice jacket to him.


    The party was going to be mostly the Carmine Family''s business employees and various business associates. That said, the Carmine Corporation had over twenty subsidiary businesses and approximately ten thousand employees. This business party was expected to have an attendance of around two thousand people. David had never been to a party that big.


    He had also been confused about Karine''s invite. At first, he had some sort of delusional thought that she was inviting him as her date. Then, he realized that this party was just a big business entertainment event probably to promote good relationships within the corporate environment. The party was going to run all evening. It started pretty early at 5:00 p.m. Food would be provided. The party was scheduled to go on until 2:00 a.m. David was fascinated by the length of the party. A nine hour party seemed to be a bit much.


    At around 3:30 p.m., David started to get ready. The party was at the Carmine Estate just outside of the city. It would take about forty minutes to get to the party. David would need to get a cab at around 4:15 p.m. in order to make it to the party on time.


    David had spent most of his Friday evening trying to look up pictures and information about the Carmine''s estate. He had very limited success in finding good details. All he managed to get was the general information. Even with the little details, he felt like he was a kid going to an amusement park for the first time. Everything he had read online about the place made it sound outstanding. A few hundred acres of land, a mansion that had a ridiculous number of rooms, various ponds and gardens. It sounded sensational.


    David could hardly contain himself as he exited his apartment building to hail a cab. It didn''t take long before he was on his way to the party. The cab driver had looked at him funny when he told him where he was going, but David has just ignored him.


    David had decided to take a cab instead of driving his beat up truck to the party. It would cost a good bit for the cab ride but it would be worth it. He could drink alcohol and relax a bit. He hadn''t really done something exciting since he moved to the city. David had pretty much just worked all the time.


    The cab ride was uneventful until they arrived at the gate to the estate. The gate was massive and was surrounded by what seemed like an endless, tall stone fence.


    The security was pretty tight with about ten guards standing around at various locations at the gate. Oddly, David didn''t notice any guns as the men stood about focused on their job. He had expected them all to be wearing guns. A well dressed guard walked up to the cab, bent over and spoke to the cab driver.


    David had leaned forward in the seat to catch what the guard was saying, "If you aren''t on the approved list, you can''t enter the gate."


    "Hold on, I should be on the approved list. David Knox." David spoke from the back seat.


    "Mr. Knox, I can let you in but the cab can not pass the gate. I will have one of the guys ride you up to the party. I''m sure you understand security protocols," the guard replied after pausing with his hand to his ear for a few seconds. He must have been listening to an ear piece.


    "No problem", David said quickly. He took out his wallet and dropped the taxi fee money to the cabbie with an nice tip.


    Stepping out of the cab, David was ushered to the side by the guards.


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    "Hi, Mr. Knox. My name is Gavin. If you don''t mind waiting a few minutes, we will send you in the shuttle up to the house. Could you please sit off to the side until then?"


    "Sure", David said. What was he going to do argue with the guards? These guys all looked like professional soldiers. He went over to the side and set in a pretty nice outdoor lounge area to the side of the guard house.


    Sitting down in the chair, David couldn''t help but relax a bit. Most people would get aggravated from issues like the guards stopping them. David had never been bothered by the small stuff. As he sat there watching a few limos and cars pass through the gates with ease, he had to chuckle at himself for taking a cab for a 40 minute ride.


    "Jackass", David thought about himself.


    While sitting in the lounge chair, he couldn''t help himself from eavesdropping on the conversation between the guards.


    "I hope they let me go back to the house for the fights tonight. I heard they are going to let  Atkins fight tonight. He made a promise to hold back so he won''t hurt the other guy and I want to watch it", a tall guard said to another shorter guard.


    "Ya, even if he holds back, nobody can match his skills," the smaller guy replied.


    David sat and listened to the two guys chatting for around fifteen minutes until the guard, Gavin, walked back over.


    "Mr. Knox, we can take you up to the house now. Another group has arrived that also needs to be brought to the house, you can tag along with them."


    David got up from the lounge seat and made his way to the shuttle. The shuttle looked like a modified golf cart that could seat six people including the driver. As David walked up, he noticed two people standing with the group of guards. A man and a woman that both appeared to be in their twenties.


    The guy was quick to introduce himself and his situation.


    "Hey man, I guess you are another one like us that don''t have an approved driver and vehicle. They had to take our car to be searched before they would let us in. It was going to take an hour for them to get to the search so they are gonna give us a ride up to the house and then park our car. Hi, I''m Jack Sidney. This is my wife, Claire. We both work marketing for Carmine MMA"


    "Cool stuff, I heard the guards talking about the upcoming fight earlier and it sounded interesting", David responded to the man''s casualness.


    "My name is David Knox. I work with the Carmines on the new exhibit that they are donating to the zoo," David followed up with an introduction as he stepped toward the shuttle.


    Getting into brief conversation on the shuttle ride to the house, David started to feel a little better about the party. Honestly, with all the security, he had always had this weird notion that the Carmine family was like a mob family or something. The Sidney couple had put his mind at ease on the issue. They were just normal people working for a normal business. Nothing really out of the ordinary.


    At around 6:00 p.m, the cart pulled up at the house. David was instantly overwhelmed. The house was huge! Probably bigger than David''s entire apartment building. It wouldn''t have been bad except for the crowds of people scattered around the building.


    "Looks like most of the event is outside," David said to himself while staring mouth open at the scene in front of him.


    He must have just been standing there like an idiot cause he was tapped on the shoulder by Jack as the couple excused themselves from his company. Now, David was left standing alone in an unfamiliar place with an enormous crowd of people he didn''t know.


    After thinking for a minute, David quickly developed a plan. Find some food to eat, find Karine to say hi, and get the hell out of here. He had been excite about the party but now he was just too overwhelmed. It might have been aright if he wasn''t by himself. His small town mentality was starting to come out and he didn''t really like the large crowd.


    David started walking around. In his travels around the estate, he could overhear people talking. It wasn''t surprising to hear like words, like "senator", "president", and "million dollars", coming from these conversations. Important stuff. David felt out of place.


    Then, David heard the crowd getting amped up in a particular direction from one of the garden areas. He decided to walk over to see what the fuss was about.


    David walked up to see a large stage with two men absolutely brawling with each other. It didn''t seem like a mixed martial arts expo, it seemed like two guys just standing there beating the shit out of each other.


    Surprisingly, David managed to catch sight of Sonia, Karine''s younger sister, standing near the cage where the match was being held. David decided to walk over to see if he could hunt down Karine.


    After making his way through the crowd, he approached Sonia. At first, she didn''t see him and David reached for her shoulder to give her a tap to let her know he was there. Before his hand could touch her, he was snatched up by a security guard when his hand was about a foot away from her.


    "Damn," David thought,"this guy came out of nowhere."


    Hearing the commotion right behind her, Sonia turned around with a smile on her face, "David, good to see you tonight. How are you?"


    The guard let go of David''s arm since Sonia was familiar with him before disappearing back into the crowd.


    "A little lost," David responded,"I don''t know as many people as you so I was just going to tell Karine hello and get out of here." A few of the people standing at Sonia''s side looked at David funny. Like they were trying to figure out who he was and why he was so familiar with the Carmines.


    "Oh", Sonia whispered to David, "Karine should still be inside. She doesn''t really like crowds either, so she tends to hide away. Why don''t you go over by the west garden near the food, Karine will probably come out of the house over there", Sonia followed in her rapid talk manner while pointing off in some random direction.


    After chatting for another minute, David decided to make his way over to the food to possibly catch a glimpse of Karine. Maybe he could get two birds with one stone: food and Karine.


    He had been at the party for almost 3 hours now and hadn''t really done anything but walk around. Fixing his issue of a growling stomach, he had found the food and fixed himself a plate of goodies before strolling around some more. He never saw Karine by the foods though.


    He was currently walking through a garden completely lost. He was just looking for a quite place to sit and eat when he realized that he had wondered off from the party. Oddly, the crowd was pretty nonexistent once you got away from the event areas and he was by himself strolling though this one particular garden while munching on his food.


    When walking, David had a particular feeling wash over him all of a sudden. The feeling gave him the shivers. It was the feeling that he gets when he is in a nightmare. David instantly became on high alert looking and listening to the empty garden around him. What the hell was going on?


    David was freaking out. Wasn''t he awake? Why would it feel like a dream all of a sudden? What happened? He kept asking all kinds of questions to himself, but he didn''t have any answers.


    He was just standing still with a plate of food in his hand trying to calm himself like he had to do in his dreams. Then, he heard some voices coming from over the hedge in the garden.

 Chapter 7: The Party (2)

    "I told you, Atkins, I am not interested," a woman''s voice came through clearly.


    "Karine," David thought. That sounds like her voice. And why does the name Atkins sound familiar?


    "I''m not asking for a date, Karine. I just want to hang out. I know that you don''t like these kinda parties and we could have a great time together if we go out in the city tonight instead," a gruff voice responded.


    "Atkins, this isn''t like you to be so pushy," Karine followed, "I want to stay at the party. Let''s just go back to the party."


    David slowly walked up to the nearby bushes trying to figure out what was going on. He was trying to peak over the grassy hedge when he stumbled into a pokey holly bush. Letting out a curse and a few grunts as he fell, David instantly regretted trying to look over the bush. The holly leaves scratched into his face and left him struggling to get out of the mess. His plate of food and silverware had come crashing down on the nearby pavers making all kinds of noise. Luckily, he was wearing a sports coat or his arms would have been torn up too. Since he made such a ruckus, the next events were to be expected.


    There was a stout voice shouting out, "Who''s there?"


    "It''s me, David Knox.", David yelled back as he finally managed to pull himself completely free of the bushes while half sitting on the ground. He started picking up the food spoils from the plate that spilt on the ground.


    As he managed to stand up, David noticed Karine dressed beautifully standing besides a rather bulky man that looked like a professional rugby player.


    Still trying to situate himself after the fall, David continued, "I got lost in the garden and heard voices so I tried to make it over here and fell in the bushes. Spilt my food and everything"


    The large man seemed startled that David had showed up and said, "Sir, I think you need to leave."


    Then the big man turned to see Karine smile with a slight giggle looking at David''s disheveled appearance. He then realized that Karine must know this guy.


    Karine said, "David, this is Atkins Landish. We were just about to head back to the party. Why don''t you follow along?"


    After overhearing a part of the conversation, David had understood that Karine was trying to get back to the party instead of leaving with this guy. David decided to play the part of the hero and rescue Karine from the guy''s advances.


    "Sure, Karine. Have you eaten yet? I''d like to get a few bites of food to eat before I leave."


    Karine started walking towards David like they were going to leave.


    "No ones leaving," a disgruntled demand rang out of Atkins mouth as he grabbed Karine''s arm.


    David wasn''t really a brave character, but he had always disliked this sort of guy.


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    "Must think he is hot shit because he is built like a tank," David thought as he walked over to intervene.


    "Hey man, it''s not cool to grab a lady like that. You should let go now," David said forcefully.


    Seeing David walk over Atkins let out a weird grin. As David reached down to help the struggling Karine break free of Atkins'' grip. David felt another hand crush down on his wrist. Atkins had grabbed him too. Just as David was going to try to pull his hand away on reflex. The grip tightened to the point that David could feel his bones breaking.


    "Ahhhh", David screamed as he dropped the plate of messed up food that he was still carrying and fell to his knees.


    "Might as well get rid of any witnesses," David heard Atkins say as he looked up to see the intent of murder in the man''s eyes.


    "No, Atkins. What are you doing?" Karine yelled as she started to beat Atkins repeatedly in the face with her free hand. The abuse must have started to work on Atkins because he started to bleed from his mouth and nose.


    While this fight was taking place, David was frantically trying to figure out the situation. This guy wants to kill him? Almost on reflex, David defaulted to his usual dream coping methods to resolve the situation. When faced with physical threats, he would conjure a weapon for defense. Kneeling on the ground, he couldn''t help but silently wish for something sharp to stab this bastard with. But nothing magically appeared. This is real life not a nightmare.


    In response to Karine''s beating, Atkins seemed to have really lost his temper. He tossed Karine over to the side with some considerable strength. She was laying motionless on the ground.


    David was absolutely enraged when he saw this happen. He was also in an intense amount of pain in his right arm. He was about to start his attempt at fighting back when David suddenly felt something land in his hand. With a grin he smiled up at Atkins which seemed to catch Atkins off guard. In that moment of pause, David rammed the knife that had fell from his plate of food into the armpit of Atkins.


    David''s plan was to knife up Atkins'' arm so the hand that was holding his wrist would relax. Then, David could be free of the restraint and go help Karine.


    The stab was executed perfectly, but the plan didn''t go as David expected. With a sudden jerk to his body, he felt his whole body lifted off the ground. The jerk was so hard that it felt like his arm had been ripped off as he flew through the air. Landing in the bushes, David went to go help him self up to fight back. When he went to brace himself to stand, he slammed face first into the pavers lining the ground in the garden.


    "Shit," David said in terror. His arm had really been ripped off. He had just tried to use his arm to support himself but instead found himself hitting the ground with a bloody thump. It hurt pretty bad but it wasn''t as bad as David would expect.


    "Must be in shock," David thought.


    David managed to look over to see Karine screaming at Atkins. Atkins was just standing there staring back a Karine. With a knife sticking out of his bloody armpit and David''s arm hanging in his grip.


    David was still trying to get up. If one thing was for certain, David''s life of dealing with nightmares had prepared him for situations like this. He would fight back if he could. But in nightmares, David didn''t feel the effects from blood loss. David was already starting to get sleepy as he saw Atkins toss his useless arm off to the side and start walking towards Karine.


    David couldn''t help but wish this bad dream was over. "Terminate", he muttered reflexively to himself in a blurred speech. He felt a pressure lift from his body. Then he passed out.


    Just when David passed out, he reappeared at the gate to the Carmine residence sitting in the cab. Looking around, he couldn''t tell what had just happened. Did he doze off in the back seat of the cab and have a nightmare? What happened?


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª-


    While David was busy reliving the party''s events again in his unconscious state, the Carmine''s guards and staff were scrambling about trying to save David''s life.


    "What happened?", Mr. Carmine asked his daughter who was standing around as David was being worked on by the staff.


    "Atkins must have created a mirror without me knowing. He kept pressuring me to leave the party with him. I really don''t know why that warranted him going through the expense of a mirror. It must of been a pretty good one too. I couldn''t get the warning out to the guards when I noticed something was wrong. And none of my guards noticed my problem."


    Mr. Carmine looked pissed at this point.


    "It seems that David somehow managed to get inside the mirror," Karine told her father, "and the next second a fight broke out when David and I tried to leave."


    "Atkins ripped his arm off, Dad. David is just a normal guy. No normal person could stand up to Atkins. He''s a Class B fighter."


    Mr. Carmine could see his daughter''s worry on her face. He could also see the blood stains in her clothes.


    "Don''t worry darling. From the sounds of our healers, Mr. Knox, will live through this one," Mr. Carmine said while looking over at the bloody mess that David had left all over the place.


    "Still, I have to give some credit to Mr. Knox. You said he rammed a butter knife about four inches deep into Atkins'' armpit, right?" Mr. Carmine said trying to cheer his daughter up.


    "Yes, he stabbed him pretty good. That injury is probably what made Atkins loose control of the mirror. What else could have caused it to break open?" Karine Carmine continued the conversation with her father.


    "I don''t know," Mr. Carmine said, "but if the mirror hadn''t broken then Mr. Knox would be dead and you would have most likely been stolen."


    "Someone will have to answer for this one," Mr. Carmine said with a calm look that would strike fear into most people.

 Chapter 8: The Party (3)

    David was sitting in the lounge chair behind the guards'' gate station again. He was at a complete loss of what to do next. This had to be the fiftieth time he had lived through this nightmare. He had tried everything at this point. He had turned around in the cab and went home. He had stopped to see all the events at the party. David even walked around an eavesdropped on multiple conversations. He also started a few fights just for kicks. David had been killed several times and even managed to kill himself once by accident. He had partied hard, ate so much food and drank so much wine.


    It was like he was trapped in a nightmare of repeating this party over and over again. No matter what he did, he was not going to escape. David couldn''t really edit this dream like his other ones so modifying a different result was hard. He had tried his magic word to escape the dream over and over again. But in the end, David always returned back to the cab arriving at the Carmine estate instead of switching to something else.


    Other than the fact that this had become the most epic repeater dream of all time. David had a ton of questions that needed to be answered. Was this dream a reflection of reality or was it something that his mind just made up? Was the first time he went to the party real life or was that just a dream also? If it was real, then why was that guy Atkins so strong? Just how stunning did Karine look in that dress? Those were just a few of the many questions that he had floating in his head.


    Sitting there in the lounge chair, David started to feel a little down.


    "Why does this shit always happen to me? " he said out loud to himself. Almost as if the complaint triggered a memory, David remembered some advice his dad had given him once: "If you have time to complain, you have time to take action." The memory sort of refreshed David''s outlook on the situation. What could he do to make this issue positive?


    After pondering for a couple of hours, David finally came to a conclusion. He would use this gift of a repeatable evening to train himself. He would train how he interacts with people. He will try to educate himself as much as possible. He will learn how to fight. If he was blessed with living the same party over and over again, he was going to make the most of it.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª-


    While David was busy planning out how to use his time in the dreamworld, his body was being tended to by light magic healers at the Carmine''s compound. Karine would stop by to check on David every evening. For some reason, she felt at fault over what had happened to him. David had been in a coma for around nineteen days.


    Karine had to call David''s work and family to let them know that David had been in an accident. Actually, she could have made someone else call but she had called since she felt responsible.


    As the public story went, David had wandered off during the party and appeared to get lost in the darkness of night. In his nighttime journey, he had tripped an fallen off the edge of an embankment at the rear of the Carmine''s property. The fall had caused David''s arm to get severely injured to the point that it was just hanging by a thread. He almost bleed to death. A patrolling group of guards had found him with just enough time to save his life. The doctors even managed to reattach his arm. Everything was good except for the fact that he was in a coma. The doctors had performed an detailed exam and determined that he was now perfectly fine internally but he was stuck in a deep sleep. The sleep was probably a reaction to the large amount of blood he had lost. He just needed something to trigger him awake. It could be anytime or it could be years. No one really knew.


    That was the story being told to everyone. It was believable. The Carmine family had felt so guilty over the accident that they had opened up their own private care facility in their home to treat David. Most of this reaction was the doing of Karine.


    The real story wasn''t that believable for common people. You would have to be a part of The Other to understand. The Other, as in the other world, the reality where magic was real and monsters roamed. David had accidentally wondered into a complex mirror illusion field and encountered a plot by one of the Carmine''s elite guards to kidnap Karine Carmine. David had stood up to the assailant and had his arm ripped off and almost died. The guard, Atkins Landish, had immediately fled when the mirror field broke and alerted the other guards. David''s arm had been reattached using magical means and he was currently in a coma. The only truth to the story was that no one knew when he was going to wake up.This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    The entire Carmine family forces were currently searching for Atkins to try to find some answers about the kidnapping plot.


    After the kidnapping attempt, Karine''s guards were now doubled. The usual guard, Charles, was now joined by a female guard by the name of Heather.


    Tonight, Karine was waiting for David''s mom to show up to her house to visit. Both his mom and dad had traveled all the way from their little town of Benson located 6 hours away. They had drove over pretty quickly for the previous visit when David was first injured. David was the only child they had left and they were of course concerned. They had stayed three days before leaving the last time. Karine had assured them that David was stable and they would be notified immediately if anything changed. After two more weeks of waiting at home, David''s mom decided to come stay at the Carmine house until David woke up. It was Karine''s idea for her to stay near David. Karine''s mother had died when she was young so she seemed to enjoy having the older woman around the house.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Back in his dreamworld, David had started to train in his never ending party dream. Oddly he had found a few limits to where he could go in the dream. Particularly some locations inside the Carmine house. It was like an invisible barrier restricted his access when he tried to enter these places.


    Regardless, David had mixed and mingled with people for all that he could mentally stand. Now was time to train how to fight. His first few attempts were against Atkins in the standard dream finale. He couldn''t call that training as he was instantly defeated every time. If he had his arm ripped off again, he would still feel the pain before he died in the dream. He preferred not to go through the excruciating pain repeatedly.


    After a few humiliating defeats, he decided his best bet would be to start with some easier opponents. Using his wits, he managed to convince a few guards to spar with him a few times. He even did some crazy stuff like causing a ruckus in the middle of the party and fighting the guards as they tried to remove him. He also convinced the MMA expo organizers to let him fight once. It was a pretty good show.


    After living in the dream world for over 200 party times, David started to get pretty good at brawling. It wasn''t just martial arts training. This was practical fighting experience. He knew how to dodge guards and go on the run. He even tried to assassinate a few people to see if he could. He would also fight Atkins on occasion as a basis to see how much he improved.


    His favorite part was improvising weapons from things he could find around the estate. He had a propensity to use common objects to inflict damage on people: forks, table legs, pencils, scissors, loose garden paving bricks...whatever was sharp or heavy and easy to wield at people.


    David has developed a love of the almost senseless violence in his dreams. Why? Because he could. David had even started to enjoy mercilessly beating the hell out of people. With a little self reflection, he had become aware of his violent tendencies. He didn''t really feel ashamed. He couldn''t be like this in real life but he could be as violent as he wanted in his dreams. What''s wrong with that?


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª-


    While David continued his slaughter in his dreams, a few more months had passed by in the outside world. David''s mom had left again after spending a few weeks at David''s bedside. Now he was all alone in the room with just Karine sitting in a chair reading a book at his bed side.


    For some reason, Karine had become attached to visiting David. She didn''t realize how used to his company she had gotten over the months of designing the zoo exhibit together. During the day, she had still been working with the design firm to finish up the plans so the project could go to construction.


    It didn''t feel the same to her though. Whenever they were in meetings discussing the project, she would find herself missing David. She didn''t become fully aware that she was attached to him until earlier tonight. The contractor had just been selected for the job and everyone was celebrating the start of construction at the office. Everyone but the guy who had worked on the project the hardest. Karine couldn''t enjoy the celebration at all. David had been in a coma for four months. The healers were expecting him to wake up anytime. Karine could only hope that they were right. With David on her mind, she sat in the chair in his room and dozed off to sleep with the book still in her hand.

 Chapter 9: The Party (4)

    David was in the middle of an intense fist fight with two gentlemen outside one of the party''s stage performance pieces. It was some sort of artistic dance that David thought was pretty good. Well, everything was good except that these two assholes kept interrupting with their obnoxiously loud behavior.


    This was David''s new hobby in this repeater dreamworld party. He picked fights with people that he didn''t like. It was fun to beat the crap out of those aggravating, rude and obnoxious partygoers.


    Earlier tonight he had managed to completely derail a woman who slapped a waitress for accidentally spilling a drink on her party dress. David had timed the assault just right. In a full run, he snatched a tray from a server and lit the lady up so hard that she went sliding across the floor. Now he wouldn''t usually hit women but this bitch truthfully deserved it. This revenge attack was a success as he noticed a grin on the waitress''s face as he ran by her. However, the attack wasn''t really a display of a fighting skill, it was more like demonstrating proper escape planning. This type of attack was a tactic David called the ''hit and run''.


    Using his newly developed evasion skills to the maximum, he had managed to dodge all the guards headed to the disturbance and sneak away to get the second and third people on his list for tonight. These two people happened to be the two idiots he was laying waste to right now.


    A lot of the guards had been drawn to the previous incident nearby so he knew that he had an extra minute before he needed to bail out of this fight. Normally, he would just wait around for the guards and cause a massive brawl for his training purposes. He had been going nonstop at training in his dreamworld. By David''s estimation, he had continuously lived through over 400 parties in his dreamworld. Tonight, he was just warming up with a few attacks for a later round with Atkins. He didn''t want to get caught right away so he needed to bail on the scene before guards arrived.


    With a kick to the kneecap, he managed to cripple up one of the two guys that he was currently fighting. A buzz came over the radio he had stolen from a guard earlier and David knew it was time to move on to the next fight. He hit the other guy square on the chin with his fist and ducked off into the large crowd that had gathered for the spectacle.


    After a few evasive maneuvers and quick hike to the other side of the estate, David found an unattended spot in the garden to rest up and prepare. Tonight, he was going to fight Atkins in the time before Karine showed up.


    He was really looking forward to the fight with Atkins tonight. David tried to do an assessment of his skills with a fight against Atkins every 20 parties or so. Of course, he had found around ten other really strong people at the party but he like to focus on Atkins for his own reasons.


    At this point, he assumed that his nightmare had managed to pick up all the real details from the party that night. His guess was that the first fight with Atkins was actually real. Other than that realization, he had no idea of what was going on in the real world. Off of a few ideas, he could figure that he wasn''t dead but was in some sort of unconscious state while reliving this dream over and over again. But being stuck in the repeating dream, he really didn''t know what was going on in real life.


    In his spare time in the dreamworld, David had been investigating what happened to cause this mess in the first place. In his investigations at the party, he had found Atkins setting a few stones down around the garden area where David had originally seen him and Karine. When he noticed that something was happening, David had instigated a fight with Atkins just to see if he would reveal some details on what these stones were. Luckily for David, Atkins liked to chat when he is beating the shit out of people.


    The four magical stones that Atkins placed around were called mirror stones. They setup this illusion type magic field that blocked the events on the inside from the real world. Atkins made it sound like these magical things cost a good bit of money too. He also said that they would deter people from the outside from entering the area accidentally.


    David still couldn''t figure out how he had managed to enter the mirror originally. Maybe it had something to do with his dreamworld? He wasn''t sure but the feeling when inside the mirror was similar to being in nightmarish dream. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    Based on what he could figure out, it seemed to David that magic was something real in the world. He had managed to just cope with the situation of not knowing what sort of other magical stuff actually exists. He had even tried to research the issue by trying to start conversations with people that seemed important or visiting the library in the Carmine''s house. He had no luck everywhere he tried to get some information.


    Honestly, he began to think if he could have his own little dream world...why couldn''t there be magic stuff. He had spent a full party contemplating the various possibilities of magical existences.


    In the end, David had just figured it was best to continue on with his previous training regardless of his lack of understanding of the magic world that Atkins called The Other.


    Tonight, David had decided that he was going to fight Atkins at the time just after he setup the mirror. He would have about thirty minutes of fighting before Karine showed up to talk with Atkins. In his last fight with Atkins, he had managed to come to a stalemate in the brawl until Atkins had pulled some weird skill out of nowhere.


    David was going to go for the win tonight. Fighting Atkins was pretty hard. One good punch could end the fight. David had managed to mitigate his lack of strength with his ability to react quickly and improvise weapons.


    Realizing it was time to start the fight, David stepped into Atkins'' mirror. David couldn''t help but chuckle at Atkins'' surprise when he saw David appear in front of him. It never got old no mater how many times he had seen that look of surprise.


    "Who are you?," Atkins questioned upon seeing David appear in the garden.


    "The guy that is gonna kick your ass," David replied as he charged forward.


    Atkins was really strong so David had to focus  his efforts on speed and unexpected attacks. Running straight at Atkins, David knew this first dodge would set the tone of the fight. Atkins reacted like most fighters facing a head on threat. He threw a punch forward to stop David''s advance.


    Feeling the force of the punch coming, David moved slightly to the side of the punch while pulling a knife from his waistband. He kept his momentum going forward instead of backing off. With a quick thrust, the knife was fully imbedded in Atkins'' side.


    David had planned this first move in detail. In all the fights so far, he had realize one key to dealing with the stronger opponents in the dream: if he injured them as soon as possible, then they weren''t as strong for the rest of the fight.


    David had developed this strategy when he learned that he couldn''t really get physically stronger in this dream. He could do strength training day after day and he always was back to his same strength the next time he relived the party.


    Atkins let out a grunt as the knife impaled his side. David quickly rolled out of the way to give some distance between him and Atkins. The knife must have caught something important, like a lung, because Atkins was making a weird wheezing sound as he coughed out some blood.


    "Great," David thought as he saw the damage and pulled out another knife that he had stashed away in his waistband. Time for the next attack.


    The second attack wasn''t as successful. Most of the knives that David could find at the party weren''t super sharp, so he had to rely on stabbing attacks to really damage an opponent. This time Atkins had anticipated the stab and blocked David''s thrust with his arm.


    The knife went flying and David''s arm was throbbing in pain. Luckily, David didn''t get grabbed by Atkins and managed to escape back about 12 steps away to reestablish a good fighting distance. If Atkins managed to grab him, the fight was going to be over quickly and not in David''s favor.


    Atkins wasn''t moving forward to attack quickly after the two disengaged.


    "Looks like that first knife stab was pretty brutal," David thought while smiling and pulling his third and last knife out.


    To his surprise, a look of pain flashed across Atkins'' face and he fell to a knee as another cough brought a mouthful of blood to the pavers in the garden.


    "You got me really good," Atkins said, "I''ll remember that for next time."


    Puzzled David stood there as he watched Atkins turn around and run away off into the darkness of the garden.


    "Damn," David cursed internally," I really wanted to kill him."


    "What a loser for running away," David said out loud before sitting down on the pavers to wait for Karine to show up. He was slightly disappointed at the fight''s outcome but somewhat satisfied that he didn''t lose for the first time.


    After about a 25 minute wait, David could hear the clacking of shoes on the garden pavers. Standing up, he got ready to greet Karine. He had really missed working on the exhibit project with this woman and he also enjoyed seeing her dressed up for the party.


    Sure enough, Karine came walking out from one of the garden areas into the open area where David had fought Atkins. A smile flashed on her face as she saw David standing there by himself. David smiles back then frowned as he felt a wave a dizziness hit him. He wasn''t expecting something like this to happen.


    "What''s going on?," was David''s last thought before disappearing from the dream.

 Chapter 10: Awoken

    David appeared in his architect office sitting at his desk.


    "Oh, snap," David said as he sat up straight from leaning back in his chair. He was shocked that he was no longer in the never ending party.


    "Why would I switch dreams all of a sudden?," David thought while staring at his turned off computer monitor.


    "I have never had a nightmare about work before today," David thought while trying to figure out the dream situation.


    Although this was a familiar place, David still had that lingering feeling that he was in a dream. He got up to investigate his office and to see if he could lookout over the workplace.


    Looking out of his office window, the scene didn''t appear to be out of the ordinary except no one else was around; however, a bright light was shining out the conference room door.


    "Empty workplace at night, all alone. This similar to how zombie nightmares start," David said to himself preparing for a battle.


    Picking up a letter opener from his desk as he walked, David exited his office to see what was going on down in the conference room.


    Reaching the glass door of the conference room, he could see a woman sitting by herself at the conference table. She appeared to be crying. It didn''t take David but a second to realize who this woman was. Karine.


    David opened the conference room door and walked inside.


    "Karine, are you alright?," David asked out of concern. He was kind of expecting her to turn around with a monster face.


    Startled by David''s question, Karine turned around in the chair. David was wrong with his guess. She looked perfect with puffy red eyes from crying. She was also wearing the dress from the party looking as  pretty as ever. However, her entire side was covered in blood. Seeing the normal looking Karine with blood all over her, David lost some of the normal composure he had within dreams.


    "Karine, are you bleeding?", David asked dropping the letter opener and jumping to her side to check her safety.


    "Yes, I''m fine David," came a sniffling response. "But you are not. Atkins ripped your arm off and you were bleeding all over the place. I tried to stop the blood but you must have lost too much. The healers don''t know if you will ever wake up."


    "It''s okay, Karine. I''ll wake up. See I''m fine now. You don''t need worry," David comforted as he squatted down to give her a hug.


    Karine accepted the hug with out any resistance. This was the first time they had hugged each other and they both lingered in the embrace a bit.


    "David, I''m so sorry that you got hurt because of me," Karine apologized while pulling away enough to look at David clearly.


    "It''s okay beautiful. Both you and me. We''ll both be okay," David repeated a comfort while reaching for Karine''s face to show some affection.


    Karine grabbed ahold of David''s hand to affectionately cuddle his touch. David was excited. This moment seemed to be working towards a kiss.


    "Hell ya," David thought.


    All of a sudden, David felt a tearing sensation at his shoulder as his arm was detached from his body falling into Karine''s lap. Blood was squiring everywhere out of the frayed mess of an arm that David had remaining. The blood splattered all over Karine''s face as she looked puzzled. Then she screamed.


    "How the hell did I end up as the nightmare zombie?, was all that David had time to think before the world got fuzzy again and he popped out of the dream.


    Sitting up in bed drenched in sweat, David heard a scream coming from next to him. Looking over, he realized that Karine was in a chair next to the bed with a book in her grasp. She looked like she had been startled awake. Two guards burst into the room to see David sitting up and Karine screaming. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    Before he had a chance to figure out what was happening, David was hit by the most massive headache he had ever experienced. Falling back into his bed holding his head, David let out a horrendous yell that startled everyone in the room.


    Karine had completely stopped with her scream and the two guards were paused in the doorway.


    Two women dressed like nurses came busting into the room pushing the guards aside.


    "Watch out, looks like he is having a seizure," one of them shouted.


    Karine was now huddled by the door with the two guards while the two healers worked.


    The healers were trying to restrain David so that he wouldn''t hurt himself while tossing and turning in the bed.


    "Quick, one of you guards, help hold him down," the lead healer ordered to the guards standing at the door, "this should be over in a minute or two."


    Sure enough. David started to come out of the seizure about two minutes later. The healers had immediately asked Karine and the others to leave the room once he settled down a bit.


    "Thank god for considerate nurses telling everyone to leave," David thought as he sat there with puke all over the front of him and a puddle of shit beneath him. He would have pissed himself too if he hadn''t had a catheter jammed into his junk. From the weight pulling on the tube he assumed that his piss bag was completely full too. The pain in his head had been so intense when he woke up that he had a seizure and lost control of his body functions. He had made a complete mess of himself and that is not really the preferred condition you want a woman seeing you....especially the woman that you were just trying to kiss in a dream.


    Before he could ask any questions, the two nurses told him to relax and proceeded to help remove the catheter, some special socks he was wearing, some monitor cables and a few IVs that were in his arm and hand.


    "I was surely hooked up to a lot of stuff", David thought as the nurse removed the last needle from his arm.


    He had told the nurses many thanks for taking care of him through the whole process. In response to his thanks, they had directly told him that he could go clean himself up in the bathroom off to the side. He understood...he smelled like shit.


    The two nurses had also told him that they would set some clothes out for him to wear when he got out. The nurses had given him a full list of warnings too such as he needed to be careful moving around because he had been bed bound for over four months.


    "Please push the call button when you are done getting ready and we will bring you somewhere to talk," the lead nurse said before leaving the room.


    To David''s surprise, he didn''t feel extremely weak like expected. He felt slightly unbalanced and a little weak, but nothing too dramatic. He had always thought that people who laid up for too long would be extremely frail.


    "Must be good doctors around here," David thought as he hobbled toward the bathroom.


    Getting to the bathroom David proceeded to disrobe and throw his filthy hospital gown in the trash bin.


    Standing naked in front of the bathroom mirror, David couldn''t help but sigh at his appearance.


    He had lost a good bit of weight. His muscles clearly showed and he looked like he had lost around 40 pounds. At about 6 feet in height, David had always been slightly on the heavy side. Dropping that much weight had made him look slim and trim.


    To his surprise he didn''t have a big beard from not shaving for months. "The nurses must of took care of me," David thought before letting his eyes roam over himself a bit more in inspection.


    Other than the weight loss, the other unmistakable change was the massive scar that surrounded his arm right below his right shoulder.


    "Guess that really happened," David said as he started moving his arm around to see what sort of movement he had left. After a few minutes of twisting and turning his arm, David realized that most of the function was still in his arm. His strength was completely trashed though. His right arm had probably about a tenth of the strength of his left and moved just a tad bit slower.


    "At least I still have an arm," David thought as he got into the hot shower.


    The shower took a bit longer than expected and when David was just stepping out to get a towel, the door opened.


    "Just checking to see if you are o¡ª," the nurse cut off as she spotted David nakedly reaching for a towel.


    Startled, David paused mid stride and stood there like a deer in headlights. Coming to his senses, David reached for the shower curtain to cover himself.


    Laughing and turning around at the same time, the unaffected nurse said, "Don''t worry sweetie. Nothing I haven''t seen before. I been giving you sponge baths for months." She sat down a pile of closes on a stool by the door before walking away. The door closed and David was back left by himself.


    "Well," David said to himself, "these nurses seem a bit different. I could clearly see her checking out my junk when she came in."


    David dried off and walked over to the stool full of clothes. The outfit was a plain grey t-shirt, a pair of black sweat pants and some nice slippers. David guessed that these must be standard comfort wear for people that are injured. Putting the clothes on, David psyched himself up for what he knew was coming next. Time to hear what I have missed out on for the time I was out. David hit the buzzer to call the nurses.

 Chapter 11: Making Sense

    After waking up in the Carmine''s own private medical suite at their home, David understood from his two nurses that he was about to go through a whirlwind of tests and questioning during his first day back awake.


    But before he could be carted off for tests, he got to spend a little time with Karine. When she had seen him walk out from his medical treatment room, she had walked up and gave him a tight hug. David enjoyed it immensely. He had even hugged back after a moment of hesitation.


    Backing away from David after the hug was over, Karine proceeded to ask David, "What do you remember from the party?"


    "Not much," David responded under the watchful gases of all the Carmine employees in the room. He continued, "I remember having an issue at the gate and riding around with some couple on a golf cart. After that, all I can vaguely remember is walking around the party. What happened to me? I really don''t remember much and what I do remember is fuzzy."


    Of course, this was all a lie.


    David remembered everything very clearly. He just felt that telling the truth would cause trouble if he mentioned that he remembered getting his arm ripped off by another person. Especially since he could practically feel the eyes of everyone in the room waiting for his story. It was like everyone was waiting for him to say the truth so that a pressure would be relieved....that is everyone except Karine.


    This hunch was confirmed when Karine relayed to him the public story about falling off a bluff and hurting himself. Unlike the others, she actually seemed to have a relieved smile on her face when telling David how he got injured. They had made up an entire story to cover up what had happened and Karine seemed happy about it. David just accepted the story as told while nodding and adding in a few "I kind of remember something like that" comments.


    After David and the Carmine group were done exchanging lies, Karine had mentioned that his parents had come to visit him. After a few goodbyes to Karine and the guards, David had excused himself to call his mom and dad to tell them that he was okay and not to worry. His mom wanted him to leave the city and come home right away. David apologized to his mom and told her that he would try to make a visit in the next month or two. He really needed to get readjusted first. His mom also kept raving about how sweet David''s ''girlfriend'' was to her when she came to visit.  After a few minutes, David realized that she must be talking about Karine and sighed at his mom''s assumption. He would have to thank Karine for being nice to his mom. Maybe treat her to dinner?


    During the next few days, David developed a schedule of physical therapy, chatting  with Karine when she visited, and pretty much just sitting around doing nothing.


    In his conversations with Karine, another startling fact came out. David had asked Karine why she was screaming when he woke up. He even apologized for sitting up in the bed and scaring her. She dismissed his apology and told him that she had just been startled awake from a bad dream. He had asked what kind of dream but she wouldn''t elaborate and even blushed a bit. It was really odd. For some reason, David had a feeling he was in the dream with Karine. He didn''t have any proof and he doubted he would get any answer from her if he pressed the issue.


    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    From the detailed health tests, David honestly felt like if anything else was wrong with him physically, then it would have been found already. Just about every type of test was run to check his health when he was in a coma.


    His general condition seemed fine except for a lack of strength in his right arm. He was in great condition per all the doctors and nurses. Because he was laid up for so long and had damage to his arm, the doctors had suggested some physical therapy to get David''s arm back into shape. David continued to stay in the medical suite while going through the therapy.


    He would go to the house''s gym twice a day to workout with a trainer. Karine had even come down to the gym one time to work out with David. Of course, seeing the beautiful woman in skin tight workout clothes made David an absentminded fool the entire training session. David''s lack of focus was so bad that both Karine and the trainer had recommended David revisit a doctor to check on the health of David''s brain.


    Other than general health, David''s other concerns when finding out how long he was unconscious was the status of his stuff and the expenses related to the healthcare and missed work. To David''s astonishment, everything that could have been affected by his 4 month absence was taken care of by the Carmine family including the medical care bill. His rent and other bills were paid so that he still had an apartment and cell phone. Even his employer had promised that his job was available when he decided to come back to work. Not like that they would fire him while the Carmine''s project was still ongoing.


    Karine had acted like the arrangements her family made were no big deal.


    However, the Carmine Corporation must have thought it was a big deal. Late one evening, the company sent a lawyer over to visit David and chat about signing a hold harmless release. Basically the release said that the Carmine family would cover all the expenses out of concern for a business associate who had an accident on their property. David would not be responsible for any expenses related to the accident. He just had to sign a paper saying that the Carmine''s were not at fault for his accident and he wouldn''t pursue any legal action against the in the future. Even though he knew it was just a part of the cover story, David had signed the release since they actually took really good care of him through the event. The lawyer seemed to be surprised at his quick agreement. David had responded saying that it wasn''t their fault that he "fell and hurt himself."


    Besides the physical training and a few medical tests, David had a good bit of time to just sit by himself, collect his thoughts and relax. He also had time to process the entire experience. He had a ton of questions that needed to be answered.


    Why did his dream reflect reality so accurately? What was this Other world and did magic really exist? How were the Carmine''s involved in this Other world? What happened in that weird dream with Karine? It seemed like it wasn''t his nightmare but her''s, how could that happen?


    Of all the questions, he was currently sitting in bed trying to make sense of one issue that had showed up around the second day he was awake. How did he know what everyone was doing in the next room over when he was sitting here closed up in his own room? It was like he could feel the presence of everything within an area twenty feet around him. It was an awesome feeling. He could not make out the conversations of the nurses in the other room But he had a general idea of where they were standing. If he focused really hard, he could sense a lot of the fine details of everything within a certain distance. However, when he focused too hard he would start to get really tired. He seemed to have a limit to how much he could use his new ability. Most of the time it was just a lingering feeling that other things were present around him.


    Of course, he didn''t tell anyone about his new ability. One thing he had learned when running around in the dream world for months, never reveal all the cards in your hand. Some things are best kept back for a time of need.


    Regardless, his new favorite thing to pass the time while doing his day to day activities was anticipating when nurses would enter his room. It seemed like they were always trying to catch him naked for some reason. He would get the sensation that someone was coming, would immediately cover up, and be waiting for the nurses with a smile.


    Time went on and soon, the current physical therapy was planning to wrap up in two days. After waking up, David had been at the Carmine''s for a total of two weeks. He had put on a few pounds so he didn''t look as scrawny and his arm had about seventy five percent of its original strength. He was about to leave to get back to his normal life. Once he finished the physical therapy, then David would also be clear to go back to work. He had been meeting with Karine everyday to get brought up to date on the project.


    With construction on the exhibit about to start, it would be perfect for David to work himself back into the design firm as a construction project manager. He figured he needed to get back to some normalcy in order to help him better sort out the situation. He just hoped that work would still feel normal after all he had been through recently.

 Chapter 12: Darkness

    David had arrived back at his apartment tonight with a bit of anticipation. He hadn''t been back to his home in almost five months now. David needed to check on all his belongings. He also had to get some clothes together for work tomorrow. After missing work for so long, he had decided it was best to go back on a Friday. If the day was horrible, at least he would have two days off right after to get his mind right before really starting back.


    Opening up his door and flicking on the light, he was surprised to see everything looking nice and in order. His plants by the window were still green. Walking in and setting his stuff down on the table, he directly went for the fridge. He opened the door in anticipation of a horrid odor, but nothing happened. The fridge appeared to be cleaned out.


    Somewhat freaked out by the orderliness of his little apartment, David called the only person he could think that would have an answer. After a few rings, she picked up the phone.


    "Hello, David," came Karine''s sweet teasing voice out of the cell phone,"Did you miss me so much that you had to call as soon as you got home?"


    David could play the teasing game too, "Yes, I missed you a lot. How about we go get some dinner later next week? It will be my repayment for you taking good care of me."


    The response seemed to catch Karine completely off guard because there was just a pause on the other end of the line. Feeling the awkwardness, David changed the subject after a few seconds wait. "Did you send someone over to my house to clean my house?"


    "Huh," Karine stammered out while seeming to come out of her pause with the question.


    "Did you send someone over to my house to clean?", David repeated, "Everything in my apartment is really tidy and clean."


    "Oh...no, we did not send anyone to clean. It was probably Mrs. Kathy. She was worried about your apartment being a mess so we had someone drive her by with your keys the last time she was in town."


    "My mom," David said, "no wonder the clothes were all washed and the bed was tidy. Thanks Karine. I''ll give you a call next week to setup our first construction meeting."


    "David", Karine called his name to stop him from getting off the phone with her, "I would really like to go to dinner with you. Let me check my schedule for that week and I''ll will message you when I am available."


    Before David could say word, Karine continued, "I have to go take care of a few things. Talk to you later. Bye." And the phone hung up.


    David stood there for a second. He was just joking around with Karine. How was he supposed to know that she would treat it seriously and accept his invitation? Not that he was complaining. This was exactly what he wanted. As he sat at the table near his kitchen, he couldn''t help but smile.


    "Why did she get off the phone so fast?," David thought, "She sounded somewhat panicked."


    David put those thoughts to the back of his mind as he walked around his little apartment to check on his stuff. After about 30 minutes of checking on things in detail, David realized it was almost 11:00 PM.


    "Bedtime," David thought, "maybe tonight."


    David had been anxious after the first night''s sleep he had after waking up from the coma. He hasn''t had a dream since he woke up. It wasn''t like the dreams were necessary, but David had gotten really used to having his adventures while he was sleeping. Especially after being able to fight to his hearts content during the repeater party. After two weeks, he started to miss the nightmares that he had once hated.


    The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    "Guess, I just wore myself out with all that dreaming," David thought as he laid down to sleep.


    David actually did have a dream tonight, but it didn''t seem like anything special at first. He was just floating in darkness by himself. It was an odd dream that almost caused him to panic at first. What if he got stuck in this darkness forever?


    After getting over the first bit of panic, David actually realized that he could think very clearly in this darkness. He decided to focus to see how he could affect this dream. After a second of focus, David realized that he could sense other people sleeping in his apartment building. They were like floating beacons in the darkness. It was an extraordinary feeling. It was similar to that daytime feeling of sensing people around him but completely different in its nature. In the daytime, he could only sense the general movement of the things and people around him. In this dream, the movement he felt was something inside each beacon of light in the darkness. The movement of fear. He could feel the level of fear in each person. Some lights were brighter than others. More fear.


    Interested in this dark world, Davi drifted about and eventually drifted toward one of the brightest glowing spheres. Trying to look closer, he accidentally touched the orb and immediately disappeared from the darkness.


    He was brought into another dream.


    David was standing in the woods at twilight. It was almost pitch dark but somehow David could see the things around him clearly. Looking around the woods, he didn''t see anything around that he recognized. But from his perspective, he felt like he was 10 feet tall and his body felt very bulky.


    "Why is it that I have no idea what is going on anymore?," David questioned to himself at the realization that every one of his recent dreams was exceptional compared to those nightmares of the past.


    It appeared that he was a monster of some sorts. "Bigfoot, maybe?", he chuckled. He actually thought this situation was kind of funny.


    He couldn''t remember ever having a dream where he wasn''t himself in some form or the other. The dream world was completely different being inside another body.


    He started to have fun bouncing around in the woods. The strength and movement this body gave him made running around the wilderness very enjoyable. Grabbing ahold of a small pine tree, he pulled on it roughly with his newly found massive strength. After ripping it out of the ground, David spun it around him like he was in the hammer throw and tossed it off into the woods. The tree and its root boomed through the woods as it crashed and crushed through the dark area.


    In response to the loud noises, a beam of light started shining through the underbrush. It looked like a flashlight being moved around about 100 yards away. David could hear someone yelling something, but couldn''t make out what it was. He decided to walk a little closer.


    As he got closer, he could see what looked like a small campsite. A dimly lit fire was burning in the center and a man was scurrying about with a flashlight in his hand.


    "Who''s out there?", the man yelled in a panic, "I have a gun and I''ll shoot."


    Seeing the man scrambling around in terror, an epiphany his David all of a sudden.


    "Holy shit! This must be someone else''s nightmare," David thought, "and I''m the monster."


    As the situation dawned on David, another thought took him, "I get to scare someone in their dream as a monster!"


    Understanding that he was now going to be the thing striking fear in someone''s dream, David felt a sort of vindication of all the nightmares he had been subject to over the years. The feeling was wonderful. It was better than anything David had felt before in his life.


    He had the sudden urge to play the part and attack this man at the campsite. He creeped forward in the woods as quietly as he could. He had developed a plan based on his own nightmares. The anticipation of the baddies in a nightmare always made the actual scare worse. The greater the anticipation then the greater the scare.


    As he was creeping forward, David picked up an handful of rocks from a pile on the forest floor. When he got about 20 yards away, he tossed one of the stones in the opposite direction. The man spun around pointing his gun at the noise. David tossed another stone off to the side of his original throw. It seemed like the man had enough and blasted his shotgun at the noise. David continued this process until the guy had shot four times. At this point the man was making all kinda of threats at whatever was hunting him at his campsite.


    "One more time and he will be out of shells In the gun," David thought as the excitement of what was going to happen next was building.


    With another toss of a rock, the man fired his last shot. As the man was reaching for the box of shotgun shells to reload, David charged out of the brush making a loud growling sound. David realized that he really was a Bigfoot type monster as he saw part of himself in the campfire light. The man turned around and fumbled his gun as the massive beast charged towards him.


    The man just stood by the fire in fear as David''s beastly form grabbed ahold of him and bit down on his face.


    Unexpectedly, David felt the blood and flesh from the man''s face gush into his mouth. And then the world went fuzzy and David was back in the dark world with orbs floating all around him.


    After sitting in the dark for a few minutes trying to figure out which orb to touch next, he was startled awake by the sounds of sirens outside of his apartment window.


    David got up out of bed to see what was going on outside. Opening his apartment door to the large hallway that connected all the apartments, he immediately saw a few of his neighbors tiredly standing by their front doors being nosy.


    Some paramedics were coming out of a room three apartments down. They were carting a man out of the apartment with a crying woman in tow. As the cart passed David and the other onlookers, David couldn''t help but feel a shiver as he saw the man''s face through the breathing apparatus. It was the man from the dream.


    As David had stood at his door in shock over what happened, he could hear two of his neighbors talking.


    "Hey, do you know what happened?," one asked.


    The other responded, "His wife said he had a heart attack in his sleep."


    "A heart attack in his sleep. Damn, that must have been one hell of a nightmare," the first guy said making small talk.


    At that comment, David closed his door and went back into his apartment.

 Chapter 13: Again

    David struggled to keep his eyes open sitting at his new cubicle at the design firm''s office. Last night''s events had left him at a loss. Honestly, he didn''t know how to feel. His upbringing and morals had him wanting to feel guilty for what happened to the man. But another side of him couldn''t help but wonder if he could do it again. A contest between morals and curiosity was currently taking place in David''s mind.


    The new situation at work had not helped the issue. While the company had promised the Carmine family that the would hold his job for him, they still went ahead and hired someone to replace him. They also moved his stuff out of his office to a cubicle in the common area.


    When he showed up that Friday morning, half of the staff looked like they had seen a ghost.


    "Guess most of them didn''t expect me to wake up," David thought to himself after seeing their faces. He didn''t blame his coworkers or his company though. He was gone for five months. What were they supposed to do?


    Although a lot of stuff had changed at work, David''s main issue right now was adjusting to his new new "super sense", as he called it, in the high traffic office environment. Even though he wasn''t focusing, he kept feeling the movement of all the people around him with his super sense. It was like he was sitting at a desk in the middle of a highway. It was hard to concentrate with all the commotion around him. Between that issue and the weight of what happened last night sitting on his thoughts, David got hardly any work done all day.


    The work environment started to get better after lunch as some of his coworkers began skipping out early for the weekend ahead. The fewer amount of people walking around helped a bit and David started to get engrossed into his work. Before he knew it, David was the last one in the office.


    "Seems like stuff really doesn''t change," David thought to himself as he started packing up his stuff for the walk back home. He needed to get home too. He still had a lot of things to sort over in his mind.


    Although everything seemed to turn out okay physically, the entire experience had been mentally tough on David. Worry about this magical world that seemed to exist in the shadows, worry about adjusting back to a real life, worry about his relationship with Karine, worry about his new abilities that even seem to put people in the hospital. He had so many worries and no tools to really resolve those fears.


    Before long, David had started to get near his apartment building. Looking up to see the front entrance of the building, he felt a shiver pass through him as he walked forward.


    "Mirror," was David''s thought as a feeling of threat hit him quickly.


    With his extra sense, he could feel that something was moving toward him rapidly.Someone was attacking him from behind. The skills that he had managed to pick up in the party dream came into full effect as he dove forward and rolled to the side.


    Spinning around as he popped out of the roll, David looked up to see his attacker. The bulky man looked a little disorderly wearing some beat up looking clothes.


    "Atkins," David said out loud as he saw the man.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    Hearing David call his name, Atkins looked up with a grin on his face, "David Knox."


    "I have been waiting for you for a while. I figured if I waited around you and the design firm I might have a chance to see Karine out of her mansion."


    "After waiting so long, I couldn''t help myself from coming after you when I saw you walking alone tonight. I have been wanting to pay you back for that knife in my armpit for some time. The area still hurts a bit even now."


    While Atkins was talking, David was running though plans in his head. His right hand slowly creeped into his pocket to grab the ink pen that he had been carrying with him all day. With a push of his thumb, the cap was off the pen exposing the pointy tip.


    "You¡¯re gonna die tonight, David Knox." oAtkins continued to talk on and on.


    "Will you just shut up. I''m tired of all this talking. Just freaking attack you fool," David said to Atkins in a mocking manner.


    Atkins instantly went into a rage.


    "Good," David thought, "He makes errors when he is pissed off." He knew Atkins habits after fighting him so many times in the dreamworld.


    Atkins was now charging forward. David had already readied himself while pulling the hidden pen out of his pocket and waiting for a chance to attack.


    Atkins reaches forward to grab David. "Looks like he is going for the kill right away," David thought to himself, "I must have really pissed him off."


    In the next second, David rammed the ink pen straight up into the open palm of Atkins'' grabbing hand.


    With a yell in pain, Atkins pulled away moving off to the side as the ink pen impales his hand. David wasn''t wasting any time. He rolled away from Atkins while scraping his right hand in the curb gutter at the edge of the sidewalk. His intent was to grab a handful of grit and sand that builds up in the street gutters in most places in the city. Sure enough, he felt some perfect sandy grit in his grasp as his hand drug the ground.


    As Atkins was recovering from the pen stab, David was already gearing up for the next exchange in the fight.


    Atkins reaches behind his back and pulled out a large dagger style knife. David didn''t expect this change since Atkins never had a weapon in their dreamworld fights. Regardless, it wasn''t like David had never fought someone who had a knife before. He had had countless knife fights with the Carmine''s guards in his dreamworld. He knew ways to deal with an armed opponent.


    Atkins came forward twirling the knife in his hand threateningly, "I owe you two stabs."


    As he charged over again, David understood that there was no way he was getting out of this exchange unharmed. "If you can''t dodge, mitigate the damage," David went through his lessons learned in previous battles.


    As Atkins stabbed toward David''s chest from underneath, David moved his body to take the hit in the left shoulder. "Away from the heart. Try to make the knife hit bone so it gets stuck. Disarm him with the knife. Hit him with the sand in the eyes," David ran through the whole plan rapidly in his mind as he moved.


    The knife directly hit David in the left shoulder. He could feel the knife scraping bone as he moved his right hand to fling the grit in Atkins'' face.


    Thinking that David was trying to throw a punch, Atkins moved his arm to block the blow. At his block made contact with David''s forearm, David opened his hand to fling the sandy grit into Atkins'' face.


    Direct hit. Atkins stumbles back to wipe at his eyes.


    David was overjoyed. The plan worked. Just as he was celebrating to himself, David felt a liquid run down his arm and into his hand.


    "Damn," David said out loud as he looked up at Atkins. The big man was still stumbling around but in his grasp was the dagger. He didn''t release it as David expected. Now David was left with an unplugged hole in his shoulder that was rapidly spewing blood.


    Reaching up and ramming his thumb into the wound, David was trying to plug up his leak.


    As he was standing there watching Atkins struggle with his newly found blindness, David kept trying to formulate his next plan. His blood loss was pretty bad already he probably only had another minute before he passed out. He was unarmed and Atkins has a weapon. His only option was to attack now while Atkins was still disoriented and he still had some strength left.


    As David stepped forward getting ready to attack, he felt a cracking sensation as the mirror seemed to have broken.


    All of a sudden, they were surrounded by three people. Karine''s bodyguards. David recognizes them right away.


    Seeing Atkins stumbling around, the guards charged directly at him. As the guards were trying to subdue Atkins, David was having problems of his own. He was still losing blood. Knowing he was going to pass out shortly, David unplugged his thumb from his shoulder and opened up his backpack. He pulled out a packet of tissues and stuffed them into his wound and sat down on the steps of the building next to his apartment. "Blood loss has slowed. Sitting down so I don''t bust my head when I fall. Hopefully those guards take good care of me like last time," David thought as he sat there watching the guards finally get Atkins under control.


    Just as he could feel himself passing out, David couldn''t keep himself from chuckling, "Crazy shit always seems to be happening to me lately."

 Chapter 14: Payback

    After some time, David was back floating in the dark world. At this point, the darkness was completely empty. Remembering his previous experience, David began to focus his mental energies in order to draw out the orbs.


    Several orbs starting appearing as David focused his intent. This time not as many orbs were present. Based on the last experience, David had made a few assumptions about this dark dreamscape. Each of the orbs seemed to represent the dreams of a person. People that are awake wouldn''t appear, but those that are asleep were present in this dreamscape as a floating orb.


    With this basis of thought, David decided to move forward to investigate the situation some more. With his will, he began floating closer to the nearest orb.


    As he approached the orb, he was very careful not to accidentally touch it like last time. As he neared the orb, David felt a familiar feeling but wasn''t quite sure what was causing this feeling. Why did this orb feel so familiar? David stopped moving near the orb and focused more intently on the ball of light.


    As if his focus brought him into another world, David began to see a scene in front of him. It was like he ducked his head in a pool of water and was looking at the depths below. Karine was playing in a yard with her sister, Sonia. The two looked to be about 10 to 12 years old. They were really enjoying themselves. A pretty woman came walking up to two girls.


    "That must be their mom," David thought to himself seeing a woman that looked very similar to the adult Karine.


    This scene seemed like a really wonderful dream. David was inside the dream this time. It was more like he was watching a movie. David also realized this wasn''t a nightmare. People have good dreams too.


    With a sigh, David pulled his focus back from the orb. By his guess, he must be back in the Carmine''s house. Karine had probably dozed off beside the bed just like last time. That meant that he was still alive and he was being cared for well.


    With his physical status no longer in question, David began looking around more clearly. He could see about thirty other orbs floating off in the dark space. David started to go from dream to dream to see what was going on.


    Two of the nearby orbs were guards that David had met. One was dreaming about a dinner with his family while the other was embattled in a large war. David found it interesting that the dreams had so much contrast.


    One of the sleeping nurses dreams was really inappropriate. She was in some fantasy where both men and women creatures of all sorts were performing all kinds of weird sexual acts on each other. After watching a while, David had to pull himself away from the dream and shake his head.


    "Those nurses sure are pretty wild," David thought while still shaking the lust-filled sights of the dream from his head, "I could always tell they were not quite right."


    He bounced from dream to dream checking out what everyone had in their thoughts while they slept. After being a voyeur in 10 dreams, he stumbled across an orb with a very familiar feeling.


    "Atkins," David thought before focusing on on the orb.


    In his dream, Atkins was in a room bound to a metal chair with chains. When David saw Atkins'' pitiful appearance, he couldn''t keep himself from smiling. This man had tried to kill David twice. He had tried to kidnap Karine. David''s hate for this man was pretty intense.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    Since he wouldn''t care if he accidentally hurt Atkins, David decided it was time to test his ability in this dream world. He reached out and touched the orb with his hand.


    He appeared in the dark room behind Atkins. This was just the way David wanted it. Given the wrongs against him...when he had full control over the situation...David''s cruel side really came out. He was going to push the limits of what he could do in a dream.


    Even though Atkins was bound to the chair, he could still speak.


    "Who''s there?", Atkins asked when he heard the noise of feet behind him.


    David didn''t respond, but continued shuffling his feet to let Atkins know something was behind him. The lack of response was for two reasons: David wanted to scare to the point he died and David was stuck trying to figure out how to do just that.


    He was just standing in the room with Atkins strapped to a chair. He needed some tools if he wanted to torture him. David had made stuff appear in his dreams before and he bet that it would work now. At David''s whim, the dark room lit up with bright light and a table full of grisly tools of torture appeared on a table sitting in front of Atkins.


    David has an idea. After a few minutes of making noise behind Atkins, he revealed himself in front of the man.


    "David Knox? You shouldn''t be messing with me. You have no idea the trouble the people behind me can cause," Atkins said in a threatening manner.


    David didn''t even acknowledge the threat. David looked up at the man menacingly and smiled, then he proceeded to walk over to the table and play with the tools. Anticipation is a key component to fear and David knew this very well.


    "Hey trash, what do you think you can do to me? Your just some trash human that doesn''t know his place. When I get out of these chains.."


    Before he could finish his sentence, David spun around and rammed a metal spike into the top of Atkins'' right knee. Atkins howled in pain as David turned around to work at the table like nothing happened.


    David was busy working at the table to arrange his tools of torture. He needed to check to see just what the dream world would allow. At first, he didn''t want to go too far in fear that Atkins would wake up and the opportunity would be gone. Reasoning with himself that he had to do something instead of just standing there, he decided to take action with the metal spike. The metal spike was actually a test by David. If that spike would have woke up Atkins, then there was no point going forward. If it didn''t wake him up, then he knew a limit to the pain he could use without waking Atkins up.


    His next test was to see if Atkins could be healed or if the blood flow from wounds could be stopped. He could not mentally heal Atkins in the dream. He could however burn wounds shut with a hot iron he conjured in the dream.


    David had also tried something else that worked surprising well with his test subject. He could leave the dream and go back to the dark space. When he returned, it was like the dream had started over but with some changes. The changes usually depended on how bad Atkins was injured before he exited the dream. It was like some of the damage to Atkins was healed when David came in and out of the dream; however, Atkins seemed to pay some price for the healing. He was also aware that David left and came back even though the dream sort of reset.


    At this time, David had tortured Atkins several times and left to reset the dream. The oddest thing occurred to David when leaving a dream. David had noticed that whatever strength Atkins lost, David seemed to gain. It was like Atkins mental strength was being whittled down the more he was scared in the nightmare. That mental strength seemed to transfer to David every time he tormented Atkins. The benefits to David were that he didn''t feel weak when changing dreams like before.


    To Atkins'' misfortune, David''s whole mindset during the torture had changed from being vengeful to inquisitive. He didn''t even treat Atkins as a person anymore as he abused the man to test his theories about this dream world. David was probably ten times crueler to Atkins because of the his mind shift. And David was actually having fun with the whole thing. He liked experimenting and this dream ended up being one big experiment.


    Eventually, David started to get bored with it after he couldn''t learn much more information from testing on Atkins. He had learned a ton of things.


    Coupled with his past experiences, David knew that he could affect people in real life through their dreams. He had the ability to enter or watch peoples'' dreams if they were nearby. When he terrorized someone in a dream, he would gain something from their terror that made him feel good and mentally stronger. He had most of his usual dream abilities in this state and could edit freely ad long as he had mental strength.


    Finally, he decided to push Atkins treatment to the maximum level to see if he could wake him up. One scare that always worked well in a dream was an unexpected attack or pain at the point when you start to feel safe. David thought hard about how to achieve this and finally figured out a good way.


    David appeared behind Atkins in the dream world and sat down to focus his full concentration on this task. After a while of heavy manipulation that burned most of David''s mental energy, the nightmare''s arrangements were completed. David hid himself in a dark corner of the room and had Atkins chains fall loose so that he could freely move. Feeling his new freedom in this torturous room, Atkins stood up and began moving toward the door. David could see the look of happiness on Atkins'' face. He must have thought he was going to escape. Atkins turned the door knob and the door cracked open. However, as Atkins tried to pull his hand away from the doorknob, he could not take his hand back. A mechanism came out of the door and grabbed Atkins by the forearm and yanked him into the air. His arm came loose from his body from the strength of the pull and Atkins body tumbled down into a spiked pit on the other side of the door.


    As Atkins'' nightmare started to fade, all David could do is say, "That''s what you get for ripping my arm off you bastard."

 Chapter 15: Offer

    After finishing up with Atkins, David actually returned to the darkness of his dream world. Instead of going to sightsee other dreams, David decided to just sit in the darkness and plan his next actions. David need to develop some sort of goal or method for utilizing his newly found power in the dream realm. After a few hours of sitting in the dark contemplating his options, David started to feel the urge to wake up.


    Sitting up in bed, David looked over to see Karine sitting in the chair next to his bed. She was sound asleep. Looking around, he saw his wallet, keys and phone sitting on the table by the other side of the bed. Reaching down and picking up his phone, he turned it on to realize that he was only unconscious for a little over a day. It was almost midnight on Saturday.


    He couldn''t help but stare at the woman waiting by his bedside. Did she come here out of obligation or did she actually care about him? David wasn''t sure. She did accept his invite to dinner though, so that has to mean something. David knew that he liked Karine. It wasn''t love yet, but it was close. She was special to him after all the time they had spent together working on the project.


    Hearing a noise, David looked up to see a man standing in the doorway. Startled David dropped his phone which proceeded to flop off the bed and smack the floor with a loud noise. Karine jumped awake at the bedside looking up at David and then to her father standing in the doorway.


    Unexpected to David, Karine immediately started crying. Caught off guard by the upset woman, David reaches toward her in a comforting gesture. Just as David was about to touch her, Mr. Carmine stepped into the doorway and spoke in a forceful tone, "Karine."


    Still with tears in her eyes, Karine stood up, leaned toward David and gave him a tight hug.


    Before David could react, Karine spoke, "I''m sorry, David." Then she let go of the hug and ran out of the room crying.


    With Karine''s exit, Mr. Carmine came into the room and sat down in the same chair that Karine had sat a moment ago.


    Seeing David''s concern for Karine, Mr. Carmine sighed before he began to talk.


    "Karine is upset because she didn''t want you to be introduced to our world. Our world is dangerous and Karine has lost several friends and loved ones to the battles within the Other. It''s quite convenient that you woke up just as I was coming to check on Karine. It saves me the time of having to stop by later."


    David sat attentively without saying a word, so Mr. Carmine continued.


    "The Other is a parallel world to Earth. They both exist in different planes, but seem to have collided regardless of their actual separation. No one really knows exactly how it happened but it has been like this for millennia."


    "The Earth has limited access points to The Other. These access points, called Gates, are very valuable because they allow us to travel to and from each world. The Other is full of both resources and threats."


    "My Carmine Family controls one of the nine gateways between the two worlds. There are two other family clans that each control a gate, governments that control five gates, and one organization that controls a single gate."


    Mr. Carmine''s attitude suddenly changed from something instructional to one of fury. David could feel an intent to kill coming from the older man.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    "Atkins was one of the many guards my family employed. He was bought by a group of rogue individuals who know of The Other. He was convinced to try to steal Karine away to use as a negotiation tool for their access through the gateway."


    "I care about my daughter very much, Mr. Knox. I try my best to protect her. And I will kill anyone that hurts her. Remember that as you go forward."


    Changing gears from his threatening demeanor, Mr. Carmine started to talk in the more businesslike attitude that David had seen before.


    "You seem to have a special skill of casually walking through mirrors. You have done it twice already. It takes my men some effort to break a mirror, but you seem to have no issue."


    "My people have reviewed your background and you check out just fine. I would like to offer you a position with my company, Mr. Knox. I don''t know how at the moment but your unique skill could be very beneficial to our operations."


    Mr. Carmine paused then smiled, "That and my daughter seems much happier around you."


    Mr. Carmine smiled a pleasant smile and said, "I''ll leave all the details to one of my assistants who will follow up with you in a bit. Enjoy getting introduced into our world, David."


    After that, Mr. Carmine just turned and left the room.


    David stood there slack jawed. He thought, "What the hell kind of conversation was that? I get told another world exists. There are fights between groups. He''ll surely kill me if I hurt his daughter, but he seems ok that she likes me. And I was basically told that I had a new job....it wasn''t an offer."


    David decided to get dressed and go look for Karine. Before he could get out of bed, two energetic nurses came bouncing into his room to check on him.  Looking at the two nurses, David was shocked. They have horns and red hair.


    Seeing the look on David''s face, the two nurses giggled and started to explain, "We are part devil, David. The Carmine Corporation put us as healers because somehow we ended up very talented in light magic which is good for healing."


    David should have seen this one coming. In the nurse''s dream that David peaked in on, the nurse had looked exactly like she does now. David had just assumed that she was dreaming of being a monster in a monster orgy. He didn''t know that she was actually a real monster too.


    Seeing David still staring at them, the other nurse continued, "You couldn''t see our real appearance before because we were wearing amulets to disguise ourselves."


    David was floored. He was expecting a few things related to the Other world but nothing this dramatic. He learned more from these two women in a manner of seconds than most of Mr. Carmine''s speech.


    David learned: This world has beings other than humans. There was something called light magic. And things such as amulets really exist.


    "WOW!", David blurted out loud as a if a pressure relief for his built up astonishment.


    Just as David was about to ask the nurses some questions, a guard burst into the room.


    "Ladies, come quick. I think we just found Atkins dead in his cell. We need you two to come verify."


    The two women immediately ran out of the room and into the hall. David was left completely alone.


    "Serves that bastard right," David grinned as he thought about the news he had just overheard. This was a final confirmation that his actions in dream world could affect reality. It was also the end to the bastard that tried to kill him twice.


    Just as he was about to lay back down and bask in the news, a tall thin man entered the room. The man was dressed in business attire and looked rather normal except for his messed up looking eyes.


    "Hello, David. I am Mr. Gauge. I am the general manager for the Carmine Corporation. I am here to give you some employment information as well as a copy of your employment contract for your review. You will have two weeks for review of the contract and to make your decisions."


    The tall man continued, "Since you have no assigned duties at this time, you are free to stay in this house for the next two days while your new lodging is being cleared of its previous occupant''s possessions. I have brought you two books for reference. The first is a general introduction to The Other and the second is a summary of some of the main activities at the Carmine Corporation."


    Mr. Gauge looked at David and asked, "Any questions?"


    David laughed and responded, "Tons, but I think it is best that I do a little reading first. I prefer to be at least a bit educated when asking questions. Can I contact you if I have anything to ask?"


    "Sure," Mr. Gauge said, "My number is in with the employee information packet."


    Turning around to leave, Mr. Gauge stopped in the doorway and paused. Looking back at David he said, "Mr. Knox, you have demonstrated a pretty significant ability that can be of great use for the Carmine Corporation. Based on what I have read in your file, you must have some sort of innate mental strength that is pretty strong. In this world, most people follow the methods of physical improvements as it relates to training and bloodlines. Very few rare individuals have talent in the mental realm. Not everyone can practice mental activities as this is based on  luck at birth. Of course, some genetic lines have a higher chance of mental strength, but your blood test reveals that you are 100 percent human. If you would like, I can arrange a mental energy test for you in the upcoming days. The results of the test can help show your true worth to those of us at the Carmine Corporation."


    After a few seconds of consideration, David couldn''t figure out a reason to not participate in the test.


    "Sure," David responded almost immediately, "What can it hurt?"

 Chapter 16: The Gym

    Today was the day to move into his new apartment. David still had not gotten used to the changes that were happening around him.   He had called the architect firm and told them that he could no longer work for the company and had taken a job at the Carmine Corporation. It seemed that they were generally happy with him and even sent over a nice severance check. David thought that the businesses actions were kind of weird but he guessed they were trying to ''bribe'' him into possibly getting them some more work from the Carmine Corporation. Or maybe they felt guilt for giving his office and cramming him into a cubicle.


    That was actually one of the reasons David had went along with Mr. Carmine''s plan and became an employee of the Carmine Corporation. After his 5 month absence, his old job didn''t feel the same as before. That and his new position with the Carmine Corporation paid a lot more money. It was nice not to have financial worries.


    Right now he was being driven by a few of the Carmine''s guards to his new apartment building early in the morning. All his possessions from his old apartment had been mostly thrown away. The only items he had packed up to bring were his toiletries and a few of the plants in his kitchen window. Mr. Gauge had given him the option to have his new apartment furnished so he took the option.


    When David was leaving his apartment, he ran into one of his neighbors that told him the old man who had the heart attack had lived. This made David feel slighter better since he didn''t kill someone in the dream world by accident. The man had told everyone that a nightmare woke him up and as he was walking to the bathroom he had the heart attack. Probably from the lingering adrenaline from the dream.


    The drive to the new apartment wasn''t long. Pulling up at the new building, David was blown away by the size of the place. This facility is as one of the boarding buildings for guards and a few other groups of employees that worked for the Carmine family. David actually felt safer at this building than at the Carmine''s house. The new apartment had three times the number of guards that the Carmine''s house had, the training gym facility in the basement was exceptional and his apartment was more than double the size.


    The new apartment was top notch.


    Since David didn''t have much to do after settling in and it was still mid-morning, he decided to walk around the building to see the facilities in more detail.


    Actually, the first thing he did was try to call Karine. She seemed to be having a hard time since he wasn''t a ''normal'' person anymore. The phone had no answer.


    As David walked into the gym, he could hear some intense sparing going on one of several mats stretched out on the floor. As David started to drift over to watch the sparing, he saw an old man standing nearby.


    David had been feeling somewhat lonely the past couple of days so he walked over to the man to strike up a conversation.


    "Hi, I just moved in today. Is the gym always this empty?"


    The old man seemed to be surprised that David had come up to talk to him. Smiling he said, "No, usually there are a bit more people, you just showed up at one of the off times. mid-morning is usually pretty empty since everyone has went to their jobs. Usually the only people around at this time are new trainees or people that have been put on probation."


    "Since you are new here, what will be your job function at the Carmine Corporation?," the old man asked.


    "Ha ha...I don''t really have one," David laughed, "I can walk through mirrors without any resistance so Mr. Carmine asked me to come work for him because of the skill."


    "I can fight a bit but have had one of my arms ripped off before and reattached. The other arm had a dagger stabbed into my shoulder joint about two weeks ago. I was going to see about some strength training to help get some strength back in my arms."


    The old man stared big eyed at David as he took in all the information.


    "So, you have significant mental strength?", the old man asked.


    "That''s what everyone keeps hinting at. Mr. Gauge is supposed to be setting up some test for me to determine my mental strength," David replied sharing the information that was pretty much public knowledge at this point.


    "Oh," the old man sounded interested but was pointing to the other side of the gym, "the weights are located in the corner over there why don''t you go over and check them out." If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    "Thanks," David said appreciating the information, "My name is David Knox."


    "You can call me Mr. Lester, my boy. I''ll see you around the gym. I''m one of the trainers here," the old man said as he turned his back to watch the two fighters going at it on the mat.


    Feeling dismissed, David turned around and started walking toward the weights. When he was about half way across the gym, he felt like something was going to smash him in the back of the head. He ducked down and rolled to the right. Popping up to face the threat he realized that nothing was there but a small racket ball rolling around on the ground after bouncing off one of the basements support columns. He turned to look behind him to see a smiling, waving Mr. Lester.


    Seeing the old man signal him to walk back by, David decided to go over to find out why the old man had thrown the racket ball at him.


    Walking back up, Mr. Lester began to talk right away, "You don''t need to take one of Gauge''s stupid tests. You have good mental ability to be able to dodge without seeing a ball coming."


    David realized that he had been tricked into showing one of his skills. The old man had dismissed him solely to throw a ball at the back of his head.


    "I heard about how you managed to injure that trash Atkins twice. Even though he was just promoted, he was still a Class B fighter. I didn''t believe that a normal person could do that but your reflexes are outstanding due to your mental strength."


    What the hell is a Class B fighter? David was thing when the old man followed with a question.


    "I really want to see how well you fight. How about a spar with someone?"


    Thinking for a second, David replied, "Sure old man, I can spar with someone. But I need an answer to a few questions first of that is okay?"


    "Sure kid. Have at it," Mr. Lester said before looking over his shoulder and yelling, "Chaz, get over here for a spar."


    David saw a man walk out from one of the side rooms on the other side of the gym. Figuring he only had until Chaz got to him and the old man, David started to ask questions, "What is a Class B fighter? And just how important is this mental strength that everyone is fussing about?"


    These two questions was new based on what the old man had just told him. The books that Mr. Gauge had given him had a good bit of information but it was more like a history book and introduction to different species of people. No information about individual power structures was included.


    Realizing David didn''t know very much from he questions, Mr. Lester began, "There are lots of classes for those in The Other. Fighters. Wizards. Monsters. Rangers. Trainers. Trackers. Just imagine all the types of classes in a video game and maybe add a few. There are even some dual and triple classes for some people that are really skilled. "


    The old man breathed in before continuing, "Each Class is divided into separate levels based on strength. F being a normal person up to A which is someone of considerable strength. There are even three classification levels above the standard: S, SS, and Zero. The three are absolute titans on Earth and should never be offended here."


    "Given you performance against Atkins. You should probably be around a Class C fighter which is outstanding for someone never involved with The Other," the old man finished up as the guy Chaz showed up.


    The old man continued, "For mental strength, it is much easier to talk about after a spar."


    David was quickly taking in the information as he and Chaz walked over to the mat with the old man.


    "Alright, a nice clean spar. Chaz this is David. He''s new. I want to see what he''s made of but don''t break him."


    Chaz smile at David and said, "Let''s go."


    Then he charged straight at David.


    Seeing a punch headed his way, David moved his head slightly to the side while countering at the same time. His hit was about to land on Chaz''s chin when Chaz shifted his body to knock David off balance.


    Instead of stumbling, David converted the movement into a roll to give himself some distance from Chaz. Coming out the roll, David swayed a bit seeming unsteady. Chaz too the opportunity to move in from behind. As Chaz approached, David flung a kick back at his knee which caught Chaz off guard. David wasn''t really unsteady he had faked the action to draw Chaz into a trap.


    The two continued to battle it out for about 5 minutes before David started to lag behind. Both guys had managed to land punches on one another but David''s lack of arm strength and speed was definitely troublesome for him.


    David realized that when he had always fought in party dream world, he would always start over with a refreshed physical state. He didn''t have the arm issues or the lack of condition in those dreams.


    Just as David was about to tap out due to fatigue, Mr. Lester stopped the fight.


    Both Chaz and David were hunched over hugging and puffing. Old man Lester looked very happy from the results of the spar.


    "Exceptional," the old man thought,"this kids mental strength mush be pretty good. When he dodges punches, he is dodging with the minimal effort. It is like he has been in hundreds of full out battles before."


    Regaining their breath they both walked over toward Mr. Lester.


    "Thank you Chaz. I know you just had a pretty hard workout earlier, so thanks for the help," said the old man.


    "Ya Chaz, Thanks," David said also, "that was a pretty good spar."


    "No problem man. Anytime," Chaz said before turning and walking back to the room he came out of before.


    As Chaz walked away, the old man made David an offer, "How would you like me to train you, David? I could help you get those arms back into shape pretty quick."


    Thinking it over for only a second, David agreed. What else was he going to do during the day? He lived here now and made a good salary for a nonexistent job. He had had a full workout and it wasn''t even lunchtime yet. He needed to find something more to do with his time.

 Chapter 17: The Test

    As David was walking back to his room from the gym, his phone started to buzz. Not recognizing the phone number, David answered anyway.


    "Hello, David Knox," he said as he answered the phone call.


    "Mr. Knox, this is Mr. Gauge. We have made arrangements for the test and would like to know if you are ready to proceed."


    "Sure, I can be ready in around 30 minutes. I just got out of the gym. I need to shower and change first," David replied.


    "That is acceptable, Mr. Knox," said Mr. Gauge in his steady tone, "I will be waiting for you in front of the building in 30 minutes."


    After David hung up, he quickly showered and dressed. He was waiting in front of the building with a few minutes to spare when the town car pulled up at the curbside.


    Mr. Gauge stepped out and invited him to sit in the back. Not many words were exchanged and they were quickly on their way.


    After a few minutes of riding, David had a feeling of where they were headed.


    "We are going to the Carmine estate?", David asked Mr. Gauge sitting in the passenger seat.


    "Yes, the test requires the use of some very valuable items that Mr. Carmine safeguards personally," Mr. Gauge responded.


    After a few more minutes, they pulled up at the gate. There were only five guards at the gate this time and Davis recognizes four of them. He and the guards had gotten very chatty as he was living through the party dream over and over again. He would even consider two of them his friends although the actual people probably wouldn''t recognize him at all.


    "That''s weird," David said under his breath as the thought that he had spent days talking to some of these men but they were completely unaware of it.


    The car pulled up at the house. Mr. Gauge and David proceeded to walk around to a side door to access a room with an elevator. David had expected to go through the front door, but it seemed like he had to use the servants'' entrance. As the elevator descended, David quickly realized he was mistaken. They were going deep underground. After a few minutes decent, the elevator came to a stop.


    The guards down here were of a whole different class and number. It was like he had stepped into another world. Mr. Gauge proceeded to lead David along to a room off of the main lobby. When David entered the room, he was perplexed. The room was empty with the exception of a glowing orb in the center of the room.


    Mr. Gauge explained, "This is what we call a soul-root stone. It originated from The Other, is very rare and has a unique ability. It can look at your soul and determine its strength and affinity. Some people have even said that the stone gives a perspective into ones own mind."


    "For example, those two nurses of yours are Class A Light Healers. When they touched the orb, it glowed white so bright that it almost blinded me. It showed that they had a high proclivity to light magic."


    "We would like for you to sit down, touch both hands to the stone, and focus your intent into the stone."


    "I will leave the room so as not to disturb your test. Do not start until I leave the room," Mr. Gauge finished up, "do you have any questions?"


    "How long will the test last?" David asked.


    "They usually last anywhere from 5 minutes to 30 minutes. We are unsure why the length varies as it seems to have no direct correlation to strength."


    "Thank, Mr. Gauge," David said.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    Mr. Gauge proceed to leave the room. David could hear the door lock behind him.


    For some reason, David was feeling slightly nervous. Personally, he really didn''t care about what level of talent he had. He was really just participating in this test because of his own curiosity.


    David sat down in front of the orb and slowly reached out his hands. His hands touched the orb and a cold chill went through his body. With a quick thought, his mind focused on the orb.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Within a room off to the side, three men were standing while watching a display screen that showed the happening in the room.


    "How do you think he will test?," asked Mr. Carmine.


    "I''m not sure," responded Mr. Lester, "but I really don''t care after his demonstration in the gym. He was fighting hand to hand with a Class B Warrior at a pretty steady pace. Are you sure he isn''t a spy sent by another organization? A normal person shouldn''t have this kind of strength and skill right out of the gate."


    "I checked his background in extreme detail. Actually, the detailed study started when he first started to spend significant time with Lady Karine. We had to be certain that he wasn''t from some rogue organization or a spy from another family," said Mr. Gauge in a condescending tone.


    "Every test we run seems to show that he is just a normal person. That is why I recommended this test. The soul-root stone is very special. While it tests the talent of a soul, it also tests the soul''s root origin. But we won''t see the true origin if it happens to be stronger than a demi..."


    "Look he is touching the stone," Mr. Carmine interrupted.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª-


    David felt like his body dropped into the stone. It was very similar to when he dropped into a dream. He was now in his dark world. Almost on instinct, he focused in on the darkness to show what was present.


    An outline of woman appeared in the distance. The outline itself was practically as as dark as the space but David could make out the silhouette with ease. The elegant woman turned to face David and two starlike eyes looked directly at his soul. At the sight of David, a wonderful smile appeared on the woman''s face.


    Then she spoke in a perfect voice that seem to exist without any sound, "My friend. My child. It has been a very long time. For the past, let me help you on your new adventure. I look forward to the future."


    She reached forward and touched David on the forehead.


    David felt his consciousness swim. It wasn''t like he was losing consciousness. It was like he was gaining so much more that it was causing his mind to distort.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª-


    In the side room, the three older men were watching the screen. It had been 10 minutes since David had touched the stone. Nothing had happened.


    Just as Mr. Gauge was about to leave the room to stop the test. The stone started to shift from white to black. The blackness of the stone continued to increase. After another minute, the black stone appeared to begin sucking in all the light around it. The monitor screen that was showing the three men what was happening inside the testing room went black and even the light in their room started to slightly dim.


    "Shit," Mr. Gauge said looking around, "after this we are only going to have one more spirt-root stone left."


    "No wonder the kid is so talented," Mr. Lester said.


    "In order to cause that kind of reaction," Mr. Carmine said, "his origin has to come from at least a demigod ancestor."


    The three old men were both surprised and excited by the results.


    "I would assume that his mental talent lies in the darkness element," Mr. Gauge said, "I''ll start making appropriate arrangements for him."


    "Yes...and Lester...please make sure to continues his physical training," Mr. Carmine said.


    "Sure. You sure are one lucky dog William. Didn''t you say David and Karine had hit it off well?" Mr. Lester responded.


    All Mr. Lester received was a glare and a grunt of disapproval of his comment.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    David was still floating in the darkness after the beautiful woman appeared before him. He knew that something had changed with her touch but he wasn''t quite sure what changed. After a minute or two, he began to feel a pull that was similar to waking up from sleep.


    David could feel his focus pull him out of the stone. The stone in his hands began to crumble into nothingness. David just sat there trying to process what had just happened. Was that woman real or just a figment if his imagination in a dream?


    Within a few seconds, Mr. Gauge entered the room with a frown on his face. David was feeling exhausted. The test had worn him out.


    "Mr. Knox, you appear to be so talented in the darkness element that you broke out soul-root stone. Luckily, we have another to replace it for now. Please follow me this way," Mr. Gauge said while seeming kind of pissed that the stone broke. Mr. Gauge started leading David back the way they came into the facility and soon they were riding up the elevator again. As they were riding, Mr. Gauge began to speak.


    "Mr. Knox, your results were exceptional and I would like to invite you to participate in a few training sessions concerning your elemental affinity. I will forward you the information once we arrive back at your dwelling. I understand that you are tired from the test so be sure to rest up. I will have someone come visit with you in about 3 days. Go home and rest."


    Mr. Gauge then told David that his car was waiting and would take him back. With that, Mr. Gauge walked off and David started walking toward the car to go back to his new apartment. He was tired.


    As David was walking to the car, he noticed a larger vehicle pull up in front of the house. After three guards exited the SUV, David saw someone he had not been able to talk to recently.


    Karine was getting out of the vehicle while displaying the cold and detached expression that David had learned is just cover. Seeing Karine, David changed his direction to walk toward her. It didn''t appear to David that Karine had seen him.


    As he got a few steps away, one of the guards stepped between David and Karine. David was pissed that someone had just blocked his way and his anger flared.


    "Hey Karine," he yelled since the guard seemed to be intent on blocking his way, "When do you want to go on that date?"


    As Karine was walking in the other direction, David could see her stop moving. She turned and looked at David with a cold expression then proceeded to continue walking toward the house.


    "So, are we not friends anymore?" David yelled again. A few other guards started to show up. David was making a scene.


    "Okay, I understand," David said in his normal voice then proceeded to walk over, get in the car and leave.


    Maybe because he was agitated, hungry and tired, David didn''t seem to notice the tears slowly running down Karine''s face as she walked into her house.

 Chapter 18: Back Home (1)

    David arrived back at his new apartment. He was pissed, tired and upset.


    "Why did Karine act like that?" he asked himself as he ate some lunch in his new apartment. It wouldn''t bother him so much if he knew the reason why.


    Sitting in his new apartment''s bedroom, David had turned off all the lights and was sitting alone in the dark. This felt comfortable. He started to run through the events of the day in his head. Everything was completely as expected until he had touched that soul-root stone during the test.


    Wondering exactly what the soul-root stone was really all about, David had recalled some information he had read in the book Mr. Gauge had given him when he first arrived to the Carmine Corporation. Grabbing his book, he started flipping through pages until he found the section he was looking for.


    The book read, "There exists several types of items, such as soul-root stones, that clans frequently use in order to evaluate new members. These items are all unique and can offer the clan organization a glimpse into the talent, affinity and family history of the test subject. For example, a soul-root stone can test for any affinity by color and will glow with an intensity to match the talent level. However, some test takers may experience glimpses into their soul that gives them insight into powerful ancestors or even past lives; hence the name soul-root stone as it helps one search for the root of the soul."


    "WOW," David said out loud. Thinking over the whole experience, the beyond beautiful woman in the darkness did call him her child. But she also called him her friend. It was kind of confusing but at least it gave him some idea of what was going on. She must be David''s very power ancestor. It sounded like she still existed somewhere far off from here. And she said she would give him some help. He wondered what this help would involve. He knew that he felt something different about himself, but he couldn''t quite figure out what had changed.


    He decided that he would spend more time on it later. Right now, he was still agitated from the events that occurred earlier with Karine.


    Reviewing his last conversation with Mr. Gauge, David remembered something the older man had said. He had told David to ''go home and rest''. David decided to do just that. He packed up his backpack with a change of clothes, grabbed the keys to his truck that was now parked in storage, and left the Carmine''s housing building in a cab.


    When the guard asked where he was going, David had responded, "I am just going for a ride to the store." David didn''t want anyone harassing him. Why should he tell these people where he was going? He wasn''t a prisoner.


    _________________________________


    David had been on the road for about 3 and a half hours of the 6 hour journey to travel 350 miles to his family home. His old truck was moving along the highway steadily. It had taken him a few extra minutes to get the truck started earlier today, but it was running just fine now. David should be able to make it back to his parents'' house before dark. With the mess that had been going on for the last 6 months, David felt the need to get back to something steady and normal. His old home could be the best medicine for his current emotional state.


    To help him ease his mind on the ride, he called Karine. As expected, no one answered. David needed some release of his frustration so he left a message.


    "Karine, this is David. I honestly don''t know what to say. In the past 6 months, I have been almost killed twice, my family forced to see me in a bad condition, introduced to another world, I have lost my job on a project I loved, I have been forced into a different life by the Carmine Corporation. But honestly none of that was as bad as having a friend turn her back on me and having someone who I have developed feelings for show me that she doesn''t care at all. Thank you for showing me the reality. I will remember this lesson. Goodbye."The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    After the call, David turned off his phone. He wanted a quiet ride.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    After riding for a few more hours, David found himself passing the "Welcome to Benson" sign on the main highway. Benson was a small town of around 1,500 residents. Most everybody was involved in some industry related to farming or timber. David''s dad was a forester who was responsible for the management of tens of thousands of acres of land. David''s mom worked part-time as a human resources administrator for several small farms that were together in a co-op. David had grown up in this rural environment.


    His parents actually didn''t not live in the town limits of Benson. They lived on a large tract of land about 10 miles outside of town. David''s dad had managed to purchase a large section of timber land from his employer when he was younger and now their family''s home rested at the center of a 100 acre tract of land. David had grown up here, but had left to pursue his career in architecture.


    Thinking about his architecture career, David couldn''t help but chuckle to himself. That career is pretty much over. After the second time David was attacked and placed in the hospital, the Carmine Corporation had made him a job offer he couldn''t really refuse. He hadn''t officially joined the company yet because the employment contract had been a bit vague. He also hadn''t done a bit of real architecture work in 6 months.


    Before he knew it, David passed through the small town of Benson and was turning off the main highway onto a long gravel drive. The gravel drive to his home was shaded by the overgrowth of trees on both sides of the entrance. Although the Knox''s owned a large piece of land, David''s dad had left most of the property in its original overgrown state. The land was basically a driveway, a two acre cleared piece of land with a house and a barn, and 99 acres of wilderness. David had enjoyed playing in that wilderness so much when he was a child. The memories made David smile as he drove down the long driveway to his parent''s house.


    Pulling up next to his house, David beeped the horn to let his mom know someone was here. In a few seconds, David''s mother came walking out of the house.


    "I thought I recognized that goofy sounding horn," David''s mom said with a big smile stretching across her face as she saw David walking up to the front door.  She quickly walked forward and gave David a big hug. A sigh came from David as a certain level of tension went away when he was in his mom''s embrace. Hearing the sign, David''s mom pushed him away and looked up at his face.


    "It''s just good to be home, mom," David said seeing the question in her eyes.


    "Dad is on his way back from work. I need to run inside real quick to put a few more things on the stove for dinner. Why didn''t you call?", David''s mom asked as she went back into the house. David followed his mom into the house. Breathing a deep breath through his nose, David relished in the smell of his childhood home. This visit home is just what he needed.


    "I wanted to surprise you two," David responded with a smile on his face.


    As David was sitting in the kitchen with his mom chatting about this and that, he heard another car pulling down the gravel driveway.


    "Dad must be home," David said as he got up to go welcome his father home.


    Standing at the front door smiling, David could see his dad slowly get out of his work truck with a big grin on his face.


    "Damn, it is nice seeing that truck in the driveway," David''s dad said as he was walking toward the house.


    "Great to see you, Dad," David said as he walked toward the similar sized man and gave him a hug. "You''ve gotten pretty slim there David. Better get inside and put some of mama''s good food in your belly."


    Laughing, the family turned and walked into the house.


    _______________________________________


    David was laying down in his old bed staring out his window at the full moon. Tonight''s dinner was awesome. He really enjoyed being with his family again. His mom and dad had been concerned about David as they talked. David had left out many details that he knew his parents shouldn''t know about, but he had filled them on his apparent fallout with Karine.


    Feeling good and a bit sleepless, David decided to venture out of the house and go for a night time walk in the woods. He had went out into the woods at night since he was about 15 years old and his sister died. This is one of the reasons his parents had accepted the story the Carmines had given about David''s injuries. David would frequently take strolls in the dark.


    As David sneaked out of the house in order to not disturb his parents, he grabbed a few things along the way. Although the moon was bright and David was used to night time hikes, he grabbed a flashlight if he needed one. He also grabbed his trusted walking stick and looped his hunting knife on his belt. Everything he might need for a quick hike around the property.


    After walking out the house, David managed to walk across the open area around the house in the moonlight easily. It only took him a minute to find his favorite hiking trail. This trail made a big loop around the entire property. David usually spent around 2-3 hours in hiking this trail at night. Looking back at the house, David stepped off into the night.

 Chapter 19: Back Home (2)

    David was just starting to get into his stroll on the old trail. Tonight the woods seemed exceptionally clear. David assumed it was due to the bright moonlight from the full moon. Regardless, he could clearly see the trail as he hiked along the path.


    After a few minutes of walking, David started to realize that he felt very comfortable. It wasn''t a relaxing on the beach sort of comfortable either. It was similar to the comfort he felt when his mother hugged him earlier today. He felt a lifting of some of his life''s burdens and worries as if someone was looking out for him.


    "Maybe this is the "help" she mentioned," David couldn''t keep himself from thinking.


    After experiencing the feeling for the first 20 minutes of walking, David had the urge to just sit down and enjoy the night. He remembered that there was a nice rock outcropping a bit further down the trail. He always recalled this rock formation because it would reflect the moonlight nicely and was wonderful to lay down on for a break.


    In a few minutes time, David saw the rock outcrop ahead and started to walk off the path to go relax. David laid down on the rock and closed his eyes. He felt wonderful relaxing on the rock at night. It was if he had become a part of the night. Slowly, he began to focus on the exceptional feeling.


    David started to sense the hustle and bustle of the night time animals in the woods. He could feel everything around him in the darkness of the night. An owl''s mostly silent wings beating the air as it chased down a mouse. The opposum digging into the nest of some ground dwelling bird to have a meal. The family of racoons moving like a pack along a creekbed to scavange for some food. A snake sitting motionlessly at the base of a tree waiting on something to walk by it. The predators were out in full force tonight. David enjoyed laying there watching the show through his special mental sense.


    As David laid there relaxing, listening and watching the creatures of the night, he started to feel himself drift off and become a part of the night. He could feel everything going on around him as if he was some sort of omnipresent being. Nothing escaped this notice. If someone were to be able to see David in the darkness, all they would see is darkness with two starry eyes.


    As he was sitting there feeling the best that he had ever felt in his life, an odd sound of static caught David off guard. He heard what appeared to be a radio break the natural sounds of the night. Sure enough, David could feel them moving through the night. There were a group of men spread out and walking through the woods as they just entered David''s realm of perception.


    These men seemed like soldiers and were decked out in various equipment from swords and bows to guns and grenades. Focusing in on the men, David began to get some clear information. The group of around 15 men were around 1,000 yards away and were slowly walking through the woods towards his family home.


    David couldn''t help but feel that something really bad was going to happen and worried for his parents. Just when he was about to stand up and run back to the house, he clearly heard one of the men speak.


    "Grover, how long until the arrival time?", one man carrying a long sword on his back asked.


    "The two cars that left the Carmine Estate should be here in around 3 hours. They should arrive just around midnight. We need to hurry to get in place for the ambush.", another man responded.


    "What are we supposed to do with the people in the house?," the same guy asked.


    "The boss said to leave no witnesses, so they can be killed once we are done with capturing Karine Carmine and killing the guards. We''ll just burn the place to the ground before we leave," the other man responded.


    David''s mind went blank and he seemed to revert back into some sort of primal mindset. Someone was just casually talking about killing him and his parents. David felt an urge to violence build within him at the thought. He would not let someone hurt his mother and father. He would not allow it.


    David slowly stood up on the rock and knew what he was going to do. The starry light in David''s eyes began to shift from the light of stars to a dull red color of dried blood. He was going to stop these men from hurting his family at all costs. There was no thought of his own safety. He was the night. He was retribution. He was violent battle. David ran off into the dark woods in the direction of the group of men. If anyone was around, they would have been surprised. David shadow like form did not make a single noise when he moved off into the darkness. He had become a part of the night.


    _______________________________________


    Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    After several minutes of stalking his prey, David finally figure out what the people''s plans were for their attack. The group of 15 was going to split into five groups of three. These men weren''t the strongest. By David''s guess they were a mix of Class B warriors and mages. Two of the members seemed to be stronger than the rest. One older guy named Grover and one young mage named Winston seemed to be stronger than the rest. These two guys were probably Class A''s.


    Per what David could make from their discussions, two groups would be responsible for attacking Karine and her three personal guards. The other three groups would handle the other car full of other guards that had accompanied Karine on her trip. Apparently, she was on her way to see David which Kind of took him by surprise.


    David had about two and a half hours until Karine''s group arrived and all hell broke loose. After thinking the situation over, David finally decided upon a plan. He would try to kill them all for coming into the property...he didn''t care about their strength...he had strength of his own.....and after all....Tonight was a night for predators in the dark.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª-


    David had fought large groups of guards in his favorite repeater dream in the past. He had some confidence that he could at least take the majority of them down, so that Karine''s group could easilily handle the rest. That way, his parents would be safe even if something happened to him.


    Since he could feel himself blended into the darkness of night, David was going to do a modified version of the hit and run tactic that he enjoyed so much in his dreams. He would attack quick and aim for the most damage right away. Thankfully, the groups of assailants had spread out into different locations around the house and driveway. To David''s delight, some of the men had even started to sleep to rest up for upcoming battle.


    "Sleep", David thought as a grin emerged on his face, "that was very stupid on their part."


    David walked back to safe distance away from the group of attackers. Finding a cozy spot in the crook of a tree, David sat down and snuggled into the crevice. His presence disappeared from the world as he closed his eyes and willed himself into the darkness of his dream realm. He was instantly floating in the darkness of his own personal dream space. With a quick focus, lights began to pop up all round him.


    He could sense four lights in the nearby area and two lights off in the distance. Realizing who the two lights belonged to, David was thankful his parents were still okay and sleeping. His dark world seemed a bit different than in the past...or it would be safe to say that David saw it differently. He had an instinctual knowledge of how to use the space now, so the darkness felt like home.


    "Some more of her help," David thought in recognition.


    With this information in mind, He made his way over to his parent''s dream orbs. He concentrated on the two orbs and reached to touch them. Somehow he knew that he could influence his parents through their dreams. With a few injections of his will, they would not wake up unless he wanted it to happen. He didn''t want them to wake up from any noise related to the fighting. He wanted them to enjoy their sleep. He didn''t want them to know about this Other world.


    After a quick thought, he began to focus in on the other four dreams. He only had a little bit of time. Two of the lights were floating very close to one another. David realized that one group of three actually had two members that were asleep. This is perfect.


    David floated over to the two glowing spheres. He wanted these people dead. Not just a normal death. A very violent death. But he had to be quick. Looking into one of the orbs, David saw a man sitting around a campfire with three other men. It looked like a few buddies on a camp out. It looked like it was a nice dream.


    David instantly knew what he wanted to do. Reliving the dream where he first attached that man in the woods, David turned into a beast to massacre the group of men. When David felt that the originator of the dream was trying to wake up, he willed the dream to stay in place. The man couldn''t resist David and was trapped within his own dream. David violently tore the man''s body to pieces as the man screamed in pain and misery. As if David could feel it, the man''s life was slowly fading away.


    As the man was died, David reappeared in his dream world and felt a the man''s residual mental strength wash over his body. It felt very nice to kill those who plotted against him....and it also made him stronger.


    David then drifted over to the other dream orb. Peaking inside, David saw something that was unspeakable. This man was abusing children. Unending rage filled David at the sight and he reached up to grab the dream orb. Unlike before, he did not appear in the dream. His hands gripped the outside of the orb as it started to crush in David''s grip. As the orb broke and shattered, David felt another surge enter his body. He had destroyed the man''s soul. This time the power increase wasn''t just a relaxing comfort like the others. It was if his soul''s essence was strengthened. It had a much greater impact on his own mental strength and he could feel his mental power rising.


    After coming back to his senses, David quickly proceeded to take out his retribution on the other two orbs. It only took around 20 minutes for David to kill four of the men that were planning to attack his house.


    Now was time for the actual combat. He needed to move quickly before those still alive realized that they had already lost four teammates. David exited his dreamworld and quickly opened his starry eyes to sense the groups near him. Sure enough, one group had two corpses laying on the ground and one man standing a few yards away without any clue that his two team members had just been killed.


    David quietly blended into the night and began to move towards the lone living team member. Slipping his knife out of its sheath on his side, David silently appeared directly behind the man. Before he could realize it, the last team member fell to the ground with a knife cut across his neck and a hand crushing his mouth into silence. David was thankful that he had practiced a few assassinations during the party dream, so he knew the basics of how to conduct himself. The key to assassinations is being quick and quiet.


    "One group down, four more to go," David thought as he walked toward the next group.


    David was surprised how easy killing had become to him. Honestly, this night was the first time that he had killed someone in real life. In the dream world, he had killed hundreds, but he never imagined that he would actually need to apply those skills to hunt people in the real world. Letting his thoughts distract him only for a second, David quickly went forward and dispatched the two groups that only had two members remaining. He used the same strategy for both groups.


    He tied his knife to his walking stick to form a spear. David infiltrated the group in the location of the one dead member. Each group of three had positioned themselves in a triangle shape formation with a man at each of the corners. They expected that one of the team members would alert the other so no one could sneak up behind them. That formation didn''t work if one of the team members was already dead and David easily get near them in the darkness.


    Using the night, David would appear behind one man while thrusting his spear at the other man''s throat. When the first man reacted to getting stabbed in the neck, David would drop the spear and get the other man in a headlock. It was pretty effective. After the man in the headlock passed out, David would go grab his spear and finish the pair off. After killing both pairs of remainders in this fashion, he was very pleased with the way the plan succeeded.


    "Only 6 men left," David thought as he headed toward the two remaining groups.

 Chapter 20: Back Home (3)

    The problem with the six men that were grouped together is that their formation was solid. He could kill one of the six on the first strike but would be quickly surrounded by the other five. If David wanted to fight head on, he would have to fight at least 5 at once.


    Standing in the dark, David was thinking over possible scenarios. He knew that these 6 men were the strongest of the bunch. Their first task was to capture Karine and that required strong men to handle her guards. David smiled as he remembered his own rule of fighting stronger opponents. Injure them first. His parents had been locked in sleep. And he had 9 bodies that were full of weapons already piled up behind him.


    David made his way back to the bodies he had left behind. After a few minutes of scavenging the corpses, David found an assortment of goodies. A few remote explosives, a handful of knives, some incendiary grenades, one standard pistol, two swords, and an assortment of other weapons. David wasn''t much of a sword or gun fighter. He liked knives and close combat. Thinking over his possibilities, David finally smiled as he decided a plan. He took up one of the swords and started walking toward the pile of bodies.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª-


    The six guards were standing in formation at the ready. These guys were definitely better trained and more experienced than the other three groups. David smiled at the chaos and destruction that he was about to cause.


    With a strong toss a bundle flew out of David''s hands towards the group of 6. Immediately, one group of three split from the other to pursue the direction the where the bundle had been thrown from. David could only laugh to himself. There was no way they could find him at night. Additionally, the other group of three fell back and surrounded the bundle that was thrown their way.


    "Shit, fall back. This is someone trying to split us us up. Stay in a five star formation," the voice that belonged to Grover said as he saw what the bundle contained. Three heads bound together with cord were sitting on the ground. The three men that had just started to run off returned immediately.


    In less than two seconds, the six men reunited quickly setup perimeter to ward off any incoming attacks. They were quick. Two of the men pulled amulets out that brought light out in the darkness. Two had swords drawn. Grover had pulled a crossbow off of his back.


    "Winston, go see check out that bundle," Grover said, "Who did they get?"


    Winston walked over to the package of heads and bent down to see which group it was that got killed. He rolled over the bundle and saw what was present.


    "My god," Winston said, "They have no eyelids." If they were just heads, it wouldn''t have affected the him as much. But someone had actually took the time to remove the eyelids of each person. It was like the heads were being forced to stare at those still alive. Fear went through every one of the men present at Winston''s sentence.


    "Every group," Winston muttered in shock as he examined the faces on the heads.


    "What?" Grover said.


    "All of them are dead. And you are next," came a staticky voice that came over Grover''s radio.


    Then a boom that shook the entire forest sounded as the bundle of heads exploded.


    David had put one of the remote bombs that was probably intended to be used on the the Carmine''s cars at the center of the head bundle. He had also emptied every one of the gun''s bullets and crammed them into the mouths, noses and other cavities of the heads.


    The explosion was wicked as pieces and parts of the men''s bodies flew in all directions. The light from the amulets disappeared as they were destroyed and David had no worries as he walked up to the mess that he had caused. Four of the six men were directly killed by the blast. At least, David assumed Winston was killed. There wasn''t a body left as he was closest to the blast. The other three dead men were a mangled mess of meat, but you could still make out human forms. Grover and one other guy remained.


    David walked over to Grover and squatted down next to his crippled body. A cough rang through the woods as the other man seemed to be on his last breath.


    "Looks like he caught a few pieces of crap in the lungs. You are about to be the last one left," David said to Grover as he looked down with his dull red glowing eyes. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.


    Grover was scared and in a whole lot of pain. One of his arms was gone below the elbow. Pieces of something were imbedded throughout his body and he could barely see.


    Choking on his blood, Grover asked David, "Who are you?"


    "I''m David. And you shouldn''t have threatened my family," he replied as he laughed then swung his fist to hit Grover on the side of the head. Grover passed out instantly. David had to hurry because he didn''t think this guy would live that long.


    David sat down among the massive amount of blood and body parts and closed his eyes. He immediately was within the dark space and could now see three lights glowing. His parents two lights were still doing well but the one closest to him would fade slightly every few seconds. David reached over and touched the orb. He squeezed the orb causing it to burst. Instead of absorbing the damaged orb pieces, David understood that he could try to pluck certain information out of the fragments. The dream orbs were a critical part of a persons soul. If it was destroyed, he could catch glimpses at what that person''s life was like. David had wanted to try this to find out more information. Now he knew who was behind this whole incident. They were not going to like what David had planned for them.


    Now, all of the intruders were dead. The entire team of 15. All David had to do was clean up the mess. He had to dispose of the evidence. Actually, it wasn''t hard to get rid of bodies when most of them were already destroyed in an explosion. Knowing he only had an hour and a half until Karine arrived, David got to work. After 45 minutes of work, the area was pretty much back to normal except for a slight depression in the ground were the explosion occurred. The area wasn''t perfect but David knew that natural processes would soon wash away all remaining signs of a battle. He had piled up the corpses at the location of the bomb. Then he had tossed the three incendiary grenades onto the pile of bodies. Under the intense burn of the grenades, the bodies were reduced to a pile of ash in no time at all. David figured that he would revisit the site tomorrow for a view during the day. Now was time to get himself cleaned up for Karine''s visit.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª-


    She had thought that by ignoring David that he would be less threatened by life in the Other. She was absolutely heartbroken by his misunderstanding when she had heard David''s voicemail. She panicked when she had heard the emotion in David''s voice. She was worried about him. She tried to call him but no one would answer the phone. When she had spoken with her dad that evening, he had mentioned that David had performed exceptionally well on the test and that they were coming up with a plan to get him trained for use by the company. This information had upset her even more since she knew that there was no way she could keep David away from the strife of the Other anymore.


    In desperation, she had called David''s mother to see if she had heard from him. Kathy Knox had relayed to Karine that David was home and was moping about because of her. Karine did a quick explanation that it was a misunderstanding and that she was coming over immediately. She had asked Kathy to not tell David because she didn''t want him to run off again.


    Now, Karine and her guards were making their way down the driveway to David''s parents'' house. She had been an absolute mess for the entire drive to David''s parents house.


    Quietly exiting the car, she could see the dark silhouette of a man standing on the side of the front porch in the dark. For a second, the entire group exiting the cars paused at the sight. Several of the guards went on alert. Stepping out of the shadows and into the porch light, the crew saw a pale looking David emotionlessly looking out over the yard.


    "Be quiet," David whispered, "Don''t wake up my parents."


    Karine ran up to David and gave him the tightest hug he had ever been given. She was crying, but David didn''t hug back.


    "Why are you here?," David questioned with a slight aggravation in his voice.


    "I''m here for you," Karine said with her eyes facing the ground.


    "I thought if you weren''t involved with me then you might have a better chance for survival in this world," Karine continued, "I was wrong. My father told me that you tested high on the talent test. That means that you will definitely be placed in danger regardless of me."


    "I have had a large number of friends and relatives die over the years. My mother died. I have had guards that I have know since I was a child die in front of my eyes. Others just go missing one day and never return. I have seen entire families threatened as a tool to get those that love them to change sides."


    "Our world is deadly and being involved with me increases the risk to your life....and the lives of your loved ones."


    "I am sorry for the way I acted," she said crying, "I''m not entirely sure what to do, but I really care for you and do not want you hurt again."


    "Will you forgive me?", Karine said while still holding David in an tight hug.


    David stood there trying to process her entire speech. He reached his arms up and hugged Karine back.


    "Sure, I forgive you," David said, "but can we go ahead and go inside. Having all this discussion in the dark, on the porch, and with all your guards staring at me....it''s kind of weird."


    David and Karine went inside. By the time they finished talking, Another hour had passed. It was 1:00 a.m. in the morning.


    Since they had the room available, David had arranged to let everyone spend the night and leave first thing in the morning. The guards seemed a little hesitant but David had convinced them when he showed them the bunk house.


    Since David''s dad worked for the forestry group, it wouldn''t be uncommon for crews to need a place to stay when working in the area. The Knox family had a little barn off to the side that was partially converted to a small living quarters for the crews. It wasn''t anything fancy but it was more than acceptable.


    David offered Karine and the one female guard an extra room in the house. It was his sister''s old room that now had two beds in it as a guest room.


    When Karine asked about David''s sister, he simply told her, "She''s dead." He didn''t want to talk about it.


    By 2:00 a.m, everyone was settled in and starting to get rest. Of course, two guards stayed on watch duty to make sure everything secure.


    David stood at the door to the bedroom with Karine in front of him. They had both went through a lot recently. David had been infatuated with this woman since he had first seen her smile. Karine had taken a liking to David when she saw how passionately he described the night.


    "My dad told me that you are exceptionally talented in the darkness element....You know why I had originally wanted to do a creatures of the night exhibit at the zoo?", Karine said while standing in front of David.


    "My mom was also very talented in the darkness element. She would take me out for walks in the night when I was a little girl. My


    Main talent is ice element like my dad but I managed to inherit a very small amount darkness talent from my mom. It isn''t enough to be effective in use but it was enough that my mom wanted to help me walk in the dark at night."


    Karine was crying because of the memories. David could feel the strings in his heart being pulled.


    Raising his hand he caressed Karine''s check and made her look at him. Then he leaned in for a kiss. The couples lips met for the first time and locked together for a minute.


    "That was nice," Karine said as she backed shyly away to the guest bedroom door.


    "Yes, it was" David responded before smiling at Karine and saying, "Goodnight."

 Chapter 21: Back Home (4)

    Exhausted from the entire day''s affairs, David laid down in bed to go to sleep. He had woke up early to move apartments, participated in a full contact spar, taken part in some weird testing, spent a long time in the car, got to visit with his parents, fought and killed a group of 15 assailants,  and made up with Karine. This was all in one day. Even though he was physically and mentally tired, he had tons of work left to do in his sleep.


    For the first few minutes of sleep, David did not focus in on any of the dream orbs. He simply sat in the darkness and tried to recuperate for a few minutes. Today had been a long day. David started to feel better. It was time to get to work.


    First was deal with the information given to him by Grover.


    Based on David''s interrogation results, the "boss" that the guy had referred to was one of Karine''s guards, Charles. David had met Charles several times and he had always seemed like an okay guy. Based on what Grover had told David, the plan was for the group to kidnap Karine and use her as a bargaining chip to get into The Other. Because Charles is one of Karine''s bodyguards, he would help be spared with Karine when the group attacked and killed everyone else. They would then request safe passage to The Other. Their bet was that William Carmine would allow their passing under the condition that they release Karine with Charles as an escort once they arrived in The Other. Once in The Other, the idea was that they would not hold to the previous agreement and take Karine to a rival family to be used a bargaining tool to seek asylum. David thought it was a pretty naive plan which showed some level of desperation and idiocy. Why were they so desperate to get to The Other?


    Since David and Karine had reconciled their issues, he wanted to help get rid of this threat for her. Plus, Charles'' people had tried to kill him twice. And threatened to kill his parents. David''s anger flared with the thought of it all. With a bit of mental focus, David began searching through the orbs.


    After a few attempts, he found the one that belonged to Charles. From what David knew, Charles is a peak Class A Warrior. The highest level people David had tried this on was the previous group that were an assorted group of Class B''s. David was certain that he could pull off his plan though. When David looks into the orb, he had to laugh. The slightly overweight Charles is lecturing the group of men that David had killed earlier.


    "This guy must be so pissed off that they didn''t show up that he is dreaming about it. I''m actually surprised he could even sleep. Thinking about it, he has to believe that they just didn''t show up. Who would know that I had showed up and killed them all," David thought to himself with a bit of humor to his thoughts.


    He still didn''t get the reason for it all. From his interrogation of Grover, David had found a little. Although he was a main guard, Mr. Carmine hadn''t given him the opportunity to visit The Other for adventure. He was stuck on baby sitter duty because he wasn''t that talented and his physical defense was near the middle at his level of the organization. David didn''t have understanding of how the man could lead so many to their death with such a small matter. Why didn''t he just work a little harder and try to get his chance? Why did the other guys actually follow him for a chance at going to The Other?


    Regardless, they had all crossed David by threatening people that David cares about. David knew that he would eventually kill the man, but he couldn''t do it now. That would ruin his time at home. Having someone die always ruined the mood. David was thinking of how to resolve this issue as soon as possible, but preserve his time at his parent''s house. After thinking over the situation, he realized he had an option that might work....maybe he could just lock Charles in sleep so he couldn''t wake up.


    With that idea, David proceeded forward. He wouldn''t let Charles off easily. He would make him be stuck in a never ending nightmare. Using his newly realized powers in the dream world, David touched the orb and began modifying the dream into a wonderful nightmare. After making the living hell of a nightmare to his liking, David willed the dream into a perpetual state. Charles was locked in the nightmare.


    ______________________________


    After David had dealt with Charles, he decided that it would be appropriate to check out Karine''s other guards as well. Surprisingly, the few guards that were sleeping checked out just fine or at least it appeared that way from their sleep. David had modified their dreams slightly as a test of their loyalty and all of them performed well. Especially, the female guard, Heather, whom seemed to have a crush on Karine. The visualizations from viewing that dream were wonderful. No modification needed. David almost wasted the entire night watching, but eventually had to pull himself away.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.


    After he checked out all of the guards, he went to his parents'' dreams. His dad was dreaming about work. It was weird and boring. Realizing his dad was a lost cause, David quickly moved on to his mother. Her dreams were the most disturbing of them all. She was sitting in the living room of the house with two kids playing. Karine came in to hand her a cup of coffee and they sat down to talk. It took a minute to realize that apparently in his mom''s dream that David and Karine were married and visiting the house with their two kids.  Trying to put these two abnormal people''s thoughts out of his head, David left from viewing his parents'' dreams and went over to Karine''s dream orb.


    "Maybe she is having some dreams about me?" David thought to himself with a sly grin on his face as he peaked inside of the orb.


    Karine really was dreaming about David, but it wasn''t the crude dream that David had hoped to see. Karine was shopping for wedding stuff with David in tow. Holding hands, trying on dresses, tasting cakes, affectionate pecks on the cheeks, passionate kissing and little groping when no one else was around, talk of a family together. David was terrified.


    "Shit, she is worse than my mom," David though with a shiver as he left the dream.


    After that experience, David decided to just safely sit around in the dark of his dream realm until everyone started to wake up. after all, it was very refreshing to mentally dwell in this world of darkness.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Waking up in the morning, David quickly realized it was a very busy house. A whole group of people were at the kitchen table eating on a heavy helping of food. They looked like they were really enjoying the meal. Karine was standing at the kitchen counter with his mom shuffling around preparing stuff for breakfast.


    "Good morning, everyone," David said while staring slack jawed at the crew of guards devouring his mom''s home cooked food. There were a few grunts in response to his greeting.


    Hearing the new voice in the kitchen, David''s mom turned around and said, "Good, you''re up. Go check the chicken coop for some more eggs if you want any. These guys can put some food down."


    David''s mom seemed to be loving the company.


    Seeing David turn to walk out of the kitchen, she tapped Karine on the arm and spoke with a devilish smile, "You go to. There are probably a lot of eggs to carry."


    David was just going down the front steps to the house when he heard the screen door creak open behind him. He paused in his tracks to wait for Karine as he saw her coming down to meet him.


    As she got close, David reached out and grabbed her hand to lead her on the walk. He had learned last night that Karine dreams about these sort of sweet affectionate actions, so he figured why not put the information to good use. Karine smiled and blushed at the gesture and followed alongside David.


    "Did you sleep well last night?" David asked in a teasing manner. Remembering her dream,  Karine smiled and an even deeper red blush appeared on her face. "Yes," she responded.


    "So I guess my mom didn''t totally freak out when all these people appeared this morning," David said in a questioning manner while walking.


    "No, she knew we were coming. I had called her last night," Karine said before elaborating on the story.


    Hearing the tale, David looked at Karine with a surprised face then chuckled, "You two could probably the most dangerous people I know with all that plotting. No wonder my mom started asking me about my plans and how long I was staying all of sudden after dinner."


    Seeing Karine''s blush intensify to the point that it looked like blood was going to burst out her cheeks, David quickly changed the topic.


    "I guess my dad left for work early this morning," David said.


    "Yes, he was a little surprised by the number of guards around his house, but he crammed in his breakfast and left for work. He said to tell you bye if he didn''t see you before you left," Karine said.


    The two continued to chat as they walked across the yard.


    Getting close to the chicken coop, David let go of Karine''s hand and got to business with the chickens. After a few minutes, both he and Karine had two handfuls of eggs and were headed back to the house.


    "What are your plans for today?", David asked as they got close to the house.


    "We will probably leave in an hour or two," Karine said. "Everyone wants to get back before night time."


    "Lady Karine," one of the guards ran up, "for some reason we can''t wake up Charles. He must of had an accident in his cultivation last night. He seems like he is in a coma. We need to bring him back to the estate as soon as possible."


    "Oh my, do you think he will be okay? We better hurry back," Karine said in a slight panic.


    Seeing that his morning was going to be ruined by his own actions, David quickly followed, "I''m sure he will be okay, Karine. Why don''t you stay here with me for a while then we can ride back together? Two guards can take Charles back to Three Rivers City in one car. The other four guards can cram into the other car and me and you can ride back in my truck."


    Seeing a hesitation on Karine''s face, David continued, "I''d really like to spend some time in the car with you. My mom always said that''s how you will know if a relationship will work out good or not. She''d always say "If you can''t have a conversation on a long car ride, then how will you deal with years of marriage?" Apparently, her and my dad used to spend hours together driving and she said it never got old."


    Since he new that the marriage thought was fresh in her subconsciousness from the dream last night, David knew that this had a good shot of working. After another minute of thought, Karine agreed to David''s plan. Karine directed the guards what to do and went back into the house.

 Chapter 22: Return

    David and Karine were currently sitting in his old pickup truck riding on the highway back to Three Rivers City. They were chatting away with each other. Karine was snuggled up against David even though there was a lot of room left on the bench seat. The morning had been great. David loved being in his old home and enjoyed seeing Karine and his mother getting along well. Both women had seemed to be really happy. As if to confirm their feelings, his mom and Karine had both cried and hugged each other when it came time to leave. It was epic.


    After peaking in on her dreams, David felt like he had a little better understanding of Karine. She was a genuinely sweet woman with a very romantic ideals. David had difficulty understanding how such a woman grew up in the traumatic world that involved The Other. After realizing that the woman''s actual personality didn''t really get reflected in her sometimes cold and solemn demeanor, David started to realize how he had easily made wrong assumptions about her and gotten confused about her intent.


    The already slight tug he felt in his heart had become of full out pull at its center. David was infatuated.


    They had been talking continually throughout the drive.


    "So your dad talked to you about me?" David asked Karine as she sat next to him holding his free hand with her hand on her lap.


    "Yes, he had run into me at the house shortly after lunch yesterday. He said you did really well on the test, had exceptional talent in the darkness element and that they were going to develop a plan for getting you more involved in the business. He didn''t elaborate much. How well did you do on the test?" Karine responded.


    "I broke the soul-root stone," David said bluntly.


    "What?" Karine said in a shout almost scaring David to drive off the road, " You broke the soul-root stone? Are you serious?"


    "Yep, it just disintegrated into nothing," David confirmed while giving Karine''s hand a squeeze.


    "David, that isn''t just exceptional. That is beyond exceptional. Even the family in The Other will probably hear about it. The only way a soul-root stone will break is if your ancestor was at least a demi-god."


    "What?," David said. It seemed like they were going to keep shocking each other. "What the hell is a demi-god? Is that a Level Zero?"


    "No David, that is a step beyond level Zero. My dad is a Level Zero and he wouldn''t even had the chance against a demi-god in a fight. Demi-gods are really strong, but they are nothing compared to gods. The reason that our family has so much power is that our family''s root goes back to the god level. My great-great grandfather, Kane Carmine, was very talented and broke through to god level long ago. My dad has only met him a few times on his trips to The Other."


    "What? Your dad is a Level Zero? And, your great great grandfather is still alive? Wait, how old is he? God level?," David asked with an overwhelmed sound in his voice. He just didn''t know enough about anything in this world.


    "Yes, my dad is a level zero...and yes, my great great grandfather is still alive. He holds our clan together in The Other. If it wasn''t for him, then our clan would probably be overrun with people contesting our power.....I think he around 2,000 years old. We are kind of a younger clan, since some human gods are a few thousand years older," Karine confirmed to David.


    "Shit," David exclaimed, "people can live that long?...I really don''t know much about The Other." All this information was too much for him. Maybe it was his carelessness, but he really didn''t investigate The Other too much before. He should have known everything was going to get crazy when he first saw the half devil nurses.


    "Yes, for someone at the god level, I have heard they can live for tens of thousands of years. Once you start cultivating, your life span will greatly increase as well. My dad is getting close to 80 years old now, but he only looks like he is in his 50s....and he is only at the high-Zero Level. Once he gets to peak Zero level, he will need to go to The Other for a chance at breaking through to Demi-god. It won''t be long before he has to fake his death and go off to The Other to train permanently."


    Seeing an funny look on David''s face, she elaborated, "That kind of stuff isn''t anything unordinary. All the gatekeepers try to keep The Other a secret to prevent everyone from knowing so they send people off when they start getting old. If the whole world knew, there would be chaos."


    "So the Carmine family is able to control the gateway between Earth and The Other because of your great great grandfather''s power on the other side," David stated the fact.


    "Not just great great grandfather, but my entire family and it''s forces. We are a pretty significant human force in The Other. Most of my dad''s brothers are already demi-gods, " Karine said while sighing, "but even though we are powerful, the family is always under threat from other groups including those that originate from The Other. Most of them do not seem to like humans. The devils are the only group we somewhat get along with in the Other."If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    "Earth managed to luck out though," Karine continued, "we don''t have anything valuable here except a large number of people. So, none of the other forces really want to come here for the most part. They just want to keep more of us out of The Other."


    "So why is everyone here so anxious to control access to the other?" David asked. This question had been bothering him for some time. Maybe Karine would give him a good answer.


    "Most forces on Earth want to get to The Other for two reasons: power and resources. For those of us that cultivate strength, the resources of The Other are almost a necessity. You can only reach a certain level with the resources on Earth. Overall, Earth just doesn''t have anything special except our people and technology. The reason for the power struggle for the gateways is for the strong people to gain access the resources of The Other."


    "When we get back, I''ll have to ask my uncle to give you a few more books to read. He will probably try to get you to sign a contract first though. With you breaking the soul-root stone, they will definitely try to get you to be part of the family," Karine said laughingly.


    "Uncle? I''ve never heard anyone mention your uncle," David said.


    "You''ve met him silly. Mr. Gauge is my uncle. He is my mom''s brother. He is just like her and is talented in darkness element so you might need to ask him for some pointers."


    "Mr. Gauge is you uncle? I guess he does kinda looks similar to you a bit....you must take after your mom," David said.


    "Yes," Karine said in a mournful tone.


    Seeing that he brought up a rough subject, David changed the topic, "So, what''s your favorite color?"


    Karine laughed realizing what David was trying to do. The talk continued but most of the conversation shifted away from The Other. The drive went by relatively quickly as the continued to talk about their lives.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    After the long ride, David and Karine finally pulled up at the estate gate with the car full of guards right behind them. It was starting to get dark outside. When the guards in the gatehouse saw Karine in David''s truck, they flagged them through to the house after exchanging a few odd looks. David pulled up and stopped out front of the house. David''s old pickup didn''t really fit in with the town cars and limos frequently parked outside of the mansion.


    "So, what would your mom think of this ride in a truck?" Karine said as David helped her out of the driver side door. Pulling her into his embrace as he helped her down, David leaned forward and gave her a really long kiss. "She would probably say that she has high hopes for us as a couple," David said as Karine pulled away with a smile on her face.


    "I still owe you a date. When do you want to go out?," David said walking Karine to the door.


    The front door opened just after they finished with their kiss goodbye and Mr. Gauge was standing right in the doorway.


    Karine says "Uncle Gauge, what are you doing standing at the door?"


    Mr. Gauge says, "I told the guards to notify me when you arrived so that I could have a minute to speak with David. Why don''t you go on along and let us have a chat?"


    David and Karine were surprised. Speak to David? They both had a hope that is wasn''t about their relationship. Karine had told David that she was sure that everyone knew something was going on after she ran off after him yesterday.


    "Okay. David, remember to ask him about the books," Karine said hesitantly before squeezing David''s hand and heading up the nearby staircase.


    After Karine left, Mr. Gauge asked David to come inside for a quick chat. After a brief walk, they arrived in a small study off of the main entrance way.


    "David, I hope your interest in Karine is honest. I really want to like you, but know that I do not like people upsetting my niece," Mr. Gauge spoke in a forceful manner.


    "Mr. Gauge, I assure you that my intent is good. If you need to test me somehow, feel free.....You know I am good with tests, " David followed up while trying to make the tense talk loosen up a bit.


    "Actually, that is the real reason why I was looking for you," Mr. Gauge confessed.


    "With your talent level, the Carmine Corporation feels that you becoming more involved with our operations. In order to show our sincerity, Mr. Lester and I have laid out a pretty detailed training schedule for you at the request of Mr. Carmine. All of us would like you to progress as quickly as possible since it is good for both you and our family."


    "I have prepared another employment contract to better reflect your ability. Please review it at your leisure. We will give you a week to decide what you intend to do."


    Mr. Gauge handed a thick set of papers to David as they sat in the study.


    "Before I sign anything, I would really like some more information on the entire situation as a whole. After speaking with Karine, I realize that I am quite lacking in knowledge about The Other. I don''t want to make commitments to a world that I do not have anything more than basic information, " David said asserting his demand.


    After staring at David for a second, Mr. Gauge smiled and walked over to a shelf in the study. He pulled two books from the shelf and handed them to David.


    "Read these," Mr. Gauge said before turning to walk out of the room.


    After leaving the room, David asked Mr. Gauge where the nearest restroom was located. He still had one thing to resolve before leaving the Carmine''s house and now seemed like the perfect time.


    Mr. Gauge pointed to a door across the entrance way then left David standing their under the watchful eyes of the two door attendants.


    David walked over the the bathroom. He closed the door and turned off the light. Sitting on the floor in the bathroom, David closed his eyes and entered his dreamworld. His skill had progressed to the point that he could use it anytime he wanted. With a quick focus, a few orbs started to appear around him.


    After looking around for a few minutes, David found the one orb he was trying to find. Charles was still locked in his dreamworld and was currently being treated in the Carmine''s personal medical rooms. If they had known that he was the one behind all of the attempts at kidnapping Karine, he would already be dead. But David didn''t want to tell them any of the information that he knew. This would involve him exposing his own secrets. He could resolve the matter for them in a few moments time.


    Reaching out with his hand, he gripped Charles'' dream orb and shattered it completely. After a brief absorption of power from the crushed orb, David exited his dreamworld, stood up, flipped on the light and walked out of the bathroom.


    The Carmine''s would probably just assume that Charles had died from a random issue. They will deal with the outcome of one of Karine''s guards dying. David felt lucky that the final remaining piece to the previous threat had been handled so easily. He also felt extremely powerful....it seemed really easy to kill people in their dreams.


    Overall, David had spent around 15 minutes in the bathroom. When he exited, the two staff members were looking at him funny.


    "What?" David said, "It was a long drive." Then, he turned and walked out the front door.

 Chapter 23: Contract

    David got back to his apartment pretty quickly after leaving Karine''s house. Entering the apartment, he realized that he still wasn''t settled into the new place. So much had happened and he had only been moved in for three days now.....with most of the time spent at his parents'' house. Entering his living room, David tossed his bag, the new employment contract and the two books on his coffee table.


    Feeling tired from everything that had happened, David laid down on his couch, looked up at the ceiling....and realized that he had never turned on the light.


    He had managed to see clearly in the room''s darkness without any effort at all. As he laid there on his couch, he started to drift off into the darkness of the room. David began to lose himself into the feeling of darkness in the room. This feeling wasn''t worrisome or threatening. It was comfortable. David''s body began to fade from sight in his dark room. He could feel his body start to disappear into the shadows. The feeling was wonderful and David started to feel his thoughts drifting off into the darkness.


    On instinct, he began to draw his thoughts back to himself instead of just loosing himself in the feeling. Even though his thoughts started to clear, he still retained the connection to the darkness. After a few moments of focus, David was finally able to think normally. It was like he had become one with the darkness again. David had no breath, no heartbeat, no body, no soul....he was nothing but the darkness of night.  This was the help she had given him: The knowledge of the darkness of night.


    David laid on his couch concentrating on this feeling. He wanted to be able to feel this anytime that he wanted. In order to make sure he could get this feeling back, he began to practice. After a few times of releasing the feeling and making it come back, David felt that he had the hang of the technique. He could disappear into the darkness of shadows on his command.


    "This feels great," David thought, "But what exactly can I do?"


    With that question, he got up from bed and began moving around the apartment. The room was not entirely dark, so there was a slight glow of light present. Similar to the way that he became in the woods the night before, he started to blend into the shadows in his room. The reaction was automatic.


    In David''s best effort to define his current self, he was a ghost but not in the spiritual way. David was still standing in the room trying to figure it all out when his cell phone went off and the screen lit up on his nightstand. In the burst of light, David''s form became visible to himself shortly before the light faded when the screen went dark.


    What David had seen was hard to describe. Imagine standing in complete darkness. Only the darkness exists, so no physical dimension can be seen. David looked like someone had cut out of piece of that complete darkness in the shape of a man. It was like looking at a two dimensional cutout of the darkness. As the light had burst forth, the shade of the darkness had shifted based on the amount of light present.  Like a chameleon that changed it color to match its background, David''s form shifted the amount of darkness to blend into the shadows of his surroundings.


    "WOW," David said to himself as he realized how intense he looked. As he spoke, he was immediately startled. He didn''t sound like himself. His voice sounded like a breathless whisper.


    "That''s creepy," David said out loud causing him to laugh at the sound of his own voice. "That''s even worse," David continued as he heard his own laughter that sounded like puffs of air blowing at the pace of laughter.


    He was really enjoying himself.


    When all was said and done, David had figured that his new skill essentially let him become a part of shadows. It wasn''t simple hiding. He was actually a part of the darkness of shadow.


    He only found one weakness to the ability when he was in the shadows. If he stepped out of a shadow into a well lit room, the effect would fade immediately and he would become visible as his normal self. But in a nighttime situation, like last night in the woods, David would basically be invisible. He noticed in the bathroom mirror that he had a slight glow to his eyes, but that could be resolved by shutting them. He had winked at himself and one of the lights disappeared. To David''s surprise, it didn''t effect the way that he observed things at all. It was like he could see through his eyelids.


    Laughing at himself, David said to himself in his wispy voice, "It''s dark when I open my eyes. It''s dark when I close them. Of course there is no difference."


    Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.


    After sorting out as much as he could, David released his newly mastered ''Shadow'' skill and climbed into his bed. David checked his cell phone to see who had messaged him earlier.


    Karine had sent him a message, "Good night. Sweet dreams."


    David text her back, "Sweet dreams to you too, beautiful."


    Then he rolled over and went to sleep. No dreams, no nightmares, no dream world...nothing but sleep.


    _______________________________________


    David awoke as the sun was coming through his apartment window. He didn''t have anything planned for today, so he wasn''t in a rush to get up. After taking his time fixing a pot of coffee, he poured a cup and sat at his kitchen table. Throwing the backpack to the side, David looked at the two books and the contract.


    "Guess, I will read the books first," David said to himself as he got to work.


    The books were pretty long and he managed to make it through the first one before lunch. He finally understood how Earth and The Other interacted. Actually, The Other was just the word used by Earthlings when they went to the other world. The native name for the world was Nibiru. Yep, the place in m Babylonian mythology. Apparently, they were one of the first groups to go to The Other through a gateway thousands of years ago and took the name from the natives. The Babylonians were one of the first travelers between worlds.


    The Earth has 9 gateways to The Other. The Carmine Family controlled the gateway in the United States of America. The Royal Family controlled the gateway in Saudi Arabia. The Diego Family controlled the gateway in Peru. The other gateways were controlled by governments in Germany, China, Russia, Greenland and Nigeria. The gateway location in the Atlantic Ocean is controlled by a group that call themselves the Atlantean. They are not really related to the lost City of Atlantis though. They are a organization put together by a cooperative of various other governments.


    Each gateway controller had a power on Earth and in The Other. Not all is balanced either. For example, Greenland is not a significant world power on Earth. But in The Other, they actually have two gods and are one of the top powers among humans. Their gods had also risen to power long ago.


    The Carmine Family had a good relationship with the US Government and the two had signed a pact to keep conflict from breaking out in the country. Actually, the Carmine Corporation and the Carmine Family on the Earth side was only a small portion of the main family. The majority of the main family lived in The Other. This family included Karine''s god great great grandfather, Kane, who was still alive. William Carmine was the son of one of Kane''s sons. William was very strong as a Class Zero and was very good at managing people. The Carmine family had sent him here years ago to keep rein over the gateway. The groups mainly used the Other for resources, but the connection to Earth was mainly used for people. The Other''s population mostly consisted of beasts, devils and demons. Humans were non-exist in The Other until they started to travel the gateways. The harsh environment of the Other wasn''t the best for raising human numbers so the groups used Earth as a sort of talent factory to help supplement their population.


    Other than the human information, David was surprised that most of the Earth''s mythologies originated from the less controlled gateways of the past. Some of the Other''s groups had tried to come over so Earth ended up with stories of werewolves, vampires, Bigfoot, Nessie, dragons and various other supernatural life forms. However, once humans took full control over the gateways, the flow of beings from The Other stopped. Right now the situation was stable and none of the other groups were trying to get to Earth from the Other.


    However, there were still a few lingering beings from the Other left on Earth. These remainders are typically weak and do not pose a threat to humanity. The nurses in the Carmine house were a good example. Of the groups in the Other, the Devils got along with people the best....well, it seemed like they preyed on people the least to be accurate. The beasts hated everyone except themselves and the demons just wanted to enslave everyone.


    Since the families, governments and group guarding the 9 gateways were exceptionally strong, the humans had been able to establish a foothold at the gateway locations. But that didn''t remove all threats. The human numbers in the Other were very small compared to the native groups. The Other world was much more primitive and large. Even though humans had been present for thousands of years, half of entire planet had still not been explored. By estimation of the humans, the planet should be at least 20 times the size of Earth. The planet had vast wildernesses, countless tribes and cities, Conflicts and wars between groups, No man''s lands, a large ocean. The place was so much larger.


    As David kept reading, the Earth kept decreasing in its power and importance in his mind. Compared to The Other, Earth was just a children''s playground. No wonder people wanted to get there at all costs. The larger world offered numerous resourses that could help one establish personal power and advance to the larger realm.


    Although they seemed very formidable, the Earth bound portion of the Carmine Family was just responsible for recruiting new talent. David happened to be a new talent. Hence, he had a contract sitting in front of him for review.


    From the books, David had learned a lot more about the Other and the workings of the Carmine Corporation. After reviewing the contract, he had actually sent over some of his required revisions to the contract to Mr. Gauge. Mr. Gauge was impressed that David would request changes and even more impressed when he had actually seen the modifications.


    David had changed a few parts that refered to loyalty to the entire Carmine family. He changed these directly to Karine Carmine and reserved his right to leave the family if the needs were justified. His statement was clear. The only reason he was joining the Carmine Family was because of Karine. He had loyalty to the rest of the Carmine Family and would fight with his all for the family....as long as they treated Karine in a manner to his satisfaction. While that may not count for much now, once he had established his power it would also elevate Karine''s status in the Carmine Family.


    From the offer of money and resources, David understood that he was a hot commodity. He also understood that his potential was high enough to actually exceed the Carmine''s ancestor. He had a little room to bargain.


    After a few days wait, Mr. Gauge had the revisions approved directly by the Carmine Family in the Other. The family had also thrown in a few additional items that were actually to David''s liking.


    To be proper on one of the new items, David had to request a meeting with Mr. Carmine and Karine to discuss. The meeting had been pretty emotional...and full of threats. After a few hours of talking, Mr. Carmine and Karine were both satisfied and walked out of the meeting room with smiles.


    After the meeting, the conditions of the contract were acceptable to David. He would have a higher status than the for-hire guards and even the sworn soldiers but a lower status than main Carmine family members. He even had options for advancement within the family if he desired it. With the signing of the contract, David was granted the position of an official family guest and an Family approved suitor of Lady Karine Carmine.

 Chapter 24: Inside Joke

    David had signed the contract about two weeks ago and he was still adjusting to his new lifestyle.  After 3 days of sitting around and doing nothing,  Mr. Gauge and Mr. Lester had came to visit him to present a training schedule. 12 hours a day of training. Today was one of those full days of trading. David was thankful that the Carmine Corporation gave him at least the weekend off of work for recovery. Yes. Recovery.


    Unlike the guards that trained in between their tasks, David didn''t have any job task except training. The Carmine Family wanted him as strong as possible, as quick as possible. So his training matched that demand.


    "Today is going to be a long day," David said to himself as he hopped out of his bed feeling slightly tired from a lack of sleep. He had a late night date with Karine last night....he only got to close his eyes for about 4 hours, so he was dragging a bit. After falling asleep, he had immediately entered his dream realm in an attempt to recharge himself. It just wasn''t enough time.


    After slipping on a pair of workout clothes, David grabbed his breakfast and shot out of his apartment door. In a few minutes, he had devoured his breakfast and made his way to the basement gym for his daily workout.


    "You are late," Mr. Lester said in a disgruntled tone as David ran into the gym.


    "I was out late last night with Karine. We had to go to a charity benefit for the zoo. They are trying to hustle up money to staff the night exhibit that will open up in about 6 months," David said trying to justify himself.


    "Quit your yapping. I don''t care. Hit the weights first. You need to keep your body strength balanced when you start cultivating body enhancement techniques. You are so far behind. It isn''t funny. You may be the most elementally talented person that I know, but there are kids in The Other physically stronger than you," Mr. Lester replied in an aggressive manner.


    David has been going through some pretty intense physical strengthening with Mr. Lester. This physical training occupied the majority of David''s morning until about lunch. Everyday weekday....for 6 hours...from 6:00 AM to Noon. 1 hour of weight training, 1 hour of running, 1 hour of sparing, 1 hour of swimming, 1 more hour of weight training, then 1 more hour of sparing. David wouldn''t be able to keep up the pace if the Carmine Group didn''t provide recovery medicines that came from the Other.


    Unusually, Mr. Lester continued to lecture while David was getting started on the bench press, "In the thousands of years since The Other was first encountered by humans, most humans have relied on their physical prowess to survive. In those days, the humans were familiar with life threatening battle. After seeing methods used by demons and devils, the humans started developing methods of their own to increased their physical abilities beyond that of normal men. Mental abilities are inborn, but physical abilities are about effort. Those guys back then really knew how to put in the work."


    David understood all of this very well. In his past fights, he had relied on stealth and cunning to survive. If one thing would have went wrong and he would have had to actually confront these people head on....he probably would have died. Atkins gave him the perfect example when he ripped off David''s arm with his bare hands. With his weakness always in his mind, he put as much effort as possible into training his body.


    The work out continued at a grueling intensity until Mr. Lester stopped David to discuss something.


    "I have brought books on the three most basic body training methods here for you to read over and get started," Mr. Lester said, "With enough effort, training these methods should be able to bring your body up to an acceptable level so you do not immediately die in the Other. Take the books home to review them and then pick one that you feel most comfortable with. Bring the other two books back to me when you are done. Don''t lose them and don''t let other people read them."Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    "Even if you are going to focus on mental stuff like those darkness techniques that Gauge is teaching you....you still need to not die from randomness on a battlefield. Class SS elemental mages typically train their body to at least a Class B Warrior level. It is a necessity to keep them from dying when a few random rocks fly around from a high level Warriors'' fight."


    "What are you talking about? How can a Class SS mage also be a Class B warrior? This level shit is confusing. I bet the guy that came up with it all was a jackass", David responded giving the old man some grief.


    Mr. Lester glanced around then paused looked at David seriously and said with a grin, "Do you promise not to say anything if I tell you a secret?"


    David shook his head to indicate that he agreed. He was so confused with these so called levels that he had given up hope on understanding them.


    "David, from the grand scheme of things, there are no real defining differences between people from Class F to Class SS. They are all just normal people with different levels of training. Once they get to Level A, they start to dabble in training elemental skills and body enhancement methods. However, the actual levels are all just some arbitrary levels to try to group the various people on Earth into strength levels for management and training reasons," Mr. Lester said really driving a nail into David''s confusion, "Don''t get me wrong. The higher ranked people still have exceptional power compared to normal people....it''s just that in the Other, they are all just normal."


    "For example, on a general basis, I would classify you as a Class B Scout when assigning you to a team for a task. If it was solely based on your physical ability, then you would only be a Class E Warrior that''s not that different than a regular person. If it was based on elemental ability alone then you are probably a Class SS Darkness Mage because you are starting to learn the basics of a skill with Gauge. If you told someone in a Earth-based team that you were a Class B Scout then they should be able to approximate your general strength pretty easily. If you said that you were a Class B Scout on a team in The Other, they wouldn''t know what to think.....then they would kill you for being an idiot in order to not drag down the team,"  Mr. Lester said with a big laughing smile on his face.


    "The letter based level system is entirely just an Earth system. Some jackass came up with the system years ago to try to give meaning to the weaker people. In the Other, our Level Zero people are the only people that have any real value...the rest are just normal people or cannon fodder soldiers for the military. We even called it Level Zero to remind us that we are really just getting started....ha ha," Mr. Lester laughed, "it''s like an inside joke for those of us that know."


    "In The Other, Level Zero is just the beginning. It isn''t even called Level Zero in The Other. It''s called the Foundation Stage. It''s called the Foundation Stage because you are just getting started. If we told everyone on Earth that the strongest people that they know on this planet were only at the beginning level in the Other....they wouldn''t have any thought of succeeding. It would be like telling a beggar that he can be a billionaire if he invests his money properly....ha ha ha," Mr. Lester laughed. For some reason, he thought this was comical.


    "The main reason for the differences in strength is the environment in the Other. It is harder to exist in the Other and you need to be at least at the start of the Foundation Stage to just survive the environment as a human. Once you get there, it is easier to cultivate because of the general atmosphere, resources are more readily available and there are a constant flow of life-or-death situations. It grows power, Earth just supplies the seeds with the hope that some of them sprout."


    "The only reason I am telling you this information is because of your potential and the agreement you signed with the Carmine Family. Anyone else wouldn''t have the right to know. So do not say anything to anyone. If there is one thing that I can teach you, it is that you are extremely weak even if you think you are the strongest around...Now don''t slack off on your training," Mr. Lester yelled.


    David almost passed out from listening to this speech. He was so distraught that he dropped the weights on himself. Mr. Lester had to help him lift the bar off of his chest before he was crushed to death. He couldn''t even bench press a bar with 225 pounds of weight on it.....and a guy that could rip his arm off with bare hands would have been just a common foot soldier in The Other.


    David didn''t know what to think anymore. He had just been rudely introduced to the reality of the world of cultivation. He knew that he was still very weak and insignificant. The reason he was treated nicely is because of his potential and possible ties to someone strong. Other than that, he would have been relegated to being a cannon fodder guard for the rest of his life. Now...he really understood why those guys were willing to risk their lives to kidnap Karine for a chance at opportunity in The Other. They must have learned the truth of the situation and felt desperate to advance. David started to feel a bit sorry for the men that he had slaughtered.


    "Oh well," David thought snapping himself out of his reflection, "I don''t give a shit about their reasons. They shouldn''t have threatened me and the people I care about. I''ll kill anyone that threatens me and mine. I really need more strength."


    David continued to workout with a reinstated vigor. To anyone else he would have looked like a lunatic, but Mr. Lester was happy.


    Mr. Lester smiled off to the side watching. He had guessed that David wasn''t the type to be discouraged by the truth. He had hoped that David would use it as fuel to get stronger.


    As he watched David doubled effort, he couldn''t help smile knowing he was right.

 Chapter 25: Concept

    David was absolutely ruined from exhaustion after training with Mr. Lester. Both physically and mentally. When he got back to his apartment upstairs, he had crammed his lunch in his face immediately to try to recharge his energy. He also quickly showered in the the bathroom and rested in his bed for a few minutes. He had to get refreshed for his afternoon training session with Gauge.


    David''s daily training consisted of 6 hours of physical training with Mr. Lester in the morning and 6 hours of elemental training with Mr. Gauge in the evening...with a 1 hour break in between the two training sessions.


    Mr. Gauge''s training wasn''t anywhere near as physically intense as Mr. Lester''s beat down. However, the training involved a lot of mental demands on David for the practicing of elemental skills.


    Mr. Gauge had been worried that the mental demand on David was too much based on his struggles during the practice. The truth was that David was actually trying to restrain himself the entire time while training his element. Mr. Gauge had him practicing darkness skills continually during the training sessions; however, David had realized that he could do all of these skills with no problem at all. Luckily, he had figured this out while studying the skill book in his own room. On the first day of training, Mr. Gauge had given him the book to familiarize himself before they started training....so no one knew that he had already mastered the entire book in that first night. It was so easy. David was floored because he expected it to be hard. He could chant the skill incantation and execute them easily. David figured it was due to his dark space and the help of the mysterious lady, so he wanted to keep it a secret. He had stayed up that entire night trying to figure out how to reduce his strength so he didn''t let his secret slip. He had figured out how to hide his skill level after only two hours of practice.


    When David was training with Mr. Gauge, he was actually practicing restraint the entire time. He had learned to subconsciously control his darkness elemental strength to make it seem like he was just starting to learn.  This control was actually extremely difficult. David faking his training required him to constantly control and modify the skills to make them seem like they are not functioning correctly. It also required him to double task when practicing. He had to put on an act of practicing a skill while manipulating the skill to failure at the same time.


    Today, the training started no different than usual but David started to show signs of fatigue almost right away. He couldn''t concentrate. And was so focused on restricting his power that none came out at all.


    While feeling physically decent after the recharge, David was still hurting from the mental bombs that Mr. Lester had dropped on his brain. Even though he got Mr. Lester''s main point that he is really weak....he was still confused about all sorts of things. That coupled with the duel concentration needed to fake his underperformance in the skills, David was struggling.


    David''s psychological angst must have been physically noticeable because Mr. Gauge almost immediately stopped him after starting practice. Thinking that David was sick or something, Mr. Gauge checked him out after a few minutes of training in the large office.


    "David, what the hell is wrong with you?," Mr. Gauge said with a little concern in his voice, "You look extremely distracted. Did something bad happen today?"


    "Mr. Lester told me the truth about Earth''s leveling system," David said in a subdued voice said with his head down.


    "Oh," Mr. Gauge responded while shaking his head, "I bet he laughed the entire time. He gets a kick out of the whole thing for some reason. Do you have any questions? That idiot does a horrible job of explaining these type of things."


    "Yes. I have a ton of questions!" David said enthusiastically after finding a potential source to cure his confusion. He was hoping that Mr. Gauge would be nice and answer all his questions.


    "Okay, ask away," Mr. Gauge said in a downtrodden voice before slumping down in his chair. It seemed like he was used to resolving Mr. Lester''s mess ups. The two men seem like friends and enemies at the same time. It was weird.


    "So....since the Earth level system is just a made up mess, how does the system in The Other work? How do Demi-gods and Gods play into things?," David asked.


    Taking a deep breath, Mr. Gauge began.


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    "Well, first....It is best to dial it back a bit and start with the Foundation Stage. That is the starting point after all. You will need to master a basic body enhancement technique or a basic elemental skill in order to be considered at the beginning of Foundation Stage. This stage is divided into 6 levels that are based on the mastery of the 6 standard skills for each specialty. For example, a Level 3 Foundation Stage would have either learned or developed three fighting skills or three elemental skills in the same specialty."


    "Since you are currently just getting started in learning skills, you don''t even qualify as a Level 1 Foundation Stage. That''s why someone created that stupid other level system. We needed a way to grade people below the Foundation Stage," Mr. Gauge said with an sigh.


    "So can people train in two specialties? Mr. Lester was trying to tell me something about elemental mages training in body techniques to keep from dying due to random rocks flying around a battlefield," David questioned with a look of confusion on his face.


    "Yes, it is not uncommon for people to train in two specialties if their talent allows for it. The problem with training in two specialties is that your time is divided. Would you like to learn 3 skills in two specialties or 6 skills in one specialty and be on the verge of breaking through to Demigod?" Mr. Gauge was feeling good about himself because he could see that David was looking less confused.


    Before David could ask his next question, Mr. Gauge continued, "Foundation Stage peaks at Level 6. At level 6, you would have learned all the basic skills of your specialty and would be focusing on your comprehension toward becoming a Demi-god. This is the stage that William, Lester and myself are at right now. We have each learned all that we can in the realm of skills in our specialty and are attempting to understand our first concept. I focus on Darkness concept, William focuses on the Sword concept and Lester focuses on the Fist concept. It won''t be long until one of us starts to get the feeling of understanding in our concept and needs to leave for The Other."


    "Wait, Karine had told me a while back that her dad was high-Zero level but wasn''t at the peak yet. What''s that all about?," David interjected.


    "Oh...William probably hasn''t told Karine that he mastered his 6th skill. I think he only learned it a few weeks ago," Mr. Gauge said before immediately blurting out, "Don''t tell Karine! She will get upset that he will have to leave for The Other sooner. William is probably waiting until a good time to tell her."


    "Why does he have to leave? Can''t he just stay here and breakthrough?", David asked.


    "He really doesn''t have an option though. None of us do. We have to go to the Other to breakthrough to Demi-god. Earth doesn''t have enough heavenly power to handle a breakthrough."


    "And that leads me to a discussion on the next level, Demi-god. Demi-god requires a breakthrough in understanding of either an elemental or physical concept and the presence of a good bit of heavenly power. A Demi-god would be exceptionally strong physically or have slight control over an element.


    David interrupted Mr. Gauge again, "Wait, what is heavenly power? This is the first I am hearing of it."


    "Heavenly power is what allows us to cultivate. Since no one really knows it''s origins, the best way to look at it is oxygen for cultivation. The more you have around you the easier it is to breath. If you have thin oxygen, you would have difficulty breathing. Similarly, you have difficulty cultivating on Earth because the heavenly power is so thin."


    "Heavenly power is so great in The Other that it even crystallizes into an assortment of different heavenly stones. That soul-root stone that you destroyed is a odd type of heavenly stone used to detect talent levels."


    "Then why don''t people just bring a bunch of heavenly stones back to Earth and use them to cultivate?," David asked.


    "We can, but it is very very difficult and requires a waste of resources that is unacceptable. The room that you had your talent tested in was specifically designed to contain heavenly energy. If we didn''t have the room, the stone would have just dissolved when it was taken out of the special storage container used for transport and housing. When such a high concentration of heavenly energy is placed in our extremely low concentration environment on Earth....it dissolves," Mr. Gauge explained.


    "Man, Earth really is a crap hole like Karine said. I thought she was messing with me," David said to himself.


    "Not necessarily," Mr. Gauge contested, "Because Earth had such a low amount of heavenly energy, we became pretty good at developing technology and practicing skills. That has allowed us to take off pretty quick once exposed to the better environment of the Other."


    "So, you are a Level 6 Foundation Stage? What is keeping you from going to the Other and becoming a Demigod?" David asked. Everything sounded pretty easy to him but he was sure there was some kicker that he hadn''t been told yet.


    "I do not feel that I have a good grasp on a darkness concept yet. I know all the skills but only have a slight feeling towards a concept of darkness. Once I go to The Other and become a Demi-god...my life on Earth would be some and I am not ready for that yet."


    "Now....I''m getting confused again. How are skills and concepts different?" David said with a frown.


    "We use chants, hand signs or other mannerisms to concentrate the elemental essence and initiate elemental skills. These skills are done as a placeholder of sorts for actual understanding of a concept. When I execute the Shadow Skill, I use a brief chant to help channel the elemental essence of darkness and move it in my body according to the technique," Mr. Gauge said while standing up at his desk.


    Standing very still, he chanted and moved his hand down, "Let the light of the day not reach my feet, Shadow."


    With the chant, the room light started to dim to the point that only a little light could be seen.


    "See that is a normal elemental skill," Mr. Gauge said.


    "If I developed the actual Concept of Shadow, then I wouldn''t need to say the chant and make the hand gesture. The Shadow Skill is a part of Concept of Shadow. That is, if you are demigod that completely understands a concept related to an element, then you can just use your will to influence the change," Mr. Gauge finished before sitting back down.


    David was very startled. You can''t directly use a skill without being a demigod? He has been directly using his shadow skill for weeks. The only reason he hasn''t tried using the six darkness skills from the book without the incantations is because the book said they were necessary and he hadn''t thought otherwise. Does this mean he is a demigod already? Or is something else going on? Is it related to the ''help'' the mysterious woman had given him?


    Seeing a look of astonishment on David''s face, Mr. Gauge mistook his reaction as something related to the skill he just executed.


    "It''s okay, David," Mr. Gauge comforted, "Once you get the hand of executing the Shadow skill, you will be able to do something like that too."


    David couldn''t help thinking to himself, "I could already turn this entire complex into complete darkness if I wanted to...."


    "Alright, let''s get back to training," Mr. Gauge said then stood up and walked with David out of the office to go train.

 Chapter 26: Dream Reaper

    After the intense day, David carried his tired body into his apartment. He didn''t go for food or a shower. He just walked straight to the bed and plopped face down. He was beyond exhausted.


    After the helpful discussion with Mr. Gauge, David still had several unanswered questions...but he couldn''t ask those questions...they involved his secrets.


    If Foundation Stage involved skill mastery, wouldn''t he already be at the peak of the Foundation Stage in Darkness? He had mastered the "Shadow" skill that he used to blend into the night weeks ago...before he even knew skills existed. But it wasn''t the same skill method that he was learning with Mr. Gauge. Those skills involved the use of chants to channel the skill externally...like when Mr. Gauge dimmed the room lights with his shadow skill. David just willed his Shadow skill into action and he actually became a shadow. He still had to use the chants or hand motions to start the other 5 skills, but he used them with ease. He could use the shadow skill without the chant....From what Mr. Gauge had said.....that would make David a Level 1 Demigod....wouldn''t it?


    "No way," David said to himself, "I am not close to being as strong as a demigod. One hit from a regular soldier from The Other and I would turn into a bloody mist."


    After thinking over the issue for a while, David decided to just give up trying to figure it all out. He was content to assume that he was at Level 6 Darkness Foundation Stage already.....even though he wasn''t 100 percent sure and he couldn''t tell anyone. David really wanted to ask someone his questions but he still had a feeling that it would not end well if he told someone about his real powers with darkness and dreams.


    Thinking of his dreams, David was also left confused about those abilities and where they would stand in the grand scheme. Did entering people''s dreams count as an bonus darkness skill or would it be its own category of specialty like darkness or swords? If Dreams were a specialty, then wouldn''t he have tons of skills and already be a Demigod there too? What about that ability to perceive things around him when he was awake? He had developed that after his first coma. He just felt overrun with skills.


    After thinking it over, he realized that he couldn''t be a Demigod without the resources from The Other. Mr. Gauge had confirmed that a person could not breakthrough to Demigod on Earth due to lack of heavenly energy. At most, he would be at Level 6 Darkness Foundation Stage.


    David then decided to try to organize the skills that he had learned so far. He had mastered the 6 skills of darkness with ease: Shadow, Retribution, Strife, Doom, Destruction, and Death. Shadow could make darkness appear in the surroundings and he could incorporate the shadow into his body and actually become a shadow. Retribution was a counterattack skill that returns physical damage, Doom was sort of a detection skill for threats, Destruction was an berserk like attack enhancement, Strife was ability that made those around him act aggressive with each other, and Death let all his life signs be hidden. He also had mastered the skills Perception and Dream that didn''t fit into the Darkness specialty. Dream involved an assortment of techniques and gave him free rein over his dreams and the dreams of others. Perception allowed him to sense his surroundings in detail without looking. He had read through a few books and didn''t find those two skills anywhere.


    He was left with all kinds of questions. Even after Mr. Gauges explanation, David still didn''t understand his situation at all. It seemed like he didn''t quite fit in any of the boxes. Eventually, David just gave up. His exact status didn''t matter. He just needed to be stronger....no matter his actual current level.


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    Picking up his phone, David text messaged Karine,"You still up?"


    After a minute, he received her response in the form of a phone call.


    "Hey Handsome. You getting ready for bed?,"


    said Karine using her new nickname for David. He didn''t mind and it seemed like a response to him always calling her beautiful.


    "Yes, I''m just trying to settle down and was having trouble sleeping. How was your day?, David asked.


    "Well, my dad broke some news to me today. Apparently, he broke through in his last skill two weeks ago and is at the peak Zero Stage," Karine said.


    "Don''t worry, you can call it the Foundation Stage around me now. Mr. Lester busted that bubble this morning," David said sorrowfully.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.


    "Oh really," Karine said with a joking tone to her voice, "they sure seem to be treating you specially. Guess that''s what you get when you go on a couple dates the bosses daughter."


    "Ha ha....they say I have great potential," David said as he actually made air quotes around potential when talking to her in the phone.


    "Do you think I have potential?" David quipped in a provocative tone.


    "Of course silly, now when are we going on a date again...I miss you already," Karine pouted.


    "How about we go to breakfast on Saturday morning? I haven''t had breakfast with you since my parents'' house," David suggested.


    "Deal, but since we had breakfast at your parents house....now it''s our turn to have breakfast at my parents'' house," Karine responded, "I''ll send you the time once I talk to my dad and sister."


    "Okay beautiful, let me get some sleep. A few more days of training until our date. Sweet dreams, goodnight," David said wrapping up the conversation.


    "Good night handsome. Sweet dreams," Karine said before hanging up the phone.


    They were so sweet to each other it was sickening.


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    After wallowing in his lack of knowledge for a while, David decided that he would go ahead and get to sleep. He wanted to relieve some of his daily frustration and he knew the best way to do so.


    Since he started learning skills, David had decided to give cool names to all the dream techniques that he already learned by himself. He had the Dream Lock where he locked people in their dreams. The Dream Crusher where he crushed the dream orb and killed people. The Dream Eater where he absorbed some of the energy from a dream. Dream Watcher where he watched other peoples'' dreams. He really did have all sorts of dream techniques that he had developed himself. He couldn''t help but wonder if these were actually skills for some exotic dream specialty....but he didn''t know. All he knew was that they were useful.....and fun.


    Tonight, he was going to use one of the newly named techniques that he called the Dream Walk.  Dream Walk sounded bad ass and pretty much described what the technique was all about in its name. He would walk into other people''s dreams.


    What he did in those dreams really depended on the situation, but most of the time it was to modify or change the dreams. He could hide himself completely in the dream or participate in the dream. He could pretty much do anything that he wanted to do, since he was in total control of any dreamworld he was inside.


    For the a week and a half, he had been on a mission of Dream Walking for trouble. While browsing through people''s dreams to ease his boredom, he had stumbled across a guard that had bad motives towards Karine''s sister, Sonia. The guy was like a stalker and had some pretty messed up fantasies about her. David''s first thought had been to just crush the orb and be done with the threat. But he realized that if he kept killing people then someone might figure him out....or think someone was attacking the building. So, he had to get rid of the creeper covertly.


    Conveniently, David found another guard with practically the same fetish for Sonia. Why did this girl have so many stalkers? Although he was weirded out a bit, multiple stalkers offered the perfect opportunity after he considered his options. David had upped his dream technique game and began to make the two men dream about each other stealing Sonia away. It was like they were hardcore rivals in their own dreamworlds....but not in real life.


    To David''s delight and surprise, his plan only took three days of messing with their dreams before it bore fruit. The two fanatical men had actually physically ran into each other in a random hall of the apartment complex. After recognizing the appearance of each other from their dreams, they had almost immediately started a verbal altercation about who was better for Sonia. In no time, the exchange of words started a bloody brawl on the spot.


    One guy had actually pulled a knife and stabbed the other guy before any of the other guards could stop the fight. The stabbed guy died in the hall where the fight started. Mr. Carmine had freaked out when the other guards had told him that the guy was yelling stuff like "You''ll never have her, Sonia is mine" while he was stabbing the guy to death. Mr. Carmine had checked with Sonia and she didn''t even know who the guys were. The surviving stalker guy had been quietly disposed of by the other guards on Mr. Carmine''s orders. The man didn''t tolerate threats to his daughters at all.


    After that incident, David was no longer playing around....he felt like he was a hero that saved a damsel from disaster...now, he was actually actively searching for threats. He had found quite a few too. The large quantity of people that he had to set straight had rapidly grown in number. David''s heavy workload started to make him stretch his imagination on how to deal with the offenders. Since he couldn''t outright kill them, then he needed to influence them through their dreams.


    David was learning something new...how to cleverly manipulate people. He didn''t know why but really enjoyed correcting these peoples'' despicable actions by twisting their dreams.


    David didn''t only focus on stalkers and other weirdos. One guard seemed to be fixated on money and was having a nightmare about being caught selling information to other gateway controllers. David had tortured him in that dream to find out the truth of the situation. Then, he repeatedly made the man have wonderful dreams about running away from the Carmine Family with some valuables and escaping to a beach somewhere to live in luxury. After five nights of the dream, the guy had actually tried to make the dream come true in real life. He was caught by some other guards while stealing some jewelry and spilled all the beans about the spying for money during the interrogation. The threat was eliminated.


    David also spent some time tormenting guards that do not have true loyalty to Carmine Family. The overall staff living in David''s housing building of the Carmine Corporation has to exceed 1000 people. There were bound to be people that were unsatisfied. David liked to mess with them by showing the ''propaganda'' for the Carmine Corporation. David would make a monster attack someone in a nightmare, then he would make William Carmine appear and destroy the monster...then the two guys would go have some beers and be best friends.


    David really started to enjoy modifying and manipulating other people''s dreams. He did not realize it but his methods started to significantly effect the way that the Carmine Corporation was operating. People were working better, problems were being caught sooner, and Mr. Carmine''s approval ratings in the company were skyrocketing.


    For David, this sort of dream manipulation seemed to have all kinds of benefits. Just like when he crushed a dream orb and killed someone.....he would take small pieces of each orb he visited to supplement his strength. He was like a dream reaper harvesting the crops of his planted dreams.

 Chapter 27: New Normal

    Training actually makes the days go by quickly. Before David realized, it was Saturday morning and he was up extra early to get ready for breakfast at the Carmine''s estate. After a quick shit, shave and shower....David was on the driving on the road to the have breakfast with Karine''s family....yes, even her sister, Sonia, and dad, William, were going to be there.


    While David had met Mr. Carmine several times before, this breakfast was going to be his first real social call to the Carmine house since he had become an official suitor for Karine. As it was explained to David, a suitor is someone who is dating a woman with the idea that marriage is possible. It was a little more serious than just dating and a little less serious than being engaged. In the olden days, prominent women would have many suitors who tried to win their fancy. If the woman obliged, then they would go on dates together. The Carmine family seemed to partially follow those old traditions. It was taking some getting used to on David''s part. He was more accustomed to the typical modern dating life.


    Driving in his beat up truck, David was left wondering how the breakfast date would go this morning. The past couple of weeks with Karine had been great. Although she seemed to be a bit old fashioned in regards to relationships, they had a few great nights out together in Three Rivers City over the last couple of weeks.


    It wasn''t long before David pulled up at the Carmine Estate, the guards at the gate seemed to recognize the pickup truck right away and waved David into the long driveway. Pulling up near the house, David parked in the employee parking area off to the side of the house before walking around to the front door.


    "Mr. Knox, everyone is waiting for you in the dining room. Breakfast should be served shortly," one of the door attendants said as David entered.


    Quickly realizing that he had no idea where the dining room was located, he asked one of the door attendants if they could lead the way.


    After a brisk two minute walk, the attendant brought David to a very large dining room. Mr. Carmine, Karine and Sonia were all sitting at one end of the big table. Everyone stared at David as he came into the room.


    "Glad you could join us for breakfast David," Mr. Carmine said as the party rose in greeting as David approached the table, "Please have a seat."


    David sat down. The usual breakfast small talk commenced between the group of four. David was left wondering when the food was going to be brought out. He was hungry. Sure enough, his thoughts seemed to bring about action and four servers walked out of the back with trays of food. David couldn''t keep himself from being slightly amazed while thinking to himself, "So this is how rich people eat breakfast". It was such a large contrast from his family eating at a little table in the kitchen of his parents'' home.


    Regardless, David proceeded to stuff himself on the fancy breakfast foods that were brought out by the servers. He got to have things he had never really eaten before: crepes, quiche, some crazy salad with nuts and a fried egg, pancakes that seemed to have apple pieces baked inside, frittata...it was all over the top.....but tasted wonderful.


    The Carmine family seemed to just be snacking here and there on their dishes. David gorged himself like he was at a buffet. Overall, David felt that the breakfast was a success. They had great conversation and the food was wonderful. What more could you want from a family breakfast?


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    After finishing up the breakfast, David left the Carmine Estate in a great mood. His day was going well and he felt great. Once he got back to his apartment, he realized that is was only around 11:00 AM. He had an entire day ahead of him.


    Since he had gotten the three body training guides from Mr. Lester earlier this week, he hadn''t really had a chance to sit and read though them.


    Plopping the three books down in front of him on his bed, David decided to glance at the introductions to each book first. The three books titled after the body cultivation methods called Body of Strength, Body of Recovery and Body of Defense.All three covered the basis of strengthening the body in a balanced manner; however, each method offered a specialty focused on enhancing the muscles, bones, skin and organs of the cultivator. After reading a bit, David realized that all three body cultivation methods were very, very similar. The difference in the method focused on one of the skills of the Body specialty. Like every other specialty, the Body specialty involved 6 skills: Strength, Defense, Recovery, Speed, Endurance, and Agility.


    Someone from the Body specialty would train in all six skills at foundation stage in order to attempt becoming a Demigod. People that managed to pull off Demigod level in Body specialty were absolute monsters on the battlefield. These guys were practically indestructible against people at the same level in other specialties.


    David didn''t have any urge to pursue the full array of Body specialty skills. For someone, like him, not focusing on the body specialty, they would typically train in one or two of the Body skills as a support skill in an attempt to strengthen themselves for battle. If an elemental practitioners body was extremely weak, then the chances of them dying in battle increased greatly.


    Mr. Lester had picked three of the six Body skills for David to chose from for his own training. David had read the three introductions in the books that described training methods. He had a good grasp of what was required with each method and the benefits that each method offered.


    Body of Strength was a body cultivation method that focused on strengthening the muscles, bones, skin and organs. A practitioner of this skill would be able to have strength that exceeded someone at the same level by 6 times. In a head-to-head battle with someone of the same level, a single punch could mean victory for someone that practiced this skill.


    Body of Recovery was a body cultivation method that focused on developing a body that can heal from injuries rapidly. A practitioner of this skill would be able to focus their heavenly energy to recover quickly from damage sustained on the battle field. The book introduction said that this could help a practitioner survive multiple injuries on a battlefield and even recover from the injuries without medical assistance. If perfected, the recovery would happen automatically...the user wouldn''t even need to focus.


    Body of Defense was a body cultivation method that focused on hardening the muscles, bones, skin and organs. A practitioner of this skill could resist strikes from weapons directly with their body. These guys were tanks. People who specialized in Body of Defense would often be used to protect important dignitaries as body guards or lead the way in a charge against enemies.


    After thoroughly reviewing each method, David made his decision.


    It actually wasn''t that hard of a decision. Since David had been introduced to this new world, he had almost died several times due to injury. With those experiences behind him, he felt that the Body of Recovery was an appropriate choice for him. He didn''t know when he would be randomly injured again.


    David quietly sat there in his room by himself.....studying the Body of Recovery skill book. Essentially, the Body of Recovery skill involved meditating on injuries with a focused intent to heal them. The first example in the book was to place a small shallow cut, about the level of a paper cut, at the tip of the pointer finger on the left hand. Then the skill user was to focus their intent on the small injury and concentrate on healing the injury. The sustained focus of heavenly energy should allow the injury to heal quicker than normal.


    Reading through the book again, David realized that this was still only the first step at mastering the skill. The final level of the skill was that the heavenly energy in the body would concentrate on any injuries automatically. If he mastered the skill, he wouldn''t need to focus on dealing with any injury. It would just heal itself over time at a rate faster than normal.


    David proceeded to cut his finger and stare at it while trying to focus on healing and willing his little bit of heavenly energy into his fingertip. He performed this exercise for the remainder of the day. Once nighttime came around, he felt like a complete fool. He had cut himself and basically stared at his bleeding finger for hours. Nothing healed.


    David was somewhat disappointed by his lack of success, but he decided to keep on trying. He knew that failure was normal. The skill book said so. Sitting on the floor staring at his bleeding finger, David couldn''t help but bust out laughing.


    If he told any of his old friends back home that he cut his finger on purpose and tried to mentally heal himself.....they would think he was a complete lunatic.


    With that thought, David started to reflect on the changes to his life. About 6 months ago, he was a single man who pretty much just worked and slept. Today, he had went on a date with his smoking hot girlfriend at her family''s multi-million dollar mansion. He had then came home to his apartment and spent hours trying to practice an cultivation technique that could make his body superhuman.


    When considering how much everything had changed, David thought it was very unbelievable...and that this was his new normal life.

 Chapter 28: Grand Opening

    Standing on the steps of the Carmine Corporation''s employee housing facility, David couldn''t help but reflect on his past because of tonight''s occasion.


    Tonight was the gala ball for the grand opening of the "Creatures of the Night" exhibit at the Three Rivers Zoo. It had already been about a year since David''s life took a dramatic change and he was uprooted from his previous job as an architect. Actually, it was more like a year and a half. He had spent several months in a coma before getting thrown into this new world. Now he had been training with his two mentors, Mr. Gauge and Mr. Lester, for some time and had even officially promoted to a Foundation Stage cultivator. David felt like he was doing pretty well in life.


    "How do I look?", Karine asked as she got out of the limousine to greet David.


    "You look magnificent," David said than smiled and laughed, "but I would rather go to a BBQ than a gala. While you look radiant, I feel like a waiter in this suit."


    "You look fine. What''s wrong with a gala? I like the parties.....I just don''t like the large crowds of people. It makes me nervous," Karine responded as David leaned forward and gave her a kiss. He had tried to pull her into his embrace with his hand on her exposed back but she pulled away.


    The "Creatures of the Night" exhibit at the zoo was special to both David and Karine, so they had decided to make the grand opening gala a big event. The pair had worked on the project during the design. Eventually, they ended up as a couple and have been dating each other for about 9 months now. The couple had gotten used to going on dates and really enjoyed each other''s company. However to David''s disappointment, Karine seemed to be sort of a prude and he didn''t make it past a few kisses, holding hands and an occasional flirting in the time they had been dating.


    David helped Karine get back into the vehicle before climbing in himself.


    David couldn''t keep from sighing as he scooted over to sit next to Karine. He was a small town guy that had always had intimate moments with the women that he dated. Karine seemed to shy away from any intimacy. After one date, he had tried to get her back to his place and was mercilessly shot down by Karine. David didn''t know if it was something about him that Karine didn''t like or if it was the looming threat of her father, William Carmine. As far as Karine is concerned, the old man had ....sort of.... threatened David''s life once or twice before.


    Regardless, he was starting to go crazy from a lack of intimacy. David had a feeling that it was about the way she was raised. The Carmine Family seemed to be very old fashioned in terms of relationships. Everything was formal. David was official an approved suitor. It was basically having the family''s approval to date Karine with the potential for marrying her. Of course, Karine had the right to accept or reject a suitor. The Carmine Family wasn''t that old fashioned and stuff like arranged marriages didn''t happen anymore. Karine had a choice.


    That said, David and Karine had several chances to get intimate with each other...but never did anything. David also attributed this to the way Karine was raised. Her mother had died when she was young, so she never got to see people show affection in a relationship together. David remember always seeing his parents showing physical affection towards one another: hugs and kisses were common between the two... his dad would even smack his mom on the ass sometimes...and David always knew that his dad would whisper naughty things in his moms ear...he would always see her blush after his dad whispered something. It was kind of gross to watch your parents like that, but it did set some sort of subconscious relationship exceptions for David. The longer Karine and David were together, the more he realized that he and Karine had some differences in terms of relationship expectations. Actually, it was more than just relationship expectations...


    She was prim and proper.....he was brutish and impolite. She came from a rich family.....he came from a mid-class family. He had been in several relationships....this one was her first. She was raised in a large city....he grew up in a small town.  She knew about The Other for her whole life....he only knew about The Other for a year. The more he looked at it, he and Karine really did come from two different worlds.


    The differences did lead to a few awkward moments and some insignificant disagreements between the two. However, they both really cared for each other and enjoyed almost every second they spent together. They were both happy in the relationship.


    The ride was pretty uneventful and soon the couple was exiting the limousine to enter the Three Rivers Zoo.


    Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    David and Karine walked up to the event center at the zoo just as the doors opened.  The Grand Opening Gala was as expected when David walked into the building. The party was very fancy and proper. The event was decked out with a string instrument band, fancy catering and even an auction for expensive artwork. The Carmine Corporation had donated the money for the design and construction of the exhibit, but the donation did not include daily operational funding. The zoo was still trying to raise funding to staff the new exhibit and it was scheduled to open to the public in two weeks. David assumed that it must cost a lot of money to feed and care for a whole new exhibit full of animals.


    Unlike the previous fundraisers David had attended for the zoo, this event was dialed up a few extra notches. Everyone important from Three Rivers City was in attendance. Naturally, all of these important politicians and business leaders wanted to greet Karine since her family wielded so much power in the city.


    David couldn''t help chuckle in his head, "If they only knew the truth."


    All of these people didn''t know that a whole different world exists and the Carmine Family controls one of the gateways for access. If they knew, they would probably loose their minds.


    "How about we actually go walk through the exhibit?", David whispered into her ear in an attempt to get Karine out of the crowd.


    "Great idea," she said smilingly before turning around and addressing the group in front of her, "Everyone please excuse me. I need to go tour the exhibit while I have a chance." Then, she immediately turned and left with David so they couldn''t pull her back into a conversation.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª-


    After a quick shuttle ride across the zoo, David and Karine arrived at the exhibit. The exterior of the building had a few displays showing what was inside and seemed sort of gimmicky, but they had to have something to draw the people inside.


    As the couple entered the foyer entrance, they heard the voice of a narrator set the mood as the lights started to dim.


    "The sun has just went down on the horizon and the night is now young. Let''s take a walk in the night time woods to see what creatures lurk in the dark," the audio narrative played.


    Stepping though the entrance, the first thing David realized was the smell. The smell of night was in the air, but something seemed off.


    Before taking another step inside, David asked Karine,"Did they get the smell right?"


    Taking a big breath of the air, Karine said, "Yes, it smells very nightly to me. They did a good job with the soil mixtures."


    "Yep," David replied but he was still uncertain. Something just didn''t seem right.


    The couple kept walking and eventually came up to the first animal exhibit.


    "Ooh, the raccoons...look David, they are so cute," Karine said.


    David looked into the exhibit and saw a group of raccoon lounging about on the ground at the front of the enclosure. The animals looked so peaceful. They didn''t look anything like the wild raccoons he had watched in the woods at his parent''s house.


    David shook his head and continued walking through the exhibit with Karine. Karine was absolutely in love with the place. David couldn''t shake the weird feeling he had since he entered the exhibit.


    "This exhibit reminds me of the walks in the woods with my mother," Karine said with a smile.


    "I''m glad," David said. The awkward feeling he had had since that first smell of the air was driving him crazy.


    After a few minutes of walking without David saying much, Karine started to realize that something was wrong with David.


    Squeezing his hand, Karine asked,"Are you okay? Feeling bad?"


    "No, I feel fine," David said warding off the inquiry, "it''s just that something seems a bit off with the whole exhibit and I can''t put my finger on it."


    "Oh," Karine said while thinking. "I think it is the moonlight used for lighting this place," Karine said while looking up, "maybe we could ask them to make a few adjustment and it would look a little more real."


    Karine''s words hit David like a bolt of lightning. "That''s what it was," David thought silently to himself, "this entire place seems so fake to me. This feeling of the fake night is driving me crazy. It''s a feeling similar to when I execute the Doom Darkness skill and can sense danger. It is exactly the same.....but I can easily feel everything that is fake around me. What type of skill is this and where did it come from? The skill feels just as natural as my dream skill. Maybe the two are related?"


    David sat there in a surprised daze trying to figure out the new skill that he had just randomly learned. After a few minutes in silence, Karine interrupted David''s contemplation and asked if he was ready to go back to the party. They continued touring the exhibit as they made their way toward the exit.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª-


    After finishing up the exhibit tour, the pair had taken the shuttle back to the party at the event center. Luckily, the two had seemed to sneak in and missed the flocking of the crowd toward Karine.  The pair had only came back to the party for a few minutes when they found some of David''s old coworkers to chat with.


    While standing there having a casual conversation with the people who worked on the new exhibit, David heard a voice come from behind him and Karine.


    "Hello, beautiful. I have been looking for you all night," a voice came from behind the couple as they were still standing together talking to a few of David''s former co-workers.


    "Excuse me," David said while turning around in realization that the comment was directed at Karine. When he turned, he caught sight of a group of 4 well dressed men that he had never seen before. He wasn''t pleased with what he considered to be rude behavior.


    David''s former co-workers began to drift away noticing the possibility of a disturbance. They didn''t want to be involved.


    "I was telling Lady Karine that she looks beautiful tonight," the handsome man said in a dismissive way. With a wave of his hand, he followed with, "Why don''t you go fetch us a drink so I can chat with her for a second?"


    "What? Who do you think you are?" David asked. Was this guy trying to humiliate him in front of people? He was really starting to get pissed off at this guys cocky attitude.


    "Since you seem to be uneducated.... I am Gabriel Carmine, the adopted son of Vincent Carmine.....the future CEO of the Carmine Corporation," the man stated.


    "What do you mean by that?" Karine asked in a shocked manner.


    "Your father is on his way out, beautiful. He put in the request to transfer to The Other a week ago," Gabriel said with a grin.

 Chapter 29: Mr. Carmine

    Karine seemed to be in a panic as soon as she heard the news about change of leadership at the Carmine Corporation. She instantly thought that something had happened to her father. Before David or the new guy could say another word, Karine immediately pulled out her cell phone and began trying to call her father. Even after a few attempts, she couldn''t get an answer. The lack of an answer to her question had made her anxiety even worse. In a matter of seconds, Karine had decided to leave the party early after the news about William Carmine delivered and she couldn''t find out what was going on.


    While Karine was panicking in her head, David was honestly debating if he should hit the guy or not. Between this Gabriel ruining his date''s evening and even hijacking David''s favorite way to address Karine.....David going to, at least, confront the man for being rude. Just as he was beginning to open his mouth, he felt a tug at the sleeve of his jacket.


    Realizing that he may have just cause and issue, the guy named Gabriel started, "Lady Karine....if I could have a moment, I could....."


    Not waiting on Gabriel to finish speaking, Karine suddenly threw her phone in her purse and grabbed David by the arm.


    "Excuse us. We need to go. I need to talk with my dad," Karine said in one long string of words. Then she turned and quickly started walking towards the exit.


    As David hurried along behind Karine, he couldn''t resist turning around to see Gabriel chuckling with the other three guys next to him. They seemed to be having a great time without a care that they just messed up Karine''s evening. All of a sudden, David felt a burst of threat coming from one of the men to Gabriel''s side. Their eyes made contact and a devilish grin appeared on the man''s face....and the man thumbed his nose at David.


    "Who the hell are these guys? Why would they show such an aggressive look toward me?" David thought to himself turned back around to catch up to Karine at the door.


    _______________________________________________


    As the limousine pulled up at the Carmine''s home, Karine basically didn''t even wait for it to stop before she was out the door and running up the entrance way staircase. She had been a mess the entire ride and nothing David could say would calm her down. The woman was really worried for her father. David guess that since she had lost her mother when younger then she must have had a slight complex toward the safety of her dad.


    Bursting through the door, Karine was greeted by a few people that she didn''t recognize. David was only a few steps behind and almost ran into Karine''s back when she suddenly stopped in the doorway.


    Standing just inside the doorway, David looked up and saw three men standing in the foyer. One of the men was Mr. Carmine and the two other men were unfamiliar and appeared to be slightly younger than Mr. Carmine.


    "Karine," Mr. Carmine said, "Why are you in such as rush? We have some special guests. Take a moment to talk to us."


    Ignoring the guests comment, Karine responded to her father, "I was in a rush to see if you were okay. Some guy named Gabriel ran into us at the Grand Opening Gala and said that you are leaving to go to The Other. Is everything okay?"


    Before Mr. Carmine could respond, one of the men standing next to him stepped up and said, "Apologies, Lady Karine. My son, Gabriel, can be a bit loose tongued when he is excited. When we arrived earlier, he had rushed out to find you."


    David looked at the man in evaluation. The older man had a similar bearing as Mr. Carmine and was slightly taller then the other two men standing by his side.


    The tall man bowed and lifted Karine''s hand and kissed it.....then he paused and said, "My name is Vincent Carmine and I will be taking over control of the Carmine Corporation once your father transitions to The Other."


    "My adopted son, Gabriel, was very excited at the chance of meeting Lady Karine, whose famed beauty even manages to reach the ears of those in The Other," Vincent Carmine said in a leading manner.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.


    Realizing that someone else had spoiled his chances of breaking the news easily to his daughter, Mr. Carmine started to grow a bit agitated. Realizing that he wouldn''t be able to keep his daughter at bay much longer, William Carmine decided it was best to end the tour short.


    "That''s enough for now, Vincent. I haven''t even had a chance to explain what is happening to my daughter and your son has caused her to be in such a worried state," Mr. Carmine said in a slightly peeved manner, "Karine, you and David go over to the study and I will join you shortly to explain. Let me finish getting these gentlemen settled in for the evening then I will come back to speak with you."


    "Nice meeting you, Lady Karine," Vincent Carmine said while giving David a glare that could almost burn holes in his face.


    The group of four men walked off and left Karine and David standing there in the entrance way. After recovering from the rapid delivery of new information, the two made their way over to the study to wait for Mr. Carmine. Karine was still a mess. She kept pacing back and forth in the study.....and wouldn''t really even pause for a second to talk with David.


    __________________________________________


    After about 20 minutes, Mr. Carmine showed up with both Mr. Gauge and Mr. Lester in tow. He must have called them on his walk back to the room. David knew that Mr. Gauge lived in the main Carmine residence, so he wouldn''t have been far away. But why was Mr. Lester here?


    Each man proceeded to walk over to a small mini-bar that was situated at a corner of the study. After each pouring themselves a glass of some type of liqueur, the three men walked over and began explaining the situation in an alternating fashion.


    Mr. Carmine started, "Two weeks ago, I had a few lucky insights when sparing with Mr. Lester. I have been at the peak of the Foundation stage for only a year. For me to have the insight to develop a sword concept and become a Level 1 Sword Demigod...it is basically a miracle for it to happen that fast. My first concept is even the ''slash'' concept which is very beneficial to battle."


    David could tell that the old man was excited. Who wouldn''t be happy about increasing in strength?


    Mr. Carmine had stopped talking, so Mr. Gauge picked up, "Since William needed to focus on consolidating his concept, I decided that it would be best to send notice to the Carmine Family in The Other to begin preparation for the transfer. I only sent over the notice last week. How was I supposed to know that they would send someone over so fast? It is not like William needs to leave tomorrow. He should have around 3 months before he would be negatively influenced by his presence here."


    Mr. Carmine continued, "Vincent Carmine is the only son of my uncle Phillip Carmine. Phillip is slightly older than my father by about 30 years, but technically Vincent and I are in the same generation. Because Vincent is at the Level 5 Fire Foundation Stage and is 10 years younger than me, then the family thinks that he will be another stable person to lead the Carmine Family on Earth."


    "It doesn''t hurt his stance either that his adopted son is an exceptional talent. Vincent said that he is already a Level 4 Fire Foundation Stage. He is almost as strong as Vincent," Mr. Lester said.


    "Dad, why don''t they just put Uncle Gauge in charge or even Mr. Lester? They have more than enough knowledge and power to keep everything under control here," Karine said questioningly.


    "The Carmine Family in The Other always want someone of the direct Carmine Family line to lead their forces here on Earth. This is a policy that great grandfather established long ago to secure our family''s status on earth. No exceptions can be made," Mr. Carmine explained.


    "Why don''t you just come back after you progress to Demigod Stage?" David interjected a question.


    "I wish it were that easy," Mr. Carmine said, "there is a treaty amount all 9 gatekeepers on Earth. No Demigod Stage can come back to the planet from The Other. In the past, a few of the Demigods had come back and ruled over part of Earth. After spending time here, they soon realized that the heavenly energy in their bodies was dissipating. Because the Earth''s atmosphere lacks heavenly energy so much, the heavenly energy stored in the body of a Demigod slowly dissipates over time. Although Demigods are relatively common in The Other, the 9 gatekeepers had seen extended Earth stay as too risky and outlawed it."


    "The gates even have rune restrictions placed on them that prevent a demi-god from transferring over," Mr. Lester said to back it up, "Only Gods could override those restrictions."


    "So how much is this going to shake things up?" David said.


    He didn''t receive a response.


    "David, why don''t you give us a few minutes to speak with Karine alone? We have a few important family issues to discuss," Mr. Carmine said.


    "Sure....I''ll just wait outside," David said. He realized he was being asked to leave.


    _______________________


    After about ten minutes, Karine came walking out of the room with her father and the two other men.


    "Karine, remember to consider your future," Mr. Carmine said before glancing at David. Then, Mr. Carmine, Mr. Gauge, and Mr. Lester walked off.


    Karine was left standing in front of David with a disheartened look on her face.


    Trying to cheer her up, David proposed a change of scenery.


    "Karine, how about we go for a walk in the woods in the back of the estate?" David asked, "With the news from tonight, I would really like to go for a nighttime walk in the woods right now and you said that you loved walking in the woods with your mom."


    After standing there for another minute, Karine looked up at David''s face and said, "No, David. I have so many things going through my mind right now. I just don''t know what to do."


    Karine continued, "I know my father isn''t dying or anything and that this is actually a good thing.....but I don''t want to lose him. It seems like I won''t be going with him to The Other right away. I need to stay here to help the new group from the Carmine Family adjust to life on Earth and the inner operations of the Carmine Corporation."


    "I understand Karine. I guess I will probably just head back to my apartment," David said as he leaned forward to give her a kiss.


    Leaning away as David moved in, Karine said, "David, I''m not really sure about us at the moment. With everything going on a lot is going to be changing in the next couple of months. I need some time to think. Sorry."


    Karine just turned around an left at a quick pace.


    David was left standing in the entrance of the Carmine''s house with only the two door attendants present.


    "What the hell?" David said to himself.


    How had tonight went from being a fun celebration to an absolute shit hole of a mess.

 Chapter 30: Family Visit

    When David arrived back at his apartment, he felt angry and worried at the same time. Things had finally started to feel stable in his life. He was happy and enjoying it all. Now, the whole situation had been turned upside down.


    The reason he had wanted to talk to Karine on a night time stroll on her family''s property was selfish....he just wanted to take a walk at night himself and didn''t have anywhere to do it. Now, he didn''t even know the status of his relationship with Karine. The only other place he had that gave him that absolute feeling of care was when he was in the woods at night. He wanted that feeling. Since Karine''s estate was out of question at this point, his only other option was his parents'' house and property.


    Having an idea, David looked at his phone to check the time. David was checking to see if it was before 10:00 PM. The clock read 9:55 PM. Their time at the zoo''s Gala was really limited. They had arrived at around 6:00 PM and it was now only 4 hours later. How could everything go to shit so quickly?


    "They shouldn''t be in bed yet," David thought while tapping the screen of his cell phone. In a second, the phone started ringing.


    "David, is everything okay?", his mom''s voice immediately came over the phone line.


    "Everything is fine, Mom," David said, "I was just thinking that I needed a break from this place and wanted to visit home for a few days."


    "Oh, are you bringing Karine along?" Kathy Knox asked her son.


    "No, mom. She is having some problems at her house and can''t come with me," David answered his mom''s question although he never asked Karine...she rejected him for a simple walk around her family''s property why would she go on a trip for a few days with him.


    "Okay David," David''s mom said in a tone that said she knew something more was going on,"When are you leaving?"


    "Probably first thing in the morning. If I leave around 6 AM, we should be able to have lunch together," David said.


    "Okay sweetie. See you then. Drive safe. Love you," she said through the phone.


    "Okay, love you too Mom," David said back into the phone before hanging up.


    Before leaving the Carmine''s complex, David was required to ''check out'' with the details of his travels. This condition was part of David''s and most other guard''s contracts with the Carmine Family. Essentially, they wanted to put some sort of restrictions on people from having them run off an become rouge cultivators and risk exposing the existence of the other to the general public.


    David sort of disliked the contract clause because it meant that he could leave town without informing the Carmine Family. However, he did not have any restrictions against him so he could freely travel anywhere he wanted.


    Picking up his cell phone, he text messaged Mr. Gauge the information about his trip. He would be driving to his parents house to visit due to personal reasons and would be staying for three days.


    David decided to have a few snacks and get ready for bed.


    After waiting for about 20 minutes, David was interrupted while brushing his teeth with a phone buzz. After rinsing his mouth out, David picked up the phone for Mr. Gauge''s response.


    "Request received. Processing should take about an hour," read the text from Mr. Gauge.


    After getting the formalities in process, David started packing up his overnight backpack. He assumed that the request for leave process would go through smoothly. Why wouldn''t it?


    After about 20 minutes of packing, David had finished up getting ready for his trip tomorrow and decided to sit down and train. He always had a feeling that he needed to be stronger. If he was strong, he wouldn''t have been dismissed so much tonight. He would have been respected.


    Luckily, David seemed to have a talent for cultivating. Since 9 months ago, he had progressed well in his "pretend" darkness training with Mr. Gauge. As far as everyone knew, he was at Level 2 Darkness Foundation Stage. This sort of progress was shocking to Mr. Gauge. If anyone knew that David was actually at Level 6 Darkness Foundation Stage, they would probably loose their mind. David also understood that his level of talent would bring him troubles if other knew about it, so he kept it to himself. After faking like he was inept in some of the darkness skills for so long, David had developed an ability to manipulate and control his darkness skills to a point that they were perfect. For example, he would perform the Darkness Shadow skill and could now create gradient shadows in the area around him. Mr. Gauge could only create a single shade of darkness at a time. For example, David could make part of a room darker than another. Mr. Guage could only make the room the same darkness throughout the entire room. Of course Mr. Gauge didn''t know that David could do this exceptional skill control, David had practice this skill usage on his own.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    Although his darkness skills were exceptional, David still knew that his body was his weakness.


    With his lack of body strength on his mind, David decided to train his Body of Recovery skill. David''s talent in darkness and his dreamworld didn''t seem to carry over to his Body specialty training. David has always thought that must be the difference between a physical skill and elemental skill.


    Elemental skills required a chant or hand motion to focus heavenly energy into a particular arrangement for the execution of an elemental skill externally.


    Physical skills such as body, feet and fist skills are completely different. Physical skills trained the heavenly energy to function in a particular way inside the body. No hand gestures or chants were needed. The heavenly energy in the body just had to function in accordance with the skill peculiarities to train the body itself.


    David knew that sword and saber skills were even more different. Those skills required both the internal and external focus of heavenly energy with a weapon as a conduit for the energy. Weapon skills were the most complicated to learn but were very special if executed appropriately.


    Sitting down on the floor of his bedroom, David began to circulate his little bit of heavenly energy though his body. With a move of an knife, David slashed a long cut on his forearm. Immediately, David began concentrating on healing the rapidly bleeding wound. Although heavenly energy on Earth was sparse, it was still enough to begin practicing the basic body methods and perform basic skills.....it just took a significant amount of time to gather enough heavenly energy.


    After a few minutes, the bleeding on David''s forearm began to stop. After another minute, the skin began to crust over into a scab.


    David stopped here and began to examine his injury. If he wanted to, he could stop here and let his bodies natural processes finish off the healing. However, he knew that if he continued focusing then he would eventually fully heal his wound.


    After another 20 minutes of concentrating on healing, the scab on David''s arm fell off to reveal perfectly smooth flesh. Seeing the lack of a scar, David decided to focus on his existing scars to see if he could heal them. Although he tried hard, the scars on his shoulders didn''t show much improvement.


    "Guess the damage is too deep," David thought before calling it a night. He had gotten the basics of the Body of Recovery skill down. Now he just need to get to the point where he performed it subconsciously.


    When he was just about to cut him self again and continue training, his phone buzzed at his side.


    David read the message. As expected, he was approved for his three day trip to his parents house.


    "Time to go to bed," David actually said to himself out loud.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª-


    The next morning David has actually showered and on the road 20 minutes before 6:00 AM. Considering that he was ahead of schedule, David stopped just outside of Three  Rivers City in a roadside small town to have breakfast. David always enjoyed stopping in small towns to eat when he traveled. He felt that it gave him perspective.


    Riding along the highway on a trip, he passed countless towns and cities that he would never visit. Each of these places had people just like him who were trying to live their lives. Everyone had problems just like him. When he visited these places, it made David feel like he wasn''t special or unique.


    After enjoying a moment of interacting with people in the diner for breakfast, David continued on his way with a full belly and somewhat content. Sometimes he just needed a little perspective to feel better. Everyone has their problems and issues. In the world, there is always someone who has it worse at that moment.  David felt that perspective kept him grounded when his life hit troubles.


    He thought about the things he could be thankful for on his ride. His health. His parents. His freedom. Some people have poor health, have no family and have restrictions on their lives that limit what they can achieve. David felt that he had none of these. So he just had a little issue with his girlfriend...that didn''t change his overall picture on life....it was just one of those things that everyone experiences.


    ____________________________________________________


    As David pulled into the driveway of his parents'' house, he felt good about his travels. This trip was already one of those special occasions that gave him some time to self reflect. It was already a successful trip.


    David pulled up at his family home to be greeted by his mom sitting on the porch. After pulling up in his usual parking spot, he slammed the door shut and headed up to the porch to sit next to his mom.


    "How you doing, mom?", David asked trying cut off the identical question he had coming his way.


    "I''m doing okay. I like to sit on this porch and think about your sister," David''s mom said in a solemn manner, "We used to sit here all the time together and discuss life."


    "I miss her too," David said remember how his sister, Karen, had died one night years ago while coming home from college. She had fell asleep at the wheel and wrecked into a tree. More than half the town had turned out for her funeral. Karen was the nicest human being that he had ever know. She was in college to study nursing. It was her passion to help people. David had gotten pretty sick from a cold and his parents were on the verge of canceling a vacation to stay home with David. His sister had volunteered to come home for the weekend from school to watch her brother so her parents could go enjoy themselves. No one had expected it to end that way. Everyone had blamed themselves...David wasn''t spared.


    Realizing they were going down a route that would make both of them miserable the rest of the day, David tried to change the subject, "Hey mom, what are we having for lunch?"


    David''s mom looked at him. She knew that he would always try to change the subject when he realized the conversation was going awry. She was grateful that she had such a thoughtful son.


    David and his mom had a wonderful lunch together. He enjoyed spending time with her alone. She was always helpful and gave great advice. The two spent the entire day chatting about general life. David told her about how his new job was going well, but the management was going through changes. He also told her that Karine did not care for showing affection most of the time and that the relationship was a little rocky. Of course, his mom offered all sorts of advice, but mostly David just felt good chatting with someone about his issues. It was good to talk about your troubles every now and then.


    After chatting most of the day away, David''s dad arrived home early from work. He joined the pair in their conversations about life and eventually it was time to settle in for the night. David''s dad had work first thing in the morning and his mom even had to go do some of her part-time work for most of the day. David was kind of excited about having the day to himself at the house. He hadn''t had a day like that since high school.


    David went to his bedroom and relaxed a bit in his old bed. Nothing felt as good as visiting home. Well almost nothing. After about 30 minutes, David closed his eyes to check to see if his parents were sleeping. Sure enough the couple was already asleep.


    David wanted to go for his night time hike in the woods. As usual, he grabbed his backpack and looped his knife on his belt.


    David opened the window and was in the process of climbing out when an extremely intense sense of danger assaulted him.....then the house exploded in a deafening roar of heat and pressure.

 Chapter 31: Battle

    A few seconds after the force of the explosion sent him airborne, David''s body came crashing down into the field besides his house. The explosion was so violent that the house was completely leveled to the ground.


    Ringing sounded in David''s ears as he tried to gain some awareness of the situation. After a few seconds he managed to form a few thoughts.


    "Mom...Dad," David said as his mind went blank over what had just happened. He tried to stand up but his body wasn''t functioning well. The pain instantly hit him. He felt like he was just beaten with a baseball bat....that was on fire. Almost on instinct, he began to focus on his Body of Recovery skill to help process his injuries. Thankfully, no bones in his body seemed to be broken from the blast, but he could tell that something was wrong internally and some of his muscles seemed damaged.


    He must have flown 40 feet from the house due to the blast. He also had numerous cuts and scrapes all over him.....and his entire left side appeared to be burned in various degrees. He was bleeding a lot and he physically hurt. With a sense of urgency to find his parents, David focused on healing his right leg for a minute before he tried to stand up again. This time he managed to make it to a full stand, but was a bit wobbly.


    Under the glowing light of the wreckage fires, he was able to roughly survey the damage. The house was pretty much non-existent. Burning pieces of lumber, wood, furniture and other parts of the home were scattered over the open 2 acre open tract of land. Some of the grass was starting to catch fire and the orangish glow of the fires gave an Erie look to the scene....it looked like one of those war movies.


    David was still trying to come to terms with what had just happened when he saw two body shaped shadows appear in between him and the burning wreckage of the house.


    The sight of the two shadows made David instantly think of his mom and dad.


    "Thank goodness, they got out of the house," David thought while still trying to recover his mind and body from the explosion.


    Just as he was about to yell out to who he thought was his mom and dad.....he managed to hear unfamiliar two voices over the raging fires.


    "Why did you hit the detonator? Weren''t we were supposed to wait for everybody else to arrive?," one voice sounded from the tall shadow.


    "Sorry man, it was an accident. I was checking to see if the explosives where linked up correctly with the detonator and I hit the trigger by mistake," the other voice said, "I don''t deal with explosives regularly....I am sure glad we weren''t close when the bombs went off by accident."


    "Quick, we need to check for the body.....nobody will pay without a confirmation of a kill," the tall man responded before walking towards the rubble.


    Overhearing the conversation a few yards away, David''s mind was in tatters. Someone just blew up my house? It wasn''t some freak accident? Standing there, David could only stare at the wreckage of the exploded home. There is no way anyone inside was left alive. As the thought, hit him.....his whole body started to shake.


    "Hey man, looks like two bodies over here. But not the one we are looking for," the shorter man said.


    Bodies? David''s mind was still a mess but he managed to come to the realization that someone had just killed his parents. Someone had just tried to kill him.


    Then something in David''s mind seemed to break at the knowledge of his parent''s death. Adrenaline started coursing through his veins as his anger peaked.


    In a primal rage, David unleashed the full extent of his physical power and charged forward towards the closest of the two men. He wanted them to not exist. As he charged forward, David''s hand fell on the knife that was located on his hip and pulled it from the sheath. He had used this knife to kill before and it was about to be used to kill again.


    David reached the taller man in no time at all and plunged his knife into the his back. The hilt bottomed out against the man''s back as David pushed him aside and immediately moved to attack the guy a few steps away from him with his bare fists.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    Both men were unaware for the initial attack, but the second man had a moment to prepare when his buddy was getting attacked by surprise. The shorter man managed to block some of David''s fist strikes; however, a few hits from the waylay managed to land. David was in such a frenzy that any fighting form or technique was completely gone. David was completely lost in his rage and was attacking the shirt man relentlessly.


    Suddenly, David felt a sense of crisis and dove to the side to avoid an attack coming from behind.


    The taller man that he had stabbed wasn''t dead. He was standing hunched over with a dagger in his hand stabbing where David''s chest was just located.


    Turning to see the man still standing, David charged him immediately in attempt to get to the man before he could recover from his stabbing motion. David hit the man squarely on the cheek with his fist as he blocked the dagger in his hand.


    Felling another threat, David shifted his body slightly to the side in an attempt to miss an attack from behind. A large Bowie style knife lodged itself in David''s upper shoulder blade....but did not make it though to his heart. Grunting in pain, David quickly turned around to respond to the attacker.


    As David spun to meet the threat behind him, the knife became dislodged from his back and flew off to the side. David also stumbled to the side as he threw a punch at the shorter attacker with a pain radiating in his shoulder. It always seemed to be his shoulder that was badly hurt. Looking up, David saw the tall man move to join his buddy at his side.


    Some clarity started to surface in David''s mind and he realized he was in trouble. He was outnumbered and these two armed men seemed to be quite strong. He was also pretty badly injured. David stepped back into the yard and initiated his shadow skill to try to retreat for another attack.


    The two men had just started to position themselves for defense when they noticed that David was no longer standing in front of them.


    "Shit man...I think that bastard stabbed me in the lung.....I am having trouble breathing," one guy said with a few coughs following his words.


    "If you were facing towards him, he would have got you directly in the heart. You would have died almost instantly. Your lucky," the other guy replied, "Did you see which way he went? We can''t leave any witnesses. Did you hear him chant any sort of skill?"


    "No, he didn''t say anything. He must have ran off into the woods," the first guy said, "Can you pull this knife out of my back? This thing is really messing me up"


    "Sure," a voice came from behind him at the same time the knife was drawn out of his back. David had hidden in the shadows and walked up right behind the man without his notice. As the man turned at the voice behind him, David gripped the knife and pulled it from his back. In a fluid-like motion, David pulled out the knife and spun around...to immediately ram the knife into the chest of the man that was turning towards him.


    "Bast...," came a voice before turning to quiet as the tall man fell to the ground with blood spraying all over and a knife hole in his heart.


    Again, the shorter man by his side acted almost instantly. He managed to hit David with some random debris just as David came out of the shadow skill and attacked the taller man. Suddenly, David felt something hit him on the side of the head and fell down into the grass.


    Luckily, David''s hand had landed on the large Bowie knife that was previously stabbed into his shoulder blade.


    As the remaining man approached David, he reached into his belt to pull out another similar knife. David was currently crouched on the ground holding his head in pain .....but he had his hand resting right on top of a knife on the ground. David reached out with his perception to feel the guy moving towards him.


    As the guy was raising his hands up to plunge the knife into David''s back, David spun around and stabbed the man directly in the stomach. The knife was sharp because David continued his upward pressure with the knife sliding it all the way up until it hit the man''s rib cage.


    In an instant, the short man''s guts came spilling out of his body. The organs where half on the ground and half dangling from the open body cavity as the man stopped his attack on David.


    Although the man seemed to be well trained, he instantly released the knife and tried to keep his insides from spilling out of his body cavity. He was unsuccessful as he tumbled to the ground.


    After pulling the knife out of the man''s abdomen, David had feel back in a defensive stance. However, when he caught site of the man starting to tumble over....David lunges forward and shoved the knife directly in the underside of the man''s chin. With a quick twist and tug of the knife, the last of the two men who had killed David''s parents was dead with his body with his intestines spilling out over the yard''s grass.


    David also fell to the ground due to his injuries. He was gravely injured. The enemy''s knife blade had done some serious damage to his shoulder....and he still had some significant internal damage from the original blast. He had managed to kill both men but had paid a pretty big price with his body.


    The adrenaline was starting to die down and the pain was hitting David in waves.


    "Didn''t those guys say something about more people showing up?" David thought to himself feeling urgent all of a sudden, "I need to hide. I can''t fight anymore."


    Feeling himself starting to loose conscience, David managed to work himself up to his feet. With little staggering steps, David walked from near the two dead bodies to the wood line. He was bleeding all over. They would be able to track him. He needed a way to disappear. Focusing in on the shadows, he began to transform into the darkness around him. As he became a part of the shadows, he felt his physical injuries throbbing in pain. Although his body was now completely shadow, his wounds seemed to become swirling holes that felt like they were sucking energy out of his shadow form. However, as his physical state shifted into shadows, his blood didn''t seem to hit the ground anymore. Glancing around to see the lack of blood, David sighed in relief and continued forward to the wood line with some assurance that he would''t be tracked. He needed to survive. He needed revenge.


    Once David made it into the woods, he found some thick brush cover and let his body fall inside of its'' darkness. Releasing his shadow skill, David reached his hand into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. The screen was half broken but David managed to hit the screen a few times and make a phone call.


    The phone rang twice before someone picked, "David, why are you calling me so late?"


    "Mr. Gauge? Ya....he was the last person I had texted last night," David thought before saying.


    "Someone attacked my house. My parents are dead. Send help. I am hiding in the shadows of the tree line. Hurry."


    David hung up the phone before making his body drift back off into the shadows inside the bushes. While in his shadow form, David felt his body slowly loose awareness and entered his dreamland.

 Chapter 32: Fallout (1)

    David had been sitting in the darkness of his dreamworld for sometime now. As usual, he was all alone in the darkness but he liked the darkness...it helped him grieve. At first, he tried to focus to find dreamers but nothing appeared. Why would there be anyone? He was dying at the edge of an empty field. Actually, he wasn''t even sure if he was alive or already dead.....and honestly....he wasn''t for sure if he even wanted to be alive.


    His family was dead. As far as he knew, David was the only remaining member of his Knox family. David had never had any aunts or uncles or cousins. His dad''s parents had passed away when David was just a baby. His mom''s dad had died around the same time. His grandmother was sweet and wonderful and David really enjoyed visiting her house in the town limits of Benson....but his grandmother had passed away when he was 10. His sister had died in an accident while trying to come home to take care of him. Now, his parents had died in what appeared to be an attack trying to kill David. He was all alone.


    David felt the utmost misery as he sat by himself in his dark dream world. He felt responsible.


    "Maybe I will die too", David thought to himself, "...that might be for the best."


    He was so lonely sitting in his dark world. But as he continued to sit alone in the dark, he started to feel comforted by the loneliness. He had a long time to think over everything that had happened in the past. He also had time to think about what he was trying to achieve in life.


    When he was a kid, David always wanted to do great things. He often dreamed of winning a Nobel Prize or making some big scientific break though. Then, he started to drift towards the artistic nature of architecture and enjoyed seeing how everything was constructed. He wanted to build buildings that lasted forever and would be looked at thousands of years in the future. He had very high expectations of himself.....but now he was alone and having trouble deciding what he wanted to accomplish with his life.


    He kept repeating to himself, "What am I working for? What am I going to do now?"


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    After what felt like eternity, David began to notice a few dream orbs begin to form around him. Seeing the orbs, he knew that someone had probably saved his life. He knew that his body had been picked up by someone and brought somewhere for medical treatment. If they didn''t, he would have probably been trapped in his dark world forever...alone. Now that he was seeing dream orbs, David knew that he was around other people.


    However, David didn''t visit any of the dream orbs that floated about in his dark world. David even started to dislike some of the dream orbs floating with him in the darkness. He didn''t want to visit the happy dreams of those around him or the sad dreams or the nightmares.....he just wanted the quiet darkness to himself. He continued to float in the darkness alone....mourning his loss of his parents...trying to figure out his direction in life.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    After sitting in the dark world for a while....and unable to come up with some direction to take in his life, David decided to visit some of the dream orbs. A cancer patient resting after a day of treatment. A college student with a busted appendix. A doctor in between shifts. A dying man on the table in an emergency room. David spent his time watching these people''s dream....watching their nightmares.... hoping that he could find his direction.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    David also started to pay attention to the tides of dream orbs in his dark world. The orbs would run in cycles. They would start to disappear in what David felt was morning time. They would start to reappear in heavy numbers when it was night and people would sleep. He estimated that he had only been in his dream world for about a week based on the number of these cycles.


    On one afternoon, David began to feel that his body was starting to wake. He left his dream world and awoke in what appeared to be a hospital room.


    "How many times have I woke up in a hospital room now?", David though as he stared up at the white ceiling and smelled the scent of a medical facility.


    Looking around to take stock of his surrounding, David was for sure that he had been though this before.....it was definitely a hospital room. Looking around, David located a call button to call a nurse. He hit the button and a light began to flash at his bedside.


    In a brief moment, a nurse came into the hospital room, "Mr. Knox, you''re awake!" the nurse exclaimed when she entered the room.


    At this point in time, David had already shifted the bed''s position and was sitting up staring at the nurse when she entered.


    "Where am I at?" David said in a gravely voice. It seemed like he hadn''t spoken in a while.


    "Mr. Knox, you are at the guard''s medical facility in the Carmine Corporation''s wing at Three Rivers Hospital," the nurse said as she came over to begin checking David''s condition.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    "I notified the doctor as soon as your alarm went off," she continued as she continued checking David''s condition, "he should be here shortly."


    After about 5 minutes, a short fat man who appeared to be a doctor showed up in David''s room.


    "Hello Mr. Knox, I am Doctor Tull. Glad to see you awake. How are you feeling?" the doctor asked in a slow manner as if he thought David would have trouble understanding.


    "I don''t feel that great... Did my parents survive?", David couldn''t help ask. Some part of him still held onto a hope that they had managed to make it safely out of the explosion.


    "No," the doctor said bluntly, "I am sorry for your loss, Mr. Knox. I do not have the exact details on what occurred, but I know you are the only survivor. I have contacted the Carmine Family and they will be sending someone over in a few moments to explain."


    David''s remaining hope was shattered and he went silent. He just felt empty. The doctor asked David a few questions but David didn''t respond.


    After a few moments of collecting his thoughts, David finally asked the doctor, "How long was I asleep?"


    "16 days," the Doctor replied. "You were only out for 16 days. I understand you had a past incident when you were in a coma for several months. We were worried that the same would happen this time, but thankfully you woke up much sooner."


    "How is my condition?" David bluntly asked the doctor before reclining back in the hospital bed. Did he really even care about his condition anymore?


    The doctor proceed to tell David of his injuries. The doctor was fully aware of The Other and his staff specialized in treating injuries to those that cultivated. David''s main injuries were some bleeding ruptures to his internal organs that most likely happened during the initial explosion. Those internal injuries were repaired with emergency surgery and heavenly energy healing. David had damaged his kidneys, spleen, liver, heart...just about every internal organ he has.


    Besides the internal internal organ injuries, David had another injury that had been life threatening. Based on what the doctor said, David had a large trauma to the side of his head that actually cracked his skull and made his brain start to swell. He would have to undergo some evaluations because of such a large head trauma.


    Per the doctor, most of the other damage to David''s body was just superficial cuts and scrapes but he did have a few lacerations that required a small amount of stitching. He also had a few burns on the side of his body from the explosion. The healers were able to resolve most of those smaller injuries with only minimal scaring. He also had a large knife wound in the back of his shoulder that required re-connection of a muscle. David should be able to use his arm normally after a little training.


    Doctor Tull had actually told David that he was lucky to be alive.


    David had actually laughed when the doctor had told him he was lucky. He didn''t feel that way right now. Doctor Tull had gotten concerned for David by this gesture and recommended that David speak to the hospital''s mental health provider.


    After about 30 minutes of talking to the doctor about his condition, the room door sounded with a knock. The doctor got up and opened the door to reveal Mr. Lester standing in the doorway.


    Walking in, the old man proceeded to sit down in the chair besides the bed with a sign. He had trouble looking directly at David.


    "Doctor, can you leave David and I alone for a few moments?" Mr. Lester asked the doctor.


    After the doctor left the room, Mr. Lester looked straight up at David and asked, "What do you remember?"


    "I remember being blown out of my room by an explosion. I remember fighting two men...and killing both of them. I remember my parents....." David trailed off in his recollection and stopped speaking.


    Seeing David struggling with the story, Mr. Lester took over for him.


    "From what we could tell during the investigation, the attackers had placed a few small explosives around the house. We can only assume that they did it with the intention to kill everyone in the house because one of the explosives was placed on the propane tank at the side of the house. The explosion was ten times greater because of the propane tank. I was very surprised seeing the damage.... You shouldn''t be alive if you were inside."


    David interrupted in a monotone voice, "I was in the process of climbing out of the bedroom window....I wanted to go for a walk in the woods at night...I like to walk in the woods at night."


    Realizing that David was following along in the story, Mr. Lester continued, "Gauge received your phone call and reacted immediately. Since we couldn''t call the local police because of potential exposure of The Other, we tried to find if we had anyone nearby that could assist. Finding out we had no forces nearby, we left directly from Three Rivers City in our fastest helicopter. Gauge, myself and some of the healers arrived about an hour and forty five minutes after your phone call."


    "We looked around at the explosion site and could only find the bodies of your parents" Mr. Lester paused, "I''m sorry, David. I know what it is like to loose parents and I sincerely offer my condolences to you."


    "Continue," David said with a slight lack of emotion to his voice.


    Looking at David''s face, Mr. Lester felt a tinge of sadness for the man as he continued, "Gauge eventually found you at the edge of the woods in an unconscious state. The two healers managed to treat some of your worse wounds on the spot to help preserve you life.....You were in pretty bad shape. Then we transported you back here for continued treatment. You were in and out of surgeries for the first 6 days. Then you didn''t want to wake up. A lot of us expected that you would be out a long time due to the head injury and your past experience with comas. I didn''t expect you would wake up so soon."


    "Did you figure out who attacked me and killed my parents?," David asked with a slight bit of anger in his voice.


    "You said that you fought and killed two men?", Mr. Lester asked instead of answering the question.


    "Yes, one taller man and one short man. I fought and killed them both. I don''t have anything to identify them, but they were pretty strong. I had a knife on my hip for the hike in the woods....that helped," David responded in a very calm voice.


    "No other bodies were found at the scene. Someone must have removed them before we arrived at the site," Mr. Lester stated.


    "Before I attacked them, the two men were talking. They said something about waiting for someone else, but they never said names or any information. I don''t know who they were. That is why I threw myself into the bushes at the tree line.....I just couldn''t fight anymore."


    Mr Lester offered some information, "We sort of figured that is what happened. Based on who you are and the limited amount of contact that you have had with people from The Other, we could only guess of two options on why this attack would have happened."


    "One, the Carmine Family could possibly have a spy internally and you were determined by another gatekeeper to be a future risk to be disposed of as soon as possible. From my experience, I do not believe that this is the case since your actual value to the Carmine Family would not exceed that of a spy already embedded in another organization. They wouldn''t risk possible exposure of the spy in order to kill just you."


    David didn''t say anything and waited for Mr. Lester to continue.


    "The second option seems much more reasonable. Remember the guy, Atkins, that tried to kidnap Karine?" Mr. Lester said looking for a verification.


    "Yes, he tried to kill me. How could I forget?" David responded with a little attitude.


    "Atkins was affiliated with a group of rouge cultivators that want to gain access to The Other by strong arming the Carmine Family on Earth," Mr. Lester explained, "Since you were involved with Atkins'' capture and played a key role in his foiled attempt at kidnapping Karine....we think that the group may have targeted you for revenge....or as a deterrent to keep people from interfering in their actions. A few of the weapons that were left at the scene appeared to closely resemble some old surveillance photos we have from the group, but we have no 100 percent guarantee that this is the group that attacked."


    "Mr. Carmine has ordered a full detailed investigation. If you killed two people, then that means that someone else showed up and removed the bodies...then that means the group of people that planned the attack is still out there somewhere," Mr. Lester said with a bit of anger in his voice,"We can''t have that sort of threat lingering out there."

 Chapter 33: Fallout (2)

    Mr. Lester stayed with David for some time. The old man seemed concerned about David''s health and mental state. David appreciated that someone had genuine concern for his well being. It was nice to feel like he had a good mentor....or maybe even an old friend.


    The two men had chatted about various things including Mr. Lester''s experience with the death of his parents. He had given David some really great advice about focusing on living and keeping a line of communication open with friends and relatives. David had told Mr. Lester that he really didn''t have many friends and that he had no relatives. Mr. Lester was caught off guard by David''s response and told David that he could be called anytime to discuss his life and his problems.


    Shortly after Mr. Lester left the room, David had another visitor show up in his room. Karine. Seeing her face appear in the doorway, David couldn''t help reflect on the other times he had been hospitalized. Both times, he had been kept in the private medical suite at the Carmine residence. Both times he had woken up to the sight of Karine sitting by his bedside.


    Today was different. He was in the standard suite at the Three Rivers Hospital. He had woken up alone.


    What had changed? Was anything different?


    David sighed as Karine walked over to his side. Karine looked down at David. She could tell the sigh was a sigh of disappointment.


    "How are you doing, David?" Karine said as she stepped to his bedside and held his IV pierced hand.


    David looked at Karine''s hand in his for a second before speaking.


    "My parents didn''t deserve this," David said in a broken hearted manner before he started to cry, "I would not have cared if something had happened to me, but my parents were not involved with anything. Why did they have to be killed?"


    Seeing the raw emotion on David''s face, Karine also started to get upset, "David, I don''t know why things happen the way that they do. When.... When my mother died. I felt the same way."


    David looked up at her....she had never talked about her mother before....


    Karine continued with a few tears trickling out the corner of her eyes, "When she died....I believed it was my fault. My mom died while going to the store to get me a present for my birthday. Even though she had guards with her, they could not stop the robbery taking place in the store fast enough. My mom was shot by a gun in the fight between the guards and the man robbing the store..... and she died instantly. There was no use trying to save her."


    "I couldn''t help think that if I wasn''t born...then my mother wouldn''t have been at the store and died. Her and my father would still be happily together. My little sister would still have a mom...I felt like it was my fault for even existing."


    ".....and then I realized that I couldn''t be blamed for the evil in the world. From what I remembered, my mother was always very nice to people and treated people kindly. When things went well for her, she would always say "Kindness is key to happiness".....it was her favorite saying."


    "So, I try to live my life in the same fashion. I try to be nice and treat everyone kindly. If I don''t, then I am contributing to the evil that I despise so much for killing her," Karine finished while leaning in to give David a kiss.


    The two continued chatting for some time until Karine was called away to address an issue with the Carmine Corporation transition. David thought it was nice for Karine to visit him in the hospital. The entire time she had just offered comforting words....and he just grieved for his parents....no talk of relationship talk or worries about statuses....there were more important things at the moment.


    ____________________________________________


    After Karine left another representative of the Carmine family showed up to discuss David''s parents'' memorial service arrangements. The Carmine Corporation had involved themselves in the funeral matters as a way to help with the situation. Since David was unconscious, his parents'' lawyer in town had instructed the Carmine Corporation that the couple had both requested to be cremated upon death...their bodies were in such poor shape that was the only option anyway.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!


    The Carmine Corporation had authorized the cremation and planned a memorial service for friends of the family in the small town. They said that they were doing this since David was a trusted employee and couldn''t attend to the matters....no other family existed. David''s parents were greatly loved and everyone in the small town come out to the memorial. David was actually very thankful to the company for making the arrangements.


    When he was talking to doctors, they had said that his parents had most likely died instantly during the explosion and that David was very lucky to be alive. Every time David heard that he was lucky he felt like laughing. How was he lucky?


    After another week in the hospital, David was released by doctors to leave. After the incident, the Carmine Corporation had assigned a couple of guards to David. These guards had travelled with him to the Town of Benson to deal with his parents affairs.


    David''s mom and dad were almost comical in their wills. Of course, David had the full rights to everything since he was the only remaining family member. What had put a smile on David''s face was the clause about what to do if David wasn''t around or if he rejected the inheritance. His parents had said that if no inheritor was present then the property would be turned over to the Town of Benson in trust that the land be preserved as a park. Per the will, "we have spent years cutting down forests....now it''s our time to protect one."


    David had liked the idea so much that he instructed the lawyer to proceed with the park idea....David didn''t need the land...the house wasn''t even there anymore....he didn''t need money....the Carmine Family paid him well.


    In consideration that his sister''s ashes that sat in his parents room were scattered during the explosion, David spread out both his parents'' ashes in the forest surrounding the house. Now his family would be together and protected as part of a park....David couldn''t ask for more.....except maybe to have everyone alive again.


    After settling all of the affairs in the Town of Benson, David said goodbye to a few old friends and prepared to leave town. With his parents no longer around, David didn''t know when he would return to this place again.


    _____________________________________________


    On his first night back at his apartment in the Carmine Building, David couldn''t make himself sleep. It was odd for him to be unable to sleep. With his grief slowly subsiding, he just had too many questions on his mind.


    Who were the people who killed his parents? Was it revenge for the guys he killed in the woods? He had thought that he killed all of the group that was with Charles, so how did he miss some? How was he going to find the murderers for revenge? Was he even strong enough to take revenge?


    At the thought of his questions about revenge, David felt at a loss. How could he take revenge if he was so weak? He needed more strength before he could consider revenge.


    Since he couldn''t sleep and his weakness had become his focus, David decided to go to the gym for a workout. He had a little physical therapy in the hospital but he really wanted to have a nice workout to test his body''s fitness level.


    Entering the gym, David noticed that a corner of the place was still lit up this late at night. Instantly, his attention was drawn to the thumping sound of someone kicking a sand bag.


    David walked over to see who it was and realized it was the guy that he had sparred with the day he first met Mr. Lester.


    "What you doing in here so late?....Chaz, right?" David asked as he walked up.


    "....oh.....yep, Chaz.....and you''re David, right?...I like to hit the bags when I have trouble sleeping...it has always helped me work away my troubles and let my mind relax," Chaz said while taking a breather holding the bag.


    "You mind if I join you? I am having trouble sleeping myself," David asked.


    "Ya, sure man. Just make sure you hold the bag good...I kick pretty hard," Chaz replied.


    The two continued to chat. Eventually, the two men found an alternating rhythm with one guy holding the bag and one guy hitting the bag.


    Stopping to take a break after a few cycles of bag hitting, the two men sat on the resting bench nearby.


    "Damn dude, your kicks are pretty strong? Where you at in your training?," David asked Chaz.


    Laughing Chaz said, "I was actually holding back."


    He continued, "I recently promoted to Level 1 Foundation Stage in Body specialty. My first mastered skill is in the Body of Strength. I didn''t want to run you off by going full out."


    "Awesome man!I''ve been doing supplemental training in the Body of Recovery, but I still haven''t mastered it yet," David said.


    "Wow! That one is rough...you need to take a lot of punishment to your body to master that one," Chaz said.


    "Nope...shouldn''t be that hard for me. I''ve almost died three times in the last year....even had my arm ripped of once," David said boasting in his response.


    Chaz just stared at David for a second.


    "Man, I don''t know if you should be bragging about that," Chaz said seriously. Then the two men busted out laughing.


    After a minute of laughter, David said, "Well man, I appreciate the workout. I''m at Level 2 Darkness Foundation Stage. My first skill is Shadow and my second is Doom. If you ever need a sparing partner, let me know."


    David has started getting up to leave. He was whooped but he felt great. It was his first real physical activity since he had been hospitalized. The comradeship he shared with Chaz was also enjoyable.


    As David was about to say goodnight, Chaz said, "Hey man, are you serious about that sparing partner stuff? I could really use some help. Mr. Lester has been helping me but he can''t find someone that wants to take on my strength. If your interested, I wouldn''t mind the help."


    After thinking for a second, David said,"Sure Chaz.....I''ll be your sparing partner. But I have a few conditions."


    Chaz had a skeptical look on his face.


    "Don''t worry pal. It will hurt me more than you. How about we meet up here tomorrow around 4:00 PM? I have to make a few arrangements before I restart my training," David asked. He would need to meet with Mr. Lester first thing in the morning to discuss.


    "Sure, I work from 7 in the morning until 3:30 PM, so that time works just fine," Chaz confirmed.


    "Alright man, see you tomorrow," David said as he started walking back to his room.


    He smiled as he thought about his new training plan.


    "Now, I just have to get Mr. Lester to agree to it," David thought to himself as he quietly left the gym.

 Chapter 34: Mr. Gauge

    David woke up early the next morning to go talk to Mr. Lester. He really needed to speak with him about his training. David had a very strong desire to gain to gain strength. He needed to be able to protect himself...he needed to be able to take revenge.


    Coming into the gym, David noticed that there were several more people than usual. The gym was slightly crowded. In the middle of a group of guards, Mr. Lester was standing around watching everyone train.


    Seeing David walking over, Mr. Lester smiled and waved. His gesture hasn''t went unnoticed by a few of the people in the gym and a couple of scowls were directed David.


    David was pretty observational. He noticed the few scowls and glares sent his way.


    He walked over toward Mr. Lester wondering what this hostility was all about.


    "What''s these assholes'' problem?", David said in greeting to Mr. Lester.


    Looking around, Mr. Lester said, "They are Vincent Carmine''s men from The Other. Most men spend their entire lives trying to get the Carmine family to move them to The Other. These rejects chose to come here. Why be a peasant on Nibiru when you can be a king on Earth? They are mostly made up of idiots that have no more room for growth. Earth is safe and they can be considered strong here...."


    Mr. Lester had an odd tone in his comment. David could tell that Mr. Lester wasn''t happy about the atmosphere in the gym.


    "Well, they can go fuck themselves," David said getting pissed, "I didn''t do anything to them."


    "Keep quiet," Mr. Lester said, "I don''t want them coming over here causing trouble with you. They have been randomly picking fights with the old guards. It is some sort of dominance thing."


    "What you got kid? Glad to see you moving around good", Mr. Lester asked.


    "I have an idea," David said with a grin, then he started explaining his training plans to Mr. Lester.


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    After the describing the planned training, Mr. Lester used words like "idiot" and "insane" pretty frequently....but eventually he agreed that it sounded like it would work. He would meet David and Chaz at the gym at 4:00 PM to get things started.


    As David was wrapping up in his conversation with Mr. Lester, his phone kept buzzing.


    As he was walking away, he glanced at his phone. It was a text message from Mr. Gauge.


    Checking the message, David read, "Head over to the Carmine estate if you can. ask to see me."


    Thinking that something might be wrong, David hopped in a car with some other guards and rode over to the Carmine Estate. Arriving, David noticed the estate grounds seemed much more crowded than last month.


    Some of the guards looked new. The guys in the car were even asked for identification at the gate.


    "Everything sure did change a lot in the last month," David thought to himself.


    It didn''t just change at the gate. Once he made it inside the mansion, David had to sign in and be escorted to Mr. Gauge''s quarters.


    With a knock at the door, Mr. Gauge arrived in a few seconds.


    "Oh...David, I''m glad you are here," Mr. Gauge said.


    "How are you feeling? I haven''t seen you since that night," Mr. Gauge said referring to the night David''s parents died and Mr. Gauge found him half dead in some bushes.


    "Have they found any clues into the guys that were responsible?" David keep himself from asking.


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    "No, we are still actively searching though. We can''t have violent rouge cultivators running about unchecked....that and they should pay for what they have done," Mr. Gauge said a bit rushed. It seemed like he was brushing the small talk aside to get to the reason why he texted David in the first place.


    David helped him along, "What did you text me for Mr. Gauge?"


    "I wanted to talk to you about that night? Do you remember using any skills?," Mr. Gauge asked practically sitting at the edge of his seat.


    "After I killed the two men, I knew that I needed to hide. I started walking toward the tree line. By the time I got there, I was almost unconscious. Last I remember was falling in the bushes and executing the shadow skill over and over to make myself blend into the darkness of the brush. After that, I passed out," David narrated the slightly modified survival story to Mr. Gauge.


    "That''s pretty much matches everything we reported based on the evidence at the scene....but I left one thing out of all the reports because no one else saw it but me....and no one would probably believe me," Mr Gauge said in a very excited manner.


    "David, you were literally shrouded in darkness when I found you. It was one of the craziest things that I have ever witnessed. The only way that I could detect you is because I was coming close to breaking through to a Level 1 Darkness Demigod and you were manipulating so much darkness element that I could tell there was some slight difference in the shadows. Shadow skill is my best skill and I couldn''t do what you accomplished.The whole effect went away when I reached to touch you. I don''t know if it is something that you can reproduce or if it was just a freak accident due to your condition.....Can you use the Shadow skill now? I wonder if there is still a difference," Mr. Gauge asked.


    David was slightly caught off guard by Mr. Gauge''s request. How the hell did David keep using his his skill when he was unconscious? David didn''t even know the answer to the question. There was one thing that David did know....he shouldn''t show Mr. Gauge his real skill with the shadow skill.


    Davis was very lucky that he had grown accustomed to faking his darkness skill level in front of Mr. Gauge.


    "Sure....I actually haven''t used the skill since that night," David said showing a willingness that indicated he was interested too.


    David prepared his usual skill routine and began to chant, "Let the light of the day not reach my feet, Shadow."


    The shadows in the room started to blend and shift. David displayed a skill that was almost exactly the same as the skill Mr. Gauge had show him originally.


    Seeing the normal skill happen without any weird effects. Mr. Gauge seemed to be disappointed.


    "How is it?," David asked.


    After looking for a minute, Mr. Gauge sighed and said, "Looks perfectly normal. Actually, I was really hoping that you would be able to reproduce the effect you caused that night...Seeing you that night really helped me out a lot. After thinking about your use of the skill, I had a realization and started to break through in my concept of shadow. I should be able to break through to Level 1 Demigod anytime once I make it to The Other."


    "What? You learned a concept by seeing the messed up skill I executed when I was half conscious," David said, "...and you''re going to The Other too?"


    "Amazing right?" Mr. Gauge said, "I never expected that to happen either.....but, I was really hoping that you would be able to recreate the effect...it was an awesome application of the shadow skill."


    "Must be because I was half dead," David said mournfully while trying to make up excuses, "I have always done the shadow skill the same way. That night.....I really can'' t remember a whole lot of fine details."


    "I understand," Mr. Gauge said, "Since you can''t make it happen again, don''t worry about it."


    "Thank you for stopping by, David," Mr. Gauge said with a lingering bit of excitement in his voice, "I need to start making arrangements for things on my end, since the family wants me to transfer over to The Other with William next month."


    "What? They want to transfer you two so quickly?" David said with a hint of worry.


    "Yes, everything is happening pretty fast. I have been given hints that some conflict is brewing in The Other and all the gatekeepers are pressed by Earth for more reinforcements. I don''t have any details though," Mr. Gauge stated while starting to move about his suite.


    Seeing that David was still standing around, the absentminded Mr. Gauge said, "oh...David...you can leave if you want...remember the way out?"


    "Yes, I remember the way out," David said with a chuckle at the rushed man, "I''ll see you later Mr. Gauge."


    David proceeded to start his exit of the Carmine Estate. As he was walking down the hall, he heard a familiar set of voices. Continuing down the hall, David could overheat the conversation taking place.


    "Why are you upset? I put the request in to the family a week ago. They unanimously approved it," Gabriel''s smooth sounding voice echoed down the hall.


    "Gabriel, I already have a suitor and he is a great guy who is also approved by the family," Karine''s voice said in contest.


    "Who says that you can''t have two suitors? Why don''t you let us compete for your hand in marriage? Isn''t that the way it has always been done? Being a suitor isn''t a shoe-in, we need to compete," Gabriel''s pleasing voice sounded again.


    "Gabriel, I''m not....," Karine''s voice trailed off.


    David had stopped in his tracks just around the corner. He was listening intently to the conversation.


    "I know Karine. You are not sure because you have feelings for that other guy. I''m just asking for a chance. I know we have some sort of connection after working together on the transition for the last couple of weeks. You can''t deny that," Gabriel said passionately.


    "I know. We work really well together, Gabriel. But....with all the changes happening so fast...and my father and uncle leaving....I need some time to get my own priorities and goals situated before really working on a relationship.....You and David both need to consider that before pressing me for some sort of decision..." Karine said in fussing manner.


    David understood. She was worrying about herself and her dad first. He had no issue with that....they were both undergoing massive changes to their lives.


    Still pressing forward, Gabriel continued, "Then at least resend that other guy''s suitor status? What does he have that I can not offer more of? The man can''t even protect his family from a few rouges....it would be a shame to have you in his care forever."


    David was just about to storm out at the mention of his parents when Karine shouted angrily, "How dare you say something like that? Do you know why he is even involved in this world to begin with? Me....He saved me. Don''t you understand?"


    Karine was pretty upset. She had even started to ball up her little hands into fists.


    "I''m sorry. It may not have been nice to say but it was the truth. Don''t worry I''ll find a way to show you the difference between the two of us," Gabriel said as he realized that he probably overstepped but wasn''t going to back down.


    "Again....I apologize for upsetting you. I''ll see you at the 2:00 meeting this afternoon," Gabriel said before turning and walking down the hall wall in the direction opposite of David.


    After a few seconds pause, Karine started walking because David could hear the clicking of heals headed towards him from around the hallway corner. David panicked for a moment. Was eavesdropping a bad thing? Then he figured why the hell not just talk to Karine. They hadn''t had a chance to chat since her visit in the hospital and they had a few unresolved issues.


    He remained standing just past the corner of the turn in the hallway.


    Karine came storming around the corner in a tizzy and immediately came face to face with David.


    She let out a startled shriek and backed up a few steps.


    "Hello, Karine. Do you have a few minutes to talk?," David said. Her startled nature had put a smile on his face for some reason.

 Chapter 35: Dilemma

    "David....you scared me," Karine fussed before smiling, "What are you doing here?"


    "Your uncle asked me to come visit him," David responded.


    "Oh...so I guess you heard that he is going to advance to The Other with my father," Karine said.


    "Yes, we discussed his advancement.....and I overheard most of your conversation with Gabriel," David said with a slight hint of jest in his voice.


    Karine just stared at David for a moment. He overheard the conversation? And he seemed to be joking with her?


    Seeing a slightly beleaguered Karine, David chuckled before saying, "I guess that I have some competition for your hand now."


    "David....I know what your thinking...I need to...," Karine was about to explain.


    "Sorry, Karine....you don''t have to explain. We are both going through a lot right now. My parents were just murdered and your dad And uncle are leaving you for another planet. I am desperately trying to get further in my cultivation and you are assuming pretty much all the responsibility for the leadership transition in the Carmine Corporation," David straightforwardly spelled out the situation.


    "That was my thinking, David. No one seems to understand that I just don''t have any time right now," Karine said with a bit of relief in her voice.


    "It also seems like in the middle of all this mess....another man has set his sights on you too," David said with a bit of jealousy in his voice.


    "David, I am not interested in Gabriel," Karine said trying to lessen the tension in the conversation.


    "But you haven''t rejected him as a suitor either, have you?," David said


    Karine was speechless. David was 100 percent right. She hadn''t rejected Gabriel.


    "I am not fussing or scorning you, Karine. I just want to let you know that I understand that the situation is complicated. It is complicated for me as well. I am jealous but I want you to be happy," David said.


    "Thank you, David," Karine said walking up to hug him. She reached her arms around David and hugged.


    David hugged back and said, "Let me know if you need anything. I won''t pressure you for a date or time until all of this blows over and life settles down. Try to relax a bit."


    David bent his head down and kissed Karine on her forehead.


    "I need to go, Karine. I have a meeting with Mr. Lester for training. If you end up with some free time, please let me know. I really miss our dates."


    "I will David. I definitely will," Karine responded before the two each went separate ways down the hall.


    ______________________________________


    Ever since David overheard Gabriel''s comments about him not being able to protect his parents, David was ready to get started on his afternoon training session. He also really didn''t like Gabriel. After wrapping up his conversation with Karine, David had left the Carmine Estate with a shuttle of guards and arrived back at the Guard housing facility. Then, he just went about the rest of the day making preparation for his training tonight.


    When 3:30 PM came around, David made his way to the training gym to meet with Mr. Lester and Chaz. When he arrived, Mr. Lester ushered him to a separate training room off to the side of the gym. David had asked why they needed a private training room.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Mr. Lester just commented about how he didn''t want people to see what David had planned.....they might report them for mental illness.


    "David, are you sure about this?" Mr. Lester asked.


    "Yes, it is the fastest way to train the Body of Recovery," David responded, "I need to get stronger quickly."


    "Alright, start to get loosened up. I''ll go wait for Chaz outside," Mr. Lester instructed.


    After about 10 minutes of waiting, David began his warm ups in anticipate of the sparing. After about 20 minutes of waiting, Chaz was lead through the door by Mr. Lester.


    "Alight, someone tell me what the hell is going on? I thought we were just going to have a normal spar. Why are we in a private training room?," Chaz puzzled over why he was in a room with Mr. Lester and David.


    "David, you explain to him since this is your idea," Mr. Lester said as if he had nothing to do with this training.


    Laughing, David began to explain his new training plan.


    "Alright Chaz. You know how you told me that you didn''t want to go all out because no one could handle your physical attacks.....Well, I can''t really handle your attacks either...better to say that I can''t handle your attacks without getting injured."


    "So you are saying you can''t spar with me? Why the hell are we here for then?," Chaz said getting pissed off for being lead around for no reason.


    "Nope, we are still going to spar. And you have free reign to beat the shit out of me," David responded with a grin.


    "What did you say?," Chaz said in disbelief. "You want me to fuck you up?"


    "Yes, I want you to go full throttle. When you mentioned the sparing the other night, I also had an epiphany. I have been practicing the Body of Recovery for some time now. I need something to help me get through the bottleneck for skill mastery. I haven''t broken through to the final stage, but I am pretty good at healing myself if I sit down and focus," David said before continuing, "Based on my reading, the quickest way to advance the Body of Recovery to the final stage....is to repeatedly heal from injuries."


    "Remember when I said that I had some conditions? I want to spar without any protective gear," David followed up.


    "This is kinda sick. You actually want me to beat the shit out of you. You do know that I could possibly kill you, right? Mr. Lester, are you cool with this?," Chaz asked.


    "Not really, but David does have a point. This exercise will allow both him and you to have quick advances in your training. I have taken his suggestion and planned a workout around it. Starting from today, you two will meet here every day at 4:00 PM and fight to around 8:00 PM. The first 30 minutes will be warm up, then the real training will start. In alternating cycles of 15 minutes fighting and 15 minutes resting, you two will spar continuously for 4 hours," Mr. Lester instructed, "If you or David can not last the 15 minutes of fighting to to injury or exhaustion, then I will call time and your 15 minutes of resting will start. The cycle will be repeated until time runs out."


    Mr. Lester continued explaining to Chaz, "This method suits both you and David. For David, the physical contact with someone of your strength will cause repeated significant damage to his body. This training will give him practice on fighting people physically stronger than himself; however, David''s real training will be during the resting period when he heals his injuries. For you, Chaz, the full out spar for 15 minutes will be of great benefit to your stamina. As you might know already, the Body of Strength exhausts a good bit of stored heavenly energy during combat. This training will teach you how to pace yourself and how to use your strength appropriately. With this training, both of you should see significant improvements in only a couple of weeks."


    Both guys were totally psyched up after Mr. Lester''s talk. They were ready to get started, so they both began to warm up with a little bit of stretches and bag work.


    When it was 4:30 PM, the two began their first round of 15 minutes.


    During the first round, both guys seemed to be just feeling out the situation. After the 15 minutes we''re up, Mr. Lester had absolutely lost his shit at the poor level of combat. He said that they didn''t deserve a rest period and made them immediately enter round two of sparring.


    After the berating by Mr. Lester, both guys seemed to want to kill each other in the second round.  David had actually landed a few good punches to Chaz''s abdomen which caused the well built man to retaliate with a blow to David''s shoulder that felt like it dislocated something. Mr. Lester had to stop the fight, reset David''s dislocated shoulder and give them both the full 15 minutes to recover.


    After the chaos of the second round, the two men seemed to start developing a rhythm to their fights. David would land a few punches while only taking a few partial blows from Chaz. If one was watching the two, they may think that the quicker David was bullying Chaz. However a trained eye, like Mr. Lester, could see that the few partial contact blows that Chaz was delivering were very damaging to David and hurt him in the fight.


    For this first training session, the two sparred for a total of nine 15 minute rounds by the time the training session was over.


    All was going as planned until it was time for the last round, Mr. Lester had said that they were to go all out and not hold anything back in the final spar of the day. The competition was brutal. When the last round was finally over, both David and Chaz could hardly walk. Chaz because he was utterly exhausted from the long sustained battle. David because he was currently laying on the ground healing a crooked leg.


    "Hey man. You are absolutely crazy to think of this type of training. I have really done a number on you tonight. Can you really heal a broken bone over night? Your leg is pretty messed up," Chaz was chatting with David.


    "Yep, I should be able to heal it up by tomorrow''s sparing. I can already feel that I have had someone improvement in my recovery skill too. One night of fighting and I feel that I am actually healing myself slightly faster," David said.


    "Well you two better take care of yourselves. Chaz, I would suggest that you try to run for 30 minutes before you leave to go to work everyday. Not just normal running. Running while exerting all your strength. You need some help getting your stamina up," Mr. Lester advised. "David, you need to try to heal yourself during actual combat. If you can talk while healing, you should be able to fight while healing. Remember that at its peak, the Body of Recovery skill will heal you at all the time on reflex....including during the middle of a battle."


    David could tell the old man wanted to keep talking. He really was a great coach. But to keep from spending all night listening to the man chat, David had to bring an end to the day''s training.


    "Alright, Mr. Lester. I think we are all ready to go for the night," David said, "Oh.....Can someone help me get up off the floor?"

 Chapter 36: Tournament

    When Chaz, David and Mr. Lester were walking out of the private training room, they noticed little crowds clustered all over the gym as a few guys were standing reading some posters at various spots on the walls.


    "Ha ha.....they decided to take my recommendation," Mr. Lester said after seeing the scene, "You two will really need to train hard now."


    "What recommendation?," David asked a bit puzzled over why Mr. Lester was so happy.


    Seeming proud of himself, Mr. Lester responded, "A recommendation to hold a ranking tournament between all of the guards. Remember when I told you before that a few brawls were breaking out between the new guards that Vincent brought over and the old Carmine Family guards? I didn''t think that the situation was going to work out that well in the long run, so I talked to William and Vincent about the issue. After a few minutes of explaining my observations, I recommended that the Carmine Family hold a battle tournament to let the guys compete. Since the old and new guards are already fighting, why not let them sort it out the pecking order in a more organized fashion? They said that they would consider it, but it looks like they decide to move forward with the plan."


    "Those posters must have the details of the tournament. Let''s go take a look," Chaz said getting excited over the prospects of more fighting.


    The group of three made it over to one of the several posters hung on the walls of the gym.


    The poster read, "Carmine Guard Assessment Tournament", at the top of the page.


    After spending about 5 minutes reading all the text on the poster. Mr. Lester, David and Chaz backed away and sat down to discuss.


    Per the poster, the rules were as follows:


    1. All new and old guards were required to participate. All Carmine Family employees, not listed as guards, had the option to participate but were not required to register.


    2. A qualifying round will be held to group the tournament participants into appropriate battle classes. Brackets and initial rankings will be set based on those qualifying tests. The brackets will consist of Level C-D, Level A-B, Level S-SS, and Level Zero.


    3. The tournament contest is a single elimination event until the top ten is established in each battle class. If eliminated in the early rounds, then the guard''s individual ranking will be set based on their qualifying results.


    4. The qualifying round will be held three weeks from today. The tournament rounds will officially start the day after qualifying. Anyone participating will need to register at the registration desk that will be setup in the gym tomorrow. Registration must be completed in the next two weeks.


    After reading through the rules, the three men began to discuss.


    "I assume that the Level Zero group will include everyone in the Foundation Stage. I keep forgetting that most people don''t know the truth about the whole situation," David said.


    "Ya...that shit messed with me pretty bad when I found out about it," Chaz said, "I wonder how many Foundation Stage cultivators will participate."


    "Regardless of who will participate, I can guarantee that you will have a chance to battle other strong individuals," Mr. Lester said with an hint of excitement in his voice, "...and the rewards are not bad either."


    Mr. Lester''s last comment caused David''s and Chaz''s eyes to be drawn to the bottom of the poster. The bottom of the poster had listed some of the tournament awards.


    The top 5 winners in the Level Zero battle class of the tournament will receive the following:


    1 place: Elder''s Request and a Flawless Whole Elemental Gem or High-zero Weapon and Armor


    2 place: Flawless Whole Elemental Gem or High-Zero Level Weapon and Armor


    3-5 place: Flawless Elemental Gem Shard or Low-Zero Level Armor and Low-Zero Level Weapon


    "WOW!" Chaz said, "Those are some good prizes. I would really like to get some nice armor."You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    "Yep, those elemental gem should give someone a chance to increase their attack power," David said.


    "What''s an elemental gem? Is it a Heavenly Stone? ," Chaz asked.


    Mr. Lester chimes in, "Elemental gems are concentrations of elemental forces used to enhance elemental skills. Heavenly stones are concentrated heavenly energy used to further cultivation. The elemental gems do not really have much use for those of us that focus on physical skills, but to guys like David that mainly focus on elemental skills....they can be invaluable. The elemental gem contains a trace of element that helps amplify a skill. Most elemental mages will affix them to a staff or wand and use them to enhance a skill during battle. For example, a Level 1 Fire Foundation Stage''s skill couldn''t do much damage to a Level 1 Earth Foundation Stage''s defense. But if they used an Flawless elemental gem shard and executed the Explosion Skill....the Level 1 Earth Foundation Stage would probably be defeated. The shard would make the attack at least twice as strong."


    "Oh, I see. It would be like a sword master getting a stronger sword," Chaz said.


    "Yes, but that isn''t the most important of the items. The Elder''s Request for the main winner is an exceptional prize. Getting an elder of the Carmine family to owe you a favor....is something that even I would have trouble doing. It could get you out of a bad situation easily...or use could use it to request a Carmine family elder to let you transfer to The Other...or promote your position here on Earth. You would have a lot of options if you really wanted to rely on the Carmine family," Mr. Lester said.


    "WOW! Everyone will be fighting hard to get into the top 5 for sure," David said as he was re-reading the rules.


    "Hey look, they are setting up the registration table now," some guard off to the side said.


    Sure enough, a group was setting up a table near the entrance to the gym. Several people started to make their way over to register.


    Seeing the crowd start to form a line, Mr. Lester said, "Why don''t the two of you go register now before the line gets outrageous?"


    Realizing the steadily growing line, David and Chaz trotted over to get in line.


    After standing in line for a few minutes, the two guys heard a commotion up front. A group of four new people had barged in and stepped in front of everyone.


    David recognizes these four right away. It was Gabriel and his entourage. Apparently, they thought themselves special enough to cut everyone else in the line.


    Hearing the mutterings of unhappiness behind him, Gabriel turned around, "If you have the strength, what can you just fight me in the tournament? I will be competing if anyone is interested." Gabriel said the last part while staring directly at David standing a few people back in the line. Everyone could see it was a specific taunt at David and started to mutter to each other.


    David was unfazed. Just stayed in line and ignored Gabriel. It actually seemed to piss Gabriel off that David ignited him and he stormed off after his registration was complete.


    After they left, a collective tension was released from the air.


    Chaz turned to David and asked, "What the hell was that all about?"


    David shrugged and said, "The guy is trying to move in on my girlfriend and expects me to step aside because his dad''s some hotshot."


    David''s voice wasn''t low and eventually his response drifted through the line.


    After waiting for the people in front to register, David finally made it to the front of the line. It only took him about 6 minutes to fill out the paperwork and questionnaire. Then he said his goodbyes to Chaz and Mr. Lester and left for his apartment.


    Walking to his apartment, he started to think about Gabriel''s invite to battle. Of course, he knew the reason why Gabriel was hostile towards him. And David actually wanted to fight Gabriel too. However, David understood that Gabriel was a Level 4 Fire Foundation Stage. He was strong. If David used his full Level 6 Darkness Foundation Stage strength....he may be able to beat Gabriel, but that would require David exposing his secrets and the right battle conditions. It would also require a bit of luck since Fire element practitioners are one of the most destructive opponents to fight against.


    Even after he arrived to his apartment, David continued thinking intensely about his strength. More appropriately, his thoughts were on his lack of attack power. He had mastered the 6 basic skills of Darkness, but Darkness skills had an issue.....they were great at supporting and supplementing attack power, but not the best for actual attacking. Of the six skills, only one actually involved an actual attack. The Retribution Skill wasn''t a direct attack though since it was a method to counter the opponent''s physical attack.


    All David''s other skills seemed to be geared more towards someone that attacked like an assassin. He could hide his life signs with the Death Skill. He could detect threats with the Doom Skill. He could agitate opponents with the Strife Skill. Shadow Skill could help him sneak up on people. Destruction Skill could give him a brief boost in strength.


    Nothing really offered him a good attack.


    His best way to kill someone was in their dreams, but that required someone to be unconscious.


    When David really looked at himself from a certain perspective, he was extremely strong. He basically had never faced something that could harm him in his shadow form. He had all the best skills for hiding and evasion. He had good support skills for recognizing threats. He even had a skill that would give him a sudden burst of strength to boost a single attack. He essentially had the perfect assassins toolkit for launching a surprise attack. However, he was lacking in one main department....he still didn''t have a good attack method.


    David was at a loss when thinking about it. What sort of attack method would work best for him. He didn''t really like guns. He played around with a few of swords before but they felt awkward.


    David''s darkness skills really supported the attacks of an assassin....maybe he should pick the weapon of an assassin.


    But what type of weapons do assassins typically use? A quick internet search yielded nothing but lists of weapons in video games ....and probably got him added to some government list.


    In consideration of his fights so far, David had always used a blade.....Specifically a knife.


    The knife had always worked good for the initial surprise attack. It was after that first attack that the knife always seemed ineffective.


    David spent the entire night thinking about how to fill the gap in his training to add a weapon of some sort. He had asked Mr. Lester before and the man cursed at him. Mr. Lester was a Fist Specialist after all.


    After finally getting so tired that he fell asleep, David entered his dream world and continued to sit and ponder the issue.


    While sitting in his dream world thinking, he had a wonderful idea. He could just enter someone''s battle dream and test out a few different weapons to see what he liked the best. That should help better than guessing.


    So...David began a long night of tormenting other guards in their dreams....he wasn''t doing it on purpose...he was just using them to test out weapons...lots of weapons....he shot and hacked and cut and slashed...he was pretty ruthless in those dreams...


    After hours of testing different weapons in the dream world, David had finally made his decision. He liked shorter blades. Knives and short swords to be specific. They fit into his brawling type fighting style a bit more than other weapons.


    After making his choice, David knew his next task would be convincing Mr. Lester to give him some training information.


    With the decision made, David actually went to sleep....and he had a good nights sleep....


    ....unlike half of the guards who had been tormented by a black clothed man in their dreams all night...

 Chapter 37: Breakthrough

    Since there were three weeks until the start of the tournament, both David and Chaz were putting in some serious efforts to increase their fighting power.In the time before the tournament, David''s main goal was to breakthrough in his Body of Recovery skill and sort out some type of attack method. If he had those abilities, then David thought that he stood a pretty good chance of making it into the top 5 winners in the Zero Division.


    Since Chaz was trying to level up in his training also, the two men continued their training under the supervision of Mr. Lester as previously planned. The tournament didn''t really change their original plan at all....it just increased the urgency in the training. The old man was pretty good about pointing out weaknesses in everyone else''s fighting. He would frequently add comments that would help the two improve their fighting.


    "David, it has already been three days since you and Chaz started this training. How is your body holding up?," Mr. Lester asked David as the two were sitting waiting for Chaz to show up.


    "My body is fine. Learning to concentrate on healing myself during battle was easier than I thought. Since I started to pick that technique up yesterday, I didn''t have to put in such a large effort to heal up after training last night. I feel like I am at least 95 percent strength right now. Next, all I need to do is master the skill and make the recovery effect a passive effort. It will be nice to heal fast without having to think about it," David chatted.


    Realizing now might be the right time, David decided to go in for the kill with a question, "Mr. Lester, I really need to increase my attack strength. Do you have any suggestions?"


    Mr. Lester just sat and stared at David. This kid seemed to have decent body talent, but didn''t master skills exceptionally quick. It didn''t help that he picked the most difficult body skill to start with....most people saved it to the third or fourth skill they learned. He was a very talented elemental practitioner which means he has good mental focus. Combining the physical and mental into weapons use was a barrier to some cultivators. But David seemed talented enough.....Maybe weapons skills would be the appropriate next step for him.


    As if reading Mr. Lester''s mind, David started, "I have been thinking about training with weapons. More specifically, short swords and knives."


    Mr. Lester still remained quiet as he was thinking things over. David thought that he was preparing to yell at him like the last time he brought this up, so he quickly continued with his sales pitch.


    "My Darkness specialty lends itself to sneak attacks, but doesn''t offer anything in terms of a serious set of attack techniques. In the fight with the men that killed my parents, I don''t think I would have survived if I attacked them head on. I used the shadow skill and attacked before they were even aware of my presence. It seemed to work well, but the fight after that initial attack is what really made me get injured to the point of collapse. If I would have had some sort of knife skills to execute, then I wouldn''t have been so lost after the first attack," David said stating his reasons for needing some weapons training.


    After sitting for a minute, Mr. Lester started to speak. It wasn''t Mr. Lester''s normal speech....David could tell he was very serious...


    "I don''t know, David. You are very physically weak. However, daggers, knives, and short swords would put you really close to the enemy. Close enough that a strong opponent could grab you and rip you apart. I don''t see that as being the safe weapon choice for you. Why not practice archery or guns? Then, you can just hide in the shadows and shot people," Mr. Lester questioned.


    "I thought about going with guns or archery. But that just makes me a great support type fighter. I would be worthless without a good team. While I don''t mind working with a team, I want my own strength. I want to be able to rely on myself and deal with my own problems.....at some point, I''d still like to try at least one distance style attack though...for those certain situations where I can''t get close," David said in a definite manner.


    David''s answer must have been the right one because Mr. Lester smiled, stood up and looked down at David who was still sitting.


    "Alright, I will help you train with knives. However, you must first breakthrough in the Body of Recovery Skill. You can''t be constantly battling up close with knives if one hit from the opponent will kill you. Breakthrough in your skill and I will give you something good," Mr. Lester stated.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.


    "What? Something good?" David asked getting excited that his opportunity had arrived.


    Mr. Lester looked down at David for a second and sighed.


    "Oh well, I guess there is no harm in telling you now," Mr. Lester said in a pause of sadness flashed across his face, "I had an older brother who once went to The Other. I don''t know all the details but he was killed on a journey into the wilderness around the Carmine Family''s city. His belongings were brought back to Earth and given to me when I had just become an entry level guard. One of his possessions was a set of knife skills that he developed. They were not special enough to warrant any attention in The Other, so they sent those notes back here with his belongings. I glanced through the notes...They were pretty good in comparison to the other weapons skills that I had seen.....but obviously they weren''t good enough to spare my brother''s life. When I was having issues developing my fist techniques, I stumbled across the notes in my closet. Eventually, I used my brother''s knife technique as the basis for developing my own fist fighting style. I will give the knife technique notes to you so you can read them and possibly pick up a skill or two....but only after you master Body of Recovery."


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    It had already been 8 days since David registered for the tournament. There were 13 days of training left until the qualifying competition.


    David''s body had been in a constant state of injury for this entire week of training. He had ended up with several broken bones and damaged muscles. His body looked like one big bruise. However, David''s Recovery Skill was continually progressing from healing all the damage.


    During an actual fight, David could now focus on healing important parts of injuries first. For example, he took a punch to the chest during an earlier round that nearly caused his heart to start fluttering irregularly. While still in combat, David had focused his healing efforts on the heart specifically....not the muscles of the chest, not the bruises forming under the skin...he focused on the part of injury that would really hurt him in battle and kept pressing his attacks against Chaz.


    In their daily battles, Chaz had finally reached some tipping point also. As David''s recovery skill increased, Chaz had been having trouble keeping up until the end of the 15 minute training rounds. Seeing an issue happening, Mr. Lester had took out a book and given it to Chaz to practice.


    Since Chaz had already learned how to pace his energy usage in his Body of Strength, Mr. Lester had decided that it was an appropriate time for Chaz to learn the Body of Stamina.


    "I know you were thinking of starting to train in Body of Defense, but that would pretty much make you a human rock....you''d be pretty much worthless except as a gate guard or something similar. You need some other skill to give you mobility to be useful in battle. Body of Stamina will decrease your overall energy usage by several times. You would able to fight with David for an hour with the same intensity as you do now in a 15 minute fight," Mr. Lester explained while handing Chaz the book.


    Chaz accepted the book and started training.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Time went by quickly. 18 days had passed since David registered for the tournament. There were only 3 days of training left until the qualifying competition. David''s training had hit a bottleneck and he wasn''t seeing that much progress on his Body of Recovery skill. However, Chaz was an absolute prodigy when it came to training in Body of Stamina. Mr. Lester had lost his shit when he realized that it only took Chaz 10 days to breakthrough and master the skill.


    As far as David''s Body of Recovery advancement....Mr. Lester started to question if David was actually training in the Body of Recovery skill. From his point of view, David had invented an entirely new skill....the Body of Abuse....it just allowed David to constantly get the shit beat out of him.


    Chaz''s newly mastered Body of Stamina skill completely took away any advantage that David had in the full contact sparing. David had become the human embodiment of a punching bag. However, David didn''t complain....he had peaked on his comprehension of the recovery skill, but his application of the skill was growing by leaps and bounds.


    He could now focus on healing small areas to increase performance, restrict healing as needed, assess the actual status of his own injuries with ease, and even heal multiple injury locations at the same time. David knew that he was only a step away from completely mastering the very difficult skill....he just needed something to push the breakthrough.


    Another reason that David didn''t stress over the lack of progress in skill was because he had sufficiently advanced in his fighting experience. Constantly fighting with someone that can physically overpower him, David had developed a very cautious but effective battle style. If he did not have at least 95 percent assurance that Chaz could not grab him or directly counterattack....then David would just run around without much action. If he was in a real battle, this is where he would be throwing shit and hurling insults at Chaz constantly to try to make an opening. Since Chaz was his friend and the training room was pretty empty, David had limited actions he was willing to take against Chaz...that doesn''t mean he took it completely easy on Chaz....David would tease him with comments like "shoe is untied" or "zippers down" or "ass crack is showing." The comments were effective at first but quickly lost their ability to distract Chaz for a split second.


    _______________________________________________


    There was only 1 day left to the tournament. David was still getting his ass whooped in the first couple training rounds for today. David was currently sitting off to the side trying to heal a broken bone in his left hand. He had tried to punch Chaz in the cheek during the last round...and Chaz had punched him directly in his hand to block.....which broke David''s hand.


    While David was sitting there focused on healing, his perception felt that something was about to hit him going at a quick speed. He dodged to the side to miss one of Mr. Lester''s favorite racket balls that he loves to throw at people so much. The ball hit the wall besides David and rolled up to his leg. David grabbed the ball and threw it back at Mr. Lester trying to hit him in the face. Mr. Lester caught the ball and smiled at David.


    "You still healing over there?," Mr. Lester asked.


    For a second, David was shocked. He was still healing.....but he wasn''t focusing on it. It was happening naturally. The racket ball that Mr. Lester had thrown had served to distract David from his focus on healing, but his body had just continued to heal.


    "Thanks old man," David said as he got up and walked over.


    "Thanks for what kid? Chaz is about to beat the shit out of you again," Mr. Lester laughed.


    "Thanks.....,your stupid messing around with these racket balls finally did someone good," David responded, "I broke through in the Body of Recovery skill...now when do I get that book you promised?"

 Chapter 38: Qualifying

    "Oh....you broke through?," Mr. Lester questioned before turning it around, "....I knew that is what would happen. Why do you think I keep throwing those racket balls when you aren''t looking?"


    "Fucking shameless, old man," David cursed looking at Mr. Lester with a glare. The old man had not done it intentionally.....but he surely would take credit for it.


    Not acknowledging David''s comment, Mr. Lester said, "Alright, we can call it quits for today. Tomorrow you can rest up all day to make sure you are in your ideal condition for tournament qualifying. The gym actually closes tonight to setup for the qualifying in here tomorrow.....so we would have had to leave early anyway. Go back and start to have a good rest."


    Chaz and David started picking up their workout stuff.


    Finishing up, Chaz told David, "Give me a call when you want to head over to qualifying tomorrow. We can go together."


    "Sure man....see you tomorrow," David said as he finished up his stuff as well.


    He wasn''t prepared to leave though. Mr. Lester owed him something.


    Seeing David walk his way, Mr. Lester knew exactly what David was going to ask for.....his brother''s knife skills journal.


    As David walked up, Mr. Lester said, "Come with me."


    The two men exited the private training room and walked over to the other side of the gym. Mr. Lester entered another door to the side that lead to a hallway.


    "Where are we going?," David asked as Mr. Lester came to a stop in the hallway in front of a door.


    "My room. That''s where the book is," Mr. Lester said.


    He took out a set of keys and unlocked the door.


    "You live this close to the gym?," David asked.


    "Yes, I look after the gym. It is my job, you idiot. Why else would I be in there all the time?," Mr. Lester said as he opened the door and walked inside, "Come in."


    David followed Mr. Lester into his apartment...well it was more like a private training room that was converted into an apartment...even the toilet was just sitting out in the open...there were no walls....it was just one big room with a ton of punching bags hanging in the center.


    "WOW!," David was surprised, "What do you do.....eat....sleep....and train?"


    "Yes....that and watch over the gym. The book is over by the kitchen table. I had expected for you to need it sooner.....who would have known that it would take you forever to master the skill," Mr. Lester mocked.


    The two men had a habit of picking on each other.....it showed that they had a good relationship.


    Mr. Lester walked over and sat down at the kitchen table. He pulled a book out from a box underneath the table and handed it to David.


    "My brother''s name was Richard. He was about 10 years older than me but always helped me when he could. This book is a collection of the knife skills and experience that he gathered in his years of training and fighting. I would ask that you please take care of it.....it is one of the few items I have left of him," Mr. Lester said in a serious tone.


    "Thank you, Mr. Lester," David said, "I don''t know if I have ever seriously told you thank you before....you treat me like a friend and I really appreciate it."


    "What the fuck are you talking about?," Mr. Lester said, "Of course, I help you kid. I have always liked the way you handled getting thrown into our world...it doesn''t seem to mess with you much. If I was in your shoes, I would probably be freaking out all the time."


    David chatted with Mr. Lester for a few minutes more.....well most of it was just shit talking.....Then he was dismissed and went back to his room. He needed a good night''s sleep tonight. Tomorrow he would have the day off.....then the next day was tournament qualifying.


    ________________________


    On his day off, David didn''t do much. Most of his time was spent healing up from all of his previous injuries and reading the book that Mr. Lester had given him the night before.


    Once he started reading, he became engrossed in the information about knife techniques. Mr. Lester''s brother did a wonderful job in describing his experiences.


    This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    To David''s surprise, most of the information was focused on human and beast anatomy. The concept was simple. Knifes are small. If you know the most critical places to stab....then you have a higher chance of killing an enemy. It was simple but made perfect sense.


    By the time nighttime came around, David had made it about halfway through the notes and was at the peak of his physical condition. He went to bed early to rest up for qualifying tomorrow.


    ____________________


    After taking an entire day off, David felt fully recharged when he woke up the morning of qualifying. He ate breakfast as usual and hung out in his room for a while.


    The overall tournament would have around 500 participants, so they couldn''t all fit into the gym at once. In order to mitigate the crowding, the organizer for the tournament had scheduled different time slots based on the first letter in everyone''s last name. David and Chaz both lucked out and made the first cutoff...so they had an early morning qualifying.


    After calling Chad to make sure he was up, David made his way down to the gym for the 8 AM kickoff of the tournament. By the size of the crowd of people outside of the gym, a large amount of people in addition to the guards had signed up for this tournament.


    Everyone was just standing around in no organized manner. David kept trying to figure out how this was going to work since they were not letting anyone into the gym.


    "What''s going on?," David asked as he walked up to Chaz.


    "Don''t know. Someone else said that they will be making an announcement on the format right at 8 AM," Chaz said.


    "You in good shape?," Chaz asked.


    "Yep. How about you?,"David responded.


    "Just anxious over the qualifying. I don''t want to get disqualified. I don''t even know what the tests are about," Chaz said.


    "Oh.....Mr. Lester had said something about the tests last night after you left. From what I know, this qualifying round is composed to three individual tests that would be used to determine a final score. The top 16 scores in each class would complete in a bracket style tournament battle for the prizes. Everyone else will just have to deal with their position based on this qualifying," David relayed the information that Mr. Lester had told him last night.


    "....and you shouldn''t be worried about anything. There are not many Foundation Stage on Earth. My guess is there at most 25 in the Carmine Family here on Earth. If you can''t get into the top 16, then I don''t stand a chance," David said assuredly.


    David and Chaz were laughing when a buzz came over the speakers in the area outside the gym. The buzz drew everyone''s attention and then a voice came over the loud speaker.


    "Welcome to the Carmine Guard Assessment Tournament. This qualification''s assessment will be done to limit the amount of time spent on the tournament. Only the top 16 scoring participants in each classification will be promoted to the bracket style tournament battle finals. This qualifying round will consist of three tests: strength, skill and reaction speed. Please wait until your name is called then you can enter."


    In brief second after the announcement, the first name sounded over the speaker. After about 3 minutes, the second name was called. It seemed that the people were going to cycle pretty quickly.


    "Hey Chaz, you are going to have to tell me how it goes....since it looks like you will be in and out in a few," David said as they stood there waiting. Chaz''s last name was Brown....so he would be going pretty soon. In a matter of minutes, Chaz''s name was called and he went into the gym.


    Now, people were in a steady stream in and out of the gym. Everything was going smoothly.


    Then, David heard another name he was familiar with....Gabriel Carmine.


    "Guess he really is competing," David thought while waiting his turn.


    After a while, Chaz came out of the testing area and walked over to David.


    "Man, you should do alright in the testing. some of it is kinda stupid. The only one that is going to be difficult for you is the strength portion, but you should be around average," Chaz said.


    "But they told us not to give anyone specifics or we would be disqualified. Seems they want everyone to go in cold and unaware," Chaz followed up.


    "Really?," David questioned, "That''s funny."


    After another 20 minutes of waiting, it was finally David''s turn to be called up to qualify.


    Entering the gym, David saw numerous testing stations setup. It looked like there were at least 10 groups of each type of testing station.


    "Please walk over to the strength test," a woman said directing David over to one of the corners of the gym.


    Walking up to the testing station, an examiner started to give David directions immediately.


    "Mr. Knox, please walk up and punch the red dot at the center of the wall. This is a punching strength meter and will record the poundage of your punch. Then, you will need to walk up that stage to that lifting bar and pull it up with all your strength. No weights needed to be loaded onto the bar.....the mechanism under the stage will adjust the weight automatically. No skills are allowed to be used at this testing station."


    Listening to man, David walked over to the wall and stood in a punching stance in front of the target. Mustering up all of his physical strength, David threw a punch right at the red center of the target.


    The machine sounded with a ding and David''s punch strength was revealed on the screen next to the station.


    "1,245 pounds of force," the testing supervisor said.


    David was surprised. His punch was about double the strength of a normal person''s punch. It didn''t seem that bad to him but the test supervisor seemed unimpressed.


    Immediately after finishing, David walked up the stairs on the stage and stood at the bar on the ground. He grabbed a hold of the bar in a dead lifting position. With his strength, he drove his feet into the floor and pulled up on the bar. He locked his hips out in the deadlifting position and a buzz sounded off to his side.


    After David released the bar, the test supervisor read the weight David lifted, "800 pounds. Move on to the Skills Station"


    Again, David was impressed with his strength but the supervisor was completely unaffected. A little discouraged, David walked over to the next station. He had maybe spent two minutes completing his strength test.


    As he walked up to the skills test and realized that the station consisted of a woman sitting at a table with chair next to her. As he walked up to the table, the woman looked at him and said, "Mr. Knox, could you please state your currently mastered skills?"


    Sitting in the chair, David said, "Okay...I have mastered three Darkness Skills and one Body Skill. The Darkness skills are Shadow, Doom and Retribution. The Body Skill is the Body of Recovery." He only listed the skills that other knew about....If he wanted to give up his secrets, there would be another five skills to add to the list.


    "Oh.....great.....thank you for the information. You can move forward to the reaction test," she said as she waved David on.


    "That''s it?," David questioned.


    "Yep, that''s it. We can''t have Level Zero cultivators executing skills all over the place.....people would freak out and the gym would be destroyed," she said.


    Moving over to the next station, David saw a few little rooms that kept echoing with popping noises. Walking up to the man overseeing the test, the man seemed to recognize David immediately. It was like the man was waiting for David.


    "Oh.....Mr. Knox.....Please proceed to Room 5 for your reaction test. Please do not use any skills during the test," the testing supervisor said with a weird grin.


    David walked over to Room 5 and opened the door. As he entered the room, he saw a wide eyed and grinning Mr. Lester sitting at what appeared war turret.


    "Walk over to the wall. Dodge as many of the balls shot at you in the next 2 minutes," Mr. Lester said.


    "You sick fuck.....," David said as he walked over to the wall with a glare at Mr. Lester. What was this old man''s deal with throwing balls at people?


    The test timer started and Mr. Lester commenced with an aggressive bombardment of racket balls against David.


    David was actually pretty successful at dodging. He had never been weak in terms of speed and his passive perception skill seemed to let him anticipate where the balls were going to be shot.


    In the end, he had to allow a few of the balls to hit him so that he wouldn''t seem like he cheated.


    As the buzzer sounded, he looked over and saw disappointment on Mr. Lester''s face.


    Startled David asked, "What''s that look for? Did I do poorly?"


    "No....I wanted to hit you with more balls. You did better than anyone else so far," Mr. Lester said, "Leave before I get angry."


    David left the room and moved toward the exit. As he reached the exit, one of the test supervisors told him that the results would be posted later tonight and to check back after 9:00 PM.


    David walked back to his room to begin reading the book again. The tests had been relatively simple and quick...it wasn''t even 10:00 AM yet. He had a long day to wait for the results.

 Chapter 39: Crash

    At 9:00 PM, David decided to walk down to the gym to see if the scores were posted. To David''s surprise, no scores were posted On the walls of the gym. There was a large note on the wall that said an emergency had occurred and the scores will not be posted until the next day. At this time, the tournament is also postponed until further notice.


    Not knowing what is going on, David started to look for Mr. Lester but did not see him anywhere in the Gym. Since he knew where Mr. Lester lived now, he walked down the hall on the side of the gym to hisroom and knocked on the door.


    Mr. Lester opened the door in pajamas with a bowl of icecream in his hand.


    David was slightly startled at the image and had trouble getting words out.


    "What do you want, kid?" Mr. Lester asked, "I knew that I shouldn''t have showed you where I live. I''m in the middle of watching TV."


    "Oh....I...I wanted to know what the emergency was that caused the tournament results to be delayed," David said caught off guard by the old man''s appearance.


    "Ha ha.....you didn''t know?," Mr. Lester said taking a bite out of his ice cream, "Carmine and Gauge died in a plane crash tonight."


    "WHAT???," David screamed trying to comprehend what Mr. Lester had just said.


    "Quit screaming in the hall, you idiot. Don''t you know that their deaths needed to be faked so that they can leave for The Other?.....Why does this surprise you?," Mr. Lester asked while looking around to make sure no one was coming down the hall.


    "Come in....don''t linger in the doorway," Mr. Lester instructed while ushering David inside.


    Once inside, Mr. Lester began narrating the events this afternoon.


    So.....David finally received news of an horrific accident. William Carmine and his brother-in-law, Steven Gauge, had both died tragically in an small airplane crash while headed from a business meeting back to the Carmine Estate for the tournament tomorrow.


    Of course, David understood the truth of the situation. The entire accident was staged so that the two figures could privately disappear off to the Carmine Family in The Other. Regardless, the entire event was like a large stage production and was way over dramatized. They even seemed to cancel their own tournament with the show.


    After explaining everything, Mr. Lester said, "The wreckage of the plane crash has been all over the news this evening. Don''t you watch TV?"


    "Not really...I have been immersed in your brother''s journal all day. Another hour of reading and I should be done with my first reading.....and now that the tournament is canceled...I''ll probably read it again tomorrow just to catch the spots I missed the first time," David responded to his question.


    "Oh....good, good.....when are you going to start training with the knives?...and the tournament isn''t canceled....it is just delayed for two weeks for mourning," Mr. Lester stated.


    "That was a problem that I was going to talk to you about," David said, "I don''t have any knives to practice with....."


    "That''s it?," Mr. Lester said while setting his ice cream down and walking over to a box that was sitting by the toilet across the room.


    Mr. Lester pulled two wooden daggers out of the box. He tossed the two fake daggers to David.


    David looked at the two wooden daggers. They were both identical in size and weight and mimicked actual daggers pretty well. They were quite long for daggers with symmetrical blades that were around 12 inches long. The handle included a guard and cord wrapping for grip. The point of the wooden daggers was dull and protected with a piece of rubber at the tip. The butt of the wooden daggers also had a rubber pummel on the end. They looked extremely well made for practice weapons.


    "You can use these to train for now," Mr. Lester said, "I can''t have using real daggers to train in the gym....you''d be destroying all kinds of shit. You can practice your form with those wooden knives on the punching bags or spar with others using wooden weapons. When you get a chance, go over to the wooden weapons rack near the exercise mats and wait around.....someone will show up to spar with you in no time...those weapons idiots love to beat up newbies.... and most of those guys will have wooden swords, so you will have a chance to fight other weapons users."This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    Mr. Lester looked at David and sighed in aggravation.


    "Alright, kid. Go back and continue reading the knife information. There will be all sorts of activities over the next couple of days because of these fake deaths. Memorials and funerals...it will all need to take place to make the deaths seem convincing..... so take advantage of the extra time between now and the new tournament finals date....that is if you actually managed to qualify.....those scores should be posted tomorrow," Mr. Lester said.


    After exchanging a few more word jabs with Mr. Lester, David left and went back to his room. He needed to finish up reading the knife skills book.


    __________________________


    When David got back to his room, he decided that it would be better to get updated on current events instead of finishing off the knife skills book.


    After about an hour of watching television and reviewing company emails, David had a pretty good understanding of the situation. Per the news report, the wreckage from the plane crash was so destroyed that only traces of the bodies were found. Because there were no whole bodies for a funeral, a joint memorial service was going to be held for the two men in two days at the Carmine Family Meeting Center at the Carmine Corporation''s main headquarters in Three Rivers City.


    In private, the family and business members that knew of the truth of situation would be holding a ''going away'' ceremony at the Carmine Estate tomorrow night. The ceremony only involved those people that knew the actual truth of the situation so attendance wouldn''t be that large or formal. Because David was somewhat of a disciple of Mr. Gauge, he received an invitation to the event. He wasn''t quite sure that he wanted to go, but he figured why not show his face.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Early the next morning, David went down to the gym to see if he had qualified for the tournament finals. The gym had its usual amount of people as David walked towards one of the new posters to read the results.


    First, the tournament competition will be held on the weekend two weeks from now. David had already anticipated this new schedule, so he moved on to the qualified name list.


    After finding the Level Zero class, David reviewed the names on the list. Then, taking out his phone...he called Chaz.


    "Hey man, what you calling me for so early....it is the weekend you know?," Chaz said sounding like he had just woken up.


    "I just wanted to tell you that we both qualified and that the finals of the tournament will be held two weeks from now," David said into the phone.


    "Oh...Great!," Chaz said, "Do you want to train together this afternoon? Having an extra two weeks is going to be beneficial."


    "No man.....I am going to take the day off. I have somewhere important to go this evening," David said, "I''ll call you later to setup a training scheduled."


    ____________________________


    Later that night, David borrowed one of the cars from the guards facility and drove over to the Carmine Estate for the celebration party.


    As he pulled up, the guards stopped him at the gate.


    "Sir, may I ask why you are visiting the Carmine Estate tonight?," one of the guards asked David as his car came to a stop.


    "I am here for the family gathering of Mr. Gauge....I was one of his students and was invited to attend the gathering this evening," David said in detail since he didn''t recognize the guards face.


    "Alright sir, I will need to see an identification card to go check the register of attendees," the guard said very appropriately, "Could you please pull to the side for a moment?" And


    David handed the guard his drivers license then pulled over to the side.


    After waiting about twenty minutes, the guard returned to the car and handed David back his drivers license.


    "Apologies sir. Your name was not included on the list of attendees provided by Mr. Vincent Carmine. I can not let you through to the house unless you can get someone to vouch that you were invited," the guard said to David''s bewilderment.


    Taking out his phone David began calling everyone that he knew would be in attendance. Mr. Lester. Karine. Sonia.


    After trying everyone he could, David called Karine and left a message, "Hey Karine. It''s David. The guards won''t let me through the gate for the family gathering this evening. I really wanted to give my regards to those two good men....but it seems that won''t happen. I hope you are holding up well through all of this. Call me back if you can. Bye."


    "Sir.....Since the gathering was a formal family affair, Mr. Vincent Carmine instructed that no cell phones would be allowed into the meeting. If the people you know are already inside, you will not be able to reach them. I suggest you leave and return to your home," the guard said after he finished eavesdropping on David''s voice message to Karine.


    "Alright.....I get the point. Tell Gabriel that I said hello," David said as he turned the car around and headed back to the apartment. He had just wasted half the afternoon getting ready and driving over here only to be turned away....he knew that it was Gabriel''s doing...he wanted David out of Karine''s life so he was going to keep doing stupid shit like this at every opportunity.


    ''Well...let''s just hope that I get the opportunity to fight him in the tournament,'' David thought as he stewed in his anger on the ride.


    By the time David got back, he was really pumped up and ready to fight.


    Instead of going up to his room, he went down to the gym to hit the bags. He didn''t even change clothes. He just walked to the bags and started hitting. He hit the bags for hours....Until his knuckles and shins were raw.


    Eventually, he heard a muffled grunt over his shoulder and turned around to see Mr. Lester.


    "You know....it is a pain in the ass to get blood stains out of those bags," Mr. Lester said as he looked at David.


    "Sorry....I just needed to release some frustration," David said. His bloody hands had already stopped bleeding and started to form scabs.


    Noticing the rapid healing in David''s hands, Mr. Lester said, "Missed you at the party tonight. So did Karine and Gauge. It was a nice gathering with the exception of a few attendants."


    "I''m sure it was. They refused to let me through the gate. That prick, Gabriel, thinks he is some kind of special doesn''t he? Fucking spoiled and entitled bitch," David said venting some more of his frustrations.


    "Ya.....what time you coming tomorrow so we can practice? You really need to get in some sparing time with those knives," Mr. Lester said.


    "Whatever time you are ready for me, old man. I can start practicing right now....I have a little more frustration to let out," David said seriously.


    "Nope, go to your room. Get a rest. Meet me here at 8 AM....you can come meet me in my room. I need to start packing my things to move. I can train you and you can help me pack boxes," Mr. Lester said.


    "Move? Where you going old man?," David said with a bit of concern in his voice.


    "With William and Gauge out of the picture, there is no one strong watching over Karine and Sonia....I am moving into the mansion to live near them and help them get through this transition," Mr. Lester said.


    "Good," David said, "I am glad that someone is going to be looking out for them two."


    But then he thought, ''But who am I going to have looking out for me now...''

 Chapter 40: Weapon Skills (1)

    When David awoke the next morning, he was still eager to get started with his knife training. The entire incident the night before had really gotten him angry and ready to improve himself. Taking the knife book and his new practice knives in hand, he walked down to the gym and headed to Mr. Lester''s apartment. After David knocked on the door, Mr. Lester opened the door with an odd looking mannequin looking practice dummy. The female form was wearing a one piece jumpsuit that looked like a mixed up jumble of colors and patterns....it looked like a piece of abstract art....or a weird sex doll.


    "What the hell is that thing for? Is this your fetish?," David asked while backing away at the sight of the old man.


    "What?...You fool.....it is for your training," Mr. Lester said looking at David like an idiot, "but that will have to wait until after we talk. Let''s go sit and have a chat."


    David and Mr. Lester sat down at a table to begin planning his training schedule. For the 14 days before the tournament, they decided right off that today would be a planning and testing day....and the day before the tournament would be a day of rest. So David had twelve days of intense training left before the tournament.


    After a few minutes of discussion, Mr. Lester thought that he had a training system figured out.


    "Alright.....since you need to get practice in actually using the knife skills, I think it would be best to run the training in three shifts. An early day shift where you focus on strengthening your wrists and getting comfortable with some knife attacking forms. Around mid-day, you can go try to hustle up someone to spar with you for weapon versus weapon combat. Those guys are always looking for someone new to beat the shit out of....so you shouldn''t have any problems. In the evenings, we can stick to our usual training routine with Chaz. He needs to learn how to fight against people with weapons anyway...and someone needs to be able to really smack you around a bit," Mr. Lester said as he noticed that David was starting to lose interest in his continued talking.


    "Okay, so what do we do now?," David asked while completely ignoring Mr. Lester''s last comment.


    "Now, you are going to review the information that you learned from the book with me....I need to make sure you have a basic understanding before we start doing the physical stuff.....it will make going forward much easier if you understand the basics correctly," Mr. Lester say.


    So the two men sat at the table discussing what David had learned from the book.


    David had learned that similar weapon users all followed the same basic set of skills...however, the actual style of execution for these skills varied greatly among users and schools of training. This principal is the reason why....five unrelated people attacking with a sword will most likely attack in a different style....but a cut with a sword is still a cut with a sword.....regardless of the style. One particular style may increase the strength of the weapon user greater than other styles. One superior sword may be able to cut through another weaker sword. Not all weapon styles or weapons were equal, but the basic skills all serve the same purpose.


    From the book, David learned that there were six basic knife skills that every knife style was based upon. The basic knife skills were Chop, Slice, Stab, Pommel, Deflect, and Defend. In the discussion, David started to learn how Mr. Lester had converted these basic knife skills into his basic fist skills. Mr. Lester said that he made these comparisons to make sure David got the point of the skill.


    The Chop Skill is essentially an repetitive knife action to cut the target into pieces. The skill focus on numerous repetitive blows. Imagine how a chef would cut an onion in rapid chopping motion...then imagine how that rapid chopping motion can be used against an opponent. Physically, the chop skill focuses on rapid movement at the elbow and allows for repeated rapid attacks with the edge of the blade. Per Mr. Lester, It was like speed punching....but with a knife.


    The Slice Skill is one simple, clean cut into the target. This skill is the most forceful of all knife attack skills and relies on one fluid motion to cut the target. This attack generally utilizes full body movement with the blade to exert the most speed and strength possible down the arm. Mr. Lester had equated this move to a haymaker punch in his fist style.


    The Stab Skill is to thrust the knife into something or someone. Stab is a skill used with the intent to kill. The attack would typically originate from below or overhead and followed a direct line to the target. Stabbing was not typically used in knife fighting unless you were trying to deal a catastrophic internal injury. The stab was knife skill equivalent to the jab in Mr. Lester''s fist form.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    The Pommel Skill is to hit with handle end opposite the blade to cause blunt force trauma. This type of attack is typically used for convenience or as an attack lacking the intent to kill. Mr. Lester said that this would be similar to a knife hand strike in Karate.


    The Deflect Skill is to cause an incoming attach to change direction. The skill is typically used in knife fighting because the light weight of knife makes defending difficult. Most time it is easier to deflect than defend against larger weapons like swords. The skill focuses on feeling the incoming attacks direction and immediately redirecting that force in another direction with the knife.


    The Defend Skill is to completely resist an attack with a knife. This skill is typically used for smaller attacks, such as projectiles, bullets, arrows, and other knives. The skill also focuses on fast movements.


    In addition to the basic skills, the book went into detail about the different styles available. Of the different styles, Mr. Lester''s brother had chosen to develop a two bladed knife style. From his philosophy, he didn''t see the point of keeping a hand unarmed or shielded for battle. If the Deflect and Defend knife skills were practiced to their peak, then a shield would not be needed.....the knife would serve as defense. David chuckled every time he read the name of the knife style, Fangs.


    "Why did he call the knife style Fangs?," David asked Mr. Lester, "It didn''t say why in his book."


    "I don''t know either. Probably because it sounded cool. He would do stuff like that," Mr. Lester said while smiling, "....uuuh.....I named my fist style World Destruction Fists."


    "oh....you two are something else," David said as he continued explaining what he knew about knife skills.


    Mr. Lester and David continued to talk for some time about the information in the knife book. Eventually, David told Mr. Lester that he had learned enough and gave him the book back. This old man could talk forever.


    "Alright now it is time to get started in some training. My bother''s Fang style focuses on delivering direct blows to critical areas...this is a method used to kill the opponent. This method is not just stabbing someone in a vital organ. A slice to the wrist...Your opponent will bleed to death. A pommel to the side of the head....Your opponent will go unconscious. A chop to the fingers....Your opponent can no longer hold a sword or make a fist," Mr. Lester said with a bit of madness.


    "My fist style is the same. I focus on incapacitating or killing the opponent. Break their fingers. Hurt their guts. Punch them in the chin. No movement is not without the intent to injure or kill," Mr. Lester said with a bit of blood lust in his voice.


    Snapping out of his weird little world, Mr. Lester grabbed the dummy that he had sitting next to him and started carrying it over to his practice floor at the center of the room.


    "Alright, first part of this training involves memorizing critical body areas to attack. This practice dummy has color coded locations to practice attacking. For example, major critical organs are directly identified with red. Critical joints are indicated in yellow. The miscellaneous spots that just make fighting difficult are in blue. You should be able to attack one of those locations on a whim and on reflex," Mr. Lester explained.


    David understood. Most of the knife skill book had focused on anatomy of people and beasts. After all, you had to know where the heart was to stab it in a fight.


    "Alright...I have to get started packing. I want you to fight against the dummy like you would against a standard wooden dummy training that we have down in the gym. Instead I want your knifes to rapidly attack those vital indicated areas. This will help you get some semblance of a form that can later be perfected in actual sparing," Mr. Lester instructed, "I want you to do this non-stop for the next couple hours. Move slow at first and pick up speed as you go. Do not concentrate on one vital area. Hit them all. I will yell out an area to attack while I am cleaning to keep you on your toes.....and don''t think that I won''t know what you are doing when I am doing other things. After years of training on this thing, I can tell what is going on by the sound of impact to the dummy. "


    David began training on the dummy. It was very slow at first but he was starting to get familiar with some of the angles required to hit vital areas on the dummy. Mr. Lester also kept yelling out body parts every now and then.....David would freeze for a second or two as he tried to locate the appropriate location with his knife. The pause wouldn''t earn him a fussing from Mr. Lester...usually all that he heard was "faster" or "attack another area" coming as instruction.


    After about 30 minutes of non-stop sparing with the wooden dummy. David had to take a break to catch his breath. Mr. Lester didn''t let him sit and made him help pack boxes instead. It seemed it was either train or pack boxes...David would rather train, so he got back to fighting with the dummy.


    ________________________


    At around 11 AM, Mr. Lester finally told David to end the training. The first part of his day was over. The next part of training would be trying to spar with someone in the gym.


    "Thanks, Mr. Lester. I think I understand the basics of this part of training and it should be helpful. I''ll see you in the gym''s private training room around 4 PM as usual," David said as he was leaving the room.


    David walked directly back to his apartment to get some lunch.


    While he was sitting at the kitchen table shoving a sandwich into his mouth, his cell phone rang. Looking at the screen, David was surprised to the name "Karine Carmine" flashing.


    "Hello, beautiful," David answered in his usual manner.


    "Hello, handsome," Karine responded, "I got your voicemail after I got back from the event last night. They wouldn''t let you through the gate?"


    "Yes...it was most likely Gabriel''s doing. None of the guards were familiar people to me and they treated me like I was a stranger. How did your dad and Mr. Gauge handle the event?," David asked. Although he had questioned his own attendance, he still wanted to tell Mr. Gauge bye before he left for The Other.


    "Oh...yes, it was probably Gabriel.....My Dad and Uncle Gauge...They were ..... as to be expected by the circumstances. It must be melancholy to be very excited about advancing in cultivation, but disappointed that you are leaving the rest of your family," Karine said with a few pauses in her speech. David could tell she was trying to think about something.


    "Yes...it must be weird. Feeling both happy and sad at the same time," David said realizing the small talk was coming to an end.


    "David, I need to give you a warning," Karine suddenly said through the phone in a hushed manner.

 Chapter 41: Weapon Skills (2)

    "What? A warning? What is going on, Karine?," David asked in anticipation of some bad news.


    "Since my dad and uncle have left, life in and around the Carmine Family here on Earth...is changing. I am trying to adapt to these changes the best that I can to help out my family. Some odd things may happen, but don''t be worried for me and please don''t take offense. Try to lay low and don''t cause trouble until after I work a few things out," Karine said very seriously.


    "What? Tell me what is going on, Karine. I can help you," David said with worry in his voice.


    "No...you don''t need to help me for now. Just try to keep yourself out of trouble. I have to go, David. Take care," Karine said hurriedly before hanging up the phone.


    David mind was left in a disarray by the phone call. ''Stay out of trouble and lay low'' seemed to be the words of warning. It seemed to David that he could cause Karine trouble if he got involved in any sort of mess. Needing to know a bit more information, David decided that he would have to ask Mr. Lester about the situation during this evening''s training session with Chaz.


    Pushing the warning to the back of his head, David finished up his lunch, changed into a fresh shirt and made his way down to the gym with his training knives.


    ---------------------


    Once in the gym, David found a group of guards standing around taking turns fighting each other with swords. For a moment, he just stood by and watched as the men fought viciously with each other. These guys absolutely didn''t pull any punches when they were fighting it out with these wooden weapons. If there were actual swords involved, there would be blood and body parts everywhere in the gym. Instead, these guys just tended to beat the shit out of each other with the wooden weapons they had in their hands. Combat was so intense that even a few of the wooden swords were broken and thrown off to the side. David didn''t doubt that these men would be covered in massive bruises when they were finished. The whole scene was somewhat intimidating.


    After standing around watching for a while, David sat down and pulled his wooden knives out of his bag. Like a pack of sharks sensing blood in the water, the swordsman instantly noticed when David took out the wooden weapons. It only took a manner of seconds before someone walked over to talk to him.


    "So you fight with knives?," a man asked as he walked up. He didn''t even bother to introduce himself.


    "Yes, I am just starting my training. Mr. Lester told me to come spar with you guys, so that you could show me what a weapons fight is like," David said trying to be friendly.


    At David''s words, the man almost looked like he was going to have an orgasm in his workout shorts...he was really excited.


    "Oh....I''m Rick...Let''s go spar," the guy said with a look of utter joy.


    Soon, David had fought a few rounds with the guys. They were utterly ruthless. Mr. Lester was right. These guys love to pick on newbies and seemed to enjoy it even more because David was using knives instead of a sword. David had been beaten black and blue in his first three rounds.


    The swordsmen were appalled by David''s complete lack of skill and decided to take it out on him in an appropriate fashion. One guy even broke his sword on David''s shoulder in an attack. David had to sit out a round to recover with his body skill. Actually, the only thing that the guys were impressed with about David...was that David could take such a beating and rebound so quickly. If David didn''t have mastery over the Body of Recovery, he would have probably been hospitalized in the first fight.


    During the breaks between rounds of sparing, David had noticed a lurker that seemed to enjoy watching the sword guys beat up David. Looking closely, David realized that the man watching was one of the group of guys that always hangs around Gabriel.


    ''Scouting out the competition, I guess,'' David thought as he seen the guy send a few text messages while watching.


    By the time 3:00 PM rolled around, David had decided to call it quits for the day. He needed to get back to the room to grab a bite to eat and change clothes before his evening sparing with Chaz....he also needed to focus for healing up the three broken fingers on his left hand. In the last two spars, it seemed as if the two guys were having a competition...on how many times they could disarm David. They didn''t seem to aim for any other part of his body except his hands and forearms in order to make him drop the knives.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    "Alright guys, I have to get going for the day," David said to the group of eight sword fighters that had beat the shit out of him earlier. His words were only met with a collective sigh from the men as they seemed to have thought their chance to abuse this knife wielding newbie was gone.


    Realizing what the sigh was all about, David laughed, "Don''t worry guys. I will be back tomorrow. Mr. Lester wants me on this schedule until the tournament."


    The sword guys actually cheered, then immediately started pairing up to beat the shit out of each other some more.


    ---------------------


    After taking care of his business in his apartment, David walked down to the private training room in the gym. When he walked through the door, Mr. Lester is already there waiting. David was glad that Mr. Lester was around. He really needed some answers about Karine''s phone call earlier.


    After a brief chat with Mr. Lester, David realized that most of the situation was related to the shift in control of the Carmine Corporation. Mr. Lester told David that Karine must be worried that he will do something stupid because of Gabriel''s taunting and cause a commotion. William Carmine''s supporters are limited on Earth now, so anything that David did could be used to exert pressure on Karine.


    After Mr. Lester''s explanation, David understood the situation. It was basically business strong arm tactics to suck away the remaining power of the prior administration. If David would say.....smack around Gabriel the next time he saw him...he would end up being harshly dealt with by the Carmine Family. In order to resolve any issues, Karine would have to make concessions with Vincent Carmine and more of her father''s power base on Earth would be eroded. It was easy enough to understand....David had watched tons of movies.


    After waiting for about 15 minutes, Chaz showed up. At the instruction of Mr. Lester, David goes through his standard training with Chaz. However instead of trading fists with Chaz, David attacked using the wooden training knives.


    After fighting a few rounds with Chaz and getting beaten every time, David realized that the training knives are not really good for simulating battle. They are wonderful for using while practicing attacks on dummies, but not really good at effecting an opponent in sparing. For example, David stabbed Chaz near his lung with one attack leaving a circular bruise on his chest. Chaz followed the stab with a counterattack that left David sprawled on the floor with several injuries. If it would have been real knives, Chaz would have been breathing through a hole in his chest. Fake knifes didn''t translate well in actual sparing.


    When David complained about the issue, Mr. Lester had seemed unapologetic and told David, "Just dodge his counterattack next time."


    Although the comment wasn''t super helpful, it did make David realize that he needed to plan for his escape every time that he launched an attack with a knife. If he overextended himself in an attack, then his opponent could easily take advantage of his closeness and deliver a deadly blow.


    The one main issue with knives were that they were an up close an person weapon. Any attack was basically done at arm''s length. This fact meant that David had to constantly expose himself to risk when fighting an opponent head on.


    By the end of the training session, the whole issue actually had a surprising outcome. David was getting really good at attacking and retreating to safety. It was like a hit and run tactic. Attack then retreat. Over and over again. Only attack when you are sure that you can land a hit safely.


    David and Chaz continued training under the watchful eye of Mr. Lester until the training session was over. Once the sparing was over, Mr. Lester walked over to David.


    "So what do you think about the training today? Can you keep up with the pace?," Mr. Lester asked.


    "Yes.....I think that I can keep up with the pace just fine," David said, "Hopefully, I can get these knife skills sorted out by the time of the tournament."


    ----------------------


    12 days later.


    Today was David''s day off before the tournament. He was trying to enjoy himself and relax. David woke up without an alarm and even cooked himself breakfast. Looking at the picture of his parents on his apartment wall...he felt hope that he may have a chance to get revenge for them. Although he was not as strong as he wished, his strength was steadily increasing. As he sat at the kitchen table in his apartment, he felt proud of himself for training so hard. With a mouth full of breakfast, David started to reflect on the recent things that had taken place.


    Over the last two weeks, David''s training had continued in a similar fashion with three different training sessions per day. With the repeated sparing, David''s knife skills had advanced pretty steadily. He had pretty much memorized all of the vital locations on the training dummy and could hit them on command. David could also last a few minutes in a sparing round with some of the wooden sword guys before getting beaten. He even managed to defeat Chaz once by hitting him repeatedly with the wooden knifes. Everything wasn''t perfect, but David could feel the improvement.


    On another note, he hadn''t spoken to Karine since her warning phone call two weeks ago. He had texted her several times to see how she was doing, but he never received a response. He could only hope that she was doing well and getting her issues sorted out. Thinking of the good times that they had together, David smiled as he finished up his breakfast. Maybe she would attend the tournament and he would finally get another chance to talk with her. Who knows if he will see her at the Carmine Estate for the tournament?


    Speaking of the Carmine Estate, Mr. Lester had moved over to there to help watch over Karine and Sonia. David missed having the old man as a fixture in the gym. On his final day in the gym, he had given David the practice dummy and said, "Here. Take this. I don''t have a place to put it in my new room." Mr. Lester still traveled over to the gym once a day for Chaz and David''s sparing sessions. David had tried asking about Karine several times, but the only response he got from Mr. Lester is "She''s busy."


    David was only entering the tournament tomorrow for a chance to test his training and potentially when a few prizes. He felt that he had no hope of winning first place. Particularly with Gabriel participating in the competition. The man was very strong for a foundation stage cultivator and David would have a hard time beating him while only showing his publicly known strength. With the unstable situation around Karine, David knew that he needed to maintain his secretes. David also knew that Gabriel had it out for him. At least five times in the last two weeks, one of Gabriel''s people had come to watch David spar with the group of wooden sword guys. One guy had even barged into the private training room when David and Chaz were sparing. He said he thought it was the bathroom and left. Mr. Lester had been pissed.


    As David sat on his couch watching television, he felt excited that the tournament was going to start tomorrow.....and even more excited that he was going to finally have a chance to test out his skills.

 Chapter 42: Start

    On the day of the tournament, David and Chaz arrived at the Carmine Estate at about 7:00 AM. For the fighting event, the estate was almost as crowded as the annual Carmine Corporation party. After pulling over into the parking area and getting out of the car, David and Chaz had to hunt down directions to find the right stage for the Level Zero participants. After finding out the layout of the tournament, David and Chaz made their way to the gardens to find the competition stage.


    When David walked up, he realized that ''stage'' wasn''t the appropriate word. The competition platform was a roughly 50 foot by 50 foot stone platform that sat in the center of a spectator area. The platform sat about 3 feet off the ground. There were no rails or anything to keep the fighters inside the ring. This was not the standard boxing or mixed martial arts ring that would typically be used in a fight. David was surprised seeing that this arena had been setup in the estate''s garden area....it wasn''t that much of a garden any more. David was also surprised by the large viewing suite that was setup behind one of the stands to overlook the battle platform.


    Looking into the suite that housed the important figures of the Carmine Family, David only recognized a few familiar faces. In fact, he only recognized 5 of the 30 people in the viewing suite area. Karine. Mr. Lester. Sonia. Gabriel. Vincent. Everyone else must be new people that Vincent Carmine brought in to help run the organization.


    Since it had been weeks since he last talked with her, David looked into the stands and waved to try to get Karine''s attention. However, she didn''t seem to notice him. However, Mr. Lester did notice David and whispered something into Karine''s ear before waving back at David. Karine didn''t wave. She just looked over and then started looking around elsewhere.


    ''Did she just ignore me?,'' David thought to himself trying to figure out what was going on. David continued looking around and eventually met the grinning eyes of Gabriel.


    The man was sitting right behind Karine, Sonia and Mr. Lester. As David watched, Gabriel leaned forward and whispered something into Karine''s ear. Karine''s expression didn''t change but she uttered a few words in response to Gabriel''s comment.


    After decided to focus on the competition, David sat down with Chaz in the fighter seats to watch the fights until their names were call for their turn.


    After a buzzing over the loudspeaker, an announcer''s voice sounded to start the tournament, "I would like to welcome all of you to Round 1 of the Carmine Guard Assessment Tournament for the Level Zero Class fighters. This bracket will feature eight matches between the 16 fighters that qualified to advance to this round. The winners of these eight matches will move forward to the next round of competition. Those fighters that are eliminated will have the chance to challenge one another to increase their rankings. The rules for this morning''s matches are as follows. Only practice type weapons. No armor is allowed. No killing permitted. Everything else would be allowed, but we do request that participants avoid inflicting severe injuries to each other. The match is over when one contestant admits defeat, is incapacitated, or is knocked out of the ring," a voice sounded over the loudspeaker.


    "Fights will begin based on a randomly selected order. The first match of Round 1 will be between Gabriel Carmine and Issac Jefferson," the man said over the speaker.


    Gabriel and the other man made their way onto the stage. After a few theatrics by Gabriel, the fight ended pretty quickly. Gabriel had performed an elaborate Combustion Skill and completely blasted the other man out of the ring. The attack was overkill for a competition when everyone is from the same organization. However, after thinking it over....David realized that it wasn''t actually a competition from the same organization. The guard that Gabriel viciously defeated was an older guard that used to work at the gate of the Carmine Estate under William Carmine.


    The beatings continued after Gabriel match. Although the first four matches were "random", every match had been one of Gabriel''s goons matched with one of the old Carmine guards.


    ''So much for random.....that seems completely arranged,'' David thought to himself.


    "The fifth match of Round 1 will be between Chaz Brown and Jeffery Warren. Please take the stage," the announcer said over the speaker.


    David looked over to see the guy that Chaz was fighting as they stepped onto the platform. To David''s surprise, he was actually familiar with the man. It was one of the guards from original Carmine Family group. David had seen this guy around the grounds several times when he went to the Carmine Estate to see Karine.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    After the fight got started, everyone soon realized that Chaz was going to be the victor. The man had several good skills but Chaz''s strength was too much for him to handle. After Chaz landed a few punches to the man''s abdomen, the guy had to concede the fight. Seeing the battle, David did have some sympathy for Chaz''s opponent. David had felt the punch multiple times and knew exactly how much pain came along with it.


    After Chaz''s victory, the sixth fight of the first round also grabbed David''s interest. The battle was actually between two of Karine''s guards, Heather Rowe and Jasper Smith. Heather was the only woman that had qualified into the top 16 in the division. She was one of the most senior of Karine''s guards and could be considered one of Karine''s friends. Jasper was a newer guard that was placed in his position when Karine''s guard Charles had died due to a cultivation deviation. He was a rather quiet man that never smiled. David had never really liked the man, but Karine had said that he had excellent skills for a body guard. Watching the match, David soon learned what those skills were. Jasper seemed to focus on both the Body of Strength and the Body of Defense. No matter how Heather attacked, she couldn''t really deal any damage to the man. Eventually, she had gotten pissed that the man was hiding like a turtle in a shell and got too close to him. Jasper had grabbed Heather and made her pass out in a headlock. It was pretty intense to watch the woman struggle until she passed out. David even thought that he would have difficulty if faced with the same situation. The outcome would have probably been the same.


    After watching Heather be carried off the stage on a stretcher, David knew that it was now his turn as he waited for the announcers call.


    "The seventh match of Round 1 will be between David Knox and Nicolas Harvick. Please take the stage," the announcer said over the speaker.


    David walked up on stage to see a large man that he had never seen before. The guy was at least 6 foot 5 inches tall and looked like a professional football player.


    ''Damn, did Vincent decide to send out his biggest guy to fight me,'' David thought when he saw the man. It had to be one of Vincent''s men because David surely would have noticed this guy hanging around Gabriel.


    Once both men made it to the stage, the announcer initiated the fight right away, "Ready. Fight, Start."


    David had expected the man to run forward to attack, but he just started moseying on over like he was going for a stroll.


    Based on the size of the man, David assumed that he would have ridiculous strength, but would probably be a bit slow. Sure enough, David learned that his assumption was correct after the first exchange between the two fighters. After Nicolas had walked to within 6 feet of David, he suddenly charged forward like a linebacker. David had to roll to the side to miss the Nicolas'' attempt at grabbing him. He separated from Nicolas and decided to keep a good distance.


    After a few exchanges, David realized that his opponent seemed like a one trick pony. The man''s entire fighting philosophy consisted of rushing forward and trying to tackle David. While the fighting approach seemed simple, it was a perfect for dealing with David who had a shorter reach and couldn''t risk being grabbed. David knew that if this man grabbed a hold of him then the fight would be over.....and David would lose.


    After dodging the grasps of Nicolas a few times during the first minute of the fight, David developed his plan of attack. Nicolas'' attempts to grab David had a similar cadence each time. David could use this cadence to initiate a counterattack.


    The next time Nicolas launched himself forward. David swung his wooden knife forward into the back of Nicolas'' hand as he rolled away. Although this wasn''t a large blow, it focused all of David''s strength onto Nicolas'' hand. David could tell that it hurt Nicolas because the man shook his hand a couple of times after the impact.


    The counter attack worked a few times, but Nicolas must have realized the pattern. On David''s third attempt at smashing his hand, Nicolas flipped his hand over and grabbed David''s knife. Trying to break the Nicolas'' grip on the knife, David swung the pommel of the other knife towards Nicolas'' fingers to losen the grip. The impact was successful and Nicolas released his grip on the knife..,,,but he had made a counter attack in the process. Since David was close in, Nicolas had kicked out with one of his legs right into David''s knee. The kick didn''t land perfectly but the strength behind it was enormous. The impact almost took David off his feet, but he managed to roll out of the way to avoid Nicolas grabbing him. David realized that while he was trying to destroy Nicolas'' grip strength so that he could move in close safely...Nicolas had been focusing on damaging David''s legs, so that David couldn''t dodge his attacks any longer. It was like the two men had been playing a chess match in a fighting ring.


    Feeling that something was wrong with his knee, David had trouble standing from the roll. Understanding his venerable situation, David managed to force himself to an upright position with some effort. He was currently standing with all his weight on his left leg when Nicolas tried to make another grasp towards him.


    Realizing that he needed to end the fight, David fainted that he was going to strike the mans hand again and rolled to the side. Coming up to a knee stance on the side of Nicolas, David assulted the back of the man''s leg with both knives. The large impact to the leg also made Nicolas drop to a kneeling stand. Taking advantage of the now lower head height of his opponent, David jumped up from his kneeling position and brought both knifes together in a pommel clap to both sides of the man''s head.


    Hearing a groan, David saw Nicolas fall face first down into the stone platform. He had managed to pull off that move off perfectly, but quickly realized that his own knee wasn''t doing well as he also tumbled to the ground. He had barely won that fight. If David hadn''t succeeding in this one attack, then he would have lost. After an announcement of David''s victory came over the loud speakers, David worked himself up off the ground.


    Although David won the fight, he sustained a pretty bad injury to his right knee and limped off of the platform.


    As he was limping off, he could hear Gabriel Carmine taunting from the viewing box, "Look at this guy. He can''t even make it past the first round without getting crippled."


    David turned to look at Gabriel and caught sight of Karine sitting in the seat under him. She had a grimace on her face and David could tell she wasn''t happy. With a smile, he turned around and started hobbling toward the stands.


    Chaz came up to David''s side and said, "Hey man, let''s go over to the medical tent. The healers can help that get better before the next round.


    "Thanks pal," David said as Chaz helped him walk towards the healing tent.

 Chapter 43: Second Fight

    In path from the medical tent to the fighting stages, David and Chaz were making their way back to the competition when the duo ran into one of David''s most favorite people blocking the path with some goons in tow.


    "Hello, Gabriel. Do you think we will be lucky enough to meet each other in this tournament?," David said trying to sound threatening.


    "Probably not, Trash. They just released the second round brackets now. You will be fighting with my friend, Jace, right here....and you will most likely lose," Gabriel said pointing over at the smallest man in the group of four.


    The guy just waved his hand at David, but didn''t say anything.


    Gabriel continued, "But you really shouldn''t try too hard though. I get the feeling that Karine would really like me to win our little agreement anyway."


    "What agreement?," David asked with a uneasiness to his voice.


    "Oh.....she didn''t tell you. No difference....I will let you know in her place," Gabriel spoke, "Since you and I are both listed as suitors for Lady Karine, she is having a very difficult time making decisions lately. I decided that it would be beneficial to show her that you are much less of a man than I am. When I was trying to determine just how to accomplish this task, the family announced the tournament. What better way to show that I am stronger than you than to beat you in a fight?"


    David just stood there glowering as Gabriel told his story.


    "Conveniently, Karine had asked if I could do her a favor. It seems that with her dad and uncle moving out of the mansion that she was worried about her sister. Since her sister had trained with Mr. Lester when she was young, Karine suggested that he move into the Carmine Estate to watch over Sonia," Gabriel said.


    David knew that Mr. Lester had moved over to the Carmine Estate, but he didn''t know that it was at Karine''s request. He just stood there like an idiot and listened to the rest of Gabriel''s tale. This guy was an arrogant twat.


    "My father was not too happy about having a strange man move into the house. He was going to deny the request. However, I understood how important it was to Karine, so I made a proposition. If she agreed to limit her suitors to one man, then I would put in a few words to my father. Of course, she agreed for the safety of her sister. My father had no issue either as long as the decision was made in a fair manner...hence, whichever of us finishes the lowest in this tournament...Karine will reject as a suitor."


    ''This guy is an absolute slime ball,'' David thought to himself as the information soaked in. After a few seconds, he responded to Gabriel.


    "So, you blackmailed Karine because your couldn''t get her to pick you over me?...ha ha ha.....pathetic," David said. He was pissed that this douche was trying to force Karine''s hand. But then he had actually remember Karine''s words the last time they had spoken on the phone, "Do not cause trouble."


    "Chaz, let''s go. I need to warm up," David said as he tried to move forward but Gabriel and his henchmen were still blocking the way.


    "Let them go," Gabriel said to his lackeys.


    As David and Chaz walked pass, Gabriel tapped Chaz''s arm as he squeezed though foursome and said, "You better watch what kind of trash you hang around. You seem to be a pretty strong guy.....Why not come work for me?"


    Startled by the tap at his shoulder, Chaz responded, "No thanks man. David is my friend."


    "What ever you say. I think you are scheduled to fight Raze in this round...good luck," Gabriel said with a laugh.


    The biggest man by his side actually winked at Chaz. That must be Raze.


    After the brief confrontation, David and Chaz walked off briskly toward the stage.


    "Hey man, you don''t think they are going to cause me trouble, do you?," Chaz asked with a bit of concern in his voice.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    "No, they shouldn''t. It is just some contest over a woman''s heart. Why would they take it so far?," David said. In his life, the most he had ever seen men get into it over a woman dispute was cursing and fist fighting. It wasn''t like this city was some uncivilized place.


    After the walk, David and Chaz arrived at the fighters booth to review the new brackets. Sure enough, David was fighting Jace and Chaz was fighting Raze.


    David bust out laughing, "You two both have a Z in your names....that''s weird."


    "Quit fucking around," Chaz said, "I fight the first match of the round and you fight the third match. Let''s hope that we both make it one more round forward."


    __________________________________


    David and Chaz went over to the 8 seats for the fighters of the second round. Unlike the previous day, each seat was much more private. Of course, Gabriel''s seat was empty down near the tournament stage. He was up in the viewing suite watching the fights while sitting behind Karine. He kept reaching down to tap her shoulder to talk with her every other minute. David could tell that Karine would tense up every time Gabriel touched her and that she only gave him simple responses.


    ''Why would she make some stupid ass agreement with Gabriel?,'' David kept thinking as he watched the interaction between the two.


    Suddenly, the loud speaker sounded and interrupted David''s thoughts.


    "I would like to welcome all of you to Round 2 of the Carmine Guard Assessment Tournament. This bracket will feature four matches between the eight remaining fighters. The winner of these four matches will battle it out for the top two positions. The rules for this afternoon''s matches are the same as earlier. Only practice type weapons. No armor. No killing. Everything else would be allowed. The match is over when one contestant admits defeat, is incapacitated, or is knocked out of the ring," a voice sounded over the loudspeaker.


    Almost immediately the first fight got underway. The battle was between Chad and Gabriel''s goon, Raze.


    "For Match 1 of the Second Round, Chaz Brown versus Raze White. Please enter the stage gentlemen," the announcer instructed.


    "Shit.....they both have a Z in their name and they have colors for last names," David said looking over to the people around him and killing himself laughing. This weirdness absolutely tickled him inside.


    Both Chaz and Raze looked over toward the man with expressions of disgust.


    "Quit laughing and behave yourself," came a few shouts from the crowd.


    David quieted down and started to watch the fight. Both men had made their way onto the stage. Raze was a good head taller than Chaz and was carrying what looked like a club.


    "Ready...Fight...Start," the announcer shouted and the two immediately launched themselves at one another.


    David had fought Chaz many times over the last couple weeks, but this was actually his first time watching Chaz fight. He had missed Chaz''s fight in the first round because he was off to the side warming up for his match.


    Chaz seemed to be holding his own for most of the fight, but started to take several hits from Raze. Both men seemed to focus on body related skills, but Raze had the additional skills with the club.


    After about five minutes of trading blows, David could tell that Chaz was starting to weaken. David was starting to get worried for his friend''s safety. Maybe Gabriel''s goon would try to hurt Chaz in order to upset David.


    All of a sudden, Chaz took a big hit with the club and stumbled around the fighting platform to regain balance. The hit had caught Chaz right above the eye and split his skin open. He was bleeding pretty good.


    But then the oddest thing happened.....As Chaz was about turn around to resume fighting, Raze actually threw his club at him. In an effort to dodge the club, Chaz moved to the right and managed to slip on the edge of the ring and fall off the platform. David could even see the look of surprise on Raze''s face when Chaz made the error. The referee called the match with Raze was the victor.


    After getting off the ground, Chaz walked over to David with blood dripping from his face.


    "I tried to fucking dodge but I couldn''t see well because of all this damn blood in my eye," Chaz said with a little embarrassment in his voice, "I fell right off the damn platform. Bet that looked funny as hell."


    "Yep, pretty much," David said with a chuckle, "I hope someone got it on video."


    "Ya.....I''m going to the medical tent to get this shit taken care of. Good luck if I don''t see you before your fight," Chaz said to David.


    "Thanks pal. Take care," David said as he turned around to watch the next fight. After this one was over, David''s fight would be next.


    ____________________________


    The second fight of the second round ended in a victory for one of Gabriel''s other goons. So far, Gabriel''s group held victories in both matches. Next was David''s turn.


    "For Match 3 of the Second Round, Jace Rivera versus David Knox. Please enter the stage gentlemen," the announcer instructed.


    As David walked up to the stage, he glanced at the booth holding the dignitaries. Karine was still sitting there not paying much attention to what was happening on the fighting platform. Gabriel was sitting at the edge of his seat behind Karine and was looking right at David. As he noticed David''s gaze, Gabriel grinned which gave David an odd feeling of uncertainty.


    ''He seems to be pretty confident that I will not win this round,'' David thought as he finished walking up the stairs and stepped onto the platform.


    David reached into his waistband and pulled out both of the wooden sparing daggers out while flipping them in his hands. He then looked across the platform to see Jace standing on the platform with a wooden sword in his hand.


    "Ready....Fight.....Start," the loudspeaker sounded with the announcers voice.


    Jace immediately started running toward David with a low sword guard, but stopped when David moved back along the edge of the platform to keep an appropriate distance. The two paced around each other continuously as they soon found the center of the stage. The fight started off slow. Every now and then, Jace would move in to strike David''s leg with his sword.


    Based on David''s training with the swordsmen in the gym, he had realized a flaw to fighting head on against a sword with a knife. Obviously, a knife''s reach is much less than a swords. One tricky swordsman had kept his distance from David with a low guard and repeatedly attacked David''s legs and hands with the wooden sword. He always maintained a rather large distance between the two, so David was never able to even land a blow on the man.


    It seemed like Jace had done his homework and figured that David wouldn''t be able to handle this attacking style. He didn''t know that Mr. Lester had given David advice on how to deal with the situation.


    As Jace was trying to hit David in the knee, David moved his leg and stomped down hard on the wooden blade in Jace''s hand. The blade cracked and splintered leaving half of it laying on the ground and the other half in Jace''s grip. This counterattack had worked just as Mr. Lester said it would and Jace''s long reaching weapon was now shortened by half.


    As the sword broke, David took the chance to counter the attack and smacked Jace in the throat with one of his knifes. The man stumbled back holding his throat. David could hear him gasping for air. Seeing that his hit had landed successfully, David moved in to take advantage of Jace''s attempt to recover his breath.


    All of a sudden David heard a loud shout from the stands as Gabriel yelled, "Stop messing around Jace. This is getting boring."


    David suddenly got a bad feeling.

 Chapter 44: Victory

    As David was swinging his knife forward to land a hit to the side of Jace''s head, he felt a sudden sense of danger coming from his side and immediately stopped the attack and lowered his elbow to protect his ribs.


    A strong impact hit his arm sending him sliding across the platform and almost over the edge.


    ''What just happened?,'' David thought as he tried to regain his feet, ''I think he just kicked me''. As he tried to help himself up off the ground, he realized that his arm was busted pretty badly.


    ''Fuck....I think something might be broken,'' David thought as the pain shot through his arm as he put weight on it to stand. Luckily, he had held onto his wooden knives during the impact.


    He immediately began for focus his energy into his Body of Recover skill to heal his arm.


    While he was re-positioning his footing, David heard some movement from across the battle platform. Looking up, he saw Jace reach down and pick up the broken half of his sword. He held both broken pieces in a similar manner to the way that David held his own knives.


    "You know....I spent a few days watching you spar with those idiots In the gym...and I decided to try to beat you up like they did. That''s why I picked a sword....I guess you finally figured out a way to counter some of those attacks...," Jace said as he started to pace around David.


    "Ya...I had to learn to adapt. Knife fighting doesn''t seem to be too easy," David said while trying to position himself for his next move. His Body of Recovery Skill was rapidly working to heal his arm. It was already feeling better. Seeing the two pointy broken sword pieces in Jace''s hands, David had a sudden realization that he had never fought someone else using knives before.


    "My specialty is actually fighting with short swords.....and you just conveniently made me two of them with that move of yours. You better watch yourself....this is probably going to hurt," Jace said before expertly twirling the broken ends of the sword in his hands.


    At the sight, David realized that Gabriel must be trying to make a fool out of him. From seeing the previous fights, David could tell that Jace was actually one of the strongest of Gabriel''s posse. The direct hit to the throat had been completely disregarded by Jace. he wasn''t even affected by the hit. He must also practice a body skill. Jace was playing around with him when he acted like he was hurt. The man wasn''t revealing his whole strength the entire time.


    Jace walked up and squared up with David. The two men looked like two gunfighters in the old west that were about to have a gun fight....but instead of guns...they were holding sparing knives as they paced circles around each other waiting for someone to make the first move.


    After a few seconds of squaring up, Jace decided to make the first move. He lunged forward in an attempt to stab David''s chest. David moved out of the way but Jace''s speed had actually increased from previously and the broken wooden sword caught David in the shoulder. David felt a scratching pacing as the broken end of the wooden blade scraped a chinch of flesh away leaving a small bloody gouge full of splinters near David''s tricep.


    "Ouch...that looks like it hurts," Jace said in a taunt as he moved around David like a wolf stalking a deer.


    Jace took initiative and moved in again. This time the two''s knives met in an exchange. David was able to keep up with Jace''s attacks, but that was about all that he could do. David couldn''t really find an opening to attack back.You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    After blocking a dozen of Jace''s attacks, David thought that he saw an opening. As he started into the attack, he suddenly felt movement of Jace''s sword headed towards his neck. Realizing the threat, David abandoned his attack to move out of the way. The jagged broken sword scraped the side of David''s neck.


    David shivered....a small amount of blood dropped down his neck as he realized he was almost lured into an attack. He started to feel like he was outclassed....after all, he had only trained with knives for a couple weeks....this guy had probably trained for years.


    "Oh....got you again. You really need to train your defense," Jace taunted again.


    Listening to the taunt, David decided that he would attempt one more exchange. He wasn''t feeling that bad, but he knew he was outclassed. Gabriel had wanted to humiliate him in a loss to make a point with Karine. He had succeeded, but David thought that he at least had a chance to save some face and land a few hits on Jace.


    David readied himself for the next series of attacks. He had some confidence in the skills that he learned.....he knew that he could at least land one good hit....if his attack failed then he would just concede the fight. If he couldn''t win, there was no point in letting Gabriel''s goon continue his performance.


    David moved into a guard ready to the next confrontation. He decided that he would attack first for the first time. David was going to try an odd attack that he had read about in the knife skill book.


    He charged at Jace. The man raised his broken sword in defense as David approached. As David neared he raised one of his hands like he was going to directly into Jace''s face. Jace''s guard shifted up to protect his face. As his guard went up, David actually kneeled to drop below the guard....then he immediately rammed the sparing knife up into Jace''s chin with all his strength.


    David was about to celebrate landing the hit when he felt intense pain as the broken end of Jace''s wooden sword penetrated through his thigh. David howled in pain as he fell to the ground. He could hear loud laughter sounding from the platform above. It seemed like Gabriel was having a good old time at David''s expense.


    As David lay on the ground, he glanced up at the stands. Karine was standing up and yelling at Gabriel, but David couldn''t hear what was being said. Deciding that he needed to get up, David tried to work himself up off the ground.


    Suddenly....he felt a movement headed his way.....then an impact to the side of his head.....then nothing but darkness.


    ______________________________


    After being knocked out, David appeared in his dark dream world instantly. He had been humiliated by Jace....he had also lost the fight. If Gabriel wasn''t lying, then this loss also meant that Karine would be revoking his suitor status. With everything considered, David felt like a failure all of a sudden.


    The tournament had just been an extra item thrown into his training. It didn''t really mean anything much to David. His whole purpose in training to begin with had been to get some strength so that he could hunt his parents'' killers. But even if he knew who killed his parents right at this moment, it would be pointless. All David would be doing was offering himself to them....and he would probably just be killed. He was way too weak....not just weak physically...weak mentally as well.


    Having a poor performance in the tournament, David felt like all of his efforts were pointless.


    However...instead of being brought into a world of self deprecation, David had actually started to have a bit of self reflection while sitting in the darkness of his dream world. After thinking over the situation, he realized that his talents were not in fighting with people head on. If he was in the dark of the forest with real knives, he had no doubt in his mind that Jace would be dead despite the obvious power gap between the two of them. Getting rid of any opponent was even easier if they happened to fall asleep near David....he could just crush their dream orbs in his dream world and kill them instantly. David smiled as he came to the realization that he was actually very powerful....he had just been trying to fight in the wrong way.


    Reflecting back on his attempts at trying to master martial arts, David laughed to himself. He sort of felt like he had been wasting his time trying to focus on training for upfront face to face battles like the tournament. That wasn''t him. He was naturally gifted to be a sneaky attacker that preyed on people in the dark when they were defenseless. He wasn''t the type to charge out on a battlefield in the front of the pack to directly meet the enemy troupe in battle. If he did that...he would die almost immediately.


    At this point, David''s mentality began to shift and he started to understand himself a little better. The dreamworld is where his real power is....no one on Earth could defeat him in the dreamworld. He still sort of feels like an idiot for even trying to win the tournament. Over the last couple of months, David had even stopped entering the dreamworld. He had just been sleeping normally to recover his body from the intense sparing and training he was undergoing.


    Why was he trying to fit into some system that wasn''t for him.....That type face to face of fighting isn''t his real strength. His strength is to hunt people down in the darkness of night and slit their throats from behind....and visit people in their sleep and kill them in their nightmares.


    This realization made David feel less mental stress the more he thought it over. At some point, David made the decision that he was no longer going to try to be something that he is not...he wasn''t going to try to fight them head on any longer....he was going to put his real strengths to use.....he was going to be a living nightmare to his enemies.

 Chapter 45: Decision

    David woke up in a hospital bed that was quite familiar. He was feeling a lot better about himself after his realization in the dream world. He needed to focus on his strengths. The hell with his weaknesses. Laying in bed staring at the ceiling he found himself to be in a wonderful mood. It felt like this was some turning point in his life.


    "Guess I lost the fight. I wonder how long I was out this time," David said to himself...he didn''t realize someone was in the room with him.


    "Yes, you did alright until the last minute. Gabriel''s man really restrained his strength until the last minute when he decided to try and cripple you. They are a pretty conniving bunch....and you were only out a couple hours. It is still the same day but around 7 PM," a sweet voice sounded from David''s bedside.


    David looked over to see Karine sitting by his bedside. He smiled.


    "We have to stop meeting like this," David said cracking a joke.


    Karine laughed her unique beautiful laugh.


    "You are so beautiful when you laugh and smile....you know that first time we met each other in the architect conference room....I hadn''t felt any attraction to you...I had actually thought your sister was really cute...that is until the first time I saw you smile....it was good stuff," David said honestly.


    "That passionate description you gave about the exhibit capturing the essence of the night really won me over too.....until then.....I was ready to pull the project from your firm because it sounded so boring," Karine said smiling.


    Both Karine and David bust out laughing. After a few seconds of laughter, David looked Karine in her beautiful eyes and decided to get straight to the point.


    "So, I assume you are here to reject my suitor status. Gabriel kept droning on and on about how I wasn''t worthy of you and that you agreed to reject my status if I lost. That guy is really a piece of work," David said. He just didn''t have the ability to hold back his thoughts anymore.


    "Yes, that is one of the reasons why I am here.....but it is not because of any agreement with Gabriel.....that was just a good justification to do it....That piece of human waste, Gabriel, doesn''t deserve the status of my suitor at all...at least you have my affections.....I wouldn''t care if Gabriel died right now.....actually, I would probably smile if it happened...you....you, I do not want to see hurt like this," Karine said aggressively putting a bit of bewilderment on David''s face.


    David just stared at her wide eyed and open mouthed. That was not the typical Karine response that David expected to hear. Seeing David''s astonishment, Karine smiled a big smile before speaking.


    "Come on David. My dad has been one of the most powerful businessmen on Earth for years. Do you honestly think he hasn''t been training me for this sort of stuff? I was practically learning business strategy, corporate mechanisms, war tactics, and family political management.....since I could speak. You usually see the relaxed side of me when we are together or the cold side I show everyone else to avoid interaction. But no one has really seen this side of me...the ruthless side....the side I am showing you now," Karine explained.


    "The reason that I am telling you all of this is that I feel you deserve it. As I said, you really do hold my affections. My father wouldn''t have approved of me telling you about my real self. He is one of those men that like to keep everyone in the dark on his actual power level...just to have them underestimate him. With his training, my father made sure that I always have a plan to secure my family status. I will not let anyone get in my way," Karine said with a gusto of sureness.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.


    "It is not that I do not like you, David. Actually, it is because of the opposite. I am here to reject your suitor status for your own good. The people around Vincent Carmine come from The Other. They can be quite cutthroat when they want to and I have a feeling that Vincent is trying to earn some sort of status for his illegitimate son by wedding him to me. It isn''t going to happen but...,,You don''t fit well into their plans, so they might target you eventually," Karine warned in a very serious tone.


    "So I am at risk because of my relationship with you?," David asked, "So you care for me and just don''t want to see me hurt? If that is the only thing keeping us apart, I have no issue with the risks. At this point, I don''t really have much to lose. I really think that I might love you, you know?"


    "Yes, I know. But I have no room to love anyone right now. Love is a distraction. Vincent Carmine and his group are trying to put pressure on my branch of the family in The Other. They managed to pull strings to get my dad and uncle transferred immediately after they advanced...and to get our branch family removed from Earth. This shift would mean that any new talent originating from Earth will be funneled directly into Vincent''s branch of the family....Everything may seem nice on the surface, but these Carmine family relatives would kill each other if they were 100 percent sure that they could get away with it," Karine said to David''s surprise.


    "I do care for you, David. But it makes me weak. I can not afford any weakness right now," Karine said, "I need to focus on keeping the wolves at bay...and focus on strengthening myself. If I get stronger, I should be able to bring myself and my sister to the Other sooner. Once we are reunited with my dad and our branch of the family, everything will start to settle down...then I can start thinking about my future," Karine said.


    She continued, "I will keep Gabriel''s suitor status around for the time being. He thinks that he has some chance with me. That false confidence of his makes my moving around behind the scenes easier and causes less worry on my part. I can''t stand when the creep''s eyes look at me, but I need to look out for my family....not the entire Carmine Family in the Other, but the two of us stuck here....myself and my sister. We are a team and we need to stick together to get through this shift in power. The Other is a dangerous place and their politics are a hundred times worse than Earth''s."


    David sat in the bed in thought for a moment before speaking. He was taken aback by the whole situation. It was like his innocent beautiful girlfriend had been made to transform into a fierce tiger protecting her cubs. After a few considerations, David decided that he was okay with everything. Why would he get upset about Karine wanting to focus on the safety of her family...what was the opposite?....He couldn''t tell her to ignore the well being of her family.


    "Thanks for being honest, Karine. I really appreciate it," David said, "I think that I understand your situation and I am grateful that you do care for me in some regard. That makes me feel good inside. But I feel sad for you. You are being forced into this situation by this mess of an extended family. I wish I could do something about it to help you."


    "No, David. Your best help would be to lay low and cultivate to be stronger. You have seen it in the competition today. Gabriel and his henchmen are at the bottom of the barrel in The Other....but they dominated everyone from the family here on Earth. You need strength to survive...We need strength to survive," Karine said.


    "I need to leave in a few minutes. I will say some mean things loud enough for some of the staff to hear. It will make it back to Gabriel pretty quick. They are that good at intelligence gathering. Please disregard anything that I say.....remember this is only a show for the spectators," Karine said as she stood to walk out of the room.


    David quickly spoke, "Wait. I support you with your decisions, Karine. But with so many changes happening, the only other thing that I am worried about is finding my parents'' killers. I need to resolve this issue. Can you offer any help?"


    "Not really. My father had sent out several of his top people to review the situation. None have come back with anything so far.....These are people that we trust very highly, David. If they can''t find anything, than everyone else would have an extremely difficult time as well. I can''t promise that we will find the people...but I can promise that as long as I am around....someone will continue searching for the killers."


    "Thanks Karine....that is all I can really ask for," David said before lounging back in his bed, "Now start your performance.....I''ll try to help it out if I can...good luck, beautiful."


    Karine smiled again and bent over to give David a kiss. It was a really nice kiss. Then she said into David''s ear, "Good luck to you too, handsome."


    Then she stormed out of the room telling David that he was not the one for her, how he was weak compared to Gabriel and that she is revoking his suitor status. She did not want to see him around her again. It was a big scene in the hospital suite.


    David had also performed pretty well....he begged her not to leave him, said that he could get stronger, promised that he could protect her if needed. He pleaded to have his suitor status reinstated.


    Security was even called. David had almost broke character and laughed several times.


    Eventually, Karine left the hospital in a fake emotional mess. David faked like he cried himself to sleep. It was epic.


    Later that evening, David would find himself laughing about the whole show. It was 100 percent comical to him and he still didn''t know how he managed to keep a straight face through the whole thing. Karine was wonderful. If she hadn''t talked to him before hand, he would have been extremely depressed.....because her comments had some hint of truth.


    He really was weak compared to Gabriel and his henchmen. He needed strength.....he needed power.....he needed to get out of this damn hospital bed.


    He picked up his phone to make a call.

 Chapter 46: Friends

    "Yo bro. You ready to leave?" Chaz peaked his head through the door in a joking manner.


    "Hey Chaz, glad to see that you got here....I''m ready to get out of this place," David said. He was pepped up to see his pal. David had called him about five minutes ago to come pick him up.....Chaz had already been on his way, so he got here pretty quick. David really wanted to get out of the hospital.


    "Man, they were all talking about coming to pick you up back at the complex, but I figured that you wouldn''t mind if your buddy picking you instead of some random dudes...unless you got some girl coming to get you," Chaz responded joking around.


    "Nope. She already came, dumped me, then left," David said in a joking manner. He was okay with Karine''s decision after all. It was a good decision on her part. If their future paths ever crossed, maybe they would hit it off again.


    "WHAT??? That chick, Karine, dumped you? While you were in the hospital? That sucks dude. Want to go grab a few drinks at the bar down the road on the way back to the apartments?" Chaz said.


    "No thanks. I kind of just want to get home and rest," David said as a feeling a slight unease washed over him for some unknown reason. Maybe he had just been in hospitals too many times.


    "Alright man. Let''s go. I''ll go get the nurse," Chaz helpfully said.


    After a few minutes, both Chaz and a nurse came into the room. The nurse made David sign a few papers, instructed him on how to properly use his crutches, and made him get in a wheel chair. His leg was pretty messed up and wouldn''t completely heal for another day or so. After he hopped in the wheelchair, the nurse pushed him to the employee entrance of the Carmine Family''s special entrance at the medical facilities.


    After reaching the exterior entrance, the nurse said, "This is as far as I take you. You can use the crutches to move from here to the car over there in the parking area."


    "Damn, I thought I was going to get car side service for a second," David said jokingly with the nurse. He was a single man now anyway.....and she was kind of cute.


    Laughing she handed his his crutches and taunted, "Not a chance, Mr. Knox. I am already married." Waiving her hand to show her wedding ring, the nurse turned and left.


    "Damn dude, you been single for 10 minutes and are already trying to pickup married women. I greatly underestimated you. You sure you don''t want to hit up the bar? Last time I was at the place, I met a few pretty hot chicks. Good times too. You need to relax," Chaz said in a persuasive manner.


    "ha ha ha.....your right. I could really use a good time. Let''s pass by the bar for a bit. I hope it is as good as you say.....but nothing too crazy. I still need to get back and rest. My leg is steadily healing on it''s own, but a good night''s sleep should help out a lot.


    After getting in the car and riding for a few minutes, Chaz drove David up to a small little bar room off the side of the main highway that went from the Carmine Estate to the apartment complex. The sign out in front of the bar read, "Blazing Deuces," in neon pink lettering. There were also about 12 cars in the small parking lot.


    The place looked run down...and Chaz had actually bragged about the quality of women at this place. It looked like one of those backwoods bars you could go to to pick up prostitutes....


    Getting out of the car, David couldn''t resist giving Chaz a hard time, " Hey man, this place probably has two chicks and 10 guys inside. What kind of shit hole did you bring me to?"


    Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    "Na man, wait until you get inside to make your judgement. If their isn''t any babes inside, we can always just get drunk and play a few games of pool," Chaz said making his way towards the front door of the bar.


    After entering, David''s fears were confirmed. This place really was a shit hole. It had one long bar and three pool tables. From the look of the pool tables, they were used for more of a coaster for drinks or a temporary stretcher for the injured instead of something for actual billiards play.


    Sure enough...there were only two women at the bar and they both seemed occupied with at least 4 men.


    "Judgement made...this place is a shit hole," David said as he walked behind Chaz to the bar.


    "Go get us a pool table setup. What you want to drink man? Beer?" Chaz asked David.


    "Nope....I''ll take a bourbon.....make it a Old Fashioned," David responded as he changed course toward the pool table.


    After a few minutes, Chaz came back to the table with two drinks. One Old Fashioned and one beer.


    "Yep, I figured you were are beer drinker," David said to Chaz jokingly.


    "Of course. I get stupid when I drink that hard stuff like you...you want to break the table or do you want me to go first?" Chaz said to David in reference to the pool table that was setup in front of him.


    "You can break...Hey man, what are your plans going forward?," David asked Chaz trying to start up a conversation.


    "Well.....I want to get strong enough that they invite me over to the family in The Other. That place sounds really interesting. I have always wanted to go on an adventure. What better place than another planet that is larger than Earth?," Chaz said in response to David inquiry as he broke the racked pool balls.


    "Sounds good to me. I have been thinking about the future a lot lately. With Karine out of the picture and my parents dead, I really have nothing holding me here on Earth....well...except that I need to find out who killed my parents," David said.


    "That should be over with shortly. I heard Mr. Lester say that the investigators had found some clues and were pursuing a few rouge cultivators who were probably involved," Chaz said trying to cheer David up.


    "But we have to get stronger before we are invited to The Other....So what you going to practice next? Another body skill?," David asked Chaz.


    "Yep, probably Body of Agility. If I was a little bit faster and moved quicker, I probably would have been able to make it to the Top 5," Chaz said.


    "Oh ya....I forgot all about the tournament. Who won first place?," David asked.


    "The new bosses'' son, Gabriel. It wasn''t much of a show though. The three other people in the top 4 were his bodyguards. They didn''t even fight in the final....they just admitted defeat to Gabriel," Chaz said.


    "Privileged asshole. I hope he accidentally stabs himself with the prize weapon," David said venting some of his frustration over the event.


    "Ya, him and his goons were a real piece of work. They were boasting all around and kept calling people trash when the crowd got angry. Your girl Karine, her sister and Mr. Lester all left as soon as they won. They didn''t seem to want anything to do with it all," Chaz described the final outcome of the tournament to David.


    "WOW! Those guy''s are a real piece of work. I wonder what life is going to be like now that his dad is in charge...I am sure he will run around unchecked like a spoiled little kid," David said.


    "Most likely. Unless Mr. Lester can help reign him in," Chaz said.


    After spending around 3 hours in the bar, David finally decided to call it quits on the night. He had a great time with his friend, Chaz. Although they hadn''t met any women, they had had a pretty good chat about their futures. With a few glasses of whisky and a few rounds of pool, David was feeling really relaxed. He kept thinking to himself that he should get out more. Actually, he hadn''t had this good of a time since he had went out partying in college. He hadn''t felt this more in touch with the real world since his parents were killed.


    "Hey Chaz. I''m getting ready to go," David said, "My leg still isn''t functioning quite right and I need to go get some rest. Tomorrow is going to suck."


    "Alright pal. How about one more shot for the road? I haven''t seen you loosen up this much ever. It''s good for you, you know?," Chaz said.


    "Sure, one more shot for the road," David said, "I''ll start clearing off this pool table and put the sticks back up on the rack....and I have to go take a piss. Then we can leave."


    David spent about a minute putting all the pool sticks, chalk and empty beer bottles away in their proper places. Just as he was finishing up, Chaz showed up with two shots in his hand.


    Chaz handed one shot of whiskey to David, then raised his shot in the air in toast, "May we get what we want, but never what we deserve."


    "Cheers," David said as he bottomed up the shot glass, "Now lets get out of here."


    The duo walked through the gravel parking lot. Well.....Chaz walked. David was still on crutches.


    "Chaz, this gravel is hard as hell to walk on with the crutches and a few drinks in me. Can you come pick me up before I bust my ass?," David said.


    "Sure, pal.....since you want to be a little bitch about it," Chaz said giving David a hard time as he walked the 250 feet to the car sitting in the dusty gravel.


    After a few minutes, he pulled up the black town car right next to David standing in the gravel with the crutches supporting him.


    With a plop, David sat down in the car, tossed the crutches on to the back seat and slammed the car door shut. He was seriously feeling a nice buzz from the alcohol.


    "Thanks for picking me up, pal," David said as he started to recline against the car seat.


    As Chaz pulled out of the parking lot, David could feel himself swaying in the seat. He felt like he was really drunk all of a sudden.


    "Man.....I don''t know if ... there were still drugs in my system from the hospital...or if I can''t hold my liquor anymore....but this shit is hitting me pretty hard now. I can barely keep my eyes open," David said with a pretty heavy slur to his voice.


    "Nope man. That feeling is from the drugs....that I put in your shot of whiskey. Sorry," Chaz said in an emotionless voice.


    A feeling of threat enveloped David, but he was too intoxicated to react quickly. A hand smashed across his face and David lost consciousness.

 Chapter 47: Darkness

    David was instantly transported to his dark world. He was in a panic.


    "Fuck, is this freak going to rape me or something?," David thought, "What kind of guy drugs another guy at a bar?"


    David was desperate. He was reaching out for random dream orbs trying to get some sort of help. None of the dream orbs remained motionless though. David had a feeling that he was being transported somewhere... ya...he was still in the car...that''s why none of the dream orbs were stationary.


    After what seemed like a half hour or so, David realized that the dream orbs became less frequent to the point of absence and he could not longer detect any motion.


    David''s perception of time was messed up, but after a short while he started to feel himself leave the dream space.


    "Hello, trash," a echoing voice sounded besides David''s head as he regained consciousness.


    David was slowly opening his eyes as he awoke in a haze. Those drugs must have been pretty strong.


    Looking around, David could see that he was in a warehouse of some type. He could also feel that he was bound to a sturdy chair with a heavy duty rope. He struggled for a moment but couldn''t free himself. He was also unable to utilize his heavenly energy to use any of his darkness skills.


    "What the hell is going on?," David asked as he started to focus in on his surrounding to see four men standing a few feet away.


    "Your friend sold you to me. He sold you to me for a chance to promote his family on Earth and to earn a spot on the next trip to The Other. Guess your friends aren''t that high quality," a familiar voice said mockingly besides him.


    "Gabriel?," David said still trying to figure out what was happening.


    For a split second, he was relieved that Chaz had not drugged him for some weird sexual act.....but then he realized he was actually in a worse situation. He and Gabriel had some hatred toward each other....but it should not be enough to kidnap him and move him off to some abandoned building in the middle of nowhere.


    ''Is he going to kill me?,'' David thought for a second as a look of fear passed across his face.


    "Ha ha...No, I do not plan on killing you," Gabriel said, "you cost me two good guards. I need repayment. I had offered to give my group of guards a bonus if they could bring me your corpse.....but who would have known that they would screw up and leave you alive. I guess that they did manage to explode your parents though. That seemed to cause you a little heartache.....ha ha ha...."


    Gabriel''s laughing words struck David pretty hard.


    So, Gabriel was behind the explosion that killed his parents.


    "You killed my parents?," David raged while trying to break free of the chair, "Why? Why? Why would you kill my parents?"


    "Oh, you must be an idiot. The reason should be pretty easy to figure out. You put your eyes on Karine....My woman," Gabriel said, "Anyone that goes after a woman I am interested in shall pay a price. You have paid part of yours...but you still have some balance left to pay...so you are here."


    "Fuck you. You killed my parents over some stupid shit like that? What kind of twisted bastard are you? Karine doesn''t even like you," David said with anger in his voice.


    That last comment seemed to strike on Gabriel''s nerves, he yelled at David, "Anyone who gets an eye for my women will not be allowed." He paused a second then looked over to a man at his side with a sneer, "Raze, go remove one of his eyes for me. Do it slowly. I want him to hurt."


    David felt a stab of panic at Gabriel''s words. What type of nightmare was he in? This seemed like it should be one of his old nightmares. But David knew.....this was real life.....he could modify what was about to happen.


    The man at Gabriel''s side walked over and pulled a small knife off of his hip. David''s mind was running frantically trying to figure out a way to escape. He tried to phase into shadow, but nothing seemed to be working. Why couldn''t he do anything?


    Walking up to David, the henchman Raze tried to hold David''s head steady. David was resisting with most of his strength.


    "Hey Jace, are you going to come help me or not? You kept talking about paying this guy back for those few hits he landed in the tournament," Raze said as he struggled to hold David''s head still.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    "Sure. I was just waiting for you to ask," Jace said as he walked forward. As he got near David, he punched out right into David''s abdomen.


    David felt a wrenching pain come from inside his body and started gasping for air.


    "See you can''t just go in for the eye removal first, Raze," the other man explained, "you need to loosen them up first." He then began to repeatedly hit David in various locations.


    After about ten minutes of beating, David was slumped down in the chair. He could only taste blood in his mouth. He could only smell a mixture blood and vomit around him. He could also still see the group of men standing there laughing as one of them flicked a lit cigarette butt into the crotch of his pants....but of all the senses....his sense of feeling was what was receiving the most input.....he was in pain. Intense pain all over his body.


    Even in his previous fights, the pain was only a fraction of what he was going through now....and he knew more was going to come his way. Anticipation was one of the keys to a good nightmare.....and these guys seemed to understand that point.


    "Quit wasting time," Gabriel said to the group of guys, "Take his eye now, so I can release some of the restraint so his body starts to heal. I still want to keep him alive remember."


    With his head slumped down, David could hear the footsteps approaching him. All three of Gabriel''s henchmen grabbed a hold of David at once. David tried to close his eyes because he knew what was going to happen, but he felt a pair of hands grab his face near his right eye. He couldn''t resist....he didn''t have the strength. As his eye was propped open, he could see a small knife blade in a hand moving towards his eye. He tried so hard to close his eye, but the knife kept coming nearer to his eye. As it got really close, the knife started to blur and David couldn''t make out what was happening anymore. Then he felt a pushing sensation and pain....lots of pain. Then he felt a pop and the pain escalated greatly. He could still see out of his eye for a few seconds, but that quickly faded. The eye was no longer there. All David felt was pain and the emptiness of a gaping hole in his face where his eye once was. David passed out.


    As usual, David was back in his dream world. He was pain free and back to his normal self. It was weird being in the dream world while he knew the poor shape of his body in reality. But he couldn''t do anything about it. After what seemed like a half hour, David felt the tug of consciousness and found himself back sitting in the chair.


    "See I told you he would heal if the restraint was lessened a bit. In the tournament, it was almost clear that he had mastered the Body of Recovery. Guys that manage to master that skill will heal on their own as long as they are not critically injured," Gabriel explained to the other three men.


    "He''s healed enough. Tighten the restraint," Gabriel ordered one of the men.


    "You awake yet, trash?" Gabriel''s voice sounded closer to David.


    David was awake. He actually felt a little better then when he had passed out. From the conversation, it seemed that these guys had the ability to restrict his heavenly energy access.


    "Alright, guys, here is how the story goes. David Knox was so upset over the rejection of his suitor status with Karine Carmine that he went on a rampage in the guard''s housing facility tonight. He actually managed to kill several guards before fleeing. The family will immediately place him on the wanted list for criminal actions and violation of the guest employment contract. Then we will go to hunt the traitor. Our group will capture him as he flees, but the guy seemed to have some sort of explosive on him. He grabbed a hold of a few of the guards and exploded himself...all we could find is a mangled eyeball as proof of death," Gabriel said to the astonishment of everyone in the warehouse.


    "Holy shit Gabriel. Are we really going to get rid of a bunch of the other guards tonight too?" one of the henchmen said in excitement.


    "I have been waiting to rid us of a few of those bastards. This is a great excuse. We can capture or kill the rest of William''s guys and this trash takes the fall as the bad guy," Raze, the henchman, said.


    "I know. I am genius. My dad even said that this was a wonderful plan," Gabriel said with a overconfident smile on his face.


    Hearing the narration, David actually laughed. Despite all his physical pain. He laughed.


    "You honestly think everyone would believe that story. Some people know me and they understand that I would never do something like that. ha ha....you are no genius.....you are a fucking idiot....and someone is going to find out about this," David said using a lot of his remaining energy to speak.


    Gabriel was angered by David''s comments. He walked over to David and began to beat the man again. This time however....he did not avoid the face. What did it matter if his face was beat? They had already pulled his eye out.


    With an echoing crack, David felt his cheekbone break. He felt a knife dig into his knee. He could feel the impact of something hitting his body repeatedly. His body was being broken.


    When this round of beating ended, David was left completely physically destroyed.


    "You can heal again. I don''t want the goods to be completely spoiled," Gabriel said as he performed some gesture with a stone in his hand.


    David could feel a trickle of heavenly energy enter his body. His Body of Recovery immediately started working overtime to repair his damaged body.


    Gabriel and his henchmen just stood there chatting and having a good time. Every now and then they would throw something at David or curse him. But other than that, they carried on just like a couple of friends hanging out at a party. These guys were cruel and uncaring. They treated David like they really did consider him trash.


    After about ten minutes of letting David heal, the small heavenly energy stream was completely cut off. David was in horrible shape.


    "Alright, you look healed enough," Gabriel said as he started walking toward David.


    "Thanks for the good time, Trash. I feel much better now," Gabriel said to David as he swung his fist into the side of David''s head.


    David was instantly brought into his dark world again. This dark world was his home when he was unconscious. David just sat there in the dark thinking about what had happened to him. From the hints given in Gabriel''s words, he wasn''t going to kill David.....but what was he going to do? David needed to live. He needed to have a chance to get them back for what they had done to him.


    David also had worries about Karine and a few other people in the Carmine Family that had treated him nicely. But they were strong people. Karine should be able to handle herself. David had a feeling that since her mind shift, she was going to be a force to be reckoned with in the Carmine Family. She didn''t need his help. Even though they were friends.....Their relationship was over after all.


    What he could think of the most was that he really wanted revenge for his parents. He wanted to payback those that had acted against him. He wants to clear his name that Gabriel will try to drag through the mud. Most of all.....David just wanted to kill everyone involved in the entire situation. Gabriel and his henchmen. Anyone who had any knowledge of the events that took place and didn''t act. Anyone that tried to stop his vengeance.


    He was just an average architect who enjoyed his work. These people had ruined his normal life.


    He had tried to help someone in distress. They had tried to kill him multiple times.


    He had started to fall in love with an outstanding woman. They had killed his parents.


    He had wanted to make a woman smile beautifully. They had twisted the woman that he loved into a cold heartless person.


    He wanted to have someone to share camaraderie with. They made his one and only friend betray him.


    He wanted to be stronger to protect the things he cared about. They had tortured and ruined his body.


    He wanted to live a dream life with a good job and a beautiful wife. They had made his life into a living nightmare.


    Sitting in his dark space.....drifting about in loneliness.....David relaxed and smiled. He finally realized that he had been too gentle, too kind.....too human. These people treated him like he was disposable. They wanted to give him a living nightmare simply because his actions offended them. But David knew more about nightmares than anyone...and they had no idea the nightmares that he could give them.

 Chapter 48: Slave

    David awoke in what appeared to be a holding cell in a prison. As he went to stand, he realized that he was chained to the wall. He also had a thin collar around his neck.


    David didn''t know where he was at, but he could tell that he wasn''t the only one here. Looking around he saw a few familiar faces also chained to the walls of the large holding cell. The first face he saw looked nothing like it did the last time he had seen her. Heather, Karine''s only female guard, had a bloodied face and sat on the ground askew next to him. She was just staring off wide eyed into the darkness of the cell. David continued to look around. He saw a few guards that he knew were very loyal to William Carmine. He also saw one person he wasn''t expecting.....Chaz. Chaz was staring right at David with a blank look in his eyes.


    "I''m so sorry, David," a light sounding voice drifted out from Chaz''s lips, "I didn''t know it would all end up like this. I thought they were just going to give you a hard time. They promised that I would make it to The Other....those bastards....I guess they didn''t lie."


    "Quiet in there," a voice angrily sounded from outside of the cell, "If I have to come in there, someone is going to hurt."


    David was puzzled. The voice didn''t sound familiar and had an odd accent to it.


    David could hear some talking between people out side. It sounded like they were speaking Spanish....not English.  But David could somehow understand every word that they were saying. It was very weird. Just where were they?


    After a few minutes, a guard came up to the front of the cell.


    "Oh, looks like another one is awake. Glad you could join us here at the Diego Family compound," the guard said before turning his head to look at Heather in interest.


    "Hey, Jared!! She is awake again. You ready for a good time," the guard said looking off down the corridor on the side of the cell.


    "Yes indeed. I am ready. All you guys keep talking about how great she is," a voice come from the corridor, "Open it up and I''ll help you take her out."


    After a minute, keys jingled at the metal door to the holding cell, the door opened and two big men walked in with a swagger.


    Heather just continued to stare off into space as the two men picked her up effortlessly and dragged her out of the cell. The cell door locked and in a few minutes time the smacking of flesh on flesh could be heard from outside the cell.


    One of the few old Carmine Guards that was awake stood up in an attempt to stop the guys.


    "What are you trash doing to her?," the man yelled out of the cell as he tried his hardest to shake the bars lose.


    With a buzz and a pop, the man fell down to the ground. He was dead. Something in his collar had popped and killed him.


    "Damn, dude. Why did you kill one? You know we will make less money now," a voice came into the cell from the hall way.


    "These bastards still think that they have rights," the guard turned around to look at the people chained in the cell.


    "You are fucking slaves!! Act like it! If you are lucky you may survive for a while. If you keep acting up, I won''t hesitate to detonate your control collar," the guard said aggressively in English.


    "Now stay quiet and seated. We can''t make any money in The Other if you are all dead.," the guard ordered.


    David finally realized just how bad the situation was. They were being sold off as slaves from Earth to the Diego family in The Other. Gabriel must have smuggled him and the other guards away to South America as part of his plan to setup David. David couldn''t stop thinking. What was going to happen and how could he get out of this mess?


    It seemed like they were sold off to one of the other gatekeeper groups, the Diego Family of Peru. From what David remembered, this family was one of the most reclusive and tended to operate like they were still in the days of the Spanish conquistadors. They must still use slaves.


    David knew that no one in the Carmine family will ever know that these people were sold as slaves in the Diego family. Just like the gateways were spread around Earth, they were also really spread out in The Other. Actually they are extreme distances between the nine gatekeeper cities in The Other. There have been no successful exploration missions that crossed from one city to another in the millenniums that humans have been in The Other. Too much danger lurks in the wilderness between the cities. With that said, the only way anyone from the Carmine family would ever see them is if they went to Peru and entered The Other from their gate.  People in the Carmine Family would think that the guards are dead and that David is on the run somewhere on Earth or dead from Gabriel''s group of justice seekers.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.


    The fact that slaves existed puzzled David. Were people civilized enough to move past slavery? No. They had fucking killed his parents and tortured him because he had a girlfriend....these bastards have no human decency. Actually, David had been told once before that most of the human groups in the other had slaves of some sort. They would capture devils and demons to put them to use. They even tamed intelligent beasts to serve as mounts. But, he never expected to use humans as slaves also.


    As he pondered the situation, David decided that he needed to assess his current physical status.


    He sat calmly and crossed his legs. Focusing in on himself, he used the little heavenly energy he had to inspect his body. At a quick glance, he realized that he was physically a wreck. His internal organs all had some sort of slight bruising, he had small scrapes and bruises all over, his face was swollen, his leg was really messed up to the point that he would have trouble walking, and he was missing a few teeth.....and an missing eye.


    David couldn''t help but sigh at his current physical condition. He was really beat up. Unless he had considerable time to focus on healing himself, he would be no different than a cripple.


    After he assessed his physical condition, he tried to focus in on what he could do with his skills. He could feel a very small stream of heavenly energy entering his body through his neck. After focusing on the collar for a while, David determined that the heavenly energy wasn''t completely restricted. The collars allowed a very small amount through that must be used to help sustain cultivators lives. If their heavenly energy was cut completely, they would be no different the common people. David was sure that the Diego family didn''t want normal people. Normal people couldn''t survive in The Other.


    David tested his shadow skill, but it used too much heavenly energy...he only partially shifted to shadow for a moment. No one in the cell even noticed. It was that insignificant. David attempted to execute a few other skills, but he couldn''t make it past the chant before he ran out of heavenly energy.


    Basically, all of his darkness skills were useless. But he did have other skills.


    Next was his perception skill. He closed his eyes and started to focus. The surrounding area instantly came into his sensory view. He could feel everyone in the cell. He could see outside of the cell and down the corridor.


    He could also see the two guards having their way with a unconscious Heather on a couch in a small office. She almost seemed lifeless. Anger flared through David at the sight. With the anger came his memory of what these people had done to him, he remembered that he owed them nightmares. But they were awake now...then he thought....maybe he could do something to help Heather.


    Closing his eyes, David focused in on his dream world. Instantly, David appeared in his dark space. Everything was the same as always. He focused in on the darkness and several dream orbs began to appear around him. Most seemed to be from some of the sleeping or unconscious prisoners. He could see one orb off to the side. It was Heather''s.


    David drifted over to the side and entered Heather''s dream orb. As David entered, he was appalled by the sight. Heather was being assaulted by several men in her nightmare.  This was so much different than the passionate dream he had seen that involved Heather and Karine.....this was an abomination of a nightmare.


    With a wave of his hand, all the men disappeared from Heather''s dream. She was back to her normal self, uninjured and looking healthy. She was also standing in one of the lounge areas at the Carmine House.


    Still terrified from the assaults of the previous nightmare, Heather was shaking as she started to take in her surroundings.


    She had a slight bit of panic as she saw a man walking toward her in the hallway. In a few seconds, she realized that it was someone she knew. It was David Knox. Karine''s former boyfriend.


    He walked up to her side and began to speak.


    "Heather, I am so sorry for what is happening to you," David said, "but I know my apologies are not anywhere near enough to make up for the terror these people have caused you."


    "David, what are you talking about? What is going on?," Heather said with a tremble to her voice.


    "We are in a dream world now. But our abused bodies are in slave quarters at the Diego Family home. We are being prepared for transfer to The Other....to be slaves of the Diego family.....You....You passed out from being raped by two of our guards....you don''t seem to be doing well," David said sadly.


    Heather was currently freaking out as she recalled what had been done to her. How would you handle it if someone you knew walked up to you, told you that you are in a dream and your unconscious body is being violated by a bunch of men? Any person wouldn''t be able to handle that information.


    After letting Heather calm down, David spoke again.


    "Since you remember what is happening in the real world.... I can give you some help.....First, I can not save you.....I am not strong enough yet....But I can give you a few options. First, I could let you continue the miserable existence in hope that the situation gets better. Second, I could lock you in this dream world and give you a wonderful dream to relive over and over again. Eventually you may die or they may keep you alive as some sort of toy. Third, I can take your life...your energy will become mine and you will just die and none of this will be an issue any longer. But considering the three options, you must know one thing.....anyone that touched you will die. They my not die today or tomorrow.....but they will die. I will kill them all," David promised.


    Heather sat down in one of the lounge chairs.....


    "Tell me.....how are you able to do this?," Heather asked David.


    "Since before I entered the Carmine house, I have been able to manipulate and modify dreams. I could even walk to other people''s dreams. Honestly, you have given me one of my greatest memories of a dream.....you and Karine together in your dreamworld," David said honestly, "I don''t know why I can do this.....I just have this power. I have always kept it a secret until today...you are the first person I have ever exposed this to...how can I not trust a woman going through so much misery?"


    After getting an explanation, Heather sat there in the dream of the Carmine house that she worked in. She was heavy in thought. After sitting in thought for some time, she turned to David with a serious face.


    "I am scared of dying. But with what is happening.....I am scared of living. Knowing what has happened to me, I want vengeance on those that have done this to me. If you can promise vengeance, I have no issue dying to become your strength," Heather said with the face of a warrior.


    "Are you sure?," David asked to confirm.


    "Yes, I am," she responded.


    "Then, I will leave you with a pleasant dream as you go on your journey. Don''t worry.....I won''t peak at this one....I promise, " David said with a smile as Karine appeared behind him in the hallway of the dream.


    "Thank you, David," Heather said with a smile on her face and a tear in her eye.


    "What did you say, beautiful?," Karine''s voice echoed down the hall towards Heather.


    "Nothing...I was just thanking a friend," Heather said as she walked to greet Karine in the dream.


    ______________________________________


    David appeared back in his world of darkness. He just stood there staring at Heather''s dream orb. He had given her options and she had chosen to help him and die.


    However, David had never thought of how he would kill her. When he killed in his dream world, he had either tormented repeatedly or simply crushed the dream orb. Right now, he couldn''t do either with a clear conscious. He wanted to make the ordeal the least bit traumatic for Heather as possible.


    After a seconds thought, he reached forward to touch the dream orb. As he touched it, he could feel Heather''s willingness to die. She had completely accepted it. As David''s hands began to squeeze the dream orb, he could feel the tug of the real world on the orb. He had never taken his time with the action before...he had always crushed an orb out of anger in the heat of the moment. As he squeezed the orb, he could feel its connection to Heather''s pitiful body.


    A thought occured to David, ''Maybe I could just sever the connection of the dream orb from her body''


    With the thought, David shifted his strength from squeezing to pulling. With a bit of effort, David felt a snap as Heather''s dream orb disconnected from her body and floated next to David in his darkness. Thinking his task was done, David relaxed his focus on his dark world. To David''s surprise, Heather''s dream orb stuck by him even after the rest faded away. It was like her dream orb had become a part of his world of darkness.

 Chapter 49: The Gateway

    The next morning David awoke to a commotion outside of the prison cell. The two guards from last night were being berated by nicely dress man.


    "You two bastards are going to pay for this shit. Of the entire shipment, there was only one female. She was very attractive and had a Level 1 Body Foundation Stage cultivation...how the hell did you fuck her to death?," the well dressed fellow screamed while waiving his hands around in threat.


    "And you even killed another one with the collar. You have absolutely fucked this shipment. I will be lucky to make any decent stone on this transaction," the man fussed.


    Looking in the cell, he shook his head and ordered, "Clean them up and redress them. If they step out of line, cut their heavenly energy completely and beat them....but do not kill them, you idiots. Once they get cleaned up bring them to the gateway for immediate transfer to The Other. The longer we hold them...the more something can go wrong."


    The fancy man walked off briskly leaving the two guards standing outside the prison cell regretting their actions from the night before. After a moments wait, the two men quickly walked up to the cell and ordered the men to strip their clothes. After the experience so far, everyone complied without much fuss. Seeing that the men were complying, the two guards walked off down the corridor.


    As the grown men were left by themselves in the cell, they began to stand and strip their clothes. Their eyes couldn''t help wonder around to see the state of everyone else in the cell. Morning light streamed in through a small window in the cell giving them a view of the other men in the room. A few things were noticeable to everyone. They were all wearing a thin metal collar around their necks. Each man looked like he had been through one hell of a fight. Since it was inappropriate to stare at another grown man naked, everyone got just a glance at each other as they each peaked around at the group of slaves.....everyone but David. Everyone couldn''t keep from staring at David.


    Most of the guards had lived a carefree life in the Carmine residence. Some of the other unknown guys seemed to also be well off in their physical care. The group appeared to be guys that didn''t get in violent fights that frequently and had been living generally easy going lives.....


    David was an exception. His body was covered with large and small scars, burn marks, bruises that were not healed all the way, gouges out of his flesh...his body was complete riddled with traces of injury in just about every location.


    "My god," one of the guards said seeing David''s appearance.


    David looked up at the man and smiled to show some of his missing teeth and the gaping hole from his missing eye, "I know right.....My package is huge."


    Chaz and a few of the other guards that knew David immediately broke out in laughter, but all of them were amazed.....this guy could still joke around....in that condition.


    "Quiet in there," came a yell from outside of the cell. A dragging sound accompanied the shout and soon the two guards appeared at the front of the cell with a large trash bin and a water hose with a sprayer at the end.


    "Alright, throw your shitty clothes into the trash bin and line up against the wall for a quick cleaning," one of the guards said.


    David and the other men walked with their old clothes and tossed them into the trash bin for disposal. They then lined up along the cell wall.  The two guards sprayed them down and then handed out fresh sets of simple linen clothes.


    David actually enjoyed the spray of cold water and cleaning his body. First, he was thirsty and this gave him a chance to have a few sips of clean water. Second, he didn''t like the feeling of the dried blood as it stuck stiffly to his body. The stream of blood being washed from David was visibly notable heading toward the drain in the floor.


    The prison guards walked around the room handing out fresh clothes and inspecting the men''s conditions. When they got to David, both of the guards winced.


    "Damn, somebody really fucked you up," one of the guards said then turned to the other guard, "Do we still have any of those eye patches left in the desk.....go check...the boss wants the slaves to be presentable....if this guy shows up with a hole in his face then the potential slave buyers will run the other way."


    The one guard left and came running back a few moments latter with an black eye patch in his hand.


    He threw it at David and said, "Here put this on your eye....you''re scaring people."This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    David put on the eye patch and continued getting dressed in the simple linen shirt and pants. The men were also given some simple sandals for shoes. The outfits were not great, but David understood they were cheap.....who would want to waste money on slaves they were about to sell?


    After all of the prisoners were cleaned up, the two guards stung them together with a cord through a small loop in the side of their collars. They started marching the men forward down the corridor. Along the way, the people could see the naked body of a woman laid in a pile of trash. They all knew this was the woman taken out of the cell last night.


    The two guards must have felt the anger emanating off of the men because one of them turned around and said, "No problems from you all. Don''t forget that we can shut off your elemental energy and beat you."


    The groups anger started to die down, but David was still angry. They didn''t even give her a proper burial and just through her out with the trash. With a thought, David could feel Heather''s dream orb residing in his soul. He still hadn''t had a chance to investigate this issue any further.


    David had some trouble walking along the way but he was able to keep up with the group for the most part. After about a 10 minute walk, the group of slaves arrived at a very large open underground area that looked like old Inca temples. At the center of the temples, a large platform was constructed with an large space portal glowing at the center.


    The slaves were marched up the platform near the glowing portal. The well dressed man that had previously berated the guards was standing besides the portal to The Other.


    "Slaves, you will enter the portal in a single file line....one at a time. You will orderly follow the slave in front of you. No unruliness or you will be executed. The long distance transfer to The Other takes roughly 30 minutes. You will be traveling in the space between realms so do not try anything stupid. Your body will be restricted in it''s movement...so just relax and enjoy the ride," the man warned before turning and stepping into the glowing portal.


    David was in about the middle of the group of 12 men that were lined up in slave''s clothes. David knew some of the men....some of the men he had never seen before. He couldn''t keep himself from looking at Chaz angrily...an apology wouldn''t fix his betrayal.


    The men stepped into the portal one after the another. Eventually, it was David''s turn to step through the portal. As David stepped forward, he could feel himself be pulled into the nothingness of the space between worlds.


    His body was restricted from movement as he felt himself moving along at a very fast speed. This transfer portal must be a wormhole of sorts.


    After about 5 minutes into the transfer, David began to feel a pleasant sensation. It was that feeling he got when his mom hugged him....the felling that he got when he walked alone at night.


    Looking straight ahead, he saw a beautiful womanly figure walking toward him through space around the portal''s wormhole.


    "Oh...my child, someone has not treated you well," the ethereal voice said.


    "Yes, I have not been treated kindly. But I will survive and they will die," David said with a hint of anger to his voice.


    The woman continued to look at him and smile.


    "My friend, I see that you have accomplished something great. You are starting to understand The Great Truth of Reality. I can feel the pull of reality from your soul. No one has ever accomplished the mastery of reality.....at least no one that we know of. Good luck."


    "The Truth of Reality? What is that?," David asked puzzled.


    "oh....my child, I forget you are in a forgotten lower realm. You probably do not know. Truths exist for all things in existence. A Truth is the knowledge of the natural order of the universe. The last time we met, I gave you the small gift of the Truth of Shadow. But today, I see the traces of all sorts of truths on your soul. None are complete, but you are advancing.," she said with a pause before she spoke again.


    "My friend, the Truth of Dreams lingers on your soul like an interesting scent. It is your first step into the Great Truth of Reality that you always wanted to achieve. Dreams, Presence, Perception, Real, Fake and Imagination....the six Truths that combine into the Great Truth of Reality. How to explain such an abstract thing as reality...oh, this will work for now....Dream is the world that all living being possess in their soul but very few know how to enter and even fewer know how to control. Presence is to influence other beings view with respect to your existence. Perception is the ability to be aware of everything in existence. Real is turning something that does not exist in reality into something that exists in reality. Fake is seeing through things that are not real. Imagination is most mysterious of them all....is creating a reality based on people''s own imaginations," the beautiful dark woman lectured.


    "My child, I can not offer much help to you going forward. My time with you is limited. I am so far away and am only here in projection," she said while looking at David intently.


    "I see.....You have developed some skill related to dreams. You also have another soul being held within the your soul world. Is this an enemy or a friend?," the woman asked.


    "She is a friend who suffered cruelty and violence at the hands of men. I took her physical life as a way to save her from her torture," David said trying to speak appropriately with the woman.


    "oh...Then let me help both her and you. I will give you a soul technique that will suit your path well. Then I must leave. Best of luck to you in your journeys.....My friend. My child," she reached forward and touched David''s forehead.


    Information flooded David''s brain and he was shocked by the information.


    Then he thought for a second before opening his eyes and speaking. He could see the woman standing there slowly starting to fade while looking at him lovingly.


    "Thank you....My mother...My friend," David said as he started to immediately comprehend the information she had given him.


    "Ahhh...that is nice," she said with an even bigger smile before fading off into nothingness.


    David was left motionless in the wormhole of transfer between the two worlds. By his estimation, he still had 15-20 minutes left until he arrived in The Other.


    David began to focus on his own physical being inside the portal''s wormhole.


    To his surprise, he could easily absorb heavenly energy through the collar during the transfer. Realizing that this was the case, David began to focus his efforts on healing his body. He healed his organs first. Next was his leg so he would have a better chance a fleeing if needed. Although he could not replace his eye, he healed the area around it so that it was smooth hollow opening in his face. He was in the process of healing some of his muscles when he felt an abrupt pull and was thrown out onto a stone ground.


    "Stand up, don''t hold up the line," a voice yelled at David as he was herded along with the other men that had come out of the gateway.


    As he stood in line waiting to be moved out of a small underground building that looked similar to a temple, he could still feel a small steady stream of heavenly energy flowing through the collar. The amount wasn''t as great as when he was in the wormhole, but it was still flowing at a decent rate compared to Earth. David enjoyed the feeling. He could feel that his starved body was absorbing the small stream of energy and pushing him toward advancement.


    ''If I was free of this collar, I would probably advance to a Demigod of Shadow on the spot now that most of my injuries are healed,'' David thought as he was crowded along with the slaves. He still pretended to be just as broken as before.....he limped along barely keeping up with the group. After a minute or two of steady walking, the group of men entered a tunnel that appeared to be an exit to the outside world...and exit to surface of The Other.

 Chapter 50: The Other

    Walking out of the tunnel from the portal, the intense sun and dry air assaulted David.  David couldn''t see until his eyes started to adjust to the light. Once he opened his eyes, he could see the landscape around him clearly. Hence, the first words that David said when he entered the surface world of The Other was, "A fucking desert."


    Yes.....the Diego Family of the mountainous jungles of Peru on Earth....occupied a damn, hot ass desert in The Other. It was the weirdest thing. David didn''t remember reading any books about a desert in The Other. Most of the Carmine Family''s information talked about endless forests that surrounded their city and towns.


    "Keep moving forward," the fancy slave master yelled at the group of men, "Follow your masters."


    The group of men marched out of a fortified area near the portal and into the city streets. For some reason, David had expected the cities in The Other to be modern just like Earth. He was completely wrong in his expectations. This city looked like it was taken right out of movie set about the ancient Inca civilization. Everything was made of stone. The roads were a mixture of dirt and stone. There were no cars or trucks...only carriages that were pulled by large beasts that looked similar to camels. It was like a step back in time.


    ''Why didn''t modern technology make it to this place?,'' David thought to himself.


    Since David was a student of architecture, he had studied the architecture of all the great ancient civilizations on Earth. This place looked like it was out of some animation made for a documentary on "Machu Picchu." The only difference that was obvious was the lack of towering mountains on the horizon.....those were replaced with towering sand dunes and the top of a large stone wall that appeared to be protecting the perimeter of the city. Looking around, David could see guards patrolling the top of the walls with spears.


    As the men walked, the group of newly captured slaves saw several other slaves the city with and without their masters along the route. The slaves were easily identifiable by the metal bands around their necks. There were also groups of merchants selling goods, people going about their daily business and groups of soldiers patrolling the streets. Everyone seemed to be getting along well...as well as a civilization from the 14th century could get along in a desert.


    After walking for short while, the group of slaves arrived at a large building on one of the many streets of the city. They were marched inside and sat down on a large wooden bench that stretched about 100 feet down a long hallway.


    "Stay put and don''t cause trouble," the man leading the group said before walking to a door to side of the hall.


    After about 20 minutes of waiting, the slave trader stepped back into the hall way with two slaves at his side. One had a basket in his hand and the other had a large pot.


    "Eat and drink," the slave trader said, "I need you to be in peak condition as we go to the auction. I do not want to lose money because you need a little food and water. You will have twenty minutes of rest before we leave for the auction."


    The first man, with a basket in his hand, began handing out what appeared to be biscuits to the men in the hallway. The next man followed and started allowing each man to take a sip of water from the pot.


    In normal cases, most people would have turned their noses up at the biscuits and communal drink. However, most of the men were starting to feel the fatigue associated with the lack of nourishment.


    David was hungry and thirsty, but he wasn''t really fatigued. His Body of Recovery skill had many benefits. It healed the body of injuries, but also helped nourish the body with heavenly energy. Since David had a small stream of heavenly energy, then he could survive for a few days on that by itself. But....he still ate the food and took a few sips of water. The heavenly energy would keep him from dying.....but it wouldn''t keep him from wasting away due to hunger and thirst.


    As the man with the basket finished up with delivering the biscuits, he was stopped by one of the newly arrived men.


    "Hey...what are they going to do with us?," one of the men that David didn''t recognize asked the basket holding slave.


    The slave looked around in a panic a first, then leaned forward and said quietly, "Caves. Servants. Sex. War. Slaves serve one of those purposes." Then, the man took off quickly down the hall...he slowed to his normal pace when near the exit. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    Of course, David could hear the exchange. He completely understood. ''Seems like his slave life was going to be one of those options. I hope I get something stable. Stability would be great until I can figure a way out this collar and escape,'' David thought.


    Realizing that he had only used 2 of his 20 minutes for rest, David closed his eyes and focused his soul perception out into the building. He needed more information about his situation. Since his perception now gave him about a 50 diameter awareness, he decided to make use of the skill.


    In viewing everything with his soul sense, David could get a general idea of what was happening in his surroundings. Most of the building seemed to be similar to office space....this place seemed like some sort of merchant headquarters. Some areas also appeared to be guard or slave housing. Focusing in on the room that the fancy slave trader went into, David could barely make out their speech.


    "Only twelve this time? Gabriel is sure slacking these days. Usually he sends us twenty. Well, I see that there were two more but those idiot guards killed them," a heavy set man who was a bit short told the fancy slave trader.


    "Yes. My nephew has been sending over quite a few good slaves since he arrived back on Earth. It appears that his father has been promoted over the Earthen Carmine Family. Maybe this will be good for us in the future. Who would have known that my sister''s fancy for a man from the Carmine Family would give us this opportunity," the fat man said, "Now go march those slaves around the city. Let everyone know that we have a new crop in for purchasing."


    "Yes, Head Steward Lazarus," the slave merchant said before leaving the room.


    David was surprised. He had always been told that the rumor was Vincent Carmine''s adopted son Gabriel was actually an illegitimate child. No one had ever said that Gabriel''s mother was a woman from the Diego Family. And it sounded like their group was not the first group of slaves that Gabriel had sent to his mother''s family. ''One day, I will kill him,'' David thought to himself with a smile.


    David withdrew his perception just as the slave trader was walking back into hallway.


    "Alright, everyone get up. If you haven''t finished your biscuit yet.....then cram it into your face and get up," the slave trader said.


    "March to the exit," he ordered before smacking one of the slaves on the back with the crop in his hand.


    The extravagantly dressed slave trader marched the group down the street in a single file line while yelling to everyone who would listen, "New batch of high quality slaves! Foundation Stages! Some Americans! Come to the square for the auction at 1 PM." The man repeated these lines every 500 feet of walking.


    David started to get sick of the repeat marketing of this slave trader. He didn''t like the feeling of being someone''s possession without any control....but who would actually like this situation...none of the men in the slave line seemed to be having a good time of it.


    David looked ahead to see Chaz with his head held down walking in line. David smiled again. He had so many people that he needed to kill.


    This slave parade around the city gave David a excellent chance to observe the lay of the land. Most buildings appeared to either serve as residential or commercial uses. However, there were two larger buildings that looked like mansions that were located equally from the walls near the center.


    ''Those must be the big shots'' houses,'' David thought seeing the decorations and ornamentation on the walls of the two buildings. He could remember that the Diego family had two god level founders. It made sense that they would have big extravagant buildings for themselves.


    David saw many things as he was toured around by the slave trader. He tried his best to remember the inside layout of the city. He never knew when he would have to use the information, but he knew that it would be helpful.


    Walking around, David also had the chance to overhear the conversation of the city''s residents. There was various gossip and information that David had learned from his travels around the city.


    This main city of the Diego Family was called Nazca City. David remembered something from his high school history about a Nazca civilization....so maybe that was related to the city name. The city seemed to have a population of around 40,000 people. David was having trouble understanding how so many people made it to The Other, but when considering that the portal between worlds had existed for thousands of years...it was understandable that the population could get this high.


    David also understood that the people were speaking another language....but he had no issue understanding or talking back. It seemed that he was the only one because a few of the slaves seemed to be completely lost.


    In his eavesdropping, David also learned many people on the street mentioned traveling to oasis in the desert for trading. It seemed that some groups of people from the Diego Family had colonized some of the oasis in the desert for their own use. Most talk surrounding the multiple oasis was related to mining or farming. These two things seemed to be the main economic drivers in this desert civilization. As he realized that the descriptions from the Carmine Family seemed almost opposite of the Diego Family, David couldn''t help wonder just how far separated the different families were in The Other.


    After wondering around the City for about 3 hours, David couldn''t understand why these people would parade new slaves around so much. It didn''t seem wise to show a captured prisoner the layout of the city. However.....after thinking over the situation, David realized the reality. These people were just not concerned that there may be a potential slave uprising or run away slaves.....why would they be concerned?.....they could kill anyone of the slaves with the push of a button.....and there was nothing the slaves could do about it.....David included.


    Besides general information about the city, David also overheard various resident talk of demon raids on oasis towns and general fears about the possibility of an upcoming war with the demons. It seemed that the Diego family was located in an area of The Other that was near populations of demons.


    In David''s previous research at the Carmine Family on Earth, most of the information that was available discussed devils. Little information was actually available on Demons. Devils seemed to be creatures and items that develop spirituality and often human characteristics. For example, the mother of the two nurses in the Carmine house was a wood nymph born from the spirit of a forest. She had migrated over from The Other before the passages were restricted and eventually fell in love with a human. On the other hand, Demons were a humanoid being similar to humans that had a large variety of species. Vampires, succubus and orcs were just a few types of demons.


    Regardless of his other thoughts, David got somewhat excited when he overheard the information about these peoples fears. It was good to know that his enemy''s had fears. He could always use those fears to create some wonderful nightmares. David just smiled his broken tooth grin as he walked single file behind the slaves in front of him. He continued walking...fantasizing about ways that he could use all of his new information to his advantage...hoping that someday soon....he would be able to get this collar off and get some revenge on these people.

 Chapter 51: Auction

    After being paraded around most of the Diego City, the train of slaves arrived to a large common area that David judged to be the center of the large city. As they were walking through the open lot of land, David could notice the small booths set up around the perimeter of the area. It appeared that this common ground served as a market. The booths were selling street food and hawking wares that ranged in variety from weapons to kitchen tools. It was quite busy and everyone seemed to have some business to accomplish.


    The group of men were led to a small building at the center of the common area and marched inside. Once inside the building, each slave was crammed tightly into very small singular holding cells.


    David could hear a ton of commotion outside as if there was a crowd. Reaching out with his soul sense, David could see that there was a crowd in front of a stage. As the guards took a slave out of a holding cell, they would shuttle them up the stairs to be auctioned. Once a price was decided, the slave would be brought down the opposite side of the stage to another set of holding cells.


    One by one, the slaves that were ahead of David were taken up to the stage and auctioned. David even saw Chaz get led up the stage and auctioned off like cattle. David hoped that this man faced a horrible fate at the hands of his captors. The thought made him feel better.


    Eventually, a guard came and opened David''s holding cell.


    "Your turn now, slave," the guard said as he lead David up a small set of stairs on a leash. David was humiliated by the leash. Sure he had been treated poorly before but he always felt that he had some remnants of a human.....now to be lead around like a dog.


    David had a crazed scowl on his face as the guard lead him out onto a stage. Looking off into the crowd, David could see people pointing, people laughing.....people going about their daily lives while someone was in front of them selling slaves. At this point, David had made a decision...he didn''t care who these people were, how nice they were, or what they could possibly contribute to society.....he just wanted them all dead. Every last one of them.


    Standing on the stage with a guard holding his leash, David broke out of his moment of madness as the slave auctioneer began to speak.


    ".....and now we have Slave number 8. This man is roughly 30 years old, but has limited physical strength due to previous injuries. While he may not move along too well, he was an architect by trade, has an abnormal ability to walk through mirror fields without resistance, and he is a Level 3 Darkness foundation stage cultivator and he has mastered the Body of Recovery skill. He has decent skills with knives but is untrained in other weapons. His 3 mastered Darkness skills include the Shadow Skill, Doom Skill and Retribution Skill. In our opinion, he would make an excellent helping hand to fix things around the home. He would also serve very well as a scout for exploration," the fancy slave trader said loudly to broadcast his voice over the crowd of people.


    David just stood there looking at the man. How did they have so much information about him? After a few seconds, he realized that Gabriel must provide information with the slaves that he turns over in order to get a better price.


    "As with any higher cultivation slave, I will start the bidding at ten stone. Do I have any takers?," the slave auctioneer said questioning the crowd.


    "Ten stone," came a shout from someone standing in the crowd.


    After a few seconds, no other responses were heard. The auctioneer seemed pissed that no one was participating.


    "Although it has a few defects, this is a good item for sale. Do we have anyone who will offer 11 stone?," the auctioneer said.


    There were no responses from the audience.


    "Going once, going twice.....sold, for ten stone," the auctioneer said in a disappointed manner after waiting slightly longer than a minute.


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    Immediately after he was sold, one of the people wrangling slaves grabbed David by the arm and pulled him off the edge of the stage and placed him into one of a large number of small.....very small....holding pens....it was basically a cage big enough for one man to stand in.


    As he was thrown inside, the slave wrangler barked at David, "Stay here slave. Your new master will come get you shortly."


    David could still hear the auction going on in the background. Most slaves sold way above the reserve price of 10 stone...David was the only one that sold for so cheap.


    "Must be the eye patch," David said to himself as he stood in a cage getting baked by the hot sun.


    Looking around, David could see several of the other men who were already sold waiting to be picked up by their new masters. One of those men was Chaz who actually managed to slouch down on the floor of the cell while waiting.


    After about 20 minutes, the auction seemed to be winding down and it sounded like the crowd was starting to disperse in front of the stage.


    A few people in nice looking clothes walked up to one of the guards.


    "I''m Javi from the Manco Family. I am here to pickup the two slaves that we purchased earlier," a slim man in robes said as he passed a piece of paper to one of the guards.


    "Number 3 and Number 8," the guard yelled out to the other guards who immediately began moving in the direction of David''s holding cell.


    "Here are the controller disks for for the collars. They are your responsibility now. Thank you for your business," the guard said while handing Javi a stack of paperwork and two small metal disks.


    Seeing the metal disks, David couldn''t keep from staring in their direction. That was the disk that controlled his life at the moment. If he could get a hold of it, then he would be able to disconnect this collar.


    After fantasing about stealing the collar''s control disk, David looked over to see what other slave had been purchased. To his surprise, Chaz was being lead out of his holding cell.


    David and Chaz were tied together through the loop in the collar around their necks and marched towards a small caravan made of about a dozen men and around twenty camel looking beasts.


    "We need to leave now to make it back to the oasis by nightfall. Hurry and load these two slaves up so we can get moving," Javi told one of the men as he walked David and Chaz over to the group. The man he had just spoken to was holding the beasts steady with a rope strung through rings in their noses.


    The man motioned over to four other men with his free hand. In a manner of minutes, the four men had both David and Chaz loaded into some sort of basket seat on the size of the large beasts. The seats were connected by a few ropes strung over the beast''s back.


    Once they were strapped in, the caravan immediately started moving it''s way out of the City of Nazca.


    The ride was actually pleasant. David had spent most of the time with his eyes closed in a fake sleep. He didn''t want the men to know that he was constantly eavesdropping on their discussions.


    From what David could tell, the group of men were traveling to a small oasis town, called Manco, approximately 8 hours away. The beasts they were riding were called Allocs and could move a pretty rapid pace through the sands of the desert. Probably about a speed of 30 miles per hour. That would make the distance between Nazca and the oasis was approximately 240 miles.


    David also learned that the family that oversaw the Manco Oasis had main industries of both farming and mining. The caravan had been sent to the main city to sell some items, trade for a few supplies and pickup one new slave for the mines.


    David got the entire story from Javi as he explained it to another one of the caravan members.


    "We really lucked out that some fresh slaves were brought in today. I had been trying to negotiate with a few people to sell us one of theirs, but no one would take the offer of 50 stones for a good laborer. At the auction,  I really lucked out. There didn''t seem to be another family from a mining oasis present, so I picked up that first slave for only 20 stones. It was a great deal. Because I had a few of Mr. Gravel''s stones left, I decided to see if I could get another good deal. Who would have known that I would get another slave for only 10 stones. Mr. Gravel should be pretty excited...two slave and he only spent 30 stones. Also, the beat up looking one is good in darkness skills that I know can be helpful in the mines," Javi explained his dealings.


    ''It seems that I was a bargain,'' David thought to himself, ''these people have no idea.''


    _______________________________


    After hours of travel, the Alloc Caravan finally arrived at a small fortified oasis in the middle of the desert.  The oasis is very fortified with walls approximately 20 feet tall completely surrounding the populated area. These walls were made of stone and were thick enough to have soldiers patrolling every couple hundred feet or so.


    Since night was falling, the temperature was dropping pretty quickly and the caravan was rushed to get inside the town gates. The one thing about the night that was surprising to David were the moons. During the day, David would have thought that he was just in a large desert on Earth. But when the three moons of Nibiru came out in the sky...David finally felt like he wasn''t on Earth anymore.


    After entering the town, David and Chaz were herded over to a storage room in some building nearby the entrance to the town. After being brought inside the building, the two men were lead over to a large room that seemed to be a housing barracks of some sorts. There were about 18 or 19 men laying on straw mats on the floor in the room.


    "Go lay down and rest. You will receive orders from your master in the morning," the man leading David and Chaz over said.


    After the guard locked up the barred room, Chaz tried to start a conversation with David.


    "What do you think will happen to us?," Chaz couldn''t keep from asking David.


    "I do not know. But you will most likely die horribly...or at least that is what I hope for," David said to Chaz with a smile on his face.


    Hearing David''s response and seeing his grin, Chaz realized that he wasn''t going to have the chance to be friendly with David again.


    Chaz got up and walked to an empty bed on the opposite side of the chamber. David could see him trying to talk to some of the other slaves that were around him.


    David didn''t care. He had his own plans. Since he first arrived to The Other, he had been waiting for one thing...night time.


    As David laid down on the straw bed on the hard dirt floor, he chuckled to himself thinking, ''These people really did get themselves quite a bargain.''

 Chapter 52: First Night

    Although his first day here was complete shit, David had been waiting patiently for his first night''s sleep in The Other. He many be a weak slave in the Other, but in the dream world.....he was a king.


    As soon as David entered his dream world, he started to review the information that woman of darkness gave him as he transferred between worlds. The information she gave him was a soul skill that allows stolen souls to be cultivated into death spirits. These spirits, that were called Ker throughout the universe, were the spiritual embodiment of violent death and battle. After reviewing the information, David had an entirely different understanding of his dream world.


    The main revelation wasn''t really related to the soul technique. It was the supplemental information that went along with the technique that gave him the most insight.


    The reason that he couldn''t find any information about his dream world on Earth was that Earth did not have much information on the soul. Earth and The Other cultivation techniques was based solely on physical and elemental Truths of the Universe. For some reason, cultivation of the soul related Truths was non-existent in most lower realms. David''s innate ability to interact with the dream world had led to him developing souls skills on his own.


    The dark space that he entered to view dream orbs was actually his own soul''s soul space. When the orbs appeared, it was only an extension of his perception skill. In the physical realm, he could perceive actions around him.....but while in the soul realm and coupled with his dream skill....he could perceive other souls.


    Although they were not the entire soul, the dream orbs were actually a major portion of a living being''s soul.  The part of the soul related to dreams contained all of someone''s most important wants, desires and fears. This most primitive part of a soul needed an outlet for its release of soul energy so the soul had developed a need to dream.


    All skills in the Great Truth of Reality were soul based. David realized his perception ability also fell into this category. He had essentially mastered two soul skills of the Great Truth of Reality.....Dreams and Perception. That is why he could use the skill without any heavenly energy.....they relied on the energy of the soul.


    After getting over the introduction of new information, David focused in on the actual skill itself. David understood that the woman of darkness''s intent had been to develop Heather''s soul into a death spirit for his use in battle. From the description of a death spirit, they were wrathful beings that loved bloody battlefields. The spirits would absorb the energies from the blood of beings in order to create a physical form in the real world. Their form was typically that of their original form, but could change appearance based on the soul of spirit. For their existence, the blood of the living served as the nourishment for their physical bodies and the souls of others were the nourishment for their own soul. Because David''s own soul would be linked to the Ker...they would be 100 percent loyal to him and would follow his orders as instructed.


    David thought this over and decided that it was a good idea...if Heather was agreeable. He needed weapons to increase his strength and she could become a great weapon for battle.


    David entered his dream world and immediately saw Heather''s dream orb floating off to the side. With a touch of his hand, he removed the illusion of dream from inside. He had promised that he would watch this time. Then he entered.


    "David, what is going on? Am I dead?," Heather asked from inside the blank white of her dreamworld.


    "I am sorry, Heather. I had an issue with the skill and could not carry it out exactly as planned. I broke your soul away from your body, but I did not destroy your soul. I didn''t know that I could do this until now. Your physical body is dead.....but your soul has been living fine in my soul world," David said in a somber voice.


    "Essentially, your soul now resides inside of mine...but because of that, I have the ability to help you regain a physical body and progress in your cultivation," David said.


    "What? Really?," Heather said getting really excited.


    "Yes, really. But there is a price to pay. This method is one of the great soul methods of the universe. It isn''t some trash method from Earth or The Other. This was given to me by an exceptional woman.... let''s just call her my ''godmother''...she has given me this ability," David explained, "With this ability, you will be able to gain great power but you will have to pay for it with violence. You will need to consume the blood of the living and eat the souls of the dead....and you will be 100 percent loyal to me.....we live and we die together...I won''t force you to do anything however.....it is against my nature."


    "So I would be like a vampire and you would be my vampire creator?," Heather said happily.


    This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    David just looked at Heather. This woman must have read too many fantasy books...she even seemed eager.


    "...I guess...," David said hesitantly pausing for a second, "...You would basically become a mixture of a vampire and a vengeful ghost...Does that make sense?"


    "Yes," Heather said quickly.


    "So would you like to go forward with this method?," David asked to see if she was interested.


    "I already said yes....let''s get this started," Heather said in exacerbation at David.


    David was left standing in a dreamworld with a complete loss of words...this woman had definitely read one to many books about the supernatural.


    "Okay....I guess we will get started then.....," David said. He truly thought that he would take more time convincing Heather than he actually did.


    "Since I am still a slave in the real world, I think it would be best to cultivate your soul first. Now you are just a glowing orb in my soul space. It would be nice if I could get you to the point where you can at least manifest a soul body inside my soul space. That would be the first step towards getting a physical body," David said.


    "Okay, I''m ready...How do I cultivate?," Heather said.


    "You will need to leach power from the soul of other people...particularly people that have experienced violence. Based on the method my godmother taught me, I will make a link with your orb in my soul space. From this link, I can take you into other peoples'' dreams with me....and we can harvest their soul strength for you," David said.


    "Cooool, let''s get started," Heather said. She seemed a bit too overenthusiastic, but David figured that this was for this best after some consideration.


    "I will leave your dream space now. I will leave your dream space blank for now. As your soul grows, you will also be able to manipulate your own dream space into...whatever you want," David said as he was about to leave.


    "Heather...are you 100 percent sure that you want to do this? There is no going back," David said giving the woman one final chance.


    "David...you don''t need to ask again. My body is dead.  I didn''t even have any sexual interest in men to begin with....and they raped me so many times. If you can give me chance...a chance for revenge.....a chance to recover from this trauma...a chance to live as a different being that is more powerful than my previous self...I have no regrets and will gladly serve you as your warrior....," Heather said very seriously. Her cute joking nature was completely gone when she spoke those words.


    Then the seriousness on the woman''s face completely vanished and she smiled a beautiful smile.


    ".....but please do not call me Heather anymore. I am about to turn into a blood sucking, soul eating creature that fights on bloody battlefields....Heather just doesn''t seem right anymore...Heather died with that human body.....you can call me Misery from now on.....it is much more appropriate for what I will become in the future."


    David stared at the woman...She was right....who would fear a death spirit named Heather...after thinking for a minute....he even began to think.....Who the fuck would fear someone named David?


    "Okay.....Misery....I will be leaving now. Do not resist anything that you feel.....just accept it all," David said before vanishing from from her dream world.


    ------------


    David reappeared in his own soul space with a floating orb next to him. He reached out his hand to touch the orb. With a hand on its surface, he followed the instructions he was given and started to draw patterns and symbols over the surface of Misery''s soul orb. This method caused him intense pain in his soul... It was like part of his soul was the ink used to write the patterns and symbols.


    After David was complete, he felt an intense burst of pain as it felt like something punctured his soul. After the pain subsided, David could feel a linkage to another soul.


    Following down that linkage, David spoke, "Misery...are you there?"


    "Yes...," came the weak voice of a woman, "I am here....that was intense."


    "You sound weak.....that caused the both of us to feel some strain on our souls....now let''s go get you a feast," David said through the soul link.


    "Yes, Master," Misery said in a sultry voice.


    David focused his perception outward in his soul world. Eventually, numerous dream orbs started to appear within the area. David thought that he didn''t have much time remaining, so he decided on an easy target first. This target is one that he had eyed for the entire day. Through the connection, David brought Misery along into one of the dream orbs nearest him.


    The two appeared in the dreamworld instantly and David could now see Misery''s new physical form. The woman looked very similar to the previous Heather....almost identical.....


    "You look frightening," David said to Misery.


    "Why? What''s wrong with me?," Misery said looking around. She may have changed her name, but she was still the same Heather in personality.....for the most part.


    "Nothing is wrong with you....you look the same....but your eyes are blood red.....here, look...," David said as he made a mirror appear in front of Misery.


    "Oh...that''s sexy! Did any other changes happen to me?," she said while twirling around.


    "You should be able to change your form how you want it to look with a bit of effort. Remember, we are in a dream world right now, so I can support your imagination. When you get a body back in the real world, your appearance will be based on your own strength....I won''t be able to help you then," David said.


    With a look of concentration on her face, Misery''s form started to shift slightly. She still had the same basic look, but her outfit changed into some sort of sexy seductress uniform...she grew fangs and her fingernails extended into pointy claws....and she grew a pair of large bat wings from her back...she looked like a picturesque vampire queen.


    "Well....I guess you were really into vampire movies in your previous life," David said while standing amazed at the scene.


    Misery seemed to complete miss David''s comment as she stood there amazed at herself in the mirror.


    "Alright, that''s enough for now sweetheart," David said with a pleasant smile on his face, "We are in the dream world of one of my favorite people at the moment. I originally didn''t plan to kill anyone right from the start, but since your soul could use a nice boost of power.....why not take the power from someone that I hate."


    ______________________________________________


    A man stood in the woods fending off a pack of hungry wolves with a sword. These wolves were tormenting him as he fought to keep them from eating him alive. He felt a nip at the back of his leg and spun around with the sword to miss the wolf by a hair.


    David and Misery stood in the darkness watching the man try to survive. David had a cruel smile on his face and Misery seemed excited by the battle.


    "Wasn''t this man locked in the cell with us?," Misery asked David in a questioning manner.


    "Yes, he was a friend that betrayed me. His name is Chaz Brown and he is the reason for my current situation," David answered with a bit of hate lingering in his voice.


    "Why don''t you go give him some real pain? I''ll call off the pets," David said to Misery. He could tell that she had been waiting for permission as she took to the air in her newly formed wings.


    She proceeded to fly about above. David willed the wolves to start backing away from Chaz. Hope of safety was always a falsehood in nightmares. Just when you think you are safe.....the real terror begins.

 Chapter 53: Manco Family

    In the morning, David woke up in the cell to a fuss of commotion. The other slaves had found the dead body of Chaz laying face down on the ground on the opposite side of the quarters. Piss and shit all over the place. It was an ultimate human mess.


    Looking at the scene, David began to reflect of the experience last night. He had learned something after manipulating Chaz''s nightmares all night long. While Chaz''s soul''s resistance to David''s manipulations were not any stronger than a normal person''s..... the power that David and Misery had shared after destroying and consuming Chaz''s soul was about two times the amount David had gotten from his previous experiences.


    David assumed that this increase in soul strength was due to the fact that Chaz was a Stage 2 Foundation Stage cultivator. David was surprised by the increased power...but Misery was absolutely delighted...she seemed to gain considerable strength to her own soul last night. Just as David thought he was starting to understand more about his powers, something else would happen to confuse him.  He knew so little because he came from  a place lacking general knowledge on the soul. Hopefully, he would be able to find out more information on souls in The Other.


    Regardless, David couldn''t keep himself from smiling at the outcome of his night''s work. The scene of Chaz''s dead body was a great sight in his eyes. It was an appropriate way for someone who betrayed him to die. As he looked over, his attention was drawn to the slave collar laying to the side that had become detached from Chaz''s neck. It appeared that the collar only hung onto the living.


    In a matter of minutes, a few of the slave masters appeared.


    "What is going on?...Fuck, I think we lost one of the slaves last night. Those fucking bastards in the city are always selling defective goods," one of the men said.


    "Alright the rest of you can move out of the quarters and into the courtyard for your instructions," the other guard said.


    In a few minutes, the entire slave quarters had emptied out into the courtyard. They were not restrained in any way except for their collars. However, even if they could get the collar off... the inhospitably of the desert would not benefit people that tried to run away....they would die within hours without the proper supplies.


    The twenty slaves lined up in a military style fashion in the courtyard. Seeing the order of the situation, David quickly made his way to line up with the rest of the men. The sun was already intense this early in the morning but it didn''t take long for the head slave master to show himself.


    "Good morning everyone," the man said.


    "Good morning, Master Gravel," the group of slaves echoed out in unison.


    Seeing everyone but David respond, the slave master smiled and walked over in David''s direction.


    ''Fuck,'' David thought to himself.


    "I see we have a new member to our slave group," the man said as he walked in front of David.


    "Since you are new and appear to be in rather poor condition, I will spare you this time. In the future, you will address me as Master Gravel. I am the head slave keeper of the Manco Family and I will be respected...or you will die. Do you understand?," the man said with a smile on his face.


    "Yes, Master Gravel," David said. He could play their games for now.


    "Great, you seem to understand quickly. Now where is the other new slave?," Master Gravel said looking over at one of the other slave masters.


    "Ummm....Sir, he died in the quarters last night. I looked at the body and I really don''t know what happened. He probably had something wrong with him but it was hidden by the slave traders," the subordinate slave master said to Master Gravel.


    "Fuck. Those trash slave traders. I will have to break the news to Mr. Harver with the mines. He really needed another laborer and that guy had great physical qualities. I''m am going to need to send one of the other slaves over to him instead," Master Gravel said in a bit of disappointment.


    As the man spoke his last sentence, David could see the other slaves wince at the prospect of one of them leaving for the mines. The mines must not be a good spot to go.


    "Slave, you are new. Do you practice any skills?," Master Gravel said while looking at David.


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    "Yes, Master Gravel. I practice three Darkness skills.....Shadow...Doom....and Retribution. And I practice one body skill.....Body of Recovery," David responded. He couldn''t lie....he was sure that the slave master already knew this information and was only testing him in some way.


    "Good. You have two skills that would work well in the mines," Master Gravel said, "Watkins, take this slave over to Mr. Harver to be put to use in the mines."


    "Yes sir," a man standing at the side said before smacking David on the back with his spear and saying, "Move."


    As the slave master lead him through the streets of the oasis town, David observed the surroundings and layout of Manco Town.


    Since the area was generally flat, David could look down the streets and see the extent of the Manco Town. Judging by what David could see, the oasis town was probably only 20 acres in size including a 4 acre pond at it''s center. As typical, the streets were earthen and the homes appeared to be of stone construction. David saw several people during his walk, and estimated the population of the oasis town to be around 1,000 people. It wasn''t that big of a place. The one interesting feature of the place is that towering sand dunes surrounded the city on almost all sides. The sand dunes were massive and had to be over 200 feet in height.


    After walking for several minutes, the slave master brought David into a well guarded building. After checking in with a few guards, the slave master lead David into a large room with a old man sitting at a desk writing figures on a piece of paper.


    "Watkins, what brings you hear today?," the man looked up as he saw someone enter the room.


    "Mr. Harver, Master Gravel ordered me to bring over a new slave for the mines," the short slave master said.


    "Oh.....great! We are always short on hands in the mines. I''ll take whatever I can get," Mr. Harver said to Watkins, "Give me the paperwork to sign and you can be on your way."


    The men exchanged and signed a few pieces of paper and the slave master left David standing in the room.


    "So, you are a new slave to Manco Town. Welcome. Could you please fill me in on your background a bit? I like to know my slave''s abilities as it allows me to put them to proper use," Mr. Harver said.


    Yes, Master Harver," David said in appropriate manner, "Before becoming a slave, I was a professional architect that practiced my trade on Earth. As far as skills and abilities, I have mastered Shadow, Darkness and Doom Darkness skills...and I have mastered the Body of Recovery skill."


    After sitting in thought for a moment, Master Harver spoke, "That is an interesting array of abilities that could be very useful in the mines if applied appropriately. How good is your use of the Doom skill?"


    "With my Doom skill, I have the ability to detect threats at a distance of 25 feet," David said in a semi-lie. His doom skill only worked to 25 feet, but his passive perception skill worked to about 50 feet.


    "Great....and your body skill allows you to recover from minor injuries pretty easily, right?," Mr. Harver said.


    "Yes, Master Harver," David responded. He was already getting sick of using the words "Master."


    "Good. You will serve as an excellent scout. Come over here so that I can loosen the restrictions on your collar. I want you functioning in a good condition if you are going down into the mines. Good scouts are hard to come by these days," Mr. Harver said before turning very serious, "....and remember, I now have control over your collar. If you act right, I will treat you decently. If you act poorly, I wouldn''t mind making your life hell in the mines."


    "Yes, Master Harver. I will remember," David said to give the man assurances. It sounded like he was going to get access to more heavenly energy. This made David very happy, but he had to resist from smiling.


    "Alright, the first shift has already went down into the mines, so you will have to wait for a while for someone to show you the way. Remember to tell the supervisors that you are a mine scout when you get down there. Now go sit over in the chairs outside my office until someone comes and gets you. I suggest you take the time to rest. Work in the mines is not easy," Mr. Harver said in an order while fiddling with David''s collar and amulet around his neck.


    Following instructions, David went out of the office and sat down on the bench near the entrance. Right now, David didn''t care about anything else...he could finally feel a steady flow of heavenly energy and it felt great. As he sat on the bench, he began to circulate the energy throughout his body. He could feel portions of the energy going into his body through the Body of Recovery skill. The few minor aches and pains that he had started to fade away.....and also his hunger and thirst. David sat there reveling in the feeling for about 30 minutes before someone showed up.


    "Hey man, the boss sent me over here to pick you up. I heard you are going to be the new scout. Good luck to you pal," a beat down looking young man said as he stood in front of David. From the looks of him, he was a slave just like David.


    "Okay, just show me the way," David said as he got off the bench. While he had actively stopped circulating heavenly energy, he could still feel his body absorbing the energy through the collar as he followed the young guy down several flights of stairs in the same building.


    "Alright man, mind you manners good when we get there in a few minutes. The guards working in the mines can be mean if you are rude to them. My name is Harry. What''s yours?," the young fellow asked David as they continued the journey down.


    David paused at the question. Similar to how Misery had changed her name from Heather, David also felt like some sort of shift was needed in his life. Thinking about all his experiences so far, he smiled as he looked at the young man and said....."You can call me, David." Now was not the time. He needed to leave the identity of "David" behind when he finally escaped this place. He didn''t want anyone linking his future actions back to the simple architect that was sold into The Other as a slave.


    "Ooooo.....good name. I like it. Alright, David. Remember to mind your manners and listen to directions. I''ll introduce you to the head guard once we get down there," Harry said trying to be helpful.


    As the pair made their way down a few more flights of stairs, David couldn''t keep from wondering just how far underground they had moved....maybe 10 flights of stairs....so maybe 150 feet down.


    All of a sudden the staircase stopped and dead ended into a large doorway that had a guard stationed out front at a desk.


    "Master Frederic, I am bringing a new mine scout down on the direction of Master Harver. Master Harver''s instructions were to bring him to Head Guard Helio for instruction," Harry told the guard.


    Looking over David, the guard removed a set of keys and unlocked the door. It took him a second due to the number of locks involved but eventually he opened the massive door and waved the two slaves to enter.


    As David entered the doorway, he was hit with the view of a large dark cavern about the size of a small office building. Inside there were numerous small tunnels branching off in every direction. Torches lit the entrances to several of the tunnels and David could see many people in dirty slave clothing moving about in the poorly lit room.


    "Welcome to the caves, David," Harry said as he watched David take in the scene, "Now lets go see Head Guard Helio before he gets angry."


    The two men started walking toward one of the larger guards. As they got closer David realized that the big man was actually beating someone with a whip. The sounds of the wacking of the whip on flesh started to echo in the cavern.


    As they got close, the man stopped his beating and smiled as he said, "Harry, what sort of trash are you bringing down here today?"


    "Master Helio, Master Harver has instructed me to bring down this new slave to serve as a scout for the mines. Please accept this note from Master Harver," Harry said as he took out a piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to the head guard.


    "Oh.....a new scout," Head Guard Helio said with a bit of pep in his voice, "we haven''t had one of those in a while...they don''t seem to last long down here. Are you ready to get to work, slave?"


    The whole time David was oblivious to the threat that seemed to come from Head Guard Helio''s mouth....right now he was more focused on the feeling of comfort he had in his soul...a feeling of fullness.

 Chapter 54: Mines (1)

    "Hey, I am talking to you slave," Head Guard Helio said in an angry tone.


    David instantly snapped out of his good feeling and spoke, "Apologies, Head Guard Helio. I was left puzzled over the fact that I get to work for such an impressive man." David tried flattery.....sometimes that worked.....sometimes it didn''t.


    "Oh.....so I am impressive....I like that...," Head Guard Helio said with a smile.


    "Harry, take this slave over to the side and explain to him the role of a scout in the mines. See if he has the mouth for such flattery after he finds out what his task will be down here," Head Guard Helio said before turning around and resuming beating the tied up slave in front of him.


    Harry brought David over to a quiet area of the open cavern and began to explain what David''s tasks would entail.


    "David, you are not that lucky to be selected for a scout position. Even though we call these mines, they are mostly tunnels left behind by ancient sand worms as they dug through the ground. As far as we know, the giant sand worms no longer exist in this area but their tunnels travel for hundreds of miles underneath the desert. Your job is to patrol the tunnels ahead of the groups of miners to check for hazards and resources. If an unstable part of the mine exists or some creature is lurking in the tunnel, you are to travel back and report to Head Guard Helio. Head Guard Helio has control over your slave collar that can be used to track you throughout the tunnels. If you try to escape, he will know. He will also know if you sit stationary for too long and can give you a jolt of pain through the collar. I suggest that you scout like intended to prevent yourself from getting tortured."


    "Harry, is it okay for me to ask you a few questions?," David said a little hesitantly.


    "Sure, ask away. But you better be quick or Head Guard Helio will get angry," Harry said.


    "What exactly are we mining in these tunnels? What sort of creatures could I encounter in here? and How often do I need to report back to Head Guard Helio?," David asked.


    "Oh...those are good questions. The Manco Family mines a variety of ores and minerals from the mines. However, the real money maker for the family is elemental and heavenly stones. Although these two are rare, they can be quite a financial boon to the family. Anything that doesn''t look like the standard stone on these walls is a potential deposit of something good. If you want to get in the good graces of Head Guard Helio, be sure to tell him of any good veins of ore or minerals that you find in your scouting."


    "As far as creatures are concerned...I would just say that it is the usual cave wildlife. Spiders and scorpions are the most common, but there have been sightings of other creatures.....so be on the lookout."


    "....and you will usually need to report back to Head Guard Helio every three to five days. He will allow you to rest for 7 hours out of a day, so find a good secure spot to sleep. You can check with the guard near the entrance and he can give you some survival bars for sustenance and some water to drink," Harry finished up, "Alright, go check in with Head Guard Helio to see where he wants you to start."


    "Thanks, Harry," David said, "you have been very helpful."


    "No problem, Night," Harry said, "that''s how I stay alive." Then Harry turned and left.


    Trying not to get ahead of himself, David walked behind Harry to the guard near the entrance. After a brief discussion, the guard gave David two survival bars, a large jug of water and a small ragged cloth satchel to carry at his side. After getting his supplies, David walked back over to Head Guard Helio to get his orders.


    He stood next to the man for a minute before his presence was acknowledged.


    "Oh, your back already slave," the guard said, "You ready to get started with your new job?"


    "Yes, Master Helio," David said in a submissive manner, "Harry had told me to come ask you for a recommendation on a starting tunnel."


    "Well...how nice of Harry....come here first," the man said as he reached for David.


    It took a lot of strength for David not to pull away from the man''s grasp....he knew if he pulled away that he would be beaten. Head Guard Helio grabbed David''s collar and clipped a small beacon to the loop on the side.


    "After 3 days have passed, you can use this beacon to guide you back to this room. Once activated, the beacon will emit a slight glow. The glow will get more intense the closer you get to this cavern. In 6 days, you better report back to me with some good findings or you will get beat. If you find anything noteworthy in your scouting, place one of the markers at the location and activate it. Do not use these for anything other than hazards or ores," Head Guard Helio commanded as he handed David three orbs that looked similar to the clip on his collar.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    "Now, you see that one tunnel straight ahead. That will be your first tunnel to explore. Go now...find something good slave," Head Guard Helio said as he waived David along.


    David entered the tunnel as directed and continued moving along the torch lit tunnel. Along the way, he passed several groups of miners that were digging out ore from the walls. Each had only glanced his way before getting back to work mining. After a few hours of walking, David eventually came to a point where no torches lit the tunnel.


    David stopped for a second to develop a plan. Now that he was in the tunnels, he could tell why Mr. Harver had said he would make a good scout. If he was a normal Foundation Stage darkness cultivator, he could see in the dark because of his Shadow Skill and detect threats with his Doom Skill. Luckily for David, he had abilities that no one knew about. With his eyes fixed on the darkness of the tunnel ahead, he circulated his heavenly energy and turned himself into the shadows of the tunnel.


    It had been a long time since David had executed his shadow skill and the feeling was almost intoxicating. As he started to shift into the darkness, David could feel a large amount of heavenly energy in the tunnel shooting towards him. The energy rushed into his body and almost knocked David to his knees.


    ''Holy shit, what the fuck is happening?'' David thought as he sat on the ground worried that he might fall down. The heavenly energy was steadily pouring into his body. As a few minutes passed, the energy started pass through his body and head towards David''s soul. The energy started to coagulate into a small sphere. The small sphere seemed to be the concentration of the shadow skill''s concept, heavenly energy and darkness elemental energy. After forming, the concept orb started to orbit his soul. After about 15 minutes time, David sat there completely amazed by what had just happened.


    ''I think that I just broke through to Demigod of Shadow,'' David thought as he could feel the large amount of heavenly energy being concentrated near his soul. He felt so much stronger. The focus of heavenly energy into his body had increased his physical strength greatly. David estimated that his physical strength should have increased by at least four times. His punch should easily have 4 tons of force. David also picked up a fist sized rock from the ground and squeezed. With a bit of effort, the rock crumbled in his grip.


    The presence of the Demigod concept orb near his soul was also a great increase to his soul strength. With a reach of his soul perception, David could sense almost 500 feet down the tunnel. That was a 10 times increase from his previous soul perception distance.


    ''Awesome,'' David thought as an electric pain suddenly shot through his neck and brought him to his knees and out of his shadow form.


    "Fuck...I must have stayed still for too long. Too bad the advancement to Demigod couldn''t get rid of this collar. I will have to find a way to get rid of this thing.....If it is gone, I have nothing to keep me here," David thought with a smile as he got up and started walking into the dark tunnel.


    With a thought, his entire body shifted into shadow and he vanished into the tunnel.


    After traveling for a little while, David realized that the only thing visible in his shadow form was the collar and beacon on his neck. The slight glow of the beacon was annoying and would give his position away to something in the tunnel. A few minutes of thinking, David came out of his shadow form. He took out his bottle of water and mixed a little with some stone dust on the ground to form a paste. He smeared the paste onto the beacon and soon the glow emitted was covered. David also smeared some of the paste onto his collar to breakup the smooth outline of the metal ring. After a few minutes, the rock paste had dried forming an almost cement like covering on both the collar and beacon. David was very happy with the result. He turned into shadow again and proceeded on his journey into the tunnel.


    Besides the fact that David was a slave forced to work in the mines, he was actually enjoying himself. He was alone, he just had a great leap forward in cultivation, he had some sort of freedom, and he got to use the shadow skill which always comforted him. It wasn''t that bad.


    As David moved along in the tunnel, he had not come across anything out of the ordinary. In the darkness, David could tell that the walls were the same and there were no threats ahead. He needed to gain favor with Head Guard Helio. It would make his activities in the mines easier in the future.


    After traveling in the tunnel for several hours, David realized that it was probably night time in the outside world. Considering that he was aloted time to sleep in the tunnels, David sat down to rest. After waiting about 20 minutes with no pain, David assumed that Head Guard Helio must have left the mines and went back home to sleep.


    David closed his eyes and entered his soul space. To his amazement, he could now sense both the inside of his soul space and the external world at the same time. David''s soul has its own space inside. The space inside his soul was where he went when he dreamed.  In exploring this new ability, David had also realized the nuances of his perception skill.


    When David focused to see other dream orbs, he was actually extending his perception out from inside his soul space while in a dream state. This application of soul perception gave him the ability to see part of other people''s souls if they were also in the dream state...and he could freely travel around to interact with the dream orbs in the limits of his soul perception.


    When he was awake in reality, his soul perception would give him awareness of the conditions around him. With his advancement to Demigod, David could overlap the different perceptions at will. This ability had many practical applications and David was thrilled.


    "What are you so excited about?," a sultry voice came from his side as David was in thought about his ability.


    Startled David jumped back into the darkness and turned around. Misery was standing beside him. David had almost forgot that he had someone else residing in his soul.


    "Hello Misery...I was just excited. I can sense both my soul world and the external world at the same time with my soul perception...and I promoted to Demigod in my Shadow skill earlier today," David said.


    Misery stared at David for a second before saying, "That is wonderful, Master. Let''s celebrate by going to find me another soul to eat."


    David looked at the sexy woman for a second before laughing, "Okay...I will see if we can find something for you...but we are probably about a mile underground now, so I don''t have high expectations...oh and don''t call me Master anymore. I have developed a real bad taste for the word...you can just call me Night from now on.....after we get out of this whole slavery situation, I will start going by that name.....David just doesn''t suit me much anymore."


    "oooo.....ooooo....Night.....I love it.....great name," Misery said before continuing, "Now can we go look for a soul to eat."


    "Glutton," David said before focusing in on the soul world perception.


    To David''s surprise, four glowing orbs appeared at a location in the maximum distance of his soul perception.


    "Oh boy, you found some," Misery said before running over to the nearest one to look inside.


    " Hey...Hey...Night...what kind of dream is this?," Misery said as she practically straddled the glowing orb.


    As David neared, he could feel that there was a slight difference between this orb and the ones that he had seen before, "I don''t know let me check it out first."


    Walking up to the orb, David lowered his face to contact the surface to look inside. He was complete perplexed by what he saw inside.


    Coming back into the soul space, David looked at Misery and said, "Well...that''s a first."


    "What?.....What is it?," Misery asked.


    "Shove your face in and find out," David said getting a little aggravated at the woman''s overexcited nature.


    Misery reached forward and plunged her face into the orb.


    After a minute, she pulled her face out...."Night, is that what I think it is?"


    "Yep," David said with a grin, "Yes, it is."

 Chapter 55: Mines (2)

    "Spider," Misery said in amazement.


    "Yes. I once read that some of the beasts in The Other have intelligence...so I guess if they can have intelligence, then they can dream," David said drawing a conclusion from the information.


    "Can I eat it?," Misery asked with a gorgeous pleading face.


    "Sure, have at it. You can also go around and check the other three to see if you can eat them too," David said as he gave the woman permission to feast at the buffet.


    She immediately started darting around to devour the orbs. After a few minutes, she came back. David looked around and saw two orbs remaining.


    "Why did you pass on those two? Saving some for me?," David joked as Misery came back to his side.


    "Night, I can not eat those for some reason.....they are weird," Misery said in a pout. She seemed really upset about not being able to eat the orbs. David couldn''t help but think to himself, ''Was this woman always like this? See seemed pretty reserved when I met her for the first time.''


    David floated over to the nearest of the two orbs to take a look. As David approached the orbs, he could immediately tell that they were different. These orbs had a small concentration of soul energy but did not contain a soul. David touched the orb and felt that he could absorb the little bit of energy within if he wanted to...but he didn''t.


    "Alright, Misery. I am going back to the physical world. I will keep in contact with you while you are in my soul. I want you to tell me if anything changes with those orbs," David said before disappearing from his soul space.


    David''s control returned to his body sitting at the side of the tunnel. Before he stood up, he focused on both the physical world and soul world with his perception at the same time...the two worlds started to overlap. In the distance, he could see two glowing orbs. Moving quickly, he arrived in their location in no time at all. At a place that perfectly matched the glowing orb location in the soul space, a fist size stone was sticking out partially from the wall. David reached up and grabbed the stone and pulled it out of the rock wall with a tug.


    After the stone came free, David ran his hand over the smooth surface of the rock. The stone made his fingertips tingle. David quickly shoved the stone into his bag and headed down the tunnel to the next stone. He removed that stone as well and put it into his bag. These two stones would be David''s tool to get in the good graces of the Head Guard and Master Harver.


    After finding the two stones, David began journeying more throughout the tunnels. Eventually, he found his first ore deposit and marked the location with a beacon.


    After a full day in the tunnels, David had started to develop a method for exploring. He would travel a few hundred yards, then focus in on his soul world. He would let Misery kill any resting creatures she could find and he would note the locations of the abnormal orbs. Eventually, he found enough stones that he decided to sit down and absorb a few.  Touching a stone, David felt a stream of soul energy enter his body and support his soul. In his soul space, it felt as if more energy was abundant. It was a really good feeling.


    "Oh, this is nice," Misery said as she sat in the dark world basking in the new energy it contained.


    "Night.....do you think that we can add something to your soul space so that it doesn''t seem as empty. I spend a lot of time in here and it isn''t that homey," Misery said with a pleading look on her face.


    "I guess I could try," David said as he focused on creating a small piece of land in his soul space. He was using the same method he used to modify dreams...but directly in his own soul space. He had assumed that the two would function similarly.


    The previously existing dense soul energy in his soul space began to concentrate into a small wooded piece of land. If compared to real world sizes, the land in his soul space would be no more than an acre. But it was actually coming into existence as David was willing it. He was doing the same thing he would do if he was creating something in his dreams. It worked.


    David was excited that it was actually working, but instantly he started to feel strained in his soul. The soul energy was getting very thin. With a quick thought, he stopped the land from expanding and exited the soul space. Reaching into his bag, he pulled out one of the remain four stones and began absorbing the energy to replace what he had lost. He immediately started to feel relief as energy rushed back into his soul. Eventually, the energy from the stone was completely absorbed and the stone crumbled to dust in David''s hand.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    Flinging the dust away, David smiled at the realization that this was going to be an effective way to strengthen himself. His main power was related to his soul...the stronger his soul became.....the stronger he would become.


    "Master, the woods are great. Now I can chop down some trees and build a home, so I''m am not just floating in the dark," Misery said from within David''s soul space.


    "Sure, Misery. Do what makes you happy," David said before continuing on his way in the tunnels.


    David and Misery continued this effort for several more days before determining that it was time to go back to the main cavern. Over the course of these days, David found several more ''soul stones'' and even found a few more interesting metallic ore looking areas that he placed beacons near.


    Misery had killed numerous spiders and even a really large centipede. David was very thankful that these beasts were killed by consuming their dream orbs at a distance.....because he wasn''t 100 percent certain that he could take them in a fight. He finally had some luck.


    With that in mind, he had fashioned two ''daggers'' out of spider fangs on his way back for protection. David thought that these could really come in handy in the future.


    David continued to head back toward the main cavern and after two days of travel, he finally arrived in an area with torches. After reaching the torches, he felt some sense of relief. If he were to get lost in these tunnels, there might be the possibility that he would never get out of this labyrinth of darkness.


    After about two hour''s worth of travel, David arrived back in the main cavern. From what David could see across the cavern, Head Guard Helio seemed like he had not stopped doing what he was doing when David left.....he was beating a slave.


    David walked over to the head guard and waited at the side until his presence was acknowledged. It was always a bad idea to interrupt someone like Head Guard Helio. After a minutes time, the man saw David standing closely by him.


    "Oh.....so you made it back alive. You better have located some hazards or treasures.....or you are going to be hurting just like this one here," Head Guard Helio said as he kicked the slave on the ground.


    "Yes, Master Helio. I found both treasures and hazards. I have marked some of the treasures with beacons and I destroyed one of the hazards. I apologize for the lack of progress, but the hazard gave me a hard time without a weapon. I have also found two interesting stones," David said in a nonchalant manner.


    "What? You found stones? Don''t speak too loud and keep everything in your bag. We need to go see Mr. Harver," the Head Guard whispered before grabbing David by the arm.


    "I see you haven''t found anything useful, you trash scout. Let''s go talk to Mr. Harver to see what he wants to do with you," Head Guard Helio yelled as he tugged David toward the exit by his arm. The two men quickly ascended the stair case and were stuck waiting outside of Mr. Harver''s office for a few minutes since he had company.


    After waiting about 10 minutes, a woman slave exited the room in disarray. ''Seems like Mr. Harver likes to get a little pleasure at work'', David thought to himself as Head Guard Helio brought David into the room and locked the door.


    Seeing that the guard locked the door, Mr. Harver became very alert and walked to close the windows of his office. He also opened the draw of his desk and pulled out a strange green sphere and set it up on his desk.


    "What is this all about?," the previously calm man said as he started to lose his composure.


    "This new slave of yours said he found some stones," Head Guard Helio said with a large grin on his face.


    "Oh really...slave...you better hope what you found is good.....come here...drop out what you have in the bag on this table," Mr. Harver said with a growing smile.


    Listening to his directions, David walked over to the table and upended his bag. An empty water bottle, two stones, four flecks of some various shiny material, two fangs and a small pebble clattered as they hit the table.


    The guard and the mine manager walked over to the table to inspect the goods. They were immediately left speechless by what they saw on the table. After a second of gazing, they both turned to David.


    "Explain yourself," Mr. Harver said.


    "Yes, Master Harver. One of the stones, I found by accident. I was sitting down to rest and touched the wall with my hand. I felt a tingling sensation and new that something was special with the stone. The second stone I found a day later by recognizing the similar smooth surface sticking out of the wall and broke it free with a nearby rock. The two slightly gold and one blueish shiny flakes were found when exploring the tunnels. I set a beacon for those locations. The last red flake was found approximate 400 yards down from the third beacon and should be easy to locate again," David said as he quickly explained himself.


    Hearing David''s speech, both men were excited. This slave had found two soul stones and located four ore deposits. This is more than they expect in two months time. It was absolutely outstanding.


    ".....and the fangs and small pebble?," Head Guard Helio questioned.


    " The fangs were from a large spider that I killed. It appeared to be resting so I was able to throw a stone and cause significant damage by hitting its head. It was pure luck.....If it had been awake when I detected it, I would have died. I crafted to daggers from its fangs for protection in case I ran into anymore....and the pebble...I thought it looked about the size of my eye and was plan on smoothing it out  for a fake eye....this patch gets in the way and people look at me oddly when I don''t wear it," David finished up.


    Mr. Harver walked over to the table. First, he touched the two fist sized stones and immediately pulled his fingers back upon contact. Then, he fiddled with the fangs and pebble before picking them up and putting them back into David''s bag with the water bottle.


    "You have done well, scout," Mr. Harver said with a serious look on his face. "I once told you that if you act right, then I will treat you nicely. Do you think that this is repeatable if you go back into the mines?"


    "Of course, Master Harver. Finding the ore deposits was relatively easy. The stones were luck, but.....," David said as he paused.....he had a plan he wanted to test.


    "But....what, slave?," Master Guard Helio said.


    "Master, Helio. I can see like it is a well lit day in the dark due to my skills. However, I do not know what I am looking at most of the time because I am uneducated. The only reason I brought those stones back is because they tingled my fingers.....if not, I would have left them in the tunnel as a smooth oddity. If I can be bold and make a request....I would like to see a book about ores and stones.....so that I may better serve the two of you in the future," David said in a subservient voice.


    Both men busted out laughing.


    "Sure, scout. We can get you a book if it helps you improve in finding stones and ores. Helio, why don''t we send our new friend to the rewards room for well behaved slaves? It seems like this man would be good to keep around in the tunnels," Mr. Harver said as he started fiddling with the items on the table again.


    "Lucky you, scout," Head Guard Helio said in a condescending manner, "You get to go visit the one place most slaves work years to get...and you have only been here a week."

 Chapter 56: Killing Dreams

    Head Guard Helio brought David to a small room inside the mining headquarters building that Mr. Harver''s office was located inside.


    "You can sleep in here tonight. Someone will bring by a few presents for you later," Head Guard Helio said with a grin,"Enjoy yourself....tomorrow, you go back to work in the mines."


    After he shut the door, David heard the bolts locking from the outside. David walked over to the bed kicked off his shoes and laid down. It sure was nice to lay down on a bed again. For the last week, he had slept on the shitty floor of a prison cell and the cold hard floor of the tunnels. It was nice to finally have some decent sleep on something besides rock.


    As David laid down in the bed, he began formulating a plan for the night. These people had made a mistake by letting him sleep on the surface near other people. In the caves, he could only hunt and kill insect beasts.....but sleeping up here, he could kill people.


    David was thrilled at the chance to kill some of his captors. Now, he just needed to think of how to pull it off. He began remembering the ways that he had killed people in the past. After thinking over his past situations, the one that kept popping into his head was when he made Sonia Carmine''s two stalkers get in a fight to the death. Maybe he could use the manipulation of dreams to cause chaos in this branch family town of the Diego Family.


    With a smile, David sat and waited for nightfall. He was really going to enjoy tonight.....and Misery probably would too. She had gained considerable strength when absorbing the dream orbs of the beasts in the tunnels. The odd thing was that when she absorbed the soul energy....David also received a portion of the energy taken. David could feel that she needed much more to have enough to create a new physical body.


    Having time to kill, David took the small pebble out of his bag. Looking at the stone, David smiled when he thought of the plan. While everyone thought that he was going to make a fake eye, he was actually going to make a fake....fake eye. It would really be a small hiding spot where he could store something important. He had a few ideas of what to use it for, but he had a feeling that he might find something important in the mines one day...and he needed to work out ways to smuggle the stuff out for himself. He did not want these people to get the good stuff.


    David spent about an hour fiddling with the stone before he heard a key in the door of his room. The door opened and a guard appeared with a woman over his shoulder and a bag in the other.  He sat the bag down on the table and placed the woman on the bed beside David.


    "Have fun," the guard said before he closed and re-locked the door.


    David just stood there perplexed. They had brought him a woman and a book as rewards? Was he some sort of fucking caveman?


    Looking at the woman from the back, David stood up and pulled out a chair from the table.


    "Why don''t you get off the bed and sit down and relax," David said as he turned around to offer direction to the woman.


    When he turned around, he gasped at the sight of the woman''s face as she laid there staring at him from the bed. She had a long scar down one side of her face with burn marks on the other side. A chunk was missing from her nose like someone had bitten it.


    David''s heart wretched at the sight of the woman. She must have been very beautiful before these cruel sons of bitches got a hold of her. ''What kind of monsters could do this to someone?'', David thought....then he remembered Misery.


    With a thought, David''s voice appeared in his soul world, "Hey Misery. Can you help me out?"


    "Sure, what do you need?," Misery asked.


    "I am carrying out my plan of getting on the good side of these people and they brought me a slave woman for the night as a reward. She is in pretty bad shape.....I don''t really know how to handle this," David said pleadingly in his soul world.


    "Oh...," Misery said very calmly before asking, "Is there anyway you can let me see her?"


    David looked at the woman and willed Misery to be able to see the outside world.


    After a moment, Misery finally spoke to David mentally, "Oh...I don''t know how I can explain this to you. But you can not help her at this point. She is devoid of hope and drive. Her soul is probably locked away on the inside with only a small portion showing to us on the outside to keep her alive. If you brought out her soul, she may be able to recover.....or she may just kill herself on the spot. Maybe we can help her in her dreams?"


    "Sure, Misery...we can try," David said with a bid of remorse, ".....and we can also get a little payback for her in the process."


    Seeing that the woman was basically in a catatonic stage, David stepped over to the table to look in the bag that was dropped off. Inside were two pieces of rations and a book that read "Gem, Stones, and Ores" on the cover.


    Without anything better to do, David place the food ration near the woman on the nightstand and sat down at the table to read the book. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    After a few hours of reading, David felt enlightened as he completed the book. He now understood the basic of heavenly energy stones, soul stones, elemental gems and metallic ores. Heavenly energy stones were stones of concentrated heavenly energy that are created by natural formations in the world. Soul stones are either fossilized cores from the souls of dead beasts or the concentration of souls brought together by a natural phenomenon. Elemental gems are concentrated elemental energies from natural occurrences that could boost skill performance. Metallic ores are....just metallic ores.....but the rarity of some ores makes them ideal for weapons manufacturing.


    The book also had a few descriptions of notable stones and ores. David had really wanted the knowledge from this part. If it were up to him, he wouldn''t bring the Diego family any resources that would truly help them.....he didn''t want the knowledge to try to better his position like he had told Mr. Harver....he wanted the knowledge to hurt the Diego family.


    Since he was done reading, he didn''t really have anything else to do, so David took one of the two pillows off of the bed and found a comfortable spot in the corner of the room. The woman could have the bed to herself tonight. David didn''t need the comfort that bad.


    David hung out in the corner of the room circulating his internal heavenly energy until the first hints of darkness began to peak in through the barred window of the room.


    Seeing the darkness, David smiled and closed his eyes. He entered his soul space and was immediately assaulted by an excited Misery.


    "Are we really going to get back at some of the people that did that to her? Really?," Misery said in an excited tone.


    "Yes, but first let''s check her dreams out," David said before making his way over to the woman''s dreams.


    As they reached the closest dream orb, David said to Misery, "Let''s just take a peak in the dream first. If she is stuck in a good dream, then I will leave her be.....if she is in a bad one, I will fix it. That is the most that I can do for now."


    David pushed his face against the dream orb and was instantly looking down on a small village in the mountains of Peru. The village appeared to be a small primitive place with only several dozen occupants. David could see the woman....her face restored to it full beauty.....playing with some children out in front of a small shack. She looked so happy. All of a sudden a gunshot sounded out in the village and a group of commandos stormed in with weapons drawn. Seeing the picture perfect dream turning into a nightmare....David decided to focus in on the faces of the men entering the village...maybe he could recognize one later. After memorizing a few of the faces, David put a stop to the attack and returned the dream back to the point where the woman was playing with the children. He deleted the bad part of the dream and decided to let the woman enjoy perpetual happiness playing with the children.


    Pulling his face out of the orb, he looked at Misery, "She was having a mixture of nice dream and nightmare....I removed the nightmare portion.....she should feel much better now."


    "Thank you.....Night," Misery said while looking at David appreciatively.


    "No need for thanks. I know the faces of a few of the men who invaded her little village.....let''s go hunting," David said with an evil grin.


    David started to focus really hard. He wanted to see his soul''s limits after his promotion to demigod. After a few moments of concentration, David was very pleased with the results. He could almost cover the entire 20 acre town with his soul''s world perception. Looking around, David estimated around 600 dream orbs floating about in his view. For a second, he thought about crushing every orb that he could see...he wanted to know what would happen...but he shook off the thought to get back to his task.


    "Misery, get to searching.....see if you can find us one," David said as he reached out with his hand and touched Misery''s forehead. He had projected the images of the men into Misery''s mind.


    "WOW!," Misery said, "I didn''t know you could do that."


    "I didn''t either," David said, "I saw someone do it once and it looked cool.....so I figured why not try.....ha ha..."


    "Idiot," Misery said before flying off to look in orbs.


    ____________________________


    While Misery was off on her adventure, David decided to look around and find some more information about the town. He wanted to find the demigods in charge of this oasis town. He assumed it had to be demigods in charge....gods were too rare. The Carmine family only had two gods....the Diego Family couldn''t be that much stronger.


    Looking through the dream orbs, he noticed that three of them were brighter than the others with a smaller orb floating around each of them.


    ''Damn. Those three must be the Demigods in charge of the oasis. I was hoping there was only one in this small town,'' David thought.


    Floating over to the nearest one, David started to investigate the differences with the Demigod dream orbs. The main dream orb was slightly larger than a standard person''s, but the little orb floating around felt completely different. To test out the smaller orb, David began to focus in on it just like any other dream orb. Almost immediately, a burst of intense explosive warmth hit David.


    Startled, David instantly pulled his soul''s focus away from the tiny orb.


    Since David lacked a good bit of knowledge about souls, he tried to piece together some understanding based on the information he had available. Foundation Stage cultivators promoted to Demigod when their understanding of a skill combined with a concept. When David had promoted to Demigod, his shadow skill and concept had coagulated into a small sphere orbiting around his soul. So this fiery sphere must be the skill concept of this Demigod.


    David assumed that this Demigod must practice in the Truth of Fire and judging from the violent burst of heat....he had guessed that orb was the concept of the Explosion Skill.


    Deciding that it would be best to avoid the concept orb, David wanted to see if he could enter the dream orb as normal. David willed his focus over the main dream orb. The main orb slightly resisted David''s infiltration, but with a focus of his own soul''s strength....David had popped into into the Demigod''s dream orb with relative ease.


    After taking a look into the demigod''s dream, David couldn''t keep from shaking his head. The old man seemed to be having a mixture of pleasurable fantasy and nightmare. In the dream, a beautiful woman was naked and riding on top of the man. All of a sudden, a group of guards burst into the room and yelled that the oasis is under attack. The old man threw the woman aside....put on some clothes...and stormed out to battle the incoming demon army. It seemed that this old man loved his vices but feared that demons would invade the oasis.


    ''A demon invasion,'' David thought, ''that would be a good thing to brew an internal conflict.'' With a few pushes of his will, David modified the old demigods dreams...he completely deleted the portion about the demon invasion and gave the man a full set of pleasurable dreams with no threats from demons. David felt that this manipulation effort expended a lot more of his soul energy. He could change normal people''s dreams without any effort at all, but this Level 1 Demigod made him feel like he had used about half of his available energy.


    But why did he make the old man forget about his demon worries? Was David being nice? Nope....after leaving the dream, he coasted around to each of the nearest dream orbs and planted the seeds of dread concerning a demon invasion. Now all the advisers and aids would be terrified of the possibility of a demon invasion while one of the leading demigods would be completely oblivious.


    David spent some time modifying the dreams of the subordinates to promote an internal dispute about the possibility of a demon invasion. Eventually, David started to realize that his time asleep was almost up. Just as he was about to go look for Misery, he heard her call out to him mentally, "Night....Night...I found one."


    _______________________________________


    Moving over to Misery, David looked into the orb to find a man raping and pillaging a village. This freak actually fantasied about the devastation that he caused people. Taking his focus away from the orb, he looked at Misery and said with no emotion, "Torture him.....then crush his orb and consume it."


    Misery immediately got to work and after about 30 minutes....she exited the dream orb with a smile on her face.....then she smacked both of her hands on either side of the orb causing it to explode. In one big breath, Misery breathed in all the particles and pieces of the destroyed soul orb and said, "Ahhhhh...so yummy."


    "Alright, it is time for us to leave now. I need to wake up," David said before willing himself out of the soul space. Just as he was about to leave, he could have swore that he saw a flash of light moving on the outskirts of his perception. He refocused again, but nothing was there. Shaking his head, he left the soul world and woke up.

 Chapter 57: Trapped

    When David woke up, the woman sex slave was still laying in the same exact position on the bed. The food ration was still on the table untouched. But the woman did have a slight smile on her face that made David feel like he was a little successful last night.


    "I hope you had a peaceful night''s sleep. I enjoyed the night....Take care," David said to the woman before getting up and knocking on the door. After about a second, the latches on the door began to click then the guard opened up the door.


    "Master, I am awake and ready to get back to work," David said before turning to look back at the woman still laying on the bed, "But she might need a little more rest though."


    Looking over David''s shoulder, the guard could see the mangled woman laying on the bed with a slight smile.


    "Damn man, you could even put a smile on her face...you must know how to work it just right," the guard said.


    "Yes, Master. I know how to work it just right with the ladies," David said while envisioning ripping the guard''s throat out and feeding it back to him.


    "You know where to go. Head Guard Helio will be waiting for you," the guard said before shutting the door and re-locking it behind David.


    David turned and scurried off down the hallway and toward the staircase that lead to the mines. After about a 5 minute walk down the stairs, David arrived at the entrance to the mines. The same guard at the door recognized David and opened the door right away.


    When David entered, the scene looked exactly the same as it did the first time he arrived to the mines. Workers and guards were moving about with purpose....and Head Guard Helio was currently beating one of the slaves. Knowing that he was about to get back to exploring the mines, David stopped at the guard''s station just on the other side of the door and received his food and water rations. This time the guard gave him twice the amount that he had received the previous time. The amount surprised David...it seemed like he was being treated a little better.


    After squaring away the rations in his satchel, David walked over to the head guard and stood by the side waiting his turn. After a few minutes, Head Guard Helio finished his task and turned to talk to David, "Slave, are you ready to get back to work?"


    "Yes, Master. I think I can do better than last time now," David said trying to give the man some hope of riches.


    "Good. Go in that tunnel over there," Head Guard Helio said as he pointed to a dimly lit tunnel over to the side. "This tunnel is slightly more dangerous than the last one so move slowly to check for dangers. Here are five beacons for your use. I''ll give you ten days to explore this time. Now go."


    David immediately went into the tunnel that Head Guard Helio had selected. This tunnel entrance was extremely steep and descended at an almost 45 degree angle for the first 500 feet. David had to use little crevices in the rock to keep himself from sliding down uncontrolled. The floor of the tunnel started to flatten out about the same time the torches on the tunnel walls became less frequent. It seemed like this tunnel wasn''t frequented that often. David only passed one group of mining slaves on the way.


    After about an hour of slowly walking in the tunnel, David reached a point of absolute darkness. He sat down and entered his soul world. Coming into the soul space, David smiled as he saw Misery''s beautiful form. After absorbing the soul of Chaz, Misery had seemed much stronger. David knew it was just a matter of time before he would be able to execute the next phase of the technique and give Misery a new physical body.


    "How are you doing, Misery?," David asked.


    "Great. Are we back in the mines yet? I need something to eat," Misery asked.


    "Yes, we are back in the mines. I want keep with our previous strategy. It worked well. I want to keep performing well to see if they give me another day off out of the mines. If I can stay out of the mines for a bit, you can prey on whoever you want when we get back above ground," David said.


    Misery thought any plan that involved her taking the souls of others was a good plan. The pair continued with their previous method of tunnel exploration.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª-


    Four days later.


    This tunnel seemed much less explored because David had easily used the five beacons to mark the locations of ore deposits in only four day''s time. He had also racked up 3 soul stones, 1 medium sized heavenly stone and 6 very small heavenly stones. The medium sized heavenly stone was about the size of two fists and was a very valuable stone that was called a communication stone. The single communication stone could be split into multiple pieces and the holders of those pieces could communicate with each other by injecting heavenly energy into the stone. The bigger these communication stones were then the more valuable the stone was....because it could be broke into more pieces. The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    The very small heavenly stones were easily identifiable as a basic variety heavenly stones. They were just a concentration of heavenly energy without any special attribute or function. These were the "stones" that were commonly seen as currency in The Other. They were about as round as a thumb and were the most common heavenly stone in The Other. Cultivators would also use these as a concentrated source of heavenly energy when cultivating.


    David didn''t really care about the stones or ores. Those were just items to use to get in the good graces of his captors. What he really wanted to do was increase his strength and Misery''s strength. After 4 days of hunting and killing insect intelligent beasts, Misery''s soul was showing wonderful signs of improvement. David estimated that he was at the half way point where she would be ready to form a new body.


    He had already marked ore locations with the five beacons and knew that he had more than enough stones to make Mr. Harver and Head Guard Helio happy.


    Since he was ahead of schedule, David decided to spend the entire fifth day exploring for his own benefit. In his travel in the tunnel, he came across a very large heavenly stone. The stone was about the size of a human head. David recognized this type of heavenly stone from the book that he had read. This one was a rare stone called a Stone of Strength and had great benefits for promoting the strength of a body. The stone was characterized by the large sapphire looking ovals in the stone.


    From what David understood, this stone would be big enough to give around 30 normal soldiers a significant boost in body strength. As soon as he realized what it was, David knew that he couldn''t give this to his captors....and he really wanted to absorb some of the power from the stone. David decided to absorb some now. After absorbing once, there would be more than enough power left that he could absorb the stone at every stop on the way back to the main.


    At this point, David had come to a decision to absorb the entire stone of strength and the three soul stones. He knew that just the communication stone would be make his captors extremely happy.....and in turn give him some more benefits. Letting his greed get the better of him, David tried to pull the stone from the wall. After some effort, the stone was eventually freed.


    Having broken free the stone, David immediately sat down to start absorbing a bit of the strength from the stone. He felt a warmth surge through his body. After about 5 minutes of absorbing, David realized that he had reached his limit and could no longer absorb any more. Looking at the stone, nothing had really changed, just a small bit of energy was missing. David''s strength didn''t increase that much but he felt that he gained maybe a 100 pounds of strength.


    David loaded the new heavenly stone into his bag.....and just as he was about to move off, he felt a vibration in the cave. Immediately, he realized that this was something similar to an earthquake. He needed to get out of the tunnels. David started running back down the cave towards his previous beacon.


    When he was about 10 yards from the ore beacon, the tunnel surrounding David started to collapse burying David in a pile of rubble. Luckily for David, the part of the tunnel that fell had only been enough to trap David.....he wasn''t crushed to death. Trying to free up part of his body, David realized that he could move one of his arms, but the rest of his body was pinned by the falling rubble. He was trapped in the tunnel.


    ________________________________


    After about 30 minutes following the ground tremor, Mr. Harver showed up in the main mine cavern to find out the damages from Head Guard Helio.


    "Helio, what is the situation in the tunnels,?" Mr. Harver asked the head guard in the dusty cave.


    "We had a pretty bad ground tremor. Seven of the forty two tunnels collapsed. We have three confirmed slave deaths and two slaves that are unaccounted for. Two of the tunnels should be able to be cleared pretty easily by the looks of them. The other five will require some time and some labor," Head Guard Helio stated the current situation.


    "What about our new fortune finder?," Mr. Harver said worried that something was wrong with his new cash cow.


    "His collar is currently motionless, so he is either trapped or dead," Head Guard Helio said. A look of disappointment immediately flashed on Mr. Harver''s face. Seeing that his boss wasn''t happy, Head Guard Helio continued, "He did set off all five beacons before he stopped moving, so those ore deposits can still be salvaged if we clear out the tunnel. Also, I was thinking that he may have a few more stones in his satchel like last time, so we will need to find his body."


    "Ohhhh.....great. If the profits are similar to last time, we can go buy another mine scout. I didn''t know that this one would be so profitable though. It is a complete loss that he is now dead. How long will it take to excavate that tunnel and access the ores and body?"


    "That tunnel is pretty difficult, so if I assign four slaves to the cleanup.....probably about three months," Head Guard Helio.


    "Good....proceed with the clean up. I will try to get a few more slaves to replace the ones that you have lost, and let me know as soon as you start reaching those beacons," Mr. Harver said before walking towards the exit of the mines.


    ________________


    At the same time in the tunnel, David was in a slight panic. Was he going to end up trapped in this tunnel forever? After about 5 hours of being trapped by the rubble, David finally came to grips with his situation. He couldn''t count on anybody to come rescue him. So he had to try to figure out a way out of this mess himself if he could.


    Assessing his situation, David looked at the condition of his body first. He had a few bumps and bruises that were already healing but overall he wasn''t in that bad of shape. The worst part of everything was that his movement was restricted for almost 80 percent of his body. He could slightly move his head and neck and one of his arms. In his assessment, he realized why part of his body hadn''t been completely trapped by the falling rubble. The large communication stone in his bag had kept the two larger pieces of rubble from completely smashing his right side.


    With a move of his hand, he realized that he had access to the soul stones and stone of strength heavenly stone in his bag. He could also reach his remaining rations and water. This gave David some hope for survival. He was going to absorb the stones to see if it offered him any benefits. Although he could touch the communication heavenly stone.....he knew that trying to absorb it would make his situation worse...if it crumbled...then the rubble would collapse and completely restrict his movement.


    David calmed himself realizing that he had some options to pursue. He entered his soul world to discuss everything with Misery. It was sure nice to have someone to talk to about his ideas.


    "Misery, the mine collapsed and I am trapped.  My plan is to absorb the soul stones and heavenly stone of strength....to see if that allows me to break out of here," David said.


    "Oh....that sucks. Are we going to end trapped down here forever?," Misery asked in concern.


    "Not unless something apocalyptic happened on the surface. Then someone should be down here eventually.....I just don''t know how long that will take," David said.


    "Okay, maybe use the soul stones first so that your range will increase for me to hunt beasts," Misery suggested.


    After thinking for a bit, David realized that Misery did have a point. Why not take this opportunity to train both Misery and himself?


    After his brief discussion with Misery, David decided to start absorbing the soul stones immediately. The wider his soul sense range than the more chances he would have at gathering the souls of spirit beasts for Misery and himself.


    Although he didn''t know the exact situation outside, he knew that if the mines were not entirely destroyed then people would be sent for the ores marked by the beacons. He was only a few yards from the last beacon so the only thing that he felt his rescue depended on was when they managed to get to the beacon. He had hope that he wouldn''t be trapped down here forever...

 Chapter 58: Dead

    Feeling an urgency to get free of the rubble, David immediately started absorbing the soul stones. Currently, his soul perception could reach out approximately 500 feet with some intense focus...that gave him a perception range almost as large as the oasis town. If he could get it up to 1,000 feet then he could definitely cover the entire 20 acre oasis town without much effort..and a bunch more. Having a perception range that large would have some excellent benefits once he made it back to the surface.....for now, it would just give him the ability to search for prey for Misery.


    It only took David around 5 minutes to fully absorb the first soul stone. After the energy settled into his body, David reached out with his soul perception again. He could feel an increase in his perception''s strength. By David''s judgement, his perception had only increased by around 20 feet. It wasn''t a large amount of increased strength, but any increase could benefit David in this scenario.


    David didn''t stop after he completed the first soul stone and immediately absorbed the other two soul stones. After he had time to adjust to the newly absorbed soul energy, David extended out his soul perception again. This time his soul perception reached 550 feet out. The gains were not a whole lot but David could feel a buildup of soul strength in his soul space.


    With the extra soul energy, David had a few options. He could continue to build upon the world within the soul space. After all, Misery had loved using the space as her own little backwoods cabin. Or David could just keep the excess energy in his soul in case other opportunities presented themselves. After a little thought, David decided to just store the soul energy instead of expanding the little piece of land in his soul space.  His rational was that he didn''t know what would happen in the near future, so an reserve of any type of energy could be beneficial later. After squaring away the energy from the soul stones, David decided to take a break in his soul space and try to find some prey for Misery.


    After searching for the day, Misery was very happy with the intelligent beast dream orb that she had harvested. It seemed as if the earthquake had disturbed the insect beasts within the tunnel because there were many more than usual. Misery was also taking some time to get use to the increased soul energy inside David''s soul space.


    By the end of his first day trapped in the tunnel, David had used all three soul stones and harvested the nearby intelligent beast.


    ''Fuck....I could be stuck in here for a long time....this is going to get boring....quickly,'' David thought.


    The only other things that David could do in his current situation was absorb heavenly energy from the Stone of Strength and consume his remaining rations. He could also reach the two fangs and the small pebble in his bag...but he didn''t know what good those useless items would do for him.


    After trying to absorb some heavenly energy from the Stone of Strength again, David had to give up for the day. From what he had read on the Stone of Strength, the absorption amount was limited to what the body could handle and David had already absorbed the energy from the stone several hours earlier.


    He was left trapped with nothing left to do...but wait for possibilities to escape.


    _________________


    Two weeks after getting trapped in the tunnel.


    In the last two weeks, David started to have some small doubts that he would escape from this situation. He was not having as much progress as he imagined initially.  It wasn''t really the fact that he was trapped that was starting to wear on David''s mind. The large amount of inactivity had lead to a serious case of boredom. Of course, David could converse with Misery in his spare time, but this quickly got old. The woman was mostly interested in when she could ''eat'' again and doing her ''work'' around the one acre plot of land in David''s soul space.


    Surprising, the one item that helped David occupy his idle time was the small pebble that he had kept for a fake eye. Since he could reach the pebble and move his one arm, David had actually started to smooth out and shape the stone on the nearby rock edges.  The whole process was very tedious, but it did give David something to do with his free time. The stone was almost a perfect eye shape now. All David had left to do was smooth and polish the stone on the canvas of his satchel. After polishing the stone, all David would need to do is flip up his eye patch and put it in place. When David realized that he was getting close to completion of his project, he had actually felt a loss instead of accomplishment...what other thing was he going to do to occupy his time?


    While David''s new hobby of stone work had help him pass some time, he was still making efforts to free himself from the rubble. He had also started to develop a few escape strategies in this time period. After days of reviewing his own knowledge, David realized that he had an great option available for the usage of the Stone of Strength. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.


    Before choosing to practice the Body of Recovery, Mr. Lester had let him review manuals on three methods of body cultivation. One of those methods was Body of Strength. Because David had thoroughly studied all three methods when trying to make his decision, he still remembered the method of practicing the Body of Strength skill. With the Stone of Strength available, David decided that he would practice the Body of Strength cultivation method while utilizing the heavenly energy from the Stone of Strength. This method should allow him to absorb more of the heavenly energy from the stone than his body would normally allow.


    Using the cultivation method, David began to absorb the heavenly energy from the Stone of Strength. Then, he directly forced the energy into his bones. This method was outlined in the Body of Strength cultivation skill book. Heavenly energy was forced into the bones, muscles, and organs...the energy was forced into the body so hard that that the heavenly energy would begin to break down the actual tissues of the body. As a replacement for the lost tissues, the body would utilize the heavenly energy to rebuild those tissues with a much greater strength.


    After practicing the painful method for an entire day, David realized that he could use this method rather quickly to master the Body of Strength. His already mastered Body of Recovery assisted in the rebuilding of his body with the heavenly energy. The compatibility of the Body of Strength cultivation method with the heavenly energy from the Stone of Strength also benefited the process greatly.


    David had some hope that the strength increase would help him get out of this situation.


    _________________


    Two months after getting trapped in the tunnel.


    After two months, David''s body had been completely restructured at a cellular level by the heavenly energy from the Stone of Strength. The day before, David had felt the last bit of the energy from the stone enter his body as the stone crumbled. David knew that his strength had increased by at least four times his previous strength. He had mastered the Body of Strength skill completely and had an entirely new understanding of heavenly energy usage. He had even felt like he could easily master the Body of Defense if he had enough resources on hand. The ease of training in the Body of Strength had sparked David''s interest in the remaining body cultivation methods. If he ever had the chance, he would definitely research those three other skills as well.


    Disappointingly, the increase in David''s strength did not allow him to get free of his confinement in the cave rubble. After mastering the skill, David had exerted all of his new strength to free one of his legs, but in the process.....some additional rubble fell causing his leg to be injured between two shifted stones. He had less mobility now than he had been originally. The incident was a pretty huge mental blow to David.


    With no rations, no heavenly stones, no soul stones and no mobility, David''s body soon started to waste away while trapped in the tunnel rubble. While he could sustain his life with heavenly energy in the short term, he still needed some sort of nourishment to keep his body mass sustained in the long term.


    Although he had strength and life given to him by intake of heavenly energy, he could only hope that someone came to collect the ores before his body completely wasted away into nothingness.


    _________________


    Three months after getting trapped in the tunnel.


    If anyone were to see David''s body right now, they would think that the pitiful corpse was actually in great shape. Although the body exhibited no external life signs and no movement, David''s mind was still alive on the inside and rapidly working. From his judgement, he could sustain his body with heavenly energy for another two months before his body would start to completely breakdown. The only reason that he wasn''t dead already was the massive supplement from his Body of Recovery skill to keep everything functioning. About two weeks ago, David had realized that the heavenly energy should be able to sustain him longer if he only focused on recovering the essential parts of his body for life function. Since he couldn''t move muscles, why did he need to focus on recovering them?


    David''s entire body looked like a lifeless corpse. As David lay motionless in the collapsed tunnel, he suddenly felt some sort of pull from his body and soul. At first he panicked at the feeling....he thought something might be going wrong with his body and that this was the end of his life. However after another second, he realized the feeling was very familiar to one of his darkness skills.


    With a moment of elation, David realized what was happening. He had felt something similar one time recently. With intense focus, David began to move his lips into a chant.


    The words came out in a dusty whisper as David struggled to move his dry lips, "Close your eyes. Buried. Forgotten. Death."


    With the almost silent chant, the heavenly energy within David''s body began to circulate through the pathways of the Death Skill of Darkness. As the skill moved through his body, David could feel his remaining life signs start to disappear. He wasn''t dying.....the skill was just doing it''s job of hiding his life. When the skill was fully executed, heavenly energy from the surrounding area began to swarm toward David at a rapid pace.


    David could feel the heavenly energy moving near his soul and coagulating into the second smaller sphere orbiting his soul. Just like when he broke through to Demigod of Shadow, David felt the increase in strength as he became a Demigod of Death. He could feel his body and soul strengthening as the heavenly energy continued to be absorbed at a steady rapid pace.


    All of a sudden, David heard a clicking sound as the slave collar around his neck came lose and rested on his shoulder. David was already thrilled about his breakthrough, but was absolutely giddy when he realized that the slave collar had come off of his neck.


    He was free.....but then he quickly realized that his body was still trapped in the tunnel. Considering his promotion to a Level 2 Demigod Of Darkness, David thought that he would have enough physical strength to break free of the tunnel. However, his body wasn''t in the greatest condition, so he thought that he may only have one good opportunity for to free himself from the rubble.


    To get a better idea of his situation, David decided to try to view the surrounding rock with his spiritual sense. If he used his knowledge of mechanics, he might be able to predict the safest direction to force his movements through the rubble. At this point, he would take any possible opportunities offered to get free of this tunnel.


    With a reach out with his soul perception, David was happy that he could now sense everything within 1200 feet of his body. He could also clearly see that if he pushed his body in a certain direction, he should be able to avoid being crushed by the falling stones. However, this wasn''t the most exciting thing that he learned with his newly enhanced soul perception. He was really excited about what was moving towards him at the limits of his perception.

 Chapter 59: Payday

    David''s perception had caught the presence of four humans in the cave ahead of him. They were at the very limits of David''s soul perception and were steadily removing stones to clear the tunnel. By David''s estimate, the group should be at his location in another day and a half. This made David very happy....he finally had a chance to get free of his current situation.


    Riding this feeling of satisfaction, David began to formulate a plan for the future. Although he had been trapped for months, his cultivation had seen a large amount of progress. His body strength was at least 6 times greater than three months ago. He had also gained his freedom of the slave collar.


    Once he was free and above ground, David had a feeling that he could probably dominate the entire town with his power if he wanted. However, he needed to be smart about the way he handled everything. He didn''t want to mess up and bring the entire might of the Diego family down on him at once. At least with the current population of the Manco Oasis, David had some assurance of keeping his life in any situation in the town. Now, he just needed to figure out the best route of attack on these people without drawing too much attention to himself.


    After a day''s worth of thought and a few conversations with Misery, David decided to just play out the helpful slave scenario to get himself above ground. The plan consisted of showing his helpfulness by making sure the communication stone is brought out with his body. He could tell that his previous effort was appreciated by the Head Guard and mine manager. This new find should earn him some consideration in their eyes. If...at any point...the plan went badly, he could always drop the collar and fade off into the darkness. He''d then be able to hunt and kill his enemies one by one.


    To keep with his current game plan, David had managed to reach up with his free hand and refasten the slave collar around his neck. He needed them to know that he was alive and think that he was still under control. By relaxing his usage of the death skill, the collar would recognize his existence and secure its clasps again. All David had to do in order to get rid of the collar was to will his Death Skill into full effect.


    He had also tucked the lose pebble into his eye socket under his eye patch. David had spent a considerable amount of time on the item and he didn''t want to lose it in the events that were about to happen. He was kind of sentimental.


    ______________________


    The group of three slaves and one guard arrived at the final beacon around two days after David had first recognized their presence. The guard was very excited about the newly discovered ore deposit and was having the slaves work toward removing a few pieces of ore instead of clearing the rest of the tunnel. There was still around six feet of rubble between David''s body and the open tunnel.


    Realizing that the guard''s greed might make the tunnel clearing efforts stop just short of his location, David decided to exert a little effort to shift the rubble trapping him. Pushing with his new strength, the pile of rubble began to move toward the open area.


    David''s body began to fall forward with the rubble out into the open part of the tunnel. As he fell forward, he quickly pretended to be in a half dead, unconscious state. All he could do was hope that his plan succeeded.


    _________________________________


    "Look out," the guard shouted at the slaves as they moved to safety to avoid the falling rubble.


    "What''s that?," the guard said after the dust from the rubble pile began to settle. He could see part of the top half of David''s body sticking out of the pile of rubble. Head Guard Helio had told him to check the body if he found it. Figuring that it would be beneficial to dig out the corpse, the guard order the slaves to excavate out the body.


    "Stop mining the ore and dig the corpse out," the guard ordered the three slaves.


    After a few minutes of moving rubble, the slaves had managed to free most of David''s torso.


    "Fuck, this is taking too long," the guard grew restless at the slow progress of the slaves. He walked over to David''s body to pull it free.


    "Shit, his collar is still locked tight....holy hell....he must be still alive," the guard said in astonishment before tugging David''s corpselike body free of the rubble.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    "What is in his hand?," the guard asked himself as he saw the bag straps locked in David''s grip.


    With the removal of a few more stones, the guard freed the bag and looked inside.


    "Oh my god....I need to get back to the boss quickly," the guard said as he scooped up the bag and David''s body and darted down the tunnel towards the main cavern.


    His voice echoed back to the three slaves, "Dig out the remaining ore then prepare to move back to the main cavern. I will be back here within the next day and a half."


    ________________________________


    About 10 hours after David''s body was discovered, Head Guard Helio came running into Mr. Harver''s office with a bag in one hand and a body draped over his other shoulder. After setting the body down on the ground, Head Guard Helio turned and locked the door to the office. Keeping with his usual procedure, Mr. Harver got up and shut his office windows....then he immediately took out an orb from his desk drawer and placed it on top of his desk.


    "What the hell, Helio? Why they fuck are you bringing a corpse into my office?," Mr. Harver said in disgust.


    "It''s not a corpse. He is unconscious and still alive.....the slave managed to hold out for 3 months trapped inside the rubble from the tunnel collapse. How the fuck is that possible?," Head Guard Helio said.


    After thinking for a second, Mr. Harver replied, "The slave has mastered the Body of Recovery skill. I assume that he has been using the surrounding heavenly energy to keep himself alive all this time. But he shouldn''t be that far off from death. Why did you bring him here? You should have just thrown him out with the trash."


    Hearing Mr. Harver''s reprimand, Head Guard Helio smiled and pulled a large stone out of David''s bag. He then slammed it down on Mr. Harver''s desk, "Because of this!"


    Looking at the stone on the desk, Mr. Harver let out a hiss of air.


    "He found this in the tunnels? A communication stone of this size is worth a small fortune," Mr. Harver said with a twinkle in his eyes.


    "Yes, I know. This is one hell of a payday. This slave has to be one of the best scouts that we have ever had. He also marked five really nice ore deposits within the tunnel. Between this run and the last one, he has probably netted us more income than the last two years combined," Head Guard Helio said, "That is why his unconscious, half-dead body is in this office right now. I actually couldn''t bring myself to toss him out.....he is worth too much to causally throw away."


    "I see....Do you think that he can be nursed back to health?," Mr. Harver said, "Considering the cost of another good scout, I don''t mind spending a little to get him back in tip top shape."


    "It shouldn''t take much," Head Guard Helio said, "If his Body of Recovery is strong enough to keep him from dying after being trapped for 3 months, then he should recover fully in a week or two."


    "Okay...it is an easy decision then," Mr. Harver said with a bit of excitement in his voice, "Send him over to the medical building for care. I will cover the bill. He has already returned the money I put out for him by 10 times. If I can get a bit more profit out of him, I do not mind spending a little."


    ______________________________


    "Yes, he is still alive," one nurse said.


    "Oh my god, I have never seen someone in a condition this bad," the other nurse replied.


    "Quickly, go get a small nourishment stone from storage. Although this is a slave, Mr. Harver has authorized full care of the patient. Apparently, this slave is very good at his job," a nurse said to justify the expenditure of resources.


    Nourishment stones were another really common heavenly stone that was used to support long term isolated cultivation or in this case the care of an incapacitated hospital patient. From a value standpoint, they were slightly more valuable than a standard ''stone'' used for transactions. These nourishment stones were a very common item found in most cultivators'' possession.


    The two nurses scrambled back and forth tending to David''s body. The nurses cleaned David''s wounds and even bathed his body.


    After a few minutes wait, an additional nurse came into the room with a small stone in her hand. She pressed the stone to David''s chest and began using her own heavenly energy to force the nourishment of the stone into David''s body.


    It only took about an hour before the stone was completely used up. David''s color looked much better but he still looked like a corpse. His body was very skinny with exposed ribs and spine. His face had slimmed to the point that his cheekbones could be seen clearly.


    Eventually, the nurses started to calm down as David''s condition seemed to stabilize. The nurses felt a sense of accomplishment once their task of tending to David''s immediate needs was complete....they felt as if they had saved a life. Little did they know that they had just given a very conscious man an extreme test of his will power.


    ______________________________


    The first day free from the tunnel.


    Ever since David''s body had fallen out of the rubble in the tunnel, he had actually been conscious and aware of the things going on around him. To David''s delight, the events after his body was found actually exceeded his expectations. His captors had been so excited about the communication stone that they had even sent him to the very well maintained medical facility for care.


    The hospital gave him his most extreme test of determination to play the role needed for his plans to work. Because he was in such bad shape, David had expected to have broken bones set, skin stitched up and maybe a surgery. He could handle the pain to pretend his unconsciousness but He hadn''t really considered all that would take place at the medical building.....He was doing good until.....the nurses had stripped him down and started giving him a sponge bath. He had to concentrate extremely hard as they scrubbed his manhood while they discussed its size and shape. David had almost lost control several times during their ''''cleaning''. He actually started to fear for these women''s safety...


    In addition to the intimate touching from the nurses, David also had to restrict his Body of Recovery skill when the Nourishment Stone was being used. He could have instantly drained the stone and healed his injuries immediately with the supplement of the stone. However, he wanted to spend the full two weeks in the hospital, so he had funneled the energies mostly into his internal organs and bones. He had left the condition of his skin and muscles only slightly improved to keep his corpselike appearance.


    After about two hours of manipulation and care by the nurses, David was left alone in his private care room. As he lay in a comfy hospital bed, David finally felt relaxed. He got the full care and it was quite enjoyable. He had been in a hospital several times in the past, but this time was different. He had chosen to end up in the hospital bed. From the conversations of everyone around him, he knew he had at least two weeks to play out this drama.....he knew that he had two weeks to quietly wreck havoc upon this desert oasis.


    David entered his soul space as he lay in his hospital bed.


    Coming into the dark world, he smiled as he saw an eager face waiting for him.

 Chapter 60: Succubus Dreams

    "Are you as ready to get started as I am, Misery?," David said with a chuckle.


    Based on the squeal of delight coming out of the woman''s soul form...David grew uncertain....maybe she was actually a bit more excited than he was....


    "Yes, Night. I am soooooo hungry," Misery said with a pleading look on her face.


    "Don''t worry, Misery. You will get your fill tonight. But you need to help me assess the prey first. We can''t just take random people....and we need to leave a few alive but in bad shape mentally," David said with a happy face as he began to focus outward with his soul perception.


    His soul perception rapidly expanded to encompass the entire oasis. David felt amazed as he looked out over the hundreds of dream orbs. Similar to the last time, he had the urge to go on a rampage and destroy all the orbs....but he restrained himself.


    "Misery, go out and search through the orbs. Look for the worse of the bunch. Pick two after you have looked through at least a hundred. You can have those all to yourself," David said, "oh....unless they are a man named Harver or Helio...I need those two alive for now...and let me know if there is anything abnormal."


    Misery didn''t even respond. As soon as David gave her permission, she took off to begin her search through the orbs.


    Since Misery was preoccupied, David decided  that it was time to start his plan of causing chaos in this little oasis town. Previously, he had laid some groundwork related to one of the demigod''s fears of demon attacks. Actually, he had removed the demigod''s fear of a demon attack...but he had made all his advisors terrified of demon attacks. The person in power not acknowledging a possible threat....especially one of high concern to his advisors....would create a lot of anxiety in the top management of the town.


    Building upon that groundwork, David decided that he wanted to attempt something that he hadn''t done before. Actually, this method was inspired by the mangled sex slave that had been gifted to him for a night by the mine manager. She was in a physically awake state but part of her soul was trapped in the dream world. David wanted to do something similar to a few of his enemies. Trap their minds in a nightmare, then let their bodies wonder aimlessly in the real world.


    David searched for a while before finding one of the more troublesome demigod''s advisers. David observed the man''s dream orb for a few minutes to develop his plan of attack. Like many of the advisers, this man had dreams about sexual exploits with women....and in this case, multiple women. David had a sudden idea and he immediately began manipulating the adviser''s pleasurable dream.....


    ___________________________________


    A slightly overweight man was stretched out on a bed as five beautiful women entered the room. These women were dressed in silken garments that only covered the most intimate places of their bodies. The man was very happy to see the women and sat up immediately to greet them. Each of the women moved over to the bed in a seductive manner. One by one, they removed their little silk garments and exposed their completely gorgeous nude bodies to the man. He was extremely excited to see the naked women as they moved onto the bed with him.


    Once all five women were on the bed they began to rub their dainty hands over the man''s body. The man was building up so much anticipation for what would happen next.


    "Close your eyes, my love," an elegant woman''s voice sounded in the bed room as one of the women climbed on top of the man and began straddling him.


    "What ever you ask," the man agreed as he closed his eyes. As soon as his eyes shut, he could feel the women moving around his body....their hands exploring his flesh. Just as he was getting to the point that he was going to open his eyes and ravage every woman around him, he heard another voice.


    "You can open your eyes now...MY FOOD!!," the seductive woman''s voice whispered in his ears.


    The man''s eyes snapped open. The five women were transforming into demons before him. The change was not significant. The beautiful naked bodies of the women remained exposed, but their faces began to change. Their eyes began to turn a shade of green that reflected the light in the dimly lit room.....it appeared as if their eyes were glowing. Their previously smooth perfect teeth exposed by their smiles shifted into an array of pointy triangular shaped teeth. Their faces remained the same but their hair fell out to reveal bald heads that were studded with a pair of small protrusions that looked like the beginning of horns. The man was terrified at the shift in the women and struggled to get off of the bed. It was only then that he realized that he had been locked in place by restraints on his hands and feet.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    "Demons.....Get away from me...let me go," the man screamed in terror trying to avoid the pain that was going to come his way.


    The women started passionately kissing the man''s naked body as he lay restrained to the bed. Each kiss would bring the man more anticipation of threat from the women around him.....then he began to feel slight pinches from the women''s sharp teeth giving him an idea about their planned course of action.


    "Get away from me you filthy Demon whores," the man yelled in an attempt drive the women away.


    After the kisses of passion continued for a minutes time, all of a sudden all five women took a ruthless bite out of each of the man''s appendages. He screamed and struggled to get a way from the pain of the five wounds. Just as suddenly as the pain came, the biting pressure receded and the soft touch of cool lips on his skin resumed. The man looked down his body to see the five women kissing his flesh.....and the five mouth size chunks of his body bleeding on the bed.


    Those terrifying dainty mouths continued to place soft and sweet kisses on his flesh. The man screamed and groaned in anticipation of the next bite.


    __________________________________


    David stood back from the dream orb admiring his work. With a little effort, he had locked the man in this dream. Now, he just needed to figure out a way to let some of this man''s terror come out into reality. David began to analyse the situation. The man''s dreams were connected to his body via the invisible connections in the soul. David had first found these connections when he had separated Misery''s soul from her body. He had also felt them when reviewing the slave woman''s situation. Maybe...he could affect the connection for this man....not sever the connection....he would just fuck it up a bit.


    David reached forward with his intent into the man''s dream orb and began to pull. Almost immediately, David could feel the tension that bound the part of the man''s soul to the dream world to the part of his soul left in his body. As David focused in on the bindings, he realized that these connections were like multiple strings that connected the portions of a soul together. With a bit of his experimental nature coming out, David reached forward with his mind and grabbed a few of those strings.....he focused his strength on a few of the threads....with a pop... some of the connections within the man''s soul were severed. Letting his focus relax, David slowly appeared back in the soul space.


    As soon as he reappeared in the soul space, he was startled by a woman floating in front of him.


    This wasn''t Misery.


    "Ahhhh...," the woman screamed and backed away from David floating within the soul space.


    Becoming a bit wary, David asked, "Who are you?"


    After looking at David for a split second, the woman turned and fled off into the distance. Seeing the woman move off, David needed to find out what was going on.....any one that had seen him in this soul space would know something of his secrets.


    "Misery, someone else in in the soul space with us. Help me capture her," David''s voice resounded through his mind link with Misery.


    "uhh...someone is here," Misery responded, "Oh.....I see her. Come quick, Night."


    David was already moving at a rapid pace and could see both the woman and Misery squaring off with each other in the distance. By what David could see, the woman had no chance of escaping from Misery.


    All of a sudden, David could feel that the woman was going to fade out of the soul space. Reaching out with his mind, David kept the woman from leaving the soul space. The action was very similar to the way he kept people from leaving dreams, but required some considerable effort from David''s soul strength.


    A look of terror washed over the woman''s face when she realized that she could not leave this soul space.


    Seeing the woman''s look of terror, Misery smiled revealing her fangs which made the whole situation worse. Trying to correct any misunderstandings, David appeared next to the two women.


    "I can not let you leave yet. I need to know who you are and your intentions," David said while staring at the woman.


    Looking her over, David realized that she was quite attractive. Not attractive in the beautiful princess fashion.....more like the dominatrix seductress attractive. Shaking his head, he had felt a sexual need toward this woman just by looking at her. He needed to be careful.


    Hearing David''s request, the woman immediately kneeled and bowed her head. She then began to speak, "Apologies, My Lord. I did not know that this was your hunting ground. I have been here for some time but have never seen another of us present in the dream space."


    David was taken aback for a second. She seemed to have mistaken him for someone else.


    Not wanting to give away any of his background, David decided to play along for a while to see what sort of information he could trick out of this woman. She seemed to fear him, so that could be helpful.


    "What is your name and why are you here?," David asked as simple question to see what sort of information it would yield.


    "My lord, my name is Lili.....and this town is within my mistress''s territory. She ordered me to visit towns in the territory...to gather information about the inhabitants," the woman said while still kneeling in front of David.


    "Who is your mistress and why does she want you to get information on this town?," David asked.


    The woman looked really hesitant.


    Seeing her unwillingness, David said, "Don''t worry, Lili.....I plan on killing almost everyone in this town....so I won''t interfere with your mistress''s plans....unless she is some saint trying to save these people."


    At David''s last sentence, the beautiful woman actually laughed. David thought it was a pleasant laugh and he smiled back at the woman.


    "Oh.....if that''s the case....my mistress is ....Countess Asta....she is the leader of the Succubus Tribe. Mistress asked me to research this place....for plans of a future battle. She is currently planning to remove this oasis town as part of a large battle that is being considered," the petite woman said.


    "Oh, so we could be considered comrades in arms," David said with a smile, "maybe we should coordinate efforts."


    "My lord, I can not speak for my mistress, so I can not agree," Lili said while keeping with the submissive behavior.


    "I understand. If you have a way to let your mistress know of my willingness to help, then please inform her," David requested.


    "Yes, lord. I can notify my mistress but it may take some time," Lili responded.


    "Good. We are about to be finished with our night''s work so do not let us disturb you. You will be able to find us here for the next week or so," David said indicating his desire to leave.


    Just as he was about to leave, he heard a voice from behind him.


    "Excuse me, Lord. How may I address you in my communications with my mistress?," Lili asked while still maintaining her kneeling position.


    "Oh.....pardon my rudeness. This beautiful woman is my assistant Misery.....and you can call me Night," David said with a smile as the two vanished on the spot.

 Chapter 61: Proof of Worth

    The second day of hospital stay.


    David continued with his unconscious performance in the medical building. His treatment was practically the same. He was feed nourishment with a stone and his body was cleaned and cared for by the nurses. One nurse in particular seemed fond of scrubbing his manhood when she bathed him. It was troublesome to remain calm...but enjoyable nonetheless.


    Besides enjoying his unsanctioned intimacy with the nurse, David had decided to do a little mental exploring. Since he didn''t plan on spending all his time in the soul space, David observed the real world within the oasis with his soul perception during the day. With his new strength, he could lay in his hospital bed and quietly observe the entire town.


    To his surprise, some areas completely blocked his perception. After thinking over this issue for a while, he realized that this must be due to some sort of amulet or talisman used to block eavesdropping. Remembering Mr. Harvey''s office, David focused on the room for a while. Sure enough, David could see the room but once Mr. Harver took out and activated the sphere from his desk....David''s perception was blocked.


    To his delight, David noticed that a commotion broke out in the medical building shortly after the sun came up. One of the town advisers had lost his mind and was currently raging in restraints in a room in the hospital. From what David could overhear, the man had woke up in the morning in terror that he was going to be attacked by demons. For some reason, the situation became even worse when he saw his wife smile at him at breakfast. He had lost control of himself and....attacked and killed his wife while calling her a "demon whore" the entire time. David was thrilled with the result of his dream manipulation. These events fit very well with his plan to descend this small oasis town into chaos.


    The whole situation was very public and cause an increased amount of tension in the oasis town. Adding to the mess, two of the town''s guards were also found randomly dead in their quarters. Residents of the oasis were saying that the insanity of the adviser and the unexplained deaths were a bad omen of things to come. The entire situation was made even worse when one of the Demigods had said that the threat of demons didn''t need to be considered important. According to this town leader, the issue was a random occurrence and it wasn''t a real threat. Everyone was in fear of a possible demon attack but no precautions were being made by one of the Demigods in charge. Problems were brewing.


    David spent the entire day observing the residents'' panic and fear about the situation. The situation was just what he wanted to see.


    These people thought that they could keep him as a slave....fine...but they will have to pay the price for their actions.


    When nighttime came around, David decided he needed to do one important thing before waging a full out war in this oasis town. He needed to investigated the other two Demigods. Previously, he had easily messed with the Level 1 Fire Demigod to create some tensions in the town.


    Now he needed more details on the other two Demigods. If he could easily remove the three Demigods in charge....he would basically be able to do as he wishes in the town.


    With a thought, David appeared in the soul space. With focus, he quickly recognized the locations of the town''s three Demigods.


    Assuming that the nearest one was the Demigod he manipulated the previous time, David headed for the furthest Demigod orb.


    Arriving at the orb''s location, David instantly felt a different feeling than the first one. This Demigod orb was much more powerful. The dream orb was orbited by four smaller orbs. It appeared to be a Level 4 Demigod. The first Demigod orb that David had messed with was only a Level 1 Demigod.


    After thinking it over, David assumed that he would have the same easy success as the time previously. He also had some assurance since he was now a Level 2 Demigod. After a few successful advances, he was feeling slightly arrogant. After all, he had never had a single issue with lack of power in the soul space before.


    After casually approaching, David tried to bypass the four concept orbs to enter the Demigod''s dream orb. As he moved closer, one of the small concept orbs suddenly moved forward and rammed David''s body. Upon contact, David felt as if something had locked his body and stabbed him in his heart.


    Locked in position for a moment, David started to defend himself out of reflex. He exerted his will and soul strength to shield his own soul from the attack. As soon as he felt some of the attack pressure lifted, David backed away to separate from the Demigod''s orbs.


    Sensing his retreat, the orb quickly pursued and impacted into David again. This time he wasn''t hit with the full strength of the attack, but managed to deflect some of the impact. Still feeling the pain from the attack, David continued to back away. Once he was around 100 feet away from the Demigod''s orb, it no longer pursued him in attack.


    Immediately, David warned Misery through their mental connection, "Don''t attack any of the Demigod orbs. This one just hurt me pretty badly." His overconfidence had almost killed him. This was the first time he had a setback in the soul space.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    "Are you okay? Do you need my help?," Misery asked with great concern in her voice.


    "Yes, I want to go check the last one real quick. Come with me Incase something goes wrong," David said.


    Drifting off, he met up with Misery and cautiously approached the orb of the remaining Demigod. He keep a distance of 100 feet to avoid a possible attack.


    When he reached the location, he was surprised by what he saw. This Demigod had two concept orbs orbiting the dream orb, but the main orb also had a thin glowing membrane surrounding it.


    "Fuck. What is that?," David asked. Of course, Misery didn''t respond. She knew David was just venting some frustration.


    "Let''s go. I feel so stupid sometimes....My godmother had said that this world is some backcountry place that didn''t know shit about the soul....but that surely makes life difficult," David said mostly to himself.


    Pissed by his lack of success with the two other Demigods, David told Misery to go find another guard to kill. He wasn''t happy and wanted to take it out on something.


    David also went to find a guard to kill himself. This wasn''t entirely out of anger. He needed a boost after loosing most of his soul energy in the conflict with the Demigod''s soul. By his judgement, the attack defense had cost him about 90 percent of his stored soul energy. He needed a recharge.


    It didn''t take him long before he found a perfect target to execute. After killing the man, the boost of soul energy from the Level 5 Foundation Stage guard lifted David''s soul energy from about 10 percent to around 35 percent.


    Even with the boost, he needed sometime to recover. He decided that he really needed to rethink his position. There were just too many unknowns and his assumptions could get him killed. Trying to get his mind in order, David sat in the darkness watching Misery scurry about between orbs looking for her perfect prey.


    Towards the end of the night, David saw a scantily clad Lili appear in the soul space.


    "Greetings, Lili. I hope that you have some good news for me. The situation in this town is steadily declining," David said without any emotion on his face.


    "Apologies, Lord Night...I have not been able to send notice to my mistress. The security has been very strict tonight And I couldn''t get out to send notice....I don''t know what is going on..." Lili said.


    ''Fuck, I guess I screwed myself on this one,'' David thought to himself before responding. He guessed his incident with the Demigod had caused a fuss.


    "Will you still be able to get the word out? Or does the commotion in town mess up the plan," David asked.


    "I''m...I''m unsure. If the opportunity comes, I will take the chance...but it will be difficult," Lili said in a sweet voice.


    She seemed to have this odd habit of pausing mid-sentence to check her words before speaking.


    "Okay....don''t take too many risks....I''ll be able to maintain contact for another week at least....hopefully this mess settles down...stay in touch...," David said while starting to walk away, "Excuse us. Misery and I have somewhere to be."


    "Lord Night, how can I reach you?...Do you hold a position somewhere in the town....that I can visit?," Lili asked.


    "No, Lili. I do not hold any position in the town.....But I am aware of everything that is going on in the town....you just have to say my name three times....and I will know who you are....and I can find you," David said emotionlessly.


    Regardless of his pissed off mood, David had almost bust out laughing at his own comment....what was he?...a fucking evil spirit that appears when you says it''s name multiple times into a mirror...He must have watched too many horror movies as a kid...


    All he was doing was playing a game with Lili. He could tell Lili was trying to draw information out of him. He had given her a few bits of information....he didn''t have a position in town...and he is powerful enough to know everything that was happening in the oasis. He wanted to see what she could figure out...he wanted to scare her...he was pissed over the Demigod issue.....and he was bored from laying in bed all day.


    ______________________________


    The third day of hospital stay.


    David was still laying in bed playing unconscious in the hospital. Once the sun came up, all hell started to break lose in the oasis town. Two other notable guards had randomly died in their sleep.


    The Demigods in charge of the oasis town finally couldn''t ignore what was happening and began taking action. Of course, the people didn''t know that the main reason for their interest was that one of the Demigods had fought off David''s soul the night before. Based on the Demigods'' determinations, the town had been infiltrated by a demon with some type of mind power. The demigods and guards were currently on the hunt. The Demigods also initiated a curfew in the oasis town during the night. The number of guard patrols were also increased so that patrols could be seen all the time throughout the little  oasis town.


    David thought that this was both hilarious and troublesome. A curfew and guard patrols wouldn''t make the the threat he posed go away. And there was no way that they would suspect a weak, unconscious slave in the hospital. He thought that he had the perfect cover for his plot. However, his botched investigation into the demigods had left him with so many questions.


    That night, David and Misery took a break from killing. David wasn''t even close to recovering his full soul power and Misery was consolidating her recent gains.


    Misery was already making wonderful progress in her development. David estimated that he could begin the process of helping her form a body with the consumption of around 10 more foundation stage cultivator souls.


    Although they didn''t kill anyone, one prominent adviser was tormented to be afraid of clothes in his dreams and ended up running through town naked asking every Alloc beast for forgiveness during the early morning hours. It was comical for David and caused sensational hysteria in the town. The residents had trouble deciding between laughing or worrying more.


    _________________________


    The fifth day of hospital stay.


    On the fifth day of his manipulations, the town residents had begun to panic. This actually had nothing to do with David. A small caravan that arrived in Manco town had brought word of an attack on another oasis by demons. The recent events coupled with the possibilities in people''s imaginations....caused quite a few incidents. The residents were actually demanding action by demigod leaders. One particular demigod was taking some serious heat from the residents because of his prior failure to act upon warnings by the town advisors.


    To David''s surprise, Lili had shown up again right before sunup. The woman asked a few more questions before leaving. Of course, David could resist toying with the woman and gave her a few more clues. She still had not left to spread word of his willingness to help.


    Because of the rapid escalation of the situation, David decided to take it easy and recover for the next couple of days.


    ___________________________


    The sixth day of hospital stay.


    The town was in full battle mode. All soldiers were mobilized and a request for reinforcements were sent to the Nazca City. From what David could understand, Nazca City wouldn''t send reinforcements right away. It would be roughly one month until the reinforcements arrived. Realizing that he may have progressed his plan a bit to quickly, David decided that he would actually speed up the attack and finish everything before the reinforcements arrived.


    Just as David was about to initiate his plan, a nurse entered his room and locked the door. The attractive red haired nurse was one that had cared for David several times over the last couple of days. She was also the nurse who seemed to like fondling his man junk.


    After entering the room, she turned to look at David''s body laying on the bed. She walked over and performed a quick check on David''s condition. Once she confirmed that he was unconscious, she walked over to the side of the room and quietly whispered, "Night. Night. Night. I need help."

 Chapter 62: Bargain

    The coincidence was outrageous. Apparently, Lili was one of the nurses that was taking care of David for the last couple of days. Not only did this randomly occur.....she had also used his room to hide from whatever trouble she was in at the moment.


    How many coincidences could there be?


    It was really ridiculous...unless she had actually figured out his real identity. Going over the clues that he had given her about himself, she maybe had a one in a hundred thousand chance of guessing who he was. David didn''t hide his appearance in the soul space, but his appearance there reflected the way he looked to himself...which was the David of 6 months ago.....not the one eyed, scarred up corpse-looking man in the hospital. In further consideration, David didn''t think there was anyway she had guessed correctly.....


    David used his perception to look at the woman and the surroundings of the medical building. He could see several guards moving around the hospital building. It seemed to David that Lili must have violated the curfew and was avoiding arrest.


    David decided that his time with playing games was over. If the people behind Lili were going to be allies, it would be getting close to the time to unveil his plans of attack to start the cooperation.....but that communication line was ruined....so now he needed to plan something with only himself before the backup troops arrived from Nazca City.


    After a minute of thinking over his next step, David decided to be a little theatrical and put on a display of his powers for the woman....this succubus demon.


    The lights in his room slightly dimmed as shadows became darker.


    A whisper sounded into Lili''s ear from a mouth right next to her head, "I can try to save you. But how do I know you are worth cooperating with Lili?"


    Lili''s body shivered at the words in her ear and turned around. Nothing was there but darkness.


    She hadn''t noticed that the patient in the bed had vanished because David had shadowed the bed and most of the room in complete darkness.


    While waiting on her response, David was busy watching the other events playing out in the hospital building with his soul sense. The guards had just entered the building. They were talking with staff to see if anyone had entered.


    "How do the guards know you are in the building?," David asked Lili in his breathless voice through the darkness before she could respond to his first question.


    "I was going out of town to contact my mistress for you and I was caught trying to leave.....I was wearing my nurse outfit....but they were going to detain me anyway....if they brought me to a Demigod for questioning....they would find out who I really am...," she said in a panicked tone.


    This woman didn''t seem to be the sharpest tool in the shed. She wore her nurse''s outfit on a covert operation and was caught by guards that could recognize her appearance....then she retreated to the hospital...that matched the uniform she was wearing.


    However.....David actually felt bad for the whole situation. She seemed to just be a subordinate of the Countess and didn''t seem that powerful. She also seemed to be in a situation way over her head already. He had caused a fuss in the town and she tried to get out to send a message because of his request for cooperation.


    Within David''s soul sense, he saw that the guards had begun going room to room looking for her.


    "Yes, they know you are in the building but they do not know exactly where you are. They are going room by room. You should have about 10 minutes before they get here...these guys aren''t the fastest," David said after confirming the situation with his soul sense.


    "Oh no.....," Lili said in a panic, "they are going to find me."


    "How can I trust you? What can you give me to trust you?," David said.


    "I don''t have anything to give....", Lili said sounding like she was about to start cramping.


    David couldn''t tell if she was seriously that scared or if she was faking.


    "What about your mistress? What can she do for me?," David asked....he didn''t want to risk himself for nothing. He was a generally kind person but he was not a pushover.


    Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.


    "...I can.....I can give you this.....," Lili said in a muffled voice as she pulled a little token out of her pocket....and waiving it around to the darkness of the room.


    "What does this tiny gold token do?," David asked.


    "...uuh...it is a....token for my clan. If you need any assistance, you can bring this to the Dreamwalker Clan of the west desert. Even the Countess Asta would be required to honor a request from you when presented with this token....Just tell her that Lilith Dreamwalker gave it to you.....and everything should be alright," Lili said to give assurance of its value.


    Looking at the fingernail sized gold disk, David realized that he might not get too much for the risk he was going to take....but this cute redhead seemed so helpless.


    The guards were getting closer. He needed to hurry.


    "The guards will be here a bit quicker...maybe 7 minutes," David said, "Do you have anything else? How am I supposed to know exactly where this Dreamwalker clan is when I leave here?"


    David was trying to see if he could get a map. A map was something that would help him immensely when he made his escape from this oasis.


    "....I can.....I can....I can give you a kiss...," Lili said with a blush to her face.


    David was startled. A kiss? What the fuck? He needed a map.


    Sensing the guards moving closer, David felt an urgency to act....he would just take the token....maybe it would be helpful...maybe he could sell it....it was better than no benefit at all for taking the risk of exposing himself.


    "If I get you out of town, will that be enough to guarantee your safety?," David asked.


    David knew that he could cloak his surroundings in darkness....including Lili. The slave collar was no longer attached and was laying on the bed. As long as there were no heavenly stones on the two then David could fully use his skills. After days in the tunnels, David had figured out that the collar was made out of some type of heavenly stone. He also figured out that he could make other things such as his clothes and tools disappear into shadows with him....but not some types of heavenly stones. He hadn''t figured out all the intricacies of his powers or the reasons behind their conflicts with heavenly stones...hell, he was still not 100 percent sure of his own skills either....but he thought that he should be able to make Lili and himself disappear into darkness easily.


    "Yes....I can escape once outside the town as long as no one is pursuing me....in the desert, I can survive easily," Lili said with certainty.


    "Alright....I agree to your conditions then," David said in his shadowy voice.


    He walked out from the shadows of the room.


    "Hello, Lili," a voice came from behind the woman.


    Startled, the woman turned around to see David standing by the bed. Her first thought must have been ''Why was my favorite patient awake and standing up?'' because she stood there with her mouth agape.....But then the realization must have hit her...


    "You...you....you are Night?," Lili said stuttering by the shock of it.


    "Yes...," David said explaining the situation outside, "The guards will be here in 5 minutes.....I need to be back by then....we need to go....now..."


    "O...k...ay," the woman said with a slight blush to her face while looking at David.


    With urgency, David moved. He appeared next to Lili in an instant. His new Level 2 Demigod speed and strength were incredible.


    "Hold on and be quiet," David whispered to her as he grabbed Lili''s petite waist. She was startled by David''s touch.....but was quickly amazed as he shifted the darkness around them as he picked her up to carry her....David focused as he blended the two of them into the darkness and erased all their life signs.....then he dove with Lili out the open window of his hospital room.


    Under the cover of the darkness, David quickly made his way up and over the town walls with Lili in his arms. She had moved her hand up around his neck and buried her face into his shoulder. David could feel her body pressed against his chest. It was a nice moment.


    None of the guards noticed the shifting shadows moving out of the town. David had his soul sense of high alert just to be safe.....and he detected no guard movements....no one noticed their presence at all.


    After only a minute of intense running, David was now standing with Lili in his arms....in the desert sands outside the lights of the town.


    "I need to go back. Good luck with your journey," David said as he sat Lili''s feet on the ground.


    "S...sure," Lili stuttered as she reached out her hand with the token. The little gold medallion was still in her hand from when she took it out in the room, "...take this as agreed."


    As David reached to grab the token, he felt a quick movement in front of him....then a set of lips were planted in his.


    He felt a weird sensation run through his body at the touch of the soft lips...then he felt a small probing tongue. He hadn''t expected the kiss....he thought she was joking...and regardless....he really hadn''t expected this kind of kiss at all. What a rush to be passionately kissed by a sexy woman in a nurse''s uniform while alone in the darkness....lust sparked throughout David''s mind and his body pressed against hers.


    After about twenty seconds of locking lips and wrapping tongues, David pulled away hesitantly. He would have completely lost himself in the moment if his soul wasn''t strong....this woman was surely a seductress.


    "...nice disguise...and thank you for saving me," Lili said with a shy look in her sexy eyes as she looked down.


    "No problem...I might see you at the Dreamwalker clan when all this is over...if I can ever manage to get there," David said while ignoring the disguise comment.


    "....just use the token...and don''t forget about me....," Lili said with a bit of a blush and a shy smile, "Good luck, Night."


    "Alright....bye, Lili.....good luck.....and tell your mistress that I will deal with this oasis town on my own as a sign of trust," David said before turning and disappearing back into the night.


    He was puzzled over the whole incident....something seemed off, but he couldn''t quite figure it out...


    After navigating stealthily back into the town and the hospital room, David realized what was wrong....he was in some sort of hospital gown with his ass hanging out and his manhood flopping around half exposed at the bottom of the very short gown.....he almost died from laughter over the whole situation....good thing he was practically invisible most of the time...no wonder Lili kept looking at him funny when he stood in the desert sand...a little embarrassed, David picked up his slave collar off of his bed and clicked it back around his neck. He got situated in the bed and played unconscious again. After about a minute and a half, the group of guards opened the room door and looked inside.


    "That''s the right patient." A nurse''s voice sounded from behind the guards, "He has been here a while. Nothing is out of the ordinary."


    "Okay....to the next one," the guard said before closing the door and moving on.


    After the guards cleared out, David laid in bed thinking about the events that just happened.


    ''That entire fucking incident only took 10 minutes.....what the fuck?,'' David thought as he looked at the small gold token in his hand.


    He realized that he needed somewhere to hide the token. If a guard saw it, then it would be taken. He wouldn''t let someone swipe his reward. Almost immediately after This thought, David flipped up his eye patch and removed the stone eye. Looking at the stone eye, David used his soul sense to make sure no one was near. He stood up and walked to a nearby cabinet and pulled out a metal medical tool. He started carving in the stone. With a little effort, David made a perfect slot in the fake eye that would hide the little gold token.


    As David tucked his fake eye back in the empty eye socket with the new token included, he smiled as he repositioned himself back in the bed. Tonight had been kind of fun....he saved a beautiful woman, streaked through a town, made out with a sexy nurse.....and was paid a gold coin for his work.


    ''Not a bad bargain,'' David thought as he reflected on that passionate kiss...then a slight tingling sensation went through his entire body.

 Chapter 63: Back

    The demon succubus had really left a lasting impression on David. He honestly didn''t know if this was some trickery of a succubus or something else entirely, but every time he thought of Lili...he would feel a slight ping in his soul. It wasn''t anything too intense, but the feeling was there nonetheless.


    David had inspected his own soul but didn''t notice anything different. Frustrated, he even asked Misery to inspect his soul. Misery had said that she noticed a very small weird connection that was similar to her own connection to his soul....but different somehow. After she mentioned this, David looked closer and noticed the connection as well.


    ''What the fuck was with that kiss?'' David thought as he looked over the little dimple on his soul.


    He had even tried to make the connection go away, but his efforts wouldn''t work....at all.


    And sure enough....every time he thought of Lili.....a slight tingle would occur at that spot in his soul. No impairment....no pain...no harm.....nothing wrong what so ever.....just a slight tingle when he thought of her....


    ''Now, I feel that the bargain wasn''t in my favor at all. I''m going to need to find Lili to ask what this is all about,'' David had thought to himself when he realized the woman really did leave a lasting impression on him....and his soul.


    However.....after thinking and stressing over the problem for a while...he started to push the issue to the back of his thoughts....there was nothing he could do about it right now....but he would definitely deal with it once his current situation was resolved.


    __________________________


    Today marked a week and a half since David had been in the Manco Town Medical Building. His daily medical  treatment had always been the same...nourishment stone treatment.....sponge bath....and general medical checkups. The nurses were starting to say that it would be any minute now.....they were really expecting David to wake up soon.


    Because of the mess that had transpired after he started manipulating townsfolk, David had taken it easy since the night Lili had left the town.


    To Misery''s disappointment over the last couple of days, David used the time to consolidate his cultivation and restore his soul energy. There were no more guard deaths. No more crazy town advisers. No more sneak visits on Demigods during their sleep in the night.


    David had just laid low to replenish his energy and observe the town. During his observation of the city advisers, he had heard a growing contention that the demon had left the town ....and a visit from the Nazca City guards was not needed.


    This was mainly due to two reasons.


    One, the residents and town advisers were not as afraid of a demon invasion since the incidents had ceased. Word of mouth between the residents was that a demon was spotted and fled the town when the guards pursued to capture it.


    Two, the merchants and other businessmen didn''t want outsiders coming to Manco Town Oasis. Outsiders, especially those from the big city, always brought risks. What if one of the higher level Nazca City guards took a liking to someone''s money, property or wife? Would the small town residents of Manco Town be able resist the big city guards if they wanted to?


    David thought that it would be beneficial to him if the whole event blew over. Then he could plan his attack more appropriately and not feel rushed. Over the last couple of days, David had developed a rather ambitious plan on dealing with the people in this town....and he needed everything in the town to function smoothly for the plan to work.


    The first step in the plan required entering into the mines again.....and David had decided that today was the day that he would go back to work in the mines.


    David woke up that morning, sat up in his bed and waited for a nurse to visit his room.


    After entering the room, the nurse was both surprised and happy when she saw David awake.


    Over the last couple of days, David had let the nourishment stones help him fill out some of his muscles and freshen up hid skin, so he didn''t look so much like a corpse anymore. He looked like a very fit slim man.....like someone that would run a lot of marathons back on Earth.


    The excited nurse called a few other nurses into the room. The group of nurses checked David''s condition and were surprised that he was in such good shape. They did check him very thoroughly every day, so a rapid improvement was easily noticeable.


    "Excuse me," David said after letting the nurses fuss about him for a few minutes, "Can I get a new pair of clothes? I really need to get back to work before the Masters get upset with me."


    In response to his request, the nurses sighed and left the room to get some slave clothes for David. Despite their care for David as a patient, a slave was a slave after all. There was nothing they could do about the situation. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.


    After getting his change of clothes, David quickly left the medical building and headed over to Mr. Harver''s building to report for duty. Even though the nourishment stones had done wonders for his actual body recovery, David still acted like he had an broken unfit body. He limped and shuffled down the street after leaving the hospital building. Most people would have looked at him as an old beat up slave.


    With a few minutes of walking, David arrived Mr. Harver''s building and headed down to the mine door.


    The usual guard at the door was surprised to see David as he hobbled down the stairs.


    "I thought you were dead," the guard said as he looked at David questionably.


    "No, master. If Master Helio didn''t wish for me to live, I would have died. But since Master Helio wished for me to live...I live," David said while holding back is anger about the guards indifference to a worthless slave''s life.


    "Yes, you are right," the guard said, " then you better get inside to see what punishment head Guard Helio has for you for missing work for so many days."


    "Yes Master,'' David said as he entered the freshly opened door.


    Walking in, the scene was exactly the same as all the previous times David had been to the mines. Guards and slaves were scurrying about completing their tasks...and Head Guard Helio had a whip in his hand beating some poor slave. As he had done several times before, David walked over and stood to the side waiting his turn.


    After a minute''s wait, Head Guard Helio turned around and looked at David.


    "You''re back already, slave? I thought you would take another few days with your poor condition. Harver will be happy that you didn''t cost him the full amount to heal," Head Guard Helio said with a bit of scorn in his voice.


    "By your mercy, I have lived, Master. I am ready to get back to work to pay the two Masters back for saving my life and having those nurses care for me," David said acting very very serious and thankful.


    "Good that you know your place. Now go get your supplies and get into a tunnel. Pick anyone you want. I have no preference. Here are 8 markers and the cave locator. You have 10 days again. You better find something good to make up for your previous error," Head Guard Helio said before handing the beacons to David. He then turned around and started to whip the bound slave behind him again.


    Seeing the bloodied slave on the ground, David felt a confirmation of the need for his plans to succeed. He departed from Head Guard Helio and went to the guard with the supplies near the door. The guard provided him a new satchel, 4 survival rations and a few bottles of water. The minimal amount to survive for 10 days. Nothing more, Nothing less.


    After getting his supplies, David looked around and picked the most abandoned looking tunnel in the mines. He assumed that the least trafficked tunnel would have the best resources available.


    David made his way into the tunnel and began his usual search. Because his soul perception range had increased greatly, David had an easy time locating metal ores.


    After locating a few heavenly stones and five ore deposits on the first day. David decided that it was time to start searching for the materials he needed for his own plans.


    One key item for this plan was a supply of specialty heavenly stones like the Stone of Strength. David also needed to cover as much ground as possible in the underground. He need to get these tunnels properly mapped out in his head and see if any escape was possible. To accomplish this, he removed his collar and affixed it to one of the cave centipedes along with one of the small heavenly stones he found.


    David had locked the centipede beast in  a dream when it was sleeping.....then woke it up and let it go on its way. He didn''t want his movements tracked through the collar but he knew that if he just set it down on the ground....then Head Guard Helio would know something was wrong. All he had to do was focus on his soul perception and look around for a moving heavenly stone.


    David used his strength to break out a small hidden storage area in a dead end tunnel branch off the main tunnel. He left a few normal heavenly stones in that location in a particular pattern....so he would be able to recognize the spot with his soul sense.


    Once all his initial preparations were made, David began his rapid journey around the tunnels. Over the next four days, David found all sorts of interesting items. The most interesting in this first trip back was very large soul stone. The soul stone was found among the rubble of what appeared to be a long skeleton at the dead end of a tunnel. David guessed that this was one of the ancient sand worms that had been mentioned to him before. David even managed to find a section of far away tunnel that was close to the surface and actually had a small underground spring nearby.


    After nine days, David retrieved his collar from the insect beast and returned to the main chamber. Head Guard Helio and Mr. Harver were very happy with the items David had brought back this time. They were even more pleased with David''s performance in marking ore locations. They thought that this slave was a cash cow.


    The two men gave David a night''s break like last time. David actually requested the same woman and it was allowed. Of course, David used some of his time to nurture the woman''s mental state. He knew if he succeeded in his plans, then the pitiful woman would have no one to care for her. He wanted her to try to wake up if possible.


    David mostly used the night to check in on the status of everything in the town. The request for backup from Nazca City had actually been rescinded. No additional guards were expected to arrive from the main city. David found the news very exciting. He had as much time as he needed now.


    On this trip in the mines, David had found none of the specific items he had been searching for. Nothing would change his plan and he wasn''t being treated that poorly for the moment. He decided to milk his stay in the mines and build up a stockpile of heavenly stones and other goods.


    His decision was made even more firm when he realized that Mr. Harver was not processing the stones he submitted. They were being stored in a special location under his building. It was like he had a vault for the good stuff.


    _____________________________________


    In the following weeks, David continued the cycle of exploring mines and returning treasures to Head Guard Helio and Mr. Harver. During these trips, David had uncovered several of the items that he needed for his plan to work.


    David wasn''t only looking for heavenly stones.....he began to stockpile pieces and parts of the insect beasts that Misery killed along the way. David would remove the fangs from the spiders and centipedes and store them next to the heavenly stones and elemental gems that he found.


    At this point, he was only missing one item.....and this wasn''t a must have....it would just make the plan convenient. He wished he would stumble across a space stone so that he could store all of his goodies before he left the oasis town. A space stone allowed for storage of items in an independent space. Most cultivators that had any sort of significant funds would purchase a small space stone to be used as a ring or bracelet.


    Since he didn''t find one of the stones in the mines, he had hopes of locating one in two different places. The bad thing about these two places was that they were not observable with his soul sense. One was Mr. Harver''s stockpile of pilfered goods in the building''s basement. The other locations were the supplies of the Demigods. Once his plans when into effect, he would go to Mr. Harver''s stash to rob the supplies. If he couldn''t find one in that place then his only other chance was.....by killing one of the Demigods and looting their stuff.


    Despite not finding a space stone, the one find that made David the happiest was three small red stones. These red stones were a fairly common medical stone called Blood Stones. Under normal situations, this stone would allow the storage of blood, then the supplementation of blood into a body with an injury.


    Sadly, he had only found these three small Blood Stones. These stones were most usually found on ancient bloody battlefields so they were not that common in these mines.


    Since he had managed to find a few of these stones, then he would be able to craft something special for Misery when it came time to form her body. The information his mysterious godmother had given him had contained a special method for creating Misery a blood body with a Blood Stone as a foundation.


    On his fourth trip into the mines, David had struck gold...well....struck heavenly stones. He actually found three large Stones of Strength that were each an equal size to his previous find. Of course, he hid these stones in his new storage chamber.....this find wasn''t planned but it would increase his chances of success greatly.


    With the finding of the Stones of Strength, David decided that it was time to move onto the next stage of his plan.

 Chapter 64: Miners

    In addition to gathering resources, David''s trips into the mines had allowed him to perform a bit of reconnasense. Actually, he had just wanted to get an assessment of the number of guards and the number of slaves that were at work in the tunnels. His soul perception was strong enough to cover an area the size of the oasis town, so he had no trouble viewing the portions of the mines where workers were present.


    Surprisingly, the slave miners outnumbered the guards by approximately ten slaves per every guard. Most of the slaves were early Foundation Stage. However, a few slaves that David noticed were actually at the peak Foundation Stage. It was a considerable group of soldiera if looked at as a fighting force. In total, the mines had about a hundred slave and only ten guards. Well...there were actually twelve guards counting Head Guard Helio and the door guard just outside the mines.


    In David''s reconnasense, he also observed the function of the guards and their routines. The guard operation was pretty simple. The slaves worked in groups of three slaves that were supervised by one guard. Each guard supervised three groups of slaves in one tunnel at a time. The guard would make trips through the tunnel daily to check on each group.


    The mine guards ran on a 10 day shift. One guard would supervise the slaves for 10 days. At the end of the 10 days, the guard would report back to Head Guard Helio with the findings from the shift''s mining labor. Then, that shift of guards would swap out with a new group of guards. It all ran on 10 day cycles and was most likely done to help the guards keep their sanity. The slaves were not as lucky. They worked everyday and some had been in the mines for years without seeing the surface.


    While working, both the slaves and the guards would sleep in the tunnels during the 10 day shift. The guards had the benefit of a cushy mat that they carried on their supply pack....the slaves just slept on the hard floor of the tunnels. The only guard that left for the outside every night was Head Guard Helio. He would leave the mines, check in with Mr. Harver, then sleep in an apartment inside Mr. Harver''s mine building....usually with one of the slave women.


    Besides his observations of guard behavior, David made special note of a few of the slave miners with interesting characteristics. Some of the men were obviously men who were once guards or fighters of other organizations on Earth. From what David could tell, the Diego Family wasn''t necessarily purposefully slave traders....they were more like the Earth family that helped everyone else "disappear" people....and somehow that made its way to becoming a slave trade business....most likely someone in the family realized that just outright killing people would not really have any benefit.....a profit could be made selling people instead of killing them.


    David learned a lot from just listening in on the events in the tunnels. Some of the slaves liked to talk during their time without direct guard supervision. One of the slaves was a peak Foundation Stage that came from the deserts on Earth. Another slave was a peak Foundation Stage rogue cultivator that had thought he was getting a free ticket to The Other...then was turned into a slave against his will. There was a even a group of three brothers that came from Greenland. Each of the slaves had their own stories, but had one thing in common....they hated the Diego Family that had forced them into slavery.


    David''s purpose for all this observation was that he wanted to know if the guards posed a threat....and if the slaves seemed like the kind that would rebel against their captors.


    Since his exit from the hospital, David had completed four full trips into the mines. On this trip...his fifth trip....he decided that he had planned enough and needed to put some of those plans in motion.


    As a test of the slave''s willingness to revolt, David walked up to a group of miners when he first entered the tunnel on this trip.


    "Excuse me," David asked.


    The miners just ignored him.


    "Hey Chuckie, what are you digging?" David taunted one of the men. This man was a late foundation stage cultivator named Chuck. David knee his name from his previous observations. This man had been in the mines for years. Chuck also seemed to frequently get in trouble with Head Guard Helio, but because he was at the peak stage.....the guard actually couldn''t hurt him without using the full force of the collar.


    "What the fuck did you just call me?" the scraggly man said with a bit of anger in his voice.


    "Nothing....I just needed your attention....Do you want your collar off?" David said seriously.


    The man just stared at David for a second. The question seemed to catch him off guard.


    "What?.....oh....you must be another one of those crazy guys that think they can take it off and escape. All of those usually die.....unless they can convince some other fool to let them experiement on their collar. Your not touching mine....so fuck off," the man said when turning back around.


    "Oh you sure that you want to ignore me," David said as he reached up to his own collar and pulled it off.


    The two other men on Chuck''s crew stared at David in amazement.


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    "He just fucking removed his collar," one of the men shouted to Chuck.


    Chuck turned back around to see the scene. His mouth fell open at the sight.


    "Yes and I can remove yours too." David said as he reached up and touched one of the men''s arms. The clasp at the back of the man''s collar snapped open. The man was shocked and elated.


    Although David had never done this before....he knew it was going to work. When he had escaped with Lili, David had cloaked her in darkness with the Shadow Concept and hidden her life signs with the Death Concept. If the Death Concept caused his own slave collar to snap off then it would definitely work for other slaves too. When he touched the man''s arm, a brief pulse of his power had shrouded the man''s life signs and tricked the slave collar.


    The man was more than excited as his collar clanked to the ground. Actually, David had to reach an arm out thinking he was going to run off down the tunnel in excitement.


    "Now wait a second. I have a plan to free everyone.....so you can''t escape just yet...Do you know any slaves that will give me trouble if I try to set the free? I have been watching you three for a while now and know that you can be somewhat trusted." David asked seriously.


    "Ya....there are a few that would rat you out if they found that you could remove your collar," one of the men said after thinking a few seconds, "they are the ones that like to suck up to that trash Helio."


    "Okay, I will deal with them then," David said resolutely.


    "If I free you all, do you have any objections to participating in a revolt against this town?," David asked while looking at the three slaves.


    "What''s your plan?," Chuck immediately asked cutting to the chase, "I need to know some details."


    David understood. A slave revolt was a risky endeavor. They could all die gruesome deaths if something went awry in the planning.


    "The plan is pretty simple. I will kill off all the guards below ground and set everyone free. I can also kill a good portion of the guards above ground to limit risk. I also have confidence in winning against two of the Demigods guarding this town. One of the Demigods will be a problem, but I should at least be able to escape alive after you all have fled," David said before continuing.


    The men just stared at David. Basically said that he would do all the heavy lifting.


    "To be honest, I have no way to help you guys besides removing your collars and clearing the road of some of the dangers. Once I am done here, I will leave the town and go into the desert.....but I can not take you with me. You will have to fend for yourselves," David said.


    "So....we will just have to stay here until the town''s reinforcements arrive and kill us all," Chuck said with some discouragement in his voice.


    "Not necessarily. I found a section of tunnel that is very close to the surface of the desert. So close that you could dig out into the desert with little effort. The location is about 10 miles away from here. I would recommend using that section of tunnel as a base in the desert temporarily. We could blow up the mines at this location to cover everyone''s retreat. No one in the town should know where the tunnel comes out at....because we will make them think we destroyed the mines entirely. That section of the cave is very nice. It even has a small spring for water. If managed appropriately....if a source of food could be found....it should be able to be a nice home," David said. He had explored most of the tunnels.


    "Oh....." Chuck said while thinking, "that could be helpful."


    "While you think about it, I will leave for a while to go pickup a present for you guys. I''ll be back in the next day or so." David said.


    "Oh....and I''m sorry but you will have to put the collar back on temporarily....can''t have the guards thinking something is wrong," David said as he picked up the slave collar and handed it back to the man.


    David could tell he was reluctant. But the man put it back in after only a little hesitation....he must have understood the big picture.


    _____________________________


    After speaking with the first group of three slaves, David visited a few of the other miner groups that were not currently under the supervision of guards. Most visits went the same way. Some were much more eager....to the point of immediately wanting to attack guards.....Some were not as sold on the idea....but went along with it anyway.


    At the recommendation of several of the groups, David avoided two groups of slaves that would probably maintain their loyalty to Head Guard Helio if given the chance. These men weren''t worth saving in many of the men''s opinions.


    Later in the same day....about the time the slaves were being told that they could sleep for the night. David started to come back around to the groups of slaves.


    He approached Chuck''s group of slaves first.


    As soon as they were allowed, the three men had quickly passed out from the stress....their overworked bodies not able to hold their eyelids open any longer than needed.


    After observing the mine slaves for the last month, David had realized that his treatment as a mine scout was ten times better than those that worked in the mines to remove ores. Any slave sent to work in the mines wouldn''t usually see the light of day for the rest of their lives.


    David really didn''t want to wake the poor men, but he needed to see if this would work.


    "Hey. I am back with your present," David said with a smile while waking up the men. David was trying to give them some hope to get away from the nightmare of the mines.


    David squatted down next to the men and took out a fist sized stone from his satchel. It was a small Stone of Strength. The three men didn''t get excited. They didn''t seem to realize what the stone could do for them.


    "This is a Stone of Strength. If you absorb heavenly energy from this stone, then your physical strength will increase pretty significantly. It will help strengthen your entire body. If you practice Body of Strength or sone other body skill, I would suggest that you circulate the skill when absorbing the energy," David said while reaching forward. He began removing each man''s collars. With a quick cycle of Death Concept, David could trick the collar into thinking that the slaves were dead. The collar would drop off with ease.


    After rubbing their necks where the collar had been sitting, the group of three slave immediately began absorbing the heavenly energy from the stone. After about 10 minutes, the first slave released his hand from the stone.


    "I can''t absorb anymore.....and I feel great," he said before punching out with his hand.


    "My strength has increased by at least 200 pounds," the man said amazed, "that stone is awesome."


    David smiled. The happiness on the man''s face was evident. David felt like he was doing something good.


    Soon after the first man, the other two men came out of their cultivation. Both had grins on their faces. They hadn''t felt this strong since they had become slaves.


    "Alright, now that that is done. I will tell you my plans," David said, "I want to stage a full scale revolt in this little oasis town. In the world above, there are only around 1200 residents of the town.....but there are easily another 200 slaves. I plan to take out most of the guards with some special skills that I have. Then I will battle the Demigods," David told the men his entire plan.


    "As I said, you will need to fend for yourselves after the battle. But during the battle, I will need your help. I can not deal with all the residents and guards....and I can not free all the slaves. I am not asking for you to go on a killing rampage or to save anyone, but remember....if anyone from Manca City were to come here, they would probably put all remaining slaves to death. As a group, you all will need to try to establish your own foothold in this desert. It will be difficult, but you should be able to do it. When the revolution happens....Gather as many supplies that you can. Kill as many guards as you can. Save other slaves if you can. Then gather back here in the main tunnel chamber until I arrive.....or if worse case....flee if I don''t arrive quickly. In the next few days, I will be attacking the guards down here. I don''t expect any trouble. On the day after the guard shift, 10 days from now.....that will be our day of escape."


    David answered a few more questions from the three slaves. Then he helped them put their collars back on. He would be back in 10 days. They needed to bear with the collars for just a little bit longer.


    David repeated this process with the other groups of slaves. Eventually, he got to all groups of slaves except the two that were pointed out as potential problem causers.


    Although the slaves maintained their usual tasks, there was an unseen excitement of energy in the tunnels. Everyone was ready to escape.

 Chapter 65: Freed

    After all the slaves spent the few days waiting patiently...the day of the guard shift change finally arrived. It was also the same day that David was required to return to deliver his goods to Head Guard Helio. For this trip, David''s satchel was full of smaller heavenly stones. While it wasn''t as good as previous runs, Head Guard Helio seemed very happy.


    David hoped this plan worked. The two men sure seemed greedy enough.


    "Master," David said as they walked up the stairs alone to Mr. Harver''s office, "I found something else really special...but I couldn''t remove it from the mines."


    "What?," Head Guard Helio said starting to angry. He didn''t like when slaves talked to him out of turn.


    "I found a very large heavenly stone, but I didn''t mark it with a beacon. The stone was huge and easy to find again....but very far down the tunnel. However, I didn''t know what to do since it was too big for me to carry. It would probably take two groups of slaves to work it free," David said trying to sound very disappointed in himself for not being able to bring the stone back in his own.


    "WHAT!," Head Guard Helio said, "You can find it again...right?"


    "Of course Master, but your supervision is probably needed due to the size of the stone. I can''t bring it out quietly like the others," David said. His whole goal was to make Head Guard Helio spend a few consecutive days in the tunnel. In David''s planning, the one issue that David had was that Head Guard Helio would leave every day. So, if David killed him....his lack of presence in the outside would be noticed immediately. It would cause an immediate investigation into the mines and the plans would unravel. He needed everyone to have a few days to organize and plan before they bring the revolt to the surface.


    After a quick walk, David met with Mr. Harver and Head Guard Helio. Surprisingly, Head Guard Helio did the opposite of what David expected. He directly told Mr. Harver about the issue of the large stone. David never understood why Head guard Helio didn''t directly take a cut for himself. He always brought the goods to Mr. Harver...and let Mr. Harver decide his share.


    After a brief discussion between the two men, they decided that Head Guard Helio would lead two groups of slaves to the Heavenly stone''s location for removal. Mr. Harver wanted the stone whole. By David''s descriptions, the slaves should take at least three to four days to remove the large heavenly tone, then another three to four days to haul it out of the mines.


    The main problem was that the two men couldn''t smuggle out the large stone to their own private stash. It would be really obvious and draw attention from everyone. Not all of the guards could be trusted with keeping the news of the discovery secret.


    After a lengthy discussion, the two men decided to avoid trouble and turn the heavenly stone over directly to the Manco Town advisors that owned the oasis town. This way they would seem like good stewards of the mines and could continue with their own backdoor dealings without much worry...and they would still receive some profits from the ordeal.


    After the decision was made, David felt that he was very lucky. This response was exactly what he wanted to happen. No one on the surface would expect any of the guards to exit the mines for at least 8 days. This would give David alot of time to prepare for what comes next.


    However, David didn''t get the usual treatment this night. The mine manager was so eager to get the heavenly stone out of the mines that he had sent both David and Head Guard Helio back into the mines to get to work immediately. David had really wanted to spend one more night above to review the situation in the town....but that wasn''t going to happen now. He had to hope that nothing changed to drastically since his last review of the town.


    "Fuck....I didn''t know he was going to send us right back in," Head Guard Helio cursed as he walked out of the office.


    "You better hope we get this job done quickly....any day past 7 days in the tunnel and you are getting beat," Head Guard Helio said with anger in his voice. After leaving Mr. Harver''s office, the guard''s mood had quickly deteriorated from happy about the find...to unhappy about spending nights in the tunnels.


    He had even smacked around David a bit on the walk back to the mines.


    Walking into the mines, David received a few glances from slaves. He could see eagerness in their eyes. All he could do is grin back at them when no one was looking.


    Head Guard Helio made all the arrangements for supplies and was quickly ready to get moving down the tunnel. This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    The head guard has also arranged for six slaves to follow him and David for the removal of the stone. One thing that didn''t surprise David was that the two groups of slaves that Head Guard Helio picked....happened to be the two groups that the other slaves had said couldn''t be trusted. David realized that these must be two groups that Head Guard Helio personally oversaw and directed.


    After making all the arrangements, David started leading the group of seven men down the dark tunnel. The light from their torches flickering down the tunnel as they trudged forward down the tunnel.


    _________________________________


    "How much longer until we get there?," Head Guard Helio said in an impatient voice.


    "Not much longer, Master," David said. They have been walking steadily down the tunnel for almost 8 hours. David estimated that they had covered at least 4 miles. The slaves carrying the mining equipment seemed to be struggling to keep up.


    All of a sudden, David stopped in the tunnel.


    "Master, I can sense danger ahead," David said, "It feels like an insect....probably a centipede...about 50 feet ahead of us in that side tunnel."


    "Fuck.....," Head Guard Helio said while removing his sword at his side, "Stay put. I will be back in a few minutes."


    The man slowly moved forward down the tunnel.


    As soon as Head Guard Helio turned into the side tunnel, David moved. With his true speed and strength, he quickly knocked out the six loyal slaves that were in the tunnel around him. David then removed his slave collar and set it among the unconscious bodies.


    He then crept off behind Head Guard Helio.


    Silently sneaking up behind the man, David punched the man in the back of the head knocking him unconsious. The man''s body slumped on the floor of the tunnel and his ready sword clattered to the ground. Head Guard Helio was a peak level Foundation Stage cultivator....but David was a Level 2 Demigod....the strength difference was too much.


    ''That was easy,'' David thought before grabbing the man''s ankle and dragging him back to the other bodies.


    David took a few of the guard''s valuables including the sword and brought them over to a spot about 20 feet down from the pile of unconscious men. He then sat down and entered the soul space.


    David quickly found the dream orbs of the six loyal slaves and Head Guard Helio. Using his dream skills, he locked each of the men in an unconsious state. He didn''t want to kill them yet. David needed some living bodies for his another phase of the plan.


    After making sure the men were secure, David darted back down the tunnel toward the main tunnel chamber.


    At full speed, he made the trip back around an hour.


    Once he got near the main chamber, he came across the first set of slaves. David quickly removed their collars and told them to remain in place for now. He was going to free the other slaves first. He would let them know when to come to the main tunnel chamber.


    Moving through the tunnels like a wraith, David worked quickly to free the other slaves. After a few hours, the only groups remaining were those under direct supervision of the guards.


    Although he could have snuck up on the guards and killed them, David wanted to wait until the guards started to go to sleep. He would deal with them in his own special way.


    After waiting about 2 hours, David noticed that all the guards and remaining slaves in the tunnels began to go to sleep after the day''s work. As soon as they went to sleep, David sat down alone in the tunnel.


    Appearing in the soul space, he was greated by Misery.


    "Night....Is it time?...Is it time?," the death spirit said in an excited manner.


    "Yes, sweetheart.....it is time," David said as he focused his perception.  The orbs of the ten guards appeared in his soul space. None of the slaves were actually asleep....they were waiting.


    "Take as many as you need," David said to Misery.


    As usual, Misery immediately left without saying a word. She went from orb to orb. David could see them go out one by one. After she got to the eighth one, Misery stopped and came back by David.


    "Night...I feel so full.....I think I am going to explode," Misery said holding her slim exposed belly.


    "Great.....you left two for me then," David said as he went over the absorbed the orbs of the other two guards.


    So after about an hour of work in the soul space, all the ten remaining guards were dead.


    Of course, there were some exceptions. The unconscious Head Guard Helio still laid face down a tunnel with his loyal slaves.....and the guard at the door was only put to sleep by David. David had made the guard at the door stuck in a sleep for the night. No one would be able to wake him up. He didn''t want someone that might randomly come down to check on the mines to find a dead body. He intended to keep this man alive for now.


    Now, he had 7 days to gather these men together and prepare for the upcoming events. There was no turning back at this point.


    After running a few quick errands, David began gathering up the scattered groups of slaves in the main chamber. Any group that had a dead guard was responsible for dragging the body back to the main chamber.


    In about two hours'' time, David had freed all the remaining slaves and notified all the other groups that the guards were dead.


    As they began to gather in the main tunnel chamber, the noise from the freed slaves was growing quite loud.


    "Quiet down for a second," David yelled at the men.


    In a manner of seconds, the entire crowd of 93 freed slaves quieted down. David had freed them all. He had earned some respect with these men.


    "As of this moment, we have 7 days until those people outside of the mines realize that something is wrong down here. I want everyone to take this time to prepare for the troubles ahead," David said as he revealed the pile of heavenly stones, elemental gems and crude weapons.


    "Take the clothes and any supplies you can from the guards. Go through this pile of supplies and find anything that can help you heal your wounds, restore your strength.....or even increase your strength," David said causing the men to get even more excited.  They were hanging off David''s words at this point.


    "In the three days, I will lead a group of you down the route to the location in this tunnel system that approaches near the surface. This way....someone besides myself will know of the route out of this place....in case something happens to me," David said to assure the men.


    "If you don''t mind the work, we could also work on the exit then....you have been freed...I won''t force you to do anything...but know that the more we all do...the better our chances of survival," David said before warning, "I need to go somewhere in the tunnel for a day or two. Please use this time to adjust yourselves. No infighting will be tolerated...we will have the opportunity to get more supplies later and...we are not each other''s enemies."


    The group of men turned serious at David''s comments. A few even shouted their agreement with his demands.


    "After we are done with the preparations...everyone should have time for a few days of rest before we are go to the surface....I''ll see you all in two days," David said before he turned and sped down the tunnel.


    "Misery, are you ready?," David asked as he headed down the tunnel where the bodies of Head Guard Helio and the loyal slaves was located.

 Chapter 66: Misery

    After traveling for a few hours to the secluded spot, David sat down on the floor of the tunnel next to the pile of unconscious bodies that he had left previously.


    "Do you still feel full of soul energy, Misery?," David asked through the mental link as he situated the things around him.


    "Yes....very much so," Misery said happily, "...it feels wonderful."


    David also felt that he was in peak condition right now. Their conditions messed to be perfect to perform the procedure of creating Misery''s blood body.


    "Okay.....now we will both need to work very hard to complete this whole process. From what I understand....it may hurt you a good bit.....but you should have a very functional body to use once everything is done with," David told Misery in preparation for what was about to happen.


    The process that was given to David by his godmother of darkness was called the "Way of the Ker." The souls of people who experienced great pains in life could be converted into death spirits. These sort of spirits were rare and were used as a tool for battle.....the Ker tended to be really violent based on their general nature and the amount of trauma to their souls.


    The process allowed for the Ker to form a physical body from the blood of the dead on battlefields. This body was called a blood body since it was basically made of the blood of the fallen soldiers. Since David didn''t have a battlefield to use for blood, he planned to.....slaughter these seven men like pigs....to be used for Misery''s blood body. David didn''t feel bad about the whole ordeal...they were all bad people as far as he was concerned.


    The procedures for the technique included a special method to modify a Blood Stone to house the blood body. Although this method wasn''t necessary, it did make keeping a Ker spirit around...much more convenient. This method would allow the blood body to be stored when not in use and would also provide a stronger base for the development of the death spirit.


    Without the Blood Stone, Misery would need to be present in the physical world at all times because the other method crystallizes its own blood crystal from the soul of another person and the available blood in order to house the Ker''s soul. If Misery needed to go back into David''s soul space...then she would have to forfeit the body entirely and go through the painful process again....every time she wanted a body.


    Using the Blood Stone, she could bounce back and fourth from the real world and David''s soul space....with nothing lost along the way.


    Reaching into his pocket, David pulled out three small thumbnail sized blood stones. These stones should be enough to get the job done for Misery''s new body.


    The entire process would be much smoother if David successfully prepared the blood stone. If he failed, then he always had the other option.


    The whole process of preparing the blood stone was similar to the way that David had etched the patterns on Misery''s soul when they first created the pact between the two of them. But instead of etching a soul....he was etching with his soul on the condensed heavenly energy within the stone.


    After reviewing the information in his head several times, David entered the soul space and focused in on his immediate area. The three blood stones in his hand were visible as small glowing orbs. The little heavenly stones had a slight red tint to their glow.


    With his soul concentration, David began to focus in on the first blood stone.


    With his soul focused down to a pinpoint at his fingertip, David began to write symbols from the technique on the condensed energy inside the Blood Stone. The effort was both tiring and very painful for David. The symbols were etched with great care, but after a few minutes the blood stone started to break apart in David''s hand. A snap reverberated through David''s soul with a flash of intense pain.


    David''s concentration came back to reality in time to see the stone crumble. With the dust of the stone sifting through his fingers, David was very disappointed that he had failed his first attempt.


    He immediately went back to the soul space and focused in on the second blood stone. Maybe he was a bit too quick and forceful the first time. This time he went very slow as the patterns were etched on the glowing orb in the soul space. After a few minutes of excruciating pain, David actually completed the etching of the blood stone....but he wasn''t done yet. He still had to connect the stone to Misery.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    "Misery, come here quick," David said in the soul space," I want you to touch this orb and insert yourself into it....just like a dream orb....prepare yourself....it''s going to hurt a bit."


    Misery moved over to the small orb from the blood stone. She hesitated for only a second before reaching out an touching the orb. Her soul was instantly pulled inside.


    All of a sudden, David could feel Misery''s voice echoing in his head. She was in pain.


    "Night.....this hurts...hurry," Misery''s pleading voice echoed in David''s mind.


    He needed to give her a body quick.


    David exited the soul space and quickly stood over one of the slaves.


    David pulled a spider fang from his bag and stabbed a small hole in the back of the man''s head. He placed the blood stone that now housed Misery''s soul into the hole in the back of the still living man''s head.


    "Misery, fight off this soul, destroy and consume it, and the body will be yours," David screamed though the two''s soul connection.


    David could instantly feel a battle underway through the connection. However, he felt no worry from Misery. At this point her soul strength was great enough to rival a Demigod''s....so it didn''t take long before David noticed that the struggle stopped.


    The recently deceased slave''s body moved into a seated position.


    "Fuck....," came a soft manly voice, "That hurt....What the fuck is wrong with my voice?"


    "Yep....you have a body....but not one that you  probably would want," David said to let Misery freak out a bit.


    "What the hell?...damn it.....I''m am some weird guy....What the fuck happened, Night?," Misery said kind of pissed off as she inspected her physical form.


    "Don''t worry. This part is only the first step. Usually, you would have to condense a body out of blood....this is kind of a cheater method. As you absorb more blood and carnage from battlefields.....you will have the ability to manipulate the blood body as you see fit. Also, you will have the ability to revert back to the Blood Stone anytime you want. If we find a different body for you later.....we can always switch. I just take the Blood Stone out and pop it into someone else''s skull. Try moving around," David instructed.


    The method essentially allowed Misery''s soul to be transferred to the Blood Stone. The Blood Stone was used as a conduit to connect with other bodies or pools of blood. The method also allowed the body to absorb power from blood or the souls of the dead. The more blood absorbed then the stronger Misery would get. This method also had one really neat trick that David thought was exceptional.


    "Misery, I am about to try something...don''t freak out," David said as he reached out with his soul and caused a reaction from the blood stone. The man''s body started to dissolve into the blood stone....leaving nothing but a brighter colored blood stone sitting on the cave floor. Not a single trace of the body existed. David reaches down and picked up the Blood Stone.


    "Night.....What happened?," Misery''s voice echoed into his mind.


    "The blood and flesh from the body was absorbed into the blood stone through the formation that is etched inside of it. Similar to the way your soul entered...Blood can be stored inside," David said as he entered his souls space.


    With a thought, Misery popped out of the blood stone and back into David''s souls space. Misery was excited.


    "So, I can even come back here...great.....this place is like my home anyway," Misery said.


    "Yes...the method even has a way to split your soul so that one half can reside here and one half can live in a body outside...but you are far from strong enough to do that anytime soon," David said with a laugh.


    "Really? So how does this whole body swapping work?," Misery asked David.


    "Basically, you are attached to my soul. The soul stone is etched with part of my soul in a particular way that allows you to move to the stone just like inside my soul. If I didn''t have the stone, I would have to etch a different pattern on a living body.....then let you fight it out with the soul inside and consume it. Then you would need a lot of blood to condense your own crystal. Using the Blood Stone is much safer and the final product is more ideal from the information that I have.  The Blood Stone that possesses your soul can be used like I just did.....to take over an existing body...or it can be used to store blood.....then create a body out of that according to our wishes....Like this," David said as he concentrated on the blood stone in his hand.


    Misery''s soul was forced back into the blood stone. Some blood essence from the stone was released and began forming a rough form of a body. The body was filling in to the exquisite curves of Misery, but was slightly lacking.


    David spoke to Misery through the mental connection, "You take over from here. Use the power from your soul to manipulate the forming blood body....just like you would do in the soul space."


    David looked down and picked up Head Guard Helio''s sword off the ground....then he slit two of the other loyal slave''s throat. The blood flowed out like a fountain, but was strangely pulled towards Misery''s forming figure off to the side.


    With the additional blood, Misery''s body started to show signs of skin forming.


    All of a sudden, Misery screamed.....it wasn''t a scream of fear or terror.....it was a scream of happyness. She had her own body again. She stood there twirling around in the tunnel. Then she moved over and gave David a big hug.


    "Misery...Misery...you''re naked," David said a few seconds into the hug.


    "Eeeeee...How do I get clothes?," Misery asked while backing away and trying to cover the most private areas of her naked body.


    "You just have to picture them in your soul and force the connection to the blood body to change your appearance. Try it...or you can just stand there naked...you are very pretty you know," David said laughingly.


    "Ugggh," Misery muttered before closing her eyes and concentrating. After a few minutes, Misery stood in front of David in a fully clothed form.


    "Night, I feel a little tired," Misery said to David as she sat on the ground.


    "Of course....you just exerted a ton of energy. Here," David said as he tossed the sword over to Misery, "Kill the rest of them and absorb the blood.....all of them except the guard.....we need his body for another part of the plan."


    It didn''t take Misery long to dispose of the rest bodies. One thing that David was surprised about was the level of violence she brought to the men. When David killed the two, he simply cut their throats...Misery just jacked away like a mad woman.


    Reflecting back in the information he had, David started to realize that the word violent was used pretty frequently in the description of the Ker. Maybe he had overlooked it before....but seeing Misery butcher the bodies....he realized that the whole process might have influenced her mentality....slightly.

 Chapter 67: Rebellion

    After creating the blood body, David and Misery spent the remainder of the day testing the limits of her new body. Misery could freely manipulate the blood body with the concentration of her soul energy...but the soul energy expense was pretty great for large scale manipulation.


    The more elaborate the body...the more expenditure of soul energy. Misery had tried to create a pair of bat-like wings but started to get tired before she even had bumps on her back. The whole thing greatly disappointed her...but David assured her that when the upcoming rebellion took place....there would be enough blood spilled to do whatever she wanted.


    After getting the body manipulation testing out of the way, David and Misery also had a few rounds of sparing. David had almost forgotten that Misery had been a top guard for the Carmine family on Earth in her previous life. Her skills with a sword were pretty good....but David could keep up easily. Judging from her current strength, Misery should be around a peak Foundation Stage fighter in strength.


    Reviewing the technique information, David didn''t see anything about the Ker learning skills or concepts except one blurb about the Law of Blood for really powerful Ker. David didn''t really know what Law of Blood was about but he knew it would be a great addition of power if achieved by Misery. The blurb stated that Ker at the level of Law could dominate armies by themselves.


    The Ker''s power stemmed from the souls and blood of the slain...the more carnage they were involved with...the stronger both their soul and body would get. They were like the large scale war specialists of the spirit world.....and in war times their growth potential seemed unlimited.


    After a few hours of messing around In the tunnel, David and Misery had learned a few other things about the blood body. Misery could practically deal with any injury as long as she had a supply of blood and soul strength. David had stabbed her in the arm with an attack....only to watch the wound heal shut without a trace in a matter of seconds. The best way to look at Misery''s body was a pool of blood held together by her soul inside the stone. As long as the stone was good and she had access to blood....she was practically unbeatable.


    The other big thing that they learned was that Misery didn''t get physically tired....at all. As long as her soul strength was still going strong....her body maintained a constant condition. It was like she had unlimited stamina.


    After taking half a day to test run Misery''s body, David and Misery decided to race back to the main chamber.


    After racing for the entire trip back, David arrived near the main chamber with Misery at his side. After running the entire way, David only had one conclusion....Misery was pretty fast. She managed to keep up with him at full speed. However, David was carrying the unconscious Head Guard Helio the entire time. The pair slowed down their run just before the arrived at the main chamber.


    David told Misery, "I need you to take over this body for a while. It is important to our plans. Can you help me out please?"


    "Ugggh.....I guess so. I get to consume the soul, right?," Misery asked.


    "Sure....that''s what you have to do to take the body over," David said. He knew that this would be a selling point for Misery.


    "Okay," Misery said before sitting down and absorbing the body back into the Blood Stone. After a few seconds, a blood red stone sat on the floor of the tunnel.


    David picked up the Blood Stone and laid down Head Guard Helio''s body. With a pop, he penetrated the man''s skull with the spider fang and shoved the stone inside.


    It wasn''t long before the process was complete and Misery had taken over the body. After exchanging a few words, David walked out of the tunnel first.


    Anticipating an uproar when Misery walked out in Head Guard Helio''s Body....David yelled out to everybody in the chamber, "Don''t be alarmed and don''t attack. Helio is dead....this is my assistant, Misery. I''ll explain in a moment."


    Misery moved out of the tunnel slowly. As the body of the guard walked out of the tunnel behind David, the man''s appearance startled many of the freed slaves. A few men hid and a few men stepped forward to fight....But the uneasiness was quickly hushed when Misery spoke.


    "You got a problem with me?," came an effeminate male voice from the mouth of the guard as he stood there with his hands on his hips. The most womanly mannerisms were being displayed on the previously hard ass guard. She actually flipped the man''s hair and gave a pouty face.


    Most of the men stopped in their tracks at the words....and the sight. The contrast from the prior guard was so extreme that it had completely stumped the men.


    "Quit fucking with them, Misery," David whispered with a grin.


    David turned and faced the crowd of now healthy looking men.....they were all staring at David and Misery as the pair walked towards the front of the room.


    "Everyone....although I have interacted with each of you...I have never introduced myself. My name is Night. You can disregard this haggard appearance...I borrowed a dead body of a scout in the mines.....I believe his name was David.... the body is being used with a special skill that I have," David lied. He needed to make his life as David die here in this town...he was now a different person after all...he didn''t want anything that could be traced back to Earth. These men and the survivors in the town would be able to spread the word if he made it public enough. The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    Before David could continue he was interrupted by a shout from the crowd, "Are you two demons?"


    The men didn''t seem that perturbed...he had just saved them from their bondage after all. But David realized the concern. He still had a pretty rough look and Misery looked like the man that they hated the most.


    "No....we are both human...or it would be safe to say...we were once human...that''s all I can really tell you," David said continuing the lie....well part lie...Misery was actually not a human now.


    "Regardless...I have freed everyone and don''t have any bad intentions for you all....my goals consists of raiding and leaving this town...as keeping with the last wishes of this slave''s body....I would also like to destroy this place as much as possible on my way out," David said another lie in attempt to draw support from the audience.


    "Keep with your previous activities...I just wanted to formally introduce myself....and I''ll come around to help you if I can and get everyone''s current status....we can have a big chat on another day or so...when everyone is in peak condition," David said as he started moving through the crow.


    David started to review the condition of the men. It had only been 2 days since they had been freed. It was amazing how much improvement someone could have in 2 days if supplied with a decent source of food and resources.


    Beside their obvious health improvements, David was even more surprised at how well they had progressed in their cultivation.


    One of the peak Foundation Stage Earth Element users, who went by the name Omar, had actually broken through to a Level One Demigod of Earth with the Earthquake Skill. Everyone was very happy for the man...regardless of where he originated from. They all knew having another Demigod on their side would help their chances at survival....and the group was pretty cohesive.


    The men understood their situation.


    Although they were all from different family groups...they were all slaves in this part of The Other....the only way they could get back to Earth would be to go to Nazca City and use the teleportation portal to go back. That path was practically an impossibility given their current strength.


    The only option to get back to Earth besides that one would be to traverse The Other to get to their family''s city. But as far as everyone knew.....no one in the thousands of years of living in The Other.....no one had ever made contact between two cities. That was only for those adventurous people who didn''t really care about their lives.


    They all knew that they were practically trapped on this planet together. They would have to rely on each other to survive.


    After reviewing everyone''s condition and offering his congratulations to the man that advanced, David went in front of the men to explain his plans.


    "Everyone," David said in a loud voice, "I think it is time to start planning our little rebellion."


    The group of men actually cheered.


    "From my perspective, the plan of attack is as follows. At the end of the day in five days, I will go to the surface with Misery and clear out a good portion of the guards in the town above. Everything else will be dependent on you," David explained as the men quieted down to listen.


    "Misery, can you pass these out?" David said as he pulled a rolled up group of papers out of his satchel. David had taken about 20 sheets of blank paper out of the desk of the supply man on his first trip back to the main chamber.


    "Everyone...these papers are maps that I made with the rough layout of the town. I have marked key areas that we need to address," David said. He had actually gotten this idea from Misery after they had finished sparing...she was asking if he could give her a map to the guards'' quarters....the greedy woman was looking to kill the guards before anyone else could get to them...she seemed really fixated on getting some wings.


    "Although I can take out most of the guards, I can not save most of the slaves by myself. It would take too much time. I think the best way to save most of the slaves would be to secretly attack the slave quarters.....Everyone remember Master Gravel?....I would think a group of six of our best and quietest should attack him first. Do we have some volunteers?" David asked the group.


    Oddly, most of the men glanced toward the group of three Greenlanders standing together.


    "Ha ha.....us brothers will take on the task....we owe that trash Gravel some payment for our fourth brother," the oldest and largest of the three men, Jensen, said.


    It didn''t take long before another group of three volunteered to create a new group with a total of six.


    "Remember, try to find the location of disks that control the collars. Once you get those.....deactivate them all. The surprise chaos that a bunch of free slave brings about will be a big benefit to the attack," David said.


    Next, to everyone''s surprise, David had asked the new Demigod, Omar, to stay in the mines to help with supplies and prepare for everyone escape. With some reluctance, the man eventually agreed after David''s persuading.


    The Demigod''s Earthquake skill could be used to ruin the mine and protect their final escape. This had saved David the trouble of trying g to find explosives in the town.


    However, the powerful man didn''t want people to think he was a coward for not joining the fight, but David reassured him and the group that this was one of the most important tasks....if they couldn''t escape....what was the point of it all anyway?


    Looking at the newly promoted man, David did make one concession to his original plan though...he thought that maybe this would make Omar a bit happier.


    "Mr. Harver has a secret chamber where he hid all sorts of valuables," David said as all the men''s ears perked up.


    David continued, "To survive in this desert.....valuables will be needed. Omar, since you don''t want to just stand around in the caves waiting.....how about you help me rob the entire stash of Harver and bring all the goods down to the mines?....pick a group of three to six of the weaker or less battle hardened men to help you carry the loot to the exit point."


    David also decided to task a group of nine men to gathering general supplies. Three of the men would be responsible for raiding the medical building specifically. David told them about the storage area where the nurses would keep the nourishment stones and other medical supplies. He also made a surprise request for the men to be nice to the nurses. After spending a week in their care, David had realized that the women were not bad people. He didn''t want them directly harmed.


    "Since we basically have no understanding of your situation in the future, you will also need a group of nine men to gather food supplies. Honestly, I think that you should take as much food as possible. The section of the tunnels that will be used as a base of operations has water, but doesn''t necessarily have food," David said. "Be sure to pickup food items that are the highest in nutrition and nonperishable. just in case you do not have a chance to get food in a time."


    After David asked, several men came forward and volunteered to focus specifically on finding food supplies.


    "Mister....," one of the younger smaller slaves interrupted, "...based on my previous life....I studied a lot of history. In order to survive in this desert in the future....we will essentially need to be bandits...it was how groups like us survived in ancient times....attacking caravans and small towns for supplies to survive. Since that would be the case in the long term, we will need to gather many weapons and armor to start us off. We might also need to capture some of those camel things."


    The rest of the men just kind of stared at the young man.


    "What''s your name kid?," Omar asked while looking at David. David nodded his head in agreement.


    "Nathan," the young man responded.


    Omar said, "What you said is very right. We will need some weapons. Can we get three groups of guys to head out to search for and carry back weapons?...the camel things will be difficult unless you can get some down the stairs."


    In no time at all, the volunteers were arranged for all the main tasks. Now that the supplies and such are squared away....the remaining fifty something men were trying to figure out what to do with themselves.


    David and Omar looked at each other.


    "What the hell are the rest of them going to do?," Omar whispered to David. Before the two started to chat. Since Omar was the second strongest behind David he stepped up to help out with everything. After talking it over for a minute with Omar, David began an announcement.


    "For the rest of you all...since you are probably going to end up as bandits anyway...why not do what bandits do?...rob, steal, take what you want....the only thing I would recommend against would be taking captives and killing people that have done no wrong.....you don''t want the blood of innocents on your hands and you don''t need too many extra mouths to feed...if you have free time, kill guards and gather more supplies. The more supplies you have the better....particularly food," David said out loud.


    After saying a few more words and concluding his talk to the general mass of men, David and a few of the stronger men stepped into a side tunnel and sat down for a quick meeting. The discussion wasn''t specific to any topic. David just wanted to give them some information that may be helpful for the future.

 Chapter 68: Dreams

    The group of 12 men, including David, sat around away from the other guys in one of the tunnels. David had asked the strongest men to meet for a particular purpose.


    "Everyone, the reason that I asked you here was because I have something that I can''t share with everyone," David said as he pulled out two handfuls of small stones from his bag.


    "These stones are called communication stones. I had found an decent size one that allowed for fourteen pieces to be broken off. Each stone has the same heavenly energy signature and will allow us to communicate with each other within a certain range. You just need to inject you own heavenly energy with a thought," David informed the men as he passed the stones around.


    "Since you all are the strongest, I am trusting you with these stones. They could be a great benefit during the revolt....and even a bigger benefit later. Always remember that it is better to destroy the stone than to let one fall into any enemy''s hand," David warned.


    "In regards to the attack on the town, I will be fighting the Demigods. While I have good assurance of escape, one of the Demigods is a Level 4 Demigod that is pretty strong. I may have some issues...so if I''m having issues...don''t hesitate to destroy the mines....I can fend for myself," David said seriously.


    "Judging by the amount of stuff that needs to happen....the longer we are in the town the greater the risks. I think we should limit the attack to an hour, then retreat," Omar said.


    David thought it over. It would be good to set a time....everyone would have a better chance of getting out of this alive if this was a quick attack...like a bandit''s raid.


    "Okay...I agree....but please use the


    communication stones that I have just given you...I would hate for someone to miss the deadline by only a few seconds and get left behind. Omar, as groups arrive send them along down the tunnel to the meeting spot I will show you all in a bit. The location is 10 miles away so it will take some time to walk it while carrying supplies. I wouldn''t want the stragglers to hold things up. You can wait until the last second....then unleash hell on the tunnels. You don''t want any pursuers to ever be able to clear the collapsed tunnels."


    After the talk, everyone went about their business to prepare themselves. David made arrangements to show a few of them the tunnel location near the surface and the water source.


    ______________________


    The men spent the remaining days training and preparing themselves with the remaining resources.


    To everyone''s surprise, another of the men broke through to Demigod. This one was one of the three Greenland brother called Alek. Similar to Omar, Alek had practiced in Earth skills originally....his time in the mines was actually great for Earth concept development. Alek become a Demigod of Earth with the Gravity Concept. It was one of the harder skills to master and had great battle potential. After discussing with everyone, Alek decided to remained on the team with his brothers. Having someone really strong help freeing the still captive slaves was great to speed up the process.


    Everyone else seemed to do really well training....and now they were ready to start. The stronger men directed everyone that they would only have an hour to complete their tasks. They needed to be urgent in order to survive.


    After wishing everyone luck, David headed out of the tunnel chamber towards the surface. It was time to put the plans in action.


    ______________________


    David walked up the steps while following Head Guard Helio as usual.


    "Night, I really do not like this body," Misery said in a manly voice out of the guard''s mouth.


    "You can get rid of it in a minute. I need you to catch this man off guard. Remember, walk in the room and turn and lock the door...then dump out the bag on the desk...you don''t need to say anything," David said to remind the woman.


    "Okay," she said to confirm that she would do as needed....for the third time.


    David was anxious. This part of the plan needed to be carried out smoothly...without anyone being alerted to the situation.


    David and the body of Head Guard Helio completed their walk and arrived at Mr. Harver''s office. After stepping inside, Head Guard Helio closed the door and locked it as usual. Seeing the gesture, Mr. Harver performed his usual routine of closing the windows and removing the green orb from his desk. Once activating the orb, Mr. Harver said, "Damn Helio. I was just getting my stuff together to leave for the day. You better have brought something good."


    Head Guard Helio just smiled and walked over to the desk and dump out the contents. Numerous heavenly stones spilled out on the desk. Mr. Harver was thrilled as his greed was satisfied...then he felt something move through his neck. His eyes widened as his head tumbled from his shoulders and onto the floor. The blood from the wound pooling at Head Guard Helio''s feet.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    The guard''s body started to shift in waves as it absorbed the blood....to slowly reveal the beautiful Misery standing in its place.


    "See that was easy enough....no need for all that anxiousness," Misery said as she stood holding Head Guard Helio''s sword in her hands.


    "Yes....finish absorbing the blood and situate yourself. Then you can come along with me. With this many guards to kill, there will be an abundance of soul energy to absorb," David said.


    "Okay...give me 15 minutes," Misery said as she sat down in the ever growing pool of blood spilling from Mr. Harver''s severed neck.


    "Alright, I will be be back. Wait here for me," David said as he turned and left the room.


    ____________________________


    David used his strength to pry off the door to the room that Mr. Harver used to house his goodies.


    Stepping in, David was surprised by the amount of stuff that was in the stash. Compared to the stuff he had found himself, this stash was a treasure trove. Looking though the items however, David didn''t notice anything extremely rare though. He did see a few large Stones of Strength and some nice soul stones. However, he didn''t find any space stones like he wanted. After looking around, he did pickup a few handfuls of blood, soul stones and nourishment stones for his bag. He also grabbed a few of the smaller heavenly stones typically used for transactions.


    The only different item that really caught his eye was a small black gem the size of a golf balll. ''This must have some darkness element inside of it,'' David thought as he put it in his bag for inspection later.


    All in all....the stash wasn''t that great for him....but it would be wonderful for the freed slaves.


    He had only spent a few minutes in the area, so he went back to check on Misery.


    After waiting another 15 minutes when he returned, Misery finally told David that she was ready to go forward with the plan. By David''s estimate, it was around 7:00 PM at night now. Some people would be asleep, but most would not. David spread out his soul sense throughout the building. Most people were gone for the evening, so he decided to get started on his plans.


    In a manner of minutes, he was back down the staircase to let everyone know the plan was ready for action.


    "Omar, you ready to go?," David asked as he came back into the main chamber for the tunnels, "You can go raid the Harver''s stash now. Bring your guys and bring all the stuff straight to the base."


    "Great," Omar said. He seemed excited to be able to get out of the mines. From what David had been told, he hadn''t seen outside for over three years.


    While Omar and his group of six men were removing all of the goods.


    David proceeded back to Mr. Harver''s office. Looking toward Misery, he reached out an touched her. Her body started to be absorbed into the blood stone. This time the shade of the blood stone was slightly redder.


    He sat down on the floor and entered his soul space. It was around 9:00 PM now, so he should be able to get to work.


    With an intense focus, David could see the numerous dream orbs of those in the town. Some were guards, some were slaves, some were the managers of the town. David knew that tonight would involve a lot of death.


    "Misery, let''s get started," David said, "You take as many guards as you can. I''ll get the rest."


    Seeing Misery dart around popping orbs left and right, David decided that it was time for himself to get to work.


    He streatched out his focus in the soul space. Instead of the usual way of looking at each orb individually, David was going to try to do a bulk processing of the dream orbs. With his mind he reached out to a group of ten dream orbs.


    Upon contact, he immediately felt the intense situation of all the men''s dreams. Fighting, sex, adventure, nightmares, wealth.....the usual items you would expect in the dreams of men that guard a small town. Reaching out with his awareness, David exerted his own soul pressure on these ten orbs. Under the pressure, the orbs started to crack and break. Almost at the same time, the ten orbs shattered causing an avalanche of soul energy to flow into David.


    The extra energy felt wonderful And definitely increased his soul strength.....so David moved over to the next batch of guards. He proceeded to do this over and over again.


    After destroying about 50 guards, Misery came over to David.


    "Night, I can''t do anymore. I feel so full again," Misery said.


    "Good....go back to the real world and join the freed slaves in the big chamber. I want you to travel around with the big group...act as much like a demon as possible. I want anyone investigating this incident to think that it was some sort of demon attack...it will cause confusion," David said.


    "Okay....be safe," Misery said as she left the soul space.


    David decided to increase his speed and focused in on a group of about 30 guards. This group would put his total at almost 100 guards for the night....there would only be about 50 remaining in the oasis.


    Similar to before, David touched the 30 dream orbs with his soul power. Connected to that many dream orbs, David felt an odd sensation. It was like he could influence all of these dreams at once.


    Taking a moment, David tried to achieve what he felt he could do. He exerted his will on the 30 dream orbs. With a boom in his soul space, David felt all 30 dream orbs explode at once...and the soul power started heading straight for him.


    The soul power swam towards his soul and started to wrap around it. For a second, David didn''t know what happened, but then he started to guess...he had felt something similar twice before. He was breaking through to a Demigod of Dreams. However, his thought quickly went in the opposite direction. Instead of his concept of dream forming into a sphere to orbit his soul....the concept of dream started to encapsulate his soul. The feeling was absolutely wonderful and David could feel his soul get exponentially stronger.


    ''This must be the difference between an elemental concept and a soul concept,'' David thought to himself as he remembered some of the past information.


    He could feel the concept of dream forming around his soul, but it seemed to not have enough soul energy to fully condense.


    David decided to reach out for some more. He grabbed another set of 10 guards dream orbs....but even after absorbing them....that didn''t seem to be enough.


    David felt that if he didn''t get enough soul energy....then something bad would happen. He began running through possible solutions.


    ''Jackass.....you were going to try that anyway,'' David thought as his soul sense moved to find the demigod orbs.


    After looking around for a few seconds, he found the demigod orb he was looking for. This was the first orb that he had contact with in the soul space. The one that he had easily influenced. He assumed that this one would still be weak against his soul''s attack.


    David approached the dream orb and willed his strength to press around the orb. David could feel a burning sensation from the rotating fire concept orb, but it was a pain that he could ignore...it wasn''t that bad.


    David pushed his soul strength to the maximum. He could feel the resistance of the demigod''s soul. In comparison, a foundation stage cultivator''s soul orb was about the resistance of a fist sized balloon filled with water....it would pop once firmly squeezed... but a demigod''s dream orb was more like trying to smash a grapefruit in the hand....it could be done....but the resistance was alot greater than a water balloon.


    David drew upon all of his strength. With a few cracking sounds that reverberated through the silence of the soul space, the demigod''s orb exploded. David felt a wash of soul energy swarm his soul and fully condense into his dream concept. David felt like his soul''s strength had increased by 10 fold. It was an exceptional feeling....he even had energy to spare.


    Looking over to where the Demigod''s dream orb was once located, David noticed that the fire skill concept orb was still floating there. With nothing to orbit, it just remained stationary as it started to slightly fade.


    On a whim, David reached out to touch the orb. Upon contact with his finger, the orb went arry and started vibrating intensely. David had a feeling of dread wash over him. Realizing that something bad was going to happen, David drew back his soul perception and exited his soul space.


    He opened his eyes in Mr. Harver''s office.....Then a large explosion occurred on the other side of the town.

 Chapter 69: Chaos

    From what David could see with his soul perception, the explosion had leveled the area surrounding the demigod''s home. The nearby homes and buildings were torn apart with debris scattered throughout the town.


    "Misery, I killed a Demigod and a fucking crazy explosion happened. Tell everyone to start the plan immediately. There will be no surprise, but everyone should still stick to the original plan. I''ll see them all in an hour," David told the woman through their mental link.


    "I will tell them right way," Misery responded.


    David stood up. He removed his bag of goodies and placed them under Mr. Harver''s desk next to the little green orb he used to protect his surroundings. He would come back to get them later.


    After he situated his stuff, he ran to the building''s supply room. He had noticed a few things he needed in the room by using his soul perception. Upon entering, he removed two daggers and a tunic from the supply rack. The daggers looked a little decorative with a few jewels embedded into the handle, but David could tell that the craftsmanship was good. The daggers came with a belt that held two sheaths. Inspecting the high quality, he guessed that he should be able to use these to fight against another demigod.


    Not long after David finished preparing himself, he began to hear movement from the building below.


    He shifted his soul perception to see what was happening.


    The men were starting to come out of the mines. Also, the residents and guards in the town were starting to go crazy. The town was in complete chaos. They didn''t know what was happening but assumed it was a demon attack...even though they weren''t as worried anymore...they still hadn''t forgotten the past events.


    All of a sudden, three men came bursting into the supply room. It was the young man, Nathan, and his two friends.


    "This supply room has some good stuff. It should have enough weapons for the men. Pack them up and get back to the mines," David instructed.


    "Thanks, Mr. Night," Nathan said as he went for the big sacks on one of the racks and began loading items.


    "If you can manage, pick up some other supplies too. Bedding, toiletries...or other random stuff that can be helpful. Bag it up In some of these extra bags and bring it to the main chamber...no one should head down that tunnel in retreat without some supplies," David said before turning and walking out of the room.


    Since he was now ready to go, David circulated his energy...and blended into the shadows and dropped his life signs. Then he began moving.


    He had a few locations he wanted to investigate...these were mostly the areas that his soul sense couldn''t see through. He only had 55 minutes left and he still needed to try to deal with the two remaining Demigods.


    Moving down a street, it only took David a few seconds before he found one of the locations. This location was in a building that was frequented throughout the day by several important men. Hoping he had found the bank, David appeared at the building''s entrance. There were several guards at the entrance protecting the facility.


    David moved behind one of them and plunged his knives into the man''s neck and chest. In knife skills, hitting two vital areas at the same time was always beneficial.


    Using actual knives again, David couldn''t help but think about Mr. Lester and Karine Carmine. It had only been a little over 5 months since he came to The Other as a slave....now he was leading a small town rebellion.


    With a grin on his face, he pulled the knives free and rammed one into the chest of a guard that just turned around. His two attacks were done in under a second.


    All of a sudden, David heard a swishing sound coming from above.


    Thinking that one of the other two Demigods had already found him and launched an surprise attack, David dropped back and brought his knives up in a guard.


    With a boom, the two remaining guards were annihilated. One guard was smashed into the ground with blood and guts squishing out onto the ground. The other guard had his body severed into two pieces by a sword.


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    David instantly heard a sweet sounding laughter of a woman.


    Looking up he saw a winged Misery killing herself laughing in front of him. The blood that flowed out of the bodies was flowing towards her feet like it had a mind of its own.


    "Damn, Misery," David said, "You already killed enough people to form wings? How many people have you killed already?"


    Not answering the questions, Misery just held her stomach and laughed, "You looked so scared for a second there...ha ha ha.."


    David just stared at her kind of pissed off.


    Misery must have noticed the look because she quickly changed the subject and asked, "What''s inside the building?"


    "Don''t know. Let''s find out," David said as he kicked the door open to relieve some of his anger from being laughed at by Misery. Almost immediately after kicking the door open, David felt something hit him hard in the shoulder.


    "Fuck," David said as he realized that he was just impaled by an arrow. That''s what happens when he angrily kicks a door open to somewhere he can''t use soul perception to look inside.


    ''Idiot,'' David thought about himself as he heard another swoosh as Misery flew through the door toward the threat.


    Not shying away, David spun around and went into the room right behind Misery. He had an arrow sticking out of his shoulder, but the injury wasn''t that bad.


    Entering the room, David saw Misery pulling her sword out of a fat man''s neck. Blood spraying everywhere. There was even a small crossbow still clenched in the man''s hands. Two of its arrows were lodged in Misery''s chest.


    "Misery, you alright?," David asked with concern in his voice.


    "Sure, why wouldn''t I be?," Misery responded as the blood from the man''s neck swam towards her.


    "Oh....," she said looking at the arrows sticking out her body before reaching down and pulling them both free. The two holes in her body closed in as the fresh blood was absorbed from the ground.


    Looking around, David realized the kind of place that he was in.....a brothel. The blocking of soul sense must be used to keep people from spying on what goes inside the brothel.


    Somewhat disappointed that this building wasn''t the treasure room of a bank.....David looked around to see about 20 slave women dressed in skimpy clothes coming out of the side rooms.


    A few of the women were followed by half dressed men. Upon seeing the lust filled men come out behind the slave women, Misery quickly darted over and butchered them all. She seemed to really enjoy those kills too...and relished in absorbing the blood.


    The Ker technique had said that the violence of a Ker is influenced by the trauma they had when alive....Misery was a slave woman that had been raped by her captors....she would show her most violent side during situations like this brothel.


    Trying to keep the slave women from panicking after witnessing Misery''s savagery, David decided to yell out some information quickly.


    "This is a slave revolt. I can remove your collars! If you want to escape with the others, you can leave now and head toward the mines...my friend Misery will lead the way for you to get to safety," David said at the top of his lungs...Misery looked scary as hell...so David emphasized the word ''friend'' hard.


    "Let me take off your collars," he followed ip with again while stepping forward....he was trying to calm the women down.


    "Sir, you have an arrow in your shoulder," one of the women said as he got near her.


    "Oh.....Misery, help me get this out...push it through for me," David said as he looked at the arrow sticking out of his body.


    Misery walked over and grabbed a hold of the arrow. With a push, the arrow popped out of David''s back and he let out a moan. Misery broke the ends of the arrow and pulled it out.


    David focused in for a second on his Body of Recovery and the wound began to close up and heal. David pulled a nourishment stone out of his pocket and started absorbing. His Body of Recovery was working in full force to heal the wound. After a few seconds, the stone crumbled and David was completely healed.


    David also began to realize that he needed to take better care of himself....especially when entering unknown locations.


    "Okay....who''s ready to get their collar off?," David said while looking at the waiting women.


    After about 10 minutes, the group of women had their collars removed. David told them to gather whatever possessions and supplies they could....he actually said that pillows and blankets wouldn''t be bad to carry along....these women weren''t used to carrying heavy things or sleeping on the hard floors of the tunnels....they had 15 minutes to get ready and leave...After they were done, Misery was going to lead them to the mine chamber to escape. They were hesitant about following Misery at first, but quickly lost their concern....when Misery caringly began to ask the women if they were alright and help them gather their things.


    Once the group of women had started working on their tasks, David reached out with his soul perception. He needed to see how things were moving along in the oasis town.


    The situation actually looked like everything was going decently. It had only been a little over 15 minutes since the demigod exploded.


    Wanting to get a good update, David actually spent a few minutes observing the town with his soul perception. Slaves were getting set free everywhere. Some slaves and guards were dead. Looting was going really good. The three Greenland brothers had completely dismembered Mr. Gravel''s body and were currently deactivating slave disks like crazy. Groups were gathering food and supplies all over. Everything seemed to be on track.


    When he had scanned the entire town, he had noticed one of the Demigods. Only one....the other one didn''t seem to be present. The one he had observed was by himself so it would be much easier. The smaller sized man was also busy inspecting the wreckage from the explosion of the other demigod. David thought this was a perfect opportunity to sneak attack the man. He blended back into the shadows and started moving toward the location on the other side of town..


    "Misery, I am heading across town to engage in battle with the a demigod. The other Demigod is missing. Tell Omar that if I am not in the chamber when the hour is up....destroy the tunnel and proceed forward with the rest of the plan. Once you are done telling him, come back to give me a hand," David instructed.....he had completely forgotten about the communication stone he had given the other guys....his was in the bag under the desk in Mr. Harver''s office...David was too frantic to remember to take the stone along.


    What should have been a few seconds travel, turned into about ten minutes travel. David had to stop on the way to help a group of food gatherers that were being attacked by a leftover guard. David made short work of the guard before sending the three men back along their way. However, the whole ordeal delayed his path towards the Demigod.


    After a few more minutes of moving, David arrived near the Demigod. The devastation  near the epicenter of the explosion was intense. The Demigod appeared to be frantically looking around for the other demigod that David killed. For some reason, the man thought the other Demigod was still alive and buried under the wreckage of the building.....he didn''t seem to know that the guy was dead.


    Seeing that the Demigod was distracted, David crept up behind the man. David was focusing all his effort to stay deep in the shadows with all his life signed hidden.


    The rubble filled area was flickering with flame. David couldn''t keep himself from remembering an explosion scene he had once witnessed. A flash of anger went through him and he suddenly moved forward to attack.


    Both of David''s knives penetrated the back of the Demigod that was standing in the rubble.

 Chapter 70: Demigod Fight

    After he initially stabbed the man, David quickly pulled the knife in his right hand out of the Demigod''s back used it to repeatedly stabbed the man. David was basically using one knife to hold his victim in place and one knife to repeatedly stab.


    This was a very direct method of attacking with a knife....it helped the knife wielder have excellent leverage in thrusting with the knife. As he finished up the tenth stab, David felt an increased weight on the knife that was holding onto the Demigod. After a rapid fire stabbing, David realized that his surprise attack was successful.....he must have hit at least four vital points multiple times... including the heart.


    He yanked that knife free of the body causing a trail of blood to fly in the air. As if the knife was supporting him, the Demigod''s body fell to the ground in a bloody heap. The body didn''t move...the Demigod was dead.


    David was excited that his attack had succeeded.


    ''Only one Demigod left,'' David thought as he readied himself for another fight.


    Not wasting any more time out in the open, David immediately faded off into the shadows and backed away from the scene. He still didn''t know where the other Demigod had went.


    Just as David had that thought...a boom sounded out from the desert. And David could hear the rapid sound of someone moving through air.


    "Mateo," a shout echoed from just outside the town, "Who fucking killed Mateo?"


    David felt a burst of movement at the town wall. In the next second, a man holding a sword appeared near the fallen body.


    ''Where the fuck did this guy come from?,'' David thought as he exerted more heavenly energy to hide himself in the shadows.


    The man was also holding some sort of amulet in his hand. David recognized the stone as a a life stone. It was a special heavenly stone that was used to keep track of the life of someone else. Some familiys would keep a life stone of their people when they went out on adventures....so that the people back home would know if the person is alive or dead.


    This sword weilding Demigod must have a special relationship with the man David just killed.


    "Where the hell are you? You fucking coward. Come out!," the man shouted off into the darkness as he ready his sword in a defensive position.


    David wasn''t goaded by the name calling. He had realized his strengths long ago. Fighting out in the open wasn''t his strength. He wouldn''t put himself at risk just because of some name calling.....he wasn''t that noble.


    Regardless, David moved closer to the man. He was planning another sneak attack while the man was flipping out and distracted. It would be nice to end this quickly....he was working with a limited amount of time after all.


    Staying in the shadows, David sneaked forward to attack. After he got about 10 feet away and he lunged for an attack at the man''s neck. As he moved in close, the man suddenly responded. David felt the threat of the sword pass near his face as he rolled out of the way.


    ''How the fuck can he tell where I am at?,'' David thought to himself. He hadn''t left his shadow form yet...no one should be able to detect his presence.


    Almost as if responding to David''s questioning thought....the Level 4 Demigod began to taunt.


    "Coward. I may not be able to see you move, but I can still feel your killing intent," the tall slim man said, "you might as well clean your neck....you won''t be able to escape me tonight. I will take your life for killing my brother."


    After his words, the man appeared near David and struck out with his sword. The sword came very close to cutting David and it didn''t stop with that one movement. David had to dodge several times.


    After getting attacked steadily for a few minutes, David realized that the situation wasn''t as bad as he originally thought. Although the Demigod could sense David''s killing intent, he still couldn''t see David while he was in the shadows. Solely based on his ability to sense killing intent, the man would have difficulty landing a blow with his sword.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.


    David was trying to figure out how to hide his killing intent. It was hard...he was trying to kill the man...of course he would have killing intent....how was he supposed to make his killing intent go away?


    David didn''t know answer, but he knew he needed to finish this up quickly. He had lost track of time and wasn''t quite sure how much time he had left to get to the tunnel to escape.


    As he got about 10 feet away, a sword attack suddenly came too close to David for him to dodge. In fact, he couldn''t even deflect the blow....he had to defend....it was heading straight at him.


    David had no option but to defend against the sword attack with his knives. David crossed the two knives in front of his face to catch the attack. The blade hit one of the crossed knives and slid down to hit the interlocked knife guards. The impact was so intense that David''s wrists started to buckle. He was struggling to keep his feet under him....this attack was the strongest that he had ever received. As his wrist started to give, the sword blade started to bite into David''s fingers. David could feel a coldness in his fingers as he felt something shear off of his right hand.


    Mustering up some strength, David pushed his blades forward and dropped down to towards the man''s side. As he moved along the ground, he swung one of his blades at the back of the man''s knee. As the blade dug into the man''s leg, David felt the man begin to fall....and he felt his knife slip out of his grip.


    ''What the hell?,'' David thought as he tried to figure out why his knife fell out of his hand. Looking down, he could see that two of his fingers were missing and blood was pouring out of the wound.


    ''No wonder the knife fell out,'' David thought while focusing his Body of Recovery to stop the bleeding.


    Now he was injured and only had one knife left. But the man was pretty bad off too. David had managed to sever his calf muscle on that leg. He was limping around cursing and waving his sword.


    Out of nowhere David heard a swooshing sound coming from the air.


    ''Misery,'' he thought before drifting off back into the shadows.


    Misery swooped down directly and hit the Demigod hard with her sword. Her blade hit the man in the shoulder, but didn''t make it that deep due to the man''s armor. The man turned instantly and managed to chop off one of Misery''s arms. She had no reaction at all and actually stabbed her sword forward into the guy''s chest...which completely took the man off guard. He just stared at her wide eyed. As he was being stabbed, he had thought to himself, ''How come this woman didn''t react to getting her arm chopped off?''


    Even though the man was stabbed in the chest, he still had some considerable strength. He pulled back with Misery''s sword in his chest and swept his sword at Misery. His sword hit her legs like cyclone and severed both legs. Misery fell to the ground but started laughing.


    The man was shocked again. He had chopped off her legs and all she did was laugh.


    While this was going on, David was giving Misery pointers. The man seemed to be able to detect David''s killing intent when he attacked. So there were two solutions to this issue...David needed ot learn to hide his killing attent which is extreamly time consuming...or the man needed to be really distracted.


    Coincidentally, the man''s attack on Misery gave David both solutions at once.


    When the man saw the legless MIsery rolling on the ground in laughter, he lost his composure for a split second.....and in that split second the Demigod was completely distracted.


    At the same moment, David had been very concerned for Misery''s safety. While he knew that the woman could be chopped to bits without any issue, David was still worried about the off chance that her Blood Stone would be damaged.


    He attacked the man almost immediately. However, this attack didn''t have any killing intent. He was attacking to protect Misery, so his killing intent had vanished.


    Flipping the knife around in his hand, David attacked with a downward stab. He rammed the knife into the man''s chest.  Since it had been embedded in the man''s chest, David performed a serious twist and pulled hard with the knife. Blood shot everywhere. The Demigod didn''t go down immediately though. David was still less than an arm''s length away. The demigod spun around to strike David with the his sword.


    David brought up the downward facing knife to block the attack. The sword hit David''s knife. The impact caused stress on David''s wrist. The knife bent back and cut into David''s forearm.


    Feeling the sword hit''s strength lessen, David jumped away to get some separation. He also exerted his energy to blend into the shadows again.


    Looking over, David could see that his last knife attack had been deadly. The man was now kneeling on the ground. He looked down at the blood flowing out of his chest.


    "Who are you and why would you do this to my family?," the man asked.The look on his face said that he needed to know why this was happening.


    David backed away a bit more before coming out of the shadows. He needed to give himself some room Incase this man had a trick up his sleave.


    "I am just a slave your town purchased to work in your mines. Any person that can treat humans the same way that your town has....deserve to die," David said.


    "I see," the man said.


    "May I know the name of the man that has killed me and my brothers?," the fallen Demigod asked with a strained breath.


    "Night," David said simply before fading back into the shadows.


    David made his way over to the now quiet Misery. He always kept an eye on the man just in case a last second attack happened.


    But nothing happened. David watched as the kneeling man took his last breath and slumped over on the ground. David had a sullen expression as he watched the man die.


    "Quick...drag me over there...that blood is some good stuff," Misery fussed in contrast to the mood.


    David walked over and picked up her almost limbless body and placed it next to the demigod''s body. He then sat on a piece of debris on ground and started to look around.


    ''Where the fuck are my fingers,'' David thought as he realized that he may be able to reattach them with his Body of Recovery skill.


    After looking for a few minutes, David actually managed to see the two pieces of his fingers. He stood up and walked over to pick them up. Looking at the two pieces of finger, they were pretty trashed.


    He walked back over near Misery and sat down again.


    Sitting on the ground, David was trying to heal himself to recover from his injuries. The biggest pain was the two missing fingers on his left hand.....well it was more like he was just missing the last two segments of both fingers. The pieces that were cut off wouldn''t reattach no matter how hard David focused his Body of Recovery skill. He still had two little nubs that were starting to scab over.


    Misery was even in worse shape, but she was rapidly recovering. The blood from a Level 4 Demigod seemed to be very potent and Misery''s missing limbs were steadily regenerating. Despite her mutilated appearance, she was laying there with a big smile on her face.


    David looked over at Misery and tossed her the two finger pieces.  "You can do something with those...," David said trying to give her a hard time.


    Looking at David, Misery smiled and popped both finger pieces into her mouth like they were candy.


    David winced. Looked like his attempt at a joke backfired.


    "Thanks for the snack, Night," Misery said with a grin. She was really good at fucking with his head.


    David tried to refocus himself on his injuries....then a thought hit him all of a sudden.


    "Fuck.....Misery...we need to get to the tunnels," David said as he realized he had completely lost track of time.

 Chapter 71: Grief of Night

    Misery looked at David and said in a hurry, "Take the Blood Stone.....I want to go back in your soul and rest. Tonight was a really good night for me. I feel almost as if I can break through some level or something..."


    "Okay," David said as he picked up the Blood Stone.


    After picking up the stone, he ran as fast as he could in the direction of Mr. Harver''s office.


    Making his way through the town, he noticed destroyed buildings dead bodies of guards and various other sights of the slave rebellion.


    On his way, David happened to pass by the hospital building. Part of the building was on fire, and it looked like there had been an intense fight out front. David was worried for


    the nurses....they weren''t bad people and seemed to generally care for his well being despite the fact that he was a slave.


    Going through the halls, he saw a few other dead guards. He also saw that some of the defenseless paitients had been killed. Why would the freed slaves kill the defenseless?


    Turning a corner, he saw a sight that made him feel A minute of emotions....hate, grief and blame. Two of the nurses had been killed. One was half dressed and appeared to have been assulted. The other looked like she had been partially cleaved with a blade. A dead slave was laying on the ground with a surgical knife in his back.


    David seemed to get the scene in his head. One of the slaves that he had sent to get the supplies had decided to disobey orders and attack one of the nurses. Another nurse came to her aid and stabbed the man...however, he didn''t die right away and managed to hit her with his sword.


    David was disheartened at the sight. He didn''t intend for something like this to happen....but it happened nonetheless. He felt guilt. He wanted power to prevent stuff like this...but in this case he felt at fault because his actions had caused the situation.


    Realizing there was nothing he could do about the situation, David felt defeated. He couldn''t even talk to Misery about how he felt since she was in meditation...he felt alone.


    How does someone wage war but prevent civilian casualties? David had never heard of a way in all his history studies....there were always something nice to bystanders to a conflict that were killed.


    With a sullen attitude, David left the hospital building and started running to his original destination.


    While it wasn''t his peak speed, David only took a few minutes to make his way through the rest of the town. Most of the place was deserted.....David assumed that those people not involved with the rebellion....were probably hiding. He still couldn''t shake the guilty feeling.


    ''Can I deal with eradicating the Diego Family if I''m going to feel like this always?,'' David thought as he moved along the town streets.


    He had no trouble doing the most cruel and merciless actions against wicked people....but he felt like his usual kind self when around innocents.


    David reached the building and immediately went to Mr. Harver''s office to get his bag from underneath the desk. Just as he picked up his bag and stuffed the green orb inside, then....he felt the ground start to shake.


    ''Fuck.....they didn''t even wait on me," David said realizing the time limit of an hour must have been reached.


    He had hoped that they would still wait on him.....that''s the way it goes in the movies...they always hold out for a few extra minutes for the hero to get back safely....but Omar must have took him 100 percent literally and started to collapse the tunnels as soon as the hour mark was reached.


    David''s disappointment quickly turned to worry as the building started to shake. Then it clicked in David''s head...the building was right on top of the large chamber that the tunnels tied into.....if the chamber collapsed....that collapse would travel up to the building....and the building would fall!


    David started to move toward the window. However, the building started to fall down around David and before he knew it.....he was buried in rubble.


    Since Mr. Harver''s office was on the top floor, David actually lucked out a bit. Only part of the flat roof structure fell on top of him as the building collapsed. It took him almost an half hour to dig himself out. He had a few broken bones and a few scrapes...but nothing that his Body of Recovery couldn''t handle.


    After getting out of the rubble, he decided to check the town with his soul perception. He had been hesitant in reaching out with his soul perception....he didn''t want to witness more of the destruction caused by his actions. He limited his soul perception range to just the building. Maybe he could find a route to the tunnels and catch up to the group. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.


    He began to scan the building to see if a path to the tunnel remained.


    Amongst the rubble, David noticed something that made his already dismal mood plummet to an even lower level. He recognized another body buried in the rubble. The disfigured woman sex slave''s body had been partially crushed by the rubble.


    ''Fuck....no one went and got her,'' David thought a little pissed off that no one helped the woman. But honestly.....could he really blame the other escaped slaves?....she would have only been a hindrance to the fleeing slaves.


    David could see that she was still breathing and in pain. The intense pain must have brought her out of her mindless state.....and now she was suffering under the rubble. David watched her feeling guilty over the entire situation. This was his doing...just like the nurses. His resolve to payback those people that had wronged him started to break. He needed a way to keep this sort of thing from happening or he wouldn''t be able to continue. He should have specifically told someone to take care of this woman.


    As David sat on the rubble trying to heal his injuries, all he could do was watch over the woman. After a few minutes, she closed her eyes. David actually felt a relief that she was no longer suffering. However, he quickly realized this wasn''t the shut eyes of death.....it was the shut eyes of unconsiousness....her body wasn''t dead yet.


    David had an idea. Maybe he could give her a chance as payment for his involvement. Amongst the rubble of the building, he closed his own eyes and entered his soul space. He could see Misery off in the distance sitting down in a medative position. She must still be trying to consolidate her gains from the battles.


    David focused his soul energy and a few orbs appeared throughout the city. Looking through these orbs, David could see that almost all of them were people who had been knocked unconscious or were on the verge of dying. More guilt hit him in a wave.


    With his intent, he focused in on the orb of the woman trapped in the rubble. David came forward and touched the orb. With a thought, he was inside the woman''s dream.


    He willed the space to be just the woman and himself. He needed to ask her something.


    "Hello.....is anyone there?," the woman''s voice echoed through the white space.


    "Yes, I am here," David said as he appeared in front of the woman, "I''ll try to explain."


    "You have been in an accident on the outside of this dream world....and your body is dying. I have put some effort in giving you good dreams in the past...I know you have been though some horrific experiences. You were not saved when the other slaves evacuated during the rebellion. Somehow, I feel that this is partially my fault.....I never instructed them to specifically find you....and they destroyed the escape route on my orders....which in turn....collapsed this building causing your deadly injuries. I am sorry," David said trying to explain the situation to the woman....and doing a horrible job.


    The woman could see that David was very emotional. He was actually crying. This incident had been a bit much for him to handle. Despite the cruel things that were done to him, he had still a normal well mannered man that was raised in a loving and caring household. He wasn''t inately violent....he just had a few violent tendencies that were brought out by things that happened to him.


    "I see," the woman said very calmly looking at David face, "so I am dying...that is fine. You do not need to feel guilt. You are not the one that caused me to be like this."


    David was surprised by her calmness. It was not a crazy psychopath sort of calm.....it was an accepting sort of calm. David wished that he could fell calm. Another thought occurred to him as he was standing in front of the woman. He could make her a Ker like Misery. He decided to make the offer...it would be her choice.


    "Miss...I have a special technique that can preserve your soul and give you a new body," David bluntly said, "I can give you some sort of life to live....but because of me it will most likely be full of violence.....I have my own path to walk.....and I need to remove a few evildoers from this world."


    The woman stared at still crying David.


    She still remained calm as can be as she began to speak, "I am from a small village in the mountains. Although I was quite beautiful, I had never found love and never had children. In my small village, I was a school teacher. Every child in the town was mine to teach. I loved those children.....then one day our village was raided. These men killed, raped and stole...everything that they could in the village. Then, I was somehow brought to this place. They fed me and kept me alive.....only to continue to torment me. All I had was the dreams of those children to keep me alive. I do not know if I can walk the path of violence that you need."


    David thought for a moment and made some considerations. He continued to feel tons of guilt over the devistation that he caused. He knew that some of the death and destruction was necessary to achieve his goals. However, he hoped that he would be able to deal with the losses better. An idea struck David.


    "I am a normal man. Because of the hardships placed on me by the cruel nature of others, I have ended up here. I can not make promises. My road will be filled with death and destruction. Those people that acted against me help me determine that path months ago...they are evil people. However, I do not wish to hurt the innocent. I only wish to punish the wicked....but I now understand the innocent may suffer from the conflict....Here is my offer to you....I can promise you that I will never force your actions. If you do not wish to kill, you do not have to. However, I will require one thing from you....watch over the innocent on my path of destruction.....I can give you a body, I can give you strength.... and let you loose on battlefields to judge the wicked and protect the innocent. This way, I can feel some sort of relief in my actions...I can feel like I have saved some of those that need to be saved. I can avoid some of the guilt that I currently feel now."


    The woman looked at David in consideration before nodding and saying, "Okay.....I can help you with that. Just remember what you have said and hold to the agreement."


    "I will," David said, "Thank you for helping me."


    Since the decision was made, David needed to move quick...her body was dying after all.


    "Now I will detach your soul from your dying body.....it will not hurt, but you will be stuck in this soul space until I can perform the ritual...is there any dream you would like to relive until I have made the preparations?"


    "Yes....I would love to play with the children again," the woman said.


    David put the woman in a dream and popped her soul free of her body. This was exactly what he had done with Misery.


    After the process of soul separation was done, David visited the woman again.


    The woman was playing with a group of kids. Both David had resumed his orginal appearances. He looked like a normal man from Earth.


    This time, he told her about absorbing souls and entering dreams. He also told her about Misery. When asked for more information, David began to tell the story of Misery to the woman. Of course he left out the personal details like he just told her that Misery had changed her name from her original name....but he never said her original name.


    After the story was finished, the woman looked at David and requested, "Please call me Grief. I greive everyday and that suits me best. I do not want my original name and more."


    "Okay...Grief, I will follow your wishes," David said, "Now, I need to get back so I can leave this town."


    Before David could leave, her calm voice spoke again.


    "Sir.....what is your name?," Grief asked


    "My name is....," David paused. With the events of the night, his mindset had made another shift. He had always felt like David....until today. David would have never been responsible for a slave rebellion. David wouldn''t have been responsible for sending people to plunder and murder their way through a small town. He truthfully felt that he was no longer the peace loving, gentle architect called David. David was dead...the peaceful David had died with the destruction of this town.


    Taking a deep breath, he finished his introduction to the woman now trapped with his soul, "Night....My name is Night."

 Chapter 72: Desert

    The sun was slowly setting below the sand dunes and the cool night air of the desert was coming quickly. Night stood over the corpse of the the alloc that he had been riding for the last couple days. For some reason, the camel-like beast had just randomly collapsed and died on him during his journey through the desert.


    ''Son of a bitch,'' Night thought as he tried to figure out what his next step was going to be.


    After thinking for a few minutes....there wasn''t much thinking to do....his desert transportation died....now he had to walk. The main problem was that he didn''t know where the fuck he was going and at this point....he was completely lost.


    When he had started this trip into the desert, Night had idiotically assumed that he would have come across at least another oasis....or seen a caravan...or just found something.....besides sand. His original trip from Nazca City to Manco Town...only took around eight hours....how could he travel for days and not come across a single sign of life?


    Thinking back, he realized that he had probably made a poor choice.


    Six days ago, he had set out from ravaged Manco Oasis with two packs full of random supplies strapped to an alloc. The night of the slave rebellion.....After he had situated Grief and partially recovered from his injuries, Night had tried to contact the escaping slaves without any luck. Because he managed to find his satchel full of stuff after the mine building collapsed, Night still had the communication stone to send messages to the escaping slaves.


    However, he couldn''t get anyone to respond to his messages on the communication stone. He had tried contacting the freed slaves in the town for several hours before he left....and had even kept sending messages for the first two days of travel in the desert. He had hoped that he could meet up with the escaped slaves to swipe some of the supplies...and have at least a few calm days to plan the next stage of his adventure....but it seemed like that wasn''t in the cards.


    He could only think that he was out of range of the communication stone. The final base of operations for the escaped slaves was around 10 miles away from the town. He had never checked the allowable distance of transmittal on the communication stones...he didn''t even think of the need to check.


    Despite the fact that he was now lost in an unfamiliar place, his desert travels had been mostly carefree, but were completely lacking in the presence of anything.....but sand dunes. He didn''t even have his usual company to talk to on his trip.


    Misery was still laying down in some meditative type trance in Night''s soul space.  The night of the slave rebellion, she had said that she felt like she was going to breakthrough. But, she only seemed to be taking an extended nap after having a large feast. There had been no changes in the last couple of days and Night constantly wondered when Misery would wake up.


    After the rebellion, Night had a slight panic attack after thinking that he had lost the Blood Stone for Misery''s body when the building had collapsed on him in Manco Town. Although he managed to find the Blood Stone sitting among his other belongings, he was still very worried that he would loose the special red stone. The soul inscription on the Blood Stone was not that easy to make and he was now terrified to lose it.


    During his resting moments of travel, he actually carved out a small space in his eye stone to house the fingernail sizes Blood Stone...if it was stuck in his eye he probably wouldn''t loose it. The small blood stone also looked like a red pupil in the stone eye. Night thought it looked pretty bad ass when he looked at his reflection in his shiny dagger blade. However, Night had kept it still covered with the stupid eye patch....the sand kept getting around the eye when he left it uncovered.....he really hated sand.


    As for his newest party member, Grief, she was still in her dream world waiting to gain enough soul strength to form a body. During these days of travel, there weren''t even intelligent beasts to attack for the soul energy right now...the desert was just plain empty. Also, Grief didn''t seem that interested in what Night had wanted to talk about at the moment....she was just too calm and collected...she was content to just be in the dream state.


    So essentially, Night was alone in the desert.


    Even his last company....the alloc that he had started to call Fred.....had just randomly given up and died. Night didn''t know what the hell went wrong with the animal....he had fed it several times with no issue but he must have missed a key element to caring for the animal. The beast had been one of his lucky finds in Manco Town. After the slave revolt, Night had to scavenge for supplies in the mostly destroyed small town...those freed slaves surely seemed to be specialists in looting the town...only the bare bones of rations were left for Night to use.....after hours of searching he eventually managed to work up enough food and supplies to last about two to three weeks.


    This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    So after determining that he had no choose but to move on foot through the dunes, Night was standing by the beast''s corpse and sorting though the supplies. From a weight standpoint, he could carry them all....however, he would look like a man carrying a horse in his back due to the physical size of the supplies.


    Looking up from the dead camel beast''s body, Night started to regret his decision to leave the small oasis town without a map. He had been very anxious to leave the town because he was worried that some support from Nazca City would arrive and hunt him down. While he felt good about his current strength, he wasn''t that certain that he could take on a high level Demigod. His battle with the Level 4 Demigod had been quite difficult. If Misery hadn''t helped him, he probably would have died.


    So.....He took off on the journey without a map while thinking that he wouldn''t have any issue finding another oasis...but he was wrong.


    The landscape of this desert was very similar to pictures that Night had seen of the Sahara Desert on Earth. All it was waves of sand. The desert was extremely hot during the day but quite chilly at night. There was no shelter....and constant mirages on the horizon that gave him all types of false hope. At least, Night managed to navigate by following the direction of the orange sun. He knew he could walk in a straight line by following the sun....or at least that is the way it worked on Earth...he could have been walking in circles here and would have never known.


    He had never really taken time to think over this world once he arrived. Since coming to this planet, most of his time was spent either indoors or in the mines. When he did explore, he explored at night. He hadn''t had but maybe an hour or two to observe the daytime world since he arrived here months ago.


    ....he had even chosen the name Night for himself because of his proclivity towards the night itself.


    However, that had completely changed now....he''d gotten more than a full view of daytime of the desert over the last couple of days.....he even thought for a second that he might have really died and was trapped in some perpetual hell...walking the same stretch of desert over and over again...these fucking mounds of sand all looked the same to him.


    As he had done very frequently over his day''s in the desert, Night focused in on the desert with his soul perception while standing besides the animal corpse.


    When he promoted to a Demigod of Dream, he had seen a vast improvement in his soul strength. His soul perception could reach around 3000 feet.....that was a little more than half a mile.  It had more than doubled from his previous level.


    However, the extended soul perception didn''t really do much good....he hadn''t seen a damn thing but sand in last six days.


    After scanning the area, Night sat down leaning against the dead beast and trying to hide in the bit of shade the body offered from the hot setting sun. Sitting there he started pondering over his environment....Night couldn''t keep from wondering about the entire planet.


    What had surprised Night was that his sense of time wasn''t effected when he came to this world. It seemed to function on a daily cycle that was similar to Earth. However, based on estimates he had read about on Earth.....this planet was approximately 20 times greater in size than earth.


    Recalling his limited information, he guessed that this world and its sun must have been of similar proportion to Earth''s systems....just larger in scale. Maybe that is why the standard day functioned similar to Earth? Night wasn''t sure but the scale was definitely a contribution to the conundrum. On this planet, Nibiru....The deserts were larger, the sun was larger, the planet was larger, the mountains were larger, the forests were larger...and apparently the beasts were larger!


    Night became excited as finally found something besides sand with his extended perception.....and it was moving rapidly in his direction. From what Night could tell, the beast was a big snake...about 35 feet long....and it looked like a Sidewinder from the deserts of Earth.


    ''Shit, that''s a big snake,'' Night thought as he tried to develop a plan. The snake would arrive in about a minute or two.


    Looking with his perception, he could see the beast. The snake had two small horns above its eyes and had small rough scales that look like the various shapes of desert sand. It moved rapidly through sands in the typical side-winding manner.


    Night was trying to figure out how to handle the possible incoming attack from the snake. He had fought with smaller beasts like spiders and centipedes in the tunnels.....but they weren''t this big or fast.


    Night ducked behind the body of the alloc and hid himself in the little bit of shadow that was created by the dead body. He erased his life signs and watched as the beast came into sight.


    The snake moved quickly forward towards the Alloc corpse and took a striking pose. In a split second, it struck at the dead alloc and latched onto it.


    Night kept trying to figure out how the snake was going to swallow such a large animal, but then he realized his assumption about the animal was wrong.


    It wasn''t eating the alloc...it had latched on and was sucking out it''s blood. The snake was undulating its body and appeared to be pumping the blood out of the alloc. The animal was like a hybrid of a leach and a snake.


    ''What a weird ass animal,'' Night thought to himself as he tried to figure out what to do. He couldn''t ride the snake thing. He could probably kill it when it was distracted with the blood feeding.....but attacking a potentially venomous snake at close range with a few knives might be risky. He honestly couldn''t decide out what to do.


    So, he just watched as the snake sucked and slowly inflated with blood from the alloc. This went on for a good 30 minutes before the snake finally let go. The snake had swollen up to roughly four to five times its original diameter.


    Night kept trying to figure out how it was going to get away with such an awkward shape. It went from looking like a normal snake shape to looking like an overstuffed sausage. The snake beast curled up and started to undulate its body in a weird motion. Surprisingly, the motion caused the snake to start sinking down into the sand...right next to the dead alloc that had some of Night''s supplies strapped to it. After a minute or two, the only part of the snake that was visible were the two hornlike projections that sat above it''s eyes.


    Night could sense the snake under the sand with his perception. It seemed to be hiding and waiting for something.


    ''It shouldn''t be hungry. What the hell is it waiting for?,'' Night questioned himself.


    The sun was practically set at this point. Darkness was completely on the desert. Several moons were starting to shine overhead.


    Night was actually afraid to approach the alloc for the remaining supplies. He had a feeling this snake was waiting for something. He didn''t want to risk a fight with the snake just yet. Maybe he could wait until it went to sleep....then kill it easily in his soul space.


    After about an hour after the sun went down, Night was still sitting on the other side of the dead alloc. The snake hadn''t went to sleep yet.....it seemed to be in some weird trance like state.....but it wasn''t sleeping.


    While he was sitting, he noticed something else at the limits of his perception. Two people were walking around and arguing with each other. No.....they weren''t people.....these two guys were demons.

 Chapter 73: Demons

    Maybe it was because of his experience with Lili or maybe it was because other humans had been so cruel to him...Night didn''t really have any pre-existing grudges with the demons. Actually, he was quite interested in them and wanted to learn more.


    Because of his interest, he blended himself into the night and moved closer to the pair of demons. Night guessed that they were demons because they had more demon-ish features than a regular person. These two men looked really normal except for the three small pyramid shaped horns protruding out of their foreheads. The two menalso had beast mounts that appeared to be large scorpions...not the common allocs that Night had seen used by humans.


    Compared to the demoness Lili, these guys definitely looked like they would be unmistakable as demons. After all, Lili looked just like a normal person....these guys had horns.


    As Night moved through the shadows to get closer, he began to eavesdrop on the men''s conversation.


    Even at this point, he was still unable to understand how he could communicate with people regardless of the languages they spoke....he had just accepted the fact and stopped asking questions...it seemed to be an ability he picked up out of nowhere....but it was probably his most helpful ability since coming to this world. Someday he would get to the whole story on his powers, but today was not it.


    Listening in on the two men, he could tell that they seemed to have a urgent issue at hand.


    "Garik, how the hell are we supposed to find a sand snake so quickly?," the smaller of the two demons said. He was a rather pudgy man but seemed to have a good deal of strength as he tugged the reins of his scorpion to a stop.


    "We must find one, Talik. If we do not get the snake, the healer will not be able to prepare the antidote for my sister. Then she will die," the demon called Garik responded. This demon was slightly taller and appeared to be older. He also had a bow slung over his back and a quiver of arrows at his side.


    "I still can''t believe that she was poisoned during that attack by those damn humans," Talik said with a disgust in his voice, "We were only camped nearby when they attacked....we didn''t show any aggression at all."


    "Yes, but what do you expect from those human invaders. The fact that they used the snake venom on their weapons....really shows how cruel they can be. Not only my sister, almost a quarter of the clan will die if we do not get the antidote," Garik said, "...we have no option but to find the sand snake tonight."


    After listening in on the conversation, Night realized that he could actually help these two demons. He knew right where a sand snake was located. Considering his other option of just wondering the desert....These two demons could be Night''s chance to find a way to some civilized place in this desert. Night actually didn''t even care if it was a demon town or city at this point. He just wanted someplace to get a break from this sandy desert.


    The only issue with the demons was.....how could Night convince them that he was a demon. There seemed to be some shared hatred between demons and humans that Night did not want to participate in. He wasn''t sure if demons had a way to determine he was a human.


    After a few minutes of thinking over the situation, Night decided that he would try a smoke and mirrors type approach. These two demons only appeared to be at the peak Foundation Stage, so they didn''t really pose a risk to him. He would use his Death Concept to hide all his life signs. If both humans and demons wouldn''t even be able to even tell he was alive...then how could they tell if he was a human or demon?


    If worse came to worse, he would just kill these two demons if they attacked him and move on. Regardless of their species....As long as someone treated him nice, he would return a similar behavior. But the second someone acted against him, he wouldn''t treat them kindly.


    Moving closer to the two men, Night manipulated the surrounding shadows to the point that the men could no longer see.


    "What the fuck is going on?," Talik said in worry, "Why did it get so dark?"


    "I don''t know, but be prepared for an attack. Something is causing this to happen," Garik responded while pulling out his blade.


    "Hello...," a breathless whipser sounded out in the darkness," My name is Night. I mean no harm. I was nearby and overheard your conversation....I can help you...I know right where a sand snake is located not far from here."


    The two men were shocked at the whispered words.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    "Really?," Garik said in excitement. However, he did not lower his sword. He wasn''t so stupid as to fall for a bluff to let his guard down.


    "Yes," Night said, "if you promise to not attack immediately, I will show myself to discuss."


    The two demons looked at each other and nodded. Garik said, "Agreed, but we will not lower our weapons."


    "Okay," Night said as the light from the moons drifted back into existence and the men could see again. They could see an man that looked to be around thirty years old standing in front of them. One eye looked normal and the other eye was covered with an eyepatch. The man gave off an aura much stronger than theirs and they knew that he could probably kill them both if he wanted to.


    "I will gladly show you the location of the snake. But, I would also request your help....I am.....lost in this desert. I am not from this place and do not understand the desert properly. My mount has died and now I am stranded here. Please consider," Night said before the two men could even speak after seeing him.


    "What? You are not from the desert? Then where are you from?," Talik asked in an astounded fashion. He had never met someone from outside of the desert.


    "I can''t say. I was heading to the western desert to speak with Countess Asta. However....regardless of my strength...I am completely lacking in skills to travel this place. I even had an incident with a few humans in a town a few days travel from here," Night said trying to make up some story.


    The two demons just looked at each other then back at Night. They didn''t know what to do. They were just a group of demons from a small clan and didn''t know the full details of the world beyond the desert. Trusting some random stranger could be a big benefit to the clan....or it could be the death of them all.


    "Okay," Garik said, "We will take your word...for now. Can you show us the sand snake? The others in our clan really need to receive an antidote made from the snake."


    Garik made the decision off the simple fact that regardless of Night''s intent...a quarter of the clan would die if they didn''t find the snake soon.


    "Sure, follow me," Knight said before turning his back to the two demons.


    Seeing the man disregard his safety by turning his back, both demons realized that this person was probably much more powerful than they are. He wasn''t even concerned with them enough to keep his eyes on them. They would have never done the same.


    Of course, Night wasn''t stupid either. He was constantly watching the men with his soul perception. After walking for a few minutes, Night brought the two men over to the down alloc.


    Seeing the dead beast, the two men both looked at Night amazed and asked, "How did you get a desert donkey?"


    "Desert donkey?," Night said questioningly, "I had heard those humans call it an alloc when I took it from them. I honestly don''t know much about the desert."


    "Oh.....," Talik said trying to understand how someone would not know this information.


    "When the beast died, the sand snake came over and sucked out it''s blood. Then it buried itself in the sand right next to the beast. I can point out an exact location. Although I am much stronger than both you two and the snake, I didn''t want to act unknowingly....and end up getting poisoned or something because of my ignorance....so I was making a plan to get the supplies when I noticed you two," Night said to bring the two demons up to speed on the situation.


    "It fed on the desert Donkey?," Galik asked excitedly, "How big was the snake?"


    "Oh....let me remember," Night said acting like he was trying to remember. The two demons seemed puzzled.


    Night was sweating inside....if he told them it  was 30 feet long...then they would either not understand him or realize that was a human measurement...both wouldn''t be good...


    "Ummm....I only saw a full view of the snake for a split second before I hid myself.....at my guess it was about three times the length of the alloc," Night said.


    "If that''s the case, we can wait for a little longer. It is most likely preparing to lay eggs. If we can get the sand snake after it lays eggs, then we can get both the snake and the eggs. This would be great. We could save the village and even make a profit afterwards," Talik said in excitement.


    "Where is it?," Galik asked looking over at Night.


    "See the hind quarter of the beast....look out about two lengths of my body and you will see the two eye horns of the snake," Night said.


    In a matter of seconds, the two demons spotted the snake''s location. After a brief discussion, the three men decided to wait.


    While they were waiting, the three men chatted about several things concerning the desert and Night learned alot. From what Night could understand, the demon clans of the desert were mostly separated into three basic levels which seemed to focus on how and where they lived.


    The smaller clans were nomadic in nature and roamed the desert and lived at the smaller unoccupied oasis. The medium sized clans actually occupied slightly larger oasis and formed permanent towns. Several of the larger clans in the area lived in and around a very large oasis. These large oasis were run by the clan of the count or countess. Countess Asta lived in the biggest of the oasis in the west desert and was the most powerful person in it.


    Most demons belonged to generic type demon clans. Some had red skin, some had blue, some looked like normal humans with some slight differences like horns, pointy ears or sharp teeth. The variety was pretty large. The larger clans were the creatures of myth and legend such as vampires, winged demons, succubus, incubus, and trolls....to name a few. These creatures of human myth were all technically just different clans of the demon race. Of course, the two demons assumed that Night knew most of these basics when discussing demon relationships. Night just managed to relate a bunch of information together when the talkative Talik described who lived where in the desert.


    As the group was sitting there chatting, Night caught movement ay the perimeter of his perception. It was a very large lizard that was moving in their direction.


    "A large lizard is moving in this way," Night said to the two demons, "We need to take cover now if we do not want conflict."


    "It is probably after the corpse," Talik said as he readied his blade, "Sand lizards will scavenge meat from anything."


    "Let''s wait and see what happens," Night said as he backed away with the two men, "I''ll hide you two."


    Night shifted the darkness and shrouded the three men.


    A lizard came scurrying up to the alloc''s corpse. As it approached, Night noticed that the snake was growing restless by the shifting sands.


    All of a sudden, the snake attacked the lizard. It''s fangs dug into the animal and the lizard flailed. The lizard managed to land a few blows on the snake and soon the pair of fighting animals were left motionless on the sands of the desert.


    "Holy shit...they killed each other...it couldn''t have worked out better for us," Night said as he walked toward the two beasts.


    In the hole in the sand left behind by the snake, David and the two demons could see a dozen pearly white eggs. The eggs were about the size of a human head.


    Seeing the excited look on the men''s faces, Night knew they were extremely lucky to find these eggs.


    "Quick," Galik said, "We need to get everything back to the clan as quickly as possible. Night, can you give us a hand getting everything back to the clan?"


    Night turned and smiled, "Sure, I have many questions to ask anyway."


    The three men then started to review the logistics of how to get everything back to the demon clan.


    "Night, we could sure use the help. Thanks," Galik said.


    "No problem," Night said as he felt thankful inside. He was glad that he met those two demons....he was glad that he wouldn''t be lost in this desert anymore.

 Chapter 74: Presense

    The big issues related to getting back to the demons'' clan were the lack of transport for Night and the formidable size of the two dead beasts. After batting around a few ideas, the three men eventually decided that it would be best to use the two scorpions to carry the beast corpses and eggs while following along on foot.


    After loading up the beasts, the burden on the scorpions would be at its peak....but according to the demons, the load should be bearable to the animals for the length of this trip. The foot travel would slow their trip to the demon clan to save those that had been poisoned, but shouldn''t delay them more than a few hours. A few hours was acceptable....they would arrive at the village around midnight....the deadline was late morning according to the medicine woman in the village....they had more than enough time.


    As the three men chatted during the trip, Night got the details on their clan''s problems. Apparently, the demon clan had run across a group of human bandits while they were moving camp locations. The clan''s lone Demigod and the entire clan had fought them off.  Surprisingly, neither side had lost any men during the fighting. The humans had played it safe for the most part and attacked using ranged weapons that were poisoned.


    As soon as he heard the story, Night understood what the bandits were trying to do. Since the humans had fewer numbers, they would perform these safer type attacks that would easily whittle down the enemy numbers. Once the numbers were down, they would move to kill the enemy. Most likely they were waiting nearby the clan for the poison to kill the wounded.....then they would stage another attack.


    Night relayed his concern over this battle tactic to the two demons. The realization that this may be an issue caused them to feel an increased urgency. They were both very grateful for Night''s advice concerning the bandits.


    From Night''s perspective, the demon clan could handle the situation one of two ways. One, they could heal up then secretly hunt the bandits down. The group had probably remained nearby waiting for the chance to attack, so they would be easy to track. Option two was that the demons could heal up, fake some deaths and plan an ambush for the returning bandits.


    While the demons were excited about the prospect of attacking the bandits, they both told Night that they needed to get back to the village immediately to consult with the clan elders.


    During the travel with the two demons, Night had learned all about their clan, the Ammon clan. Their ancestor, Ammon, had been a very powerful Level 5 Demigod of Fire. His clan was easily distinguished by the three horns on top of their heads and their propensity for Fire talent. During Ammon''s reign as clan chief, the clan had actually fought to become the owners of a small oasis town for some time. However, the ancestor had brutally died in a conflict with another clan over some mining rights. After loosing the protection of the Demigod, the Ammon Clan was forced to flee into the desert and roam from place to place.


    From listening to the details of back story of the Ammon Clan, Night learned a lot about the politics between demon clans. While most demon clans were generally peaceful, big battles and wars would occur when there are shifts in power or conflicts over resources.


    The number of each of the three levels of demon clans was capped based on the amount of resources in this part of the desert. If one of the numerous small nomadic demon clans were to try to take over an oasis permanently, they would need to destroy one of the other thirty oasis towns to prove their strength and free up space. The whole system was enforced by the Countess or Count of the region.


    If a small demon town wanted to advance to the capital city, they would need to remove one of the ten capital families from power. If one of the ten capital families wanted to remove the countess from power, they would have to defeat her clan in battle. Other clans were not allowed to interfere. The power structure caused several large clan wars over the years....but as a whole, this system caused the demon clans to became progressively stronger.


    The desert was a big place, but the resources were limited. Similar to the human''s Manco Oasis, most of the demons'' western desert resources were agriculture in the oasis areas and mining of resources under the entire desert. Because the desert was somewhat limited in plants and wildlife, very few really powerful beasts and devils existed.....so the demons of the desert were the majority species....the only real concern they had was the humans.


    From his talking with the men, Night found out that he had to head to the capital city of the western desert, the City of Setting Sun, in order to meet with Countess Asta. From what he had learned from the men, the desert had four chief demon clans that each ruled a quarter of the large desert. The leader of these clans was titled either a count or countess. So, the desert had four main capital cities.....The City of Setting Sun located in the western desert, the City of Rising Sun in the eastern desert, the City of Northern Wind in the north, and the City of Southern Wind in the south.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    Night needed some assurances before he risked going into a full fledged demon city.....he needed to know if they could recognize him as a human. Since he had first met the two demon men, Night had been hiding his life signs with his Death concept. This minor exertion of his concept was due to his need to fit in with the demons. He was really unsure if demons could recognize humans from some sort of characteristic that he wasn''t aware of.....and he didn''t want some conflict to break out.


    Remembering his time in Manco Oasis, Lili seemed to think that Night wasn''t a human when she met him.....and the humans didn''t seem to be able to recognize Lili.


    Maybe there were actually no differences between humans and demons except some slight physical differences and talents. But the tinge he felt in his soul when he thought about Lili told him that thought might be wrong. Regardless....Night didn''t know, but he had a feeling that the stronger the beings observing him....the more they would know about his background.


    During the trip, Night had a bit of time to think about how he would deal with this issue.


    When Night had met with his godmother, she had said that one of the abilities of the Great Truth of Reality was the Presence Concept. From the information that Night had, the Presence Concept would allow him to influence the way that other people view him. Her description of the skill sucked....so he really didn''t know exactly what that meant...but Night guessed that this was some sort of disguise or illusion technique that could be used on himself. It would be really helpful if he could change his appearance...his presence.


    To figure things out, Night tried to abstract the skill based on the skills that he knew already. His death concept basically allowed him to assume the form of something that was dead. Essentially, he copied the presence of a dead person.....and made his own body exhibit those traits. Night guessed that when he mastered the Presence skill.....he would be able to do that same thing but with other things.....he should be able to modify his presence of being any part of nature....or to feel like nothingness.....or even truely feel like a beast or demon.


    After thinking for a while, Night realized that he had essentially mastered the presence of death by actually wasting away. How could he provide this same stimulation to the development of the Presence Concept? From his assumptions, he figured that the best way to master the Presence Concept was to observe other things and try to change himself to match those things. He couldn''t observe with just his eye.....he also needed to observe things with his soul. He continued this process of observation during the trip in hopes that he would have some sort of break though and master the Concept of Presence.


    He was constantly observing the two demons with all of his senses. He needed to understand the basis of the presence of an something before he could copy it. With his perception, he was constantly observing the sand dunes, the scorpion mounts, the demons, and even random objects like the saddles that were holding the parts of the dead sand lizard and sand snake. For most of the trip, Night tried what he could with regards to the concept without any luck.


    Since he was hiding his life signs, he knew that these men wouldn''t be able to detect anything different about him. If he was asked why he seemed like a corpse, he could just play it off like he was hiding himself.


    In addition to his amateur concept practice, Night was constantly striking up conversation with the two men. He had to be very careful with his questioning. He had to try not to give any information that would make it obvious that he was a human. Every now and then, he would hit a snag in the conversation.


    "So what clan are you from?," Garik asked.


    It was one question that Night knew was coming but was dreading responding to....pushing is practice in understanding the Concept of Presence to the back of his mind. He decided he needed to focus on the situation at hand for the meantime.


    "Ummmmm...My clan...My situation is somewhat of.....a different sort of situation...," Night stuttered while trying to reason through his response.


    As soon as the words came out, Night could see that both men were looking at him oddly. He decided that they needed more information...


    "I don''t know where I am from....," Night said with a downtrodden look on his face, "I was captive by humans for a long time. I met a young female succubus that served under the Countess Asta. She invited me to come over after my business was done."


    "Fuck, you were captive by humans and don''t know where you are from?," Talik asked, "How the hell did you escape from them?"


    "Well, I am technically a Level 3 Demigod. I managed to have some good comprehensions while working in the mines. Once my strength was good enough, I started a slave rebellion and destroyed the Manco Oasis Town," Night said. He figured that keeping the story as close to the truth was best.


    "Damn, Manco Oasis....I don''t know that one," Garik said.


    "Ya....I stole an alloc, as the humans call it, and rode for around 6 days before it died here. I guess if I wouldn''t have ran into you two....I probably would have been wondering for some time. I really don''t know what I am doing out in the desert.....most of my memories from childhood involved mountains and my time as a slave was spent in the dark mines underground," Night said trying to put an end to his story.


    "Yep....you would have been wondering for some time. This is one of the longest underpopulated sections of the Western Desert," Talik said.


    "So how did you run into a succubus, they look just like humans and could blend in just fine.....you shouldn''t have noticed them," Garik asked.


    "Oh....I can roam the dream world....I stumbled upon the succubus when I was hunting my own prey," Night said.


    The men reacted to Night''s comment like someone had slapped them.


    "You a high demon incubus?," the two men echoed each other almost simultaneously.


    "I don''t know man....I don''t know," Night said seeming despondent, "What''s a high demon?"


    "Damn, them bastard humans really did keep you from knowing anything," Garik said, "the only male demons that can enter dreams are incubus....at least the only ones that I know about."


    He seemed to have a look of sorrow on his face and honestly seemed to feel bad for Night''s circumstances.


    Eventually, the group arrived at a little small tent town in an really small oasis....so small it basically had one tree and a small shallow pond.


    "This is our Clan....The Ammon clan," Garik said as they walked into the sight of the guards that surrounded the desert camp.

 Chapter 75: Demon Town

    The group of three arrived in the demon town just after midnight. At first glance, this tent village looked like something Night had seen in the movies about nomadic desert people.


    To the guards on duty at the camp, the startling sight of the two men walking up to the camp with someone strange was quickly mitigated by the sight of the beast carcasses being carried on the scorpion''s backs.....especially the sand snake.


    In the quiet camp, most of the people were already sleeping. However, the few camp guards had sounded an alert that managed to  notify just about everyone in the camp. Most of the people in the village camp had already come out of their tents to welcome the two hunters back when the three men entered the camp perimeter.


    Night had reached out with his perception some distance before the arrival to check the situation in the camp. The camp consisted of about two dozen tents. The tents looked big enough to house small families easily. There was a large pen set up that held around thirty scorpions too. The tents were centered around a small shallow oasis pond that was maybe three tents wide and full of muddy water.


    In his counting, Night figured that there were 67 demons total in the Ammon Clan. From what Night could tell...around 30 of these demons didn''t seem to be doing that well....they must be the poisoned ones.


    "Quickly, I need to bring the body of the snake to the healing tent to get the antidote to cure everyone that is poisoned," Garik said as they approached the camp, "You two can share the lizard with the families for food. Everyone can have a great feast tomorrow. Talik, make sure to introduce Night to everyone and introduce him to the clan leader. The antidote should be ready pretty soon...no more than two hours."


    After giving his instructions, Garik sped forward towards the medicine woman''s healing tent. Talik and Night were left standing alone as the guards and clan members swarmed around them.


    Talik was a very talkative guy once he got around his family and friends and quickly disseminated all of the information Night had told the two men about himself. Tarik''s tale of his daring escape from slavery and the destruction of a human oasis...had some demons looked at him with a little awe and trepidation. Some others of the demon clan just seemed to go about their normal business without any concern over Night....mostly the older crowd. In both cases, none of the clan members showed any hostility toward Night. He greatly appreciated their general friendliness.


    Although the story got a bit exaggerated, Talik saved Night a great deal of time by explaining his background to everyone that had shown up at the camp entrance. Besides listening to the demon introduce him, Night had been greeted with a series of self introductions from some of the clan members..... especially a group of about 8 kids that were running around. The three horned demon children were quite adorable although Night had to keep watch that they didn''t run off with his possessions.


    "So where do we need to bring the lizard to process it?," Night asked Talik once he started to get tired of the commotion.


    Of course, Night knew what would happen after Talik explained that the lizard was very good food for the clan. He had lived out in the woods his entire childhood. Of course, he new the basics of hunting and processing game animals for eating. The thought of hunting game brought back memories of his father....which in turn made Night''s mood slightly sour.


    Hoping to pull himself out of the emotional slump, Night looked at Talik waiting for a response.


    "Oh....ya.....let''s get to work," Talik said as he lead his scorpion with the lizard pieces on it''s back to a tent off to the side. He had been enjoying the attention of the clan members a bit too much.


    Hearing the call to work, the crowd started to disperse except for a few stragglers looking to sight see.


    Talik lead Night over to the largest nearby tent. After coming up to the tent, he yelled, "Chief Bravik, you doing okay in there? We got a sand snake and a sand lizard.  Everyone should be doing great by tomorrow morning."


    In response to the shout, a pale faced older burly man slowly walked out of the tent with a large butcher knife in his hand.


    "Great, Talik. I assume that Garik already brought the snake to my wife," Chief Bravik said before turning his gaze to Night.


    "Yes, Garik is over there now. We also got twelve snake eggs too, so we should be able to profit off this trip too," Talik responded excitedly. It seemed like he was bragging.


    "Good, Good," Chief Bravik said while pointing his knife at Night, "Who is this guy?"Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.


    Although the gesture may have seemed threatening, Night didn''t take the knife pointing seriously as a threat. The man was actually using his other hand to support himself with a crutch. The clan chief also seemed to have some bandages wrapped around his waist because of an injury. His pale complexion also made it seem like he had been one of the clansmen affected by the poison from the bandits.


    Talik proceeded with his introductions of the two men. After a few minutes of chatting, the introductions were over and it was time for the three men to get to work.


    After stretching out the lizard''s corpse on a newly unfolded tarp, the two demons decided to work together to carve up the sand lizard into portions for distribution. They even called a few bystanders over to help carry off the pieces that were going to be cut off. Judging from documentaries Night had seen back on Earth, tribal groups would chop up game animals and distribute the meat out to everyone in the clan. He assumed something similar was going to happen here.


    After spreading things out, the Chief and Talik immediately started separating the lizard meat from the skeleton. Night was not the kind of person to sit around while other people work. So, he pulled out one of his knives from his waistband and started deboning one of the lizard''s hindquarters.


    The two demons seemed to be quite surprised when Night pulled out such a fancy knife and got to work. However, the Chief looked at Night with a bit of hesitation in his eyes after a while.


    "So you actually caused the destruction of a human oasis town? You don''t look that strong," Chief Bravik questioned as he narrowed his eyes on Night.


    The bedraggled looking man was probably the strongest demon in the village....he was at least a Level 1 Demigod.....so his status as Clan Chief seemed to make sense. However, Night didn''t know what caused the shift in attitude.


    "Yes, I helped destroy an human oasis town. The humans have one main flaw. They are lazy and keep a ton of slaves to do their work. They rely on heavenly stone collars to control those slaves but somehow mine ended up defective....and I could break free. After that.....with my strength.....it wasn''t that difficult to free the rest of the slaves and cause a full revolt. I didn''t destroy the oasis on my own," Night said to fill him in....without giving too many details.


    "So you worked with the human slaves to destroy the town?," Clan Chief Bravik asked with an odd tone.


    "Yes, they were no different than me in that situation," Night said to clarify his stance concerning the human slaves. Although the didn''t want to cause a conflict, he was trying to keep the story as close as possible and didn''t want to lie too much.


    During the questioning session, the trio were steadily working to harvest the lizard''s meat.


    Despite the cordial interaction, the Clan Chief kept looking at Night in an awkward fashion....which gave Night a bad feeling. He wasn''t sure if this demon had bad intentions or if he figured out that Night was a human. The glares his way made Night feel real uneasy.


    However, the three men continued to work and eventually had most of the lizard carved up and headed out for distribution to the clan.


    After they were finished with the lizard, the Clan Chief began handing out the meat out to the clan families that had started to flock around the area. Each group got an amount proportionate to the size of their family. It took a good while to get everything handed out but it was completed pretty quickly..


    Right after everyone got their food, the medicine woman showed up to distribute the poison''s antidote. Clan Chief Bravik introduced the woman as his wife, Branim. Unlike Night expected from a medicine woman, the Clan Chief''s wife was absolutely gorgeous and seemed like a complete normal woman. Night had imagined the medicine woman being a dried up old hag that talked in all sorts of riddles....like in the movies.


    The antidote was quickly distributed to the clan members and Night soon heard a few moans of pain and some sounds of relaxation throughout the camp area. It seemed like the antidote was a success.


    After all the formalities were done, the Clan Chief had a few men setup a small tent for Night to sleep in. They had decided that it was okay for Night to stay with the clan until the antidotes had completely healed everyone. Night had been a bit uncertain, but what other choice did he have?


    When he was finally alone in the tent, Night started to rummage though his pack. He pulled out a green orb.....the same orb that Mr. Harver would put on his desk for privacy in Manco Oasis. Tapping the orb, Night injected some of his heavenly energy. The energy caused the orb to glow and Night could tell that it would be difficult to observe his actions in the tent. Night had put the handy item into use because.....although he was friendly with these demons....he wasn''t a hundred percent sure about them...something seemed off with the chief.


    Now that he had his privacy, Night spread the contents of his bag out on the rug floor of the tent. He wanted to review his inventory. He had some food and water and some miscellaneous goods like bandages. a few handfuls of blood stones, assorted heavenly stones and some soul stones. Nothing too big, but it should be enough for him to get a foothold somewhere. He had left all the bigger supplies, like bed sheets and armor on the dead alloc. He could only bring so much on the trip since he was now on foot.


    While he had messed with a few of his supplies while traveling, he hadn''t spent a considerable amount of time checking through his supplies. Some of the heavenly stones were very nice quality under further review.


    Night also had an odd looking black gem that he had taken from Mr. Harver''s private collection of treasures. During one of his lonely nights in the desert, Night had figured out what the gem was and he had not been so excited in quite a while. The black stone was an darkness elemental gem.


    From what Night knew, darkness and light elemental gems were extremely rare.  He had used the gem that night and his power over his concepts had more than doubled. His shadow concept blanketed about a quarter mile of desert and the death concept..... well.....there was nothing living around Night at the time, so he couldn''t really tell the effects of the elemental gem on the death concept. Regardless, the boost in power was very exciting and Night planned to find someone to fashion the gem into part of a weapon for him eventually.


    After admiring the elemental gem for a few minutes, Night decided that he was finally settled enough to begin something that he needed to do for a while. Complete the ceremony of turning Grief into a Ker. For the last week, she had only been a floating soul orb in Night''s soul space.


    Night went into his soul space and began the Way of the Ker process of inscribing Grief''s soul. Grief was very patient with Night and seemed to be appreciative when she realized the pain the procedure had caused him.


    Night was so exhausted when he was done. He had to use two soul stones to recover some of his soul energy. In an hour, he was almost back to normal.


    After recovering, Night sat on the carpet looking over his stuff. He caught sight of the small pile of soul stones sitting on the floor. Inspiration struck him and Night had an idea.


    Since the soul energy in the soul space seemed to benefit Misery Before, Night guessed that if he absorbed some extra power from the soul stones then he may be able to give Misery a boost to wake up. He was worried for the woman and missed her company. Consider the situation, Night didn''t see how absorbing a few extra soul stones could hurt anything. So, he picked up a few of the soul stones and absorbed the full amount of soul energy from the stones. Looking into his soul space, Night noticed that Misery was starting to stir. His idea had worked.


    "Hey, Night," Misery said looking over at the man in the soul space. Then she caught sight of the woman next to him.


    "Who''s this?," Misery said with a loud questioning look on her face.


    ''Shit,'' Night thought as he saw the angry look on the woman''s face.

 Chapter 76: West

    Night stepped in between the two women just in case Misery tried something ridiculous like an immediate attack on the plainly dressed woman. Misery had been a bit protective of Night after the whole incident with Lili leaving some sort of mark on his soul. Of course, Night was appreciative of the protection.


    "Misery, calm down. Remember the sex slave with the mangled face? Well...stuff happened after you passed out....now, she is a Ker like you.....Please be nice and introduce yourself...you can look at her as your younger sister...she will probably need you to teach her a few things," Night said mentally so that only Misery could hear.


    Looking between Night and Grief, Misery''s facial expressions changed from one of anger to one of happiness....her whole attitude did a complete turn around.


    "Hello...my new sister....my name is Misery. You can just call me Big Sister. What would you like me to call you?," she asked Grief with a overly pleasant smile on her face.


    "...Big Sister....my name is Grief," came a soft response from the woman next to Night.


    Then, Grief moved forward and actually hugged Misery. Night could actually see a little emotion on Grief''s face...which was highly unusual for the freakishly calm woman. Misery was taken aback for a second but returned the hug nonetheless.


    "What a beautiful name...Grief...I love it," Misery said as she pulled herself out the hug and grabbed Grief by the hand.


    "We need to chat about a few things," Misery said to Grief as she was leading the woman away.


    Then she turned to look at Night and ordered, "You can just leave us alone for now. Girl stuff you know? We new sisters have a lot to talk about."


    The two Keres proceeded to move over to the little piece of land in Night''s soul space and enter Misery''s cabin...they were chatting the whole time.... It was the weirdest thing...they both completely disregarded Night. Misery had even waved her hand at him to turn him away when he moved to join the two.


    ''Shit,'' Night thought, ''I''d almost rather they fought...these two are very scary like this....hopefully Misery doesn''t teach her anything bad....she is a bit too mischievous.''


    After being dismissed by the women, Night went back to sorting through his supplies. He had thrown most items in the backpack in a haphazard manner...so he was glad that he got to check through everything and reorganize.


    After getting all of his items settled, Night decided that the camp had settled down enough to check out the demon clan. He focused in with his soul perception to see everything going on in the clan. Most of the demons had already settled back down to sleep.


    With a slight violation of privacy, Night focused his perception on the Clan Chief''s tent. The man had looked at Night oddly several times and Night was worried that something might be wrong.


    Most of the conversation between the Chief and his wife seemed to be related to the care of the villagers. Although the pair still had some concerns, they were both very happy that things had worked out so well for them. After talking for a while, the Chief began to discuss Night with his wife.


    "I honestly don''t know what it is, but I feel that something is different about the man. His story is pretty strange but it is believable. He seems to give me the feeling of both a demon and a human. He has the feel of someone from the Osir Clan that always feels of death....most have never met someone from that clan but I had actually met one once with my father.....but also he feels similar to some of the humans we have fought. Maybe it is because he had lived so long with humans or maybe he might be a half-breed. I really don''t know. Do you think I should warn him? Talik told me that he wants to go to the City of Setting Sun. I recall my father mentioning that some half-breeds were not treated kindly in the City."


    Listening to his concerns, the Clan Chief''s wife spoke up, "My husband, that man Night practically saved our clan with his assistance. From a point of equal exchange, we need to give him something in return. Maybe...your worries can be expressed to him as a sign of our Clan''s thanks." If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.


    "We''ll see tomorrow. I am really tired tonight and I am worried about those damn bandits coming back," the Clan Chief said.


    "Okay sweetheart....rest well," the wife said before snuggling up on her husband.


    Night quickly pulled his perception back when he realized that he was eavesdropping a bit to much.


    After listening to the talk, Night felt grateful inside. These demons seemed to understand the practice of repaying kindness. The thought that there might still be some decent beings in the world.....made Night feel slightly good inside.


    After thinking about the conversation, Night had a pretty good understanding of why the Chief kept looking at him funny. The Chief had been trying to make sense of Night. He couldn''t tell much about Night from he presence.


    At least, Night now knew that the Chief wasn''t plotting against him. That knowledge was a bit of a relief. But another threat had been bumped to the top.....how to blend in with the demons?


    With his safety concerns of staying in the clan gone, Night decided to scope out the rest of the clan to see how the demons lived. Night could see the watchful guards at the perimeter of the camp. The tent village was quite a peaceful place.


    In addition to the clan members, Night could also see a few people out near the limits of his perception.


    After a quick investigation, he figured these men were some of the human bandits sent to keep an eye on the demon clan. After observing for some time, Night realized that most of these humans were vile. They really did intend to perform a follow up attack to kill the rest of the demons....or at least kill the men and take the women prisoner. However, Night found out there was one bit of misinformation that the demons had given him. Although the demons had been attacked because they were nearby, the bandits had actually had similar skirmishes with this Demon clan in the distant past. Night didn''t know why this wasn''t mentioned before, but he was sure the clan was playing him to get him to help....playing the victim.


    Regardless, Night developed a plan after watching the bandits plot their massacre. He didn''t like these type of people. An epiphany stuck Night all of a sudden.After preparing himself for a minute, he drowned the area in darkness and left the tent camp.


    ____________________________


    The next morning in the clan was rather quiet until the Clan Chief came outside his tent and found 10 severed heads sitting outside in the sand. Night was standing nearby with a wicked grin.


    Before the Clan Chief could speak, Night interjected, "I removed a problem for you last night, but I have a favor to ask. I need to get to the City of Setting Sun. Do you have any map or guide that can help me on my way?"


    The Clan Chief was surprised....not just by the lined up head....but also the question from Night.


    "Yes.....sir...Night....We have a map that has been passed down in our clan...it lays out most areas in the western desert. I can not give you the original since it is a clan treasure, but I can allow you to make a copy," Clan Chief Bravic said with a grateful look on his face.


    "Night...I need to warn you...," the Chief continued. However, he was quickly cut off by Night.


    "No need. I know what you are going to say. I have a particular circumstance, so I should be able to manage once I get to the City. Please do not worry about me," Night said.


    The Clan Chief was very thankful. He allowed Night to copy his family''s map which clearly showed direction and the general location of the City of Setting Sun. The Chief also gave Night a scorpion mount to ride. The gesture was very nice and Night actually took out two of his heavenly stones to give to the Chief. The Chief was thrilled with the exchange and thanked Night profusely.


    After having a long lunch feast with the Chief, Garik and Talik, Night said his goodbyes to the Ammon Demon Clan and restarted his travels. This time he felt prepared with both supplies and direction. The only issue that he needed to resolve how to blend in with the demons in the capital city.


    _______________________________________


    Following the map given by the Ammon Clan, Night was slowly making his way through the western desert on the back of a scorpion. The ride was relatively nice although riding on the back of a giant insect was a bit weird. These scorpions were called Black Scorpions and were a common domesticated beast for the smaller clans of demons. Their tails could still attack, but were capped by a leather guard to keep them from accidentally turning on their keepers. The beast was a smooth ride....very similar to a car on Earth. Night actually enjoyed the ride immensely and had even fashioned a small canopy from his old satchel to provide him some shade when riding.


    Night had been told that his journey in this direction should be relatively safe since it is a common caravan route. The trip should take him around two weeks according to the Ammon Clan Chief. Since beginning his journey, Night hadn''t had any real issues except the occasional attack from some wild animal. So far he had been assaulted by a small sand snake and some sort of bird. In previously talking with the demons, Night realized his general lack of knowledge over basic wildlife was something that hurt him a good bit.


    With the journey west going smoothly, Night had time to relax. Like he had done many times in the mines, he exerted his soul perception over both the real world and his soul world at the same time. During his lost days in the desert, he had found that this was an excellent way to train his soul. Generally, he could keep his perception focused on the real world indefinitely. However, if he overlapped his soul space, then he could only sustain perception over the full range for around two hours without any detriment.


    If he went any longer than that, he could feel his soul strength starting to drain. It wasn''t a negligible amount either. After letting it drain down to about half his capacity, Night had noticed that his soul strength was slightly higher when it recharged. It wasn''t a large gain in soul strength, but it was a gain nonetheless.


    During his travels, he had a chance to chat with Misery. He really seemed to miss his chats with the woman. She was back to her normal self, but both her and Night estimated that she now had the strength of a Level 1 Demigod. Misery''s control over her blood body had also increased greatly. She had even used the blood body for a bit to walk with Night...however, she quickly retreated back into Night''s soul space once she spent a few hours out in the desert heat. According to Misery, she was getting along with her new sister, Grief. Both women were very eager for Grief to get a new body just like Misery. Night was also eager. Having two full time helpers would be very beneficial.


    As Night traveled along one day, he started to notice smoke over the next batch of sand dunes. He rushed forward to put the area within the range of his perception.

 Chapter 77: Caravan

    After moving forward a few hundred feet, Night was able to reach out with his perception and see the situation over the large sand dunes.


    Through his perception, Night noticed two groups fighting. One was a group of around 150 demons traveling in a caravan. The other group was around 25 human bandits. The demon caravan group was mostly made up of women, children and weaker individuals. After observing the battle for a second, Night realized the power distribution among the parties involved.


    There appeared to be two low level Demigod demons and a few other late Foundation Stage men that were fighting off the 25 human soldiers. The humans seemed quite powerful too. From Night''s review of the situation, the human''s had a mid level Demigod and a low level Demigod. Both seemed stronger than the two demon demigods. The Foundation Stage men were about on equal footing.....however, the humans outnumbered the demons two to one.


    Initially, Night had not wanted to get involved and didn''t plan on a interfering with the skirmish. However, he noticed that the demons would soon be overwhelmed despite their superiority in numbers. The human soldiers were just slaughtering everyone...men, women, children....it didn''t matter. One of Night''s hang ups on telling the freed slaves to become bandits had been harm to innocent people. He really didn''t have a stomach for it. That''s why he had harped on that as a condition for them to become bandits.


    The harming of innocents was one of the things that bothered Night. Deciding to put an end to the situation, Night rode forward on the scorpion in clear sight toward the fighting.


    When the two groups saw a lone individual heading towards them, they actually increased in battle intensity.


    "Quick, capture a few of the women and take as many goods as you can. Then retreat," one of the human demigods yelled to his squad of men. The men seemed to respond instantly and began to focus their efforts on snatching people.


    Realizing that the situation was escalating quickly, Night stood up on the back of the scorpion and jumped into the sand. Then with a burst of strength, Night shot forward to the battle.


    In a few seconds, he arrived in front of one of the two human demigods.


    "Who are you?," the man said, "This is none of your business. Leave."


    Having already pulled his set of daggers out from his waistband, Night didn''t even respond. These humans were even killing kids.....trash like this needed to die.


    Seeing the weapons drawn, the demigod prepared to fight. Since the sun was out directly overhead and there was basically no cover in the desert, Night really couldn''t make use of his Shadow Concept to hide and attack. However, he had grown exceptionally strong. Technically, he was a Level 1 Demigod and he had mastered Body of Strength skill. From his estimation, the man in front of him was only a Level 1 Demigod. It shouldn''t be that hard to fight....he had killed a Level 4 Demigod before.


    Night darted toward the weaker of the human demigods and instantly clashed with weapons. Night''s two knifes met the short sword in the bandit''s hand. Feeling his superiority in strength, Night pulled one of his knives back while keeping the other engaged with the sword. Since he now had a free knife and the man was using both hands on his sword, Night managed to hit the human demigod in the side of the head with his full strength. However, the man was still alive. Not because of Night''s mistake.....but because he had used the pommel of his knife instead of the blade. He wanted the man alive for several reasons.


    Opening up his soul perception, Night was going to attempt to lock the man in a dream. However, when he overlapped his perception of the soul space and real world. He could see glowing orbs in the place of the people on the battlefield. It was crazy. He had never done this action during a fight before. He had only used this method to track resources in the mines and to train his soul.


    Night actually felt like he picked up a new skill.....well, it was an old skill....he just figured out how to use it better. Since he had been practicing overlapping his soul perception between the real world and the soul space to train, Night now realized that it was an excellent way to determine the strength of people. With his regular perception, he could be aware of everything in the physical world. When he overlapped, he could sense the soul strength of the people within his perception range.


    "Misery, can you see these orbs?," Night asked in the soul space.


    "Yes," Misery responded, "I can see them clearly."


    "Attack and kill that one right in front of me," Night said as he pointed over to one of the bandits.


    In the soul space, Misery moved forward and grabbed the man''s dream orb and crushed. With her new strength, she could easily destroy peak Foundation Stage cultivators.


    In the real world, the man whose dream orb was crushed.....just collapsed to the ground. No one could see what happened


    ''Why hadn''t I tried this before?,'' he wondered to himself. He really knew too little about his powers. His godmother had told him his backwater world didn''t know anything.....seems like she was right.


    Seeing the man collapse, Night grew excited. However, Misery didn''t seem that impressed.


    "Why are you so excited? We have done that before and you never seemed so excited," Misery said.


    "Misery, it is the middle of the day and the guy wasn''t even asleep," Night said mentally to let her know why he was excited.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    "What!!," Misery exclaimed, "That''s amazing."


    Realizing he had an opportunity, Night quickly said in his soul space, "Grief....quick....these men are harming innocents in a caravan and I need help."


    The plainly dressed school teacher turned Ker quickly appeared next to him. Misery had been educating her over the last couple of days on their existence as a Ker. She understood the situation much better now and had started to look up to Misery as an older sister.


    "These are the orbs that can be killed," Night said as he pointed out the 22 normal bandits.


    Misery guided Grief along as she showed her what to do.


    See that the two women had the situation under control, Night immediately turned to the remaining demigod bandit. The whole involvement of his Ker had only taken a few seconds.


    The two demon demigod had noticed that Night had taken out one of the bandit leaders and had immediately moved to double team the remaining leader. Even though the man was a higher level demigod, he actually seemed to have better battle prowess than the two combined lower level demigod.


    Seeing an opportunity, Night quickly moved forward and appeared behind the battle distracted human demigod. Swinging another punch forward, Night managed to knock out the man. He had actually had an easy time of it all.


    ''I guess it turned into three against two, so we had the number advantage,'' Night thought before looking around the battlefield.


    Seeing the threats around them disappear, the two demon demigods breathed a sigh of relief.


    Looking at one of the other men nearby, the man that appeared to be the leader of the caravan looked at the man besides him and said, "Check on the injured and figure the damages."


    He then turned to look at Night, "Thank you for you your assistance. My name is Enok. I am the organizer of this caravan...and this entire caravan owes you their lives.....myself included."


    The man actually seemed to have some linger fear over Night. It wasn''t that he had knocked out the two demigods. It was that the other bandits had just randomly died on the spot without any noticeable sign of injury. That made him nervous.


    "No problem," Night said seeing the fear in the man''s eyes, "We are fellow travelers on a similar path. My name is Night."


    "Greetings, Night," Enok said while looking at the unconscious bodies of the two demigods, "What do you intend to do with these two?"


    "If you have a tent I can use for privacy, I would like to question them for a while. I would like to know some details about who they are and where they come from," Night said with a grin.


    "Yes, we can setup a tent. After these events, the caravan might as well stop and regroup for the night," Enok said.


    "Great. Where are you headed?," Night said. He had two reasons for this question. One he was actually worried about these people. Two, he knew it would be easier getting to the city with a large group....or easier getting into the city with a large group.


    "We are going to the City of Setting Sun," Enok said.


    "Wonderful. Do you mind if I travel with you from now on, I can offer some additional protection and...it is kind of lonely wandering the desert by myself?," Night asked.


    Enok immediately had a pleasant looking grin on his face. "Of course...Of course. With your strength, our chances of getting to the city will greatly increase."


    All of a sudden, Night heard Misery fussing about something in his soul space.


    "Excuse me for a moment," Night said to Enok in aggravation. Enok just looked at Night as he strolled over to an area of the sand covered in blood.


    "Grief, why did you do that? Night might not be happy," Misery said to the other Ker.


    "That fierce child was dying, so I saved her soul. Night will have no objection," Grief responded with her usual calm demeanor.


    "What happened?," Night asked as he walked over to the two women.


    "Grief took the soul of child. See it over there," Misery said pointing to glowing orb that was sitting over by itself. It was unattached from a body.


    "What?," Night said in shock. This woman had been all about protecting children....then she goes and kills one. Anger flashed across Night''s face.


    Seeing Night''s face, Grief''s normal calm self slighted shifted to worry as she immediately began explaining, "The child was dying from a really bad injury from the raiders. I saved her soul and brought it here so she could be at peace."


    Night still looked unhappy as he asked, "Why would you do that? The child''s soul can not remain here forever. That wouldn''t be fair. Did you at least speak with the child about what you were doing first?"


    Suddenly, Grief seemed to be insulted by Night''s words. She actually yelled back at him, "Yes, this child agreed to be your servant for a chance to keep fighting. This child is a warrior. Her family was just killed by these raiders. Even with her father dying in front of her, she managed to pick up her knife and fight on despite being cut up by the raider''s sword to the point of death. Even laying on the ground with her body cut up she was still trying to kill the man. She is a perfect candidate to be just like Misery and myself. The more in our tribe the better we can protect others."


    Both Night and Misery instantly went through a shift in their mentality toward Grief. They both seemed to be locked in thought. Misery''s harsh look softened and she looked over at Night. He seemed to be struggling with the whole concept. After a minute of consideration, Night came to a decision on the matter.


    ''Why not?," Night thought, "If I can save people this way and increase my strength at the same time.....Why not?"


    "Okay, keep the child''s soul safe for now. We will continue this discussion later...don''t ever do this kind of stuff without my permission," Night said.


    Taking his focus back away from his soul space, he looked around the battle worn caravan. He saw the bodies of a family laid in a really bloody area. A girl''s body was nearest to a fallen bandit. He looked pitifully at the family as he walked up. A father, a mother, and two siblings. All dead. The sight of the girl completely disturbed him though. She appeared to be around 16 years old. Half of her arm was missing and it looked like she had been stabbed several times. There were wounds all over her. Despite the damage, her corpse was still holding tightly onto a sword and had a glare towards the dead bandit.


    ''Damn.....'', Night said as he looked over the carnage that had happened at this spot.


    "Misery, you and Grief go speak with the girl. Make sure she understands everything about becoming a Ker. I''ll be back here to talk with all three of you in about an hour. I need to take care of some stuff first," Night said as he continued to look around.


    After finishing up with the two women, Night picked up his scorpion and went back over towards the two unconscious demigods. He tossed the two men on the back of the scorpion with plans to move them to the tent when it was ready.


    While he had only been gone for a few minutes, Enok had already had some men assemble a tent off to the side. His accommodations were ready and waiting when he arrived with the two men slumped over his scorpion''s back.


    Night exchanged a few words with the Caravan leader then began to get started on his work. The caravan leader still seemed to have some fear of Night and quickly went on his way after making sure he was taken care of properly.


    After dragging the men inside, Night performed a physical search of the two men. If they were bandits, then they should have some good stuff on them. Since Night didn''t get his pick of supplies from Manco Oasis, he really wanted to gather some items of value before arriving at the demon city.


    After a few minutes of searching, Night was delighted. He had found a wonderful treasure on one of the unconscious demigod bandits.

 Chapter 78: Ring

    Night twirled a ring around between his fingers. Although he wasn''t absolutely certain, he was pretty sure that he knew what it was when he first looked at it...a space stone ring. He was so excited over the find that he was giddy....he couldn''t stop grinning....However, he quickly got cautious.


    Settling down, he took out the green isolation orb in a repeat of his actions during the night in the Ammon Clan.


    ''I wonder what this thing is exactly. It sure is helpful,'' Night thought as he activated the sphere to give himself some privacy.


    Once he was sure the orb was in effect, he eagerly went back to looking at the ring in his hand. He really wanted to know what was inside. Night inserted a nudge of heavenly energy into the ring.


    However, when he tried to access the space stone...it felt like he hit some sort of wall....he didn''t have any luck accessing the items.


    ''There must be some kind of soul lock on the space stone,'' Night thought as he recollected the information he had read in the book about stones back in Manco Oasis. Most space items could be locked with an inscription that recognized its owner''s soul energy.


    ''Let''s see...how do I get inside?,'' Night questioned himself as he was thinking. ''If the link is between the ring and a soul, then getting rid of the soul should get rid of the link. I could kill the guy and see if that works....or maybe I can just make it seem like he is dead?''


    At Night''s sudden idea, he reached over and exerted his Death Concept to the maximum. A death shroud covered the unconscious man, but nothing happened with the lock in the ring.


    ''Damn, if that doesn''t work, then killing him shouldn''t make a difference,'' Night thought.


    ''What to do? What to do?,'' Night questioned before getting pissed at himself because he couldn''t think of a good answer.


    "Maybe, I can just get the guy to release the lock," Night made a joke to himself and laughed. He didn''t think it would happen no matter how much torture he put the man through.


    Setting the ring aside for a minute, he turned to look the two unconscious demigods. Since he planned to war with the Diego family, he needed as much information on their inner workings as possible. Since humans were isolated in separate areas on this planet, then the men had to be members of the Diego Family. Although it was a long shot.....These two men might have important information, so Night would be sure to get the details out of them.


    Sitting in the tent, Night entered his soul space only to see Misery and Grief patiently waiting for him. There was also an additional orb floating near the two women....Night had almost forgotten that he needed to make arrangements for his soul''s newest occupant.


    Night sighed...he needed to deal with this issue first.


    Walking over to the soul orb, Night instructed Misery and Grief to join him. Entering the orb, he made the space into a white room where a teenage girl was waiting patiently. In the next second, Misery and Grief appeared by his side. They all walked over to the teenager.


    "Hello, my name is Night. I am sorry for what has happened to your family. How are you doing? How have Misery and Grief been treating you? Have they explained everything to your satisfaction?," Night fired off a series of questions in a gentle manner. The young girl''s family was just murdered after all. He was trying to talk to the girl like she was any child in a similar situation


    "My family fought well. We were able to keep our honor by at least injuring the thief that took our lives," the girl responded in a tone that completely caught Night off guard. Then she shifted the conversation like she wasn''t just talking about her family''s death, "So, you are the Night guy that these two seem to really look up to?"


    Night was surprised by the comment and looked over to Misery and Grief. Misery blushed in embarrassment and Grief only showed a slight movement to her usual emotionless face.


    ''They look up to me?,'' Night questioned with a thought to himself before turning back to the girl.


    "And you are also a human that saved a demon caravan? Why?," the girl followed up with serious question since Night didn''t immediately respond.


    "Uuuuhhh....yes, I am a human, but I am not from any of the families in this world...I was brought here from another world as a slave...but I killed my captors...and here I am," Night said with a pause....he was trying to think of his ''why?''....he honestly hadn''t tried to put it in words before.


    "Why did I intervene? Because I wanted to.... I have no issue with demons...and I just left a small clan of demons that was nice to me. They were decent people. My parents always taught me to treat others as they treat everyone else. If you are nice, I am nice. If you kill innocent people, I''ll kill you. It is just a system of balance...and it feels right to me...that''s all," Night said seriously.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.


    "So you would accept me as one of your subordinates even though I am a demon?," the blond haired demon girl asked.


    "Why not? I have no prejudices. You would become a Ker anyway...not a demon or human. You will be Misery and Grief''s younger sister....and you will be my sister as well. I don''t like the idea of subordinates....I do like family though...after all...my family was also murdered by others too....," Night said before trailing off.


    He seemed to space out for a few seconds....the action didn''t go unnoticed by the three women, so they remained quiet.


    "So, are you in agreement to become a Ker....to become sister to these two Keres....to become the younger sister of Night...?," Night asked looking at the girl in the eyes.


    She didn''t break eye contact and stared right back at him full of a intent to proceed forward.


    "Yes, I even have a name picked out for myself just like my sisters....you can call me Distress....bandits...and even armies will get to know the full meaning of distress when I am on the battlefield," the girl said revealing a very slight smile on her face.


    ''How the fuck is she smiling? Her family was just killed. She just basically died. Why does this young girl seem like a battle crazed lunatic already.....All of these Ker seem to be not quite right in the head,'' Night thought to himself as he looked at the three women.


    But then the girl''s face shifted to one of sadness and she said, "My sisters have already killed most of the men responsible for my family''s death...But I would like to make sure my family is buried. Can you do that for me?"


    "Yes, I can have that arranged," Night said.


    "...then, I am ready to go...please make me a warrior," Distress said.


    "Okay, I will start the ritual," Night said as he immediately began the procedure to creating a Ker.


    ___________________________________


    After about an hour, Night exited his soul space feeling a bit exhausted. The procedure to make Distress into a Ker had taken a good bit of strength out of him. Recalling the information concerning the technique, he felt that he was maxed out with Keres based on the strength of his soul. He wouldn''t be able to hold any more until his soul was stronger. If he created another Ker, then he realized that he would probably fail and the process would injure him.


    Feeling a little worn down, Night needed time some time to relax. When he was honest with himself, he just wanted to sleep. Thinking of the three women in his soul space, he gave the responsibility of getting information out of the two demigods to the three Keres. He knew they would do a good job. They were quite ruthless individuals.


    "Now, I want Grief to absorb most of the soul power of the level 1 demigod, but don''t kill him. That additional amount soul strength coupled with what she already got from the bandits before..... should allow Grief to get to a point that we can make her a blood body. We can kill him later and use that blood as the start of her blood body," Night instructed, "Keep the Level 2 Demigod alive, but get some information out of him. Distress can absorb the level 2 Demigod''s soul strength, but I definitely need that one alive for now...so don''t get carried away."


    "I am going to take care of a few things then rest. Let me know when you are done interrogating them," Night said,"Don''t forget to get as much information as you can out of them concerning the inner workings of the Diego Family. The more background we have on our enemy the better."


    _______________________________________


    After he left the soul space, Night went outside the tent. A few people were still making their way around the caravan''s camp dealing with the mess caused by the bandits. Seeing the caravan leader, Enok, off in the distance, Night walked over to discuss a few things.


    "Enok, how are things?," Night asked.


    "Good considering the situation. Most of our supplies are still intact, but we lost several of the lower class demons that were traveling to the capital," Enok said.


    "Speaking of that....I need to make sure that a few of the dead are taken care of appropriately. There was an entire family that was dead over near one of the fallen bandits. I need to make sure that they are properly buried. Please help me with this," Night said as he took two stones out of his pocket and passed them to Enok.


    "Night....you do not have to pay anything...we usually take great care of disposing of the dead on our trips," Enok said.


    "No need. Keep it. Taking care of the dead is the right thing to do. If you have extra, spend it on some others that perished in the raid," Night said before turning to walk away, "I would like to rest a bit. When will the caravan begin to move again?"


    Enok looked up at the sky and paused for a second. He then said, "The sun will be up in about six hours. We will leave an hour after sunup. It is a long journey ahead of us."


    "Okay, thanks," Night said before moving on back to his tent.


    Once back inside the tent, Night laid down started to rest. He also couldn''t stop thinking about his issue with the space ring.


    He laid there in a relaxed state for a few hours until he suddenly sat up with an idea.


    ''I need to master the Presence concept,'' Night thought to himself, ''If I can make the ring think that I am this man, then I should be able to open it with ease.''


    Night settled down in the tent and began focusing on the unconscious demigod next to him. He could feel the man''s physical state and his soul state. The soul state kept fluctuating due to the torment that the Keres were putting the man through.


    "Quit messing with the Level 2 Demigod. I am going to try something," Night said mentally to stop the three women. He couldn''t concentrate when the man''s soul kept changing.


    "Okay," Misery replied, "We are almost done with the first one. Are you ready to form Grief''s blood body?"


    "Damn, that was quick. Did you get any good information?," Night asked.


    "Not really. This guy is either strong willed or someone that wasn''t included on any important information. We tortured and tortured, but he kept giving us useless information. I know all about the inappropriate things he has done since he was a child, but I know nothing about the family...other than a few outposts in the desert."


    "Damn, I was really hoping that we could get some good information, but that response does make sense. Important people would generally be kept around the main city. Anyone sent out as a raiding party would be at a lower level in the family," Night said.


    "Oh well.....you ready to get started with Grief''s blood body?," Misery followed up.


    "I guess," Night said. Seems like he wasn''t going to get that much of a break.

 Chapter 79: Mastered

    Four months had quickly went by since that first night with the caravan. He still had another two months before the caravan arrived in the capital city of the western desert. But Night didn''t mind the trip. The daily travels with the caravan were quite interesting for Night.


    Most of the demons in the caravan were considered commoners in the hierarchy. They were demons that functioned independently of the hierarchical clans for one reason or another. These independent demons were going to the city in order to try their chances to get into one of the top clans. If they could get into one of the ten main clan, then their family would be guaranteed to be taken care of in the future. It would be like winning a lottery. Of course, their fate was up to chance but they all seemed to hold out hope that they would be successful in earning some position in one of the eleven controlling clans in the city.


    In his spare time, Night chatted with these demons often. He also interacted with them as much as he could in a social fashion. The commoner demons had never seen a powerful demigod be so nice and talkative with lower level people before this time. Of course, Night wasn''t hanging out with them just to be nice. He was siphoning information from the demons in his regular daily conversations. Going to the City, Night felt like he needed as much background on the City of Setting Sun and the leading clans as possible. He had been slowing gathering that information and finally felt that he had a good understanding of the situation in the western capital city.


    Besides his socialization, Night gladly assisted in the defense of the caravan during travel. Nothing too dramatic had happened on their journey. Most of the defense incidents involved attacks from intelligent beasts or roving bands of independent demons. These demons seemed to be similar to those commoner demons in the caravan. However....instead of going to the bigger clans for shelter, these demons had decided to form their own nomadic clans that robbed resources from others. These fights happened once every one or two weeks or so.


    After witnessing the first few fights, the caravan members had started to become a little weary of Night. He always took captives during any fight with beasts or demons. The captives would never be seen again after entering his tent. All except one human demigod that Night had dragged around for months. No one really knew what he was doing, but they assumed that it wasn''t good. This caused some level of fear among the caravan members, but some of that fear was mitigated by Night''s friendly attitude with everyone.


    The behind the scenes story was that Night was using the frequent fights as a way to gather resources for the three Keres. Over the time in the caravan, Misery had been her usual self begging for food. However, beings below the demigod level didn''t seem to benefit her anymore, so almost everything went to Grief and Distress. Grief had formed her blood body months ago and still needed blood to grow in strength. Distress was always training in the soul space and was getting very close to being strong enough to form her own blood body. The resource demands from these women were pretty high. Night finally understood why the information he had on Keres said that they thrived on battlefields. They definitely needed a lot of blood and death to get stronger.


    While he did spend time helping the Keres, Night could only contribute when there was a fighting happening in defense of the caravan. So....most of Night''s time was spent trying to master the Presence Concept that he had started working on back at the Ammon Clan. His focus on understanding this concept was based on three reasons. One, he needed a guaranteed way to conceal that he was human. Two, he wanted to get into the storage ring to find out what goodies were inside. Three, he still felt like he was weak and wanted to get stronger.


    Night had been focused on copying the presence of the Level 2 Demigod that he had captured when he first joined the caravan. The man was being kept alive with heavenly energy and nourishment stones. Night had went though a pretty hefty expense keeping the guy alive while trying to figure this concept out. However, Night felt like he had actually started to make some progress over the last two months. Tonight, he felt that he was close to having some sort of break though.


    Night was as familiar as he could get with the traits of the man''s physical and soul presence. But he felt like he was missing a step in his application of the concept.


    Running out of ideas, he decided to observe the man in his dream world. Maybe it would give him some insight.


    But after the tormenting of the Keres, the man''s dreams had grown chaotic. Seeing the horrific dream scenes repeatedly, Night started to grow bored with watching the same thing over and over again.


    He changed the dream into a basic everyday life type of scene for stability. Night had also decided that he would try to copy the man''s actions in his dreams. Maybe he needed to copy emotion or something like that in order to master the Presence Concept. He didn''t know what the hell he was doing so all he could do was try out possible options.


    At first, Night just copied the man''s movements and behaviors in the dream, but that didn''t seem to work. Then, Night had the idea of just living as the man in the dream world. Maybe that would give him some inspiration.


    In the dream world, Night shifted his physical appearance to be exactly like the man. When the shift in appearance occurred in the dream, Night felt a moment of enlightenment. Maybe he could use the same process of shifting his presence in the real world. He knew the feeling of the whole process in dreams....if he could find that same feeling in the real world...maybe he could master the Concept of Presence. He finally felt like he was onto something.


    Quickly exiting the dream world, Night found himself sitting on the rug in the tent. With an intent focus, he began to try to manipulate his presence similar to the way he did in a dream. Instead of the easy shift that occurred in a dream, Night could feel some resistance to change....but....excitedly....he could actually feel a change in his soul.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.


    He could feel his soul energy depleting as he continued with some type of shift.....the second that the shift in his presence was complete....in almost that same exact instant...he felt the sensation of a concept breakthrough. He was finally breaking through in the Presence Concept.


    Feeling depletion of his soul energy as the breakthrough was occurring, Night instantly had a sense of panic. When he had broken through in the Concept of Dreams, he had an extremely large demand on soul energy. That time, he had killed a lot of guards in Manco Oasis to supplement his soul energy level. This time he didn''t have a large group of enemies nearby to draw energy from. Luckily, Night still had a bunch of soul stones in the bag next to him. Hopefully..... those soul stones would be enough to help him breakthrough.


    He reached over to grab a handful of the soul stones. Night started absorbing the soul energy like crazy as another layer of soul concept began to form around his soul. In a manner of minutes, the soul stones were completely absorbed and turned to dust. But Night needed more soul energy.


    He didn''t really have any other option, so he began absorbing the remaining soul energy of the level two demigod. He had originally planned to use this guy to create Distress'' blood body, but that wasn''t an option now. After a minute or so, he absorption had steadily declined to the point that he was stable. He had no soul stones left and the Level 2 Demigod seemed to be only seconds from dying.


    "Quick, Grief," Night called internally as he pulled a blood stone from his pocket, "Come deal with this body for me."


    Grief''s body started to form around the blood stone and it wasn''t long before she was sitting next to Night in the tent. With a swing of his knife, Night sliced the man''s neck and Grief''s blood body began to absorb the blood. Night also began to finish off the remainder of the man''s soul energy. After a few minutes, the process was over for both of them almost simultaneously.


    "Please guard me. I need to consolidate my advancement," Night said to Grief as he slumped over and passed out on the floor of the tent.


    _______________________


    When he awoke the next morning, Night felt absolutely incredible. Reaching out with his soul perception he could see everything within almost a mile radius around him. Technically, he was now a Level 2 Demigod....in both the Truth of Darkness and the Great Truth of Reality. He had two mastered concepts of darkness and two mastered concepts of reality. He should be equal in power to a normal Level 4 Demigod.


    Seeing Night wake up, Grief looked at him from the side with her usual emotionless face, "I would like to go back now. I feel like I am close to making some advancement myself."


    Night quickly took Grief back into his soul space, pocketed Grief''s blood stone, and started to prepare for the day.


    He had so many things that he wanted to try out.....but now was not the time. Now he needed to pick up camp and get ready for today''s travel.


    ______________________


    The day had been an absolute torment for Night. Night was so excited that he didn''t even hear the few demon commoner voices whispering about the disappearance of the demigod that Night was always lugging around. As soon as the caravan stopped for the night, he quickly setup his tent and went inside to start his highly anticipated check of the space stone ring.


    Night sat down in the tent and began to exert his presence concept. Before he could access the ring, he need to get used to using his new concept.


    Night spent a while testing what he could do with his new concept. He could feel a shift when he exerted his soul strength on the concept. But even though he knew that he applied the concept.....he could see no changes himself. Getting aggravated with the lack of results, he pulled a blood stone from his pocket.


    "Misery, can you come help me for a second?," Night asked.


    "Sure, I''ll be out in a second," she responded. Night took out Misery''s blood stone from the pupil of his fake stone eye. Then, Night felt her transition into the blood stone. He sat the small stone on the rug in front of him and a body started to form.


    "What you need, Night?," she asked as she finished materializing..


    "I want you to watch me and see if you can tell any difference when I use a concept," Night said with a bit of anticipation in his voice. If this didn''t work, he would lose his mind.


    Night began to run through a series of tests with his new Presence Concept. He would test something and Misery would verify what she was experiencing. After a few hours of review, he had pretty much understood the full capability of the concept. Essentially, he could exert his soul strength to cause others to perceive the presence of anything he wanted within the limits of his soul strength. He could shift the appearance of his body or soul to mimic things or people. It wasn''t exactly a physical shift. It was a like his soul influenced other souls around him to see and feel what he wanted them to see and feel. The power was like an illusion but with a little added strength since it applied directly to the soul.


    The applications of the concept were also interesting. Night could basically copy the presence of other things. He could disappear into the room by mimicking the presence of furniture. Or he could appear as someone else or even appear as a plain stone. However, the skill did have one drawback. The larger the area that the concept was applied to.....the more rapidly his soul strength would start to decline. He could make the inside of his tent seem like a complex forest full of wildlife without any error, but could only hold the skill for a few min.


    In chatting with Misery, Night realized that this concept was essentially an illusion ability that directly tricked the soul of others. Even Misery wasn''t immune to the effects.


    "Misery, how does this look to you?," Night said as he pulled off his eye patch revealing a stone eye with a spot missing for her blood stone. Night focused a minuscule bit of strength into his eye and soon it appeared like he had his normal eye back.


    "I like it," Misery said, "but you should keep the red pupil.....it looks bad ass."


    Chuckling at Misery''s feedback, Night shifted his appearance to show an normal eye with a dark red pupil and smiled at Misery. She actually applauded him with a few claps. The whole thing was really superficial since it didn''t offer Night any real benefit. But now he could at least walk around without the odd looks when he wasn''t wearing an eye patch.


    "Thanks, Misery," Night said, "You can go back now."


    Misery smiled and said, "Anytime, but you better get me and Distress some more food. I think Grief has went into that hibernation similar to what happened to me when I got stronger."


    Night was surprised by her comment. Looking into his soul space, he could see Grief laying down in the cabin in a meditative state.


    ''Great,'' Night thought, ''I have gotten stronger and Grief should get stronger too. With Misery included, we would be no weaker than a small force like the human family that ran Manco Oasis. They only had three demigods with our same levels after all.''


    Night finally felt a little more secure about his upcoming visit to the City of Setting Sun. He also felt a little tired so he moved over to his resting place to relax. He wasn''t going to sleep now though. He had one more thing left to do tonight.


    Night looked at the ring on his finger and smiled.


    ''There better be something good inside,'' he thought before applying the full strength of his presence concept and easily gaining access to the space inside the ring.

 Chapter 80: Demon City

    Night had never experienced a space ring before, so the initial feeling of his soul perception sinking into the ring felt very weird. Night took a minute to reset the soul inscription, so that he could access the ring easier. Then he quickly started to review the ring''s contents. Once his perception reached inside the ring, Night was thoroughly disappointed. With a swipe of his hand, Night began to dump out the contents of the ring on top of the rug in his tent.


    Looking at the spread, there didn''t seem to be much excitement from Night anymore. The contents of the ring consisted of about 30 stones, two heavenly stones, a few pieces of metal that looked like gold, and a map. Overall, the storage area inside the ring was roughly the same size as his backpack. The space was only big enough to fit these items, Night''s knives and other trinkets. It couldn''t store much , but Night was happy. He would now have a place to keep his stuff besides a backpack.


    Brushing the stones aside, Night looked at the heavenly stones. One was actually a rare Stone of Thought that could help mental focus when training. Night was a little excited over the stone since it could give him a little boost during future concept cultivation. The second stone was something Night was very familiar with....a soul root stone. He had first been introduced to one of these back in the Carmine residence on Earth when they tested his talent. Night no longer needed the test, but he realized that this stone may give him the chance to speak with his godmother again.


    However, this stone was only half the size of the one in the Carmine''s place. He would need to cycle a few of his thoughts through his head before using the stone. He had a few things related to cultivation that he was uncertain about and would really like to talk with her about. He also had simple questions that plagued him like why could he understand everyone even though he knew they were talking a different language. He also had questions about his dream world and soul perception. He could really use a bit of clarification and he knew that that mysterious woman would have some answers.


    Although Night had the opportunity now, he realized that now was not the time to try to use the soul root stone. He really needed to really make the opportunity of speaking with the woman count. So, he sat the two heavenly stones aside and looked at the three fist size pieces of gold metal. They didn''t look that special but Night could feel that they had a bit of weight to them for something so small. He tried to review the information he had on stones and metals but didn''t have any luck in determining what they are.


    ''I guess that I will have to find some place that can tell me what this metal is,'' Night thought. He new that his journey to the City of Setting Sun was in its final stretch. The caravan should arrive in the next two months, so he didn''t have much time left before he got to see the big city.


    Then, Night looked at the final item from the space ring. It was a pretty detailed map that looked a bit unlike others that Night had seen. The one thing that really caught Night off guard with the map was the mountains. A mountainous terrain was depicted for over half of the map with the remainder showing a few desert oasis and other desert features. Night hadn''t seen any terrain besides sand dunes and oasis since he had came to this planet. The thought of seeing something different excited Night.


    ''It sure would be great to finally get away from this sand,'' Night thought as he folded up the map and put it back into the space ring.


    Although the ring and its contents were a bit of a disappointment, Night was still happy. It was better than what he had before.


    ________________________________


    The journey continued for two more months before the caravan started to come across several other traveling caravans. It seemed like the closer they got to the city, then the busier the desert became. Then on one day, Night started to hear a commotion throughout the usually peaceful caravan. Going over to Enok to see what the fuss was about, Night was caught off guard by the shear size of the city that he could see in the distance.


    "It''s huge isn''t it," Enok said seeing the look on Night''s face, "It is the largest of the four capital cities of the desert. Since it houses so many powerful clans, how can it not be this huge?"


    "Yes," Night replied, "that makes sense." He was still somewhat amazed. Most of the demon civilization he had seen up until now was small oasis towns and camps. The City that was sitting on the horizon was enormous. It rose up out of the desert for almost his entire field of vision despite the fact that they were still miles away. By his guess, the City had to be at least quadruple the size of Houston or one of those other sprawling cities on Earth.


    ''How am I going to find Lili in a place this big?,'' Night thought to himself before feeling a tingle in his soul. To his surprise the tingle was slightly stronger than before. ''That is weird,'' Night thought before brushing the thought of the woman aside and going about his business.


    The entire caravan was at the pinnacle of excitement. As night sat back down on his scorpion mount, he couldn''t help but be excited too. However, he realized that he needed to prepare himself for this next stage of his adventure in this desert.


    Night started to cycle though all of the information that he had gathered in his months of journey with the caravan. While he had picked up some of the culture from hanging out with the commoners during travel, Night was mostly interested in the power structure of the City of Setting Sun.


    One of his main areas of interest during his travels had been the demon clans of the capital. Actually, it took him quite a bit of talking with caravan members to learn the general gist of how the city''s clans function. The capital of the western desert was controlled by eleven families. These families included the ten Baron Families and the Countess'' Clan, the Limim Clan. According to caravan leader, the capital''s ruling clans hadn''t changed in thousands of years and the power structure was quite stable. Since Enok had been living in caravans most of his life, the man had a pretty good understanding of how the western desert functioned and even had some knowledge of the other deserts. Most of the fighting between clans was done between the lower two levels of nomadic clans and mid-size town clan. The larger clans rarely fought.....but when they did......the wars were worthy of something that happens once every thousand years.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    The Limim Clan was feared throughout the entire desert based on these historically large wars.......and not only in the western desert. The clan''s ability to affect souls made them almost unstoppable among the demons. Soul skills were not common in the world and were hard to fight against.


    However, it wasn''t only the power to influence souls that gave the Limim Clan its power. The succubus were strong on their own, but because of their beauty and strength...they were able to lure in many strong men into their ranks. These various demon men contributed greatly to the clan''s power. When Night had recollected this party of the story, he thought of Lili and felt another ring in his soul. The whole situation involving the demon woman felt fishy to Night, so he needed to be a bit careful going forward.


    From what Enok had heard in some places, the only Clan that could rival the Limim Clan in influence over the soul was the Incubus Clan of the eastern desert. The Incubus clan were essentially the Limim Clan''s male counterpart in the City of Rising Sun and could compete based on their sheer numbers. Apparently, they breed like crazy and had a large number of warriors.


    Other than the Limim Clan, the City of Setting Sun was mostly run by ten Baron Clans. These ten Baron demon clans were an assortment of warrior and tradesman specialists. Over his journey, Night had gotten an array of descriptions about the Baron Clans of the city.


    For the warrior clans, these five clans all specialized in some aspect of battle. When Night was talking, he had trouble understanding just why specialized battle clans were needed. He understood the threat from the humans coming to this world, but he kept getting hints that there was some bigger battle underway. He couldn''t keep from thinking about the once in a thousand years wars......maybe they really were on a whole different level.


    The Abeze Clan were characterized by a pair of red wings and slightly red tinted skin. These winged warriors functioned as the the aerial combat specialists of the western desert. The odd thing about this clan was that its battle strength relied on the entire clan. For example, when going to battle, the men, women and children would all take to the battlefield. It was like a family event.


    The Baal Clan were known to be expert assassins that could easily camouflage themselves into their surroundings. One old man in the caravan said that he had lived in the capital before and never saw a member of the Baal Clan for his entire five years there. They were very secretive but no one wished to get added to their extermination list. Getting put on their extermination list seemed to spell almost certain death.


    The Gaki Clan, with their shark-like teeth, were also known as the eaters of flesh. The clan was known for its very viscous foot soldiers on the battlefield. Their soldiers were not the strongest.....but were more plentiful than any other Baron Clan. They were also somewhat lacking in intelligence. About half way into the trip, a young demon child had even pointed out two of the clan members sitting on a large beetle mount in the front of the caravan. They were one of the acting guards for this caravan.


    The Raum Clan were scouting specialists that can shape shift into beasts. Apparently, the Raum Clan members looked just like normal people. However, Night was warned by several members of the caravan to never attack a beast with green eyes. Apparently, when the Raum would shift into beasts.....their eyes would maintain the family''s blue green eye color.


    The Kimaris Clan specializes in hand to hand combat and had impressive physical stature and strength. They had a reputation of ripping apart enemies when enraged. The clan also had two bullish horns on top of their heads.


    Then, there were the four workman type clans of the capital. While these clans typically manufactured goods, they each had a special trait that allowed them to command power within the Baron Clans.


    The Shax Clan were a family that focused on inscribing weapons, stones and gems. They actually specialized in making mirror stones that isolated areas for various purposes and explosive elemental gem bombs. When Night heard of their crafting, he couldn''t help but think of the green orb that he had swiped from Mr. Harver in Manco Oasis.


    Sabnock Clan were blacksmith experts that crafted weapons for the demons. The way that the Sabnock Clan was described was quite comical to Night. A demon explaining the clan to him said that the clan members are noticeable by having arms as big as their legs. The mental image was hilarious to Night but he understood that their powerful arms were needed for their level of forging. They were also known for carrying large hammers strapped to their backs at all times.


    Phene Clan that practice medicine and healing. They were described as almost elfen-like with fair appearances. When Night first heard about the clan, he was confused about how a healing clan was able to become one of the Baron Clans. However, his confusion was quickly cleared when he found out that the clan''s medical practice also specialized in poison. An woman recalled how one of the people in a mid-sized clan had skipped out on medical bills with the Phene Clan. The entire clan had turned up dead when their oasis water supply had contained a mysterious toxin that spread throughout the entire oasis.


    Bathin Clan specializes in crafting elemental gems. While the clan wasn''t super strong, they had very close ties to the Shax and Sabnock clans. Both clans relied heavily on their abilities with elemental gems. The other clans also relied on Bathin Clan because they had an abnormal ability to see out treasures. Most of this was related to their extremely high affinity in the metal and earth elements. Night was warned several times to ''Never shake hands with a Bathin''...apparently that wouldn''t end well.


    And the last Baron Clan of the capital was an oddball group called the Valac Clan. Valac Clan were known to be the treasure hunters of the demon world and were high powered merchants. Surprisingly, the Valac Clan didn''t have any desire for power and only wanted riches. In each of the four portions of the desert, the Valac Clan existed within the ten Baron Clans of that region. Their financial power in the demon community was quite scary.


    After speaking with the caravan members during the months of travel, Night had a lot of bits of information to remember about the capital and life inside. But seeing the city getting increasingly larger in his view, Night''s own excitement grew. He was ready to see such a large city in person.

 Chapter 81: Misunderstanding

    As the caravan moved closer, Night could see a massive wall surrounding the entire city. The wall had to be at least 100 feet tall and must be hundreds of miles long. He could also see large black spots at a few locations along the city wall.


    "Those are the city gates," one of the men traveling along side Night said to the woman next to him as he pointed toward one of those spots, "See how all the caravan traffic is funneling towards those locations. Everyone wants to get inside...You still have that stone I gave you, right?"


    "Of course...I still have it sweetheart...I know we can''t get inside without paying the toll," the woman responded.


    Night already knew that he had to pay a toll to enter the city. It was a simple stone for him, but for some of these common demons...it was a pretty significant expense just to gain entrance.


    As the day went on, the caravan moved closer and closer to the city and everyone eventually found themselves in a long line to enter the city. There were numerous guards stationed in and around the gate. Although these guards inspected goods, overlooked the people and dealt with conflicts.....their most important task was recording those that entered and exited.... and collecting the entrance toll.


    Without any big hassle, the members of the caravan made their way through the gates. The guards seemed to be very experienced with the great quantity of people coming into and out of the city. The process was very efficient.


    As soon as he entered, Night was impressed with the layout of the city. Since he was a former architect, Night seemed to revert back to his old self as he gazed at the sweeping arches of the doorways and the intricate sandstone building construction. He could have easily spent a day just looking at some of the buildings.


    Although Night had only been in the City of Setting Sun for a few minutes, he looked up at the sky and judged that he had about an hour before darkness would start to fall on the city. After speaking with some of the caravan members, Night decided to rent a room in one of the nearby inns. He really wanted to settle in first before exploring the city. He also had a few things that he wanted to take care of.......such as selling some of his items and trying to find Lili to question her about the mark on his soul.


    He exchanged a few pleasantries with Enok and the man had given him some information about the company that he worked for with caravans. He extended Night an offer that he could join any of his company''s caravans for no charge anytime he wanted. They were always looking for strong demigods to help protect the routes. Night left the group of people he had been traveling with for months.


    The city was so huge that it only took Night around for about 20 minutes before he found a quiet inn to settle for the night.


    Entering the inn, Night approached a man seated at a bar in what looked like a lounge area.


    "Sir, I would like to get a room. What is the charge?," Night asked the innkeeper.


    "One stone for one night," the innkeeper said while not even looking up at Night.


    "Damn...that''s expensive....I''ll go somewhere else," Night said as he turned around and started walking toward the door.


    His motion toward the door got the innkeeper''s attention.


    "Wait. Wait. I forgot to mention we are doing a three nights for the price of one special," the man said trying to get Night to turn back around, "...and I can throw in a free meal each day."


    "Deal," Night said as he turned back around and pulled out a stone from his pocket. Actually, he pulled the stone out of his space ring...he just acted like he pulled it out his pocket.


    Night was led by the innkeeper to a nice cozy room in the upstairs of the inn. It only took him a few minutes to settle into the room. Looking around the room, Night saw a small wash basin on a table. Night couldn''t remember the last time that he had actually cleaned himself, so he started to wash himself off.....it was absolutely wonderful and he started to yearn for a basic shower like one he would have on Earth. After a few minutes, the wash basin was filled with a grimy slush of water and Night was the cleanest he had been in over a year.


    Feeling quite refreshed, he made a game plan for his first couple of day''s in the city. First, he would try to find a place that he could sell off the gold looking metal pieces. Then, he wanted to see if he could get a craftsman to make a weapon for him with the small darkness elemental stone. Then, he wanted to try to find Lili. Just the slight thought of the woman was bring a tickle to his soul now and he wanted the issue resolved.


    Before he proceeded with anything the next day, Night decided that he would try out the soul root stone to see if he could get some information from his godmother. He had perfected his list of questions and decided that it was time to give it a shot. In his typical fashion, he placed the green isolation orb down on the table in the room and sat down on the floor.


    He took the soul root stone out of his ring and focused in on the stone with his heavenly energy.


    Similarly to last time, he appeared in his soul space. However, this time he had three Ker present. Two were in the process of having a sparing match and one was in an unconscious state.


    "I am here to do something.....you don''t need to worry about me," Night mentally transmitted to the two women who where sparing.


    With some more thought, he focused into on the soul root stone and drew power from it.


    Similar to the first time, a woman''s solute started to appear in his soul space. It was like she was waiting for him.


    "My frien...," the woman said pausing half way through and frowning, "....who dares put a soul mark on my child?"


    With a wave of her hand, Night felt a weird sensation at the little connection in his soul related to Lili. He could feel some sort of change happen, but he wasn''t sure what it was all about.


    "That is much more appropriate," the woman said with a grin that reflected starlight.


    The whole incident completely caught Night off guard and he was left asking, "What just happened?"


    "Oh.....someone thought they were smart and placed the beginnings of a soul mark on you.....it wasn''t finished yet so I modified it in your favor....ha ha....teach them to mess with my child," the woman chuckled with another starry grin.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    Honestly, Night didn''t say anything in response. What was he going to tell her? She seemed so proud of herself.


    Disregarding what just happened for now, Night refocused on his purpose and tried to get some of his questions out. But before he could say something, she spoke again.


    "You have improved my friend, but not enough," the dark silhouette spoke.


    "I know," Night responded, "This world lacks knowledge. I am confused about many things. Can you help me understand? Your child knows so little."


    He had rehearsed this type of question over and over again. This was his top question. He needed to know more about the world of cultivation.


    The woman''s expression became happy at the question and she replied, "Of course. We all derive our power from Truths of the Universe. Truths can be found in the physical, elemental or soul. Your darkness is from the elements but your reality is from the soul. What do you need to know?"


    "I understand the basic route of the Truth of Darkness from my learning here...but I have no knowledge of path for cultivating the Great Truth of Reality, can you offer help?," Night said in response.


    Night understood how to progress forward in darkness concepts based on the skills he once trained. Essentially, he would just keep practicing the skills until he had a revelation in understanding of the concept. However, he didn''t know how to train in the Great Truth of Reality. He had just been lucky so far. He mastered the Dream Concept because of his lifetime of experience with dreams. He mastered the Concept of Presence after 6 months of attempts and a lucky guess. He needed to know a bit more on the other reality concepts to help him grow.


    "Okay....I can try to explain....but remember.....no one that I know has truly mastered the Great Truth of Reality....", she said before beginning an explanation.


    From her explanation, Night learned a few important pieces of information. All concepts in a Great Truth of Reality compliment and build upon each other. He should look for inspiration by comparing the concepts.


    To train Concept of Fake, he must experience and overcome things that are not real. This was similar to how he could escape mirrors and nightmares. He just needed to start doing the same for other types of situations. Night didn''t really understand what these other situations could be, but he got the general gist of the practice.


    To train in the Concept of Real, he must essentially learn to craft whatever he wants directly out of a combination of heavenly energy, elemental energy and soul energy. The process sounded very complicated to Night and she recommend that he "try making simple stuff first."


    She actually couldn''t tell him much on the Concept of Imagination but she could tell him her limited knowledge. From what she understood..... If presence was making yourself seem different to everyone else. Then the Concept of Imagination was making everything else seem different to you...and everything else actually become different. The whole idea was very confusing to Night.


    When she started to talk about perception, Night interrupted and started talking about his ability to look at the dream orbs in his soul space, his perception over the real world and his ability to overlap the two views.


    "ha ha ha.......My child......You have a misunderstanding. The Law of Perception is the perception of everything. What you call the soul space is your own soul. When you extend your focus outward......you see other souls that are not in your own. What you call dream orbs are actually the soul energy of others. Your soul perception is just that....you are using your own soul to view the world around you.....yet you can only perceive the physical and the soul. Eventually, you will perceive the elements and then you should have mastered the very basics of the Concept of Perception.....then you can work on perceiving time and space to condense your law."


    "OH.....," Night felt a little embarrassed at the realization that he was over complicating the whole thing, "What''s this about condensing a Law?"


    "Just keep training to develop the concepts after you have mastered the initial phase.....and you will learn all about it," she said as her face shifted to sadness, "I have very little time remaining. Do you wish to know anything else? Quickly."


    "Yes.....why can I understand everyone despite their language?," Night asked quickly.


    "I transferred you the language of the soul at our first visit," she responded but did not elaborate. Time was almost out and she had to be quick.


    "I must go now. Let me provide a little help to one of your Ker," she said as she waved her hand toward the cabin in Night''s soul space.


    "Wait. I have one more question," Night tried to squeeze one more question in.


    "What is your name? I can''t remember," Night said.


    "Oh....my friend....you remember so little...," the woman said with a little sadness in her voice.


    "My child....Your mother''s name is Nox.....and seek me out again if you need more knowledge.....I am trying....," she said before fading off into the darkness.


    "Nox," Night said as he came back to himself inside his soul space. He wished that he could talk to her for hours, but even a quick few minutes had been more than beneficial. He really needed to find some more of those stones or go through a transmission portal again.


    Looking around in his soul''s space, Night could see see two women below.


    Misery and Distress had stopped sparing and were just staring at Night with wide eyes. The door to the cabin opened up and Grief walked out with a look of amazement on her face. The three women looked up at Night then moved towards him.


    "Who.....Who was that?," Misery said with a bit of amazement in her voice. Night had never really heard her voice sound like that before. Grief and Distress just stared at him waiting for a response.


    "Her name is Nox. She refers to herself my mother and my friend. I like call her my godmother....she has given me a lot of help," Night said with a thankful look on his face.


    The three continued their talks for awhile. Grief had felt a burst of power and woke up from her meditation. She was almost as powerful as Misery now. Night decided to rest a bit in his soul space and mentally prepare for his exploration of the city tomorrow.


    ____________________________


    The next morning, Night made his way downstairs to the lounge area of the inn. The innkeeper and several other people were sitting at a table helping themselves to food in bowls spread out family style in the middle of the table.


    "Hurry up if you don''t want to miss breakfast," the innkeeper said to Night.


    Night hustled over and sat down at the table. When he sat down near the other men, one of the men stopped eating.


    "What?," Night asked when he realized that the man paused when he sat down.


    "N....Nothing," the men said before cramming a biscuit into his face and getting up from the table. He wasn''t the only one that left the table. One more man got up and left. Only another man and the innkeeper remained, but even they got up from the table a few minutes later.


    "Damn. Do I stink or something?," Night said looking around at the empty lounge.


    Not entirely disregarding the incident, Night took a few more bites of food and decided to leave the inn. Something seemed off, so he was planning on not coming back to this place. Luckily, he didn''t leave anything in the room and kept all of his stuff in his storage ring.


    Exiting the inn, Night started to make his way around the city. Although this place had great architecture, it was so big that finding his way was quite confusing. He even spread out his perception to get a cursory review of the city layout. It didn''t really help thought.....it was just too much information to take in at once.


    He really need a map or a guide of some sort, but until he could find something......Night was left to wander the city looking around.


    As he was walking, he observed the daily life of these demons. They weren''t much different than humans in most regards. However, he did notice a few glares headed his way as he walked.


    ''Man, some of these demons sure do seem unfriendly,'' Night thought.


    Regardless, he went about his planned activity of trying to find a map of the city. The place was so big that he needed some type of direction on where to go. If he could find a map vendor, maybe he would be able to successfully navigate the city.


    After Night walked for some time, he could finally see some sort of trades area. He could smell the fire from forges and hear the banging of hammers. About the same time that Night saw the trades area, he also saw a patrol of city guards walking down the street towards him. The occurrence didn''t seem that out of the ordinary since even small towns like Manco Oasis would have guard patrols. However, as he walked past a group of guards.....the men had suddenly turned around and pointed their spears at Night''s neck.


    "You are under arrest. Don''t resist or you will die," one of guards shouted.


    "Wait. Wait. This must be some sort of misunderstanding," Night said as he cursed at himself for not being more on guard in this unfamiliar place.

 Chapter 82: Causing Trouble

    About an hour later, Night found himself sitting in a holding cell with another restrictive collar around his neck. Although the collar didn''t hurt his power at all, he was absolutely livid that he had been locked up for no good reason. However, he managed to keep his shit together during the whole incident. He was trying not to cause trouble, but the situation was getting a bit out of hand.


    Apparently, his disguised red eye had alarmed a few of the people in the inn that morning.....so much that they reported him to the local guards. The guards had arrested him and taken some of his things. Luckily, he also hid his space ring with his Presence Concept or the guards would have taken that too. Despite his anger, he acknowledged that the guards had actually performed a pretty decent investigation....they had even tracked down a few of the caravan members that entered the city with him.


    Night''s odd behavior in the caravan, the red eye and his aura of death from his death concept....had set off all sorts of alarms with the guards prior to his arrest. They actually thought he is part of some mysterious clan from the eastern desert. Night had heard the name before. The Osir Clan was mentioned by the Ammon Clan Leader. The chief thought that Night might be involved with them too.


    Basically, his concept of death gave off an aura similar to that clan....and it didn''t help that they were known to have red eyes. Night had missed that detail and his entire look seemed to mimic a clan that he didn''t know much about. The only reason that he had used his Presence Concept to disguise his fake eye with one with a red pupil....was because Misery said it would be cool. The whole misunderstanding seemed to be pure coincidence.


    Sitting in his cell with a group of other collared demons, Night wasn''t that concerned for his own safety. With his previous experience and his mastered concepts, he could easily walk out of this place if he wanted to. Especially since all of the guards had practically disappeared once Night was dropped off in a cell.


    After a few minutes of sitting, Night could tell that the other prisoners were getting restless.


    "Hey, trash of the Osir. I could earn a nice reward if the Kimaris Clan found out that I killed you," one of the other inmates said as he revealed a shank in his hand. The other 9 men in the cell also stood up and began to circle around Night.


    "Oh.....so that''s why the guards left. I wouldn''t do anything if I was you," Night said with a chuckle. He knew they were still going to attack. As the man moved forward, Night immediately turned over his hand.....a green orb appeared in his hand and a blood stone rolled onto the ground.


    Blood started to seep out of the blood stone and onto the floor. A womanly shape started to form from the blood.


    "Sorry...don''t say that I didn''t warn you," Night said with a devilish smile as the men shrank back in terror.


    He had actually unleashed Grief in the cell to deal with the prisoners that were going to attack him. The men had screamed and begged for mercy, but due to the green isolation gem....No one outside of the cell heard a single peep of noise.


    After resolving the issue with his ten cell mates, Night had decided to do a complete reversal of his previous plans. His original plan was to lay low and search for Lili....but now he had decided to pursue a different option...cause a fuss and get her to come to him.


    From a practical standpoint, this route would be a bit risky....but it would allow him to vent some of his frustration. He continued to feel that his escape abilities gave him the ability to flee if needed.


    So he just sat in the cell for about twenty minutes to develop his plan....then all hell broke loose in the prison.


    When the guards had shown up to check on the inmates, they freaked out over the absence of the other prisoners. Then, the guards went through an array of actions and seemed so confused.


    The cell had originally had 11 men in it. Now, thirty minutes later....only one remained. There was not even a trace of the other 10 men in the cell. Night had also slightly changed his appearance. Now instead of a one red eye, both of his eyes appeared red.


    The guards were frantic and eventually had to call in the prison warden to deal with the issue. They were almost certain that the other guys didn''t escape. So that means that Night did something with them...without a trace.


    Looking at the guards scrambling about, Night decided to add some direction.


    "I would like to speak to your supervisor. I''m not going to cause trouble while I wait. It''s okay," Night said from his seat in the cell.


    The guards actually listened to him. After about an hour, an older looking demon with a pair of blue green eyes showed up in front of the prison cell.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    Before he had any chance to speak, Night began to talk, "So, I guess that I am in the territory of the Raum Clan. Very nice to meet you. My name is Night."


    "What is this prisoner doing in the cell alone?...without a collar?....Tell me what is going on," the man started yelling at one of the flustered guards.


    Night listened as the guard explained to the warden everything from his arrest, to the people disappearing, to the color changing eyes, the disappearance of the collar and the request to speak with the person in charge.


    The warden seemed to want to take action. He also seemed to be a bit stumped on what to do. He clearly understood that Night was more powerful than he could handle.


    "I am here to speak with Countess Asta...just tell her that Lilith Dreamwalker said that I could request an audience with her," Night stated interrupting the warden¡¯s thoughts.


    The warden stopped in his tracks and actually started shaking. This situation could get out of hand quick....just who had his men arrested?


    "Sir.....Sir...I can''t....," the warden began stammering. He had never heard anyone speak of the countess so casually.


    "Oh....I have no problem waiting here.....it is kind of peaceful.....and I won''t cause trouble.....so just find someone who can get the word out that I am here.....actually.....can you transfer me to another cell?.....one with a lot of occupants?," Night said as he flashed a devilish grin.


    He was really trying to play it up. He wanted to sound menacing and in control of the situation. He realized that this little prison was no different than small outpost for the larger city guard system. If the warden here thought the situation was out of his control, then he would have no choice but to find someone with more authority. This route should be a much quicker way for Night to find Lili in this big ass city.


    The commotion in the prison started to settle down, but there were now four spear holding guards standing outside of Night''s cell. Of course the warden didn''t transfer him, but Night didn''t let off. He really wanted them to be afraid of him. He had released his perception of both physical and soul at the same time....and sent the Keres in the soul space to kill some more of the prisoners in the jail. These didn''t disappear like the last bunch....they just dropped dead.


    After the guards realized that the other prisoners were dropping like flies, the warden had actually come to beg Night to stop. He had already put word into the higher ups with his clan and was waiting on a response.


    About an hour after the warden had visited Night''s cell to ask him to stop, he showed up walking behind two other men with the same blue green eyes. Night could tell at first glance that these two men were much stronger than the low level guards in this place. With a flex of his soul perception, he determined that one was a Level 3 Demigod and the other was actually a Level 4 Demigod. Seems like the Raum Clan had actually sent over a few important people.


    "Who are you and what gives you the right to demand an audience with the Countess?," the stronger of the men demanded immediately.


    "As I have said before...My name is Night. And I have the authority to make such a demand....what gives you the right to question my request? I have been more than polite this entire time...I wonder...if I put a collar on your neck and lock you in a cell, would you be as relaxed as I am?"


    As if ignoring his response, the two Raum Clan demons started to ask questions related to Night''s request. Night didn''t feel like he needed to supply them any of the information they were requesting.... he really didn''t get the politics behind their questions about the eastern desert....so he actually couldn''t respond to most of the questions.


    Realizing they weren''t going to get any response at all. The younger of the two began to just throw out insults....which did get a response out of Night.


    "Did your parents raise you incorrectly? Is this the standard of the Raum Clan? I have been sitting here peacefully despite your nonsense. You haven''t even introduced yourself and you make these sorts of demands? Such poor manners. I am disappointed," Night criticized, "Maybe I should just leave and find the Countess myself."


    He wouldn''t normally be like this but he was in a very poor mood....and these entitled demons were only making it worse.


    After he had criticized their behavior, the stronger Raum Demigod started to directly accuse him of being spy, "Son of the Osir Clan, were you sent to spy by the Incubus Clan of the eastern desert?... or are you here to spy for someone else?"


    "Who said that I was from the Osir Clan? You people just like to make all sorts of assumptions. Lilith Dreamwalker and I are friends....she made me an offer to come to this city months ago....and she told me to seek out the Countess Asta if I had any issues. I just thought the red eyes were cool looking....but now that I think about it....your blue green eyes look much more dignified," Night said while using a little soul energy to change his eye color to blue green.


    The two demons were not expecting his response...particularly with the shift in eye color.


    "Go get Orthrus. He knows Lilith, so maybe he can help us figure this out," the stronger Raum said. The younger one took off out of the cell area.


    The other Raum Demigod just sat down in a chair and stared at Night.


    After waiting for a while, Night decided that his plan might not go as he wanted. He did not like being kept behind bars and these Raum demons were starting to get on his nerves. He had such pleasurable interactions with demons until today. The commoner demons were great people to be around....no different than most humans. These privileged Baron Clan demons were straight up assholes.


    Just as he was about to bail on the prison all together. He felt a slight tingle on his soul. He could somehow tell that Lili was nearby. He reached out his soul perception and found a group of dignified women, including Lili, headed towards the prison.


    Seeing them headed his way, Night knew that he had accomplished his goal.


    At the same time, the man from the Raum Clan seemed to have enough. He had stood up and started pacing in front of the cell.


    Catching the man off guard, Night said, "Don''t worry....They are almost here".....then he shifted his entire appearance to the pitiful look that he had in the hospital in Manco Oasis.

 Chapter 83: Lilith

    About 5 minutes after the Raum Clan man stood up, Lili and a group of women that appeared to be maids showed up outside the prison cell.


    At the sight of Lili, Night felt the tingle in his soul.


    ''Damn, it is even stronger when she is nearby,'' Night thought as the attractive redhead showed up outside the cell.


    "Hello, Lili," Night said with a grin. It wasn''t a particularly nice sort of grin but she seemed completely oblivious.


    "Hey Silly, why are you still wearing that disguise?," she said with a slight blush to her face.


    ''What the fuck? Silly? She is talking to me like I''m her longtime boyfriend or something. What the hell is going on?,'' Night thought with a slight bit of caution taking over him.


    Night had to admit that she was a very, very sexy woman....and he hadn''t been with a woman in over two years....Suddenly, he had a few mental images of what Lili would look like sprawl naked on a bed....


    Shaking his head, he cleared the erotic thoughts.


    ''Shit, this woman is more dangerous than I thought,'' Night said to himself as he pulled out of the quick fantasy that ran through his head.


    "Lili, can you help me get out of this cell so we can talk? I just arrived in this place yesterday an was trying not to cause any problems....but alas.....the problems seem to find me," Night said trying to get a little sympathy from the woman.


    "Sure sweetie. But only if you change back to your real look," she said.


    Sighing inside, Night shifted his appearance to look similar to how he looked on Earth. He was fit and handsome. His missing eye was now a perfect match for the other side and his two fingers were back to normal.


    "Much better," Lili said as she eyeballed Night. Then she turned around and began talking to the warden about Night''s release.


    "Where is Lady Lilith?," a shouting voice suddenly interrupted from behind the group as another young man with blue green eyes appeared behind the group. This guy seemed to be in his in his twenties and was dressed nicer than the other two men from his clan.


    "Orthrus, what are you doing here?," Lili said in an indignant tone. From the sound of it, she didn''t like this person.


    "Of course, I am here to deal with this trash from the Osir Clan," the man called Orthrus said as he approached the holding cell with his chest puffed out.


    "He isn''t from the Osir Clan......He is my Chosen," she said firmly at the the man.


    "Your Chosen?," Orthrus said indignantly, "Then, that means he isn''t your mate yet. Why don''t you just let me get rid of him and consider taking me as your mate instead?"


    Night just sat in his cell and listened to the whole drama play out. He felt like he was reliving a previous life....and had grown quite bored with the whole scene already.....he wasn''t going through all that shit again if he could help it. Too much drama. A rich kid that wants Night''s girl....but in this situation.....Night never wanted the girl in the first place....he was fucking tricked into something he didn''t quite understand.


    "Hey you.....trash....How about we settle this with a dual?," Orthrus asked with some confidence in his tone.


    Night was angry over the whole incident from the start........and now some spoiled fancy guy was that was trying to get the girl was coming after him. The guy was only a Level 2 Demigod too. This shit was too typical.....his anger was starting to boil over.


    Still seated in the cell, Night just looked at Lili and asked, "Would it cause trouble if I just killed him now?"


    Everyone standing outside the cell was shocked at his words. Someone who was locked in a cell was actually threatening a member of the Raum Clan......in their own territory......while surrounded by strong people that could stop him in his tracks.


    Before anyone else could recover, Lili stuttered, "Y...Yes, if he is killed in his family''s territory it would cause some issues."


    "Then can I hurt him?.....if keep him alive?," Night asked. He really wanted to fuck someone up.


    "That shouldn''t cause a prob.....," Lili was still responding when she was interrupted by a glass breaking level scream coming from the man behind her.


    Orthrus had fallen to the ground. He seemed to be having a seizure. His body flopping around on the ground.....and he was even pissing and drooling all over himself.


    The three other Raum Clan members, including the warden, had jumped to Orthrus'' side and were trying to keep him from biting his tongue and dying.


    Night was actually thrilled that this new attack method had worked. He had previously sent the Keres out to destroy souls before and had good luck as long as it was within his perception range. This time he just wanted them to hurt the soul.....not destroy it. The effect was wonderful and very much to Night''s liking. The only thing that wasn''t ideal was the range of the attack. When viewing just the physical world or the soul world, Night could see almost a full mile. When he combined the two views in an attack, his perception range had decreased by more than three quarters of its original distance. Regardless...when he just sent out Misery to hurt Orthrus'' soul....the range was more than enough.


    "Stop now, or else.....," the weakest Demigod of the three Raum Clan members started to make a threat before his words were also cut off.......and he started flopping around on the ground too.


    The crowd instantly got quiet again and looked on in horror. Night had just brought a Level 2 Demigod and a Level 3 Demigod to their knees without even moving from his seat in the cell.


    "What did you do? How dare you assault a member of the Raum Clan? Guards kill this man!!," the one remaining of the original two demigods shouted.


    No one moved. They were too afraid to move. Lili had also stood in front the cell and held out a gold token. The gesture seemed to really get everyone''s attention.


    Watching the scene, Night remembered that token. Lili had given him one before and he currently had it stashed away in his fake eye.


    "Don''t worry....they won''t die....If you keep making a fuss, you can be next," Night said nonchalantly from the cell, "I didn''t kill them as agreed to by Lilith Dreamwalker...if we actually battled...I doubt either one of them would even have a corpse left to bury.....They got off lucky......so unless you want to join them, I would suggest you back down."If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    Actually, he was bluffing a bit in his threat. Misery had easily hurt Orthrus'' soul because her strength was about on par with his. However, she had actually been injured by one of the concept orbs when attacking the Level 3 Demigod. She was going to be alright but Night had told her not to causally attack Demigods stronger than her anymore. It seemed that some concepts offered protection over the soul while some didn''t. It must be related to the basis of concept.


    Regardless of the setback for Misery, Night was really enjoying this menacing attitude. These people had really pissed him off and he felt that he could get away with a bit more since Lili was here now....and she seemed to have some authority.


    "No one shall take any action against Night for this incident. The Raum Clan had shown aggression first and had taken my Chosen captive with no justifiable cause," Lili said urgently while holding up the token that was a symbol of her clan, "......unless the Raum Clan would like to go against the Limim Clan and the Countess ."


    Despite the smell of urine and the hostile glares of the Raum men....The tension in the room subsided slightly at Lili''s threat. No one would go against the Countess and her clan. Lili had made that the point when she pulled out the clan''s token. She was formally declaring Night as her Chosen in front of others....this news would spread quickly and cause many to be upset.


    Seeing the room settle down, Night couldn''t resist throwing out a demand, "Great. Now can someone get me out this fucking cell?"


    __________________________


    After getting out of the cell, everyone in the Guard facility kept a good distance away from Night.....everyone except Lili. Night''s display of power seemed to worry everyone else...but it seemed to make Lili even more enthused to be around him. She even looped her arm in his when leaving the guard facility and seemed to be in a great mood. Night didn''t fight the affectionate gesture by the woman....what else was he going to do? She had just gotten him out of jail.


    "Alright, explain to me what the hell is going on. What did you do to my soul?," Night asked the woman as they were walking.


    "Oh...I made you my Chosen," Lili said as if it was no big deal.


    "What the hell does that mean?," Night said as he looked at a small carriage pulled by two horse looking beasts.


    "Oh, you don''t know? Hop in. We are going to our home now. I will tell you all that you want to know when we get there," Lili said.


    Night was left completely perplexed. He had met this chick one time. She made out with him in the desert and put a weird mark on his soul. Now she was acting like some possessive girlfriend or wife or something.....all of a sudden...talking about ''we'' and ''our''...he honestly didn''t know what to think.


    ''Shit, what the hell did I get myself into?,'' Night worried to himself for the entire ride. He just sat quietly in the carriage as Lili pointed out all her favorite spots as they moved along the streets. From his view out of the window, Night could tell that they were getting deeper and deeper into the city. They seemed to be headed toward the center of it all.


    During the ride, he almost wanted to ask Lili if she had a map of the City to sate his curiosity. However, he shied away from the request. The whole incident was really started when he tried to blackmail a map out of her in Manco Oasis. Remembering the whole situation, Night just kept shaking his head at himself.


    ''How the fuck is this a reward for saving someone?,'' Night thought.


    "Oh sweetie, are you alright?," Lili said out of concern when she saw Night shaking his head for no reason.


    "Yes.....I''m fine.....I just really want some answers on this whole Chosen thing," Night responded.


    "Mother always told me that questions are common for men that are unfamiliar with the Limim Clan. I hope that you can settle in just fine. I really like you after all," Lili said with a blush as she reached over and held Night''s hand. The few sentences escalated both Night''s confusion and worry. He had went from completely confident in himself to unsure.....all it took was this woman talking.


    Realizing he was on the losing end of some type of battle, Night didn''t talk much for the rest of the ride. Lili was excited as ever though and kept going on and on about all sorts of insignificant stuff. The only reason Night didn''t flee on the spot was that it didn''t seem like the woman intended to harm him at all. She seemed genuinely thrilled to be around him.....which was ridiculously weird.....but she was not a threat to his life....or at least it didn''t seem that way.


    After about 20 minutes of travel in the carriage, they pulled up to another gated wall. From his observations, it seemed to Night that the Limim Clan lived at the center of the city. The layout made sense.....their clan was the ruling clan of the city after all. Their portion of the city was completely separated from the rest of the city by a wall that was about 35 feet tall.


    Getting through the gate wasn''t difficult at all, but the scenery was like walking through the gateway into a different world. The area was scattered with vegetation and appeared to a bit more spread out than the rest of the city. Night was transfixed by the architectural beauty of this area. Lili seemed very happy that Night was interested in the scenery. However, Night was also in a bit of a panic. His soul perception had been knocked down a significant amount the second that they crossed past the walls. He didn''t like it, but he assumed that this was some sort of security measure for the ruling clan. They didn''t want people peeping in on their actions. The carriage soon arrived at a small chateau looking building with a few gardens out front. From the amount of greenery, Night guessed that the Limim clan was near the water supply.


    After exiting the carriage, Lili and Night were ushered into the house by staff. They were standing in the foyer of the home when Lili tugged his hand causing Night to stop.


    "Why don''t you get cleaned up? I am sure you are filthy from being locked up in that cell. The maids will help you get settled in. I''ll see you later," Lili said before slipping off to the side and disappearing down a hallway.


    Night was left standing with a group of maids.


    "This way, Sir," one of the older maids said as she gestured for Night to move down the hall way.


    After a minute of walking, the maids lead Night to a nicely furnished bedroom. One of the women walked over to the side of the room and pulled the door open to reveal a large luxurious bathroom. She immediately started to run water and move things around to prepare for Night.


    Night was thrilled at the sound of running water. The bath even had some sort of shower. He had been wanting a shower so bad. It seemed that the since the Limim Clan ruled over the City....then they had access to the water from the oasis source. The maids gave Night a few instructions related to the bath and left the room.


    As Night was disrobing, a few of the maids returned to deliver some clean robes for Night to wear after he was through with the shower.


    Some of the maids gave Night a wide stare seeing him shirtless preparing for the bath. When he had reverted back to his normal appearance, he didn''t bother hiding his scars and missing fingers. It took too much focus to hide all the scars at once and the missing fingers became obvious when he was interacting with stuff. The maids didn''t seem to expect his body to be so beat up.


    One thing was still hidden though.....Night did hide his missing eye. After traveling with the caravan and getting more back into civilization, Night had started to become slightly self conscious about his missing eye......so as soon as he had the ability with his Presence Concept.....he started to hide it behind the illusion.


    After the maids finished laying out the robes, they walked out of the room closing the door behind them.


    Finally by himself, Night started to relax a bit. It had been a long time since he had been somewhere this nice and really appreciated the amenities. He quickly finished undressing and walked over to the shower. The bathroom was exquisite with a flowing shower that cascaded down into to a hot tub sized bath. Light from the sun was entering through some high windows on the wall. The atmosphere was great. Night was really enjoying it all as he bathed and cleaned himself up. He had felt like a grime ball for a long time.


    When he was in the middle of washing his hair in the shower, Night heard a door crack open at the opposite side of the room.


    Thinking that it was one of the maids returning, Night instinctually covered himself with his hands and turned around to see what was going on.


    Lili was standing naked in all her majesty in the middle of the doorway on the other side of the bathroom. She slowly walked into the bathroom.......her red flowing hair fluttered down her chest giving glimpses of her voluptuous breasts.


    Night was frozen in his tracks standing under the flowing water.


    Seeing the look of shock on Night''s face, Lili let out a giggle that sent shivers through Night''s body.


    "Mind if I join you?," Lili said in a sultry voice as she moved forward toward Night.


    "....", Night just stared at the woman in front of him.....he couldn''t speak at all.


    ''Well.....fuck,'' Night thought as the woman walked up and wrapped her arms around him. She hadn''t waited for him to give his response to her question.

 Chapter 84: Challenge

    In his bedroom, Night laid down on his fluffy bed with a substantial number of questions running through his head. The source of most of those questions was the intoxicatingly sexy woman laying naked at his side.


    ''What the fuck did I just do?,'' Night questioned himself for the hundredth time.


    He had met the ''go on a date once, then try move into your house the next day'' kind of woman.....and when he should have bailed out of the situation immediately....he messed up and took the relationship up a notch. But he couldn''t really blame himself too much...the temptation of this seductress was just too much for him.


    "You must have been through a lot of battles," Lili said in a questioning manner as she traced her fingertip along one of Night''s scars on his chest.


    "Something like that...I was tortured a lot too," Night said still in a daze from the events that just happened.


    Night''s eyes roamed down Lili''s body as she twirled her finger another spiral shape scar on his abdomen. As Night had found out in his exploration of this woman''s body earlier....demons are pretty much the same... anatomically.....as humans....however, this demoness was nothing like any other woman he had ever met.


    A few hours earlier, Lili had strolled into the shower naked and grabbed ahold of him as he bathed. Night had absolutely no resistance to this sort of surprise tactic.....it had been along time since he had been with a woman.....and she was smoking hot.....and it didn''t help that the mark on his soul blasted out some unimaginably pleasurable feelings.


    However, despite all the sexual tension in the room, Lili had looked at Night seriously and told them that they couldn''t have intercourse yet...she was dead serious too. Once Night unwillingly agreed....she proceeded to perform practically every other imaginable sexual act with Night...in the shower....on the bed....standing....sitting....laying down. Even with the exclusion of intercourse....it was an absolutely wonderful experience for Night...however, as soon as they would hit a break between activities....his regret over the situation would hit him hard.


    Although he fretted over the issue during several of the intermissions, Night still gave in when her delicate hands started to caress his body again. Eventually, Night decided to just go along with it and have fun....for now. He had a hot naked chick at his side....she seemed to be completely infatuated with him too.....why not take advantage of the situation and have some fun.....and get some of his questions answered?


    "So, tell me about this ''Chosen'' stuff? What''s it all about?," Night asked while the two layed in bed during one of the sexual intermissions.


    "Well.....Most people know that succubi cultivate by feeding on the sexual dreams of men.....It is just what we do...However, despite all of our sexual forays in the dream world.....we only mate with one person during our entire lives. Our souls are quite unique. With a kiss, we can select a Chosen that is linked with our soul. Then, once the relationship is consummated.....the link is strengthened....and the Chosen becomes a Mate. A mate that will love us forever without exception. It is a wonderful thing," Lili said reaching her hand down to grab Night''s manhood.


    Despite the gentle fondling of his manliness, Night had heard something that caught his attention. It was almost like she was trying to distract him from the conversation.


    "Ahhhh.....what do you mean ''love you without exception''?," Night said as he squirmed under her touch.


    "Our souls will be linked and you will love me forever," Lili said as if it wasn''t a big deal and was just the way things were done.


    At the thought of linked souls and loving forever, Night''s newly erected tower slowly crumbled to the ground.


    Lili looked at Night in horror, "Are you okay?"


    "So let me get this straight....once we fuck.....your soul will link with mine and force me to always love you?," Night said while sitting up in the bed. He was very thankful that she had actually held him back before.....because if she hadn''t.....the thought sent shivers down his spine.


    "Yes, that is the way it is done. Is something wrong?," Lili asked with a bit of concern in her voice.


    "Well...," Night was trying to figure out what to say. He wasn''t mad...she had stopped him from taking that final step before...and he would have taken it all the way.....for sure........but the whole thing seemed off...like he was missing some sort of cultural connection.....something that seemed to be of no issue to her...completely violated his principals.


    "Mother always said that if a man can love you once, then he should love you for the rest of his life. Do you not agree?," Lili said with the smile gone from her face. She was staring at Night intently while waiting for his response. His junk still gripped in her hand.


    Night had a bit of foreboding at the question. He had a feeling that if he answered "no", then he wouldn''t make it out of this City alive.....he might not make it off the bed unscathed. As he looked at Lili''s beautiful pleading eyes, he felt like he was dealing with a world destroying beast wearing the skin of a sexy woman.


    "Yes.....yes. I agree. A man should always love his woman," Night said just to put the situation pat him. He also made a mental note to avoid having intercourse with this woman at all costs.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    "Great," Lili said before moving her mouth over to kiss Night''s chest, "We will need to go meet with Mother before going forward then...she would not be happy if I selected a Mate without her knowing."


    Night just watched as the woman slid down his side and began to work her way down his body with her full red lips.


    ''Fuck.....this is so bad...ahhhh...but I am sure I will be able to get away if I need to...ahhh...I remember Nox said that she did something to the soul mark....I even felt a change in the mark...but I can''t just count on that...I need to....ahhh...," Night''s concentration was soon broken by the intimate mouth movements of the seductress. The tower stood again and moans of passion were soon heard from within the bedroom once more.


    _____________________________________


    After spending an unknown amount of time in a mixed between sexual fantasy and horror story, Night had been dragged back into the bathroom by Lili. Lili had actually sat him down and bathed him by herself. When she was done, she kissed him, told him to get ready to go out later and exited out of the other door in the bathroom. Surprisingly, Night realized that his room was connected to her room via the bathroom. It seemed really convenient.


    Still in a blur from the day''s events, Night went back into his room and gotten dressed in a nice set of robes that had magically appeared on the bed while he was in the bathroom. After getting dressed, he was left sitting in his room trying to understand the whole situation.....and he constantly berated himself for being such a weak man.


    After about thirty minutes, a maid came into Night''s room.


    "Mistress Lilith is waiting for you downstairs. Please follow me to join her," the maid said as she gestured for Night to leave the room.


    Night made his way downstairs and was greeted with a well dressed Lili. It looked like she was ready for a night out on the town.


    "Hello handsome! Are you ready to go get something to eat? You really made me work up such an appetite earlier," Lili said as she sauntered over to Night, grabbed his hand and gave him a passionate kiss.


    After being lead out of the house, Night found himself in a carriage headed outside of the Limim Clan complex and into the city. He was really surprised by the nightlife scene. This entertainment district in the Valac Clan area wasn''t exactly like the bars and restaurants on Earth...but it wasn''t far off. There was no electricity so almost everything was illuminated by fire and some sort of glowing stones.


    After walking around for a bit, Lili had brought Night to one of her favorite places to eat. The place was quite popular so there were tons of people present. Night actually enjoyed the food despite not knowing what he was eating. Lili was constantly introducing Night to new people too....like she was showing off a new prized possession. As he had done for most everything so far, Night just went along with it all while trying to get his bearings in this city.


    After a nice meal with a woman that seemed to be something similar to a fiance, Night was actually starting to enjoy himself a little. If it wasn''t for the looming threat of Lili doing something to his soul....Night wouldn''t mind having a relationship with Lili. She seemed to be alright as a person.


    The two finished up dinner and where heading back to the carriage when....within the range of his perception...Night noticed a few figures headed in their direction.


    "There a few people headed this way to start a fight," Night whispered into Lili''s ear. He even gave a little bite at her earlobe when he did it. He knew that she liked that....from his experiments earlier.


    The woman shivered a little then said to Night, "Sorry."


    Right after she spoke, a group of men showed up in front of Night and Lili and blocked their way back to the carriage.


    "Lady Lilith, we would like to challenge your Chosen to a duel in order to replace him by your side," three of the men said in unison.


    ''Why the fuck do these guys still want this girl so bad? Don''t they understand that she will have control over them if they are her Mate?,'' Night thought to himself. The only reason that he could think that they would come forward...was that these men were being thrown forth as sacrificial lambs by their clans in order to get in the good graces of the Limim Clan.


    Even though he liked the intimacy and enjoyed the date....He still wanted out of the whole ordeal with Lili....but these guys were trying to fight for the opportunity to essentially be her man slave.


    Night had been a little suppressed due to sexual relief Lili provided earlier..... but these men had just caused his foul mood completely resurface. His patience was worn pretty thin.


    "If you want to fight, let''s fight. But I don''t won''t do it unless it is a death match.....with no sanctions from your family when you lose your life," Night yelled to quiet down the crowd. He was trying to put an end to this mess by increasing the stakes. After his breakthrough in the Concept of Presence, Night was pretty confident in his strength.....at least as long as the opponent was a Level 4 Demigod or below. And he could see that none of the people around him were stronger than Level 4 Demigod.


    Regardless of the threat, it didn''t take long before someone stepped forward.


    "Alright, I''ll agree to your terms," a large horned man from the Kimaris Clan stepped forward.


    "Great.....where do we fight?," Night said as he looked at Lili.


    The woman seemed a bit upset that Night wanted to fight to the death, but she still responded, "The Arena."


    After a few parting words, the group of people made their way in the carriages and began the trip to large arena.


    "So Lili....how much trouble am I causing?," Night asked.


    "Not much. The women in my clan are fought over quite often.....I have seen countless fights like this since I was a child. My mother said that these fights help temper all the men in the city and help demonstrate how important it is to be one of the Limim Clans'' mates," Lili said sounding a little dissatisfied.


    "Your mother sounds like a very interesting woman," Night said with a little sarcasm in his voice.


    The sarcasm went unnoticed by Lili and she said, "Of course she is. My mother is great. You will get a chance to meet her later in the week. I have put in a request for audience to get her approval of you as my mate. I should know the exact time by tomorrow."


    Night winced at the word ''mate'' but continued to go along with it. He was going to try to get as much out of the situation as possible over the next couple of days....then he would bail out of this city before the meeting.


    "Okay.....tell me more about this arena," Night said to Lili as they rode along.


    As Lili explained about the the arena, the carriage pulled up to a large coliseum that stood among various other large buildings. From what Lili told him, Night knew that the arena was actually located in the Kimaris Clan territory.


    "Wasn''t the guy who challenged me from the Kimaris Clan?," Night asked Lili with some concern.


    "Yes, why?," Lili responded.


    "Because I am fighting someone on their own turf," Night said, "how can I not be a little concerned?"

 Chapter 85: Fight after Fight

    "Don''t worry. The arena is positioned in the Kimaris Clan for a reason. The brutish clan has a strong sense of honor and made vows on their lives to honestly hold the arena fights in their territory. They won''t do anything even if it is their own people. Survival of the fittest and all," Lili said in a voice that sounded a little mad.


    "What are you upset about? That I got challenged to a duel?," Night asked feeling a bit puzzled by Lili''s shift in attitude. It wasn''t like her to be angry. She was usually pretty aloof.


    "No, its just that the man that you are going to be fighting to death....he is one of my Sources," Lili said, "...so if you kill him, I''ll lose a Source."


    "Source? What''s that?," Night asked.


    "Huh? A Source is a man I visit in his dreams in order to cultivate. I forget that you lack basic information," Lili said bluntly.


    Then the realization hit Night. Lili was a Succubus. She cultivated by feeding off the souls of men during their sexual fantasies in their dreams.


    So the guy he was fighting...was someone that Lili regularly visited in his dreams to help him live out his sexual fantasies....so that she could swipe soul energy to cultivate.


    ''Oh shit,'' Night thought, ''How many of these sexed up men that fantasize about Lili at night are there?''


    "How many Sources do you have?," Night asked Lili with some concern in his voice...he had to know the answer.


    "I have around 15 regulars...and I causally visit around 20 random sources throughout the week," Lili said.


    The shear number shocked Night.....she was like a living wet dream.


    But after taking a minute to calm his thoughts, the quantity seemed reasonable when Night looked at it from a cultivation standpoint. She was only taking a portion of their soul energy...not an entire soul''s energy like the Keres did. Lili would need a good number of Sources to draw in enough power to advance.


    As he sat there absorbing this new information, Night glanced over at the woman next to him with more apprehension.


    Lili apparently had sex with a lot of men.....but only in those men''s dreams...only he got her in real life....technically, she was still a virgin...until she actually had sex and made the him into her soul slave....the whole thing was fucking weird.


    Honestly, Night didn''t even know what to feel about it when he strung it all together.....the cultural differences were getting to be a bit much.....no wonder she was an expert at the things she did to him earlier in the day.


    ''I need to get the things I want and get out of here,'' Night thought once everything fell into line for him, ''Quickly.''


    He didn''t see this ending well for him if he stayed, but he needed to get a few things done before he left. Hopefully a few days time would be enough to get his tasks complete....Lili had told him the meeting with her mother would be in 4 days....before then he would leave and try to make his way to another desert city.....maybe one that didn''t have succubi.


    "Oh....okay," Night responded as he got back on track with his thoughts, "I won''t kill him if you don''t want me to then."


    Lili smiled a very big smile and said ,"No, kill this one to set an example. Maybe that will keep the others away. I am very close to promoting to Demigod of Lust....I can only spare one Source...so I don''t want the others coming to challenge you and dying too...so you better kill this one brutally."


    Night was left slack-jawed...again. This fun loving woman that seemed to be almost simple at times had completely shattered his view of her in a few sentences.


    "Oh....okay...I''ll kill him brutally then," Night said with a shrug of his shoulder as he changed the subject to something he could better understand.


    An awkwardly silence fell over the carriage.


    "So, you are training to become a Demigod of Lust?," Night asked to break the pause.


    "Yes.....us Succubi are born with a talent in reading emotions and have a natural tendency towards lust....it is what we are," Lili said with a shrug to her shoulders.


    ''It is what we are,'' Night repeated to himself mentally. That really made sense to him. He had still been looking at everything that was going on through the eyes of David....the normal human from Earth. He wasn''t on Earth anymore and these weren''t even humans....He was going to stop trying to interpret everything based on his preconceived standards....it was a weakness of his....he had thought demons were somewhat normal....until the last two days.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª-


    When they first arrived, massive drums sounded from the walls of the arena to let everyone in the area know that a fight was about to take place. A few minutes later, people were flocking into the arena like crazy.


    Still dressed in his nice robes, Night stared across the arena at a shirtless man twice his size. The man''s two bull-like horns reflected the torches encircling the arena.


    Night had performed a quick check with his perception to determine that the Kimaris Clan member in front of him was only a Level 2 Demigod. It should be an easy fight.


    Now, as they were waiting for the official announcer, Night had actually sat down to contemplate his plan of attack. He was originally just gonna let the Keres destroy the man''s soul, but then Lili had asked him to be brutal. While he was a bit startled by her suggestion, he agreed with her a hundred percent...that''s why he wanted the death match in the first place. He needed to set an example to keep the challengers from causing fight after fight.


    By the time the official arrived, Night had his general game plan and was ready to start the fight.


    The official stood atop a platform at the side of the arena stage. Night looked around and noticed at large crowd had formed in the arena despite the hour of night. There had to be around three thousand people present in the seating area. It was about half of the way full. After looking around at the faces in the crowd for a minute or so, Night brought his attention back to the arena official standing on the raised platform at the edge of the stage.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    "Everyone, Welcome to the Arena!," the announcer said in a echoing voice. The crowd went wild. The man was holding some sort of stone up to his throat that seemed to be projecting his voice to everyone.


    "Tonight, we have an unexpected death match between Groven Fullhorn of the Kamiris Clan and Night, the Chosen of Lilith Dreamwalker of the Limim Clan. No one leaves the arena until one is dead," the announcer projected his voice over the entire arena, "Now since these gentlemen look ready....Let''s start the fight."


    At the announcers words, the brutish Groven moved toward Night pretty rapidly. As he neared, Night felt an intense gravity fall upon the entire platform.


    ''Damn, looks like he is a Demigod in the Truth of Earth. Appears to be Gravity Concept too,'' Night thought to himself while modifying his plan slightly. He had wanted to end this quickly and violently but the durability of the concepts of the Truth of Earth would be troublesome for a quick kill.


    Running through his options, the only concept that Night had that wasn''t influence by the increased gravity was his Shadow Concept. When he was in the shadows, the pressure of four-times gravity wouldn''t effect him much. But he couldn''t attack unless he released the shadow concept for a moment.


    Night suddenly had an idea. Maybe he could use the Shadow Concept, but hide the shadow by changing his appearance with the Presence Concept. That way he could set a trap and perform a surprise attack.....he had heard the Kamari''s Clan members weren''t that smart after all.


    As the man was still moving forward in his first attack, Night activated both concepts at once. Then, he started to step backward like he was struggling to escape...he needed the setup in order to fake weakness. The Kimaris Clan was known for their strength and close combat skills...so his opponent would have to draw in close to finish the job.


    Sure enough, Groven moved forward quickly in an effort that seemed like he was trying to grasp Night in a wrestling move. Night repeatedly dodged the incoming attacks while showing a strained expression on his face. To the entire audience, it seemed like he was starting to get tired from the repeated dodging under the heavy gravity. In reality, the gravity wasn''t really effecting him....and he wasn''t tired at all.


    "I wasn''t expected you to be so weak," Groven said as moved forward to attack Night. As the man moved in to attack, Night acted like he slipped and fell down to a knee.


    As Groven got closer, Night''s performance continued as he seemed to struggle to stand. His plan was working, he just needed the horned man to step a little bit closer.


    He saw two feet appear directly in front of him. Night lunged upward with his knife as he relaxed the Shadow Concept. He knew as soon as he released the shadow concept, then the increased gravity would hit him hard. To compensate for the increased gravity, Night exerted his full might as he drove his knife up with both hands.


    He may have overcompensated for the gravity because his knife connected with the man''s groin and traveled all the way up to his breastbone before coming to a stop. As soon as his knife felt some resistance, Night immediately dropped back down and rolled out of the way. He wasn''t going to risk getting grabbed because he lingered on the attack too long.


    The crowd gasped as the Groven''s own Gravity Concept pulled all of his internal organs out his body cavity out the opening Night provided. Guts and organs spilled out onto the platform and splashed down in a mush pressed down by the increased gravity.


    The big man''s eyes were wide in pain and panic at the sight of his own insides. Surprisingly, when the man''s breast bone had stopped Night''s knife.....it had also kept the knife from hitting his heart. He didn''t die immediately but stood there for a second before falling to his knees. Night slipped around to stand behind the man and had already pulled out another knife. Dual wielding his knifes, Night drove both into the man''s shoulders crippling his arms....then he kicked him over on the ground.


    "I wasn''t expecting you to be so stupid," Night said as the man just sort of flopped on the ground for a few minutes before his life slowly faded from his body.


    The crowd had already grown silent.....they had seen bloody battles before...but they had never seen such a one sided slaughter.


    In the silence of the arena, Night just looked over at the other men that had previously issued a challenge and said, "Who''s next?"


    ______________________________


    After winning the fight and detering the other challengers, Lili had practically mauled him in the carriage on the ride back. It seemed that witnessing him battle really turned her on.


    However, Lili had actually left him completely alone all night.....she said that she needed to go cultivate....and well.....her cultivation resources were only asleep at night.


    Although she had woke him in the next morning with a pleasant surprise, Night had already firmly decided that he would leave in a few days.


    Lili just wanted to stay in bed with him all day again. However, Night managed to resist. Against her wishes, Night had convinced Lili that they needed to go shopping for some supplies.


    Night had won against his challenger last night...and as expected, the violent outcome had deterred the other challengers.....for now. However, Night had used the potential for more challenges as a reason for his need to go shopping. He needed a few weapons and  other equipment just in case of a battle. The fact that the shopping was to increase her man''s strength.....Lili gladly obliged and even gave him a sack of stones to use. She even wanted to go with him.


    But after arriving in the crafting area of the Sabnock Clan, Lili had looked a bit disgusted at the dirty conditions and excused herself to go look at a nearby dress store while Night dealt with his "man stuff." She had told Night that she would just meet him back at the house.


    Walking up to a few of the workers nearby, Night asked around a bit for the best blacksmith in the City. After asking a few workers, Night received unanimous recommendations from the group to visit a small Sabnock Clan blacksmith named Bal.


    After a quick little walk, Night found the blacksmith shop and walked inside.


    "How can I help you, young man?," the man behind the counter said. From the looks of it, this man was Bal Sabnock.


    Night walked over to the man with abnormally large arms near the counter. He quickly flipped his hand to pull one of the golden nuggets from his storage ring.


    "Wow! Where did you get such nice golden mithril?," the blacksmith asked.


    "I took it from someone who wanted to kill me," Night said, "Is it worth alot?"


    "Ahhhh...it isn''t worth as much as silver mithril, but it is rarer. Golden mithril is silver mithril with impurities of gold within so it isn''t as strong as silver mithril.....but it is excellent for high cost decorations on weapons."


    "Oh....do you want to buy it?," Night asked.


    "No, I am good on my supply, so I would recommend taking it to one of the auction houses. They are always looking for rare items," the old man said. For some reason, this old man reminded Night of Mr. Lester back on Earth. He couldn''t help be wonder how him and Karine were doing.


    "Alright then, I would like to make an express order for some custom gauntlets if possible. I need them in two days," Night said.


    The two chatted for some time about Nights requirements. Night ended up having to offer over half of the stones Lili had given him and one of the gold mithril ores in order to get the old man to agree. He had told Night that he would get to work immediately and the order would be ready in two days.


    After finishing with his blacksmith order, Night had gotten a recommendation for a gem craftsman from the blacksmith. Night had one more custom item that he needed made before leaving the city. Night started walking to the Bathin Clan craftsman area since it was only about two miles away.


    After walking for about twenty minutes, Night looked at a little piece of paper to check the directions to the Bathin Clan workshops. Feeling a little disoriented in this unfamiliar place, he continued walking down the street as he read overhead signs to find the right shop. With a sudden feeling of threat, Night sensed something dangerous headed rapidly towards him from a side alley.

 Chapter 86: Demon Court

    A rapidly moving projectile was headed straight at Night''s chest. It was extreamly fast. He wasn''t going to be able to move his whole body in time to get out of the way. On reflex, the slip of paper containing the directions fell from his grip and his knife appeared in his hand from the space ring. It was going to be easier to deflect the projectile than to defend. The attack was just too powerful. Night twisted the knife to expose its flat edge and moved to deflect the incoming item. It felt like the world was moving slowly as Night''s knife blade hit the incoming attack.


    The impact was pretty strong and Night felt like something left his soul as the impact rocked him to the side. Night adjusted the momentum of the attack with his knife blade to redirect it downward. The hit was so strong that he could feel it in his soul. His whole body spun as he deflected the attack. Almost immediately, a thud sounded from near his feet. He glanced down and saw a crossbow bolt embedded into the sandy ground of the street. Night felt a shiver run through him. A bubbling mess was coming up from where a crossbow bolt made contact with the street.


    ''Fuck, the arrow was even poisoned,'' Night thought as he looked up and prepared for another attack. His whole body was tingling and a weird sensation was coming from his soul.


    Pissed that someone had just tried to kill him, Night reached out with his full strength soul perception to find the perpetrator. He could sense a man rapidly moving away from the scene.


    "Got you fucker," Night said as he darted down the alley in pursuit. His anger had reached a peak.


    After about five minutes, the man carrying the crossbow had stopped off in a small corridor and ducked into a doorway. By this time, Night had caught up and was observing the whole time. With his soul perception, he could see the man settle into what appeared to be a safe room in the side of the building. As Night observed, the man picked up a stone off the table and held it to his forehead.


    "He dodged the poisoned bolt. The Chosen is much stronger than we thought. Shit man, he must be at least a Level 5 Demigod to dodge an attack from this crossbow," the man said before pausing. The person on the other end of the communication stone must be talking.


    After a moment, the man resumed his side of the conversation, "I know. He didn''t follow me at all. When I left he was squatted in the street staring at the crossbow bolt. He wasn''t watching what way I went."


    There was another pause.


    "Alright, next time...you are going to have to come with me. If both of us had shot a bolt at the same time, then he wouldn''t have been able to dodge," the man said as a follow up, "I''ll talk to you later."


    The man put down the stone and sat at a table in the room. He was still breathing slightly heavy from his running when darkness descended upon him. He reached for the crossbow, but a pain hit his soul and he collapsed to the ground unconscious.


    ''Thanks, Distress,'' Night said mentally.


    The darkness in the room faded. Night fiddled with the door lock and he stepped into the room.


    Night walked over to the table and sat down to look at the man. The man was only a level one demigod. He didn''t know what this was all about, but one thing was certain...he was leaving tomorrow, so this mess would be behind him.


    "Hey, Distress," Night asked mentally, "You ready to form your blood body?"


    "Yes! Yes! I want one so bad!," Distress yelled at Night through the mental connection.


    ''You have five minutes to get as much information out of him as possible, then we''ll start the process,'' Night said as he went about checking the man for anything good.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    By the time he had got back to the house that evening, Night had discovered a nice surprise.


    He found the surprise when he inspected his soul. He had felt a few tingles in his soul when he was attacked...so he decided to perform a full inspection to make sure nothing was wrong. What he found was an odd looking dagger floating near he soul. After a bit of thought he realized that he must have broke through in his knife skills during the assassination attempt. He hadn''t really used them much lately but he did continue to train with his knives when he had a spare moment.


    To test his theory, he pulled a knife out and focused his intent on the blade. Immediately, he could feel a bit of both his soul and elemental energy go out of his body and surround the knife. The feeling was quite weird, but Night realized that this was a significant increase to his strength.


    ''Seems like I am now a Level 1 Demigod in the Truth of the Knife now,'' Night thought, ''That makes five concepts total. What a great bonus before I leave this place.''


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    The next morning, Night woke up to a woman working her way under his sheets. She hadn''t spent the night with him again.


    However, Lili seemed much more energetic after her night of cultivation....it was like she wanted to make up for leaving him alone all night.


    After a few rounds of this and that, Lili was curled up by Night''s side.


    "I really do love you, you know?," she said as she traced his scars with her fingers again. It seemed to be one of her favorite things.


    Night was taken aback by her comment. He just stared at her with a bit of guilt running through him. He had developed some sort of feeling towards her over the last couple days. But it wasn''t enough for him to risk his soul. He still was going to leave tonight when she went off to cultivate.


    Seeing Night staring off and not providing a response, Lili said, "Are you alright?"


    "Yes, I was just thinking...Someone tried to kill me yesterday after I visited the blacksmith," Night responded. He didn''t want it to seem so obvious that he was avoiding her previous question...so he decided to give up some information.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    "What?," Lili exclaimed as her face went red with anger.


    Seeing the intense reaction, Night said, "Don''t worry. I already killed one of the two involved. Your Source named Lorent from the Phene Clan is dead by the way. The one helping him was also from the Phene Clan....Kire is his name. I didn''t get a chance to kill that one. If I wasn''t as strong as I am, I would have died though. You need to pick your Sources better....some that know their place and aren''t ruled by jealousy."


    Lili seemed to be in thought at Night''s words. She apologized in her own way then invited Night to a lunch prepared by her staff


    When they were taking their lunch break, Lili asked Night if he wanted to visit the demon court. She really seemed to like showing Night off...like a prized pony. Night didn''t mind. He still felt a little guilt over his planned escape and this would help it go away.


    Thinking about his escape plans, Night felt a little relief that he was getting out of this situation. He had made arrangements to pickup his completed items from the blacksmith and jeweler tonight. Since Lili was now leaving him alone at night to go cultivate.....he had the perfect opportunity to go pickup his stuff, snag some extra supplies, and bail on the city.


    He even had a contingency. If some delay happened, then he could always delay a day without an issue. Night still had two more days until Lili took him to meet her mother.


    So, today.....Night was going to take a trip with Lili to the demon court. Despite his desire to get out of here, he actually enjoyed seeing a new part of the city. Over the last few days, Night had gotten a general layout of the Limim Clan. Most dwellings were centered around the main palace of Countess Asta. The closer to the main palace, then the higher the standing in the demon royal court. Lili''s house was a little more than half of the way to the Palace, so that put her in a decent amount of status for a woman that wasn''t even a Demigod yet.


    Now, Lili and Night were actually headed to the Royal Palace since it housed the Royal Court. The whole ordeal sounded somewhat formal, but Night didn''t really care. It would give him some more information about the demons and let him see the palace.


    After a few minutes of travel, they arrived and were escorted into the palace. The palace was a marvel from Night¡¯s architectural perspective. It was massive, but didn¡¯t lack on the fine details. The walls were embellished with all sorts of stone carvings and sculptures.


    After a quiet walk through the palace, Night and Lili arrived at a large open room. Lili nodded to one of the attendants as they entered.


    "Ms. Lilith Dreamwalker and her Chosen, Night," the man announced as they stepped into the room.


    Most of the room turned to look at the pair as they entered. There had to be about 120 people in large open room. The room looked like a classic ball room with high ceilings, mostly standing space and a few chairs and tables off to the side.


    Everyone was just loitering around like it was a dinner party...but there was no dinner. After entering, Lili proceeded to walk Night around the room to introduce him to the various important people in the city.


    Night tried to use his soul perception to view these people''s strength, but to his surprise.....some seemed to have items that blocked his viewing.....but most seemed to be low level Demigods. Despite his efforts, the palace really seemed to be limiting his soul perception range. It made sense that the royals didn''t want people peeping in on them.....but that didn''t mean that Night liked it. Actually, the lack of his usual wide perception range made him feel really uncomfortable.


    Although the conversation always seemed pleasant, Night had a feeling that some of the people were taking subtle shots at him and making threats. He could definitely tell that a few were hinting at him being troublemaker by commenting on his arrest and arena battle...but their words were phrased very friendly....it is like they were insulting him in a different language.


    "Why does everyone seem so agreeable with each other.....but not at the same time?," Night asked Lili. It wasn''t necessarily a bad thing, but it completely turned Night''s expectations of a royal court on end. He really expected to see the open scheming and hostilities that the royal courts showed in the movies back on Earth.


    "Silly, of course they all get along well on the surface," Lili said with a bit of derision in her voice, "Everyone here is working for the betterment of themselves. Any topics that may cause strife in the court are generally not discussed openly...they do that privately in order to not offend the Countess."


    When Night heard Lili say ''strife'', he instantly got an idea. These people and their fake niceties were driving him crazy. If they thought of him as a troublemaker, then why not cause a little trouble? He was leaving tonight anyway.


    "So, everything here is just a facade?," Night asked Lili a question.


    "Somewhat. The courtiers speak in their own code to setup plots and schemes. They think that they are sly and can sneak around. But Mother always said that nothing said in the court goes unnoticed," Lili said.


    "Oh. Can we sit for a moment? I would like to just sit and observe everyone a bit," Night asked showing a wariness from walking around the room for a while.


    "Sure, how about you go sit over there and I go have a chat with a few of my friends?," Lili said as she pointed to a chair over to the side and turned to walk off.


    By the time he sat down, Night had already thought of a plan to cause a little fuss among some of the courtiers. He was going to make a few show their true selves.


    He whispered to himself, "Bitter words of conflict. Stress begets truth. Strife."


    A small surge of energy swept out from Night as he executed his least used Darkness skill. The amount of power was so small that it went unnoticed to everyone in the room. But then Night felt a click in his soul and a strong pull of darkness elemental energy towards him.


    ''Shit, I didn''t want that to happen,'' Night thought as he realized that he was about to breakthrough to a Demigod of Strife. He hadn''t even used this skill very much. He was just trying to liven things up a bit because those few courtiers had pissed him off by taking cheap shots at him. He didn''t want to cause a full out scene.


    Surprisingly, no one seemed to notice that Night was breaking through in the corner of the room. However, the room was gradually getting louder as a few arguments started to break out between the nearby courtiers.


    Even with the action happening, Night was somewhat oblivious to what was going on. He was currently watching the darkness element form into another orb rotating around his soul. He also saw an extremely black film form directly around his soul.


    ''So that is why some Demigods can fight back in the soul despite focusing on elements. It seems that some elemental concepts also contain components of the soul," Night thought to himself realizing that he had uncovered another riddle.


    After a few seconds finishing up his breakthrough, Night came out of his thoughts and heard the full out commotion in the room. Some people certainly weren''t covering up their emotions anymore as they started yelling matches with one another over their conflicting political views.


    All of a sudden, a trumpet sound rang out over the room. The sound was pretty intense and caused everyone to focus in on the doors at the side of the room. Night eased off his newly formed Concept of Strife...then he looked for Lili and made his way over to see her.


    After a few seconds of absolute quietness in the court, an usher came out of the large double doors on the west side of the large room.....and walked right up to Lili.


    "Lady Lilith, the Countess Asta has recognized your attendance in the court and would like to invite you and your Chosen to visit with her now," the user said before turning to lead the way.


    "Great! Mother must have had a spot in her schedule open up. Quick.....Night.....let''s go," Lili said grabbing Night¡¯s hand and pulling him along happily.


    "Wait.....your mother is the Countess Asta?," Night asked realizing that he really had really stepped into a mess.


    "Of course! Who did you think my mom was, Silly?," Lili responded with a smile.


    ''Damn,'' Night thought as he looked around for a way to get out of this place, ''I just screwed up....big time.''

 Chapter 87: Countess

    Sweat poured down Night''s back. Thinking over how he ended up here, Night cursed himself.


    In every situation with Lili, it seemed she withheld a vital bit of information....or maybe he should have just asked....or maybe it was his own stupidity.


    Regardless, he couldn''t run now. There were way too many powerful people present around him at the moment. The second that the usher gave their invitation to see the Countess, two other men had came out from the same set of doors. With a glance, Night could tell they were powerful. Not to mention.....he was almost certain that the Countess Asta was a God. There was no way he could run away from this...


    Night and Lili made their way down the corridor behind the usher. Lili had reached over and grabbed his hand as they walked. She seemed pretty happy right now. The two guards flanked Night and Lili as they made their way down the long hallway to another set of large metal doors.


    As they approached, two new guards opened both doors and a tall lanky man ushered them inside.


    "Countess, your daughter and her Chosen have arrived as requested," the usher said in a deep husky voice.


    As they entered, Night could see five people seated in front of him. A large throne sat in the middle with the most seductive looking woman Night had ever seen seated.... and she was staring right at him. He could feel himself getting aroused just looking at her and quickly drew upon his soul energy to regain control over his body.


    Since he was already exerting his soul energy, Night flashed it to the highest level he could and used his soul perception to look around the room. Although the range was very restricted and he only used it for a split second, he managed to get a general idea of the power of the five men and women sitting in the room. With the exception of two of the five, they were all masters of at least six concepts. Night noticed that the soul of the woman in the center looked slightly different. One of her concept orbs was as bright as a sun and actually hurt Night when he glanced at it. Then the man sitting next to her.....Night was unable to see through at all. He must be wearing some charm to prevent his power from being estimated. Regardless, Night had no doubt that the people in this room were very powerful.


    "Lilith.....so this is the man you have chosen? He is such a trouble maker to create problems in my court," Countess Asta said to Lili as she inspected Night with her eyes.


    "Yes, Countess," Lili said with a bit of uncertainty in her voice, "this is my Chosen."


    "Night, you caused trouble in the Countess'' court?," Lili looked over and said with a bit of accusation...and a bit of fear.


    "Uhhh.....I guess. Seeing the fake actions of everyone in the Court, I used a skill that builds upon existing conflicts....and unexpectedly it broke through. Apologies Countess, I got carried away and couldn''t control myself," Night said in an apologetic tone as he bowed his head in acknowledgment of his error. He really hadn''t intended to breakthrough and was still trying to figure out how it happened.


    Night could feel the Countess'' gaze roaming over him. His Presence Concept had held up to everyone''s inspection so far. He hoped that the concept would hold through her inspection.


    "Ahhh....so it was the Darkness Concept of Strife.....I knew that you practice in the Truth of Darkness.....Interesting....However...If you are truly sorry, show your actual appearance. I can tell you are hiding your true self," Countess Asta instructed in a odd tone. He was having trouble figuring out the Countess'' mood...it was almost like she didn''t have one.


    Lili looked over at Night and appeared to be slightly upset at her mother comment.


    Night didn''t look back. He was busy trying to tell if the Countess was bluffing or telling the truth. He didn''t mind showing his true self....he just wanted to know if she could actually see through his Presence Concept.


    "Oh...you are trying to determine if I can actually see through your disguise or if I am bluffing to get you to reveal yourself," the Countess said scaring Night.


    "Yes, that is what I was thinking. You can read minds?," Night asked in curiosity. He had never dealt with a God before and this woman was proving to be tough to deal with.


    "Ha ha....I wish it were that easy. I am just very, very observant. I am a God in the Law of Lust on the path to the Truth of Emotion. I learned to read the emotions on faces a very long time. Experience and the situation dictates the rest to me...once I know the emotion, the story usually becomes evident," the Countess said as if she were lecturing a child.


    She immediately continued, "Since you amused me with your antics before....I''ll answer your question.....I can not see through your illusion, but I can feel that something is influencing my soul''s perception of you. It must be quite a powerful to have any influence over my soul. No wonder my daughter has chosen you....So are you going to show your true self or not?"


    Night figured that regardless of the truth of her words.....resisting would only end up poorly for him....so he relaxed his Concept of Presence. His body appeared as his true self. Actually, the appearance he showed now wasn''t much different than before. Except Night''s real body bore more signs of the hardships that he had been through. His missing fingers were apparent and the stone eye with the red pupil stood out. He had several scars on his face and arms that were no longer hidden. At one glance, anyone could tell that the scars continued across the rest of his body as well. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    "Oh my," Countess Asta said, "You are still quite handsome despite those scars...and the missing eye. What do you think my daughter? Do you find his true appearance acceptable?"


    For some reason, Night had a feeling that if Lili answered no, then he was going to be in a tough situation. The way that the Succubus treated men was a bit extreme.


    Looking at Night, Lili seemed to be making a final decision. After a moment of thought, Lili responded, "Yes, Mother. He is an acceptable mate. I already knew of the scars...it shows that he is strong...and they appeal to me," Lili said with a bit of a blush before she continued.


    "He has my affection and love already...he was my savior.....and he won''t hide things from me once he becomes my Mate." The last bit was said with a little bit of anger and Night winced at the tone.


    "Good. Good. Since that is the case, I have a few more questions for him....before he gets my approval," the Countess said as she put all her focus on Night.


    "We have a general bit of information on you all the way back to the Manco Oasis, but that is where it gets somewhat fuzzy. Most of their records were destroyed in a slave uprising.....that apparently you orchestrated," she continued, "Can you tell me about your parents and upbringing?"


    The question caught Night off guard. Memories of his parents flashed through his head as his mood instantly changed from one of fear and worry to one of sadness and hate. After a few seconds, he came out of his reflection on the past and responded shortly, "They''re dead. I was raised in a small town. You can fill in the rest."


    "Oh....I see," the Countess said while taking in Night''s emotions, "and what of your true strength? Just how many concepts have you mastered? Have you started on the path to become a God?"


    "My power," Night said with a pause as he figured out how much information to give, "It was 5 concepts until today. Now it is 6 concepts. And I don''t fully understand the path to becoming a God."


    "Wonderful," the countess said, "Don''t worry about your lack in knowledge. Once you become a Mate in my clan, you will have access to all sorts of information. How do you feel about becoming the Mate of my daughter?"


    "I like Lili very much. She is beautiful and kind," Night said. It wasn''t really an answer but he knew if he directly lied then this woman would see through him.


    "Great, Great," Countess Asta said with a big grin, "I am so happy that my daughter has found a good Mate. He is stronger than any of the mates of her three sisters too....actually, he could probably beat several of my personal guards in a battle."


    "Thank you, Mother. He will be very strong mate," Lili said with her face beaming with pride. She seemed to be maxed out on the excitement that she could handle.


    "Hold on.....," Night stepped forward and was going to say something....but he suddenly felt a pressure weigh down on him. It wasn''t a physical pressure. It was a combination of elemental and soul pressure that was pretty intense. His knees started to shake, but he didn''t fall.


    ''Fuck. I guess they will just try to kill me if I try to object to the whole Mate thing. I can only hope that whatever Nox had done to the mark on my soul will get me out of this mess,'' Night thought in a bit of panic. The mysterious woman had helped him before and she seemed to be quite angry about the mark in the first place.


    Night shut his mouth and went back to standing next to Lili.


    "Yes, very strong.....and interesting," the Countess said while narrowing her eyes in intense thought.


    "Lilith...I approve of your choise....my daughter," the Countess suddenly said looking excited herself, "and since you are here, I would like to give you the gift of staying in the cultivation suite in my home...you and your Chosen can proceed there now....enjoy yourselves as you become mates."


    The Countess'' words seemed to bring Lili intense joy. Actually, it must have been a bit too intense since she had to sit down on the ground.


    As Lili sat down, the Countess immediately appeared at her side. Night blinked and stepped back. He hadn''t even seen the Countess move.


    "Quick. She was actually so excited that all of this was happening....she is breaking through in the Concept of Joy," the Countess said as she gestured to one of her guards to come over then turned to look at Night.


    "You will carry her to the chamber and watch over her until she breaks through, then you will consummate as her Mate and become part of my clan," the Countess said while staring Night directly in the eyes. He could fell the weight of her words on his soul and knew that he didn''t have an option otherwise.


    Resigning himself to what was going to happen, he had to put his faith in Nox...and what she had done to modify the mark on his soul.


    "Quickly escort them to the cultivation suite," she said to the guard and waved them away.


    Night picked up Lili and was ushered out of the room. The large metal doors shut behind them as they sped along.


    With the click of the doors, Countess Asta stood up and slowly walked to her throne.


    "So what do you think of the mate that your daughter has chosen, my husband?," the Countess questioned as she sat down.


    The man sitting at her right side looked over at her with loving eyes and said, "He is odd to me. I really couldn''t see through his illusion. His soul must be extremely powerful. I worry for our daughter."


    "Oh....so you couldn''t see through it either. Yes, his soul is very powerful. And the reports say that he can walk among dreams. Maybe he has a bit of your clan in his blood? He seemed to have some sort of confidence that he could still get out of this situation," the Countess said questioningly.


    "I can not tell. But if he does have Incubus blood and is that strong, then it would mean that our daughter may not fare well in the mating. Why did you agree?," the man asked with no criticism in his voice. It seemed like he was truly interested in her thinking process.


    "Worse case, it will end up as an equal mating...and we know how that works out," the Countess said with a loving smile toward the seated man, "...and he didn''t lie that he likes her....and he has an intense sense of family from his reaction to my questioning.....everything should be fine."


    "Ahhh....I agree. Everything should be fine, but he seemed hesitant for the commitment of becoming her Mate....I would recommend sending a few extra guards to protect the exit of the cultivation chamber....just in case he decides to run away," the man said with a hint of amusement in his voice.

 Chapter 88: Couple

    Night knew that the Countess had seen through him completely. From the little that his soul perception could pick up, he could tell there were guards everywhere to prevent his escape. There was no way he could escape this....so he had to put his trust in Nox....and hope that whatever she did to the soul mark would work to protect his soul.


    He felt mentally exhausted from the stress of the situation. When he arrived in the cultivation chamber, Night had laid Lili down on the bed and sat down in a chair off in the corner of the room.


    As he contemplated his options, Night watched Lili lay on the large bed at the center.She really was a beautiful woman.


    ''It shouldn''t be long until she finishes her break through,'' Night thought before slumping down in the chair in thought.


    ''This situation is almost like a shotgun wedding back home....dad always warned me that women could get me in trouble,'' Night said to himself with a chuckle when remembering his dad''s lecture about sleeping with random women when he was in college.


    The memory of his dad caused him to mentally drift off. Despite the complexity of the current situation, the Countess'' question about his parents and upbringing had really uncovered some of Night''s inner pains. Subconsciously, he had always set those memories to the back of his daily thoughts....and now that those pains were set free, he was having trouble locking his issues back away.


    While Night was stuck in his troubled thoughts, Lili opened her eyes and looked around the room to see Night sitting in a chair off to the side.


    "Hello, my Chosen," Lili said as she sat up in bed and looked over toward Night.


    Night was fully involved with his own inner turmoil and didn''t even hear her. He didn''t even acknowledge her greeting at all.


    Lili could clearly see the troubled look on his face as she looked across the room. She stood up at the side of the bed and walked over in front of Night. A closer look at him completely shocked her. Tears were running down Night''s cheek from his remaining eye. The sight was startling for the woman. She reached out, touched his face, and asked, "What''s wrong?"


    Night stared up at her for a second before he spoke, "I am sorry, Lili. Your mother brought up some bad memories for me when she asked about my parents.....so I am trying to sort through it all in my head."


    "Yes, I could see the sadness on your face when you answered her question," Lili said with some concern in her voice.


    "....and we have only known each other for around three days. I know all of this is just the culture of your clan, but it completely contradicts everything I know about relationships. Where I am from....people don''t typically jump into becoming lifetime mates without some sort of courtship beforehand. My mom and dad dated for years before they got married," Night said airing out his other issues. He felt trapped and needed to get a few things off his chest.


    "Oh. I think understand," Lili said before moving to take a seat next to Night. She reached over and grabbed his hand.


    "A lot of other clans have long courtships. However...We, Succubi, move fast once we decide on someone...it is just how we do things," Lili said while continuing, "Ancient succubi were originally abused because of their sexual nature and lack of strength. At some point, we changed....we gained the ability to make a bond with our mates. A bond that can''t be broken and goes all the way into the soul. Since that time, we have been very focused on the strength of our mates. Mother had always said that I should select a mate that is strong enough to protect me....and that night when you saved me...I knew that you were right for me...so I made you my Chosen."


    "I figured as much," Night said as his resolve to resist was deteriorating. He knew he couldn''t fight what was happening.


    He looked at Lili and made a decision. If he couldn''t get out of this predicament, then he might as well handle it like a man. He was going to become this woman''s Mate...he made his bed, so he would lie in it.


    But based on his own morals, he still felt like he needed to air out some things first.


    "I have a very strong soul and it is somewhat special. I can not promise that the final result our mating will be as you expect it...I honestly don''t know what will happen," Night said. He couldn''t bring himself to tell Lili about Nox, but he knew that he would feel intense guilt if he didn''t give her some sort of warning.


    "It''s okay. My mother has already warned me about having a Mate with a strong soul. My father actually has a very strong soul and is on equal standing in the relationship with my mother," Lili said taking Night off guard.


    "Oh really," Night said in surprise.


    "Yes...so, I can deal with any outcome.....as long as I have you for support....I can even deal with your other woman if you would like to bring her here...having more than one Mate is acceptable to a lot of demons....just remember...you will be my only one to rely on," Lili said as she reached up and kissed Night.


    Night was so startled that he forgot to breath.


    "What other woman?," Night said puzzlement after catching his breath.


    "You don''t have to lie. I am okay with it. I do visit a lot of other men in their dreams after all. It''s okay if you have another women every now and then. But, I will always be your mate and you will always protect me," Lili said with a very serious expression on her face.


    "Honestly, I don''t know what you are talking about. Can you explain?," Night said ignoring the appearance okay for him to sleep with other women. He still didn''t know who this supposed other woman was.


    "You know! The woman you were with the first night I met you. I can have a craftsman make some fake fangs if you like themThis novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.


    so much," Lili said with the same serious expression and a slight blush to her cheeks.


    Realization blossomed in Nights brain and he burst out laughing.


    "Ha ha ha...that''s one of my sisters....not my lover," Night was absolutely rolling with laughter. He was going to have to tell Misery this one....she would die.


    "Your sisters?," Lili said, "Why didn''t you tell me you had sisters?"


    "You never told me you had sisters either....hell, I didn''t even know the Countess was your mom until today," Night rebuked.


    "Oh...right...sorry," Lili said, "I have three sisters. Kali, Moon, and Hepte. I''ll have to introduce you sometime."


    "Well, I also have three sisters. Misery, Grief, and Distress. You have met Misery already and you can meet the others anytime," Night said with a chuckle.


    "Okay," Lili responded. She seemed to be really nervous all of a sudden.


    Night was also nervous....Seemed like it was time to get to business.


    Lili stood up and led Night to the bed by his hand. When they got to the side of the bed, Lili began to unfasten Night''s robes. Once he was standing there naked, she pushed him down on the bed and began disrobing herself. Night just watched as her sexy body was revealed to him. Neither of them said a word.


    Laying on the bed, Night watched as Lili climbed up on the bed and straddled him. Slowly, Night felt a warmth envelop him as she settled down. With a dual moan, Night and Lili started their mating. It felt absolutely wonderful for both of them.


    Then suddenly, Night felt a pull at his soul that went all the way down to his groin. It was like his soul was getting sucked out his dick. The feeling was both terrifying and exhilarating at the same time....then the pull seemed to hit a roadblock as it suddenly stopped. Night could feel the pull run in the opposite direction and Lili let out a gasp.


    Night could feel a piece of Lili''s soul break off and connect to his soul. A wisp of his soul also flew back down the same route to her....drawing a moan from both of them.


    Although he was very into what was happening, he could tell the sensation was very similar to the way the Keres are linked to his soul. Night knew that he could exert almost full control over Lili if he needed to, but he could also just let her be her usual self. He had the power in the relationship...but only if he wanted it. He hadn''t lost out any in the exchange.


    Once the issue with his soul was clarified, Night mentally relaxed and began to enjoy himself. Sensing his mental change, Lili began to become more enthusiastic in her hip movements.The couple really started to let lose and eventually completed their mating. After the climax, Lili slumped off the top of him and snuggled up to his side. Night looked down at the woman laying next to him with a bit of emotion.


    He didn''t quite understand his feelings toward Lili....but he knew that he was now committed to her....and he needed to live up to this commitment....even though he felt somewhat forced into the whole relationship. Night has feelings toward Lili, but he can''t quite define them. It wasn''t necessarily love...or maybe it was just an obscure form of love.....he wasn''t sure.


    Lili looked over with a very happy smile, "That was wonderful....my Mate."


    "Yes it was...my Mate," Night responded and returned her smile. There was no point bent sour about something already done.... especially when no harm came out of it.


    After a few minutes of cuddling, the couple proceeded to go a few more rounds with each other...enjoying themselves in every second of it.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª-


    After a few hours alone in the room, the couple received a notice from the Countess congratulating them on their mating. The Countess was going to provide dinner then the cultivation chamber was going to be readied for use.


    Lili is very, very excited over the whole thing. Night was a little disturbed that the Countess knew he nailed her daughter then congratulated him for it.


    Regardless, both of them chowed down when the food was brought. The dinner was the highest quality with several food items that helped cultivation.


    "So how does this cultivation chamber work?," Night asked, "Will they pipe in heavenly energy or something?"


    "No, Silly. It is a succubus'' cultivation chamber....the one that my mother uses. This room is surrounded by other rooms that each containing a sleeping man. The men should all be either Level 5 Demigods.....so I have a good chance to break through to a Demigod of Lust if I cultivate here through the night....the soul energy will be very abundant," Lili said excitedly.


    For some reason, he felt a hint of jealousy knowing that she was going to visit men in their dreams tonight. But then he was hit with an interesting thought.


    "So, the men don''t resist when you enter their dreams?," Night asked with a grin.


    "No, they give up all resistance. They wouldn¡¯t be good Sources if they resisted," Lili said.


    Night smiled devilishly, "How would you like to meet my sisters tonight?"


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª-


    After a lengthy dinner discussion, Lili agreed to Night''s plans. Then, the two finished up their food and went a few more rounds on the bed. Night had never felt so thankful for his Body of Recovery.


    When it was late enough to sleep, Night entered his own soul space.


    The three Keres were present and waiting for him.


    "So did we leave successfully?," Misery asked.


    "No," Night said , "I messed up." Then, he proceeded to tell the Keres the entire story.


    After his explaining, they all began to talk.


    "So we''re not going to kill as many as we can and try to fight our way out of here?," Distress asked in her usual warrior fashion.


    "No, Nox had said that she modified the soul mark, so I put my trust in her. There was no reason to die for something that might not even cause a problem," Night said, "...and it worked out just fine....technically, Lili and I are already mates so everything is good."


    The three women looked at Night with wide opened eyes.


    "So, I don''t get to kill anyone?," Distress asked with disappointment on her face.


    "I guess Karine is all mine now," Misery said with a giddy squeal.


    "Okay, when do I get to meet your new wife?," Grief said questioningly.


    "Uhhhhh.....No, no killing tonight.....if you can land Karine, then you can have her....and that''s why I''m here. Lili wants to me you all.....and celebrate in a special way," Night said alternating responses between the women.


    "Alright, don''t run off until we have a chance to talk," Night said as he opened up his soul perception to the maximum.


    Lili appeared floating in the soul view in front of the quartet of misfits. Seeing the group in front of her, Lili came forward and introduced herself to the Keres....they really like when she addressed them as sister-in-law. Once the introductions were done, Lili joined Night by his side.


    "Lili''s mother, Countess Asta, has given us the use of her cultivation chambers for the night. There are twelve Level 5 Demigods in the rooms around us now....with no defenses in place....waiting for someone to come into their dreams," Night said drawing immediate interest from the Keres.


    "I won''t be cultivating tonight, so you three can take my place. Feel free to drop in on the men after Lili has finished up with them. Give them a good time...but be sure not to kill any of them," Night finished up before phasing out of the soul space.


    As Night was fading out of the soul space, he could see the four women chatting with each other. They seemed to be getting along well. It was like a belated bachelorette party.....it would be good for the women in his life to bond.


    With his perception maintaining focus, tonight would be good training for Night too. He laid down in bed next to the unconscious Lili and couldn''t keep a smile off his face.


    He had told Lili that his sisters could cultivate in dreams too, but he didn''t give any details about how they do so....she had left out enough key details that he felt like this one time would be okay for him to do the same...and after spending time with his Mate in their dreams....on what was essentially his wedding night...these random men we¡¯re going to experience unimaginable pain and suffering thanks to the Keres.

 Chapter 89: Settled

    When the couple awoke the next morning, everything went against Night''s expectations. Lili seemed to be excited about the evening she spent with the Keres. But, he couldn''t fully understand why she was excited until she explained more about the Truth of Emotions.


    Per Lili''s explanation, the Truth of Emotion was an unique truth that included both elemental and soul components.....but leaned heavily toward the soul components but each emotion was coupled with some aspect of element. The six concepts of Emotion were Lust, Joy, Love, Fear, Hate, and Sadness. Although Succubi had a natural propensity to Lust, they weren''t entirely focused on sex. In order to advance, they needed to focus on the other emotion concepts too. Succubi usually cultivated these emotions in an assortment of ways but heavily relied on their natural ability to enter the dreams of men. Since she had already broke through in the concepts of Lust and Joy, Lili would need to focus on some of the other emotions now. After hanging out all night with the Keres, she realized that training with Night''s sisters could really help her cultivate in Fear.


    After listening to Lili excitedly explain the situation, Night thought the new comradeship between the Keres and Lili was slightly unsettling. They even had wanted to set aside a day of the week aside to cultivate together. But at least they were striking fear into men instead of giving them wet dreams. Night could deal with the difference, but he had a little hesitation. How was she going to cultivate the Concept of Love using her usual method in the future?


    With that concern tucked away in his head, Night probably wouldn''t have been too happy if he hadn''t discovered the other gift Nox had given him. His control over the soul mark wasn''t the only modification that Nox had done. When the group of women had all started their cultivation in the men''s dreams, Night could feel a steady stream of soul energy coming into his own soul from the Keres as usual. But now, he could also feel that small stream from Lili as well. The mate soul mark functioned exactly like the Keres links to Night''s soul....but Lili was still a living demon and got her power from her own type of cultivation.....instead of tormenting souls and consuming blood.


    Night would also see benefit to his own cultivation when Lili was taking soul energy.....just like with the Keres. It was another passive way for him to gain strength and Night was very happy of the outcome. The only issue was that the women have to work a little harder because he was always getting his share of the soul energy.


    Regardless of Night''s cut of the taken energy, the evening was a very beneficial for both Lili and the Keres. From the absorption of soul energy from the dozen Level 5 Demigods, the four women had all stepped forward a level in strength. Lili was now a Level 2 Demigod of Emotion with formation of the Lust and Joy concepts. This type of rapid progress was practically unheard of for a succubus. Also, the three Keres each increased their strength by a level, so Misery''s strength was equal to a Level 3 Demigod, Grief strength grew to a Level 2 Demigod, and Distress was currently undergoing the breakthrough to a Level 1 Demigod.


    There was a lot of good discussion that morning, but the couple was interrupted by a notice from guards that their time in the cultivation chamber was over. Apparently, Lili and the Keres had gotten an little overzealous the night before and caused "irreparable damage" to some of the men in the cultivation chamber.


    Despite the lack of an official clan response, the whole affair had actually caused a commotion among the Limim Clan leaders behind the scenes. The Limim Clan leaders sobered to the fact that Night was at least an equal Mate with Lilith. Because of the cultivation chamber experience, the clan leaders also drew the conclusion the newest addition to the clan..... could draw power from tormenting people in their dreams.....and had several minions that helped to carry out the task.


    The thought was startling for some of the clan leaders and they wanted to restrict Night''s power in the clan with immediate sanctions immediately. However...... regardless of the risk........Countess Asta and Lili''s father seemed to be quite happy about the strength of their daughter''s Mate. Lili''s father had almost hurt himself in laughter because the men used for the Countesses'' cultivation were put in such horrible shape. The Countess wasn''t that happy, but she did recognize that this relationship was good for her daughter.


    So after some debate, the only action taken was to have the couple escorted from the premises under guard......until the clan leaders could further investigate Night and his strength.


    So..... Night and Lili were promptly escorted from the Countess'' cultivation chambers by a group of guards. Although the guards had informed them of the trouble that was caused, no one had really reprimanded them and the pair was sent on their way out of the Countess'' palace.


    _____________________


    After leaving the palace, Night convinced Lili to run a few errands with him before going home. Since he didn''t get to make his run for it the previous day. Night brought Lili with him to pickup his goods from the blacksmith.


    Despite the gritty conditions of blacksmith workshop, Lili had agreed to go since she didn''t want to leave Night''s side. The pair stood out in the front of the storefront waiting for the items to be brought from the shop. Night could tell that the shop attendant was slightly nervous.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    ''Guess he didn''t know that I was associated with the Limim Clan,'' Night thought as he realized that it was Lili''s appearance that had caused the reaction.


    After a few minutes, the old man, Bal Sabnock, showed up holding a beautifully crafted pair of gauntlets. Night immediately picked up the pair when the blacksmith sat them down in front of him. He slipped them on without much trouble and the fit was wonderful. The blacksmith proceeded to tell him that these gauntlets were made from the extremely lightweight silver mithril and should allow for maximum protection while not reducing speed during fighting.


    "What do you think?," Night asked Lili while punching around to get a feel for the armored gloves.


    "I guess they are okay. What do you need gloves for?," Lili said seemingly uninterested.


    "I fight mostly with knives. So I needed some hand protection. You don''t want me to end up with more missing fingers do you?," Night asked jokingly.


    "Of course not, I don''t mind the scars but please try not to lose anymore pieces of yourself," Lili responded with a bit of a scold.


    While the blacksmith watched, Night fiddled with the gauntlets a bit more. The gauntlet on his left hand actually looked whole despite his missing fingers. This feature had been one of Night''s ideas in the design. He could use the two hollow fingers to hold Grief and Distress'' blood stones against the exposed flesh of his fingertips. With a flex of his wrist, the two blood stones would fall out and allow the two women to join a battle.


    Night was very pleased and thanked the blacksmith before leaving.


    After they left the blacksmith shop, Night wasn''t done with his errands. He still needed to pickup his special order item from the jeweler.


    Night was really excited about this one so much so that Lili even noticed his excitement when riding in the carriage.


    "What is it that we are picking up that has you so excited?," Lili asked.


    "A new fake eye!," Night said, "I had a piece of darkness gem that they crafted into a fake eye for me, so now instead of having this useless rock in my face, I have something that can increase my battle strength by about 2 times when using darkness concepts. It also looks nicer too!"


    Now, Lili even seemed to be excited about going to the jewelers and it wasn''t long before they arrived.


    Night and Lili quickly went inside to get his custom item and soon he had a jet black eye with a red pupil in place. It looked very intimidating...and very expensive....and Lili loved it.


    As the couple were in the process of picking up the new eye, Night noticed a set of rings in the display case of the jeweler''s shop.


    "Sir, what are those two rings?," Night asked the jeweler.


    "Oh....those are matching set of communication stone rings. Although there were only two in the set, they are extremely high quality," the jeweler said seemingly proud of his work.


    "Neat.....how far can they communicate?," Night asked with some interest.


    "About 50 miles for the regular user," the jeweler said, "but if the users have strong souls, then it may reach higher."


    "Great. Do you accept trades?," Night said as he pulled his two remaining fist sized gold mithril ores out of his storage ring.


    "Gold Mithril!," the jeweler said excitedly, "Yes, sir. We can work out a trade. Those rings are only two thirds the value of the ores, so pick something else from this case if you want."


    After looking over the goods, Night grabbed another small storage stone ring and put it on his finger. He knew he couldn''t have too much storage space.


    After getting out of the store, Night and Lili decided to go back to Lili''s house. As they were riding, Night pulled the pair of rings out of his pocket. He grabbed Lili''s hand and slipped the smaller of the two on the ring finger of her left hand.


    "What are you doing?," she asked Night.


    "Well in my culture. The man and woman wear rings on their fingers like this," Night said while sliding the other ring on his finger to match her ring.


    "It is a symbol that we are a mates," Night said, "....and also since they are strong communication stones.....it will give us a way to talk to each other when we are apart."


    Although she didn''t quite get Night''s sentiment, Lili really liked the gesture of a gift.


    Once the couple returned to the house, they went into seclusion together for some time.


    Eventually, the couple''s escapades were disturbed with a notice from the Countess. Since Lili had broken through to a Level 2 Demigod of Emotion and had selected a very strong mate. Her status had skyrocketed in the Limim Clan. Night was also given a high status in the Limim Clan due to his strength. The two were assigned a new home only one level lower than the high officials in the palace. Lili was very happy because her status increased in the clan.


    A few weeks after moving homes, everything in Night''s perspective took a shift and his life started to settle down. It wasn''t long ago that he was a Foundation Stage slave with no real hope of surviving on this new planet. Now, he was a Level 6 Demigod that had a high position in the ruling clan of a capital city. How could he not have a shift in perspective? His quality of life was much better now. He had a sexy woman that was completely infatuated with him. He had a nice house in the city. He had resources to train himself. And he had access to knowledge that he didn''t have before.


    After considering his options, Night decided to say in the demon city for the foreseeable future. As a Level 6 Demigod, he could expect to live for thousands of years. He figured that he had a lot of time to accomplish his goals and didn''t feel any particular rush to accomplish anything.......despite his lingering desire to get revenge on the Diego Family.


    Even though he was getting settled into a relaxed life, Night had made it his focus to keep increasing his own strength and knowledge. He had learned a lesson on being complacent and overconfident. Night began to regularly train his knife skills. He sent out the Keres to gather intelligence and to cultivate themselves. And taking a cue from the Succubi, Night started feasting on the fear and pain of people''s dreams to grow his strength........because even though he now had a peaceful way of life........ Night had a foreboding that this peace wouldn''t last forever.

 Chapter 90: Meeting of Clans

    Night screamed as his flesh was ripped from the side of his chest.


    "What the fuck?," he said as he sat up tossing Lili off of him. He was bleeding all over the place and had a mouth sized piece of skin missing from his chest.


    "What''s wrong?," Lili asked, "I thought you would like it."


    "No, I don''t like it!," Night said while putting some distance between Lili and himself.


    He had a feeling that she knew he wouldn''t like it....but she did it anyway.


    So, he had to ask, "What the hell would make you think that I like getting bitten like that? And what the hell is with those fangs?"


    "I don''t know," Lili said with a sultry pout, "You never fussed before when we had sex that was a little rough. I just took it slightly up a itty bitty notch. Quit being so fussy."


    Night sighed as he looked down and watched the patch of skin healing on his chest. It had been 5 months since he moved in with Lili and the relationship had not progress the way that Night was expecting.


    When he originally settled in to the City of Setting Sun with Lili, Night had some aspirations of a typical husband and wife relationship with the demoness. After all, his life had been a tumultuous clusterfuck for the last year. He had wanted something normal in his life and he thought that he would have an opportunity here. He actually craved the safety of a normal life really bad...but that''s not what happened....not at all.


    After she had broken through in the Concepts of Lust and Joy almost simultaneously, Lili had decided the next best concept to focus on was Fear. But she never gave Night any warning of the consequences. Succubi cultivate in Concepts of the Truth of Emotions.....and when they cultivate in an particular emotion.....their behavior starts to shift to help develop the current emotion of focus.


    Everything was fine for the first month or so....it was more than fine...Night felt like he was in a pleasurable fantasy world....but as time went on Lili started to progressively exhibit more and more negative traits. She went from simply jumping out around corners to give Night a scare....to tonight.....when she secretly slipped in a pair of cut gem fangs, screamed at him, then took a bite out of Night''s chest when he was climaxing during sex.


    ''This shit is getting out of hand,'' Night thought to himself as he looked at Lili spread out naked on the bed with blood at the side of her mouth, ''Why the fuck couldn''t she have decided to cultivate on Love or Sadness or even Hate. I don''t know what to do anymore.''


    Night had been draw into this woman''s world easily when she was the happy sex maniac that wanted to fuck all the time. But now, the situation was a whole different story....this demon woman was turning into a living nightmare. Night was actually growing afraid to sleep in the same bed with her at night....and that appeared to be exactly what she wanted....she liked being around his fear.


    Despite his previous notion of the relationship, Night was starting to think of Lili as a more of a crazy roommate that likes to have sex with him frequently. Although he cared for her, he didn''t necessarily love the woman in a conventional sense and now he didn''t know if he ever could. This world and it''s culture were just too different. He was completely put off by some of the things that succubi considered normal. But he didn''t leave because he really enjoyed the sex and other benefits.....that was until today when she had started to get a bit too crazy for him....now he was starting to consider his other options.


    Night looked over at her trying to figure out his path forward.


    Disregarding his objection to her previous actions, Lili had relaxed on the bed in a very provocative position. Seeing Night look at her, she said with a grin, "Thanks for the sex, my Mate. Let me know when you are ready for another round."


    Seeing her flashing the new set of jeweled fangs, Night shivered a bit as he reached for his robe. He quickly left the room, made his way down the hall and walked into the study. Since he had placated Lili for awhile, Night needed to get back to his reading.


    He had been researching the methods for progression from a Demigod to God for about two months. Today, his research was nearing its end. After reading several books that he borrowed from the Limim Clan library, Night realized that the concept of advancing to a God wasn''t that complicated....it was just hard to achieve. Today, he wanted to finish up rereading all the references to make sure he didn''t miss out on some important points.


    Essentially, Night learned that a Demigod became a God by condensing a Concept into a Law. The Concept formation when becoming a Demigod was just the initial start to cultivating a concept. As a Demigod practices, a combination of conceptual knowledge and either elemental or soul energies condense into droplets...then the droplets begins to fill the elemental concept orbs or weapons concepts orbiting the soul or the soul concept wrapping that covers the soul...when a concept is completely full, then it crystallizes into a Law.


    Night also learned how concepts related to the body were manifested. When a Concept, such as the Concept of Strength, initially forms, it forms a miniature person, like the weapon with the weapon concept, near the soul. When the concept is invoked, the concept leaves the soul space and to enhance the body accordingly. A weapons concept does the same but the concept energy enters a weapon for support. The concepts don''t become a part of the weapon or body....the concepts just exist with it as a support structure.


    Night also realized that someone couldn''t breakthrough to become a God in a Truth until they had developed all of that Truth''s six concepts to the basic level. A cultivator could completely fill a concept orb, but they wouldn''t be able to crystallize it into a law until the other concepts were initiated.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.


    That information had shocked Night. Mostly because his Shadow Concept orb was already completely full of liquid. It had been that way since he had first broken through in the mines of Manco City. After thinking over how that could have happened, Night attributed his progress to the gift that Nox had once given him. With that knowledge in mind, Night realized that he should be focusing on his remaining Darkness concepts because if he could form those orbs....if he could initiate the Concepts of Doom, Retribution, and Destruction....then he should be able to break through to a God of Shadow immediately.


    Nighy had also realized that someone could concurrently cultivate in the different concepts once they are initiated. He actually learned this approach from observing Lili''s soul and concepts. When he paid attention with his perception, he could see minute droplets of energy condensing in her Lust Concept when she was scaring the hell out of people in their dreams....because a succubus always seemed to draw some form of Lust based on their appearance and behavior.


    Sitting in the study, Night was lost in his thoughts about training to become a God when a loud ring of a gong sounded throughout the city. Night was immediately on alert and ran to find Lili to find out what was going happening.


    Entering their bedroom, Night could see Lili bent over grabbing her clothing off the floor. She was still naked....and despite his uncertainty toward their relationship....Night was stopped in his tracks as he stared at her ass up in the air.


    ''Fucking succubus,'' Night cursed to himself as he looked at the sexy woman as she slid up her dress.


    Regaining his thoughts, Night asked, "Wh....what was that noise?"


    "Oh....that was the notice for a city clan meeting. Get ready to go. With our status, we should be there. It''s important," Lili said in a rush, "Go get dressed in your best clothes and meet me out front. I''ll send for the carriage right now."


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª-


    When Night and Lili showed up at the Countess'' palace, they were directed to a large courtyard that was arranged in stadium style seating.


    ''Looks like this will be well attended,'' Night thought as he and Lili took their seat near some other members of the Limim Clan.


    High ranking members from the City''s clans were arriving steadily and soon the courtyard was full.


    There were discussions galore as the group waited for the Countess to arrive. Lili told Night that the last time a city clan meeting had been called was over ten years ago. That meeting was held because of a massive sandstorm that threatened the safety of the city, so this meeting may announce some pending disaster. Everyone was sitting on the edge of their seats and speculating what the issue might be.


    A few guards walked out from behind the platform at the front of the crowd. The City''s clans quieted down as Countess Asta and the Limim Clan leaders walked out. Two large guards were also carrying a sinister looking winged woman seated on a large cushioned chair. A tall demon that shared her appearance was also walking behind the group onto the stage.


    A few voices could be heard talking in the crowd. But, they quickly quieted down when the Countess rose and walked in front of the crowd.


    Countess Asta had a solemn look on her face as she began, "The City of Southern Wind has fallen to the humans."


    Her words instantly caused an uproar in the crowd.


    A man stood up behind the Countess and shouted, "Quiet."


    His voice and power weighted down on the crowd and the talking stopped.


    As they sat in their seats, Lili squeezed Night''s hand and whispered in his ear, "That''s my dad, Roth Dreamwalker."


    "Oh...," Night said realizing that this was the man that he couldn''t see through when he met the Countess. The man turned and looked at Night almost immediately after Lili''s comment.


    ''Damn, hopefully I''m not on this guy''s shortlist,'' Night thought as Countess Asta began her speech. He hadn''t seen the Countess or been invited back to the palace since the first time months ago.


    "The woman in front of you is the only surviving child of Count Khotan, Mere Pazuza. Please keep quiet so she doesn''t have to strain to speak," the Countess said in an order.


    The two guards moved the woman''s chair to the front of the platform. She placed a stone up to her neck to help amplify her slow, sickly voice. Then, she spoke, "A week ago we began receiving reports of a human army at the fringe of our territory. The initial thought was that the group was just some human raiders. We had previously been told that they were ramping up their efforts on attacking some of the smaller surrounding clans. Regardless, we had sent out a few Pazuza Clan patrols, but before they returned with any news.... the City of Southern Wind was destroyed by a small human army that seemed to appear out of nowhere."


    Night listened as he closely observed the seated woman and her guardian. The Pazuza Clan''s appearance was that of Night''s initial idea of a real demon. Their look consisted of two pairs of wings, long blond hair, rows of fanglike teeth and fingernails that look like tallons. This family of demons looked aggressive and mean. They were also famed for feeding on life energy of others. However, the woman in front of everyone looked weak and defeated as she explained her circumstances.


    "The City of Southern Wind was the weakest of the four capital cities of the desert. But, I am here to warn you that no matter the size....The attack of the humans was very vicious. They resorted to two main attack tactics....assault with a few hundred High level Demigods and two God level cultivators....and they poisoned us all," she said drawing reactions from the crowd.


    "As you can see, even though I escaped....I am dying from the poison that was used. The dreadful poison was tragic for the people of Southern Wind. Anyone below a Demigod died...normal citizens....the children.....everyone died almost immediately. Low level Demigods such as myself were immediately stricken with sickness. I am only staying alive due some treasures given to me by my father before my escape ...it....it won''t last the week...then I will die," Mere Pazuza finished just before she went into a coughing fit.


    "As you can see, Lady Mere is not doing so well. Based on our past friendships with the Pazuza Clan, the Limim Clan would like to offer a reward to anyone that can cure the young miss," Countess Asta said drawing a response from the crowd, "Note that our own Phene Clan has already looked into this matter and can not offer any antidote to the poison. Thank you for attending....I will follow up with each clan individually, but do your best to prepare yourself....if the humans can threaten one city, then they can threaten others. Consider this as an approval to begin preparing your clans for war."


    The entire crowd broke into a commotion as the group on the platform turned around and started leaving.


    When Night heard of the devastation caused by the Diego Family, he was thankful that these demons hadn''t been able to determine that he was a human. He didn''t think that he would stand a chance if they found out who he really was. A few beads of sweat trickled down his back at the thought.


    ''When I think about it, exterminating the Diego Clan will not be enough. Another group of humans will just take over the portal and do the same thing. I wonder if all the families are the same. Maybe, I should just destroy the damn portal between worlds. I can''t use it since I promoted to Demigod anyway,'' Night thought to himself.


    Night was running through his thoughts when he looked up at the stage. The Pazuza Clan woman looked in pretty bad shape. Her wings reminded him of Misery. Then, Night had a sudden wild thought. He might actually be able to save the woman''s life....if she were willing to pay a certain price.

 Chapter 91: Negotiation

    Night realized that he could offer Mere Pazuza the option to become a Ker instead of dying from the poison. She had a background full of hardships and seemed to be in desperate shape....but he wasn''t sure if he should even make this offer to her at all.


    His first two Keres were created for his own reasons. Distress became a Ker because Grief had acted to select her on her own.


    ''Why not select someone that can offer a few benefits for my situation? I have no issue as long as she agrees to some conditions,'' Night thought to himself.


    If she accepted, it could be a great benefit to Night for the immediate situation. He would also like another increase to his power. But since he was considering this option, he needed to figure out how to go about making the offer to the woman. Mere was staying in the Countess'' Palace, so visiting her in her dreams was not an option. Night''s soul perception couldn''t penetrate the palace walls easily due to some security measures that they had in place. He only routes left were to approach her through the Countess or approach her secretly by sneaking into the palace.


    Most of his evening was spent debating with himself which one of these routes to take.


    While most of the high ups in the Limim Clan had found out about the Keres entering the dreams of others, no one knew that they could also manifest physical forms. By making the offer, he would have to give up this bit of information about himself. For some reason, he had developed a liking to hiding his strength.


    After a good bit of thinking, Night decided that he would go ahead and reveal a bit more about himself to the Limim Clan in order to make this happen. The main reason for taking this approach was that he thought that if he displayed more strength, then his position in any upcoming battles with the Diego Family would be better. He would much rather have his independence in battle then be stuck under the control of some general if a war broke out. After making a few mental arrangements and preperatuons, Night decided to head over to the Countess'' Palace to begin the discussion.


    _____________________________


    Arriving at the entrance to the palace, Night didn''t beat around the bush to announce the reason why he was here, "I am here to meet with Countess Asta concerning Mere Pazuza. The information can be considered urgent."


    One of the door guards scurried off away from the entrance while the others remained to keep Night company. After a few minutes, the guard returned and said, "Countess Asta will see you now."


    Night followed behind the guard as he was led along to somewhere he had never been before in the palace. After a few minutes of walking, Night and the guard approached a door. Before the guard could say anything, a voice sounded from within the room, "Night, you may enter."


    The guard dismissed himself and Night opened the door and walked inside. He was expecting another meeting room, but that is not what he got. Countess Asta was layed out on a bed with most of her apparently nude body showing out from underneath a set of sheets. Lili''s father, Roth Dreamwalker, was sitting up in bed next to her shirtless.


    ''At least he has some pants on. These fucking demons are weird,'' Night thought to himself as he mentally pulled himself away from the sight.


    "ha ha ha ah.....," Countess Asta belly laughed which made her body shake and some of the sheets slide more to the side, "Your reaction is priceless. I have been trying to get an idea of just who and what you are for some time now...and its like you are from another world....not familiar with our culture or customs at all. I really wonder what you are here to offer."


    Night gave the woman a grin and thought to himself, ''Of course you would think that, I am from another world you fucking weirdo.''


    He knew that the emotion on his face would give something away, but he had come here to give up a few secrets anyway...so what the hell. From his previous talk with the Countess, Night had figured that she was always fishing for signs of emotion on his face. After all, she had said that once she learns the emotion, then she can fill in the rest of the story. This time, he wanted to give her something to think about.....his story was crazy as hell...he doubted that she could piece together that fucked up story.


    "I can extend Mere Pazuza''s life for some time...however, there will be some consequences on her end. I came to you first to ask your permission out of respect. I have a hard time telling what is genuine out of the mouths of Succubi...so I wanted to ask you directly before offering to her," Night said while not breaking eye contact with the Countess.


    His soul had been progressively growing stronger from both his own cultivation and the contribution from the women linked to his soul. Since he was mentally prepared this time, he thought that he could resist her draw....and feeling her pull on him increase...he realized that he could resist it just fine. Last time they met, he had just increased two levels to become a Level 6 Demigod. Over the months spent in the City of Setting Sun, he had consolidated and increased his strength greatly.


    "Oh my, you are quite an interesting one," the Countess said before turning to look at the man in bed next to her, "What do you think, my mate?"


    "I didn''t even hear what he said. I am still trying to figure out if he is human or just partially demon or something else entirely. You aren''t exerting that fantastic power of illusion are you?," Roth Dreamwalker said dryly.


    Night shivered slightly outside of his control when he heard his origins questioned. He had always wondered if they really couldn''t tell, but now it appeared that they had some guesses. These two people were dangerous. Night had no doubt that both of them were Gods.....and both of them seemed to like asking questions that generate an emotional response that they can read.


    ''Fuck, I should have at least hid my facial expressions with illusion. I should have just went to Mere directly. Why did I come here again?,'' Night cursed to himself as his mind tried to stay on task. He had basically walked in on his girlfriend''s parents after a sex session and the whole thing was throwing him off his game plan.


    "Oh.....some truth in that," Roth said under mutter breath as he stood up out of bed and walked toward Night, "Hello....I am Roth Dreamwalker. I do not believe that we have ever been formally introduced. Since you are the mate of my daughter, then just consider...me not immediately killing you as a gift."


    Then, the man moved extremely quickly toward Night. On reflex, Night instantly made the room pitch black and disappeared on the spot. Night had been constantly alert since he knew this was a risky move....so the second Roth stood he was already prepared to react.


    "What?," both the Countess and her mate said as all light vanished from the room and Night just disappeared in front of them. Then the light fluctuated and returned to the normal dimly lit room. The Countess actually sat up in bed and revealed some more of her body. She was actually wearing some little bits of clothes that were hidden under her bed sheets. Roth had pulled a spear from somewhere and was standing in front of her on guard.Stolen story; please report.


    Night hadn''t left the room. He was still in the room hiding in the shadows behind some furniture. He had pushed his Presence, Death, and Shadow concepts circulating to the maximum and was rapidly using up his energy to sustain their power. His guess was that he had about 5 minutes before he was completely out of energy. Night was very thankful that he now had the Darkness elemental gem in his eye...it really boosted the strength of his Shadow and Death concepts.


    This whole plan had not gone as he had expected. It seemed he was wrong in his assumption that they didn''t know he was a human. He needed to figure out a new plan now. If they knew about him and were really going to make a move, then he didn''t need to hold back his thoughts.


    As the couple were standing ready for a fight, a breathless whisper of a voice echoed around the room, "That was very rude. I have no intention to act against your Clan...I was forced into becoming a mate with your crazy ass daughter....and I come here offering a resolution to a problem you requested help with.....and you fucking attack me. I am very disappointed that this is the way you treat relatives...I guess that it is time for me to leave this place...tell your daughter goodbye for me," Night said from the shadows of the room. The words were manipulated by all three concepts so he was sure that there was no way that they could pinpoint his location.


    Night also wasn''t as nice as he could have been. He was pissed that things didn''t go as planned.


    "Wait. Wait!," Countess Asta yelled off into the room before calming her voice, "We apologize. We are very on edge after what happened to the City of Southern Wind. You are too new to be trusted completely so we had to test you...and well...that didn''t go as we planned....Please stay for a talk...we would just like to know more about....our daughter''s mate. Roth, put away your weapon. If he can hide like this in front of the both of us, the. he could basically do what he wants anyway."


    Night was still trying to decide if he wanted to show himself when Roth put away the weapon. He moved in the shadows to build a bit more distance. He decided to give it one more chance. If they made a move again, he was gone.


    The room grew slightly darker and Night stepped out from the shadows and back into the room. He had moved himself to keep a considerable distance between himself and the couple...just incase they went back on their word and tried to attack.


    "The Diego Family murdered my mother and father. Then, I was brought to this planet against my will by the Diego Family to serve as a slave," Night said as he allowed anger flashed across his face, "My goal is to kill as many of the Diego Family as I can.....and to destroy the passageway between Earth and Nibiru."


    Countess Asta and Roth were not really expecting Night''s admission.


    "So you are a human? Fuck!," Countess Asta said, "How am I supposed to have grandchildren? Humans can''t breed with Succubi."


    The comment had completely caught Night off guard. He wasn''t expecting that reaction. Then, sweat started to roll down his back. He had never considered the possibility of having a kid with Lili...the thought hadn''t even crossed his idiotic mind.


    "Sorry. I can remove the soul mark between the two of us if you want. Just say the word," Night said trying to get himself out of a hole. But this comment really threw the Countess and Roth off for a loop.


    Seeing the Countess tense up, Night realized his slip up and immediately said, "This isn''t my doing or something I can teach others....my godmother modified the soul mark for me....and she is so powerful you don''t have to be concerned....I have a feeling she could destroy this entire planet if she wanted...ha ha ha."


    There was a lot of information in Night''s words and it gave the couple of Gods a bunch to think about. The room was quiet for a good five minutes before the Countess spoke.


    "Please don''t break the soul bond with our daughter. She has grown tremendously since she met you....just don''t tell her that you are a human....she will lose her shit when she realizes that she can''t have children with you....she has always wanted some daughters of her own," Countess Asta said with a bit of sadness in her voice.


    Night couldn''t handle this conversation. Nothing had gone the way he planned. He needed to get out of here.


    "So are we good? No more attacks?," Night said in question.


    "Yes....we are good," Roth said as he continued to eyeball Night, "As long as our goals align and you stay true to our daughter...we will not make a move against you. Just keep the news that you are a human to yourself....if others find out, we can''t guarantee your safety."


    "If you can save that Pazuza child, go ahead. I have no objection," the Countess continued, "One of my guards outside will take you to see her. Please leave us....we have some things to discuss."


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    The incident with the Countess and her man had completely drained Night. He wasn''t in the greatest mood. He also had a lot going through his head when the guard had finished leading him to Mere Pazuza''s room.


    He had no patience and had strolled right into the room after introducing himself.


    "I have an ability that can prolong your time here in this world," Night said dropping a bombshell on the two people standing in front of him.


    "However, you will no longer exist as you are now...and you will have to obey me if ordered," Night said, "These are not conditions. They are part of the ability that can save you....I have no leeway."


    "What?," Mere and the man next to her said in unison. This stranger had walked in their room and began spouting all this nonsense.


    "You can save her?," the man said while growing excited. But he could continue he was interrupted.


    "No longer exist as I am? What does that mean? And what do you mean that I have to obey you?," Mere said questioningly. She was a noble demon of the Pazuza Clan and no one had ever mentioned her serving them before.


    "Novik, I think someone sent a comedian to torment us. Please see him out," Mere said to the man at her side. She looked to be extremely displeased at Night''s words.


    "This isn''t a joke," Night said with firmness to his voice, "Either you agree to these terms or you will die and your soul will reincarnate or whatever it does."


    Seeing the look on their angry faces, Night realized he was being insensitive and decided to elaborate a bit. He didn''t want to give away all of the details until she committed.


    "The power I have will remove your soul from your body. Your current body will die, but you will gain a new more powerful body. The power is linked to my soul and requires my soul to maintain. Therefore, I will have absolute control over you if I desire to use that power. However, I do not exert any of my will on my current warriors. They are allowed to be independent and make your own decisions. I will not force you to do anything you do not wish to and I will help you get your revenge. However, you will be required to leave your current life behind one day and follow me as one of my Keres."


    The duo were still looking at Night like he was some sort of snake oil salesman. He had really screwed up his chance at a good first impression because he was in a bad mood.


    "If you need an example of my strength, so be it," Night waved his hand and a body began forming from thin air. Of course, Night was hiding a few things by exerting his Presence Concept, so the whole process really looked like he made someone was condensing out of thin air.


    After a moment, Grief''s form became visiable to everyone. The somber looking beauty looked up at the group and asked Night, "So, this is the one that you are considering giving the honor of becoming one of my sisters?"


    "Yes, she is currently trying to decide....between becoming your sister...or dying," Night said. He was trying to push the issue a little bit, but he didn''t want to be too forceful. All of his Keres had willingly committed to being his warriors and he wouldn''t ask for their commitment otherwise.


    "Grief, why don''t you show her how you can change your appearance?," Night said before turning to Mere, "If you agree to be a Ker, I will let you see this battle with the Diego Family through to the end as your current self. You can continue to lead your people and reestablish your family. But after that, I will need to go on a journey across this world to find some people....that I owe some pain."


    Grief proceeded to shift her appearance to look like Night. He wasn''t expecting her to change to look like him. The whole thing sort of creeped him out and he wondered what kind of stuff these women had been doing to know his appearance so well.


    "See..,,,you can continue to look like yourself and lead your clan just fine," Night said once Grief fully changed to look like him.


    "Alright, Grief," Night said as he reached out his hand she started to fade back into a blood mist and into his hand.


    "You can take a day or two to consider. But remember, I will need a day to complete the process....so don''t wait too long," Night said as he walked toward the door, opened it and vanished off into the darkness of the hall way.


    Nothing had went according to plans today and most of it was due to his own negligence. He was tired and didn''t really have the energy to continue. If Mere bought his story and agreed, then he would welcome her. If she didn''t see the truth in his words and decided against becoming a Ker....then that was her fate.

 Chapter 92: Meeting of Cities (1)

    The next morning, Night received a surprise he wasn''t really expecting. Mere and her man, Novik, had arrived at his home. Novik was carrying Mere in a covert fashion to avoid detection by others.


    Since the servants had already invited them into the house, Night directed them to the study to sit down and discuss whatever it was that they came to discuss.


    After the three had sat down, Mere began the conversation right away, "Night, I understand that your conditions must be met in order to perform the procedure, but I don''t know enough about you to trust that you won''t abuse me or make me do despicable things to others. I don''t want to die, but I also don''t want to live a life as someone''s slave."


    Night looked at the woman. He understood. He didn''t like being someone''s slave either. So, despite his still lingering bad mood, he decided to explain himself. He briefly explained his history, his family''s murder, his torture, his time as a slave and even his forced relationship with Lili. He even told a bit of the Keres stories. The Countess and her mate had already been given the general rundown of his situation, so he really didn''t hold back out of fear that his secrets would be spread.....when he had told those two leaders....he already figured word would get out somehow.


    However, Mere didn''t really show much reaction until Night began to review his goals. Actually, he hadn''t really discussed his own personal objectives to anyone else at this point.....and he felt a little relief in sharing his aspirations out in the open.


    "I intend to work with everyone to destroy this plague called the Diego Family. But even if they are defeated, I still can not go back to my home planet. The portals on Earth have restrictions in place that prevent anyone higher than a Foundation Stage cultivator from returning. Since I broke through to a Demigod, I have no way to fight the restrictions placed by the human Gods on the portals. So...since I can''t use the portal, I think it should be destroyed...so many problems have come about because of those damn portals between worlds....I actually think they all should be destroyed. What purposed do they serve other than giving the people of Nibiru and Earth a reason to fight," Night said with a bit of anger flashing in his voice.


    "So once the Diego Family is dealt with, I''ll probably attempt the travel across this world. Humans have 9 settlements on this planet....no one has ever blazed a trail between them...so I figure why not give it a shot....heaven knows....If I manage to make it to another human city and find out that the others are just as bad as this Diego Family...I may end up trying to destroy all the portals.....or I may get strong enough to go around the portal restrictions and go back to Earth....I really don''t know.....but it sounds like a good plan for a start."


    Mere Pazuza was breathing heavily by the time Night finished his narration of his life and goals. It wasn''t that his words were that wonderful. She was dying, so when she got a bit excited...she would breath heavily.


    "I agree," she said suddenly, "I agree to become your warrior. But my only request...I would request that you allow me to act as myself until we have retaken the City of Southern Wind....and make sure the survivors of my clan regain their home. After that I have no issue traveling with you to fight to destroy the portals between worlds."


    Night was startled by the sudden progression, so he had to ask, "Why the sudden agreement?"


    "My dad always wanted to destroy the Diego Family''s portal. He said that the portal was the source of all our problems, but no one ever wanted to risk moving against the Diego Family. Most Gods are selfish....the chance of death when fighting another God can be high.....no one wanted to be that one God that dies in a confrontation to eliminate the Diego Family. My dad always called them cowards for not acting.....he said when my brothers became Gods he would go himself," Mere said with some heavy emotion in her raspy voice, "Once you mentioned the destruction of the portals, I was sold on the concept...also the repeated referral to the Keres as your sisters helped.


    "Alright then...I guess we need to get started then," Night said as he stood, "We need to head down to the basement...that would be an appropriate place to setup the ritual.


    When Novik picked up Mere, Night just had to ask, "Hey man, what is your place in all of this? You always stand so stoically patient off to the side.....I forgot you were in here when I was narrating my whole life''s story. What''s your story man?"


    "I''m Mere''s guard," the man said without seeming like he was going to give Night anymore information than that.


    "Not a boyfriend?...I thought you were her boyfriend," Night quipped with a little aggravation in his voice. The short response displeased him.


    "No.....just her guard," Novik said showing some irritation himself.


    "Please stop," Mere said, "Novik has been my palace guard since I was a kid. We both lost loved ones in the battle at the City of Southern Wind. He doesn''t speak much."Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    The rest of the walk was filled with silence.


    When the three made it to the basement, Night asked, "Are you sure that this is something you agree to? Once I begin, there is no turning back."


    Night then turned to Novik and said, "Since you are her guard, I will let you guard us during this process. I have no doubt in my abilities, so if it fails....it is because of your failure to protect us."


    The situation wasn''t really that in need of a guard, but he was still disgruntled and the guy gave him a bullshit response to his previous question.


    After Novik laid the woman on the ground next to him, Night then took out five blood stones and a few soul stones from his space ring. Two of the blood stones were basic in color, but the other three were a bright red color. He had prepared this method ahead of time so he would be able to create a new Ker without the need for additional resources. The Ker blood body method essentially required a lot of blood, a inscribed blood stone and the Ker''s soul. So he three full blood stones ready to supplement the needed blood and two high quality blood stones to prepare for the blood body.


    Night looked at Mere and said, "If you are ready, we can begin now. After we finish the process, I am going to directly form your body. Everything is pretty pain free....except the forming of the body....that is pretty rough from what I am told."


    "Yes, I am ready," the sickly looking woman said while still laying on the ground.


    Almost immediately, Night reached out with his hand and touched her forehead. With a little effort, he removed her soul from her body and placed it into this own soul.


    The woman''s old body just laid on ground lifeless. Despite being warned beforehand, Novik jerked at the sudden action but quickly regained his composure.


    "Ha ha.....don''t worry," Night said, "Her soul is safely held within mine. She is enjoying a very nice dream right now. I am about to begin the tricky part. It will weaken me slightly, but there is no cause for concern.....just maintain your guard."


    Night focused in on his soul and appeared in the dark space with three women waiting around a glowing soul orb.


    "Time to get started," Night said as he got to work.


    ____________________________________________


    After several hours, Night had successfully turned Mere into a Ker and created her own blood body. For the blood body method, Night had supplemented the process slightly to get it done quickly. He had several blood stones full of blood to use as support and even used some soul stones to replenish himself. He even let her use her original body as the basis for the blood body. Despite the poison in her system, the old body converted just fine and even seemed to be slightly stronger at the time of formation than the other Keres.


    That day, Night had also spent some time introducing Mere to her new sisters. When Mere had came back from meeting with Misery, Grief and Distress...she informed Night that she would be keeping with the tradition and choosing a name for herself. Apparently, the Pazuza clan were called the Famine of the Battlefield because of their innate ability to absorb the life force of others. While she had lost that ability with the death of her body, she had gained a few Ker abilities that were very similar. So, Mere asked Night to call her Famine...once the other business was squared away.


    Novik was pretty much just a guard the entire time and didn''t do much. He did seem to be slightly excited when Mere''s blood body took shape in front of him though. Night had a steadily growing dislike for the man.....and not for any particular reason either.


    After spending the entire day and part of the evening together, the pair of Pazuza Clan members left Night''s home to head back to the Countess'' Palace.


    Then, Night went about recovering from all the work he had done.....and plotting his next move. He needed more information. He needed more power. He kept messing stuff up.... everyone kept shitting on him...and he was really starting to want the power to sort them out.


    ____________________________________


    Three days later, two announcements had come from Countess Asta.


    The first announcement was that Mere Pazuza had found a cure to the poison of the Diego Family and was going to live. Mere had issued a call to all survivors from the City of Southern Wind to meet at the City of Setting Sun. The news shocked everyone and was very publicized. Mere showed her face all around the city and held a reception to honor the fallen of the City of Southern Wind. Several messengers were even sent out to notify some of the large mid-sized oasis clans and the two other demon cities.


    Night had been aware that this was going to happen and the whole process actually followed a strategic plan. Night had been included in the operation because of his involvement in saving Mere. When they found out that Mere was better, the strategists of the Limim Clan wanted to publicize everything.....they particularly wanted everyone to know that the poison had been cured.....they wanted word to get back to the Diego Family. If the Diego Family doubted the ability of their poison, then the chance of another attack would greatly decrease.....this would buy the demons some much needed time to decide how to proceed.


    The second announcement wasn''t as publicized and was actually an invitation for a few members of the City of Setting Sun to attend a Meeting of Cities. The meeting was going to be held to discuss the situation with the the City of Southern Wind, the Diego Family and Nazca City. Because of the immediate nature of the meeting, only thirty of the top members of the City of Setting Sun were going to attend. To prevent too much delay, the three remaining cities had agreed to meet in a neutral location in three month''s time. Night didn''t understand how they could make it through the desert so fast to meet up, but those questions were quickly set aside when he had received an announcement of attendees of this meeting.


    One of the members announced to be traveling to the Meeting of Cities was very unexpected. Night had received notice from the Countess that she wanted him to attend the meeting. She didn''t particularly give a reason why, but she did say that Night was obligated to go because he had special abilities.


    When Night had received the notice.......he had almost lost his mind in anger.......he didn''t like being roped into things......but then he realized that at least he would be able to get away from Lili and her crazy bullshit for a while......so he began getting his stuff ready to leave right away.

 Chapter 93: Meeting of Cities (2)

    "But why can''t I go with you?," Lili said looking disgruntled with Night as he sat in the study reading a book. He only had one day to prepare for leaving so he was trying to answer a few questions before he started checking his supplies.


    "Fuck if I know," Night said angrily, "It''s your mother that''s making me go anyway. I don''t even understand how we are getting to the meeting so quickly....it took me six months to get here...and now the whole group is going that distance in a month."


    Night didn''t really know how they were going to get to the meeting in a month''s time. It took him over 6 months to travel to The City of Setting Sun. From what was described to him, the trip to the meeting was an even longer distance. The travel through the large desert would take a long time considering conventional travel methods.


    "Oh, you''re going to travel that quickly? My mom must be making everyone travel on Khepri....forget I asked....I don''t want to go now," Lili said as she turned to leave the room, "...and you better save some strength for tonight...I want my fill before you leave."


    Lili left the room and Night was left sitting alone in the study.


    ''Fuck...I''m gonna give you your fill alright,'' Night thought aggravated that she just left him hanging, ''What the hell is a Khepri?''


    Night''s search for that answer was going to have to wait until he finished his current studies. He had been undergoing a geography lesson. For the demons, the desert was divided into four quadrants that fall under the rule of the four cities respectively. That was until, the humans set up a city near the border of the western and southern deserts.


    When he tried to figure out what touched the western desert on the other side, Night had only been able to find "more desert" in most of the references. The City of Northern Wind was bordered by mountains and the City of Southern Wind and the City of Rising Sun had a large ocean at their limits. The City of Setting Sun just had more desert....however, the books did note that the desert changed as it spread out. The dunes became bigger, appeared endless and were devoid of life. However there was one account that the large desert eventually turned into some rocky plains then into mountains. From what Night had read, one group had traveled that far to explore....but only one made it back with tales of gigantic beasts and an almost endless desert.


    The actual lay of the land was well known within the demons territories, but outside was a mystery. There were a few reports of creatures descending from the mountains in the north and there were tales of beasts coming from the ocean depths....but other than that....it almost seemed like these demons were alone in this world.


    Of course, Night knew otherwise since the humans were scattered about the large planet. The place was just very big, so it created isolated populations. Night had read a bit about explorers, but most that went far out into the sea or deep into the mountains....they never returned.


    With as much information as he could gather, Night left the study and began gathering his supplies for the trip. He had a few fingers full of space rings at this point, so he figured why not fill them with supplies before he leaves on a month long trip.


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    The next day, a very tired Night was riding in a carriage to meet up with the others that were leaving today. With a yawn, he was left unsure exactly who won the battle that happened last night in the bedroom...all he knew was that Lili was still sleeping when he left...so he felt that he must have won.


    Although he was in a slightly better mood because of his victory, he was still a bit bothered because he couldn''t find a reference about Khepri in his books in the study. He was still clueless on how they were going to be traveling.


    When his carriage arrived, Night realized that he should have assumed something about a Khepri.....after all, every demon he knew rode on some type of big ass bug. The beasts were a streamlined jet black with a hard exoskeleton and wings. Seeing a few familiar faces from the Limim Clan, Night walked over to find out the scoop on the beasts.


    The other men told him that the insects were really fast moving beetle beasts. From what the men described, the beetles could run quickly on the desert sands....but that''s not why the group was using them. The beetles can also fly steadily for a long duration without stop. That would allow the group to travel quickly at nonstop pace to arrive on time to the meeting.


    Soon, all the City of Setting Sun participants for the meeting had arrived. Only about half of them had ever ridden a Khepri before, so a brief introduction was given by one of the older looking participants. After about 20 minutes of instruction, the group prepared to set off toward their destination.


    Soon, Night was traveling quickly through the desert at an intensely high speed...on the back of a beetle. The flight was only about 50 feet off the ground, so the height wasn''t bad. The bad part was the constant droning of the beetle''s wings but after a while even that was barely noticeable. The best comparison Night had for the experience was one time when he went around 80 miles per hour on a motorcycle of a friend''s back on Earth. Although this ride was about twice as fast, the general feel was similar and Night actually started to enjoy himself on the ride.


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    After traveling nonstop for a month, the group from the City of Setting Sun arrived at the meeting location early one morning. The meeting was being held at an oasis that was once the ancient home of the Limim Clan near the border of Northern Wind territory and Rising Sun territory. The oasis was now deserted, but no clan had moved into the location because of its past history.


    The oasis was a decent size of about 50 acres and it seemed like the City of Setting Sun group was the last to arrive. Two sets of tents were already setup at other corners of the oasis.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    "Set up camp. We will be meeting sometime around mid-day," Countess Asta ordered as they settled in a spot that appeared to be the rubble of old buildings.


    Night got off of the beetle with an overwhelming relief that he finally got a break from riding the flying beetle. He now understood why Lili had passed on riding these beasts. While the ride had started off exciting, the endless droning of wings and the never changing sight of sand dunes quickly made the experience very monotonous and boring. Night had spent most of his time training his soul strength and thinking over his concepts while on the back of the beast.


    The month on the back of a beetle had actually been pretty good to him and he had finally decided on a route to train himself to become a God. In consideration of the upcoming war, he worked to gain experience with the Darkness Skill of Destruction. The skill allowed for a quick boost of energy if needed...sort of like a berserk state...but it did require a rest period after use.


    During the ride Night had tested this skill over and over again hoping that he would stumble upon something that would help him create the concept. While the skill worked fine, the chant needed to initiate the skill was slow...if he condensed the Concept of Destruction then he would be able to have instantaneous bursts as needed during battles....which would be very, very helpful.


    For now, he could maintain the skill for about a minute and it took him between 2 to 30 minutes to recover depending on how much he overdrew on his body. Night thought that the time would be much longer if he didn''t cultivate the Body of Recovery. The body based skills were very beneficial to him and he really wanted to get his hands on some of the manuals for his missing body skills...if he mastered them all then he could develop body concepts also. Night had never lost track of the importance of having a strong body...he saw the scars from his weak body every time he looked in a mirror.


    Wrapping up his planning as he setup his own room sized tent, Night began to shift his thoughts to the upcoming meeting. Apparently, the leading Gods of each city were in attendance. Each of these cities had two Gods, so they left one behind so the other could attend the meeting. The three attending Gods included Countess Asta of the City of Setting Sun, Count Renault of the City of Northern Wind, and Count Agrat of the City of Rising Sun.


    From what he heard in his previous time in the City of Setting Sun, the leader of the City of Rising Sun was Roth Dreamwalker''s older brother. From the whispered tales, the two men had actually fought over Countess Asta with the younger brother, Roth, winning a victory. So, there were some weird hostilities between the two cities...but nothing that Night should be overly concerned about. Mostly they just performed petty spying to make each other look bad.


    After everyone was settled, a horn blew across the oasis to signal the start of the meeting. As the Countess had said, it was around mid-day and the sun was blazing down upon the oasis.


    The three leaders walked out and sat together in a previously prepared meeting area. Night thought the scene was comical because the meeting setup looked like a lounge area on the beach of an oasis pond...it didn''t look like the kind of place an important meeting was held....it looked like a beachfront resort that he had been to as a child.


    After about an hour of discussion, Night and everyone else present could feel that the meeting was getting nowhere. The three leaders all agreed that a war to regain the City of Southern Wind was necessary to put the Diego Family back in their proper place. However, the three leaders were going back and fourth about which party would lead the campaign against the humans....well...it was mostly a dispute between Count Agrat and Countess Asta. Count Renault''s forces were the weakest so he seemed to have stepped aside to let the other two fight it out.


    "Asta and Renault, I think it would be appropriate to hold a contest to determine which city will take lead in this campaign," Count Agrat of the City of Rising Sun said, "How about we have a short battle to determine the outcome...I say a quick battle between one of our top warriors should do."


    "Leave me out of your dispute. For this campaign, the City of Northern Wind will follow whoever wins between the two of you in the challenge....so have at it," the grey haired werewolf looking old man said.


    "Alright, I agree. Let''s move over to the sand. The contest will be the best of three. First to two wins," Countess Asta said.


    Almost immediately, the three gods shot upfrom their spots in the lounge and headed to the gigantic dunes outside the oasis. The groups all moved to follow and soon everyone was situated at different crests of the dunes. Night actually ended up standing close to Countess Asta. Since their confrontation, the woman''s attitude toward him had changed...to that of a mother-in-law that''s daughter married to a rich doctor. She was very friendly toward Night. It was weird.


    A loud voice rang out between the dunes. These dunes had to be separated by almost a mile, so projecting a clear voice that far must have required the use of some special tool.


    "The City of Rising Sun would like to send out our first representative now. Sar Osir, please come out to fight for your city," Count Agrat yelled loud enough for the distant groups to hear.


    Night focuses his energy on his eyes to help him see that far off. A haggard looking young man with bright red eyes walked out from the City of Rising Sun crowd. Despite the blaring sun, the pale man didn''t have a bit of tan color to his skin.


    Seeing the man, Night couldn''t believe that he was actually mistaken for a member of the Osir Clan at one time. His appearance back then looked nothing like the man he saw in front of him now. Even the red eyes were different. These people had solid red eyes with a little dot of black pupil in the middle. Night''s red eyes had only looked like the normal eyes with a slight red color. There was no similarities what so ever.


    Seeing Night''s interest in the man, the Countess leaned toward him and said, "The Osir clan is also known as the Clan of the Dead. They have special methods to manipulate the dead to fight for them. From what I am told, when they battle, they battle with their own personal army of undead. You seem interested. Do you want to fight him?"


    Night didn''t immediately respond as he was watching the man pull animated corpses out of a storage ring attentively. The man had pulled five corpses out and laid them down on the sand....then he walked by each of the bodies and touched them. After the touch, each of the bodies rose up to stand like a normal person. He was amazed by the skill as it was somewhat similar to the Keres. However....in the middle of observing....Night saw something....one of the faces caught his eye among the corpse soldiers of the Osir Clansman.


    "Mr. Lester," Night whispered out loud as he recognized the beat up figure of the corpse.


    "What?," Countess Asta asked Night''s odd response, then she felt a large burst of energy from her side.


    A roar was heard echoing out from the group from the City of Setting Sun. The sky began to darken as if a cloud was passing over head. Everyone, even the Gods, instinctual looked up at the sky only to see no clouds above.


    With an explosive movement, sand rose from next to Countess Asta drawing everyone''s attention. In the next moment, all the groups could see a streak of shadow flying out from the crowd into the open sand.

 Chapter 94: Meeting of Cities (3)

    "Countess, it looks like you have someone very eager to lose a battle," the leader of City of Rising Sun said in jest with his voice still echoing over the dunes.


    The Countess didn''t respond. The burst of strength from her side had startled her. It wasn''t the level of the strength itself. It was the feeling of anger that went along with the strength. She was quite sensitive to emotions. She looked up to see Night''s shadow moving forward in The now shady desert.


    Night''s mind went blank at the realization that one of the Osir Clans corpse warriors was his old mentor Mr. Lester. His mind was spinning but he was still able to connect the dots. If he was a corpse warrior, then that meant that Mr. Lester was already dead. At the realization of his old friend''s death, Night felt his bottled rage overwhelm him as he darted out to the trough of the dunes to meet the opponent in front of him.


    As he started to get close, the five corpse warriors include Mr. Lester began to move in his direction to attack.


    "Keres, I need your help. Quickly. Kill all of the ones in front of me except....Misery....one of the corpse soldiers is Mr. Lester...don''t destroy his body...protect yourselves....I have the red eyed man," Night said with so much emotion in his voice that it hurt the women.


    Night had already gathered the three blood stones in his hand and was injecting his own energy into the stones to build up strength for the bodies to form quickly. As he continued to move forward, he tossed the three blood stones up high into the air. In a burst of blood, three women''s bodies formed in a blink from the stones and the winged women swooped forward to meet the corpse soldiers in combat.


    The entire scene had happened externally quick and the sight taken all the demon clans present by surprise. From the dark skies to the women that appeared out of nowhere, none of them had expected the sudden changes. Even though Countess Asta had known that Night was strong, she didn''t know he had all of these powers.


    In a split second, the three Keres were showing that they were much stronger than the corpse warriors. The Keres had practically destroyed three of the corpse soldiers instantly and had already moved to their next task.


    As Misery and Grief moved forward to secure Mr. Lester''s body, Distress had went after the remaining corpse soldier by herself. The destruction of the three corpse soldiers had happened so quickly that they beat Night''s arrival in front of the Osir warrior. Before the startled man could pull a weapon, Night was upon him with a hand clutching the demon''s throat and a knife at his heart. The knife was not pushed in deep and seemed to be resting a hair''s width away from taking the man''s life.


    However, it wasn''t the actual physical attack that was doing the most damage. Night had overlaid his views of the physical and soul on his approach. Reaching out with his will, he had grabbed the man''s soul in his grasp and was squeezing the shit out of it.


    Night looked over to see Misery currently holding down the corpse soldier that was once Mr. Lester, then he glanced back at the man in his grip.


    "Tell me the story behind that corpse. If you refuse or lie, I will hunt down every member of your clan and exterminate them all," Night said with a voice full of emotion. He had reached a point of anger that exceeded his own capacity and something inside of him had broken.


    Of course, cracks had already formed in his own subconsious when his parents had died, they had widened when he was betrayed and made a slave....and with the sight of his old mentor''s corpse...those cracks had widened to the point that something finally broke to pieces.


    "uggggg....uggggggg," the Osir was trying to talk but couldn''t due to Night''s grip on his throat.


    "Can''t speak.....then I will find out another way," Night said menacingly as he exerted his soul''s will on the man''s soul.


    While all of this was going on, no one had made a move to stop the fight. Even the Gods had not moved. It wasn''t because they didn''t want to either. None of them could tell was was going on since a darkness had descended upon the area that the battle was taking place in.


    "What is this trickery, Asta?," the leader of the Rising Sun yelled.


    "There is no trickery, you fool. This is power. Even a simpleton could feel it. My son-in-law will be done with your man shortly," Countess Asta yelled back in response. She had some concern on her face due to the level of Night''s anger. Although these battles were to gain the leadership position, they weren''t necessarily battles to the death. If Night killed the man, future negotiations would be troublesome.


    Sure enough, the darkness settled and the crowd got a full view of the battlefield. The Osir clansman was slumped face down on the ground in front of Night. Two of the winged women were gone and the remaining one was holding a corpse warrior over her shoulder as she walked with Night back toward Countess Asta.


    Arriving next to Countess Asta, Night looked at her and said, "I have some business to take care of."


    Night then walked past the crowd and toward the tents that had been setup in the City of Setting Sun''s camp.


    Once inside the tent, Misery laid down Mr. Lester''s body on a rug and looked up at Night. "What happened to him?," she said with some emotion in her voice.


    "The Osir Clan was raiding a mid-sized oasis controlled by two demigods of the Diego Family. During the battle, one of the slaves had turned on his masters and punched one of the demigods in the back. The punch destroyed the demigods heart and he died instantly. However, the remaining demigod had stabbed the slave directly in the chest with a sword and killed him on the spot. The Osir probably wouldn''t have won the battle if it were not for Mr. Lester''s action. The Osir Clan had thought that the action was honorable, so they decided to gift the man''s body by allowing it to become a corpse soldier. The clan invested many of their resources to strengthen the body to the point it is now. Those demons didn''t have anything to do with his death," Night said. His voice sounded like he was emotionlessly reading a book.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    Even though he was merciless when he pulled the information out of the Osir clansman''s soul, Night did not kill the man. As he extracted the information from an abused soul form of the man....Night realized that the man truely believed that he had honored Mr. Lester''s body by turning him into a corpse warrior. To the Clan of The Dead, a body getting turned into a corpse warrior was a high honor.


    Some time passed by inside the tent, Misery and Night sat down for a while simply looking over the old man''s body. Every now and then one of them would tell a short story about something that he did that was funny or stupid. They also voiced their shared concerns for Karine and Sonia Carmine. The women was two of the only connections that the two of them had for Earth.


    "We need yo get stronger....and we need to eliminate the fucking Diego Family," Night said, "They only contribute to the pain and suffering of others."


    "I couldn''t agree more," came a man''s voice from outside of the tent. Night had been so distracted by what was happening that he hadn''t been paying attention to what was going on outside.


    "May we Please come in?," the voice sounded once again.


    "Yes," Night said as he stood waiting for the whoever it was to enter.


    The cloth covering the entrance to the tent was pulled back to reveal dark skies. Both Night and Misery hadn''t realized that so much time had elapsed. Three people walked into the tent. One older man had the Osir clan member that was defeated on his shoulder. The man was still unconscious because Night had put him in a sleep so that he could take Mr. Lester''s body away without a struggle.


    The other two people caught Night by surprise. Countess Asta and Count Agrat were both following the old man.


    "What are you here for?," Night asked the three people without any politeness in his voice. He wasn''t in the mood to be polite.


    "Can you awaken my son? Both Gods have tried to resolve the issue, but neither can. I apologize for any offence we may have caused. If I can make reparations for what we have done to offend you, feel free to ask...but please release my son from this sleep," the old man said in a subdued manner.


    Night looked at the old man and asked, "What will become of my friend''s body if I awaken your son?"


    "Our corpse warriors are instilled with our own blood and resources to fight along side of us. If you allow, I would request that you continue to allow your honorable friend to fight with us in our battle against the Diego Family," the old Osir Clan man said in an honest tone.


    "ha ha ha ha ha hah," Night burst out laughing all of a sudden as he turned to look at the woman behind him, "Misery, what do you think? Do you think that old bastard would get a kick out of his dead body killing his enemies?"


    Night''s response to the question had taken all three people off guard, but they didn''t say anything.


    Misery looked back at Night with a glint in her eyes, "Yes. That old fucker would be laughing endlessly if his corpse was killing off his enemies. He would be spouting all sorts of stupid shit as usual."


    Then there was a silence in the room.


    "Ya....that''s what I think too," Night said as he reached his hand forward and touched the head of the Osir Clan man that he had fought.


    The man opened his eyes and sat up. He immediately moved himself away from Night as if he had seen a the ruler of hell. He scurried toward his father and actually embraced the old man just like a child would.


    "What happened?," the young man asked his father with a trembling voice.


    Before the old man could respond, Night spoke.


    "One of your corpse warriors is from the body of my friend. I will allow you to continue using his body to kill the Diego Family. However, if I ever hear of something despicable being done with his corpse, I will hunt you down....and no one will be able to stop me," Night said in threat. He had fully unleashed his Death Concept and it was rolling off him waves. He really wanted to kill someone.


    "Sir, he would never do something dishonorable," the old man stepped between Night and his son. He then said, "Please excuse us so that I may be able to treat my son."


    The corpse of Mr. Lester was still laying on the ground. The old Osir man walked over and touched the body. It was stored in his storage ring.


    "A suggestion. Unless you are trying to draw a particular reaction from your opponent, I would suggest putting masks on your corpse warriors.....to see a dead friend moving around....it is a bit hard....even for me," Night said before the two men from the Osir Clan turned and walked out of the tent.


    Countess Asta and Count Agrat were both still standing in the tent staring at Night.


    "May we take a seat? There are a few things that we would like to discuss," Countess Asta asked in a reasonable tone.


    "Sure," Night said as he reached out his hand to touch Misery''s back. Her body started to liquidize into a pool of blood and be absorbed into the blood stone. After her body was completely absorbed, the blood stone came to rest in Night''s hand. Taking the blood stone, Night moved it back to his eye and put it in place. The whole process had taken at least a minute, but the Count and Countess hadn''t moved from their spot by the entrance to the tent. They were just staring at Night''s eye now.


    "What? I thought you wanted to sit," Night said as he flopped back into a chair.


    The two leaders moved to take a seat.


    "You too sure seem friendly," Night said, "Earlier it seemed like you wanted to fight each other."


    "You can call it a momentary truce," Countess Asta said with an alluring grin, "This one is still pissed that his younger brother became my mate instead of himself."


    "Oh...you Sucubbi sure are fucked up.....messing with two brothers even," Night said. He had completely lost any bit of control over his words.


    "ha ha ha.....I couldn''t have said it better myself.....Human," Count Agrat said.


    "You Incubi seem interesting too...similar to the Succubi in always trying to get emotion out of someone," Night said not even flenching at the god''s mention of his humanity.


    "I can see why my Niece chose this one as a mate," Count Agrat said to the Countess before turning back to Night.


    "But I guess we should get to the point.....everyone''s patience seems to be running thin," Count Agrat said with a slight pulse of his own strength.


    "Yes...to the point," Countess Asta said, "Night, we would like for you to go on a mission for us?"


    "What type of mission?," Night asked as he looked at the two City leaders.


    "Since you are a human on our side, we would like to see if you can get some more information on the human''s City for us. They seem to have developed a method to check for demons as we have stopped hearing from any of the spies sent to gain intelligence recently," Count Agrat said.


    "So what information do you want me to gather? And how quickly?," Night asked.


    "Some general information and military intelligence," Count Agrat said, "Basically....whatever you can find that will help us fight the Diego Family. If you manage to get information on their Gods'' strength or the poison used against the South...I would be delighted."


    The two leaders had seemed to be preparing to give a bit more information on the mission, but they were interrupted by Night.


    "Sure, I''ll go to Nazca City," Night said unexpectedly, "But let''s talk about the details tomorrow. I would like to rest now."


    Both Countess Asta and Count Agrat smiled and left the room. The two were both demons that specialized in emotion and they could tell that no more talk was needed tonight. The amount of bloodlust that Night emitted when he said Nazca City was enough for them both to taste in the air.

 Chapter 95: Piedra Oasis (1)

    About three weeks ago, Night had set out from the meeting of the three cities with a few tasks assigned to him by the three demon Gods. Night didn''t mind his newly assigned mission since the tasks didn''t really involve many restrictions...and he was really in the mood to kill some people.


    Basically, the Gods requested that Night infiltrate Nazca City to find out as much information as he could...about the attack on the City of Southern Wind....about the strengths of the Diego Family Gods....and about the city in general. The three demon Gods also gave Night the okay to cause a little trouble along the way.


    After spending a few hours thinking over potential methods for his infiltration into Nazca City, Night had decided to immediately leave from the meeting. Although he started his travel toward Nazca City right away, no one but the Counts and Countess knew what he was going to do. They wanted to keep everything a secret for the off chance that a spy had somehow made it to the meeting.


    Both Count Renault and Count Agrat had even gifted Night maps of their territories and tokens to ensure safe passage near their cities....so he had minimal concerns when moving through the desert. Not like he would have been super concerned to begin with.....his current strength was formidable enough that he only really had to worry about Gods and some Peak Level Demigods.


    Although Night was headed toward Nazca City, he wasn''t planning on making it his first and only stop. The three demon leaders had given him 6 months to complete his mission. With that much time and the quick traveling abilities of the Khepri, Night felt that he didn''t have to rush straight to the city.


    Night had spent his first couple of days of travel debating an plan of attack with himself before he settled on a plan. Night felt like his plan was genius. Keeping everything simple, he would pretend to be someone else to get inside of Nazca City. However, he needed to be somewhat believable if he tried to pull this maneuver off....he needed a great cover identity.


    He also needed some funds for his plans....so he was going to cause some trouble in a mid-sized Oasis first... then use those resources as a spring board into Nazca City. After reviewing the maps and recalling some information on a few of the Diego Family''s oases, Night had selected a good target to hit before moving forward with his plans.


    Piedra Oasis was a mining intensive oasis that had reportedly had a high level of wealth....and one of the largest slave populations in the region. This situation allowed for Night to enact a plan that he had though up on his lonely travels.


    Since he had success starting a slave rebellion in Manco Oasis, then he thought that he could cause a good revolt along the way to Nazca City. Piedra Oasis was a perfect target in his mind. They had a large amount of resources and a ridiculous amount of slaves. If Night could mobilize those slaves, then he would be able to basically have a small army himself.


    ''What is the best way to infiltrate this oasis?,'' Night thought to himself.


    Day after day, Night neared the Piedra Oasis on his Khepri mount. When he was only about a day away, he decided to use the most direct approach and ambush a group returning to the oasis and play the lone survivor scenario. After his experience of facing the Gods with his Presence Concept hiding his appearance, Night had no concerns about faking someone else''s appearance. The only issue was that he didn''t know how long he would have to wait for someone to leave or arrive at the town.


    However, Night felt like someone was looking out for him when he noticed a group approaching the oasis only after an hour of waiting.


    The group consisted of a dozen guards and a covered carrier strapped to the back of an alloc.


    ''Must be someone important,'' Night thought to himself as he reached out with his perception to judge the strength of those in the party.


    ''Great, they are all just a bunch of peak Foundation Stage guys,'' Night thought as he finished inspecting the group. There was also one lazy looking fellow in the luxurious carrier on top of the beast.


    Night focused his perception on the guards then spoke to the group of women inside of his soul.


    "Sisters, kill all these men....except that one sitting high up on the beast," Night said through the mental connection. He could feel the three Keres'' soul forms move out within the range of his perception and attack the group. Since the Keres were growing considerably stronger, they were able to destroy the group of soldiers very quickly. If a normal person had seen the attack, they would have thought that the entire group of 12 soldiers collapsed dead instantly.


    ''Good work,'' Night said as he began to focus all his intent on the unaware man on the back of the now paused alloc.


    "What is the hold up?," a voice shouted from the carriage, "I need to see my brothers immediately. If you take too long, I will have you whipped when we arrive."


    Night instantly had a dislike for the man the second that he opened his mouth. With a quick movement, he jumped and kicked the man from he seated position in the tent that was on the back of the alloc.


    The man went flying out into the sand and landed with a thud.


    "What the hell? Do you know who I am?," the chubby young man screamed as he dug himself out of the sand. Before he even knew what had hit him, Night was landing a blow on his head knocking him unconscious.


    "Interrogate this one and find out everything about him," Night told the Keres mentally. He then went around to loot the corpses of the fallen guards. Although his plans for getting into Nazca City had numerous components, Night had selected Piedra Oasis for one main reason. He needed money for his plans and Piedra Oasis was one of the richest in the area.


    "Night, you hit the jackpot with this guy," Misery said through their mental connection, "He is Pedro Piedra....the spoiled younger brother of the two demigods that run this oasis. But I do have some bad news....this oasis usually has around six demigods guarding it.....with two of them being level 5 and one at the peak level. This branch family could probably give any of the demon''s Baron Clans a run for their money.....they are really rich and can afford the best protections money can buy."If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    Night was a bit surprised by the fighting power of the oasis, but it wasn''t to a level that he couldn''t handle. Actually, he was a bit excited about the possibility of killing some of the Diego Family''s men.


    "Alright, nothing to be concerned about.....but now I need your help," Night responded as blood started to seep from his eye and hand. After a few seconds, Misery, Grief and Distress were standing in front of him in the dunes.


    "Go pick a random guard and assume their forms," Night instructed, "I''ll will be playing the younger brother while you will be my new personal guards."


    Night''s appearance started to shift immediately. His facial features changed and his body gained a bit of weight. After a few minutes, he had completely copied the Pedro Piedra''s appearance.


    He looked over and saw three guards walking in his direction.


    "Why don''t you make yourselves look a little beat up?," Night said jokingly, "You did just fight off a group of bandits after all."


    Shifting her appearance to look slightly injured, Distress said as she pointed at the still unconscious fat man, "What are you going to do with that one?"


    "You can kill him. You three also need to dispose of the bodies.....or at least make it look like a slaughter," Night responded before he thought of something else and let out a grin.


    After a few minutes, four bedraggled looking travelers made their way toward the oasis. The remainder of the trip only took about thirty minutes, so it wasn''t long before the three guards and a spoiled rich man arrived at one of the oasis gates.


    "Quick, let me in," a voice sounded from the carriage atop the alloc, "I need to see my brothers. I have urgent news."


    Night really didn''t care for pretending to be such a prick. He had absolutely despised the man when he learned the details about his life from the Keres. His daily life was full of the exploitation and abuse of other people. To pretend to be someone he disliked....was not fun. However, as he glanced over at his three guards, he realized that he wasn''t having the worse of it. The three Keres were disguised as a bunch of beat up male guards.


    After a minute of waiting, a similar sounding voice echoed over the wall near the gate.


    "Brother," the voice said, "What took you so long? What is so urgent to call us directly to the gate?"


    "Gerah, someone tried to fucking kill me," the younger man responded, "I lost most of my guards, but I was able to escape. You need to send some people out to go investigate. If they attacked your brother then they must have no respect for you."


    "Fucking bandits," a short skinny man said as he plummeted from the top of the wall and into the sand in front of the gate, "Are you alright?"


    "No, I am extremely exhausted from the whole ordeal," Night said being overly dramatic in his movements to mimic the man he was supposed to be.


    "Alright, get inside and get rested. Tomorrow, we can discuss our plans for the future expansion of this oasis," the older man said as he gestured for the gates to be opened.


    "Can you have someone send a carriage?," Night said, "I am so tired that I do not want to walk."


    "Sure," the man said looking at his brother, "What about your guards?"


    "They were the best of the group in battle....and managed to protect my life," Night said, "It is hard to find good help these days so I would like to make them my own personal guards. What do you think?"


    "That works well," Gerah said, "I will have their stuff sent over to your place from the barracks."


    "Thanks brother...," Night said seeming to get secretive all of a sudden as he signaled his brother to walk over.


    "Brother," Night''s imitation of Pedro Piedra said in a whisper as he waived the guards to back away.


    Seeing his brother hinting at a secret, the older brother walked over near Pedro and whispered, "What is it?"


    "I think I was attacked because I found a map to an oasis filled with treasure. Some people had seen me buy the map from an old man when I was in Nazca City.......and they had been following me around Nazca City. I think they planned the ambush me to get the map...get older brother and we can discuss how we can get our hands on the riches...but don''t let anyone else know or they might want to take our treasure," Night whispered back tying to pretend to have unveiled a hidden plot and a treasure.


    The older brother just looked at his younger brother for a second, then smiled and said loud enough for everyone to hear, "Brother, why don''t you come over for breakfast tomorrow morning? I haven''t seen you in so long it would be great to catch up. I''ll even invite older brother over to visit."


    "Great," the fake Pedro said, "I''ll see you in the morning then."


    After saying goodbye, the older brother turned and left in a hurry. It seemed like he wanted to go make some special arrangements.


    After a few minutes, a carriage arrived and took Night and the Keres to a really nice mansion near the center of the oasis. Night and the guards were welcomed in by a few servants.


    "Welcome home, Master Pedro," one of the slaves said as he entered the home.


    "I have just been through one hell of an ordeal. I am going to rest. Make sure my bed is prepared properly before I get there. And also make sure these guards are setup in rooms. They are my personal guards and very trustworthy.....so I would like them housed to be close to my room.....in case some sort of emergency happens," the young master said.


    "Yes, master. I will make arrangements for them," the butler slave said, "Your room should be ready now. I sent others to make arrangements for you as soon as I knew you were arriving. Harley, please escort master¡¯s guards to their rooms."


    A nice looking slave woman appeared at Night''s side and lead the guards out of the foyer and up the stairs. The slave butler picked up Night''s luggage and walked in front of Night leading him to Pedro''s room.


    Although Night was separated from the Keres, he maintained constant contact through his mental link. However, their cover was almost blown when Night walked into Pedro''s bedroom.


    All three women could feel Night''s intense burst of anger when he entered his room.


    "Night, are you okay? Is something happening?," Grief asked out of concern.


    "No, I am fine. The bedroom has two women chained up in the corner. They appear to be sex slaves of some sort. This guy really was a worthless sack of shit," Night said.


    "Are you three settled in, yet?," Night asked through the mental connection.


    "Getting there. They sent someone to tend to our wounds and have given us rooms near yours," Misery said.


    "Great, I will send someone to fetch you three in a few minutes," Night said.


    After a few minutes of inspecting the room, Night went to the door of the room and opened it. Almost immediately the slave butler appeared in the hall.


    "Is there something I can help with Master?," the man said.


    "Yes, I would like to have a little celebration tonight.....with my toys...why don''t you send over the three guys that saved my life to hang out in my room for a bit...and bring us some good booze too," Night said in a lewd manner.


    Night could see a flash of hate across the man''s face, but it quickly disappeared.


    ''Good. Good. I was starting to get a bit worried when this guy was treating me so nicely. It''s great to know that he would kill his master in a heartbeat if given the right chance,'' Night thought as he closed the door and went to lay on the bed.


    After about 10 minutes, three guards walked into the room with the slave butler. The slave butler was carrying four large containers of what smelled like wine.


    "Is there anything else you need master?," the man asked as he sat the containers down on the table.


    "No, please leave us," Night responded as he walked toward the two chained up women that were now horrified that four men were in the room with them.


    The butler closed the door with a scowl on his face as Night reached for the women. Both women were looking at him in terror. From what Night could tell, both women must have been new to this twisted master''s bedroom. Reaching out a hand quickly, he touched the top of one woman''s head and she collapsed in a heap to the ground. The second woman panicked trying to free herself. However, she couldn''t resist Night as he tapped her head and she also passed out. Both women were now locked in peaceful dreams.


    Night turned to look at the three women that had just finished shifting their appearance back to normal.


    "Are you three ready to start?," Night said, "I am really in the mood to kill some people."

 Chapter 96: Piedra Oasis (2)

    "So, how are we going to do this?," Misery asked. The other two women just stood to the side waiting on an answer.


    "I have been thinking about that," Night said with a big grin on his face. However, his grin started to fade as he looked to the side.


    As he and Misery started talking, Grief had made her way over to the two chained up slave women to check their condition.


    "Don''t do anything crazy, Grief. I just knocked them out. They will be fine," Night said to the woman.


    All she did was turn toward him and wave her hand before going back to inspect the women.


    "Misery...Right now...I just want to kill them all...everyone except the slaves....the slaves we can set free," Night said distractedly as he was keeping an eye on Grief....he didn''t quite trust her around abused women after her last stunt that lead to Distress becoming part of the crew.


    "My plan is going to require a bit of effort, but it all depends on the strength these six demigods. Since there are slightly more Demigods than us.....I don''t want to just start a full out battle and risk one of us getting hurt.....so we need to reduce their number as quickly as possible....I was thinking a full out soul assault first to see how many I can take out.....I really want to see how far I can push my ability and this a great testing ground," Night said unveiling his plot to the women.


    "That would probably work," Grief said standing up from the checkup she was performing on the two slave women, "It will work well if we can manage to kill them all quickly and covertly. But do you think you can handle all the demigods at once?"


    "The demigods shouldn''t be a problem...I will try to take them one at a time to be safe.....I think that I should also be able to kill some of them in their dreams with little effort. As for the soul attacks on those that are awake, we will just see how it goes. It is nighttime.....and I don''t think anyone below a God even stands a chance against me in a fight at night," Night said with a cocky grin. He was still riding the confidence that he got from dealing directly with the three Demon Gods.


    "Grief, why don''t you come back into my soul space to help out just in case? Misery and Distress can stay here to protect my body. You two....Kill anyone that enters the room," Night said. He really had Grief tag along because he felt like he could not trust her around all these tormented slaves. He really did not want to add to his collection of twisted women at the moment.


    "Okay, I''ll help you out," Grief said with a little sarcasm in her voice. It seemed like she had completely seen through Night''s idea of putting her somewhere she couldn''t cause trouble.


    Night just watched as Grief started to absorb her body back into the bloodstone core. After a few seconds, Night collected the stone and put it back into its respective hiding place in his gauntlet. He then walked over to the fluffy looking bed and laid down. The soft bed and clean sheets were very relaxing to Night....after all, it had been almost two months since he left the City of Setting Sun. With a few reflections back on the past couple of months, Night relaxed and entered his soul space.


    After entering his soul space, he instructed Grief to keep a watch over him but not to interfere unless he appeared to be in trouble.


    Night quickly spread out his soul perception to encompass the entire Piedra Oasis. As the soul orbs of everyone in the oasis began appearing around him, Night was astounded by the number of people present. The population of the oasis had to be around four thousand people ....with more than half of them being slaves currently working in the mines below the city. The information he had said that this was one of the oases with the largest slave populations.....but Night had no idea it would be this much.


    After getting the general layout of the oasis, Night moved his perception over to investigate the six demigods.


    In his perception''s view of the oasis, Night didn''t take a long time to find the six demigods of the oasis. Two Level 3 demigods were working with several groups of guards to keep a large number of slaves under control in the mines. Two demigods, one peak level and one Level 3, were guarding the perimeter walls around the oasis. And Pedro''s two brothers were busy having a good time drinking. To Night''s surprise, the older of the brothers was only a Level 4 Demigod as well...but the brother Night had met earlier was only a Level 4 Demigod.


    ''Someone must have been lying to their younger brother about their strength,'' Night thought to himself with a chuckle.


    "Misery, it seems like some are actually a bit weaker than we expected. They have one peak level Demigod, as you said, but they only have one Level 5 Demigod......so this should be relatively easy," Night said through his mental connection.


    "Ya...so why don''t you get started? I really hope you leave a few that I can bleed dry. I am hungry from all that traveling," Misery said with her usual selfish thoughts.


    "I am still doing some investigating," Night responded, "Let me do a bit of thinking first."


    After reviewing for a while, Night was thrilled with his findings. The takeover of this oasis was going to be a lot easier than he thought. The six demigods were also relatively weak in terms of soul strength. Night thought that he could easily deal with the others once they went to sleep. He had originally planned on luring the two Piedra Brothers away from the oasis, but he didn''t feel that was necessary now. His only concern was dealing with the peak demigod that patrolled the oasis walls.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.


    "I think that we should take over the mines first. I don''t want someone to go crazy and start activating collars on all the slaves. Let''s set them free first. I can send one of you down in the mines to start directing the freed slaves to start preparing themselves for a takeover of this oasis," Night said to the three Keres.


    With the plans set, Night began to focus the task of destroying the enemy Demigods.


    Although he was pretty confident, Night wanted to start his takeover of this oasis with as little disturbance as possible.


    Night reached out with his soul perception again and concentrated on the roughly 4000 souls in the oasis. With a bit of effort, he began to focus in on the demigods. With little effort, Night mowed through the weaker demigods like their souls were blades of grass. He had killed the two mine demigods and the weaker wall demigod fairly quickly. But, the two Piedra brothers were actually dealt with the easiest. They practically had no soul defense at all and Night managed to lock them in a dream state. He was saving a few presents for his Keres. Night''s soul had gotten pretty strong and he could easily deal with lower level demigods.


    However, his easygoing didn''t last forever. He felt like he hit a roadblock with the peak level demigod that guarded the oasis. From Night''s observations, the old man appeared to have mastered six concepts related to the spear. As with most weapon''s concepts, they offered considerable protection for the man''s soul.


    Night just didn''t have enough soul strength to finish dealing with the peak Demigod without risking harm to himself. He felt that he was just slightly lacking in power to attack without risk. He was left trying to find an opening for an attack on the soul orb......and wishing that he had a way that he could boost his soul strength temporarily.....then an epiphany hit him.


    "Ruins. Rust. Crumble. Collapse. Broken. Burnt. Detonate. Destruction," Night mentally said to himself as his body channeled the Destruction Skill. Night knew this would give him a minute of more than double the normal physical power.....but he had never tried to increase his soul strength with the skill.


    For his entire month-long trip to the Meeting of Cities, Night had been physically practicing the Destruction Skill in an attempt to initiate the Concept of Destruction....in order to bring up his Darkness Concept count to four of the six concepts. He would only be missing the Concepts of Doom and Retribution before he could attempt to become a God.


    Now seemed like a good chance to try to put the Destruction Skill to full use....by making his soul go into a strengthened beserk state...he had never tried this before...so...hopefully, this method would give him the boost he needs.


    Night felt a surge of soul strength that he immediately channeled into an attack on the peak level demigod''s soul. It was an overwhelming amount of strength and the force exerted on the enemy demigod''s soul was causing it to crack and break apart. With a roar of effort, Night pushed more of his soul strength to squeeze......then the peak demigod''s soul exploded.


    Night could feel a rumble through the physical world as the demigod''s soul collapsed on itself. But then he felt a very familiar and welcome feeling...he could feel a mixture of darkness element and soul energy beginning to draw towards him. He was going to breakthrough in the Destruction Concept.


    Night was thrilled that he had found the key to understanding the concept. Destruction was not just a physical skill.....it also functioned to strengthen the soul. As such, Night was starting to feel a need for more soul energy due to the breakthrough.


    Thankfully, he had tons of resources available. Night reached out his soul perception to blanket the entire oasis. One by one he began crushing the soul orbs of the inhabitants of the oasis. No one was spared except the slaves. Anyone related to the Diego Family died.


    After some time, Night finally started to feel like his concept had started to stabilize. He was thrilled that his breakthrough was a success....then he felt extremely exhausted and everything went black.


    Night was in a weird place. He couldn''t quite form complete thoughts. Everything was a jumbling mess inside his head....but then it didn''t even feel like he had a head. He was moving but also sitting still. His eyes were opened and closed at the same time. He could feel both pleasure and pain at once.


    Then he was back in the familiar feeling soul space.


    "What was that?," he said to himself only to have Grief come up and give him a big squeeze.


    "I am so glad that you woke up," Grief said, "We thought you were dying."


    "What?," Night asked, "What happened?"


    "We don''t know. You passed out in your soul space. Your body was still fine, but it was like you were unconscious...in your own soul space," Misery said.


    "It must have been the rebound from using the Destruction Skill on my own soul," Night said, "How long was I out of commission?"


    "Only about an hour," Grief said, "Misery and Distress have started to clear out the remainder of the guards from the oasis. You managed to kill most of them, but there were still a good bit left......Do you think you can let me out to help?"


    Feeling rushed to finished his current task, Night put the issue of his ''out of soul'' experience to the back of his mind and sat up in the comfy bed. With a flick of his hand, a bloodstone was now resting on the floor and quickly forming a beautiful woman''s body.


    "Grief, go help Misery and Distress deal with the rest of the Diego Family people," Night said as he stood up and started to gain his bearings, "I am going to get some loot."


    Night had already inspected the oasis with his perception, so he knew exactly where all the good stuff was stored. It only took him a minute to reach the warehouse that the Piedra brothers used to keep all their riches. Even though he had viewed the fortune with his perception, it didn''t really register just how much treasure was in the building until he actually laid eyes on it. Wearing a gigantic smile, Night practically dove into the treasure trove with greedy abandon.


    Within the next two hours, Night actually felt financially rich for the first time in his life. With the piles of treasure and supplies stored away in his maxed out storage rings, he had really racked up literal tons of treasures. There was actually so much in the building that he couldn''t fit it all in his storage rings.......he couldn''t even fit a quarter of it all. He actually started to get really selective at the end of his looting because he was running out of storage room.


    ''Now......I just need to get these freed slaves off to a good start........then it is time to go meet some old friends,'' Night said to himself as he walked out onto the streets of Piedra Oasis.

 Chapter 97: Journey Continues

    After killing off the entire branch family of the Diego Family at Piedra Oasis, the first twenty-four hours ended up consisting of a heavy workload that Night wasn''t expecting. Just based on the logistics of setting free almost three thousand slaves, Night and the three Keres were working themselves non-stop to remove slave collars.....and keeping all hell from breaking loose in general. Most of the slaves tended to get along well after being freed, but a few still had conflicts that seemed to erupt immediately randomly.


    Besides releasing them from their bonds, Night also had to give the slaves some sort of directions for what to do with themselves. To just avoid the hassle of giving orders, he mostly sent them out in the oasis to recuperate themselves with a demand that they maintain orders as best as they can.....or face consequences. He told the freed slaves that they could consider themselves safe for now and he would call a meeting a few days later to discuss the plans moving forward.


    Because Night was busy deactivating slave collars, the task of keeping the oasis'' order and cleaning up any scuffles had mostly fallen on the Keres shoulders. After the attack, there were also roughly a thousand corpses scattered across the oasis.....and they needed to be handled appropriately. It was so much blood that even the Keres couldn''t take care of it all at once. There were also some slaves that recognized the situation that the corpses posed and started to help out the women. However, Night realized that most men agreed to help the Keres simply to loot the dead bodies, but he didn''t'' really care at this point....he had not thought that setting slaves free would be so much work.


    __________________________________


    By the beginning of the second day, Night had realized another fact about the freed slaves. The group of freed slaves was surprisingly strong. In the first day''s time, Night personally witnessed twelve peak foundation stage cultivators break through to Demigod once their slave collars were removed. Most of the breakthroughs were either in Earth Concepts, Metal Concepts or something related to the slave labor work in the mines. Night was relieved when some of these prior captives started to set themselves apart from the others. Mostly because if there were some strong individuals.....then he would be able to push off the management of the other freed slaves onto them....just like he had done with the Manco Oasis uprising.


    One noticeably strong slave, Jackson Turin, actually broke through three levels progressively after being released from his bonds. He had been in the mines for close to 50 years without advancing due to the restriction of his slave collar. Once the collar was removed, he started to break through instantly. The man had actually broken through in the Truth of the Ax and was quite strong for someone at his level. Apparently, swinging a pick ax for so many years had given him all the insight he needed to advance himself to a Level 3 Demigod directly.


    By the end of the second day after the attack, the situation was starting to settle down a bit. Most of the freed slaves had eaten well and found enough resources to begin to recover themselves. As everyone began to rest and recuperate, the oasis grew surprisingly quiet.


    But that quiet was for everyone but Night. Much to Night''s chagrin, there were three new soul orbs floating in his soul space waiting to be turned into Keres.


    Against Night''s expectations, it wasn''t Grief that had brought these women''s souls to him for salvation from death. Distress had brought the women''s souls over from a gladiator-style battle area. The place was where slaves would be forced to fight at the whim of the rulers of the oasis. She had found three barely alive sisters within a pile with discarded corpses next to the small arena.


    From what Distress had explained, the women had fought in a battle between a group of women and a large group of beasts. Although the women had managed to win out over the beasts, the three almost identical looking women were the only living survivors...and they were in such poor shape that they practically had no chance of survival and had been discarded with the corpses to be buried in the sands. However, they had managed to hang on to life through sheer will alone.....using all their effort to survive to a horrific experience.


    The three women were very skilled warriors that were raised from their youth to fight as gladiators. They were originally part of a group of five sisters, but two of the sisters did not make it through the most recent battle. The entire story of these women made Night''s anger flare at the Diego Family even more intensely. This anger seemed to make him a little more accepting of Distress'' excuses for bringing Night this new batch of women''s souls.


    Apparently, Distress'' justification for bringing the women onboard was that she needed strong soldiers under her command if she were to properly lead Night''s army. Of course, Night had no idea what army she was talking about. The battle crazed young woman seemed to have misunderstood something somewhere along the way...or maybe Night had just failed to spell out his intent clearly. Night didn''t intend to raise an army of Keres. Actually, he hadn''t even considered their assistance in that sort of capacity.....from a fighting perspective, he had always looked at them as support for his own efforts.


    Regardless of his original intent...Night now had three new souls in a waiting line to become Keres. The women had even picked out their new names and were calling themselves Despair, Gloom, and Sorrow. Distress had told the new team members that in order to serve under Night they needed to cast off their old selves and become a newly born Keres. The first step to that process was to forget their old names and come up with a new name that fit their roles as warriors. Night was left speechless at the realization that he should have spent more time explaining things to Distress. She really had a warped view of what he intended for the Keres...He felt like he had unknowingly created some sort of cult ...and the cult had now developed certain rituals and traditions.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    After thinking the whole thing over....he couldn''t get mad with Distress....somehow he felt at fault...and even if he was the cause For everything.....Night wasn''t sure what he thought of it all. From what he knew from Nox, the Keres were intended to be a fighting force.....not just battle companions. There was even one part of the information that described hundreds of Keres present during a world level battlefield.


    ''Am I going to eventually have an army of crazy ass women?'' Night couldn''t help think to himself as he tried to reason through the situation.


    After wasting hours of worry on what the final outcome would be, Night eventually just accepted that things were going to be this way. He could easily handle five to six more Keres with his newly advanced soul strength, so he wasn''t concerned over pressuring his soul. For now, everything was acceptable. Considering the way that this world worked, he could always use more people loyal to him. However, he did give all of the Keres a firm talking to about promoting others into their ranks without his permission.


    _______________________________________________


    Most of the third day was focused on the organization and continued recovery of the freed slaves. At the beginning of the third day, Night had set up a meeting with the top 30 strongest of the men from the mines. To everyone''s surprise, all thirty of these freed slaves were at least at the demigod level. In fact, there were actually 31 demigods that had advanced over the previous two days. Having been starved of resources for years, the abundance of resources and freedom was like a tidal wave of cultivation improvement throughout the entire population of freed slaves. Almost all of the foundation stage cultivators had seen an increase in one or two levels.


    Night didn''t really know how to manage such a large group, but he managed to take some input from some of the freed slaves. Jackson Turin had actually been a skilled military commander in the United States before he was captured by enemies and sold into slavery to the Diego Family. Taking that experience, he was easily able to understand managing a large number of men and offered Night all levels of advice.


    Since Jackson had proved to be both the strongest cultivator and a qualified leader, Night had supported him as he assumed the role of the general commander to oversee the 30 strongest members. The thirty demigods were given the responsibility of overseeing a group of around 300 foundation stage cultivators each. Jackson had recommended that each of the demigods further divide their groups to make management easier.


    The ease at which Jackson could get the freed slaves to comply was mostly due to the fact that the men were freed slaves. Most of the men had lived their lives under constant threat as slaves. To be compliant and follow orders correctly was ingrained in their behavior, so keeping the men in line didn''t seem to be that difficult for Jackson.


    Night had spent most of the day recuperating himself....and just observing how the other men handled the new arrangements. Although Night had felt himself to be a powerful individual, he knew that he was very lacking in management skills with large groups of people. As he laid down to rest that evening, Night couldn''t help but think about the three souls floating within his at the moment. What would he do if the Keres kept growing in number? How could he successfully manage them to keep order? He didn''t really know...but he felt that he would definitely need to learn to manage people to have any chance in the future.


    ___________________________________________


    Night started the fourth day early with a meeting with all the freed slaves. The freed slaves had actually filled the oasis'' battle arena to the point that it exceeded its maximum capacity. Night had chosen this location because it was the largest meeting spot in the oasis. As he stood in front of such a large crowd, he surprisingly felt nervous like never before. He really hated public speaking.


    "Everyone, I am glad that we can all be here...and that we can all be free!," Night yelled towards his large audience with the assistance of a speaking stone to enhance his voice.


    Cheers erupted from the crowd but soon settled down. Night began his speech.


    "Despite what some of you believe, I am not here to lead you away or help establish some sort of new life with you all. I have my own journey ahead of me and need to keep going on that path."


    "Over the last day, I have met with the strongest of you and I firmly believe that you can all be successful under their leadership. I have shared this oasis'' resources with each of your leaders and they will be distributing some to each of their respective groups as they deem necessary for your advancement."


    "You all must work hard. This world.....this area of the world is currently undergoing many troubles. The Diego Family has begun expanding their territories and had caused conflicts with the Demons. They have developed new poisonous weapons that do not discriminate between warriors and innocent civilians. And they will come for you now that you have your freedom."


    "So take what time you do have to train, build your strength, and prepare for whatever happens next. You have my support in your efforts and I will definitely help give you all the opportunities that I can. Thank you and best wishes."


    After Night''s depressive speech to the audience, Jackson had taken over the speaking stone and began to layout the future plans for the men. He was a much better speaker than Night and clarified many of the issues that Night had brought up and left unresolved. Jackson''s overall plan was similar to how the Manco Oasis freed slaves had planned to live. Since this group was much larger, they would be dividing themselves up into 30 different base locations within the complex network of mines. This way.....if the Diego Family tried to hunt them down, they would have an issue getting everyone in one attack.


    The end result would be numerous groups of bandits that lived in multiple hidden locations throughout this portion of the desert. Using the old mines as a base also had its advantages...all of the men were very familiar with navigating the mines and were experienced mine workers. They could easily manipulate the tunnels to serve their purposes. Night was happy that the group seemed to be on track so quickly.


    By the evening of the fourth day, Night packed up his things and continue on his journey. He wasn''t really trying to build his own army with the freed slaves and they seemed to have become somewhat organized for the future. Night just wanted to give them a chance to be free and take action on their own.


    So after saying his goodbyes to some of the freed slaves....he left the Piedra Oasis in moonlit darkness....to begin the next phase of his travels toward Nazca City.

 Chapter 98: Nazca City

    Over the next couple of weeks, most of Night''s time was spent traveling through the desert, organizing his newly acquired treasures and supplies, and planning his next moves. While he had a general idea of what he wanted to achieve on this mission, Night hadn''t really spelled out the specifics of his own plan. He had figured that the situation would change so much that he didn''t want to waste time planning something that was probably going to fluctuate anyway.


    When he raided the Piedra Oasis, his main goal had only been to gather a fortune for the next phase of his plan. Wiping out the Piedra Family, freeing the slaves, gaining some additional Keres, and learning from the experience...were all just added on to that first part of the plan, but they weren''t necessary. Of course, he had succeeded in gaining a wealth that was more than adequate to proceed along his originally intended path.


    Night now had all sorts of treasures stowed away in his storage rings. Some of his notable finds included a sturdy set of five identical short swords, a few darkness elemental gems, and an assortment of interesting stones that he couldn''t identify. One of the mystery stones was of particular interest since it caused him to get very relaxed every time he held it. He lost hours of time in relaxation the first time he held the stone.


    Although most of his time was spent on the back of a Khepri, he did have a few interesting encounters along the way. Night had managed to have run-ins with two different caravans.


    The first caravan.....was actually a group of demons fleeing their previous oasis dwelling in order to get distance from the Diego Family. Based on Night''s conversation with the demons, word had begun to spread about the fall of the City of Southern Wind and the plague that had wiped out almost the entire city''s population. Night shared a few resources with them to help them on their journey. All in all....it was a good visit with some good people. Night really enjoyed hanging out with the commoner demons. Out of everyone he met on this planet.....they felt the most like the people he grew up around on Earth.


    ....as for the second caravan...... Night murdered the entire group of around 30 people after finding out that they were on official duty from the Diego Family. The cocky bastards had demanded that Night surrender himself to become their prisoner. Night could tell the whole charade was done to try to steal his mount and supplies. He even played along with them for a bit to ease his boredom. But he eventually decided to use them all as building materials to create his three new Keres.


    The Keres'' creation process went really well and soon a group of six women stood in front of Night. Misery, Grief, Distress, Gloom, Sorrow, and Despair........six of Night''s seven Keres. The only one that was missing was Famine.....otherwise known as Mere Pazuza. Night had left her back in the City of Setting Sun in order to let her manage the survivors of the City of Southern Wind.


    An added benefit going on this trip was that Night had learned that he could actually communicate with Famine through their soul link despite their great distance apart. He had used the link to send updates on his progress back to the Limim Clan leaders.


    Night also used the connection to get updates from back in the City of Setting Sun. Apparently, Lili had run off most of her Sources and was struggling to cultivate. From what Famine described, the woman must have picked up too many habits from hanging out with the Keres and was a bit too violent in dreams.....so violent that the men that used to lust after her....now pissed themselves in fear if they saw her in person. Night had felt very relieved that he was away from the City of Setting Sun right now....he hadn''t really liked being around Lili since she had started to dabble in the Concept of Fear.


    The quiet times traveling on the back of the Khepri had given him time to think over a lot of things about his life. The travel wasn''t that much different than the car rides he had taken from his parent''s house to the city years ago. An odd thought had started to creep into his mind. If he managed to survive the upcoming war and get his revenge.....what did he plan to do next? Stay in the City of Setting Sun with Lili? He didn''t think he could take much more of her shit. Try to find a way to get back to Earth? He would need to get strong enough to beat the restrictions on the transfer portal. Travel the world? He had previously considered trying to travel this world on his own and explore this unknown place....maybe but he could figure out if it worth the risk....no one had ever survived the attempt at traveling between human cities.


    On this particular day, Night was steadily thinking about his own future as he traveled along. However, his eyes caught the sight of Nazca City on the horizon. His thoughts were pushed aside and his eagerness to get into the city caused his body to slightly tremble with excitement. He couldn''t wait to see if the elaborate plan he developed would actually work.


    Since the city was in sight, Night slowed the Khepri down to a stop and stepped off into the sand. After removing the items he needed from the Khepri''s harness, Night cut the animal free and smacked it to set it free. The large beetle took a minute to realize what was actually happening, but after a few moments, it realized that it was no longer bound and flew off into the distance. Now, Night was really ready to get started.


    Besides dealing with his inner personal turmoil, Night had thought long and hard over how to integrate himself into the City as quickly as possible. As he had passed through the ruined and deserted Manco Oasis on his way to Nazca City, Night had a questionably crazy idea. He would pretend to be one of the demigods from Manco Oasis.


    Night was going to pretend to be a survivor of the slave uprising at the Manco Oasis. He would play the part of a Manco family member that was trapped in the mines for months by the slave caused explosion.... but he finally escaped. This story seemed to have a lot of verifiable facts that could be checked by others, so Night felt that it had a realistic chance at succeeding. When they had killed the Manco brothers, Misery had destroyed the bodies of the Manco family Demigods during the battle, so no evidence was left concerning the status of the three brothers. Also, the entire mine system had collapsed to an unpassable state.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    Night remembered the appearance of the younger of the demigods and modified his appearance with the Presence Concept to look like one of the Manco demigods. The only issue was that Night didn''t really know a whole lot about the Manco family''s background or role before their destruction. He figured that he could just play that by ear or act like there were memory issues due to being isolated in the mines for months. As he walked towards the city gates off in the distance, Night honestly felt that he could pull this infiltration off with relatively little effort.


    ________________________________________________________


    As he entered the City gates, the guards looked at the haggard looking young man slightly funny and asked, "You! Who are you? What is your name?"


    The men had come up to him and appeared to be ready to attack. They seemed to be on high alert for outsiders as expected by Night.


    "I am Mateo Manco.....from the Manco Oasis....I finally made it out of the mines and need some help," Night said pretending to be an injured, dehydrated and malnourished.


    Night stared into the guard''s eyes and said, "Help me....please." Then, he collapsed on the ground unconscious and with fading life signs. Night could easily pull this off by fluctuating his Death Concept to make him seem like he was on the verge of death.


    The next few hours proceeded just like Night had expected. Night''s collapsed body was immediately taken to an infirmary where his identity was verified. Just like he expected, some scientific looking men came and performed a quick blood test to confirm that he was human. After it was confirmed that he was human, the medical caregivers relaxed and proceeded to give Night first aid for the treatment of his injuries. Of course, Night was actually conscious the entire time and was using his Presence Concept to manipulate everyone in the situation.


    After waiting a whole day in a hospital bed, Night finally decided to become conscious again....he needed to be awake if he were to get anything done.....and his patience at laying in a hospital bed playing a sick patient was very, very low.


    After he had awoken, a few investigators from the City came by to ask him questions. Night told them of a story of the uprising of slaves in Manco Oasis. A powerful slave had actually killed his two brothers. He had chased after the fleeing slaves into the mines out of anger and then some unexpected attack happened.......and the mines collapsed on top of him.


    Luckily, he wasn''t crushed in the collapse and the possessions in his space ring were adequate enough for him to survive the months it took him to dig out of the mines. Instead of seeming weak and afraid, Night played it up that Mateo Manco was pissed that no one had come to look for him after the incident. With his apparent lack of some memories due to his injuries and aggressive attitude, the investigators soon left without any doubts that the man in front of them was Mateo Manco. Night even verified this assumption by using his perception to listen in on several conversations between the inspectors after they had left his hospital room. With that out of the way, Night felt that he had successfully infiltrated Nazca City.


    ___________________________________________________


    After a few days, Night left the hospital as a vengeful Mateo Manco. From everyone''s view of the man, he was a young, cocky survivor from a dead family. However, the incident gave the man drive and he was trying to resurrect his family by rebuilding a destroyed oasis town. Most of the merchants had welcomed Mateo into their businesses. They knew that as the only surviving member of a family, that Mateo must hold all the wealth of the family. Sure enough, Night flexed some of his financial might to wrangle up everything he needed in accordance with his plans.


    Under the guise of rebuilding the Manco Oasis, Night gathered tons of trade route maps and information, war information, and lists of important people to do business within the city.


    Although his actions seemed ordinary for someone in his position, he did draw in interest from a few of the higher powers of Nazca City. However, these higher powers were much more concerned about fleecing Mateo of the Manco family fortune than what his actual motives were. They actually introduced themselves to him and offered their services as needed. Through these new connections, Night managed to arrange for around 100 slaves to be bought for Manco Oasis. If he was going to reopen the mines, then he would need many slaves to restore production.


    The other order of business was recruiting Diego family people to repopulate the Town. Flaunting a few incentives, Night quickly had around 500 followers willing to travel to Manco Oasis to restart the community. Most of these 500 were troubled soldiers and weary guards looking to get out of Nazca City. Night gladly accepted the group and made arrangements to head back to Manco Oasis in the upcoming weeks.


    ________________________


    Several weeks passed while Night integrated into the high society scenes of Nazca City. After pushing his abilities to the limit in gathering information, Night finally decided to lead the group of people back to Manco Oasis for cleanup. The second phase of his plan had been quite successful. However, he was still missing several key items that he had wanted. He had no information on the powers of the Gods of Nazca City and he had no information on the poison used against the City of Southern Wind. If he could have found those two bits of information, then his future plans could have been carried out much easier. Now he was going to need to find other ways to get good information.


    One thing that he did realize was that if an attack occurred inside of Nazca City then the Diego Family couldn''t use the poison without killing all of its own people. So if a surprise attack could be sprung from inside the city, then the chances of success would be much higher. It had a lot of potential to help if he ever managed to attack this place.


    Regardless, his time for spying was coming to an end and he didn''t think that anyone else could do a better job than himself at getting information out of the City. With his head held high, he marched Mateo Manco''s group of around 600 members out of Nazca City. The trek across the desert in the caravan took around a day and a half before the very large caravan reached Manco Oasis. The oasis was one of the closest oasis to Nazca City.


    Night quickly took charge and dished out responsibilities to those that he had brought with him. He had managed to learn a few things while dealing with the large group of freed slaves in the Piedra Oasis. In order to set up his plan, he treated everyone like a normal town owner would. He did give the guards and soldiers in order to not take the lives of slaves. He made it seem like he didn''t want to waste money and that slaves were scarce. In reality, he just didn''t want any of the slaves killed because his whole purpose was to save some of those slaves......they would be very helpful for the third phase of his plan.

 Chapter 99: The Con

    After Night spent a few days settling in with the new occupants of the Manco Oasis, the previously beat up looking oasis town was starting to look somewhat recognizable again. Rubble had been removed from the streets and been consolidated in only a few areas of the town. Night had assumed the role of the wealthy family leader that watches others work while he just orders everyone about. His actions were looked on with a bit of disgust by most of the new occupants from Nazca City but they didn''t really care....they had all seen this sort of behavior many times.


    With all the action in Manco Oasis leveling out at a steady pace, Night decided that it was time to begin the third and final phase of his plan. For that phase, he needed the help of Misery, but that wasn''t going as planned. Night was now standing in front of the group of women in his soul trying to bring some reason to Misery.


    "Now, Misery....you just need to pretend to be Mateo Manco for a few days while I go out to find some people," Night said.


    "I know...but I don''t really want to be left here alone," Misery whined, "Can''t you just leave Grief here so I have someone to talk with?"


    "...ugh..," Night grunted at Misery''s complaint


    ''Why is she being so difficult?,'' Night asked himself. He could always force the issue, but he viewed Misery as his friend....he didn''t want to force her to do anything.


    The main part of his plan revolves around using one of the Keres as place fillers so that he didn''t need to be around all the time. Although Night and the Keres were all great fighters, his interaction with people in Nazca City had taught Night one important thing....their ability to manipulate their appearance with a weapon that he didn''t use enough.


    "Grief is refusing to come out because she doesn''t like this place," Night tried to reason with Misery. He didn''t want to force Grief because he still felt some lingering guilt over what happened to her in the first place.


    "Well then...I''m not staying," Misery said as she crossed her arms and continued to pout.


    Night was exasperated. He trusted Misery and Grief the most but they were both refusing to get with the program. Of course, he could use the link to their souls to make them comply....but he just couldn''t bring himself to do it.


    Distress and her ''soldiers'' were standing off to the side like they were waiting to be ordered to into battle.


    ''Could I use them?'' Night thought as he began to mentally run through the possibility.


    Looking at the militaristic foursome, Night had an idea. Maybe it would work....maybe it wouldn''t...he was so aggravated at this point that he really didn''t give a fuck.


    "Distress, do you think your group could carry out an infiltration mission for me?," Night asked the young woman as he tried to act like one of the military commanders that he had seen on TV years ago.


    "Uhhhh..," Distress blurted out as she was caught off guard by his question.


    Night took that as a yes and proceeded to spell out his idea. Distress would take her three new subordinates and take over the Manco Oasis. Distress would assume the identity of Mateo Manco and lead the other three disguised women to establish a new set of guards for the oasis town. It could be played off like Mateo was worried about safety because of what happened last time.


    After a bit of discussion and a brief test run of Distress playing Mateo as she strolled around town....Night was convinced that this method could actually work.


    So...with the management of Manco Oasis in Distress''s hands....Night slipped away from the oasis to continue with his plan.


    Once Night had gotten about a mile away from the oasis, he decided that it was time to try to find some old friends. Night took out the communication stone that he had been carrying for around nine months. When he originally left the Manco Oasis, he didn''t have any luck contacting the Manco Oasis escaped slaves. Now that he had a clear idea of what he wanted to do with his few months of remaining time, Night really needed to find the group of slaves to make everything work.


    From his time in Nazca City, Night had found out that there was supposedly a small group of escaped human slaves that had been attacking caravans traveling between different oases. The group was even going by the name the "Noche Bandits." Night made a somewhat vain assumption that this group had named themselves after him because they were grateful....he couldn''t help feeling slightly proud that the freed slaves would name their group after him....even if he didn''t know he was responsible for the name....or even if it was the correct group...


    But without any other option to find the escaped slaves, Night began calling out using the communication stone as he moved in a spiral leaving the town. He figured this approach would be the best to ensure he could reach their communication stone range.


    After he was about 10 miles from town, he was starting to give up the hope of finding the escaped slaves. Then...with his perception....he spotted several groups of men quickly traveling across the desert. Because this was the most action he had seen in a while, Night decided to move closer to investigate.


    As he approached the groups, he realized that it was actually two groups locked in combat on the backs of allocs. The two different groups seem to make a charge at each other every now and then back off.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    Seeing the fight, Night smiled considering his luck. He could almost swear that one of the men from the smaller group was a slave that he had freed from the mines.


    Night took off on foot to catch up with the dueling groups of men. As he neared the fight, Night used his concepts to sneak into the group to get some more information on the conflict. From what Night could tell, four of the freed slave bandits had attacked a small group of roaming soldiers. However, the group of four was unable to kill any of the soldiers during the initial surprise attack, so now they were left slightly outnumbered and forced into a drawn-out battle.


    ''Guess, I can help,'' Night thought to himself. It was very easy to help. All the combatants were simply late Foundation Stage soldiers.


    Night exerted his Shadow Concept and caused the entire group to go into disarray. None of them could see anything and the allocs became startled. With a quick movement, Night quickly knocked the eight roaming soldiers unconscious and released his Shadow Concept. The four bandits were shocked by the sight of their downed opponents and the man now standing among them.


    "Hey, Chuck! Remember me?," Night said as he flashed a grin at the former mine slave that he had once freed.


    The bandit was left startled for a second before he responded, "Sir....Sir Night?"


    "Yep...Just call me Night...I have been trying to track you guys down. This damn communication stone is worthless," he said with a grin on his face.


    The group did the usual exchange between old acquaintances meeting, then they all decided to head back to the bandits'' base. Night really needed to talk to the bandit leaders. Before they left, Night had asked the men to gather up the soldiers.....he wanted to question them a bit before they were disposed of properly.


    ________________________________


    After about an hours trek through the desert, Night and the bandits arrived at an unassuming patch of the sand. Almost as if sensing their arrival, the ground opened up and revealed an entrance in the side of the sand dune.


    ''That was pretty cool,'' Night thought to himself as he went into the hideout''s entrance.


    As Night entered, the group was surrounded by quite a large number of other bandits. This group included the two original Demigods and two new Demigods that Night was still trying to recognize. He reached out his soul perception to get an understanding of the group.


    Omar, the first Demigod of Earthquake in the group, was now a Level 3 Demigod of Earth. Alek and one of his brother, Erik, were both Level 1 Demigods of Earth. And the unassuming smart kid, Nathan, was also a Level 2 Demigod, but his concept seemed to be related to the Truth of Fire.


    "Good. Good. You all seem to be doing well. How is everything going? Omar, Alek, Erik, and Nathan," Night made it a point of addressing the four demigods in the group since he remembered their names. He wanted them to know that he could see right through them.


    "Everything was going fine until a few months ago. It was all normal caravans and such until something seemed to change. Then we started getting these groups of soldiers mixed in with everything causing trouble. Luckily, we have been able to survive based on our supplies, but caravans are starting to get a little scarce," Omar said with a bit of tiredness to his voice as he walked over to shake Night''s hand.


    "Oh.....so what do you all think of moving back to an oasis town?," Night asked catching the entire group of bandits off guard.


    Since he now had their attention, Night went on to explain about the Diego Family''s conquering of the City of Southern Wind, his alliance with the demons, his recent exploits of freeing the slaves of Piedra Oasis and his plot of recolonizing Manco Oasis. The information was a lot to take in for the bandits and Night was eventually done answering the group''s questions after about 2 hours of talking.


    "I''m not saying you abandon this location. If you have been hiding away from soldier patrols for this long, then this place does have some wonderful benefit to it. What I am suggesting is that the Noche Bandits and Manco Oasis covertly work together," Night said making an offer.


    Some of the escaped slaves seemed interested, but most were hesitant to reestablish any contact with the oasis. Seeing the hesitation, Night laughed and said, "Seems like you all are hesitant. Well...to show my good intentions... Let me help you out." He slid one of the many space rings off his finger and tossed it to Omar.


    "Here. This should be enough resources to last at least a year. I want you to take care of yourself, increase your strength and prepare," Night said seriously, "Because of the Diego Family''s attack on the City of Southern Wind, I would expect a full-scale war to start at any time."


    Despite the worry over the future, a wonderful party was held and both the bandits and Night had a much-needed break from the usual seriousness. Night enjoyed himself a bit too much and eventually found himself having a nice restfully sleep laying in a dark private room carved into the side of a tunnel.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    The next day, Night held a meeting with Omar and the three other Demigods over another plan that he had running. He explained how Manco Oasis was being redeveloped and that he was manipulating a few things behind the scenes. To the four demigod bandits, Night had two requests.


    The first request was to secretly reopen a passageway to their hideout to Manco Oasis in the mines. This request had some push back from the Greenland Brothers, but Nathan understood the plan. Night wanted to fake like slaves were dying in the mines in order to justify ordering more slaves from Nazca City. In reality, the slaves would be brought away to freedom.


    While he was in Nazca City, Night had found out that the Diego Family on Earth had suffered a few setbacks from other clans because their practice of selling slaves was somehow uncovered. The supply of slaves from Earth had slowed to a trickle, but there were numerous native slaves available for purchase. These native slaves included human slaves born on this planet, captured demons and enslaved intelligent beasts. Night wanted as many slaves as he could get to increase the number of freed slaves. He wanted them to be free before any war started. The need for slaves also gave him the chance to have continued interaction with Nazca City.


    The second request to the bandits was to cooperate with him on attacks between the Manco Oasis and Nazca City. Night had made several connections in the city that had agreed to ship him additional supplies in exchange for heavenly stones. With the cooperation of the bandits, Night realized he could pull off one of the greatest con jobs ever. He would order supplies from Nazca City then provide the bandits with information on the shipment...so that they could hijack the shipment with ease. He even planned to attack his own caravans to cover up his involvement.


    If it was one of Night''s heavenly stones shipments to sellers, he would use to chance to kill off a few of Manco Oasis soldiers, set free some slaves, and of course...he would get his heavenly stones back.


    If it was a shipment from a supplier, then he would demand that they reship at no additional charge. He would not pay for goods that he never received. So in the end, he was actually getting double the supplies.


    Getting a good chuckle out of the idea, the Noche Bandits agreed. It was the start of a beautiful working relationship.....and an epic scam with Nazca City and the Diego Family as the suckers.

 Chapter 100: Return

    A few months after the con job started, Night had completely restocked his space rings and the bandits had enough supplies to last them years. It couldn''t have been a more successful scam. They were basically rolling in riches. With Night serving as backup, the Noche Bandits could easily rob any of the caravans traveling between Manco Oasis and Nazca City. To help keep the focus off of Manco Oasis, they had even expanded their surveillance and managed to catch a few caravans headed to other oases.


    However, even with the added resources and supplies, Night was more excited about several other outcomes of the caravan raids. The bandits had also used the opportunity to free another 100 or so slaves. The newly free men and women were quickly assimilated into the Noche Bandit group. They had also killed around 40 soldiers from Nazca City. While the numbers weren''t large, Night considered any to be better than none.


    But good things don''t last forever.


    Eventually, the Nazca City merchants had gotten aggravated enough by the bandit attacks that they organized three mercenary death squads to go round up the bandits. The death squads consisted of several low-level demigods lead by one high-level Demigod....and they were all people very skilled at hunting down others.


    Much to Nazca City''s disappointment, the bandits had completely disappeared after one big battle had wiped out an entire death squad. After that incident, no more bandit attacks occurred in the general area. Nazca City managers had been put on edge by the loss of a peak Demigod, but the misinformation and clues that Night had left at the scene had been enough to settle them down. After their investigation, the other death squads determined that the bandit attacks were actually a covert demon operation and that the demons had fled after surviving the attack. Given the current tensions, an attempted demon effort around Nazca City was to be expected.


    Although the disappearance of an elite of Nazca City had caused a fuss, the hubbub began to settle down about two weeks later. Everyone seemed to have more important things to do. The only significant change was that patrols of soldiers began to grow more frequent around the desert surrounding the capital.


    This incident had led to Night finding out some information that he couldn''t have found otherwise. He learned some information about both the plague of the City of Southern Wind and the strength of Diego Family Demigods. Since Night had been on a search for information, he had interrogated practically anyone that seemed significant when he raided a caravan. So when the elites of the death squad were in front of him...he did the same thing. Surprisingly, the strongest death squad member had actually been a former guard at the Deigo Family''s main compound and had all sorts of information.


    The information included some hints about the strength of the Diego Family Demigods, but not just that.....The man had also heard about the poison that was spread in the City of Southern Wind from a close friend that participated in the attack. While the information wasn''t much, Night did learn a key clue to how the poison was spread......and that information would be very helpful to the demons that tried to take back the City.


    With the information that he gathered, Night could consider his mission to Nazca City a success. After relaying a bit of information back to the City of Setting Sun through his link with Famine, the Limim Clan had requested that he return as soon as possible to make arrangements for an upcoming attack on the City of Southern Wind.


    Night was excited about the potential for battle, but he had a few loose ends to tie up before he could head back to the demon city.


    First, he needed to find a really fast mount. Like a jackass, he had let the Khepri go without thinking of his future return. Sure an alloc would be fine to travel with, but he hadn''t had good luck with one before.....and they were only about half the speed of a Khepri. He needed something quick so that he didn''t spend a few extra months traveling. Eventually, he found someone that had one Khepri for sale......and he paid a large amount of money to purchase it. Night berated himself for lettting the other one go for several days.


    Second, he wanted to make sure that Manco Oasis was being run properly. Night had grown a little attached to all the work that had gone into creating a fake identity in Mateo Manco. Distress had done a wonderful job at pretending to be Mateo Manco, so Night figured why not leave her behind in Manco Oasis to run the show. That way, he could get real-time updates on Nazca City through the soul link, keep everything continuing under control, and continue to help the Noche Bandits develop their power.


    Night had brought Distress and the three other Keres to meet with the leaders of the Noche Bandits and soon an agreement was struck between everyone to continue the cooperative relationship despite Night''s future absence. The whole arrangement was a pretty sweet setup in Night''s opinion.....the only thing that it would cost him would be the lack of a few extra helpers. The tradeoff was more than worth it.


    The three new Keres, Despair, Sorrow, and Gloom, were also staying behind with Distress. The three women seemed to have made Distress their defacto commander in their own little militaristic group. Initially, Night was going to put a stop to their weird ass behavior...but he decided to let them continue on in their ways. Night didn''t really like managing people, so if Distress wanted to be the commander that kept the other troops in line.....Night would let her...He was always going to be the General anyway, so what did it matter if someone else managed the little stuff.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.


    With all of the arrangements made, Night packed up his thing and began his journey through the desert to the City of Setting Sun.


    _______________________________


    After months of travel, Night returned to the City of Setting Sun under the cover of darkness. As he made his way to his inside, he had noticed a few changes throughout the City of Setting Sun. Guards patrolling the city''s defenses were in much higher number....at least double the amount of manpower. There were less people on the streets at night and more guards were patrolling around randomly. It really seemed like the City leaders had stepped up their security after the Diego Family''s attack on the City of Southern Wind.


    However, the added security measures meant very little to Night. With his skills, he slipped through the streets of the city without anyone really noticing his existence. He wasn''t really doing this to be covert or sneaky. Night just wanted to get back without being harassed by anyone and this was the best way to achieve that goal.


    Eventually, he had made it back to the gates of the Limim Clan at the center of the extremely large city. When he arrived at the gate, he stepped out of the shadows revealing himself to a startled group of guards.


    "Stay on your toes. If I was from the Diego Family.....you''d all be dead and someone would be inside killing your families," Night said as he flashed his identification medallion.


    The guards made a few promises to be more alert but were a little hesitant in dealing with Night. He had just appeared out of nowhere and most of them were still trembling at his verbal threat. The panicked guards gave Night a bit of a chuckle, so he assured them that he wasn''t going to report them for a failure of duties. However, Night needed one of them to do him a favor. The guards quickly agreed and one man was soon running off to deliver a notice to the Countess'' residence that Night had returned and was headed home for some rest.....he would be in touch tomorrow to discuss his findings in detail.


    The whole scene was staged by Night so that he could get out of immediately undergoing interrogation by the Limim Clan leaders. He had been traveling non-stop to return to this city and just wanted to get a shower and rest.


    From the guard station, Night quickly made his way back to his house within the heart of the Limim Clan. It had been over 6 months since he had last slept in his bed. It had also been 6 months since he had last seen Lili.....and he hoped that she had managed to get past of whatever phase she was in.


    Quite honestly, he didn''t really miss her....not at all. Sure he missed the occasional romp under the sheets, but he had learned one thing over this trip....he didn''t have any feelings what-so-ever for the woman. He had assumed that most of his infatuation was due to her influence as a succubus and his weakness for good looking women.


    On his return trip, he had thought over the entire situation and he decided that it was about time to come clean with Lili and set her straight on the relationship. He felt that his position in the Limim Clan was secure enough that not much would happen.....especially with an approaching attack on the City of Southern Wind. If worst came to worse, he could always bail and join up with the City of Rising Sun.....he wasn''t hurting for resources at all and could just piggyback on their attack efforts if need be.


    With all these thoughts going through his head, Night knocked on the door to the house. A few servants were quickly at the front door to welcome him inside. A few others scurried off to fetch Lili. It didn''t take long before Night caught sight of the woman making her way to see him. But as soon as Night''s eyes caught sight of her, he felt like he was paralyzed.


    "My mate, welcome home! We are going to have a baby," Lili said as happily while flaunting her swollen midsection in what looked like a motherly maternity robe.


    Night felt a painful shiver course through his body. He had experienced shocking moments in his life. But even his parent''s death had been slightly less shocking than Lili''s announcement.


    "How....How the fuck can we have a baby? Your mom said that humans can''t have children with demons," Night said as he began to snap out of his stupor. He was having a full blown panic attack.


    "What are you talking about, Silly? My mom must have been messing with you. Are you not excited that we will be having a beautiful daughter?," Lili asked Night after seeing the look on his face.


    "Daughter? You already know what sex the baby is going to be?," Night said still trying to wrap his head around the whole scenario. His mind was screaming. Everything he seemed to know was a lie.


    "Oh, geez. You really are quite dim sometimes," Lili said a bit exacerbated, "I am a succubus. You didn''t research your own mate when you were working away so hard in the study all that time? We, Succubi, only have daughters. Succubi are unique in the demon world. We find a mate and give birth to more Succubi...its what we do."


    Night stood there as stiff as a board with his mind almost fracturing from the stress of the situation. Why the fuck didn''t he do some more research? What the hell was wrong with him? He just took the Countess'' word that this wouldn''t happen. He was a fucking idiot.


    He didn''t know what to do. His mom had always wanted him to marry and bring over grandbabies, but now she was dead....and he was on another fucking planet. He hadn''t even considered having kids before now. The thought had never really crossed his mind. He wasn''t even really married.....this was some weird demon relationship that he wasn''t even certain about anymore.....and now they were having a kid....and that kid was going to be girl....and she was going to be a succubus too.....Night knew what Succubi were like....and now his daughter was going to be one....


    Night felt like his head was going to explode as a mix of panic and terror flooded throughout his body at the idea of being a dad....getting attached to Lili forever....and having a succubus for a daughter.

 Chapter 101: Intel

    This announcement shook his world, but what followed next brought his emotions to a whole different level. Coming out of his own thoughts, Night looked up to see that Lili had sat down on the floor and appeared to be cultivating.


    ''What the fuck?,'' Night thought to himself with adrenaline still coursing through his veins, ''Why is she cultivating at a time like this? Is she okay? Could something have happened to the baby because of my reaction?"


    Night''s panic shifted into a different form as he reached out with his perception to see what was going on with Lili.


    But then he was completely blindsided by what he saw. His perception didn''t see a baby in Lili''s belly.....if fact she didn''t even have a bulging belly.....it was only a bunched up pillow shoved into her outfit.


    Lili was not preganant.....she was faking it completely.


    Night was actually thrilled for a split second as he realized that he wasn''t having a kid with the crazy ass woman. But his moment of joy didn''t last that long.....he started to get angry about being messed with in this manner.


    While Night was collecting himself, Lili had opened her eyes and popped up of the floor to show off her smiling face.


    "WOW! That was an excessive amount of terror and fear you gave me, my love," she said exuding her always seductive charm.


    Night was still trying to absorb everything. What the fuck had just happened?


    Lili continued, "Thanks to that I finally managed to break through the bottleneck in cultivating the Concept of Fear. I am now a Level 3 Demigod."


    Becoming aware that he had been pranked solely because the woman wanted to feed off his fear...Night started to get irritated even more.


    Then Lili''s voice shifted to an aggressive sounding tone, "My father let it slip to me that you are actually a human...and well....you even confirmed it with your own words tonight.....I consider this payback for not telling me the truth."


    Lili marched up to Night and gave him a big passionate kiss. His lips didn''t move in response.


    "What? Why are you so pissed off? You are the one who lied first.....I just returned your lie back at you. You should be thrilled to see me after being gone so long," Lili said with some aggressiveness in her voice.


    ''She went through all this just because I lied?....no way....that''s just an excuse she''s using to try to get away with it....but why is she still acting so angry...'' Night was considering when he had an odd series of thoughts, ''...Anger... don''t tell me....this bitch is completely off her rocker''


    "Lili, have you already started cultivating in the Concept of Hate after only just breaking through?," Night asked, "What the hell....couldn''t you at least give me a few days of normal?"


    Lili''s expression blanked for a second before she began to speak in an apologetic tone, "I am so sorry. I couldn''t help myself. "


    She reached her over to the still paused Night and smacked his cheek lightly, "Now quit being a little bitch and get up in the bedroom. Although you don''t swing a whole lot of meat, I haven''t had any is so long."


    Then, she reached out her other hand and actually smacked Night in the crotch. It wasn''t a light hit and Night felt a pain run through his groin.


    With a cracking sound of flesh on flesh, Lili flew across the room and hit the wall on the other side of the foyer.


    "You want some fucking hate," Night screamed, "Fine, you can have some hate."


    His face was red and he had veins popping out of his forehead. He was still catching his breath from probably the most intense yell he had ever had.


    Night hadn''t felt this angry in months...and it wasn''t even a controlled anger...everything felt like it was starting to get away from him.


    He could see Lili knocked out on the floor across the room...and that got his attention as his anger started to fade. He was a very angry person but he wouldn''t be angry enough to hit a woman that hadn''t really done anything.....He seemed to have lost control of himself for a moment.....but now he could feel his control returning.


    "Ha ha ha ha ha," Night laughed as something dawned on him. He then thought to himself, ''She was even influencing my emotions to make me get angrier than usual ....just like she would influence me to get all sexed up when she was cultivating lust.... these fucking succubi are some weird ass creatures....I need to get the fuck out of here.''


    "Hey, someone come out here and help out," he hollered out to get the attention of one of the house servants that had been standing in the next room.


    A man and woman came out from a side room. Their bodies were trembling from the start, but it got worse when they saw Lili''s body laid on the floor.


    "Don''t worry, she''s alive. She started cultivating in the Concept of Anger and got the better of me with her influence," Night said to two servants. "Please see that she gets taken care of....I won''t be staying here anymore."


    Night just turned and left the house. He wasn''t going to subject himself to Lili''s craziness. He was tired of it.....and honestly if he stayed.....Night thought she might push him to a point that he would probably kill her....his anger wasn''t something good to play around with.


    On his way out of the Limim Clan, Night stopped off at the guard station to tell the men that he was going out and would be back to meet at the Countess'' mansion sometime tomorrow. He was tired of dealing with these demons and their manipulation....


    As he walked down the city streets, Night''s previous thoughts on his future started to become more solidified.... all he wanted was to kill the Diego Family and escape away from everything....this other stuff...this drama...he was going to leave it all behind...


    ___________________________________


    Night had a wonderful rest at one of the city''s nicest inns. He felt refreshed. After he had slipped away the previous night, Night had used his skills to change his appearance, slip away undetected, and get a room in one of the nearby inns. He had paid ahead for a few weeks so this room was going to be his temporary room for a while.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    Night had made the decision that he wasn''t going back to Lili''s house...he had decided that the relationship was over after last night''s incident....but he was left with a dilemma. He couldn''t officially end his relationship with Lili until he got what he needed out of the Limim Clan. After the war was over, it wouldn''t matter.....but for now, he still wanted to have some sort of decent relationship with the Limim Clan.


    Night left the inn after taking his time that morning. He didn''t feel rushed so he had taken the time to have a nice breakfast at the inn before leaving back toward the Limim Clan. After traveling a few blocks from the inn, he ducked into a dark alleyway and shifted his appearance back to normal. He also grabbed a few sweet snacks from a street food vendor on the way...it was going to be a long day.


    _______________________________________


    "I''m telling you. If I stay there, she will probably end up dead. I don''t want to be responsible for that. She''s the one that makes my anger bust free....you damn succubi and your emotion cultivation are at fault here....not me," Night said as he stood in front of Countess Asta and her mate.


    He had been surprised that the first thing she had done when he arrived.....she dismissed the rest of the people from room to discuss his relationship with Lili. He figured that they would want to get right into the reconnaissance intel that he had to share.....but apparently, his relationship with Lili was important to the Countess.


    "I guess you have a point. So what do you plan to do about it?," the Countess said.


    "I am just going to hide away somewhere in the city so she can''t find me. It won''t be long before we begin the war and I leave anyway. Actually, my disappearance would probably even help Lili...she would be so pissed if I just completely abandoned her all of a sudden....she is already one of the most rapidly advancing Succubi in history.....why not let her anger build and help her?," Night said trying to sell his case.


    The Countess spent a few minutes thinking thing over before saying, "Okay. I agree with what you say. You have my blessing in what you are doing."


    "Oh.....thank you.....and I would recommend sending someone strong over the house to watch over Lili. I kind of worry about her servants...she can be a bit unbearable with her cultivation."


    "Sure. We can have someone sent over to supervise her cultivation," Roth Dreamwalker said.


    "Okay....everyone can come back in now to begin the discussion," the Countess said as she hit a round ball on her chair to make a noise that signaled everyone else that it was time to reenter the room.


    Almost immediately, the group of military advisors and Limim Clan members piled into the room. Night pulled up a chair and sat down in front of the group. He knew that this was his show.


    The main objective at his infiltration in Nazca City was to learn two things. The strength of the Diego Family Demigods and any information concern the poison used to attack the City of Southern Wind. According to the demons, the reason for Night''s infiltration wasn''t necessarily for future attacks on Nazca City....the demons had only wanted more information on the City of Southern Wind. They had figured that he would have a better chance at getting the information out of Nazca City then the currently heavily guarded City of Southern Wind.


    "Over the last couple of months, I infiltrated Nazca City to get information for the upcoming fight in the City of Southern Wind," Night said as he pulled a few stacks of his written reports out of one of his storage rings and sat them down on the table in front of the group. He had actually prepared reports for himself to help remember information while spending time in Nazca City. Although he had written the reports, the demons wouldn''t be able to read them...they were all written in English. So Night had to read each one out loud in order to get the information across to the demons.


    "This is all the information that I have and I will go through it all with you today.....so you better be ready to take some notes," Night said as he started to narrate his visit to Nazca City.


    Night started off by distributing copies of Nazca City maps and trade route maps.


    Most people had some of the city layout information already, so Night was really just providing the missing pieces to stuff they already had. However, Night''s information also included descriptions of the main players in the city including their home and business locations. This information would be very helpful to anyone trying to infiltrate the city.


    The trade route map included a numbered index of Diego Family oases. Night went through descriptions of each oasis including their major industries, the branch families controlling each oasis and the approximate number of occupants. Night was very clear in pointing out the population of slaves in each of these oases since he had his own plans regarding the slaves. He also gave the demons some information concerning the lack of slave supply from Earth.


    Night had been very thorough in his notes. The demons had pretty much come to the consensus that they would attack the City of Southern Wind to regain what was taken from them. However, the demon leadership seemed to be on the fence about how to handle Nazca City. Some wanted to prepare for an attack on the main human city if everything in the City of Southern Wind went well. Others just wanted to make sure the humans were contained in their current area of occupation.


    So when Night presented his information....he wanted to give as much information as possible on Nazca City in hopes that the demon leadership would decide to attack Nazca City. Then the only variable would be if they achieved victory in the fight over the City of Southern Wind. He needed to make any effort in Nazca City seem as easy and profitable as possible.


    After spending hours going over all of the information he gathered, Night decided it was time to get into the meat of the information that he had gathered.


    "I have also found significant information concerning the strength of the Diego Family demigods and the poison that was used in the City of Southern Wind," Night said as he turned toward the Countess, "Anyone not in specific need of this information should leave the room at this point."


    The Countess gave a few directions and soon about half of the room was cleared out.


    "Now, since you seem to have something important to say...get on with it," Countess Asta said. She seemed to be a bit miffed that Night had given up so much detail on Nazca City. Given her experience, she most likely knew that he was trying to influence everyone''s decisions on the matter.


    "Okay. The Diego Family currently has five God level leaders," Night said causing the room to go into an uproar.


    After a minute or so, the group started to calm down and waited for Night to continue.


    "You all previously thought they only had 3 Gods, so I am sure this comes as a shock. Two Demigods recently promoted to the god level and that has been the general cause of most of the current issues. The two new Gods were a pair of brother that had been at the peak of Demigod for almost 50 years. As for what was considered a fateful event, the pair discovered some rare heavenly stone in their mining activities and used these to give them the push they needed to break through to Level 1 Gods. The only reason that I came across this information was that the newly promoted Gods had pushed aside many of the people they didn''t get along with in the past," Night said.


    "But thankfully for us, the pair''s actions put them in conflict with the two strongest Gods in Nazca City. There can only be so many leaders in one city. So the two brothers and weakest of the other Gods decided to take over the City of Southern Wind as their own...it was all done against the wishes of the two other Gods in Nazca City, so there is currently conflict brewing between the two groups.....that''s the basic history of the conflict. The City of Southern Wind is only guarded by three Level 1 Gods.....whose strength lies in the Truth of Earth, Truth of Fire and Truth of Saber....Nazca City only has two Gods currently guarding it.....but they are the oldest and strongest.....One Level 4 God in the Truth of Fire and One Level 3 god in the Truth of Earth...," Night said to a now quiet room.


    The situation had given everyone something to think about. Night had felt very thankful as he recalled how he had gotten that information. A mercenary on a death squad after the Noche Bandits had been one of the people pushed aside by the advancement of the two brothers. He was very bitter over the whole incident and was forced to become a mercenary because he couldn''t get a job in Nazca City any longer. Night had really felt lucky when he had gotten the information out of the man. Not only did he have information on the Diego Family Gods....he also had information on the attack against the City of Southern Wind too.


    After a few minutes of silence, Roth Dreamwalker asked in a somewhat excited voice, "What about the poison?"

 Chapter 102: Preparations

    "There is no real poison," Night said in response to the question, "The threat is biological...a biological agent that is very deadly to demons."


    There were whispers throughout the group of demons. They didn''t really seem to understand what Night was saying. They probably didn''t know what he was talking about.....the demons weren''t that scientific of a community. Night decided to get try telling it as a story.


    "The portals between worlds limit what can be brought over to Nibiru from Earth. Complicated electrical and mechanical items cannot be brought over because they will get messed up during the portal transport. That''s why you don''t see complex weapons being brought over from Earth. Simple mechanical devices can be brought over, but that''s about it. But there seems to be no restriction on biological life," Night was only giving an introduction and realized that he was already losing a few people.


    "Based on what I know, the Diego Family found that a bacterium that grows on a particular flower on Earth....that bacterium produces a reaction when exposed to demons..... and it is a fatal reaction. That flower just so happens to grow in the Diego Family''s Earth territory too...an Amazon water lily....and they brought massive amounts of that flower here from Earth," Night said to a group that still seemed to have trouble taking in the information.


    A man from the stood up and called out, "That sounds like a load of bullshit. How can just one flower kill so many people? Where did you get that information from?"


    Night was at a loss. He could tell by the man''s robes that he was from the Phene Clan....the clan that specialized in healing and poisons. But, the flower didn''t really have anything to do with it. It was a bacteria that grew on the cut flowers that was the culprit. The Diego Family had basically found something that functioned like anthrax on demons....these demons didn''t know shit about bacteria....it is not like they had scientific labs looking at stuff with microscopes in this world... Night needed to dumb it down to make it believable....how the fuck was he going to do that?


    "I....I interrogated a mercenary that had once been responsible for delivering a load of flowers to an oasis for processing. The mercenaries were told that the flowers originated from Earth and needed special care. Although it was odd, I wouldn''t have thought anything special about this information usually," Night said giving the group his account, "However.....the mercenary said when he arrived at the oasis....the group was actually able to see a test that was performed on a captive demon," Night said giving the group his account.


    "Based on what the mercenary had seen, the powdered flowers were exposed in two different ways during the test. Skin contact would bring a rash and a sort of allergic reaction that made the body swell. It wasn''t necessarily deadly in this way...just really tormenting to the demon infected. The main issue is when the flower dust was breathed in...the demon died almost instantly. From the sound of it, they were working with explosives to make an aerosol of sorts for the bacterium to become airborne and spread easily. That''s all I know. I didn''t get any information that said they used it specifically on the City of Southern Wind.....but anyone with half a brain can connect the dots," Night finished up.


    "Well.....I still don''t believe it. Maybe you are just working with the Diego Family," the Phene Clan man said.


    The comment pissed Night off.


    "What don''t you believe? The Diego Family brought something from Earth that kills demons instantly.....what else is there to believe, you fucking idiot? Are you an expert that understands everything about Earth plants? Do I need to go steal one so you can take a breath and test it out? I''ll go hunt some down right now and cram it down your fucking throat," Night said threateningly to the man.


    He had lost his cool....not because his loyalty was questioned.....but because the man was trying to say he was a part of the Diego Family. He hated the Diego Family with his very being. The light in the chamber was dimming without Night even realizing it.


    "Alright. Calm down, Night," Roth Dreamwalker said looking around, "Is that all you have concerning the poison?"


    "Ya," Night said not worrying about trying to explain that it wasn''t exactly a poison again. It was going to be poison because these idiots couldn''t understand shit.


    "But everyone needs to focus on one thing I said. The bac....poison.....needs to be inhaled to be deadly to demons. You should all be fine as long as you don''t breath it in....and protect your skin to keep from getting a really bad rash," Night stressed with a little bit of anger still in his voice.


    "I also think the poison is how they are testing for demons," Night followed up. A drop of blood is probably mixed with the poison to see if there is a reaction.....if there a reaction then the person isn''t a demon. Easy enough," Night said, "and they could just touch something to everyone''s skin entering the city as a quick check."


    He had come to that conclusion when he had gone through the process of leaving and rentering Nazca City. The gate guards usually just dabbed a little dusty sponge on the backs of peoples'' hands as a test. And if there was an even slight uncertainty...the guards would pull the person to the side and get a bit of blood to mix with something for a test. Night had made a few assumptions about what was actually going on.....but he felt that he was probably a hundred percent right.


    After Night answered a few hours worth of questions, the meeting was closed and everyone was dismissed. Several people involved in the intel meeting were already setting up other meetings to go over the information. Night wasn''t was a fan of meetings so he conveniently bailed as soon as he had the opportunity.


    Before he could disappear, Roth pulled Night to the side. He was told to follow up in a few days to help clarify any other questions that may come up. Other than the commitment to answer questions, he really didn''t have any obligations and was just waiting until the path forward was determined. For now, Night could relax and start getting himself prepared for the upcoming conflict.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.


    ______________________________


    The next day, Night spent most of his time wandering around the City of Setting Sun. Since he had had no distractions while he was living alone at the inn, Night had made a few preparation plans of his own. If he was going to be going to war, Night wanted to increase his strength as much as possible.


    Over his journey from Manco Oasis to the City of Setting Sun, Night had a long time to ponder over his strengths and weaknesses. While he could handle himself just fine if he had planned and could take advantage of his strengths......he didn''t really have a lot of insurances if he were to encounter a stronger power or an unexpected attack. In consideration of his current power, Night decided to prioritize several things.....Mostly upgrading his equipment, increasing his own strength, and preparing for the unknown.


    His first order of business was to get his equipment upgraded....and even purchase some equipment that he never owned before. He had enough valuables now that he could buy the best of the best, but he knew these things would take the longest time to prepare. Night wanted to purchase some sort of armor. Nothing big and bulky that a typical soldier would wear, but something light and durable that would be good for stealth. For the armor and weapons upgrades, Night had visited a few separate blacksmiths earlier to place orders for the armor and a few extra sets of daggers.


    After he finished up with the blacksmiths, Night shifted his attention to get some item enhancements.


    Night wanted to enhance the matching set of five short swords that he had found at Piedra Oasis. He really liked the high-quality set of swords, but he didn''t really have a use for them himself. However, a particular idea crossed his mind when dealing with the three new Keres. The three women had been gladiators and were very dependant on weapons. Misery and Grief had always just fought barehanded or used whatever weapon they picked up from the fight. But Distress, Gloom, Sorrow, and Despair had all wanted their own weapons. Night had needed a place to keep the new bloodstones anyway, so he figured why not affix them to the handle of each of the short swords.


    Once Night arrived at the jewelsmith, he had also put forth another request. He wanted to get his current gauntlets and daggers upgraded to have some darkness stones on them. Anything that he could do to increase his strength....he wanted. And with the riches he gathered at Piedra Oasis, Night could practically do anything at this point.


    The jewelsmith was happy to take Night''s order....and a few handfuls of high-quality gems. So Night walked out of the place without his usual equipment. Night currently had no equipment, no gauntlets and no daggers.He felt a little naked without his trusted items, but he still had a few weapons stored in his storage rings. Those could give him a bit of protection until he got his trusted items back.


    ______________________________________


    Over the next couple of days, Night had gone around gathering supplies and shopping at all the supply shops, auction houses, and markets. He bought and traded for numerous items that were added to his storage rings. However, he quickly realized that one key item was missing.


    Night had decided that he had too many rings on his fingers and needed something more appropriate for his needs. After searching most of the city, Night had spent a considerable amount of money purchasing a significantly high-quality space ring for his finger. The one space ring had more storage space than his other 8 rings combined. Although it had cost him quite a lot, Night was happy with the acquisition.


    Because he worried about losing the ring, Night also purchased a few ''covert'' type space items, like special buttons for his shirt, that he could have as backup storage with emergency supplies. He was really the type of guy that would fall for all the gimmicky and novelty type items. Especially, one special item that he purchased from an oddball street vendor....a space stone tooth. The stone was made to fit perfectly in the spot of a missing tooth in the back of Night''s mouth. If for some reason Night was ever stripped of all his belongings, he knew that at least he could have a secret stash that no one would expect.


    ____________________________


    With a few weeks of waiting on his equipment, Night had also started the regrowth of his two missing fingers. The move was both aesthetic and practical. Night had found out on a few occasions that the grip on his knife wasn''t as sturdy in the hand with the missing fingers. He wanted to increase his strength with his knives.....and for that....he needed all of his fingers.


    Night had originally sought out some healers to see if he could get both his eye and fingers back. All of the healers said that they couldn''t help with the eye, but one healer had agreed to help heal his fingers. The old man had said that the treatment would need numerous visits and was painful. However, after the first visit, the old healer had told Night that his treatment wasn''t needed at all. Night could do it himself because of his Body of Recovery skill.


    Essentially, the method for regrowing the fingers was to cut off the healed flesh at the end of the finger and focus on growing the finger with his healing abilities. Each time this process was completed a millimeter of Night''s finger would grow back. So essentially, Night would have to reopen the wound on each finger around 30 times in order to get them to grow back. The process was painful, but Night had actually sat down with the old man and completed the entire process in one sitting. He had all his fingers again.


    Although the old man had been blown away by his ability, Night had completely slacked off on his body skills......and the body skills could offer him a quick boost in strength.


    With that realization, Night finally decided to hunt down methods of training the other body skills. If he could manage to cultivate his body to the point that he was a Demigod int the Truth of the Body.....well, he wouldn''t have to worry about typical physical harm for the most part. From his time on Earth, Night had studied three of the body skills but only succeeded in the Body of Recovery and Body of Strength.


    While he had been trapped in the Manco Oasis mines, Night had fully understood the Body of Defense but never trained it to completion because he lacked resources at the time. Now, he had all the resources that he needed to complete the skill. With that in mind, Night had completed the Body of Defense skill one night in his room in the inn. The Body of Defense process was pretty basic and was just incorporation of heavenly energy into his skin. While the finished product didn''t offer him much protection, Night would be slightly harder to cut with basic weapons.


    Since coming to Nibiru, Night hadn''t really strayed much outside of the Limim Clan libraries for information. To completely master the body cultivation set, he would need to find methods to cultivate the Bodies of Storage, Endurance, and Agility......and well, the Limim Clan was more worried about emotions then body skills.


    Night didn''t think he could find the human training manuals in a demon city.....but he knew for sure that he could probably find some demon assistance. The body skills of endurance and agility should be easy to find since they were pretty standard attributes. However, the storage skill might be a bit difficult. Night really couldn''t find many details on that one back on Earth....really just the name...and even that was vague.


    However, that wasn''t Night''s current problem.....his problem was that the best body cultivators in the City of Setting Sun were the Kimaris Clan.....and he had brutally killed one of their young promising stars when he had first gotten to the City....now he needed to get them to help him learn his missing body skills.

 Chapter 103: Special Commander

    At the meeting five days ago at the Countess'' Palace, Night had given Roth the location of the inn in order so that he could be notified if the demons needed additional information. At the Countess'' request, Night had been over to the Palace three times since then to answer questions.


    This morning, Night found another message waiting for him after he returned from his morning errands. The Countess was requesting his attendance at a planning meeting for an upcoming special event. Night knew that this ''special event'' was the upcoming attack on the City of Southern Wind, so he eagerly left the inn to go to the meeting.


    It only took him a short while to get to the Countess'' palace, so Night was slightly early for the meeting. However, the room was already filled with more than thirty people. From appearances, the other attendants seemed to be representatives from just about every group of demons....including some from the Cities of Northern Wind and Rising Sun. Night had assumed that this would be the main planning meeting for the demons'' offensive against the City of Southern Wind....and it looked like he was right.


    Looking around the room, Night saw a few familiar faces. One, in particular, caught Night''s interest.


    "Hello, Famine," Night whispered mentally at the fierce looking woman standing across the room.


    "Hello, Night," Famine said with a slight hint of a smile. She seemed to be in a good mood. From what Night had heard when he talked to her last. The number of survivors that had started to show up in the City of Setting Sun was significantly more than previously expected. The current strength of her clan should keep her family with at least a Baron Clan status. Since she had some certainty that the clan would continue on, her mood had been much more agreeable.


    "When we talked the other day, I forgot to tell you that you now have three new sisters. Distress got a bit carried away and adopted three gladiators to create the beginnings of her army," Night said mentally, "I will extend you the same warning that I have already given them. Do not take other souls to become Keres without my permission. Each Ker weighs on my own soul....and if there are too many, my soul could collapse and kill us all. You all need to have control when promoting others to your ranks."


    Mere Pazuza, otherwise known as Famine, was currently looking at Night across the room with wide eyes. The bit of information that he had revealed was a lot to take in at once. After a few seconds, the shock on the woman''s face receded and she broke her eye contact with Night.


    "I have brought the items you need," Famine said While looking off somewhere else, "I will give them to you after this meeting."


    Her words made Night really happy. over the last couple days, Night had an issue concerning his body skills cultivation. Luckily, Famine had contacted him through their mental connection to ask for some assistance with the manipulation on her blood body and revealed a bit of helpful information along the way.


    Since she did not spend as much time in Night''s soul space as the other Keres, Famine had basically had no time to practice shifting her appearance. Her blood body appearance had been based on her own self-perception, but she couldn''t easily modify the look. Night had brought her back into his soul space to teach her how to manipulate the blood body properly.


    During their meeting, Famine had mentioned her clan''s body skills. Her little comment had sparked a whole discussion about body skills since she had more general knowledge of demon cultivation and methods. To Night''s surprise, Famine actually had a few methods that fit in line with the body cultivation methods he needed. Night had been very grateful since he hadn''t really wanted to deal with the Kimaris Clan due to a past conflict.


    Although the Pazuza Clan had been aerial specialists, they functioned more like airborne knights than a flock of common warriors. Their place on the battlefield was more similar to aerial heavy infantry, so their body cultivation was just as important as weapon skills. After he asked, Famine had easily agreed to provide Night with the two demon body skills that her clan used to train themselves.


    These two skills fit into the Body of Agility and Body of Endurance categories. Night felt like his luck was pretty good. When Famine was describing the skills, she had said that the Pazuza Clan''s Agility and Endurance skills were of the highest class.....mostly because the Pazuza Clan had combined the two to give themselves agile flight for an extended amount of time. The Clan had actually worn heavy armor for aerial combat.....which was unlike any other demon clan....they practiced those skills to keep from getting worn out easily and to keep their movements quick. Most other flying demon clans only wore light armor...and all of them feared the Pazuza Clan.


    In addition to gaining the two skills, Night had also gotten a lead on the remaining body skill....the Body of Storage. This skill was practically mythical based on Famine''s description. Apparently, the skill would allow someone to store excess energies in their body for later use.


    However, the method was rumored to need strength in both the body and soul. Although there were rumors that the method existed, no one knew exactly what demon clan trained in the method. There were a few hints but no one knew for certainty due to secrecy. From the discussion, the Kimaris Clan didn''t have a method of cultivating this Storage skill. The lack of the skill was one of the reasons that their clan wasn''t one of the strongest demon factions. From the hints that Famine had shared, Night learned that he only had one option to try in the City of Setting Sun....The Dreamwalker Clan....and they might not even have the skill since everything was based on rumor.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.


    It had been an utter disappointment when Night learned that fact. He hadn''t spoken to Lili in days....and he had knocked her unconscious the last time they spoke. After a little consideration, he figured that she probably didn''t have access to the methods anyway. Although her father was from the Dreamwalker Clan, her mother was from the Limim Clan.....so he didn''t think that cultivation methods would be freely traded between the two. If Lili wasn''t an option, then Night''s only route would be her dad...Roth Dreamwalker.....and that may prove to be difficult. He would have to figure out a way to deal with his God level ''father-in-law.''


    A commotion in the meeting room brought Night out of his thoughts and back to the current situation. Everyone appeared to be present so the meeting was about to begin.


    The commotion was due to Countess Asta walking in front of everyone to address the group.


    "Thank you, everyone, for attending this meeting," the Countess opened her speech, "This meeting is solely about the planned efforts to attack the City of Southern Wind. The military advisors from the three cities have combed through the information that Night has given us as well as our own investigative information. With their knowledge, I believe that we have an excellent plan going forward."


    "We have verified Night''s information concerning the poison that was released in the City of Southern Wind. Since the flower poison needs to be inhaled to be deadly, several of our craftsman clans have worked together to develop a solution to that issue," the Countess announced as she pulled out what appeared to be several sets of mouthguards to pass around the group.


    From what Night could tell, the demons had developed a crude respirator mask that could be carried by soldiers to prevent exposure to the poison. It was a simple solution to the problem but should be one of the most effective.


    "The soldiers will each be issued one of these masks and the craftsmen are working around the clock in order to build the large amount that is needed. In regards to skin contact, the alchemists have developed a balm to place on the skin that can prevent an immediate reaction to the poison. Each soldier will be issued some of this balm to use on any exposed skin. While the masks and balm add a few logistical issues, I feel that this adequately protects the forces as we proceed forward."


    Night was impressed that the demons had both confirmed the problem and developed a solution so quickly.


    "Now, with those concerns addressed, I will be running through assigned tasks to each of your groups," the Countess announced.


    Over the next couple of hours, Night listened to the Countess give directions to everyone present in the meeting.....everyone except him. Most others realized this too and Night could feel a few eyes watching him while he waited for his turn.


    After waiting all this time, Night finally received the attention of the Countess.


    ''Maybe she is still mad over what happened with Lili,'' Night thought.


    "Night, you will be given a position of Special Commander in our forces," Countess Asta said Catching Night''s attention, "You are one of the individually strongest Demigods in our army and you have also proven that you can bring down a human oasis on your own. I would like for you to help clear a path for everyone on the way to the City of Southern Wind. The function will be similar to a scout. You can go ahead of the war party and weaken each oasis with your particular set of skills.....then return to the army to give them information that they can use to take down the oasis efficiently. Is this agreeable to you?"


    Night was quiet for a moment while he put his thoughts together. He didn''t mind being by himself at the tip of the spear....especially since this gave him some degree of freedom. But he needed to get a few concessions if he was going to proceed with this route.


    "I can do so under one condition," Night said in a manner that drew a few more glances from a few of the meeting attendees.


    "Speak," Countess Asta said. Night could tell she was a bit aggravated, but he didn''t care.


    "I would like to save as many of the human slaves as possible. If I completely destroy the oasis, you must promise that the freed slaves will not be harmed...to the best of everyone''s ability. They hate the Diego Family more than you do anyway and can add to the forces fighting against them. You won''t have to worry about them turning to fight for our enemy," Night said.


    "Why?," Countess Asta said, "Trying to build your own army?"


    There was a bit of sarcasm and assumption in her voice, so Night responded, "No. And even if I did then you would have my allegiance....I am your daughter''s mate after all."


    The response was a load of shit and they both knew it. Night decided to be honest. Lying to this woman would be ineffective.


    "I just think that these people deserve a chance at life. Have you ever lived as a slave? To kill them just because they are human is a bit much.....but if their behaviors don''t fall in line...then they can be sorted out," Night said making his stance known.


    He really didn''t care about the individual people that much, but he just felt that everyone deserved a fair chance after being set free.


    "I have spoken with Mere Pazuza and she has agreed that if the freed slaves can prove themselves to be responsible and work well with the demons, then the Pazuza Clan has no objection to them assuming the role of a Baron family in the City of Southern Wind once this is all over. This option makes me very happy...and being the strongest human on your side...this decision has my full support," Night said laying out the plans he had developed over the last couple of days,"If lumped together, the freed slaves could be an excellent benefit to recovering that City''s strength in the future."


    "We will consider your offer, but you request a lot for such a small task," the Countess said with an unpleasant look on her face. She seemed to be dismissing Night''s opinion.


    "It isn''t a small task. I will be the tip of your spear. I will not only cause trouble for these oases as the army approaches. I will deal with all of them myself....the army will not be slowed or weakened at all by the oases," Night finished up with his offer.


    "So you are saying that you will personally deal with each oasis on the route by yourself? If that''s the case, then I agree to your terms. However.....please remember....if you fail to take down an oasis by yourself, then the conditions do not apply and the lives of the slaves cannot be guaranteed," the Countess replied after an exchanging a few hushed words with Roth.


    "I can live with that condition, so I agree to your request," Night responded while cracking a smile, "So when do you plan on starting this attack?"


    "In five weeks," the Countess said," Everyone is dismissed to finalize your preparations."

 Chapter 104: Leaving for War

    Even though everyone else got five weeks to finish preparing for the war, Night only had four weeks to prepare himself. By agreeing to be at the forefront of the fight, he needed to leave early for several reasons. The main reasons were that he needed to scout an oasis, fight the occupants, and save as many slaves as possible...all before the demon war party showed up. Night had been sure of his ability when he made the commitment to lead the charge. However, he realized that he may have bitten off more than he could chew after fully reviewing the plans.


    The planned route for the demon army went through fifteen Diego Family oases. The route through the desert was sort of meandering and erratic. The war advisors had picked a route that let the demon army restock their supplies while maintaining a low key march through the desert. By the advisors'' estimations, the army''s travel between each of the oases would take about a week. With the long travel time, Night honestly didn''t think that the demons would be able to pull off a complete surprise attack, but the Countess had seemed certain that their army''s travels could be kept from the Diego Family''s watchful eyes.


    As far as his own preparations were concerned, Night would be done with gathering everything he needed in the first week. His upgraded weapons and armor we''re going to be ready two weeks before he needed to leave and his other basic supplies had already been gathered.


    Right now, supplies weren''t the most needed thing on Night''s list. He wanted more support for these upcoming oases attacks. He only had Grief and Misery with him for support. It would be great if more of his team were present for the upcoming fighting.


    Almost immediately after getting out of the planning meeting, Night had recognized the need and mentally sent word to Distress. Per Night''s instructions, she was responsible for sending the three new Ker warriors to meet him at one of the human oasis along his route. While Distress was fine with managing Manco Oasis by herself, she was very upset that she would miss out on the fighting in the oases and the City of Southern Wind. After a few assurances, Night convinced her that she would be able to make up any losses with future fights.....especially if the demons move toward Nazca City.


    Even though he arranged for Gloom, Despair, and Sorrow to join in on his trip, Night didn''t expect to see them until the fourth or fifth oasis attack. The reason for the meetup delay was mostly due to travel times differences between their different locations. The three Keres had to leave from Manco Oasis and begin the journey immediately in order to not miss out. Until the three arrived, Night would have to tackle the first couple of oases with just Misery, Grief, and himself. Since they were very familiar with fighting with each other, Night didn''t foresee any issues ahead of him.


    The only unaccounted for Ker was Famine. Although Night had wanted her to join in, Famine was currently playing the role of Mere Pazuza in organizing the survivors of the City of Southern Wind into a group fit for battle. Although it wasn''t apparent to others, she was trying to determine the appropriate successor of the Pazuza Clan. Much like an audition, she was assigning roles to those in her clan and constantly evaluating those that remained. However, one item she had failed to take into consideration was the propensities of a Ker. She leaned towards some of the more ruthless female survivors as favorites to take her place leading the clan.


    Night began to make his final preparations for the upcoming war. He needed to train. To get used to his new equipment. To get in the right mindset for the task ahead of him. So far, Night had been quite lucky along his way. Nothing had really challenged his bottom line in terms of actions taken against the Diego Family. However, he had a feeling that this route would test his resolve.


    Practically all oasis only housed adults. Families with children either sent their kids to boarding schools in the Nazca City or moved to the city themselves. That meant that practically everyone living in an oasis was either adults or old enough to at least fight. This approach of the Diego Family was mostly practical since oases served mostly as work locations and outposts. Night hadn''t handled the loss of people he considered innocents too well when the slaves uprose in Manco Oasis. The losses of the nurses that had cared for him and the incident with Grief.....had been pushed to the back of his mind. However, he knew that he would have to deal with the consequences of his desire to take revenge against the Diego Family. He couldn''t help himself from thinking about the realities of battle.....and the devastation that waging a full out war would cause.....both the people involved and his own psyche.


    _________________________________


    Three Weeks Later.


    Over the last couple of weeks, Night had been distracting himself by focusing on finalizing his preparations and mastering the two body skills that he had gotten from Famine. The Pazuza Clans method for training in both the Body of Agility and Body of Endurance were very straight forward and were simply heavy weight training. But it definitely wasn''t normal weight training.


    As a standard approach, the Pazuza Clan wore custom armor that equally weighted down their body parts and restricted movement. The demon clan''s training perspective was basic.....if your body can move like normal under an extream load, then you will develop the agility needed to react quickly and the endurance needed to handle the heavy load.


    Night had laughed his ass off when he first read the short manuals. He probably could have figured this shit out on his own. However, he quickly realized the trouble of training with this method. He needed heavy body weights to train. If he was a normal person, he could have just used the standard equipment that the Pazuza Clan trained in. However, Night had already mastered the Body of Strength and was a peak level Demigod...getting training weights that weren''t bulky or too light was a difficult task. It actually took him a whole week and almost a quarter of his resources to find a blacksmith with the materials and skill to make him some special weights.


    Once he got the weights, Night had cursed himself for laughing at the training. Although the method was simple, it was very, very strenuous on the body. The key to the agility training was to increase strength without bulking up while losing the gained agility. This training involved moving around rapidly while wearing the training weights......and keeping the focus on the muscles as they moved to concentrate heavenly energy in the appropriate locations.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    The best training method that Night had found was to go out of the city and into an isolated spot in the desert......then have Misery and Grief fight him while he was wearing the weights. While he was under the suppression of the weighted armor, Night''s strength and speed were actually lower than the two women. It had been some time since Night had felt at a great disadvantage in battle and he took the opportunity to also train his blade skills.


    This state of constant training was very agreeable to Night. He liked the distraction that it played to his mind. It was hard to be stressed out over the upcoming war when he was so focused on training. Since he had so much time to himself, he made sure not to slack off in any of his training. In addition to practicing his knife work and the body training, Night had spent a good bit of time considering his entire cultivation path.


    From just about everyone that he had met along the way, Night was different in the route he pursued. Most humans and demons would focus entirely on one route to improve themselves. Take Lili for example. She was entirely devoted to the Truth of Emotion. She didn''t train with weapons beyond the basics and she wasn''t concerned about body cultivation at all. Actually, she wasn''t the oddball for focusing on one method......Night was extremely odd for spreading himself all over the place. He cultivated in an elemental based Truth of Darkness, a soul-based Great Truth of Reality, a weapon based Truth of the Knife and a body based Truth of the Physical Body. If any individual Truth were looked at, he would be considered weaker than most Demigods.....but when his four Truths were added together, Night actually exceeded the strength of most peak Demigod level experts.


    However, he would never be considered at the top of the food chain on this planet until he broke through to the God realm. And his quickest route to the God realm was to focus on cultivating his Truth of Darkness to the absolute peak. He only had two more Concepts to comprehend until he would be close to the God level......the Concept of Doom and the Concept of Retribution.


    In consideration of his future training, Night had issues with planning his path to develop these two concepts.....well particularly the Concept of Doom......the Concept of Retribution was relatively easy.


    The Concept of Retribution was based on a counterattack skill that helped return some of the physical damage dealt with an opponent. Training this skill actually fit in very well with Night''s fighting with Misery and Grief. Since he was slightly at a disadvantage in the fights, he was getting hit pretty frequently....and constantly executed the skill to respond to attacks.....and usually looked like an idiot doing so. When Night used the skill, he would feel the direction of the hit''s impact and respond by using that momentum to redirect the blow and counterattack.


    While it sounds simple, the process was very difficult and essentially required the user to develop an instinctual reaction to being hit in a particular manner. His failure in this technique caused most of his pain and embarrassment in the general sparring with Grief and Misery. Night''s only guess was that the reaction required to create the concept needed to be developed over time......to the point that the reaction became second nature.


    Unlike the Retribution Concept, training in the Concept of Doom was much more difficult. The Concept of Doom was trained using the Doom Skill that helped give the user a sense of threats around him. Night had originally thought this skill was similar to soul perception, so he hadn''t really focused his attention on it. That said, Night had used this skill a few times with mixed results and was actually a bit uncertain on its usefulness. He had originally thought that this might be a soul based skill. However, when he used the skill....he didn''t feel the use of his soul energy at all. Actually, he only felt a slight tug of elemental energy.


    Upon further investigation, this Doom skill seemed to rely on something else entirely and he wasn''t sure what exactly was going on. The skill would stay activated for hours once executed, so Night would constantly keep using the skill to better understand what was happening. However, he didn''t have luck figuring out the Doom Skill until he had an unlucky day.


    One morning, Night had executed the Doom skill and immediately felt an unease that wouldn''t go away. He initially disregarded the feeling but found the sensation got worse as the day continued. Despite the bad feeling, the day went by smoothly........until Night had a brief violent encounter with Lili at the Countess'' Palace. That incident had ended with a knife in Night''s side and a big hubbub at the Countess'' palace.


    Lili had managed to play sweet to get close to Night after they ran into each other in a hallway. Night had paid the price by assuming she was actually being sweet......Lili''s had rammed a knife into his side the second she got close enough. If Night wouldn''t have had the uneasy feeling from the Doom Skill, he wouldn''t have gotten off as easily as he did......with only a light stab wound that healed in a few minutes time.


    Once the incident was over, Night''s unease disappeared and he felt normal again. The whole ordeal had completely messed with Night''s mind. His mental strain wasn''t because of Lili or the fact that he got stabbed......it was this weird skill that almost seemed to give him a premonition that something bad would happen in the future. He didn''t quite understand much of how this skill was working......and he wasted an entire day failing to find some supporting literature in the Limim Clan library....although he finally realized the significance of the skill, he was left with a mystery of how the result was actually brought about.


    The only beneficial outcome of Lili''s attack was that her father had to get involved with the situation. The woman was ridiculously obsessed with cultivating her anger.....and it wasn''t healthy for anyone. When her father had shown up at the scene, she had even angrily confronted him. Night was actually thankful that he had shown up to deal with her mess...and Lili had continued on with her tirade.....when she felt like she was ignored, Lili smacked her father causing herself to get locked up in a holding cell in the Countess'' Palace.


    Slyly, Night had used the incident to get a little bonding time in with his ''father-in-law''. While he was certainly done with the relationship with Lili, Night still needed to get some information concerning the Body of Storage from Roth Dreamwalker. Anything he could do to get in the man''s good graces would be beneficial.


    _______________________________________________________________


    Today was Night''s last day in the City of Setting Sun. Reflecting on his time in the City of Setting Sun, Night wasn''t sure if he would ever return to this place. Even if he survived this war, Night had no real reason to return. Lili was all but forgotten at this point and Night didn''t have anything else attaching him to the place. Night riding on Khepri across the desert towards his first oasis. The army was traveling across the desert about five days behind him. That means, he would need to have each oasis taken care of in three days time. Considering how well he handled the Piedra Oasis, Night thought that this shouldn''t be an issue.


    Riding on the back of the flying insect, Night took out a map to examine the planned path across the desert. The armies from the three cities had planned to meet up at this first oasis based on its location, so Night felt some pressure on himself. If he failed on this first one....everyone would have a bad opinion of him from the start.

 Chapter 105: Destroyer

    Four weeks after leaving the City of Setting Sun. In a small oasis town of the Diego Family.


    Blood flowed down short swords held by three winged women warriors. This oasis was the first that Night had attacked during the daytime. He wanted to see the full extent of his group''s power to gauge their exact abilities. The last three oases that were taken over were done solely by himself, Misery and Grief........at nighttime......and relying on his strongest power over souls. But Night knew that he couldn''t always rely on ideal conditions......and since the three Keres had shown up today.....he figured why not give everyone a test. In the darkness of night, his group was practically unstoppable.....but in the day, even Night had some issues to deal with while fighting to the peak of his ability....he wanted to see just how well they could perform.


    At this point, Night had destroyed three Diego Family oases successfully. He hadn''t had any issues so far. Two of the oases were even destroyed without even lifting a finger. Theses smaller oases had such weak manpower that Night had simply blanketed the town in his soul perception and ripped the souls out of the bodies of everyone from those two branch clans of the Diego Family. Although he felt that he had the strength to attack like this repeatedly, the end result completely defeated his goals of using these oases as training grounds for the Keres and himself. At least the few slaves that were saved seemed to be thankful for the smooth transition.


    A boom sounded out from within a nearby building and a body went flying across the sands to land outside the town at Night''s feet resting on the dune. Grief''s sand covered body was a mangled heap but was quickly reassembling itself.


    "Do you need help?," Night asked as he looked at the bloody mess.


    "No. I can take care of this pervert by myself," Grief said emotionlessly as she shakily stood up and threw herself back into the air towards one of the three demigods that ruled over this oasis.


    The collision between the Grief and the demigod cause another set of booms to ring out over the oasis town.


    With a woosh of wind, Misery appeared next to Night.


    "Done already?," Night asked as he looked over the vampiric looking woman.


    "Damn. Do you doubt me? Why wouldn''t I be able to handle him that quick? It was only a Level 4 Demigod. Those at that level do not cause me any issues anymore," Misery said as her eyes shifted to the three other Keres currently fighting it out with a group of soldiers, "Looks like they are having fun."


    "Sorry," Night said as his eyes moved over to Sorrow, Despair, and Gloom.


    Even though they hadn''t quite gotten to the Demigod level in strength....they were absolutely ruthless on the battlefield. Night estimated that the three women could take on around fifty peak foundation stage fighters with ease. Judging by their progression so far, they would probably go into hibernation to advance to demigod level after this fight.


    "Go keep an eye on Grief''s fight. That Demigod seems to be quite strong.....a Level 5 demigod that specializes in defense," Night said as he reached out with his perception to keep tabs on what was happening in the oasis.


    Misery had actually already killed the other two of the demigods while Grief was still fighting it out, so he put her to work to safeguard Grief''s fight.


    The three sisters were steadily hacking away at the town''s guards. Night couldn''t be more pleased with how the customized short swords had worked out for the group. Because the Keres'' own bloodstones were encased in each sword, they were relatively safe from harm in battle. In a fight, the Keres could move the bloodstone throughout their bodies.....it didn''t have to be in any one particular location. So in making the swords for his dedicated warriors, Night had designed a reinforced port to hold the stone during battle. Even if the Ker warrior''s body was completely destroyed, the bloodstone housing their soul would be safe inside the weapon and they could quickly regenerate.


    Pleased with his creations, Night continued watching the oasis battle like an overseer. He was very happy with the way that his Keres were progressing, Night stood on a nearby sand dune trying to figure out his own direction forward. He had reached a plateau where he wasn''t progressing in his own cultivation very fast. He needed something to change.


    __________________________________________


    Ten weeks after leaving the City of Setting Sun. The ninth oasis attacked.


    The five Keres were swarming above the oasis town like vultures waiting for a kill. Everyone else in the oasis was already dead...everyone except the group of about 50 freed slaves that had congregated in one of the sturdier buildings for shelter.


    Night twirled his knives in his hands as he battled against three demigods by himself. He was huffing and puffing.....and very exhausted. He had decided to join in on the fighting.....while wearing his full heavyweight training armor. He needed to push himself to the max in order to complete the basics of the endurance and agility body skills.


    "You damned demons," one of the demigods screamed, "I will make sure you pay a price for attacking this oasis. He pulled a canister out of his storage ring and tossed it into the air. With an explosion as haze descended upon the oasis.


    Night held out his hand as the atomized powder landed in his palm and said, "Amazon water lily."


    "You demons will all die," the demigod laughed maniacally before realizing that something was wrong, "Why aren''t you dying?"


    "Who said I was a demon?," Night said as he appeared next to the distracted man pushing one of his knives into the man''s awaiting neck.


    Night turned to the other two demigods standing in shock nearby and immediately reached out with his soul strength to knock them unconscious. This exploding poison bomb was a new development, so Night wanted some more information....it had been a while since he interrogated someone.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    ______________________________


    After the ninth oasis battle was settled and another branch family was eliminated, Night had allowed the freed slaves to spend a couple of days recharging themselves on the resources left in the oasis. Night kind of enjoyed watching the rapid advancement of the freed slaves take place once their slave collars were removed. This oasis had yielded quite a pretty interesting surprise.


    The surprise was that Night had actually found two slaves that he recognized from the Carmine Family. These two men were guards that he had frequently seen around the Carmine house when he was dating Karine. Night had played on a story that he had once met a dying slave named David from the Carmine Household. In a promise to the man, he said that he would check on the status of some of his friends from Earth if ever given a chance. The story must have been believable because the two men had given Night an update of everything back on Earth.


    The men had only left Earth about three months after David had disappeared. However, those three months had been pretty intense. A week after David had gone missing, Mr. Lester had also disappeared. His disappearance had really hit a nerve with some people that had connections to him and Mr. Carmine. A conflict broke out inside the Carmine Family on Earth. Because of the disappearances, an intense investigation was launched by several private individuals and the Diego Family''s slave trade operation was completely unearthed as a result. All sorts of hostilities broke out between groups on Earth because of this event. The men didn''t really know the status of everyone but they understood that despite all the chaos.....Mr. Carmine had managed to arrange for Karine and Sonia to take a trip to The Other to move in with the rest of the family.


    Although this information did give Night some relief on his friends'' safety, he was also very excited to have a confirmation that the supply of slaves had been cut off from Earth. If no more slaves were coming in, the Diego Family would really be hurting for workers sooner or later.


    __________________________________________


    Ten and a half weeks after leaving the City of Setting Sun. The ninth conquered oasis town.


    An average height man stood amongst a group of demons in a recently conquered oasis town. Some of the demons looked at Night with a bit of fear, others held respect....and a few looked at him like he was just plain odd. His outer layer of clothes was covered in blood to the level that some of the fabric was beginning to stiffen. He had decided to get an update from the demon army.....so instead of leaving the day after his victory in order to wait for the advancing troops. Night wanted to discuss a few things....he had done this a few times before without any delay.


    "They have made the poison portable in small grenades. It is easy enough to deploy that it would definitely cause problems," Night said to the group of demons.


    "I have also run into two groups of patrolling soldiers between the last two oases. They weren''t large but that shows that some activity is increasing," Night said as he discussed his recent issues with Roth Dreamwalker.


    "Since we are getting closer to the City of Southern Wind, the Diego family scouts must have finally caught wind of our advance," Roth said as he paced back in forth in a makeshift command center set up in a building at the newly conquered oasis, "I will start sending out scouts ahead of us to make sure they aren''t leading a full army to meet our advance."


    "Yep, they seem to have caught on," Night said while moving his head in agreement, "I will travel with your group for most of the way from now on to make sure things go smoothly. I will only break away right before we reach the oases."


    "We do not need your protection," Roth said with an odd tone to his voice. The demon army did have four Gods present in its'' ranks. The demon command had been surprised that Night was able to successfully achieve what he had promised weeks ago. His eccentric behaviors and his appearance had also puzzled them.....he looked like a blind beggar.


    Every now and then.......When the demon army arrived at an oasis, Night would be waiting for them with a group of freed slaves patiently waiting to help out the advancing demon army. Each time they saw Night his appearance would slightly change too.....he looked stronger was the best way to put it.


    "I am not going for your protection," Night said with a smile, "I am at the precipice of mastering a few skills.....and I don''t want you taking a good fight away from me."


    Roth looked at Night for a second before he asked out of curiosity, "Just how strong are you now?" Roth had asked this question every time the two met recently.


    "Clear everyone from the room and we can talk," Night responded casually.


    Everyone was taken off guard. Most of the demons in charge had realized that Roth had grown increasingly interested in Night''s strength after each of their meetings along this route. Since all preparations for the advance to the next oasis were made, they quickly piled out of the room leaving only Night and Roth behind.


    "I''ll answer your questions....if you give me a hint at something I have been wondering," Night said.


    "Ask first," Roth responded simply.


    "I am currently training in a few body skills. I have heard that your family is familiar with the Body of Storage skill.....and all I want is a hint to point me in the right direction...I don''t want your family secrets.....I know that I don''t have anything valuable enough to trade for that kind of info...just a hint to help me figure out on my own," Night said with a grin.


    Roth tensed at Night''s question. He hadn''t expected that sort of question.


    Just as Roth was about to respond, a sudden commotion could be heard from the room outside. Both Roth and Night turned to the door as two soldiers came bursting into the room.


    "Sir, the scouts have found a group of about 500 human soldiers under the Diego Family''s banner marching toward this oasis. At least 4 demigods. They should be here in about thirty minutes," the lead soldier relayed.


    "Send some troops out to deal with them," Roth said quickly.


    "Wait," Night interrupted, "No point in risking exposure to those poison grenades. I''ll go deal with it. Your army can watch the show....tell them to observe how the grenades are used in combat....and consider this my answer to your question. Remember, I don''t need a lot of details on the skill.....just point me in the right direction."


    Without waiting on a response, Night turned and started walking out of the door. He wasn''t doing this entirely out of his own good. The three newest Keres had just awoken after breaking through to the Demigod level....so Night wanted to use this platoon of Diego Family soldiers as a tool to give them a boost. He wanted them at their peak condition for the upcoming battle in the City of Southern Wind....and things seemed to be getting more troublesome as they approached.


    Night walked up to the top of the oasis walls next to an entire regiment of demon soldiers observing the group of human soldiers on the other side. There was a human military battalion of at least 500 men standing in formation in front of the oasis walls.


    As Night started walking out towards the troops, he could hear a few men on the wall talking about him.


    "Did you hear? That guy over there is called the Destroyer. He laid waste to nine oases by himself," a man said as he stood at attention within the demon ranks.


    "Ya, I heard that he is vicious on the battlefield and even has some wicked women that fight at his side. Those freed human slaves talk about those women as if they are demons," the other man said.


    Night turned and looked back up at the wall. With a bit of power in his voice, he said, "They are not demons. They are not humans. They are Keres."


    Then he smiled up at the demons on the wall as blood started to pour out of his eye.

 Chapter 106: Keres

    Most of the demon soldiers were taken back by the sight of blood pouring out of Night''s eye, but he didn''t even lose a beat in his stride as he turned around to face the approaching Diego Family troops. Night unsheathed the three short swords on his side and stabbed them in the sand in front of him.


    "Grief," Night said mentally and a second later something appeared in the sky above him. The winged creature landed next to him sending sand flying everywhere. The demon soldiers standing on the wall were startled by the woman''s sudden appearance. They hadn''t noticed her patrolling the sky above. At almost the same moment, the blood from Night''s eye stopped flowing and the sexy silhouette of a woman began to appear next to him.


    Over the course of fighting against the small oases, Night''s whole crew had gained tremendous strength. The Keres has gained strength and Night had gained strength through the Keres. The information that Nox had given Night was a hundred percent accurate...Keres thrived in a bloody battle. Misery and Grief were already approaching the higher levels of Demigod strength from the months of battle so far. The three newest Keres had already advanced to the lower level of Demigod strength.


    As the women stood at his side, Night didn''t even glance their way as the shadow of darkness spilled out from his eye to engulf the enemy soldiers in an eerie shade. As he exerted his darkness elemental energy, he felt an odd feeling of concern wash over him. Something didn''t seem quite right.


    "Kill them all," Night said as he brushed the feeling aside and continued to steadily walk toward the incoming troops. He needed to stay on his toes.....the Doom skill seemed to be letting him know something wasn''t right.


    Misery and Grief moved forward picking up the swords stuck in the sand in front of Night.


    At this time, the Diego Family troops weren''t just waiting to be attacked. They had assumed battle formations and were fully prepared for an assault. Some long ranged elemental attacks flew up in the air from the group and headed straight towards Night and the two Keres.


    Seeing the attacking army, Grief and Misery squatted down in an odd pose. Then, with a sudden movement....the two Keres launched themselves into the sky.


    The Diego soldiers were instantly put on alert and were staring at the sky.


    "Fools," Night said as he realized that the soldiers weren''t paying him any attention, "Do they not have anyone keeping them in line?"


    Seeing the soldiers in slight disarray, Night pulled out two blades from his storage ring and disappeared on the spot.


    An instinct that Night had picked up during his recent fighting was communicating with the Keres through the shared mental link between their souls. So on a battlefield, they could constantly communicate with each other to strategize and influence the battle. For this particular battle, Night had decided that he would like to attack first. He needed the training....he was so close to a breakthrough in the two body skills.


    A few of the soldiers in front seemed to notice him, so Night reached out with his perception towards the front row of the soldiers. Once his perception was about three rows deep, Night exerted the power of his soul. It was like tens of invisible hands grabbed hold of the souls of the soldiers at the front of the formation and squeezed. The movement of the enemy''s approaching formation stopped. Some men fell to the ground screaming out in terror as Night warped their mental state by using his pressure on their souls.


    However, the screams and fallen men were soon bypassed by their comrades. The march toward the oasis town continued.


    ''Seems like that isn''t going to slow them down much,'' he thought as he could hear the shouts from some enemy commander yelling at the men to start moving again. With a hard squeeze, Night destroyed the leading soldier''s souls and felt a wash of their energy pass through him and into his own soul. From an observer, it looked like the entire front three lines of the soldiers collapsed dead on the spot.


    When Night had performed this killer move, he felt another odd hint of dread in the air. He was getting kind of nervous now. With a flex of his soul strength, he spread out his soul perception some more but didn''t see anything out of sorts. So, he continued forward.


    As the frontline collapsed, Night took out a pair of knives and threw them forward into the crowd of soldiers. The blades spun at rapid speed and headed into the awaiting group.


    "Now," Night said mentally to the Keres at the moment that the knives met the soldiers. The soldiers'' attention was drawn to the attack from the front..... and in that split second of distraction....the Keres launched their attacks from above. The three short swords came crashing down from above penetrating the skulls of three Demigod soldiers in the formation. They were dead instantly.


    The other soldiers were caught off guard but quickly began stabilizing their formation from the attack. However, the blood that seeped out of the three demigods was slowly forming into three identical looking women. Before anyone realized what was happening, Sorrow, Despair and Gloom had fully formed and were wielding their swords and bodies into the crowd of soldiers. It was also at that point that Misery and Grief descended to attack again from above.


    The five women mowed down the Diego Family soldiers like they were blades of grass. What was surprising to the demons watching on the walls was that the Keres did not just fight with weapons. Their bodies were manipulated to give them razor-like talons on their hands and feet that was used to slice into the enemy. Their wings were also as sharp as razors and sliced through the soldiers with only the slightest touch. They could understand why the other humans would think that they were demons...these fierce women looked every bit the part of an airborne demon warrior.


    Night strode forward into the battle to retrieve his knives. He was no longer focused on training and was trying to figure out why his Doom skill kept giving him a warning. He decided to be a bit safer in his movements and exerted some of his concepts. The soldiers here were not a threat to him as his visage twisted and phased between shadow and a morphed reality. In his battles, a tactic that he had developed was a fluctuation of his Shadow and Presence concepts. The fluctuation of the concepts took some practice to get right initially, but he had mastered their use to the point that he looked like a mirage as he moved through the battlefield. His opponents wouldn''t be able to figure out where he was or how he was moving.


    Under a normal situation, Night wouldn''t have used most of this power in a battle of this scale. He would have just let the Keres fight it out. However, he had felt unease since he first cast the Doom Skill today and it was steadily getting worse. He had a feeling that something seemed off, but he couldn''t quite figure it out.


    After he picked up his knives from a pile of dead bodies, Night watched the Keres'' massacre without even flinching. Every now an then he would move forward and attach with his knives but most of the time he seemed to be observing the Keres. When Gloom had her arm cut off by a soldier, Night was there immediately to give her the second she needed to recover. When Grief was surrounded by a group of ten men, Night attacked from behind to break the entrapment. The Keres lead the main attack and Night was the support.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.


    Just when everything seemed to be going well, Night felt an intense threat wash over him and became highly alert. He still hadn''t felt anything with his soul perception but this feeling was not good.


    "Retreat," Night said mentally to the Keres....he wasn''t going to risk it anymore...something was wrong and he wanted to figure out what was happening.....and then he caught a glimpse of something moving at his feet and reacted to protect himself. Night pulled up both knifes in front of his chest and head in a cross guard.....the knives resting against his gauntlets in a downward position. With one of the hardest hits he ever felt, Night was sent flying into one of the oasis'' buildings by an impact that crushed half of his body.


    With a boom, three men erupted from the sands from beneath the current fight.


    "Kill the demons," the man in the middle shouted, "Let''s get this over with."


    The two other men launched themselves forward each with a set of poison grenade canisters in their hands. The canisters went flying above the town and exploded....causing dust to settle down from the sky.


    As this was going on, Night was bloody, broken and semiconscious lying under a pile of rubble. He had looked so cool earlier as he charged out to fight the Diego Family troops...now he was a defeated heap laying amongst the rubble of a building. Despite the pain of his physical condition, Night''s soul perception was running full out in order to see if another attack was coming.


    Luckily, everyone had seemed to forget about him as he lay crumpled under the sandy bricks of the building. Once he realized that he wasn''t under imminent threat, Night started checking up on his Keres. They were all fine for the moment.


    "Misery, how are things going on out there?," Night asked with some concern as he started mentally shifting through his storage devices to locate some healing medicines. His Body of Recovery was working.....but nowhere near as fast as it needed to right now.


    "Three really strong guys appeared and attacked the demon army inside the oasis. Two of them are using those grenades to try to kill the demons off quickly," Misery responded.


    "Ha ha....they have no idea that they are messing with an army that has a few Gods and high-level demon soldiers that are already prepared for their poison," Night laughed before getting serious. He mentally connected with both Misery and Grief, "Come near me just in case we need to get out of here though."


    The feeling of dread from his Doom Skill was completely gone. He felt that he had made it past the worst part. Night didn''t really know how strong that attack had been. He had managed to get his arms and knives up to defend against the attack in time, but he hadn''t been able to handle the strength of the hit. He knew both his arms were broken for sure.....and probably a few ribs.


    "Night, it is getting pretty fucking hardcore out here. The guy that hit you is fighting with Roth and shit is getting crazy. What do we need to do?," Gloom asked with a bit of concern in her voice.


    ''Fuck....no wondering I am hurting....I took a hit from a God,'' Night thought to himself as he downed a healing potion that he had stored away.


    "Keep yourselves safe. Kill enemies if you can. Leave if you need to. Misery and Grief are coming to dig me out of this mess. They will let you know if more support is needed," Night relayed.


    "Found your body, Night," Misery said, "You are pretty busted up, but you don''t look like you are dying."


    Night couldn''t feel a damn thing.


    "The healing medicine is working, but it should take a while before you can move around again. What do you want us to do?," Misery asked.


    "Keep protecting my body. Move me if you have to. My safety is paramount," Night said before saying, "Since you are watching over me....let me help out with this situation."


    He reached out with his soul perception and could see hundreds of glowing soul orbs throughout the area. The Gods'' orbs were like brightly burning stars while everyone else''s seemed to be the same as typical.


    From his perception he could tell, the three demon gods were fighting it out with the other three men that showed up. From Night''s guess, the man that hit him was a God. The other two men did not appear to be as strong....they looked to be peak Demigods.


    "That Diego Family God is pretty strong in the defense department and the two peak Demigods are wonderful at support. The demon Gods are not entirely into the attack. They seem to be using this as a test of how the poison and the masks are working....they are not taking any risks at the moment and are just holding the God back," Night said to the Keres.


    After thinking about the situation, Night decided to help out.


    "Misery and Grief, go, double team, one of those supporting peak Demigods. Kill them if you can. If the God shows you any attention, then leave," Night ordered.


    "Gloom, go get the freed human slaves out of their hiding place and tell them to help out with whatever they can," Night followed.


    "Despair and Sorrow, stay near me in case someone realizes that I am the one behind what is about to happen," Night said mentally.


    The Keres did their jobs as ordered.


    Night reached out with his soul perception and started crushing the soul orbs of the enemy troops in rapid succession. He had originally not wanted to use this strength, but he needed to make sure this situation was under control. If the demon gods weren''t going to fully risk themselves in a fight with another God, then Night would try to give them the push they needed to get the job done.


    With a flex of his strength, Night destroyed the souls of all of the foundation stage troops and almost half of the demigod stage troops of the Diego Family. Over 300 of the 400 remaining troops collapsed to the ground.....dead in an instant. With the killing of the soldiers, Night felt a wash of soul energy build up in his soul. He had so much soul energy he felt like he was going to explode.


    Sitting on the ground in his soul space, Night felt like he needed to expend some of the energy. He focused on one of the peak level Demigods supporting the Diego Family God in battle. With a push of his intent, Night focused that excess soul energy to brush aside the Demigod''s soul defenses...and he ripped into the man''s soul with his own strength.


    As Night completed his attack, one of the supporting demigods stopped moving and fell to the ground. The unexpected collapse of their comrade startled the two other men. This second of distraction gave both the demon Gods and the two Keres a chance to attack. Almost as if timed perfectly, the four demon Gods launched simultaneous attacks that the Diego Family God couldn''t stand up to at all. The God''s body was blown to pieces by the multiple attacks.


    Misery and Grief had actually made short work of the remaining peak Demigod once the shock of the God''s defeat became apparent. The two women celebrated their kill along with the rest of the demons cheering on the victory. Because Night had been the only one directly attacked, the demons made out very well during this fight....no one was lost, no supplies were lost, and all the enemies were defeated. It was amazing to most of them.


    The spontaneous battle in the oasis town was actually quite beneficial to the demon''s efforts in this war. The Diego Family God had walked himself right into a trap of his own making and was killed. Based on Night''s knowledge, the God that was killed was not one of the newly advanced brothers.....but the stronger Level 2 God that was one of the original three in Nazca City. Since this man was dead, the demon army only had to worry about two Level 1 Gods in their retaking of the City of Southern Wind.


    The demon army had also survived their first encounter with the toxin that could kill them instantly. No one died from the poison, but a few did get skin exposures that were being treated.


    Despite his bodily injuries, Night had also received some benefit from the unexpected battle. He had advanced to a Level 2 Demigod in the Truth of the Knife when he used the Defend Skill to attempt blocking the God''s attack. The Keres had also progressed really well. All of them managed to get a brief taste of a God''s blood from the pieces scattered about..... which had a wonderful effect on their cultivation.


    Regardless of everything great that happened, Night still felt like shit. He was currently being carried by Misery with the demon army as they advanced forward to the City of Southern Wind. His body was so broken that he was going to need a good amount of time to heal. But with his resources.....he would be back to his full strength by the time he got the City of Southern Wind.....hopefully.