《The Will to Move》
1 - Valley of Limbo
"Welcome, welcome indeed!" A man ontop of a cliff said casually, but his words were heard all over the dark, rocky valley.
''Ah?'' I was confused and almost to the point of maddeningly dizzy. For a moment I thought I was seeing hallucinations. The blue sky had ceased to exist in the range and molten rock spires as walls surrounded the large crowd of different looking humans all in white robes.
"It seems that a large scale destruction caused by the demon god Omh has led you all here, onto the Valley of Limbo. I am the valley''s guardian and an archangel, Kre''ser." Said the man on the cliff as my dizziness wore off. He was dressed in black-golden crystal armor with smooth silver metal edges. But the more important questions were...
''Valley of Limbo? Archangel? What the fuck?'' I thought. This was a first time experience and terrifying, but my heart did not waver.
"Do not panic, and don''t worry, you are not able to, but you are dead. This is the path of reincarnation. The limbo decides whether you are good or evil, whether you are able to reincarnate or not. Those who are deemed evil are to be in forever servitude in the caves beneath the spires." Said the archangel.
''Good or evil? I haven''t experienced such idiocy in days. There is only your ideal of justice which you use to determine what is good and what is bad.'' I expressed my thoughts on the situation to myself. I somewhat wanted to let the ''limbo'' know what I thought of it, if it could read my mind.
"Now, show these spawns your light, O'' mighty God!" Yelled the archangel and raised his left hand into the sky. An octagram shaped pure light pillar appeared above the cluster of people. It blinded everyone, including me. I looked down and put my hand above my eyebrows to cover the immense amount of light surging into my eyes. Suddenly I saw a man left to me glow in cyan and vanish into the pillar the next moment. The woman right to me glowed in red and was pulled down into the depths of the cold ground. One joyed, the other agonized. I still couldn''t panic even with the intense feeling of fear inside me.
The valley was now not only covered in pure light from the pillar, but also cyan and red from the people who were judged. It was like seeing tens of thousands torches lit up over the course of 30 minutes. I closed my eyes in hopes of averting the fate that awaited me.
After the light faded away, I relaxed my hand and opened my eyes. I was still in the same place, but nobody was around. Not even the archangel. I was sure that I would be judged as evil for my wickedness, but I wasn''t even deemed good?!
''A glitch?'' I thought. Something was definitely off, but I didn''t waste my time waiting for the next pillar to arrive or the next archangel. I started walking around the valley and to my surprise, the valley was colossal. It wasn''t easy to see earlier with the thick crowd of thousands around me.
In hopes of finding something other than rocks, I took strides towards the cliff which the archangel stood upon.
''What kind of an angel doesn''t have wings?'' It bugged me if I didn''t get the answer to that.
"Different conceptions bring conflict" A voice spoke in my head, it had no clear vocal range and sounded odd. It had no characteristics.
''Are you Limbo?'' I talked in my head once again.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
"No" It said. I stopped walking and suddenly felt the huge amount of emotions course through myself in an instant. All the stress that built up because of the events made me weak and I fell on my knees, my whole body trembling.
"Unwanted state of calm removed" It was too much to bear so I passed out instinctively.
The cold ground woke me up. My body shivered until I opened my eyes and jumped up to be cautious. I didn''t feel any part of my body freezing anymore.
''What is happening to me?!'' I didn''t like what has happened up to now, but I am glad I haven''t died yet. The built up stress disappeared aswell, but I am still in the valley. I remembered about the voice in my head, but I decided not to call it out because I feared that something dangerous might happen again. So I continued with my task of walking towards the cliff.
On the way I thought about death. What it means to die and if this is the afterlife.
Hour and a half passed when I reached near it, still pretty far but near it. I noticed that there was no way to reach on top of the cliff. I sat under it''s shadow and started meditating to gather mana. I had read my fair share of novels featuring reincarnation, so I had hopes it would work. After a few minutes of sitting, I realised that there probably was no such thing as mana in the valley. It was now even stranger how the previous events occurred.
I stood up after my pathetic attempt and patted ashes off my lower-half robe. A quick head turn to the left and right gave me even more interesting ideas, it was to meditate near the heat coming off the molten spires.
''Cultivation, was it? Another power besides mana.'' I thought.
After a whole hour of walking, I finally reached the proximity of a spire and the heat was tolerable. I sat down and went into a lotus position (As usual) near a lava vein that flowed from atop the spire. Once again, there was no reaction so I sighed and thought..
''If there only was something like a "Perfect Celestial Body Tempering Technique"''
Suddenly, I felt my whole body going into a state of turmoil. It felt like my entire lifetime''s worth of movement was gathered into this single moment and it kept coming at a tremendous speed. My muscles stiffened and loosened, a process which kept repeating itself for a few minutes.
After it was all over, in the span of 5 minutes, I was panting heavily as I placed my hand over my heart. It felt like all hell was let loose with those words that passed my thought.
"Shit." I squeeked.
The ground started shaking, but I didn''t lose my balance.
"Now that you have attained power, are you able to fight off the sinners?" The ominous voice came back to me, even though I did not call for it. As it voiced out it''s words, out of the lava vein came out a hand. The hand had a maroon color to it whilehaving a little decayed flesh mold on it. I stood up, but uncontrollably I jumped incredible high and I just looked as the ground got farther.
"AAAHHHHHH!!!" I screamed in terror. I was atleast 35 meters high when I saw the "sinners" fully out of the lava. Their bodies extremely mutilated and barely kept together.
My jump momentum ceased at 80 meters and I descended. It was even more terrifying to see the ground come closer very fast, but I felt confidence after being able to even jump so high. To my luck, once I instinctively plummeted on my feet, I didn''t receive any damage.
I looked forward at the 27 sinners standing infront of me. All of them had their chest tore open with magma dripping out. I knew what I had to do...
''Fuck this!'' I thought and started running in the opposite direction at an incredible speed. I was thrilled about having such fast running abilities more than the jump power, but it was not the time to celebrate.
''It''s better to hide and cower than cause a disturbance that might awaken unnecessary wrath. The archangel is the valley''s guardian so I have to be careful!'' I decided,to which I noticed that I''ve already reached the cliff where I attempted to gather mana. It should have atleast taken an hour to arrive from the nearest spire.
I looked up and spectated how far I would have to jump with my enhanced eyesight. I estimated around 300 meters.
I squatted and strained my muscles as much as I could. The ground beneath me started cracking. The ground shattered as soon as I pushed away. In a matter of seconds I was already higher than my destination point and continued to reach even higher.
''Shit! Shit! Shit!!'' I was beginning to see the horizon as I flew further. The planet was scorched in flames, except for the valley.
"A Zenith God turned a fire elemental lord into this ball of fire for his personal use, as if you''d be judged by someone like that" The voice exclaimed. I stared at the mesmerizing view before asking..
"How high did I jump?"
"2000 meters"
"FUCK!" I yelled and started falling down. It was a whole another experiencecompared to an 80 meter fall. The velocity was alarming, even to the point where my instinctual-self was all over the place.
''I can make it!'' I told myself and prepared for a landing, just as before.
The proper landing was a success, but I felt the impact way more this time. The cliff was fine aswell without any large damage except a huge hole. (Oops)
As the dust cleared away I walked to the edge of the cliff and stared at the valley which was crowded... Crowded?
"W-What are you doing here? WHO are you?!" Said a familiar voice. I looked behind and saw the archangel, Kre''ser
2 - Control
"Who are you?" The archangel asked menacingly while squinting his eyes slightly as if he was trying to look inside of me. I was too shocked to answer, one wrong word and it might end right here.
"A lost soul? Are you? I wonder how you managed to avoid the judgement of a Zenith God, but no matter, I shall lead you into the core of the Truth Pillar and divulge your deeds." He said, following with slow steps towards me. I was at the edge so I had a good chance of escape, but was it the correct thing to do?
''Fuck it! I don''t have time to think!''
I slightly pushed myself off the cliff and flew off above the mass of people.
"What?! An immortal soul.. You didn''t come from the destruction of the demon god. How long have you hidden yourself here?!" The archangel yelled and ran to the edge of the cliff where I previously stood. He reached out his hand towards me with runes starting to appear on his palm. I knew it meant that it would be the end of me.
''Come on, god, show yourself! Show me your light, damn it!''
Ripples of light tore into the sky and once again the octagram shaped light pillar reveals itself. The procedure of judgement began aswell, I was included in it this time. I was glowing just like everyone else, but I was the one without any color.
"Impossible! I didn''t give the command!" The archangel yelled.
The light blinded my vision and my flight in mid-air made me lose perception of location.
*THUD*
"Ahh..?" I opened my eyes.
There it was, the blue sky. I was starting to wonder when I''d get to see it again.
I felt incredibly dizzy like I''ve had a thousand year slumber and someone woke me up with a hammer to the head. I was lying on the ground, but something was not right... I was missing clothes.
Rather, my whole back was sizzling in heat! I quickly jumped up and look down. It was dry soil.
I looked around me and saw nothing but dry soil right up to the horizon.
''Damn, a desert?'' I thought. Atleast it was better than being judged by a faulty system.
"Where have I gotten myself into?" I said quietly and sighed. I wondered if my strength has remained within me so I looked at my hand.
"Holy... Shit." I muttered as I saw my arm was very muscular compared to before. I looked down at myself and saw how aesthetically my muscles were shaped. It was like a sportsman''s body!Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.
''The effect of the technique? I only did it for a few minutes, the fuck?''
''...''
''This is overpowered as ''ell!'' I was feeling ecstatic over my new body, although kind of cheated. It became almost maddening how good this ability was; my heart was beating very fast. I didn''t like it when I had an abnormal heart rhythm.
I wanted this feeling to go away; I took deep breaths and thought about something else.
It took atleast 20 minutes to calm myself down. I also noticed that each breath I took after 10 minutes increased my lung capacity and inhale-exhale speed.
"Good." I said. I thought if I take care of myself physically and observe calmly I am able to overcome this obstacle.
''Why didn''t adrenaline kick in when I was at the valley?'' I wondered.
It wasn''t any use to think about it since I didn''t have anything to work with. Although I could make out somewhat that the Limbo had something of a mass calm ability to keep order in check.
I started sorting out a plan to familiarize myself with my strength. First up were legs.
I walked calmly and steadily. My feet gave a powerful push so I decreased the force input on that part which fixed my walking speed to a normal rate. I grasped control on walking quickly.
The next thing I tried was running. I started with a small jog which was unnervingly fast; the problem lied in feet again. It required me 5 minutes to reduce the speed to a quarter, which was still three times faster than a normal person''s sprint.
"Hahaha! It feels so good!" I laughed as I felt the wind striking back at me whilst I increased my speed. I was feeling freedom from my mortal limits that I previously couldn''t overcome. The fun didn''t last long as I adrenaline was being steadily pumped into my body again, so I stopped and took deep breaths. After I regained the usual state I continued my training.
It took me approximately 2 hours and 78 breathing pauses to somewhat grasp control. Even after all the running, there didn''t seem to be an end to the desert.
The sun was heading towards the horizon slowly so I hurried up with the next limbs, arms.
The first thing I did was a punch. Just a simple punch forward without using much power. Once again, the speed of the thrown punch was as absurd just like the jogging speed. It was enough to make steel shatter; I didn''t dare try using full force.
Since I was afraid to try hit with my full force I went on with the next task, gripping. I put my hand in a straight position, my fingers tightly next to eachother and striked the ground. I carved out a dry soil cube like cutting cake with a knife.
Picked it up, put my claws around it and applied the tiniest amount of energy I was able to. It fortunately didn''t break apart, which surprised me. I gripped it tighter and it broke off, so I started practicing my handwork.
344 cubes, lots of dedication, a huge hole in the ground and 4 hours later I mastered the power of my hands. I figured it was more important to learn how I use hands for crafting rather than anything that had to do with fighting or running.
The sun had already set and the chills began running through. I looked at the hole in the ground that formed by digging the cubes, so I made use of it and dug further. I was able to concentrate on breathing and digging at the same time so I was able to improve both simultaneously. The stone under the dry soil was tangerine colored.
It didn''t take long for me to create a tiny cave with a 3 meter lengthed drop tube on one of the sides. I also carved a boulder large enough to cover the entrance to the drop tube incase any intruder dares to come poking.
I wasn''t sleepy, but I was cold. I covered the entrance with the boulder and centered myself in the cave. Inhaling fast and exhaling slow, that is how I increased warmth inside my little den.
I sat down on the cold ground with a bitter face, holding in the anguish. Closing my eyes I thought...
''Status''
...
''Menu''
...
''Come on!''
There was nothing that showed up as I tried to summon a status screen. I hoped there would be some kind of a game element in here. I gave up on it though, since nothing would appear to reveal anything game-like.
After hours of controlled breathing, it was quite warm in the cave. I dozed off after I reached the perfect temperature and waited for the dawn.
3 - Warmth and Food
"F-F-F-F-Fuc-k-k-k..." My jaw shivered due to chills running all over my body as I woke up. The light rays coming from the cracks between the boulder and the cave wall weren''t enough to even slightly warm the little nest. I immediately took the boulder out of the way and jumped out to the heated atmosphere. I basked in the sun''s light as it cleansed my frosty state.
"NNGHHAA!!" I screamed while I stretched. I felt a lot better than yesterday after having some rest and I was ready to start the day. It was still hard to accept that I''ve been granted this opportunity of a new life, so I started out by taking it all in by breathing. It already became a subconscious skill of mine to calm myself down by concentrating on the airflow.
''For today, I will need to harvest food and find a way to heat up my little home.''
Why wasn''t I thinking of going to a more habitable place? Since yesterday I wasn''t able to find anything after running for a long time with that monstrous speed of mine, there is a high chance I might lose my home if I travelled too far from it. Besides, it was the very first home I made for myself, which was awesome.
I didn''t have any bright ideas about food, but taking care of the heat shouldn''t much of a problem in the desert.
Under the dry, hardened soil there were lumps of fertile soil which hadn''t been touched by the sun. Light brown colored grass grew on those lumps so I picked them all off wherever I could find them. Once I had my arms full of the grass I carried the stack inside my cave.
I placed my grass down in the center while I was carving a new room for storage. I wanted it to have the least amount of interference from the outside factors so I dig out the entrance farthest from the drop tube. Now the main hall and the storage room were seperated by a 2 meter long tunnel. It was a small tunnel that was wide enough for me to fit through.
After that, I also carved a new boulder for the tunnel. I puncture three small holes in it so that the storage room would receive some amount of warmth aswell.
After I was done I threw the grass stack in the storage room and hopped outside to take a sun bath as a break. I looked around carefully for anything that might look like food, but nothing. However, there was something in the distance that looked like a second sun, except way smaller. Even with the huge pile of stones (Dug out) next to my home, I was too cautious to have a look. Instead, I decided to practice throwing.
I took a palm sized rock from the pile; my grip on minimum and the rest of my arm on medium strength. Stretched my hand behind and then forward, releasing the grip.
*BOOM*
"FUCK!" I yelled after the stone piece shattered about 30 meters away.
''Holy shit.. Did I put too much power into it? Was that a sonic boom or something?'' I wondered.
I took another stone from the pile and noticed it had shiny bits in it. It was metal; I wasn''t much of a geologist so I couldn''t identify what type it was. I doubt it could be even identified as something from earth.
I picked out the stones which had metal in it from the pile and set them aside, near my cave entrance, and continued with my practice.
Instead of using my whole limb, I used only my hand to throw. Medium power output allowed me to throw it at very extreme speed, in a few seconds it was out of my sight.
''Alright, good enough. Time to get back to work.''
I started plucking out grass again from the ground.
After many hours of grass plucking, I was able to fill up the storage completely with hundreds of stacks all clumped together. The stones with metal bits were also put in the storage, but more on the upfront near the tunnel.
After closing off the storage with the punctured boulder I started digging a hole in the main hall. It was half a meter deep and half a meter wide. Once I was done carving the hole for the fireplace I took the rubble outside. The sun was starting to set when I decided to look at the smaller sun from earlier today, but it was no sun that I saw.
It was flashing dim reflections of light by this point and it became a lot bigger. Since it wasn''t too far from my home now I decided to take a closer look; Dropped the rubble into the pile and jogged closer to the moving thing. As I got closer I started seeing it''s true form.
''What the fuck?'' I thought. It was a tortoise-like creature with metal plates as it''s shell that reflected the sun''s light to an incredible extent. It''s skin was gray and wrinkly. I was still far from the creature, but I was able to see it clearly; However, the reflected light blinded me from seeing it''s head. I had no idea whether to get closer to it or just leave it alone. There was something on my mind though, that was food.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.
''I''ve never tasted a turtle before..''
I quickly dug up a palm sized stone and whirled it in my hand a few turns.
''If this won''t work then I plan on running.'' I thought.
Once the sun faded away and the creature''s head was visible I pulled my hand back and shot out the projectile with a spin. It completely misses the creature and hits the ground.
"Shit!" I mumbled.
I quickly dug up another piece, but this time I attempted to kill it professionally. Just like practiced before; No limb usage, medium power hand throw.
I threw it and it missed again.
''Come on!''
Dig, throw, miss.
''Fuck!''
Missed again.
"Fuck you!" I yelled at the creature. It didn''t even startle at my words, so I realised I had to go closer to hit the bastard.
Now that I was 50 meters away from I pitied him for he was about to receive hell''s tribunal for not getting hit. I calmed myself down with the breathing technique before I let my emotions tear the poor thing apart.
After relaxing I dug out a piece once again and threw it like I practiced.
*SPLATTER*
The shot completely demolished it''s head. Even I was shocked to see the gruesome scene. I wasn''t even sure whether I wanted to eat that anymore or not. I gulped my sanity down and walked closer slowly.
''Yep, it''s dead.'' I thought as I saw half of what''s left of it''s head almost seperated from the neck. I didn''t even wanna touch that thing, let alone put it''s meat in my mouth. It''s flesh was still red, that is the bare minimum for my food standards. I had no choice but to eat it.
I chopped the neck off and picked the rest of the body up. It wasn''t heavy, but the bleeding irritated me. It left a trail as I carried it back to my home.
Once I reached the drop tube I threw the corpse next to the rubble pile and entered my cave. I thought about where to construct a fridge with no ventilation and decided to make it near the drop tube, but more underground. As I dug deeper I stumbled upon a blue glowing mineral. It looked beautiful so I quickly sliced it out of the stone and placed it in my main hall. Before dealing with the mineral, I had to finish the fridge.
After 20 minutes of digging I finally completed it, so I quickly hopped outside to store the corpse. Once I was out I noticed something. The creature''s body was too large to fit through the drop tube.
I sighed at the thought of having to dismember him outside, but any other way would have taken much longer time. The light outside was starting to fade away aswell so I had to hurry.
I held back my whining and striked right through his metal carapace like an invincible spear.
"Shit!" ''How old was this fucker anyway?'' I thought. The creature couldn''t respond to any of my failed attacks which made enough noise to alarm any animal from earth.
After I finished cutting him up I quickly ran between the fridge and the drop tube carrying the cut off pieces. The metal shell of his that was mostly broken in fragments I threw in the storage.
I carved the access hole to the fridge in a way that a round boulder would completely shut it out from the main hall''s atmosphere. The boulder itself was a disc on one side and curvy on the other.
''I feel like an architect.''
I closed off the drop tube and the fridge so that I could begin crafting myself a fire. I had to wait though, since my hands were bloody from cutting the corpse. I also had a rad idea of painting the main hall with all sorts of majestic writings. Instead, I managed to draw some runes that looked even worse than a child''s drawing of their family. The walls were not the smoothest place to paint on.
After I was done smearing the place with blood I went to the storage and grabbed a stack of grass. I placed it near the hole that was centered in the main hall and started picking handfuls from the stack and grinded them between my fingers tightly. I put a small stone bowl under my hands that I prepared beforehand so that the grass dust falls in there.
Once the bowl was full of the grass dust I placed the remaining stack inside the hole and went to get lots of more grass stacks accompanied with stone that had the largest amount of metal in them. I came back and plugged the hole full of grass, packed tightly.
To start the fire I picked up two stone pieces and held them above the bowl of grass dust. I rubbed the two pieces together extremely fast and millions of sparks exploded out of the collision. The grass dust took the sparks and started slowly burning. I put the stones aside, picked up the bowl and put the burning grass dust into the hole, onto the grass. I blew on the burning grass so it would lit properly. A lot of smoke came, but it didn''t bother me since it was warm.
After a minute the fire was up and dancing out of the hole. I warmed myself around it, happy that I managed to accomplish so much to this moment. If I was thrown here without any power, I wouldn''t have lasted a day. My body is extremely durable to environment changes thanks to the technique so not much of a problem that depended on my life had come yet.
Once I was done appreciating I opened the fridge and took out a nice looking piece of flesh. As I closed the fridge with the boulder and returned to the fire I noticed that I have nowhere to cook the meat on. I quickly scrubbed off the cave wall three large chunks of stone. Two of them I placed near the hole, opposite of eachother. I carved a stick out of the third, stabbed the meat with it and placed it ontop of the two chunks of stone.
I would occasionally rotate the stick and put stacks of grass into the firepit.
Half of the storage burnt and an hour later, I was ready to taste my meal as its outer appearance looked crisp. I took the stick off the chunks and bit right into my meal.
"BLEGH!" ''This is disgusting!''
I squinched my eyes in despair and swallowed the piece I bit off. Tears filled my eyes as I continued eating this monstrous meat.
After I was done (NOT) enjoying my meal, I turned my head.
"OH!"
I saw the forgotten glowing mineral and picked it up. It''s blue glow was as bright as ever.
"Hmm..." I was wondering what it is. A little experiment helped me there; I placed the mineral over the firepit and the small flame at the bottom started to cling around the mineral.
''This... Is definitely a magic stone.''