《End World》 Ashes To Ashes Asher sat on the floor in a small room shivering, his head between his knees while he held his hands in front of himself tightly clasped into fists. He was terrified at what had just taken placed, moments earlier he had killed his neighbor, a kindly 60 something year old grandfather who was a few months short of retirement. As Asher raised his head and looked at the body of his now dead neighbor, his stomach tightened and he vomited once again. ¡°Why...why is this happening¡± he asked himself. So far this month could be counted as possibly one of the worst months of his life. First his girlfriend of five years rejected his marriage proposal, and then she sent a text a few days later saying ¡°I need sometime for myself to think about my life and what I want out of. I think it would be best for both of us if we had some time apart¡± Although every word felt like a mountain was crushing down on his chest, if sometime to herself was what she needed he would give it to her. However, a few days later as Asher was driving to work he saw her, only he saw her leaving the house of her church pastor. She was escorted to her car by the son of the pastor, where the two shared a passionate kiss. BANG! The sound of the crash was deafening, the sight of the two lovers, caused Asher such a shock that he crashed into some ones house¡­well to be more specific he crashed into the house of the person he was contracted with to remodel their basement. After the crash drew the attention of everyone around, he slowly raised his head in a daze, his mind was shaken in more ways than one he was confused and hurt. Looking over in the direction of the pastor¡¯s house, he saw his now ex and her new lover turn away from him refusing to further look at him, she quickly got into her car and hastily left the pastor¡¯s son (Christopher¡± walked towards the front door of his house, looked once more over to Asher and smiled, a smile full of contempt, joy and triumph. Asher was soon after arrested, his contract canceled, he lost his driver¡¯s license and on top of everything was being sued to repay for all the damages he had caused. While in jail he called the only person he could, his elderly neighbor, after a brief conversation his neighbor came and bailed him out of jail, once returning home he took his meager savings of $3000, he knew that it was not enough to cover for the bail but it was all he had, and he went to his neighbor in order to repay him, however, no matter how he urged his neighbor refused to take the money and then continued to comfort Asher. Face with such kindness Asher finally broke down and cried, throughout the 6 years Asher had been living in his crappy apartment, his elderly neighbor had always treated him with kindness that he had never received in his 19 prior years of living, something that had now ended. Everything happened so fast, the ground started to shake and there was a bright blinding golden light that flashed in the sky, night turned to day and day turned white, it lasted a brief few moments and when it was over, all hell descended onto the world. AHHH! It wasn¡¯t long before the first scream was heard, waking people out of their dazed looks. Looking in the direction of the scream people were running as fast as they could, knocking each other over in a rush to escape and preserve their own lives. Behind them was a wave of bodies that came crashing down, whoever was caught in the wave disappeared, they came like locust devouring everyone in their path. Those who were lucky enough to get away with only a bite or a scratch did not take long before they turned on the others trying to escape quickly joining the wave of bodies increasing its size. Those that died in the attacks but were not devoured soon stood back up and started biting and clawing as well. ¡°Zombies¡­¡± Was the only thing that came to mind seeing this horrific scene. Asher was petrified in fear, his body did not move, his face lost all color and the sweat streamed down his body as if he was caught in a rain storm. ¡°Run¡± He told himself, but his body still refused to listen to his command ¡°Run!¡± He screamed out loud this time, as if waiting for the verbal command, everyone around him that was stuck watching the terrors unfold before them turned and ran in every direction, there was no order or reason in which direction they were running in, most did not even know where they were going and they did not care as long as they could get away from the tide of bodies that were approaching them. With all his might Asher ran towards his apartment building, forcing muscles he hadn¡¯t used for years to move at full power, he ran for 30 minutes until he reached his apartment, only after locking his door and pushing the couch in front of it did he stop moving to breathe. He couldn¡¯t fathom what was happening, ¡°zombies? How was that even possible? Zombies don¡¯t exist outside of movies and games, what kind of sick joke was this¡± He thought to himself ¡°A virus making people go mad¡­no maybe some kind of sickness¡± It did not matter what he thought of, a virus making people go mad, some kind of sickness that was going around, no matter what he thought of it all went around in a full circle back to one conclusion, zombies!. Bang! Bang ! Bang ! Asher jumped at the loud banging that came from his door. ¡°Asher! Open the door it¡¯s me¡± Upon hearing the voice of his elderly neighbor, Asher promptly moved his couch and opened his door, he was happy to see his elderly neighbor but it was clear to see that his elderly neighbor was flustered and out of breath. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. ¡°Come on Ash, we have to go we can¡¯t stay here, some of those things got into the building¡± Hearing this Asher¡¯s face turned pale and he froze for a second but he quickly snapping out of it, he saw what those things could do and if they were in the apartment building than it was only a matter of time before the scenes outside repeated themselves inside the building. Taking a quick survey around his living room Asher saw his baseball bat he grabbed it and quickly followed his elderly neighbor to the stairway. They lived on the fifth floor and didn¡¯t take too long before they reached the main floor, but once they did their face turned pale and they started to sweat while their breathing turned heavy. The main floor had at least 40 zombies who were currently attacking whoever was lucky enough to be caught on the main floor with them it would not be long before those being attacked would soon turn. Without hesitating, the duo turned around to return up the stairs, however, they saw about 5 more zombies that on top of the staircase. With no other choice they continued down the stairs until they reached the second underground parking. They rushed towards the door that led to the parking, but once they opened the door that led to where the cars were parked, they saw even more zombies walking around, red eyes and mutilated faces which turned and stared at the two. ¡°shrrreeek¡± Came a terrible bloodcurdling shriek that sounded like nails being dragged across a chalkboard as the closest zombie rushed towards them at a speed that caught them off guard. Crack! Right as it reached out its clawed hand to grab onto the elder neighbor, Asher took his bat and using all his strength he smashed it into the head of the zombie, making a loud cracking noise of both the bat and the zombies head cracked, the zombie staggered back due to the force of the blow but it was still not enough to finish it off. ¡°COME ON!¡± Asher screamed as he grabbed the arm of his elderly neighbor, using this chance the duo turned and ran back towards the stairs only to see more zombies tumbling down the staircase. ¡°Fuck!¡± Asher swore loudly as he realized how quickly they were running out of options. They turned back once more and ran to the door that led to the hallway which in turn leads to the south exit of the parking, the south exit was further from the entrance and exit of the parking lot but they had no choice at this point in time as all other options were now blocked by zombies. They ran straight towards the south exit of the underground parking while they were now being chased by at least 10 zombies. As they were running, the door to the boiler room suddenly flung open and the head of the building caretaker popped out. A smile appeared on the faces of the duo, the zombies were catching up to them and they were beginning to doubt whether they would make it to the south exit, seeing the door open was like a heaven sent gift to them. While the duo were smiling and over joyed at the door open, the caretaker however frowned seeing the two running towards him, he tried to close the door as fast as he could, but seeing his actions Asher panicked and threw his bat to block the door from closing before the caretaker could fully close it, seeing that he had succeeded, the duo increase their speed grabbed onto the door, opened it wider and jumped inside just before pulling the bat in and slamming the door shut. Finally safe the two slumped down onto the floor while there was banging on the door as the zombies tried to break it down. ¡°haha¡± The two laughed loudly and unrestrained as they both let out a heavy sigh of relief. ¡°GET THE FUCK OUT NOW!¡± Screamed the caretaker as he angrily and viciously stared at the duo while they were laughing. ¡°you must be out of your god damned mind if you think we¡¯re going back out there¡± Asher replied staring daggers into the caretaker¡¯s eyes. ¡°GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE BEFORE I CUT YOU INTO PIECES TO FEED THOSE FUCKERS OUT THERE¡± The caretaker screamed again as he raised a fire axe and held it in front of him taking an aggressive stance. Seeing this Asher¡¯s eyes narrowed and he tightened his grip on his bat and slowly stood up. ¡°Calm down for a minute Joe, think about it, if we opened the door right now, those things will come in, then not only us but you¡¯ll be screwed as well¡± The elderly neighbor said in a calm and slow manner. The caretaker ¡°joe¡± narrowed his eyes as he thought of the elderly neighbor¡¯s words, after a minute of thinking it over the caretaker ¡°Joe¡±, finally lowered the axe sneering at the two. ¡°Fine, but once things calm down out there, I want you fuckers out of here and don¡¯t even think about coming within 5 feet of me, or I¡¯ll cut you two fuckers in half¡± Asher slowly released his grip on the bat and then cautiously closed his eyes as he slowly sat back down, he was tired, physically and mentally, the events of the day were just too much, he just couldn¡¯t fully comprehend it, thinking to himself he chuckled lightly and thought ¡°At least the world is now as fucked on the surface as it is under the skin¡± He said in his heart before drifting off into a light sleep. Chapter 2 Family ¡°Hey Ash¡± The elderly neighbour called out to him in a low and panicked voice rousing Asher from his light slumber. Opening his eyes, Asher looked over to his elderly neighbour giving him a questioning look. ¡°Somethings not right with Joe, his breathing got heavier and shorter and he¡¯s also groaning and muttering to himself¡± Narrowing his eyes he followed his elderly neighbours finger and looked at what he was pointing at, he saw Joe was sitting down hanging his head his breathing was heavier and under the dim light one could vaguely make out a line of saliva hanging down from his mouth which made Asher cautious, tightening the grip on his bat he slowly stood up. ¡°Joe¡­Joe you okay?¡± Asher slowly called out to the caretaker, but there was no real reply only mutter and groaning. ¡°Joe?¡± Asher called out to him one more time as he cautiously approached the caretaker, but as before there was only muttering, which only made Asher and the elderly neighbour more cautious and slightly scared. Asher turned back and looked at his elderly neighbour and saw that he was now standing and carried the same look on his face as Asher did. Both of them were intelligent and knew what most likely was wrong with Joe was. Seeing the expression on each other¡¯s faces confirmed what they were both thinking but did not say. It was almost as if maybe the premonition they both had would not come true if they did not say it. Turning back to Joe, Asher no longer called out to him but kept quiet as he raised his hand bat in a defensive stance. Finally Joe¡¯s breathing stopped and the room fell into dead silence neither of the duo made a move, their breaths caught in their throats. Asher¡¯s heart beat became erratic as it pounded against his chest and he began to sweat, his shirt quickly became drenched, it felt as if time had stood still as both Asher and his elderly neighbour kept their eyes on wavering from caretaker Joe''s now still body, however, the silence did not last long. ¡°grrr¡± A low growl escaped from Joe¡¯s lips. Hearing the growl Asher¡¯s heart stopped beating and then suddenly the caretakers head snapped up and looked at the two, his eyes had become red, his face had paled considerably and his teeth became sharp as if they were now small daggers in his mouth and not teeth at all. The duo froze in horror at seeing Joe¡¯s face, their face paled the cold sweat that had drenched Asher became colder as if he was being drowned in the coldest artic pool. Two had encountered zombies before in their desperate struggle to out run the horrors, but neither of them saw one as closely as they were now. ¡°Shiiirrrreeek¡± Joe released a terrifying shriek and without further warning he dived for Asher. Seeing the sudden movement, Asher instinctively dove out of the way of the zombies attack, only then did they snap out of their initial shock. Failing its initial attack, zombie Joe did not turn around to look at Asher, but locked his gaze on the elderly neighbour. It suddenly charged towards the elderly neighbour without making a sound. The room was not a large one, but none the less it was humanly not possible to cover the distance it did with the speed it did, however, the elderly neighbour was ready for it ever since he noticed its hateful gaze had locked onto him and he rolled to the left of where he was standing avoiding its charge narrowly as the now zombie caretaker landed where the elderly neighbour was standing less than a split second ago. Asher quickly ran over and using all of his strength he swung the bat at the back of zombie Joe¡¯s head. ¡°CRACK!¡± Came a loud cracking noise as the bat broke and the zombies head smashed into the wall. Asher silently prayed hoping that was enough to finish off zombie Joe; however, his prayers went on answered as zombie Joe stood up once more shaking its head as if its head was muddled from the blow and it was trying to regain is bearings. After a few seconds the zombie turned his head and looked at Asher. ¡°Grrr¡± It lowered its body down and stood on all fours like a wild beast as a low sounding growl emitted from its lips. It walked on all fours slowly circling around Asher. As Asher watched the actions of the zombie he became more panicked and scared, what he saw before him resembled a starving animal more than it did a zombie, it was also much faster than the zombies he had earlier escaped from, his bat was now all but useless so he was unarmed and this new zombie before him gave him a sense of dread that he had never felt before. His mind churned pushing out one idea after another, trying to figure out how to deal with this now unknown treat before him but before he could even properly think of anything, zombie Joe had once again pounced towards him. Asher froze, now it should be known that when faced with danger humans have 3 natural reactions that have been programmed into their very D.N.A by nature, these reactions are flight, where the person would run away from danger, freeze, the person would freeze in fear unable to react and just stand there and finally fight, where the person would fight with everything left within themselves in a desperate struggle to survive. When a person¡¯s mind shuts down their natural instinct takes over and they default into one of these 3 reactions. Asher¡¯s instinct quickly took over and he lowered his body getting ready to receive the blow from the zombie while he readied the broken half of the bat, once the zombie reached Asher he would take the broken bat and thrust its edges into zombie Joe¡¯s hateful red eyes killing it. However, it did not go as one would think, before the Zombie reached Asher, a blur flew past him and tackled the zombie out of the air. ¡°GET THE AXE!¡± Asher looked at direction of the shout only to realize that his elderly neighbour and the zombie were struggling on the ground. ¡°WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR, GET THE AXE QUICKLY¡± His elderly neighbour shouted out again. Asher woke up from his daze and quickly looked around trying to locate the axe that zombie Joe had before he turned. It was not far from him; he quickly ran over and discarded his broken bat picking up the axe. Asher did not waste any time, as soon as the axe entered his grip, he turned around and rushed over towards his neighbour and the zombie. Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! During their wrestling match, zombie Joe had somehow manage to get onto of the elderly neighbour snapping his jaws at the neighbours face, while the neighbour desperately tried to fend off the zombies attacks. Seeing Asher rushing back with the axe, the elderly neighbour gathered his remaining strength, he raised his legs and pulled them towards his stomach ¡°urgh¡± With a loud grunt the elderly neighbour kicked the zombie in its stomach, kicking it off him and sent it flying towards the wall ¡°AHH!¡± Not giving the zombie any chance to recover Asher shouted with all his strength as he swung the axe towards the zombies head with everything he had, cleanly cutting off the top half of its head. Zombie Joe¡¯s body shivered for a second as blood sprayed out the lower half of his head like a water fountain before its body twisted and then finally fell down lifeless. Breathing heavily Asher fell down soon after, landing his butt, as he gasped for breath. Asher was no stranger to fighting and dangers but this was the first time he had fought so desperately for his life, the last swing took whatever little energy he had left. He lifted his hands towards his face, they were shaking uncontrollably, he lowered his hand and then looked at the ceiling. ¡°Ahaha¡± He broke out in laughter, he did not even know why he was laughing, but he could not control it so he kept laughing. After a few seconds of laughter he felt a burning sensation on his chest, looking down he saw a glowing light under his cloths, he immediately tugged on his shirt so that he could look at his chest, his face instantly turn into confusion, panic then it slightly paled, what he saw was there was a small diamond shape golden medal embedded into his chest glowing white, he hesitated a little before finally gently touching it with his fingers before quickly removing his hand, it was hot, he did not expect it to be so hot to the touch, but it only gave a slight warm burning sensation on his chest which was slowly fading. After a few more seconds had passed, Asher gathered his courage and touched it again, this time it was cold like a piece of metal left outside in the middle of winter. ¡°Gramps¡± Asher called out to his elderly neighbour, he wanted to show the mysterious medal in his chest, he did not know what it was or how it got stuck in his chest but the very notion of it being there made him scared in his heart. Lifting his head, Asher looked towards the direction of where his elderly neighbour was but the confused look on his face from the medal quickly turned into panic as he hurriedly stood and ran over to his elderly neighbour. Sitting there breathing heavily, his elderly neighbour had a large scratch that ran across the elderly neighbours chest. The wound did not bleed it was only skin deep; however, it was furiously red, it burned with such a deep red it almost seemed as if it was throbbing, as if it were alive. ¡°Gramps¡­¡± Asher called out in a low sorrowful voice as his eyes became red and watery. ¡°Don¡¯t give me that look kiddo¡± His elderly neighbour said grimacing as if each word caused him pain, they were both smart and after having witnessed what happened to caretaker Joe, they both know what the scratched meant, but despite that the elderly neighbour gave Asher a warm smile. ¡°Do you know¡­you remind me of my son, so much so that I almost ran over and hugged you the first time I met you¡­the two of you are so alike, even down to your temperament. He was like how you were back then¡­full of anger, the way your eyes looked as if everything and everyone in this world was your enemy.¡± The elderly neighbor sighed before he continued ¡°No matter what my wife and I did it never seemed to help him, he would always lash out at everything, one fight after another, one call after another saying he was in the hospital, each time it was worse¡­ every time we got a call my wife would cry, not knowing if this call was the call we were fearing would come sooner or later¡­ then finally he met a wonderful girl¡± He said as a smile appeared on his face as he paused for a second lost in his memories as his eyes turned watery ¡°She had the most amazing influence on him, his eyes full of anger turned soft and happy, he even went back to school, got a good job, they got married and were starting a family¡­but then¡­it was a bad car accident, the other driver was drunk¡­my son, his pregnant wife and his mother¡­I had to work that night I¡­¡± At this point the water that was building up in the elderly neighbours eyes during the story finally started to fall down his face. Asher reaching in front of his elderly neighbour reached down and hugged him crying also. ¡°Please Ash¡­I don¡¯t want to turn into one of them¡­I want to be with my family in heaven¡­I want to finally see my grandchild.¡± Hearing this Asher¡¯s body went stiff as he released his neighbour and took a few steps back. He knew what his elderly neighbour was asking him to do how could he not know, it was something Asher himself would probably ask for if he was in the same position. ¡°I know¡­I know what I¡¯m asking you to do is not fair but, I don¡¯t want to turn into one of them and attack you¡­please Ash¡± Asher¡¯s body was frozen his face had a complex look as his emotions were clashing within himself. After eight breaths his the complex look in his eyes changed to one of silent determination, he slowly picked up the axe raising it into the air, looking down at the elderly neighbour, Asher tears began to slowly stream down his eyes, his lips quivered and he slowly opened his mouth and closed it repeatedly, as his hands holding the axe began to slowly shake. After struggling to find the words, he slowly said in a low voice. ¡°You were the closest thing I ever had to a family¡± Hearing these words the elderly neighbour raised his head and looked at Asher, his sorrowful face slowly turned into a warm smile, this was last image Asher ever remembered of his elderly neighbour. ¡°AHHHHHH¡± Asher let loose a loud agonizing scream before using all his strength he brought down the axe cutting into his neighbours head. Chapter 3- The Book Of Slaughter THE BOOK OF SLAUGHTER Asher sat down in the small room motionless, he didn¡¯t know what to do, what could he do. The only person he considered family he had just killed by his own hands. He knew that he did it to honor the old man¡¯s wishes; he knew he did it out of mercy so that the old man wouldn¡¯t suffer a much worse faith but Asher couldn¡¯t help but hated himself. Throughout most of his life he had always managed to make the wrong choices, choices that always found their way back to haunt him. ¡°Is this all karma? Did I really do something so bad that the heavens want to punish me¡­¡± He couldn¡¯t help but think to himself as he ridiculed himself ¡°Haha¡­I really am a fuck up aren¡¯t I¡± Asher turned his head to once more look at his elderly neighbour¡¯s body. He smiled to himself as the memories of him and his elderly neighbour ran through his mind, the brief memories were comforting to him as his consciousness slowly slipped and he fell asleep. After some unknown time he was slowly driven awake by his hunger. In a daze he opened his eyes, everything was a blur for a few moments before the memories of the prior events came rushing back to him. He turned his head to look at the body of his elderly neighbour, seeing his body next to the body of zombie Joe made Asher feel nothing but loathing and anger. He quickly got up and walked over to the two bodies ¡°Ptui¡± He spat on the body of zombie Joe. He never had a good relationship with zombie Joe before and now his hate and disgust for this small man had reached a maximum, he almost wished he could bring him back to life so he could kill him all over again. As he turned his gaze from zombie Joe to his elderly neighbour, his eyes softened a bit as he walked over and lifted his body, carrying it over to the opposite corner of the room. Placing the body down a sudden thought flashed through Asher¡¯s mind. He stretched out his hand and briefly paused when his hand came close to the shirt of his elderly neighbour. Steeling his nerves he lifted up the shirt of his neighbour, his eyes quickly scanned the elders body before he gaze settled on the middle of the elder¡¯s chest. ¡°What the hell¡­¡± He said to himself in confusion. There was nothing on his elder¡¯s chest; Asher then quickly checked his own chest only to see the Golden Medal. He touched it once again probing it with his fingers, he did not understand how it appeared on his chest, but after probing it he made a shocking discovery that caused his breathing to become heavy and rigged. His face quickly lost color as he ran his finger along the Medal to confirm what he just felt, there was actually a thin layer of skin on it, it was as if the Medal was part of his body, like it had sudden grown there as if it were hair. He then quickly turned his attention to the body of zombie Joe, he quickly ran over to Joe¡¯s body and raised his shirt only to discover that there was nothing on his body also, but then something else caught his attention. Next to Joe¡¯s body there was an old and worn out looking booking. Something about the book was strange, he did not know why but he somehow felt drawn towards it, he slowly reached out and touched it, the cover of the book seemed to be made out of brown leather, it was also bound by what seemed to be black strings but after touching the strings Asher quickly discovered it did not feel like a normal string, in fact it felt as if it was hair, when he turned the book he noticed that the pages were separated into 8 different colors, but the most shocking thing was just by looking Asher could tell that these pages were not made from paper, they looked more like they were made from stone. Asher did not know why he felt so drawn towards the book but he picked it up and observed it closer, other than the cover and the string that bound it, the only thing that really stood out were the 8 colored pages. Whether it was simply out of curiosity or something else, Asher could not tell you but he quickly removed the string and opened the book. ¡°AHHH¡± Asher suddenly screamed out, his face lost all its color, he started to sweat heavily, it was not long before his body was drenched as if he was in a rainstorm. He kept screaming and with each passing second it become more agonizing and loud until finally his body gave out cause of the pain he was feeling. He fell onto his knees while the pain he felt kept increasing, he could not move, the pain had become so intense it had paralyzed him. The book which was still tightly grasped in his hand finally fell to the ground, as soon as it left his hand, his hand curled tightly into fists, his finger nails digging into his skin drawing blood but it was at this time that the book had soundlessly hit the ground and closed. The pain suddenly subsided, Asher¡¯s eyes were wide open and he stared at the book on the floor in horror, he was no longer paralyzed by pain but still he did not dare move. He stayed knelt gasping for air while staring at the book. However, the book cover slowly started too opened on its own and silently advanced until it had reached a 90 degree angle. Asher¡¯s breathe was caught it his throat, his face was of shock and horror as he watched the books actions like he was seeing a demon rise from hell. BAM! The cover suddenly dropped to the ground sending the dust in the room flying, less than half a breath later a bright light appeared from the book, it was as if a miniature sun had appeared in the room. BANG! Asher did not have time to react, before he could move his hands he was sent flying backwards slamming into the wall knocking him unconscious. The book still shrouded in the bright light began to float into the air and then stood erected facing Asher. The bright began to slowly dim and as it did small black lights began to float out from the book, if Asher was still conscious, he would have been shocked to see that the words from the book started to glow with a black light, they then floated out of the book slowly moving towards him. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. Inches away from Asher the words stopped, they then started to fly around in circles until they create an image of what seemed to be a middle aged man, you could not make out most of his features, but you could see a strange glow emitted from his eyes, a glow that spoke of unspeakable profound strength. His gaze was deep and unwavering as he looked down onto Asher. ¡°hmph¡­has the potential but is by far too weak, bone structure needs to be reinforced, muscles need to be rebuilt, veins need to be strengthen and widen, blood flow needs to be increased, organs need to be strengthen also¡­¡±sigh¡± the only redeeming qualities are his decisive mind and strong spirit power but even those are just above average for mortals nothing to be proud of¡­are you sure he¡¯s the one sister¡± The image said turning back to look at the book in a cold indifferent voice as he analyzed Asher. In response to the image the book shun brighter for a moment before dimming again. ¡°Fine¡­ as you say sister but before we help him first let us see how good his luck is, if he can survive and increase his strength on his own then I shall help him later but¡­you should know I can only do so much, it is up to him to gain the approval of the others when they awaken. The image spoke to the book once again sighing and shaking his head, it then turned and looked at Asher and extended its hand, a quick flash of light appeared out of its hand and flew towards Asher¡¯s right hand, wrapping itself around his index finger and continued glowing for a few more brief seconds before it stopped to revel a ring. ¡°A little welcome present for you little brother¡­do not disappoint sister¡± The image said in its cold indifferent voice before it turned around and wordlessly returned back to the book. Bang! As soon as the image returned the book cover slammed itself shut but it did not fall to the ground, instead it continued floating for a couple seconds before it rushed towards Asher, as it advanced closer to him, it began to grow smaller and smaller until it was the size of a needle point. It then flew into the center of Asher¡¯s forehead, his face grimaced in pain for a second before it returned to normal and the book was nowhere to be seen. When Asher woke up, he lazily looked around him; his mind felt muddled, it was as if a thousand thoughts were worming their way into his mind making it extremely difficult to focus on anything, it was not just his thoughts alone, but his memories seemed to be effected as well, they all came rushing back to him in one go, things he no longer remembered, things he wanted to forget, the good, the bad, everything had hit him like a tsunami, making his emotions become chaotic. Anger, hate, love, joy, sorrow, envy and even emotions that he could not describe or put into words, soon his mind started to hurt again, he started to laugh and cry, he wanted to scream and rage at the world but at the same time he wanted to smile and embrace it, his emotions and thoughts were becoming more and more chaotic and as they got more chaotic the pain intensified threatening to split his mind and blood soon began to run from his eyes, Asher was more frantic at this point in time as he felt a new surge of emotion, he felt fear for his current situation and as this new emotion was stirred the pain grew once more and blood started to run from his nose. Asher became more panicked as the pain grew once again, he could no longer sit up and slowly slide down the side until he laid on the floor, his body twisting in pain but at this point in time a cold indifferent voice came ¡°You can¡¯t even calm your mind¡­seems I overestimated you¡± Asher was startled by the strange voice he struggled to look up turning his head to look around but could not see where the voice was coming from ¡°Don¡¯t bother looking for me you won¡¯t find me, now quickly sit up and cross your legs¡± At first Asher hesitated he did not know where the voice was coming from or what was happening to him, but being in the position he was in he had no choice but to listen to the voice and follow its directions, enduring the pain that had spread from his head to his body, he slow forced his body up into a sitting position and crossed his legs. ¡°Good now hold your left hand and keep your fingers together, then put it to your chest so that your left thumb is touching your chest, after take your right hand, touch the tip of your index finger to the tip of your thumb, keep your other fingers together and keep them straight, then place your right hand under your left, make sure your connected index and thumb touch the center of your left palm¡± As the voice kept talking Asher quickly followed the instructions without missing a single word. ¡°Now close your eyes and focus¡­The Book Of Slaughter is fusing with your mind and soul, but first it needs to know everything about you to ensure everything goes smoothly, soul¡¯s will not allow foreign objects to join with them, they will immediately reject it and struggle to remove it, thus ¡°The Book of Slaughter¡± needs to know everything about you so it can adjust itself to become one with your soul so it will forcefully draw out all your memories, all your thoughts and emotions while at the same time inserting itself into you, but this process is extremely dangerous if you cannot calm your mind, too much information running wild in your soul and mind will overload your mind as it tries to sort everything out, if you keep going how you are you will eventually be turned into a retard. Chapter 4- The Rebirth The Rebirth ¡°Now focus your mind and steady your breathing, do not allow your emotions to control you¡± the voice continued to instruct Asher. Even though he was trying to do as instructed, Asher was a person driven by emotions; the more he tried to calm his emotions down the harder it was for him, only leading him to become frustrated with himself which ultimately led his emotions to become more chaotic. Being a part of ¡°The Book of slaughter¡± the image naturally experienced what the book experienced, it was able to peer into Asher¡¯s memories and thoughts but what he saw only made him sigh. ¡°Emotions are¡­powerful, they can give us strength to do a lot of things, in your case it allows us to move on and survive, however, just as it can give us incredible strength, it can create an incredible weakness also.¡± Choosing its words carefully in order to not agitate Asher¡¯s situation further the voice continued on with its speech. ¡°Emotions are created from mental and spiritual energy, mental energy is self-created¡­ you create it from various influences such as your interaction with other people or your actions. Mortals are extremely weak minded creatures; they easily allow the words and actions of others to set their course in life¡­people such as your father and you¡¯re ex-lover¡± Hearing the mention of his father and his ex-girlfriend, Asher¡¯s emotion¡¯s became even more mixed and frantic than before, but those complex emotions died down as soon as his memories of these two surfaced, the various emotions were replaced by another instantly, what Asher felt was rage, almost uncontrollable rage. ¡°But¡­what you feel currently is also the influence of those people, you rage because you are angry at them but more so because you are angry at yourself for being too weak to oppose your father and too weak to hold on to her, just like how you hate yourself for not being able to protect that old man over there, you are angry because you were too weak to protect him¡± The voice continued in an unemotional and indifferent manor ¡°This world has changed¡­if you want to survive then you need strength, if you want strength then you cannot allow your mental energy to be influenced by others, calm your mind and focus¡± After hearing what the voice said Asher¡¯s mind was gradually able to calm down, his pained face relaxed a bit and his breathing was no longer erratic. ¡°Good you¡¯ve calmed down a bit¡­The other half of emotions come from your spiritual energy; spiritual energy is unique to every individual and unlike mental energy it is not easy to influence, but at the same point in time it is the hardest to control. Emotions created by spiritual energy is the most primal type of emotions, emotions such as love and anger¡± Said the voice ¡°Your spiritual energy is stronger than the average mortal, therefore your primal emotions are stronger especially anger¡­it seems to be a driving force for you, you need to be careful of this, being blinded by primal emotions will only lead to your own destruction¡± While the voice was explaining all this Asher had calmed down, the pain had resided, his mind was no longer chaotic and his emotions had returned to normal, seeing that he had calmed the voice continued on ¡°Steady your breathing and focus your mind on the circle created by you right hand¡± Doing as he was told Asher steadied his breathing and began to focus on the circle in his hands, once he did so he felt a weird sensation surrounding his body, with every breath it felt as if needles were piercing into every pore of his body, but he rather than pain he felt extreme comfort, as he breathed in he felt as if he was being pierced, but once he breathed out he felt like his body was becoming lighter and more relaxed. ¡°This breathing technique is called ¡°The Rebirth¡±, it observes the surrounding natural energy into your body, which it uses to nurture and purify your body. Mortals are originally created with bodies freed from the impurities of the world, however, due to how polluted the natural energy of this world has become your bodies are plagued with impurities. Since the body is the foundation of everything, once your foundation is polluted by impurities, it hinders everything from using your body to its full potential too feeling the natural state of the universe around you.¡± The cold indifferent voice from before slightly changed and even though it was a slight change one could still tell the disdain that was in his voice as he spoke about impurities and the state of the body. ¡°The Rebirth breathing technique will help you strength your body, right now it¡¯s weak, the first thing that will be strengthened is your bone structure¡­your bones are the pillars that hold your body together, if the pillars are not strong naturally the structure they support will be weak. Strengthening your bones is the first step, after that comes your skin, the skin is the first and the most important level of defence when it comes to the body, once the skin is broken the body becomes opened to attacks of various sources, such as poison and infections among many others. Once you have completed these two steps I will explain the other steps to you, if you cannot so much as finish these two steps within a month, then there is no point in thinking about the rest.¡± Asher did not respond to the voice he quietly practiced what he was told, in fact he barely heard what was said to him, he was lost in the feeling his body was currently experiencing. Before he was exhausted by the previous events but all that disappeared, his mind was at peace even if it was only briefly and his body was free of its previous tension. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. As he continued with the breathing technique, he found out that he could redirect the energy that his body was currently observing, however, he decided not to do so and let it flow naturally into him unobstructed. While paying attention to the energy flow he suddenly heard the voice say ¡°I¡¯m returning to ¡°The Book of Slaughter¡± it¡¯s to tiring talking to you for so long, I will come back out every now and then to check on your progress, do not disappoint me and remember, you have a month to complete the first two steps, I can tell you from now that meditating to observe the natural energy of the world will not be enough to help you complete your task, your best option is continuous battle, you have that medal on your chest, put it to good use¡­OH! And before I forget the ring on your finger is a gift from me, what is inside is a gift from sister, I won¡¯t tell you how to use the ring figure it out yourself¡­HAHA¡± Asher heard the laugh and could not tell if it was the same indifferent voice from before or not, the sudden loud laughter was just too much of a 180 turn from his initial impression that he honestly did not even take it serious. ¡°Wait¡­who are you? And what¡¯s this book you keep talking about as for that matter where are you even speaking to me from?¡± Asher finally spoke asking out loud. ¡°¡­I really overestimated your mental level ¡°sigh¡± focus and the flow of energy and follow it, it will lead you to your consciousness, you will find the book there, I will be in the book and for the time being you can just call me Kanada.¡± With that the voice faded, Asher asked a few more questions but since the voice never replied to him, he could only sigh and give up, he relaxed his body and leaned against the wall staring up at the ceiling of the room, he sound still hear a faint cracking noise coming from inside his body but he could also tell that his body was slowly changing, he could not exactly describe what he was feeling, but his instincts told him that he was slowly getting stronger. He then crossed his legs and once again assumed the meditation position for ¡°The Rebirth¡± breathing technique. Asher felt the flow of energy entering him again and once more felt the comforting prickling feeling that he had felt when he first preformed the technique, losing himself to the warmth and comfort, he began to follow the flow of energy in his body. The flow was similar to a large river of white lights flowing into his body through his mouth and gathered in his chest, then slowly began to flow towards his skeletal frame refining it. However, Asher noticed something else that piqued his curiosity, the position where the energy had gathered was located right where the Golden Medal was located. This made Asher even more curious as to what the medal actually was, from his brief inspection of the other two dead bodies around him and the mention of it by Kanada, he could easily tell that it was something not common, but to what degree he was unsure. ¡°heh maybe I just became the main character of some novel¡± Asher commented in his heart with a self-ridiculing smile, when has his luck ever been so good, but still what was happening to him, he had no way of answering that, but what he did know was that his life would never again be the same. Thanks to his memories being forced to the surface he couldn¡¯t help but think of his family, well not that they were much of a family to him, he hadn¡¯t spoken to any of them for the past 6 years, they never made any attempt to contact him and he did the same, it was better that way, the more they stayed out of his way and the more he stayed out of their way the better for everyone, his relationship with them was farm to volatile. He also couldn¡¯t help but think of his ex, was she alright and safe, or was she scared and alone ¡°Yea right¡­ she¡¯s probably better off than you right now you idiot¡± he said to himself. Pushing all the useless thoughts out of his mind, he followed the energy flow into the center, the bright river enveloped him. Swish! The lights flew past him and completely disappeared, he was standing in a completely black space, the blackness seemed to go on forever without any end and any light, but rather than feeling scared he felt at home, he felt extremely familiar with this place, even though the darkness went on for what seemed like forever, he still felt as if he knew every inch and corner of this endless void, that was why he was immediately able to locate two foreign items that were never there originally. With just a simple thought the endless void began to move, he still stood there motionless but the space around him shifted to his will and within a breath a giant book appeared in front of him, it had a brown leather cover, but it was no longer bound by the black hair. Asher reached out to touch it and discovered that even though the cover was leather, it felt as soft as feather and was smooth to the touch. He closed his eyes and focused on the book Bizz! The moment he focused onto the book a buzzing sound resounded in his ear and then followed by a surge of energy that ran through his entire body, but he did not feel any discomfort, Asher¡¯s eyes snapped open, he did not know what just happened but the book in front of him no longer felt foreign, it was as if the book was a part of him all his life ¡°Good boy good, it seems you did not disappoint old Kana and sister after all¡± Chapter 5- Vulcan and The Blue Moon The voice was not the same cold and indifferent voice as before, it was rough, grizzly, it sounded old almost grandfatherly and it carried with it laughter as it spoke, it was as if the voice was smiling as it spoke. This time Asher was not as startled as he was when he first heard the voice of Kanada, but none the less hearing the voice randomly speak caused him to jump slightly breaking him from his concentration. The source of the voice was from the book in front of him. ¡°HAHAHA! Boy if you get jumpy at everything then you won¡¯t last very long in this world your young steel that timid heart of yours!¡± The new voice exclaimed while laughing. ¡°Who are¡± ¡°You can call this old me Vulcan lord of the smith!¡± Vulcan loudly proclaimed cutting off Asher before he could finish his question ¡°Boy you made it here into the sea of conscious on your first try and at such an early stage good good good, it seems you do have some promise, I can faintly see what sister found so interesting in you¡± ¡°Sister? I heard Kanada mention her before also but¡­he never mentioned you before just how many of you are there in that book¡± ¡°HA! You catch on quick, old Kana never mentioned me because I did not wish him too, but you have something interesting on your body that has piqued my interest and seeing as how you made it here and finished the fusion between you and the book, I came out to have a little chat.¡± Before Vulcan¡¯s voice died off the book flashed with a blinding light that caused Asher to quickly raise his hands to block the light from blinding him. ¡°Come come boy why must you be so jumpy, the light wouldn¡¯t cost you the slightest bit of discomfort, you and the book are now one so why would it hurt you¡± Asher moved his hand from his face to see the old man sitting in front of him with a mocking smile on his face, shaking his head as he looked at Asher. One would almost mistake Vulcan for a kindly old grandpa, despite the mocking smile that he had, it was still somewhat warm, based on Asher¡¯s first impression of this old man he could tell the old man was easy to get along with, at the very least he was not as cold and indifferent as Kanada. He had long gray hair that ran down to his shoulders, which was complemented by his grey beard and a face full of wrinkles and deep profound blue eyes. While Vulcan¡¯s face was that of an aged senior, his body on the other hand was completely different, his body was framed with powerful vigorous muscles that would put most body builders to shame and even though he was sitting slightly hunched over he was able to reach Asher¡¯s height. There was a fire in front of him as he sat down, the light danced and illuminated the muscles of Vulcan¡¯s bare chest, the only clothes he had on was a piece of white cloth around his waist and a pair of boots. ¡°So tell me boy¡­what do you know about that thing in your chest?¡± Hearing the question Asher¡¯s curiosity towards the medal increased tenfold, he figured that it was something unique to him but other than that he basically knew nothing else about it. ¡°Nothing¡­just that it¡¯s probably something that only few have or only I have¡± ¡°Good boy you might not be so dumb after all, I could tell you about it¡­¡± Asher could not help but perk up hearing Vulcan¡¯s words, he was slightly startled that he could acquire the information so easily from the old man and a look of expectation appeared on his face, but when Vulcan saw the look of expectation, a sly teasing look appeared in his eyes. ¡°But¡­ old Kana would bitch at me for hours on end if I did that so I can¡¯t tell you anything now, besides knowledge without power is one of the fastest way to your doom!¡± ¡°Old Bastard¡± Asher cursed in a hushed voice with a look of anger and disgust as he glared at Vulcan. ¡°Hahaha don¡¯t give me that look boy, I¡¯ll tell you something good as compensation instead, quickly connect to the ring old Kana gave you, there is something in there that will be helpful, then leave this place and go outside, the miniature dimension that the book made will start collapsing soon anyways and there is some goodies waiting for you outside¡± At first Vulcan was laughing at his naivety in believe his words, but as he continued talking Asher could feel the sincerity in his voice and a look of honesty on his face so Asher¡¯s mood generally calmed down a bit, but none the less he could not bring himself to fully believe in the old man¡¯s words so he still kept his guard up and not to mention that the old man said something that threw him for a bit of a loop. ¡°Mini Dimension¡­what do you mean by¡± ¡°Don¡¯t ask too many questions for now boy, for now this place is still stable so you should use the time to connect to the ring, trust me you do not want to be here when the dimension collapses¡± Before Asher could finish his question Vulcan cut him off, Asher was still confused, but for some reason he knew that Vulcan was telling him the truth about the dimension. ¡°Calm down calm down¡­¡±sigh¡± now how do I connect with the ring¡± He thought to himself as he sighed deeply. ¡°Wait¡­when I first came in here I could feel two different foreign objects in my sea of consciousness, now I can only feel one, so assuming what Vulcan said is true and I¡¯ve completed the fusion between the book and myself are one, then in that case the book would no longer feel foreign and the other object is more likely the ring!¡± Reaching his conclusion Asher focused on the remaining foreign object in his sea of consciousness and like before when he first arrived in front of the book, the space began to move and while he remained motionless everything else began to move. Within the time it took for one to breath once, he was standing in front of a star consolation; however, it was in the shape of a ring, at one glance he could tell that it was the ring that Vulcan and Kanada were talking about, but he did not know why it¡¯s appearance was different from Book, the Book was shaped as a giant book, but otherwise there was nothing different in its appearance from a normal book, the ring however was made from stars. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. ¡°Would you stop wasting time!¡± Asher heard Vulcan roar loudly as he appeared next to Asher. ¡°Boy honestly I don¡¯t know why you have me saying this again, you do not have much time left, stop standing around with your d*ck in your hand and get on with it already!¡± Hearing Vulcan screaming at him, Asher stopped staring at the stars in front of him pondering about its differences to the book and reached out to it establishing contact with it, fusing it to his sea of consciousness allowing it to become a part of him. Once the connection had been established, he could immediately sense something inside the ring, going further into the ring, he discovered that it was dagger, but it was unlike anything he had ever seen before, in total it had a length of two and a half feet, the hilt made up for the half feet, it was almost as black as night itself, at the top of the hilt was a golden crown with a clear marble like jewel sitting in the middle of the crown, and on top of the jewel there was something attached to it, but Asher could not tell what it was, it appeared to be black tooth of some sort, it was curved in a crescent shape, sharp and slightly jagged. The bottom of the black hilt seemed to be wrapped in some sort of gold metal that extended down and was connected to the blade, in the middle of the golden material was another clear jewel, however, this jewel was much larger than the one of the top of the hilt and it was almost triple the size. The golden material and the blade made up the two feet of the dagger, the blade was connected the golden material, Asher could not tell what kind of metal could have been used to create the blade, because it was azure blue, the color was so deep and rich it almost felt as if it could glow. The top of the blade was curved in a crescent shape for about one and a half feet of the blade, then it went upwards creating a small hill shape on the blade, then it ran downwards on a slight angle until it reached the tip of the blade, the bottom of the blade was also curved, from the hilt it was curved at a slight angle giving it the shape of a small hill, then it slowly curved into a crescent shape until it reached the tip of the blade, in the middle of the blade, the golden material ran from the jewel to the tip, dividing the blades upper and lower half. ¡°Beautiful isn¡¯t it, one of my favorite creations¡­I call it Blue Moon!¡± Vulcan proudly exclaimed looking at the dagger with a look of fondness as if he was a parent of a new born. Rumble! A rumbling sound came forcing both Asher and Vulcan¡¯s attention from the dagger. ¡°Shit! Boy leave now the dimension is starting to collapse!¡± Hearing Vulcan¡¯s urgent warning Asher¡¯s heart beat increased and he quickly became extremely nervous, without further hesitating he exited his sea of consciousness. Snapping his eyes open, Asher could see cracks appear in the space around him, like he was in a giant ball of glass that was slowly shattering. He quickly stood up when another rumbling came that caused him to loose balance. He fell down onto the ground butt first, trying to stand up he then noticed the body of his elderly neighbour on the ground next to him, a thought flashed through his mind and he quickly spoke out loud. ¡°Vulcan can I store anything inside the ring?¡± ¡°Hmmm depends, as long as it¡¯s not a living object you can, but the space is limited so keep that in mind¡­oh and for future reference, if you want to speak to either me or old man Kana, you can simply speak in your mind, speaking to out loud to yourself will make others wonder about your sanity!¡± Hearing Vulcan¡¯s reply a wry smile appeared on Asher¡¯s face as he looked over the elder¡¯s body with gentle warmth in his eyes. ¡°I¡¯m not gonna leave you here gramps¡­¡± He said in a low tone as he placed his right hand on the elder¡¯s body. With a single thought the elder¡¯s body disappeared and appeared within the ring, he could sense the elder¡¯s body next to the dagger ¡°Blue Moon¡±. ¡°How do I leave this dimension?¡± Asher said in his mind directing his question towards Vulcan. ¡°Simple, through the front door¡± Vulcan replied with a hint of mocking in his voice. ¡°Wait¡­isn¡¯t that hallway full of zombies¡± ¡°BOY GROW A PAIR!... Those things have long since eaten each other, there should only be a few left¡± ¡°¡­¡± Hearing Vulcan¡¯s mockery Asher no longer felt inclined to ask him anything else and moved towards the door. He quickly looked around and saw the discarded fire axe still close by, he quickly picked it up and placed it within the storage ring. He then turned his sight towards the door, so many things happened since him and his elderly neighbour charged through the door. He did not know what would happen once he exited the door but he no longer had the luxury of thinking about the what if¡¯s, his eyes flashed with the look of determination and then moved forward. With every step his heart rate increased and soon became a thundering booming as it beat against his chest. He still held a lingering fear of them from his first encounter, if it was as Vulcan said and only a few remained that would be optimal, however, that still did not stop his innate fear of having to face them again. As he finally reached the door, he summoned Blue Moon and firmly gripped it in his right hand as he reached the door handle and slowly opened the door. Chapter 6- The Sleeping Beast The Sleeping Beast As Asher slowly opened the door exiting the room, he was hit by a wave of stench, an unbelievably powerful stench that immediately made him puke out the little contents of his empty stomach. ¡°If this little stench is powerful enough to make you vomit, you won¡¯t last long in war boy¡­¡± Vulcans voice came with his signature mockery. Asher did not pay any attention to the old man and slowly raised his lead looking around trying his best to restrain the buildup of new bile in his throat from escaping his mouth; his eyes quivered for a brief second as he saw the walls covered with bodies. They were kept on the wall by a somewhat greyish substance, but that was not what made his eyes quiver, it was that all these bodies were zombies and not one of them was a complete body. Asher slowly approached one of the zombies on the wall that had a missing leg, as he got closer to the zombie; it seemed to have noticed his approach as its head snapped up SQUEEEEEEEEE! A loud screech came from it as it the very sight of prey revitalized it, it struggled against the substance that was holding it to the wall with all its pitiful might. SQUEEEEEEE! More screeching came, but this time it was not only the zombie that Asher had approached, it was every zombie that were bound to the walls. ¡°boyo I suggest you leave this place quick, you may have escaped the dimension collapse, but this place is not any less dangerous for you at the moment and you don¡¯t want to be around when these things awaken the thing sleeping nearby¡± Vulcan said, but this time he did not have his mocking tone, his voice was as serious as when he was warning Asher about the dimension collapse, hearing the serious tone in Vulcan¡¯s voice, Asher turned his head to head towards the basement garage exit but then he paused. ¡°Kana said that I can increase the energy to strength my body from battle right?¡± Asher asked in a low contemplative tone. ¡°Indeed you can¡­but trust me boy, you are not ready to take on the sleeping beast¡± ¡°I understand that but what around these things on the wall here?¡± ¡°hmmm the energy you get would be minuscule¡± ¡°But I can absorb it and store it in the medal on my chest right¡­if that¡¯s the case won¡¯t I be able to use the stored energy later to refine my body?¡± ¡°HAHAHA GOOD BOY, SMART BOY!¡± Vulcan roared with laughter complementing Asher before he continued to say ¡°You can indeed do such a thing, to be honest that is the best course of action you can take, until you can find place truly safe to use the energy to refine your body you should just store everything in that medal of yours, remember this boy, use your gifts to your advantages, never be humble about them, they are yours to use so use and abuse them!¡± Hearing Vulcan¡¯s words, Asher turned back to face the zombie on the wall, he tightened his grip on Blue Moon as his eyes turned cold, in truth Asher knew these things were no longer humans and maybe it was because of what happened in the room, or maybe it was because after having so many of his memories forced to the surface he had regained some of his former disposition he did not feel anything towards these creatures as he moved his hand and with a quick swipe with Blue Moon he decapitated the zombie. Swish! With another swipe another zombies head fell to the ground, there was no blood spray as he killed the zombies, it was probably due to the fact that they had turned into zombies, but Asher did not pay no mind to this as he walked down the hallway decapitating every zombie that was on the walls on both his right and left side, sucking in all the energy that came from the bodies of the dead zombies and storing the energy in the golden medal that was on his chest. When he reached the door way that led to both the staircase of the apartment building and the parking lot, the hallway was completely quite as it once was when he left the room. ¡°Vulcan¡­the sleeping beast you were talking about, it¡¯s the one that plastered all those zombies to the wall?¡± ¡°That¡¯s an obvious question boy, your smart and your instincts are good, you should stop second guessing yourself so much¡­in this new world second guessing your instincts will get you killed¡± Hearing Vulcan, Asher nodded his head as he opened the door and left the hallway. The stairs were utterly destroyed, from the first floor down and since he was in the second basement parking, he had no way of reaching the first floor, seeing this Asher slightly frowned, with the stair case gone he had no other choice than going through the basement parking, but remembering all the zombies that were there before and thinking of what Vulcan said about ¡°the sleeping beast¡± Asher was almost unwilling in his heart to go through the parking lot. ¡°Can you sense its position Vulcan?¡± ¡°Why? Does prince charming want to go and wake the sleeping beauty?¡± Vulcan replied to Asher¡¯s question with more mocking making Asher slightly irritated. ¡°I could pick up its position if I really wanted to¡± Vulcan said, but Asher noticed a slight strangeness in his voice ¡°Why do I hear a but in your voice Vulcan?¡± ¡°That¡¯s simple boyo¡­I can but I won¡¯t, to be honest I don¡¯t think helping you all the time will do any good for you, you need to gain some confidence in yourself, so from now on and until we reach a safe location, you¡¯re on your own, I¡¯ll be going back into the book¡± If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.Hearing this Asher went stiff for a second but afterwards he could only sigh to himself and push forward. As the staircase had collapsed, the only route left for Asher to take was through the parking garage, however, Asher advanced with some trepidation, he still recalled the amount of zombies that were there when he tried entering it with his elderly neighbor. It was pitch black inside the parking garage, however, because of the fusion between him and ¡°The Book of Slaughter¡± his perception had increased by quite a bit thus allowing him to navigate through the darkness, but none the less Asher still choose to move at a slow pace, what Vulcan had said was still reverberating in his mind, he knew that he was more or less on his own in this place and with the knowledge of ¡°the sleeping beast¡± sleeping somewhere close by, he could only nervously move forward at an almost crawling pace. Asher could see zombies bound to pillars and walls and like the others in the hallway there was none with a complete body, in fact, these zombies were in worse shape than the ones in the hallway, seeing this Asher couldn¡¯t help but pause for a second as his heart rate increased and he began to sweat a little, what¡¯s more, it became more apparent that these zombies were not just simply dismembered but they were eaten, even though Asher stood some feet away from the zombies, he could see bite marks on their bodies. He did not want to approach the zombies any more than he had, if they noticed his approach and started to scream like earlier than he would no doubt be in an extremely difficult position, so he turned around to try to find another path with fewer zombies. As he continued to walk he started to notice something else, there was moss and grass growing around the parking garage, which he found odd, because it would take many years for something like that to happen, but according to his knowledge with everything that happened it couldn¡¯t have been more than two days, for that matter he never thought of it before because he did not have time, but if it had indeed been two days he would no doubt be hungry and thirsty, but he was neither of those. ¡°Perhaps it has something to do with the breathing technique¡± He thought to himself, that would explain one issue, but the first issue of the moss and grass was still unexplainable, the only thing he could think of was to ask Vulcan, but no matter how much he tried no responses came, he could only shake his head helplessly and proceed forward. ¡°Is this some kind of sink or swim kind of thing?¡± Asher said in his heart as he pressed on. The basement was still littered with cars, but because he had no idea how long the beast would stay sleeping or where it was, he decided against searching the cars, he also thought that maybe he could start one and drive his way out, but something told him that would be an extremely bad idea as well so he quickly discarded that notion. The darkness and the silence was slowly starting to get to Asher, the further he went the more he felt uncomfortable, he became somewhat jittery, the longer he stayed inside the basement the more he became nervous, the basement was not that large of a place to begin with, but he saw more and more zombies on the walls, but no sign of the sleeping beast, which made him draw two conclusions, either the beast was still asleep and he had yet to come across it, or it was awake and on the prowl, neither of the two meant good news, the routes he could possibly take were growing fewer and fewer, if things kept on going as such, eventually he was going to run into it, which was something he would rather avoid, as for the other reason, if it was on the prowl, how long until they ran into each other, this was something that made him extremely anxious. After a few more minute¡¯s Asher finally found a safe path, it had relatively no zombies and was practically a straight shot to the exist, Asher couldn¡¯t help but smiling and releasing a small sigh of relief, he quickened his pace a bit and moved forward, he had enough of the garage and wanted nothing else but to leave it, but he realized that the further down the path he went the darker it grew, he slowed his pace back to a creep but then his body froze. ¡°What the hell is that?¡± He thought to himself as his heart beat quickly increased and he started to sweat, the end of the hall was completely pitch black, he could no longer see through the pure darkness in front of him, every fiber in his body was screaming in warning and he instantly realized death¡­death was the only thing at the end of path, as he quickly scanned around the area, he knew that it wasn¡¯t the fact that the end of the path was too dark for him to see, it was actually blocked by something, it was a body of some sort, it was 3 meters in length and slowly breathing in a rhythmic way, which told him that it was asleep. ¡°The sleeping beast¡± Asher said to himself, he instantly made the decision to find another way and turned but as soon as he turned his entire body froze once again; his breath was caught in his throat, his heart felt as if it stopped beating, his back was drenched in sweat and a cold sensation ran throughout his body, he slowly turned his head to look behind him, but what he saw were two red eyes staring at him through the darkness, they were cold and unfeeling, he felt as if he was caught in the vision of a tiger looking down on its prey, except this beast was that much more fierce, Asher¡¯s face paled and his heart finally made a thump, but with that thump the beast made its move, before Asher could blink, it already crossed half the distance to him. Chapter 7- Corpse Eater Corpse Eater Asher raised his arms and crossed them in front of him, he knew what was coming before it arrived, maybe Vulcan was right and he had strong instincts because as he raised his arms he immediately started to channel the energy in his body into his arms to strength them, but as soon as his arms were raised BANG! He felt as if he was hit by a truck, his bones made cracking noises from the impact and as the shock from the blow traveled through his body, his body left the ground as he instantly flew backwards. BANG! Another loud sound came as Asher was sent flying, crashed into the wall 10 meters behind him. His mind was rattled from both the initial attack and the impact from crashing into the wall, his vision was blurred, his body was numb from pain and blood was running down the corner of his mouth, all that only lasted for a second, his vision became clear again and the pain rushed throughout his body as he struggled to stand using the wall as support, but before he could stand a dark shadow stood in front of him, Asher¡¯s body shivered, he raised his head to look at the face of the sleeping beast, he only caught a glimpse of it¡¯s cold red eyes before its massive clawed hand descended onto him and enclosed on his head lifting him in the air. It exerted its strength as it attempted to crush Asher¡¯s head, he could hear his skull cracking slowly as if it was a boiled egg being cracked open, the pain was excoriating, he wanted to cry out and scream but the sounds were muffled by the massive hand that easily eclipsed his entire head. Asher summoned ¡°Blue Moon¡± from his ring; his only thoughts were to quickly escape the monsters grasp so he stabbed out at the monsters arm with the long dagger in hopes of forcing its hand open, but sensing the danger from the dagger, the monster waved his hand and flung Asher towards the direction it was originally sleeping. BAM! As Asher flew through the air once more he collided with one of the pillars sending blood flying out of Asher¡¯s mouth, but the collision did not stop him only slowed him down as he crashed heavily onto the ground and slide forward a few more meters before finally coming to a stop, his only saving grace was the fact that before he collided with the pillar he circulated the energy in his body protecting him from the full force of the impact. Asher made a sorry sight; blood ran down from his head and out of his mouth, his clothes were in ruin from the consecutive blows he had received, he reached out for ¡°Blue Moon¡± which lay close to him, tightly gripping onto its handle, he clenched his teeth as he tried to get up again, but he could only manage to push himself up a little before he fell back to the ground, his breathing was ragged and shallow, he knew he could not stay where he was, only death awaited him, so he gathered his strength once more and then slowly rolled onto his stomach before he proceeded to once again try and push himself up, this time he managed to push himself onto his knees but he was still bent over on all fours, a sudden violent tremor ran through his body as he coughed violently vomiting up a large amount of blood. After the coughing fit stopped he circulated his energy and gathered strength once more and tried to control his breathing as he tried to stand up, but before he could succeed BANG! Another loud bang echoed in the underground garage as Asher was once again mercilessly struck and sent flying by the monster. This time the strike was much more devastating than before as he did not have enough time to fully circulate his energy, Asher could hear his rib cage snapping under the blow and a tremor ran through his body as more blood explosively exited his body through his mouth and he once more was sent flying through the air. BOOM! An explosive sound could be heard as Asher flew an unknown distance and violently crashed into what seemed like a massive metal door. Asher slide down from the door slowly and landed on his feet before slowly dropping onto one of his knees. He was getting beaten like a rag doll and the whole time he did not even have enough time to scream out in pain let alone react to the monstrous attacks that had fell on him, his vision was blurred to the point where it would go black for a split second before going back to being blurred, his head was muddled, he beaten to the point of stupidity he could not even feel fear at this point in time, his whole body was in such intense pain he could not even tell what hurt the most, now even breathing was painful. While Asher was being treated like a rag doll, inside his consciousness several pairs of eyes were watching the situation unfold. ¡°Should we help him?¡± Came the old grizzled voice of Vulcan ¡°If he can¡¯t even overcome one of the lowest life forms, then he might as well die here, it would be a lot more merciful than what awaits outside¡± Kana answered Vulcan in an indifferent manner ¡°sigh¡± Vulcan released a heavy sigh, in truth Vulcan was rather fond of Asher and he wanted to see him continue on, but seeing the devastating battle, the hopes for Asher¡¯s survival was slim and he knew what Kana said was true, the world had severally changed from its former self and while it was changing Asher was inside the mini dimension created by the book, years had flown by unannounced to Asher, he was now officially thrown into the midst of the chaos like a new born, while others had time to grow and change with the world Asher had none of that, if he failed to adapt quickly enough, he would be eaten alive. Vulcan knew from the beginning that the sleeping beast was a creature known as a ¡°Corpse Eater¡± it was a monster evolved from a zombie. When zombies no longer have a fresh source of food, they will eventually commit acts of cannibalism and after a zombie has eaten enough of its own kind, it becomes a creature known as a Corpse Eater, Corpse Eaters are not high on the food chain, they were actually extremely weak and slow, but because Asher was just that much weaker and slower than it, he was now getting beaten senseless. Vulcan turned and looked at the others who were also watching, but none of them made any move or even showed any hints of wanting to help Asher in his predicament, Vulcan could only sigh once again and mutter in a low voice ¡°Good luck kid¡± Asher lifted his head and watched as the beast approached him slowly, glaring at him with its red eyes, a hint of amusement could be seen in its eyes, Asher knew that it was just toying with him; otherwise with the strength and speed that it had demonstrated so far it could have easily killed him. As Asher slowly stood up on unsteady legs, he lifted ¡°Blue Moon¡± in front of him, holding it in a defensive stance, in truth he had no idea what he could do to get himself out of his current situation, the pain he was feeling could only hinder his bodies movements not to mention with his broken ribs just standing right now was sending waves of unhindered pain gushing throughout his body, right now Asher was struggling not only to stay standing but also to keep himself from falling unconscious, he had coughed up a large amount of blood and was continuously bleed from his head, the blood loss was slowly starting to affect him his face was pale from both the blood loss and the horror of his helpless situation, his sweat was pouring down from him continuously as his whole body was grew stiffer and colder by each passing second. The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.Seeing his actions the beast paused for a second and stared at him, after a few seconds it released a light chuckle that sounded like the horrors one could only hear in their nightmares, its red eyes turned into a crescent shape as it was obviously more amused than what it was previously, then suddenly it moved as it charged forward towards Asher. Asher lowered was panicked, he no longer knew what to do, he felt fear unlike anything he had ever experienced before, he had no escape, he had no idea of how to fight the monster charging at him currently, his body would not listen to him as he screamed on the inside ¡°MOVE YOU IDIOT, MOVE OR YOUR GOING TO DIE!¡± All he could do was watch helplessly as he saw his death approach him. The monster raised its leg and sent out a destructive kick aiming for Asher sternum, seeing the devastating kick approach Asher moved all the remainder of energy within his body to his sternum BOOM! Asher was struck by the kick he was sent flying through the metal door, he crashed into the ramp that led both into and out of the underground garage and skidded along the ground until he had reached the end of the ramp. As Asher came to a stop the whole world went black, Asher had lost his consciousness from the kick. In a world of darkness he laid there silently floating through the void, his eyes had lost their focus ¡°so is this how you¡¯re going to go¡­silently without putting up a fight taking it like a little bitch¡± A voice sounded out in the endless dark void. ¡°HAHAHA WHAT A JOKE! You¡¯re acting like this is the first time you¡¯ve taken a beating before¡± The voice shouted out again. ¡°Remember when you were young¡­ when those neighbourhood kids had jumped you and tried to steal your bike, how old were you like 6? And there was what like 5-7 of them, they fucked you up good, broke your arm and knocked out your tooth¡± Asher laid in the darkness silently listening to the voice. ¡°What did your loving father say to you then¡­what was it? Oh yea that¡¯s right, ¡°you were weak so you lost what I have painstakingly worked to get you¡± He then took away everything he had given you, saying ¡°you were too weak to protect what¡¯s yours letting you keep them will just be a waste, someone else is just going to take it away from you¡± remember what he said after that? ¡°you are too weak to be my son¡± remember that shit, hearing your father say you are too weak that hurt more than the beating those like shits gave you didn¡¯t it, what did you swear too yourself that day, what did you promise yourself?¡± As the voice kept on talking a strange light flickered in Asher¡¯s eyes ¡°You said you¡¯d never be weak again, that no one would ever take anything away from you, even if it¡¯s that piece of shit father, but no I guess you forgot because ever since then all you¡¯ve been doing is constantly losing everything over and over again and now your weakness is going to cost you your pathetic life!¡± ¡°Fuck you¡­fuck you, fuck him, fuck those fuckers in that fucking book, fuck that fuckary out there and fuck this fucking world!¡± Asher cursed loudly into the void as the life returned to his eyes, the miserable pale face he had on before had now contorted into rage. ¡°Good finally there you are¡­rage hahaha, rage, rage against this world, rage against everything in it, this world wants you dead so are you just going to lay there and accept it?...No? GOOD NOW GET UP AND KILL!¡± As the voice finished echoing the world of darkness vanished in an instant as he regained his conscious he was laying on his back looking up at the sky, the pain he felt was still there, his head still felt shaky, he was tired and exhausted, but he tighten his grip on ¡°Blue Moon¡± which was still in his hand and slowly rolled over pushing himself until he was on all fours. Seeing Asher still alive and moving the corpse eater frowned, it was no longer amused, the prey it wanted to die was surprisingly not dead was still moving, it was very displeased by this, it stepped through the hole that was in the metal door and locked its gaze onto Asher, it was tired of this little game and decided to make sure this time Asher was thoroughly dead. Without hesitating further it charged once again towards Asher. Asher saw it charging him again, was he scared? Of course he was, but so what¡­would he just stay still and serve himself up to the monster before him? Asher¡¯s narrowed his gaze and watch the monster approach him, all of a sudden it no longer seemed as fast as before, it no longer seemed as terrifying, it was like any other creature, all he had to do was cut it in half. The creature had now crossed half the distance, then using its powerful muscles it leaped into the air, its mouth wide open, exposing its fang like teeth, to make sure Asher was dead this time, it was going to just bite his head off, then slowly devouring the rest of his body. Seeing the beast jump into the air Asher couldn¡¯t be happier, this was the chance he wanted, the monster was power and fast but so what, in the air it was nothing more than an open target. Asher watched as it was in the air descending on him, his heart beat slowed down, his ragged breathing became steady, his mind became fluid like water, his stiff body loosened up, his muscles tightened and his knuckles became white from how hard he was clutching onto ¡°Blue Moon¡±. Asher slowly breathed out as the corpse eater had finally arrived into his attack range, his body then finally snapped into action, using all his strength Asher pushed himself off the ground spinning his body horizontally, bringing ¡°Blue Moon¡± around in a circle using all his strength he hacked down onto the head of the corpse eater, the corpse eater couldn¡¯t do anything as it saw the blade approaching, it couldn¡¯t dodge, Asher¡¯s movements were to sudden it didn¡¯t have enough time to fully process what just happened let alone even think of defending itself, it could only look on as the blade fell onto it, it didn¡¯t have enough time to feel any pain before its vision went dark, it was divided into two halves from the head down. Authors notes: First of all i''d like to say thank you to all those that have read and are currently reading this series, this is the first series I have ever written, so I know that currently I am not the best author out there and have a lot to work on, but seeing the increasing views, followers, favorites and my first ever rating have honestly further help to inspire me to push myself to become better so that I can improve on the quality of my writing with each chapter I release, if you have any advice on what I can do to improve on my writing please do no hesitate to leave a comment, let me know what you like and what you don''t like, thank you everyone, your support by reading these chapters mean a great deal to me so once again thank you (Q_Q). Chapter 8- Ten years Ten Years Inside of Asher¡¯s sea of consciousness, Vulcan, Kana and the others were silently watching on as everything transpired. They were caught off guard when the voice first started speaking to Asher, they did not know where it was coming from, they were connected to the Book of Slaughter which was now fused to Asher¡¯s consciousness, everything that happened to Asher they would instantly know about it because of the connection, but once they heard the voice all of their faces changed instantly to worry and concern, the voice came from somewhere inside of Asher¡¯s consciousness that much was obvious, but what caused their worry was the fact that they had no idea what the voice was or where it came from, meaning it somehow avoided detection from the Book of Slaughter. Knowing that something unknown was living along side of them and was powerful enough to stay hidden from them was a serious cause of concern for them, especially since it seemed to have intelligence of its own and if what it said to Asher was any indicator, it was living within his sea of consciousness for an extremely long time. While Vulcan and the others were lost in their own thoughts, Asher was laying on the floor breathing rapidly, each breath was more painful than the last, but that did not stop him from smiling, he would laugh out loud and scream towards the heavens to declare his victory and determination to live, however, he could not muster enough energy to do anything else other than smiling and breathing. His whole body was in pain, he was sure his ribs were cracked if not broken, the bone in his arms were most likely cracked as well and he did not even want to think if his skull was damaged from when he was in the clutches of the beast. ¡°Hurry and circulate the energy you gathered, it will increase the healing rate of your body, you¡¯re not currently in a safe location and you cannot stay here for too long especially not in your current condition¡± Asher heard Kana¡¯s cold indifferent voice, it was like a bucket of cold water waking him up. Asher was not very happy with Vulcan and Kana at the moment, while he needed help dealing with the sleeping beast, neither of them made a sound to offer any help what so ever so when he heard Kana¡¯s voice, he could not help with scowl with bitterness in his heart, but still he knew that if one of them spoke warning him about something, he should listen and do as said so with great pain Asher managed to crawl over towards a wall and pull himself up using the wall for support sitting down with his legs crossed as he positioned himself and started to practice ¡°The Rebirth Breathing technique¡± The most important thing currently was to recover, so he drew out the energy from the golden medal in his chest and allowed it to flow through his body, slowly recovering from his wounds and strengthening his body at the same time. The energy he got from killing the incapacitated zombies earlier was the bare minimum he could receive, but what they lacked in quality they made up in quantity so it could be said that his harvest was not too bad from killing them, however, the energy he received from killing the sleeping beast was simply ten times the amount he received from killing the zombies. ¡°Riches and rewards come with risks and danger¡± Asher could not help but sigh and mumble to himself. ¡°That¡¯s just how to the world works boyo, if you want the best you need to stomp on the best and take it from them, there are no free lunches in this world¡± Vulcan¡¯s voice came as he sighed also. ¡°What exactly was that thing?¡± Asher could not help but ask as he remembered the encounter slightly shivering in fear as he thought of how close he was to dying. ¡°It¡¯s called a Corpse eater, you can think of it as an evolved zombie of sorts, it¡¯s one of the weakest life forms that live in this wilderness¡± Hearing this Asher could not help but suck in a breath of cold air. ¡°One of the weakest¡­¡± Mumbling to himself fear started to slowly creep its way into Asher¡¯s heart as he thought to himself ¡°If that was one of the weakest then what else is out there and just how powerful are they? Just how am I supposed to survive this world?¡± As if reading his thoughts Kana¡¯s cold voice said ¡°If you want to survive you must get stronger, that¡¯s the only way to survive¡± ¡°Survive you say¡­¡± Asher muttered to himself before once again getting lost in his own thoughts and continuing his recovery using the energy he had gained. A few moments later the energy had been stored in the golden medal had been used up, a joyous smile appeared on Asher¡¯s face, he could tell that not only had the bones in his arms been completely healed but they had also been refined and now were at least three times denser and stronger than that of what they had been originally, not just that but his perception had also increase, it was an odd feeling at first but at the same time it felt strangely good, Asher could feel the breeze that blew by him, it felt as it the breeze was entering every pore in his body, he could sense the most minute changes on his body brought about by the wind, it was an extremely refreshing feeling, as if he was bathing in the wind. Breathing in deeply, Asher¡¯s face showed a slight hint of discomfort as a small pang of pain ran through his body from his ribs, they were mostly healed but the damage was extensive, so it would take longer for the damage to be fully healed. Breathing in once more, Asher than rose to his feet and walked up the ramp towards the exit of the garage, as he reached the top of the ramp Asher stopped and looked back towards the garage door, all the events that had transpired ran through Asher¡¯s mind and he instantly remembered his elderly neighbour, sorrow appeared on Asher¡¯s face but it did not last for long. He rubbed the storage ring, he had stored the elder¡¯s body within it until he could find a peaceful site to give the elder a proper burial. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. ¡°Boy before you go further I have one question¡± ¡°What is it Vulcan?¡± Asher replied to Vulcan in an impatient an annoyed manner ¡°What was that voice earlier?¡± Although Vulcan could easily tell of Asher¡¯s annoyance, it was to be expected, if he was in Asher¡¯s shoes he would have been just as annoyed it not more so, so he just went on with his question acting as if he was none the wiser to Asher¡¯s mood. ¡°¡­¡± Vulcan and the other¡¯s expected a cold reply but when they did not hear any reply after a few moments, they knew getting an answer would be harder than what they had originally thought. Ignoring Vulcan¡¯s question, Asher looked around at his surroundings, but what he saw was a great shock to him. The building that he once lived in for several years, the building that he knew like the back of his hand were now covered in vine¡¯s, moss and flowers, it was nothing like what he had remembered. The pavement was now covered in tall grass, one could barely see any signs of the pavement that once covered most of the property and the trees that he had remembered had multiplied and grown to be twice the size that they once were. Caught in shock Asher quickly once more looked back towards the garage, maybe it was because of the previous excitement that he had not noticed it before, but the entire entrance was covered in foliage of some sort. Asher could not believe his eyes, it was as if he was in a dream, from his knowledge he was not in the basement for that long, it could not be more than 2-3 days at max, but how did the world change to this extent. He scanned his surroundings once more, however, the trees were so densely packed he could not even see the neighbouring buildings. After a few moments Asher finally recovered from his shock, he raised his hands to his face covering his face with them, slowly rubbing his face upwards until his hand reached his hair, then he slide his hair backwards slowly before finally holding on to the back of his head with both hands. ¡°How long Vulcan?¡± Asher asked in a shaky voice after he came to his conclusion as to what was happening. Although he was annoyed with Vulcan and Kana, he still had a favourable impression with them, more so with Vulcan than Kana, so he was more willing to voice his questions to Vulcan. ¡°How long what?¡± Vulcan confusingly replied. ¡°How fucking long was I in that pocket dimension?¡± Asher¡¯s replied in a low angered growl that replaced his initial shaky voice. Vulcan hesitated and did not know how to reply to him, what was he to say, of course he knew the answer to the question but he did not know how to voice the answer in a manner that could minimise the impact he knew Asher would receive ¡°Ten years¡­¡± Before Vulcan could think of how to answer Kana¡¯s cold voice sounded out in his normal indifferent manner. Kana knew that no matter how it was said it would not change the facts, so rather than try to answer in a soothing way, it was better to just say it and get it over and done with. ¡°ten¡­.ten¡­ten years¡­¡± Asher muttered to himself hearing Kana¡¯s answer, the complexion of his face changed and his eyes became a bit listless, his body felt as if it had lost the energy he had received from killing the corpse eater, he shivered and his body swayed as if the gentle breeze that was blowing could instantly blow him over at any time. ¡°What the Book of Slaughter did is not something that can happen instantly, you need to realize fusing with a soul is not a common thing, it¡¯s not like forming a soul contract where two beings give permission for their souls to partnered, soul fusion is becoming one with another creature¡¯s soul, it is a process that is extremely complicated and must be done step by step, otherwise if rushed and something goes wrong the soul will immediately reject it and depending on how far along the process, the damage to your soul will be disastrous, becoming a retard would be the best outcome at that point, so with step the process becomes slower and more cautioned, especially if the object being fused to your soul contains different souls¡± This time the voice that had replied was not Kana¡¯s or Vulcan¡¯s but that of a female, it was soft and soothing, both beautiful and dignified. However, Asher did not hear these traits; all he could hear were the words from her explanation, as his mind raced with hundreds of different thoughts and questions ¡°But¡­the ring¡­I mean¡± ¡°The ring never fused with your soul, you just placed a part of your consciousness within it, allowing you to be its owner and allowing it to rest within your sea of consciousness, you can do the same with anything object that you can place your energy and consciousness into, well that is if the object can handle the amount of energy you put into it, a weak and ordinary object will just explode if you place too much energy and because it cannot handle your energy, it will not be able to enter your sea of consciousness.¡± ¡°Hahaha¡­ten years¡­¡± Asher laughed out loud as if not hearing the females explanation, the only thing he could currently think of was the fact that he was in some pocket dimension for the last 10 years, everything he knew was either gone or changed to the point where he could not recognize. ¡°RAWRRRRRRRR!!!¡± A sudden roar sounded out breaking Asher¡¯s train of thought. ¡°Run now¡±