“You’ve been rather quiet these days, everything okay?” asked Lark who was supervising Karim’s training.

“I’m fine.” Karim breathed, focused on the bench press program he was doing.

“Is that so?” Lark replied, moving closer to Karim. “You know you can tell me anything, right?” He whispered.

Karim looked over to Lark silently contemplating whether or not he should confide in him however, these were not his secrets to tell so after a moment of thought, he dismissed the idea.

“Honestly, I’m fine Uncle.” He spoke. “Adjusting to this place has been a little harder than I expected is…..”

Before he could finish his sentence, a subtle cracking sound that was only audible to him sounded out. Karim immediately stopped lifting thinking something had gone wrong but the pain he anticipated never came. Instead, sensations of relief and extreme relaxation abruptly washed over him.

This feeling was one he was familiar with. ‘I’m breaking through.’ He thought to himself.

The exhaustion from the training disappeared, his five senses suddenly enhanced and an excitement as well as a sense of strength and power consumed his consciousness.

The breakthrough this time was substantially more aggressive than the last time and the experience was intoxicating especially for Karim, who was so used to pain that when pleasure, intense pleasure, assaulted his senses it was all the more gripping. A grip that Karim wished he could stay enveloped in forever.

However, his fantasy quickly crumbled as the force within him abruptly and violently reacted. A blue energy wave burst forth from his chest, covering his entire body.

‘It’s here. Just as I thought.’ Karim inwardly exclaimed.

Last time the blue energy appeared it quickly vanished after but a moment yet in this instance, it did not. The energy instead cocooned Karim, slowly pulsing and ever so slightly shrinking. Karim was absorbing this strange energy or rather, the energy was forcefully dissolving itself into his body.

‘Is this the gift? Another gift.’ He excitedly thought. If it was then his conjecture was proven true. The force did indeed want something from him, something he could provide by growing stronger.

Karim wished to explore these thoughts more while examining the dissolving blue energy except it seemed the force within him had other plans. An invisible, powerful, and tyrannical energy suddenly invaded his mind out of nowhere however, even though this energy could easily extinguish his existence in an instant, it instead only grasped something.

What this something was is quite difficult to explain as to Karim it felt like his mind, his very consciousness was grasped in the palm of the tyrannical energy’s powerful hands. Afraid and confused, Karim was given no time to think as his consciousness was whisked away at an incredible speed to an unknown location.

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An instant later and before Karim was an island floating high in the sky, at a place he was completely unfamiliar with. On the island, sat a castle. At one point in time, it surely would have looked magnificent and awe inspiring as in size alone it had the church on Binguni beat by a few hundred times. However, as it was now the castle appeared extremely dilapidated.

There was a huge yet surgically clean line that divided the castle into two parts but that was the only thing clean about its current state as the two divided halves looked like they’d been exploded from the inside out, which would explain why across the island, pieces of the castle were scattered everywhere.

“What…where am I?” Karim asked.

But his voice sounded muffled and distant, echoing out. This alarmed him, those were definitely his words, yet something was off.

Not far from him, bits of broken glass were dispersed before Karim. Looking at his reflection, he couldn’t help but step back in shock yet what actually happened was that he floated backwards.

Karim’s current appearance resembled that of a ghost. White and transparent in parts, with no lower body to be found.

“What the hell is going on?” He shouted.

And funnily enough, a response came.

“We no longer have time, Master.” A female voice sounded out. Her voice devoid of any emotion as she spoke.

“Hurry, or it’ll be too late. You have yet to overcome the calamity.” She spoke.

“Master? Who are you talking to? Where am I? What is this place? Who are you?” Karim, now frightened, frantically asked.

“Master…you…are not the Master. Or…are you?” The voice said, pausing as it too appeared confused.

Alas, before the two parties who were filled with questions could sit down and converse. The tyrannical energy reappeared, only this time it was much, much weaker. Nevertheless, it was strong enough to grab hold of Karim and transport him back to his body on Binguni.

As soon as his consciousness was back in his body, Karim jumped to his feet. At this point the blue energy had completely dissolved into him.

Panting he turned to a resting Lark, who was calmly drinking some kind of liquid from an exquisitely crafted flask.

“Oh, you’ve come back to your senses.” He said, noticing Karim’s stare.

“Did you see that?” Karim quickly asked, clearly flustered.

“What? That you broke through? Yeah, couldn’t help but notice that. It’s normal to experience that nice feeling when you breakthrough, and it only gets more intense with each advancement. So, keep working hard.” Lark remarked, flashing an understanding smile.

“So you didn’t see anything….strange or hear anything?” Karim asked.

“Nope. But in rare cases, people have had hallucinations after breaking through. So, it’s completely normal if you saw, felt or heard strange things.” Lark explained.

“Things like what?” Karim asked.

“You know, some people after breaking through get the feeling that they’re the most powerful beings in the world or experience flashbacks…and things of that nature.” Lark replied. “Why what did you see?”

“Pretty much what you described.” Karim answered, now calmer. What he saw and experienced was definitely not any hallucination. It was real, of that, he was sure.

He could also confirm that the blue energy the force released was visible only to him thus speaking about it to other people would only make him seem crazy. Which was the last thing he wanted after the torment from the last decade. Even if the person was Lark, this story was a pill that anyone would find tough to swallow.

“Strange.” Lark suddenly said, interrupting his thoughts.

“What?” Karim asked, curious. ‘Could he have noticed something?’ He thought.

“Usually after a breakthrough like that, you should be literally dying of hunger and yet there you are…perfectly fine. I guess monsters are different.” Lark remarked.

Like some sort of signal, his words triggered a reaction from Karim’s body. Intense pain and pangs of hunger run through his body. It was so excruciating that Karim had to bend down and clutch his stomach.

“Guess not.” Lark said, shrugging as he went to help.