I woke up in the middle of the night to find Evy scribbling into her notebook. I climbed down from my bunk bed, seeing that our other roommate was still sleeping.

"What are you doing?" I ask, rubbing my eyes in haze.

"Oh, I'm sorry if I woke you up," she whispers.

"It's fine, I had a nightmare," I tell her honestly, as I dreamt about Oliver killing my mother for some reason. I guess my mind still had unresolved things on the topic of my family's murder.

Evy stops writing, looking into the wall across from us. "Since you told me of your past, I might confess as well. Just to be on even ground."

"I don't think that's necessary, but sure."

"Shut up kid, you obviously don't know how friendships are made," she attacks me while pointing her pencil at my face.

I yawn. "You're the one with no social circle, but sure."

"Gosh, you are so stubborn and so… dense!” She says, fidgeting for words to insult me with. “Anyway, I'll tell you about my story now."

I sit down beside her, sighing, but listening. If she's sharing her life story, it's basic courtesy to listen. After all, she did take interest in my story and apologized profusely after offending me.

She begins her story, telling me about her abusive father she had to live with. He killed her mother in a fit of rage, after which he committed suicide by falling of a bridge while being drunk. He gulped bottle after bottle, and Evy didn't know whether to be happy it was over, or sad she doesn't have anyone anymore.

Being a single child like myself, she got all of the attention, which wasn't always as good as one might think. After her mother died, her father would punch her until her bones fractured, landing her in the hospital for days on end. She hated her father, but her father was all she had. The tragedy doesn't stop there, as I found out.

After her father ended his life, she ended up in an orphanage, where she didn't have it much better. She was treated like scum of the streets, insulted and not fed enough. One of her caretakers died from a heart attack, even though she was perfectly healthy. Evy couldn’t bond with any parental figure, as they all perished right before her eyes. The male caretaker died the second he tried to get his way with Evy. The disgusting pedophile groped children there, and when he tried it with Evy, he slipped and fell onto a knife she was holding.

Exiting the orphanage drenched in blood, she was found by authorities and questioned later. During her schooling, she was found to be extraordinary in terms of magic, so she was brought here.

It was like Death itself follows Evy, which is why she took such an interest in it. Death is her protector, but also her doom. It directed her life in the ways it ended, so she has a 'personal relationship' with it as she says.

"The only relative I have left is my grandpa living near the center. He is a human who lived to the age of 112. He is still kicking—although hard of hearing and with a slight pain in his back—he is still going!"

"Grandpa from the mother's side I hope?" I ask, fully awake from her dreadful life story.

"That's right. He is the only one which Death hasn't swept up yet. Both of my grandmas and other grandpa are dead, as is my uncle, aunt, and my aunt's miscarried child."

I couldn't hide the look of shock and horror on my face. "You weren't kidding... Death really seems involved here... I don't blame you for taking it up on otherworldly forces."

Evy is a human like myself, although her mother had elven blood from her grandma. Since elves live longer than humans, she is expected to live to her grandpa's age without it being a miracle.

In this world, races are all intertwined. You cannot tell what race someone is just by looking at them. You can see what the most prevalent one is, but whether someone has dwarf, elf, human, dragonborn, demon, vampire or whatever blood inside them can only be seen in either their magic or blood work.

-

Evy and I really did connect in our own way after sharing our stories. The two of us started to hang out with Dorian, advancing in the enlightenment process together.

Our teacher drew on the board, trying his best to present the complicated topics as simple as he could. "As you reach enlightenment, your being will ascend the scale of the universe. Since our Overworld is protected by the Heavens, it cannot be shaken by your very being. However... by becoming enlightened you literally surpass the very concept of a normal universe, such as it becomes trivial. If a universe which wasn't protected by a higher realm existed, you would scale over it, being able to destroy it with a simple flick of a finger. "

If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

I listened intently as our teacher explained the concept of enlightenment in detail before our everyday meditation.

"The concept of the multiverse was never proven, so as far as you are concerned, only the Overworld exists, along with the Heavens and the 9 circles of Hell."

"What do you think Hell is like?" I ask Evy, whispering under the cover of my hand.

"Probably not as bad as it is in books. They overhype the brutality and gore in every book, so it might be the same. I'm betting there is a cool hierarchy of demons which rule over one another," she whispers, drawing 9 circles in her notebook.

Our teacher continues, explaining that there are dimensions hidden in the Overworld that we live in. If you become a spatial or a dimensional mage, you might be able to access these dimensions. "As you know, there are warp gates in our kingdom, leading to different parts of the world, but also to another dimension allegedly. Not higher dimensions, just different ones existing alongside ours…"

All this talking about universes and dimensions broke my brain, so I took a big breath and composed myself, trying to understand it all. It looks like most of the kids zoned out and couldn't grasp these complicated concepts. Here's where the line of truly gifted kids is drawn from the ordinary ones.

I mostly understood everything, at least to the extent where I could move on with my training. Dorian was taken into some kind of chamber to train in order to finish the last steps of gaining enlightenment.

It was right around that time that the 2 month mark was up, so I could go and visit Rache. After playing Evil Antagonist with Dorian, I got better at it. Evy wasn't so good, as she didn't have the strategist mindset.

-

Evy and I would take the subway together after the week of vacation, so we knew exactly which one to take.

As I was walking towards my house I saw Oliver with some other kids. He changed completely, not wearing his glasses anymore, with a more fashionable hairstyle and better clothes. Good for him. As I was passing by he stared at me blankly. His stare was quite creepy, seeing how he stopped talking and just stared at me from 20 yards away. He didn't approach me or anything, just gazed at me…

Excluding his weird behavior, I had a blast with Rache. I talked about enlightenment and my new friends. I talked about the strong kids in my class as well as my distinguished teacher explaining concepts like the multiverse in detail.

Rache just listened and laughed, happy that I found myself in that school.

We played Evil Antagonist all day long, with me losing every time. Rache complimented me on my success with the new moves I learned while playing against Dorian. My win rate against Dorian was about 60%, which made things competitive and brought a new spectrum of playing this game.

The week of holidays quickly passed, setting me for the path of enlightenment yet again.

I met with Evy on the train, hugging my friend after not seeing her for a week.

As we departed, I swear I could see Oliver staring at me from outside of the train, between the people moving on the station. When I tried getting a better look at him, the train accelerated and I was left to imagine.

"What is it Adam?"

"It's nothing, I guess. I just thought I saw an old friend..."

We continued our journey towards Obiwon, talking about our week of vacation. Her grandpa seems sweet, and would probably be good friends with Rache, judging by his wisdom and intellect. They would definitely square off in a round of Evil Antagonist.

-

After arriving back in Obiwon, we met with the rest of class and continued our training. We didn't see Dorian for 2 weeks already, since he was constantly in the training room. For another week we waited for him to emerge from the chamber.

His training ground was located in a secluded part of the school, where we couldn't visit. The closest we could get is the teacher’s cabinet, behind which Dorian progressed with his enlightenment. On a particularly sunny and uneventful day, he came out, looking a bit older. He walked casually, like nothing happened.

"How was it?" I ask before my jaw drops. His aura was... unreadable. He has ascended.

"WOAH!! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!!"

Evy and I circled around him, examining him like some sort of spectacle in a museum. His hair was even longer, now tightly tied in a ponytail rather than a loose man bun.

"Don't tell me you won't talk to us because we ain't higher beings?" Evy asks, half-worried.

Dorian gives a slight smirk. "Don't worry, just because I'm superior doesn't mean I won't speak to you mortals," he jokes and rustles my hair.

Looking at me with squinted eyes, he grabs my head. "Do you get progressively more handsome the more untidy you look?" he asks, pushing his face into mine. He himself wasn't anything short of a knockout. His slim physique paired with his sharp eyes created a magnet for girls. His sunken cheeks which made slight dents when he smirked drove everyone crazy.

"So, how was it?" Evy asks again.

"You'll be in there for a year. Our professor told me that he explained it in class, but I didn't listen to be honest. When you ascend, you will find the answers to all questions you ever had, but won't remember them. It IS an enlightenment for sure, since I feel mana better than I ever have, and I see the world better than before. It's like the whole world is at the palm of your hand. You can feel yourself being tougher than planets, stars, galaxies and even universes. You truly are separated from normal existence as you know it. In these 3 weeks, I've experienced a year of harmony while my being traversed the infinite cosmos as I saw it. "

"That's incredible!" I exclaim, challenging him to a duel as fast as possible.

I wanted to test my strength against an enlightened being, since our teacher never sparred against us, and we were separated from the rest of the school.

Walking into the neatly cut field of grass in our school’s front yard, we raised our hands, taking a

battle stance. "Ready?" Dorian asks.

"As I'll ever be," I exclaim, not needing to pull my punches against him.