My current location is at over a thousand meters of height in the sky. I was completely engrossed looking over my surroundings from that high in the sky. Even though we had some advanced technology to fly back on Earth, it can never beat the experience I am going through right now. The freedom of flying in the air by oneself can never compare to what we call flying using machinery like jet crafts.
I can extend my hand and catch the clouds and the land beneath me was flashing past at an astonishing rate. The scenery completely left me with an intense desire to reach the stage where I can soar through the skies this freely.
Although I initially calculated that we will reach our destination by four days, I expect it will take nearly a week with the occasional breaks for eating and my father had to replenish his Spirit energy too. It seems that the consumption of energy for the flight is not something that can be looked down upon. When I asked my father on the technique of flying, he said that it is a technique that naturally appears when one reaches the 5th Realm Power House, the Spirit integration Realm.
He explained that ‘Flying Technique’ can be called an ‘Inheritance Technique’, which one receives from their Spirit when they integrate with it. It is a basic technique available to all cultivators, regardless of their Spirit nature, because all Spirits are ethereal beings that defy the natural laws. And then there are some Spirit Specialized Abilities that the cultivator receives. These abilities are inherent abilities that only that particular Spirit can use.
So it seems that I can use the flying technique when I reach the 5th Realm. But I was more interested in those customized abilities that the Spirit possesses. I wonder what my Spirit is. I have LILY, that mysterious object or maybe objects that converted my Spirit Energy into Elemental Spirit Energy and that too of all the Elemental Affinities. And there is even that special condition of my body. Will my Spirit be a separate entity from all these things or will it be a result of all these abnormalities?
As I was brooding over these thoughts, my father competed his energy replenishing and stood up. I took my first class seat, as I started to call it, instead of piggy back position on his back; we took off to the air again.
This time our speed increased a little bit as we almost reached the chain of mountains that I first saw all the way back from the city wall. Even though we were a little far from them, I could feel the majestic and ancient feel they emitted even from this distance.
They were high. Calling them high will be insulting them. They felt as if they were piercing the skies itself. The clouds covered their peaks and I could only see around 3/5th of their total appearance. A thick forest covered the mountain slopes and I could even hear the roars of the Beasts occupying them.
Even though it was beautiful and majestic to watch from this distance, the instant I remembered that our possible destination may be that forest, I started sweating. Generally something beautiful always has danger concealed within. As if responding to my thoughts, loud roars and growls resounded from the depths of the forest.
I looked over at my father and I felt somewhat safe in my heart. If it becomes dangerous, maybe we can escape by flying. My pounding heart calms down as I had that reassuring thought. As the sun was sinking down, we landed at the edge of the forest.
“We will stay here for the night. The forest will be dangerous to travel as several powerful Spirit Beasts come out to hunt at this time. We will start early in the morning, and we will reach the place by afternoon.”
As he said that, he took out the portion of food for today’s dinner. He built a small fire and started roasting the dried meat. We have been eating this for the last week and frankly, I am quite sick of it. I am a person who relishes in all kinds of delicacies and this dried meat’s bland taste practically is killing my taste buds.
I somehow force all that meat into my growling stomach and lay down to sleep. My father sits by the fire and stares into it with a distant look in his eyes. Before I open my mouth and ask him, “Sleep, Azalon. You will know everything tomorrow when we reach there.”
That made me shut my mouth and drift off to sleep slowly. He woke me up in the morning just as the sun broke out in the sky. We chew on some rations and immediately set off without a word. The forest seemed unending as it flashed past, and the mountain slope came into the view. We flew past those mountains and deep valleys with thick fog rolling in them. We finally reached a deep valley just as the sun reached its zenith in the sky.
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The valley was formed as a result of five mountains joining as a circle, which made it somewhat hard to reach by foot. Only if someone can flies, can they reach this place this easily. If I had to walk, I reckon it will take me over half a year reaching here. It was filled a light mist along with various flowers and small trees as the sunlight appeared to be scarce in this valley. It appeared barren and gloomy but life still found its way to survive here and made it appear somewhat lush with greenery.
As I was observing all around as to see what is so special about it that we had to take such pains to reach, my father walked to the mountain on one side of the valley. I naturally followed him closely so as not to miss a thing.
As we drew closer to the mountain, I could see a huge stone blocking an entrance looking thing at the base of the mountain. The stone appeared to be normal, but I could see some weird characters which I could not recognize all over it. The energy vibrations emitted by those characters gave a slight oppressive feel and it increased in intensity the more we walked closer to it.
Before the feeling increased to the point where I had some difficulty breathing, a faint shimmer of energy appeared around me which blocked that oppressing force. I looked towards my father, but he is staring at that stone with a pained expression.
It seems that this place holds some deep memories for him. I walk beside him silently as I felt that this is not the time to talk. We finally reached that stone and those characters started pulsing.
My father retrieved a small knife with a bluish green blade from his robe. He then made a cut on his palm deep enough to draw blood. He then placed his palm on the stone which kind of responded to his blood. All the characters on the stone flashed brightly once before disappearing. it then rolled by itself to the side, revealing a huge cave with a dark and gloomy atmosphere. I could instantly feel an intense and berserk Spirit Energy fluctuation from inside as if something terrifying woke up from its slumber.
All my hair stood on its end as if I felt something dangerous is looking at me deep within it. All my bodily instincts and senses warned me turn around and run as far as I can from this place. Before I could react, a powerful hand gripped my shoulder. A gentle energy rushed into my body which suppressed those feelings running rampart in my mind.
I turned my head to look at a stern but worried face looking at me intently. I take a deep and shaky breath and somewhat calm my agitated mind. I nod my head at my father and he starts walking towards that cave.
The inside of that cave is dark and small water streams are running on the walls. The ceiling is around 4 meters high with a width of around 2 meters. The walls and ceiling are filled with various crystals that are twinkling from the light streaming from the entrance. As we move deep into the cave, the walls started glowing with a light green color, giving the tunnel a somewhat otherworldly feel. Huge stalactites on the ceiling reflected this light which made the dark tunnel somewhat bright but albeit creepy.
I was filled with tension and my body is taut like a string stretched to its limit. My eyes dart around nervously in all directions, expecting that beastly presence I felt at the entrance, to pounce on me at any moment. We walked for what I felt as a long time as the notion of time lost its meaning in this type of atmosphere, we finally reached a huge cavern at the end of that tunnel.
It was huge as in HUGE. It stretched for about a hundred meters length. I could not see the ceiling as it disappeared into darkness. But I could feel that the ceiling is at a height even greater than the length of this cavern.
But what caught most of my attention is a lake in the middle. It was a small lake of around 50 meters of diameter filled with bluish green liquid. The entire lake was glowing softly as soft waves splashed onto the banks of the lake. It gave a peaceful feeling and I could feel my tensed up body relaxing in the presence of that energy.
As I was admiring the scenery, my father walked to a group of stones and sat on one of it facing the lake. I walked up to him and climbed on to the one next to him. We sat there in silence for a long time. The only sound I could hear are the waves splashing and our breathing. He broke the silence with a small sentence that instantly shattered that calm and soothing atmosphere.
“This is where I almost lost my life…”